Psalms 92 commentary

It is a privilege that we are admitted to praise the Lord, and hope to be accepted in the morning, and every night; not only on sabbath days, but every day; not only in public, but in private, and in our families. Let us give thanks every morning for the mercies of the night, and every night for the mercies of the day; going out, and coming in, let us bless God. As He makes us glad, through the works of his providence for us, and of his grace in us, and both through the great work of redemption, let us hence be encouraged. As there are many who know not the designs of Providence, nor care to know them, those who through grace do so, have the more reason to be thankful. And if distant views of the great Deliverer so animated believers of old, how should we abound in love and praise!

God sometimes grants prosperity to wicked men in displeasure; yet they flourish but for a moment. Let us seek for ourselves the salvation and grace of the gospel, that being daily anointed by the Holy Spirit, we may behold and share the Redeemer's glory. It is from his grace, by his word and Spirit, that believers receive all the virtue that keeps them alive, and makes them fruitful. Other trees, when old, leave off bearing, but in God's trees the strength of grace does not fail with the strength of nature. The last days of the saints are sometimes their best days, and their last work their best work: perseverance is sure evidence of sincerity. And may every sabbath, while it shows forth the Divine faithfulness, find our souls resting more and more upon the Lord our righteousness.

PSALM 92

This psalm contains an exhortation to praise God, and shows how much ground we have for this exercise from the works of God, insisting, especially, upon his justice, displayed in the protection of his people, and the destruction of the wicked. By such truth it encourages to the practice of righteousness, and preserves us from fainting under the cross of Christ, by proposing to our view a happy issue out of all our afflictions. To deter us, on the other hand, from the commission of iniquity it declares that sinners, however they may prosper for a time, will speedily be destroyed.

A Song for the Sabbath-day.

Psalm 92:1-4

1. It is good to give thanks unto Jehovah, to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High! 2. To show forth thy lovingkindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness in the night, 3. Upon the psaltery, and upon the hand instrument, with the song upon the harp. 4. For thou, Jehovah, hast made me glad in thy works; I will triumph in the works of thy hands.

1 It is good to give thanks unto Jehovah. There is no reason to doubt that the Jews were in the habit of singing this psalm, as the inscription bears, upon the Sabbath-day, and it is apparent, from different passages, that other psalms were applied to this use. As the words may be read literally in the Hebrew, it is good for giving thanks unto the Lord, some interpreters, founding upon the letter ל, lamed, prefixed to the verb, understand the Psalmist to mean that it was good to have a certain day set apart for singing the praises of God — that it was a useful arrangement by which one day had been chosen to be occupied by the Lord’s people in celebrating his works. But it is well known that this letter, when prefixed, is merely the ordinary mark of the infinitive mood — and I have given what is obviously the simple meaning. The reason why the Psalmist appropriated this psalm to the Sabbath is sufficiently obvious. That day is not to be holy, in the sense of being devoted to idleness, as if this could be an acceptable worship to God, but in the sense of our separating ourselves from all other occupations, to engage in meditating upon the Divine works. As our minds are inconstant, we are apt, when exposed to various distractions, to wander from God. “Car selon que nos pensees sont volages, si elles sont distraittes ca et la, elles s’alienent facilement de Dieu.” We need to be disentangled from all cares if we would seriously apply ourselves to the praises of God. The Psalmist then would teach us that the right observance of the Sabbath does not consist in idleness, as some absurdly imagine, but in the celebration of the Divine name. The argument which he adduces is drawn from the profitableness of the service, for nothing is more encouraging than to know that our labor is not in vain, and that what we engage in meets with the Divine approbation. In the succeeding verse, he adverts to the grounds which we have for praising God, that we may not imagine that God calls upon us to engage in this service without reason, or simply in consideration of his greatness and power, but in remembrance of his goodness and faithfulness, which should inflame our hearts to such exercise, if we had any proper sense and experience of them. He would have us consider, in mentioning these, that not only is God worthy of praise, but that we ourselves are chargeable with ingratitude and perversity should we refuse it. We are the proper objects of his faithfulness and goodness, and it would argue inexcusable indifference if they did not elicit our cordial praises. It might seem a strange distinction which the Psalmist observes when he speaks of our announcing God’s goodness in the morning, and his faithfulness at night. His goodness is constant, and not peculiar to any one season, why then devote but a small part of the day to the celebration of it? And the same may be said of the other Divine perfection mentioned, for it is not merely in the night that his faithfulness is shown. But this is not what the Psalmist intends. He means that beginning to praise the Lord from earliest dawn, we should continue his praises to the latest hour of the night, this being no more than his goodness and faithfulness deserve. “Que si nous commencons au matin de louer Dieu, il faut continuer ses louanges jusques a la derniere partie de la nuit; pource que sa bonte et fidelite meritent cela.” — Fr. If we begin by celebrating his goodness, we must next take up the subject of his faithfulness. Both will occupy our continued praises, for they stand mutually and inseparably connected. The Psalmist is not therefore to be supposed as wishing us to separate the one from the other, for they are intimately allied; he would only suggest that we can never want matter for praising God unless indolence prevail over us, and that if we would rightly discharge the office of gratitude, we must be assiduous in it, since his goodness and his faithfulness are incessant.

In the fourth verse, he more immediately addresses the Levites, who were appointed to the office of singers, and calls upon them to employ their instruments of music — not as if this were in itself necessary, only it was useful as an elementary aid to the people of God in these ancient times. “Mais pource que c’estoit un rudiment fort utile au peuple ancien.” — Fr. We are not to conceive that God enjoined the harp as feeling a delight like ourselves in mere melody of sounds; but the Jews, who were yet under age, were astricted to the use of such childish elements. The intention of them was to stimulate the worshippers, and stir them up more actively to the celebration of the praise of God with the heart. We are to remember that the worship of God was never understood to consist in such outward services, which were only necessary to help forward a people, as yet weak and rude in knowledge, in the spiritual worship of God. A difference is to be observed in this respect between his people under the Old and under the New Testament; for now that Christ has appeared, and the Church has reached full age, it were only to bury the light of the Gospel, should we introduce the shadows of a departed dispensation. From this, it appears that the Papists, as I shall have occasion to show elsewhere, in employing instrumental music, cannot be said so much to imitate the practice of God’s ancient people, as to ape it in a senseless and absurd manner, exhibiting a silly delight in that worship of the Old Testament which was figurative, and terminated with the Gospel. But although Calvin held the use of instrumental music in public worship to be inconsistent with the genius of the Christian dispensation, he regarded the celebration of the praises of God with the melody of the human voice as an institution of great solemnity and usefulness. He knew that psalm-singing is sanctioned by the apostles, and that music has a powerful influence in exciting the mind to ardor of devotion; and to him belongs the merit of having, with the advice of Luther, formed the plan of establishing, as a principal branch of public worship in the Reformed Churches, the singing of psalms, translated into the vernacular language, and adapted to plain and easy melodies, which all the people might learn, and in which they all might join. Immediately upon the publication of Clement Marot’s version of David’s Psalms into French rhymes at Paris, he introduced it into his congregation at Geneva, set to plain and popular music; and it soon came into universal use throughout the numerous congregations of the Reformed Church of France. At length Marot’s Psalms formed an appendix to the Catechism at Geneva, and became a characteristic mark or badge of the Calvinistic worship and profession. Marot’s translation, which did not aim at any innovation in the public worship, and which he dedicated to his master Francis I., and the ladies of France, received at first the sanction of the Sorbonne, as containing nothing contrary to sound doctrine. But Calvin knew the character of the book better than the doctors of the Sorbonne, and having, by his influence, obtained its introduction into the worship of the Protestant Church of France, it contributed so much, in consequence of its extraordinary popularity, to the advancement of the Reformed cause in that country, that it was interdicted under the most severe penalties; and, in the language of the Romish Church, psalm-singing and heresy became synonymous terms. — Warton’s History of English Poetry, volume 3, pages 164, 165.

PSALM 92

Psa 92:1-15. A Psalm-song--(see on Psa 30:1, title). The theme: God should be praised for His righteous judgments on the wicked and His care and defense of His people. Such a topic, at all times proper, is specially so for the reflections of the Sabbath day.

1. sing ... name--celebrate Thy perfections.

2. in the morning, ... every night--diligently and constantly (Psa 42:8).

loving kindness--literally, "mercy."

faithfulness--in fulfilling promises (Psa 89:14).

3. In such a work all proper aid must be used.

with a ... sound--or, on Higgaion (see on Psa 9:16), perhaps an instrument of that name, from its sound resembling the muttered sound of meditation, as expressed also by the word. This is joined with the harp.

4. thy work--that is, of providence (Psa 90:16, 17).

5. great ... works--correspond to deep or vast thoughts (Psa 40:5; Ro 11:23).

6. A brutish man knoweth not--that is, God's works, so the Psalmist describes himself (Psa 73:22) when amazed by the prosperity of the wicked, now understood and explained.

8. This he does in part, by contrasting their ruin with God's exaltation and eternity.

most high--as occupying the highest place in heaven (Psa 7:7; 18:16).

9-10. A further contrast with the wicked, in the lot of the righteous, safety and triumph.

11. see ... [and] ... hear my desire--or, literally, "look on" my enemies and hear of the wicked (compare Psa 27:11; 54:7)--that is, I shall be gratified by their fall.

12-14. The vigorous growth, longevity, utility, fragrance, and beauty of these noble trees, set forth the life, character, and destiny of the pious;

15. and they thus declare God's glory as their strong and righteous ruler.

It is a good thing to give thanks - This Psalm begins very abruptly. Good to confess unto the Lord. He had been acknowledging God's goodness, and praising him for his mercy; and now he breaks out and tells how good he felt this employment to be.

To show forth thy loving-kindness - חסדך chasdecha, thy abundant mercy, in the morning - that has preserved me throughout the night, and brought me to the beginning of a new day: and thy faithfulness in the night, that has so amply fulfilled the promise of preservation during the course of the day. This verse contains a general plan for morning and evening prayer.

Upon an instrument of ten strings - Eusebius, in his comment on this Psalm, says: Ψαλτηριον δε δεκαχορδον, ἡ του Ἁγιου Πνευματος δια των αισθητηριων πεντε μεν του σωματος, ισαριθμων δε της ψυχης δυναμεων, επιτελουμενη λατρεια· "The Psaltery of ten strings is the worship of the Holy Spirit, performed by means of the five senses of the body, and by the five powers of the soul." And, to confirm this interpretation, he quotes the apostle, 1Cor 14:15 : "I will pray with the spirit, and with the understanding also; I will sing with the spirit, and with the understanding also." "As the mind has its influence by which it moves the body, so the spirit has its own influence by which it moves the soul." Whatever may be thought of this gloss, one thing is pretty evident from it, that instrumental music was not in use in the Church of Christ in the time of Eusebius. which was near the middle of the fourth century. Had any such thing then existed in the Christian Church, he would have doubtless alluded to or spiritualized it; or, as he quoted the words of the apostle above, would have shown that carnal usages were substituted for spiritual exercises. I believe the whole verse should be translated thus: Upon the asur, upon the nebel, upon the higgayon, with the kinnor. Thus it stands in the Hebrew.

For thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy work - I am delighted with thy conduct towards me; with the work of thy providence, the works of thy grace, and thy works of creation.

Hour great are thy works! - They are multitudinous, stupendous, and splendid: and thy thoughts - thy designs and counsels, from which, by which, and in reference to which, they have been formed; are very deep - so profound as not to be fathomed by the comprehension of man.

A brutish man knoweth not - איש בער ish baar, the human hog - the stupid bear - the boor; the man who is all flesh; in whom spirit or intellect neither seems to work nor exist. The brutish man, who never attempts to see God in his works.

Neither doth a fool understand this - כסיל kesil, the fool, is different from בער baar, the brutish man; the latter has mind, but it is buried in flesh; the former has no mind, and his stupidity is unavoidable.

When the wicked spring as the grass - This is a lesson which is frequently inculcated in the sacred writings. The favor of God towards man is not to be known by outward prosperity; nor is his disapprobation to be known by the adverse circumstances in which any person may be found. When, however, we see the wicked flourish, we may take for granted that their abuse of God's mercies will cause him to cut them off as cumberers of the ground; and, dying in their sins, they are destroyed for ever.

High for evermore - They are brought down and destroyed; but the Lord is exalted eternally, both for his judgments and his mercies.

Like the horn of a unicorn - ראים reeym, perhaps here, the oryx or buffalo. But the rhinoceros seems to be the real monoceros of the Scriptures.

I shall be anointed unth fresh oil - Perhaps the allusion is here not to any sacramental anointing, but to such anointings as were frequent among the Asiatics, especially after bathing, for the purpose of health and activity.

Mine eye also shall see, - and mine ears shall hear - Even in my own times my enemies shall be destroyed; and of this destruction I shall either be an eye-witness or have authentic information.

The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree - Very different from the wicked, Psa 92:7, who are likened to grass. These shall have a short duration; but those shall have a long and useful life. They are compared also to the cedar of Lebanon, an incorruptible wood, and extremely long-lived. Mr. Maundrell, who visited those trees in 1697, describes them thus: "These noble trees grow among the snow, near the highest part of Lebanon. Some are very old, and of prodigious bulk. I measured one of the largest, and found it twelve yards six inches in girt, and yet sound; and thirty-seven yards in the spread of its boughs. At about five or six yards from the ground, it was divided into live limbs, each of which was equal to a large tree." Some of these trees are supposed to have lived upwards of one thousand years! The figure of the palm-tree gives us the idea of grandeur and usefulness. The fruit of the palm-tree makes a great part of the diet of the people of Arabia, part of Persia, and Upper Egypt. The stones are ground down for the camels; the leaves are made into baskets; the hard boughs, or rather strong leaves, some being six or eight feet in length, make fences; the juice makes arrack, the threads of the web-like integument between the leaves make ropes, and the rigging of small vessels; and the wood serves for slighter buildings and fire-wood. In short, the palm or date tree, and the olive, are two of the most excellent and useful productions of the forest or the field.

The cedar gives us the idea of majesty, stability. durableness, and incorruptibility. To these two trees, for the most obvious reasons, are the righteous compared. William Lithgow, who traveled through the holy land about a.d. 1600, describes the cedars of Mount Lebanon as "being in number twenty-four, growing after the manner of oaks, but a great deal taller straighter, and thicker, and the branches growing so straight, and interlocking, as though they were kept by art: and yet from the root to the top they bear no boughs, but grow straight and upwards like to a palm-tree. Their circle-spread tops do kiss or embrace the lower clouds, making their grandeur overlook the highest bodies of all other aspiring trees. The nature of this tree is, that it is always green, yielding an odoriferous smell, and an excellent kind of fruit, like unto apples, but of a sweeter taste, and more wholesome. The roots of some of these cedars are almost destroyed by the shepherds, who have made fires thereat, and holes where they sleep; yet nevertheless they flourish green above, in the tops and branches." - Lithgow's 17 years' Travels, 4th., London, 1640.

