Psalms 111

Our Psalm shows us Christ gathering His army in array. He is calling each of us to a place there, in this day of His power and day of His grace. Take heed lest the day of His power should for you darken into that other day of which this Psalm speaks, the day of His wrath, when He strikes through kings, and bruises the head over many countries. Put your trust in that Saviour, my friend, cleave to that Sacrifice, then you will not be among those whom He treads down in His march to victory, but one of that happy band of priestly warriors who follow Him as He goes forth conquering and to conquer. A. M.

1. PRAISE ye the LORD. I will give thanks unto the LORD with my whole heart, In the council of the upright, and in the congregation.2 The works of the LORD are great, Sought out of all them that have pleasure therein.3 His work is honour and majesty : And his righteousness endureth for ever.4 He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered : The LORD is gracious and full of compassion.5 He hath given meat unto them that fear him : He will ever be mindful of his covenant.

6. He hath shewed his people the power of his works, In giving them the heritage of the nations.7 The works of his hands are truth and judgment ; All his precepts are sure.8 They are established for ever and ever, They are done in truth and uprightness.9 He hath sent redemption unto his people ; He hath commanded his covenant for ever : Holy and reverend is his name.10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom ; A good understanding have all they that do thereafter : His praise endureth for ever.

THIS Psalm and the next are both alphabetical Psalms. In both, the letters of the alphabet mark not only the beginning of verses, as in other Psalms, but the beginning of each several clause of the verses. In both, there are exactly twenty-two lines, each line consisting usually of three words, and in both the order of the alphabet is strictly preserved, which is not the case in other alphabetical Psalms. Finally, so exactly does the structure of the two Psalms correspond, that the first eight verses in both consist each of two lines, and the last two verses of three lines. But the Psalms answer to one another not only in structure, but in thought. The same significant phrases occur in both, and occur in such a way as to mark the mutual relation of the two poems. In the one hundred and eleventh the mighty deeds, the glory, the righteousness of Jehovah are celebrated in the assembly of the upright. In the one hundred and twelfth the righteousness, the goodness, the blessedness of the upright themselves is described and enlarged upon. The one sets forth God, His work and His attributes; the other tells us what are the work and character of those who fear and honor God. Thus in Psalm 111 : 3 it is said of Jehovah that “His righteousness standeth fast forever;” in Psalm 112:3 the same thing is affirmed of the man that feareth Jehovah. In Psalm 111:4 it is declared of Jehovah that “He is gracious and of tender compassion;” in Psalm 112:4 the same character is given of the upright. In the one hundred and eleventh Psalm the faithfulness of Jehovah to His covenant is magnified (vs. 5, 9), in the one hundred and twelfth the faithfulness of the righteous man, his trust in Jehovah is exhibited (vs. 7, 8). P.

1. Jehovah is to be praised, not only with the voice and the understanding, but with the heart, with all its affections turned to a song of gratitude and love. Solitary devotion hath its beauties and excellencies; but how glorious is it to hear the voices of a whole Christian congregation break forth into hallelujahs, like the sound of many waters and the noise of mighty thunderings, while each one provokes another to continue the blessed employment with unremitted attention and unabated fervor. Bishop Horne.

Does any man wish to forget God? Does any man wish to live in sin without being disturbed by the painful thought of judgment? We can tell him how he may insure that—for a time at least. Let him attempt to be wiser than his Maker; let him say, “I can read my Bible at home, and worship God in the open beauties of nature, as well as in a church;” let him give up private prayer, and never attend the Lord’s table, giving up all that is symbolical in religion. Let him do this, and we will insure him most terrible success; for so “judgment to come” will be to him only an hypothesis, and God’s own existence merely a perhaps. F. W. R.

2. The works of the Lord are great. Their greatness is equally manifest when we turn from the immensity to the variety of His works. How great are the works of Him who gives to every plant its leaf and flower and fruit; to every animal its faculties and functions; to every man his understanding, affections, and will. What an accumulative idea of the magnitude of His works do we gather from the innumerable multitudes and endless diversities of being called into existence by His powers. S. Summers.

The most holy men are the most excellent students of God’s works. Your studies of physics and other sciences are not worth a rush, if it be not God by them that you seek after. To see and admire, to reverence and adore, to love and delight in God appearing to us in His works, and purposely to peruse them for the knowledge of God—this is the true and only philosophy, and the contrary is mere foolery, and so called again and again by God Himself. Baxter.

The eminent Christian, other things being equal, is the most diligent student of the works and of the Word of God. Such study is well fitted to enlarge and liberalize the mind. We are placed in a creation adapted to awaken the deepest interest. The works of God are marvellous; they are sought out by all who have pleasure therein. And who can refrain from having this pleasure? Who can be an indifferent spectator amid the changes which are going on around him? Instead of wonder that some men are willing to toil a life long in the study of the works of God, the wonder is that all men are not captivated with the pursuit. These studies are called the natural sciences; they are rather Divine sciences; they are fitted to move the mind of man to its lowest depths. Whoever hath an ear may hear. The dull rock has a voice; the dry leaf has a sound; the shell on the ocean’s shore is not dumb. It is made according to certain laws. It fulfils its destiny with unerring precision. We may be lost in general admiration while gazing on it; or we may scientifically analyze it as a piece of consummate art. Now the earth is full of such objects. The common Christian may become acquainted with them, and through them adore their Creator. The Christian scholar will find in these objects inexhaustible themes for delightful contemplation. God invites him, and a thousand voices from His works reiterate the invitation. The doors of universal nature are before him. Has he not a key in his own mind to unlock them all? No assignable limit can be set to the material universe. Can any assignable limit be placed on the powers of the contemplating agent? B. B. E.

