Psalms 102:19

Psa 102:19 For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven did the LORD behold the earth;

Ver. 19. For he hath looked down from the height, &c.] This is no small condescension, since he abaseth himself to look upon things in heaven, Psa 113:6.

From heaven did the Lord behold the earth] That is, his poor despised servants, that are in themselves no better than the earth they tread on.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ver. 19-20. For he hath looked down from the heights of his sanctuary, or "leaned from the high place of his holiness, "

from heaven did the LORD behold the earth, looking out like a watcher from his tower. What was the object of this leaning lrom the battlements of heaven? Why this intent gaze upon the race of men? The answer is full of astounding mercy; the Lord does not look upon mankind to note their grandees, and observe the doings of their nobles, but

to hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death. Now the groans of those in prison so far from being musical are very horrible to hear, yet God bends to hear them: those who are bound for death are usually ill company, yet Jehovah deigns to stoop from his greatness to relieve their extreme distress and break their chains. This he does by providential rescues, by restoring health to the dying, and by finding food for the famishing: and spiritually this deed of grace is accomplished by sovereign grace, which delivers us by pardon from the sentence of sin, and by the sweetness of the promise from the deadly despair which a sense of sin had created within us. Well may those of us praise the Lord who were once the children of death, but are now brought into the glorious liberty of the children of God. The Jews in captivity were in Haman's time appointed to death, but their God found a way of escape for them, and they joyfully kept the feast of Purim in memorial thereof; let fill souls that have been set free from the crafty malice of the old dragon with even greater gratitude magnify the Lord of infinite compassion.

Ver. 19-22.

1. The notice which God takes of the world, Ps 102:19. (a) The place from which he beholds it: "from heaven, " not from an earthly point of view. (b) The character in which he beholds it; "from the height of his sanctuary, "from the mercy-seat.

2. What attracts his notice most in the world. The groaning of the prisoner and of those appointed to death.

3. The purpose for which he notices them. "To loose, " etc.; "to declare, "etc. (a) For human comfort. (b) For his own glory.

4. When his notice is thus fixed upon the earth. "When, " etc., Ps 102:22. G. R.

Psalms 102:20*

Ver. 2O. To hear the groaning of the prisoner. God takes notice not only of the prayers of his afflicted people, which are the language of grace; but even of their groans, which are the language of nature. Matthew Henry.

Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Psa 102:19-22. For he hath looked down — Namely, upon us, and not as an idle spectator, but with an eye of pity and relief; from the height of his sanctuary — From his higher or upper sanctuary, namely, heaven, as the next clause explains it, which is called, God’s high and holy place, Isa 57:15. To loose those that are appointed to death — To release his poor captives out of Babylon, and, which is more, to deliver mankind from the chains and fetters of sin and Satan, and from eternal destruction. To declare the name of the Lord, &c. — That they, being delivered, might publish and celebrate the name and praises of God in his church. When the people are gathered together, &c. — When the Gentiles shall gather themselves to the Jews, and join with them in the praise and worship of the true God, and of the Messiah. This verse seems to be added to intimate, that although the psalmist, in this Psalm, referred to the deliverance of the Jews out of Babylon, yet he had a further design, and a principal respect unto that great and more general deliverance of his church and people by Christ.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

20. (Psa 102:19) For he has leaned from the high, place of his holiness! Jehovah, from heaven to earth has looked. The first word may also be translated that, and the verse be understood as an amplification of the pronoun this at the beginning of Psa 102:18. This is what shall be written for a future generation; this is what they shall praise Jah for; viz. that he has looked, etc. To avoid the repetition of the English verb, as well as to add life to the description, the Hebrew verb is here represented by what seems to be its primary meaning. See above, on Psa 14:2; Psa 85:11, and compare Deu 26:15.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Psalms Translated and Explained (1850) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

102:19 The heavenly sanctuary refers to God’s holy place on high (see 92:8-10).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 19. For he hath looked down] This, with the three following verses, seems to me to contain a glorious prophecy of the incarnation of Christ, and the gathering in of the Jews and the Gentiles to him. The Lord looks down from heaven, and sees the whole earth groaning and travailing in pain; his eye affects his heart, and he purposes their salvation.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