Those that be planted in the house of the Lord - I believe the Chaldee has the true meaning here: "His children shall be planted in the house of the sanctuary of the Lord, and shall flourish in the courts of our God." As these trees flourish in their respective soils and climates, so shall the righteous in the ordinances of God. I do not think there is any allusion to either palm-trees or cedars, planted near the tabernacle or temple.

They shall still bring forth fruit in old age - They shall continue to grow in grace, and be fruitful to the end of their lives. It is a rare case to find a man in old age full of faith, love, and spiritual activity.

To show that the Lord is upright - Such persons show how faithful God is to his promises, how true to his word, how kind to them who trust in him. He is the Rock, the Fountain, whence all good comes.

There is no unrighteousness in him - He does nothing evil, nothing unwise, nothing unkind. He is both just and merciful.

Thoughts - Thy counsels in the government of the world and of thy church.

A brutish man - Who is led by sense, not by reason and faith. This - The depth of God's counsels and works.

Anointed - I shall have cause of testifying my joy by anointing myself, as the manner was at all joyful solemnities.

Palm - tree - Which is constantly green and flourishing.

Planted - Whom God by his gracious providence has fixed there. The house - In its courts; he means in the church of God, whereof all good men are living members.

Old age - Their last days shall be their best days, wherein they shall grow in grace, and increase in blessedness.

1 IT is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High.

It is a good work and a just debt to God.

Marginal references: Psal. 147. 1.

2 To shew forth thy loving kindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night .

To adore and celebrate thy goodness and truth continually, and especially at those two solemn times of Morning and Evening, which on every day, and especially upon the Sabbath day, were devoted to the worship and service of God.

Marginal references: Heb. in the nights.

4 For thou, LORD, hast made me glad through thy work: I will triumph in the works of thy hands .

Which thou didst create by thine Almighty power, and dost still govern with infinite wisdom, one instance whereof we have in the following Verses.

5 O LORD, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep.

Thy counsels and methods in the government of the World and of thy Church.

Marginal references: Psal. 40. 5.; Rom. 11. 34.

6 A brutish man knoweth not: neither doth a fool understand this .

Who cannot or doth not seriously consider things, whose mind is corrupted by his sensual and brutish appetites, who is led by sence and not by reason and faith.

The depth of Gods counsels and works mentioned, v. 5. or that particular work of God [illegible: 1+ letters]escribed v. 7.

Marginal references: Psal. 94. 8.

7 When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the the workers of iniquity do flourish: it is that they shall be destroyed for ever .

Their present worldly prosperity is a presage and occasion of their utter and eternal ruine.

Marginal references: Job 12. 6. Jer. 12. 1, 2. Mal. 3. 15.; Heb. herbs. Psal. 104. 14.

8 But thou, LORD, art most High for evermore .

So this Verse is added by way of opposition to the former, They shall perish, but thou shalt endure, as is said in a like comparison Psal. 102. 26. they flourish for a season, but thou rulest for ever to judge and punish them. Or, For (as this Hebrew Particle is not seldom used, whereof instances have been formerly given) thou, Lord, art, &c. So this Verse gives a reason of the former, as well as the first branch of it, why God suffers the wicked to flourish so long, because he is not like man of short and uncertain continuance here, to whom a little time is long and tedious, who therefore impatiently expects the time of vengeance and fears lest the offender should escape it; whereas God is unchangeable and everlasting, and therefore long-suffering without any inconvenience, and the longest time of the prosperity of the wicked is but short and inconsiderable in his Eyes, a thousand years being in his sight but as yesterday when it is past, Psal. 90. 4. and they can never escape out of his hands: as also of the latter branch of the Verse, why the wicked shall be destroyed for ever, because God lives and reigns for ever to execute that just sentence of everlasting punishment which he hath pronounced against them.

9 For lo , thine enemies, O LORD, for lo, thine enemies shall perish: all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered.

He represents their destruction as present, and as certain, which the repetition of the words implies.

10 But my horn shalt thou exalt , like the horn of an unicorn : I shall be anointed with fresh oil .

But as for me, and other righteous persons (of whom he saith the same thing, v. 12.) we shall be advanced to the height of honour and true and lasting felicity.

Of which see on Deut. 33. 17.

I shall have great cause of rejoicing and testifying my joy by anointing my self as the manner was in Feasts and all joyful solemnities.

Sweet and uncorrupted.

11 Mine eye also shall see my desire on mine enemies: and mine ears shall hear my desire of the wicked that rise up against me.

To wit, in the ruine of thine and mine incorrigible Enemies.

What I do not see my self, I shall understand by the certain reports of others.

12 The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree : he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

Which is constantly green and flourishing, and fruitful, Cant. 7. 8. and growing even when it is pressed down; and so is a fit Emblem of a just mans person and condition. See Revel. 7. 9.

Which spreads it self wide and grows very high and strong, and is very durable, and in some sort incorruptible.

Marginal references: Hos. 14. 5.

13 Those that be planted in the house of the LORD , shall flourish in the courts of our God.

Whom God by his gracious providence and holy spirit hath planted or fixed there.

i. e. In its Courts, which are a part of the House and oft come under that name in Scripture. And by this House he means the Church of God, whereof all just persons are real and living members.

Which he mentions rather than the House, because he speaks not here of the Priests, but of all just men, who were permitted to come no further than into the Courts.

14 They shall still bring forth fruit in old age : they shall be fat, and flourishing:

When their natural strength decayeth, it shall be renewed; their last days shall be their best days, wherein as they shall grow in grace, so they shall increase in comfort and blessedness.

Marginal references: Heb. green.

15 To shew that the LORD is upright : he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

This glorious work of God in compensating the short prosperity of the wicked with everlasting punishments, and of exchanging the momentany afflictions of the just with eternal glory and happiness, doth clearly demonstrate that God is just and blameless in all the dispensations of his Providence in the World.

Sabbath Thoughts

This Song-Psalm for the Sabbath-day was the Sabbath-Psalm among the week’s Psalms of the post-exilic service (cf. pp. 18, 211); and was sung in the morning at the drink-offering of the first Tamîd lamb, just as at the accompanying Sabbath-musaph-offering (Num 28:9.) a part of the song Deut. 32 (divided into six parts) was sung, and at the service connected with the Mincha or evening sacrifice one of the three pieces, Exo 15:1-10, Exo 15:11-19, Num 21:17-20 (B. Rosh ha-Shana 31 a). 1 Macc. 9:23 is a reminiscence from Psa 92:1-15 deviating but little from the lxx version, just as 1 Macc. 7:17 is a quotation taken from Ps 89. With respect to the sabbatical character of the Psalm, it is a disputed question even in the Talmud whether it relates to the Sabbath of the Creation (R. Nehemiah, as it is taken by the Targum) or to the final Sabbath of the world’s history (R. Akiba: the day that is altogether Sabbath; cf. Athanasius: αἰνεῖ ἐκείνην τὴν γενησομένην ἀνάπαυσιν). The latter is relatively more correct. It praises God, the Creator of the world, as the Ruler of the world, whose rule is pure loving-kindness and faithfulness, and calms itself, in the face of the flourishing condition of the evil-doers, with the prospect of the final issue, which will brilliantly vindicate the righteousness of God, that was at that time imperceptible to superficial observation, and will change the congregation of the righteous into a flourishing grove of palms and cedars upon holy ground. In this prospect Psa 92:12 and Psa 91:8 coincide, just as God is also called “the Most High” at the beginning of these two Psalms. But that the tetragrammaton occurs seven times in both Psalms, as Hengstenberg says, does not turn out to be correct. Only the Sabbath-Psalm (and not Ps 91) repeats the most sacred Name seven times. And certainly the unmistakeable strophe-schema too, 6. 6. 7. 6. 6, is not without significance. The middle of the Psalm bears the stamp of the sabbatic number. It is also worthy of remark that the poet gains the number seven by means of an anadiplosis in Psa 92:10. Such an emphatic climax by means of repetition is common to our Psalm with Psa 93:3; Psa 94:3; Psa 96:13.

Psa 92:1-3

The Sabbath is the day that God has hallowed, and that is to be consecrated to God by our turning away from the business pursuits of the working days (Isa 58:13.) and applying ourselves to the praise and adoration of God, which is the most proper, blessed Sabbath employment. It is good, i.e., not merely good in the eyes of God, but also good for man, beneficial to the heart, pleasant and blessed. Loving-kindness is designedly connected with the dawn of the morning, for it is morning light itself, which breaks through the night (Psa 30:6; Psa 59:17), and faithfulness with the nights, for in the perils of the loneliness of the night it is the best companion, and nights of affliction are the “foil of its verification.” עשׂור beside נבל (נבל) is equivalent to נבל עשׂור in Psa 33:2; Psa 144:9 : the ten-stringed harp or lyre. הגּיון is the music of stringed instruments (vid., on Psa 9:17), and that, since הגה in itself is not a suitable word for the rustling (strepitus) of the strings, the impromptu or phantasia playing (in Amo 6:5, scornfully, פּרט), which suits both Psa 9:17 (where it is appended to the forte of the interlude) and the construction with Beth instrumenti.

Psa 92:4-6

Statement of the ground of this commendation of the praise of God. Whilst פּעל is the usual word for God’s historical rule (Psa 44:2; Psa 64:10; Psa 90:16, etc.), מעשׂי ידיך denotes the works of the Creator of the world, although not to the exclusion of those of the Ruler of the world (Psa 143:5). To be able to rejoice over the revelation of God in creation and the revelation of God in general is a gift from above, which the poet thankfully confesses that he has received. The Vulgate begins Psa 92:5 Quia delectasti me, and Dante in his Purgatorio, xxviii. 80, accordingly calls the Psalm il Salmo Delectasti; a smiling female form, which represents the life of Paradise, says, as she gathers flowers, she is so happy because, with the Psalm Delectasti, she takes a delight in the glory of God’s works. The works of God are transcendently great; very deep are His thoughts, which mould human history and themselves gain from in it (cf. Psa 40:6; Psa 139:17., where infinite fulness is ascribed to them, and Isa 55:8, where infinite height is ascribed to them). Man can neither measure the greatness of the divine works nor fathom the depth of the divine thoughts; he who is enlightened, however, perceives the immeasurableness of the one and the unfathomableness of the other, whilst a אישׁ־בּער, a man of animal nature, homo brutus (vid., Psa 73:22), does not come to the knowledge (לא ידע, used absolutely as in Psa 14:4), and כּסיל, a blockhead, or one dull in mind, whose carnal nature outweighs his intellectual and spiritual nature, does not discern את־זאת (cf. 2Sa 13:17), id ipsum, viz., how unsearchable are God’s judgments and untrackable His ways (Rom 11:33).

Psa 92:7-9

Upon closer examination the prosperity of the ungodly is only a semblance that lasts for a time. The infinitive construction in Psa 92:8 is continued in the historic tense, and it may also be rendered as historical. זאת היתה (Saadia: Arab. fânnh) is to be supplied in thought before להשּׁמדם, as in Job 27:14. What is spoken of is an historical occurrence which, in its beginning, course, and end, has been frequently repeated even down to the present day, and ever confirmed afresh. And thus, too, in time to come and once finally shall the ungodly succumb to a peremptory, decisive (עדי־עד) judgment of destruction. Jahve is מרום לעלם, by His nature and by His rule He is “a height for ever;” i.e., in relation to the creature and all that goes on here below He has a nature beyond and above all this (Jenseitigkeit), ever the same and absolute; He is absolutely inaccessible to the God-opposed one here below who vaunts himself in stupid pride and rebelliously exalts himself as a titan, and only suffers it to last until the term of his barren blossoming is run out. Thus the present course of history will and must in fact end in a final victory of good over evil: for lo Thine enemies, Jahve - for lo Thine enemies.... הנּה points as it were with the finger to the inevitable end; and the emotional anadiplosis breathes forth a zealous love for the cause of God as if it were his own. God’s enemies shall perish, all the workers of evil shall be disjointed, scattered, יתפּרדוּ (cf. Job 4:11). Now they form a compact mass, which shall however fall to pieces, when one day the intermingling of good and evil has an end.

Psa 92:10-12

The hitherto oppressed church then stands forth vindicated and glorious. The futt. consec. as preterites of the ideal past, pass over further on into the pure expression of future time. The lxx renders: καὶ ὑψωθήσεται (ותּרם) ὡς μονοκέρωτος τὸ κέρας μου. By ראים (incorrect for ראם, primary form ראם), μονόκερως, is surely to be understood the oryx, one-horned according to Aristotle and the Talmud (vid., on Psa 29:6; Job 39:9-12). This animal is called in Talmudic קרשׂ (perhaps abbreviated from μονόκερως); the Talmud also makes use of ארזילא (the gazelle) as synonymous with ראם (Aramaic definitive or emphatic state רימא).Vid., Lewysohn, Zoologie des Talmud, §§146 and 174.

