Psalms 145:1

The entitling of this David's psalm of praise may intimate not only that he was the penman of it, but that he took a particular pleasure in it and sung it often; it was his companion wherever he went. In this former part of the psalm God's glorious attributes are praised, as, in the latter part of the psalm, his kingdom and the administration of it. Observe,

I. Who shall be employed in giving glory to God.

1. Whatever others do, the psalmist will himself be much in praising God. To this good work he here excites himself, engages himself, and has his heart much enlarged in it. What he does, that he will do, having more and more satisfaction in it. It was his duty; it was his delight. Observe, (1.) How he expresses the work itself: "I will extol thee, and bless thy name (Psa 145:1); I will speak well of thee, as thou hast made thyself known, and will therein express my own high thoughts of thee and endeavour to raise the like in others." When we speak honourably of God, this is graciously interpreted and accepted as an extolling of him. Again (Psa 145:2): I will bless thee, I will praise thy name; the repetition intimates the fervency of his affection to this work, the fixedness of his purpose to abound in it, and the frequency of his performances therein. Again (Psa 145:5): I will speak of thy honour, and (Psa 145:6) I will declare thy greatness. He would give glory to God, not only in his solemn devotions, but in his common conversation. If the heart be full of God, out of the abundance of that the mouth will speak with reverence, to his praise, upon all occasions. What subject of discourse can we find more noble, more copious, more pleasant, useful, and unexceptionable, than the glory of God? (2.) How he expresses his resolution to persevere in it. [1.] He will be constant to this work: Every day will I bless thee. Praising God must be our daily work. No day must pass, though ever so busy a day, though ever so sorrowful a day, without praising God. We ought to reckon it the most needful of our daily employments, and the most delightful of our daily comforts. God is every day blessing us, doing well for us; there is therefore reason that we should be every day blessing him, speaking well of him. [2.] He will continue in it: I will bless thee for ever and ever, Psa 145:1 and again Psa 145:2. This intimates, First, That he resolved to continue in this work to the end of his life, throughout his ever in this world. Secondly, That the psalms he penned should be made use of in praising God by the church to the end of time, Ch2 29:30. Thirdly, That he hoped to be praising God to all eternity in the other world. Those that make praise their constant work on earth shall have it their everlasting bliss in heaven.

2. He doubts not but others also would be forward to this work. (1.) "They shall concur in it now; they shall join with me in it: When I declare thy greatness men shall speak of it (Psa 145:6); they shall abundantly utter it" (Psa 145:7), or pour it out (as the word is); they shall praise God with a gracious fluency, better than the most curious oratory. David's zeal would provoke many, and it has done so. (2.) "They shall keep it up when I am gone, in an uninterrupted succession (Psa 145:4): One generation shall praise thy works to another." The generation that is going off shall tell them to that which is rising up, shall tell what they have seen in their days and what they have heard from their fathers; they shall fully and particularly declare thy mighty acts (Psa 78:3); and the generation that is rising up shall follow the example of that which is going off: so that the death of God's worshippers shall be no diminution of his worship, for a new generation shall rise up in their room to carry on that good work, more or less, to the end of time, when it shall be left to that world to do it in which there is no succession of generations.

II. What we must give to God the glory of.

1. Of his greatness and his great works. We must declare, Great is the Lord, his presence infinite, his power irresistible, his brightness insupportable, his majesty awful, his dominion boundless, and his sovereignty incontestable; and therefore there is no dispute, but great is the Lord, and, if great, then greatly to be praised, with all that is within us, to the utmost of our power, and with all the circumstances of solemnity imaginable. His greatness indeed cannot be comprehended, for it is unsearchable; who can conceive or express how great God is? But then it is so much the more to be praised. When we cannot, by searching, find the bottom, we must sit down at the brink, and adore the depth, Rom 11:33. God is great, for, (1.) His majesty is glorious in the upper world, above the heavens, where he has set his glory; and when we are declaring his greatness we must not fail to speak of the glorious honour of his majesty, the splendour of the glory of his majesty (Psa 145:5), how brightly he shines in the upper world, so as to dazzle the eyes of the angels themselves, and oblige them to cover their faces, as unable to bear the lustre of it. (2.) His works are wondrous in this lower world. The preservation, maintenance, and government of all the creatures, proclaim the Creator very great. When therefore we declare his greatness we must observe the unquestionable proofs of it, and must declare his mighty acts (Psa 145:4), speak of his wondrous works (Psa 145:5), the might of his terrible acts, Psa 145:6. We must see God acting and working in all the affairs of this lower world. Various instruments are used, but in all events God is the supreme director; it is he that performs all things. Much of his power is seen in the operations of his providence (they are mighty acts, such as cannot be paralleled by the strength of any creature), and much of his justice - they are terrible acts, awful to saints, dreadful to sinners. These we should take all occasions to speak of, observing the finger of God, his hand, his arm, in all, that we may marvel.

2. Of his goodness; this is his glory, Exo 33:19. It is what he glories in (Exo 34:6, Exo 34:7), and it is what we must give him the glory of: They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, Psa 145:7. God's goodness is great goodness, the treasures of it can never be exhausted, nay, they can never be lessened, for he ever will be as rich in mercy as he ever was. It is memorable goodness; it is what we ought always to lay before us, always to have in mind and preserve the memorials of, for it is worthy to be had in everlasting remembrance; and the remembrance we retain of God's goodness we should utter, we should abundantly utter, as those who are full of it, very full of it, and desire that others may be acquainted and affected with it. But, whenever we utter God's great goodness, we must not forget, at the same time, to sing of his righteousness; for, as he is gracious in rewarding those that serve him faithfully, so he is righteous in punishing those that rebel against him. Impartial and inflexible justice is as surely in God as inexhaustible goodness; and we must sing of both together, Rom 11:22. (1.) There is a fountain of goodness in God's nature (Psa 145:8): The Lord is gracious to those that serve him; he is full of compassion to those that need him, slow to anger to those that have offended him, and of great mercy to all that seek him and sue to him. he is ready to give, and ready to forgive, more ready than we are to ask, than we are to repent. (2.) There are streams of goodness in all the dispensations of his providence, Psa 145:9. As he is good, so he does good; he is good to all, to all his creatures, from the highest angel to the meanest worm, to all but devils and damned sinners, that have shut themselves out from his goodness. His tender mercies are over all his works. [1.] All his works, all his creatures, receive the fruits of his merciful care and bounty. It is extended to them all; he hates nothing that he has made. [2.] The works of his mercy out-shine all his other works, and declare him more than any of them. In nothing will the glory of God be for ever so illustrious as in the vessels of mercy ordained to glory. To the divine goodness will the everlasting hallelujahs of all the saints be sung.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Psa 145:1 « David’s [Psalm] of praise. » I will extol thee, my God, O king; and I will bless thy name for ever and ever.

David’s Psalm of praise] Heb. David’s praise or hymn, well worthy, saith learned Beza, to be made use of by all men for a rule and pattern of praising God. Perfectum illius rationalis cultus exemplum (Beza). It is one of those psalms that are artificially made up after the order of the alphabet, and so highly prized by the Rabbis, that they doubt not to promise heaven to him who shall thrice every day pray over this psalm, corde, ore, et opere (Kimchi. R. Arama).

Ver. 1. I will extol thee, my God, O king] i.e. O Christ, the King of kings, whose vassal I profess myself, as did afterwards also those three most Christian emperors, Constantine, Valentinian, and Theodosius.

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_145:1-21

I will extol Thee, my God, O King.

The Kinghood of God, and the glory of His providence: -

I. The Kinghood of God (Psa_145:1-13).

1. Absolutely incomparable.

(1) Majesty incomprehensible.

(2) Reign perpetual.

(3) Power tremendous.

2. Supremely praiseworthy.

(1) By all.

(2) At all times.

(3) For ever.

II. The glory of His providence (Psa_145:14-21). His kindness to--

1. Fallen man.

2. Universal life. The--

(1) extent;

(2) seasonableness;

(3) readiness;

(4) completeness of His providential care. Whatever the wants--corporeal, intellectual, moral, social--He satisfies all.

3. His kindness to the genuinely pious.

(1) Its spiritual activity.

(2) Its transcendent privilege.

(a) Nearness to God.

(b) Satisfaction of desires.

(c) Salvation from all evil.

(3) Its worshipping spirit. (David Thomas, D. D.)

The happy duty of daily praise

If I were to put to you the question, Do you pray? the answer would be very quickly given by every Christian person, Of course I do, and every day, and often in the day. But let me change the inquiry, and say, Do you bless God every day? I am not sure the answer would be quite so certain, so general, so prompt. Praise is certainly not so common in family prayer as other forms of worship. Be this our resolve: I will extol Thee, etc. We ought to do this, for it is due to God, and praise is pre-eminently characteristic of the true child of God. It is singularly beneficial to ourselves; if we had more of it we should be greatly blest. Besides, unless we praise God here how are we preparing for our eternal home? Now to help in this joyful duty of praise let us turn to our text and see in it--

I. The resolve of personal loyalty.

1. He pays homage to God as his King.

2. He personally appropriates God to himself by faith. My God. That word my is a drop of honey, nay, like Jonathans word, it is full of honey. And--

3. He is firmly resolved to praise God. My text has four I wills in it. And--

4. He himself will do this. No matter what other people do. Let none of us lose our own personality in the multitude, saying, Things will go on very well without me. Each one of us must praise God.

5. And he will be always doing this In the second clause of our text we have--

II. The conclusion of as intelligent appreciation. And I will bless, etc.

1. He presents the worship of inward administration. Therefore he blesses the Divine name.

2. And he meant that he wished well to the Lord. To bless a person means to do that person good. If we cannot give anything to God, we can desire that He may be known, loved and honoured by all men. It seems that David studied the character and doings of God, so that he found nothing in God which he could not praise. And he is very intense over this. For ever and ever. The words run parallel with Addisons verse which tells that Eternitys too short to utter all Thy praise. Somebody cavilled at that once, and said, Eternity cannot be too short. But in poetry and in praise the letter killeth. Language is poor when the soul is on fire.

III. There is also the pledge of daily remembrnace. Every day will I, etc. For the greatness of gifts we have already received demands it. To-day it becomes us to sing of the mercies of yesterday. Each day has its mercy, and should render its praise. If we cannot praise God on any one day for what we have had that day let us praise Him for to-morrow. There is a seasonableness about the praising of God every day. For the praise of God is always in season. The last sentence tells--

IV. The hope of eternal adoration David believed, therefore, that God was unchangeable, and in the immortality of the soul. And his resolve was that while here he would ever praise. But yonder we will praise him better. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Gods chosen people extolling their Sovereign King

I. The sovereignty here asserted.

1. In the heart.

2. In the Church.

3. Over all things--in heaven, earth, hell.

II. The experience claimed. My God. He is my Father, and has made me an heir of His kingdom.

III. The vow recorded. I will extol Thee.

1. With the praises of the lips.

2. With the vigour of the new and inner man.

3. With the valour of faith. (R. C. Dillon, D. D.)

Christ the King of saints

Rev. Thomas Spurgeon, preaching on Ecee Rex, tells the story of a soldiers death. He was wasted with disease and just about to pass into the unseen world and answer to the muster-roll above. Despite his weakness he sat himself upright in bed, lifted his hand to his forehead in a military salute, and said, The King, and so died.

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

This is one of the alphabetical psalms, composed with much art, and, doubtless, so arranged that the memory might be aided. The Holy Spirit condescends to use even the more artificial methods of the poet, to secure attention, and impress the heart.

Title. David's Psalm Of Praise. It is David's, David's very own, David's favourite. It is David's Praise just as another (Ps 86:1-17) is David's Prayer. It is altogether praise, and praise pitched in a high key. David had blessed God many a time in other psalms, but this he regarded as his peculiar, his crown jewel of praise. Certainly David's praise is the best of praise, for it is that of a man of experience, of sincerity, of calm deliberation, and of intense warmth of the heart. It is not for any one of us to render David's praise, for David only could do that, but we may take David's psalm as a model, and aim at making our own personal adoration as much, like it as possible: we shall be long before we equal our model. Let each Christian reader present his own praise unto the Lord, and call it by his own name. What a wealth of varied praise will thus be presented through Christ Jesus!

Division. The psalm does not fall into any marked divisions, but is one and indivisible. Our other translators have mapped out this song with considerable discernment. It is or a perfect arrangement, but it will suit our convenience in exposition. David praiseth God for his fame or glory (Ps 145:1-7), for his goodness (Ps 145:8-10), for his kingdom (Ps 145:11-13), for his providence (Ps 145:14-16), for his saving mercy (Ps 145:17-21).

Ver. 1. I will extol thee, my God, O king. David as God's king adores God as his king. It is well when the Lord's royalty arouses our loyalty, and our spirit is moved to magnify his majesty. The Psalmist has extolled his Lord many a time before, he is doing so still, and he will do so in the future: praise is for all tenses. When we cannot express all our praise just now, it is wise to register our resolution to continue in the blessed work, and write it down as a bond, "I will extol thee." See how David testifies his devotion and adherence to his God by the pronoun "my", how he owns his allegiance by the title "king", and how he goes on to declare his determination to make much of him in his song.

And I will bless thy name for ever and ever. David determined that his praise should rise to blessing, should intelligently spend itself upon the name or character of God, and should be continued world without end. He uses the word "bless" not merely for variation of sound, but also for the deepening and sweetening of the sense. To bless God is to praise him with a personal affection for him, and a wishing well to him: this is a growingly easy exercise as we advance in experience and grow in grace. David declares that he will offer every form of praise, through every form of existence. His notion of duration is a full one"for ever" has no end, but when he adds another" ever" to it he forbids all idea of a close. Our praise of God shall be as eternal as the God we praise.

This has been happily characterized as the "new song" promised in Ps 144:9. In other words, it is the song of praise, corresponding to the didactic, penitential, and supplicatory psalms of this series. Joseph Addison Alexander.

The ancient Hebrews declare him happy whoever, in after times, utters this psalm thrice each day with the mouth, heart, and tongue. Victorinus Bythner, 1670.

The last six or seven psalms are the Beulah of the book, where the sun shineth night and day, and the voice of the turtle is heard in the land. Coming at the close after all the mournful, plaintive, penitential, prayerful, varying notes, they Unconsciously typify the joy and rest of glory. George Gilfillan.

Title. The praise of David. Psalms are the praises of God accompanied with Song; psalms are songs containing the praise of God. If there be praise, but not of God, it is not a psalm. If there be praise, and praise of God, if it is not sung, it is not a psalm. To make a psalm there go these threepraise, God's praise, and song. Augustine.

Title. It is observable concerning David's entitling the psalm "The Praise of David", that in the original no psalm else beareth such a title. It is appropriated to it, because this wholly consists of praise; he was elevated therein to a frame of spirit made up of the pure praise of God, without any touch of what was particular to himself. It was not thanks, but altogether praise, and wholly praise. Thomas Goodwin.

Title. This psalm, which is designated a Tehillah, or a psalm of praise, a name which has passed from this psalm to the whole Psalter, which is commonly called Sepher Tehillim, or "Book of Praises, "is the last of the psalms ascribed to David.

It is remarkable, that although that is the name given to the Psalter (which is entitled in Hebrew Sepher Tehillim, or Book of Praises), this is the only psalm in the whole number which is designated in the title as a Tehillah a word derived from the same root as Hallelujah. It seems as if this name Tehillah had been studiously reserved for the last of David's psalms, in order to mark more emphatically that all his utterances are consummated in praise. And this view is more clearly manifested by the circumstance that the word Tehillah is introduced into the last verse of this psalm, "My soul shall speak the praise" (tehillah) "of the Lord" (observe this preparation for Hallelujah, Praise ye the Lord); "and let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever." As much as to say that though David's voice was now about to be hushed in this life, yet it would never be silent in the world to come, and would ever "praise the Lord"; and as much, also, as to say that his last exhortation should be to all nations to praise him, "Let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever." Christopher Wordsworth.

Title. This psalm is entitled "David's praise." For howsoever the prayers and the praises (all) in this book, are (for the most part) of David's penning: yet two there are he hath singled out from the rest, and set his own mark on them as proper to himself: the 86. Psalm, his Tephilla, David's own Prayer;and there is here his Tehilla, his own Praise or thanksgiving. As if he had made the rest for all in common, but reserved these peculiarly for himself. Lancelot Andrews.

