Paraphrase Upon the Books of the Psalms, Book 5 · Psalm 146
The Hundred Fourty Sixth Psalm.
‖Hallelujah. See note on Ps. cvi. a. and cxi. a.Praise ye the Lord. The hundred fourty and sixth is another forme of solemn praising of God, his sole and supereminent power and mercy, his patronage to all that are in distress, his judgments, and the eternity of his kingdome. The title of it is Hallelujah, and it is antiently thought to have been composed†foreign Lxxii. at the returne from the Captivity.
1. PRaise the Lord, O my soule.
2. While I live will I praise the Lord: I will sing praises unto my God, while I have any being.
Paraphrase. I will excite and rouse up all the faculties of my soule to the solemn performance of that great and necessary duty, of praising and magnifying the God of heaven. This is an office never to be intermitted by me, as long as I have a tongue or breath to proclaim the excellencies and glories of so great and gracious a Majesty.
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.
As for any other, be it the greatest and most powerfull Princes in the world (none borne of woman excepted, save only the Messias, the Son of God as well as man) they being but mortal men, have no power to relieve any, and consequently will deceive and disappoint all those that rely on them. For how able or willing soever they may be in the eyes of men, or in their own resolutions forward to performe any office of charity to any; yet 'tis certain their whole being depends every minute upon the will of God: whensoever he pleaseth they die, their soule is separated from the body, the one is gathered to the earth from whence it hath its first beginning (see Psal. xc. note c.) the other to the hands of God that gave it (Eccl. xii. 7.) and when this houre comes, 'tis then too late for them to help themselves; whatsoever they designed for the relief of others, together with all their other worldly contrivances, are evacuated and frustrated.
5. a.Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his helpe, whose hope is in the Lord his God,
6. Which made heaven and earth, the sea and all that therein is, which keepeth*or fidelity foreign truth for ever;
The onelyonly sure hold, and never-failing foundation of confidence, is the special mercy and protection of the one omnipotent Creator of heaven and earth, the Lord of Israel, who as he is able to overrule all his creatures, and do whatsoever he pleases, so he hath promised to protect those that depend on him, and will certainly make good this promise to all that are carefull to make good their fidelity to him.
7. Which‖or pleadeth the cause, see note on Ps. cxxxii. a. executeth judgment for the oppressed, which giveth food to the hungry: the Lord looseth the prisoners.
8. The Lord openeth the eyes of the blinde; the Lord raiseth them that are bowed down; the Lord loveth the righteous.
One peculiar property of his it is to interpose his aide most seasonably when our distresses are the greatest, to undertake the defense and patronage of those which are most unjustly opprest, to work even miracles of mercy for them that stand in most need of them, signally to express his favour to pious and charitable minded men, to provide food for some, as he did for Elias, to send others liberty from then restreints, as he did to Daniel, to restore sight to the blinde, to revive and comfort those that are in the greatest distress either of body or soule. (And this in a farre more eminent completion by the incarnatian of his Son, the Messias of the world. See note a.)
9. The Lord preserveth the strangers, he relieveth the fatherless and widow: but the way of the wicked he turneth upside down.
If there be any more destitute than other, more shut out from all sorts of humane supportation, those that have neither house, nor parent, nor husband, to relieve and comfort them, (especially the poor in spirit, the meek, the mourners, those that hunger and thirst after righteousness, Matth. v. 3. &c.) are the fittest objects for God to afford his grace, to shew his compassion on: Of such he will have a peculiar care, (of such the Kingdome of the Messias is made up) if in the absence of worldly aids they sincerely apply themselves and constantly adhere to his obedience. But for all godlesse wicked men, he will as undoubtedly poure out his vengeance upon them, and bring them to utter destruction.
10. The Lord shall reign for ever and ever; even thy God, O Zion, unto all generations.†see Psal. cxlvii. Paraphr. on the Title. Praise ye the Lord.
God hath the only supreme dominion over the world, and in a most eminent manner exerciseth it in the hearts of all his faithfull people under the Messias. His regal power is exercised in his Church of Jews first, and after of Christians, and so shall continue to the end of the world. His glorious name be ever magnified for it. To this onelyonly King eternal be all honour and glory world without end.
Annotations on Psalm CXLVI.
