Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 102:18
This shall be written for the generation to come: and the people which shall be created shall praise the LORD.
18. The good news of Jehovah’s mercy shall be recorded as the theme for the grateful praises of future generations. Cp. Jer 30:2. The restoration of Israel will be nothing less than a new creation. Cp. Isa 43:7; Isa 43:21; Psa 22:31.
shall praise the Lord ] Heb. Jah. Here first in the Psalter we have the combination of words which forms the characteristic call to worship in the post-exilic Psalms, Hallelujah, ‘Praise ye Jah.’
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
This shall be written for the generation to come – It shall be recorded for the instruction and encouragement of future ages. The fact that God has heard the prayer of his people in a time of trial shall be so recorded and remembered that it may be referred to in similar circumstances in all time to come, for he is an unchanging God. What he has done now, he will always be willing to do hereafter.
And the people which shall be created – Future generations. Each successive generation is in fact a new creation; each individual is also; for the essential idea in creation is that of bringing something into existence where there was nothing before. There is a beginning of existence in every human being. Man is not in any proper sense a development from former being, nor is his life merely a continuance of something which existed before.
Shall praise the Lord – Shall praise the Lord for what he has now done; shall learn, from the great principles now illustrated in regard to his administration, to praise him.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 102:18
This shall he written for the generation to come.
Our responsibility towards the young
The antecedent to the word this are the truths contained in Psa 102:1-13 :–
1. That the Lord will have mercy upon Zion.
2. That the heathen shall fear the name of the Lord.
3. That He will build up Zion.
4. That He will regard the prayer of the destitute.
These were the promises that were to be written for the generations to come. Why written? That they might be preserved and handed down. Tradition is uncertain, imperfect, often fails wholly, cannot command credence. The New Testament declares that these things were written for our instruction.
I. What has been written?
1. Observe the nature of this knowledge of God which was written. It concerns Gods faithfulness and ability in the performance of all He has promised. He who makes a promise comes under obligation. In this God differs from man. He was under no obligation to come under obligation. Having promised, He has come under obligation, and Christians everywhere bear testimony to His faithfulness and His ability to perform fully all He has freely promised.
2. What God has promised. The great thing is the reconciliation of Himself to man; the salvation worked out through atonement; the establishment of a Church–a family that bears the name of Jesus. Salvation can be wrought only through this atonement. It is loose thinking that makes men imagine that education, culture, political economy, philosophy can lift up the world. The fear of the Lord lifts up man.
II. Our duty.
1. Let us be faithful to our own children. We want more men and women to tell to the generation coming of Gods promises and faithfulness.
2. We want to take care of the children grown up into youth. The most critical period in the life of man is when he is breaking away from home. How many of the children at this age become vagrants among the Churches, wandering here and there, receiving but little benefit and giving none. The class most largely reached are the children of believing parents.
3. Then we have a great work to do among the children near us, those who are to be our fellow-citizens. A great work is there to be done. God knows there is enough of ignorance and criminality around us. These evils must be restrained by knowledge, by virtue. Ignorance and crime must be restrained, or social ruin is inevitable.
4. We must do all possible for the children of the entire country. If we would have the nation Christian, we must work and bear the burdens. We have the opportunity. (John Hall, D.D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 18. The people which shall be created] “The Gentiles, who shall be brought to the knowledge of salvation by Christ,” as the Syriac states in its inscription to this Psalm: how often the conversion of the soul to God is represented as a new creation, no reader of the New Testament need be told. See Eph 2:10; Eph 4:24; 2Co 5:17; Ga 6:15. Even the publication of the Gospel, and its influence among men, is represented under the notion of “creating a new heaven and a new earth,” Isa 65:17-18.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
This shall be written; this wonderful deliverance shall not be lost nor forgotten, but carefully recorded by thy people. For the generation to come; for the instruction and encouragement of all succeeding generations. The singular number put for the plural, as is ordinary.
