Works Volume 4, Book 5 · Psalm 117
The Hundred and Seventeenth PSALM.
The hundred and ſeventeenth is a ſolemn acknowledgment of God's mercy and fidelity, and an exhortation to all the world to praiſe him for it.
1. O Praiſe the Lord, all ye nations; praiſe him, all ye people.
2. For his mercifull kindneſs is great toward us; and the truth of the Lord endureth for ever. Praiſe ye the Lord.
Paraphrase. 1, 2. All the heathen nations of the world, and all the people diſperſed over the face of the earth, have a ſingular obligation, as well as the children of Iſrael (Abraham's ſeed according to the fleſh) to praiſe and magnifie the name of God (ſee Rom. 15.11.) and that eſpecially for his great and tranſcendent mercy toward them in the work of their redemption, and the promulgation of his Goſpel to them, wherein his promiſe of mercy to Abraham and his ſeed for ever, i. e. to his true ſpiritual poſterity, to the ſons and heirs of his Faith, unto the end of the world, ſhall be moſt exactly performed, and therein his fidelity, as well as mercy, manifeſted.
Annotations on Pſal. CXVII.
foreignV. 1. Nations] That foreign all the nations here, and in the next word, foreign all people, ſignifie in the greateſt latitude all the nations and people of the Gentile world, even foreign, the whole creation, and foreign, the whole world, Mar. 16.15. appears both by Matt. 28.19. where parallel to thoſe phraſes in S. Mark is no more than foreign, all the nations here; but eſpecially by Rom. 15. where for a proof of God's purpoſe that the Gentiles ſhould be received into the Church, and joyn with the believing Jews in one conſort of Chriſtian love and faith, and praiſe God together in the ſame congregation, the proof is brought as from ſeveral other texts, ſo from theſe words in this Pſalm. And this not onelyonly by expreſs citing v. 11. And again, Praiſe the Lord all ye nations, and laud him all ye people, but alſo in the front of the teſtimonies by the phraſes foreign, for the truth of God, v. 8. foreign, for the mercy or pity (of God) v. 9. both which are here mentioned v. 2. For thus the diſcourſe there lies, Chriſt was a miniſter of the circumciſion, i. e. was by God appointed an inſtrument of the Jews greateſt good, preaching the Goſpel firſt to them, calling them to repentance, &c. and this for the truth of God, i. e. to make good God's fidelity or performance of covenant to them, foreign, to confirm the promiſes made to the fathers, i. e. to Abraham, &c. foreign, and that the Gentiles for his mercy might glorifie God: where though this preaching the Goſpel to the Gentiles was a work of mercy, not ſo much as promiſed to or lookt for by them, and ſo there is nothing but foreign, pity, compaſſion toward them; yet is this an effect of that miniſtery of Chriſt, which was foreign, for the truth of God, i. e. a completion of that promiſe made to Abraham, that he ſhould be the father of many nations, which had never its perfect completion till the Gentiles came, and ſat down with Abraham, became ſons of this faith of Abraham, in this kingdom of heaven, the Church of Chriſt. And exactly to this ſenſe the ſecond verſe of this Pſalm is to be underſtood, as the reaſon why all the Gentile world is to praiſe and magnifie the name of God,foreign foreign &c. becauſe the mercy of God is ſtrong upon us, foreign, was confirmed ſay the LXXII. and Latin, and the Syriack foreign, from foreign grew ſtrong, was in full force upon us, i. e. all that mercy which is promiſed to Abraham for his ſpiritual as well as carnal ſeed, is fully made good foreign upon us (in which reſpect thoſe words Rom. 15.8. foreign — to confirm the promiſes of the fathers, may reaſonably be thought to refer to theſe words in this Pſalm, the making good of God's mercy to us, being, as in words, ſo in ſenſe, parallel to confirming the promiſes to the Fathers) and the truth of the Lord endureth for ever, i. e. God's fidelity, which conſiſts in an exact performance of his promiſe, endureth to the end of the world; becauſe though the Jews for their unbelief were cut off, yet the Gentiles, the ſeed of Abraham's faith, were grafted in, and ſo God's promiſe of making him a father of many nations fully performed in the vocation of the Gentiles, at the time of the Jews obduration and apoſtaſie. Thus much is manifeſt; yet perhaps it may be farther obſervable, that the foreign ſtrong here attributed to the mercy of God, is the known title of the Meſſias, Iſa. 9.6. For though the late Jews have endeavoured to interpret that place of Hezekiah, whom they there ſtyle foreign the Lord of eight names, Talmud, tract. Sanhedr. c. Chelek; yet the Targum and others have reſolved it to belong to the Meſſiah, and ſo foreign, and foreign to be two of his names. And ſo indeed the myſtery of our Redemption is to be looked on as an eminent exertion of the power of God, Act. 2.33. the Incarnation is ſhewing ſtrength with God's arm, Luk. 1.51. and the Angel that brings the news of it, and (as the Jews tell us) hath his name correſpondent to the imployment he manages, is Gabriel, from this word foreign ſtrong. And ſo above all, the power was remarkable in his Reſurrection, which was wrought by God's right hand, Act. 2.33. and v. 31. to this add that foreign,foreign which follows, is taken notice of to be another of the names of the Meſſiah; and the Midraſch Tehillim obſerves, that that word comprehends all the letters in the Alphabet, א the firſt, מ the middlemoſt, and ת the laſt, as Rev. 1.8. he is called Alpha and Omega, the firſt and the laſt, the beginning and the end.