Works Volume 4, Book 4 · Psalm 100
The Hundredth PSALM.
A Pſalm ‖for thanksgiving. foreignof praiſe.
Paraphrase. The hundredth Pſalm being made up of lauds and praiſes of God for all his mercies, was appointed to be uſed at the offering of thoſe peace-offerings which were for a thankſgiving, Lev. 7.12. the praefect or praecentor beginning, and ſinging,
1. Make a joyfull noiſe unto the Lord, all †the earth foreignye lands;
2. Serve the Lord with gladneſs, come before his preſence with *ovation or triumph foreignſinging.
Paraphrase. 1, 2. O let all the people in the world bleſs and worſhip and praiſe, and offer up their prayers and ſupplications to the God of heaven, reſort daily to his ſanctuary, and conſtantly attend his ſervice, and count this the moſt eſtimable and delectable task, the moſt renowned and glorious imployment:
3. Know ye that the Lord he is God, ‖he hath foreignit is he that hath made us, and not we our ſelves: we are his people and the ſheep of his paſture.
Paraphrase. 3. As being our way of converſing with the great and glorious omnipotent creator of heaven and earth, to whom we owe all that we have, our very being and conduct and preſervation, and to whom we are obliged to pay all the obedience and obſervance that the meekeſt creatures in nature pay to thoſe that have care and conduct of them.
4. Enter into his gates with thankſgiving, and into his courts with praiſe: be thankfull unto him, and bleſs his name.
Paraphrase. 4. O let us make our ſolemn addreſſes to his ſanctuary, that court or palace where his divine Majeſty is ſignally pleaſed to exhibit himſelf, and to teſtifie his peculiar reſidence, and favourable audience to them who aſſemble there, by the preſence of his holy Angels in that place; let us come thither with all the humility and devotion of loyal thankfull hearts, and praiſe and magnifie his name for all the mercies we have ever received from him. To which beginnings of the Praefect, the whole quire of Prieſts anſwer,
5. For the Lord is good, his mercy is everlaſting, and his truth endureth to all generations.
Paraphrase. 5. To this we have all imaginable obligations, not onelyonly that of his ſovereign dominion over all, to which therefore all the performances of our lives are but a moſt unproportionable tribute; but alſo his abundant benignity, his rich promiſes of a never failing mercy, and his conſtant fidelity in performing to every man, that is qualified for receiving it, the utmoſt that he ever promiſed to any.
Annotations on Pſal. C.
V. 3. Not we our ſelves] The Jewiſh Arab follows here another reading, not foreign, but foreign to him, and accordingly interprets it, we are foreign to him, or his, his people, and the ſheep of his paſture. And ſo the Chaldee alſo, he hath made us, foreign and we are his; but the Syriack and LXXII. and Latin and Arabick accord in the other reading foreign, and not we.
foreignV. 5. For the Lord is good] That the Pſalm was appointed to attend the oblation of the peace-offering, appears by the title of it, foreign a Pſalm of confeſſion, acknowledgment, thanksgiving, proportionable to that ſacrifice of thanksgiving, ſo ſtyled Lev. 7.12. Now as in the offering of ſuch, the prieſts prepared and fired the ſacrifices, ſo the ſingers prepared and began the lauds. And this Pſalm being, in the former part of it, an admonition to bleſſing and praiſing, (which was the Levites office, as the Deacons in the primitive Church, who was therefore ſtyled the monitor, that invited or called upon them to pray) Make a joyfull noiſe, ſerve, Come before his preſence, Know ye, Enter, be thankfull — but in this laſt verſe a General form of prayer, uſed upon all occaſions, the Lord is good, his mercy is everlaſting, and his truth endureth — this laſt ſeems to be the Reſponſe of the whole Chorus of the Prieſts, at the inſtant of the firing of the ſacrifice, the praefect or praecentor having begun the reſt.