Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 97:1
The LORD reigneth; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad [thereof].
1. The Lord reigneth ] Jehovah hath proclaimed himself King. See note on Psa 93:1. For the whole verse cp. Psa 96:10-11; Isa 42:10-12; Isa 51:5.
the multitude of isles ] Lit. many isles, or, coastlands; a favourite word in Isaiah 40-66; cp. Psa 72:10. All the many islands and coastlands of the Mediterranean are meant, which have good cause to share Zion’s joy at the fall of the tyrant and the rise of the Divine kingdom of righteousness.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
1 3. The proclamation of Jehovah’s kingdom of power and righteousness.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The Lord reigneth – See the notes at Psa 93:1. This is the general fact to be dwelt upon; this is the foundation of joy and praise. The universe is not without a sovereign. It is not the abode of anarchy. It is not the production of chance. It is not subject to mere physical laws. It is not under the control of evil. It is under the government of a God: a wise, holy, intelligent, just, benevolent Being, who rules it well, and who presides over all its affairs. If there is anything for which we should rejoice, it is that there is One Mind, everlasting and most glorious, who presides over the universe, and conducts all things according to his own wise and eternal plan.
Let the earth rejoice – The earth itself; all parts of it; all that dwell upon it. As the earth everywhere derives whatever it has of fertility, beauty, grandeur, or stability, from God – as order, beauty, productiveness are diffused everywhere over it – as it has received so many proofs of the divine beneficence toward it, it has occasion for universal joy.
Let the multitude of isles be glad thereof – Margin, Many, or great isles. The Hebrew is many. So the Septuagint, the Latin Vulgate, the Chaldee, and the Syriac. The eye of the psalmist is evidently on the many islands which are scattered over the sea. Not merely the continents – the extended countries where nations dwell – have occasion for joy, but the beautiful islands – the spots of earth which have risen from the deep, and which are covered with fruits and flowers – these, too, have occasion to rejoice: to rejoice that God has raised them from the waters; that he keeps them from being overflowed or washed away; that he clothes them with beauty; that he makes them the abode of happy life; that he places them in the wastes of the ocean as he does the stars in the wastes of the sky, to beautify the universe. The idea in the verse is, that all the earth has cause to rejoice that Yahweh reigns.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 97:1-12
The Lord reigneth; let the earth rejoice.
The reign of God over the world
I. The reign of God over the world (Psa 97:1).
1. His laws are righteous.
2. His purpose is benevolent.
II. The providential procedure of God in the world.
1. If is inscrutable. Clouds and darkness.
2. It is righteous.
3. It is terrible (Psa 97:3-4).
III. The moral triumphs of God in the world (Psa 97:6-11).
1. The false are confounded (Psa 97:7). Idolatry is crushed.
2. The true are blessed (Psa 97:8). Why glad?
(1) Because their God is exalted (Psa 97:9).
(2) Because they are delivered (Psa 97:10).
(3) Because their happiness must progress (Psa 97:11). (Homilist.)
The Lord reigneth
The Lord reigneth. Where shall we put the emphasis? Shall we put it here–The Lord reigneth? Yes, let the emphasis be first placed upon the lordship of God. Whatever appearances may seem to dictate, and, in spite of all evidence which suggests the sovereignty of the devil, the Lord is upon the throne. Where, again, shall we place the emphasis? Shall we place it here–The Lord reigneth? Yes, let us vary the music by changing the emphasis. The Lord reigneth; He does not hold the sceptre loosely, giving part of His sovereignty to another; He never relaxes His hold of dominion, and, amid all the changing seasons, He pursues His sovereign will. Now, what kind of man should this great evangel make of me? What ought to be the tone and disposition of my life? I think the psalmist proceeds to give the answer. Let the earth rejoice. The word rejoice is significant of movement, of nimble movement, of dancing, of a certain busy activity of limb. It suggests the busy habits of birds on a bright spring morning. A bit of sunshine makes all the difference. And here in my text the sun is up and shining; the Lord reigneth, and we His children are to be as busy as His birds on the bright spring day. Let the multitude of isles be glad. The soul must not only be vigorous; its vigour must be set to music. And now I am startled by the succession of the psalm. The fact of the sovereignty of God should make me blithe and busy as a bird. But all this seems to be challenged by the words which immediately succeed. Why should the psalmist introduce the ministry of the cloud? He knew that joy that is not touched with reverence is superficial or unreal, Joy is never at its sweetest until it is touched by awe. And, therefore, the suggestion of the mysterious dispensations of God is not intended to smother the song, but rather to deepen and enrich it. Every grace needs the accompaniment of reverence if it is to be perfected. But now, in order that the gathering cloud and darkness may not paralyze men, something is told us as to what dwells in their innermost place. Righteousness and judgment are the habitation of His throne. The darkness may throw men into perplexity, and yet the darkness itself is regulated by the Lord of the noonday. In the very midst of the cloud and the darkness there is the throne of righteousness and judgment. Therefore must my reverence be inspired with confidence, and not be stricken with cringing fear. A fire goeth before Him and burneth up His enemies. We need the pure flame of His presence; we need the ever-burning atmosphere in which all defilement is consumed. And now the psalmist turns away to retrospect. He has proclaimed the sovereignty of God, and now he turns to the things of yesterday to find the evangel confirmed. His lightnings lightened the world. Who does not know the lightning interposition of God? He flashes upon us unexpectedly; the Divine is obtruded when we least expect it. We had almost forgotten the Divine. The nearness and the depression of the cloud had caused us almost to forget Him. Or we were wondering if He would ever return. And suddenly He appeared! The hills melted like wax at the presence of the Lord. The Divine suddenly interposes and the obstacles melt away. Have we not known the experience? The difficulties towered in front of us like gigantic hills, and we saw no way over the tremendous heights. And then suddenly, half-unexpectedly, the hills melted, and the difficulties vanished away. Missionary literature abounds in such experience. Every Christian could produce confirmatory witness. God has suddenly interposed, and the difficulty has withered away, and the outsiders have seen the glory of the Lord, and His leadership and righteousness have been declared. It is the lightning interposition which confounds the ungodly. They are turned pale by the passing of the hills, and by the triumph of the meek and lowly in heart. But Zion heard and was glad. Now, in the face of this evangel, The Lord reigneth, and with this corroboration from the witness of experience, what shall we do? The psalmist supplies the answer. Ye that love the Lord hate evil. This is the foundation of everything. And what shall be our reward if we are possessed by this love-hatred, this twin ministry, this mortifying grace? He preserveth the souls of His saints. We shall be kept by God, He will erect fences to guard us from peril. Light is sown for the righteous. We are not only to be preserved, we are to be illumined. God will give to us the light we need. And gladness for the upright in heart. Then my light is not only to be sure, it is to be glad light, sunlight! It is to minister to the warmth of my heart as well as to the illumination of my mind. It is to comfort me as well as lead me. It will be a genial presence as well as a counsellor. (J. H. Jowett, M.A.)
Jehovah is King
I. Earthly dominion is the gift of God. David and Solomon were the ideal kings of the Israelites. They did not only represent the Divine power, but also Divine righteousness. We apply the title of majesty to earthly monarchs, though, strictly speaking, it is an attribute which can only he ascribed to God. The grandeur of the going forth of earthly monarchs is but a feeble and material imitation of the going forth of God so eloquently described in this psalm.
II. God rules over all spiritual powers. It was at first the belief of the Hebrews that there were gods many and lords many. They would have been no more tempted to worship them, if they had been convinced that they had no real existence, than we should be tempted to worship Juggernaut. The Assyrians thought Asshur the most powerful god, who alone could give victory in battle; hence they worshipped him. Croesus sent to the oracles of all the gods to inquire what he should be doing on a certain day; and he worshipped the god whose oracle declared most accurately the future. Israel worshipped Jehovah, not only because He possessed power and foreknowledge, but most of all for His character. He was exalted above the other gods by His righteousness.
III. The consideration of these facts a cause of joy to the believer. It is the conviction that a wise and loving power is at the back of all we see around us, and working through all history to accomplish gracious purposes, which made Israel the greatest of all the ancient peoples–great, not in having the best soldiers and lawgivers, like the Romans, or the wisest philosophers, like the Greeks, but the noblest, truest, and best men. That faith which made the nation immortal will also make the individual immortal. God is on the side of our holiest aspirations and deepest yearnings, and against that which is base and miserable and sinful. Every desire must be brought into subjection, and God be all in all. (R. C. Ford, M.A.)
The reign of God
I. The subjects of the Divine government. We speak now of Gods moral government only. And beneath it are angels, devils, man, as a race, as nations, as individuals.
II. Certain characters which mark his administration.
1. It is sovereign and uncontrolled.
2. It does not interfere with human liberty.
3. Is in the hands of a Mediator. Jesus governs the world with reference to the interests of His religion.
III. Proofs of the doctrine of the text which late occurrences have furnished.
1. The great evils of bigotry and opposition to the rights of conscience have been permitted to display themselves. Also–
2. Infidelity has shown its full character for the warning and instruction of mankind.
3. See what God has done. He has preserved our country from invasion, punished persecuting and wicked nations: France and Napoleon especially have been overthrown, and God has made us the principal agent in accomplishing this. (R. Watson.)
The Divine government of the universe
I. The fact.
1. The sacred singer here speaks of a God who exercises a personal agency in the universe. The Lord reigneth. That implies power. All energy that has play anywhere is in a true sense His. Gravitation, electricity, heat, what are these but names which we have given to the operations of the everywhere-present Deity? Even that force of will, and nerve, and muscle which we and other creatures exert is from Him in whom we live, and move, and have our being.
2. This personal agency of God is carried on in a regular and orderly way. The history of the universe is the development of His plan. He sits at the great loom, and, while the shuttles that carry the threads move, so to speak, consciously and of purpose, it is God who weaves the broad result, fabric and design being His. He reigns over beings who have not respect for His will, but are opposed to it, by working out, in His superior wisdom, His plans by means of their very opposition.
II. Its mystery and awfulness (Psa 97:2). The symbol here expresses three ideas.
1. The majesty of the Divine government. Great clouds and darkness are ever suggestive of the sublime. And Gods is a lofty and glorious rule. When we try, by the aid of astronomy, to realize the extent in space of Gods material universe, and by the aid of geology to conceive of its past duration; when we think of the different generations of the human race which have existed, and of all the higher intelligences; and when we try by imagination to explore the eternal future, with its ever-opening vistas of life and crowding events which are to form history as real as that of the days that are gone by, we feel a necessity of adoration to relieve our hearts of the burden of their awe.
2. The incomprehensibility of the Divine government. God is within the cloud and darkness. We do not see Him at all. His rule in every department is to us a thing of faith. Philosophers cannot tell what is the connection between cause and effect in the material world. And how, in the moral world, God works out His purposes by means of the free action of His rational creatures, and makes His people willing in the day of His power, while their wills are still theirs, we cannot comprehend. But such are the facts. God does rule in these ways, as the uufoldings of history show.
3. There is the idea of the Divine government being characterized by judgments. Out of the clouds and darkness proceed hailstones and coals of fire. A fire goeth before Him, and burneth up His enemies round about. I, for my part, could not understand Gods dealings with the world if I did not recognize the fact of there being sin in it, which leads to the expression of the Divine displeasure, and also to the use of the means of discipline.
III. Its moral excellence (Psa 97:2). This King can do no wrong. It is impossible from His very nature. That nature gloriously necessitates the working of righteousness. To a properly constituted mind there is no sight more sad than that of an unjust judge, an unrighteous government. The world has not been, and unhappily is not now, free from the baleful presence of such miscalled governments. But it is consolation, in view of them, that justice and judgment are the habitation of Gods throne. (W. Morrison, D.D.)
How may our belief of Gods governing the world support us in all worldly distractions
I. What is government? It is the exerting or putting forth of that power which any one is justly clothed with, for the ordering and directing of persons and things to their right and proper ends.
1. In all government there is an end fixed and aimed at; which end is either supreme and ultimate, or inferior and subordinate.
(1) The supreme and ultimate end is, and ought and deserves to be, the glory of God, the exalting of His name, the preserving, securing, and enlarging of His interest, the maintaining and promoting of religion and godliness.
(2) The inferior and subordinate end is the good of the communities, the happiness and welfare of the whole country, the peace, comfort, and prosperity of all the people, over whom governors are set.
2. In all government there is supposed a power sufficient for the ordering of things unto these ends. Not only natural power, but also moral authority, lawfully come by; for, without that, there can be no just, right, and good government.
3. In government this power is reduced into act: there is a prudent, seasonable exerting and putting forth of the power in order to the attaining of these ends.
II. Prove that God governs the world.
1. The light of nature has discovered this. Even some among the heathen call God the Rector and Keeper of the world, the Soul arid Spirit of the world, and do expressly compare Him to the soul in the body, and to the master in a ship, who doth command, rule, direct, steer, and turn it what way and to what port He Himself thinks good.
2. Scripture is full of testimony to this effect (Job 5:9-13; Isa 14:5-7; Psa 34:16-17; Eph 1:11; Dan 4:34-35; Mat 10:29; Psa 103:19).
3. God has a most unquestionable right to order and govern the world.
4. For God to govern the world is no dishonour to Him. Is it possible that His doing so should render Him cheap to the children of men? Nay, is it not enough to commend Him to all wise and thinking persons, that He is so great a God as that He can extend His care to so many millions of objects, and so graciously condescending as to look after the lowest of the works of His hands?
5. God is abundant in mercy and goodness. He built this huge and stately fabric, and He furnished it with all its inhabitants, from the highest and most glorious angel to the meanest and most contemptible insect. And how can we possibly think otherwise, but that the pity and love which He hath for the works of His own hands will draw out His wisdom and power and care for the ruling and directing of them?
III. How our belief of Gods governing the world may support us in all worldly distractions.
1. God is most fit and accomplished for this great work. Men have unruly passions; they interfere in their several interests, and, while they are carrying them on, quarrel and jostle one another: and who but God can order all, and direct them to most noble and excellent ends? Who but God can take these several scattered shreds, and unite them together in one curious and amiable piece of workmanship? Who but God can take these jarring discords, and turn them into an admirable and delightful harmony?
2. Consider the extent of Gods governing providence. It reaches to–
(1) All creatures.
(2) All motions and actions.
(3) All issues and results of things both good and evil.
3. The properties of Gods government. He governs the world–
(1) Mysteriously.
(2) Wisely.
(3) Powerfully.
(4) Most righteously. (S. Slater, M.A.)
The Divine government
I. Some of the attributes of the Divine dominion.
1. It is a righteous dominion, and it is founded upon unquestionable right. Sovereignty alone, without these virtues, is often the greatest curse. Gods government is regulated by His moral perfections: these blend to form an administration absolutely perfect. Justice regulates it (Psa 97:2). Holiness (Psa 145:17). Faithfulness (Psa 36:5). Mercy (Psa 145:9).
2. The Divine government is universal. The extent surpasses our conceptions. The earth is but a fraction. Our system is but a speck.
3. The Divine government is directed to the greatest ends. The dominion of such a Being must be adapted to the worthiest purposes.
(1) The glory of the Governor.
(2) The happiness of His subjects.
II. The various responsibilities which devolve upon us in consequence of this character of the Divine government.
1. Joyful praise.
2. Cheerful obedience.
3. Unlimited confidence. Personal, national.
4. Look forward to the day of account. (Evangelical Preacher.)
The Divine government the joy of our world
Men are placed here to be formed by a proper education for another world, for another class, and other employments; but civil rulers cannot form them for these important ends, and therefore they must be under the government of one who has access to their spirits, and can manage them as he pleases. The Lord reigneth–
I. Upon a throne of legislation. Let the earth rejoice–
1. That God has clearly revealed His will to us, and not left us in inextricable perplexities about our duty to Him and mankind.
2. That Gods laws are suitably enforced with proper sanctions, such as become a God of infinite wisdom, almighty power, inexorable justice, untainted holiness, and unbounded goodness and grace, and such as are agreeable be the nature of reasonable creatures formed for an immortal duration. How happy is it to live under a government where virtue and religion, which in their own nature tend to our happiness, are enforced with such resistless arguments! On the other band, the penalty annexed by the Divine Lawgiver to disobedience is proportionably dreadful.
3. That the Divine laws reach the inner man, and have power upon the hearts and consciences of men.
II. By his providence.
1. Over the kingdoms of the earth.
2. Over the Church.
3. Over all contingencies that can befall individuals.
4. Over evil spirits. He keeps the infernal lions in chains, and restrains their rage. He sees all their subtle plots and machinations against tits feeble sheep, and baffles them all.
III. Upon a throne of grace. This is a kind of government peculiar to the human race; the upright angels do not need it, and the fallen angels are not favoured with it. This is invested in the person of immanuel (Eph 1:22; Mat 11:27; Mat 28:18). This is the kingdom described in such august language in Dan 2:44-45; Dan 7:14; Luk 1:32-33). To His throne of grace He invites all to come, and offers them the richest blessings. From thence He publishes peace on earth, and good will towards men. From thence He offers pardon to all that will submit to His government, and renounce their sins, those weapons of rebellion. From thence He distributes the influences of His Spirit to subdue obstinate hearts into cheerful submission, to support His subjects under every burden, and furnish them with strength for the spiritual warfare.
IV. The Lord will reign ere long upon a throne of universal judgment, conspicuous to the assembled universe.
1. In that day the present unequal distributions of Providence will be for ever adjusted, and regulated according to the strictest justice.
2. In that day the righteous shall be completely delivered from all sin and sorrow, and advanced to the perfection of heavenly happiness. (S. Davies, M.A.)
The Divine government matter o/ universal joy
I. The Divine government.
1. Gods right to govern the world must be original and inalienable.
2. God alone can uphold creatures in being.
3. The government of God is universal.
4. All second causes are under His direction and control.
II. The causes of rejoicing which this affords.
1. The benevolence of its design. When we consider the character of the God of love as opened in His Word, we are sure that His conduct is governed by an ultimate regard to the highest felicity and glory of His moral kingdom; whether He pardon transgressors, or make them feel His wrath in the present world, or exclude them from happiness in the next.
2. The certainty of its accomplishment. It is promoted by all events in providence; and will fill its enemies with confusion, and its friends with joy, in the day when all creatures shall appear at the bar of God, and His righteous judgment shall be revealed before the assembled worlds. (C. Backus, M.A.)
The fact and consequence of the Divine government
I. Visible evils call forth the expression of the psalmists faith. Some powerful form of evil had been judged and overthrown.
II. The fact concerning which the psalmist utters his conviction–that God reigns. God is overhead counteracting the shortsighted selfishness of the wicked. In the psalmists day, men looked on the idols of the heathen as wicked spirits, less powerful than the righteous Jehovah. We are too advanced to believe in the gods of other people. We can scarce believe in a devil, though that would be less awful than to be in the grasp of nature. It would have been some comfort could I have fancied myself tormented of the Devil, said Carlyle once. Those who think the universe a vast machine find it terrible to contemplate a fall amidst its ponderous wheels. Better a devil than a blind force. But Jehovah is a living God, and not hostile to us. Righteousness and judgment are the base of His throne. And He is a God of love.
III. The occasion herein for joy. It was this thought that inspired Handels Hallelujah Chorus. Hallelujah! for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth . . . King of kings, and Lord of lords. Hallelujah! And it is a glorious conviction to reach. Those who hold it may rejoice in the midst of injustice. Or while patiently doing deeds of unappreciated lovingkindness, they may, like the Saviour, have respect unto the recompense of reward. In the storms of life they may say, as did the happy child to the anxious passengers: My father is at the helm. And when Death knocks his dire summons at the door, since God reigns, they may remember that he is but a messenger from the courts of heaven. And when the Lord comes to judgment, and the wicked call upon the rocks and hills to hide them, the saints may shout for joy, since this God is their God for ever and ever. (G. M. Mackie, M. A.)
Jehovahs sovereignty
I. In the material world. What men call a law of nature is nothing else than God in action; it is infinite power carrying out the plans that infinite wisdom has devised. Is God then present as the presiding Deity? He is. The world proclaims it by its infinite variety; by its beauty and harmony of arrangement; by its constancy of succession. Yes, you say, we do not doubt that, but what of these disturbances, these irregularities? Sometimes our fruits are nipped by an early frost; our herds are swept away by disease, our fields wasted by the flood. What of these? Is there a providence in them? We must remember that the grand centre of the world is man; that all things are made for him. Vegetation blooms for him; minerals are stored in the hills for him; beasts graze in the fields for him, and around him the world revolves. But there is a soul as well as a body, and as the world ministers to the body and is in subjection to it, so in turn the body ministers to the soul and is in subjection to it. Here, then, come in the grander purposes of God. He is preparing a race of intelligent beings for Himself; and so what we call His natural government must be subject to His moral government. Man may transgress the Divine law, but that transgression must be punished; he may mistake, and that mistake, while it brings no guilt, may bring loss. It still may be infinite wisdom that sweeps away the promise of a harvest, for this temporal loss may be the one ingredient needed in order to bring spiritual gain.
II. In the political world. We judge of events from the low standpoint of expediency or of self-interest. When we sum up the results of the war we borrow the language of diplomacy, and tell of an indemnity at so much, and certain boundaries altered. But God cares not for these. They are but as trifles, motes in His vast heavens, so small they do not cast a shadow. We want to get up–up where God is; up where Infinite Wisdom looks down! Then shall we discern the harmony, and learn that in the grand march of nations the music is set to two keys only–Gods promises and Gods purposes!
III. In the individual life. Even those lives that run contrary to His will He checks and controls, and makes them subserve His own purposes; nor is there one life, however dissipated, however wild, but some time or other it gets into one of Gods sluices, and turns one of His thousand wheels. But when the heart is submitted to Him, He does more than control the life, He guides it and shapes it to His will. But how far does this intervention of Providence extend? Does He not leave us to follow our own judgment; and is not that judgment the only cloud we follow? Even granting that it is, still that judgment is influenced by Him, for The meek will He guide in judgment; the meek will He teach His way. Many a time when we fancy our decisions are merely the result of the exercise of common sense and ordinary prudence, God has been secretly influencing our minds to the choice. But then many of the actions of life are so insignificant, what can God have to do with them? He has worlds to look after, why should the little motes of my life cause Him any concern? We do wrong in thus thinking, in thus banishing God from what we call lifes trifles. What is our life made of? Of so many days. And what is each day made of? Of so many moments and so many little deeds. But what is a little action? I put a piece of bread in my mouth. A little thing you call that, you do it frequently. But stay. That crumb may choke me, may end my life, and leave all my plans undone. Is it a little thing now? I set my foot down upon the pavement. Ah, thats a little thing, you do it thousands of times a day. Yes, but I step upon some orange peel and slip. That fall gives me a broken limb, unfits me for some intended pursuit, and completely changes the current of my life. Is it a little thing now? And does not God mark these little events that fill up each day of my life when such vast interests may depend upon them? (H. Burton, B.A.)
The consolation of Gods sovereignty
I. The Kingdom of God on this earth.
1. Necessarily autocratic in its form.
2. Singular in its basis.
3. Universal in its range.
4. Profound in its reach.
5. A present, active, accessible power.
God is with us–not locally and geographically merely, but spiritually, sympathetically, practically, actively with us; controlling, cooperating, counteracting; directing, defeating, determining; making effectual or bringing to nothing the designs of the children of men. And we do well to go to Him, not trembling, as Esther to Ahasuerus, but with holy confidence in all times of personal, family, social, national necessities, to ask for His pity, to pray for His delivering power.
II. The consolation which the fact of Gods sovereignty gives to the good.
1. It is a consolation that the Evil One does not reign: that strong as are the forces of evil in this world, they are not supreme; that greater is He that works for righteousness than all they that work for sin and ruin; that our great adversary has himself an Adversary who is mightier than he; that though we may be in danger of being led captive at his will, he is under the control of the Omnipotent.
2. It is a consolation that mere force does not reign. All the forces that are at work are under law, and law is under the control of the Divine Law-maker; and He can act upon and control His own laws, touching links out of sight with His skilful hand, changing the aspect and the issue of things at His holy will and in accordance with His far-seeing wisdom, evolving the bright and the blessed out of the dark and the distressing.
3. It is a consolation that man does not reign. There have been times when the destinies of a continent have seemed to be in the hands of a Cyrus, a Caesar, a Napoleon; and now it may seem that very large issues hang on the decision of a few controlling minds in London, St. Petersburg, Berlin. Yet God can and will determine results, and He can overrule all events, either saving from calamity, or compelling disaster itself to yield peaceable fruits of righteousness.
4. We may all rejoice that we ourselves do not reign over our own lives. The Lord reigneth–the loving Lord, who wills the happiness of His children; the holy Lord, who wills their true and pure well-being; the wise Lord, who will not withhold any good thing, but will withhold that which seems to be so but is not; the mighty Lord, who can compel the saddest and strangest events to contribute to our well-being; the faithful Lord, who will make good the kindest of His promises–The Lord reigneth, and not we ourselves; let us rejoice and be glad. (W. Clarkson, B.A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
PSALM XCVII
The reign of Jehovah, its nature and blessedness, 1, 2.
He is fearful to the wicked, 3-4.
Idolaters shall be destroyed, 7.
The blessedness of the righteous, 8-12.
NOTES ON PSALM XCVII
This Psalm has no title either in the Hebrew or Chaldee; and in fourteen of Kennicott’s and De Rossi’s MSS. it is written as a part of the preceding. In the Vulgate it is thus entitled, Psalmus David, quando terra ejus restituta est. “A Psalm of David when his land was restored;” the meaning of which I suppose to be, after he had obtained possession of the kingdom of Israel and Judah, and became king over all the tribes; or perhaps, after he had gained possession of all those countries which were originally granted to the Israelites in the Divine promise. See 1Ch 18:1-2. The Septuagint is nearly to the same purpose, , “when his land was established:” so the AEthiopic and Arabic. The Syriac has, “A Psalm of David, in which he predicts the advent of Christ, (i.e., in the flesh,) and through it his last appearing, (i.e., to judgment.”) The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, Heb 1:6, quotes a part of the seventh verse of this Psalm, and applies it to Christ. Who the author was is uncertain: it is much in the spirit of David’s finest compositions; and yet many learned men suppose it was written to celebrate the Lord’s power and goodness in the restoration of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity.
Verse 1. The Lord reigneth] Here is a simple proposition, which is a self-evident axiom, and requires no proof: JEHOVAH is infinite and eternal; is possessed of unlimited power and unerring wisdom; as he is the Maker, so he must be the Governor, of all things. His authority is absolute, and his government therefore universal. In all places, on all occasions, and in all times, Jehovah reigns.
But this supreme King is not only called YEHOVAH, which signifies his infinite and eternal being, unlimited power, and unerring wisdom; and, as Creator, his universal government; but he is also ADONAI, the Director and Judge. He directs human actions by his word, Spirit, and Providence. Hence are his laws and revelation in general; for the governed should know their governor, and should be acquainted with his laws, and the reasons on which obedience is founded. As Adonai or Director, he shows them the difference between good and evil; and their duty to their God, their neighbours, and themselves: and he finally becomes the Judge of their actions. But as his law is holy, and his commandment holy, just, and good, and man is in a fallen, sinful state; hence he reveals himself as; ELOHIM, God, entering into a gracious covenant with mankind, to enlighten his darkness, and help his infirmities; that he may see what is just, and be able to do it. But as this will not cancel the sins already committed, hence the necessity of a Saviour, an atonement; and hence the incarnation, passion, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus. This is the provision made by the great God for the more effectual administration of his kingdom upon earth. Jehovah, Adonai, Elohim reigneth; et his animadversis, and these points considered, it is no wonder that the psalmist should add,
Let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad] The earth, the terraqueous globe; especially, here, the vast continents, over every part of which God’s dominion extends. But it is not confined to them; it takes in the islands of the sea; all the multitude of those islands, even to the smallest inhabited rock; which are as much the objects of his care, the number of their inhabitants considered, as the vastest continents on which are founded the mightiest empires. All this government springs from his holiness, righteousness, and benignity; and is exercised in what we call providence, from pro, for, before, and video, to see, which word is well defined and applied by CICERO: Providentia est, per quam futurism aliquid videtur, antequam factum sit. “Providence is that by which any thing future is seen before it takes place.” De Invent. c. 53. And, in reference to a Divine providence, he took up the general opinion, viz., Esse deos, et eorum providentia mundum administrari. De Divinat. c. 51, ad finem. “There are gods; and by their providence the affairs of the world are administered.”
This providence is not only general, taking in the earth and its inhabitants, en masse; giving and establishing laws by which all things shall be governed; but it is also particular; it takes in the multitudes of the isles, as well as the vast continents; the different species as well as the genera; the individual, as well as the family. As every whole is composed of its parts, without the smallest of which it could not be a whole; so all generals are composed of particulars. And by the particular providence of God, the general providence is formed; he takes care of each individual; and, consequently, he takes care of the whole. Therefore, on the particular providence of God, the general providence is built; and the general providence could not exist without the particular, any more than a whole could subsist independently of its parts. It is by this particular providence that God governs the multitude of the isles, notices the fall of a sparrow, bottles the tears of the mourner, and numbers the hairs of his followers. Now, as God is an infinitely wise and good Being, and governs the world in wisdom and goodness, the earth may well rejoice, and the multitude of the isles be glad.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The Lord reigneth; See Poole “Psa 96:10“.
