Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 66:1
To the chief Musician, A Song [or] Psalm. Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands:
1. Make a joyful noise ] Or, as the word is rendered in Psa 47:1, shout: greet Him with the acclamations which befit a victorious king.
all ye lands ] Lit. as R.V., all the earth, as in Psa 66:4.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
1 4. All the earth is summoned to worship God and acknowledge the greatness of His power.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Make a joyful noise unto God – literally, Shout. It is a call for exultation and praise.
All ye lands – Margin, as in Hebrew, all the earth. The occasion was one that made universal exultation and praise proper. They who had been so deeply affected by the gracious interposition of God, could not but call on all the nations of the earth to unite with them in the expression of joy. The deliverance was so great that they wished all to rejoice with them (compare Luk 15:6, Luk 15:9); and the intervention of God in the case of his people, furnished lessons about his character which gave occasion to all men to rejoice.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 66:1-20
Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands.
Providence
The real theme of this psalm is in the last section: it is a psalm of thanksgiving for a special mercy experienced by an individual. But the account of this special providence is prefaced by two sections descriptive of the providence of God in general. This is in accordance with a law of the spiritual life. Those who enter into real experience of their own are thereby united with the entire religious experience of the race. There is no influence so broadening and refining as that of a living Christianity.
I. The providence of power (Psa 66:1-7). God is in the midst of His people like a watchman on the watch-tower, not only observing all that is taking place within the city of God, but keeping a keen outlook upon the enemies by whom the city is surrounded, lest the rebellious should exalt themselves (Psa 66:7). Of this protecting care an instance never to be forgotten was the scene at the Red Sea, when the flood was turned into dry land, and His people, who had been in mortal terror, had their apprehensions turned into rejoicings. Another was the passage of the Jordan, when they entered Canaan. These may be called the stock examples of Hebrew poetry. We have better instances supplied by subsequent history; but the great lesson is that all history belongs to us, and we are selling our birthright if we do not know how to travel through the tracts of the past and discern in them the footsteps of our God.
II. The providence of discipline (Psa 66:8-12). When God is celebrated merely as the Champion of His people, who discomfits their enemies, there is danger of boasting. But the psalmist is well aware that God sustains a more delicate relation to His people. He does not always prosper them; He does not always spare them disappointments and defeat. On the contrary, adversity is one of the gifts of the covenant. And in this psalm the sufferings of Gods people are described in a series of touching images (Psa 66:10-12). They have been tried like silver; they have been brought into the net like a bird which is in the grasp of its captor and cannot escape; they have been yoked to oppression like the ass to its load, and the oppressor has lorded it over them like the driver riding above the head of the camel; they have been brought through fire and through water. Yet for these experiences the psalm calls for praise. The old poets used to say that the nightingale sang with its breast resting against a thorn; and it is certain that the mellowest notes of the religious voice are never heard till suffering has been experienced. The distinction of Gods people is not that they have less to bear than others, but that they get the good of their affliction, and, when they trust God, He always at last brings them out, as is said here, into a wealthy place.
III. The providence of grace (Psa 66:13-20). There are those who have never had anything done for their souls. They can speak about their bodies, their properties and their fortunes, but their soul has no history. If a mans soul has a history in which God is concerned, and of which he himself is glad, we know a good deal about him. It is a great thing to be able to say, Come and hear (Psa 66:16), Come and see (Psa 66:5). Have you seen any sight and heard any message which you feel to be worth the attention of all the world? I should not like to live and die without having seen and heard the greatest and best that the world contains. Perhaps a further biographical feature is indicated in the saying that if he had regarded iniquity in his heart God would not have heard him. At all events, we have here one of the profoundest remarks on prayer to be found in the whole Bible. God will not hear the prayers of a man who is cherishing known sin. But the psalmist does not ascribe the glory of his answered prayer to his innocence. He finishes with a humble ascription to the God of Grace. (J. Stalker, D. D.)
Worship
I. It is exultingly delightful (Psa 66:1-2). It is a cheery, jubilant exercise of the mind; the whole atmosphere of the soul breaking into sunshine, all its vocal powers going out in rapturous music. Worship is the soul losing itself in the infinitely kind, the supremely beautiful and good. Self-obliviousness is the highest happiness.
II. It is binding on all. All ye lands. It is more rational, more right, for men to neglect everything else than to neglect this–neglect their physical health, their social advancement, even their intellectual culture, than to neglect worship. It is the one thing needful. It is that one thing which, if lacking in any character, damns the man.
III. It has a direct relation to God. Say unto God, How terrible art Thou, etc. It speaks not about Him, but to Him. It may be said that genuine worship has to do with everything–it mingles in all the services of the man, makes the whole life one unbroken psalm. True, but it only does so by the conscious contact of the soul with God. As the fields that are sown with grain must turn themselves to the sun before there will come germination, growth, maturation, so the soul must put itself into conscious contact with God, its Sun, before its spiritual powers can be brought out into true worship.
IV. It will one day be universal. All the earth shall worship Thee. (Homilist.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
PSALM LXVI
The psalmist exhorts all to praise God for the wonders he has
wrought, 1-4;
calls on Israel to consider his mighty acts in behalf of their
fathers, 5-7;
his goodness in their own behalf, 8-12;
he resolves to pay his vows to God, and offer his promised
sacrifices, 13-15;
calls on all to hear what God had done for his soul, 15-20.
NOTES ON PSALM LXVI
There is nothing particular in the title of the Psalm. It is not attributed to David either by the Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, Septuagint, Vulgate, or AEthiopic. The Arabic alone prefixes the name of David. The Vulgate, Septuagint, AEthiopic, and Arabic, call it a psalm of the resurrection: but for this there is no authority. By many of the ancients it is supposed to be a celebration of the restoration from the Babylonish captivity. Others think it commemorates the deliverance of Israel from Egypt, their introduction into the Promised Land, and the establishment of the worship of God in Jerusalem.
Verse 1. Make a joyfull noise] Sing aloud to God, all ye lands – all ye people who, from different parts of the Babylonish empire, are now on return to your own land.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Ye people of all nations, who have seen the wonderful power, and wisdom, and fidelity, and goodness of God in our deliverance, it becomes you to acknowledge it with admiration and rejoicing. Or,
all the land, or this land. But the former sense is more probable from Psa 66:4, where this word is so used. And it is very proper in this place, and usual in other places of Scriptures, to invite the Gentile world to the contemplation and celebration of Gods works to and for his people. See Deu 32:43; 1Ch 16:23,24.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. Make . . . noiseor,”Shout.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Make a joyful noise unto God,…. The Creator of the ends of the earth; the Provider for all his creatures; and the Dispenser of the blessings of grace, under the Gospel dispensation, to men in all countries. The Messiah may well be thought to be intended, since the psalm refers to Gospel times; who is God over all, blessed for ever; to whom a joyful noise, shouts, and acclamations, are to be made by all his subjects, true believers in him, in all lands, as to their King; see Nu 23:21; who is ascended on high, has led captivity captive; received gifts for then, and gives them to them; is enthroned on his Father’s right hand, is crowned with glory and honour, where he reigns, and must reign, till all enemies are put under his feet; when his kingdom will be from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth: and upon the destruction of his enemies, and the enlargement of his kingdom in the latter day, voices will be heard in heaven, the church; and such joyful noises as are here exhorted and directed to,
Re 19:1. Moreover, such acclamations are suitable to him, as a victorious conqueror; who, at his death, overcame sin, Satan, the world, and death itself; and, by the ministry of the Gospel, went forth conquering, and to conquer; and has subdued many people in all nations, and caused his ministers to triumph in him in every place; and who, by his Spirit and grace, still continues to bring souls to a subjection to him, to dispossess Satan from them, to set up his throne in their hearts, and reign there, and to make them more than conquerors through himself that has loved them: of which there will be more numerous instances in the latter day; and all such are under great obligations to make a joyful noise unto him, or to express their joy and thankfulness in loud singing of his praises;
all ye lands; that is, all the inhabitants of the earth, as the Targum; not Judea, to which some restrain it, but the whole earth: for Christ is the Saviour of some, in all countries, of the children of God, that are scattered abroad throughout the whole world, for whom he is a propitiation. The Gospel has been sent to all nations, and preached to every creature; some in all lands have been converted, and made partakers of the blessings and privileges of the Gospel, and therefore have reason to be glad and make a joyful noise; and the more so, inasmuch as they were in a state of great darkness and ignorance before, without Christ, without hope, and without God in the world.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The phrase signifies “to give glory to God” in other passages (Jos 7:19; Isa 42:12), here with a second accusative, either (1) if we take as an accusative of the object: facite laudationem ejus gloriam = gloriosam (Maurer and others), or (2) if we take as an accusative of the object and the former word as an accusative of the predicate: reddite honorem laudem ejus (Hengstenberg), or (3) also by taking as an apposition: reddite honorem, scil. laudem ejus (Hupfeld). We prefer the middle rendering: give glory as His praise, i.e., to Him as or for praise. It is unnecessary, with Hengstenberg, to render: How terrible art Thou in Thy works! in that case ought not to be wanting. might more readily be singular (Hupfeld, Hitzig); but these forms with the softened Jod of the root dwindle down to only a few instances upon closer consideration. The singular of the predicate (what a terrible affair) here, as frequently, e.g., Psa 119:137, precedes the plural designating things. The song into which the Psalmist here bids the nations break forth, is essentially one with the song of the heavenly harpers in Rev 15:3., which begins, .
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| All Mankind Exhorted to Praise God. | |
To the chief musician. A song or psalm.
1 Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands: 2 Sing forth the honour of his name: make his praise glorious. 3 Say unto God, How terrible art thou in thy works! through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee. 4 All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee; they shall sing to thy name. Selah. 5 Come and see the works of God: he is terrible in his doing toward the children of men. 6 He turned the sea into dry land: they went through the flood on foot: there did we rejoice in him. 7 He ruleth by his power for ever; his eyes behold the nations: let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah.
I. In these verses the psalmist calls upon all people to praise God, all lands, all the earth, all the inhabitants of the world that are capable of praising God, v. 1. 1. This speaks the glory of God, that he is worthy to be praised by all, for he is good to all and furnishes every nation with matter for praise. 2. The duty of man, that all are obliged to praise God; it is part of the law of creation, and therefore is required of every creature. 3. A prediction of the conversion of the Gentiles to the faith of Christ; the time should come when all lands should praise God, and this incense should in every place be offered to him. 4. A hearty good-will which the psalmist had to this good work of praising God. He will abound in it himself, and wishes that God might have his tribute paid him by all the nations of the earth and not by the land of Israel only. He excites all lands, (1.) To make a joyful noise to God. Holy joy is that devout affection which should animate all our praises; and, though it is not making a noise in religion that God will accept of (hypocrites are said to cause their voice to be heard on high, Isa. lviii. 4), yet, in praising God, [1.] We must be hearty and zealous, and must do what we do with all our might, with all that is within us. [2.] We must be open and public, as those that are not ashamed of our Master. And both these are implied in making a noise, a joyful noise. (2.) To sing with pleasure, and to sing forth, for the edification of others, the honour of his name, that is, of all that whereby he has made himself known, v. 2. That which is the honour of God’s name ought to be the matter of our praise. (3.) To make his praise glorious as far as we can. In praising God we must do it so as to glorify him, and that must be the scope and drift of all our praises. Reckon it your greatest glory to praise God, so some. It is the highest honour the creature is capable of to be to the Creator for a name and a praise.
II. He had called upon all lands to praise God (v. 1), and he foretels (v. 4) that they shall do so: All the earth shall worship thee; some in all parts of the earth, even the remotest regions, for the everlasting gospel shall be preached to every nation and kindred; and this is the purport of it, Worship him that made heaven and earth,Rev 14:6; Rev 14:7. Being thus sent forth, it shall not return void, but shall bring all the earth, more or less, to worship God, and sing unto him. In gospel times God shall be worshipped by the singing of Psalms. They shall sing to God, that is, sing to his name, for it is only to his declarative glory, that by which he has made himself known, not to his essential glory, that we can contribute any thing by our praises.
III. That we may be furnished with matter for praise, we are here called upon to come and see the works of God; for his own works praise him, whether we do or no; and the reason why we do not praise him more and better is because we do not duly and attentively observe them. Let us therefore see God’s works and observe the instances of his wisdom, power, and faithfulness in them (v. 5), and then speak of them, and speak of them to him (v. 3): Say unto God, How terrible art thou in thy works, terrible in thy doings! 1. God’s works are wonderful in themselves, and such as, when duly considered, may justly fill us with amazement. God is terrible (that is, admirable) in his works, through the greatness of his power, which is such, and shines so brightly, so strongly, in all he does, that it may be truly said there are not any works like unto his works. Hence he is said to be fearful in praises, Exod. xv. 11. In all his doings towards the children of men he is terrible, and to be eyed with a holy awe. Much of religion lies in a reverence for the divine Providence. 2. They are formidable to his enemies, and have many a time forced and frightened them into a feigned submission (v. 3): Through the greatness of thy power, before which none can stand, shall thy enemies submit themselves unto thee; they shall lie unto thee (so the word is), that is, they shall be compelled, sorely against their wills, to make their peace with thee upon any terms. Subjection extorted by fear is seldom sincere, and therefore force is no proper means of propagating religion, nor can there be much joy of such proselytes to the church as will in the end be found liars unto it, Deut. xxxiii. 29. 3. They are comfortable and beneficial to his people, v. 6. When Israel came out of Egypt, he turned the sea into dry land before them, which encouraged them to follow God’s guidance through the wilderness; and, when they were to enter Canaan, for their encouragement in their wars Jordan was divided before them, and they went through that flood on foot; and such foot, so signally owned by heaven, might well pass for cavalry, rather than infantry, in the wars of the Lord. There did the enemies tremble before them (Exo 15:14; Exo 15:15; Jos 5:1), but there did we rejoice in him, both trust his power (for relying on God is often expressed by rejoicing in him) and sing his praise, Ps. cvi. 12. There did we rejoice; that is, our ancestors did, and we in their loins. The joys of our fathers were our joys, and we ought to look upon ourselves as sharers in them. 4. They are commanding to all. God by his works keeps up his dominion in the world (v. 7): He rules by his power for ever; his eyes behold the nations. (1.) God has a commanding eye; from the height of heaven his eye commands all the inhabitants of the world, and he has a clear and full view of them all. His eyes run to and fro through the earth; the most remote and obscure nations are under his inspection. (2.) He has a commanding arm; his power rules, rules for ever, and is never weakened, never obstructed. Strong is his hand, and high is his right hand. Hence he infers, Let not the rebellious exalt themselves; let not those that have revolting and rebellious hearts dare to rise up in any overt acts of rebellion against God, as Adonijah exalted himself, saying, I will be king. Let not those that are in rebellion against God exalt themselves as if there were any probability that they should gain their point. No; let them be still, for God hath said, I will be exalted, and man cannot gainsay it.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Psalms 66
A Psalm of Gratitude
Scripture v. 1-20:
This is a psalm of praise to God for all His benefits of grace. The occasion of its writing is not known. But it Is a thanksgiving song for deliverance.
Verses 1-3 call for an appropriate sound of joyful praise and singing to the Lord from all the earth, giving him due honor and glory for his power and goodness, manifest in His acts before men, Psa 29:1-2; Through the greatness of His power His enemies shall one day submit to Him; until that time the righteous are to witness toward God, how great and terrible are His works; Even when He judges, Psa 18:44; Psalms 81; Psalms 15; Exo 8:8-15; Exo 8:25; Exo 8:29; Even the wicked must one day glorify God in their suffering, Pro 16:4; Psa 22:27.
Verses 4, 5 assert that “all the earth shall worship thee,” singing to the honor of His name, Psa 46:8; Psa 67:3; Psalms Verse5 adds, “come and see the works of God,” as a 1st step, in believing in Him, as Creator and redeemer; It is much as Nathaniel’s call to salvation and service by his brother Philip, Joh 1:39; Joh 1:46; Psa 65:5-8.
Verses 6, 7 declare that this living God, “turned the sea into dry land,” to effect the crossing by foot, to cause “rejoicing in Israel,” Exo 14:21; Psa 106:8-10; Jos 3:14. It is added that he continually rules by His power, and will never cease ruling, as his eyes observe the nations. The rebellious are therefore warned to avoid exalting themselves, “Selah,” or you better meditate on this, 2Ch 16:9; Isa 27:4-5; Psa 58:7.
Verses 8, 9 exhort all men to bless God and cause the voice of His praise to be heard. For David certified that He continually held their soul and life in His care, not permitting their feet to be moved out of the land, for ever, Exodus 37; Psa 33:3; Psa 15:5; Psa 55:22; Psa 121:3.
Verses 10-12 witness that God had proved (tried) them, even as silver in the furnace, to bring out the best in them, Zec 13:9; Pro 17:3; Isa 48:10.
Verses 11, 12 add that God had brought them (Israel) into a net, laid affliction upon their loins, caused men to ride over their heads, preserved them through fire and through water, and brought them into a wealthy place, a place of abundance, as certified Zec 13:7; Mal 3:3; Isa 48:10; Psa 69:23; Isa 51:23; Isa 43:2; Psa 23:5. He yet cares, as surely for His own, Php_4:19; Heb 13:5; 1Co 10:13. See also Psa 107:35; Psa 107:37; Isa 35:6-7.
Verses 13-15 pledge “I will go into thy house with burnt offerings, pay thee my vows which I have spoken vehemently when in trouble,” Psa 22:25; Psa 116:14-15; Ecc 5:4; Jon 2:9. He added that he would offer burnt sacrifices of fatlings with incense of rams, bullocks, and goats. Selah. Or meditate on this, as it is set in order, Psa 100:4; Psa 116:14; Psa 116:17-19.
Verses 16, 17 call all who fear God to come near and listen, as David tells what God has done for his soul, as he cried to Him with his mouth, and extolled (praised) Him with his tongue, Psa 19:9. It was a thing he desired all men to do, Psa 107:2.
Verses 18-20 state that if David regarded or held iniquity in his heart, the Lord would not hear or respond to his prayers, a lesson for al, to observe, Job 27:9; Pro 15:29; Pro 28:9; Isa 1:15; Jas 4:3. But he declared God had heard and responded to the voice of his prayer, Psa 40:1-3; 1Jn 1:8-9. He then extolled, praised God who had not turned away from his prayer, or held back His mercy from him, La 3:22; Act 17:28. See also Job 35:12-13; 1Jn 3:22. God hears His own, not because of their merit, but his mercy, Tit 3:5.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
1. Shout unto God, all the earth The psalm begins with this general declaration, which is afterwards reduced to particulars. (467) He addresses himself to the whole world, and from this it would seem evident, that he predicts the extent to which the kingdom of God should reach at the coming of Christ. In the second verse the call is repeated with increasing vehemency, to stir up to the praises of God, such as might otherwise be remiss in the service. To sing the honor of his name, is an expression sufficiently obvious; meaning, that we should extol his sacred name in a manner suitable to its dignity, so that it may obtain its due and deserved adoration. But the clause which follows is rather ambiguous. Some think that it conveys a repetition of the same idea contained in other words, and read, set forth the glory of his praise. (468) I prefer taking the Hebrew word signifying praise to be in the accusative case; rendering the words literally, make a glory his praise. And by this I understand him to mean, not as some do, that we should glory exclusively in his praises, (469) but simply, that we highly exalt his praises, that they may be glorious. The Psalmist is not satisfied with our declaring them moderately, and insists that we should celebrate his goodness in some measure proportionably to its excellence.
(467) “ Generalis est praefatio, quam mox sequentur hypotheses.” — Lat. “ C’est une preface generale, dont les applications speciales suivent incontinent apres.” — Fr.
(468) Hammond’s objection to this is, that if כבור, glory, were in the construct state, governing the noun which follows, and giving this reading, the glory of his, praise, the vowel should be changed from kamets, to segol
(469) This is Aben Ezra’s view. He would read, “Make your glory his praise;” that is, let it be your glory to praise him.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
INTRODUCTION
Superscription.To the chief Musician. See Introduction to Psalms 57. A Psalm or Song. See Introduction to Psalms 48.
Both the author and the occasion of the psalm are unknown.
Hengstenberg: The psalm is a song of thanksgiving of the Church of God, after a protracted and severe trial. It is divided into three great parts. In the first, God is praised (17), on account of what He does to Israel at all times, in the second (812), on account of what He had just now done, and in the third (1320), the Church vows her gratitude.
Homiletically we have in the psalm the following themes for meditation, Praise to God for His mighty works (Psa. 66:1-7); Praise for His great kindness in affliction (Psa. 66:8-12); and The declaration of a grateful soul (Psa. 66:18-20).
PRAISING GOD FOR HIS MIGHTY WORKS
(Psa. 66:1-7.)
Consider
I. The reason of this praise. The Psalmist calls upon all lands to praise God because of His mighty and majestic doings. And in so doing he sets forth
1. The nature of His works. With mighty power God is ever engaged in governing the nations of the world. He ruleth by His power for ever, &c. Three features of His government are here indicated by the poet.
(1.) Its perfect knowledge. His eyes behold the nations. Moll: His eyes keep watch upon the nations. The plans of the enemies of Himself and of His people are all known unto Him. They can conceal nothing from Him; and His people in all their circumstances and all their needs are ever before Him. He has a clear and full view of all things.
(2.) Its subjugation of enemies. In the second verse it is said, How terrible art Thou in Thy works! through the greatness of Thy power shall Thine enemies submit themselves unto Thee; i.e., yield a feigned submission unto Him. By His great power they would be compelled to make a hollow and unwilling profession of loyalty to Him. And in the sixth verse there is a reference to the overthrow of Pharaoh and his hosts in the Red Sea. There are to-day those who submit to God in loving loyalty, and those who submit only outwardly and from slavish fear. And if men will resist Him to the utmost, then, like the tyrannical monarch of Egypt, they will be crushed by His power.
(3.) Its salvation of His people. He turned the sea into dry land; they went through the flood on foot: there did we rejoice in Him. His power is exerted for the defence and deliverance of those who put their trust in Him; as was seen in the crossing of the Red Sea, and the passage of the Jordan. In His government the interests of His loyal subjects are specially cared for. He is mighty to save all who confide in Him, and to crush incorrigible rebels, however numerous or powerful they may be.
2. The constancy of His works. He ruleth by His power for ever. Hengstenberg: The Psalmist refers to the passage through the Red Sea and the Jordan, but not as to transactions which took place and were concluded at a given period of time, but as happening really in every age. Gods guidance of His people is a constant drying up of the sea and of the Jordan, and the joy over His mighty deeds is always receiving new materials. The exhortation, Come and see the works of God, implies that these works are actually present. His rule is continuous and everlasting. Though He no longer manifests His power in miraculous deeds, that power is ever working for the overthrow of evil, the salvation of His people, and the extension of His kingdom.
3. The influence of His works. The mighty deeds of the Most High are calculated,
(1.) To excite awe. How terrible art Thou in Thy works! He is terrible in His doing toward the children of men! His deeds reveal His tremendous majesty, and are fitted to inspire the mind with reverent fear.
(2.) To check rebellion against Him. Let not the rebellious exalt themselves. What is the strength of the mightiest when measured against His? The sinner is battling against Omnipotence. Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like Him? Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish, &c.
(3.) To inspire confidence in Him. The Psalmist represents the mighty deeds of God as a reason for praise, an incitement to universal worship, and a cause for rejoicing in Him. These things imply trust in Him. His majestic works quickened the souls of His people into the exercise of a lively confidence in Him. When we mark how righteously and beneficently His almightiness is exercised, we see that it is well fitted to quicken and strengthen our faith in Him.
4. The necessity of observing His works. Come and see the works of God. It is only as the glorious deeds of God are thoughtfully and reverently regarded by us, that they will beneficially affect our mind and heart. But when they are attentively and devoutly considered, they will inspire trust and gratitude, admiration and praise in us, even as they did in the poet. Do we thus consider the doings of God in His government of the world to-day? Do these doings enkindle our hearts into resolute trust and holy song? Surely they are well fitted to do so, unless we are in arms against Him.
II. The enthusiasm of this praise. Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands. Sing forth the honour of His name; make His praise glorious. The praise for which the poet calls is to be offered
1. Heartily. Make a joyful noise unto God. Shout for joy to God. The mere shout is worthless in the sight of God. But when the shout is the natural expression of the hearts zeal and fervour, it is acceptable to Him. Languid praises are utterly inadequate to celebrate His doings, and are repugnant to Him.
2. Joyfully. Make a joyful noise unto God. Shout for joy. To be acceptable to God praise must be offered not as a duty, but as a privilege. To the devout heart praise is pleasure, worship is delight.
3. Openly. Shout for joy unto God; sing forth the honour of His name, &c. We must celebrate the praise of God openly, that men may see that we are not ashamed of doing so, and that they may be encouraged to unite with us in the holy and joyous exercise. When we think of what God is ever doing for us, how enthusiastic should our praise to Him be! When we think of Jesus Christ and the blessings of redemption, how fervent and rapturous and ceaseless should be our songs!
