Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 104:33
I will sing unto the LORD as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.
I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live – That is, I will continue to praise him; I will never cease to adore him. The result of the psalmists meditations on the wonderful works of God is to awaken in his mind a desire to praise God forever. He is so filled with a sense of his greatness and glory that he sees that there would be occasion for eternal praise; or that the reason for praise could never be exhausted. He who has any proper sense of the greatness, the majesty, and the glory of God intends to praise him forever. He sees that there is enough in the character of God to demand eternal praise, and he does not anticipate that a period can ever occur in all the future when he will feel that the causes for praise have come to an end, or when his heart will be indisposed to celebrate that praise.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 104:33
I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live.
A joyous faith
The Oriental life differed in a very marked degree from our modern life. For one thing, it was spent more in the open air than is possible in these colder climates; it was a simpler life, coming into contact with nature, open to the influences which nature is sure to have upon the sensitive mind. We gain something, possibly, by living in great cities, but we certainly forfeit something also; we know man better, we are brought more into contact with our fellow-men, but we lose sight of a great deal which might speak, and which does speak to us of the wonderful works of God the frame of mind in which we live habitually, as well as our surroundings, will have much to do with the spirit of our worship. We may be in the condition of men who are overwhelmed by the thought of man and his works, or of money and its influences, immersed in the noise and smoke until the very heavens themselves are hidden from us, and then the charm of creation is gone, or we may do, what some men never seem to do, possess our souls in the midst of it all. It is something to have seen the works of God, to have taken note of them, even if it be only a glance on a starry night at the wonders of the firmament above. And when we look at the world and at life in this way, with eyes of devotion, and see the Lord there, realized as having a personal existence and share in it all, having to do with its being and its well-being, then it becomes impossible to be silent in His praise. The psalmist has not to reason himself into a right feeling about God; the right feeling is there, and so the psalm begins with an outburst of praise. He is a singer because he is a seer. And because he sees, he is full of devoutness and adoration, and sings as easily and naturally as birds sing when they have entered into the gladness and joy of coming spring. When I think of God, said Haydn, my heart is full of joy, the notes dance and leap. I write according to the thoughts I feel. And Handel, when he wrote his Hallelujah Chorus, said he almost saw heaven opening before him. Devout and joyous worship, then, can only arise from a conception of a world and of a Deity like this. Absence of it in men is fatal; to them, as Hazlitt once expressed it, the heavens have gone farther off, and become astronomical. The ladder that linked heaven and earth has disappeared; they are not likely to say with David, The earth is satisfied with the fruit of Thy works, or, with Jacob, How wonderful, how dreadful is this place! And yet the duty of man remains. If he understands his true position he will worship, he must worship. But only in right thoughts and devout meditations will be found the secret of a lifelong praise such as the psalmist promises. Even so, Father, for so it seemeth good in Thy sight. A spirit like that may rejoice even in a world like this, and He rejoiced in spirit, for it is the soul which makes the music of life; and therefore fitly and properly this psalm begins and ends, as many another psalm, with: Bless the Lord, O my soul! (W. Baxendale.)
Singing to the Lord
I. The psalmists determination.
1. That he will sing. He felt that God had given him a voice capable of singing as well as of speaking; that the power to utter sweet sounds in song, and the ear to delight in sweet sounds in song, was a noble faculty of his nature, and that this faculty was to be used in the Divine service.
2. That he will sing to the Lord–not for his own gratification and pleasure merely, nor to amuse his friends. He believed God heard his voice in song as much as He heard his voice in prayer.
3. That he will sing to the Lord as long as he lives.
II. It is instructive to observe how often, and in how many different ways singing is mentioned and enjoined in the Scriptures.
1. It is enjoined by Scripture command and precept. Moses and Miriam, David and Asaph, all unite in similar precepts,–Sing unto the Lord all the earth, sing unto Him, sing psalms unto Him, is the burden of their frequent utterance. Gospel precept accords with Old Testament command. The apostles are careful to exhort to the practice (Col 3:16; Eph 5:19).
2. Singing is enforced by Scripture argument. We always find this duty of singing to the Lord linked to and connected with other moral duties. The psalmist unites singing and prayer together. In the same psalm we read, O come, let us sing unto the Lord, O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. Here singing and prayer are conjoined (Jam 5:13).
