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Psalm One
Hundred Forty-eight
Psalm 148
Chapter Contents
The creatures placed in the upper world called on to
praise the Lord. (1-6) Also the creatures of this lower world, especially his
own people. (7-14)
Commentary on Psalm 148:1-6
(Read Psalm 148:1-6)
We, in this dark and sinful world, know little of the
heavenly world of light. But we know that there is above us a world of blessed
angels. They are always praising God, therefore the psalmist shows his desire
that God may be praised in the best manner; also we show that we have communion
with spirits above, who are still praising him. The heavens, with all contained
in them, declare the glory of God. They call on us, that both by word and deed,
we glorify with them the Creator and Redeemer of the universe.
Commentary on Psalm 148:7-14
(Read Psalm 148:7-14)
Even in this world, dark and bad as it is, God is
praised. The powers of nature, be they ever so strong, so stormy, do what God
appoints them, and no more. Those that rebel against God's word, show
themselves to be more violent than even the stormy winds, yet they fulfil it.
View the surface of the earth, mountains and all hills; from the barren tops of
some, and the fruitful tops of others, we may fetch matter for praise. And
assuredly creatures which have the powers of reason, ought to employ themselves
in praising God. Let all manner of persons praise God. Those of every rank,
high and low. Let us show that we are his saints by praising his name
continually. He is not only our Creator, but our Redeemer; who made us a people
near unto him. We may by "the Horn of his people" understand Christ,
whom God has exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour, who is indeed the defence
and the praise of all his saints, and will be so for ever. In redemption, that
unspeakable glory is displayed, which forms the source of all our hopes and
joys. May the Lord pardon us, and teach our hearts to love him more and praise
him better.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Psalms》
Psalm 148
Verse 4
[4] Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be
above the heavens.
Heavens of heavens — Ye highest heavens,
the place of God's throne.
Waters — Ye clouds which are above a part of the heavens.
Verse 6
[6] He hath also stablished them for ever and ever: he hath
made a decree which shall not pass.
Established — He hath made them constant and
incorruptible, not changeable, as the things of the lower world.
A decree — Concerning their continuance.
Verse 7
[7] Praise the LORD from the earth, ye dragons, and all
deeps:
Dragons — Either serpents, which hide in the deep caverns of the
earth; or whales, and other sea-monsters, which dwell in the depths of the sea.
Verse 8
[8] Fire, and hail; snow, and vapour; stormy wind fulfilling
his word:
Fire — Lightnings and other fireworks of the air.
Vapour — Or, fumes: hot exhalations.
Fulfilling his word — Executing his
commands, either for the comfort or punishment of the inhabitants of the earth.
Verse 13
[13] Let them praise the name of the LORD: for his name alone
is excellent; his glory is above the earth and heaven.
Above — Above all the glories which are in earth and in
heaven.
Verse 14
[14] He also exalteth the horn of his people, the praise of
all his saints; even of the children of Israel, a people near unto him. Praise
ye the LORD.
The horn — In scripture commonly denotes strength, victory,
glory, and felicity.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Psalms》
Exposition
Explanatory Notes and
Quaint Sayings
Hints to the Village
Preacher
The song is one
and indivisible. It seems almost impossible to expound it in detail, for a
living poem is not to be dissected verse by verse. It is a song of nature and of
grace. As a flash of lightning flames through space, and enwraps both heaven
and earth in one vestment of glory, so doth the adoration of the Lord in this
Psalm light up all the universe, and cause it to glow with a radiance of
praise. The song begins in the heavens, sweeps downward to dragons and all
deeps, and then ascends again, till the people near unto Jehovah take up the
strain. For its exposition the chief requisite is a heart on fire with reverent
love to the Lord over all, who is to be blessed for ever.
EXPOSITION
Verse
1. Praise ye the LORD. Whoever ye may be that hear this word,
ye are invited, entreated, commanded, to magnify Jehovah. Assuredly he has made
you, and, if for nothing else, ye are bound, upon the ground of creatureship,
to adore your Maker. This exhortation can never be out of place, speak it where
we may; and never out of time, speak it when we may. Praise ye the LORD from
the heavens. Since ye are nearest to the High and Lofty One, be ye sure to lead
the song. Ye angels, ye cherubim and seraphim, and all others who dwell in the
precincts of his courts, praise ye Jehovah. Do this as from a starting point
from which the praise is to pass on to other realms. Keep not your worship to
yourselves, but let it fall like a golden shower from the heavens on men
beneath. Praise him in the heights. This is no vain repetition; but after the
manner of attractive poesy the truth is emphasized by reiteration in other
words. Moreover, God is not only to be praised from the heights, but in
them: the adoration is to be perfected in the heavens from which it takes its
rise. No place is too high for the praises of the most High. On the summit of
creation the glory of the Lord is to be revealed, even as the tops of the
highest Alps are tipped with the golden light of the same sun which glads the
valleys. Heavens and heights become the higher and the more heavenly as they
are made to resound with the praises of Jehovah. See how the Psalmist trumpets
out the word "PRAISE." It sounds forth some nine times in the first
five verses of this song. Like minute-guns, exultant exhortations are sounded
forth in tremendous force—Praise! Praise! Praise! The drum of the great
King beats round the world with this one note—Praise! Praise! Praise!
"Again they said, Hallelujah." All this praise is distinctly and
personally for Jehovah. Praise not his servants nor his works; but praise HIM.
Is he not worthy of all possible praise? Pour it forth before HIM in full
volume; pour it only there!
Verse
2. Praise ye him, all his angels. Living intelligences,
perfect in character and in bliss, lift up your loudest music to your Lord,
each one, of you. Not one bright spirit is exempted from this consecrated
service. However many ye be, O angels, ye are all his angels, and
therefore ye are bound, all of you, to render service to your Lord. Ye have all
seen enough of him to be able to praise him, and ye have all abundant reasons
for so doing. Whether ye be named Gabriel, or Michael, or by whatever other
titles ye are known, praise ye the Lord. Whether ye bow before him, or fly on
his errands, or desire to look into his covenant, or behold his Son, cease not,
ye messengers of Jehovah, to sound forth his praise while ye move at his
bidding. Praise ye him, all his hosts. This includes angelic armies, but groups
with them all the heavenly bodies. Though they be inanimate, the stars, the
clouds, the lightnings, have their ways of praising Jehovah. Let each one of
the countless legions of the Lord of hosts show forth his glory; for the countless
armies are all his, his by creation, and preservation, and consequent
obligation. Both these sentences claim unanimity of praise from those in the
upper regions who are called upon to commence the strain—"all his
angels, all his hosts." That same hearty oneness must pervade the
whole orchestra of praising ones; hence, further on, we read of all stars of
light, all deeps, all hills, all cedars, and all people. How well the concert
begins when all angels, and all the heavenly host, strike the first joyful
notes! In that concert our souls would at once take their part.
