Psalms 100
ButlerHis holiness, but might see the very splendor of that holiness surrounded and crowned with the sunny radiance of this tenderness. And we must affirm that tenderness combined with that perfect holiness in God, in order to fulfil the precept of the Master, and thoroughly, with heart and soul, believe in Him. R. S. S.
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 we are his; We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
4. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, And into his courts with praise: Give thanks unto him, and bless his name. 5 For the LORD is good; his mercy endureth for ever; And his faithfulness unto all generations.
HERE ends what Hengstenberg describes as a decalogue of Psalms (91-100), all intended to exhibit the relation between Israel and the world at large; all of a cheering and triumphant character, without the slightest intermixture of complaint or lamentation; all crowded with citations from the older Scriptures, or allusions to them; almost all pointing to a glorious theophany still future; and almost all distinguished by emphatic repetitions, and the frequent use of musical terms, especially the names of instruments. That these Psalms are not thrown together at random is apparent from the fact that the series begins with a general assurance of Divine protection (Psalm 91), and of God’s power both to save the righteous and destroy the wicked (Psalm 92), followed by variations on the grand theme that the Lord reigneth (Psalms 93-99), and closing with an earnest exhortation to the whole world to receive Him as their Sovereign (Psalm 100). According to Hengstenberg, these ten Psalms are in psalmody what the later chapters of Isaiah (40-66) are in prophecy; and as the former are undoubtedly anterior to the exile, they confirm the genuineness of the latter. A.
If we are right in regarding Psalms 93-99 as forming one continuous series, one great prophetic oratorio, whose title is “Jehovah is
King,” and through which there runs the same great idea, this Psalm may be regarded as the doxology which closes the strain. We find lingering in it notes of the same great harmony. It breathes the same gladness; it is filled with the same hope, that all nations shall bow down before Jehovah, and confess that He is God. “Among the Psalms of triumph and thanksgiving this stands pre-eminent, as rising to the highest point of joy and grandeur. No local restrictions, no national exclusiveness, can find place in the contemplation of God as the common Creator and Father of man; hence it is that no hymn or Psalm in any subsequent age has found a readier response than this first appeal to the whole world to unite in worshipping Jehovah on the ground of common sonship and humanity.” (The Psalms Chronologically Arranged.) P.
Luther would have immortalized his name had he done no more than written the majestic air and harmony to which we are accustomed to sing this Psalm, and which, when the mind is in a truly worshipping frame, seems to bring heaven down to earth, and to raise earth to heaven, giving us anticipations of the pure and sublime delights of that noble and general assembly in which saints and angels shall forever celebrate the praises of God. Cobbin.
1. All the earth. As in all the preceding
Psalms, so here the hope of the Psalmist goes far beyond the narrow limits of his own people and country. The blessing of Abraham is become the heritage of the Gentiles. The whole world is to acknowledge Jehovah, and to rejoice before Him. P.
3. The Lord He is God.** The only living and true God; He is a Being infinitely perfect, self-existent, and self-sufficient, and the fountain of all being. He is our Creator: “It is He that hath made us.” Therefore, He is our rightful owner. “We are His people,” or subjects, and He is our Prince, our Governor, that gives laws to us as moral agents, and will call us to an account for what we do. 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. H.—In “He made us and we are His,” there is also a rich mine of comfort and of admonition, for the Creator is also the Owner, His heart clings to His creature, and the creature owes itself entirely to Him, without whom it would not have had a being, and would not continue in being. D.
God hath given us a soul to inform us; senses to inform our soul; faculties to furnish that soul; understanding, the great surveyor of the secrets of nature and grace; fantasy and invention, the master of the works; memory, the great keeper or master of the rolls of the soul, a power that can make amends for the speed of time, in causing him to leave behind him those things which else he would so carry away as if they had not been; will, which is the lord paramount in the state of the soul, the commander of our actions, the elector of our resolutions; judgment, which is the great counsellor of the will; affections, which are the servants of them both; a body, fit to execute the charge of the soul, so wondrously disposed as that every part hath best opportunity in his own functions, and is fit to serve the soul and maintain itself. Bishop H.
Sheep of His pasture. The true sheep are identified by certain marks, partly in themselves as the experience of believing souls, and partly in the feelings and purposes of Christ toward them. Tholuck has grouped together these marks under the following heads: They understand Christ’s call; He knows them by their sympathy; they direct themselves by His will; He gives them eternal life; they never lose it; no power can snatch them away from Him. If we hear the Saviour’s voice, and follow Him with a loving, trusting obedience whithersoever He leadeth, we may safely leave to Him our guidance, our protection, our final salvation.
The one thing which concerns us is, that we do truly follow Him. J. P. T.
4. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving.** In all our public service the rendering of thanks must abound; it is like the incense of the temple which filled the whole house with smoke. Expiatory sacrifices are ended, but those of gratitude will never be out of date. So long as we are receivers of mercy we must be givers of thanks. Mercy permits us to enter His gates; let us praise that mercy. S.—Tis great reason that we should continue to pray, because our wants continue; and ’tis as great reason that we should continue to praise, because our mercies continue. Who is there so full that wants nothing? and who so empty, but hath something? Let none give over praying, but he that wants nothing; and let none give over praising that hath anything. Is not the mercy we want worth asking? and is not the mercy we receive worth the acknowledging? Venning.
There is no such way to get much grace as to be thankful for a little grace. He who opens his mouth wide in praise shall have his heart filled with grace. T. Brooks.—Thanksgiving makes our prayers bold and strong and sweet; feeds and enkindles them as with coals of fire. Luther.—Our whole life should speak forth our thankfulness; every condition and place we are in should be a witness of our thankfulness; this will make the time and place we live in the better for us; when we ourselves are monuments of God’s mercy, it is fit we should be patterns of His praises and leave monuments to others; we should think life is given to us to do something better than to live in; we live not to live; our life is not the end of itself, but the praise of the Giver. R. Sibbes.
The spirit of thankfulness develops breadth of character. Generosity and large-heartedness are the flowers of the seed of gratitude. Gratitude puts a man in sympathy with all men. Gratitude helps him to understand human conditions, weigh motives, and appreciate principles and methods. Thanklessness is seclusive and exclusive. Thanklessness develops narrowness of character. Thanklessness seems to crowd one into his own little cell of self. The living a life of thankfulness promotes generosity. The ungrateful man feels that all is his and therefore he may keep all. The grateful man feels that all that is his has come from God and therefore he must use it as God wills. . . . Thankfulness deepens life in itself. Thankfulness broadens life among men. Thankfulness also heightens life, lifting it Godward. It thus
gives the third range of development and completes character. Deep, broad, high; this is life’s perfect cube. Deep in yourself, broad in touching men, high in aspiring Godward. May such be the influence of the spirit of thankfulness upon each. “In everything give thanks.” C. F. Thwing.