We know not by whom this Psalm was written, but
we do know that it was sung in Solomon's temple (2Ch 7:3,6), and
by the armies of Jehoshaphat when they sang themselves into
victory in the wilderness of Tekoa. From the striking form of it
we should infer that it was a popular hymn among the Lord's
ancient people. Most hymns with a solid, simple chorus become
favourites with congregations, and this is sure to have been one
of the best beloved. It contains nothing but praise. It is tuned
to rapture, and can only be fully enjoyed by a devoutly grateful
heart.
It commences with a threefold praise to the Triune Lord
(Ps 136:1-3), then it gives us six notes of praise to the
Creator (Ps 136:4-9), six more upon deliverance from
Egypt (Ps 134:10-15), and seven upon the journey through
the wilderness and the entrance into Canaan. Then we
have two happy verses of personal gratitude for present mercy
(Ps 134:23-24), one (Ps 134:25) to tell of the Lord's universal
providence, and a closing verse to excite to never ending
praise.>
EXPOSITION
Verse 1. O give thanks unto the LORD. The exhortation
is intensely earnest: the Psalmist pleads with the Lord's people
with an "O", three times repeated. Thanks are the
least that we can offer, and these we ought freely to give. The
inspired writer calls us to praise Jehovah for all his goodness
to us, and all the greatness of his power in blessing his
chosen. We thank our parents, let us praise our heavenly Father;
we are grateful to our benefactors, let us give thanks unto the
Giver of all good. For he is good. Essentially he is goodness
itself, practically all that he does is good, relatively he is
good to his creatures. Let us thank him that we have seen,
proved, and tasted that he is good. He is good beyond all
others: indeed, he alone is good in the highest sense; he is the
source of good, the good of all good, the sustainer of good, the
perfecter of good, and the rewarder of good. For this he
deserves the constant gratitude of his people. For his mercy
endureth for ever. We shall have this repeated in every verse of
this song, but not once too often. It is the sweetest stanza
that a man can sing. What joy that there is mercy, mercy with
Jehovah, enduring mercy, mercy enduring for ever. We are ever
needing it, trying it, praying for it, receiving it: therefore
let us for ever sing of it.
"When all else is changing within and around,
In God and his mercy no change can be found."
Verse 2. O give thanks unto the God of gods. If there
be powers in heaven or on earth worthy of the name of gods he is
the God of them; from him their dominion comes, their authority
is derived from him, and their very existence is dependent upon
his will. Moreover, for the moment assuming that the deities of
the heathen were gods, yet none of them could be compared with
our Elohim, who is infinitely beyond what they are fabled to be.
Jehovah is our God, to be worshipped and adored, and he is
worthy of our reverence to the highest degree. If the heathen
cultivate the worship of their gods with zeal, how much more
intently should we seek the glory of the God of gods—the only
true and real God. Foolish persons have gathered from this verse
that the Israelites believed in the existence of many gods, at
the same time believing that their Jehovah was the chief among
them; but this is an absurd inference, since gods who have a God
over them cannot possibly be gods themselves. The words are to
be understood after the usual manner of human speech, in which
things are often spoken of not as they really are, but as they
profess to be. God as God is worthy of our warmest thanks, for
his mercy endureth for ever. Imagine supreme Godhead without
everlasting mercy! It would then have been as fruitful a source
of terror as it is now a fountain of thanksgiving. Let the
Highest be praised in the highest style, for right well do his
nature and his acts deserve the gratitude of all his creatures.
Praise your God with right good will,
For his love endureth still.
Verse 3. O give thanks to the Lord of lords. There are
lords many, but Jehovah is the Lord of them. All lordship is
vested in the Eternal. He makes and administers law, he rules
and governs mind and matter, he possesses in himself all
sovereignty and power. All lords in the plural are summed up in
this Lord in the singular; he is more lordly than all emperors
and kings condensed into one. For this we may well be thankful,
for we know the superior Sovereign will rectify the abuses of
the underlings who now lord it over mankind. He will call these
lords to his bar, and reckon with them for every oppression and
injustice. He is as truly the Lord of lords as he is Lord over
the meanest of the land, and he rules with a strict
impartiality, for which every just man should give heartiest
thanks. For his mercy endureth for ever. Yes, he mingles mercy
with his justice, and reigns for the benefit of his subjects. He
pities the sorrowful, protects the helpless, provides for the
needy, and pardons the guilty; and this he does from generation
to generation, never wearying of his grace, "because he
delighteth in mercy." Let us arouse ourselves to laud our
glorious Lord! A third time let us thank him who is our Jehovah,
our God, and our Lord; and let this one reason suffice us for
three thanksgivings, or for three thousand—
"For his mercy shall endure,
Ever faithful, ever sure."
Verse 4. To him who alone doeth great wonders. Jehovah
is the great Thaumaturge, the unrivalled Wonder worker. None can
be likened unto him, he is alone in wonderland, the Creator and
Worker of true marvels, compared with which all other remarkable
things are as child's play. His works are all great in wonder
even when they are not great in size; in fact, in the minute
objects of the microscope we behold as great wonders as even the
telescope can reveal. All the works of his unrivalled skill are
wrought by him alone and unaided, and to him, therefore, must be
undivided honour. None of the gods or the lords helped Jehovah
in creation, or in the redemption of his people: his own right
hand and his holy arm have wrought for him these great deeds.
What have the gods of the heathen done? If the question be
settled by doings, Jehovah is indeed "alone." It is
exceedingly wonderful that men should worship gods who can do
nothing, and forget the Lord who alone doeth great wonders. Even
when the Lord uses men as his instruments, yet the wonder of the
work is his alone; therefore let us not trust in men, or idolize
them, or tremble before them. Praise is to be rendered to
Jehovah, for his mercy endureth for ever. The mercy of the
wonder is the wonder of the mercy; and the enduring nature of
that mercy is the central wonder of that wonder. The Lord causes
us often to sit down in amazement as we see what his mercy has
wrought out and prepared for us: "wonders of grace to God
belong", yea, great wonders and unsearchable. Oh the depth!
Glory be to his name world without end!
Doing wondrous deeds alone,
Mercy sits upon his throne.
Verse 5. To him that by wisdom made the heavens. His
goodness appears in creating the upper regions. He set his
wisdom to the task of fashioning a firmament, or an atmosphere
suitable for a world upon which mortal men should dwell. What a
mass of wisdom lies hidden in this one creating act! The
discoveries of our keenest observers have never searched out all
the evidences of design which are crowded together in this work
of God's hands. The lives of plants, animals, and men are
dependent upon the fashioning of our heavens: had the skies been
other than they are we had not been here to praise God. Divine
foresight planned the air and the clouds, with a view to the
human race. For his mercy endureth for ever. The Psalmist's
details of mercy begin in the loftiest regions, and gradually
descend from the heavens to "our low estate" (Ps
134:23); and this is an ascent, for mercy becomes greater as its
objects become less worthy. Mercy is far reaching, long
enduring, all encompassing. Nothing is too high for its reach,
as nothing is beneath its stoop.
High as heaven his wisdom reigns,
Mercy on the throne remains.
Verse 6. To him that stretched out the earth above the
waters. Lifting it up from the mingled mass, the dank morass,
the bottomless bog, of mixed land and sea; and so fitting it to
be the abode of man. Who but the Lord could have wrought this
marvel? Few even think of the divine wisdom and power which
performed all this of old; yet, if a continent can be proved to
have risen or fallen an inch within historic memory, the fact is
recorded in the "transactions" of learned societies,
and discussed at every gathering of philosophers. For his mercy
endureth for ever, as is seen in the original upheaval and
perpetual upstanding of the habitable land, so that no deluge
drowns the race. By his strength he sets fast the mountains and
consolidates the land upon which we sojourn.
From the flood he lifts the land:
Firm his mercies ever stand.
Verse 7. To him that made great lights. This also is a
creating miracle worthy of our loudest thanks. What could men
have done without light? Though they had the heavens above them,
and dry land to move upon, yet what could they see, and where
could they go without light? Thanks be to the Lord, who has not
consigned us to darkness. In great mercy he has not left us to
an uncertain, indistinct light, floating about fitfully, and
without order; but he has concentrated light upon two grand
luminaries, which, as far as we are concerned, are to us
"great lights." The Psalmist is making a song for
common people, not for your critical savans,—and so he sings
of the sun and moon as they appear to us,—the greatest of
lights. These the Lord created in the beginning; and for the
present age of man made or constituted them light bearers for
the world. For his mercy endureth for ever. Mercy gleams in
every ray of light, and it is most clearly seen in the
arrangement by which it is distributed with order and regularity
from the sun and moon.
Lamps he lit in heaven's heights,
For in mercy he delights.
Verse 8. The sun to rule by day. We cannot be too
specific in our praises; after mentioning great lights, we may
sing of each of them, and yet not outwear our theme. The
influences of the sun are too many for us to enumerate them all,
but untold benefits come to all orders of beings by its light,
warmth, and other operations. Whenever we sit in the sunshine,
our gratitude should be kindled. The sun is a great ruler, and
his government is pure beneficence, because by God's mercy it is
moderated to our feebleness; let all who rule take lessons from
the sun which rules to bless. By day we may well give thanks,
for God gives cheer. The sun rules because God rules; it is not
the sun which we should worship, like the Parsees; but the
Creator of the sun, as he did who wrote this sacred song. For
his mercy endureth for ever. Day unto day uttereth speech
concerning the mercy of the Lord; every sunbeam is a mercy, for
it falls on undeserving sinners who else would sit in doleful
darkness, and find earth a hell. Milton puts it well:
"He, the golden tressed sun
Caused all day his course to run;
For his mercy shall endure
Ever faithful, ever sure."
