TITLE. A Psalm of David.—Doubtless
by David; it is in his own style when at its best, and we should
attribute it to his later years when he had a higher sense of
the preciousness of pardon, because a keener sense of sin, than
in his younger days. His clear sense of the frailty of life
indicates his weaker years, as also does the very fainess of his
praiseful gratitude. As in the lofty Alps some peaks rise above
all others so among even the inspired Psalms there are heights
of song which overtop the rest. This one hundred and third Psalm
has ever seemed to us to be the Monte Rosa of the divine chain
of mountains of praise, glowing with a ruddier light than any of
the rest. It is as the apple tree among the trees of the wood,
and its golden fruit has a flavour such as no fruit ever bears
unless it has been ripened in the full suushine of mercy. It is
man's reply to the benedictions of his God, his Song on the
Mount answering to his Redeemer's Sermon on the Mount.
Nebuchadnezzar adored his idol with flute, harp, sacbut,
psaltery, dulcimer and all kinds of music; and David, in far
nobler style awakens all the melodies of heaven and earth in
honour of the one only living and true God. Our attempt at
exposition is commenced under an impressive sense of the utter
impossibility of doing justice to so sublime a composition; we
call upon our soul and all that is within us to aid in the
pleasurable task; but, alas, our soul is finite, and our all of
mental faculty far too little for the enterprize. There is too
much in the Psalm, for a thousand pens to write, it is one of
those all-comprehending Scriptures which is a Bible in itself,
and it might alone almost suffice for the hymn-book of the
church.
DIVISION. First the Psalmist sings of
personal mercies which he had himself received Ps 103:1-5; then
he magnifies the attributes of Jehovah as displayed in his
dealings with his people, Ps 103:6-19; and he closes by calling
upon all the creatures in the universe to adore the Lord and
join with himself in blessing Jehovah, the ever gracious.
EXPOSITION
Verse 1. Bless the Lord O my soul. Soul music
is the very soul of music. The Psalmist strikes the best keymote
when he begins with stirring up his inmost self to magnify the
Lord. He soliloquizes, holds self-communion and exhorts himself,
as though he felt that dulness would all too soon steal over his
faculties, as, indeed, it will over us all, unless we are
diligently on the watch. Jehovah is worthy to be praised by us
in that highest style of adoration which is intended by the term
bless—"All thy works praise thee, O God, but thy
saints shall bless thee." Our very life and essential self
should be engrossed with this delightful service, and each one
of us should arouse his own heart to the engagement. Let others
forbear if they can: "Bless the Lord, O MY soul." Let
others murmur, but do thou bless. Let others bless
themselves and their idols, but do thou bless the LORD.
Let others use only their tongues, but as for me I will cry,
"Bless the Lord, O my soul." And all that is
within me, bless his holy name. Many are our faculties,
emotions, and capacities, but God has given them all to us, and
they ought all to join in chorus to his praise. Half-hearted,
ill-conceived, unintelligent praises are not such as we should
render to our loving Lord. If the law of justice demanded all
our heart and soul and mind for the Creator, much more may the
law of gratitude put in a comprehensive claim for the homage of
our whole being to the God of grace. It is instructive to note
how the Psalmist dwells upon the holy name of God, as if
his holiness were dearest to him; or, perhaps, because the
holiness or wholeness of God was to his mind the grandest motive
for rendering to him the homage of his nature in its wholeness.
Babes may praise the divine goodness, but fathers in grace
magnify his holiness. By the name we understand the
revealed character of God, and assuredly those songs which are
suggested, not by our fallible reasoning and imperfect
observation, but by unerring inspiration, should more than any
others arouse all our consecrated powers.
Verse 2. Bless the LORD, O my soul. He is in
real earnest, and again calls upon himself to arise. Had he been
very sleepy before? Or was he now doubly sensible of the
importance, the imperative necessity of adoration? Certainly, he
uses no vain repetitions, for the Holy Spirit guides his pen;
and thus he shews us that we have need, again and again, to
bestir ourselves when we are about to worship God, for it would
be shameful to offer him anything less than the utmost our souls
can render. These first verses are a tuning of the harp, a
screwing up of the loosened strings that not a note may fail in
the sacred harmony. And forget not all his benefits. Not so much
as one of the divine dealings should be forgotten, they are all
really beneficial to us, all worthy of himself, and all subjects
for praise. Memory is very treacherous about the best things; by
a strange perversity, engendered by the fall, it treasures up
the refuse of the past and permits priceless treasures to lie
neglected, it is tenacious of grievances and holds benefits all
too loosely. It needs spurring to its duty, though that duty
ought to be its delight. Observe that he calls all that is
within him to remember all the Lord's benefits. For our task our
energies should be suitably called out. God's all cannot be
praised with less than our all. Reader, have we not cause enough
at this time to bless him who blesses us? Come, let us read our
diaries and see if there be not choice favours recorded there
for which we have rendered no grateful return. Remember how the
Persian king, when he conld not sleep, read the chronicles of
the empire, and discovered that one who had saved his life had
never been rewarded. How quickly did he do him honour! The Lord
has saved us with a great salvation, shall we render no
recompense? The name of ingrate is one of the most
shameful that a man can wear; surely we cannot be content to run
the risk of such a brand. Let us awake then, and with intense
enthusiasm bless Jehovah.
Verse 3. Who forgiveth all thine iniquities.
Here David begins his list of blessings received, which he
rehearses as themes and arguments for praise. He selects a few
of the choicest pearls from the casket of divine love, threads
them on the string of memory, and hangs them about the neck of
gratitude. Pardoned sin is, in our experience, one of the
choicest boons of grace, one of the earliest gifts of
mercy,—in fact, the needful preparation for enjoying all that
follows it. Till iniquity is forgiven, healing, redemption, and
satisfaction are unknown blessings. Forgiveness is first in the
order of our spiritual experience, and in some respects first in
value. The pardon granted is a present one—forgiveth;it
is continual, for he still forgiveth;it is divine, for
God gives it; it is far reaching, for it removes all our sins;
it takes in omissions as well as commissions, for both these are
in-equities;and it is most effectual, for it is as real
as the healing, and the rest of the mercies with which it is
placed. Who healeth all thy diseases. When the cause is gone,
namely, iniquity, the effect ceases. Sicknesses of body and soul
came into the world by sin, and as sin is eradicated, diseases
bodily, mental, and spiritual will vanish, till "the
inhabitant shall no more say, I am sick." Many-sided is the
character of our heavenly Father, for, having forgiven as a
judge, he then cures as a physician. He is all things to us, as
our needs call for him, and our infirmities do but reveal him in
new characters.
"In him is only good,
In me is only ill,
My ill but draws his goodness forth,
And me he loveth still."
God gives efficacy to medicine for the body, and his grace
sanctifies the soul. Spiritually we are daily under his care,
and he visits us, as the surgeon does his patient; healing
still (for that is the exact word) each malady as it arises. No
disease of our soul baffles his skill, he goes on healing all,
and he will do so till the last trace of taint has gone from our
nature. The two alls of this verse are further reasons
for all that is within us praising the Lord. The two
blessings of this verse the Psalmist was personally enjoying, he
sang not of others but of himself, or rather of his Lord, who
was daily forgiving and healing him. He must have known that it
was so, or he could not have sung of it. He had no doubt about
it, he felt in his soul that it was so, and, therefore, he bade
his pardoned and restored soul bless the Lord with all its
might.
Verse 4. Who redeemeth thy life from destruction.
By purchase and by power the Lord redeems us from the spiritual
death into which we had fallen, and from the eternal death which
would have been its consequence. Had not the death penalty of
sin been removed, our forgiveness and healing would have been
incomplete portions of salvation, fragments only, and but of
small value, but the removal of the guilt and power of sin is
fitly attended by the reversal of the sentence of death which
had been passed upon us. Glory be to our great Substitute, who
delivered us from going down into the pit, by giving himself to
be our ransom. Redemption will ever constitute one of the
sweetest notes in the believer's grateful song. Who crowneth
thee with loving kindness and tender mercies. Our Lord does
nothing by halves, he will not stay his hand till he has gone to
the uttermost with his people. Cleansing, healing, redemption,
are not enough, he must needs make them kings and crown them,
and the crown must be far more precious than if it were made of
corruptible things, such as silver and gold; it is studded with
gems of grace and lined with the velvet of lovingkindness; it is
decked with the jewels of mercy, but made soft for the head to
wear by a lining of tenderness. Who is like unto thee, O Lord!
God himself crowns the princes of his family, for their best
things come from him directly and distinctly; they do not earn
the crown, for it is of mercy not of merit; they feel
their own unworthiness of it, therefore he deals with tenderness;but
lie is resolved to bless them, and, therefore, he is ever crowning
them, always surrounding their brows with coronets of mercy and
compassion. He always crowns the edifice which he commences, and
where he gives pardon he gives acceptance too. "Since thou
wast precious in my sight thou hast been honourable, and I have
loved thee." Our sin deprived us of all our honours, a bill
of attainder was issued against us as traitors; but he who
removed the sentence of death by redeeming us from destruction,
restores to us more than all our former honours by crowning us
anew. Shall God crown us and shall not we crown him? Up, my
soul, and cast thy crown at his feet, and in lowliest reverence
worship him, who has so greatly exalted thee, as to lift thee
from the dunghill and set thee among princes.
Verse 5. Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things,
or rather "filling with good thy soul." No man is ever
filled to satisfaction but a believer, and only God himself can
satisfy even him. Many a worldling is satiated, but not one is
satisfied. God satisfies the very soul of man, his noblest part,
his ornament and glory; and of consequence he satisfies his
mouth, however hungry and craving it might otherwise be.
Soul-satisfaction loudly calls for soul-praise, and when the
mouth is filled with good it is bound to speak good of him who
filled it. Our good Lord bestows really good things, not
vain toys and idle pleasures; and these he is always giving, so
that from moment to moment he is satisfying our soul with
good: shall we not be still praising him? If we never cease to
bless him till he ceases to bless us, our employment will be
eternal. So that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's. Renewal
of strength, amounting to a grant of a new lease of life, was
granted to the Psalmist; he was so restored to his former self
that he grew young again, and looked as vigorous as an eagle,
whose eye can gaze upon the sun, and whose wing can mount above
the storm. Our version refers to the annual moulting of the
eagle, after which it looks fresh and young; but the original
does not appear to allude to any such fact of natural history,
but simply to describe the diseased one as so healed and
strengthened, that he became as full of energy as the bird which
is strongest of the feathered race, most fearless, most
majestic, and most soaring. He who sat moping with the owl in
the last Psalm, here flies on high with the eagle: the Lord
works marvellous changes in us, and we learn by such experiences
to bless his holy name. To grow from a sparrow to an eagle, and
leave the wilderness of the pelican to mount among the stars is
enough to make any man cry, "Bless the Lord, O my
soul." Thus, is the endless chain of grace complete. Sins
forgiven, its power subdued, and its penalty averted, then we
are honoured, supplied, and our very nature renovated, till we
are as new-born children in the household of God. O Lord we must
bless thee, and we will; as thou dost withhold nothing from us
so we would not keep back from thy praise one solitary power of
our nature, but with all our heart, and soul, and strength
praise thy holy name.
Verse 6. The LORD executeth righteousness and
judgment for all that are of oppressed. Our own personal
obligations must not absorb our song; we must also magnify the
Lord for his goodness to others. He does not leave the poor and
needy to perish at the hands of their enemies, but interposes on
their behalf, for he is the executor of the poor and the
executioner of the cruel. When his people were in Egypt he heard
their groanings and brought them forth, but he overthrew Pharaoh
in the Red Sea. Man's injustice shall receive retribution at the
hand of God. Mercy to his saints demands vengeance on their
persecutors, and he will repay it. No blood of martyrs shall be
shed in vain; no groans of confessors in prison shall be left
without inquisition being made concerning them. All
wrongs shall be righted, all the oppressed shall be
avenged. Justice may at times leave the courts of man, but it
abides upon the tribunal of God. For this every right-minded
person will bless God. Were he careless of his creature's good,
did he neglect the administration of justice, did he suffer
high-handed oppressors finally to escape, we should have greater
reason for trembling than rejoicing; it is not so, however, for
our God is a God of justice, and by him actions are weighed; he
will mete out his portion to the proud and make the tyrant bite
the dust,—yea, often he visits the haughty persecutor even in
this life, so that "the Lord is known by the judgments
which he executeth."
