Psalms 33

Psalms 33:1-22

This God the God of the whole earth. The psalm following shows us now that Jehovah, the God of redemption, is the God of the whole earth. If this God, then, be for us, all else must be; and this opens the way to the closing praise of the thirty-fourth: “I will bless Jehovah at all times.” The theme here, in what is the fourth psalm in the series, anticipates what is more fully brought out in the fourth book, where also Jehovah and the Second Man are shown as One; and thus the security of the earth in blessing is gloriously assured.

1. The psalmist begins with an exhortation to praise Jehovah, the one theme of praise for the righteous. The first verses here are but the expansion of the closing verse of the previous psalm, where we have found that the righteous are such only by redemption. And Jehovah is the name of God as the Redeemer, -the special name under which He takes up the people in the book of Exodus (see Exodus 3:1-22, notes); and thus the covenant Name of blessing for the redeemed. It is true that with Israel the legal spirit which inheres in man, and which had to be yielded to in the covenant of bondage at the mount of law, prevailed to obscure for them the glory of this Name, and still obscures it; yet in it, though veiled, their blessings are nevertheless wrapped up, and will be found in the day that is at hand. Jehovah is the living and unchanging God, acting from Himself necessarily as independent of all else, finding in Himself the sufficient argument for what He does. Thus no consideration of man has to come in, to hinder the fullest blessing for him. If man came in, it would be only to hinder God acting from Himself, for the glory of His Name, His purpose stands. Thus the exhortation may well be now, “Shout for joy in Jehovah, ye righteous! Praise is comely for the upright”; -for those delivered from guile by the grace that has wrought conviction of sin, and met with salvation the convicted sinner. This praise, as will be fully the case when Israel becomes the giver of it, will find its response in all creation round. This is what the harp and lyre in Israel’s hands declare, who, as the earthly people, will awaken this response. If we knew better what these instruments were, -which is disputed, -we should be able to realize, no doubt, distinctive meaning in them. All that we can say now is that the harp was certainly peculiarly connected with strains of joy; while the “ten strings” of the lyre or psaltery would seem to associate it with the more solemn strains of recompense and judgment, all of which must praise Him too. But no special instrument is connected with the “new song” of the third verse, which will be, assuredly, both for Israel and the earth, what the numeral probably intimates, a resurrection song. And this, like all resurrection of the higher kind, is not a mere restoration to the primitive condition, which would mean almost certainly that it was a mere turning of the wheel, the beginning of the old cycle of transition and decay, but a new and higher and fixed condition reached, in which the thought of God will now be realized, and His purpose from the beginning attained. No wonder that for the accompaniment now there should need skillful playing with loud sound!
2. We have now the testimony given to Him by His work and word; His work being indeed the product of His word, the creation of His mind and will, bearing the impress, therefore, of His character. The written word does not seem here in question, although of course the same must be true of it, and more manifestly, sin having come in to obscure the witness of creation. But sin also does not come as yet into the picture, except quite inferentially. “For right is Jehovah’s word, and in faithfulness all His work”: as in truth the fixed laws that pervade it are a proof, -so fixed, so pervasive, that in all material points we soon get familiar with, and learn to rely on them. And this is an inestimable blessing which only our being so accustomed to it tends to hide from us. Suppose, even, they were certain, and yet so intricate as to make the knowledge of common effects difficult to obtain, what uncertainty would attend all our actions, and what disasters would arise! Instead of this we are in a world generally stable, and with only enough uncertainty to promote dependence. And all this is “faithfulness” to His creatures, the work of His hands who can apprehend these laws; while instinct guides even more surely, though in a more humble manner, the lower races. But moreover, — “He loveth justice and judgment”; -it is not here in question how men pervert it, but of these same laws in their moral character, which testify for Him. The power which earth manifests is a power that “makes for righteousness.” And the earth is full of the goodness of Jehovah." This is that diffuse benevolence which everything displays in nature, the eye, the ear, the senses generally, provided for and gratified; and beauty, melody, variety, showing with much else, (even though we are outside of Eden,) how God has cared for us. Life could go on without what only their prevalence and their inability to pall and injure us, forbid us to call the luxuries of life. The heavens and their host were called forth by Jehovah’s word; a majestic spectacle to arrest attention, wake up wonder and inquiry, and lift our thoughts above the earth. Preachers to us of our littleness and dependence, their testimony is manifestly in the line of His redemptive work. The philosopher Kant, whose critical spirit was not checked with any excessive reverence, unites “the starry heavens” with the “moral law” as that which filled him with unfailing admiration and reverence. And how easily might they have been shut out from our view, if God had not pleased to fling aside the veil, and bid us gaze! Whatever else those brilliant spheres were made for, they have surely been unveiled to impress us with the sight. They are an open Bethel: as, in the mind of the old patriarch, “the gate of heaven” is “the house of God.” Under these -their earthly reflection -stretches the great sea, whose waters, massed as a heap under Jehovah’s hand, still more, as with closer application, reduce man to nothingness before Him (Psalms 107:23-30). The number of testing and of weakness points unmistakably to the meaning here, as does the word for “depths,” the plural of that in Genesis 1:2, tehom, literally, the “raging deep.” These depths He layeth up beneath the quiet and smiling surface, in treasuries from which He bringeth them out whenever He has use for them, with decisive effect. Thus were the heathen sailors who carried Jonah, and Jonah himself, taught the folly of endeavoring to escape from Jehovah’s power. After this, therefore, comes the exhortation, “Let all the earth fear Jehovah: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him”: literally, “sojourn,” be as sojourners with Him, to whom alone belongs eternity. The argument is given in the next verse: “for He spake, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast:” these mighty and stable powers came into existence by His mere fiat. The number is here the number of mastery; for He who brought them into being manifestly has them still in His control.
3. From this contemplation of creation we are next brought naturally to consider Jehovah as realizing His name (the Unchangeable) in His dealings with His creatures. Against His counsel the counsels of the nations cannot stand. Nor, since the world is away from Him, and in opposition to Him, the thoughts of peoples either. The last would include, as the first does not, even Israel His “people” also. On the other hand, His counsel stands forever: the thoughts of His heart “from generation to generation.” The contrast here only results in more abiding comfort for those whose feebleness is anchored to the rock of His stability, “the nation whose God Jehovah is, and the people chosen” by Him (as Israel is) “for His inheritance.”
4. From this safe harbor the world of living men is now reviewed. Jehovah Himself regards them: He not only beholds, He scrutinizes narrowly; and He is the One who fashioned them, who has perfect knowledge of all they do. But the result is only that man’s nothingness is once snore realized. Not the host that encircles a king can save him, nor the strength of a hero. Nor, even to escape, can the strength of a horse suffice to deliver him. But this is only the necessary prelude to another witness to God Himself.
5. “Lo, Jehovah’s eye is toward them that fear Him, -toward those that hope in His mercy, to rescue their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine.” And they who speak have realized this: “our soul hath looked for Jehovah: our help and shield is He.” The experience is briefly but sufficiently told, that has established the truth of this: “for our heart is glad in Him; because we have trusted in His holy Name.” The faithfulness of the divine government is finally invoked: “Let thy mercy, Jehovah, be upon us, according as we hope in Thee.” Thus that Jehovah, the God of redemption, is also the God of creation, is plainly the theme of the psalm; and that He shows Himself the Redeemer by His dealings with the people whose trust is in Him; against whom no creature-strength can possibly avail. This last is taken up and expanded (after the manner of these psalms) in the joyful song of praise with which this series ends.