Praise Yahweh, my soul! All that is within me, praise his holy name!
Praise Yahweh, my soul, and don’t forget all his benefits,
who forgives all your sins, who heals all your diseases,
Parallel Translations
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Praise Yahweh, my soul! All that is within me, praise his holy name!
Praise Yahweh, my soul, and don’t forget all his benefits,
who forgives all your sins, who heals all your diseases,
-
Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:
Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;
Show all 3 translations
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A Psalm of David. Bless the LORD, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits;
Who forgiveth all thine iniquity; who healeth all Thy diseases;
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Cross-references (55)
- Exodus 15:26 (v3) He said, “If you will diligently listen to Yahweh your God’s voice, and will do that which is right in his eyes, and will pay attention to…
- Isaiah 53:5 (v3) But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought our peace was on him; and by his…
- Jeremiah 17:14 (v3) Heal me, O Yahweh, and I will be healed. Save me, and I will be saved; for you are my praise.
- Psalms 30:2 (v3) Yahweh my God, I cried to you, and you have healed me.
- Psalms 116:12 (v2) What will I give to Yahweh for all his benefits toward me?
Show all 55 cross-references
- Isaiah 63:7 (v2) I will tell of the loving kindnesses of Yahweh and the praises of Yahweh, according to all that Yahweh has given to us, and the great…
- Psalms 41:3-4 (v3) Yahweh will sustain him on his sickbed, and restore him from his bed of illness. I said, “Yahweh, have mercy on me! Heal me, for I have…
- Psalms 147:3 (v3) He heals the broken in heart, and binds up their wounds.
- Psalms 146:1-2 (v1) Praise Yah! Praise Yahweh, my soul. While I live, I will praise Yahweh. I will sing praises to my God as long as I exist.
- Mark 2:10-11 (v3) But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— “I tell you, arise, take up…
- Psalms 57:7-11 (v1) My heart is steadfast, God. My heart is steadfast. I will sing, yes, I will sing praises. Wake up, my glory! Wake up, lute and harp! I will…
- John 4:24 (v1) God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
- James 5:15 (v3) and the prayer of faith will heal him who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
- Psalms 111:1 (v1) Praise Yah! I will give thanks to Yahweh with my whole heart, in the council of the upright, and in the congregation.
- Psalms 105:5 (v2) Remember his marvelous works that he has done: his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth,
- 1 Corinthians 14:15 (v1) What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also. I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing…
- Isaiah 43:25 (v3) I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake; and I will not remember your sins.
- Psalms 103:22–104:1 (v1) Praise Yahweh, all you works of his, in all places of his dominion. Praise Yahweh, my soul! Bless Yahweh, my soul. Yahweh, my God, you are…
- Luke 17:15-18 (v2) One of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice. He fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him…
- Mark 2:5 (v3) Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.”
- Colossians 3:16 (v1) Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs,…
- Psalms 99:3 (v1) Let them praise your great and awesome name. He is Holy!
- Luke 7:47-48 (v3) Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.” He…
- Deuteronomy 6:12 (v2) then beware lest you forget Yahweh, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
- Psalms 107:17-22 (v3) Fools are afflicted because of their disobedience, and because of their iniquities. Their soul abhors all kinds of food. They draw near to…
- Mark 12:30-33 (v1) you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is…
- Numbers 12:13 (v3) Moses cried to Yahweh, saying, “Heal her, God, I beg you!”
- Luke 1:46-47 (v1) Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord. My spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior,
- Psalms 47:7 (v1) For God is the King of all the earth. Sing praises with understanding.
- Psalms 63:5 (v1) My soul shall be satisfied as with the richest food. My mouth shall praise you with joyful lips,
- Deuteronomy 32:18 (v2) Of the Rock who became your father, you are unmindful, and have forgotten God who gave you birth.
- Philippians 1:9 (v1) This I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and all discernment,
- Deuteronomy 32:6 (v2) Is this the way you repay Yahweh, foolish and unwise people? Isn’t he your father who has bought you? He has made you and established you.
- Psalms 130:8 (v3) He will redeem Israel from all their sins.
- Psalms 138:1 (v1) I will give you thanks with my whole heart. Before the gods, I will sing praises to you.
- Isaiah 33:24 (v3) The inhabitant won’t say, “I am sick.” The people who dwell therein will be forgiven their iniquity.
- Ephesians 1:7 (v3) in whom we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,
- 2 Samuel 12:13 (v3) David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against Yahweh.” Nathan said to David, “Yahweh also has put away your sin. You will not die.
- 2 Chronicles 32:25 (v2) But Hezekiah didn’t reciprocate appropriate to the benefit done for him, because his heart was lifted up. Therefore there was wrath on him,…
- Psalms 106:21 (v2) They forgot God, their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt,
- Isaiah 6:3 (v1) One called to another, and said, “Holy, holy, holy, is Yahweh of Armies! The whole earth is full of his glory!”
- Deuteronomy 8:10-14 (v2) You shall eat and be full, and you shall bless Yahweh your God for the good land which he has given you. Beware lest you forget Yahweh your…
- Psalms 86:12-13 (v1) I will praise you, Lord my God, with my whole heart. I will glorify your name forever more. For your loving kindness is great toward me.…
- Revelation 4:8 (v1) The four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within. They have no rest day and night, saying,…
- Deuteronomy 8:2-4 (v2) You shall remember all the way which Yahweh your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, to test…
- Psalms 106:7 (v2) Our fathers didn’t understand your wonders in Egypt. They didn’t remember the multitude of your loving kindnesses, but were rebellious at…
- Matthew 9:2-6 (v3) Behold, they brought to him a man who was paralyzed, lying on a bed. Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic, “Son, cheer up! Your…
- Numbers 21:7-9 (v3) The people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against Yahweh and against you. Pray to Yahweh, that he take…
- Jeremiah 2:31-32 (v2) Generation, consider Yahweh’s word. Have I been a wilderness to Israel? Or a land of thick darkness? Why do my people say, ‘We have broken…
- Ephesians 2:11-13 (v2) Therefore remember that once you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “uncircumcision” by that which is called “circumcision” (in the…
- Psalms 32:1-5 (v3) Blessed is he whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom Yahweh doesn’t impute iniquity, in whose…
- Psalms 38:1-7 (v3) Yahweh, don’t rebuke me in your wrath, neither chasten me in your hot displeasure. For your arrows have pierced me, your hand presses hard…
- Isaiah 63:1 (v2) Who is this who comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? Who is this who is glorious in his clothing, marching in the greatness of…
- Psalms 51:1-3 (v3) Have mercy on me, God, according to your loving kindness. According to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.…
- Exodus 34:7 (v3) keeping loving kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and disobedience and sin; and who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (26 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv1–3 1. Bless Jehovah, O my soul! The prophet, by…
1. Bless Jehovah, O my soul! The prophet, by stirring up himself to gratitude, gives by his own example a lesson to every man of the duty incumbent upon him. And doubtless our slothfulness in this matter has need of continual incitement. If even the prophet, who was inflamed with a more intense and fervent zeal than other men, was not free from this malady, of which his earnestness in stimulating himself is a plain confession, how much more necessary is it for us, who have abundant experience of our own torpor, to apply the same means for our quickening? The Holy Spirit, by his mouth, indirectly upbraids us on account of our not being more diligent in praising God, and at the same time points out the remedy, that every man may descend into himself and correct his own sluggishness. Not content with calling upon his soul (by which he unquestionably means the seat of the understanding and affections) to bless God, the prophet expressly adds his inward parts, addressing as it were his own mind and heart, and all the faculties of both. When he thus speaks to himself, it is as if, removed from the presence of men, he examined himself before God. The repetition renders his language still more emphatic, as if he thereby intended to reprove his own slothfulness.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1, 3 He wakeneth his dullness to praise God, showing that…
He wakeneth his dullness to praise God, showing that both understanding and affections, mind and heart are too little to set forth his praise.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–3 Psa 103:1 « [A Psalm] of David. » Bless…
Psa 103:1 « [A Psalm] of David. » Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, [bless] his holy name.
A Psalm of David] Which he wrote when carried out of himself, as far as heaven, saith Beza; and therefore calleth not upon his own soul only, but upon all creatures, from the highest angel to the lowest worm, to set forth God’s praises.
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Ver. 1. Bless the Lord, O my soul] Agedum animule mi, et intima men viscera. A good man’s work lieth most within doors; he is more taken up with his own heart than with all the world besides; neither can he ever be alone so long as he hath God and his own soul to converse with. David’s harp was not oftener out of tune than his heart, which here he is setting right, that he may the better make melody to the Lord. Music is sweet, but the setting of the strings in tune is unpleasing; so is it harsh to set our hearts in order, which yet must be done, and thoroughly done, as here.
And all that is within me] All my faculties and senses. The whole soul and body must be set awork in this service; the judgment, to set a right estimate upon mercies; the memory, to recognize and retain them, Deu 6:11-12; Deu 8:14; the will, which is the proper seat of thankfulness; the affections, love, desire, joy, confidence; all must be actuated, that our praises may be cordial, vocal, vital. In peace offerings God called for the fat and inwards.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1, 3 Let all my thoughts and affections be engaged, and…
Let all my thoughts and affections be engaged, and united, and stirred up to the highest pitch in and for this work.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v1 David is here communing with his own heart, and…
David is here communing with his own heart, and he is no fool that thus talks to himself and excites his own soul to that which is good. Observe,
I. How he stirs up himself to the duty of praise, Psa 103:1, Psa 103:2. 1. It is the Lord that is to be blessed and spoken well of; for he is the fountain of all good, whatever are the channels or cisterns; it is to his name, his holy name, that we are to consecrate our praise, giving thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. 2. It is the soul that is to be employed in blessing God, and all that is within us. We make nothing of our religious performances if we do not make heart-work of them, if that which is within us, nay, if all that is within us, be not engaged in them. The work requires the inward man, the whole man, and all little enough. 3. In order to our return of praises to God, there must be a grateful remembrance of the mercies we have received from him: Forget not all his benefits. If we do not give thanks for them, we do forget them; and that is unjust as well as unkind, since in all God's favours there is so much that is memorable. "O my soul! to thy shame be it spoken, thou hast forgotten many of his benefits; but surely thou wilt not forget them all, for thou shouldst not have forgotten any."
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II. How he furnishes himself with abundant matter for praise, and that which is very affecting: "Come, my soul, consider what God has done for thee." 1. "He has pardoned thy sins (Psa 103:3); he has forgiven, and does forgive, all thy iniquities." This is mentioned first because by the pardon of sin that is taken away which kept good things from us, and we are restored to the favour of God, which bestows good things on us. Think what the provocation was; it was iniquity, and yet pardoned; how many the provocations were, and yet all pardoned. He has forgiven all our trespasses. It is a continued act; he is still forgiving, as we are still sinning and repenting. 2. "He has cured thy sickness." The corruption of nature is the sickness of the soul; it is its disorder, and threatens its death. This is cured in sanctification; when sin is mortified, the disease is healed; though complicated, it is all healed. Our crimes were capital, but God saves our lives by pardoning them; our diseases were mortal, but God saves our lives by healing them. These two go together; for, as for God, his work is perfect and not done by halves; if God take away the guilt of sin by pardoning mercy, he will break the power of it by renewing grace. Where Christ is made righteousness to any soul he is made sanctification, Co1 1:30. 3. "He has rescued thee from danger." A man may be in peril of life, not only by his crimes, or his diseases, but by the power of his enemies; and therefore here also we experience the divine goodness: Who redeemed thy life from destruction (Psa 103:4), from the destroyer, from hell (so the Chaldee), from the second death. The redemption of the soul is precious; we cannot compass it, and therefore are the more indebted to divine grace that has wrought it out, to him who has obtained eternal redemption for us. See Job 33:24, Job 33:28. 4. "He has not only saved thee from death and ruin, but has made thee truly and completely happy, with honour, pleasure, and long life." (1.) "He has given thee true honour and great honour, no less than a crown: He crowns thee with his lovingkindness and tender mercies;" and what greater dignity is a poor soul capable of than to be advanced into the love and favour of God? This honour have all his saints. What is the crown of glory but God's favour? (2.) "He has given thee true pleasure: He satisfies thy mouth with good things" (Psa 103:5); it is only the favour and grace of God that can give satisfaction to a soul, can suit its capacities, supply its needs, and answer to its desires. Nothing but divine wisdom can undertake to fill its treasures (Pro 8:21); other things will surfeit, but not satiate, Ecc 6:7; Isa 55:2. (3.) "He has given thee a prospect and pledge of long life: Thy youth is renewed like the eagle's." The eagle is long-lived, and, as naturalists say, when she is nearly 100 years old, casts all her feathers (as indeed she changes them in a great measure every year at moulting time), and fresh ones come, so that she becomes young again. When God, by the graces and comforts of his Spirit, recovers his people from their decays, and fills them with new life and joy, which is to them an earnest of eternal life and joy, then they may be said to return to the days of their youth, Job 33:25.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–3 Bless the Lord, O my soul,.... His better part,…
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, Psa 97:12.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On v1 The psalmist stirs up himself to praise God for…
The psalmist stirs up himself to praise God for all his benefits, ver. 1-19. Calls upon all his works to assist him therein, ver. 20-22. A psalm of David.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1–3 God is praised for his benefits to his people,…
PSALM CIII
God is praised for his benefits to his people, 1, 2;
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he forgives their iniquities, and heals their diseases, 3;
redeems their lives, crowns them with loving-kindness, 4;
satisfies them with good things, renews their youth, 5;
he helps the oppressed, makes his ways known, is merciful and
gracious, and keeps not his anger for ever, 6-9;
his forbearance, and pardoning mercy, 10-12;
he is a tender and considerate Father, 13, 14;
the frail state of man, 15, 16;
God's everlasting mercy, and universal dominion, 17-19;
all his angels, his hosts, and his works, are invited to praise
him, 20-22.
NOTES ON PSALM CIII
The inscription in the Hebrew, and in all the Versions, gives this Psalm to David; and yet many of the ancients believed it to refer to the times of the captivity, or rather to its conclusion, in which the redeemed Jews give thanks to God for their restoration. It is a Psalm of inimitable sweetness and excellence; contains the most affectionate sentiments of gratitude to God for his mercies; and the most consoling motives to continue to trust in God, and be obedient to him.
Verse 1. Bless the Lord] He calls on his soul, and all its faculties and powers, to magnify God for his mercies. Under such a weight of obligation the lips can do little; the soul and all its powers must be engaged.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v1 Psa 103:1-3. All that is within me, bless his…
Psa 103:1-3. All that is within me, bless his holy name — Let all my thoughts and affections be engaged, united, and raised to the highest pitch in and for this work. Forget not all his benefits — In order to our duty, praising God for his mercies, it is necessary we should have a grateful remembrance of them. And we may be assured we do forget them, in the sense here meant by the psalmist, if we do not give sincere and hearty thanks for them. Who forgiveth all thine iniquities — This is mentioned first, because, by the pardon of sin, that which prevented our receiving good things is taken away, and we are restored to the favour of God, which ensures good things to us, and bestows them upon us. Who healeth all thy diseases — Spiritual diseases, the diseases of the soul. The corruption of nature is the sickness of the soul: it is its disorder, and threatens its death. This is cured by sanctification. In proportion as sin is mortified, the disease is healed. These two, pardon and holiness, go together, at least a degree of the latter always accompanies the former: if God take away the guilt of sin by pardoning mercy, he also breaks the power of it by renewing grace. Where Christ is made righteousness to any soul, he is also made sanctification to it in a great measure; for, if any man be in Christ he is a new creature: old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1–3 Bless the Lord, O my soul - The word…
Bless the Lord, O my soul - The word “bless,” as applied to God, means to praise, implying always a strong affection for him as well as a sense of gratitude. As used with reference to people, the word implies a “wish” that they may be blessed or happy, accompanied often with a prayer that they may be so. Such is the purport of the “blessing” addressed to a congregation of worshippers. Compare Num 6:23-27. The word “soul” here is equivalent to mind or heart: my mental and moral powers, as capable of understanding and appreciating his favors. The soul of man was “made” to praise and bless God; to enjoy his friendship; to delight in his favor; to contemplate his perfections. It can never be employed in a more appropriate or a more elevated act than when engaged in his praise.
And all that is within me ... - All my powers and faculties; all that can be employed in his praise: the heart, the will, the affections, the emotions. The idea is, that God is worthy of all the praise and adoration which the entire man can render. No one of his faculties or powers should be exempt from the duty and the privilege of praise.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 Psalms 103
Psalms 103
A Psalm of David
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Bless the Lord, O my soul:
And all that is within me, bless his holy name.
2 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And forget not all his benefits:
3 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities;
Who healeth all thy diseases;
4 Who redeemeth thy life from destruction:
Who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;
5 Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things;
So that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
6 The Lord executeth righteousness
And judgment for all that are oppressed.
7 He made known his ways unto Moses,
His acts unto the children of Israel.
8 The Lord is merciful and gracious,
Slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.
9 He will not always chide:
Neither will he keep his anger forever.
10 He hath not dealt with us after our sins;
Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
11 For as the heaven is high above the earth,
So great is his mercy toward them that fear him.
12 As far as the east is from the west,
So far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
13 Like as a father pitieth his children,
So the Lord pitieth them that fear him.
14 For he knoweth our frame;
He remembereth that we are dust.
15 As for man, his days are as grass:
As a flower of the field so he flourisheth.
16 For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone;
And the place thereof shall know it no more.
17 But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him,
And his righteousness unto children’s children;
18 To such as keep his covenant,
And to those that remember his commandments to do them.
19 The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens;
And his kingdom ruleth over all.
20 Bless the Lord, ye his angels,
That excel in strength, that do his commandments,
Hearkening unto the voice of his word.
21 Bless ye the Lord, all ye his hosts;
Ye ministers of his, that do his pleasure
22 Bless the Lord, all his works,
In all places of his dominion:
Bless the Lord, O my soul.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Contents and Composition.—A stream of grateful praise, whose gentle and regular waves rise gradually higher and higher, here flows forth from a mind which is moved to its inmost depths by the blessings, especially those of a spiritual nature, which God has abundantly and from the earliest ages bestowed both upon the Psalmist personally, and upon the whole Church. The poet begins by calling upon his own soul to declare its gratitude for the manifestations of God’s favor, which he has himself personally experienced (Psa_103:1-5), and the words which are uttered at the beginning of the Psalm reappear in the last line, and thus enclose the whole. Between these, the Psalmist celebrates God’s gracious and helpful dealings in their actual manifestations in Israel (Psa_103:6-10), in their heavenly exaltation and paternal character, and their relation to sinful and mortal men (Psa_103:11-14), and in their trustworthiness for all who hold fast to His covenant and to His ordinances (Psa_103:15-18). Then the whole world is called upon to praise this heavenly King who rules over all (Psa_103:19-22).
