Division, Etc. - We are now among the Hallelujahs. The rest of our journey lies through the Delectable Mountains. All is praise to the close of the book. The key is high-pitched: the music is upon the high-sounding cymbals. O for a heart full of joyful gratitude, that we may run, and leap, and glorify God, even as these Psalms do.

Alexander thinks that this song may be regarded as composed of two equal parts; in the first we see the happiness of those who trust in God, and not in man (Psalm 146:1-5), while the second gives the reason drawn from the Divine perfections (Psalm 146:5-10). This might suffice for our purpose; but as there is really no break at all, we will keep it entire. It is "one pearl," a sacred censer of holy incense, pouring forth one sweet perfume.

Hints to Preachers

Psalm 146:1. -

I. An exhortation: it is addressed to ourselves: "Praise ye the Lord."

II. An example: the Psalmist cries to himself, "Praise the Lord."

III. An echo: "Praise the Lord, O my soul." Let us say this to our own souls.

Psalm 146:1. - Whom should I praise? And why? And when? And how?

Psalm 146:1. - Public worship.

I. Should be with a sense of fellowship: "Praise ye": pleasures of communion in praise.

II. Should never lose its individuality:: "O my soul." God is only praised by individual hearts. Temptations to wandering in public services.

III. Should be full of Jehovah's felt presence: each and all should worship him alone. - W. B. H.

Psalm 146:2. - Work for here and hereafter.

I. "While I live"; or a period of uncertainty and mystery.

II. "I will praise the Lord"; or a service definite, determined, due, and delightful. Certainty amid uncertainty.

III. "While I have any being"; or an enthusiastic pre-engagement of eternity. - W. B. H.

Psalm 146:3. -

I. It dishonours God.

II. It degrades you.

III. It disappoints in every case.

Psalm 146:4. - Decease, Decay, Defeat.

Psalm 146:4 (second clause). - The failure of man's projects, the disappearance of his philosophies, the disproving of his boastings.

Psalm 146:5. - The secret of true happiness.

I. What it is not. The man here mentioned has his work and warfare, for he needs help; and he has not all he desires, for he is a man of hope.

II. What it is. It lies in the hath, the help, and the hope, and these are all in God.

Psalm 146:6, Psalm 146:7. - The God of our hope is,

I.Creator.

II.-Truth-keeper.

III.Vindicator.

IV. Provider.

V. Deliverer.

Psalm 146:7 (last clause). - See "Spurgeon's Sermons," No. 484: "The Lord - the Liberator."

Psalm 146:7. - The People's Rights.

I. Three rights of humanity. Justice, Bread, Freedom.

II. God's interventions in their behalf. Revolutions, Reforms, Regenerations. Christ's war with Satan.

III. The magnificent supply of the three blessings in Christ's kingdom.

IV. The men who are fashioned and trained under this regime. - W. B. H.

Psalm 146:8 (first clause). - Spiritual blindness, its curse, cause, and cure.

Psalm 146:8 (second clause). - Who are the people? Who raises them? How he does it. And what then?

Psalm 146:8 (third clause). - God's love to the righteous.

I. He made them righteous.

II. They are like him.

III. They love him.

IV. Their purposes are one with his own.

Psalm 146:9. - Observe the provision made in the Jewish law for the stranger. The way in which strangers were received by God. The truth that his chosen are strangers in the world. His design to gather in strangers in the latter days.

Psalm 146:9 (centre clause). - The claims of orphans and widows upon the people of God.

Psalm 146:9 (last clause). - Illustrated by Joseph's brethren, Haman, and others.

Psalm 146:10. -

I. A cause for praise - "The Lord shall reign for ever."

II. A centre of praise: "O Zion."

III. A cycle of praise: "all generations."

IV. A call to praise, "Praise ye the Lord."

Explanatory Notes and Quaint Sayings,

Psalm 146-148

At the dedication of the second Temple, in the beginning of the seventh year of Darius, Psalm 147, Psalm 146:1-10 and Psalm 148:1-14, seem to have been sung; for in the Septuagint Version they are styled the Psalms of Haggai and Zechariah, as if they had been composed by them for this occasion. This, no doubt, was from some ancient tradition; but in the original Hebrew these Psalms have no such title prefixed to them, neither have they any other to contradict it. - Humphrey Prideaux.

