This
and divers of the psalms that follow it seem to have been penned by David
for the service of the church in their solemn feasts, and not upon any
particular occasion. This is a psalm of praise. The title of it is
"Hallelujah--Praise you the Lord," intimating that we must address
ourselves to the use of this psalm with hearts disposed to praise God. It is
composed alphabetically, each sentence beginning with a several letter of
the Hebrew alphabet, in order exactly, two sentences to each verse, and
three a piece to the last two. The psalmist, exhorting to praise God, I.
Sets himself for an example, ver. 1. II. Furnishes us with matter for praise
from the works of God. 1. The greatness of his works and the glory of them.
2. The righteousness of them. 3. The goodness of them. 4. The power of them.
5. The conformity of them to his word of promise. 6. The perpetuity of them.
These observations are intermixed, ver. 2-9. III. He recommends the holy
fear of God, and conscientious obedience to his commands, as the most
acceptable way of praising God, ver. 10.
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The Excellence of the Divine Works.
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1 Praise ye the LORD.
I will praise the LORD with my whole
heart, in the assembly of the upright, and in the congregation.
2 The works of the LORD
are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein.
3 His work is honourable and glorious: and his righteousness endureth
for ever. 4 He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered:
the LORD
is gracious and full of compassion. 5 He hath given meat
unto them that fear him: he will ever be mindful of his covenant.
The title of the psalm being Hallelujah, the psalmist (as every
author ought to have) has an eye to his title, and keeps to his text.
I. He resolves to praise God himself, v. 1. What duty we call others
to we must oblige and excite ourselves to; nay, whatever others do, whether
they will praise God or no, we and our houses must determine to do it, we
and our hearts; for such is the psalmist's resolution here: I will praise
the Lord with my whole heart. My heart, my whole heart, being devoted to
his honour, shall be employed in this work; and this in the assembly,
or secret, of the upright, in the cabinet-council, and in the
congregation of Israelites. Note, We must praise God both in private and
in public, in less and greater assemblies, in our own families and in the
courts of the Lord's house; but in both it is most comfortable to do it in
concert with the upright, who will heartily join in it. Private meetings for
devotion should be kept up as well as more public and promiscuous
assemblies.
II. He recommends to us the works of the Lord as the proper subject
of our meditations when we are praising him--the dispensations of his
providence towards the world, towards the church, and towards particular
persons. 1. God's works are very magnificent, great like himself; there is
nothing in them that is mean or trifling: they are the products of infinite
wisdom and power, and we must say this upon the first view of them, before
we come to enquire more particularly into them, that the works of the
Lord are great, v. 2. There is something in them surprising, and
that strikes an awe upon us. All the works of the Lord are spoken of
as one (v. 3); it is his work, such is the beauty and harmony
of Providence and so admirably do all its dispensations centre in one
design; it was cried to the wheels, O wheel! Ezek. x. 13. Take all
together, and it is honourable and glorious, and such as becomes him.
2. They are entertaining and exercising to the inquisitive--sought out of
all those that have pleasure therein. Note, (1.) All that truly love God
have pleasure in his works, and reckon all well that he does; nor do their
thoughts dwell upon any subject with more delight than on the works of God,
which the more they are looked into the more they give us of a pleasing
surprise. (2.) Those that have pleasure in the works of God will not take up
with a superficial transient view of them, but will diligently search into
them and observe them. In studying both natural and political history we
should have this in our eye, to discover the greatness and glory of God's
works. (3.) These works of God, that are humbly and diligently sought into,
shall be sought out; those that seek shall find (so some
read); they are found of all those that have pleasure in them, or
found in all their parts, designs, purposes, and several concernments (so
Dr. Hammond), for the secret of the Lord is with those that fear him,
Ps. xxv. 14. 3. They are all justly and holy; His righteousness endures
for ever. Whatever he does, he never did, nor ever will do, any wrong to
any of his creatures; and therefore his works endure for ever
(Eccl. iii. 14) because the righteousness of them endures. 4. They are
admirable and memorable, fit to be registered and kept on record. Much that
we do is so trifling that it is not fit to be spoken of or told again; the
greatest kindness is to forget it. But notice is to be taken of God's works,
and an account to be kept of them (v. 4). He has made his
wonderful works to be remembered; he has done that which is worthy to be
remembered, which cannot but be remembered, and he has instituted ways and
means for the keeping of some of them in remembrance, as the deliverance of
Israel out of Egypt by the passover. He has made himself a memorial by
his wonderful works (so some read it); see Isa. lxiii. 10. By that which
God did with his glorious arm he made himself an everlasting name. 5.
