Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 150:6
Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.
6. every thing that hath breath ] Heb. all breath, Vulg. omnis spiritus, Jer. omne quod spirat. Cp. Deu 20:16, Jos 10:40. Neshmh most commonly denotes the breath of man; but it may include all animals. Not priests and Levites only but all Israel, not Israel only but all mankind, not all mankind only but every living thing, must join in the chorus of praise. The universe is Jehovah’s Temple, and all its inhabitants should be His worshippers.
The Psalmist’s words find their echo in the vision of the Apocalypse:
“Every created thing which is in the heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and on the sea, and all things that are in them, heard I saying,
“Unto him that sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb, be the blessing, and the honour, and the glory, and the dominion, for ever and ever.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord – All living things in the air, the earth, the waters. Let there be one universal burst of praise. Let his praises be celebrated not only with instruments of music, but let all living beings unite in that praise; let a breathing universe combine in one solemn service of praise.
Praise ye the Lord – Hallelu-jah. Thus, at the end of all the trials, the conflicts, the persecutions, the sorrows, the joys recorded in this book, the psalmist gives utterance to feelings of joy, triumph, transport, rejoicing; and thus at the end of all – when the affairs of this world shall be closed – when the church shall have passed through all its trials, shall have borne all its persecutions, shall have suffered all that it is appointed to suffer – when the work of redemption shall be complete, and all the ransomed of the Lord shall have been recovered from sin, and shall be saved – that church, all heaven, the whole universe, shall break forth in one loud, long, triumphant Hallelujah. The ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs, and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness; and sorrow and sighing shall flee away, Isa 35:10.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 150:6
Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord.
The breath of praise
I. Praise in every age is one of the most important parts of worship. The holiest saint, what is he in the sight of God by nature? A poor sinner, born, no doubt, again of the Spirit, made a new creature by the Holy Ghost. But what does he owe it to? He owes it all to the free grace of God. By the grace of God, said the great apostle of the Gentiles, I am what I am. And ought not this creature, delivered from such a miserable state of death and condemnation, redeemed and renewed to cultivate continually the thankful spirit? Let him pray by all means; but let him also praise.
II. There is no part of Christian worship that so tends to unite Christians, if they really take it up in spirit and unity, as praise. Men who cannot agree on the platform agree when they come to sing praise.
III. There is no part of worship which so trains and fits us for heaven as does the service of praise. In that world there will be no more need of prayer, for all will be supplied; no more need for sacraments, for we shall sit face to face with Him who shed His own blood for us, gave His own body for us; no more need to search diligently for the things written for our learning. They will be swallowed up in sight, and will be absorbed in certainty. Praise will be the one grand employment of the inhabitants of heaven. (Bp. Ryle.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 6. Let every thing that hath breath] Either to make a vocal noise, or a sound by blowing into pipes, fifes, flutes, trumpets, c. Let all join together, and put forth all your strength and all your skill in sounding the praises of Jehovah and then let a universal burst with HALLELUJAH! close the grand ceremony. It is evident that this Psalm has no other meaning than merely the summoning up all the voices, and all the instruments, to complete the service in FULL CHORUS.
Of such peculiar importance did the Book of Psalms appear to our blessed Lord and his apostles, that they have quoted nearly fifty of them several times in the New Testament. There is scarcely a state in human life that is not distinctly marked in them; together with all the variety of experience which is found, not merely among pious Jews, but among Christians, the most deeply acquainted with the things of Christ.
The minister of God’s word, who wishes to preach experimentally, should have frequent recourse to this sacred book; and by considering the various parts that refer to Jesus Christ and the Christian Church, he will be able to build up the people of God on their most holy faith; himself will grow in grace, and in the knowledge of God; and he will ever have an abundance of the most profitable matter for the edification of the Church of Christ.
ANALYSIS OF THE HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH PSALM
This Psalm is the same with the former. In the hundred and forty-eighth, all creatures are invited to praise God; in the hundred and forty-ninth, men especially, and those who are in the Church; but in this, that they praise him with all kinds of instruments.
I. An invitation to praise God, which word he repeats thirteen times, according to the thirteen attributes of God, as the rabbins reckon them.
II. That this be done with all sorts of instruments, intimating that it is to be performed with all the care, zeal, and ardency of affection.
I. Throughout the Psalm he calls on men to praise God.
1. “Praise God in his sanctuary.” Or in your hearts, which are the temples of the Holy Ghost.
2. “Praise him in the firmament,” c. His magnificence when he sits on his throne. Some understand the Church by it, in which his saints shine as stars in the firmament.
3. “Praise him for his mighty acts,” c. The works of his power.
4. “Praise him according,” &c. Whereby he excels all things he being absolutely great they only comparatively so.
II. The prophet desires that no way be omitted by which we may show our zeal and ardency in praising him.
1. “Praise him with the sound of the trumpet,” c. An instrument used in their solemn feasts.
2. “Praise him with the psaltery,” &c. And with these they sing, so that there is also music with the voice.
3. “Praise him with the timbrel,” &c. In the choir with many voices.
4. “Praise him with stringed instruments,” &c. Lutes, viols, organs, &c.
