John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

Psalms 100:1



INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 100



A Psalm of Praise. The Arabic version ascribes this psalm to David, and very likely it is one of his: the Targum calls it



"a hymn for the sacrifice of thanksgiving;''



and so Jarchi. It is supposed to have been used when peace offerings for thanksgivings were offered up, Le 7:11. The Syriac inscription is very odd;



"concerning Joshua the son of Nun, when he made the war of the Ammonites to cease;''



though it more rightly adds,



"but in the New Testament, when the Gentiles are converted to the faith:''



and indeed the scope of the psalm is to exhort the Gentiles to praise the Messiah, to serve and worship him, from the consideration of his goodness and mercy, truth and faithfulness.



Ver. 1. Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Or, "all the earth" {c}; that is, as the Targum, all the inhabitants of the earth, who are called upon to shout unto him as their King; as the angels did at his birth, the disciples when he made his public entrance into Jerusalem, the apostles at his ascension to heaven, the saints when the marriage of him, the Lamb, will be come, and both men and angels when he shall descend from heaven to judge the world; and such a joyful noise or shout should be made unto him as to a triumphant conqueror, who has got the victory over sin, Satan, death, and the grave, and every enemy of his and his people, and made them more than conquerors through himself; see Ps 95:1.



{c} Urah lk "omnis terra", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version, &c.





Psalms 100:2



Ver. 2. Serve the Lord with gladness,.... Not with a slavish fear, under a spirit of bondage, as the Jews under the legal dispensation; not in the oldness of the letter, but in the newness of the Spirit: with spiritual joy and freedom of soul, as under the spirit of adoption; readily, willingly, cheerfully; without sinister and selfish ends and views; as their Lord and Master; taking delight in his person, and pleasure in his service; rejoicing in him, without having any confidence in the flesh:



come before his presence with singing; to the throne of his grace with thankfulness for mercies received, as well as to implore others; and into his house, and at his ordinances, beginning public worship with singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; see Ps 95:2.





Psalms 100:3



Ver. 3. Know ye that the Lord he is God,.... Own and acknowledge him to be God, as well as man; and though a man, yet not a mere man, but the great God and our Saviour, the true God and eternal life; so a man, as that he is Jehovah's fellow; or our God, as the Syriac and Ethiopic versions; Immanuel, God with us, God in our nature, God manifest in the flesh:



[it is] he [that] hath made us; as men, without whom nothing is made that was made; in him we live, move, and have our being; and, as new creatures, we are his workmanship, created in him, and by him; regenerated by his Spirit and grace, and formed for himself, his service and glory; and made great and honourable by him, raised from a low to an high estate; from being beggars on the dunghill, to sit among princes; yea, made kings and priests unto God by him; so, Kimchi,



"he hath brought us up, and exalted us:''



and not we ourselves; that is, did not make ourselves, neither as creatures, nor as new creatures; as we have no hand in making either our souls or bodies, so neither in our regeneration, or in the work of God upon our hearts; that is solely the Lord's work: there is a double reading of this clause; the marginal reading is,



and we are his; which is followed by the Targum and Aben Ezra: both are approved of by Kimchi, and the sense of both is included; for if the Lord has made us, and not we ourselves, then we are not our own, but his, and ought to serve and glorify him: we are his by creation; "we are also his offspring", as said Aratus {d}, an Heathen poet, cited by the Apostle Paul, Ac 17:28,



we are his people; by choice and covenant; by his Father's gift, and his own purchase; and by the power of his grace, bringing to a voluntary surrender and subjection to him; even the Gentiles particularly, who were not his people, but now his people, 1Pe 2:9,



and the sheep of his pasture; his sheep also by gift and purchase, called by him, made to know his voice, and follow him; for whom he provides pasture, leads to it, and feeds them with it himself; see

Ps 74:1.



{d} tou gar kai genouv esmen. Arati Phaenomena, v. 5.





Psalms 100:4



Ver. 4. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving,.... The same with the gates of Zion, loved by the Lord more than all the dwellings of Jacob; the gates of Jerusalem, within which the feet of the saints stand with pleasure; the gates of Wisdom, or Christ, where his followers watch and wait; the gates into his house, the church, and the public ordinances of it, to be entered into with thankfulness for all mercies, temporal and spiritual; for the Gospel, and Gospel opportunities and ordinances:



and into his courts with praise; with the sacrifice of praise, as in

Ps 96:8, of these courts, see Ps 65:4,



be thankful unto him; for all blessings of grace in him and by him; for all things, and at all times:



and bless his name; by ascribing honour, blessing, and glory to him, saying, "blessed be his glorious name for ever", Ps 72:19.





Psalms 100:5



Ver. 5. For the Lord is good,.... Both in a providential way, and in a way of grace, and does good; he is the good Shepherd, that has laid down his life for the sheep; and the good Samaritan, that pours in the wine and oil of his love and grace, and his precious blood, to the healing of the wounds made by sin: while he was on earth, he went about doing good to the bodies and souls of men; and he continues to do good unto them, and therefore should be praised, served, and worshipped:



his mercy is everlasting; or "his grace" {e}; there is always a sufficiency of it for his people; and his lovingkindness, which may be also here meant, is always the same; having loved his own which were in the world, he loves them to the end, Joh 13:1



and his truth endureth to all generations; or his faithfulness in fulfilling his promises, and performing his engagements; he was faithful to his Father that appointed him, and to the covenant he made with him; and he is faithful to his people, to keep what they commit to his care and charge now, and to give them the crown of righteousness at the last day, which is laid up for them; and upon all these considerations, and for these reasons, ought to be praised and adored.



{e} wdox "gratia ejus", Cocceius, Gejerus; "gratia et misericordia ejus", Michaelis.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

Psalms 101:1



INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 101



A Psalm of David. The title of this psalm, in the Syriac version, is,



"for Asaph, an exhortation of David, concerning those things which are required in the ministry of the house of the Lord; and a prophecy of the praise of the conqueror, and of the perfect man in God.''



Theodoret thinks it was written by David concerning good Josiah, whom he foresaw, by a spirit of prophecy, would rise up a great reformer of the people, and whom he proposes as a pattern of perfection to others; but it was, no doubt, written by him of himself; very likely, after he was delivered out of his troubles by the death of Saul, and was come to the kingdom, since he resolves to "sing of mercy and judgment": though by the interrogation, "when wilt thou come unto me?" it looks as if he had not arrived to the height of his honour: wherefore, perhaps, this psalm was penned between his being made king over Judah, and his being made king over all the tribes; but, be it as it may, the design of it is to show his resolutions, how he would behave as a king in his court, and as a master in his family; so that it is very instructive to kings and civil magistrates, and to parents and masters of families: and as David was a type of Christ, he seems, throughout the whole, to represent him; and, indeed, there are some things in it which agree with none so well as with him; such as behaving wisely, in a perfect way, and walking in his house with a perfect heart; not suffering any evil thing to cleave unto him, and knowing none, and the like.



Ver. 1. I will sing of mercy and judgment,.... Either of mercy and justice, exercised by him towards his people, which he resolved to do, and did, 2Sa 8:15 which are two very principal points in government, are the glory of a reign, the support of the throne, and the happiness of a people, Pr 20:28, or rather of the mercy of God to himself, in delivering him from his enemies, and raising him to the throne; and of the judgment of God in maintaining his cause, and avenging him on those that hated him: every good man has reason to sing of the "mercy" of God; not only of his providential mercy, but of his special mercy, prepared in council and covenant for him, displayed in regeneration, in the pardon of sin, and in his everlasting salvation: or of "grace" and goodness, as the word {f} signifies; of the grace and goodness of God laid up in Christ, shown forth through him, and to which the whole of salvation is owing; singing of this shows a sense of it, thankfulness for it, and a cheerful disposition of soul, in a view of interest in it: and he may also sing of "judgment": of righteous punishment inflicted upon his enemies, and the enemies of God, and Christ, and true religion; not as taking delight in the misery of fellow creatures, but as rejoicing in the glory of divine justice displayed therein, and in a deliverance from them; as Israel did at the Red sea; and as the church will, when Babylon is destroyed: moreover, a good man may sing of mercy and judgment together, with respect to himself; there being, in the course of his life, a mixture of prosperity and adversity, of merciful and afflictive dispensations, which work together for his good; and he has reason to be thankful for the one as for the other, as Job was, Job 1:21, so the Targum,



"if thou renderest mercy to me; if thou exercisest judgment on me; for all I will praise thee:''



judgment sometimes signifies chastisement, Jer 10:24, it may be understood of Christ, who sung of the mercy of God, as shown in the mission of him into the world to save men, and which was glorified in their redemption by him; and of the justice of God exercised on him, as their surety, on whom judgment came unto condemnation for their sins; and when the sword of justice was awaked against him, the hand of mercy was turned on the little ones, Zec 13:7,



unto thee, O Lord, will I sing; on the above subjects.



{f} dox "gratiam", Gejerus, Michaelis.





Psalms 101:2



Ver. 2. I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way, &e.] So David did before he came to the throne, which made Saul fear him, and the people love him, 1Sa 18:14 and so he resolved to do, and did afterwards; and thus it becomes all good men, in every station of life, to do: and then do they behave wisely, when they walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time; when they make the perfect law of liberty, the word of God, the rule of their faith; take Christ for their pattern and example, and the Spirit for their guide; when they walk as becomes the Gospel of Christ; seek the glory of God, and the good of others; behave inoffensively to all, and live as pilgrims and strangers here; attending closely to their duty, walking in all the commandments of the Lord blameless: and yet it is certain that no man lives without sin, or does or can behave himself wisely in so "perfect a way" and manner as to have no fault in him; wherefore this seems most applicable to Christ, who, as it was prophesied he should, so he did "deal prudently", or behave wisely, Isa 52:13, where the same word is used as here; and this is true of Christ throughout the whole of his life; in his infancy, when but twelve years of age; in his public ministry, in his conduct towards all men; in his answers to the ensnaring questions of his enemies; in his behaviour at his apprehension, arraignment, condemnation and crucifixion; and this to perfection, so as that the least fault could not be found in him:



O when wilt thou come unto me? and perform thy promise in bringing me to rule over all the tribes of Israel: or it may be read without an interrogation, "when thou wilt come unto me" {g}; that is, when thou wilt grant me thy gracious presence, and divine assistance, then I will behave myself wisely, in a perfect way; or "in the way of perfect" {h} and upright men, and will walk with them, and do as they do; without the grace of God, and strength of Christ, and the assistance of the Spirit, nothing is to be done that is wise and good: if it is applied to Christ, it respects the time of his sufferings and death, when he was without the divine Presence and help:



I will walk within my house with a perfect heart; or "in the integrity of my heart" {i}; in a sincere and upright manner, ruling my own house well, and setting a good example to all in the family; and so should all good men do, performing all duties of religion in the family; be a pattern of good works, bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and neglect nothing that may contribute to their real good and the glory of God: the house of Christ is his church and people: here he walks and manifests himself, giving proofs of his sincere love and affection to them: the Targum paraphrases it,



"the house of my doctrine;''



such is the church of Christ, Isa 2:3.



{g} So V. L. Musculus, Cocceius, Gejerus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Tigurine version. {h} Mymt Krdb "in via integri"; so some in Michaelis. {i} ybbl Mtb "in integritate cordis mei", Tigurine version, Piscator, Cocceius, Gejerus.





Psalms 101:3



Ver. 3. I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes, Either the eyes of the body, which are the inlets of lust and are easily caught with objects that inflame the heart, and should be turned aside from beholding vanity; or the eyes of the mind; so the Targum,



"I will not propose to my heart;''



or, as Kimchi,



"in my thought'',



that is, I will not set up an evil thing in my imagination, to dwell upon in my thoughts, and take delight and pleasure in meditating upon it; or set it before me, to imitate as a pattern, to work by, and copy after: Christ did not so; he set the Lord always before him, Ps 16:8, not anything of Belial {k} or Satan, as the phrase here may be rendered; no, he always bid Satan, or anything of his, be gone, and get behind him, Mt 4:10.



I hate the work of them that turn aside; from God, and from his law; from the paths of religion, truth, and virtue; and from the Gospel, and a profession of it; such are not fit for the kingdom of God, and in these God and Christ have no pleasure, Heb 10:38,



it shall not cleave to me; neither the wicked thing, or thing of Belial, nor the work of apostasy; that is, he would have no familiarity nor fellowship with it; not come near it, nor connive at it, but hate and abhor it: the Jews said, an evil disease, or a thing of Belial, "cleaveth fast unto him", Ps 41:8, but they were mistaken.



{k} leylb rbd "verbum Belijahal", Montanus; so Cocceius, Gejerus, Ainsworth.





Psalms 101:4



Ver. 4. A froward heart shall depart from me,.... A man of a froward heart, that devises frowardness in his heart, and speaks it out with his mouth; that which is perverse, and contrary to the law of God and Gospel of Christ, to the light of nature and the word of God; contrary to the sentiments of all good men, and repugnant to truth and good manners: such sort of persons are disagreeable companions, and good men would not choose to have anything to do with them; they are hateful to Christ, and shall be bid to depart from him; see Pr 8:13.



I will not know a wicked person: so as to be familiar with him, or show him any respect; have any affection for him, or take any notice of him; such Christ will not know at the great day, Mt 7:23, or "I will not know wickedness" {l}, or any wicked work and action, approve of it, love it, delight in it, and do it: the Targum interprets it of the evil concupiscence, corruption of nature, or indwelling sin, which is hated by the believer, Ro 7:15 and is utterly unknown to Christ; he was not conscious of it; he knew no sin, 2Co 5:21 original or actual; he had no sin in him, nor was any done by him, or, it may be, mention is made of the morning, because that was the usual time of hearing and judging causes, Jer 21:12, or this may have respect to the spiritual reign of Christ, whose coming will be as the morning; when the Heathens shall perish out of his land, when sinners shall be consumed out of the earth, and the wicked shall be no more, and he will destroy them that destroy the earth, Ps 10:16. The Targum agrees with this,



"in the world to come, which is like to the light of the morning, I will destroy all the wicked of the earth:''



that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the Lord; from the city of Jerusalem, as the Targum and Kimchi interpret it; and it may be understood of the church of God, in the spiritual reign of Christ, into which shall enter no more the uncircumcised and the unclean; and all that offend and do iniquity shall be gathered out of it,

Isa 52:1 or of the New Jerusalem church state, in the personal reign of Christ, into which no wicked doers will be admitted, but will remain for ever without, Re 21:27.



{l} er "malum hominem sive opus", Gejerus, Michaelis.





Psalms 101:5



Ver. 5. Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I cut off,.... That raises and spreads a false report of him; that insinuates evil things of him; that brings false charges and accusations against him, in a private manner, when he has no opportunity to defend himself: such an one David threatens to cut off from his presence, as Kimchi interprets it; from all communion and conversation with him; and yet he listened to the slanders of Ziba against Mephibosheth: but Christ, who knows the hearts and the secret actions of men, will reject and cut off all persons of such a character: the Targum is,



"he that speaketh with a triple tongue against his neighbour, him will I destroy, and he shall be smitten with the leprosy:''



a slandering tongue is called a triple tongue with the Jews {m}, because, as they say, it kills three persons; him that carries the slander, him that receives it, and him of whom it is related; see the Apocrypha:



"Whoso hearkeneth unto it shall never find rest, and never dwell quietly.'' (Sirach 28:16)



him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer; or, "I cannot" {n}; that is, cannot bear him in my presence and company; cannot look upon him with any pleasure and delight: the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and the Oriental versions, render it, "with him I will not eat": have no familiarity or acquaintance with him; see 1Co 5:11, such who looked above others, and with contempt upon them, whose hearts were large, as the word {o} signifies, were ambitious and insatiable, and never had enough of riches and honour; such were very contrary to David's character, and could never be agreeable to him, Ps 121:1, as the proud and haughty Pharisees were not to Christ, Lu 18:9, and the man of sin that exalts himself above all that is called God, that little horn, whose look is more stout than his fellows, 2Th 2:4.



{m} T. Bab. Erahin, fol. 15. 2. Vide Targum Jon. in Deut. 27. 4. {n} lkwa al "non potero", Pagninus, Montanus, Gejerus; "ferre", Musculus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius, Michaelis. {o} bbl bxr "vastum corde", Montanus; "latum corde", Vatablus, Cocceius, Gejerus, Michaelis.





