God Is to Be Praised for His Wonderful Works
Explanation of the Psalm
1–3 In these three first verses the Trinity is praised, by reason of its essence; and in the remaining verses, by reason of the works that have been wrought by it. In the first verse, we find that name consisting of four letters in the Hebrew, that belongs to God alone, and is never applied to any created being, the meaning of which is, that he exists, as God himself explained in Exodus, when he said, “I am who am.” And since existence and perfection are convertible and synonymous terms, and everything that exists of itself is perfect, and everything that is supreme is supremely perfect; perfection is, therefore, here united absolutely to one already absolute. “Praise the Lord.” Render your tribute of praise to him who independently exists, “for he is good,” absolutely so; and he is not only absolutely good, but “his mercy endureth forever and ever;” for he that is so essentially good has no mixture of evil or of misery in him; and he alone, therefore, can remove the miseries and misfortunes of others, and actually does remove them, and will forever. Nonexistence is a great misery; and while God upholds the existence of certain things for eternity, he is merciful to them forever; and when he renders the holy Angels and men happy for eternity, he displays eternal mercy to them, not by removing the misery of unhappiness that was, but which would have been, had he not conferred eternal happiness on them. Now, this first need of praise may be applied to the Father, he being the source of existence, which he communicates to the Son by generation, and to the Holy Ghost by procession, in which the Son is united with him. The second tribute of praise is given to the Son, in the second verse, for he is called “the God of gods.” Angels and men are called gods, but they are created gods; thus, in Psalm 81, “I have said you are gods, and all of you the sons of the Most High;” but the only begotten Son of God is God of gods, being the natural Son of God, while all others are only adopted sons, and, therefore, as much inferior to God the Son as any thing created is to its maker. And though the gods alluded to deserve the name to some extent, in respect of those beneath them, still, in respect of the only begotten Son of God, they are mere creatures. Praise ye, therefore the God of gods, that is to say, the only begotten Son of God, through whose mercy you are allowed to share in the name. “For his mercy endureth forever.” For in union with the Father, he removes all miseries from his creatures. The third tribute of praise may be applied to the Holy Ghost. Lordship implies free will, and they who do as they please are called Lords, while they who must needs submit to the will of another are called servants. Now, the liberty of the Holy Ghost is boundless, as we read, 2 Cor. 3, “Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty;” and in Jn. 3, “The Spirit breatheth where he will;” and in 1 Cor. 12, “But all these things, one and the same Spirit worketh, dividing to everyone according as he will.” David, therefore, says, “Praise ye the Lord of Lords;” praise ye the Holy Ghost, the increate and omnipotent love, “for his mercy endureth forever.”
4 The expression, “praise ye the Lord,” is to be prefixed to this verse, as well as to all the remaining verses of the Psalm. He now begins to praise God, by reason of his great and wonderful works; works that no one else could produce, such as the creation, for in other matters God has employed the Angels, and even other creatures. His mercy is praised especially in these works, because, as we have already stated, God did nothing from necessity, as if he needed creatures; all was done through his great and unspeakable mercy.
5 The heavens, as all know, was God’s first work; and he made them “in understanding,” that is to say, in or by his wisdom, “for his mercy endureth forever;” because it was his will to bring the heavens out of nothing, and at the same time to prepare an everlasting home for men and Angels.
6 Another principal work of God was the earth. For, “in the beginning God made the heavens and the earth.” The heavens were made as a palace for immortals, the earth as a mansion for mortals. The air and the water are intermediate elements for the use of man. Now, he says “the earth was established above the water,” not that the water was below, in the bottom of the globe, but that the surface of the earth was, to a great extent, higher than the surface of the water, so as to enable man and other animals to live on its surface. Of the earth’s being in the depths of the world David writes in another Psalm, 103, “Who hath founded the earth upon its own bases; it shall not be moved forever and ever.” The earth, therefore, so held the water in its caverns and depths as to lie beneath the water in some places, and to rise above it in others. God’s mercy is seen here in three different ways—first, in regard of the earth, which he brought out of nothing; secondly, in respect to the water, for which he provided a fixed and permanent place; and, thirdly, in respect to man, on whom he bestowed the earth so denuded of water, and still sufficiently irrigated by it, as to render it habitable, fit for cultivation, and fruitful.
7–9 His third great and wonderful work was the creation of the sun, moon, and stars, that belong to both heaven and earth, inasmuch as they adorn the heavens and benefit the earth. He calls them “great lights,” as, in fact, they are greater than we can well imagine, whereas the stars, that, by reason of their distance, seem so diminutive to us, are much larger than our globe. The sun is said to rule the day and the moon and stars the night, because they afford light both by day and by night to man, to follow his avocations, as is recorded in Genesis. Mention is made in Genesis of two great lights only, the sun and moon, because the two shed more light on the earth than all the stars together; still David calls even the stars great lights, because, in fact, they are; and, if we believe astronomers, even larger than the moon.
10–22 God is praised in these verses for his works of Providence, all of which are recorded in Exodus and in the previous Psalm. Question may be raised, though, how such acts as the destruction of the Egyptians, the slaying of the first born, and of the kings, can be called “works of mercy?” when they appear to be acts of justice rather than of mercy. They were, certainly, acts of justice, in regard of the wicked, who were stricken and slain; but in respect to God’s people, they were acts of mercy; and, as the delivery of the people was the principal object intended by God, all those acts are in consequence attributed to his mercy. God sometimes shows his mercy even to the wicked, by shortening their time in this world, thus preventing them of an accumulation of sin, and the treasuring up, in consequence, of a greater amount of punishment “on the day of anger and the just judgment of God.”
23–24 These verses may refer to the delivery of the Jews from the slavery of Pharao, the Philistines, and Nabuchodonosor; as also to the delivery of the Church from the persecutions of tyrants and heretics; and, finally, with the greatest propriety, to the delivery of the elect from the captivity of the devil, and all the dangers of this world.
25 The prophet now includes those who suffer no persecution, for fear they may imagine they were exempt from the obligation of praising the Lord. He, therefore, says, “Praise the Lord” everyone of you, without exception, because it is he who supports and preserves every living creature, especially man, and that because “his mercy endureth forever.”
26–27 He concludes by repeating the two last verses of the first three, for by the “God of heaven” he evidently intends the “God of gods,” for he is called the God of heaven, as being the only true God, as Psalm 95 has it, “For all the gods of the gentiles are devils, but the Lord made the heavens;” and as also because, seated as he is in the highest heavens, as on his throne, he proves from this fact that he is the God of gods.