Psalms 145:16

Psa 145:16 Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.

Ver. 16. Thou openest thy hand] With kingly munificence.

And satisfiest the desire] Or, of thy good pleasure thou satiatest.

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_145:16

Thou openest Thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.

The Creator ministering to the wants of His creation

How does the Almighty provide for His creatures?

I. Personally. Thou. The pseudosage ascribes the fruits of the earth to the elements and laws of Nature. But the Bible, which is true science, ascribes them to God. God has not left Nature, He is in it, the great Spirit in all the wheels of its machinery. There is a Personal God in personal action, in all Nature.

II. Easily. He has only to open His hand. There is no labour, no effort; simply Thou openest Thine hand. How easily God rolls ponderous globes and massive systems through immensity! To communicate good to His creatures is easy work to Him.

1. It is agreeable to His heart. He has not to struggle as we often do against inner propensions and habit in order to show kindness. It is a gratification to His benevolence.

2. It is nothing to His power. It costs Him no effort; the whole universe arose at first by His word.

III. Abundantly. And satisfiest the desire of every living thing--from the minutest to the largest, from the microscopic insect to the mighty archangel. (Homilist.)

Thanksgiving for harvest

I. The one great benefactor. He is named by David (verse 1) as his God and King; and such is Jehovah unto all His saints. Their Proprietor and Preserver, their Ruler and Portion in a gracious and peculiar sense. But in the text God is adored as good to all, the one great Benefactor of every living thing. We do not forget that the support which God vouchsafes unto all, and the supplies which He grants to every living thing are not direct and immediate. These, in many instances, reach the creatures through the intervention of numerous channels, various agencies and instrumentalities. God does not now, as of old, rain bread upon the earth--and neither while preserving man or beast in His precious grace is the hand of the Lord seen, or His voice heard, or His glory visible. Still, He Himself is the one great benefactor of all flesh, of every living thing. In Him our breath is, and His are all our ways.

II. The multitude and variety of the dependents. Every living thing. Yes, the king in his palace, and the spider which shares the chamber with the monarch; the old man, staff in hand from very age, and the infant smiling on its mothers lap; the mariner in his ship in the midst of the sea, and the ploughman with his oxen in the peaceful valley; the senators in their council-hall, and the birds singing in the branches of the forest; the rich man feasting in his mansion, and the sheep which stray on its lawns; the cattle upon a thousand hills; the poor blind man begging his bread from door to door, the faithful dog which guides his sightless steps,--toward all these, and multitudes greater far, and in varieties more perplexing still, does our God open His hand and satisfy the desire!

III. The freeness and liberality of the gifts. Thou openest Thine hand. No doubt in the course of Providence there are seasons of famine or of scarcity. We are to have the poor always with us, and we discover constant instances of poverty or destitution. There have been years that the locust did eat, and the canker worm, and the caterpillar, and the palmer worm--Gods great army which He sends against us. Even mid the joy of this plentiful harvest we have to lament blight and failure in a portion of the produce of the earth. These, however, are exceptional seasons, and, as judgment is Gods strange works, as these occur they are to be regarded as reproofs for sin, meant to instruct the earth in righteousness, and that man having cleanness of teeth appointed him may be taught his weakness, and turn unto the Lord.

IV. The satisfaction which the gifts afford. Thou satisfiest the desire of every living thing. Is it any comfort, is it any relief to us to obscure the perfections of the one great Benefactor, and to conceal His administration in all the earth, to say that the satisfying of the desire of every living thing is the effect of natural laws, the order of the earth; and that while it remaineth seed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease? Thus may speak philosophy falsely so called, and with such crude and false reasoning many may be content. Natural laws, and the order of the earth, forsooth! Who ordained these laws, and who keeps them in operation? Who appointed that order, and preserves it from derangement or disturbance? Revelation teaches us to ascribe all this to God. Reason is fully satisfied only when admitting His dominion in the universe. (John Smart, D. D.)

The Satisfier of all desires

(with verse 19):--You observe the recurrence, in these two verses, of the one emphatic word desire. Its repetition evidently shows that the psalmist wishes to run a parallel between Gods dealings in two regions. The same beneficence works in both. Here is the true extension of natural law to the spiritual world.

