Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous. Psalm 33 The spirit of rejoicing J. H. Jowett, M. A. "Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous." It is the vital condition of all spiritual rejoicing that we are right with God. Our life must be adjusted to His will, and the adjustment must be made on every side. If our communion with the Lord is only partial, we shall not reach the condition in which joy becomes inevitable. I remember that some time ago an electric bell apparatus in my home got out of order and the bell ceased to ring. I made a careful examination, and I found that two or three of the strands, which together formed the one wire, had been broken, and along the remaining strands sufficient electrical energy could not travel to ring the bell. I rectified the severed members, and so adjusted them that they were every one in communion with the battery, and in the completed adjustment there was power enough to ring the bell. It appears to me to symbolize the condition of many a life which is partially in communion with the King. If is not that there is complete alienation; it is that. there are severed strands. There are departments in the life which are not connected with the Almighty, and along the imperfect communion sufficient power does not travel to ring the joy-bells. It may be that the strand between the Lord and our pleasures is broken, or between the Lord and our business, or between the Lord and some secret realm in our life which is not known to others. This severance will have to be put right, and every side of the life adjusted to the Divine will before we can become possessed by that fulness of power which will create bell-melody in the soul. And so I am not surprised that the psalmist is making his confident appeal to the "righteous," the rectified, those who are right on every side with God. ( J. H. Jowett, M. A. ) Praise to the God of creation, providence, and grace T. W. Chambers, D. D. I. THE CALL TO PRAISE, AND ITS REASONS (ver. 1-11). The first word of ver. 1 means not simply to "rejoice" (as A.V.), but to express the emotions aloud. The subjects of the invitation are addressed as "righteous" and "upright," because this was their ideal character of what they ought to be as the true Israel of God, and to them as such it was every way suitable to show forth Jehovah's praise. It was quite otherwise with the wicked (Psalm 1:16; Mark 1:25 ; Mark 3:12 ; Acts 17:18 ). In ver. 2 the call is to use harp and lyre with the song, the first mention of musical instruments in the Psalter. The Hebrews used wind and stringed and percussive instruments, but their precise nature cannot well be determined. II. GOD'S SPECIAL FAVOUR TO HIS PEOPLE (Vers. 12-22). They were His heritage; not simply a temporary possession, but one enduring by hereditary succession through a long course of ages. Their security and happiness in having Jehovah for their God is enforced anew by the assertion of His omniscience. Men can be surprised or overtaken: not so the all-seeing One. He fully understands all their doings, their origin, their motive, their purpose. All is evident at a glance. Hence His will is supreme, and all persons and things are comprehended in His control of the world. What material strength cannot do for those who rely upon it, is secured to believers by the eye of Jehovah. That eye is directed toward those who wait for His loving-kindness. The three concluding couplets finely express the attitude of the Church in all ages — waiting, hoping, trusting. "The whole history of Israel may be summed up in Jacob's dying words, 'I have waited for Thy salvation, O Jehovah.'" ( T. W. Chambers, D. D. ) A call to true worship Homilist. I. True worship is HAPPINESS to the godly. "Rejoice," etc. 1. It is the highest happiness of intelligent existences. Only by worship can the profoundest cravings of their natures be satisfied, or their powers be fully and harmoniously developed. 2. The godly alone can offer true worship. II. True worship is BECOMING to the godly. "Comely." 1. It agrees with his character. 2. It is congenial with his spirit. 3. It is in keeping with his obligations. III. True worship is MUSIC to the godly. "Praise the Lord with harp," etc. Note some of the features of true psalmody. 1. Variety. Both instrumental and vocal music are here mentioned. 2. Freshness. "A new song." Whilst our religion should be as settled as the trunk of the oak — the forms and spirit of our devotion should be as changing as the foliage, now green with spring, now tinted with summer, now tinged with the brown hue of autumn. 3. Accuracy. "Play skilfully." True music is sound ruled by science. 4. Hearty. "With a loud noise." ( Homilist. ) The toy which the righteous haw in God I. THE DUTY. "Rejoice in the Lord." Look upon religion in its actions and employment: and what are they? "Rejoice and give thanks." Are not these actions that are grateful and delightful? What doth transcend Divine joy, and ingenuous acknowledgments? II. THE REASON. It is "comely." Whatsoever is the true product of religion is grateful, beautiful, and lovely. There is nothing in religion that is dishonourable or selfish. Then we are to rejoice in the Lord. 1. For Himself, God is the most excellent object in the world. But whosoever are pleased with God, God is pleased with them: but to the wicked and unregenerate, God Himself (as good as He is) He is a burden. Let men pretend love to the things of God never so much, they will not relish them, unless they be born of God. 'Tis they that are naturalized to heaven, that relish and favour Divine things. That which is born of the world is enmity against God. Our rejoicing must be with some respect to God; and though it be in other things, yet it must be in the Lord. And this is done when we acknowledge God as the Fountain of all good, and better than all other enjoyments whatsoever; and count our enjoyments as all from Him and so endearing Him to us and obliging us to Him. Now, to enforce this joy in God, we note that joy is necessary to the life of man. The apostle hath told us that worldly sorrow causeth death. Sorrow and sadness, melancholy and discontent spoils the temper of a man's mind; it vitiates the humours of the body; it prevents the Divine, and hinders the Physician. For the Divine deals by reason; but this being obliterated, he can do nothing. And it also hinders the Physician; for if the mind be discomposed by melancholy, it doth not afford due benevolence to the body. The sour and melancholy are unthankful to God, and cruel to themselves, and peevish in their converse: so that joy and rejoicing are necessary in respect to ourselves. But also, joy is so safe for us: it will hold us back from sin, it will never be in excess, will always be sincere, and will offend none: it will keep company with gratitude and humility, and will always leave us in a good temper, which worldly joy will not do. If our triumph be in the Lord, it separates from sensual things, and from the spiritual sins of pride and arrogancy. Therefore let there be always something that is spiritual in the ground, reason, or occasion, or motive of your joy. Praise is comely B. Whichcote, D. D. It is nature's sense, 'tis the import of any man's reason. Now because God doth infinitely transcend all the benefactors in