Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 103:4
Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;
4. from destruction ] So the LXX, . But shachath more probably means the pit, i.e. the grave. See note on Psa 16:10. The restoration from Babylon was a renewal of the nation’s life, in which each member of it had a personal share.
crowneth ] Cp. Psa 8:5; and for a similar metaphor, Pro 3:3.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Who redeemeth thy life from destruction – That is, who saves it from death when exposed to danger, or when attacked by disease. The word destruction or corruption here is equivalent to the grave, since it is there that the body returns to corruption. Compare the notes at Psa 16:10.
Who crowneth thee – The idea here is not merely that God is the source of these blessings, but that there is something of beauty, of dignity, of honor, as in the conferring of a crown or garland on anyone. Compare the notes at Psa 65:11.
With loving-kindness and tender mercies – mercy and compassions. God showed mercy to him – evinced compassion – and these were so abundant that they might be said to be the crown or ornament of his life.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 103:4
Who redeemeth thy life from destruction.
Redeemed from destruction
By destruction here he meaneth, not only the danger of being killed by his enemies, but also and especially the state of condemnation and perishing in Gods wrath, from which the man justified is redeemed by the Mediator.
1. The benefit of preservation from eternal death is given unto the man, to whom all iniquity is forgiven; for here these benefits are joined the one with the other.
2. The deliverances which are given to believers, as well bodily as spiritual, temporal as well as everlasting, do come to us in the way of redemption, made by our kind and faithful kinsman, Jesus Christ.
3. A man must be sensible of the merit of sin, and see himself in the state of perdition for sin, before he can put a right estimation upon his delivery; he must count himself a lost man till the Lords Redeemer deliver him.
4. The favour which God bestoweth upon a believer is not in giving unto him one or two, or some few evidences of His love and mercy, but in a constant compassing of him on every hand, in everything; so that He shall turn him about to what act He will, he is circled round about with love and mercy, supplying wants, preventing, or mitigating and seasoning, his troubles, reclaiming him from sin, and directing him in Gods way.
5. The evidences of Gods kindness and mercy to a man is not only a means to glorify God, but also a means to our respect and honour; yea, and a crown of glory on the head of the believer, in the sight of all who look upon him. (D. Dickson.)
Who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies.—
A present crown
One Sunday morning we visited a poor old man of 97 years. He told us two gentlemen had each promised him a sovereign, if he lived to be 100. I wish theyd give em to me now, he said. God promises us crowns in the future; but we are also crowned with lovingkindness in the present. (W. Luff.)
Divine mercy
He who hath said to us, Thy sins be forgiven thee, has given us a grant of all needful good in that one sentence of His love. Like the comets nucleus, which bears a streaming train of light behind it, so doth forgiveness draw along with it a far-reaching glory of boundless favour. Well may this blessing be set first, since it carries all the rest in its loins.
When dreadful guilt is done away
No other fears we know;
That hand, which scatters pardons down,
Shall crowns of life bestow.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 4. Who redeemeth]
3. Preservation from destruction. haggoel, properly, redemption of life by the kinsman; possibly looking forward, in the spirit of prophecy, to him who became partaker of our flesh and blood, that he might have the right to redeem our souls from death by dying in our stead.
4. Changing and ennobling his state; weaving a crown for him out of loving-kindness and tender mercies.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
From destruction, both temporal and eternal; from deadly dangers and miseries.
Crowneth thee, i.e. encompasseth and adorneth thee, as a crown doth.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4. redeemethCost is implied.
destructionliterally,”pit of corruption” (Ps16:10).
crownethor, “adorneth”(Ps 65:11).
