Psalm 93 Commentary

What a lot gets packed into these five short verses of the 93^rd Psalm!  This poem is an obvious choice for Christ the King / Reign of Christ Sunday as we close out another liturgical year and conclude the Year B cycle of the Lectionary.  The whole psalm is about the nature of God as the Ruler / King of the entire cosmos.  In a Christian context we now transfer these sentiments that in Israel were focused on Yahweh to the true and final King in the Davidic line: Jesus Christ.

The first order of business is to establish the majesty of this King.  God is said to be “robed in majesty” and it’s easy to slide on past this line without giving it much thought.  But what does it mean?  Royal figures did and do often wear robes and they are typically pretty resplendent garments made of the finest fabric available and usually dyed deep red or deep purple.  Since we recently witnessed a royal coronation for King Charles III, we have a pretty good idea of what this can look like for a human king.

Check out that train!  But obviously God would not wear a robe just like that.  God’s would be even more resplendent and amazing.  My Old Testament Professor John Stek used to point out that in the psalms especially, the creation itself is the glory robe of Yahweh.  God is not robed in ermine or silk but with stars, planets, nebulae, comets, giant Redwood trees, and (as we will shortly see in Psalm 93) with created wonders like the oceans and all that vibrant life that lives under the waters.

Such a robe of glory is also testament to the power of the God who created all that and now wears it as a majestic divine garment.  Such a garment is radiant with divine power, with almighty power.  And as if to confirm Professor Stek’s idea that the creation itself is the glory robe of Yahweh, verse 1 concludes with the observation that the world is firmly established.  God’s power established and created the world and God now wears that very creation in majesty and awe.

Verse 2 tells us God’s throne was established “long ago.”  I’ll say.  Because in this case “long ago” means from eternity.  As a friend of mine once said in a sermon, “God was before was was!”  Any throne that goes back that “far” is clearly not going anywhere either.  There is a reliability to God as King.

But then comes the curious middle portion of Psalm 93.  Out of all the wonders of creation, the psalmist picks the seas and the raw power of crashing surf and waves to stand in for everything else God ever created.  We know that in Ancient Israel the sea was often feared as a potential source for death and catastrophe.  The Israelites were not a seafaring people and so the oceans were a great unknown for them.  (Revelation tells us that in the New Creation there will be no more night and no more sea but that is likely meant symbolically since it is difficult to imagine a New Creation without the wonders of the night sky to behold and the teaming variety of ocean life.  God himself is said to take great delight in sea creatures so it’s pretty clear they have a future in the New Creation!)

Israel may have been wary of the seas but neither could Israel deny the power of the seas.  In recent years we have seen too often the power of water when hurricanes or torrential rains have come.  Water is so strong a force it can wipe out whole regions, toss cars and trucks that weigh in the tons as though they were a child’s Matchbox set.  So yes, if you are looking for something to point to and highlight the mighty power of God, the power of the seas and the oceans and of water generally works as well as anything you could name.

Psalm 93 then concludes on a calmer note.  The statutes of God—God’s laws, commands, precepts, and the very design of the creation itself—stand forever and this, in turn, adorns the house of God with holiness.  God is in Psalm 93 (to put it mildly) large and in charge.  But it’s not sheer power for power’s sake.  When it comes to the true King of the Universe, that power is also beautiful, majestic, holy, and forms the bright center to the entire cosmos.

As we prepare again to enter the Advent Season which can at times be all about twinkling lights and silent nights and so on, Psalm 93 comes in to remind us that everything we see displayed in this brief psalm is the very power that somehow or another got compacted down into a human zygote in a virgin’s womb.  The baby that came from that zygote was destined to become the King of kings and the Lord of lords, and if that does not set us up for a season of true awe and wonder in Advent, I don’t know what would!

Illustration Idea

Experienced sailors know one thing above all else: respect the sea’s power.

Sebastian Junger’s best-selling book—later made into also a movie—The Perfect Storm reminds us of the power of storms at sea.  Experienced sailors—like those aboard the Andrea Gail fishing boat whose story makes up the core of The Perfect Storm—know that on the ocean, there comes a point where physics takes over and sailors are helpless to do anything about it.  If a boat heads into a wave that is higher than the boat is long, the boat will almost certainly “pitchpole,” which means go end over end to its doom.  Or, if a wave hits a boat from the side and if that wave is higher than the boat is wide, the boat will capsize, flipping upside down.  As Junger narrates the true story, we learn that although the Andrea Gail was a 72-foot-long boat, it eventually encountered swells higher than 72 feet and so as the boat headed into those swells, it pitchpoled to its doom, sinking to the bottom of the Atlantic.

Psalm 93 was indeed wise to choose the power of crashing waves on the sea as a stand-in for the awesome power of the true Sovereign to the universe!