서론
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英文原文
It is with good reason that many sing this psalm very frequently in their religious assemblies, for it is very proper both to express and to excite pious and devout affections towards God in our approach to him in holy ordinances; and, if our hearts go along with the words, we shall make melody in it to the Lord. The Jews say it was penned to be sung with their thank-offerings; perhaps it was; but we say that as there is nothing in it peculiar to their economy so its beginning with a call to all lands to praise God plainly extends it to the gospel-church. Here, I. We are called upon to praise God and rejoice in him, Ps 100:1,2,4. II. We are furnished with matter for praise; we must praise him, considering his being and relation to us (Ps 100:3) and his mercy and truth, Ps 100:5. These are plain and common things, and therefore the more fit to be the matter of devotion.
1-5
Importunate Exhortations to Praise God; Motives for Praising God
懇切勸人讚美神；讚美神的動機
讚美詩。
¹ 普天下當向耶和華歡呼！ ² 你們當樂意事奉耶和華，當歡唱來到他麵前！ ³ 你們當曉得耶和華是神！我們是他造的，也是屬他的；我們是他的民，也是他草場的羊。 ⁴ 當稱謝進入他的門，當讚美進入他的院；當感謝他，稱頌他的名！ ⁵ 因為耶和華本為善；他的慈愛永遠長存；他的信實直到萬代。
此處，一、勸人讚美的話十分懇切。這篇詩確實與標題*「讚美詩」相符；它以那呼召開始——這呼召近來我們已屢次遇見（詩 100:1）：「普天下當向耶和華歡呼」——或作「全地」，全地的居民。當萬民都作了門徒、福音傳給普天下之時，這號召才要完全得著應驗。但我們若把前一篇詩看作（如我們所解釋的）是呼召猶太教會在他們所處的神國度治理中喜樂（正如它前麵的四篇詩都是為彌賽亞的日子而設），那麼這篇詩或許是為那些從各地歸信猶太教的外邦歸依者而寫。無論如何，我們在此有：1. 一個敬拜神的強烈邀請——這不是因為神需要我們，或需要我們所有、所能作的任何事，而是因為他的旨意是要我們「事奉耶和華」——獻自己給他的事奉、在其中從事；並且我們不僅要在一切順從他律法的實例中事奉他，更要在他所設立、並在其中應許顯現的典章中「來到他麵前」（詩 100:2），要「進入他的門、進入他的院」（詩 100:4），在他僕人中間事奉他，停留在他設立朝廷之處。在一切宗教敬拜的行動中——無論是隱密處、是在家庭中——我們都是來到神麵前、事奉他；但特別是在公眾敬拜中，我們才「進入他的門、進入他的院」。百姓不得進入聖所；隻有祭司進去事奉。但讓百姓為他們在神家院宇中的位置感恩——他們被準許進入、並在其中事奉。2. 在敬拜神之事上，給我們極大的鼓勵，要我們甘心樂意地作（詩 100:2）：「你們當樂意事奉耶和華。」這暗示一個預言：在福音時代必有特別的理由喜樂；這也規定這作為敬拜的法則：讓神「以樂意」受事奉。我們以聖潔的喜樂事奉神，這才是真實的事奉；以他為樂便是榮耀他；我們理當以聖潔的喜樂事奉他。福音的敬拜者當是喜樂的敬拜者；我們若以正直事奉神，便當以樂意事奉他。我們必須甘心、樂意地如此行——被召「上耶和華的殿去」之時便歡喜（詩 122:1），看與神相交為我們一生的安慰；我們在其中必須愉快、舒暢，必須說：「我們在這裏真好」——在每一樣本分中親近神，如同「到我極大喜樂的神那裏」一般（詩 43:4）。我們必須「歡唱來到他麵前」——不僅是喜樂之歌，更是讚美之歌。「當稱謝進入他的門」（詩 100:4）。我們不僅要以喜樂安慰自己，更要以喜樂榮耀神，讓他得著我們從其中得著喜樂之事件的讚美。「當感謝他，稱頌他的名」——就是說：(1) 我們必須以被接入他的事奉為恩惠，並為我們有親近他的自由、有設立的典章、並在其中等候神的機會得以延續而感謝他。(2) 我們必須將讚美與感恩交織於我們一切的事奉之中。這金線必須穿過每一樣本分（來 13:15），因為這是天使的工作。「凡事謝恩」*——在每一樣典章中，如同在每一樣護理中一般。
二、讚美的材料和其中的動機，十分重要（詩 100:3、5）。你們當曉得神自己之為神，以及他對你們之為神。請注意：知識是敬虔和一切順從之母：盲目的祭物永不能討一位觀看之神的喜悅。「你們當曉得；要思想並應用，然後你們在他敬拜中便要更加密切而恒常、更加內心而認真。」那麼讓我們曉得關於主耶和華——我們在宗教敬拜的一切行動中所與之有分的主耶和華——的這七件事：1. 「耶和華他是神」——獨一的又活又真的神——他是無限完全、自存、自足的本體，也是一切存在的源頭；他是神，不像我們是人。他是永遠的靈，不能測度、獨立自主，是初因，也是末了的目標。外邦人敬拜自己幻想所造之物；匠人製造它，所以它不是神。我們敬拜那造了我們和全世界的；他是神，一切別的假冒的神明都是虛空與謊言，是他所已經勝過的。2. 他是我們的創造主：「我們是他造的，不是我們自己造的。」我發現我是存在的，卻不能說：「我是自有」，所以必須問：我從何而來？誰造了我？「造我的神在哪裏？」這位就是主耶和華。他賜我們存在，他賜我們這個存在；他既是我們身體的塑造者，也是我們靈魂的父。我們沒有、也不能造自己。自成己因乃是神的特權；我們的存在是派生的、是依附的。3. 因此他是我們正當的所有者。馬所拉學者藉著更改希伯來文一個字母，讀作：「他造了我們，我們也是屬他的」，或作「我們是屬他的」。把兩種讀法合在一起，我們便學到：因為神「造了我們，不是我們自己造自己」，所以我們不是屬自己的，乃是屬他的。他對我們和萬有，有不容爭辯的權利和產權。我們是屬他的——當被他的大能所推動、被他的旨意所安排、並獻給他的尊榮與榮耀。4. 他是我們至高的統治者：「我們是他的民」——或作他的子民、他的臣民——他是我們的君王、我們的治理者，他作為有道德自覺的活物向我們頒賜律法，並要為我們所作的召我們交賬。「耶和華是審判我們的；耶和華是給我們設律法的。」我們不是自由任意而行，卻必須常以遵命而行為良心。5. 他是我們豐厚的恩主。我們不僅是他的羊——他對之有權的——更是「他草場的羊」——他所看顧的；是*「他所牧養的羊群」（原文可如此讀）；所以是「他手中的羊」——因為是「他草場的羊」所以受他支配（詩 95:7）。那造我們的也維持我們，並賜我們豐富享受各樣美物。6. 他是無限憐憫良善的神（詩 100:5）：「耶和華本為善」，所以行善；「他的慈愛永遠長存」——這是個永不枯竭的泉源。聖徒如今是蒙憐憫的成聖器皿，到永遠要作蒙憐憫的得榮記念。7. 他是不可違背、信實的神：「他的信實直到萬代」*——他的話沒有一句會因陳舊或廢止而落空。應許對一切後裔，從時代到時代，都是確定的。
英文原文
Importunate Exhortations to Praise God; Motives for Praising God
A psalm of praise.
¹ Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.
² Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.
³ Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
