Psalms 100:3

Know ye that the Lord he is God,.... Own and acknowledge him to be God, as well as man; and though a man, yet not a mere man, but the great God and our Saviour, the true God and eternal life; so a

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.

It is he that hath made us; both by creation, and by adoption and regeneration, whereby he made us his people, which also is called a creation or making, as 43:7 . And not we ourselves; therefore we owe him homage and service, and him only, and not other gods, who made us not.

Psalms 100:3 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.Ver. 3. Know ye that the Lord he is God] Be convinced of it, ye heathens, whose fantasies have forged false gods; and ye Jews, acknowledge the true God to be Three in one, and One in three. It is he that hath made us] And newly made us; "for we are his workmanship" (a second time) "created in Christ Jesus unto good works," Ephesians 2:10. The word signifieth, saith Kimchi, Ornare beneficiis, afficere donis, gratiis cumulare and so is distinguished from Bara, to create, and Jatsar, to form. William of Malmesbury telleth of a certain emperor of Germany, who, coming by chance into a church on the sabbath day, found there a most misshapen priest, pene portentum naturae, insomuch as the emperor much scorned and contemned him; but when he heard him read those words in the service, "For it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves," the emperor checked his own proud thoughts, and made inquiry into the quality and conditions of the man, and finding, upon examination, that he was a very learned and devout man, he made him archbishop of Collen, which place he discharged with much commendations. We are his people, and the sheep] See Psalms 95:7. This is a privilege proper to the communion of saints.

(3) And not we ourselves.—Most commentators now prefer the reading “His we are,” as keeping the parallelism better, besides having great MS. support. The concluding part of the verse is an echo of Psa 95:7.

Verse 3. Know ye that the Lord he is God] Acknowledge in every possible way, both in public and private, that Jehovah, the uncreated self-existent, and eternal Being, is Elohim, the God who is in covenant with man, to instruct, redeem, love, and make him finally happy. It is he that hath made us] He is our Creator and has consequently the only right in and over us. And not we ourselves] ולא אנחנו velo anachnu. I can never think that this is the true reading, though found in the present Hebrew text, in the Vulgate, Septuagint, AEthiopic, and Syriac. Was there ever a people on earth, however grossly heathenish, that did believe, or could believe, that they had made themselves? In twenty-six of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS. we have ולו אנחנו velo anachnu, "and HIS we are;" לו lo, the pronoun, being put for לא lo, the negative particle. This is the reading of the Targum, or Chaldee paraphrase ודיליה אנחנא vedileyh anachna, "and his we are," and is the reading of the text in the Complutensian Polyglot, of both the Psalters which were printed in 1477, and is the keri, or marginal reading in most Masoretic Bibles. Every person must see, from the nature of the subject that it is the genuine reading. The position is founded on the maxim that what a man invents, constructs out of his own materials, without assistance in genius, materials or execution from any other person, is HIS OWN; and to it, its use, and produce, he has the only right. God made us, therefore we are HIS: we are his people, and should acknowledge him for our God; we are the sheep of his pasture, and should devote the lives to him constantly which he continually supports.

3. Know that Jehovah is God: He it is that made us, and we are his, His people and the sheep of his pasture. Learn from the works that He has wrought for Israel that Jehovah is the only true God. Cp. Psalms 46:10; Deuteronomy 7:9. He made Israel of old to be a people for Himself (Deuteronomy 32:6; Deuteronomy 32:15; Psalms 95:6), and now He has once more made them a nation (Isaiah 60:21). In spite of their sins He has not disowned them; they can still with confidence claim His care and guidance. The A.V. and not we ourselves follows the K’thξbh, which is supported by the LXX, Syr., and Symm. The A.V. marg. and R.V. we are his., follow the Q’rη, which is supported by the Targ., Jer., and Aq.[55] Though the antithesis he and not we ourselves gives a good sense, the reading we are his is far more significant, as adding a fresh thought. Moreover it agrees best with the construction of the verse in the Heb., and it is supported by the parallels in Psalms 95:7; Isaiah 43:1, cp. Isaiah 43:21, Isaiah 44:2. [55] The Heb. words for not and to him (= his) are pronounced identically (lτ) though differently spelt (μֹ ?ΰ, μεֹ): hence the confusion between the readings not we and to him we = his (are) we was easy.

Know ye that the Lord, he is God - That is, Let all the nations know that Yahweh is the true God. The idols are vanity. They have no claim to worship; but God is the Creator of all, and is entitled to universal adoration.

3. Know ye that the Lord he is God—To know that Jehovah is God, is to know that he only is God, and that idols are nothing.