mh_parser/vol_split/19 - Psalms/Chapter 146.xml

<div2 id="Ps.cxlvii" n="cxlvii" next="Ps.cxlviii" prev="Ps.cxlvi" progress="71.00%" title="Chapter CXLVI">
<h2 id="Ps.cxlvii-p0.1">P S A L M S</h2>
<h3 id="Ps.cxlvii-p0.2">PSALM CXLVI.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Ps.cxlvii-p1">This and all the rest of the psalms that follow
begin and end with Hallelujah, a word which puts much of God's
praise into a little compass; for in it we praise him by his name
Jah, the contraction of Jehovah. In this excellent psalm of praise,
I. The psalmist engages himself to praise God, <scripRef id="Ps.cxlvii-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.146.1-Ps.146.2" parsed="|Ps|146|1|146|2" passage="Ps 146:1,2">ver. 1, 2</scripRef>. II. He engages others to trust
in him, which is one necessary and acceptable way of praising him.
1. He shows why we should not trust in men, <scripRef id="Ps.cxlvii-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.146.3-Ps.146.4" parsed="|Ps|146|3|146|4" passage="Ps 146:3,4">ver. 3, 4</scripRef>. 2. Why we should trust in God
(<scripRef id="Ps.cxlvii-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.146.5" parsed="|Ps|146|5|0|0" passage="Ps 146:5">ver. 5</scripRef>), because of his
power in the kingdom of nature (<scripRef id="Ps.cxlvii-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.146.6" parsed="|Ps|146|6|0|0" passage="Ps 146:6">ver.
6</scripRef>), his dominion in the kingdom of providence (<scripRef id="Ps.cxlvii-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.146.7" parsed="|Ps|146|7|0|0" passage="Ps 146:7">ver. 7</scripRef>), and his grace in the kingdom
of the Messiah (<scripRef id="Ps.cxlvii-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.146.8-Ps.146.9" parsed="|Ps|146|8|146|9" passage="Ps 146:8,9">ver. 8,
9</scripRef>), that everlasting kingdom (<scripRef id="Ps.cxlvii-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Ps.146.10" parsed="|Ps|146|10|0|0" passage="Ps 146:10">ver. 10</scripRef>), to which many of the Jewish
writers refer this psalm, and to which therefore we should have an
eye, in the singing of it.</p>
<scripCom id="Ps.cxlvii-p1.8" osisRef="Bible:Ps.146" parsed="|Ps|146|0|0|0" passage="Ps 146" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Ps.cxlvii-p1.9" osisRef="Bible:Ps.146.1-Ps.146.4" parsed="|Ps|146|1|146|4" passage="Ps 146:1-4" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ps.146.1-Ps.146.4">
<h4 id="Ps.cxlvii-p1.10">The Divine Bounty.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Ps.cxlvii-p2">1 Praise ye the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.cxlvii-p2.1">Lord</span>. Praise the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.cxlvii-p2.2">Lord</span>, O my soul.   2 While I live will I
praise the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.cxlvii-p2.3">Lord</span>: I will sing praises
unto my God while I have any being.   3 Put not your trust in
princes, <i>nor</i> in the son of man, in whom <i>there is</i> no
help.   4 His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth;
in that very day his thoughts perish.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cxlvii-p3">David is supposed to have penned this
psalm; and he was himself a prince, a mighty prince; as such, it
might be thought, 1. That he should be exempted from the service of
praising God, that it was enough for him to see that his priests
and people did it, but that he needed not to do it himself in his
own person. Michal thought it a disparagement to him to <i>dance
before the ark;</i> but he was so far from being of this mind that
he would himself be first and foremost in the work, <scripRef id="Ps.cxlvii-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.146.1-Ps.146.2" parsed="|Ps|146|1|146|2" passage="Ps 146:1,2"><i>v.</i> 1, 2</scripRef>. He considered his
dignity as so far from excusing him from it that it rather obliged
him to lead in it, and he thought it so far from lessening him that
it really magnified him; therefore he stirred up himself to it and
