Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 111:5
He hath given meat unto them that fear him: he will ever be mindful of his covenant.
5. meat ] As He made provision for Israel’s wants in the wilderness by the manna, so He provides for the wants of His people at all times (Psa 34:9-10). Tereph, lit. prey of a lion, in later Heb. has the general sense of food (Pro 31:15; Mal 3:10). The unusual word is chosen here for the sake of the acrostic.
he will remember his covenant for ever] The deliverance from Egypt was a proof that Jehovah remembered His covenant with the patriarchs (Exo 2:24; Exo 6:5), and a pledge that He would never be unmindful of it. Cp. Psa 105:8; Psa 105:10.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
He hath given meat unto them that fear him – Margin, prey. The idea is, that he has supplied their needs. The Hebrew word is, prey, and the allusion is to the mode in which the needs of the beasts of the field are supplied. The meaning may be that they had obtained this from their enemies, as beasts of prey take their food by making war; or the word may be used in a general sense, as meaning that God had supplied their needs.
He will ever be mindful of his covenant – He will never leave or forsake his people; he will be faithful to all the promises that he has made to them.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 111:5
He hath given meat unto them that fear Him.
The Lords faithfulness in providing food for His people
Consider the text–
I. In its literal sense.
1. The work, on account of which the psalmist here calls upon us to praise God, is the supply of food; the furnishing us with those provisions which are necessary for the support and comfort of our bodies.
(1) They are the Lords gifts.
(2) They are special marks of the Lords favour to His people.
(3) They are proofs of the Lords faithfulness and truth.
2. Let us beseech Him to give us His grace, that we may receive with thankfulness, and enjoy with moderation, and use to His glory, those gifts of His providence, which He has been pleased to bestow on us; and that we may show forth His praise not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up ourselves to His service, and by walking before Him in holiness and righteousness all our days.
3. And let us learn to confide in Him for blessings to come.
II. In its figurative or spiritual meaning.
1. In this sense, the meat mentioned in the text signifies that meat of which our Saviour speaks when He directs us to labour for the meat which endureth unto everlasting life; namely, spiritual food, that food by which the soul is supported, strengthened, and refreshed.
2. And what, in this view of the text, is the covenant of which He will ever be mindful, but the covenant of grace: that spiritual covenant, well ordered in all things and sure, which God has made with every believer in Christ? The terms of this covenant are, Repent ye and believe the Gospel. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And the promises of it are, Thou shalt be saved. Thou shalt have everlasting life. (E. Cooper, M.A.)
He will over be mindful of His covenant.—
The covenant
I. What is this covenant? If you go to a lawyer, and inquire how a deed runs, he may reply, I can give you an abstract, but I had better read it to you. He can tell you the sum and substance of it; but if you want to be very accurate, and it is a very important business, you will say, I should like to hear it read. We will now read certain passages of Scripture which contain the covenant of grace, or an abstract of it (Jer 31:31-34; Eze 11:19-20; Eze 36:25, etc.). Let us just go a little into detail about this. God has made a covenant with certain people that He will do all this for them, and in each case it is of pure grace. He will take away their stony hearts: it is clear from this promise that when He began with them they had stony hearts. He will forgive their iniquities: when He began with them they had many iniquities. He will give them a heart of flesh: when He began with them they had not a heart of flesh. He will turn them to keep His statutes: when He began with them they did not keep His statutes. They were a sinful, wilful, wicked, degenerate people, and He called to them many times to come to Him and repent, but they would not. Here He speaks like a king, and no longer pleads, but decrees. He says, I will do this and that to you, and you shall be this and that in return. Oh, blessed covenant! Oh, mighty, sovereign grace!
II. Have i any portion in it?
1. Are you in Christ? If so, you are saved in Him.
2. Have you faith? This is the mark, the seal, the badge of His chosen.
3. Have you been born again? Is the life that is in you a life given by God? The true life is not of the will of man, nor of blood, nor of natural excellence; but it comes by the working of the eternal Spirit, and is of God. If you have this life you are in the covenant, for it is written, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. The children of the promise, these are counted for the seed.
III. If indeed we can believe upon the good evidence of Gods Word that we are of the seed with whom the covenant was made in Christ Jesus, then every blessing of the covenant will come to us. I will put it a little more personally–every blessing of the covenant will come to you.