III. The universality of this praise. Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands, All the earth shall worship Thee, and shall sing unto Thee; they shall sing to Thy name. The poet was confident that the heathen world would be won from their idolatries and atheism to the worship of the living and true God. His prophetic announcement is not yet fully accomplished. But we are confident that it will be
1. Because of the character and perfections of God. He is good to all men, and His goodness is calculated to awaken the gratitude of all. His character is fitted to inspire the admiration and adoration of all men. Who is like unto Thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like unto Thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?
2. Because of the history of His worship amongst men. The worship of many heathen deities has passed away. Men are casting their idols which they made to worship to the moles and to the bats. But the number of His worshippers is ever increasing. His empire over human souls grows constantly and rapidly. Its past history is prophetic of its full and final triumph.
3. Because of the predictions of His Word. The Holy Book is clear and triumphant in its declarations on this point. (See Psa. 22:27; Psa. 72:8-19; Isa. 45:23; Mal. 1:11; Luk. 13:29; Rom. 14:11; et al.)
CONCLUSION.Let this glorious prospect
1. Incite us to toil for its realisation.
2. Encourage us to pray for its realisation.
3. Stimulate us to praise Him who has promised its realisation.
PRAISING GOD FOR HIS GREAT KINDNESS IN AFFLICTION
(Psa. 66:8-12.)
The Psalmist in these verses sets before us
I. A great affliction. This affliction is
1. Variously represented. The poet uses a number of expressive figures to set forth the distress through which the people had passed. These figures represent it as,
(1.) Imprisoning. Thon broughtest us into the net. Moll: Thou hast brought us into the enclosure. The idea is that of straitness, confinement. The soul sometimes seems surrounded with trouble, from which there is no escape.
(2.) Oppressing. Thou laidst affliction upon our loins. Moll: Hast laid an oppressive burden on our loins. Barnes: The loins are mentioned as the seat of strength (comp. Deu. 33:11; 1Ki. 12:10; Job. 40:16); and the idea here is, that He had put their strength to the test: He had tried them to see how much they could bear; He had made the test effectual by applying it to the part which was able to bear most. He had tried them to the utmost.
(3.) Degrading. Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads. Hengstenberg: Thou didst let men ride upon our head. The head is mentioned as the noblest part. And the idea is that the sufferers had been not only vanquished, but treated by their conquerors with the utmost indignity and tyranny. Their enemies had insulted them, scorned them, degraded them.
(4.) Consuming. We went through fire. The passing through fire indicates trial which involves extreme danger. The severest trials we speak of as fiery trials.
(5.) Overwhelming. We went through water. Barnes: It was as if they had been made to pass through burning flames and raging floods (comp. Isa. 43:2). Instead of passing through the seas and rivers when the waters had been turned back, and when a dry and safe path was made for them, as was the case with their fathers (Psa. 66:6), they had been compelled to breast the flood itself. This representation of the affliction of the people shows that their distresses were numerous, various, and severe. From trials of one kind they passed, and then had to encounter trials of another kind. And some of these trials threatened to destroy their very existence. Their experience in this respect is an illustration of the experience of some of the people of God in all ages.
This severe affliction was
2. Permitted by God. Thou broughtest us into the net; Thou laidst affliction upon our loins. Thou hast caused, &c. They recognised the hand of God in their distresses. The strongest and most daring enemy of the people of God has no power but what is given him from above. These afflictions could not have befallen them without the Divine permission. All sufferings are either sent by God, or permitted by Him. The realisation of this by the unbeliever is an aggravation of suffering; by the believer, a blessing in suffering. It is the Lord; let Him do what seemeth Him good. (See on Psa. 39:9.)
II. Great kindness in great affliction. The kindness of God as celebrated by the Psalmist was manifest
1. In preserving the afflicted. Which holdeth our soul in life, and suffereth not our feet to be moved. He had protected them amid the dangers which threatened their life; and He had not left their feet to totter or stumble so as to cause them to fall. Their enemies failed to crush them, and the fire to consume them, and the flood to overwhelm them; because God defended them.
2. In the design of the affliction. Thou, O God, hast proved us; Thou hast tried us as silver is tried. The design of their affliction was,
(1.) The testing of character. As silver is tried in the fire, so God had tested the reality of their faith, and hope, and patience. When God doth afflict you, says Caryl, then He doth bring you to the touchstone to see whether you are good metal or no; He doth bring you then to the furnace, to try whether you be dross or gold, or what you are. Affliction is the great discoverer that unmasks us. Some will hold on with God as long as the sun shineth, as long as it is fair weather; but if the storm arise, if troubles come, whether personal or public, then they pull in their heads, then they deny and forsake God, then they draw back from Him, and betray His truth; what they, such and such men! Trouble makes the greatest trial; bring professors to the fire, and then they show their metal. So He tried Abraham and Job, et al.
(2.) The improving of character. Silver is put into the smelting furnace in order to remove its dross. Afflictions are designed to purify and perfect the character. (Comp. Isa. 1:25; Isa. 48:10; Zec. 13:9; Mal. 3:3; Jas. 1:2-3; Jas. 1:12; 1Pe. 1:7.)
3. In the issue of the affliction. Thou broughtest me out into a wealthy place. Margin: Moist. Hengstenberg: Thou didst lead us out to affluence. Conant: Thou hast brought us out to overflowing plenty. Moll: Thou hast brought us out into abundance. Calvin: The sum is, although God at times may chastise severely His own people, yet He always gives them a happy and joyful issue. M. Henry: God brings His people into trouble that their comforts afterwards may be the sweeter, and that their affliction may thus yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness, which will make the poorest place in the world a wealthy place. The troubles of the people of God will be brought by Him to the most blessed and glorious issue.
III. Praise for great kindness in great affliction. O bless our God, ye people, and make the voice of His praise to be heard. Three points are here suggested
1. Praise for general mercies does not supersede the obligation of special praise for special mercies. The poet in the former strophe had called for enthusiastic praise to God for His regular and constant activity for the benefit of His people; now he calls again for praise for the special deliverance and blessing which he commemorates.
2. Praise for the great kindness of God is all the more fervent and delightful when we are assured of our personal interest in Him. O bless our God! Blessed indeed are they who can thus regard Him. His mercies to them will be doubly precious. And their praise of Him will be specially hearty and confiding and pleasurable.
3. The heart that is fervent in His praises will seek to engage others therein. O bless our God, ye people, and make the voice of His praise to be heard. The grateful and fervent heart would enlist multitudes in this service, and sound His praise abroad on all sides.
CONCLUSION.
1. Let the afflicted wait upon God in patience and hope.
2. Let those delivered from affliction praise Him with gratitude and gladness.
THE DECLARATION OF A GRATEFUL SOUL
(Psa. 66:13-20.)
We have now, says Perowne, the personal acknowledgment of Gods mercy, first, in the announcement on the part of the Psalmist of the offerings which he is about to bring, and which he had vowed in his trouble; and then, in the record of Gods dealings with his soul, which had called forth his thankfulness. We have here
I. Help in trouble implored by man. The poet is speaking of the time when he was in trouble, and he says, I cried unto Him with my mouth, &c. From his statements we learn that
1. His prayer was presented in uprightness of heart. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. The Psalmist was sincere in his approaches to God. He did not cherish sin in his heart while seeking the help of God. The man who loves sin will not obtain favourable answers to his prayers. On this point the Sacred Scriptures are most explicit. (Job. 27:8-9; Pro. 15:29; Pro. 28:9; Isa. 1:15; Isa. 59:1-2; Joh. 9:31; 1Jn. 3:21-22.)
2. His prayer was offered with solemn promises. The Psalmist says, I will pay Thee my vows, which my lips have uttered, and my mouth hath spoken when I was in trouble. Under the pressure of great suffering he had uttered solemn promises to God. It is a very common occurrence when men are suffering some great affliction to make vows of reformation of life, or, in the case of the godly, of more thorough consecration to God, if He will remove the affliction.
3. His prayer was offered in confident anticipation of a gracious answer. I cried unto Him with my mouth, and He was extolled with my tongue. Hengstenberg: A song of praise was under my tongue. The meaning seems to be that the poet was so confident of a favourable response to his prayer that he had in readiness a hymn of praise, which he would sing as soon as the help sought was obtained. He was enabled by faith and hope to give glory to Him when he was seeking for mercy and grace from Him, and to praise Him for mercy in prospect though not yet in possession.
II. Help in trouble granted by God. Verily God hath heard me; He hath attended to the voice of my prayer. The Psalmist had received from God a favourable answer to his prayer. The help which he had sought God granted unto him. The answer to his prayer may be regarded
1. As a proof of the uprightness of his heart. A fundamental condition of acceptable prayer is that the soul shall be sincere and free from secretly-cherished sin. As it is a settled and universal principle that God does not hear prayer when there is in the heart a cherished love and purpose of iniquity, so it follows that, if there is evidence that He has heard our prayers, it is proof that He has seen that our hearts are sincere, and that we truly desire to forsake all forms of sin.
2. As a result of his confidence in God. God always graciously hears and answers the prayer of faith. If we honour God by confidently anticipating His blessing, He will reward us by abundantly bestowing that blessing. In our dealings with Him trustful anticipation of His grace will ever lead to joyous celebration of His praise.
III. Help in trouble recounted to men. Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what He hath done for my soul. Notice
1. The invitation. Come and hear, and I will declare. It is natural for the heart rejoicing in some great deliverance granted, or some great blessing bestowed, to tell to others its glad experience. Because
(1) All great emotions seek expression. Thus the forgiven sinner longs to declare his gratitude and gladness, and thus to honour God.
(2) All godly souls seek to lead others into the possession of the privileges and joys which they have received. The genius of true religion is broad, liberal, generous.
2. The audience. All ye that fear God. Barnes: All who are true worshippers of Godthe idea of fear or reverence being put for worship in general. The call is on all who truly loved God to hear what He had done, in order that He might be suitably honoured, and that due praise might be given Him. The godly mans experience of the Divine mercy should be recounted to a fitting audience. Many of the experiences of the spiritual life are too tender and sacred to be communicated to any save sympathetic hearers.
3. The testimony. What He hath done for my soul. Much that is called religious experience and personal testimony is repulsively egotistic and conceitedthe narrative of the feelings and doings of small and selfish souls, too much given to morbid self-introspection. The world would be much the better if it were rid of such stuff completely and for ever. The Psalmist wishes to recount not what he has done, but what God has done for him. Here is a kind of testimony worth listening to. When you tell others of the guidances of God respecting your soul, take care lest some hypocrisy or self-love creep in, and that the glory of God be your only aim.
IV. Help in trouble acknowledged to God. I will go into Thy house with burnt offerings, &c. (Psa. 66:13-15; Psa. 66:20). This acknowledgment was characterised by
1. Faithfulness. I will pay Thee my vows, which my lips have uttered, &c. Note:
(1) The frequency with which vows are made in time of trouble.
(2) The frequency with which they are forgotten when the trouble is removed.
(3) The solemn obligation to fulfil them. God does not forget them, but waits their fulfilment. Both gratitude for the removal of the affliction, and faithfulness to the promise made, bind us to their fulfilment. The vows which he made in the night of adversity the Psalmist fulfils in the day of prosperity.
2. Comprehensiveness. I will go into Thy house with burnt offerings; I will offer unto Thee burnt sacrifices of fatlings, with the incense of rams; I will offer bullocks, with goats. Blessed be God which hath not turned away my prayer, nor His mercy from me. He resolves to offer fat lambs and bullocks with rams and goats, and to offer them as burnt sacrifices to be wholly consumed to the honour of God. He will present sacrifices in all the forms required in worship; in all the forms that will express gratitude to God, or that will be an acknowledgment of dependence and guilt; in all that would properly express homage to the Deity. And He presents the offering of praise as well as of gifts. Both material and spiritual sacrifices he presented unto God.
3. Heartiness. Hengstenberg: The full enumeration of the animals to be offered in sacrifice, shows the zeal with which the thanks and the offerings are given. Renschel: A noble thanksgiving is due to a great benefit. Great mercies should be acknowledged in fervent and hearty praise.
King of glory, King of peace,
I will love Thee:
And that love may never cease,
I will move Thee.
Thou hast granted my request,
Thou hast heard me:
Thou didst note my working breast,
Thou hast spared me.
Wherefore with my utmost art
I will sing Thee,
And the cream of all my heart
I will bring Thee.
Though my sins against me cried,
Thou didst clear me;
And alone, when they replied,
Thou didst hear me.
Sevn whole days, not one in seven,
I will praise Thee.
In my heart, though not in heaven,
I can raise Thee.
Small it is, in this poor sort
To enroll Thee:
Evn eternity is too short
To extol Thee.Gea. Herbert.
THE EXPERIENCE OF A GODLY MAN
(Psa. 66:16-20.)
I. The godly man is anxious to impart his experience to others. Come and hear.
1. His confession is volunteered, not enforced. There is nothing here to justify that spiritual inquisition which some have sought to establish in the Romish confessional, or its Anglican imitations.
2. Spiritual experiences should be told at suitable times. Come and hear. It is wrong to parade soul matters at unseasonable times. Many have brought religion into disrepute by preaching when they ought to have simply and unostentatiously practised its precepts.
3. Spiritual experience should be addressed to congenial hearers. All ye that fear God. We should remember that spiritual things can be comprehended only by the spiritually-minded.
4. Spiritual experiences should be strictly personal. What He hath done for my soul. In this matter we may properly talk about ourselves without egotism. Much that has obtained currency for experience, has been either fiction, or religious scandal.
II. The godly mans experience includes both penitence and praise.
1. He has to tell of sin mourned over. I cried unto Him. This is just the language that would describe the outburst of a penitent soul.
2. He has to tell of trouble endured. The trouble has been greater than he could bear; it has been more than he could fight against; hence he has cried to One higher than he.
3. He has to tell of mercies received. He was extolled with my tongue. This He has done for my soul: I sinned, and He forgave me; I was in trouble, and He helped me. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard, &c.
III. The godly mans logic. If I regard iniquity, &c. The purport of the Christians story isnot that he has not sinned; but that God has forgiven the iniquity of his sin, and has given him grace to overcome sin. Whosoever is born of God sinneth not. The Christians argument is this: If I cherish sin in my heart, God will not hear my prayer. But God has heard me. Therefore it is clear that His grace has been effective in my heart in subduing the power of sin. The answered prayer is the proof that I have been enabled by grace to overcome sin.
IV. The godly mans experience always culminates in a song of praise. Even when he has most plainly established his innocence, he ascribes the glory to God, whose mercy has not been withdrawn, and who still hears and answers prayer. This closing song implies three things
1. That Gods mercy is continuous; else iniquity would prevail, and be cherished in the heart.
2. That God hears prayer unweariedly.
3. That the disposition to pray is also Gods gift.The Homiletic Quarterly.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Psalms 66
DESCRIPTIVE TITLE
Invitation to All the Earth to Join in Israels Song of Praise.
ANALYSIS
Stanza I., Psa. 66:1-4, Invitation based on Display of Divine Power. Stanza II., Psa. 66:5-7, Examples of Gods Ancient Doings, leading up to bis Abiding Rule. Stanza III., Psa. 66:8-12, Renewed Invitation based on Recent Deliverance. Stanza IV., Psa. 66:13-15, Individual Resolve to Fulfil Personal Vows. Stanza V., Psa. 66:16-20, a Record of Personal Experience.
(Lm.)SongPsalm
1
Shout unto God all the earth,
2
celebrate in psalm[708] the glory of his name,
[708] Or: make melody unto.
establish ye the glory of[709] his praise.
[709] So it shd. be (w. Aram., Syr.)Gn.
3
Say unto GodHow fear-inspiring are thy works![710]
[710] Or: doings.
through the abounding of thy power will thy foes come cringing unto thee[711];
[711] Or: feign obedience unto thee. Cp. for same significant word, Psa. 18:44 (2Sa. 22:45), Psa. 81:1.
4
All the earth will bow down to thee and make melody unto thee,
will celebrate in psalm thy name.
5
Come and see the doings of God,[712]
[712] Cp. Psa. 46:8.
Fear-inspiring is he in act towards the sons of men:
6
He turned the sea into dry land,
through a stream passed they on foot,
there let us be glad in him!
7
Ruling in his might to the ages
his eyes over the nations keep watch:
as for the rebellious let them not show exultation against him!
8
Bless O ye peoples our God,[713]
[713] Some cod. (w. Aram., Syr.) simply: GodGn.
and cause to be heard the sound of his praise:
9
Who hath set our soul[714] among the living,
[714] Some cod. (w. 7 ear. pr. edns): souls (pl.)Gn.
and not suffered to slip our foot,[715]
[715] Some cod. (w. 3 ear. pr. edns.): feetGn.
10
Surely thou hast tried us O God,
hast refined us like the refining of silver:
11
Thou didst bring us into the net;
didst lay a heavy load[716] on our loins,
[716] Or: constraintBr. and others.
12
didst let mere men ride over our head,[717]
[717] Some cod. (w. 3 ear. pr. edns., Sep., Vul.): heads (pl.)Gn. Cp. Isa. 51:23.
we came into fire and into water;
and then thou didst bring us forth into a spacious place.[718]
[718] So it could be (w. Aram., Sep., Syr., Vul.). Cp, Psa. 18:19Gn.
13
I will enter thy house with ascending-sacrifices,
I will render unto thee my vows,
14
What my lips uttered,
and my mouth spake in the strait I was in:
15
Ascending sacrifices of failings will I cause to ascend unto thee,
with the perfume of rams:
I will offer cattle with he-goats.
16
Come hearken and let me tell all ye that fear God
what he hath done for me:[719]
[719] ML: my soul, but undoubtedly Br. is right: The naphshi is as usual a poetic expression for the person, and does not refer to the soul as distinguished from the body. Notwithstanding, the definition of Dr. is apt: a pathetic circumlocution for the personal pronounDr. PP. Glos. I.
17
Unto him with my mouth did I cry,
with high praise under my tongue,[720]
[720] Ready to burst forth in speechBr.
18
Iniquity[721] had I cared for in my heart
[721] NaughtinessDr.
my sovereign Lord had not heard,
19
In truth God hath heard,
hath attended to the voice of my prayer.
20
Blessed be God
who hath not turned away my prayer (from before him[722]),
[722] Cp. Psa. 88:2; Psa. 88:13, Psa. 102:1, Psa. 119:170. This personification of prayer, as coming in before God, helps to explain the one application of the verb rendered turned away to both mans prayer and Gods kindness.
nor his kindness from being with me.
(Lm.) To the Chief Musician. (CMm.) With stringed instruments.
PARAPHRASE
Psalms 66
Sing to the Lord, all the earth!
2
Sing of His glorious name! Tell the world how wonderful He is.
3
How awe-inspiring are Your deeds, O God! How great Your power! No wonder Your enemies surrender!
4
All the earth shall worship You and sing of Your glories.
5
Come, see the glorious things God has done. What marvelous miracles happen to His people!
6
He made a dry road through the sea for them. They went across on foot. What excitement and joy there was that day!
7
Because of His great power He rules forever. He watches every movement of the nations. O rebel lands, He will deflate your pride.
8
Let everyone bless God and sing His praises,
9
For He holds our lives in His hands! And He holds our feet to the path!
10
You Wave purified us with fire,[723] O Lord, like silver in a crucible.
[723] Implied.
11
You captured us in Your net and laid great burdens on our backs.
12
You sent troops to ride across our broken bodies.[724] We went through fire and flood. But in the end, You brought us into wealth and great abundance.
[724] Literally, You caused men to ride over our heads.
13
Now I have come to Your Temple with burnt-offerings to pay my vows.
14
For when I was in trouble I promised You many offerings.
15
That is why I am bringing You these fat he-goats, rams and calves. The smoke of their sacrifice shall rise before You.
16
Come and hear, all of you who reverence the Lord, and I will tell you what He did for me:
17
For I cried to Him for help, with praises ready on my tongue.
18
He would not have listened if I had not confessed my sins.
19
But He listened! He heard my prayer! He paid attention to it!
20
Blessed be God who didnt turn away when I was praying, and didnt refuse me His kindness and love.
EXPOSITION
Instead of speaking of this psalm as composite (w. Br.), it would probably be more accurate to term it various, passing from scene to scene, from the remote past to the recent past, and from the nation to the individual; but threaded through with a clear and strong principal of unity; namely, the inspiring occasion that gave it birth. The overthrow of the Assyrians, and simultaneously therewith the recovery of King Hezekiah from sickness, form a cluster of events worthy of being the occasion to inspire this beautiful and significant psalm. It is indeed Israels song of praise; but all nations are invited to join in singing it, and to make Israels joys their own. The spirit of prophecy which inspired the predictions of Isaiah, Micah, and others, pulsates strongly throughout this song, imparting to it an outlook and an onlook adapted to justify it more effectively than a mere foreglance at immediately following events in Israel could have done. Its companion psalms are notably the 46th and 47th; and its ultimate sphere of fulfilment is nothing less than that manifest dominion of Jehovah, under the person of the Returned Messiah, which is the burden of prophecy, and which alone, from among all known or foretold combinations of events, supplies the conditions needed for the complete realisation of this psalm. Never during the Monarchy prior to the Exile, never during the stand made by the Maccabees after the Exile, andneedless to saynever since, has there been such a conjunction of events as could induce Israels foes, or Jehovahs foes, to come cringing unto Him, while Earth as a whole was singing and harping to his name. Least of all, with any show of New Testament sanction, can cringing foes, feigning an obedience they dare not withhold, be regarded as possessing the essential qualifications for membership in the Christian Church. No: in its ultimate outlook, this is a song for the Coming Kingdom; while nevertheless the inspiration to compose it, and begin singing it, sprang, under God, from the significant deliverance in Hezekiahs days, a deliverance adumbrative of a larger deliverance from Antichrists dread domination.
But, clear as is the general outlook of the psalm, there meet us in the study of it a few minor difficulties which it were to be wished could be removed; though possibly, since they may be due to accidents of transmission, they may for the present have to remain unresolved. In any case it will repay us to endeavour to trace the changeful current of thought as it passes from stanza to stanza: before attempting which however, it may frankly be admitted that the stanzical division itself cannot probably be placed beyond question, without resorting to drastic changes and excisions for which we are by no means prepared; though happily the Selahs [
]), and the evident changes of person in the speaker, go some way to supply the defect. Submitting our division of the psalm as tentative and practical only, we proceed.
In Stanza I., an invitation is boldly given to all the earth, to join in the public worship of God, by the employment of the teruah, or sacred shout, the lute or lyre as leading in song, and therefore in accompanying words; and so, by shouting and harping and singing (implied) to the glory of Gods name, to establish the glory of his praise on a basis of worldwide faith and unison. Words are then suggested for use in such worship by the formula: Say unto God; and the tenor of the words which follow shows two things: first that some fearful manifestation of Divine Power has recently been witnessed in the earth; and second, that, while foes will come crestfallen in submission, the earth as a whole will, to all appearance, join heartily in the praise.
In Stanza II., the mighty deeds of God are still the theme; but now, by examples from history, the past is called on for its testimony; which it renders by (probably two) conspicuous specimens, the one at the Red Sea, and the other at the Jordan. It cannot, indeed, be dogmatically affirmed that there are two events, rather than a duplicated narration of the one great event when Pharaoh was overthrown; but, in favour of including both passages through water, may be urged: that thereby the entire transfer of the nation into the promised land is comprehended; and more especially that thereby a point of connection is provided for the following line, which has given critics some trouble: There let us be glad in him. If the one journey out of Egypt into Canaan has been covered by the two lines preceding, then this line may be taken to apply to the Holy Land itself. Therenamely in the land so reached, equivalent to HERE, in our own land, into which we were so miraculously brought; HERE, in our own land in which we again realise that we are a free people now that the invading Assyrians have disappeared, let us be glad in him: with the old joy renewed. Otherwise, if both the preceding lines refer to the transit through the Red Sea, then the line following ought to have read, as in most English versions: There were we made glad in him; which would indeed have brightly suggested the song of Miriam, but is strongly represented by Perowne as an ungrammatical rendering of the Hebrew word. It is barely possible that, in the ancient risks of copying, the whole line has been accidentally brought back from (say) the end of Psa. 66:12, where slightly modified into Here let us be glad in theeHere, in this spacious place, it might well have stood; but, meantime, the previous suggestion is submitted to thoughtful readers: Therein the land so miraculously given to us (and now afresh made our own)let us be glad in him.
However this small difficulty may be disposed ofand small relatively it certainly isit is evident that the transit through sea and stream (or through the sea regarded as the same as the stream) is but a stepping-stone to the larger thought of the age-abiding rule of God. His work for Israel was not then ended, when he so brought Israel into this delightful land: he continues to care for Israel, and therefore His eyes over the nations still keep watch; first, for Israels sake; but second, also to their own good; for only the rebellious among them have need to beware of exalting themselves against Israels God.
In Stanza III., we perceive the inspiring spirit going forth to the non-Israelitish nations with new and stronger impulse, in order to impress upon them this lesson: that Israels history is theirs, Israels deliverances are ultimately fraught with blessing for them. Hence, now, this recent Divine interposition is brought forward and elaborated in seven lines of graphic life and power, which need no detailed comment. They are Hezekiahs reading of the event of the Assyrian invasionthe reading also of all the godly in Israelin respect of the disciplinary improvement it was hoped would follow from that invasion and that deliverance. It was hoped that the nation was refined as silver is refined through the fire; and so undoubtedly, in a measure, it was. Nor did Israel only profit: even Gentile nations are still being instructed by those thrilling and exemplary events.
