Psalm 29:10

The LORD sitteth upon the flood; yea, the LORD sitteth King for ever.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(10) The Lord sitteth.—Better, Jehovah was throned upon the flood, and Jehovah will be throned a king for ever. The word translated “flood” is exclusively, except in this place, applied to the Deluge (Genesis 6, 7). Hence we must suppose that the poet was recalled to the thought of the great Flood by the torrents of rain now falling. Jehovah sat then upon the waters as their King, and so He will for ever be throned on high above the storms of earth. Or, perhaps, the Deluge may have passed into a proverbial term for any great rain.

Benson Commentary

Psalm 29:10. The Lord sitteth upon the flood — He moderates and rules the most abundant and violent effusions of waters which are sometimes poured from the clouds, and fall upon the earth, where they cause inundations which would do much mischief if God did not prevent it. And this may be mentioned as another reason why God’s people praised and worshipped him in his temple; because, as he sendeth terrible tempests, thunders, lightnings, and floods, so he restrains and overrules them. But most interpreters refer this to Noah’s flood, to which the word מבול, mabbul, here used, is elsewhere appropriated. And so the words may be rendered, The Lord sat upon the deluge; namely, in Noah’s time, when, it is probable, those vehement and unceasing rains were accompanied with terrible thunders. Bishop Hare thus paraphrases the verse, “This is the same God who, in Noah’s flood, sat as judge, and sent that destruction upon the earth.” And so the psalmist, having spoken of the manifestation of God’s power in storms and tempests in general, takes an occasion to go back to that ancient and most dreadful example of that kind, in which the divine power was most eminently seen. And, having mentioned that instance, he adds, that as God had showed himself to be the King and the Judge of the world at that time, so he doth still sit, and will sit as King for ever, sending such tempests as it pleases him to send. And therefore his people have great reason to worship and serve him.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

29:1-11 Exhortation to give glory to God. - The mighty and honourable of the earth are especially bound to honour and worship him; but, alas, few attempt to worship him in the beauty of holiness. When we come before him as the Redeemer of sinners, in repentance faith, and love, he will accept our defective services, pardon the sin that cleaves to them, and approve of that measure of holiness which the Holy Spirit enables us to exercise. We have here the nature of religious worship; it is giving to the Lord the glory due to his name. We must be holy in all our religious services, devoted to God, and to his will and glory. There is a beauty in holiness, and that puts beauty upon all acts of worship. The psalmist here sets forth God's dominion in the kingdom of nature. In the thunder, and lightning, and storm, we may see and hear his glory. Let our hearts be thereby filled with great, and high, and honourable thoughts of God, in the holy adoring of whom, the power of godliness so much consists. O Lord our God, thou art very great! The power of the lightning equals the terror of the thunder. The fear caused by these effects of the Divine power, should remind us of the mighty power of God, of man's weakness, and of the defenceless and desperate condition of the wicked in the day of judgment. But the effects of the Divine word upon the souls of men, under the power of the Holy Spirit, are far greater than those of thunder storms in the nature world. Thereby the stoutest are made to tremble, the proudest are cast down, the secrets of the heart are brought to light, sinners are converted, the savage, sensual, and unclean, become harmless, gentle, and pure. If we have heard God's voice, and have fled for refuge to the hope set before us, let us remember that children need not fear their Father's voice, when he speaks in anger to his enemies. While those tremble who are without shelter, let those who abide in his appointed refuge bless him for their security, looking forward to the day of judgment without dismay, safe as Noah in the ark.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The Lord sitteth upon the flood - God is enthroned upon the flood, or presides over it. The obvious meaning is, that God is enthroned upon the storm, or presides over that which produces such consternation. It is not undirected; it is not the result of chance or fate; it is not produced by mere physical laws; it is not without restraint - without a ruler - for Yahweh presides over all, and all this may be regarded as his throne. Compare the notes at Psalm 18:7-11. See also Psalm 97:2. The word used here is commonly applied to the deluge in the time of Noah, but there would be an obvious unfitness in supposing here that the mind of the psalmist referred to that, or that the course of thought would be directed to that, and it is most natural, therefore, to suppose that the reference is to the floods above - the vast reservoirs of waters in the clouds, pouring down, amidst the fury of the tempest, floods of rain upon the earth.

The Lord sitteth King for ever - This is an appropriate close of the entire description; this is a thought which tends to make the mind calm and confiding when the winds howl and the thunder rolls; this accords with the leading purpose of the psalm - the call upon the sons of the mighty Psalm 29:1 to ascribe strength and glory to God. From all the terrors of the storm; from all that is fearful, on the waters, in the forests, on the hills, when it would seem as if everything would be swept away - the mind turns calmly to the thought that God is enthroned upon the clouds; that He presides over all that produces this widespread alarm and commotion, and that He will reign forever and ever.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

10, 11. Over this terrible raging of the elements God is enthroned, directing and restraining by sovereign power; and hence the comfort of His people. "This awful God is ours, our Father and our Love."

