Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 103:17
But the mercy of the LORD [is] from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children;
17. Men may pass away, but Jehovah’s lovingkindness and righteousness, i.e. His covenant faithfulness, endure. The eternity of God is the rock upon which faith can repose in view of the mutability of man. Cp. Psa 90:1; Psa 102:12; Psa 102:27; Isa 40:8. Those who fear Him can securely commit their posterity to His care. Cp. Psa 102:28. Both the assurance, and the condition introduced by Psa 103:18, rest upon Exo 20:6; Deu 7:9.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
But the mercy of the Lord – The favor of the Lord; or, his loving-kindness.
Is from everlasting to everlasting – Is from the eternity past to the eternity to come. It had its foundation in the eternal decrees of God; it has its security in his purpose that where it is conferred, it shall not be withdrawn. It had no beginning; it will have no end. There never was a period in the past when it was not the purpose of God to save his people; there never will be a period in the future when it will be said that his saving mercy has ceased. It would be difficult to think of a statement which would at the same time, in so few words, confirm at once the doctrine of the divine decrees, and the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. If either of these doctrines is denied, then what is here stated by the psalmist is not true: if the doctrine of the divine decrees is denied, then his purpose of mercy had a beginning, and is not from everlasting; if the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints is denied, then his mercy has an end, and is not to everlasting.
Upon them that fear him – In respect to those who are his true worshippers, or his true people.
And his righteousness – His righteous purpose; or, his purpose in regard to their becoming righteous.
Unto childrens children – literally, sons of sons. That is, his purposes embrace the children and childrens children of the righteous; or, they are included in the covenant of mercy. See the notes at Act 2:39. Compare Exo 20:6.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 103:17
But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him.
Man and mercy
Verses 15-19 form a beautiful contrast between mans life and Gods mercy.
I. There is a contrast in their strength.
1. Mans life is weak. All men in all places and at all times are like grass, and will soon pass away. But the mercy of the Lord is not weak, feeble, and easily consumed; it is almighty. The almightiness of mercy is proved by its wonderful achievements.
2. Mans life is a disappointment. As for man, his days are like grass. Grass soon withers away. Such is human life. It is frail, and full of disappointments. But Gods mercy is everlastingly green.
II. A contrast in their beauty. (Isa 40:6). This figure refers to human beauty. The apostle calls the beauty of man his glory (1Pe 1:24). Mans glory is his health, energy, beauty, talent, wisdom. His vigour is soon gone; his beauty fades, his wisdom ceases. But the beauty of the Lord–the beauty of holiness–the beauty of mercy never fades away.
III. A contrast in their duration.
1. Man cannot carry out his designs after death, but mercy executes her plans independent of his presence.
2. Mercy distributes her invaluable blessings among families throughout all generations. (Homilist.)
The character and privileges of Gods people
I. Their character.
1. They fear Him. By this we are to understand obedience to all the duties of religion.
2. They keep His covenant. This implies that they walk agreeably to their baptismal and Lords Supper engagements; that they resist the devil, the world, and the flesh.
3. They remember His commandments to do them.
II. The privileges of Gods people are innumerable, and are almost all summed up in this one word mercy. They are all summed up in Christ.
1. Original mercy. This, in God, is like a fountain that runs night and day–that is never diminished or dried up.
2. Communicative mercy. It is over all Gods works. Since the earth was created, it has been full of temporal and spiritual mercies.
3. Tender mercy coming from the heart. It is exercised towards miserable objects, immediately and in the very time of need.
4. Free in its exercise towards us, without any deserving on our part.
5. Great mercy. God is plenteous in mercy; rich in mercy; abundant in mercy; He has manifold mercies; He keeps mercies for thousands (Exo 34:7).
6. Infinite mercy. Far above the heavens (Isa 55:7; Isa 55:9). Deeper than the sea (Mic 7:19).
7. Eternal mercy. His compassion fails not; His mercy endureth for ever.
III. Improvement.
1. Those who have experienced this mercy are happy. Finding the end of this mercy is like finding the end of a ring–impossible.