to make a business of it: <i>Praise the Lord, O my soul!</i> and he
resolved to abide by it: "I will praise him with my heart, <i>I
will sing praises</i> to him with my mouth. Herein I will have an
eye to him as <i>the Lord,</i> infinitely blessed and glorious in
himself, and as <i>my God,</i> in covenant with me." Praise is most
pleasant when, in praising God, we have an eye to him as ours, whom
we have an interest in and stand in relation to. "This I will do
constantly while I live, every day of my life, and to my life's
end; nay, I will do it <i>while I have any being,</i> for when I
have no being on earth I hope to have a being in heaven, a better
being, to be doing it better." That which is the great end of our
being ought to be our great employment and delight while we have
any being. "In thee must our time and powers be spent." 2. It might
be thought that he himself, having been so great a blessing to his
country, should be adored, according to the usage of the heathen
nations, who deified their heroes, that they should all come and
<i>trust in his shadow</i> and make him their <i>stay</i> and
<i>strong-hold.</i> "No," says David, "<i>Put not your trust in
princes</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.cxlvii-p3.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.146.3" parsed="|Ps|146|3|0|0" passage="Ps 146:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>),
not in me, not in any other; do not repose your confidence in them;
do not raise your expectations from them. Be not too sure of their
sincerity; some have thought they knew better how to reign by
knowing how to dissemble. Be not too sure of their constancy and
fidelity; it is possible they may both change their minds and break
their words." But, though we suppose them very wise and as good as
David himself, yet we must not be too sure of their ability and
continuance, for they are sons of Adam, weak and mortal. There is
indeed a Son of man in whom there is help, in whom there is
salvation, and who will not fail those that trust in him. But all
other sons of men are like the man they are sprung of, who, being
in honour, did not abide. (1.) We cannot be sure of their ability.
Even the power of kings may be so straitened, cramped, and
weakened, that they may not be in a capacity to do that for us
which we expect. David himself owned (<scripRef id="Ps.cxlvii-p3.3" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.3.39" parsed="|2Sam|3|39|0|0" passage="2Sa 3:39">2 Sam. iii. 39</scripRef>), <i>I am this day weak,
though anointed king.</i> So that <i>in the son of man there is</i>
often <i>no help,</i> no salvation; he is at a loss, at his wits'
end, as <i>a man astonished,</i> and then, though <i>a mighty
man,</i> he <i>cannot save,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.cxlvii-p3.4" osisRef="Bible:Jer.14.9" parsed="|Jer|14|9|0|0" passage="Jer 14:9">Jer.
xiv. 9</scripRef>. (2.) We cannot be sure of their continuance.
Suppose he has it in his power to help us while he lives, yet he
may be suddenly taken off when we expect most from him (<scripRef id="Ps.cxlvii-p3.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.146.4" parsed="|Ps|146|4|0|0" passage="Ps 146:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>): <i>His breath goes
forth,</i> so it does every moment, and comes back again, but that
is an intimation that it will shortly go for good and all, and then
<i>he returns to his earth.</i> The earth is his, in respect of his
original as a man, the earth out of which he was taken, and to
which therefore he must return, according to the sentence,
<scripRef id="Ps.cxlvii-p3.6" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.19" parsed="|Gen|3|19|0|0" passage="Ge 3:19">Gen. iii. 19</scripRef>. It is his, if
he be a worldly man, in respect of choice, his earth which he has
chosen for his portion, and on the things of which he has set his
affections. He shall go to his own place. Or, rather, it is his
earth because of the property he has in it; and though he has had
large possessions on earth a grave is all that will remain to him.
