Psalm 146:
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Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 Job Proverbs
Psalm 146
Complete Concise
This and all the rest of the psalms that follow begin and end
with Hallelujah, a word which puts much of God's praise into a little compass;
for in it we praise him by his name Jah, the contraction of Jehovah. In this
excellent psalm of praise, I. The psalmist engages himself to praise God (v. 1,
2). II. He engages others to trust in him, which is one necessary and acceptable
way of praising him. 1. He shows why we should not trust in men (v. 3, 4). 2.
Why we should trust in God (v. 5), because of his power in the kingdom of nature
(v. 6), his dominion in the kingdom of providence (v. 7), and his grace in the
kingdom of the Messiah (v. 8, 9), that everlasting kingdom (v. 10), to which
many of the Jewish writers refer this psalm, and to which therefore we should
have an eye, in the singing of it.
Verses 1-4
David is supposed to have penned this psalm; and he was himself
a prince, a mighty prince; as such, it might be thought, 1. That he should be
exempted from the service of praising God, that it was enough for him to see
that his priests and people did it, but that he needed not to do it himself in
his own person. Michal thought it a disparagement to him to
dance before the
ark; but he was so far from being of this mind that he would himself be
first and foremost in the work, v. 1, 2. He considered his dignity as so far
from excusing him from it that it rather obliged him to lead in it, and he
thought it so far from lessening him that it really magnified him; therefore he
stirred up himself to it and to make a business of it:
Praise the Lord, O my
soul! and he resolved to abide by it: "I will praise him with my heart,
I will sing praises to him with my mouth. Herein I will have an eye to
him as
the Lord, infinitely blessed and glorious in himself, and as
my
God, in covenant with me." Praise is most pleasant when, in praising
God, we have an eye to him as ours, whom we have an interest in and stand in
relation to. "This I will do constantly while I live, every day of my life,
and to my life's end; nay, I will do it
while I have any being, for
when I have no being on earth I hope to have a being in heaven, a better being,
to be doing it better." That which is the great end of our being ought to
be our great employment and delight while we have any being. "In thee must
our time and powers be spent." 2. It might be thought that he himself,
having been so great a blessing to his country, should be adored, according to
the usage of the heathen nations, who deified their heroes, that they should all
come and
trust in his shadow and make him their
stay and
strong-hold.
"No," says David,
"Put not your trust in princes (v. 3),
not in me, not in any other; do not repose your confidence in them; do not raise
your expectations from them. Be not too sure of their sincerity; some have
thought they knew better how to reign by knowing how to dissemble. Be not too
sure of their constancy and fidelity; it is possible they may both change their
minds and break their words." But, though we suppose them very wise and as
good as David himself, yet we must not be too sure of their ability and
continuance, for they are sons of Adam, weak and mortal. There is indeed a Son
of man in whom there is help, in whom there is salvation, and who will not fail
those that trust in him. But all other sons of men are like the man they are
sprung of, who, being in honour, did not abide. (1.) We cannot be sure of their
ability. Even the power of kings may be so straitened, cramped, and weakened,
that they may not be in a capacity to do that for us which we expect. David
himself owned (2 Sa. 3:39),
I am this day weak, though anointed king. So
that
in the son of man there is often
no help, no salvation; he is
at a loss, at his wits' end, as
a man astonished, and then, though
a
mighty man, he
cannot save, Jer. 14:9. (2.) We cannot be sure of
their continuance. Suppose he has it in his power to help us while he lives, yet
he may be suddenly taken off when we expect most from him (v. 4):
His breath
goes forth, so it does every moment, and comes back again, but that is an
intimation that it will shortly go for good and all, and then
he returns to
his earth. The earth is his, in respect of his original as a man, the earth
out of which he was taken, and to which therefore he must return, according to
the sentence, Gen. 3:19. It is his, if he be a worldly man, in respect of
choice, his earth which he has chosen for his portion, and on the things of
which he has set his affections. He shall go to his own place. Or, rather, it is
his earth because of the property he has in it; and though he has had large
possessions on earth a grave is all that will remain to him.