⁴ Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.
⁵ For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.
Here, I. The exhortations to praise are very importunate. The psalm does indeed answer to the title, A psalm of praise; it begins with that call which of late we have several times met with (Ps 100:1), Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all you lands, or all the earth, all the inhabitants of the earth. When all nations shall be discipled, and the gospel preached to every creature, then this summons will be fully answered to. But, if we take the foregoing psalm to be (as we have opened it) a call to the Jewish church to rejoice in the administration of God's kingdom, which they were under (as the four psalms before it were calculated for the days of the Messiah), this psalm, perhaps, was intended for proselytes, that came over out of all lands to the Jews' religion. However, we have here, 1. A strong invitation to worship God; not that God needs us, or any thing we have or can do, but it is his will that we should serve the Lord, should devote ourselves to his service and employ ourselves in it; and that we should not only serve him in all instances of obedience to his law, but that we should come before his presence in the ordinances which he has appointed and in which he has promised to manifest himself (Ps 100:2), that we should enter into his gates and into his courts (Ps 100:4), that we should attend upon him among his servants, and keep there where he keeps court. In all acts of religious worship, whether in secret or in our families, we come into God's presence, and serve him; but it is in public worship especially that we enter into his gates and into his courts. The people were not permitted to enter into the holy place; there the priests only went in to minister. But let the people be thankful for their place in the courts of God's house, to which they were admitted and where they gave their attendance. 2. Great encouragement given us, in worshipping God, to do it cheerfully (Ps 100:2): Serve the Lord with gladness. This intimates a prediction that in gospel-times there should be special occasion for joy; and it prescribes this as a rule of worship: Let God be served with gladness. By holy joy we do really serve God; it is an honour to him to rejoice in him; and we ought to serve him with holy joy. Gospel-worshippers should be joyful worshippers; if we serve God in uprightness, let us serve him with gladness. We must be willing and forward to it, glad when we are called to go up to the house of the Lord (Ps 122:1), looking upon it as the comfort of our lives to have communion with God; and we must be pleasant and cheerful in it, must say, It is good to be here, approaching to God, in every duty, as to God our exceeding Joy, Ps 43:4. We must come before his presence with singing, not only songs of joy, but songs of praise. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, Ps 100:4. We must not only comfort ourselves, but glorify God, with our joy, and let him have the praise of that which we have the pleasure of. Be thankful to him and bless his name; that is, (1.) We must take it as a favour to be admitted into his service, and give him thanks that we have liberty of access to him, that we have ordinances instituted and opportunity continued of waiting upon God in those ordinances. (2.) We must intermix praise and thanksgiving with all our services. This golden thread must run through every duty (Heb 13:15), for it is the work of angels. In every thing give thanks, in every ordinance, as well as in every providence.
