Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 85:10
Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed [each other].
10. Does this verse speak of the divine attributes which conspire together in the work of salvation, or of the human virtues which will characterise the new community? Primarily of the former. God’s lovingkindness and truth the love which moved Him to enter into covenant with Israel, and the faithfulness which binds Him to be true to His covenant meet in Israel’s redemption. Righteousness and peace greet one another with joyous welcome. Jehovah is a righteous God and therefore a Saviour (Isa 45:21). Because salvation is His eternal purpose and He cannot change His purpose, therefore He reconciles His people to Himself. For lovingkindness and truth as attributes of God often as here almost personified as ministering angels see Exo 34:6; Psa 25:10; Psa 40:11; Psa 57:3; Psa 57:10; Psa 61:7; Psa 86:15; Psa 89:14; Psa 115:1; Psa 138:2; Mic 7:20. For the connexion of ‘righteousness’ with salvation see on Psa 65:5, and note the frequency of this thought in Isaiah 40 ff.
While however divine attributes are primarily meant, the corresponding human virtues (Pro 3:3; Isa 32:16 f.) need not be excluded. The restored community will reflect the attributes of God to which it owes its existence. Cp. Hos 2:19-20; Zec 8:8; Zec 8:16; Zec 8:19. This thought is more clearly brought out in the next verse.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Mercy and truth are met together – That is, in the divine dealings referred to in the psalm. There has been a blending of mercy and truth in those dealings; or, both have been manifested; truth, in the divine statements, threatenings, and promises; and mercy, in forgiving sin, and in sparing the people. There is no necessary contradiction between truth and mercy; that is, the one does not necessarily conflict with the other, though the one seems to conflict with the other when punishment is threatened for crime, and yet mercy is shown to the offender – that is, where the punishment is not inflicted, and the offender is treated as if he had not sinned. In this respect, the great difficulty in all human governments has been to maintain both; to be true to the threatening of the law, and at the same time to pardon the guilty. Human governments have never been able to reconcile the two.
If punishment is inflicted up to the full measure of the threatening, there is no manifestation of mercy; if mercy is shown, there is a departure from justice, or a declaration that the threatenings of the law are not, in all cases, to be inflicted: that is, there is, to that extent, an abandonment of justice. Human governments have always felt the need, in their practical operations, of some device like an atonement, by which the two might be blended, and both secured. Such a method of reconciliation or of securing both objects – truth, in the fulfillment of the threat, and mercy toward the offender – has never been (and could not be) acted on in a human administration. It is only in the divine government that this has been accomplished, where a true and perfect regard has been paid to truth in the threatening, and to mercy toward the guilty by an atonement. It is true, indeed, that this passage does not refer to the atonement made by the Redeemer, but there can scarcely be found a better illustration of that work than occurs in the language used here. Compare the notes at Rom 3:26. See also my work on the atonement, chapters ii., iii.
Righteousness – In the maintenance of law, or the manifestation of justice. That is, in this case, God had shown his justice in bringing these calamities on the people for their sins. In the work of the Redeemer this was done by his being wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities; by the fact that the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and that the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isa 53:5-6. And peace. Pardon; mercy; restoration to favor. In the case of the Hebrew people this was done by his removing the calamities which their sins had brought upon them, and by his returning favor. In the work of redemption, it was done by the pardon of sin, and by reconciliation to God.
Have kissed each other – As friends and lovers do; as they do who have been long separated; as they do who, after having been alienated and estranged, are made friends again. In like manner, there seemed to be an alienation – an estrangement – a state of hostility – between righteousness and mercy, between justice and pardon, but they have been now united as separated and alienated friends are, and have embraced each other as such friends do; that is, they blend together in beautiful harmony.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 85:10-13
Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
The bridal of the earth and sky
This is a lovely and highly imaginative picture of the reconciliation and reunion of God and man. The poet psalmist, who seems to have belonged to the times immediately after the return from the exile, in strong faith sees before him a vision of a perfectly harmonious co-operation and relation between God and man. He is not prophesying directly of Messianic times.
1. The heavenly twin sisters, and the earthly pair that corresponds. Mercy and truth are met together–that is one personification; Righteousness and peace have kissed each other is another. It is difficult to say whether these four great qualities are to be regarded as all belonging to God, or as all belonging to man, or as all common both to God and man. I am disposed to think of the first pair as sisters from the heavens, and the second pair as the earthly sisters that correspond with them. Mercy and truth are met together means this: That these two qualities are found braided and linked inseparably in all that God does with mankind. Mercy is love that stoops, love that departs from the strict lines of desert and retribution. And truth blends with mercy. That is to say, truth in a somewhat narrower than its widest sense, meaning mainly Gods fidelity to every obligation under which He has come. Gods faithfulness to promise, Gods fidelity to His past, Gods fidelity in His actions, to His own character, which is meant by that great Word, He sware by Himself. Love is thus lifted up above the suspicion of being arbitrary, or of ever changing or fluctuating. In the second two, Righteousness and peace have kissed each other, we have the picture of what happens upon earth when mercy and truth that come down from heaven are accepted and recognized. To put away metaphor, here are two thoughts.
(1) That in mens experience and life righteousness and peace cannot be rent apart. The only secret of tranquillity is to be good.
(2) Righteousness and her sister, Peace, only come in the measure in which the mercy and the truth of God are received into thankful hearts.
