1 Yahweh reigns! He is clothed with majesty! Yahweh is armed with strength. The world also is established. It can't be moved.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
Jehovah hath reigned We here see what I have lately adverted to, that in the power of God there is exhibited to us matter of confidence; for our not investing God with the power which belongs to him, as we ought to do, and thus wickedly despoiling him of his authority, is the source of that fear and trembling which we very often experience. This, it is true, we dare not do openly, but were we well persuaded of his invincible power, that would be to us an invincible support against all the assaults of temptation. All admit in word what the prophet here teaches, That God reigns; but how few are there who oppose this shield to the hostile powers of the world, as it becomes them to do, that they may fear nothing however terrible? In this then consists the glory of God, that he governs mankind according to his will. It is said that he clothes himself with majesty and strength; not that we ought to imagine that there is any thing in him which is derived from another, but it is intended by the effect and indubitable experience to show his wisdom and righteousness in the government of mankind. The Psalmist proves that God will not neglect or abandon the world, from the fact that he created it. A simple survey of the world should of itself suffice to attest a Divine Providence. The heavens revolve daily, and, immense as is their fabric, and inconceivable the rapidity of their revolutions, we experience no concussion -- no disturbance in the harmony of their motion. The sun, though varying its course every diurnal revolution, returns annually to the same point. The planets, in all their wanderings, maintain their respective positions. How could the earth hang suspended in the air were it not upheld by God's hand? By what means could it maintain itself unmoved, while the heavens above are in constant rapid motion, did not its Divine Maker fix and establish it? Accordingly the particle 'ph, aph, denoting emphasis, is introduced -- Yea, he hath established it.
The Lord reigneth - The same commencement of a psalm occurs in Psalm 97:1-12; Psalm 99:1-9. The same idea is often found in the Scriptures. 1-Chronicles 16:31; Psalm 47:8; Isaiah 52:7; Revelation 19:6. The thought seems abrupt here. It would appear as if the psalmist had been meditating on the dark things which occur in the world; the mysteries which abound; the things which seem irreconcilable with the idea that there is a just government over the world, and that suddenly the idea occurs, as a flash of lightning in a storm, that Yahweh reigns over all, and that all must be right. Amidst all these things God sits upon the throne; he orders all events; he sways his scepter over all; he orders all things according to his own will; he secures the accomplishment of his own purposes.
He is clothed with majesty - That is, he puts on, or wears this; he appears in this as a garb, or robe. The word rendered "majesty" means properly "loftiness," and is applied to the swelling of the sea Psalm 89:9, or to a column of smoke, Isaiah 9:18. The idea here is, that God is exalted; and that he appears in such a manner as to indicate his proper dignity. See the notes at Isaiah 6:1.
The Lord is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself - There is an allusion here to the mode of dress among the Orientals - the custom of girding the loins when one labored, or walked, or ran. See the notes at Matthew 5:38-41.
The world also is stablished - Is firm; is on a solid foundation. It cannot be shaken or destroyed by natural convulsions, or by the power of man.
That it cannot be moved - Moved out of its place; overthrown; destroyed. This seems to have been spoken in view of some impending calamity, as if everything were to be swept away. The psalmist consoles himself with the thought that the world was firmly established; that no storm or tempest could be so violent as to remove it out of its place. The ground of consolation is the essential stability of what God has ordained.
The Lord reigneth - He continues to govern every thing he has created; and he is every way qualified to govern all things, for he is clothed with majesty and with strength - dominion is his, and he has supreme power to exercise it; and he has so established the world that nothing can be driven out of order; all is ruled by him. Nature is his agent: or rather, nature is the sum of the laws of his government; the operations carried on by the Divine energy, and the effects resulting from those operations.
He hath girded himself - The girding with strength refers to the girding in order to strengthen the loins, arms, knees, etc. When a Hindoo is about to set off on a journey, to lift a burden, or to do something that requires exertion, he binds firmly his loose upper garment round his loins - Ward.
The LORD (a) reigneth, he is clothed with majesty; the LORD is clothed with strength, [wherewith] he hath girded himself: the world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved.
(a) As God by his power and wisdom has made and governed the world, so must the same be our defence against all enemies and dangers.