5. “Praise him upon the high-sounding cymbals,” &c. An instrument which yields a loud sound, as bells among us.
His conclusion is of universal reference “Let every thing,” &c.
1. “Every thing that hath breath,” &c. That hath faculty or power to do it.
2. “Every thing that hath life,” &c. Whether spiritual, as angels or animal, as man and beasts. Or, metaphorically, such as, though inanimate, may be said to praise God, because they obey his order and intention. Thus, all things praise God, because all things that have life or being derive it immediately from himself.
MASORETIC NOTES ON THE BOOK OF PSALMS
Number of verses, two thousand five hundred and twenty-seven. Middle verse. Ps 78:36. Sections, nineteen.
At the end of the Syriac we have this colophon: –
“The hundred and fifty Psalms are completed. There are five books, fifteen Psalms of degrees, and sixty of praises. The number of verses is four thousand eight hundred and thirty-two. There are some who have added twelve others but we do not need them. And may God be praised for ever!”
At the end of the Arabic is the following: –
The end of the five books of Psalms. The first book ends with the fortieth Psalm; the second, with the seventieth Psalm; the third, with the eightieth Psalm; the fourth, with the hundred and fifteenth; and the fifth, with the last Psalm, i.e., the hundred and fiftieth.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Every thing that hath breath; every living creature in heaven and in earth, Rev 5:13, according to their several capabilities, some objectively, others actively, as was noted before.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. LIVINGVOICES SHALL TAKE UP THE FAILING SOUNDS OF DEAD INSTRUMENTS, AND ASTHEY CEASE ON EARTH, THOSE OF INTELLIGENT RANSOMED SPIRITS AND HOLYANGELS, AS WITH THE SOUND OF MIGHTY THUNDERS, WILL PROLONG ETERNALLYTHE PRAISE, SAYING: “ALLELUIA!SALVATION, AND GLORY,AND HONOR, ANDPOWER, UNTO THE LORDOUR GOD;””ALLELUIA! FOR THELORD GODOMNIPOTENT REIGNETH.” AMEN!
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord,…. Even the brute creatures, as in a preceding; but more especially man, in whom God has breathed the breath of life, and is become not only a living but a rational soul; and more especially spiritual men, converted persons, whether Jews or Gentiles; on whom the Spirit of the Lord has breathed, and whom he has quickened; and who breathe in prayer after divine things; and who also have abundant reason to bless and praise his name for what he has bestowed upon them, and has in reserve for them; and for which they should praise him as long as they have breath; see Re 5:13;
praise ye the Lord; all before mentioned, and in the manner as directed, and that in time and to all eternity. Thus ends the book of Psalms.
There is another psalm added in the Septuagint, Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions, and in the metaphrase of Apollinarius; but is owned to be a supernumerary one, and not to be found in all copies; and is said to be written by David, when he fought with Goliath, and conquered him, and is as follows.
1. I was little among my brethren, and a youth in my father’s house; I fed my father’s sheep. 2. My hands made (or used) the organ; and my fingers fitted (or played on) the psaltery or harp: 3. And who hath declared to my Lord? he is Lord, he hath heard. 4. He sent his angel, and took me from my father’s sheep; and anointed me with the oil of his anointing, 5. My brethren were goodly and great; and the Lord delighted not in them. 6. I went forth to meet the stranger (the Philistine), and he cursed me by his idols: 7. And I threw at him three stones into his forehead, by the power of the Lord, and laid him prostrate z. 8. I drew out the sword from him; I cut off his head, and took away reproach from the children of Israel.
z This verse is only in the Arabic version.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The call to praise has thus far been addressed to persons not mentioned by name, but, as the names of instruments thus heaped up show, to Israel especially. It is now generalized to “the totality of breath,” i.e., all the beings who are endowed by God with the breath of lie (Heb.: ), i.e., to all mankind.
With this full-toned Finale the Psalter closes. Having risen as it were by five steps, in this closing Psalm it hovers over the blissful summit of the end, where, as Gregory of Nyssa says, all creatures, after the disunion and disorder caused by sin have been removed, are harmoniously united for one choral dance ( ), and the chorus of mankind concerting with the angel chorus are become one cymbal of divine praise, and the final song of victory shall salute God, the triumphant Conqueror ( ), with shouts of joy. There is now no need for any special closing beracha. This whole closing Psalm is such. Nor is there any need even of an Amen (Psa 106:48, cf. 1Ch 16:36). The Hallelujah includes it within itself and exceeds it.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
6. Whatever breathes, etc. As the word נשמה, neshamah, means breath, or blowing, and whatever is animate, or breathes, the words may be extended to every kind of living creatures, as we have seen in the preceding psalms that the declaration of God’s praises is assigned even to things wanting intelligence. But as men exclusively are often meant under the name of “flesh,” so we may very well suppose that the words have reference here to men, who, although they have vital breath in common with the brute creation, obtain by way of distinction the name of breathing, as of living creatures. I am led to think this for the following reason: As yet the Psalmist has addressed himself in his exhortations to the people who were conversant with the ceremonies under the law, now he turns to men in general, tacitly intimating that a time was coming when the same songs, which were then only heard in Judea, would resound in every quarter of the globe. And in this prediction we have been joined in the same symphony with the Jews, that we may worship God with constant sacrifices of praise, until being gathered into the kingdom of heaven, we sing with elect angels an eternal hallelujah.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(6) Everything that hath breath.LXX. every breath; Vulg., every spirit; literally, all breath. We naturally wish to give these words their largest intent, and to hear the psalter close with an invocation to the earth with her thousand voices to praise God. But the psalm so distinctly and positively brings us into the Temple, and places us among the covenant people engaged at their devotions, that we are compelled to see here a hymn specially suited to close the collection of hymns of the covenant, as the first and second were to begin it. It is, therefore, not all breathing beings, but only all assembled in the sanctuary, that are here addressed; and the loud hallelujah with which the collection of psalms actually closes rises from Hebrew voices alone.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6. The final call to praise.