The multitude of isles; the Gentile nations, as this word, being used Isa 42:4, is expounded Mat 12:21, even those which are most remote from Judea, (then the only seat of Gods people and worship,) from which they were divided by the sea, or to which they usually went by sea; such places being commonly called
isles in Scripture, as Gen 10:5; Isa 11:11; 66:19; which being mentioned, because there might be some doubt about them, it is sufficiently implied that those countries which were nearer to them should unquestionably partake of the same privilege.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1, 2. This dominion is a causeof joy, because, even though our minds are oppressed with terrorbefore the throne of the King of kings (Exo 19:16;Deu 5:22), we know it is based onrighteous principles and judgments which are according to truth.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The Lord reigneth,…. He has reigned, now reigns, will and must reign until all enemies are made his footstool;
[See comments on Ps 93:1],
[See comments on Ps 96:10],
let the earth rejoice: not the land of Judea only, and the inhabitants of it, to whom the King Messiah came; for there were but few among them that received him, and rejoiced at his coming; but the whole earth, the vast continent, as distinguished from the isles after mentioned, and they that dwell upon it; the Gentiles, who had a concern in his coming, in whom they were to be blessed, to whom they were to be gathered, and in whom they should find a glorious rest; and therefore he is called
the desire of all nations: the first preaching of the Gospel was occasion and matter of great joy to them; not only the blessings contained in it of peace, pardon, righteousness, and salvation by Christ; but the effects of it, delivering them from the dominion of Satan, the god of this world; and from superstition, and idolatry, with which they were enslaved; and the bringing them into the glorious liberty of the children of God:
let the multitude of isles be glad thereof; the isles of the sea are many, even many thousands: Columbus, when he first discovered America, sailing by Cuba westward, gave names, as he passed along, to seven hundred islands, leaving three thousand more without names r: Gejerus reports, from some writers, that an Indian king, in 1553, was converted to the Christian faith, that ruled over eleven thousand islands; and that in Maldivar there are reckoned to be sixteen thousand: well may the text speak of a multitude of them: or, “let the great islands”, c. such as ours of Great Britain and Ireland these isles are said to wait for Christ and his doctrine, Isa 42:4 and therefore must be glad to hear of his coming and kingdom: the Gospel was very early sent to the isles, as to Cyprus, Crete, c. see Ac 13:4 and to our northern isles likewise, who have great reason to be glad at its coming among us, continuance with us, and the success it has had and that it is yet in the midst of us for further usefulness; and that Christ reigns, and will reign evermore.
r P. Martyr. Decad. 1. l. 3.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
We have here nothing but echoes of the older literature: Psa 97:1, cf. Isa 42:10-12; Isa 51:5; Psa 97:2, cf. Psa 18:10, Psa 18:12; Psa 97:2 = Psa 89:15; Psa 97:3, cf. Psa 50:3; Psa 18:9; Psa 97:3, cf. Isa 42:25. Beginning with the visible coming of the kingdom of God in the present, with the poet takes his stand upon the standpoint of the kingdom which is come. With it also comes rich material for universal joy. is indicative, as in Psa 96:11 and frequently. are all, for all of them are in fact many (cf. Isa 52:15). The description of the theophany, for which the way is preparing in Psa 97:2, also reminds one of Hab. 3. God’s enshrouding Himself in darkness bears witness to His judicial earnestness. Because He comes as Judge, the basis of His royal throne and of His judgment-seat is also called to mind. His harbinger is fire, which consumes His adversaries on every side, as that which broke forth out of the pillar of cloud once consumed the Egyptians.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Righteousness and Glory of the Divine Government; Establishment of Christ’s Kingdom. | |
1 The LORD reigneth; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad thereof. 2 Clouds and darkness are round about him: righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne. 3 A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about. 4 His lightnings enlightened the world: the earth saw, and trembled. 5 The hills melted like wax at the presence of the LORD, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth. 6 The heavens declare his righteousness, and all the people see his glory. 7 Confounded be all they that serve graven images, that boast themselves of idols: worship him, all ye gods.
What was to be said among the heathen in the foregoing psalm (v. 10) is here said again (v. 1) and is made the subject of this psalm, and of psalm xcix. The Lord reigns; that is the great truth here laid down. The Lord Jehovah reigns, he that made the world governs it; he that gave being gives motion and power, gives law and commission, gives success and event. Every man’s judgment proceeds from the Lord, from his counsel and providence, and in all affairs, both public and private, he performs the thing which he himself has appointed. The Lord Jesus reigns; the providential kingdom is twisted in with the mediatorial and the administration of both is in the hand of Christ, who therefore is both the head of the church and head over all things to the church. The kingdom of Christ is so constituted that,
I. It may be matter of joy to all; and it will be so if it be not their own fault. Let the earth rejoice, for hereby it is established (Ps. xcvi. 10); it is honoured and enriched, and, in part, rescued from the vanity which by sin it is made subject to. Not only let the people of Israel rejoice in him as King of the Jews, and the daughter of Zion as her King, but let all the earth rejoice in his elevation; for the kingdoms of the world shall, more or less, sooner or later, become his kingdoms: Let the multitude of isles, the many or great isles, be glad thereof. This is applicable to our country, which is a great isle, and has many belonging to it; at least, it speaks comfort in general to the Gentiles, whose countries are called the isles of the Gentiles, Gen. x. 5. There is enough in Christ for the multitude of the isles to rejoice in; for, though many have been made happy in him, yet still there is room. All have reason to rejoice in Christ’s government. 1. In the equity of it. There is an incontestable justice in all the acts of his government, both legislative and judicial. Sometimes indeed clouds and darkness are round about him; his dispensations are altogether unaccountable; his way is in the sea and his path in the great waters. We are not aware of what he designs, what he drives at; nor is it fit that we should be let into the secrets of his government. There is a depth in his counsels, which we must not pretend to fathom. But still righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne; a golden thread of justice runs through the whole web of his administration. In this he resides, for it is his habitation. In this he rules, for it is the habitation of his throne. His commandments are, and will be, all righteous. Righteousness and judgment are the basis of his throne (so Dr. Hammond); for therefore his throne is for ever and ever, because his sceptre is a right sceptre, Ps. xlv. 6. The throne is established in righteousness. Even the heavens declare his righteousness (v. 6); it is as conspicuous and as illustrious as the heavens themselves. The angels of heaven will declare it, who are employed as messengers in the administration of his government and therefore know more of it than any of his creatures. His righteousness is incontestable; for who can contradict or dispute what the heavens declare? Ps. l. 6. 2. In the extent of it in the upper and lower world. (1.) All the men on earth are under his government; either he is served by them or he serves himself by them. All the people see his glory, or may see it. The glory of God, in the face of Christ, was made to shine in distant countries, among many people, more or less among all people; the gospel was preached, for aught we know, in all languages, Act 2:5; Act 2:11. Miracles were wrought in all nations, and so all the people saw his glory. Have they not heard? Rom. x. 18. (2.) All the angels in heaven are so. Perhaps we should not have found this truth in those words (v. 7), Worship him, all you gods, if we had not been directed to it by the inspired apostle, who, from the Septuagint version of those words, makes the Messiah to be introduced into the upper world at the ascension with this charge (Heb. i. 6), Let all the angels of God worship him, which helps us to a key to this whole psalm, and shows us that it must be applied to the exalted Redeemer, who has gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God, which intimates that all power is given him both in heaven and earth, angels, authorities, and powers, being made subject unto him, 1 Pet. iii. 22. This speaks the honour of Christ, that he has such worshippers, and the honour of all good Christians, that they have such fellow-worshippers.
II. Christ’s government, though it may be matter of joy to all, will yet be matter of terror to some, and it is their own fault that it is so, Psa 97:3-5; Psa 97:7. Observe,
1. When the kingdom of Christ was to be set up in the world, after his ascension, it would meet with many enemies, and much opposition would be given to it. He that reigns, to the joy of the whole earth, yet, as he has his subjects, so he has his enemies (v. 3), that not only will not have him to reign over them, but would not have him to reign at all, that not only will not enter into the kingdom of heaven themselves, but do all they can to hinder those that are entering, Matt. xxiii. 13. This was fulfilled in the enmity of the unbelieving Jews to the gospel of Christ, and the violent persecution which in all places they stirred up against the preachers and professors of it. These enemies are here called hills (v. 5), for their height, and strength, and immovable obstinacy. It was the princes of this world that crucified the Lord of glory,1Co 2:8; Psa 2:2.
2. The opposition which the Jews gave to the setting up of Christ’s kingdom turned to their own ruin. Their persecuting the apostles, and forbidding them to speak to the Gentiles, filled up their sin, and brought wrath upon them to the uttermost,1Th 2:15; 1Th 2:16. That wrath is here compared, (1.) To consuming fire, which goes before him, and burns up his enemies, that have made themselves like chaff and stubble, and have set the briers and thorns before him in battle, Isa. xxvii. 4. This fire of divine wrath will not only burn the rubbish upon the hills, but will even melt the hills themselves like wax, v. 5. When our God appears as a consuming fire even rocks will be wax before him. The most resolute and daring opposition will be baffled at the presence of the Lord. His very presence is enough to shame and sink it, for he is the Lord of the whole earth, by whom all the children of men are manageable and to whom they are accountable. Men hate and persecute God’s people, because they think him absent, that the Lord has forsaken the earth; but, when he manifests his presence, they melt. (2.) To amazing lightnings (v. 4), which strike a terror upon many. The judgments God brought upon the enemies of Christ’s kingdom were such as all the world took notice of with terror: The earth saw and trembled, and the ears of all that heard were made to tingle. This was fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish nation by the Romans, about forty years after Christ’s resurrection, which, like fire, wholly destroyed that people, and, like lightning, astonished all their neighbours (Deut. xxix. 24); but the heavens declare God’s righteousness in it, and all the people, to this day, see his glory, in those lasting monuments of his justice, the scattered Jews.
3. Idolaters also would be put to confusion by the setting up of Christ’s kingdom (v. 7): Confounded be all those who serve graven images, the Gentile world, who did service to those that by nature are no gods (Gal. iv. 8), who boasted themselves of idols as their protectors and benefactors. Did those that served idols boast of them, and shall the servants of the living God distrust him, or be ashamed of him? Let those be ashamed that serve graven images. (1.) This is a prayer for the conversion of the Gentiles, that those who have been so long serving dumb idols may be convinced of their error, ashamed of their folly, and may, by the power of Christ’s gospel, be brought to serve the only living and true God, and may be as much ashamed of their idols as ever they were proud of them. See Isa 2:20; Isa 2:21. (2.) This is a prophecy of the ruin of those that would not be reformed and reclaimed from their idolatry; they shall be confounded by the destruction of Paganism in the Roman empire, which was fulfilled about 300 years after Christ, so much to the terror of idolaters that some think it was the revolution under Constantine that made even the mighty men say to the rocks, Fall on us and hide us,Rev 6:15; Rev 6:16. This prayer and prophecy are still in force against antichristian idolaters, who may here read their doom: Confounded be all those that worship graven images, v. 7. See Jer. xlviii. 13.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Psalms 97
The Lord Reigneth
Scripture v. 1-12:
Verse 1 announces that the Lord reigneth, which calls for the earth to rejoice and all the maritime regions, coastlines of the world, to be glad at His coming, Luk 1:32-33; Isa 60:9.
Verse 2 states that clouds and darkness are round about the Lord and righteousness and judgment are the habitation (basis of establishment) of His throne; This is drawn from David’s Psa 18:9; Psa 18:11; which rests on the lightning, thunder, and dark clouds that accompanied the giving of the Law, Exo 19:16; Exo 19:18; Deu 5:22; 2Th 1:7-9; Psa 89:14.
Verses 3-5 add that a fire of His flaming wrath precedes Him, burning or consuming His enemies, Psa 18:8; Psa 18:1. In this it is related that His lightnings enlightened the world, so that the earth, her people, saw and trembled; And the hills melted like wax at the appearance and in the presence of the Lord-Superior of all the earth, as related Exo 20:21; Exo 24:16; 1Ki 8:10; 1Ki 8:12; Psa 18:11-12; Psa 77:19; Dan 7:10; Hab 3:5. See also Mic 1:4; Mic 4:13; 1Pe 4:17.
Verse 6 declares that the heavens declare his righteousness, all the people observe his glory, as when fire and brimstone fell on Sodom, Gen 19:24; Isa 40:5; See too Psa 19:1-4.
Verse 7 announces that all shall be confounded (brought to vanity) who serve graven images, lifeless idols, who boast themselves of their idols, as described Exo 20:4; Lev 26:1; Isa 37:18-19; Isa 41:29; Jer 10:14. Then all the “gods” rulers of the people, Exo 22:28, are called to worship the reigning Messiah-King, Heb 1:9; 1Co 15:24-25; Php_2:9.
Verse 8 relates that, “Zion heard and was glad” of God’s righteous judgments, v. 3, while the idol worshippers were confounded, v. 7; Rev 15:3-4; Psa 48:11. It is added that the daughters of Judah also rejoiced because of the righteous judgment of the Lord; So shall it be hereafter, Php_2:9-11; Rom 2:16.
Verse 9 declares “For thou Lord art high (exalted) above all of the earth; thou dost exist exalted far, above all gods,” who are rulers of the people, and above the deaf, dumb, blind, lifeless idols, Psa 95:3; Psalms 94; Psalms 4; Psa 115:4-9; Exo 18:11.
Verse 10 addresses those who love the Lord, charging them to hate evil; For the Lord “preserveth the . souls of his saints;” he continually liberates them from the hand of the wicked, giving them His security, Psa 31:23; Psa 37:28; Psa 145:20; Pro 2:8. In spite of the seeming prosperity of the wicked, it is the soul of the saint (true worshipper and servant of God) that is preserved, Psa 34:13-14; Rom 12:9; 2Ti 2:19; Joh 10:28-29; 1Jn 5:13. In Him is security, Joh 5:24. See also 1Sa 2:9; Dan 3:28; Dan 6:27, which declare that the Lord delivers them out of and away from the hand of the wicked.
Verse 11 states that “light is sown for the righteous,” much as seed is scattered abroad, as the sun sows abroad his beams. Gods light is ever given to the righteous, who study His word; and each is blessed who bears it to others, Psa 119:105; Psa 119:130; Mat 5:15-16.
Verse 12 concludes by calling the righteous to rejoice and give thanks at the remembrance or recall of the holiness of God, which He has given to every believer, thru faith in Jesus Christ, His Son, 2Co 5:21; Psa 32:11; Psa 30:4. Our thanksgiving for His salvation and goodness should be a continual memorial to Him, 2Co 9:15.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
1 Jehovah reigns His inviting men to rejoice, is a proof that the reign of God is inseparably connected with the salvation and best happiness of mankind. And, the joy he speaks of being common to the whole world and to the regions beyond the seas, it is evident that he predicts the enlargement of God’s kingdom, which had been confined within the narrow boundaries of Judea, to a far wider extent. The Psalmist, in setting forth the various particulars of the Divine glory in the four verses which follow, would seek to impress all men with a reverential fear of him. Thus he gives us a representation of the formidable majesty attaching to God, that he may dash and humble vain confidence and carnal pride. A cloudy sky overawes us more than a clear one, as the darkness produces a peculiar effect upon the senses. The Psalmist makes use of this symbol, no doubt, to impress the world with the greater reverence of God. Others refine more upon the words, and think that clouds are said to be round about God, to check human rashness and presumption, and restrain that excessive curiosity which would pry more than is fit into the mysteries of Godhead. This is an interpretation of the words which makes them convey a very useful lesson; but I am against all refined renderings, and think that the Psalmist intended in associating darkness with God, to impress the hearts of men with a fear of him in general. (97) The same meaning is brought out in the remaining context, when fire is said to go before him, and burn up his enemies, his lightnings to shake the earth, and the mountains to flow down. Should any object that this does not agree with what was said of the joy which his kingdom diffuses, I might answer, first, that although God is ready on his part to diffuse blessedness wherever he reigns, all are not capable of appreciating it. Besides, as I have already hinted, the truth is one of use to believers, humbling the pride of the flesh, and deepening their adoration of God. God’s throne is represented as founded in justice and judgment, to denote the benefit which we derive from it. The greatest misery which can be conceived of, is that of living without righteousness and judgment, and the Psalmist mentions it as matter of praise exclusively due to God, that when he reigns, righteousness revives in the world. He as evidently denies that we can have any righteousness, till God subjects us to the yoke of his word, by the gentle but powerful influences of his Spirit. A great proportion of men obstinately resist and reject the government of God. Hence the Psalmist was forced to exhibit God in his severer aspect, to teach the wicked that their perverse opposition will not pass unpunished. When God draws near to men in mercy, and they fail to welcome him with becoming reverence and respect, this implies impiety of a very aggravated description; on which account it is that the language of denunciation suits with the kingdom of Christ. The Psalmist intimates that those who should despise God in the person of his only-begotten Son, will feel in due time and certainly the awful weight of his majesty. So much is implied in the expression used — The earth Shall See. For the wicked, when they find that their attempts are vain in fighting against God, resort to subterfuge and concealment. The Psalmist declares that they would not succeed by any such vain artifice in hiding themselves from God.
(97) “ Que le Prophete a voulu par ce regard obscur de Dieu, toucher au vif les coeurs des hommes, afin qu’ils tremblent.” — Fr.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
INTRODUCTION
This is another of the series of Psalms which celebrate the advent of Jehovah as King. There are seven in the series, the ninety-third being the first, and the hundredth the last. The ninety-fourth is not one of the series. We know neither the author by whom, nor the occasion on which, this Psalm was composed. The series may have been composed with reference to the same occasion, and may have been designed to be used together. They are similar in their contents and structure; and they refer to the same thingthe sovereignty or the supremacy of God. This one may be taken as presenting two themes for Homiletic treatment,The Features and Effects of the Kings Advent, Psa. 97:1-9; and The Character, Privileges, and Duties of the Kings Subjects, Psa. 97:10-12.
THE FEATURES AND EFFECTS OF THE KINGS ADVENT
(Psa. 97:1-9)
Let us notice
I. The features of the Kings advent. The description of the coming of the King is full of poetic grandeur. It represents His advent as characterised by
1. Awful Majesty. Clouds and darkness are round about Him. A fire goeth before Him, &c., Psa. 97:2-5. The images in these verses are suggested by the theophany at the giving of the law on Sinai. God is often represented in the Holy Word as coming with clouds and fire, and inspiring the world with awe and dread. Psa. 18:7-15; Psa. 1:1-6; Hab. 3:3-16. The object of these representations is to set forth the greatness, and sublimity, and glory of God. Moreover, the awful phenomena which accompanied the giving of the law were designed to deeply impress the people with the august and glorious presence of the Divine Lawgiver and Judge. So the coming of the Lord to reign and judge in the world will be with such majesty and glory, that the most exalted amongst men will be as nothing in His presence, and holy awe or unspeakable fear will fill mens hearts.
2. Widest conspicuousness. All the people see His glory. The glory of the Lord here is the revelation of His being and character through His works of righteousness and grace. The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
3. Perfect righteousness. Righteousness and judgment are the habitation of His throne. The heavens declare His righteousness. Righteousness is here represented
(1) As the basis of His government. It is the establishment, or foundation of His throne. This affords a guarantee of the stability and permanence of His rule. (See remarks on Psa. 89:14.)
(2) As clearly manifested. The heavens declare it. It is as conspicuous and illustrious as the heavens themselves. (See remarks on Psa. 50:6.) The advent of the King will be in righteousness, with the utmost conspicuousness, and with awful majesty.
The Lord shall come! the earth shall quake;
The mountains to their centre shake;
And, withering from the vault of night,
The stars withdraw their feeble light.
The Lord shall come! a glorious form,
With wreath of flame and robe of storm,
On cherub wings, and wings of wind,
Appointed Judge of all mankind.Heber.
II. The effects of the Kings advent. The Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice, &c. The effects of the reign of Jehovah differ in different classes of character.
1. It should occasion joy to all. Let the earth rejoice, let the multitude of the isles be glad. It should be a source of inexpressible gladness to all men that the world is not anarchic; that it is not ruled by Satan, or by heartless fate, or by blind physical forces and laws, but by the Lord. He rules all things in perfect righteousness and wisdom and goodness. Rejoice; for the Supremely Good is the Supreme King.
2. It does occasion
(1) Destruction to His foes. A fire goeth before Him, and burneth up His enemies round about. When He comes to judge and reign He will destroy all His foes. He will put down all opposition. Men must either bow to His sceptre, or be slain by His sword.
(2) Confusion to idolaters. Confounded be all they that serve graven images, &c. Perowne and Hengstenberg translate,Ashamed. It is a shame, says the former, arising from the discovery of the utter vanity and nothingness of the objects of their trust. They boast in nonentities and serve mere images; and when the Lord cometh to judge and reign in the earth, they will discover to their shame and confusion the utter powerlessness and worthlessness of these idols. In that solemn day, many will find their godsthose things on which their hearts are setto be mere idols, shams, and mockeries.
(3) Gladness to His people. Zion heard, and was glad, &c. The people of God rejoice, because of the utter abolition of idols, and the supremacy of Jehovah. Some expositors think that the daughters of Judah are introduced here, because of a custom familiar in Judea, of forming choral bands of maidens after a victory or some happy circumstance. (See Exo. 15:20-21; 1Sa. 18:6-7.) But the designation seems to us to denote the smaller cities of Judah, that surrounded Jerusalem as the mother city. So that Zion and the daughters of Judah represent the whole of Judah. All the people of the Lord rejoice in His coming to reign. Two reasons are assigned for their joy. His judgments. Rejoiced because of Thy judgments. (See remarks on Psa. 48:11.) His supremacy. For Thou, Lord, art high above all the earth, &c. (See remarks on Psa. 95:3.)
CONCLUSION.What to us will be the effect of the coming of the Lord as King and Judge?
When Thou, my righteous Judge, shalt come,
To fetch Thy ransomed people home,
Shall I among them stand!
THE REIGN OF GOD
Psa. 97:1. The Lord reigneth; let the earth rejoice.
The text calls us to consider
I. The subjects of the Divine government. Everything that God has made is subject to His government. The universe of matter; and all the beings, rational and animal, which He has caused to inhabit it. This great work of sustaining and directing all nature is called His natural government. By virtue of this government the powers of nature are made instruments in the conduct of His moral government, for the reward or punishment of His creatures.
The moral government of God is that which is principally contemplated in the text; and by this is meant the direction and control which He exercises over moral agents, over every rational being. The circumstances of trial in which He places them, the assistance He affords them, and the rewards or punishments He assigns them, are all comprehended in this. Angels are under this government. The earth is the great theatre of their exertions, they are put under Christ, and are employed both in judgment and mercy. Devils are under the moral government of God. They are not finally judged, but suffered to mix with human kind. Heaven and hell struggle for the soul of man. Between these orders of beings is man, to whom the Divine government seems to stand in a special relation; and principally for this reason, that he is the subject of redemption. The earth is the great theatre chosen for the display of the Divine perfections in a course of moral government. Here the grand struggle of adverse powers and principles takes place, &c. The human race, as subject to the Divine government, are to be considered as distributed into nations, and as individuals. Nations are under a peculiar kind of government. They are considered as having a kind of unity as collective bodies. They have their rewards and punishments in this life. The sins of one generation are visited upon another. Yet nations are not governed by a rigid law of works; for Christ is an intercessor for them. The good pray and prevail in behalf of the wicked. Individuals are also under the Divine government. Every man must give an account of himself to God. Offers of mercy are made to him. Rules of conduct assigned. Retribution annexed to conduct. (Rom. 2:6-11.) Men are under direction and influence, as well as control.
II. Certain characters which mark His administration.
1. It is sovereign and uncontrolled. Dan. 4:35; Dan. 5:21. This gives certainty to the Divine government, and makes it the hope and joy of good men.
2. It interferes not with human liberty. We are so free from constraint, that our actions are properly our own. We have the freedom of moral agents. We feel that we are free.
3. It is a mediatorial government. It is in the hands of Jesus, the Mediator between God and man; and it is exercised specially with reference to the great end of His mediatorial office, the redemption of man, and the reconciling of the world to Himself.
III. The demand which is made upon our grateful joy.
Let the earth be glad.
1. As Christians, we shall rejoice with holy joy, not with vain mirth. God will be sanctified in His worshippers.
2. We should rejoice, too, with trembling. Much is given to us, and much is required.
3. If we are individually interested in Him that reigneth, we may well rejoice; for all the perfections of the Godhead art engaged in our behalf.R. Watson.Abridged.
GODS WAYS, THOUGH OFTEN INSCRUTABLE, ARE RIGHTEOUS AND JUST
(Psa. 97:2)
Two propositions are contained in this text.
I. Clouds and darkness are round about God. The appearances of God to the saints in old times are the origin of the figure in the text. These appearances were all accompanied with clouds and darkness. Exo. 14:19-20; Exo. 19:16; Exo. 19:18; Exo. 19:20; 1Ki. 8:10-11; Mat. 17:5; 2Pe. 1:17. Clouds are emblems of obscurity; darkness of distress. The works of Gods providence are often obscure and productive of distress to mankind, though righteousness and judgment are, &c. In the affairs of nations we see the interference of Divine Providence; yet it is surrounded with clouds and darkness. So it is also in instances of a smaller kind; it is thus in the removal of the most eminent, holy, and useful characters, that while we acknowledge the hand of God, we say clouds and darkness are round about Him. If we look into the book of history we shall perceive much disorder in earthly scenes, much confusion in the affairs of men; and was this to be expected from a God of order and wisdom? Again, look at Christianity. How little has been done by it compared with what might have been anticipated from its Divine principles, the character of its Author, and from the interest it possesses in the heart of God! Paganism yet strikes deep its roots in various lands. Even in Christendom, how little have the known and blessed effects of the Gospel been manifested! Where genuine Christianity is taught, how small, how slow, has been its progress; how few converted to God! &c And persons of real piety give way to prejudice and party zeal, which prevent, in a great measure, the operation and effect of pure Christianity. A great part of the world is no better than if Christ had never come to save mankind, and the Gospel had never been proclaimed. Clouds and darkness are round about Him.
II. Righteousness and Judgment are the habitation of His throne. Righteousness is an essential perfection of the Divine Being. If there had been no creatures for Him to govern, He would have had an unchangeable and invincible love of rectitude. Judgment is the application of the principle of righteousness in His government of His creatures and their actions; it is a development of His rectitude in the management of the affairs of His great empire. The throne of God is built and stands firm upon these principles; they are the place, the basis, and the foundation of His throne. Though much obscurity must necessarily envelope the government of an infinite mind, yet some considerations may be suggested, which will serve to quell all our anxieties, and afford us repose under all the darkness, beneath His protecting power, His all-directing wisdom, and His paternal goodness.
1. The dispensations of God towards man are regulated by the consideration of his being a fallen and disordered creature. This must be kept in view to account for the severities in the Divine dealings with him. Yet, notwithstanding the severities of God, there are mixtures of mercy which we have reason to admire.
2. The Divine Being was not bound in justice, either to prevent the disordered state of man, or to correct it when it had taken place. From what we know of the nature of God and of man, it may be safely affirmed that it cannot be required of the Divine Governor to secure the obedience of His creatures any further than the law, as a motive, is calculated to have an effect upon rational minds.
3. The whole of those evils that form clouds and darkness round about God, are either the penal or natural effect of moral evil.
4. Those that receive the grace of Jesus Christ are still in such a situation as renders a great part of their trials and miseries necessary. Many of the evils of a depraved nature still remain, and need to be subdued and removed. Besides, the virtues and excellencies must be perfected in the same way in which the Captain of our salvation was perfected: he must be conformed to Christ, and have fellowship with Him in His sufferings.
5. The moral evils of man, and the depravity of human nature, are often, in a great measure, corrected and subdued by the natural evils of life, which thus are made the means of conducting to repentance, reformation, and happiness. Our light affliction may work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look, &c. (2Co. 4:17-18).
6. The light of prophecy dispels many of those clouds which would otherwise obscure, for the present, the government and the throne of the Deity.R. Hall.Abridged.
THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST
(Psa. 97:6-9)
From the Epistle to the Hebrews we find that this Psalm is a prophetical description of the Messiah; and from that application of it we deduce two important truths concerning the Christ; one, respecting the dignity of His person, the first begotten; the other, His glorious exaltation as Messiah. It is to this latter truth that we shall now confine our attention.
I. The interesting fact to which the prophecy refers.
The Psalm is introduced with a celebration of the government of Jehovah. The Lord reigneth. The Psalmist refers to the government of Him who is God manifest in the flesh, and who is received up into glory. His appearing in our world was a veiling of His glory. His resurrection was a reappearing in glory; in His ascension He exhibited the dignity of His Godhead; and on entering heaven He sat down on the throne of His Father, to administer the affairs of that kingdom which He had now established, the duration of which is to have no end.
1. In the exaltation of Christ we have abundant proof of the acceptance of His sacrifice, and that it answered all the important purposes for which it was designed. His death was sacrificial; that sacrifice was expiatory in its nature, and was accepted by the Father. He is exalted, but it is as a sacrificeas High Priestas Mediatoras a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance and remission of sins.
2. Christ by His exaltation is invested with mediatorial power and dominion. In Php. 2:6-11, you have a proper view of the dominion of Christ. It is mediatorial dominion. All things are put under Him; there is not a creature in the whole range of being who does not yield a willing or an unwilling, a conscious or an unconscious, homage to Him. He employs all things to accomplish the purposes of His mercy. To the salvation of men He subordinates everything, human affairs, opposition of devils, ministry of angels, the whole universe!
II. The important events flowing from the accomplishment of this prophecy.
1. The Revelation of Messiahs righteousness. The heavens literally attested Christs righteousness in the voice from heaven at His baptism, and when He appealed to His Father, saying, Father, glorify Thy Son. The Gospel, which is from heaven, displays the righteousness of Christ.
2. The manifestation of His glory, mercy and truth here meet together. To Christ belongs the glory of revealing the Father to the world; of opening a new way of access to God; of peopling heaven with new and holy inhabitants.
3. The conversion of idolaters. Confounded be all they, &c. This is not a malediction, but a prediction of the overthrow of idolatry by the Gospel. Let this light be diffused, and darkness cannot remain.
