This
psalm is short and sweet; I doubt the reason why we sing it so often as we
do is for the shortness of it; but, if we rightly understood and considered
it, we should sing it oftener for the sweetness of it, especially to us
sinners of the Gentiles, on whom it casts a very favourable eye. Here is, I.
A solemn call to all nations to praise God, ver. 1. II. Proper matter for
that praise suggested, ver. 2. We are soon weary indeed of well-doing if, in
singing this psalm, we keep not up those pious and devout affections with
which the spiritual sacrifice of praise ought to be kindled and kept
burning.
All
Nations Admonished to Praise God.
1 O praise the LORD,
all ye nations: praise him, all ye people. 2 For his merciful
kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the LORD
endureth for ever. Praise ye the LORD.
There is a great deal of gospel in this psalm. The apostle has furnished us
with a key to it (Rom. xv. 11), where he quotes it as a proof that the
gospel was to be preached to, and would be entertained by, the Gentile
nations, which yet was so great a stumbling-block to the Jews. Why should
that offend them when it is said, and they themselves had often sung it, Praise
the Lord, all you Gentiles, and laud him, all you people. Some of the
Jewish writers confess that this psalm refers to the kingdom of the Messiah;
nay, one of them has a fancy that it consists of two verses to signify that
in the days of the Messiah God should be glorified by two sorts of people,
by the Jews, according to the law of Moses, and by the Gentiles, according
to the seven precepts of the sons of Noah, which yet should make one church,
as these two verses make one psalm. We have here,
I. The vast extent of the gospel church, v. 1. For many ages in
Judah
only was God known and his name praised. The sons of Levi and the seed of
Israel praised him, but the rest of the nations praised gods of wood and
stone (Dan. v. 4), while there was no devotion at all paid, at least
none openly, that we know of, to the living and true God. But here all
nations are called to praise the Lord, which could not be applied to the
Old-Testament times, both because this call was not then given to any of the
Gentile nations, much less to all, in a language they understood, and
because, unless the people of the land became Jews and were circumcised,
they were not admitted to praise God with them. But the gospel of Christ is
ordered to be preached to all nations, and by him the partition-wall is
taken down, and those that were afar off are made nigh. This
was the mystery which was hidden in prophecy for many ages, but was at
length revealed in the accomplishment, That the Gentiles should be
fellow-heirs, Eph. iii. 3, 6. Observe here, 1. Who should be admitted
into the church--all nations and all people. The original
words are the same that are used for the heathen that rage and the
people that imagine against Christ (Ps. ii. 1); those that had been
enemies to his kingdom should become his willing subjects. The gospel of the
kingdom was to be preached to all the world, for a witness to all
nations, Matt. xxiv. 14; Mark xvi. 15. All nations shall be called, and
to some of all nations the call shall be effectual, and they shall be
discipled. 2. How their admission into the church is foretold--by a repeated
call to praise him. The tidings of the gospel, being sent to all
nations, should give them cause to praise God; the institution of
gospel-ordinances would give them leave and opportunity to praise God; and
the power of gospel-grace would give them hearts to praise him. Those are
highly favoured whom God invites by his word and inclines by his Spirit to
praise him, and so makes to be to him for a name and a praise, Jer. xiii.
11. See Rev. vii. 9, 10.
II. The unsearchable riches of gospel-grace, which are to be the matter or
our praise, v. 2. In the gospel, those celebrated attributes of God,
his mercy and his truth, shine most brightly in themselves and most
comfortably to us; and the apostle, where he quotes this psalm, takes notice
of these as the two great things for which the Gentiles should glorify God
(Rom. xv. 8, 9), for the truth of God and for his mercy. We
that enjoy the gospel have reason to praise the Lord, 1. For the power of
his mercy: His merciful kindness is great towards us; it is strong
(so the word signifies); it is mighty for the pardon of mighty
sins (Amos v. 12) and for the working out of a mighty salvation. 2. For
the perpetuity of his truth: The truth of the Lord endures for ever.
It was mercy, mere mercy, to the Gentiles, that the gospel was sent among
them. It was merciful kindness prevailing towards them above their deserts;
and in it the truth of the Lord, of his promise made unto the
fathers, endures for ever; for, though the Jews were hardened and
expelled, yet the promise took its effect in the believing Gentiles, the
spiritual seed of Abraham. God's mercy is the fountain of all our comforts
and his truth the foundation of all our hopes, and therefore for both we
must praise the Lord.
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