They are very kind. In them the Lord shows that he is gracious and full
of compassion. As of the works of creation, so of the works of
providence, we must say, They are not only all very great, but all very
good. Dr. Hammond takes this to be the name which God has made to himself by
his wonderful works, the same with that which he proclaimed to Moses, The
Lord God is gracious and merciful, Exod. xxiv. 6. God's pardoning sin is
the most wonderful of all his works and which ought to be remembered to his
glory. It is a further instance of his grace and compassion that he has
given meat to those that fear him, v. 5. He gives them their
daily bread, food convenient for them; so he does to others by common
providence, but to those that fear him he gives it by covenant and in
pursuance of the promise, for it follows, He will be ever mindful of his
covenant; so that they can taste covenant-love even in common mercies.
Some refer this to the manna with which God fed his people Israel in the
wilderness, others to the spoil they got from the Egyptians when they came
out with great substance, according to the promise, Gen. xv. 14. When God broke
the heads of leviathan he gave him to be meat to his people, Ps.
lxxiv. 14. He has given prey to those that fear him (so the
margin has it), not only fed them, but enriched them, and given their
enemies to be a prey to them. 6. They are earnests of what he will do,
according to his promise: He will ever be mindful of his covenant,
for he has ever been so; and, as he never did, so he never will, let one jot
or tittle of it fall to the ground. Though God's people have their
infirmities, and are often unmindful of his commands, yet he will ever be
mindful of his covenant.
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The Happiness of the Righteous.
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6 He hath showed his people the power of his
works, that he may give them the heritage of the heathen. 7 The
works of his hands are verity and judgment; all his commandments are
sure. 8 They stand fast for ever and ever, and are done
in truth and uprightness. 9 He sent redemption unto his people:
he hath commanded his covenant for ever: holy and reverend is his
name. 10 The fear of the LORD
is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that
do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.
We are here taught to give glory to God,
I. For the great things he has done for his people, for his people Israel,
of old and of late: He has shown his people the power of his works (v.
6), in what he has wrought for them; many a time he has given proofs of his
omnipotence, and shown them what he can do, and that there is nothing too
hard for him to do. Two things are specified to show the power of his
works:-- 1. The possession God gave to Israel in the land of Canaan, that
he might give them, or in giving them, the heritage of the heathen.
This he did in Joshua's time, when the seven nations were subdued, and in
David's time, when the neighbouring nations were many of them brought into
subjection to Israel and became tributaries to David. Herein God showed his
sovereignty, in disposing of kingdoms as he pleases, and his might, in
making good his disposals. If God will make the heritage of the heathen to
be the heritage of Israel, who can either arraign his counsel or stay his
hand? 2. The many deliverances which he wrought for his people when by their
iniquities they had sold themselves into the hand of their enemies (v.
9): He sent redemption unto his people, not only out of Egypt at
first, but often afterwards; and these redemptions were typical of the great
redemption which in the fulness of time was to be wrought out by the Lord
Jesus, that redemption in Jerusalem which so many waited for.
II. For the stability both of his word and of his works, which assure us of
the great things he will do for them. 1. What God has done shall never be
undone. He will not undo it himself, and men and devils cannot (v.
7): The works of his hand are verity and judgment (v. 8), that
is, they are done in truth and uprightness; all he does is consonant
to the eternal rules and reasons of equity, all according to the counsel of
his wisdom and the purpose of his will, all well done and therefore there is
nothing to be altered or amended, but his works are firm and unchangeable.
Upon the beginning of his works we may depend for the perfecting of them;
work that is done properly will last, will neither go to decay nor sink
under the stress that is laid upon it. 2. What God has said shall never be
unsaid: All his commandments are sure, all straight and therefore all
steady. His purposes, the rule of his actions, shall all have their
accomplishment: Has he spoken, and will he not make it good? No doubt
he will; whether he commands light or darkness, it is done as he commands.
