Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 33:11
The counsel of the LORD standeth forever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.
11. The A.V. obscures the parallelism between Psa 33:10-11. The counsel of the nations and the thoughts of the peoples are contrasted with the counsel of Jehovah and the thoughts of his heart. His counsel stands fast like His work in creation ( Psa 33:9). Cp. Jer 33:20-21. With Psa 33:10, cp. Isa 8:10; Neh 4:15; with Psa 33:11, cp. Isa 5:19; Isa 19:17; Isa 46:10-11; Mic 4:12; Isa 55:8-9; Jer 29:11; and generally, Pro 19:21; Pro 21:30. To us the words may suggest that “through the ages one increasing purpose runs,” and point forward to
“The one far-off divine event
To which the whole creation moves.”
The addition in P.B.V., and casteth out the counsels of princes, is derived through the Vulg. from the LXX.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The counsel of the Lord – The purpose of the Lord.
Standeth for ever – It will be carried out. It will never be changed. There can be no superior counsel or will to change it, as is the case with the plans of men; and no purposes of any beings inferior to himself – angels, men, or devils – can affect, defeat, or modify his eternal plans. No changes in human affairs can impede his plans; no opposition can defeat them; no progress can supersede them.
The thoughts of his heart – The things which he has designed, or which he intends shall be accomplished.
To all generations – Margin, as in Hebrew, to generation and generation. That is, from one generation of men to another; or, to all time. The plans of God are not changed by the passing off of one generation and the coming on of another; by new dynasties of kings, or by the revolutions that may occur in states and empires. Men can seldom cause their plans to be carried forward beyond the generation in which they live; and they can have no security that coming generations, with their own plans, will not abolish or change all that has been devised or purposed before. No man can make it certain that his own will, even in regard to property, will be carried out in the generation that succeeds him. No monarch can make it certain that his plans will be perfected by his successors. Schemes devised with the profoundest care and the highest wisdom may be set aside by those who are next in power; and no individual can hope that coming ages will feel sufficient interest in him or his memory to carry on his plans. Who feels now any obligation to carry out the projects of Caesar or Alexander? How long since have all their plans passed away! So it will be with all who are now playing their parts on the earth! But none of these things affect the purposes of Him who will continue to live and to carry out His own designs when all the generations of human beings shall have passed away.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 33:11
The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever.
The immutability of Gods counsels
Let us make some remarks.
I. upon the divine counsels generally. There are such, and they show–
1. That God concerns Himself with our world.
2. They are of deliberation and wise purpose. Of the works of God in the material world we may indeed say, In wisdom hast Thou made them all. How vast and orderly is the frame of the world! But in Nature, wonderful as are these operations, there is nothing to resist, to repel, to dispute. All are His servants, and every thing fulfils His word. He saith to one, Go, and it goeth; to another, Come, and it cometh. But in His moral kingdom we see a world in rebellion. There is not a principle naturally in our hearts, but it is a rebel principle also. Every affection, every will, is ready to start up in defiance, wrestling with His authority, and pursuing a course contrary to His commands. If His government were one of rigid justice only, there would be no difficulty here. But judgment is His strange work, and mercy the delight of His administration. The counsel, in this case, is to make good triumph over evil, and evil itself the occasion of good. How adorable is that wisdom which, influenced by goodness, wins back a rebellious heart to love and obedience without violence to its freedom! which makes our very wickedness to correct us, and our backslidings to reprove us! and which, finally, although by the mysterious permission of evil, sin hath abounded, yet makes grace much more abound; so that, as sin hath reigned unto death, even so doth grace reign, through righteousness, unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord! Well may we say, with St. Paul, when one branch of this great subject was before him, O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!
3. They are supreme and uncontrollable. This it is which gives to good men so entire and joyful a confidence: There is no wisdom, nor understanding, nor counsel against the Lord.
II. But our text calls us to consider the stability of the divine counsels. They shall stand for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations. We may illustrate this–
1. By ancient instances of the fulfilment of delayed purposes. See the birth of Isaac, long promised, given at last. The promised seed of the woman–how long before that appeared.