Whole Psalm. In regard to its alphabetic structure, it has one peculiarity, viz., the nun is omitted; the reason of which may be, that (as we have seen in some other psalms of this structure) by means of that or some other such omission, we might be kept from putting stress on the mere form of the composition. Andrew A. Bonar.

Whole Psalm. Cassiodorus quaintly remarks that the psalms in which the alphabetical order is complete, are especially fitted for the righteous in the Church Triumphant, but those in which one letter is missing, are for the Church Militant here on earth, as still imperfect, and needing to be purified from defect. Neale and Littledale.

Ver. 1. I will extol thee, my God, O King. To extol is to set preeminently on high; to exalt above all others; it is the expression of the greatest possible admiration; it is letting others know our high opinion of a person, and endeavouring to win them over to it. The man who has such a high opinion of another as to induce him to extol him, will not be likely to rest without bringing forth into prominent observation the object of his praise. Philip Bennett Power.

Ver. 1. O King; or the King, by way of eminency; the King of kings, the God by whom kings reign, and to whom I and all other kings owe subjection and obedience. Matthew Pool.

Ver. 1. O king. The Psalmist in rapt ecstasy seems as though he saw God incarnate in Christ present to inspire his praise. Christ is our God and King, to be extolled in the heart, with the mouth, and by the life. Thomas Le Blanc.

Ver. 1. King. God is King in verity; others are called kings in vanity. Martin Geier.

Ver. 1. I will bless thy name for ever and ever. The name of God in Scripture is taken, first, for God himself. The name of a thing is put for the thing named, Ps 44:5: "Through thee will we push down our enemies: through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us." "Through thy name", that is, through thee. Secondly, the name of God is often in Scripture put for the attributes of God. Thirdly, the name of God is put for his ordinances of worship. "Go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first" (Jer 12:12), that is, where I first set up my public worship; because, as a man is known by his proper name, so is God by his proper worship. Fourthly, the name of God is that reverence, esteem and honour which angels and men give unto God. As we know amongst us, the report and reputation that a man hath among men is a man's name; what men speak of him, that is his name; such an one hath a good name, we say; such an one hath an ill name, that is, men speak or think well or ill of such persons. So Ge 6:4. When Moses describes the giants, he saith, "They were men of renown"; the Hebrew is, "They were men of name", because the name of a man is the character he hath amongst men; as a man is esteemed, so his name is carried, and himself is accepted in the world. So the name of God is that high esteem, those honourable apprehensions, which angels and men have of God; such as the thoughts and speeches of men are for the celebration of God's glory and praise, such is his name in the world. Joseph Caryl.

Ver. 1. For ever and ever. dez Mlwel, leolam vaed, for ever onward, in this and the coming world. Expressions of this sort are very difficult to be translated, but they are, on the whole, well interpreted by those words of Mr. Addison:

"Through all eternity to thee,

A joyful song I'll raise;

But oh, eternity's too short

To utter all thy praise!" Adam Clarke.

Ver. 1. For ever and ever. Praise is the only part of duty in which we at present engage, which is lasting. We pray, but there shall be a time when prayer shall offer its last litany; we believe, but there shall be a time when faith shall be lost in sight; we hope, and hope maketh not ashamed, but there shall be a time when hope lies down and dies, lost in the splendour of the fruition that God shall reveal. But praise goes singing into heaven, and is ready without a teacher to strike the harp, that is waiting for it, to transmit along the echoes of eternity the song of the Lamb. In the party coloured world in which we live, there are days of various sorts and experiences, making up the aggregate of the Christian's life. There are waiting days, in which, because Providence fences us round, and it seems as if we cannot march, we cannot move, as though we must just wait to see what the Lord is about to do in us and for us; and there are watching days, when it behooves us never to slumber, but to be always ready for the attacks of our spiritual enemy; and there are warring days, when with nodding plume, and with ample armour, we must go forth to do battle for the truth; and there are weeping days, when it seems as if the fountains of the great deep within us were broken up; and as though, through much tribulation, we had to pass to heaven in tears. But these days shall all pass away by and bywaiting days all be passed, warring days all be passed, watching days all be passed; but

"Our days of praise shall ne'er be past

While life, and thought, and being last,

And immortality endures." William Morley Punshon, 1824-1881.

Ver. 1. For ever and ever. To praise God now does not satisfy devout aspiration, for in this age the worshipper's devotion is interrupted by sin, fear, sickness, etc.; but in eternity praise will proceed in unbroken procession. John Lorinus.

Ver. 1-2. I will bless thee for ever and ever, and again, Ps 145:2. This intimates, 1. That he resolved to continue in this work to the end of his life, throughout his "for ever" in this world.

2. That the psalms he penned should be made use of in praising God by the church to the end of time. 2Ch 29:30. 3. That he hoped to be praising God to all eternity in the other world: they that make it their constant work on earth, shall have it their everlasting bliss in heaven. Matthew Henry.

Ver. 1-2. Praise.

1. Personal praise.

2. Daily praise.

3. Enthusiastic praise.

4. Perpetual praise.

Or:

1. The attractive theme of the song.

2. The increasing fulness of the song.

3. The unending life of the singer. C. A. D.

Ver. 1-2. The four "I wills" of praise. Praise to the King; praise to the divine character; praise for all time; praise for all eternity.

Psalms 145:2*

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

Psa 145:1-4. I will extol thee, my God, O King — Or, my God, the king; termed so by way of eminence; the King of kings, the God by whom kings reign, and to whom I and all other kings owe subjection and obedience. Every day will I bless thee — Praising God should be our daily work. No day should pass, though never so busy on the one hand, or sorrowful on the other, without it. We ought to reckon it the most necessary of our daily business, and the most delightful of our daily comforts. God is every day blessing us, and doing us good, and therefore there is good reason why we should be every day blessing him, and speaking well of him. I will praise thy name for ever and ever — Not only to the end of my life in this world, but to all eternity in the world to come. Great is the Lord — In his being, majesty, and glory, and in all perfections. His presence is infinite, his power irresistible, his majesty awful, his sovereignty incontestable, his dominion illimitable, his glory insupportable; there is therefore no dispute, but great is the Lord, and if great, then greatly to be praised — With all that is within us, to the utmost of our power, and with all the circumstances of solemnity imaginable. His greatness indeed cannot be comprehended; it is unsearchable — But then it is so much the more to be praised, as we can neither fathom the depth nor discern the height of it. “The greatness of Jehovah,” says Dr. Horne, “whether we consider it as relating to his essence or his works, is never to be fully comprehended by his saints, whose delight it is to contemplate the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; the extent and duration of his being and his kingdom, the profundity of his counsels, and the sublimity of his power and glory. These are the inexhaustible subjects of divine meditation, transmitted from age to age. And as the greatness of our God and Saviour hath no bounds, so his praises should have no end; nor should the voice of thanksgiving ever cease in the church. As one generation drops it, another should take it up, and prolong the delightful strain till the sun and moon shall withdraw their light, and the stars fall extinguished from their orbs.”

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

INTRODUCTION

“This it the last of the Alphabetical Psalms,” says Perowne, “of which there are eight in all, if we reckon the ninth and tenth Psalms as forming one. Like four other of the Alphabetical Psalms this bears the name of David, although there can in this case be no doubt that the inscription is not to be trusted. As in several other instances, so here, the acrostic arrangement is not strictly observed. The letter nun (נ) is omitted.” In the Septuagint, a verse which begins with נ is supplied between Psa_145:13-14. But this is unquestionably an interpolation, and is borrowed from Psa_145:17, with the exception of the first word, which is taken from the nun-strophe of the Alphabetical Psalms 111.

While Perowne, in the passage quoted above, pronounces so positively against the trust-worthiness of the superscription, Hengstenberg is equally firm in asserting “the originality of the superscription,” which, he holds, does not admit of doubt. Barnes, David Dickson, M. Henry, and others, accept the Davidic authorship.

“This is the only Psalm which is called a Tehillah, i.e., ‘Praise’ or ‘Hymn,’ the plural of which word, Tehillim, is the general name for the whole Psalter.” The word is admirably descriptive of the contents of the Psalm, which is laudatory throughout.

“The Ancient Church employed this Psalm at the mid-day meal, and Psa_145:15 at the Passover. The Talmud assures us (Berachoth, 4 b.) that every one who repeals this Psalm three times daily may be satisfied that he is a child of the future world. The Gemarra adduces in support of this the curious reason, that it is not only written in Alphabetical order, like Psalms 119. and others, and not only praises the Divine care over all creatures, like Psa_136:25, but combines both these important characteristics in itself.”

This Psalm “admits of no analysis, being made up of variations on a single theme, the righteousness and goodness of God to men in general, to His own people in particular, and more especially to those that suffer.”

THE PRAISE OF THE DIVINE GREATNESS

(Psa_145:1-7)

Here are two main lines of thought for us to pursue—

I. The reasons of the Divine praise. The grand reason of praise in this section of the Psalm seems to be the greatness of God. “Great is Jehovah, and greatly to be praised; and His greatness is unsearchable.” Jehovah is great in Himself; His being is underived, independent, eternal, infinitely perfect. “God’s greatness—His infinity—is in itself a just ground of praise, for we should rejoice that there is One Infinite Eternal Being; and as all that greatness is employed in the cause of truth, of law, of good order, of justice, of kindness, of mercy, it should call forth continued praise in all parts of His dominions.”—Barnes.

1. He is great in His deeds. “Thy mighty acts; … Thy wondrous works; … The might of Thy terrible acts.” “We must see God,” says Matthew Henry, “acting and working in all the affairs of this lower world. Various instruments are used, but in all events God is the supreme director; it is He that performs all things. Much of His power is seen in the operations of Providence (they are ‘mighty acts,’ such as cannot be paralleled by the strength of any creature), and much of His justice—they are ‘terrible acts,’ awful to saints, dreadful to sinners. These we should take all occasions to speak of, observing the finger of God, His hand, His arm, in all, that we may marvel.”

2. He is great in His majesty. “I will speak of the glorious honour of Thy majesty.” “By this accumulation of words,” says Geier, “the incomparable glory and majesty of God are set forth.” The Psalmist is “striving after a suitable mode of expression for his exuberant feeling.” Or, as Barnes puts it: “This accumulation of epithets shows that the heart of the Psalmist was full of the subject, and that he laboured to find language to express his emotions. It is beauty; it is glory; it is majesty;—it is all that is great, sublime, wonderful—all combined—all concentrated in one Being.”

3. He is great in His goodness. “They shall abundantly utter the memory of Thy great goodness.” “Great goodness,” says Moll, “is not referred to in the sense of abundant mercy (most), but in the sense of the universal excellence of His attributes, His goodness in every relation.” Hengstenberg: “The essential goodness.”

4. He is great in righteousness. “They shall sing of Thy righteousness.” The goodness of God is not that weak, molluscous quality which is sometimes called goodness in man: it is a strong thing, a righteous thing. He ever manifests the strictest regard for justice and truth. How great is God! supremely, infinitely great!

II. The characteristics of the Divine praise.

1. It is constant. “Every day will I bless Thee.” Hengstenberg translates: “Continually will I praise Thee.” The translation of the A. V. is more faithful to the letter; but Hengstenberg seems to us to present the idea of the poet, that he will offer to God constant worship. Praise with the godly man is not an occasional exercise of the voice, but a continual disposition of the soul. “Praising God must be our daily work; no day must pass, though ever so busy a day, without praising God. We ought to reckon it the most needful of our daily employments, and the most delightful of our daily comforts. God is every day blessing us, doing well for us; there is therefore reason that we should be every day blessing Him, speaking well of Him.”—Henry.

2. It is perpetual. “I will extol Thee, my God, O King; and I will bless Thy name for ever and ever.… I will praise Thy name for ever and ever.” Here are two aspects of the perpetuity of the praise of God:—

(1.) The devout soul. will praise God for ever. “So long as his being lasted in the lovingkindness of God, he must also continue to give praise.”

“Through all eternity to Thee

A joyful song I’ll raise:

But oh! eternity’s too short

To utter all Thy praise.”—Addison.

(2.) Every succeeding generation shall praise God. “One generation shall praise Thy works to another, and shall declare Thy mighty acts.” “The generation that is going off shall tell them to that which is rising up, shall tell what they have seen in their days and what they have heard from their fathers; and the generation that is rising up shall follow the example of that which is going off: so that the death of God’s worshippers shall be no diminution of His worship, for a new generation shall rise up in their room to carry on that good work to the end of time, when it shall be left to that world to do it in in which there is no succession of generations.”

3. It is fervent. “Greatly to be praised.… They shall abundantly utter the memory of Thy great goodness,” &c. Conant translates: “Let them pour forth the memory,” &c. The idea is that the heart is filled to overflowing with thoughts of the great goodness of God, and that it pours forth its feelings in grateful and fervent praise. God shall be praised with glowing enthusiasm.

4. It is songful. “They shall sing aloud of Thy righteousness.” His praise is celebrated by His people openly and publicly; not in cold and measured prose, but in glowing and rapturous poetry; not in ordinary speech, but with music’s highest and sweetest strains. Their adoring joy pours itself forth in holy and exultant songs.

Let our hearts and voices be much engaged in this holy and delightful service.

THE PRAISE OF TIME

(Psa_145:4)

We may consider this—

I. As the decree of God.

He who made the world has willed that it should praise Him. The works of God carry out His decree. The sun and moon proclaim His power. Day and night utter His wisdom. The seasons declare His bounty and His faithfulness. And the history of man, even yet more strikingly, sets forth God’s glory. This truth is ever written—“The Lord is King.” He rules. “None can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest Thou?” Look at Pharaoh; … Nebuchadnezzar. Or call to mind the history of Joseph, Balaam, Jonah, Sennacherib, Cyrus, Saul of Tarsus. Or the Jewish rulers who crucified the Lord of glory, &c. (Act_4:27-28). The mysteries of affliction teach the same lesson. The erring has been thus brought back, or the faithful confirmed, or God’s power displayed (Joh_9:3). And the Church of Christ is a standing witness of the same great truth. “The gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Man’s opposition has proved the wave that has wafted the truth onward (Act_4:31; Act_11:19; Act_13:51; Act_14:20; Act_17:15; Act_25:11; Act_28:31).

What a contrast is there in all this to the name and acts of men! How does every annual revolution of time find human propositions annulled, human names forgotten, human greatness brought low. But each succeeding year finds one Name unchanged; one arm still mighty to deliver; one King ruling, as ever; one Lord still faithful to His promise; one memorial enduring through all generations. The decree of God is kept. All time sets forth His praise.

II. As expressing the resolution and work of Christ’s Church.

Praise is the rightful attitude of the redeemed (Psa_107:2). Mercy felt love appreciated, salvation embraced and enjoyed, is sure to beget true thanksgiving. God hath chosen His people to praise Him (Isa_43:21; 1Pe_2:9). And even angels cannot sing the new song which belongs to the saved from earth alone (Rev_14:3). And the people of God have ever claimed their holy privilege. They have sung of creation and of providence, and the wonders of redeeming love. God has never left Himself without this witness in the world. In every age, however corrupt, there have been those who rejoiced to declare His mighty acts. Even before the Flood, there was Noah; in the time of idolatrous Ahab, Elijah; in Babylon, Daniel. In New Testament days we have the same history. Every martyr, from Stephen onward, bore in his blood the testimony of praise. If Job said, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him,” Paul answered, “I am willing … to die for the Name of the Lord Jesus.” If David said, “I will bless the Lord at all times,” Paul, again, added, “Rejoice in the Lord alway.” If Elijah showed himself to Ahab, Luther did not shrink from meeting those who sought to take his life. If the Apostles went forth, in obedience to the Lord’s command, and preached the Gospel, hazarding their lives for the Saviour’s Name, this noble act of praise has been re-echoed in later days in Sierra Leone, in New Zealand, in India, in the Sandwich Islands, in Central Africa, by those who have gone forth to brave every danger in making known the same good tidings. Thus in all time the resolution of the Church of Christ is one and the same. “One generation shall praise Thy works to another.”

Three thoughts seem to arise in conclusion:—

1. What are WE doing to make our generation one of praise? We have received from the generations before a glorious light; are we sending it onward and around?