The supposition that either a final strophe beginning with Psa_103:20 (Köster), or the last line (Hupfeld) forms a liturgical epiphony, is without foundation. So also is the assumption that the whole Psalm was designed for the public service (Ewald, Olshausen). Still more unfounded is the notion that the whole people in exile are the speakers. The reference to David’s restoration to the Divine favor after his adultery with Bathsheba (Rosenmüller) is too special. There are, moreover, serious grounds for hesitation with regard to the Davidic origin, afforded especially in Aramaic forms, among which the suffixes echi and aychi are the most striking, occurring, as they do, only besides in Psa_116:7; Psa_116:19; Psa_137:6; Jer_11:15, and 2Ki_4:1-7. We may regard the passage cited in Psa_103:8 from Exo_34:6 as the Text (Hupfeld). [Hengstenberg, holding the originality of the superscriptions, defends the opinion of a composition by David, finding resemblances to the preceding Psalm, which he assigns to the same author. Delitzsch and others, observing the same resemblances, and drawing a like inference, refer it, as they do Psalms 102, to a writer near the close of the captivity. Perowne thinks that nothing certain can be determined as to the date or the author. Alexander favors the hypothesis maintained by Hengstenberg, that this is the Psalm of mercy and judgment promised in Psalms 101—J.F.M.]
Psa_103:1-4. Bless.—The thanksgiving, as a response to the blessing with which God blesses, is denoted by the same word as the blessing itself. On the soul as representing the whole man see Delitzsch’s Biblische Psychologie, pp. 104, 203. On the organs [E. V.: that is within me] of the cavities of the chest and abdomen, as employed in the service of the mind and soul, see p. 266. The benefits (Psa_103:2) of God are denoted by a word which means, literally, actions for which one has deserved well. Instead of: grave (Psa_103:4), in allusion to the under-world (Psa_16:10), the LXX. have rendered: destruction, by deriving the form not from שׁוּחַ but from שַׁחַת, Job_17:14. [The former rendering is now universally adopted.—J. F. M.]
Psa_103:5. The satisfying of the languishing heart or soul is also mentioned in Psa_107:9; Isa_58:11; and the whole context leaves the impression rather of inward satisfaction than of outward nourishing. But we should not translate directly: desire (Sept.) For עְַדִי is known to occur elsewhere only in the signification: array or ornament; and this could very well be employed to denote the soul, as “my honor,” “my darling,” and the like expressions, are (Aben Ezra, Mendelssohn, Hengst.) The context, however, must decide as to the special reference of an expression so general and capable of such manifold applications. In Psa_32:9 the same word denotes the trappings of the mule, which are at the same time the means of restraining it, and we therefore render there: harness. Here we are scarcely justified in understanding the body (Syr.) or the cheek (Kimchi, Del., Hitzig) or the mouth (Luther), and still less old age (Chald.) or youth (J. D. Mich., Gesenius). Nor is it probable that there is any allusion to the rejuvenating influence mentioned in the next line, as though the poet, by way of anticipation, were referring to the adornment of the body which had renewed its youth (Köster, Maurer), or had meant by the word “attire” the whole outfit and equipment which surrounds men like a garment, and is in Job_2:4 denoted by the word skin, in contrast to the soul. [Hupfeld: “All the apparatus of external means by which life is sustained, and with which it is invested.”—J. F. M.] The previous mention of the soul itself does not interfere with our explanation, for the whole person was employed just a little before as representing it, [So Hengstenberg also, who renders: ornament, but explains the word as meaning the soul. Alexander renders: soul, directly .—J. F. M.]
Psa_103:7-9. Psa_103:7 alludes to Exo_33:13. The ways are therefore not those to be trodden by men, but those followed by God in His march through the history of the world. Isa_57:16; Jer_3:5 are parallel to Psa_103:9. [“He will not always judge” is the more literal and correct rendering. For the next clause comp. Jer_3:5; Jer_3:12.—J. F. M.]
Psa_103:14-22. The frame does not denote here the moral nature of man (Gen_6:5; Gen_8:21; Deu_31:21) the inherited disposition of his heart (Psa_51:7), but the frame of dust (Gen_2:7) like a potter’s vessel (Job_10:8 f.; Isa_29:16; Isa_45:9 f.) The second member of Psa_103:16 is taken literally from Job_7:10. The figure of the flower in general, is based upon Job_14:2; that of the grass on Psa_90:5; Isa_40:6 f.; Isa_51:12; the blessing bestowed upon children’s children (Psa_103:17) is from Exo_20:6; Exo_34:7; Deu_7:9. Angels (Psa_103:20) are called upon to praise God also in Psa_29:1; Psa_148:1. They are here called heroes [of strength, E. V.: that excel in strength.—J. F. M.] as leaders of the armies of God (Joel 4:9, 11; Isa_13:3; Isa_40:26). The hosts likewise mentioned here appear to be angels of subordinate rank (Del., Hitzig), and not stars (Hengst., Hupfeld). [The latter opinion has originated in the unwillingness to view this verse as containing anything like a repetition of the preceding. The explanation given above would obviate this difficulty. But there is no need of assuming a subordinate rank to be intended. It would be better to understand this verse as being more comprehensive in its application. The preceding one called upon a special class of the most exalted angels to praise their Maker. This one summons all His hosts that minister to Him. We are led to this, besides, by the gradually widening scope of the passage. For the last verse calls upon all God’s works to bless Him. Thus it seems that the word “all” is intended in each verse to include what goes before, while embracing also a wider class. The application of the term “ministers” to the stars would seem to be lacking in the simplicity and directness which characterize the language of the Psalm throughout.—J. F. M.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. If the ingratitude and forgetfulness of the human heart were not great by nature, there would be no need of a special and repeated exhortation to the thankful acknowledgment of God’s benefits. For these benefits are numerous and everywhere apparent, are bestowed upon individuals and the whole country, satisfy physical and spiritual needs, and comprise temporal and eternal good. Yet it is indispensable that we trace all this to the invisible Giver of all good, while we have reason, not merely to call upon others to praise God, but also to remind ourselves, that we have not previously given to God something which is requited to us, but rather, that all our thanks are only an acknowledgment of the blessing which we had previously received from Him, and thus do merely trace back this blessing to its source in God.
2. But the ever-flowing fountain of all these benefits and blessings is the love of God. And this love is manifested not merely as guardian love, beneficent kindness, sympathizing mercy, and helpful compassion, but is chiefly displayed as grace. In such exhibitions of His grace does God forgive the sins of men, deliver them from death, renew their natures, heal their infirmities, beautify their lives; and this without any merit or desert of their own. For it is a paternal mode of dealing which God manifests and exercises towards His people.
3. And since He, who thus acts towards us as a Father, is also the holy God and the Heavenly King, His dealings are righteous. His love is neither a weak indulgence of all, nor a capricious preference of some. Its immeasurableness and infinitude are not the absence of moderation or self restraint, but correspond to its more than earthly nature, and express the all-comprehensiveness and all-sufficiency of its influence, proceeding from the inexhaustible and invincible fulness of power which dwells in the Divine nature, but do not interfere with the conditions under which this eternally efficacious grace is displayed in the history of the world, and is received and experienced by individuals according to their constant need.
4. All this is most clearly recognizable in the dealings of God with His people. But they, on their side, have reason most strictly to fulfil these conditions. For God’s will and ways have been made known to them by Himself, and the covenant established by Him reminds them constantly, on the one hand, of their obligation to fulfil its duties, in order that His will may be performed on earth by those who fear Him, as it is by the angels in heaven, and, on the other, of the unchangeable willingness of the Highest to show compassion to man, who withers like the grass, and to make those who are His people well-pleasing in His sight.
5. The Church, accordingly, as it is the place of God’s worship, is also the soil for the training up of men as His servants and children. But the sphere of God’s dominion is far wider than His kingdom in Israel: it embraces heaven and earth. And therefore should the praise of this incomparable King resound through all departments of creation, and an accompaniment to the hallelujah of the Church follow in all places of His dominion.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
The more bountifully God’s benefits are showered down upon men in their brief lives of constant need, the more easily is one after another forgotten; but all the more base is such forgetfulness.—God in His goodness comes forth to meet our wants, and anticipate our requests; are we as speedy with our thanks and as ready in our praise?—That men should praise God with willing readiness, there are necessary, (1) a soul mindful of His blessings, (2) a heart susceptible of love towards Him, (3) a conscience sensitive to His righteous demand.—God rules in His kingdom with fatherly goodness, and yet with kingly righteousness; therefore it becomes us to fear as well as love Him, to serve as well as trust Him.—If God deals with us as a Father, do we act towards Him as children?—The whole world is full of the goodness of the Lord; but how far is the whole world still from knowing and praising Him? What has our Church done to remedy this deficiency? And what is her duty with regard to it?—If we lay claim to the rights of the covenant, we must fulfil its obligations; and this we cannot do without the help of our God as it is pledged in the covenant.—Man has here below no abiding-place, not even in the memory of the world; but God forgets no one. Ohthat we might remember Him!—The Church of God on earth; (1) as the object of His paternal care, (2) as the place where His heavenly glory is manifested, (3) as the organ of His royal government.
Augustine: When thou art forgiven, thy sins begin to set and God’s grace rises.—Seek thy good, oh soul! All creatures have a certain good which supplies and completes their nature. Behold the highest good; it is thine!—Starke: Not a single sin of an impenitent sinner remains unforgiven, and just as little should a single sin remain in its dominion and evil influence (Rom_6:12).—The crown of a believer in this life, as well as in the heavenly, is God’s mercy and compassion, for they are the sure sources of his blessedness.—Justification must go handin hand with sanctification and the renewing of the Holy Ghost.—The goodness of God is mighty, not only to strengthen our spiritual life, but our temporal also, in so far as it tends to His glory and our welfare.—He who would have the unfailing eagle-like vigor of a mind directed heavenwards, let him ever satisfy his hungry soul with grace alone, and strength will never be wanting to him.—The most potent remedy for a troubled soul is the contemplation of the compassion and goodness of God.—God lets the sinner know and feel His anger, in order to prepare him for the view of His mercy.—True parents should not, it is true, tolerate the faults and sins of their children, by being silent with regard to them or overlooking them, as Eli did; but they must recognize, on the other hand, that they are not so much their judges as their parents, and, as it were, their physicians.—The more transitory man is, the more abiding is God’s mercy; the Christian must oppose this ground of consolation to all trials, yea, even to death itself.—The holy angels are not only our guardians, but also our instructors and leaders in the praise of God,—No place is an improper one to praise God, provided only our heart is sincere before Him.—We should be as ready (and still more ready) to execute the will of God, as an obedient servant is ready to execute his master’s, even at a nod from him; nor should we do this by compulsion, but from love (1Jn_5:3).—God knows our distress and ruin better than we ourselves, and regards all men with compassionate sympathy, but looks upon His children especially with the most tender pity.
Berlenburger Bible: The soul which has been stricken and slain, but made alive again, feeling the joy of its new freedom and the enjoyments of its redemption, flows forth without restraint in praise and thanksgiving, in testimony of its gratitude.—Rieger: To feel sin and death, and thereafter to have received the atonement and the Spirit which makes alive, and so to praise God, and to join in faith and patience with all the saints of God,—this is the subject of the 103 Psalm.—Roos: David, when he encouraged his soul to praise God, was conscious of his sins and infirmities; these only were his own. The Lord forgave the one and healed the other, and heascribes all good to Him.—Tholuck: The psalmist, while praising God’s immeasurable mercy to those who fear Him and keep His covenant, guards against that carnal conception of the Divine love, which forgets that repentance and faith are the conditions, under which God announces Himself as our Father.—Guenther: If God had not been patient with our stammering and halting, we would never have learnt to speak the language of truth, nor walk the way of life; and if He had dealt with the nations according to their disobedience, where would their names have been?—Diedrich: The nearer we come to God, the more are we ravished with enlarged discoveries of His forgiveness.—Schaubach: Without forgiveness of sins, even the highest earthly good is only a whitened sepulchre, behind which destruction lurks.—Taube: Man, in his body, soul, and spirit, is, as it were, a mouth opened wide with cravings; that is his greatest weakness and yet his chief adorning; nothing less than God, the native fountain of youth, can satisfy Him.
[Matt. Henry: He considers the frailty of our bodies and the folly of our souls, how little we can do, and expects accordingly from us; how little we can bear, and lays accordingly upon us; in all which appears the tenderness of His compassion.—Hengstenberg: Old age, in other cases always the forerunner of death, is here continually the forerunner of youth: the greater the failure of strength, so much the nearer is the complete renewal of strength.—J. F. M.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1–3 1. Bless the Lord, O my soul—To “bless the…
1. Bless the Lord, O my soul—To “bless the Lord” is to praise him by declaring his attributes and works, and offering thanksgiving. To “bless” an individual man is to invoke the favour of God upon him. See Num_6:22-27. “Soul,” here, cannot be taken as the intermediate, or psychical nature, between the mind and body, according to the Greek trichotomy, but the ego, the self, and is parallel to the all that is within me, or inward parts, in the next line; or, as we would say, my inmost soul—the depth of my being. It is to be a soul-work, not formal or lip service. David rouses himself to the sum total of all his higher powers in ascribing praise to God. The word “bless” occurs six times in the psalm.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–3 1. My soul is the Psalmist’s self or personality:…
1. My soul is the Psalmist’s self or personality: all that is within me are the various organs of the body, which were regarded by the Hebrews as the seat of thought will and emotion. The Psalmist summons all the faculties and powers of his being to unite in the praise of Jehovah.
his holy name] Cp. Psa_33:21; Psa_105:3; Psa_106:47; Psa_145:21. Jehovah’s holiness, which must needs be vindicated in the punishment of Israel’s sin, was again demonstrated in the deliverance which proved His faithfulness to His covenant. Cp. Eze_39:7; Eze_39:25.
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1–5. The Psalmist exhorts himself to praise God for His manifold mercies.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv2–3 (2) Benefits.—Literally, actions, whether good or bad (Jdg_9:16; Pro_12:14).…
(2) Benefits.—Literally, actions, whether good or bad (Jdg_9:16; Pro_12:14). But what a significance in the restricted meaning “benefits.” God’s acts are all benefits.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1–3 A PSALM of joy and thanksgiving for God"s manifold…
A PSALM of joy and thanksgiving for God"s manifold mercies, especially for his loving kindness in forgiving sin and transgression (vers. 3, 8-12, 17) passing into adoration of him upon his heavenly throne (ver. 19), and a call on all creation to praise him (vers. 20-22). The "title" assigns the psalm to David, and this view of its authorship is taken by Hengstenberg and Professor Alexander. But other critics see in "certain Aramaic terminations" indications of a later date. Whoever the author, we must regard the composition as less "the outbreathing of gratitude from one individual spirit" than "intended to be used as a national thanksgiving" (Kay).
The psalm divides itself into four portions: the first (vers. 1-5) an outburst of praise for blessings granted by God to each man severally; the second (vers. 6-14) an enumeration of his loving kindnesses towards his Church as a whole; the third (vers. 15-18) a representation of man"s weakness and dependence on God; and the fourth (vers. 19-22) a glance at God"s unchanging glory, and a call upon all his creation to bless and worship him.
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Bless the Lord, O my soul. Repeated in ver. 2; also at the end of the psalm; and again in Psa_104:1, Psa_104:35. To "bless" is more than to praise; it is to praise with affection and gratitude. The psalmist calls upon his own soul, and so on each individual soul, to begin the song of praise, which is to terminate in a general chorus of blessing from all creation (vers. 20-22). And all that is within me. "All my whole nature intellect, emotion, feeling, sentiment brain, heart, lungs, tongue," etc. Bless his holy Name; i.e. his manifested Personality, which is almost the same thing as himself.
Vers. 1-5. God"s goodness to ourselves.
The psalmist begins by addressing himself; he has before him his own personal experience during a long (or lengthening) life; and he finds ample reason for full, heartfelt gratitude. Of the "benefits" he has received, he gives
I A RECITAL OF THEM. They include:
1. The Divine mercy when he has sinned (ver. 3). These sins have been
(1) very many;
(2) of various kinds, including not only smaller and greater wrong doings, but the long catalogue of omissions of submission and service unrendered;
(3) they may have been aggravated and of a deep dye;
(4) they may have been committed in all the many relationships and through all the successive stages of human life.
2. Divine restoration. (Vers. 3, latter part, and 4) And this is inclusive of
(1) restoration from daily weariness and exhaustion;
(2) recovery from the less serious ailments and evils to which every one is subject; probably
(3) bringing back from the grave when dangerous illness has brought low.
3. All the loving kindnesses which make life beautiful and glad (ver. 4). The excellency of human love, the comforts of home life, the sacred joy of worship.
4. The continuance of Divine protection and replenishment to later life (ver. 5). God had satisfied his prime (marginal reading, Revised Version) with good things had so visited and renewed him in his manhood, that now, instead of a growing feebleness, he felt the vigour and hopefulness of youth; perhaps he was far enough on the way to be said to be "still bringing forth fruit in old age." He calls on himself to cherish
II A REMEMBRANCE OF THEM. "Forget not," etc. (ver. 2). Antecedently that seems impossible; certainly in the case of any one claiming to be devout. Yet it is quite possible for us to be
(1) so sensible of our own agency in securing our comforts as to lose sight of the Divine action, and so to overlook them; or to be
(2) so occupied with present cares and pleasures, or with future claims, that we may be regardless of them. (see Deu_6:12 Deu_8:11-18) What the wise and good man will desire for himself is that he will constantly carry with him a deep sense of God"s abounding goodness to him through all his course. This will lead to
III FULL-VOICED AND FULL-HEARTED UTTERANCE OF PRAISE. (Vers. 1, 2) God"s praise is not to be rendered by an occasional and formal "returning of thanks" either at the table or in the church. It is to be a daily offering, and one that comes from the heart as well as from the lips. "All that is within us," the whole range of our faculties, is to combine to speak and to sing his praise. Gratitude to God for his abiding and abounding goodness to us, both as citizens of this world and as his children, should be a very leading and powerful factor in our soul, making our character beautiful with spiritual worth, and our life resonant with holy song.
HOMILIES BY S. CONWAY Vers. 1-5. A pattern of praise.
This psalm is all praise; there is no supplication in it. It has helped myriads to praise God, and the secret of such help is that the psalmist was himself filled with the spirit of praise, and it is the blessed contagion of that spirit that helps us today as in the days of old. And it is a pattern of all true praise. It is so in these ways.
I IN ITS OBJECT.
1. It is praise of the Lord. All is addressed to him, and is for him.
2. And in his holiness. "Bless his holy Name." What a happy fact this reveals as to the psalmist and all who sincerely adopt his words! We can bless God for his beneficence and mercy and goodness, but only a holy soul can bless him for his holiness. Such soul delights not merely in the kind acts of God, but in the pure and perfect character of God.
