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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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<h3><a href="http://www.biblesnet.com" target="_blank">Back to Biblesnet.com Home Page</a>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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[<A HREF="MHC19149.HTM">Previous</A>]
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<TD ALIGN="RIGHT" VALIGN="TOP">
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1710)
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</TD></TR></TABLE>
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>P S A L M S</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>PSALM CL.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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The first and last of the psalms have both the same number of verses,
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are both short, and very memorable. But the scope of them is very
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different: the first psalm is an elaborate instruction in our duty, to
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prepare us for the comforts of our devotion; this is all rapture and
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transport, and perhaps was penned on purpose to be the conclusion of
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these sacred songs, to show what is the design of them all, and that is
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to assist us in praising God. The psalmist had been himself full of the
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praises of God, and here he would fain fill all the world with them:
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again and again he calls, "Praise the Lord, praise him, praise him," no
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less than thirteen times in these six short verses. He shows,
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I. For what, and upon what account, God is to be praised
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+150:1,2">ver. 1, 2</A>),
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II. How, and with what expressions of joy, God is to be praised,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+150:3-5">ver. 3-5</A>.
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III. Who must praise the Lord; it is every one's business,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+150:6">ver. 6</A>.
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In singing this psalm we should endeavour to get our hearts much
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affected with the perfections of God and the praises with which he is
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and shall be for ever attended, throughout all ages, world without
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end.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Ps150_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps150_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps150_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps150_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps150_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps150_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>An Invitation to Praise God; All Creatures Called to Praise God.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1> <! -- Date --> </FONT></TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 Praise ye the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him
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in the firmament of his power.
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2 Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his
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excellent greatness.
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3 Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the
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psaltery and harp.
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4 Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with
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stringed instruments and organs.
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5 Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high
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sounding cymbals.
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6 Let every thing that hath breath praise the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>. Praise ye
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the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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We are here, with the greatest earnestness imaginable, excited to
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praise God; if, as some suppose, this psalm was primarily intended for
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the Levites, to stir them up to do their office in the house of the
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Lord, as singers and players on instruments, yet we must take it as
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speaking to us, who are made to our God spiritual priests. And the
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repeated inculcating of the call thus intimates that it is a great and
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necessary duty, a duty which we should be much employed and much
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enlarged in, but which we are naturally backward to and cold in, and
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therefore need to be brought to, and held to, by precept upon precept,
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and line upon line. Observe here,</P>
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<P>
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I. Whence this tribute of praise arises, and out of what part of his
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dominion it especially issues. It comes,
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1. From <I>his sanctuary;</I> praise him there. Let his priests, let
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his people, that attend there, attend him with their praises. Where
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should he be praised, but there where he does, in a special manner,
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both manifest his glory and communicate his grace? <I>Praise God</I>
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upon the account of <I>his sanctuary,</I> and the privileges which we
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enjoy by having that among us,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+37:26">Ezek. xxxvii. 26</A>.
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<I>Praise God in his holy ones</I> (so some read it); we must take
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notice of the image of God as it appears on those that are sanctified,
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and love them for the sake of that image; and when we praise them we
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must praise God in them.
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2. From <I>the firmament of his power. Praise him</I> because of his
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power and glory which appear in the firmament, its vastness, its
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brightness, and its splendid furniture; and because of the powerful
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influences it has upon this earth. Let those that have their dwelling
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<I>in the firmament of his power,</I> even the holy angels, lead in
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this good work. Some, by the <I>sanctuary,</I> as well as by <I>the
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firmament of his power,</I> understand the highest heavens, the
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residence of his glory; that is indeed his sanctuary, his holy temple,
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and there he is praised continually, in a far better manner than we can
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praise him. And it is a comfort to us, when we find we do it so poorly,
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that it is so well done there.</P>
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<P>
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II. Upon what account this tribute of praise is due, upon many
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accounts, particularly,
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1. The works of his power
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+150:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>):
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<I>Praise him for his mighty acts;</I> for <I>his mightinesses</I> (so
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the word is), for all the instances of his might, the power of his
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providence, the power of his grace, what he has done in the creation,
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government, and redemption of the world, for the children of men in
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general, for his own church and children in particular.
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2. The glory and majesty of his being: <I>Praise him according to his
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excellent greatness, according to the multitude of his magnificence</I>
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(so Dr. Hammond reads it); not that our praises can bear any
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proportion to God's greatness, for it is infinite, but, since he is
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greater than we can express or conceive, we must raise our conceptions
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and expressions to the highest degree we can attain to. Be not afraid
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of saying too much in the praises of God, as we often do in praising
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even great and good men. <I>Deus non patitur hyperbolum--We cannot
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speak hyperbolically of God;</I> all the danger is of saying too little
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and therefore, when we have done our utmost, we must own that though we
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have praised him in consideration of, yet not in proportion to, <I>his
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excellent greatness.</I></P>
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<P>
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III. In what manner this tribute must be paid, with all the kinds of
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musical instruments that were then used in the temple-service,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+150:3-5"><I>v.</I> 3-5</A>.
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It is well that we are not concerned to enquire what sort of
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instruments these were; it is enough that they were well known then.
