lightning · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
enlightened
הֵאִ֣ירוּhe.'I.ru
H215
to be (causative · verb, hiphil perfect, 3rd person common plural
world
תֵּבֵ֑לte.Vel
H8398
the earth (as moist and therefore inhabited) · noun, common feminine singular absolute
earth
הָאָֽרֶץha.'A.retz
H776
the earth (at large · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
saw
רָאֲתָ֖הra.'a.Tah
H7200
to see · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person feminine singular
trembled
וַתָּחֵ֣לva.ta.Chel
H2342
properly · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 77:18 The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven: the lightnings lightened the world: the earth trembled and shook.
Revelation 11:19 And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices…
Exodus 19:16-18 And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voic…
Job 9:6 Which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble.
Psalms 104:32 He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth: he toucheth the hills, and they smoke.
Jeremiah 10:10 But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not…
Psalms 96:9 O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth.
Psalms 114:7 Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob;
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 97:1-7
What was to be said among the heathen in the foregoing psalm (Psa 97:10) is here said again (Psa 97:1) and is made the subject of this psalm, and of psalm 99. The Lord reigns; that is the great truth here laid down. The Lord Jehovah reigns, he that made the world governs it; he that gave being gives motion and power, gives law and commission, gives success and event. Every man's judgment proceeds from the Lord, from his counsel and providence, and in all affairs, both public and private, he performs the thing which he himself has appointed. The Lord Jesus reigns; the providential kingdom is twisted in with the mediatorial and the administration of both is in the hand of Christ, who therefore…
His lightnings enlightened the world,.... Either the doctrines of the Gospel, compared thereunto, because of the swift progress they made, and the large extent of them in the world, in a very little time; by the apostles they were published in all nations, and were the means of enlightening them in the true knowledge of themselves, and of the way of salvation by Christ: hence they are called the "lights of the world", Matthew 5:14, as the coming of Christ, in his kingdom and power, by them, is compared to lightning, and so are the arrows of his word, Matthew 24:27, or else his judgments on the Jewish nation are meant, which were manifest and clear, and obvious to all the world; see Psalm 18:…
Psalm 97:1-5
1. Jehovah reigns: let the earth rejoice, let the great islands [95] be glad. 2. Clouds and darkness are round about him; righteousness and judgment are the habitation [96] of his throne. 3. A fire shall go before his face, and shall burn up his enemies round about. 4. His lightnings enlightened the world; the earth shall see, and tremble. 5. The hills flow down like wax at the presence of Jehovah, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.
1 Jehovah reigns His inviting men to rejoice, is a proof that the reign of God is inseparably connected with the salvation and best happiness of mankind. And, the joy he speaks of being common to the whole world and to the regions beyo…
The Church Fathers
His lightnings have shone upon the world. The philosophers say that lightnings are generated from the collision of clouds. For unless the sound is first heard, the lightnings are not seen. This is said also of the flint-stone: that unless they are struck together, the fire in the middle does not come forth. This we have said according to the natural history, and we are still speaking to little ones. We have therefore stated the nature of things, so that from the nature of things we may bring forth something spiritual. The stone which is commonly called flint, if it is alone, cannot send forth fire: but if it is struck together with another stone, the fire in the middle is struck out. Suppose for me that Jeremiah, Isaiah, Elijah are a cloud: and that Paul too, and Peter, and the rest of the apostles are a cloud. These clouds, therefore, when they have been struck together among themselves, send forth the fire in the middle, and it gives light to the world. His lightnings have shone upon the world; the earth saw and was shaken. The lightnings of the apostles shone in the whole world, and the earth was shaken. They spoke, and the whole world heard the thunder of their voice. They had two things together: both a mighty voice, and the splendor of lightnings. These lightnings enlightened those who believed, and burned up those who did not believe.
