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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1710)
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>P S A L M S</B></FONT>
<BR>
<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>PSALM CXI.</FONT>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
This and divers of the psalms that follow it seem to have been penned
by David for the service of the church in their solemn feasts, and not
upon any particular occasion. This is a psalm of praise. The title of
it is "Hallelujah--Praise you the Lord," intimating that we must address
ourselves to the use of this psalm with hearts disposed to praise God.
It is composed alphabetically, each sentence beginning with a several
letter of the Hebrew alphabet, in order exactly, two sentences to each
verse, and three a piece to the last two. The psalmist, exhorting to
praise God,
I. Sets himself for an example,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+111:1">ver. 1</A>.
II. Furnishes us with matter for praise from the works of God.
1. The greatness of his works and the glory of them.
2. The righteousness of them.
3. The goodness of them.
4. The power of them.
5. The conformity of them to his word of promise.
6. The perpetuity of them. These observations are intermixed,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+111:2-9">ver. 2-9</A>.
III. He recommends the holy fear of God, and conscientious obedience to
his commands, as the most acceptable way of praising God,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+111:10">ver. 10</A>.</P>
</FONT>
<A NAME="Ps111_1"> </A>
<A NAME="Ps111_2"> </A>
<A NAME="Ps111_3"> </A>
<A NAME="Ps111_4"> </A>
<A NAME="Ps111_5"> </A>
<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Excellence of the Divine Works.</I></FONT></TD>
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1> <! -- Date --> </FONT></TD></TR>
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
<FONT SIZE=+1>1 Praise ye the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>. I will praise the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> with <I>my</I> whole
heart, in the assembly of the upright, and <I>in</I> the congregation.
&nbsp; 2 The works of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> <I>are</I> great, sought out of all them
that have pleasure therein.
&nbsp; 3 His work <I>is</I> honourable and glorious: and his righteousness
endureth for ever.
&nbsp; 4 He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered: the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>
<I>is</I> gracious and full of compassion.
&nbsp; 5 He hath given meat unto them that fear him: he will ever be
mindful of his covenant.
</FONT></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
The title of the psalm being <I>Hallelujah,</I> the psalmist (as every
author ought to have) has an eye to his title, and keeps to his
text.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
I. He resolves to praise God himself,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+111:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>.
What duty we call others to we must oblige and excite ourselves to;
nay, whatever others do, whether they will praise God or no, we and our
houses must determine to do it, we and our hearts; for such is the
psalmist's resolution here: <I>I will praise the Lord with my whole
heart.</I> My heart, my whole heart, being devoted to his honour, shall
be employed in this work; and this <I>in the assembly,</I> or secret,
<I>of the upright,</I> in the cabinet-council, <I>and in the
congregation</I> of Israelites. Note, We must praise God both in
private and in public, in less and greater assemblies, in our own
families and in the courts of the Lord's house; but in both it is most
comfortable to do it in concert with the upright, who will heartily
join in it. Private meetings for devotion should be kept up as well as
more public and promiscuous assemblies.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
II. He recommends to us the <I>works of the Lord</I> as the proper
subject of our meditations when we are praising him--the dispensations
of his providence towards the world, towards the church, and towards
particular persons.
1. God's works are very magnificent, great like himself; there is
nothing in them that is mean or trifling: they are the products of
infinite wisdom and power, and we must say this upon the first view of
them, before we come to enquire more particularly into them, that the
<I>works of the Lord are great,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+111:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>.
There is something in them surprising, and that strikes an awe upon us.
All the <I>works of the Lord</I> are spoken of as one
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+111:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>);
it is <I>his work,</I> such is the beauty and harmony of Providence and
so admirably do all its dispensations centre in one design; it was
cried to <I>the wheels, O wheel!</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+10:13">Ezek. x. 13</A>.
Take all together, and it is <I>honourable and glorious,</I> and such
as becomes him.
2. They are entertaining and exercising to the inquisitive--<I>sought
out of all those that have pleasure therein.</I> Note,
(1.) All that truly love God have pleasure in his works, and reckon all
well that he does; nor do their thoughts dwell upon any subject with
more delight than on the works of God, which the more they are looked
into the more they give us of a pleasing surprise.
(2.) Those that have pleasure in the works of God will not take up with
a superficial transient view of them, but will diligently search into
them and observe them. In studying both natural and political history
we should have this in our eye, to discover the greatness and glory of
God's works.
(3.) These works of God, that are humbly and diligently sought into,
shall be <I>sought out;</I> those that <I>seek shall find</I> (so some
read); <I>they are found of all those that have pleasure in them,</I>
or found in all their parts, designs, purposes, and several
concernments (so Dr. Hammond), for the <I>secret of the Lord is with
those that fear him,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+25:14">Ps. xxv. 14</A>.
3. They are all justly and holy; <I>His righteousness endures for
ever.</I> Whatever he does, he never did, nor ever will do, any wrong
to any of his creatures; and <I>therefore</I> his works <I>endure for
ever</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+3:14">Eccl. iii. 14</A>)
because the righteousness of them endures.
