Psalm 145:3 Komentář

The five foregoing psalms were all of a piece, all full of prayers; this, and the five that follow it to the end of the book, are all of a piece too, all full of praises; and though only this is entitled David's psalm yet we have no reason to think but that they were all his as well as all the foregoing prayers. And it is observable, 1. That after five psalms of prayer follow six psalms of praise; for those that are much in prayer shall not want matter for praise, and those that have sped in prayer must abound in praise. Our thanksgivings for mercy, when we have received it, should even exceed our supplications for it when we were in pursuit of it. David, in the last of his begging psalms, had promised to praise God (Psa 145:9), and here he performs his promise. 2. That the book of Psalms concludes with psalms of praise, all praise, for praise, is the conclusion of the whole matter; it is that in which all the psalms centre. And it intimates that God's people, towards the end of their life, should abound much in praise, and the rather because, at the end of their life, they hope to remove to the world of everlasting praise, and the nearer they come to heaven the more they should accustom themselves to the work of heaven. This is one of those psalms which are composed alphabetically (as Ps. 25 and Ps. 34, etc.), that it might be the more easily committed to memory, and kept in mind. The Jewish writers justly extol this psalm as a star of the first magnitude in this bright constellation; and some of them have an extravagant saying concerning it, not much unlike some of the popish superstitions, That whosoever will sing this psalm constantly three times a day shall certainly be happy in the world to come. In this psalm, I. David engages himself and others to praise God (Psa 145:1, Psa 145:2, Psa 145:4-7, Psa 145:10-12). II. He fastens upon those things that are proper matter for praise, God's greatness (v . 3), his goodness (Psa 145:8, Psa 145:9), the proofs of both in the administration of his kingdom (Psa 145:13), the kingdom of providence (Psa 145:14-16), the kingdom of grace (Psa 145:17-20), and then he concludes with a resolution to continue praising God (Psa 145:21) with which resolution our hearts must be filled, and in which they must be fixed, in singing this psalm. David's psalm of praise.

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 145 David's Psalm of praise. This psalm is rendered by Ainsworth "a hymn of David"; and the whole book of Psalms is from hence called "the Book of Hymns"; see Eph 5:19; It seems to have been a psalm David took great delight in, and it may be that he often repeated and sung it, as it was made by him with great care and contrivance, in a very curious manner, as well as he was assisted in it by divine inspiration; for it is wrote in an alphabetical order, each verse: beginning with the letter of the alphabet in course, and goes through the whole, excepting one letter; and very probably it was composed in this form that it might be the more easily committed to memory, and retained in it. The Jews have a very high opinion of it; their Rabbins say, that whoever says this psalm thrice every day may be sure of being a child of the world to come. This is mentioned by Arama and Kimchi; and which the latter explains thus, not he that says it any way, but with his mouth, and with his heart, and with his tongue. It seems to have been written by David after the Lord had granted him all his requests put up in the preceding psalms, and had given him rest from all his enemies; and when he turned his prayers into praises; for this psalm is wholly praise from one end to the other; and so are all the five following ones; they begin and end with "hallelujah": nor is there a single petition in them, as I remember; so that it may in some sense be said, "here the prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended". It no doubt, as Cocceius observes, belongs to the Messiah and his kingdom, which is everlasting, Psa 145:13.

Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,.... Christ is the great God as well as our Saviour; great in all the perfections of his nature, of great wisdom, power, faithfulness, holiness, grace, and goodness; great in his person as God-man, God manifest in the flesh; great in all his offices and relations he bears and stands in to his people; and great in all his works of creation, providence, and redemption, in which he is concerned; and upon all which accounts he is to be praised, and greatly to be praised, by his people, even to the utmost of their capacities, here and hereafter; see Psa 48:1; and his greatness is unsearchable; the greatness of his nature, and the perfections of it, these are past finding out; and so are his ways and works, and the riches of his grace, Joh 11:7. The Targum is, "and of his greatness there is no end.'' So the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions.

