Bibelkommentare

Praise ye the LORD: for [it is] good to sing praises unto our God; for [it is] pleasant; [and] praise is comely.

It is good to sing praises — For, 1. Hereby we glorify God, Psalms 50:23 , and so do him right; for he is the proper object of praises, worthy only to be praised, Psalms 18:32 . Hereby we do good to ourselves, secure former favours, which else we forfeit, and procure further blessings, which else we forestall. Hereby also we make things good in themselves to become good to us.

For it is pleasant — A very foretaste of eternal life; hence so many of David’s psalms are eucharistical.

And praise is comely — No fairer sight than to see God’s altar covered with the calves of our lips, and ourselves in our priestly robes, giving thanks to his name, Hebrews 13:15 , professing our no-deserts, and whole dependence upon him. As on the contrary, an unthankful man is an ugly, ill-favoured spectacle.

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The LORD doth build up Jerusalem: he gathereth together the outcasts of Israel.

The Lord doth build up Jerusalem — He is the only architect of his Church. He layeth the foundation of it in election (saith a good expositor), and buildeth it progressively by faith and sanctification; and finisheth his work of grace and his people’s happiness in glorification.

He gathereth together the outcasts of Israel — He will surely bring home his banished; yea, because they called thee an outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after, therefore I will restore health unto thee, …, Jeremiah 30:17 . Qui nil sperare potest, desperet nihil.

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He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.

He healeth the broken in heart — Pouring the oil of his grace into none but those broken vessels.

And bindeth up their wounds — As a good shepherd, Zechariah 11:4 , that good Samaritan, Luke 10:34 , and as a good surgeon dealeth by his patient. But let no man ever think that God will lap up his sores before they be searched, or scarf his bones before they be set.

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He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by [their] names.

He telleth the number of the stars — Which to man is impossible, as Aristotle maintaineth against those astronomers, that tell us they are a thousand and some hundreds. But Abraham was a great astronomer; yet he could never do it, Genesis 15:5 , and the wiser sort of astrologers have rightly distinguished the stars into numerable and innumerable as to men.

He calleth them all by their names — As knowing exactly their nature; and authoritatively commanding every of them to do his pleasure. How much more can God call together his outcasts, and cause them to return; especially since he calleth those things that are not as if they were, Romans 4:17

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Great [is] our Lord, and of great power: his understanding [is] infinite.

His understanding is infinite — Heb. of his understanding there is no number; for he knows not only the kinds and sorts of things, but even the particulars, though they exceed all number. Sic spectat universos quasi singulos; sic singulos, quasi solos. That philosopher did not say nothing, who, being in danger of shipwreck in a light starry night, said, Surely I shall not perish, there are so many eyes of providence over me.

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The LORD lifteth up the meek: he casteth the wicked down to the ground.

The Lord lifteth up the meek — This truth was well known to the very heathens, who have said the same thing; as Herodotus in Polymnia, Euripides in Hara, and Aesop being asked by Chilo (one of the seven wise men of Greece), what God was doing? answered, He is humbling the haughty, and exalting the lowly, τα μεν υφηλα ταπεινουν; τα δε ταπεινα υψουν ..

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Sing unto the LORD with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God:

Sing unto the Lord — Heb. answer, that is, sing by turns, as Hosea 2:15 Deuteronomy 31:21 . Or, answer God’s goodness by thankfulness and obedience.

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Who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains.

Who covereth the heaven with clouds — As 1 Kings 18:45 , and still, as there is need. It is not by nature, or hap hazard, as men are apt to dream, and are therefore so often told this truth, and admonished, that the second causes do but serve the Divine providence, in these common occurrents.

Who prepareth rain for the earth — Rain (which is nothing else but the flux of a moist cloud, out of the middle region of the air), as it cometh by a decree of God, Job 28:26 , so it is wholly at his disposing when and where it shall fall, even to a drop, Amos 4:7 .

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