3. Singing is enjoined by Scripture example. Moses both pens a psalm, viz. the 90th, and sings a holy song. Miriam led a number of Israelitish women in a joyful song of triumph to the Lord. David earned for himself the title of the Sweet Psalmist of Israel, alike for the psalms he composed and sung. Asaph and Heman, Jeduthun and Ethan, were eminent for the service they rendered to the psalmody of the Temple-worship. Turning to the New Testament, we find the singing of sacred hymns enjoined by the highest example of all (Mat 26:30). The apostles were addicted to the same practice (Act 16:25). (J. Shillito.)
Singing
1. Singing is the music of nature. The Scriptures tell us the mountains sing, the valleys sing, the trees of the wood sing before the Lord. The air of summer is filled with melody of birds.
2. Singing is the music of the Ancient Church. Pliny makes mention in a letter he wrote to the Emperor Trajan, that the Christians of those times being gathered together before day, sang hymns and praises to Christ as God. Paulinus testifies that this practice overspread every province of the Western Church. Justin Martyr tells us that in his time they sang and sent up prayers to God. Beza confesses that at his first entrance into the congregation, hearing them sing the 91st Psalm, he felt himself exceedingly comforted, and did retain the sound of it afterwards upon his heart. St. Augustine reports of himself, that when he came to Milan and heard the people sing, it was the occasion of his conversion. His words in his Confessions are, When I remember my tears at my conversion under the melody of Thy Church.
3. Coming to more modern times, we find the same practice not only in vogue, but also of greater practical advantage. The reformation in Germany, under Martin Luther, was greatly promoted by singing. Luther taught the children to sing hymns, expressing the great truths of the Gospel. The children went about the streets singing these Gospel hymns, and thus conveying the truth on every hand. The Romanists said Luther has done us more harm by his songs than by his sermons. The followers of Wickliffe and Huss were named psalm-singers. In later times the great religious movements and revivals, which have greatly aided the spread of religion, have been more or less connected with singing to the Lord.
4. Singing is the music of heaven. The glorious saints and angels express their praises in this way, and make one harmony in their state of blessedness. This is set forth in many passages of the Book of Revelation. (J. Shillito. )
The soul on the wing
Birds are seldom taken in their flight; the more we are upon the wing of heavenly thoughts the more we escape snares. (T. Manton.)
Chiming Christians
Clocks converted to chiming–such were the words that caught the writers eye in an advertisement of a watchmakers wares. Conversion to chiming is precisely what many need now-a-days. In the midst of gloom and worry, what a call there is for bright Christians who can advertise the grace of God, which is able to dispel all sorrow and care! Many are converted who yet are far from chiming, and they require the change which can fill their lives with a music never dying, ever singing. Then there is a thought in the chime which may stimulate us. Chimes are striking constantly–often every quarter of an hour, always every hour. How about our testimony for Christ? Is that as frequent as it ought to be? Are we not often silent instead of chiming Christians? (Signal.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 33. I will sing unto the Lord] The psalmist exulting in the glorious prospect of the renovation of all things, breaks out in triumphant anticipation of the great event, and says, I will sing unto the Lord bechaiyai, with my lives, the life that I now have, and the life that I shall have hereafter.
I will sing praise to my God] beodi, “in my eternity;” my going on, my endless progression. What astonishing ideas! But then, how shall this great work be brought about? and how shall the new earth be inhabited with righteous spirits only? The answer is,
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
But whatsoever others do, I will not fail to give God his glory and due praises.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live,…. Or, “in my life or lives w”, throughout the whole of it. This was what the psalmist determined to do, let others do what they would; even sing songs of praise to the Lord; since he was the God of his life, who had fed him all his life long; from whom he had all the mercies of life, and by whom he had been followed with goodness and mercy all his days, and on whom his life and the comforts of it depended.
I will sing praise unto my God while I have my being: because he lived, and moved, and had his being in him; and it was continued to him, and he was upheld in it; and not only for his being, but for his well being; as for his temporal, so for his spiritual mercies, which he had from him as his God, as his covenant God; such as peace, pardon, righteousness, and eternal life: a view of God as our own God, such a view as Thomas had of Christ, when he said, “my Lord, and my God”, is enough to make a man sing; and when the psalmist says he would do this as long as he lived and had a being, this is not to be understood as if this work would end with his life, or that he had no thought of praising him hereafter; but it signifies his constancy in this employment, while in the land of the living; knowing that in the grave he could not praise the Lord with his bodily organs as now; though he knew that this would be his eternal employ in the world of spirits, in his soul, during its separate state, and in soul and body after the resurrection.
