TRV
Study This Verse
Public-domain commentary
Matthew Henry
From his Commentary on the Whole Bible. Henry comments on passages, not single verses — this entry covers Psalms 65:6–13. His three-level outline is real structure in the source text, so it is rendered as structure.
That we may be the more affected with the wonderful condescensions of the God of grace, it is of use to observe his power and sovereignty as the God of nature, the riches and bounty of his providential kingdom.
I.He establishes the earth and it abides, Psa 119:90.
By his own strength he setteth fast the mountains (Psa 65:6), did set them fast at first and still keeps them firm, though they are sometimes shaken by earthquakes.
- Feriuntque summos. Fulmina montes.
The lightning blasts and loftiest hills.
Hence they are called everlasting mountains, Hab 3:6. yet God's covenant with his people is said to stand more firmly than they, Isa 54:10.
II.He stills the sea, and it is quiet, Psa 65:7.
The sea in a storm makes a great noise, which adds to its threatening terror; but, when God pleases, he commands silence among the waves and billows, and lays them to sleep, turns the storm into a calm quickly, Psa 107:29. And by this change in the sea, as well as by the former instance of the unchangeableness of the earth, it appears that he whose the sea and the dry land are is girded with power. And by this our Lord Jesus gave a proof of his divine power, that he commanded the winds and waves, and they obeyed him. To this instance of the quieting of the sea he adds, as a thing much of the same nature, that he stills the tumult of the people, the common people. Nothing is more unruly and disagreeable than the insurrections of the mob, the insults of the rabble; yet even these God can pacify, in secret ways, which they themselves are not aware of. Or it may be meant of the outrage of the people that were enemies to Israel, Psa 2:1. God has many ways to still them and will for ever silence their tumults.
III.He renews the morning and evening, and their revolution is constant, Psa 65:8. This regular succession of day and night may be considered,
1.As an instance of God's great power, and so it strikes an awe upon all: Those that dwell in the uttermost parts of the earth are afraid at thy signs or tokens; they are by them convinced that there is a supreme deity, a sovereign monarch, before whom they ought to fear and tremble; for in these things the invisible things of God are clearly seen; and therefore they are said to be set for signs, Gen 1:14. Many of those that dwell in the remote and dark corners of the earth were so afraid at these tokens that they were driven to worship them (Deu 4:19), not considering that they were God's tokens, undeniable proofs of his power and godhead, and therefore they should have been led by them to worship him.
2.As an instance of God's great goodness, and so it brings comfort to all: Thou makest the outgoings of the morning, before the sun rises, and of the evening, before the sun sets, to rejoice. As it is God that scatters the light of the morning and draws the curtains of the evening, so he does both in favour to man, and makes both to rejoice, gives occasion to us to rejoice in both; so that how contrary soever light and darkness are to each other, and how inviolable soever the partition between them (Gen 1:4), both are equally welcome to the world in their season. It is hard to say which is more welcome to us, the light of the morning, which befriends the business of the day, or the shadows of the evening, which befriend the repose of the night. Does the watchman wait for the morning? So does the hireling earnestly desire the shadow. Some understand it of the morning and evening sacrifice, which good people greatly rejoiced in and in which God was constantly honoured. Thou makest them to sing (so the word is); for every morning and every evening songs of praise were sung by the Levites; it was that which the duty of every day required. We are to look upon our daily worship, alone and with our families, to be both the most needful of our daily occupations and the most delightful of our daily comforts; and, if therein we keep up our communion with God, the outgoings both of the morning and of the evening are thereby made truly to rejoice.
IV.He waters the earth and makes it fruitful.
On this instance of God's power and goodness he enlarges very much, the psalm being probably penned upon occasion either of a more than ordinarily plentiful harvest or of a seasonable rain after long drought. How much the fruitfulness of this lower part of the creation depends upon the influence of the upper is easy to observe; if the heavens be as brass, the earth is as iron, which is a sensible intimation to a stupid world that every good and perfect gift is from above, omnia desuper - all from above; we must lift up our eyes above the hills, lift them up to the heavens, where the original springs of all blessings are, out of sight, and thither must our praises return, as the first-fruits of the earth were in the heave-offerings lifted up towards heaven by way of acknowledgment that thence they were derived. All God's blessings, even spiritual ones, are expressed by his raining righteousness upon us. Now observe how the common blessing of rain from heaven and fruitful seasons is here described.
1.How much there is in it of the power and goodness of God, which is here set forth by a great variety of lively expressions.
(1.)God that made the earth hereby visits it, sends to it, gives proof of his care of it, Psa 65:9. It is a visit in mercy, which the inhabitants of the earth ought to return in praises.
