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P S A L M S
PSALM CXLVIII.
This psalm is a most solemn and earnest call to all the creatures,
according to their capacity, to praise their Creator, and to show forth
his eternal power and Godhead, the invisible things of which are
manifested in the things that are seen. Thereby the psalmist designs to
express his great affection to the duty of praise; he is highly
satisfied that God is praised, is very desirous that he may be more
praised, and therefore does all he can to engage all about him in this
pleasant work, yea, and all who shall come after him, whose hearts must
be very dead and cold if they be not raised and enlarged, in praising
God, by the lofty flights of divine poetry which we find in this psalm.
I. He calls upon the higher house, the creatures that are placed in the
upper world, to praise the Lord, both those that are intellectual
beings, and are capable of doing it actively
(ver. 1, 2),
and those that are not, and are therefore capable of doing it only
objectively,
II. He calls upon the lower house, the creatures of this lower world,
both those that can only minister matter of praise
and those that, being endued with reason, are capable of offering up
this sacrifice
(ver. 11-13),
especially his own people, who have more cause to do it, and are more
concerned to do it, than any other,
| An Invitation to Praise. | |
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1 Praise ye the LORD. Praise ye the LORD from the heavens:
praise him in the heights.
2 Praise ye him, all his angels: praise ye him, all his hosts.
3 Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars of
light.
4 Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be
above the heavens.
5 Let them praise the name of the LORD: for he commanded, and
they were created.
6 He hath also stablished them for ever and ever: he hath made
a decree which shall not pass.
We, in this dark and depressed world, know but little of the world of
light and exaltation, and, conversing within narrow confines, can
scarcely admit any tolerable conceptions of the vast regions above. But
this we know,
I. That there is above us a world of blessed angels by whom God is
praised, an innumerable company of them. Thousand thousands minister
unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stand before him; and
it is his glory that he has such attendants, but much more his glory
that he neither needs them, nor is, nor can be, any way benefited by
them. To that bright and happy world the psalmist has an eye here,
In general, to the heavens, to the heights. The heavens
are the heights, and therefore we must lift up our souls above the
world unto God in the heavens, and on things above we
must set our affections. It is his desire that God may be
praised from the heavens, that thence a praising frame may be
transmitted to this world in which we live, that while we are so cold,
and low, and flat, in praising God, there are those above who are doing
it in a better manner, and that while we are so often interrupted in
this work they rest not day nor night from it. In particular, he had an
eye to God’s angels, to his hosts, and calls upon them to
praise God. That God’s angels are his hosts is plain enough; as soon as
they were made they were enlisted, armed, and disciplined; he employs
them in fighting his battles, and they keep ranks, and know their
place, and observe the word of command as his hosts. But what is meant
by the psalmist’s calling upon them, and exciting them to praise God,
is not so easy to account for. I will not say, They do not heed it,
because we find that to the principalities and powers is known by
the church the manifold wisdom of God
(Eph. iii. 10);
but I will say, They do not need it, for they are continually praising
God and there is no deficiency at all in their performances; and
therefore when, in singing this psalm, we call upon the angels to
praise God (as we did,
we mean that we desire God may be praised by the ablest hands and in
the best manner,–that we are pleased to think he is so,–that we have
a spiritual communion with those that dwell in his house above and are
still praising him,–and that we have come by faith, and hope, and holy
love, to the innumerable company of angels,
Heb. xii. 22.
II. That there is above us not only an assembly of blessed spirits, but
a system of vast bodies too, and those bright ones, in which God is
praised, that is, which may give us occasion (as far as we know any
thing of them) to give to God the glory not only of their being, but of
their beneficence to mankind. Observe,
1. What these creatures are that thus show us the way in praising God,
and, whenever we look up and consider the heavens, furnish us with
matter for his praises.
(1.) There are the sun, moon, and stars, which
continually, either day or night, present themselves to our view, as
looking-glasses, in which we may see a faint shadow (for so I must call
it, not a resemblance) of the glory of him that is the Father of
lights,
v. 3.
The greater lights, the sun and moon, are not too great, too bright, to
praise him; and the praises of the less lights, the stars, shall not be
slighted. Idolaters made the sun, moon, and stars, their gods, and
praised them, worshipping and serving the creature, because it is seen,
more than the Creator, because he is not seen; but we, who worship the
true God only, make them our fellow-worshippers, and call upon them to
praise him with us, nay, as Levites to attend us, who, as priests,
offer this spiritual sacrifice.