4. The presentation of universal homage. Worship Him all ye gods. The apostle quotes from the LXX., Let all the angels of God worship Him. Christ shall receive the homage of adoring multitudes. Rev. 7:9-12.
5. The joyous exultation of the Church. Zion heard, and was glad, &c. The triumphs of Christ are the glory and the joy of the Church. When He shall have subdued the nations, then the whole host of the redeemed, with all the ranks of angels, will burst forth in one loud, prolonged, eternal song: Hallelujah! the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.L. Abridged from Sketches of Sermons.
THE CHARACTER, PRIVILEGES, AND DUTY OF THE KINGS SUBJECTS
(Psa. 97:10-12)
The Poet here brings into view
I. The Character of the Kings subjects.
1. They are sincere and upright. The righteous, the upright in heart. There is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not. There is none righteous, The Psalmist clearly means the upright, the sincere and single-hearted. Not the upright in profession, but the upright in heart.
2. They are devout. His saints. The idea of the word is not holiness, but piety. The pious, God-worshipping. The subjects of the Lord add piety to sincerity. They are devout as well as true.
3. They love the Lord. Love to God is with them not obedience to a command; but a holy privilege, a deep and divine joy. They are loyal-hearted subjects of Jehovah. They obey the King because they love Him. Are these features of character found in us?
II. The privileges of the Kings subjects.
1. Preservation from evil. He preserveth the souls of His saints. He guards their lives. They are immortal till their work be done, and His plan in their life be fully developed. He preserves them also from sin, from apostacy, and from despair even under the severest trials.
2. Deliverance from enemies. He delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked. The Lord frequently baffles the designs of evil men against His people. He will not allow their enemies to do them any real harm; and ultimately He will triumphantly deliver them out of their power.
3. Bestowal of gladness. Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart. Light is synonymous with joy. To be sown is to be scattered abroad, the point of the comparison being only the richness of the gift.Hengstenberg. So Perowne takes the verb sown in the sense of scattered, diffused. And Venema: Light is said to be scattered when the rising sun spreads his rays in every direction.
Now morn, her rosy steps in th eastern clime
Advancing, sowd the earth with orient pearl.Milton.
Sometimes through secular instruments, says Beecher, God makes us joyful, for He employs the whole world to work out His purposes; but sometimes, by simply breathing upon the spirit of His people, He makes them joyful. You cannot tell why you are so musical at times. On some days you are full of music. There are some hours that seem radiant above all other hours, when you are lifted up above the ordinary pattern of joy. And when these appear among Gods people, it is not an unfair thing to infer that they are signs and manifestations of Christs presence with them. Again: There are joys which long to be ours. God sends ten thousand truths, which come about us like birds seeking inlet; but we are shut up to them, and so they bring us nothing, but sit and sing awhile upon the roof, and then flee away. Let us open hand and heart for the reception and enjoyment of our privileges.
III. The duty of the Kings subjects.
1. To hate evil. Ye that love the Lord, hate evil. Love to God must be manifested in holiness of life and hatred of evil. Love to God and the love of sin, or even tolerance of sin, are incompatible. Sin is the abominable thing which He hates.
2. To thankfully rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous, &c. We have here:
(1) Rejoicing in the Lord. Not in gaiety, riches, honours, &c.; but in the Lord,in His grace, in His friendship, in His perfections, in Himself. He is the wisest, the holiest, the most generous of beings.
(2) Rejoicing thankfully. Give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness. Hengstenberg: Praise His holy memorial. Perowne: Give thanks to His holy name. The holiness of the Divine Being should command our adoring and grateful praise.
(3) Rejoicing as a duty. Php. 3:1; Php. 4:4. Joy in the Holy Ghost is one of the fruits of the Spirit. By our rejoicing we honour God, and commend His religion to men. Let us regard this devout rejoicing as both our duty and our privilege.
THE CHARACTER AND PORTION OF GODS PEOPLE
(Psa. 97:10-11)
Walk through the Old Testament with the light of the New. This whole Psalm is a prophecy of Christ. The excellency and glory of His kingdomthe character and blessedness of His people.
I. The character or description of Gods people.
1. They are the righteous. A general term, a righteous God will have a righteous people. Equally true in the sense of perfection and sinlessness, that there is none righteous, no, not one; but as contrasted with the wicked, they are righteous, and to be thus distinguished.
2. They are His saints. His sanctified ones, set apart, dedicated to Him. A term of reproach in the world, to be a saint is to be a hypocrite, in the cant of fashion, but it is the highest style of man. His saints, His own chosen ones, loved from the foundation of the world, called, converted, &c. Made holy, sanctified by the Spirit, &c. Saint is a term not peculiar to the servants of God of the Old and New Testament, but a definition of every one who is in a state of salvation.
3. They are upright in heart. Christian integrity, how excellent! The world affects it, talks much of honour, virtue, justice, high-mindednessa shallow blustering spirit;and one of their own has said, Every man has his price. But the Christian is upright in heart, in his inner man, simplicity, self-denying integrity, which seeks not mans applause, resisting temptation, strong in the grace of God.
4. They love the Lord. Love, glowing, tender, pure, as the love of Godwhence it springscasting out fear, terror, and everything that separates from a loving Father, this is the love of believers. (Mat. 22:36-38; Rom. 13:10.) They love God, and therefore love His people, His house, His Sabbath, His Word, and all His ordinances.
5. They hate evil. This follows of moral necessity, they who love must hate; if they love God they must hate evil, because they cannot serve two masters so different from each other (Mat. 6:24). In proportion as they love the one they will hate the other (Rom. 12:9). Sin is the enemy which disturbs their peace, stops their mouth in prayer (Psa. 66:18), separates from God; so they must ever hate it.
II. The blessed portion of such people. This is indicated by their very titles. But there are special blessings here.
1. He preserveth the souls of His saints. Not to the exclusion of their bodies, which are His care in this world, the temples of His Spirit, and in death they sleep in hope of His resurrection and final glory; but, because the soul is the nobler part, He preserveth them.
This implies danger, many perils here to the soul. It implies that they cannot preserve their own souls with all care, vigilance, prayer, faith, lovethe soul is a helpless thing without God.
Many precious promises to this effect. (See Psa. 23:3; Joh. 17:11; 2Ti. 1:12; 2Ti. 4:17-18; 1Pe. 1:5.)
2. He delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked. This implies that they are surrounded by the wicked, and as it were in their handsand so they are. Satan, as a roaring lion, seeks to devour them, desires to have them and sift them, or he ensnares them with his wiles and devices, he puts evil into their hearts, and leads them astray. His people, too, the children of the wicked one, do his work on earth by persecuting His people, tempting them to sin, putting the bottle to them, and suggesting pollution, and then, if they succeed, they mock them as the devils do!
He delivereth them out of their hands. That is enough. God looks on, He sees all, He restrains the wrath of the wicked, He makes a way by which His people escape. (See Psalms 124)
3. Their final blessedness: Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart. Beautiful figure! this life is often a time of darkness, but it is the seed-time of light. When the believer is sowing dark tears, sighs, sorrows, trials, temptations, all is cheerless; but these are seeds of light. Light is sown for him, it will come up, it will shine forth by and by, it may be a long winter, and a backward spring, and even harvest time may be cheerless, but it will come at last! (See Psa. 30:5, and Joh. 16:20-22.)
If you would have the believers portion, you must bear the believers character. Study these definitions of the people of the Lord, rest not until you can appropriate them, and then all things are yours.F. Close, D. D.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Psalms 92-97
DESCRIPTIVE TITLE
A Service of Song for a Sabbath Day.
ANALYSIS
Psalms 92 : Personal SongProbably by a King.
Psalms 93 : Jehovah Proclaimed King.
Psalms 94 : Prayer for Vengeance on the Lawless.
Psalms 95 : InvitationO Come! Come in! Warning: Harden not your Hearts!
Psalms 96 : The Land called upon to Sing to Jehovah, and to Proclaim his Kingship to the Nations.
Psalms 97 : Third ProclamationDecisive Results, by way of Joy, Fear. Conviction, Shame, Homage, Thanks, Exhortation and Triumph.
Psalms 92
(Lm.) PsalmSongFor the Sabbath-day.
1
It is good to give thanks to Jehovah,
and to make melody[291] unto thy name O Most High!
[291] Or: to sweep the strings.
2
To declare in the morning thy kindness,
and thy faithfulness in the nights:[292]
[292] So Dr.; night-seasonsDel.; dark night(plural of intensification)Br.
3
With an instrument of ten strings and with a lute,[293]
[293] Ml.: with ten and with a lute.
with murmuring music[294] on a lyre.
[294] with murmuring soundDr.; with skilful musicDel.
4
For thou hast made me glad Jehovah by thy doings,
in the works of thy hands will I ring out my joy.
5
How great have grown thy works Jehovah!
how very deep have been laid thy plans!
6
A man that is brutish cannot get to know,
and a dullard cannot understand this:
7
When the lawless bud like herbage,
and all the workers of iniquity have blossomed
It leadeth to their being destroyed for ever.
8
But thou art on high[295] to the ages O Jehovah!
[295] Ml.: a height. ExaltednessDel.
9
For lo! thine enemies Jehovah,
For lo! thine enemies shall perish,
scattered abroad shall be all the workers of iniquity.[296]
[296] Or: mischief (naughtinessDr.). Cp. Psa. 94:4; Psa. 94:16; Psa. 94:23.
10
But thou wilt uplift like those of a wild ox my horn,
I am anointed[297] with fresh oil;
[297] The passage is doubtfulO.G.
11
And mine eye shall gaze on my watchful foes,
of them that rise up against me as evil-doers mine ears shall hear,
12
The righteous like the palm-tree shall bud,
like a cedar in Lebanon become great.
13
Transplanted into the house of Jehovah
in the courts of our God shall they shew buds.
14
Still shall they bear fruit in old age,
full of sap and of bloom shall they be:
15
To declare that upright is Jehovah,
my Rock with no injustice in him.
(Nm.)
Psalms 93
(Nm.)
1
Jehovah hath become king[298]in majesty hath he clothed himself,
[298] Is now kingDel. Hath proclaimed himself kingKp. The same 1Ch. 16:31; Psa. 47:8; Psa. 96:10; Psa. 97:1; Psa. 99:1; Isa. 24:23; Isa. 52:7.
Jehovah hath clothed himselfwith strength hath he girded himself:
surely he hath adjusted[299] the worldit shall not be shaken.
[299] So it shd. be (w. Aram., Sep., Syr., Vul.)Gn.
2
Established is thy throne from of old,[300]
[300] Ml.: from then.
from age-past time art thou.
3
The streams have lifted up O Jehovah,
the streams have lifted up their voice,
the streams lift up their crashing:
4
Beyond the voices of many waters,
more majestic than the breakers of the sea[301]
[301] So Gt.
Majestic on high is Jehovah.
5
Thy testimonies are confirmed with might,
to thy house befitting is holiness,
O Jehovah! to length of days.
(Nm.)
Psalms 94
(Nm.)
1
O GOD of avengings[302] Jehovah!
O GOD of avengings[302] shine forth!
[302] Or: dire vengeance.
2
Lift up thyself thou judge of the earth:
bring back a recompense on the proud.
3
How long shall lawless ones Jehovah,
how long shall lawless ones exult?
4
They pour forth they speak arrogancy,
vain-glorious are all the workers of iniquity.[303]
[303] Or: mischief. (NaughtinessDr.), and cp. Psa. 92:9 and Psa. 94:16; Psa. 94:23.
5
Thy people O Jehovah they crush,
and thine inheritance they humble;
6
The widow and the sojourner they slay,
and the fatherless they murder;
7
And sayYah seeth not,
and The God of Jacob perceiveth not.
8
Understand ye brutish among the people,
and ye dullards when will ye comprehend?
9
He that planteth the ear shall he not hear?
or that fashioneth the eye not look on?[304]
[304] Have power of sightO.G.
10
He that correcteth nations not shew what is right,
he that teacheth men knowledge?
11
Jehovah knoweth the devices of men,
for they themselves are a breath![305]
[305] Or: are vapour.
12
How happy the man whom thou correctest O Yah,
and out of thy law dost instruct:
13
That thou mayest give him rest from the days of misfortune,
till there be digged for the lawless one a pit.
14
For Jehovah abandoneth not his people,
and his inheritance doth he not forsake;
15
For unto righteousness shall judgment[306] return,
[306] Or: sentence.
and be following it all the upright in heart.
16
Who will rise up for me against evil-doers?
who will make a stand for me against the workers-of iniquity?[307]
[307] Or: mischief. (NaughtinessDr.). Cp. Psa. 94:23.
17
Unless Jehovah had been a help to me
soon had sunk into silence my soul!
18
If I saySlipped hath my foot!
thy kindness Jehovah! stayeth me.
19
In the multitude of my disquieting thoughts[308] within me
[308] As in Psa. 139:23.
thy consolations delight my soul.
20
Can the throne of engulfing ruin be allied to thee,
which frameth mischief by statute?[309]
[309] Under the pretext of rightDel.
21
They make a raid on[310] the life[311] of the righteous one,
[310] They gather themselves in bands againstDr. They rush in uponDel.
[311] U.: soul.
and innocent blood they condemn.
22
Nay! Jehovah hath become for me a lofty retreat,
and my God my rock of refuge.
23
Nay! he hath brought back on themselves their iniquity,[312]
[312] Or: mischief. (NaughtinessDr.). Cp. Psa. 94:16
and through their own evil will he exterminate them,
exterminate them will Jehovah our God.
(Nm.)
Psalms 95
(Nm.)
1
O Come! let us ring out our joy to Jehovah,
let us shout to the rock of our salvation;[313]
[313] Dr: our rock of safety.
2
Let us come to meet his face with thanksgiving,
with psalms let us shout unto him.
3
For a great GOD is Jehovah,
and a great king above all messengers divine:[314]
[314] See Psa. 8:5. Heb.: elohim.
4
In whose hand are the recesses[315] of the earth,
[315] Lit. places to be explored; cf. Job. 38:16Dr. Gt.: distant partsGn.
and the summits of the mountains belong to him:
5
Whose is the sea and he made it,
and the dry land his hands formed.
6
Come in! oh let us bow down and bend low,
oh let us kneel before Jehovah our maker;
7
For he is our God,
and we are the people of his hand and the flock of his shepherding.[316]
[316] So Gt. Cp. Psa. 79:13, Psa. 100:3. M.T.: people of his shepherding and flock of his hand.
Today if to his voice ye would but hearken!
8
Do not harden your heart as at Meribah,
as in the day of Massah in the desert:
9
When your fathers put me to the proof
tested me although they had seen my work.
10
For forty years loathed I that[317] generation,
[317] So it shd. he (w. Sep. and Vul.)Gn.
and saidA people going astray in heart are they,
even they have not known my ways:
11
So that I sware in mine anger,
Surely they shall not enter into my place of rest!
(Nm.)
Psalms 96
(Nm.)
1
Sing ye to Jehovah a song that is new,
sing to Jehovah all the land:
2
Sing to Jehovah bless ye his name,
proclaim the glad-tidings from day to day of his victory:[318]
[318] Or: salvation.
3
Tell among the nations his glory,
among all the peoples his wondrous works.
4
For great is Jehovah and to be highly praised,
Fear inspiring is he above all messengers divine;[319]
[319] Heb.: elohim. Cp. Psa. 8:5. Clearly some elohim are more than nothings.
5
For all the gods[320] of the peoples are nothings,[321]
[320] Heb.: elohim. The addition of all the peoples is deemed enough to turn the scale in translating.
[321] NothingnessesDr. IdolsDel. (who thus comments: nothings and good-for-nothings, without being and of no use.)
But Jehovah made the heavens.
6
Majesty and state[322] are before him,
[322] Glory and grandeurDel.
Strength and beauty[323] are in his sanctuary.
[323] The word used here denotes glory which is also a decoration or ornament (Isa. 60:7; Isa. 60:19)Dr.
7
Ascribe unto Jehovah ye families of the peoples,
ascribe unto Jehovah glory and strength:
8
Ascribe unto Jehovah the glory of his name,
bring ye a present[324] and come into his courts:[325]
[324] Heb.: minhah. Viz, to secure admission to His presence. Cf. 2Sa. 8:2; 2Sa. 8:6, Jdg. 3:18 endDr.
[325] Some cod. (w. Aram.): come in before himGn.
9
Bow down unto Jehovah in the adornment of holiness.[326]
[326] Cp. Psa. 29:2.
be in birth-throes[327] at his presence all the earth.
[327] Cp. Psa. 77:16.
10
Say among the nationsJehovah hath become king:[328]
[328] See Psa. 93:1, Psa. 97:1, Psa. 99:1.
Surely he hath adjusted the world, it shall not be shaken,
He will minister judgment unto the peoples with equity.
11
Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice,
let the sea thunder and the fulness thereof:
12
Let the plain exult and all that is therein,
Yea[329] let all the trees of the forest ring out their joy:
[329] So Gt.
13
Before Jehovah for he is coming,[330]
[330] So (participle) Del. Is comeDr. and others.
for he is coming[331] to judge the earth:
[331] In some cod. this clause is not repeated. Cp. 1Ch. 16:33Gn.
He will judge the world with righteousness,
And peoples with his faithfulness.
(Nm.)
Psalms 97
(Nm.)
1
Jehovah hath become king[332]let the earth exult,
[332] As in Psa. 93:1, Psa. 96:10, Psa. 99:1.
let the multitude of coastlands rejoice.
2
Clouds and darkness are round about him,
righteousness and justice[333] are the foundations of his throne:
[333] Or: judgment.
3
Fire before him proceedeth,
and setteth ablaze round about his adversaries.
4
His lightings illumined the world,
the earth saw and was in birth-throes:[334]
[334] Cp. Psa. 96:9.
5
The mountains like wax melted at the presence of Jehovah,
at the presence of the Lord[335] of the whole earth:
[335] Heb,: adon.
6
The heavens declared his righteousness,
and all the peoples saw his glory.
7
Put to shame are all they who were serving an image,
who were boasting themselves in nothings:[336]
[336] NothingnessesDr.
all messengers divine[337] bow ye down to him.
[337] Or: gods. Heb. elohim. But see Psa. 8:5, Psa. 96:4.
8
Zion heard and was glad,
and the daughters of Judah exulted,
Because of thy righteous decisions[338] O Jehovah.
[338] Or: thy judgments.
9
For thou Jehovah art Most High over all the earth,
greatly hast thou exalted thyself above all messengers divine.*
[*] See Pro. 8:5 . Heb.: elohim.
10
Ye lovers of Jehovah! hate ye wrong.
He preserveth the lives[339] of his men of kindness,
[339] Or, persons; Heb. naphshoth; U.: souls. Intro., Chap. III. Souls.
from the hand of lawless ones he rescueth them,
11
Light hath arisen[340] for the righteous one,
[340] So in some MSS. (w. Aram., Sep., Syr., Vul.). Cp. 112:14Gn. M.T.: is sown.
And for such as are upright of heart gladness.
12
Be glad O ye righteous in Jehovah,
and give thanks unto his Holy Memorial.
(Nm.)
PARAPHRASE
Psalms 92
A Song To Sing On The Lords Day[341]
[341] Literally, for the Sabbath day.
It is good to say, Thank You to the Lord, to sing praises to the God who is above all gods.
2 Every morning tell Him, Thank You for Your kindness, and every evening rejoice in all His faithfulness.
3 Sing His praises, accompanied by music from the harp and lute and lyre.
4 You have done so much for me, O Lord. No wonder I am glad! I sing for joy.
5 O Lord, what miracles you. do! And how deep are Your thoughts!
6 Unthinking people do not understand them! No fool can comprehend this:
7 That although the wicked flourish like weeds, there is only eternal destruction ahead of them.
8 But the Lord continues forever, exalted in the heavens,
9 While His enemiesall evil-doersshall be scattered.
10 But You have made me as strong as a wild bull. How refreshed I am by your blessings![342]
[342] Literally, anointed with fresh oil.
11 I have heard the doom of my enemies announced and seen them destroyed.
12 But the godly shall flourish like palm trees, and grow tall as the cedars of Lebanon.
13 For they are transplanted into the Lords own garden, and are under His personal care.
14 Even in old age they will still produce fruit and be vital and green.
15 This honors the Lord, and exhibits His faithful care. He is my shelter. There is nothing but goodness in Him!
Psalms 93
Jehovah is King! He is robed in majesty and strength. The world is His throne.[343] O Lord, you have reigned from prehistoric times, from the everlasting past.
[343] Laterally, The world is established . Your throne is established.
3 The mighty oceans thunder Your praise.
4 You are mightier than all the breakers pounding on the seashores of the world!
5 Your royal decrees cannot be changed. Holiness is forever the keynote of Your reign.
Psalms 94
Lord God, to whom vengeance belongs, let Your glory shine out. Arise and judge the earth; sentence the proud to the penalties they deserve.
3 Lord, how long shall the wicked be allowed to triumph and exult?
4 Hear their insolence! See their arrogance! How these men of evil boast!
5 See them oppressing Your people, O Lord, afflicting those You love.
6, 7 They murder widows, immigrants, and orphans, for The Lord isnt looking, they say, and besides, He[344] doesnt care.
[344] Literally, the God of Jacob.
8 Fools!
9 Is God deaf and blindHe who makes ears and eyes?
10 He punishes the nationswont He also punish you? He knows everythingdoesnt He also know what you are doing?
11 The Lord is fully aware of how limited and futile the thoughts of mankind are,
12, 13 So He helps us by punishing us. This makes us follow His paths, and gives us respite from our enemies while God traps them and destroys them.
14 The Lord will not forsake His people, for they are His prize.
15 Judgment will again be just and all the upright will rejoice.
16 Who will protect me from the wicked? Who will be my shield?
17 I would have died unless the Lord had helped me.
18 I screamed, Im slipping Lord! and He was kind and saved me.
19 Lord, when doubts fill my mind, when my heart is in turmoil, quiet me and give me renewed hope and cheer.
20 Will You permit a corrupt government to rule under Your protectiona government permitting wrong to defeat right?
21, 22 Do You approve of those who condemn the innocent to death? No! The Lord my God is my fortressthe mighty Rock where I can hide.
23 God has made the sins of evil men to boomerang upon them! He will destroy them by their own plans! Jehovah our God will cut them off.
Psalms 95
Oh, come, let us sing to the Lord! Gove a joyous shout in honor of the Rock of our salvation!
2 Come before Him with thankful hearts. Let us sing Him psalms of praise.
3 For the Lord is a great God, the great King of[345] all gods.
[345] Literally, above.
4 He controls the formation of the depths of the earth and the mightiest mountains; all are His.
5 He made the sea and formed the land; they too are His.
6 Come, kneel before the Lord our Maker,
7 For He is our God. We are His sheep and He is our shepherd! Oh, that you would hear Him calling you today and come to Him!
8 Dont harden your hearts as Israel did in the wilderness[346] at Meribah and Massah.
[346] Exo. 17:7.
9 For there your fathers doubted Me, though they had seen so many of My miracles before. My patience was severely tried by their complaints.
10 For forty years I watched them in disgust, the Lord God says. They were a nation whose thoughts and heart were far away from Me. They refused to accept My laws.
11 Therefore in mighty wrath I swore that they would never enter the Promised Land, the place of rest I planned for them.
Psalms 96
Sing a new song to the Lord! Sing it everywhere around the world!
2 Sing out His praises! Bless His name. Each day tell someone that He saves.
3 Publish His glorious acts throughout the earth. Tell everyone about the amazing things He does.
4 For the Lord is great beyond description, and greatly to be praised. Worship only Him among the gods!
5 For the gods of other nations are merely idols, but our God made the heavens!
6 Honor and majesty surround Him; strength and beauty are in His Temple.
7 O nations of the world, confess that God alone is glorious and strong.
8 Give Him the glory He deserves! Bring your offering and come to worship Him.[347]
[347] Literally, enter His courts.
9 Worship the Lord with the beauty of holy lives.[348] Let the earth tremble before Him.
[348] Or, in the priestly robes.
10 Tell the nations that Jehovah reigns! He rules the world. His power can never be overthrown. He will judge all nations fairly.
11 Let the heavens be glad, the earth rejoice; let the vastness of the roaring seas demonstrate His glory.
12 Praise Him for the growing fields, for they display His greatness. Let the trees of the forest rustle with praise.
13 For the Lord is coming to judge the earth; He will judge the nations fairly and with truth!
Psalms 97
Jehovah is King! Let all the earth rejoice! Tell the farthest island to be glad.
2 Clouds and darkness surround Him! Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.
3 Fire goes forth before Him and burns up all His foes.
4 His lightning flashes out across the world. The earth sees and trembles.
5 The mountains melt like wax before the Lord of all the earth.
6 The heavens declare His perfect righteousness; every nation sees His glory.
7 Let those who worship idols be disgracedall who brag about their worthless godsfor every god must bow to Him!
8, 9 Jerusalem and all the cities of Judah have heard of Your justice, Lord, and are glad that You reign in majesty over the entire earth and are far greater than these other gods.
10 The Lord loves those who hate evil; He protects the lives of His people, and rescues them from the wicked.
11 Light is sown for the godly and joy for the good.
12 May all who are godly be happy in the Lord and crown[349] Him, our holy God.
[349] Literally, give glory to His holy name.
EXPOSITION
It will be observed that there is but one original headline to Psalms 92-97; and therefore it will be no great strain on our credulity if, from this circumstance, we assume that these psalms, thus undivided from each other in the Hebrew text, at a very early period in their history formed one continuous Service of Song for a Sabbath Day. That the series was composed of several distinct psalms, probably written by two or three psalmists, is clear from internal evidence.
Psalms 92 is intensely personal: as witness the phrases hast made me gladI will ring out my joy (Psa. 92:4)my hornI am anointedmine eyesmy lurking foesmy wicked assailantsmine ears (Psa. 92:10-11). It is at the same time thoroughly experimental: which is evident, not only from the above expressions, but also from the writers thankfulness (Psa. 92:1), and from his persuasion that he has been blessed with some insight into Jehovahs works and plans (Psa. 92:5), as well as from that sense of nearness to God which leads him to designate him My Rock (Psa. 92:15). The writer of the psalm is probably a king in the line of David: which accounts for his expectation that his horn will be exalted, in spite of his unscrupulous foes (Psa. 92:10-11). He is not only a king, but an enthusiastic musician: understanding what it is to sweep the strings (Psa. 92:1), and appreciating differences in musical instruments, as his selection of the deeptoned lyre to accompany his poetic soliloquy in his royal chambers sufficiently indicates. Out of these observations emerges the natural conclusion, that its writer was King Hezekiah.
Psalms 93 forms a striking contrast. It is by no means personal; but public, lofty, grand. It propounds a thesis worthy of the most far-seeing prophetic gift: for it tells of nothing less than an especial assumption of sovereignty by Jehovah himself, who on the basis of his ancient rule and being makes a new Divine advance to manifested kingship over the earth. The psalm is but brief, calling sea-streams to witness to the Divine Majesty, and claiming that the Divine Testimonies and Temple-worship are confirmed by Jehovahs Royal Proclamation. The two most remarkable things about this short psalm are: first, that it gives the key-note of the series; in which, be it noted, Jehovah is proclaimed King three times, which key-note is carried over to the abbreviated Sabbath Service of Song which we may assume to be formed by Psalms 98, 99; so that four times in the double series is this Proclamation made; second, another remarkable thing is that King Hezekiahhimself a king in the royal, covenant line of Davidshould have given so much prominence to such a theme, if he prepared this Service of Song, a theme to give currency to which looks greatly like an act of self-effacement on his part, as though neither he nor any of his descendants could be regarded as The Coming King. Not only, then, does this psalm demand a lofty prophetic gift for its production, but it requires a prophet of unquestionable standing and commanding weight to secure its insertion in this Service of Song. These conditions are remarkably well fulfilled in ISAIAH; especially if we may safely come backas it would appear we mayto the old-fashioned custom of regarding him as the author of the whole of the book which goes under his name. For, in that case, we have not only the vision of Isaiah, chapter 6, to give a commanding place to the conception of Jehovahs becoming King of all the earth, but we have patterned by Isaiah himselfof course under Divine guidancein Psa. 52:7 almost the exact formula for proclaiming Divine Kingship which stands out so prominently in these psalms. Isaiah is the man who has had the vision, and who is possessed by the conception which the vision conveys. And he has the age, the standing, and the unquestionable spiritual authority to secure Hezekiahs ready acceptance of Jehovahs own Royal proclamation of Himself as suitable for a large place in this Sabbath Service of Song. From this point of view, the bringing together of the two menIsaiah and Hezekiahunder the dominancy of a great expectation, throws an unexpected but most welcome sidelight on that strange wail of disappointment issuing from Hezekiahs sick-room (Isaiah 38) that nowif he must at once diehe will not see Yah in the land of the living, as under Isaiahs tuition he had conceived that he might. So that any imagined unlikelihood that Hezekiah would make such a theme so prominent in his Sabbath Service of Song, is completely overborne by the evidence which shews how naturally he might have done this very thing.
