Seder 5: Psalm 93---God's Kingship over Earth, Sea, and Sanctuary

 Psalm 93 is the first of a group of psalms (93-100) affirming God's rule over everything, including the earth, the waters, and Israel.  

This was a psalm sung before the Sabbath during the Second Temple Period, on the sixth day of the week--see Tamid 7:4 in the Mishnah.  The psalms for each day are

1. !st day--Psalm 24
2. 2nd day--Psalm 45
3. 3rd day--Psalm 82
4. 4th day---Psalm 44
5. 5th day---Psalm 81
6. 6th day---Psalm 93
7. Sabbath--Psalm 92.

The psalm begins by emphasizing that the God of Israel, and no one else, reigns.  (Verse 1 reminds us of Rev 19:6.)  He reigns because he has always existed, before anything else did, and he has created and established everything.  The world does not behave erratically because God rules over it.

In the ancient world, ocean currents were feared.  Verses 3-4 say that though the waters of the world rise, God is far above them and is unaffected.  The seas are not independent forces; God rules over them too.

Commentator Willem Van Gemeren points our that in the Bible, the sea is also a metaphor for the nations, which God also rules (Isa 8:7-8; Jer 46:7-8, for example).  

Finally, God rules over his people and dwells in their midst (verse 5).