Verse 9. The moon and stars to rule by night. No hour
is left without rule. Blessed be God, he leaves us never to the
doom of anarchy. The rule is one of light and benediction. The
moon with her charming changes, and the stars in their fixed
spheres gladden the night. When the season would be dark and
dreary because of the absence of the sun, forth come the many
minor comforters. The sun is enough alone; but when he is gone a
numerous band cannot suffice to give more than a humble
imitation of his radiance. Jesus, the Sun of Righteousness,
alone, can do more for us than all his servants put together. He
makes our day. When he is hidden, it is night, and remains
night, let our human comforters shine at their full. What mercy
is seen in the lamps of heaven gladdening our landscape at
night! What equal mercy in all the influences of the moon upon
the tides, those life floods of the earth! The Lord is the Maker
of every star, be the stars what they may; he calleth them all
by their names, and at his bidding each messenger with his torch
enlightens our darkness. For his mercy endureth for ever. Let
our thanks be as many as the stars, and let our lives reflect
the goodness of the Lord, even as the moon reflects the light of
the sun. The nightly guides and illuminators of men on land and
sea are not for now and then, but for all time. They shone on
Adam, and they shine on us. Thus they are tokens and pledges of
undying grace to men; and we may sing with our Scotch friends—
"For certainly
His mercies dure
Most firm and sure
Eternally."
Verse 10. We have heard of the glory of the world's
creation, we are now to praise the Lord for the creation of his
favoured nation by their Exodus from Egypt. Because the monarch
of Egypt stood in the way of the Lord's gracious purposes it
became needful for the Lord to deal with him in justice; but the
great design was mercy to Israel, and through Israel mercy to
succeeding ages, and to all the world. To him that smote Egypt
in their firstborn. The last and greatest of the plagues struck
all Egypt to the heart. The sorrow and the terror which it
caused throughout the nation it is hardly possible to
exaggerate. From king to slave each one was wounded in the most
tender point. The joy and hope of every household was struck
down in one moment, and each family had its own wailing. The
former blows had missed their aim compared with the last; but
that "smote Egypt." The Lord's firstborn had been
oppressed by Egypt, and at last the Lord fulfilled his
threatening, "I will slay thy son, even thy
firstborn." Justice lingered but it struck home at last.
"For his mercy endureth for ever." Yes, even to the
extremity of vengeance upon a whole nation the Lord's mercy to
his people endured. He is slow to anger, and judgment is his
strange work; but when mercy to men demands severe punishments
he will not hold back his hand from the needful surgery. What
were all the firstborn of Egypt compared with those divine
purposes of mercy to all generations of men which were wrapped
up in the deliverance of the elect people? Let us even when the
Lord's judgments are abroad in the earth continue to sing of his
unfailing grace.
"For evermore his love shall last,
For ever sure, for ever fast."
Verse 11. And brought out Israel from among them.
Scattered as the tribes were up and down the country, and
apparently held in a grasp which would never be relaxed, the
Lord wrought their deliverance, and severed them from their
idolatrous task masters. None of them remained in bondage. The
Lord brought them out; brought them all out; brought them out at
the very hour when his promise was due; brought them out despite
their being mingled among the Egyptians; brought them out never
to return. Unto his name let us give thanks for this further
proof of his favour to the chosen ones, For his mercy endureth
for ever. Once the Israelites did not care to go out, but
preferred to bear the ills they had rather than risk they knew
not what; but the Lord's mercy endured that test also, and
ceased not to stir up the nest till the birds were glad to take
to their wings. He turned the land of plenty into a house of
bondage, and the persecuted nation was glad to escape from
slavery. The unfailing mercy of the Lord is gloriously seen in
his separating his elect from the world. He brings out his
redeemed and they are henceforth a people who show forth his
praise.
"For God doth prove
Our constant friend;
His boundless love
Shall never end."
Verse 12. With a strong hand, and with a stretched out
arm. Not only the matter but the manner of the Lord's mighty
acts should be the cause of our praise. We ought to bless the
Lord for adverbs as well as adjectives. In the Exodus the great
power and glory of Jehovah were seen. He dashed in pieces the
enemy with his right hand. He led forth his people in no mean or
clandestine manner. "He brought them forth also with silver
and gold, and there was not one feeble person in all their
tribes." Egypt was glad when they departed. God worked with
great display of force, and with exceeding majesty; he stretched
out his arm like a workman intent on his labour, he lifted up
his hand as one who is not ashamed to be seen. Even thus was it
in the deliverance of each one of us from the thraldom of sin;
"according to the working of his mighty power which he
wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him
at his own right hand in the heavenly places." For his
mercy endureth for ever—therefore his power is put forth for
the rescue of his own. If one plague will not set them free
there shall be ten; but free they shall all be at the appointed
hour; not one Israelite shall remain under Pharaoh's power. God
will not only use his hand but his arm—his extraordinary power
shall be put to the work sooner than his purpose of mercy shall
fail.
See, he lifts his strong right hand,
For his mercies steadfast stand.
Verse 13. To him which divided the Red sea into parts.
He made a road across the sea bottom, causing the divided waters
to stand like walls on either side. Men deny miracles; but,
granted that there is a God, they become easy of belief. Since
it requires me to be an atheist that I may logically reject
miracles, I prefer the far smaller difficulty of believing in
the infinite power of God. He who causes the waters of the sea
ordinarily to remain as one mass can with equal readiness divide
them. He who can throw a stone in one direction can with the
same force throw it another way: the Lord can do precisely what
he wills, and he wills to do anything which is ten the
deliverance of his people. For his mercy endureth for ever, and
therefore it endures through the sea as well as over the dry
land. He will do a new thing to keep his old promise. His way is
in the sea, and he will make a way for his people in the same
pathless region.
Lo, the Red Sea he divides,
For his mercy sure abides.
Verse 14. And made Israel to pass through the midst of
it. HE gave the people courage to follow the predestined track
through the yawning abyss, which might well have terrified a
veteran host. It needed no little generalship to conduct so vast
and motley a company along a way so novel and apparently so
dangerous. He made them to pass, by the untrodden road; he led
them down into the deep and up again on the further shore in
perfect order, keeping their enemies back by the thick darkness
of the cloudy pillar. Herein is the glory of God set forth, as
all his people see it in their own deliverance from sin. By
faith we also give up all reliance upon works and trust
ourselves to pass by a way which we have not known, even by the
way of reliance upon the atoning blood: thus are we effectually
sundered from the Egypt of our former estate, and our sins
themselves are drowned. The people marched dry shod through the
heart of the sea. Hallelujah! For his mercy endureth for ever.
Mercy cleared the road, mercy cheered the host, mercy led them
down, and mercy brought them up again. Even to the depth of the
sea mercy reaches,—there is no end to it, no obstacle in the
way of it, no danger to believers in it, while Jehovah is all
around. "Forward?" be our watchword as it was that of
Israel of old, for mercy doth compass us about;
Through the fire or through the sea
Still his mercy guards thee.
Verse 15. But overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the
Red sea. Here comes the thunder clap. Though we hear them
sounding peal upon peal, yet the judgments of the Lord were only
loud mouthed mercies speaking confusion to the foe, that the
chosen might tremble before him no longer. The chariots were
thrown over, the horses were overthrown. The King and his
warriors were alike overwhelmed; they were hurled from their
chariots as locusts are tossed to and fro in the wind. Broken
was the power and conquered was the pride of Egypt. Jehovah had
vanquished the enemy. "Art thou not it which cut Rahab and
wounded crocodile?" None are too great for the Lord to
subdue, none too high for Lord to abase. The enemy in his fury
drove after Israel into the sea, but his wrath found a terrible
recompense beneath the waves. For his mercy endureth for ever.
Yes, mercy continued to protect its children, and therefore
called in the aid of justice to fulfil the capital sentence on
their foes. Taken red handed, in the very act of rebellion
against their sovereign Lord, the adversaries met the fate which
they had themselves invited. He that goes into the midst of the
sea asks to be drowned. Sin is self damnation. The sinner goes
downward of his own choice, and if he finds out too late that he
return, is not his blood upon his own head? The finally
impenitent, terrible their doom, will not be witnesses against
mercy; but rather this shall aggravate their misery, that they
went on in defiance of mercy, and would yield themselves to him
whose mercy endureth for ever. To the Israelites as they sung
this song their one thought would be of the rescue of their
fathers from fierce oppressor. Taken like a lamb from between
the teeth of the lion, justly praises her Deliverer and chants
aloud:
Evermore his love shall reign;
Pharaoh and his host are slain.
Verse 16. To him which led his people through the
wilderness. He led them into it, and therefore he was pledged to
lead them through it. They were "his people", and yet
they must go into the wilderness, and the wilderness must remain
as barren as ever it was; but in the end they must come out of
it into the promised land. God's dealings are mysterious, but
they must be right, simply because they are his. The people knew
nothing of the way, but they were led; they were a vast host,
yet they were all led; there were neither roads nor tracks, but
being led by unerring wisdom they never lost their way. He who
brought them out of Egypt, also led them through the wilderness.
By Moses, and Aaron, and Jethro, and the pillar of cloud he led
them. What a multitude of mercies are comprehended in the
conduct of such an enormous host through a region wherein there
was no provision even for single travellers; yet the Lord by his
infinite power and wisdom conducted a whole nation for forty
years through a desert land, and their feet did not swell,
neither did their garments wax old in all the journey. For his
mercy endureth for ever. Their conduct in the wilderness tested
his mercy most severely, but it bore the strain; many a time he
forgave them; and though he smote them for their transgressions,
yet he waited to be gracious and speedily turned to them in
compassion. Their faithfulness soon failed, but his did not: the
fiery, cloudy pillar which never ceased to lead the van was the
visible proof of his immutable love—
"For his, mercy, changing never,
Still endureth, sure for ever."