The earth God
has given to the children of men, and great striving there is about it, and,
as a mark of their authority, men
call their lands by their own names.
But, after a while, no part of the earth will be their own but that in which the
dead body shall make its bed, and that shall be theirs
while the earth
remains. But, when he returns to his earth,
in that very day his thoughts
perish; all the projects and designs he had of kindness to us vanish and are
gone, and he cannot take one step further in them; all his purposes are cut off
and buried with him, Job 17:11. And then what becomes of our expectations from
him? Princes are mortal, as well as other men, and therefore we cannot have that
assurance of help from them which we may have from that Potentate who hath
immortality.
Cease from man, whose breath is in his nostrils and will not
be there long.
Verses 5-10
The psalmist, having cautioned us not to trust in princes
(because, if we do, we shall be miserably disappointed), here encourages us to
put our confidence in God, because, if we do so, we shall be happily secured:
Happy
is he that has the God of Jacob for his help, that has an interest in his
attributes and promises, and has them engaged for him, and
whose hope is in
the Lord his God.
I. Let us take a view of the character here given of those whom
God will uphold. Those shall have God for their help, 1. Who take him for their
God, and serve and worship him accordingly. 2. Who have their hope in him, and
live a life of dependence upon him, who have good thoughts of him, and encourage
themselves in him, when all other supports fail. Every believer may look upon
him as the God of Jacob, of the church in general, and therefore may expect
relief from him, in reference to public distresses, and as his God in
particular, and therefore may depend upon him in all personal wants and straits.
We must hope, (1.) In the providence of God for all the good things we need,
which relate to the life that now is. (2.) In the grace of Christ for all the
good things which relate to the life that is to come. To this especially the
learned Dr. Hammond refers this and the following verses, looking upon the
latter part of this psalm to have a most visible remarkable aspect towards the
eternal Son of God in his incarnation. He quotes one of the rabbies, who says of
v. 10 that it belongs to the days of the Messiah. And that it does so he thinks
will appear by comparing v. 7, 8, with the characters Christ gives of the
Messiah (Mt. 11:5, 6),
The blind receive their sight, the lame walk; and
the closing words there,
Blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me,
he thinks may very well be supposed to refer to v. 5.
Happy is the man that
hopes in the Lord his God, and who is not offended in him.
II. Let us take a view of the great encouragements here given us
to hope in
the Lord our God. 1. He is the
Maker of the world, and
therefore has all power in himself, and the command of the powers of all the
creatures, which, being derived from him, depend upon him (v. 6):
He made
heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and therefore his arm is
not shortened, that it cannot save. It is very applicable to Christ, by whom God
made the world, and
without whom was not any thing made that was made. It
is a great support to faith that the Redeemer of the world is the same that was
the Creator of it, and therefore has a good-will to it, a perfect knowledge of
its case, and power to help it. 2. He is a God of inviolable fidelity. We may
venture to take God's word, for he
keepeth truth for ever, and
therefore no word of his shall fall to the ground; it is true
from the
beginning, and therefore true
to the end. Our Lord Jesus is the Amen,
the faithful witness, as well as
the beginning, the author and
principle,
of the creation of God, Rev. 3:14. The keeping of God's
truth for ever is committed to him, for
all the promises are in him
yea
and amen. 3. He is the patron of injured innocency:
He pleads the cause
of the oppressed, and (as we read it) he
executes judgment for them.
He often does it in his providence, giving redress to those that suffer wrong
and clearing up their integrity. He will do it in the judgment of the great day.