2. Those who have never experienced this mercy are truly miserable. (James Kidd, D.D.)
The mercy of the Lord to the children of those who fear Him
The word righteousness here, as in many other places, is equivalent to mercy or beneficence; and the ever-enduring lovingkindness of our God, described in the first clause as from everlasting to everlasting, is in the second more precisely defined, as continued to the childrens children of those who fear Him. The Almighty hath done nothing in vain. Every power, every affection of the human soul, is implanted in it by Him for some valuable end, and is operated on by the means which His wisdom hath appointed for carrying forward our improvement here, and accomplishing our preparation for happiness hereafter. Of those principles, there is no one more universal, more powerful, or more obviously beneficial, than parental affection. In the inferior animals, with whom it is merely instinctive, it exercises a power to which every other habit and propensity seems to be subordinate. Under its dominion the most ferocious become mild and gentle, the most fearful, fierce and daring in the defence of their offspring, the feeblest and most indolent, indefatigable in providing for their subsistence. By its operation, the living tribes of earth are, in almost each individual instance, trained up to maturity, and prevented from perishing from off the surface of the globe. In man, especially when he is enlightened and civilized, it assumes a loftier bearing, and holds a more important place. When it is guarded by religious principle and sound judgment from the abuses to which all the feelings of mortality are liable, when it is purified and refined by the sacred and endearing habits of domestic life, and hallowed by the hope of immortality, it triumphs over every selfish inclination, and connects the successive generations of men by ties equally blessed to the present and the future inhabitants of earth. It is obvious, that under the diversified government of God, this, like every other principle, is made to produce the most valuable fruits. His providence employs it to control selfishness, to restrain turbulent passion, to draw forth useful exertion from the individual, to supply a most powerful motive for acting uprightly and honourably. Yet it is not only by its direct operation that parental love influences the human mind for good. The Almighty appeals to it in His Word as a motive to cherish godly fear and holy obedience. To mankind He holds out a blessing on their posterity, as a most powerful incentive to compliance with the requisitions of His law (Exo 20:5-6; Gen 22:17-18; Psa 112:1-2). Though the Christian revelation, in directing our views to another and a better world, renders the vicissitudes of this life less marked and less momentous, still an attentive observer may discern the fulfilment of this gracious declaration in the ordinary and general course of human affairs. You see the unsullied fame of the parent descend on the son and recommend him to notice, confidence, and employment. Were it given you to enter more deeply into the counsels of the Almighty, and to trace more accurately than you now do the ways of His providence, you might behold proofs still more decisive of His righteousness to the children of His servants, in soothing their afflictions, in supplying their wants. Such views of the Divine procedure must fill our minds with admiration of the wisdom of Him by whom our souls and bodies were formed, and who governs and conducts us by laws and motives adapted to every branch of that nature in which He hath created us. In filling the hearts of parents with an indelible attachment to their children, He not only prompts them to those exertions which contribute so largely to the happiness and improvement of mankind, but renders them capable of appreciating, and disposed to comply with those inducements to obedience which are suggested by His promise of a blessing on their posterity. What parent who reflects can resist their influence? who, with a heart to feel, would not endeavour to keep His covenant and remember His commandments to do them, when assured that His mercy is from everlasting to everlasting on them that fear Him, and His righteousness to childrens children? If there be one branch of Christian conduct in which, more than in another, it becomes you to be followers of God as dear children, it is in doing good to the children of those who have loved and served Him. In so doing you imitate those dispensations of His providence in which His unerring wisdom is most conspicuously displayed. You copy the most amiable and affecting manifestation of His fatherly benevolence. (D. Macfarlan, D.D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 17. The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting] chesed signifies more particularly the exuberant goodness of God. This is an attribute of his nature, and must be from everlasting to everlasting; and hence, his righteousness ( tsidketh) – his merciful mode of justifying the ungodly, is extended from one generation to another.
Unto children’s children.] It is still in force, and the doctrine of reconciliation through Christ shall continue to be preached till the conclusion of time.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
But though we quickly decay and perish, yet Gods mercy to us doth not die with us; but as it was from eternity exercised in gracious purposes, so it will be continued unto eternity in that future and endless life.