the world, if any man doth not acknowledge His goodness, and praise Him for His benefits; he is sunk down into baseness, and fallen beneath his creation and nature. God loves us, and therefore He doth us good: we love God because we are partakers of His benefits. All disingenuity and baseness are concentred in the bowels of ingratitude. He that will not be engaged by kindness, no cords of man will hold him. Then let us obey the counsel of the text. 1. Because nothing is more due to God than our gratitude; for He loadeth us with His benefits, and is pleased to please us, and doth many things to gratify us. 2. By this we give testimony of our minds to God. For we have nothing at all to sacrifice to God, but the consent of our minds; an ingenious acknowledgment. ( B. Whichcote, D. D. ) Praise is comely for the upright. Praise comely R. Roberts. Distinguish between gratitude and praise. Gratitude is an inward, loving sense of obligation for benefits received; praise the expression or outward manifestation of that inward feeling. Gratitude is of the heart; praise of the lip. Gratitude is a something felt; praise a something expressed. I. Praise is comely for EXISTENCE. The good man recognizes God as the Dispenser of every blessing. He holds all blessings as a loan or trust, and as a faithful steward, employs them for God, not for selfish purposes. As all the rivers return to the sea whence they came, so the upright man sends all God's gifts back again in grateful homage and loving service to the Divine source of all good. II. Praise is comely for REDEMPTION. III. Praise is comely for THE GIFT OF IMMORTALITY. The righteous man has something great and noble to live for, a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory to anticipate. In prospect, he has that which will fill the immensity of his being, satisfy to the full and for ever, the yearning of his great nature, so that the very thought of his immortality fills his soul with ecstasy, and his song with harmony ( 1 Peter 1:3 ). It is said that when Mendelssohn went to see the great Freiburg organ, and asked permission of the old custodian to be allowed to play upon it, he was refused. After a little kind persuasion, however, consent was reluctantly given. Mendelssohn instantly took his seat, and made the organ discourse sublimest music. The custodian, spellbound, drew near and ventured to ask for the name of the stranger. When it was announced, ashamed, and self-condemned, the custodian exclaimed, "What a fool am I to refuse you permission to play!" There is One standing by you who can bring forth the most heavenly strains of music from your heart. Place it in His hand and Christ will make every chord send forth celestial harmonies that would make all the angels cease to sing and be mute, that they might the better listen to the nobler music of Christ's redeemed ones. ( R. Roberts. ) The duty of praise J. Adams, M. A. I. GOOD AND RIGHTEOUS MEN ARE MOST OBLIGED TO THE DUTY OF PRAISE, AND MOST FIT TO PERFORM IT. 1. There are many of God's blessings that are universal, in regard to these the duty of thanksgiving should be of as large extent. But since some men partake more particularly of His favour, they are in a more particular manner obliged to gratitude and thanksgiving. 2. The righteous are also most fit to perform this duty.(1) Because such men are always humble, and ready to acknowledge their unworthiness of God's goodness.(2) Because they have a quick and lively sense of it, and are apt to be tenderly and passionately affected with it.(3) Because they have always a solid foundation of true joy in a good conscience.(4) Because of that fitness and congruity which there is between praise and other virtues. As the beauty of the body consists in the exact dimensions of every part, and the symmetry and proportion of the whole: so does the beauty of the soul consist in the exercise of all Christian virtues, and in the mutual relation which they have to each other: and if any one be wanting it is a plain deformity, and will be perceived immediately. II. GOD IS THE PROPER OBJECT OF PRAISE. The psalmist does not tie himself up strictly to the contemplation of the Divine nature, as to its essential excellencies only, but considers them as they relate to His works, and are beneficial to His creatures. 1. Rejoice in the Lord in regard of His goodness. Whatever is pleasing to us below, is so, because we take it to be good; that is, suppose it to partake of this fountain of ever-flowing goodness. How, then, should we be transported with joy if we lifted up our thought to Him who is Goodness itself, and through His vast abundance pours it upon every creature! But yet this would not be sufficient for His universal praise, unless we consider His goodness in His works. 2. Rejoice in Him because of His wisdom; it is by this He governs and disposes of all things as in wisdom He made them all. 3. Rejoice in the Lord in regard of His power. That very power which is so dreadful to His enemies, at which the whole creation trembles, at which the everlasting mountains are scattered, the perpetual hills do bow; when He marches through a land in indignation and threshes the heathen in His anger. Power can do as much for the righteous. So that this attribute cannot be dreadful to good men, but on the contrary, must be most delightful to them. ( J. Adams, M. A. ) The gratitude of the upright J. Saurin. 1. The gratitude of upright men is wise. The praise of the Lord becomes them well, because, while they bless God for all their mercies, they arrange them in their proper order; they prize each according to its real worth, and that most of all which is of the greatest value. 2. The gratitude of upright men is real. The praise of the Lord becomes them, because, while they praise God for His benefits, they live to the glory of their benefactor. Every gift of God furnisheth us with both a motive and a means of obedience to Him. 3. Gratitude to God well becomes an upright man, because it is humble. By publishing the gifts of God's grace, he divests himself of himself, and attributes them wholly to the goodness of Him from whom they came. 4. The gratitude of an upright man is noble and magnanimous. He takes the love of God to him for a pattern of his behaviour to his fellow-creatures. ( J. Saurin. ) Sing unto Him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings. Psalm 33:2 A harp of ten strings T. De Witt Talmage. Most of us, if we praise the Lord at all, play upon one string, or two, or three, when we ought to take a harp full chorded and with glad fingers sweep all the strings. Instead of being grateful for here and there a blessing we happen to think of, we ought to rehearse all our blessings so far as we can recall them, and obey the injunction of my text to sing unto Him with an instrument of ten strings. 1. Have you appreciated the fact that on most of your tables are luxuries that do not come to all? Have you realized what varieties of flavour often touch your tongue, and how the saccharine and the acid have been afforded your palate? For the fine flavours and the luxurious viands you have enjoyed for a lifetime, perhaps you have never expressed to God a word of thanksgiving. That is one of the ten strings that you ought to have thrummed in praise to God, but you have never yet put it in vibration. 