Verse 17. To him which smote great kings. Within sight
of their inheritance Israel had to face powerful enemies. Kings
judged to be great because of the armies at their back blocked
up their road. This difficulty soon disappeared, for the Lord
smote their adversaries, and a single stroke sufficed for their
destruction. He who had subdued the really mighty ruler of Egypt
made short work of these petty sovereigns, great though they
were in the esteem of neighbouring princes. For his mercy
endureth for ever. Mercy, which had brought the chosen tribes so
far, would not be balked by the opposition of boastful foes. The
Lord who smote Pharaoh at the beginning of the wilderness march,
smote Sihon and Og at the close of it. How could these kings
hope to succeed when even mercy itself was in arms against them.
Evermore his mercy stands
Saving from the foe man's hands.
Verse 18. And slew famous kings. What good was their
fame to them? As they opposed God they became infamous rather
than famous. Their deaths made the Lord's fame to increase among
the nations while their fame ended in disgraceful defeat. For
his mercy endureth for ever. Israelitish patriots felt that
they, could never have too much of this music; God had protected
their nation, and they chanted his praises with unwearied
iteration.
Kings he smote despite their fame,
For his mercy's still the same.
Verse 19. Sihon king of the Amorites. Let the name be
mentioned that the mercy may be the better remembered. Sihon
smote Moab, but he could not smite Israel, for the Lord smote
him. He was valiant and powerful, so as to be both great and
famous; but as he wilfully refused to give a peaceful passage to
the Israelites, and fought against them in malice, there was no
choice for it but to let him run into that destruction which he
courted. His fall was speedy and final, and the chosen people
were so struck with it that they sung of his overthrow in their
national songs. For his mercy endureth for ever. His mercy is no
respecter of persons, and neither the greatness nor the fame of
Sihon could protect him after he had dared to attack Israel. The
Lord will not forsake his people because Sihon blusters.
Come what may
By night or day,
Still most sure,
His love shall dure.
Verse 20. And Og the king of Bashan. He was of the
race of the giants, but he was routed like a pygmy when he
entered the lists with Israel's God. The Lord's people were
called upon to fight against him, but it was God who won the
victory. The fastnesses of Bashan were no defence against
Jehovah. Og was soon ousted from his stronghold when the captain
of the Lord's host led the war against him. He had to exchange
his bedstead of iron for a bed in the dust, for he fell on the
battle field.
Glory be to the divine conqueror,
for his mercy endureth for ever.
Giant kings before him yield,
Mercy ever holds the field.
If Sihon could not turn the Lord from his purpose we may be
sure that Og could not. He who delivers us out of one trouble
will rescue us out of another, and fulfil all the good pleasure
of his grace in us.
Verse 21. And gave their land for an heritage. As Lord
of the whole earth he transferred his estate from one tenant to
another. The land did not become the property of the Israelites
by their own sword and bow, but by a grant from the throne. This
was the great end which all along had been aimed at from Egypt
to Jordan. He who brought his people out also brought them in.
He who had promised the land to the seed of Abraham also saw to
it that the deed of gift did not remain a dead letter. Both our
temporal and our spiritual estates come to us by royal charter.
What God gives us is ours by the best of titles. Inheritance by
God's gift is tenure which even Satan cannot dispute. For his
mercy endureth for ever. Faithful love endures without end, and
secures its own end. "Thou wilt surely bring them in",
said the prophet poet; and here we see the deed complete.
Till they reach the promised land
Mercy still the same must stand.
Verse 22. Even an heritage unto Israel his servant.
Repetitions are effective in poetry, and the more so if there be
some little variation in them, bringing out into fuller light
some point which else had not been noticed. The lands of the
heathen kings were given to "Israel", the name by
which the chosen seed is here mentioned for the third time in
the Psalm, with the addition of the words, "his
servant." The leasehold of Canaan to Israel after the flesh
was made dependent upon suit and service rendered to the Lord of
the manor by whom the lease was granted. It was a country worth
singing about, richly justifying the two stanzas devoted to it.
The division of the country by lot, and the laws by which the
portions of ground were reserved to the owners and their
descendants for a perpetual inheritance were fit subjects for
song. Had other nations enjoyed land laws which ensured to every
family a plot of ground for cultivation, much of the present
discontent would never have arisen, beggary would soon have
become uncommon, and poverty itself would have been rare. For
his mercy endureth for ever. Yes, mercy fights for the land,
mercy divides the spoil among its favoured ones, and mercy
secures each man in his inheritance. Glory be to God the
faithful One.
"For his mercy full and free.
Wins us full felicity."
Verse 23. Who remembered us in our low estate.
Personal mercies awake the sweetest song—"he remembered
us." Our prayer is, "Lord, remember me", and this
is our encouragement—he has remembered us. For the Lord even
to think of us is a wealth of mercy. Ours was a sorry
estate,—an estate of bankruptcy and mendicancy. Israel rested
in its heritage, but we were still in bondage, groaning in
captivity: the Lord seemed to have forgotten us, and left us in
our sorrow; but it was not so for long: he turned again in his
compassion, bethinking himself of his afflicted children. Our
state was once so low as to be at hell's mouth; since then it
has been low in poverty, bereavement, despondency, sickness, and
heart sorrow, and we fear, also, sinfully low in faith, and
love, and every other grace; and yet the Lord has not forgotten
us as a dead thing out of mind; but he has tenderly remembered
us still. We thought ourselves too small and too worthless for
his memory to burden itself about us, yet he remembered us. For
his mercy endureth for ever. Yes, this is one of the best proofs
of the immutability of his mercy, for if he could have changed
towards any, it would certainly have been towards us who have
brought ourselves low, kept ourselves low, and prepared
ourselves to sink yet lower. It is memorable mercy to remember
us in our low estate: in our highest joys we will exalt
Jehovah's name, since of this we are sure,—he will not now
desert us—
For his mercy full and free
Lasteth to eternity.
Verse 24. And hath redeemed us from our enemies.
Israel's enemies brought the people low; but the Lord
intervened, and turned the tables by a great redemption. The
expression implies that they had become like slaves, and were
not set free without price and power; for they needed to be
"redeemed." In our case the redemption which is in
Christ Jesus is an eminent reason for giving thanks unto the
Lord. Sin is our enemy, and we are redeemed from it by the
atoning blood; Satan is our enemy, and we are redeemed from him
by the Redeemer's power; the world is our enemy, and we are
redeemed from it by the Holy Spirit. We are ransomed, let us
enjoy our liberty; Christ has wrought our redemption, let us
praise his name. For his mercy endureth for ever. Even to
redemption by the death of his Son did divine mercy stretch
itself. What more can be desired? What more can be imagined?
Many waters could not quench love, neither could the floods
drown it.
E'en to death upon the tree
Mercy dureth faithfully.
Verse 25. Who giveth food to all flesh. Common
providence, which cares for all living things, deserves our most
devout thanks. If we think of heavenly food, by which all saints
are supplied, our praises rise to a still greater height; but
meanwhile the universal goodness of God in feeding all his
creatures is as worthy of praise as his special favours to the
elect nation. Because the Lord feeds all life therefore we
expect him to take special care of his own family. For his mercy
endureth for ever. Reaching downward even to beasts and
reptiles, it is, indeed, a boundless mercy, which knows no limit
because of the meanness of its object.
"All things living he doth feed,
His full hand supplies their need;
For his mercy shall endure,
Ever faithful, ever sure."
Verse 26. O give thanks unto the God of heaven. The
title is full of honour. The Lord is God in the highest realms,
and among celestial beings. His throne is set in glory, above
all, out of reach of foes, in the place of universal oversight.
He who feeds ravens and sparrows is yet the glorious God of the
highest realms. Angels count it their glory to proclaim his
glory in every heavenly street. See herein the greatness of his
nature, the depth of his condescension, and the range of his
love. Mark the one sole cause of his bounty—For his mercy
endureth for ever. He hath done all things from this motive; and
because his mercy never ceases, he will continue to multiply
deeds of love world without end. Let us with all our powers of
heart and tongue give thanks unto the holy name of Jehovah for
ever and ever.
"Change and decay in all around I see,
O thou who changest not, abide with me."
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Whole Psalm. This Psalm was very probably composed by
David, and given to the Levites to sing every day: 1Ch 16:41.
Solomon his son followed his example, and made use of it in
singing at the dedication of the Temple (2Ch 7:3-6); as
Jehoshaphat seems to have done when he went out to war against
his enemies (2Ch 20:21).—John Gill.
Whole Psalm. The grand peculiarity of form in this
Psalm...is the regular recurrence, at the close of every verse,
of a burden or refrain ...It has been a favourite idea with
interpreters that such repetitions necessarily imply alternate
or responsive choirs. But the other indications of this usage in
the Psalter are extremely doubtful, and every exegetical
condition may be satisfied by simply supposing that the singers,
in some cases, answered their own questions, and that in others,
as in that before us, the people united in the burden or chorus,
as they were wont to do in the Amen.—Joseph Addison Alexander.
Whole Psalm. The Psalm is called by the Greek church
Polyeleos, from its continual mention of the mercy of God.—Neale
and Littledale.
Whole Psalm. In the liturgical language this Psalm is
called par excellence the great Hallel, for according to its
broadest compass the great Hallel comprehends Ps 120:1-136:26,
whilst the Hallel which is absolutely so called extends from Ps
113:1-118:29.—Franz Delitzsch.
Whole Psalm. Praise ye (wdwh) Jehovah; not as in Ps
135:1, "Hallelujah", but varying the words, "Be
ye Judahs to the Lord!"
Praise him for what he is (Ps 136:1-3).
Praise him for what he is able to do (Ps 136:4).
Praise him for what he has done in creation (Ps 136:5-9).
Praise him for what he did in redeeming Israel from bondage
(Ps 136:10-15).
Praise him for what he did in his providence toward them (Ps
136:16-22).
Praise him for his grace in times of calamity (Ps 136:23-24).