Upon them that fear him: see before on Psa 103:11. His righteousness; either his faithfulness, or (that this branch may answer to the former) his mercy or benignity; this word being frequently used in both these senses, as hath been proved before. But it is here called righteousness, to intimate that Gods kindness to the posterity of his people is not only an act of his goodness, but also a discharge of his obligation under which he put himself to them, as elsewhere, so Exo 20:6, to which this place seems to relate. Hence it is called mercy to Abraham and truth to Jacob, Mic 7:20.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
17, 18. For similar contrastcompare Psa 90:2-6; Psa 102:27;Psa 102:28.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him,…. In opposition to the frailty of man, the stability and duration of the mercy of God is observed. This reaches from one eternity to another; it is from everlasting in the heart of God: it appeared in the choice of the vessels of mercy; in the covenant of grace, which is founded upon it, and filled with it; every blessing of which flows from it, and therefore are called the “sure mercies of David”. And it appears in time in the regeneration of God’s elect, which is according to his abundant mercy; in the forgiveness of their sins, which is according to the multitude of his tender mercies; and in their whole salvation, which is by that, and not by works of righteousness; and will endure for ever, for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ is unto eternal life. It reaches from the world past to the world to come, as the Targum; and it is so “upon them that fear” the Lord; not with a servile, but a filial fear; a fear of the Lord and his goodness; which only is consistent with the grace and mercy of God, and a sense of it: not that the fear of God is the cause of mercy or grace; but, on the contrary, grace and mercy are the cause of the fear of God; which is a blessing of the covenant of grace, and one of the first things which appear in conversion; but this properly describes the persons who openly and manifestly share in the grace or mercy of God, and to whom he manifests it yet more and more; nor have any reason to believe they are the objects of it, until the true fear of God is wrought in their hearts; and, besides, this character may be given to show that the mercy and grace of God are not limited to the Israelites only, but belong to such of all nations that fear the Lord.
And his righteousness unto children’s children; not the essential righteousness of God, but rather his faithfulness in the performance of his promises, which he will not suffer to fail: the justifying righteousness of Christ is here meant; which is an everlasting one, and is unto and upon all them that believe, in all successive generations; which is meant by the phrase of “children’s children”, even the spiritual seed of Christ, the seed of the church, the seed of Israel; to all and each of which, in every age, the word of God comes, and his promises are fulfilled; and who are justified by and glory in Christ, their righteousness; and who are further described in the next verse, which shows that not the carnal seed of them that fear the Lord are meant.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
17. But the goodness of Jehovah, etc The Psalmist leaves nothing to men to rely upon but the mercy of God; for it would be egregious folly to seek a ground of confidence in themselves. After having shown the utter emptiness of men, he adds the seasonable consolation, that, although they have no intrinsic excellence, which does not vanish into smoke, yet God is an inexhaustible fountain of life, to supply their wants. This contrast is to be particularly observed; for whom does he thus divest of all excellence? The faithful who are regenerated by the Spirit of God, and who worship him with true devotion, these are the persons whom he leaves nothing on which their hope may rest but the mere goodness of God. As the Divine goodness is everlasting, the weakness and frailty of the faithful does not prevent them from boasting of eternal salvation to the close of life, and even in death itself. David does not confine their hope within the limits of time — he views it as commensurate in duration with the grace on which it is founded. To goodness is subjoined righteousness, a word, as we have had occasion frequently to observe before, denoting the protection by which God defends and preserves his own people. He is then called righteous, not because he rewards every man according to his desert, but because he deals faithfully with his saints, in spreading the hand of his protection over them. The Prophet has properly placed this righteousness after goodness, as being the effect of goodness. He also asserts that it extends to the children and children’s children, according to these words in Deu 7:9, “God keepeth mercy to a thousand generations.” It is a singular proof of his love that he not only receives each of us individually into his favor, but also herein associates with us our offspring, as it were by hereditary right, that they may be partakers of the same adoption. How shall He cast us off, who, in receiving our children and children’s children into his protection, shows to us in their persons how precious our salvation is in his sight?
