5 The mountains melted like wax at the presence of Jehovah, At the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.
Jehovah, when thou wentest forth out of Seir, When thou marchedst out of the field of Edom, The earth trembled, the heavens also dropped, Yea, the clouds dropped water. The mountains quaked at the presence of Jehovah, Even yon Sinai at the presence of Jehovah, the God of Israel.
The earth is utterly broken, the earth is rent asunder, the earth is shaken violently. The earth shall stagger like a drunken man, and shall sway to and fro like a hammock; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it, and it shall fall, and not rise again.
Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might quake at thy presence, as when fire kindleth the brushwood, `and' the fire causeth the waters to boil; to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence!
For, behold, Jehovah cometh forth out of his place, and will come down, and tread upon the high places of the earth. And the mountains shall be melted under him, and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before the fire, as waters that are poured down a steep place.
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Commentary on Psalms 97 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
The Breaking Through of the Kingdom of God, the Judge and Saviour
This Psalm, too, has the coming of Jahve, who enters upon His kingdom through judgment, as its theme, and the watchword “Jahve is King” as its key-note. The lxx inscribes it: τῷ Δαυίδ ὅτε ἡ γῆ αὐτοῦ καθίσταται ( καθίστατο ); Jerome: quando terra ejus restituta est . The τῷ Δαυίδ is worthless; the time of restoration, from which it takes its rise, is the post-exilic, for it is composed, as mosaic-work, out of the earlier original passages of Davidic and Asaphic Psalms and of the prophets, more especially of Isaiah, and is entirely an expression of the religious consciousness which resulted from the Exile.
We have here nothing but echoes of the older literature: Psalms 97:1, cf. Isaiah 42:10-12; Isaiah 51:5; Psalms 97:2 , cf. Psalms 18:10, Psalms 18:12; Psalms 97:2 = Psalms 89:15; Psalms 97:3 , cf. Psalms 50:3; Psalms 18:9; Psalms 97:3 , cf. Isaiah 42:25. Beginning with the visible coming of the kingdom of God in the present, with מלך ה the poet takes his stand upon the standpoint of the kingdom which is come. With it also comes rich material for universal joy. תּגל is indicative, as in Psalms 96:11 and frequently. רבּים are all, for all of them are in fact many (cf. Isaiah 52:15). The description of the theophany, for which the way is preparing in Psalms 97:2, also reminds one of Hab. 3. God's enshrouding Himself in darkness bears witness to His judicial earnestness. Because He comes as Judge, the basis of His royal throne and of His judgment-seat is also called to mind. His harbinger is fire, which consumes His adversaries on every side, as that which broke forth out of the pillar of cloud once consumed the Egyptians.
Again we have nothing but echoes of the older literature: Psalms 97:4 = Psalms 77:19; Psalms 97:4 , cf. Psalms 77:17; Psalms 97:5 , cf. Micah 1:4; Psalms 97:5 , cf. Micah 4:13; Psalms 97:6 = Psalms 50:6; Psalms 97:6 , cf. Isaiah 35:2; Isaiah 40:5; Isaiah 52:10; Isaiah 66:18. The poet goes on to describe that which is future with historical certainty. That which Psalms 77:19 says of the manifestation of God in the earlier times he transfers to the revelation of God in the last time. The earth sees it, and begins to tremble in consequence of it. The reading ותּחל , according to Hitzig (cf. Ew. §232, b ) traditional, is, however, only an error of pointing that has been propagated; the correct reading is the reading of Heidenheim and Baer, restored according to MSS, ותּחל (cf. 1 Samuel 31:3), like ותּבן , ותּקם , ותּרם , and ותּשׂם . The figure of the wax is found even in Psalms 68:3; and Jahve is also called “Lord of the whole earth” in Zechariah 4:14; Zechariah 6:5. The proclamation of the heavens is an expression of joy, Psalms 96:11. They proclaim the judicial strictness with which Jahve, in accordance with His promises, carries out His plan of salvation, the realization of which has reached its goal in the fact that all men see the glory of God.
When the glory of Jahve becomes manifest, everything that is opposed to it will be punished and consumed by its light. Those who serve idols will become conscious of their delusion with shame and terror, Isaiah 42:17; Jeremiah 10:14. The superhuman powers (lxx ἄγγελοι ), deified by the heathen, then bow down to Him who alone is Elohim in absolute personality. השׁתּחווּ is not imperative (lxx, Syriac), for as a command this clause would be abrupt and inconsequential, but the perfect of that which actually takes place. The quotation in Hebrews 1:6 is taken from Deuteronomy 32:43, lxx. In Psalms 97:8 (after Psalms 48:12) the survey of the poet again comes back to his own nation. When Zion hears that Jahve has appeared, and all the world and all the powers bow down to Him, she rejoices; for it is in fact her God whose kingship has come to the acknowledge. And all the daughter-churches of the Jewish land exult together with the mother-church over the salvation which dawns through judgments.
This distichic epiphonema ( Psalms 97:9 = Ps 83:19; Psalms 97:9 , cf. Psalms 47:3, 10) might close the Psalm; there follows still, however, a hortatory strophe (which was perhaps not added till later on).
It is true Psalms 97:12 is = Psalms 32:11, Psalms 97:12 = Psalms 30:5, and the promise in Psalms 97:10 is the same as in Psalms 37:28; Psalms 34:21; but as to the rest, particularly Psalms 97:11, this strophe is original. It is an encouraging admonition to fidelity in an age in which an effeminate spirit of looking longingly towards lit. ogling heathenism was rife, and stedfast adherence to Jahve was threatened with loss of life. Those who are faithful in their confession, as in the Maccabaean age ( Ἀσιδαῖοι ), are called חסדיו . The beautiful figure in Psalms 97:11 is misapprehended by the ancient versions, inasmuch as they read זרח (Psalms 112:4) instead of זרע . זרע does not here signify sown = strewn into the earth, but strewn along his life's way, so that he, the righteous one, advances step by step in the light. Hitzig rightly compares ki'dnatai ski'dnatai, used of the dawn and of the sun. Of the former Virgil also says, Et jam prima novo spargebat lumine terras .