God Is to Be Praised in His Church, to Which All Nations Shall Be Called
Explanation of the Psalm
1 Speaking in the person of the prophet of God, the prophet sets out from a principle most true in itself, from which he infers that their desire of returning to their own country is most just and rational. The principle is, that it is right for them to praise God, and pay their vows in Jerusalem. Praise is due to a good thing, and the highest praise to the supreme good; and this praise ought to be given where this supreme good is well known. Now, God was not known in Babylon, but he was known in Jerusalem; and it was, therefore, there the people ought to praise him. In like manner, vows, especially those which promised sacrifices, should be paid where there was a temple and an altar on which to offer them, which were to be found in Jerusalem only; and there therefore, should their vows be paid. Hence, he justly infers that God’s people have a right to long for, and to ask for, a return to their country. If such be true as regards a return to the terrestrial Jerusalem, much more true is it in reference to that celestial Jerusalem, where there is a much clearer idea of the extent of God’s goodness; where the tabernacle is not made by the hands, nor the altar of gold; but one on which all the citizens of Jerusalem offer themselves, lighting up with the fire of the most ardent love, as a holocaust to God. “A hymn, O God, becometh thee in Sion.” It is most meet that your people should sing your praises “in Sion,” where your greatness is well known, and not in a foreign land, where gods of sticks and stones, of gold and silver, are praised. “And a vow shall be paid to thee in Jerusalem.” It is meet that the same people should pay their vows of thanksgiving in Jerusalem, where your favors, and the vows of sacrifices are understood, where there is a temple and an altar dedicated to your name; and not in Babylon, where your favors are not acknowledged, and where there are neither altars nor temples, but those of idols; “For all the gods of the gentiles are devils,” Psalm 95.
2 From the fact of praise in Jerusalem being due to God, the people pray that God may grant them to return from captivity to praise him in Jerusalem; and not only that, but that all mankind may be converted to God, and come by faith to the terrestrial Jerusalem, the Church, and afterwards (in reality) to the celestial Jerusalem; for, as God “wishes all men to be saved, and to come to a knowledge of the truth,” so his people desire and pray that all men may come to know and praise him. “Hear my prayer;” asking that, through your help, I may, as quickly as possible, sing a hymn to you in Sion, and pay you a vow in Jerusalem. “All flesh shall come to thee.” If you hear me I will not be alone, but all men will come and praise you, and pay you their vows. That is my wish and my desire, and, as far as in me lies, I will labor to carry it out, by my words and by my example. “All flesh” means all men, as is clear from many passages in Scripture, Gen. 6, “All flesh hath corrupted its way;” Joel 2, “I will pour out from my spirit on all flesh;” Isaias 40, “All flesh shall see the salvation of God;” Mat. 24, “If those days had not been shortened, all flesh would not be saved.”
3 Another reason for God’s people asking to be released from their captivity, and to be restored to their country, and that is, because it was the sins of their parents, and not their own, that brought such a calamity on them. At the end of the captivity, nearly all the Jews then in Babylon had been born there; and thus, it was only to the sins of their parents that the punishment could be attributed; just as we are indebted to our first parents for the captivity we are in to the devil. “The words of the wicked have prevailed over us;” that means, the wickedness of our progenitors has lighted on our heads, and weighed us down under the yoke of a most severe captivity; but you, most merciful Father, “wilt pardon our transgressions;” both those we have inherited from our parents, and to which, in imitation of their example, ourselves have made considerable additions. We have interpreted the, “words of the wicked,” as if read “the works of the wicked;” the former being not infrequently used in the Scripture to signify the latter. Thus, in Luke 2, “Let us see this word that is come to pass, which the Lord hath showed to us;” and in Psalm 21, “The words of my sins;” Psalm 104, “And he gave them words of signs;” and 2 Kings 1, “What is the word that is come to pass, tell me.”
4 A third reason for God’s people desiring and praying to be brought back to their country, taken from the happiness to be enjoyed there. “Happy is he whom thou hast chosen” from eternity, and in time raised to the dignity of becoming “fellow citizens with the saints and the domestics of God,” for “he shall dwell in thy courts;” that is, in thy house, a part being put for the whole. “We shall be filled with the good things of thy house, holy is thy temple.” Buoyed up now with hope, God’s people already number themselves among the blessed who dwell in his house, and say, that in that house they will have blessings in abundance, to such an extent, that nothing will be left to look for, which, applicable as it may be, either to the terrestrial Jerusalem, or to the Church militant, still, absolutely speaking, is applicable alone to our home in heaven. “We shall be filled with the good things of thy house;” we shall be so filled, that nothing can be said to be wanting, we shall have nothing to look for outside. What can be wanting in the house of him who made everything, who is the master of everything, who will be “all unto all,” in whom is an inexhaustible treasure of good? Of him is said, in Psalm 102, “Who satisfieth thy desire with good things;” and in Psalm 16, “We shall be satisfied when thy glory shall appear.” “Holy is thy temple.” In that holy city of Jerusalem, what will be most wonderful and worthy of love will be, that we will dwell in God as if in a house, and he will dwell in his temple; and thus, we will be his house, and he our house, according to the expression in John 15, “Remain in me and I in you;” and again, 1 John 4, “And he that abideth in charity abideth in God, and God in him.” And if such reciprocity of habitation commences in this world, on the way, it will certainly be carried to a much greater extent in the other world, our true country.