II ITS METHODS. It shows us how we should praise the Lord.
1. Personally. "Bless the Lord, O my soul!" It is not a work to be handed over to any choir or any people whatsoever. It is to be our own personal work.
2. Spiritual. It is to be the soul"s work. Poetic speech, eloquent phrase, beautiful music, skilled song, all count for nothing if the soul be not in the work.
3. Whole hearted. "All that is within me." Intellect, memory, imagination, affection, will, all the energies of our spiritual nature, should be engaged.
4. With set purpose. See how he calls on himself, stirs himself up to this holy work, repeats his exhortation and protests against that one chief cause forgetfulness of our failure to render praise. "Forget not any of his benefits." This is how we should praise the Lord.
III ITS REASON. He tells wherefore we should bless the Lord.
1. For forgiveness. This our first necessity; all else avails not without that. (cf. Mar_2:5)
2. For the healing of the soul. It would be but a poor salvation if soul healing did not follow forgiveness, for without the latter we should soon be back to our sins again. (2Pe_2:22) Therefore we need this healing of the soul. And it is promised. (see Eze_36:25)
3. For penalty in this life averted. He "redeemeth thy life from destruction." God does not redeem our life from all the consequences of our sin, (Psa_99:8) but from the worst he does. The forgiven man may have to suffer much in consequence of his past sins, but it is as nothing compared with what he would have had to suffer had he not been forgiven. The comfort of God"s Spirit, power to witness for Christ, victory over sin, hope bright hope of life eternal, all these are his; his life is redeemed from destruction.
4. For, next, God crowneth with loving kindness. See all this illustrated in the story of the prodigal son forgiven, healed, redeemed, crowned, the ring, the robe, the shoes, the feast, were for him; and what answers to them yet is the crowning told of here.
5. For satisfaction with good. This also awaits us: would we but trust God more, we should know it for ourselves. They who walk with God, abide in Christ, know what it is. Let us not rest until we know it for ourselves.
6. For youth of soul renewed. (See homily on this subject.) The outward man may, will, decay, but the inward man shall be renewed day by day.
IV ITS RESULTS. What a history it would be if we could only trace out what this psalm has done for God"s saints in all ages! What spiritual victories it has won! what strength it has imparted! what holy joy! Christian, sing this psalm more heartily, so that many poor lost ones, hearing its sweet evangel, may turn and with you bless the Lord. S.C.
HOMILIES BY C. SHORT Vers. 1-5. Gratitude for unbounded mercies.
I THE SOUL URGENTLY SUMMONED TO PRAISE GOD FOR HIS GOODNESS. Inward praise, not the praise of the lips, is here called for spiritual, not bodily worship.
II THE WHOLE INWARD MAN IS TO RECOUNT TO ITSELF THE MERCIES OF GOD.
1. Every power he hasmemory, heart, and reason is to assist in recognizing the Divine benefits he has received.
2. Our temptation and danger are to forget. And we are to resist and conquer forgetfulness and ingratitude.
Especially apt to forget the mercies:
1. That we receive in common with others.
2. The mercies that are uninterrupted by constraint.
3. Mercies of a spiritual nature.
III A THANKFUL SURVEY OF THE FATHERLY MERCIES OF GOD. "The poet calls upon his soul to arise to praiseful gratitude for God"s justifying, redeeming, and renewing grace.
1. The forgiveness of all his sins.
2. Recovery from bodily sickness and infirmity. Sin, the sickness of the soul; disease, the sickness of the body; and God is the Physician of both.
3. Deliverance from threatened death. The pit a name of Hades the abode of the departed.
4. Loving kindness and tender mercies make him rich and royal. Like a king, they crown him.
5. No real want of the soul is left unsatisfied. "Shall not want any good thing;" "Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.
6. His strength is thus constantly renewed. (Isa_40:31) "They that wait upon the Lord," etc. S.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain On vv1–3 A Psalm of David. Doubtless by David; it is…
A Psalm of David. Doubtless by David; it is in his own style when at its best, and we should attribute it to his later years when he had a higher sense of the preciousness of pardon, because a keener sense of sin, than in his younger days. His clear sense of the frailty of life indicates his weaker years, as also does the very fainess of his praiseful gratitude. As in the lofty Alps some peaks rise above all others so among even the inspired Psalms there are heights of song which overtop the rest. This one hundred and third Psalm has ever seemed to us to be the Monte Rosa of the divine chain of mountains of praise, glowing with a ruddier light than any of the rest. It is as the apple tree among the trees of the wood, and its golden fruit has a flavour such as no fruit ever bears unless it has been ripened in the full suushine of mercy. It is man's reply to the benedictions of his God, his Song on the Mount answering to his Redeemer's Sermon on the Mount. Nebuchadnezzar adored his idol with flute, harp, sacbut, psaltery, dulcimer and all kinds of music; and David, in far nobler style awakens all the melodies of heaven and earth in honour of the one only living and true God. Our attempt at exposition is commenced under an impressive sense of the utter impossibility of doing justice to so sublime a composition; we call upon our soul and all that is within us to aid in the pleasurable task; but, alas, our soul is finite, and our all of mental faculty far too little for the enterprize. There is too much in the Psalm, for a thousand pens to write, it is one of those all-comprehending Scriptures which is a Bible in itself, and it might alone almost suffice for the hymn-book of the church.
First the Psalmist sings of personal mercies which he had himself received Ps 103:1-5; then he magnifies the attributes of Jehovah as displayed in his dealings with his people, Ps 103:6-19; and he closes by calling upon all the creatures in the universe to adore the Lord and join with himself in blessing Jehovah, the ever gracious.
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Ver. 1. Bless the Lord O my soul. Soul music is the very soul of music. The Psalmist strikes the best keymote when he begins with stirring up his inmost self to magnify the Lord. He soliloquizes, holds self-communion and exhorts himself, as though he felt that dulness would all too soon steal over his faculties, as, indeed, it will over us all, unless we are diligently on the watch. Jehovah is worthy to be praised by us in that highest style of adoration which is intended by the term bless "All thy works praise thee, O God, but thy saints shall bless thee." Our very life and essential self should be engrossed with this delightful service, and each one of us should arouse his own heart to the engagement. Let others forbear if they can: "Bless the Lord, O MY soul." Let others murmur, but do thou bless. Let others bless themselves and their idols, but do thou bless the LORD. Let others use only their tongues, but as for me I will cry, "Bless the Lord, O my soul."
And all that is within me, bless his holy name. Many are our faculties, emotions, and capacities, but God has given them all to us, and they ought all to join in chorus to his praise. Half-hearted, ill-conceived, unintelligent praises are not such as we should render to our loving Lord. If the law of justice demanded all our heart and soul and mind for the Creator, much more may the law of gratitude put in a comprehensive claim for the homage of our whole being to the God of grace. It is instructive to note how the Psalmist dwells upon the holy name of God, as if his holiness were dearest to him; or, perhaps, because the holiness or wholeness of God was to his mind the grandest motive for rendering to him the homage of his nature in its wholeness. Babes may praise the divine goodness, but fathers in grace magnify his holiness. By the name we understand the revealed character of God, and assuredly those songs which are suggested, not by our fallible reasoning and imperfect observation, but by unerring inspiration, should more than any others arouse all our consecrated powers.
Title. A Psalm of David, which he wrote when carried out of himself as far as heaven, saith Beza. John Trapp.
Whole Psalm. How often have saints in Scotland sung this Psalm in days when they celebrated the Lord's Supper! It is thereby specially known in our land. It is connected also with a remarkable case in the days of John Knox. Elizabeth Adamson, a woman who attended on his preaching, "because he more fully opened the fountain of God's mercies than others did, "was led to Christ and to rest, on hearing this Psalm, after enduring such agony of soul that she said, concerning racking pains of body, "A thousand years of this torment, and ten times more joined", are not to be compared to a quarter of an hour of my soul's trouble. She asked for this Psalm again before departing: "It was in receiving it that my troubled soul first tasted God's mercy, which is now sweeter to me than if all the kingdoms of the earth were given me to possess." Andrew A. Bonar.
Whole Psalm. The number of verses in this Psalm is that of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet; and the completeness of the whole is further testified by its return at the close to the words with which it started, "Bless the Lord, O my soul." J. F. Thrupp.
Whole Psalm. The Psalm, in regard to number, is an alphabetical one, harmonized in such a way as that the concluding turns back into the introductory verse, the whole being in this manner finished and rounded off. In like manner, the name Jehovah occurs eleven times. The Psalm is divided into two strophes, the first of ten and the second of twelve verses. The ten is divided by the five, and the twelve falls into three divisions, each of four verses. Jehovah occurs in the first strophe four, and in the second seven times.
The Psalm bears the character of quiet tenderness. It is a still clear brook of the praise of God. In accordance with this, we find that the verses are of equal length as to structure, and consist regularly of two members. It is only at the conclusion, where the tone rises, that the verses become longer: the vessel is too small for the feeling.
The testimony which the title bears on behalf of the composition of the Psalm by David, is confirmed by the fact that the Psalm in passages, the independence of which cannot be mistaken, bears a striking resemblance to the other Psalms of David, and by the connection with Psalm 102 David here teaches his posterity to render thanks, as in the previous Psalm he had taught them to pray: the deliverance from deep distress which formed there the subject of prayer, forms here the subject of thanks. E. W. Hengstenberg.
Whole Psalm. It is observable that no petition occurs throughout the entire compass of these twenty-two verses. Not a single word of supplication is in the whole Psalm addressed to the Most High. Prayer, fervent, heartfelt prayer, had doubtless been previously offered on the part of the Psalmist, and answered by his God. Innumerable blessings had been showered down from above in acknowledgment of David's supplications; and, therefore, an overflowing gratitude now bursts forth from their joyful recipient. He touches every chord of his harp and of his heart together, and pours forth a spontaneous melody of sweetest sound and purest praise. John Stevenson, in "Gratitude: an Exposition of the Hundred and Third Psalm, "1856.
Ver. 1. Bless the LORD, O my soul. O how well they are fitted! for what work so fit for my soul as this? Who so fit for this work as my soul? My body, God knows, is gross and heavy, and very unfit for so sublime a work. No, my soul, it is thou must do it; and indeed what hast thou else to do? it is the very work for which thou were made, and O that thou wert as fit to do the work as the work is fit for thee to do! But, alas, thou art become in a manner earthy, at least hast lost a great part of thy abilities, and will never be able to go through with this great work thyself alone. If to bless the Lord were no more but to say, Lord, Lord, like to them that cried, "The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord; "then my tongue alone would be sufficient for it, and I should not need to trouble any other about it; but to bless the Lord is an eminent work, and requires not only many but very able agents to perform it; and therefore, my soul, when thou goest about it, go not alone; but, take with thee "all that is within thee; "all the forces in my whole magazine, whether it be my heart, or my spirits; whether my will, or my affections; whether my understanding, or my memory; take them all with thee, and bless the Lord. Sir R. Baker.
Ver. 1. All that is within me. The literal translation of the form here used is my insides or inner parts, the strong and comprehensive meaning of the plural being further enhanced by the addition of all, as if to preclude exception and reserve, and comprehend within the scope of the address all the powers and affections. J. A. Alexander.
Ver. 1. All that is within me, etc. Let your conscience "bless the Lord, "by unvarying fidelity. Let your judgment bless Him, by decisions in accordance with his word. Let your imagination bless him, by pure and holy musings. Let your affections praise him, by loving whatsoever he loves. Let your desires bless him, by seeking only his glory. Let your memory bless him, by not forgetting any of his benefits. Let your thoughts bless him, by meditating on his excellencies. Let your hope praise him, by longing and looking for the glory that is to be revealed. Let your every sense bless him by its fealty, your every word by its truth, and your every act by its integrity. John Stevenson.
Ver. 1. Bless the LORD, O my soul. You have often heard, that when God is said to bless men, and they on the other hand are excited to bless him, the word is taken in two very different senses. God is the only fountain of being and happiness, from which all good ever flows; and hence he is said to bless his creatures when he bestows mercies and favours upon them, gives them any endowments of body and mind, delivers them from evils, and is the source of their present comforts and future hopes. But in this sense, you will see there is no possibility of any creature's blessing God; for as his infinite and unblemished perfection renders him incapable of receiving any higher excellency, or improvement in happiness; so, could we put the supposition that this immense ocean of good might be increased, it is plain that we, who receive our very being and everything that we have or are from him, could in no case contribute thereto. To bless God, then, is, with an ardent affection humbly to acknowledge those divine excellencies, which render him the best and greatest of beings, the only object worthy of the highest adoration: it is to give him the praise of all those glorious attributes which adorn his nature, and are so conspicuously manifested in his works and ways. To bless God, is to embrace every proper opportunity of owning our veneration and esteem of his excellent greatness, and to declare to all about us, as loudly as we can, the goodness and grace of his conduct towards men, and our infinite obligations for all our enjoyments to him, in whom we live, move, and have our being. And a right blessing of God must take its rise from a heart that is full of esteem and gratitude, which puts life into the songs of praise.
And then, of all others, the most lively and acceptable method of blessing God, is a holy conversation and earnest endeavor to be purified from all iniquity; for blessing of God consists, as I told you, in adoring his excellencies, and expressing our esteem and veneration of them: but what can be so effectual a way of doing this, as the influence that the views of them have upon our lives? That person best exalts the glory of the divine power, who fears God above all, and trembles at the apprehensions of his wrath; and of his justice, who flees from sin, which exposes him to the inexorable severity thereof; and of his love, who is softened thereby into grateful returns of obedience; and then we celebrate his holiness, when we endcavour to imitate it in our lives, and abandon everything that is an abomination to the eyes of his purity. William Dunlop, 1692-1720.
Ver. 1. O my soul. God's eye is chiefly upon the soul: bring a hundred dishes to table, he will carve of none but this; this is the savoury meat he loves. He who is best, will be served with the best; when we give him the soul in a duty, then we give him the flower and the cream; by a holy chemistry we still out the spirits. A soul inflamed in service is the cup of "spiced wine of the juice of the pomegranate" (So 8:2) which the spouse makes Christ to drink of. Thomas Watson.
Ver. 1. Bless his holy name. The name of God frequently signifies his nature and attributes, in Scripture. Now, holiness is the glory of this name; the purity of God is that which beautifies all his perfections, and renders them worthy to be praised. His eternity, and knowledge, and power, without justice, and goodness, and truth, might indeed frighten and confound us; but could not inflame our love, or engage us to hearty blessing. But when infinite mightiness, and unerring wisdom, and eternal dominion, are mixed with unchangeable love, and inviolable veracity and goodness, which exalts itself above all his works; when thus it becomes a holy name, then the divine perfections are rendered truly amiable, and suitable objects of our hope and confidence and loudest songs; so that you see how elegantly the Psalmist upon this occasion mentions the purity of God: "Bless his holy name."
And besides this, there is indeed nothing that more exalts the glory of divine grace and of redeeming love towards a soul, than the consideration of God's holiness;for if your Maker were not of purer eyes than man is, yea, if his hatred to sin, and love to righteousness, were not greater than that of the noblest angel, his pardoning of sin, and patience towards transgressors would not be such a wonderful condescension; but is his name infinitely holy so that "the heavens are not clean in his sight?" Is the smallest iniquity the abhorrence of his soul, and what he hates with a perfect hatred? Surely, then, his grace and love must be incomparably greater than our thoughts. William Dunlop.
Ver. 1-2. The well is seldom so full that water will at first pumping flow forth; neither is the heart commonly so spiritual, after our best care in our worldly converse (much less when we somewhat overdo therein) as to pour itself into God's bosom freely, without something to raise and elevate it; yea, often, the springs of grace lie so low, that pumping only will not fetch the heart up to a praying frame, but arguments must be poured into the soul before the affections rise. Hence are those soliloquies and discourses which we find holy men use with their own hearts to bring them into a gracious temper, suitable for communion with God in ordinances. It seems by these verses] David either found or feared his heart would not be in so good a frame as he desired; consequently he redoubles his charge: he found his heart somewhat drowsy, which made him thus rouse himself. William Guruall.
Ver. 1-3. The Psalmist's gratitude here has four attributes. The first is personal. Bless the Lord, my soul. He has the self-same application in the close of the Psalm, after he has called on others to do this work. Our religion must be social as well as personal: but while it must not end at home, it must begin at home; and relative religion, without personal, will always be found wanting in excitement, in energy, in extent, in continuance, and very commonly in success.
Secondly, It is fervent. And all that is within me, bless his holy name all my thoughts, my feelings, my understanding, my will, my memory, my conscience, my affections, my passions.
"If there be passions in my soul,
(And passions, Lord, there be);
Let them be all at thy control,
My gracious Lord, for thee."
Thirdly, it is rational, and demanded by the facts of his past life. Therefore "forget not all his benefits." Nothing can properly affect or influence us when it is out of our recollection. "Out of sight out of mind; "and out of mind, out of motive. Whence arose the ingratitude of the Jews of old? Bad memories. "Of the rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten the God that formed thee." "The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider." It should therefore be your concern, not only to recall your mercies, but to reckon them.
Lastly, it is specific:Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases. When all the words in a discourse are emphatic, nothing is emphatic, when we dwell on everything, we dwell on nothing effectively. We are more struck, in a landscape, with a selected point of vision for inspection, than by the general prospect. David was a poet, and understood poetry well; and poetry differs from philosophy. The one seeks to rise from particular facts and instances, to establish general principles and rules: the other is always for descending from generalization to particularization; and much of its beauty and force arises from individualities. William Jay, 1849.
Ver. 1. "The Saints blessing the Lord." See "Spurgeon's Sermons, " No. 1,078.
Ver. 1.
1. We should bless the Most High himself. It is possible to fail to bless him, while we praise his gifts, his word, his works, his ways.
2. We should bless him individually: "My soul." Not merely the family through the father, nor the people through the pastor; nor the congregation through the choir; but personally.
3. We should bless him spiritually: "soul." Not only with organ, voice, offering, works, &c.
4. We should bless him unreservedly: "All that is within me."
5. We should bless him resolutely. David preached self-communion, self-encouragement, and self-command. W. Jackson.
Ver. 1. Here is,
1. Self-converse: "Oh my soul." Many talk freely enough to others, but never talk to themselves. They are strangers to themselvesnot on speaking terms with themselves take no interest in their own soulsare dull and melancholy when alone.
2. Self-exhortation: "Bless the Lord, O my soul." Thy Creator, thy Benefactor, thy Redeemer.
3. Self-encouragement: "All that is within me" every faculty of my mental, moral and spiritual being: with ten stringsevery chord in motion. No need for one faculty of the soul to say to another, "know the Lord, for all shall know him from the least even unto the greatest." G. R.
