Psa 29:1-2 | KD | STEP | The occasion of this Psalm is a thunderstorm; it is not, however, limited to the outward natural phenomena, but therein is perceived the self-attestation of the God of the redemptive history. Just as in the second part of the God of the revelation of salvation is called יהוה seven times in distinction from the God revealed in nature, so in this Psalm of thunders, קול ה is repeated seven times, so that it may be called the Psalm of the hepta' brontai' (Rev 10:3.). During the time of the second Temple, as the addition to the inscription by the lxx ἐξοδίου (ἐξόδου) σκηνῆς (= σκηνοπηγίας) seems to imply, it was sung on the Shemini Azereth , the last day (ἐξόδιον, ) of the feast of tabernacles. Between two tetrastichs, in each of which the name יהוה occurs four times, lie three pentastichs, which, in their sevenfold קול ה, represent the peals of thunder which follow in rapid succession as the storm increases in its fury.

‏ Psalms 29:1-2

The Psalm of the Seven Thunders

The occasion of this Psalm is a thunderstorm; it is not, however, limited to the outward natural phenomena, but therein is perceived the self-attestation of the God of the redemptive history. Just as in the second part of Psa 19:1-14 the God of the revelation of salvation is called יהוה seven times in distinction from the God revealed in nature, so in this Psalm of thunders, קול ה is repeated seven times, so that it may be called the Psalm of the hepta' brontai' (Rev 10:3.). During the time of the second Temple, as the addition to the inscription by the lxx ἐξοδίου (ἐξόδου) σκηνῆς (= σκηνοπηγίας) seems to imply, ^{▼▼The שׁיר of the Temple liturgy of the Shemini Azereth is not stated in the Talmud (vid., Tosefoth to B. Succa 47 a, where, according to Sofrim xix. §2 and a statement of the Jerusalem Talmud, Psa 6:1-10, or 12, it guessed at). We only know, that Psa 29:1-11 belongs to the Psalm-portions fore the intervening days of the feast of tabernacles, which are comprehended in the vox memorialis בהיהום (Succa 55 a, cf. Rashi on Joma 3 a), viz., Psa 29:1-11 ()ה; Psa 50:16 ()ו; Psa 94:16 ()מ; Psa 94:8 ()ב; Psa 81:7 ()ה; Psa 82:5 ()י. Besides this the treatise Sofrim xviii. §3 mentions Psa 29:1-11 as the Psalm for the festival of Pentecost and the tradition of the synagogue which prevails even at the present day recognises it only as a festival Psalm of the first day of Shabuoth Pentecost; the Psalm for Shemini Azereth is the 65th. The only confirmation of the statement of the lxx is to be found in the Sohar; for there (section )צ Psa 29:1-11 is referred to the pouring forth of the water on the seventh day of the feast of the tabernacles (Hosianna rabba), since it is said, that by means of the seven קולות (corresponding to the seven compassings of the altar) seven of the Sephiroth open the flood-gates of heaven.} it was sung on the Shemini Azereth, the last day (ἐξόδιον, Lev 23:36) of the feast of tabernacles. Between two tetrastichs, in each of which the name יהוה occurs four times, lie three pentastichs, which, in their sevenfold קול ה, represent the peals of thunder which follow in rapid succession as the storm increases in its fury. Psa 29:1-2

The opening strophe calls upon the celestial spirits to praise Jahve; for a revelation of divine glory is in preparation, which, in its first movements, they are accounted worthy to behold, for the roots of everything that takes place in this world are in the invisible world. It is not the mighty of the earth, who are called in Psa 82:6 בּני עליון, but the angels, who are elsewhere called בּני אלהים (e.g., Job 2:1), that are here, as in Psa 89:7, called בּני אלים. Since אלים never means God, like אלהים (so that it could be rendered sons of the deity), but gods, Exo 15:11, Dan. 9:36, the expression בּני אלים must be translated as a double plural from בּן־אל, after the analogy of בּתּי כלאים, Isa 42:22, from בּית כּלא (Ges. §108, 3), “sons of God,” not “sons of gods.” They, the God-begotten, i.e., created in the image of God, who form with God their Father as it were one family (vid., Genesis S. 1212), are here called upon to give unto God glory and might (the primary passage is Deu 32:3), i.e., to render back to Him cheerfully and joyously in a laudatory recognition, as it were by an echo, His glory and might, which are revealed and to be revealed in the created world, and to give unto Him the glory of His name, i.e., to praise His glorious name (Psa 72:19) according its deserts. הבוּ in all three instances has the accent on the ultima according to rule (cf. on the other hand, Job 6:22). הדרת קדשׁ is holy vestments, splendid festal attire, 2Ch 20:21, cf. Psa 110:3. ^{▼▼The reading proposed in B. Berachoth 30b בּחרדּת (with holy trembling) has never been a various reading; nor has בּחצרת, after which the lxx renders it ἐν αὐλῇ ἁγίᾳ αὐτοῦ.}

A revelation of the power of God is near at hand. The heavenly spirits are to prepare themselves for it with all the outward display of which they are capable. If Psa 28:2 were a summons to the church on earth, or, as in Psa 96:9, to the dwellers upon the earth, then there ought to be some expression to indicate the change in the parties addressed; it is, therefore, in Psa 28:2 as in Psa 28:1, directed to the priests of the heavenly היכל. In the Apocalypse, also, the songs of praise and trumpeting of the angels precede the judgments of God.