2. God responding to mans truth. Truth shall spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven. Where a mans heart has welcomed the mercy and the truth of God, there shall spring up in that heart, not only the righteousness and peace, of which the previous verse is speaking, but specifically a faithfulness not all unlike the faithfulness which it grasps. Righteousness looks down, not in its judicial aspect merely, but as the perfect moral purity that belongs to the Divine nature. No good, no beauty of character, no meek rapture of faith, no aspiration Godwards, is ever wasted and lost, for His eye rests upon it.
3. Man responding to Gods gift. Yea, the Lord shall give that which is good, and our land shall yield her increase. Earthly fruitfulness is only possible by the reception of heavenly gifts. The earth yields her increase by laying hold of the good which the Lord gives, and by reason of that received good quickening all the germs.
4. God teaching man to walk in His footsteps. Righteousness shall go before Him and set us in the way of His steps. The psalmist here draws tighter than ever the bond between God and man. Man may walk in Gods ways–not only in the ways that please Him, but in the ways that are like Him, and the likeness can only be a likeness in moral quality. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
A blessed coalition
I. Here is a coalition of the most blessed qualities. Mercy, a modification of love, love commiserating: truth, which means reality, eternally antagonistic to all shams and hypocrisies; righteousness, the immutable law of the moral universe, to which all must bow sooner or later; peace, not insensibility, inaction, or stagnation, but the moral repose of souls centred in God. These are the moral qualities here specified; and more precious are they a thousand times than all the gems of ocean, or orbs of immensity.
II. Here is a coalition of blessed qualities that have been separated. In all human history, ever since the introduction of sin, these blessed qualities have been working separately and even antagonistically. There has been mercy without truth, and peace of a certain kind, without righteousness. They have not worked together either in communities or in individuals, hence the constant agitations and struggles in all human life.
III. Here is a coalition of qualities blessed in their reunion. Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. These celestial sisters come together and embrace one another with delight. Blessed is this union! Let them be united in our hearts and conduct! (Homilist.)
Divine perfections united to save sinners
In the restoration of the Church by Jesus Christ, the glorious attributes of the great Jehovah conspire together for the redemption and salvation of sinners. And although the perfections of God, mentioned in the text, may be represented as opposed to each other, yet in the covenant of grace they all agree. Observe the uncommonness of such a meeting: two opposites in two pairs, meeting together. The unanimity of such a meeting; that contraries should shake hands and kiss each other.
I. That the perfections of Jehovah do harmonize in their respective claims concerning the salvation of the Church.
1. Mercy pleads for the guilty Church (Psa 86:15).
2. Truth stands up for Gods faithfulness against sin (Gen 2:17).
3. Righteousness or justice comes and claims execution (1Jn 3:4; Rom 12:9).
4. Peace pleads for a mediator (Job 33:24; Isa 9:6; Gal 4:4).
II. The time and place of this friendly meeting.
1. The place of assembly was in Christ (Col 1:19; 2Co 5:19).
(1) Mercy is vouchsafed to the soul deserving of eternal death, through the mediation of Christ.
(2) Truth or faithfulness stands engaged for the soul through Him, being upheld by Him, through the atonement.
(3) Righteousness or justice is satisfied in him, and pleads for an everlasting release.
(4) Peace flows into the soul of the believer, as proof of the unanimity of the meeting.
2. Some of the various meetings called by these parties.
(1) At the eternal council-table of covenant love (Eph 1:5).
(2) In the garden of Eden after the fall (Gen 3:15).
(3) At Bethlehem at our Saviours advent (Luk 2:11):
(4) On Mount Calvary (Heb 12:2),
III. The manner of their meeting in the souls salvation.
1. A wonderful meeting (1Ti 3:16).
2. A joyous meeting (Isa 53:10).
3. A holy meeting (Jer 2:2; Jer 2:8).
4. A happy meeting (Eph 1:8).
5. A free meeting (2Ti 1:9).
6. An unexpected meeting to us (Rom 11:33).
7. An inseparable meeting (Heb 13:8).
IV. The glorious purpose for which they met.
1. To promote Jehovahs glory (Eph 1:6).
2. To disunite some unhappy meetings (Isa 28:18).
3. To unite opposite characters (1Co 1:7; Joh 17:21).
4. To unite opposite nations in one body (Eph 2:16).
5. To unite opposite covenants of works and grace (Rom 10:4).
6. To bring the Church to glory (Heb 2:10). (T. B. Baker)
The tenderness of Gods rule
We commonly think of Gods righteousness as contrary to His mercy; we supplicate His regard for us, personally, to qualify His regard for right. How hard it is to recognize that law is the minister of love, and love the fulfilling of law! Let us now consider some of the ways in which He reveals this to us.
I. Parental rule is one of these ways. The government of every pious household is, in measure, a revelation of the government of God. Men are but children of a larger growth. We call ourselves the children of God, and this is much more than a merely endearing name. We have all a childs hold on Gods affections, all a childs need of discipline and correction, all s childs power to grieve Him; and He has all a Fathers kind determination to train us in right.
II. The tenderness of Gods strict rule is revealed to us again in the experience of life. It is hard to say whether most injury is done by over-strictness or by over-indulgence. Regard for right is the truest personal regard. God would shield men from woes unnumbered, from confusion of an unregulated will, from the conflict of passion, from the loathing that follows self-indulgence; and, therefore, has He made His laws so severe and certain, and, therefore, does He subdue us to His laws. Truth is not opposed to mercy; where there is no righteousness love works destruction. The experience of life prepares us to turn in gladness to our God, in gladness to rest in the rule of Him in whom we see that mercy and truth are met together, etc.