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
17. But the mercy of the Lord The adversative sense of the conjunction marks the contrast between the perishable and frail in man, (vers. 15, 16,) and the everlasting “mercy” and faithfulness of God to “such as keep his covenant.” Psa 103:17-18.
Everlasting to everlasting From eternity to eternity. By a law of interpretation the words are limited only by the nature of the subject.
Unto children’s children A quotation from Exo 20:6; Exo 34:7; Deu 7:9
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 103:17 But the mercy of the LORD [is] from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children;
Ver. 17. But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting ] God is from all eternity and unto all eternity kind to all that fear him, in what age of the world soever they live.
And his righteousness unto children’s children] That is, his kindness or bounty; for so the word tsedachah should be taken, according to Psa 112:8-9 2Co 9:9 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
But. Blessed contrast.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
the mercy: Psa 89:1, Psa 89:2, Psa 100:5, Psa 118:1, Psa 136:1-26, Jer 31:3, Rom 8:28-30, Eph 1:4-8, Eph 2:4-7, 2Th 2:13, 2Th 2:14, 2Ti 1:9
his righteousness: Psa 22:31, Isa 46:13, Isa 51:6, Dan 9:24, Mic 6:5, Rom 1:17, Rom 3:21-25, 2Pe 1:1
unto children’s: Psa 90:16, Exo 20:6, Deu 10:15, Isa 41:8, Jer 33:24-26, Act 13:32-34, Rom 15:8
Reciprocal: Gen 17:8 – everlasting Exo 19:5 – keep Deu 29:9 – General 2Ki 4:1 – thy servant did fear 1Ch 16:41 – to give 2Ch 6:14 – mercy 2Ch 7:3 – For he is Ezr 3:11 – because Psa 23:6 – goodness Psa 25:6 – for they Psa 25:10 – keep Psa 30:5 – For Psa 36:10 – continue Psa 37:18 – their Psa 52:1 – goodness Psa 62:12 – mercy Psa 90:2 – even from Psa 103:11 – his mercy Psa 103:13 – them Psa 106:1 – for he Psa 107:1 – for his mercy Psa 111:3 – righteousness Psa 118:29 – General Psa 119:38 – who is devoted Psa 128:1 – every one Psa 138:8 – thy mercy Pro 19:23 – fear Isa 45:17 – an everlasting Isa 54:8 – but Isa 64:5 – in those Jer 3:12 – for I am Joe 2:18 – and pity Hab 3:6 – his Mal 3:6 – therefore Luk 1:50 – General Joh 10:28 – they Act 11:14 – all Rom 8:35 – shall separate Eph 3:18 – able 2Th 2:16 – everlasting Heb 13:8 – General 1Pe 1:5 – kept
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 103:17-18. But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting, &c. But though we quickly decay and perish, yet Gods mercy to us doth not die with us, but, as it was from eternity exercised in gracious purposes, so it will be continued unto eternity in that future and endless life which is before us; upon them that fear him That is, upon them that are truly religious: see above on Psa 103:11. And his righteousness unto childrens children Either his faithfulness, or his benignity, the word being frequently used in both these senses, as has been shown before. But it is here called righteousness, to intimate that Gods kindness to the posterity of his people is not only an act of his goodness, but also a discharge of the obligation under which he had laid himself to them, as elsewhere, so especially Exo 20:6, to which this place seems to relate. To such as keep his covenant To them that, through his grace, perform the condition of Gods covenant, that sincerely love and obey him. Such restrictions are often added, as, in the general, to overthrow the presumptuous hopes of ungodly men, so particularly to admonish the Israelites not to rest too much on the privileges of their parents, or the covenant made with them, nor to expect any benefit by it but upon condition of their continuance in Gods covenant. And to those that remember his commandments That have them much in their thoughts, and practise them in the course of their lives.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
103:17 But the mercy of the LORD [is] from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his {k} righteousness unto children’s children;
(k) His just and faithful keeping of his promise.