Ver. 1 (First clause, and Ps 103:22, last clause). Personal worship the Alpha and Omega of religion. C. Davis.
Psalms 103:2*
Ver. 1-2, 22. Bless the Lord, O my soul... Bless the Lord, O my soul, with the Bless the Lord all his works in all places of his dominion: bless the Lord, O my soul, Ps 103:22; these two form the thrice-repeated blessing from the Lord to the soul in the Mosaic formula, Nu 6:24-26. A. R. Fausset.
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv1–3 Bless the Lord, O my soul.
Psa_103:1-22
Bless the Lord, O my soul.
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A song of praise
Like stately pillars supporting a solemn temple, three noble psalms, placed side by side, exalt the glory of Jehovah: 103 glorifies the God of grace; 104 the God of nature; 105 the God of history. Each springs from a strong pedestal of adoration, and is crowned with a rich capital of praise.
I. This is a psalm of humanity. It is a true psalm of life; the experience of a throbbing human heart; born of the Holy Ghost, in travail of soul, amid the exigencies of weakness and sin, into the rapture of Divine compassions. All the darkness and evil of the world it knows, but suffers these only to enhance the richness of the life with God into which we move. This great achievement is won by finding out God.
II. This is humanitys psalm of adoration to God. We see His throne exalted, His kingdom stretched abroad; His angelic hosts above, His inanimate works, below, called upon to praise Him. His eternal power and Godhead, His everlasting years, are set before us in great majesty. Think rightly on God, and all that is within you will bless Him; and this will bless you. If our life had more praise, it would feel less drudgery. Forget not, unworthy source of so much ingratitude, despondency, distrust. Count your mercies.
III. A great truth and a great duty.
1. God offers the penitent a full redemption.
2. Accept this full redemption. (C. A. South-gate.)
A song of praise
I. The object of praise. The living, not the imagined, the present, not the remote God, by His own inbreathings, called forth this tribute to Himself from a heart in which He dwelt. Sublime in His being, He is oftenest called Preserver, Judge, Father, King. In these several relations He is brought before us in this psalm.
II. The persons and things which are summoned to praise. The grossest confounding of body and spirit then prevailed; yet the soul was a term which all understood, though few could explain. This, the direct inspiration of the Almighty, would naturally be the first to perceive and respond to Divine favours. It is bidden, therefore, to express itself. The emotional, intellectual, and even animal nature may and must each offer Him its peculiar sacrifice of thanksgiving.
III. The reasons for praise. The shower of good things had been so constant, that merely to mention some of them seemed to the enthusiastic singer to ensure within himself the response he sought. He accordingly rallies his own too sluggish soul to pour forth its meed of praise, mindful of the general blessings he had received. He was prone to forget them. All are. Ingratitude is fostered by abundance. Thanklessness is more than meanness. Themistocles sadly said of the Athenians, that when a storm arose, they sheltered themselves under him as under a plane tree, which when the weather was fair again, they would rob of its leaves and branches. So do the needy multitudes cry unto God, and helped, return not to give Him glory, save here and there a stranger. Nay, more; they selfishly use their benefits to deprive Him of that honour which is His due. It was just this sin against which Jehovah had cautioned Israel (Deu_32:15). And so, as if writing down the long list of gifts that he may count them, the psalmist would beget a fit return. This psalm has been called a little Bible within the greater. It is a striking revelation of the being, character, and purpose of God. It is also a clear portrayal of the origin, doings, needs, blessings, and destiny of man. (Monday Club Sermons.)
A song of praise
I. Thanksgiving for personal benefits.
1. Thanks for forgiveness and inward healing.
2. Thanks for redemption and glory.
3. Thanks for intermediate blessings.
There is a long journey from the mouth of the pit of destruction, whence God has rescued us, to the gate of glory by which God will bring us in to receive our everlasting inheritance. On that way we are not left to our own resources. He gives us the supplies needful for the journey, and ministers the strength with which we may reach the end.
II. Praise to the character of God.
1. The righteousness and judgment of the Lord (Exo_33:13).
2. The mercy and grace of God (Exo_34:6-7).
III. The measure of Gods mercy.
1. Heavenly greatness (verse 11; Rom_5:20).
2. Infinite forgiveness (verse 12).
3. Fatherly pity (verse 13).
4. The shortness of mans day and the eternity of Gods mercy (Psa_103:15-17).
5. A solemn reminder (verse 18).
IV. A universal call to praise (Psa_103:19-22). Let us who have been forgiven, renewed in the inner man, redeemed from destruction, whose lives have been crowned with lovingkindness and tender mercy, take up the song of thanksgiving, and so, perchance, extend His mercies to those who are yet strangers to it, by setting forth His benefits as we have come to know them in our own experience. (G. F. Pentecost, D. D.)
A souls song to God
The singer of this melody, whoever he may have been, has left behind him the valley and has climbed to magnificent heights; yea, on the suburbs of heaven, he sings with impassioned ardour of the goodness of his God, and, finding his voice inadequate to give vent to his gratitude, he summons a goodly choir--the works of God, the ministers of God, the angels of God--to accentuate the joyful strains and to make His praise glorious.
I. A blessed exercise. Some one has said that the Christian ought to be like a horse that has bells on his head: so that he cannot go anywhere without ringing them and making music. His whole life should be in harmony; every thought should constitute a note; every word he utters should be a component part of the joyful strain.
1. The psalmist is solicitous that his praise should be spiritual. It is his soul and not his lips he addresses. He wants nothing formal, mechanical, lifeless, spiritless.
2. The psalmist also arouses himself to unreserved adoration. And all that is within me, etc. Our nature is a many-stringed instrument, and every string is to contribute its quota to the symphony. If the soul is to be the leading singer, then every faculty of our mental, moral, and spiritual being, like a united choir, are to render the chorus.
3. The psalmist also urges himself to personal adoration. O my soul. He begins with himself, and, albeit he goes out from himself and seeks to engage others in singing unto God, he comes back and concludes his exhortation with himself as the subject. Let the trees clap their hands, let the ocean lift up its voice, etc. Bless the Lord, O my soul.
II. A reasonable exercise. In praising God, we perform one of the highest and purest acts of religion. In praise, we largely eliminate the element of self, and are like the angels in performing the unpolluted service of the skies.
1. There are national benefits.
2. There are social benefits. God setteth the solitary in families. He has placed us together so that the cup of our life might be full. What a benediction is Home!
3. But better than all others, there are spiritual benefits of which we must take strict account. These are Gods greatest gifts to us.
(1) Forgiveness. Mercy comes to thee full-handed. Love abundantly pardons.
(2) Healing. Eyes at one time blinded by the God of this world can now see the things eternal, ears afflicted with deafness can now hear the welcome sound of Gods voice, hands once sadly paralyzed can now perform the glorious business of the King, feet which dragged from sheer impotency can now run on Gods errands with joyous alacrity, and faces once wearing the ugly scowl of sin now shine with the beauteous smile of God.
(3) Redemption.
(4) Coronation.
(5) Satisfaction.
(6) Rejuvenescence. (J. Pearce.)
Sell-exhortation to worship
I. With the whole soul. There are at least three immeasurable faculties within--intellect, imagination, conscience. All these should praise Jehovah, who is the True, for the intellect; the Beautiful, for the imagination; and the Righteous, for the conscience. Let all come out in praise, as all the powers of the harp come out under the touch of the master musician; as all the powers of the seed come out under the genial influence of the sunbeam.
II. For urgent reasons. All His benefits.
1. Sin is an offence; and here is forgiveness.
2. Sin is a disease; and here is healing.
3. Sin is ruinous; and here is restoration.
4. Sin is a degradation; and here is exaltation.
5. Sin is discontent; and here is satisfaction.
6. Sin is weakness; and here is invigoration. (Homilist.)
The saints blessing the Lord
You see here a man talking to himself, a soul with all his soul talking to his soul. His own soul is the first audience a good man ought to think of preaching to. Indeed, if any man desires to excite the hearts of others in any given direction, he must first stir up himself upon the same matter.
I. This exhortation is remarkably comprehensive.
1. The unity of our nature is hero bidden, in its concentration, to yield its whole self to the praise of God. No white-washed sepulchres will please the Lord,--Bless the Lord, O my soul,--Let the true Ego praise Him, the essential I, the vital personality, the soul of my soul, the life of my life! Let me be true to the core to my God; let that which is most truly my own vitality spend itself in blessing the Lord. My immortal soul, what hast thou to do with spending thine energies upon mortal things? Wilt thou hunt for fleeting shadows, whilst thou art thyself most real and abiding? Raise thyself on all thy wings, and like the six-winged cherubim adore thy God. But the words suggest yet another meaning,--the soul is our active self, our vigour, our intensity. When we speak of a mans throwing his soul into a thing, we mean that he does it with all his might. My intensest nature shall bless the Lord. Not with bated breath and a straitened energy will I lisp forth His praises, but I will pour them forth ardently in volumes of impassioned song.
2. But, then, David speaks of the diverse faculties of our nature, and writes, All that is within me bless His holy name. The affections are to lead the way in the concert of praise. But the psalmist intended next to bestir the memory, for he goes on to say forget not all His benefits. Recollect what God has done for you. Thread the jewels of His grace upon the thread of memory, and hang them about the neck of praise. For mercies beyond count, praise Him without stint. Then let your conscience praise Him, for the psalm proceeds to say, who forgiveth all thine iniquities. Conscience once weighed thy sins and condemned thee; now let it weigh the Lords pardon and magnify His grace to thee. Let thy emotions join the sacred choir, for thou hast many feelings of delight; bless Him who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies, etc. Is all within you peaceful? Sing some sweet pastoral, like the twenty-third psalm. Let the calm of your spirit sound forth the praises of the Lord upon the pleasant harp and the psaltery. Do your days flow smoothly? Then consecrate the dulcimer to the Lord. Do you feel the exhilaration of delight? Then praise ye the Lord with the timbrel and dance. On the other hand, is there a contention within; does conflict disturb your mind? Then praise Him with the sound of the trumpet, for He will go forth with you to the battle. When you return from the battle and divide the spoil, then praise Him upon the loud cymbals: praise Him upon the high-sounding cymbals. What-ever emotional state thy soul be found in, let it lead thee to bless thy Makers holy name.
II. This suggestion is most reasonable. The Lord has given innumerable blessings to every part of our nature; all our faculties are the recipients of blessing; therefore should they all bless God in return. Every pipe of the organ should yield its quota of sound. As all the rivers run into the sea, so all our powers should flow towards the Lords praise. To prove that this is reasonable, let me ask one single question:--if we do not devote all that is within us to the glory of God, which part is that we should leave unconsecrated; and being less unconsecrated to God what should we do with it?
III. It is necessary. It is necessary that the whole nature bless God, for at its best, when all engaged in the service, it fails to compass the work, and fails short of Jehovahs praise. All the man, with all his might, always occupied in all ways in blessing God, would still be no more than a whisper in comparison with the thunder of praise which the Lord deserves. Do not, therefore, let us insult the Lord with half when the whole is not enough. Jesus Christ will have of us all or nothing; and He will have us sincere, earnest, and intense, or He will not have us at all.
IV. It is beneficial.
1. It is beneficial to ourselves. To be whole-hearted in the praise of God is to elevate our faculties. Consecration is culture. To praise is to learn. To bless God is also of preventive usefulness to us; we cannot bless God and at the same time idolize ourselves. Praise preserves us from being envious of others, for by blessing God for all we have, we learn to bless God for what other people have.
2. It is also useful to others. You cannot do good more effectually than by a happy consecrated life, spent in blessing God. If there be anything that is cheerful, joyous, dewy, bright, full of heaven, it is the life of a man who blesses God all his days. This is the way to win souls. We shall not catch these flies with vinegar,--we must use honey.
V. All this is prepatratory. If we can attain to constant praise now, it will prepare us for all that awaits us. We are harps which will be tuned in all their strings for the concerts of the blessed. The tuner is putting us in order. He sweeps his hands along the strings; there is a jar from every note; so He begins first with one string, and then goes to another. He continues at each string till He hears the exact note. The last time you were ill, one of your strings was tuned; the last time you had a had debt, or trembled at declining business, another string was tuned. And so, between now and heaven, you will have every string set in order; and you will not enter heaven till all are in tune. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The keynote of the year
David sounds the tuningfork with this clear note--Bless the Lord, O nay soul.
I. The blessed occupation. How, then, can we bless God?
1. God blesses us by thinking well of us, and we bless God by thinking well of Him. Think deeply of what the Lord has done. Do not pass His mercies over superficially, but look into them. Do not cease to think of the covenant of electing love, of everlasting faithfulness, of redeeming blood, of pardoning grace, and all the ways in which eternal love has shown itself.
2. We also bless God when we wish Him well. Sit down and wish that all men knew God, that all men worshipped Him; and let your wishes blaze up into prayers. Wish that all idols were abolished, and that Jehovahs name would be sung through every land by every tongue. Wish well to His Church, His cause, His people, and all that concerns His glory.
3. You can bless God by speaking well of Him. Have you said anything to praise God to-day?
4. Bless His name by acts and deeds of holy service and consecration Do it with hand, and purse, and substance, and sacrifice.
II. The commendable manner mentioned. Half the virtue of a thing lies in the way in which it is done. Now, in the service of God, it is net only what you bring, but in what spirit you bring it.
1. That mode of blessing God to which we are called is very spiritual--a matter of soul and spirit. The music of the soul is that which pleases the ear of God: the great spirit is delighted with that which comes from our spirit. A heart that praises Him has within itself all the harmonies that He delights in. The sigh of love is to Him a lyric, the sob of repentance is melody, the inward cries of His own children are an oratorio, and their heart-songs are true hallelujahs.
2. When we bless God, the sacred exercise should be intense. Let every part of your manhood be aroused, and so aroused as to be in fine form. Give me a man on fire when God is to be praised. Let all that is within me bless His holy name. A whole God, and a holy God, should have the whole of our powers engaged in blessing His holy name.
3. The text seems to remind me that we ought to do this repeatedly, because in my text the word bless occurs twice. Bless the Lord, O my soul: bless His holy name. And in the next verse there is bless the Lord again. He is a triune God: render Him triune praise.
III. The sacred object of this blessing--Jehovah. I adore the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God that made the heavens and the earth. I worship the God that cut Rahab, and wounded the crocodile at the Red Sea, the God that led His people through the wilderness, the God that gave them the land of Canaan for a heritage. This God is our God for ever and ever. He shall be our guide, even unto death. Bless Jehovah, O my soul. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, we worship Thee; we bless Thee! Do you love a holy God? While you bless Him for His mercy, do you equally bless Him for His holiness? You bless Him for His bounty, but do you feel that you could not thus bless Him if you were not fully aware that He is perfectly righteous? Bless His holy name. Aye, when that holiness burns like fire, and threatens to devour the guilty, let us still bless His holy name! When we see His holiness consuming the great Sacrifice, we bow before the Lord in deep dread of soul, but we still bless His holy name. An unholy God! It were absurd to think of such a thing; but a thrice-holy God--let us bless and praise Him.
IV. The suitable monitor. Who is it that says to David, Bless the Lord, O my soul? Why, it is David talking to David. The man speaks to himself. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
A song of praise
This psalm is a type of intelligent thanksgiving--an expression of sanctified emotion based upon sanctified thought. We see at once how this true emotion is distinguished from mere formal thanksgiving by the words, all that is within me--words which appeal to the very deepest feelings of the heart. But we also notice how, as so often in Scripture, a caution is associated with the highest devotional feeling at the point where one in the ardour of holy rapture forgets for the moment that he is a sinful man in a sinful world: Bless the Lord, O my soul! yet, my soul, thou art weak and fallible, and prone to forget these very mercies which are calling forth thy praise. Forget not all His benefits. It is with blessings much as with troubles: few people, comparatively, have great catastrophes in their life, and few have great, colossal joys. There is only the daily succession of little, commonplace pleasures, and we foolishly get into the way of attaching little importance to anything which is not of the nature of a crisis. Go back over your life and pick up the happy times--the day your little child began to walk; the day your boy graduated with honour; the many evenings you have come home tired and have found rest, and light, and warmth, and pleasant words at home; how many happy hours over a book or in conversation with a friend. These, after all, are the benefits which make up the staple of our life. They seem to be little blessings, perhaps because they are so common, yet if we number all Gods benefits we shall find the sum of them very great. The psalmist specifies certain causes for thanksgiving; and the first of these is very significant--the forgiveness of his sins. And rightly, because this is essentially the first fact in all thanksgiving, and is therefore the key not only to this psalm, but to the whole great lesson of Christian thankfulness. Having thus laid this spiritual foundation for a true thanksgiving, the psalmist now passes to mention temporal mercies, yet, possibly, all along with an undertone of spiritual meaning. God healeth all diseases, redeemeth the life from death, ministers to the healthful appetite with good things, makes His child strong and vigorous as the eagle. The association of these benefits directly with God imparts to them a spiritual suggestiveness such as they may well have in this psalm. They are not only pleasant facts, but types of spiritual good. He healeth all thy diseases, but the most deadly disease of all is sin. Thy mouth is satisfied with the kindly fruits of the earth, yet man lives not by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Thy youth and vigour are renewed like the eagles, but thou knowest too what it is to be strengthened with might by Gods Spirit in the inner man. And now, through all these things--forgiveness, redeeming, renewing--God is working toward an ulterior purpose. He crowneth thee. Gods work is not finished in the forgiveness of sins. If a prince were to take a beggar out of the street in order to make him the heir to his throne, would his work be done when he had washed and decently clothed him? No. He must be trained for his position. All that kingly power and fatherly love can command must combine to fit him to be a king. The redeemed sing to Him who not only washed them from their sins, but also made them kings and priests. And as we reach the close of the psalm we find its keynote struck again. It is a psalm of thanksgiving, but it tells us that true thanksgiving can be only within the sphere of Gods accepted sovereignty, from the standpoint of voluntary allegiance to Him. The foundation of all thanksgiving is that God reigns--the foundation of our individual thanksgiving is that God is our King. (M. R. Vincent, D.D.)
Divine goodness celebrated
I. The mercies enumerated.
1. Benefits bestowed.
(1) Personal. Life, health, food, etc.
(2) Spiritual. The great gift of His Son, Gospel ordinances, Word, Spirit, etc.
2. Iniquities forgiven.
(1) We are all chargeable with iniquities.
(2) They are many.
(3) God forgives all.
(4) This forgiveness is communicated through repentance and faith in Christ.
3. Diseases healed.
(1) Bodily.
(2) Spiritual.
4. Redemption from destruction.
5. A crown of lovingkindnesses and tender mercies.
II. The thanks presented.
1. He blesses God.
2. He does this with all his soul.
3. He calls upon all within him to join in the work of praise.
4. He purposes a lively remembrance of Gods goodness. And forget not all His benefits. He would keep it before his eyes; he would be constantly meditating upon it; morning and evening, and in the night watches, etc.
