Psalm 46:6

The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(6) The absence of conjunctions, and sudden change from the preterite to the future, lends a vividness to the picture.

“Raged heathen, tottered kingdoms

Gave with His voice (the signal) (and lo !)

Melts the earth.”

Benson Commentary

Psalm 46:6-7. The heathen raged — At David’s coming to the throne, and at the setting up of the kingdom of the Son of David. Compare Psalm 2:1-2. The kingdoms were moved — With indignation, and rose up in a tumultuous, furious manner to oppose it. He uttered his voice — He spake unto them in his wrath, Psalm 2:5, and they were moved in another sense; they were struck into confusion and consternation, put into disorder, and all their measures broken. The earth melted — So that they found no firm footing; their earthly hearts failed them for fear, and dissolved like snow before the sun. The Lord of hosts is with us — He who commands all the armies of heaven is on our side. Why then should we be afraid? The God of Jacob is our refuge — That God who preserved our forefather Jacob in all his distresses, and hath made a gracious covenant with his posterity, defends us as in an impregnable fortress, where we need not fear any danger.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

46:6-11 Come and see the effects of desolating judgments, and stand in awe of God. This shows the perfect security of the church, and is an assurance of lasting peace. Let us pray for the speedy approach of these glorious days, and in silent submission let us worship and trust in our almighty Sovereign. Let all believers triumph in this, that the Lord of hosts, the God of Jacob, has been, is, and will be with us; and will be our Refuge. Mark this, take the comfort, and say, If God be for us, who can be against us? With this, through life and in death, let us answer every fear.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The heathen raged - The nations were in commotion, or were agitated like the waves of the sea. This language would well describe the consternation of the nations when the Assyrians went forth to conquest, and when, having subdued so many other kingdoms, they made war on Jerusalem. Compare Isaiah 36:18-20.

The kingdoms were moved - That is, those who were invaded, as well as those that made the invasion. There was a general convulsion or shaking among the nations of the earth.

He uttered his voice - God spoke; he gave command; he expressed his will. Compare Genesis 1:3; Habakkuk 3:6.

The earth melted - The very earth seemed to melt or dissolve before him. Everything became still. The danger passed away at his command, and the raging world became calm. The Bible abounds in language of this kind, showing the absolute power of God, or his power to control all the raging elements on land and ocean by a word. Compare the notes at Psalm 33:9. See also Psalm 107:25, Psalm 107:29; Matthew 8:26.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

6. (Compare Ps 46:2).

earth melted—all powers dissolved by His mere word (Ps 75:3; Ho 2:22).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The heathen raged, to wit, against God, and against his people.

He uttered his voice; either he thundered, or he spake to them in his wrath, as is said, Psalm 2:5.

The earth melted; the inhabitants of the earth who were combined against Zion were dispirited and consumed.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

The Heathen raged,.... As they did at Christ's first coming, against him, his Gospel, and people; and which continued during the three first centuries; and then the Pagan kingdoms belonging to the Roman empire were removed; since then another sort of Heathens, the Papists, have raged, in violent persecutions and bloodshed of the saints and martyrs of Jesus, and will rage again, about and at the downfall of Babylon; see Revelation 11:18;

the kingdoms were moved; either from their Pagan or Papal religion, and became subject to Christ. So it was at the downfall of Rome Pagan; and so it will be at the downfall of Rome Papal; when the kings of the earth shall hate the whore, make her desolate, and burn her flesh with fire. Or they shall be destroyed; that is, those that shall be gathered together in Armageddon, to make war with the Lamb; see Revelation 16:14;

he uttered his voice, the earth melted; like wax, as the inhabitants of the earth do at the voice of his thunder, and as antichrist will at the breath of his mouth; and all within the Romish jurisdiction, signified by "the earth", as it often is in the book of the Revelation, when the voice of the mighty angel shall be heard, "Babylon is fallen, is fallen", Revelation 18:1.

Geneva Study Bible

The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

6. The heathen raged] Or, the nations roared;—a word commonly used of the tumultuous noise of a multitude or an army (Psalm 83:2; Isaiah 17:12). The same words (roared … were moved), which were used in Psalm 46:2-3 of convulsions of the earth, are applied to commotions among the nations; but the change of tense shews that while Psalm 46:2-3 are hypothetical, Psalm 46:6 refers to an actual experience.

he uttered his voice] God has but to speak with His voice of thunder, and earth melts in terror: its inhabitants with all their proud Titanic boastings are dissolved. Cp. Isaiah 29:6; Isaiah 30:30 f; Exodus 15:15; Amos 9:5; Psalm 75:3; Psalm 76:8. The rhythm of short abrupt clauses without a conjunction recalls that of Exodus 15:9-10.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 6. - The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted (comp. vers. 2 and 3). The past tenses arc probably the "preterite of prophetic certainty." The writer foresees and announces the destruction of Israel's enemies. Psalm 46:6

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

(Heb.: 46:5-8) Just as, according to Genesis 2:10, a stream issued from Eden, to water the whole garden, so a stream makes Jerusalem as it were into another paradise: a river - whose streams make glad the city of Elohim (Psalm 87:3; Psalm 48:9, cf. Psalm 101:8); פּלגיו (used of the windings and branches of the main-stream) is a second permutative subject (Psalm 44:3). What is intended is the river of grace, which is also likened to a river of paradise in Psalm 36:9. When the city of God is threatened and encompassed by foes, still she shall not hunger and thirst, nor fear and despair; for the river of grace and of her ordinances and promises flows with its rippling waves through the holy place, where the dwelling-place or tabernacle of the Most High is pitched. קדשׁ, Sanctum (cf. el-Ḳuds as a name of Jerusalem), as in Psalm 65:5, Isaiah 57:15; גּדל, Exodus 15:16. משׁכּני, dwellings, like משׁכּנות, Psalm 43:3; Psalm 84:2; Psalm 132:5, Psalm 132:7, equivalent to "a glorious dwelling." In Psalm 46:6 in the place of the river we find Him from whom the river issues forth. Elohim helps her לפנותבּקר - there is only a night of trouble, the return of the morning is also the sunrise of speedy help. The preterites in Psalm 46:7 are hypothetical: if peoples and kingdoms become enraged with enmity and totter, so that the church is in danger of being involved in this overthrow - all that God need to is to make a rumbling with His almighty voice of thunder (נתן בּקולו, as in Psalm 68:34; Jeremiah 12:8, cf. הרים בּמּטּה, to make a lifting with the rod, Exodus 7:20), and forthwith the earth melts (muwg, as in Amos 9:5, Niph. Isaiah 14:31, and frequently), i.e., their titanic defiance becomes cowardice, the bonds of their confederation slacken, and the strength they have put forth is destroyed - it is manifest that Jahve Tsebaoth is with His people. This name of God is, so to speak, indigenous to the Korahitic Psalms, for it is the proper name of God belonging to the time of the kings (vid., on Psalm 24:10; Psalm 59:6), on the very verge of which it occurs first of all in the mouth of Hannah (1 Samuel 1:11), and the Korahitic Psalms have a royal impress upon them. In the God, at whose summons all created powers are obliged to marshal themselves like the hosts of war, Israel has a steep stronghold, משׂגּב, which cannot be scaled by any foe - the army of the confederate peoples and kingdoms, ere it has reached Jerusalem, is become a field of the dead.