w “in vita mea”, V. L. Pagninus; “in vitis meis”, Montanus.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
33. I will sing to Jehovah whilst I live Here the Psalmist points out to others their duty by his own example, declaring, that throughout the whole course of his life he will proclaim the praises of God without ever growing weary of that exercise. The only boundary which he fixes to the celebration of God’s praises is death; not that the saints, when they pass from this world into another state of existence, desist from this religious duty, but because the end for which we are created is, that the divine name may be celebrated by us on the earth. Conscious of his unworthiness to offer to God so precious a sacrifice, he humbly prays, (verse 34,) that the praises which he will sing to God may be acceptable to him, although they proceed from polluted lips. It is true, that there is nothing more acceptable to God, nor any thing of which he more approves, than the publication of his praises, even as there is no service which he more peculiarly requires us to perform. But as our uncleanness defiles that which in its own nature is most holy, the prophet with good reason betakes himself to the goodness of God, and on this ground alone pleads that He would accept of his song of praise. Accordingly, the Apostle, in Heb 13:15 teaches that our sacrifices of thanksgiving are well pleasing to God, when they are offered to him through Christ. It being however the case, that whilst all men indiscriminately enjoy the benefits of God, there are yet very few who look to the author of them, the prophet subjoins the clause, I will rejoice in the Lord; intimating, that this is a rare virtue; for nothing is more difficult than to call home the mind from those wild and erratic joys, which disperse themselves through heaven and earth in which they evanish, that it may keep itself fixed on God alone.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
DISCOURSE: 675
THE DUTY OF PRAISING GOD
Psa 104:33-34. I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. My meditation of him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the Lord.
IT is well that we have in the Holy Scriptures a record of the experience of former saints: for, on the one hand, we should be inclined to rest in low attainments, if we did not know to what heights others had attained; and, on the other hand, we should be condemned for aiming at such exalted frames as were possessed by them, if we had not the sanction of their high authority. However, whether the world be pleased or displeased, this, God helping me, shall be my resolution; and I recommend it to every one of you as your own; I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live; I will praise my God while I have my being!
From the words before us, we may learn,
I.
What was the frame of Davids mind
1.
It was a frame most becoming
[Such was the frame of man when he came out of his Creators hands: and such to this hour would it have continued, if he had not sinned. Praise is comely for the upright [Note: Psa 147:1.]; and it becometh well the just to be thankful. Such a state, as far as their nature will admit of it, befits every creature that God has formed. All the hosts of heaven, and all the inhabitants of the earth, every creature in the universe, rational and irrational, animate and inanimate, are distinctly called upon by the Psalmist, to present unto God, according to their capacity, their tribute of praise [Note: Psa 148:1-13. Cite it at full length.] And, if such a state becomes them as creatures, that are merely formed by Gods hand, and supported by his care, what should be our state, as redeemed by the blood of his only-begotten Son? Well may it be said, Let them give thanks, whom the Lord hath redeemed.]
2.
It was a most delightful frame
[We cannot conceive of David but as exquisitely happy, when he penned these memorable words. Indeed he tells us elsewhere, how rich a source of happiness he found it to his soul: My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips [Note: Psa 63:5.]. It is, in truth, the felicity of heaven itself, where they rest not day nor night, singing salvation to God and the Lamb for ever and ever.
3.
It was a frame which it is our bounden duty also to attain
[The commands of God to this effect are clear and positive: Rejoice in the Lord always; and again I say, Rejoice [Note: Php 4:4.]. Rejoice evermore [Note: 1Th 5:16.]. Provision was made for the exercise of this grace under the Jewish dispensation: feasts were appointed expressly for it; and every member of each family was to rejoice before the Lord, the old and the young, the master and the servant, and even the stranger that happened to be sojourning among them [Note: Deu 16:13-15.]. And ought not we, who live under the more liberal dispensation of the Gospel, to rejoice? Methinks there should be no end of our joy: the resolution of David in the text should be ours; and we should be carrying it into effect all the day long. Nor should untoward circumstances of any kind rob us of our joy; but we should say, with the Church of old, Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the field shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls; yet will I rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation [Note: Hab 3:17-18.].]
Nor need we despair of resembling David; since he points out, in our text,
II.
The way in which it may be attained
As he attained it, so should we,
1.