Application.
1. The amazing extent and profusion of the Divine goodness.
2. The immense obligations we are under to serve and bless God. (J. Burns, D.D.)
Worship
Worship means recognition of worth, doing homage to goodness. Even when the worth is limited, as in the case of a good man, the recognition should be cordial. When the homage is offered to Infinite Goodness all the gifts of mind and heart should be brought into play, so as to yield the maximum of worship and recognition. The Lord our God ought to be loved and served with all the heart, and soul, and strength, and mind. Unhappily, in no department of human conduct do the ideal and the reality lie further apart than in religious worship and in religious life. What then are the conditions under which it is possible to render such a service as is illustrated in this exquisite psalm?
1. Faith, or a right conception of God, a right idea of God. We must believe in a God whose character is fitted to inspire devout thought and excite religious affections of reverence, trust, gratitude, and admiration; such a God, that is to say, as is presented to our view in this psalm. He must bless God in a feeble, cold, hesitating fashion, who is all the time not sure whether his Divinity be worthy of worship. The lips say: God is good; the mind thinks only of the chosen objects of an arbitrary favouritism. The tongue declares: God loveth the right; the reason asks: Why then do bad men prosper and good men pine? If we are to worship and serve God aright, this antagonism between word and thought must be overcome. We must believe in a God whose name is a veritable gospel of gladness to our souls
2. Sincerity. Everywhere in Scripture we find great stress laid upon this condition of efficient service. The perfect man in the Bible is not the man without fault, but the man of single-hearted devotion who loves and serves God. Faults in conduct, errors of judgment, infirmities of temper there may be in abundance. The one quality that redeems, ennobles character is self-devotion without reserve to the Divine kingdom of the Gospel, to the cause that is worth living for.
3. Liberty. No one can say with emphasis, O Lord, truly I am Thy servant, unless he also is able to say, Thou hast loosed my bonds. There are bonds which keep men from being religious, or from being devoted in religion, and there are bonds springing out of religion itself by which many saintly souls are bound. Everything pertaining to religion--worship, creed, practice, tends to become an affair of routine, ceremonial, formula, mechanical habit. Fetters are forged for soul and body, for every faculty of our composite nature--for hand, tongue, mind, heart, conscience. And by such as are in bondage it is regarded as a mark of piety and sanctity to wear with scrupulous care all these grievous fetters. There are times, however, when the bondage becomes unbearable, and the human spirit rises in rebellion and asserts its liberty. Such an epoch is a veritable year of jubilee, when minds are emancipated from worn-out commonplaces, and hearts are enlarged into original and heroic love, like rivers in flood overflowing their banks, and consciences are purged from dead works to serve the living God. It is the acceptable year of the Lord, acceptable to redeemed men, though regarded with pious horror by the slaves of tradition, and acceptable to God also. For, be it understood, God takes no pleasure in spiritual bondage. God gets no glory from that sort of thing. His glory is bound up with liberty, for with liberty came opening of closed lips, unsealing all the fountains of religious emotion, locked up by the frosts of a dreary winter, awakening all dormant powers of thought, whereupon once more men bless God with all that is within them. (A. B. Bruce, D. D.)
The Christians gladness deeply rooted
How vigorous was the plant of joy in the writers heart. And why? Because its roots were spread far and wide in a nourishing soil. In the experience of Gods forgiving love and ever bountiful kindness to himself, in the recognition of Gods sure friendliness towards all that are oppressed, in the remembrance of the vast past of His lovingkindness to His people, in a large, real, partnership of joy with all them that fear Him, and in an exultant realization that God and gladness ruled the universe, did this cheery saint and singer root his joy. What a poor feeble plant is the happiness of many professed Christians! And no wonder--for it lacks strong and ample roots. No sufficient time or pains are given that thought and affection may spread abroad in the rich nourishing ground of Gods vast goodness and lovingkindness. Take time to be happy--to be exultingly and persistently happy in God and His salvation! (C. G. M.)
The harp of the heart
A more wonderful instrument than any which Israels psalmist ever struck is carried in the human breast. Upon its ten strings the hand of God often strikes, and evokes most sublime melody. The one hundred and third psalm was originally played upon this harp of the heart. Its keynote is, Bless the Lord, O my soul! let all that is within me bless His holy name. At another time the strains of that harp were inexpressibly plaintive and mournful. They were like the wail of a sick child. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness. Against Thee have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise. Happy is the man who can begin to rehearse for heaven by attuning his heart to the will of God. He is like the old psalmists psaltery, every wind that Providence sends only makes music in him. Even boisterous gales of adversity call forth grand and sublime strains of resignation. When he is in trouble, he giveth songs in the night. The kind acts he performs for others touch sweet chords in his memory. And amid all the harsh and jangled discords of this world, such a Christ-loving soul is a harp of gold making constant melody in the ear of God. (T. L. Cuyler, D.D.)
Praising with the soul
When the photographer fits that iron rest at the back of your head and keeps you waiting ten minutes, while he gets his plates ready, why, your soul goes out of town, and nothing remains but that heavy look! When the work of art is finished, it is you, and yet it is not you. You were driven out by the touch of that iron. Another time, perhaps, your photograph is taken instantaneously, while you are in an animated attitude, while your whole soul is there; and your friends say, Aye, that is your very self. I want you to bless the Lord with your soul at home as in that last portrait. I saw a book wherein the writer says in the preface, We have given a portrait of our mother, but there was a kind of sacred twinkle about her eyes which no photograph could produce. Now, it is my hearts desire that you do praise God with that sacred twinkle, with that feature or faculty which is most characteristic of you. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v1 Psalms 103
Psalms 103
THERE are no clouds in the horizon, nor notes of sadness in the music, of this psalm. No purer outburst of thankfulness enriches the Church. It is well that, amid the many psalms which give voice to mingled pain and trust, there should be one of unalloyed gladness, as untouched by sorrow as if sung by spirits in heaven. Because it is thus purely an outburst of thankful joy, it is the more fit to be pondered in times of sorrow.
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The psalmists praise flows in one unbroken stream. There are no clear marks of division, but the river broadens as it runs, and personal benefits and individual praise open out into gifts which are seen to fill the universe, and thanksgiving which is heard from every extremity of His wide dominion of lovingkindness.
In Psa_103:1-5 the psalmist sings of his own experience. His spirit, or ruling sell calls on his "soul," the weaker and more feminine part, which may be cast down {Psalms 42 and Psalms 43} by sorrow, and needs stimulus and control, to contemplate Gods gifts and to praise Him. A good man will rouse himself to such exercise, and coerce his more sensuous and sluggish faculties to their noblest use. Especially must memory be directed, for it keeps woefully short-lived records of mercies, especially of continuous ones. Gods gifts are all "benefits," whether they are bright or dark. The catalogue of blessings lavished on the singers soul begins with forgiveness and ends with immortal youth. The profound consciousness of sin, which it was one aim of the Law to evoke, underlies the psalmists praise; and he who does not feel that no blessings could come from heaven, unless forgiveness cleared the way for them, has yet to learn the deepest music of thankfulness. It is followed by "healing" of "all thy diseases," which is no cure of merely bodily ailments, any more than redeeming of life "from the pit" is simply preservation of physical existence. In both there is at least included, even if we do not say that it only is in view, the operation of the pardoning God in delivering from the sicknesses and death of the spirit.
The soul thus forgiven and healed is crowned with "lovingkindness and compassions," wreathed into a garland for a festive brow, and its adornment is not only a result of these Divine attributes, but the very things themselves, so that an effluence from God beautifies the soul. Nor is even this all, for the same gifts which are beauty are also sustenance, and God satisfies the soul with good, especially with the only real good, Himself. The word rendered above "mouth" is extremely difficult. It is found in Psa_32:9, where it seems best taken in the meaning of trappings or harness. That meaning is inappropriate here, though Hupfeld tries to retain it. The LXX renders "desire," which fits well, but can scarcely be established. Other renderings, such as "age" or "duration"-i.e., the whole extent of life-have been suggested. Hengstenberg and others regard the word as a designation of the soul, somewhat resembling the other term applied to it, "glory"; but the fact that it is the soul which is addressed negatives that explanation. Graetz and others resort to a slight textual alteration, resulting in the reading "thy misery." Delitzsch, in his latest editions, adopts this emendation doubtingly, and supposes that with the word misery or affliction there is associated the idea "of beseeching and therefore of longing," whence the LXX rendering would originate. "Mouth" is the most natural word in such connection, and its retention here is sanctioned by "the interpretation of the older versions in Psa_32:9 and the Arabic cognate" (Perowne). It is therefore retained above, though with some reluctance.
How should a man thus dealt with grow old? The body may, but not the soul. Rather it will drop powers that can decay, and for each thus lost will gain a stronger-moulting, and not being stripped of its wings, though it changes their feathers. There is no need to make the psalmist responsible for the fables of the eagles renewal of its youth. The comparison with the monarch of the air does not refer to the process by which the souls wings are made strong, but to the result in wings that never tire, but bear their possessor far up in the blue and towards the throne.
In Psa_103:6-18 the psalmist sweeps a greater circle, and deals with Gods blessings to mankind. He has Israel specifically in view in the earlier verses. but passes beyond Israel to all "who fear Him." It is very instructive that he begins with the definite fact of Gods revelation through Moses. He is not spinning a filmy idea of a God out of his own consciousness, but he has learned all that he knows of Him from His historical self-revelation. A hymn of praise which has not revelation for its basis will have many a quaver of doubt. The God of mens imaginations, consciences, or yearnings is a dim shadow. The God to whom love turns undoubting and praise rises without one note of discord is the God who has spoken His own name by deeds which have entered into the history of the world. And what has He revealed Himself to be? The psalmist answers almost in the words of the proclamation made to Moses (Psa_103:8-9). The lawgiver had prayed, "I beseech Theeshow me now Thy ways, that I may know Thee"; and the prayer had been granted, when "the Lord passed by before him," and proclaimed His name as "full of compassion and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy and truth." That proclamation fills the singers heart, and his whole soul leaps up in him, as he meditates on its depth and sweetness. Now, after so many centuries of experience, Israel can repeat with full assurance the ancient self-revelation, which has been proved true by many "mighty deeds."
The psalmists thoughts are still circling round the idea of forgiveness, with which he began his contemplations. He and his people equally need it; and all that revelation of Gods character bears directly on His relation to sin. Jehovah is "long of anger"-i.e., slow to allow it to flash out in punishment-and as lavish of lovingkindness as sparing of wrath. That character is disclosed by deeds. Jehovahs graciousness forces Him to "contend" against a mans sins for the mans sake. But it forbids Him to be perpetually chastising and condemning, like a harsh taskmaster. Nor does He keep His anger ever burning, though He does keep His lovingkindness aflame for a thousand generations. Lightning is transitory: sunshine, constant. Whatever His chastisements, they have been less than our sins. The heaviest is "light," and "for a moment," when compared with the "exceeding weight of" our guilt.
The glorious metaphors in Psa_103:11-12 traverse heaven to the zenith, and from sunrise to sunset, to find distances distant enough to express the towering height of Gods mercy and the completeness of His removal from us of our sins. That pure arch, the topstone of which nor wings nor thoughts can reach, sheds down all light and heat which make growth and cherish life. It is high above us, but it pours blessings on us and it bends down all round the horizon to kiss the low, dark earth. The lovingkindness of Jehovah is similarly lofty, boundless, all-fructifying. In Psa_103:11 b the parallelism would be more complete if a small textual alteration were adopted, which would give "high" instead of "great"; but the slight departure which the existing text makes from precise correspondence with a-is of little moment, and the thought is sufficiently intelligible as the words stand. Between East and West all distances lie. To the eye they bound the world. So far does Gods mercy bear away our sins. Forgiveness and cleansing are inseparably united.
But the song drops-or shall we say rises?-from these magnificent measures of the immeasurable to the homely image of a fathers pity. We may lose ourselves amid the amplitudes of the lofty, wide-stretching sky, but this emblem of paternal love goes straight to our hearts. A pitying God! What can be added to that? But that fatherly pity is decisively limited to "them that fear Him." It is possible, then, to put oneself outside the range of that abundant dew, and the universality of Gods blessings does not hinder self-exclusion from them.
In Psa_103:14-16 mans brief life is brought in, not as a sorrow or as a cloud darkening the sunny joy of the song, but as one reason for the Divine compassion. "He, He knows our frame." The word rendered "frame" is literally. "formation" or "fashioning," and comes from the same root as the verb employed in Gen_2:7 to describe mans creation. "The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground." It is also used for the potters action in moulding earthen vessels. {Isa_29:16, etc.} So, in the next clause, "dust" carries on the allusion to Genesis, and the general idea conveyed is that of frailty. Made from dust and fragile as an earthen vessel, man by his weakness appeals to Jehovahs compassion. A blow, delivered with the full force of that almighty hand, would "break him as a potters vessel is broken." Therefore God handles us tenderly, as mindful of the brittle material with which He has to deal. The familiar figure of fading vegetation, so dear to the psalmists, recurs here; but it is touched with peculiar delicacy, and there is something very sweet and uncomplaining in the singers tone. The image of the fading flower, burned up by the simoom, and leaving one little soot in the desert robbed" of its beauty, veils much of the terror of death, and expresses no shrinking, though great pathos. Psa_103:16 may either describe the withering of the flower, or the passing away of frail man. In the former case, the pronouns would be rendered by "it" and "its"; in the latter, by "he," "him," and "his." The latter seems the preferable explanation. Psa_103:16 b is verbally the same as Job_7:10. The contemplation of mortality tinges the song with a momentary sadness, which melts into the pensive, yet cheerful, assurance that mortality has an accompanying blessing, in that it makes a plea for pity from a Fathers heart.
But another, more triumphant thought springs up. A devout soul, full charged with thankfulness based on faith in Gods name and ways, cannot but be led by remembering mans brief life to think of Gods eternal years. So, the key changes at Psa_103:17 from plaintive minors to jubilant notes. The psalmist pulls out all the stops of his organ, and rolls along his music in a great crescendo to the close. The contrast of Gods eternity with mans transitoriness is like the similar trend of thought in Psalms 90 and Psalms 102. The extension of His lovingkindness to childrens children and its limitation to those who fear Him and keep His covenant in obedience, rest upon Exo_20:6; Exo_34:7; and Deu_7:9. That limitation has been laid down twice already (Psa_103:11-13). All men share in that lovingkindness and receive the best gifts from it of which they are capable; but those who cling to God in loving reverence, and who are moved by that blissful "fear" which has no torment, to yield their wills to Him in inward submission and outward obedience, do enter into the inner recesses of that lovingkindness, and are replenished with good, of which others are incapable.
If Gods lovingkindness is "from everlasting to everlasting," will not His children share in it for as long? The psalm has no articulate doctrine of a future life; but is there not in that thought of an eternal outgoing of Gods heart to its objects some (perhaps half-conscious) implication that these will continue to exist? May not the psalmist have felt that, though the flower of earthly life "passed in the passing of an hour," the root would be somehow transplanted to the higher "house of the Lord," and "flourish in the courts of our God," as long as His everlasting mercy poured its sunshine? We, at all events, know that His eternity is the pledge of ours. "Because I live, ye shall live also."
From Psa_103:19 to the end, the psalm takes a still wider sweep. It now embraces the universe. But it is noticeable that there is no more about "lovingkindness" in these verses. Mans sin and frailty make him a fit recipient of it, but we do not know that in all creation another being, capable of and needing it, is found. Amid starry distances, amid heights and depths, far beyond sunrise and sunset, Gods all-including kingdom stretches and blesses all. Therefore, all creatures are called on to Bless Him, since all are blessed by Him, each according to its nature and need. If they have consciousness, they owe Him praise. If they have not, they praise Him by being. The angels, "heroes of strength," as the words literally read, are "His," and they not only execute His behests, but stand attent before Him, listening to catch the first whispered indication of His will. "His hosts" are by some taken to mean the stars; but surely it is more congruous to suppose that beings who are His "ministers" and perform His "will" are intelligent beings. Their praise consists in hearkening to and doing His word. But obedience is not all their praise; for they too, bring Him tribute of conscious adoration in more melodious music than ever sounded on earth. That "choir invisible" praises the King of heaven; but later revelation has taught us that men shall teach a new song to "principalities and powers in heavenly places," because men only can praise Him whose lovingkindness to them, sinful and dying, redeemed them by His blood.
Therefore, it is no drop from these heavenly anthems, when the psalm circles round at last to its beginning, and the singer calls on his soul to add its "little human praise" to the thunderous chorus. The rest of the universe praises the mighty Ruler; he blesses the forgiving, pitying Jehovah. Nature and angels, stars and suns, seas and forests, magnify their Maker and Sustainer; we can bless the God who pardons iniquities and heals diseases which our fellow choristers never knew.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 This, as appears from the superscription, is one of…
INTRODUCTION
This, as appears from the superscription, is one of David’s Psalms. It is a Psalm of great beauty and preciousness, and has been a great favourite of devout souls in all ages. The fulness of the mercy of God in the forgiveness of sins and the enrichment of the soul, and His tender, fatherly pity for His frail and dying children, are here gracefully and gratefully celebrated. It must have been composed at a time when the Poet’s soul was filled with precious and grateful recollections of Divine benefits, and with strong and tender confidence in God.
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GOD BLESSING MAN AND MAN BLESSING GOD
(Psa_103:1-5)
I. God blessing man. Psa_103:3-5. The Psalmist mentions a number of blessings which he has received from God.
1. Forgiveness. “Who forgiveth all thine iniquities.” “Thine iniquities,” says John Pulsford, “are in-equities. There is nothing just or right in thee. Thy very nature is an in-equity, bringing forth nothing but in-equities. In-equities towards thy God, in-equities towards thy neighbour, and in-equities towards thyself, make up the whole of thy life. Thou art a bad tree, and a bad tree cannot bring forth good fruit.” Notice the completeness of His forgiveness. Our iniquities are more than can be remembered, and are very heinous, but He forgiveth them all. The continuousness of His forgiveness. “He forgiveth.” Within us are tendencies to sin and around us are temptations. Our life is sadly marred by transgressions and shortcomings, we need repeated forgivenesses, multiplied pardons; and God bestows them. He continues to forgive.
2. Healing. “Who healeth all thy diseases.” The primary reference is to bodily sicknesses. (Comp. Exo_15:26; Deu_29:22). But we cannot regard that as the exclusive reference. “Corruption and disease have a spiritual origin. All material corruption was preceded by spiritual corruption. All diseases were, and are, spiritual to begin with. Disease is a state of in-equity in the body, but it is only the in-equity that pre-existed in spirit, fulfilling itself in matter. The Divine art of healing therefore lies in the forgiveness of the soul’s iniquities. Remove the iniquities of the soul, and universal healing comes in. Christ healeth all thy diseases, by forgiving all thy iniquities.”—Pulsford. Bodily diseases are analogues of spiritual disorders and infirmities. He heals all these.