And now at length, in Stanza IV., there steps into view an INDIVIDUAL, whom we instantly recognize as Hezekiah himself. We know that Hezekiahs heart was set on going up to the house of Jehovah, when his sickness should be ended (Isa. 38:22) ; we know also the liberality of the provision of sacrifices which he made on other occasions (2Ch. 29:20-35); and therefore we instinctively feel that the resolution which is amplified in this stanza is like him and worthy of him. The most liberal offerings which he could now make would not be more than commensurate with his abounding gratitude.
And, finally, in the last stanza of the psalm, we are invited to hear him tell the story of his prayer in his sickness. He does not indeed tell us all. He makes no mention of the nature of his sickness. That is was nothing less than leprosy, we have already learned incidentally from various sources: that, however, he does not here divulge. Nevertheless, his language betokens that his complaint was of grave import, moving him to earnest supplication; and two additional touches enhance the interest of this his personal reminiscence: there was faith in his outcry, and no allowance of iniquity marred his prayer. There was faith; for this, cherished in a warmth of rising gratitude, is what is implied by the highly poetic representation: With high praise under my tongueprayer on the tongue, praise under it! And there was a sincere renunciation of evil (2Ki. 20:3, 2Ch. 32:26, Isa. 38:3). Had he cloaked iniquity, or still tolerated in his heart an inclination towards it, his prayer would not have been heard. But his prayer has been heardthe leprosy has been removed; and so the happy event confirms the clear consciousness of renunciation of sin.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1.
Read Isa. 36:1 to Isa. 38:22. In these chapters of Isaiah we probably have the historical setting for this psalm. Particularly notice Isa. 37:20, as compared with the first four verses of this psalm. Psa. 66:16-20 compare well with Hezekiahs sickness and recovery as related in Isa. 38:1-22.,
2.
There are two distinct partsone choral, Psa. 66:1-12; the other solo, Psa. 66:13-20 (both to be sung in the Temple). Notice the change of pronouns we and our in Psa. 66:1-12. I and my in Psa. 66:13-20. What is the purpose of the five Selahs used in this psalm?
3.
We could well outline the first half of the psalm: (1) The God of all, Psa. 66:1-4; (2) The God of Israel, Psa. 66:5-7; (3) The God of Israel is the God of all, Psa. 66:8-12; (After Graham Scroggie). Answer the following questions on this section: (a) All the earth should praise Godwill there ever be a time when it will be a reality? When? How? (b) Why mention the crossing of the
Red Sea and the Jordan? (c) The God for all is revealed
in these verses (Psa. 66:8-12) as one who: (1) disciplines (2) delivers. Show where these two thoughts are developed.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(1) Make a joyful noise.Better, sing aloud, or shout.
All ye lands.The margin is better.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
1. All ye lands Literally, all the earth, as in Psa 66:4. The call is universal.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Heading.
‘For the Chief Musician. A Song, a Psalm.’
This Psalm is dedicated to the Chief Musician or Choirmaster. It probably indicates that it has been adapted for Temple worship. It is described as both a song and a Psalm, but it is noteworthy that no reference is made to authorship. The dedication of anonymous Psalms to the Chief Musician was rare (only this and Psalms 67). The situation in life for the Psalm was probably the amazing deliverance of Jerusalem from the armies of Sennacherib, for it clearly indicates connection with a great deliverance and a short, sharp shock. If this was so the Psalm is written in the time of Hezekiah. Others have, however, suggested that it reflects the deliverance from Exile, in which case we would have to date it after 520 BC, for it refers to the Temple as a going concern (Psa 66:13-15). But the impression that the people who are delivered are also those who had directly suffered calamity is against this attribution, whilst there is no indication of exile.
A feature of the Psalm is that the first part (Psa 66:1-12) is in the plural, and clearly has in mind the whole congregation of Israel, whilst the last part (Psa 66:13-20) is in the singular. This may suggest:
1) That the speaker in the last part was the king acting as intercessor for the people, as a priest after the intercessory order of Melchizedek (Psa 110:4). Kings regularly described the activities of their subjects in terms of themselves. If the situation was as we have suggested that king would be Hezekiah, and we have an example of his intercessory status in Isa 37:1; Isa 37:14-20, compare Isaiah 38.
2) That the first part is a general call to praise sung by the choir, or spoken out by a priest in authority, and that in the second part the people then respond as individuals, each speaking on his own behalf. The second part would then be seen as a personal and total response in gratitude by the whole assembly, each speaking as an individual (compare how in a modern service we can switch from the general to the personal when each of us recites the Nicene Creed in the first person, although saying the creed together as one people). Priests or Levites might stand among them leading this personal worship line by line so that each would know what to pray (compareNeh 8:7-8), although if it was regularly used it would soon be known by heart.
3) That the singular ‘I’ represented the whole people of Israel seen as one, thus lacking the sense of individualisation found in 2). Against this is the question as to why such a change of tense should suddenly take place.
Note On The Priesthood After The Order Of Melchizedek.
When David captured Jerusalem using his own men it became his possession. It became ‘the city of David’, and was regularly seen as separate from Israel and Judah (see e.g. Isa 1:1; Isa 2:1; Isa 3:1; Isa 8:14; Jer 19:3; Jer 27:21; Jer 35:13; Zec 1:19; Mat 3:5). In Jerusalem there would appear to have been a priesthood ‘after the order of Melchizedek’ (compare Gen 14:18). This would have been exercised by the priest-king of Jerusalem. Thus David by right of being king in Jerusalem inherited that priesthood. It was seen as an eternal priesthood (Psa 110:4), and it was as such that he would be honoured by the Jebusite inhabitants of Jerusalem. But by virtue of the fact that only the Levitical priesthood was acceptable to Israel as a sacrificing priesthood, the priesthood after the order of Melchizedek had necessarily to become an intercessory priesthood. This explains why David’s sons could be called ‘priests’ (2Sa 8:18 literally). It was a priesthood which continued in the time of the writing of Psalms 110 (see Psa 66:4). It was taken quite seriously, which was why the king would regularly take on himself the responsibility of interceding for the whole people without being seen as usurping the position of the Levitical priests. Consider David in 2Sa 24:10; 2Sa 24:17; Solomon in 1 Kings 8; Hezekiah in Isa 37:1; Isa 37:14-20; and David’s and Solomon’s intercessory Psalms. Consider also the special position of ‘the Prince’ in Ezekiel’s Temple (Eze 44:3; Eze 45:16-17; Eze 46:2; Eze 46:4-8; Eze 46:10; Eze 46:12). It was this priesthood that devolved on Jesus as the son of David (Heb 6:20).
End of note.
Significant is the fact that this Psalm is not headed ‘for David’. If Hezekiah was seen as its author (compare his Psalmic prayer in Isaiah 38) this might be seen as militating against the idea that ‘for David’ merely indicated someone of the Davidic line, for then Hezekiah’s authorship could have been seen as ‘for David’.
The theme of the Psalm is clear. Initially, speaking on behalf of the people, the Psalmist reminds the nations of the past actions of God on Israel’s behalf, something which demonstrates God’s sovereignty, and then goes on to praise Him for a special deliverance. After this the king (or high priest, or even the people, each speaking as an individual) takes over and deals with the question of the ritual response to God’s goodness. If it is the king who responds then, as the one who sums up the people in himself, he promises the performing of vows made at the time of trial, and outlines the offerings and sacrifices that will be made. And then again on behalf of his people he declares what God has done for him by answering his intercession. Great stress is laid on the importance of a guileless heart when approaching God. Throughout the ancient East kings were seen as playing an important role in ritual activity as representatives of the whole people, so it would not be unusual for the King of Israel (Judah), to share the same role.
If this is so the Psalm well exemplifies the connection between king and people in Israel’s thinking. All the people (or at least the assembled males) initially offer their worship, and then the king as summing up the people in himself, deals with the ritual side of things. When saying ‘I’ he would be instinctively aware that he was speaking on behalf of all (‘I’ as embodying the people), for he embodied all that they were. To us it may seem strange, but to Israel it would seem perfectly natural. What seems to us to be a startling contrast was to them not a contrast at all. The whole people saw themselves as a composite unity, and the king as summing them up in himself. As the Anointed of YHWH he was their life (see Lam 4:20). This was preparing the way for the concept of all true Christians as members of one body (1Co 6:15-17; 1Co 10:16-17; 1Co 12:12 ff.), summed up in the One Whose body it is, and with Whom we are made one, our Lord Jesus Christ (1Co 10:17; 1Co 12:12-13). As the body of Christ we are united with Him and made one with Him. We are not separated from Him as though He were the head in Heaven and we the headless body on earth. In 1 Corinthians 12 the head is part of the body.
Alternately the idea may of general worship and gratitude for deliverance, followed up by each individual Israelite personalising the deliverance and declaring what his response will be. (Compare how in our worship services we may pray in unison as ‘we’, and then individually recite the Apostle’s Creed as ‘I’).
The Psalm may be divided up as follows:
PART 1). GOD’S CALL TO THE NATIONS ( Psa 66:1-11 ).
This consists of:
o a) A Call For The Whole Earth To Praise And Worship, And To Express Appreciation of God, In View Of The Deliverance That He Has Accomplished (Psa 66:1-4).
o b) A Call For Them To Remember And Take Note Of What God Has Done For His People In The Past (Psa 66:5-6).
o c) A Warning To The Nations To Remember In The Light Of His Historic Activity That He Is Observing Them (Psa 66:7).
o d) A Call To The Nations To Take Note Of The Wonderful Deliverance From A Disastrous Experience That His People Have Experienced (Psa 66:8-12).
PART 2). ISRAEL’S GRATEFUL RESPONSE TO GOD’S DELIVERANCE REVEALED IN OFFERINGS AND THE FULFILMENT OF VOWS, AND A CALL FOR CONSIDERATION OF GOD’S FAITHFULNESS IN ANSWERING PRAYER ( Psa 66:13-20 ).
This consists of:
o a) Deliverance Having Been Accomplished Each Individual In Israel (Or The King As The Representative Of His People) Approaches God And Glories In The Ways In Which He Himself Will Express His Gratitude Ritually Through Offerings And The Fulfilment Of Vows (Psa 66:13-15).
o b) A Call To Consider The Way In Which God Has Answered His (or their) Prayer Because His (their) Heart Was Right Towards God (Psa 66:16-20).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
PART 1.
1). God’s Call To The Nations ( Psa 66:1-11 ). a) A Call For The Whole Earth To Praise And Worship, And To Express Appreciation of God, In View Of The Deliverance That He Has Accomplished ( Psa 66:1-4 ).
‘Make a joyful noise (or ‘shout’) to God,
All the earth,
Sing forth the glory of his name,
Make his praise glorious.’
When a king returned in honour after victory over his enemies all the people would give joyful shouts of victory and acclamation as they welcomed him. Indeed it was incumbent upon them. So here all the nations of the world are called on to make such a joyful noise, as God, as it were, returns in victory. They are to sing forth His glorious Name, and His triumphs which gave Him that Name, and give Him splendid and overwhelming praise in accordance with what He deserves. He is to be given the honour due to His Name.
Psa 66:3-4
‘ Say to God, “How terrible are your works!
Through the greatness of your power will your enemies submit themselves to you,
All the earth will worship you, and will sing to you,
They will sing to your name. [Selah.’
The peoples are even told what to say. They are to declare how awesome are His works, amazing beyond belief, and terrible for those on whom they were perpetrated and in the eyes of the onlookers. They are to recognise that so great and awesome is His power that it will continually make His enemies submit to Him. And as a consequence the whole world will of necessity worship Him, and sing to Him, and sing to His Name. When Sennacherib returned from besieging Jerusalem to Assyria leaving behind an unconquered Jerusalem, the whole world would have been amazed. Who was this God Who had ensured that Judah remained unbowed and unbroken, when all the other nations in the conspiracy had fallen before Him? And the humiliation of their common enemy Assyria would indeed have filled them with rejoicing, and praise towards the God Who had done this. Note that they sing to His Name, the Name that has been established on the basis of what He has done.
‘Selah.’ A break in the music, or a loud crescendo, indicating ‘Pause, and think of that.’
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Psalms 66
Psa 66:10 For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us, as silver is tried.
Psa 66:10
1Pe 1:7, “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:”
Psa 66:13-14 Comments We are to Fulfill our Vows – How often we have promised God that we would do something if he would just deliver us this once. God expects us to fulfill our vows (Ecc 5:2-7). As a kid in school, several times when trouble came, I would promise to serve God if he would help me through the trouble. He always did.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Thanksgiving for the Miracles of God’s Deliverance.
v. 1. Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands, v. 2. Sing forth the honor of His name, v. 3. Say unto God, How terrible, v. 4. All the earth shall worship Thee, v. 5. Come and see the works of God, v. 6. He turned the sea into dry land, v. 7. He ruleth by His power forever, v. 8. O bless our God, ye people, and make the voice of His praise to be heard, v. 9. which holdeth our soul in life, v. 10. For Thou, O God, hast proved us, v. 11. Thou broughtest us into the net, v. 12. Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads, v. 13. will go into Thy house with burnt offerings, v. 14. which my lips have uttered, v. 15. I will offer unto Thee burnt sacrifices of fatlings, v. 16. Come and hear, all ye that fear God, v. 17. I cried unto Him with my mouth, v. 18. If I regard iniquity in my heart, v. 19. but, verily, God hath heard me, v. 20. Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
THIS is another song of thanksgiving, and is connected with a special deliverance (Psa 66:10-12). The composer is about to offer a sacrifice to God in his holy place, in performance of a vow which he had made when he was in trouble (Psa 66:13-15), and has prepared the psalm as a liturgical formula to be used on the occasion. It is an ode in four strophes: an opening one of four versesa simple rendering of praise (Psa 66:1-4); then a short strophe of three verses, celebrating God’s might against his enemies (Psa 66:5-7); next a statement in general terms of the deliverance experienced, and a description of the sacrifices to be offered for it (Psa 66:8-15); and finally an address to the people, calling on them to “hearken”together with a protestation of sincerity, and an appeal to God as witnessing to it (Psa 66:16-20). The psalm, not being ascribed to David in the “title,” and having no especial traces of his manner, is generally assigned to a later Judaean king, as Ass, Jehoshaphat, or Hezekiah.
Psa 66:1
Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands; literally, all the earthan invitation to the whole world to join in the joy of Israel, wherein they too are interested (comp. Psa 60:2, Psa 60:5).
Psa 66:2
Sing forth the honour of his Name; rather, the glory of his Name. Make his praise glorious; or, recognize his glory in your praise of him; i.e. do not merely thank him for his kindness to you personally, but magnify him for his greatness and majesty.
Psa 66:3
Say unto God, How terrible art thou in thy works! rather, How terrible are thy works! God’s deliverances, while rejoicing the persecuted, are “terrible” to the persecutors. Through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee. God’s enemies, compelled against their will, have to submit themselves, but it is a feigned submission (comp. Psa 76:12).
Psa 66:4
All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee; they shall sing to thy Name (see above, Psa 66:1, and compare the passages quoted in the comment ad loc.). Dr. Kay notes that “the universality of the Church is clearly contemplated” in all the psalms from Psa 65:1-13 to Psa 68:1-35.
Psa 66:5
Come and see the works of God. Contemplate, i.e; the terrible “works of God,” spoken of in Psa 66:3. See how, to save his people, he has to smite their enemies. Truly, on such occasions, he is terrible in his doing toward the children of men (compare the next verse for an example).
Psa 66:6
He turned the sea into dry land: they went through the flood on foot; there did we rejoice in him. The passage of the Red Sea at the time of the Exodus was one of the most wonderful of God’s works. To the Israelites it was altogether a matter of joy and rejoicing (see Exo 15:1-21). But how terrible a thing was it to the Egyptians! “The waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them” (Exo 14:28).
Psa 66:7
He ruleth by his power forever; his eyes behold (or, observe) the nations. God keeps perpetual watch upon the heathen nations, whose general attitude is that of hostility to his “peculiar people,” lest his people should suffer at their hands. Although they may professedly be submissive (Psa 66:3), their submission is not to be depended on. Let not the rebellious exalt themselves. At any time rebellion may break out, his people be attacked, and “the nations” endeavour to “exalt themselves.” All such attempts, however, will be in vain, since “by his power God ruleth forever.”
Psa 66:8-15
Here we reach the heart of the psalm. The people are called upon to praise God for a recent deliverance from a long period of severe affliction and oppression at the hand of enemies (Psa 66:8-12), and to join in the sacrifices which are about to be offered to God in payment of the vows made during the time of trouble (Psa 66:13-15). As the writer ascribes to himself both the making of the vows and the offering of the sacrifices, he must have been the leader of the nation at the time of the oppression and of the deliverance.
Psa 66:8
O bless our God, ye people; literally, ye peoplesbut the plural form here can scarcely point to the “nations,” who have just been called, not ‘ammim, but goim (see Psa 66:7). And make the voice of his praise to be heard (comp. Psa 33:3; cf. 5). The heartiness of the soul’s devotion was made apparent by the loudness of the voice.
Psa 66:9
Which holdeth our soul in life; rather, which setteth (or, hath set) our soul in lifeimplying a previous condition of great danger. And suffereth not our feet to be moved. In allusion, perhaps, to a threatened captivity.
Psa 66:10
For thou, O God, hast proved us. The calamity bad been sent as a trial, to prove and purify (comp. Psa 7:9; Psa 11:5). Thou hast tried us, as silver is tried (comp. Psa 12:6; Pro 17:3; Pro 25:4; Isa 1:22, Isa 1:25; Isa 48:10; Zec 13:9; Mal 3:3). Silver, according to ancient methods, required a prolonged process of refining before it could be pronounced pure. The calamity under which Israel had suffered had been of long duration.
Psa 66:11
Thou broughtest us into the net. Professor Cheyne translates “into the dungeon.” But m‘tsudah has nowhere else this meaning. It is always either “a net” or “a stronghold.” Thou laidst affliction upon oar loins; or, a sore burden (Revised Version). The meaning is, “Thou crushedst us down under a heavy weight of oppression.”
Psa 66:12
Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads. See the Egyptian and Assyrian sculptures passim, where the king in his chariot gallops over the bodies of his dead and wounded enemies. We went through fire and through water; i.e. through dangers of every kinda proverbial expression (comp. Isa 43:2). But thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place; or, “a place of refreshment” ( , LXX.). Dr. Kay renders, “a place of rich comfort;” Professor Cheyne, “a place of liberty” (comp. Psa 23:4 and Jer 31:25).
Psa 66:13
I will go into thy house with burnt offerings; I will pay thee my vows. In the old world the strict performance of vows was always held to be one of the main obligations of religion. A vow was of the nature of a compact with God, and to break it was an act of flagrant dishonesty, from which men shrank. The Mosaic Law sanctioned vows of various kinds, as the vowing of children to the service of God (Le Psa 27:1-8; 1Sa 1:11); the vow of the Nazarite (Num 6:2-21); and vows of clean or unclean animals (Le Psa 27:9-13, 27-29), etc. Clean animals, when vowed, must be either redeemed or sacrificed. The importance of performing vows is borne frequent witness to by the psalmists (see Psa 22:25; Psa 1:1-6.14; Psa 56:12; Psa 61:8; Psa 65:1-13 :l; Psa 116:14, Psa 116:18; Psa 132:2).
Psa 66:14
Which my lips have uttered, and my mouth hath spoken, when I was in trouble. Vows were commonly made in a time of trouble, or, at any rate, of difficulty (see Jdg 11:30, Jdg 11:31; 1Sa 1:11).
Psa 66:15
I will offer unto thee burnt sacrifices of fatlings; i.e. of fatted beasts. With the incense of rams; i.e. the smoke, or savoury odour of rams. I will offer bullocks with goats; literally, I will preparei.e, dress for sacrifice (see 1Ki 18:23, 1Ki 18:26).
Psa 66:16-20
In conclusion, the psalmist calls on all pious Israelites to “hearken,” while he explains to them how it is that his prayers and vows have been so effectual. It has been because his prayers and vows proceeded from a sincere and honest heart, one which was free from “iniquity” (Psa 66:18). As Hengstenberg points out, this portion of the psalm is didactic, and inculcates the lesson “that there is no way of salvation except that of well doing.” God, by answering the psalmist’s prayer, and giving the deliverance for which he had entreated, had set his testimony to the fact of the psalmist’s integrity (Psa 66:19, Psa 66:20).
Psa 66:16
Come and hear, all ye that fear God. The address is scarcely to all that have any sense of religion anywhere, as Professor Cheyne suggests, but rather to the religious section of his own nationthe “righteous” or “godly” of other psalms. They are invited to draw near, and be received into the psalmist’s confidence. And I will declare what he hath done for my soul. What God had done for the psalmist was to give him confidence and assurance. He knew that his prayers would be ineffectual unless his heart was pure. God heard him, and then he became sure that he was free from the “great transgression” (Cheyne).
Psa 66:17
I cried unto him with my mouth, and he was extolled with my tongue; rather, and praise was under my tongue; i.e. I was so confident of being heard that a song of praise was already in my mouth, on the point of bursting forth.
Psa 66:18
If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. This is the inward conviction of every simple, unsophisticated soul. It is confirmed by numerous passages of Holy Writ (Job 27:9; Job 31:27; Pro 15:29; Pro 28:9; Isa 1:15; Zec 7:13; Joh 9:31, etc.).
Psa 66:19
But verily God hath heard me. The psalmist’s prayer had been answered so unmistakably, so directly, that he could not doubt of the result, which had been brought about, being the consequence of his vows and supplications (Psa 66:13, Psa 66:14). He hath attended to the voice of my prayer. Strange as it might seem to be that God had attended to the voice of a man (Job 7:17; Psa 8:4; Psa 144:3; Jas 5:14-18), yet so it was; the psalmist did not and could not doubt it.
Psa 66:20
Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me. The psalm of thanksgiving appropriately concludes with a special blessing of God by the psalmist, who felt that such especial mercy had been shown to himself (Psa 66:16-20).
HOMILETICS
Psa 66:5
Holy fear a reasonable element of true spiritual worship.
“Come and see,” etc. Joy and terror seem so diverse and contrary, that one might seem to shut out the other. Yet this psalm, which opens with a note of exultant joy, follows it with a note of terror (Psa 66:1-3). So in Psa 2:11, “Rejoice with trembling.”
I. AS INSPIRED BY GOD‘S CHARACTER AND GLORY. “Perfect love casteth out fear.” “Ye have not received,” etc. (1Jn 4:18; Rom 8:15; 2Ti 1:7). But there is a fear which love does not cast out, which is not tormenting or slavish, but salutary and akin to “a sound mind.” To contemplate the infinite greatness, majesty, power, wisdom, and eternal unchangeableness of God, and the fact that we and all creatures live, move, and have our being in him, with no emotion of profound awe and sacred fear, argues rather clodlike insensibility than childlike confidence. Hence in so many passages, “the fear of the Lord” stands for the whole of true piety. The word here (Psa 2:3, Psa 2:5) translated “terrible,” and in very many other passages, is elsewhere rendered “reverend,” or “to be had in reverence” (Psa 111:9; Psa 89:7).
II. GOD‘S DEALINGS. “Terrible things in righteousness” (Psa 65:5). These especially referred to here (Psa 2:3-5). As the cloud which gave light to Israel in their flight was darkness to their pursuers, so the redemption of Israel involved the destruction of their tyrants. They trembled as they rejoiced (Exo 14:30, Exo 14:31). God’s holiness must needs have a severe side of justice, as well as a gracious side of redeeming mercy. The cross reveals both. Christ would not have “died for our sins,” but that “the wages of sin is death.” As the psalmist says of the Egyptian plagues, the Red Sea and Sinai, so we, of the cross, and of the place where the Lord lay, “Come and see!”
III. THE SENSE OF OUR OWN UNWORTHINESS AND SIN. (See Job 42:5, Job 42:6; Isa 6:5; Luk 5:8.) To this is sometimes added personal experience of troubles in which faith and joy find it hard to stand ground against terror and despair (Psa 2:10-12; 2Co 1:8, 2Co 1:9). Yet the outcome is to be joy in God. “There did we rejoice” (Psa 2:6); or, as margin of Revised Version, “let us rejoice.” This is the strict translation, but has been set aside because of supposed difficulty as to meaning. But “Faith makes the past as well as the future her own” (Perowne). What the greatest heathen historian wished his work to be (Thuc; 1:22), is incomparably truer of the record of God’s mighty works for his Churchit is “a possession forever.”
PRACTICAL.
1. Holy fear must not lose its place in our religion.
2. But must not eclipse joy in God.
3. Faith must call memory to her aid, and joy and gratitude.
Psa 66:18
Prayer hindered by allowed sin.