(2.) There are the heavens of heavens above the sun and stars,
the seat of the blessed; from the vastness and brightness of these
unknown orbs abundance of glory redounds to God, for the heavens of
heavens are the Lord’s
and yet they cannot contain him,
1 Kings viii. 27.
The learned Dr. Hammond understands her, by the heavens of
heavens, the upper regions of the air, or all the regions of it, as
We read of the heaven of heavens, whence God sends forth his voice,
and that a mighty voice, meaning the thunder.
(3.) There are the waters that are above the heavens, the clouds
that hang above in the air, where they are reserved against the day
of battle and war,
Job xxxviii. 23.
We have reason to praise God, not only that these waters do not drown
the earth, but that they do water it and make it fruitful. The Chaldee
paraphrase reads it, Praise him, you heavens of heavens, and you
waters that depend on the word of him who is above the heavens, for
the key of the clouds is one of the keys which God has in his hand,
wherewith he opens and none can shut, he shuts and none can open.
2. Upon what account we are to give God the glory of them: Let them
praise the name of the Lord, that is, let us praise the name of the
Lord for them, and observe what constant and fresh matter for praise
may be fetched from them.
(1.) Because he made them, gave them their powers and assigned them
their places: He commanded them (great as they are) out of
nothing, and they were created at a word’s speaking. God
created, and therefore may command; for he commanded, and so created;
his authority must always be acknowledged and acquiesced in, because he
once spoke with such authority.
(2.) Because he still upholds and preserves them in their beings and
posts, their powers and motions
(v. 6):
He hath established them for ever and ever, that is, to the end
of time, a short ever, but it is their ever; they shall last as long as
there is occasion for them. He hath made a decree, the law of
creation, which shall not pass; it was enacted by the wisdom of
God, and therefore needs not be altered, by his sovereignty and
inviolable fidelity, and therefore cannot be altered. All the creatures
that praised God at first for their creation must praise him still for
their continuance. And we have reason to praise him that they are kept
within the bounds of a decree; for to that it is owing that the waters
above the heavens have not a second time drowned the earth.
| An Invitation to Praise. | |
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7 Praise the LORD from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps:
8 Fire, and hail; snow, and vapour; stormy wind fulfilling his
word:
9 Mountains, and all hills; fruitful trees, and all cedars:
10 Beasts, and all cattle; creeping things, and flying fowl:
11 Kings of the earth, and all people; princes, and all judges
of the earth:
12 Both young men, and maidens; old men, and children:
13 Let them praise the name of the LORD: for his name alone is
excellent; his glory is above the earth and heaven.
14 He also exalteth the horn of his people, the praise of all
his saints; even of the children of Israel, a people near unto
him. Praise ye the LORD.
Considering that this earth, and the atmosphere that surrounds it, are
the very sediment of the universe, it concerns us to enquire after
those considerations that may be of use to reconcile us to our place in
it; and I know none more likely than this (next to the visit which the
Son of God once made to it), that even in this world, dark and as bad
as it is, God is praised: Praise you the Lord from the earth,
v. 7.
As the rays of the sun, which are darted directly from heaven, reflect
back (though more weakly) from the earth, so should the praises of God,
with which this cold and infected world should be warmed and
perfumed.
I. Even those creatures that are not dignified with the powers of
reason are summoned into this concert, because God may be glorified in
them,
Let the dragons or whales, that sport themselves in the
mighty waters
(Ps. civ. 26),
dance before the Lord, to his glory, who largely proves his own
omnipotence by his dominion over the leviathan or whale,
&c. All deeps, and their inhabitants, praise God–the sea, and
the animals there–the bowels of the earth, and the animals there.
Out of the depths God may be praised as well as prayed unto. If
we look up into the atmosphere we meet with a great variety of meteors,
which, being a king of new productions (and some of them
unaccountable), do in a special manner magnify the power of the great
Creator. There are fiery meteors; lightning is fire, and there are
other blazes sometimes kindled which may be so called. There are watery
meteors, hail, and snow, and the vapours of which
they are gendered. There are airy meteors, stormy winds; we
know not whence they come nor whither they go, whence their mighty
force comes nor how it is spent; but this we know, that, be they ever
so strong, so stormy, they fulfil God’s word, and do that, and
no more than that, which he appoints them; and by this Christ
showed himself to have a divine power, that he commanded even the
winds and the seas, and they obeyed him. Those that will not
fulfil God’s word, but rise up in rebellion against it, show themselves
to be more violent and headstrong than even the stormy winds, for they
fulfil it. Take a view of the surface of the earth
(v. 9),
and there are presented to our view the exalted grounds, mountains
and all hills, from the barren tops of some of which, and the
fruitful tops of others, we may fetch matter for praise; there are the
exalted plants, some that are exalted by their usefulness, as the
fruitful trees of various kinds, for the fruits of which God is
to be praised, others by their stateliness, as all cedars, those
trees of the Lord,
Ps. civ. 16.