3. Redemption. “Who redeemeth thy life from destruction.” Hengstenberg: “From the grave.” Perowne: “ ‘From the pit,’ including death, the grave, Hades.” David had many marvellous deliverances from danger and death which were worthy of celebration. The Lord redeems the soul from sin, and from the penalty of sin, spiritual and eternal death. He will ransom His people from the power of the grave, and endow them with endless and blessed life.
4. Coronation. “Who crowneth thee with loving-kindness and tender mercies.” “The love of God not only delivers from sin, disease, and death: He makes His children kings, and weaves their crown out of His own glorious attributes of loving-kindness and tender mercies.”—Perowne. “He heaps upon redeemed sinners untold riches from His full heart; and shows to them the softest ways of His love. Mercies are the softnesses of eternal love, but tender mercies are unutterable endearments from the heart of hearts.”—Pulsford.
5. Satisfaction. “Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things.” There is diversity of opinion as to how עְדִי—which is rendered “mouth” in the A. V. and in the P. B. V.—should be rendered. See Perowne’s critical note, and Barnes in loco. But there is no dispute as to the meaning of the clause. God satisfieth the souls of His servants. He, and He alone, can satisfy the deep needs, and respond to the boundless desires of the soul. Out of God the wants of man’s great and awful soul can never be satisfied. By His presence and grace He fills it with delightful satisfaction. “He satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.” (Comp. Psa_63:5; Isa_55:1-2; Isa_58:11.)
6. Invigoration. “So that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” There is no reference here to the fable of the eagle renewing its youth in old age. There is perhaps an allusion to the moulting of its plumage periodically, whereby its strength and activity are increased. As the Christian derives his life from Christ, that life can never become feeble or old. Living in Christ, he will flourish in immortal youth. His eternal life will be an eternal progression towards the perfection of youthful vigour and beauty.
Such are the great and inestimable blessings which the Lord confers upon His servants. It is important that we should notice that these blessings—
1. Are adapted to man’s deepest needs. Forgiveness, satisfaction, redemption.
2. Tend to promote his perfection and blessedness, which can be found only in connection with the loving-kindness and tender mercy of the Lord.
II. Man blessing God. (Psa_103:1-2.) God blesses man with gifts; man blesses God with praise. The Psalmist blesses the Lord—
1. With hit soul. “Bless the Lord, O my soul.” Not merely with the tongue or pen, but with the heart and soul.
2. With his entire spiritual being. “And all that is within me, bless His holy name.” David “would enlist every thought, faculty, power, the heart with all its affections, the will, the conscience, the reason, in a word, the whole spiritual being, all in man that is best and highest, in the same heavenly service.”—Perowne.
3. With recollection of His benefits. “Forget not all His benefits.” The Psalmist thoughtfully recalls the blessings he has received from God, and is thereby the more urgently incited to praise Him. We are sadly prone to cherish the memory of injuries, and to neglect the memory of benefits. Let us, like the Psalmist, strive to recollect the blessings we have received of the Lord, that thereby our praise might be more grateful and hearty.
4. With reverent admiration of His character. “Bless His holy name.” God’s holiness consists of all the perfections of His character in harmonious and beautiful union. David praised the Lord not merely because of the benefits he had received from Him, but because of His own glorious perfections. He praised His beneficence, and adored His holiness.
CONCLUSION.—Let us learn from this subject—.
1. The motives of Divine praise. Why should I bless the Lord?
(1) Because of what He does for me—“benefits.”
(2) Because of what He is—“holy.”
2. The model of Divine praise. How shall I bless the Lord?
(1) Heartily.
(2) With all my powers and affections.
3. The means of Divine praise. By what means can I thus bless the Lord? Recall His benefits, and the heart will grow warm with gratitude, &c.
4. The blessedness of Divine praise. It brings holy cheer to the troubled spirit. It is a foretaste of heaven. To the man whose soul is filled with praise this world is a “scene of Divine manifestation, a temple filled with heavenly voices and traces of the feet of God.”
MAN’S REMEMBRANCE OF THE LORD’S BENEFITS
(Psa_103:2. “Forget not all His benefits.”)
Consider—
I. The benefits of God. Who can enumerate them? He gives us physical benefits; e.g., food, raiment, health, &c. Social benefits, e.g., friends, &c. Intellectual benefits, e.g., His own revelation in nature, history, and the Bible, books, &c. Spiritual benefits, e.g., pardon, help, &c. His gifts are innumerable. They are also very rich. He gives not only kindness and mercy, but “loving-kindness and tender mercies.” “The difference between mere kindness and ‘loving-kindness,’ between mere mercy and ‘tender mercy,’ is the difference between a flower without fragrance and a flower that is fragrant.”—Parker.
Rightly viewed the benefits of God must call forth our wonder, admiration, gratitude.
II. The benefits of God may be forgotten. In what sense? Not absolutely. Memory treasures all things, loses nothing. Like the records made with invisible ink, not seen under ordinary circumstances, invisible perhaps for years, yet when brought under the influence of heat appearing distinctly; so with memory, &c. But we treasure that in our memory in which we are most interested. The miser remembers anything that will assist him in accumulating money. The grateful heart remembers benefits. But in depraved human nature there is a sad tendency to forget benefits. Too frequently injuries are treasured, benefits are forgotten. A thankless heart receives benefits, and does not recognise them as such, acknowledges no obligation, &c. All are prone to fail somewhat in treasuring and keeping in view the Divine benefits.
III. The benefits of God should not be forgotten.
1. Because of the gratitude we owe to God for them. Hengstenberg: “He who has been blessed and refuses to bless has sunk from the state of a man to that of a beast.” Has he not sunk lower than some beasts? Every blessing involves the obligation to gratitude and praise.
2. Because of the confidence they are calculated to inspire. Every benefit we receive increases our obligation and encouragement to trust in the Lord. Parker: “The atheism of anticipation should be corrected by the gratitude of retrospection. He who reviews the past thankfully may advance to the future hopefully.”
SPIRITUAL DISEASES HEALED
(Psa_103:3)
I. Why sin is called a disease.
1. As it destroys the moral beauty of the creature. (Gen_1:31; Gen_6:5, compared; Job_42:1-6; Psa_38:3-8.)
2. As it excites pain. (Psa_51:8; Act_2:37; 1Co_15:56.)
3. As it disables from duty. (Isa_1:5; Rom_7:19.) To God. To man.
4. As it deprives men of good sound reason. (Isa_5:20.) It stupifies the faculties.
5. As it is infectious.
6. As it leads to death. (Rom_5:12; Rom_5:21; Rom_6:16; Rom_6:23.)
II. The variety of sinful diseases to which we are subject. “All thine iniquities, all thy diseases.” (Mar_7:21-23; Rom_1:29-31; Gal_5:19-21.)
Almost as many as the bodily diseases mentioned in the bills of mortality.
III. The remedy by which God heals these diseases.
1. His pardoning mercy through the redemption of Christ. (See text. Isa_53:5; Rom_3:23-26.)
2. The sanctifying influences of grace. (Eze_36:25-27; Heb_10:16.)
3. The means of grace. (Eph_4:11-13.)
4. The resurrection of the body. (1Th_4:16-17; Php_3:10-11.)
5. The case of an ignorant, insensible sinner is very deplorable.
6. The case of a real Christian is very hopeful. His sinful disease is radically healed. The completion of his cure is certain.
7. The glory of Christ, as the physician of souls, is great indeed. (Rev_1:5-6).—F.… R, in “Skeletons of Sermons.”
THE INFINITY, EXPRESSIONS, AND OBJECTS OF THE DIVINE MERCY
(Psa_103:6-14)
The Poet having celebrated the mercy of God to himself, proceeds in these verses to celebrate His mercy to Israel. Consider—
I. The Infinity of the Divine mercy. “As the heaven is high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him.” The Psalmist uses a figure of the greatest extent which the world affords in order to set forth the immensity of the mercy of God. It is, like Himself, infinite. As we imagine nothing higher or vaster than the heavens, so the favour of God exceeds our highest thoughts, and surpasses our most extensive and expressive figures. All the measures of the universe are inadequate to set forth the infinite love of God. (Compare Psa_36:5; Psa_57:10). He is “plenteous in mercy.” “Above the mountains of our sins the floods of His mercy rise. All the world tastes of His sparing mercy, those who hear the Gospel partake of His inviting mercy, the saints live by His saving mercy, are preserved by His upholding mercy, are cheered by His consoling mercy, and will enter heaven through His infinite and everlasting mercy.”—Spurgeon.
II. The expressions of the Divine mercy. It is manifest—
1. In His vindication of the oppressed. “The Lord executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed.” We have here
(1) The sufferings of the Church. The people of God have often been grievously oppressed and persecuted.
(2) The champion of the Church. The Lord defends the cause of His people, interposes for their deliverance. He humbles the pride of the oppressor, and exalts the oppressed into safety and honour.
2. In His general dealings with His people. “He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.”—See Homiletic sketch on this verse.
3. In the long delay of His anger. “Slow to anger.” The Lord has long patience even with the most provoking sinners. He restrains His wrath that the wicked may have longer time and more frequent opportunities for repentance. Though His anger ever burns against sin, yet in mercy to the sinner He bears much, and bears long with him, that he might yet be saved.
4. In the transient duration of His anger. “He will not always chide, neither will He keep His anger for ever.” “I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth,” &c. (Isa_57:16). “The second clause,” says Hengstenberg, “depends upon Lev_19:18, ‘Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people.’ Nah_1:2 again depends upon the passage before us: ‘The Lord will take vengeance on His adversaries, and He keepeth wrath’ (not assuredly for His people, of whom the declaration of the Psalmist holds true, but still) ‘for His enemies.’ ” God will manifest His displeasure towards His people if they sin against Him, and will punish them for their sins; but when chastisement has accomplished its mission, He will again manifest His loving-kindness. His “anger is so slow to rise, so ready to abate.”
5. In the forgiveness of sins. “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us.” The great point here is the completeness of the forgiveness of sin by God. On this point see remarks o Psa_85:2. “When sin is pardoned,” says Char-nock, “it is never charged again; the guilt of it can no more return than east can become west, or west become east.”
6. In His fatherly compassion. “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him.” Matthew Henry well says: “The father pities his children that are weak in knowledge and instructs them, pities them when they are froward and bears with them, pities them when they are sick and comforts them (Isa_66:13), pities them when they have fallen and helps them up again, pities them when they have offended, and, upon their submission, forgives them, pities them when they are wronged and gives them redress; thus ‘the Lord pities them that fear Him.’ ” Nay, much more than “thus;” “for He is the ‘Father of all mercies,’ and the Father of all the fatherhoods in heaven and earth.”
7. In His fatherly consideration. “He knoweth our frame, He remembereth that we are dust.” He is acquainted with “our fashioning;” the manner in which we are formed, and the materials of which we are made; He knows how weak we are, and exercises a kindly consideration towards us. He is not exacting in His demands upon us, but is pitiful to our weakness.
8. In the revelation which He made to His people. “He made known His ways unto Moses, His acts unto the children of Israel.” This verse refers to Exo_33:13, where Moses says to the Lord, “I pray Thee, if I have found grace in Thy sight, show me now Thy way, that I may know Thee, that I may find grace in Thy sight; and consider that this nation is Thy people. And He said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.” God made Himself known in the guidance and protection of His people, and in the many mighty acts which He wrought on their behalf. The children of Israel saw His acts, His marvellous doings for them. But Moses saw the principles underlying those acts, and the methods of the Divine administration. This revelation the Psalmist rightly regards as an expression of God’s mercy. Varied and countless are the manifestations of His mercy to us.
III. The objects of the Divine mercy. To all men upon earth the mercy of God extends. Holy angels need not the Divine mercy, apostate angels need it, but receive it not. Man both needs and receives it. Of all men upon earth we may say,—“The Lord is slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.” But in this Psalm the people of God are specially mentioned as the objects of His mercy. Thrice His mercy is said to be upon “them that fear Him.” And the Psalmist in the eighteenth verse gives a further description of them: “To such as keep His covenant, and to those that remember His commandments to do them.” Holy fear is expressed in obedience. Excellently says Perowne on Psa_103:17 : “For the third time God’s mercy and loving-kindness is said to be upon ‘them that fear Him,’ as if to remind us that there is a love within a love, a love which they only know who have tasted that the Lord is gracious, who fear Him and walk in His ways, as well as a love which ‘maketh the sun to shine, and sendeth rain upon the just and the unjust.’ In the next verse there is the same limitation, ‘To such as keep His covenant,’ and to those who not only know but ‘do’ His will. The blessings of the covenant are no inalienable right; mancipio nulli datur; children’s children can only inherit its blessings by cleaving to it.”
CONCLUSION.—Are we of those who are thus designated? Do we reverently “fear Him”? Let those who do rejoice in the manifold expressions of His mercy toward them. Let those who do not, accept the offer of pardoning mercy, trust His grace, &c.
THE MERCY OF GOD IN THE AFFLICTIONS OF MAN
(Psa_103:10)
Consider—
I. The views which this declaration presents to us of the Divine covenant.
1. He has not dealt with us as our sins deserve. Do they not deserve banishment from God, the forfeiture of His parental relation to us, the execution of His righteous sentence upon us? When is it that afflictions appear heavy? When sin is felt lightly. When is it that afflictions appear light? When sin is felt to be heavy.… We know the light we have resisted, the convictions we have disregarded, the mercies we have received and forgotten, and the impressions against which we have rebelled.… And then in proportion to our actual knowledge of God, our experience of the Divine mercy, our acquaintance with the Divine goodness, is the aggravation of our guiltiness.
2. He has not dealt with us as He has dealt with others. Look at the conduct of a righteous and holy God towards fallen angels; … the antediluvian world; … the cities of the plain; … the ancient Israelites for their backslidings. Look at others for the purpose of deepening your gratitude and raising your admiration of the Divine mercy towards you.
3. His dealings towards us have always been mingled with mercy even in the severest dispensations. Had He “rewarded us according to our iniquities,” there would have been no mercy and no hope—no termination, no diminution, no alleviation of suffering. When we think of the mercy, mingled with all His judgments and chastenings, have we not reason to adopt the language of the Psalmist in the text?
4. There is mercy in the support we have under affliction. He does not allow us to suffer alone.… What consolation is mingled in the cup of suffering placed in our hands! what promises! what supports! what precious, everlasting consolation and good hope through grace!
5. There is mercy in the removal of affliction. How often do we find the God of grace and of providence wondrously interposing to remove affliction by unexpected means, by unthought-of alleviations, by circumstances of which we had not the least conception, &c.
6. The mercy which is displayed in the results of His dispensations. He intends, by blighting the gourd, to bring us to the shadow of the tree of life—by cutting off the stream, to bring us nearer to the fountain of living waters—by putting the taint of bitterness in our earthly comforts, to bring us to taste that He is gracious. It is the end of His dispensations to make us more humble, more watchful, more spiritual, more holy, more alive to God and eternity. In the school of trial God prepares His children for their inheritance.
II. The practical uses we should make of this declaration.
1. It should lead us faithfully to inquire what has been the effect of chastening and trial on us? When the rod is upon you, what is the course you pursue? Where do you get rid of your troubles? Are you brought to God’s throne? Are you brought to humility, to self-abasement, to penitential sorrow? Are you brought to feel there is no mystery in the rod, that all the mystery is in the mercy towards you?
2. It should excite adoring gratitude for the love, the patience, the wisdom, and the faithfulness of our Father in heaven.
3. It should teach us to cherish humble confidence. “All things work together for good to them that love God.” “All His paths are mercy and goodness.” “I will trust in Him, and not be afraid.”
4. It should lead us to exercise unreserved submission. The submission of patience, the submission of obedience, ought to be the result of these views of the Divine character.
5. Let there be practical imitation of the Divine conduct in our temper towards others—in patience, forbearance, forgiveness. “Be ye imitators of God, as dear children, and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us.”—Dr. Fletcher.—Abridged from “The Preacher.”
GOD’S MERCY AND MAN’S FRAILTY—A CONTRAST
(Psa_103:15-18)
The contrast between man’s frailty and transitoriness and God’s unchangeableness and eternity, which we found in Psa_90:1-6, is here repeated. The similarity of thought and expression is so great that Hengstenberg says, “That David without doubt drew it from Moses.” As most of the ideas occurring in this passage were considered in our Homily on Psa_90:1-6, it will be sufficient to present the outline of our subject here, and refer the reader to that homily. The chief points of the contrast seem to be these—
I. The frailty of man’s life upon earth, and the mercy of God. How frail is human life here! As the hot and burning east wind destroys the grass and the flower, so sickness, sorrow, suffering speedily cut short man’s career. The flower with its beauty and fragrance soon fades and dies, and man in his glory of corporeal beauty, mental ability, geniality of temper, and holiness of heart and life, soon passes away. But the mercy of the Lord is not a weak, perishable thing. It is great, glorious, abiding. Here is consolation and strength and inspiration for man. He is frail; but he may take refuge in the rich and all-sufficient mercy of God.
II. The brevity of man’s life upon earth, and the eternity of the mercy of God. As for the life of man, “the wind passeth over it, and it is gone. But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting.” The loving-kindness of the Lord is eternal as His own Being. Man, saddened with the transciency of human strength and beauty and life, here is rest for thee in the eternal mercy of God! Here is what we, as sinners, need; and it is here in inexhaustible and unchangeable fulness and freeness.
III. The final departure of man from the earth, and the eternal mercy of God present with him wherever he may be.” “It is gone, and the place thereof shall know it no more.” Man goes hence to
“The undiscover’d country, from whose bourne
No traveller returns.”
It is a saddening and a solemn consideration that at death we leave this world never to return to it. The farm, the shop, the office, the study, the home, the Sunday school, the Church will “know us no more” when we have trod “the way to dusty death.” We shall have gone from earth for ever. But gone where? Ay, where? How shall we fare when we have taken the last, the lonely, the irretraceable journey? These considerations would be insupportably mysterious and painful, but for this fact: Wherever we may be, the loving-kindness of the Lord will be present with us. “The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him.” We do not leave that behind us. We do not travel into any region where it ceases to be present and operative. Having that upon us, all must be well, &c.
IV. The final departure of good men from the earth, and the eternal mercy of God resting upon their descendants. Good men pass away for ever, but the loving-kindness of the Lord is continued to their posterity. Church members die, but the Church remains. God’s “righteousness is unto children’s children.” The covenant of mercy extends from generation to generation, provided that they do not violate their interest in it. For here is the limiting condition: “To such as keep His covenant, and to those that remember His commandments to do them.”
