Bible Commentaries
Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible
Psalms 111
Pss. CXI. and CXII. These are sister Pss. as is shown by their structure. Each contains nine verses. Each verse has two lines, each line beginning with a letter of the alphabet in due succession. We have thus eighteen lines, so that we get eighteen letters of the acrostic in all. To get twenty-one lines in each, corresponding to the number of letters in the alphabet, the author or authors added at the end of each Ps. a verse with three lines, which is precisely the number wanted. The Hallelujah at the beginning of each is a later liturgical addition which destroys the acrostic. Psalms 111 is chiefly occupied with the greatness and goodness of Yahweh. Psalms 112 finds its theme chiefly in the corresponding truth, viz. the happiness of the godly.
CXI. Psalms 111:2. Sought out: "to be sought out" would be better.
Psalms 111:4. to be remembered: i.e. in the ceremonial worship.
Psalms 111:5. prey (mg.) instead of "meat" is due to the difficulty of the acrostic.
Psalms 111:9. Yahweh gave His people deliverance from Egypt and the covenant or Law.
Psalms 111:10. not the beginning, but "the best."
Psalms 112:9. righteousness: the salvation which man receives (cf. Psalms 24:5). In Psalms 111:3 righteousness is that which God does.
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