2. Do we possess in ourselves that salvation which alone enables us truly to praise? Have we tasted that the Lord is gracious?

3. How glorious shall be the praise of heaven! Now one age to another, one land to another, praise God. What shall be the glory of the song when every age and every land shall join in the song of Moses and the Lamb!—W.S.Bruce, M.A. From “The Homiletic Quarterly.”

THE PRAISE OF THE DIVINE GOODNESS

(Psa_145:8-10)

In these verses the poet celebrates the praise of God as a good or benevolent Being. Three leading considerations claim our attention:—

I. The various manifestations of God’s goodness.

The goodness or benevolence of God is here clearly stated. “Jehovah is gracious …; Jehovah is good to all.” And it seems to us that the expressions used by the Psalmist suggest certain manifestations of this goodness. Here is an indication of His—

1. Pity for suffering men. “Jehovah is full of compassion.” Perowne: “Of tender compassion is Jehovah.” It presents to us the goodness of God in its attitude towards the wretched. How great and manifold are the sufferings and sorrows of human life! God regards all sufferers with tenderest pity. In all their afflictions He is afflicted. He is “touched with the feeling of our infirmities;” and touched deeply, for He is “full of compassion.” “The Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.”

2. Patience with sinful men. “Slow to anger.” He holds back the outgoings of His wrath. He has great patience with perverse rebels. “The Lord is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

3. Pardon for penitent men. “Of great mercy;” or, “great in mercy.” How freely and fully in His great mercy does God forgive all who penitently seek Him! His “mercy is great unto the heavens.” “His mercy is everlasting.” The greatness of His mercy is seen—

(1.) In the immense numbers to which it extends. “His tender mercies are over all His works.” He is “not willing that any should perish.”

(2.) In the characters to which it extends. It reaches to the chief of sinners. It offers pardon to the most guilty. It “saves unto the uttermost.”

(3.) In the sacrifice which its exercise involved. “God commendeth His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” “God who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us,” &c. “He spared not His own Son,” &c.

(4.) In the blessings which flow from it. The free and full forgiveness of sins is but the beginning of its blessings. Holiness, peace, joy, heaven, are all bestowed upon believers in Christ Jesus, in the exercise of the Divine mercy. The blessings which flow from it are rich, inexhaustible, everlasting, and unspeakably precious. Truly God is “great in mercy.” “He delighteth in mercy.”

II. The universality of God’s goodness.

“Jehovah is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works.” It has been well observed that “this is a saying which does not seem as true in the winter as in the summer of life. Spoken in the quiet church, amid all the accompaniments of prayer and praise, with the quietude of the holy place to calm us, and music and memory and hope to bear us company, it is a saying that men will let pass as something they do not think of questioning; but, spoken to a poor woman who has just lost the stay of her home; spoken to a hard-working man who has just seen the hopes of years disappear; spoken to little children who have just been thrown on the world without father, or mother, or friend, or home; spoken to a good man whose reward seems nothing but disappointment and trouble and loss,—I do not wonder that it sounds to some like a mockery: and I do not wonder that men have turned away and said that these things are all very well in the church, but that they break down when men go into the open world.

“Let us look at these words, then, that we may, if possible, find some solid ground for this saying that God is ‘good to all.’ And here the fact we have to master is this:—That we must judge of God’s dealings towards us with reference to some system or order under which we live. The system under which we live is something like this:—

“

1. A vast, complicated, and beneficent set of laws are at work, which apply in common to all. We are in a world the central principle of which is the universality and certainty of every prevailing law—this necessitating that God shall not come forth to accommodate the facts and the laws of the universe to every individual need, but that He shall provide for the steadfast abiding of everything in its place, and for the constancy of that thing to the law of its being. In this very thing, then, which has seemed so hard, inexorable, and cruel; in this steadfastness of the laws of the universe, I find the first proof of the universal goodness of God—a goodness which would not be increased, which would indeed be marred and spoiled and thwarted if He made the connection between cause and effect uncertain; and if, by special interferences on behalf of individuals, He brought uncertainty into the common life of the race. For if He specially came forth, to interfere in particular cases, to reverse or suspend the ordinary laws of life, or to save men from the effects of causes, every man would look for such interferences on his behalf; and recklessness, and presumption, and indolence, with all their attendant miseries and disappointments, would be increased a thousandfold. Here, then, where God’s goodness seems to be defective, we find an abiding proof of it.

“

2. We see that in the Divine administration of the laws of the universe, there is no partiality; all these great laws are steadfast, whoever applies to them. God is good to all in working by beautiful and beneficent laws that are as generous and as steadfast as Himself A man who has just denied the very existence of God goes into his field, and sows his seed; and, in a moment, all the wonderful laws of God leap to obey and bless him, and to give him the result of his seed-sowing, quite as readily, quite as speedily, as in the case where the sower thanks God and sows his seed with prayer. God is clearly no partial administrator of His laws. His sun shines and His rain falls on the evil and on the unthankful. He holds all the myriad laws of the universe to their appointed place, for He is ‘good to all.’

“

3. Then, closely connected with that, is His impartial bestowment of all the common mercies of life for all. God distributes His mercies, not to bless this man or that, any more than He maintains His beautiful laws to advantage this man or that; but He scatters His mercies as men scatter seed, as though He reflected not which should prosper, this or that, or which was good or which was thorny ground. God’s sun shines; but if the sinner opens his eyes first, he will first behold it. God’s pure air comes on the wings of the morning; but if the impious one goes out first to breathe it, he will first be invigorated by it. God’s rain falls on every field, and if the sinner’s seed is in, it will first get the sweet enrichments of it. It is the same with everything. The mercies of God come to all, are open to all. It is only when sin makes a man naturally unable to find or keep a mercy of God that he finds the mercy disappear; but in every case there is a natural connection between the sin and the deprivation. Thus, again, if a man be pure, and wise, and good, he may be blest above the man who is impure, and foolish, and debased; but if so, it will be because there is a necessary and natural connection between his virtue and the blessing he finds, the one growing out of the other, and not because God selects him for rewards.

“

4. We may find His universal goodness in that wonderful law of our being, by which, as a rule, men are so easily and insensibly adapted to their condition. Thus, we find that a condition of life which would be insupportable to one, has become quite bearable or even satisfactory to another. The back adjusts itself to the burden; and the mind, the temperament, the tastes, the habits, the hopes, the likes and dislikes of a man, all, as a rule, naturally fall into harmony with his state; and this without his knowing it, or planning it, or striving after it. Thus, it is really quite an open question, whether men who are very rich enjoy life more than men who are moderately poor; or whether the palaces have contained more pleasure than the cottages of the world. You have heard men express their love for occupations that you would despise, and their contentment in habitations that made you shudder, and even their delight in persons from whom you shrink. You wonder how they can do without this or that—how they can bear with this or that; but the want is not felt by them, the burden galls them not. To this I might add the touching and most significant fact, that time seems to have a gentle healing virtue in it to soothe and comfort men; so that not only to our general condition in life, but to our special griefs, this blessed law applies. It is not that we forget; for often, as time goes on, memory only brightens and deepens with the passing years; but a gracious hand seems to steal over us, smoothing down the wrinkles of the spirit, and healing the wounds of the heart, and in this we may see a touching proof that God is ‘good to all.’

“

5. We may look for a closing proof of this statement to the results that follow much of what we call not good and not merciful in this world. Much that seems not good, much that seems not merciful, is the best part of the discipline of life—or sometimes even the best guide to the ‘still waters’ and the ‘green pastures.’ A vast number of the ills of life are incentives to action, calls to duty, motives for exertion, wonderful schoolmasters to give us the needed mastery of the knowledge of good and evil. Many of the results of hardships are beneficent.

“God is indeed good to all; to every creature—to the lowest, the saddest, the meanest, the sinfullest; and His tender mercies are over all His works.”

III. The praise of God’s goodness.

“All Thy works shall praise Thee, O Jehovah; and Thy saints shall bless Thee.” Concerning this praise two points require notice:—

1. Its universality. “All Thy works praise Thee, O Jehovah.” “All God’s works do praise Him, as the beautiful building praises the builder, or the welldrawn picture praises the painter.” All His works combine in setting forth His perfections; they manifest His power, and wisdom, and goodness. “The heavens declare the glory of God,” &c.

2. Its diversity. “Thy works praise Thee; and Thy saints bless Thee.” “His saints praise Him actively, while His other works praise Him only objectively.” Angels and glorified saints in heaven, and His people upon earth, praise Him with their will and affections, their reverence and loving obedience.

“Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me bless His holy name,” &c.

ERRORS RESPECTING THE DIVINE BEING

(Psa_145:9)

Right views of God are most important. Our religion will necessarily be a reflection of them. Our spirit, our hopes or fears, will be influenced, &c. Nations always are as the gods they worship. For the moral character of God we must go to His Word. Our text is an epitome.

I. Let us see what it means.

The goodness or benevolence of God is that which makes Him the source of blessing to His creatures. It takes in kindness, goodwill, love, benignity, &c. In our text it includes mercy, kindness to the guilty and miserable. Now, observe, this view of God is the doctrine of all dispensations—

1. See God as man’s creator (Gen_1:26-28).

2. Hear God under the law (Exo_33:18-19; Exo_34:6).

3. In the age of Solomon and the Temple (2Ch_5:13).

4. The prophet Nahum saying, “The Lord is good; a stronghold,” &c. (Nah_1:7).

5. Now, hear the Apostles. John: “God is love.” Paul: “God is rich in mercy” (Eph_2:4). James: “The Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy” (Jas_5:11). Peter: “If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious,” &c. (1Pe_2:3-9). Now, before we leave this view of God, see the extent of the Divine goodness. “To all.” “Over all.” It must be so. God is infinite, and His goodness and love are thus unbounded. “A sea without a bottom, or a shore,” &c. And see its duration. “From everlasting to everlasting.” “Endureth for ever.” Unchanging and eternal.

II. What views of God are inconsistent with this portrait, and therefore necessarily erroneous.

1. The view that represents God as possessing implacable wrath. This is the opposite pole; never can harmonise; and thus is, of necessity, false. He hateth all evil; but His mercy embraces all sinners.

2. Views which represent God’s goodness as partial and limited. Flatly contradicting the text and the passages we have quoted.

3. Views of the Divine reprobative decrees. By which men have been unconditionally appointed, or left by God, to perish for ever. This is at total variance with the text.

4. Views which represent God’s goodness as only attainable through sacrifice. That God would not be good to sinners until Christ appeased His wrath, &c. “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son,” &c. Christ is the effect, not the cause, of the Divine mercy. The channel through which it flows, not the spring from whence it rises.

5. That God can be made good by some acts or ceremonies of ours. Tears, penance, &c. How futile! We may come to it by tears, repentance, and faith; but there it was in God before we wept, &c.

6. That God will only be good in the highest sense to a very few. But the Scriptures say: “The earth is full of His goodness.” “He delighteth in mercy.” “Not willing that any should perish.” Such, then, is the great goodness of God; His true merciful character.

Application. If so—

1. Then even reason says, Adore Him.

2. Gratitude says, Love, praise, and serve Him. We say to all—

3. Come to Him by faith. Trust Him with all your hearts, and evermore, &c.

4. Love says, Delight in Him; be filled with His complacent favour.

5. Wonder marvels at it. “Herein is love,” &c. “God commendeth His love to us,” &c. It “passeth knowledge.” Here is redemption’s rock—eternal, immutable, &c. “Oh give thanks,” &c.

6. Jesus is the grand unspeakable manifestation of it. “God in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself,” &c. (2Co_5:19, seq.).—Jabez Burnt, D.D.

THE PRAISE OF THE DIVINE REIGN

(Psa_145:11-13)

The Psalmist here celebrates the greatness and goodness of God as a King in His kingdom. The suggestions of this part of the Psalm may be grouped under two heads:—

I. The characteristics of the reign of the Lord.

The poet here speaks of it as—

1. Glorious. “They shall speak of the glory of Thy kingdom; … to make known to the sons of men the glorious majesty of His kingdom.” The glory of Jehovah’s kingdom is not in external pomp and pageantry, but in its moral perfections. In its goodness, its righteousness, its beneficence; in the fact that He reigns to bless His subjects. “Where,” asks Perowne, “is the conspicuous excellence of that kingdom seen? Not in the symbols of earthly pride and power, but in gracious condescension to the fallen and the crushed, in a gracious care which provides for the wants of every living thing.” (See our remarks on “the blessings of His reign” in vol. i. pp. 383, 384.)

2. Mighty. “They shall talk of Thy power; to make known to the sons of men His mighty acts.” Barnes refers this to His power “as put forth in the works of creation; as manifested in the dispensations of His providence; as evinced in the conversion of sinners; as displayed in carrying His truth around the world; as exhibited in sustaining the sufferer, and in giving peace and support to the dying.” The might of the reign of Jehovah is moral, the power of truth, righteousness, goodness.

3. Perpetual. “Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and Thy dominion endureth throughout all generations.” (On “the perpetuity of His reign” see vol. i. pp. 224 and 385.)

II. The conversation on the reign of the Lord.

“They shall speak of the glory of Thy kingdom, and talk of Thy power; to make known,” &c. Three homiletical points are here:—

1. Delight in His reign. This is here clearly implied. “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” We talk of the things in which we are interested, and of those which afford us pleasure. The reign of the Lord is to His people a delightful theme of meditation and discourse.

2. Praise of His reign. The poet here celebrates its perfection and perpetuity. The saints speak of it because they feel that it is worthy of praise and honour. It is one of the reasons for which His saints do bless Him. (On “the praise of His reign” see vol. i. p. 385.)

3. Desire for the extension of His reign. The saints speak of its glory and power “to make known to the sons of men His mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of His kingdom.” They are solicitous that others should understand and appreciate the perfections of His reign; that they might be led “to yield themselves His willing subjects, and so put themselves under the protection of such a mighty potentate.” “The Lord,” says David Dickson, “will have His saints to instruct such as are not converted to know His glory, power, and majesty, that they may be brought in and made subjects of His special kingdom of grace.”

What is our relation to this glorious King?

THE GLORY OF CHRIST’S KINGDOM

(Psa_145:11)

As the kingdom of Christ is so conspicuous an object in both Testaments, and is the only one among men by whose government their happiness can be secured, it cannot be improper, from the words before us, to direct your attention to some particulars relating to the nature, extent, and durability of its glory.

I. The glory of this kingdom is manifested in its origin.

It had its origin in infinite mercy and grace. It entered into the councils of the Eternal before the foundation of the world was laid.

In order to establish this kingdom, it was necessary that the Son of God should become incarnate.… The foundation of the kingdom was laid in the incarnation and atonement of the Son of God; a foundation proportionate to the grandeur and beauty of the edifice that was to be erected.

The doctrines of the Gospel were, and are, the grand instruments in the hand of the Lord Jesus for bringing souls into subjection to His sceptre. The warfare is entirely spiritual; it is carried on by the light of truth and the burning of conviction. This is a glorious manner of raising a kingdom, worthy of Him who is a Spirit, and who reigns by spiritual and intellectual means in the hearts of His people.

II. The glory of Christ’s kingdom is manifested in the manner and spirit of its administration.

The last words of David describe the manner of administering this government; “The anointed of the God of Jacob,” &c. (2Sa_23:1-4).

The most essential quality in the administration of any government is justice; and justice is most conspicuous in this administration. “With righteousness shall He judge the poor,” &c. (Isa_11:4-5). He will render to each of His subjects, not for their works, yet according to their works.

The administration of His kingdom is also benign and gracious—it is indeed a kingdom of grace. He revealeth His grace, which is His glory; and thus He captivates the hearts of His people. “He delivers the poor when he cries, the needy, and him that hath no helper.” “When the poor and needy seek water,” &c. (Isa_41:17-18).

In earthly kingdoms the subjects are governed by general laws, which must necessarily be very inadequate to the variety of cases and occurrences. But our King is intimately acquainted with all hearts, and being present in all places, He can apply His acts to individual examples, and appropriate smiles and frowns to each, as if there were no other beings that participated in His attention. In human administrations, the law extends only to outward acts; it relates only to objects of sense: but the kingdom of heaven is a spiritual one—it extends to the heart; it is “within you,” and relates to “righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.”