III. This revelation, again, is granted in prayer. We mourn under some appointment of life, thinking God is punishing us in it for our sins; as we pray to Him, we learn that we are not being punished, but chastened. We ask that Gods anger may be taken away and we forgiven; we see that we are already forgiven, and that what we thought was anger was only the fidelity of love.
IV. The tenderness of Gods strict law is revealed to us in the Gospel of Christ. It is personal regard for man which we see pre-eminently in Jesus; yet who so much as He makes us feel the constraining bond of righteousness? He is filled with human sympathy; in the fulness of His pity He makes their sorrows, and their shame, and their struggles His own; but the influence of His associations is to make men feel more and more that they cannot escape the rule of God. He delivers them from the penalties of law; but it is to awaken in them a reverence for it, deeper and more solemn than any experience of penalty can be. He frees them from its pains by transforming its painfulness into an entire devotion to it. He shows them that personal regard is not at variance with regard for right; for the Father, who loved the Son, did not out of regard for Him turn aside from strictest law.
V. The closing verses declare the blessed effects of this discovery in a true and fruitful, in a trusting, an intelligent and obedient life; in a life hallowed by Gods smile and crowned with His constant benediction. (A. Mackennal, D. D.)
Rigorousness and clemency in Gods procedure with man
The words truth, righteousness, and judgment in these passages we shall take to represent the stern, the inflexible, and severe in Gods dealing with men; and the words mercy and peace to represent the mild and the clement.
I. In Gods procedure with man these principles are found in harmonious co-operation.
1. We see these two principles harmoniously operating in Gods dealing with us through the phenomena of nature. In the earthquake and the tornado, in the fierce lightnings and the rolling thunders, in the raging oceans and the furious winds, we feel ourselves confronted with the stern, the rigorous, and the terrible; but in the serene and the sunny we feel ourselves in the presence of the mild and the lenient. Both in nature work together, they kiss each other, and bring about the good ordained.
2. We see these two principles harmoniously operating in Gods dealing with us through the events of human history. When we read the history of our race–its wars, famines, pestilences, and innumerable calamities–we are brought before the severe and awful in God; whilst in the happiness of tribes, the prosperity of nations, and the gradual advancement of the race, we see the merciful and the kind; but both principles co-operate, the rigorous and the clement. They meet and kiss each other. They are in a blessed partnership in their endeavours to make humanity what God would have it be.
3. We see these two principles harmoniously operating in Gods dealing with us through the circumstances of individual life. In the various afflictions, physical, intellectual, and social, which every man has, God in the sterner aspects of His character appears before us; whilst in the pleasures and enjoyments of our life He faces us in an aspect tender and kind. But both principles co-operate. Our light afflictions, which are but for a moment, etc.
4. We see these two principles harmoniously operating in Gods dealing with us through the means of redemptive Providence. In the life of Christ, God seems in one aspect terribly righteous, on the other side infinitely merciful, but the two are one; they meet, kiss, and co-operate in making a perfect Saviour. It is so in the redemptive training of men for everlasting blessedness. First, law comes to the man with its flashing light and terrible thunder, rousing conscience, and kindling the terrible fames of remorse, and the Divine One seems rigorous and awful. Then comes the assurance of forgiveness, the centralizing the affections in infinite love, and ell in God seems tender and merciful. But the two principles meet together and co-operate in bringing about the same blessed result, viz., the training of the soul for a higher life.
II. Though these principles harmoniously co-operate in Gods procedure with man, one is ever in the ascendant. Mercy rejoiceth against judgment.
1. In the phenomena of nature you see more of the clement than the stern. The mild, and not the rigorous, is the queen of nature; storms and earthquakes, thunderings and lightnings are but the exceptions; sunny days, serene earth, and calm atmospheres are the rule.
2. In the events of human history you see more of the clement than the stern. History, it is true, records bloody wars, blasting pestilences, and writhing famines, but these after all are only exceptions in Gods dispensations with mankind; peace, health, and plenty, have been the rule.
3. In the circumstances of individual life you see more of the element than the stern. It is true we have our afflictions and our sorrows, but these are exceptions. As a rule, the existence of most men is that of health and judgment; goodness and mercy follow us. Mercy rejoiceth against judgment, in our experience.
4. In the means of redemptive Providence you see more of the clement than the stern. In the Christian life there have been the pains connected with conviction, repentance, and conversion; but these are in the initial stages of the Christian life; succeeding stages are generally calm, and often jubilant, and the end everlasting life. (Homilist.)
Mercy and truth meeting together
There is always truth enough in the world, but it is merciless truth. Men are quick enough to see the faults and sins of their neighbours. If truth is merely fault-finding, then there is plenty of it everywhere. No man ever commits a sin but some one sees it and points it out. But cold, hard truth never convinces; it only provokes; It hardens instead of converting. It seems like injustice, cruelty, wrong. Truth without love has, therefore, virtually the effect of falsehood. It is often said that men are seldom converted by argument or controversy. This is because controversy is so apt to be carried on in a spirit of coldness and hatred, rather than love. There is also enough love in the world, if love means only kind feelings, weak good-will, which is too full of sympathy to see the faults of others and point them out, which will concede or suppress truth for the sake of peace. No. Love which has no truth in it is not love, but real enmity. To treat a bad man as if he were not bad, is a cruel kindness. It puts darkness for light, and light for darkness; bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter. It confounds moral distinctions. It encourages the man who might be cured by vigorous remedies to go on from bad to worse till he is incurable. It is not easy to unite these great forces, for they are polar forces and antagonist. A truthful man tends always to be too hard; a loving man tends to be too soft and yielding. This conflict between truth and love is sometimes presented to us as a problem in ethics. If a robber asks me which way his victim has gone, shall I tell a lie and deceive him or not? Shall I tell a lie to an insane person or a sick person for his good? Is it right ever to deceive? These questions, when put in abstract form, cannot always be answered. But the practical answer comes to us if we have learned to live in truth and love. When these are united in our character, they will not be divided in our speech or our action. We shall not tell any lies from good nature, but we shall be taught in the hour of exigency what to do and say. The promise of Jesus will be fulfilled: Take no thought what ye shall say, for it will be given you in that hour what ye ought to say. If we live in the whole a united life, we shall not act partially or in a one-sided way. The Lord will help us in each exigency to say and do the right thing, not sacrificing truth to love or love to truth. Life often teaches us that way which logic fails to find. The only live work, too, is that which has both truth and love in it. We must love our work, to do it well; We must also believe in it, to do it well. The lowest drudgery becomes a fine art when we put our mind and heart into it: a fine art becomes mere drudgery when we practise it only to make money or get reputation out of it. Work is very hard when we do it only because we must; it is very easy when we have faith in it and love it. (J. F. Clarke.)