2. Have you thanked God for eyesight? Haw you realized the privation those suffer to whom the day is as black as the night, and who never see the face of father or mother or wife or child or friend? Through what painful surgery many have gone to get one glimpse of the light. The eyes — so delicate, and beautiful, and useful — that one of them is invaluable! 3. Notice how many pass through life in silence because the ear refuses to do its office. Have we devoutly thanked God for these two wonders of our hearing, with which we can now put ourselves under the charm of sweet sound, and also carry in our memories the infantile song with which our mothers put us to sleep? 4. There are many who never recognize how much God gives them when He gives them sleep. Oh, the felicities of slumber! Let all who have this real benefaction celebrate it. That is one of the sweetest strings in all the instrument of ten strings. 5. Acknowledge the power of physical locomotion. To be able to go where we wish, and all unaided — what a kindness! What multitudes have to call in the aid of crutch and invalid's chair, and their whole life is a hinderment. How hard to get about with lack of strong and healthy and supple limbs. 6. Celebrate on the instrument of ten strings our illumined nights. They spread their tents over us, and some of us hardly go out to look at them. During the nights other worlds come in sight. Thank God for lunar and stellar illumination. 7. Celebrate the possession of our reason. Amid the increasing dementia of the world, let us appreciate the goodness of God to us if our mental faculties are in equipoise. Voyaging from New Zealand to Australia, a storm swooped upon us, and we saw all around us fragments of ships that had been caught in the same tempest; and how thankful we were, sailing into Sydney harbour, that we had escaped! So that man and that woman, whose intellect goes safely through the storms of this life, in which so many have foundered, ought every day and every night to employ one of the ten strings in gratitude for that particular mercy. 8. Another string of this instrument I now touch — friendships, deep and abiding. With one such friend you can defy the world. 9. Gospel advantages. That Gospel rocked our cradle, and it will epitaph our grave. It soothes our sorrows, brightens our hopes, inspires our courage, forgives our sins, and saves our souls. It takes a man who is all wrong and makes him all right. What that Gospel has done for you and me is a story that we can never fully tell. ( T. De Witt Talmage. ) The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. Psalm 33:5 Thanksgiving day T. De Witt Talmage. I. His GOODNESS TO THE IRRATIONAL CREATION. Although nature is out of joint, yet even in its disruption I am surprised to find the almost universal happiness of the animal creation. On a summer day, when the air and the grass are most populous with life, you will not hear a sound of distress unless, perchance, a heartless school-boy has robbed a bird's nest, or a hunter has broken a bird's wing, or a pasture has been robbed of a lamb, and there goes up a bleating from the flocks. The whole earth is filled with animal delights — joy feathered, and scaled, and horned, and hoofed. The bee hums it; the frog croaks it; the squirrel chatters it; the quail whistles it; the lark carols it; the whale spouts it. The snail, the rhinoceros, the grizzly bear, the toad, the wasp, the spider, the shellfish, have their homely delights — joy as great to them as our joy is to us. Goat climbing the rocks; anaconda crawling through the jungle; buffalo plunging across the prairie; crocodile basking in tropical sun; seal puffing on the ice; ostrich striding across the desert, are so many bundles of joy; they do not go moping or melancholy; they are not only half supplied. God says they are filled with good. Take up a drop of water under the microscope, and you will find that within it there are millions of creatures that swim in a hallelujah of gladness. The sounds in Nature that are repulsive to our ears are often only utterances of joy — the growl, the croak, the bark, the howl. God's hand feeds all these broods, and shepherds all these flocks, and tends all these herds. He sweetens the clover-top for the oxen's taste; and pours out crystalling waters, in mossed cups of rock, for the hind to drink out of on his way down the crags; and pours nectar into the cup of the honeysuckle to refresh the humming-bird; and spreads a banquet of a hundred fields of buck-wheat, and lets the honey-bee put his mouth to any cup in all the banquet; and tells the grasshopper to go anywhere he likes, and gives the flocks of heaven the choice of all grain fields. Why did God make all these, and why make them so happy? How account for all this singing and dancing, and frisking amid the irrational creation? Why this heaven for the animalcule in a dew drop? Why for the condor a throne on Chimborazo? Why the glitter of the phosphorus in the ship's wake on the sea, which is said to be only the frolic of millions of insects? Why the perpetual chanting of so many voices from the irrational creation in earth, and air? There is only one solution, one answer — God is good. "The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord." II. NOTICE THE ADAPTATION OF THE WORLD TO THE COMFORT AND HAPPINESS OF MAN. He was to be king in it. Heaven and earth are represented in his nature, his body from the earth, his soul from heaven. He is a strange commingling of dust and glory. The earth for his floor; heaven for his roof; God for his Father; eternity for his lifetime. Think of his body — "fearfully and wonderfully made." No embroidery so delicate or elaborate, no colour so exquisite, no mechanism so graceful, no handiwork so divine. And all working so quietly and mysteriously. Volumes have been written of the hand. Wondrous instrument! With it we give friendly recognition, and grasp the sword, and climb the rock, and write, and carve and build. It constructed the Pyramids, and hoisted' the Parthenon. It made the harp, and then struck out of it all the world's minstrelsy. Four fingers and a thumb. A hundred million dollars would not purchase for you a machine as exquisite and wonderful as your own hand. Mighty hand! In all its bones, and muscles, and joints, I learn that God is good. Behold one eye, which, in its Daguerrean gallery, in an instant catches the mountain and the sea. This perpetual telegraphing of the nerves; these joints, that are the only hinges that do not wear out; these bones and muscles of the body, with fourteen thousand different adaptations. If we could realize the wonders of our physical organization, we would be hypochondriacs, fearing every moment there must be a break. down somewhere. But from birth to old age all goes on without failure. Take a step higher and look at man's mental constitution. The powers of perception whereby we transport the outer world into our own mind; the law of association, one thought starting up a hundred and enabling us to draw a long train of thought through the mind with incredible velocity; memory, the sheaf binder that goes forth to gather in the harvest of the past. In reason and understanding man is alone. The ox surpasses him in strength, the antelope in speed, the hound in keenness