The primary passages for figures taken from animal life are Num 23:22; Deu 33:17. The horn is an emblem of defensive power and at the same time of stately grace; and the fresh, green oil an emblem of the pleasant feeling and enthusiasm, joyous in the prospect of victory, by which the church is then pervaded (Act 3:19). The lxx erroneously takes בּלּותי as infin. Piel, τὸ γῆράς μου, my being grown old, a signification which the Piel cannot have. It is 1st praet. Kal from בּלל, perfusus sum (cf. Arabic balla, to be moist, ballah and bullah, moistness, good health, the freshness of youth), and the ultima-accentuation, which also occurs in this form of double Ajin verbs without Waw convers. (vid., on Job 19:17), ought not to mislead. In the expression שׁמן רענן, the adjective used in other instances only of the olive-tree itself is transferred to the oil, which contains the strength of its succulent verdure as an essence. The ecclesia pressa is then triumphans. The eye, which was wont to look timidly and tearfully upon the persecutors, the ears, upon which even their name and the tidings of their approach were wont to produce terror, now see their desire upon them as they are blotted out. שׁמע בּ (found only here) follows the sense of ראה בּ, cf. Arab. nḍr fı̂, to lose one’s self in the contemplation of anything. שׁוּרי is either a substantive after the form בּוּז, גּוּר, or a participle in the signification “those who regarded me with hostility, those who lay in wait for me,” like נוּס, fled, Num 35:32, סוּר, having removed themselves to a distance, Jer 17:13, שׁוּב, turned back, Mic 2:8; for this participial form has not only a passive signification (like מוּל, circumcised), but sometimes too, a deponent perfect signification; and חוּשׁ in Num 32:17, if it belongs here, may signify hurried = in haste. In שׁוּרי, however, no such passive colouring of the meaning is conceivable; it is therefore: insidiati (Luzatto, Grammatica, §518: coloro che mi guatavano). There is no need for regarding the word, with Böttcher and Olshausen, as distorted from שׁררי (the apocopated participle Pilel of the same verb); one might more readily regard it as a softening of that word as to the sound (Ewald, Hitzig). In Psa 92:12 it is not to be rendered: upon the wicked doers (villains) who rise up against me. The placing of the adjective thus before its substantive must (with the exception of רב when used after the manner of a numeral) be accounted impossible in Hebrew, even in the face of the passages brought forward by Hitzig, viz., 1Ch 27:5; 1Sa 31:3;In the former passage כהן ראשׁ is taken as one notion (chief priest), and in the latter אנשׁים בקשׁת (men with the bow) is, with Keil, to be regarded as an apposition. it is therefore: upon those who as villains rise up against. The circumstance that the poet now in Psa 92:13 passes from himself to speak of the righteous, is brought about by the fact that it is the congregation of the righteous in general, i.e., of those who regulate their life according to the divine order of salvation, into whose future he here takes a glance. When the prosperity lit. the blossoming of the ungodly comes to an end, the springing up and growth of the righteous only then rightly has its beginning. The richness of the inflorescence of date-palm (תּמר) is clear from the fact, that when it has attained its full size, it bears from three to four, and in some instances even as many as six, hundred pounds of fruit. And there is no more charming and majestic sight than the palm of the oasis, this prince among the trees of the plain, with its proudly raised diadem of leaves, its attitude peering forth into the distance and gazing full into the face of the sun, its perennial verdure, and its vital force, which constantly renews itself from the root - a picture of life in the midst of the world of death. The likening of the righteous to the palm, to the “blessed tree,” to this “sister of man,” as the Arabs call it, offers points of comparison in abundance. Side by side with the palm is the cedar, the prince of the trees of the mountain, and in particular of Mount Lebanon. The most natural point of comparison, as ישׂגּה (cf. Job 8:11) states, is its graceful lofty growth, then in general τὸ δασὺ καὶ θερμὸν καὶ θρέψιμον (Theodoret), i.e., the intensity of its vegetative strength, but also the perpetual verdure of its foliage and the perfume (Hos 14:7) which it exhales.

Psa 92:13-15

The soil in which the righteous are planted or (if it is not rendered with the lxx πεφυτευμένοι, but with the other Greek versions μεταφυτευθέντες) into which they are transplanted, and where they take root, a planting of the Lord, for His praise, is His holy Temple, the centre of a family fellowship with God that is brought about from that point as its starting-point and is unlimited by time and space. There they stand as in sacred ground and air, which impart to them ever new powers of life; they put forth buds (הפריח as in Job 14:9) and preserve a verdant freshness and marrowy vitality (like the olive, 52:10, Jdg 9:9) even into their old age (נוּב of a productive force for putting out shoots; vid., with reference to the root נב, Genesis, S. 635f.), cf. Isa 65:22 : like the duration of the trees is the duration of my people; they live long in unbroken strength, in order, in looking back upon a life rich in experiences of divine acts of righteousness and loving-kindness, to confirm the confession which Moses, in Deu 32:4, places at the head of his great song. There the expression is אין עול, here it is אין עלתה בּו. This ‛ôlātha, softened from ‛awlātha - So the Kerî - with a transition from the aw , au into ô, is also found in Job 5:16 (cf. עלה = עולה Psa 58:3; Psa 64:7; Isa 61:8), and is certainly original in this Psalm, which also has many other points of coincidence with the Book of Job (like Ps 107, which, however, in Psa 107:42 transposes עלתה into עולה).

Incitements to Praise of God.

1 It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord , and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High: 2 To show forth thy lovingkindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night, 3 Upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery; upon the harp with a solemn sound. 4 For thou, Lord , hast made me glad through thy work: I will triumph in the works of thy hands. 5 O Lord , how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep. 6 A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this.

This psalm was appointed to be sung, at least it usually was sung, in the house of the sanctuary on the sabbath day, that day of rest, which was an instituted memorial of the work of creation, of God's rest from that work, and the continuance of it in his providence; for the Father worketh hitherto. Note, 1. The sabbath day must be a day, not only of holy rest, but of holy work, and the rest is in order to the work. 2. The proper work of the sabbath is praising God; every sabbath day must be a thanksgiving-day; and the other services of the day must be in order to this, and therefore must by no means thrust this into a corner. One of the Jewish writers refers it to the kingdom of the Messiah, and calls it, A psalm or song for the age to come, which shall be all sabbath. Believers, through Christ, enjoy that sabbatism which remains for the people of God (Heb. iv. 9), the beginning of the everlasting sabbath. In these verses,

I. We are called upon and encouraged to praise God (v. 1-3): It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord. Praising God is good work: it is good in itself and good for us. It is our duty, the rent, the tribute, we are to pay to our great Lord; we are unjust if we withhold it. It is our privilege that we are admitted to praise God, and have hope to be accepted in it. It is good, for it is pleasant and profitable, work that is its own wages; it is the work of angels, the work of heaven. It is good to give thanks for the mercies we have received, for that is the way of fetching in further mercy: it is fit to sing to his name who is Most High, exalted above all blessing and praise. Now observe here, 1. How we must praise God. We must do it by showing forth his lovingkindness and his faithfulness. Being convinced of his glorious attributes and perfections, we must show them forth, as those that are greatly affected with them ourselves and desire to affect others with them likewise. We must show forth, not only his greatness and majesty, his holiness and justice, which magnify him and strike an awe upon us, but his lovingkindness and his faithfulness; for his goodness is his glory (Exod. xxxiii. 18, 19), and by these he proclaims his name. His mercy and truth are the great supports of our faith and hope, and the great encouragements of our love and obedience; these therefore we must show forth as our pleas in prayer and the matter of our joy. This was then done, not only by singing, but by music joined with it, upon an instrument of ten strings (v. 3); but then it was to be with a solemn sound, not that which was gay, and apt to dissipate the spirits, but that which was grave, and apt to fix them. 2. When we must praise God—in the morning and every night, not only on sabbath days, but every day; it is that which the duty of every day requires. We must praise God, not only in public assemblies, but in secret, and in our families, showing forth, to ourselves and those about us, his lovingkindness and faithfulness. We must begin and end every day with praising God, must give him thanks every morning, when we are fresh and before the business of the day comes in upon us, and every night, when we are again composed and retired, and are recollecting ourselves; we must give him thanks every morning for the mercies of the night and every night for the mercies of the day; going out and coming in we must bless God.

II. We have an example set before us in the psalmist himself, both to move us to and to direct us in this work (v. 4): Thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy work. Note, 1. Those can best recommend to others the duty of praise who have themselves experienced the pleasantness of it. "God's works are to be praised, for they have many a time rejoiced my heart; and therefore, whatever others may think of them, I must think well and speak well of them." 2. If God has given us the joy of his works, there is all the reason in the world why we should give him the honour of them. Has he made our hearts glad? Let us then make his praises glorious. Has God made us glad through the works of his providence for us, and of his grace in us, and both through the great work of redemption? (1.) Let us thence fetch encouragement for our faith and hope; so the psalmist does: I will triumph in the works of thy hands. From a joyful remembrance of what God has done for us we may raise a joyful prospect of what he will do, and triumph in the assurance of it, triumph over all opposition, 2 Thess. ii. 13, 14. (2.) Let us thence fetch matter for holy adorings and admirings of God (v. 5): O Lord! how great are thy works—great beyond conception, beyond expression, the products of great power and wisdom, of great consequence and importance! men's works are nothing to them. We cannot comprehend the greatness of God's works, and therefore must reverently and awfully wonder at them, and even stand amazed at the magnificence of them. "Men's works are little and trifling, for their thoughts are shallow; but, Lord, thy works are great and such as cannot be measured; for thy thoughts are very deep and such as cannot be fathomed." God's counsels as much exceed the contrivances of our wisdom as his works do the efforts of our power. His thoughts are above our thoughts, as his ways are above our ways, Isa. lv. 9. O the depth of God's designs! Rom. xi. 33. The greatness of God's works should lead us to consider the depth of his thoughts, that counsel of his own will according to which he does all things—what a compass his thoughts fetch and to what a length they reach!

III. We are admonished not to neglect the works of God, by the character of those who do so, v. 6. Those are fools, they are brutish, who do not know, who do not understand, how great God's works are, who will not acquaint themselves with them, nor give him the glory of them; they regard not the work of the Lord nor consider the operation of his hands (Ps. xxviii. 5); particularly, they understand not the meaning of their own prosperity (which is spoken of v. 7); they take it as a pledge of their happiness, whereas it is a preparative for their ruin. If there are so many who know not the designs of Providence, nor care to know them, those who through grace are acquainted with them, and love to be so, have the more reason to be thankful.

The Triumph of the Righteous; The Happiness of the Righteous.

7 When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; it is that they shall be destroyed for ever: 8 But thou, Lord , art most high for evermore. 9 For, lo, thine enemies, O Lord , for, lo, thine enemies shall perish; all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered. 10 But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn: I shall be anointed with fresh oil. 11 Mine eye also shall see my desire on mine enemies, and mine ears shall hear my desire of the wicked that rise up against me. 12 The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. 13 Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. 14 They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing; 15 To show that the Lord is upright: he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

The psalmist had said (v. 4) that from the works of God he would take occasion to triumph; and here he does so.

I. He triumphs over God's enemies (v. 7, 9, 11), triumphs in the foresight of their destruction, not as it would be the misery of his fellow-creatures, but as it would redound to the honour of God's justice and holiness. He is confident of the ruin of sinners, 1. Though they are flourishing (v. 7): When the wicked spring as the grass in spring (so numerous, so thickly sown, so green, and growing so fast), and all the workers of iniquity do flourish in pomp, and power, and all the instances of outward prosperity, are easy and many, and succeed in their enterprises, one would think that all this was in order to their being happy, that it was a certain evidence of God's favour and an earnest of something as good or better in reserve: but it is quite otherwise; it is that they shall be destroyed for ever. The very prosperity of fools shall slay them, Prov. i. 32. The sheep that are designed for the slaughter are put into the fattest pasture. 2. Though they are daring, v. 9. They are thy enemies, and impudently avow themselves to be so. They are contrary to God, and they fight against God. They are in rebellion against his crown and dignity, and therefore it is easy to foresee that they shall perish; for who ever hardened his heart against God and prospered? Note, All the impenitent workers of iniquity shall be deemed and taken as God's enemies, and as such they shall perish and be scattered. Christ reckons those his enemies that will not have him to reign over them; and they shall be brought forth and slain before him. The workers of iniquity are now associated, and closely linked together, in a combination against God and religion; but they shall be scattered, and disabled to help one another against the just judgment of God. In the world to come they shall be separated from the congregation of the righteous; so the Chaldee, Ps. i. 5. 3. Though they had a particular malice against the psalmist, and, upon that account, he might be tempted to fear them, yet he triumphs over them (v. 11): "My eye shall see my desire on my enemies that rise up against me; I shall see them not only disabled from doing me any further mischief, but reckoned with for the mischief they have done me, and brought either to repentance or ruin:" and this was his desire concerning them. In the Hebrew it is no more than thus, My eye shall look on my enemies, and my ear shall hear of the wicked. He does not say what he shall see or what he shall hear, but he shall see and hear that in which God will be glorified and in which he will therefore be satisfied. This perhaps has reference to Christ, to his victory over Satan, death, and hell, the destruction of those that persecuted and crucified him, and opposed his gospel, and to the final ruin of the impenitent at the last day. Those that rise up against Christ will fall before him and be made his footstool.

II. He triumphs in God, and his glory and grace. 1. In the glory of God (v. 8): "But thou, O Lord! art most high for evermore. The workers of iniquity who fight against us may be high for a time, and think to carry all before them with a high hand, but thou art high, most high, for evermore. Their height will be humbled and brought down, but thine is everlasting." Let us not therefore fear the pride and power of evil men, nor be discouraged by their impotent menaces, for the moth shall eat them up as a garment, but God's righteousness shall be for ever, Isa. li. 7, 8. 2. In the grace of God, his favour and the fruits of it, (1.) To himself (v. 10): "Thou, O Lord! that art thyself most high, shalt exalt my horn." The great God is the fountain of honour, and he, being high for evermore, himself will exalt his people for ever, for he is the praise of all his saints, Ps. cxlviii. 14. The wicked are forbidden to lift up the horn (Ps. lxxv. 4, 5), but those that serve God and the interest of his kingdom with their honour or power, and commit it to him to keep it, to raise it, to use it, and to dispose of it, as he pleases, may hope that he will exalt their horn as the horn of a unicorn, to the greatest height, either in this world or the other: My horn shalt thou exalt, when thy enemies perish; for then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun, when the wicked shall be doomed to shame and everlasting contempt. He adds, I shall be anointed with fresh oil, which denotes a fresh confirmation in his office to which he had been anointed, or abundance of plenty, so that he should have fresh oil as often as he pleased, or renewed comforts to revive him when his spirits drooped. Grace is the anointing of the Spirit; when this is given to help in the time of need, and is received, as there is occasion, from the fulness that is in Christ Jesus, we are then anointed with fresh oil. Some read it, When I grow old thou shalt anoint me with fresh oil. My old age shalt thou exalt with rich mercy; so the LXX. Compare v. 14, They shall bring forth fruit in old age. The comforts of God's Spirit, and the joys of his salvation, shall be a refreshing oil to the hoary heads that are found in the way of righteousness. (2.) To all the saints. They are here represented as trees of righteousness, Isa. lxi. 3; Ps. i. 3. Observe, [1.] The good place they are fixed in; they are planted in the house of the Lord, v. 13. The trees of righteousness do not grow of themselves; they are planted, not in common soil, but in paradise, in the house of the Lord. Trees are not usually planted in a house; but God's trees are said to be planted in his house because it is from his grace, by his word and Spirit, that they receive all the sap and virtue that keep them alive and make them fruitful. They fix themselves to holy ordinances, take root in them, abide by them, put themselves under the divine protection, and bring forth all their fruits to God's honour and glory. [2.] The good plight they shall be kept in. It is here promised, First, That they shall grow, v. 12. Where God gives true grace he will give more grace. God's trees shall grow higher, like the cedars, the tall cedars in Lebanon; they shall grow nearer heaven, and with a holy ambition shall aspire towards the upper world; they shall grow stronger, like the cedars, and fitter for use. He that has clean hands shall be stronger and stronger. Secondly, That they shall flourish, both in the credit of their profession and in the comfort and joy of their own souls. They shall be cheerful themselves and respected by all about them. They shall flourish like the palm-tree, which has a stately body (Cant. vii. 7), and large boughs, Lev. xxiii. 40; Judg. iv. 5. Dates, the fruit of it, are very pleasant, but it is especially alluded to here as being ever green. The wicked flourish as the grass (v. 7), which is soon withered, but the righteous as the palm-tree, which is long-lived and which the winter does not change. It has been said of the palm-tree, Sub pondere crescit—The more it is pressed down the more it grows; so the righteous flourish under their burdens; the more they are afflicted the more they multiply. Being planted in the house of the Lord (there their root is), they flourish in the courts of our God—there their branches spread. Their life is hid with Christ in God. But their light also shines before men. It is desirable that those who have a place should have a name in God's house, and within his walls, Isa. lvi. 5. Let good Christians aim to excel, that they may be eminent and may flourish, and so may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour, as flourishing trees adorn the courts of a house. And let those who flourish in God's courts give him the glory of it; it is by virtue of this promise, They shall be fat and flourishing. Their flourishing without is from a fatness within, from the root and fatness of the good olive, Rom. xi. 17. Without a living principle of grace in the heart the profession will not be long flourishing; but where that is the leaf also shall not wither, Ps. i. 3. The trees of the Lord are full of sap, Ps. civ. 16. See Hos. xiv. 5, 6. Thirdly, That they shall be fruitful. Were there nothing but leaves upon them, they would not be trees of any value; but they shall still bring forth fruit. The products of sanctification, all the instances of a lively devotion and a useful conversation, good works, by which God is glorified and others are edified, these are the fruits of righteousness, in which it is the privilege, as well as the duty, of the righteous to abound; and their abounding in them is the matter of a promise as well as of a command. It is promised that they shall bring forth fruit in old age. Other trees, when they are old, leave off bearing, but in God's trees the strength of grace does not fail with the strength of nature. The last days of the saints are sometimes their best days, and their last work is their best work. This indeed shows that they are upright; perseverance is the surest evidence of sincerity. But it is here said to show that the Lord is upright (v. 15), that he is true to his promises and faithful to every word that he has spoken, and that he is constant to the work which he has begun. As it is by the promises that believers first partake of a divine nature, so it is by the promises that that divine nature is preserved and kept up; and therefore the power it exerts is an evidence that the Lord is upright, and so he will show himself with an upright man, Ps. xviii. 25. This the psalmist triumphs in: "He is my rock and there is no unrighteousness in him. I have chosen him for my rock on which to build, in the clefts of which to take shelter, on the top of which to set my feet. I have found him a rock, strong and stedfast, and his word as firm as a rock. I have found" (and let every one speak as he finds) "that there is no unrighteousness in him." He is as able, and will be as kind, as his word makes him to be. All that ever trusted in God found him faithful and all-sufficient, and none were ever made ashamed of their hope in him.