Matthew Poole's Commentary

He moderateth and ruleth (which is oft signified by sitting, this being the posture of a judge, or ruler; of which see Psalm 9:7-9 47:8 Joel 3:12) the most abundant and violent inundations of waters, which sometimes fall from the clouds upon the earth; where they would do much mischief if God did not prevent it. And these are here fitly mentioned, as being many times the companions of great thunders. And this may be alleged as another reason why God’s people did praise and worship him in his temple, because as he sendeth terrible tempests, and thunders, and floods, so he also restrains and overrules them. But most interpreters refer this to Noah’s flood, to whom the word here used is elsewhere appropriated. And so the words may be rendered, The Lord did sit upon, or at, the flood in Noah’s time, when it is probable those vehement rains were accompanied with terrible thunders. And so having spoken of the manifestation of God’s power in storms and tempests in general, he takes an occasion to run back to that ancient and most dreadful example of that kind, in which the Divine power was most eminently seen. And having mentioned that instance, he adds, that as God showed himself to be the King and the Judge of the world at that time, so he doth still sit, and will sit, as

King for ever, sending such tempests when it pleaseth him. And therefore his people have great reason to worship and serve him.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

The Lord sitteth upon the flood,.... Noah's flood; which is always designed by the word here used, the Lord sat and judged the old world for its wickedness, and brought a flood upon them, and destroyed them; and then he abated it, sent a wind to assuage the waters, stopped up the windows of heaven, and the fountains of the great deep, and restrained rain from heaven; and he now sits upon the confidence of waters in the heavens, at the time of a thunder storm, which threatens with an overflowing flood; and he remembers his covenant, and restrains them from destroying the earth any more: and he sits upon the floods of ungodly men, and stops their rage and fury, and suffers them not to proceed to overwhelm his people and interest; and so the floods of afflictions of every kind, and the floods of Satan's temptations, and of errors and heresies, are at his control, and he permits them to go so far, and no farther;

yea, the Lord sitteth King for ever: he is King of the whole world, over angels and men, and even the kings of the earth; and he is also King of saints, in whose hearts he reigns by his Spirit and grace; and the Gospel dispensation is more eminently his kingdom, in which his spiritual government is most visible; and this will more appear in the latter day glory, when the Lord shall be King over all the earth; and after which the Lord Christ will reign with his saints here a thousand years, and then with them to all eternity, and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

Geneva Study Bible

The LORD sitteth upon the {k} flood; yea, the LORD sitteth King for ever.

(k) To moderate the rage of the tempests and waters that they not destroy all.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

10. The Lord sat as king at the Flood;

yea, the Lord sitteth as king for ever (R.V.).

According to the A.V. the flood appears to mean the deluge of rain which falls in the storm. But the word mabbûl is found nowhere else but in Genesis 6-11, and is best explained by its use there. The storm reminds the poet of the great typical example of judgement and mercy, in which Jehovah’s judicial sovereignty was exhibited.

Literally we may render, sat for the Flood; took His seat on His throne in order to execute that memorable judgement (Psalm 9:7).

10, 11. Conclusion. The storm passes, but HE whose glory it declares is the Eternal King, the Judge of the world, the Guardian of His people. Awful as is His power, they need not fear. To them it speaks of peace.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 10. - The Lord sitteth upon the flood. Most moderns translate, "The Lord sat (as King) at the Flood," and understand by "the Flood" the great Noachian Deluge (Rosenmuller, Hengstenberg, Kay, Revised Version). Some, however, regard this as a forced and unnatural interpretation (Bishop Horsley, ' Four Friends,' 'Speaker's Commentary'), and think the flood accompanying the storm just described (vers. S - 9), or floods and inundations generally, to be meant. It is difficult to decide between the two interpretations. Yea, the Lord sitteth King for ever. As God has sat as King in the past, whether at the great Deluge or at any other flood or floods, so will he ever "sit as King" in the future. Psalm 29:10

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Luther renders it: "The Lord sitteth to prepare a Flood," thus putting meaning into the unintelligible rendering of the Vulgate and lxx; and in fact a meaning that accords with the language - for ישׁב ל is most certainly intended to be understood after the analogy of ישׁב למשׁפט, Psalm 122:5, cf. Psalm 9:8 - just as much as with the context; for the poet has not thus far expressly referred to the torrents of rain, in which the storm empties itself. Engelhardt also (Lutherische Zeitschrift, 1861, 216f.), Kurtz (Bibel und Astronomie, S. 568, Aufl. 4), Riehm (Liter. - Blatt of the Allgem. Kirchen-Zeit., 1864, S. 110), and others understand by מבול the quasi-flood of the torrent of rain accompanying the lightning and thunder. But the word is not למבול, but למּבול, and המּבּוּל (Syr. momûl) occurs exclusively in Genesis 6-11 as the name of the great Flood. Every tempest, however, calls to mind this judgment and its merciful issue, for it comes before us in sacred history as the first appearance of rain with lightning and thunder, and of the bow in the clouds speaking its message of peace (Genesis, S. 276). The retrospective reference to this event is also still further confirmed by the aorist ויּשׁב which follows the perfect ישׁב (Hofmann, Schriftbeweis i. 208). Jahve - says the poet - sat (upon His throne) at the Flood (to execute it), and sits (enthroned) in consequence thereof, or since that time, as this present revelation of Him in the tempest shows, as King for ever, inasmuch as He rules down here upon earth from His throne in the heavens (Psalm 115:16) in wrath and in mercy, judging and dispensing blessing. Here upon earth He has a people, whom from above He endows with a share of His own might and blesses with peace, while the tempests of His wrath burst over their foes. How expressive is בּשּׁלום as the closing word of this particular Psalm! It spans the Psalm like a rain-bow. The opening of the Psalm shows us the heavens opened and the throne of God in the midst of the angelic songs of praise, and the close of the Psalm shows us, on earth, His people victorious and blessed with peace (בּ as in Genesis 24:1

(Note: The Holy One, blessed be He-says the Mishna, Uksin iii. 12, with reference to this passage in the Psalms-has not found any other vessel (כלי) to hold the blessing specially allotted to Israel but peace.))

in the midst of Jahve's voice of anger, which shakes all things. Gloria in excelsis is its beginning, and pax in terris its conclusion.