Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 103:9
He will not always chide: neither will he keep [his anger] forever.
9. Cp. Isa 57:16; Jer 3:12.
chide ] Or, contend. He is slow to anger, yet the time comes when He must as it were bring a suit against His people, and convict them of their sin (Isa 3:13; Mic 6:2; Jer 2:9), and shew His indignation by punishing them for it; but even then His anger does not last for ever.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
He will not always chide – Rebuke; contend; strive; for so the Hebrew word means. He will not always contend with people, or manifest his displeasure. See the notes at Isa 57:16; notes at Psa 78:38-39. This implies that he may chide or rebuke his people, but that this will not be forever. He will punish them; he will manifest his displeasure at their sins; he will show that he does not approve of their course, but he will show that he loves them, and does not seek their ruin.
Neither will he keep his anger for ever – The words his anger are supplied by the translators, but not improperly. The meaning is the same as in the former member of the sentence. He will not cherish hatred when the object of the chastisement is accomplished. It is not his character to retain anger for its own sake, or for any personal gratification.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 103:9
He will not always chide: neither will He keep his anger for ever.
The Lord chiding His people
Text refers only, as does the whole psalm, to the children of God. They only can sing it. But though we are forgiven as rebels, He, when needful, chides and chastens us as children.
I. He will chide. He will be angry, though not for ever.
1. Why will He chide His dear children?
(1) Because if He did not do so, it would seem like winking at sin. See Eli and his sons.
(2) Others of the family would follow their evil example. If I knew a man living in sin and yet enjoying the light of Gods countenance, should I not conclude that I may do as he does, and fare well as he does?
(3) And what would the world say if God did not chide His sinful children? Shall it be said that the great Father of spirits does not enforce discipline in His own house?
(4) If He did not, the evil would lie festering in us, breeding I know not what of deadly mischief. And we should never humble ourselves at the Cross of Christ, as His rebukes lead us to do.
2. How does He chide?
(1) Often by means of the sin itself. They who sow it have to reap its harvest. See Lots history.
(2) Often by His providence. See Rebekah by loving Jacob.
(3) By the withdrawal of privileges. Assurance departs. The means of grace have no blessing in them. There is no joy in private prayer, no communion with God. Your prayers have lost their prevailing power. Influence over others. See David, and Shimei cursing him. Success in service all gone; no conversions, no edification. His Holy Spirit chides us, through the ministry of the Word. By the discipline of the Church; not the formal discipline so much as that which God Himself exercises. See Church at Corinth. Many cases which I shall never relate are written down in the tablet of memory with this verdict, Removed by the discipline of God. I have seen others blighted in fortune, chastened in body, and especially depressed in spirit as the result of grieving the Spirit of God in the Church. Church sins are surely visited with strifes.
3. When does God chide? Not for every sin. His Word does, but He does not actually chasten in the sense here intended. That is reserved for sins of which we will not repent. Anything like deliberate sin is sure to bring down the Fathers anger. See Nathans parable about David. Thus we have gazed at the black cloud, now see the silver lining.
II. He will not always chide.
1. This means that tie will not chide for every fault; nor will He chide long; He does not hold any grudge. Many men say, I forgive you, but it is only because they have not now the opportunity to pay you out. They will do so as soon as they can. Not so God. And there is no eternal wrath for a child of God. The Lord will soon leave off chiding, He will when we begin repenting: when we come to tears, then He will cease rebukes. When we put an end to sin, there shall be an end to chastening. But often not till the results of the sin as well as the sin itself shall have been removed. So was it with David.
2. Why does He thus leave off chiding? He would not have His children treated as slaves. Our spirits would fail altogether if He always chided. He will not crush our spirits. To chide too much might lead to other sins. Some parents, in driving out one devil, drive ten in. Not so our God.
3. Though God chide, He loves us as much as when He caresses them. He never loves to chide. Be comforted, therefore.
III. Inferences from the whole subject.
1. Consolation for Israel.
2. Ministers in their preaching must not always chide.
3. Nor parents with their children.
4. Nor masters with their servants.
5. Go, tell Gods love to His troubled ones. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 9. He will not always chide] He will not contend with us continually. He has often reproved, often punished us; but his mercy ever rejoiced over judgment.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
He will not always chide, or contend, by his judgments with sinners, but is ready to be reconciled to them, to wit, upon their true repentance, as is manifest from innumerable texts, and from the whole scope and design of Scripture.
Anger; which word is understood here, as also Lev 19:18; Jer 3:5; Nah 1:2, as is evident from the thing itself, and from the former clause. The Hebrew is a concise language, and there are many such ellipses in it, as 2Sa 6:6, compared with Exo 9:9; and 1Ch 18:6, compared with 2Sa 8:6; Psa 3:7; Ecc 7:15.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
He will not always chide,…. He sometimes does chide his children, though never but when they have done a fault; always for their sins, in order to bring them to a sense and acknowledgment of them, and to depart from them; not for chiding sake, as some parents, to gratify their passion and ill humour, who correct for their own pleasure; but the Lord chides and corrects for the profit of his children, that they may be partakers of his holiness; he ever does it for their good, but he will not always chide, or continue it ever: or “he will not always contend” e, strive with them, litigate a point with them, hold out a controversy, not being able to stand before him; he knows their frame, their weakness, and frailty; see Isa 57:16,
neither will he keep his anger for ever; though he does with the wicked, yet not with his own people; that endures but for a moment, and is rather seeming than real; and what does appear is soon turned away; he does not retain it long, he is quickly pacified towards them for all they have done, and smiles again upon them, Mic 7:18.