Verse
3. Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars of
light. The Psalmist enters into detail as to the heavenly hosts. As all, so
each, must praise the God of each and all. The sun and moon, as joint rulers of
day and night, are paired in praise: the one is the complement of the other,
and so they are closely associated in the summons to worship. The sun has his
peculiar mode of glorifying the Great Father of lights, and the moon has her
own special method of reflecting his brightness. There is a perpetual adoration
of the Lord in the skies: it varies with night and day, but it ever continues
while sun and moon endure. There is ever a lamp burning before the high altar
of the Lord. Nor are the greater luminaries allowed to drown with their floods
of light the glory of the lesser brilliants, for all the stars are bidden to
the banquet of praise. Stars are many, so many that no one can count the host
included under the words, "all ye stars"; yet no one of them refuses
to praise its Maker. From their extreme brilliance they are fitly named
"stars of light"; and this light is praise in a visible form
twinkling to true music. Light is song glittering before the eye instead of
resounding in the ear. Stars without light would render no praise, and
Christians without light rob the Lord of his glory. However small our beam, we
must not hide it: if we cannot be sun or moon we must aim to be one of the
"stars of light", and our every twinkling must be to the honour of
our Lord.
Verse
4. Praise him, ye heavens of heavens. By these are meant
those regions which are heavens to those who dwell in our heavens; or those
most heavenly of abodes where the most choice of spirits dwell. As the highest
of the highest, so the best of the best are to praise the Lord. If we could
climb as much above the heavens as the heavens are above the earth, we could
still cry out to all around us, "Praise ye the Lord." There can be
none so great and high as to be above praising Jehovah. And ye waters that be
above the heavens. Let the clouds roll up volumes of adoration. Let the sea
above roar, and the fulness thereof, at the presence of Jehovah, the God of
Israel. There is something of mystery about these supposed reservoirs of water;
but let them be what they may, and as they may, they shall give glory to the
Lord our God. Let the most unknown and perplexing phenomena take up their parts
in the universal praise.
Verse
5. Let them praise the name of the LORD; for he commanded, and
they were created. Here is good argument: The Maker should have honour from
his works, they should tell forth his praise: and thus they should
praise his name—by which his character is intended. The name of JEHOVAH
is written legibly upon his works, so that his power, wisdom, goodness, and
other attributes are therein made manifest to thoughtful men, and thus his name
is praised. The highest praise of God is to declare what he is. We can invent
nothing which would magnify the Lord: we can never extol him better than by
repeating his name, or describing his character. The Lord is to be extolled as
creating all things that exist, and as doing so by the simple agency of his
word. He created by a command; what a power is this! Well may he expect those
to praise him who owe their being to him. Evolution may be atheistic; but the
doctrine of creation logically demands worship; and hence, as the tree is known
by its fruit, it proves itself to be true. Those who were created by command
are under command to adore their Creator. The voice which said "Let them
be", now saith "Let them praise."
Verse
6. He hath also stablished them for ever and ever. The
continued existence of celestial beings is due to the supporting might of
Jehovah, and to that alone. They do not fail because the Lord does not fail
them. Without his will these things cannot alter; he has impressed upon them
laws which only he himself can change. Eternally his ordinances are binding
upon them. Therefore ought the Lord to be praised because he is Preserver as
well as Creator, Ruler as well as Maker. He hath made a decree which shall not
pass. The heavenly bodies are ruled by Jehovah's decree: they cannot pass his
limit, or trespass against his law. His rule and ordination can never be
changed except by himself, and in this sense his decree "shall not
pass": moreover, the highest and most wonderful of creatures are perfectly
obedient to the statutes of the Great King, and thus his decree is not passed
over. This submission to law is praise. Obedience is homage; order is harmony.
In this respect the praise rendered to Jehovah from the "bodies
celestial" is absolutely perfect. His almighty power upholds all things in
their spheres, securing the march of stars and the flight of seraphs; and thus
the music of the upper regions is never marred by discord, nor interrupted by
destruction. The eternal hymn is for ever chanted; even the solemn silence of
the spheres is a perpetual Psalm.
Verse
7. Praise the LORD from the earth. The song descends to our
abode, and so comes nearer home to us. We who are "bodies
terrestrial", are to pour out our portion of praise from the golden globe
of this favoured planet. Jehovah is to be praised not only in the earth
but from the earth, as if the adoration ran over from this planet into
the general accumulation of worship. In Ps 148:1 the song was "from the
heavens"; here it is "from the earth": songs coming down from
heaven are to blend with those going up from earth. The "earth" here
meant is our entire globe of land and water: it is to be made vocal everywhere
with praise. Ye dragons, and all deeps. It would be idle to inquire what
special sea monsters are here meant; but we believe all of them are intended,
and the places where they abide are indicated by "all deeps." Terrible
beasts or fishes, whether they roam the earth or swim the seas, are bidden to
the feast of praise. Whether they float amid the teeming waves of the tropics,
or wend their way among the floes and bergs of polar waters, they are commanded
by our sacred poet to yield their tribute to the creating Jehovah. They pay no
service to man; let them the more heartily confess their allegiance to the
Lord. About "dragons" and "deeps" there is somewhat of
dread, but this may the more fitly become the bass of the music of the Psalm.
If there be aught grim in mythology, or fantastic in heraldry, let it praise
the incomprehensible Lord.
Verse
8. Fire and hail. Lightning and hailstones go together. In
the plagues of Egypt they cooperated in making Jehovah known in all the terrors
of his power. Fire and ice morsels are a contrast in nature, but they are
combined in magnifying the Lord. Snow and vapours. Offsprings of cold, or
creations of heat, be ye equally consecrated to his praise. Congealed or
expanded vapours, falling flakes or rising clouds, should, rising or falling,
still reveal the praises of the Lord. Stormy winds fulfilling his word. Though
rushing with incalculable fury, the storm wind is still under law, and moves in
order due, to carry out the designs of God. It is a grand orchestra which
contains such wind instruments as these! He is a great leader who can keep all
these musicians in concert, and direct both time and tune.
Verse
9. Mountains, and all hills. Towering steeps and swelling
knolls alike declare their Creator. "All hills" are to be
consecrated; we have no longer Ebal and Gerizim, the hill of the curse and the
hill of the blessing, but all our Ebals are turned to Gerizims. Tabor and
Hermon, Lebanon and Carmel, rejoice in the name of the Lord. The greater and
the lesser mounts are one in their adoration. Not only the Alps and the
mountains of the Jura thunder out his praise; but our own Cotswolds and
Grampians are vocal with songs in his honour. Fruitful trees, and all cedars.
Fruit trees and forest trees, trees deciduous or evergreen, are equally full of
benevolent design, and alike subserve some purpose of love; therefore for all
and by all let the great Designer be praised. There are many species of cedar,
but they all reveal the wisdom of their Maker. When kings fell them, that they
may make beams for their palaces, they do but confess their obligation to the
King of trees, and to the King of kings, whose trees they are. Varieties in the
landscape are produced by the rising and falling of the soil, and by the many
kinds of trees which adorn the land: let all, and all alike, glorify their one
Lord. When the trees clap their hands in the wind, or their leaves rustle in
the gentle breath of Zephyr, they do to their best ability sing out unto the Lord.