Psalms 101:6



Ver. 6. Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land,.... To look them out, bring them to court, and promote them to places of honour and trust; such an one was David himself, and such there were in the land of Israel, though but few, and of which he complains, Ps 12:1. Christ's eyes are upon faithful persons, on faithful ministers of the word, who preach the Gospel faithfully, administer the ordinances truly, are faithful to the souls of men in watching over them, reproving and exhorting them; his eyes are upon them to keep and preserve them, and to honour and reward them with a crown of life that fadeth not away; and his eyes are also on faithful members of churches, such who truly believe in him, who hold fast the faithful word, and keep close to his worship and ordinances; his eyes are upon them, to show favour to them, to bestow blessings upon them, and to protect and defend them, and preserve them from perishing:



that they may dwell with me; or, "sit with me" {p}; at his table, or at the council board, or in judgment, and assist him in the affairs of government: so such as are faithful shall dwell with Christ both here and hereafter; they dwell in him and with him by faith, and have communion with him; they dwell in his house below, and shall dwell with him above for evermore:



he that walketh in a perfect way; in God's way, in the way he has prescribed and directed, to what is perfect; in a way agreeable to his word, in all his commandments and ordinances, in Christ, the way, the truth, and the life:



and in the way of perfect men {q}, as it may be rendered; in the way that such walk; and though he does not walk perfectly, or without sin, yet sincerely and uprightly:



he shall serve me; be taken into my service, be employed by me, as a prime minister, a counsellor, a secretary of state, or in other lesser places under David. But, as it refers to Christ, it signifies that such an one shall be a servant of his, which is no small honour; for, where he is, there shall his servant be, Joh 12:26. The Targum is,



"he shall stand with my servants;''



in his house here, and at his right hand hereafter.



{p} tbvl "ad sedendum", Montanus; "ut sedeant", V. L. Gejerus. {q} Mymt Krdb "in via integra vel integri", Michaelis.





Psalms 101:7



Ver. 7. He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house,.... Flatterers, sycophants, tricking and fraudulent persons, who seek to supplant others, and get into their places; these should lose the favour they had, when detected. So hypocritical persons, that have only a form of godliness, a mask of religion, and false teachers that lie in wait to deceive; and antichrist, whose coming was with all deceivableness of unrighteousness; who has seduced men by his miracles, doctrines, and sorceries; these shall have no place, neither in Christ's house below nor above. The Targum is,



"he that works deceit shall not dwell in the midst of the house of my sanctuary:''



he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight; or, "he shall not be established" before mine eyes {r}; he shall not continue in his post and place, in his office and station; he shall soon be dismissed from it; lying is very abominable to God, very prejudicial to men, and hated by Christ, who is truth itself. All sorts of lies, and liars are so, religious and doctrinal ones; such who speak lies in hypocrisy, as the emissaries of Rome; all that make an abomination, or a lie, will have no place with Christ in the New Jerusalem, Re 21:27.



{r} Nwkn al "nequaquam firmabitur", Pagninus, Montanus; "non stabilietur", Vatablus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius, Gejerus, Michaelis.





Psalms 101:8



Ver. 8. I will early destroy all the wicked of the land, &e.] Of the land of Israel, signifying that he would make a general reformation throughout the kingdom; that as soon as wicked men were discovered in any part of the land, he would cut them off, would take the first opportunity of punishing them as the law directs: or he would do it "in morning" {s}, as in the Hebrew text; that is, every morning, constantly and continually;



{s} Myrqbl "in matutinis", Montanus, Vatablus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius; so Ainsworth.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

Psalms 102:1



INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 102



A prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and poureth out his complaint before the Lord; Whether this psalm was written by David, under a prophetic spirit, concerning future times; or whether by one of the Babylonish captivity, as Daniel, Nehemiah, Ezra, or any other; either just at the close of it, or upon their return from it; since it is said that "the set time to favour Zion was come", is not certain: however, since Zion was a type of the Gospel church, it may be very well applied to Gospel times; and the rather, since some passages in it are cited by the apostle in Heb 1:10 as to be understood of Christ: see Ps 102:25. The Syriac version calls it,



"a prophecy concerning the new people, namely, the Gentiles in the faith:''



it is entitled, "a prayer of the afflicted", or "poor" {e}; which Austin understood of Christ, who became poor for our sakes, and was afflicted of God and men. Aben Ezra, Jarchi, and Kimchi, interpret it of the Jews suffering affliction in the Babylonish captivity; the former observes, that it was the opinion of some of their interpreters that this prayer was composed by some wise and understanding man that fell into the hand of his enemies. It may very well be applied to any afflicted person; all the people of God are more or less a poor and afflicted people; outwardly afflicted in body, in estate, and in their good name and character; inwardly with the corruptions of their own hearts, the temptations of Satan, and divine desertions; when it is a very proper time for prayer, Jas 5:13, and it is their privilege that they have a God of grace and mercy to pray unto, a throne of grace to come to at all times, a spirit of grace and supplication to assist them, and Christ their Advocate and High Priest, to present their petitions for them: and this everyone may do, "when he is overwhelmed"; pressed with the burden of sin, without a view of pardon, covered, as the word {f} signifies, with shame and sorrow for it; almost overset with, and ready to faint and sink under, afflictions, which like waves and billows roll over him; and at the same time is attended with much darkness and unbelieving frames of soul: "and poureth out his complaint before the Lord"; concerning his trials and afflictions, especially concerning the badness and haughtiness of his heart, the hardness of it, being so unaffected with providences, and under the word, and at the ordinances; concerning his leanness, barrenness, and unfruitfulness under the means of grace; his lukewarmness and indifference, his deadness and dulness in duty; his unbelief, distrust, and dejection of mind; as well as of the low estate of Zion, the little success of the Gospel, the few instances of conversion, and the unbecoming walk of many professors. Such a "complaint" as this, or "meditation" {g}, which he has thought of and digested in his mind; or all that is in his heart, as Aben Ezra observes, "he pours out" which denotes enlargement in prayer, the abundance of his heart, out of which his mouth speaketh; the fulness of his petition, as also freedom of expression it signifies a parrhsia, a telling all one's mind, speaking out with great liberty; laying it in an humble manner before the Lord, before whom all things are naked and open, and leaving it with him, in entire submission and resignation to his will, to do as seems good in his sight.



Ver. 1. Hear my prayer, O Lord,.... The prayer of a poor, destitute, and afflicted one; his own, and not another's; not what was composed for him, but composed by him; which came out of his own heart, and out of unfeigned lips, and expressed under a feeling sense of his own wants and troubles; and though dictated and inwrought in his heart by the Spirit of God, yet, being put up by him in faith and fervency, it is called his own, and which he desires might be heard:



and let my cry come unto thee; he calls his prayer cry, because it was uttered in distress, and with great vehemency and importunity; and he prays that it might come unto God, even into his ears, and be regarded by him, and not shut out: prayer comes aright to God, when it comes through Christ, and out of his hands, perfumed with the incense of his mediation.



{e} ynel "pauperis", V. L. Pagninus, Vatablus, Amama; "inopis", Cocceius. {f} Pjey "convolveretur", Munster; "obtegitur", Gejerus, so Michaelis. {g} wxyv "meditationem suam", Junius & Tremellius, Gejerus, so Ainsworth.





Psalms 102:2



Ver. 2. Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble,.... Thy Shechinah, as the Targum: when God hides his face at any time from his people, it is a trouble to them, and very grievous; but especially when they are in any other trouble besides; it is very afflicting, indeed, when to their outward trouble this is added, which was Job's case, Job 23:1, incline thine ear unto me; condescend, in great grace and goodness, to stoop and bow thine ear, and listen to the voice of my supplication: in the day when I call, answer me speedily; good men are always for speedy answers of prayer; they would have them the day, the hour, the moment they are calling upon God: sometimes answers are returned as soon,

Isa 65:24, the case of the psalmist was very distressing, and, as he thought at least, required haste, and therefore requests a speedy answer.





Psalms 102:3



Ver. 3. For my days are consumed like smoke,.... Which suddenly rises up, is easily dissipated, and quickly disappears; so sudden, short, and transient, are the days of man's life; see Jas 4:14 or "in smoke" {c}, as the Syriac version; his days were spent in great obscurity, in the darkness of affliction, temptation, and desertion; and in so much vexation, trouble, and uneasiness, as if he had lived in smoke all his time: and



my bones are burnt as an hearth; on which fire is continually made for the preparation of food, and other uses: or as a "trivet", or "gridiron": so the Targum: or as a frying pan; so the Arabic version: the meaning is, that, through trouble and grief, his bones, the strongest parts of his body, the props and supports of it, were so weakened and enfeebled, the strength of them so exhausted, that they were as if they had been parched and burnt up, as the hearth by fire; see Pr 17:22.



{c} Nveb "in fumo", Montanus.





Psalms 102:4



Ver. 4. My heart is smitten, and withered like grass,.... Like grass in the summer solstice {d}, which being smitten with the heat of the sun, or by some blast of thunder and lightning, is dried up, and withers away; so his heart was smitten with a sense of sin, and of God's wrath and displeasure at him, and with the heat of affliction and trouble, that it failed him, and he could not look up with joy and comfort:



so that I forget to eat my bread; sometimes, through grief and trouble, persons refuse to eat bread, as Jonathan and Ahab, which is a voluntary act, and purposely done; but here, in the psalmist, there was such a loss of appetite, through sorrow, that he forgot his stated meals, having no manner of inclination to food: some understand this of spiritual food, the bread of life, refusing to be comforted with it; so the Targum,



"for I forgot the law of my doctrine.''



{d} "Quasi solstitialis herba paulisper fui", Plauti Pseudolus, Act. 1. Sc. 1. v. 36.





Psalms 102:5



Ver. 5. By reason of the voice of my groaning,.... Under the burden of sin, and pressure of afflictions:



my bones cleave to my skin; was quite emaciated, reduced to a skeleton, became nothing but skin and bone {e}; which sometimes is occasioned, as by outward afflictions, so by soul troubles: or "to my flesh" {f}; flesh is put for skin; see Job 19:20.



{e} "Ossa atque pellis sum", Plauti Capteivei, Act. 1. Sc. 2. v. 26. Asinaria 3. 6. v. 28. {f} yrvbl "carni meae", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, &c.





Psalms 102:6



Ver. 6. I am like a pelican of the wilderness,.... It may be so called, to distinguish it from another of the same name that lives upon the waters; which has the name of "pelican" in the Greek tongue, as is said, from its smiting and piercing its breast, and letting out blood for the reviving of its young; and in the Hebrew language, from its vomiting shell fish it has swallowed down; See Gill on "Le 11:18" where the word is rendered a "pelican" as here, and in De 14:17, the same we call the "shovelard"; but a "cormorant" in Isa 34:11, however, it seems to be a bird of solitude, and therefore the psalmist compares himself to it. According to Isidore {g}, it is an Egyptian bird, that inhabits the desert of the river Nile, from whence it has the name of Canopus Aegyptus:



I am like an owl of the desert; or "of desert places"; so the Tigurine version; it is translated "the little owl" in Le 11:17. It delights to be on old walls, and in ruined houses, and cares not to consort with other birds, and it makes a hideous sorrowful noise {h}. Jarchi renders it the hawk, but that, as Kimchi {i} observes, is found in habitable places. Bochart {k} thinks the "onocrotalos" is meant, a bird so much of the same kind with the pelican, that they are promiscuously used by learned men; and which is a creature, as Jerom {l} says, that is used to dwell in desert places; and Isidore {m} observes, that there are two sorts of them, one that lives in the water, and another in the desert; it has its name from its braying like an ass; and Aelianus {n} speaks of a bird of this sort in India, which has a large crop like a sack; and the Hebrew word "cos" here used signifies a cup or vessel, from whence it may have its name; and which he says makes a very disagreeable noise, to which the psalmist may compare the voice of his groaning, Ps 102:5.



{g} Origin. l. 12. c. 7. {h} "Solaque culminibus ferali carmine Bubo, saepe queri----", Virgil. Aeneid. 4. {i} Sepher Shorash. rad. owk. {k} Hierozoic. par. 2. l. 2. c. 20. col. 275, 276. {l} Comment. in Esaiam, c. 34. fol. 64. A. {m} Ut supra. (Origin. l. 12. c. 7.) {n} De Animal. l. 16. c. 4.





Psalms 102:7



Ver. 7. I watch,.... Night after night, and take no sleep; cannot get any by reason of thoughtfulness, care, and trouble:



and am as a sparrow alone upon the housetop; or, "as a bird" {o}; for there is no necessity of limiting it to a sparrow, to which the account does not seem so well to agree; for sparrows will not only perch on housetops and solitary places, but will make their nests in dwelling houses, and in places of public resort, as temples; hence David speaks of the sparrow finding an house near the altars of God,

Ps 84:3 and Herodotus {p} makes mention of sparrows and other birds making their nests in the temple at Branchides; which may serve to illustrate the text last mentioned: wherefore this may be understood of any solitary bird, and especially of the owl {q}; the Jews had flat roofs upon their houses, and here birds of solitude would come and sit alone in the night season, to which the psalmist likens himself; being either forsaken by his friends and acquaintance; or, being in melancholy circumstances, he chose to be alone, mourning over his sorrowful state and condition.



{o} rwpuk "sicut avis", Gejerus, Schmidt. {p} Clio, sive, l. 1. c. 159. {q} "--------tectoque prophanus Incubuit bubo" Ovid. Metamorph. l. 6. Fab. 8. "E tectis strix", &c. Tibullus, l. 1. Eleg. 5. v. 52.





Psalms 102:8



Ver. 8. Mine enemies reproach me all the day,.... For his principles and practices, being different from theirs; for his religion, and preciseness in it; for his faith and profession of it, and for his holy walk and conversation. Good men have their enemies, and always had; but then they are such who are also enemies to God and Christ, and true religion; and these, not content to reproach now and then, continually throw out their scoffs and jeers; which is not grateful, and is here mentioned as an article of complaint; though the saints should reckon reproach for the sake of Christ and religion greater riches than all the treasures in Egypt:



and they that are mad against me; as the Jews were against Christ, because of his miracles, doctrine, and success, and therefore sought to take away his life; and as the Apostle Paul before conversion was, even exceeding mad against the saints, and persecuted them to strange cities, Lu 6:11, so were the psalmist's enemies quite outrageous and implacable, being his sworn enemies, as follows:



are sworn against me: laid themselves under a curse, to do him all the mischief they could, and it may be to take away his life; as those who sware they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul,

Ac 23:12 or they sware to lies, false charges and accusations brought against him, like those that Jezebel suborned against Naboth: or "they sware by me" {r}; as the words may be rendered; they sware by his calamities and distresses, and wished they might be as he was, if they did not do so and so; and took his name for a curse.



{r} webvn yb "per me jurant", Tigurine version, Musculus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius, Gejerus, Michaelis.





Psalms 102:9



Ver. 9. For I have eaten ashes like bread,.... He sitting in ashes, as Job did, and rolling himself in them in the manner of mourners; and, having no other table than the ground to eat his food upon, he might eat ashes along with it; and by an hypallage of the words, the sense may be, that he ate bread like ashes, no more savoured and relished it, or was nourished by it, than if he had eaten ashes; the meaning is, that he was fed with the bread of adversity, and water of affliction:



and mingled my drink with weeping; that is, with tears; as he drank, the tears ran down his cheeks, and mixed with the liquor in his cup; he was fed with the bread of tears, and had them to drink in great measure; these were his meat and his drink, day and night, while enemies reproached him, swore at him, against him, and by him; see

Ps 80:5.





Psalms 102:10



Ver. 10. Because of thine indignation and thy wrath,.... This was the burden of his complaint, what gave him the greatest uneasiness; not so much the reproach of his enemies, and his other outward afflictions, as the sense he had of God's wrath and indignation. The people of God are as deserving of his wrath as others; and when they are awakened to a sense of sin and danger, or the law enters into their consciences, it works wrath there, and leaves nothing but a fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, till comfort is given; and under afflictive providences they are very ready to conclude, that the wrath of God is upon them; but this is only their apprehension of things; it is not in reality: for God has not appointed them to wrath, and has swore he will not be wroth with them; Christ has bore it for them, in their room and stead; and being justified by his blood and righteousness, they are saved from it; but then the sense they have of it is very terrible, and there is no rest, peace, and comfort in their souls, while under the apprehensions of it:



for thou hast lifted me up, and cast me down; as a man that, in wrestling, has the advantage of his antagonist, lifts him up as high as he can, that he may throw him with the greater force upon the ground; in like manner the psalmist thought the Lord was dealing with him: or this may express his changeable state and condition, sometimes lifted up, and sometimes cast down, and which is the case of every believer, more or less; all have their liftings up, and their castings down: when God first calls them by his grace, he raises them from a low estate, lifts them up out of an horrible pit, takes them from the dunghill, sets them among princes to inherit the throne of glory: when he comforts them with the consolations of his Spirit, he is the lifter up of their heads; when he grants his presence, and lifts up the light of his countenance: when he discovers his love, and makes their mountain to stand strong; when he shows them their interest in himself, as their covenant God, in Christ, as their Redeemer and Saviour, and grants them the communion of the Holy Ghost; and when their graces are in lively exercise, then is it a time of lifting up: and they are cast down when corruptions prevail, when grace is weak, when God hides his face, and when afflictions lie heavy on them: this was now the case of the psalmist, and perhaps the remembrance of his liftings up in former times was an aggravation of it.