I. Two kinds of pensioners.

1. Every living thing. Life makes a claim on God, and whatever desires arise in the living creature by reason of its life, God would be untrue to Himself, a cruel Parent, an unnatural Father if He did not satisfy them. He is a faithful Creator; and wherever there is a creature that He has made to need anything, He has hereby said, As I live, that creature shall have what it wants.

2. Then take the other class, them that fear Him; or, as they are described in the context--by contrast with the wicked who are destroyed--the righteous. That is to say, whilst, because we are living things, like the bee and the worm, we have a claim on God precisely parallel with theirs for what we may need by reason of His gift, which we never asked for--His gift of life--we shall have a similar but higher claim on Him if we are they that fear Him--with that loving reverence which has no torment in it,--and that love Him with that reverential affection which has no presumption in it, and whose love and fear coalesce in making them long to be righteous, like the object of their love, to be holy like the object of their fear. It comes to this--wherever you find in people a confidence which grows with their love of God, be sure that there is, somewhere or other in the universe of things, that which answers it.

II. Two sets of needs. The first of them is very easily disposed of. The eyes of all wait upon Thee, and Thou givest them their meat. That is all. Feed the beast, and give it the other things necessary for its physical existence, and there is no more to be done. But there is more wanted for the desires of the men that love and fear God. These are glanced at in the context, He also will hear their cry, and will save them; The Lord preserveth all them that love Him. That is to say, there are deeper needs in our hearts and lives than any that are known amongst the lower creatures. Evils, dangers, inward and outward; sorrows, disappointments, losses of all sorts shadow our lives in a fashion which the happy, careless life of field and forest knows nothing about. What is the object of desire to a man that loves God? God. What is the object of desire to a man that fears Him? God. What is the object of desire to a righteous man? Righteousness. And these are the desires which God is sure to fulfil to us. Therefore, there is only one religion in which it is safe and wise to cherish longings, and it is the region of the spiritual life where God imparts Himself. Everywhere else there will be disappointments--thank Him for them. Nowhere else is it absolutely true that that He will fulfil the desires of them that fear Him. But in this region it is. Whatever any of us want to have of God we are sure to get. We open our mouths and He fills them. In the Christian life desire is the measure of possession, and to long is to have. And there is nowhere else where it is absolutely, unconditionally, and universally true that to wish is to possess, and to ask is to have.

III. Two forms of appeal. The eyes of all wait upon Thee. That is beautiful! The dumb look of the unconscious creature, like that of a dog looking up in its masters face for a crust, makes appeal to God, and He answers that. But a dumb, unconscious look is not for us. He also will hear their cry. Put your wish into words if you want it answered; not for His information, but for your strengthening.

IV. The two processes of satisfying. Thou openest Thine hand. That is enough. But God cannot satisfy our deepest desire by any such short and easy method. There is a great deal more to be done by Him before the aspirations of love, and fear, and longing for righteousness can be fulfilled. He has to breathe Himself into us. Gods best gifts cannot be separated from Himself. They are Himself, and in order to satisfy the desires of them that fear Him there is no way possible, even to Him, but the impartation of Himself to the waiting heart. He has to discipline us for His highest gifts, in order that we may receive them. And sometimes He has to do that, as I have no doubt He has done it with many of us, by withholding or withdrawing, the satisfaction of some of our lower desires, and so emptying our hearts and turning the current of our wishes from earth to heaven. Not only has He to give us Himself, and to discipline us in order to receive Him, but He has put all His gifts which meet our deepest desires into a great storehouse. He does not open His hand and give us peace and righteousness, and growing knowledge of Himself, and closer union, and the other blessings of the Christian life, but He gives us Jesus Christ. We are to find all these blessings in Him, and it depends upon us whether we find them or not, and how much of them we find. Expand your desires to the width of Christs great mercies; for the measure of our wishes is the limit of our possession. He has laid up the supply of all our need in the storehouse, which is Christ; and He has given us the key. Let us see to it that we enter in. Ye have not because ye ask not. To him that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

Satisfieth:

