Psalms 100

Psalms 100

DESCRIPTIVE TITLE

Invitation to All the Earth to Come In before Jehovah and Worship.

ANALYSIS

Stanza I., Psalms 100:1-3, Invitation to Worship, based on Jehovah's Claims as Creator and Shepherd. Stanza II., Psalms 100:4-5, Renewed Invitation, based on Jehovah's Own Perfections.

(Lm.) PsalmFor a Thank-offering (or For Thanksgiving.)

1

Shout ye unto Jehovah all the earth!

2

serve Jehovah with gladness,

come in before him with a ringing cry.

3

Know that Jehovah he is God,

he made us and his are we,[353]

[353] So Heb. marg. (kri=read preferred by Del., Per., Kp., Br., Dr.). Heb. text (M.T.): and not we ourselves.

his people and the flock of his shepherding.[354]

[354] Cp. Psalms 79:13, Psalms 95:7, (Isaiah 63:11).

4

Come into his gates with thanksgiving,[355]

[355] Or: a thank-offering.

into his courts with praise,[356]

[356] Or: a song of praise.

give thanks to him, bless his name;

5

For good is Jehovah

to the ages his kindness,
and unto generation after generation his faithfulness.

(Nm.)

PARAPHRASE

Psalms 100

Shout with joy before the Lord, O earth!
2 Obey Him gladly; come before Him singing with joy,
3 Try to realize what this meansthe Lord is God! He made uswe are His people, the sheep of His pasture.
4 Go through His open gates with great thanksgiving; enter His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him and bless His name.
5 For the Lord is always good. He is always loving and kind, and His faithfulness goes on and on to each succeeding generation.

EXPOSITION

The close connection between this psalm and those immediately preceding it is evident, and at once supplies guidance as to the breadth of the outlook which should be given to the first line as an appeal to all the earth rather than to all the land. It is true that the Hebrew word -'erez means land as well as earth, and further true that once in the foregoing series (Psalms 96:1) it has here been rendered land. But that was for a special passing reason; namely, because of an apparent distinction between a particular land and the remaining nations of the earth. Hence, as it cannot be denied that in most of the 15 occurrences of the word in Psalms 94-100, earth has far stronger claims to stand in English than the more limited word land, it is submitted that earth is the right word here. The dominant thought of the psalms now closing is that Jehovah is lord of the whole earth and has now entered upon the manifest kingship of all the world; and that no sufficient reason comes in here, at the opening of this new and final psalm, to limit the appeal to a smaller sphere than the whole world. We are not just here following Asaph pleading for the reunion of the tribes, as we were some twenty psalms back; but rather are we under the guidance of Isaiah, who is familiar with the conception that Jehovah's temple in Jerusalem is to be a house of prayer for all peoples (Isaiah 56:7) and that Jehovah purposes to gather together all nations and tongues to come and see his glory, yea and that all flesh shall come in and bow down before me, Saith Jehovah (Isaiah 66:18; Isaiah 66:23). Hence we may with reasonable confidence give the fullest possible breadth to the opening invitation: Shout ye unto Jehovah all the earth.

The more firmly we take up this position, the more frankly it becomes us now to submit that the language of the psalm points to the gathering, periodic or otherwise, of all the earth to a local centre: Come in before JehovahCome into his gates, into his courts (Psalms 100:4). And this too is in the spirit of the psalms which have gone before, in which are many local indications: such as the house of Jehovah, the courts of our God (Psalms 92:13)Come to meet his face, Come in, let us kneel (Psalms 95:2; Psalms 95:6)Strength and beauty are in his sanctuary (Psalms 96:6)Bring ye a present and come into his courts (Psalms 96:8)Jehovah in Zion is great (Psalms 99:2)Bow down at his footstool (Psalms 99:5)Bow down at his holy mountain (Psalms 99:9). So that it is entirely in the vein of these Sabbath-day Services of Song to abide by the local indications in the psalm now before us. These psalms deal with Israel and the Nations. They have already carried us beyond the present intermediate dispensation, having transported us beyond Messiah's Second Advent into the Coming final Theocracy. The Church, indeed, has no local centre, unless it is in heaven. But here we are in touch with the final, earthly Jerusalem; and clearly it does not follow that because the Church has no local, earthly centre, therefore there will be no such centre of worship in the Coming Kingdom. Unless we are prepared to turn the whole Old Testament into allegory, a hundred texts are at hand to shew that there will be such a centre in the Final Theocracy. Still (speaking here to Christians), on the principle that all things are ours we can rejoice in all that here unveils itself to our admiring eyes; and even in the Ecclesia, we can, in the spirit of trustful anticipation, sing the Songs of the Kingdom. (Cp. Intro., Chap. III., Kingdom.)

