Psalms 29:3

DESCRIPTION OF THE THUNDERSTORM

"The voice of Jehovah is upon the waters:

The glory of God thundereth.

Even Jehovah upon many waters.

The voice of Jehovah is powerful;

The voice of Jehovah is full of majesty."

"The voice of Jehovah is upon the waters" (Psalms 29:3). In the land of Palestine, where David lived, such a statement clearly means that "It is thundering out in the Mediterranean Sea as a great thunderstorm approaches the land." Another acceptable interpretation is that of Rawlinson who wrote that the "waters" mentioned here, "Are the waters stored in the clouds that float on high in the air."[12] Some writers have proposed that the "waters" are the "waters above the firmament, mentioned in Genesis 1:7."[13] This is true, of course, only if those "waters above the firmament" are truly interpreted as being "those billions of tons of water stored in the clouds." (See a full discussion of this interpretation in our Commentary on Genesis, pp. 31,32.)

Delitzsch thought that, "The best understanding of, `The voice of Jehovah is upon the waters,' is to take it as meaning the mass of water gathered together in the thick, black stormclouds,"[14] then moving on to the land.

"The voice of Jehovah" (Psalms 29:3-4(twice), 5,7, 8,9). This remarkable phrase appears no less than seven times in the passage before us. That voice is here metaphorically presented as the thunder, bringing to mind instantly the reference in Revelation to the effect that, "The seven thunders uttered their voices" (Revelation 10:3).

The voice of the seven thunders here is plainly stated:

"The voice of Jehovah is upon the waters (Psalms 29:3).

The voice of Jehovah is powerful (Psalms 29:4).

The voice of Jehovah is full of majesty (Psalms 29:4).

The voice of Jehovah breaketh the cedars (Psalms 29:5).

The voice of Jehovah cleaveth the flames of fire (Psalms 29:7).

The voice of Jehovah shaketh the wilderness (Psalms 29:8).

The voice of Jehovah maketh the hinds to calve (Psalms 29:9)."

"Upon the waters" (Psalms 29:3). It is not merely the thunder which the psalmist hears, "Jehovah himself is upon the waters," as stated in the second line of this verse. It is indeed a true discernment of ultimate reality to find Almighty God Himself in the marvelous Creation which He made. God is in every blooming flower, in every sunrise or sunset; he is in the wings of the smallest humming bird, and in the incredible masses of the mighty snow-covered mountains; he is in the skies and seas, the grass and the trees, the songs of wild geese, and the swarms of the bees. As Elizabeth Barrett Browning put it:

"Every bush is aflame with God;

But only he who sees takes off his shoes."

David here saw the power and the glory of God in a thunderstorm. I remember taking my mother to see the Gulf of Mexico; and she said, "How can anyone see that and not believe in God?" Oh God, give us eyes to see!