It is Gods own word. It is not in the worlds vocabulary, much less in the devils. This, too, is loves word. Love is never satisfied until there is a perfect satisfaction. So, then, here is the salvation of our wishes. Nurse your aspirations, encourage your desires. They cannot be too great since God waits to satisfy them. Wishing is not an idle folly when we bring our wishes to God. Then our desires do become pure prophecies; the whispers of Gods love to the soul. Be not afraid of your desires; let the soul be thrilled with the thought of heroism, adventure, nobility, grand deeds grandly done. Take these to God, for He hath need of them, and He knows how to turn these wishes to account. This is the very meaning of our salvation, to turn the idle poetry of our wishes into solid fact that blesses men. It is to inspire the very loftiest longing and to fulfil that which He inspires that Jesus Christ has lived and died and risen in His resurrection power. Do you but give yourself right up to God, and no dream of good is there, no blessed vision of service but shall come to pass. He satisfieth the desire,--the desire of every living thing. (M. G. Pearse.)

All needs freely supplied

A man who engaged a passage on a coasting steamer was in straitened circumstances, and had but a small sum left when his ticket was paid for. Part of this he invested in bread and cheese, thinking the cabin fare too expensive for his limited means. After a while his bread tasted fiat and stale, and his cheese became hard and mouldy. To aggravate matters, he was obliged, three times a day, to inhale the odours from the cooks galley, and the delicious aromas drove him almost frantic. Finally, when within a days sail from the port of destination, he grew desperate. Seeing the steward bearing a huge platter with a turkey, he waylaid him at the entrance of the dining-saloon, and said: See here, I havent much money, but I have stood this thing as long as I can. How much will a dinner like that cost? Cost! exclaimed the steward; why, man, it dont cost you anything, its all paid for in your passage. Our God has made abundant provision for our welfare on the journey heavenward. We do not need to live on dry bread and mouldy cheese. He sets a rich table for all who trust Him. Christs command is: Eat and be filled.

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

16. (Psa 145:16) Opening thy hand and satisfying to every living (thing its) desire, or the desire of every living thing. Another construction, preferred by some interpreters, is, satisfying (giving satisfaction) to every living thing (in its) desire, viz. that which it desires. See the imitation of this verse in Psa 104:28, and compare Psa 103:5, Act 14:17. The words satisfy and will (or desire) are combined, as here, in Deu 33:23.

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

Psalms

THE SATISFIER OF ALL DESIRES

Psa 145:16, Psa 145:19.

You observe the recurrence, in these two verses, of the one emphatic word ‘desire.’ Its repetition evidently shows that the Psalmist wishes to run a parallel between God’s dealings in two regions. The same beneficence works in both. Here is the true extension of natural law to the spiritual world. It is the same teaching to which our Lord has given immortal and inimitable utterance, when He says, ‘Your heavenly Father feedeth them.’ And so we are entitled to look on all the wonders of creation, and to find in them buttresses which may support the edifice of our faith, and to believe that wherever there is a mouth God sends food to fill it. ‘Thou openest Thine hand’-that is all-’and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.’ But to fulfil the desires of them who are not only ‘living things,’ but ‘who fear’ Him, is it such a simple task? Sometimes more is wanted than an open hand before that can be accomplished. So, looking not only at the words I have read, but at the whole of their setting, which is influenced by the thought of this parallelism, we see here two sets of pensioners, two kinds of wants, two forms of appeal, two processes of satisfaction.

I. Two kinds of pensioners.

‘Every living thing-’ life makes a claim on God, and whatever desires arise in the living creature by reason of its life, God would be untrue to Himself, a cruel Parent, an unnatural Father, if He did not satisfy them. We do not half enough realise the fact that the condescension of creation lies not only in the act of creating, but in the willing acceptance by the Creator of the bonds under which He thereby lays Himself; obliging Himself to see to the creatures that He has chosen to make. And so, as one of the New Testament writers puts it, in his simple way, with a profound truth, ‘He is a faithful Creator’; and wherever there is a creature that He has made to need anything, He has thereby said, ‘As I live, that creature shall have what it needs.’