(2.)God, that made it dry land, hereby waters it, in order to its fruitfulness. Though the productions of the earth flourished before God had caused it to rain, yet even then there was a mist which answered the intention, and watered the whole face of the ground, Gen 2:5, Gen 2:6. Our hearts are dry and barren unless God himself be as the dew to us and water us; and the plants of his own planting he will water and make them to increase.
(3.)Rain is the river of God, which is full of water; the clouds are the springs of this river, which do not flow at random, but in the channel which God cuts out for it. The showers of rain, as the rivers of water, he turns which way soever he pleases.
(4.)This river of God enriches the earth, which without it would quickly be a poor thing. The riches of the earth, which are produced out of its surface, are abundantly more useful and serviceable to man than those which are hidden in its bowels; we might live well enough without silver and gold, but not without corn and grass.
2.How much benefit is derived from it to the earth and to man upon it.
(1.)To the earth itself. The rain in season gives it a new face; nothing is more reviving, more refreshing, than the rain upon the new-mown grass, Psa 72:6. Even the ridges of the earth, off which the rain seems to slide, are watered abundantly, for they drink in the rain which comes often upon them; the furrows of it, which are turned up by the plough, in order to the seedness, are settled by the rain and made fit to receive the seed (Psa 65:10); they are settled by being made soft. That which makes the soil of the heart tender settles it; for the heart is established with that grace. Thus the springing of the year is blessed; and if the spring, that first quarter of the year, be blessed, that is an earnest of a blessing upon the whole year, which God is therefore said to crown with his goodness (Psa 65:11), to compass it on every side as the head is compassed with a crown, and to complete the comforts of it as the end of a thing is said to crown it. And his paths are said to drop fatness; for whatever fatness there is in the earth, which impregnates its productions, it comes from the out-goings of the divine goodness. Wherever God goes he leaves the tokens of his mercy behind him (Joe 2:13, Joe 2:14) and makes his path thus to shine after him. These communications of God's goodness to this lower world are very extensive and diffusive (Psa 65:12): They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness, and not merely upon the pastures of the inhabited land. The deserts, which man takes no care of and receives no profit from, are under the care of the divine Providence, and the profits of them redound to the glory of God, as the great benefactor of the whole creation, though not immediately to the benefit of man; and we ought to be thankful not only for that which serves us, but for that which serves any part of the creation, because thereby it turns to the honour of the Creator. The wilderness, which makes not such returns as the cultivated grounds do, receives as much of the rain of heaven as the most fruitful soil; for God does good to the evil and unthankful. So extensive are the gifts of God's bounty that in them the hills, the little hills, rejoice on every side, even the north side, that lies most from the sun. Hills are not above the need of God's providence; little hills are not below the cognizance of it. But as, when he pleases, he can make them tremble (Psa 114:6), so when he pleases he can make them rejoice.
(2.)To man upon the earth. God, by providing rain for the earth, prepares corn for man, Psa 65:9. As for the earth, out of it comes bread (Job 28:5), for out of it comes corn; but every grain of corn that comes out of it God himself prepared; and therefore he provides rain for the earth, that thereby he may prepare corn for man, under whose feet he has put the rest of the creatures and for whose use he has fitted them. When we consider that the yearly produce of the corn is not only an operation of the same power that raises the dead, but an instance of that power not much unlike it (as appears by that of our Saviour, Joh 12:24), and that the constant benefit we have from it is an instance of that goodness which endures for ever, we shall have reason to think that it is no less than a God that prepares corn for us. Corn and cattle are the two staple commodities with which the husbandman, who deals immediately in the fruits of the earth, is enriched; and both are owing to the divine goodness in watering the earth, Psa 65:13. To this it is owing that the pastures are clothed with flocks, Psa 65:13. So well stocked are the pastures that they seem to be covered over with the cattle that are laid in them, and yet the pasture not overcharged; so well fed are the cattle that they are the ornament and the glory of the pastures in which they are fed. The valleys are so fruitful that they seem to be covered over with corn, in the time of harvest. The lowest parts of the earth are commonly the most fruitful, and one acre of the humble valleys is worth five of the lofty mountains. But both corn-ground and pasture-ground, answering the end of their creation, are said to shout for joy and sin, because they are serviceable to the honour of God and the comfort of man, and because they furnish us with matter for joy and praise: as there is no earthly joy above the joy of harvest, so there was none of the feasts of the Lord, among the Jews, solemnized with greater expressions of thankfulness than the feast of in-gathering at the end of the year, Exo 23:16. Let all these common gifts of the divine bounty, which we yearly and daily partake of, increase our love to God as the best of beings, and engage us to glorify him with our bodies, which he thus provides so well for.
Historical interpretation
Historical Reception
One surviving comment on this verse from the historical church.
