Psalms 145:3

Psa 145:3 Great [is] the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness [is] unsearchable.

Ver. 3. Great is the Lord] See his greatness set forth by Moses, Deu 10:17.

And greatly to be praised] viz. According to his excellent greatness, Psa 150:2, which yet cannot be.

And his greatness is unsearchable] Tantum recedit quantum capitur, saith Nazianzen. He is above all name, all notion, all parallel in nature: we can see but his back parts, and live; we need see no more that we may live.

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_145:3

His greatness is unsearchable.

The unsearchableness of God

God transcends all thoughts; notwithstanding this, men should search after His greatness.

I. Searching after His greatness is a righteous occupation.

1. It agrees with the profoundest instincts of the soul.

2. It is stimulated by the manifestations of nature.

3. It is encouraged by the declarations of the Bible.

4. It is aided by the revelations of Christ.

II. Searching after His greatness is a useful occupation.

1. There is no occupation so quickening to the soul. Feeling after God is an inspiration.

2. There is no occupation so humbling to the soul. The idea of the Infinite drives all vanities from the soul, and brings it down from the heights of pride into the deepest valley of humiliation.

3. There is no occupation so ennobling to the soul. The idea which brings us down into the valley of humiliation stimulates us to climb the heights of moral greatness.

III. Searching after His greatness is an endless Occupation. Canst thou, by searching, find out God?

1. All holy intelligences have ever been pursuing this work.

2. The endlessness of this pursuit agrees with--

(1)The inexhaustible powers of our nature.

(2) The strong instinct for mystery within us. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

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

Ver. 3. Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised. Worship should be somewhat like its objectgreat praise for a great God. There is no part of Jehovah's greatness which is not worthy of great praise. In some beings greatness is but vastness of evil: in him it is magnificence of goodness. Praise may be said to be great when the song contains great matter, when the hearts producing it are intensely fervent, and when large numbers unite in the grand acclaim. No chorus is too loud, no orchestra too large, no psalm too lofty for the lauding of the Lord of Hosts.

"And his greatness is unsearchable."

"Still his worth your praise exceeds,

Excellent are all his deeds."

Song should be founded upon search; hymns composed without thought are of no worth, and tunes upon which no pains have been spent are beneath the dignity of divine adoration. Yet when we meditate most, and search most studiously we shall still find ourselves surrounded with unknowable wonders, which will baffle all attempts to sing them worthily. The best adoration of the Unsearchable is to own him to be so, and close the eyes in reverence before the excessive light of his glory. Not all the minds of all the centuries shall suffice to search out the unsearchable riches of God; he is past finding out; and, therefore, his deserved praise is still above and beyond all that we can render to him.

Ver. 3. Great is the Lord. If "great" here be referred to God as a king, then a great king he is in respect of the breadth of his empire, for all creatures, from the highest angel to the poorest worm, are under him. "Great" for length; for "his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom." "Great" for depth; for he rules even in the hearts of kings, of all men, over rules their thoughts, affections, nothing is hid from him. And "great" again for height; being "a great King above all gods", ruling by his own absolute power and authority; whereas all other kings have their sword from him, and rule by a delegated and vicarious power. William Nicholson.

Ver. 3. His greatness is unsearchable. God is so great, that till Christ revealed the Father, Deity was lost in its own infinity to the perception of men. He who attempts to navigate an infinite ocean must come back to his starting point, never being able to cross. So the ancient philosophers, disputing as to the Divine Nature, were baffled by their own ingenuity, they had to confess that they comprehended nothing of God except that he was incomprehensible. Without Christ, men can only find out about God that they can never find him. Thomas Le Blanc.

Ver. 3. (last clause.) The Vulgate renders thus, "Of his greatness no end." The Hebrew is, "Of his greatness no investigation." As the classic Greeks would say, avexicniastos, not to be traced out. Simon de Muis, 1587-1644.

Ver. 3. God had searched David through and through (Ps 139:1), but David proved he could not search God's greatness. Martin Geier.

Ver. 3-6. Ps 145:3, 4 contain the material of praise, and Ps 145:5, 6 the praise itself. Ps 145:3 states a proposition, and Ps 145:4 gives the amplification. Hermann Venema.

Ver. 3.

1. The dignity of man is here implied in his capacity for praising God greatly.

2. His immortality in his capacity for praising his unsearchable greatness. G. R.

Ver. 3. (last clause.) The unsearchable greatness of God. Consider it,

1. As a fact amply demonstrated.

2. As a rebuke to despondency: see Isa 40:28.

3. As the stay of a soul oppressed by mysteries.

4. As indicating a subject for our everlasting study. J. F.

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

3. (Psa 145:3) Great (is) Jehovah, and to be praised exceedingly, and to his greatness there is no search, i.e. it is unsearchable. The first clause is quoted in Psa 48:1. Greatly to be praised, as in Psa 18:3; Psa 96:1-4; Psa 113:3. His greatness, as displayed in act, his great performance or performances. See above, on Psa 71:21. With the last words of the verse compare Psa 40:5.

