Psalms 97

Let all above and all below rejoice with gladness in the near development of God’s reign on earth; and no less in the more remote development of His final judgment and eternal reign of righteousness. But first is that which is nearest and of time. As God proceeds to make His name and Gospel more fully known on earth, with this advance of knowledge goes also a more full development of Himself as Supreme Ruler and Judge. Making Himself more known in these relations, He should be more heartily and reverently adored. Let the universe of intelligent beings, and indeed, through sympathy, the sea and all that fills it; the fields and all they contain, and the trees of the wood as well, unite in exulting praise and gladness before the mighty Lord, because He ruleth in righteousness, and will bring down and bring under the cruel wrongs of sin and the very spirit of sinning—all that makes earth groan and heaven weep; all the mass of earthly woe begotten of sin and running riot over the world’s peace till God comes forth to rule and judge the world in righteousness. C.

1. THE LORD reigneth; let the earth rejoice; Let the multitude of isles be glad. 2 Clouds and darkness are round about him: Righteousness and judgment are the foundation of his throne. 3 A fire goeth before him, And burneth up his adversaries round about. 4 His lightnings lightened the world: The earth saw, and trembled. 5 The hills melted like wax at the presence of the LORD, At the presence of the Lord of the whole earth. 6 The heavens declare his righteousness, And all the peoples have seen his glory. 7 Ashamed be all they that serve graven images.

That boast themselves of idols: Worship him, all ye gods. 8 Zion heard and was glad, And the daughters of Judah rejoiced; Because of thy judgments, O LORD. 9 For thou, LORD, art most high above all the earth: Thou art exalted far above all gods. 10 O ye that love the LORD, hate evil: He preserveth the souls of his saints; He delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked. 11 Light is sown for the righteous, And gladness for the upright in heart. 12 Be glad in the LORD, ye righteous; And give thanks to his holy [memorial] name.

THE keynote of this series of Psalms, “Jehovah is King,” is again sounded in the first verse. The subject is the same as in the preceding Psalm—viz., the personal Advent of Jehovah, which is represented in terms borrowed from the Pentateuch, and from those earlier Psalms which describe the Theophany on occasion of the giving of the law. All nature is moved at the Divine presence. The flames which once lighted up Mount Sinai, at the appearance of the great King enlighten the whole world; and by them His enemies, “who would not that He should reign over them,” are consumed. The heavens, which now proclaim the glory of God, shall then attest His righteousness. His glory is displayed throughout the whole earth; and, while the worshippers of false gods are confounded, Zion rejoices and is glad; and all nations come and worship before their King; for His judgments are made manifest (Rev. 15: 4). C. J. E.

“Jehovah is King.” Such is the glad assurance with which the Psalm opens. He has come to take possession of His throne with all the awful majesty with which He appeared on Sinai. All nature is moved at His presence. The heavens have uttered their message, telling of His righteousness, and all the nations of the world have seen His glory. His empire must be universal. Already the idols and the worshippers of idols are ashamed; and Zion rejoices in the coming of her King. He is near, very near. The first flush of the morning is already brightening the sky. They who love His appearing may look for Him, in holy abhorrence of evil and in faithfulness of heart, waiting till they enter into the joy of their Lord. Such is briefly the purport of the Psalm. “If the bringing in of an everlasting worship gives its distinctive coloring to the foregoing Psalm, the final casting out of evil is the keynote of this; if the thought of the Great King bringing salvation to His people is foremost in that, in this it is the trampling down of His enemies; there He comes ’to diadem the right;’ here, ’to terminate the evil’” (Housman).

The structure of the Psalm consists of strophes of three verses. In the first, the coming of Jehovah is portrayed as if actually present (vs. 1-3). In the second its effects are described on nature, and its purposes with reference to the world at large (vs. 4-6). The third speaks of the different impression produced on the heathen and on Israel, and the exaltation of God above all earthly power as the final result (vs. 7-9). The fourth is an exhortation to the righteous, and also a promise full of consolation (vs. 10-12). P.

1. “The Lord reigneth” by His providence over the kingdoms of the earth, and manages all their affairs according to His sovereign and wise pleasure; and He doth the same for His church. “The Lord reigneth” upon a throne of grace! It is the mediatorial government of the Messiah which is the principal cause of joy to the earth and its guilty inhabitants. And the Lord will reign erelong upon a throne of universal judgment, conspicuous to the assembled universe—“Let the earth therefore rejoice, and the multitude of the isles be glad.” Samuel Davies.

