Bibelkommentare

« To the chief Musician, A Song [or] Psalm. » Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands:

Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands — Heb. All the earth; shout aloud for joy, as the people did at the return of the ark, so that the earth rang again. God shall one day show himself to be the God, not of Jews only, but of Gentiles also; these shall as well cry Christ as those Jews; these say Father, as those Abba. And as there was great joy in Samaria when the gospel was there first received, Acts 8:8 , so shall there be the like in all other parts of the earth.

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Sing forth the honour of his name: make his praise glorious.

Make his praise glorious — Heb. Put glory to his praise; so Joshua 7:19 . God’s glory is as himself, eternal and infinite, no way capable of our addition or detraction; howbeit, to try how we prize it, and will exalt it, he declareth that he accounteth himself made more glorious by us when we receive him into our hearts as King of glory, and praise him accordingly.

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Say unto God, How terrible [art thou in] thy works! through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee.

Say unto God — Hereby it appeareth that this, among other psalms of like nature, was written for the perpetual use of the Church, and to serve for a set form of praising God, as occasion required, either in public or private.

Shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee — Heb. shall lie unto thee; that is, saith Kimchi, shall deny that they ever did anything against thee, or thy people. Or, rather, they shall perforce acknowledge thy power and prowess; as Julian the apostate did in his last Vicisti Galilaee; they shall also yield obedience to thee, such as it is, because they can neither will nor choose; this Virtus nolentinm nulla est.

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All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee; they shall sing [to] thy name. Selah.

All the earth shall worship thee — Heb. they shall bow down to thee, stoop to thy government, submit to the sceptre of thy kingdom; they shall become the kingdoms of our Lord Jesus Christ. O dieculam illam! O mora! Christe veni.

Selah — Let that thy kingdom come; come speedily, come in our days, as the modern Jews pray daily ( Bimherah, Beiamenu ).

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Come and see the works of God: [he is] terrible [in his] doing toward the children of men.

Come and see — Venite, videte; he taketh good people by the hand, as it were, leading them to the sight of God’s stupendous proceedings, which may not be slighted, Isaiah 5:12 .

Toward the children of men — For they are his chief care, and about them is his providence principally exercised.

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He turned the sea into dry [land]: they went through the flood on foot: there did we rejoice in him.

He turned the sea into dry land — A mercy much celebrated, and not without cause, in all later ages.

They went through the flood on foot — That is, through the river Jordan, when it had overflowed the banks; and met with no enemy on the other side to forbid their landing.

There did we rejoice in him — We who were then in the loins of our forefathers, and so shared in their joy. See Hosea 12:4 . See Trapp on " Hosea 12:4 "

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He ruleth by his power for ever; his eyes behold the nations: let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah.

He ruleth by his power — As sole sovereign, universal monarch, αυτοκρατωρ, παντοκρατωρ . Sesostris, king of Egypt, would needs be styled κοσμοκρατωρ , emperor of the whole world (Herod. l. 2); he lived about the time of Samson, and perished by the hands of his own householdservants.

His eyes behold the nations — For which purpose they run to and fro through the earth, 2 Chronicles 16:9 .

Let not the rebellious, … — Heb. the off fallen, froward, and refractory persons; these shall soon be repressed and crest fallen.

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O bless our God, ye people, and make the voice of his praise to be heard:

O bless our God, ye people — We must not only publish God’s praises, but provoke others also so to do.

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