True peace is inseparable from righteousness
Peace may be sought two ways. One way is as Gideon sought it when he built his altar in Ophrah, naming it, God send peace, yet sought this peace that he loved as he was ordered to seek it, and the peace was sent in Gods way. The country was in quietness forty years in the days of Gideon. And the other way of making peace is as Menahem sought it when he gave the King of Assyria a thousand talents of silver, that his hand might be with him. That is, you may either win your peace or buy it–win it by resistance to evil; buy it by compromise with evil No peace is ever in store for any of us, but that which we shall win by victory over shame or sin-victory over the sin that oppresses, as well as over that which corrupts. (John Ruskin.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 10. Mercy and truth are met together] It would be more simple to translate the original,-
Chesed veemeth niphgashu;
Tsedek veshalom nashaku,–
“Mercy and truth have met on the way
Righteousness and peace have embraced.”
This is a remarkable text, and much has been said on it: but there is a beauty in it which, I think, has not been noticed.
Mercy and peace are on one side; truth and righteousness on the other. Truth requires righteousness; mercy calls for peace.
They meet together on the way; one going to make inquisition for sin, the other to plead for reconciliation. Having met, their differences on certain considerations, not here particularly mentioned, are adjusted; and their mutual claims are blended together in one common interest; on which peace and righteousness immediately embrace. Thus, righteousness is given to truth, and peace is given to mercy.
Now, Where did these meet? In Christ Jesus.
When were they reconciled? When he poured out his life on Calvary.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
This is to be understood, either,
1. Of these graces or virtues in men. So the sense is, When that blessed time shall come, those virtues which now seem to be banished from human societies shall be restored, and there shall be a happy conjunction of mercy, or benignity; truth, or veracity;
righteousness, or faithfulness; and peace, or peaceableness and concord. Or rather,
2. Of the blessings of God, of which the whole context speaks. And the sense is, That great work of redemption by Christ shall clearly manifest and demonstrate Gods mercy in redeeming his people of Israel, and in the calling and conversion of the Gentiles; his
truth, in fulfilling that great promise of the sending of his Son, which is the foundation of all the rest; his righteousness, in punishing sin or unrighteousness in his Son, and in conferring righteousness upon guilty and lost creatures; and his peace, or reconciliation to sinners, and that peace of conscience which attends upon it.
Kissed each other; as friends use to do when they meet. See Exo 4:27; 18:7. So this is another expression of the same thing.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
10. God’s promises of “mercy”will be verified by His “truth” (compare Psa 25:10;Psa 40:10); and the “work ofrighteousness” in His holy government shall be “peace”(Isa 32:17). There is animplied contrast with a dispensation under which God’s truth sustainsHis threatened wrath, and His righteousness inflicts misery on thewicked.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Mercy and truth are met together,…. Or “grace and truth” p, which are in Christ, and come by him; and so may be said to meet in him, the glorious Person, the Author of salvation, before mentioned, Joh 1:14, these may be considered as perfections in God, displayed in salvation by Christ: “mercy” is the original of it; it is owing to that that the dayspring from on high visited us, or glory dwelt in our land, or Christ was sent and came to work salvation for us; it was pity to the lost human race which moved God to send him, and him to come, who is the merciful as well as faithful High Priest, and who in his love and pity redeemed us; and though there was no mercy shown to him, he not being spared in the least, yet there was to us; and which appears in the whole of our salvation, and in every part of it, in our regeneration, pardon, and eternal life; see Lu 1:72 1Pe 1:3 or “grace”, the exceeding riches of which are shown forth in the kindness of God to us, through Christ; and to which our salvation, in whole and in part, is to be attributed, Eph 2:7, “truth” may signify the veracity and faithfulness of God, in his promises and threatenings: his promises have their true and full accomplishment in Christ, Lu 1:72 so have his threatenings of death to sinful men, he being the surety for them, Ge 2:17 and so mercy is shown to man, and God is true to his word:
righteousness and peace have kissed each other; as friends at meeting used to do: “righteousness” may intend the essential justice of God, which will not admit of the pardon and justification of a sinner, without a satisfaction; wherefore Christ was set forth to be the propitiation for sin, to declare and manifest the righteousness of God, his strict justice; that he might be just, and appear to be so, when he is the justifier of him that believes in Jesus; and Christ’s blood being shed, and his sacrifice offered up, he is just and faithful to forgive sin, and cleanse from all unrighteousness, Ex 34:6 Ro 3:25 and thus the law being magnified, and made honourable by the obedience and sufferings of Christ, an everlasting righteousness being brought in, and justice entirely satisfied, there is “peace” on earth, and good will to men: peace with God is made by Christ the peacemaker, and so the glory of divine justice is secured and peace with God for men obtained, in a way consistent with it, Lu 2:14 and Christ’s righteousness being imputed and applied to men, and received by faith, produces a conscience peace, an inward peace of mind, which passeth all understanding, Ro 5:1.