Verse 7. He made known his ways unto Moses.
Moses was made to see the manner in which the Lord deals with
men; he saw this at each of the three periods of his life, in
the court, in retirement, and at the head of the tribes of
Israel. To him the Lord gave specially clear manifestations of
his dispensations and modes of ruling among mankind, granting to
him to see more of God than had before been seen by mortal man,
while he cornmaned with him upon the mount. His acts unto the
children of Israel. They saw less than Moses, for they beheld
the deeds of God without understanding his method therein, yet
this was much, very much, and might have been more if they had
not been so perverse; the stint was not in the revelation, but
in the hardness of their hearts. It is a great act of sovereign
grace and condescending love when the Lord reveals himself to
any people, and they ought to appreciate the distinguished
favour shown to them. We, as believers in Jesus, know the Lord's
ways of covenant grace, and we have by experience been
made to see his acts of mercy towards us; how heartily
ought we to praise our divine teacher, the Holy Spirit, who has
made these things known to us, for had it not been for him we
should have continued in darkness unto this day, "Lord, how
is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us and not unto the
world?" Why hast thou made us "of the election who
have obtained it" while the rest are blinded? Observe how
prominent is the personality of God in all this gracious
teaching—"He made known." He did not leave
Moses to discover truth for himself, but became his instructor.
What should we ever know if he did not make it known? God alone
can reveal himself. If Moses needed the Lord to make him know,
how much more do we who are so much inferior to the great
law-giver?
Verse 8. The Lord is merciful and gracious.
Those with whom he deals are sinners. However much he favours
them they are guilty and need mercy at his hands, nor is he slow
to compassionate their lost estate, or reluctant by his grace to
lift them out of it. Mercy pardons sin, grace bestows favour: in
both the Lord abounds. This is that way of his which he made
known to Moses (Ex 34:6), and in that way he will abide as long
as the age of grace shall last, and men are yet in this life. He
who "executeth righteousness and judgment, " yet
delighteth in mercy. Slow to anger. He can be angry, and can
deal out righteous indignation upon the guilty, but it is his
strange work; he lingers long, with loving pauses, tarrying by
the way to give space for repentance and opportunity for
accepting his mercy. Thus deals he with the greatest sinners,
and with his own children much more so: towards them his anger
is shortlived and never reaches into eternity, and when it is
shown in fatherly chastisements he does not afflict willingly,
and soon pities their sorrows. From this we should learn to be
ourselves slow to anger; if the Lord is longsuffering under our
great provocations how much more ought we to endure the errors
of our brethren! And plenteous in mercy. Rich in it, quick in
it, overflowing with it; and so had he need to be or we should
soon be consumed. He is God, and not man, or our sins would soon
drown his love; yet above the mountains of our sins the floods
of his mercy rise.
"Plenteous grace with thee is found,
Grace to cover all my sin;
Let the healing streams abound,
Make and keep me pure within."
All the world tastes of his sparing mercy, those who hear the
gospel partake of his inviting mercy, the saints live by his
saving mercy, are preserved by his upholding mercy, are cheered
by his consoling mercy, and will enter heaven through his
infinite and everlasting mercy. Let grace abounding be our
hourly song in the house of our pilgrimage. Let those who feel
that they live upon it glorify the plenteous fountain from which
it so spontaneously flows.
Verse 9. He will not always chide. He will
sometimes, for he cannot endure that his people should harbour
sin in their hearts, but not for ever will he chasten them; as
soon as they turn to him and forsake their evil ways he will end
the quarrel. He might find constant cause for striving with us,
for we have always something in us which is contrary to his holy
mind, but he refrains himself lest our spirits should fail
before him. It will be profitable for any one of us who may be
at this time out of conscious fellowship with the Lord, to
inquire at his hands the reason for his anger, saying, "Shew
me wherefore thou contendest with me?" For he is easily
entreated of, and soon ceaseth from his wrath. When his children
turn from their sins he soon turns from his chidings. Neither
will he keep his anger for ever. He bears no grudges. The Lord
would not have his people harbour resentments, and in his own
course of action he sets them a grand example. When the Lord has
chastened his child he has done with his anger: he is not
punishing as a judge, else might his wrath burn on, but he is
acting as a father, and, therefore, after a few blows he ends
the matter, and presses his beloved one to his bosom as if
nothing had happened; or if the offence lies too deep in the
offender's nature to be thus overcome, he continues to correct,
but he never ceases to love, and he does not suffer his anger
with his people to pass into the next world, but receives his
erring child into his glory.
Verse 10. He hath not dealt with us after our sins;
nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. Else had Israel
perished outright, and we also had long ago been consigned to
the lowest hell. We ought to praise the Lord for what he has not
done as well as for what he has wrought for us; even the
negative side deserves our adoring gratitude. Up to this moment,
at our very worst estate, we have never suffered as we deserved
to suffer; our daily lot has not been apportioned upon the rule
of what we merited, but on the far different measure of
undeserved kindness. Shall we not bless the Lord? Every power of
our being might have been rent with anguish, instead of which we
are all in the enjoyment of comparative happiness, and many of
us are exceedingly favoured with inward joy; let then every
faculty, yea, all that is within us, bless his holy name.
Verse 11. For as the heaven is high above the
earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.
Boundless in extent towards his chosen is the mercy of the Lord;
it is no more to be measured than the height of heaven or the
heaven of heavens. "Like the height of the heavens"
is the original language, which implies other points of
comparison besides extent, and suggests sublimity, grandeur, and
glory. As the lofty heavens canopy the earth, water it with dews
and rains, enlighten it with sun, moon, and stars, and look down
upon it with unceasing watchfulness, even so the Lord's mercy
from above covers all his chosen, enriches them, embraces them,
and stands for ever as their dwellingplace. The idea of our
version is a very noble one, for who shall tell how exceeding
great is the height of heaven? Who can reach the first of the
fixed stars, and who can measure the utmost bounds of the starry
universe? Yet so great is his mercy! Oh, that great little word
so! All this mercy is for "them that fear him; "there
must be a humble, hearty reverence of his authority, or we
cannot taste of his grace. Godly fear is one of the first
products of the divine life in us, it is the beginning of
wisdom, yet it fully ensures to its possessor all the benefits
of divine mercy, and is, indeed, here and elsewhere, employed to
set forth the whole of true religion. Many a true child of God
is full of filial fear, and yet at the same time stands
trembling as to his acceptance with God; this trembling is
groundless, but it is infinitely to be preferred to that
baseborn presumption, which incites men to boast of their
adoption and consequent security, when all the while they are in
the gall of bitterness. Those who are presuming upon the
infinite extent of divine mercy, should here be led to consider
that although it is wide as the horizon and high as the stars,
yet it is only meant for them that fear the Lord, and as for
obstinate rebels, they shall have justice without mercy measured
out to them.
Verse 12. As far as the east is from the west, so
far hath he removed our transgressions from us. O glorious
verse, no word even upon the inspired page can excel it! Sin is
removed from us by a miracle of love! What a load to move, and
yet is it removed so far that the distance is incalculable. Fly
as far as the wing of imagination can bear you, and if you
journey through space eastward, you are further from the west at
every beat of your wing. If sin be removed so far, then we may
be sure that the scent, the trace, the very memory of it must be
entirely gone. If this be the distance of its removal, there is
no shade of fear of its ever being brought back again; even
Satan himself could not achieve such a task. Our sins are gone,
Jesus has borne them away. Far as the place of sunrise is
removed from yonder west, where the sun sinks when his day's
journey is done, so far were our sins carried by our scapegoat
nineteen centuries ago, and now if they be sought for, they
shall not be found, yea, they shall not be, saith the Lord.
Come, my soul, awaken thyself thoroughly and glorify the Lord
for this richest of blessings. Hallelujah. The Lord alone could
remove sin at all, and he has done it in a godlike fashion,
making a final sweep of all our transgressions.
Verse 13. Like as a father pitieth his children, so
the Lord pitieth them that fear him. To those who truly
reverence his holy name, the Lord is a father and acts as such.
These he pities, for in the very best of men the Lord sees much
to pity, and when they are at their best state they still need
his compassion. This should check every propensity to pride,
though at the same time it should yield us the richest comfort.
Fathers feel for their children, especially when they are in
pain, they would like to suffer in their stead, their sighs and
groans cut them to the quick: thus sensitive towards us is our
heavenly Father. We do not adore a god of stone, but the living
God, who is tenderness itself. He is at this moment
compassionating us, for the word is in the present tense; his
pity never fails to flow, and we never cease to need it.
Verse 14. For he knoweth our frame. He knows
how we are made, for he made us. Our make and build, our
constitution and temperament, our prevailing infirmity and most
besetting temptation he well perceives, for he searches our
inmost nature. He remembereth that we are dust. Made of dust,
dust still, and ready to return to dust. We have sometimes heard
of "the Iron Duke, " and of iron constitutions, but
the words are soon belied, for the Iron Duke is dissolved, and
other men of like rigour are following to the grave, where
"dust to dust" is an appropriate requiem. We too often
forget that we are dust, and try our minds and bodies unduly by
excessive mental and bodily exertion, we are also too little
mindful of the infirmities of others, and impose upon them
burdens grievous to be borne; but our heavenly Father never
overloads us, and never fails to give us strength equal to our
day, because he always takes our frailty into account when he is
apportioning to us our lot. Blessed be his holy name for this
gentleness towards his frail creatures.
Verse 15. As for man, his days are as grass. He
lives on the grass, and lives like the grass. Corn is but
educated grass, and man, who feeds on it, partakes of its
nature. The grass lives, grows, flowers, falls beneath the
scythe, dries up, and is removed from the field: read this
sentence over again, and you will find it the history of man. If
he lives out his little day, he is cut down at last, and it is
far more likely that he will wither before he comes to maturity,
or be plucked away on a sudden, long before he has fulfilled his
time. As a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. He has a
beauty and a comeliness even as the meadows have when they are
yellow with the king-cups, but, alas, how short-lived! No sooner
come than gone, a flash of loveliness and no more! Man is not
even like a flower in the conservatory or in the sheltered
garden border, he grows best according to nature, as the
field-flower does, and like the unprotected beautifier of the
pasture, he runs a thousand risks of coming to a speedy end. A
large congregation, in many-coloured attire, always reminds us
of a meadow bright with many hues; and the comparison becomes
sadly true when we reflect, that as the grass and its goodliness
soon pass away, even so will those we gaze upon, and all their
visible beauty. Thus, too, must it be with all that comes of the
flesh, even its greatest excellencies and natural virtues, for
"that which is born of the flesh is flesh, "and
therefore is but as grass which withers if but a breath of wind
assails it. Happy are they who, born from above, have in them an
incorruptible seed which liveth and abideth for ever.
Verse 16. For the wind passeth over it, and it is
gone. Only a little wind is needed, not even a scythe is
demanded, a breath can do it, for the flower is so frail.
"If one sharp wind sweep over the field,
It withers in an hour."
How small a portion of deleterious gas suffices to create a
deadly fever, which no art of man can stay. No need of sword or
bullet, a puff of foul air is deadlier far, and fails not to lay
low the healthiest and most stalwart son of man. And the place
thereof shall know it no more. The flower blooms no more. It may
have a successor, but as for itself its leaves are scattered,
and its perfume will never again sweeten the evening air. Man
also dies and is gone, gone from his old haunts, his dear home,
and his daily labours, never to return. As far as this world is
concerned, he is as though he never had been; the sun rises, the
moon increases or wanes, summer and winter run their round, the
rivers flow, and all things continue in their courses as though
they missed him not, so little a figure does he make in the
affairs of nature. Perhaps a friend will note that he is gone,
and say,
"One morn. I missed him on the accustomed hill,
Along the heath, and near his favourite tree;
Another came, nor yet beside the rill,
Nor up the lawn, nor at the wood was he."
But when the "dirges due" are silent, beyond a
mound of earth, and perhaps a crumbling stone, how small will be
the memorial of our existence upon this busy scene! True there
are more enduring memories, and an existence of another kind
coeval with eternity, but these belong, not to our flesh, which
is but grass, but to a higher life, in which we rise to close
fellowship with the Eternal.
Verse 17. But the mercy of the LORD is from
everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him. Blessed but!