The Messiah came to rescue the children of men out of the hands of Satan the
great oppressor, and, all judgment being committed to him, the executing of
judgment upon persecutors is so among the rest, Jude 15. 4. He is a bountiful
benefactor to the necessitous:
He gives food to the hungry; so God does
in an ordinary way for the answering of the cravings of nature; so he has done
sometimes in an extraordinary way, as when ravens fed Elijah; so Christ did more
than once when he fed thousands miraculously with that which was intended but
for one meal or two for his own family. This encourages us to hope in him as the
nourisher of our souls with the bread of life. 5. He is the author of liberty to
those that were bound:
The Lord looseth the prisoners. He brought Israel
out of the house of bondage in Egypt and afterwards in Babylon. The miracles
Christ wrought, in making the dumb to speak and the deaf to hear with that one
word,
Ephphatha—Be opened, his cleansing lepers, and so discharging
them from their confinements, and his raising the dead out of their graves, may
all be included in this one of
loosing the prisoners; and we may take
encouragement from those to hope in him for that spiritual liberty which he came
to proclaim, Isa. 61:1, 2. 6. He gives sight to those that have been long
deprived of it;
The Lord can open the eyes of the blind, and has often
given to his afflicted people to see that comfort which before they were not
aware of; witness Gen. 21:19, and the prophet's servant, 2 Ki. 6:17. But this
has special reference to Christ; for
since the world began was it not heard
that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind till Christ did it (Jn.
9:32) and thereby encouraged us to hope in him for spiritual illumination. 7. He
sets that straight which was crooked, and makes those easy that were pained and
ready to sink: He
raises those that are bowed down, by comforting and
supporting them under their burdens, and, in due time, removing their burdens.
This was literally performed by Christ when he made a poor woman straight that
had been
bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself (Lu.
13:12); and he still does it by his grace, giving rest to those that were weary
and heavily laden, and raising up with his comforts those that were humbled and
cast down by convictions. 8. He has a constant kindness for all good people:
The
Lord loveth the righteous, and they may with the more confidence depend upon
his power when they are sure of his good-will. Our Lord Jesus showed his love to
the righteous
by fulfilling all righteousness. 9. He has a tender concern
for those that stand in special need of his care:
The Lord preserves the
strangers. It ought not to pass without remark that the name of
Jehovah
is repeated here five times in five lines, to intimate that it is an almighty
power (that of Jehovah) that is engaged and exerted for the relief of the
oppressed, and that it is as much the glory of God to succour those that are in
misery as it is to
ride on the heavens by his name Jah, Ps. 68:4. (1.)
Strangers are exposed, and are commonly destitute of friends, but
the Lord
preserves them, that they be not run down and ruined. Many a poor stranger
has found the benefit of the divine protection and been kept alive by it. (2.)
Widows
and fatherless children, that have lost the head of the family, who took
care of the affairs of it, often fall into the hands of those that make a prey
of them, that will not do them justice, nay, that will do them injustice; but
the
Lord relieveth them, and raiseth up friends for them. See Ex. 22:22, 23. Our
Lord Jesus came into the world to help the helpless, to receive Gentiles,
strangers, into his kingdom, and that with him poor sinners, that are as
fatherless,
may find mercy, Hos. 14:3. 10. He will appear for the
destruction of all those that oppose his kingdom and oppress the faithful
subjects of it:
The way of the wicked he turns upside down, and therefore
let us
hope in him, and not be
afraid of the fury of the oppressor,
as though he were
ready to destroy. It is the glory of the Messiah that
he will subvert all the counsels of hell and earth that militate against his
church, so that, having him for us, we need not fear any thing that can be done
against us. 11. His kingdom shall continue through all the revolutions of time,
to the utmost ages of eternity, v. 10. Let
this encourage us to trust in
God at all times that
the Lord shall reign for ever, in spite of all the
malignity of the powers of darkness,
even thy God, O Zion! unto all
generations. Christ is set King on the holy hill of Zion, and his kingdom
shall continue in an endless glory. It cannot be destroyed by an invader; it
shall not be left to a successor, either to a succeeding monarch or a succeeding
monarchy, but it shall stand for ever. It is matter of unspeakable comfort that
the
Lord reigns as Zion's God, as Zion's king, that the Messiah is head over
all things to the church, and will be so while the world stands.
Psalm 146:
| Darby
| Geneva
| Gill
| Jamieson Faussett Brown
| Matthew Henry
| Matthew Henry Concise
| Spurgeon
| Wesley
| Index
| Bible Gateway |
Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 Job Proverbs
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