Every thing that hath breath Every living thing.
Praise ye the Lord Reader, this is addressed to thee. A fitting practical climax! Can a rational soul decline this honor? Can it spurn this privilege, this blessedness? “If it grieves you that your praise is so weak, remember: Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord, and there must be many weak ones in such a host. But they praise their God, and you are joining with them. If you cannot succeed with strong cries and loud notes, only keep breathing forth to God the desires of your heart, and this will be acceptable to him.” Moll. If our hearts are in harmony with all that praise God in heaven and on earth, our praise, being according to our capacity, will be as acceptable as that of the highest archangel. His praise “is accepted according to that a man hath.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
DISCOURSE: 752
THE DUTY IS PRAISING GOD
Psa 150:6. Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord.
GREATLY diversified has Davids experience been, as depicted in the Book of Psalms. Sometimes we find him bowed down under a sense of sin, and sometimes sunk almost in the depths of despondency: but here we view him elevated as on Mount Tabor, and breathing, as it were, the very atmosphere of heaven. It should seem as if all the concluding psalms had been penned at the close of life, when his soul was altogether ripened for glory. In all the five last psalms he speaks the language of praise. Every one of them begins and ends with Hallelujah, that is, Praise ye the Lord. In the psalm before us, short as it is, he repeats his exhortation no less than thirteen times. O that he might not repeat it in vain! O that we might drink into his spirit, and be transported, like him, with love and gratitude, with adoration and thanksgiving!
Be it known, that,
I.
God deserves all imaginable praise from his creatures
[What perfection of the Deity is there, which, if duly contemplated, is not a fit subject for praise? His goodness, his mercy, his loving-kindness, his truth, and faithfulness, call for the loudest praises of all his creatures The same we may say of his justice too: for though to ungodly men it is a formidable attribute, yet to the creation at large it has a bright and favourable aspect, inasmuch as it is adverse to nothing but what is hostile to the interests of the whole intelligent creation
But contemplate God in the person of his Son: think of him as assuming our nature, and expiating our sins by his own blood upon the cross, and as becoming the living Head of all his believing people, and, finally, as engaged to perfect that which concerneth them, and to preserve them blameless to his heavenly kingdom: think of him, I say, in all that he has done and suffered for a ruined world, and in all that he has engaged to do for those who trust in him, and then say, whether the tongues of men and angels be sufficient to declare his goodness, or whether eternity itself will suffice to utter all his praise [Note: Psa 106:2.]? Surely it is well and justly said, that his name is above all blessing and praise [Note: Neh 9:5.].]
Yes,
II.
There is not a thing that breathes which has not abundant occasion to praise him
We speak not of irrational beings (though they do praise him according to their ability;) but of man, into whose nostrils God originally breathed the breath of life [Note: Gen 2:7.]. Of all the children of Adam without exception we say, that they have reason to praise their God. This is true of,
1.
Those who are yet in heathen darkness
[Innumerable are the blessings which they enjoy. The constitution of their bodies and the faculties of their souls are fit subjects for adoration and thanksgiving The various blessings provided for the maintenance and support of man, call also for the most grateful acknowledgments [Note: Act 14:17.] There is no man whose comforts do not far exceed his deserts.]
2.
Those who enjoy the light of Revelation
[Unspeakable are the blessings with which they are favoured. The revelation given to the Jews was dark and shadowy; yet that is spoken of as an inestimable benefit conferred upon them [Note: Deu 4:8. Neh 9:13-14.]: what thanks and praise then should we render unto God for the clearer light of his Gospel! O, what wonders of love and mercy are there revealed! How plain is the instruction there given to all who desire to have their feet guided into the way of peace! Whoever perishes for lack of knowledge now, must confess, that his desert of condemnation is beyond measure aggravated [Note: Joh 3:19.], and that his destruction arises solely from his contempt of proffered mercy.]
3.
Those who are brought to a saving knowledge of Christ
[What thanks can you ever render to the Lord for the benefits which he has conferred on you? Think of the extent and magnitude of those blessings Think how entirely you owe them to the sovereign grace of God Think what a difference is hereby put between you and others, not in this world only, but also in the world to come; and not for time only, but for eternity Will not the very stones cry out against you, if you hold your peace? Methinks, your every thought should be adoration; your every word be praise.]
We shall need no farther inducement to praise our God, if only we reflect, that,
III.