p “gratia et veritas”, Cocceius, Gejerus, Michaelis.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
10. Mercy and truth shall meet together. Here the verbs are in the past tense; but it is evident from the scope of the passage, that they should be translated into the future. I cordially embrace the opinion which is held by many, that we have here a prophecy concerning the kingdom of Christ. There is no doubt, that the faithful lifted up their eyes to Him, when their faith had need of encouragement and support in reference to the restoration of the Church; and especially after their return from Babylon. Meanwhile, the design of the prophet is, to show how bountifully God deals with his Church, after he is reconciled to her. The fruits which he represents as springing from this reconciliation are, first, that mercy and truth meet together; and, secondly, that righteousness and peace embrace each other From these words, Augustine deduces a beautiful sentiment, and one fraught with the sweetest consolation, That the mercy of God is the origin and source of all his promises, from whence issues the righteousness which is offered to us by the gospel, while from that righteousness proceeds the peace which we obtain by faith, when God justifies us freely. According to him, righteousness is represented as looking down from heaven, because it is the free gift of God, and not acquired by the merit of works; and that it comes from heaven, because it is not to be found among men, who are by nature utterly destitute of it. He also explains truth springing out of the earth as meaning, that God affords the most incontestable evidence of his faithfulness, in fulfilling what he has promised. But as we ought rather to seek after the solid truth, than exercise our ingenuity in searching out refined interpretations, let us rest contented with the natural meaning of the passage, which is, that mercy, truth, peace, and righteousness, will form the grand and ennobling distinction of the kingdom of Christ. The prophet does not proclaim the praises of men, but commends the grace which he had before hoped for, and supplicated from God only; thus teaching us to regard it as an undoubted truth, that all these blessings flow from God. By the figure synecdoche, some parts being put for the whole, there is described in these four words all the ingredients of true happiness. When cruelty rages with impunity, when truth is extinguished, when righteousness is oppressed and trampled under foot, and when all things are embroiled in confusion, were it not better that the world should be brought to an end, than that such a state of things should continue? Whence it follows, that nothing can contribute more effectually to the promotion of a happy life, than that these four virtues should flourish and rule supreme. The reign of Christ, in other parts of Scripture, is adorned with almost similar encomiums. If, however, any one would rather understand mercy and truth as referring to God, I have no disposition to enter into dispute with him. (477) The springing of truth out of the earth, and the looking down of righteousness from heaven, without doubt imply, that truth and righteousness will be universally diffused, as well above as beneath, so as to fill both heaven and earth. It is not meant to attribute something different to each of them, but to affirm in general, that there will be no corner of the earth where these qualities do not flourish.
(477) “ Pource qu’on luy defend de se trouver en public et que chacun la repousse.” — Fr.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(10) Met together.The word is used of those who should be friends, but whom circumstances have sundered (Pro. 22:2).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
10. Mercy and truth are met together The “mercy” of God can never operate apart from his “truth” they are inseparable. See Psa 25:10; Psa 40:11; Psa 61:7.
Righteousness and peace have kissed each other Their agreement and public manifestation have been simultaneous. “Peace,” which is the essence of the answer sought, (Psa 85:8,) is now made to appear in its eternal union with “righteousness.” The harmony of the divine attributes in the moral government is thus declared. In moral government, and in redemption, “mercy” and “peace” can never be granted but upon the grounds of “truth” and “righteousness.” Men must abjure all sin, and aim to fulfil all righteousness by a holy life and obedient walk with God, if they would be approved of him. From Psa 85:10, throughout, the psalmist unfolds the answer of his prayer as faith already receives it.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 85:10-11. Mercy and truth, &c. The favour and justice which God shewed his people, are considered as coming down from heaven, and meeting and embracing truth and prosperity, springing up from the earth: i.e. as soon as God is determined to shew favour to his people, they are immediately answered by prosperity and plenty, as a necessary consequence of the truth of God’s promise. But in these two verses, in a more eminent manner is signified the reconciliation of God’s justice and mercy, and the happy effects of it upon earth, at the coming of the Messiah.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Reader, behold what a meeting is here! All the divine attributes, indeed, all the Persons of the Godhead, for man’s salvation. All center in the person of Christ. Is not Jesus himself emphatically called Mercy, and the mercy promised? Luk 1:72 . And is he not Truth itself? Joh 14:6 . And is he not Righteousness, yea, the Lord our righteousness? Jer 23:6 ; 1Co 1:30 . And is he not the Peace of his people? Isa 9:6 ; Eph 2:17Eph 2:17 ; Mic 5:5 . And where did ever those seemingly opposite attributes meet, so as to concur and unite for the salvation of sinners, but in the person of Jesus? Mercy inclines to pardon: Truth must stand; and God said, the soul that sinneth it shall die. Righteousness admits of no abatement: Peace by the cross satisfies every demand. Was there ever an assemblage of divine qualities so brought together, and so illustriously displayed for man’s salvation, as here in the person of our Christ? Oh! thou Emmanuel! Oh, thou Lord our righteousness! did truth spring out of the earth, and didst thou look down from heaven, yea, come down on thy blissful errand to save sinners, to reconcile all things to thyself? Oh give me to see that all the divine perfections are now eternally satisfied by thy wonderful and mysterious meeting; and that Jehovah hath now glorified himself, and made thy church eternally and everlastingly happy, in the perfect salvation of thy blood and righteousness.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 85:10 Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed [each other].
