Psalms 46:4

(Heb.: 46:5-8) Just as, according to Gen 2:10, a stream issued from Eden, to water the whole garden, so a stream makes Jerusalem as it were into another paradise: a river - whose streams make glad the city of Elohim (Psa 87:3; Psa 48:9, cf. Psa 101:8); פּלגיו (used of the windings and branches of the main-stream) is a second permutative subject (Psa 44:3). What is intended is the river of grace, which is also likened to a river of paradise in Psa 36:9. When the city of God is threatened and encompassed by foes, still she shall not hunger and thirst, nor fear and despair; for the river of grace and of her ordinances and promises flows with its rippling waves through the holy place, where the dwelling-place or tabernacle of the Most High is pitched. קדשׁ, Sanctum (cf. el-Ḳuds as a name of Jerusalem), as in Psa 65:5, Isa 57:15; גּדל, Exo 15:16. משׁכּני, dwellings, like משׁכּנות, Psa 43:3; Psa 84:2; Psa 132:5, Psa 132:7, equivalent to "a glorious dwelling." In Psa 46:6 in the place of the river we find Him from whom the river issues forth. Elohim helps her לפנותבּקר - there is only a night of trouble, the return of the morning is also the sunrise of speedy help. The preterites in Psa 46:7 are hypothetical: if peoples and kingdoms become enraged with enmity and totter, so that the church is in danger of being involved in this overthrow - all that God need to is to make a rumbling with His almighty voice of thunder (נתן בּקולו, as in Psa 68:34; Jer 12:8, cf. הרים בּמּטּה, to make a lifting with the rod, Exo 7:20), and forthwith the earth melts (muwg, as in Amo 9:5, Niph. Isa 14:31, and frequently), i.e., their titanic defiance becomes cowardice, the bonds of their confederation slacken, and the strength they have put forth is destroyed - it is manifest that Jahve Tsebaoth is…

This psalm encourages us to hope and trust in God, and his power, and providence, and gracious presence with his church in the worst of times, and directs us to give him the glory of what he has done for us and what he will do: probably it was penned upon occasion of David's victories over the neighbouring nations (2 Sa. 8), and the rest which God gave him from all his enemies round about. We are here taught, I. To take comfort in God when things look very black and threatening (Psa 46:1-5). II. To mention, to his praise, the great things he had wrought for his church against its enemies (Psa 46:6-9). III. To assure ourselves that God who has glorified his own name will glorify it yet again, and to comfort ourselves with that (Psa 46:10, Psa 46:11). We may, in singing it, apply it either to our spiritual enemies, and be more than conquerors over them, or to the public enemies of Christ's kingdom in the world and their threatening insults, endeavouring to preserve a holy security and serenity of mind when they seem most formidable. It is said of Luther that, when he heard any discouraging news, he would say, Come let us sing the forty-sixth psalm. To the chief musician for the sons of Korah. A song upon Alamoth.

46:4-6 The strong city where God dwells protects its inhabitants. They enjoy the river flowing inside the city. This river contrasts with the turbulent waters (the powers of the nations) outside the city. 46:4 Like the streams flowing through Eden, this river brings the water of life, restoration, and healing (36:8-9; see Gen 2:10; Ezek 47; Rev 22:2).