It is justly considered a high excellence in a ruler, that he is disinterested, that he pursues no interest of his own apart from the general good of the empire. But never was any one so disinterested as the King of Zion, who laid down His life for His people, while they were yet enemies. The glory of the Father, and the good of man: these engaged His heart, these brought Him from heaven, &c.

III. The glory of the kingdom of Christ appears in the character of His subjects.

1. These subjects are enlightened. They form right estimates of objects, as they are holy or sinful, temporal or eternal, &c.

2. The subjects of this kingdom are renewed. They are made, imperfectly, yet truly holy. It is in this kingdom that patience, purity, humility, faith, and love to God and men, reside.

3. The subjects of this kingdom have in them a preparation for perfect blessedness. They have that which renders them meet “to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.” All the love and joy that glow with celestial fervour before the throne of the Heavenly Majesty, is only the consummation of seeds like those which are sown in the hearts of believers.

IV. The glory of the kingdom of Christ is manifest in the privileges that are attached to it.

1. Peace is a peculiar blessing of this kingdom. This begins in reconciliation with God. The consequence of peace with God is peace with one another.

2. The dignity of the subjects of this kingdom is another privilege. To “as many as receive Him,” &c. (Joh_1:12; Rom_8:16-17; 1Jn_3:1-2).

3. Immortality shall be the blessing of this kingdom; the subjects shall partake of endless life (Joh_6:54; Joh_6:58). Believers receive in them the embryo of eternal life; the spiritual life rises up into eternal life, and will be displayed in its perfection in the world of glory. These terms include everlasting felicity in the presence of God.

I might mention other properties of this kingdom, which, though they do not enter into the essence of it, are very important.

It is a growing kingdom. “Of its increase there shall be no end.”

The perpetuity of this kingdom must endear it to a good man. It shall never be taken away to be given to any other people.

Let us, while we live here, sincerely pray and labour for the advancement and glorious increase of this kingdom.

Finally, let us look to ourselves, that, while we hear these things, we may possess a personal interest in this glorious and happy kingdom.—Robert Hall, A.M.

THE PRAISE OF THE DIVINE RELATION TO DIFFERENT CHARACTERS

(Psa_145:14-21)

In these verses Jehovah is praised because of the attitude He sustains and the blessings He bestows upon persons in different classes of character.

I. His relation to the weak and the burdened.

1. He sustains the weak. “Jehovah upholdeth all them that fall.” The weak and the sinking are here meant; those who by reason of their feebleness are ready to fall. Many are ready to sink beneath life’s sorrows, many are almost falling before temptations to sin; but the Lord is their Sustainer: He upholds them.

2. He relieves the burdened. “And raiseth up all those that be bowed down.” The Psalmist means those who are heavily laden with the duties, the cares, and the trials of life; to whom these things are a heavy burden, bowing them down. Such persons the Lord relieves:—

(1.) By removing the burden. In answer to prayer He sometimes takes away the load of care or trial.

(2.) By increasing the strength of those who are burdened. By giving more grace the weight and painfulness of the burden are taken away—the burden ceases to be a burden. Let the weak and the heavy-laden trust in Him.

II. His relation to the dependent. “The eyes of all wait upon Thee,” &c. (Psa_145:15-16). We have here—

1. Universal dependence. “The eyes of all wait upon Thee; … Thou satisfiest the desire of every living thing.” Every creature in the universe is a dependent one. God alone is independent. All creatures depend upon Him. “By Him all things consist.” Dependent creatures should be humble.

2. Divine provision. “Thou givest them their meat in due season,” &c. Here are three points—

(1.) The seasonableness of the Divine provision. “In due season.” God’s gifts are always timely. He will not bestow them too soon; He will not withhold them one moment after their due time.

(2.) The ease of the Divine provision. To supply the needs of the universe does not tax the resources of God, or cause Him any anxiety or effort. He has but to open His hand, and the countless and endlessly diversified needs of His creatures are supplied. “Thou openest Thine hand,” &c.

(3.) The sufficiency of the Divine provision. “And satisfiest the desire of every living thing.” “This,” says Barnes, “is to be taken in a general sense. It cannot mean that absolutely no one ever wants, or ever perished from want, but the idea is that of the amazing beneficence and fulness of God in being able and willing to satisfy such multitudes; to keep them from perishing by cold, or hunger, or nakedness. And, in fact, how few birds perish by hunger; how few of the infinite number of the inhabitants of the sea; how few animals that roam over deserts, or in vast plains; how few men; how few even of the insect tribes—how few in the world revealed by the microscope—the world beneath us—the innumerable multitudes of living things too small even to be seen by the naked eye of man!”

All this implies unlimited resources in God; and should inspire the hearty confidence of man in Him.

III. His relation to the prayerful.

“The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon Him,” &c. (Psa_145:18-19). Notice—

1. The character indicated. This is marked by—

(1.) Prayerfulness. “Them that call upon Him.” Here we have not simply dependence, but dependence felt and acknowledged; dependence rising into prayer. We have also an interesting and true view of prayer; it is here presented to us as expressed longing, the cry of desire. “He will fulfil the desire of them that fear Him; He also will hear their cry,” &c.

(2.) Sincerity. “All that call upon Him in truth.” Sincerity is utterly indispensable to acceptable approach unto God.

(3.) Reverence. “Them that fear Him.” This fear is not the terror of a slave, but the filial reverence of a child.

2. The blessings promised.

(1.) The manifestation of His presence. “Jehovah is nigh unto all them that call upon Him,” &c. He is near unto all men; but His true worshippers feel Him near unto them, they have communion with Him. “The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart,” &c.

(2.) The granting of their desires. “He will fulfil the desire of them that fear Him.” “Delight thyself in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” The desires of godly souls accord with the holy will of God.

(3.) The bestowment of His help. “He also will hear their cry, and will save them.” Perowne: “And when He heareth their cry He helpeth them.” “Call upon Me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee,” &c. The unanimous testimony of the history of His people confirms these assurances.

IV. His relation to His saints.

“The Lord preserveth all them that love Him.”

1. The human character. “Them that love Him.” They have confidence and complacency in Him; they have given their hearts unto Him. Their language is, “Whom have I in heaven but Thee?” &c. “The chiefest among ten thousand.… He is altogether lovely.”

2. The Divine keeping. “Jehovah preserveth,” or “keepeth them.” It is implied that they are exposed to danger. They are beset by spiritual enemies; they are weak and liable to receive injury; their spiritual interests are threatened. But Jehovah keepeth them. They “are kept by the power of God, through faith unto salvation.” “He preserveth the souls of His saints; He delivereth them from the hand of the wicked.” By curbing the power of temptation; by restraining from evil by His Holy Spirit; by quickening the conscience, and strengthening the will, and increasing the spiritual life and activity by the same Holy Spirit, the Lord keepeth His people.

V. His relation to the wicked.

“But all the wicked will He destroy.” See here—

1. A sad character. This character is the opposite of the godly in all those aspects which have come under our notice. The wicked do not love God, do not reverence Him, do not pray to Him; but the evil of their character is positive and deep rooted; they have fitted themselves for destruction.

2. A dread destiny. “Will He destroy.” “The enemies of the Cross of Christ; whose end is destruction.” They “shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power.”

VI. His righteousness and kindness in all His relations.

“Jehovah is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works.” Instead of “holy,” the Margin has “merciful, or bountiful.” Conant: “kind.” Perowne: “loving.” In His relations to all His creatures, whatever may be their character, He is just and merciful,righteous and kind. He wrongs no one; He requires of no one services which would be unjust. Even to the rebellious and wicked He is kind. “He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” He is slow to anger even with the greatest sinners, and swift to save them when they turn to Him.

VII. His praise because of all His relations.

“My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord; and let all flesh bless His holy name for ever and ever.” We have here—

1. A resolution to offer personal praise. “My mouth shall speak the praise of Jehovah.”

2. A desire that He might be praised universally. “Let all flesh bless His holy name.” The godly soul. intensely desires that all men should worship the Lord.

3. A desire that He might be praised perpetually. “For ever and ever.”

UNIVERSAL DEPENDENCE AND DIVINE SUPPORT

(Psa_145:15-16)

The Psalmist here teaches—

I. The universality of dependence amongst creatures.

“The eyes of all wait upon Thee.” We depend upon God for “life, and breath, and all things.” “He giveth breath to the people upon earth, and spirit to them that walk therein.” “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above,” &c. Entire dependence should beget deep humility. “What hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?”

II. The infinitude of the Divine resources.

“Thou givest them their meat in due season; … and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.” This indicates the possession of resources—

1. Infinitely vast. “Every beast of the forest is Mine, the cattle upon a thousand hills.” “The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine, saith the Lord of bosts.” His resources are adequate to the abundant supply of all the wants of all creatures. His riches are unsearchable.

2. Infinitely various. They are not only more than sufficient for all necessities, but adapted to every variety of need.

III. The timeliness of the Divine communications.

“In due season.” The Divine Being is punctual in the fulfilment of every engagement. His gifts are bestowed at that time which infinite wisdom and infinite goodness adjudges to be the “due season.” In this we have a reason for patience if His interpositions or communications seem to be delayed.

IV. The sublime ease of the Divine communications.

“Thou openest Thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.” To satisfy the innumerable needs of the myriads of His creatures does not tax His resources, or challenge an exertion of His power. He has but to open His hand, and the countless needs of the universe are satisfied. What an encouragement is this to believing prayer! He “is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.”

V. The sufficiency of the Divine communications.

“And satisfiest the desire of every living thing.” “God giveth to all liberally.” The provisions of His table are both bounteous and free. He gives “bread enough” for all His creatures, “and to spare.” So in spiritual things, His “grace is sufficient.” “God is able to make all grace abound toward yon; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work: being enriched in everything to all liberality.”

Our subject urges all men to—

1. Gratitude. Constant provision should lead to constant thankfulness and consecration.

2. Trust.

(1.) For temporal supplies. “Be not careful for your life, what ye shall eat, and what ye shall drink,” &c. (Mat_6:25-34.)

(2.) For spiritual supplies. “Grace to help in time of need” will surely be given to all who look to Him.

ATTRIBUTES AND ADVANTAGES OF ACCEPTABLE PRAYER

(Psa_145:18-19)

What is prayer? According to Psa_145:18, it is a sincere calling upon God. According to Psa_145:19, it is the cry of the desire of the godly soul. In our text we have—

I. Some attributes of acceptable prayer.

1. Sincerity. “All that call upon Him in truth.” “God is a Spirit; and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” All unreality is known unto Him, and is abhorred by Him. Words and forms of prayer without the heart are an abomination in His sight.

2. Reverence. “Them that fear Him.” This is not dread, but reverence,—a devout, trustful, filial spirit. Religiousness of spirit is an essential condition of acceptable prayer.

There are other attributes of acceptable prayer, which are not expressed here, although they are perhaps implied. Of these, two are of prime importance, viz.—Faith. “Without faith it is impossible to please Him.” And, Accordance with the Divine will. “If we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us; and if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.”

II. Some advantages of acceptable prayer.

1. The realisation of His presence. “Jehovah is nigh unto all them that call upon Him,” &c. In His omnipresence and omnipotence He is near unto all men, but in gracious fellowship He is near only to devout souls. Locally, He is everywhere present; but sympathetically, He is present only with the truly pious. “To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit,” &c. In gracious interest and tenderest regard He is nigh unto them; they realise His blessed presence. “Our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.”

2. The fulfilment of their desires. “He will fulfil the desire of them that fear Him.” God does not promise to grant the desire of the irreligious, the worldly, or the wicked. It would be neither kind nor right to do so. But He pledges His word to grant the desire of the godly. Their desires are pure, unselfish, spiritual, in harmony with His will; and to fulfil them will promote both His own glory and the good of His universe. This truth is very clearly stated in the book of Job_22:21-23; Job_22:26-27; and by David: “Delight thyself in the Lord; and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” (See also Joh_15:7; Jas_5:16.)

3. The obtainment of His salvation. “He also will hear their cry, and will save them.” “There is no rhetoric, nothing charming, in a cry, yet God’s ears are open to it, as the tender mother’s to the cry of her sucking child, which another would take no notice of.” In answer to prayer He helps His people in all their need, and ultimately saves them from all evil into perfect purity and joy.

CONCLUSION.—“Oh, fear the Lord, ye His saints; for there is no want to them that fear Him.” “Trust in Him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before Him: God is a refuge for us.”

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

Psalms 145

David’s Psalm of Praise

I will extol thee, my God, O King;

And I will bless thy name for ever and ever.

2     Every day will I bless thee;

And I will praise thy name for ever and ever.

3     Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;

And his greatness is unsearchable.

4     One generation shall praise thy works to another,

And shall declare thy mighty acts.

5     I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty,

And of thy wondrous works.

6     And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts:

And I will declare thy greatness.

7     They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness,

And shall sing of thy righteousness.

8     The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion;

Slow to anger, and of great mercy.

9     The Lord is good to all:

And his tender mercies are over all his works

10     All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord;

And thy saints shall bless thee.

11     They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom,

And talk of thy power;

12     To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts,

And the glorious majesty of his kingdom.

13     Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,

And thy dominion endureth throughout all generations.

14     The Lord upholdeth all that fall,

And raiseth up all those that be bowed down.

15     The eyes of all wait upon thee;

And thou givest them their meat in due season.

16     Thou openest thine hand,

And satisfiest the desire of every living thing.

17     The Lord is righteous in all his ways,

And holy in all his works.

18     The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him,

To all that call upon him in truth.

19     He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him:

He also will hear their cry, and will save them.

20     The Lord preserveth all them that love him:

But all the wicked will he destroy.

21     My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord:

And let all flesh bless his holy name

For ever and ever.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Contents and Composition.—It is only in this Psalm that the word tehilla occurs in the superscription as indicating the character of the poem itself. It is probably taken from Psa_145:21. The plural of the same word is used to denote the whole Psalm-collection. The contents of this Psalm are admirably described by this word, for it is taken up exclusively with God’s praise The Psalmist (Psa_145:1-2) engages to praise Him for all time to come and unceasingly, even into eternity, on account (Psa_145:3-7) of His greatness which is unsearchable, but is displayed in glorious deeds of power and wondrous working, and is worthy of the eternal remembrance and unbounded praise of all generations of men. His goodness, (Psa_145:8-13), is as glorious and all-embracing as His kingdom; therefore all that need turn with trustfulness to Him and He will never disappoint them (Psa_145:14-16). In order to experience that goodness, man need only forsake the wicked, and unite with those who fear God (Psa_145:17-20). The conclusion (Psa_145:21) turns back to the opening, but with an enlarged view.

The strophical structure, like the progress of thought, is rather irregular. This is possibly due to the acrostic character of the poem, the first letters of the verses following the order of the Hebrew alphabet. Nun only is absent; for what reason does not appear. The Sept., it is true, followed by the derived translations, inserts between Psa_145:13-14, a verse: Jehovah is faithful in all His words, and gracious1 in all His works, the latter half being the same as that of Psa_145:17. But neither Aquila nor Symmachus gives it, and neither Origen nor Jerome has it in his Heb. Text. Only a single Heb. manuscript has it (Cod. Kennicott 142), and that on the lower margin, at the bottom of the page. The Chald. and the Jewish interpreters reject it, and a scholium of the Cod. Vat. of the Sept. characterizes it as spurious. It ought scarcely therefore to be regarded as having fallen out (Grotius, Ewald); and it is still less probable that Psa_141:6 belonged originally to this passage (Hitzig).

The Ancient Church employed this Psalm at the mid-day-meal, and Psa_145:15 at the Passover. The Talmud assures us (Berachoth 4 b), that every one who repeats this Psalm three times daily, may be satisfied that he is a child of the future world. The Gemara adduces in support of this the curious reason, that it is not only written in alphabetical order, like Psalms 119. and others, and not only praises the Divine care over all creatures, like Psa_136:25, but combines both these important characteristics in itself (Del.).—In this Psalm the mode of presenting the thoughts is pleasing, the language easy and transparent, recalling in many expressions and phrases familiar passages in the Psalms. It cannot be definitely determined which are the earlier, or whether any were borrowed from any others. Psa_145:13 agrees just as closely with Dan. 3:33; 4:31. But this does not justify the conclusion that the latter are the original passages, and that our Psalm belongs to the age of the Maccabees (Hitzig).