Here’s good news, glad tidings: “The Lord reigneth.” It cannot be published without praise, without rejoicing, without singing, without blessing. We should dishonor this truth if we did not publish it; if we should with silence suppress it; if we should not speak well of it. It is so sweet and comfortable, that it fills the whole world with joy, and calls on every ear and every tongue and every heart to be glad, to rejoice and to praise God. W. Sedgwick.

As light irradiates all nature, so the thought of God diffuses gladness over all the moral world. The proposition which, above all others, should fill all intelligent creation with transport, is this, There is a God. Conceive of a world where this prime revelation has never shone, having the light of common day but no knowledge of God; conceive of the poor, blank, cheerless dwellers on this atheistic orb, and then figure to yourself some beautiful and mighty angel, who has been thousands of years filling his lamp at the central founts of light, dispatched by infinite love, and speeding to carry these tidings to the ignorant planet; who can measure the glory of the advent? It is a change like that when God said to chaos, Let there be light! If in all human knowledge there is a truth which should transport us beyond ourselves, it is, that there is a God. The Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice! Without it, we are a fatherless brood, and our world an orphan universe. The names of God are names of relation; and among the relations we have found something more great, more tender, and more lovely than parent, brother, or husband, when we have found a God. J. W. A.

Faith is always assured that God reigns; that He is ever pledged to order all events so as to promote the highest good of all true believers. Faith obeys; faith is wise and cautious in the use of the appointed means; faith compares Scripture with Scripture to ascertain the whole truth; faith is subject to law, and impels us to use the best means to gain good ends. And then it calmly commits the future to God. If trials come, if sorrow, bereavement, loss of property, loss of health, death come in the path of duty, it trusts with absolute assurance the Divine promise; and rising above these external trials, it triumphs even before it enters the pearly gates. S. W. Fisher.

2. Clouds and darkness are round about Him, but the Old Testament writers never falter in the conviction, which was the soul of all their heroism and the life blood of their religion, that in the heart of the clouds and darkness “justice and judgment are the foundations of His throne.” A. M.

If in revealing Himself to mortals the invisible God should deem it wise to make some visible manifestations of His presence, it is quite obvious that they must be made under limitations. It should not surprise us that at Sinai, in the solemn announcement of His law, God should speak forth from the thick darkness; that cloud and tempest, thunder and lightning, and the quaking of that grand and awful mount, should impress the assembled people with fear and even awe and dread. So when the Lord prepared for Himself a permanent dwelling-place in the tabernacle and temple, He invested

Himself in “thick darkness.” Yet let it not be overlooked that a deeper meaning is here suggested by these historic facts and beautifully illustrated thereby—viz., that the reasons of God’s ways are often, perhaps usually, too deep for our human line to fathom. Our short vision cannot penetrate their mystery. Clouds and darkness gather round about Him; and yet He takes cares to give us abundant reasons for believing that righteousness and judgment are the basis of His throne—the principles that forever control His decisions. C.

Righteousness is the essential perfection of the Divine Being. If there had been no creatures for Him to govern, He would have had an unchangeable and invincible love of rectitude. Judgment is the application of the principle of righteousness in His government of His creatures and their actions; it is a development of His rectitude in the management of the affairs of His great empire; it is that superintendence over all, whereby the operations of all things are directed to some vast and important end. Judgment implies measure and equity, in opposition to what is done without rule and consideration. All the Divine conduct is equitable, regulated by rectitude, and everything is directed by a judgment that cannot err. Thus “Righteousness and judgment are the habitation of His throne.” The throne of God is built, and stands firm upon these principles; they are the place, the basis, and the foundation of His throne. Though the clouds cannot be dispelled, though there is thick darkness round about, through which our eyes cannot penetrate; yet there are principles discernible through the light of revelation, and by the eye of faith, which may serve to subdue despondency, and lead us to acquiesce in all the measures of the righteous Sovereign. Notwithstanding the appearances which obscure the providence of God, it often makes itself conspicuous in the midst of them all. When we have allowed to human agency, to human wisdom and human power a large circle of events imputed to nothing else, we see the Divine wisdom frequently disencumber itself from all second causes, and stretch itself out in the face of all men. Many remarkable deliverances God works out for his servants, in order to make bare the interposition of Providence and to show to His enemies that there is a “God that judgeth in the earth.” He writes deep moral lessons from the events of history, so that the history of the Church and the world is the history of Providence. R. Hall.