“If I regard iniquity,” etc. If we read the text as in the margin of Revised Version, “If I had regarded God would not hear [or, ‘have heard’];”this makes no practical difference. It only substitutes a special for a general statement. The lesson taught is the sameSin allowed in the heart a fatal hindrance to our prayers being answered.
I. SIN CONSCIOUSLY INDULGED DISABLES FROM PRAYER. Inconsistent with that sincerity essential to the reality of prayer (1Jn 3:19-21). One has known men who were afterwards discovered to have been living in secret a wicked life, fluent in the language of what seemed fervent prayer. But such prayer is “abomination” (Pro 21:27; Pro 28:9). It is a fearful aggravation of guilt.
II. EVEN SINS IGNORANTLY, OR WITH PARTIAL KNOWLEDGE, indulged, put the spirit out of tune for prayer; grieve and quench the Holy Spirit, by whose teaching alone we can pray aright; put coldness between the heart and God.
III. SIN INDULGED HINDERS THE ANSWERS TO PRAYER.
1. By rendering us incapable of spiritual blessing. As long as David refused to confess his sin to God, forgiveness and spiritual joy were impossible (Psa 32:3-5).
2. By rendering it often unwise for God to grant the temporal blessings we ask. God could not grant David’s prayer for the life of his child, even after he had repented, because of the scandal his crimes had brought on religion (2Sa 13:1-39, etc.). All David’s great after troubles sprang from his sin. A Christian who has sinned, repented, and been forgiven is not to regard his troubles as punishmentexcept, indeed, that they may be sin’s inevitable fruit and consequence. But they may be a wise and needful, though merciful, chastisement (1Co 11:31, 1Co 11:32).
HOMILIES BY W. FORSYTH
Psa 66:1-20
God in history.
It has been said that “History is philosophy teaching by example;” but we are taught in the Psalms to take a higher view, and to recognize God in history. It is only as we do this that we can rejoice and give thanks.
I. GOD‘S HAND SHOULD BE SEEN IN HISTORY. First there is the call (verses 1, 2). Then the reason is given (verse 3). We are brought face to face with God. We are confronted with the awful manifestations of his power. The world is not a world of confusion and misrule, where we see only the working of human passion. Behind all is the hand of God. So it is still. Our Lord said, “My Father worketh hitherto.” If men everywhere were brought to this faith, that this is not a forsaken and fatherless world, but a world under the benign rule of God, they would bow their hearts in worship, and rejoice to sing praise to the Most High (verse 4).
II. GOD‘S SPECIAL DEALINGS WITH NATIONS SHOULD BE SEEN IN HISTORY. (Verses 5-7.) It is said of the ungodly, that “the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the operation of his hands” (Isa 5:12). But the psalmist was of a different spirit. He had seen much that had thrilled his heart with admiration and delight, and he would have others to enter into his joy. “Come and see the works of God” (verse 5). Israel may be called the model nation. As “a city set on a hill.” Israel has been set on high for the instruction of other nations and peoples (1Co 10:11). The principles and laws by which God governed and judged Israel are the principles and laws according to which he deals with his people everywhere, in all times and in all lands. God changes his methods, but not his laws. His dispensations alter, but he himself is the same. Hence his judgments of Israel and of the nations are full of instruction to us. Israel was the chosen people, “unto whom were committed the oracles of God” (Rom 3:2). God is represented as keeping guard over them. He was their Watchman, and his eye was ever on “the nations” (verse 7) around, ready to warn and defend his own people. Let us be sure that in like manner he is now standing in watch over the interests of truth and righteousness, and that he will overrule all things for the advancement of the kingdom of his Son (Eze 21:27).
III. GOD‘S GREAT MORAL PURPOSES SHOULD BE SEEN IN HISTORY. (Verses 8-20.)
1. First, we are called upon to bless God for our preservation. If one is taken and the other left, it is not without a reason. It is God that keeps both nations and individuals alive.
2. Further, we are taught that all trials are part of God‘s discipline. (Verses 10-12.) Even in the injustice, the oppression, and cruelty of men, we should discern the purposes of God. We are being educated by trial. When we see God’s love behind and over all, we learn to be patient and to hope to the end (Deu 8:1). The outcome of Israel’s trials was Canaan; and “there is a rest that remaineth for the people of God.”
3. Lastly, we are admonished how God works to bring us ever nearer to himself in love and service. What the psalmist did is an example to us.
(1) There should be renewed consecration. (Verses 13, 14.)
(2) There should be grateful and thorough obedience. (Verse 15.)
(3) There should be open and manly testimony. (Verse 16.)
(4) There should be more of prayer and more of praise. (Verses 18-20.)
“New mercies, each returning day,
Hover around us while we pray;
New perils past, new sins forgiven,
New thoughts of God, new hopes of heaven.
“Only, O Lord, in thy dear love
Fit us for perfect rest above;
And help us, this and every day,
To live more nearly as we pray.”
(Keble.)
W.F.
Psa 66:16
The best evidence for Christ.
It has been said that “the evidence for Christianity is not the evidences.” This may be true of much that is technically called “evidences;” but it is not true of the evidence brought before us here. Facts are facts. Effects must have sufficient causes. Godliness can only be rightly accounted for by being traced to God. Christianity witnesses for Christ. Wherever you find a man saved by Christ, there you have the best evidence for Christ.
I. THIS EVIDENCE IS THE MOST ACCESSIBLE. Like the facts of science, it is before our eyes. If you want to know the truth, “come and see.” As St. Paul argues, “the works of the flesh are manifest,“ and a black catalogue he gives of some of them. But the works of the Spirit are also manifest; and they are so contrary to the works of the flesh, that when a man changes his life, to walk, not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit, the evidence is conclusive as to the transcendent and beneficent power of Christ. The great conversions of St. Luke, as recorded in his Gospel and in the Acts, are evidences of the highest kind; but they are but samples. From that time down through the ages there is an ever-increasing cloud of witnesses. There is much evidence that is only accessible to the learned, and to such as have leisure and capacity for investigation; but here is evidence open to allclear, relevant, and unmistakable.
II. THIS EVIDENCE IS THE MOST CONVINCING. It is so to the individual Christian himself. There may be arguments you cannot answer, and difficulties and doubts you cannot remove; but if you have felt the power of Christ for good, you have proof which is better than all else, that Christ is from God (1Jn 5:10). You know the Bible to be true. You know salvation to be a reality. It is not something you have heard of or seen in others, but something which God has done for your own soul Like the man who had his sight restored, you can say, “Whereas I was blind, now I see.” Or like the woman healed of the issue of blood, you can, solicited by love, bear witness, even “before all the people” (Luk 8:47), as to the great things which Christ has done for you. This evidence is the most convincing to others besides ourselves. When we find a real change of mind, a transformation of character, a life made beautiful by self-denial and virtue where formerly it was otherwise, and self-ruled instead of Christ, we cannot but confess the hand of God (Gal 1:23; Act 4:13; 2Co 3:1; I Corinthians 14:21).
III. THIS EVIDENCE IS THE MOST ENDURING. It is not limited to one time; it runs through the ages. Here is the true apostolic succession, and it has never been broken. In spite of all opposition and hostility, Christianity lives and prevails. At home and abroad, in every department of business and in every kind of society, it has its witnesses. Wherever we go, we may find brethren in Christ; and when, like Paul, we meet them, perhaps, when we are in trouble or in unexpected places, let us thank God, and take courage (Act 28:14). Let us also, in our several places, see that we are found faithful. If we are called of God, it is that we may live for God. If we have been enlightened by Christ, it is that we may let our light shine where he has given us our lot. What an honour to be a witness for Christ! The more closely we imitate him by holy living, by faithful work, by loving service to the poor and needy, the greater shall be our power with God and men, and the greater our reward in heaven (Joh 20:21; Mat 19:28).W.F.
HOMILIES BY C. SHORT
Psa 66:1-4
Worship.
The psalm would seem to have been composed on the occasion of some special deliverance; but the expressions used are too general to indicate the time or the occasion of its being written.
I. THE WORSHIP OF GOD SHOULD BE JOYFUL AND FERVENT AS WELL AS SOLEMN. (Psa 66:1.) Love and reverence are the perfection of worship.
II. THE GLORY OF GOD‘S NATURE IS THE INSPIRATION OF ALL TRUE WORSHIP. (Psa 66:2.) His name is his nature; and the glory of his nature is his greatness and goodness.
III. GOD‘S PROVIDENTIAL WORK IN HISTORY COMPELS THE RELUCTANT HOMAGE OF EVEN HIS ENEMIES. (Psa 66:3.) “Thine enemies feign allegiance unto thee”.
IV. THE WHOLE EARTH IS THE TEMPLE OF GOD, WHEREIN HIS PRAISES ARE CELEBRATED. (Psa 66:4.) Prediction of faith, that not only in Zion, but in the whole world, the praises of God should be uttered.S.
Psa 66:5-12
An invitation to study God’s marvellous works towards men.
I. WE SHOULD STUDY THE PHYSICAL WONDERS OF THE WORLD. (Psa 66:6.) He turns the sea into dry land still, and the dry land into sea.
II. WE SHOULD STUDY HIS PROVIDENTIAL RULE IN THE HISTORY OF NATIONS. How he humbles and overthrows those who rebel against his will, and exalts and establishes the people who obey his laws.
III. WE SHOULD STUDY GOD‘S WORK OF SALVATION IN THE WORLD. (Psa 66:8, Psa 66:9.) “Who putteth [not ‘holdeth’] our soul in life, and suffereth not our feet to be moved.”
IV. WE SHOULD STUDY GOD‘S METHODS OF TRIAL AND DISCIPLINE FOR MAKING US SPIRITUALLY RICH. (Psa 66:10-12.) “We went through fire and through water; but thou broughtest us out to abundance.” – S.
Psa 66:13-20
Vows fulfilled and experiences related.
I. Vows FULFILLED. (Psa 66:13-15.)
1. When we are in trouble we make solemn vows of amendment and service. As the psalmist had done in his distress.
2. The fulfilment of our religious vows will often call for great sacrifices. Not burnt offerings from us, but the more costly sacrifices of the heart and spirit. “The sacrifices of God are a broken heart and a contrite spirit.”
II. EXPERIENCES RELATED. (Psa 66:16-20.) He proclaims what God had done for him in answer to his praises and prayers.
1. It is only those who fear God that have any sympathy with spiritual experience. Only these would care to listen.
2. Only those who are conscious of integrity of heart expect any answer to prayer. (Psa 66:18; Job 27:8, Job 27:9.)
3. God will assuredly answer and bless those who call upon him in sincerity and in truth. The psalmist knew from experience that God had heard him and manifested his loving kindness towards him. His faith in God had the warrant of his experience, and was not an unfulfilled expectation.S.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Psalms 66.
David exhorteth to praise God, to observe his great works, to bless him for his gracious benefits: he voweth for himself religious service to God: he declareth God’s special goodness to himself.
To the chief musician, A Song or Psalm.
Title. lamnatseach shiir mizmor. This psalm has not David’s name to it; nor is it known upon what occasion it was composed. Bishop Patrick’s conjecture seems as probable as any other; namely, that it was written by David after God had advanced him to the throne, and peaceably settled him in his kingdom. But thus much only is certain, that it was composed upon some extraordinary national deliverance. See Psa 66:13. The Psalmist introduces it with the general Providence which God had exercised over his people; especially at their coming out of Egypt; for which he calls upon all the earth to celebrate his glory. The title of the LXX is, “A Psalm of the Resurrection.”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psalms 66
To the chief Musician, A Song or Psalm
Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands:
2Sing forth the honor of his name:
Make his praise glorious.
3Say unto God, How terrible art thou in thy works!
Through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee.
4All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee;
They shall sing to thy name. Selah.
5Come and see the works of God:
He is terrible in his doing toward the children of men.
6He turned the sea into dry land:
They went through the flood on foot:
There did we rejoice in him.
7He ruleth by his power for ever;
His eyes behold the nations;
Let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah.
😯 bless our God, ye people,
And make the voice of his praise to be heard:
9Which holdeth our soul in life,
And suffereth not our feet to be moved.
10For thou, O God, hast proved us:
Thou hast tried us, as silver is tried.
11Thou broughtest us into the net;
Thou laidst affliction upon our loins.
12Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads;
We went through fire and through water: but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place.
13I will go into thy house with burnt offerings;
I will pay thee my vows,
14Which my lips have uttered,
And my mouth hath spoken, when I was in trouble.
15I will offer unto thee burnt sacrifices of fatlings,
With the incense of rams:
I will offer bullocks with goats. Selah.
16Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare
What he hath done for my soul.
17I cried unto him with my mouth,
And he was extolled with my tongue.
18If I regard iniquity in my heart,
The Lord will not hear me:
19But verily God hath heard me;
He hath attended to the voice of my prayer.
20Blessed be God,
Which hath not turned away my prayer,
Nor his mercy from me.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Its Contents and Composition.An exhortation to the nations of the earth to praise God, the Almighty (Psa 66:14), introduces the exhortation to consider the mighty deeds of God in the deliverance of His people in ancient times (Psa 66:5-7). This is then followed by the exhortation to praise God for a deliverance of the people from trials recently endured (Psa 66:7-12). The Psalm now passes over from the plural to the singular, yet its turns of expression are so individual, e.g. Psa 66:16; Psa 66:18, that the supposition that the nation is personified is entirely untenable. The Psalmist speaks from his own soul and experience, yet as a member of the congregation here mentioned (Calvin, Geier, et al.). He expresses his design of bringing the promised offerings into the house of God (Psa 66:13-15), and concludes with an exhortation to the pious to listen to his narrative, how he called upon God, and God heard him, and this to the praise of God (Psa 66:16-20). There is no reason whatever to regard this second part as a special song of thanksgiving (Ewald). The similarity of Psa 66:16; Psa 66:5, and that of the structure of the strophes thus apparent, is in favor of the original unity of the Psalm. The person and age of the author remain undetermined in this, as well as the following Psalm, notwithstanding the dedication to the director. If , Psa 66:7, meant the world (Chald., et al.), we would have evidence in favor of the Maccabean age (Paulus, Olsh., Hitzig), but the word has this meaning only with the Rabbins (Aben Ezra), whilst in the Old Testament this form is always elsewhere an accusative of time with the meaning, forever and ever. It is mere guesswork to think of the time of the dedication of the temple after the exile (Ruding., Rosenm. II., Ewald), or of the exile itself (Rabb., Flam., Rosenm. I.), or of the fall of the Assyrians (Von Leng.), or of the raising of the siege of Jerusalem in connection with Hezekiahs sickness (Venema, Muntinghe, Kster). The title of the Sept. names it a resurrection Psalm, perhaps with reference to Psa 66:12 (Delitzsch). The Greek Church has retained this name.
Str. I. Psa 66:2. Give glory.This is not to be taken as Jos 7:19, Isa 42:12; Jer 13:16, but as Ps. 29:12; Deu 32:3, in the sense of giving . For this word is placed immediately before, in the objective sense. Hence it cannot be rendered: give the honor (namely) to His praise (or: His renown), that is, make His praise glorious (most interpreters, [A. V.]). The sense can only be: recognize glory (or majesty) His renown. For this rendering it makes no difference whether the last words are regarded grammatically as the second object, or as in apposition, or as connected with the preceding words by an inserted as.
Psa 66:3. How terrible,etc.This is related with the song in heaven, Rev 15:3 sq.[Thine enemies dissemble to Thee.Compare Psa 18:44. They yield unwilling, constrained, feigned homage.
Psa 66:4. Alexander: This anticipation of universal homage to Jehovah is in strict accordance with the whole spirit and design of the Mosaic dispensation.C. A. B.]
Sir. II. Psa 66:6. They passed through the stream.The stream is not the Euphrates (Stier, Hengstenberg), but the Jordan. For the reference is to miracles of ancient times, and not of the future, in which the miracle of the Jordan is to be repeated on a grander scale. In the latter case it would be as natural to think of the Nile, Zec 10:11, as the Euphrates, comp. Isa 11:15 sq.[There we rejoiced in Him.This is the rendering of Hupfeld, Delitzsch, Moll, et al. As Delitzsch remarks: the congregation of all times is a solid unit. The Psalmist brings these miracles of the past before his hearers, with such vividness that both speaker and hearers seem to be present and engaged in them as members of the chosen people. There is no reference to a possible repetition of these wonders in the future, as even Alexander, or in the present (Perowne).1
Psa 66:7. For ever.As God has wrought His mighty works in the past, so does He govern now, and so will He in all future times. His government is an everlasting government.His eyes keep watch upon the nations.The affairs of His people are no less closely scrutinized by God now than of yore, when He led them through the Red Sea and the Jordan. He is the everwatchful spy of Israel, searching the hearts of the nations to frustrate their evil plans.C. A. B.]The rebellious cannot raise (their heads).This clause begins with , and it cannot be changed for , or regarded as equivalent to it. Accordingly it does not express a prophecy (Kimchi, Luther, Geier, et al.), but a negative conclusion (Septuagint, Isaki, De Wette, Hengstenberg, et al.), either as a warning or as an expression of prevention. [The author supplies heads, as Psa 3:3; Psa 110:7; comp. Psa 75:5-6, where horn is used.C. A. B.]
Str. 3 [Psa 66:9-10. Sets our souls in life,etc.Delitzsch: God has turned away from His people the danger of death and of falling; He has put their souls in life, that is, in the sphere of life; He has not left their feet to totter until they fall. For God has cast His people as it were into the smelting furnace or pot, in order to remove their dross by sufferings and preserve thema favorite figure of Isaiahs and Jeremiahs, but likewise of Zec 13:9; Mal 3:3.C. A. B.]
Psa 66:11. Thou hast brought us unto the enclosure. is not a net (Sept. and most interpreters, [A. V.]), but a strong place or state of being enclosed (Aquila, Symm., Jerome, Isaki, Luther, Geier, et al.), with the article as here, a designation of the condition of David in the wilderness, 1Sa 22:4 sq.; 2Sa 5:17; 2Sa 23:24 (Hupfeld).[Hast laid an oppressive burden on our loins.Delitzsch: The loins are mentioned, because in carrying heavy burdens, which have to be lifted by squatting down, the lower region of the spine is particularly employed.C. A. B.]
Psa 66:12. Hast made men to ride over our head.This expression cannot be explained in accordance with Isa 51:23 (make his back a street for travellers), in behalf of the meaning subdue, subjugate (Clauss, Stier), as Psa 129:3, because the head is mentioned here; but in accordance with Deu 32:13; Isa 58:14 : drive or advance over the high places of the land, Deut. 33:39; Mic 1:3; Amo 4:13 (Kimchi, et al.). It is possible, however, to translate: ride on our heads (Calvin, Geier, and most interpreters); then there would be connected with the idea of subjugation that of hard and shameful treatment. This might be preferred for the reason that the riders are here called , and thus the contrast is brought into view between their proud and violent conduct, and their mortal, frail nature, Psa 9:19 sq.; Psa 10:18; Psa 56:1; Isa 51:12; 2Ch 14:10 (Delitzsch.)We came into fire and waterand Thou hast brought us out into abundance.[Delitzsch: Fire and water, as Isa 43:2, are figurative of the changing perils of death in their extreme forms. Israel was near to being consumed and overwhelmed, but God brought him out to the richest abundance, to the exuberance of prosperity.C. A. B.] Many interpreters have objected to (abundance, Psa 23:5), because the contrast to the condition of danger figuratively expressed in the previous line, would lead us to expect an expression, somewhat as: wide place (Chald., Symm.), or rest (Arabic, thiop.), or refreshment, enlivenment, recovery (Septuagint, Vulg., Syriac, Aquila). Hence the proposal to change the reading into (Houbig., et al.)
Str. 4 [Perowne: We have now the personal acknowledgment of Gods mercy, first, in the announcement on the part of the Psalmist of the offerings which he is about to bring, and which he had vowed in his trouble; and then, in the record of Gods dealing with his soul, which had called forth his thankfulness.C. A. B.]
Psa 66:14. To which my lips quickly opened.The quick opening, literally tearing open of the lips refers to the involuntariness of the vow pressed out by necessity, not as Job 35:16, and Jdg 11:35, to the hasty vow.
Psa 66:15. Alongside of the lambs and bullocks universally used as animals of sacrifice, rams and goats are here mentioned. The former are mentioned only as the whole burntofferings of the highpriest, the prince of the tribe and the people, and as the thankoffering in the shelamim of Aaron, the people, the princes of the tribe, and the Nazarite (Num 6:14); the latter are never mentioned as whole burntofferings, but only in the shelamim of the princes of the tribes, Numbers 7. Thus apparently the introduces the shelamim brought in connection with the whole burntofferings (Delitzsch).
Str. 5 Psa 66:16-17. [Delitzsch: The address goes forth, as in Psa 66:5; Psa 66:2, to the widest circles, to all who fear God, wherever they may be on earth. He would tell them all that God has caused him to experience in order that God might be glorified and they might be benefited.He cried to God with his mouth (thus not only quietly within the soul, but loud and violently), and a hymn was under my tongue, that is, I was so sure of the hearing of my prayer, that I already had in readiness a song of praise (see Psa 10:7), which I would strike up when the implored help which was assured to me should come.
Psa 66:18. If I had seen iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have heard me.Perowne: Probably, if I had been conscious of iniquity in my heart, the assertion being that of freedom from anything like purposed deceit, as in Psa 17:1; Psa 32:2; or the phrase may mean, as the A. V. takes it: If I had regarded iniquity, i.e., looked upon it with pleasure and satisfaction. Compare for this use of the verb (with the accusative) Job 31:26; Heb 1:13; Pro 23:31. For the general sentiment of the passage, comp. Job 27:8-9 : Isa 1:15; Isa 59:2-3; Joh 9:31; Joh 3:21.C. A. B.]
Psa 66:20. The closing clause is broken up by most interpreters into two clauses, either by a repetition of the verb in another meaning=who has not rejected my prayer and has not taken away His grace from me (Luther, J. H. Mich., De Wette, Stier), or without the repetition (=who has not removed) by the insertion of the words: from Himself, as a contrast to the closing words: from me (Isaki, Venema, Kster, Hengstenberg, Hitzig), comp. Amo 5:23; Job 23:12. But this is against the sense and the accents. Moreover the prayer is not=that which is asked for (Geier, Hupfeld), but the prayer as the contrast of silence (the ancient versions, Augustine, Delitzsch). The Psalmist rejoices that he can pray at all times, and that the grace of being heard is afforded him.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. Gods name has a majesty and a grandeur which constitutes His glory, and is worthy of being praised by the whole world. The enemies of God do this from fear, and therefore they are hypocritical, but those who truly reverence Him thereby testify their sincere thankfulness. The glory of God is unworthily suppressed, if when He stands by us in misfortune, our deliverance is not followed by solemn thanksgiving (Calvin).
2. That which is not conformed to the gracious will of God, must submit to His irresistible power; and God sees all. O that the rebellious would allow themselves to be warned by this, and that those who fear God would be comforted. For although they have the severest afflictions and are brought into every imaginable misery, this is only to try them, as gold and silver are melted in the furnace for purification (Isa 1:25; Isa 48:10; Zec 13:9; 1Pe 1:7); and God is not only their Comforter, but likewise their Deliverer. He leads them in; He will likewise be their Keeper.
3. Every fresh experience of deliverance reminds us of the previous mighty works of God. Among these, those rise preeminent which refer to the organization and preservation of the congregation in the midst of a hostile world. These are worthy above all of being brought near and recommended to the consideration of the entire world, and are especially suited to strengthen the hope of the believer in Gods further assistance and to enliven faith in the hearing of prayer. Yet we must not forget that prayers must not come from wicked or hypocritical hearts. For God can deprive men of the gift of prayer as well as the grace of granting the petition, Isa 1:15; Isa 59:2-3; Pro 15:29.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Use and misuse of the name of God.What are we to learn from the history of our forefathers?What God does to His people has an importance for the entire world.Patience, faith, and prayer are necessary in order that we may endure the trials of sufferings.Not to be able to pray is still worse than to have no answer.Prayers of wicked hearts are not heard.The pious will have deliverance, but of grace.God sees and hears all men, but how does He look upon them, and whether He grants their requests, that is the question.
Starke: Men and angels were created for the praise and glory of God, they should thus always be ready and willing.When you tell others of the guidances of God respecting your soul, take care lest some hypocrisy or selflove creep in, and that the glory of God be your only aim.
Franke: The mystery of the cross is the true means of putting a joyous Psalm into our heart and mouth.Renschel: The faith, constancy and patience of the pious are furthered by affliction.A noble thanksgiving is due to a great benefit.Frisch: The most precious and useful narratives are those which a converted heart makes of its own experience of Gods bounties. This strengthens us and edifies our fellowmen.Tholuck: There are few men whose thanksgivings are so numerous and warm as their prayers.Taube: He who will not recognize himself as dust and ashes before God, God knows how to make him such; the recognition must be expressed that He is the Lord, whether from the heart or in pain.