Verse
10. Beasts, and all cattle. Animals fierce or tame; wild
beasts and domestic cattle; let all these show forth the praises of Jehovah.
Those are worse than beasts who do not praise our God. More than brutish are
those who are wilfully dumb concerning their Maker. Creeping things, and flying
fowl. The multitudes that throng the earth and the air; insects of every form
and birds of every wing are called upon to join the universal worship. No one
can become familiar with insect and bird life without feeling that they
constitute a wonderful chapter in the history of divine wisdom. The minute
insect marvellously proclaims the Lord's handiwork: when placed under the
microscope it tells a wondrous tale. So, too, the bird which soars aloft
displays in its adaptation for an aerial life an amount of skill which our
balloonists have in vain attempted to emulate. True devotion not only hears the
praises of God in the sweet song of feathered minstrels, but even discovers it
in the croaking from the marsh, or in the buzz of "the blue fly which
singeth in the window pane." More base than reptiles, more insignificant
than insects, are songless men.
Verse
11. Kings of the earth, and all people: princes, and all judges of
the earth. Now the poet has reached our own race, and very justly he would
have rulers and subjects, chieftains and magistrates, unite in worshipping the
sovereign Lord of all. Monarchs must not disdain to sing, nor must their people
refrain from uniting with them. Those who lead in battle and those who decide
in courts must neither of them allow their vocations to keep them from
reverently adoring the Chief and Judge of all. All people, and all judges, must
praise the Lord of all. What a happy day it will be when it is universally
acknowledged that through our Lord Jesus, the incarnate Wisdom, "kings
reign and princes decree justice"! Alas, it is not so as yet! kings have
been patrons of vice, and princes ringleaders in folly. Let us pray that the
song of the Psalmist may be realized in fact.
Verse
12. Both young men, and maidens; old men, and children. Both
sexes and all ages are summoned to the blessed service of song. Those who
usually make merry together are to be devoutly joyful together: those who make
up the ends of families, that is to say, the elders and the juveniles, should
make the Lord their one and only end. Old men should by their experience teach
children to praise; and children by their cheerfulness should excite old men to
song. There is room for every voice at this concert: fruitful trees and
maidens, cedars and young men, angels and children, old men and judges—all may
unite in this oratorio. None, indeed, can be dispensed with: for perfect
Psalmody we must have the whole universe aroused to worship, and all parts of
creation must take their parts in devotion.
Verse
13. Let them praise the name of the LORD. All that is
contained in the name or character of Jehovah is worthy of praise, and all the
objects of his creating care will be too few to set it forth in its
completeness. For his name alone is excellent. It alone deserves to be exalted
in praise, for alone it is exalted in worth. There is none like unto the Lord,
none that for a moment can be compared unto him. His unique name should have a
monopoly of praise. His glory is above the earth and heaven: it is therefore
alone because it surpasses all others. His royal splendour exceeds all that
earth and heaven can express. He is himself the crown of all things, the
excellency of the creation. There is more glory in him personally than in all
his works united. It is not possible for us to exceed and become extravagant in
the Lord's praise: his own natural glory is infinitely greater than any glory
which we can render to him.
Verse
14. He also exalteth the horn of his people. He hath made them
strong, famous, and victorious. His goodness to all his creatures does not
prevent his having a special favour to his chosen nation: he is good to all,
but he is God to his people. He lifts up the down trodden, but he in a peculiar
manner lifts up his people. When they are brought low he raises up a horn for
them by sending them a deliverer; when they are in conflict he gives them
courage and strength, so that they lift up their horn amid the fray; and when
all is peaceful around them, he fills their horn with plenty, and they lift it
up with delight. The praise of all his saints. He is their glory: to him they
render praise; and he by his mercy to them evermore gives them further reasons
for praise, and higher motives for adoration. He lifts up their horn, and they
lift up his praise. He exalts them, and they exalt him. The Holy One is praised
by holy ones. He is their God, and they are his saints; he makes them blessed,
and they bless him in return.
Even
of the children of Israel. The Lord knoweth them that are his. He knows the
name of him with whom he made a covenant, and how he came by that name, and who
his children are, and where they are. All nations are bidden in Ps 148:11 to
praise the Lord; but here the call is specially addressed to his elect people,
who know him beyond all others. Those who are children of privilege should be
children of praise. A people near unto him, near by kin, and near by care; near
as to manifestation and near as to affection. This is a highly honourable
description of the beloved race; and it is true even more emphatically of the
spiritual Israel, the believing seed. This nearness should prompt us to
perpetual adoration. The Lord's elect are the children of his love, the
courtiers of his palace, the priests of his temple, and therefore they are
bound beyond all others to be filled with reverence for him, and delight in
him. Praise ye the Lord, or, Hallelujah. This should be the Alpha and
Omega of a good man's life. Let us praise God to the end, world without end.
The field of praise which lies before us in this Psalm is bounded at beginning
and end by landmarks in the form of Hallelujahs, and all that lieth between
them is every word of it to the Lord's honour. Amen.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Psalms
148:1 to 150:6. The last three Psalms are a triad of wondrous praise,
ascending from praise to higher raise until it becomes "joy unspeakable
and full of glory"—exultation which knows no bounds. The joy overflows the
soul, and spreads throughout the universe; every creature is magnetized by it,
and drawn into the chorus. Heaven is full of praise, the earth is full of
praise, praises rise from under the earth, "everything that hath
breath" joins in the rapture. God is encompassed by a loving, praising creation.
Man, the last in creation, but the first in song, knows not how to contain
himself. He dances, he sings, he commands all the heavens, with all their
angels, to help him, "beasts and all cattle, creeping things and flying
fowl" must do likewise, even "dragons" must not be silent, and
"all deeps" must yield contributions. He presses even dead things
into his service, timbrels, trumpets, harps, organs, cymbals, high sounding
cymbals, if by any means, and by all means, he may give utterance to his love
and joy.—John Pulsford.
Whole
Psalm. In this splendid anthem the Psalmist calls upon the whole
creation, in its two great divisions (according to the Hebrew conception) of
heaven and earth, to praise Jehovah: things with and things without life,
beings rational and irrational, are summoned to join the mighty chorus. This
Psalm is the expression of the loftiest devotion, and it embraces at the same
time the most comprehensive view of the relation of the creature to the
Creator. Whether it is exclusively the utterance of a heart filled to the full
with the thought of the infinite majesty of God, or whether it is also an
anticipation, a prophetic forecast, of the final glory of creation, when at the
manifestation of the sons of God, the creation itself also shall be redeemed
from the bondage of corruption (Ro 8:18-23), and the homage of praise shall
indeed be rendered by all things that are in heaven and earth and under the
earth, is a question into which we need not enter.—J.J. Stewart Perowne.
Whole
Psalm. Milton, in his Paradise Lost (Book 5, line 153, & c.), has
elegantly imitated this Psalm, and put it into the mouth of Adam and Eve as
their morning hymn in a state of innocency.—James Anderson.