The more we abound in this blessed exercise, the more exalted will our happiness be
[What employment have we for our breath that can be compared with this? Doubtless there is much happiness in social converse: but this is nothing in comparison of that which is enjoyed in converse with our God The language of prayer is delightful to every humble soul; but the language of praise is an anticipation and foretaste of heaven itself. In heaven there is no other employment, nor will there be to all eternity [Note: Rev 5:13.] It is not possible for a man to be otherwise than happy whilst he is blessing and praising God. This is not an occupation in which a mind discontented or disconsolate can engage: there must of necessity be peace, and love, and gratitude, and joy; yea, in proportion as the praise is ardent, there must be, as the foundation of it, an admiring, an adoring, an overwhelming sense of the Divine goodness.]
Application
[Let not any of you say, This employment is not for me: for it is the duty of every thing that hath breath. There is no creature in the universe so afflicted, but he has encouragement to pray, and scope for praise Some have an idea, that nothing but sighing and mourning are suited to their condition; and that the voice of praise and thanksgiving is for those only who have attained a fuller assurance of their acceptance with God. But they might as well say, that gratitude was not their duty, as, that they were not called upon to express their gratitude in the language of praise. Know, Brethren, that whosoever offereth God praise, glorifieth him: and, his desire is, that every mourning soul should put off his sackcloth, and gird him with gladness. I would not discourage humiliation: for I well know that it should ever be an associate of our sublimest joys: but this I would say to all; That Christ came to give unto them the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; and that, in the experience of this, they shall approve themselves trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, in whom he will be glorified. To every creature then, without exception, whether high or low, rich or poor, old or young, I would say with David in a foregoing psalm, Praise the name of the Lord [Note: Psa 148:11-13.]; yea, begin and close your every service with Hallelujah, Hallelujah.]
END OF VOL. VI.
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 150:6 Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.
Ver. 6. Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord ] Or, Let every breath praise the Lord. Tam Dei meminisse opus est quam respirare, saith Chrysostom. We have all as much reason to praise God as we have need to draw breath; our breath should be like the smoke of the tabernacle, or those pillars of incense therehence ascending. Tremellius rendereth it, Tota ipsa anima laudet Iah, Let the very whole soul of us praise the Lord.
Praise ye the Lord
Hoc primum repetas opus, hoc postremus omittas.
Psalms
BLESSEDNESS AND PRAISE
Psa 1:1 – Psa 1:2 The Psalter is the echo in devout hearts of the other portions of divine revelation. There are in it, indeed, further disclosures of God’s mind and purposes, but its especial characteristic is-the reflection of the light of God from brightened faces and believing hearts. As we hold it to be inspired, we cannot simply say that it is man’s response to God’s voice. But if the rest of Scripture may be called the speech of the Spirit of God to men, this book is the answer of the Spirit of God in men.
These two verses which I venture to lay side by side present in a very remarkable way this characteristic. It is not by accident that they stand where they do, the first and last verses of the whole collection, enclosing all, as it were, within a golden ring, and bending round to meet each other. They are the summing up of the whole purpose and issue of God’s revelation to men.
The first and second psalms echo the two main portions of the old revelation-the Law and the Prophets. The first of them is taken up with the celebration of the blessedness and fruitful, stable being of the man who loves the Law of the Lord, as contrasted with the rootless and barren life of the ungodly, who is like the chaff. The second is occupied with the contemplation of the divine ‘decree’ by which the coming King is set in God’s ‘holy hill of Zion,’ and of the blessedness of ‘all they who put their trust in Him,’ as contrasted with the swift destruction that shall fall on the vain imaginations of the rebellious heathen and banded kings of earth.
The words of our first text, then, may well stand at the beginning of the Psalter. They express the great purpose for which God has given His Law. They are the witness of human experience to the substantial, though partial, accomplishment of that purpose. They rise in buoyant triumph over that which is painful and apparently opposed to it; and in spite of sorrow and sin, proclaim the blessedness of the life which is rooted in the Law of the Lord.
The last words of the book are as significant as its first. The closing psalms are one long call to praise-they probably date from the time of the restoration under Ezra and Nehemiah, when, as we know, ‘the service of song’ was carefully re-established, and the harps which had hung silent upon the willows by the rivers of Babylon woke again their ancient melodies. These psalms climb higher and higher in their rapturous call to all creatures, animate and inanimate, on earth and in heaven, to praise Him. The golden waves of music and song pour out ever faster and fuller. At last we hear this invocation to every instrument of music to praise Him, responded to, as we may suppose, by each, in turn as summoned, adding its tributary notes to the broadening river of harmony-until all, with gathered might of glad sound blended with the crash of many voices, unite in the final words, ‘Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.’
I. We have here a twofold declaration of God’s great purpose in all His self-revelation, and especially in the Gospel of His Son.
His purpose is Man’s blessedness.
That is but another way of saying, God is love. For love, as we know it, is eminently the desire for the happiness of the person on whom it is fixed. And unless the love of God be like ours, however it may transcend it, there is no revelation of Him to our hearts at all. If He be love, then He ‘delights in the prosperity’ of His children.