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

Hereby he declareth that all power is subject unto God, and that no worldly promotion ought to obscure God’s glory.

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

(Compare Psa 18:3; Psa 48:1).

greatness--as displayed in His works.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 3. His greatness is unsearchable.] Literally, To his mightinesses there is no investigation. All in God is unlimited and eternal.

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

(3) Greatly to be praised.—See Psa_18:3 and comp. Psa_48:1.

And his greatness.—Literally, more expressive, and for his greatness no search. (Comp. Isa_40:28; Job_11:7.)

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

3. There can be no worthier object of praise than Jehovah. The verse re-echoes Psa_48:1 a; Psa_96:4 a; Job_11:7 ff.; Isa_40:28.

greatly to be praised] Better, exceeding worthy to be praised. In most editions of the Prayer Book this verse reads Great is the Lord, and marvellous, worthy to be praised. The comma after marvellous does not appear in the MS annexed as the authoritative copy to the Act of Uniformity of 1662, but was wrongly introduced into the earliest printed copies by the printers, who failed to see that marvellous was an adverb, as in Psa_31:23.

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.

Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,.... Christ is the great God as well as our Saviour; great in all the perfections of his nature, of great wisdom, power, faithfulness, holiness, grace, and goodness; great in his person as God-man, God manifest in the flesh; great in all his offices and relations he bears and stands in to his people; and great in all his works of creation, providence, and redemption, in which he is concerned; and upon all which accounts he is to be praised, and greatly to be praised, by his people, even to the utmost of their capacities, here and hereafter; see Psa 48:1;

and his greatness is unsearchable; the greatness of his nature, and the perfections of it, these are past finding out; and so are his ways and works, and the riches of his grace, Joh 11:7. The Targum is,

"and of his greatness there is no end.''

So the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions.

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

Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised - See Psa 96:4, note; Psa 18:3, note.

And his greatness is unsearchable - See Job 5:9, note; Job 9:10, note; Job 11:7-8, notes.

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

His greatness, in his being, majesty, and glory, and all perfections.

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

Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised. (comp. Psa_48:1 Psa_96:4) And his greatness is unsearchable; literally, and of his greatness there is no search. (comp. Rom_11:33)

Vers. 3, 5, 6, 10-13. The greatness of God.

In this exquisite psalm the greatness and the goodness of God are celebrated, and the writer passes so freely from one to another, that it is very difficult to keep them separate. Nor is there much need to do so; for God"s greatness, his glory, is in his goodness, (Exo_33:19) and the two are really inseparable. Endeavoring, however, to look at them apart, we are here reminded of

I HIS MAJESTY. We read of "the splendor of the glory of his majesty" (ver. 5). The manifestations of God"s presence, given in the earlier times, were those of radiant, insupportable effulgence; those who witnessed them shrank from them. God dwells in the "light inaccessible, to which no man can approach." The splendor of his glory is such as would dazzle and bewilder our mortal sight.

II HIS POWER. We have "the might of his terrible acts," "his wondrous works," "his mighty acts." From the time when David looked up into the heavens and was awed by the tokens of Divine power shining down upon him from above, to our own time, when we first sang of him whose power "made the mountains rise," "spread the flowing seas abroad," and "built the lofty skies," men have been affected and subdued by the "almighty power of God;" and they always must be while the wonderful fabric of nature lasts.

III HIS INFINITY. The kingdom of God is "everlasting;" it endures "throughout all generations." Nations rise and fall, dynasties appear and disappear, centuries begin and end, but God"s dominion knows no bound at all. It continues from generation to generation. There is something which powerfully affects us as we think of that which lasts, and will last, while every other thing fades and vanishes away.

IV HIS HOLINESS. (Vers. 6, 17, 20) The psalmist speaks of God"s "terrible acts," and he says that he "will destroy the wicked." History, sacred and profane, is full of proofs that the holiness of God is as great as his majesty and his power. "The face of the Lord is against them that do evil." "By terrible things in righteousness" God makes us to know that sin is hateful in his sight, that continuance in it will result in ruin, in shame, in death. On the other hand, God"s greatness in righteousness is seen in the rewards he gives to the upright, in lifting up the lowly, in abundantly blessing the true and pure and good. Who would not fear God who is of such majesty, power, infinitude, holiness? Who would not worship him? How foolish and how guilty to refuse to listen when he speaks, to come to him in willing subjection when he calls us to his service!

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