The Lord reigneth,.... The King Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the true Jehovah. God over all, the Lord God omnipotent: he has reigned, he was set up as King from everlasting; he reigned throughout the whole Old Testament dispensation; he was promised, and prophesied of, as a King; he came as such, in human nature, into the world, though his kingdom was not with observation; when he ascended to heaven, he was made or declared Lord and Christ, and was crowned with glory and honour; he now reigns in the hearts of his people, by his Spirit and grace; and, ere long, he will take to himself his great power, and reign more manifestly; when the kingdoms of this world shall become his, and he shall be King over all the earth; and this his government will be still more apparent when he shall come in person, and reign with his saints on earth a thousand years; and, after that, for ever and ever, in heaven:
he is clothed with majesty; with all the regalia and ensigns of royalty; seated on a throne of glory, with a crown of pure gold on his head, a sceptre of righteousness in his hand, and arrayed with robes of honour and majesty; so that his appearance at his kingdom will be very splendid, Psalm 104:1,
the Lord is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself; as he was, when he came here on earth, travelling in the greatness of his strength, and mighty to save; bearing the sins of his people, conflicting with and spoiling principalities and powers, and obtaining eternal redemption; and which also appeared in carrying the Gospel into the Gentile world, and succeeding it, against all the opposition made unto it; and making his way into the hearts of sinners at conversion, binding the strong man armed, and dispossessing him, and taking his place; in strengthening them with strength in the inward man, against him and all enemies; and keeping them by his power, through faith, unto salvation: and which will be further manifest in the destruction of antichrist, and in the ruin of all the antichristian states, which will make way for his spiritual reign; and especially this will be seen, at his personal coming, by raising the dead in Christ, causing the heavens and earth to pass away, and making new ones; and binding Satan for a thousand years, that he may give no disturbance to his subjects during that time:
the world also is established, that it cannot be moved; the world to come, of which Christ is the Father; that which is not put into subjection to angels, Isaiah 9:6, the Gospel dispensation, the church state in it; which, though it has been unsettled, the church has been tossed about with tempests, and has been moved from place to place, and obliged to fly into the wilderness; yet, in the latter day, it will be established on the top of the mountains: this is one of the glorious things that are spoken of it, and for the accomplishment of which we should earnestly pray, and give the Lord no rest until it is; after which it shall never be moved again; it shall be a tabernacle that shall never be taken down; there will be no enemies to attack it; all will be vanquished and destroyed; the beast, the false prophet, and the old serpent the devil, Psalm 87:3.
(a) T. Bab. Roshhashanah, fol. 31. 1. & Tamid, fol. 33. 2.
The Lord might have displayed only his justice, holiness, and awful power, in his dealings with fallen men; but he has been pleased to display the riches of his mercy, and the power of his renewing grace. In this great work, the Father has given all power to his Son, the Lord from heaven, who has made atonement for our sins. He not only can pardon, but deliver and protect all who trust in him. His word is past, and all the saints may rely upon it. Whatever was foretold concerning the kingdom of the Messiah, must be fulfilled in due time. All his people ought to be very strictly pure. God's church is his house; it is a holy house, cleansed from sin, and employed in his service. Where there is purity, there shall be peace. Let all carefully look if this kingdom is set up in their hearts.
This and the six following Psalm were applied by the Jews to the times of the Messiah. The theme is God's supremacy in creation and providence. (Psalm 93:1-5)
God is described as a King entering on His reign, and, for robes of royalty, investing Himself with the glorious attributes of His nature. The result of His thus reigning is the durability of the world.
The sense of מלך (with ā beside Zinnor or Sarka as in Psalm 97:1; Psalm 99:1 beside Dech)
(Note: It is well known that his pausal form of the 3rd masc. praet. occurs in connection with Zakeph; but it is also found with Rebia in Psalm 112:10 (the reading וכעס), Leviticus 6:2 (גּזל), Joshua 10:13 (עמד), Lamentations 2:17 (זמם; but not in Deuteronomy 19:19; Zac 1:6, which passages Kimchi counts up with them in his grammar Michlol); with Tarcha in Isaiah 14:27 (יעץ), Hosea 6:1 (טרף), Amos 3:8 (שׁאג); with Teb
is historical, and it stands in the middle between the present מלך ה and the future מלך :ה Jahve has entered upon the kingship and now reigns Jahve's rule heretofore, since He has given up the use of His omnipotence, has been self-abasement and self-renunciation: how, however, He shows Himself in all His majesty, which rises aloft above everything; He has put this on like a garment; He is King, and now too shows Himself to the world in the royal robe. The first לבשׁ has Olewejored; then the accentuation takes לבשׁ ה together by means of Dech, and עז התאזּר together by means of Athnach. עז, as in Psalm 29:1-11, points to the enemies; what is so named is God's invincibly triumphant omnipotence. This He has put on (Isaiah 51:9), with this He has girded Himself - a military word (Isaiah 8:9): Jahve makes war against everything in antagonism to Himself, and casts it to the ground with the weapons of His wrathful judgments. We find a further and fuller description of this עז התאזר in Isaiah 59:17; Isaiah 63:1., cf. Daniel 7:9.
(Note: These passages, together with Psalm 93:1; Psalm 104:1, are cited in Cant. Rabba 26b (cf. Debarim Rabba 29d), where it is said that the Holy One calls Israel כלה (bride) ten times in the Scriptures, and that Israel on the other hand ten times assigns kingly judicial robes to Him.)
That which cannot fail to take place in connection with the coming of this accession of Jahve to the kingdom is introduced with אף. The world, as being the place of the kingdom of Jahve, shall stand without tottering in opposition to all hostile powers (Psalm 96:10). Hitherto hostility towards God and its principal bulwark, the kingdom of the world, have disturbed the equilibrium and threatened all God-appointed relationships with dissolution; Jahve's interposition, however, when He finally brings into effect all the abundant might of His royal government, will secure immoveableness to the shaken earth (cf. Psalm 75:4). His throne stands, exalted above all commotion, מאז; it reaches back into the most distant past. Jahve is מעולם; His being loses itself in the immemorial and the immeasurable. The throne and nature of Jahve are not incipient in time, and therefore too are not perishable; but as without beginning, so also they are endless, infinite in duration.
Clothed - That majesty and strength which he always had, he will shew in the eyes of all people. Moved - He will overrule all the confusions in the world, so that they shall end in the erection of that kingdom of the Messiah, which can never be moved.
*More commentary available at chapter level.