of nostril, the eagle in far-reaching sight, the rabbit in quickness of hearing, the honey-bee in delicacy of tongue, the spider in fineness of touch. Man's power, therefore, consisteth not in what he can lift, or how fast he can run, or how strong a wrestler he can throw — for in these respects the ox, the ostrich, and the hyena are his superior — but by his reason he comes forth to rule all: through his ingenious contrivance to outrun, outlift, outwrestle, outsee, out-hear, outdo. I take a step higher, and look at man's moral nature. Made in the image of God. Vast capacity for enjoyment; capable at first of eternal joy, and though now disordered, still, through the recuperative force of heavenly grace, able to mount up to more than its original felicity. Thus has God adapted everything to our comfort and advantage. But for the soul still higher adaptation; a fountain in which it may wash; a ladder by which it may climb; a song of endless triumph that it may sing; a crown of unfading light that it may wear. Christ came to save it — came with a cross on His back; came when no one else would come, to do a work which no one else would do. See how suited to man's condition is what God has done for him! Man is a sinner; here is pardon. He has lost God's image; Christ retraces it. Jesus, I sing Thy grace! Cure of worst disease! Hammer to smite off heaviest chain! Light for thickest darkness! Grace Divine! Devils scoff at it, and men reject it, but heaven celebrates it! Then let us, as well we may, celebrate the mercies of the past year, and reviewing them all, confess, yea, "the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. ( T. De Witt Talmage. ) Earth's brighter side D. Swing, D. D. "The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord." When we learn from astronomy something about the grand scale upon which the universe is made, and when, by looking into the mind and heart of man, we behold what powers are hidden there, we ought at once to suspect that the career of man is projected upon a grand scale, and that the "goodness of the Lord" is ready to reveal itself in the phenomenon of human life. The fact that there is "goodness of God" in this world does not warrant us in expecting to find it everywhere. AEneas and his companions roamed through a large forest many a mile before they saw the tree that bore the limb of solid gold. They had become discouraged. Their eyes were weary of the long looking, but at last they saw the yellow among the green, and soon held in their hand the bough before which the gates of heaven were to fly open. The "goodness of God" does not lie easily found; it may not lie on every hand like mere dust or lifeless stone, but all reason and all revelation assure us that somewhere in the great forest the golden bough is growing, and before the patient wanderer through the deep shade suddenly will flash up the magic branch that will open to him all the best gates of earth and sky. Making the assumed character of God our measuring line, the "happy life" of man must be only a kind of high life. There may be tears at last in such a career. All the earth will at least expire in grief, even if it does not live in it. But the life that shall come nearest to happiness, and whose tears shall burn least, and shall mingle ecstasy with sadness, shall always be the "high life" of education and morality. In the arts, those who are entitled to speak in that domain make constant use of the terms "high" and "low art." They seem to mean that the art is "high" when it presents pure and large thoughts, and when the execution by the hand is worthy of the thought. In walking through a gallery not long since, a great critic remarked, "There is fine work, but no subject. The execution is wonderful, the subject contemptible." When we walk along the great scenes of earth, and behold a man absorbed in mere money-getting, or office-seeking, or in vice, we may say there is fine work, but no subject; a fine cutting of good marble to produce a figure of no possible significance. If ever we shall get any good out of these threescore years, it will be by the formula of the artists, and there is a "high life," a doing of good work to bring out good ideas. Indeed, the fine arts are nothing else than a corner of man's continent. They are the soul expressing a part of itself in marble, or painting, or music, or architecture. What sublimity there is in the great architecture of the world, and in the heights and depths of its music! But do these arts consume all that is noble in man? Has he no greatness left? Oh, what narrow, frail creatures we are! A high life is as possible as a high art. Moral beauty is as possible as material beauty; and in his "Dialogue" said, "Great is the destiny of the soul that passes from the beauty of the world to the beauty of God." Let us, however, turn from the theory of earth's goodness to some survey of the fact. Wherever a heart is turned aside from mere sensuality, from the life of a mere brute, this earth has responded to the better aspiration and has shown its willingness to lead onward and upward each nobly ambitious soul. When , and , and Care, and Seneca appealed to earth for something better than the vices of the sensualist, or the bloody fame of a conqueror, our little star heard their petition and covered them with gifts of mind and soul that will always surpass estimate. When Antonine the Pious asked our world if it had no power except that of wickedness, and no pleasure but vice, it answered him by bestowing upon him the crown of piety, and by filling him with the rapture of prayer. Pliny found this world large and beautiful. It was only too full of sublimity. All its truths lay before him as coloured shells upon the beach. In those days there was an illustrious company of mortals to whom earth was by no means small or unworthy. Looking back upon their lives, seeing their greatness of mind and of spirit, and recalling in what homes and in what libraries, and amid what poetry and eloquence and art they passed their days, we cannot but feel that the "goodness of God" lay all around them like a robe of joy and light. They may not have perceived nor felt deeply enough this infinite kindness, but if so that was not the first nor last time wherein the human heart has been happy without knowing from what fountain its joys have come. From these reflections may we not infer that there is in this world, so denounced and so mistrusted, a form of higher life — a life of honour, of education, of love, of Christianity — which may answer all who complain and who distrust, and may make our earth seem all full of the goodness of God? There may be gems hero for us all, only we are seeking for them upon the wrong shore. The past forms of human excellence indicate the fact that happiness cannot be found in things external to the soul. None of the glory of man to which we have alluded has come from property, or from fame, or from transient passions, but from the furniture of the mind and from the impulses and powers of the heart. From a survey of history, from an hour spent over the memory of all the illustrious ones in science and benevolence and religion, from a communion (even the briefest) with such a human-Divine being as Christ, the inference comes irresistibly that when earth is made the theatre