5. They shall fear thee with the sun If this is read as an apostrophe, or change of person, it may be properly and without violence understood of the king; implying, that the ornaments or distinctions which chiefly secure to a sovereign reverence from his subjects are his impartially securing to every man the possession of his own rights, and his manifesting a spirit of humanity ready at all times to succor the poor and miserable, as well as a spirit determined rigorously to subdue the audacity of the wicked. But it will be more appropriate, without changing the person, to explain it of God himself. (131) The preservation of mutual equity among men is an inestimable blessing; but the service of God is well worthy of being preferred even to this. David, therefore, very properly commends to us the blessed fruits of a holy and righteous government, by telling us that it will draw in its train true religion and the fear of God. And Paul, when enjoining us in 1 Timothy 2:2, to pray for kings, expressly mentions what we ought to have in view in our prayers, which is, “that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.” As there is no small danger, were civil government overthrown, of religion being destroyed, and the worship of God annihilated, David beseeches God to have respect to his own name and glory in preserving the king. By this argument he at once reminds kings of their duty, and stirs up the people to prayer; for we cannot be better employed than in directing all our desires and prayers to the advancement of the service and honor of God. When we come to Christ, this is far more truly applicable to him, true religion being established in his kingdom and nowhere else. And certainly David, in describing the worship or service of God as continuing to the end of the world, intimates by the way that he ascends in thought to that everlasting kingdom which God had promised: They shall fear thee with the sun; and generation of generations shall fear thee in the presence of the moon. (132)
(131) “The poet in this clause addresses God; not the king, of whom he speaks always in the third person. The sense is, This king shall establish and preserve among his subjects the true religion, — the uncorrupted worship of God. Michaelis, on this passage, justly remarks that this could not, without extreme flattery, be predicated of Solomon.” — Dathe.
(132) “With the sun,” and “in the presence of the moon,” are Hebrew idioms, designating the eternity of the Messiah’s kingdom. “‘They shall venerate thee with the sun, and in presence of the moon;’ that is, as long as the sun shines, and is succeeded by the moon, or while the sun and moon continue to give light, — in a word, for ever. Compare verse seventh, where the same idea is expressed, only in a slightly different manner, — until there be no moon Psalms 89:37 — ‘His throne shall be as the sun before me, as the moon it shall be established for ever.’ The word לפני, [translated in presence of, ] in this passage, is to be understood in the same sense as in Genesis 11:28, Mortuus est Haran , על-פני, coram facie Terah; ‘And Haran died before the face of Terah,’ that is, while Terah still survived. Hence, in Psalms 102:28, where לפניך, coram te , ‘before thee,’ is used in reference to God, — the Alexandrine version gives εἰς αἰω̑νας ‘for ever.’ Here the sense is given in the words immediately following, דור דורים, generatio generationum , ‘a generation of generations’ shall venerate thee; — in other words, throughout all generations, or during a continual series of years, men shall celebrate thy happy and glorious reign.” — Rosenmüller Calvin also reads דור דורים, “generation of generations,” in the nominative case. The translators of our English Bible supply the preposition ל, lamed, thus making it, “throughout all generations.” But in either case the meaning is the same.