tender merciescompassions(compare Psa 25:6; Psa 40:11).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Who redeemeth thy life from destruction,…. Not from temporal destruction, to which the natural life is subject, through diseases, dangerous occurrences, and the malice of enemies; to be delivered from which is a blessing, and for which God is to be praised; but from eternal destruction, the destruction of the body and soul in hell; and so the Targum,
“who redeemest thy life from hell;”
to which destruction all men are liable through sin; their ways lead unto it, and grace only prevents it: the people of God are redeemed from sin, the cause of it; and from the curse of the law, in the execution of which it lies; and from Satan, the executor of it; and all this by Christ, who is the Redeemer appointed and sent, and who being mighty, and so equal to the work, has obtained eternal redemption; through which the saints are secure from going down to the pit of destruction, or from wrath to come; and this is a blessing they can never be enough thankful for; see Lu 1:68,
who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; with all other blessings which flow from the lovingkindness and tender mercy of God, even all the blessings of the everlasting covenant, the sure mercies of David; all the spiritual blessings with which the saints are blessed in Christ, the grace given them in him, and the mercy kept with him for evermore; all things pertaining to life and godliness given in regeneration; the fruits of great love and abundant mercy, with all the other supplies of grace between that and eternal glory: “crowning” with these denotes an application and enjoyment of them, the great plenty and abundance of them, a being surrounded and loaded with them; as also the honour that goes along with them, which makes those that have them great and glorious, rich and honourable; as well as preservation and protection by them; these encompassing about as a crown the head, and as a shield the body; see Ps 5:12, where the same word is used as here.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
4 Who redeemeth thy life from the grave The Psalmist expresses more plainly what our condition is previous to God’s curing our maladies — that we are dead and adjudged to the grave. The consideration that the mercy of God delivers us from death and destruction ought, therefore, to lead us to prize it the more highly. If the resurrection of the soul from the grave is the first step of spiritual life, what room for self-gloriation is left to man? The prophet next teaches us that the incomparable grace of God shines forth in the very commencement of our salvation, as well as in its whole progress; and the more to enhance the commendation of this grace, he adds the word compassions in the plural number. He asserts that we are surrounded with them; as if he had said, Before, behind, on all sides, above and beneath, the grace of God presents itself to us in immeasurable abundance; so that there is no place devoid of it. The same truth he afterwards amplifies in these words, thy mouth is satisfied, by which metaphor he alludes to the free indulgence of the palate, to which we surrender ourselves when we have a well-furnished table; for those who have scanty fare dare scarcely eat till they are half satisfied. (165) Not that he approves of gluttony in greedily devouring God’s benefits, as men give loose reins to intemperance whenever they have great abundance; but he borrowed this phraseology from the common custom of men, to teach us that whatever good things our hearts can wish flow to us from God’s bounty, even to perfect satisfaction. Those who take the Hebrew word עדי, adi, for ornament, (166) mar the passage by a mere conceit of their own; and I am surprised how so groundless an imagination should have come into their minds, unless it may be accounted for from the circumstance that it is usual for men of a prying or inquisitive turn of mind, when they would show their ingenuity, to bring forward mere puerilities. The Psalmist next adds, that God was constantly infusing into him new vigor, so that his strength continued unimpaired, even as the Prophet Isaiah, (Isa 65:20) in discoursing on the restoration of the Church, says that a man of a hundred years old shall be like a child. By this mode of expression, he intimates that God, along with a very abundant supply of all good things, communicates to him also inward rigor, that he may enjoy them; and thus his strength was as it were continually renewed. From the comparison of the eagle, the Jews have taken occasion to invent, for the purpose of explanation, a fabulous story. Although they know not even the first elements of any science, yet so presumptuous are they, that whatever may be the matter treated of, they never hesitate to attempt to explain it, and whenever they meet with any thing which they do not understand, there is no figment so foolish that they do not bring forward, as if it were an oracle of God. Thus, for expounding the present passage, they give out that eagles, every tenth year, ascend to the elemental fire, that their feathers may be burnt, (167) and that then they plunge themselves into the sea, and immediately new feathers grow upon them. But we may easily gather the simple meaning of the Prophet from the nature of the eagle, as described by philosophers, and which is well-known from observation. That bird continues fresh and vigorous, even to extreme old age, unenfeebled by years, and exempt from disease, until it finally dies of hunger. That it is long-lived is certain; but at last, its beak or bill grows so great that it cannot any longer take food, and, consequently, is forced to suck blood, or to nourish itself by drinking. Hence the ancient proverb in reference to old men who are addicted to drinking, The eagle’s old age; for necessity then constrains eagles to drink much. But as drink alone is insufficient to maintain life, they die rather through hunger, than fail by the natural decay of strength. (168) Now we perceive, without the help of any invented story, the genuine meaning of the Prophet to be, that as eagles always retain their rigor, and even in their old age are still youthful, so the godly are sustained by a secret influence derived from God, by which they continue in the possession of unimpaired strength. They are not always, it is true, full of bodily vigor while in this world, but rather painfully drag on their lives in continual weakness; still what is here said applies to them in a certain sense. This unquestionably is common to all in general, that they have been brought out of the grave, and have experienced God to be bountiful to them in innumerable ways. Were each of them duly to reflect how much he is indebted to God, he would say with good reason that his mouth is filled with good things; just as David, in Psa 40:5, and Psa 139:18, confesses that he was unable to reckon up the Divine benefits, because “they are more in number than the sands of the sea.” Did not our own perverseness blind our understandings, we would see that, even in famine, we are furnished with food in such a manner, as that God shows us the manifold riches of his goodness. With regard to the renovation of our strength, the meaning is, that since, when our outward man decays, we are renewed to a better life, we have no reason to be troubled at the giving way of our strength, especially when he sustains us by his Spirit under the weakness and languishing of our mortal frames.
(165) “ A grand’ peine osent-ils manger a demi leur saoul.” — Fr.
(166) “Abu Walid mentions two interpretations: 1. That of our English translators; 2. That which takes עדיך in the sense of ornament, ‘who multiplieth thy adorning with good,’ i e. , ‘who abundantly adorneth thee with good.’ Aben Ezra approves the notion of ornament, but applies it to the soul, the ornament of the body, i e. , ‘who satisfieth thy soul with good.’” — Hammond The Septuagint reads, ἔπιθυμίαν σου, “thy desire,” or “sensitive appetite,” the satisfying of which is the providing for the body all the good things it stands in need of, and thus it is equivalent to “satisfying,” or “filling the mouth,” the organ for conveying nourishment to the body. Kimchi understands the phrase as expressing David’s recovery from sickness. In sickness the soul abhorreth bread, and even dainty meat, Job 33:20. The physician, too, limits the diet of the patient, and prescribes things which are nauseous to the palate. This commentator, therefore, supposes that David here describes the blessing of health, by his mouth being filled with good things
(167) “ Afin que leurs plumes soyent bruslees.” — Fr.
