Psalms 105:7

Psa 105:7 He [is] the LORD our God: his judgments [are] in all the earth.

Ver. 7. He is the Lord] Jehovah, the essentiator, the promise keeper, therefore praise him. He is also in covenant with us, and will we not do him this right?

His judgments are in all the earth] His executions upon the Egyptians and Philistines are far and near notified and discoursed.

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.

Psa_105:7-15

He is the Lord our God: His judgments are in all the earth.

God in Jewish history, working for His people

I. His absolute sovereignty (verse 9). The selection of Abraham to distinguished privileges is only an example of what has been going on in the history of men in all times. All men are not alike endowed, nor alike distinguished in privilege. Some have more health, more beauty, more talent, more enjoyments, than others. Shall any find fault with this? Who art thou that repliest against God? We should, however, always remember that Gods sovereignty is not arbitrary power, not capricious impulse, but is evermore the free expression of His heart, and that heart is love.

II. His inviolable faithfulness (verse 8). Men fail to fulfil their promises from one of three reasons--either because they were insincere when they made the promise, or because they subsequently changed their minds, or because difficulties occurred which they never anticipated. None of these reasons can be ascribed to God.

III. His territorial proprietorship (verse 11). Let all landowners remember that the acres they call their own are only borrowed property, they are only tenants at will, or rather stewards, responsible for the use they make of every foot of ground.

IV. His compassionate superintendence. He watched over them.

1. When they were few (verse 12). How He watched over Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, only three! We lose individuals in the mass. To Him the individual is the object of interest, the individual is His offspring, representative, fountain of immeasurable influence. Unto that man will I look.

2. When they were wandering strangers (verse 13). Though unknown, ignored, it may be despised, the few wandered amongst ten thousand strangers, His eye was upon them, and His sympathies were with them.

3. When they were threatened (verses 14, 15). (Homilist.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The poet now begins himself to do that to which he encourages Israel. Jahve is Israel's God: His righteous rule extends over the whole earth, whilst His people experience His inviolable faithfulness to His covenant. יהוה in Psa 105:7 is in apposition to הוּא, for the God who bears this name is as a matter of course the object of the song of praise. זכר is the perfect of practically pledges certainty (cf. Psa 111:5, where we find instead the future of confident prospect). The chronicler has זכרוּ instead (lxx again something different: μνημονεύωμεν); but the object is not the demanding but the promissory side of the covenant, so that consequently it is not Israel's remembering but God's that is spoken of. He remembers His covenant in all time to come, so that exile and want of independence as a state are only temporary, exceptional conditions. צוּה has its radical signification here, to establish, institute, Psa 111:9. לאלף דּור (in which expression דור is a specifying accusative) is taken from Deu 7:9. And since דּבר is the covenant word of promise, it can be continued אשׁר כּרת; and Hag 2:5 (vid., Khler thereon) shows that אשׁר is not joined to בריתו over Psa 105:8. וּשׁבוּעתו, however, is a second object to זכר (since דּבר with what belongs to it as an apposition is out of the question). It is the oath on Moriah (Gen 22:16) that is meant, which applied to Abraham and his seed. לישׂחק (chronicler ליצחק), as in Amo 7:9; Jer 33:26. To זכר is appended ויּעמרדה; the suffix, intended as neuter, points to what follows, viz., this, that Canaan shall be Israel's hereditary land. From Abraham and Isaac we come to Jacob-Israel, who as being the father of the twelve is the twelve-tribe nation itself that is coming into existence; hence the plural can alternate with the singular in Psa 105:11. את־ארץ כּנען (chronicler, without the את) is an accusative of the object, and חבל נחלתכם accusative of the predicate: the land of Canaan as the province of your own hereditary possession measured out with a measuring line (Psa 78:55).

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

Verse 7. He is the Lord our God] He is Jehovah, the self-existent and eternal God. He is our God, he is our portion; has taken us for his people, and makes us happy in his love.

The following abstract of the history of the Israelites presents but few difficulties. See Clarke on Ps 78:1, &c.

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

(7-11) First cause of praise; the ancient covenant.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7. He, Jehovah, is our God] He stands in a special and peculiar relation to Israel the people of His choice: but He is no mere national Deity: His judgements are in all the earth; He exercises an universal rule over all nations as “the Judge of all the earth” (Gen_18:25).

7–12. The theme of the Psalm. Jehovah has been true to the promise which He made to the patriarchs, to give them the land of Canaan.

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.