Psalms 94 differs from both the preceding: from 92 by not being mainly joyous, and from 93 by rather lamenting that Jehovah has not become King, than by proclaiming that he has ascended his earthly Royal Seat. This psalm, again, has a rather strong personal note, and may very well have been written by Hezekiah himself or at his dictation. If so, however, its totally different tone would drive us to conclude that it must have been written at another and probably an earlier time, evidently a time of sore national trouble. Indeed, so predominant is the note of lamentation throughout this psalm, that some critics have concluded it to be wholly out of its place where it now stands. Perhaps they have been hasty in their judgment. But let us glance through the psalm. Three stanzas (Psa. 94:1-7) suffice to make it clear that Israels foes are dominant, relentless and persecuting. That they are foreigners is already made probable by their being called lawless (Psa. 94:3) and practically certain by the way they speak of the God of Jacob (Psa. 94:7). Their doings are so wicked as to call for the vengeance of the Judge of all the earth, and so protracted as to lead the sufferers to cry out How long, O Jehovah! Their pride and arrogance strongly remind us of the haughty speeches of that villain Rabshakeh, the Assyrian general. Stanza IV. (Psa. 94:8-11) induces the belief that even some Israelites were in danger of falling away to the foreigner, and needed to be severely reasoned with. Stanza V. (Psa. 94:12-15) might have been a photograph for which Hezekiah himself sat; and goes far to persuade us that the actual writer of this psalm was one of Hezekiahs men, who could say of his master what his master would scarcely have said of himself. In Stanza V. (Psa. 94:16-19) the voice of Hezekiah is again plainly heard: the drawing is true to the lifeHezekiah has confronted the silence of deathhas slippedhas had disquieting thoughts and restorative consolations. Stanza VI. (Psa. 94:20-23) reminds us that all the while, behind the arrogant menaces of Rabshakeh, stood the iniquitous throne of Assyria, which, as cruel and God-defying, could well be described by a godly Israelite as a throne of engulfing ruin. Suffice it to remind ourselves of the signal way in which these perfect tenses of prophetic certaintyhath become a lofty retreat, hath brought back on themselves their trouble were at least typically fulfilled in the overthrow of Sennacherib. Such is the psalm. Is there need any longer to ask, what it does here in this Sabbath-day Service of Song: as though the Jewish Sabbath were not, above all things, a day of hallowed memories? On what principle it appears so interlocked, as it does here, with Jehovahs Royal Advent, we may yet discover. After this, we need not concern ourselves further with the question of authorship in its bearing on this Sabbath-day Service of Song. With Hezekiah and Isaiah at work in its production, we are ready for any contingency which Hezekiahs Chief Musician could suggest; since we can conceive of no suggestion as to either words or music, which Hezekiah and his godly helpers could not easily supply. But let us rapidly push forward this survey to a conclusion.
Psalms 95 is remarkable for the facility with which, after a 4-line invitation to worship, it resolves itself into two 10-line stanzas, the former joyous, and the later admonitory. As to the fitness of the latter to find place here,with such waverers in view as the previous psalm reveals (Psa. 94:8-11), it cannot be said that the solemn warning of this psalm (Psa. 95:7-11) is in any wise out of place. It is, further, something to rememberthat this Sabbath-days Service of Song points onwards to a Divine Sabbath of Sabbaths, which undoubtedly will be inaugurated by the Coming Divine King.
Psalms 96 enriches us with fresh thoughts: by bringing us into sight of a new manifestation of Divine Kingship, calling for a song that is new; that it commissions a particular land to herald the glad tidings of the Coming Divine Reign to the other nations of the earth (Psa. 96:2-3; Psa. 96:10); that, while there are Divine representatives (Elohim) who are real beings (Psa. 96:4), there are other so-called Elohim (gods) who have no existence (Psa. 96:5); that even in the Coming Divine Reign, there will be a sanctuary (Psa. 96:6) into which the families of the peoples (Psa. 96:7) can enter with their presents (Psa. 96:8) and there worship (Psa. 96:9); and that such a changed state of things will amount to a New Birth for or a Readjustment of the world (Psa. 96:9-10), whereat all Natureincluding the heavens, the earth, the sea, the plain, the forestmay well go into ecstasies; for the good reason that Jehovah is coming to reign over all the peoples of the world in righteousness and faithfulness (Psa. 96:10; Psa. 96:13).
Psalms 97, the last of this longer Sabbath-day series, is notable in that, whatever cause for fear and trembling any of the individuals and nations of the world may have, in prospect of this new and immediate Divine Rule, the great event itself is mainly an occasion for joy: Let the earth exult. Probably not without peculiar interest to Europeans (and it may be Americans also) the Westunder the significant Biblical name of Coastlandsis particularly called upon to rejoice:a glimpse into the future which was, as we know, vouchsafed to Isaiah, independently of this psalm (Isa. 24:15; Isa. 41:1; Isa. 42:4; Isa. 49:1; Isa. 59:18; Isa. 60:9; Isa. 66:19). Other things observable in this closing psalm of the first series are: that the promised Divine Advent is to be, in some way, open and palpable to the whole earth; conveying its testimony of Divine righteousness to all mens minds (Psa. 97:4-6); that it will be sufficiently sudden to put some boastful idolaters to shame (Psa. 97:7); sufficiently demonstrative to cause all true messengers divine to prostrate themselves before the worlds Divine King (Psa. 97:7); and yet sufficiently local in some phases of its manifestation to give occasion to carry the joyful tidings thereof to Zion and the daughters of Judah (Psa. 97:8). Real divine messengers, such as kings and judges, will be permitted to govern longer, only on condition of being manifestly in subjection to Jehovah as Most High over all the earth (Psa. 97:9). No wonder that such good news as this should be finally employed by way of admonition: Ye lovers of Jehovah! hate ye wrong (Psa. 97:10). They who persist in wrong will be punished. The wrongedthe imperiledare to be preserved, to be rescued (Psa. 97:10). Truly we may say, light has arisen for the righteous king Hezekiah (Psa. 97:11), and for myriads besides who will open their eyes. And, ye righteous, who are made glad in Jehovah, forget not to give thanks to his Holy Memorial; with the understanding that his Holy Memorial is his Holy Name, Jehovah (Exo. 3:15, Psa. 135:1-3); that is, Yahweh; that is, the Becoming One; and that here, in this beautiful Sabbath Service of Song, He hath prophetically BECOME the King of all the earth, as unveiled to your believing and rejoicing eyes.
For further General Reflections, see at the close of Psalms 99.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
Psalms 92
1.
Why are these psalms (i.e. 92 through 97) placed under one heading?
2.
What is meant by the thought that this psalm is both intensely personal and also thoroughly experimental?
3.
The writer of the psalm is a king and a musician. How do we know this?
Psalms 93
1.
What is the theme of this psalm?
2.
How is the theme developed?
3.
What are the two most remarkable things about this psalm?
4.
Why does Rotherham feel Isaiah is probably the author of this psalm?
Psalms 94
1.
This psalm differs from 92 or 93. In what way?
2.
What is the general tenure of this psalm?
3.
Rotherham seems to have a definite set of circumstances for the writing of this psalm. What are they? Who is Rabshekeh?
4.
In what way is this psalm appropriate as a part of the sabbath day service in the Temple?
Psalms 95
1.
We should sing and be thankful to Godi.e., according to Psa. 95:1-2. Give at least two reasons for doing so according to Psa. 95:3-5.
2.
Show how the solemn warning of this psalm was appropriate when written and also today,
Psalms 96
1.
What are the new thoughts introduced by this psalm?
2.
This is called a missionary song. Why?
3.
The material reign of Christ on earth in Jerusalem in a restored Temple seems to be the suggestion of the comments on this psalm. Discuss.
Psalms 97
1.
Someone seems to think America and Europeans should take a particular interest in this psalm. Why?
2.
Read and interpret Isa. 24:15; Isa. 41:1; Isa. 42:4; Isa. 49:1; Isa. 59:18. Discuss.
3.
Rotherham has a marvelous ability of seeing a literal earthly fulfillment of Psa. 97:4-11. Discuss.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(1) The Lord reigneth.For the thought and imagery comp. Psa. 96:10-11.
Multitude of the isles.Literally, isles many. This wide glance to the westward embracing the isles and coasts of the Mediterranean (Psa. 72:10), possibly even more distant ones still, is characteristic of the literature of post-exile times. (Comp. Isa. 42:10-11; Isa. 51:15.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
1. The Lord reigneth See Psa 96:10; Psa 99:1. This is the keynote to the psalm.
Earth The word might signify land the land of Palestine, but, more probably, the nations generally.
Multitude of isles The foreign nations, particularly the maritime nations, sea coasts, or nations beyond seas, as to the Hebrews, or those of whom the Hebrews had no knowledge but by commerce. See Psa 72:10; Psa 45:12
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psalms 97
Psa 97:2 Clouds and darkness are round about him: righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne.
Psa 97:2 Exo 19:9
Psa 97:3 A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about.
Psa 97:3
Heb 12:29, “For our God is a consuming fire.”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Messiah the King of the Whole Earth.
v. 1. The Lord reigneth, v. 2. Clouds and darkness are round about Him, v. 3. A fire goeth before Him, v. 4. His lightnings enlightened the world; the earth saw and trembled. v. 5. The hills melted like wax at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth, v. 6. The heavens declare His righteousness, and all the people see His glory, v. 7. Confounded be all they that serve graven images, v. 8. Zion heard and was glad, v. 9. For Thou, Lord, art high above all the earth, v. 10. Ye that love the Lord, hate evil, v. 11. Light is sown for the righteous, v. 12. Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
ANOTHER liturgical psalm on the advent of Christ The psalmist sees him take possession of his throne, but, this time, rather in judgment than in mercy. His accession is described with the usual features of a theophany (Psa 97:1-6; comp. Psa 18:7-15; Psa 50:3-6; Psa 77:14-19). The impression made on the inhabitants of the earth, whether idolatrous heathen (Psa 97:7), or faithful Israelites (Psa 97:8, Psa 97:9), is then given. Finally, a practical lesson is drawn from the event prophesied, viz. “Let the Israel of God hate evil, and rejoice in the Lord and in his holy Name” (Psa 97:10-12).
Metrically, the psalm consists of four stanzas, each of three verses. There is nothing in its contents to fix its date.
Psa 97:1
The Lord reigneth; or, the Lord has become Kinghas ascended his throne (comp. Psa 93:1; Psa 96:10). Let the earth rejoice. When God condescends to appear on earth, the earth is bound to rejoice. His coming cannot but improve the condition of affairs. Let the multitude of isles (literally, the many isles) be glad thereof. Even “the isles”the abode of the Gentilesare to feel joy, for they, too, at whatever cost (Psa 97:3), will be benefited.
Psa 97:2
Clouds and darkness are round about him (comp. Exo 19:16, Exo 19:18; Deu 4:11; Deu 5:22 :1Ki Deu 8:12). The “darkness” does not belong to the nature of God, who “is Light, and in him is no darkness at all” (1Jn 1:5), but to the interrelationship between God and man, in which are involved problems that man cannot solve. Righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne; rather, the foundation of his thronethe firm basis on which it is immovably fixed.
Psa 97:3
A fire goeth before him. So long as there is evil in the world, the “fire” of God’s wrath must necessarily “go before him” at each theophany, to sweep the evil from his path (see Isa 42:25). It is in this sense that “our God is a consuming fire” (Heb 12:29). And burneth up his enemies round about (comp. Psa 50:8; Mat 13:30).
Psa 97:4
His lightnings enlightened the world. Here the tenses change from present to pastnot, however, that any past event is alluded to, but merely to mark prophetic certainty. The psalmist, rapt in vision, sees the future as past. Lightnings play a part in almost’ all theophanies (Exo 19:16; Job 37:1-5; Psa 18:13; Psa 77:18, etc.). The earth saw, and trembled (comp. Jdg 5:4; Psa 68:8; Psa 114:7).
Psa 97:5
The hills melted like wax at the presence of the Lord (comp. Jdg 5:5; Isa 64:1; Mic 1:4). The earth itself is regarded as not only shaken (Psa 97:4), but as melting and crumbling away at the descent of God from heaven to earth. At the presence of the Lord of the whole earth (comp. Jos 3:11, Jos 3:13.; Mic 4:13; Zec 4:14; Zec 6:5).
Psa 97:6
The heavens declare his righteousness (comp. Psa 50:6; Mat 24:29, Mat 24:30). By signs in the heavens it is proclaimed that the Lord has come to judgment. And all the people see (rather, have seen) his glory; literally, all the peoples; i.e. all the nations of the earth (comp. Psa 97:1).
Psa 97:7
Confounded be all they that serve graven images, that boast themselves of idols. Professor Cheyne transposes this verse and the next, but without any necessity. It is quite natural that the effect of the theophany on God’s enemies should be noted first. The effect is that they are “confounded,” or rather, covered with shame. The display of real Divine power makes manifest the impotency of the idols, and puts their worshippers to the blush. Worship him, all ye gods. The theophany is a call on the false gods to worship the true God.
Psa 97:8
Zion heard, and was glad (comp. Psa 48:11). To Zion, the Church of God, the company of his saints, the theophany brings, not shame, but rejoicing. The Lord comes for their relief, for their deliverance, for their exaltation. And the daughters of Judah rejoiced. The”daughters of Judah” are the other cities of Judaea besides Jerusalem. In a Christian sense, they may be taken to represent the irregularly organized Churches, which will participate in the general joy of the faithful at Christ’s final coming. Because of thy judgments, O Lord. It does not show any vindictive feeling, if the saints, persecuted so long, “rejoice” when an end is put to their sufferings by the final judgment of the wicked.
Psa 97:9
For thou, Lord, art high above all the earth; rather, art the Most High (eliun) above all the earth (see the Revised Version). Thou art exalted far above all gods (comp. Psa 97:7, and see also Psa 83:18). No comparison can be made between Jehovah and the heathen gods. He is “exalted” far, far above them.
Psa 97:10
Ye that love the Lord, hate evil. The psalmist ends his strain with an exhortation to the faithfulan exhortation, first of all, to “hate evil.” God hates evil (Psa 45:7); evil will separate them from God, evil will be their destruction. Therefore let them hate and abhor it. It is indifference to evil, that, more than anything else, lays men open to the assaults of Satan. He preserveth the souls of his saints. He (i.e. Jehovah) watches tenderly over the souls of his saintshis holy loving ones, and preserves them in being, keeps them from destruction, and delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked.
Psa 97:11
Light is sown for the righteous (comp. Psa 112:4, “Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness”). God sheds the rays of his grace on the path of the righteous man, enlightens his understanding, and illumines his spirit perpetually. And gladness for the upright in heart. Together with “light,” he sheds abroad “gladness,” the irrepressible joy which comes from a sense of his favour and protection.
Psa 97:12
Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous. Such being the blessedness of the righteous, they are finally exhorted to “rejoice in the Lord,” i.e. to show forth their gratitude to God in psalms and hymns of joy (comp. Psa 32:11; Psa 33:1-3), and to give thanks to him at the remembrance of his holiness; or rather, to give thanks to his holy memorial, which is the same as giving thanks to his Name (comp. Psa 30:4, and the comment ad loc.).
HOMILETICS
Psa 97:1
God’s sovereignty.
“The Lord reigneth.” To a thoughtful, loving, earnest Christian heart, the spectacle of prevailing disorder, wrong, misery, in this world (today as in past ages) is a source of sometimes almost unbearable wonder and grief. Then it is unspeakable consolation to remember “the Lord reigneth” (Psa 11:3, Psa 11:4). As from his own sin and trouble he takes refuge in God’s love; so from the apparent triumph of evil, in God’s righteous rule. God’s Kingship or sovereignty involves these three:
(1) supreme power;
(2) rightful authority;
(3) exercise of this power and authority in actual government.
I. SUPREME POWER. “If we speak of strength, lo! he is strong.” “With God all things are possible.” No design, no emergency, to which his power is not equal. He is the Sourcethe Creatorof all other power. The forces of nature, the wills and faculties of menof all creatures, lower or higher than menhave their root and being in him; hang on his sovereign will (Psa 33:8, Psa 33:9). We must not think of God’s power apart from his wisdom (Psa 147:5). Nor of these apart from his love (Psa 145:9, Psa 145:10). Blind unconscious forcethe universe of atheismis the most frightful of all conceptions. Force guided by loveless wisdom is an impossible idea, for it would have no motive for exercise. But it is “the Lord” who reigns; and “God is love.”
II. RIGHTFUL AUTHORITY. The righteous self-evident claim to absolute and universal obedience. Power without right would be tyranny. Right without power would be an empty shadowcrown without sceptre. The right to obedience, and power to enforce it (or punish disobedience), together make up authority. Therefore to those attributes of power, wisdom, and love, we must add righteousness. “The sceptre of his kingdom is a right sceptre.” While nature and Scripture proclaim that he does reign, reason and conscience declare that he ought to reign.
1. The right of absolute ownership is his (Psa 100:3). He has created us.
2. Of infinite benefaction. All we have or hope for, or ever can enjoy, is his free gift.
3. Of perfect and sole fitness, infinite ability, to rule the universe he has created and owns. Knowledge which nothing, great or small, escapes. Power which upholds all in being, and which, if he please to exert it, none can resist. Goodness which no demand can overtax.
III. ACTUAL EXERCISE OF GOVERNMENT. (Psa 103:19.) “He doeth according to his will,” etc. (Dan 4:35). He has bound all nature with a chain of love which natural forces and existences cannot even seek to break. He has given to man and other spiritual creatures, with reason to apprehend duty, and conscience to approve our fulfilment or condemn our neglect, a will endued with the mysterious power of disobeying his law, resisting his will. Without this we should be incapable of willing, reasonable, loving, conscientious obedience. Men therefore do disobey God; and the direct result of disobedience is the misery and death which fill our world (Jas 1:13-15). But man’s disobedience cannot relax God’s authority, or alter the fact that over all he reigns and rules. And this supreme authority is in the hands once nailed to the cross (Joh 5:22, Joh 5:23; Mat 28:18; Eph 1:21-23; Rev 5:12, Rev 5:13).
Psa 97:10
The hatred of sin.
“Ye that love the Lord, hate evil.” On the darkest, most puzzling of all questionsthe origin of evilthe Bible leaves us quite in the dark. Old and New Testaments are alike silent. This would be very astonishing if the purpose of Scripture were to make deep philosophers or subtle theologians. We cease to wonder when we understand, what people have come to see more clearly in these days than formerly, that the object of God’s Word is to “make wise unto salvation;” to teach us to know God and to know ourselves, and to bring us home to God. In a word, it is the very same as the angel declared to be the purpose of the Incarnation, “He shall save his people from their sins” (Mat 1:21). Therefore, while the Bible is dumb as to all questions of curiosity, it has a plain answer to such practical questions as, “What is sin? How ought we to regard it?” Sin in conduct is disobedience to God; in character, unlikeness to God. The first sin was an act of deliberate disobedience. Sin in every form is “that abominable thing” which our Father hates. Therefore we ought to hate it with perfect hatred. “Ye that love the Lord, hate evil!” We may take these words
(1) as a description;
(2) as a command.
I. HATRED OF SIN A CHARACTERISTIC FEATURE OF THOSE WHO LOVE GOD. It is to be expected of them; is peculiar to them; is a mark by which they may be known. It may be objected that this hatred of evil is felt by multitudes who make no pretence to love God. Every just man hates injusticeto others as much as to himself. Every benevolent man hates cruelty; every honest man, knavery; every sober man, intemperance; every one of pure life, impurity. All this without reference to God. This is so; and just here lies the difference. The Bible deals with evil not merely as wrong done to man, but first and foremost as sin against God. So the sinner is taught to see it (Psa 51:1-4). So the saint laments it in others (Psa 119:136, Psa 119:158). So God regards it, both in judging and in pardoning (Psa 50:21; Exo 34:6, Exo 34:7; Hos 7:2; Psa 32:1, Psa 32:2). To set forth the complete teaching of Scripture on this would be practically to quote the whole Bible. If we wanted a title for the Scriptures, we might write on the back, “The story of sin, and how God deals with it.” Real hatred of sin, then, springs from the Holy Spirit’s teaching. An ungodly man may hate and despise many kinds of sin; but not as sinbreaking God’s Law, dishonouring God, hateful in his sight, inconsistent with love to him. So also an ungodly heart may admire and delight in many kinds of goodness; but not because goodness and holiness are God’s likeness, the fulfilment of his Law, and pleasing to him. Love of what God loves; hatred of what God hates;this is the supreme test of character; in one word, sympathy with God (Joh 14:21, Joh 14:24). Our Saviour is in this, as in all else, our perfect Model. His habitual calm and gentleness, the stress he lays on doing good to those who hate or injure us, and his meek submission to immeasurable wrong, are apt to conceal from us his unsparing condemnation of sin. No denunciations of Old Testament prophets are more severe than our Lord’s warnings concerning the impenitent cities, the hypocritical Pharisees, the guilty city of Jerusalem, the unfaithful servants. Nothing in the Bible is more terrible than his words to those who have tried to combine religious profession with a sinful life: “I never knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”
II. Therefore THIS COMMAND COMES TO US, WE MAY SAY, WITH THE WHOLE BIBLE AT ITS BACKall the motives of the gospel added to all the motives of the Law. The words of the old Hebrew psalmist should have tenfold force in the ears and hearts of Christian believers, “Ye that love the Lord, hate evil.” Reasons for hating sin are to be found in every page of human history; in every home and heart throughout the world. It is hateful as the source, directly or indirectly, of all the misery which pervades the world. Hateful as degrading, deforming, debasing, human nature; for which reason sin is so constantly represented in Scripture by the loathsome image of defilement (Job 9:30, Job 9:31). Hateful because “the end of those things is death” (Rom 6:21). What the Bible precisely means, what God means, by the death of a soul has been of late years fiercely controverted. I feel no warrant or wish to dogmatize. I only point out here that the tendency of sin, unforgiven, unrepented, unremoved, is to the extinction of all that is worth calling “life.” Even one single sin, lying, e.g; or pride, or gluttony, if it were to gain absolute unchecked mastery, would render the man hopelessly selfish, blind to duty, incapable of nobleness, unfit for society, unfit, in a word, to live. But it is not by any or all of these reasons that we are here urged to “hate evil.” It is by love. “Ye that love the Lord.” Love to God and love of evil are the two most irreconcilable opposites in the universe. One must be fatal to the other. We could not love God, at least not aright, did we not know that “his work is perfect,” etc. (Deu 32:4). The supreme truth that “God is love” involves his eternal abhorrence of sin, for sin is the deadly foe of love. The opposite of love is selfishness; and sin and selfishness are so closely connected that some of the deepest thinkers have reckoned them identical. Perhaps it is true to say that the essence of sin is want of love to God; and where love is absent, selfishness rushes in to fill the void. Accordingly, the great crowning proof of God’s love is declared to be that which is at the same time God’s crowning condemnation of sin,” the death of his Son” (Rom 5:10). Our Lord himself declares this to be a new and glorious reason for his Father’s love (Isa 10:17). The crucial test of his own love (Joh 15:13). Of God’s love to the world (Joh 3:16; 1Jn 4:9, 1Jn 4:10). In sight of the cross let us learn how to “hate evil.”
HOMILIES BY S. CONWAY
Psa 97:1-12
Jehovah is King.
The subject of this psalm, as of the whole group to which it belongs, is the reign of Christ. Some glorious revival in the Jewish Church so uplifted the thought of the writer of these psalms that he sees, as if already present, that blessed advent and reign of the Lord which, whilst it must be the confusion of his adversaries, must also be the everlasting joy of his faithful people. We observe –
I. THE AFFIRMATION or THESE PSALMSthat Jehovah is King. “The Lord reigneth.” The writer has no doubt of it at all. Therefore:
1. He bids the whole earth rejoice, even to its uttermost parts, the scattered islands of the sea.
2. He admits that much mystery remains. “Clouds and darkness are,” etc.
3. Nevertheless, he affirms that righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne. The Lord is enthroned, and righteousness and judgment shall be habitually upheld.
4. Nature bears witness to him. Lightnings, earthquakes, volcanoes, the earth melting like wax, symbolize his majesty and power.
5. The heathen are confounded, whilst his people,for abundant reasons (Psa 97:9), rejoice.
II. THE GENERAL DENIAL OF THIS AFFIRMATION, which is met with in our day. There are not a few who say that the Lord will reign; but that, as yet, the state of the world is getting worse and worse, and will do so until the coming of the Lord, when he will bring all evil to an end. They look forward to that second coming of the Lord as the great hope of the Church. Hence it is only as having the right and the power to reign, and as now and then manifesting that power, that, at present, the Lord can be said to reign. They believe that the Lord shall reign, not that he does. But note
III. THE NEW TESTAMENT CONFIRMATION OF THIS PSALM.
1. It everywhere declares that the Lord is King, is reigning now. Because such is the just conclusion from its constant statements that the coming of Christ was “at hand;” that generation in which our Lord lived was not to pass away until the coming of his kingdom. Some standing around himso he declaredshould not taste of death till they had seen him coming in glory. And with this all the teachings of the apostles agree. They tell of the Lord’s coming as “at hand.” They believed that some of them should remain and be alive at his coming. “The kingdom of heaven is at hand,” was the burden of their preaching; they went everywhere proclaiming that, and the coming of the Lord as its inauguration. But if our Lord has not come, then how are his words, and the words of his apostles, whom the Holy Spirit was to lead into all truth, to be understood? We shrink from saying that they were mistaken, and, unwittingly, taught error. Therefore we believe that he has come, and that he is indeed and in truth reigning now.
2. And the objectionWhy, then, is evil so rampant?is met by St. Paul’s statement in 1Co 15:23-26. There the reign of Christ is plainly declared, and that “he must reign till he hath put,” etc. (1Co 15:25), evidently implying that, though he doth reign, yet there will be enemies still to be subdued, and this will be only a gradual process. His coming was not to put an end all at once, in a moment, to all evil; but it should ultimately be done.
3. And this is still being done. Let the laws and customs of Christian nations tell. They are evil enough in many parts still, but will any one dare to say that the lot of humanity is as dark now as it was in our Lord’s day? Has he done nothing for us? Who will say that? And let the growth and increased purity of the Churchfar short, doubtless, of what they should and will bealso tell. And the Lord’s work by his Spirit in the individual believing soul. Are we not conscious that he is more and more putting all our spiritual foes under his feet? Therefore we believe that the Lord has come, and that he reigneth.
IV. THE BLESSED RESULTS OF THIS BELIEF.
1. The need for twisting the Scriptures is taken away. We can read them in their plain and obvious meaning.
2. The infidel‘s taunt is silenced. Gibbon sneers at the Christian’s belief, taking it for granted that the Lord has not come. And many today base their unbelief on the glaring contradiction between the Scriptures and the doctrine of so many Christians that Christ has not yet come.
3. We are not fighting a losing battle. The state of the world is not darkening drearas so many saybut brightening. The Church has not to wait for, but to rejoice in, his presence.
4. Death, in the old dread meaning of the word, is abolished.
5. Satan is judged, fallen, condemned. We, whilst trusting in Christ, need have no fear. The Lord is King.S.C.
Psa 97:1
The Lord reigneth.
On this truth we observe
I. IT WAS THE FAITH OF ALL HOLY SCRIPTURE. The Law, the Prophets, the Psalmsthese especiallythe Gospels, the Epistles, and the Revelation, all alike declare this faith, and in varied form utter their “Alleluia, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.”
II. THIS FAITH IS COMMENDED TO US BY ITS NEVER–FAILING FRUITFULNESS IS ALL MANNER OF GOOD. Some beliefs which men have long and largely held have died away, and men have willingly let them die; but this faith is too blessed that we should lightly let it perish. It imparts peace to the mind amid all the vicissitudes of life; vigour to the will, strengthening it for strenuous action; and power for the help and comfort of our fellow men.
III. IT IS, NEVERTHELESS, GREATLY DOUBTED AND DENIED.
1. In some because of the sad and insoluble problems of this present life. Life seems to them an inextricable tangle, not worth living, all vanity and vexation of spirit.
2. In others, the teachings of science seem not only to remove God so far away, but throw doubt on his existence altogether.
3. In others, the increased sensitiveness to human suffering has caused the mind to recoil from doctrines and beliefs which were unquestioningly held by our forefathers, and the sight of the mass of unrelieved misery which crushes beneath its awful weight the multitudes of mankind in all ages and lands has begotten the dark doubt in minds not a few, whether there be an omnipotent and beneficent God at all. Perhaps men’s doubts of this faith were never more widespread than they are now.
IV. BUT ITS EVIDENCES, NOTWITHSTANDING, ARE EVERYWHERE.
1. In the natural world, the power, wisdom, and beneficence of the Creator are, in spite of many mysteries, clearly to be seen (see Drummond’s ‘Ascent of Man’).
2. In the order of God‘s providence, when men will obey its laws.
3. In the history of the Church.
4. In the experience of the individual believing soul.
V. AND THIS FAITH MAY BE ATTAINED TO BY WHOSOEVER WILL, The path isobedience. “He that doeth my will shall know of the doctrine,” etc. Refuse to cherish doubt. “I will trust, and not be afraid.”S.C.
Psa 97:10
Good haters.
These are sadly wanted. Evil is not hated as it ought to be, as in this verse it is commanded to be. The world and the Church alike are suffering from need of those who hate well. The world is left without guidance, and the Church without strength, or honour, or joy.
I. THERE ARE MANY WHO HATE NEITHER GOOD NOR EVIL.
1. They do not hate goodness. They would be shocked to be told they did. They often say fine things about it, and, like Herod with John the Baptist, do “many things” because of it. They do not practise it muchnever, unless it is conventional and in good form. Still, they do not hate it. It would be almost better if they did. For then they could not deceive themselves as now they do. They imagine all is well with them, simply because they do not openly oppose goodness. Though not with it, they are, so they flatter themselves, not against it. It was specially to such that our Lord spoke his stern, solemn word, “He that is not with me is against me.” They are the would be neutrals. Our Lord likens them to the “house swept and garnished,” from which one devil is gone out, but who soon comes back with seven others worse. The publicans and harlots, who know and feel their sin, go into the kingdom of heaven before such.
2. And assuredly they do not hate evil. If it be very gross and flagrant, they will condemn it, but if it comes to them in plausible and specious garb, as it generally does, they make excuses for it, and allow it both in themselves and others. The devil has it pretty much his own way so far as these people are concerned. He fears none but those who hate evil.
II. BUT THOSE WHO LOVE THE LORD MUST HATE EVIL.
1. It stands to reason. Such hatred of evil is but the necessary consequence and concomitant of the love of the Lord; where the one is, the other is also.