II. The matter of praise, and motives to it, are very important, Ps 100:3,5. Know you what God is in himself and what he is to you. Note, Knowledge is the mother of devotion and of all obedience: blind sacrifices will never please a seeing God. "Know it; consider and apply it, and then you will be more close and constant, more inward and serious, in the worship of him." Let us know then these seven things concerning the Lord Jehovah, with whom we have to do in all the acts of religious worship:—1. That the Lord he is God, the only living and true God—that he is a Being infinitely perfect, self-existent, and self-sufficient, and the fountain of all being; he is God, and not a man as we are. He is an eternal Spirit, incomprehensible and independent, the first cause and last end. The heathen worshipped the creature of their own fancy; the workmen made it, therefore it is not God. We worship him that made us and all the world; he is God, and all other pretended deities are vanity and a lie, and such as he has triumphed over. 2. That he is our Creator: It is he that has made us, and not we ourselves. I find that I am, but cannot say, I am that I am, and therefore must ask, Whence am I? Who made me? Where is God my Maker? And it is the Lord Jehovah. He gave us being, he gave us this being; he is both the former of our bodies and the Father of our spirits. We did not, we could not, make ourselves. It is God's prerogative to be his own cause; our being is derived and depending. 3. That therefore he is our rightful owner. The Masorites, by altering one letter in the Hebrew, read it, He made us, and his we are, or to him we belong. Put both the readings together, and we learn that because God made us, and not we ourselves, therefore we are not our own, but his. He has an incontestable right to, and property in, us and all things. His we are, to be actuated by his power, disposed of by his will, and devoted to his honour and glory. 4. That he is our sovereign ruler: We are his people or subjects, and he is our prince, our rector or governor, that gives law to us as moral agents, and will call us to an account for what we do. The Lord is our judge; the Lord is our lawgiver. We are not at liberty to do what we will, but must always make conscience of doing as we are bidden. 5. That he is our bountiful benefactor. We are not only his sheep, whom he is entitled to, but the sheep of his pasture, whom he takes care of; the flock of his feeding (so it may be read); therefore the sheep of his hand; at his disposal because the sheep of his pasture, Ps 95:7. He that made us maintains us, and gives us all good things richly to enjoy. 6. That he is a God of infinite mercy and goodness (Ps 100:5): The Lord is good, and therefore does good; his mercy is everlasting; it is a fountain that can never be drawn dry. The saints, who are now the sanctified vessels of mercy, will be, to eternity, the glorified monuments of mercy. 7. That he is a God of inviolable truth and faithfulness: His truth endures to all generations, and no word of his shall fall to the ground as antiquated or revoked. The promise is sure to all the seed, from age to age.
許多人在他們的宗教聚會中經常唱這詩，這是有充分理由的；因為它十分適合用來表達、並激發我們在聖潔典章中親近神時向著神的敬虔情感；我們的心若隨著字句同行，就必向主歌唱製造旋律。猶太人說這詩是為配合他們的感恩祭而寫的；也許確實如此；但我們說，既然詩中沒有專屬於他們體制的事物，而且開頭就呼召萬國來讚美神，這明顯將它延伸到福音教會。
此處：一、我們蒙召要讚美神並在祂裡面喜樂（詩一○○1,2,4）。二、我們得著讚美的內容；我們當讚美祂，想到祂的本體與我們的關係（詩一○○3），並祂的慈愛與誠實（詩一○○5）。
這些都是淺明而常見的事，因此更適合作為敬虔的內容。