Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 145:4
One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts.
4. shall praise ] R.V. shall laud, as the word is a different one from that in Psa 145:2. The verbs might be rendered as optatives: let one generation laud and declare &c., but the rendering of the A.V. is preferable.
thy mighty acts ] of deliverance, Psa 20:6; Psa 106:2.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
One generation shall praise thy works … – Shall praise thee on account of thy works or thy doings. That is, Thy praise shall be always kept up on the earth. See the notes at Isa 38:19; notes at Psa 19:2. One generation shall transmit the knowledge of thy works to another by praise – by hymns and psalms recording and celebrating thy praise. Successive generations of people shall take up the language of praise, and it shall thus be transmitted to the end of time.
And shall declare thy mighty acts – Thy works of strength or power. Gods greatness – his infinity – is in itself a just ground of praise, for we should rejoice that there is One Infinite Eternal Being; and as all that greatness is employed in the cause of truth, of law, of good order, of justice, of kindness, of mercy, it should call forth continued praise in all parts of his dominions.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 145:4
One generation shall praise Thy works to another, and shall declare Thy mighty acts.
The law of the generations
The Church that stood aloof from missions would now be as much condemned as formerly it would have been commended. And how much has been done in the varied mission fields. Now, all this you inherit. Next to the Gospel of salvation, no generation of men have ever had such a trust committed to them as is committed to you. May God help you to be faithful. For, besides being an inheritance of natural succession, it is also a moral entrustment. It constitutes part of your stewardship. How, then, will you treat this missionary inheritance? Two extremes are to be avoided: you may slight and disesteem it, or you may stereotype and superstitiously regard it; you may treat it as a puerility, or you may embalm it as a relic. You may become men of faith, and hope, and charity, or men of captiousness and self-conceit; you may have an intelligent reverence that will wisely build on the foundation that your fathers have laid, or you may have a foolish self-conceit that will be contented with nothing less than to dig it up and lay a foundation afresh for yourselves. There was wisdom in the world, let us believe it, before we were born; and we may not unbecomingly sit at our fathers feet. Both these extremes you will avoid. As to your relationship to the future, it will be your duty–
1. To qualify yourself for thus standing in the succession of the generations. But this you cannot do unless you yourselves be personally converted to God. None but the spiritual can possess the spiritual. Alas, here is a possibility of the succession failing. The pious and devoted sire may have in you a godless son. You cannot succeed him in the work he did for God. You care not for your own soul, how, then, can you care for the souls of others?
2. Form missionary and self-denying habits. But these can only be formed in early life. Those who have done this have been, and are, the most useful in the Church.
3. If you would reap the present rewards of spiritual service, begin your spiritual sowing whilst you are yet young. Life will be too short for both sowing and reaping if you do not. To induce you to give yourselves to this glorious service, remember how much depends upon it. You, humanly speaking, are indispensable for the transmission of truth to posterity. Think of your honoured fathers, how they loved this work. Think what an honoured name you may leave behind you, and the gratitude that will follow you. Think of the plain Divine command and the blood that will be required at your hand, if you make not known the Gospel. Think of the moral grandeur and transcendency of your work. Think of the final issue and glory of it. By this motive Christ sustained His Spirit. Look on to that blessed time. (H. Allon, D. D.)
Duty of the present to the coming generation
I. The duty.
1. To declare, or make known, the works of God to succeeding generations, and especially to that generation which immediately follows us. His works of
(1) Creation.
(2) Providence.
(3) Redemption.
2. For one generation to praise Gods works to another. While they communicate a knowledge of His works they must speak highly of them. While they tell what He has done, they must add, He has done all things well. When they describe His works of creation, they must extol the wisdom, power and goodness which are displayed in them. While they communicate a knowledge of His works of providence, they must applaud them as infinitely wise, holy, just, and good. And while they exhibit the wonders of redemption, and Gods works of grace to the following generation, they must accompany the exhibition with those glowing expressions of admiration, gratitude, love and icy which this grand display of all Gods perfections ought to call forth from those for whose benefit it was made, and whose everlasting happiness it is designed to promote.
