I. DECLARATION OF JEHOVAH'S SOVEREIGNTY (r-2). His Rule Proclaimed. r. The Present (I).' "He." 2. The Past (2). "Thy." II. DEMONSTRATION OF JEHOVAH'S SOVEREIGNTY (3-4). His Rule Vindicated. I. World Powers Assailing (3 ). 2. Jehovah's Power Prevailing (4). III. DISTINCTION OF JEHOVAH'S SOVEREIGNTY (5). His Rule Constituted. r. His Testimonies-Sureness. 2. His Temple-H91.iness. PRIMARY AssocIATION.-W riter @onymous and occasion un known. First of a group of psalms celebrating the proclamation of
RECOGNITION OF COVENANT RELATIONSHIP Jehovah as universal King, xcii.-<. These psalms end upon a note of "holiness." Cf. Zech. xiv. 20-21; Isa. xxiii. 18. Psalms xciii., xcvii. and xcix. all begin on the same note. PROPHETIC ANTICIPATION.-This entirely overshadows any other interpretation. From the first Jehovah had been Israel's King (Exod. xv. 18; Deut. xxxiii. 5; 1 Sam. xii. 12), but when despite all His loving warnings His people apostatised again and again, He abandoned them to their enemies, seeming thus to abdicate His throne among the nation. This and following psalms point to the time when Jehovah in the person of Messiah will reassume His royal dignity proclaiming Himself King over a restored Israel (Isa. lii. 7) and a recovered world. This does not, of course, affect God's eternal sovereignty which is never abrogated (2). Here is foretold a new proclamation of that sovereignty-a special manifestation of it at the second advent of Messiah. PERSONAL APPLICATION.-God's throne is prior to every period of defined time (2). Words must have the power of fulfilment behind them to be worthy of trust-such are Jehovah's (5). From wild commotion (4) we pass into welcome calm (5). God not merely reigns over men, but plans to dwell among them (5). VERSE NOTJ;S 1-2. Self-coronation in self-created and self-manifested power. His- strength holds a reeling world steady after the great convulsions of the last days immediately preceding Messiah's advent in glory. Read, "Jehovah hath proclaimed Himself King: He hath robed Himself with majesty. Jehovah hath robed Himself, hath girded Himself with strength." Verbs are in the perfect tense denoting not merely a fact but an act; "world" = habitable world; "moved" = shaken. The consequence of His re-established sovereignty is a restored moral order in the world. Though the proclamation is new, the fact is not. His being and sovereignty are eternal ( 2a). 3. "floods,.,' these are rivers out of control, destructive, devastating. Emblematic of world powers threatening to overspread the world; "waves" Heb. only here; denotes the thud of the waves against obstacles or against one another, a vivid prophetic figure. 4. "mighty," the word suggests grandeur as well as power. 5. "testimonies," i.e. the law regarded as bearing witness to Jehovah's will and man's duty; "very sure," or, "strongly confirmed," c£ xix. 7; (b) Jehovah having returned to dwel , the "house" shall be no more defiled by Israel (Jer. vii. 30), nor desecrated by Gentiles, Joel iii. 17; Isa. Iii. I; "for evermore," lit. for length of days.
Book Four. II. Revelation of Covenant Relationship. The Redeemer's Presence: xciv.-c. I. Appeal for the Advent, xciv.
This book has 150 chapters