Then, take the other class, ‘them that fear Him’; or as they are described in the context-by contrast with ‘the wicked who are destroyed’-’the righteous.’ That is to say, whilst, because we are living things, like the bee and the worm, we have a claim on God precisely parallel with theirs for what we may need by reason of His gift, which we never asked for, His gift of life, we shall have a similar but higher claim on Him if we are ‘they that fear Him’ with that loving reverence which has no torment in it, and that love Him with that reverential affection which has no presumption in it, and whose love and fear coalesce in making them long to be righteous like the Object of their love, to be holy like the Object of their fear. And just as the fact of physical life binds God to care for it, and to give all that is needed for its health, growth, blessedness, so the fact of man’s having in his heart the faintest tremor of reverential dread, the feeblest aspiration of outgoing affection, the most faltering desire after purity of life and conduct, binds God to answer these according to the man’s need. Of all incredibilities in the world, there is nothing more incredible, because there is nothing more contrary to the very depths of the divine nature, than that desires, longings, expectations, which are the direct result of the love and fear of God, and the hunger and thirst after righteousness, should not be answered.

Now that is a very wide principle, and I do not believe that it is trusted enough by many. It comes to this-wherever you find in people a confidence which grows with their love of God, be sure that there is, somewhere or other in the universe of things, that which answers it.

Take a case. If there was not a word in the New Testament about Jesus Christ’s resurrection, the fact that just in proportion as men grow in devotion, in love of God, in fear of Him, in longing to be good and to appear like Him, in that same proportion does their conviction that there must be a life beyond the grave become firm and certain-that fact would be enough to make any one who believed in God sure that the hope thus rooted in love to Him, and fed by everything that draws us nearer to Him, could not be a delusion, nor be destined to be left unfulfilled.

And we might go round the whole circle of dim religious aspirations and desires, and find in all of them illustrations of the principle so profoundly and so simply put in our psalm, that the same Love which, in the realm of the physical world, binds itself to satisfy the life which it imparts, is at work in the higher regions, and will ‘fulfil the desires of them that fear Him.’

II. Again, there are two sets of needs.

The first of them is very easily disposed of. ‘The eyes of all wait upon Thee, and Thou givest them their meat.’ That is all. Feed the beast, and give it the other things necessary for its physical existence, and there is no more to be done. But there is more wanted for the desires of the men that love and fear God. These are glanced at in the context, ‘He also will hear their cry, and will save them’; ‘the Lord preserveth all them that love Him.’ That is to say, there are deeper needs in our hearts and lives than any that are known amongst the lower creatures. Evils, dangers inward and outward, sorrows, disappointments, losses of all sorts shadow our lives, in a fashion which the happy, careless life of field and forest knows nothing about. Give them their meat, and they curl themselves up and lie down to sleep, satisfied. Man longs for something more and needs something more.

‘He will save them.’ Now, I do not suppose that ‘save’ here is employed in its full New Testament sense, but it approximates to that sense. And, further, there are other aspects of our needs set forth in the context, on which I briefly touch. Do not let us vulgarise such a saying as this of my text, ‘He will fulfil the desire of them that fear Him,’ as if it only meant that if a man fears God he may set his longing upon any outward thing, and be sure to get it. There is nothing so poor, so unworthy as that promised in Scripture. For one thing, it is not true; for another, it would not be good if it were. The way to spoil children is not the way to perfect saints; and to give them what they want because they want it, is the sure way to spoil children of all ages. We may be quite certain that our heavenly Father is not going to do that. The promise here means something far nobler and loftier. The fact of creation binds God to supply all the wants which spring from life. The fact of our loving and fearing Him binds Him to supply all the wants which spring from our love and fear. And it is these desires which the Psalmist is thinking of.

What is the object of desire to a man who loves God? God. What is the object of desire to a man who fears Him? God. What is the object of desire to a righteous man? Righteousness. And these are the desires which God is sure to fulfil to us. Therefore, there is only one region in which it is safe and wise to cherish longings, and it is the region of the spiritual life where God imparts Himself. Everywhere else there will be disappointments-thank Him for them. Nowhere else is it absolutely true that He will ‘fulfil the desires of them that fear Him.’ But in this region it is. Whatever any of us desire to have of God, we are sure to get. We open our mouths and He fills them. In the Christian life desire is the measure of possession, and to long is to have. And there is nowhere else where it is absolutely, unconditionally, and universally true that to wish is to possess, and to ask is to have.