2. They will do so always and everywhere. Most and first of all in themselves. Not only in its outward manifestations, but in its secret springthe heart from whence it proceeds. It is of no use fulminating against evil in others whilst we cherish it in ourselves. This they deeply feel, and hence their perpetual prayer is for the “clean heart.” And they will hate evil in others also. They will not connive at it, nor in any way countenance it; their lives will be a witness and protest against it, they will be “the salt of the earth.”
III. THE MOTIVES THAT URGE THEM ARE FULL OF FORCE.
1. Sin is the curse of humanity. Its steps are blood marked all through the world’s history. It “brought death into the world, and all our woe;” and as it was, so it is still.
2. It slew our Lord. How would we feel towards the murderer of our dearest friend?
3. Whenever we in any degree allow it in ourselves, it weakens and humiliates us, and brings darkness into our souls.
4. It is life or death with us. If we do not destroy it, it will destroy us.
5. It robs us of power over others, save to do them harm.
IV. BUT THIS HATRED OF EVIL NEEDS TO BE DILIGENTLY CHERISHED. For we are in peril of getting used to it, and so of acquiescing in it as a thing that cannot be helped. Therefore:
1. Pray the Holy Spirit to fill you with the love of Christ.
2. To reveal you to yourself.
3. Walk in the light.
4. Confess at once if you have sinned.
5. Openly commit yourself on the Lord’s side.
6. Attack evil wherever possible.
7. Pray without ceasing.S.C.
Psa 97:11
The seed of light.
The sacred writers often use strange metaphors; as here, light is said to be “sown for the righteous.” Milton uses the same figure of the dew
“Now Morn, her rosy steps in th’ eastern clime
Advancing, sowed the earth with Orient pearl.”
But let us get beneath the strange figure, and ask
I. WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
1. What is meant by light? It is a constant symbol for joy, gladness (Est 8:16; Psa 27:1, etc.). And, on the other hand, sorrow is likened to darkness.
2. What does the word “sown” mean? It is a very suggestive word. It teaches that the seed of joy is:
(1) Scattered abroad. And so it is for God’s people; they find it everywhere, and often in most unlikely places. As Paul and Silas in their dungeon at Philippi.
(2) For a time out of sight. The seed, when sown, is so. See this in our coal beds. Light is sown there. Let there be the application of a due amount of heat, and the light will flash forth that was sown by the sun long ages ago. And in like manner, the grace of God has stored up joy and gladness in places where you would never have looked for them. Light is sown in them, and, though now out of sight, will in due time break forth (Psa 126:5). Then
(3) certainly not lost. Sometimes it seems as if our light had gone from us forever. But it is not so; the losses, bereavements, trials of all kinds which darkened our life, they are but the furrows of the field into which the seed has been cast, and by which it is for the time buried. But as the farmer does not count his seed sown as seed lost, but quite otherwise, so should our thought be.
(4) But is in the care and keeping of God.
(5) Will come back multiplied.
(6) And glorified (cf. 1Co 15:42-44). We are wont to speak of “God’s acre,” the old and beautiful name for our churchyards, and they are full of sown light. But all our life is a field thus sown. And there are many harvests, the resurrection morn chief of them all. Yet other fields are the Holy Scriptures, God’s providence, the Holy Spirit’s work. Light is sown for the righteous in all these. But the question will arise
II. IS IT ALL TRUE? And we reply:
1. The order of nature seems to affirm it. How often has the righteous career been trampled upon and apparently destroyed, but it has sprung up again!
2. The Scriptures assert it unhesitatingly, and furnish perpetual proof, that the light of the righteous is never lost, but only sown preparatory to a blessed harvest.
3. And our heart‘s deepest convictions confirm it. We could not live without this faith.
III. WHAT THEN?
1. The instincts of our nature are not mocked. We were made for the light, for blessedness, and the righteous shall realize it.
2. What a terrible thing that any should be self-excludedas the ungodly arefrom the number of those for whom this word is spoken!
3. Be patient when some of your light is taken from you. It is wanted for seed.
4. Yield your hearts to Christ, that by his blessed Spirit he may make them righteous.
5. Look on to the harvest.S.C.
Psa 97:11
The seed of light.
(Another outline.) The text leads us to consider
I. WHENCE WHAT LIGHT OF GLADNESS AND JOY WE HAVE HAS COME. The seed was sown:
1. At the Creation.
2. In God’s plan of providence.
3. In the gift of Christ.
4. In the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the Church, the Scriptures, and in our own soul.
II. WHERE WHAT OF LIGHT WE HAVE LOST IS CONE.
1. Into God’s keeping.
2. As seed.
3. For increase and glory.
III. WHITHER WE MUST LOOK FOR WHAT WE WOULD HAVE COME BACK.
1. In the way of submission to God’s will. (1Pe 5:6.)
2. To the Holy Spirit’s work in our souls.
3. To the unfolding of God’s providence.
4. In the endeavour to help and comfort others.
5. To the resurrection morn, and the heavenly home.S.C.
Psa 97:12
Giving thanks for God’s holiness.
The psalm tells of the Lord coming in majesty and righteousness to judge the world. And here at the end of the psalm the writer remembers this judgment and the holiness which characterized it, and bids all righteous men rejoice.
I. WE ARE COMMANDED TO DO THISto “give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.”
1. “His holiness.“ It means not alone his righteous deeds, but yet more his righteous character; not alone for what he does, but for what he is in himself. He cannot be tempted of evil, cannot be moved away from perfect righteousness. God is holy in all his ways.
2. We are to give thanks for this. We are ready to give thanks for God’s providential love and for his redeeming grace; but for his holiness we commonly cherish reverence and awe rather than joyful praise. This is wrong, and we are bidden here rejoice and give thanks.
3. And this whenever we remember his holiness. We do so in retrospect, looking back upon the righteous acts of the Lord. And we do so in prospect, anticipating the time when his will shall be done on earth as in heaven. We are to stay ourselves on the faith that he cometh to judge the earth, and that he shall judge the people righteously.
II. IT IS ASSUMED THAT WE ARE RIGHTEOUS. Such, in the first part of the verse, are distinctly appealed to. For only such can obey this command. To the ungodly the holiness of God is hateful; it is to him a constant and awful threatening, a dark cloud lowering over his life; he shrinks from coming into contact with it. How fearful are, often, the deathbeds of such men! And until we are regenerate, and know that we are accepted in Christ, the holiness of God must excite in us fear rather than thanksgiving.
III. And that THERE ARE GOOD REASONS FOR SUCH THANKSGIVING. And there are; for:
1. The holiness of God is the sure pledge and guarantee of our redemption. The atoning work of Christ, on which our redemption rests, is no plan whereby God’s love may be satisfied at the expense of his holiness. For nowhere is that holiness more conspicuous than in that atonement. It magnifies the Law, and makes it honourable as nothing else could (cf. Rom 8:1, Rom 8:2). The tables of the Law in the ark of the covenant, on which the mercy seat rested, symbolized the eternal fact that God’s mercy rests on righteousness; his love is sustained by and based upon his holiness.
2. And it is the assurance of our own holiness, that we shall be made like him. For whatever be the character of any man, one sure effect of it will be that he seeks to make his surroundings like himself. And so the holy God must seek to make his people holy; he cannot be satisfied until they are holy as he is holy.
3. And of our eternal blessedness. Could sin enter heaven, it would cease to be heavenit would be the world over again. But nothing can enter heaven that defileth. “Without holiness no man shall see the Lord.”
4. And of the kingdom of God upon earth. The curse wrought by the Fall shall be banished by the redemption of God. Not in us alone, but in humanity at large, shall God’s blessed holy will for our sanctification be done on earth as it is in heaven.
IV. AND THAT THERE NEED RE NO REASONS WHY ANY OF US SHOULD NOT “GIVE THANKS AT,” ETC. For the two essentials for our thus giving thanks are ours in Christ.
1. We can be reconciled to God in him. Until we are we cannot be thankful for his holiness. But if we will come away from our sins, and confess them, and believe in him, then we shall be reconciled to God, and to us shall be given the new nature, the regeneration, without which we cannot even see the kingdom of God.
2. And we may be sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Not forgiven only, but saved from sin itself (see Eze 36:25, Eze 36:27). And when this is done, then the very thoughts of our heart will be changed, and whereas we could not heretofore do aught but tremble at the remembrance of God’s holiness, now we shall rejoice and give thanks.S.C.
HOMILIES BY R. TUCK
Psa 97:2
What God seems, and what God is.
The figures of this verse are evidently taken from the scenes connected with the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai. Then “clouds and darkness” were the surroundings, and from these men might get a cursory and an unworthy impression of God; but then “justice and judgment” were declared to be the “pillars of his throne,” and if men would but go beyond the appearances, they would apprehend God aright, and even discern the mission and the mystery of the symbols in which he appeared to them.
I. WHAT GOD SEEMS TO OUR IMPERFECT VISION. What could Israel see when the people dared to look up to the holy mount? Compare with what Moses saw who was on the holy mount. “And Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly” (Exo 19:18). For proper apprehension of God we are under two disadvantages:
1. Distance.
2. Sin.
Distance makes it difficult for us to see things clearly; and difficult for us to get them in the right perspective. Sin brings a dimness of the moral and spiritual visionsomewhat as drunkenness gives a double vision; and so the clouds round about God prove to be sin clouds in our own eyes. And sin brings a strange fear, because man can never separate sin from consequences, and he cannot help feeling that God will see that the consequences come. So our sin makes a “darkness” about God.
II. WHAT GOD IS TO OUR CULTURED VISION. That vision has to be cleansed before it can be cultured. Illustrate cultured vision by the trained eyesight of the sailor or of the scientific man. We at first may see nothing; gradually as we fix our gaze, and think as we gaze, we can see much. Cultured spiritual vision gradually gains right apprehension of what God is, and sees two things as absolutely necessary to the fitting idea of him.
1. He is eternally right in the principles that sway him.
2. He is practically right in the application of those principles. These two things are indicated in the abstract word “righteousness” and the concrete word “judgment.” It may be shown how necessarily related these two are. If God is right, we may be confident that his ways are right.]f we can see his ways are right, we know that he is right.R.T.
Psa 97:3-5
The sign of the storm god
(comp. Exo 19:1-25.; 20.; Hab 3:1-19.; Heb 12:18-21; see also Psa 77:17, Psa 77:18). There is here an evident reference to an Eastern thunderstorm. Lightning and thunder, among all superstitious peoples, are regarded as special manifestations of the Deity. To us storms are but nature forces, having their intensity, and their comings and goings, according to ordinary nature laws. But poetry can now do, better than superstition, what superstition has done in all ages and in all lands. We inquire what the “storm sign” tells concerning God. The one common feeling in tempest is the sense of the presence of an august and awful force that is uncontrollable by man, but controllable by God. In addition to this it may be said that the storm-witness for God is universal; it is rendered in every land and in every age. Point out that in Jewish history storms are directly associated with the destruction of God’s foes, and the deliverance of God’s people, as in the case of Sisera. See also the revelation of God to Elijah, at Horeb, in the wild storm and the still small voice. The storm voice says concerning God
I. HE HAS AUGUST FORCES AT COMMAND. Nature forces are sublime in themselves, but they represent moral and spiritual forces far more sublime.
II. HIS FORCES ARE ALTOGETHER OUT OF MAN‘S LIMITATION. Tempest makes us feel this. All the combined powers of all humanity could not stop a flash of lightning or silence a peal of thunder. What makes the storm so trying to us is the sense it brings of our utter helplessness. But that lesson man needs to learn in a thousand ways, and over and over again.
III. HIS FORCES MAY BE USED IN MISSIONS OF JUDGMENT. The lightning strikes some. The storm may damage much. And though we may not say in a particular case the lightning stroke is a particular judgment on the individual, we do properly get the impression of God’s power to carry out the Divine threatening.
IV. HIS FORCES, HOWEVER USED, HELP US FULLY TO REALIZE HIMSELF. There is constant danger of men’s being satisfied with one-sided views of God. Christianity exalts his love; therefore it is needful to qualify our view of God by the nature-teachings and the older revelations.R.T.
Psa 97:7
Men’s own gods.
The figures which men worshipped in the olden time were either shaped of wood or molten metal; but in either case they were hand carved or hand graven, finished off by man’s skill; and to set prominently the fact of man’s share in their making, they are called “graven” images. It does not matter what form a man’s god may takewhether it be a creation of his hand or of his imagination; the thing that makes it an idol, a vanity, an altogether unworthy thing, is that it is his. Man is a dependent creature. He did not make himself; he has a Maker. He does not want a God; he has a God. Whatever a man makes is less than the man. The god a man makes must be an inferior being to himself; and so cannot be really his God.
I. THE INFLUENCES ON MEN OF WORSHIPPING THEIR OWN GODS. As they have no standard beyond themselves, there is no hope of their rising higher in intellectual or moral attainments. And men make their gods to represent what they liketheir pleasures. So their gods are always actually lower than their best selves, and the worship of them must debase and degrade them. This is abundantly illustrated by the immorality of all heathenism, both formal and intellectual.
II. THE CONSEQUENCES OF MEN‘S WORSHIPPING THEIR OWN GODS. They must come into a “confounding.” Life brings round the strain-times when the helplessness of idols is revealed. Illustrate by the helplessness of the Baal priests in the great testing day of Carmel. Intellectual idols, in which men boast themselves now, can provide no cheer for sorrow, no light for death.
III. THE INFLUENCES ON MEN OF WORSHIPPING THE ONE GOD. They have the inspiration of an absolute standard. They can always see in God what they ought to be, what they might be, and what they should strive to be. They can always find in God something beyond them, something that they are not. High thoughts of God draw us on to noble attainments.
IV. THE CONSEQUENCES OF MEN‘S WORSHIPPING THE ONE GOD. They are never “confounded.” They do receive Divine help. They are lifted above all fear of nature forces or of human forces that may be arrayed against them.R.T.
Psa 97:10
Our attitude toward evil.
“Hate evil.” In Scripture the term “evil” is employed in two sensescalamity and wrong doing. We can only “hate evil” when it stands for wrong doing. But it is necessary to carefully distinguish between hate of the wrong doer and hate of the wrong doing. The first is never right, the second is always right. We are to hate our own wrong doing, and to hate other people’s. The term “hate” is also used in Scripture in two senses. Sometimes it means “feel intense dislike towards;’ sometimes it means “put in the second place of your regard.” The use of the term as applied to evil, and as representing the attitude towards evil of those who love God, may be seen in the other synonymous terms used in the Bible.
1. To hate is to eschew. A strong term, applying to something found unpleasant in the mouth, and therefore cast out. Of Job as an upright man it is said, “He feared God, and eschewed evil.”
2. To hate is to depart from. So the psalmist (Job 24:14) bids us “depart from evil, and do good.”
3. To hate is to abhor. The Apostle Paul (Rom 12:9) bids us “abhor that which is evil, cleave to that which is good.” Gibbes says, “A man may know his hatred of evil to be true, first, if it be universal: he that hates sin truly hates all sin. Secondly, true hatred is fixed; there is no appeasing it but by abolishing the thing hated. Thirdly, hatred is a more rooted affection than anger; anger may be appeased, but hatred remains and sets itself against the whole kind. Fourthly, if our hatred be true, we hate all evil, in ourselves first, and then in others. Fifthly, he that hates sin truly hates the greatest sin in the greatest measure. Sixthly, our hatred is right if we can endure admonition and reproof for sin, and not be enraged.” The points that may be opened and illustrated are these
I. THE HATE WE CHERISH FOR EVIL IS AN INWARD FEELING. Show the natural repulsion of the pure minded from foul conversation. Those who love God become like minded with God; and so inwardly feel sin to be “the abominable thing.”
II. THE HATE WE CHERISH FOR EVIL WILL FIND OUTWARD EXPRESSION.
1. In separation from it.
2. In resistance of it.
3. In fighting with it.
But never in any persecution of, or unauthorized attempts to punish, the wrong doers.R.T.
Psa 97:10
Our Soul preserver.
It has always been a source of questioning and doubting to anxious minded men, such as the Psalmist Asaph, that God does not always preserve the bodies, or the circumstances, of his servants. But this ought to be no surprise to those who apprehend that God promises to preserve the soul; and he may, sometimes, be actually preserving the soul by not preserving the body. But perhaps this involves the higher Christian idea of the soul. In the older Scripture, and sometimes in the newer, the word “soul” is equivalent to “life;” and preservation of natural life is the thing assured. Take the promise in its twofold sense.
I. GOD PRESERVES OUR NATURAL LIFE. We press that truth into the familiar saying, “Man is immortal till his work is done.” Nothing can ever touch a man’s life save on God’s permission. Evil of circumstance can never of itself rise to that height. Illustrate by the permissions and restrictions given to the “Satan” of the Book of Job. But our Lord raises an argument on God’s care of our life. He who keeps alive will surely provide. The Preserver of our soul is surely the Provider of our need. What we may ever need of deliverance is guaranteed in the grace of our Preserver. Keeper always, Redeemer at call of our need.
II. GOD PRESERVES OUR SPIRITUAL LIFE. That is our supreme treasure; or rather, that is our true, our permanent self. Natural, animal life we do but share with the animals, and we can have it but for a time; circumstances are only the surroundings of our time of probation. They may all go, and we remain. What we are, when we have done with circumstances, and have ended our animal life, is the matter of supreme concern to us. It is, then, the soul character that God preserves and delivers; as the apostle says, “He will keep that we have committed to him unto the great day.” Not a thing we have, and say we own, is safe. All may take wing and flee away. But with absolute confidence we may say, “He shall preserve our soul.”R.T.
Psa 97:11
The harvest for the righteous.
“Light is sown.” Light is the type of everything pleasant. Perhaps it is conceived of here as hidden, like seed, in the ground. God’s people no more see light about their paths than men can see seeds in the ground. They walk in darkness. But the seeds are there, and the light is there. And one day there will surely be revealings both for the seeds and the lighta harvest of the seeds, a harvest of the light. Perowne and others think that the verb “sown” is to be taken in the sense of “scattered,” “diffused;” but the figure of light as hidden at present and waiting for a revealing day, is certainly more poetical and suggestive. Professor Grove gives the material for an effective illustration. “Marvellous as it may appear, light can actually be bottled up for use. Take an engraving which has been kept for some days in the dark; expose it to full sunshinethat is, insulate itfor fifteen minutes; lay it on sensitive paper in a dark place, and at the end of twenty-four hours it will have left an impression of itself on the sensitive paper, the whites coming out as blacks.” Take “light” for vindication and blessing, see
I. LIGHT FOR THE RIGHTEOUS IS ACTUALLY IN EXISTENCE. They may not see it, but that does not matter. The farmer does not see his seed. God’s response to all goodness is immediate; but he often keeps his response a secret until the right time for revealing comes. There is comfort and strength in knowing that the light exists.
II. LIGHT FOR THE RIGHTEOUS IS IN GOOD KEEPING. AS the earth keeps the seed, so God keeps vindication, full deliverance, and blessedness for the righteous. See the figure of martyr souls safely kept under the altar, only crying, “How long, O Lord, how long?” There is comfort and strength in knowing that the light is safe.
III. LIGHT FOR THE RIGHTEOUS MUST BREAK FORTH SOME DAY. As surely as grass blades will show from the seeds, and loaded wains carry home the harvest. The time for breaking forth will be God’s time, and that is, in every way, the best time.R.T.
Psa 97:12
The inspiration of cherished memories.
“Give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.” Why does not the psalmist say, “at the thought of his holiness”? See that his point is thisyou may be full of perplexity as you try to understand God’s dealings with you just now; but you can always get comfort from thinking of God’s ways with you in the past. And then you can very easily argue from what God has always been to what God surely is.
I. THE PLEASURE OF OUR CHERISHED MEMORIES. We love to live in the past. Like the old soldiers, we are always “fighting our battles o’er.” As we grow older, we find more and more pleasure in thinking of our early daysschool day scenes; youthful friendships; opening struggles; first love. But the Christian finds his great interest in tracing God’s guiding hand. He has no doubt at all about God’s goodness and mercy as he reads over his past. Life seems to him dotted over with pillars, on which over and over again he has written his “Ebenezer” And the “rightness,” the “holiness,” of God is the thing that so much impresses him. He can see how God led, and where he led, and can say, “It was a good way.” Verily the “Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works.”
II. THE ARGUMENT FROM OUR CHERISHED MEMORIES. Whatever may be the appearances of things, God is the Unchangeable One; the Rock; the same yesterday, today, and forever. If we know what he was, we know what he is. The better we know what he has been, the more fully and clearly we know what he is doing. No friend can bear that we should doubt that he will always be what we know him to be. We ourselves are distressed when those about us seem to fear lest we should be other than they know us to be. Never distrust God. All the ages tell what he has done, and what he was, and what he is.R.T.
HOMILIES BY C. SHORT
Psa 97:2
The Divine character and government.
“Clouds and darkness are round about him: righteousness and truth are the foundation of his throne.”
I. WE ARE OFTEN IN DOUBT AND DIFFICULTY ABOUT THE DIVINE CHARACTER AND GOVERNMENT, “Clouds and darkness are round about him.” We cannot reconcile all we see with:
1. Divine omnipotence. Abortions. The means do not attain the end.
2. Divine wisdom. Or the wisdom was not perfect.
3. Divine justice.
4. Divine goodness.
II. AN OVERPOWERING CONVICTION THAT THE DIVINE CHARACTER AND GOVERNMENT ARE PERFECT.
1. We feel that we are incapable judges of an infinite plan. We only see a part, therefore we cannot understand the whole.
2. What we can see and understand gives us unbounded faith in God in reference to what we cannot understand.
3. We feel assured that God is able to overrule what seems evil for final good. “All things work together for good.”S.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Psalms 97.
The majesty of God’s kingdom. The church rejoiceth at God’s judgments upon idolaters. An exhortation to godliness and gladness.
The Greeks call this, “A Psalm of David, after his land was restored to him;” i.e. as Bishop Patrick explains it, after he was made master of all those countries which God anciently designed to be the inheritance of Israel. See 1Ch 18:1-2. But in its sublimer meaning it belongs to Christ’s triumph over the grave at his resurrection. This appears from those words which the apostle to the Hebrews alleges out of the 7th verse, and applies to Christ’s royal power and authority over angels: and this the Hebrew Rabbis themselves, as Kimchi confesses, take to be here intended. Agreeably to this, the title of the psalm, in the Syriac version, says, “This psalm foretels the coming of Christ.” The attentive reader will observe a great similarity between this and the 18th psalm: the poetical imagery of both is exceedingly lofty and grand; and the thoughts and style of both are so much alike, that it cannot be questioned whether they were both written by the same hand. To give an instance: The invisibility of God is thus finely described in the 18th psalm, the 9th and following verses: Darkness was under his feet: he made darkness his secret place: his pavilion round about him were dark waters, and thick clouds of the skies: and then, to shew that by this dark and gloomy scene he only meant to describe that attribute of God, the Psalmist adds, Psa 97:12. At the brightness that was before him, &c. In like manner the same attribute is here thus described, Psa 97:2 clouds and darkness, &c. and then too it presently follows, in the very next verse, A fire goeth before him. The curious reader will compare the whole, and judge for himself.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psalms 97
1The Lord reigneth; let the earth rejoice;
Let the multitude of isles be glad thereof.
2Clouds and darkness are round about him:
Righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne.
3A fire goeth before him,
And burneth up his enemies round about.
4His lightnings enlightened the world:
The earth saw and trembled.
5The hills melted like wax at the presence of the Lord,
At the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.
6The heavens declare his righteousness,
And all the people see his glory.
7Confounded be all they that serve graven images,
That boast themselves of idols:
Worship him, all ye gods.
8Zion heard, and was glad;
And the daughters of Judah rejoiced
Because of thy judgments, O Lord.
9For thou, Lord, art high above all the earth:
Thou art exalted far above all gods.
10Ye that love the Lord, hate evil:
He preserveth the souls of his saints;
He delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked.
11Light is sown for the righteous,
And gladness for the upright in heart.
12Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous;
And give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Contents and Division.The appearing of Jehovah as the heavenly judge is announced, together with His coming forth as the King of glory for the salvation and joy of many upon earth (Psa 97:1-3). His awful majesty, in its significance, as related to the universal world, has revealed itself (46) to the joy of Israel and the shame of idol-worshippers (79), which result is to serve as a warning as well as a consolation to the righteous (1012). The use of the prterite in the second and third strophes must not be disregarded. [Perowne: The use of the past tenses in Psa 97:4-8 and particularly the vivid language of Psa 97:8 are most naturally explained as occasioned by some historical event, some great national deliverance or triumph of recent occurrence, such, for instance, as the overthrow of Babylon and the restoration of the Theocracy.J. F. M ] Nor are we to overlook the circumstance that as in Psalms 1 the description is borrowed from the Theophany on Sinai. On account of the character of the Psalm, so fruitful in great truths and so universal in its application, it is eminently suited to represent typically, not all the manifestations of Gods judicial and delivering power generally, as the thunder, for example, in Psalms 18 does, but those which in the history of the Theocracy bear an epoch-making character. On account of the numerous reproductions of passages in older Psalms, and its affinity with announcements in the Second Part of Isaiah, we are not justified in assigning it to the time of David, in accordance with the superscription in the Sept.: By David, when his land was restored to rest (Jerome, Hilary and others, Clauss). The time of the Maccabees (Venema, Hitzig, Olshausen) is too late. It could scarcely have been occasioned by any victory of the Israelites (Muntinghe). But such an event as the restoration of the Theocracy after the fall of Babylon (Ewald) is most readily suggested. Only we must not refer it specially to the dedication of the second Temple (Rosenm.), but, as in the whole group of which this Psalm forms a member, we must hold to its connection with the circle of prophecy following the Exile (Del.), which is concerned especially with the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. Hupfeld regards this Psalm as without historical occasion, but as being a free, poetical working up of current images and forms of expression. This is the extreme opposite of the Messianic view, which understands the prterites, employed prophetically, as describing the end of the world and its final judgment (the Rabbins, and many older expositors).
Psa 97:1 f. The isles are mentioned also in Psa 72:10, as bringing tribute to the King of the kingdom of God, but after Isaiah 41 they appear frequently as representing the countries outside of the Promised Land, stretching even to the furthest unknown limits of the world, as also the inhabitants of those countries. Hence the predicate: the many, is not superfluous. [This construction is unnecessary. It is better to take, as most do, the adjective as qualifying the noun directly. The many islandsthe multitude of the islands.In Psa 97:2 the E. V. rendering of : habitation, is accompanied by the marginal alternative establishment. Dr. Alexander prefers to retain the former. If we give to the latter idea its more definite expression: support, we find that both meanings may be defended by derivation and usage. But the second gives a clearer as well as more vivid and pleasing sense. Perowne, Noyes, and Barnes favor it, following the great majority of German critics. Dr. Moll translates: Saule; Delitzsch: Pfeiler; Hengstenb.: Boden. The last, expressing the idea of a groundwork or basis, serves to bring the various shades of meaning into closer relation, and probably best expresses the meaning of the originalJ. F. M.]
Psa 97:7 ff. The Elohim have here also in accordance with the Sept. been erroneously regarded as angels. It is doubtful whether Psa 97:7 c. ought to be taken as an imperative (Septuag., Syr., Hengst., Hupfeld), or as a prterite (Del., Hitzig).In Psa 97:11 the light is not viewed as seed, in allusion to a re-emergence from darkness (most of the ancients), but as being scattered upon the way of life which is trodden by the righteous. Light is said to be sown when the rising sun diffuses his rays plentifully in all directions (Venema). [Alexander unites the idea of productiveness to this.J. F. M.] The ancient translators have probably confounded with : to rise (Psa 112:4, comp. Pro 13:9), unless they read the latter, which is indeed found in some codices.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. God will not only have it preached that He is the King and Judge of the world, He also makes men actually sensible of this truth by historical proofs of His majesty. These are to one class a source of delight, and to another a source of terror, according to their attitude with regard to this revelation of that God who is infinitely exalted above all the world and its vain gods. The vision of Him is indeed not vouchsafed to mortals, but His presence may be traced, His coming watched for, and, at the same time, His essential character discoverable. For the fire which blazes forth from the cloudy darkness which conceals Him, and yet makes Him known as the Almighty King of Heaven, consumes not the righteous but the unrighteous, and manifests the infallible righteousness of this supreme Judge of the whole world, who has established His throne upon justice and righteousness.
2. The announcement that the Eternal has revealed Himself to the world and in the Church, must be based upon these facts, must expound them also and apply them, in a word, turn them theoretically and practically to account. For the righteousness of God, which, descending from heaven, is announced and operates on earth, embraces the whole world, separates those who love Him from the wicked, and rewards every man according to his works.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
The revelation of Gods glory in the word of truth, in the reign of righteousness, and in the workings of grace.That which to the righteous is comforting and the source of holy joy, is to the wicked dreadful, and the object of unceasing fear; therefore they would like best not to hear or see anything of it.There may be darkness in heaven and upon the earth, but a light is never wanting to the righteous, and it never becomes converted into a devouring fire for them, as it does for the ungodly.The Deliverer and Judge of all the world is descending from heaven: let all the righteous sing His praise.
Starke: Christs kingdom is one of joy; blessed heart which has its portion there!The beginning of a sinners conversion is fearful, under the terrors of the law, but the progress and the end are joyful, under the consolations of the light of the mercy of the gospel.He who will not have the justification of faith, must have the condemnation of unbelief.Love to God is the true source of obedience to His commands.True love to God is ever united with hatred of all evil.Believers have here, it is true, only their seed-time, but they have often also the fair first-fruits of the harvest.The joyfulness of faith under suffering is not the privilege of every one, yet the righteous encourage one another thereto assiduously (2Co 6:16).