1. God cannot lie, cannot deny Himself.
2. God made the covenant freely. If He had not meant to keep it, He would not have made it.
3. On the covenant document there is a seal–the blood of the Son of God.
4. God delights in the covenant, so we are sure He will not run back from it.
5. God has sealed the covenant with an oath (Heb 6:18). (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Covenant blessings
I. The gift: He hath given meat. We are to understand this expression, of course in a twofold sense, of our necessities; the first, temporal, the other, spiritual.
II. The covenant. The covenant of grace is a covenant without any conditions on our part whatever, of any sort, in any form, or any fashion. The covenant, in fact, is not made between us and God; it is made between God and Christ, our Representative. All the conditions of that covenant are fulfilled, so that there are none left for us to fulfil. The conditions were that Christ should suffer, and He has suffered; that Christ should obey, and He has obeyed. God will not suffer one single promise of the covenant to be unfulfilled, nor one single blessing of the covenant to be kept back.
III. The character of the persons here referred to: them that fear Him. Those who fear the Lord are in the covenant of His grace. If we fear Him, we may believe that He will ever give meat unto us, and that He will always keep His covenant towards us which He has made for us in Christ Jesus our Lord. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 5. He hath given meat] tereph, PREY. This may allude to the quails in the wilderness. The word signifies what is taken in hunting-wild beasts, venison, or fowls of any kind; particularly such as were proper for food. It also signifies spoil taken from enemies. And he may also refer to the wondrous manner in which they were fed and supported during their captivity; and by his support he proved that he was mindful of his covenant. He had promised such blessings; he was faithful to his promises.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Meat; which includes all necessary provisions for their being and well-being. The word signifies spoil, and so may relate to the spoil of the Egyptians granted by God to the Israelites; but it is sometimes used for food, as Pro 31:15; Mal 3:10.
Unto them that fear him; to the Israelites, the only people in the world which feared and worshipped the true God according to his will; and especially to those among them that truly feared God, and, for their sakes, to the body of that nation, as well in the wilderness, as in their following straits and miseries.
He will ever be mindful; or, he hath ever been; for both in the first branch of this verse, and in the foregoing and following verses, he is speaking of the former works of God. So the future tense is put for the past, as it is frequently, and as on the contrary the past tense is put for the future.
Of his covenant, which he made with Abraham and with his seed forever; whereby he obliged himself to be their God, and to provide all necessaries for them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
He hath given meat to them that fear him,…. Or a “prey” h, alluding to the spoil of the Egyptians; or to the manna; corporeal food, daily bread, which they that fear him shall not want, Ps 34:9 spiritual meat, such that endures for ever; the flesh of Christ, which is meat indeed; the word and ordinances, in which are milk for babes, and meat for strong men; savoury meat does God give his people, such as their souls love, and the world knows nothing of; all is given, and freely given, and in plenty.
He will ever be mindful of his covenant; made with Abraham, and that at Sinai; and especially which he made with his people in Christ before the world was; and which is the ground and foundation of all his works of grace and redemption, and the reason why he gives food unto them; he never forgets that, his promises in it, nor the blessings of it, nor the people for whom they are made and provided, nor his love unto them; he is a covenant keeping God.
h “praedam”, Montanus, Vatablus, Musculus; so Ainsworth.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
5 He hath given a portion to them that fear him The Church being a mirror of the grace and justice of God, what the prophet said respecting them is here expressly applied to her; not that he designs to treat of the justice of God, in general, but only of that which he peculiarly displays towards his own people. Hence he adds, that God’s care of his people is such as to lead him to make ample provision for the supply of all their wants. The word טרף, tereph, which we have translated portion, is frequently taken for a prey: (339) others render it meat; but I rather choose to render it portion, in which sense it is taken in Pro 30:8, and Pro 31:15; as if he should say, that God had given his people all that was needful, and that, considered as a portion, it was large and liberal; for we know that the people of Israel were enriched, not in consequence of their own industry, but by the blessing of God, who, like the father of a family, bestows upon his household every thing necessary for their subsistence. In the following clause of the verse, he assigns as the reason for his care and kindness, his desire of effectually demonstrating that his covenant was not null and void. And here it must be carefully observed, that if, in former times, and from a respect to his gracious covenant, he manifested so great kindness towards the people of Israel, in like manner, the goodness which we receive from him is the result of our adoption into his family; and because God is never weary in showing kindness to his people, he says that the remembrance of his covenant shall never be effaced. Moreover, as he daily and constantly loads us with his benefits, so our faith must, in some measure, correspond with it: it must not fail, but must rise above life and death.
