He is all fulness; He needs nothing, surely, that I can present to Him. It is said, for instance, that the scholar Scaliger committed the Iliad to heart in three weeks, and even more astonishing feats of memory have been accomplished by men who were not in the least distinguished in other directions. Go to. xxvii., p. 161. Thanksgiving is to enter into the serene perpetuity of eternal communion with each other and with God. The philosophy, which underlies all true praise of God, is exceedingly slender in its analysis; there is no ponderous weight or tedious intricacy in its development. Can my singing of psalms be pleasing to Thy ears which is unpleasant to my own? It is this that makes the good speaker, because, as he speaks, his memory calls principles and illustrations unto his mind from which he can select what is most suitable. He flies to the Rock of ages, flies like many a heart since that has been sick with pain and sin. Copyright StatementThese files are a derivative of an electronic edition prepared from text scanned by Woodside Bible Fellowship.This expanded edition of the Jameison-Faussett-Brown Commentary is in the public domain and may be freely used and distributed. 1871-8. It is no pleasing task thus to recall our sins of the past, but it may be a very salutary one. But He heals malice, envy, carnal feelings, backbiting, unbelief, "all thy diseases.". The devout and grateful aspiration of the heart to God. 4. But, as a rule, what comes quickly goes quickly. "Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers". Hence the privilege of “blessing” the Lord is older than justification, older than sanctification, older than prayer, older than sacrifice. He knew her times and her seasons. "E.W. His holy name - Himself in His manifestation of His character as the holy and adorable One (Psalms 22:3). According to the superscription — which is not a part of the inspired text, but is, nonetheless very ancient — it is a psalm of David. The proper reference here is to the divine “dealings,” - to what God had done - as a reason for blessing his name. BibliographyTrapp, John. The hope of a renewed life beyond the grave. VI. It is a fitting and natural thing that we should call upon the gracious God to bless us. It is only as we look back on a day like this, over an important stretch of life, that we see how little use we have made of golden opportunities; how little we have grown; how little we have done; how seldom we have prayed. https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/cal/psalms-103.html. (W. G. (John Ruskin. It is honouring to God their Saviour. “Praise Yahweh, my soul, and don’t forget all his benefits” (Hebrew: gemul) (v. 2). II. What are the advantages which accrue from the habit of grateful praise? 1. Then, secondly, we remember what we have repeatedly attended to. Perhaps there is nothing which is so antagonistic to a materialistic view of the human mind. The Biblical Illustrator. All—That is, any; the same word as in Psalms 147:20. Peace is very uncertain and hard to attain, for the devil is continually coining out accusations against each believer. Psalm 103 begins with an individual blessing the Lord with his soul, and it ends with the angels and all of creation joining in (verses 20–22). So there is the rectification of the will. The result of the crowning is that his mouth is satisfied with good things; his youth is renewed like the eagle's. All rights reserved. Take no step in life without a previous reference to the law of God. – Psalm 103:2 (NLT) When hard times come, its sometimes really easy to want to give up. But He "forgiveth all thine iniquities," though a man feel his sins so great, someone great sin so black, that his heart is sick, and he feels as though he needed another communion table to wash that sin away. And a still more curious thing is that such persons have sometimes been able to retain the things they thus rapidly committed to memory. You can hardly help thinking of it, in some people, as comparable to one of the huge warehouses of this city, where the passages are like streets for length, and there are ever so many departments, but everything is in its own place. We are not ungrateful, but our gratitude costs us little. 2. Some of the mercies which we are called on to acknowledge. https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/tsk/psalms-103.html. II. “He that has been blessed, and refuses to bless, has sunk from the state of a man to that of a beast.”— Hengstenberg. "Commentary on Psalms 103:2". But most important of all is emotion--to mix things as they enter the mind with emotion. Then the other great religious use of memory, especially on a day like this, is to remember our sins. Verses 19 – 22: the *angels must *praise the *LORD. of 3. 1. Used by Permission. The various providential mercies we have received during our lives. You know materialism holds that thought is simply a movement of matter; but if so, in what form do these modifications of matter continue so as to be remembered? Psalms 103 may be the “Mt. However loud you call they will not come, and you may have to go into the magazine, and search about in odd corners, and tumble things over, and at last you say, “Ah, there it is; I remember.” Or perhaps after all your searching you are baffled, and you say, “No, I am beaten; I cannot remember.” If we remembered everything we should be embarrassed with our riches. Bless the lord, O my soul] David found some dulness and drowsiness; hence he so oft puts the thorn to the breast; hence he so impetuously instigateth his soul, as one here phraseth it. It is as if in front of this silent magazine there were erected a platform, to which the images of the magazine could at any time be