Psalms 147:6

Psa 147:6 The LORD lifteth up the meek: he casteth the wicked down to the ground.

Ver. 6. The Lord lifteth up the meek] This truth was well known to the very heathens, who have said the same thing; as Herodotus in Polymnia, Euripides in Hara, and Aesop being asked by Chilo (one of the seven wise men of Greece), what God was doing? answered, He is humbling the haughty, and exalting the lowly, τα μεν υφηλα ταπεινουν; τα δε ταπεινα υψουν..

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.

6. (Psa 147:6) Raising up the humble (is) Jehovah, casting down the wicked to the very earth. See above, Psa 146:8-9. To the very earth, literally even to the earth.

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

147:6 God measures out his justice on the poor and on the wicked (55:22; 140:12; 145:14; 146:7).

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

For the more high that the wicked climb the greater is their fall in the end.

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

That power is put forth for the good of the meek and suffering pious, and confusion of the wicked (Psa 146:8-9).

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 6. The Lord lifteth up the meek] The humbled, the afflicted.

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

6. Raising up, etc. The ascription of this to God fitly tends to confirm our hope under affliction, and prevent our souls from fainting under the cross. From this we may infer that although our fathers who lived under the Law were more gently dealt with, they knew something at least of that warfare with which God daily exercises us, in order to make us seek our true rest elsewhere than in this world. Should a doubt steal upon the minds of those who have been brought under heavy afflictions, as to the forthcoming of that help which God has promised to extend, let the truth recur to our remembrance, that we are brought low that God may lift us up again. And if upon seeing the prosperity of the wicked we are smitten and inflamed with envy, let the words of the Psalmist come into our mind, That they are lifted up that they may be cast down into destruction. When he speaks of their being cast down even to the earth, there can be no doubt that he passes an indirect censure upon their pride which leads them to exalt themselves on high, as if they belonged to some superior order of beings.

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.

(6) The meek.—Or, the afflicted. (See Note Psa_22:26.)

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

6. Jehovah’s power is manifested in His moral government of the world. Cp. Psa_146:9. Though the language is general, it has obviously a special reference to the restoration of Israel and the humiliation of their oppressors.

lifteth up] Or as R.V. upholdeth, the same word as in Psa_146:9.

the meek] Those who have learnt humility in the school of suffering.

casteth … down] Or, abaseth.

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.

The Lord lifteth up the meek,.... The lowly and humble souls, such as are made so by the Spirit of God; he shows them their sinfulness, and want of righteousness; the insufficiency of their own, and need of Christ's; blowing a blast upon all their goodliness, so bringing down their natural pride and haughtiness, and causing them to submit to Christ, that he alone might be exalted; such as learn of him, who is meek and lowly, and become the followers of the humble Jesus; who being partakers of his grace, have low thoughts of themselves, as if the least of saints and chief of sinners; and higher thoughts of others; who ascribe all they have and are to the grace of God; and who make no boast of nor place any trust in anything they do; who quietly submit to every adversity; patiently bear all the injuries, affronts, and reproaches of men; and are silent under every afflictive dispensation of Providence: these humble ones the Lord exalts in due time; he lifts up their spirits, he cheers and refreshes their souls; raises them to a high estate of grace, sets them among princes, gives them honour here, and a crown and kingdom hereafter; these shall inherit the new earth, in which will dwell righteousness; see Mat 5:5;

he casteth the wicked down to the ground; or "humbles them to the ground" (p); he abases the proud and brings them into a low estate, sometimes in this world; however in the next he casts them down to hell, even into the lowest hell, which is the portion of all wicked men, of all proud and haughty sinners; see Isa 26:5; compare with these expressions Luk 1:51. Aben Ezra by the "meek" understands the outcasts of Israel, and by the "wicked" the kings of the Gentiles, subject to Israel.

(p) "humiliaus", V. L. Montanus; "humiliat", Pagninus, Cocceius, Michaelis.

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

The Lord lifteth up the meek - The humble; the poor; the bowed down; the oppressed. See the notes at Psa 146:8 : “The Lord raiseth them that are bowed down.”

He casteth the wicked down to the ground - See the notes at Psa 146:9 : “The way of the wicked he turneth upside down.”