Ver. 10. Mercy and truth are met together ] As in God (his mercy is ever bounded by his truth), so in all his people, there is a sweet conjunction and concatenation of graces, 2Pe 1:5 ; and this is an effect of Christ’s kingdom in men’s hearts, Rom 14:17 , Iam fides et pax, et honor pudorque Priscus, et neglecta redire virtus Audet; apparetque beata pleno Copia cornu (Horat.).
Righteousness and peace have kissed each other
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psalms
‘THE BRIDAL OF THE EARTH AND SKY’
Psa 85:10 – Psa 85:13
This is a lovely and highly imaginative picture of the reconciliation and reunion of God and man, ‘the bridal of the earth and sky.’
The Poet-Psalmist, who seems to have belonged to the times immediately after the return from the Exile, in strong faith sees before him a vision of a perfectly harmonious co-operation and relation between God and man. He is not prophesying directly of Messianic times. The vision hangs before him, with no definite note of time upon it. He hopes it may be fulfilled in his own day; he is sure it will, if only, as he says, his countrymen ‘turn not again to folly.’ At all events, it will be fulfilled in that far-off time to which the heart of every prophet turned with longing. But, more than that, there is no reason why it should not be fulfilled with every man, at any moment. It is the ideal, to use modern language, of the relations between heaven and earth. Only that the Psalmist believed that, as sure as there was a God in heaven, who is likewise a God working in the midst of the earth, the ideal might become, and would become, a reality.
So, then, I take it, these four verses all set forth substantially the same thought, but with slightly different modifications and applications. They are a four-fold picture of how heaven and earth ought to blend and harmonise. This four-fold representation of the one thought is what I purpose to consider now.
I. To begin with, then, take the first verse:-’Mercy and Truth are met together, Righteousness and Peace have kissed each other.’ We have here the heavenly twin-sisters, and the earthly pair that correspond .
Let me dwell upon these two couples briefly. ‘Mercy and Truth are met together’ means this, that these two qualities are found braided and linked inseparably in all that God does with mankind; that these two springs are the double fountains from which the great stream of the ‘river of the water of life,’ the forthcoming and the manifestation of God, takes its rise.
‘Mercy and Truth.’ What are the meanings of the two words? Mercy is love that stoops, love that departs from the strict lines of desert and retribution. Mercy is Love that is kind when Justice might make it otherwise. Mercy is Love that condescends to that which is far beneath. Thus the ‘Mercy’ of the Old Testament covers almost the same ground as the ‘Grace’ of the New Testament. And Truth blends with Mercy; that is to say-Truth in a somewhat narrower than its widest sense, meaning mainly God’s fidelity to every obligation under which He has come, God’s faithfulness to promise, God’s fidelity to His past, God’s fidelity, in His actions, to His own character, which is meant by that great word, ‘He sware by Himself !’
Thus the sentiment of mercy, the tender grace and gentleness of that condescending love, has impressed upon it the seal of permanence when we say: ‘Grace and Truth, Mercy and Faithfulness, are met together.’ No longer is love mere sentiment, which may be capricious and may be transient. We can reckon on it, we know the law of its being. The love is lifted up above the suspicion of being arbitrary, or of ever changing or fluctuating. We do not know all the limits of the orbit, but we know enough to calculate it for all practical purposes. God has committed Himself to us, He has limited Himself by the obligations of His own past. We have a right to turn to Him, and say; ‘Be what Thou art, and continue to be to us what Thou hast been unto past ages,’ and He responds to the appeal. For Mercy and Truth, tender, gracious, stooping, forgiving love, and inviolable faithfulness that can never be otherwise, these blend in all His works, ‘that by two immutable things, wherein it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation.’
Again, dear brethren! let me remind you that these two are the ideal two, which as far as God’s will and wish are concerned, are the only two that would mark any of His dealings with men. When He is, if I may so say, left free to do as He would, and is not forced to His ‘strange act’ of punishment by my sin and yours, these, and these only, are the characteristics of His dealings. Nor let us forget-’We beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth .’ The Psalmist’s vision was fulfilled in Jesus Christ, in whom these sweet twin characteristics, that are linked inseparably in all the works of God, are welded together into one in the living personality of Him who is all the Father’s grace embodied; and is ‘the Way and the Truth and the Life.’
Turn now to the other side of the first aspect of the union of God and man, ‘Mercy and Truth are met together’; these are the heavenly twins. ‘Righteousness and Peace have kissed each other’-these are the earthly sisters who sprang into being to meet them.
Of course I know that these words are very often applied, by way of illustration, to the great work of Jesus Christ upon the Cross, which is supposed to have reconciled, if not contradictory, at least divergently working sides of the divine character and government. And we all know how beautifully the phrase has often been employed by eloquent preachers, and how beautifully it has been often illustrated by devout painters.
But beautiful as the adaptation is, I think it is an adaptation, and not the real meaning of the words, for this reason, if for no other, that Righteousness and Peace are not in the Old Testament regarded as opposites, but as harmonious and inseparable. And so I take it that here we have distinctly the picture of what happens upon earth when Mercy and Truth that come down from Heaven are accepted and recognised-then Righteousness and Peace kiss each other.