Frisch: If thou wouldst be a citizen of Gods kingdom and His true subject, thou must also love Him, and from love to Him, hate what is evil; all will then acknowledge that thou dost belong to thy Jesus.Rieger: In the word of the kingdom lies all-abiding joy, and by it we learn to praise Gods holiness, in accordance with which He extends the cause of that kingdom far beyond the expectations of all men.Guenther: Who rules the world? The heathen say: their idols; the wicked: the devil; unbelievers: accident, blind chance, or iron destiny. They all look into the darkness.How many fancy that they really love God from the heart, and yet they cannot bring themselves to a true, decided hatred of evil.Diedrich: When God breaks suddenly in upon men with His judgments, then even fools must see what they would not believe, that the God of the poor and distressed is eternal Righteousness and living Omnipotence itself.Taube: The righteous government of the Lord: a terror to His enemies, a joy to Zion.The measure of love to the Lord determines the measure of the joy that is felt in Him, and both attest their genuineness and purity in and by a separation from sin.
[Matt. Henry: Whatever is matter of our rejoicing ought to be matter of our thanksgiving, and especially the holiness of God.The joy of the saints should confirm their antipathy to sin, and Divine comforts should put their mouths out of taste to sensual pleasures.J. F. M.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
The same subject that ran through the former Psalm is here continued: and Jesus, as the Christ of God, is the sum and substance of it. Very strong and solid reasons are given wherefore the Church should unceasingly rejoice in the contemplation of the Redeemer’s reign; and well may she give her loudest response of Amen, to every part of it.
Psa 97:1
What a sweet thought is it to consider the reign of Jesus, in grace here, in glory hereafter; in all the kingdoms of his government, temporal, spiritual, eternal, natural, moral, or spiritual; in providence or grace! Precious Lord! while my soul beholds thee in this glorious view, what occurrence can cast me down?
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
The Instinct After Rising
Psa 97:10
Why is it that the study of human life in the Bible is so striking and helpful? Is it not because, as we close the book, we cannot help forming a moral judgment of the man himself? Take, for example, the life of Saul. We do not pass judgment upon him as a warrior or as a great leader, but we pass judgment upon Saul as a whole. David did much darker deeds than ever Saul did, and yet our judgment on the whole is in favour of David and against Saul. Why is it that, on the whole, we regard the life of Saul as the life of a man who has failed? Is it not because, underneath all his brilliant achievements, we cannot help noticing a moral deterioration?
I. The truth is that Holy Scripture teaches us that the outcome and the end of life is not what a man has done, or what a man has said, but it is what life has made of the man. Not so much what man has made of the life, but what life has made of the man. Life is a machinery with its complicated system for the working out of character, and at the end the soul comes out beaten upon by all the manifold forces and influences of life; the soul comes out of all those forces which baffle analysis, and there is your man. Holy Scripture says that the outcome of life is the formation of character, and that, compared with this, nothing else in the world matters.
Now we feel this, I think, when we see a young man, for example, whose whole theory of life seems to be to cull all the good things he can get; and we see him shirking difficulties and escaping troubles not rising refusing to become great, and we condemn him. Sometimes we say, ‘Well, all the suffering that that man endured, all the struggles he underwent, were worth while, for see what a character has been evolved’. Or we say, ‘All that luxury, all that ease and comfort, were not worth while, for the man has gone down’. Sometimes we see a man who has been raised from poverty up to wealth, and we say, ‘I liked that man better when he was poor, for when he was poor there seemed to be a splendour of character about him, which has now been overlaid by all this comfort and luxury and ease’. Here is a fine lady who is lying upon her deathbed. She has had her day, and she has had her sway, and she has done her acts, and she has said her words, and she has had her receptions, and, as you her friends stand by her bedside, why is it that you do not feel any of that triumph which comes from a sense of strength and power? It is because you know, who knew her well, that, underneath all, her character has deteriorated, and she has become small instead of great. Or, once more, you stand by the coffin of your dead friend. You have crossed his hands in calmness and peace, and closed his eyes. Why is it that, in spite of all he has done and he seems to have done great things why is it that you are unhappy? It is because you know that, underneath it all, his moral nature has worsened. He has become a poorer character than he was.
II. Well, but then, you say, how shall we define character?
Character is defined by one of two movements of the human will. That man is a good man, whatever his creed may be, who is always striving after what he thinks is the best. And that man, whatever his creed may be, is not a good man who, when he sees the good, deliberately turns away from it. That man is not good who, seeing the best, gropes after what he likes, and not after what he ought to like, who aims not at the high but at the low. That man is not a good man who does not aim at what he thinks to be noblest and the purest and the best.
Now, remember, I do not say that a man is a good man who always does right, for I fancy that none of us then would come under the category of goodness at all. But I say that man is a good man who, in spite of piteous failures, is always striving after what he believes to be best. For, underneath all the variety of nationality, race, and religion, underneath all variety of these things that change and give colour and tone to life, underneath all is this distinction between men good and bad. ‘I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God’ the dead, morally small, intellectually small, morally great and intellectually great ‘I saw them stand before God, and I observed a division’; and what was the cause of that division? One man could say with truth, ‘Lord, when saw I Thee in prison, or sick, and did not try to help?’ And the other man saw good and turned away; saw light and turned away; saw moral rectitude and chose moral evil.
III. Here is the key to human life. You tell me about a man. He may be a great public character, and you say to me, ‘He is a man of great gifts and great wealth’. And I say to you, ‘Tell me something about the man’. And you say, ‘He is a man of extraordinary fascination and wonderful power of influence’. I say, ‘Tell me something about the man’. You say, ‘He is a man of wonderful power of mind and body and reason’. I say, ‘I do not know the man yet; tell me something about the man’. And then you say, ‘And all these powers of influence and fascination and wealth he used for his own ends’. Now I know your man. That one act of the will is the secret of that man’s life, and all the rest is only a setting to the picture.
But, further, you may say, ‘Well, but I cannot feel that I am perfectly free. I cannot feel that my will is absolutely free.’ No man in his senses will ever say to you that at any given moment of your life you are free from anything that you have done in the past. Remember this, that habit works by a very vigorous law, and the law of habit is this that the oftener you do anything, the more you deprive yourself of freedom, until at last you say, ‘I cannot do the things that I would’. Now it is in the power of every man to work himself out of bad habits. He can get free by struggle, hard struggle. Not today, not tomorrow, it may be, not for a year perhaps, but he can get free if he will struggle in the light of God, and in the power of God’s might he can get free, and at last he will sing with joy and peace, ‘The snare is broken and I am delivered’.
That instinct after rising is the truest expression of your nature. Freedom of the will does not mean that at any moment you are free from the trammels of the past, but it does mean that there is a fountain of strength within you, and a power of good without you, by virtue of which you can regain your moral liberty.
And now, how shall these things be? I find that I seem to have two wills. ‘I am,’ you say, ‘a man of strong purpose, and yet, when I come to things moral, I seem to be powerless. What am I to do?’ St. Paul says that behind your conscience, and behind your reason, you can set a person, a person whom you love. And now supposing that you set the greatest and the dearest of men, Jesus Christ, and supposing you learn to love Him, and supposing that you hear His Voice, the Voice of One who died for the honour of God and for the sake of men, the Voice that called the Magdalene to His feet. Suppose you hear that Voice sounding through your conscience, will not at length devotion to Him, the love of Him, draw all your passions, one by one, upon the side of right as against wrong? ‘O ye that love the Lord, see that ye hate the thing that is evil.’
There are many things that society hates. It hates being dull, it hates being bored, it hates badly fitting clothes, it hates long sermons, it hates being found out. It hates evil when evil touches its pocket or injures its character in the face of men, but it does not hate evil as evil. Ye that love the Lord, see that ye hate above all things the thing that is evil. And as you learn to love the Lord, as you learn to hate evil, you will learn to love good, until at length stealthily, quietly, in moments unknown and unmeasured, one by one, all your errant desires will come back from the side of wrong and take their place on the side of right, until at last your whole nature is brought into submission, and your whole heart flung down at the feet of God.
References. XCVII. 10. J. T. Bramston, Sermons to Boys, p. 87. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. iv. No. 208.
Sown Light
Psa 97:11
Consider these words as speaking: (1) Of the future of the believer; (2) of the life of the believer in this present time; (3) as prophetic of the death and resurrection of Christ.
In applying the words ‘Light is sown for the righteous’ to the future of the believer, I am but following the thought of the Psalmist and the principle contained in the figure which he employs.
I. This world is the seedtime: the harvest is in the world to come: in other words, the prosperity of the righteous is future. The believer has light now, but it is only sown. The promised immortality is but the full unveiling of that sun by whose clouded light the believer walks on earth.
II. The expression ‘Light is sown for the righteous’ is figurative of the spiritual life of the believer in this present time. The idea of ‘sown light,’ or light diffused and scattered abroad, is common to poets in all ages. It is used by both Virgil and Lucretius. The latter says:
And the sun from mid-heaven sheds his heat
On every side, and sows the fields with light.
While our own Milton adopts the same figure
Now morn her rosy steps in the Eastern clime
Advancing, sowed the earth with orient pearl.
What is night, but the turning of the earth on its axis from the sun? What is day, but the turning of the earth towards the source of light? What is spiritual darkness, but the turning of the heart from God? What is conversion, but the turning of the soul towards the ‘Light of the world’? From the moment that the day breaks and the Sun of Righteousness dawns upon the soul, light is strewn upon life’s way: so that the righteous man advances step by step in the light. ‘The path of the just is as the shining light, which shineth more and more unto the perfect day.’ Progressiveness is the law of spiritual growth. ‘First the blade, then the ear, and after that the full corn in the ear.’
III. The sentence ‘Light is sown for the righteous’ is, I believe, prophetic of Christ. In the Prayer Book version the words are rendered, ‘There is sprung up a Light for the righteous’. Was He not the Light? Was He not sown? sown in the darkness of the grave? ‘Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.’ Whilst the Light was hidden in the sepulchre the disciples were sad. It was but sown. After His resurrection the Sun of Righteousness scaled the heavens, and now shines with healing in His wings.
J. W. Bardsley, Many Mansions, p. 251.
References. XCVII. 11. M. Biggs, Practical Sermons on Old Testament Subjects, p. 209. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xiv. No. 836. XCVII. B. F. Westcott, The Incarnation and Common Life, p. 41. XCVII. International Critical Commentary, vol. ii. p. 305. XCVIII Ibid. vol. ii. p. 307.
Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson
PSALMS
XI
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF PSALMS
According to my usual custom, when taking up the study of a book of the Bible I give at the beginning a list of books as helps to the study of that book. The following books I heartily commend on the Psalms:
1. Sampey’s Syllabus for Old Testament Study . This is especially good on the grouping and outlining of some selected psalms. There are also some valuable suggestions on other features of the book.
2. Kirkpatrick’g commentary, in “Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges,” is an excellent aid in the study of the Psalter.
3. Perowne’s Book of Psalms is a good, scholarly treatise on the Psalms. A special feature of this commentary is the author’s “New Translation” and his notes are very helpful.
4. Spurgeon’s Treasury of David. This is just what the title implies. It is a voluminous, devotional interpretation of the Psalms and helpful to those who have the time for such extensive study of the Psalter.
5. Hengstenburg on the Psalms. This is a fine, scholarly work by one of the greatest of the conservative German scholars.
6. Maclaren on the Psalms, in “The Expositor’s Bible,” is the work of the world’s safest, sanest, and best of all works that have ever been written on the Psalms.
7. Thirtle on the Titles of the Psalms. This is the best on the subject and well worth a careful study.
At this point some definitions are in order. The Hebrew word for psalm means praise. The word in English comes from psalmos , a song of lyrical character, or a song to be sung and accompanied with a lyre. The Psalter is a collection of sacred and inspired songs, composed at different times and by different authors.
The range of time in composition was more than 1,000 years, or from the time of Moses to the time of Ezra. The collection in its present form was arranged probably by Ezra in the fifth century, B.C.
The Jewish classification of Old Testament books was The Law, the Prophets, and the Holy Writings. The Psalms was given the first place in the last group.
They had several names, or titles, of the Psalms. In Hebrew they are called “The Book of Prayers,” or “The Book of Praises.” The Hebrew word thus used means praises. The title of the first two books is found in Psa 72:20 : “The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.” The title of the whole collection of Psalms in the Septuagint is Biblos Psalman which means the “Book of Psalms.” The title in the Alexandrian Codex is Psalterion which is the name of a stringed instrument, and means “The Psalter.”
The derivation of our English words, “psalms,” “psalter,” and “psaltery,” respectively, is as follows:
1. “Psalms” comes from the Greek word, psalmoi, which is also from psallein , which means to play upon a stringed instrument. Therefore the Psalms are songs played upon stringed instruments, and the word here is used to apply to the whole collection.
2. “Psalter” is of the same origin and means the Book of Psalms and refers also to the whole collection.
3. “Psaltery” is from the word psalterion, which means “a harp,” an instrument, supposed to be in the shape of a triangle or like the delta of the Greek alphabet. See Psa 33:2 ; Psa 71:22 ; Psa 81:2 ; Psa 144:9 .
In our collection there are 150 psalms. In the Septuagint there is one extra. It is regarded as being outside the sacred collection and not inspired. The subject of this extra psalm is “David’s victory over Goliath.” The following is a copy of it: I was small among my brethren, And youngest in my father’s house, I used to feed my father’s sheep. My hands made a harp, My fingers fashioned a Psaltery. And who will declare unto my Lord? He is Lord, he it is who heareth. He it was who sent his angel And took me from my father’s sheep, And anointed me with the oil of his anointing. My brethren were goodly and tall, But the Lord took no pleasure in them. I went forth to meet the Philistine. And he cursed me by his idols But I drew the sword from beside him; I beheaded him and removed reproach from the children of Israel.
It will be noted that this psalm does not have the earmarks of an inspired production. There is not found in it the modesty so characteristic of David, but there is here an evident spirit of boasting and self-praise which is foreign to the Spirit of inspiration.
There is a difference in the numbering of the psalms in our version which follows the Hebrew, and the numbering in the Septuagint. Omitting the extra one in the Septuagint, there is no difference as to the total number. Both have 150 and the same subject matter, but they are not divided alike.
The following scheme shows the division according to our version and also the Septuagint: Psalms 1-8 in the Hebrew equal 1-8 in the Septuagint; 9-10 in the Hebrew combine into 9 in the Septuagint; 11-113 in the Hebrew equal 10-112 in the Septuagint; 114-115 in the Hebrew combine into 113 in the Septuagint; 116 in the Hebrew divides into 114-115 in the Septuagint; 117-146 in the Hebrew equal 116-145 in the Septuagint; 147 in the Hebrew divides into 146-147 in the Septuagint; 148-150 in the Hebrew equal 148-150 in the Septuagint.
The arrangement in the Vulgate is the same as the Septuagint. Also some of the older English versions have this arangement. Another difficulty in numbering perplexes an inexperienced student in turning from one version to another, viz: In the Hebrew often the title is verse I, and sometimes the title embraces verses 1-2.
The book divisions of the Psalter are five books, as follows:
Book I, Psalms 1-41 (41 chapters)
Book II, Psalms 42-72 (31 chapters)
Book III, Psalms 73-89 (17 chapters)
Book IV, Psalms 90-106 (17 chapters)
Book V, Psalms 107-150 (44 chapters)
They are marked by an introduction and a doxology. Psalm I forms an introduction to the whole book; Psa 150 is the doxology for the whole book. The introduction and doxology of each book are the first and last psalms of each division, respectively.
There were smaller collections before the final one, as follows:
Books I and II were by David; Book III, by Hezekiah, and Books IV and V, by Ezra.
Certain principles determined the arrangement of the several psalms in the present collection:
1. David is honored with first place, Book I and II, including Psalms 1-72.
2. They are grouped according to the use of the name of God:
(1) Psalms 1-41 are Jehovah psalms;
(2) Psalms 42-83 are Elohim-psalms;
(3) Psalms 84-150 are Jehovah psalms.
3. Book IV is introduced by the psalm of Moses, which is the first psalm written.
4. Some are arranged as companion psalms, for instance, sometimes two, sometimes three, and sometimes more. Examples: Psa 2 and 3; 22, 23, and 24; 113-118.
5. They were arranged for liturgical purposes, which furnished the psalms for special occasions, such as feasts, etc. We may be sure this arrangement was not accidental. An intelligent study of each case is convincing that it was determined upon rational grounds.
All the psalms have titles but thirty-three, as follows:
In Book I, Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 10 ; Psa 33 , (4 are without titles).
In Book II, Psa 43 ; Psa 71 , (2 are without titles).
In Book IV, Psa 91 ; Psa 93 ; Psa 94 ; Psa 95 ; Psa 96 ; Psa 97 ; Psa 104 ; Psa 105 ; Psa 106 , (9 are without titles).
In Book V, Psa 107 ; III; 112; 113; 114; 115; 116; 117; 118; 119; 135; 136; 137; 146; 147; 148; 149; 150, (18 are without titles).
The Talmud calls these psalms that have no title, “Orphan Psalms.” The later Jews supply these titles by taking the nearest preceding author. The lack of titles in Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; and 10 may be accounted for as follows: Psa 1 is a general introduction to the whole collection and Psa 2 was, perhaps, a part of Psa 1 . Psalms 9-10 were formerly combined into one, therefore Psa 10 has the same title as Psa 9 .
QUESTIONS
1. What books are commended on the Psalms?
2. What is a psalm?
3. What is the Psalter?
4. What is the range of time in composition?
5. When and by whom was the collection in its present form arranged?
6. What the Jewish classification of Old Testament books, and what the position of the Psalter in this classification?
7. What is the Hebrew title of the Psalms?
8. Find the title of the first two books from the books themselves.
9. What is the title of the whole collection of psalms in the Septuagint?
10. What is the title in the Alexandrian Codex?
11. What is the derivation of our English word, “Psalms”, “Psalter”, and “Psaltery,” respectively?
12. How many psalms in our collection?
13. How many psalms in the Septuagint?
14. What about the extra one in the Septuagint?
15. What is the subject of this extra psalm?
16. How does it compare with the Canonical Psalms?
17. What is the difference in the numbering of the psalms in our version which follows the Hebrew, and the numbering in the Septuagint?
18. What is the arrangement in the Vulgate?
19. What other difficulty in numbering which perplexes an inexperienced student in turning from one version to another?
20. What are the book divisions of the Psalter and how are these divisions marked?
21. Were there smaller collections before the final one? If so, what were they?
22. What principles determined the arrangement of the several psalms in the present collection?
23. In what conclusion may we rest concerning this arrangement?
24. How many of the psalms have no titles?
25. What does the Talmud call these psalms that have no titles?
26. How do later Jews supply these titles?
27. How do you account for the lack of titles in Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 10 ?
XII
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF PSALMS (CONTINUED)
The following is a list of the items of information gathered from the titles of the psalms:
1. The author: “A Psalm of David” (Psa 37 ).
2. The occasion: “When he fled from Absalom, his son” (Psa 3 ).
3. The nature, or character, of the poem:
(1) Maschil, meaning “instruction,” a didactic poem (Psa 42 ).
(2) Michtam, meaning “gold,” “A Golden Psalm”; this means excellence or mystery (Psa 16 ; 56-60).
4. The occasion of its use: “A Psalm of David for the dedication of the house” (Psa 30 ).
5. Its purpose: “A Psalm of David to bring remembrance” (Psa 38 ; Psa 70 ).
6. Direction for its use: “A Psalm of David for the chief musician” (Psa 4 ).
7. The kind of musical instrument:
(1) Neginoth, meaning to strike a chord, as on stringed instruments (Psa 4 ; Psa 61 ).
(2) Nehiloth, meaning to perforate, as a pipe or flute (Psa 5 ).
(3) Shoshannim, Lilies, which refers probably to cymbals (Psa 45 ; Psa 69 ).
8. A special choir:
(1) Sheminith, the “eighth,” or octave below, as a male choir (Psa 6 ; Psa 12 ).
(2) Alamoth, female choir (Psa 46 ).
(3) Muth-labben, music with virgin voice, to be sung by a choir of boys in the treble (Psa 9 ).
9. The keynote, or tune:
(1) Aijeleth-sharar, “Hind of the morning,” a song to the melody of which this is sung (Psa 22 ).
(2) Al-tashheth, “Destroy thou not,” the beginning of a song the tune of which is sung (Psa 57 ; Psa 58 ; Psa 59 ; Psa 75 ).
(3) Gittith, set to the tune of Gath, perhaps a tune which David brought from Gath (Psa 8 ; Psa 81 ; Psa 84 ).
(4) Jonath-elim-rehokim, “The dove of the distant terebinths,” the commencement of an ode to the air of which this song was to be sung (Psa 56 ).
(5) Leannoth, the name of a tune (Psa 88 ).
(6) Mahalath, an instrument (Psa 53 ); Leonnoth-Mahaloth, to chant to a tune called Mahaloth.
(7) Shiggaion, a song or a hymn.
(8) Shushan-Eduth, “Lily of testimony,” a tune (Psa 60 ). Note some examples: (1) “America,” “Shiloh,” “Auld Lang Syne.” These are the names of songs such as we are familiar with; (2) “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” and “There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood,” are examples of sacred hymns.
10. The liturgical use, those noted for the feasts, e.g., the Hallels and Hallelujah Psalms (Psalms 146-150).
11. The destination, as “Song of Ascents” (Psalms 120-134)
12. The direction for the music, such as Selah, which means “Singers, pause”; Higgaion-Selah, to strike a symphony with selah, which means an instrumental interlude (Psa 9:16 ).
The longest and fullest title to any of the psalms is the title to Psa 60 . The items of information from this title are as follows: (1) the author; (2) the chief musician; (3) the historical occasion; (4) the use, or design; (5) the style of poetry; (6) the instrument or style of music.
The parts of these superscriptions which most concern us now are those indicating author, occasion, and date. As to the historic value or trustworthiness of these titles most modern scholars deny that they are a part of the Hebrew text, but the oldest Hebrew text of which we know anything had all of them. This is the text from which the Septuagint was translated. It is much more probable that the author affixed them than later writers. There is no internal evidence in any of the psalms that disproves the correctness of them, but much to confirm. The critics disagree among themselves altogether as to these titles. Hence their testimony cannot consistently be received. Nor can it ever be received until they have at least agreed upon a common ground of opposition.
David is the author of more than half the entire collection, the arrangement of which is as follows:
1. Seventy-three are ascribed to him in the superscriptions.
2. Some of these are but continuations of the preceding ones of a pair, trio, or larger group.
3. Some of the Korahite Psalms are manifestly Davidic.
4. Some not ascribed to him in the titles are attributed to him expressly by New Testament writers.
5. It is not possible to account for some parts of the Psalter without David. The history of his early life as found in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1and 2 Chronicles, not only shows his remarkable genius for patriotic and sacred songs and music, but also shows his cultivation of that gift in the schools of the prophets. Some of these psalms of the history appear in the Psalter itself. It is plain to all who read these that they are founded on experience, and the experience of no other Hebrew fits the case. These experiences are found in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles.
As to the attempt of the destructive critics to rob David of his glory in relation to the Psalter by assigning the Maccabean era as the date of composition, I have this to say:
1. This theory has no historical support whatever, and therefore is not to be accepted at all.
2. It has no support in tradition, which weakens the contention of the critics greatly.
3. It has no support from finding any one with the necessary experience for their basis.
4. They can give no reasonable account as to how the titles ever got there.
5. It is psychologically impossible for anyone to have written these 150 psalms in the Maccabean times.
6. Their position is expressly contrary to the testimony of Christ and the apostles. Some of the psalms which they ascribe to the Maccabean Age are attributed to David by Christ himself, who said that David wrote them in the Spirit.
The obvious aim of this criticism and the necessary result if it be Just, is a positive denial of the inspiration of both Testaments.
Other authors are named in the titles, as follows: (1) Asaph, to whom twelve psalms have been assigned: (2) Mosee, Psa 90 ; (3) Solomon, Psa 72 ; Psa 127 ; (4) Heman, Psa 80 ; (5) Ethem, Psa 89 ; (6) A number of the psalms are ascribed to the sons of Korah.
Not all the psalms ascribed to Asaph were composed by one person. History indicates that Asaph’s family presided over the song service for several generations. Some of them were composed by his descendants by the game name. The five general outlines of the whole collection are as follows:
I. By books
1. Psalms 1-41 (41)
2. Psalms 42-72 (31)
3. Psalms 73-89 (17)
4. Psalms 90-106 (17)
5. Psalms 107-150 (44)
II. According to date and authorship
1. The psalm of Moses (Psa 90 )
2. Psalms of David:
(1) The shepherd boy (Psa 8 ; Psa 19 ; Psa 29 ; Psa 23 ).
(2) David when persecuted by Saul (Psa 59 ; Psa 56 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 52 ; Psa 54 ; Psa 57 ; Psa 142 ).
(3) David the King (Psa 101 ; Psa 18 ; Psa 24 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 110 ; Psa 20 ; Psa 20 ; Psa 21 ; Psa 60 ; Psa 51 ; Psa 32 ; Psa 41 ; Psa 55 ; Psa 3:4 ; Psa 64 ; Psa 62 ; Psa 61 ; Psa 27 ).
3. The Asaph Psalms (Psa 50 ; Psa 73 ; Psa 83 ).
4. The Korahite Psalms (Psa 42 ; Psa 43 ; Psa 84 ).
5. The psalms of Solomon (Psa 72 ; Psa 127 ).
6. The psalms of the era of Hezekiah and Isaiah (Psa 46 ; Psa 47 ; Psa 48 )
7. The psalms of the Exile (Psa 74 ; Psa 79 ; Psa 137 ; Psa 102 )
8. The psalms of the Restoration (Psa 85 ; Psa 126 ; Psa 118 ; 146-150)
III. By groups
1. The Jehovistic and Elohistic Psalms:
(1) Psalms 1-41 are Jehovistic;
(2) Psalms 42-83 are Elohistic Psalms;
(3) Psalms 84-150 are Jehovistic.
2. The Penitential Psalms (Psa 6 ; Psa 32 ; Psa 38 ; Psa 51 ; Psa 102 ; Psa 130 ; Psa 143 )
3. The Pilgrim Psalms (Psalms 120-134)
4. The Alphabetical Psalms (Psa 9 ; Psa 10 ; Psa 25 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 37 ; 111:112; Psa 119 ; Psa 145 )
5. The Hallelujah Psalms (Psalms 11-113; 115-117; 146-150; to which may be added Psa 135 ) Psalms 113-118 are called “the Egyptian Hallel”
IV. Doctrines of the Psalms
1. The throne of grace and how to approach it by sacrifice, prayer, and praise.
2. The covenant, the basis of worship.
3. The paradoxical assertions of both innocence & guilt.
4. The pardon of sin and justification.
5. The Messiah.
6. The future life, pro and con.
7. The imprecations.
8. Other doctrines.
V. The New Testament use of the Psalms
1. Direct references and quotations in the New Testament.
2. The allusions to the psalms in the New Testament. Certain experiences of David’s life made very deep impressions on his heart, such as: (1) his peaceful early life; (2) his persecution by Saul; (3) his being crowned king of the people; (4) the bringing up of the ark; (5) his first great sin; (6) Absalom’s rebellion; (7) his second great sin; (8) the great promise made to him in 2Sa 7 ; (9) the feelings of his old age.
We may classify the Davidic Psalms according to these experiences following the order of time, thus:
1. His peaceful early life (Psa 8 ; Psa 19 ; Psa 29 ; Psa 23 )
2. His persecution by Saul (Psa 59 ; Psa 56 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 7 ; Psa 52 ; Psa 120 ; Psa 140 ; Psa 54 ; Psa 57 ; Psa 142 ; Psa 17 ; Psa 18 )
3. Making David King (Psa 27 ; Psa 133 ; Psa 101 )
4. Bringing up the ark (Psa 68 ; Psa 24 ; Psa 132 ; Psa 15 ; Psa 78 ; Psa 96 )
5. His first great sin (Psa 51 ; Psa 32 )
6. Absalom’s rebellion (Psa 41 ; Psa 6 ; Psa 55 ; Psa 109 ; Psa 38 ; Psa 39 ; Psa 3 ; Psa 4 ; Psa 63 ; Psa 42 ; Psa 43 ; Psa 5 ; Psa 62 ; Psa 61 ; Psa 27 )
7. His second great sin (Psa 69 ; Psa 71 ; Psa 102 ; Psa 103 )
8. The great promise made to him in 2Sa 7 (Psa 2 )
9. Feelings of old age (Psa 37 )
The great doctrines of the psalms may be noted as follows: (1) the being and attributes of God; (3) sin, both original and individual; (3) both covenants; (4) the doctrine of justification; (5) concerning the Messiah.
There is a striking analogy between the Pentateuch and the Psalms. The Pentateuch contains five books of law; the Psalms contain five books of heart responses to the law.
It is interesting to note the historic controversies concerning the singing of psalms. These were controversies about singing uninspired songs, in the Middle Ages. The church would not allow anything to be used but psalms.
The history in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles, and in Ezra and Nehemiah is very valuable toward a proper interpretation of the psalms. These books furnish the historical setting for a great many of the psalms which is very indispensable to their proper interpretation.
Professor James Robertson, in the Poetry and Religion of the Psalms constructs a broad and strong argument in favor of the Davidic Psalms, as follows:
1. The age of David furnished promising soil for the growth of poetry.
2. David’s qualifications for composing the psalms make it highly probable that David is the author of the psalms ascribed to him.
3. The arguments against the possibility of ascribing to David any of the hymns in the Hebrew Psalter rests upon assumptions that are thoroughly antibiblical.
The New Testament makes large use of the psalms and we learn much as to their importance in teaching. There are seventy direct quotations in the New Testament from this book, from which we learn that the Scriptures were used extensively in accord with 2Ti 3:16-17 . There are also eleven references to the psalms in the New Testament from which we learn that the New Testament writers were thoroughly imbued with the spirit and teaching of the psalms. Then there are eight allusions ‘to this book in the New Testament from which we gather that the Psalms was one of the divisions of the Old Testament and that they were used in the early church.
