Psalm 93:1-5
SS Lesson for 01/12/2025
Devotional Scripture: Isa 52:1-12
How do we describe things we have never experienced? One way is to use our imaginations to compare what we have not experienced to what we have. We gain an approximate understanding of things we have not seen by likening them to things we have seen. So it is with this psalm. We have not directly seen the glory and power of God, but we can compare God’s glory and might to the glorious and powerful things we have experienced, knowing he surpasses them all. In a sense, our text is an exercise in imagination directed by God’s inspiration. This psalm uses two literary devices extensively. One is personification. This convention uses images and descriptions of human life to describe God. This is personification not because God is an impersonal power, but because he is not confined to human characteristics, especially not physical human characteristics. Indeed, we have not seen God. But John’s Gospel reminds us that Jesus Christ, the divine, incarnate Son of God, revealed God through his real, tangible presence in the world (John 1:18). In Jesus, the Creator God has become not just near to us but one of us. In Jesus, God’s majesty and power became visible among real people in a real time and place. Only in Christ’s incarnation could we literally talk about, say, what God wears. The other device used here is parallelism. This technique builds an image through repeating or nearly repeating one phrase or idea. Doing so strengthens the power of the description (consider especially Psalm 93:3). Understanding these features of Psalm 93 (and many others) allows us to join the worship and appreciate the beauty of Hebrew poetry, which is so different from our own and yet still powerful. Many psalms begin with a superscription that ties the poem to a specific psalmist or occasion (examples: Psalms 3; 50; 121). These headers provide some context for the psalm at hand. The risk of misunderstanding based on vague or missing context is low; we might contrast reading a psalm with reading one of Paul’s epistles. The psalms were written from personal experience, whether of praise, lament, both, or other occasions, but they were used as the hymnbook of ancient Israel. We could compare our own singing of hymns; the context for the lyrics can be powerful, but the experiences we bring to our singing are what ultimately give the song real power to speak to us as we sing to the Lord. Psalm 93 does not contain a superscription, but it is set in a collection of kingship psalms (Psalms 93-99 or 100, with the possible exception of Psalm 94; see 93:2). As the phrase suggests, kingship psalms celebrate the king, though sometimes this might be a Davidic king and other times the Lord. Or sometimes it might be that one of the kings wrote the psalm, and so it has a kingly aspect. There was a time in biblical scholarship when this collection was considered to be part of an enthronement festival in Jerusalem. However, many points against this hypothesis have largely discredited the idea. For one thing, there is no biblical record of such a festival. We might expect to see such a time mentioned in Leviticus 23. Without any evidence, we have no reason to assume such a time was observed. For another, enthronement festivals in other ancient Near Eastern cultures suggested a beginning or renewal of a god’s reign (compare Psalm 93:2). The Babylonian god Marduk was enthroned every year, for instance. God had no need of such a ceremony to renew his reign.
The Lord reigns, He is clothed with majesty; The Lord is clothed, He has girded Himself with strength. Surely the world is established, so that it cannot be moved
(Scriptural Text from the New King James Version; cross-references from the NIV)
1 The Lord reigns, He is clothed with majesty; The Lord is clothed, He has girded Himself with strength. Surely the world is established, so that it cannot be moved.
2 Your throne is established from of old; You are from everlasting.
6 By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth. 7 He gathers the waters of the sea into jars; he puts the deep into storehouses. 8 Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the people of the world revere him. 9 For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: "Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you. 24 "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 27 God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28 'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.'
19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
1 In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
3 First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. 4 They will say, "Where is this 'coming' he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation." 5 But they deliberately forget that long ago by God's word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. 6 By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. 7 By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
11 "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being."
11 Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all.
20 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.
28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe,
10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: "Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.
29 People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God.
3 The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice; The floods lift up their waves.
4 The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, than the mighty waves of the sea.
5 Your testimonies are very sure; Holiness adorns Your house, O Lord, forever.
9 You rule over the surging sea; when its waves mount up, you still them.
3 The sea looked and fled, the Jordan turned back; 4 the mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs. 5 Why was it, O sea, that you fled, O Jordan, that you turned back
22 Should you not fear me?" declares the Lord. "Should you not tremble in my presence? I made the sand a boundary for the sea, an everlasting barrier it cannot cross. The waves may roll, but they cannot prevail; they may roar, but they cannot cross it.
37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?" 39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.
3 The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord thunders over the mighty waters.
35 This is what the Lord says, he who appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar, the Lord Almighty is his name:
3 And they were calling to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory."
11 "Who among the gods is like you, O Lord? Who is like you — majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?
1 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
8 Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come."
15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."
48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Verses 1-2
The psalmist declared the sovereignty of Yahweh over the world. He described the Sovereign as clothed with strength rather than with ornate robes. Clothing says something about the person wearing it. That was true of this king too. The immovable condition of the world shows how absolutely God controlled it. However, this refers to life on the earth more than it does to the planet in the solar system. God will control all life on earth. God’s universal authority has existed forever. Therefore there is no doubt it will continue.
The psalmist rejoiced in the Lord’s reign in this psalm. This is one of the "enthronement" or "theocratic" psalms that depict the righteous rule of God on earth (cf. Psalms 47, 95-99). They focus on God’s sovereignty over His people Israel, but they also point prophetically to the future reign of David’s greatest Son during the Millennium. Psalms 47, 93-100 all affirm Yahweh’s rule over the earth.
Verses 3-4
God’s power is greater than that of the tumultuous seas that move with irresistible force and great noise. The Canaanites believed Baal overcame the sea, which they called Prince Yamm. Here the psalmist pictured Yahweh as much mightier than the sea. The early readers of this psalm would have understood it as a polemic against Baalism. Yahweh has true authority over the sea that to ancient Near Easterners typified everything uncontrollably powerful and hostile.
Verse 5
In contrast to Baal’s morally corrupt sanctuaries, the Lord’s house was holy. What transpired in the temple contrasted strongly with what took place where the Canaanites worshipped their god. This behavior reflected the character of the two deities. God’s holiness guarantees the trustworthy nature of His words. Unblemished holiness manifests itself in unlimited power. [Note: See Allen, Rediscovering Prophecy, pp. 55-68.]
This psalm teaches the reader that God’s power demonstrates that He is alive and active. Consequently, everyone should submit to Him and obey His commands.
(Adapted from URL:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/dcc/psalms-93.html)
As we look to God as King, we recognize his powerful authority over all that he created. He is greater than any threat. Given the Lord’s majestic and holy reign, how should we join the psalmist in worship? We, too, express our wonder at what God has done simply because of who he is. We celebrate in song and in deed the rightness of being part of God’s kingdom. We express our submission to his authority by following his teaching and example, living according to his great love, especially as revealed in Jesus. We extol God’s power by relying on him to provide for us and protect us, emboldened by his Spirit to serve others as he has served us. In this, we honor our King.