PSAL. XCII.

A Psalme, a song for the day of Sabbath.

IT is good to confesse to Iehovah, and to sing Psalme to thy Name, O most high.

To shew forth thy mercy in the morning, and thy faithfulnesse in the nights. Vpon the ten-stringed instrument, and upon the Psaltery, with meditation upon the Harp.

For thou hast rejoyced me, O Iehovah, with thy worke; in the acts of thy hands will I shout. How great are thine acts, Iehovah! very deepe are thy thoughts. A brutish man knoweth not, and an unconstant foole understandeth not this. When wicked men spring up as the grasse, and all that worke iniquitie doe flourish; that they shall be abolished unto perpetuitie. But thou art high for ever, Iehovah. For loe thine enemies, Iehovah; for loe thine enemies shall perish: they shall be scattered, all that worke iniquitie. And my horne shall be exalted as the Vnicornes; mine old age shall be anointed with fresh oile. And mine eye shall behold on mine enviers; of evill doers that rise up against me, mine eares shall heare. The just, he shall spring up as a Palme-tree, as a Cedar in Lebanon shall he grow. They that are planted in the house of Iehovah, in the courts of our God shall they flourish. Yet shall they sprout in grainesse: they shall be fat and greene. To shew that Iehovah is righteous; my Rocke, and no injurious evill is in him.

Annotations. OF Sabbath] that is, of Cessation, or Resting, to wit, from our owne workes, wills, waies, and words, Exod. 20. 10. Esay 58. 13. Heb. 4. 10. which day was the seventh from the creation, wherein God rested from all his worke, and blessed and sanctified it, and commanded it to be kept holy unto him, Gen. 2. 2, 3. Exod. 20. 8. which was a token of his mercy unto, and sanctification of his people, Nehem. 9. 14. Exod. 31. 13, 14. This day was sanctified by an holy convocation or assembly of the people, Levit. 23. 3. offering of sacrifices, Numb. 28. 9, 10. singing of Psalmes, as this title sheweth, with 2 Chron. 29. 26, 27. reading and expounding the Scriptures, Act. 13. 15. and 15. 21. praying, Act. 16. 13. disputing, conferring, meditating of Gods word and workes, Act. 17. 2. and 18. 4. and doing workes o[illegible: 1 letter] mercy to them that were in need, Matth. 12. 2,—7, 8, 11, 12. The Chaldee paraphraseth thus, An hymne, a song which the first man Adam said for the Sabbath day. Vers. 3. in the nights] see Psal. 134. 1. Vers. 4. with meditation] or meditated song, or upon Higgajon with the harpe. The word signifieth meditation, as Psal. 9. 17. Here some thinke it to be the name of an instrument, or a solemne sound: the Greeke turneth it a song. Vers. 5. with thy worke] which is all done well and perfectly, Gen. 1. 31. and 2. 2, 3. Deut. 32. 4. Vers. 10. shall be scattered] or shall dispart themselves: The Chaldee Paraphrast saith, shall be separated from the congregation of the just in the world to come. Vers. 11. shall be exalted] or, thou wilt exalt as the Vnicornes, therewith to smite mine enemies, as Deut. 33. 17. The horne signifieth kingdome, and strength, and glory: and the Chaldee here translateth it strength. See Psal. 75. 5, 11. Psal. 22. 22. mine old age] so also the Greeke translateth it: or, when I am old. After which seemeth to be understood, shall be anointed (or, as before, shall be exalted) with oile. Oftentimes words are not expressed, which are understood; as is observed on Psal. 69. 11. and 18. 7, 29. Others, for mine old age, doe turne it, I shall be anointed. fresh] or, greene oile. Vers. 12. mine eye shall view] to wit, evill, or destruction, as the Chaldee explaineth, or the reward of my foes. See Psal. 54. 9. and 91. 8. shall heare] the Chaldee addeth, the voice of their breakings. Vers. 13. palme-tree] or date-tree, which groweth not in these cold parts: it is a tree of tall and upright stature, whereto the Scripture hath reference, Song 7. 7. the branches faire and greene, wherwith they made boothes at their solemne feasts, Levit. 23. 40. the fruit pleasant to eat, Song 7. 8. Exod. 15. 27. This tree, though loaden and pressed, yet endureth and prospereth; therefore the branches carried in the hand, or worne in garlands, were signes of victory, Revel. 7. 9. With such graven trees, the walls of Gods house, and other holy things were beautified, 1 King. 6. 29. and 7. 36. figures of the flourishing estate of the godly alwaies, as this Psalme sheweth, with Ezek. 40. 16, 26, 31. and 41. 18, 19, 20. whereas the wickeds prosperitie is momentany as grasse, vers. 8. a Cedar] see the note on Psal. 29. 5. V. 15. sprout] or grow, wexing in stature and fruitfulnesse, through the blessing of God, in whose house they are planted, 1 Cor. 3. 6. Vnto this are all Gods people exhorted, Ephes. 4. 15, 16. Colos. 1. 10. The Chaldee paraphraseth, Yet, as their fathers shall they procreate children. in grainesse] or hoary age, when naturall strength decaieth; God ministreth vigour above nature. See Psal. 71. 9. 18. Esay 65. 22. Heb. 11. 11, 12. Vers. 16. no injurious evill] no manner of injustice, for the Hebrew hath a letter more than ordinarie, to increase the signification, as Psalm. 3. 3. and 125. 3. And this respecteth Moses speech, Deut. 32. 4: where injurious evill is opposed to Gods faithfulnesse in his administration.

PSAL. XCII.

A Pſalm or ſong for the Sabbath day] The Sabbath in the Hebrew hath its name from reſting; and is near allied to two other words, [non-Latin text not transcribed] the firſt whereof ſignifieth to ſit ſtill, and ſecond to worſhip and give praiſe. On this day they met for works of Piety (as ſacrificing, reading and expounding the Scriptures, praying, ſinging, as here, &c.) and of mercy, Matth. 12.2-7, 8, 11, 12. And this Pſalm treating of Gods great Works, was purpoſely ſet for a Canon of ſanctifying that day called by the Jews the Queen of dayes; in praiſe whereof, before and after meat, they daily ſay certain verſes.

Verſ. 1. It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord] And the Sabbath-day is a good time to do it in; for then (as Kimchi here noteth) men are at leiſure and liberty to do it moſt ſolemnly; the better day, the better deed.

And to ſi[illegible: 1 letter]g praiſes unto thy name] The Pſalmiſt common ends it, and preſently ſets upon the doing of it. So Pſal. 122.6, 7. he no ſooner bids pray for the Peace of Jeruſalem, but himſelf prayes, Peace be within thy walls, &c.

Verſ. 2 To ſhew forth thy loving kindneſs in the morning] Every morning, that God may have the firſt fruits of the day, but eſpecially on the Sabbath-morning, when we awake and riſe, ad quietem & ad delicias animi & corporis, as Kimchi here hath it. The Jews bleſſe God at the Sabbaths comming in, and going out.

And thy faithfulneſſe in the night] Breaking our ſleep for that purpoſe; yea we muſt be in the fear of the Lord all the day long, Prov. 23.17. how much more on the Sabbath-day? then our whole work muſt be to be raviſhed in ſpirit, doing no work, but ſuch as whereby we either bleſſe God, or look to receive a bleſſing from God; none but ſuch as wherein we would the Lord ſhould find us at his comming; which Lactantius ſaith will be on the Sabbath-day.

Verſ. 3. Upon an inſtrument of ten ſtrings, &c.] This was part of the Jewiſh pedagogy; and teacheth us to uſe all lawfull means to inforce our ſelves to that, whereunto we are ſo dull and backward.

Verſ. 4. For thou Lord haſt made mee glad, &c. And I will improve this chearfulneſſe to thankfulneſſe, Jam. 5.13. On the Sabbath we ought ſolummodo ſpiritualibus gaudiis repleri, to be filled with ſpiritual joyes only, ſaith the Councill of Paris held Anno 820.

I will triumph in the works of thy hands] ſc. The works of Creation, Adminiſtration, but eſpecially of Redemption.

Verſ. 5. O Lord, how great are thy works?] Surely ſo great, that I cannot utter then, and muſt therefore thus vent my ſelf by an exclamation. Expleri mentem nequeo, ardeſco que tuend[illegible: 1 letter].Virgil.

And thy thoughts are very deep] Here then we muſt do as thoſe Romans did, who when they found a Lake, the depth whereof was unknown, they dedicated it to Victory. Cry, O the depth, and there reſt us.

Verſ. 6. A bruitiſh man knows not] A ſottiſh ſenſualiſt who hath his ſoul for ſalt only, to keep his body from putrifying, (as we ſay of ſwine) he takes no knowledge of Gods great works, but grunts and goes his wayes; contenting himſelf with a naturall uſe of the Creatures, as beaſts do.

Verſ. 7. When the wicked ſpring as the graſs, &c.] This the fool admireth, calling the proud happy, &c. Mal. 3.15. and not conſidering that that proud graſs ſhall be mown down, and that flouriſh ſhall ſoon periſh.

It is that they ſhall bee deſtroyed for ever] Not grow again, as mown graſſe doth: Exoriuntur ut exurantur. It is but as Hamans banquet before execution.

Verſ. 8. But thou Lord art moſt high, &c.] q.d. Flouriſh the wicked never ſo much, ſhoot they up never ſo high, thou art higher, and in the thing wherein they deal proudly, thou art above them, Exod. 18.11.

Verſ. 9. For loe thine enemies, &c.] The Pſalmiſt by this demonſtrative particle Loe, points to it as it were with the Finger, as a thing moſt evident and undoubted.

Shall be ſcattered] Diſparant ſe, diſſiliunt, diſpart themſelves.

Verſ. 10. Like the horn of an Unicorn] Which is very fair, hard, and well lifted up. See Numb. 23.26. I am in good plight.

I ſhall be anointed] Tis well for the preſent, and it will be better hereafter.

Verſ. 11. Mine eye alſo ſhall ſee my deſire on mine enemies] Or, on mine obſervers, who watch for my halting.

Verſ. 12. The Righteous ſhall flouriſh like the Palm] A tree that groweth not in theſe cold climats, but where it doth, is noted for tall, conſtantly green, longlived, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Theoph. ſweet, firm, ſtraight, &c. Nititur in pondus palma & couſurgit in altum; Quo magis & premitur, hoc mage toll it onus.Alciat, Emblem.

Though it hath many waights at the top, and many ſnakes at the bottom, yet it ſtill faith, Nec premor, nec perimor.

Like a Cedar] Not like graſſe, as the wicked do. Verſe 7.

Verſ. 13. Thoſe that be planted] Having taken deep root there; Hypocrites are only thruſt in, as a ſtake, into the earth. Mnaſon was an old Diſciple, Andronicus and Junia were in Chriſt before Paul, [illegible: 1 letter]om. 16.7. and therefore of note among the Apoſtles for well rooted and fruited.

In the Courts of our God] In Chriſt, and under the ordinances.

Verſ. 14. They ſhall ſtill bring forth fruit in old age] Quantumvis veteres, non veteraſcent, though old, yet they ſhall retain their former vigour and verdure; and be like that Perſian tree in Theophraſtus, that at the ſame time doth bud, bloſſom, and bear fruit, pullulantes & ſucculentae.

They ſhall be fat and flouriſhing] Ʋividi & vegeti, Bucholc. not as the Brabanti or Flemmings, qui quo magis ſeneſcunt, eo magis ſtulteſcunt, ſaith Eraſmus, the elder, the fooliſher; nor as Trapezuntius, who outlived all his learning; but as Moſes, whoſe ſight failed not, his heat abated not; as Wine, the older the better; as the Sun which ſhineth moſt amiably toward the deſcent.

Verſ. 15. To ſhew that, &c.] This is one of their principall fruits, to give God 2 teſtimonial, ſuch as good old Moſes doth, Deut. 32.4.