Whole
Psalm. Is this universal praise never to be realized? is it only the
longing, intense desire of the Psalmist's heart, which will never be heard on
earth, and can only be perfected in heaven? Is there to be no jubilee in which
the mountains and the hills shall break forth into singing, and all the trees
of the field shall clap their hands? If there is to be no such day, then is the
word of God of none effect; if no such universal anthem is to swell the chorus
of heaven and to be reechoed by all that is on earth, then is God's promise
void. It is true, in this Psalm our translation presents it to us as a call or
summons for every thing that hath or hath not breath to praise the Lord—or as a
petition that they may praise; but it is in reality a prediction that they shall
praise. This Psalm is neither more nor less than a glorious prophecy of that
coming day, when not only shall the knowledge of the Lord be spread over the
whole earth, as the waters cover the sea, but from every created object in
heaven and in earth, animate and inanimate, from the highest archangel through every
grade and phase of being, down to the tiniest atom—young men and maidens, old
men and children, and all kings and princes, and judges of the earth shall
unite in this millennial, anthem to the Redeemer's praise.—Barton Bouchier.
Verse
1. Praise ye the Lord, etc. All things praise, and yet he
says, "Praise ye." Wherefore doth he say, "Praise
ye", when they are praising? Because he delighteth in their praising,
and therefore it pleaseth him to add, as it were, his own encouragement. Just
as, when you come to men who are doing any good work with pleasure in their
vineyard or in their harvest field, or in some other matter of husbandry, you
are pleased at what they are doing, and say, "Work on", "Go
on"; not that they may begin to work, when you say this, but, because you
are pleased at finding them working, you add your approbation and
encouragement. For by saying, "Work on", and encouraging those who
are working, you, so to speak, work with them in wish. In this sort of
encouragement, then, the Psalmist, filled with the Holy Ghost, saith this.—Augustine.
Verse
1. The thrice repeated exhortation, "Praise...Praise
...Praise", in this first verse is not merely imperative, nor only
hortative, but it is an exultant hallelujah.—Martin Geier.
Verse
1. From the heavens: praise him in the heights. Or, high
places. As God in framing the world begun above, and wrought downward, so doth
the Psalmist proceed in this his exhortation to all creatures to praise the
Lord.—John Trapp.
Verse
1. Praise him in the heights. The principle applied in this
verse is this, that those who have been exalted to the highest honours of the
created universe, should proportionately excel in their tribute of honour to
him who has exalted them.—Hermann Venema.
Verse
1. Bernard, in his sermon on the death of his brother Gerard,
relates that in the middle of his last night on earth his brother, to the
astonishment of all present, with a voice and countenance of exultation, broke
forth in the words of the Psalmist Praise the Lord of heaven, praise him in
the heights!
Verse
2. Praise ye him, all his angels. Angels are first invoked,
because they can praise God with humility, reverence, and purity. The highest
are the humblest, the leaders of all created hosts are the most ready
themselves to obey.—Thomas Le Blanc.
Verse
2. Praise ye him, all his angels. The angels of God were his
first creatures; it has even been thought that they existed prior to the
inanimate universe. They were already praising their Maker before the light of
day, and they have never ceased their holy song. Angels praise God best in
their holy service. They praised Christ as God when they sang their Gloria
in Excelsis at the Incarnation, and they praised him as man when they
ministered to him after his temptation and before his crucifixion. So also now
angels praise the Lord by their alacrity in ministering to his saints.—John
Lorinus.
Verse
2. Praise ye him, all his hosts. That is, his creatures
(those above especially which are as his cavalry) called his
"hosts", for,
1.
Their number;
2, their order;
3. their obedience.—John Trapp.
Verse
3. Praise ye him, sun and moon, etc. How does the sun
specially praise Jehovah?
1.
By its beauty. Jesus son of Sirach calls it the "globe of beauty."
2. By its fulness. Dion calls it "the image of the Divine capacity."
3. By its exaltation. Pliny calls it caeli rector, "the ruler of
heaven."
4. By its perfect brightness. Pliny adds that it is "the mind and soul of
the whole universe."
5. By its velocity and constancy of motion. Martian calls it "the Guide of
Nature."
God
the Supreme was depicted by the ancients holding in his hand a wreath of stars,
to show the double conception, that they both obey and adorn him.—Thomas Le
Blanc.
Verses
3-4. Let the sun, the fount of light, and warmth, and gladness, the
greater light which rules the day, the visible emblem of the Uncreated Wisdom,
the Light which lighteth every man, the centre round whom all our hopes and
fears, our wants and prayers, our faith and love, are ever moving,—let the
moon, the lesser light which rules the night, the type of the Church, which
giveth to the world the light she gains from the Sun of Righteousness,—let the
stars, so vast in their number, so lovely in their arrangement and their
brightness, which God hath appointed in the heavens, even as he hath appointed
his elect to shine for ever and ever,—let all the heavens with all their
wonders and their worlds, the depths of space above, and the waters which are
above the firmament, the images of God's Holy Scripture and of the glories and
the mysteries contained therein,—let these ever praise him who made and blessed
them in the beginning of the creation.—J.W. Burgon.
Verses
3-4.
Praise
him, thou golden tressed sun;
Praise him thou fair and silver moon,
And ye bright orbs of streaming light;
Ye floods that float above the skies,
Ye heav'ns, that vault o'er vault arise,
Praise him, who sits above all height.
—Richard Mant.
Verse
4. Paise him, ye heavens of heavens, etc. From the heavenly
inhabitants the poetic strain passes in transition to the heavens
themselves. There are orders of heavens, ranks and heights supreme, and stages
and degrees of lower altitude. This verse sublimely traverses the immensities
which are the home of the most exalted dignities who wait on Deity, and then it
descends to the firmament where the meteors flash forth, and where the heavens
stoop to lift the clouds that aspire from earth. And the idea sustained is that
all these vast realms, higher and lower, are one temple of unceasing praise.—Herman
Venema.
Verse
4. The ancients thought there was an ethereal and lofty ocean in
which the worlds floated like ships in a sea.—Thomas Le Blanc.
Verses
5-6. This is the account of creation in a word—He spake; it was done.
When Jesus came, he went everywhere showing his Divinity by this evidence, that
his word was omnipotent. These verses declare two miracles of God's Will and
Word, viz., the creation and consolidation of the earth. Jehovah first produced
matter, then he ordered and established it.—John Lorinus.
Verse
6. He hath also stablished there for ever and ever, etc. Here
two things are set before us, the permanence and the cosmic order of creation.
Each created thing is not only formed to endure, in the type or the
development, if not in the individual, but has its place in the universe fixed
by God's decree, that it may fulfil its appointed share of working out his
will. They raise a question as to the words "for ever and ever",
how they can be reconciled with the prophecy, Isa 65:17: "Behold, I create
new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come
into mind"; a prophecy confirmed by the Lord himself, saying, "Heaven
and earth shall pass away", and seen fulfilled in vision by the beloved
disciple. Mt 5:18 Re 21:1. And they answer that just as man dies and rises
again to incorruption, having the same personality in a glorified body, so will
it be with heaven and earth. Their qualities will be changed, not their
identity, in that new birth of all things.—Neale and Littledale.