Psalm 146-150

We do not know who put together these different sacred compositions, or whether they were arranged on any particular principle. This, however, is obvious, - that the last series, those that close the whole, are full of praise. Though we meet frequently with grief and shame and tears in the former part, a great deal that presses upon the spirit, - and in the centre a great many references to the various vicissitudes and fortunes through which the church or the individual has passed, - yet, as we get towards the end, and as the book closes, it is Hallelujah - praise. As the ancient church ceases to speak to us, as she lays down her lyre, and ceases to touch it, the last tones are tones of heaven; as if the warfare were done, the conflict accomplished, and she were anticipating either the revelations which are to make her glorious here, the "new thing" which God is about to "create" when he places her under another dispensation, or as you and I((I trust) shall do when we come to die, anticipating the praise and occupation of that eternity and rest for which we hope in the bosom of God. - Thomas Binney, 1798-1874.

Whole Psalm

This Psalm gives in brief the Gospel of Confidence.: It inculcates the elements of Faith, Hope, and Thanksgiving. - Martin Geier.

Psalm 146:1

"Praise ye the Lord." The word here used is Alleluia, and this is very proper to be constantly used by us who are dependent creatures, and under such great obligations to the Father of mercies. We have often heard of prayer doing great wonders; but instances also are not wanting of praise being accompanied with signal events. The ancient Britons, in the year 420, obtained a victory over the army of the Picts and Saxons, near Mold, in Flintshire, The Britons, unarmed, having Germanicus and Lupus at their head, when the Picts and Saxons came to the attack, the two commanders, Gideon-like, ordered their little army to shout Alleluia three times over, at the sound of which the enemy, being suddenly struck with terror, ran away in the greatest confusion, and left the Britons masters of the field. A stone monument to perpetuate the remembrance of this Alleluia victory, I believe, remains to this day, in a field near Mold. - Charles Buck, 1771-1815.

Psalm 146:1

"Praise the Lord, O my soul." The Psalmist calls upon the noblest element of his being to exercise its noblest function. - Hermann Venema.

Psalm 146:2

"While I live will I praise the Lord." Mr. John Janeway on his death-bed cried out thus, - "Come, help me with praises, yet all is too little. Come, help me, all ye mighty and glorious angels, who are so well skilled in the heavenly work of praise! Praise him, all ye creatures upon earth; let every thing that hath being help me to praise God. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Praise is now my work, and I shall be engaged in this sweet work now and for ever. Bring the Bible; turn to David's Psalms, and let us sing a Psalm of praise. Come, let us lift up our voices in the praises of the Most High. I will sing with you as long as my breath doth last, and when I have none, I shall do it better."

Psalm 146:2

"While I live will I praise the Lord." - George Carpenter, the Bavarian martyr, being desired by some godly brethren, that when he was burning in the fire he would give them some sign of his constancy, answered, "Let this be a sure sign unto you of my faith and perseverance in the truth, that so long as I am able to hold open my mouth, or to whisper, I will never cease to praise God, and to profess his truth"; the which also he did, saith mine author; and so did many other martyrs besides. - John Trapp.

Psalm 146:2

"I will sing praises unto my God while I have my being." He had consecrated his entire earthly existence to the exercise of praise. And not only so, but he adds, "I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being." In which expression we may fairly conclude that the Psalmist stretches his thoughts beyond the limits of time, and contemplates that scene of eternal praise which shall succeed the less perfect songs of the church below. - John Morison.

Psalm 146:2

"Unto my God." Then praise is most pleasant, when in praising God we have an eye to him as ours, whom we have an interest in, and stand in relation to. - Matthew Henry.

