Psalm 33
22 verses · BSBPsalms book hub →
Speaks with:Psalms 147×3Psalms 44×3Psalms 144×2Psalms 96×2Psalms 11×2Psalms 119×2
Summary
Chapter summary
A call to new song and skilful playing, 'for the word of Jehovah is right.' By the word of Jehovah were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth, he spake, and it was done. He bringeth the counsel of the nations to nought; his own counsel standeth fast for ever. No king is saved by the multitude of a host; a horse is a vain thing for safety. 'Behold, the eye of Jehovah is upon them that fear him… Our soul hath waited for Jehovah: he is our help and our shield.'
Context
Poetry · David, Asaph, Sons of Korah, others — Psalms overview
The world behind this chapter
Psalms 33The history
The instruments are named because they were really there. The harp and the ten-stringed psaltery were plucked wooden-framed instruments; the Chronicles record whole divisions of Levites appointed by name to play them, with cymbals and trumpets, and the sound is described as one great noise. "Play skilfully with a loud noise" is an instruction to trained professionals, not a shrug at enthusiasm.
"He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap: he layeth up the depth in storehouses" borrows the language of a royal storehouse. Ancient palaces and temples kept great magazines of grain, oil, and wine in rows of jars, inventoried by clay tablets. The picture is of the sea itself put away on a shelf.
"There is no king saved by the multitude of an host: a mighty man is not delivered by much strength" answers the biggest number in ancient politics. Assyrian and Egyptian kings published their troop counts and their kill counts on palace walls to make the point that resistance was arithmetic. This psalm calls a horse "a vain thing for safety" — the chariot horse, the most expensive item in any army's budget.
"He fashioneth their hearts alike; he considereth all their works" pictures a potter shaping each one. God is described as watching from heaven and seeing every inhabitant of the earth individually, not as a census total.
What it meant to them
This hymn set Israel's small national life against creation and empire at once. The word that made the heavens is the word that keeps a people, and the psalm says both in the same breath.
The blessing it draws is deliberately narrow: "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord." First hearers knew exactly which nation was being described, and exactly how little else it had.
Sources cited
- Charles H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David on Psalm 33
- John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews & Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on Psalms 33. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.