Praise him for his grace to the world at large (Ps 136:25).
Praise him at the remembrance that this God is the God of
heaven (Ps 136:26).—Andrew A. Bonar.
Whole Psalm. When, in the time of the Emperor
Constantius, S. Athanasius was assaulted by night in his church
at Alexandria by Syrianus and his troops, and many were wounded
and murdered, the Bishop of Alexandria sat still in his chair,
and ordered the deacon to begin this Psalm, and the people
answered in prompt alternation, For his mercy endureth for
ever.—Christopher Wordsworth.
Verse 1. O give thanks unto the LORD. When we have
praised God for reasons offered unto us in one Psalm, we must
begin again, and praise him for other reasons; and even when we
have done this, we have not overtaken our task, the duty lieth
still at our door, to be discharged afresh, as this Psalm doth
show.—David Dickson.
Verse 1. For he is good. Observe what we must give
thanks for not as the Pharisee that made all his thanksgivings
terminate in his own goodness—"God, I thank thee"
that I am so and so—but directing them all to God's glory:
"for he is good."—Matthew Heary.
Verse 1. His mercy endureth forever. This appears four
times in Ps 118:1-4. This sentence is the wonder of Moses, the
sum of revelation, and the hope of man.—James G. Murphy.
Verse 1. His mercy. Many sweet things are in the word
of God, but the name of mercy is the sweetest word in all the
Scriptures, which made David harp upon it twenty-six times in
this Psalm: "For his mercy endureth for ever:" It was
such a cheerful note in his ears when he struck upon mercy,
that, like a bird that is taught to pipe, when he had sung it,
he sang it again, and when he had sung it again, he recorded it
again, and made it the burden of his song: "For his mercy
endureth for ever." Like a nightingale which, when she is
in a pleasant vein, quavers and capers, and trebles upon it, so
did David upon his mercy: "For his mercy endureth for
ever."—Henry Smith.
Verse 1. Mercy. By "mercy" we understand the
Lord's disposition to compassionate and relieve those whom sin
has rendered miserable and base; his readiness to forgive and to
be reconciled to the most provoking of transgressors, and to
bestow all blessings upon them; together with all the provision
which he has made for the honour of his name, in the redemption
of sinners by Jesus Christ.—Thomas Scott.
Verse 1. His mercy endureth for ever. It is
everlasting. Everlastingness, or eternity, is a perfect
possession, all at once, of an endless life (saith Boethius).
Everlasting mercy, then, is perfect mercy, which shuts out all
the imperfections of time, beginning, end, succession, and such
is God's mercy. First, his essential mercy is eternity itself;
for it is himself, and God hath not, but is, things. He is
beginning, end, being; and that which is of himself and even
himself is eternity itself. Secondly, his relative mercy (which
respects us, and makes impression on us), is everlasting, too,
in a sense; for the creatures, ever since they had being in him,
or existence in their natural causes, ever did and ever will
need mercy, either preserving or conserving. Preventing or
continuing mercy in the first sense is negatively endless, that
is, incapable of end, because unboundable for being: in the
second sense, it is privatively endless, it shall never actually
take end, though in itself it may be, and in some ways is,
bounded; the first is included in the latter, but the latter is
chiefly here intended; and therefore the point arises to be
this,—God's mercy (chiefly to his church) is an endless mercy;
it knows no end, receives no interruption. Reasons hereof from
the word are these (for as touching testimony this Psalm shall
be our security), first, from God's nature, "he is
good". Mercy pleaseth him. It is no trouble for him to
exercise mercy. It is his delight: we are never weary of
receiving, therefore he cannot be of giving; for it is a more
blessed thing to give than to receive; so God takes more content
in the one than we in the other.—Robert Harris, 1578-1658.
Verse 1. His mercy endureth for ever. God's goodness
is a fountain; it is never dry. As grace is from the world's
beginning (Ps 25:6), so it is to the world's end, à seculo in
seculum, from one generation to another. Salvation is no termer;
grace ties not itself to times. Noah as well as Abel, Moses as
well as Jacob, Jeremy as well as David, Paul as well as Simeon
hath part in this salvation. God's gracious purpose the Flood
drowned not, the smoke of Sinai smothered not, the Captivity
ended not, the ends of the world (Saint Paul calls them so)
determined not. For Christ, by whom it is, was slain from the
beginning,—Saint John saith so. He was before Abraham, he
himself saith so. And Clemens Alexandrinus (tom. 5. page 233)
doth Marcion wrong, though otherwise an heretic, in blaming him
for holding that Christ saved those also that believed in him
before his incarnation. The blood of the beasts under the law
was a type of his. And the scars of his wounds appear yet still,
and will for ever, till he cometh to judgment. The Apostle shall
end this: he is heri, and hodi, and semper idem: Christ is the
same yesterday and today and for ever.—Richard Clerke, 1634.
Verses 1-3. The three first verses of this Psalm
contain the three several names of the Deity, which are commonly
rendered Jehovah, God, and Lord, respectively; the first having
reference to his essence as self existent, and being his proper
name; the second designating him under the character of a judge
or of an all powerful being, if Aleim be derived from Al; and
the third, Adoni, representing him as exercising rule.—Daniel
Cresswell.
Verses 1-3. O give thanks.
What! give God thanks for everything,
Whatever may befall—
Whatever the dark clouds may bring?
Yes, give God thanks for all;
For safe he leads thee, hand in hand,
To thy blessed Fatherland.
What! thank him for the lonely way
He to me hath given—
For the path which, day by day
Seems farther off from heaven?
Yes, thank him, for he holds thy hand
And leads thee to thy Fatherland.
Close, close he shields thee from all harm;
And if the road be steep,
Thou know'st his everlasting arm
In safety doth thee keep,
Although thou canst not understand
The windings to thy Fatherland.
What blessing, thinkest thou, will he,
Who knows the good and ill,
Keep back, if it is good for thee,
While climbing up the hill?
Then trust him, and keep fast his hand,
He leads thee to thy Fatherland.
—B.S., in "The Christian Treasury," 1865.
Verses 1-9. Like the preceding Psalm, this Psalm
allies itself to the Book of Deuteronomy. The first clauses of
Ps 136:2-3 (God of gods and Lord of Lords) are taken from De
10:17; Ps 136:12, first clause (with a strong hand and stretched
out arm) from De 4:34, and De 5:15. Ps 136:16, first clause, is
like De 8:15 (cf. Jer 2:6).—Franz Delitzsch.
Verses 1-26. All repetitions are not vain, nor is all
length in prayer to be accounted babbling. For repetitions may
be used,
1. When they express fervency and zeal: and so we read,
Christ prayed over the same prayer thrice (Mt 26:44); "O my
Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me." And
another evangelist showeth that he did this out of special
fervency of spirit (Lu 22:44); "Being in an agony, he
prayed more earnestly."
2. This repetition is not to be disapproved when there is a
special emphasis, and spiritual elegancy in it, as in Ps
136:1-26 you have it twenty-six times repeated, For his mercy
endureth for ever, because there was a special reason in it, the
Psalmist's purpose there being to show the unweariedness, and
the unexhausted riches of God's free grace; that notwithstanding
all the former experiences they had had, God is where he was at
first. We waste by giving, our drop is soon spent; but God is
not wasted by bestowing, but hath the same mercy to do good to
his creatures, as before. Though he had done all those wonders
for them, yet his mercy was as ready to do good to them still.
All along God saved and blessed his people, "For his mercy
endureth for ever."—Thomas Manton.
Verse 2. The God of gods. "God of gods" is
an Hebrew superlative, because he is far above all gods, whether
they be so reputed or deputed.—Robert Harris.
Verse 2. The God of gods. One, as being Creator,
infinitely higher than all others, his creatures, who have at
any time been regarded as gods.—Freneh and Skinner, 1842.
Verses 2-3. Before proceeding to recite God's works,
the Psalmist declares his supreme Deity, and dominion: not that
such comparative language implies that there is anything
approaching Deity besides him, but there is a disposition in
men, whenever they see any part of his glory displayed, to
conceive of a God separate from him, thus impiously dividing the
Godhead into parts, and even proceeding so far as to frame gods
of wood and stone. There is a depraved tendency in all to take
delight in a multiplicity of gods. For this reason, apparently,
the Psalmist uses the plural number not only in the word Elohim
but in the word Adonim, so that it reads literally, Praise ye
the Lords of lords: he would intimate, that the fullest
perfection of all dominion is to be found in the one God.—John
Calvin.
Verse 3. The Lord of lords. The meaning of the title
"Lord", as distinct from "Jehovah" and
"God", is "Governor." And in this view also
he is eminently entitled to praise and thanksgiving, in that his
rule and government of the world are also eminently marked by
"mercy" and "goodness": not the display of
power only, but of power declared chiefly in showing mercy and
pity: as again all subject to that rule are witnesses. Such is
God in himself. Nor is it without intention that the doxology is
threefold, indicating, doubtless, like the threefold invocation
of the Name of the Lord in the blessing of the people (Nu
6:24-26) God in Trinity, "Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost", as now fully revealed.—William De Burgh.
Verse 4. To him who alone doeth great wonders. God
hath preserved to himself the power of miracles, as his
prerogative: for the devil does no miracles; the devil and his
instruments do but hasten nature or hinder nature, antedate
nature or postdate nature, bring things sooner to pass or retard
them; and however they pretend to oppose nature, yet still it is
but upon nature and by natural means that they work. Only God
shakes the whole frame of nature in pieces, and in a miracle
proceeds so, as if there were no creation yet accomplished, no
course of nature yet established. Facit mirabilia magna solus,
says David here. There are mirabilia parva, some lesser wonders,
that the devil and his instruments, Pharaoh's sorcerers can do;
but when it comes to mirabilias magna, great wonders, so great
that they amount to the nature of a miracle, facit solus, God
and God only does them.—Abraham Wright.