He is the lord our God,.... Here begin the arguments to excite to praise and thankfulness; and the first is taken from what God is, and is to us; he is Jehovah, the Being of beings, a self-existent Being, the author of all beings, but receives his own from none; being undivided, independent, and self-sufficient, invariably and unchangeably the same, which is, and was, and is to come; and who has a sovereign power and authority over all creatures, whose name alone is Jehovah; nor is that name applicable or communicable to any created being; and yet this Jehovah is our God, our God in covenant, our God in Christ; our God that has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ; our God that has regenerated, adopted, and justified us; that supplies all our wants, and will be our God and our portion for ever; and therefore worthy of all praise, honour, and glory.

His judgments are all the earth: not his laws and statutes, his word and ordinances, or the revelation of his mind and will as faith and worship, which are sometimes meant by his judgments; for these were not in all the earth, were only known to the people of the Jews at this time, Psa 147:19, rather his judgments on the Egyptians, or his plagues upon them for refusing to let Israel go, the fame of which was spread throughout the world: and may take in all the judgments of God in other parts of the world, as on Sodom and Gomorrah, and especially the universal deluge, which destroyed the world of the ungodly; and by such judgments the Lord is known, Psa 9:16 and for these he is to be praised; as they are expressive of his holiness and justice; as he will be for his judgments on antichrist, when they are made manifest, Rev 15:4. This may also respect in general God's government of the world, and his righteous judging in it; who is a God that judgeth in the earth, and governs it by his power and wisdom, and in righteousness; and this righteous Judge is our God.

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

He is the Lord our God - His name is Yahweh - the true God; and this God is ours. See the notes at Psa 95:7.

His judgments are in all the earth - More properly “in all the land;” that is, in every part of the land he is honored as our God. His institutions are established here; his laws are obeyed here; his worship is celebrated here. No other God is worshipped here; everywhere he is acknowledged as the nation’s God.

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

Either,

1. The fame of his judgments upon the Egyptians is spread over the face of the earth. Or,

2. God executes his judgments upon all nations and people; which may be here noted as a foil to magnify God’s grace to them who were the monuments of his mercy, when all the world besides them fell under his just severity.

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

Ver. 7. He is the Lord our God. Blessed be his name. Jehovah condescends to be our God. This sentence contains a greater wealth of meaning than all the eloquence of orators can compass, and there is more joy in it than in all the sonnets of them that make merry.

His judgments are in all the earth, or in all the land, for the whole of the country was instructed by his law, ruled by his statutes, and protected by his authority. What a joy it is that our God is never absent from us, he is never nonresident, never an absentee ruler, his judgments are in all the places in which we dwell. If the second clause of this verse refers to the whole world, it is very beautiful to see the speciality of Israel's election united with the universality of Jehovah's reign. Not alone to the one nation did the Lord reveal himself, but his glory flashed around the globe. It is wonderful that the Jewish people should have become so exclusive, and have so utterly lost the missionary spirit, for their sacred literature is full of the broad and generous sympathies which are so consistent with the worship of "the God of the whole earth." Nor is it less painful to observe that among a certain class of believers in God's election of grace there lingers a hard exclusive spirit, fatal to compassion and zeal. It would be well for these also to remember that their Redeemer is "the Saviour of all men, specially of them that believe."

Ver. 7. God's relation to his elect and to all mankind.

Psalms 105:8*

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

7. He is the Lord our God—Having earnestly exhorted them to faithfulness and zeal in the service of God by a rapid glance at his works, and by their holy lineage, the psalmist now proceeds to extol the mighty acts of God, and his marvellous patience and fidelity through all the ages of their history, as their highest incentive to obedience and faithfulness. The mention of Abraham and Isaac (Psa_105:6) had already suggested the “covenant,” which he intimates in the “our God,” and expressly mentions Psa_105:8

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

He is the Lord our God; rather, he, Jehovah, is our God. The psalmist now commences the praise of Jehovah in his own person, acting as spokesman for his people; and first of all declares his Godhead; next, his universal dominion. His judgments are in all the earth; i.e. "his sentences, decrees, laws, have a universal range, and command the obedience of all men."

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

Judgments - God executes his judgments upon all nations and people.

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

He keeps in mind ... the word that he commanded

These two phrases share similar meanings and are used together for emphasis. The word "word" refers to the covenant. AT: "He keeps in mind his covenant forever, the promise he made" (See: Parallelism and Metonymy)

keeps in mind

This means to remember and think about something. AT: "remembers" (See: Idiom)

a thousand generations

"1,000 generations" (See: Numbers)

translationWords

God

earth

mind

covenant

eternity

word

command

generation

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