God will not forget or fail in His part of the covenant; let man also remember and keep his; and then he may take to himself the consolation, and inspiration, and strength of the contrast we have been considering.
THE GLORIOUS REIGN AND PRAISE OF THE LORD
(Psa_103:19-22)
I. The glorious reign of the Lord. “The Lord hath prepared His throne in the heavens, and His kingdom ruleth over all.” Here are three ideas—
1. The stability of His reign. “The Lord hath prepared His throne.” Perowne: “Jehovah hath established His throne.” His throne is firm and stable. All the rage and rebellion of earth and hell cannot shake it. “His dominion is an everlasting dominion.”
2. The majesty of His reign. “His throne in the heavens.” The heavens are the most vast and sublime portion of the universe. In them the glory of the Lord is most conspicuously and splendidly displayed. His throne is said to be established there to indicate its loftiness and majesty.
3. The universality of His reign. “His kingdom ruleth over all.” He rules in all places. The heavens, the earth, and the seas are subject to His sway. The regularity and order of the universe proclaim His sovereignty. He rules over all creatures. He is the Creator, Sustainer, and Sovereign of all creatures. He rules over all persons. Holy angels delight to do His will. He is supreme in the world of men. And devils cannot sever their connection with His authority. He controls Satan himself.
II. The glorious praise of the Lord. The Poet began the Psalm by calling upon His soul to bless the Lord for His benefits; he proceeded to celebrate His goodness to all “them that fear Him”; now he summons the entire universe to unite in ascribing blessing to Him; and he concludes by calling upon his own soul to join in the praise. The praise of the Lord is celebrated by—
1. Holy angels. “Bless the Lord, ye His angels,” &c. (Psa_103:20-21). In speaking of these angelic beings, the Psalmist brings into view—
(1) Their great power. They “excel in strength.” Margin and Perowne: “Mighty in strength.” Hengstenberg: “Strong warriors.” The deeds ascribed to them in Scripture indicate their amazing might. But in our text the strength which is spoken of is clearly intellectual and moral chiefly. They are mighty to do the will of God, and grow stronger by doing it.
(2) Their ready obedience. They “do His commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His word.” They wait and listen for the intimations of His will, and then hasten to carry them out. They are prompt in obedience to Him, and eager to “do His pleasure.”
(3) Their immense numbers. “All His hosts.” God’s angels are multitudinous. There are vast armies of them.
(4) Their Divine service. “Ministers of His, that do His pleasure.” They are His, for He made and sustains them; His, for He employs them in His service; His, for they are reverently and lovingly loyal to Him. These glorious beings bless the Lord by reverently celebrating His perfections and joyfully obeying His behests. They praise Him both by song and by service.
2. The unintelligent creation. “Bless the Lord all His works, in all places of His dominion.” All His works praise Him as they answer the end for which they were created. Sun, moon, and stars by diffusing light and heat, and by unfolding their beauty and glory, praise Him. The earth by its verdure, fruit-fulness, &c., praises Him. All His works throughout the universe unite to bless Him.
3. Redeemed men. “Bless the Lord, O my soul.” The Poet ends the Psalm as he began it by calling upon his own soul to bless the Lord. We who know His redeeming love have the most moving and mighty reasons for celebrating His praise.
CONCLUSION.—While the universe is songful in praise of the Lord, shall my tongue be silent? While others are glowing with enthusiasm, shall my heart be cold? “Bless the Lord, O my soul.” While others gladly obey and serve Him, shall my service be wanting? Shall I praise Him in words and not in deeds? Rather let my ears be attentive to hear His commands, and my feet swift and my hands dexterous to obey them. Let us all praise Him, both in song and in service, with lips and with lives.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 This Psalm is: (1) a monologue; (2) a psalm…
Psa 103:2
This Psalm is: (1) a monologue; (2) a psalm of recollection; (3) a psalm of thanksgiving. David begins by gathering together all the benefits by recollection, and now he has to arrange them, so that they can be sung by any soul exercising itself like his, and remembering the first benefit his soul has got.
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I. The first benefit is forgiveness. David arranges all on a business plan; he puts his chief benefit first.
II. "He healeth all thy diseases." He says to his soul, as Aristotle said, "We are working under another category now." A moment ago there was a saint standing like Joshua, clad with filthy garments, an accuser accusing him, a gallows awaiting him, a broken law, a guilty sinner without any one to help him. But He "forgiveth all thine iniquities," though a man feel his sins so great, someone great sin so black, that his heart is sick, and he feels as though he needed another communion table to wash that sin away. But He heals malice, envy, carnal feelings, backbiting, unbelief, "all thy diseases."
III. He "crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies." Beyond the seas, out there in the East, they have crowned their singers, their speakers, their wrestlers, with laurel leaves; but I never read in Eastern story that they ever had laurels for the man whose tragedy was never acted, whose oration found no audience, whose song was never sung before the great Greek congregation. Christ came to seek and to comfort those who have uncrowned themselves, to seek out the poor, undistinguishable singer whose song has never been sung, the speaker who has found no suitable audience. He seeketh out the weary and lost, who have been broken by the weight of their load; and He crowneth poor sinners with His lovingkindness and tender mercy.
IV. The result of the crowning is that his mouth is satisfied with good things; his youth is renewed like the eagle’s. When David was a child in the sheepfolds of Bethlehem, he had watched many of the ways of the children of nature. He had seen many an eagle come home bloody and bruised; he had seen her, guided by her instinct, retire to the cleft of the rock and gain strength there, shaking off her broken plumes. He knew her times and her seasons. She basked in the sunshine, resting until her strength was renewed. And when he sees himself a poor old broken-winged eagle, to him, the poor old sinner, the memory of the eagle comes back. He flies to the Rock of ages, flies like many a heart since that has been sick with pain and sin.
A. White, Contemporary Pulpit, vol. vii., p. 10.
I. It seems at first a strange thing that we should call upon our souls to bless the Lord. It is a fitting and natural thing that we should call upon the gracious God to bless us. But what can I give to Him? He is all fulness; He needs nothing, surely, that I can present to Him. How can I bless Him? Herein is a great mystery—the mystery of love. Love is a great want; God’s love is a great want: love can only be satisfied with love. (1) David in this matter is very careful to stir up his soul; he knows how content we are to think about these things and let the heart sleep. (2) David wants the individuality of the praise. "My soul." No man can give the bit of praise that I can give.
II. Next he begins to number, to look at, the benefits. Here are three things that you and I should do with our benefits. (1) We should weigh them; they are so substantial. The word "benefit" in itself is a grand word. It means "good deed." God’s word ever clothes itself in deed; He loveth in truth and indeed. (2) Number God’s benefits. If we begin to number them, we must find out that they are numberless. (3) Measure the Lord’s benefits. Do not measure your mercies by your desires, for your desires are made for God. Keep your mercies in the right place and the Lord first; that is the only way of satisfaction. Do not measure your mercies by other people’s; measure them by the footrule of your deserts. When we measure our mercies by our deserts, then we are lost in wonder, love, and praise.
M. G. Pearse, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxvii., p. 161.
Psa 103:2
I. Man stands in a continued relation to the past.
II. Man is called upon to reason from the past to the future.
III. This call to reason from the past to the future is an incidental illustration of the unchangeableness of God. What He was, He will be.
Application: (1) The atheism of anticipation should be corrected by the reverent gratitude of retrospection. (2) He who reviews the past thankfully may advance to the future hopefully. (3) Nothing forgotten so soon as "benefits."
Parker, Pulpit Analyst, vol. i., p. 503.
References: Psa 103:2.—G. S. Barrett, Old Testament Outlines, p. 137; Spurgeon, Morning by Morning, p. 191. Psa 103:2, Psa 103:3.—Homiletic Magazine, vol. ix., p. 14. Psa 103:3.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxv., No. 1492; Ibid., Evening by Evening, p. 152.
Psa 103:3-5
I. He "forgiveth all thine iniquities." Thine iniquities are in-equities. There is nothing just or right in thee. He forgiveth thee thine evil nature, and He forgiveth all its evil fruit. And His forgiveness, like His power, fulfils itself in works.
II. He "healeth all thy diseases." Corruption and disease have a spiritual origin. The Divine art of healing therefore lies in the forgiveness of sin. Remove the in-equities of the soul, and universal healing comes in. Christ healeth all thy diseases by forgiving all thine iniquities.
III. He "redeemeth thy life from destruction." As righteousness, peace, and eternal life are an indissoluble unity, so are iniquity, misery, and destruction. Therefore He who forgiveth our iniquities redeems our life from destruction. The removal of all in-equity from our spiritual nature is not only the removal of all disease, but of the ground of disease; and the removal of all disease and of the ground of disease is redemption from death.
IV. "He crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies." The Lord our God is more than a Redeemer. He does not pardon His criminals and then dismiss them. He pardons them and receives them into His house; He makes them all children: and all His children are His heirs, and all His heirs are princes, and all His princes are crowned.
V. "He satisfieth thy mouth with good things." All the capacities of the immortal nature shall be filled, and the fulness shall be a fulness of good. "For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside Thee, what He hath prepared for him that waiteth for Him."
VI. And then the crown of crowns. His youth is renewed like the eagle’s, not once renewed, to sink again into the frailty and dulness of age, but ever and evermore renewed, by the ceaseless communication of life from the source of life. Eternal life will be nothing less than joyous progression towards the perfection of youth.
J. Pulsford, Quiet Hours, p. 231.
Psa 103:5
How may we recover in manhood, but in a wiser way, what was noble in our youth—recover our manifold interests, our poetic feeling towards the history of man and nature, our ideal of the goodness, truth, and love of man?
I. The restoration of manifold interests. Youth teaches us diversity, the first entrance into middle age concentration; in later life we ought to combine both, to recover the interests of the one and to retain the power of the other. I think one can do it best by the means of two great Christian ideas. One is that, as God has called us to perfection, we are bound to ennoble our being from end to end, leaving no faculty untrained. The other is that as Christ lived for man’s cause, so should we. The first will force you to seek for manifold interests in order to make every branch of your nature grow; the second will lift you out of the monotonous and limited region of self into the infinite world of ideas. An infinite tenderness and grace belongs to every work whose highest aim is the aim of Christ—the good of man. Life then becomes delightful, even of passionate interest; and the whole of being unfolds like a rose—full of colour, scent, and beauty.
II. Restoration of poetic feeling. In the old dreamland we can never live again, but we may live in an ideal and yet a true world; we may restore the poetry of youth to our life in its relation both to man and nature. (1) As to the first, there is no idea which will so rapidly guide us into a larger and more imaginative view of the history of man as the great Christian thought, which we owe to Christ, that all the race is contained in God; that all are bound together into unity in Him; that as all are children of one Father, so all are brothers, existing in and for the good of one another. (2) Again, in our relation to nature, we can get back what we have lost. There are different paths to this recovery, but none lead to it more directly and rapidly than the true conception of God. Once we have realised the thought of one Divine will as the centre of the universe, we can no longer abide in the realm of unconnected facts. We hear no longer isolated notes, but the great symphony of nature—two or three themes infinitely varied, and the themes themselves so subtly connected in idea that all together they build up a palace of lovely and perfect harmony. This is the restoration in a truer form of the ideal majesty and the poetic feeling of our youth.
S. A. Brooke, Christ in Modern Life, p. 351.
References: Psa 103:5.—Preacher’s Monthly, vol. iv., p. 328. Psa 103:6, Psa 103:7.—G. W. McCree, Christian World Pulpit, vol. ix., p. 94. Psa 103:9.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xx., No. 1171.
Psa 103:9, Psa 103:13
I. In the mind of the psalmists there was nothing contradictory between faith in God as a righteous Judge and faith in God as being longsuffering and of great kindness. They did not think of God as divided between His sense of justice and His love of mercy, because they understood that mercy was never forgotten in His judgments. They felt that His judgments were the truest mercies both for themselves and for the world at large. So deep was their conviction of the blessedness of God’s judgments that some of their most joyous strains are those in which they proclaim God as coming to judge the world in righteousness.
II. The text shows the fatherly character of God. He is our Father because He created and preserves us; He is our Father because He rules us by the stern yet loving discipline of His righteous judgment; He is our Father because He is full of love, and forgiveness, and tender, fatherly pity, knowing our frame and remembering that we are dust.
III. Here then is a proof of the Divine source whence the inspirations of the psalmists came. They knew God as their Father because the Spirit of adoption was speaking to their hearts.
G. Forbes, The Voice of God in the Psalms, p. 149.
References: Psa 103:11.—Sermons for Sundays, Festivals, and Fasts, 1st series, p. 292. Psa 103:12.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xix., No. 1108.
Psa 103:13
(with Heb 2:17; Heb 4:15)
The thought which I desire, by the comparison of these texts, to suggest is this: how the compassion of God for men disclosed in the Old Testament has grown in the New into the fellow-feeling of Christ. We have not lost our Father’s pity; we have gained a Brother’s sympathy.
I. Both halves of revelation agree in giving impartial prominence to two aspects of God’s moral attitude towards us: to His aspect of displeasure towards the sinner as identified with his sin and His aspect of grace towards the sinner as separable from his sin. But looking only to the gracious or favourable side of the Divine character, I am struck by this, that in those Old Testament writings which make most of the kindlier and milder attributes of Jehovah the grand quality on which everything is made to rest is His pity. The inconceivable vastness of that interval which divides God from men was ever present to the devout Hebrew. It was across this gulf of contrast that Hebrew piety always represented Jehovah as regarding man. He beheld them creatures of yesterday, small, and frail, and evil, evanescent and sorrowful. He pitied them. Very beautiful to think of is this tender turning of the great Divine heart toward such as we are, and the waking up of pity at each new sight of our pitiable mood. Whatever the Old Testament discloses of Divine kindness to men, of gentle forbearance, and enduring, watchful care, and abundant forgiveness, and healing helpfulness, seems all of it to be the condescension of One who is too great to be anything else than nobly pitiful.
II. There is no doubt whatever that some souls, fed on such views of God as these, did grow up to a spiritual stature quite heroical. True greatness of soul is near of kin to a manly lowliness of soul, and he who frankly and profoundly worships Him who is alone noble enough for worship will find himself ennobled.
III. At the same time, the characteristic tendency of Old Testament saints to look at the Divine goodness as coloured by His pity, and as having a constant reference to His distance above His creatures, implied an imperfect appreciation of His love. Love has not done its best when from above it pities us who are below. One better thing it had to do; and at last, when the world was ripe to bear it, love came and did it. Love when it is perfect vanquishes what it cannot obliterate: the distinctions of high and low, of great and small. It refuses to be separated from its loved one. Down from His height of serene, compassionate Divinity, therefore, love drew the Eternal Son of God, to become a Brother of the men whose Father He was. God has entered into a new relation to humanity. He has, what once He had not, a fellow-feeling, that fellow-feeling which springs from the touch of kinship. In brief, to the paternity of God has been added the fraternal tie.
IV. There are three directions in which actual experience must be held to modify even the compassions of the Most Merciful. (1) It gives such knowledge of every similar sufferer’s case as no mere spectator can have. (2) By His incarnation Christ has put Himself on our own level. He has abolished at His own choice the gulf which parted us. He is our Equal; He is our Fellow. (3) A chord which has been once set in unison with another vibrates, they say, when its fellow is sharply struck. God has set His heart through human suffering into perpetual concord with human hearts. Strike them, and the heart of God quivers for fellowship. It is the remembrance of His own human past which stirs within the soul of Christ when, now from His high seat, He sees what mortal men endure. An echo from an unforgotten passion answers back to all the cries and sighs that go daily up from men and women who to this hour on earth must toil, and weep, and pray, and agonise, and die.
J. Oswald Dykes, Sermons, p. 138.
I. Jesus made Deity attractive. He presented Him in such a fashion that human love humanly expressed could give itself to Him. The incarnation of God translated theology out of metaphysics into the physical, brought the apprehension of it within the scope of those senses that feed the soul. Pity, tenderness, courtesy of manner, sweetness of speech, patience, bravery, humility, faith, hope—these in Jesus were revealed as Divine, as God in the flesh, as Deity brought nigh.
II. There is nothing so fine in its influence or so sweet in its expression as the authority of love. We yielded loving obedience to it when we were children, as we heard its words from the mouth of mother and father. We never doubted their right to speak it. We never thought it was unnecessary. No more should we when God commands us. God is father and mother to us. His commands are wishes in our behalf, suggestions to us, entreaties, prayers, and whatever else is natural for love to feel and do for those it calls its own. This idea of the commands of God gives the mind a right standpoint from which to see the face and to hear the advice of that heavenly Fatherhood which is over us all in its solicitude, anxiety, and deathless love.
III. In the future we shall grow into this love as trees grow to their leaves and their blossoms. We are human now, but we are learning to be Divine. The creeds may not help us; but the loving and the forgiving, the bearing and the fighting, the weeping and the laughing, will. Our day will come after night, and our calm after storm. We are men and women now; we shall be angels by-and-bye: and what are angels but men fully grown and women to whom all possible whiteness and sweetness has come? Our Father will give us new names when we are grown enough to look like Him.
W. H. Murray, The Fruits of the Spirit, p. 397.
I. Upon the three grounds of creation, property, and unity we base the parental tenderness of God. And if once that fact be established, there are two things which become impossible for ever. (1) The one impossibility is that God should ever feel contempt for us. Pity is a respectful feeling; real pity never despises: it always acts delicately. (2) The other impossibility is that God should ever feel any unkindness towards us.
II. Notice one or two of the characteristic features which mark a father. (1) Anticipation. We have an amazing history yet to learn of what has been the anticipatory character of God’s love to us. (2) Patience. Of all the marvels of God, the greatest marvel is His longsuffering. If you ask the secret of this wonderful endurance of God, how it is that He has borne all the insults and all the irritation which we all have been continually giving Him, the answer lies in the deep principle of parental character. (3) God’s pity is not a weak pity; it is not a morbid pity; it is not a pity that cannot punish. He does punish His own children; in this world He punishes them more severely than other men.
J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 9th series, p. 186.
References: Psa 103:13.— Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxviii., No. 1650; J. Baillie, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxx., p. 230.
Psa 103:13-14
I. There is no evidence to be derived of the existence of pity in any overruling Deity as far as the laws of nature reveal the Divine character. As we rise from the lower to the higher organised animals, there does begin to be a very distinct manifestation of affection. Among men the feeling of pity is first disclosed in a very clear way. We are prepared to believe that the analogy of this line of development continues, and that in angels it is as much superior to what it is in the highest men as in the highest men it is superior to what it is in the lowest; and we are prepared to believe that above angels and all supernal beings, in God Himself, it takes on a grandeur and dignity, utterly inconceivable to men and commensurate with the infinite-ness of God’s own nature.
