Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 148:6
He hath also established them forever and ever: he hath made a decree which shall not pass.
6. And he hath made them stand fast] To Him they owe not only their original creation but their perpetual maintenance. Cp. Sir 43:26 ; Col 1:17.
he hath made a decree which shall not pass ] This rendering, which is that of the LXX ( ) and Jer. (praeteribit) may be defended by Est 1:19; Est 9:27: but the general usage of the verb and subst. is in favour of the rendering, He hath given (them) a statute which none (of them) shall transgress. The ‘law of gravity’ and the other ‘laws of nature’ keep them fixed in their orbits and courses. For chq (something prescribed, an enactment, statute) in the sense of the laws imposed on nature by Jehovah see Jer 31:35-36; Jer 33:25.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
He hath also stablished them forever and ever – He has made them firm, stable, enduring. That they may be eternal is possible; that they will not be, no one can prove. Matter, when created, has no necessary tendency to decay or annihilation; and the universe – the stars, and suns, and systems – which have endured so many million of ages may continue to exist any number of million of ages to come. Of course, however, all this is dependent on the will of God. On the meaning of this passage, compare Psa 119:90, note; Psa 72:5, note; Psa 89:2, note; Psa 89:36-37, note. See also 2Pe 3:7, note; 2Pe 3:10, note; 2Pe 3:13, note.
He hath made a decree which shall not pass – He has given a law or statute which they cannot pass. The word rendered decree here seems to be used in the sense of limit or bound; and the idea is, that he has bound them by a fixed law; he has established laws which they are compelled to observe. The fact is, in regard to them, that he has established great laws – as the law of gravitation – by which they are held from flying off; he has marked out orbits in which they move; he has so bound them that they perform their revolutions with unerring accuracy in the very path which he has prescribed. So accurate are their movements that they can be predicted with exact precision; and so uniform, that any succession of ages does not vary or affect them.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 6. He hath also stablished them] He has determined their respective revolutions, and the times in which they are performed, so exactly to show his all-comprehensive wisdom and skill, that they have never passed the line marked out by his decree, nor intercepted each other in the vortex of space, through revolutions continued for nearly 6000 years.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Stablished them for ever and ever; either absolutely, as to the substance of them, or at least to the end of the world. He hath made them constant and incorruptible, not changeable and perishing, as the things of the lower world are.
Made a decree; either concerning their several courses and influences; or rather, for their continuance for ever; which best agrees with the foregoing and following words.
Which shall not pass; which decree shall never be made void.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. The perpetuity of the frameof nature is, of course, subject to Him who formed it.
a decree . . . passHisordinances respecting them shall not change (Jer36:31), or perish (Job 34:20;Psa 37:36).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
He hath also stablished them for ever and ever,…. The angels are made immortal, and shall never die; and they are confirmed in their state of happiness by Christ, and shall always continue in it; the hosts of heaven being created by him, consist in him, and will remain as long as the world does; hence the duration and never-failing state of other things, even of good men and their felicity, are expressed by them; see Ps 72:5;
he hath made a decree which shall not pass; concerning those creatures and their duration, which shall never pass away, or be frustrated or made void; but shall always continue and have its sure and certain effect; see Jer 31:35; and is true of every decree of God, which is eternal and not frustrable, and is always fulfilled,
Isa 14:27.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(6) Stablished.Literally, made to stand, i.e., set them up.
He hath made . . .Rather, he hath made an ordinance, and will not transgress it. This is more obvious and natural than to supply a new subject to the second verb, and none of them transgress it. This anticipates, but only in form, the modern scientific doctrine of the inviolability of natural order. It is the imperishable faithfulness of God that renders the law invariable. See the remarkable passages, Jer. 31:36; Jer. 33:20, from winch we conclude that a covenant was supposed to have been made between God and nature as between Jehovah and Israel, the one being as imperishable as the other. A comparison of the two passages referred to shows that the Hebrew words ordinance and covenant might be used synonymously. The Authorised Version, which, following the LXX. and Vulg., makes the ordinance itself imperishable, violates the usage of the Hebrew verb.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6. He hath also stablished them He hath constituted them. The heavenly bodies are here referred to. God has not only created brought into existence but he has firmly established the order and relation of all things in one vast harmonious system.
He hath made a decree which shall not pass Literally, He hath made a law they shall not transgress. So the word rendered “pass” often means. God’s laws in nature furnish the most perfect model of order and stability. From a world to an atom, nature never transgresses or passes beyond them. Miracles are not an exception. They only prove that nature is obedient to her Lord.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 148:6. He hath also established them That is, the creatures before mentioned, are, by God’s providence, constantly preserved and continued. He made a decree, &c. that is, prescribed rules to the heavens, the stars, and other creatures, as to their situation, motion and influence; which, though inanimate, they never transgress.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psa 148:6 He hath also stablished them for ever and ever: he hath made a decree which shall not pass.
Ver. 6. He hath also stablished them for ever ] viz. The course and appointed motions of the heavens, which he hath settled by a covenant, and hath not falsified with them, Jer 33:25 ; much less will he with his faithful people.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
which shall not pass: or, which [they] shall not pass.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
He hath also: Psa 89:37, Psa 93:1, Psa 119:90, Psa 119:91, Job 38:10, Job 38:11, Job 38:33, Pro 8:27-29, Isa 54:9, Jer 31:35, Jer 31:36, Jer 33:25
Reciprocal: Gen 1:14 – Let there 1Ch 16:30 – stable Ezr 7:13 – I make Psa 2:7 – the decree Psa 33:9 – For Psa 146:6 – made heaven Dan 4:24 – the decree