The Divine King Is Mightier than the Chaotic Waters

This psalm of Yahweh’s kingship (see the Introduction) speaks in a foreign language. What the “lifting up” of the seas and their pounding waves have to do with Yahweh’s reign is not self-evident to the modern reader. Nor is it clear how we get from the seas to Yahweh’s house by the psalm’s close. Here we must enter the thought world of the ancient Near East and of temple symbolism. Present in this psalm are the three motifs characteristic of divine kingship in the ancient Near East (see the Introduction): (a) “the LORD on high” (i.e., the God of the skies) demonstrates himself to be “mightier than the breakers of the sea” (vv. 3–4), and (b) the congregation thus acclaims, “the LORD reigns” (vv. 1–2). The psalm closes with admiration of (c)…