The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts.
This psalm celebrates a singular, miraculous deliverance of Jerusalem from extreme peril, not merely the constant protection God always grants His Church. The prophet exhorts the faithful to commit themselves confidently to His protection, assured that He will preserve them from all assaults of their enemies, for it is His peculiar office to quell every commotionI cannot say with certainty when it was composed, but the language expresses faith under threatened difficulty rather than triumph already won.
AI summary
Commenting on Psalm 46:1-11
The heathen raged. The nations were in a furious uproar, they gathered against the city of the Lord like wolves ravenous for their prey; they foamed, and roared, and swelled like a tempestuous sea. The kingdoms were moved. A general confusion seized upon society; the fierce invaders convulsed their own dominions by draining the population to urge on the war, and they desolated other territories...
These verses give glory to God both as King of nations and as King of saints. I. As King of nations, ruling the world by his power and providence, and overruling all the affairs of the children of men to his own glory; he does according to his will among the inhabitants of the earth, and none may say, What doest thou? 1.
Commenting on Psalm 46:6-11