Psalms 102:11



Ver. 11. My days are like a shadow that declineth,.... Or, "that is stretched out" {s}, which, though it may appear long, is soon at an end; as it does appear longer when the sun sets {t}, and departs from the earth: he reckons his life not by months and years, but by days; and these he compares to a "shadow", which has no substance in it; his age being as nothing before the Lord, and has much darkness and obscurity in it; his days being days of darkness, affliction, and trouble, and quickly gone, as man's life is; there is no abiding; see

1Ch 29:15. Pindar {u} calls man the dream of a shadow:



and I am withered like grass; which in the morning is flourishing, is cut down at noon, and withered at evening: this is the case of all flesh, however beautiful and goodly it may look; it is weak, frail, and mortal; cannot stand before the force of afflictions, which quickly consume strength and beauty, and much less before the scythe of death; see Ps 90:5.



{s} ywjn "inclinata", Pagninus, Montanus, Piscator, Musculus, Cocceius; "extensa", Michaelis. {t} "Et sol crescentes decedens duplicat umbras", Virgil. Bacol. Eclog. 2. {u} Pyth. Ode 8.





Psalms 102:12



Ver. 12. But thou, O Lord, shalt endure for ever,.... This address is made to Christ, as is clear from Ps 102:25, compared with Heb 1:10, who is a divine Person, endures for ever, is from everlasting to everlasting, unchangeably the same in his love, power, wisdom, faithfulness, &c. and though he died as man, he will die no more; he is alive, and lives for evermore; and because he lives, his people shall live also; and he will come again to take them to himself: and, as Mediator, he is King for ever; always continues, as such, to rule over, protect, and defend his people; and is a Priest for ever, and ever lives to make intercession for them; and his blood, righteousness, and sacrifice, have a constant virtue in them, to take away sin, and secure from it: the consideration of the perpetuity of Christ, in his person and offices, was a comfort to the psalmist under his troubles, and in a view of his own declining state: the Targum is,



"but thou, O Lord, thy habitation continues for ever in heaven:''



and thy remembrance to all generations; the remembrance of his name Jehovah, or Jesus, or Immanuel, or any other, is sweet and precious to his saints in all ages; and so the remembrance of his works, of what he has done and suffered, especially the great work of redemption; for the remembrance of which the ordinance of the Lord's supper is appointed to be continued till his second coming; and his Gospel is an everlasting one, which will transmit the memory of him to men in every age, to the end of the world; and though all flesh is as grass, and every man dies, even the ministers of the word, yet that itself lives for ever. Aben Ezra reads "thy throne", as agreeing with Lam 5:19, but Kimchi observes that this reading is owing to a bad copy.





Psalms 102:13



Ver. 13. Thou shalt arise, and have mercy on Zion,.... Exert his power, and display the riches of his grace and mercy; not by delivering the Jews from the Babylonish captivity, to which some restrain it; but by redeeming his church and people by power and price; or rather by raising up and restoring them to great glory and prosperity in the latter day:



for the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come; not the seventy years of the captivity made known to the prophet Jeremiah; rather the seventy weeks of Daniel fixed for the Messiah's coming; or the fulness of time agreed upon, between Christ and his Father, for him to come and redeem his people; but it may best of all design the end of the forty two months, or the 1260 days, or years, fixed for the treading under foot the holy city, for the witnesses prophesying in sackcloth, and for the reign of antichrist; which when come will usher in glorious times in favour of Zion, the church of God, Re 11:2.





Psalms 102:14



Ver. 14. For thy servants take pleasure in her stones,.... Meaning not Cyrus and Darius, who gave leave and orders for the rebuilding of the city and temple of Jerusalem, as some; nor Nehemiah, and Ezra, and others, who took more pleasure in the stones and rubbish of the temple, as it lay in ruins, than in all the stately palaces in Babylon; and who were very desirous of, and took delight in gathering these stones, and putting them together again, as others; but, the ministers of the Gospel, and other Christians, in the latter day, who will take pleasure in the great number of converts that there will then be, who, as lively stones, will be built up a spiritual house; and especially when those stones shall be laid with fair colours, and the headstone shall be brought in with acclamations, crying, Grace, grace unto it; see 1Pe 2:5.



and favour the dust thereof; which sometimes designs multitudes,

Nu 23:10, perhaps here it may denote the meanest of the Lord's people, who will be regarded, and not despised by his servants; but they will show favour to them, do them all the good they can, and wish well to them, and pray for their prosperity, and for the peace of Zion; that God would make it the joy of the whole earth; and when there shall be such a delight in the stones and dust of Zion, and a spirit of grace and supplication poured forth upon the servants of the Lord, to pray for the promised glory and happiness of it, it will be a token for good, and an intimation that the set time to favour her is at hand; which seems to be the sense of the psalmist: such great reverence and respect have the greatest of the wise men among the Jews for the land of Israel, literally understood, that they kiss the borders, the stones of it, and roll themselves in its dust {a}, having perhaps in mind this passage of Scripture.



{a} Maimon. Hilchot Melachim, c. 5. s. 10.





Psalms 102:15



Ver. 15. So the Heathen shall fear the name of the Lord,.... Whose name is reverend, and to be feared; especially the glorious and fearful name "Jehovah", expressive of the divine existence, of his eternity and immutability; though the name of the Lord frequently signifies himself, and here particularly the Messiah, the Son of God, in whom the name of the Lord is; the King of saints, whom all men will fear in the latter day, when the set time to favour Zion is come; will stand in awe of him, be careful of offending him, and will serve and worship him; even the very Heathen, who knew not God, and had no fear of him before their eyes, or in their hearts; the Pagan nations, whose kingdoms will become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; see Re 11:15



and all the kings of the earth thy glory; which may be supplied thus, either "all the kings of the earth shall see thy glory", or shall fear thee because of "thy glory"; the glory of Christ's person, as the Son of God; the glory of his offices, as Prophet, Priest, and King; especially the glory of his kingly office, to which that of the kings of the earth is not to be compared; the glory of his works of creation, providence, and redemption; and as it will be held forth in the Gospel, with which the earth will now be full, and so be filled with the glory of the Lord, Ps 72:19, and will be so remarkable and conspicuous as to be taken notice of by the kings of the earth, even by all of them, who, when the glory of the Lord shall be risen in Zion, will come to the brightness of it, and look upon it, and admire it, and fear because of it, Isa 60:1.





Psalms 102:16



Ver. 16. When the Lord shall build up Zion,.... The church of God, fallen down, and in a ruinous condition, as it may be said to be when the doctrines of the Gospel are departed from; the ordinances of it are corrupted and altered, or not attended to; the worship and discipline of the Lord's house are neglected; great declensions in faith, love, and zeal, among the professors of religion, and but few instances of conversion: and it may be said to be built up again, as it will be in the latter day, when the doctrines of grace will be revived; the ordinances will be administered in their primitive purity; great spirituality, holiness, and brotherly love, among the saints, and large numbers converted and brought into it: and this will be the work of Christ, the great master builder; the materials of this building are the saints, those lively stones which will now be laid with fair colours; the ministers of the word will be the instruments that Christ will make use of in rebuilding his church; it is his Spirit, power, and grace, which will make all effectual; and he will have the glory, as follows: the Targum is,



"for the city of Zion is built by the Word of the Lord:''



he shall appear in his glory; or "shall be seen in his glory" {b}, which will be upon his church and people, and on which there will be a defence, so that it shall continue; and this will lie chiefly in the purity of Gospel truths, ordinances, and worship; in the number of converts; in the gifts and graces of the Spirit of God upon them; in their peace, prosperity, unity, and spirituality; and in the presence of Christ with them, who will be seen in all the glory and majesty of his kingly office; he will now reign before his ancients gloriously.



{b} harn "videbitur", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus.





Psalms 102:17



Ver. 17. He will regard the prayer of the destitute,.... Of the destitute of human help and support, protection and defence; as the church in the wilderness; of the "poor", as the Syriac and Arabic versions, both in spirit and in purse; of the "humble", as the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin: the word {c} signifies a low shrub or plant; it is rendered, the heath in the wilderness, Jer 17:6 and designs the saints in their low and afflicted state, during the reign of antichrist, and while the witnesses prophesy in sackcloth; these are the elect that pray day and night, and give the Lord no rest till he establish and make Jerusalem a praise in the earth; and the prayers of these are regarded and looked to by the Lord; his eyes are upon and his ears are open to these praying ones; and all the glorious things which shall be done for the church of God will be in consequence of their prayers:



and not despise their prayer; not reject it with contempt and abhorrence; more is intended than is expressed: the meaning is, that he will receive it with pleasure, and return an answer to it; the prayer of these poor destitute ones is delightful to him, Pr 15:8.



{c} rereh "eorum, qui sunt veluti myricae", Pagninus, Vatablus, Cocceius.





Psalms 102:18



Ver. 18. This shall be written for the generation to come,.... This prayer, as the Targum paraphrases it, is a directory to saints in distressed circumstances; or that which was just now said, that the Lord will regard, and not despise the prayer of the destitute; this shall stand on record, for the encouragement of praying souls in all generations; or this whole prophecy, concerning the glory of the church in the latter day; this shall be written for the next generation, and so on until it is accomplished, to keep up the faith and expectation of the fulfilment of it:



and the people which shall be created: born at the time when all this shall be done; or who shall become new creatures; be created in Christ Jesus, and made new men;



these shall praise the Lord, when he shall arise and have mercy on Zion; when he shall favour and rebuild her, in answer to the prayers of his people; then their prayers will be turned into praise; then will those voices be heard among them, hallelujah, salvation, glory, honour, and power unto the Lord our God, Re 19:1.





Psalms 102:19



Ver. 19. For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary,.... From heaven, as it is explained in the next clause, which is the Lord's sanctuary, or holy place, where he dwells, even in the height of it; it is both high and holy, as he himself is; yet he condescends to look down from thence on sinful mortals:



from heaven did the Lord behold the earth; the inhabitants of it, good and bad: it designs the general notice he takes of men and things in a providential way; he beholds the world, that lies in wickedness, and all the wickedness committed in it; and will one day call to an account, and punish for it; he beholds good men, not only with an eye of providence, to take care of them, protect and defend, but with an eye of love, grace, and mercy; he has a special and distinct knowledge of them, and it may here particularly regard the notice he takes of his people, under antichristian tyranny; he sees all the barbarity and cruelty exercised upon them, and will requite it, ere long, to their adversaries, and free them from it, as follows.





Psalms 102:20



Ver. 20. To hear the groanings of the prisoner,.... Not of a single person only, but of many, who lie in prisons in Popish countries, especially in the Inquisition; where they lie and groan, in darkness and misery, under dreadful tortures; their cries and groans the Lord hears; his heart yearns towards them; he looks with pity on them; and, because of the sighing of these poor and needy ones, he will arise in due time, and set them in safety from him that puffs at them: it is true also of such who are prisoners of sin, Satan, and the law; and, when sensible of it, groan under their bondage, and cry to the Lord for help, who hears them, and directs them, as prisoners of hope, to turn to Christ, their strong hold, Zec 9:11,



to loose those that are appointed to death; delivered to death, as the Targum; delivered over to the secular power, in order to be put to death; who are arraigned and condemned as malefactors, and put into the condemned hole, in order for execution; these the Lord will loose, and save them from the death they are appointed to by men; for this is not to be understood of persons appointed by the Lord to death, either corporeal or eternal, from which none can be loosed, so appointed: in the original text the phrase is "children of death" {d}; the same as "children of wrath", Eph 2:3, that is, deserving of death, and under the sentence of it; as all men are in Adam, even the Lord's own people; and who are, in their own apprehension, as dead men, when awakened and convinced of their state by the Spirit of God; these Christ looses from the shackles and fetters of sin, from the bondage of the law, from the tyranny of Satan, and from fears of death, and puts them into the glorious liberty of the children of God.



{d} htwmt ynb "filios mortis", Montanus, Vatablus, Musculus, Gejerus, Michaelis.





Psalms 102:21



Ver. 21. To declare the name of the Lord in Zion,.... That is, that the prisoners and persons appointed to death, being loosed, might declare, in the church, what great things the Lord has done for them; and so speak well of his wisdom, power, grace, and goodness, in their deliverance; profess his name, and confess him before men, and express a value for his name, and show forth the honour of it, and seek his glory:



and his praise in Jerusalem; the Gospel church state, the same with Zion; when it shall be the praise of the whole earth; then and there will those, that are delivered from the antichristian yoke, praise the Lord, sing the song of Moses and the Lamb, and glorify God for all that he has done for them.





Psalms 102:22



Ver. 22. When the people are gathered together,.... When the people of the Jews shall be gathered together, and seek the Lord their God, and David their King, the Messiah, and appoint them one head, even Christ; and when the Gentiles shall gather together, in great numbers, to the church of God, Ho 1:11,



and the kingdoms to serve the Lord; even the kingdoms of this world, which will become his, and will serve him in righteousness and holiness, freely and cheerfully, with one shoulder and one content; their kings will fall down before the Lord, and all nations shall serve him, Ps 72:11, and then will be the time when the prisoners shall be loosed, and the Lord shall be praised in Zion.





Psalms 102:23



Ver. 23. He weakened my strength in the way,.... The psalmist here returns to his complaint of his afflictions, weakness, and frailty, which ended Ps 102:11, after which some hints are given of the latter day glory, which though he despaired of seeing, by reason of his frailty and mortality, yet comforts himself with the eternity and immutability of Christ, and that there would be a succession of the church, a seed of true believers, who would see and enjoy it: as for himself, he says that God (for he is that "He", and not the enemy, as some) had "weakened" his "strength in the way", by afflictions, as the word {e} signifies; which weakens the strength and vigour of the mind, and discourages and dispirits it, and enfeebles the body: many are the afflictions which the people of God meet with in the course of their life, in their way to heaven, which have such an effect upon them; through many tribulations they pass to enter the kingdom, as the Israelites in their way to Canaan, and Christ to glory: some think the psalmist represents the Jews in their return from the Babylonish captivity, meeting with difficulties and discouragements in the way; rather the church of God, in the expectation of the Messiah, who, because his coming was delayed, grew feeble in their faith and hope, had weak hands and feeble knees, which needed strengthening by fresh promises: though it may be, best of all, the people of God, waiting for latter day glory, enfeebled by the persecutions of antichrist, or grown weak in the exercises of their grace, faith, hope, and love; which will be their case before these glorious times, and now is, see Re 3:2,



he shortened my days; which he thought he should live, and expected he would; and which, according to the course of nature, and the common term of man's life, he might, in all human appearance, have lived; otherwise, with respect to the decree of God, which has fixed the bounds of man's days, they cannot be shorter or longer than they are,

Job 14:5.



{e} hne "afflixit", Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version, Musculus, Piscator, Gejerus, Schmidt; so Ainsworth.





Psalms 102:24



Ver. 24. I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days;.... Which was always reckoned as a judgment, as a token of God's sore displeasure, and as what only befell wicked men, Ps 55:23, in the Hebrew it is, "cause me not to ascend" {f}; either as smoke, which ascends, and vanishes away; or rather it designs the separation of the soul from the body at death, when it ascends upwards to God that gave it; so Aben Ezra compares it with Ec 12:7, the Targum is,



"do not take me out of the world in the midst of my days, bring me to the world to come:''



some, who think that Daniel was the penman of this psalm, or some other, about the time of the Babylonish captivity, curiously observe, that that period was much about the middle between the building of Solomon's temple and the coming of Christ, the antitype of it; which was about a thousand years, of which four hundred and ninety were to come, according to Daniel's weeks; so, representing the church, prays they might not be destroyed, as such; but be continued till the Messiah came:



thy years are throughout all generations; which are not as men's years, of the same measure or number; but are boundless and infinite: the phrase is expressive of the eternity of God, or Christ; which the psalmist opposes to his own frailty, and which he illustrates in the following verses, by setting it in contrast with the discontinuance and changeableness of the heavens and the earth; see Job 10:5.



{f} ynlet la "ne ascendere facias me", Montanus, Gejerus.





Psalms 102:25



Ver. 25. Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth,.... The lower part of the creation, the Lord's footstool, called the earth beneath: this has its foundation; though what it is cannot be well said, it cannot be searched out; it is sometimes said to be founded upon the waters, and yet so as not to be removed for ever,

Jer 31:37, this shows the wisdom of God, as a wise master builder, and the stability of the earth; and is a proof of the deity of Christ, to whom these words belong: this is said to be done "of old", or "at" or "in the beginning", as Jarchi and the Targum; and so in Heb 1:10, where they are applied to the Messiah, the Son of God; and this, as it proves the eternity of Christ, who must be in the beginning, and before all things, so it confutes the notion of the eternity of the earth, received by some philosophers: besides, the words may be rendered, "before" {g} "thou foundest the earth"; and so refers to the preceding, "thy years", &c. were before the earth was; that is, from eternity, and so fully express the eternal existence of Christ:



and the heavens are the work of thy hands; these are the airy and starry heavens, and the heaven of heavens; which are creatures, and not to be worshipped, made by Christ himself, and are expressive of his power, wisdom, and glory.