19. For he hath looked down from the high place of his holiness Now the prophet contemplates the deliverance after which he breathes with anxious desire, as if it had been already accomplished. That the malignity of men might not attempt to obscure such a signal blessing of Heaven, he openly and in express terms claims for God his rightful praise; and the people were constrained in many ways to acknowledge therein the divine hand. Long before they were dragged into captivity, this calamity had been foretold, that when it took place the judgment of God might be clearly manifested; and at the same time deliverance had been promised them, and the time specified to be after the lapse of seventy years. The ingratitude of men therefore could not devise or invent any other cause to which to ascribe their return but the mere goodness of God. Accordingly, it is said, that God looked down from heaven, that the Jews might not attribute to the grace and favor of Cyrus the deliverance which evidently proceeded from Heaven. The high place of his holiness or sanctuary is here equivalent to heaven. As the temple, in some parts of Scripture, (Psalm 26:8 and Psalm 76:2) is called “the habitation of God,” in respect of men, so, that we may not imagine that there is any thing earthly in God, he assigns to himself a dwelling-place in heaven, not because he is shut up there, but that we may seek him above the world.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

19. Because he hath looked down … hath beheld] In answer to the prayer of Isa_63:15. Cp. also Deu_26:15; Psa_14:2; Psa_33:13. This verse is related to Psa_102:18 as Psa_102:16-17 are to Psa_102:15. The perfect tense denotes what will lie in the past when the time referred to in Psa_102:18 is reached. Jehovah had not yet ‘looked down’ upon His people when the Psalmist was writing; this is clear from Psa_102:13; but He will assuredly do so, and His renewed regard will be the occasion and theme for their thanksgiving.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

To hear the groanings of the prisoner,.... Not of a single person only, but of many, who lie in prisons in Popish countries, especially in the Inquisition; where they lie and groan, in darkness and misery, under dreadful tortures; their cries and groans the Lord hears; his heart yearns towards them; he looks with pity on them; and, because of the sighing of these poor and needy ones, he will arise in due time, and set them in safety from him that puffs at them: it is true also of such who are prisoners of sin, Satan, and the law; and, when sensible of it, groan under their bondage, and cry to the Lord for help, who hears them, and directs them, as prisoners of hope, to turn to Christ, their strong hold, Zac 9:11,

to loose those that are appointed to death; delivered to death, as the Targum; delivered over to the secular power, in order to be put to death; who are arraigned and condemned as malefactors, and put into the condemned hole, in order for execution; these the Lord will loose, and save them from the death they are appointed to by men; for this is not to be understood of persons appointed by the Lord to death, either corporeal or eternal, from which none can be loosed, so appointed: in the original text the phrase is "children of death" (d); the same as "children of wrath", Eph 2:3, that is, deserving of death, and under the sentence of it; as all men are in Adam, even the Lord's own people; and who are, in their own apprehension, as dead men, when awakened and convinced of their state by the Spirit of God; these Christ looses from the shackles and fetters of sin, from the bondage of the law, from the tyranny of Satan, and from fears of death, and puts them into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

(d) "filios mortis", Montanus, Vatablus, Musculus, Gejerus, Michaelis.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary - From his high and holy dwelling-place, in heaven. The word here rendered “looked down,” means, in Kal, to lay upon or over; then, in Niphil, to lie out over anything, to project; and then, to bend forward. It then means to bend or incline forward with an intention to look at anything, as from a window, Gen 26:8. Compare Psa 14:2. See also Psa 85:12, note; 1Pe 1:12, note.

From heaven did the Lord behold the earth - Did he look abroad over all the world.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

He hath looked down, to wit, upon us, not like an idle spectator, but with an eye of pity and relief, as the next verse declares.

From the height of his sanctuary; from his higher or upper sanctuary, to wit, heaven, as the next clause explains it, which is called God’s high and holy place, Isa 57:15.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

19. Looked down—Compare Deu_26:15; Isa_63:15. So manifestly was their salvation above all human power and skill. It came directly from Heaven.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary. God"s true sanctuary is the heaven of heavens wherein he dwells. Earthly sanctuaries are but shadows of this. From heaven did the Lord behold the earth. (comp. Exo_2:23-25) As God in the days of old had looked down on the affliction of his people in Egypt, so did he now "look down" and "behold" their sufferings in Babylon.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Looked - From heaven.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

For he has looked down from the holy heights; from heaven Yahweh has viewed

These two phrases have similar meaning and are used together for emphasize how God looks down from heaven. (See: Parallelism)

the holy heights

"his holy place high above the earth"

those who were condemned to death

This can be stated in active form. AT: "those whom the authorities had sentenced to die" (See: Active or Passive)

translationWords

holy

heaven

prison

condemn

die

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Let this be inscribed So will those who see the salvation say, “let this salvation be inscribed for the latest generation.”

and a created people that became a new creature to emerge from slavery to freedom and from darkness to a great light.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.