2. The steadfastness of His holy law. He never swerves from it. Go to the right hand or to the left, and you fall not only into a sin, but into a peril or a misery. Other maxims deceive: His never.
3. The constant connection of painful fear and misery with sin.
4. The established order of human salvation. I see man in all ages a sinner and miserable. But there is hope for him. He was forgiven, and assured, and became both a justified and a holy man. Ages have since elapsed, but every pardoned and accepted sinner has been saved in the same way. (R. Watson.)
The counsel of the Lord
I. How blessed is it to have a personal revelation of God in the character of his son. His majesty and mercy are revealed in Christ, tested in honour and ignominy, in power and in pain. There is uniformity and radiance, a joy and rest to man in this revelation of Gods character and counsel.
II. No knowledge is so important and so practical as that of Gods plan. None so personally, universally and eternally affects us. In this plan happiness is made to correspond with piety, sorrow with sin, and the plan works with certainty; inexorable, yet simple. The force that binds the moon to the earth and the earth to Sirius is simple but sure. So in the sweep of the ages, Gods truth standeth for ever and the thoughts of His heart to all generations. Eternity itself shall emphasize and illustrate it.
III. in the development of this plan we may expect surprises to us. The plan is eternal. We are of yesterday. You admire mosaic painting for the beauty of its tint, the free, flowing majesty and grace, the delicacy and beauty of its delineations. But should a child in the artists studio take up a bit of ruby, turquoise, agate or pearl, and ask you what its relation was to the scene depicted–the Crucifixion or Resurrection perhaps–it might not be easy for you to explain its use, or mark its place till the masters work was complete. When Jerusalem was razed, the early Christians were surprised and alarmed. But that event led to the spread of the Gospel, just as the Jewish act of homicide end decide instrumentally led to mans salvation. So each event in Gods plan has its place as each capital and gargoyle has its fitting location in the cathedral. (R. H. Storrs.)
The thoughts of His heart to all generations.—
Divine thoughts
God thinks of us, and He intends that we in return should think of Him. And for us to do this rightly is true religion. What condescension and kindness are shown in Gods thinking of us. I know the thoughts that I have toward you that they are good and not evil.
I. the nature of Gods thoughts. All existence is the embodiment of Gods thought, but it is only as He reveals His thoughts to us that we can form any conception of them. And He has done this. The Bible is the unfolding of Gods thoughts to us as they bear on our recovery from bondage and sin. And every one desires to know what are Gods thoughts upon our sin. The sense of guilt is universal. Now God tells us that His thoughts are set on our salvation. None but He could have introduced a plan of restoration like that which the Gospel brings. And His thought includes our regeneration and renewal as well as our forgiveness. For they include the promise of the Holy Ghost. How precious, then, are Gods thoughts unto us.
II. the permanence of Gods covenant. It standeth for ever. (John Glanville.)
Gods thoughts
I. God has thoughts.
1. Independent–in their origin, character, manifestation.
2. Complete: they grasp the whole of a thing, and the whole of all things.
3. Unsuccessive: one thought does not start another, as in our ease.
4. Harmonious.
II. God has thoughts for humanity. Three things are necessary before humanity can get any benefit from his thoughts–
1. God must reveal them. Unless He express them we shall never know them.
2. There must be a capacity to appreciate them. Without this capacity the revelation is useless.
3. There must be meditation. We cannot reach the great thoughts of a great man without study; how, then, can we expect to attain the thoughts of God without it?