"His lightnings gave shine unto the world" [Psalm 97:4]. This is great joy. Do we not see? Is it not clear? His lightnings have shined unto the whole world: His enemies have been set on fire, and burnt. All that gainsaid has been burnt, and "His lightnings have given shine unto the world." How have they shone? That the world might at length believe. Whence were the lightnings? From the clouds. What are the clouds of God? The preachers of the truth. But you see a cloud, misty and dark in the sky, and it has I know not what hidden within it. If there be lightning from the cloud, a brightness shines forth: from that which you despised, has burst forth that which you may dread. Our Lord Jesus Christ therefore sent His Apostles, as His preachers, like clouds: they were seen as men, and were despised; as clouds appear, and are despised, until what you wonder at gleams from them. For they were in the first place men encumbered with flesh, weak; then, men of low station, unlearned, ignoble: but there was within what could lighten forth; there was in them what could flash abroad. Peter a fisherman approached, prayed, and the dead arose. [Acts 9:40] His human form was a cloud, the splendour of the miracle was the lightning. So in their words, so in their deeds, when they do things to be wondered at, and utter words to be wondered at, "His lightnings gave shine unto the world; the earth saw it, and was afraid." Is it not true? Does not the whole Christian world at length exclaim, Amen, afraid at the lightnings which burst forth from those clouds?
Dictionary and topics
Earthquake — Mentioned among the extraordinary phenomena of Palestine (Ps. 18:7; comp. Hab. 3:6; Nah. 1:5; Isa. 5:25). The first earthquake in Palestine of which we have any record happened in the reign of Ahab…
Lightning · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Again we have nothing but echoes of the older literature: Psa 97:4 = Psa 77:19; Psa 97:4, cf. Psa 77:17; Psa 97:5, cf. Mic 1:4; Psa 97:5, cf. Mic 4:13; Psa 97:6 = Psa 50:6; Psa 97:6, cf. Isa 35:2; Isa 40:5; Isa 52:10; Isa 66:18. The poet goes on to describe that which is future with historical certainty. That which Psa 77:19 says of the manifestation of God in the earlier times he transfers to the revelation of God in the last time. The earth sees it, and begins to tremble in consequence of it. The reading ותּחל, according to Hitzig (cf. Ew. ֗232, b) traditional, is, however, only an error of pointing that has been propagated; the correct reading is the reading of Heidenheim and Baer, restor…
Dark clouds . . . Fire . . . lightning: This language shows that the Lord is coming in judgment.
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 97:4
His lightnings enlightened the world: the earth saw, and trembled.
His lightnings enlightened the world. In times of tempest the whole of nature is lighted up with a lurid glare, even the light of the sun itself seems dim compared with the blaze of lightning. If such are the common lights of nature what must be the glories of the Godhead itself? When God draws aside the curtain for a moment how astonished are the nations, the light compels them to cover their eyes and bow their heads in solemn awe. Jesus in the gospel lights up the earth with such a blaze of truth and grace as was never seen or even imagined before. In apostolic times the word flashed from one end of the heavens to the othe…
"His lightnings gave light to the world." This is what is said in Jeremiah: "The Lord who made the world in his wisdom, who brought clouds from the end of the earth, made lightnings into rain." "His lightnings gave light to the world." The philosophers who are accustomed to dispute about the natures of things say that, unless clouds coming against each other are dashed together, fire cannot slip out of them; but when they have been driven, by a certain contest among themselves, into thunders, then lightning slips out of them. Which likeness we can also understand from fired stones. We have said this so that we may more easily see something similar to the mystery of the Savior. We have our own clouds, the prophets and the apostles; whence also elsewhere it is said, "Your truth reaches even to the clouds." If his truth reaches even to the clouds of this air, how is it said elsewhere, "Truth has arisen from the earth"? Therefore what it says is this: "Your truth reaches even to the clouds." It certainly signifies the prophets and apostles: which clouds, unless they have been dashed together among themselves, cannot give their splendor; but if in one course they come to thunder together, lightnings fall in the whole world. Do you wish to know how the saints are called clouds in the Scriptures? It is said in Isaiah: "I will command the clouds not to rain rain upon them." Moses was a cloud, and therefore he spoke: "Let my speech be awaited like rain." The epistles of the apostles are our spiritual rains. For what does Paul say in the epistle to the Hebrews? "For the earth, drinking in the rain that often comes upon it," and the rest. And again: "I planted, Apollos watered." "It saw, and the earth was moved." In the whole world the earth felt the lightning words of the Lord, and was moved — the earth which, before it was moved, was hard, and was not able to receive the word of the Lord. The Lord looked upon it, "who looks upon the earth and makes it tremble." What is this, "makes it tremble"? "Upon whom else shall I rest, except upon the humble and quiet one, who trembles at my words?"
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