V. 5. Happy] This Psalm from this verse to the end hath a most visible remarkable aspect upon the Messias, foreignthe eternal Son of God, in his Incarnation. It is acknowledged by the Jews themselves; Sepher Ikkarim, foreign &c. What forbids us to say that there shall come a divine law that shall make most of those things that are forbidden lawfull? This is the opinion of most of our Doctors, who in Tanchuma explain that of Psal. cxlvi. 7. the Lord foreign looseth or makes lawfull those things that are forbidden. And on the 10. verse, the Lord shall reign, &c. Sol. Jarchi saith, it belongs to the dayes of the Messias. And that it doth so indeed, it will best appear by comparing what here is added v. 7, 8. with the characters of the Messias delivered by Christ himself, Mat. xi. 5, 6. There upon the demand of John Baptist by his Disciples, whether he were the Christ or no, he returns this answer to John, The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are clensed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the Gospel preached to them: And blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me. These words are ordinarily referred to, and look't on as a completion of Isa. xxxv. 5, 6, 7. and Lxi. 1, 2. and so no question they are: And by the same reason may be resolved also to reflect on this parcel of this Psalm, which bears a full correspondence with them in respect of the particulars mentioned in either. This is specially observable in the first branch of Christs answer, The blinde receive their sight. Of this sort of miracles, as it refers to those that perfectly want that sense, were born blind, this Maxime is delivered by one that had received such a cure, Joh. ix. 32. Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was borne blinde. And the Pharisees, to whom this was so confidently delivered in an universal negative, were not, it seems, able to refute him. Nay it is observable, that God hath not left on record any example of his having wrought such a miracle as this at any time by the hand of Prophet, or ministery of Angel, till his Son incarnate came into the world, and did it with his own hands, that so these prophesies which principally insist on this, might appear to have their completion in the Messias. And when he wrought it, he did it by mixing Clay and spittle; of which the Fathers observe, that he gave him eyes out of the*foreign same and no other materials, out of which he first created man, viz. out of the dust of the earth, to signify it an act of creative power by which he did it. And so this and the other like miraculous acts of his are here introduced with Which made heaven and earth— And therefore our Saviour, when he again met this blind man whom he had thus cured, his question to him is, Joh. ix. 35. Doest thou believe on the Son of God? intimating that this miracle wrought on him was a competent testimony, that he which wrought it was no lesse than the Son of God, and so God himselfe. But it may here be demanded, what prisoners Christ loosed, of which the mention should here be made, v. 7. The Lord looseth the prisoners, and of which there is no mention either in Christs answer to John, or in the prediction, Isa. xxxv. to which that answer is thought to referr. To this I answer, 1. that this Objection would be of equal force against Isa. Lxi. 1. where there is express mention of proclaiming liberty to captives, and opening the prison to them that are bound, as here of loosing the prisoners: 2. that as in that place of Isaiah the phrase of opening the prison to them that are bound, is by the learned thought to be a prophetick elegance, to signify the cure of those that are deaf and dumb, whose soules consequently were shut up from being able to express themselves, as language inables others to doe; so here it may poetically signify also, and then it will be directly parallel to that part of Christs answer, the deaf hear, and accordingly at the curing of such Christs forme of speech was, Epphatha, be opened, as to the dores of a prison, when those which were under restreint there were to be let loose out of it, their fetters being shaken off from them. But then 3. 'tis farther manifest, that those that were under any sore disease or lameness &c. are said to be bound by Satan, Luk. xiii. 16. and so to be loosed by Christ, when they were cured by him. So saith Christ v. 12. Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity: and immediately she was made straight. Her being made straight was her being loosed out of her restreint, or bonds, or prison. And in this latitude of the poetick or prophetick expression, the Lords loosing the prisoners here will comprehend the walking of the lame, the lepers being cleansed, the hearing of the deaf, yea and the raising up of the dead, for those of all others are fastest bound, and so when they are raised, the style is as proper as to Lazarus in respect of the gravecloaths, loose them, and let them goe. By this way of interpretation of this one phrase, (which yet farther also may be extended to the spiritual sense, of loosing us from the captivity of sin) 'twill now be manifest how exactly parallel this of the Psalmist is to that answer of Christs, for then there be but two parcels of Christs words behind, To the poore the Gospel is preached, and Blessed is he that is not offended in or because of me. To the former of these are answerable here these so many severals to the same purpose, Which executeth judgment, or pleadeth the cause of the oppressed, Giveth food to the hungry, Raiseth them that are bowed down (unless that literally belong to Christs corporal cures) Loveth the righteous, Preserveth the strangers, Relieveth the fatherless and widow. All which are but so many prophetical expressions (to be understood in a spiritual sense) of his exceeding mercies under the Gospel to the poor in spirit, the humble and lowly in heart, the prime peculiar objects of Evangelical mercy, and those which are effectually wrought on by his grace, and so Evangelized by him, in that sense which belongs to that phrase in that place (see note on Mat. xi. b.) To the latter the words of this v. 5. are parallel, Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God: for so to hope, and adhere, and place his full trust in the one true God, is all one with not being scandalized or falling off from Christ, whatsoever befalls. And as that there is inferr'd from the other parts of the character of the Messias, as a Conclusion from Premisses, and so is set down in the close of all; so here 'tis set down as a principle in the front, and (which is all one) proved by what follows in the insuing verses. By all which it is farther evident that the Messias, whose character it is, is no less than the Creator of heaven and earth, v. 6. and consequently the Lord that shall reign for ever and ever, v. 10. the God of Zion, or his Church, unto all generations. The latter of which is but proportionable to Christs words to the Apostles, Lo, I am with you to the end of the world: And the former the very style wherein Christs Kingdome is exprest both in the Psalms (see Ps. xciii. 1.) and in the New Testament 1 Cor. xv. 25. and oft in other phrases amounting to the same sense, as, sitting at Gods right hand till he make his enemies his footstoole, Psal. cx. 1. Mat. xxii. 44. and Act. ii. 34.