Oh! then, is it not a foolish thing for us to worry and torture and sweat, in order to win for ourselves for a little while the uncertain possession of incomplete bliss? Would it not be wiser, instead of letting the current of our desires dribble itself away through a thousand channels in the sand and get lost, to gather it all into one great stream which is sure to find its way to the broad ocean? ‘Delight thyself in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart,’ for these will then be after Himself, and Himself only.

III. Further, there are here two forms of appeal.

‘The eyes of all wait upon Thee.’ That is beautiful! The dumb look of the unconscious creature, like that of a dog looking up in its master’s face for a crust, makes appeal to God, and He answers that. But a dumb, unconscious look is not for us. ‘He also will hear their cry.’ Put your wish into words if you want it answered; not for His information, but for your strengthening. ‘Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of these things before ye ask Him.’ What then? Why should I ask Him? Because the asking will clear your thoughts about your desires. It will be a very good test of them. There are many things that we all wish, which I am afraid we should not much like to put into our prayers, not because of any foolish notion that they are too small to find a place there, but because of an uncomfortable suspicion that perhaps they are not the kind of things that we ought to wish. And if we cannot make the desire into a cry, the sooner we make it dead as well as dumb the better for ourselves. The cry will serve, too, as a stimulus to the wishes which are put into words. Silent prayer is well, but there is a wonderful power on ourselves-it may be due to our weakness, but still it exists-in the articulate and audible utterance of our petitions to God. I would fain that all of us were more in the habit of putting into distinct words that we ourselves can hear, the wishes that we cherish. I am sure our prayers would be more sincere, less wandering, more earnest and real, if they were spoken, as well as felt, prayers.

Let us remember, dear brethren! that the condition of our getting the higher gifts is not only that we should love and fear, and in the silence of our own hearts should wish for, but that we should definitely ask for, them. Not only desire, but ‘their cry,’ brings the answer.

IV. And now one last word. Note the two processes of satisfying.

‘Thou openest Thine hand.’ That is enough. But God cannot satisfy our deepest desires by any such short and easy method. There is a great deal more to be done by Him before the aspirations of love and fear and longing for righteousness can be fulfilled. He has to breathe Himself into us. Lower creatures have enough when they have the meat that drops from His hand. They know and care nothing for the hand that feeds. But God’s best gifts cannot be separated from Himself. They are Himself, and in order to ‘satisfy the desires of them that fear Him’ there is no way possible, even to Him, but the impartation of Himself to the waiting heart.

That is a mystery deep and blessed. Oh, that we may all know, by our own living experience, what it is to have not only the gifts which drop from His hands, but the gifts which cannot be parted from Him, the Giver! He has to discipline us for His highest gifts, in order that we may receive them. And sometimes He has to do that, as I have no doubt He has done it with many of us, by withholding or withdrawing the satisfaction of some of our lower desires, and so emptying our hearts and turning the current of our wishes from earth to heaven. If you are going to pour precious wine into a chalice, you begin by emptying out the less valuable liquid that may be in it. So God often empties us, in order that He may fill us, and takes away the creatures in order that we may long for the Creator.

Not only has He to give us Himself, and to discipline us in order to receive Him, but He has to put all His gifts which meet our deepest desires into a great storehouse. He does not open His hand and give us peace and righteousness, and growing knowledge of Himself, and closer union, and the other blessings of the Christian life, but He gives us Jesus Christ. We are to find all these blessings in Him, and it depends upon us whether we find them or not, and how much of them we find. You will always find as much in Christ as you want, but you may not find nearly as much in Him as you could; and you will never find as much in Him as there is. God sends His Son, and in that one gift, like a box ‘wherein sweets compacted lie,’ are all the gifts that even His hand can bestow, or our desires require. So be sure that you have what you have, and that you suck out of the Rose of Sharon all the honey that lies deep in its calyx. Expand your desires to the width of Christ’s great mercies; for the measure of our wishes is the limit of our possession. He has laid up the supply of all our need in the storehouse, which is Christ; and He has given us the key. Let us see to it that we enter in. ‘Ye have not because ye ask not.’ ‘To him that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance.’

