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Psalm One
Hundred Seventeen
Psalm 117
Chapter Contents
All people called upon to praise God.
Here is a solemn call to all nations to praise the Lord,
and proper matter for that praise is suggested. We are soon weary of
well-doing, if we keep not up the pious and devout affections with which the
spiritual sacrifice of praise ought to be kindled and kept burning. This is a gospel
psalm. The apostle, Romans 15:11, quotes it as a proof that the
gospel was to be preached to the Gentile nations, and that it would be
entertained by them. For many ages, in Judah only was God known, and his name
praised; this call was not then given to any Gentiles. But the gospel of Christ
is ordered to be preached to all nations, and by him those that were afar off
are made nigh. We are among the persons to whom the Holy Spirit here speaks,
whom he calls upon to join his ancient people in praising the Lord. Grace has
thus abounded to millions of perishing sinners. Let us then listen to the
offers of the grace of God, and pray for that time when all nations of the
earth shall show forth his praises. And let us bless God for the unsearchable
riches of gospel grace.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Psalms》
Psalm 117
An exhortation to all nations to praise God
for his mercy and truth, verse 1, 2.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Psalms》
Exposition
Explanatory Notes and
Quaint Sayings
Hints to the Village
Preacher
SUBJECT. This Psalm,
which is very little in its letter, is exceedingly large in its spirit; for,
bursting beyond all bounds of race or nationality, it calls upon all mankind to
praise the name of the Lord. In all probability it was frequently used as a
brief hymn suitable for almost every occasion, and especially when the time for
worship was short. Perhaps it was also sung at the commencement or at the close
of other Psalms, just as we now use the doxology. It would have served either
to open a service or to conclude it. It is both short and sweet. The same
divine Spirit which expatiates in the 119th, here condenses his utterances into
two short verses, but yet the same infinite fullness is present and
perceptible. It may be worth noting that this is at once the shortest chapter
of the Scriptures and the central portion of the whole Bible.
EXPOSITION
Verse
1. O praise the LORD, all ye nations. This is an exhortation
to the Gentiles to glorify Jehovah, and a clear proof that the Old Testament
spirit differed widely from that narrow and contracted national bigotry with
which the Jews of our Lord's day became so inveterately diseased. The nations
could not be expected to join in the praise of Jehovah unless they were also to
be partakers of the benefits which Israel enjoyed; and hence the Psalm was an
intimation to Israel that the grace and mercy of their God were not to be
confined to one nation, but would in happier days be extended to all the race
of man, even as Moses had prophesied when he said, "Rejoice. O ye nations,
his people" (De 32:43), for so the Hebrew has it. The nations were to be
his people. He would call them a people that were not a people, and her beloved
that was not beloved. We know and believe that no one tribe of men shall be
unrepresented in the universal song which shall ascend unto the Lord of all.
Individuals have already been gathered out of every kindred and people and
tongue by the preaching of the gospel, and these have right heartily joined in
magnifying the grace which sought them out, and brought them to know the
Saviour. These are but the advance guard of a number which no man can number
who will come ere long to worship the all glorious One. Praise him, all ye
people. Having done it once, do it again, and do it still more fervently, daily
increasing in the reverence and zeal with which you extol the Most High. Not
only praise him nationally by your rulers, but popularly in your masses. The
multitude of the common folk shall bless the Lord. Inasmuch as the matter is
spoken of twice, its certainty is confirmed, and the Gentiles must and shall
extol Jehovah—all of them, without exception. Under the gospel dispensation we
worship no new god, but the God of Abraham is our God for ever and ever; the
God of the whole earth shall he be called.
Verse
2. For his merciful kindness is great toward us. By which is
meant not only his great love toward the Jewish people, but towards the whole
family of man. The Lord is kind to us as his creatures, and merciful to us as
sinners, hence his merciful kindness to us as sinful creatures. This mercy has
been very great, or powerful. The mighty grace of God has prevailed even as the
waters of the flood prevailed over the earth: breaking over all bounds, it has
flowed towards all portions of the multiplied race of man. In Christ Jesus, God
has shown mercy mixed with kindness, and that to the very highest degree. We
can all join in this grateful acknowledgment, and in the praise which is
therefore due. And the truth of the Lord endureth for ever. He has kept his
covenant promise that in the seed of Abraham should all nations of the earth be
blessed, and he will eternally keep every single promise of that covenant to
all those who put their trust in him. This should be a cause of constant and
grateful praise, wherefore the Psalm concludes as it began, with another
Hallelujah, Praise ye the LORD.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Whole
Psalm. A very short Psalm if you regard the words, but of very great
compass and most excellent if you thoughtfully consider the meaning. There are
here five principal points of doctrine.
First,
the calling of the Gentiles, the Apostle being the interpreter, Ro
15:11; but in vain might the Prophet invite the Gentiles to praise Jehovah,
unless they were to be gathered into the unity of the faith together with the
children of Abraham.
Second,
The Summary of the Gospel, namely, the manifestation of grace and truth,
the Holy Spirit being the interpreter, Joh 1:17.
Third,
The end of so great a blessing, namely, the worship of God in spirit and
in truth, as we know that the kingdom of the Messiah is spiritual.
Fourth,
the employment of the subjects of the great King is to praise and
glorify Jehovah.
