Bible Commentaries

PSALM 145

THE ARGUMENT

This Psalm and the rest which follow to the end are wholly laudatory, setting forth the praises of God. The excellency of this Psalm appears not only from the opinion of the Hebrew writers, but also from the care which the psalmist took to digest it into such accurate and alphabetical order, that it might be more easily fixed in the mind and memory of the reader.

David magnifieth God for his greatness and terrible acts, Psalms 145:1-7; for his goodness and everlasting kingdom, Psalms 145:8-13; for his care and providence over all, Psalms 145:14-16; and for his saving mercies to them that fear him, Psalms 145:17-21.

O King; or, the King, by way of eminency; the King of kings, the God by whom kings reign, and to whom I and all other kings owe subjection and obedience.

His greatness, in his being, majesty, and glory, and all perfections.

The people that live in one age shall relate them to their posterity, and so successively in all ages.

The glorious honour of thy majesty: here are divers words heaped together, to intimate that no words were sufficient to express it.

The memory of thy great goodness; the memorials of thy kindness to thy people, thy never to be forgotten blessings.

Is good to all; not to Israel only, but to all mankind, whose hearts he fills with food and gladness, as it is said, Acts 14:17; yea, to all his creatures, as it is in the next clause, to beasts as well as men. See Psalms 136:25 147:9.

All thy works shall praise thee; objectively, they give men and angels just occasion to praise thee.

Upholdeth all; either,

1. All that look up to him for help: or,

2. All that are upheld; whose support is not from themselves, nor from other men, but only from God’s’ powerful and good providence.

The eyes of all living creatures wait upon thee; expect and receive their supplies wholly from thy bounty. Expectation is here figuratively ascribed to brute creatures, as Psalms 104:27 Romans 8:22.

In due season; when they need it.

Or, as divers render it, and which is more agreeable to the order of the words in the Hebrew text, thou satisfiest every living thing with thy favour or good-will, i.e. with the fruits of thy bounty; the pronoun thy being easily and fitly understood out of the foregoing clause.

Holy; or rather, merciful, as this word most commonly signifies. There is a mixture of mercy in the most severe and terrible works of God in this life, judgment without mercy being reserved for the next life, James 2:13 Revelation 14:10.

Is nigh unto all them, to answer their prayers for relief,

that call upon him in truth; sincerely, or with an upright heart, trusting to him, and waiting upon him in his way.

Fulfil the desire, so far as it is agreeable to his own will, and convenient for their good; not inordinate desires, which God commonly denies to his people in mercy, and granteth to his enemies in anger.

Frequently in this world, but infallibly in the next.