How vast the contrast between the fading flower and the
everlasting God! How wonderful that his mercy should link our
frailty with his eternity, and make us everlasting too! From old
eternity the Lord viewed his people as objects of mercy, and as
such chose them to become partakers of his grace; the doctrine
of eternal election is most delightful to those who have light
to see it and love wherewith to accept it. It is a theme for
deepest thought and highest joy. The "to
everlasting" is equally precious. Jehovah changes not,
he has mercy without end as well as without beginning. Never
will those who fear him find that either their sins or their
needs have exhausted the great deep of his grace. The main
question is, "Do we fear him?" If we are
lifting up to heaven the eye of filial fear, the gaze of
paternal love is never removed from us, and it never will be,
world without end. And his righteousness unto children's
children. Mercy to those with whom the Lord makes a covenant is
guaranteed by righteousness;it is because he is just that
he never revokes a promise, or fails to fulfil it. Our believing
sons and their seed for ever will find the word of the Lord the
same: to them will he display his grace and bless them even as
he has blessed us. Let us sing, then, for posterity. The past
commands our praise and the future invites it. For our
descendants let us sing as well as pray. If Abraham rejoiced
concerning his seed, so also may the godly, for "instead of
the fathers shall be the children, "and as the last Psalm
told us in its concluding verse, "the children of thy
servants shall continue, and their seed shall be established
before thee."
Verse 18. Children of the righteous are not, however,
promised the Lord's mercy without stipulation, and this verse
completes the statement of the last by adding: To such as
keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments
to do them. The parents must be obedient and the children
too. We are here bidden to abide by the covenant, and those who
run off to any other confidence than the finished work of Jesus
are not among those who obey this precept; those with whom the
covenant is really made stand firm to it, and having begun in
the Spirit, they do not seek to be made perfect in the flesh.
The truly godly keep the Lord's commands carefully—they "remember";
they observe them practically—"to do them":
moreover they do not pick and choose, but remember "his
commandments" as such, without exalting one above
another as their own pleasure or convenience may dictate. May
our offspring be a thoughtful, careful, observant race, eager to
know the will of the Lord, and prompt to follow it fully, then
will his mercy enrich and honour them from generation to
generation. This verse also suggests praise, for who would wish
the Lord to smile on those who will not regard his ways? That
were to encourage vice. From the manner in which some men
unguardedly preach the covenant, one might infer that God would
bless a certain set of men however they might live, and however
they might neglect his laws. But the word teaches not so. The
covenant is not legal, but it is holy. It is all of grace from
first to last, yet it is no panderer to sin; on the contrary,
one of its greatest promises is, "I will put my laws in
their hearts and in their minds will I write them"; its
general aim is the sanctifying of a people unto God, zealous for
good works, and all its gifts and operations work in that
direction. Faith keeps the covenant by looking alone to Jesus,
while at the same time by earnest obedience it remembers the
Lord's commandments to do them.
Verse 19. The LORD has prepared his throne in the
heavens. Here is a grand burst of song produced by a view of
the boundless power, and glorious sovereignty of Jehovah. His
throne is fixed, for that is the word; it is estabhshed,
settled, immovable.
"He sits on no precarious throne,
Nor borrows leave to be."
About his government there is no alarm, no disorder, no
perturbation, no hurrying to and fro in expedients, no surprises
to be met or unexpected catastrophes to be warded off;—all is
prepared and fixed, and he himself has prepared and fixed it. He
is no delegated sovereign for whom a throne is set up by
another; he is an autocrat, and his dominion arises from himself
and is sustained by his own innate power. This matchless
sovereignty is the pledge of our security, the pillar upon which
our confidence may safely lean. And his kingdom ruleth over all.
Over the whole universe he stretches his sceptre. He now reigns
universally, he always has done so, and he always will. To us
the world may seem rent with anarchy, but he brings order out of
confusion. The warring elements are marching beneath his banner
when they most wildly rush onward in furious tempest. Great and
small, intelligent and material, willing and unwilling, fierce
or gentle,—all, all are under his sway. His is the only
universal monarchy, he is the blessed and only Potentate, King
of kings and Lord of lords. A clear view of his ever active, and
everywhere supreme providence, is one of the most delightful of
spiritual gifts; he who has it cannot do otherwise than bless
the Lord with all his soul. Thus has the sweet singer hymned the
varied attributes of the Lord as seen in nature, grace, and
providence, and now he gathers up all his energies for one final
outburst of adoration, in which he would have all unite, since
all are subjects of the Great King.
Verse 20. Bess the Lord, ye his angels, that excel
in strength. Finding his work of praise growing upon his
hands, he calls upon "the firstborn sons of light" to
speak the praises of the Lord, as well they may, for as Milton
says, they best can tell. Dwelling nearer to that prepared
throne than we as yet have leave to climb, they see in nearer
vision the glory which we would adore. To them is given an
exceeding might of intellect, and voice, and force which they
delight to use in sacred services for him; let them now turn all
their strength into that solemn song which we would send up to
the third heaven. To him who gave angelic strength let all
angelic strength be given. They are his angels, and therefore
they are not loath to ring out his praises. That do his
commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word. We are
bidden to do these commandntents, and alas we fail; let those
unfallen spirits, whose bliss it is never to have transgressed,
give to the Lord the glory of their holiness. They hearken for
yet more commands, obeying as much by reverent listening as by
energetic action, and in this they teach us how the heavenly
will should evermore be done; yet even for this surpassing
excellence let them take no praise, but render all to him who
has made and kept them what they are. O that we could hear them
chant the high praises of God, as did the shepherds on that
greatest of all birth nights—
"When such music sweet
Their hearts and ears did greet
As never was by mortal finger struck;
Divinely-warbled voice
Answering the stringed noise,
As well their souls in blissful rapture took:
The air, such pleasure loth to lose,
With thousand echoes still prolongs each heavenly close."
Our glad heart anticipates the hour when we shall hear them
"harping in loud and solemn guise," and all to the
sole praise of God.
Verse 21. Bless ye the Lord, all ye his hosts;
to whatever race of creatures ye may belong, for ye are all his
troops, and he is the Generallissimo of all your armies. The
fowl of the air and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth
through the paths of the sea, should all unite in praising their
Creator, after the best of their ability. Ye ministers of his
that do his pleasure; in whatever way ye serve him, bless him as
ye serve. The Psalmist would have every servant in the Lord's
palace unite with him, and all at once sing out the praises of
the Lord. We have attached a new sense to the word
"ministers" in these latter days, and so narrowed it
down to those who serve in word and doctrine. Yet no true
minister would wish to alter it, for we are above all men bound
to be the Lord's servants, and we would, beyond all other
ministering intelligences or forces, desire to bless the
glorious Lord.
Verse 22. Bless the Lord, all his works in all
places of his dominion. Here is a trinity of blessing for
the thrice blessed God, and each one of the three blessings is
an enlargement upon that which went before. This is the most
comprehensive of all, for what can be a wider call than to all
in all places? See how finite man can awaken unbounded praise!
Man is but little, yet, placing his hands upon the keys of the
great organ of the universe, he wakes it to thunders of
adoration! Redeemed man is the voice of nature, the priest in
the temple of creation, the precentor in the worship of the
universe. O that all the Lord's works on earth were delivered
from the vanity to which they were made subject, and brought
into the glorious liberty of the children of God: the time is
hastening on and will most surely come; then will all the Lord's
works bless him indeed. The immutable promise is ripening, the
sure mercy is on its way. Hasten, ye winged hours! Bless the
Lord, O my soul. He closes on his key-note. He cannot be content
to call on others without taking his own part; nor because
others sing more loudly and perfectly, will he be content to be
set aside. O my soul, come home to thyself and to thy God, and
let the little world within thee keep time and tune to the
spheres which are ringing out Jehovah's praise. O infinitely
blessed Lord, favour us with this highest blessing of being for
ever and ever wholly engrossed in blessing Thee.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
TITLE. A Psalm of David, which he wrote when carried
out of himself as far as heaven, saith Beza. John Trapp.
Whole Psalm. How often have saints in Scotland sung
this Psalm in days when they celebrated the Lord's Supper!
It is thereby specially known in our land. It is connected also
with a remarkable case in the days of John Knox. Elizabeth
Adamson, a woman who attended on his preaching, "because he
more fully opened the fountain of God's mercies than others did,
"was led to Christ and to rest, on hearing this Psalm,
after enduring such agony of soul that she said, concerning
racking pains of body, "A thousand years of this torment,
and ten times more joined", are not to be compared to a
quarter of an hour of my soul's trouble. She asked for this
Psalm again before departing: "It was in receiving it that
my troubled soul first tasted God's mercy, which is now sweeter
to me than if all the kingdoms of the earth were given me to
possess." Andrew A. Bonar.
Whole Psalm. The number of verses in this Psalm is
that of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet; and the completeness
of the whole is further testified by its return at the close to
the words with which it started, "Bless the Lord, O my
soul." J. F. Thrupp.
Whole Psalm. The Psalm, in regard to number, is an
alphabetical one, harmonized in such a way as that the
concluding turns back into the introductory verse, the whole
being in this manner finished and rounded off. In like manner,
the name Jehovah occurs eleven times. The Psalm is divided into
two strophes, the first of ten and the second of twelve verses.
The ten is divided by the five, and the twelve falls into three
divisions, each of four verses. Jehovah occurs in the first
strophe four, and in the second seven times. The Psalm bears the
character of quiet tenderness. It is a still clear brook of the
praise of God. In accordance with this, we find that the verses
are of equal length as to structure, and consist regularly of
two members. It is only at the conclusion, where the tone rises,
that the verses become longer: the vessel is too small for the
feeling. The testimony which the title bears on behalf of
the composition of the Psalm by David, is confirmed by the fact
that the Psalm in passages, the independence of which cannot be
mistaken, bears a striking resemblance to the other Psalms of
David, and by the connection with Psalm 102 David here teaches
his posterity to render thanks, as in the previous Psalm
he had taught them to pray: the deliverance from deep
distress which formed there the subject of prayer, forms here
the subject of thanks. E. W. Hengstenberg.
Whole Psalm. It is observable that no petition occurs
throughout the entire compass of these twenty-two verses. Not a
single word of supplication is in the whole Psalm addressed to
the Most High. Prayer, fervent, heartfelt prayer, had doubtless
been previously offered on the part of the Psalmist, and
answered by his God. Innumerable blessings had been showered
down from above in acknowledgment of David's supplications; and,
therefore, an overflowing gratitude now bursts forth from their
joyful recipient. He touches every chord of his harp and of his
heart together, and pours forth a spontaneous melody of sweetest
sound and purest praise. John Stevenson, in "Gratitude:
an Exposition of the Hundred and Third Psalm, "1856.
Verse 1. Bless the LORD, O my soul. O how well
they are fitted! for what work so fit for my soul as this? Who
so fit for this work as my soul? My body, God knows, is gross
and heavy, and very unfit for so sublime a work. No, my soul, it
is thou must do it; and indeed what hast thou else to do? it is
the very work for which thou were made, and O that thou wert as
fit to do the work as the work is fit for thee to do! But, alas,
thou art become in a manner earthy, at least hast lost a great
part of thy abilities, and will never be able to go through with
this great work thyself alone. If to bless the Lord were no more
but to say, Lord, Lord, like to them that cried, "The
temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord; "then my tongue
alone would be sufficient for it, and I should not need to
trouble any other about it; but to bless the Lord is an eminent
work, and requires not only many but very able agents to perform
it; and therefore, my soul, when thou goest about it, go not
alone; but, take with thee "all that is within thee;
"all the forces in my whole magazine, whether it be my
heart, or my spirits; whether my will, or my affections; whether
my understanding, or my memory; take them all with thee, and
bless the Lord. Sir R. Baker.
Verse 1. All that is within me. The literal
translation of the form here used is my insides or inner
parts, the strong and comprehensive meaning of the plural
being further enhanced by the addition of all, as if to preclude
exception and reserve, and comprehend within the scope of the
address all the powers and affections. J. A. Alexander.
Verse 1. All that is within me, etc. Let your conscience
"bless the Lord, "by unvarying fidelity. Let your judgment
bless Him, by decisions in accordance with his word. Let your imagination
bless him, by pure and holy musings. Let your affections
praise him, by loving whatsoever he loves. Let your desires
bless him, by seeking only his glory. Let your memory
bless him, by not forgetting any of his benefits. Let your thoughts
bless him, by meditating on his excellencies. Let your hope
praise him, by longing and looking for the glory that is to be
revealed. Let your every sense bless him by its fealty,
your every word by its truth, and your every act
by its integrity. John Stevenson.
Verse 1. Bless the LORD, O my soul. You have
often heard, that when God is said to bless men, and they on the
other hand are excited to bless him, the word is taken in two
very different senses. God is the only fountain of being and
happiness, from which all good ever flows; and hence he is said
to bless his creatures when he bestows mercies and favours upon
them, gives them any endowments of body and mind, delivers them
from evils, and is the source of their present comforts and
future hopes. But in this sense, you will see there is no
possibility of any creature's blessing God; for as his infinite
and unblemished perfection renders him incapable of receiving
any higher excellency, or improvement in happiness; so, could we
put the supposition that this immense ocean of good might be
increased, it is plain that we, who receive our very being and
everything that we have or are from him, could in no case
contribute thereto. To bless God, then, is, with an
ardent affection humbly to acknowledge those divine
excellencies, which render him the best and greatest of beings,
the only object worthy of the highest adoration: it is to give
him the praise of all those glorious attributes which adorn his
nature, and are so conspicuously manifested in his works and
ways. To bless God, is to embrace every proper opportunity of
owning our veneration and esteem of his excellent greatness, and
to declare to all about us, as loudly as we can, the goodness
and grace of his conduct towards men, and our infinite
obligations for all our enjoyments to him, in whom we live,
move, and have our being. And a right blessing of God
must take its rise from a heart that is full of esteem and
gratitude, which puts life into the songs of praise. And then,
of all others, the most lively and acceptable method of blessing
God, is a holy conversation and earnest endeavor to be purified
from all iniquity; for blessing of God consists, as I told you,
in adoring his excellencies, and expressing our esteem and
veneration of them: but what can be so effectual a way of doing
this, as the influence that the views of them have upon our
lives? That person best exalts the glory of the divine power,
who fears God above all, and trembles at the apprehensions of
his wrath; and of his justice, who flees from sin, which exposes
him to the inexorable severity thereof; and of his love, who is
softened thereby into grateful returns of obedience; and then we
celebrate his holiness, when we endcavour to imitate it in our
lives, and abandon everything that is an abomination to the eyes
of his purity. William Dunlop, 1692-1720.
Verse 1. O my soul. God's eye is chiefly upon
the soul: bring a hundred dishes to table, he will carve of none
but this; this is the savoury meat he loves. He who is best,
will be served with the best; when we give him the soul in a
duty, then we give him the flower and the cream; by a holy
chemistry we still out the spirits. A soul inflamed in service
is the cup of "spiced wine of the juice of the
pomegranate" (So 8:2) which the spouse makes Christ to
drink of. Thomas Watson.
Verse 1. Bless his holy name. The name
of God frequently signifies his nature and attributes, in
Scripture. Now, holiness is the glory of this name; the
purity of God is that which beautifies all his perfections, and
renders them worthy to be praised. His eternity, and knowledge,
and power, without justice, and goodness, and truth, might
indeed frighten and confound us; but could not inflame our love,
or engage us to hearty blessing. But when infinite mightiness,
and unerring wisdom, and eternal dominion, are mixed with
unchangeable love, and inviolable veracity and goodness, which
exalts itself above all his works; when thus it becomes a holy
name, then the divine perfections are rendered truly
amiable, and suitable objects of our hope and confidence and
loudest songs; so that you see how elegantly the Psalmist upon
this occasion mentions the purity of God: "Bless his
holy name." And besides this, there is indeed nothing
that more exalts the glory of divine grace and of redeeming love
towards a soul, than the consideration of God's holiness;for
if your Maker were not of purer eyes than man is, yea, if
his hatred to sin, and love to righteousness, were not greater
than that of the noblest angel, his pardoning of sin, and
patience towards transgressors would not be such a wonderful
condescension; but is his name infinitely holy so that "the
heavens are not clean in his sight?" Is the smallest
iniquity the abhorrence of his soul, and what he hates with a
perfect hatred? Surely, then, his grace and love must be
incomparably greater than our thoughts. William Dunlop.
Verses 1-2. The well is seldom so full that water will
at first pumping flow forth; neither is the heart commonly so
spiritual, after our best care in our worldly converse (much
less when we somewhat overdo therein) as to pour itself into
God's bosom freely, without something to raise and elevate it;
yea, often, the springs of grace lie so low, that pumping only
will not fetch the heart up to a praying frame, but arguments
must be poured into the soul before the affections rise. Hence
are those soliloquies and discourses which we find holy men use
with their own hearts to bring them into a gracious temper,
suitable for communion with God in ordinances. It seems by
these verses] David either found or feared his heart would not
be in so good a frame as he desired; consequently he redoubles
his charge: he found his heart somewhat drowsy, which made him
thus rouse himself. William Guruall.
Verses 1-3. The Psalmist's gratitude here has four
attributes.
The first is personal. Bless the Lord, my soul.
He has the self-same application in the close of the Psalm,
after he has called on others to do this work. Our religion must
be social as well as personal: but while it must not end at
home, it must begin at home; and relative religion, without
personal, will always be found wanting in excitement, in energy,
in extent, in continuance, and very commonly in success.
Secondly, It is fervent. And all that is within me,
bless his holy name—all my thoughts, my feelings, my
understanding, my will, my memory, my conscience, my affections,
my passions.
"If there be passions in my soul,
(And passions, Lord, there be);
Let them be all at thy control,
My gracious Lord, for thee."
Thirdly, it is rational, and demanded by the facts of
his past life. Therefore "forget not all his
benefits." Nothing can properly affect or influence us when
it is out of our recollection. "Out of sight out of mind;
"and out of mind, out of motive. Whence arose the
ingratitude of the Jews of old? Bad memories. "Of the rock
that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten the God
that formed thee." "The ox knoweth his owner, and the
ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth
not consider." It should therefore be your concern, not
only to recall your mercies, but to reckon them.
Lastly, it is specific:Who forgiveth all thine
iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases. When all the words
in a discourse are emphatic, nothing is emphatic, when we dwell
on everything, we dwell on nothing effectively. We are more
struck, in a landscape, with a selected point of vision for
inspection, than by the general prospect. David was a poet, and
understood poetry well; and poetry differs from philosophy. The
one seeks to rise from particular facts and instances, to
establish general principles and rules: the other is always for
descending from generalization to particularization; and much of
its beauty and force arises from individualities. William
Jay, 1849.
Verse 2. Bless the Lord, O my soul. David found
some dulness and drowsiness; hence he so often puts the thorn to
his breast; hence he so impetuously instigateth his soul, as one
here phraseth it. John Trapp.
Verse 2. Forget not. This touches the secret
spring of so much ingratitude—forgetfulness, the want of
re-collection, or gathering together again of all the varied
threads of mercy. Compare De 6:12; De 8:11, 14. "Si
oblivisceris, tacebis" (If thou forgettest, thou wilt
be silent). J. J. S. Perowne.
Verse 2. Forget not all his benefits. That is,
forget not any of his benefits, as the form of speech in the
original doth import. David Dickson.
Verse 2. Benefits. The word rendered
"benefits"—lwmg gemul, means properly an act,
work, doing, whether good or evil, Ps 137:8; and then, desert,
or what a man deserves for his act; recompense. It
is rendered deserving in Jud 9:16; benefit, as
here, in 2Ch 32:25; desert, Ps 28:4; reward, Ps
94:2 Isa 3:11 Ob 1:15; recompense, Pr 12:14 Isa 35:4
59:18 66:6 Jer 51:6 La 3:64 Joe 3:4,7. The proper reference here
is to the Divine dealings, to what God had done,
as a reason for blessing his name. His dealings with the
Psalmist had been such as to call for praise and gratitude. What
those dealings particularly were he specifies in the following
verses. Albert Barnes.
Verse 3. Who forgiveth all thine iniquities.
Thine iniquities are more than can be numbered; and they are an
intolerable burden, so that thy soul under them "can in no
wise lift up herself." He forgiveth them all. He
relieveth thee of all. He taketh the dreadful burden from
thy back, the galling yoke from thy neck, and makes thee free...
Thine iniquities are in-equities. There is nothing just or right
in thee. Thy very nature is an inequity bringing forth nothing
but in-equities. Inequities towards thy God, in-equities towards
thy neighbour, and in-equities towards thyself, make up the
whole of thy life. Thou art a bad tree, and a bad tree cannot
bring forth good fruit. John Pulsford, in. "Quiet
Hours," 1857.
Verse 3. All thine iniqities. In this lovely
and well-known Psalm, we have great fulness of expression, in
reference to the vital subject of redemption. Who forgiveth all
thine iniquities. It is not "some" or "many
of thine iniquities." This would never do. If so much as
the very smallest iniquity, in thought, word, or act, were left
unforgiven, we should be just as badly off, just as far from
God, just as unfit for heaven, just as exposed to hell, as
though the whole weight of our sins were yet upon us. Let the
reader ponder this deeply. It does not say, "Who forgiveth
thine iniquities previous to conversion." There is no such
notion as this in Scripture. When God forgives, he forgives like
himself. The source, the channel, the power, and the standard of
forgiveness are all divine. When God cancels a man's sins, he
does so according to the measure in which Christ bore those
sins. Now, Christ not only bore some or many of
the believer's sins, he bore them "all, "and,
therefore, God forgives "all." God's
forgiveness stretches to the length of Christ's atonement; and
Christ's atonement stretches to the length of every one of the
believer's sins, past, present, and future. "The blood of
Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." 1Jo
1:9. "Things New and Old, "1858.
Verse 3. Who healeth all thy diseases. In one
of the prisons of a certain country, was a man who had committed
high treason: for this crime he was in due time tried, and,
being found guilty, was condemned to die. But more than this; he
was afflicted with an inward disease, which generally proves
mortal. Now we may truly say, that this man is doubly
dead; that his life is forfeited twice over: the laws of his
country have pronounced him guilty of death, and therefore his
life is forfeited once to the laws of his country, and,
if he had not died in this way, he must die of his
disease; he is, therefore, "twice dead." Now suppose
that the sovereign of that country had made up his mind to wish
to save that prisoner's life, could he save it? He could
indeed take off the penalty of the law; he could give him a free
pardon, and so restore the life, as sure as it is forfeited by
the just sentence of the law; but, unless he could also send a
physician, who could cure the man of his disease, he would die
by that, and his pardon would only lengthen out for a few
weeks or months a miserable existence. And if this disease were
not only a mortal disease, but an infectious one, likely
to spread itself by the breath of the patient, and a contagious
one, likely to spread by the touch of the patient's body
or clothes, then it would be dangerous to others to come near
that man; and unless he were cured, and thoroughly and entirely
cured, the man, though pardoned, would still be a fit inmate
only for the pest-house, and could not be received into the
houses of the healthy. You have seen such a case as this,
brethren; you are at this very moment, perhaps, sitting close by
a person in this case yes, and perhaps you are in this very case
yourself! Perhaps, do I say? I should say, you ARE in this very
case, unless you are really and truly a Christian, a believer in
Christ Jesus. W. Weldon Champneys, 1842.
Verse 3. All thy diseases. The body
experienceth the melancholy consequences of Adam's offence, and
is subject to many infirmities; but the soul is subject to as
many. What is pride, but lunacy; what is anger, but a fever;
what is avarice, but a dropsy; what is lust, but a leprosy; what
is sloth, but a dead palsy? Perhaps there are spiritual maladies
similar to all corporeal ones. George Horne.
Verse 3. All thy diseases. O my soul, consider
the multitude of infirmities, to which thou art subject; thou
hast many suggestions of the flesh; and thou art apt to yield
unto them, and strivest not against them by earnest prayer and
holy meditations; this is an infirmity. In thy prayers to God,
thy thoughts are often wandering, and thou thinkest of other
matters, far unworthy of that great Majesty to whom thou prayest:
or if not so, yet thou art quickly weary, thy spirits are drowsy
in it, and thou hadst rather be doing of something else; this is
an infirmity. And indeed thou hast infirmities in all thy
senses. In thy seeing, thou canst see a mote in thy brother's
eye, and canst not see a beam in thine own eye. In thy smelling,
thou thinkest suavis odor lucri ex re qualibet, that the
savour of gain is sweet, from whence soever it rise. In thy
hearing, thou art gladder to hear the profane and idle
discourses, than such as be serious and holy; these are thy
infirmities: and, O my soul, if I should cut thee up into as
many parts as an anatomist, and examine the infirmities of every
part, should I not have cause, just cause, to cry out with Saint
Paul, O wretch that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of
sin? Who shall heal me of all these infirmities? for whether we
call them sins, and then God forgives them; or call them
infirmities, and then he heals them; they are to us, all one
benefit; in God, all one kindness; that as either of them is
well worth remembering; so for both of them, we have just cause
to bless him and to praise his name. Sir Richard Baker.
Verse 3. All thy diseases. Our understandings
are so bad that they understand not their own badness; our
wills, which are the queens of our souls, become the vassals of
sin; our memory, like jet, good only to draw straws and
treasure up trifles of no moment; our consciences,
through errors in our own understanding, sometimes accusing us
when we are innocent, sometimes acquitting us when we are
guilty; our affections all disaffected and out of order.
Must not that needs be a monstrous face, wherein the blueness
which should be in the veins is in the lips, the redness which
should be in the cheeks, in the nose; the hair that should grow
on the head, on the face? and must not our souls needs seem ugly
in the sight of God, who have grief growing there where joy
should, and joy where grief should? We love what we should hate
and hate where we should love; we fear where no fear is, and
fear not where we ought to fear; and all our affections either
mistake their object, or exceed their due measure. Thomas
Fuller.
Verse 4. Who redeemeth thy life from destruction.
From his earliest days the Psalmist was the child of Providence.
Many were the hairbreadth escapes and the wonderful
deliverances, which he experienced. Dangers of various kinds
presented themselves as his years advanced. The jaw of the lion,
and the paw of the bear, at various times threatened to
terminate his existence, and at others the ruthless hand of man.
The same God who delivered him from the sword of Goliath,
rescued his life from the javelin of Saul. The Almighty Friend
who had covered his head in the day of battle, delivered him, at
one moment, from the lords of the Philistines, saved him at
another out of the hands of the men of Keilah; and again
preserved to him his life and throne from the unnatural
rebellion of his own son. Well, therefore, might the Psalmist
stir up his soul, and all that was within him, to bless the Lord
with most fervent gratitude, who, by so many signal
deliverances, had "redeemed his life from
destruction." John Stevenson.
Verse 4. Who redeemeth. Preservation from
destruction, lawgh haggoel, properly, redemption of
life by the kinsman;possibly looking forward, in the spirit
of prophecy, to him who became partaker of our flesh and blood,
that he might have the right to redeem our souls from death by
dying in our stead. Adam Clarke.
Verse 4. From the pit, including death, the
grave, Hades. The Targum renders "from Gehenna." J.
J. S. Perowne.
Verse 4. Tender mercies. I do not know that I
can do better than tell you a little incident that took place in
my native town of Stirling. Workmen were blasting the castle
rock, near where it abuts upon a walk that lies open to the
street. The train was laid and lit, and an explosion was
momentarily expected. Suddenly trotting round the great wall of
the cliff, came a little child going straight to where the match
burned. The men shouted—(it was mercy)—and by their
very terror in shouting, alarmed and bewildered the poor little
thing. By this time the mother also had come round: in a moment
saw the danger; opened wide her arms, and cried from her very
heart, "Come to me, my darling, "—(that was tender
mercy)—and instantly, with eager pattering feet, and little
arms opened to her arms, and tear-filled eyes answering to her
eyes—the little thing ran back and away, and stopped not until
she was clasped in her mother's bosom—wealth of sunny hair
loosened on it, and lips coral red pressed to mother's pallid
lip of fear—as the motherly heart gave way to tears, in the
thought of so imperilled an escape: for it was barely by a
second, as the roar of the shattered rock told. Alexander B.
Grosart, in "The Pastor and Helper of Joy, "1865.
Verse 5. Who satisfieth thy mouth. The word
rendered "mouth, " is Kyre, which is rendered ornaments
in our version in all other passages—eleven in number—where
it occurs, except here and in Ps 32:9, where it is rendered "mouth;
"and even there it ought properly be translated ornament,
and here the sense seems to be thy ornament, tbat which is thy
glory, thy spirit, Ps 16:9 62:8. It is true that the soul yvpg
is here addressed (Ps 103:1); but the spirit may be called the ornament
or glory of the soul. Christopher Wordsworth.
Verse 5. Satisfieth thy mouth. Kimchi
understands the phrase as expressing David's recovery from
sickness. In sickness the soul abhorreth bread, and even dainty
meat, Job 33:20. The physician, too, limits the diet of the
patient, and prescribes things which are nauseous to the palate.
The commentator, therefore, supposes that David here describes
the blessing of health, by his mouth being filled with good
things. Editorial Note to Calvin in loc.
Verse 5. Satisfieth. God can so satisfy the
soul, that each chink and cranny therein shall be filled with
spiritual joy. Thomas Fuller.
Verse 5. With good things. Mark, what does the
Lord satisfy with? "good things." Not rich
things, not many things, not everything I ask for,
but "good things." All my need fully
supplied, and everything "good." Goodness is
God expressed. All his blessings partake of his own nature. They
are holy blessings, holy mercies. Everything that satisfies
must have the nature of God in it. Nothing else will ever
"satisfy." The heart was made for God, and only God
can meet it. Frederick Whitfield, 1874.
Verse 5. Thy youth is renewed like the eagle's.
It is an ancient fable that the eagle is able to renew his youth
when very old, and poetical allusion is made to it in this
Psalm; but this idea is doubtless founded in reality on the
great longevity of the bird, and its power, in common with other
birds, of moulting its plumage periodically, and so increasing
its strength and activity. Hugh Mac Millan. {1}
{1} We might have filled much of our space with the fables
from the rabbis and the fathers in reference to eagles; but they
are too absurd, and ought never to be repeated. We hope,
therefore, that the reader will excuse if not commend the
omission.
Verse 5. Thy youth is renewed like the eagle's.—The
Scripture knows nothing of the idea that the eagle when old
renews its youth. That there is nothing of this kind contained
in Isa 40:31, which is commonly appealed to, but that it is
rather the powerful flight of the eagle that is there referred
to, "they mount up on wings like the eagle, they run and
are not weary, "is evident from the parallel, fly, run,
march. E.W. Hengstenberg.
Verse 5. Thy youth is renewed like the eagle's. Thy
activity will renew itself like the eagle. That is to say,
From day to day he will receive and increase his strength and
rigour, so that he may thrive and flourish like the eagle. The
comparison with the eagle is not drawn in point of renovation,
but in point of vigour and activity continually renewing
itself; as Isa 40:31, says, "They that wait upon the
LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings
as eagles." Venema.
Verse 5. Thy youth is renewed like the eagle's.
This renovation of his youth may be understood three ways.
First, as to his natural state, or bodily strength. Secondly, as
to his civil state, or worldly successes, as to his honour and
kingly-renown. Thirdly, as to his spiritual state, or the
heightening of his gifts, graces, and comforts. It is probable
David had found a declension in all these, and at last, through
the goodness of God and his blessing upon him, the renewing of
them all from that oldness to a youthfulness again, like that of
eagles. Joseph Garyl.
Verse 5. Thy youth is renewed like the eagle's.
However bold it may sound, we say not too much when we speak of
an eternal youth, as the glorious privilege of the devout
servant of the Lord, but of him alone. All that with reason
charms and captivates in the appearance of youth, is seen in
heightened measure where the spiritual life develops itself
undisturbed in fellowship with God. Does the innocence of
youth attract you? In the natural life it is but too frequently
a misleading appearance; but in the life of the soul it returns
to a certain extent when the heart is purified through the power
of the Holy Ghost, and the life is renewed in conformity with
that of Christ the Lord. Does the enjoyment of youth
surpass in your estimation that of any other here below? Be it
so; yet all too speedily it is driven away by the cares of later
years, whilst enjoyment free from care even in the dark days may
dwell in the heart whereon has descended the peace of God
through faith. The strength of youth, seems it to you
desirable? Ah! day by day stamps truth upon the words:
"Youth shall faint and be weary; "but even when the
natural strength has already long attained its zenith, the
Christian often feels himself elevated through a power from on
high, which lifts him above physical weakness; and what no
strength of sinew or muscle could accomplish is attained through
the power of implicit faith. Yea, even the beautiful developement
which the period of youth shows you, ye would not seek in vain
in that man who, leaning on God's hand, forgetting the things
that are behind, stretches forward from light to light, from
strength to strength, from bliss to bliss. How, finally, can hope,
that makes the youthful heart beat high with throbs of joy, be
lacking to him? The fairest part of life the sensual man sees
soon behind him, the spiritual man always in prospect; and like
the eagle, this last can often from the low atmosphere round him
soar to the pure, clear ether, whence already from afar the
image, nay, the ineffable reality, shows him a more than earthly
joy.
Eternal youth: it may, yet much more than for David, now be
the portion of every Christian, but for these alone. Without
faith and hope in the heart, even the bravest determination to
remain young always, or at least as long as possible, must give
away before the first great storm of life. Yet even when faith
and hope are not strangers to us, whence is it that in our
spiritual life there is frequently so little of the "eagle"
spoken of here, and so much of the "sparrow alone upon the
housetop, "referred to in Ps 102:7 Can it be that we allow
ourselves too little to be satisfied with the good things of
which David had spoken immediately before; that is to say, that
we live so little on the best things which God has to
bestow,—his word, his Spirit, his grace? Only through these do
we attain that lasting second birth, of which the eagle is the
emblem, and an unfading youth of heart the inestimable fruit. Ye
who are young in years, seek this undying youth above all the
joys of early life! Recover it, ye middle-aged, in living
fellowship with him who maketh all things new within! Preserve
it, old friends of God and of his Christ, as your fairest crown
here on earth, and the earnest of your bliss in heaven. And
thou, Christian, who sittest down disconsolate, bethink thyself;
the eagle lets his wings hang down, only thereafter to soar with
stronger flight! J.J. Van Oosterzee, in "The Year of
Salvation," 1874.
Verse 6. The LORD executeth rghteousness,
&c. Rising from personal blessings to general, the
comprehensive fact, evermore to the glory of God, is his
sympathy with the suffering and oppressed, and his ready and
effective interposition in their ease. Who will not praise him
that he careth so kindly and so gloriously for those who suffer
cruel wrongs from wicked oppressors? Henry Cowles.
Verse 7. He made known his ways unto Moses.
When Moses went up to Mount Sinai and tarried there with God the
space of forty days, we may well think that God in that time,
revealed many secrets to him; and particularly "made
known his ways; "(Ex 33:19); not only his ways in which
he would have us to walk, but his ways in which he walks
himself, and the course he holds in the government of worldly
affairs; why he suffers the wicked to prosper, and why the godly
to be oppressed. These "ways" of his he made
known to Moses; to the children of Israel, only "his
acts." He showed them his wonderful favours to themselves
in the wilderness, and that was his righteousness; but he showed
them not his ways, and the course he held in them: they saw only
the events of things, they saw not the reasons of them, as Moses
did. Sir Richard Baker.
Verse 8. Merciful and gracious, slow to stager and
plenteous in mercy. O my soul, bere are four properties
spoken of to be in God, and are all so necessary, that we could
not miss one of them. If he were not "merciful"
we could hope for no pardon; and if he were no more but merciful
we could hope for no more but pardon; but when besides his being
merciful he is also "gracious, "this gives us a
further hope, a hope of a donative; and then it will not be what
we are worthy to receive, but what it is fit for him to give. If
he were not "slow to anger" we could expect no
patience; but when besides his slowness to anger he is also "full
of compassion; "this makes us expect he will be the
good Samaritan, and not only bind up our wounds, but take care
also for our further curing. What though he chide and be angry
for a time; it is but our being patient a while with him, as he
a long time hath been patient with us. Sir R. Baker.
Verse 8. Slow to anger. In Scripture we find
that slowness to anger, and hastiness to be angry, are expressed
by the different frame of the nostrils; as, namely, when the
Lord is said to be "slow to anger, " the Hebrew
is, long of nostrils. Joseph Caryl.
Verse 8. Plenteous in mercy. dmxykw,
"great mighty in mercy, " placing his chief glory in
this attribute, and hereby teaching us how to estimate true
greatness. George Horne.