3. His work is honor and majesty, i.e., all that he does is noble and majestic, worthy of the great King, to whom these epithets are often applied elsewhere. His work means specifically here what He does for the protection and deliverance of His people. In the last clause, as in many other places, this work is referred to His righteousness, not His justice, in the technical and strict sense, but His rectitude, including His fidelity to His engagements, and securing the exercise of His covenanted mercy. A.

3-5. Primarily the thought here is of those gracious works of Providence which had so adorned and distinguished the ancient history of the covenant people. It was inspiring to the returned exiles to recall those ancient works,

to think of the mercy that shone forth in them, and of their being impressed on the national heart for everlasting remembrance. C.

Reverend is His name. The name of God is not God Himself, neither is it our idea of God, but it is that expressed idea of Him which He Himself would have us to possess, and which may be gathered from His own revelation. If the conception which God would have us to cherish of Him can be summed up in one word, then that word is the name of God. Dods.—Holy and reverend is His name, and therefore never to be used by us but in a serious manner. Whether we pray or praise, the heart must be deeply possessed with a sense of His excellency; and we must admire Him above all created or imaginable greatness, and mingle reverence with our most delightful addresses. Holy angels and sanctified men, who of all creatures have nearest access to God, most adore and reverence Him, because they are best acquainted with Him, and have the clearest sight of Him. Anon.

Since we are baptized, consecrated, and sanctified in this name, and as this name is now made our name, it follows that all the sons of God are, and ought to be called, kind, merciful, chaste, just, true, simple, benevolent, peaceable, and sweetly affectionate in heart toward all men, even toward those who are their enemies. Behold, then, you here see what it is to sanctify God’s name and be a saint. Even as a church is dedicated, and set apart for the use of Divine worship only, so also we ought to be sanctified in the whole of our lives, that there may be found in us no use of anything but of the name of God—that is, of kindness, righteousness, truth. Therefore the name of God is either sanctified or profaned, not by the tongue only, but by all the powers of the soul and the body. Luther.—We must really and in act will that sanctity which we desire in our prayers. Otherwise, to pray and to sit still; to pray for holiness, and run on in the ways of profaneness; to pray that God’s name may be hallowed, and not strive to sanctify it, is rather a feint than a devout prayer, and makes us guilty of a kind of blasphemy, even when we pray “Hallowed be Thy name.” Farindon.—When we pray for the hallowing of God’s name, we pray implicitly for all things necessary and conducing to it; we pray for the agent and for the instrument; we pray for the time and place; we pray for the speaker and for the hearer; and, in one word, we pray for the propagation of the Gospel, that doors may be opened to all men of faith, that so the building may go up of the new Jerusalem. That laborers may be sent into God’s harvest, that so the weeds may be plucked up, and the good corn brought into the barn; that there may be joy in Zion and peace within her walls; that not the trumpet of war, but the trumpet of praise and thanksgiving may be heard among us; that all ears may be circumcised, and all tongues touched with coals from the altar; that so nothing be spoken, nor anything be heard; but tending all to the honor and glory of God’s name. R. Baker.

10. This is the conclusion drawn from all that goes before. Since all God’s dealings with His people are in faithfulness and truth, and His commands not only are but must be right, then the first step in wisdom, its first principle or element, is reverence for such a Being, proved by obedience to His will. The same sentiment occurs in Prov. 1:7; 9:10; Job 28:28. A.

The beginning of wisdom—that is, the principle whence it springs and the fountain from which it flows. W. Walford.—Men never begin to be wise till they begin to fear God; all true wisdom takes its rise from true religion and has its foundation in it. It is the principal wisdom, and the principle of wisdom, to worship God and give honor to Him, as our Father and Master. They manage well who always act under the government of His holy fear. H.—The fear of the Lord is not only the beginning of wisdom, but the middle and the end. It is surely wisdom to love that which is most lovable, and to occupy our hearts with that which is most worthy of our attachment, and the most capable of satisfying us. Superville.

This holy fear of God is appropriate and native to the highest and holiest creative intelligence. There is in it no apprehension. It becomes an instant impulse to obedience. It becomes a constant inspiration and stimulant to the augmentation of that holiness in the created heart which recognizes and reveres holiness in God. It becomes not merely a stimulant to virtue, but a positive expanding power of the whole spiritual nature. Reverence is the necessary condition of high attainment. Homage and worship are the beginnings of the highest mental force and culture as well as of the highest moral and spiritual gain. The grandest thought the human mind can take into its compass is that of a personal, sovereign and holy God, the light and joy of the universe, filling it with His intense vitality, presiding over it in His undimmed wisdom with His perfect and eternal holiness. Where that thought comes in to any human soul that soul is expanded and ennobled by it. R. S. S.