of a conscientious and enlightened soul, struggling not toward riches but toward the useful and the good, then it suddenly beams out a star of the first magnitude. It no longer seems a burnt-up world, forsaken and forgotten of its Maker, but seems a chariot, with Christ standing beside the traveller, and with the wheels rolling across the open plain between time and eternity. ( D. Swing, D. D. ) The goodness of God A. Clark. Goodness is a very comprehensive quality. It is love, kindness, benevolence, that which leads you to wish well and to do good to those around you; and the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord because it is so full of His works and Ways, which are the fruits and manifestations of His goodness. I. THE FORMATION OF THE EARTH SNOWS THE GOODNESS OF GOD. It is like a book, it contains geological leaves which proclaim its history. We read what it has been and what it might have been, as well as what it is. The various forms of life which have appeared upon it have just been introduced at those stages which were adapted to the structure of their being. We are created amid conditions that are just suited to our life, and fitted to make us happy. The light is just suited to the eye, the ear to the atmosphere. II. The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord, when we consider HOW FULL IT IS OF VARIOUS FORMS OF LIFE. Objects that we despise and trample beneath our feet, and forms of life that cannot be seen with the naked eye are all fearfully and wonderfully made. The microscope, which reveals to you the coarseness and the defects of man's finest works, only reveals to you more clearly and strikingly the wonderful delicacy, and harmony, and beauty of the works of God. And how many forms of life only come into existence during the sunny months or hours that are fitted to make life a luxury, and then depart when it would be a pain. III. THE AMPLE PROVISION WHICH HE IS CONSTANTLY MAKING FOR ALL OUR WANTS, He daily spreads a feast before every living thing ( Psalm 104:21 ; Psalm 145:15, 16 ). What goodness the seasons annually reveal to us. Food might have been provided to sustain the life of the body without imparting anything like pleasure in the use of it. But at every stage of its preparation and use it ministers to our enjoyment. There is the blade, the ear, and the waving corn, the leaves, the flowers, the pendent fruit, which harbinger its approach, and which are a beauty and a joy. Then there is the scent which greets the sense of Smell, and the pleasant taste which gives a relish to food; visions of beauty for the eye, and music for the ear. IV. THE SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS WHICH HE HAS INSTITUTED, such as family and friendly ties. The instincts and passions, the love and moral emotions which crave these relationships, are of God. Human happiness chiefly springs from these relationships. Who can estimate the amount of happiness there is to-day, not only in the homes of the Christian and the civilized portion of the world, but also in the kraal of the Caffre, the wigwam of the Hottentot, and the hole of the Esquimaux? Even the savage and the wild boast are charmed and tamed and pleased by love for each other and family ties and social intercourse, oven though the home in which they are gathered is only a lair or a den. V. THE WAY IN WHICH THIS LIFE IS MADE A SCHOOL AND A STATE OF DISCIPLINE FOR THE LIFE THAT IS TO COME. This is not our permanent home; it

Benson Commentary Psalm 33:1 Rejoice in the LORD, O ye righteous: for praise is comely for the upright. Psalm 33:1 . Rejoice in the Lord — Let his excellence, discovered in his works, be the matter of your praise. Praise is comely for the upright — It well becomes them to be employed in this work of praising God, partly, because they are under great and singular obligations to him, and have abundant occasions to do so; and partly, they will praise him sincerely, affectionately, and with due reverence and thankfulness, as he requires and deserves to be praised; whereas ungodly men do indeed disparage and pollute the holy name of God while they pretend to praise it; and therefore God rejects their praises and prayers. Psalm 33:2 Praise the LORD with harp: sing unto him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings. Psalm 33:2-3 . Praise the Lord with the harp, &c. — He mentions these instruments, because they were used in the public worship of God in the tabernacle. Sing unto him a new song — Either, 1st, A song newly composed: as if he had said, As God gives you fresh occasions to praise him, so do not content yourselves with the old songs or psalms made by former holy men of God, but make new ones suited to these occasions. Or, 2d, Songs renewed, or repeated and continued from day to day. Psalm 33:3 Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise. Psalm 33:4 For the word of the LORD is right; and all his works are done in truth. Psalm 33:4-5 . The word of the Lord is right — All God’s counsels and commands, whether contained in the Scriptures, or given forth in his providence, for the government of the world, are wise, and just, and good, without deceit or defect. All his works are done in truth — All his dispensations of providence agree with his word, and are no other than the accomplishment of his promises, or threatenings, or other declarations of his mind and will in his word; although sometimes, for a season, they may seem contrary to it. He loveth righteousness and judgment — That is, just judgment: or righteousness may relate to the sentence, and judgment to the execution of it. He not only doth justice to all men, but, which is more, he loves and delights in it. The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord — He not only doth no man wrong, but he is very kind and merciful to all men in the world, on whom he bestows many favours, and to whom he gives many invitations to his love and service. Psalm 33:5 He loveth righteousness and judgment: the earth is full of the goodness of the LORD. Psalm 33:6 By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. Psalm 33:6 . By the word of the Lord were the heavens made — Either 1st, By Christ who is often called God’s word, even by the Chaldee paraphrast; as also John 1:1-3 , where he is said to be that Word by whom all things were made, declaring more clearly (as is also done in other parts of the New Testament) what is here only obscurely intimated. Or, 2d, By his will or command, as this phrase seems to be explained, Psalm 33:9 . And so understood the expression hath a great emphasis in it; namely, that God made this admirable structure of the heavens, with the sun and moon, and all its glorious stars, not with great pains and time, and the help of many artists and instruments, as men do for meaner works; but with one single word, or, with as much ease as men speak a word, merely by commanding them to be: a consideration this, which wonderfully illustrates the power and glory of the Creator. For what cannot that power do which with a word made a world? And all the host of them — The angels or the stars, by the breath, ???? beruach, by the spirit of his mouth — By the Holy Ghost, so called Job 33:4 . Thus all the persons of the Trinity are referred to here, the Father, the Word, and the Spirit, to each