QUESTIONS
1. Give a list of the items of information gathered from the titles of the psalms.
2. What is the longest title to any of the psalms and what the items of this title?
3. What parts of these superscriptions most concern us now?
4. What is the historic value, or trustworthiness of these titles?
5. State the argument showing David’s relation to the psalms.
6. What have you to say of the attempt of the destructive critics to rob David of his glory in relation to the Psalter by assigning the Maccabean era as the date of composition?
7. What the obvious aim of this criticism and the necessary result, if it be just?
8. What other authors are named in the titles?
9. Were all the psalms ascribed to Asaph composed by one person?
10. Give the five general outlines of the whole collection, as follows: I. The outline by books II. The outline according to date and authorship III. The outline by groups IV. The outline of doctrines V. The outline by New Testament quotations or allusions.
11. What experiences of David’s life made very deep impressions on his heart?
12. Classify the Davidic Psalms according to these experiences following the order of time.
13. What the great doctrines of the psalms?
14. What analogy between the Pentateuch and the Psalms?
15. What historic controversies concerning the singing of psalms?
16. Of what value is the history in Samuel, 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles, and in Ezra and Nehemiah toward a proper interpretation of the psalms?
17. Give Professor James Robertson’s argument in favor of the Davidic authorship of the psalms.
18. What can you say of the New Testament use of the psalms and what do we learn as to their importance in teaching?
19. What can you say of the New Testament references to the psalms, and from the New Testament references what the impression on the New Testament writers?
20. What can you say of the allusions to the psalms in the New Testament?
XVII
THE MESSIAH IN THE PSALMS
A fine text for this chapter is as follows: “All things must be fulfilled which were written in the Psalms concerning me,” Luk 24:44 . I know of no better way to close my brief treatise on the Psalms than to discuss the subject of the Messiah as revealed in this book.
Attention has been called to the threefold division of the Old Testament cited by our Lord, namely, the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms (Luk 24:44 ), in all of which were the prophecies relating to himself that “must be fulfilled.” It has been shown just what Old Testament books belong to each of these several divisions. The division called the Psalms included many books, styled Holy Writings, and because the Psalms proper was the first book of the division it gave the name to the whole division.
The object of this discussion is to sketch the psalmist’s outline of the Messiah, or rather, to show how nearly a complete picture of our Lord is foredrawn in this one book. Let us understand however with Paul, that all prophecy is but in part (1Co 13:9 ), and that when we fill in on one canvas all the prophecies concerning the Messiah of all the Old Testament divisions, we are far from having a perfect portrait of our Lord. The present purpose is limited to three things:
1. What the book of the Psalms teaches concerning the Messiah.
2. That the New Testament shall authoritatively specify and expound this teaching.
3. That the many messianic predictions scattered over the book and the specifications thereof over the New Testament may be grouped into an orderly analysis, so that by the adjustment of the scattered parts we may have before us a picture of our Lord as foreseen by the psalmists.
In allowing the New Testament to authoritatively specify and expound the predictive features of the book, I am not unmindful of what the so-called “higher critics” urge against the New Testament quotations from the Old Testament and the use made of them. In this discussion, however, these objections are not considered, for sufficient reasons. There is not space for it. Even at the risk of being misjudged I must just now summarily pass all these objections, dismissing them with a single statement upon which the reader may place his own estimate of value. That statement is that in the days of my own infidelity, before this old method of criticism had its new name, I was quite familiar with the most and certainly the strongest of the objections now classified as higher criticism, and have since patiently re-examined them in their widely conflicting restatements under their modern name, and find my faith in the New Testament method of dealing with the Old Testament in no way shattered, but in every way confirmed. God is his own interpreter. The Old Testament as we now have it was in the hands of our Lord. I understand his apostle to declare, substantially, that “every one of these sacred scriptures is God-inspired and is profitable for teaching us what is right to believe and to do, for convincing us what is wrong in faith or practice, for rectifying the wrong when done, that we may be ready at every point, furnished completely, to do every good work, at the right time, in the right manner, and from the proper motive” (2Ti 3:16-17 ).
This New Testament declares that David was a prophet (Act 2:30 ), that he spake by the Holy Spirit (Act 1:16 ), that when the book speaks the Holy Spirit speaks (Heb 3:7 ), and that all its predictive utterances, as sacred Scripture, “must be fulfilled” (Joh 13:18 ; Act 1:16 ). It is not claimed that David wrote all the psalms, but that all are inspired, and that as he was the chief author, the book goes by his name.
It would be a fine thing to make out two lists, as follows:
1. All of the 150 psalms in order from which the New Testament quotes with messianic application.
2. The New Testament quotations, book by book, i.e., Matthew so many, and then the other books in their order.
We would find in neither of these any order as to time, that is, Psa 1 which forecasts an incident in the coming Messiah’s life does not forecast the first incident of his life. And even the New Testament citations are not in exact order as to time and incident of his life. To get the messianic picture before us, therefore, we must put the scattered parts together in their due relation and order, and so construct our own analysis. That is the prime object of this discussion. It is not claimed that the analysis now presented is perfect. It is too much the result of hasty, offhand work by an exceedingly busy man. It will serve, however, as a temporary working model, which any one may subsequently improve. We come at once to the psalmist’s outline of the Messiah.
1. The necessity for a Saviour. This foreseen necessity is a background of the psalmists’ portrait of the Messiah. The necessity consists in (1) man’s sinfulness; (2) his sin; (3) his inability of wisdom and power to recover himself; (4) the insufficiency of legal, typical sacrifices in securing atonement.
The predicate of Paul’s great argument on justification by faith is the universal depravity and guilt of man. He is everywhere corrupt in nature; everywhere an actual transgressor; everywhere under condemnation. But the scriptural proofs of this depravity and sin the apostle draws mainly from the book of the Psalms. In one paragraph of the letter to the Romans (Rom 3:4-18 ), he cites and groups six passages from six divisions of the Psalms (Psa 5:9 ; Psa 10:7 ; Psa 14:1-3 ; Psa 36:1 ; Psa 51:4-6 ; Psa 140:3 ). These passages abundantly prove man’s sinfulness, or natural depravity, and his universal practice of sin.
The predicate also of the same apostle’s great argument for revelation and salvation by a Redeemer is man’s inability of wisdom and power to re-establish communion with God. In one of his letters to the Corinthians he thus commences his argument: “For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? -For after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preach-ing to save them that believe.” He closes this discussion with the broad proposition: “The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God,” and proves it by a citation from Psa 94:11 : “The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.”
In like manner our Lord himself pours scorn on human wisdom and strength by twice citing Psa 8 : “At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight” (Mat 11:25-26 ). “And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children that were crying in the temple and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased, and said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?” (Mat 21:15-16 ).
But the necessity for a Saviour as foreseen by the psalmist did not stop at man’s depravity, sin, and helplessness. The Jews were trusting in the sacrifices of their law offered on the smoking altar. The inherent weakness of these offerings, their lack of intrinsic merit, their ultimate abolition, their complete fulfilment and supercession by a glorious antitype were foreseen and foreshown in this wonderful prophetic book: I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices; And thy burnt offerings are continually before me. I will take no bullock out of thy house, Nor he-goat out of thy folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, And the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all of the birds of the mountains; And the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee; For the world is mine, and the fulness thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, Or drink the blood of goats? Psa 50:8-13 .
Yet again it speaks in that more striking passage cited in the letter to the Hebrews: “For the law having a shadow of good things to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshipers, once purged should have no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance made of sins year by year. For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, But a body didst thou prepare for me; In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hadst no pleasure: Then said I, Lo, I am come (In the roll of the book it is written of me) To do thy will, O God. Saying above, Sacrifice and offering and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou wouldst not, neither hadst pleasure therein, (the which are offered according to the law), then hath he said, Lo, I am come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second” (Heb 10:1-9 ).
This keen foresight of the temporary character and intrinsic worthlessness of animal sacrifices anticipated similar utterances by the later prophets (Isa 1:10-17 ; Jer 6:20 ; Jer 7:21-23 ; Hos 6:6 ; Amo 5:21 ; Mic 6:6-8 ). Indeed, I may as well state in passing that when the apostle declares, “It is impossible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins,” he lays down a broad principle, just as applicable to baptism and the Lord’s Supper. With reverence I state the principle: Not even God himself by mere appointment can vest in any ordinance, itself lacking intrinsic merit, the power to take away sin. There can be, therefore, in the nature of the case, no sacramental salvation. This would destroy the justice of God in order to exalt his mercy. Clearly the psalmist foresaw that “truth and mercy must meet together” before “righteousness and peace could kiss each other” (Psa 85:10 ). Thus we find as the dark background of the psalmists’ luminous portrait of the Messiah, the necessity for a Saviour.
2. The nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation to be wrought by the coming Messiah. In no other prophetic book are the nature, fullness, and blessedness of salvation so clearly seen and so vividly portrayed. Besides others not now enumerated, certainly the psalmists clearly forecast four great elements of salvation:
(1) An atoning sacrifice of intrinsic merit offered once for all (Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:4-10 ).
(2) Regeneration itself consisting of cleansing, renewal, and justification. We hear his impassioned statement of the necessity of regeneration: “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts,” followed by his earnest prayer: “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me,” and his equally fervent petition: “Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean; wash me and I shall be whiter than snow” (Psa 51 ). And we hear him again as Paul describes the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputes righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, And whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not reckon sin Psa 32:1 ; Rom 4:6-8 .
(3) Introduction into the heavenly rest (Psa 95:7-11 ; Heb 3:7-19 ; Heb 4:1-11 ). Here is the antitypical Joshua leading spiritual Israel across the Jordan of death into the heavenly Canaan, the eternal rest that remaineth for the people of God. Here we find creation’s original sabbath eclipsed by redemption’s greater sabbath when the Redeemer “entered his rest, ceasing from his own works as God did from his.”
(4) The recovery of all the universal dominion lost by the first Adam and the securement of all possible dominion which the first Adam never attained (Psa 8:5-6 ; Eph 1:20-22 ; Heb 2:7-9 ; 1Co 15:24-28 ).
What vast extent then and what blessedness in the salvation foreseen by the psalmists, and to be wrought by the Messiah. Atoning sacrifice of intrinsic merit; regeneration by the Holy Spirit; heavenly rest as an eternal inheritance; and universal dominion shared with Christ!
3. The wondrous person of the Messiah in his dual nature, divine and human.
(1) His divinity,
(a) as God: “Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever” (Psa 45:6 and Heb 1:8 ) ;
(b) as creator of the heavens and earth, immutable and eternal: Of old didst thou lay the foundation of the earth; And the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure; Yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; As a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed. But thou art the same, And thy years shall have no end Psa 102:25-27 quoted with slight changes in Heb 1:10-12 .
(c) As owner of the earth: The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof; The world, and they that dwell therein, Psa 24:1 quoted in 1Co 10:26 .
(d) As the Son of God: “Thou art my Son; This day have I begotten thee” Psa 2:7 ; Heb 1:5 .
(e) As David’s Lord: The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, Until I make thine enemies thy footstool, Psa 110:1 ; Mat 22:41-46 .
(f) As the object of angelic worship: “And let all the angels of God worship him” Psa 97:7 ; Heb 1:6 .
(g) As the Bread of life: And he rained down manna upon them to eat, And gave them food from heaven Psa 78:24 ; interpreted in Joh 6:31-58 . These are but samples which ascribe deity to the Messiah of the psalmists.
(2) His humanity, (a) As the Son of man, or Son of Adam: Psa 8:4-6 , cited in 1Co 15:24-28 ; Eph 1:20-22 ; Heb 2:7-9 . Compare Luke’s genealogy, Luk 3:23-38 . This is the ideal man, or Second Adam, who regains Paradise Lost, who recovers race dominion, in whose image all his spiritual lineage is begotten. 1Co 15:45-49 . (b) As the Son of David: Psa 18:50 ; Psa 89:4 ; Psa 89:29 ; Psa 89:36 ; Psa 132:11 , cited in Luk 1:32 ; Act 13:22-23 ; Rom 1:3 ; 2Ti 2:8 . Perhaps a better statement of the psalmists’ vision of the wonderful person of the Messiah would be: He saw the uncreated Son, the second person of the trinity, in counsel and compact with the Father, arranging in eternity for the salvation of men: Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:5-7 . Then he saw this Holy One stoop to be the Son of man: Psa 8:4-6 ; Heb 2:7-9 . Then he was the son of David, and then he saw him rise again to be the Son of God: Psa 2:7 ; Rom 1:3-4 .
4. His offices.
(1) As the one atoning sacrifice (Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:5-7 ).
(2) As the great Prophet, or Preacher (Psa 40:9-10 ; Psa 22:22 ; Heb 2:12 ). Even the method of his teaching by parable was foreseen (Psa 78:2 ; Mat 13:35 ). Equally also the grace, wisdom, and power of his teaching. When the psalmist declares that “Grace is poured into thy lips” (Psa 45:2 ), we need not be startled when we read that all the doctors in the Temple who heard him when only a boy “were astonished at his understanding and answers” (Luk 2:47 ); nor that his home people at Nazareth “all bear him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth” (Luk 4:22 ); nor that those of his own country were astonished, and said, “Whence hath this man this wisdom?” (Mat 13:54 ); nor that the Jews in the Temple marveled, saying, “How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?” (Joh 7:15 ) ; nor that the stern officers of the law found their justification in failure to arrest him in the declaration, “Never man spake like this man” (Joh 7:46 ).
(3) As the king (Psa 2:6 ; Psa 24:7-10 ; Psa 45:1-17 ; Psa 110:1 ; Mat 22:42-46 ; Act 2:33-36 ; 1Co 15:25 ; Eph 1:20 ; Heb 1:13 ).
(4) As the priest (Psa 110:4 ; Heb 5:5-10 ; Heb 7:1-21 ; Heb 10:12-14 ).
(5) As the final judge. The very sentence of expulsion pronounced upon the finally impenitent by the great judge (Mat 25:41 ) is borrowed from the psalmist’s prophetic words (Psa 6:8 ).
5. Incidents of life. The psalmists not only foresaw the necessity for a Saviour; the nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation; the wonderful human-divine person of the Saviour; the offices to be filled by him in the work of salvation, but also many thrilling details of his work in life, death, resurrection, and exaltation. It is not assumed to cite all these details, but some of the most important are enumerated in order, thus:
(1) The visit, adoration, and gifts of the Magi recorded in Mat 2 are but partial fulfilment of Psa 72:9-10 .
(2) The scripture employed by Satan in the temptation of our Lord (Luk 4:10-11 ) was cited from Psa 91:11-12 and its pertinency not denied.
(3) In accounting for his intense earnestness and the apparently extreme measures adopted by our Lord in his first purification of the Temple (Joh 2:17 ), he cites the messianic zeal predicted in Psa 69:9 .
(4) Alienation from his own family was one of the saddest trials of our Lord’s earthly life. They are slow to understand his mission and to enter into sympathy with him. His self-abnegation and exhaustive toil were regarded by them as evidences of mental aberration, and it seems at one time they were ready to resort to forcible restraint of his freedom) virtually what in our time would be called arrest under a writ of lunacy. While at the last his half-brothers became distinguished preachers of his gospel, for a long while they do not believe on him. And the evidence forces us to the conclusion that his own mother shared with her other sons, in kind though not in degree, the misunderstanding of the supremacy of his mission over family relations. The New Testament record speaks for itself:
Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto them. How is it that ye sought me? Knew ye not that I must be in my Father’s house? And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them Luk 2:48-51 (R.V.).
And when the wine failed, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. And Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. Joh 2:3-5 (R.V.).
And there come his mother and his brethren; and standing without; they sent unto him, calling him. And a multitude was sitting about him; and they say unto him. Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee. And he answereth them, and saith, Who is my mother and my brethren? And looking round on them that sat round about him, he saith, Behold, my mother and my brethren) For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother Mar 3:31-35 (R.V.).
Now the feast of the Jews, the feast of tabernacles, was at hand. His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judea, that thy disciples also may behold thy works which thou doest. For no man doeth anything in secret, and himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou doest these things, manifest thyself to the world. For even his brethren did not believe on him. Jesus therefore saith unto them, My time is not yet come; but your time is always ready. The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that its works are evil. Go ye up unto the feast: I go not up yet unto this feast; because my time is not fulfilled. Joh 7:2-9 (R.V.).
These citations from the Revised Version tell their own story. But all that sad story is foreshown in the prophetic psalms. For example: I am become a stranger unto my brethren, And an alien unto my mother’s children. Psa 69:8 .
(5) The triumphal entry into Jerusalem was welcomed by a joyous people shouting a benediction from Psa 118:26 : “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord” (Mat 21:9 ); and the Lord’s lamentation over Jerusalem predicts continued desolation and banishment from his sight until the Jews are ready to repeat that benediction (Mat 23:39 ).
(6) The children’s hosanna in the Temple after its second purgation is declared by our Lord to be a fulfilment of that perfect praise forecast in Psa 8:2 .
(7) The final rejection of our Lord by his own people was also clear in the psalmist’s vision (Psa 118:22 ; Mat 21:42-44 ).
(8) Gethsemane’s baptism of suffering, with its strong crying and tears and prayers was as clear to the psalmist’s prophetic vision as to the evangelist and apostle after it became history (Psa 69:1-4 ; Psa 69:13-20 ; and Mat 26:36-44 ; Heb 5:7 ).
(9) In life-size also before the psalmist was the betrayer of Christ and his doom (Psa 41:9 ; Psa 69:25 ; Psa 109:6-8 ; Joh 13:18 ; Act 1:20 ).
(10) The rage of the people, Jew and Gentile, and the conspiracy of Pilate and Herod are clearly outlined (Psa 2:1-3 ; Act 4:25-27 ).
(11) All the farce of his trial the false accusation, his own marvelous silence; and the inhuman maltreatment to which he was subjected, is foreshown in the prophecy as dramatically as in the history (Mat 26:57-68 ; Mat 27:26-31 ; Psa 27:12 ; Psa 35:15-16 ; Psa 38:3 ; Psa 69:19 ).
The circumstances of his death, many and clear, are distinctly foreseen. He died in the prime of life (Psa 89:45 ; Psa 102:23-24 ). He died by crucifixion (Psa 22:14-17 ; Luk 23 ; 33; Joh 19:23-37 ; Joh 20:27 ). But yet not a bone of his body was broken (Psa 34:20 ; Joh 19:36 ).
The persecution, hatred without a cause, the mockery and insults, are all vividly and dramatically foretold (Psa 22:6-13 ; Psa 35:7 ; Psa 35:12 ; Psa 35:15 ; Psa 35:21 ; Psa 109:25 ).
The parting of his garments and the gambling for his vesture (Psa 22:18 ; Mat 27:35 ).
His intense thirst and the gall and vinegar offered for his drink (Psa 69:21 ; Mat 27:34 ).
In the psalms, too, we hear his prayers for his enemies so remarkably fulfilled in fact (Psa 109:4 ; Luk 23:34 ).
His spiritual death was also before the eye of the psalmist, and the very words which expressed it the psalmist heard. Separation from the Father is spiritual death. The sinner’s substitute must die the sinner’s death, death physical, i.e., separation of soul from body; death spiritual, i.e., separation of the soul from God. The latter is the real death and must precede the former. This death the substitute died when he cried out: “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me.” (Psa 22:1 ; Mat 27:46 ).
Emerging from the darkness of that death, which was the hour of the prince of darkness, the psalmist heard him commend his spirit to the Father (Psa_31:35; Luk 23:46 ) showing that while he died the spiritual death, his soul was not permanently abandoned unto hell (Psa 16:8-10 ; Act 2:25 ) so that while he “tasted death” for every man it was not permanent death (Heb 2:9 ).
With equal clearness the psalmist foresaw his resurrection, his triumph over death and hell, his glorious ascension into heaven, and his exaltation at the right hand of God as King of kings and Lord of lords, as a high Driest forever, as invested with universal sovereignty (Psa 16:8-11 ; Psa 24:7-10 ; Psa 68:18 ; Psa 2:6 ; Psa 111:1-4 ; Psa 8:4-6 ; Act 2:25-36 ; Eph 1:19-23 ; Eph 4:8-10 ).
We see, therefore, brethren, when the scattered parts are put together and adjusted, how nearly complete a portrait of our Lord is put upon the prophetic canvas by this inspired limner, the sweet singer of Israel.
QUESTIONS
1. What is a good text for this chapter?
2. What is the threefold division of the Old Testament as cited by our Lord?
3. What is the last division called and why?
4. What is the object of the discussion in this chapter?
5. To what three things is the purpose limited?
6. What especially qualifies the author to meet the objections of the higher critics to allowing the New Testament usage of the Old Testament to determine its meaning and application?
7. What is the author’s conviction relative to the Scriptures?
8. What is the New Testament testimony on the question of inspiration?
9. What is the author’s suggested plan of approach to the study of the Messiah in the Psalms?
10. What the background of the Psalmist’s portrait of the Messiah and of what does it consist?
11. Give the substance of Paul’s discussion of man’s sinfulness.
12. What is the teaching of Jesus on this point?
13. What is the teaching relative to sacrifices?
14. What the nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation to be wrought by the coming Messiah and what the four great elements of it as forecast by the psalmist?
15. What is the teaching of the psalms relative to the wondrous person of the Messiah? Discuss.
16. What are the offices of the Messiah according to psalms? Discuss each.
17. Cite the more important events of the Messiah’s life according to the vision of the psalmist.
18. What the circumstances of the Messiah’s death and resurrection as foreseen by the psalmist?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Psa 97:1 The LORD reigneth; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad [thereof].
Ver. 1. The Lord reigneth ] This is matter of greatest joy to the righteous. Gaudeo quod Christus Dominus est, alioqui totus desperassem, I am glad that Christ is Lord of all; for otherwise I should uttely have been out of hope, saith Miconius, in an Epistle to Calvin, upon the view of the Church’s enemies.
Let the multitudes of isles be glad
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Such is the song in reply. It is the earth rejoicing through the execution of divine judgments because Jehovah reigns in that day. Zion rejoices on hearing, and Judah’s daughters too; a blessed trait in it, for naturally how different had all been! So the heavens here declare Jehovah’s righteousness; the earth certainly was far from it, though we, Christians, know it still more gloriously in Him Who is on the Father’s throne.
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 97:1-6
1The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice;
Let the many islands be glad.
2Clouds and thick darkness surround Him;
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.
3Fire goes before Him
And burns up His adversaries round about.
4His lightnings lit up the world;
The earth saw and trembled.
5The mountains melted like wax at the presence of the Lord,
At the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.
6The heavens declare His righteousness,
And all the peoples have seen His glory.
Psa 97:1-6 See Contextual Insights A and B.
Psa 97:1 The Lord reigns The verb is Qal perfect (BDB 573 II, KB 590, cf. 1Ch 16:31; Psa 93:1; Psa 96:10; Psa 97:1; Psa 99:1), which denotes completed action. In one sense YHWH has always reigned, is reigning and, will forever reign (i.e., He is God, cf. Exo 15:18; Psa 10:16; Psa 29:10; 1Co 15:24-28), but the evidence of this is often missing in this fallen world. Faith sees and affirms but one day all will recognize and affirm.
The imperfect is used in Psa 146:10 and the future reign is denoted in Isa 24:23; Eze 20:23 and Mic 4:7. We know now from NT revelation that the Messiah’s reign (cf. Zec 9:9) is included in the Father’s reign (cf. Jer 23:5; Php 2:6-11; 1Co 15:24-28). Things may look bad but believers know, Our God reigns! (CF. Isa 52:7)
In light of YHWH’s reign,
1. let the earth rejoice – BDB 162, KB 189, Qal jussive; this refers to
a. faithful followers in all nations
b. the conversion of the nations to faith in YHWH
2. let the many islands be glad – BDB 970, KB 1333, Qal imperfect used in a jussive sense; the islands (lit. coastlands, BDB 15) denotes a universal emphasis (cf. Psalms 96), often referring to the known world (i.e., those ports near and far visited by Phoenician commerce , i.e., Psa 72:8-10). The earth of line 1 is parallel to the many islands of line 2.
Psa 97:2 The imagery of Psa 97:2 a could come from two sources. See Contextual Insights, B. In this strophe it seems to reflect the God of revelation (i.e., a theophany), not judgment. His adversaries are defeated but the faithful of the whole earth rejoice at His light and presence!
cloud The use of clouds in both the OT and the NT is very interesting. I have included notes from Deu 4:11 and Rev 1:7
Deu 4:11 darkness, cloud and thick gloom YHWH’s physical presence can be understood in two ways:
1. volcanic activity – Exo 19:18; Psa 68:7-8; Psa 77:18; Psa 97:2-5; Jdg 5:4-5; 2Sa 22:8; Isa 29:6; Jer 10:10
2. storm – Exo 19:16; Exo 19:19; Psa 68:8; Psa 77:18; Jdg 5:4; Isa 29:6; Nah 1:3
Therefore, the deep darkness (cf. Psa. 5:22; 2Sa 22:10; 1Ki 8:12; 2Ch 6:1) might be:
1. ash clouds
2. rain clouds
This covering was for Israel’s protection (cf. Exo 19:18). They thought that if humans looked upon God they would die (cf. Gen 16:13; Gen 32:30; Exo 3:6; Exo 20:19; Exo 33:20; Jdg 6:22-23; Jdg 13:22).
See SPECIAL TOPIC: COMING ON THE CLOUDS .
Rev 1:7 Behold, He is coming with the clouds This verse may have been an exclamation by the angel of Rev 1:1. It is an obvious reference to the Second Coming of Christ.
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne Throne is an idiom for reign/kingship.
YHWH’s reign has an ethical dimension, as does His creation (cf. Psa 97:10-12).
This very phrase is used in Psa 89:14. We must be careful not to separate justification from sanctification (cf. Mat 28:18-20).
Psa 97:3 Fire See SPECIAL TOPIC: FIRE .
and burns up His adversaries round about AB suggests that the MT’s last phrase in Hebrew can be revocalized to read and blazes round His back (p. 361). It suggests this best explains Psa 50:3 and Joe 2:3. This fits the parallelism of Psa 97:4 better.
Psa 97:4 the earth Like so many other nouns in this Psalm, this is a personification, a common Hebrew poetic technique.
Psa 97:6 This verse is theologically and lexically related to Psa 19:1-6. The universal aspect of YHWH’s revelation is revealed in creation/nature (i.e., natural revelation, cf. Rom 1:19-20; Rom 2:14-15). See notes at Psa 19:1-6.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
The LORD. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4.
The LORD reigneth. See note on Psa 93:1.
reigneth = hath taken a kingdom.
the earth. Note that this Book (IV) and its Psalms have relation to the earth or land. See notes on p. 809.
isles = coasts or coastlands beyond Palestine. Put for the Gentile world.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 97:1-12 :
The LORD reigneth ( Psa 97:1 );
In the previous psalm, it said, “The Lord reigneth. Say among the heathen, ‘The Lord reigneth.'” I think that this is something that we often forget in the adverse circumstances of life, that God reigns.
We used to have a dear saint of God in Huntington Beach, that whenever I would get discouraged, she’d say, “Well, Charles, the Lord is still on the throne.” I’d say, “Thanks, I needed that.” You know, sometimes I would forget that God was on the throne. I’d look at the things that were happening in the world around me and I’d see all the disasters and see how things were going so bad and all, and I’d start to get upset. She’d say, “But Charles, the Lord is still on the throne.” Oh, the Lord reigneth. How we need to remember that.
God is reigning. Things are not out of control. You know, you read of the new weapons that Russia has. Man, the Lord reigneth. It’s not out of control. He knows exactly what’s going on, the Lord reigneth. That’s really the only hope for the world today that God is reigning. He’s on the throne. He’s allowing it to go so far, but God has set the limits. He said, “That’s it. That’s all the further you’re going.” He’s reigning.
Now men think that they are reigning sometimes. Russia thinks that they are reigning. Russia’s going to move down into Israel thinking that no one can stop her, but the Lord reigneth. God says, “Hey, you’re going to come so far and then blotto!” The Lord reigneth.
let the earth rejoice; and the multitude of the isles be glad. Clouds and darkness are round about him: righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne. A fire goes before him, and burns up his enemies round about. His lightnings enlightened the world: the earth saw, and trembled. The hills melted like wax at the presence of the LORD, at the presence of the Lord of the whole eaRuth ( Psa 97:1-5 ).
This is reference to Mount Sinai, the giving of the law.
The heavens declare his righteousness, and all the people see his glory. Confounded be all they that serve the graven images, which boast themselves of idols: worship him, all ye gods. Zion heard, and was glad; and the daughters of Judah rejoiced because of thy judgments, O LORD. For thou, LORD, art high above all the earth: thou art exalted far above all gods. Ye that love the LORD, hate evil ( Psa 97:6-10 ):
Underline that and put emphatic marks around it. If you really love God, hate evil. Unfortunately, because of the iniquity of the earth today, we have developed sort of a toleration towards evil. And in some quarters, even an acceptance of evil, because evil is desiring to be accepted. It wants to make itself acceptable. But if you really love the Lord, then hate evil. Have no toleration for it. Certainly no place in your life. “Ye that love the Lord, hate evil.”
for he preserveth the souls of his saints; and delivers them out of the hand of the wicked. Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart. Rejoice in the LORD, ye righteous; and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness ( Psa 97:10-12 ). “
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
Psa 97:1-2
GOD VISITS EARTH IN THE FIRST AND SECOND ADVENTS;
THE POWER AND DOMINION OF GOD
Some of the opening words of this psalm were quoted by James A. Garfield on that night when Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, as Garfield sought to quiet a restless mob on Wall Street, New York City. He concluded his remarks by saying, “God reigns, and the government in Washington still stands.”