God Himself can be seen in the darkness, as He cannot be in the light. His loved ones can commune with Him in the shadow, as they cannot in the glare. “Clouds and darkness are round about him;” and the child of God who is most favored of God “shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” Not in the blaze of prosperity’s sunlight, but in the gloaming of the dusk of sorrow and of trial, can the child of God see the face of God, and have those disclosures of God’s love which only the darkness brings. S. S. T.

The persecutions of the good, the afflictions of the righteous, the desolations of conquest, the fall of nations and their liberties, the extinction of churches, the sufferings of innocence, the pains of animals, the removal by death of genius and character just ripened to bless the world—there is no end to our dark questions. There are times, too, when our own personal experience becomes enveloped in darkness. Practically, much is known about God and His ways, all that we need to know; but, speculatively, or by the mere understanding, almost nothing, save that we cannot know. The believing mind dwells in continual light; for when God is revealed within curious and perplexing questions are silent. If we but love the right, God will be revealed in us internally, as the object of our love and trust. He will not appear to be distant or difficult. We shall know Him as a friendly presence in our heart’s love, and we shall have such a blessed confidence in Him that if, in the outer world of fact and event, clouds and darkness appear to be round about Him, we shall have the certainty within that justice and judgment are the habitation of His throne. Meanwhile, He will be teaching us graciously and drawing us insensibly through our holy sympathies into the sense of His ways, and widening, as fast as possible, the circle of our human limitation, that we may expatiate in discoveries more free. Bushnell.

3. A fire goeth before Him.** So was it at Sinai, so must it be; the very Being of God is power consuming all opposition; omnipotence is a devouring flame which “burneth up His enemies round about.” God is long-suffering, but when He comes forth to judgment the unrighteous will be as chaff before the flame. S.

7. Shamed shall be all serving a graven image and boasting themselves of idols.** Bow down to Him, all ye gods! The first word means not merely ashamed, but disappointed, defeated, and confounded. All serving or all servers (i.e., worshippers) of a graven image. Boasting themselves, exulting in the knowledge and possession and imagined favor of material images. Idols, nothings or nonentities. The use of this word shows that in the following clause the false gods are invested with existence only to be treated with the more contempt. A.

This and the next verse describe the twofold result of the Divine judgment, the impression produced on the heathen and on Israel, the confusion of all worshippers of idols, and the joy and exultation of the people of God. P.—When the glory of Jehovah is revealed, everything that is opposed to it will be reproved and consumed by its light. Those that serve idols become conscious of their delusion with shame and terror. The superhuman powers deified by the heathen will then submit themselves to Him who alone is Elohim in absolute personality. D.

Worship Him, all ye gods. These words are not applied to Christ directly in Heb. 1 : 6. It is merely said that when God sends His Son into the world, He may be understood as saying again of Him what is here said of Himself, that even the false gods are required to worship Him, much more the angels who have real existence. A.

8. When Zion hears that Jehovah has appeared, and that all the world and all powers become submissive to Him, she rejoices; for it is her God, whose kingship is acknowledged. And all the daughter churches of the land of Judah exult along with the mother Church over the salvation, which dawns through judgments. D.—Although the coming of Jehovah has been portrayed in images full of awe and terror, yet here, as in the two preceding Psalms, it is described as a coming to be welcomed with jubilant gladness by His Church. In the same spirit our Lord, when speaking of the signs of fear which shall be the precursors of His second coming, says, “When ye shall see these things begin to come to pass, then lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.” P. 9. That such a God, the Great Jehovah, is high above all the earth and all the wicked thereof is here assigned as properly the ground and reason of this joy. How infinitely above the empty and powerless gods of the heathen! C. 10. The Psalm closes with a practical application, because the King and Judge is drawing near, a warning against the evil which is in the world, and an assurance of Divine protection and blessing to those who “hate evil.” P.—The one great moral lesson from these views of God and His throne is briefly put here: “Ye that love the Lord, hate evil.” As God hates all sin and wrong, so should ye. He who preserves your souls and redeems you from the power of the wicked does all in the love of righteousness and the hatred of sin; therefore let this benevolence of your God prompt and inspire you to like love of others’ well-being and abhorrence of all evil. C.