It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, or JEHOVAH. It is good ethically, for it is the Lord's right; it is good emotionally, for it is pleasant to the heart; it is good practically, for it leads others to render the same homage. When duty and pleasure combine, who will be backward? To give thanks to God is but a small return for the great benefits wherewith he daily loadeth us; yet as he by his Spirit calls it a good thing we must not despise it, or neglect it. We thank men when they oblige us, how much more ought we to bless the Lord when he benefits us. Devout praise is always good, it is never out of season, never superfluous, but it is especially suitable to the Sabbath; a Sabbath without thanksgiving is a Sabbath profaned. And to sing praises unto thy name, O most High. It is good to give thanks in the form of vocal song. Nature itself teaches us thus to express our gratitude to God; do not the birds sing, and the brooks warble as they flow? To give his gratitude a tongue is wise in man. Silent worship is sweet, but vocal worship is sweeter. To deny the tongue the privilege of uttering the praises of God involves an unnatural strain upon the most commendable prompting of our renewed manhood, and it is a problem to us how the members of the Society of Friends can deprive themselves of so noble, so natural, so inspiring a part of sacred worship. Good as they are, they miss one good thing when they decline to sing praises unto the name of the Lord. Our personal experience has confirmed us in the belief that it is good to sing unto the Lord; we have often felt like Luther when he said, "Come, let us sing a psalm, and drive away the devil."

To shew forth thy loving kindness in the morning. The day should begin with praise: no hour is too early for holy song. Loving kindness is a most appropriate theme for those dewy hours when morn is sowing all the earth with orient pearl. Eagerly and promptly should we magnify the Lord; we leave unpleasant tasks as long as we can, but our hearts are so engrossed with the adoration of God that we would rise betimes to attend to it. There is a peculiar freshness and charm about early morning praises; the day is loveliest when it first opens its eyelids, and God himself seems then to make distribution of the day's manna, which tastes most sweetly if gathered ere the sun is hot. It seems most meet that if our hearts and harps have been silent through the shades of night we should be eager again to take our place among the chosen choir who ceaselessly hymn the Eternal One. And thy faithfulness every night. No hour is too late for praise, the end of the day must not be the end of gratitude. When nature seems in silent contemplation to adore its Maker, it ill becomes the children of God to refrain their thanksgiving. Evening is the time for retrospect, memory is busy with the experience of the day, hence the appropriate theme for song is the divine faithfulness, of which another day has furnished fresh evidences. When darkness has settled down over all things, "a shade immense", then there comes over wise men a congenial, meditative spirit, and it is most fitting that they should take an expanded view of the truth and goodness of Jehovah —

"This sacred shade and solitude, what is it?

It is the felt presence of the Deity."

"Every night, "clouded or clear, moonlit or dark, calm or tempestuous, is alike suitable for a song upon the faithfulness of God, since in all seasons, and under all circumstances, it abides the same, and is the mainstay of the believer's consolation. Shame on us that we are so backward in magnifying the Lord, who in the daytime scatters bounteous love, and in the night season walks his rounds of watching care.

Upon an instrument of ten strings; with the fullest range of music, uttering before God with the full compass of melody the richest emotions of his soul. And upon the psaltery; thus giving variety to praise: the Psalmist felt that every sweet-sounding instrument should be consecrated to God. George Herbert and Martin Luther aided their private devotions by instrumental music; and whatever may have been the differences of opinion in the Christian church, as to the performance of instrumental music in public, we have met with no objection to its personal and private use. Upon the harp with a solemn sound, or upon meditation with a harp; as much as to say, my meditative soul is, after all, the best instrument, and the harp's dulcet tones comes in to aid my thoughts. It is blessed work when hand and tongue work together in the heavenly occupation of praise.

"Strings and voices, hands and hearts,

In the concert bear your parts:

All that breathe, your God adore,

Praise him, praise him, evermore."

It is, however, much to be feared that attention to the mere mechanism of music, noting keys and strings, bars and crotchets, has carried many away from the spiritual harmony which is the soul and essence of praise. Fine music without devotion is but a splendid garment upon a corpse.

For thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy work. It was natural for the psalmist to sing, because he was glad, and to sing unto the Lord, because his gladness was caused by a contemplation of the divine work. If we consider either creation or providence, we shall find overflowing reasons for joy; but when we come to review the work of redemption, gladness knows no bounds, but feels that she must praise the Lord with all her might. There are times when in the contemplation of redeeming love we feel that if we did not sing we must die; silence would be as horrible to us as if we were gagged by inquisitors, or stifled by murderers. I will triumph in the works of thy hands. I cannot help it, I must and I will rejoice in the Lord, even as one who has won the victory and has divided great spoil. In the first sentence of this verse he expresses the unity of God's work, and in the second the variety of his works; in both there is reason for gladness and triumph. When God reveals his work to a man, and performs a work in his soul, he makes his heart glad most effectually, and then the natural consequence is continual praise.

O Lord, how great are thy works! He is lost in wonder. He utters an exclamation of amazement. How vast! How stupendous are the doings of Jehovah! Great for number, extent, and glory and design are all the creations of the Infinite One. And thy thoughts are very deep. The Lord's plans are as marvellous as his acts; his designs are as profound as his doings are vast. Creation is immeasurable, and the wisdom displayed in it unsearchable. Some men think but cannot work, and others are mere drudges working without thought; in the Eternal the conception and the execution go together. Providence is inexhaustible, and the divine decrees which originate it are inscrutable. Redemption is grand beyond conception, and the thoughts of love which planned it are infinite. Man is superficial, God is inscrutable; man is shallow, God is deep. Dive as we may we shall never fathom the mysterious plan, or exhaust the boundless wisdom of the all comprehending mind of the Lord. We stand by the fathomless sea of divine wisdom, and exclaim with holy awe, "O the depth!"

A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this. In this and the following verses the effect of the psalm is heightened by contrast; the shadows are thrown in to bring out the lights more prominently. What a stoop from the preceding verse; from the saint to the brute, from the worshipper to the boor, from the psalmist to the fool! Yet, alas, the character described here is no uncommon one. The boorish or boarish man, for such is almost the very Hebrew word, sees nothing in nature; and if it be pointed out to him, his foolish mind will not comprehend it. He may be a philosopher, and yet be such a brutish being that he will not own the existence of a Maker for the ten thousand matchless creations around him, which wear, even upon their surface, the evidences of profound design. The unbelieving heart, let it boast as it will, does not know; and with all its parade of intellect, it does not understand. A man must either be a saint or a brute, he has no other choice; his type must be the adoring seraph, or the ungrateful swine. So far from paying respect to great thinkers who will not own the glory or being of God, we ought to regard them as comparable to the beasts which perish, only vastly lower than mere brutes, because their degrading condition is of their own choosing. O God, how sorrowful a thing it is that men whom thou hast so largely gifted, and made in thine own image, should so brutify themselves that they will neither see nor understand what thou hast made so clear. Well might an eccentric writer say, "God made man a little lower than the angels at first, and he has been trying to get lower ever since."

When the wicked spring as the grass, in abundance, and apparent strength, hastening on their progress like verdant plants, which come to perfection in a day, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; flowering in their prime and pride, their pomp and their prosperity; it is that they shall be destroyed for ever. They grow to die, they blossom to be blasted. They flower for a short space to wither without end. Greatness and glory are to them but the prelude of their overthrow. Little does their opposition matter, the Lord reigns on as if they had never blasphemed him; as a mountain abides the same though the meadows at its feet bloom or wither, even so the Most High is unaffected by the fleeting mortals who dare oppose him; they shall soon vanish for ever from among the living. But as for the wicked —how can our minds endure the contemplation of their doom "for ever." Destruction "for ever" is a portion far too terrible for the mind to realise. Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, the full terror of the wrath to come!

But thou, Lord, art most high for evermore. This is the middle verse of the Psalm, and the great fact which this Sabbath song is meant to illustrate. God is at once the highest and most enduring of all beings. Others rise to fall, but he is the Most High to eternity. Glory be to his name! How great a God we worship! Who would not fear thee, O thou High Eternal One! The ungodly are destroyed for ever, and God is most high for ever; evil is cast down, and the Holy One reigns supreme eternally.

For, lo, thine enemies, O Lord. It is a wonder full of instruction and warning, observe it, O ye sons of men; for, lo, thine enemies shall parish; they shall cease from among men, they shall be known no more. In that the thing is spoken twice it is confirmed by the Lord, it shall surely be, and that speedily. All the workers of iniquity shall be scattered; their forces shall be dispersed, their hopes broken, and themselves driven hither and thither like chaff before the tempest. They shall scatter like timid sheep pursued by the lion, they will not have the courage to remain in arms, nor the unity to abide in confederacy. The grass cannot resist the scythe, but falls in withering ranks, even so are the ungodly cut down and swept away in process of time, while the Lord whom they despised sits unmoved upon the throne of his infinite dominion. Terrible as this fact is, no true hearted heart would wish to have it otherwise. Treason against the great Monarch of the universe ought not to go unpunished; such wanton wickedness richly merits the severest doom.

But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn. The believer rejoices that he shall not be suffered to perish, but shall be strengthened and enabled to triumph over his enemies, by the divine aid. The unicorn may have been some gigantic ox or buffalo now unknown, and perhaps extinct —among the ancients it was the favourite symbol of unconquerable power; the psalmist adopts it as his emblem. Faith takes delight in foreseeing the mercy of the Lord, and sings of what he will do as well as of what he has done. I shall be anointed with fresh oil. Strengthening shall be attended with refreshment and honour. As guests were anointed at feasts with perfumed unguents, so shall the saints be cheered and delighted by fresh outpourings of divine grace; and for this reason they shall not pass away like the wicked. Observe the contrast between the happiness of the brutish people and the joy of the righteous: the brutish men grow with a sort of vegetable vigour of their own, but the righteous are dealt with by the Lord himself, and all the good which they receive comes directly from his own right hand, and so is doubly precious in their esteem. The psalmist speaks in the first person, and it should be a matter of prayer with the reader that he may be enabled to do the same.

Mine eye also shall see MY DESIRE on mine enemies. The words, "my desire", inserted by the translators, had far better have been left out. He does not say what he should see concerning his enemies, he leaves that blank, and we have no right to fill in the vacant space with words which look vindictive. He would see that which would be for God's glory, and that which would be eminently right and just. And mine ears shall hear MY DESIRE of the wicked that rise up against me. Here, again, the words "my desire" are not inspired, and are a needless and perhaps a false interpolation. The good man is quite silent as to what he expected to hear; he knew that what he should hear would vindicate his faith in his God, and he was content to leave his cruel foes in God's hands, without an expression concerning his own desire one way or the other. It is always best to leave Scripture as we find it. The broken sense of inspiration is better let alone than pieced out with additions of a translator's own invention; it is like repairing pure gold with tinsel, or a mosaic of gems with painted wood. The holy psalmist had seen the beginning of the ungodly, and expected to see their end; he felt sure that God would right all wrongs, and clear his Providence from the charge of favouring the unjust; this confidence he here expresses, and sits down contentedly to wait the issues of the future.

The song now contrasts the condition of the righteous with that of the graceless. The wicked "spring as the grass", but The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree, whose growth may not be so rapid, but whose endurance for centuries is in fine contrast with the transitory verdure of the meadow. When we see a noble palm standing erect, sending all its strength upward in one bold column, and growing amid the dearth and drought of the desert, we have a fine picture of the godly man, who in his uprightness aims alone at the glory of God; and, independent of outward circumstances, is made by divine grace to live and thrive where all things else perish. The text tells us not only what the righteous is, but what he shall be; come what may, the good man shall flourish, and flourish after the noblest manner. He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. This is another noble and long lived tree. "As the days of a tree are the days of my people", saith the Lord. On the summit of the mountain, unsheltered from the blast, the cedar waves its mighty branches in perpetual verdure, and so the truly godly man under all adversities retains the joy of his soul, and continues to make progress in the divine life. Grass, which makes hay for oxen, is a good enough emblem of the unregenerate; but cedars, which build the temple of the Lord, are none too excellent to set forth the heirs of heaven.

Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. In the courtyards of Oriental houses trees were planted, and being thoroughly screened, they would be likely to bring forth their fruit to perfection in trying seasons; even so, those who by grace are brought into communion with the Lord, shall be likened to trees planted in the Lord's house, and shall find it good to their souls. No heart has so much joy as that which abides in the Lord Jesus. Fellowship with the stem begets fertility in the branches. If a man abide in Christ he brings forth much fruit. Those professors who are rooted to the world do not flourish; those who send forth their roots into the marshes of frivolous pleasure cannot be in a vigorous condition; but those who dwell in habitual fellowship with God shall become men of full growth, rich in grace, happy in experience, mighty in influence, honoured and honourable. Much depends upon the soil in which a tree is planted; everything, in our case, depends upon our abiding in the Lord Jesus, and deriving all our supplies from him. If we ever really grow in the courts of the Lord's house we must be planted there, for no tree grows in God's garden self sown; once planted of the Lord, we shall never be rooted up, but in his courts we shall take root downward, and bring forth fruit upward to his glory for ever.

They shall still bring forth fruit in old age. Nature decays but grace thrives. Fruit, as far as nature is concerned, belongs to days of vigour; but in the garden of grace, when plants are weak in themselves, they become strong in the Lord, and abound in fruit acceptable with God. Happy they who can sing this Sabbath Psalm, enjoying the rest which breathes through every verse of it; no fear as to the future can distress them, for their evil days, when the strong man faileth, are the subject of a gracious promise, and therefore they await them with quiet expectancy. Aged believers possess a ripe experience, and by their mellow tempers and sweet testimonies they feed many. Even if bedridden, they bear the fruit of patience; if poor and obscure, their lowly and contented spirit becomes the admiration of those who know how to appreciate modest worth. Grace does not leave the saint when the keepers of the house do tremble; the promise is still sure though the eyes can no longer read it; the bread of heaven is fed upon when the grinders fail; and the voice of the Spirit in the soul is still melodious when the daughters of music are brought low. Blessed be the Lord for this! Because even to hoar hairs he is the I AM, who made his people, he therefore bears and carries them. They shall be fat and flourishing. They do not drag out a wretched, starveling existence, but are like trees full of sap, which bear luxuriant foliage. God does not pinch his poor servants, and diminish their consolations when their infirmities grow upon them; rather does he see to it that they shall renew their strength, for their mouths shall be satisfied with his own good things. Such an one as Paul the aged would not ask our pity, but invite our sympathetic gratitude; however feeble his outward man may be, his inner man is so renewed day by day that we may well envy his perennial peace.

This mercy to the aged proves the faithfulness of their God, and leads them to shew that the Lord is upright, by their cheerful testimony to his ceaseless goodness. We do not serve a Master who will run back from his promise. Whoever else may defraud us, he never will. Every aged Christian is a letter of commendation to the immutable fidelity of Jehovah. He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him. Here is the psalmist's own seal and sign manual; still was he building upon his God, and still was the Lord a firm foundation for his trust. For shelter, for defence, for indwelling, for foundation, God is our rock; hitherto he has been to us all that he said he would be, and we may be doubly sure that he will abide the same even unto the end. He has tried us, but he has never allowed us to be tempted above what we are able to bear: he has delayed our reward, but he has never been unrighteous to forget our work of faith and labour of love. He is a friend without fault, a helper without fail. Whatever he may do with us, he is always in the right; his dispensations have no flaw in them, no, not the most minute. He is true and righteous altogether, and so we weave the end of the psalm with its beginning, and make a coronet of it, for the head of our Beloved. It is a good thing to sing praises unto the Lord, for "he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him."