<i>The earth God has given to the children of men,</i> and great
striving there is about it, and, as a mark of their authority, men
<i>call their lands by their own names.</i> But, after a while, no
part of the earth will be their own but that in which the dead body
shall make its bed, and that shall be theirs <i>while the earth
remains.</i> But, when he returns to his earth, <i>in that very day
his thoughts perish;</i> all the projects and designs he had of
kindness to us vanish and are gone, and he cannot take one step
further in them; all his purposes are cut off and buried with him,
<scripRef id="Ps.cxlvii-p3.7" osisRef="Bible:Job.17.11" parsed="|Job|17|11|0|0" passage="Job 17:11">Job xvii. 11</scripRef>. And then
what becomes of our expectations from him? Princes are mortal, as
well as other men, and therefore we cannot have that assurance of
help from them which we may have from that Potentate who hath
immortality. <i>Cease from man, whose breath is in his nostrils</i>
and will not be there long.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Ps.cxlvii-p3.8" osisRef="Bible:Ps.146.5-Ps.146.10" parsed="|Ps|146|5|146|10" passage="Ps 146:5-10" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ps.146.5-Ps.146.10">
<h4 id="Ps.cxlvii-p3.9">Encouragement to Trust in
God.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Ps.cxlvii-p4">5 Happy <i>is he</i> that <i>hath</i> the God of
Jacob for his help, whose hope <i>is</i> in the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.cxlvii-p4.1">Lord</span> his God:   6 Which made heaven, and
earth, the sea, and all that therein <i>is:</i> which keepeth truth
for ever:   7 Which executeth judgment for the oppressed:
which giveth food to the hungry. The <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.cxlvii-p4.2">Lord</span> looseth the prisoners:   8 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.cxlvii-p4.3">Lord</span> openeth <i>the eyes of</i> the blind:
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.cxlvii-p4.4">Lord</span> raiseth them that are bowed
down: the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.cxlvii-p4.5">Lord</span> loveth the righteous:
  9 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.cxlvii-p4.6">Lord</span> preserveth the
strangers; he relieveth the fatherless and widow: but the way of
the wicked he turneth upside down.   10 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.cxlvii-p4.7">Lord</span> shall reign for ever, <i>even</i> thy God,
O Zion, unto all generations. Praise ye the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.cxlvii-p4.8">Lord</span>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cxlvii-p5">The psalmist, having cautioned us not to
trust in princes (because, if we do, we shall be miserably
disappointed), here encourages us to put our confidence in God,
because, if we do so, we shall be happily secured: <i>Happy is he
that has the God of Jacob for his help,</i> that has an interest in
his attributes and promises, and has them engaged for him, and
<i>whose hope is in the Lord his God.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cxlvii-p6">I. Let us take a view of the character here
given of those whom God will uphold. Those shall have God for their
help, 1. Who take him for their God, and serve and worship him
accordingly. 2. Who have their hope in him, and live a life of
dependence upon him, who have good thoughts of him, and encourage
themselves in him, when all other supports fail. Every believer may
look upon him as the God of Jacob, of the church in general, and
therefore may expect relief from him, in reference to public
distresses, and as his God in particular, and therefore may depend
upon him in all personal wants and straits. We must hope, (1.) In
the providence of God for all the good things we need, which relate
to the life that now is. (2.) In the grace of Christ for all the
good things which relate to the life that is to come. To this
especially the learned Dr. Hammond refers this and the following
verses, looking upon the latter part of this psalm to have a most
visible remarkable aspect towards the eternal Son of God in his
incarnation. He quotes one of the rabbies, who says of <scripRef id="Ps.cxlvii-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.146.10" parsed="|Ps|146|10|0|0" passage="Ps 146:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef> that it belongs to the
days of the Messiah. And that it does so he thinks will appear by
comparing <scripRef id="Ps.cxlvii-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.146.7-Ps.146.8" parsed="|Ps|146|7|146|8" passage="Ps 146:7,8"><i>v.</i> 7, 8</scripRef>,
with the characters Christ gives of the Messiah (<scripRef id="Ps.cxlvii-p6.3" osisRef="Bible:Matt.11.5-Matt.11.6" parsed="|Matt|11|5|11|6" passage="Mt 11:5,6">Matt. xi. 5, 6</scripRef>), <i>The blind receive their
sight, the lame walk;</i> and the closing words there, <i>Blessed
is he whosoever shall not be offended in me,</i> he thinks may very
well be supposed to refer to <scripRef id="Ps.cxlvii-p6.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.146.5" parsed="|Ps|146|5|0|0" passage="Ps 146:5"><i>v.</i>
5</scripRef>. <i>Happy is the man that hopes in the Lord his
God,</i> and who is not offended in him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cxlvii-p7">II. Let us take a view of the great
encouragements here given us to hope in <i>the Lord our God.</i> 1.