II. If we look at human society as an organisation, we shall find that it does not fitly serve as an analogue of the Divine nature. As a ruler, man cannot have pity. Government was not meant for purposes of restoration. It was meant to be a restraining, guiding, penal institution.
III. Above all other places, it is in the family and in the individual heart that we find the full disclosure of pity, or a state of sympathy and helpfulness in view of another’s suffering. If one would gain the clearest ideas of the scope and nature of pity, he must study it in the family. There we see: (1) that love inflicts pain. (2) Where suffering is inflicted by a wise and loving parent, the object of it is not to avenge a wrong done to the parent. (3) Pity is consistent with penalty.
In view of these statements, I remark: (a) Pity on the part of God will not prevent the infliction of penalty among transgressors. (b) Those who are suffering the just consequences of their sins are not on that account excluded from God’s pity. (c) All who are striving to live aright in this world, although they are far from successful, may be comforted in the thought that there are more who sympathise with them than they know or dream.
H. W. Beecher, Sermons, 3rd series, p. 326.
References: Psa 103:13, Psa 103:14.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xvi., No. 941. Psa 103:15.—Preacher’s Monthly, vol. i., p. 185.
Psa 103:15-16
Man’s reason is his distinctive privilege; but it has one melancholy result: it makes him know his own weakness and mortality. Other creatures are only aware of evil when they actually come upon it, and after the moment of terror are tranquil and careless, as before. Man has evil allotted to him, with all the aggravation of its prospect and approach—the long-sustained and harassing pains of doubt and apprehension, fears going and returning. His melancholy foresight creates a perpetual war; and he lives within a circle of enemies, and sustains his life as in a besieged city. He may be conscious of strength, but his enemies are strong too; and they are many, and he is one.
I. This is more especially the effect of the gift of reason on the subject of death. On other points it only reveals to us our insecurity; here it reveals to us the end of our existence itself as far as this world is concerned. No sooner is man born than he foresees his death; he is made a prophet in spite of himself. The soul which God has given him is a prophetic one. Such being the effect of the gift of reason on this subject, and such our particular privilege and trial, how do men meet it?
II. Worldly men take one view of this, and say that such a looking forward and such a prophetical tone of mind with respect to death is not natural, because it leads to such results. And as a counterbalance to, and remedy for, such presages they take refuge in the matter-of-fact sensation of life which belongs to us. They throw themselves deliberately and systematically upon this worldly instinct, in order to counterbalance the true prophetic nature of the soul and prevent it from acting, in order to deaden the sense of futurity and annihilate the other world to their minds.
III. Now what is the Scripture way of dealing with the subject of death? It does not allow it to be thus put aside. It makes us view it with steady, calm eye and keep it before us. It tells the soul to reckon beforehand, to see, to prepare; it lengthens its sight: it fixes its aim. Foresight was given us that we might be, not paralysed, indeed, and rendered motionless, but sobered and chastened in the exercise of our active faculties, that we should feel that very check of which worldly men are impatient, for they would fain while they do live be going to live for ever in their imagination.
J. B. Mozley, Sermons Parochial and Occasional, p. 258.
Reference: Psa 103:15-19.— Homiletic Quarterly, vol. ii., p. 536.
Psa 103:20-22
These verses contain or imply an answer—the unvarying answer of Holy Scripture—to the question which is ever recurring, which perplexed wise and anxious heathen men, and still puts itself at one time or another to each of us—the question, I mean, What is the object of man? for what end do we, the human race or the individuals who make it up, find ourselves here on earth? Various are the answers which men have given and give. To please himself, to find happiness, to search farther and farther into knowledge, to perfect the race—each of these has been said to be the end of man. The Bible carries us high above these selfish answers. It lifts our eyes upwards from earth to the glorious order of the heavens, and to Him that sitteth thereon; and, with the Psalmist in the text, we learn to look upon man as part of a mighty universe, his voice but one note in a wondrous harmony of praise, his course but one among many orbits of obedient service, his race but one among countless orders of beings, reaching upwards to the highest angels, reaching downwards to the lowest creature that hath breath, to whom there is but one task, end, and function: the service of God their Maker. Consider in detail the bearing upon our daily life of this great thought, that our life and all its parts must not merely be consistent with, but be, a sacrifice of service offered to Almighty God in Jesus Christ.
I. Although service and worship may in heaven blend in one, yet as heat, which science shows to be only a form of motion, is for practical purposes a thing distinct from it, so the devout adoration of Almighty God must be distinct from those duties of daily business in which He bids us actively serve Him. And doubtless it is of the two the more heavenly. The things of earth which we treat in daily life do, although we handle them in His name and for His sake, yet soil our hands and engross our faculties. In devotion we turn from them to be alone with God, or rather, in company with a worshipping universe, to look towards God alone.
II. You come out from these more sacred parts of your time to do your daily work and live your worldly life. This too must be made the service of God. To remember that this must be done will enable you to do it. The thought will overshadow your lives with a sense of responsibility. Our Lord’s parable of the talents entrusted to the servants may deepen this sense. Whatever powers creatures have—much more such a creature as man, created once by God, re-created in Jesus Christ—are talents to be employed, laid out at interest, for their God.
E. S. Talbot, Keble College Sermons, p. 1.
Psa 103:22
I. The text consists of two sentences: the first, the Psalmist’s exhortation to others; the second, a precisely similar exhortation to himself: "Bless ye the Lord." His hand is upon his harp; he is weaving a spirit-stirring anthem, and he summons every creature within sound of his voice to join in the song of rapture and thankful adoration. But why does he not proceed with the lofty chant? Why die the notes away as though there were a sudden check in the poetic fervour? Was it not that David felt how paralysing it was to summon others to praise God, how easily such a summons might be taken in proof that the heart of the speaker was beating with thankfulness though all the while it might be cold and indifferent, with little sense of the Divine goodness and little endeavour to magnify the Lord? Therefore, probably, it was that the Psalmist paused to examine and exhort himself. The necessity for self-examination increases at precisely the same rate with activity in disseminating spiritual good, for at precisely the same rate does the probability increase that we shall take for granted our share in that good, and yet all the while be suffering it to slip from our grasp.
II. Consider how this danger may be guarded against. How shall the guide who feels his mind deadening to the influence of the natural landscape, through the frequency of inspection and the routine of describing it to strangers—how shall he prevail keeping his mind alive to the beauties of the scene, the wonders and splendours which crowd the panorama? Let him not be satisfied with showing that panorama to others; let him not look at it merely in his professional capacity; but let him take frequent opportunities of going by himself to the various points of view, that he may study it under all possible aspects. No other advice need be given to the spiritual guide, whose office is that of teaching others the Gospel, and whose danger therefore is that of growing cold to the Gospel itself. The more we engage in teaching others, the more tenacious should we be of seasons of private meditation and self-examination.
H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 2156.
Reference: Psa 103:22.—F. W. Farrar, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xiii., p. 305.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
F. W. Grant 1903 · Public Domain On v1 The praise of the restored people.
The praise of the restored people.
[A psalm] of David.
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1. There follows now the praise of the restored people. The psalmist calls upon his soul with all its powers to praise Jehovah, the eternal, unchangeable and covenant-God. Love manifesting itself in "all His benefits" awakes the soul to praise Him, while it realizes amid all its joy the weakness and inconstancy of the creature, of which in contrast with His faithfulness it has had such abundant proof: "forget not all His benefits."
2. Jehovah is celebrated, first of all, in the salvation which He has effected for them. He is Saviour altogether: of the whole man, body and soul alike. Israel’s experience in the day contemplated will include in the fullest way that of bodily healing, such as accompanied the Lord’s ministry in her midst, miracles which are called therefore in the epistle to the Hebrews "powers of the world to come" (Heb 6:5), -more strictly, "of the coming age." The bodily condition will then be the fitting sign of the spiritual, in a world from which the curse upon the ground even will be removed.
Nationally and individually, their life is now redeemed from destruction; and more, they find, more completely than Abraham their father, a renewal of youth. "As the days of a tree shall be the days of My people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands" (Isa 65:22).
Then the oppressed find a Judge of unfailing righteousness: the character in which Israel’s King is so often represented; -the tender assurance of how the pitiful eyes of the Almighty have been fastened upon human misery and wrong all the time that He endured it; as the prophet says with regard to Israel (Isa 63:9), "afflicted in all their affliction." Now has come the time of interference and of setting right -the revelation of the God in whom men have not believed.
Yet these are ways long since in fact declared: "He made known His ways unto Moses, His doings unto the children of Israel." The people saw what was outward; to him with whom God spake face to face, the inner principle was declared. Nor must we imagine that this was law merely. All Deuteronomy is witness of how far beyond this Israel’s law-giver was made to see; and the final prophecy and song with which this closes, clearly declare the ruin of man under law, the sovereign goodness which comes in at last for him. Thus the song of Moses will be the fitting accompaniment of the song of the Lamb in the mouth of the victorious multitude who stand, in the day to come, by the crystal sea (Rev 15:3).
3. Now we have Jehovah Himself put before us: "merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in loving-kindness"; and this is how in fact He declared Himself to Moses (the cross-shadow of the law only being removed from it,) that "He can by no means clear the guilty" (Exo 34:6-7). Nay, "He will not perpetually contend, nor will He keep in mind for ever." They have proved this now in their history, and can say, "He has not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us after our iniquities." Thus He has manifested Himself, and glorified Himself before their eyes.
4. They expand this, therefore, in the fourth section; in which His mercy in view of the frailty of the creature is dwelt upon, and in eight verses traced as far as the new covenant, in the blessings of which they are now rejoicing. Supreme is He in mercy: high as the heavens are above the earth. East is no farther from the west than He has removed their transgressions from them. Nay, as a father’s tender mercy toward his children, such is His tender mercy toward those that fear Him. Then we are assured of the fount of infinite pity in Him who remembers that we are but dust; though under His government it is that man’s days can find their image in the flower of the field, which, if the wind roughly passes over it, is gone for ever out of its place.
"But Jehovah’s loving-kindness is from everlasting to everlasting upon those that fear Him; and His righteousness unto children’s children: to those that keep His covenant, and to those that remember His precepts to do them." This should not sound legal: it is a principle that grace does not set aside, -which it would not be grace, in fact, to set aside. Grace affirms and fulfills it; for "sin shall not have dominion over you, because ye are not under law but under grace." And thus the "covenant" here cannot be either the covenant of law which only "worketh wrath," but must be that which as Abraham’s covenant makes them true children of Abraham; and which was given four hundred and thirty years before the law came in. Faith links men with this covenant, whether Jew or Gentile, and those who keep it are the circumcised in heart.
So only can we understand the utterance here, and realize the joyous assurance that rings through it. The "new covenant" is but the re-statement more fully, and in more precise application to the nation of Israel, of the old "covenant of promise" which God gave to Abraham; and in this direction apparently the numerical finger points. The grace and blessing here are both eternal.
5. Nothing remains, therefore, but the eternal praise to Him whom all His ways become, and to join with all intelligences, all His hosts -the forces that with sun and moon and storm and earthquake, do still His pleasure -while all His works, all created things in all places of His dominion; bless Him. Yea, "bless Jehovah, O my soul."
F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 In this Ps. the hope of the previous one…
In this Ps. the hope of the previous one has been fulfilled, and sorrow has given place to thanksgiving. Its probable date is soon after the return from exile. The Psalmist utters his personal gratitude and praise (Psa_103:1-5), and tells how God has shown to Israel in his own day the same power and grace which He showed in the days of Moses (Psa_103:6-12). Special emphasis is laid on God's fatherly pity for His people in their frailty, and on the eternity of His mercy as shown to generation after generation (Psa_103:13-18). An ascription of praise to God as the universal King, in which all His angels and all His works are called to join, closes the Ps. (Psa_103:19-22).
5. See Isa_40:31. The eagle's strength seemed to indicate perpetual youth.
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6. Righteousness and judgment] RV 'righteous acts and judgments,' i.e. deliverances.
17. Expresses the same assurance as Psa_102:23-28.
19. Prepared] RV 'established.'
21. Ministers] servants, referring to the angels.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 Psalm 103
Psalm 103
The Praise of Israel
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1. The benefits of full salvation (Psa 103:1-7)
2. Merciful and gracious (Psa 103:8-18)
3. His throne and His kingdom (Psa 103:19-22)
This is the well-beloved Psalm, because God’s people love it for its precious and beautiful expressions, telling out the full salvation of our Saviour Lord and the gracious compassion which He manifests towards His own. But we must not overlook the prophetic aspect, which but few believers have recognized. It is really the hymn of Praise which will be sung by redeemed and restored Israel. Theirs will be a whole-souled praise. Their iniquities are forgiven, their diseases are healed, their life is redeemed from the pit, they are crowned with lovingkindness and tender mercies. Their youth is renewed like the eagle’s (Isa 40:28-31), which will be fulfilled then. And then the riches of mercy towards His beloved people! His Throne and His kingdom are seen in the closing verses and everything blesses Him.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v1 Hymn to the Mercy of God.
Hymn to the Mercy of God.
A psalm of David, voicing his thankful acknowledgment of God’s gifts and blessings upon himself, the conclusion calling upon all creatures to join in his song of praise.
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v. 1. Bless the Lord, O my soul, a most emphatic invitation and admonition, a joyful self-encouragement; and all that is within me bless His holy name, all the organs of the body being called upon to give thanks for the rich blessings of the Lord, to make known the revelation of His essence and all His attributes before men everywhere.
v. 2. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits, all the deeds of His mercy and kindness for which He deserves well from all men;
v. 3. who forgiveth all thine iniquities, the remission of sins being the fundamental blessing in the life of every Christian, and here not only one, but all sins being included in line for forgiveness; who healeth all thy diseases, those coming upon men as the consequence and punishment of sin, all internal and external sufferings;
v. 4. who redeemeth thy life from destruction, delivering, even at a cost to Himself, that of giving His only-begotten Son, from misery and death itself; who crowneth thee with loving-kindness and tender mercies, the full wealth of His grace and mercy being given to the believer like a precious diadem on his head;
v. 5. who satisfieth thy mouth with good things, giving His blessings in rich measure, so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s, whose annual period of molt was used as a picture of rejuvenation through grace, Isa 40:31. After this opening admonition there follows a description of God’s gracious rule.
v. 6. The Lord executeth, performing with loving care, righteousness, literally, "deeds of righteousness," and judgment for all that are oppressed, giving proof of His justice in favor of His people, over against all expressions of enmity on the part of the many adversaries of the believers.
v. 7. He made known His ways unto Moses, by revealing and proclaiming Himself as the Lord of mercy in His march through the history of the world, Exo 33:13; Exo 34:6-8, His acts unto the children of Israel, in accordance with the promise given to Moses upon that occasion.
v. 8. The Lord is merciful and gracious, the two attributes here represented being the outstanding features of His conduct toward His children at all times, slow to anger, waiting long and patiently for a sign of repentance before pouring out His wrath, and plenteous in mercy, His greatness in this respect being revealed to the believers throughout their lives.
v. 9. He will not always chide, making man’s behavior a cause for continual legal action, neither will He keep His anger forever, as though bearing a grudge against men.
v. 10. He hath not dealt with us after our sins, for which we should have been punished with everlasting destruction, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities, with the penalty which we had really deserved.
v. 11. For as the heaven is high above the earth, with its almost limitless reaches, so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him.
v. 12. As far as the east is from the west, separated from it by an almost incomprehensibly great expanse, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us, and therefore also their penalty. The pictures illustrate the endless power and the utter unreservedness of God’s grace.
v. 13. Like as a father pitieth his children, showing them his fatherly mercy, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him, His children through faith in Christ.
v. 14. For He knoweth our frame, just how we are put together, our weakness and frailty; He remembereth that we are dust, for out of it was man originally formed, Gen 2:7.
v. 15. As for man, his days are as grass, emblem of perishableness, 1Pe 1:24; as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth, Job 14:1-2, its beauty of the very briefest duration.
v. 16. For the wind passeth over it, the scorching wind coming up from the desert, and it is gone, withered and perished; and the place thereof, the spot of ground where it spent its brief existence, shall know it no more. Cf Isa 40:7-8; Job 7:10. In wonderful contrast to this evanescent frailty of man stands the grace of Jehovah as revealed in the Gospel-message.
v. 17. But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting, with an eternal power outlasting the frailty of all creatures, upon them that fear Him, trusting in Him by faith in the Messiah’s redemption, and His righteousness unto children’s children, shown and given to those who follow in the footsteps of their believing parents, Exo 20:6; Exo 34:7; Deu 7:9;
v. 18. to such as keep His covenant, that of His grace, offered to all men in the Messiah, and to those that remember His commandments to do them, making their entire life conform to the rule of God’s holy will.
v. 19. The Lord hath prepared His throne in the heavens, established it firmly as the ever-blessed and all-powerful God, 1Ti 6:15-16, and His kingdom ruleth over all, since He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, the Sovereign in His kingdom of power.
v. 20. Bless the Lord, ye His angels, leaders of His invisible creatures, that excel in strength, they are heroes of strength, having been equipped by God with unusual might, that do His commandments, in acts of prompt obedience, hearkening unto the voice of His word, for to hear the Lord’s command means, in their case, to execute it at once.
v. 21. Bless ye the Lord, all ye His hosts, the great armies of the heavenly spirits; ye ministers of His that do His pleasure, that being the work of the angels, individually and collectively.
v. 22. Bless the Lord, all His works, in all places of His dominion, the entire inanimate creation joining in His praise and thanksgiving; bless the Lord, O my soul, the last admonition of the psalmist repeating the thought with which he opened his powerful hymn. Truly, the believers of all times have every reason to praise and exalt the immeasurable mercy of the Lord as revealed to them in Jesus Christ, the Savior.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3 General Information:
General Information:
Parallelism is common in Hebrew poetry. (See: Poetry and Parallelism)
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A psalm of David
Possible meanings are 1) David wrote the psalm or 2) the psalm is about David or 3) the psalm is in the style of David's psalms.
I give praise to Yahweh with all my life, and with all that is within me, I give praise to his holy name
These two phrases mean basically the same thing and emphasize how much he will praise Yahweh. AT: "I will praise Yahweh with all that I am" (See: Parallelism)
give praise to his holy name
This refers to praising Yahweh's name as Yahweh. (See: Metonymy)
all that is within me
"all of me" or "all that I am." David uses this phrase to refer to himself and to emphasize his devotion to Yahweh. (See: Synecdoche)
translationWords
psalm
David
Yahweh
holy
name
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v1 Ps 103 This psalm celebrates the Lord’s perfection, compassion,…
Ps 103 This psalm celebrates the Lord’s perfection, compassion, forgiveness, and goodness.
103:1-6 The psalmist offers praise for the Lord’s goodness.
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103:1-2 Let all that I am praise the Lord: Pss 103 and 104 each open and close with this commitment (103:1-2, 22; 104:1, 35; see also 146:1).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.