The next verse is subjoined, by way of exposition, for the purpose of showing that God, in bestowing upon his people the heritage of the heathen, had manifested to them the power of his works. He does indeed employ the term show, but he means a true showing; because the possession of the Holy Land was not acquired by mere human power, but it was given to them by Divine power, and through the working of many miracles; and thus God, as it were, openly testified to the descendants of Abraham with what incomparable power he is invested. It is on this account that he sets up the people of Israel as a match for so many other nations, who would assuredly never have vanquished so many enemies, unless they had been sustained from on high.
(339) “ Given meat — Heb., ‘Prey;’ i.e. , food. Some think this refers to the manna rained upon Israel in the wilderness; we should rather think, to the quails. See Psa 105:40.” — Williams. “ טרף. This word is usually translated prey, and the passage is thought, by some, to refer to the spoiling of the Egyptians by the Israelites, mentioned in Exo 12:36. It is, however, more probable that טרף signifies here food, and that allusion is made to the manna with which the children of Israel were fed in the wilderness. See Pro 31:15; Mal 3:10. The first hemistich is the consequence of what is stated in the second; i.e., because God remembered his covenant, therefore he gave food to them who fear him.” — Phillips.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(5) He hath given.Better, He gave.
Meat.The word often means prey, from its being torn as by a wild beast, but it is used in Pro. 31:15, Mal. 3:10, in the simple sense of food. (Comp. also the verb, Pro. 30:8.) There need not therefore be any allusion to the spoils taken in the Canaanitish wars, though the next verse makes this exceedingly probable. (See Sir G. Groves remarks; article Meat in Smiths Bible Dictionary.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
5. He hath given meat The word “meat” commonly signifies prey, booty, but should here be understood of ordinary food, as in Pro 31:15; Mal 3:10. The passage is parallel to Psa 34:9. The first hemistich is the fruit and evidence of the truth of the second. Because he is mindful of his covenant, therefore he giveth food to those who fear him. The language indicates that the people had recently emerged from want and penury to plentifulness. See on Psa 107:4-7. The sustentation of an overburdened population in Palestine (commonly estimated at 6,000,000 in prosperous times, within an area of about 12,000 square miles, or about one third of that of the State of New York,) was always a wonder, and called forth many specific laws and humane customs.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
There is somewhat very striking in the frequent memorandums the Lord makes in his word of his covenant, as if to show his faithfulness. Such was the command to Moses, Deu 7:9 ; Exo 3:15 . And Reader! how sweet is all this considered with reference to Christ, to whom all along that covenant referred, and with whom indeed it was originally made: Gen 12:3 ; Psa 72:17 ; Isa 42:16 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 111:5 He hath given meat unto them that fear him: he will ever be mindful of his covenant.
Ver. 5. He hath given meat ] Heb. a prey, Escam demensam; as he did manna to the Israelites, to each a homer; so to all his he giveth food convenient for them, Pro 30:8 , Cibum et potum, quae sunt divitiae Christianorum (Jerome).
He will ever be mindful of his covenant
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
meat. Hebrew “prey”. Put by Figure of speech Synecdoche (of Species), App-6, for food of all kinds.
fear = revere.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
fear
(See Scofield “Psa 19:9”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
hath given: Psa 34:9, Psa 34:10, Psa 37:3, Isa 33:16, Mat 6:26-33, Luk 12:30
meat: Heb. prey
he will: Psa 89:34, Psa 105:8, Psa 106:45, Neh 1:5, Dan 9:4, Luk 1:72
Reciprocal: Gen 1:29 – to you Exo 1:20 – God Exo 16:32 – General Deu 4:31 – forget Rth 1:6 – in giving Psa 89:28 – covenant Psa 111:9 – he hath
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 111:5-6. He hath given meat All necessary provisions for their being and well-being; unto them that fear him To the Israelites, the only people in the world that feared and worshipped the true God according to his will, and especially to those among them that truly feared him, and, for their sakes, to the body of that nation, as well in the wilderness as in their following straits and miseries. He will ever be Or, he hath ever been, mindful of his covenant Which he made with Abraham, and with his seed for ever; whereby he engaged to be their God, and to provide all necessaries for them. He hath showed Not only by his words, but by his actions; the power of his works His mighty power in his works, and especially, as it here follows, in giving them the heritage of the heathen, the land of Canaan, which had been possessed and inherited by the heathen.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
111:5 He hath given {c} meat unto them that fear him: he will ever be mindful of his covenant.
(c) God has given to his people all that was necessary for them and will do so even for his covenant’s sake, and in this sense the Hebrew word is taken in Pro 30:8; Pro 31:15.