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P S A L M S
PSALM XCII.
It is a groundless opinion of some of the Jewish writers (who are
usually free of their conjectures) that this psalm was penned and sung
by Adam in innocency, on the first sabbath. It is inconsistent with the
psalm itself, which speaks of the workers of iniquity, when as yet sin
had not entered. It is probable that it was penned by David, and, being
calculated for the sabbath day,
I. Praise, the business of the sabbath, is here recommended,
II. God’s works, which gave occasion for the sabbath, are here
celebrated as great and unsearchable in general,
In particular, with reference to the works both of providence and
redemption, the psalmist sings unto God both of mercy and judgment, the
ruin of sinners and the joy of saints, three times counterchanged.
1. The wicked shall perish
(ver. 7),
but God is eternal,
2. God’s enemies shall be cut off, but David shall be exalted,
3. David’s enemies shall be confounded
(ver. 11),
but all the righteous shall be fruitful and flourishing,
In singing this psalm we must take pleasure in giving to God the glory
due to his name, and triumph in his works.
| Incitements to Praise of God. | |
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A psalm or song for the sabbath day.
1 It is a good thing to give thanks unto the
LORD, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High:
2 To show forth thy lovingkindness in the morning, and thy
faithfulness every night,
3 Upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery;
upon the harp with a solemn sound.
4 For thou, LORD, hast made me glad through thy work: I will
triumph in the works of thy hands.
5 O LORD, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very
deep.
6 A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand
this.
This psalm was appointed to be sung, at least it usually was sung, in
the house of the sanctuary on the sabbath day, that day of rest, which
was an instituted memorial of the work of creation, of God’s rest from
that work, and the continuance of it in his providence; for the
Father worketh hitherto. Note,
1. The sabbath day must be a day, not only of holy rest, but of holy
work, and the rest is in order to the work.
2. The proper work of the sabbath is praising God; every sabbath day
must be a thanksgiving-day; and the other services of the day must be
in order to this, and therefore must by no means thrust this into a
corner. One of the Jewish writers refers it to the kingdom of the
Messiah, and calls it, A psalm or song for the age to come,
which shall be all sabbath. Believers, through Christ, enjoy that
sabbatism which remains for the people of God
(Heb. iv. 9),
the beginning of the everlasting sabbath. In these verses,
I. We are called upon and encouraged to praise God
(v. 1-3):
It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord. Praising God is
good work: it is good in itself and good for us. It is our duty, the
rent, the tribute, we are to pay to our great Lord; we are unjust if we
withhold it. It is our privilege that we are admitted to praise God,
and have hope to be accepted in it. It is good, for it is pleasant and
profitable, work that is its own wages; it is the work of angels, the
work of heaven. It is good to give thanks for the mercies we have
received, for that is the way of fetching in further mercy: it is fit
to sing to his name who is Most High, exalted above all blessing and
praise. Now observe here,
1. How we must praise God. We must do it by showing forth his
lovingkindness and his faithfulness. Being convinced of his
glorious attributes and perfections, we must show them forth, as those
that are greatly affected with them ourselves and desire to affect
others with them likewise. We must show forth, not only his greatness
and majesty, his holiness and justice, which magnify him and strike an
awe upon us, but his lovingkindness and his faithfulness; for his
goodness is his glory
and by these he proclaims his name. His mercy and truth are the great
supports of our faith and hope, and the great encouragements of our
love and obedience; these therefore we must show forth as our pleas in
prayer and the matter of our joy. This was then done, not only by
singing, but by music joined with it, upon an instrument of ten
strings
(v. 3);
but then it was to be with a solemn sound, not that which was
gay, and apt to dissipate the spirits, but that which was grave, and
apt to fix them.
2. When we must praise God–in the morning and every night, not
only on sabbath days, but every day; it is that which the duty of every
day requires. We must praise God, not only in public assemblies, but in
secret, and in our families, showing forth, to ourselves and those
about us, his lovingkindness and faithfulness. We must begin and end
every day with praising God, must give him thanks every morning, when
we are fresh and before the business of the day comes in upon us, and
every night, when we are again composed and retired, and are
recollecting ourselves; we must give him thanks every morning for the
mercies of the night and every night for the mercies of the day; going
out and coming in we must bless God.
