Psalms 145

Psalms 145:1-21

Messiah’s praises. David’s praise. The concluding psalm of this series is emphatically “David’s praise.” From its position, and knowing of whom David is the familiar type, we should naturally be led to think of Messiah in it as leading the praises of men, -praising, as He declares He will, in the great congregation (Psalms 22:25). Whose voice but His could fittingly take this place? And accordingly in the psalm itself we find the Speaker distinguishing Himself from the general voice of praise, which, beginning with the “godly” in Israel, extends to the “sons of men” at large (vers. 10, 12). For all eternity this distinction lasts (ver. 21). But what praise will be waked up by this Voice when; free at last from all hindrances on man’s part, it shall be heard as it will! The psalm is the last of the alphabetic psalms, the meaning of which has been again and again pointed out. Everything has come into place and order now, and all man’s language is restored from its Babel strife of tongues to unity of mind and purpose. Strange it seems, however, that one letter (Nun) is wanting, and the structure of the psalm acknowledges the deficiency: for, while we might naturally suppose that the twenty-one verses resulting would divide now into three sevens, and thus the stamp of perfection after all be left upon the psalm; in fact it is not so: the structure Isaiah 7, 6, 8; the middle section does not reach to 7, though the overpassing of the last one into 8, shows, as the final verse itself does, that the praise here is eternal. I cannot but conclude that the gap is meant to remind us that in fact the fullness of praise is not complete without other voices which are not found here; and that these missing voices are those of the Church and the heavenly saints in general. Meaning there surely is in it, where everything has meaning. The deficient Nun represents the jubilee number 50, which in one of its factors shows us man with God; this lifted to a higher plane by the multiplication with 10; but I leave this to those with whom nothing in Scripture is fortuitous to consider for themselves. The three sections celebrate; 1. the power of God; 2. His loving-kindness; 3. His character as the Restorer -as we may say, the God of resurrection.

1. The Voice declares its steadfast purpose to extol God the King, and that for eternity. And this it repeats, emphasizing and confirming it: for has not, alas, experience shown how untrustworthy in general have been men’s promises and resolutions? But here is One now who will not fail, who did not fail, when that will of God which He came to do expressed itself in the law of sacrifice. Here He has been thoroughly tested; and now, as He speaks, the government is upon His shoulder, -the full charge of that in which the divine character is to be shown forth: it is His in such a manner to glorify God. He is worthy to be praised: His greatness is an infinite reality. The generations of men; too, shall declare it. But one tongue can speak aright of the glorious splendor of His majesty, and of His mighty works. They shall tell of the terrible acts by which evil has been dealt with and repressed. He will declare God’s greatness. Yet they, too, shall pour forth their memory of His goodness, and sing aloud of His righteousness.
2. The last verse is, as often; a link with the next division; which takes up the loving-kindness of Jehovah. Gracious and compassionate is He, -slow to be moved to anything that seems other than this; the Helper of all, His tender mercies are over all His works. Thus all His works praise Him, and the hearts of His people respond to him in praise: they tell of the glory of His kingdom and His might, making known to the sons of men at large His acts and the majesty of His kingdom. Israel, in fact, will do this: for they, in their marvelous history, will be the suited witnesses of His ways to all the earth. His kingdom is thus proved to be a kingdom of all ages. Not the millennial age alone, but those in which the power of evil might seem to have prevailed, and in which Satan has been, in fact, the “prince of this world.” God has been; all through, the great Overcomer: and what discoveries of His glory in this way yet await us! We shall see how He has prevailed, beyond all our thoughts, in overcoming man’s evil with His good.
3. This again introduces the third section; in which we see Him indeed the Overcomer: allowing sin to declare itself and the results to follow, but holding in His hand the power to bring out of them. Thus Jehovah it is, according to the power of that covenant-Name, who is the Upholder of all that fall, and He who raiseth up all that are bowed down. Upon Him wait the eyes of all His creatures, dependent for the food which is to maintain their existence. Thus He provides for the satisfaction and desire of every living thing. But He is the Moral Governor also of moral beings: righteous and loving-kind. Righteous in all His ways, He can yield also to the necessities and weakness of His creatures. For this He is near to all that call upon Him, -that in truth call on Him. We cannot escape the reminder of the hollowness and insincerity which have so much attached to this. But where there is His fear, there desire is fulfilled; though here, too, the cry is so often out of the evil into which sin has plunged them. But it is under the restraint of His hand, and out of it He saveth. And indeed He preserveth all that love Him; while the wicked meet their necessary doom. The God of resurrection in all this is but faintly sketched. Not Israel but the Church is the proper witness of this; although, as a principle, it runs through man’s history. The last verse carries the praise on into eternity: Christ still the Leader, and awakening all flesh to bless Jehovah’s Name.