Cedars, the high trees, are not the fruitful trees, yet they had their
use even in God’s temple. Pass we next to the animal kingdom, and there
we find God glorified, even by the beasts that run wild, and
all cattle that are tame and in the service of man,
Nay, even the creeping things have not sunk so low, nor do the
flying fowl soar so high, as not to be called upon to praise
the Lord. Much of the wisdom, power, and goodness of the Creator
appears in the several capacities and instincts of the creatures, in
the provision made for them and the use made of them. When we see all
so very strange, and all so very good, surely we cannot but acknowledge
God with wonder and thankfulness.
II. Much more those creatures that are dignified with the powers of
reason ought to employ them in praising God: Kings of the earth and
all people,
v. 11, 12.
1. God is to be glorified in and for these, as in and for the inferior
creatures, for their hearts are in the hand of the Lord and he makes
what use he pleases of them. God is to be praised in the order and
constitution of kingdoms, the pars imperans–the part that
commands, and the pars subdita–the part that is subject: Kings
of the earth and all people. It is by him that kings reign, and
people are subject to them; the princes and judges of the earth
have their wisdom and their commission from him, and we, to whom they
are blessings, ought to bless God for them. God is to be praised also
in the constitution of families, for he is the founder of them; and for
all the comfort of relations, the comfort that parents and children,
brothers and sisters, have in each other, God is to be praised.
2. God is to be glorified by these. Let all manner of persons praise
God.
(1.) Those of each rank, high and low. The praises of kings, and
princes, and judges, are demanded; those on whom God has put honour
must honour him with it, and the power they are entrusted with, and the
figure they make in the world, put them in a capacity of bringing more
glory to God and doing him more service than others. Yet the praises of
the people are expected also, and God will graciously accept of them;
Christ despised not the hosannas of the multitude.
(2.) Those of each sex, young men and maidens, who are
accustomed to make merry together; let them turn their mirth into this
channel; let it be sacred, that it may be pure.
(3.) Those of each age. Old men must still bring forth this
fruit in old age, and not think that either the gravity or the
infirmity of their age will excuse them from it; and children
too must begin betimes to praise God; even out of the mouth of babes
and sucklings this good work is perfected. A good reason is given
(v. 13)
why all these should praise the name of the Lord, because his
name alone is excellent and worthy to be praised; it is a name
above every name, no name, no nature, but his, has in it all
excellency. His glory is above both the earth and the
heaven, and let all inhabitants both of earth and heaven praise him
and yet acknowledge his name to be exalted far above all blessing
and praise.
III. Most of all his own people, who are dignified with peculiar
privileges, must in a peculiar manner give glory to him,
Observe,
1. The dignity God has put upon his people, even the children of
Israel, typical of the honour reserved for all true believers, who
are God’s spiritual Israel. He exalts their horn, their
brightness, their plenty, their power. The people of Israel were, in
many respects, honoured above any other nation, for to them
pertained the adoption, the glory, and the covenants,
Rom. ix. 4.
It was their own honour that they were a people near unto God,
his Segulla, his peculiar treasure; they were admitted into his
courts, when a stranger that came nigh must be put to death. They had
him nigh to them in all that which they called upon him for.
This blessing has not come upon the Gentiles, through Christ, for those
that were afar off are by his blood made nigh,
Eph. ii. 13.
It is the greatest honour that can be put upon a man to be brought near
to god, the nearer the better; and it will be best of all when nearest
of all in the kingdom of glory.
2. The duty God expects from them in consideration of this. Let those
whom God honours honour him: Praise you the Lord. Let him be
the praise of all his saints, the object of their praise; for he
is a praise to them. He is thy praise, and he is thy God,
Deut. x. 21.
Some by the horn of his people understand David, as a type of
Christ, whom God has exalted to be a prince and a Saviour, who
is indeed the praise of all his saints and will be so for ever; for it
is through him that they are a people near to God.
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