Verse
6. For ever and ever.
My
heart is awed within me, when I think
Of the great miracle which still goes on,
In silence, round me—the perpetual work
Of thy creation, finished, yet renewed,
For ever.—William Cullen Bryant, 1794-1878.
Verse
6. He hath made a decree, etc. Rather, He hath made an
ordinance, and will not transgress it. This is more obvious and natural
than to supply a new subject to the second verb, "and none of them
transgress it." This anticipates, but only in form, the modern scientific
doctrine of the inviolability of natural order. It is the imperishable
faithfulness of God that renders the law invariable.—A.S. Aglen.
Verse
7. Dragons. The word tanninim, rendered "dragons",
is a word which may denote whales, sharks, serpents, or sea monsters of any
kind (Job 7:1 Eze 29:3).—John Morison.
Verse
7. Sea monsters, in Revised Version. Fishes constrain our
admiration, as a created wonder, by the perfection of their form, their
magnitude, their adaptation to the element they inhabit, and their multitude.
Thus their very nature praises the Creator.—Thomas Le Blanc.
Verses
7-8. He calls to the deeps, dire, hail, snow, mountains, and hills,
to bear a part in this work of praise. Not that they are able to do it
actively, but to show that man is to call in the whole creation to assist him
passively, and should have so much charity to all creatures as to receive what
they offer, and so much affection to God as to present to him what he receives
from him. Snow and hail cannot bless and praise God, but man
ought to bless God for those things, wherein there is a mixture of trouble and
inconvenience, something to molest our sense, as well as something that
improves the earth for fruit.—Stephen Charnock.
Verses
7-10. Here be many things easy to be understood, they are clear to
every eye; as when David doth exhort "kings" and "princes",
"old men" and "babes" to praise God; that is easy to be
done, and we know the meaning as soon as we look on it; but here are some things
again that are hard to be understood, dark and obscure, and they are two:
First,
in that David doth exhort dumb, unreasonable, and senseless creatures to
praise God, such as cannot hear, at least cannot understand. Doth the Holy
Ghost in the gospel bid us avoid impertinent speeches, and vain repetitions,
and shall we think he will use them himself? No, no. But,
Secondly,
not only doth he call upon these creatures, but also he calls upon the deeps
and the seas to praise God; these two things are hard to be conceived.
But to give you some reasons.
The
first reason may be this, why David calls upon the unreasonable creatures to
perform this duty,—He doth his duty like a faithful preacher, whether
they will hear or no that he preaches to, yet he will discharge his soul: a
true preacher, he speaks forth the truth, and calls upon them to hear, though
his auditors sleep, are careless, and regard it not. So likewise doth David, in
this sense, with these creatures; he doth his duty, and calls upon them to do
it, though they understand not, though they comprehend it not. And likewise he
doth it to show his vehement desire for all creatures to praise God.
The
second reason may be this: he doth it craftily, by way of policy, to
incite others to perform this duty, that if such creatures as they ought to do
this, then those that are above them in degree have more cause, and may be
ashamed to neglect it; as an ill governed master, though he stay himself at
home, yet he will send his servants to church: so David, being conscious of his
own neglect, yet he calls upon others not to be slack and negligent: though he
came infinitely short of that he should do, yet he shows his own desire for all
creatures to perform this duty.
But
if these reasons will not satisfy you, though they have done many others, a
third reason may be this: to set forth the sweet harmony that is among all
God's creatures; to show how that all the creatures being God's family, do
with one consent speak and preach aloud God's praise; and therefore he calls
upon some above him, some below him, on both sides, everywhere, to speak God's
praise; for every one in their place, degree, and calling, show forth, though
it be in a dumb sense and way, their Creator's praise.
Or,
fourthly and lastly, which I think to be a good reason: zeal makes men speak
and utter things impossible; the fire of zeal will so transport him that it
will make him speak things unreasonable, impossible, as Moses in his zeal
desired God, for the safety of Israel, "to blot his name out of his
book"; and Paul wished himself "anathema", accursed or separate
from Christ, for his brethren's salvation, which was a thing impossible, it
could not be.—John Everard, in "Some Gospel Treasures," 1653.
Verses
7-10. The ox and the ass acknowledge their master. The winds and the
sea obey him. It should seem that as there is a religion above man, the
religion of angels, so there may be a religion beneath man, the religion of
dumb creatures. For wheresoever there is a service of God, in effect it is a
religion. Thus according to the several degrees and difference of states—the
state of nature, grace, and glory—religion may likewise admit of degrees.—G.G.,
in a sermon entitled "The Creatures Praysing God," 1662.
Verse
8. This verse arrays in striking order three elements that are ever
full of movement and power—ignea, aquea, aërea; fire (or caloric), water
(or vapour), and air (or wind). The first includes meteors, lightnings and
thunders; the second, snow, hoar frost, dew, mist and rain; the third, breezes,
tempests and hurricanes.—Hermann Venema.
Verse
8. Fire and hail. These are contrasted with one another. Snow
and mist. The mist is the vapour raised by the heat of the sun, and
therefore suitably contrasted with the snow, which is the effect of cold. "Stormy
wind" (Ps 107:25), which accompanies the changes of temperature in the
air.—James G. Murphy.
Verse
8. Snow. As sure as every falling flake of winter's snow has
a part in the great economy of nature, so surely has every Word of God which
falls within the sanctuary its end to accomplish in the moral sphere. I have
stood on a winter day and seen the tiny flakes in little clouds lose themselves
one by one in the rushing river. They seemed to die to no purpose—to be
swallowed up by an enemy which ignored both their power and their existence. And
so have I seen the Word of God fall upon human hearts. Sent of God, from day to
day and from year to year, I have seen it dropping apparently all lack of
results into the fierce current of unbelief—into the fiercer gulf stream of
worldliness which was sweeping through the minds and the lives of the hearers.
But as I stood upon the river's bank and looked upon what seemed to be the
death of the little fluttering crystal, a second thought assured me that it was
but death into life, and that every tiny flake which wept its live away in the
rushing waters, became incorporate with the river's being. So when I have seen
the Word of God fall apparently fruitless upon the restless, seething, rushing
current of human life, a recovered faith in the immutable declaration of God
has assured me that what I looked upon was not a chance or idle death, but
rather the falling of the soldier, after that he had wrought his life force
into the destiny of a nation and into the history of a world. And so it must
ever be. The Word of God ever reaches unto its end.—S.S. Mitchell, in a
Sermon entitled "The Coming of the Snow and the Coming of the Word,"
1884.
Verse
8. The stormy wind is the swift messenger of God, Ps 147:15.
The hurricane fulfils the divine command. See Mt 8:27. "Even the winds and
the sea obey him." The "wind" is the minister of
judgment. See Eze 13:13. The words of this verse have special use; for men are
exceedingly apt to ascribe the violence of tempests to blind chance.—Martin
Geier.