TITLE. This is entitled A Psalm to be sung on the day of the Sabbath. It is known that the Jews appropriated certain Psalms to particular days. R. Selomo thinks that it refers to the future state of the blessed, which is a perpetual sabbath. Others pretend that it was composed by Adam, on the seventh day of the creation. It might, with more probability, have been supposed to be put, by a poetic fiction, into the mouth of Adam, beholding, with wonder and gratitude, the recent creation. But Ps 92:2 seems to refer to the morning and evening sacrifice, which the psalmist considers as most proper for prayer and praise. —D. Cresswell.

Title. For the Sabbath day. Perchance, as Lud. de Dieu remarks on this place, every day of the week had its allotted psalms, according to what is said in the Talmud, lib. Myvdq. The songs which the Levites formerly sang in the sanctuary are these: on the first day, Ps 24:1-10; on the second, Ps 48:1-14; on the third, Ps 82:1-8; on the fourth, Ps 104:1-35; on the fifth, Ps 81:1-16; on the sixth, Ps 93:1-5; on the seventh, the Ps 92:1-15, the beginning of which is, a psalm or a canticle for the Sabbath day, that is to say, for the future age, which will be altogether a sabbath. —Martin Geier.

Title. For the Sabbath. It is observable that the name JEHOVAH occurs in the Psalms seven times —the sabbatical number (1,4,5,8,9,13,15). —C. Wordsworth.

It is a good thing. It is bonum, honestum, jucundum, utile; an honest, pleasant, and profitable good. The altar of incense was to be overlaid with pure gold, and to have a crown of gold round about it. Which (if we may allegorically apply it) intimates unto us, that the spiritual incense of prayers and praises is rich and precious, a golden and a royal thing. —Henry Jeanes, in "The Works of Heaven upon Earth," 1649.

It is a good thing to give thanks, etc. Giving of thanks is more noble and perfect in itself than petition; because in petition often our own good is eyed and regarded, but in giving of thanks only God's honour. The Lord Jesus said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." Now, a subordinate end of petition is to receive some good from God, but the sole end of thanks is to give glory unto God. —William Ames (1576-1633), in "Medulla Theologica."

"Give thanks; ""praises." We thank God for his benefits, and praise him for his perfections. —Filliucius, out of Aquinas.

To sing praises.

1. Singing is the music of nature. The Scriptures tell us, the mountains sing (Is 41:23); the valleys sing (Ps 65:13); the trees of the wood sing (1Ch 16:33). Nay, the air is the birds' music room, where they chant their musical notes.

2. Singing is the music of ordinances. Augustine reports of himself, that when he came to Milan and heard the people sing, he wept for joy in the church to hear that pleasing melody. And Beza confesses, that at his first entrance into the congregation, and hearing them sing Ps 91:1-16 he felt himself exceedingly comforted, and did retain the sound of it afterwards upon his heart. The Rabbis tell us, that the Jews, after the feast of the Passover was celebrated, sang Ps 91:1-16, and the five following psalms; and our Saviour and his apostles "sang an hymn" immediately after the blessed supper, (Mt 26:30).

3. Singing is the music of saints. (1) They have performed this duty in their greatest numbers, (Ps 149:1). (2) In their greatest straits, (Is 26:19). (3) In their greatest flight, (Is 42:10-11). (4) In their greatest deliverances, (Is 65:14). (5) In their greatest plenties. In all these changes singing hath been their stated duty and delight. And indeed it is meet that the saints and servants of God should sing forth their joys and praises to the Lord Almighty; every attribute of him can set both their song and their tune.

4. Singing is the music of angels. Job tells us, "The morning stars sang together", (Job 38:7). Now these morning stars, as Pineda tells us, are the angels; to which the Chaldee paraphrase accords, naming these morning stars, aciem angelorum, "a host of angels." Nay, when this heavenly host was sent to proclaim the birth of our dearest Jesus, they delivered their message in this raised way of duty, (Lu 2:13). They were ainountwn, delivering their messages in a "laudatory singing", the whole company of angels making a musical choir. Nay, in heaven, there is the angels' joyous music, they there sing hallelujahs to the Most High, and to the Lamb who sits upon the throne, (Re 5:11-12).

5. Singing is the music of heaven. The glorious saints and angels accent their praises this way, and make one harmony in their state of blessedness; and this is the music of the bride chamber, (Re 15:3). The saints who were tuning here their psalms, are now singing hallelujahs in a louder strain, and articulating their joys, which here they could not express to their perfect satisfaction. Here they laboured with drowsy hearts, and faltering tongues; but in glory these impediments are removed, and nothing is left to jar their joyous celebrations. —John Wells(-1676), in "The Morning Exercises."

In the morning. When indeed the mind after the rest of the night is more active, devoted and constant. In other parts of the day, as at noon, or in the afternoon, many sounds of business disturb, and greater lassitude oppresses. Compare Ps 5:4 59:17 58:2 88:14 Ps 119:147-148, where this same part of the day is celebrated as the fittest for sacred meditations. However, this ought not to be taken exclusively, as if, in the morning alone, and not also at noon or in the evening, it was suitable to celebrate divine grace. —Martin Geier.

In the morning. The Brahmins rise three hours before the sun, to pray. The Indians would esteem it a great sin to eat in the morning before praying to their gods. The ancient Romans considered it impious if they had not a little chamber, in their house, appropriated to prayer. Let us take a lesson from these Turks and heathen; their zealous ardour ought to shame us. Because we possess the true light, should their zeal surpass ours? —Frederic Arndt, in "Lights of the Morning", 1861.

To shew forth thy lovingkindness in the morning. Our praise ought to be suitably arranged. In the time of prosperity or the morning we should declare thy lovingkindness, because whatever of prosperity we have proceeds from the mercy and grace of God; and in the time of adversity or night, we should declare thy justice or faithfulness, because whatever adversity happens to us is ordained by the just judgment of God. —J. Turrecremata.

God's mercy is itself the morning ray, which scatters away darkness (Ps 3:5 59:16); his faithfulness the guardian, that assures us against night peril. —F. Delitzsch.

In the morning, and...every night. God is Alpha and Omega. It is fit we should begin and end the day with his praise, who begins and ends it for us with mercy. Well, thou seest thy duty plainly laid before thee. As thou wouldst have God prosper thy labour in the day, and sweeten thy rest in the night, clasp them both together with thy morning and evening devotions. He that takes no care to set forth God's portion of time in the morning, doth not only rob God of his due, but is a thief to himself all the day after, by losing the blessing which a faithful prayer might bring from heaven on his undertakings. And he that closes his eyes at night without prayer, lies down before his bed is made. —William Gurnall.

Thy faithfulness (Vulg. `veritas, ')every night. Truth can be taken in its proper signification. Thus St. Jerome on our Psalm takes it, and says: "The truth of the Lord is announced in the night, as if it were wrapped up in some verbal obscurities. In an enigma it is spoken, and in parables; that seeing, they should not see, and hearing, they should not understand. Moses ascended Mount Sinai, Ex 24:9, and passed into the tempest and into the blackness and darkness, and there spake with the Lord." Thus Jerome. Christ brings back the light to us, as Lactantius teaches. Shall we wait, says he, till Socrates shall know something? Or Anaxagoras find light in the darkness? Or Democritus draw forth the truth from a well? Or till Empedocles expands the paths of his soul? Or Ascesilas and Carneades see, feel, and perceive? Behold a voice from heaven teaches us the truth, and reveals it more clearly to us than the sun himself ...In the night truth is to be shown forth, that the night may be turned into day. —Le Blanc.

Upon an instrument of ten strings. Eusebius, in his comment on this psalm, says: "The psaltery of ten strings is the worship of the Holy Spirit performed by means of the five senses of the body, and by the five powers of the soul." And to confirm this interpretation, he quotes the apostle, 1Co 14:15: "I will pray with the spirit, and with the understanding also; I will sing with the spirit, and with the understanding also." "As the mind has its influence by which it moves the body, so the spirit has its own influence by which it moves the soul." Whatever may be thought of this gloss, one thing is pretty evident from it, that instrumental music was not in use in the church of Christ in the time of Eusebius, which was near the middle of the fourth century. Had any such thing then existed in the Christian Church, he would have doubtless alluded to or spiritualized it; or, as he quoted the words of the apostle above, would have shown that carnal usages were substituted for spiritual exercises. —Adam Clarke.

In Augustine to Ambrose there is the following passage bearing on this same subject: —"Sometimes, from over jealousy, I would entirely put from me and from the church the melodies of the sweet chants that we use in the Psalter, lest our ears seduce us; and the way of Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, seems the safe one, who, as I have often heard, made the reader chant with so slight a change of voice, that it was more like speaking than singing. And yet, when I call to mind the tears I shed when I heard the chants of thy church in the infancy of my recovered faith, and reflect that I was affected, not by the mere music, but by the subject, brought out as it were by clear voices and appropriate tune, then, in turn, I confess how useful is the practice."

We are not to conceive that God enjoyed the harp as feeling a delight like ourselves in mere melody of sounds; but the Jews, who were yet under age, were restricted to the use of such childish elements. The intention of them was to stimulate the worshippers, and stir them up more actively to the celebration of the praise of God with the heart. We are to remember that the worship of God was never understood to consist in such outward services, which were only necessary to help forward a people, as yet weak and rude in knowledge, in the spiritual worship of God. A difference is to be observed in this respect between his people under the Old and under the New Testament; for now that Christ has appeared, and the church has reached full age, it were only to bury the light of the Gospel, should we introduce the shadows of a departed dispensation. From this, it appears that the Papists, in employing instrumental music, cannot be said so much to imitate the practice of God's ancient people, as to ape it in a senseless and absurd manner, exhibiting a silly delight in that worship of the Old Testament which was figurative, and terminated with the gospel. —John Calvin.

Chrysostom says, "Instrumental music was only permitted to the Jews, as sacrifice was, for the heaviness and grossness of their souls. God condescended to their weakness, because they were lately drawn off from idols; but now instead of organs, we may use our own bodies to praise him withal." Theodoret has many like expressions in his comments upon the Psalms and other places. But the author under the name of Justin Martyr is more express in his determination, as to matter of fact, telling us plainly, "that the use of singing with instrumental music was not received in the Christian churches as it was among the Jews in their infant state, but only the use of plain song." —Joseph Bingham.

Instrumental music, the more I think of it, appears with increasing evidence to be utterly unsuited to the genius of the gospel dispensation. There was a glare, if I may so express it, which characterized even the divine appointments of Judaism. An august temple, ornamented with gold and silver, and precious stones, golden candlesticks, golden altars, priests in rich attire, trumpets, cymbals, harps; all of which were adapted to an age and dispensation when the church was in a state of infancy. But when the substance is come, it is time that the shadows flee away. The best exposition of harps in singing is given by Dr. Watts —

"Oh may my heart in tune be found,

Like David's harp of solemn sound." —Andrew Fuller.

(last clause). On meditation with a harp. (New translation.) By a bold but intelligible figure, meditation is referred to as an instrument, precisely as the lyre and harp are, the latter being joined with it as a mere accompaniment. —J.A. Alexander.

With a solemn sound. Let Christians abound as much as they will in the holy, heavenly exercise of singing in God's house and in their own houses; but let it be performed as a holy act, wherein they have immediately and visibly to do with God. When any social open act of devotion or solemn worship of God is performed, God should be reverenced as present. As we would not have the ark of God depart from us, her provoke God to make a breach upon us, we should take heed that we handle the ark with reverence. —Jonathan Edwards, in "Errors connected with singing praises to God."

Thou LORD hast made me glad through thy work. One of the parts of the well spending of the Sabbath, is the looking upon, and consideration of the works of creation. The consideration of the Lord's works will afford us much sweet refreshment and joy when God blesses the meditation; and when it is so we ought to acknowledge our gladness most thankfully and lift up our heart in his ways. —David Dickson.

Thy work. The "work of God" here is one no less marvellous than that of creation, which was the original ground of hallowing the Sabbath (see title of this Psalm) —namely, the final redemption of his people. —A.R. Fausset.

Made me glad through thy work, etc. Surely there is nothing in the world, short of the most undivided reciprocal attachment, that has such power over the workings of the human heart as the mild sweetness of Nature. The most ruffled temper, when emerging from the town, will subside into a calm at the sight of an extended landscape reposing in the twilight of a fine evening. It is then that the spirit of peace settles upon the heart, unfetters the thoughts, and elevates the soul to the Creator. It is then that we behold the Parent of the universe in his works; we see his grandeur in earth, sea, sky; we feel his affection in the emotions which they raise, and half mortal, half etherealized, forgot where we are in the anticipation of what that world must be, of which this lovely earth is merely the shadow. —Miss Porter.

I will triumph in the works of thy hands. Here it will be most fitting to remind the reader of those three great bursts of adoring song, which in different centuries have gushed forth from souls enraptured with the sight of nature. They are each of them clear instances of triumphing in the works of God's hands. How majestically Milton sang when he said of our unfallen parents, —

"Nor holy rapture wanted they to praise

Their Maker, in fit strains pronounced or sung

Unmeditated; such prompt eloquence

Flowed from their lips in prose or numerous verse,

More tunable than needed lute or harp

To add more sweetness."

Then he gives us that noble hymn, too well known for us to quote, the reader will find it in the fifth book of the Paradise Lost, commencing —

"These are thy glorious works, Parent of good, Almighty!"

Thomson also, in his Seasons, rises to a wonderful height, as he closes his poem with a hymn —

"These as they change, Almighty Father, these

Are but the varied God."

Coleridge in his "Hymn before Sunrise, in the Vale of Chamouni", equally well treads the high places of triumphant devotion, as he cries —

"Awake my soul! not only passive praise

Thou owest! not alone these swelling tears,

Mute thanks and secret ecstasy! Awake,

Voice of sweet song! Awake, my heart, awake!

Green vales and icy cliffs, all join my hymn."

Thy thoughts. The plural of tbvrm, from the verb bvr, to meditate, to count, to weave; and this last word gives a good idea of what is here made the subject of admiration and praise, the wonderful intricacy and contrivance with which the Divine Mind designs and executes his plans, till at length the result is seen in a beautifully woven tissue of many delicately mingled and coloured threads. —Christopher Wordsworth.