Verse 4. To him who alone doeth great wonders. Does he
"alone" do great wonders? That means, he does so by
himself, unaided, needing nothing from others, asking no help
from his creatures. As the Nile from Nubia to the Mediterranean
rolls on 1,300 miles in solitary grandeur, receiving not one
tributary, but itself alone dispensing fertility and fatness
wherever it comes; so our God "alone" does wonders.
(See De 32:12 Ps 72:18, etc.) No prompter, no helper;
spontaneously he goes forth to work, and all he works is worthy
of God. Then we have no need of any other; we are independent of
all others; all our springs are in him.—Andrew A. Bonar.
Verse 4. Who alone doeth great wonders. There are
three things here declared of God; that he doeth wonders, that
the wonders he doeth are great; that he only doeth
them.—Augustine, in Neale and Littledale.
Verse 4. Who alone doeth great wonders. Whatsoever
instruments the Lord is pleased to use in any of his wonderful
works, he alone is the worker, and will not share the glory of
the work with any creature.—David Dickson.
Verse 4. It becomes the great God to grant great
things. To him who alone doeth great wonders. When you ask great
things, you ask such as it becomes God to give, "whose
mercy is great above the heavens!" Nothing under heaven can
be too great for him to give. The greater things he bestows, the
greater glory redounds to his Name.—David Clarkson, 1622-1686.
Verse 4. Christians should not be ashamed of the
mysteries and miracles of their religion. Sometimes of late
years there has been manifested a disposition to recede from the
defence of the supernatural in religion. This is a great
mistake. Give up all that is miraculous in true religion and
there is nothing left of power sufficient to move any heart to
worship or adore; and without worship there is no
piety.—William Swan Plumer.
Verse 4. The longer I live, O my God, the more do I
wonder at all the works of thy hands. I see such admirable
artifice in the very least and most despicable of all thy
creatures, as doth every day more and more astonish my
observation. I need not look so far as heaven for matter of
marvel, though therein thou art infinitely glorious; while I
have but a spider in my window, or a bee in my garden, or a worm
under my foot: every one of these overcomes me with a just
amazement: yet can I see no more than their very outsides; their
inward form, which gives their being and operations, I cannot
pierce into. The less I can know, O Lord, the more let me
wonder; and the less I can satisfy myself with marvelling at thy
works, the more let me adore the majesty and omnipotence of
thee, that wroughtest them.—Joseph Hall.
Verse 5. To him that by wisdom made the heavens. We
find that God has built the heavens in wisdom, to declare his
glory, and to show forth his handiwork. There are no iron
tracks, with bars and bolts, to hold the planets in their
orbits. Freely in space they move, ever changing, but never
changed; poised and balancing; swaying and swayed; disturbing
and disturbed, onward they fly, fulfilling with unerring
certainty their mighty cycles. The entire system forms one grand
complicated piece of celestial machinery; circle within circle,
wheel within wheel, cycle within cycle; revolutions go swift as
to be completed in a few hours; movements so slow, that their
mighty periods are only counted by millions of years.—From
"The Orbs of Heaven," 1859.
Verse 5. To him that by wisdom made the heavens. Not
only the firmament, but the third heavens, too, where all is
felicity, where is the throne of glory. Then, I infer, that if
the mercy which visits earth is from the same Jehovah who built
that heaven and filled it with glory, there must be in his mercy
something of the same "understanding" or
"wisdom." It is wise, prudent mercy; not rashly given
forth; and it is the mercy of him whose love has filled that
heaven with bliss. The same architect, the same skill, the same
love!—Andrew A. Bonar.
Verse 6. Stretched out the earth above the waters. The
waters of the great deep (Ge 7:11) are meant; above which the
crust of the earth is outspread. In Pr 8:27 the great deep
encircles the earth.—Speaker's Commentary.
Verse 7. Great lights. The luminaries of heaven are
unspeakable blessings to the children of men. The sun, in the
greatness of his strength, measures their day, and exerts an
influence over animal and vegetable life, which surrounds them
with innumerable comforts; and the moon and stars walking forth
in their brightness, give direction to them amidst the sable
hours of night, and both by land and sea proclaim the wisdom,
and benignity, and gracious arrangement of the adorable Creator.
By these luminaries, day and night, heat and cold, summer and
winter are continually regulated: so that God's covenant with
the earth is maintained through their medium. How truly, then,
may we exclaim, "His mercy endureth for ever!"—John
Morison.
Verse 7. To him that made great lights. Light is the
life and soul of the universe, the noblest emblem of the power
and glory of God, who, in the night season, leaves not himself
without witness, but gives us some portion of that light
reflected, which by day we behold flowing from its great
fountain in the heart of heaven. Thy church and thy saints, O
Lord, "are the moon and the stars", which, by the
communication of doctrine, and the splendour of example, guide
our feet, while we travel on in the night that hath overtaken
us, waiting for the dawn of everlasting day. Then we shall
behold thy glory, and see thee as thou art.—George Horne.
Verse 8. The sun to rule by day. This verse showeth
that the sun shineth in the day, by the order which God hath
set, and not for any natural cause alone, as some imagine and
conjecture.—Thomas Wilcocks.
Verse 8. The sun. The lantern of the world (lucerna
Mundi), as Copernicus names the sun, enthroned in the centre—according
to Theon of Smyrna, the all vivifying, pulsating heart of the
universe, is the primary source of light and of radiating heat,
and the generator of numerous terrestrial, electromagnetic
processes, and indeed of the greater part of the organic vital
activity upon our planet, more especially that of the vegetable
kingdom. In considering the expression of solar force, in its
widest generality, we find that it gives rise to alterations on
the surface of the earth,—partly by gravitative
attraction,—as in the ebb and flow of the ocean (if we except
the share taken in the phenomenon by lunar attraction), partly
by light and heat generating transverse vibrations of ether, as
in the fructifying admixture of the aerial and aqueous envelopes
of our planet, from the contact of the atmosphere with the
vaporizing fluid element in seas, lakes, and rivers. The solar
action operates, moreover, by differences of heat, in exciting
atmospheric and oceanic currents; the latter of which have
continued for thousands of years (though in an inconsiderable
degree) to accumulate or waste away alluvial strata, and thus
change the surface of the inundated land; it operates in the
generation and maintenance of the electromagnetic activity of
the earth's crust, and that of the oxygen contained in the
atmosphere; at one time calling forth calm and gentle forces of
chemical attraction, and variously determining organic life in
the endosmose of cell walls and in tissue of muscular and
nervous fibres; at another time evoking light processes in the
atmosphere, such as the coloured coruscations of the polar
light, thunder and lightning, hurricanes and waterspouts.
Our object in endeavouring to compress in one picture the
influences of solar action, in as far as they are independent of
the orbit and the position of the axis of our globe, has been
clearly to demonstrate, by an exposition of the connection
existing between great, and at first sight heterogeneous,
phenomena, how physical nature may be depicted in the History of
the Cosmos as a whole, moved and animated by internal and
frequently self adjusting forces. But the waves of light not
only exert a decomposing and combining action on the corporeal
world; they not only call forth the tender germs of plants from
the earth, generate the green colouring matter (chlorophyll)
within the leaf, and give colour to the fragrant blossom—they
not only produce myriads of reflected images of the Sun in the
graceful play of the waves, as in the moving grass of the
field—but the rays of celestial light, in the varied
gradations of their intensity and duration, are also
mysteriously connected with the inner life of man, his
intellectual susceptibilities, and the melancholy or cheerful
tone of his feelings. This is what Pliny the elder referred to
in these words, "Caeli tristram discutit sol, et humani
nubila animi serenat." ("The sun chases sadness from
the sky, and dissipates the clouds which darken the human
heart.")—F.H. Alexandar Von Humboldt (1769-1859),
"Cosmos."
Verse 8. The sun.
O sun! what makes thy beams so bright?
The word that said, "Let there be light."
—James Montgomery.
Verse 9. The moon and stars to rule by night. While
the apparent revolution of the sun marks out the year and the
course of the seasons, the revolution of the moon round the
heavens marks out our months; and by regularly changing its
figure at the four quarters of its course, subdivides the months
into two periods of weeks, and thus exhibits to all the nations
of the earth a "watch light", or signal, which every
seven days presents a form entirely new, for marking out the
shorter periods of duration. By its nearness to the earth, and
the consequent increase of its gravitating power, it produces
currents in the atmosphere, which direct the course of the
winds, and purify the aerial fluid from noxious exhalations; it
raises the waters of the ocean, and perpetuates the regular
returns of ebb and flow, by which the liquid element is
preserved from filth and putrefaction. It extends its sway even
over the human frame, and our health and disorders are sometimes
partially dependent on its influence. Even its eclipses, and
those it produces of the sun, are not without their use. They
tend to arouse mankind to the study of astronomy, and the
wonders of the firmament; they serve to confirm the deductions
of chronology, to direct the navigator, and to settle the
geographical position of towns and countries; they assist the
astronomer in his celestial investigations, and exhibit an
agreeable variety of phenomena in the scenery of the heavens. In
short, there are terrestrial scenes presented in moonlight,
which, in point of solemnity, grandeur, and picturesque beauty,
far surpass in interest, to a poetic imagination, all the
brilliancy and splendours of noonday. Hence, in all ages, a
moonlight scene has been regarded, by all ranks of men, with
feelings of joy and sentiments of admiration. The following
description of Homer, translated into English verse by Pope, has
been esteemed one of the finest night pieces in poetry:
"Behold the moon, refulgent lamp of night,
O'er Heaven's clear azure spreads her sacred light,
When not a breath disturbs the deep serene,
And not a cloud o'ercasts the solemn scene;
Around her throne the vivid planets roll,
And stars unnumbered gild the glowing pole;
O'er the dark trees a yellower verdure shed,
And tip with silver every mountain's head;
Then shine the vales; the rocks in prospect rise;
A flood of glory bursts from all the skies;
The conscious swains, rejoicing in the sight,
Eye the blue vault, and bless the useful light."
Without the light of the moon, the inhabitants of the polar
regions would be for weeks and months immersed in darkness. But
the moon, like a kindly visitant, returns at short intervals, in
the absence of the sun, and cheers them with her beams for days
and weeks together. So that, in this nocturnal luminary, as in
all the other arrangements of nature, we behold a display of the
paternal care and beneficence of that Almighty Being who
ordained "the moon and the stars to rule by night", as
an evidence of his superabundant goodness, and of "his
mercy which endureth for ever."—Thomas Dick (1774-1857),
in "Celestial Scenery."
Verse 9. Stars to rule by night. The purpose of the
sacred narrative being to describe the adaption of the earth to
the use of man, no account is taken of the nature of the stars,
as suns or planets, but merely as signs in the
heavens.—"Speaker's Commentary."
Verse 9. Stars. The stars not only adorn the roof of
our sublunary mansion, they are also in many respects useful to
man. Their influences are placid and gentle. Their rays, being
dispersed through spaces so vast and immense, are entirely
destitute of heat by the time they arrive at our abode; so that
we enjoy the view of a numerous assemblage of luminous globes
without any danger of their destroying the coolness of the night
or the quiet of our repose. They serve to guide the traveller
both by sea and land; they direct the navigator in tracing his
course from one continent to another through the pathless ocean.
They serve "for signs and for seasons, and for days and
years." They direct the labours of the husbandman, and
determine the return and conclusion of the seasons. They serve
as a magnificent "time piece", to determine the true
length of the day and of the year, and to mark with accuracy all
their subordinate divisions. They assist us in our commerce, and
in endeavouring to propagate religion among the nations, by
showing us our path to every region of the earth. They have
enabled us to measure the circumference of the globe, to
ascertain the density of the materials of which it is composed,
and to determine the exact position of all places upon its
surface. They cheer the long nights of several months in the
polar regions, which would otherwise be overspread with
impenetrable darkness. Above all, they open a prospect into the
regions of other worlds, and tend to amplify our views of the
Almighty Being who brought them into existence by his power, and
"whose kingdom ruleth over all." In these arrangements
of the stars in reference to our globe, the Divine wisdom and
goodness may be clearly perceived. We enjoy all the advantages
to which we have alluded as much as if the stars had been
created solely for the use of our world, while, at the same
time, they serve to diversify the nocturnal sky of other
planets, and to diffuse their light and influence over ten
thousands of other worlds with which they are more immediately
connected, so that, in this respect, as well as in every other,
the Almighty produces the most sublime and diversified effects
by means the most simple and economical, and renders every part
of the universe subservient to another, and to the good of the
whole.—Thomas Dick.
Verse 9. Stars. When the First Consul crossed the
Mediterranean on his Egyptian expedition, he carried with him a
cohort of savans, who ultimately did good service in many ways.
Among them, however, as might be expected at that era, were not
a few philosophers of the Voltaire Diderot school. Napoleon, for
his own instruction and amusement on shipboard, encouraged
disputation among these gentlemen; and on one occasion they
undertook to show, and, according to their own account, did
demonstrate, by infallible logic and metaphysic, that there is
no God. Bonaparte, who hated all idealogists, abstract reasoners,
and logical demonstrators, no matter what they were
demonstrating, would not fence with these subtle dialecticians,
but had them immediately on deck, and, pointing to the stars in
the clear sky, replied, by way of counter argument, "Very
good, messieurs! But who made all these?"—George Wilson,
in "Religio Chemici," 1862.
Verse 10. To him that smote Egypt in their firstborn.
The Egyptians are well said to have been smitten in their
firstborn; because they continued in their outrageous obstinacy
under the other plagues, though occasionally terrified by them,
but were broken and subdued by this last plague, and
submitted.—John Calvin.
Verse 10. To him that smote Egypt in their firstborn,
for his mercy, etc. Remember his sovereign grace, when
righteousness would show itself upon the guilty. There was mercy
even then to Israel—drops of that mercy that for ever endureth—at
the very time when judgment fell on others. Should not this give
emphasis to our praises? The dark background makes the figures
in the foreground more prominent.—Andrew A. Bonar.
Verse 11. And brought out Israel from among them. Such
an emigration as this the world never saw. On the lowest
computation, the entire multitude must have been above two
millions, and in all probability the number exceeded three
millions. Is the magnitude of this movement usually apprehended?
Do we think of the emigration of the Israelites from Egypt as of
the emigration of a number of families twice as numerous as the
population of the principality of Wales, or considerably more
than the whole population of the British Metropolis (in 1841),
with all their goods, property, and cattle? The collecting
together of so immense a multitude—the arranging the order of
their march—the provision of the requisite food even for a few
days, must, under the circumstances, have been utterly
impossible, unless a very special and overruling Providence had
graciously interfered to obviate the difficulties of the case.
To the most superficial observer it must be evident, that no
man, or number of men, having nothing but human resources, could
have ventured to undertake this journey. Scarcely any wonder,
wrought by Divine power in Egypt, appears greater than this
emigration of a nation, when fairly and fully
considered.—George Smith, in "Sacred Annals," 1850.
Verse 12. With a stretched out arm. The figure of an
outstretched arm is appropriate, for we stretch out the arm when
any great effort is required; so that this implies that God put
forth an extraordinary and not a common or slight display of his
power in redeeming his people.—John Calvin.
Verse 13. Divided the Red Sea into parts. The entire
space between the mountains of Ataka and Abon Deradj was dry. At
the former point the gulf is eight miles across, at the latter
more than double that distance. The waters that had filled this
broad and deep chasm stood in two huge mounds on the right hand
and on the left. The light of God shone brightly on the
astonished multitude. The word was given, they advanced abreast;
awe stricken, but quiet and confident..."Then the Egyptians
pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all
Pharaoh's horses, even his chariots and his fleet horses":
Ex 14:23.—William Osburn, in "Israel in Egypt,"
1856.
Verse 14. And made Israel to pass through the midst of
it, etc. Willingly, without reluctance; with great spirit and
courage, fearless of danger, and with the utmost safety, so that
not one was lost in the passage; see Ps 78:53; and thus the Lord
makes his people willing to pass through afflictions, he being
with them; and able to bear them, he putting underneath the
everlasting arms, even when in the valley of the shadow of
death. He carries them safely through them, so that they are not
hurt by them; the waters do not overflow them, nor the flames
kindle upon them; nor are any suffered to be lost: but all come
safe to land.—John Gill.
Verse 14. And made Israel to pass through the midst of
it. It is a work of no less mercy and power to give his people
grace to make use of an offered means of delivery, than to
prepare the deliverance for them; but the constancy of God's
mercy doth not only provide the means, but also giveth his
people grace to make use thereof in all ages.—David Dickson.
Verse 14. And made Israel to pass through the midst of
it. It is many times hail with the saints, when ill with the
wicked. Abraham from the hill seeth Sodom on fire.—John Trapp.
Verse 15. But overthrew Pharaoh, etc. Thus fell Sethos
the Second. It was his terrible destiny to leave to after times
the strongest exemplification of daring wickedness and mad
impiety in his life, and of the vengeance of God in his death,
that ever was enacted on the earth. Never had such a judgment
befallen any nation, as his reign in Egypt. Accordingly the
memory of this fearful event has never departed from among men.
The gulf in which he perished is named Bahr Kolzoum, "the
sea of destruction", to this day. The memory and name of
Sethos the Second were infamous in Egypt. His tomb was
desecrated, and his sarcophagus publicly and judicially broken.
The vault seems to have been used as a burying place for slaves.
The distinctive title of his name, Sethos, has been mutilated on
all the monuments of Egypt. In Lower Egypt the mutilation has
even been extended to the same title in the rings of his great
grandfather (Sethos the First), such was the deep abhorrence in
which the name had fallen, after it had been borne by this
wicked king. His is the only one in the whole range of the kings
of Egypt which has suffered this mark of public
infamy.—William Osburn.
Verse 15. But overthrew Pharaoh, etc. Margin, as in
Hebrew, shaked off. The word is applicable to a tree shaking off
its foliage, Isa 33:9. The same word is used in Ex 14:27:
"And the Lord overthrew (Margin, shook off) the Egyptians
in the midst of the sea." He shook them off as if he would
no longer protect them. He left them to perish.—Albert Barnes.
Verse 15. But shook off Pharaoh. This translation
gives an image of locusts. They fell into the sea like a swarm
of locusts.—Zachary Mudge, 1769.
Verse 15. But overthrew Pharaoh, etc. I know that the
Gospel is a book of mercy; I know likewise that in the prophets
there are many expressions of mercy; I know likewise that in the
ten commandments, which are the ministration of death, there is
made express mention of mercy, "I will have mercy on
thousands": yet, notwithstanding all this, if every leaf,
and every line, and every word in the Bible were nothing but
mercy, it would nothing avail the presumptuous sinner. Our God
is not an impotent God with one arm; but as he is slow to anger,
so is he great in power. And therefore though in this Psalm
there is nothing but his mercy endureth for ever, which is
twenty-six times in twenty-six verses: yet mark what a rattling
thunder clap is here in this verse. In our addresses therefore
unto God, let us so look upon him as a just God, as well as a
merciful; and not either despair of or presume upon his
mercy.—Abraham Wright.
Verse 16. Led his people through the wilderness.
When Israel, of the Lord beloved,
Out of the land of bondage came,
Her father's God before her moved,
An awful guide, in smoke and flame.
By day, along the astonished lands,
The cloudy pillar glided slow;
By night Arabia's crimsoned sands
Returned the fiery columun's glow.
—Sir Walter Scott, 1771-1832.
Verse 16. He led his people through the wilderness. It
was an astonishing miracle of God to support so many hundreds of
thousands of people in a wilderness totally deprived of all
necessaries for the life of man, and that for the space of forty
years.—Adam Clarke.
Verse 16. He led his people through the wilderness,
etc. It is a very sweet truth which is enunciated in this verse,
and one which I think we need very much to realize. His own
people, his peculiar people, his chosen, loved, and favoured
ones, whom he cherished as the apple of his eye, who were graven
on the palms of his hands, and loved with an everlasting love,
even these he led through the wilderness; and all this because
"His mercy endureth for ever." In another Psalm it is
said, "He leadeth them beside the still waters, he maketh
them to lie down in green pastures"; but the barren
wilderness has no green pastures, the parched and arid desert
has no still waters. And yet "in the wilderness shall
waters break out, and streams in the desert, and an highway
shall be there; and the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and
come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their
heads." "Who is this that cometh up from the
wilderness, leaning upon her beloved?" It is one of the
Lord's sweet truths that so perplex those that are without, but
which are so full of consolation to his own children, that the
wilderness and mercy are linked together of God in indissoluble
union here. "I will allure her", saith the Lord,
"and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably
unto her."—Barton Bouchier.
Verse 16. Who led his people. Note that in what
precedes this, in this verse itself, and in what follows, God's
three ways of leading are set forth. He leads out, he leads
through, and he leads into; out of sin, through the world, into
heaven; out by faith, through by hope, into by love.—Michael
Ayguan (1416), in Neale and Littledale.
Verse 17. Great kings. Great, as those times accounted
them, when every small city almost had her king. Canaan had
thirty and more of them. Great also in regard of their stature
and strength; for they were of the giants' race. De 3:1-29 Am
2:1-16—John Trapp.
Verses 18, 20. The profane of our times may hence
learn to take heed how they wrong the faithful. God is
"wise in heart and mighty in strength:" Job 9:4. Who
ever waxed fierce against his people and hath prospered? For
their sakes he hath destroyed great kings and mighty, Sihon king
of the Amorites, and Og the king of Bashan. He can pluck off thy
chariot wheels, strike thee in the hinder parts, cause thy heart
to fail thee for fear, and in a moment fetch thy soul from thee:
better were it for thee to have a millstone hanged about thy
neck, and thou to be cast into the bottom of the sea, than to
offend the least of these faithful ones; they are dear in his
sight, tender to him, as the apple of his eye.—John Barlow,
1632.
Verse 19. Sihon occupied the whole district between
the Arnon and Jabbok, through which the approach to the Jordan
lay. He had wrested it from the predecessor of Balak, and had
established himself, not in the ancient capital of Moab Ar, but
in the city still conspicuous to the modern traveller from its
wide prospect and its cluster of stone pines—Heshbon. The
recollection of his victory survived in a savage war song, which
passed into a kind of proverb in after times:—
"Come home to Heshbon;
Let the city of Sihon be built and prepared,
For there is gone out a fire from Heshbon,
A flame from the city of Sihon.
It hath consumed Ar of Moab,
And the lords of the high places of Arnon:
Woe to thee, Moab; thou art undone, thou people of Chemosh!
He hath given his sons that escaped, and his daughters, into
captivity
To the king of the Amorites, Sihon."
(Nu 21:27-29, repeated, as is well known, in Jer 48:45-46.)
The decisive battle between Sihon and his new foes took place
at Jahaz, probably on the confines of the rich pastures of Moab
and the desert whence the Israelites emerged. It was the first
engagement in which they were confronted with the future enemies
of their nation. The slingers and archers of Israel, afterwards
so renowned, now first showed their skill. Sihon fell; the army
fled (Joseph. Ant. iv. 5, 2.) (so ran the later tradition), and
devoured by thirst, like the Athenians in the Assinarus on their
flight from Syracuse, were slaughtered in the bed of one of the
mountain streams. The memory of this battle was cherished in
triumphant strains, in which, after reciting, in bitter irony,
the song just quoted of the Amorites' triumph, they broke out
into an exulting contrast of the past greatness of the defeated
chief and his present fall:—
"We have shot at them: Heshbon is perished:
We have laid them waste: even unto Nophah:
With fire: even unto Medeba." (Nu 31:30.)
—Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, in "The History of the Jewish
Church."
Verse 20. Og the king of Bashan. There is continued
victory. The second hindrance disappears after the first. "Og,
king of Bashan", last of the giants (De 3:11), fared no
better for all his strength than Sihon. It was not some peculiar
weakness of Sihon that overthrew him. All enemies of God,
however different in resource they may appear when they measure
themselves among themselves, are alike to those who march in the
strength of God. The power by which the Christian conquers one
foe will enable him to conquer all. And yet because Og did look
more formidable than Sihon, God gave his people special
encouragement in meeting him: Nu 21:34. God remembers that even
the most faithful and ardent of his people cannot get entirely
above the deceitfulness of outward appearances.—Pulpit
Commentary.
Verse 20. When Og king of Bashan took the field—a
giant, a new and more terrific foe—he, too, fell. And the
mercy that thus dealt with enemies so great, enemies so strong,
one after another, endureth for ever. When Antichrist raises up
his hosts in the latter days, one after another—when the
great, the famous, the mighty, the noble, the gigantic men, in
succession assail the Church, they shall perish: "For his
mercy endureth for ever."—Andrew A. Bonar.
Verse 22. Israel his servant. He speaks of all that
people as of one man, because they were united together in one
body, in the worship of one and the same God. Thus God calleth
them all his "firstborn": Ex 4:22.—Matthew Pool.
Verse 23. Who remembered us. We should echo in our
thankfulness the first intimation that God gives in his
providence of an approaching mercy. If you do but hear when the
king is on his road towards your town you raise your bells to
ring him in, and stay not till he be entered the gates. The
birds rise betimes in the morning, and are saluting the rising
sun with their sweet notes in the air. Thus should we strike up
our harps in praising God at the first appearance of a
mercy.—William Gurnall.
Verse 23. Who remembered us. The word
"remembered" is a pregnant word, it bears twins twice
told, it is big of a sixfold sense, as so many degrees of mercy
in it. 1. To remember signifies to think upon, in opposition to
forgetfulness. We may dwell in man's thoughts and not be the
better for it, but we cannot be in God's remembering thoughts
but we shall be the better for it. 2. To remember (as the second
degree of the mercy) signifies to take notice of a thing, in
opposition to neglect; so it is used in Ex 20:8: "Remember
the Sabbath day, to keep it holy": take notice, that is,
neglect it not, "remember" to keep holy the Sabbath
day. So God "remembered" us in our low estates: how?
Why, he did not barely think upon us, but he did observe and
take notice of us, and considered what our case was. But, 3. It
signifies (as the third degree of mercy), to lay to heart, to
pity and compassionate persons in such a case. What am I better
for anybody's thinking of me, if he do not take notice of me, so
as to pity me in my low estate? So God doth, as in Jer 31:20. 4.
To remember, signifies yet more (as the fourth degree of mercy)
to be well pleased with a person in such a case, to accept of a
person in such a case; so the word is used in Ps 20:3: "The
Lord remember all thy offerings, and accept thy burnt
sacrifice"; remember, that is, accept. 5. To remember
signifies (as the fifth degree of mercy) to hear and to grant a
request; so it is used in 1Sa 1:19-20, 27: "God remembered
Hannah", and the next word is, "He gave her what she
asked." 6. To remember signifies (as the sixth degree of
mercy) to help and succour, or to redeem and deliver from that
which we were appointed to, from the low estate; and so it is in
Ga 2:10: "Only they would that we should remember the
poor." Remembering the poor is not barely a thought, but a
relieving thought; therefore saith the Psalmist in the following
verse, "who hath redeemed us from our enemies": this
was the remembrance of God, redemption from enemies.
I might draw considerations (for thanksgiving) from the
Author of the mercy, God; a God that was offended by us, a God
that needed us not, and a God that gains nothing by us; and yet
this God remembered us in our low estate; that should engage us.
I might also draw obligations from the objects, and that is us
that were not only an undeserving but an ill deserving, and are
not a suitable returning people. I might draw arguments from the
mercy, itself,—that God remembered us...and I might draw
arguments from the season, "in our low estate", and
from the excellency of the duty of thanksgiving; 'tis a comely
thing; it makes us like the angels, whose whole employment and
liturgy is to give and live praise to God. And from this also I
might enlarge the discoveries of the obligation, that his mercy
endureth for ever. For his mercy endureth for ever. There is no
reason to be given for grace but grace; there is no reason to be
given for mercy but mercy: who remembered us: "for his
mercy endureth for ever."—Ralph Venning (1620-1673), in
"Mercies Memorial."
Verse 24. And. If the end of one mercy were not the
beginning of another, we were undone.—Philip Henry, 1631-1696.
Verse 24. And hath redeemed us. Or, broken us off,
pulled us away, as by violence; for they would never else have
loosed us.—John Trapp.
Verse 25. Who giveth food to all flesh, etc. The very
air we breathe in, the bread we eat, our common blessings, be
they never so mean, we have them all from grace, and all from
the tender mercy of the Lord. Ps 136:25, you have there the
story of the notable effects of God's mercy, and he concludes it
thus: "Who giveth food to all flesh: for his mercy endureth
for ever." Mark, the Psalmist doth not only ascribe those
mighty victories, those glorious instances of his love and
power, to his unchangeable mercy, but he traces our daily bread
to the same cause. In eminent deliverances of the church we will
acknowledge mercy; yea, but we should do it in every bit of meat
we eat; for the same reason is rendered all along. What is the
reason his people smote Sihon king of the Amorites, and Og the
king of Bashan, and that they were rescued so often out of
danger? "For his mercy endureth for ever." And what is
the reason he giveth food to all flesh? "For his mercy
endureth for ever." It is not only mercy which gives us
Christ, and salvation by Christ, and all those glorious
deliverances and triumphs over the enemies of the church; but it
is mercy which furnishes our tables, it is mercy that we taste
with our mouths and wear at our backs. It is notable, our Lord
Jesus, when there were but five barley loaves and two fishes (Joh
6:11), "He lift up his eyes and gave thanks." Though
our provision be never so homely and slender, yet God's grace
and mercy must be acknowledged.—Thomas Manton.