And that purpose runs through all His acts. For perfect love is all-pervasive, and even with us men, it rules the whole being; nor does he love at all who seeks the welfare of the heart he clings to by fits and starts, by some of his acts and not by others. When God comes forth from the unvisioned light, which is thick darkness, of His own eternal, self-adequate Being, and flashes into energy in Creation, Providence, or Grace, the Law of His Working and His Purpose are one, in all regions. The unity of the divine acts depends on this-that all flow from one deep source, and all move to one mighty end. Standing on the height to which His own declarations of His own nature lift our feebleness, we can see how the ‘river of God that waters the garden’ and ‘parts’ into many ‘heads,’ gushes from one fountain. One of the psalms puts what people call the ‘philosophy’ of creation and of providence very clearly, in accordance with this thought-that the love of God is the source, and the blessedness of man the end, of all His work: ‘To Him that made great lights; for His mercy endureth for ever. To Him that slew mighty kings; for His mercy endureth for ever.’
Creation, then, is the effluence of the loving heart of God. Though the sacred characters be but partially legible to us now, what He wrote, on stars and flowers, on the infinitely great and the infinitely small, on the infinitely near and the infinitely far off, with His creating hand, was the one inscription-God is love. And as in nature, so in providence. The origination, and the support, and the direction of all things, are the works and the heralds of the same love. It is printed in starry letters on the sky. It is graven on the rocks, and breathed by the flowers. It is spoken as a dark saying even by sorrow and pain. The mysteries of destructive and crushing providences have come from the same source. And he who can see with the Psalmist the ever-during mercy of the Lord, as the reason of creation and of judgments, has in his hands the golden key which opens all the locks in the palace chambers of the great King. He only hath penetrated to the secret of things material, and stands in the light at the centre, who understands that all comes from the one source-God’s endless desire for the blessedness of His creatures.
But while all God’s works do thus praise Him by testifying that He seeks to bless His creatures, the loftiest example of that desire is, of course, found in His revelation of Himself to men’s hearts and consciences, to men’s spirits and wills. That mightiest act of love, beginning in the long-past generations, has culminated in Him in whom ‘dwelleth the whole fulness of the Godhead bodily,’ and in whose work is all the love-the perfect, inconceivable, patient, omnipotent love of our redeeming God.
And then, remember that this is not inconsistent with or contradicted by the sterner aspects of that revelation, which cannot be denied, and ought not to be minimised or softened. Here , on the right hand, are the flowery slopes of the Mount of Blessing; there , on the left, the barren, stern, thunder-riven, lightning-splintered pinnacles of the Mount of Cursing. Every clear note of benediction hath its low minor of imprecation from the other side. Between the two, overhung by the hopes of the one, and frowned upon and dominated by the threatenings of the other, is pitched the little camp of our human life, and the path of our pilgrimage runs in the trough of the valley between. And yet-might we not go a step farther, and say that above the parted summits stretches the one overarching blue, uniting them both, and their roots deep down below the surface interlace and twine together? That is to say, the threatenings and rebukes, the acts of retributive judgment, which are contained in the revelation of God, are no limitation nor disturbance of the clear and happy faith that all which we behold is full of blessing, and that all comes from the Father’s hand. They are the garb in which His Love needs to array itself when it comes in contact with man’s sin and man’s evil. The love of God appears no less when it teaches us in grave sad tones that ‘the wages of sin is death,’ than when it proclaims that ‘the gift of God is eternal life.’
Love threatens that it may never have to execute its threats. Love warns that we may be wise in time. Love prophesies that its sad forebodings may not be fulfilled. And love smites with lighter strokes of premonitory chastisements, that we may never need to feel the whips of scorpions.
Remember, too, that these sterner aspects both of Law and of Gospel point this lesson-that we shall very much misunderstand God’s purpose if we suppose it to be blessedness for us men anyhow , irrespective altogether of character. Some people seem to think that God loves us so much, as they would say-so little, so ignobly, as I would say-as that He only desires us to be happy. They seem to think that the divine love is tarnished unless it provides for men’s felicity, whether they are God-loving and God-like or no. Thus the solemn and majestic love of the Father in heaven is to be brought down to a weak good nature, which only desires that the child shall cease crying and be happy, and does not mind by what means that end is reached. God’s purpose is blessedness; but, as this very text tells us, not blessedness anyhow, but one which will not and cannot be given by God to those who walk in the way of sinners. His love desires that we should be holy, and ‘followers of God as dear children’-and the blessedness which it bestows comes from pardon and growing fellowship with Him. It can no more fall on rebellious hearts than the pure crystals of the snow can lie and sparkle on the hot, black cone of a volcano.