[Alexander: “This has been happily characterized as the ‘new song,’ promised in Psa_144:9. In other words, it is the song of praise, corresponding to the didactic, penitential, and supplicatory Psalms of this series. In form it is an alphabetical Psalm, and, like others of this class, admits of no analysis, being made up of variations on a single theme, the righteousness and goodness of God to men in general, to His own people in particular, and more especially to those that suffer.”—J. F. M.]

Psa_145:1-7. My God, oh King!—This combination of the words elohai hammelech (the latter as in Pss. 20:10; Psa_98:6; the former as in Psa_143:10, with ו written fully), is rather harsh, in place of the usual expression: my King and my God (Psa_5:3; Psa_84:4). God’s right of pre-eminence is, at all events, set forth in forcible terms, first in connection with the exaltation and majesty of the Highest, as afterwards in relation to their extent and duration God’s greatness is exhibited also in 1Ch_29:11, and its unsearchableness in Isa_40:28; Job_11:7. [Delitzsch: “The thought of the mute shades of the departed, which elsewhere intrudes itself, as in Psa_6:6, when the consciousness of the poet was disturbed by sin, is here entirely banished; for now the poet’s consciousness is the undisturbed mirror of the Divine glory.”—J. F. M.] It may be a matter of dispute whether the דברי, in Psa_145:5 b., denote the wondrous deeds of God (Psa_105:27), or the words which tell of them, for both may be made the object of thoughtful contemplation and celebration. In Psa_145:7 the combination רַב-טוב shows that great goodness is not referred to, in the sense of abundant mercy (most), but in the sense of the universal excellence of His attributes, His goodness in every relation.

Psa_145:8-21. Psa_145:8 is like Psa_103:8. Psa_145:15 f. like Psa_104:27 f. The concluding part of Psa_145:16, as Psa_145:19 and the fundamental passage, Deu_33:23, show, comp. Act_14:17, does not mean that God is well pleased (Septuagint, Isaaki, Luther, Calvin), nor does it refer to His willingness (Hitzig), or blessing (Vulg., Geier), but to the desire, wishing, craving of living creatures (Aben Ezra, Kimchi, and most of the recent expositors). [Translate Psa_145:17 b.: and gracious in all His works.—J. F. M.] The last word of Psa_145:18 b. does not express a contrast to doubt, as in Jam_1:6, so that the translation should be: in faith, believingly (Hitzig), but a contrast to hypocrisy, and thoughtless perfunctoriness in prayer.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

It is easier to promise to praise God unceasingly than it is to fulfil that promise; for there come evil times, when some do not stand the test.—As we know God to be the sum and source of all good, let us ever draw from that fountain ourselves, and direct others to it also.—Every day has its troubles, has it also its prayers?—The blessedness of living in God’s kingdom, under the dominion of the heavenly King.

Starke: The more a soul knows the greatness of God’s glorious mercy, the more will it be stirred up to praise Him.—If the Holy Spirit does but once enkindle the heart, it will never be satisfied in praising Him, it must praise Him for ever.—The greatness of the King of glory is especially manifested in the compassion which He manifests to sinners, whose consciences tell them that they are guilty of eternal death.—It is an act worthy of severe punishment for a man to limit God’s love and mercy, and wantonly to exclude himself from their influence.—All angels, all saints, yea, all God’s works praise Him their Creator; dost thou, O man, not praise Him too? Thou then art not worthy to be or to be called a work or creature of His.—The extension of Christ’s kingdom through the word of the gospel is a great work of God. Every true Christian should help to advance that work by counsel and deed.—Christ begins His kingdom here on earth in the hearts of believers, and takes them at last into the kingdom of glory, where they shall be ever with the Lord.—Our gracious God fulfils His promise even in regard to bodily afflictions; for He lays no more upon the sufferer than he can bear, and in his afflictions often revives him with the sweetest consolation.—You sometimes distress yourself about temporal sustenance; but what are you in need of? Whither all eyes are directed turn yours too.—We are all beggars before God; we would have nothing, if He did not answer our prayers by giving us food and the necessaries of life.—Our appetite and the relish which we have in our bread and other food is alas! not recognized by most as one of God’s blessings until they are deprived of them.—To know God as near and omnipresent may deter the wicked from sin, but to the pious it is a consolation in all their troubles.—It is much better that God should answer us in a way that will bless us, than according to the will of the flesh. In that case our souls would often suffer harm.—He who sincerely loves God is in awe of Him also, lest he should offend Him by transgressing His commands and forfeit His favor.—Thy mouth should be a living organ to praise God. Woe to those who open their mouths in imprecation and abuse and other sinful words!

Frisch: A man’s compassion extends only to his neighbor, that of God extends to all.—God does everything in His own time. That time He knows better than thou dost; therefore await it in patience.—Rieger: How often does our narrow-hearted unbelief prefer to remain under the close pressure of earth, rather than be refreshed by the heart-reviving praise to God that arises from all places of His dominion.—Guenther: The heavenly King has the death-judgment and the words of mercy; pray for the latter, so that thou mayst live in His kingdom beneath His sway, and serve Him for ever.—Taube: A song of praise whose theme is the glory of the eternal King, His kingdom, and His mode of government.

[Matt. Henry: If the heart be full of God, out of the abundance of that the mouth will speak with reverence to His praise on all occasions.—No day must pass, though never so busy a day, though never so sorrowful a day, without praising God; we ought to reckon it the most needful of our daily business, the most delightful of our daily comforts. God is every day blessing us, doing well for us, there is therefore reason we should be every day blessing Him, speaking well of Him.—The works of God’s mercy outshine all His other works, and declare Him more than any of them. In nothing will the glory of God be for ever so illustrious, as in the vessels of mercy ordained to glory.—His saints bless Him, for they collect the rent and tribute of praise from the inferior creatures, and pay it into the treasury above. All God’s works praise Him, as the beautiful building praises the builder, or the well-drawn picture praises the painter. But His saints bless Him as the children of prudent, tender parents rise up and call them blessed. Of all God’s works, His saints, the workmanship of His grace, the first-fruits of His creatures have most reason to bless Him.—At the end of one mercy is the beginning of another, so should the end of our thanksgiving be.—Bp. Horne: We see the whole animal world assembled before us, with their eyes fixed on the great King and Father of all, like those of a flock on the shepherd when he enters the field with provender for them. From the same Divine Person as the Saviour of men, as the King, Father, and Pastor of the Church, do believers with earnest expectation wait for the food of eternal life. And neither the one nor the other look and wait in vain.—Scott: Those who under troubles and temptations abound in fervent prayer, shall in due season abound in grateful praise, which is the genuine language of holy joy.—J. F. M.]

Footnotes:

[1][It is holy in all His works, in the Sept. Dr. Moll also has an error in his version of Psa_145:18, where he translates: Jehovah is near to all that fear Him.—J. F. M.]

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Psalm 145

THIS has been happily characterised as the "new song" promised in Psa 144:9. In other words, it is the song of praise, corresponding to the didactic, penitential, and supplicatory psalms of this series. In form it is an alphabetical psalm, and like others of that class (see p. 113), admits of no analysis, being made up of variations on a single theme, the righteousness and goodness of the Lord to men in general, to his own people in particular, and more especially to those who suffer. The letter nun is wanting, being omitted, as some suppose, for the sake of having three equal stanzas, each containing seven verses. The Septuagint sup-plies the omission, in a very inartificial manner, by anticipating Psa 145:17 before Psa 145:15, with a simple change of righteous to faithful, as in Psa 111:7.

1. (Psa 145:1) Praise. By David. I will exalt thee, my God, the King, and will bless thy name to eternity and perpetuity. This is the only case in which the word Praise stands alone as the designation or description of a psalm. It evidently bears an antithetical relation to the title Prayer in Psa 142:1, the rather as the Hebrew words are still more alike than their English equivalents differing only in a single letter. I will exalt thee, as in Psa 30:1, where the reason is expressed that is here implied, to wit, that God had exalted him. The king, the only true king, the king of kings, by whom they are put up and down, protected and punished. See above, on Psa 144:10, and compare Psa 5:2; Psa 20:9; Psa 24:8; Psa 24:10; Psa 93:1; Psa 95:3; Psa 96:10; Psa 99:1. The regal honours paid to himself by others David here transfers as due to God alone. Bless thy name, i.e. reverently praise it. See above, on Psa 5:11; Psa 34:1; Psa 103:1. For ever and ever, in reference not merely to himself but to his royal race, which is to live for ever. See above, on Psa 138:8.

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

Psalms 145

This is an acrostic psalm. Like several others of that kind, it is slightly irregular, one letter (Nun) being omitted. The omission is supplied in the LXX by an obviously spurious verse inserted in the right place between Psa_145:13 and Psa_145:14. Though the psalm has no strophical divisions, it has distinct sequence of thought, and celebrates the glories of Jehovahs character and deeds from a fourfold point of view. It sings of His greatness (Psa_145:1-6), goodness (Psa_145:7-10), His kingdom (Psa_145:11-13), and the universality of His beneficence (Psa_145:14-21). It is largely coloured by other psalms, and is unmistakably of late origin.

The first group of verses has two salient characteristics-the accumulation of epithets expressive of the more majestic aspects of Jehovahs self-revelation, and the remarkable alternation of the psalmists solo of song and the mighty chorus which takes up the theme and sends a shout of praise echoing down the generations.

The psalmist begins with his own tribute of praise, which he vows shall be perpetual. Psa_145:1 recalls Psa_30:1; Psa_34:1. We "exalt" God, when we recognise that He is King, and worthily adore Him as such. A heart suffused with joy in the thought of God would fain have no other occupation than the loved one of ringing out His name. The singer sets "forever and aye" at the end of both Psa_145:1 and Psa_145:2, and while it is possible to give the expression a worthy meaning as simply equivalent to continually, it is more in harmony with the exalted strain of the psalm and the emphatic position of the words to hear in them an expression of the assurance which such delight in God and in the contemplation of Him naturally brings with it, that over communion so deep and blessed, Death has no power. "Every day will I bless Thee"-that is the happy vow of the devout heart. "And I will praise Thy name forever and ever"-that is the triumphant confidence that springs from the vow. The experiences of fellowship with God are prophets of their own immortality.

Psa_145:3 a-is from Psa_48:1, and b is tinged by Isaiah 40, but substitutes "greatness," the keynote of the first part of this psalm for "understanding." That note having been thus struck, is taken up in Psa_145:4-6, which set forth various aspects of that greatness, as manifested in works which are successively described as "mighty"-i.e., instinct with conquering power such as a valiant hero wields; as, taken together, constituting the "splendour of the glory of Thy majesty," the flashing brightness with which, when gathered, as it were, in a radiant mass, they shine out, like a great globe of fire; as "wonders," not merely in the narrower sense of miracles, but as being productive of lowly astonishment in the thoughtful spectator; and as being "dread acts"-i.e., such as fill the beholder with holy awe. In Psa_145:5 b the phrase rendered above "records of His wonders" is literally "words of His wonders," which some regard as being like the similar phrase in Psa_65:3 (words or matters of iniquities), a pleonasm, and others would take as they do the like expression in Psa_105:27, as equivalent to "deeds of the Divine wonders" (Delitzsch). But "words" may very well here retain its ordinary sense, and the poet represents himself as meditating on the records of Gods acts in the past as well as gazing on those spread before his eyes in the present.

His passing and repassing from his own praise in Psa_145:1-2, to that of successive generations in Psa_145:4 others in Psa_145:6, is remarkable. Does he conceive of himself as the chorus leader, teaching the ages his song? Or does he simply rejoice in the less lofty consciousness that his voice is not solitary? It is difficult to say, but this is clear, that the Messianic hope of the worlds being one day filled with the praises which were occasioned by Gods manifestation in Israel burned in this singers heart. He could not bear to sing alone, and this hymn would lack its highest note, if he did not believe that the world was to catch up the song.

But greatness, majesty, splendour, are not the Divinest parts of the Divine nature, as this singer had learned. These are but the fringes of the central glory. Therefore the song rises from greatness to celebrate better things, the moral attributes of Jehovah (Psa_145:7-10). The psalmist has no more to say of himself, till the end of his psalm. He gladly listens rather to the chorus of many voices which proclaims Jehovahs widespread goodness. In Psa_145:7 the two attributes which the whole Old Testament regards as inseparable are the themes of the praise of men. Goodness and righteousness are not antithetic, but complementary, as green and red rays blend in white light. The exuberance of praise evoked by these attributes is strikingly represented by the two strong words describing it: of which the former, "well forth," compares its gush to the clear waters of a spring bursting up into sunlight, dancing and flashing, musical and living, and the other describes it as like the shrill cries of joy raised by a crowd on some festival, or such as the women trilled out when a bride was brought home. Psa_145:8 rests upon Exo_34:6. {compare Psa_103:8} It is difficult to desynonymise "gracious" and "full of compassion." Possibly the former is the wider, and expresses love in exercise towards the lowly in its most general aspect, while the latter specialises graciousness as it reveals itself to those afflicted with any evil. As "slow to anger," Jehovah keeps back the wrath which is part of His perfection, and only gives it free course after long waiting and wooing. The contrast in Psa_145:8 b is not so much between anger and lovingkindness, which to the psalmist are not opposed, as between the slowness with which the one is launched against a few offenders and the plenitude of the other. That thought of abundant lovingkindness is still further widened, in Psa_145:9, to universality. Gods goodness embraces all, and His compassions hover over all His works, as the broad wing and warm breast of the mother eagle protect her brood. Therefore the psalmist hears a yet more multitudinous voice of praise from all creatures; since their very existence, and still more their various blessednesses, give witness to the all-gladdening Mercy which encompasses them. But Creations anthem is a song without words, and needs to be made articulate by the conscious thanksgivings of those who, being blessed by possession of Jehovahs lovingkindness, render blessing to Him with heart and lip.

The Kingship of God was lightly touched in Psa_145:1. It now becomes the psalmists theme in Psa_145:11-13. It is for Gods favoured ones to speak, while Creation can but be. It is for men who can recognise Gods sovereign will as their law, and know Him as ruler, not only by power, but by goodness, to proclaim that kingdom which psalmists knew to be "righteousness, peace, and joy." The purpose for which God has lavished His favour on Israel is that they might be the heralds of His royalty to "the sons of men." The recipients of His grace should be the messengers of His grace. The aspects of that kingdom which fill the psalmists thoughts in this part of his hymn, correspond with that side of the Divine nature celebrated in Psa_145:1-6 - namely, the more majestic-while the graciousness magnified in Psa_145:7-10 is again the theme in the last portion (Psa_145:14-20). An intentional parallelism between the first and third parts is suggested by the recurrence in Psa_145:12 of part of the same heaped together phrase which occurs in Psa_145:5. There we read of "the splendour of the glory of Thy majesty"; here of "the glory of the splendour of Thy kingdom,"-expressions substantially identical in meaning. The very glory of the kingdom of Jehovah is a pledge that it is eternal. What corruption or decay could touch so radiant and mighty a throne? Israels monarchy was a thing of the past; but as, "in the year that King Uzziah died," Isaiah saw the true King of Israel throned in the Temple, so the vanishing of the earthly head of the theocracy seems to have revealed with new clearness to devout men in Israel the perpetuity of the reign of Jehovah. Hence the psalms of the King are mostly post-exilic. It is blessed when the shattering of earthly goods or the withdrawal of human helpers and lovers makes more plain the Unchanging Friend and His abiding power to succour and suffice.

The last portion of the psalm is marked by a frequent repetition of "all," which occurs eleven times in these verses. The singer seems to delight in the very sound of the word, which suggests to him boundless visions of the wide sweep of Gods universal mercy, and of the numberless crowd of dependents who wait on and are satisfied by Him. He passes far beyond national bounds.

