Psalms 146:5

Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God: HAPPY IS HE THAT HATH THE GOD OF JACOB FOR HIS HELP - instead of 'trusting in princes, in whom there is no help' (Psalms 146:3: cf. Psalms 118:7; Psalms 144:15). Literally, 'in his help.' Compare Deuteronomy 33:26, "the God of Jeshurun rideth upon the heaven in thy help." The very name of God here [ 'Eel (H410), El] expresses strength, in contradistinction to human impotence....

5._Blessed is he_, _etc_. As it would not have been enough to reprove the sin, he submits the remedy upon which the proper correction of it depends; and this is, that the hopes of men are only stable and well-founded when they rest entirely upon God. For even the wicked sometimes come the length of acknowledging the folly of trust in man. Accordingly they are often angry with themselves for being so inconsiderate as to expect deliverance from men; but by neglecting the remedy, they are not extricated from their error. The Psalmist having condemned the infatuation, which we have seen to be natural to us all, wisely subjoins that they are blessed who trust in God. Jeremiah observes the same order. (Jeremiah 17:5.) “Cursed is he that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm,” etc.; and then — “Blessed is the man whose hope the Lord is.” When David pronounces those b

5-10 The psalmist encourages us to put confidence in God. We must hope in the providence of God for all we need as to this life, and in the grace of God for that which is to come. The God of heaven became a man that he might become our salvation. Though he died on the cross for our sins, and was laid in the grave, yet his thoughts of love to us did not perish; he rose again to fulfil them. When on earth, his miracles were examples of what he is still doing every day. He grants deliverance to captives bound in the chains of sin and Satan. He opens the eyes of the understanding. He feeds with the bread of life those who hunger for salvation; and he is the constant Friend of the poor in spirit, the helpless: with him poor sinners, that are as fatherless, find mercy; and his kingdom shall continue for ever. Then let sinners flee to him, and believers rejoice in him. And as the Lord shall rei...

Verse Psalms 146:5. _HAPPY_ IS HE _THAT_ HATH _THE GOD OF JACOB FOR HIS HELP_] While he that trusts in man is _miserable_, he that trusts in God is _happy_. _In the son of man_, בן אדם ben Adam, there is no help, תשועה teshuah, no _saving principle_. Every _son of Adam_ naturally comes into the world without this, and must continue so till the _Lord open the eyes of the blind_, Psalms 146:8; but a measure of light is given from that true Light _which lighteth every man_ _that cometh into the world_. This son of Adam returns to his earth, לאדמתו _leadmatho_, to _the ground_, from which he was taken; this refers directly to Genesis 2:7;...

HAPPY IS HE THAT HATH THE GOD OF JACOB FOR HIS HELP - Who may rely for protection on the God who defended Jacob in his travels and dangers. Or, perhaps the word Jacob is used here collectively to denote Israel - the Jewish people: the God whom they adore and worship, rather than the gods of the pagan. Compare Psalms 144:15, note; Psalms 54:4, note. WHOSE HOPE IS IN THE LORD HIS GOD - In Yahweh, worshipped as his God. That is, who truly worships Yahweh, or makes Yahweh his God....

EXPOSITION THE psalter ends with a cluster of "Hallelujah Psalms," five in number, all of them both beginning and ending with the phrase. In the Hebrew none of them has any" title;" but it is generally considered that the Septuagint title of the majority—Ἀγγαίου καὶ Ζεχαρίου—embodies a true tradition, and that they are the "Songs of the Return from the Captivity," added to the Psalter by the Prophets Haggai and Zechariah. They form a portion of the daily morning service of the Jews. Psalms 146:1, praises God as the only true Helper. Metrically, it fails into two portions—a short opening strophe of four verses (Psalms 146:1), and a second longer strophe of six verses (Psalms 146:5

HAPPY [IS HE] THAT [HATH] THE GOD OF JACOB FOR HIS HELP,.... The God of the patriarch Jacob, the Messiah, who is that God that fed him all his life, the Angel that redeemed him from all evil, with whom in the form of a man he wrestled, when he had power over God, and saw him face to face; the God of the posterity of Jacob, the Angel of Jehovah's presence, who went before them by day and night in the wilderness, and saved and carried them all the days of old; the God of spiritual Jacob, or Israel, the church of the chosen, redeemed, and called ones; the God of every Israelite indeed, of every true believer, as he was Thomas's Lord and God: now happy is that man that has him for his help, who helps his servant Israel, all his people out of the sad estate of sin and misery into which they are brought; helps them to all the blessings of grace, and to all the supplies of it in their time of n...

Psalms 146:1. _Praise ye the LORD._ Or, «Hallelujah.» I am sorry to see that great word, Hallelujah, Hallelu-Jah, praise to Jah, Jehovah, become so hackneyed as it is, by talk about «Hallelujah lasses», and Hallelujah I know not what. The Jews will not even pronounce the word Jah, or write it; it seems a great pity that it should be thus draggled in the dirt by Gentiles. «Praise ye the Lord.» Whenever you make use of the word Hallelujah, let it be with the due reverence which should be given to that blessed name, for remember «the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.» Psalms 146:1. _Praise the LORD, O my soul._ Whatever we exhort others to do, we should be ready to do ourselves; yea, our own soul should praise the Lord most of all, since, i

PSALM 144-150 THE HALLELUJAH CHORUS The five Psalms with which this marvellous book closeth are all Psalms of praise. The word “praise” is found in the Hebrew thirty-seven times. Each one of these Psalms begins and ends with a hallelujah; there are ten hallelujahs. First is a hallelujah which celebrates Himself, He who is the God of Jacob. Precious vision of Him who delights to call Himself “the God of Jacob,” the God who loves the sinner and has redeemed His people. Who is He? The Creator of all, by whom and for whom all things were made (Psalms 146:6). The Lord of judgment and redemption; the Lord who looseth the prisoners, openeth the eyes of the blind, raiseth them that are bowed down--and He will reign for ever. Hallelujah. Psalms 147:1 is the hallelujah for what He has done for Hi

CXLVI. This Ps., like the remaining Pss. to the end of the Psalter, begins and closes with the word Hallelujah (Praise Yah). These Pss. may originally have formed a collection by themselves. The theme of the Ps. is much the same as that of Psalms 105. It is vain to trust man and a blessed thing to trust in God, who made the heaven and the earth, who protects those who love Him and relieves the desolate and oppressed....