END OF VOL. II.

Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verse 16. Thou openest thine hand] What a hand is this that holds in it all the food that meets the desires and necessities of the universe of creatures! A very large volume might be written upon this: The proper kinds of food for the various classes of animals.

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

16. Thou openest thine hand, etc. The figure is a beautiful one. Most men pass over without observation the singular goodness of God apparent in this admirable ordering of things in nature, and David therefore represents him as stretching out his hand to distribute to the animals their food. We sinfully confine our attention to the earth which yields us our food, or to natural causes. To correct this error David describes God as opening his hands to put the food into our mouths. The word רצון, ratson, some render desire, as though he meant that God supplied each kind of animal with food according to its wish. And a little afterwards we do indeed find it used in that sense. Others, however, refer it rather to God’s feeding them of his mere good pleasure and kindness; it not being enough to say that our food is given us by God, unless we add, as in the second clause of the verse, that his kindness is gratuitous, and that there is no extrinsic cause whatever moving him to provide so liberally for every living creature. In that case the cause is put for the effect; the various kinds of provision being effects of his good pleasure — χαρισματα της χάριτος. If it be found that men and others of his creatures often suffer and die from want, this is to be traced to the change which has come upon nature by sin. The fair order which subsisted in it by God’s original appointment often fails since the fall through our sins, and yet in what remains of it, though marred, we may see the kindness of God referred to by David, for in the severest failures of crop, there is no year so barren and unproductive, that God may not be said to open his hand in it.

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.

16. satisfiest the desire of every living thing] This rendering probably gives the right sense. Cp. Psa_104:28, on which it is based, “thou openest thine hand, they are satisfied with good.” Cp. Psa_145:19. The word rendered desire may however mean the good will, favour of God (Psa_106:4): hence R.V. marg., satisfiest every living thing with favour.

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.

Thou openest thine hand,.... Not of providence, but of grace, in which all things are, and from whence they come; and which the Lord opens liberally and bountifully, and gives out all things richly to enjoy; all things pertaining to life and godliness; grace here, with all the supplies of it, and glory hereafter:

and satisfiest the desire of every living thing; not of every savage creature; every lion, bear, wolf, &c. for then there would be no living in some parts of the world: nor of every carnal, lustful, worldly, and covetous man; who never say they have enough, or are ever satisfied: but of everyone that is made spiritually alive, quickened by the Spirit and grace of God; these desire spiritual things, spiritual food, more grace and more communion with God, and conformity to Christ; and these desires are before the Lord; and sooner or later they are satisfied, they have what they desire; especially this will be their case, when they awake in the divine likeness. The words may be rendered, "and satisfies every living one with that which is acceptable with favour" (i); with good will; with lovingkindness; which is better than life: so Naphtali is said to be "satisfied with favour", Deu 33:23; as all living saints are or will be.

(i) "re acceptabili", Gussetius, p. 803. "benedictione", V. L. "beneplacito", Piscator, Gejerus; "benevolentia", Cocceius.

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

Thou openest thine hand - By the mere opening of the hand all needful gifts are bestowed on the creatures dependent on thee. The same words are found in Psa 104:28; see the notes at that passage.

And satisfiest the desire of every living thing - All kinds of creatures - people, fowls, beasts, fishes, insects - the innumerable multitudes that swarm on the earth, in the air, in the waters. In Psa 104:28, it is, “They are filled with good.” The meaning is essentially the same. Of course this is to be taken in a general sense. It cannot mean that absolutely no one ever needs, or ever perishes from want, but the idea is that of the amazing beneficence and fullness 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 people; 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!

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

Or, as divers render it, and which is more agreeable to the order of the words in the Hebrew text, thou satisfiest every living thing with thy favour or good-will, i.e. with the fruits of thy bounty; the pronoun thy being easily and fitly understood out of the foregoing clause.