{g} Mynpl "antea", Pagninus, Montanus, Gejerus.





Psalms 102:26



Ver. 26. They shall perish,.... Both the heavens and the earth, though so well founded, and so firmly made; they shall be dissolved, melt, and pass away; not as to the substance, but as to the quality of them: or, as R. Judah Ben David says, whom Aben Ezra on the place cites, and calls the first grammarian in the west, not as to generals, but as to particulars:



but thou shalt endure; as the eternal God, from everlasting to everlasting; and, even as man, he will die no more; and, as Mediator, will ever remain; he will be King for ever; his throne is for ever and ever; his kingdom is an everlasting one; he is a priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedek; his sacrifice is of an eternal efficacy, and he ever lives to make intercession for his people; he will always continue, as the Prophet, in his church, to teach by his Spirit, word, and ordinances, in the present state; and hereafter will be the light of the New Jerusalem, and of his saints, for ever:



yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment: not only the heavens, which are as a curtain and garment about the earth, but the earth itself, Isa 51:6, will lose their beauty and glory, and become useless, as to the present form of them:



as a vesture shall thou change them, and they shall be changed; as to their form, as a garment that is turned or folded up, and laid aside, as to present use: this seems to favour the above sense given, that the earth and heavens will not perish, as to the substance of them; but as to their form, figure, fashion, and scheme; and as to the qualities of them, all noxious ones being purged away by fire, the curse removed, and new heavens and new earth arise out of them.





Psalms 102:27



Ver. 27. But thou art the same,.... That hast created them, as the Targum adds; or "thou art he" {h}, the everlasting I AM, the unchangeable Jehovah; immutable in his nature and perfections; in his love and affections to his people; in his power to protect and keep them; in his wisdom to guide and direct them; in his righteousness to clothe them, and render them acceptable to God; in his blood to cleanse them, and speak peace and pardon to them; in his fulness to supply them, and in his intercession for them,



and thy years shall have no end; See Gill on "Ps 102:24", now he, that made the heavens and the earth, and will be when they will not be, especially in the present form they are, must be able to rebuild his Zion, and bring on the glory he has promised; and from his eternity and immutability may be concluded the continuance of his church and interest in the world, until all the glorious things spoken of it shall be fulfilled, as follows.



{h} awh hta "tu ipse", Pagninus, Montanus.





Psalms 102:28



Ver. 28. The children of thy servants shall continue,.... The "servants" of the Lord are the apostles of Christ, and ministers of the word, in all successive generations, with whom Christ will be to the end of the world: their "children" are such whom they have begotten again, through the Gospel, to whom they are spiritual fathers; regenerated souls are meant; of these there will be a succession in all ages, until latter day glory takes place; these are the church's seed, and her seed's seed, from whom the word of the Lord, the Gospel, will never depart, Isa 59:21, or these "shall inhabit" {i}, as the word may be rendered, the earth, as the Targum adds; that is, the new heavens, and the new earth, when the old ones are passed away; here they shall dwell with the Lord, who is the same today, yesterday, and for ever:



and their seed shall be established before thee; the same with the children, the spiritual seed of the church and of faithful minister; these, with the church, in which they are born and brought up, shall be established in Christ; the church will be no more in an unstable and fluctuating state, but will he as a tabernacle, that shall not be taken down; yea, shall be established upon the top of the mountains, and exalted above the hills; see Isa 2:2.



{i} wnwkvy "habitabunt", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius, Gejerus; so Sept.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

Psalms 103:1



INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 103



A Psalm of David. The Targum adds,



"spoken in prophecy,''



as doubtless it was, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Some think it was written by David, after a fit of illness, and his recovery from it, since he speaks of his diseases being healed, and his youth renewed; for which reason the Syriac interpreter suggests it was written in his old age; for he makes the subject of the psalm to be,



"concerning coldness which prevailed upon him in old age;''



but rather he wrote it when his heart was warm with a sense of the love of God, and spiritual blessings of grace flowing from thence; and in it celebrates and sings the benefits of New Testament times; and it is a psalm suitable to be sung by every believer, under a quick sense of divine favours: wherefore the above interpreter better adds,



"also an instruction and thanksgiving by men of God;''



whom the psalmist may very well be thought to personate, even in Gospel times; and much rather than the Jews in captivity, as Kimchi thinks.



Ver. 1. Bless the Lord, O my soul,.... His better part, his soul, which comes immediately from God, and returns to him, which is immaterial and immortal, and of more worth than the world: God is to be served with the best we have; as with the best of our substance, so with the best of our persons; and it is the heart, or soul, which he requires to be given him; and such service as is performed with the soul or spirit is most agreeable to him; he being a Spirit, and therefore must be worshipped in spirit and in truth: unless the spirit or soul of a man, is engaged in the service of God, it is of little avail; for bodily exercise profiteth not; preaching, hearing, praying, and praising, should be both with the spirit, and with the understanding: here the psalmist calls upon his soul to "bless" the Lord; not by invoking or conferring a blessing on him, which as it is impossible to be done, so he stands in no need of it, being God, all sufficient, and blessed for evermore; but by proclaiming and congratulating his blessedness, and by giving him thanks for all mercies, spiritual and temporal:



and all that is within me, bless his holy name; meaning not only all within his body, his heart, reins, lungs, &c. but all within his soul, all the powers and faculties of it; his understanding, will, affections, and judgment; and all the grace that was wrought in him, faith, hope, love, joy, and the like; these he would have all concerned and employed in praising the name of the Lord; which is exalted above all blessing and praise; is great and glorious in all the earth, by reason of his works wrought, and blessings of goodness bestowed; and which appears to be holy in them all, as it does in the works of creation, providence, and redemption; at the remembrance of which holiness thanks should be given; for he that is glorious in holiness is fearful in praises, Ps 97:12.





Psalms 103:2



Ver. 2. Bless the Lord, O my soul,.... Which is repeated to show the importance of the service, and the vehement desire of the psalmist, that his soul should be engaged in it:



and forget not all his benefits; not any of them; the least of them are not to be forgotten, being such as men are altogether unworthy of; they flow not from the merit of men, but from the mercy of God; and they are many, even innumerable; they are new every morning, and continue all the day; and how great must the sum of them be, and not one should be forgotten; and yet even good men are very apt to forget them; as the Israelites of old, who sung the praises of the Lord, and soon forgot his works: the Lord, knowing the weakness of his people's memories, has not only, under the Gospel dispensation, appointed an ordinance, to be continued to the end of the world, to commemorate a principal blessing and benefit of his, redemption by his Son; but has also promised his Spirit, to bring all things to their remembrance; and this they should be concerned for, that they do remember what God has done for them, in order both to show gratitude and thankfulness to him, and for the encouragement of their faith and hope in him.





Psalms 103:3



Ver. 3. Who forgiveth all thine iniquities,.... The psalmist explains here what he means by benefits, and gives a particular enumeration of them; and begins with the blessing of pardon, which is a special and peculiar benefit; it is according to the riches of divine grace, and the multitude of tender mercies; without which all outward blessings signify nothing; and, without a sense of this, a man is not in a suitable and proper frame to bless the Lord; and this being the first benefit a soul sensible of sin, its guilt and is concerned for, and seeks after; so enjoying it, it is the first he is thankful for: this is rightly ascribed to God; for none can forgive sins but he; and what he forgives are not mere infirmities, peccadillos, the lesser sins of life; but "iniquities", grosser sins, unrighteousnesses, impieties, the most enormous crimes, sins of a crimson and scarlet die; yea, "all" of them, though they are many, more than the hairs of a man's head; he abundantly pardons, multiplies pardons, as sins are multiplied, and leaves none unforgiven; original sin, actual sins, sins of heart, lip, and life, of omission and commission, all are forgiven for Christ's sake: and the special mercy is when a man has an application of this to himself, and can say to his soul, as David to his, God has forgiven "thine" iniquities; for though it may be observed with pleasure, and it is an encouragement to hope in the Lord, that he is a forgiving God, and has forgiven others, yet what would this avail a man, if his sins should not be forgiven? the sweetness of the blessing lies in its being brought home to a man's own soul: and it may be further observed, that this is a continued act; it is not said who has forgiven, and will forgive, though both are true; but "forgiveth", continues to forgive; for as there is a continual virtue in the sacrifice of the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world, and in his blood to cleanse from all sin, so there is a continual flow of pardoning grace in the heart of God, which is afresh applied to the consciences of his people by his Spirit; and this is a blessing to be thankful for:



who healeth all thy diseases; not bodily ones, though the Lord is the physician of the bodies as well as of the souls of men, and sometimes heals the diseases of soul and body at once, as in the case of the paralytic man in the Gospel; but spiritual diseases, or soul maladies, are here meant; the same with "iniquities" in the preceding clause: sin is a natural, hereditary, epidemical, nauseous, and mortal disease; and there are many of them, a complication of them, in men, which God only can cure; and he heals them by his word, by means of his Gospel, preaching peace, pardon, and righteousness by Christ; by the blood, wounds, and stripes of his Son; by the application of pardoning grace and mercy; for healing diseases, and forgiving iniquities, are one and the same thing; see Isa 33:24, and this the Lord does freely, fully, and infallibly, and for which thanks are due unto him; and it would be very ungrateful, and justly resented, should they not be returned to him; see Lu 17:15.





Psalms 103:4



Ver. 4. Who redeemeth thy life from destruction,.... Not from temporal destruction, to which the natural life is subject, through diseases, dangerous occurrences, and the malice of enemies; to be delivered from which is a blessing, and for which God is to be praised; but from eternal destruction, the destruction of the body and soul in hell; and so the Targum,



"who redeemest thy life from hell;''



to which destruction all men are liable through sin; their ways lead unto it, and grace only prevents it: the people of God are redeemed from sin, the cause of it; and from the curse of the law, in the execution of which it lies; and from Satan, the executor of it; and all this by Christ, who is the Redeemer appointed and sent, and who being mighty, and so equal to the work, has obtained eternal redemption; through which the saints are secure from going down to the pit of destruction, or from wrath to come; and this is a blessing they can never be enough thankful for; see Lu 1:68,



who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; with all other blessings which flow from the lovingkindness and tender mercy of God, even all the blessings of the everlasting covenant, the sure mercies of David; all the spiritual blessings with which the saints are blessed in Christ, the grace given them in him, and the mercy kept with him for evermore; all things pertaining to life and godliness given in regeneration; the fruits of great love and abundant mercy, with all the other supplies of grace between that and eternal glory: "crowning" with these denotes an application and enjoyment of them, the great plenty and abundance of them, a being surrounded and loaded with them; as also the honour that goes along with them, which makes those that have them great and glorious, rich and honourable; as well as preservation and protection by them; these encompassing about as a crown the head, and as a shield the body; see Ps 5:12, where the same word is used as here.





Psalms 103:5



Ver. 5. Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things,.... With the good things in the heart of God, with his favour and lovingkindness, as with marrow and fatness; with the good things in the hands of Christ, with the fulness of grace in him, with pardon, righteousness, and salvation by him; with the good things of the Spirit of God, his gifts and graces; and with the provisions of the Lord's house, the goodness and fatness of it; these he shows unto his people, creates hungerings and thirstings in them after them, sets their hearts a longing after them, and then fills and satisfies them with them: hence the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Arabic versions render it, "who filleth thy desire with good things": the word used has sometimes the signification of an ornament; wherefore Aben Ezra interprets it of the soul, which is the glory and ornament of the body, and renders it, "who satisfieth thy soul with good things"; which is not amiss: "so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's"; not the youth of the body, or the juvenile vigour of it; nor the outward prosperity of it; but the youth of grace, or a renewal of spiritual love and affection to divine and heavenly persons and things; of holy zeal for God, his ways and worship; for Christ, his Gospel, truths, and ordinances; of spiritual joy and comfort, strength, liveliness, and activity, as formerly were in the days of espousals, in the youth of first conversion, or when first made acquainted with the best things; so that though the outward man may decay, yet the inward man is renewed day by day: and this is said to be "like the eagle's", whose youth and strength are renewed, as some observe {a}, by dropping their feathers, and having new ones, by feeding upon the blood of slain creatures; and whereas, when they are grown old, the upper part of their bill grows over the lower part {b}, so that they are not able, to eat, but must die through want; Austin {c} says, that by rubbing it against a rock, it comes to its use of eating, and so recovers its strength: but there is no need to have recourse to any of these things; for as the old age of au eagle is lively and vigorous, like the youth of another creature; so it is here signified, that saints through the grace of God, even in old age, become fat and flourishing, and fruitful, and are steadfast and immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, run and are not weary, walk and faint not, Isa 40:31, all which are inestimable mercies, and the Lord is to be praised for them.



{a} Ambrosii Opera, tom. 5. p. 78. {b} Aristot. de Animal. l. 9. c. 32. Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 10. c. 3. {c} Opera, tom. 8. in Psal. 102. fol. 474. c.





Psalms 103:6



Ver. 6. The Lord executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed. Not only for the Israelites oppressed by the Egyptians, though the psalmist might have them in his view, by what follows; for whom the Lord did justice, by delivering them out of the hands of their oppressors, and by punishing Pharaoh and his people, and bringing down judgments upon them, both in Egypt and at the Red sea; but for all other oppressed ones in common, the poor, the widow, and the fatherless, who are often oppressed by the rich and mighty; the Lord judges their cause, and does them right, and frees them from their oppression; and so all good men who are oppressed by tyrannical princes and cruel persecutors, and all such whom the man of the earth, the man of sin, antichrist, oppresses, Ps 10:18 and all those who are oppressed by the devil, buffeted by Satan, and bore down with his temptations; the Lord rebukes him in his own time, and delivers his people out of his hands; which is matter of praise and thankfulness: the psalmist, in this verse and the following, passes to the consideration of the good things God did for others, in order to keep up a warm sense of divine goodness upon his heart.





Psalms 103:7



Ver. 7. He made known his ways unto Moses,.... The ways in which he himself walks, the steps and methods which he has taken to show forth his glory; his way in creation, and the order of it, as in Ge 1:1, for though, by the light of nature, it might be known that God created all things; yet, without a revelation from him, it could never have been known in what manner he made them, and the peculiar work of each of the six days, in which they were made; this was made known to Moses; as also his way in providence, which sometimes is in the deep, and past finding out: Moses was made acquainted with the methods of divine Providence, with many special instances of it, relating both to himself in his infancy and in riper years, and to the people of Israel in their march from Egypt to Canaan's land; and the Lord likewise made known unto him his way of grace and mercy, life and salvation, by Christ, which he desired to show him, and he did, Ex 33:13. Christ was made known to him, as the seed of the woman that should break the serpent's head, as God's salvation, old Jacob waited for: he was shown him in the types of the passover lamb, the brasen serpent, and the rock in the wilderness, and in other things; the way of atonement, by the sacrifice of Christ, was made known to him through the sacrifices which he from God enjoined the people of Israel: hence he wrote of Christ, and of what he should do and suffer; and so fully, that the Apostle Paul said no other things than what he did, Joh 5:46 moreover, the Lord made known to him the ways in which he would have him and the people of Israel to walk; the way of his commandments, his statutes and ordinances; which were made known to him, to deliver to them, and was a peculiar favour, Ps 147:19,



his acts unto the children of Israel; his works, his wonderful works; his plagues on their enemies the Egyptians; his redemption of them out of the house of bondage; his leading them through the Red sea as on dry land; his feeding them with manna in the wilderness, protecting them from their enemies, bringing them into the land of Canaan, and settling them there; see Ps 78:11.





Psalms 103:8



Ver. 8. The Lord is merciful and gracious,.... So he made himself known to Moses, Ex 34:6, and so David found him to be, and therefore calls upon his soul to bless his name. God is "merciful" in the most tender and affectionate manner; he has bowels of mercy, which yearn towards his people, as those of a tender parent to its child, as the word signifies; his mercy is free, without any motive or merit in men to engage it; he delights in showing it; he constantly bestows it; it is the source of all good things; it is communicated through Christ; all mercies temporal and spiritual come by him; and this lays a foundation for faith and hope: and he is gracious, as appears in the eternal choice of his people to salvation; in providing a Saviour and a ransom for them; in giving all grace and the blessings of it to them in his Son; in giving him for them, and all things to them with him; in justifying them by his righteousness; in pardoning their sins for his sake; in taking them into his family; in regenerating, calling, preserving, and saving them:



slow to anger, or "longsuffering" {d}; even to wicked men, to the vessels of wrath, to the old world, yea, to Jezebel, to whom he gave space to repent; which longsuffering being abused and despised, is an aggravation of condemnation: but rather here it intends God's longsuffering to his people, as before conversion, waiting till the time comes that he is gracious to them; and after conversion, notwithstanding their backslidings and revoltings; and this longsuffering is their salvation:



and plenteous in mercy; large and abundant in it, as appears by the various instances of it, and ways and methods in which he shows it; in election, in the covenant, in redemption, in regeneration, in pardon and eternal life; and by the abundance of it which he bestows on every one of his people; and by the vast numbers which do partake of it.



