1_Not unto us, O Jehovah! _It is not certain by whom, or at what time, this psalm was composed. (365) We learn from the first part of it, that the faithful betake themselves to God, in circumstances of extreme distress. They do not make known their desires in plain words, but indirectly hint at the... [ Continue Reading ]
2_Why should the heathen say, Where is now their God? _They here express how God would maintain his glory in the preservation of the Church, which, if he permitted to be destroyed, would expose his name to the impious reproaches of the heathen, who would blaspheme the God of Israel, as being destitu... [ Continue Reading ]
3_Surely our God is in heaven. _(366) The faithful, with holy boldness, encourage themselves the more to prayer. Our prayers, we know, are worthless when we are agitated with doubts. Had that blasphemy penetrated their hearts, it would have inflicted a mortal wound. And hence they very opportunely g... [ Continue Reading ]
4_Their idols _This contrast is introduced for the purpose of confirming the faith of the godly, by which they repose upon God alone; because, excepting him, all that the minds of men imagine of divinity is the invention of folly and delusion. To know the error and the madness of the world certainly... [ Continue Reading ]
8_They who make them shall be like unto them. _Many are of opinion that this is an imprecation, and hence translate the future tense in the optative mood, _may they become like unto them _But it will be equally appropriate to regard it as the language of ridicule, as if the prophet should affirm tha... [ Continue Reading ]
9_O Israel! trust thou in Jehovah _The prophet again resumes the doctrinal point, that the genuine worshippers of God have no cause to fear that he will forsake or frustrate them in the time of need; because he is as much disposed to provide for their safety as he is furnished with power to do it. H... [ Continue Reading ]
11._Ye who fear Jehovah! _He does not speak of strangers, as some erroneously suppose, as if this were a prediction respecting the calling of the Gentiles. Connecting them with the children of Israel and with the sons of Aaron, they are of opinion that he refers to the heathens and to the uncircumci... [ Continue Reading ]
12_Jehovah hath remembered us _Many render the term _bless _in the past tense, _he has blessed, _it being the design of the prophet, according to them, to propose the past experience of God’s kindness as an encouragement to cherish good hope for the future: “We have already, from long experience, be... [ Continue Reading ]
He says, _both the small with the great, _by which circumstance he magnifies God’s paternal regard the more, showing that he does not overlook even the meanest and most despised, provided they cordially invoke his aid. Now, as there is no acceptance of persons before God, our low and abject conditio... [ Continue Reading ]
15._Ye are blessed of Jehovah _In the preceding verse the prophet had given them the hope of uninterrupted happiness, arising from God’s infinite resources never failing, however liberally and largely he bestows, and from his never ceasing to enrich those whom he hath admitted as sharers of his boun... [ Continue Reading ]
16_The heavens, the heavens are Jehovah’s _In this passage the prophet extols the bounty of God, and his paternal regard for the human race, in that, though he stood in need of nothing himself, he yet created the world, with all its fullness, for their use. How comes it to pass that the earth is eve... [ Continue Reading ]
17_O God! the dead shall not praise thee _In these words the prophet goes on to beseech God to show himself propitious towards his Church, were there no other object to be gained than the preventing mankind from being utterly cut off, and the preserving a people, not only to enjoy his kindness, but... [ Continue Reading ]