4. They are admirable and memorable, fit to be registered and kept on
record. Much that we do is so trifling that it is not fit to be spoken
of or told again; the greatest kindness is to forget it. But notice is
to be taken of God's works, and an account to be kept of them
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+111:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>).
<I>He has made his wonderful works to be remembered;</I> he has done
that which is worthy to be remembered, which cannot but be remembered,
and he has instituted ways and means for the keeping of some of them in
remembrance, as the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt by the passover.
<I>He has made himself a memorial by his wonderful works</I> (so some
read it); see
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+63:10">Isa. lxiii. 10</A>.
By that which God did with his <I>glorious arm he made himself an
everlasting name.</I>
5. They are very kind. In them the Lord shows that he is <I>gracious
and full of compassion.</I> As of the works of creation, so of the
works of providence, we must say, They are not only all very great, but
all very good. Dr. Hammond takes this to be the name which God has made
to himself by his wonderful works, the same with that which he
proclaimed to Moses, <I>The Lord God is gracious and merciful,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+24:6">Exod. xxiv. 6</A>.
God's pardoning sin is the most wonderful of all his works and which
ought to be remembered to his glory. It is a further instance of his
grace and compassion that <I>he has given meat to those that fear
him,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+111:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>.
He gives them their daily bread, food convenient for them; so he does
to others by common providence, but to those that fear him he gives it
by covenant and in pursuance of the promise, for it follows, <I>He will
be ever mindful of his covenant;</I> so that they can taste
covenant-love even in common mercies. Some refer this to the manna with
which God fed his people Israel in the wilderness, others to the spoil
they got from the Egyptians when they came out with great substance,
according to the promise,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+15:14">Gen. xv. 14</A>.
When God <I>broke the heads of leviathan</I> he gave him to be <I>meat
to his people,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+74:14">Ps. lxxiv. 14</A>.
<I>He has given</I> prey <I>to those that fear him</I> (so the margin
has it), not only fed them, but enriched them, and given their enemies
to be a prey to them.
6. They are earnests of what he will do, according to his promise:
<I>He will ever be mindful of his covenant,</I> for he has ever been
so; and, as he never did, so he never will, let one jot or tittle of it
fall to the ground. Though God's people have their infirmities, and are
often unmindful of his commands, yet he <I>will ever be mindful of his
covenant.</I></P>
<A NAME="Ps111_6"> </A>
<A NAME="Ps111_7"> </A>
<A NAME="Ps111_8"> </A>
<A NAME="Ps111_9"> </A>
<A NAME="Ps111_10"> </A>
<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Happiness of the Righteous.</I></FONT></TD>
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1> <! -- Date --> </FONT></TD></TR>
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
<FONT SIZE=+1>6 He hath showed his people the power of his works, that he may
give them the heritage of the heathen.
&nbsp; 7 The works of his hands <I>are</I> verity and judgment; all his
commandments <I>are</I> sure.
&nbsp; 8 They stand fast for ever and ever, <I>and are</I> done in truth
and uprightness.
&nbsp; 9 He sent redemption unto his people: he hath commanded his
covenant for ever: holy and reverend <I>is</I> his name.
&nbsp; 10 The fear of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> <I>is</I> the beginning of wisdom: a good
understanding have all they that do <I>his commandments:</I> his
praise endureth for ever.
</FONT></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
We are here taught to give glory to God,</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
I. For the great things he has done for his people, for his people
Israel, of old and of late: <I>He has shown his people the power of his
works</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+111:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>),
in what he has wrought for them; many a time he has given proofs of his
omnipotence, and shown them what he can do, and that there is nothing
too hard for him to do. Two things are specified to show <I>the power
of his works:</I>--
1. The possession God gave to Israel in the land of Canaan, <I>that he
might give them,</I> or in giving them, <I>the heritage of the
heathen.</I> This he did in Joshua's time, when the seven nations were
subdued, and in David's time, when the neighbouring nations were many
of them brought into subjection to Israel and became tributaries to
David. Herein God showed his sovereignty, in disposing of kingdoms as
he pleases, and his might, in making good his disposals. If God will
make the heritage of the heathen to be the heritage of Israel, who can
either arraign his counsel or stay his hand?
2. The many deliverances which he wrought for his people when by their
iniquities they had sold themselves into the hand of their enemies
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+111:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>):
<I>He sent redemption unto his people,</I> not only out of Egypt at
first, but often afterwards; and these redemptions were typical of the
great redemption which in the fulness of time was to be wrought out by
the Lord Jesus, that redemption in Jerusalem which so many waited
for.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
II. For the stability both of his word and of his works, which assure
us of the great things he will do for them.
1. What God has done shall never be undone. He will not undo it
himself, and men and devils cannot
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+111:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>):
<I>The works of his hand are verity and judgment</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+111:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>),
that is, they <I>are done in truth and uprightness;</I> all he does is
consonant to the eternal rules and reasons of equity, all according to
the counsel of his wisdom and the purpose of his will, all well done
and therefore there is nothing to be altered or amended, but his works
are firm and unchangeable. Upon the beginning of his works we may
depend for the perfecting of them; work that is done properly will
last, will neither go to decay nor sink under the stress that is laid
upon it.