II. Reasons.
1. The natural relations which exist between the present and the next generation.
2. Each of the successive generations of mankind is the natural and rightful heir of the generation which preceded it.
3. For the religious knowledge and the means of acquiring it which we possess, we are indebted, under God, to preceding generations.
4. We transmit to our posterity a corrupt and depraved nature which, unless its influence is counteracted by religion, will render them miserable hero and hereafter. (E. Payson, D. D.)
The praise of time
This is a glorious note in a noble strain, expressing a deep truth, a lofty thought. The psalmist looks down the whole stream of time. He beholds the world in all its various stages and conditions; pure in its first infancy, polluted in its fallen ruin; struggling through the gloom of ignorance and clouds of judgment; advancing in knowledge, in wealth, in power; reaching the zenith of maturity, and declining to the western horizon. Through all the entangled web of time he sees one continuous thread; he hears one note ever the same. The praise of God sounds forth unbroken and unchanged. Age answers ago in unfolding His attributes. Life to life, land to land proclaim His majesty and power, His goodness and love.
I. We may consider this as the decree of God. He who made the world has willed that it should praise Him. The Most High has imposed this task upon the ages. He who formed man from dust has decreed that by him His glory shall be shown. The works of God carry out His decree. The sun and moon proclaim His power. Day and night utter His wisdom. The seasons declare His bounty and His faithfulness. The fruits of the earth call forth thanksgiving. Even war, and famine, and pestilence work His will. And the history of man, even yet more strikingly, set forth Gods glory. This truth is ever written–The Lord is King. He rules. None can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest Thou? Look at Pharaoh. Hear him ask, Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice? He little thought how his own history should answer the question. Listen to Nebuchadnezzar,–Who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hand? Yet his burning fiery furnace has borne witness for two thousand years,–Trust ye in the Lord for ever. The mysteries of affliction teach the same lesson. The erring has been thus brought back, or the faithful confirmed, or Gods power displayed (Joh 9:3). And the Church of Christ is a standing witness of the same great truth.
II. We consider the text, also, as expressing the resolution and work of Christs Church. Praise is the rightful attitude of the redeemed (Psa 107:2). It is the natural outpouring of the renewed heart. Mercy felt, love appreciated, salvation embraced and enjoyed is sure to beget true thanksgiving. So David wrote the matchless 103rd psalm. So Paul and Silas could not refrain from singing praise in Philippis dungeon. Nay, we are told that God has chosen His people to praise Him (Isa 42:21; 1Pe 2:9). And even angels cannot sing the new song which belongs to the saved from earth alone (Rev 14:3). And the people of God have ever claimed their holy privilege. They have sung of creation and of providence, and the wonders of redeeming love. God has never left Himself without this witness in the world. Conclusion–
1. What are we doing to make our generation one of praise? We have received a pure faith; are we taking care to hand it down?
2. Do we possess in ourselves that salvation which alone enables us truly to praise? Have we tasted that the Lord is gracious? Can we thus say, O taste and see?
3. How glorious shall be the praise of heaven! Now one age to another, one land to another, praises God. What shall be the glory of the song when every age and every land shall sing Salvation; when those who sang creation (Job 38:7), and redemption (Luk 2:13), and grace (Rom 8:1; 1Ti 1:15): shall all unite in praise; when teachers, taught; ministers, people; Jew, Gentile; bond, free; when prophets, apostles, martyrs, from Abel to the last saint of time, shall join in the song of Moses and the Lamb? (W. S. Bruce, M. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 4. One generation] Thy creating and redeeming acts are recorded in thy word; but thy wondrous providential dealings with mankind must be handed down by tradition, from generation to generation; for they are in continual occurrence, and consequently innumerable.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The people that live in one age shall relate them to their posterity, and so successively in all ages.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4. shall declareliterally,”they shall declare,” that is, all generations.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
One generation shall praise thy works to another,…. The works of providence done in one age shall be told by the father to the son with praise to the great Performer of them, and so be transmitted to the latest posterity; for in every age there are new and strange things done in Providence, the memory of which is not lost, but they are recorded for the glory of God and the use of men; and the works of grace and salvation wrought by Christ should be, have been, and will be told from age to age; and published in every age by his faithful ministering servants, to the glory of his grace, and the praise of his great name; see Ps 22:30;
and shall declare thy mighty acts; his mighty acts of nature, in creating all things out of nothing, and upholding all things by the word of his power; his mighty acts of grace, in redeeming his people out of the hands of him that is stronger than they; and from all their sins, and from the curse and condemnation of the law, and wrath to come; and the victories which he has obtained over sin, Satan, the world, and death: or thy powers b; the powers of the world to come, Heb 6:5; the miracles wrought by Christ on earth, and by his disciples in Gospel times, sometimes called mighty works; as the raising of the dead, c. Mt 11:5.