[Matt. Henry: Much of religion lies in a reverence for the Divine providence.God brings His people into trouble, that their comforts afterwards may be the sweeter, and that their affliction may thus yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness, which will make the poorest place in the world a wealthy place.What we win by prayer, we must wear with praise.Barnes: Vows made in trouble, in sickness, in bereavement, in times of public calamity, should be faithfully performed when health and prosperity visit us again; but, alas, how often are they forgotten!Spurgeon: All the saints must go to the proving house; God had one Son without sin, but He never had a son without trial.Since trial is sanctified to so desirable an end, ought we not to submit to it with abounding resignation?Nothing hinders prayer like iniquity harbored in the breast.Facts are blessed things when they reveal both Gods heart as loving, and our own heart as sincere.C. A. B.]
Footnotes:
[1][Petowne translates: There let us rejoice in Him. There, pointing as it were to the field in which God had made bare His arm, and where the past history had been repeated in the present, there, let us rejoice in Him.C. A. B.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
Here we have a song of praise, both for the public mercies of God to his church, and the private manifestations of the same to every individual of it.
To the chief musician, A
Song 1-8
In every point of view the employment here enjoined is of universal concern. All lands, all nations, all kingdoms, the whole earth, every individual, can, and ought to find subject of praise. But when a nation, or people, or an individual; can sing the song of redemption, Jesus loved me, Jesus saved me, Jesus gave himself for me; what high notes of praise are then swelling the song. Reader, can you join in this chorus? Can you sing the song of Moses and the Lamb now? Do you hope ere long to sing that song among the glorified above, which no man could learn but the hundred and forty and four thousand redeemed from the earth? Rev 14:3 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Nothing But Miracles
Psa 66:6
That is really all I can say; if I were to add anything to that I would be adding prose to poetry, and poor, bald, rough paint to the finest colours used by finest artists. When will people believe that the text is the sermon? In this case we have sermon and text in one most surely. ‘They went through the flood on foot.’ Believe it, and you are a Christian; deny it, and you leave the Church, turn your back on the so-called sanctuary, and become your own altar and idol.
I. The miracles of Jesus Christ ought to be commonplaces to us. Let us place ourselves in imaginative relation to the whole conception. Christ never said, ‘Gentlemen, miracles, if you please! Stand up for miracles!’ Never; He grows the daisy without a word, He brings in the summer in silence fit for her queenliness, He makes no jarring, creaking noise as He rolls up the gates of the morning. But we begin where we please, and therefore God disappoints us. We begin at unaccustomed places, and say, There are many mysteries. We make the mysteries, and we must suffer for them. The Bible can only deliver its own letters sealed, and on the seal there is written, Not to be opened until the thirtieth century century 150. The leaves that are already opened you may read, mark, and inwardly digest; they are food for your soul. These other letters are all sealed, each a legend of its own: To be read when the earth is seventy thousand years of age; when society has been on earth five hundred millenniums, then you may open this seal. But there is a rascally desire to open the seals before the time, because man is naturally, under-naturally, a thief. All men are thieves.
II. Miracles fill our human life. Some people do not understand them by the name miracles, but we understand them all by the name Providence providences, Divine arrangements, the holy, sweet, beneficent promises of God.
We have lived this text; we ourselves are living miracles. How do you happen to be where you are? ‘Ah,’ you reply, ‘many a time I have thought of that. If my poor old mother could see me in this office in the City of London, she would be quite sure I had stolen something, she would be very anxious to get out of the way until she could speak to me privately, and inquire however I had come to have an office so large and so fine, and boys working in connexion with me, and men working under me; why, I should have to fortify the sweet old creature considerably before she would believe that her boy that used to bring in the kine in the gloaming away out on the grey hills could have come to this position.’ And God has sometimes said to a man in the City, ‘See, you know how you began; you used to tend the sheep’. Ah, I had forgotten that! Yes, but that is a fact; you used to call in and number the cattle night by night. Who brought you out of all that obscurity and set you in bright Jerusalem, David? Speak thy benefactor’s name; is this the doing of the Son of Jesse, or is it the doing of the Trinity? Forms have changed, and forms always will change, but the mystery still prevails and abounds. Life is always a mystery; it is often a mystery of darkness, but it can by the grace of God he turned into a mystery of light. Even now they are taking a sunbeam to pieces and trying to find out exactly what it is composed of, putting all the elements back again and so forth. And they cannot tell what life is. No man can define light, no man can define love, no man can define life, no man can define God.
III. What we want is personal testimony. ‘They went through the flood on foot.’ I want the Church to rise up in all its memberships and each member to say, ‘So did I: I have been in floods that threatened to overwhelm me, and just as my faith was giving way the flood disappeared, and I walked through on dry land. I have done it. I was dead yes; I am alive true.’ How so? ‘A great movement for which there is no name.’ So many people are geographers, and so few are astronomers. There are people who even believe in geology, but they cannot rise to astronomy. Now it is the astronomic that rules the whole.
Joseph Parker, City Temple Pulpit, vol. VI. p. 126.
The Contradictions of Life
Psa 66:12
There are many lessons in that verse. They are filled up with the truth of the leadership of God. But I want to take one simple thought and send it out. It is the apparent contradictions of our life. For fire and water: are they not very opposite. Life, then, has need of opposites, and life advances through its contradictions.
I. Think of life’s common experiences first. I take it there is no one here but has known the music and the light of joy. And then come sorrow and suffering and loss, and gloom for the sunshine and weeping for the laughter. And here is the flat opposite of joy. And if God was in that, how can He be in this, unless our Leader contradicts Himself? But the strange thing about Jesus Christ is this, that He has saved us by being a man of sorrow, yet He was always speaking of His joy. And the strange thing about the Christian Gospel is, that joy is its keynote, joy is its glad refrain; and yet it comes to me, to you, and whispers, My son, My daughter, take up thy cross and bear it. Is the Gospel in opposition to the Gospel? Nay friend, not that: a house divided against itself is doomed. But it is through the strange antagonisms of the heart, and all the teaching of a diverse guidance that we are brought at last to our wealthy place.
II. But passing from these common experiences of life, I note that we cannot open our New Testament but the same element of contradiction meets us. I think, for example, of that great word of Jesus, ‘Come unto Me, and I will give you rest’. Now what is the very opposite of rest? The very opposite of rest is struggle. And yet I cannot open my New Testament but I find that the follower of Christ is called to war. ‘Fight the good fight of faith,’ says the Apostle. I cannot explain these contradictions, but I live through them and they bear me on. For somehow I have never peace except I struggle, and I cannot struggle if I am not at peace.
III. Now come a little deeper into the realm of thought. There is one truth that is a little in abeyance nowadays: I mean the truth of the sovereignty of God. We dwell so lovingly upon God’s fatherhood that we are almost in danger of forgetting His sovereignty. Now tell me in absolute opposition to that foreordained will what stands? You answer in a moment the free will of man. If I am free to will as I believe, and not the helpless creature of necessity, what comes of the pre-determining will of God? Am I to give up my moral freedom? Heaven guard me, never! And am I to cast the sovereignty of God to be swirled and scattered by the winds of heaven? Nay, God forbid, life were a poor thing then. But I am to remember that I am going through fire and water, that God may bring me to a wealthy place.
G. H. Morrison, Flood-Tide, p. 159.
References. LXVI. 12. H. L. Thompson, The Church of St. Mary the Virgin, p. 121. LXVI. 16. C. J. Vaughan, Harrow Sermons (1st Series), p. 388. LXVI. 18. E. J. Boyce, Parochial Sermons, p. 18. LXVI. 20. Spurgeon, Morning by Morning, p. 145. LXVI. International Critical Commentary, vol. ii. p. 86.
The Connexion Between Sanctity and Salubrity
PSALMS
XI
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF PSALMS
According to my usual custom, when taking up the study of a book of the Bible I give at the beginning a list of books as helps to the study of that book. The following books I heartily commend on the Psalms:
1. Sampey’s Syllabus for Old Testament Study . This is especially good on the grouping and outlining of some selected psalms. There are also some valuable suggestions on other features of the book.
2. Kirkpatrick’g commentary, in “Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges,” is an excellent aid in the study of the Psalter.
3. Perowne’s Book of Psalms is a good, scholarly treatise on the Psalms. A special feature of this commentary is the author’s “New Translation” and his notes are very helpful.
4. Spurgeon’s Treasury of David. This is just what the title implies. It is a voluminous, devotional interpretation of the Psalms and helpful to those who have the time for such extensive study of the Psalter.
5. Hengstenburg on the Psalms. This is a fine, scholarly work by one of the greatest of the conservative German scholars.
6. Maclaren on the Psalms, in “The Expositor’s Bible,” is the work of the world’s safest, sanest, and best of all works that have ever been written on the Psalms.
7. Thirtle on the Titles of the Psalms. This is the best on the subject and well worth a careful study.
At this point some definitions are in order. The Hebrew word for psalm means praise. The word in English comes from psalmos , a song of lyrical character, or a song to be sung and accompanied with a lyre. The Psalter is a collection of sacred and inspired songs, composed at different times and by different authors.
The range of time in composition was more than 1,000 years, or from the time of Moses to the time of Ezra. The collection in its present form was arranged probably by Ezra in the fifth century, B.C.
The Jewish classification of Old Testament books was The Law, the Prophets, and the Holy Writings. The Psalms was given the first place in the last group.
They had several names, or titles, of the Psalms. In Hebrew they are called “The Book of Prayers,” or “The Book of Praises.” The Hebrew word thus used means praises. The title of the first two books is found in Psa 72:20 : “The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.” The title of the whole collection of Psalms in the Septuagint is Biblos Psalman which means the “Book of Psalms.” The title in the Alexandrian Codex is Psalterion which is the name of a stringed instrument, and means “The Psalter.”
The derivation of our English words, “psalms,” “psalter,” and “psaltery,” respectively, is as follows:
1. “Psalms” comes from the Greek word, psalmoi, which is also from psallein , which means to play upon a stringed instrument. Therefore the Psalms are songs played upon stringed instruments, and the word here is used to apply to the whole collection.
2. “Psalter” is of the same origin and means the Book of Psalms and refers also to the whole collection.
3. “Psaltery” is from the word psalterion, which means “a harp,” an instrument, supposed to be in the shape of a triangle or like the delta of the Greek alphabet. See Psa 33:2 ; Psa 71:22 ; Psa 81:2 ; Psa 144:9 .
In our collection there are 150 psalms. In the Septuagint there is one extra. It is regarded as being outside the sacred collection and not inspired. The subject of this extra psalm is “David’s victory over Goliath.” The following is a copy of it: I was small among my brethren, And youngest in my father’s house, I used to feed my father’s sheep. My hands made a harp, My fingers fashioned a Psaltery. And who will declare unto my Lord? He is Lord, he it is who heareth. He it was who sent his angel And took me from my father’s sheep, And anointed me with the oil of his anointing. My brethren were goodly and tall, But the Lord took no pleasure in them. I went forth to meet the Philistine. And he cursed me by his idols But I drew the sword from beside him; I beheaded him and removed reproach from the children of Israel.
It will be noted that this psalm does not have the earmarks of an inspired production. There is not found in it the modesty so characteristic of David, but there is here an evident spirit of boasting and self-praise which is foreign to the Spirit of inspiration.
There is a difference in the numbering of the psalms in our version which follows the Hebrew, and the numbering in the Septuagint. Omitting the extra one in the Septuagint, there is no difference as to the total number. Both have 150 and the same subject matter, but they are not divided alike.
The following scheme shows the division according to our version and also the Septuagint: Psalms 1-8 in the Hebrew equal 1-8 in the Septuagint; 9-10 in the Hebrew combine into 9 in the Septuagint; 11-113 in the Hebrew equal 10-112 in the Septuagint; 114-115 in the Hebrew combine into 113 in the Septuagint; 116 in the Hebrew divides into 114-115 in the Septuagint; 117-146 in the Hebrew equal 116-145 in the Septuagint; 147 in the Hebrew divides into 146-147 in the Septuagint; 148-150 in the Hebrew equal 148-150 in the Septuagint.
The arrangement in the Vulgate is the same as the Septuagint. Also some of the older English versions have this arangement. Another difficulty in numbering perplexes an inexperienced student in turning from one version to another, viz: In the Hebrew often the title is verse I, and sometimes the title embraces verses 1-2.
The book divisions of the Psalter are five books, as follows:
Book I, Psalms 1-41 (41 chapters)
Book II, Psalms 42-72 (31 chapters)
Book III, Psalms 73-89 (17 chapters)
Book IV, Psalms 90-106 (17 chapters)
Book V, Psalms 107-150 (44 chapters)
They are marked by an introduction and a doxology. Psalm I forms an introduction to the whole book; Psa 150 is the doxology for the whole book. The introduction and doxology of each book are the first and last psalms of each division, respectively.
There were smaller collections before the final one, as follows:
Books I and II were by David; Book III, by Hezekiah, and Books IV and V, by Ezra.
Certain principles determined the arrangement of the several psalms in the present collection:
1. David is honored with first place, Book I and II, including Psalms 1-72.
2. They are grouped according to the use of the name of God:
(1) Psalms 1-41 are Jehovah psalms;
(2) Psalms 42-83 are Elohim-psalms;
(3) Psalms 84-150 are Jehovah psalms.
3. Book IV is introduced by the psalm of Moses, which is the first psalm written.
4. Some are arranged as companion psalms, for instance, sometimes two, sometimes three, and sometimes more. Examples: Psa 2 and 3; 22, 23, and 24; 113-118.
5. They were arranged for liturgical purposes, which furnished the psalms for special occasions, such as feasts, etc. We may be sure this arrangement was not accidental. An intelligent study of each case is convincing that it was determined upon rational grounds.
All the psalms have titles but thirty-three, as follows:
In Book I, Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 10 ; Psa 33 , (4 are without titles).
In Book II, Psa 43 ; Psa 71 , (2 are without titles).
In Book IV, Psa 91 ; Psa 93 ; Psa 94 ; Psa 95 ; Psa 96 ; Psa 97 ; Psa 104 ; Psa 105 ; Psa 106 , (9 are without titles).
In Book V, Psa 107 ; III; 112; 113; 114; 115; 116; 117; 118; 119; 135; 136; 137; 146; 147; 148; 149; 150, (18 are without titles).
The Talmud calls these psalms that have no title, “Orphan Psalms.” The later Jews supply these titles by taking the nearest preceding author. The lack of titles in Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; and 10 may be accounted for as follows: Psa 1 is a general introduction to the whole collection and Psa 2 was, perhaps, a part of Psa 1 . Psalms 9-10 were formerly combined into one, therefore Psa 10 has the same title as Psa 9 .
QUESTIONS
1. What books are commended on the Psalms?
2. What is a psalm?
3. What is the Psalter?
4. What is the range of time in composition?
5. When and by whom was the collection in its present form arranged?
6. What the Jewish classification of Old Testament books, and what the position of the Psalter in this classification?
7. What is the Hebrew title of the Psalms?
8. Find the title of the first two books from the books themselves.
9. What is the title of the whole collection of psalms in the Septuagint?
10. What is the title in the Alexandrian Codex?
11. What is the derivation of our English word, “Psalms”, “Psalter”, and “Psaltery,” respectively?
12. How many psalms in our collection?
13. How many psalms in the Septuagint?
14. What about the extra one in the Septuagint?
15. What is the subject of this extra psalm?
16. How does it compare with the Canonical Psalms?
17. What is the difference in the numbering of the psalms in our version which follows the Hebrew, and the numbering in the Septuagint?
18. What is the arrangement in the Vulgate?
19. What other difficulty in numbering which perplexes an inexperienced student in turning from one version to another?
20. What are the book divisions of the Psalter and how are these divisions marked?
21. Were there smaller collections before the final one? If so, what were they?
22. What principles determined the arrangement of the several psalms in the present collection?
23. In what conclusion may we rest concerning this arrangement?
24. How many of the psalms have no titles?
25. What does the Talmud call these psalms that have no titles?
26. How do later Jews supply these titles?
27. How do you account for the lack of titles in Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 10 ?
XII
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF PSALMS (CONTINUED)
The following is a list of the items of information gathered from the titles of the psalms:
1. The author: “A Psalm of David” (Psa 37 ).
2. The occasion: “When he fled from Absalom, his son” (Psa 3 ).
3. The nature, or character, of the poem:
(1) Maschil, meaning “instruction,” a didactic poem (Psa 42 ).
(2) Michtam, meaning “gold,” “A Golden Psalm”; this means excellence or mystery (Psa 16 ; 56-60).
4. The occasion of its use: “A Psalm of David for the dedication of the house” (Psa 30 ).
5. Its purpose: “A Psalm of David to bring remembrance” (Psa 38 ; Psa 70 ).
6. Direction for its use: “A Psalm of David for the chief musician” (Psa 4 ).
7. The kind of musical instrument:
(1) Neginoth, meaning to strike a chord, as on stringed instruments (Psa 4 ; Psa 61 ).
(2) Nehiloth, meaning to perforate, as a pipe or flute (Psa 5 ).
(3) Shoshannim, Lilies, which refers probably to cymbals (Psa 45 ; Psa 69 ).
8. A special choir:
(1) Sheminith, the “eighth,” or octave below, as a male choir (Psa 6 ; Psa 12 ).
(2) Alamoth, female choir (Psa 46 ).
(3) Muth-labben, music with virgin voice, to be sung by a choir of boys in the treble (Psa 9 ).
9. The keynote, or tune:
(1) Aijeleth-sharar, “Hind of the morning,” a song to the melody of which this is sung (Psa 22 ).
(2) Al-tashheth, “Destroy thou not,” the beginning of a song the tune of which is sung (Psa 57 ; Psa 58 ; Psa 59 ; Psa 75 ).
(3) Gittith, set to the tune of Gath, perhaps a tune which David brought from Gath (Psa 8 ; Psa 81 ; Psa 84 ).
(4) Jonath-elim-rehokim, “The dove of the distant terebinths,” the commencement of an ode to the air of which this song was to be sung (Psa 56 ).
(5) Leannoth, the name of a tune (Psa 88 ).
(6) Mahalath, an instrument (Psa 53 ); Leonnoth-Mahaloth, to chant to a tune called Mahaloth.
(7) Shiggaion, a song or a hymn.
(8) Shushan-Eduth, “Lily of testimony,” a tune (Psa 60 ). Note some examples: (1) “America,” “Shiloh,” “Auld Lang Syne.” These are the names of songs such as we are familiar with; (2) “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” and “There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood,” are examples of sacred hymns.
10. The liturgical use, those noted for the feasts, e.g., the Hallels and Hallelujah Psalms (Psalms 146-150).
11. The destination, as “Song of Ascents” (Psalms 120-134)
12. The direction for the music, such as Selah, which means “Singers, pause”; Higgaion-Selah, to strike a symphony with selah, which means an instrumental interlude (Psa 9:16 ).
The longest and fullest title to any of the psalms is the title to Psa 60 . The items of information from this title are as follows: (1) the author; (2) the chief musician; (3) the historical occasion; (4) the use, or design; (5) the style of poetry; (6) the instrument or style of music.
The parts of these superscriptions which most concern us now are those indicating author, occasion, and date. As to the historic value or trustworthiness of these titles most modern scholars deny that they are a part of the Hebrew text, but the oldest Hebrew text of which we know anything had all of them. This is the text from which the Septuagint was translated. It is much more probable that the author affixed them than later writers. There is no internal evidence in any of the psalms that disproves the correctness of them, but much to confirm. The critics disagree among themselves altogether as to these titles. Hence their testimony cannot consistently be received. Nor can it ever be received until they have at least agreed upon a common ground of opposition.
David is the author of more than half the entire collection, the arrangement of which is as follows:
1. Seventy-three are ascribed to him in the superscriptions.
2. Some of these are but continuations of the preceding ones of a pair, trio, or larger group.
3. Some of the Korahite Psalms are manifestly Davidic.
4. Some not ascribed to him in the titles are attributed to him expressly by New Testament writers.
5. It is not possible to account for some parts of the Psalter without David. The history of his early life as found in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1and 2 Chronicles, not only shows his remarkable genius for patriotic and sacred songs and music, but also shows his cultivation of that gift in the schools of the prophets. Some of these psalms of the history appear in the Psalter itself. It is plain to all who read these that they are founded on experience, and the experience of no other Hebrew fits the case. These experiences are found in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles.
As to the attempt of the destructive critics to rob David of his glory in relation to the Psalter by assigning the Maccabean era as the date of composition, I have this to say:
1. This theory has no historical support whatever, and therefore is not to be accepted at all.
2. It has no support in tradition, which weakens the contention of the critics greatly.
3. It has no support from finding any one with the necessary experience for their basis.
4. They can give no reasonable account as to how the titles ever got there.
5. It is psychologically impossible for anyone to have written these 150 psalms in the Maccabean times.
6. Their position is expressly contrary to the testimony of Christ and the apostles. Some of the psalms which they ascribe to the Maccabean Age are attributed to David by Christ himself, who said that David wrote them in the Spirit.
The obvious aim of this criticism and the necessary result if it be Just, is a positive denial of the inspiration of both Testaments.
Other authors are named in the titles, as follows: (1) Asaph, to whom twelve psalms have been assigned: (2) Mosee, Psa 90 ; (3) Solomon, Psa 72 ; Psa 127 ; (4) Heman, Psa 80 ; (5) Ethem, Psa 89 ; (6) A number of the psalms are ascribed to the sons of Korah.
Not all the psalms ascribed to Asaph were composed by one person. History indicates that Asaph’s family presided over the song service for several generations. Some of them were composed by his descendants by the game name. The five general outlines of the whole collection are as follows:
I. By books
1. Psalms 1-41 (41)
2. Psalms 42-72 (31)
3. Psalms 73-89 (17)
4. Psalms 90-106 (17)
5. Psalms 107-150 (44)
II. According to date and authorship
1. The psalm of Moses (Psa 90 )
2. Psalms of David:
(1) The shepherd boy (Psa 8 ; Psa 19 ; Psa 29 ; Psa 23 ).
(2) David when persecuted by Saul (Psa 59 ; Psa 56 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 52 ; Psa 54 ; Psa 57 ; Psa 142 ).
(3) David the King (Psa 101 ; Psa 18 ; Psa 24 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 110 ; Psa 20 ; Psa 20 ; Psa 21 ; Psa 60 ; Psa 51 ; Psa 32 ; Psa 41 ; Psa 55 ; Psa 3:4 ; Psa 64 ; Psa 62 ; Psa 61 ; Psa 27 ).
3. The Asaph Psalms (Psa 50 ; Psa 73 ; Psa 83 ).
4. The Korahite Psalms (Psa 42 ; Psa 43 ; Psa 84 ).
5. The psalms of Solomon (Psa 72 ; Psa 127 ).
6. The psalms of the era of Hezekiah and Isaiah (Psa 46 ; Psa 47 ; Psa 48 )
7. The psalms of the Exile (Psa 74 ; Psa 79 ; Psa 137 ; Psa 102 )
8. The psalms of the Restoration (Psa 85 ; Psa 126 ; Psa 118 ; 146-150)
III. By groups
1. The Jehovistic and Elohistic Psalms:
(1) Psalms 1-41 are Jehovistic;
(2) Psalms 42-83 are Elohistic Psalms;
(3) Psalms 84-150 are Jehovistic.
2. The Penitential Psalms (Psa 6 ; Psa 32 ; Psa 38 ; Psa 51 ; Psa 102 ; Psa 130 ; Psa 143 )
3. The Pilgrim Psalms (Psalms 120-134)
4. The Alphabetical Psalms (Psa 9 ; Psa 10 ; Psa 25 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 37 ; 111:112; Psa 119 ; Psa 145 )
5. The Hallelujah Psalms (Psalms 11-113; 115-117; 146-150; to which may be added Psa 135 ) Psalms 113-118 are called “the Egyptian Hallel”
IV. Doctrines of the Psalms
1. The throne of grace and how to approach it by sacrifice, prayer, and praise.
2. The covenant, the basis of worship.
3. The paradoxical assertions of both innocence & guilt.
4. The pardon of sin and justification.
5. The Messiah.
6. The future life, pro and con.
7. The imprecations.
8. Other doctrines.
V. The New Testament use of the Psalms
1. Direct references and quotations in the New Testament.
2. The allusions to the psalms in the New Testament. Certain experiences of David’s life made very deep impressions on his heart, such as: (1) his peaceful early life; (2) his persecution by Saul; (3) his being crowned king of the people; (4) the bringing up of the ark; (5) his first great sin; (6) Absalom’s rebellion; (7) his second great sin; (8) the great promise made to him in 2Sa 7 ; (9) the feelings of his old age.
We may classify the Davidic Psalms according to these experiences following the order of time, thus:
1. His peaceful early life (Psa 8 ; Psa 19 ; Psa 29 ; Psa 23 )
2. His persecution by Saul (Psa 59 ; Psa 56 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 7 ; Psa 52 ; Psa 120 ; Psa 140 ; Psa 54 ; Psa 57 ; Psa 142 ; Psa 17 ; Psa 18 )
3. Making David King (Psa 27 ; Psa 133 ; Psa 101 )
4. Bringing up the ark (Psa 68 ; Psa 24 ; Psa 132 ; Psa 15 ; Psa 78 ; Psa 96 )
5. His first great sin (Psa 51 ; Psa 32 )
6. Absalom’s rebellion (Psa 41 ; Psa 6 ; Psa 55 ; Psa 109 ; Psa 38 ; Psa 39 ; Psa 3 ; Psa 4 ; Psa 63 ; Psa 42 ; Psa 43 ; Psa 5 ; Psa 62 ; Psa 61 ; Psa 27 )
7. His second great sin (Psa 69 ; Psa 71 ; Psa 102 ; Psa 103 )
8. The great promise made to him in 2Sa 7 (Psa 2 )
9. Feelings of old age (Psa 37 )
The great doctrines of the psalms may be noted as follows: (1) the being and attributes of God; (3) sin, both original and individual; (3) both covenants; (4) the doctrine of justification; (5) concerning the Messiah.