Or, to put away the metaphor, here are two thoughts, first that in men’s experience and life Righteousness and Peace cannot be rent apart. The only secret of tranquillity is to be good. He who is, first of all, ‘King of Righteousness’ is ‘after that also King of Salem, which is King of Peace.’ ‘The effect of righteousness shall be peace,’ as Isaiah, the brother in spirit of this Psalmist, says; and on the other hand, as the same prophet says, ‘The wicked is like a troubled sea that cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt; there is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked,’ but where affections are pure, and the life is worthy, where goodness is loved in the heart, and followed even imperfectly in the daily practice, there the ocean is quiet, and ‘birds of peace sit brooding on the charmed wave.’ The one secret of tranquillity is first to trust in the Lord and then to do good. Righteousness and Peace kiss each other.
The other thought here is that Righteousness and her twin sister, Peace, only come in the measure in which the mercy and the truth of God are received into thankful hearts. My brother! have you taken that Mercy and that Truth into your soul, and are you trying to reach peace in the only way by which any human being can ever reach it-through the path of righteousness, self-suppression, and consecration to Him?
II. Now, take the next phase of this union and cooperation of earth and heaven, which is given here in the 11th verse-’Truth shall spring out of the earth, and Righteousness shall look down from heaven.’ That is, to put it into other words-God responding to man’s truth.
And notice, further, that each takes the place that had belonged to the other. The heavenly Truth becomes a child of earth; and the earthly Righteousness ascends ‘to look down from heaven.’ The process of the previous verse in effect is reversed. ‘Truth shall spring out of the earth, Righteousness shall look down from heaven’; that is to say-man’s Truth shall begin to grow and blossom in answer, as it were, to God’s Truth that came down upon it. Which being translated into other words is this: where a man’s heart has welcomed the Mercy and the Truth of God there will spring up in that heart, not only the Righteousness and Peace, of which the previous verse is speaking, but specifically a faithfulness not all unlike the faithfulness which it grasps. If we have a God immutable and unchangeable to build upon, let us build upon Him immutability and unchangeableness. If we have a Rock on which to build our confidence, let us see that the confidence which we build upon it is rocklike too. If we have a God that cannot lie, let us grasp His faithful word with an affiance that cannot falter. If we have a Truth in the heavens, absolute and immutable, on which to anchor our hopes, let us see to it that our hopes, anchored thereon, are sure and steadfast. What a shame it would be that we should bring the vacillations and fluctuations of our own insincerities and changeableness to the solemn, fixed unalterableness of that divine Word! We ought to be faithful, for we build upon a faithful God.
And then the other side of this second picture is ‘Righteousness shall look down from heaven,’ not in its judicial aspect merely, but as the perfect moral purity that belongs to the divine Nature, which shall bend down a loving eye upon the men beneath, and mark the springings of any imperfect good and thankfulness in our hearts; joyous as the husbandman beholds the springing of his crops in the fields that he has sown.
God delights when He sees the first faint flush of green which marks the springing of the good seed in the else barren hearts of men. No good, no beauty of character, no meek rapture of faith, no aspiration Godwards is ever wasted and lost, for His eye rests upon it. As heaven, with its myriad stars, bends over the lowly earth, and in the midnight when no human eye beholds, sees all, so God sees the hidden confidence, the unseen ‘Truth’ that springs to meet His faithful Word. The flowers that grow in the pastures of the wilderness, or away upon the wild prairies, or that hide in the clefts of the inaccessible mountains, do not ‘waste their sweetness on the desert air,’ for God sees them.
It may be an encouragement and quickening to us to remember that wherever the tiniest little bit of Truth springs upon the earth, the loving eye-not the eye of a great Taskmaster-but the eye of the Brother, Christ, which is the eye of God, looks down. ‘Wherefore we labour, that whether present or absent, we may be well-pleasing unto Him.’
III. And then the third aspect of this ideal relation between earth and heaven, the converse of the one we have just now been speaking of, is set forth in the next verse: ‘Yea, the Lord shall give that which is good and our land shall yield her increase.’ That is to say, Man is here responding to God’s gift.
And so the thought which has already been hinted at is here more fully developed and dwelt upon, this great truth that earthly fruitfulness is possible only by the reception of heavenly gifts. As sure as every leaf that grows is mainly water that the plant has got from the clouds, and carbon that it has got out of the atmosphere, so surely will all our good be mainly drawn from heaven and heaven’s gifts. As certainly as every lump of coal that you put upon your fire contains in itself sunbeams that have been locked up for all these millenniums that have passed since it waved green in the forest, so certainly does every good deed embody in itself gifts from above. No man is pure except by impartation; and every good gift and every perfect gift cometh from the Father of Lights.
So let us learn the lesson of absolute dependence for all purity, virtue, and righteousness on His bestowment, and come to Him and ask Him ever more to fill our emptiness with His own gracious fulness and to lead us to be what He commands and would have us to be.
And then there is the other lesson out of this phase of the ideal relation between earth and heaven, the lesson of what we ought to do with our gifts. ‘The earth yields her increase,’ by laying hold of the good which the Lord gives, and by means of that received good quickening all the germs. Ah, dear brethren! wasted opportunities, neglected moments, uncultivated talents, gifts that are not stirred up, rain and dew and sunshine, all poured upon us and no increase-is not that the story of much of all our lives, and of the whole of some lives? Are we like Eastern lands where the trees have been felled, and the great irrigation works and tanks have been allowed to fall into disrepair, and so when the bountiful treasure of the rains comes, all that it does is to swell for half a day the discoloured stream that carries away some more of the arable land; and when the sunshine comes, with its swift, warm powers, all that it does is to bleach the stones and scorch the barren sand? ‘The earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and yieldeth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth the blessing of God.’ Is it true about you that the earth yieldeth her increase, as it is certainly true that ‘the Lord giveth that which is good’?
