2 Give unto the Lord the glory
2 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.
2 In awe before the glory, in awe before God's visible power. Stand at attention! Dress your best to honor him!
2 Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name; Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.
2 Honor the Lord for the glory of his name. Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.
7 They burned your sanctuary to the ground; they defiled the dwelling place of your Name.
7 They have cast
7 They set your sanctuary on fire; they profaned the dwelling place of your name, bringing it down to the ground.
7 They burned your holy place to the ground, violated the place of worship.
7 They have set fire to Your sanctuary; They have defiled the dwelling place of Your name to the ground.
7 They burned your sanctuary to the ground. They defiled the place that bears your name.
(Read Psalm 74:1-11)
This psalm appears to describe the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple by the Chaldeans. The deplorable case of the people of God, at the time, is spread before the Lord, and left with him. They plead the great things God had done for them. If the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt was encouragement to hope that he would not cast them off, much more reason have we to believe, that God will not cast off any whom Christ has redeemed with his own blood. Infidels and persecutors may silence faithful ministers, and shut up places of worship, and say they will destroy the people of God and their religion together. For a long time they may prosper in these attempts, and God's oppressed servants may see no prospect of deliverance; but there is a remnant of believers, the seed of a future harvest, and the despised church has survived those who once triumphed over her. When the power of enemies is most threatening, it is comfortable to flee to the power of God by earnest prayer.
9 O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth.
9 Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness;
9 Bow before the beauty of God, Then to your knees - everyone worship!
9 Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness! Tremble before Him, all the earth.
9 Worship the Lord in all his holy splendor. Let all the earth tremble before him.
(Read Psalm 96:1-9)
When Christ finished his work on earth, and was received into his glory in heaven, the church began to sing a new song unto him, and to bless his name. His apostles and evangelists showed forth his salvation among the heathen, his wonders among all people. All the earth is here summoned to worship the Lord. We must worship him in the beauty of holiness, as God in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself. Glorious things are said of him, both as motives to praise and matter of praise.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Psalm 29:2
Chapter Contents
Exhortation to give glory to God.
The mighty and honourable of the earth are especially bound to honour and worship him; but, alas, few attempt to worship him in the beauty of holiness. When we come before him as the Redeemer of sinners, in repentance faith, and love, he will accept our defective services, pardon the sin that cleaves to them, and approve of that measure of holiness which the Holy Spirit enables us to exercise. We have here the nature of religious worship; it is giving to the Lord the glory due to his name. We must be holy in all our religious services, devoted to God, and to his will and glory. There is a beauty in holiness, and that puts beauty upon all acts of worship. The psalmist here sets forth God's dominion in the kingdom of nature. In the thunder, and lightning, and storm, we may see and hear his glory. Let our hearts be thereby filled with great, and high, and honourable thoughts of God, in the holy adoring of whom, the power of godliness so much consists. O Lord our God, thou art very great! The power of the lightning equals the terror of the thunder. The fear caused by these effects of the Divine power, should remind us of the mighty power of God, of man's weakness, and of the defenceless and desperate condition of the wicked in the day of judgment. But the effects of the Divine word upon the souls of men, under the power of the Holy Spirit, are far greater than those of thunder storms in the nature world. Thereby the stoutest are made to tremble, the proudest are cast down, the secrets of the heart are brought to light, sinners are converted, the savage, sensual, and unclean, become harmless, gentle, and pure. If we have heard God's voice, and have fled for refuge to the hope set before us, let us remember that children need not fear their Father's voice, when he speaks in anger to his enemies. While those tremble who are without shelter, let those who abide in his appointed refuge bless him for their security, looking forward to the day of judgment without dismay, safe as Noah in the ark.