{d} Mypa Kra "longanimis", V. L. Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius.





Psalms 103:9



Ver. 9. He will not always chide,.... He sometimes does chide his children, though never but when they have done a fault; always for their sins, in order to bring them to a sense and acknowledgment of them, and to depart from them; not for chiding sake, as some parents, to gratify their passion and ill humour, who correct for their own pleasure; but the Lord chides and corrects for the profit of his children, that they may be partakers of his holiness; he ever does it for their good, but he will not always chide, or continue it ever: or "he will not always contend" {e}, strive with them, litigate a point with them, hold out a controversy, not being able to stand before him; he knows their frame, their weakness, and frailty; see Isa 57:16,



neither will he keep his anger for ever; though he does with the wicked, yet not with his own people; that endures but for a moment, and is rather seeming than real; and what does appear is soon turned away; he does not retain it long, he is quickly pacified towards them for all they have done, and smiles again upon them, Mic 7:18.



{e} byry "contendet", Pagninus, Montanus; "litigat", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "litigabit", Vatablus, Gejerus, Michaelis.





Psalms 103:10



Ver. 10. He hath not dealt with us after our sins,.... God deals with his people, and deals with them roundly, for their sins, reproving them by his Spirit, and by his ministers, and by his chastising rod; but not after or according to them, or as they deserve; in this David acknowledges himself and other saints, with whom he joins, to be sinners, to have been guilty of sins, as none live without them; and that God had taken notice of them, and chastised them for them; but in great moderation, and not according to the due demerit of them:



nor rewarded us according to our iniquities; had he, if every transgression had received its just recompence of reward, they must have been sent to hell; the lake burning with fire and brimstone must have been their portion; the wages of sin is eternal death: the reason why God deals not with nor rewards his people according to the due desert of their sins is because Christ has bore them, and the chastisement of them, and made satisfaction to divine justice for them; see Ezr 9:13.





Psalms 103:11



Ver. 11. For as the heaven is high above the earth,.... Which is the greatest distance known, or can be conceived of; the space between the heaven and the earth is seemingly almost infinite; and nothing can more illustrate the mercy of God, which reaches to the heavens, and is in heaven; though this is but a faint representation of the largeness and abundance of it, and which indeed is boundless and infinite:



so great is his mercy towards them that fear him, or, his mercy hath prevailed over them that fear him {a}; as the waters of the flood prevailed upon the earth, and reached and overflowed the highest hills, Ge 7:18, so abundant and superabundant is the grace of God over them that "fear" him. Which character is given, not as being the cause of their obtaining mercy, but as descriptive of the persons that partake of it; on whom it has such an effect, as to cause them to fear the Lord, and his goodness; and is mentioned to prevent obstinate and presumptuous sinners expecting it, or trusting to it.



{a} le-rbg "praevalet super", Musculus; so Cocceius, Michaelis.





Psalms 103:12



Ver. 12. As far as the east is from the west,.... Which Kimchi thinks is mentioned because it contains the length of the habitable world; and therefore it is not said as far as the north is from the south; since a man can go from east to west, but not from north to south, because of the extreme heat and cold. But this distance is not given with respect to those opposite parts of the earth, which scarcely exceed 12700 miles; but with respect to those opposite points in the heavens: and the meaning is, that as far as the eastern point of the heavens is from the western point of them; which more illustrates the matter in hand, or the blessing later mentioned, than the other.



So far hath he removed our transgressions from us; which removed men and angels from God, and set them at a distance from him; and which, if not removed, are such burdens as must sink men down into the lowest hell; and yet cannot be removed by anything that they can do; not by any sacrifices, services, or duties of any kind; nor in any other way, nor by any other person, than the Lord himself: and this is to be understood not of a removal of the being of sin out of his people, for that is not done in this life; rather of the removal of the guilt of sin, by a special application of pardoning grace and mercy; see

2Sa 12:13, but, best of all, of a removal of sins to Christ, and of them by his sacrifice and satisfaction: Christ engaged as a surety for his people; Jehovah the Father considered him as such; and therefore did not impute their sins to them, but to him; and when he sent him in the likeness of sinful flesh, he removed them from them, and laid them upon him; who voluntarily took them on himself, cheerfully bore them, and, by bearing them, removed the iniquity of the land in one day; and carried them away to the greatest distance, and even put them away for ever by the sacrifice of himself; and upon the satisfaction he gave to divine justice, the Lord removed them both from him and them; justified and acquitted him, and his people in him: and by this means so effectually, and so far, are their transgressions removed, that they shall never be seen any more, nor ever be imputed to them, nor be brought against them to their condemnation; in consequence of which, pardon is applied to them, and so sin is removed from their consciences, as before observed; see Le 16:21.





Psalms 103:13



Ver. 13. Like as a father pitieth his children,.... When in any affliction, disorder, or distress: the Lord stands in the relation of a Father to his people; they are his children by adopting grace, through the covenant of grace with them; by a sovereign act of his own will he puts them among the children, predestinates them to the adoption of children; and sends his Son to redeem them, that they might receive it, and his Spirit to bear witness to their spirits, that they are his children; and towards these he has all the affections of a tender parent.



So the Lord pitieth them that fear him; not with a servile fear, which is unsuitable to the relation of children; but with reverence and godly fear, with a fear of him and his goodness, and on account of that; a filial fear, such a reverence as children should have of a father: and this character belongs to all the saints of all nations, Jews or Gentiles; and seems to be here given an purpose to include all; and that the divine pity and compassion might not be thought to be restrained to any particular nation. And, as the fruit of his tender mercy, he looks upon his children in their lost estate, and brings them out of it; he succours them under all their temptations; he sympathizes with them under all their afflictions: being full of compassion, he forgives their iniquities; and in the most tender manner receives them when they have backslidden, and heals their backslidings. The Targum in the king of Spain's Bible is,



"so the Word of the Lord pities,''



&c. See Heb 4:15.





Psalms 103:14



Ver. 14. For he knoweth our frame,.... The outward frame of their bodies, what brittle ware, what earthen vessels, they be; he being the potter, they the clay, he knows what they are able to bear, and what not; that if he lays his hand too heavy, or strikes too hard, or repeats his strokes too often, they will fall in pieces: he knows the inward frame of their minds, the corruption of their nature, how prone they are to sin; and therefore does not expect perfect services from them: how impotent they are to that which is good; that they can do nothing of themselves; nor think a good thought, nor do a good action; and that their best frames are very uncertain ones; and that, though the spirit may be willing, the flesh is weak. The word used is the same that is rendered "imagination", Ge 6:5, and by which the Jews generally express the depravity and corruption of nature; and so the Targum here paraphrases it,



"for he knows our evil concupiscence, which causes us to sin;''



and to this sense Kimchi.



He remembereth that we are dust {b}; are of the dust originally, and return to it again at death; and into which men soon crumble when he lays his hand upon them; this he considers, see Ps 78:38. The Targum is,



"it is remembered before him, that we are of the dust:''



the Septuagint version makes a petition of it, "remember that we are dust"; and so the Arabic version. And we should remember it ourselves, and be humble before God; and wonder at his grace and goodness to us,

Ge 18:27.



{b} "Pulvis et umbra sumus", Horat. Carmin. l. 4. Ode 7. v. 16.





Psalms 103:15



Ver. 15. As for man, his days are as grass,.... He himself is like the grass which springs out of the earth; continues on it for a time, and then drops into it; the continuance of the grass is very short, it flourishes in the morning, is cut down at evening, and withers; see

Ps 90:5. As a flower of the field, so he flourisheth; which denotes the goodliness of man, and describes him in his best estate, as possessed of health, riches, honour, and all the gifts and endowments of nature; and yet, with all these, is only like a field flower, exposed to every wind, liable to be cropped by every hand, and to be trampled upon by the beasts of the field; and therefore flourishes not long: so very precarious and uncertain is man in his most flourishing circumstances; see Isa 40:6.





Psalms 103:16



Ver. 16. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone,.... A stormy wind, as the Targum, which tears it up by its roots, or blows off the flower, and it is seen no more; or a blighting easterly wind, which, blowing on it, shrivels it up, and it dies at once; such an one as blasted the seven ears of corn in Pharaoh's dream, Ge 41:23 or any impetuous, drying, and noxious wind: and so when the east wind of adversity passes over a man, his riches, and honour, and estate, are presently gone; or some bodily distemper, which takes away health, strength, and beauty, and impairs the mind; and especially death, which removes at once into another world.



And the place thereof shall know it no more; the place where the flower grew shall know it no more; or it shall be seen no more in it: so man, when he dies, though he is not annihilated, he is somewhere; he is in another world, either of happiness or woe; yet he is not in this world, in the house and family, in the station and business he was; he is no longer known nor seen among men on earth; see Job 7:10.





Psalms 103:17



Ver. 17. But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him,.... In opposition to the frailty of man, the stability and duration of the mercy of God is observed. This reaches from one eternity to another; it is from everlasting in the heart of God: it appeared in the choice of the vessels of mercy; in the covenant of grace, which is founded upon it, and filled with it; every blessing of which flows from it, and therefore are called the "sure mercies of David". And it appears in time in the regeneration of God's elect, which is according to his abundant mercy; in the forgiveness of their sins, which is according to the multitude of his tender mercies; and in their whole salvation, which is by that, and not by works of righteousness; and will endure for ever, for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ is unto eternal life. It reaches from the world past to the world to come, as the Targum; and it is so "upon them that fear" the Lord; not with a servile, but a filial fear; a fear of the Lord and his goodness; which only is consistent with the grace and mercy of God, and a sense of it: not that the fear of God is the cause of mercy or grace; but, on the contrary, grace and mercy are the cause of the fear of God; which is a blessing of the covenant of grace, and one of the first things which appear in conversion; but this properly describes the persons who openly and manifestly share in the grace or mercy of God, and to whom he manifests it yet more and more; nor have any reason to believe they are the objects of it, until the true fear of God is wrought in their hearts; and, besides, this character may be given to show that the mercy and grace of God are not limited to the Israelites only, but belong to such of all nations that fear the Lord.



And his righteousness unto children's children; not the essential righteousness of God, but rather his faithfulness in the performance of his promises, which he will not suffer to fail: the justifying righteousness of Christ is here meant; which is an everlasting one, and is unto and upon all them that believe, in all successive generations; which is meant by the phrase of "children's children", even the spiritual seed of Christ, the seed of the church, the seed of Israel; to all and each of which, in every age, the word of God comes, and his promises are fulfilled; and who are justified by and glory in Christ, their righteousness; and who are further described in the next verse, which shows that not the carnal seed of them that fear the Lord are meant.





Psalms 103:18



Ver. 18. To such as keep his covenant,.... The covenant of grace, which is peculiarly the Lord's covenant, as distinct from man's; and which he keeps himself, and is ever mindful of it. This he makes known to his people at conversion; his secret is with them, and he shows them his covenant; the blessings and promises of it; their interest in them, and in himself, as their covenant God: which they "observe" {c}, as the word here used signifies; and observing it, they lay hold upon it by faith, as belonging to them; and laying hold upon it, they "keep" it as their own, and keep it fast, and will not part with their interest in it for all the world.



And to those that remember his commandments to do them; some read them and hear them, but forget them, at least to do them: these are like a man that beholds his face in a glass, and forgets what manner of man he is; so James compares one that is a forgetful hearer, and not a doer of the word, Jas 1:23. The commandments of God are best remembered, so as to be done, when he puts his laws into the minds of men, and writes them in their hearts, and puts his Spirit within them, to cause them to walk in his statutes, and do them, Jer 31:34.



{c} yrmvl "observantes", Junius & Tremellius; so Piscator, Gejerus.





Psalms 103:19



Ver. 19. The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens,.... The heaven is his throne; here he sits enthroned in all the glory of his majesty, with all his attendants upon him, and courtiers about him. The Lord Christ is now in heaven; and where he will continue to the restitution of all things, and from whence his people expect him at the last day. Here he is on the same throne with his divine Father; which throne he has "prepared" or "established" {d}, so as it cannot be moved: when others are cast down, this shall stand; his throne is for ever and ever. The Targum in the king's Bible is,



"the Word of the Lord hath prepared, &c.''



And his kingdom ruleth over all; over all created beings; over angels, good and bad; over men, righteous and wicked; over the greatest of men, the kings and princes of the earth. Good angels are subject to him devils tremble at him; saints acknowledge him as their King; the wicked he rules with a rod of iron; and kings reign by him, and are accountable to him; see Ps 22:28.



{d} Nykx "stabilivit", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.





Psalms 103:20



Ver. 20. Bless the Lord, ye his angels,.... For their creation, being made by him; for their preservation, living, moving, and having their being in him; and for their happiness, in which they are continued, owing to their being chosen of God in Christ, and to their confirmation by Christ. These are always employed in the work of blessing and praising the Lord nor are they in the least backward to it, nor remiss it; nor does this address unto them suppose anything of this kind. The design of the psalmist is only to show how great and good the Lord is; that angels, the more excellent order of creatures, are under obligation to him, and are bound to praise him: and his further view is, to stir up himself and others to this work, from such a consideration, that such noble creatures are employed in the same, and who are further described:



that excel in strength; or, "are mighty in strength" {e}; they are called mighty angels, 2Th 1:7 an instance of the might and power of an angel see in 2Ki 19:35. These, not having sinned, have lost nothing of their original strength and power, and therefore must greatly excel fallen man; who is become a very weak creature, and unable to do the will and work of God, which angels are, as follows:



that do his commandments; or "his word" {f}; what he orders to be done: this they do readily and willingly, constantly, perfectly, and completely; see Mt 6:10.



Hearkening to the voice of his word; they stand before the Lord, waiting his orders; listening with great attention to what he says, and then readily execute it. Or, "at hearing the voice of his word"; that is, as soon as they hear the voice of his word, or hear him speaking {g}, immediately they apply themselves to the performance of it.



{e} xk yrbg "fortes robore", Pagninus, Montanus; "valentissimi robore", Junius & Tremellius. {f} wrbk "verbum ejus", Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. {g} So Muis.





Psalms 103:21



Ver. 21. Bless ye the Lord, all ye his hosts,.... Which some understand of the sun, moon, and stars, sometimes called the hosts of heaven; and who in their way bless and praise the Lord; see

Ps 148:2. Others, of the angels, as before; who are sometimes styled the heavenly host, Lu 2:13, and may be so called from their numbers, there being legions of them; and for their military employment, in guarding and protecting the saints, in encamping about them, and fighting for them. Or rather, since these seem to be distinguished from the angels before addressed, by them may be meant the church militant and her members; who are like an army with banners, consisting of volunteer soldiers under Christ, the Captain of their salvation; whose battles they fight against sin, Satan, and the world; and have a great deal of reason to bless and praise the Lord, for all the great and good things he has done to them, and for them.



Ye ministers of his that do his pleasure; so the angels are called, and they do the will of God; what is acceptable to him, and well pleasing in his sight, Heb 1:7. But rather, as distinct from them, the ministers of the Gospel are intended; a name which the preachers of it bear, both in the Old and in the New Testament, Isa 61:4, They are ministers of Christ's appointing, calling, qualifying, and sending; and who are employed in his service, in preaching him, his Gospel, and the truths of it; and who do his pleasure, that which is grateful to him, when they speak his word faithfully, declare his whole counsel, and keep back nothing that is profitable: and these have reason to bless the Lord for the gifts bestowed upon them, and for their success and usefulness; and indeed they bear a leading part in giving praise and glory to God, Re 4:9.





Psalms 103:22



Ver. 22. Bless the Lord, all his works, in all places of his dominion,.... Which some interpret of all his creatures, animate or inanimate, rational or irrational, throughout the whole world, which is all under his government; and who all of them, objectively, bless and praise the Lord, Ps 148:7. Or rather regenerate persons, his sons and daughters, the work of his hand, in each of the parts of the world where they live, are here called upon to bless the Lord; who, of his abundant mercy, hath begotten them again to a glorious inheritance: these are his workmanship in Christ; formed for himself, his service, and glory; and are under the highest obligations to show forth his praise.



Bless the Lord, O my soul: thus the psalmist ends the psalm as he begun it; not excusing himself by what he had done, nor by calling upon others to this service; knowing that this is constant employment for time and eternity; a work in which he delighted, and was desirous of being concerned in, now and for ever.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

Psalms 104:1



INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 104



This psalm, though without a title, was probably written by David, since it begins and ends as the former does, as Aben Ezra observes; and to him the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and all the Oriental versions, ascribe it. The inscription of the Syriac version is,



"a psalm of David, when he went to worship before the ark of the Lord with the priests; and as to us, it teaches us confession and prayer; and intimates to us the constitution of the beginning of the creatures; and declares some things concerning the angels.''