Thy thoughts are very deep. Verily, my brethren, there is no sea so deep as these thoughts of God, who maketh the wicked flourish, and the good suffer: nothing so profound, nothing so deep; therein every unbelieving soul is wrecked, in that depth, in that profundity. Dost thou wish to cross this depth? Remove not from the wood of Christ's cross; and thou shalt not sink: hold thyself fast to Christ. —Augustine.

Expressively he wrote: "The man brute will not know; the fool will not understand this", viz., that when the wicked spring up with rapid and apparently vigorous growth as the summer flowers in Palestine, it is that they may ripen soon for a swift destruction. The man brute precisely translates the Hebrew words; one whom God has endowed with manhood, but who has debased himself to brutehood; a man as being of God's creation in his own image, but a brute as being self moulded (shall we say self made?) into the image of the baser animals! —Henry Cowles.

A brutish man knoweth not, etc. A sottish sensualist who hath his soul for salt only, to keep his body from putrefying (as we say of swine) he takes no knowledge of God's great works, but grunts and goes his ways, contenting himself with a natural use of the creatures, as beasts do. —John Trapp.

A brutish man knoweth not, etc. That is, he being a beast, and having no sanctified principle of wisdom in him, looks no further than a beast into all the works of God and occurrences of things; looks on all blessings as things provided for man's delight by God; but he extracts seldom holy, spiritual, and useful thoughts out of all, he wants the art of doing it. —Thomas Goodwin.

A brutish man knoweth not. How universally do men strive, by the putrid joys of sense and passion, to destroy the fineness of the sensibilities which God has given them. This mind, which might behold a world of glory in created things, and look through them as through a transparent veil to things infinitely more glorious, signified or contained within the covering, is as dull and heavy as a piece of anthracite coal. Who made it so? Alas, habits of sense and sin have done this. If from childhood the soul had been educated for God, in habits accordant with its spiritual nature, it would be full of life, love, and sensibility, in harmony with all lovely things in the natural world, beholding the spiritual world through the natural, alive to all excitement from natural and intellectual beauty, and as ready to its duty as a child to its play. What a dreadful destruction of the mind's inner sensibilities results from a sensual life! What a decline, decay, and paralysis of its intuitive powers, so that the very existence of such a thing as spiritual intuition, in reference to a spiritual world, may be questioned, if not denied! A man may be frightfully successful in such a process of destruction if long enough continued, upon his own nature. "Who can read without indignation of Kant", remarks De Quincey, "that at his own table in social sincerity and confidential talk, let him say what he would in his books, he exulted in the prospect of absolute and ultimate annihilation; that he planted his glory in the grave, and was ambitious of rotting for ever! The King of Prussia, though a personal friend of Kant's, found himself obliged to level his State thunders at some of his doctrines, and terrified him in his advance; else I am persuaded that Kant would have formally delivered Atheism from the professor's chair, and would have enthroned the horrid ghoulish creed, which privately he professed, in the University of Königsberg. It required the artillery of a great king to make him pause. The fact is, that as the stomach has been known by means of its natural secretion, to attack not only whatsoever alien body is introduced within it, but also (as John Hunter first showed), sometimes to attack itself and its own organic structure; so, and with the same preternatural extension of instinct, did Kant carry forward his destroying functions, until he turned them upon his own hopes, and the pledges of his own superiority to the dog, the ape, the worm." —George B. Cheever, in "Voices of Nature", 1852.

A fool. The simpleton is an automaton, he is a machine, he is worked by a spring; mere gravity carries him forward, makes him move, makes him turn, and that unceasingly and in the same way, and exactly with the same equable pace: he is uniform, he is never inconsistent with himself; whoever has seen him once, has seen him at all moments, and in all periods of his life; he is like the ox that bellows, or the blackbird which whistles; that which is least visible in him is his soul; it does not act, it is not exercised, it takes its rest. —Jean de la Bruyère (1639-1696), quoted by Ramage.

Neither doth a fool understand this.

He roved among the vales and streams,

In the green wood and hollow dell;

They were his dwellings night and day, —

But nature never could find the way

Into the heart of Peter Bell.

In vain, through every changeful year,

Did Nature lead him as before;

A primrose by a river's brim

A yellow primrose was to him,

And it was nothing more.

In vain, through water, earth, and air,

The soul of happy sound was spread,

When Peter on some April morn,

Beneath the broom or budding thorn,

Made the warm earth his lazy bed.

At noon, when by the forest's edge

He lay beneath the branches high,

The soft blue sky did never melt

Into his heart; he never felt

The witchery of the soft blue sky!

There was a hardness in his cheek,

There was a hardness in his eye,

As if the man had fixed his face,

In many a solitary place,

Against the wind and open sky. —W. Wordsworth, 1770-1850.

When the wicked spring as the grass, etc. Their felicity is the greatest infelicity. —Adam Clarke.

Little do they think that they are suffered to prosper that like beasts they may be fitter for slaughter. The fatter they are, the fitter for slaughter, and the sooner slain: "He slew the fattest of them." Ps 78:31. —Zachary Bogan.

Here is the central pivot of the Psalm. But thou, Lord, art most high for evermore, lit. "art height", &c., the abstract used for the concrete, to imply that the essence of all that is high is concentrated in Jehovah. When God and the cause of holiness seem low, God is really never higher than then; for out of seeming weakness he perfects the greatest strength. When the wicked seem high, they are then on the verge of being cast down for ever. The believer who can realize this will not despair at the time of his own depression, and of the seeming exaltation of the wicked. If we can feel "Jehovah most high for evermore", we can well be unruffled, however low we lie. —A.R. Fausset.

"Lo thine enemies"; "lo thine enemies." He represents their destruction as present, and as certain, which the repetition of the words implies. —Matthew Pool.

Thine enemies shall perish. This is the only Psalm in the Psalter which is designated a Sabbath song. The older Sabbath was a type of our rest in Christ from sin; and therefore the final extirpation of sin forms one of the leading subjects of the psalm. —Joseph Francis Thrupp.

All the workers of iniquity shall be scattered. The wicked may unite and confederate together, but the bands of their society are feeble. It is seldom that they long agree together; at least as to the particular object of their pursuit. Though they certainly harmonize in the general one, that of working iniquity. But God will soon by his power, and in his wrath, confound and scatter them even to destruction. —Samuel Burder.

Thou shalt lift up, as a Reêym, my horn, seems to point to the mode in which the bovidoe use their horns, lowering the head and then tossing it up. —William Houghton, in Smith's Bible Dictionary.

The horn of an unicorn. —After discussing the various accounts which are given of this animal by ancient and modern writers, Winer says, I do not hesitate to say, it is the Antelope Leucoryx, a species of goat with long and sharp horns. —William Walford.

If shall be anointed with fresh oil. Montanus has, instead of "fresh oil", given the literal meaning of the original virido oleo, "with green oil." Ainsworth also renders it: "fresh or green oil." The remark of Calmet is: "The plants imparted somewhat of their colour, as well as of their fragrance, hence the expression, `green oil.'"Harmer says, "I shall be anointed with green oil." Some of these writers think the term green, as it is in the original, signifies "precious fragrant oil"; others, literally "green" in colour; and others, "fresh" or newly made oil. But I think it will appear to mean "cold drawn oil", that which has been expressed or squeezed from the nut or fruit without the process of boiling. The Orientals prefer this kind to all others for anointing themselves; it is considered the most precious, the most pure and efficacious. Nearly all their medicinal oils are thus extracted; and because they cannot gain so much by this method as by the boiling process, oils so drawn are very dear. Hence their name for the article thus prepared is also patche, that is, "green oil." But this term, in Eastern phraseology, is applied to other things which are not boiled or raw: thus unboiled water is called patchi-tameer, "green water": patche-pal, likewise, "green milk", means that which has not been boiled, and the butter made from it is called "green butter"; and uncooked meat or yams are known by the same name. I think, therefore, the Psalmist alludes to that valuable article which is called "green oil", on account of its being expressed from the nut or fruit, without the process of boiling. —Joseph Roberts's Oriental Illustrations.

Anointed with fresh oil. Every kind of benediction and refreshment I have received, do receive, and shall receive, like one at a feast, who is welcomed as a friend, and whose head is copiously anointed with oil or fragrant balm. In this way, the spirits are gently refreshed, an inner joyousness excited, the beauty of the face and limbs, according to the custom of the country, brought to perfection. Or, there is an allusion to the custom of anointing persons at their solemn installation in some splendid office. Compare Ps 23:5 "Thou anointest my head with oil, "and Ps 45:7, "God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness." —Martin Geier.

(last clause). The phrase is not "I am anointed", hvm; but ytlb, imbutus sum —perfusus sum; apparently in reference to the abundance of perfume employed on the occasion, viz., his being elected King over all the tribes, as indicative of the greater popularity of the act, or the higher measure of Jehovah's blessing on his people. The difference, indeed, between the first anointing of David and that of Saul, as performed by Samuel, is well worthy of notice on the present occasion. When Samuel was commanded to anoint Saul, he "took a vial of oil, and poured it upon his head." in private, 1Sa 16:13. Here we find the horn again made use of and apparently full to the brim —David was soaked or imbued with it. —John Mason Good.

Mine enemies. —The word here used rwv shur —occurs nowhere else. It means, properly, a lier in wait, one who watches; one who is in ambush; and refers to persons who watched his conduct; who watched for his ruin. —A. Barnes.

Like the palm tree. Look now at those stately palm trees, which stand here and there on the plain, like military sentinels, with feathery plumes nodding gracefully on their proud heads. The stem, tall, slender, and erect as Rectitude herself, suggests to the Arab poets many a symbol for their lady love; and Solomon, long before them, has sung, "How fair and how pleasant art thou, O love, for delights! This thy stature is like a palm tree" (So 7:6-7). Yes; and Solomon's father says, "The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree", etc. The royal poet has derived more than one figure from the customs of men, and the habits of this noble tree, with which to adorn his sacred ode. The palm grows slowly, but steadily, from century to century uninfluenced by those alternations of the seasons which affect other trees. It does not rejoice over much in winter's copious rain, nor does it droop under the drought and the burning sun of summer. Neither heavy weights which men place upon its head, nor the importunate urgency of the wind, can sway it aside from perfect uprightness. There it stands, looking calmly down upon the world below, and patiently yielding its large clusters of golden fruit from generation to generation. They bring forth fruit in old age. The allusion to being planted in the house of the Lord is probably drawn from the custom of planting beautiful and long lived trees in the courts of temples and palaces, and in all "high places" used for worship. This is still common; nearly every palace, and mosque, and convent in the country has such trees in the courts, and being well protected there, they flourish exceedingly. Solomon covered all the walls of the "Holy of Holies" round about with palm trees. They were thus planted, as it were, within the very house of the Lord; and their presence there was not only ornamental, but appropriate and highly suggestive. The very best emblem, not only of patience in well doing, but of the rewards of the righteous —a fat and flourishing old age —a peaceful end —a glorious immortality. —W.M. Thomson.

The palm tree. The palms were entitled by Linnaeus, "the princes of the vegetable world"; and Von Martius enthusiastically says, "The common world atmosphere does not become these vegetable monarchs: but in those genial climes where nature seems to have fixed her court, and summons around her of flowers, and fruits, and trees, and animated beings, a galaxy of beauty, —there they tower up into the balmy air, rearing their majestic stems highest and proudest of all. Many of them, at a distance, by reason of their long perpendicular shafts, have the appearance of columns, erected by the Divine architect, bearing up the broad arch of heaven above them, crowned with a capital of gorgeous green foliage." And Humboldt speaks of them as "the loftiest and stateliest of all vegetable forms." To these, above all other trees, the prize of beauty has always been awarded by every nation, and it was from the Asiatic palm world, or the adjacent countries, that human civilization sent forth the first rays of its early dawn. On the northern borders of the Great Desert, at the foot of the Atlas mountains, the groves of date palms form the great feature of that parched region, and few trees besides can maintain an existence. The excessive dryness of this arid tract, where rain seldom falls, is such that wheat refuses to grow, and even barley, maize, and Caffre corn, (Holcus sorghum,)afford the husbandman only a scanty and uncertain crop. The hot blasts from the south are scarcely supportable even by the native himself, and yet here forests of date palms flourish, and form a screen impervious to the rays of the sun, beneath the shade of which the lemon, the orange, and the pomegranate, are cherished, and the vine climbs up by means of its twisted tendrils; and although reared in constant shade, all these fruits acquire a more delicious flavour than in what would seem a more favourable climate. How beautiful a comment do these facts supply to the words of Holy Writ, "The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree!" Unmoved by the scorching and withering blasts of temptations or persecutions, the Christian sustained by the secret springs of Divine grace, lives and grows in likeness to his Divine Master, when all others are overcome, and their professions wither. How striking is the contrast in the psalm. The wicked and worldlings are compared to grass, which is at best but of short duration, and which is easily withered; but the emblem of the Christian is the palm tree, which stands for centuries. Like the grateful shade of the palm groves, the Christian extends around him a genial, sanctified, and heavenly influence; and just as the great value of the date palm lies in its abundant, wholesome, and delicious fruit, so do those who are the true disciples of Christ abound in "fruits of righteousness", for, said our Saviour, "Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples." —"The Palm Tribes and their Varieties." R.T. Society's Monthly Volume.

The righteous shall flourish. David here tells us how he shall flourish. "He shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon." Of the wicked he had said just before, "When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; it is that they shall be destroyed for ever." They flourish as the grass, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven. What a contrast with the worthlessness, the weakness, transitoriness, and destiny, of grass —in a warm country too —are the palm tree and cedar of Lebanon! They are evergreens. How beautifully, how firmly, how largely, they grow! How strong and lofty is the cedar! How upright, and majestic, and tall, the palm tree. The palm also bears fruit, called dates, like bunches of grapes. It sometimes yields a hundredweight at once. He tells us where he shall flourish. "Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God." The allusion is striking. It compares the house of God to a garden, or fine well watered soil, favourable to the life, and verdure, and fertility, of the trees fixed there. The reason is, that in the sanctuary we have the communion of saints. There our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. There are dispensed the ordinances of religion, and the word of truth. There God commandeth the blessing, even life for evermore. He also tells us when he shall flourish. "They shall still bring forth fruit in old age." This is to show the permanency of their principles, and to distinguish them from natural productions.

"The plants of grace shall ever live;

Nature decays, but grace must thrive;

Time, that doth all things else impair,

Still makes them flourish strong and fair."

The young Christian is lovely, like a tree in the blossoms of spring: the aged Christian is valuable, like a tree in autumn, bending with ripe fruit. We therefore look for something superior in old disciples. More deadness to the world, the vanity of which they have had more opportunities to see; more meekness of wisdom; more disposition to make sacrifices for the sake of peace; more maturity of judgment in divine things; more confidence in God; more richness of experience. He also tells us why he shall flourish. "They shall be fat and flourishing; to shew that the Lord is upright." We might rather have supposed that it was necessary to shew that they were upright. But by the grace of God they are what they are —not they, but the grace of God which is in them. From him is their fruit found. Their preservation and fertility, therefore, are to the praise and glory of God; and as what he does for them he had engaged to do, it displays his truth as well as his mercy, and proves that he is upright. —William Jay.