The people which shall be created; which may be understood, either,
1. Of the Jews which should be restored, who were in a manner dead and buried in the grave, and mere dry bones, Isa 26:19; Eze 37; and therefore their restoration might well be called a creation; or, as it is elsewhere, a resurrection. Or,
2. Of the Gentiles who should be converted, whose conversion is frequently, and might very justly, be called a second creation. See Isa 43:1,7,15; 65:18; Eph 2:10,15.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
18. people . . . created(comparePs 22:31), an organized body,as a Church.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
This shall be written for the generation to come,…. This prayer, as the Targum paraphrases it, is a directory to saints in distressed circumstances; or that which was just now said, that the Lord will regard, and not despise the prayer of the destitute; this shall stand on record, for the encouragement of praying souls in all generations; or this whole prophecy, concerning the glory of the church in the latter day; this shall be written for the next generation, and so on until it is accomplished, to keep up the faith and expectation of the fulfilment of it:
and the people which shall be created: born at the time when all this shall be done; or who shall become new creatures; be created in Christ Jesus, and made new men;
these shall praise the Lord, when he shall arise and have mercy on Zion; when he shall favour and rebuild her, in answer to the prayers of his people; then their prayers will be turned into praise; then will those voices be heard among them, hallelujah, salvation, glory, honour, and power unto the Lord our God, Re 19:1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The poet goes on advancing motives to Jahve for the fulfilment of his desire, by holding up to Him what will take place when He shall have restored Zion. The evangel of God’s redemptive deed will be written down for succeeding generations, and a new, created people, i.e., a people coming into existence, the church of the future, shall praise God the Redeemer for it. as in Psa 48:14; Psa 78:4. like Ps 22:32, perhaps with reference to deutero-Isaianic passages like Isa 43:17. On Psa 102:20, cf. Isa 63:15; in Psa 102:21 (cf. Isa 42:7; Isa 61:1) the deutero-Isaianic colouring is very evident. And Psa 102:21 rests still more verbally upon Psa 79:11. The people of the Exile are as it were in prison and chains ( ), and are advancing towards their destruction ( ), if God does not interpose. Those who have returned home are the subject to . in Psa 102:23 introduces that which takes place simultaneously: with the release of Israel from servitude is united the conversion of the world. occurs in the same connection as in Isa 60:4. After having thus revelled in the glory of the time of redemption the poet comes back to himself and gives form to his prayer on his own behalf.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
18. This shall be registered for the generation that is to come The Psalmist magnifies still more the fruit of the deliverance of his people, for the purpose of encouraging himself and others in the hope of obtaining the object of their prayers. He intimates, that this will be a memorable work of God, the praise of which shall be handed down to succeeding ages. Many things are worthy of praise, which are soon forgotten; but the prophet distinguishes between the salvation of the Church, for which he makes supplication, and common benefits. By the word register, he means that the history of this would be worthy of having a place in the public records, that the remembrance of it might be transmitted to future generations. There is in the words a beautiful contrast between the new creation of the people and the present destruction; of which interpreters improperly omit to take any notice. When the people were expelled from their country, the Church was in a manner extinguished. Her very name might seem to be dead, when the Jews were mingled among the heathen nations, and no longer constituted a distinct and united body. Their return was accordingly as it were a second birth. Accordingly, the prophet with propriety expects a new creation. Although the Church had perished, he was persuaded that God, by his wonderful power, would make her rise again from death to renovated life. This is a remarkable passage, showing that the Church is not always so preserved, as to continue to outward appearance to survive, but that when she seems to be dead, she is suddenly created anew, whenever it so pleases God. Let no desolation, therefore, which befalls the Church, deprive us of the hope, that as God once created the world out of nothing, so it is his proper work to bring forth the Church from the darkness of death.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(18) Written.This is interesting as being the only place in the Psalms where the memory of great events is said to be preserved in writing. Oral tradition is mentioned in Psa. 22:30; Psa. 44:1; Psa. 78:2.
Shall be created.See Psa. 22:31, a people that shall be bornthe coming generation (as the parallelism shows) for whom the world will be regenerated.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
18. This shall be written “The only place in the psalms where the memory of great events is said to be preserved in writing.” Perowne. Elsewhere left to oral transmission. Psa 44:1; Psa 48:13; Psa 78:2.