He is the <i>Maker of the world,</i> and therefore has all power in
himself, and the command of the powers of all the creatures, which,
being derived from him, depend upon him (<scripRef id="Ps.cxlvii-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.146.6" parsed="|Ps|146|6|0|0" passage="Ps 146:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>): <i>He made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that in them is,</i> and therefore his arm is not
shortened, that it cannot save. It is very applicable to Christ, by
whom God made the world, and <i>without whom was not any thing made
that was made.</i> It is a great support to faith that the Redeemer
of the world is the same that was the Creator of it, and therefore
has a good-will to it, a perfect knowledge of its case, and power
to help it. 2. He is a God of inviolable fidelity. We may venture
to take God's word, for he <i>keepeth truth for ever,</i> and
therefore no word of his shall fall to the ground; it is true
<i>from the beginning,</i> and therefore true <i>to the end.</i>
Our Lord Jesus is the Amen, <i>the faithful witness,</i> as well as
<i>the beginning,</i> the author and principle, <i>of the creation
of God,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.cxlvii-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:Rev.3.14" parsed="|Rev|3|14|0|0" passage="Re 3:14">Rev. iii. 14</scripRef>.
The keeping of God's truth for ever is committed to him, for <i>all
the promises</i> are in him <i>yea and amen.</i> 3. He is the
patron of injured innocency: <i>He pleads the cause of the
oppressed,</i> and (as we read it) he <i>executes judgment</i> for
them. He often does it in his providence, giving redress to those
that suffer wrong and clearing up their integrity. He will do it in
the judgment of the great day. The Messiah came to rescue the
children of men out of the hands of Satan the great oppressor, and,
all judgment being committed to him, the executing of judgment upon
persecutors is so among the rest, <scripRef id="Ps.cxlvii-p7.3" osisRef="Bible:Jude.1.15" parsed="|Jude|1|15|0|0" passage="Jude 1:15">Jude 15</scripRef>. 4. He is a bountiful benefactor to
the necessitous: <i>He gives food to the hungry;</i> so God does in
an ordinary way for the answering of the cravings of nature; so he
has done sometimes in an extraordinary way, as when ravens fed
Elijah; so Christ did more than once when he fed thousands
miraculously with that which was intended but for one meal or two
for his own family. This encourages us to hope in him as the
nourisher of our souls with the bread of life. 5. He is the author
of liberty to those that were bound: <i>The Lord looseth the
prisoners.</i> He brought Israel out of the house of bondage in
Egypt and afterwards in Babylon. The miracles Christ wrought, in
making the dumb to speak and the deaf to hear with that one word,
<i>Ephphatha—Be opened,</i> his cleansing lepers, and so
discharging them from their confinements, and his raising the dead
out of their graves, may all be included in this one of <i>loosing
the prisoners;</i> and we may take encouragement from those to hope
in him for that spiritual liberty which he came to proclaim,
<scripRef id="Ps.cxlvii-p7.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.61.1-Isa.61.2" parsed="|Isa|61|1|61|2" passage="Isa 61:1,2">Isa. lxi. 1, 2</scripRef>. 6. He
gives sight to those that have been long deprived of it; <i>The
Lord can open the eyes of the blind,</i> and has often given to his
afflicted people to see that comfort which before they were not
aware of; witness <scripRef id="Ps.cxlvii-p7.5" osisRef="Bible:Gen.21.19" parsed="|Gen|21|19|0|0" passage="Ge 21:19">Gen. xxi.