Some copies of the Septuagint version have it,



"a psalm of David concerning the constitution of the world;''



which indeed is the subject matter of it; for it treats of the creation of all things, of the heavens and the earth, and of all creatures in them; and of the providence of God in taking care of them. Christ is the divine Person addressed and described throughout the whole, as appears from the quotation of Ps 104:5 and the application of it to him in Heb 1:7.



Bless the Lord, O my soul,.... As for the blessings of grace and mercy expressed in the preceding psalm, so on account of the works of creation and providence, enumerated in this; in which Christ has an equal concern, as in the former.



O Lord my God, thou art very great; the Messiah, who is Jehovah our righteousness, Lord of all, truly God, and the God of his people; see

Joh 20:28 and who is great, and very great, in his divine Person, being the great God, and our Saviour; great in all his works of creation, providence, and redemption; great in all his offices of Prophet, Priest, and King; a Saviour, and a great one; the great Shepherd of the Sheep; the Man, Jehovah's Fellow.



Thou art clothed with honour and majesty; being the brightness of his Father's glory, and having on him the glory of the only begotten of the Father, and a natural majesty in him as the Son of God and King of the whole universe; and, as Mediator, he has honour and majesty laid upon him by his Father, Ps 21:5, he has all the regalia and ensigns of royal majesty; he is on a throne, high and lifted up, even the same with his divine Father; he has a crown of glory on his head, he is crowned with glory and honour; he has a sceptre of righteousness in his hand, and is arrayed in robes of majesty; and, as thus situated, is to look upon like a jasper and sardine stone; or as if he was covered with sparkling gems and precious stones, Re 4:2 and, having all power in heaven and earth, over angels and men, honour and glory given him by both.





Psalms 104:2



Ver. 2. Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment,.... Referring, as Aben Ezra and Kimchi think, to the light, which was first created; and indeed this was commanded out of darkness by God the Word, or by the essential Word of God. Light is expressive of the nature of God himself, who is light, and in him is no darkness at all, and who dwells in light {h} inaccessible, and so may be said to be clothed with it; which is applicable to Christ as a divine Person, 1Jo 1:5. and to whom this term "light" well agrees; Light being one of the names of the Messiah in the Old Testament, Ps 43:3, and is often given him in the New Testament, as the author of the light of nature, grace, and glory, Joh 1:9. He is now possessed of the light and glory of the heavenly state, of which his transfiguration on the mount was an emblem, when his face shone like the sun, and his raiment was as the light, Mt 17:2.



Who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain; alluding to the firmament or expanse, which, being spread out like a curtain, divided between the waters and the waters, Ge 1:6. Heaven is represented as a tent stretched out, with curtains drawn around it, to hide the dazzling and unapproachable light in which the Lord dwells, Isa 40:22 and it is as a curtain or canopy stretched out and encompassing this earth; the stretching of it out belongs to God alone, and is a proof of the deity of Christ, to whom it is here and elsewhere ascribed, Job 9:8. Here Christ dwells invisible to us at present; he is received up into heaven, retained there, and from thence will descend at the last day; and in the mean while is within the curtains of heaven, unseen by us.



{h} "Pura in luce refulsit alma parens", Virgil. Aeneid. 2. "Et paulo post, pallas insedit, nimbo effulgens".





Psalms 104:3



Ver. 3. Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters,.... Or "his upper rooms" {i}; one story over another being built by him in the heavens, Am 9:6, the chambers where he resides; his courts, as the Targum; his palace and apartments, his presence chamber particularly, the floor and beams of them are the waters bound up in the thick clouds; or the region of the air, from whence the rain descends to water the hills, as in Ps 104:13.



Who maketh the clouds his chariot; to ride in; in these sometimes Jehovah rides to execute judgment on his enemies, Isa 19:1 and in these sometimes he appears in a way of grace and mercy to his people,

Ex 13:21, in these, as in chariots, Christ went up to heaven; and in these will he come a second time; and into these will the saints be caught up to meet the Lord in the air at his coming, Ac 1:9.



Who walketh upon the wings of the wind; see Ps 18:10 which is expressive of his swiftness in coming to help and assist his people in time of need; who helps, and that right early; and may very well be applied both to the first and second coming of Christ, who came leaping upon the mountains, and skipping upon the hills, when he first came; and, when he comes a second time, will be as a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of spices, So 2:8. The Targum is,



"upon the swift clouds, like the wings of an eagle;''



hence, perhaps, it is, the Heathens have a notion of Jupiter's being carried in a chariot through the air, when it thunders and lightens {k}.



{i} wytwyle, uperwa, Sept. "coenacula sua superiora", Gejerus; so Michaelis. {k} Vid. Horat. Camin. l. 1. Ode 34. v. 5. "Namque diespiter", &c. Et. Ode 12. v. 58. "Tu gravi curru quaties Olympum".





Psalms 104:4



Ver. 4. Who maketh his angels spirits,.... The angels are spirits, or spiritual substances, yet created ones; and so differ from God, who is a spirit, and from the Holy Spirit of God, who are Creators and not creatures; angels are spirits without bodies, and so differ from the souls or spirits of men, and are immaterial, and so die not; these are made by Christ, by whom all things are made, Col 1:16 and so he must be greater and more excellent than they; for which purpose the passage is quoted in Heb 1:7. Some render it, "who maketh his angels as the winds"; to which they may be compared for their invisibility, they being not to be seen, no more than the wind, unless when they assume an external form; and for their penetration through bodies in a very surprising manner; see Ac 12:6, and for their great force and power, being mighty angels, and said to excel in strength, Ps 103:20, and for their swiftness in obeying the divine commands; so the Targum,



"he maketh his messengers, or angels, swift as the wind.''



His ministers a flaming fire; angels are ministers to God, stand before him, behold his face, wait for and listen to his orders, and execute them; they are ministers to Christ, they were so at his incarnation, in his infancy, when in the wilderness and in the garden, at his resurrection and ascension, and will attend him at his second coming; and these are ministers to his people, take the care of them, encamp about them, do many good offices to them in life, and at death carry their souls to Abraham's bosom: these are made a flaming fire, or "as" flaming fire, for their force and power; so the Targum,



"his ministers strong as flaming fire;''



and for their swiftness as before; and because of their burning love to God, Christ, and his people, and their flaming zeal for his cause and interest; hence thought by some to be called "seraphim": and because they are sometimes the executioners of God's wrath; and have sometimes appeared in fiery forms, as in forms of horses of fire and chariots of fire, and will descend with Christ in flaming fire at the last day; see 2Ki 2:11. Some invert the words, both reading and sense, thus, "who maketh the winds his angels, or messengers, and flaming fire his ministers"; so Jarchi, Aben Ezra, and Kimchi; we read of stormy wind fulfilling his word, Ps 148:8, he sends out his winds at his pleasure to do his errands; as to dry up the waters of the flood, to drive back the waters of the Red sea, and make dry land, to bring quails from thence, and scatter them about the camp of Israel, and in many other instances. So flaming fire was used as his ministers in burning Sodom and Gomorrah; and multitudes of the murmuring Israelites, and the captains with their fifties; but this sense is contrary to the order of the words, and the design of them, and to the apostle's sense of them, Heb 1:7 which is confirmed by the Targum, Septuagint, and all the Oriental versions.





Psalms 104:5



Ver. 5. Who laid the foundations of the earth,.... Or "founded the earth upon its bases" {l}; which some take to be the waters, according to Ps 24:2, others the centre of gravity in it; others the mountains; others the circumambient air, by which it is poised; rather the almighty power of God, by which it subsists; this is the work of Christ the Almighty; see Heb 1:3.



That it should not be removed for ever: for though it may be shaken by earthquakes, yet not removed; nor will it be until the dissolution of all things, when it shall flee away before the face of the Judge, and a new earth shall succeed, Re 20:11.



{l} hynwkm le "super bases ejus", Montanus, Musculus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; so the Tigurine version, Gejerus, Michaelis.





Psalms 104:6



Ver. 6. Thou coverest it with the deep as with a garment,.... This refers not to the waters of the flood, when the earth was covered with them, even the tops of the highest mountains; but to the huge mass of waters, the abyss and depth of them, which lay upon the earth and covered it as a garment, at its first creation, as the context and the scope of it show; and which deep was covered with darkness, at which time the earth was without form, and void, Ge 1:2 an emblem of the corrupt state of man by nature, destitute of the image of God, void and empty of all that is good, having an huge mass of sin and corruption on him, and being darkness itself; though this depth does not separate the elect of God, in this state, from his love; nor these aboundings of sin hinder the superaboundings of the grace of God; nor the operations of his Spirit; nor the communication of light unto them; nor the forming and renewing them, so as to become a curious piece of workmanship; even as the state of the original earth did not hinder the moving of the Spirit upon the waters that covered it, to the bringing of it into a beautiful form and order.



The waters stood above the mountains; from whence we learn the mountains were from the beginning of the creation; since they were when the depths of water covered the unformed chaos; and which depths were so very great as to reach above the highest mountains; an emblem of the universal corruption of human nature; the highest, the greatest men that ever were, comparable to mountains, have been involved in it, as David, Paul, and others.





Psalms 104:7



Ver. 7. At thy rebuke they fled,.... The depths of water that covered the earth fled, went off apace, when Christ, the essential Word, gave the word of command that they should; saying, "Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear, and it was so", Ge 1:9 and this being called a "rebuke", suggests as if there was something amiss, irregular and disorderly, and to be amended; as if these waters were not in their proper place.



At the voice of thy thunder they hasted away; ran off with great precipitancy; just as a servant, when his master puts on a stern countenance, and speaks to him in a thundering, menacing manner, hastes away from him to do his will and work. This is an instance of the mighty power of Christ; and by the same power he removed the waters of the deluge; when they covered the earth, and the tops of the highest hills; and rebuked the Red sea, and it became dry land; and drove back the waters of Jordan for the Israelites to pass through; and who also rebuked the sea of Galilee when his disciples were in distress: and with equal ease can he and does he remove the depth of sin and darkness from his people at conversion; rebukes Satan, and delivers out of his temptations, when he comes in like a flood; and rebukes the waters of affliction when they threaten to overwhelm; who are his servants, and come when he bids them come, and go when he bids them go.





Psalms 104:8



Ver. 8. They go up by the mountains, they go down by the valleys,.... The Targum is,



"they ascend out of the deep to the mountains;''



that is, the waters, when they went off the earth at the divine orders, steered their course up the mountains, and then went down by the valleys to the place appointed for them; they went over hills and dales, nothing could stop them or retard their course till they came to their proper place; which is another instance of the almighty power of the Son of God. Some render the words, "the mountains ascended, the valleys descended {m}"; and then the meaning is, when the depth of waters were called off the earth, the mountains and valleys appeared, the one seemed to rise up and the other to go down; but the former reading seems best, and emblematically describes the state of God's people in this world, in their passage to their appointed place; who have sometimes mountains of difficulties to go over, and which seem insuperable, and yet they surmount them; sometimes they are upon the mount of heaven by contemplation, and have their hearts and affections above; they mount up with wings as eagles; sometimes they are upon the mount of communion with God, and by his favour their mount stands strong, and they think they shall never be moved; at other times they are down in the valleys, in a low estate and condition; in low frames of soul, in a low exercise of grace, and in the valley of the shadow of death, of afflictive providences in soul or body: and as the waters, thus steering their course under a divine direction, and by an almighty power, at length came unto the place which, the psalmist says, thou hast founded for them, meaning the seas; which the Lord founded and prepared for the reception of them; and which collection of waters in one place he called by that name, Ge 1:10. So the Lord's people, through a variety of circumstances, trials, and exercises, will be all brought safe to the place appointed for them, and prepared by Christ in his Father's house; where they will be swallowed up in the boundless ocean of everlasting love.



{m} So Pagninus, Musculus, Cocceius.





Psalms 104:9



Ver. 9. Thou hast set a bound, that they may not pass over,.... The Targum adds,



"to the rolling waves of the sea.''



Set doors with bolts and bars, cliffs, rocks, and shores: and, what is more surprising, sand, which is penetrable, flexible, and moveable, is set as a perpetual bound to the raging ocean and its waves, which they cannot pass over: see Job 38:8. So the Lord has set a bound to the proud waters of afflictions, and says, Thus far shall ye go, and no farther; and to the life of man, which he cannot exceed,

Job 14:5. But he has given man a law, as a rule to walk by, as the boundary of his conversation, and this he transgresses; in which he is less tractable than the raging sea and its waves. That they turn not again to cover the earth; as they did when it was first made, Ps 104:6 that is, not without the divine leave and power; for they did turn again and cover the earth, at the time of the flood; but never shall more. Some think there is no need to make this exception; since this was written after the flood, and when God had swore that the waters should no more go over the earth, Isa 54:9.





Psalms 104:10



Ver. 10. He sendeth the springs into the valleys,.... The Targum is,



"who sendeth fountains into the rivers.''



Either from the waters of the sea, which being drained through the sand, become sweet and drinkable; or from the hills and mountains. This is an instance of divine goodness, that having removed the waters from the earth, and shut them up in the sea, and which, through the saltness of them, not being proper drink for men and beasts, he has been pleased to form and open springs, fountains, wells, and rivers of fresh water in the valleys, for the supply of both. Though this is not to be compared with the wells of salvation, and springs and fountains of grace, which he has opened for his chosen people. God himself is a spring or fountain of living water; his love is a river, whose streams delight the city of God; his covenant a source and spring of all blessings and promises. Christ is the fountain of gardens; his fulness is a supply for all his people: the Spirit of God and his grace are a well of living water, springing up unto eternal life. The word and ordinances are the springs in Zion,



which run among the hills, the several congregated churches, to the watering and refreshing of them; just as springs and rivers of water run in the dales and valleys among the hills, by which they are bounded.





Psalms 104:11



Ver. 11. They give drink to every beast of the field,.... These fountains, springs, and rivers, afford water for all the beasts of the field; who are therefore said to honour and praise the Lord on account of it, Isa 43:19.



The wild asses quench their thirst; or "break" {n} it. Those creatures that live in dry and desert places, and are themselves dry and thirsty; and though so stupid as they be, yet provision of water is made for them, and they are directed where to seek for it, and find it; see

Job 39:5. And if God takes care of the beasts of the field, even the most wild and stupid, will he not take care of his own people? He will, and does. He opens rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys; he gives waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to his people, his chosen, Isa 41:18.



{n} wrbvy "frangent", Pagninus, Montanus; "frangunt", Vatablus, Cocceius, Gejerus, Michaelis; so Ainsworth.





Psalms 104:12



Ver. 12. By them shall the fowls of the heaven have their habitation,.... Another use of the springs, fountains, and rivers of water; by the sides and on the shores of these, some birds delight to be, and on trees that grow here do they build their nests; and here, having wetted their throats, they sit, and chirp, and sing: to doves, by rivers of water, is the allusion in So 5:12.



Which sing among the branches; of trees that grow by the sides of fountains and rivers; see Eze 17:23. To such birds may saints be compared; being, like them, weak, defenceless, and timorous; liable to be taken in snares, and sometimes wonderfully delivered; as well as given to wanderings and strayings: and to fowls of the heaven, being heaven born souls, and partakers of the heavenly calling. These have their habitation by the fountain of Jacob, by the river of divine love, beside the still waters of the sanctuary; where they sing the songs of Zion, the songs of electing, redeeming, and calling grace.





Psalms 104:13



Ver. 13. He watereth the hills from his chambers,.... The house of his superior treasures, as the Targum. The airy regions, Ps 104:3 with the clouds of heaven, by the rain which they drop down upon them; the usefulness of which blessings of nature is largely described in this and some following verses. "The hills", which are naturally dry and barren, and receive but little advantage from the springs, fountains, and rivers below, are supplied with water from above; and become fruitful, bear herbage, and are clothed with flocks. This seems to refer to the first rain that was upon the earth, Ge 2:5 and which favour is continued to all lands, excepting some part of the land of Egypt, and in all ages since; see Ps 65:9. So ministers of the word, who are set in the first place, and are eminent in the church of God, and who water others, are watered themselves with the gifts and graces of the Spirit descending from above, as the apostles were, in an extraordinary manner, at the day of Pentecost; and as others in a more ordinary manner daily are. So likewise the churches of Christ, comparable to hills and mountains for firmness and visibility, and the several members thereof, are watered with the dews of divine favour, with the rain of the divine word; which comes down from heaven as the rain does, and drops and distils like that; and with the grace of the divine Spirit, whereby their souls become as a watered garden, whose springs fail not.



The earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works; with the fruits which grow out of it by means of rain, as are after mentioned; herbs, grass, and trees, so Aben Ezra: or with the influences of the heavens, which are the work of God's hands, and by which the earth is made fruitful; or more particularly with the virtue and efficacy of the rain, so Kimchi; which is the Lord's peculiar work, Jer 14:22. This the earth drinking in, is as satisfied with as a thirsty man is with drinking a draught of water; see De 11:11. So the people of God, comparable to the good earth that drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, are satisfied with the love of God, with the blessings of his grace, with the doctrines of his Gospel, and with the ordinances of his house.





Psalms 104:14



Ver. 14. He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle,.... By means of rain falling upon the tender herb, and upon the mown grass, whereby provision of food is made for those creatures that live upon grass.



And herb for the service of man: some herbs being for physic for him, and others for food, and all more or less for his use. Herbs were the original food of man, Ge 1:29 and still a dinner of herbs, where love is, is better than a stalled ox, and hatred therewith, Pr 15:17. Some render it, "and herb at the tillage of man" {o}: grass grows of itself for the use of the cattle; but the herb, as wheat and the like, which is for the use of man, is caused to grow when man has taken some pains with the earth, and has tilled and manured it: but the former sense seems best.



That he may bring forth food out of the earth; either that man may do it by his tillage; or rather that the Lord may do it, by sending rain, and causing the grass and herbs to grow. However, man's food, as well as the food of beasts, comes out of the earth, as he himself does, and to which he must return.



{o} tdbel "ad culturam", Cocceius, some in Vatablus, and Michaelis; so Gussetius, p. 572.





Psalms 104:15



Ver. 15. And wine that maketh glad the heart of man,.... That is, by means of rain watering the earth, vines are caused to grow out of it; which produce wine, that has such a virtue in it, as to cheer the heart of man, even of a miserable, distressed, and afflicted man, as the word {p} is supposed to signify, Jud 9:13. Of this nature are (and therefore are compared to wine, or expressed by it) the love of God and Christ; the blessings of grace, the doctrines of the Gospel, the ordinances of it; particularly that of the Lord's supper, and even the joys of heaven.



And oil to make his face to shine: or, "to make his face shine more than oil" {q}; and so it continues the account of the virtue of wine, which not only cheers the heart, but makes the countenance brisk and lively, and even shine again: but, according to our version, and others, this is a distinct effect of the rain, causing olive trees to grow out of the earth, productive of oil; which being eaten, fattens, and so makes the face to shine; as it also does by anointing with it, which was much in use for that purpose in the eastern countries, as well as for cheering and refreshing; see Ru 3:3. Pliny {r} says, oil purifies or clears; and particularly of oil of almonds, he says, that it makes clean, makes bodies soft, smooths the skin, procures gracefulness; and, with honey, takes spots or specks out of the face. Kimchi makes mention of another use of oil, in lighting lamps; by which the face of man is enlightened, or light is given him. So the Targum,



"to enlighten the face with oil.''



To this the grace of the Spirit is often compared in Scripture, with which both Christ and his members are said to be anointed,

Ac 10:38. This not only cheers and refreshes them, and is therefore called the oil of joy and gladness,

Ps 45:7, but beautifies and adorns them, and even makes them fat and flourishing, and so their faces to shine; as well as causes their lamps of profession to burn clearly, and the light of their good works to shine before men to the glory of God.



And bread which strengthens man's heart: the earth being watered with rain, causes the wheat sown in it to grow up; of which bread is made for the support of man's life, and is the chief sustenance of it; and is therefore commonly called "the staff of life", and, by the prophet, "the whole stay of bread", Isa 3:1, by which human nature is invigorated, and the strength of man is kept up and increased; for the phrase, see Ge 18:5. Of this nature are the provisions of God's house, which go by the same name, the word and ordinances; and especially Christ Jesus himself, the true and living bread; by which the Christian's spiritual life is supported and maintained, and he is comforted and refreshed, and strengthened for every good work.



{p} vwna "mortalis", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "sorry man", Ainsworth. {q} Nmvm "prae oleo", Vatablus, Gejerus; "magis quam oleum", Piscator. {r} Nat. Hist. l. 23. c. 4.





Psalms 104:16



Ver. 16. The trees of the Lord are full of sap,.... Or "satiated" {s}; that is, with rain; and through it are filled with fruits. This is to be understood not only of the tallest and largest trees; which are therefore called the trees of the Lord, as high mountains are called the mountains of the Lord, Ps 36:6 and so other things excellent in their kind: but of trees of the field and forest; so the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Arabic versions; which are not planted and cultivated by man, as trees in gardens and orchards are; but are more especially under the care and cultivation of the Lord himself, and may design such as were produced by him at the creation.



The cedars of Lebanon which he hath planted; a mountain on the borders of Judea, so called from its whiteness, through the snow on it, as the Alps are; and where grew great quantities of large and spreading cedars, which were not of man's, but of the Lord's planting: these were watered and made to grow with the rain of heaven. Rauwolff {t}, who was upon this mountain in 1574, says,



"though this hill in former ages has been quite covered over with cedars, yet they are so decreased, that I could tell, says he, no more but twenty four, that stood round about in a circle; and two others, the branches whereof are quite decayed with age.''



But Thevenot {u}, who has been there since, affirms there are no more nor less than twenty three, great and small; of the largeness, thickness, and height of these trees, See Gill on "Isa 37:24". Saints are often compared to trees, which are planted by the Lord in Christ, and in his churches; and particularly to cedars, for their height, strength, and durableness; see Ps 92:13, and these, through the grace of God, are full of sap and spiritual life, and are filled with the fruits of righteousness, and are often represented as planted and growing by rivers of water; see Nu 24:6.



{s} webvy "satiantur", Vatablus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius; so Musculus, Gejerus, Michaelis. {t} Travels, par. 2. ch. 13. p. 191. {u} Travels, par. 1. B. 2. ch. 60. p. 224.





Psalms 104:17



Ver. 17. Where the birds make their nests,.... As they do in large, tall, spreading trees: not any particular "birds", as the sparrow, to which the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions, and Apollinarius, restrain it: but birds in general are intended; and especially such as build in large trees, as before and after mentioned. Jarchi applies it to the Israelites dwelling among the trees in the garden of Eden: and it may be much better applied to the saints dwelling in the churches, among the trees of righteousness, under the shadow of Gospel ordinances; see Eze 17:23.



As for the stork, the fir trees are her house; where she makes her nest, and brings up her young. Kimchi says it is a large bird, and builds its nest in high trees, as in cedars; but the bird which goes by the name of "pelargus" with the Greeks, and of "ciconia" with the Latins, and of "stork" with us, for the most part builds its nest on the tops of towers and temples {w}, and the roofs of high houses, and seldom in trees; and when it does, it is in such that are not far from the habitations of men, which it loves to be near: perhaps the reason of its not building on houses in Palestine might be because their roofs were flat and frequented, and therefore built on high trees there, as fir trees and cedars. And Olympiodorus {x} says it does not lay its eggs on the ground, but on high trees; and Michaelis on the text attests, that he himself had seen, in many places in Germany, storks nests on very high and dry oaks. It has its name in Hebrew from a word {y} which signifies "holy", "merciful", and "beneficent"; because of the great care which it takes of its dam when grown old {z}: and a like behaviour among men is called piety by the apostle, 1Ti 5:4. But in the Chaldee tongue, and so in the Targum, it has its name from its whiteness; for though its wings are black, the feathers of its body are white: and so Virgil {a} describes it as a white bird, and as an enemy to serpents; for which reason the Thessalians forbad the killing them, on pain of banishment {b}. It was an unclean bird, according to the ceremonial law,

Le 11:19. Good men are called by the same name, holy and beneficent; and though they are unclean by nature, yet Christ, the green fir tree, Ho 14:8 is the house of their habitation; in him they dwell by faith, who receives sinners, and eats with them,

Lu 15:2. It is usual with the Latin poets to call the nests of birds their houses {c}.



{w} Vid. Turnebi Adversar. l. 8. c. 18. & Praetorii Disp. Histor. Physic. de Crotalistria, c. 6. Heldelin. in ibid. c. 11. {x} Apud Bachart. Hierozoic. par. 2. l. 2. c. 29. col. 330. {y} hdyox a dox Buxtorf. Lexic. fol. 247. {z} Solinus, c. 53. Aelian. de Animal. l. 3. c. 23. {a} "Candida venit avis longis invisa colubris", Georgic. l. 2. {b} Plutarch. de Iside et Osir. prope finem. {c} "Frondiferasque domos avium", Lucret. l. 1. v. 19. "Antiquasque domos avium", Virgil. Georgic. l. 2. v. 209.





Psalms 104:18



Ver. 18. The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats,.... Who have their name in Hebrew {d} from their climbing and ascending them. What we commonly call "a wild goose chase" should be expressed "a wild goat's chase"; for not geese, but goats, are chased; and when they are, they flee to the hills for refuge. Hence they are sometimes called the wild goats of the rocks, Job 39:1, and sometimes the rocks are called from them the rocks of wild goats, 1Sa 24:2. The Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Arabic versions, render it "for the harts", or deer; and so Apollinarius: but the word is not used of them.



And the rocks for the conies; who being a feeble folk, make their houses in them, to protect them from creatures of superior power and strength, Pr 30:26. Some interpret it of the "hedgehog", as the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions: others of "hares", as the Syriac and Arabic, and so Apollinarius; and others of "mountain mice". Now what the hills and rocks are to the above creatures, a refuge and a habitation for them, that Christ is to those that fly to him for refuge; though weak and feeble, sinful and unworthy, he is their rock, the rock of their refuge, their strong tower, and place of defence.



{d} Myley ab hle Buxtorf. Lexic. fol. 322.





Psalms 104:19



Ver. 19. He appointeth the moon for seasons,.... Or, "he made" {e}; for the moon is the work of his hands, Ps 8:3 as is likewise the sun. From the rain the psalmist passes to the luminaries; for this reason, as Aben Ezra thinks, because they are the cause of rain: the moon is taken notice of in the first place, because, as Kimchi observes, the night was before the day; and in the night of the fourth day were the sun, moon, and stars; but the sun rose in the morning. The moon was made for seasons as well as the sun, Ge 1:16 or that times might be numbered by it, as the Targum, both months and years; one of its courses and revolutions making a month, and twelve of these a year; which lunar years were in use among some nations: as also it is supposed to have an influence on the ebbing and flowing of the tides; and served to regulate the festivals of the Jews, their set appointed times, as the word signifies, and is used of them, and which were governed by it. And this Jarchi takes to be the sense of the passage; though Aben Ezra more truly remarks, that it purely belongs to the work of creation, and the original design and use of this luminary. It was an emblem of the ceremonial law; which consisted, among other things, in the observation of new moons; which gave some light in the time of Jewish darkness, though but a dim one, in comparison of the Gospel; had its imperfections, was changeable, waxed old, and vanished away; and which the church is said to have under her feet, being abolished,

Re 12:1. Though some think the world is meant, which is changeable and fading. It was also an emblem of the church, So 6:10 which receives her light from Christ, the sun of righteousness; has its different phases and appearances; sometimes being in prosperity, and sometimes in adversity; has its spots and imperfections, and yet beautiful, through the grace of God and righteousness of Christ.



The sun knoweth his going down; not the going down of the moon, which is the sense of some, according to Kimchi; but his own going down; and so he knows his rising, to which this is opposed, Ps 50:1 and every revolution, diurnal or annual, he makes; and which he constantly and punctually observes, as if he was a creature endued with reason and understanding; see Ps 19:5. He knows the time of his setting, as the Targum, Syriac, and Arabic versions; and also the place where he is to set, at the different seasons of the year, and indeed every day. This luminary is an emblem of Christ, the sun of righteousness, Ps 84:11 the fountain of all light; the light of nature, grace, and glory; and of all spiritual life and heat, as well as fruitfulness. He arose at his incarnation, and set at his death, the time of both which he full well knew; and he has his risings and settings, with respect to the manifestation of himself to his people, or hiding himself from them, which depend on his pleasure.



{e} hve "fecit", Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, &c.





Psalms 104:20



Ver. 20. Thou makest darkness, and it is night,.... The darkness was before the light, and the night before the day, Ge 1:2 and now the darkness and night are made by the setting of the sun before mentioned; see Isa 45:7.



Wherein all the beasts of the field do creep forth; out of their dens, and range about for their prey, as the evening wolves and others: and these are not the only creatures that choose the night and darkness; all wicked men do the same; whose deeds are evil, and do not care to come to the light, lest they should be reproved; particularly drunkards, adulterers, thieves, and murderers, Joh 3:20. So the Scribes and Pharisees, when they consulted to take away the life of Christ, and agreed with Judas to betray him, did it in the night: so false teachers, who are wolves in sheep's clothing, when it is a night of darkness with the church, take the advantage of it, to creep about and spread their pernicious doctrines; see 2Ti 3:6.





Psalms 104:21



Ver. 21. The young lions roar after their prey,.... Or, "at the prey" {f}; for, according to the Scriptures, it seems as if their time of roaring was when they have got their prey, and are tearing it and feeding on it, and not till then, Am 3:4 though naturalists tell us, that, when they are pinched with hunger, they make such a hideous roaring, as quite stupefies, as well as terrifies, other creatures; that they have no power to stir, till they come up to them, and become their prey, who otherwise could outrun them; for the lion is neither a swift creature, nor of good scent: wherefore, according to credible accounts, a creature called a "jackal", little bigger than a fox, hunts its prey for it, and secures it till it comes up to it. Young lions are rather mentioned, because their appetite is keenest, and their voice loudest and strongest. This creature is an emblem of Satan, who goes about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour, 1Pe 5:8.



And seek their meat from God; as all creatures in their way do; as the ravens by crying, so the young lions by roaring; neither one nor other can provide for themselves, but God, in his providence, supplies them all with food; see Ps 104:27. And should not we seek and ask our meat of God too, even both temporal and spiritual? And may we not expect it from him? Does he feed the ravens, and also the young lions, and will he not take care of his own people, and feed them with food convenient for them, and especially when they ask it of him?

Ps 34:10.



{f} Prjl "ad praedam", Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, &c.





Psalms 104:22



Ver. 22. The sun ariseth, they gather themselves together,.... Having gone some one way, some another, seeking their prey; but upon the sun's rising gather together in order to return from whence they came, abhorring the light of the sun, as some creatures do, and fearing being hunted and taken by men, the fear of whom is still in some measure upon the beasts of the field, Ge 9:2. So wicked men do not care for the light of the day, nor do false teachers choose to come to the light of the word; these owls and bats, these, as Tertullian calls them; and Satan himself chooses to set upon persons when they are in darkness, and in melancholy and disconsolate frames; and is afraid of believers, when they put on the armour of light, especially the shield of faith, and resist him with it, then he flees from them.



And lay them down in their dens; for rest and safety, and to feed themselves and young ones with the ravin they bring with them; see So 4:8.





Psalms 104:23



Ver. 23. Man goeth forth to his work,.... Having taken sleep in the night, being comfortably refreshed, and his strength recruited; he rises with the rising sun, and goes forth cheerfully and with intrepidity to his work in the field, or elsewhere, the beasts being fled and gone.



And to his labour until the evening; to till the ground, and do other services and labour, either of the head or hand; for man is born and designed for labour, and not for sloth and idleness: in his innocent state he was set to dress the garden and keep it; and, after the fall, his doom was to get his bread by the sweat of his brow; and he is to work while the day lasts, till the evening and night come on, when he betakes himself to sleep and rest again. So the believer, though the work of redemption and salvation is wrought for him, and the work of grace is wrought in him, each by another hand; yet he has work enough to do, which he is created for, and under obligation to perform; and in which he is to continue steadfast and immovable, while the day of life lasts, till the night of death comes, and no man can work; and then he rests from his labours, and his works follow him.





Psalms 104:24



Ver. 24. O Lord, how manifold are thy works,.... The psalmist having taken notice of many of the works of creation, stops and wonders at the number of them; though he had not gone through them all, and there were even things innumerable behind; see Ps 104:25, he admires the sum of them, how great it was; and not only the quantity but the quality of them; for so the words may be rendered, "how great are thy works" {g}, as for number, so for nature; in which there is such an amazing display of the greatness and power of God, and particularly of his wisdom, as is observed in the next clause.



In wisdom hast thou made them all not only one thing, as the heavens,

Ps 136:5, but everything is wisely contrived and made; there is a most glorious display of the wisdom of God in the most minute thing his hands have made; he has made everything beautiful in its season: a skilful artificer, when he has finished his work and looks it over again, often finds some fault or another in it: but when the Lord had finished his works of creation, and looked over them, he saw that all was good; infinite wisdom itself could find no blemish in them: what weak, foolish, stupid creatures must they be that pretend to charge any of the works of God with folly, or want of wisdom? Some by "wisdom" here understand Christ himself, the wisdom of God; and not amiss, since without him was not anything made; see Pr 3:19.