The people which shall be created That is, the Jewish nation, which should be resuscitated by the restoration. Calvin: “Their return was as a second birth a new creation.” Same as “a people that shall be born,” Psa 22:31
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 102:18. And the people which shall be created, &c. And the people to be born shall praise the Lord. Mudge; who reads the two next verses in a parenthesis.Ver. 19. (When the Lord looketh out from the height of his holiness; from the heaven he beholdeth the earth.Ver. 20. To hear, &c.)Ver. 21. In order to record in Zion the name, &c. The words, this shall be written, seem to intend the particular case of this prayer of the prisoner; that it should be written for times to come, in order to publish the glory of the Lord at Jerusalem; when the whole Gentile world should be assembled there to do him homage.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psa 102:18 This shall be written for the generation to come: and the people which shall be created shall praise the LORD.
Ver. 18. This shall be written for the generation to come ] This, that the poor shrub hath sped so well in prayer, together with all other the particulars of this psalm, and indeed the whole Scripture, Rom 15:4 . So little truth is there in that assertion of the Jesuits, that the epistles of the apostles were intended only for the use of those Churches or persons to whom they were first written.
And the people which shall be created
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 102:18-22
18This will be written for the generation to come,
That a people yet to be created may praise the Lord.
19For He looked down from His holy height;
From heaven the Lord gazed upon the earth,
20To hear the groaning of the prisoner,
To set free those who were doomed to death,
21That men may tell of the name of the Lord in Zion
And His praise in Jerusalem,
22When the peoples are gathered together,
And the kingdoms, to serve the Lord.
Psa 102:18-22 This strophe is a promise about YHWH’s restoration of His covenant people to Judah and her temple.
Hebrews 1 quotes Psa 102:25-27 as relating to Jesus. In this sense Psa 102:28 relates to the new people of God (i.e., believing Jews and Gentiles, cf. Rom 2:28-29; Rom 9:6; Gal 3:7-9; Gal 3:13-14; Gal 3:29; Gal 6:15-16)!
Psa 102:19 YHWH knows what is happening on earth (cf. Job 28:24; Psa 14:2; Psa 33:13-14; Psa 53:3; Psa 80:14; Lam 3:50; Lam 5:1; see full note at Psa 33:13-17). The term earth (BDB 75) can have several meanings, see Special Topic: Land, Country, Earth .
from His holy height. . .from heaven These are parallel. The first might refer to the temple on Mt. Moriah, but when both are taken into account, it refers to YHWH’s dwelling place above the atmosphere of the earth.
SPECIAL TOPIC: HEAVEN
SPECIAL TOPIC: HEAVEN AND THE THIRD HEAVEN
Psa 102:20 These images refer to exiled Judeans (and possibly Israelites).
Psa 102:22 This, like so many Psalms in Book IV, has a universal emphasis (see Special Topic: YHWH’s Eternal Redemptive Plan ). The phrase, the kingdom will serve the Lord, reminds me of Rev 5:9-14; Rev 11:15!
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
the generation to come = a generation to come. Showing that all here is future.
the = a.
created: i.e. the new Israel (Psa 22:31. Isa 43:1-7, Isa 43:18-21; Isa 66:8). This is the new nation referred to in Mat 21:43.
THE LORD. Hebrew Jah. App-4.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
This: Psa 71:18, Psa 78:4-6, Exo 17:14, Deu 31:19 – Deu 32:44, Job 19:23, Job 19:24, Dan 9:2, Joh 20:31, Rom 15:4, 1Co 10:11, 2Ti 3:16, 2Ti 3:17, 2Pe 1:15
the people: Psa 22:30, Psa 22:31, Psa 45:16, Psa 45:17, Isa 43:7, Isa 43:21, Isa 65:17-19, 2Co 5:17, 2Co 5:18, Eph 2:10, 1Pe 2:9, 1Pe 2:10
Reciprocal: Psa 78:6 – That Psa 86:9 – All Isa 43:1 – created Jer 30:20 – children
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
102:18 This shall be written for the generation to come: and the people which shall be {n} created shall praise the LORD.
(n) The deliverance of the Church is an excellent benefit, and therefore he compares it to a new creation for in their banishment the body of the Church seemed to have been dead, which by deliverance was as it were created anew.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Confident of eventual restoration, the psalmist spoke of future generations praising God for His faithfulness. He pictured God attentively looking down from heaven and observing His enslaved people. The writer may have been describing conditions as they existed during the Babylonian exile.