Verse
8. The half learned man is apt to laugh at the simple faith of the
clown or savage, who tells us that rain comes from God. The former, it seems,
has discovered that it is the product of certain laws of air, water, and
electricity. But truly the peasant is the more enlightened of the two, for he
has discovered the main cause, and the real Actor, while the other has found
only the second cause, and the mere instrument. It is as if a friend were to
send us a gift of ingenious and beautiful workmanship, and just as our
gratitude was beginning to rise to the donor, some bystanders were to endeavour
to damp it all, by telling us that the gift is the product of certain machinery
he had seen.—James MacCosh, 1811.
Verse
9. Mountains and all hills, etc. The diversifying of the face
of the earth with higher and lower parts, with mountains, hills, and valleys,
and the adorning of the face thereof with trees of varied sorts, contributes
much to the praise of God.—David Dickson.
Verse
9. Mountains and all hills. What voices have the hills! How
solemn the sounds of the mountains from their sublime solitudes! The mountains
thunder, and the hills reecho; but they speak peace and send down plenty to the
vales in running rivulets.—Thomas Le Blanc.
Verse
9. Fruitful trees and all cedars. The praise of God is in the
rustling voices of the trees. They fulfil his purpose in giving fruit to
refresh, and shelter and shadow for a covert, and their murmur is the soft
cadence that chants mercy and grace. In India, the ancients reported that the
trees were worshipped as divine, and death was a penalty awarded to those who
cut them down. In classic mythology the groves were the homes of gods. Jehovah
decreed that an ark of safety for man, and also a temple for himself, should be
constructed of wood. Thus more than any other created things, the trees of the
wood have redounded to his glory.—Le Blanc.
Verse
9. Fruitful trees. Rather fruit trees; the fruit
bearing tree being representative of one division of the vegetable world,
planted and reared by man; the "cedars" of the other, which are (Ps
104:16) of God's own plantation. So in Ps 148:10 we have wild animals
and domesticated animals.—A.S. Aglen.
Verse
9. Trees.
All
creatures of the eternal God but man,
In several sorts do glorify his name;
Each tree doth seem ten thousand tongues to have,
With them to laud the Lord omnipotent;
Each leaf that with wind's gentle breath doth wave,
Seems as a tongue to speak to that intent,
In language admirably excellent.
The
sundry sorts of fragrant flowers do seem
Sundry discourses God to glorify,
And sweetest volumes may we them esteem;
For all these creatures in their several sort
Praise God, and man unto the same exhort.
—Peter Pett, 1599.
Verse
9. All cedars. Beautiful indeed is the pine forest in all
seasons: in the freshness of spring, when the gnarled boughs are penetrated and
mollified by the soft wind and the warm sun, and, thrilled with new life, burst
out into fringes and tassels of the richest green, and cones of the most tender
purple; beautiful in the sultry summer, when among its cool, dim shadows the
heated hours all day sing vespers, while the open landscape is palpitating in
the scorching heat; beautiful in the sadness of autumn, when its unfading
verdure stands out in striking relief amid changing scenes, that have no
sympathy with anything earthly save sorrow and decay, and directs the thoughts
to the imperishableness of the heavenly Paradise; beautiful exceedingly in the
depth of winter, when the tiers of branches are covered with pure, unsullied
wreaths of snow, sculptured by the wind into curves of exquisite grace. It is
beautiful in calm, when the tree tops scarce whisper to each other, and the
twitter of the golden wren sounds loud in the expectant hush; it is more than
beautiful in storm, when the wild fingers of the wind play the most mournful
music on its great harp strings, and its full diapason is sublime as the roar
of the ocean on a rock bound shore. I do not wonder that the northern
imagination in heathen times should have invested it with awe and fear as the
favourite haunt of Odin and Thor; or that, in after times, its long rows of
trunks, vanishing in the dim perspective, should have furnished designs for the
aisles of Christian temples, and the sunset, burning among its fretted
branches, should have suggested the gorgeous painted window of the cathedral.
It looks like a place made for worship, all its sentiments and associations
seem of a sacred and solemn character. Nature, with folded hands, as Longfellow
says, seems kneeling there in prayer. It certainly reminds us in various ways
of the power, wisdom, and goodness of him who thus spake by the mouth of his
prophet: "I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the fir tree, and the
pine, and the box tree together: that they may see, and know, and consider, and
understand together, that the hand of the Lord hath done this, and the Holy One
of Israel hath created it."—Hugh Macmillan, in "Bible Teachings in
Nature," 1867.
Verse
10. Creeping things. In public worship all should join. The
little strings go to make up a concert, as well as the great.—Thomas
Goodwin.
Verse
10. Flying fowl. Thus the air is vocal. It has a hallelujah of
its own. The "flying fowl" praise him; whether it be "the
stork that knoweth her appointed time" (Jer 8:7), or "the sparrow
alone upon the housetop" (Ps 102:7), or "the raven of the
valley" (Pr 30:17), or the eagle "stirring up her nest, and
fluttering over her young" (De 32:11), or the turtle making its voice to
be heard in the land (So 2:12), or the dove winging its way to the wilderness
(Ps 105:6). This is creation's harp (truer and sweeter than Memnon's) which
each sunrise awakens, "turning all the air to music."—Horatius
Bonar, in "Earth's Morning; or, Thoughts on Genesis," 1875.
Verse
11. Kings of the earth, and all people; princes. As kings and
princes are blinded by the dazzling influence of their station, so as to think
the world was made for them, and to despise God in the pride of their hearts,
he particularly calls them to this duty; and, by mentioning them first, he
reproves their ingratitude in withholding their tribute of praise when they are
under greater obligations than others. As all men originally stand upon a level
as to condition, the higher persons have risen, and the nearer they have been
brought to God, the more sacredly are they bound to proclaim his goodness. The
more intolerable is the wickedness of kings and princes who claim exemption
from the common rule, when they ought rather to inculcate it upon others, and
lead the way. He could have addressed his exhortation at once summarily to all
men, as indeed he mentions people in general terms; but by thrice
specifying princes he suggests that they are slow to discharge the duty,
and need to be urged to it.—John Calvin.
Verse
11. "Kings of the earth"; "judges of the
earth"; these are not proud but humiliating titles; for earthly
kings and earthly judges will not be kings and judges long.
Verse
12. Both young men, and maidens; old men, and children. The
parties are mentioned by couples, being tied two and two together. "Young
men and maidens; old men and children." And here is a double caveat;
first, against presumption; and secondly, against despair. First, that the
younger sort might desire to praise God, they are exhorted to address
themselves to the service of God, to remember their Creator in the days of
their youth. Secondly, for aged men, that they might not doubt of the
acceptation of their service, our Prophet exhorts them also. For the first, you
know, David calls upon the sun and the moon to praise God. Should the sun
reply, I will not do it in the morning, or at noon time, but when I am about to
set? or the moon reply, I will not in the full, but in the wane? or the tree,
not in the spring time, or in the summer, but at the fall of the leaf? So
likewise, thou young man, defer not the time of praising God: take the swing of
thy youth, and do not defer to apply thyself to the service of God till thy old
age; but remember that for all these things thou shalt come to judgment. He
that styles himself by the title I AM, cares not for I will be, or I
have been, but he that is at this present: take heed, therefore, thou strong
and lusty young man: the Devil that holds thee now will every day tie a new
cord about thee. Consider this, you that are yet young, whom the morning sun of
light adorns with his glorious rays: everyone doth not live to be old. Let us
not procrastinate in God's service; for the longer we defer to serve God, the
farther God's grace is distant from us, and the dominion of Satan is more
strengthened in our hearts; the more we delay, the more is our debt, the
greater our sin, and the less our grace. I will commend this lesson unto all.