II. We have an example set before us in the psalmist himself, both to
move us to and to direct us in this work
(v. 4):
Thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy work. Note,
1. Those can best recommend to others the duty of praise who have
themselves experienced the pleasantness of it. “God’s works are to be
praised, for they have many a time rejoiced my heart; and therefore,
whatever others may think of them, I must think well and speak well of
them.”
2. If God has given us the joy of his works, there is all the reason in
the world why we should give him the honour of them. Has he made our
hearts glad? Let us then make his praises glorious. Has God made us
glad through the works of his providence for us, and of his grace in
us, and both through the great work of redemption?
(1.) Let us thence fetch encouragement for our faith and hope; so the
psalmist does: I will triumph in the works of thy hands. From a
joyful remembrance of what God has done for us we may raise a joyful
prospect of what he will do, and triumph in the assurance of it,
triumph over all opposition,
(2.) Let us thence fetch matter for holy adorings and admirings of God
(v. 5):
O Lord! how great are thy works–great beyond conception, beyond
expression, the products of great power and wisdom, of great
consequence and importance! men’s works are nothing to them. We cannot
comprehend the greatness of God’s works, and therefore must reverently
and awfully wonder at them, and even stand amazed at the magnificence
of them. “Men’s works are little and trifling, for their thoughts are
shallow; but, Lord, thy works are great and such as cannot be
measured; for thy thoughts are very deep and such as cannot be
fathomed.” God’s counsels as much exceed the contrivances of our wisdom
as his works do the efforts of our power. His thoughts are above our
thoughts, as his ways are above our ways,
Isa. lv. 9.
O the depth of God’s designs!
The greatness of God’s works should lead us to consider the depth of
his thoughts, that counsel of his own will according to which he does
all things–what a compass his thoughts fetch and to what a length they
reach!
III. We are admonished not to neglect the works of God, by the
character of those who do so,
v. 6.
Those are fools, they are brutish, who do not know, who do not
understand, how great God’s works are, who will not acquaint themselves
with them, nor give him the glory of them; they regard not the work
of the Lord nor consider the operation of his hands
particularly, they understand not the meaning of their own prosperity
(which is spoken of
v. 7);
they take it as a pledge of their happiness, whereas it is a
preparative for their ruin. If there are so many who know not the
designs of Providence, nor care to know them, those who through grace
are acquainted with them, and love to be so, have the more reason to be
thankful.
| The Triumph of the Righteous; The Happiness of the Righteous. | |
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7 When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers
of iniquity do flourish; it is that they shall be destroyed for
ever:
8 But thou, LORD, art most high for evermore.
9 For, lo, thine enemies, O LORD, for, lo, thine enemies shall
perish; all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered.
10 But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn:
I shall be anointed with fresh oil.
11 Mine eye also shall see my desire on mine enemies, and
mine ears shall hear my desire of the wicked that rise up
against me.
12 The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall
grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
13 Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall
flourish in the courts of our God.
14 They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be
fat and flourishing;
15 To show that the LORD is upright: he is my rock, and
there is no unrighteousness in him.
The psalmist had said
(v. 4)
that from the works of God he would take occasion to triumph; and here
he does so.
I. He triumphs over God’s enemies
(v. 7, 9, 11),
triumphs in the foresight of their destruction, not as it would be the
misery of his fellow-creatures, but as it would redound to the honour
of God’s justice and holiness. He is confident of the ruin of sinners,
1. Though they are flourishing
(v. 7):
When the wicked spring as the grass in spring (so numerous, so
thickly sown, so green, and growing so fast), and all the workers of
iniquity do flourish in pomp, and power, and all the instances of
outward prosperity, are easy and many, and succeed in their
enterprises, one would think that all this was in order to their being
happy, that it was a certain evidence of God’s favour and an earnest of
something as good or better in reserve: but it is quite otherwise; it
is that they shall be destroyed for ever. The very prosperity
of fools shall slay them,
Prov. i. 32.
