Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary

on the Whole Bible

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Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

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P S A L M S

PSALM XCVIII.

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This psalm is to the same purport with the

two foregoing psalms;

it is a prophecy of the kingdom of the Messiah, the settling of it up

in the world, and the bringing of the Gentiles into it. The Chaldee

entitles it a prophetic psalm. It sets forth,

I. The glory of the Redeemer,

ver. 1-3.

II. The joy of the redeemed,

ver. 4-9.

If we in a right manner give to Christ this glory, and upon right

grounds take to ourselves this joy, in singing this psalm, we sing it

with understanding. If those who saw Christ’s triumph thus, much more

reason have we to do so who see these things accomplished and share in

the better things provided for us,

Heb. xi. 40.

An Invitation to Praise.

A psalm.

     

1 O sing unto the LORD a new song; for he hath

done marvellous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, hath

gotten him the victory.

  2 The LORD hath made known his salvation: his righteousness

hath he openly showed in the sight of the heathen.

  3 He hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house

of Israel: all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of

our God.

     

We are here called upon again to sing unto the Lord a new song,

as before,

Ps. xcvi. 1.

“Sing a most excellent song, the best song you have.” Let the song of

Christ’s love be like Solomon’s on that subject, a song of

songs. A song of praise for redeeming love is a new song,

such a song as had not been sung before; for this is a mystery which

was hidden from ages and generations. Converts sing a new song,

very different from what they had sung; they change their wonder and

change their joy, and therefore change their note. If the grace of God

put a new heart into our breasts, it will therewith put a new song into

our mouths. In the new Jerusalem there will be new songs sung, that

will be new to eternity, and never wax old. Let this new song be sung

to the praise of God, in consideration of these four things:–

     

I. The wonders he has wrought: He has done marvellous things,
v. 1.

Note, The work of our salvation by Christ is a work of wonder. If we

take a view of all the steps of it from the contrivance of it, and the

counsels of God concerning it before all time, to the consummation of

it, and its everlasting consequences when time shall be no more, we

shall say, God has in it done marvellous things; it is all his

doing and it is marvellous in our eyes. The more it is known the

more it will be admired.

     

II. The conquests he has won: His right hand and his holy arm have

gotten him the victory. Our Redeemer has surmounted all the

difficulties that lay in the way of our redemption, has broken through

them all, and was not discouraged by the services or sufferings

appointed him. He has subdued all the enemies that opposed it, has

gotten the victory over Satan, disarmed him, and cast him out of his

strong-holds, has spoiled principalities and powers

(Col. ii. 15),

has taken the prey from the mighty

(Isa. xlix. 24),

and given death his death’s wound. He has gotten a clear and complete

victory, not only for himself, but for us also, for we through him are

more than conquerors. He got this victory by his own power; there was

none to help, none to uphold, none that durst venture into the

service; but his right hand and his holy arm, which are always

stretched out with good success, because they are never stretched out

but in a good cause, these have gotten him the victory, have

brought him relief or deliverance. God’s power and faithfulness,

called here his right hand and his holy arm, brought relief to

the Lord Jesus, in raising him from the dead, and exalting him

personally to the right hand of God; so Dr. Hammond.

     

III. The discoveries he has made to the world of the work of

redemption. What he has wrought for us he has revealed to us, and both

by his Son; the gospel-revelation is that on which the gospel-kingdom

is founded–the word which God sent,
Acts x. 36.

The opening of the sealed book is that which is to be celebrated

with songs of praise

(Rev. v. 8),

because by it was brought to light the mystery which had long been hid

in God. Observe,

1. The subject of this discovery–his salvation and his righteousness,

v. 3.

Righteousness and salvation are often put together; as

Isa. lxi. 10;

xlvi. 13; li. 5, 6, 8.

Salvation denotes the redemption itself, and righteousness the way in

which it was wrought, by the righteousness of Christ. Or the salvation

includes all our gospel-privileges and the righteousness all our

gospel-duties; both are made known, for God has joined them together,

and we must not separate them. Or righteousness is here put for the way

of our justification by Christ, which is revealed in the gospel to be

by faith,

Rom. i. 17.

2. The plainness of this discovery. He has openly shown it, not in

types and figures as under the law, but it is written as with a

sunbeam, that he that runs may read it. Ministers are appointed to

preach it with all plainness of speech.

3. The extent of this discovery. It is made in the sight of the

heathen, and not of the Jews only: All the ends of the earth have

seen the salvation of our God; for to the Gentiles was the word of

salvation sent.

     

IV. The accomplishment of the prophecies and promises of the Old

Testament, in this

(v. 3):

He has remembered his mercy and his truth towards the house of

Israel. God had mercy in store for the seed of Abraham, and had

given them many and great assurances of the kindness he designed them

in the latter days; and it was in pursuance of all those that he raised

up his Son Jesus to be not only a light to lighten the Gentiles,

but the glory of his people Israel; for he sent him, in the

first place, to bless them. God is said, in sending Christ, to

perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember the holy

covenant,
Luke i. 72.

It was in consideration of that, and not of their merit.

