Psalms 146:1-10

Psalms 146

DESCRIPTIVE TITLE

Twelve Reasons for Trusting in Jehovah.

ANALYSIS

Having, in Response to the Public Reader's Invitation, stirred up his Own Soul to Praise Jehovah all his Life Long (Psalms 146:1-2), the Psalmist urges a Caution against Trusting in Nobles (Psalms 146:3-4); and then (Psalms 146:5-10) Felicitates the Man who makes the God of Jacob his Helpfor a Series of Twelve Reasons, which he Poetically Unfolds.

(P.R.I.) Praise ye Yah.

1

Praise Jehovah O my soul!

2

I would fain praise Jehovah while I live,

I would harp[870] to my God while I have being.[871]

[870] Or: make melody.

[871] Cp. Psalms 104:33.

3

Do not ye trust in nobles

in a son of the earth-born who hath no salvation:[872]

[872] Or: deliverance.

4

Forth goeth his spirit[873] he returneth to his ground,

[873] Or: breath. Cp. Psalms 104:29-30.

in that day his thoughts[874] perish.[875]

[874] FabricationsAglen; purposesP.B. R.V. mgn.
[875] Similarly: Be not afraid. To-day he shall be lifted up, and tomorrow he shall in nowise be found, because he is returned unto his dust, and his thought is perished1Ma. 2:63 (R.V.)

5

How happy is he who hath the God of Jacob as his help,

whose hope is on Jehovah his God:

6

who made heavens and earth

the sea and all that is in them,

the One who keepeth truth to the ages;

7

who executeth justice for the oppressed,

who giveth bread to the hungry;
Jehovah who releaseth the bound,

8

Jehovah who giveth sight to the blind,

Jehovah who lifteth up the bowed down,
Jehovah who loveth the righteous,

9

Jehovah who preserveth sojourners,

fatherless and widow restoreth;

but the way of lawless ones he bendeth aside.[876]

[876] Thwarting it, and causing it to vanish. Cp. Psalms 1:6.

10

Jehovah reigneth to the ages,

Thy God O Zion to generation after generation.

(Nm.)[877]

[877] See 147 (beginning).

PARAPHRASE

Psalms 146

Praise the Lord! Yes, really praise Him!
2 I will praise Him as long as I live, yes, even with my dying breath.
3 Don-'t look to men for help; their greatest leaders fail;
4 For every man must die. His breathing stops, life ends, and in a moment all he planned for himself is ended.
5 But happy is the man who has the God of Jacob as his helper, whose hope is in the Lord his God
6 The God who made both earth and heaven, the seas and everything in them. He is the God who keeps every promise.
7 And gives justice to the poor and oppressed, and food to the hungry. He frees the prisoners,
8 And opens the eyes of the blind; He lifts the burdens from those bent down beneath their loads. For the Lord loves good men.
9 He protects the immigrants, and cares for the orphans and widows. But He turns topsy-turvy the plans of the, wicked.
10 The Lord will reign forever. O Jerusalem,[878] your God is King in every generation! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!

[878] Literally, Zion.

EXPOSITION

The indications of authorship contained in this psalm are probably best met by supposing the principal portion of it to have been penned by Hezekiah, and the caution against trusting in nobles to have been added in the days of Nehemiah. Setting aside for the moment the excepted verses (Psalms 146:3-4) the psalm as a whole admirably suits the time and spirit of Hezekiah: the individuality of the opening lines, together with the inclusion of instrumental music, well agrees with the strongly devout and musically accomplished personality of the good King; and so does the enthusiasm with which Jehovah's worthiness of his people's confidence is amplified in the later verses: we can almost hear him saying, Happy is the manyea, and I am that man; and then, as we read on, we are not only reminded of Hezekiah's favourite habit of alluding to Jehovah as maker of heaven and earth, but under nearly all the lines we can feel pulsating the rich experience of the same monarch, not failing to be reminded of the example which he had recently witnessed, in the overthrow of Sennacherib, of a lawless foreigner whose way had been bent aside into the pathless waste of destruction.

If this conclusion be accepted as sufficiently probable, then we shall naturally conclude that the caution against trusting in noblesimprobable from the pen of Hezekiahwas added after the exile, when, as remarked under Psalms 118, Nehemiah had good cause to distrust the nobles of Judah (Nehemiah 6:17-19).

It is a question of detailbut of some interest in exegesisto ask in what relation nobles (Psalms 146:3) stand to the common son of the earth-born mentioned in the next line: are nobles distinguished from common men, or simply declared to be themselves but common menmere mortals like the rest of mankind? If we make two classes out of the verse then nobles are left without any reason assigned why they should not be trusted. It seems better, therefore, to refrain from supplying a nor with the A.V. (and R.V.) (without acknowledgment of its being such) or an (or) with Dr., and to regard the second line as giving a conclusive reason why even nobles should not be trusted: as much as to sayeach of whom is a mere mortal like others, and what he may think to do for you, he may not live to accomplish.

Another question of still greater critical nicety, is whether it is better to translate ruah in Psalms 146:4 as breath or spirit. If the one implies the other, as suggested by a comparison of Genesis 2:7 with Ecclesiastes 12:7, then it does not really matterprovided the double inclusion, by marginal alternative or otherwise, be borne in mind.

Delitzsch well reminds us that this How happy of Psalms 146:5 is the last of twenty-five occurrences of the original word (which means that) in the psalms. He also beautifully remarks on Psalms 146:9 c: Only one line is devoted to this manifestation of Jahve in the capacity of penal judge. For He rules in love and wrath, with most delight, however, in love.

The critical reader will excuse the very elementary observationsubmitted to help the uncriticalthat it is sometimes convenient in the enumerations of the psalms, as elsewhere, to count the verbs which in their rich variety impart so much life to the composition: as for instance here:1 made, 2. keepeth, 3. executeth, 4. giveth, 5. releaseth, 6. giveth sight (lit. openeth), 7. lifteth up, 8. loveth, 9. preserveth, 10, restoreth, 11. bendeth aside, 12. reigneth. So that we are well within our right in entitling this psalmTwelve reasons for trusting in Jehovah.

And finally it may be assumed that no reader will fail to observe the keen appreciation of the gracious name Jehovah shewn by its five-fold emphatic repetition in Psalms 146:7-9.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1.

This psalm has some very helpful reasons for trusting in Jehovah, but before these are considered, the psalmist must be in the mood for praising God. How is this achieved?

2.

Who is the author, and what is the circumstance of this psalm?

3.

Why not trust in nobles?

4.

List six of the twelve reasons for trusting in Jehovah. Make these reasons personal.