of which this work of creation is elsewhere ascribed: see note on Genesis 1:26 . Or this phrase, the breath of his mouth, may be merely a repetition of the former clause, as, the rod of his mouth, Isaiah 11:4 ; or his word, and the breath of his lips, mean the same thing: see also 2 Thessalonians 2:8 . Psalm 33:7 He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap: he layeth up the depth in storehouses. Psalm 33:7 . He gathereth the waters — Or, gathered, for he seems to speak of the first creation when this was done, Genesis 1. Or, he alludes to the passage of the Israelites through the Red sea, when the waters were as a wall unto them on the right hand and on the left. As a heap — By which expression he leads our thoughts to that great work of God by which the sea, which is specifically lighter than the earth, and by the common laws of gravitation, should rise above and overflow it, is yet kept within proper bounds; which is often mentioned in Scripture as an immediate effect of God’s overruling power and providence. To this may be added that the adjusting the proportion of the tides, so that they rise no higher to the prejudice of the lower grounds, is another remarkable instance of God’s especial providence. He layeth up the depth in store-houses — That is, either in the clouds, or in the bowels of the earth, whence he can draw them forth when he sees fit. Dr. Waterland renders this clause, He layeth them up in the store-houses of the deep. Psalm 33:8 Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. Psalm 33:8-9 . Let the earth fear the Lord — All the people of the earth, as the next clause expounds this; not only Jews, but also Gentiles, who equally enjoy the benefit of this great and glorious work of God. For he spake, and it was done — The work mentioned Psalm 33:6-7 . He commanded, and it stood fast — Hebrew ???? , jagnamad, it stood forth, as a servant at his master’s command, prepared to do his will, and to execute his pleasure. Psalm 33:9 For he spake, and it was done ; he commanded, and it stood fast. Psalm 33:10 The LORD bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: he maketh the devices of the people of none effect. Psalm 33:10-11 . The Lord bringeth the counsel of the heathen, or, of the nations to naught — Though nations combine themselves and their counsels together, yet he defeats them when he pleases. Thus he passes from the work of creation to the works of providence, and from the instances of his power, in senseless and irrational creatures, to his power in overruling the thoughts, and wills, and actions of men, whether single or united. The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever — All his purposes and designs, and especially those which concern his chosen people, of whom he speaks in the next verse, are always successful and irresistible. Psalm 33:11 The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations. Psalm 33:12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance. Psalm 33:12 . Blessed is the nation, &c. — Seeing the Lord is so great and glorious in wisdom, and power, and goodness, as has been just observed; inasmuch as they must needs be very miserable who are either strangers or enemies to him; so thrice happy are the people of Israel, who, though they be despised by the Gentiles, are chosen by this almighty God to be his peculiar portion, friends and servants. Psalm 33:13 The LORD looketh from heaven; he beholdeth all the sons of men. Psalm 33:13-15 . He beholdeth all the sons of men — Although he had a special relation to Israel, yet he hath a general care over all mankind, all whose hearts and ways he observes. He fashioneth their hearts alike — ???? ??? ??? , hajotzer jachad lib-bam, It is he that formed their hearts, one and all, and consequently must know what are their thoughts and intentions: or, in the present tense, as our version renders it, He formeth, and so it refers to the works of God’s providence; and the psalmist having said that God sees and observes all men, now adds, that he rules and governs them; yea, even their hearts, which are most unmanageable, he disposes and inclines according to the counsel of his will. Alike, or, equally, one as well as another; whether they be Jews or Gentiles, bond or free, princes or peasants; all are alike subject to his jurisdiction. He considereth all their works — Both outward and inward, all the workings of their minds and actions, and all their endeavours and actions. How great then “must be the advantage of living in the favour, and under the protection, of this great Being, who, from the watch-tower of his eternal throne, beholdeth, directeth, and controlleth, at pleasure, not only the actions and the words, but the very thoughts and imaginations of all the inhabitants of the earth!” — Horne. Psalm 33:14 From the place of his habitation he looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth. Psalm 33:15 He fashioneth their hearts alike; he considereth all their works. Psalm 33:16 There is no king saved by the multitude of an host: a mighty man is not delivered by much strength. Psalm 33:16-17 . No king is saved by the multitude of a host — But only by God’s providence, who disposeth of victory and success as he pleaseth, and that frequently to the weakest side. He instances in kings and mighty men, as the most uncontrollable persons in the world, and most confident of themselves. By which he strongly proves his general proposition of God’s powerful providence over all men. A horse is a vain thing for safety — Though he be strong, Job 39:19 , &c. and fit for battle, Proverbs 21:31 ; or, for flight, if need requires. This is put for all warlike provisions, of which horses were, and are, a very considerable part. The word ???? , sheker, here translated a vain thing, properly means a lie, signifying that it promises the help and safety which it cannot give. Neither shall he deliver any by his great strength — The expressions being the same, the meaning is also the same in this and the preceding verse. After having particularized the stout man, and the horse, that is to say, the infantry and the cavalry, the strength and the swiftness of an army; and said, that neither of them could save a king; he repeats again, what he had said before in general, implying that no number of forces could do it. He then points out, in the next verses, where is the true defence and the only sure dependance of man. Psalm 33:17 An horse is a vain thing for safety: neither shall he deliver any by his great strength. Psalm 33:18 Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy; Psalm 33:18-19 . Behold the eye of the Lord, &c. — Whosoever therefore would have safety must expect it only from the watchful eye and almighty hand of God. Is upon them that fear him — These are the chief objects of his care and favour. Upon them that hope in his mercy — That place their hope, and trust, and happiness, not in any creature, but only in God and in his mercy and blessings. To deliver their soul from death — That is, their life, when he sees it to be expedient for them: for sometimes it is better for them to die than to live, as both good and bad men have declared; and when it is so, it is known to God, but not to us. And therefore the constant accomplishment of this and the like promises, in a literal sense, is not to be expected nor simply desired, except with submission to God’s wise and gracious will. Psalm 33:19 To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine. Psalm 33:20 Our soul waiteth for the LORD: he is our help and our shield. Psalm 33:20-22 . He is our help — The help of his true Israel, to whom he hath made many promises and glorious discoveries of his goodness. For our heart shall rejoice in him — Or, therefore it shall rejoice, for this seems to have been an inference, either from the foregoing or following sentence. Psalm 33:21 For our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name. Psalm 33:22 Let thy mercy, O LORD, be upon us, according as we hope in thee. Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Expositor's Bible Commentary Psalm 33:1 Rejoice in the LORD, O ye righteous: for praise is comely for the upright. Psalm 33:1-22 This is the last of the four psalms in Book 1 which have no title, the others being Psalm 1:1-6 ; Psalm 2:1-12 , which are introductory, and 10 which is closely connected with 9. Some have endeavoured to establish a similar connection between 32, and 33; but, while the closing summons to the righteous in the former is substantially repeated in the opening words of the latter, there is little other trace of connection, except the references in both to "the eye of Jehovah"; { Psalm 32:8 ; Psalm 33:18 } and no two psalms could be more different in subject and tone than these. The one is full of profound, personal emotion, and deals with the depths of experience; the other is devoid of personal reference, and is a devout, calm contemplation of the creative power and providential government of God. It is kindred with the later type of psalms, and has many verbal allusions connecting it with them. It has probably been placed here simply because of the similiarity just noticed between its beginning and the end of the preceding. The reasons for the arrangement of the psalter were, so far as they can be traced, usually such merely verbal coincidences. To one who has been travelling through the heights and depths, the storms and sunny gleams of the previous psalms, this impersonal didactic meditation, with its historical allusions and entire ignoring of sins and sorrows, is indeed "a new song." It is apparently meant for liturgical use, and falls into three unequal parts; the first three verses and the last three being prelude and conclusion, the former summoning the "righteous" to praise Jehovah, the, latter putting words of trust and triumph and prayer into their mouths. The central mass ( Psalm 33:4-19 ) celebrates the creative and providential work of God, in two parts, of which the first extends these Divine acts over the world ( Psalm 33:4-11 ) and the second concentrates them on Israel ( Psalm 33:12-19 ). The opening summons to praise takes us far away from the solitary wrestlings and communings in former psalms. Now "The singers lift up their voice, And the trumpets make endeavour, Sounding, ‘In God rejoice! In Him rejoice forever!’" But the clear recognition of purity as the condition of access to God speaks in this invocation as distinctly as in any of the preceding. "The righteous" whose lives conform to the Divine will, and only they, can shout aloud their joy in Jehovah. Praise fits and adorns the lips of the upright" only, whose spirits are without twist of self-will and sin. The direction of character expressed in the word is horizontal rather than vertical, and is better represented by "straight" than "upright." Praise gilds the gold of purity and adds grace even to the beauty of holiness. Experts tell us that the kinnor (harp, A.V. and R.V.) and nebel (psaltery) were both stringed instruments, differing in the position of the sounding board, which was below in the former and above in the latter, and also in the covering of the strings (v. Delitzsch, Eng. transl. of latest ed. 1:7, n.). The "new song" is not necessarily the psalm itself, but may mean other thanksgivings evoked by God’s meditated on goodness. But in any case, it is noteworthy, that the occasions of the new song are very old acts, stretching back to the first creation and continued down through the ages. The psalm has no trace of special recent mercies, but to the devout soul the old deeds are never antiquated, and each new meditation on them breaks into new praise. So inexhaustible is the theme that all generations take it up in turn, and find "songs unheard" and "sweeter" with which to celebrate it. Each new rising of the old sun brings music from the lips of Memnon, as he sits fronting the east. The facts of revelation must be sung by each age and soul for itself, and the glowing strains grow cold and archaic, while the ancient mercies which they magnify live on, bright and young. There is always room for a fresh voice to praise the old gospel the old creation, the old providence. This new song is saturated with reminiscences of old ones, and deals with familiar thoughts which have come to the psalmist with fresh power. He magnifies the moral attributes manifested in God’s self-revelation, His creative Word, and His providential government. "The word of Jehovah," in Psalm 33:4 is to be taken in the wide sense of every utterance of His thought or will (" non accipi pro doctrina, sed pro mundi gubernandi ratione ," Calvin). It underlies His "works," as is more largely declared in the following verses. It is "upright," the same word as in Psalm 33:1 , and here equivalent to the general idea of morally perfect. The acts which flow from it are "in faithfulness," correspond to and keep His word. The perfect word and works have for source the deep heart of Jehovah, which loves "righteousness and judgment," and therefore speaks and acts in accordance with these. Therefore the outcome of all is a world full of God’s lovingkindness. The psalmist has won that "serene and blessed mood" in which the problem of life seems easy, and all harsh and gloomy thoughts have melted out of the sky. There is but one omnipotent Will at work everywhere, and that is a Will whose law for itself is the love of righteousness, and truth. The majestic simplicity and universality of the cause are answered by the simplicity and universality of the result, the flooding of the whole world with blessing. Many another psalm shows how hard it is to maintain such a faith in the face of the terrible miseries of men, and the more complex "civilisation" becomes, the harder it grows; but it is well to hear sometimes the one clear note of gladness without its chord of melancholy. The work of creation is set forth in Psalm 33:6-9 as the effect of the Divine word alone. The psalmist is fascinated not by the glories created, but by the wonder of the process of creation. The Divine will uttered itself, and the universe was. Of course the thought is parallel with that of Genesis, "God said, Let there be and there was" Nor are we to antedate the Christian teaching of a personal Word of God, the agent of creation. The old versions and interpreters, followed by Cheyne, read "as in a bottle" for "as an heap," vocalising the text differently from the present pointing; but there seems to be an allusion to the wall of waters at the passage of the Red Sea, the same word being used in Miriam’s song; with "depths" in the next clause, there as