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Psalm 92

Thanksgiving for Vindication

A Psalm. A Song for the Sabbath Day.

1

It is good to give thanks to the L ord,

to sing praises to your name, O Most High;

2

to declare your steadfast love in the morning,

and your faithfulness by night,

3

to the music of the lute and the harp,

to the melody of the lyre.

4

For you, O L ord, have made me glad by your work;

at the works of your hands I sing for joy.

 

5

How great are your works, O L ord!

Your thoughts are very deep!

6

The dullard cannot know,

the stupid cannot understand this:

7

though the wicked sprout like grass

and all evildoers flourish,

they are doomed to destruction forever,

8

but you, O L ord, are on high forever.

9

For your enemies, O L ord,

for your enemies shall perish;

all evildoers shall be scattered.

 

10

But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox;

you have poured over me fresh oil.

11

My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies;

my ears have heard the doom of my evil assailants.

 

12

The righteous flourish like the palm tree,

and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

13

They are planted in the house of the L ord;

they flourish in the courts of our God.

14

In old age they still produce fruit;

they are always green and full of sap,

15

showing that the L ord is upright;

he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.


9 For, lo! thine enemies, O Jehovah! From what was already said in the verse preceding, the Psalmist concludes it to be impossible that God should not overthrow his enemies. This, as I have already observed, clearly shows that it was his design to establish our faith under the strong temptations to which it is subjected, and, more especially, to remove that offense out of the way, which has disturbed the minds of many, and led them astray; — we refer to the prosperity of the wicked, and its effect in attaching a certain perplexity to the judgments of God. As our faith is never called to a more sharp and arduous trial than upon this point, the Psalmist delivers the truth, which he announces with much force of expression, using both exclamations and repetition. First, he declares the destruction of God’s enemies to be as certain as if it had already taken place, and he had witnessed it with his own eyes; then he repeats his assertion: and from all this we may see how much he had benefited by glancing with the eye of faith beyond this world to the throne of God in the heavens. When staggered in our own faith at any time by the prosperity of the wicked, we should learn by his example to rise in our contemplations to a God in heaven, and the conviction will immediately follow in our minds that his enemies cannot long continue to triumph. The Psalmist tells us who they are that are God’s enemies. God hates none without a cause; nay, so far as men are the workmanship of his hand, he embraces them in his fatherly love. But as nothing is more opposed to his nature than sin, he proclaims irreconcilable war with the wicked. It contributes in no small degree to the comfort of the Lord’s people, to know that the reason why the wicked are destroyed is, their being necessarily the objects of God’s hatred, so that he can no more fail to punish them than deny himself. 595595     “Qu’il faut necessairement qu’ils soyent hays de Dieu, lequel ne se peut renoncer soy mesme.”

The Psalmist, shortly afterwards, shows that he intended this to be a ground of comfort and hope under all cares, griefs, anxieties, and embarrassments. He speaks under the figure of oil of enjoying Divine blessings, and by green or fresh oil is meant, such as has not become corrupted, or unfit for use by age. It is noticeable that he appropriates, and improves for his own individual comfort, that grace of God which is extended to all the Lord’s people without exception; and would teach us by this that mere general doctrine is a cold and unsatisfactory thing, and that each of us should improve it particularly for himself, in the persuasion of our belonging to the number of God’s children. In one word, the Psalmist promises himself the protection of God, under whatever persecutions he should endure from his enemies, whether they were secret, or more open and violent, that he may encourage himself to persevere with indefatigable spirit in the world’s conflict. We may judge from this how absurd is the opinion of the Rabbin, who conjectured that Adam was the author of this psalm 596596     These Rabbins say that Adam composed it immediately after the creation before the Sabbath. The Chaldee paraphrase entitles the psalm, “A hymn or song which the first man spoke concerning the Sabbath-day.” But had it been a composition of Adam’s, one would think it should have been placed at the head of this collection of psalms. Besides, there were no musical instruments at that time for this psalm to be sung upon, (see verse 3;) for Tubal was the father of them that handle the harp and organ; nor, as Calvin observes, had Adam numerous enemies and wicked men who rose up against him, to which reference is made in verses 7, 9, 11. We may therefore justly regard the Jewish tradition, which ascribes the composition of this psalm to Adam, as fabulous, having no other foundation but the invention and fancy of some of their Rabbins. — as if it were credible that his posterity should have set themselves up in rebellion against him.


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