Psa_145:14 begins the grand catalogue of universal blessings by an aspect of Gods goodness which, at first sight, seems restricted, but is only too wide, since there is no man who is not often ready to fall and needing a strong hand to uphold him. The universality of mans weakness is pathetically testified by this verse. Those who are in the act of falling are upheld by Him; those who have fallen are helped to regain their footing. Universal sustaining and restoring grace are His. The psalmist says nothing of the conditions on which that grace in its highest forms is exercised; but these are inherent in the nature of the case, for, if the falling man will not lay hold of the outstretched hand, down he must go. There would be no place for restoring help if sustaining aid worked as universally as it is proffered. The word for "raises" in Psa_145:14 b occurs only here and in Psa_146:8. Probably the author of both psalms is one. In Psa_145:15-16, the universality of Providence is set forth in language partly taken from Psa_104:27-28. The petitioners are all creatures. They mutely appeal to God, with expectant eyes fixed on Him, like a dog looking for a crust from its master. He has but to "open His hand" and they are satisfied. The process is represented as easy and effortless. Psa_145:16 b has received different explanations. The word rendered "desire" is often used for "favour"-i.e., Gods-and is by some taken in that meaning here. So Cheyne translates "fillest everything that lives with goodwill." But seeing that the same word recurs in Psa_145:19, in an obvious parallel with this verse, and has there necessarily the meaning of desire, it is more natural to give it the same signification here. The clause then means that the opening of Gods hand satisfies every creature, by giving it that which it desires in full enjoyment.

These common blessings of Providence avail to mterpret deeper mysteries. Since the world is full of happy creatures nourished by Him, it is a reasonable faith that His work is all of a piece, and that in all His dealings the twin attributes of righteousness and lovingkindness rule. There are enough plain tokens of Gods character in plain things to make us sure that mysterious and apparently anomalous things have the same character regulating them. In Psa_145:17 b the word rendered loving is that usually employed of the objects of lovingkindness, Gods "favoured ones." It is used of God only here and in Jer_3:12, and must be taken in an active sense, as One who exercises lovingkindness. The underlying principle of all His acts is Love, says the psalmist, and there is no antagonism between that deepest motive and Righteousness. The singer has indeed climbed to a sun-lit height, from which he sees far and can look down into the deep of the Divine judgments and discern that they are a clear-obscure.

He does not restrict this universal beneficence when he goes on to lay down conditions on which the reception of its highest forms depend. These conditions are not arbitrary; and within their limits, the same universality is displayed. The lower creation makes its mute appeal to God, but men have the prerogative and obligation of calling upon Him with real desire and trust. Such suppliants will universally be blessed with a nearness of God to them, better than His proximity through power, knowledge, or the lower manifestations of His lovingkindness, to inferior creatures. Just as the fact of life brought with it certain wants, which God is bound to supply, since He gives it, so the fear and love of Him bring deeper needs, which He is still more (if that were possible) under pledge to satisfy. The creatures have their desires met. Those who fear Him will certainly have theirs; and that, not only in so far as they share physical life with worm and bee, whom their heavenly Father feeds, but in so far as their devotion sets in motion a new series of aspirations, longings, and needs, which will certainly not be left unfulfilled. "Food" is all the boon that the creatures crave, and they get it by an easy process. But man, especially man who fears and loves God, has deeper needs, sadder in one aspect, since they come from perils and ills from which he has to be saved, but more blessed in another, since every need is a door by which God can enter a soul. These sacreder necessities and more wistful longings are not to be satisfied by simply opening Gods hand. More has to be done than that. For they can only be satisfied by the gift of Himself, and men need much disciplining before they will to receive Him into their hearts. They who love and fear Him will desire Him chiefly, and that desire can never be balked. There is a region, and only one, in which it is safe to set our hearts on unattained good. They who long for God will always have as much of God as they long for and are capable of receiving.

But notwithstanding the universality of the Divine lovingkindness, mankind still parts into two sections, one capable of receiving the highest gifts, one incapable, because not desiring them. And therefore the One Light, in its universal shining, works two effects, being lustre and life to such as welcome it, but darkness and death to those who turn from it. It is mans awful prerogative that he can distil poison out of the water of life, and can make it impossible for himself to receive from tender, universal Goodness anything but destruction.

The singer doses his song with the reiterated vow that his songs shall never dose, and, as in the earlier part of the psalm, rejoices in the confidence that his single voice shall, like that of the herald angel at Bethlehem, be merged in the notes of "a multitude praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest."

William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.

Ps 145 This hymn of praise is the last in this collection of the psalms of David (Pss 138–145). Praise continues in the last five psalms (Pss 146–150). This psalm celebrates the Lord as King of all (145:1-3, 10-13). God’s actions reveal his royal qualities (145:4-7). He cares for all creatures (145:14-17) and for those who fear him (145:18-20).

145:1-3 The psalmist praises God, the Great King who reigns over all other rulers (see 47:2).

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

He showeth what sacrifices are pleasant and acceptable unto God, even praise and thanksgiving, and seeing that God still continueth his benefits towards us, we ought never to be weary in praising him for the same.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

PSALM CXLV

God is praised for his unsearchable greatness, 1, 2;

for his majesty and terrible acts, 3, 6;

for his goodness and tender mercies to all, 7-9;

for his power and kingdom, 10-13;

for his kindness to the distressed, 14;

for his providence, 15-17.

He hears and answers prayer, 18-20.

All should praise him, 21.

NOTES ON PSALM CXLV.

This Psalm is attributed to David by the Hebrew and all the Versions. It is the last of the acrostic Psalms; and should contain twenty-two verses, as answering to the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet; but the verse between the thirteenth and fourteenth, beginning with the letter נ nun, is lost out of the present Hebrew copies; but a translation of it is found in the Syriac, Septuagint, Vulgate, AEthiopic, Arabic, and Anglo-Saxon. See below. It is an incomparable Psalm of praise; and the rabbins have it in such high estimation, that they assert, if a man with sincerity of heart repeat it three times a-day, he shall infallibly enjoy the blessings of the world to come. It does not appear on what particular occasion it was composed; or, indeed, whether there was any occasion but gratitude to God for his ineffable favours to mankind.

Verse 1. I will extol thee] I will raise thee on high, I will lift thee up.

I will bless thy name] לעולם ועד leolam vaed, for ever and onward, in this and the coming world. This sort of expressions, which are very difficult to be translated, are on the whole well expressed by those words, in a hymn of Mr. Addison: -

Through all eternity to thee

A joyful song I'll raise;

But O, eternity's too short

To utter all thy praise!

This contains a strong hyperbole; but allowable in such cases.

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

1. I will extol thee, my God and my king. David does not so much tell what he would do himself, as stir up and urge all others to this religious service of offering to God the praises due to his name. The design with which he declares God to be beneficent to the children of men is, to induce them to cultivate a pious gratitude, he insists upon the necessity of persevering in the exercise; for since God is constant in extending mercies, it would be highly improper in us to faint in his praises. As he thus gives his people new ground for praising him, so he stimulates them to gratitude, and to exercise it throughout the whole course of their life. In using the term daily, he denotes perseverance in the exercise. Afterwards he adds, that should he live through a succession of ages he would never cease to act in this manner. The repetitions used tend very considerably to give emphasis to his language. As it is probable that the Psalm was written at a time when the kingdom of David was in a flourishing condition, the circumstances deserves notice, that in calling God his king he gives both himself and other earthly princes their proper place, and does not allow any earthly distinctions to interfere with the glory due to God.

This is made still more manifest in the verse which follows, where, in speaking of the greatness of God as unmeasurable, he intimates that we only praise God aright when we are filled and overwhelmed with an ecstatic admiration of the immensity of his power. This admiration will form the fountain from which our just praises of him will proceed, according the measure of our capacity.

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.

(1) The psalm opens with familiar psalm strains. (Comp. openings of Psalms 30, 34)

For ever and ever.—In contemplation of the greatness and majesty of God time ceases to be. The poet vows a homage indefinitely prolonged.

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

1. my God, O king] Or, my God the King. He Who is Israel’s God is the absolute, universal King. The phrase has a larger meaning than that of Psa_5:2, my King and my God.

for ever and ever] Israel is probably the speaker; and Israel as the people of God is immortal (Hab_1:12). Generation after generation (Psa_145:4) will take up the unending chorus of praise. If it is an individual who speaks, we must suppose, with Delitzsch, that in his devotion to the eternal King he forgets his own mortality. For it is at least doubtful if, even late in the post-exilic period, the doctrine of a personal immortality of conscious and active blessedness was so clearly developed that the words could have been used originally in the sense in which the Christian uses them now. But, as Del. rightly remarks, the divinely implanted impulse of the soul to find its highest delight in the praise of its Creator is in itself a practical argument for a life after death.

1, 2. Cp. Psa_30:1; Psa_34:1; Psa_34:3; and generally the doxology in 1Ch_29:10 ff.

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.

I will extol thee, my God, O King,.... Or "the King" (a), the King Messiah, who is by way of eminency called "the King", as in Psa 21:1. This is the foundation of this whole psalm, as Aben Ezra observes; and shows who is intended and who is the subject of it that is spoken of throughout, even the Messiah, who is the King of the world, the King of the kings of it, the King of Zion, of his church and people, the King of saints, of all believers in him, by the appointment of God, by the conquest of his grace, over whom he reigns by his Spirit and grace; for this his kingdom is spiritual, is in righteousness, and everlasting: and this great King is not a creature, but God, the mighty God, David's Lord and God, and the Lord and God of every saint; whom David loved as such, believed in, looked unto for salvation; from whom he received grace and expected glory, and knew and claimed his interest in him, which is the great privilege of believers in him; see Joh 20:28; and therefore they, as David, will extol him above all created beings, he being God over all; extol him above all men, even the best and greatest, Moses, Joshua, Aaron, Abraham, or any other, who are his creatures, his children, and his subjects; and even as man he is to be extolled above all men; being chosen out from among the people, fairer than the children of men, and the chiefest among ten thousand; and above the angels, having a more excellent name and nature than they; they being his creatures and servants, and he their Creator and the object of their worship: Christ is extolled by his people when they ascribe deity to him, magnify him in his offices, and make use of him in them all; attribute their whole salvation to him, think and speak highly of him, and declare him extolled and exalted at the right hand of God, as he now is, and as the Old Testament saints, as David and others, had a foresight of and rejoiced in, Psa 110:1; the Septuagint, Syriac, Ethiopic, and Arabic versions, have it, "my King"; see Zac 9:9;

and I will bless thy name for ever and ever; by pronouncing him the Son of the Blessed, God over all blessed for ever; and by ascribing blessing, honour, glory, and power, unto him; by adoring and celebrating the perfections of his nature, which are his name, by which he is known; by expressing a high value and esteem for every precious name of his, as Immanuel, God with us; Jesus, a Saviour, &c. and a regard to his everlasting Gospel, which is his name, bore by his ministering servants throughout the world; see Psa 8:1.

(a) "rex", Tigurine version, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

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

I will extol thee ... - I will lift thee up; I will lift up thy name and praise, so that it may be heard afar.

And I will bless thy name forever and ever - I will bless or praise thee. I will do it now; I will do it in all the future. I will do it in time; I will do it in eternity. See the notes at Psa 30:1.

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

O King; or, the King, by way of eminency; the King of kings, the God by whom kings reign, and to whom I and all other kings owe subjection and obedience.

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

This is an alphabetic Ps., but the v. with the letter Nun, which should come after Psa_145:13, has been lost. It is a noble Ps., celebrating the praise of God as the bountiful Giver of all good things, used in the Jewish church at morning service, and worthy to be used in all the churches. It is the last Ps. ascribed to David in the Psalter.

5. RV 'of the glorious majesty of thine honour and of thy wondrous works will I meditate.'

13. Here LXX adds the missing v., as follows: 'Jehovah is faithful in all his words and kind in all his works.'

J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1. My God, O king—David reminds princes that there is a King above themselves: “Man that is in honour, continueth not.” Constant, grateful loyalty to the King Eternal is the joy and duty of earthly rulers.

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

WITH another hymn of praise, this late collection of Davidical psalms, previously omitted from the Psalter, terminates. Like vers. 25 and 34, also Davidical, this psalm is alphabetic, and also, like them, it is incomplete, the letter nun being omitted. Like most of the ether alphabetical psalms, it consists of meditations on a single theme, which is here the righteousness and goodness of God

(1) to men in general;

(2) to his own people; and

(3) and more especially, to those that suffer.

The metrical arrangement of the psalm is into three stanzas of seven verses each.

I will extol thee, my God, O King; rather, O my God, the King; i.e. the one and only King of heaven and earth. And I will bless thy Name forever and ever. An internal conviction of the writer"s immortality is implied in these words.

Vers. 1-3, 7, 21. Our response to God.

What feeling should the greatness and the goodness of God call forth from us, and how should we utter it? We will praise God in every way that is open to us.

I CONTINUALLY. (Ver. 2) "Every day" will we bless him: his praise shall be "continually" in our mouth. (Psa_34:1) Not that a man is necessarily more devout because the Name of God is always on his lips, but that the spirit of thankfulness should be always in the heart, and should spontaneously and freely rise for utterance.

II CONTINUOUSLY. (Vers. 1, 2) "Forever and ever." Through all the days and the years of life and beyond. Many things eagerly undertaken will be allowed to drop out, but this, never. The tongue may well forget its office before it ceases to praise God. There is. no end to which language can be put which is worthy to be compared with that of rendering praise to the Giver of all good, the God of our salvation. We will bless God"While life and thought and being last, Or immortality endures,

III HEARTILY. This may well be included in the "abundant" utterance of ver. 7. For thanksgiving is fundamentally lacking if it does not come from the heart as well as from the lips. Praise should be abundant even to overflow, because the cup of the heart is full of intense gratitude, of filial love and joy.

IV INTELLIGENTLY. Those who only recognize the more superficial blessings may be content with thanking God for his "benefits," for his bestowments, for those things that gladden the heart and enrich the life; but they who look deeper and judge more wisely will "sing of his righteousness" as well as of his kindness. (ver. 7; see also Psa_101:1) For we have the deepest interest in God"s righteousness, and should extol him for that quite as earnestly as we do for the multitude of his mercies.

V INSTRUMENTALLY. (Ver. 4) It should be our hope, our prayer, and our endeavor that our own praise of God be extended, through us, to our neighbors, and be carried down, through us, to our children and our children"s children. It may depend on us, on our devotion and on the conduct of our lives, whether the praises of Christ shall be sung by lips that have so far been silent, by those who are now scarcely able to speak his Name, and by those who are still unborn. How much may a wise and earnest spirit do to enlarge and to perpetuate the praises of his Redeemer!

VI INDIRECTLY. If all God"s works praise him (ver. 10), even those which are unintelligent and insensible, surely we may say that the pure and beautiful lives of the good, the kind, the generous, are ever unconsciously, but most effectively, praising God.

HOMILIES BY S. CONWAY Vers. 1-21. The Te Deum of the Old Testament.

So this glorious psalm has been fitly named, and it is the germ of that great Christian hymn. "It is one, and the last, of the acrostic, or rather the alphabetic psalms, of which there are eight in all. Like four other of these, this bears the name of David, although some are of opinion that in this case the inscription is not to be trusted" (Perowne). One letter of the Hebrew alphabet nun is omitted; how this came to be, we cannot tell; the Septuagint, however, and other ancient versions (with one Hebrew manuscript) supply the omission thus: "The Lord is faithful in his words, and holy in all his works." The Jews were accustomed to say that "he who could pray this psalm from the heart three times daily, was preparing himself best for the praise of the world to come." It is the first and chief of the praise-psalms with which the whole Book of Psalms terminates. We have left the region of sighs and tears and piteous entreaties, and are, as one says, in the Beulah land, where the sun shineth night and day. How like it is to the life of many a child of God! There have been many long and weary years of vicissitudes and trials, and sorrows of all kinds, but at eventide there is light. As life went on it was a mingled strain that was heard, but now at its close it is all joy and peace. So is it in this Book of Psalms; so is it with many of God"s beloved ones; so, when our eventide comes, may it be with us! And now let us notice

I THE VARIOUS ELEMENTS WHICH ENTER INTO THE HIGH PRAISE OF GOD which this psalm sets forth. Note:

1. Its different forms.

(1) "I will extol thee;" that is, lift up. He meant that he would do this by his song, by his words continually; he had found God to be his God, his Savior, his ever-bounteous Benefactor and Helper, and he meant that he would proclaim all this, that all men might hear and know. How good it is for a man to act thus!