e “contendet”, Pagninus, Montanus; “litigat”, Junius Tremellius, Piscator “litigabit”, Vatablus, Gejerus, Michaelis.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
9 He will not always chide David, from the attributes ascribed to God in the preceding verse, draws the conclusion, that when God has been offended, he will not be irreconcilable, since, from his nature, he is always inclined to forgive. It was necessary to add this statement; for our sins would be continually shutting the gate against his goodness were there not some way of appeasing his anger. David tacitly intimates that God institutes an action against sinners to lay them low under a true sense of their guilt; and that yet he recedes from it whenever he sees them subdued and humbled. God speaks in a different manner in Gen 6:3, where he says, “My Spirit shall no longer strive with man,” because the wickedness of men being fully proved, it was then time to condemn them. But here David maintains that God will not always chide, because so easy is he to be reconciled, and so ready to pardon, that he does not rigidly exact from us what strict justice might demand. To the same purpose is the language in the second clause: nor will he keep anger for ever The expression, to keep anger for ever, corresponds with the French phrase, Je lui garde, Il me l’a garde, (171) which we use when the man, who cannot forgive the injuries he has received, cherishes secret revenge in his heart, and waits for an opportunity of retaliation. Now David denies that God, after the manner of men, keeps anger on account of the injuries done to him, since he condescends to be reconciled. It is, however, to be understood that this statement does not represent the state of the Divine mind towards all mankind without distinction: it sets forth a special privilege of the Church; for God is expressly called by Moses, (Deu 5:9) “a terrible avenger, visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children.” But David, passing by unbelievers, upon whom rests the everlasting and unappeasable wrath of God, teaches us how tenderly he pardons his own children, even as God himself speaks in Isaiah, (Isa 54:7,) “For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from them for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee.”
(171) “I am watching him, as he has watched to do a bad turn to me.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(9, 10) This reflection naturally follows after the last quotation from Exodus.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
9. Chide Contend, as an adversary at law.
His anger These words are not in the original, but “anger,” judicially construed, is implied. The exact doctrine of this verse is expanded Isa 57:16 and Mic 7:18-19.
Always for ever Two Hebrew words signifying endless duration. The passage applies to the disciplinary and afflictive dispensations of God toward his children, as the context shows, (compare Exo 34:6-7; Psa 78:38,) not his judgments on the wicked, as in Psa 73:18-20; Psa 9:17
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Psalmist in these verses, under various representations, sets forth the mercy of redeeming grace; and, in order to heighten the representation, he borroweth his language from images in the works of nature, and the feelings of the human heart. He takes a resemblance from. the heavens, to demonstrate that God’s grace, his superabundant grace, as far transcends our conceptions of it, as God’s thoughts are above our thoughts; and his ways above our ways. Isa 45:8 . He borrows another figure from the extensiveness of the earth, and the total impossibility for the distant points of the east and west ever to join, by way of setting forth the vast and immeasurable distance between the sinner and his sins, when they are taken away by the hand of that fit man, Christ Jesus, into the land of everlasting forgetfulness. Lev 16:21-22 . He takes a third very sweet and endearing resemblance from the feelings of the human heart, to set forth the tender compassion of the Father of mercies, and God of all comfort, by showing that God’s love is a fatherly love, full of pity, and full of compassion. See those scriptures, Isa 49:13-15 ; Mic 7:18-19 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 103:9 He will not always chide: neither will he keep [his anger] for ever.
Ver. 9. He will not always chide ] His still revenges are terrible, Gen 6:3 , with 1Pe 3:19 , but God, being appeased towards the penitent people, will not show his anger so much as in words, Isa 57:16 .
Neither will he keep his anqer for ever
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
His anger. The Ellipsis is correctly supplied from the preceding line.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
neither: Psa 30:5, Isa 57:16, Jer 3:5, Mic 7:18, Mic 7:19
Reciprocal: Jdg 20:47 – six hundred Neh 9:31 – gracious Psa 79:5 – wilt Psa 125:3 – the rod Isa 27:4 – Fury Zec 8:11 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
103:9 He will not always {f} chide: neither will he keep [his anger] for ever.
(f) He shows first his severe judgment, but as soon as the sinner is humbled, he receives him to mercy.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
These verses illustrate the truth of Psa 103:8. God’s compassion is clear in that He does not constantly accuse or antagonize us, even though we constantly sin (cf. Eph 6:4). He is slow to anger and He does not maintain His anger continually. His gracious character is obvious in that He does not punish us for our sins immediately or completely, as we deserve. He does not pay us back what we deserve either. His loyal love (Heb. hesed) with those who fear Him is as limitless as the sky. Furthermore, He separates the guilt of our sins from us completely (cf. Rom 8:1).
Many students of Psa 103:12 have noted that if someone travels north or south he finally arrives at a pole from which he can proceed no farther north or south. However, if someone travels east or west, he never reaches such a point. God did not say He forgives (or removes) our sins as far as the north is from the south, but as far as the east is from the west, namely: to infinity-in degree or distance.