"Preparing mountains in His strength" [Psalm 65:6]. Not in their strength. For He has prepared great preachers, and those same He has called mountains; humble in themselves, exalted in Him. "Preparing mountains in His strength." What says one of those same mountains? "We ourselves in our own selves have had the answer of death, in order that in ourselves we should not trust, but in God that raises the dead." [2 Corinthians 1:9] He that in himself does trust, and in Christ trusts not, is not of those mountains which He has prepared in His strength. "Preparing mountains in His strength: girded about in power." "Power," I understand: "girded about," is what? They that put Christ in the midst, "girded about" they make Him, that is on all sides begirt. We all have Him in common, therefore in the midst He is: all we gird Him about that believe in Him: and because our faith is not of our strength, but of His power; therefore girded about He is in His power; not in our own strength.
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Summary
Psalms 65:6 majestically proclaims the boundless omnipotence of God, portraying Him as the supreme architect and unwavering sustainer of the cosmos. The verse highlights His inherent and active strength, which not only established the seemingly immutable mountains but also continually maintains their steadfastness, emphasizing His dynamic, ever-present power that undergirds all creation. This profound assertion serves as a foundational truth, inviting awe, trust, and worship in the God who sovereignly controls the most formidable elements of the natural world.
Context
Literary Context
Psalms 65 is a vibrant psalm of praise and thanksgiving, often associated with a bountiful harvest and divine provision. The psalm transitions seamlessly from a focus on God's gracious forgiveness and blessing upon His people in the temple (verses 1-4) to His universal dominion and awesome deeds as Creator and Sustainer (verses 5-8). Verse 6 specifically anchors this universal dominion in God's foundational power over the earth's most enduring features. Following this declaration of cosmic power, the psalmist then celebrates God's providential care in bringing rain and ensuring a fruitful harvest (verses 9-13), demonstrating that the same power that sets fast the mountains also sustains life on earth. This structure emphasizes that God's covenant faithfulness to His people is rooted in His absolute sovereignty over all creation.
Historical & Cultural Context
In the ancient Near East, mountains were often perceived as symbols of permanence, strength, and even the dwelling places of deities. Their stability was a given, an unshakeable aspect of the world. By attributing the very "setting fast" of these mountains to God's strength, the psalmist elevates the God of Israel above all other perceived powers, demonstrating His unique and unparalleled might. The imagery of being "girded with power" is drawn from common human experience: a person would "gird" their loins by tucking up their loose outer garments into a belt, preparing for strenuous activity, battle, or labor. Applied to God, this signifies not merely that He possesses power, but that He is inherently clothed in it, always ready, active, and fully equipped for any task, underscoring His dynamic and ever-present capability.
Key Themes
This verse contributes significantly to several major themes within the psalm and broader biblical theology. It powerfully declares Divine Omnipotence, showcasing God's absolute and limitless strength as the One who establishes and maintains the grandest features of the earth. It underscores God's role as both Creator and Sustainer, highlighting His active involvement not only in the initial formation of the world but also in its ongoing stability and order. The mountains, which seem so immutable to human eyes, owe their very existence and steadfastness to Him, as also seen in Isaiah 40:12 where God measures the waters and weighs the mountains. Finally, the verse points to Unwavering Stability, presenting God as the ultimate source of security in a world often marked by change and uncertainty. His power is constant and reliable, able to uphold all things, providing a firm foundation for trust and worship, much like Psalm 93:1 describes the Lord being clothed with majesty and girded with strength.
Exposition and Analysis
Key Word Analysis
This verb signifies to be erect or perpendicular, and causatively, to set up, establish, fix, or make firm. It implies more than just the initial act of creation; it suggests an ongoing, active maintenance and securing of the mountains. God doesn't just place them; He makes them unshakeable and enduring, constantly upholding their stability. This highlights His dynamic and sustaining power over creation.
As a primitive root, this word means to belt, bind about, or gird. It refers to the ancient practice of tucking up loose garments into a belt to prepare for strenuous activity, battle, or labor. When applied to God, as in this verse, it signifies that He is inherently clothed or armed with power, always ready, fully equipped, and actively engaged. It speaks to the intrinsic nature of His power – it is not something He acquires but something He embodies and is always prepared to wield.
This feminine passive participle denotes force, mastery, might, or strength, whether literal or figurative. In this context, it emphasizes the inherent, active, and formidable strength that God possesses. It underscores the divine capacity and vigor by which He accomplishes His will, particularly in establishing and sustaining the physical world.
Verse Breakdown
"Which by his strength setteth fast the mountains;"
This clause attributes the very existence and stability of the mountains directly to God's inherent strength. The mountains, often seen as symbols of permanence and immovability, are not self-sustaining but are actively established and held firm by divine power. This emphasizes God's omnipotence and His role as the ultimate foundation of the natural world, challenging any notion of nature's independent existence.