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

Ver. 16. Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing. You alone provide, O Jehovah! Thou doest it liberally, with open hand; thou doest it easily, as if it were only to open thine hand; thou doest this at once as promptly as if all supplies were ready to hand. Living things have needs, and these create desires; the living God has suitable supplies at hand, and these he gives till inward satisfaction is produced, and the creature sighs no longer. In spiritual things, when God has raised a desire, he always gratifies it; hence the longing is prophetic of the blessing. In no case is the desire of the living thing excited to produce distress, but in order that it may seek and find satisfaction.

These verses refer to natural providence; but they may equally well apply to the stores of grace, since the same God is king in both spheres. If we will but wait upon the Lord for pardon, renewing, or whatever else we need, we shall not wait in vain. The hand of grace is never closed while the sinner lives. In these verses we behold our God in the realm of his free grace dealing well with his believing people.

Ver. 16.

Thou openest thy hand of grace

And thou dost satisfy

The wants of all ill every place

Who for thy presence cry. Thomas MacKellar, 1883.

Ver. 16. Thou openest thy hand. This seems as if depicted from a housekeeper's habit of feeding a brood of chickens and other creatures. She flings abroad with full and open hand a large supply, not measuring to a grain just what might be enough. Martin Geier.

Ver. 16. Thou openest thy hand. What an idea does this convey of the paternal goodness of the great Father of his creation! How opposite to the conduct of many of his creatures one to another, whose hands and hearts are slant! What an idea also does it convey of the ease with which the wants of the whole creation are supplied! Let me pause a moment and think of their wants. What a quantity of vegetable and animal food is daily consumed in one town: what a quantity in a large city like London: what a quantity in a nation: in the whole world! But men do not compose a hundredth part of "every living thing" I What innumerable wants throughout all animate nature; in the earth, in the air, in the waters! Whence comes their supply? "Thou openest thy hand", and all are satisfied. And can all these wants be supplied by only the opening of his hand? What then must sin be, and salvation from it? That is a work of wonderful expense. God openeth his hand and satisfieth all creation, but he must purchase the Church with his blood...In what a variety of ways are our wants supplied. The earth is fruitful, the air is full of life, the clouds empty themselves upon the earth, the sun pours forth its genial rays; but the operation of all these second causes is only the opening of his hand! Nay further: look we to instruments as well as means? Parents feed us in our childhood, and supply our youthful wants; ways are opened for our future subsistence; connexions are formed, which prove sources of comfort; friends are kind in seasons of extremity; supplies are presented from quarters that we never expected. What are all these but the opening of his hand? If his hand were shut, what a world would this be! The heavens brass, the earth iron; famine, pestilence, and death must follow. See Ps 104:27-29.

Consider next the term "hand." There is a difference between the hand and the heart. God opens his hand, in the way of providence, towards his worst enemies. He gave Nebuchadnezzar all the kingdoms of the earth. But he opens his heart in the gospel of his Son. This is the better portion of the two. While we are thankful for the one, let us not rest satisfied in it: it is merely a hand portion. Rather let us pray with Jabez to be blessed indeed;and that we might have a Joseph's portion; not only the precious things of the earth and the fulness thereof, but "the good will of him that dwelt in the bush!"

Thou satisfiest the desire, etc. God does not give grudgingly. It seems to be a characteristic of the divine nature, both in the natural and moral world, to raise desires, not with a view to disappoint, but to satisfy them. O what a consoling thought is this! If there be any desires in us which are not satisfied, it is through their being self created ones, which is our own fault; or through artificial scarcity from men's luxury, which is the fault of our species. God raises no desires as our Creator, but he gives enough to satisfy them; and none as our Redeemer and Sanctifier but what shall be actually satisfied. O the wonderful munificence of God! "How great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty!" Andrew Fuller.

Ver. 16. (second clause). The word nwur, ratson, some render "desire", as though he meant that God supplies each kind of animal with food according to its wish. And a little afterwards we do indeed find it used in that sense. Others, however, refer it rather to God's feeding them of his mere good pleasure and kindness; it is not enough to say that our food is given us by God, unless we add, as in the second clause of the verse, that his kindness is gratuitous, and that there is no extrinsic cause whatever moving him to provide so liberally for every living creature. In that case the cause is put for the effect; the various kinds of provision being effects of his good pleasurecarismata ths caritos, John Calvin.

Psalms 145:17*

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

Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing. Not only are they given what is necessary for them, but every desire which they enter-rain is satisfied.