(2) "I will praise thy Name." The Name of God continually stands for all that God is, and by which he is known to his people. We extol God, or should do so, for what he is to us, as the psalmist does; but praise of his Name means praise for all that he is. This is a more difficult work than the former, for in that we had God"s gracious aspect turned towards us; in this, other aspects of his character are included the mysterious and the stern. It is, indeed, the grace of God when the soul can praise God for all that he is.

(3) "I will bless thy Name." This is something yet higher, and of it we may say, that whilst to extol God is good, and to praise his Name yet better, that which is best of all is to bless his Name. For blessing as distinguished from praise involves the grateful, loving, and heart-adoring clement. There are those whom we praise, but do not bless; we may praise men for genius, skill, integrity, righteousness, but we do not bless them unless, not only is their character admirable, but also we have been brought into contact with them, and have had personal knowledge and realization of their goodness; then we bless as well as praise. Lower down in this psalm it is said, "All thy works praise thee, but thy saints shall bless thee." May this be our portion!

2. The object of all this high praise.

(1) It is none other than God. Not to man, nor to angels, nor to any being less and other than God is rendered this devout and adoring homage of the heart. We are very apt to be so taken up with the achievements of the agents and instruments God uses that we are in danger of forgetting him, or of putting him in a too subordinate place. For it is he, and none other, who is the real Author and Accomplisher of all. But the writer of this psalm falls into no such error, but lifts up his praise solely to God.

(2) And to God whom he has by faith personally appropriated: "my God." God was to him no distant, abstract, or mere ideal Deity, but One whom he had so found to be his perpetual Benefactor and Helper, that his heart clung to him, and he called him "my God." It is such personal appropriation of God that gives vigor and intensity to our praise; without it our praise is poor work.

(3) And confessed as King: "my God, O King." His faith had grasped the blessed truth that God ruled over all; none could withstand his power. "The Lord reigneth, be the nations never so unquiet." Oh, the joy and peace that come from this faith! It was delight to the psalmist"s heart to be assured, as he was, that the Divine King, whom he gladly obeyed, was King over all.

3. Fixed resolve. Four times in these two opening verses we have the words, "I will;" and so again (vers. 5, 6). Praise, like faith, is very much a matter of the will. We are prone to make it dependent upon the emotions. If we feel happy, then we sing praise easily; but if we do not thus feel, then praise falters and dies. But let us remember that the dominant faculty in our nature is not feeling, but will. When God says, "My son, give me thine heart," he means not the feelings, but the will, and if that be ever on God"s side, everything else will soon fall into its proper position. Let the will be right, the feelings will soon give way.

4. Its continuousness and permanence. Every day will I," etc. Not only the bright days, but the dark ones. Praise, like prayer, must be a habit, a constant practice, or we shall fall out of both its use and blessing altogether. And this habit must be permanently maintained. "Forever and ever" (vers. 1, 2). Here is the real test and trial of the religious life. Many are induced to begin, but, alas, how many show that they have no staying power! They get cold and indifferent, and after a while break away altogether. But the earnest, impassioned soul of the psalmist resolved that his praise of God should be every day, and forever and ever.

II THE GROUNDS ON WHICH THIS PRAISE IS BASED. There are three divisions in this psalm, and each one tells of one special reason for this fervent praise of God.

1. In the first seven verses it is the greatness of the Lord. (Ver. 3) And when one thinks of the seemingly irresistible might of the manifold forces of evil, our hearts are apt to die down; but how greatly are they cheered and strengthened when we call to mind and do firmly believe in that greatness of God against which all these forces hurl themselves in vain!

2. Then next (in vers. 7-16), the tendermercies of the Lord are celebrated. When the soul thinks of them, what can it do but perpetually praise and bless the Lord?

3. And last of all (from ver. 17), the righteousness of the Lord is the theme of thanksgiving. Without this even his tender mercies would be shorn of well-nigh all their preciousness, it is because we have a righteous salvation that our heart is glad.

III ITS EXCEEDING BLESSEDNESS.

1. Many forget this. They pray to God, but too often fail to praise him. We say our prayers more often than we sing our praises. But this is wrong.

2. God deserves and delights in our praise. Love ever loves the response of love; and in regard to God, such response takes the form of praise.

3. And it is powerful in its influence with others. If they see that our God is one who fills our heart with joy, will not they be led to desire and to seek him?

4. And for ourselves its effect is as blessed as it is powerful. It gives us confidence before God, joy in the heart, drives away fear, prepares us for heaven, cheers us in all the work of life and amid its darkest trials. S.C.

HOMILIES BY C. SHORT Vers. 1-21. God"s greatness, goodness, and glory.

"Every one who repeats the Tehillah of David thrice a day, may be sure that he is a child of the world to come.

I GOD"S GREATNESS. (Vers. 1-6)

1. Unsearchable. (Ver. 3) No searching can reach its bottom. (Isa_40:28 Job_11:7)

2. It is, nevertheless, being continually revealed in history. (Ver. 4) One generation declares it to another, through all the successive ages.

3. That which is so great and manifest cannot but be spoken of and honored. (Vers. 5, 6) The eternally great things of God, revealed to our consciousness, cannot be regarded in silence.

II THE GOODNESS OR LOVE OF GOD. (Vers. 7-10)

1. It is full of compassionate tenderness towards the needy and sinful. (Ver. 8) "Wrath is only the background of his nature, which he reluctantly, and only after long waiting, lets loose against those who spurn his great mercy.

2. Gods righteousness and love embrace all his creatures, whatever their character. (Vers. 7, 9) All must praise God; but the saints will bless God with their grateful love.

III THE GLORY OF GOD"S KINGDOM. (Vers. 11-13)

1. It is a kingdom of power and majesty. God will at length accomplish all his will and all his purpose.

2. It"s an everlasting universal kingdom. (Ver. 13) All things in heaven and on earth, and throughout the whole universe, shall forever and ever reflect and accomplish the infinite plan and purpose of God.

IV THE GLORY OF GOD"S PROVIDENCE. (Vers. 14-21)

1. He supports the weak and falling. (Ver. 14)

2. He provides for the wants of all beings, great and small. (Vers. 15, 16)

3. He is righteous and holy in all his gifts. (Ver. 17)

4. He is near to all who truly pray, and will accomplish their salvation. (Vers. 18-20) S.

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

This also is an alphabetical psalm. In it David praises God for his greatness, ver. 1-7. For his goodness and everlasting kingdom, ver. 8-13. For his providence, ver. 14-16. For his mercy to his servants, ver. 17-21. David's psalm of praise.

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

The strains with which this hymn opens are familiar Psalm-strains. We are reminded of Psa 30:2, and the likewise alphabetical song of praise and thanksgiving Psa 34:2. The plena scriptio אלוהי in Psa 143:10; Psa 98:6. The language of address "my God the King," which sounds harsh in comparison with the otherwise usual "my King and my God" (Psa 5:3; Psa 84:4), purposely calls God with unrelated generality, that is to say in the most absolute manner, the King. If the poet is himself a king, the occasion for this appellation of God is all the more natural and the signification all the more pertinent. But even in the mouth of any other person it is significant. Whosoever calls God by such a name acknowledges His royal prerogative, and at the same time does homage to Him and binds himself to allegiance; and it is just this confessory act of exalting Him who in Himself is the absolutely lofty One that is here called רומם. But who can the poet express the purpose of praising God's Name for ever? Because the praise of God is a need of his inmost nature, he has a perfect right to forget his own mortality when engaged upon this devotion to the ever-living King. Clinging adoringly to the Eternal One, he must seem to himself to be eternal; and if there is a practical proof for a life after death, it is just this ardent desire of the soul, wrought of God Himself, after the praise of the God of its life (lit., its origin) which affords it the highest, noblest delight. The idea of the silent Hades, which forces itself forward elsewhere, as in Psa 6:6, where the mind of the poet is beclouded by sin, is here entirely removed, inasmuch as here the mind of the poet is the undimmed mirror of the divine glory. Therefore Psa 145:2 also does not concede the possibility of any interruption of the praise: the poet will daily (Psa 68:20) bless God, be they days of prosperity or of sorrow, uninterruptedly in all eternity will he glorify His Name (אהללה as in Psa 69:31). There is no worthier and more exhaustless object of praise (Psa 145:3): Jahve is great, and greatly to be praised (מהלּל, taken from Psa 48:2, as in Psa 96:4, cf. Psa 18:4), and of His "greatness" (cf. Ch1 29:11, where this attribute precedes all others) there is no searching out, i.e., it is so abysmally deep that no searching can reach its bottom (as in Isa 40:28; Job 11:7.). It has, however, been revealed, and is being revealed continually, and is for this very reason thus celebrated in Psa 145:4 : one generation propagates to the next the growing praise of the works that He has wrought out (עשׂה מעשׁים), and men are able to relate all manner of proofs of His victorious power which prevails over everything, and makes everything subject to itself (גּבוּרת as in Psa 20:7, and frequently). This historically manifest and traditional divine doxa and the facts (דּברי as in Psa 105:27) of the divine wonders the poet will devoutly consider. הדר stands in attributive relation to כּבוד, as this on its part does to הודך. Thy brilliantly gloriously (kingly) majesty (cf. Jer 22:18; Dan 11:21). The poet does not say גּם אני, nor may we insert it, either here in Psa 145:5, or in Psa 145:6, where the same sequence of thoughts recurs, more briefly expressed. The emphasis lies on the objects. The mightiness (עזוּז as in Psa 78:4, and in Isa 42:25, where it signifies violence) of His terrible acts shall pass from mouth to mouth (אמר with a substantival object as in Psa 40:11), and His mighty acts (גּדלּות, magnalia, as in Ch1 17:19, Ch1 17:21) - according to the Ker (which is determined by the suffix of אספּרנּה; cf. however, Sa2 22:23; Kg2 3:3; Kg2 10:26, and frequently): His greatness (גּדלּה) - will he also on his part make the matter of his narrating. It is, however, not alone the awe-inspiring majesty of God which is revealed in history, but also the greatness (רב used as a substantive as in Psa 31:20; Isa 63:7; Isa 21:7, whereas רבּים in Psa 32:10; Psa 89:51 is an adjective placed before the noun after the manner of a numeral), i.e., the abundant measure, of His goodness and His righteousness, i.e., His acting in inviolable correspondence with His counsel and order of salvation. The memory of the transcendent goodness of God is the object of universal, overflowing acknowledgement and the righteousness of God is the object of universal exultation (רנּן with the accusative as in Psa 51:16; Psa 59:17). After the poet has sung the glorious self-attestation of God according to both its sides, the fiery and the light sides, he lingers by the light side, the front side of the Name of Jahve unfolded in Exo 34:6.

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.)

A Psalm of Praise for the Blessings Due to the Messiah’s Exaltation.

David’s psalm of praise, dedicated to Messiah for His mighty, righteous, and gracious government of all men, and of His Church in particular.

v. 1. I will extol Thee, exalting Him high above all mere men, my God, O King, Messiah being the King over all by virtue of His exaltation to the right hand of God; and I will bless Thy name forever and ever, singing the praises of His divine essence and attributes not only here in time, but throughout eternity.

v. 2. Every day will I bless Thee, the repetition bringing out the necessity of the constant praise in honor of God and messiah, the King; and I will praise Thy name forever and ever. The song of praise now follows.

v. 3. Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised, greatness, unsearchable majesty, being the sum of His essence; and His greatness is unsearchable, literally, "and to His greatness not is there a search," it cannot be fathomed and comprehended by finite man.

v. 4. One generation shall praise Thy works to another and shall declare Thy mighty acts, that being the effect which a contemplation of God’s greatness, as manifested in His works of creation and redemption, is bound to have upon men, fathers teaching their children and thus keeping the consciousness of God’s greatness and majesty alive in their minds.

v. 5. I will speak of the glorious honor of Thy majesty and of Thy wondrous works, meditating upon the excellent superlative beauty of God’s glory and celebrating the redemption through the promised Messiah, the most wonderful theme for prayerful and thankful meditation which can be suggested.

v. 6. And men shall speak of the might of Thy terrible acts, as the holy God performs His righteous judgments upon the children of men; and I will declare Thy greatness, for that is the effect which the acts of God’s justice have upon the believers, causing them to set forth the majesty of the Lord.

v. 7. They shall abundantly utter the memory of Thy great goodness, announcing and proclaiming it, keeping the remembrance of it alive in the minds of men, and shall sing of Thy righteousness, shouting for joy over the manifestation of this attribute of God, in dealing with us on the basis of Christ’s perfect atonement, thereby giving us evidence of His unfailing interest in the welfare and in the salvation of mankind.

v. 8. The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, His mercy being revealed in and through Jesus Christ, the Messiah of the world; slow to anger and of great mercy, His mercy serving, as it were, as a check upon His anger, keeping it from breaking forth upon us. That is the most wonderful fact in the Bible, that God is great in mercy, full of love and kindness toward us in and through Jesus Christ, our Savior. This Gospel-message is brought out still more strongly in the second part of the psalm.

v. 9. The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works, manifested to all His creatures, the evidence of this goodness filling the believers with all the greater joy since it tends to confirm them in their trust in Jehovah, in their confidence in His love.

v. 10. All Thy works shall praise Thee, O Lord, all creatures showing their gratitude to Jehovah by proper thanksgiving, and Thy saints shall bless Thee; for the obligation resting upon the believers to give Him grateful credit for the salvation granted to them is greater even than that of men in general with reference to the goodness of God.

v. 11. They shall speak of the glory of Thy kingdom, especially the Kingdom of Grace, the Church; for it is there that His glory is revealed in the most remarkable way, and talk of Thy power, proclaiming with all earnestness His might, as illustrated so frequently in the history of the Church,

v. 12. to make known to the sons of men His mighty acts, the works of redemption gained for all mankind, and the glorious majesty of His kingdom, in spreading the Gospel and its glorious truths throughout the nations.

v. 13. Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, standing firm through all eternity, the Kingdom of Grace merging into the Kingdom of Glory, the Church Militant into the Church Triumphant, and Thy dominion endureth throughout all generations, in the power and mercy of His ruling.

v. 14. The Lord upholdeth all that fall, literally, "Is holding up Jehovah for all that are falling," keeping them through the Word of His grace, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down, rather, "for all those who are bowed down," hearts broken and contrite on account of the realization of their guilt. Cf Mat 11:28. However, it is not only in the Kingdom of Grace that the Messiah’s power is exerted, but also in the Kingdom of Power.

v. 15. The eyes of all wait upon Thee, looking to the Lord for their sustenance, and Thou givest them their meat in due season, supplying them with food as they are in need of it.

v. 16. Thou openest Thine hand, which is like the true horn of plenty, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing, His bounty supplying in rich measure what they actually need for their maintenance. To these acts of God’s providential care are added those of His government.

v. 17. The Lord is righteous in all His ways and holy in all His works; being sinless, without a flaw, in His essence, His acts also are of a nature that no justified complaint can be lodged against Him with regard to any of His dealings with men.

v. 18. The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon Him, to all that call upon Him in truth, their prayer being prompted by, and flowing from, true faith, and being strictly free from all hypocrisy and doubt.

v. 19. He will fulfill the desire of them that fear Him; He also will hear their cry and will save them, probably not always in the manner in which they had imagined their deliverance, but always in agreement with their longing and therefore in true fulfillment of the prayer of faith, Mat 21:22; Mar 11:24; Jas 5:16; 1Jn 3:22.

v. 20. The Lord preserveth all them that love Him, whose faith finds its expression in childlike love and trust in Him: but all the wicked will He destroy, for His avenging wrath is bound to strike all those who persist in their wickedness. All these wonderful facts having been set forth concerning the Lord, the psalmist is constrained to summarize his praise in conclusion:

v. 21. My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord, making it his business to extol Him everywhere and at all times; and let all flesh, joining the psalmist in his grateful anthem, bless His holy name forever and ever, glorifying Him for all the various ways in which He manifested Himself for the benefit of mankind in general and of His Church in particular; for the believers are looking forward to everlasting salvation in heaven.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Psa 145:4

I. The text places the transmitting generation first, but in our use of it we ought perhaps to invert the order. For the ages can hand down nothing which did not come to them from without; if we mount upward step by step, we find at last that the heritage of truth and grace was a free gift of revelation to mankind: and therefore the earliest was a receiving generation. Men can give nothing that they did not first receive. (1) All the ages of time are in their unceasing flow recipients of parcels and fragments of one great manifestation of God in the glory of His name, His works, and His redeeming grace. (2) This revelation has not flowed on equably from age to age. There have been great critical periods in this general evolution of the majesty of God’s revelation accumulating through the centuries, and we in our day inherit the last and best tradition. (3) The past generations have bequeathed to us as a people a special heritage in the general unfolding of the ways and works of God. We have inherited from our fathers the common Christianity in the fulness of time. Our duty is: (a) to glorify God for the privileges thus transmitted; (b) to use these privileges aright.

