Psalms 138
DOYLYPsalms 138:2
- — toward thy holy temple.] Wherever the ark was, there was the temple of Jehovah. See 1 Sam. iii. 3. And the Psalmist probably directed himself to that point. See Dan. vi. 10. Dimock.
— for thou hast magnified &c.] God, he says, had done honour to his word beyond all that had ever been said or imagined of Him. Mudge. Or the rendering may be, “for thou hast magnified thy name and thy word above all things.” Dimock and Old Translation.
Psalms 138:5
- — they shall sing in the ways of the Lord;] They shall rejoice in the doctrine of God delivered by Christ.
Psalms 138:8
- — happy shall he be.] The meaning of these words is, He shall go on and prosper, for the Lord of hosts shall go with him, and fight his battles against the enemy and oppressor of his people. Bp. Horne.
Psalms 138:9
- — dasheth thy little ones against the stones.] That the Babylonians probably used this cruelty to the Israelitish children, see Lam. ii. 11, and Isa. xiii. 16. Dimock.
If the law of nature obliges a man to love and reverence his parents who begat him, it also binds him to a vehement affection and concernment for his country, the place of his birth, and the air that nourished him. The happy state and condition of his country is a greater joy and comfort to a true patriot, than his own particular state of wealth and prosperity can be; and he is more afflicted and cast down for any publick misery that befalls it, than for any circumstance of it that brings calamity to himself. Lord Clarendon.
Psalm CXXXVIII. In the Greek version this Psalm is said to have been made use of by Haggai and Zechariah at the rebuilding of the temple. Dr. Hammond.
Ver. 1. — before the gods] Probably, in the presence of the princes and nobles assembled at some national solemnity.