The sheep that are designed for the slaughter are put into the fattest
pasture.
2. Though they are daring,
v. 9.
They are thy enemies, and impudently avow themselves to be so. They are
contrary to God, and they fight against God. They are in rebellion
against his crown and dignity, and therefore it is easy to foresee that
they shall perish; for who ever hardened his heart against God and
prospered? Note, All the impenitent workers of iniquity shall be
deemed and taken as God’s enemies, and as such they shall perish and be
scattered. Christ reckons those his enemies that will not have him to
reign over them; and they shall be brought forth and slain before him.
The workers of iniquity are now associated, and closely linked
together, in a combination against God and religion; but they shall be
scattered, and disabled to help one another against the just judgment
of God. In the world to come they shall be separated from the
congregation of the righteous; so the Chaldee,
3. Though they had a particular malice against the psalmist, and, upon
that account, he might be tempted to fear them, yet he triumphs over
them
(v. 11):
“My eye shall see my desire on my enemies that rise up against
me; I shall see them not only disabled from doing me any further
mischief, but reckoned with for the mischief they have done me, and
brought either to repentance or ruin:” and this was his desire
concerning them. In the Hebrew it is no more than thus, My eye shall
look on my enemies, and my ear shall hear of the wicked. He does
not say what he shall see or what he shall hear, but he shall see and
hear that in which God will be glorified and in which he will therefore
be satisfied. This perhaps has reference to Christ, to his victory over
Satan, death, and hell, the destruction of those that persecuted and
crucified him, and opposed his gospel, and to the final ruin of the
impenitent at the last day. Those that rise up against Christ will
fall before him and be made his footstool.
II. He triumphs in God, and his glory and grace.
1. In the glory of God
(v. 8):
“But thou, O Lord! art most high for evermore. The workers of
iniquity who fight against us may be high for a time, and think to
carry all before them with a high hand, but thou art high, most
high, for evermore. Their height will be humbled and brought down,
but thine is everlasting.” Let us not therefore fear the pride and
power of evil men, nor be discouraged by their impotent menaces, for
the moth shall eat them up as a garment, but God’s righteousness
shall be for ever,
Isa. li. 7, 8.
2. In the grace of God, his favour and the fruits of it,
(1.) To himself
(v. 10):
“Thou, O Lord! that art thyself most high, shalt exalt my horn.”
The great God is the fountain of honour, and he, being high for
evermore, himself will exalt his people for ever, for he is the
praise of all his saints,
Ps. cxlviii. 14.
The wicked are forbidden to lift up the horn
but those that serve God and the interest of his kingdom with their
honour or power, and commit it to him to keep it, to raise it, to use
it, and to dispose of it, as he pleases, may hope that he will exalt
their horn as the horn of a unicorn, to the greatest height, either
in this world or the other: My horn shalt thou exalt, when
thy enemies perish; for then shall the righteous shine forth
as the sun, when the wicked shall be doomed to shame and
everlasting contempt. He adds, I shall be anointed with fresh
oil, which denotes a fresh confirmation in his office to which he
had been anointed, or abundance of plenty, so that he should have fresh
oil as often as he pleased, or renewed comforts to revive him when his
spirits drooped. Grace is the anointing of the Spirit; when this is
given to help in the time of need, and is received, as there is
occasion, from the fulness that is in Christ Jesus, we are then
anointed with fresh oil. Some read it, When I grow old thou shalt
anoint me with fresh oil. My old age shalt thou exalt with rich
mercy; so the LXX. Compare
They shall bring forth fruit in old age. The comforts of God’s
Spirit, and the joys of his salvation, shall be a refreshing oil to the
hoary heads that are found in the way of righteousness.
(2.) To all the saints. They are here represented as trees of
righteousness,
Isa. lxi. 3; Ps. i. 3.