5 It is a really wonderful thing to see men born in sin, and so prone to sin, that Psalm 8 says of them, “They are corrupt, and become abominable in their ways, there is none that doeth good, no not one;” and Prov. 24, “For a just man shall fall seven times;” and in Psalm 142, “For in thy sight no man living shall be justified;” who, however, afterwards arrives at such a degree of sanctity and justice as not only to have no sin to account for, but even will never have any to account for; and thus becoming a holy temple on which the very Angels in heaven look with admiration. “Hear us, O God our Savior, the hope of all the ends of the earth, and in the sea afar off.” He returns to prayer, assigning a fresh reason for his being heard, because God is a Savior, and all nations hope in him. “Hear us, O God,” when we ask to be freed from captivity, and brought back to our country, and we ask with confidence, for you are “our Savior,” who often saved us from our enemies and our persecutors; you are also “the hope of all the ends of the earth;” all nations hope in thee, even in the islands, “in the sea afar off.” The prophet had the conversion of all nations in view when he spoke thus, and speaks in the present tense, as if the thing were actually accomplished.
6–7 Another reason, drawn from the great power of God, who can easily, if he will deliver his people from captivity, and bring them back to their country, from which they had been expelled. He proves God’s omnipotence, from two contraries. From his having so firmly founded the earth, that no storm can stir its mountains; and, on the contrary, made the waters so liquid and moveable that every breeze, however slight, will stir them. “Thou who prepares” the mountains by thy strength,” raising the highest mountains by your power; “being girded with power,” having power on all sides, all round you, to raise those mountains. “Who troubles” the depth of the sea, the noise of its waves,” stirring up the depths of the sea, and making its billows to roar. “The gentiles shall be troubled.” As well as God’s power is seen in the stability of the mountains and the fluctuation of the sea, so his wisdom is displayed in now terrifying, now gladdening the human race. “The gentiles shall be troubled,” the whole human race, as he explains more fully in the next verse.
8 All manner of people, even to the remotest quarter of the globe, will be confused and will be afraid “at thy signs,” at your coruscations, thunder and lightning, as we read in 1 Kings 2, “The adversaries of the Lord shall fear him; and upon them shall be thunder in the heavens;” for nothing is more terrific, more alarming, no one thing makes the stoutest heart quail more than God’s thunder. Yet, that same God, by the rising and setting of the sun, gives wonderful gladness to man. When the sun rises, with what glee do they not turn out to their work? and when it sets, how sweet for them to rest and draw their breath! Again, what can be more beautiful than a glorious sunrise; nothing but the same sky, studded in the evening with countless stars, like so many precious jewels. “Thou shalt make the out goings of the morning and of the evening to be joyful.”
9 Having praised the power and the wisdom of God, he now comes to praise his goodness, especially shown in the admixture of earth and water; from which all the fruits of the earth spring, and without which life cannot be supported. The earth without water, and the water without earth, are quite unproductive. “Thou hast visited the earth,” which of itself “was empty and void;” but by your visit became rich and full. God’s visit was effective, and was not simply a vision of it, but a provision for it; and he tells how, when he adds, “and hast plentifully watered it;” abundantly irrigated it, and, by such irrigation, “Thou hast many ways enriched it;” made it exceedingly rich, and stored with abundance of good things. “The river of God is filled with water;” a fuller explanation of the manner in which the earth was enriched. The rivulets were filled with water, which nourished and fertilized the fields, and made them yield their fruits to support man and beast.
10 The same goodness of God extolled in different language; as much as to say, Go on, O Lord, saturate the fields, and thereby multiply the fruits of the earth, so as to be glad itself, and to gladden others.
11 By thy blessing thou shalt so benefit the whole circle of the year, that it will be like a crown daily ornamented with fresh flowers; and thus, always renewed, and, through such blessing, “thy fields,” thus enriched, “will be filled with plenty;” with an abundance of all good things.
12 Not only will the plains and the arable lands yield abundant crops, but even the desert, fit for pasture only, and beautiful by reason of the multitude of herbs and natural flowers, will be enriched, and “grow fat,” by the dews of heaven; and so will the “hills,” hitherto barren and uncultivated, they too will be clothed with such verdant herbage that on all sides all things will seem to be glad and to rejoice.
13 To sum up; there will be the greatest abundance and multiplication of cattle, as well as of the fruits of the earth. The lambs are now become sheep, the desert places now abound in sheep, and the valleys in corn; and all places, whether hills or valleys, whether cultivated or uncultivated, whether cattle or corn, all, in their own way, cry out in praise of God, and in their own language, sing their hymn of praise to their creator and benefactor. Now, all created things, in their own way, cry out and sing God’s praise, in order that man, for whose use and benefit they were created; may, mentally and orally, praise the same God, and return him thanks without ceasing. All these things were chanted by the holy prophet, in praise of the power, wisdom, and goodness of God, in order that he may be able to argue from thence that he ought to hope for, and to ask for, the delivery of his people from captivity, and their restoration to their country.