Psalms 29:10

THE POSTLUDE

"Jehovah sat as King at the Flood;

Yea, Jehovah sitteth as king forever.

Jehovah will give strength to his people;

Jehovah will bless his people with peace."

"Jehovah sat as King at the Flood" (Psalms 29:10). "The word for Flood here is significant, for it is found elsewhere only in Genesis 6:11, and only of the Flood in the days of Noah."[24] That event, of course, was a great judgment upon all mankind; and here we have another evidence of something more being intended here than the mere description of a violent thunderstorm. Although we are unwilling to join completely in the affirmation made by Gaebelein, there is certainly much in the psalm that may be understood as he understood it. He stated that, "The Day of Jehovah is here poetically described under the figure of an onrushing thunderstorm."[25]

"Jehovah will bless his people with peace" (Psalms 29:11). Just as the Great Deluge was a judgment of mankind in which God's wrath was poured out upon the wicked, and his mercy was extended to the righteous in the person of Noah and his family, so does it appear in this psalm. The same pattern is detected here. The lightnings flash, the thunders roar, the trees come crashing down, the forests are stripped, the wilderness trembles, and the mountains jump around like young antelopes, but God provides peace for his people! As Kidner put it, "`Gloria in excelsis' is the beginning of the psalm; and `Terra pax' is the end of it."[26]