The opening of God"s hand.

We are wont to admire much in our fellow-men the open hand, the free, generous impartation of what we have to those who have not. It is by no means too common a sight, but a very pleasant one when it can be seen. Close-fistedness is much more the rule than open-handedness. But God is the God of the open hand; the bounteous Benefactor of all, of good and bad alike. And not alone the love of God is shown, but his power likewise. With what toil and stress do we accomplish our works! what strain of effort we put forth! But God has but to open his hand: he speaks, and it is done; he commands, and, etc. All the processes and products of nature are but the opening of his hand; thus simply, and with the august and Divine spontaneity of omnipotence, he supplies and satisfies the innumerable, varied, ever-recurring, and vast necessities of all his creatures.

I HOW ARE WE TO UNDERSTAND This? Certainly the broad declarations of this verse need explanation. Hence we remark:

1. That the desires which God will thus satiny do not mean all desires. Those of the wicked God does not satisfy. He may at times seem to; but ask the wicked themselves whether even then they are satisfied. They are not, and never can be. And there are many foolish and mistaken desires of good men which God does not satisfy; it would be ill for us if he did.

2. But they are the desires which he himself purposed that they should be satisfied. He created them, and designs that they should be met; they belong both to the body and the soul; they have to do with time, and with eternity likewise.

3. The universality of the text must not be insisted on even for these. For it declares only what is the general order of God"s dealings with his creatures; it is his rule, but that rule has many exceptions. The lower and lesser purpose of satisfying our desires may have to give way to one that is higher and greater. This is the meaning of all the afflictions of the righteous.

4. Nevertheless, the rule holds good. God does open his hand, etc. We are apt so to gaze on the exceptions as to lose sight of the rule; this is wrong and hurtful every way.

5. And God acts in varied ways, not in any one way only. For all creatures other than man he ministers directly to their need; but for man he employs our own faculties, and thus only indirectly are our desires satisfied.

II WHAT IS ITS PROOF? Many think in their hearts, and some openly say, that it is their own efforts that secure to them the satisfaction of their desires. God does not give to them their daily bread they earn it; man is his own provider. Hence they demur to such declarations as in this verse. But a little reflection will show the fallacy of such thoughts; for:

1. Does not God provide both the tools powers of mind and body with which we work, and the material on which we work! Hence, were there only our work, where would our satisfied desires be? And the energy, too, the living force without which we could not work at all is not this also from God? What a mere fraction of all that needs to be done is that which we do!

2. And were it much greater, what would that be in view of the magnitude, variety, and urgency of need that meets us on every hand? If God did not do as is here said, what could man do? How idle, then, is it to attribute to any other than God the supply of all our wants!

III WHAT DOES IT SAY TO US? Very much indeed; God help us to give heed! And:

1. Bless ye the Lord, praise him and magnify him for ever." That surely is the first claim which this truth makes upon us.

2. Oh, put thy trust in the Lord." Does not that word come to us from all these bounties of our God?

3. If God thus cares for my body, will he not much more care for my soul?" Will he thus minister to the short-lived, material nature, and neglect or forget the eternal and spiritual? It is impossible.

4. What must the abominableness of sin be that compels a God so gracious to inflict on us, because of it, so great and awful distresses? Not for a little thing would man have to suffer as we see he has.

5. If the opening of his hand be so blessed for us, what must be the result of the shedding of the blood of his well-beloved Son? Let us not be content with the lower gifts, as too many are, but seek those highest ones which are the purchase of the blood of Christ.

6. Let us be open-handed ourselves. (Altered and abridged from A. Fulter) S.C.

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

and satisfy every living thing [with] its desire With a sufficiency to sustain him, He satisfies his goodness, his will, and his blessing. desire Heb. רצון, apayement in Old French, propitiation.

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

"Open" - and the "you" that's written in the prior verse (Psalm 145:15) is also here, thus [the verse should read] "and You open Your hand," and thus: because the God of my father is my help.

And the meaning of "will" -- what is sufficient for them.

Ibn Ezra on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009” (CC BY 4.0); and “Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah - trans. by M. Friedlander, 1873” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.