An Invitation to Praise.

     

4 Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth: make a loud

noise, and rejoice, and sing praise.

  5 Sing unto the LORD with the harp; with the harp, and the

voice of a psalm.

  6 With trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before

the LORD, the King.

  7 Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof; the world, and

they that dwell therein.

  8 Let the floods clap their hands: let the hills be joyful

together

  9 Before the LORD; for he cometh to judge the earth: with

righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with

equity.

     

The setting up of the kingdom of Christ is here represented as a matter

of joy and praise.

     

I. Let all the children of men rejoice in it, for they all have, or may

have, benefit by it. Again and again we are here called upon by all

ways and means possible to express our joy in it and give God praise

for it: Make a joyful noise, as before,

Ps. xcv. 1, 2.

Make a loud noise, as those that are affected with those glad

tidings and are desirous to affect others with them. Rejoice and

sing praise, sing Hosannas

(Matt. xxi. 9),

sing Hallelujahs,
Rev. xix. 6.

Let him be welcomed to the throne, as new kings are, with acclamations

of joy and loud shouts, till the earth ring again, as when Solomon was

proclaimed,

1 Kings i. 40.

And let the shouts of the crowd be accompanied with the singers and

players on instruments

(Ps. lxxvii. 7; lxvi. 25),

as is usual in such solemnities.

1. Let sacred songs attend the new King: “Sing praise, sing with the

voice of a psalm. Express your joy; thus proclaim it, thus excite

it yet more, and thus propagate it among others.”

2. Let these be assisted with sacred music, not only with the soft and

gentle melody of the harp, but since it is a victorious King

whose glory is to be celebrated, who goes forth conquering and to

conquer, let him be proclaimed with the martial sound of the

trumpet and cornet,
v. 6.

Let all this joy be directed to God, and expressed in a solemn

religious manner: Make a joyful noise to the Lord,
v. 4.

Sing to the Lord,

(v. 5);

do it before the Lord, the King,
v. 6.

Carnal mirth is an enemy to this holy joy. When David danced before the

ark he pleaded that it was before the Lord; and the piety and

devotion of the intention not only vindicated what he did, but

commended it. We must rejoice before the Lord whenever we draw

near to him

(Deut. xii. 12),

before the Lord Jesus, and before him, not only as the Saviour,

but as the King, the King of kings, the church’s King, and our

King.

     

II. Let the inferior creatures rejoice in it,

v. 7-9.

This is to the same purport with what we had before

(Ps. xcvi. 11-13):

Let the sea roar, and let that be called, not as it used to be,

a dreadful noise, but a joyful noise; for the coming of

Christ, and the salvation wrought out by him, have quite altered the

property of the troubles and terrors of this world, so that when the

floods lift up their voice, lift up their waves, we must not

construe that to be the sea roaring against us, but rather rejoicing

with us. Let the floods express their joy, as men do when they

clap their hands; and let the hills, that trembled for fear

before God when he came down to give the law at Mount Sinai, dance for

joy before him when his gospel is preached and that word of the Lord

goes forth from Zion in a still small voice: Let the hills be joyful

together before the Lord. This intimates that the kingdom of Christ

would be a blessing to the whole creation; but that, as the inferior

creatures declare the glory of the Creator

(Ps. xix. 1),

so they declare the glory of the Redeemer, for by him all things not

only subsist in their being, but consist in their order. It intimates

likewise that the children of men would be wanting in paying their due

respects to the Redeemer, and therefore that he must look for his

honour from the sea and the floods, which would shame the stupidity and

ingratitude of mankind. And perhaps respect is here had to the new

heavens and the new earth, which we yet, according to his

promise, look for

(2 Pet. iii. 13),

and this second mention of his coming (after the like,

Ps. xcvi.)

may principally refer to his second coming, when all these things shall

be so dissolved as to be refined; then shall he come to judge the

world with righteousness. In the prospect of that day all that are

sanctified do rejoice, and even the sea, and the floods, and the hills,

would rejoice if they could. One would think that Virgil had these

psalms in his eye, as well as the oracles of the Cumean Sibyl, in his

fourth eclogue, where he either ignorantly or basely applies to Asinius

Pollio the ancient prophecies, which at that time were expected to be

fulfilled; for he lived in the reign of Augustus Cæsar, a little

before our Saviour’s birth. He owns they looked for the birth of a

child from heaven that should be a great blessing to the world, and

restore the golden age:–

Jam nova progenies cœlo demittitur alto– A new race descends from the lofty sky;

and that should take away sin:–

Te duce, si qua manent sceleris vestigia nostri, Irrita perpetua solvent formidine terras– Thy influence shall efface every stain of corruption, And free the world from alarm.

     

Many other things he says of this long-looked-for child, which

Ludovicus Vives, in his notes on that eclogue, thinks applicable to

Christ; and he concludes, as the psalmist here, with a prospect of the

rejoicing of the whole creation herein:–

Aspice, venturo lætentur ut omnia sæclo– See how this promis’d age makes all rejoice.

And, if all rejoice, why should not we?

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Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

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