Bible Commentaries

Psalms 150:1. Praise ye the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary:

Notice how, in this last Psalm, it is praise, praise, praise, all the way through. I think we have the word “praise” some thirteen times in the six verses. It is all “praise him, praise him, praise him.” It is not enough to do it once, or twice, we should keep on praising the Lord till we should make the very heavens ring with the music of his praises. “Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary:” that is, in his holy place where he dwells. Begin, ye angels, cherubim, and seraphim, pour forth his praise.

Psalms 150:1. Praise him in the firmament of his power.

Let every star shine forth his praises, and sun and moon cease not to extol him: “Praise him in the firmament of his power.”

Psalms 150:2. Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness. There is a task for us; we shall never attain to that height. We sometimes sing,-“

Wide as his vast dominion lies,

Make the Creator’s name be known;

Loud as his thunder shout his praise,

And sound it lofty as his throne;”

but who can compass such a feat as that?

Psalms 150:3-4. Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp. Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs.

So that there were all kinds of music in those days praising God,-the wind and the stringed instruments, the timbrel and the pipe. Everything that can praise God should praise him. The spiritual significance of these verses is this, let men of different orders and different sorts praise the Lord,-men, women, children, those who are deeply taught and those who know but little, those who are great and those who are small. Let every heart regard itself as an instrument of praise, and use itself wholly for the Lord’s praise. Having got so far, the psalmist recollected that there were discs of brass, which were struck together, and gave forth a sound to be heard at a great distance, so he said,-

Psalms 150:5. Praise him upon the loud cymbals:

Crash!

Psalms 150:5. Praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.

Then came another crash!

Psalms 150:6. Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.

A Jewish Rabbi once remarked to me that the name Jehovah was not made up of letters, but only of a series of breathings. (The preacher here uttered the three syllables of the sacred name, Jehovah, as though they were not composed of letters, but only a succession of breathings.) That is the nearest approach to the name of God, three breathings; therefore since all breath comes from him, and his very name can only be pronounced by breath, “Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.” Hallelujah! “THERE IS FORGIVENESS.”