"[being] girded with power:"
This participial phrase further elaborates on the nature of God's strength, portraying it as an intrinsic and ever-present attribute. The imagery of being "girded" suggests that power is not merely something God possesses, but something that is an integral part of His very being, like a garment He wears. It conveys readiness, active capability, and an inexhaustible supply of might, indicating that God is perpetually equipped and prepared to exercise His dominion over all creation.
Literary Devices
The verse employs several powerful literary devices to convey God's immense power. Anthropomorphism is evident in the phrase "girded with power," attributing a human action (girding oneself for work) to God to make His inherent and ready strength more comprehensible to human understanding. The Symbolism of mountains, which represent permanence, strength, and immovability, is used to underscore the even greater power of God who establishes them. By focusing on these grand, seemingly unchangeable features of the earth, the psalmist employs a form of Synecdoche or Hyperbole (by implication), where the part (mountains) stands for the whole (all creation), suggesting that if God can set fast the mountains, His power extends over absolutely everything, even the most formidable and enduring aspects of the cosmos. This amplifies the sense of divine majesty and control.
Theological and Thematic Connections
Psalms 65:6 offers a profound theological statement about God's absolute sovereignty and His active presence in creation. It establishes God as the ultimate source of all stability and order, challenging any worldview that posits a self-sustaining universe or a distant, disengaged deity. This verse assures believers that the same immeasurable power that upholds the mountains is at work in their lives, providing a foundation for unwavering trust in His providence and care. It calls for a response of profound awe and worship, recognizing that the God who controls the cosmic forces is also intimately involved in the details of His creation and the lives of His people. His power is not abstract but tangible, evidenced in the very ground beneath our feet.
Reflection and Application
In a world often characterized by instability, uncertainty, and constant change, Psalms 65:6 offers a profound anchor for the soul. If God's strength is sufficient to "set fast the mountains" and He is perpetually "girded with power," then there is no challenge, no personal crisis, and no global upheaval that falls outside the scope of His sovereign control and sustaining might. This verse encourages us to shift our gaze from the fluctuating circumstances of life to the unshakeable character of God. It calls us to place our trust in His unwavering might, finding security not in our own strength or the stability of earthly institutions, but in the One who upholds the very foundations of the earth. This recognition should cultivate a deep sense of awe and reverence, prompting us to worship the Creator who is both infinitely powerful and intimately involved in His creation, capable of handling our greatest fears and sustaining us through every trial.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Why are mountains so often used to describe God's power in the Bible?
Mountains are consistently used in the Bible as potent symbols of stability, grandeur, and permanence. For ancient peoples, they represented the most enduring and formidable elements of the natural world, often associated with divine presence or unshakeable strength. By stating that God "setteth fast the mountains," the psalmist emphasizes that even these seemingly eternal formations owe their very existence and steadfastness to God's active power. This highlights God's omnipotence as transcending even the most powerful aspects of creation, making Him the ultimate source of stability and might. It's a way of saying, "If God can do this, imagine what else He can do!" The idea that God's power is foundational to the earth's most massive structures underscores His absolute sovereignty over all things, as seen when He measures the waters in the hollow of His hand and weighs the mountains in scales.
What does "girded with power" mean for believers today?
The phrase "girded with power" is an anthropomorphic expression that conveys God's inherent, active, and ever-ready strength. In ancient times, to "gird oneself" meant to prepare for strenuous activity by tucking up loose garments, signifying readiness for action, battle, or labor. For believers today, this imagery assures us that God's power is not distant, static, or theoretical, but is an intrinsic part of His being, always present and always prepared to act. It means that God is perpetually equipped and capable of accomplishing His will, sustaining His creation, and intervening on behalf of His people. This provides immense comfort and confidence, knowing that the God who upholds the cosmos is always ready to bring His power to bear on our circumstances, offering a constant source of strength, security, and divine assistance in all of life's challenges.
Christ-Centered Fulfillment
Psalms 65:6, with its majestic declaration of God's power in establishing and sustaining the mountains, finds its ultimate and most profound fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus Christ. The New Testament reveals that the very strength by which the mountains were set fast is incarnate in Him. John 1:3 declares that "All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made," unequivocally identifying Christ as the active agent in creation. Similarly, Colossians 1:16-17 affirms that "by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth... and in him all things hold together". This means the same divine power that "setteth fast the mountains" is the power of Christ, not only in their initial creation but in their ongoing sustenance. Furthermore, Hebrews 1:3 states that Christ "upholds the universe by the word of his power," directly connecting the sustaining power of God in Psalm 65:6 to the Son. The "girded with power" imagery is perfectly embodied in Jesus, who demonstrated absolute authority over creation by calming storms with a word (Mark 4:39), and ultimately over sin and death through His resurrection, showcasing the "immeasurably great power" of God at work in Him (Ephesians 1:19-20). Thus, the steadfastness of the mountains points to the unchanging, all-sufficient power of Christ, the God-man who is both Creator and Sustainer, and in whom all things find their ultimate stability and purpose.