Note, then, what it is which is here set before us: it is nothing less than a worshipping worlda world worshipping with unspeakable gladness, because of what at first sight appear as two primordial truths, which however ultimately resolve themselves into one; namely the relationship to the world as both Creator and Shepherd sustained by Jehovah. This is the inspiration: this the gladness: this the motive and theme of praise. Ye men of all the earth, know this: that Jehovah, God of the Hebrew nation, of grace and revelation and redemption is God of all the earth; He made us, and His we areHis people, and the flock of his shepherding. If all the earth is appealed to, to shout with gladness and give a ringing cry,this of necessity is to be the burden of that ringing cry: which prophetically implies that when this song is sung according to its main intention, all the earth will have come into line with all who know God and rejoice in him as their Shepherding Creator. As Delitzsch has well said: In this announcement, He made us, and His we are, lies a rich store of comfort and warning; for the Creator is also the Owner; His heart clings to his creature; while the latter owes himself entirely to Him, without whom he would neither have had being nor continue to exist. It is worth while to ensure perfect correctness by observing that the Divine relationships to all the earth here celebrated are essentially one. It does not say, He created us all, and some of us are his people and the flock of his shepherding. That may be the exact truth now; yea, and may have been the exact truth in all past ages. But it is not the whole truth as it is to be realised and rung out with joy in the Final Theocracy; for it is not the whole truth as here set forth by prophetic anticipation. The various reading here preferred itself carries us further: He made us, and His are weHis people. Not merely his creatures; which of itself turns the broader word made to excellent account. He made uswhat we are, His people; He made uswhat we are, His flock. This opens our eyes to see that to make here means more than to create: it includes tending, training, forming our characters. What he makes us to be is not mere men; but good men, communing with him, like him; otherwise we could not be His people, the flock of his shepherding.

Does this lofty conception, when applied to all the earth, introduce confusion? It may: if we make of the past an ironmould for the stereotyping of our thoughts; otherwise, there is no necessity for confusion. God has already had more than one people on the earth: the Jewish nationnow alas in a great measure in abeyance; the Christian Churchsometimes too wise in her own conceits, as for instance when she so far forgets herself as to affirm that the-' Church Catholic has been manifestly revealed as that -mountain of the Lord-' unto which, according to prophecy, all nations were to flow.[357] We have only to let in the thought that as God has had more peoples than one in succession to each other, so he may yet have many peoples simultaneously whom he may graciously acknowledge as his own. Of this prospect we have distinct intimations both in Old Testament and New: In the former, in such remarkable words as theseIn that day shall Israel be a third with Egypt and with Assyriaa blessing in the midst of the earth: whom Jehovah of hosts hath blessed saying,Blessed be my peoplethe Egyptians, and the work of my handsthe Assyrians, and mine own inheritanceIsrael (Isaiah 19:24). And in the latter, in such ravishing words as theseLo! the tent of God is with men, And he will tabernacle with them, And they shall be his peoples [mark the plural!], And he shall be God with them, And he will wipe away every tear out of their eyes (Revelation 21:3-4). Confusion disappears when the right perspective is obtained. The glorious prospect therefore is: That in the Final Theocracy all the earth will be able to shoutJehovah made us and his we are,his people and the flock of his shepherding.

[357]Thrupp, Vol. II., 147.

We may perhaps revert to Israel as again singing to all the earth in the words of the second stanza of this delightful psalm: Come into his gates. But, in any case, we are prepared for the final observation, that here we have renewed invitation based on Jehovah's own perfections: For good is Jehovah, Age-abiding his kindness, And unto generation after generation his faithfulness; and can weld the essential thoughts of the psalm into a unity by observing that even Divine Creatorship so involves Divine Promise as to give scope to Divine faithfulness; and thus can, with a sense of triumph, point to the harmony of scripture with scripture, by reminding ourselves of the fact that to the Christian Apostle Peter (I. Eph. 4:19) we are indebted for the blended noun and adjective which yield the much forgotten but most welcome appellation FAITHFUL CREATOR.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1.

There is some connection between this psalm and those which precede it. What is it?

2.

Rotherham is quite set on the opinion that here we have a prophetic psalm of the time when all the earth will come to a center (Jerusalem) and worship the Lord. How is this opinion obtained? Is it valid? Discuss.

3.

This is a psalm of Thanksgiving. In the two stanzas there is a call to praise and worship the Lord and then a reason for doing it. Let us share this worship and discover the reasons.