There is a striking analogy between the Pentateuch and the Psalms. The Pentateuch contains five books of law; the Psalms contain five books of heart responses to the law.
It is interesting to note the historic controversies concerning the singing of psalms. These were controversies about singing uninspired songs, in the Middle Ages. The church would not allow anything to be used but psalms.
The history in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles, and in Ezra and Nehemiah is very valuable toward a proper interpretation of the psalms. These books furnish the historical setting for a great many of the psalms which is very indispensable to their proper interpretation.
Professor James Robertson, in the Poetry and Religion of the Psalms constructs a broad and strong argument in favor of the Davidic Psalms, as follows:
1. The age of David furnished promising soil for the growth of poetry.
2. David’s qualifications for composing the psalms make it highly probable that David is the author of the psalms ascribed to him.
3. The arguments against the possibility of ascribing to David any of the hymns in the Hebrew Psalter rests upon assumptions that are thoroughly antibiblical.
The New Testament makes large use of the psalms and we learn much as to their importance in teaching. There are seventy direct quotations in the New Testament from this book, from which we learn that the Scriptures were used extensively in accord with 2Ti 3:16-17 . There are also eleven references to the psalms in the New Testament from which we learn that the New Testament writers were thoroughly imbued with the spirit and teaching of the psalms. Then there are eight allusions ‘to this book in the New Testament from which we gather that the Psalms was one of the divisions of the Old Testament and that they were used in the early church.
QUESTIONS
1. Give a list of the items of information gathered from the titles of the psalms.
2. What is the longest title to any of the psalms and what the items of this title?
3. What parts of these superscriptions most concern us now?
4. What is the historic value, or trustworthiness of these titles?
5. State the argument showing David’s relation to the psalms.
6. What have you to say of the attempt of the destructive critics to rob David of his glory in relation to the Psalter by assigning the Maccabean era as the date of composition?
7. What the obvious aim of this criticism and the necessary result, if it be just?
8. What other authors are named in the titles?
9. Were all the psalms ascribed to Asaph composed by one person?
10. Give the five general outlines of the whole collection, as follows: I. The outline by books II. The outline according to date and authorship III. The outline by groups IV. The outline of doctrines V. The outline by New Testament quotations or allusions.
11. What experiences of David’s life made very deep impressions on his heart?
12. Classify the Davidic Psalms according to these experiences following the order of time.
13. What the great doctrines of the psalms?
14. What analogy between the Pentateuch and the Psalms?
15. What historic controversies concerning the singing of psalms?
16. Of what value is the history in Samuel, 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles, and in Ezra and Nehemiah toward a proper interpretation of the psalms?
17. Give Professor James Robertson’s argument in favor of the Davidic authorship of the psalms.
18. What can you say of the New Testament use of the psalms and what do we learn as to their importance in teaching?
19. What can you say of the New Testament references to the psalms, and from the New Testament references what the impression on the New Testament writers?
20. What can you say of the allusions to the psalms in the New Testament?
XVII
THE MESSIAH IN THE PSALMS
A fine text for this chapter is as follows: “All things must be fulfilled which were written in the Psalms concerning me,” Luk 24:44 . I know of no better way to close my brief treatise on the Psalms than to discuss the subject of the Messiah as revealed in this book.
Attention has been called to the threefold division of the Old Testament cited by our Lord, namely, the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms (Luk 24:44 ), in all of which were the prophecies relating to himself that “must be fulfilled.” It has been shown just what Old Testament books belong to each of these several divisions. The division called the Psalms included many books, styled Holy Writings, and because the Psalms proper was the first book of the division it gave the name to the whole division.
The object of this discussion is to sketch the psalmist’s outline of the Messiah, or rather, to show how nearly a complete picture of our Lord is foredrawn in this one book. Let us understand however with Paul, that all prophecy is but in part (1Co 13:9 ), and that when we fill in on one canvas all the prophecies concerning the Messiah of all the Old Testament divisions, we are far from having a perfect portrait of our Lord. The present purpose is limited to three things:
1. What the book of the Psalms teaches concerning the Messiah.
2. That the New Testament shall authoritatively specify and expound this teaching.
3. That the many messianic predictions scattered over the book and the specifications thereof over the New Testament may be grouped into an orderly analysis, so that by the adjustment of the scattered parts we may have before us a picture of our Lord as foreseen by the psalmists.
In allowing the New Testament to authoritatively specify and expound the predictive features of the book, I am not unmindful of what the so-called “higher critics” urge against the New Testament quotations from the Old Testament and the use made of them. In this discussion, however, these objections are not considered, for sufficient reasons. There is not space for it. Even at the risk of being misjudged I must just now summarily pass all these objections, dismissing them with a single statement upon which the reader may place his own estimate of value. That statement is that in the days of my own infidelity, before this old method of criticism had its new name, I was quite familiar with the most and certainly the strongest of the objections now classified as higher criticism, and have since patiently re-examined them in their widely conflicting restatements under their modern name, and find my faith in the New Testament method of dealing with the Old Testament in no way shattered, but in every way confirmed. God is his own interpreter. The Old Testament as we now have it was in the hands of our Lord. I understand his apostle to declare, substantially, that “every one of these sacred scriptures is God-inspired and is profitable for teaching us what is right to believe and to do, for convincing us what is wrong in faith or practice, for rectifying the wrong when done, that we may be ready at every point, furnished completely, to do every good work, at the right time, in the right manner, and from the proper motive” (2Ti 3:16-17 ).
This New Testament declares that David was a prophet (Act 2:30 ), that he spake by the Holy Spirit (Act 1:16 ), that when the book speaks the Holy Spirit speaks (Heb 3:7 ), and that all its predictive utterances, as sacred Scripture, “must be fulfilled” (Joh 13:18 ; Act 1:16 ). It is not claimed that David wrote all the psalms, but that all are inspired, and that as he was the chief author, the book goes by his name.
It would be a fine thing to make out two lists, as follows:
1. All of the 150 psalms in order from which the New Testament quotes with messianic application.
2. The New Testament quotations, book by book, i.e., Matthew so many, and then the other books in their order.
We would find in neither of these any order as to time, that is, Psa 1 which forecasts an incident in the coming Messiah’s life does not forecast the first incident of his life. And even the New Testament citations are not in exact order as to time and incident of his life. To get the messianic picture before us, therefore, we must put the scattered parts together in their due relation and order, and so construct our own analysis. That is the prime object of this discussion. It is not claimed that the analysis now presented is perfect. It is too much the result of hasty, offhand work by an exceedingly busy man. It will serve, however, as a temporary working model, which any one may subsequently improve. We come at once to the psalmist’s outline of the Messiah.
1. The necessity for a Saviour. This foreseen necessity is a background of the psalmists’ portrait of the Messiah. The necessity consists in (1) man’s sinfulness; (2) his sin; (3) his inability of wisdom and power to recover himself; (4) the insufficiency of legal, typical sacrifices in securing atonement.
The predicate of Paul’s great argument on justification by faith is the universal depravity and guilt of man. He is everywhere corrupt in nature; everywhere an actual transgressor; everywhere under condemnation. But the scriptural proofs of this depravity and sin the apostle draws mainly from the book of the Psalms. In one paragraph of the letter to the Romans (Rom 3:4-18 ), he cites and groups six passages from six divisions of the Psalms (Psa 5:9 ; Psa 10:7 ; Psa 14:1-3 ; Psa 36:1 ; Psa 51:4-6 ; Psa 140:3 ). These passages abundantly prove man’s sinfulness, or natural depravity, and his universal practice of sin.
The predicate also of the same apostle’s great argument for revelation and salvation by a Redeemer is man’s inability of wisdom and power to re-establish communion with God. In one of his letters to the Corinthians he thus commences his argument: “For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? -For after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preach-ing to save them that believe.” He closes this discussion with the broad proposition: “The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God,” and proves it by a citation from Psa 94:11 : “The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.”
In like manner our Lord himself pours scorn on human wisdom and strength by twice citing Psa 8 : “At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight” (Mat 11:25-26 ). “And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children that were crying in the temple and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased, and said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?” (Mat 21:15-16 ).
But the necessity for a Saviour as foreseen by the psalmist did not stop at man’s depravity, sin, and helplessness. The Jews were trusting in the sacrifices of their law offered on the smoking altar. The inherent weakness of these offerings, their lack of intrinsic merit, their ultimate abolition, their complete fulfilment and supercession by a glorious antitype were foreseen and foreshown in this wonderful prophetic book: I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices; And thy burnt offerings are continually before me. I will take no bullock out of thy house, Nor he-goat out of thy folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, And the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all of the birds of the mountains; And the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee; For the world is mine, and the fulness thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, Or drink the blood of goats? Psa 50:8-13 .
Yet again it speaks in that more striking passage cited in the letter to the Hebrews: “For the law having a shadow of good things to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshipers, once purged should have no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance made of sins year by year. For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, But a body didst thou prepare for me; In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hadst no pleasure: Then said I, Lo, I am come (In the roll of the book it is written of me) To do thy will, O God. Saying above, Sacrifice and offering and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou wouldst not, neither hadst pleasure therein, (the which are offered according to the law), then hath he said, Lo, I am come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second” (Heb 10:1-9 ).
This keen foresight of the temporary character and intrinsic worthlessness of animal sacrifices anticipated similar utterances by the later prophets (Isa 1:10-17 ; Jer 6:20 ; Jer 7:21-23 ; Hos 6:6 ; Amo 5:21 ; Mic 6:6-8 ). Indeed, I may as well state in passing that when the apostle declares, “It is impossible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins,” he lays down a broad principle, just as applicable to baptism and the Lord’s Supper. With reverence I state the principle: Not even God himself by mere appointment can vest in any ordinance, itself lacking intrinsic merit, the power to take away sin. There can be, therefore, in the nature of the case, no sacramental salvation. This would destroy the justice of God in order to exalt his mercy. Clearly the psalmist foresaw that “truth and mercy must meet together” before “righteousness and peace could kiss each other” (Psa 85:10 ). Thus we find as the dark background of the psalmists’ luminous portrait of the Messiah, the necessity for a Saviour.
2. The nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation to be wrought by the coming Messiah. In no other prophetic book are the nature, fullness, and blessedness of salvation so clearly seen and so vividly portrayed. Besides others not now enumerated, certainly the psalmists clearly forecast four great elements of salvation:
(1) An atoning sacrifice of intrinsic merit offered once for all (Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:4-10 ).
(2) Regeneration itself consisting of cleansing, renewal, and justification. We hear his impassioned statement of the necessity of regeneration: “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts,” followed by his earnest prayer: “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me,” and his equally fervent petition: “Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean; wash me and I shall be whiter than snow” (Psa 51 ). And we hear him again as Paul describes the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputes righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, And whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not reckon sin Psa 32:1 ; Rom 4:6-8 .
(3) Introduction into the heavenly rest (Psa 95:7-11 ; Heb 3:7-19 ; Heb 4:1-11 ). Here is the antitypical Joshua leading spiritual Israel across the Jordan of death into the heavenly Canaan, the eternal rest that remaineth for the people of God. Here we find creation’s original sabbath eclipsed by redemption’s greater sabbath when the Redeemer “entered his rest, ceasing from his own works as God did from his.”
(4) The recovery of all the universal dominion lost by the first Adam and the securement of all possible dominion which the first Adam never attained (Psa 8:5-6 ; Eph 1:20-22 ; Heb 2:7-9 ; 1Co 15:24-28 ).
What vast extent then and what blessedness in the salvation foreseen by the psalmists, and to be wrought by the Messiah. Atoning sacrifice of intrinsic merit; regeneration by the Holy Spirit; heavenly rest as an eternal inheritance; and universal dominion shared with Christ!
3. The wondrous person of the Messiah in his dual nature, divine and human.
(1) His divinity,
(a) as God: “Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever” (Psa 45:6 and Heb 1:8 ) ;
(b) as creator of the heavens and earth, immutable and eternal: Of old didst thou lay the foundation of the earth; And the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure; Yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; As a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed. But thou art the same, And thy years shall have no end Psa 102:25-27 quoted with slight changes in Heb 1:10-12 .
(c) As owner of the earth: The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof; The world, and they that dwell therein, Psa 24:1 quoted in 1Co 10:26 .
(d) As the Son of God: “Thou art my Son; This day have I begotten thee” Psa 2:7 ; Heb 1:5 .
(e) As David’s Lord: The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, Until I make thine enemies thy footstool, Psa 110:1 ; Mat 22:41-46 .
(f) As the object of angelic worship: “And let all the angels of God worship him” Psa 97:7 ; Heb 1:6 .
(g) As the Bread of life: And he rained down manna upon them to eat, And gave them food from heaven Psa 78:24 ; interpreted in Joh 6:31-58 . These are but samples which ascribe deity to the Messiah of the psalmists.
(2) His humanity, (a) As the Son of man, or Son of Adam: Psa 8:4-6 , cited in 1Co 15:24-28 ; Eph 1:20-22 ; Heb 2:7-9 . Compare Luke’s genealogy, Luk 3:23-38 . This is the ideal man, or Second Adam, who regains Paradise Lost, who recovers race dominion, in whose image all his spiritual lineage is begotten. 1Co 15:45-49 . (b) As the Son of David: Psa 18:50 ; Psa 89:4 ; Psa 89:29 ; Psa 89:36 ; Psa 132:11 , cited in Luk 1:32 ; Act 13:22-23 ; Rom 1:3 ; 2Ti 2:8 . Perhaps a better statement of the psalmists’ vision of the wonderful person of the Messiah would be: He saw the uncreated Son, the second person of the trinity, in counsel and compact with the Father, arranging in eternity for the salvation of men: Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:5-7 . Then he saw this Holy One stoop to be the Son of man: Psa 8:4-6 ; Heb 2:7-9 . Then he was the son of David, and then he saw him rise again to be the Son of God: Psa 2:7 ; Rom 1:3-4 .
4. His offices.
(1) As the one atoning sacrifice (Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:5-7 ).
(2) As the great Prophet, or Preacher (Psa 40:9-10 ; Psa 22:22 ; Heb 2:12 ). Even the method of his teaching by parable was foreseen (Psa 78:2 ; Mat 13:35 ). Equally also the grace, wisdom, and power of his teaching. When the psalmist declares that “Grace is poured into thy lips” (Psa 45:2 ), we need not be startled when we read that all the doctors in the Temple who heard him when only a boy “were astonished at his understanding and answers” (Luk 2:47 ); nor that his home people at Nazareth “all bear him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth” (Luk 4:22 ); nor that those of his own country were astonished, and said, “Whence hath this man this wisdom?” (Mat 13:54 ); nor that the Jews in the Temple marveled, saying, “How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?” (Joh 7:15 ) ; nor that the stern officers of the law found their justification in failure to arrest him in the declaration, “Never man spake like this man” (Joh 7:46 ).
(3) As the king (Psa 2:6 ; Psa 24:7-10 ; Psa 45:1-17 ; Psa 110:1 ; Mat 22:42-46 ; Act 2:33-36 ; 1Co 15:25 ; Eph 1:20 ; Heb 1:13 ).
(4) As the priest (Psa 110:4 ; Heb 5:5-10 ; Heb 7:1-21 ; Heb 10:12-14 ).
(5) As the final judge. The very sentence of expulsion pronounced upon the finally impenitent by the great judge (Mat 25:41 ) is borrowed from the psalmist’s prophetic words (Psa 6:8 ).
5. Incidents of life. The psalmists not only foresaw the necessity for a Saviour; the nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation; the wonderful human-divine person of the Saviour; the offices to be filled by him in the work of salvation, but also many thrilling details of his work in life, death, resurrection, and exaltation. It is not assumed to cite all these details, but some of the most important are enumerated in order, thus:
(1) The visit, adoration, and gifts of the Magi recorded in Mat 2 are but partial fulfilment of Psa 72:9-10 .
(2) The scripture employed by Satan in the temptation of our Lord (Luk 4:10-11 ) was cited from Psa 91:11-12 and its pertinency not denied.
(3) In accounting for his intense earnestness and the apparently extreme measures adopted by our Lord in his first purification of the Temple (Joh 2:17 ), he cites the messianic zeal predicted in Psa 69:9 .
(4) Alienation from his own family was one of the saddest trials of our Lord’s earthly life. They are slow to understand his mission and to enter into sympathy with him. His self-abnegation and exhaustive toil were regarded by them as evidences of mental aberration, and it seems at one time they were ready to resort to forcible restraint of his freedom) virtually what in our time would be called arrest under a writ of lunacy. While at the last his half-brothers became distinguished preachers of his gospel, for a long while they do not believe on him. And the evidence forces us to the conclusion that his own mother shared with her other sons, in kind though not in degree, the misunderstanding of the supremacy of his mission over family relations. The New Testament record speaks for itself:
Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto them. How is it that ye sought me? Knew ye not that I must be in my Father’s house? And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them Luk 2:48-51 (R.V.).
And when the wine failed, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. And Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. Joh 2:3-5 (R.V.).
And there come his mother and his brethren; and standing without; they sent unto him, calling him. And a multitude was sitting about him; and they say unto him. Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee. And he answereth them, and saith, Who is my mother and my brethren? And looking round on them that sat round about him, he saith, Behold, my mother and my brethren) For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother Mar 3:31-35 (R.V.).
Now the feast of the Jews, the feast of tabernacles, was at hand. His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judea, that thy disciples also may behold thy works which thou doest. For no man doeth anything in secret, and himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou doest these things, manifest thyself to the world. For even his brethren did not believe on him. Jesus therefore saith unto them, My time is not yet come; but your time is always ready. The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that its works are evil. Go ye up unto the feast: I go not up yet unto this feast; because my time is not fulfilled. Joh 7:2-9 (R.V.).
These citations from the Revised Version tell their own story. But all that sad story is foreshown in the prophetic psalms. For example: I am become a stranger unto my brethren, And an alien unto my mother’s children. Psa 69:8 .
(5) The triumphal entry into Jerusalem was welcomed by a joyous people shouting a benediction from Psa 118:26 : “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord” (Mat 21:9 ); and the Lord’s lamentation over Jerusalem predicts continued desolation and banishment from his sight until the Jews are ready to repeat that benediction (Mat 23:39 ).
(6) The children’s hosanna in the Temple after its second purgation is declared by our Lord to be a fulfilment of that perfect praise forecast in Psa 8:2 .
(7) The final rejection of our Lord by his own people was also clear in the psalmist’s vision (Psa 118:22 ; Mat 21:42-44 ).
(8) Gethsemane’s baptism of suffering, with its strong crying and tears and prayers was as clear to the psalmist’s prophetic vision as to the evangelist and apostle after it became history (Psa 69:1-4 ; Psa 69:13-20 ; and Mat 26:36-44 ; Heb 5:7 ).
(9) In life-size also before the psalmist was the betrayer of Christ and his doom (Psa 41:9 ; Psa 69:25 ; Psa 109:6-8 ; Joh 13:18 ; Act 1:20 ).
(10) The rage of the people, Jew and Gentile, and the conspiracy of Pilate and Herod are clearly outlined (Psa 2:1-3 ; Act 4:25-27 ).
(11) All the farce of his trial the false accusation, his own marvelous silence; and the inhuman maltreatment to which he was subjected, is foreshown in the prophecy as dramatically as in the history (Mat 26:57-68 ; Mat 27:26-31 ; Psa 27:12 ; Psa 35:15-16 ; Psa 38:3 ; Psa 69:19 ).
The circumstances of his death, many and clear, are distinctly foreseen. He died in the prime of life (Psa 89:45 ; Psa 102:23-24 ). He died by crucifixion (Psa 22:14-17 ; Luk 23 ; 33; Joh 19:23-37 ; Joh 20:27 ). But yet not a bone of his body was broken (Psa 34:20 ; Joh 19:36 ).
The persecution, hatred without a cause, the mockery and insults, are all vividly and dramatically foretold (Psa 22:6-13 ; Psa 35:7 ; Psa 35:12 ; Psa 35:15 ; Psa 35:21 ; Psa 109:25 ).
The parting of his garments and the gambling for his vesture (Psa 22:18 ; Mat 27:35 ).
His intense thirst and the gall and vinegar offered for his drink (Psa 69:21 ; Mat 27:34 ).
In the psalms, too, we hear his prayers for his enemies so remarkably fulfilled in fact (Psa 109:4 ; Luk 23:34 ).
His spiritual death was also before the eye of the psalmist, and the very words which expressed it the psalmist heard. Separation from the Father is spiritual death. The sinner’s substitute must die the sinner’s death, death physical, i.e., separation of soul from body; death spiritual, i.e., separation of the soul from God. The latter is the real death and must precede the former. This death the substitute died when he cried out: “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me.” (Psa 22:1 ; Mat 27:46 ).
Emerging from the darkness of that death, which was the hour of the prince of darkness, the psalmist heard him commend his spirit to the Father (Psa_31:35; Luk 23:46 ) showing that while he died the spiritual death, his soul was not permanently abandoned unto hell (Psa 16:8-10 ; Act 2:25 ) so that while he “tasted death” for every man it was not permanent death (Heb 2:9 ).
With equal clearness the psalmist foresaw his resurrection, his triumph over death and hell, his glorious ascension into heaven, and his exaltation at the right hand of God as King of kings and Lord of lords, as a high Driest forever, as invested with universal sovereignty (Psa 16:8-11 ; Psa 24:7-10 ; Psa 68:18 ; Psa 2:6 ; Psa 111:1-4 ; Psa 8:4-6 ; Act 2:25-36 ; Eph 1:19-23 ; Eph 4:8-10 ).
We see, therefore, brethren, when the scattered parts are put together and adjusted, how nearly complete a portrait of our Lord is put upon the prophetic canvas by this inspired limner, the sweet singer of Israel.
QUESTIONS
1. What is a good text for this chapter?
2. What is the threefold division of the Old Testament as cited by our Lord?
3. What is the last division called and why?
4. What is the object of the discussion in this chapter?
5. To what three things is the purpose limited?
6. What especially qualifies the author to meet the objections of the higher critics to allowing the New Testament usage of the Old Testament to determine its meaning and application?
7. What is the author’s conviction relative to the Scriptures?
8. What is the New Testament testimony on the question of inspiration?
9. What is the author’s suggested plan of approach to the study of the Messiah in the Psalms?
10. What the background of the Psalmist’s portrait of the Messiah and of what does it consist?
11. Give the substance of Paul’s discussion of man’s sinfulness.
12. What is the teaching of Jesus on this point?
13. What is the teaching relative to sacrifices?
14. What the nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation to be wrought by the coming Messiah and what the four great elements of it as forecast by the psalmist?
15. What is the teaching of the psalms relative to the wondrous person of the Messiah? Discuss.
16. What are the offices of the Messiah according to psalms? Discuss each.
17. Cite the more important events of the Messiah’s life according to the vision of the psalmist.
18. What the circumstances of the Messiah’s death and resurrection as foreseen by the psalmist?
Psa 66:1 To the chief Musician, A Song [or] Psalm. Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands:
Ver. 1. Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands ] Heb. All the earth; shout aloud for joy, as the people did at the return of the ark, so that the earth rang again. God shall one day show himself to be the God, not of Jews only, but of Gentiles also; these shall as well cry Christ as those Jews; these say Father, as those Abba. And as there was great joy in Samaria when the gospel was there first received, Act 8:8 , so shall there be the like in all other parts of the earth.
This next psalm is “To the chief musician, a song, a psalm.” It is the godly Jew anticipating deliverance after the sorest but justly inflicted trials. But God is faithful, and proved so at the close, Who had of old redeemed them from Egypt.
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 66:1-4
1Shout joyfully to God, all the earth;
2Sing the glory of His name;
Make His praise glorious.
3Say to God, How awesome are Your works!
Because of the greatness of Your power Your enemies will give feigned obedience to You.
4All the earth will worship You,
And will sing praises to You;
They will sing praises to Your name. Selah.
Psa 66:1 Shout This Hiphil imperative is plural and Psa 66:1 is similar to Psalms 100 and reminds me of the beautiful choir of Rev 7:9. Notice the plural speaks that all the earth is to shout joyfully to God (cf. Psa 66:1; Psa 66:4; Psa 66:8; Psa 65:2; Psa 65:5; Psa 65:8; Psa 67:1).