II. The receiving generation is the transmitter also. Each is a link in the golden chain that eternity let down into time, and which from time is ascending to eternity again. Each age receives only what it has to pass on to the next. It has pleased God to make every generation a trustee for the generations to come. And all sacred history attests that the gradual unfolding of the name and works of God has been bound up with the fidelity of the successive depositaries of the Divine counsel. There is no law more patent in the administration of the moral government of the world than that each generation receives its portion in due season from its predecessor, and is responsible only for that; secondly, that each generation impresses its own influence for good or evil on what it receives; and, thirdly, that it must needs transmit what is received to the generation following with the impress of its own character.

W. B. Pope, The Inward Witness, p. 160.

References: Psa 145:4.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. i., p. 562. Psa 145:6, Psa 145:7.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxi., No. 1828. Psa 145:7.—Ibid., vol. xxv., No. 1468.

Psa 145:9

The fact of creation is a miracle; it is the origination of the laws of nature, and therefore above and beyond these laws themselves. It is the first link from which all these laws proceed. The two first necessary conditions of our thought and sensation, space and time, are, as regards this material universe, the two first and the two greatest of God’s works.

I. All those ranks of vegetable and animal being which we now behold, originated by the Divine will, were by the same Divine will placed under certain definite laws, by which their continuance in being and reproduction were to be regulated, and were endowed with faculties whereby they were able to follow those laws. Herein is the wonder, the marvel of love: that God, who needeth not creation, should by a free act, or rather an infinity of free acts, of condescension, create, uphold, provide for, bear in His fatherly care, all the great family of the universe.

II. In the order of the history of creation the various ranks of being, beginning from the lowest, proceed onwards to the highest; but we must not therefore for a moment dream, as some have done, of a gradual progression upwards of being, through the lower to the higher. The higher ranks in God’s creation have ever been that which we find them in their laws and character, and have not evolved themselves out of the lower.

III. To say that beauty, and order, and adaptation reign through all these ranks of being is no more than to repeat an often-told tale. (1) Observe, first, the consummate beauty of God’s arrangements in regard to mute, unorganised matter, from the grand but simple law which retains the planets in their orbits to that which forms the hidden crystals in the depths of the mine, or the frostwork on the window-pane, which melts with the first sunbeam. All is full of subjects for wonder and admiration. (2) Let us rise one step, and from unorganised matter come to organic life. Life, the special gift of God, is not the result of any combination of matter. Every portion of the frame in which it resides might be reproduced by art, but the beautiful model must wait for vitality till it is breathed down from the Creator Himself. There is no part of the earth but is full of animal life, no animal that is not a study inexhaustible in its proofs of creative wisdom and providing love. It has often struck me that the more we think of the utter incapability of the lower tribes of creation for increase of knowledge and skill, and compare it with their perfect knowledge and skill in that which is given them to do, the more do we see the present and acting power and love of God. They are so helpless, yet so full of needful resources; so unconscious of wisdom, yet so wise; so reckless of the future, yet so provident; so incapable of high motives, yet so self-devoted in their affections, that it appears to me that between these extremes in the same beings, so wonderful, so inexplicable, there must come in, living, and moving, and present day by day, the will of that gracious Father, the love of that Divine Son, the working of that blessed Spirit of wisdom, whose strength is made perfect in weakness, who hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, whose tender mercies are over all His works.

H. Alford, Quebec Chapel Sermons, vol. iv., p. 18.

References: Psa 145:9.—E. Johnson, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxvii., p. 250. Psa 145:10.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxx., No. 1796; J. A. Sellar, Church Doctrine and Practice, p. 318.

Psa 145:10-11

The Christian Church is a living body, and one, not a mere framework artificially arranged to look like one. Its being alive is what makes it one; were it dead, it would consist of as many parts as it has members: but the living Spirit of God came down upon it at Pentecost, and made it one by giving it life.

I. The Church, properly considered, is that great company of the elect which has been separated by God’s free grace, and His Spirit working in due season, from this sinful world, regenerated, and vouchsafed perseverance unto life eternal. Viewed so far as it merely consists of persons now living in this world, it is of course a visible company; but in its nobler and truer character it is a body invisible, or nearly so, as being made up not merely of the few who happen to be still on their trial, but of the many who sleep in the Lord. This invisible body is the true Church, because it changes not, though it is ever increasing. Such is the efficacy of that inexhaustible grace which Christ has lodged in His Church, as a principle of life and increase, until He comes again. The expiring breath of His saints is but the quickening of dead souls.

II. These thoughts are very different from the world’s ordinary view of things, which walks by sight, not by faith. When the souls of Christians pass from it into the place of spirits, it fancies that this is their loss, not its own. It pities them, too, as thinking that they do not witness the termination of what they began or saw beginning, that they are ignorant of the fortunes of their friends or of the Church, or rather careless about them; as being insensible and but shadows, and ghosts, not substances, as if we who live were the real agents in the course of events, and they were attached to us only as a churchyard to a church, which it is decent to respect, unsuitable to linger in. Such is its opinion of the departed; yet with the views opened on us in the Gospel, with the knowledge that the one Spirit of Christ ever abides, and that those who are made one with Him are never parted from Him, and that those who die in Him are irrevocably knit into Him and one with Him, shall we dare to think slightingly of these indefectible members of Christ and vessels of future glory? Shall we not dimly recognise amid the aisles of our churches and along our cloisters, about our ancient tombs and in ruined and desolate places, which once were held sacred not in cold poetical fancy, but by the eye of faith, the spirits of our fathers and brethren of every time, past and present, whose works have long been "known" to God, and whose former dwelling-places remain among us, pledges, as we trust, that He will not utterly forsake us and make an end?

J. H. Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons, vol. iv., p. 168.

Reference: Psa 145:13.—Bishop Alexander, Bampton Lectures, 1876, p. 159.

Psa 145:13-14

What we admire in these verses is their combining the magnificence of unlimited power with the assiduity of unlimited tenderness. The greatness of God is often turned into an argument by which men would bring doubt on the truths of redemption and providence.

I. An argument is attempted to be drawn from the insignificance of man to the improbability of redemption; one verse of our text is set against the other: and the confessed fact that God’s dominion is throughout all generations is opposed to the alleged fact that He gave His own Son that He might lift up the fallen. But it ought at least to be remembered that man was God’s workmanship, made after His image, and endowed with powers which fitted him for lofty pursuits. The human race may or may not be insignificant. No one can survey the works of nature and not perceive that God has some regard for the children of men, however fallen and polluted they may be. And if God manifest a regard for us in temporal things, it must be far from incredible that He would do the same in spiritual.

II. It is in regard to the doctrine of a universal providence that men are most ready to raise objections from the greatness of God as contrasted with their own insignificance. They cannot believe that He who is so mighty as to rule the heavenly hosts can condescend to notice the wants of the meanest of His creatures. (1) This reasoning betrays ignorance as to what it is in which greatness consists. It may be that amongst finite beings it is not easy, and perhaps not possible, that attention to what is minute or comparatively unimportant should be combined with attention to things of vast moment. But we never reckon it an excellence that there is not, or cannot be, this union. On the contrary, we should declare that man at the very summit of true greatness who proved himself able to unite what had seemed incompatible. We know not why that should be derogatory to the majesty of the Ruler of the universe which, by the general confession, would add immeasurably to the majesty of one of the earth’s potentates. (2) Objections against the doctrine of God’s providence are virtually objections against the great truths of creation. What it was not unworthy of God to form, it cannot be unworthy of God to preserve. Why declare anything excluded by its insignificance from His watchfulness which could not have been produced but by His power? The universal providence of God is little more than an inference from the truth of His being the universal Creator. (3) The doctrine of a universal providence is strictly derivable from the very nature of God. It is to bring God down to the feebleness of our own estate to suppose that what is great to us must be great to Him, and that what is small to us must be small to Him. Dwelling as God does in inaccessible splendours, a world is to Him an atom, and an atom is to Him a world. It is thus virtually the property of God that He should care for everything and sustain everything, so that we should never behold a blade of grass springing up from the earth, nor hear a bird warble its wild music, nor see an infant slumber on its mother’s breast without a warm memory that it is through God as a God of providence that the fields are enamelled in due season, that every animated tribe receives its sustenance, and that the successive generations of mankind arise, and flourish, and possess the earth.

H. Melvill, Sermons before the University of Cambridge, p. 1.

Reference: Psa 145:15, Psa 145:16.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. ii., p. 261.

Psa 145:15-17

I. Consider, first, the Psalmist’s assertion, "The Lord is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works." The Psalmist here uses the language of faith. The word "righteousness" as used of God denotes that necessary perfection by which God is most holy and just in Himself, and observes the strictest rules of equity in His every dealing with His creatures. To be convinced, then, that God is righteous, is to be convinced that, whatever may be the appearance, He is guided in all His actions by the most unimpeachable principles, and has only to make known His reasons to secure the approval of all holy beings. Be it so that the dealings of our Maker are unsearchable, our business is not to penetrate these dealings, but whilst they bear us along as a ship is borne upon the waves to keep looking, as David elsewhere says, "to the hills, from whence cometh our help." There is not a billow of this deep from which you may not see land, some peak of the mountains, if you will, as it were, rest in the ship, though if you attempt to dive beneath the surface you will find only darkness, and be presently overwhelmed. Make it your constant rule never to contemplate God’s dealings apart from God’s attributes, but always to prepare for musing on the dealings by musing on the attributes, and David’s experience will be your own.

II. The doubts and difficulties which consideration of God’s dealings will necessarily excite will best be dealt with by pondering the everyday mercies which are showered upon the world. "The eyes of all wait upon Thee," etc. There is not in this creation a single living thing which is not perpetually drawing upon God, and so literally dependent on His care and bounty that a moment’s suspension of His operations would suffice to extinguish its vital principle. Who can fear that, because God’s ways are unsearchable, they may not be all tending to the final good of His creatures, when he knows that, with the tenderness of a most affectionate parent, this Creator and Governor ministers to the meanest living thing? Who can distrust God, because clouds and darkness are round about Him, when there is light enough to show that He is the vigilant Guardian of every tenant of this earth, that His hand upholds, and His breath animates, and His bounty nourishes the teeming hordes of the city, and the desert, and the ocean? "The Lord is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works."

H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 2085.

References: Psa 145:16.—J. J. West, Penny Pulpit, No. 1823. Psa 145:18.—K. Blencowe, Plain Sermons to a Country Congregation, 1st series, p. 128. Psa 145:18, Psa 145:19.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. xii., p. 86. Psa 146:1-3.—R. Thomas, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xi., p. 1.

The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Messiah’s praises.

David’s praise.

The concluding psalm of this series is emphatically "David’s praise." From its position, and knowing of whom David is the familiar type, we should naturally be led to think of Messiah in it as leading the praises of men, -praising, as He declares He will, in the great congregation (Psa 22:25). Whose voice but His could fittingly take this place? And accordingly in the psalm itself we find the Speaker distinguishing Himself from the general voice of praise, which, beginning with the "godly" in Israel, extends to the "sons of men" at large (vers. 10, 12). For all eternity this distinction lasts (ver. 21). But what praise will be waked up by this Voice when; free at last from all hindrances on man’s part, it shall be heard as it will!

The psalm is the last of the alphabetic psalms, the meaning of which has been again and again pointed out. Everything has come into place and order now, and all man’s language is restored from its Babel strife of tongues to unity of mind and purpose. Strange it seems, however, that one letter (Nun) is wanting, and the structure of the psalm acknowledges the deficiency: for, while we might naturally suppose that the twenty-one verses resulting would divide now into three sevens, and thus the stamp of perfection after all be left upon the psalm; in fact it is not so: the structure is 7, 6, 8; the middle section does not reach to 7, though the overpassing of the last one into 8, shows, as the final verse itself does, that the praise here is eternal.

I cannot but conclude that the gap is meant to remind us that in fact the fullness of praise is not complete without other voices which are not found here; and that these missing voices are those of the Church and the heavenly saints in general. Meaning there surely is in it, where everything has meaning. The deficient Nun represents the jubilee number 50, which in one of its factors shows us man with God; this lifted to a higher plane by the multiplication with 10; but I leave this to those with whom nothing in Scripture is fortuitous to consider for themselves.

The three sections celebrate; 1. the power of God; 2. His loving-kindness; 3. His character as the Restorer -as we may say, the God of resurrection.

1. The Voice declares its steadfast purpose to extol God the King, and that for eternity. And this it repeats, emphasizing and confirming it: for has not, alas, experience shown how untrustworthy in general have been men’s promises and resolutions? But here is One now who will not fail, who did not fail, when that will of God which He came to do expressed itself in the law of sacrifice. Here He has been thoroughly tested; and now, as He speaks, the government is upon His shoulder, -the full charge of that in which the divine character is to be shown forth: it is His in such a manner to glorify God.

He is worthy to be praised: His greatness is an infinite reality. The generations of men; too, shall declare it. But one tongue can speak aright of the glorious splendor of His majesty, and of His mighty works. They shall tell of the terrible acts by which evil has been dealt with and repressed. He will declare God’s greatness. Yet they, too, shall pour forth their memory of His goodness, and sing aloud of His righteousness.

2. The last verse is, as often; a link with the next division; which takes up the loving-kindness of Jehovah. Gracious and compassionate is He, -slow to be moved to anything that seems other than this; the Helper of all, His tender mercies are over all His works. Thus all His works praise Him, and the hearts of His people respond to him in praise: they tell of the glory of His kingdom and His might, making known to the sons of men at large His acts and the majesty of His kingdom. Israel, in fact, will do this: for they, in their marvelous history, will be the suited witnesses of His ways to all the earth.

His kingdom is thus proved to be a kingdom of all ages. Not the millennial age alone, but those in which the power of evil might seem to have prevailed, and in which Satan has been, in fact, the "prince of this world." God has been; all through, the great Overcomer: and what discoveries of His glory in this way yet await us! We shall see how He has prevailed, beyond all our thoughts, in overcoming man’s evil with His good.

3. This again introduces the third section; in which we see Him indeed the Overcomer: allowing sin to declare itself and the results to follow, but holding in His hand the power to bring out of them. Thus Jehovah it is, according to the power of that covenant-Name, who is the Upholder of all that fall, and He who raiseth up all that are bowed down. Upon Him wait the eyes of all His creatures, dependent for the food which is to maintain their existence. Thus He provides for the satisfaction and desire of every living thing.

But He is the Moral Governor also of moral beings: righteous and loving-kind. Righteous in all His ways, He can yield also to the necessities and weakness of His creatures. For this He is near to all that call upon Him, -that in truth call on Him. We cannot escape the reminder of the hollowness and insincerity which have so much attached to this. But where there is His fear, there desire is fulfilled; though here, too, the cry is so often out of the evil into which sin has plunged them. But it is under the restraint of His hand, and out of it He saveth. And indeed He preserveth all that love Him; while the wicked meet their necessary doom.

The God of resurrection in all this is but faintly sketched. Not Israel but the Church is the proper witness of this; although, as a principle, it runs through man’s history.

The last verse carries the praise on into eternity: Christ still the Leader, and awakening all flesh to bless Jehovah’s Name.

F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

General Information:

Parallelism is common in Hebrew poetry. (See: Poetry and Parallelism)

A psalm of praise. Of David

"This is a psalm of praise that David wrote."

extol you

"tell people how wonderful you are"

bless your name

The word "name" is a metonym for Yahweh himself. See how "may his glorious name be blessed" is translated in Psalms 72:19. AT: "bless you" or "do what makes you happy" (See: Metonymy)

praise your name

The word "name" is a metonym for Yahweh himself. AT: "praise you" or "tell people how great you are" (See: Metonymy)

translationWords

psalm

praise

David

God

king

bless

name

eternity

Yahweh

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