Psalm 146:2

"While I have any being." Praise God for deliverance constantly. Some will be thankful while the memory of a deliverance is fresh, and then leave off. The Carthaginians used, at first, to send the tenth of their yearly revenues to Hercules; and then by degrees they grew weary, and left off sending; but we must be constant in our eucharistic sacrifice, or thankoffering. The motion of our praise must be like the motion of our pulse, which beats as long as life lasts. - Thomas Watson.

Psalm 146:3

"Put not your trust in princes," etc. Through some kind of weakness, the soul of man, whensoever it is in tribulation here, despaireth of God, and chooseth to rely on man. Let it be said to one when set in some affliction, "There is a great man by whom thou mayest be set free;" he smileth, he rejoiceth, he is lifted up. But if it is said to him, "God freeth thee," he is chilled, so to speak, by despair. The aid of the mortal is promised, and thou rejoicest; the aid of the Immortal is promised, and art thou sad? It is promised thee that thou shalt be freed by one who needeth to be freed with thee, and thou exultest as at some great aid: thou art promised that great Liberator, who needeth none to free him, and thou despairest, as though it were but a fable. Woe to such thoughts: they wander far; truly there is sad and great death in them. - Augustine.

Psalm 146:3

"Put not your trust in princes." The word rendered "princes" signifieth liberal, bountiful ones, ἐμεργέται, so princes would be accounted; but there's no trusting to them without God, or against him. - John Trapp.

Psalm 146:3

"Put not your trust in princes." King Charles had given the Earl of Strafford a solemn pledge, on the word of a king, that he should not suffer in "life, honour, or fortune," yet with singular baseness and ingratitude, as well as short-sighted policy, gave his assent to the bill of attainder, On learning that this had been done, Strafford, laying his hand on his heart, and raising his eyes to heaven, uttered the memorable words, "Put not your trust in princes, nor in the sons of men, for in them there is no salvation." - James Taylor, in the "Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography," 1868.

Psalm 146:3

"Put not your trust in princes." Shakespeare puts this sentiment into Wolsey's mouth: -

"O how wretched

Is that poor man that hangs on princes' favour!

There is, betwixt that smile we would aspire to,

That sweet aspect of princes, and their ruin,

More pangs and fears than wars and women have:

And when he falls, he falls like Lucifer,

Never to hope again."

Psalm 146:3

"Put not your trust in princes," etc. True, may some say, it were a folly to trust in weak princes, to trust in them for help who have no power to help; but we will apply to mighty princes; we hope there is help in them. No; those words, "in whom there is no help," are not a distinction of weak princes from strong, but a conclusion that there is no help in the strongest. That's strange. What? No help in strong princes! If he had said, no help in mean men, carnal reason would have consented; but when he saith, "Trust not in princes, nor in any son of man" one or other, who can believe this? Yet this is divine truth; we may write insufficiency, insufficiency, and a third time, insufficiency, upon them all; the close of this verse may be their motto, "There is no help in them." - Joseph Caryl.

Psalm 146:3

"Princes." Earthly princes offer baubles to allure the soul from the pursuit of an eternal prize. Princes themselves have pronounced their principality to be their own greatest peril. Pope Pius V. said, "When I was a monk I had hope of my salvation; when I became Cardinal I began to fear; when I was made Pope I all but despaired of eternity." - Thomas Le Blanc.

Psalm 146:3

"Nor in the son of man." All sons of man are like the man they are sprung of, who, being in honour, did not abide. - Matthew Henry.

Psalm 146:3

For one man to put confidence in another, is as if one beggar should ask an alms of another, or one cripple should carry another, or the blind lead the blind. - Anthony Farindon.

