Psalm 29 Continued…
Psalm 29:2 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name
“Ascribe to the Lord”—Give, give, give: This shows how unwilling some people, especially those considered “great and powerful” are to give God His rightful place, and the honor which is justly due Him.
“The glory due his name” refers to “the honor of his name.” The honor of His name is that which is due to it, or which properly belongs to it. The “name” is put here, as it often is, for God Himself; and the meaning is, “Ascribe to God the honor that is appropriately due him.” This is a demand addressed to the angels, but it is a demand which is certainly not less binding on people. It is a call to all creatures in the universe to ascribe due honor to God. Compare:
• Psalm 148:13: “He has raised up for his people a horn, the praise of all his saints, of Israel, the people close to his heart. Praise the Lord.” Let them praise the name of the Lord, His nature and perfections, and celebrate the glory of them; and his wonderful works, and the blessings of his goodness, both of providence and grace; even all the above creatures and things (v.1), celestial and terrestrial.
• Malachi 1:14: “Malachi 1:14
“Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord. For I am a great king,” says the Lord Almighty, “and my name is to be feared among the nations.” “For I am a great King, says the Lord Almighty;” the King of the whole world, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; and therefore to be honored and worshiped in a manner suitable to His dignity and greatness.
We are to prefer Him ahead of all other gods, and to forsake all others, and love Him above everyone else and all things, and honor Him as the Almighty, and the only true God. David, perhaps thinking back to verse 1, continues to call on the mighty heavenly host (angels), “the sons of heavenly ones,” to behold the storm and ascribe glory and strength to YHWH (Yahweh), and to worship Him in their holy array (their holy garments for beauty—[“Make sacred garments for your brother Aaron, to give him dignity and honor.” (Exodus 28:2).]. For he feels that even to them this mighty storm must surely indicate something of the glory and strength of YHWH, and reveal Him as suitable to receive all honor, and as having power over all things (v. 10).
Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.
Worship the Lord—The appeal describes the praising of God by way of two things: ascribing glory to Him, that is, acknowledging with our minds His supreme worth; and worshiping or bowing down to Him (the Hebrew word for “worship” means “to bow down”), which means a subordination of our wills and minds to him. The idea is that man should bow in humble recognition of the greatness, the beauty, and the surpassing holiness of God.
This exhortation is made particularly in view of the manifestations of His power in the storm. The idea is that One who is capable of putting forth such power as that displayed in a storm, has a valid claim to adoration and praise. The angels all worship God and ascribe glory to Him, and they CAN’T help but do it in the face of this mighty storm with its primordial connections going to the very heart of creation. It is not just a question of very bad weather or even the majesty of the storm. It is a seeing in the mighty storm all the forces of nature that lie behind it, forces which God has under His control, and which are generated in a way similar to the way He created the world. As such they had once been unleashed at the Flood, and the thought behind it is that if God were not reigning over it then the whole universe would go into reversal or be set back for ages.
“In the splendor of his holiness”—There appears to be a number of alternative suggestions as to the meaning of this clause:
(1) Worship Him in His glorious sanctuary; glorious, because there they might hear His voice in His ordinances. Do away with your superstitions and fake worship, and bring your gifts to his beautiful sanctuary. The sanctuary is called “Our holy and glorious temple, where our fathers praised you,” (Isaiah 64:11). So he exhorts them to become proselytes to the Jewish religion; which was their duty and for their own good.
(2) That ‘splendor’ refers to God in the beauty of His holiness. God’s holiness, His “set-apart-ness,” has a wonderful and distinct beauty about it. It is beautiful that God is God and not man; that He is more than the greatest man or a super-man. His holy love, grace, justice, and majesty are beautiful.
PRAY
Father help my heart to see your beautiful holiness and to long to reside with you. As I draw closer to your beauty let the ugliness of my own sin be covered over by the blood of the Lamb!