III. Gods thoughts for humanity are permanent.
1. Because they embody absolute truths. They will always be what they are; they never can change.
2. Because they will ever be congruous with the moral nature. They are to the moral nature what air and water are to the body, fitted for it, and necessary to it, Without them it will die. (Homilist.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 11. The counsel of the Lord] What he has determined shall be done. He determined to make a world, and he made it; to create man, and he created him. He determined that at a certain period God should be manifested in the flesh, and it was so; that he should taste death for every man, and he did so; that his Gospel should be preached in all the world; and behold it has already nearly overrun the whole earth. All his other counsels and thoughts, which refer to the future, shall be accomplished in their times.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
All his purposes and designs, and especially those which concern his chosen people, of whom he speaks in the next verse, are always successful and irresistible.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever,…. By which are meant, not the doctrines of the Gospel, nor the ordinances of it; though these will stand firm, and remain to the end of the world; but the purposes and decrees of God, which are wisely formed in himself, are eternal and unfrustrable, and relate to all things in providence and grace. The Lord does all things according to the counsel of his will in the government of the world, and in the salvation of men: the choice of persons to everlasting life is according to it; and so are their redemption, effectual calling, and glorification;
the thoughts of his heart to all generations; which, with respect to his own people, are thoughts of peace, grace, and mercy; these are many, and within himself, were very early, even from all eternity, and have their sure and certain effect, Isa 14:24; see Pr 19:21.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
11. The counsel of Jehovah. The prophet extols the infinite power of God in such a manner as that he may build up our faith in its greatness; for he does not here commend a counsel of God which is hidden in heaven, and which he would have us to honor and revere at a distance. But as the Lord everywhere in Scripture testifies that he loveth righteousness and truth; that he cares for the righteous and good; and that he is ever inclined to succor his servants when they are wrongfully oppressed; — the prophet means, that all this shall remain sure and steadfast. Thus he declares for what end God bringeth to nought the counsels of the nations, namely, because without discrimination they run headlong into the violation of all order.
In the first place, then, let us learn to look at God’s counsel in the glass of his word; and when we have satisfied ourselves that he has promised nothing but what he has determined to perform, let us immediately call to mind the steadfastness of which the prophet here speaks. And as many, or rather whole, nations sometimes endeavor to impede its course by innumerable hinderances, let us also remember the preceding declaration, that when men have imagined many devices, it is in God’s power, and often his pleasure, to bring them to nought. The Holy Spirit unquestionably intended to have our faith exercised in this practical knowledge; otherwise what he here says of the counsel of God would be but cold and fruitless. But when we shall have once persuaded ourselves of this, that God will defend his servants who call upon his name, and rid them of all dangers; whatever mischief the wicked may practice against them, their endeavors and attempts shall in nowise terrify us, because, so soon as God sets himself in opposition to their machinations, no craft on their part will be able to defeat his counsel.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
11. Counsel of the Lord This stands opposed to the “counsel of the heathen,” and his thoughts to their “devices.” Psa 33:10.
For ever Hebrew, to eternity. The word here applies to God’s “thoughts,” that is, his plans, purposes; in Psa 40:11, to his mercy and truth; in Psa 85:5, to his wrath; in Psa 102:24, to his existence; in Psa 145:13, to his dominion. In all such cases the subject determines the sense of unlimited duration. In the Hebrew it reads “to generation and generation,” a periphrasis for unlimited time.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 33:11 The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.
Ver. 11. The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever ] That counsel of his, whereby he hath decreed to maintain government among men, to relieve the oppressed, to punish the wicked, to uphold the Church, is firm and inviolable. Divinum consilium dum devitatur, impletur; humana sapientia dum reluctatur, comprehenditur, saith Gregory. There is a council in heaven that will dash the mould of all contrary counsels upon earth.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
The counsel: Job 23:13, Pro 19:21, Isa 14:24, Isa 14:27, Isa 46:10, Lam 3:37, Eze 38:10-23, Dan 4:37, Act 4:27, Act 4:28, Eph 1:11
thoughts: Psa 92:5, Isa 55:8, Isa 55:9, Jer 29:11, Mic 4:12
all generations: Heb. generation and generation, Act 15:18
Reciprocal: Num 22:20 – but yet 2Ki 19:25 – Hast thou not 2Ch 11:4 – for this thing Neh 4:15 – God Job 5:12 – disappointeth Psa 135:6 – Whatsoever Ecc 3:14 – whatsoever Isa 7:7 – General Isa 8:10 – counsel Isa 25:1 – thy counsels Jer 19:7 – I will make Jer 44:28 – shall know Jer 49:20 – the counsel Jer 50:45 – hear Zec 6:1 – and the Zec 8:14 – As Mat 2:8 – go Luk 2:6 – so Act 5:38 – for Act 27:1 – when Eph 1:9 – purposed Heb 6:17 – the immutability