Psalms 148:6

Psa 148:6 He hath also stablished them for ever and ever: he hath made a decree which shall not pass.

Ver. 6. He hath also stablished them for ever] viz. The course and appointed motions of the heavens, which he hath settled by a covenant, and hath not falsified with them, Jer 33:25; much less will he with his faithful people.

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 148:6) And made them stand to perpetuity and eternity; a limit he gave (them) and they cannot pass (it). The immutability ascribed to the frameof nature, Psa 72:5; Psa 89:2; Psa 89:36, is not absolute but relative to the will of the Creator. All that is required by the context in such cases is, that they cannot change in opposition to his will or independently of it. See Psa 102:27. The first word in the second clause is here used in its primary sense of a definite boundary or limit, from which may be readily deduced the usual one of statute or permanent enactment. See above, on Psa 2:7. As the last verb is in the singular number, the most obvious construction is the one given in the English Bible, a decree which shall not pass. Compare Mat 5:18. But the highest authorities appear to be agreed that the analogy of Job 14:5, Psa 104:9, Jer 5:22, requires the verb to be taken in the sense of transcending or transgressing, and construed with the aggreoate of the heavenly bodies.

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

148:6 The created order is stable because of the Lord’s word (see 33:9).

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

The perpetuity of the frame of nature is, of course, subject to Him who formed it.

a decree . . . pass--His ordinances respecting them shall not change (Jer 36:31), or perish (Job 34:20; Psa 37:36).

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. He hath also stablished them] He has determined their respective revolutions, and the times in which they are performed, so exactly to show his all-comprehensive wisdom and skill, that they have never passed the line marked out by his decree, nor intercepted each other in the vortex of space, through revolutions continued for nearly 6000 years.

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

(6) Stablished.—Literally, made to stand, i.e., set them up.

He hath made . . .—Rather, he hath made an ordinance, and will not transgress it. This is more obvious and natural than to supply a new subject to the second verb, “and none of them transgress it.” This anticipates, but only in form, the modern scientific doctrine of the inviolability of natural order. It is the imperishable faithfulness of God that renders the law invariable. See the remarkable passages, Jer_31:36; Jer_33:20, from winch we conclude that a covenant was supposed to have been made between God and nature as between Jehovah and Israel, the one being as imperishable as the other. A comparison of the two passages referred to shows that the Hebrew words ordinance and covenant might be used synonymously. The Authorised Version, which, following the LXX. and Vulg., makes the ordinance itself imperishable, violates the usage of the Hebrew verb.

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

6. And he hath made them stand fast] To Him they owe not only their original creation but their perpetual maintenance. Cp. Sir_43:26; Col_1:17.

he hath made a decree which shall not pass] This rendering, which is that of the LXX (παρελεύσεται) and Jer. (praeteribit) may be defended by Est_1:19; Est_9:27 : but the general usage of the verb and subst. is in favour of the rendering, He hath given (them) a statute which none (of them) shall transgress. The ‘law of gravity’ and the other ‘laws of nature’ keep them fixed in their orbits and courses. For chôq (something prescribed, an enactment, statute) in the sense of the laws imposed on nature by Jehovah see Jer_31:35-36; Jer_33:25.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He hath also stablished them for ever and ever,.... The angels are made immortal, and shall never die; and they are confirmed in their state of happiness by Christ, and shall always continue in it; the hosts of heaven being created by him, consist in him, and will remain as long as the world does; hence the duration and never-failing state of other things, even of good men and their felicity, are expressed by them; see Psa 72:5;

he hath made a decree which shall not pass; concerning those creatures and their duration, which shall never pass away, or be frustrated or made void; but shall always continue and have its sure and certain effect; see Jer 31:35; and is true of every decree of God, which is eternal and not frustrable, and is always fulfilled, Isa 14:27.

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

He hath also stablished them forever and ever - He has made them firm, stable, enduring. That they may be eternal is possible; that they will not be, no one can prove. Matter, when created, has no necessary tendency to decay or annihilation; and the universe - the stars, and suns, and systems - which have endured so many million of ages may continue to exist any number of million of ages to come. Of course, however, all this is dependent on the will of God. On the meaning of this passage, compare Psa 119:90, note; Psa 72:5, note; Psa 89:2, note; Psa 89:36-37, note. See also 2Pe 3:7, note; 2Pe 3:10, note; 2Pe 3:13, note.

He hath made a decree which shall not pass - He has given a law or statute which they cannot pass. The word rendered decree here seems to be used in the sense of limit or bound; and the idea is, that he has bound them by a fixed law; he has established laws which they are compelled to observe. The fact is, in regard to them, that he has established great laws - as the law of gravitation - by which they are held from flying off; he has marked out orbits in which they move; he has so bound them that they perform their revolutions with unerring accuracy in the very path which he has prescribed. So accurate are their movements that they can be predicted with exact precision; and so uniform, that any succession of ages does not vary or affect them.

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

Stablished them for ever and ever; either absolutely, as to the substance of them, or at least to the end of the world. He hath made them constant and incorruptible, not changeable and perishing, as the things of the lower world are.

Made a decree; either concerning their several courses and influences; or rather, for their continuance for ever; which best agrees with the foregoing and following words.