He that doth not repent today hath a day more to repent of, and a day less to
repent in. I shall conclude with a hearty exhortation for us all, of what sex,
age, and degree soever; I could wish that all our lives might end like this
book of Psalms, in blessing and praising Almighty God.—Thomas Cheshire, in
"A Sermon preached, in Saint Paule's Church," 1641.
Verse
12. Old men. Think not, ye who are now near the end of life, that your tongues
may without blame be silent in the praises of the Lord, because you are come to
those years in which men say, they "have no pleasure in them." Were
you not frequently praising God when you were children and young men? Have you
less, or have you not greater, reason now to praise God than in those early
days of life? Old men ought to be better qualified than young persons to show
forth the glory both of the perfections and works of God, because they have
enjoyed more time, and more abundant opportunities than their juniors, for
attaining the knowledge of God, and of those glorious perfections and works
which furnish us with endless materials for praise. "Days should speak, and
the multitude of years should teach wisdom." The heavens are constantly
declaring "the glory of God, and the firmament showeth forth his handy
work. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth
knowledge." Have you, then, lived twenty thousand days and twenty thousand
nights? What deep impressions ought to be made upon your spirits, of those
wonders which have been preached in your ears or eyes, ever since you could use
your bodily senses as ministers to your intellectual powers! All the works of
God praise him, by showing forth how wonderful in power, and goodness, and
wisdom, the Creator is. Your tongues are indeed inexcusable, if they are silent
in the praises of him whose glory is proclaimed by every object above or around
them, and even by every member of their own bodies, and every faculty of their
souls. But old men are doubly inexcusable, if they are inattentive to those
precious instructions which are given them by all the works of God which they
have seen, or of which they have been informed, every day since the powers of
their rational natures began to operate.
But
old men in this highly favoured land have been blessed with more excellent
instructions than those which are given them by the mountains and fruitful
valleys, by the dragons of the desert or the deep, or by the fowls of heaven,
and the beasts of the earth, or by the sun and stars of heaven. For many more
years than young men or maidens you have been learners, or you are very
blamable if you have not been at the school of Christ. You were early taught to
read the Word of God. In the course of fifty or sixty years, you have probably
heard six thousand religious discourses from the ministers of Christ, not to
mention other excellent means you have enjoyed for increasing in the knowledge
of God. "For the time", says Paul to the Hebrew Christians, "ye
might have been teachers." May I not say the same to all aged Christians,
who have had the Bible in their possession, and have enjoyed opportunities of
frequenting the holy assemblies from their earliest days? May it not be
expected that your hearts and your mouths will be filled with the praises of
God, not only as your Maker, but as your Redeemer? But there are many things
more especially relating to themselves, which should induce the aged to abound
in this duty of praise to God. Consider how long you have lived. Is not every
day of life, and even every hour, and every moment, an undeserved mercy? You
might have been cut off from the breast and the womb, for you were conceived in
iniquity and born in sin. How many of your race have been cut off before they
could distinguish between their right hand and their left, before they could do
good or evil! Since you were moral agents, not a day has passed in which you
were not chargeable with many sins. What riches of long suffering is manifested
in a life of sixty or seventy years! If you have lived in a state of sin all
that time, have you not reason to be astonished, that you are not already in a
condition which would for ever render it impossible for you to utter the voice
of praise? Give glory, therefore, to that God who has still preserved you
alive.
Consider
with what mercies your days have been filled up. God's mercies have been new to
you every morning, although every day you have sinned against him. Reflections
on your own conduct through life will suggest to you many reasons for praise
and thanksgiving. But on this part of the subject it is proper to put you in
mind of the two great classes into which men are divided: saints and sinners.
If you belong to the former class, who is it that has made you to differ from
others? Give thanks to him who delivered you from the power of darkness and
translated you into the kingdom of his dear Son. Have you been enabled to do
some good works in the course of your lives? For every one of them bless God,
who wrought "in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure."
Have any of your endeavours been successful to bring about the reformation of
any of your fellow men, or to promote their spiritual welfare? What sufficient
thanks can you render to God for making you the humble ministers of his grace?
But there are too many of the old who have no reason to think that they have
yet passed from death to life. These, certainly, are very unfit to praise God,
and will not be able to praise him with their hearts, unless that change pass
upon them, without which no man shall ever enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Yet, surely, they have great reason to praise the Lord; and they may see good
reason for it, although they cannot carry their knowledge into practice. You
have, indeed, greater reason to praise God that you are in the land of the
living, than those who are in a better state; because, if you were deprived of
your present life, nothing is left for you but the terrors of eternal death.
Bless God, ye who have lived fifty or sixty years in sin, and have been all
along spared in a world so full of mercy. You are still called by the gospel to
receive that salvation which you have long treated with contempt.—Condensed
from a Sermon by George Lawson (1749-1820), entitled, "The Duty of
the Old to praise God."
Verse
12. Old men and children. It is interesting always to see a
friendship between the old and the young. It is striking to see the aged one
retaining so much of freshness and simplicity as not to repel the sympathies of
boyhood. It is surprising to see the younger one so advanced and thoughtful, as
not to find dull the society of one who has outlived excitability and passion.—Frederick
William Robertson.
Verses
12-13. The Psalms are church songs, and all who belong to the church are
to sing them. Both young men, and maidens; old men, and children; let them
praise the name of the LORD. The ripe believer who can triumph in the
steadfast hope of God's glory, is to lend his voice to swell the song of the
church when she cries to God out of the depths; and the penitent, who is still
sitting in darkness, is not to refrain his voice when the church pours out in
song her sense of God's love. The whole church has fellowship in the Psalms.—William
Binnie, in "The Psalms, their History, Teachings, and Use," 1870.
Verses
12-13. Old men...Let them praise the name of the LORD. It is a
favourite speculation of mine that if spared to sixty we then enter on the
seventh decade of human life, and that this, if possible, should be turned into
the Sabbath of our earthly pilgrimage and spent sabbatically, as if on the
shores of an eternal world, or in the outer courts, as it were, of the temple
that is above, the tabernacle in heaven.—Thomas Chalmers.