The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree.

1. The palm tree grows in the desert. Earth is a desert to the Christian; true believers are ever refreshed in it as a palm is in the Arabian desert. So Lot amid Sodom's wickedness, and Enoch who walked with God amongst the antediluvians.

2. The palm tree grows from the sand, but the sand is not its food; water from below feeds its tap roots, though the heavens above be brass. Some Christians grow, not as the lily, Ho 14:5, by green pastures, or the willow by water courses, Isa 44:4, but as the palm of the desert; so Joseph among the Cat-worshippers of Egypt, Daniel in voluptuous Babylon. Faith's penetrating root reaches the fountains of living waters.

3. The palm tree is beautiful, with its tall and verdant canopy, and the silvery flashes of its waving plumes; so the Christian virtues are not like the creeper or bramble, tending downwards, their palm branches shoot upwards, and seek the things above where Christ dwells, Co 3:1: some trees are crooked and gnarled, but the Christian is a tall palm as a son of the light, Mt 3:12; Php 2:15. The Jews were called a crooked generation, De 32:5, and Satan a crooked serpent, Isa 27:1, but the Christian is upright like the palm. Its beautiful, unfading leaves make it an emblem of victory; it was twisted into verdant booths at the feast of Tabernacles; and the multitude, when escorting Christ to his coronation in Jerusalem, spread leaves on the way, Mt 21:8; so victors in heaven are represented as having palms in their hands, Re 7:9. No dust adheres to the leaf as it does with the battree; the Christian is in the world, not of it; the dust of earth's desert adheres not to his palm leaf. The leaf of the palm is the same —it does not fall in winter, and even in the summer it has no holiday clothing, it is an evergreen; the palm trees' rustling is the desert orison.

4. The palm tree is very useful. The Hindus reckon it has 360 uses. Its shadow shelters, its fruit refreshes the weary traveller, it points out the place of water, such was Barnabas, a son of consolation, Ac 4:36; such Lydia, Dorcas, and others, who on the King's highway showed the way to heaven, as Philip did to the Ethiopian eunuch, Ac 9:34. Jericho was called the City of Palms, De 34:3.

5. The palm tree produces even to old age. The best dates are produced when the tree is from thirty to one hundred years old; 300 pounds of dates are annually yielded: so the Christian grows happier and more useful as he becomes older. Knowing his own faults more, he is more mellow to others: he is like the sun setting, beautiful, mild, and large, looking like Elim, where the wearied Jews found twelve wells and seventy palm trees. —J. Long, in "Scripture Truth in Oriental Dress", 1871.

Palm trees. The open country moreover wears a sad aspect now: the soil is rent and dissolves into dust at every breath of wind; the green of the meadows is almost entirely gone, —the palm tree alone preserves in the drought and heat its verdant root of leaves. —Gotthelf H. von Schubert, 1780-1860.

A cedar in Lebanon. Laying aside entirely any enquiry as to the palm tree, and laying aside the difficulty contained in the Ps 92:13, I have only to compare this description of the cedar in Lebanon with the accounts of those who have visited them in modern days. Without believing (as the Maronites or Christian inhabitants of the mountains do), that the seven very ancient cedars which yet remain in the neighbourhood of the village of Eden in Lebanon are the remains of the identical forest which furnished Solomon with timber for the Temple, full three thousand years ago, they can yet were be proved to be of very great antiquity. These very cedars were visited by Belonius in 1550, nearly three hundred years ago, who found them twenty-eight in number. Rawolf, in 1575, makes them twenty-four. Dandini, in 1600, and Thevenot about fifty years after, make them twenty-three. Maundrell, in 1696, found them reduced to sixteen. Pococke, in 1738, found fifteen standing, and a sixteenth recently blown down, or (may we not conjecture?) shivered by the voice of God. In 1810, Burckhardt counted eleven or twelve; and Dr. Richardson, in 1818, states them to be no more than seven. There cannot be a doubt, then, that these cedars which were esteemed ancient nearly three hundred years ago, must be of a very great antiquity; and yet they are described by the last of these travellers as "large, and tall, and beautiful, the most picturesque productions of the vegetable world that we had seen." The oldest are large and massy, rearing their heads to an enormous height, and spreading their branches afar. Pococke also remarks, that "the young cedars are not easily known from pines. I observed, they bear a greater quantity of fruit than the large ones." This shows that the old ones still bear fruit, though not so abundantly as the young cedars, which, according to Richardson, are very productive, and cast many seeds annually. How appropriate, then, and full of meaning, is the imagery of the Psalmist: "The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing." —R.M. Macheyne.

Verses 12-15. The life and greenness of the branches in an honour to the root by which they live. Spiritual greenness and fruitfulness is in a believer an honour to Jesus Christ who is his life. The fulness of Christ is manifested by the fruitfulness of a Christian. —Ralph Robinson.

Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God, are not distinctive of some from others, as though some only of the flourishing righteous were so planted; but they are descriptive of them all, with an addition of the way and means whereby they are caused so to grow and flourish. And this is their implantation in the house of the Lord, —that is, in the church, which is the seat of all the means of spiritual life, both as unto growth and flourishing, which God is pleased to grant unto believers. To be planted in the house of the Lord, is to be fixed and rooted in the grace communicated by the ordinances of divine worship. Unless we are planted in the house of the Lord, we cannot flourish in his courts. See Ps 1:3. Unless we are partakers of the grace administered in the ordinances, we cannot flourish in a fruitful profession. —John Owen.

Those that be planted in, the house of the Lord, etc. Saints are planted in the house of God; they have a kind of rooting there: but though the tabernacle be a good rooting place, yet we cannot root firmly there, unless we are rooted in Jesus Christ. To root in tabernacle work, or in the bare use of ordinances, as if that would carry it, and commend us to God, when there is no heart work, when there is no looking to the power of godliness, and to communion with Christ, what is this but building upon the sand? Many come often to the tabernacle, who are more strangers to Christ; they use pure ordinances, but are themselves impure. These may have a great name in the tabernacle for a while, but God blots their names, and roots their hopes out of the tabernacle; yea, he puts them from the horns of the altar, or slays them there, as Solomon gave commandment concerning Joab. —Abraham Wright.

In the house of the Lord. As if in a most select viridarium or as if in a park, abounding in trees dedicated to God. And as in Ps 5:12 he had made mention of Lebanon, where the cedars attain their highest perfection, so now he tacitly opposes to Lebanon the house of God, or church, wherein we bloom, grow, and bring forth fruit pleasing to God. —Martin Geier.

They shall still bring forth fruit in, old age. The point on which the Psalmist in this passage fixes, as he contemplates the blessedness of God's own children, is the beauty and happiness of their old age. The court or open area in the centre of an eastern dwelling, and especially the court of any great and stately dwelling, was often adorned with a tree, or sometimes with more than one, for beauty, for shade, and, as it might be, for fruit. There sometimes the palm tree, planted by the cool fountain, shot up its tall trunk toward the sky, and waved its green top, far above the roof, in the sunlight and the breeze. There sometimes the olive, transplanted from the rocky hill side, may have flourished under the protection and culture of the household, and may have rewarded their care with the rich abundance of its nutritious berries. With such images in his mind, the Psalmist, having spoken of the brief prosperity of the wicked, and having compared it with the springing and flourishing of the grass, which grows to its little height only to be immediately cut down, naturally and beautifully compares the righteous, not with the deciduous herbage, but with the hardy tree that lives on through the summer's drought and the winter's storms, and from season to season still renews its growth. These trees of righteousness, as the poet conceives of them, are "planted in the house of the Lord"; they stand fair and "flowering in the courts of our God" —even "in old age they bring forth fruit" —they are "full of sap and flourishing" —they are living memorials "to show that the Lord is faithful", and that those who trust in him shall never be confounded. —Leonard Bacon, 1845.

—There be three things which constitute a spiritual state, or belong to the life of God.

1. That believers be fat; that is, by the heavenly juice, sap, or fatness of the true olive, of Christ himself, as Ro 11:17. This is the principle of spiritual life and grace derived from him. When this abounds in them, so as to give them strength and rigour in the exercise of grace, to keep them from decays and withering, they are said to be fat; which, in the Scripture phrase, is strong and healthy.

2. That they flourish in the greenness (as the word is) and verdure of profession; for vigorous grace will produce a flourishing profession.

3. That they still bring forth fruit in all duties of holy obedience. All these are promised unto them even in old age.

Even trees, when they grow old (the palm and the cedar), are apt to lose a part of their juice and verdure: and men in old age are subject unto all sorts of decays, both outward and inward. It is a rare thing to see a man in old age naturally vigorous, healthy, and strong; and would it were not more rare to see any spiritually so at the same season! But this is here promised unto believers as an especial grace and privilege, beyond what can be represented in the growth or fruit bearing of plants and trees. The grace intended is, that when believers are under all sorts of bodily and natural decays, and, it may be, have been overtaken with spiritual decays also, there is provision made in the covenant to render them fat, flourishing, and fruitful, —vigorous in the power of internal grace, and flourishing in the expression of it in all duties of obedience; which is that which we now inquire after. Blessed be God for this good word of his grace, that he hath given us such encouragement against all the decays and temptations of old age which we have to conflict withal! And the Psalmist, in the next words, declares the greatness of the privilege: "To shew that the Lord is upright: he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him." Consider the oppositions that lie against the flourishing of believers in old age, the difficulties of it, the temptations that must be conquered, the acting of the mind above its natural abilities which are decayed, the weariness that is apt to befall us in a long spiritual conflict, the cries of the flesh to be spared, and we shall see it to be an evidence of the faithfulness, power, and righteousness of God in covenant; nothing else could produce this mighty effect. So the prophet, treating of the same promise, Ho 14:4-8, closes his discourse with that blessed remark, Ho 14:9, "Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them." Spiritual wisdom will make us to see that the faithfulness and power of God are exerted in this work of preserving believers flourishing and fruitful unto the end. —John Owen.

Constancy is an ingredient in the obedience Christ requires. His trees bring forth fruit in old age. Age makes other things decay, but makes a Christian flourish. Some are like hot horses, mettlesome at the beginning of a journey, and tired a long time before they come to their journey's end. A good disciple, as he would not have from God a temporary happiness, so he would not give to God a temporary obedience; as he would have his glory last as long as God lives, so he would have his obedience last as long as he lives. Judas had a fair beginning, but destroyed all in the end by betraying his Master. —Stephen Charnook.

Flourishing. Here is not only mention of growing but of flourishing, and here's flourishing three times mentioned, and it is growing and flourishing not only like a tree, but like a palm tree, (which flourisheth under oppression), and like a cedar (not growing in ordinary places, but) "in Lebanon", where were the goodliest cedars. Nor doth the Spirit promise here a flourishing in boughs and leaves only (as some trees do, and do no more), but in fruit; and this not only fruit for once in a year, or one year, but they still bring forth fruit, and that not only in the years of their youth, or beginnings in grace, but in old age, and that not only in the entrance of that state which is called old age, threescore years, but that which the Scripture calls the perfection of old age, threescore years and ten, as the learned Hebrews observe upon the word used in the psalm. What a divine climax doth the Spirit of God make in this Scripture, to show that the godly man as to his state, is so far from declining, that he is still climbing higher and higher. —Joseph Caryl.

He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in, him. Implying that God can no more be moved or removed from doing righteously, than a rock can be removed out of its place. —Joseph Caryl.

1. It is a good thing to have cause for gratitude. Every one has this.

2. It is a good thing to have the principle of gratitude. This is the gift of God.

3. It is a good thing to give expression to gratitude. This may excite gratitude in others. —G.R.

Verses 1-3. The blessedness of praise,

Ps 92:1. The theme of praise,

Ps 92:2. The ingenuity of praise,

Ps 92:3. Inanimate nature enlisted in the holy work. —C.A. Davis.

1. Our praises of God should be intelligent, declaring his varied attributes.

2. Seasonable, declaring each attribute in appropriate time.

3. Continual, every night, and every day.

1. All the powers of the soul shall be praise. "Upon an instrument of ten strings", all the chords of the mind, affections, will, etc.

2. All the utterances of the lips should be praise.

2. All the actions of the life should be praise.

In our praise of God there should be,

1. Preparation —for instruments should be tuned.

2. Breadth of thought —"upon an instrument of ten strings."

3. Absorption of the whole nature —"ten strings."

4. Variety —psaltery, harp, etc.

5. Deep reverence —"solemn sound."

(first sentence).

1. My state —"glad."

2. How I arrived at it —"thou hast made me glad."

3. What is the ground of it? —"through thy work."

4. What, then, shall I do? —ascribe it all to God, and bless him for it.

1. The most divine gladness —of God's creation, having God's work for its argument.

2. The most divine triumph —caused by the varied works of God in creation, providence, redemption, &c. The first is for our own hearts, the second is for the convincing of those around us.

The unscalable mountains and the fathomless sea: or the divine works and the divine thoughts (God revealed and hidden) equally beyond human apprehension. —C.A. Davis.

Great prosperity the frequent forerunner of destruction to wicked men, for it leads them to provoke divine wrath —

1. By hardness of heart, as Pharaoh.

2. By pride, as Nebuchadnezzar.

3. By haughty hatred of the saints, as Haman.

4. By carnal security, as the rich fool.

5. By self exaltation, as Herod.

Verses 7-10. Contrasts. Between the wicked and God, Ps 92:7-8. Between God's enemies and his friends, Ps 92:9-10. —C.A. Davis.

Verses 7, 12-14. The wicked and the righteous pourtrayed. —C.A. Davis.

(last clause). Christian illumination, consecration, gladness, and graces, are all of them the anointing of the Spirit. —William Garrett Lewis, 1872.

(last clause). The subject of David's confidence was —

1. Very comprehensive, including renewed strength, fresh tokens of favour, confirmation in office, qualification for it, and new joys.

2. Well grounded, since it rested in God, and his promises.

3. Calming all fears.

4. Exciting hopes.

5. Causing pity for those who have no such confidence.

1. The righteous flourish in all places. Palm in the valley, cedar on the mountain.

2. In all seasons. Both trees are evergreen.

3. Under all circumstances. Palm in drought, cedar in storm and frost. —G.R.

Verses 14-16.

1. Regeneration —"planted."

2. Growth in grace —"flourish."

3. Usefulness —"fruit."

4. Perseverance —"old age."

5. The reason of it all —"to shew that the Lord", etc.

Verse 15-16. The reason and the pledge of final perseverance. —C.A. Davis.