Psalm 96:6 NKJV
Honor and majesty are before Him;
Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.
Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary: “If we ask whether this sanctuary is earthly or heavenly, the probable answer is both. The earthly one was a ‘copy and shadow’ of the heavenly (Heb. 8:5).” (Kidner)
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Honor and majesty are before him.” Men can but mimic these things; their pompous pageants are but the pretense of greatness. Honor and majesty are with him and with him alone. In the presence of Jehovah real glory and sovereignty abide, as constant attendants.
“Strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.” In him are combined all that is mighty and lovely, powerful and resplendent. We have seen rugged strength devoid of beauty, we have also seen elegance without strength; the union of the two is greatly to be admired. Do we desire to see the “sublime and beautiful” at one glance? Then we must look to the eternal throne. In the Chronicles we read strength and gladness; and the two renderings do not disagree in sense, for in the highest degree in this instance it is true that “a thing of beauty is a joy forever.” Not in outward show or parade of costly robes does the glory of God consist; such things are tricks of state with which the ignorant are dazzled; holiness, justice, wisdom, grace, these are the splendors of Jehovah’s courts, these the jewels and the gold, the regalia, and the pomp of the courts of heaven. (Spurgeon)
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Honor and majesty are before him – This part of the verse is taken literally from 1 Chronicles 16:27. The meaning is, that that which constitutes honor, glory, majesty, is in his presence, or wherever he is. Wherever he manifests himself, there are the exhibitions of honor and majesty. They are always the accompaniments of his presence.
Strength and beauty are in his sanctuary – This is slightly varied from the parallel passage in 1 Chronicles 16:27. The word rendered “strength” is in both places the same. The word rendered “beauty” here – תפארת tiph’ereth – is in 1 Chronicles 16:27 חדוה chedvâh – “joy or gladness.” The word here rendered “sanctuary” – מקדשׁ miqdâsh – is in 1 Chronicles 16:27 – מקום mâqôm – “place.” These variations are such as to show that the psalm is not a mere extract, but that it was altered of design, and adapted to the occasion on which it was to be employed – confirming the supposition that it may have been used in the re-dedication of the temple after the return from the captivity. The word “sanctuary” refers to the holy place where God dwells; his sacred abode, whether his residence in heaven or the temple on earth as the place of his earthly habitation. When it is said that “strength” is there, it means that the dwelling-place of God is the source of “power,” or that power emanates from thence; that is, from God himself. When it is said that “beauty” is there, the meaning is, that whatever is suited to charm by loveliness; whatever is a real ornament; whatever makes the world attractive; whatever beautifies and adorns creation, has its home in God; it proceeds from him. It may be added that whatever there is of “power” to reform the world, and convert sinners; whatever there is to turn people from their vicious and abandoned course of life; whatever there is to make the world better and happier, proceeds from the “sanctuary” – the church of God. Whatever there is that truly adorns society, and makes it more lovely and attractive; whatever there is that diffuses a charm over domestic and social life; whatever there is that makes the world more lovely or more desirable to live in – more courteous, more gentle, more humane, more kind, more forgiving – has its home in the “sanctuary,” or emanates from the church of God. (Barnes)
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Strength and beauty are in his sanctuary; the Targum is, “the house of his sanctuary,” the temple; the Gospel church, of which the temple or sanctuary was a figure: the strength of Christ is seen here, in the conversion of sinners by his Gospel, which is the rod of his strength, the power of God unto salvation, when it comes not in word only; and by which he also strengthens his people to the more vigorous exercise of grace and discharge of duty; here they go from strength to strength: the “beauty” of Christ is seen here; the King is held in the galleries of Gospel ordinances, and is beheld in his beauty; his people appear here in the beauties of holiness, and as a perfection of beauty, through the righteousness of Christ upon them; and as they observe the order of the Gospel, and do all things decently, and with a good decorum: or else, as Kimchi interprets it, heaven may be meant by the sanctuary, of which the holy place, made with hands, was a figure; here Christ reigns, girded with “strength”; here he rules as the Lord God omnipotent, having all power in heaven, and in earth, and doing according to his will in both; and from hence he shows himself strong on the behalf of his people; here. He, who is beauty itself, fairer than the children of men, dwells; here those beauteous forms of light and glory, the holy angels, are; and here the spirits of just men made perfect, who are without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, have their abode: (Gill)
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Splendor and majesty are before him, in his immediate presence above, where the angels cover their faces, as unable to bear the dazzling lustre of his glory.
Strength and beauty are in his sanctuary, both that above and this below. In God there is every thing that is awful and yet every thing that is amiable. If we attend him in his sanctuary, we shall behold his beauty, for God is love, and experience his strength, for he is our rock. Let us therefore go forth in his strength, enamored with his beauty. (Henry)
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From the 1560 Geneva Bible
6 “d” Strength and glory are before him: power and beautie are in his Sanctuarie.
6 d God cannot be known, but by his strength and glory: the signs whereof appear in his Sanctuary.
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