Verse
13. Let them praise. Exactly as at the close of the first
great division of the anthem (Ps 148:5), and, in the same way as there, the
reason for the exhortation follows in the next clause. But it is a different
reason. It is no longer because he has given them a decree, bound them as
passive, unconscious creatures by a law which they cannot transgress. (It is
the fearful mystery of the reasonable will that it can transgress the law.) It
is because his name is exalted, so that the eyes of men can see, and the hearts
and tongues of men confess it; it is because he has graciously revealed himself
to, and mightily succoured, the people whom he loves, the nation who are near
to him. If it be said that what was designed to be a Universal Anthem is thus
narrowed at its close, it must be remembered that, however largely the glory of
God was written on the visible creation, it was only to the Jew that any direct
revelation of his character had been made.—J.J. Stewart Perowne.
Verse
13. The name of Jehovah. Jehovah is a name of great power and
efficacy, a name that hath in it five vowels, without which no language can be
expressed; a name that hath in it also three syllables, to signify the Trinity
of Persons, the eternity of God, One in Three, and Three in One; a name of such
dread and reverence amongst the Jews, that they tremble to name it, and
therefore they use the name Adonai (Lord) in all their devotions. And
thus ought every one to stand in awe, and sin not by taking the name of God in
vain; but to sing praises, to honour, to remember, to declare, to exalt, and
bless it; for holy and reverend, only worthy and excellent is his name.—Rayment,
1630.
Verse
14. His people, the praise of all his saints. But among all,
one class in particular is called on to praise him, for they have an additional
motive for so doing, namely, "his people", and "his
saints." As man above all the creatures, so among men his elect or
chosen, who are the objects of his special grace, and, above all, of his
redeeming love. He also exalteth the horn of his people—exalts them, one
and all, from the death of sin to the life of righteousness, and consequent on
this, from the dust of earth to the glory of heaven. "The praise of all
his saints"; and, yet again, among them, of one people in particular—"even
of the children of Israel, a people near unto him." "Near to
him" of old, and yet again to be—yea, nearest of all the peoples of
the earth—when he recalls them from their dispersion, and again places his name
and his throne among them. HALLELUJAH—PRAISE YE THE LORD.—William De Burgh.
Verse
14. A people near unto him. Jesus took our nature, and became
one with us; thus he is "near" unto us; he gives us his Holy
Spirit, brings us into union with himself, and thus we are near to him. This is
our highest honour, an unfailing source of happiness and peace. We are near to
him in point of relation, being his children; near to him in point of affection,
being loved with an everlasting love; we are near to him in point of union,
being members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones; we are near to him
in point of fellowship, walking with him as a man walketh with his
friend; we are near to him in point of attention, being the objects of
his daily, hourly, tender care; we shall soon be near to him in point of locality,
when our mansion is prepared, for we shall depart to be with Christ, which is
far better. We are near to him when poor, and when deeply tried; and if ever
nearer at one time than another, we shall be nearest to him in death. If we are
near unto him, he will sympathize with us in all our sorrows, assist us in all
our trials, protect us in all our dangers, hold intercourse with us in all our
lonely hours, provide for us in all seasons of necessity, and honourably
introduce us to glory. Let us realize this fact daily—we are near and dear to
our God.—James Smith.
HINTS TO THE
VILLAGE PREACHER
Whole
Psalm.
1.
What is implied in the invitation to the natural creation to praise God.
a)
That praise is due to God on its account.
b)
That it is due from those for whose benefit it was created.
c)
That it is a reproof to those who do not praise God who are actually capable of
it. "If these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry
out."
2.
What is implied in the invitation to innocent beings to praise God.
"Praise ye the Lord from the heavens. Praise ye him all his angels, praise
ye him all his hosts": Ps 148:1-2.
a)
That they owe their creation in innocence to God.
b) That they owe their preservation in innocence to him.
c) That they owe the reward of their innocence to him.
3.
What is implied in the invitation to fallen beings to praise God: "Kings
of the earth and all people", etc.: Ps 148:11-13.
a)
That God is merciful and ready to forgive. "Not willing that any should
perish", etc. They would not be called upon to praise God if they were
irrecoverably lost. Our Lord would not when on earth accept praise from an evil
spirit.
b)
That means of restoration from the fall are provided by God for men. Without
this they would have no hope, and could offer no praise.
4.
What is implied in the invitation to the redeemed to praise God: Ps 148:14.
a)
That God is their God.
b)
That all his perfections are engaged for their present and eternal welfare.—G.R.
Verse
1. Praise ye the Lord.
1.
The Voice—of Scripture, of nature, of grace, of duty.
2.
The Ear on which it rightly falls—of saints and sinners, old and young, healthy
and sick. It falls on our ear.
3.
The Time when it is heard. Now, ever, yet also at special times.
4.
The Response which we will give. Let us now praise with heart, life, lip.
Verse
1. (second and third clauses).
1.
The character of the praises of heaven.
2. How far they influence us who are here below.
3. The hope which we have of uniting in them.
Verse
2.
1.
The angels as praiseful servants.
2.
The other hosts of God, and how they praise him.
3.
The rule without exception: "all—all." Imagine one heavenly
being living without praising the Lord!
Verse
3.
1.
God's praise continual both day and night.
2. Light the leading fountain of this praise.
3. Life behind all, calling for the praise.
Verses
5-6. Creation and conservation, two chief reasons for praise.
Verse
7. God's praise from dark, deep, and mysterious things.
Verse
8. Canon Liddon preached in St. Paul's on Sunday afternoon, December
23, 1883, and took for his text Ps 148:8, Wind and storm fulfilling his
word. He spoke of the divine use of destructive forces.
1.
In the physical world we see wind and storm fulfilling God's word.
a)
The Bible occasionally lifts the veil, and shows us how destructive forces of
Nature have been the servants of God.
b)
Modern history illustrates this vividly.
2.
In the human, spiritual, and moral world, we find new and rich application of
the words of the text.
a)
In the State we see the storm of invasion and the storm of revolution
fulfilling God's word.
b)
In the Church we see the storm of persecution and the storm of controversy
fulfilling God's word.
c)
In the experience of individual life we see outward troubles, and inward storms
of religious doubts fulfilling God's word.—The Contemporary Pulpit,
1884.
Verse
9. Trees. The glory of God as seen in trees.
Verse
10. The wildest, the quietest, the most depressed, and the most
aspiring should each have its song.
Verses
11-18.
1.
The universal King. Alone in excelling. Supreme in glory.
2.
The universal summons. Of all nations, ranks, classes and ages. Foreshadowing
the Judgment.
3.
The universal duty: praise,—constant, emphatic, growing.—W.B.H.
Verse
12. God to be served by strength and beauty, experience and
expectation.
Verse
12. And children. A Children's Address.
1.
Where the children are found (Ps 148:11-12). In royal and distinguished
society: yet not lost or overlooked.
2.
What they are called to. "Praise the Lord." Even they have abundant
reason.
3.
What are the lessons of the subject?
a)
Children should come up with their parents on the Sabbath.
b) Children should unite in heart and voice in God's praises.
c) Children should seek fitness for this praise by believing in Christ.—W.B.H.
Verse
14. The Favoured People and their God.
1.
What he does for them.
2. What he makes them: "Saints."
3. Who they are: "Children of Israel."
4. Where they are: "Near unto him."
5. What they do for him: "Praise ye the Lord."
── C.H. Spurgeon《The Treasury of David》