The other text that I have read sets forth another view of God’s purpose. God seeks our praise. The glory of God is the end of all the divine actions. Now, that is a statement which no doubt is irrefragable, and a plain deduction from the very conception of an infinite Being. But it may be held in such connections, and spoken with such erroneous application, and so divorced from other truths, that instead of being what it is in the Bible, good news, it shall become a curse and a lie. It may be so understood as to describe not our Father in heaven, but an almighty devil! But, when the thought that God’s purpose in all His acts is His own glory, is firmly united with that other, that His purpose in all His acts is our blessing, then we begin to understand how full of joy it may be for us. His glory is sought by Him in the manifestation of His loving heart, mirrored in our illuminated and gladdened hearts. Such a glory is not unworthy of infinite love. It has nothing in common with the ambitious and hungry greed of men for reputation or self-display. That desire is altogether ignoble and selfish when it is found in human hearts; and it would be none the less ignoble and selfish if it were magnified into infinitude, and transferred to the divine. But to say that God’s glory is His great end, is surely but another way of saying that He is love. The love that seeks to bless us desires, as all love does, that it should be known for what it is, that it should be recognised in our glad hearts, and smiled back again from our brightened faces. God desires that we should know Him, and so have Eternal Life; He desires that knowing Him, we should love Him, and loving should praise, and so should glorify Him. He desires that there should be an interchange of love bestowing and love receiving, of gifts showered down and of praise ascending, of fire falling from the heavens and sweet incense, from grateful hearts, going up in fragrant clouds acceptable unto God. It is a sign of a Fatherly heart that He ‘ seeketh such to worship Him’. He desires to be glorified by our praise, because He loves us so much. He commences with an offer, He advances to a command. He gives first, and then not till then He comes seeking fruit from the ‘trees’ which are ‘the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified.’ His plea is not ‘the vineyard belongs to Me, and I have a right to its fruits,’ but ‘what could have been done more to My vineyard, that I have not done in it?-judge between Me and My vineyard.’ First, He showers down blessings; then, He looks for the revenue of praise!
II. We may also take these passages as giving us a twofold expression of the actual effects of God’s revelation, especially in the Gospel, even here upon earth.
God does actually, though not completely, make men blessed here. Our text sums up the experience of all the devout hearts and lives whose emotions are expressed in the Psalms. He who wrote this psalm would preface the whole book by words into which the spirit of the book is distilled. It will have much to say of sorrow and pain. It will touch many a low note of wailing and of grief. There will be complaints and penitence, and sighs almost of despair before it closes. But this which he puts first is the note of the whole. So it is in our histories. They will run through many a dark and desert place. We shall have bitterness and trials in abundance, there will be many an hour of sadness caused by my own evil, and many a hard struggle with it. But high above all these mists and clouds will rise the hope that seeks the skies, and deep beneath all the surface agitations of storms and currents there will be the unmoved stillness of the central ocean of peace in our hearts. In the ‘valley of weeping’ we may still be ‘blessed’ if ‘the ways’ are in our hearts, and if we make of the very tears ‘a well,’ drawing refreshment from the very trials. With all its sorrows and pains, its fightings and fears, its tribulations in the world, and its chastenings from a Father’s hand, the life of a Christian is a happy life, and ‘the joy of the Lord’ remains with His servants.
More than twenty centuries have passed since that psalm was written. As many stretched dim behind the Psalmist as he sang. He was gathering up in one sentence the spirit of the past, and confirming it by his own life’s history. And has any one that has lived since then stood up and said-’Behold! I have found it otherwise. I have waited on God, and He has not heard my cry. I have served Him, and that for nought. I have trusted in Him, and been disappointed. I have sought His face-in vain. And I say, from my own experience, that the man who trusts in Him is not blessed’? Not one, thank God! The history of the past, so far as this matter is concerned, may be put in one sentence ‘They looked unto Him and were lightened, and their faces were not ashamed,’ and as for the present, are there not some of us who can say, ‘This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles’?
Brethren! make the experiment for yourselves. Test this experience by your own simple affiance and living trust in Jesus Christ. We have the experience of all generations to encourage us. What has blessed them is enough for you and me. Like the meal and the oil, which were the Prophet’s resource in famine, yesterday’s supply does not diminish to-morrow’s store. We, too, may have all that gladdened the hearts and stayed the spirits of the saints of old. ‘Oh! taste and see that God is good.’ ‘Blessed is the man that trusteth in Him.’
So, too, God’s gift produces man’s praise.
What is it that He desires from us? Nothing but our thankful recognition and reception of His benefits. We honour God by taking the full cup of salvation which He commends to our lips, and by calling, while we drink, upon the name of the Lord. Our true response to His Word, which is essentially a proffer of blessing to us, is to open our hearts to receive, and, receiving, to render grateful acknowledgment. The echo of love which gives and forgives, is love which accepts and thanks. We have but to lift up our empty and impure hands, opened wide to receive the gift which He lays in them-and though they be empty and impure, yet ‘the lifting up of our hands’ is ‘as the evening sacrifice’; our sense of need stands in the place of all offerings. The stained thankfulness of our poor hearts is accepted by Him who inhabits the praises of eternity, and yet delights in the praises of Israel. He bends from heaven to give, and all He asks is that we should take. He only seeks our thankfulness-but He does seek it. And wherever His grace is discerned, and His love is welcomed, there praise breaks forth, as surely as streams pour from the cave of the glacier when the sun of summer melts it, or earth answers the touch of spring with flowers.