Observe,
[1.] The good place they are fixed in; they are planted in the house
of the Lord,
v. 13.
The trees of righteousness do not grow of themselves; they are
planted, not in common soil, but in paradise, in the house of
the Lord. Trees are not usually planted in a house; but God’s trees
are said to be planted in his house because it is from his grace, by
his word and Spirit, that they receive all the sap and virtue that keep
them alive and make them fruitful. They fix themselves to holy
ordinances, take root in them, abide by them, put themselves under the
divine protection, and bring forth all their fruits to God’s honour and
glory.
[2.] The good plight they shall be kept in. It is here promised,
First, That they shall grow,
Where God gives true grace he will give more grace. God’s trees shall
grow higher, like the cedars, the tall cedars in Lebanon; they shall
grow nearer heaven, and with a holy ambition shall aspire towards the
upper world; they shall grow stronger, like the cedars, and fitter for
use. He that has clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.
Secondly, That they shall flourish, both in the credit of their
profession and in the comfort and joy of their own souls. They shall be
cheerful themselves and respected by all about them. They shall
flourish like the palm-tree, which has a stately body
(Cant. vii. 7),
and large boughs,
Dates, the fruit of it, are very pleasant, but it is especially alluded
to here as being ever green. The wicked flourish as the grass
(v. 7),
which is soon withered, but the righteous as the palm-tree, which is
long-lived and which the winter does not change. It has been said of
the palm-tree, Sub pondere crescit–The more it is pressed down the
more it grows; so the righteous flourish under their burdens; the
more they are afflicted the more they multiply. Being planted in
the house of the Lord (there their root is), they flourish in
the courts of our God–there their branches spread. Their life
is hid with Christ in God. But their light also shines before men.
It is desirable that those who have a place should have a name in God’s
house, and within his walls,
Let good Christians aim to excel, that they may be eminent and may
flourish, and so may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour, as
flourishing trees adorn the courts of a house. And let those who
flourish in God’s courts give him the glory of it; it is by virtue of
this promise, They shall be fat and flourishing. Their
flourishing without is from a fatness within, from the root and
fatness of the good olive,
Rom. xi. 17.
Without a living principle of grace in the heart the profession will
not be long flourishing; but where that is the leaf also shall not
wither,
Ps. i. 3.
The trees of the Lord are full of sap,
Ps. civ. 16.
See
Thirdly, That they shall be fruitful. Were there nothing but
leaves upon them, they would not be trees of any value; but they
shall still bring forth fruit. The products of sanctification, all
the instances of a lively devotion and a useful conversation, good
works, by which God is glorified and others are edified, these are the
fruits of righteousness, in which it is the privilege, as well as the
duty, of the righteous to abound; and their abounding in them is the
matter of a promise as well as of a command. It is promised that they
shall bring forth fruit in old age. Other trees, when they are old,
leave off bearing, but in God’s trees the strength of grace does not
fail with the strength of nature. The last days of the saints are
sometimes their best days, and their last work is their best work. This
indeed shows that they are upright; perseverance is the surest evidence
of sincerity. But it is here said to show that the Lord is
upright
(v. 15),
that he is true to his promises and faithful to every word that he has
spoken, and that he is constant to the work which he has begun. As it
is by the promises that believers first partake of a divine nature, so
it is by the promises that that divine nature is preserved and kept up;
and therefore the power it exerts is an evidence that the Lord is
upright, and so he will show himself with an upright man,
Ps. xviii. 25.
This the psalmist triumphs in: “He is my rock and there is no
unrighteousness in him. I have chosen him for my rock on which to
build, in the clefts of which to take shelter, on the top of which to
set my feet. I have found him a rock, strong and stedfast, and his word
as firm as a rock. I have found” (and let every one speak as he finds)
“that there is no unrighteousness in him.” He is as able, and will be
as kind, as his word makes him to be. All that ever trusted in God
found him faithful and all-sufficient, and none were ever made ashamed
of their hope in him.
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