By meditation
[His meditations on God were sweet, though in the psalm before us, they related only to the creation and providence of God. But the minuteness with which he describes all these things clearly shews what delight he found in surveying every particular which might illustrate his subject. What delight, then, should we feel in contemplating all the wonders of redemption! Of these there is no end. In meditating on these, we should soon be constrained to say, How precious are thy thoughts to me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee [Note: Psa 139:17-18.]. Let us, then, address ourselves to this holy employment. Let us say, with David, I will remember the works of the Lord; surely I will remember thy wonders of old. I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings [Note: Psa 77:11-12.].]
2.
By resolving to rest in nothing short of it
[We do well to say, I will fear the Lord; and well to say, I will serve him. But these are far below our duty. We should aspire after higher attainments than these: we should say, with David, I will be glad in the Lord; I will never be satisfied, till I have such views of his excellency, and such a sense of his love, that I can rejoice in him, yea, till I can rejoice in him all the day. Men attain not this, because they do not aim at it. They are contented with lower acquirements; and hence they know but little of delight in God. O beloved Brethren! I would have your hearts to be lifted up in the ways of the Lord. Why should any of you be strangers to this holy frame? Why should you not sing in the ways of the Lord, as others have done before you? I know, indeed, that you cannot of yourselves create these heavenly joys: but I know what God has said; They shall praise the Lord that seek him: and if you set yourselves in earnest to enjoy him, you shall receive from him the Spirit of adoption, whereby you shall be able to call him Father; and have the witness of the Spirit, whereby you shall know that you are his children. Thus walking in the light of his countenance here, you shall have an earnest and a foretaste of your heavenly bliss.]
Application
[I beseech you, Brethren, live not so far below your privileges as Christians in general are wont to live. How much happier might you be, if you lived near to God in the contemplation of his excellencies, and in the delightful exercise of prayer and praise! This should be the very bent of your mind from day to day, and it should continue to be so to the latest hour of your life. True, indeed, this cannot be expected, unless you embrace him and cleave unto him as your God. First learn to say to him, O God, thou art my God! and then you will find no difficulty in adding, Early will I seek thee [Note: Psa 63:1.]. Then will praise be, as it were, the natural language of your heart, and the constant employment of your lives [Note: Psa 145:1-2; Psa 146:1-2.]. Then in death, also, will your soul be joyful in your God: and an abundant entrance will be ministered unto you into the realms of bliss, where, to all eternity, you shall know no other feeling than that of joy, no other language than that of praise.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
These verses possess a peculiar and personal sweetness; and the Psalmist takes the whole home to himself. As if he had said I know not what others do, or what others may determine; but as, for me, and my house, I will serve the Lord; I will sing of the Lord, and to the Lord, forever and ever. And when life, and strength, and voice shall fail, while my heart can think, or memory remains, Jesus shall be my meditation. His name shall hang upon my lips with my last quivering breath. Oh! precious Jesus! if the mercy be not too great to ask, let this be the dying blessing of both him that now writes, and him that reads. Amen.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 104:33 I will sing unto the LORD as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.
Ver. 33. I will siny unto the Lord ] Though others be slack to do God this right, to help him to his own, to give him the glory due to his name, yet I will do it, and do it constantly, so long as I have a breath to draw.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 63:4, Psa 145:1, Psa 145:2, Psa 146:2
Reciprocal: Deu 12:1 – all the days Psa 35:28 – General Psa 71:23 – My lips Psa 75:9 – But Psa 86:12 – praise Psa 108:1 – I will Mal 3:16 – that thought
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 104:33-34. I will sing unto the Lord, &c. Whatever others do, I will not fail to give to God his glory and due praises. My meditation of him My praising of God concerning the glory of his works; shall be sweet Either, 1st, To God; he will graciously accept it; praise being his most acceptable sacrifice, Psa 69:30-31. Or rather, 2d, To myself. I will not only do this work of praising God, but I will do it cheerfully and with delight: it shall be a pleasure to me to praise him, and I shall find comfort in so doing.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
4. Proper responses 104:33-35a
The psalmist vowed to praise God with his mouth and with his mind because of God’s creative and sustaining sovereignty. He also prayed that wicked sinners would perish from the earth. They are out of harmony with all of creation that responds submissively to the Creator’s commands.
"The psalmist is not vindictive in his prayer against the wicked but longs for a world fully established and maintained by the Lord, without outside interference." [Note: VanGemeren, p. 664.]