Notice this Psalm includes the general name for God, Elohim (see SPECIAL TOPIC: NAMES FOR DEITY ), and not the covenant name for God, YHWH. It is all the earth that is to respond (cf. Psalms 67); the praise of Israel is not enough (cf. Psa 103:19-22; Psa 145:21; Psa 150:6). If it is true there is only one God and He created the whole world and made man in His image (see SPECIAL TOPIC: MONOTHEISM ), then it is obviously true that He wants all humans to come to know Him. Israel was meant to be only a kingdom of priests to bring the world to God (see Special Topic: YHWH’s Eternal Redemptive Plan ).
Psa 66:2 Sing the glory of His name The idea or the concept of singing in worship can be documented from verses like this is the Psalter. It is interesting that in Eph 5:19, where it speaks of being filled with the Spirit, that three of the five following participles speak of music. Praise is an appropriate activity in the worship of our God.
The term name is a way in Hebrew to reflect one’s character. It may be a circumlocution of the Hebrew’s fear to mention the name of God Himself, and that is why the concept of His name is so often substituted (see SPECIAL TOPIC: THE NAME OF YHWH ).
Faithful followers are to glorify YHWH’s character and action (cf. Psa 29:2; Psa 79:9; Psa 96:8). The name represents YHWH Himself (see SPECIAL TOPIC: THE NAME OF YHWH ).
For the term glory see SPECIAL TOPIC: GLORY (OT) .
Psa 66:3 Say to God This is the fourth imperative of Psa 66:1-3 directed to all humans.
1. shout joyfully to God BDB 929, KB 1206, Hiphil imperative, cf. Psa 47:1; Psa 81:2; Psa 98:4; Psa 98:6 (cohortative in Psa 95:1-2)
2. sing the glory of His name BDB 274, KB 273, Piel imperative, cf. Psa 9:11; Psa 30:4; Psa 47:6-7 [five]; Psa 105:2; Psa 135:3 (cohortative in Psa 18:49; Psa 27:6; Psa 59:16; Psa 71:22; Psa 75:9; Psa 101:1; Psa 104:33; Psa 146:2)
3. make His praise glorious BDB 962, KB 1321, Qal imperative (lit. put, set, or place), cf. Isa 42:12
4. say to God BDB 55, KB 65, Qal imperative
How awesome are Your works The term is terrible or terrifying (BDB 431, Niphal participle, cf. Psa 45:4; Psa 65:5). Some translators, such as the Jerusalem Bible, translate this, what dread you inspire, but it seems that because of Psa 66:5 that we are talking not of God’s character, but about God’s acts (cf. Exo 34:10; Deu 10:21; Psa 65:5; Psa 139:14; Psa 145:6). God has acted in history (cf. the Exodus in Psa 66:5-7). His acts are acts of deliverance and revelation of His purposes (see Special Topic: YHWH’s Eternal Redemptive Plan ).
Because of the greatness of Your power Your enemies will give feigned obedience to You This is a very difficult sentence in Hebrew to translate. It is obvious that God’s power draws even the reluctant praise of His enemies (cf. Psa 18:44). The Hebrew seems to imply a pretended obedience (BDB 471, KB 469, Piel imperfect). The Septuagint even translates it, a lie. The Hebrew word has the connotation of something that has grown small, pride that has been reduced, or insincerity (cf. Psa 81:15). Which connotation was intended is simply uncertain here.
Psa 66:4 All the earth will worship You This seems to speak along the same lines as Php 2:9-11, that one day both friend and foe, both child and enemy, will acknowledge YHWH. On that day, all will sing praises to Him (cf. Psa 22:27; Psa 46:10; Psa 65:2; Psa 65:5; Psa 65:8; Psa 67:1-7; Psa 86:9; Zec 14:16). This has eschatological implications (cf. Mic 5:2-5 a).
Selah This term (BDB 699) also occurs at the end of Psa 66:7; Psa 66:15. See note at Psa 3:2 and Introduction to Psalms, VII.
Title. Song. Hebrew. shir. See App-65.
Psalm. Hebrew. mizmor. See App-65.
ye lands = the earth; earth being put by Figure of speech Metonymy (of Subject), for its inhabitants.
Psa 66:1-20
Psa 66:1-20 :
Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands: Sing forth the honor of his name: make his praise glorious ( Psa 66:1-2 ).
Sing forth the honor of the name of the Lord; make His praise glorious. Oh, that men would praise the Lord, the scripture says, for His glorious works.
Say unto God, How awesome art thou in thy works! Through the greatness of thy power shall your enemies submit themselves unto you. All the earth shall worship you, and shall sing unto you; they shall sing to thy name ( Psa 66:3-4 ).
And here again, “Every knee shall bow, every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord to the glory of God the Father.” “All of the earth shall worship and shall sing unto Thee, and shall sing to Thy name.” God has highly exalted Him; given Him a name that is above every name. That at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess.
Come and see the works of God: he is awesome is his doing toward the children of men. He turned the sea into dry land: they went through the flood on foot: and there did we rejoice in him ( Psa 66:5-6 ).
So, take a look at what God has done, dried up the Red Sea so that His people were able to come though on dry land.
He rules by His power for ever; his eyes behold the nations: let not the rebellious exalt themselves. O bless our God, ye people, and make the voice of his praise to be heard: which holds our soul in life, and allows not our feet to be moved. For you, O God, have proved us: you have tried us, as silver is tried. You brought us into the net; and you laid affliction upon our loins. You’ve caused men to ride over our heads; we went through the fire and through the water: but you brought us out into a wealthy place ( Psa 66:7-12 ).
And so, God took us through the fire, God took us through the water, but they were all necessary as God was seeking really to purge us, to purify our lives, that He might bring us into that place of abundance in Christ. Jesus said, “I am the vine, ye are the branches. Every branch in Me that bringeth forth fruit, He purgeth” ( Joh 15:1-2 ). The word purge is cleanses. He washes it.
Now if you go over to Israel today and through the area between Bethlehem and Hebron, the valley of Eshcol, the area where Joshua and Caleb picked a cluster of grapes that was so big that they tied it onto a stick that they carried between them. There in the valley of Eshcol grow some of the most delicious grapes in all the world. And it is interesting that these grapevines grow on the ground. You’ll see these big stocks and they put rocks under them to prop them up maybe eight inches or so, but they grow on the ground. They don’t set up the terraces or anything for them, or the wires and all, but they let them grow on the ground. But they are fabulous grapes. But in growing on the ground, as the grapes are developing, during the summertime they will come along and they will take these bunches of grapes that are lying there on the ground, and they will lift them up, and they will wash them in order that they may develop even fuller and better. That they might get more fruit. If they just stay on the ground, those that are lying on the ground will sort of rot, but they’ll lift them up, they will prop them up, they’ll wash them.
And Jesus said, “And every branch of Me that bringeth forth fruit,” He washes it that it might bring forth more fruit. “Now you are clean through the word that I have spoken unto you” ( Joh 15:3 ). There is a process of God in your life of washing, cleansing. There is also the process of God in our lives of that purifying through fire, as silver or gold is refined. That refining process of God, the end result, the producing of a more quality kind of a fruit for His glory. Because, basically, that is what God is looking for from your life, that you bring forth fruit for His glory.
God wants to work in you. God desires to do a work in your life, but never is God satisfied with just working in you. The work of God is in me first, that’s necessary. The husbandman must be the first partaker of the fruit, but God is working in me in order that having worked in me, He may now work through me to touch the needy world around me. So God works in you what He can do for you, in order that He might do through you in helping others who are in need. So the work of God in me is first of all subjective, that which He is desiring to do in my life. But always with God there is the objective in view, that which He can do through my life in touching others. And so, we are to bless God and make the voice of His praise heard. He will not allow your feet to be moved. He has proved us and tried us as silver in order that He might bring forth that fruit from our lives, that purity from within. That He might bring you in to the wealthy place. Oh, how rich I am in Christ. Oh, the riches of God’s glorious grace in Christ Jesus.
I will go to your house with burnt offerings ( Psa 66:13 ):
And the burnt offerings were the offerings of consecration. So, “I will go to Your house with offerings of the consecration, God, where I consecrate my life to You.”
I will pay thee my vows, which my lips have uttered, and my voice had spoken, when I was in trouble ( Psa 66:13-14 ).
That’s when vows are usually made to God, when a person is in trouble. I have found that there is nothing like trying to surf in a stormy surf, you know, when it is really running high, to cause you to make vows to the Lord. I have been up on top of some of those waves looking down, saying, “Lord, if You get me out of this, I promise I’ll go home.” Vows, when I was in trouble. “Lord, just get me out of this mess. And I’ll serve you. Lord, just help me to get out of here, and I’ll go to church. I’ll do anything, Lord. Help me.” Well, the Lord listens to those vows that you make when you are in trouble and after He’s done His part, He expects you to do your part. “I will pay the vows which my lips uttered when I was in trouble.”
I will offer unto thee the burnt sacrifices of the fatlings, with the incense of rams: I will offer bullocks with goats. Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul. I cried unto him with my mouth, he was extolled with my tongue. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me: But verily God hath heard me; he hath attended to the voice of my prayer ( Psa 66:15-19 ).
Now he says, “Come and let me tell you what God has done for me. He has heard. He has attended to the voice of my prayer.” But he said, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.”
A lot of times we wonder why our prayers are not answered. And one of the reasons for which prayers are sometimes not answered is because of the iniquity in our lives. In Isa 59:1-21 God declared, “Behold the hand of the Lord is not short, that He cannot save. Neither is His ear heavy that He cannot hear. But your sins have separated you from God.” In other words, the problem in prayer is not always on the upper end, which we are prone to usually think when our prayers aren’t being answered. “What’s the matter with God? Why isn’t God answering my prayers? Is God deaf? Is He having problems hearing me? What’s going wrong?” And we usually think that the problem lies on the upper end. Quite often the problem lies on the lower end. Our prayers are coming forth from a deceitful heart, from a wicked life. “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord doesn’t hear me when I pray.” That is, if I am regarding and plotting and planning evil and iniquity. “Your sins have separated,” Isaiah said, “between you and your God.”
Does God hear the prayer of a sinner? The president of the Southern Baptist church I guess got in trouble recently by a statement that he made concerning whose prayers God hears. In the New Testament there was a man who was born blind, and Jesus came to him and said, “Would you like to see?” And he said, “Sure would.” So Jesus spit on the ground, made some mud, put it in his eyes and said, “Go down to the pool of Siloam and wash that out.” And the man went down to the pool of Siloam, and when he washed out his eyes, he could see. Now it happened on the Sabbath day, so it got the Jews upset. And they said to the man, “How is it that you can see?” And he told them the story. “This man came and He put this mud in my eye and He told me to go and wash. And He said when I washed I could see.” And they said, “Who was it?” And he said, “I don’t know.” They said, “Well, we know He has got to be a sinful man, because He told you to violate the Sabbath.” He said, “Whether He was a sinner or not I do not know, but all I know is where I was blind, now I can see.” But he said, “If He were a sinful man, how was it that God hears His prayers, because we know that God does not hear the prayer of the sinners.”
Now that particular statement cannot be taken for doctrinal truth. Cause this is the statement of a blind man in a conversation with the Pharisees. It’s just quoting the statement of this man. The truth of the matter is that God does hear the prayer of sinners, or else you would all still be sinners. God hears you when you said, “Oh God, be merciful to me a sinner.” He hears that prayer. How much more, I don’t know. David said, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord does not hear me when I pray.” God said through Isaiah, “It isn’t that My ear is heavy that I cannot hear, but your sins have separated, they have severed connections, between you and God.” So David is rejoicing in the fact that the Lord heard his prayer.
Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me ( Psa 66:20 ). “
Psa 66:1. Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands:
Let not Israel alone do it. Take up the strain, ye nations. He is the God of all the nations of the earth. Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands.
Psa 66:2-4. Sing forth the honour of his name: make his praise glorious. Say unto God, How terrible art thou in thy works! through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee. All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee; they shall sing to thy name. Selah.
I still must always cling to the belief that this whole world is to be converted to God, and to lie captive at the feet of Christ in glorious liberty. Do not fall into that lethargic, apathetic belief of some that this is never to be accomplished that the battle is not to be fought out on the present lines, but that there is to be a defeat, and then Christ is to come. Nay, foot to foot with the old enemy will he stand, till he has worsted him, and until the nations of the earth shall worship and bow before him.
Psa 66:5-6. Come and see the works of God: he is terrible in his doing toward the children of men. He turned the sea into dry land: they went through the flood on foot: there did we rejoice in him.
Where God is most terrible to his enemies, he is most gracious to his friends. As Pharaoh and his hosts went down beneath the terrible hand of God, the children of Israel lifted up their loudest hallelujahs, and sang unto the Lord, who triumphed gloriously. And so shall it be to the end of the chapter. God will lay bare his terrible arm against his adversaries but his children shall meanwhile make music. There did we rejoice in him.
Psa 66:7-9. He ruleth by his power forever: his eyes behold the nations: let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah. O bless our God ye people and make the voice of his praise to be heard. Which holdeth our soul in life and suffereth not our feet to be moved.
Loudest among the singers should Gods people be. If others can restrain their praise, yet let the love of Christ so constrain us that we must give it a tongue, and tell forth the majesty of our God. It is he alone who keeps us from perdition which holdeth our soul in life. It is he alone who keeps us from falling foully, ay, and falling finally, and suffereth not our feet to be moved.
Psa 66:10. For thou, O God, hast proved us:
All Gods people can say this. It is the heritage of the elect of God. Thou has proved us.
Psa 66:10-11. Thou hast tried us, as silver is tried. Thou broughtest us into the net.
Entangled, surrounded, captive, held fast. Many of Gods people are in this condition.
Psa 66:11. Thou laidst affliction upon our loins.
It was no affliction of hand or foot, but it laid upon our loins a heavy, crushing burden.
Psa 66:12. Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water:
It was the full ordeal. One was not enough. Fire destroys some, but water is the test for others, but Gods people must be tried both ways. We went through fire and through water; but . Blessed but.
Psa 66:12. But thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place.
Out of the fire and out of the water they came, because God brought them, and when he brought them, it was not to a stinted, barren heritage, but into a wealthy place. Oh! beloved, when we think of where the covenant of grace has placed every believer, it is a wealthy place, indeed.
Psa 66:13-15. I will go into thy house with burnt offerings: I will pay thee my vows Which my lips have uttered, and my mouth have spoken, when I was in trouble I will offer unto thee burnt sacrifices of fatlings, with the incense of rams; I will offer bullocks with goats. Selah.
The best, I think. The best of the best will I bring thee, O my God. I will bring thee my heart; I will bring thee my tongue; I will bring thee my entire being.
Psa 66:1-4
LET ALL THE EARTH PRAISE GOD
SUPERSCRIPTION: FOR THE CHIEF MUSICIAN
A SONG; A PSALM.
Addis stated that, “We have two Psalms here: (1) that of the nation (Psa 66:1-12); and (2) that of an individual (Psa 66:13-20. Despite opinions of this kind offered by a number of scholars, we find no necessity whatever for the acceptance of such notions.
Yes, indeed, it is true that there is a sharp change in the movement from Psa 66:12 to Psa 66:13; but this evident duality is easily explained.
If the psalm was written shortly after the deliverance of Israel from the army of Sennacherib (2 Kings 19), during the reign of Hezekiah, who himself had received a most remarkable deliverance from what was apparently his death-bed, by the miraculous help of God, then either Hezekiah, or someone writing upon his behalf might easily have composed this psalm, first extolling the deliverance of the nation, and then the personal deliverance of their king. Of all the conjectures offered regarding the occasion of this psalm, this explanation appeals to us as reasonable far more than any other.
Ash rejected the notion of this being two psalms joined together, stating that, “The author was a king or a national leader, whose personal experience in trial was a typical part of the larger national problem. Of course such facts indeed fit the case of Hezekiah, first delivered from a fatal illness, and then delivered from the Assyrian army.
Yates also rejected the proposition that we have two psalms here, stating that, “The corporate experience of the nation forms an excellent background for the individual experience of the author.
Matthew Henry wrote that, “This psalm is of such a general use and application that we need not suppose it was penned upon any particular occasion. This opinion, however, ignores the very obvious truth that this psalm celebrates a most remarkable and unusual deliverance of Israel from some overwhelming danger.
As Dummelow expressed it: “This Psalm triumphantly celebrates a great national deliverance. So great that the whole earth is summonsed to join in the praise. Two such “great” deliverances have been proposed, that of the destruction of Sennacherib’s Assyrian army, and the return from Babylonian captivity. In our judgment, the deliverance from the Assyrians fits the psalm best.
Delitzsch pointed out that Psalms 65-68 are designated both as “a song,” and as “a psalm.” He further noted that, “The frequent use of `Selah’ was connected with instructions for the musicians, and these annotations referring to the temple music favor the pre-exilic rather than the post exilic origin (or date) of Psalms 66 and Psalms 67.
THE WHOLE WORLD SUMMONSED TO CELEBRATE THE GRAND DELIVERANCE OF ISRAEL
Psa 66:1-4
“Make a joyful noise unto God, all the earth:
Sing forth the glory of his name:
Make his praise glorious.
Say unto God, How terrible are thy works!
Through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee.
All the earth shall worship thee,
And shall sing unto thee;
They shall sing to thy name. (Selah)”
“Make a joyful noise” (Psa 66:1). The word “noise” here is not really appropriate for the singing that is enjoined, but it is used for the purpose of saying ordinary singing is not loud enough adequately to praise God for such a tremendous deliverance as that which Israel has just experienced.
“All the earth” (Psa 66:1). Furthermore, Israel feels that her praise of God could not possibly be sufficient to extol such a great deliverance, therefore the whole world is invited to join in the praise.
“The point here is that the deliverance which God’s people have experienced is so great that they are unable to offer praise in such a volume as the occasion required. Therefore let all the earth do her part.
“This call for `all the earth’ to join in implies that the nation’s deliverance is of worldwide significance. That significance does not derive so much from the preservation of God’s people as from the disclosure of God’s glorious being.
In this disclosure of God’s glorious power, the destruction of Sennacherib’s army was an event fully as remarkable and wonderful as the overwhelming of the host of Pharaoh in the Red Sea, an event significantly mentioned in this connection a few lines later.
“All the earth shall worship thee” (Psa 66:4). In this psalm, these words simply mean that all the earth `should’ worship God; but as they stand the words are also a prophecy of what indeed is going on now `all over the earth.’ All of the ancient pagan deities have been vanquished by the True God; and although the human worship of God is by no means unanimous, it is yet true that God is worshipped in every part of the earth.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 66:1-2. I do not find any original words for the first half of verse one. But the general thought of the paragraph will justify their use. The idea is that men should express their gratitude for the goodness of God by mirthful sounds.
Psa 66:3. Terrible is from the same Hebrew word as “reverend” in Psa 111:9. It has various shades of meaning including respect and dread. The connection here shows it to have the latter meaning. The enemies dread the power of God and submit unto him. The marginal reading says “yield feigned obedience” and the lexicon agrees with it. The enemies do not sincerely worship God but pretend to be in subjection in order to escape his terrible judgments against the children of disobedience.
Psa 66:4. The worship that all the earth (the people) shall give to God will be by way of adoration for and acknowledgment of the great works in the universe. The passage does not mean to predict universal salvation, for that would contradict too many positive statements of scripture that teach otherwise.
This is one of the most beautiful of the songs of worship. It is divided into two parts by a change from the use of the plural pronoun (verses Psa 66:1-12) to the use of the singular (verses Psa 66:13-20).
In the first part all the earth is called on to worship God because of what He has done for His people. This is a recognition of the true function of the people of God, which is to reveal God to the outside nations in such a way as to constrain them to worship. In the second half the worship becomes individual and personal, and yet the same purpose is manifest in the appeal to others to hear. In this case those called on to hear are such as fear God. Thus the testimony of the individual is to strengthen the faith of God’s own, in order that they may be more perfectly equipped for their testimony to those without.
In the story of God’s dealing with His people there is a recognition of His government through all the differing experiences of their history. By deliverance and by distress, by triumph and trial, He has conducted them to a wealthy place. Very full of comfort is the individual realization, following as it does this larger experience. In the economy of God the lonely man is not lost in the multitude, and the solo of his praise is as precious as is the chorus of the multitude’s worship.
Come and See the Works of God
Psa 66:1-15
Some of the old expositors speak of this psalm as the Lords Prayer in the Old Testament.
A summons to praise, Psa 66:1-4
The devout soul cannot be glad alone. It demands sympathy in its raptures. All the earth is not too great for an orchestra, nor all mankind for a choir. Gods love may compel a feigned obedience, Psa 66:3, R.V., margin, but the divine Spirit changes the heart.
Divine deliverance, Psa 66:5-12
Come and see. Compare Joh 1:39-40. Let us never forget the great past. The Red Sea and the Jordan have their counterparts in all lives. How often God has turned our seas into dry land, and cleaved paths through our rivers! Through the flood on foot is a miracle of daily experience. The rebels exalt themselves, but we are unmoved. We are tried in the fire, but no atom perishes. We go through persecution and oppression, but we come forth into abundance.
The payment of vows, Psa 66:13-15
Let us pay under bright skies what we vowed under dark ones. Pay your vows; declare what God has done for you; offer not beasts, but offer yourself, as a living sacrifice unto God! Rom 12:1.
Psa 66:4
I. It is man’s duty to worship God; therefore man can attain a true knowledge of God. The first idea of God is awakened by the words and acts of our fellow-men; but when the idea is once ours, we can verify and ennoble it for ourselves. Within the last few years, however, it has been maintained that man cannot have any real knowledge of what God is. It has been affirmed that we have no reason for believing that God’s justice and God’s love are the same attributes in kind as human justice and human love; that therefore, not knowing what these perfections really are as they exist in God, we are in no condition to pronounce whether any alleged acts of God are in harmony with them or not. This appalling theory would quench all my hope, paralyse my faith, and render it impossible for me to love God. It would desolate my religious life, and bring upon my soul a darkness that could be felt. If this were true, worship would be impossible. We can, we do, know God as He is, not perfectly, but with a real and trustworthy knowledge. “All the earth shall worship Him,” and all the earth therefore shall know Him. It is one of the most animating motives to the discipline of the soul in righteousness and to resolute struggle against sin that as our holiness increases our knowledge of God becomes wider and deeper; in this world as well as in the next “the pure in heart shall see God.”
II. God finds satisfaction and delight in human worship. Apart from this conviction, our praises and our adoration must lose their life and reality. If I speak, it is because I believe He listens. If I rejoice in looking up into His face, it is because I see Him looking back upon me with ineffable love and delight. In the act of worship we draw near to God, and God draws near to us. How it is, we know not, but through secret avenues He enters our spirits, and we become mysteriously one with Him. To discharge this duty of worship aright, our religious thought should not incessantly revolve about our personal conflicts with sin and our own immortal safety. We think too much of ourselves, too little of God. We ask Him too constantly for help; we too seldom thank Him with throbbing gratitude for the blessings which are ours already, and for the infinite grace which prompted Him to give us Christ and to promise us heaven. More deep and devout thought on what God is would change all this, and bring our life in this world into nearer harmony with what we hope it will be in the next.
R. W. Dale, Discourses on Special Occasions, p. 3.
References: Psa 66:9.-J. Wells, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. vii., p. 61. Psa 66:14.-J. N. Norton, Every Sunday, p. 166.
Psa 66:16
Gratitude towards God and generosity towards man-these are two of the marked features in the character of David. In the text he gathers, as it were, a little select congregation around him of those who, like himself, had had experience of God’s goodness. He asks them to join with him in praising and blessing God; and he instructs them, and strengthens them, and encourages them by recounting to them what God had done for himself.
I. We declare with thankfulness what God hath done for our souls in the act of redeeming us. God sent His Son to bless us in turning every one of us from his iniquities. Salvation is a free gift. It is the gift of free and full pardon for all the bad life that is past, and the pledge and the power of a better life to come.
II. The gift of the Holy Scriptures is the second thing that God hath done for our souls. The best way of showing our gratitude for so great a blessing is to use it well.
III. It is not merely as separate persons, one by one, that God has furnished us with blessings made ready to our souls. We are members of a great society. The Holy Catholic Church is a part of the system of our religion. We have sacraments, and common prayer, and public instruction, and mutual help.
IV. We have the supreme blessing of the grace of the Holy Spirit and the blessing of providential care.
V. We advance one step further, and enter the inner circle of all. At this point especially the words of the Psalm are addressed to those who fear God, and it is only they who can thoroughly enter into their meaning. “O come hither and hearken, all ye that fear God, and I will tell you what He hath done for my soul.” This desire to help others is a certain mark of true conversion. Gratitude to God will find its natural development in generosity to man.
J. S. Howson, Penny Pulpit, No. 345.
References: Psa 66:16.-C. J. Vaughan, Harrow Sermons, 1st series, p. 388; C. C. Bartholomew, Sermons chiefly Practical, p; 303; W. R. Nicoll, Calls to Christ, p. 9; Congregationalist, vol. vi., p. 539; G. S. Barrett, Old Testament Outlines, p. 119. Psa 66:16-20.-Homiletic Quarterly, vol. i., p. 119. Psa 66:20.-Spurgeon, Morning by Morning, p. 145. Psa 67:1, Psa 67:2.-J. Edmunds, Sermons in a Village Church, p. 144; H. Phillips, Christian World Pulpit, vol. i., p. 237.