Verse 25. Who giveth food to all flesh. We might fancy
that they who have so much to sing of in regard to themselves,
so much done for their own souls, would have little care for
others. We might fear that they would be found selfish. But not
so; the love of God felt by a man makes the man feel as God does
toward men; and as God's love is ever going forth to others, so
is the heart of the man of God. We see how it is even as to
patriotism—a man's most intense patriotic feelings do not
necessarily make him indifferent to the good of other countries,
but rather make him wish all countries to be like his own; so it
is, much more certainly and truly, with the Lord's people in
their enjoyment of blessing. Their heart expands towards others;
they would fain have all men share in what they enjoy. They
therefore cannot close their song without having this other
clause—Praise him who is the giver of bread to all flesh. Not
to Israel only does he give blessing. Israel had their manna;
but, at the same time, the earth at large has its food. So in
spiritual things. Israel's God is he who giveth Himself as the
Bread of Life to the world. Perhaps at this point the Psalmist's
eye may be supposed to see earth in its state of blessedness,
after Israel is for the last time redeemed from all enemies, and
become "life from the dead" to the world—when Christ
reigns and dispenses the bread of life to the New Earth, as
widely as he gave common food—"the feast of fat things to
all nations", (Isa 25:6); for his mercy will not rest till
this is accomplished.—Andrew A. Bonar.
Verse 25. Who giveth food to all flesh. In the close
the Psalmist speaks of the paternal providence of God as
extending not only to all mankind, but to every living creature,
suggesting that we have no reason to feel surprise at his
sustaining the character of a kind and provident father to his
own people, when he condescends to care for the cattle, and the
asses of the field, and the crow, and the sparrow. Men are much
better than brute beasts, and there is a great difference
between some men and others, though not in merit, yet as regards
the privilege of the divine adoption, and the Psalmist is to be
considered as reasoning from the less to the greater and
enhancing the incomparably superior mercy which God shows to his
own children.—John Calvin.
Verse 25. Who giveth food to all flesh. Of Edward
Taylor, better known as "Father Taylor", the Sailor
Preacher of Boston, it is said that his prayers were more like
the utterances of an Oriental, abounding in imagery, than a son
of these colder western climes. The Sunday before he was to sail
for Europe, he was entreating the Lord to care well for his
church during his absence. All at once he stopped and
ejaculated, "What have I done? Distrust the providence of
heaven! A God that gives a whale a ton of herrings for a
breakfast, will he not care for my children?" and then went
on, closing his prayer in a more confiding strain.—C.H.
Spurgeon, in "Eccentric Preachers", 1880.
Verse 26. The God of heaven. The phrase "God of
heaven" is not found in the earlier Scriptures. We meet it
nowhere else in the Psalms; but we meet it in 2Ch 36:23 Ezr 1:2
5:11-12 6:9 7:12,23 Ne 1:4 2:4 Da 2:18-19,44 Jon 1:9. It is
twice found in the Apocalypse, Re 11:13 16:11. It is a sublime
and appropriate designation of the true God, expressive of his
glorious elevation above the passions and perturbations of
earth. To him all flesh should give thanks, for all receive his
mercy in many forms and ways. His favours come down on
generation after generation, and to his willing, obedient people
they shall flow on during eternal ages.—William Swan Plumer.
Verse 26. My brethren, God's mercies are from
everlasting; and it is a treasure that can never be spent, never
exhausted, unto eternity. In Isa 64:5, we read, "In thy
mercy is continuance." If God will but continue to be
merciful to me, will a poor soul say, I have enough. Why, saith
he, "in his mercies is continuance, and we shall be
saved." Hath God pardoned thee hitherto? but hast thou
sinned again? Can he stretch his goodness and mercy a little
further? Why, he will stretch them out unto eternity, unto
everlasting; and if one everlasting be not enough, there are
twenty-six everlastings in this one Psalm. In Isa 54:8, "In
a little wrath I hid my face from thee, but with everlasting
kindness will I have mercy on thee."—Thomas Goodwin.
Verse 26. O give thanks unto the God of heaven. His
mercy in providing heaven for his people is more than all the
rest.—John Trapp.
HINTS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER
Verse 1.
1. Consider his name—"Jehovah."
2. Carry out your joyful duty: "O give thanks."
3. Contemplate the two reasons given—goodness and enduring
mercy.
Verse 1.
1. Many subjects for praise.
a) For the goodness of God: "He is good" (Ps
136:1).
b) For his supremacy: "God of gods; Lord of lords" (Ps
136:2-3).
c) For his works in general (Ps 136:4).
d) For his works of creation in particular (Ps 136:5-9).
e) For his works of Providence (Ps 136:10-26).
2. The chief subject for praise: For his mercy endureth for
ever.
a) For mercy. This is the sinner's principal need.
b) For mercy in God. This is the sinner's attribute, and is
as essential to God as justice.
c) For mercy enduring for ever. If they who have sinned need
mercy for ever, they must exist for ever; and their guilt must
be for ever.—G. R.
Verse 1. The Lord is good. God is originally
good—good of himself. He is infinitely good. He is perfectly
good, because infinitely good. He is immutably good.—Charnock.
Verses 1-3.
1. The triplet of names: "Jehovah", "the God
of gods", "the Lord of lords."
2. The threefold adjuration, "O give thanks."
3. The irrepressible attribute and argument "for his
mercy", etc.—W.B.H.
Verses 1-26. For his mercy endureth for ever. See
"Spurgeon's Sermons", No. 787: "A Song, a Solace,
a Sermon, and a Summons."
Verse 4.
1. The Lord does great wonders of mercy.
2. He does them unaided.
3. He does them as none else can do.
4. He should have unique praise.
Verse 4. The great lone Wonder worker.
1. God was alone in the wonderwork of Creation: Ge 1:1-31.
2. Alone in the wonderwork of Redemption: Isa 63:5.
3. Is alone in the wonderwork of Providence: Ps 104:27-28.
4. Alone in the wonderwork of Sanctification: 1Th 5:23-24.
5. Will be alone in the wonderwork of Universal Triumph: 1Co
15:25.—C.A.D.
Verse 4. The merciful in the wonderful. The wonderful
in the merciful.
Verse 7. The mercy which dwells in the creation and
distribution of light.
Verses 7-9.
1. The constancy of rule.
2. The association of light with rule.
3. The perpetuity of mercy in this matter.
Verses 8-9.
1. The glory of the day of joy.
2. The comforts of the night of sorrow.
3. The hand of God in each.
Verse 10. Mercy and judgment. In the stroke that
filled Egypt with anguish there was conspicuous mercy.
1. Even to Egypt; the sharp stroke should have wrought
repentance. So God still strives with men.
2. Evidently to Israel; they being thus delivered; their
firstborn saved.
3. Emphatically to the who world: power made known, Christ
foreshadowed, an important link in the chain of redemption.—W.B.H.
Verse 11. The bringing out of God's people from their
natural state, from their misery, and from association with the
ungodly, a great marvel of everlasting mercy.
Verse 11. Effectual calling; the intervention at the
determined moment of the mercy of infinite ages.—W.B.H.
Verse 12. Displays of divine power in the history of
the saints a reason for song.
Verses 13-14. God to be praised not only,
1. For clearing our way; but also,
2. For giving faith to traverse it. The last as great a mercy as
the first.
Verses 13-15. Mercy queen of the Exodus.
1. Her sceptre upon the sea. What cannot Love divine conquer
for its chosen!
2. Her standard in the van. Whither shall saints fear to follow
her?
3. Her frown upon the pursuers; life to the beloved, fatal to
the foe.
4. To her let there be brought the chaplet of our praises.—W.B.H.
Verse 15. Final victory.
1. Battalions of evil annihilated.
2. Love unharmed mounting immortal above the wave: "for
his mercy endureth for ever."
3. Heaven resonant with the song of Moses and the Lamb, to
him give thanks.—W.B.H.
Verse 16.
1. Personal care: "To him which led."
2. Peculiar interest: "His people."
3. Persevering goodness: "Through the wilderness."
Verse 16. Led through the Wilderness.
1. God's people must enter the wilderness for trial, for self
knowledge, for development of graces, for preparation for
Canaan.
2. God leads his people while in the wilderness. Their route,
their provision, their discipline, their protection.
3. God will bring his people out of the wilderness.—C.A.D.
Verses 17-22. See "Spurgeon's Sermons", No.
1285: "Sihon and Og; or, Mercies in Detail."
Verse 21.
1. Our portion, a heritage.
2. Our title deed, a royal grant: "And gave."
3. Our praise, due to enduring mercy.
Verse 23. Prayer of the dying thief turned into a
song.
Verses 23-24. The gracious remembrance and the
glorious redemption.—C.A.D.
Verse 24. Our enemies, our accomplished redemption,
the author of it, and his reason for effecting it.
Verse 24. The multiplied redemptions of the Christian
life, and their inexhaustible spring.—W.B.H.
Verse 25. Divine housekeeping.
1. The Royal Commissariat.
2. Its spiritual counterpart: God's august providing for our
immortal nature.
3. The queenly grace that hath the keeping of the keys:
"for his mercy", etc.
—W.B.H.
Verse 26. Consider,
1. How he rules in heaven.
2. How he rules earth from heaven.
3. How mercy is the eternal element of that rule, and therefore
he is the eternal object of praise.