2. What God has said shall never be unsaid: <I>All his commandments
are sure,</I> all straight and therefore all steady. His purposes, the
rule of his actions, shall all have their accomplishment: <I>Has he
spoken, and will he not make it good?</I> No doubt he will; whether he
commands light or darkness, it is done as he commands. His precepts,
the rule of our actions, are unquestionably just and good, and
therefore unchangeable and not to be repealed; his promises and
threatenings are all sure, and will be made good; nor shall the
unbelief of man make either the one or the other of no effect. They are
established, and therefore <I>they stand fast for ever and ever,</I>
and the scripture cannot be broken. The wise God is never put upon new
counsels, nor obliged to take new measures, either in his laws or in
his providences. All is said, as all is done, in truth and
uprightness, and therefore it is immutable. Men's folly and falsehood
make them <I>unstable in all their ways,</I> but infinite wisdom and
truth for ever exclude retraction and revocation: <I>He has commanded
his covenant for ever.</I> God's covenant is commanded, for he has made
it as one that has an incontestable authority to prescribe both what we
must do and what we must expect, and an unquestionable ability to
perform both what he has promised in the blessings of the covenant and
what he has threatened in the curses of it,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+105:8">Ps. cv. 8</A>.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
III. For the setting up and establishing of religion among men. Because
<I>holy and reverend is his name, and the fear of</I> him <I>is the
beginning of wisdom,</I> therefore <I>his praise endureth for ever,</I>
that is, he is to be everlastingly praised.
1. Because the discoveries of religion tend so much to his honour.
Review what he has made known of himself in his word and in his works,
and you will see, and say, that God is great and greatly to be feared;
for his name is holy, his infinite purity and rectitude appear in all
that whereby he has made himself known, and because it is holy
therefore it is reverend, and to be thought of and mentioned with a
holy awe. Note, What is holy is reverend; the angels have an eye to
God's holiness when they cover their faces before him, and nothing is
more man's honour than his sanctification. It is in his holy places
that God appears most terrible,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+68:35,Le+10:3">Ps. lxviii. 35; Lev. x. 3</A>.
2. Because the dictates of religion tend so much to man's happiness. We
have reason to praise God that the matter is so well contrived that our
reverence of him and obedience to him are as much our interest as they
are our duty.
(1.) Our reverence of him is so: <I>The fear of the Lord is the
beginning of wisdom.</I> It is not only reasonable that we should fear
God, because his name is reverend and his nature is holy, but it is
advantageous to us. It is wisdom; it will direct us to speak and act as
becomes us, in a consistency with ourselves, and for our own benefit.
It is the head of wisdom, that is (as we read it), it <I>is the
beginning of wisdom.</I> Men can never begin to be wise till they begin
to fear God; all true wisdom takes its rise from true religion, and has
its foundation in it. Or, as some understand it, it is the chief
wisdom, and the most excellent, the first in dignity. It is the
principal wisdom, and the principal of wisdom, to worship God and give
honour to him as our Father and Master. Those manage well who always
act under the government of his holy fear.
(2.) Our obedience to him is so: <I>A good understanding have all those
that do his commandments.</I> Where the fear of the Lord rules in the
heart there will be a constant conscientious care to keep his
commandments, not to talk of them, but to do them; and such have a good
understanding, that is,
[1.] They are well understood; their obedience is graciously accepted
as a plain indication of their mind that they do indeed fear God.
Compare
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+3:4">Prov. iii. 4</A>,
<I>So shalt thou find favour and good understanding.</I> God and man
will look upon those as meaning well, and approve of them, who make
conscience of their duty, though they have their mistakes. What is
honestly intended shall be well taken.
[2.] They understand well. <I>First,</I> It is a sign that they do
understand well. The most obedient are accepted as the most
intelligent; those understand themselves and their interest best that
make God's law their rule and are in every thing ruled by it. A great
understanding those have that know God's commandments and can discourse
learnedly of them, but a good understanding have those that do them and
walk according to them. <I>Secondly,</I> It is the way to understand
better: <I>A good understanding are they to all that do them;</I> the
fear of the Lord and the laws of that give men a good understanding,
and are able to make them <I>wise unto salvation. If any man will do
his will, he shall know</I> more and more clearly of the doctrine of
Christ,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+7:17">John vii. 17</A>.
<I>Good success have all those that do them</I> (so the margin),
according to what was promised to Joshua if he would observe to do
according to the law.
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jos+1:8">Josh. i. 8</A>,
<I>Then thou shalt make thy way prosperous and shalt have good
success.</I> We have reason to praise God, to praise him for ever, for
putting man into such a fair way to happiness. Some apply the last
words rather to the good man who fears the Lord than to the good God:
<I>His praise endures for ever.</I> It is <I>not of men</I> perhaps,
<I>but</I> it is <I>of God</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+2:29">Rom. ii. 29</A>),
and that praise which is of God endures for ever when the praise of men
is withered and gone.</P>
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