19</scripRef>, and the prophet's servant, <scripRef id="Ps.cxlvii-p7.6" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.6.17" parsed="|2Kgs|6|17|0|0" passage="2Ki 6:17">2 Kings vi. 17</scripRef>. But this has special
reference to Christ; for <i>since the world began was it not heard
that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind</i> till
Christ did it (<scripRef id="Ps.cxlvii-p7.7" osisRef="Bible:John.9.32" parsed="|John|9|32|0|0" passage="Joh 9:32">John ix. 32</scripRef>)
and thereby encouraged us to hope in him for spiritual
illumination. 7. He sets that straight which was crooked, and makes
those easy that were pained and ready to sink: He <i>raises those
that are bowed down,</i> by comforting and supporting them under
their burdens, and, in due time, removing their burdens. This was
literally performed by Christ when he made a poor woman straight
that had been <i>bowed together, and could in no wise lift up
herself</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.cxlvii-p7.8" osisRef="Bible:Luke.13.12" parsed="|Luke|13|12|0|0" passage="Lu 13:12">Luke xiii.
12</scripRef>); and he still does it by his grace, giving rest to
those that were weary and heavily laden, and raising up with his
comforts those that were humbled and cast down by convictions. 8.
He has a constant kindness for all good people: <i>The Lord loveth
the righteous,</i> and they may with the more confidence depend
upon his power when they are sure of his good-will. Our Lord Jesus
showed his love to the righteous <i>by fulfilling all
righteousness.</i> 9. He has a tender concern for those that stand
in special need of his care: <i>The Lord preserves the
strangers.</i> It ought not to pass without remark that the name of
<i>Jehovah</i> is repeated here five times in five lines, to
intimate that it is an almighty power (that of Jehovah) that is
engaged and exerted for the relief of the oppressed, and that it is
as much the glory of God to succour those that are in misery as it
is to <i>ride on the heavens by his name Jah,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.cxlvii-p7.9" osisRef="Bible:Ps.68.4" parsed="|Ps|68|4|0|0" passage="Ps 68:4">Ps. lxviii. 4</scripRef>. (1.) Strangers are
exposed, and are commonly destitute of friends, but <i>the Lord
preserves them,</i> that they be not run down and ruined. Many a
poor stranger has found the benefit of the divine protection and
been kept alive by it. (2.) <i>Widows and fatherless children,</i>
that have lost the head of the family, who took care of the affairs
of it, often fall into the hands of those that make a prey of them,
that will not do them justice, nay, that will do them injustice;
but <i>the Lord relieveth them,</i> and raiseth up friends for
them. See <scripRef id="Ps.cxlvii-p7.10" osisRef="Bible:Exod.22.22-Exod.22.23" parsed="|Exod|22|22|22|23" passage="Ex 22:22,23">Exod. xxii. 22,
23</scripRef>. Our Lord Jesus came into the world to help the
helpless, to receive Gentiles, strangers, into his kingdom, and
that with him poor sinners, that are as fatherless, <i>may find
mercy,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.cxlvii-p7.11" osisRef="Bible:Hos.14.3" parsed="|Hos|14|3|0|0" passage="Ho 14:3">Hos. xiv. 3</scripRef>. 10.
He will appear for the destruction of all those that oppose his
kingdom and oppress the faithful subjects of it: <i>The way of the
wicked he turns upside down,</i> and therefore let us <i>hope in
him,</i> and not be <i>afraid of the fury of the oppressor,</i> as
though he were <i>ready to destroy.</i> It is the glory of the
Messiah that he will subvert all the counsels of hell and earth
that militate against his church, so that, having him for us, we
need not fear any thing that can be done against us. 11. His
kingdom shall continue through all the revolutions of time, to the
utmost ages of eternity, <scripRef id="Ps.cxlvii-p7.12" osisRef="Bible:Ps.146.10" parsed="|Ps|146|10|0|0" passage="Ps 146:10"><i>v.</i>
10</scripRef>. Let <i>this</i> encourage us to trust in God at all
times that <i>the Lord shall reign for ever,</i> in spite of all
the malignity of the powers of darkness, <i>even thy God, O Zion!
unto all generations.</i> Christ is set King on the holy hill of
Zion, and his kingdom shall continue in an endless glory. It cannot
be destroyed by an invader; it shall not be left to a successor,
either to a succeeding monarch or a succeeding monarchy, but it
shall stand for ever. It is matter of unspeakable comfort that
<i>the Lord reigns</i> as Zion's God, as Zion's king, that the
Messiah is head over all things to the church, and will be so while
the world stands.</p>
</div></div2>