The earth is full of thy riches: or possessions {h}; for as the Lord is the maker, he is the proprietor and the possessor of heaven and earth, and all that is in them, and can and does dispose thereof as seems good in his sight; and whatever of the riches and good things of the earth men may have, they are only stewards, the Lord is the rightful owner and possessor of them; see Ge 14:19, with which compare Ps 33:5,

See Gill on "Ps 33:5".



{g} wbr hm "quam multa ac magna", Gejerus. {h} Knynp "possessione tua", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Gejerus; "tuis possessionibus", Tigurine version, Vatablus, Piscator, Michaelis.





Psalms 104:25



Ver. 25. So is this great and wide sea,.... One of the great and manifold works of God, made in his wisdom, and full of his riches and possessions, as the earth is; this is that collection of waters which God called seas, Ge 1:10 and is, as Kimchi observes, great in length, and wide and spacious in breadth; or "broad of hands" {i}, as in the original; or spacious in borders, as the Targum; it washing the several parts of the continent, and encompassing and embracing the whole earth with both arms as it were. Nor is it unusual with other writers to call the sea the great sea {k}, and to speak of an arm or arms of the sea {l}, as we do. Isidore says {m}, the great sea is that which flows out of the ocean from the west, and goes to the south, and then to the north, called so in comparison of other seas that are less, and is the Mediterranean sea, This is an emblem of the world, which may be compared to the sea for the multitude of nations and people in it, as numerous as the waves of the sea; for the temper of the inhabitants of it, being like the troubled sea, restless and uneasy, casting up the mire of dirt and sin; and for the instability of it, and the fluctuating state and condition of all things in it.



Wherein are things creeping innumerable; so that it seems there are reptiles in the water as well as on land; and indeed every creature without feet, and that goes upon its belly, in the element where it is, whether earth or water, is a creeping thing; of these swimming or creeping things the number is exceeding great, especially of the latter sort; fishes increasing much more than the beasts of the earth. Their species are innumerable; so their kinds or sorts are reckoned up by some one hundred and forty four {n}, by others one hundred and fifty three {o}, and by others one hundred and seventy six {p}; the Malabarians reckon, up 900,000 fishes, and 1,100,000 creeping things {q}. These are an emblem of the common people of the world, which are innumerable; see Hab 1:14.



Both small and great beasts; for there are creatures in the seas which answer to those on the dry land, both of the lesser and greater sort, as sea lions, sea horses, sea cows, sea hogs, &c. these may represent the rulers and governors of the world, supreme and subordinate; it is no unusual thing for great monarchies, and persons of great power and authority, to be signified by beasts rising out of the sea, Da 7:3.



{i} Mydy bxr "latum manibus", Montanus; "spatiosum manibus", V. L. "amplum manibus", Vatablus. {k} Virgil. Aeneid. 5. Lucretius, l. 6. {l} "Veluti par divexum in mare brachium transitum tentaturus", Liv. Hist. l. 44. c. 35. "Nec brachia longos" &c. Ovid. Metamorph. l. 1. Fab. 1. v. 13, 14. {m} Origin. l. 13. c. 16. {n} Origin. l. 12. c. 6. {o} Oppianus in Halienticis. Vid. Hieron. in Ezek. 47. fol. 260. {p} Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 32. c. 11. {q} Scheuchzer. Physic. Sacr. vol. 4. p. 963.





Psalms 104:26



Ver. 26. There go the ships,.... From place to place, from one end of the world to the other, for the sake of merchandise {r}; this is one of the four things that were too wonderful for Solomon, "the way of a ship in the midst of the sea", Pr 30:19 though navigation was improved in his times indeed not so much as it is now. The original of ships was doubtless Noah's ark, so that they owe their first draught to God himself. They seem to be an emblem of the church and people of God passing through the sea of this world to the haven of eternal rest. The ship is but a small vessel, and takes up but a small room in comparison of the vast ocean on which it is; and so the church of Christ is but small, a little city, and few men in it, a little flock, a small remnant: a ship is unfixed and unsettled, sometimes here and sometimes there; so the church of Christ is sometimes in one place, and sometimes in another; nor is this world the rest of God's people, nor have they any continuing city here; for, as a ship is tossed with tempests, so are they with the waves of afflictions, the temptations of Satan, and the persecutions of men; and sometimes, like Paul, and the mariners with him, have no sight of sun and stars for many days, of the sun of righteousness, or of the stars, the ministers of the word; when sailing is dangerous it bodes perilous times, through the impure lives of professors, and impious doctrines of false teachers, whereby many suffer shipwreck; yet all the Lord's people get safe ashore, having a good pilot, Christ, to conduct them; and the good anchor of hope, sure and steadfast.



There is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to play therein; the Targum adds,



"for the righteous at the feast of the house of his habitation.''



Of this creature there is an account in Job 41:1. Some take it to be the crocodile, which is both a sea and river fish; the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Ethiopic, and Arabic versions, and so Apollinarius, call it the dragon; it is more generally thought to be the whale; Aben Ezra says it is the name of every great fish; it is a sportive creature, tumbles about in the great sea, and plays with the waters of it, which it tosses up in great quantities; and with the fishes of the sea, which it devours at pleasure; and laughs at the shaking of the spear; and to which mariners throw out their empty casks to play with, when near them, and they in danger by it; see Job 41:5. This creature is generally reckoned by the ancients a figure of Satan, it being king over all the children of pride, Job 41:34 as he is the prince of the power of the air, and god of this world; who has been playing his tricks in it from the beginning of it, not only deceiving our first parents, but all the nations of the world; nor are saints ignorant of his devices. It sometimes describes a tyrannical prince, as the kings of Babylon and of Egypt, Isa 27:1 and is a true picture of antichrist, the beast which rose out of the sea; nor is there any like him on earth; see Re 13:1



{r} So Homer calls ships nhav pontuporouv, Iliad. 3. v. 46.





Psalms 104:27



Ver. 27. These wait all upon thee,.... Or "hope in thee" {s}; not only the fishes of the sea, but the beasts of the field; for to them the psalmist returns, as Aben Ezra observes; to whom hope and expectation of their food and waiting for it at the hands of God, are ascribed; the allusion seems to be to tame creatures, who come at their certain times and wait on them that have been used to give them their food; and it may instruct us to wait on the Lord, as for our daily bread, so for our spiritual food, in prayer, and in public ordinances, where and from whom we may hope and expect to have it.



That thou mayest give them their meat in due season; or "in his time" {t}; everyone in its own time, which is natural to them, and they have been used to; at which time the Lord gives it to them and they take it; it would be well if men would do so likewise, eat and drink in proper and due time, Ec 10:17. Christ speaks a word in season to weary souls; his ministers give to everyone their portion of meat in due season; and a word spoken in due season, how good and sweet is it? Isa 1:4



{s} Nwrbvy "sperant", Pagninus, Cocceius, Michaelis; "sperabunt", Montanus. {t} wteb "in tempore suo", Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, &c.





Psalms 104:28



Ver. 28. That thou givest them they gather,.... What God bestows upon them as a bounty of Providence they take and make use of, and in their way thankfully, and without repining; some gather it up for immediate use and service, and not into barns; others gather it up for time to come, as the ant, Mt 6:26. Kimchi understands this of a time of scarcity, when they gather here a little and there a little; as he does the following clause of a time of plenty.



Thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good; God, in whose hand all things are, and from whence all things come, opens his hand of providence, and liberally and bountifully gives, as this phrase signifies, De 15:11 and all his creatures are filled with his good things to their satisfaction: and thus the spiritual food which he gives his people, they gather it by the hand of faith, as the Israelites gathered the manna in the wilderness every morning, and according to their eating, what was sufficient for them; and to whom he gives liberally, even all things richly to enjoy; all things pertaining to life and godliness; Christ, and all things along with him; abundance of grace here, and glory hereafter; and they are satisfied with his good things as with marrow and fatness.





Psalms 104:29



Ver. 29. Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled,.... God may be said to hide his face from the creatures when he withholds their food from them, when there is a scarcity of provisions, a famine in the land; when there is no pasture for them to feed on, nor brooks of water to drink of; then are they troubled or perplexed, as in Joe 1:18 and know not what to do, nor where to go for help, but faint, and sink, and die. So in a spiritual sense when God hides his face from his people, removes his Shechinah, or divine Majesty and Presence, as the Targum here; and withdraws the influences of his grace and Spirit; or when they have no food for their souls, or what they have is not blessed, then are they troubled, Ps 30:7.



Thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust; their original dust, from whence they sprung, as man himself does; the breath of all is from the Lord; he gives it to his creatures, and when he pleases he takes it away; and when he does, they die and become dust again.





Psalms 104:30



Ver. 30. Thou sendest forth thy Spirit, they are created,.... Thy Holy Spirit, as the Targum, who was at first concerned in the creation of all things, the heavens and the earth, and man upon it, Ge 1:2

Job 26:13 which may be alluded to here; though it seems chiefly to intend the generation and production of creatures in the room of those that die off; that so their species may be preserved, and there may be a constant succession of them, as there is in all ages, Ec 1:4.



And thou renewest the face of the earth; by a new set of creatures of all kinds being brought upon it to fill it. As there is also a daily renewing it every morning by the rising sun, giving fresh life and vigour to all created beings; and a yearly one every spring, when the face of all nature is renewed and revived. Jarchi and Arama understand it of the resurrection of the dead; this sense Kimchi mentions as an article of their faith, but not as the sense of the text. It may be applied to the renewing work of the Spirit of God in the souls of men, by whom they are made new, and by whom they are daily renewed in the Spirit of their minds. And there are particular seasons in which God sends forth his Spirit and renews the face of things in the world, and in his churches; upon the effusion of his Spirit in the first times of the Gospels, there was a new face of things, not only in the land of Judea, but throughout the whole Gentile world, where old things passed away, and all things became new; as in the latter day, when the Spirit shall be poured forth from on high, there will be a renewing of the face of the earth again; it will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea; the kingdoms of it will become Christ's; new heavens and a new earth will be created, and Jerusalem will be made a rejoicing, and her people a joy, Isa 65:17.





Psalms 104:31



Ver. 31. The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever,.... The glory which arises from the works of his hands, which is due unto him, and shall be given him; this is opposed to the perishing and fading glory of all created beings: and as Christ is the person spoken of throughout the whole psalm, this may be understood of his glory as the only begotten of the Father; and which is equal to his Father's glory, and is the same yesterday, today, and for ever; and of the glory of his office as Mediator: and of all his works of nature and grace, of creation and redemption: nor will there be creatures wanting, angels and men to glorify his name, to all eternity. The Targum, Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and all the Oriental versions render it as a prayer, "let the glory of the Lord be for ever"; or, let him be for ever glorified, on account of the perfections of his nature, and the works of his hands; as he will and ought to be.



The Lord shall rejoice in his works; being well pleased with them, as he was with the works of creation; they appearing, on a survey of them, to be all very good, Ge 1:31 so he rejoices in the sustaining and preservation of them; and the rather when he is glorified in them. And this should be a reason why glory should be given him, that he may rejoice in his works, and not be grieved, as he is sometimes said to be and to repent of his making them, Ge 6:6. Christ rejoices in the work of redemption, which he undertook and performed with pleasure; he rejoiced at the finishing it, and he rejoices in the application of it to his people and will rejoice in their complete enjoyment of it; they being the objects of his love, in whom he has an interest; whom he engaged for, are the purchase of his blood, and for whom he prays and intercedes; he rejoices in them as the work of his hands now; in their persons, who are his "hephzibah", in whom he delights; "his beulah", to whom he is married: he rejoices in his own grace wrought in them, and in the exercise of it on him; he rejoices over them to do them good, and never ceases doing good to them and for them.





Psalms 104:32



Ver. 32. He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth,.... As Sinai did when he descended on it, Ps 68:8, to which the allusion seems to be; and a look from him, a severe one, a frowning one, will make the inhabitants of the earth to tremble; a providential look, sending famine, pestilence or the sword among them. A displeased look will make the hearts of his own children tremble, as no doubt Peter's did, when the Lord looked upon him, and he remembered his word; and if a look, much more a word, an awful word, as his voice in the law, pronouncing such cursed as keep it not; and especially the tremendous sentence he will pronounce on the wicked at the last day,



go, ye cursed, &c. and if a look and a word are so terrible, what will be the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of his anger upon those who have refused to give him glory? For the words seem to carry in them a reason why he should be glorified, taken from the consequence of not glorifying him, who has such a majesty in his looks, such a terror in his countenance, and such power in his hands.



He toucheth the hills, and they smoke; as Sinai likewise did, when he was upon it, Ex 19:18, and as other hills do, when touched with lightning; the tops of mountains, the higher they are, the sooner and the more they smoke {u}. God, with a touch of his hand, can set mountains on fire, open "volcanos", and cause them to burn for years together; as Etna, Vesuvius, Hecla, and others: and how easily can he set on fire the course of nature, burn the world, and all that is in it! It is but touching it, and it takes fire immediately: this he can as easily do as a man can light a torch or a candle; and as easily can he destroy sinners with the fire of his wrath, or cast them into everlasting fire, with the devil and his angels, which will burn to the lowest hell; and what are hills and mountains, or the greatest personages on earth, if he does but touch them, or lay his hand upon them in wrath? They are crushed as the moth; they are nothing before our great Zerubbabel.



{u} "Montis vicina cacumina coelo----Tanto "magis edita fumant", Lucret. de Rerum Natura, l. 6. v. 458, 459.





Psalms 104:33



Ver. 33. I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live,.... Or, "in my life or lives {w}", throughout the whole of it. This was what the psalmist determined to do, let others do what they would; even sing songs of praise to the Lord; since he was the God of his life, who had fed him all his life long; from whom he had all the mercies of life, and by whom he had been followed with goodness and mercy all his days, and on whom his life and the comforts of it depended.



I will sing praise unto my God while I have my being: because he lived, and moved, and had his being in him; and it was continued to him, and he was upheld in it; and not only for his being, but for his well being; as for his temporal, so for his spiritual mercies, which he had from him as his God, as his covenant God; such as peace, pardon, righteousness, and eternal life: a view of God as our own God, such a view as Thomas had of Christ, when he said, "my Lord, and my God", is enough to make a man sing; and when the psalmist says he would do this as long as he lived and had a being, this is not to be understood as if this work would end with his life, or that he had no thought of praising him hereafter; but it signifies his constancy in this employment, while in the land of the living; knowing that in the grave he could not praise the Lord with his bodily organs as now; though he knew that this would be his eternal employ in the world of spirits, in his soul, during its separate state, and in soul and body after the resurrection.



{w} yyxb "in vita mea", V. L. Pagninus; "in vitis meis", Montanus.





Psalms 104:34



Ver. 34. My meditation of him shall be sweet,.... Of the glories, excellencies, and perfections of his person; of his offices, as Mediator, King, Priest, and Prophet, the Saviour and Redeemer; of his works of creation, providence, and redemption; of his word, the blessed truths and comfortable doctrines of it; of his providential dispensations, and gracious dealings with his people in the present state; which to meditate upon, when grace is in exercise, is very sweet, delightful, and comfortable. The Targum renders it as a petition,



"let my meditation be sweet before him;''



that is, grateful and acceptable to him: or, as the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions, "let my speech", discourse, colloquy, address in prayer; see Ps 141:2, or, "let my praise", so the Arabic and Syriac versions: the spiritual sacrifices both of prayer and praise are acceptable to God through Christ; and the speech of the church, and every believer, whether in the one way or the other, is sweet to Christ, very pleasant and delightful to him, So 2:14.



I will be glad in the Lord: the Targum is,



"in the Word of the Lord;''



in the essential Word, the Lord Jesus Christ; in his person, the greatness, glory, beauty, and fulness of it; in his righteousness, its purity, perfection, and perpetuity; in his salvation, being so suitable, complete, and glorious.





Psalms 104:35



Ver. 35. Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth,.... Not in common, for all men are sinners, even good men are not without sin; but notorious sinners, whose lives are one continued series and course of sinning; such as will not have Christ to reign over them, and do not give him the glory due unto him; particularly antichrist, the man of sin, and his followers; they that worship the beast and his image: these will be consumed with the breath of his mouth, and with the brightness of his coming, and will perish out of his land, 2Th 2:3.



And let the wicked be no more; as the wicked one, antichrist, will be no more when consumed; there will never rise another, when the beast and false prophet are taken and cast alive into the lake of fire; there will no more of the antichristian party remain, the remnant of them will be slain with the sword; after the battle of Armageddon, there will be none left of the followers of antichrist, nor any ever rise up any more.



Bless thou the Lord, O my soul; as for his mercies, spiritual and temporal, so for the destruction of all his enemies. The psalm begins and ends alike as the preceding.



Praise ye the Lord, or hallelujah: this is the first time this word is used in this book of Psalms, though frequently afterwards: and it is observable that it is only used, in the New Testament, at the prophecy of the destruction of antichrist, Re 19:1 which may serve to confirm the sense before given; and is to be considered as a call upon the saints to praise the Lord, on account of his righteous judgments on his and his church's enemies; so Aben Ezra.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

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