His precepts, the rule of our actions, are unquestionably just and good, and
therefore unchangeable and not to be repealed; his promises and threatenings
are all sure, and will be made good; nor shall the unbelief of man make
either the one or the other of no effect. They are established, and
therefore they stand fast for ever and ever, and the scripture cannot
be broken. The wise God is never put upon new counsels, nor obliged to take
new measures, either in his laws or in his providences. All is said, as all
is done, in truth and uprightness, and therefore it is immutable. Men's
folly and falsehood make them unstable in all their ways, but
infinite wisdom and truth for ever exclude retraction and revocation: He
has commanded his covenant for ever. God's covenant is commanded, for he
has made it as one that has an incontestable authority to prescribe both
what we must do and what we must expect, and an unquestionable ability to
perform both what he has promised in the blessings of the covenant and what
he has threatened in the curses of it, Ps. cv. 8.
III. For the setting up and establishing of religion among men. Because holy
and reverend is his name, and the fear of him is the beginning of
wisdom, therefore his praise endureth for ever, that is, he is to
be everlastingly praised. 1. Because the discoveries of religion tend so
much to his honour. Review what he has made known of himself in his word and
in his works, and you will see, and say, that God is great and greatly to be
feared; for his name is holy, his infinite purity and rectitude appear in
all that whereby he has made himself known, and because it is holy therefore
it is reverend, and to be thought of and mentioned with a holy awe. Note,
What is holy is reverend; the angels have an eye to God's holiness when they
cover their faces before him, and nothing is more man's honour than his
sanctification. It is in his holy places that God appears most terrible, Ps.
lxviii. 35; Lev. x. 3. 2. Because the dictates of religion tend so much to
man's happiness. We have reason to praise God that the matter is so well
contrived that our reverence of him and obedience to him are as much our
interest as they are our duty. (1.) Our reverence of him is so: The fear
of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It is not only reasonable that
we should fear God, because his name is reverend and his nature is holy, but
it is advantageous to us. It is wisdom; it will direct us to speak and act
as becomes us, in a consistency with ourselves, and for our own benefit. It
is the head of wisdom, that is (as we read it), it is the beginning of
wisdom. Men can never begin to be wise till they begin to fear God; all
true wisdom takes its rise from true religion, and has its foundation in it.
Or, as some understand it, it is the chief wisdom, and the most excellent,
the first in dignity. It is the principal wisdom, and the principal of
wisdom, to worship God and give honour to him as our Father and Master.
Those manage well who always act under the government of his holy fear. (2.)
Our obedience to him is so: A good understanding have all those that do
his commandments. Where the fear of the Lord rules in the heart there
will be a constant conscientious care to keep his commandments, not to talk
of them, but to do them; and such have a good understanding, that is, [1.]
They are well understood; their obedience is graciously accepted as a plain
indication of their mind that they do indeed fear God. Compare Prov. iii. 4,
So shalt thou find favour and good understanding. God and man will
look upon those as meaning well, and approve of them, who make conscience of
their duty, though they have their mistakes. What is honestly intended shall
be well taken. [2.] They understand well. First, It is a sign that
they do understand well. The most obedient are accepted as the most
intelligent; those understand themselves and their interest best that make
God's law their rule and are in every thing ruled by it. A great
understanding those have that know God's commandments and can discourse
learnedly of them, but a good understanding have those that do them and walk
according to them. Secondly, It is the way to understand better: A
good understanding are they to all that do them; the fear of the Lord
and the laws of that give men a good understanding, and are able to make
them wise unto salvation. If any man will do his will, he shall know
more and more clearly of the doctrine of Christ, John vii. 17. Good
success have all those that do them (so the margin), according to what
was promised to Joshua if he would observe to do according to the law. Josh.
i. 8, Then thou shalt make thy way prosperous and shalt have good
success. We have reason to praise God, to praise him for ever, for
putting man into such a fair way to happiness. Some apply the last words
rather to the good man who fears the Lord than to the good God: His
praise endures for ever. It is not of men perhaps, but it
is of God (Rom. ii. 29), and that praise which is of God endures for
ever when the praise of men is withered and gone.
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