He preserveth, He delivereth. There are two parts of Divine protection—preservation and deliverance. Preservation is safe keeping, guarding against peril; deliverance, saving those already involved in peril. The shepherd keeps his sheep lest they should fall among wolves; but if perchance they should fall into the clutches of the wolf, he pursues and delivers. So the Lord keeps the souls of His saints lest they fall into the hands of the wicked; and if they should fall, He will deliver them. Musculus.—He loves His saints on account of the image of Himself which they bear; He loves them on account of those graces which are infused into them when they are renewed by the Spirit; He loves them on account of the relation they stand in to Him as His people, who are qualified for the duties of the relation by that love of their Father, that reliance upon His care, that delight in His person, that enjoyment in His service which belongs to dutiful and affectionate children. He loves them because they imitate His perfections in some humble measure; because they receive the word of His mouth; because they are ready to obey every call of His providence, setting themselves in the paths of His testimony wherever He may direct. R. Hall.

11. Light (is) sown for the just (man), and for right-hearted (men) joy. The figurative term light is explained by the literal one joy or gladness. Its being sown suggests the two ideas of diffusion and productiveness. Compare the similar and parallel expression, Psalm 112 : 4. The alteration of the singular and plural number shows that the just man of the first clause is an ideal person, representing a whole class. A.—Light and gladness are sown. A startling figure that, and a grand one, too. God as a sower, scattering seeds of light. The statement is: God gives light to His children as seed. The figure simply recognizes the great law of growth which everything in the universe, from a grass-blade to the spiritual kingdom of God on earth, obeys. Nothing comes into life full-grown. The tree and the grain grow up from seed. So of the fruits of the spirit in men. Knowledge, faith, love, joy, grow through successive stages, like the blade, the ear, and the full corn If then light and gladness are to be looked for in Christian life, it is important to remember that they are growths, and that as such they carry with them a certain amount of concealment and delay. God hides away light and gladness in certain things which, for the time, give no hint of what is within; and when God gives us these seeds, He expects us to look for our light in them. One of the hardest lessons we ever learn is to undertake that search cheerfully and believingly. V.

“Light sown,” to produce a harvest of blessings, the best of “gladness.” The figure is exquisitely beautiful. Light is one of the finest possible emblems of happiness. That it should be planted as a seed is of course a poetic conception, yet at once clear in sense and beautiful in figure, surely foretokening a future product of good for the truly righteous. C.—Light is sown for the righteous—that is, gladness for the upright in heart. The subjects of Christ’s kingdom are bid to expect tribulation in the world; yet let them know, to their comfort, that light is sown for them, it is designed and prepared for them; what is sown will come up again in due time; though, like winter seed, it may lie long under the clods and seem to be lost and buried, yet it will return in a rich and plentiful increase. God’s goodness shall be sure of a harvest in the appointed weeks. They that sow in tears shall without fail reap in joy. Christ told His disciples at parting, You shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. Gladness is sure to the upright in heart, to those only that are sincere in religion. The joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment. There is no serenity without a lasting sincerity. H.

Light is sown in God’s discipline with us, God’s providences upon, over, and around us; in all things the germs of light are hidden, for discovery, for cherishing, for growth, for a future and glorious harvest. God’s word itself is hidden in the heart, to break forth into glory, to constitute now, while beneath the furrow, as it were, the life of God in the soul of man, the life hidden with Christ in God, and to constitute, when all these preparatory and growing processes are finished, the suddenly revealed harvest of eternal light and blessedness in Christ, according to the rule that when He who is our life shall appear, then shall we also appear with Him in glory. Cheever.—Light is sown for the righteous; and the harvest from God’s sowing never fails. First conceptions and lower knowledge is the seed of the higher; and that again of higher still. Mistakes and misconceptions fall off and die if only there be the fruitful ground of “an honest and good heart.” It is of far more importance to have right dispositions than right notions. A clear heart is better than a sound creed. Depend upon it, the sound creed is in the clear heart, or will come by its means. But the clear heart is not, of necessity, in the sound creed. Raleigh.

Most thoughtful men increase in faith and spiritual discernment by having their doubts cleared up. Religious thought in this way grows into a personal feeling; and the solid rock of truer conviction and deeper trust as a firm foundation for the soul to build upon for eternity remains behind after all the abrasion of loose and more perishable materials through speculation. A different if not a truer revelation of heavenly realities is given to us through the dark, distressing process of doubting, than through the bright, joyful exercise of unhesitating faith; just as our knowledge of the chemistry of the sun and stars, of the physical constitution of distant worlds is derived not from the bright bands of their spectrum, which reveal only their size and shape, but from Fraunhofer’s wonderful lines—those black blank spaces breaking up the spectrum bands—which tell us of rays arrested in their path and prevented from bearing their message to us by particular metallic vapors. Unto the upright, just because of the purity and singleness of their motives and the earnestness of their quest after truth, there ariseth light in the darkness. We must remember that “light is sown for the righteous;” that its more or less rapid germination and development depend upon the nature of the soil on which it falls and the circumstances that influence it; that, like seed, it at first lies concealed in the dark furrow, under the cheerless clod, in the cold, ungenial winter; but that even then, while shining in the darkness, while struggling with doubts and difficulties of the mind and heart, it is nevertheless the source of much comfort, and in its slow, quickening, and hidden growth the cause of lively hope, and of bright anticipation of that time when it shall blossom and ripen in the summer time of heaven, shine more and more unto the perfect day. Hugh Macmillan.