Verse 8. Plenteous in mercy. It is a thing
marvellously satisfactory and pleasing to the heart of a man to
be still taking from a great heap; and upon this ground are
those proverbial sayings, There is no fishing like to fishing in
the sea, no service like the service of a king: because in one
there is the greatest plenty and abundance of that kind of
pleasure that fishers look after; and for them that serve, and
must live by their service, there is none like that of princes,
because they have abundance of reward and of opportunity whereby
to recompense the services of those that do wait and attend upon
them... And upon the same ground it is that the Scriptures, in
several places do not only assert and testify that God is "merciful"
and "gracious, "but abundant in mercy and full
of grace; and not simply that there is redemption in him, but
plenteousness of redemption, Ps 86:5 130:7; Isa 55:7, "Let
the wicked forsake his way, "etc.; "Let him return
unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God,
for he will abundantly pardon." The commodity which we
stand in need of is mercy and the pardon of our sins, because we
have been unholy and ungodly creatures; this commodity is
abundantly in God. There it is treasured up as waters are in the
store-house of the sea; there is no end of the treasures of his
grace, mercy, pardon, and compassion. There is no man, being in
want, but had rather go to a rich man's door to be relieved,
than to the door of a poor man, if he kuoweth the rich man to be
as liberal and as bountifully disposed as the poor man can be. John
Goodwin, on, "Being filled with the Spirit."
Verse 9. He will not always chide. Certainly it
is as unpleasing to God to chide, as it is to us to be chidden;
and so little he likes of anger, that he rids his hands of it as
fast as th can: he is not so slow in coming to it, but he is as
quick in getting from it; for chiding is a bar to mercy, and
anger an impediment to compassion; nothing is so distasteful to
God as that any block should lie in the way of his mcrcy, or
that the liberty of his compassion should have any cause of
restraint: and then we may be sure he will not himself lay a
block in the way with chiding, nor be a cause to restrain his
compassion by keeping his anger. Sir R. Baker.
Verse 9. (Second Clause). To keep anger for
ever, corresponds with the French phrase, Je lui garde,
Il me la garde, (*"I am watching him, as he has watched
to do a bad turn to me") which we use when the man, who
cannot forgive the injuries he has received, cherishes secret
revenge in his heart, and waits for an opportunity of
retaliation. Now David denies that God, after the manner of men,
keeps anger on account of injuries done to him, since he
condescends to be reconciled. Calvin.
Verse 10. He hath not dealt with us after our sins.
Might we not have expected, with such conduct, that God would
have withdrawn from us the blessing of his providence, withheld
from us the communication of his Spirit, permitted us to find
the means of grace profitless, left our temptations to multiply,
and suffered us to sink into a state of fixed backsliding?—and
then, with our hearts at last sinking into too natural
depression, might we not have seemed to hear him saying to us
this day, "Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy
backslidings shall reprove thee; know, therefore, and see that
it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord
thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord God of
Hosts." Baptist W. Noel, 1798-1873.
Verse 10. He hath not dealt with us after our sins.
Why is it that God hath not dealt with us after our sins? Is it
not because he hath dealt with another after our sins? Another
who look our sins upon him; of whom it is said, that "God
chastened him in his fierce wrath"? and why did he chasten
him, but for our sins? O gracious God, thou art too just to take
revenge twice for the same faults; and therefore, having turned
thy fierce wrath upon him, thou wilt not turn it upon us too;
but having rewarded him according to our iniquities, thou wilt
now reward us according to his merits. Sir R. Baker.
Verse 10. Work out the terrible supposition, show the
reasons why it has not yet been actually so; then suggest that
it may yet become a terrible fact, and exhort the guilty to seek
mercy.
Verse 11. Our mind cannot find a comparison too large
for expressing the superabundant mercy of the Lord toward his
people. David Dickson.
Verse 12. As far as the east is from the west.
The expression taken from the distance of the east from west
is pitched upon, saith Kimchi, because those two quarters of the
world are of greatest extent, being all known and inhabited.
From whence it is that geographies reckon that way their
longitudes, as from north to south their latitudes. Henry
Hammond.
Verse 12. When sin is pardoned, it is never charged
again; the guilt of it can no more return than east can become
west, or west become east. Stephen Charnock.
Verse 13. Like as a father pitieth his children,
etc. A chaplain to seamen, at an American port, visited a sailor
who appeared to be near death. He spoke kindly to the man upon
the state of his soul, and directed him to cast himself on
Jesus. With an oath, the sick man bade him begone. The chaplain
then told him that he must be faithful to him, for if he died
impenitent he would be lost for ever. The man was sullen and
silent, and pretentted to fall asleep. The visit was repeated
more than once, with similar ill success. At length the
chaplain, suspecting that the sailor was a Scotchman, repeated a
verse of the old version of the Psalms:
"Such pity as a father hath
Unto his children dear.
Like pity shows the Lord to such
As worship him in fear."
Tears started into the sailor's eyes as he listened to these
words. The chaplain asked him if he had not had a pious mother.
The man broke into tears. Yes, his mother had, in years gone by,
taught him these words, and had also prayed to God for him.
Since then he had been a wanderer by sea and land; but the
memory of her faith and love moved his heart. The appeals made
to him were blessed by the Spirit of God. His life was spared,
and proved the reality of his conversion.
Verse 13. Like as a father. It is to be
observed in this verse, what kind of mercy the prophet
attributes to God. He says not, As man pities man, as the rich
the poor man, as the strong the feeble, as the freeman the
captive, but he makes mention of that pity which a father shows
to his son, which is the greatest of all. The word Mxr itself
supports this view, as it properly signifies viscarum
commotis. An example of this we have in 1Ki 3:23-27 in the
case of the woman who could not bear the slaughter of her
child... And afterwards in the case of the father of the
prodigal. Lu 15:11-32. Musculus.
Verse 13. As a father pitieth his children. The
father pitieth his children that are weak in knowledge, and
instructs them; pities them when they are froward, and bears
with them; pities them when they are sick, and comforts them;
when they are fallen, and helps them up again; when they have
offended, and upon their submission, forgives them; when they
are wronged, and rights them. Thus "the Lord pitieth them
that fear him." Matthew Henry.
Verse 13. So the Lord pitieth, &c. So and
ten thousand times more than so. For he is the "Father of
all mercies, "and the Father of all the fatherhoods in
heaven and earth. Eph 3:15. John Trapp.
Verse 13. The Load pitieth. Though it be
commonly said, "It is better to be envied, than pitied;
"yet here it is not so: but it is a far happier thing to be
pitied of God, than to be envied of men. Sir R. Baker.
Verse 13. Them that fear him. The fear of God
is that deference to God which leads you to subordinate your
will to his; makes you intent on pleasing him; penitent in view
of past wilfulness; happy in his present smile; transported by
his love; hopeful of his glory. George Bowen.
Verse 13. Them that fear him. It may be
understood of those who have not yet "received the spirit
of adoption, "but are yet "trembling at his word,
"those he "pities." Matthew Henry.
Verses 13-14. The good father doth not turn off the
child for being weak and sickly; but is so much the more
indulgent as his necessity requires succour. If his stomach
refuse meat, or cannot answer it with digestion, will he put him
out of doors? No; when the Shunamite's son complains of his
head, she lays him in her bosom. A mother is good to all the
fruit of her womb, most kind to the sick infant: when it lies
with its eyes fixed on her, not able to declare its grief, or to
call for what it desires, this doubles her compassion: "So
the Lord doth pity us, remembering our frame, considering that
we are but dust"; that our soul works by a lame instrument;
and therefore he requires not that of an elemental composition,
which he doth of angelical spirits. The son is commanded to
write out such a copy fairly; he doth his best, far short of the
original; yet the father doth not chide, but encourage him. Or
he gives him a bow and arrows, bids him shoot to such a mark; he
draws his utmost strength, lets go cheerfully: the arrow drops
far short, yet the son is praised, the father pleased.
Temptation assaults us, lust buffets us, secular business
diverts us, manifold is our weakness, but not beyond our
Father's forgiveness: "He will spare us, as a man spareth
his own son that serveth him," Mal 3:17. Thomas Adams.
Verse 14. He knoweth our frame. "Our
formation; "the manner in which we are constructed,
and the materials of which we are made. Adam Clarke.
Verse 14. He knoweth our frame; he remembereth that
we are dust. Not like some unskilled empiric, who hath but
one receipt for all, strong or weak, young or old; but as a wise
physician considers his patient, and then writes his bill. Men
and devils are but God's apothecaries, they make not our physic,
but give what God prescribes. Balaam loved Balak's fee well
enough, but could not go a hair's breadth beyond God's
commission. William Gumall.
Verse 14. He remembereth that we are dust. As
if the very matter out of which man was first made, though
without sin, were a disadvantage to him, in the resisting of
sin. It was a disadvantage before man had any sin in him, how
much more is it now when most men have nothing at all in them
but sin, and the best have very much. "That which is
born of the flesh, "saith Christ, "is
flesh." Corrupt nature can produce none but corrupt
acts. Joseph Caryl.
Verse 14. We are dust.
O how in this Thy quire of souls I stand,
—Propt by Thy hand—
A heap of sand!
Which busie thoughts—like winds—would scatter quite,
And put to flight,
But for Thy might;
Thy hand alone doth tame
Those blasts, and knit my frame. Henry Vaughan.
Verses 14, 16. We are dust. I never see one of those
spiral pillars of dust which, like a mimic simoon, rush along
the road upon a windy day, with- ont thinking, "There is an
image of life." Dust and a breath! Observe how the apparent
"pillar" is but a condition, an active condition, of
the particles of dust, and those particles continually changing.
The form depends upon the incessant movement. The heavy sand
floats on the impalpable air while it partakes its motion; let
that cease and it fails, So the dull clods of the field, smitten
by force, take wings and soar in life, partake for a time its
rapid course, and then, the force exhausted, fall back into
their former state. A whirl, a flux, maintained by forces
without, and ceasing when they are withdrawn; that is our life. James
Hinton, in "Thoughts on, Health and some of its
Conditions," 1871.
Verse 15. As for man. The insignificance of man
is especially brought out by the use of ENOSH here. Robert
Baker Girdlestone.
Verse 15. Man comes forth, says Job, like a flower,
and is cut down; he is sent into the world the fairest and
noblest part of God's works, fashioned after the image of his
Creator, with respect to reason and the great faculties of the
mind; he cometh forth glorious as the flower of the field; as it
surpasses the vegetable world in beauty, so does he the animal
world in the glory and excellence of his nature. The one, if no
untimely accident oppress it, soon arrives at the full period of
its perfection,—is suffered to triumph for a few moments, and
is plucked up by the roots in the very pride and gayest stage of
its being;—or if it happens to escape the hands of violence,
in a few days it necessarily sickens of itself and dies away.
Man likewise, though his progress is slower, and his duration
somewhat longer, yet the periods of his growth and declension
are nearly the same, both in the nature and manner of them. If
he escapes the dangers which threaten his tenderer years, he is
soon got into the full maturity and strength of life; and if he
is so fortunate as not to be hurried out of it then by
accidents, by his own folly and intemperance—if he escapes
these, he naturally decays of himself,—a period comes fast
upon him, beyond which he was not made to last. Like flowers or
fruits which may be plucked up by force before the time of their
maturity, yet cannot be made to outgrow the period when they are
to fade and drop of themselves; when that comes, the hand of
nature then plucks them both off, and no art of the botanist can
uphold the one, or skill of the physician preserve the other,
beyond the periods to which their original frames and
constitutions were made to extend. As God has appointed and
determined the several growths and decays of the vegetable race,
so he seems as evidently to have prescribed the same laws to
man, as well as all living creatures, in the first rudiments of
which there are contained the specific powers of their growth,
duration and extinction; and when the evolutions of those animal
powers are exhausted and run down, the creature expires and dies
of itself, as ripe fruit falls from the tree, or a flower
preserved beyond its bloom, drops and perishes upon the stalk. Lawrence
Sterne, 1713-1768.
Verse 15. The Psalmist saith of man, as a flower of
the field, so he flourisheth. It is not a flower of the garden,
but of the "field." This latter is more subject
to decay than the former, because it lies more open to the
nipping air and violent winds, and to the browsing mouth of the
beast, and is more liable to be trampled upon: by all these ways
it decayeth as well as by the scorching sun, and its own fading
temper. John Edwards, in "Theologia Reformata."
Verse 15. As flower of the field.
What is life! like a flower, with the bane in its bosom,
Today full of promise—tomorrow it dies!—
And health—like the dew-drop that hangs in its blossom,
Survives but a night, and exhales to the skies!