Psalm 66
The Praise and Worship of the Millennium
1. What God hath wrought! (Psa 66:1-7)
2. Israels praise and worship (Psa 66:8-20)
Shout aloud unto God, all the earth! Sing the glory of His Name, ascribe to Him glory, in His praise. This will be done in the coming kingdom age. And Israel will be the leader of that praise, calling upon the nations to join into the glory song. All the earth shall worship Thee, and shall sing unto Thee, they shall sing Thy Name, Israel will worship in the beauty of holiness, and this people, now a holy nation and kingdom of priests, become His witnesses. Come and hear all ye that fear God, and I will declare what He has done for my soul.
am 3469, bc 535
Make: Psa 81:1, Psa 95:1, Psa 95:2, Psa 98:4, Psa 100:1, 1Ch 15:28
all ye lands: Heb. all the earth, Psa 96:1, Psa 117:1, Psa 117:2, Psa 150:6, 1Ch 16:23, 1Ch 16:24, Isa 24:16
Reciprocal: 1Ch 16:28 – ye kindreds Psa 46:1 – A song Psa 67:2 – saving Psa 96:7 – O ye kindreds Psa 148:11 – Kings Rom 15:10 – General
The Discipline of God.
To the chief musician a song-psalm.
The sixth psalm of the series celebrates on the part of Israel the discipline of God, now effectual, in which the nations are to learn His holiness, themselves being brought to submission by the display of His terrible power. In the third part the voice of the King is heard proclaiming His thanksgiving vows as now to be performed; and in the fourth the result of His own trial, in which He (so different in this from all others) endured perfectly the test of perfect holiness.
1. The first section celebrates the power of God which has been put forth in terrible deeds on behalf of Israel. But, with Israel, it is the earth’s deliverance, and the nations are exhorted to shout aloud to God for what He has done, and urged to bear witness to what He has shown Himself to be, in psalms. His terrible works are to be at least for them the display of irresistible power under which the stoutest enemies must humble themselves. Thus all the earth shall worship, even though by and by it may be found that not all of this is true. The Psalms do not go beyond the millennium, and therefore do not give the uprising at the end, which brings in final judgment, as the book of Revelation shows; but they do intimate in several places, as already in Psa 18:1-50, the mere external subjection of many among the millennial nations. Israel alone is all holy (Isa 4:1-6), and their celebration of God collies in the last three verses. His terrible doings toward the children of men have been abundant mercy to themselves. His love to them has triumphed over all obstacles, and nature has owned the might of His presence with them, as the bed of the dried up sea has shown, and the “river”: whether this be Jordan, as of old, or that which is more commonly and emphatically called the River -the other boundary of their land as it shall be -Euphrates (Rev 16:12).
Power has been abundantly shown, then: He rules, and who shall dispossess Him? Omnipotence and omniscience are found together, with Him whose eyes without ceasing watch over the nations. Let not, then, the rebellious vainly ex alt themselves!
2. But again the voice of Israel is heard, and this time to tell the story of their own trials, ended, at last, for them so joyfully. “Bless our God,” they say, “ye peoples.” They, at least, can own Him that, with a full heart: His laws written upon their hearts, He has become their God in full reality, according to the terms of the new covenant. Thus they claim Him and speak of Him, declaring Him to the nations for their praise. He has, spite of all trials, brought them through, preserved their souls in life, -nay, more, perhaps, set them in what is really that. For “this is life eternal, to know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.” Such knowledge they now have, assuredly, and thus such life: although as doctrine the Old Testament could not formally develop it.
This “setting their souls in life” is that of which naturally their hearts are full, and thus too their feet find steadfastness. But the way by which they had been brought had been one painful to themselves, while the holiness of God had made it necessary. As silver God had assayed and purified them. Their foes had been made, all unwittingly, to serve them thus. Affliction had been to them, if a severe, yet an effectual teacher; and, the end accomplished, only gains were now to be counted: “we went through fire and water; but Thou broughtest us out into abundance.”
3. But now the “we” changes for “I”; and we realize that it is another Speaker. “I will go into Thy house with burnt-offerings; I will pay Thee my vows, which my lips uttered and my mouth spake in my strait.” It is not hard, surely, to recognize this Voice, which, immediately upon Israel’s tale being told, takes up their praise to utter it before God, as the fulfillment of His own “vows.” We know these vows, the King’s vows: King of Israel, while much more. And dull must be the eyes that do not see whose are these burnt-offerings. The sweet savor of a perfect life presented to God in an infinite trial, in which the holiness of God searched out all the inward parts of such an One as had not His like among men, but whom; He who commanded the “sword” to “awake” against Him, declared at the same time His “fellow” (Zec 13:7). Now we understand how Israel’s praise itself is discerned as the perfume of this blessed work, -the fulfillment of His “vows”: all the fullness of which is presently told out to us in familiar forms, as bullocks, rams, goats, specially connected with burnt-, trespass-, and sin-offerings. (Comp. Lev 1:1-17; Lev 4:1-35; Lev 5:1-19, notes.) This is, in fact, what all our praise is, -what we ourselves are: we are but the fulfillment of His vows; all is but the fruit of His work. To owe our redeemed selves to Him shall be the fullness of our joy forever.
4. But now we are to have His testimony -how different from Israel’s or that of the redeemed at any time! He would have all those who fear God to listen, for the matter is of the deepest possible concern for every one. If Christ is for men, what more important than to know that God is for Christ!
The second verse seems to speak of the character of His service. God was His constant appeal and dependence; God was also the One exalted by Him. But, taking this place, the conditions of divine holiness had to be maintained, and in what circumstances, into which His zeal for God as well as His love to man had brought Him! If that fearful trial had brought out anything but sweet savor! Had there been aught of all that the Word stamps as being under the brand of “vanity” regarded in the heart! But the test was made, and the event has shown with what result. “In the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications unto Him that was able to save Him” -not “from,” but -“out of death, He was heard,” says the apostle, “for His piety” (Heb 5:7). All hung upon what He personally was, and being what He was, who for the glory of God had come so low, “He could not be holden of death”: “He was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father.” “Verily God hath heard Me: He hath attended to the voice of My prayer.” Well may we join with the praise of Him who, freighted with all our blessings, set His feet on the rock of resurrection! “Blessed be God, who hath not turned away my prayer, not His loving-kindness from Me!”
Thus the psalm is linked together in its various parts, and each of them throws light upon the other, until what at first seems ordinary and unattractive even, is lighted up with beauty. The world, Israel, Christ, the future and the past, are linked together; and He is seen to be the bond and soul of history, as well as the one link with blessing and with God, the Mediator between God and Men, the Man Christ Jesus. Simple truths indeed, but they are light and life to us; and like the sun, which, for all its shining on the world so long, will be no less welcome when he shines tomorrow.
Psa 66:1-3. Make a joyful noise, &c. all ye lands Ye people of all nations, who have seen the wonderful power, wisdom, goodness, and faithfulness of God manifested in our deliverance, it becomes you to acknowledge it with admiration and joy. He invites the Gentile world to the contemplation and celebration of Gods works, to and for his people. Make his praise glorious Praise him in an extraordinary and eminent degree, so as he may have much glory from you. Say, How terrible art those in thy works To wit, to thine enemies, as it follows; through thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee Hebrew, , jechachashu lecha, shall lie unto thee; that is, profess subjection to thee, not sincerely and freely, but by constraint, and out of servile fear.
This in the Greek is called a psalm of the resurrection, no doubt because God had in Davids time revived the nation. The application to the captivity is unsupported by the language of joy. David here utters many sentiments like those in the fortieth psalm.
Psa 66:13. I will pay thee my vows. Those which he had made before a battle, or in some great trouble. It was usual in war to make vows to the Lord.
Psa 66:16. I will declare what he hath done for my soul. Good men among the Jews seem to have had meetings between the regular hours of public worship, when those that feared the Lord spake often one to another. Mal 3:16. In the synagogue, good men improved the interval between the morning and the evening worship for social piety.
REFLECTIONS.
Grace conferred on a regenerate soul excites affections worthy of the gift. David had recently been delivered from some troubles, and his heart was kindled to a flame of devotion by the mercies of the Lord. Here by the eye of faith, looking solely at the promise and fruitfulness of God, he associates with his own, and the ancient deliverances of Israel, the ultimate conversion of the gentile world from the vanity of idols, and the bondage of corruption. Grateful therefore for the past, and confident for the future, he exclaims with a boldness peculiar to sacred song, Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands; literally, all the earth. Thus also St. Paul has applied the praises of the gentiles to their conversion. Rom 15:11.
To heighten the ardour of their song, he invites them to come and see the wonderful works of the Lord; for faith is more powerfully exerted when God is placed in open view. He has not only delivered my soul, but he has delivered his people. The sea opened wide as the wilderness; the flood of Jordan, when the river overflowed its banks, fled at his approach. So gentile nations, you also shall be delivered from bondage by the Messiah; you also shall pass the waters of baptism, and be sprinkled with atoning blood, and shall finally pass the Jordan of death into the promised rest of the people of God. Sing, gentiles, sing to the honour of his name: make his praise glorious. David offers praise for the mercies of God to Israel. God had proved them, and discovered their apostasy. Pagan princes had trampled on their country. They had, during the time of Saul and the Judges, passed through the fiery trial, and the deep waters of affliction. Therefore he would praise God, because the end of those afflictions marked how much he loved his people, in bringing them to repentance by severity, when milder measures had no effect. Hence, on a review of all those signal mercies, he would present a full assortment of burnt-offerings, and pay his vows with Israel unto the Lord.
While David was forming his sentiments into a psalm, his heart was so filled with heaven that he could not contain himself. Come and hear, all ye that fear God; and I will declare, or tell you, what he has done for my soul. So St. Paul in twenty places introduces his own experience, and with the utmost propriety. But he very modestly associates the saints with himself
The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirits. God hath anointed us, sealed us, and given the earnest of his Spirit in our hearts. Now, when a minister, on some impressive occasions, can join his own experience with the truth delivered, it often produces a good effect on the hearer. And who can hold when the fire burns? Who can forbear to declare his righteousness in the great congregation? But this holy man was cautious to support his testimony with a spotless life. He would not regard iniquity in his heart, for in that case, God would not hear his prayers, and men would not receive his testimony. Secret sins corroding the heart, are as a worm at the root of the plant. Let us also learn to support our profession by purity of thought, and rectitude of conduct, as nothing is more revolting than to hear men talk of comfort whose lives are dissonant to their words.
LXVI. A and LXVI. B. Here again we have two Pss., rather unskilfully joined together, for the former ends, the latter begins abruptly. In Psalms 66 A (Psa 66:1-12) the speaker always uses the first person plural in speaking of himself. He represents the people, or at least a section of the people. He deals with matters of public concern. In Psalms 66 B (Psa 66:13-20) the poet uses the singular number and thanks God for grace bestowed upon himself personally.
LXVI. A. The author invites the Jews, and indeed the whole world, to praise Gods wondrous deeds. God had guided the Hebrews in their trials, as He had led them long ago through the Red Sea and across the Jordan dry-shod. The most notable thing in the Ps. is its universalism. The heathen, though no doubt in a subordinate position, are to share in the good time coming and to rejoice in Israels deliverance. Partly their submission is extorted by terror (Psa 66:3 mg.) but partly also proceeds from nobler motives.
Psa 66:12. wealthy place: read, place of relief.
LXVI. B. Psa 66:15. incense: smoke of sacrifice (cf. Isa 1:13).
Psa 66:16. for my soul: i.e. for myself; no contrast is implied between soul and body.
Psa 66:17 b, Psa 66:18. The text is hopelessly corrupt. The following is a plausible emendation: and thou didst exalt me above them that hate me. If there is deceit in my heart, etc.
The Ps. takes for granted that God is pleased with sacrifice, and assumes the common Jewish doctrine that by prosperity God approved innocency of life.
PSALM 66
All the earth called to submit to God and give honour to His Name, in the presence of the display of His mighty power in dealing with the enemies of Israel, and of His governmental ways with the godly remnant and of the nation.
(vv. 1-4) All lands are called to give honour to God, whose terrible works have been displayed in dealing with the enemies of His people Israel. It will be publicly manifest that those who have exalted themselves in rebellion against God will be forced to submit when God puts forth the greatness of His power in judgment. The result will be that all the earth will bow before God and praise His Name.
(vv. 5-7) The nations are called to contemplate the governmental ways of God with the children of men as set forth in the history of Israel, from the time that He brought them through the Red Sea, until their final deliverance from all their enemies. Thus it becomes manifest that God is omnipotent – ruling by his power for ever; and omniscient, his eyes behold the nations. Therefore, let not the rebellious exalt themselves.
(vv. 8-12) The godly in Israel testify to God’s ways with them. Through all their trials God preserved their souls in life; and in all their wanderings God had kept their feet. Nevertheless they had been led by a painful way. They had been tried in the furnace of affliction, as silver is tried to remove the dross. They had fallen into the hands of the enemy, like an animal caught in the toils of the hunter. They had been in servitude to their enemies, like a beast of burden on whose loins a heavy load is laid. They had been triumphed over, like one who is cast down and trampled under foot by a savage enemy. They had gone through fiery persecution and faced the waters of death.
They recognized that in all their long history of trial and suffering, God had been dealing with them according to His own holiness, and for their blessing. Thus, looking beyond the wickedness of men they take their trials from God. They say, Thou hast done these things. Further they recognize that if God passes His people through trial, it is for their ultimate blessing; therefore they can add, Thou hast brought us out into abundance (JND).
(vv. 13-15) The trials they have passed through fit the godly to draw near to God as worshippers. Thus the psalmist, speaking personally for himself, says, I will go into thy house with burnt offerings. Set free from his enemies he will bring the offerings that he had vowed in the days of trial.
(vv. 16-20) Not only is the godly man at last set free to worship before God, but he can bear witness before men of what God has done for his soul. In his trial he had cried to God and praised God, He had not regarded iniquity in his heart with pleasure, or allowed it to pass unjudged. God had heard and answered his prayer, and turned his prayer into praise.
66:1 [To the chief Musician, A Song [or] Psalm.] Make a joyful noise unto God, {a} all ye lands:
(a) He prophecies that all nations will come to the knowledge of God, who then was only known in Judea.
Psalms 66
This is a psalm of thanksgiving, as was the previous one. We do not know the writer or the occasion for sure. In this psalm, God’s people acknowledged His deliverance and invited other people to join them in praising Him.
"This psalm shows the move from communal affirmation to individual appreciation, which is what we always do in biblical faith." [Note: Brueggemann, p. 139.]
"The exhortation to praise the Lord begins with the Gentile nations (Psa 66:1-7), moves to Israel (Psa 66:8-12), and concludes with the individual believer (Psa 66:13-20)." [Note: Wiersbe, The . . . Wisdom . . ., pp. 210-11.]
1. The nations’ praise 66:1-12
The psalmist, speaking for his nation, called the other nations to join in praise of God by shouting, singing, and speaking. In Psa 66:1-12 he wrote in the first person plural, but in Psa 66:13-20 he used the first person singular. God’s great acts made His enemies cringe before Him. "Feigned obedience" (Psa 66:3, NASB) is hypocritical obedience. The psalmist meant that God’s enemies would pretend to obey Him because they feared His wrath, even if they did not really obey Him.
Psa 66:1-20
THE most striking feature of this psalm is the transition from the plural “we” and “our,” in Psa 66:1-12, to the singular “I” and “my,” in Psa 66:13-20. Ewald supposes that two independent psalms have been united, but Psa 66:12 is as abrupt for an ending as Psa 66:13 is for a beginning; and the “Come, hear,” of Psa 66:16 echoes the “Come, and see,” of Psa 66:5. It is possible that “the I of the second part is identical with the we of the first; in other words, that the personified community speaks here” (Baethgen); but the supposition that the psalm was meant for public worship, and is composed of a choral and a solo part, accounts for the change of number. Such expressions as “my soul” and “my heart” favour the individual reference. Of course, the deliverance magnified by the single voice is the same as that celebrated by the loud acclaim of many tongues; but there is a different note in the praise of the former-there is a tone of inwardness in it, befitting individual appropriation of general blessings. To this highest point, that of the action of the single soul in taking the deliverances of the community for its very own, and pouring out its own praise, the psalm steadily climbs. It begins with the widest outlook over “all the earth,” summoned to ring forth joyous praise. It ends focused to one burning point, in a heart fired by the thought that God “has not turned away his lovingkindness from me.” So we learn how each single soul has to claim its several part in world wide blessings, as each flower calyx absorbs the sunshine that floods the pastures.
The psalm has no superscription of date or author, and no clue in its language to the particular deliverance that called it forth. The usual variety of conjectures have been hazarded. The defeat of Sennacherib occurs to some; the return from Babylon to others; the Maccabean period to yet another school of critics. It belongs to a period when Israels world significance and mission were recognised (which Cheyne considers a post-exilic feature, “Orig. of Psalt.” 176), and when the sacrificial worship was in full force; but beyond these there are no clear data for period of composition.
It is divided into five strophes, three of which are marked by Selah. That musical indication is wanting at the close of the third strophe (Psa 66:12), which is also the close of the first or choral part, and its absence may be connected with the transition to a single voice. A certain progress in thought is noticeable, as will appear as we proceed. The first strophe calls upon all the earth to praise God for His works. The special deeds which fire the psalmist are not yet mentioned, though they are present to his mind. The summons of the world to praise passes over into the prophecy that it shall praise. The manifestation of Gods character by act will win homage. The great thought that God has but to be truly known in order to be reverenced is an axiom with this psalmist; and no less certain is he that such knowledge and such praise will one day fill the world. True, he discerns that submission will not always be genuine; for he uses the same word to express it as occurs in Psa 18:44, which represents “feigned homage.” Every great religious awakening has a fringe of adherents, imperfectly affected by it, whose professions outrun reality, though they themselves are but half conscious that they feign. But though this sobering estimate of the shallowness of a widely diffused recognition of God tones down the psalmists expectations, and has been abundantly confirmed by later experience, his great hope remains as an early utterance of the conviction, which has gathered assurance and definiteness by subsequent Revelation, and is now familiar to all. The world is Gods. His Self-revelation will win hearts. There shall be true submission and joyous praise girdling the earth as it rolls. The psalmist dwells mainly on the majestic and awe-inspiring aspect of Gods acts. His greatness of power bears down opposition. But the later strophes introduce other elements of the Divine nature and syllables of the Name, though the inmost secret of the “power of God” in the weakness of manhood and the all-conquering might of Love is not yet ripe for utterance.
The second strophe advances to a closer contemplation of the deeds of God, which the nations are summoned to behold. He is not only “dread” in His doings towards mankind at large, but Israels history is radiant with the manifestation of His name, and that past lives on so that ancient experiences give the measure and manner of todays working. The retrospect embraces the two standing instances of Gods delivering help-the passage of the Red Sea and of Jordan-and these are not dead deeds in a far-off century. For the singer calls on his own generation to rejoice “there” in Him. Psa 66:6 c is by some translated as “There did we rejoice,” and more accurately by others, “Let us rejoice.” In the former case the essential solidarity of all generations of the nation is most vividly set forth. But the same idea is involved in the correct rendering, according to which the men of the psalmists period are entitled and invoked to associate themselves in thought with that long-past generation, and to share in their joy, since they do possess the same power which wrought then. Gods work is never antiquated. It is all a revelation of eternal activities. What He has been, He is. What He did, He does. Therefore faith may feed on all the records of old time, and expect the repetition of all that they contain. Such an application of history to the present makes the nerve of this strophe. For Psa 66:7, following on the retrospect, declares the perpetuity of Gods rule, and that His eyes still keep an outlook, as a watchman on a tower might do, to mark the enemies designs, in order that He may intervene, as of old, for His peoples deliverance. He “looked forth upon the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of cloud”. {Exo 14:24} Thus He still marks the actions and plans of Israels foes. Therefore it were wise for the “rebellious” not to rear their heads so high in opposition.
The third strophe comes still closer to the particular deliverance underlying the psalm. Why should all “peoples” be called upon to praise God for it? The psalmist has learned that Israels history is meant to teach the world what God is, and how blessed it is to dwell under His wing. No exclusiveness taints his enjoyment of special national privileges. He has reached a height far above the conceptions of the rest of the world in his day, and even in this day, except where the Christian conception of “humanity” has been heartily accepted. Whence came this width of view, this purifying from particularism, this anticipation by so many centuries of a thought imperfectly realised even now? Surely a man who in those days and with that environment could soar so high must have been lifted by something mightier than his own spirit. The details of the Divine dealings described in the strophe are of small consequence in comparison with its fixed expectation of the worlds participation in Israels blessings. The familiar figures for affliction reappear-namely, proving and refining in a furnace. A less common metaphor is that of being prisoned in a dungeon, as the word rendered “net” in the A.V. and R.V. probably means. Another peculiar image is that of Psa 66:12 : “Thou hast caused men to ride over our head.” The word for “men” here connotes feebleness and frailty, characteristics which make tyranny more intolerable; and the somewhat harsh metaphor is best explained as setting forth insolent and crushing domination, whether the picture intended is that of ruthless conquerors driving their chariots over their prone victims, or that of their sitting as an incubus on their shoulders and making them like beasts of burden. Fire and water are standing figures for affliction. With great force these accumulated symbols of oppression are confronted by one abrupt clause ending the strophe, and describing in a breath the perfect deliverance which sweeps them all away: “Thou broughtest us out into abundance.” There is no need for the textual alteration of the last word into “a wide place” (Hupfeld), a place of liberty (Cheyne), or freedom (Baethgen). The word in the received text is that employed in Psa 23:5. “My cup is overfulness” and “abundance” yields a satisfactory meaning here, though not closely corresponding to any of the preceding metaphors for affliction.
The fourth strophe (Psa 66:13-15) begins the solo part. It clothes in a garb appropriate to a sacrificial system the thought expressed in more spiritual dress in the next strophe, that Gods deliverance should evoke mens praise. The abundance and variety of sacrifices named, and the fact that “rams” were not used for the offerings of individuals, seem to suggest that the speaker is, in some sense, representing the nation, and it has been supposed that he may be the high priest. But this is merely conjecture, and the explanation may be that there is a certain ideal and poetical tone over the representation, which does not confine itself to scrupulous accuracy.
The last strophe (Psa 66:16-20) passes beyond sacrificial symbols, and gives the purest utterance to the emotions and resolves which ought to well up in a devout soul on occasion of Gods goodness. Not only does the psalmist teach us how each individual must take the general blessing for his very own-of which act the faith which takes the worlds Christ for my Christ is the supreme example-but he teaches us that the obligation laid on all recipients of Gods mercy is to tell it forth, and that the impulse is as certain to follow real reception as the command is imperative. Just as Israel received deliverances that the whole earth might learn how strong and gracious was Israels God, we receive His blessings, and chiefly His highest gift of life in Christ, not only that we may live, but that, living, we may “declare the works of the Lord.” He has little possession of Gods grace who has not felt the necessity of speech, and the impossibility of the lips being locked when the heart is full.
The psalmist tells his experience of Gods answers to his prayer in a very striking fashion. Psa 66:17 says that he cried to God; and while his uttered voice was supplication, the song extolling God for the deliverance asked was, as it were, lying under his tongue, ready to break forth, -so sure was he that his cry would be heard. That is a strong faith which prepares banners and music for the triumph before the battle is fought. It would be presumptuous folly, not faith, if it rested on anything less certain than Gods power and will.
“I find David making a syllogism in mood and figure If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me: but verily God hath heard me; He hath attended to the voice of my prayer. Now, I expected that David would have concluded thus Therefore I regard not wickedness in my heart. But far otherwise he concludes: Blessed be God, who hath not turned away my prayer, nor His mercy from me. Thus David hath deceived but not wronged me. I looked that he should have clapped the crown on his own, and he puts it on Gods head. I will learn this excellent logic.” So says Fuller (“Good Thoughts in Bad Times,” p. 34, Pickerings ed., 1841).
No doubt, however, the psalmist means to suggest, though he does not state, that his prayer was sincere. There is no self-complacent attribution of merit to his supplication, in the profession that it was untainted by any secret, sidelong looking towards evil; and Fuller is right in emphasising the suppression of the statement. But even the appearance of such is avoided by the jet of praise which closes the psalm. Its condensed brevity has induced some critics to mend it by expansion, as they regard it as incongruous to speak of turning away a mans prayer from himself. Some would therefore insert “from Him” after “my prayer,” and others would expand still further by inserting an appropriate negative before “His lovingkindness.” But the slight incongruity does not obscure the sense, and brings out strongly the flow of thought. So fully does the psalmist feel the connection between Gods lovingkindness and his own prayer, that these are, as it were, smelted into one in his mind, and the latter is so far predominant in his thoughts that he is unconscious of the anomaly of his expression. To expand only weakens the swing of the words and the power of the thought. It is possible to tame lyric outbursts into accuracy at the cost of energy. Psalmists are not bound to be correct in style. Rivers wind; canals are straight.
Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
Fuente: Smith’s Writings on 24 Books of the Bible
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary