(7) Confounded--i.e., ashamed (Isaiah 42:17; Jeremiah 10:14). The same idea is conveyed by the very word "idols" in Hebrew--empty, worthless things, shaming those who worship them.

It is doubtful whether the verbs here are to be taken as imperatives. So LXX., Vulgate, and Authorised Version. Probably a fact is stated.

All ye gods.--Not "angels," as in LXX. (See Note, Psalm 8:5.) Here, however, the term is directly intended to include among superhuman beings the agencies worshipped by heathen nations as deities. The quotation Hebrews 1:6 (see Note, New Testament Commentary) is made from the LXX. of Deuteronomy 32:43.

Verse 7. - Confounded be all they that serve graven images, that boast themselves of idols. Professor Cheyne transposes this verse and the next, but without any necessity. It is quite natural that the effect of the theophany on God's enemies should be noted first. The effect is that they are "confounded," or rather, covered with shame. The display of real Divine power makes manifest the impotency of the idols, and puts their worshippers to the blush. Worship him, all ye gods. The theophany is a call on the false gods to worship the true God.

97:1-7 Though many have been made happy in Christ, still there is room. And all have reason to rejoice in Christ's government. There is a depth in his counsels, which we must not pretend to fathom; but still righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne. Christ's government, though it might be matter of joy to all, will yet be matter of terror to some; but it is their own fault that it is so. The most resolute and daring opposition will be baffled at the presence of the Lord. And the Lord Jesus will ere long come, and put an end to idol worship of every kind.Confounded be all they that serve graven images,.... Images of gold, silver, and stone, graven by art and man's device; to serve and worship which must be the grossest ignorance and stupidity, which, when convinced of, must fill with shame and confusion: this may be considered either as a prayer, that the idolatrous Gentiles might be enlightened to see the vanity of their idols, and their worship of them, and turn to the living God; or as a prophecy that it should be; for it may be rendered, "they are" or "shall be confounded", or "ashamed" (t), as the Targum, Jarchi, and Kimchi; which had its accomplishment in the first times of the Gospel; when, being preached in the Gentile world, multitudes forsook their idols and served the true God; and especially at the opening of the sixth seal, when Pagan worship was abolished throughout the Roman empire; and when the kings and great men in it, through shame, confusion, and dread, fled to the rocks and mountains, to hide them from the wrath of the Lamb, Revelation 6:12, and will have a further accomplishment, when the Papists, the worshippers of the beast, shall be ashamed of their graven images, of the Virgin Mary, and other saints; which will be when the Gospel shall be published throughout the world, Revelation 14:6,

that boast themselves of idols; as their saviours and deliverers, which yet are nothing, as the word (u) signifies; that praise and extol them, as the givers of good things to them, or the procurers of them for them; that glory in them, and in their worship of them, than which nothing can be a greater instance of folly and madness:

worship him, all ye gods; those that are so called, the graven images and idols before mentioned; let them bow down, and be prostrate before the Lord, as Dagon before the ark; or they that serve other gods, as Kimchi; so the Targum,

"and all the nations that serve idols shall worship before him;''

rather kings and princes, civil magistrates, who are sometimes called gods, are meant, Psalm 95:3, and who, in the latter day especially, shall serve and worship the Messiah, Psalm 72:10 though it is best of all to interpret it of angels, as this word Elohim is rendered in Psalm 8:5, and Aben Ezra says there are some of their interpreters that understand it of angels: the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and all the Oriental versions, and so Apollinarius, render it, "worship him, all his angels": Gussetius (w) interprets it, "all that is God's"; all that belong to him, angels and men, and all creatures; particularly angels, the most noble of all: and this sense is confirmed by an inspired writer, who manifestly refers to and quotes this passage, and applies it to the angels worshipping Christ, the first begotten Son of God, when he came into the world, Hebrews 1:6, with which compare Luke 2:13, from whence it appears not only that Christ is superior to angels, for the proof of which it is produced by the apostle; but that he is truly God, since God only is the object of religions worship; and that, if he is worshipped by angels, he ought to be worshipped by men; and that angels are not the proper objects of worship, since they are worshippers.

(t) "pudefiunt", Cocceius; "erubescent", Gejerus. (u) "in diis nihili"; Tigurine version; so some in Vatablus, Cocceius. (w) Ebr. Comment. p. 386.