How oft beneath the bud that is brightest and fairest,
The seeds of the canker in embryo lurk!
How oft at the root of the flower that is rarest—
Secure in its ambush the worm is at work?
—James Beattie, 1735-1803.
Verse 16. The wind passeth over it, and it is gone,
etc. A breath of air, a gentle wind (xwr) passes over him and he
is gone. It would not be so strange if a tempest, a whirlwind,
passing over should sweep him away. The Psalmist means much more
than this. The gentlest touch, the whispering breeze, bears him
off. He soon becomes a stranger, no more known in the little
space he once filled, going out and coming in. Henry Cowles.
Verse 16. The wind passeth over it, and it is gone.
It is well known that a hot wind in the east destroys at once
every green thing. Nor is this to be wondered at, if, as Dr.
Russell says, the winds sometimes "bring with them a degree
and kind of heat, which one would imagine came out of an oven,
and which, when it blows hard, will affect metals within the
houses, such as locks of room doors, nearly as much as if they
had been exposed to the rays of the sun." The blasting
effect which seems to be here alluded to, of certain
pestilential winds upon the animal frame, is by no means
exaggerated by the comparison to the sudden fading of a flower.
Maillet describes hundreds of persons in a caravan as stifled on
the spot by the fire and dust, of which the deadly wind, that
sometimes prevails in the eastern deserts, seems to be composed.
And Sir John Chardin describes this wind "as making a great
hissing noise, "and says that "it appears red and
fiery, and kills those whom it strikes by a kind of stifling
them, especially when it happens in the day time." Richard
Mant.
Verse 16. The place thereof shall know him no more,
&c. Man, once turned to dust, is blown about by every wind,
from place to place; and what knows the place, when dust falls
upon it; whether it be the dust of a prince, or of a peasant;
whether of a man, or of a beast? And must not man then needs be
very miserable, when time and place, the two best helps of life,
do both forsake him? for what help can he have of time, when his
days are but as grass? What help of place, when his place denies
him, and will not know him? Sir R. Baker.
Verse 17. But the mercy of the Lord is from
everlasting to everlasting. No human benevolence is
perpetually the same; but by expelfence we see that those who
are kind today, may be changed into tyrants tomorrow. Examples
of this we have in the life of Nero, and many other rulers.
Therefore lest we should suspect the goodness of God to bear any
similar character, it is said with inconceivable consolation,
that it shall never cease, but is prepared for ever for all
those who fear and serve God. Musculus.
Verse 17. From everlasting to everlasting. From
everlasting, by predestination; to everlasting, by
glorification: the one without beginning, the other without end.
Bernard.
Verse 18. To do them. Commands are to be
remembered in order to practice; a vain speculation is not the
intent of the publication of them. Stephen Charnock.
Verse 19. The Lord hath prepared his Throne.
The word signifies establisthed as well as prepared, and
might be so rendered. Due preparation is the natural way to the
establishment of a thing; hasty resolves break and moulder. This
notes,
1. The peculiarity of his authority. He prepares it, and none
else for him. It is a dominion that originally resides in his
nature, not derived from any by birth or commission; he alone
prepared it. He is the sole cause of his own kingdom; his
authority therefore is unbounded, as infinite as his nature.
None can set laws to him, because none but himself prepared his
throne for him. As he will not impair his own happiness, so he
will not abridge himself of his own authority.
2. Readiness to exercise it upon due occasions. He hath
prepared his throne, he is not at a loss, he needs not stay for
a commission or instructions from any how to act. He hath all
things ready for the assistance of his people, he hath rewards
and punishments; his treasures trod axes, the great mark of
authority lying by him, the one for the good, the other for the
wicked. His mercy he keeps by him for thousands, Ex 34:7; his
arrows he hath prepared by him for rebels, Ps 7:13.
3. Wise management of it. It is prepared: preparations imply
prudence; the government of God is not a rash and heady
authority. A prince upon his throne, a judge upon the bench,
manages things with the greatest discretion, or should be
supposed so to do.
4. Successfulness and duration of it. He hath prepared or
established it. It is fixed, not tottering; it is an unmovable
dominion; all the strugglings of men and devils cannot overturn
it, nor so much as shake it. It is established above the reach
of obstinate rebels; he cannot be deposed from it, he cannot be
mated in it. His dominion, as himself abides for ever. And as
his counsel, so his authority, shall stand; and "he will do
all his pleasure, " Isa 46:10. Stephen Charnock.
Verse 19. His throne in the heavens, denotes:
1. The glory of his dominion. The heavens are the most
stately and comely pieces of the creation; his majesty is there
most visible, his glory most splendid, Ps 19:1. In heaven his
dominion is more acknowledged by the angels: his dominion is not
disputed there by the angels that attend him, as it is on earth
by the rebels that arm themselves against him.
2. The supremacy of his empire. The heavens are the loftiest
part of the creation, and the only fit palace for him.
3. Peculiarity of this dominion. He rules in the heavens
alone. His authority is not delegated to any creature, he rules
the blessed spirits by himself; but he rules men that are on his
footstool by others of the same kind, men of their own nature.
4. The vastness of his empire. The earth is but a spot to the
heavens. What is England in a map to the whole earth, but a spot
you may cover with your finger; much less must the whole earth
be to the extended heavens. You cannot conceive the many
millions of little particles that are in the earth; and if all
put together be but one point: to that place where the throne of
God is seated, how vast must his empire be! He rules there ovcr
the angels, which excel in strength, those hosts of his which do
his pleasure, in comparison of whom all the men in the world,
and the power of the greatest potentates, is no more than the
strength of an ant or fly. And since his throne is in the
heavens, it will follow that all things under the heaven are
part of his dominion; the inferior things of earth cannot but be
subject to him; and it necessarily includes his influence on all
things below, because the heavens arc the cause of all the
motion in the world. See Ho 2:21-22.
5. The easiness of managing this government. His throne being
placed on high, he cannot but behold all things that are done
below; the height of a place gives advantage to a clear eye to
behold things below it. "The LORD looked down from
heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that
did understand, "Ps 14:2. He looks not down from heaven
as if his presence were confined there, but he looks down
majestically, and by way of authority.
6. Duration of it. The heavens are incorruptible, his throne
is placed there in an incorruptible state. The throne of God
outlives the dissolution of the world. Condensed from
Charnock.
Verse 19. His kingdom ruleth over all. His
Lordship is universal.
First, over all time:other lords die, but he is
eternal. Eternity is properly the duration of an uncreated Ens.
It is improperly taken, either for things that have both
beginning and end, as everlasting mountains; divers such phrases
in Scripture; or for things that have a beginning but shall have
no end; so are angels and men's souls eternal; so, eternal life,
eternal fire. But God calls himself, "I AM, "Ex 3:14:
I am what I have been, I have been what I am, what I am and have
been I shall be. This attribute is incommunicable: all other
things had a non esse preceding their esse;and
they have a mutation tending to nothing. "They that war
against thee shall be as nothing, "Isa 41:12: all come to
nothing unless they be upheld by the manutency of God: but
"Thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end,
"Ps 102:27. Thou turnest man to destruction, and again
sayest, Return: "even from everlasting to everlasting thou
art God, "Ps 90:2; the sole umpire and measurer of
beginning and ending.
Secondly, over all places, heaven, earth, hell, Ps
135:6. Kings are limited, and cannot do many things they desire:
they cannot command the sun to stand still, nor the wind to blow
which way they would: in the lofty air, in the depths of the sea
no king reigns. They fondly flatter the pope with his long arms
that they reach to purgatory; (but indeed both power and place
are alike imaginary;)it is Christ alone that hath the keys of
all places.
Thirdly, over all creatures;binding the influences of
Pleiades, and loosing the bands of Orion, Job 38:31; commanding
the fire against the nature of it, to descend, 2Ki 1:12;
creating and ruling the stars, Am 5:8; overruling the lions, Da
6:22, sending the meteors, Ps 148:8, hedging in the sea, lapping
it up like a child in swaddling-clothes, Job 38:8, dividing,
diverting, filling it. In both fire and water, those two raging
elements that have no mercy, he shows mercy; delivers us from
both in both. He calls the fowls, and they come; the beasts, and
they hear: the trees, and they spring to obey him. He hath a
raven for Elijah, a gourd for Jonah, a dog for Lazarus. Makes
the leviathan, the hugest living creature, preserve his prophet.
That a terrible lion should be killed, as was by Samson; or not
kill, as they forbore Daniel; or kill and not eat, as that
prophet, 1Ki 13:1-29: here was the Lord. Over metals; he makes
iron to swim, stones to cleave asunder. Over the devils; they
must obey him though unwillingly. But they continually rebel
against him, and break his will? They do indeed against his
complacency, not against his permission. There is then no time,
not the hour of death; no place, not the sorest torment; no
creature, not the devil; but the Lord can deliver us from them.
Therefore at all times, in all places, and against all
creatures, let us trust in him for deliverance. Thomas Adams.
Verse 19. His kingdom ruleth over all. When
Melancthon was extremely solicitous about the affairs of the
church in his days, Luther would have him admonished in these
terms, Monendus est Philippus ut desinat esse rector mundi:Let
not Philip make himself any longer governor of the world. David
Clarkson.
Verse 20. Bless the Lord, ye his angels, etc.
The weight of offering praise unto God is too heavy for men to
lift; and as for angels, it will take up all their strength and
their best abilities to go about it. David Dickson.
Verse 20. Angels, that excel it, strength, that do
his commandments. The chief excellence of the angels, the
main cause of their strength and power, and of their immense
superiority to mankind, is that which is set forth in the
following words of the text. After the Psalmist has described
the angels as excelling in strength, he adds that they do
God's commandments, hearkening to the voice of his word. For
this is the only living source of lasting strength and power.
They who do the will of God faithfully and obediently, have God
for them; and then what can be against them? Then work itself
strengthens them, and is like a tide bearing them onward;
because it is his work. They on the other hand who run
counter to the will of God, have God against them; and then what
can be for them? Can a man push back the sea? can he lay hold on
the sun, and drag him out of his course? Then may he hope to be
strong, when he is fighting against the will of God. . . . Hence
we see the falsehood of that maxim, so common on the lips of
those who plume themselves upon their mastery in the wisdom of
this world—that Might is Right,—a maxim which exactly
inverts the truth, and whereby the Prince of darkness is ever
setting himself up against the Lord of heaven. The true
principle, which is inverted and perverted in this
falsehood,—the principle which ought to be written up in the
councilchambers of princes and on the walls of
senate-houses,—the principle which explains the secret of the
strength of the angels, and indeed of all true strength, that is
in accordance with the will of God,—may be stated in the
selfsame words, if we only invert their order, Right is Might. Julius
Charles Hare, 1849.
Verse 20. His angels that do his commandments,
etc. They hearken to the voice of his word, they look upon God
as the great General, and if he give out the word, they give out
their strength, and go about the work willingly. They are very
attentive to his commands; if he says, Go smite Herod for his
pride, Balaam for his covetousness, David for his vainglory,
Sennacherib for his blasphemy, and Sodom for its uncleanness,
presently they go. William Greenhill.
Verse 20. Commandments. Davar (rkd), to speak,
is rendered, "command" twenty times... direct
personal communion between the Lord and his messengers seems to
be implied. R. B. Girdlestone.
Verse 20. Hearkenling into the voice of his word.
Not only, mightily executing the word when heard; but, ever
intently listening, ready to catch the intimation of his
will. William Kay.
Verse 20. Hearkening unto the voice of his word.
Angels are vigilant creatures, and wait for opportunities, and
when they come they will not lose them. They neither slumber nor
sleep, but hearken constantly what the Lord will say, what
opportunity there will be for action; so, in Eze 1:11, they are
described with their wings stretched upward, manifesting their
watchfulness and readiness for service. When Christ was born, a
multitude of them appeared and celebrated his nativity, Lu 2:13:
when Christ was taken by Judas and his train, Peter drew his
sword in his Master's defence; but what saith Christ? "Put
up thy sword, it is not a time now to fight, but to suffer:
thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall
presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? It is not
a time now to pray for help, I must die, and the Scripture must
be fulfilled; but if I would, my Father would bid the angels to
aid me, and they presently would come, whole legions of them,
yea, all the angels in heaven." Let us learn of angels to
watch for opportunities, and take them. There are nicks of time
wherein to do the work of Christ. William Greenhill.