Psalm 146:3, Psalm 146:4

You see the first and the last, highest and lowest, of all the sons of Adam, they may be made honourable "princes," but they are born sinful, "the sons of men"; born weak, "there is no help in them"; born mortal, "their breath departeth;" born corruptible, "they return to their earth"; and lastly, the mortality and corruption is not only in their flesh, but in some part or remnant of their spirits, for "their thoughts perish." The prophet (if you mark it) climbeth up by degrees to the disabling of the best men amongst us, and in them of all the rest. For if princes deserve not confidence, the argument must needs hold by comparison, much less do meaner men deserve it. The order of the words is so set that the members following are evermore either the reason or some confirmation to that which went before. "Trust not in princes." Why? Because they are "the sons of men." Why not in "the sons of men"? Because there is no help in them. Why is there no help in them? Because when "their breath goeth forth, they turn again to their earth." What if their flesh be corrupted? Nay, "their thoughts" also "come to nothing."

For, first, this first order and rank which the prophet hath here placed, the princes and gods of the earth, are by birth men; secondly, weak men, and such in whom no help is; thirdly, not only weak, but dying, their breath goeth out; fourthly, not only dying, but subject to dissolution, they turn to the earth; fifthly, if their bodies only were dissolved, and their intentions and actions might stand, there were less cause to distrust them; but their thoughts are as transitory as their bodies. - John King (1559? - 1621), in a Funeral Sermon.

Psalm 146:3, Psalm 146:4

The Psalmist inscribes an antithesis. Princes, though masters of armies, possessors of riches, loaded with honours, revelling in pleasures, are at the mercy of a ruthless Black Prince. Death is tyrant over prince and peasant alike. The very pleasures which are envied are often ministers of death to voluptuous princes. - Thomas Le Blanc.

Psalm 146:4

"He returneth to his earth." The earth - the dust - is "his."

I. It is "his" as that from which he was made, he turns back to what he was, Genesis 3:19. "Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return."

1 Praise ye the Lord. Praise the Lord, O my soul.

2 While I live will I praise the Lord: I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being.

3 Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.

4 His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.

5 Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God:

6 Which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is: which keepeth truth for ever:

7 Which executeth judgment for the oppressed, which giveth food to the hungry. The Lord looseth the prisoners:

8 The Lord openeth the eyes of the blind, the Lord raiseth them that are bowed down: the Lord loveth the righteous:

9 The Lord preserveth the strangers; he relieveth the fatherless and widow, but the way of the wicked he turneth upside down.

10 The Lord shall reign for ever, even thy God, O Zion, Unto all generations. Praise ye the Lord.

Psalm 146:1

"Praise ye the Lord," or, Hallelujah. It is saddening to remember how this majestic word has been trailed in the mire of late. Its irreverent use is an aggravated instance of taking the name of Jehovah our God in vain. Let us hope that it has been done in ignorance by the ruder sort; but great responsibility lies with leaders who countenance and even copy this blasphemy. With holy awe let us pronounce the word HALLELUJAH, and by it summon ourselves and all others to adore the God of the whole earth. Men need to be called to praise; it is important that they should praise; and there are many reasons why they should do it at once. Let all who hear the word Hallelujah unite immediately in holy praise.

"Praise the Lord, O my soul." He would practise what he had preached. He would be the leader of the choir which he had summoned. It is a poor business if we solely exhort others, and do not stir up our own soul. It is an evil thing to say, "Praise ye," and never to add, "Praise, O my soul." When we praise God let us arouse our innermost self, our central life, we have but one soul, and if it be saved from eternal wrath, it is bound to praise its Saviour. Come heart, mind, thought! Come my whole being, my soul, my all, be all on flame with joyful adoration! Up, my brethren! Lift up the song! "Praise ye the Lord." But what am I at? How dare I call upon others, and be negligent myself? If ever man was under bonds to bless the Lord I am that man, wherefore let me put my soul into the centre of the choir, and then let my better nature excite my whole manhood to the utmost height of loving praise. "O for a well-tuned harp!" Nay, rather, O for a sanctified heart. Then if my voice should be of the poorer sort, and somewhat lacking in melody, yet my soul without my voice shall accomplish my resolve to magnify the Lord.

Psalm 146:2

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