b “potentias tuas”, Vatablus “potentia facta tua”, Piscator; “praepotentias tuas”, Cocceius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
4. Generation to generation, etc. Here he insists upon the general truth, that all men were made and are preserved in life for this end, that they may devote themselves to the praise of God. And there is an implied contrast between the eternal name of God, and that immortality of renown which great men seem to acquire by their exploits. Human excellencies are eulogized in histories; with God it stands differently, for there is not a day in which he does not renew remembrance of his works, and cherish it by some present effect, so as indelibly to preserve it alive upon our minds. For the same reason he speaks of the glorious brightness, or beauty of his excellence, the better to raise in others a due admiration of it. By the words of his wonderful works, I consider that there is an allusion to the incomprehensible method of God’s works, for so many are the wonders that they overwhelm our senses. And we may infer from this, that the greatness of God is not that which lies concealed in his mysterious essence, and in subtle disputation upon which, to the neglect of his works, many have been chargeable with mere trifling, for true religion demands practical not speculative knowledge. Having said that he would speak of, or meditate upon God’s works, (for the Hebrew word, אשיחה, asichah, as we have elsewhere seen, may be rendered either way,) he transfers his discourse to others, intimating, that there will always be some in the world to declare the righteousness, goodness, and wisdom of God, and that his divine excellencies are worthy of being sounded, with universal consent, by every tongue. And, should others desist and defraud God of the honor due to him, he declares that he would himself at least discharge his part, and, while they were silent, energetically set forth the praises of God. Some think, that the might of his terrible works is an expression to the same effect with what had been already stated. But it seems rather to denote the judgments of God against profane scoffers.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(4) Shall praise.Or, praises, with idea of indefinite continuance; and so in the following verses.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4. One generation to another The difference between the ages of the outgoing and of the incoming king was fully fifty years. That period was like a scroll written full of God’s merciful and mighty deeds done for David. He unrolls the record and hands it to his son, to keep as a testimony of what had been done for his family.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 145:4 One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts.
Ver. 4. One generation shall praise thy works to another ] God’s praises are many, and man’s life short, and one generation succeedeth another: let them relate God’s wonderful works one to another, and so perpetuate his praises to all posterity.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
generation: Psa 44:1, Psa 44:2, Psa 71:18, Psa 78:3-7, Exo 12:26, Exo 12:27, Exo 13:14, Exo 13:15, Deu 6:7, Jos 4:21-24, Isa 38:19
Reciprocal: Exo 18:8 – told Deu 11:7 – General 1Ch 16:9 – talk ye Est 9:20 – wrote these Job 8:10 – Shall not Psa 22:31 – They Psa 45:17 – I will Psa 77:12 – talk Psa 78:4 – We will Psa 78:6 – That Psa 79:13 – we will Psa 92:5 – O Lord Psa 105:1 – make known Psa 111:3 – honourable Psa 116:5 – and righteous Psa 118:17 – declare Isa 12:4 – declare Isa 48:6 – and will Joe 1:3 – General Joh 15:16 – that your
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
145:4 One generation shall praise thy works to {c} another, and shall declare thy mighty acts.
(c) Even as the reason for man’s creation and his preservation in this life is to praise God, therefore he requires that not only we ourselves do this, but cause all others to do the same.