And that effect is produced, notwithstanding all the complaints and sighs and tears which sometimes choke our praise. It is produced even while these last; the psalms of thanksgiving are not all reserved for the end of the book. But even in those which read like the very sobs of a broken heart, there is ever present some tone of grateful acknowledgment of God’s mercy. He sends us sorrow, and He wills that we should weep-but they should be tears like David’s, who, at the lowest point of his fortunes, when he plaintively besought God, ‘Put Thou my tears into Thy bottle’-could say in the same breath, ‘Thy vows are upon me, O God: I will render praises unto Thee.’ God works on our souls that we may have the consciousness of sin, and He wills that we should come with broken and contrite hearts, and like the king of Israel wail out our confessions and supplications-’Have mercy upon me, O God! according to Thy loving-kindness.’ But, like him, we should even in our lowliest abasement, when our hearts are bruised, be able to say along with our contrition, ‘Open Thou my lips, and my mouth shall show forth Thy praise.’ Our sorrows are never so great that they hide our mercies. The sky is never so covered with clouds that neither sun nor stars appear for many days. And in every Christian heart the low tones of lamentation and confession are blended with grateful praise. So it is even in the darkest moments, whilst the blast of misfortune and misery is as a storm against the wall.
But a brighter hope even for our life here rises from these words, if we think of the place which they hold in the whole book. They are the last words. Whatever other notes have been sounded in its course, all ends in this. The winter’s day has had its melancholy grey sky, with many a bitter dash of snow and rain-but it has stormed itself out, and at eventide, a rent in the clouds reveals the sun, and it closes in peaceful clearness of light.
The note of gladness heard at the beginning, ‘Oh! the blessedness of the man that delights in the law of the Lord,’ holds on persistently, like a subdued and almost bewildered undercurrent of sweet sound amid all the movements of some colossal symphony, through tears and sobs, confession and complaint, and it springs up at the close triumphant, like the ruddy spires of a flame long smothered, and swells and broadens, and draws all the intricate harmonies into its own rushing tide. Some of you remember the great musical work which has these very words for its theme. It begins with the call, ‘All that hath life and breath, praise ye the Lord,’ and although the gladness saddens into the plaintive cry of a soul sick with hope deferred, ‘Will the night soon pass?’ yet, ere the close, all discords are reconciled, and at last, with assurance firmer for the experience of passing sorrows, loud as the voice of many waters and sweet as harpers harping with their harps, the joyful invocation peals forth again, and all ends, as it does in a Christian man’s life, and as it does in this book, with ‘Praise ye the Lord.’
III. We have here also a twofold prophecy of the perfection of Heaven.
And so these words give us a twofold aspect of that future on which our longing hopes may well fix.
It is the perfection of man’s blessedness. Then the joyous exclamation of our first text, which we have often had to strive hard not to disbelieve, will be no more a truth of faith but a truth of experience. Here we have had to trust that it was so, even when we could scarce cleave to the confidence. There, memory will look back on our wanderings through this great wilderness, and, enlightened by the issue of them all, will speak only of Mercy and Goodness as our angel guides all our lives. The end will crown the work. Pure unmingled consciousness of bliss will fill all hearts, and break into the old exclamation, which we had sometimes to stifle sobs ere we could speak on earth. When He says, ‘Come in! ye blessed of My Father,’ all our tears and fears, and pains and sins, will be forgotten, and we shall but have to say, in wonder and joy, ‘Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house; they will be still praising Thee.’
It is the perfection of God’s praise. We may possibly venture to see in these wonderful words of our text a dim and far-off hint of a possibility that seems to be pointed at in many parts of Scripture-that the blessings of Christ’s mighty work shall, in some measure and manner, pass through man to his dwelling-place and its creatures. Dark shadows of evil-the mystery of pain and sorrow-lie over earth and all its tribes. ‘We look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.’ And the statements of Scripture which represent creation as suffering by man’s sin, and participant in its degree in man’s redemption, seem too emphatic and precise, as well as too frequent, and in too didactic connections, to be lightly brushed aside as poetic imagery. May it not be that man’s transgression
‘Broke the fair music that all creatures made
To their great Lord, whose love their motion swayed,’
And are you dumb, my friend, in these universal bursts of praise? Is that because you have not chosen to take the universal blessing which God gives? You have nothing to do but to receive the things that are freely given to you of God-the forgiveness, the cleansing, the life, that come from Christ by faith. Take them, and call upon the name of the Lord, And can you refuse His gifts and withhold your praise? You can be eloquent in thanks to those who do you kindnesses, and in praise of those whom you admire and love, but your best Friend receives none of your gratitude and none of your praise. Ignoble silence and dull unthankfulness-with these you requite your Saviour! ‘I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out!’
breath. Hebrew. neshamah (see App-16): i.e. in contrast with material instruments.
praise THE LORD. Hebrew. tehallel jah.
Praise ye THE LORD. Hebrew. Halelujah, thus fitly closing the Book of Psalms. Compare the endings of the other four books; and see notes on p. 720.
Let every thing: Psa 103:22, Psa 145:10, Psa 148:7-11, Rev 5:13
Reciprocal: Psa 66:1 – all ye lands Psa 69:34 – Let Psa 95:1 – Come Psa 117:1 – praise him Psa 135:1 – Praise ye the Lord Psa 145:21 – let all flesh Psa 148:10 – Beasts Isa 42:10 – ye that go Rev 19:5 – Praise
HALLELUJAH!
O praise God in His holiness: praise Him in the firmament of His power, etc.