Verse 21. Bless ye the LORD, all ye his hosts...
that do his pleasure. The sun, moon, stars, and planets do "his
pleasure" (Ps 19:1) unconsciously; the
"angels" consciously and with instinctive love,
"hearken unto the voice of his word" (Ps 103:20). Both
together constitute the Lord's hosts. A. R. Fausset.
Verse 22. Bless the LORD, O my soul. That is to
say, "Let thy vocation be that of the seraphim, O my soul,
and enter on the life of heaven!" Why should I praise him?
Can my praise be of any advantage to him? No; nor that of all
the heavenly hosts. It is infinite condescension in him to
bearken unto the praises of his most exalted creatures. Let me
bless the Lord, because no function will be more rich in
blessings to my soul than this. The admiring contemplation of
his excellence is in reality the appropriation thereof: the
heart cannot delight in God, without becoming like God. Let me
do it, because it is the peculiar privilege of man on this earth
to bless the Lord. When he would find any to join him in this,
he has to ascend the skies. Let me do it, because the earth is
fully furnished with the materials of praise. The sands, the
seas, the flowers, the insects; animals, birds, fields,
mountains, rivers, trees, clouds, sun, moon, stars,—all wait
for me to translate their attribues and distinctions into
praise. But, above all, the new creation. Let me do it, because
of him, through him, and to him, are all the things that pertain
to my existence, health, comfort, knowledge, dignity, safety,
progress, power, and usefulness. A thousand of his ministers in
earth, sea, and sky, are concerned in the production and
preparation of every mouthful that I eat. The breath that I am
commanded and enabled to modulate in praise, neither comes nor
goes without a most surprising exhibition of the condescension,
kindness, wisdom, power, and presence of him whom I am to
praise. Is it not dastardly to be receiving benefits, without
even mentioning the name, or describing the goodness of the
giver? Let candidates for heaven bless the Lord. There is no
place there for such as have not learned this art. How shall I
praise him? Not with fine words. No poetic talent is here
necessary: Any language that expresses heart-felt admiration
will be accepted. Praise him so far as you know him; and he will
make known to you more of his glory. George Bowen, 1873.
Verse 22. The last specification is completely
comprehensive; all his works in all places of his wide
dominions—all that he has made, whether intelligent or not
intelligent; "in all places"—above, beneath,
around: in heaven, earth, or hell: let them all fall into this
universal chorus of praise and blessing, extolling Jehovah, the
One supremely great, supremely good! Nor will he exempt himself;
for his personal responsibilities as to his own heart, are his
highest. Therefore he closes as he began, "Bless the
LORD, O my soul." Henry Cowles.
Verse 22. Bless the LORD, O my soul. Inasmuch
as the poet thus comes back to his own soul, his Psalm also
turns back into itself and assumes the form of a converging
circle. Franz Delitzsch.
Verse 22. Bless the LORD, all his works in all
places of his dominion: bless the LORD, O my soul. We are
very much struck by this sudden transition from "all God's
works, in all places of his dominion, "to himself, a
solitary individual. Of course he had already included himself;
himself had been summoned when he summoned all God's works in
all places of his dominion; but it seems as if a sudden fear had
seized the Psalmist, the fear of by any possibility omitting
himself; or, if not a fear, yet a consciousness that his very
activity in summoning others to praise, might make him forgetful
that he was bound to praise God himself, or sluggish in the
duty, or ready to take for granted that he could not himself be
neglecting what he was so strenuous in pressing on all orders of
being. We have a great subject of discourse here. Solomon has
said, "They made me keeper of the vineyards, but mine own
vineyard have I not kept." Alas! how possible, how easy, to
take pains for others, and to be neglectful of one's self: nay,
to make the pains we take for others the reason by which we
persuade ourselves that we cannot be neglecting ourselves. How
important, then, that, if with the Psalmist we call on all God's
works in all places of his dominions to bless the Lord; how
important, I say, that we add, like persons bent on
self-examination, and fearful of self-deceit, "Bless the
LORD, O my soul." Henry Melvill.
Verses 1-2, 22. Bless the Lord, O my soul... Bless
the Lord, O my soul, with the Bless the Lord all his
works in all places of his dominion: bless the Lord, O my soul,
Ps 103:22; these two form the thrice-repeated blessing from the
Lord to the soul in the Mosaic formula, Nu 6:24-26. A. R.
Fausset.
HINTS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER
Verse 1. "The Saints blessing the Lord." See
"Spurgeon's Sermons, " No. 1,078.
Verse 1.
1. We should bless the Most High himself. It is possible to
fail to bless him, while we praise his gifts, his word,
his works, his ways.
2. We should bless him individually: "My
soul." Not merely the family through the father, nor the
people through the pastor; nor the congregation through the
choir; but personally.
3. We should bless him spiritually: "soul." Not
only with organ, voice, offering, works, &c.
4. We should bless him unreservedly: "All that is within
me."
5. We should bless him resolutely. David preached
self-communion, self-encouragement, and self-command. W.
Jackson.
Verse 1. Here is,
1. Self-converse: "Oh my soul." Many talk freely
enough to others, but never talk to themselves. They are
strangers to themselves—not on speaking terms with
themselves—take no interest in their own souls—are dull and
melancholy when alone.
2. Self-exhortation: "Bless the Lord, O my soul."
Thy Creator, thy Benefactor, thy Redeemer.
3. Self-encouragement: "All that is within
me"—every faculty of my mental, moral and spiritual
being: with ten strings—every chord in motion. No need for one
faculty of the soul to say to another, "know the Lord, for
all shall know him from the least even unto the greatest." G.
R.
Verse 1 (First clause, and Ps 103:22, last
clause). Personal worship the Alpha and Omega of religion. C.
Davis.
Verse 2. Inquire into the causes of our frequent
forgetfulness of the Lord's mercies, show the evil of it, and
advise remedies.
Verse 3.
1. Forgiveness is in God: "There is forgiveness
with thee." It is his nature to forgive as well as to
punish sin.
2. It is from God. None can forgive sin but God. None
can reveal forgiveness but God.
3. It is like God, full, free, and everlasting—"all
thine iniquities." G. R.
Verse 3. Who healeth all thy diseases.
1. Why is sin called a disease? (a) As it destroys the moral
beauty of the creature. (b) As it excites pain. (c) As it
disables from duty. (d) As it leads to death.
2. The variety of sinful diseases to which we are subject. Mr
7:21-23; Gal 5:19, &c.
3. The remedy by which God heals these diseases. (a) His
pardoning mercy through the redemption of Christ. (b) The
sanctifying influences of grace. (c) The means of grace. (d) The
resurrection of the body. From "The Study, "1873.
Verse 3 (last clause).—Our diseases by
nature, our great Physician, the perfect soundness which he
works in us, results of that soundness.
Verses 3-5. Mercy's Hexapla.
1. Three curses removed. (a) Guilt put away. (b) Corruption
cured. (c) Destruction averted.
2. Three blessings, bestowed. (a) Favours that can gratify.
(b) Pleasures that can satisfy. (c) Life that can never die.
Or
1. Pardon. (Ps 103:3)
2. Purification. (Ps 103:4)
3. Redemption.
4. Coronation. (Ps 103:5)
5. Plenty bestowed.
6. Power renewed. W. Durban.
Verse 4. (first clause). The Redemption of
David's life from destruction.
1. His shepherd life.
2. His military life.
3. His persecuted life.
4. His regal life.
5. His spiritual life. W. J.
Verse 4. What is redeemed, and from what? Who are
redeemed, and by whom?
Verse 5.
1. A singular condition—satisfaction.
2. A singular provision—good things.
3. A singular result—youth renewed.
Verse 5.—"Rejuvenescence." See Macmillan's
"Ministry of Nature, " pp. 321-347.
Verse 7.
1. God would have men know him.
2. He is his own revealer.
3. There are degrees in the revelation.
4. We may pray for increased knowledge of him.
Verse 8.
1. Mercy specified: "Merciful and gracious."
2. Mercy qualified: "Slow to anger." Mercy itself
may be angered, and then how terrible is the anger.
3. Mercy amplified: "Plenteous in mercy." "He
will abundantly pardon; "and he only knows what abundant
pardon means. G. R.
Verse 9.
1. What God will do to his people. He will sometimes
chide—contend with them. (a) Providentially, by outward
trials. (b) Experimentally, by inward conflicts.
2. What he will not do to them. (a) Not chide continually in
this life. (b) Not chide in the least hereafter. (c) "The
days of their mourning shall be ended." G. R.
Verses 11-13. The height, length and depth of divine
love.
Verse 12. "Plenary Absolution." See
"Spurgeon's Sermons, " No. 1,108.
Verse 12.
1. The union implied. Between man and his transgressions.
(a) Legally.
(b) Actually.
(c) Experimentally.
(d) Eternally, in themselves considered.
2. The separation effected.
(a) By whom? "He hath, "etc.
(b) How? By his own Son coming between the sinner and his
sins.
3. The Re-union prevented. "As far, "etc. When east
and west meet, then, and not till then, will the reunion take
place. As the two extremities of a straight line can never meet,
and cannot be lengthened without receding further from each
other, so it will ever be with a pardoned sinner and his sins. G.
R.
Verses 13-14. "The Tender Pity of the Lord."
See "Spurgeon's Sermons, "No. 941.
Verses 13-14.
1. Whom God pities; "them that fear him."
2. How he pities "as a father pitieth his
children."
3. Why he pities; "for he knoweth our frame." He
hath reason to know out frame, for he framed us, and having
himself made man of the dust, "he remembers that we are
dust." Matthew Henry.
Verse 14.
1. Man's Constitution.
2. God's Consideration. W. D.
Verse 15. Man's earthly career. His rise, progress,
glory, fall, and oblivion.
Verses 15-18.
1. What man is when left to himself. "As for man,
"etc. (a) What here? His days are as grass, his glory as
the flower of grass. (b) What hereafter? swept away by a
blighting wind, by a blast of divine anger—known no more on
the earth, known only in perdition.
2. What the mercy of God does for him. (a) Makes a covenant
of grace on his behalf flora everlasting. (b) Makes a covenant
of peace with hint in this life. (c) Makes a covenant of promise
to him for an eternity to come.
3. Who are the objects of this mercy? (a) Those who fear God.
(b) Who walk in the footsteps of pious ancestors. (c) Who rely
upon covenant mercy. (d) Who are faithful to their covenant
engagements. G. R.
Verse 18. The covenant, in what respects we can keep
it, in what frame of mind it must be kept, and what is the
practical proof of so doing.
Verse 19. "A Discourse upon God's Dominion."
See Charnock's Works Nicol's Edition, Vol. II., pp. 400-499.
Verse 19.
1. The nature of the throne.
2. The extent of the dominion.
3. The character of the monarch.
4. The consequent joy of the subjects: "Bless the
Lord."
Verse 20. The angels' service instructive to us.
1. Their personal strength is excellent. As servants of God
we also should see to our own spiritual health and rigour.
2. They are practical in their obedience, not theorists.
3. They are attentive while at work, ready to learn more, and
holding fellowship with God, who speaks personally to them.
4. They do all in the spirit of joyful praise, blessing the
Lord.
Verses 20-21.
1. The centre of praise: "Bless the Lord." All
praise centres in him.
2. The concert of praise. (a) Angels. (b) The hosts of the
redeemed. (c) Ministers in particular. (d) The surrounding
creation.
3. The climax of praise: "Bless the Lord, O my
soul." This has the highest claim upon me for gratitude and
praise. Vast as the chorus may be, it will not be perfect
without my note of praise. This is the culminating note:
"Bless the Lord, O my soul." G.R.
Verse 21. Who are God's ministers? What is their
business? To do his pleasure. What is their delight? To bless
the Lord.
Verses 21-22. Henry Melvill has a notable sermon upon
"The Peril of the Spiritual Guide." The drift of it
may be gathered from the extract which wc have placed as a note
upon the passage.
Verse 22.
1. The Chorus.
2. The Echo. W.D.
WORKS UPON THE HUNDRED AND THIRD PSALM
Meditations and Disquisitions, upon Seven
Consolatarie Psalmes of David . . . by Sir RICHARD BAKER,
Knight, 1640. pg 143-172.
Gratitude: an Exposition of the Hundred
and Third Psalm. By the Rev. JOHN STEVENSON, Vicar of
Patrixbourne-with-Bridge, Canterbury. 1856.