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

Ver. 6. The LORD lifteth up the meek: he casteth the wicked down to the ground. He reverses the evil order of things. The meek are down, and he lifts them up; the wicked are exalted, anti he hurls them down to the dust. The Lord loves those who are reverent to himself, humble in their own eyes, and gentle to their fellow men: these he lifts up to hope, to peace, to power, to eternal honour. When God lifts a man, it is a lift indeed. Proud men are in their own esteem, high enough already; only those who are low will care to be lifted up, and only such will Jehovah upraise. As for the wicked, they must come down from their scats of vain glory. God is accustomed to overthrow such; it is his way and habit. None of the wicked shall in the end escape. To the earth they must go; for from the earth they came, and for the earth they live. It is one of the glories of our God for which his saints praise him, that he hath put down the mighty from their seats, and hath exalted them of low degree. Well may the righteous be lifted up in spirit and the wicked be downcast as they think of the judgments of the Lord God.

In this verse we see the practical outcome of that character of Jehovah which leads him to count and call the stars as if they were little things, while he deals tenderly with sorrowful men, as if they were precious in his esteem. He is so great that nothing is great to him, and he is so condescending that nothing is little to him: his infinite majesty thus naturally brings low the lofty and exalts the lowly.

Ver. 6. The Lord lifteth up the meek, etc. The meek need not envy the lofty who sweep the earth with their gay robes, any more than real royalty is jealous of the kingly hero who struts his hour upon the stage. They shall be princes and rulers long after these actors have laid aside their tinselled crowns.

How wonderful shall be the reversal when God shall place the last first and the first last! Moralists have often pointed us to the ruler of a hundred broad kingdoms lying down at last in six feet of imprisoning clay; but God shall show us the wayside cottager lifted into the inheritance of the universe. Evangelical Magazine.

Ver. 6. Reversal.

1. In the estimate of the world the meek are cast down and the wicked lifted up.

2. In the judgment of heaven the meek are lifted up and the wicked cast down.

3. The judgment of heaven will, in the end, be found the true one. C.A.D.

Psalms 147:7*

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

6. Lifteth up… casteth… down—As has just been shown, in restoring his people and repelling their enemies.

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

The Lord lifteth up the meek. (comp. Psa_145:14 Psa_146:8) He casteth the wicked down to the ground. (comp. Psa_146:9, and the comment ad loc.)

The Lord"s ways with the meek.

This term often means "the afflicted." This word "meek" has several distinct meanings as used in the Word of God, but its root-idea seems to be "lowly feeling about ourselves." This associates with both "humility" and "disinterestedness." Sometimes the bad side of the word comes into view, and it expresses the feeling of the crushed man, who has become heartless, spiritless, who is broken down, who has wholly lost his energy; who, like David in his time of distress, wails out his faithless fear, "I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul!" There is something of that heartlessness and hopelessness indicated in this text.

I THE LORD IS NOT ALTOGETHER INDIFFERENT TO THEM. He might be. They must be to him somewhat as the wayside beggar is to us. How often we pass him by with utter indifference! and when we have any feeling at all, it is only a revulsion from the miserable object. Yet when we think of it, that state of mind distresses us. We cannot be really good; for if we were, no form of humiliation or distress would fail to touch us with the tenderest pity. God cannot be indifferent to the meek.

II THE LORD DOES NOT PITY THEM, AND STAND ASIDE. As the priest and Levite did when they came and looked on the stripped and wounded sufferer. Too often man pities, and does nothing; comforting himself with the thought that he pitied, and so was evidently tender and sensitive in feeling. Situations presented in novels excite our pity, but they do us no moral good, because we have no chance of putting our pity into helpful action. We could have no heart-rest in God, if all we could be sure about him was that he pitied us.

III THE LORD GRACIOUSLY HELPS THOSE WHOM HE PITIES. As did the good Samaritan, spending himself to relieve the man whose distress awakened his pitiful feeling. The help God gives is put into a word which precisely matches the word "meek." He upholdeth. The crushed, humbled, heartless man is in danger of falling and fainting. He can hardly hold himself up. So precisely what he needs is steadying, upholding, everlasting arms put about him until he can feel his feet, recover his strength, find life flow freely again, and smile into God"s watching face the smile of recovered hope. R.T.

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

Yahweh lifts up the oppressed

The writer speaks of Yahweh honoring those who are oppressed as if Yahweh were lifting them up from the ground. AT: "Yahweh honors the oppressed" (See: Metaphor)

he brings the wicked down to the ground

The writer speaks of Yahweh humiliating the wicked as if Yahweh were forcing them to lie on the ground. AT: "he humiliates the wicked" (See: Metaphor)

with a harp

"while playing a harp"

translationWords

oppress

evil

harp

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