Lastly,
the privilege of these servants:that, as to the Jews, so also to the
Gentiles, who know and serve God the Saviour, eternal life and blessedness are
brought, assured in this life, and prepared in heaven. Mollerus.
Whole
Psalm. This Psalm, the shortest portion of the Book of God, is quoted
and given much value to, in Ro 15:11. And upon this it has been profitably
observed, "It is a small portion of Scripture, and such as we might easily
overlook it. But not so the Holy Ghost. He gleans up this precious little
testimony which speaks of grace to the Gentiles, and presses it on our
attention." From Bellett's Short Meditations on the Psalms, chiefly in
their Prophetic character, 1871.
Whole
Psalm. The occasion and the author of this Psalm are alike unknown. De
Wette regards it as a Temple Psalm, and agrees with Rosenmueller in the
supposition that it was sung either at the beginning or the end of the service
it the temple. Knapp supposes that it was used as an intermediate service, sung
during the progress of the general service, to vary the devotion, and to awaken
a new interest in the service, either sung by the choir or by the whole people.
Albert Barnes.
Whole
Psalm. In God's worship it is not always necessary to be long; few words
sometimes say what is sufficient, as this short Psalm giveth us to understand. David
Dickson.
Whole
Psalm. This is the shortest, and the next but one is the longest, of the
Psalms. There are times for short hymns and long hymns, for short prayers and
long prayers, for short sermons and long sermons, for short speeches and long
speeches. It is better to be too short than too long, as it can more easily be
mended. Short addresses need no formal divisions: long addresses require them,
as in the next Psalm but one. G. Rogers.
Verse
1. O praise the Lord, etc. The praise of God is here made
both the beginning and the end of the Psalm; to show, that in praising God the
saints are never satisfied with their own efforts, and would infinitely magnify
him, even as his perfections are infinite. Here they make a circle, the
beginning, middle, and end whereof is hallelujah. In the last Psalm, when
David had said, "Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord,
"and so in all likelihood had made an end, yet he repeats the hallelujah
again, and cries, "Praise ye the Lord." The Psalmist had made an end
and yet he had not done; to signify, that when we have said our utmost for
God's praise, we must not be content, but begin anew. There is hardly any duty
more pressed in the Old Testament upon us, though less practised, than this of
praising God. To quicken us therefore to a duty so necessary, but so much
neglected, this and many other Psalms were penned by David, purposely to excite
us, that are the nations here meant, to consecrate our whole lives to
the singing and setting forth of God's worthy praises. Abraham Wright.
Verse
1. All ye nations. Note: each nation of the world has some
special gift bestowed on it by God, which is not given to the others, whether
you have regard to nature or grace, for which it ought to praise God. Le
Blanc.
Verse
1. Praise him. A different word is here used for "praise"
than in the former clause: a word which is more frequently used in the Chaldee,
Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic languages; and signifies the celebration of the
praises of God with a high voice. John Gill.
Verse
2. For his merciful kindness is great toward us. We cannot
part from this Psalm without remarking that even in the Old Testament we have
more than one instance of a recognition on the part of those that were without
the pale of the church that God's favour to Israel was a source of blessing to
themselves. Such were probably to some extent the sentiments of Hiram and the
Queen of Sheba, the contemporaries of Solomon; such the experience of Naaman;
such the virtual acknowledgments of Nebuchadnezzar and Darius the Mede. They
beheld "his merciful kindness"towards his servants of the
house of Israel, and they praised him accordingly. John Francis Thrupp.
Verse
2. For his merciful kindness is great toward us. Albeit there
be matter of praise unto God in himself, though we should not be partakers of
any benefit from him, yet the Lord doth give his people cause to praise him for
favours to them in their own particular cases. David Dickson.
Verse
2. For his merciful kindness is great. rbg, gabar, is strong:it
is not only great in bulk or number;but it is powerful;it
prevails over sin, Satan, death, and hell. Adam Clarke
Verse
2. Merciful kindness... and the truth of the LORD. Here, and
so in divers other Psalms, God's mercy and truth are joined together; to show
that all passages and proceedings, both in ordinances and in providence,
whereby he comes and communicates himself to his people are not only mercy,
though that is very sweet, but truth also. Their blessings come to them in the
way of promise from God, as bound to them by the truth of his covenant. This is
soul satisfying indeed; this turns all that a man hath to cream, when every
mercy is a present sent from heaven by virtue of a promise. Upon this account,
God's mercy is ordinarily in the Psalms bounded by his truth; that none may
either presume him more merciful than he hath declared himself in his word; nor
despair of finding mercy gratis, according to the truth of his promise.
Therefore though thy sins be great, believe the text, and know that God's mercy
is greater than the sins. The high heaven covereth as well tall mountains as
small mole hills, and mercy can cover all. The more desperate thy disease, the
greater is the glory of thy physician, who hath perfectly cured thee. Abraham
Wright
HINTS TO THE
VILLAGE PREACHER
Whole
Psalm. The universal kingdom.
1.
The same God.
2. The same worship.
3. The same reason for it.
Verse
2. Merciful kindness. In God's kindness there is mercy,
because,
1.
Our sin deserves the reverse of kindness.
2. Our weakness requires great tenderness.
3. Our fears can only be so removed.
Verse
2 (last clause)
1.
In his attribute—he is always faithful.
2. In his revelation—always infallible.
3. In his action—always according to promise.
── C.H. Spurgeon《The Treasury of David》