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Our concern is to know,
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1. That hereby is intimated how full the psalmist's heart was of the
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praises of God and how desirous he was that this good work might go on.
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2. That in serving God we should spare no cost nor pains.
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3. That the best music in God's ears is devout and pious affections,
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<I>non musica chordula, sed cor--not a melodious string, but a
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melodious heart.</I> Praise God with a strong faith; praise him with
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holy love and delight; praise him with an entire confidence in Christ;
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praise him with a believing triumph over the powers of darkness; praise
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him with an earnest desire towards him and a full satisfaction in him;
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praise him by a universal respect to all his commands; praise him by a
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cheerful submission to all his disposals; praise him by rejoicing in
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his love and solacing yourselves in his great goodness; praise him by
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promoting the interests of the kingdom of his grace; praise him by a
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lively hope and expectation of the kingdom of his glory.
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4. That, various instruments being used in praising God, it should yet
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be done with an exact and perfect harmony; they must not hinder, but
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help one another. The New-Testament concert, instead of this, is
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<I>with one mind and one mouth to glorify God,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+15:6">Rom. xv. 6</A>.</P>
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<P>
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IV. Who must pay this tribute
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+150:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>):
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<I>Let every thing that has breath praise the Lord.</I> He began with a
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call to those that had a place in his sanctuary and were employed in
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the temple-service; but he concludes with a call to all the children of
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men, in prospect of the time when the Gentiles should be taken into the
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church, and <I>in every place,</I> as acceptably as at Jerusalem,
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<I>this incense should be offered,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mal+1:11">Mal. i. 11</A>.
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Some think that in <I>every thing that has breath</I> here we must
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include the inferior creatures (as
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+7:22">Gen. vii. 22</A>),
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all <I>in whose nostrils was the breath of life.</I> They praise God
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according to their capacity. The singing of birds is a sort of praising
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God. The brutes do in effect say to man, "We would praise God if we
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could; do you do it for us." John in vision heard a song of praise from
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<I>every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the
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earth,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+5:13">Rev. v. 13</A>.
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Others think that only the children of men are meant; for into them God
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has in a more peculiar manner <I>breathed the breath of life,</I> and
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they have become <I>living souls,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+2:7">Gen. ii. 7</A>.
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Now that the gospel is ordered to be preached <I>to every creature,</I>
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to every human creature, it is required that every human creature
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praise the Lord. What have we our breath, our spirit, for, but to
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spend it in praising God; and how can we spend it better? Prayers are
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called <I>our breathings,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:56">Lam. iii. 56</A>.
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Let every one that breathes towards God in prayer, finding the benefit
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of that, breathe forth his praises too. Having breath, let the praises
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of God perfume our breath; let us be in this work as in our element;
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let it be to us as the air we breathe in, which we could not live
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without. Having our breath in our nostrils, let us consider that it is
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still going forth, and will shortly go and not return. Since therefore
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we must shortly breathe our last, while we have breath let us praise
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the Lord, and then we shall breathe our last with comfort, and, when
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death runs us out of breath, we shall remove to a better state to
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breathe God's praises in a freer better air.</P>
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<P>
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The first three of the five books of psalms (according to the Hebrew
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division) concluded with <I>Amen and Amen,</I> the fourth with <I>Amen,
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Hallelujah,</I> but the last, and in it the whole book, concludes with
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only <I>Hallelujah,</I> because the last six psalms are wholly taken up
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in praising God and there is not a word of complaint or petition in
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them. The nearer good Christians come to their end the fuller they
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should be of the praises of God. Some think that this last psalm is
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designed to represent to us the work of glorified saints in heaven, who
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are there continually praising God, and that the musical instruments
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here said to be used are no more to be understood literally than the
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gold, and pearls, and precious stones, which are said to adorn the New
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Jerusalem,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+21:18,19">Rev. xxi. 18, 19</A>.
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But, as those intimate that the glories of heaven are the most
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excellent glories, so these intimate that the praises the saints offer
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there are the most excellent praises. Prayers will there be swallowed
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up in everlasting praises; there will be no intermission in praising
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God, and yet no weariness--hallelujahs for ever repeated, and yet still
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new songs. Let us often take a pleasure in thinking what glorified
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saints are doing in heaven, what those are doing whom we have been
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acquainted with on earth, but who have gone before us thither; and let
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it not only make us long to be among them, but quicken us to do this
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part of the will of God on earth as those do it that are in heaven. And
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let us spend as much of our time as may be in this good work because in
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it we hope to spend a joyful eternity. <I>Hallelujah</I> is the word
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there
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+19:1,3">Rev. xix. 1, 3</A>);
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let us echo to it now, as those that hope to join in it shortly.
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<I>Hallelujah, praise you the Lord.</I></P>
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<TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP">
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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[<A HREF="MHC19149.HTM">Previous</A>]
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<TD ALIGN="RIGHT" VALIGN="TOP">
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1710)
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<!--Matthew_Henry's_Commentary_on_the_Whole_Bible:_Psalms_CL.--><a href="http://www.biblesnet.com" target="_blank"><b>Back to Bibles Net . Com - Online Christian Library </b></a><br>
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