Righteous souls pass through many dark hours; sometimes they are put to a stand, ready to question if they have any interest in Christ; for they have a nature in which dwells every evil which wars against God, and the peace, holiness, and comfort of their souls; hence they are sometimes in seasons of darkness; they see not things in the light of truth; they enjoy not the comfort of the truth that they are righteous in the righteousness of Christ, and made upright by His grace. Upright souls mourn in darkness, and desire ever to walk in the light; yes, says Peter, ye “greatly rejoice” in the salvation of Jesus, “though now for a season (if need be) ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations.” If need be! What need can there be? He tells us “that the trial of your faith might be found unto praise, and honor, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ.” Tried faith is true faith. True faith stands the fire of temptation; trusts Christ in heaviness; stays upon Him in darkness; for at all times, in all seasons, under all circumstances, light and gladness are sown for you and in due season shall spring up in you. They are sown where every covenant blessing is reaped: in Jesus, the surety of the covenant. All natural light flows from the sun; all spiritual light flows from Christ, the Sun of righteousness, who saith, “I am the light of the world; he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” Is light sown in Christ for us? Let us with David claim in faith, “The Lord is my light, and my salvation.” Does gladness of heart spring from Christ? Then say, “My meditations of Him shall be sweet, I will be glad in the Lord.” W. Mason.

12. Rejoice in the Lord. Our rejoicing in the Lord relates to the existence, the perfections and providence of the ever-blessed God; the discoveries of His will to us, especially in His word; the interest we have in Him, and the relations wherein we stand to Him; His continual protection, guidance, and influence; His gracious intercourse with us in the duties of religious worship, and, finally, the hope He has given us of fulness of joy in His beatific and glorious presence above. H. Grove.

Rejoice and give thanks. He unites joy in the Lord and praise of God, for it is not possible for a man to praise the Lord unless he rejoices in Him. Again, he connects the praise of God with the remembrance of His holiness. And with good reason; for it is the chief use of Divine praise that we should keep fresh in our souls the remembrance of God and of all the blessings received from Him. Thus this verse contains the root and fruit of Divine praise. The root is joy in God; the fruit is the remembrance of God and His goodness. Musculus.

Well, indeed, may all the righteous rejoice in the Lord, who makes sure to them such a wealth of blessing. Let them especially rejoice as they think of His holiness, His abhorrence of sin; His glorious purity; His supreme devotion to the highest interests of His moral universe. C.

The uniform calm and cheerfulness which lights up the face of a true Christian, the happy expression of countenance, the sunshine on the brow—these are never to be found where the life is not careful. Not that trictness will always make a man cheerful. God sometimes permits His truest servants to be afflicted with depression of spirits for many reasons. But, assuredly, though you may sometime see strictness of life without cheerfulness of spirits, you never see cheerfulness of spirits without strictness of life. The careless Christian is sure to be discontented with himself, and so robs himself of the very thing which would make service happy. Try to make your service strict and careful. No doubt the bent of your will is chiefly shown in the great duties, but the sense of love and of wishing to be loved is chiefly shown in the small duties. Let each have its place. The great sterling duties, the exact truth of word, the resolute refusal to countenance wrong, the command of temper, the mastery of indolence, the unstained purity—these, and such as these, form the character, and fashion our souls into instruments in God’s hands for high and heavenly purposes in His providence. But the carefulness over details, the watchfulness against faults which we know to be faults, but which, notwithstanding, seem venial, the devout regularity and attention in our private prayers, the invariable good humor of our manners, the seeking for occasions of kindness and unselfishness, the avoidance of little temptations, the care not to cause little annoyances and little troubles—to attend to all this for the sake of Christ our Master is the natural and fitting expression of a loving heart. And such love is always repaid ten thousandfold. Bishop Temple.