here. { Exodus 15:8 } What is meant, however, here, is the separation of land and water at first, and possibly the continuance of the same power keeping them still apart, since the verbs in Psalm 33:7 are participles, which imply continued action. The image of "a heap" is probably due to the same optical delusion which has coined the expression "the high seas," since, to an eye looking seawards from the beach, the level waters seem to rise as they recede; or it may merely express the gathering together in a mass. Away out there, in that ocean of which the Hebrews knew so little, were unplumbed depths in which, as in vast storehouses, the abundance of the sea was shut up, and the ever-present Word which made them at first was to them instead of bolts and bars. Possibly the thought of the storehouses suggested that of the Flood when these were opened, and that thought, crossing the psalmist’s mind, led to the exhortation in Psalm 33:8 to fear Jehovah, which would more naturally have followed Psalm 33:9 . The power displayed in creation is, however, a sufficient ground for the summons to reverent obedience, and Psalm 33:9 may be but an emphatic repetition of the substance of the foregoing description. It is eloquent in its brevity and juxtaposition of the creative word and the created world. "It stood,"-"the word includes much: first, the coming into being ( Entstehen ), then, the continued subsistence ( Bestehen ), lastly, attendance ( Dastehen ) in readiness for service" (Stier). From the original creation the psalmist’s mind turns over the ages between it and him, and sees the same mystical might of the Divine Will working in what we call providential government. God’s bare word has power without material means. Nay, His very thoughts unspoken are endowed with immortal vigour, and are at bottom the only real powers in history. God’s "thoughts stand," as creation does, lasting on through all men’s fleeting years. With reverent boldness the psalm parallels the processes (if we may so speak) of the Divine mind with those of the human; "counsel" and "thoughts" being attributed to both. But how different the issue of the solemn thoughts of God and those of men, in so far as they are not in accordance with His! It unduly narrows the sweep of the psalmist’s vision to suppose that he is speaking of a recent experience when some assault on Israel was repelled. He is much rather linking the hour of creation with today by one swift summary of the net result of all history. The only stable, permanent reality is the will of God and it imparts derived stability to those who ally themselves with it, yielding to its, counsels and moulding their thoughts by its. "He that doeth the will of God abideth forever," but the shore of time is littered with wreckage, the sad fragments of proud fleets which would sail in the teeth of the wind and went to pieces on the rocks. From such thoughts the transition to the second part of the main body of the psalm is natural. Psalm 33:12-19 are a joyous celebration of the blessedness of Israel as the people of so great a God. The most striking feature of these verses is the pervading reference to the passage of the Red Sea which, as we have already seen, has coloured Psalm 33:7 . From Miriam’s song come the designation of the people as God’s "inheritance" and the phrase "the place of His habitation". { Exodus 15:17 } The "looking upon the inhabitants of the earth," and the thought that the "eye of Jehovah is upon them that fear Him, to deliver their soul in death" ( Psalm 33:14 , Psalm 33:18 ), remind us of the Lord’s looking from the pillar on the host of Egyptians and the terrified crowd of fugitives, and of the same glance being darkness to the one and light to the other. The abrupt introduction of the king not saved by his host, and of the vanity of the horse for safety, are explained if we catch an echo of Miriam’s ringing notes, "Pharaoh’s chariots and his host hath He cast into the sea. The horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea." { Exodus 15:4 ; Exodus 15:21 } If this historical allusion be not recognised, the connection of these verses is somewhat obscure, but still discernible. The people who stand in special relation to God are blessed, because that eye, which sees all men, rests on them in lovingkindness and with gracious purpose of special protection. This contrast of God’s universal knowledge and of that knowledge which is accompanied with loving care is the very nerve of these verses, as is shown by the otherwise aimless repetition of the thought of God’s looking down on men. There is a wide all-seeingness, characterised by three words in an ascending scale of closeness of observance, in Psalm 33:13-14 . It is possible to God as being Creator: "He fashions their hearts individually," or "one by one" seems the best interpretation of Psalm 33:15 a, -and thence is deduced His intimate knowledge of all His creatures’ doings. The sudden turn to the impotence of earthly might, as illustrated by the king and the hero and the battle horse, may be taken as intended to contrast the weakness of such strength both with the preceding picture of Divine omniscience and almightiness, and with the succeeding assurance of safety in Jehovah. The true reason for the blessedness of the chosen people is that God’s eye is on them, not merely with cold omniscience nor with critical considering of their works, but with the direct purpose of sheltering them from surrounding evil. But the stress of the characterisation of these guarded and nourished favourites of heaven is now laid not upon a Divine act of choice, but upon their meek looking to Him. His eye meets with love the upturned patient eye of humble expectance and loving fear. What should be the issue of such thoughts, but the glad profession of trust, with which the psalm fittingly ends, corresponding to the invocation to praise which began it? Once in each of these three closing verses do the speakers profess their dependence on God. The attitude of waiting with fixed hope and patient submission is the characteristic of God’s true servants in all ages. In it are blended consciousness of weakness and vulnerability, dread of assault, reliance on Divine Love, confidence of safety, patience, submission and strong aspiration. These were the tribal marks of God’s people, when this was "a new song"; they are so today, for though the Name of the Lord be more fully known by Christ, the trust in it is the same. A threefold good is possessed, expected and asked as the issue of this waiting. God is "help and shield" to those who exercise it. Its sure fruit is joy in Him, since He will answer the expectance of His people, and will make His name more fully known and more sweet to those who have clung to it, in so far as they. knew it. The measure of hope in God is the measure of experience of His lovingkindness, and the closing prayer does not allege hope as meriting the answer which it expects, but recognises that desire is a condition of possession of God’s best gifts, and knows it to be most impossible of all impossibilities that hope fixed on God should be ashamed. Hands, lifted empty to heaven in longing trust, will never drop empty back and hang listless, without a blessing in their grasp. The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.