“God as Creator and the source of all righteousness and truth is again emphasized and amplified in Psalms 97. Here God is described: (1) as the Supreme One before whom creation itself is ever on the verge of dissolution; and (2) then as the Faithful One whose goodness and holiness are always being disclosed to all peoples through Zion.
The dissolution of the earth mentioned here (Psa 97:5), “Is possibly a reference to both the First and Second Advents of Jesus Christ, a figurative reference to the First, and a literal reference to the Second, when “Every mountain and every island shall be moved out of its place” (Rev 6:14).
“The Latin Vulgate assigns this psalm to David, `when his land was restored;’ but it is not clear exactly what occasion was meant by that. “The Ethiopic and Arabic versions carry the same ascription; and the Syriac has `A Psalm of David in which he predicts the advent of Christ (i.e., in the flesh) and through it, his last appearing (i.e., in judgment).’
We include these evidences of Davidic authorship as worthy of scholarly attention, although, again to quote Adam Clarke, “Still, the name of the author remains uncertain. Much of this psalm is in the Spirit of David’s finest compositions, and yet many learned men suppose it was written to celebrate the Lord’s power and goodness in the restoration of the Jews from their Babylonian captivity.
“Heb 1:6 quotes a part of Psa 97:7 here, applying it to Christ, according to Adam Clarke, but we do not believe that “all the angels of God,” mentioned in the Hebrews quotation is the same as “all ye gods” of Psa 97:7. This is undoubtedly a designation of judges and other high officials of Israel. See my extensive discussion of “gods” in Psa 82:6.
THE REIGN OF JEHOVAH IN NATURE
In July of 1991, as this is written, a mighty volcano has forced the evacuation of an American Army Base in the Philippines; and not long ago, the awesome eruption of Mount St. Helens in the state of Washington provided a similar demonstration of the fearful powers of the natural world. Such things naturally turn the thoughts of men toward the Creator. In a similar way, “The ancients thought of God as `the God of fire and tempest, earthquake and volcano.’ The psalmist in this chapter mentions “the clouds and darkness,” “the lightnings,” and the “melting mountains.”
Can mountains “melt”? This morning’s news release tells us that a tremendous dome of “molten rock” has formed in the crown of that threatening volcano in the Philippines, which the experts assure us will shortly erupt.
Psa 97:1-2
“Jehovah reigneth; let the earth rejoice;
Let the multitude of isles be glad.
Clouds and darkness are round about him:
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.”
“Let the earth rejoice” (Psa 97:1). “When Almighty God condescends to come to earth, the earth is bound to rejoice. This, of course concerns the First Advent, when God’s visitation of our sinful earth was indeed a matter of good news and universal rejoicing. It will not be so at the Second Advent, because then, “All the tribes of the earth will mourn over him” (Rev 1:7). The greatest glory of the human race is simply this: “The Dayspring from on High has visited us, to shine upon them that sit in darkness and the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace” (Luk 1:78-79).
“Clouds and darkness are round about him” (Psa 97:2). The unfathomable mysteries of God, his ways which are higher than our ways, the secret things which belong to God – all these are symbolized by the darkness mentioned here. Also, as noted above, God’s presence in the dark clouds of a great storm is suggested.
“Righteousness and justice … the foundations of his throne” (Psa 97:2). Although, not a quotation, the word in Hebrews is, “The sceptre of uprightness is the sceptre of thy kingdom (Heb 1:8).”
E.M Zerr:
Psa 97:1. Either joy or grief may be brought to a people through the king, depending on his manner of rule. From that great truth the Psalmist formed the concise but clear phrases in the first part of this verse. Isles is used in its general sense, “a habitable spot.” The clause means that wherever the inhabitants of the earth live they have reason to rejoice for the righteous rule of the Lord.
Verse 2. Clouds and darkness often impress us as something depressing. The idea is that even such conditions are subject to His control. Habitation is from a word that means a fixture or basis. The statement denotes that the throne of the Lord is established on a foundation of righteousness and judgment.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
The reign of Jehovah, while wholly beneficent in purpose and in ultimate issue, is yet full of terror and of judgment in its process toward the issue. This is also cause for rejoicing.
The method of Gods judgments is described. They are mysterious, Clouds and darkness are round about Him. They are founded upon strictest justice, Righteousness and judgment are the foundation of His throne. They are forceful, A fire goeth before Him.
The effects of His judgments are declared. His adversaries are destroyed, His glory is revealed, His people are filled with joy. The vision of the certainty, method, and victory of the judgments of the King gives rise to a sense of their underlying reason. He is the Holy One, and all wickedness is hateful to Him because of the harm it works among His people, for the fierceness of Gods holiness is ever His love. Therefore let His saints learn the lesson and hate evil. The promise to those who obey is very full of beauty. Light is sown … and gladness. It is a figure of the dawn, shedding its light everywhere. To hate evil is to walk in light. To walk in light is to be able to discover the true pathway leading toward the desired consummation. To walk in that pathway is to have gladness in the heart indeed.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
Be Glad in the Lord
Psa 97:1-12
The keynote here is the reign of God. To the wicked, it spells misery; to the believer, it is the inauguration of harmony and joy. It is as though herald-angels step from isle to isle, from mountain peak to mountain peak, with the glad tidings of great joy. It is not always easy to trace its advent. Clouds and darkness are around him. The eye of sense cannot penetrate the black enclosing pall, but faith is ever certain that righteousness and judgment are the foundation of His throne.
Sometimes God comes in fire, Psa 97:3, as at Sinai, or on the day of Pentecost, which took place on the anniversary of the giving of the Law. Days come like that on which Jerusalem fell, or when the Turks took Constantinople, or when Napoleon was shattered at Waterloo-then hills melt like wax. But through all dark and terrible dispensations the Kingdom is secretly growing, the Lord is being exalted, and light is being sown for His people, Psa 97:11. So, believer, your tears and fightings, as they pass, are absorbing heavens love and power, which they will hold in reserve though buried for long in the dark. Days are at hand of unspeakable gladness. Be of good cheer.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Psa 97:1-2
We have set before us in this text:
I. The fact of the Divine government of the universe. There is no atheism here: “the Lord.” There is no polytheism here: “the Lord”-one. There is no pantheism here: “the Lord “-One different from the world that is ruled over. (1) The sacred singer here speaks of a God who exercises a personal agency in the universe. “The Lord reigneth.” That implies power. (2) The psalmist suggests to us the fact that this personal agency of God is carried on in a regular and ordinary way. The words are, “The Lord reigneth;” and we read also in the passage of “His throne.”
II. A second point is the mystery and awfulness of the Divine government. “Clouds and darkness are round about Him.” The symbol expresses three ideas: (1) the majesty, (2) the incomprehensibility, (3) the judgments, that characterise the Divine government.
III. The moral excellence of the Divine government. “Justice and judgment are the habitations of His throne.”
IV. The feelings which a contemplation of this Divine government is fitted to excite. (1) There is first the feeling of awe and contrition. (2) There is the feeling of joy.
W. Morison, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xi., p. 126.
References: Psa 97:1.-Preacher’s Monthly, vol. iv., p. 308. Psa 97:2.-T. Rogers, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xvii., p. 253. H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 2603. Psa 97:10.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. iv., No. 208.
Psa 97:11
Notice:-
I. That the present life is but a sowing-time to the righteous. (1) Now the text evidently teaches that light is sown by the righteous, and not only for them; yet, forasmuch as evil and good work together in spiritual things, we may fairly regard the righteous as having to do with both. If they themselves are in one sense the ground, they themselves are in another the mere tillers and cultivators of the ground. They must sow light, and they shall also reap light. (2) It cannot justly be said that a man has light unless there has passed over him the great moral change of conversion. When, through the workings of the Spirit of God, a man is renewed, made to feel himself a sinner and to flee to Christ as a Saviour, he may justly be described as translated “out of darkness into marvellous light.” The light falls on himself, on God, on the present and on the future. (3) Is this light perfect? It is thoroughly correct as far as it goes. It requires to be expanded, and is defective in nothing but compass. The future, as compared with the present, is the harvest-time as compared with the seedtime.
II. The more interesting trains of thought suggested by the passage follow from the supposition that God Himself is the Sower. We feel at once that there is something like a contradiction in this simile of the psalmist, because it would seem that light would cease to be light in being sown or hidden in the ground. But God can hide light in darkness. It is light when thus sepulchred. From the first God has been acting on the principle of sowing light for the righteous. He has sown light for the righteous in the dealings of Providence, in the passages of the Bible, in the whole pathway of life.
III. The psalmist does not limit the “sowing” to any particular season. As though the seed of life were always being deposited in the ground, he uses language which may denote that there is continually a fresh harvest in preparation for the righteous. The righteous shall always be in progress, one harvest of light furnishing, so to speak, seed for another. (1) The lesson to the righteous is to hold hopefully on, determining in the name of the Lord and staying on his God. (2) The lesson to the wicked is that, though God is sowing no light for them, they are sowing light for themselves. They must wake at last to the fearful discovery that they have been their own destroyers. “Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.”
H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 2164.
References: Psa 97:11.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xiv., No. 836. Psa 98:1.-Ibid., vol. ix., No. 496. Psa 98:1-8.-Preacher’s Monthly, vol. ix., p. 221.
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
Psalm 97
His Glorious Reign
1. Jehovah reigneth (Psa 97:1-5)
2. In righteousness and with glory (Psa 97:6-12)
He reigneth! Earth and the multitude of isles will now rejoice, for He whose right it is occupies the throne and all unrighteousness, wickedness and idolatry will be banished. Zion and the daughters of Judah rejoice and all the righteous rejoice. It is the time of singing and of joy. And the heavens will reveal His righteousness, while angels worship Him (Psa 97:7 and Heb 1:6). What glory scenes will then take place upon this earth!
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
am 3000, bc 1004
Lord: Psa 93:1, Psa 96:10, Psa 96:11, Psa 99:1, Oba 1:21, Mat 3:3, Mat 6:10, Mat 6:13, Mar 11:10, Col 1:13, Rev 11:17
the earth: Psa 2:11, Psa 98:4-6, Isa 49:13, Luk 2:10, Luk 2:11
let the multitude of isles: Heb. let the many, or great isles, Gen 10:5, Isa 11:11, Isa 24:14-16, Isa 41:5, Isa 42:4, Isa 42:10-12, Isa 49:1, Isa 51:5, Isa 60:9, Isa 66:19, Zep 2:11
Reciprocal: Num 23:21 – the shout 1Ki 1:40 – rejoiced 1Ch 16:31 – let the earth 1Ch 29:11 – thine is the Psa 32:11 – shout Psa 47:8 – reigneth Psa 67:4 – O let Psa 98:7 – world Psa 145:11 – the glory Isa 24:23 – when Isa 52:7 – Thy God Rom 15:10 – General Phi 3:1 – rejoice Rev 19:6 – for
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
The earth subject.
1. This is taken up, too, and expanded in the psalm that follows. Jehovah’s supremacy is celebrated; the earth is subject to Him. The joy of His presence does not prevent the recognition of the fact that “clouds and darkness are round about Him”; and just because “righteousness and judgment are the foundation of His throne.” He finds therefore upon earth opposition to be subdued, and He subdues it: “a fire goeth before Him, and subdueth His enemies round about.” The earth trembles at His lightnings, which yet truly lighten the world: for the sharp flash of judgment is (though in anger) the revelation of Himself. The hills melt, and all that is high and lifted up is humbled and brought low in His presence.
2. Idolatry gives way before Him whom the heavens reveal in righteousness; a known God causes all the worshipers of idols to be ashamed. The powers that they have exalted to deities are found all paying homage to the true God: while Zion hears and the daughters of Judah exult, because of His judgments. Jehovah is Most High over all the earth, and exalted far above all gods.
3. The third section exhorts in view of His holiness. The love of Jehovah means, if it be real, opposition to evil; and to such, as manifest this, His godly ones, He is faithful, preserving and delivering them from the hands of the wicked. For the righteous light is sown; and though it may for a time be obscured, it will finally increase and produce a harvest. A strange figure it may seem; and yet an intelligible one: for the path of the just is as the shining light,” -or “the light of dawn,” -“which shineth more and more unto the perfect day” (Pro 4:18). How impossible to stop the steady advance of the morning light! And the real “day,” when it comes, what shall it not bring with it in abundant recompense! the Light itself, what glories will it not disclose! “The Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting and thy God thy glory! Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself; for the Lord shall be thine everlasting Light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended” (Isa 60:19-20).
How blessed is the grace, which can enable redeemed sinners to “rejoice in Jehovah, and give thanks,” not merely “at the remembrance of His” grace, but of His “holiness”!
Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary
Psa 97:1. The Lord reigneth He that made the world, governs it; he that called the universe into existence, upholds and presides over it; and he rules, judges, and rewards, or punishes his intelligent, free, and immortal creatures, whether men or angels. The Lord Jesus reigns; the providential kingdom is interwoven with the mediatorial, and the administration of both is in the hand of Christ; who is therefore both head of the church, and head over all things to the church: see on Psa 93:1; Psa 96:10. Let the earth rejoice The inhabitants of the world everywhere; for hereby they are honoured and benefited unspeakably: they are blessed with sure protection, a wise and equitable government, holy, just, and salutary laws, and an ample provision for the supply of all their wants. Let the multitude of isles be glad thereof Not only let the people of Israel rejoice in him, as king of the Jews, and the daughter of Zion, as her king, but let all the earth rejoice in his exaltation; for the kingdoms of the world shall, sooner or later, become his kingdoms. There is enough in Christ for the multitude of isles to rejoice in; for, though millions have been made happy in him, yet still there is room.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
This psalm, which opens like the ninety third and some others, was composed by David, when the whole of the promised land was given to him for a kingdom, and when God had also given him rest from his enemies round about. By this they knew something of the character of David, and the glory of Davids God.
Psa 97:1. The Lord reigneth. Hebrews JEHOVAH, the Messiah, who comes to judge the earth, as in Psa 50:3; Psa 98:9. In this David was a type of Christ, under whose feet all things are put in subjection.
Psa 97:7. Worship him all ye gods. So Jerome; but the LXX and the Vulgate read, worship him all his angels. In this manner the apostle cites the passage in Heb 1:6. The Chaldaic gives it as a command to all gentile princes to worship the Lord; to kiss the Son, lest he be angry with them, and they perish. The sense is, that all in heaven, and all in earth, and all in hades, must bow before the Son of God, and own his supreme dominion. Php 2:10. Col 1:18. Heb 1:8. Rev 5:13.
Psa 97:8. Zion heard and was glad. All Jerusalem blazed with joy, and all the choirs exulted with music and songs, when they heard of the fall of their foes.
Psa 97:11. Light is sown for the righteous. The light of divine truth, which, received by faith, produces life. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. Joh 1:4. And gladness, with every other grace and fruit of the Spirit, shall multiply as seed that is sown, to the upright in heart.
REFLECTIONS.
How grand and striking is the way in which this psalm opens. JEHOVAH reigns. The nations have cause to rejoice. He is not an oppressor like the tyrants of the earth; his throne is distinguished by judgment and justice, while the sceptre of mercy is extended with the sword. The being and perfections of God are inferred in the most striking characters from the glory of his works, and the wisdom of his ways. In regard to the wicked, the description given of their punishment is highly terrific. Moses has mentioned the devouring fire, and the fire that kindled the coals on the altar. Elijah also saw the fire which went before the Lord in Horeb; but the fire here alluded to seems to be some tragic event, as the burning in the uttermost parts of the camp mentioned by Moses, or some occurrence whereby the wicked knew that God was a consuming fire. See Psa 18:8; Psa 106:18. Num 16:35. The visitations of God may be represented by thunder, by the quaking of the earth, and the fall of princes by the melting of mountains: yet if there be a literal sense, that should always be stated, in order that the spiritual improvement may stand on fair ground. This whole psalm consequently associates itself with the predictions of the Messiahs kingdom. As God assumed terrific characters in giving the law, and in judging ancient nations, so he will appear in terror to shake all nations, and confound the votaries of idolatry.
Whatever calamities befal the wicked, light is sown for the righteous. The seeds of virtue and piety will ultimately lead to spiritual and temporal prosperity; yea, while men fear God and hate evil, the divine providence will admirably preserve them through life, and cause their joys far to exceed their sorrows. This idea runs through all the sacred writings. Psa 112:4. But when God sees meet to try man, or to take him to glory, it is of little moment what agent he employs to hasten his saints to heaven. Rejoice then in the Lord, ye righteous; for the kindness of friends, and the enmity of foes, are alike managed for your greater purity, and the augmentation of your eternal joy.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
XCVII. Yahweh in the Storm.The appearance of Yahweh is described in terms of primitive religion, when He was the God of fire and tempest, earthquake and volcano. These traits are retained, but united with that later and far more perfect religion, which recognised Him as the only God (Psa 97:5; Psa 97:7) and as a God of absolute righteousness.
Psa 97:1. isles: really means coastlands.
Psa 97:7. See on Psa 29:1 where sons of God = gods here.
Psa 97:10. Read, Yahweh loveth them that hate evil.
Psa 97:11. Read, Light is risen for the righteous (LXX).
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
PSALM 97
The reign of the Lord on earth, introduced by the judgment of the wicked, leads to the blessing of His people and the glory of the Lord.
(v. 1) The psalm opens with an anticipation of the joy and gladness of the whole earth when the Lord actually reigns.
(v. 2) The gladness of His reign will be preceded by His coming as the Judge. We have thus a description of His coming in keeping with His character as the Judge. Clouds and darkness are round about him: righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne.
(vv. 3-5) The immediate effect of His coming as the Judge is brought before us. The fire of judgment will deal with all His adversaries. No evil, in any part of the earth, will pass unjudged; all will be searched out even as lightnings lighten the world. The earth will see and tremble. Everything that exalts itself against Jehovah will melt away at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.
(vv. 6-7) For long ages earth has declared the unrighteousness of man. With the coming of Christ to reign the heavens will declare the righteousness of the Lord. All the people will see the glory of the Lord declared in righteousness, even as at His first coming His grace was declared in humiliation. Shame will overwhelm all those who serve graven images and boast in their idols.
(v. 8) Moreover, the execution of judgment upon the adversaries, will bring deliverance to Zion. Therefore Zion will rejoice and be glad because of thy judgments, O Lord.
(v. 9) The judgment of the wicked and the deliverance of Zion will lead to the exaltation of Jehovah in His universal sway above all the earth. Thus the wicked are judged (vv. 2-7); Israel brought into blessing (v. 8), and the Lord exalted (v. 9).
(vv. 10-11) The godly remnant – His saints – who love the Lord and hate evil, had been preserved in trial, and are now delivered from the wicked. For such there is light and joy; for the wicked fire and darkness (vv. 2-3).
(v. 12) In view of these dealings of Jehovah, the godly are exhorted to rejoice and give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness. They are reminded that the holiness of the Lord is behind all His dealings.
Fuente: Smith’s Writings on 24 Books of the Bible
97:1 The {a} LORD reigneth; let the earth rejoice; let the {b} multitude of isles be glad [thereof].
(a) He shows that where God reigns, there is all happiness and spiritual joy.
(b) For the gospel will not only be preached in Judea, but through all isles and countries.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Psalms 97
The writer of this psalm also saw the Lord coming to rule and reign on the earth. He exhorted his readers to prepare for that event by living appropriately in the present.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
1. The announcement of God’s earthly reign 97:1
How do we know that the psalmist was describing a future reign of God and not His eternal reign? The marginal translation, "has assumed kingship," captures the aspect of God’s reign that this psalm presents. God will assume worldwide dominion when Jesus Christ returns, and that will provide occasion for the whole planet to rejoice as never before.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 97:1-12
THE summons to praise the King with a new song {Psa 96:1-13} is followed by this psalm, which repeats the dominant idea of the group, “Jehovah is King,” but from a fresh point of view. It represents His rule under the form of a theophany, which may possibly be regarded as the fuller description of that coming of Jehovah to judgment with which Psa 96:1-13 closes. The structure of both psalms is the same, each being divided into four strophes, normally consisting of three verses each, though the last strophe of Psa 96:1-13 runs over into four verses. In this psalm, the first group of verses celebrates the royal state of the King (Psa 97:1-3); the second describes His coming as a past fact (Psa 97:4-6); the third portrays the twofold effects of Jehovahs appearance on the heathen and on Zion (Psa 97:7-9); and the last applies the lessons of the whole to the righteous, in exhortation and encouragement (Psa 97:10-12). The same dependence on earlier psalms and prophets which marks others of this group is obvious here. The psalmists mind is saturated with old sayings, which he finds flashed up into new meaning by recent experiences. He is not “original,” and does not try to be so; but he has drunk in the spirit of his predecessors, and words which to others were antiquated and cold blaze with light for him, and seem made for his lips. He who reads aright the solemn significance of today will find it no less sacred than any past, and may transfer to it all which seers and singers have said and sung of Jehovahs presence of old.
The first strophe is mosaic-work. Psa 97:1 (lands = isles) may be compared Isa 42:10; Isa 51:5. Psa 97:2 a-is from Exo 19:9; Exo 19:16, etc., and Psa 18:9. Psa 97:2 b is quoted from Psa 89:14. Psa 97:3 a recalls Psa 1:3; Psa 18:8. The appearance of God on Sinai is the type of all later theophanies, and the reproduction of its principal features witnesses to the conviction that that transient manifestation was the unveiling of permanent reality. The veil had dropped again, but what had been once seen continued always, though unseen; and the veil could and would be drawn aside, and the long-hidden splendour blaze forth, again. The combination of the pieces of mosaic in a new pattern here is striking. Three thoughts fill the singers mind. God is King, and His reign gladdens the world, even away out to the dimly seen lands that are washed by the western ocean. “The islands” drew Isaiahs gaze. Prophecy began in him to look seawards and westwards, little knowing how the course of empire was to take its way thither, but feeling that whatever lands might lie towards the setting sun were ruled, and would be gladdened by Jehovah.
Gladness passes into awe in Psa 97:2 a, -as the seer beholds the cloud and gloom which encircle the throne. The transcending, infinitude of the Divine nature, the mystery of much of the Divine acts, are symbolised by these; but the curtain is the picture. To know that God cannot be known is a large part of the knowledge of Him. Faith, built on experience, enters into the cloud, and is not afraid, but confidently tells what it knows to be within the darkness. “Righteousness and judgment”-the eternal principle and the activity thereof in the several acts of the King-are the bases of His throne, more solid than the covering cloud. Earth can rejoice in His reign, even though darkness may make parts of it painful riddles, if the assurance is held fast that absolute righteousness is at the centre, and that the solid core of all is judgment. Destructive power, symbolised in Psa 97:3 by fire which devours His adversaries, the fire which flashed first on Sinai, is part of the reason for the gladness of earth in His reign. For His foes are the worlds foes too; and a God who could not smite into nothingness that which lifted itself against His dominion would be no God for whom the isles could wait. These three characteristics, mystery, righteousness, power to consume, attach to Jehovahs royalty, and should make every heart rejoice.
In the second strophe, the tenses suddenly change into pure narrative. The change may be simply due, as Cheyne suggests, to the influence of the earlier passages descriptive of theophanies, and in which the same tense occurs; but more probably it points to some event fresh in the experience of Israel, such as the return from Babylon. In this strophe again, we have mosaic. Psa 97:4 a-is quoted from Psa 77:18. With Psa 97:4 b may be compared Psa 77:16. Psa 97:5 a-is like Mic 1:4, and, in a less degree, Psa 68:2. “The Lord of the whole earth” is an unusual designation, first found in a significant connection in Jos 3:11; Jos 3:13, as emphasising His triumph over heathen gods, in leading the people into Canaan, and afterwards found in Zec 4:14; Zec 6:5, and Mic 4:13. Psa 97:6 a comes from the theophany in Psa 1:6 : and Psa 97:6 b has parallels in both parts of Isaiah-e.g., Isa 35:2; Isa 40:5; Isa 52:10 -passages which refer to the restoration from Babylon. The picture is grand as a piece of word painting. The world lies wrapped in thunder-gloom, and is suddenly illumined by the fierce blaze of lightning. The awestruck silence of Nature is wonderfully given by Psa 97:4 b: “The earth saw and trembled.” But the picture is symbol, and the lightning flash is meant to set forth the sudden, swift forth-darting of Gods delivering power, which awes a gazing world, while the hills melting like wax from before His face solemnly proclaim how terrible its radiance is, and how easily the mere showing of Himself annihilates all high things that oppose themselves. Solid-seeming and august powers, which tower above His peoples ability to overcome them, vanish when He looks out from the deep darkness. The end of His appearance and of the consequent removal of obstacles is the manifestation of His righteousness and glory. The heavens are the scene of the Divine appearance, though earth is the theatre of its working. They “declare His righteousness,” not because, as in Psa 19:1-14, they are said to tell forth His glory by their myriad lights, but because in them He has shone forth, in His great act of deliverance of His oppressed people. Israel receives the primary blessing, but is blessed, not for itself alone, but that all peoples may see in it Jehovahs glory. Thus once more the psalm recognises the world wide destination of national mercies, and Israels place in the Divine economy as being of universal significance. The third strophe (Psa 97:7-9) sets forth the results of the theophany on foes and friends. The worshippers, of “the Nothings” {Psa 96:5} are put to confusion by the demonstration by fact of Jehovahs sovereignty over their helpless deities. Psa 97:7 a, b, Isa 42:17; Isa 44:9. As the worshippers are ashamed, So the gods themselves are summoned to fall down before this triumphant Jehovah, as Dagon did before the Ark. Surely it is a piece of most prosaic pedantry to argue, from this lash of scorn, that the psalmist believed that the gods whom he had just called “Nothings” had a real existence, and that therefore he was not a pure Monotheist.
The shame of the idolaters and the prostration of their gods heighten the gladness of Zion, which the psalm describes in old words that had once celebrated another flashing forth of Jehovahs power. {Psa 48:11} Hupfeld, whom Cheyne follows, would transpose Psa 97:7 and Psa 97:8, on the grounds that “the transposition explains what Zion heard, and brings the summons to the false gods into connection with the emphatic claim on behalf of Jehovah in Psa 97:9.” But there is no need for the change, since there is no ambiguity as to what Zion heard, if the existing order is retained, and her gladness is quite as worthy a consequence of the exaltation of Jehovah in Psa 97:9 as the subjugation of the false gods would be. With Psa 97:9 compare Psa 83:18, and Psa 47:2.
The last strophe (Psa 97:10-12) draws exhortation and promises from the preceding. There is a marked diminution of dependence on earlier passages in this strophe, in which the psalmist points for his own generation the lessons of the great deliverance which he has been celebrating. Psa 97:12 a-is like Psa 32:11; Psa 97:12 b is from Psa 30:4; but the remainder is the psalmists own earnest exhortation and firm faith cast into words which come warm from his own hearts depths. Love to Jehovah necessarily implies hatred of evil, which is His antagonist, and which He hates. That higher love will not be kept in energy, unless it is guarded by wholesome antipathy to everything foul. The capacity for love of the noble is maimed unless there is hearty hatred of the ignoble. Love to God is no idle affection, but withdraws a man from rival loves. The stronger the attraction, the stronger the recoil. The closer we cleave to God, the more decided our shrinking from all that would weaken our hold of Him. A specific reference in the exhortation to temptations to idolatry is possible, though not necessary. All times have their “evil,” with which Gods lovers are ever tempted to comply. The exhortation is never out of place, nor the encouragement which accompanies it ever illusory. In such firm adherence to Jehovah. many difficulties will rise, and foes be made; but those who obey it will not lack protection. Mark the alternation of names for such. They are first called “lovers of God”; they are then designated as His “favoured ones.” That which is first in time is last in mention. The effect is in view before it is traced to its cause. “We love Him because He first loved us.” Then follow names drawn from the moral perfecting which will ensue on recognition and reception of Gods favour, and on the cherishing of the love which fulfills the law. They who love because they are loved, become righteous and upright hearted because they love. For such the psalmist has promise as well as exhortation. Not only are they preserved in and from dangers, but “light is sown” for them. Many commentators think that the figure of light being sown. as seeds are buried in the ground to shoot up in beauty in a future springtime is too violent, and they propose to understand “sown” in the sense of scattered on, not deposited in, the earth, “so that he, the righteous, goes forward step by step in the light” (Delitzsch). Others would correct into is risen” or arises.” But one is reluctant to part with the figure, the violence of which is permissible in an Eastern singer. Darkness often wraps the righteous, and it is not true to experience to say that his way is always in the sunlight. But it is consolation to know that light is sown, invisible and buried, as it were, but sure to germinate and fruit. The metaphor mingles figures and offends purists, but it fits closer to fact than the weakening of it which fits the rules of composition. If we are Gods lovers, present darkness may be quieted by hope. and we may have the “fruit of the light” in our lives now, and the expectation of a time when we shall possess in fulness and in perpetuity all that light of knowledge, purity, and gladness which Jesus the Sower went forth to sow, and which had been ripened by struggles and sorrows and hatred of evil while we were here.
Therefore, because of this magnificent theophany and because of its blessed consequences for loving souls, the psalmist ends with the exhortation to the righteous to rejoice. He began with bidding the world be glad. He now bids each of us concentrate that universal gladness in our own hearts. Whether earth obeys Him or not, it is for us to clasp firmly the great facts which will feed the lamp of our joy. Gods holy memorial is His name, or His self-revealed character. He desires to be known and remembered by His acts. If we rightly retain and ponder His utterance of Himself, not in syllables, but in deeds, we shall not be silent in His praise. The righteous man should not be harsh and crabbed, but his soul should dwell in a serene atmosphere of joy in Jehovah. and his life be one thanksgiving to that mighty, never-to-be-forgotten Name.