(168) What Calvin here asserts of the eagle has as little foundation in truth as the Jewish fiction which he justly discards. Augustine’s explanation of the renewal of the youth of the eagle is equally fabulous. He affirms that in its old age its beak grows out so long, and becomes so incurvated, as to hinder it from taking food, thus endangering its life, but that it removes the excrescence, by striking its beak against a stone, so that it is enabled to take its ordinary food, and becomes young again. “There are,” says Dr Adam Clarke, “as many legends of the eagle among the ancient writers as there are in the Kalendar of some saints, and all equally true. Even among modern divines, Bible-Dictionary men, and such like, the most ridiculous tales concerning this bird continue to be propagated; and no small portion of them have been crowded into comments on this very verse.” Of these “legends of the eagle,” the accounts given of it by the Jewish commentators, by Calvin himself, and by Augustine, are a specimen; for they are altogether unsupported from its natural history. The Psalmist, in speaking of the renewing of its youth, we conceive refers simply to the changing of its feathers. Like all other birds, the eagle has its annual moulting season, in which it casts its old feathers, and is furnished with a new stock. When its plumage is thus renewed, its appearance becomes more youthful and beautiful, while, at the same time, its rigour and liveliness are improved. In like manner, by the communications of Divine grace, the spiritual beauty, strength, and activity of the people of God are increased. Although any other bird would have served the Psalmist’s purpose, yet he may have preferred the eagle, not only because it is the king of birds, superior to others of the feathered tribe in size, strength, and vivacity, but because it retains its vigor to a protracted old age, and preserves its youthful appearance to the last by the frequent change of its plumage. The Prophet Isaiah uses the same allusion, to illustrate the perseverance of the saints in holiness,
“
They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles.” Isa 40:31
The eagle seems to have borrowed its Hebrew name נשר, nesher, from the shedding of its plumage. Its root is the Chaldee verb נשר, nashar, decidit, defluxit , he fell, he shed “The name agrees with שור, to look at, ” says Bythner, “because the eagle can look at the sun with a straight and steady gaze; also with ישר, to be straight, because it flies in a straight course.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(4) Destruction.Rather, pit, or grave, as in Psa. 16:10.
Crowneth.A metaphor drawn from the common custom of wearing wreaths and garlands on festive occasions (Sir. 32:2). Comp. Psa. 8:5.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4. From destruction From death from the grave. The word is elsewhere translated pit, grave, corruption; but it denotes a state of death in which the body returns to corruption. Here, also, in the idea of redemption from the grave, the germ of the doctrine of the resurrection is discovered.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 103:4 Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;
Ver. 4. Who redeemeth thy life from destruction ] From hell, saith the Chaldee; from a thousand deaths and dangers every day. All this Christ, our kind kinsman, doth for us, dying virtually as oft as we offend.
Who crowneth thee with lovingkindness, &c.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
redeemeth: i.e. as a kinsman. Hebrew. ga’al. See note on Exo 6:6.
tender mercies = compassions.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
redeemeth
Heb. “goel,” Redemp. (Kinsman type). (See Scofield “Isa 59:20”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
redeemeth: Psa 34:22, Psa 56:13, Psa 71:23, Gen 48:16, Job 33:19-30, Rev 5:9
crowneth: Psa 103:12, *marg. Psa 8:5, Psa 21:3, Psa 65:11, Jam 1:12, 1Pe 5:4
Reciprocal: Gen 48:15 – fed me 2Sa 4:9 – who hath Psa 25:6 – thy tender mercies Psa 26:11 – and Psa 28:4 – the work Psa 30:2 – and Psa 107:20 – healed Psa 130:8 – he shall redeem Lam 3:58 – thou hast redeemed Phi 2:27 – but God
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 103:4-5. Who redeemeth thy life from destruction Both temporal and eternal; from deadly dangers and miseries. Who crowneth thee with lovingkindness That is, encompasseth and adorneth thee therewith, as with a crown. Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things Satisfieth all thy just desires and necessities. So that thy youth is renewed like the eagles That is, as some interpret the words, As the eagle appears to renew her youth with her plumage, when she casts off all her old feathers, and gets new ones, whereby she seems to grow young again. But, as this is common to all birds, it is hardly to be supposed that the psalmist would have alluded to it here as if it were peculiar to the eagle. This circumstance, however, is most observable in hawks, vultures, and especially in eagles, which, when they are near a hundred years old, cast their feathers and become bald, like young ones, and then new feathers sprout out. But the psalmist seems chiefly to refer to the long lives of eagles, and their great strength and vigour at a very advanced age. Hence the old age of an eagle is used proverbially for a lively and vigorous old age.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
103:4 Who redeemeth thy life from {c} destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;
(c) For before we have remission of our sins, we are as dead men in the grave.