Now if any one should ask for some interpretation, description and explanation of the divine essence, we are not going to deny that we are unlearned in this kind of wisdom, acknowledging only so much as this, that it is not possible that which is by nature infinite should be comprehended in any conception expressed by words. The fact that the divine greatness has no limit is proclaimed by prophecy, which declares expressly that of his splendor, his glory and his holiness, “there is no end.” If his surroundings have no limit, much more is he himself in his essence, whatever it may be, comprehended by no limitation in any way. If then interpretation by way of words and names implies by its meaning some sort of comprehension of the subject, and if, on the other hand, that which is unlimited cannot be comprehended, no one could reasonably blame us for ignorance, if we are not bold in respect of what none should venture on. For by what name can I describe the incomprehensible? By what speech can I declare the unspeakable? Accordingly, since the Deity is too excellent and lofty to be expressed in words, we have learned to honor in silence what transcends speech and thought. If he who “thinks more highly than he ought to think” tramples on this cautious speech of ours making a jest of our ignorance of things incomprehensible, and recognizes a difference of unlikeness in that which is without figure, or limit, or size or quantity (I mean in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit) and brings forward to reproach our ignorance that phrase that is continually alleged by the disciples of deceit, “ ‘You worship you know not what,’ if you know not the essence of that which you worship,” we shall follow the advice of the prophet. We shall not fear the reproach of fools or be led by their reviling to talk boldly of things unspeakable. That unpracticed speaker Paul we make our teacher in the mysteries that transcend knowledge. He is so far from thinking that the divine nature is within the reach of human perception that he calls even the judgments of God “unsearchable” and his ways “past finding out.” He affirms that the things promised to them that love him, for their good deeds done in this life, are above comprehension so that it is not possible to behold them with the eye, or to receive them by hearing or to contain them in the heart.

Instead of speaking of him [God the Father] as “ungenerated,” it is permissible to call him the “First Cause” or “Father of the Only-Begotten,” or to speak of him as “existing without cause,” and many such expressions that lead to the same thought. In that case Eunomius confirms our doctrines by the very arguments in which he brings charges that we do not know any name indicative of the divine nature. We are taught the fact of its existence, while we assert that a name of such breath as to include the unspeakable and infinite nature either does not exist at all or at any rate is unknown to us. Let him then abandon his usual fictive language, and show us the names that signify the real meanings and then proceed further to divide the subject by the divergence of their names. But as long as the statement of the Scripture is correct that Abraham and Moses were not capable of the knowledge of the name, and that “no one has seen God at any time,” and that “no one has seen him, nor can see,” and that the light around him is unapproachable and “there is no end of his greatness,” so long can we say and believe these things. This is similar to an argument that promises any comprehension and expression of the infinite nature by means of the meaning of names to one who thinks that he can enclose the whole sea in his own hand! Just as the hollow of one’s hand is comparable to the entire depth of the sea, so is all the power of language comparable to that nature that is unspeakable and incomprehensible.

You cannot, then, heretic [Arian], build up a false doctrine on the basis of an analogy of human procreation. Nor can you gather the means for such a purpose from our discussion, for we cannot embrace the greatness of infinite godhead, “of whose greatness there is no end,” in our limited speech. If you should seek to give an account of a human’s birth, you must certainly point to a time. But the divine generation is above all things. It reaches far and wide, and it rises high above all thought and feeling. For it is written, “No one comes to the Father, except by me.” Whatever, therefore, you conceive concerning the Father—yes, even his eternity—you cannot conceive anything concerning him except with the Son’s aid nor can any understanding ascend to the Father except through the Son. “This is my dearly beloved Son,” the Father said. “Is,” please note, means that who he is, and what he is, is [true] forever. Hence David is also moved to say, “O Lord, your Word abides forever in heaven,” for what abides fails neither in time nor in eternity.

"Great is the Lord, and very much to be praised" [Psalm 145:3]. How much was he about to say? What terms was he about to seek? How vast a conception has he included in the one word, "very much"? Imagine what you will, for how can that be imagined, which cannot be contained? "He is very much to be praised. And of His Greatness there is no end;" therefore said he "very much:" lest perchance thou begin to wish to praise, and think that you can reach the end of His praises, whose Greatness can have no end. Think not then that He, whose Greatness has no end, can ever be enough praised by you. Is it not then better that as He has no end, so neither should your praise have end? His Greatness is without end; let your praise also be without end....

“Can any praise be worthy of the Lord’s majesty?” “How magnificent his strength! How inscrutable his wisdom!” Humankind is one of your creatures, Lord, and his instinct is to praise you. He bears about him the mark of death, the sign of his own sin, to remind him that you “thwart the proud.” But still, since he is a part of your creation, he wishes to praise you. The thought of you stirs him so deeply that he cannot be content unless he praises you, because you made us for yourself and our hearts find no peace until they rest in you.Grant me, Lord, to know and understand whether a person is first to pray to you for help or to praise you and whether he must know you before he can call you to his aid. If he does not know you, how can he pray to you? For he may call for some other help, mistaking it for yours. Or are people to pray to you and learn to know you through their prayers? “Only, how are they to call on the Lord until they have learned to believe in him? And how are they to believe in him without a preacher to listen to?” “Those who look for the Lord will cry out in praise of him,” because all who look for him shall find him, and when they find him they will praise him. I shall look for you, Lord, by praying to you, and as I pray I shall believe in you, because we have had preachers to tell us about you. It is my faith that calls to you, Lord, the faith that you gave me and made to live in me through the merits of your Son, who became man, and through the ministry of your preacher.

(Compare Psa 18:3; Psa 48:1). greatness--as displayed in His works.