INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 103 A PSALM OF DAVID. The Targum adds, "spoken in prophecy,'' as doubtless it was, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Some think it was written by David, after a fit of illness, and his recovery from it, since he speaks of his diseases being healed, and his youth rene... [ Continue Reading ]
BLESS THE LORD, O MY SOUL,.... His better part, his soul, which comes immediately from God, and returns to him, which is immaterial and immortal, and of more worth than the world: God is to be served with the best we have; as with the best of our substance, so with the best of our persons; and it is... [ Continue Reading ]
BLESS THE LORD, O MY SOUL,.... Which is repeated to show the importance of the service, and the vehement desire of the psalmist, that his soul should be engaged in it: AND FORGET NOT ALL HIS BENEFITS; not any of them; the least of them are not to be forgotten, being such as men are altogether unwor... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO FORGIVETH ALL THINE INIQUITIES,.... The psalmist explains here what he means by benefits, and gives a particular enumeration of them; and begins with the blessing of pardon, which is a special and peculiar benefit; it is according to the riches of divine grace, and the multitude of tender mercie... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO REDEEMETH THY LIFE FROM DESTRUCTION,.... Not from temporal destruction, to which the natural life is subject, through diseases, dangerous occurrences, and the malice of enemies; to be delivered from which is a blessing, and for which God is to be praised; but from eternal destruction, the destru... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO SATISFIETH THY MOUTH WITH GOOD THINGS,.... With the good things in the heart of God, with his favour and lovingkindness, as with marrow and fatness; with the good things in the hands of Christ, with the fulness of grace in him, with pardon, righteousness, and salvation by him; with the good thin... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD EXECUTETH RIGHTEOUSNESS AND JUDGMENT FOR ALL THAT ARE OPPRESSED. Not only for the Israelites oppressed by the Egyptians, though the psalmist might have them in his view, by what follows; for whom the Lord did justice, by delivering them out of the hands of their oppressors, and by punishing... [ Continue Reading ]
HE MADE KNOWN HIS WAYS UNTO MOSES,.... The ways in which he himself walks, the steps and methods which he has taken to show forth his glory; his way in creation, and the order of it, as in Genesis 1:1, for though, by the light of nature, it might be known that God created all things; yet, without a... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD IS MERCIFUL AND GRACIOUS,.... So he made himself known to Moses, Exodus 34:6, and so David found him to be, and therefore calls upon his soul to bless his name. God is "merciful" in the most tender and affectionate manner; he has bowels of mercy, which yearn towards his people, as those of... [ Continue Reading ]
HE WILL NOT ALWAYS CHIDE,.... He sometimes does chide his children, though never but when they have done a fault; always for their sins, in order to bring them to a sense and acknowledgment of them, and to depart from them; not for chiding sake, as some parents, to gratify their passion and ill humo... [ Continue Reading ]
HE HATH NOT DEALT WITH US AFTER OUR SINS,.... God deals with his people, and deals with them roundly, for their sins, reproving them by his Spirit, and by his ministers, and by his chastising rod; but not after or according to them, or as they deserve; in this David acknowledges himself and other sa... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR AS THE HEAVEN IS HIGH ABOVE THE EARTH,.... Which is the greatest distance known, or can be conceived of; the space between the heaven and the earth is seemingly almost infinite; and nothing can more illustrate the mercy of God, which reaches to the heavens, and is in heaven; though this is but a... [ Continue Reading ]
AS FAR AS THE EAST IS FROM THE WEST,.... Which Kimchi thinks is mentioned because it contains the length of the habitable world; and therefore it is not said as far as the north is from the south; since a man can go from east to west, but not from north to south, because of the extreme heat and cold... [ Continue Reading ]
LIKE AS A FATHER PITIETH HIS CHILDREN,.... When in any affliction, disorder, or distress: the Lord stands in the relation of a Father to his people; they are his children by adopting grace, through the covenant of grace with them; by a sovereign act of his own will he puts them among the children, p... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR HE KNOWETH OUR FRAME,.... The outward frame of their bodies, what brittle ware, what earthen vessels, they be; he being the potter, they the clay, he knows what they are able to bear, and what not; that if he lays his hand too heavy, or strikes too hard, or repeats his strokes too often, they wi... [ Continue Reading ]
AS FOR MAN, HIS DAYS ARE AS GRASS,.... He himself is like the grass which springs out of the earth; continues on it for a time, and then drops into it; the continuance of the grass is very short, it flourishes in the morning, is cut down at evening, and withers; see Psalms 90:5. As a flower of the... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE WIND PASSETH OVER IT, AND IT IS GONE,.... A stormy wind, as the Targum, which tears it up by its roots, or blows off the flower, and it is seen no more; or a blighting easterly wind, which, blowing on it, shrivels it up, and it dies at once; such an one as blasted the seven ears of corn in P... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THE MERCY OF THE LORD IS FROM EVERLASTING TO EVERLASTING UPON THEM THAT FEAR HIM,.... In opposition to the frailty of man, the stability and duration of the mercy of God is observed. This reaches from one eternity to another; it is from everlasting in the heart of God: it appeared in the choice... [ Continue Reading ]
TO SUCH AS KEEP HIS COVENANT,.... The covenant of grace, which is peculiarly the Lord's covenant, as distinct from man's; and which he keeps himself, and is ever mindful of it. This he makes known to his people at conversion; his secret is with them, and he shows them his covenant; the blessings and... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD HATH PREPARED HIS THRONE IN THE HEAVENS,.... The heaven is his throne; here he sits enthroned in all the glory of his majesty, with all his attendants upon him, and courtiers about him. The Lord Christ is now in heaven; and where he will continue to the restitution of all things, and from w... [ Continue Reading ]
BLESS THE LORD, YE HIS ANGELS,.... For their creation, being made by him; for their preservation, living, moving, and having their being in him; and for their happiness, in which they are continued, owing to their being chosen of God in Christ, and to their confirmation by Christ. These are always e... [ Continue Reading ]
BLESS YE THE LORD, ALL YE HIS HOSTS,.... Which some understand of the sun, moon, and stars, sometimes called the hosts of heaven; and who in their way bless and praise the Lord; see Psalms 148:2. Others, of the angels, as before; who are sometimes styled the heavenly host, Luke 2:13, and may be so... [ Continue Reading ]
BLESS THE LORD, ALL HIS WORKS, IN ALL PLACES OF HIS DOMINION,.... Which some interpret of all his creatures, animate or inanimate, rational or irrational, throughout the whole world, which is all under his government; and who all of them, objectively, bless and praise the Lord, Psalms 148:7. Or rath... [ Continue Reading ]