IV. And now the last thing which is here, the last phase of the fourfold representation of the ideal relation between earth and heaven is, ‘Righteousness shall go before Him and shall set us in the way of His steps.’ That is to say, God teaches man to walk in His footsteps.
The second phase of the operation of Righteousness is that that majestic herald, the divine purity which moves before Him, and ‘prepares in the desert a highway for the Lord,’-that that very same Righteousness comes and takes my feeble hand, and will lead my tottering footsteps into God’s path, and teach me to walk, planting my little foot where He planted His. The highest of all thoughts of the ideal relation between earth and heaven, that of likeness between God and man, is trembling on the Psalmist’s lips. Men may walk in God’s ways-not only in ways that please Him, but in ways that are like His. ‘Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.’
And the likeness can only be a likeness in moral qualities-a likeness in goodness, a likeness in purity, a likeness in aversion from evil, for His other attributes and characteristics are His peculiar property; and no human brow can wear the crown that He wears. But though His mercy can but, from afar off, be copied by us, the righteousness that moves before Him, and engineers God’s path through the wilderness of the world, will come behind Him and nurselike lay hold of our feeble arms and teach us to go in the way God would have us to walk.
Ah, brethren! that is the crown and climax of the harmony between God and man, that His mercy and His truth, His gifts and His grace have all led us up to this: that we take His righteousness as our pattern, and try in our poor lives to reproduce its wondrous beauty. Do not forget that a great deal more than the Psalmist dreamed of, you Christian men and women possess, in the Christ ‘who of God is made unto us Righteousness,’ in whom heaven and earth are joined for ever, in whom man and God are knit in strictest bonds of indissoluble friendship; and who, having prepared a path for God in His mighty mission and by His sacrifice on the Cross, comes to us, and as the Incarnate Righteousness, will lead us in the paths of God, leaving us an Example, that ‘we should follow in His steps.’
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
met. kissed. Figure of speech Prosopopoeia. App-6.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Mercy: Psa 89:14, Psa 100:5, Exo 34:6, Exo 34:7, Mic 7:20, Luk 1:54, Luk 1:55, Joh 1:17
righteousness: Psa 72:3, Isa 32:16-18, Isa 45:24, Jer 23:5, Jer 23:6, Luk 2:14, Rom 3:25, Rom 3:26, Rom 5:1, Rom 5:21, Heb 7:2
Reciprocal: Gen 32:10 – truth 2Sa 15:20 – mercy Psa 25:10 – mercy Psa 26:3 – For Psa 29:11 – give Psa 33:4 – all his Psa 40:11 – let thy Psa 57:10 – For Psa 86:15 – mercy Psa 108:4 – thy mercy Psa 111:7 – works Psa 117:2 – General Psa 138:2 – and praise Pro 16:6 – mercy Isa 9:6 – The Prince of Peace Isa 16:5 – in mercy Isa 53:10 – the pleasure Jer 33:6 – and will Hos 2:19 – in righteousness Luk 1:79 – to guide Joh 14:27 – Peace I leave Act 10:36 – preaching Eph 2:17 – and preached Eph 4:21 – as Col 1:20 – having made peace Jam 2:13 – and Rev 15:3 – just
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 85:10. Mercy and truth are met together, &c. When that blessed time shall come, those virtues which now seem to be banished from human society shall be restored, and there shall be a happy union of mercy, or benignity, with truth, or veracity, and fidelity; of righteousness, or justice and equity, with peace, or peaceableness and concord. But the passage is rather to be understood of blessings from God, than of graces or virtues in man; of which blessings the whole context speaks. And then the sense is, that the great work of redemption and salvation by Christ shall clearly manifest and demonstrate Gods mercy in redeeming his people Israel, and in the calling and conversion of the Gentiles, his truth in fulfilling his promises, especially the great promise of the Messiah to come in the flesh, which was the foundation of all the other promises; his righteousness in punishing sin in the surety of sinners, of making his Son a sin-offering for us, and in conferring righteousness upon guilty and lost creatures; and his peace, or reconciliation, to penitent, believing sinners, and that peace of conscience which attends upon it. Thus these four divine attributes, parted at the fall of Adam, met again at the birth of Christ. Mercy was ever inclined to serve man, and peace could not be his enemy; but truth exacted the performance of Gods threat, The soul that sinneth it shall die; and righteousness could not but give to every one his due. Jehovah must be true in all his ways, and righteous in all his works. Now there is no religion upon earth, except the Christian, which can satisfy the demands of all these claimants, and restore a union between them; which can show how Gods word can be true, and his work just, and the sinner, notwithstanding, find mercy and obtain peace. But a God incarnate reconciled all things in heaven and earth. Horne.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Lovingkindness (i.e., loyal love) and righteousness are what God provides. Truth and peace are what the objects of His blessing experience. They unite when God’s people return to Him and He responds with blessing. Productive harvests are a blessing God promised His people if they walked in obedience to the Mosaic covenant (Deu 28:1-14; Deu 30:1-16).
This psalm is full of very important terms: righteousness, peace, loyal love, truth, fear, glory, and salvation-to name a few. When people get right with God in the fundamental areas of life, His choicest blessings are not far behind. However, we have to wait for Him to provide blessing after repentance, as God patiently waits before bringing judgment for sin.