Which shall not pass; which decree shall never be made void.

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

Ver. 6. He hath also stablished them for ever and ever. The continued existence of celestial beings is due to the supporting might of Jehovah, and to that alone. They do not fail because the Lord does not fail them. Without his will these things cannot alter; he has impressed upon them laws which only he himself can change. Eternally his ordinances are binding upon them. Therefore ought the Lord to be praised because he is Preserver as well as Creator, Ruler as well as Maker.

He hath made a decree which shall not pass. The heavenly bodies are ruled by Jehovah's decree: they cannot pass his limit, or trespass against his law. His rule and ordination can never be changed except by himself, and in this sense his decree "shall not pass": moreover, the highest and most wonderful of creatures are perfectly obedient to the statutes of the Great King, and thus his decree is not passed over. This submission to law is praise. Obedience is homage; order is harmony. In this respect the praise rendered to Jehovah from the "bodies celestial" is absolutely perfect. His almighty power upholds all things in their spheres, securing the march of stars and the flight of seraphs; and thus the music of the upper regions is never marred by discord, nor interrupted by destruction. The eternal hymn is for ever chanted; even the solemn silence of the spheres is a perpetual Psalm.

Ver. 6. He hath also stablished there for ever and ever, etc. Here two things are set before us, the permanence and the cosmic order of creation. Each created thing is not only formed to endure, in the type or the development, if not in the individual, but has its place in the universe fixed by God's decree, that it may fulfil its appointed share of working out his will. They raise a question as to the words "for ever and ever", how they can be reconciled with the prophecy, Isa 65:17: "Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind"; a prophecy confirmed by the Lord himself, saying, "Heaven and earth shall pass away", and seen fulfilled in vision by the beloved disciple.

Mt 5:18 Re 21:1. And they answer that just as man dies and rises again to incorruption, having the same personality in a glorified body, so will it be with heaven and earth. Their qualities will be changed, not their identity, in that new birth of all things. Neale and Littledale.

Ver. 6. For ever and ever.

My heart is awed within me, when I think

Of the great miracle which still goes on,

In silence, round methe perpetual work

Of thy creation, finished, yet renewed,

For ever. William Cullen Bryant, 1794-1878.

Ver. 6. He hath made a decree, etc. Rather, He hath made an ordinance, and will not transgress it. This is more obvious and natural than to supply a new subject to the second verb, "and none of them transgress it." This anticipates, but only in form, the modern scientific doctrine of the inviolability of natural order. It is the imperishable faithfulness of God that renders the law invariable. A.S. Aglen.

Psalms 148:7*

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

6. He hath also stablished them—He hath constituted them. The heavenly bodies are here referred to. God has not only created—brought into existence—but he has firmly established the order and relation of all things in one vast harmonious system.

He hath made a decree which shall not pass—Literally, He hath made a law they shall not transgress. So the word rendered “pass” often means. God’s laws in nature furnish the most perfect model of order and stability. From a world to an atom, nature never transgresses or passes beyond them. Miracles are not an exception. They only prove that nature is obedient to her Lord.

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

He hath also established them forever and ever. (comp. Psa_89:37) The expression, "forever and ever," must not be pressed. It means "for all time while heaven and earth endure but does not imply an absolute perpetuity. He hath made a decree which shall not pass; rather, which shall not pass away. (see the Revised Version; and comp. Gen_8:22 Jer_31:35, 36 33:25)

The permanence of natural law.

"He hath also stablished them for ever and ever." The permanence of natural law is not really any scientific discovery of modern date. It is the commonplace of thoughtful apprehension of facts in all ages. It is the basis of confidence on which man"s enterprises have always rested. What is peculiar to modern times is the persistent effort to get law separated from God, to prove that law exists, but that it never had a lawgiver, and that now, for its working, there is no law-controller. Old Testament saints saw in the permanence of natural law the considerate working of the living God for the good of his creatures.

I THE PERMANENCE OF ALL NATURAL LAWS. The truth is only true when permanence is seen to apply to the entire sphere of natural law. It is here that the philosopher constructs an imperfect argument. He affirms that permanence attaches to all laws that are cognizable by the senses. But have we any right to say that the sphere of natural law is limited to what we can, under our present conditions, and with our present faculties, apprehend? This may be tried by conceiving that we had seven senses instead of five. The other two senses would reveal to us the working of natural laws which we are wholly unable to apprehend under our present conditions. And the operation of those natural laws may explain what we now have to call the miraculous. And this has further to be seen: The permanence of natural law is consistent with the interworking of law; the action of one qualifying the action of another, as when by my will I raise my arm, which gravitation would pull down. The unknown natural laws are continually crossing and modifying the known, but always harmoniously.

II THE PERMANENCE OF ALL MORAL LAWS. It has yet to be taken into full account that the natural laws include the moral; and that nature can never be explained until the influence on it of God"s will and man"s is recognized The moral is as natural for man as the natural is for nature; and the moral is as permanent and absolute as we can conceive the natural to be. But all law is in the adjustment and harmonizing of the law-controller. 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.

Established - He hath made them constant and incorruptible, not changeable, as the things of the lower world. A decree - Concerning their continuance.

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

He issued a decree to them, that this one should serve by day and that one should serve by night. which will not change That decree.

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.