Psa 150:1-3; Psa 150:6 (Prayer Book Version)
I. Consider the nature of praise.(1) From such passages as Isa 6:1-3, Rev 4:8; Rev 14:1-3, we collect with certainty thus much: that praise is the main element of the homage of saints and angels in the eternal world. And indeed it is difficult to imagine what besides it could be. The worship which created beings render to the Almighty is divisible into two actsprayer and praise. But from the nature of the case the spirits of the blessed can hardly be considered as having occasion for the former. With the necessities of the saints, their prayers, as far as regards themselves, must have an end; but, on the contrary, the passing away of these necessities will itself minister occasion for the commencement of an unbroken service of praise. From the simple fact that prayer is the religious exercise of those still in the flesh, and praise the employment of the redeemed from among men, we seem at once to deduce the greater nobility of praise itself. (2) The perfection of praise is not found in thanksgiving. We are to thank God not for what He has done for us, but for what He is. Praise is the travelling forth of the mind into the depths of the Divine nature; it is the folding of the mantle around us, so as to shut out the visible creation, and to be alive only to the sense of the uncreated Majesty.
II. Consider the application of music to the purposes of praise.(1) Whatever has a tendency to withdraw the mind from care must promote in a measure the disposition required for praise. (2) All along God has recognised the principle of making religion a visible, tangible thing. Adam possessed in paradise a perfect nature, and what was his religion? Essentially a sacramental one. He was to refrain from the fruit of one tree and systematically eat of another to secure his immortality. If ever outward rites could be dispensed with, surely they might have been in paradise, with the creature so elevated and God so near; and yet even there an outward sign was made to accompany inward grace. Just in the same way with music as a help to praise. We grant that the mind which without extrinsic aid can rise to the level of this great employment is more angelic than that which must be stimulated by luxury of sound; but are we therefore to neglect a means which God has furnished of elevating the weak, and warming the cold, and carrying away, in spite of itself, the earthly heart?
Bishop Woodford.
Illustration
The 84th Psalm is the Christians preparation before worship; the 150th is his thanksgiving after. Having risen, as it were, by five steps, the Psalter hovers over its summit. The chorus of mankind in contact with the angelic choir becomes one cymbal of Divine praise, and a final song of victory peals out to God. The Psalter dies away, after all its depths, not as the first three books in Amen, not as the fourth in Amen Hallelujah, but in Hallelujah. Is this a development of the inarticulate cries of brutal wooers yelling from the branches?
(SECOND OUTLINE)
The theme of the whole psalm is the praise of God
I.Where? (Rev 14:1).
II.Why? (Rev 14:2).
III.How? (Rev 14:3-5).
IV.Who? (Rev 14:6).
Can there be any juster employment for our powers than the praise of Jehovah?
Illustration
Thirteen notes of praise in this short psalm! Count your blessings, and then you will praise too!
Psa 150:6. Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord Every living creature in heaven and earth, Rev 5:13, according to their several capacities, some objectively, as manifesting his glorious perfections in their formation, qualities, and endowments, and giving men and angels just occasion to praise him; and others actively, with hearts and voices, words and actions, showing forth his praise. Mankind, especially, are under peculiar and indispensable obligations to comply with the psalmists exhortation. For,
And
Creations great superior, man! is thine, Thine is redemption.
Should not this Raise man oer man, and kindle seraphs here? YOUNG.
Above all, the children of God should comply with it; who, added to redemption, have obtained salvation, the salvation of grace, and are in the way to the salvation of glory. Surely, with respect to them, not only the breath of natural life, which God hath breathed into their nostrils as men, but the breath of that new and eternal life which he hath given them as Christians, through Christ Jesus, should be returned in hallelujahs. And then the church, composed of many and different members, all actuated, like the pipes of a well-tuned organ, by the same spirit, and conspiring together in perfect harmony, would become one great instrument, sounding forth the praises of God most high.
LET EVERY THING THAT HATH BREATH PRAISE THE LORD. With this wish, says the learned divine last quoted, the sweet psalmist of Israel closes the songs of Sion. And with the same wish, the author of this work, adopting his words, wishes to close his meditations and observations upon them; giving thanks to the Father of mercies, and the God of all comforts, by whose most gracious favour and aid they have been begun, continued, and ended; and humbly praying that no errors or improprieties, from which, through human infirmity, the most diligent and careful are not exempt, may prevent his labours from contributing, in some small degree, to promote the improvement and consolation of the redeemed, and the honour and glory of the Redeemer, who is THE ROOT AND OFFSPRING OF DAVID, AND THE BRIGHT AND MORNING STAR. AMEN.
150:6 Let every thing that hath {d} breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.
(d) He shows that all the order of nature is bound to this duty, and much more God’s children, who ought never to cease to praise him, till they are gathered into that kingdom, which he has prepared for his, where they will sing everlasting praise.
4. The culmination 150:6
Having dealt with the "where" and "how" of worship, the psalmist now specified the "who." "Everything that has breath" should praise Yahweh. In the light of the context, he was undoubtedly thinking of all kinds of people. This verse is a fitting conclusion to the Book of Psalms.
All people should praise God. This is the message of the book.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)