summoned. ), The believer gratefully recounting his mercies. Gratitude is so spontaneous and natural, that a generous and manly soul has often to cheek its profuse outflow by some external force of reserve. IV. "The New John Gill Exposition of the Entire Bible". "Whedon's Commentary on the Bible". Copyright StatementThe New John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible Modernised and adapted for the computer by Larry Pierce of Online Bible. Man stands in a continued relation to the past. For their own sake. For the sake of the mercies themselves. A. It will help us to connect the thoughts of God with every detail of our common life. Every man of great ability thus holds sway over a wide domain of acquisition and experience. Copyright © 2020, Bible Study Tools. Proud member b. David’s use of the eagle in verse 5 is an interesting choice. I. Hebrew and Septuagint have the verbs in the third person, till ver. Psalm 103 was written by David and expresses his gratitude to the Lord for all His benefits. Remember those seasons of life in which Divine providence appeared for you in a remarkable manner. But what can I give to Him? For a moment he waited; and then he said quietly, “I see no reason why we should not choose our usual song to-night.” There is in the writings of old Thomas Fuller one curiously quaint paragraph, which I have often wanted to quote: “Lord, my voice by nature is harsh and untunable, and it is vain to lavish any art to better it. The first benefit is forgiveness. (2) David wants the individuality of the praise. vii., p. 10. Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget none of His benefits; To report dead links, typos, or html errors or suggestions about making these resources more useful use our convenient, John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Unabridged, Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers, Commentary Critical and Explanatory - Unabridged, Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible, Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures. It seems at first a strange thing that we should call upon our souls to bless the Lord. The tone and tint of our religion go very far in impressing ethers. "Commentary on Psalms 103:2". His “dealings” with the psalmist had been such as to call for praise and gratitude. (T. B. Baker, M.A.). "Calvin's Commentary on the Bible". The more we attend to them at the time they are entering the mind, the more easily will we remember. "The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge". At other times, however, the summons has to be louder and more urgent. 3. New York. Campbell.). from the consequences of sin, from the love of sin, from the fear of death; and from eternal torment. “On this seat,” you will say to yourself, “I used to sit with so-and-so by my side; at that turn of the road I once thought on such a subject; across the ravine some one’s voice once called to me.” Images will pour out of the past on you in a perfect tumult, and you will be astonished at the vividness and minuteness of the reproduction. “Who forgiveth all thine iniquities,” Not a part of them; not the greatest sins which we may have committed, to the exclusion of the less. He says to me as we meet, “What is the Latin for door?” I answer at once, “Janua.” The question has brought this Latin word at the moment into my consciousness, and we say that I remembered it. the third (Psalms 103:15-18) a representation of man's weakness and dependence on God; and. They are in other languages. This is lesson 30 of 32 in a series of lessons called “Praise God Through the Psalms.” “Praise God Through the Psalms” – Psalm 103. 1. Psalm 103:2-4King James Version (KJV) 2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: 3 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; 4 Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; King James Version(KJV) Don’t Forget What God has Done for You! https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/tbi/psalms-103.html. IV. Psalms 103:3.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. It is this that makes the fortune of the conversationalist; whereas the speaker who has not this quality of memory makes all his best remarks to himself on the way home after the occasion is past. But what a significance in the restricted meaning “benefits.” God’s acts are all benefits. BibliographyClarke, Adam. BibliographyHaydock, George Leo. For the sake of the giver. I am sure none of us can look back over the past year, however carelessly, without observing how good God has been to us, to our families, to our Church; but we shall remember these benefits the better the more we attended to them at the time when they happened. The conditions of a good memory are very simple and are worth remembering. He says to his soul, as Aristotle said, "We are working under another category now." a. Psalm 103 is a hymn written by David. BibliographyJamieson, Robert, D.D. Verses 5-6: Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s: … The idea of the heavens resting like a tent upon the earth was very prevalent, Job ix. And men go abroad to admire the heights of mountains, the mighty billows of the sea, the broad tides of rivers, the compass of the ocean, and the circuits of the stars, and pass themselves by.” The second power to which the name of memory is applied is the power of bringing past experience into present consciousness. Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; Psalms 103:2 This Psalm is: (1) a monologue; (2) a psalm of recollection; (3) a psalm of thanksgiving. (3) Nothing forgotten so soon as "benefits.". Protection from numerous dangers, and the supply of constantly returning wants. 2. I. Although it may be brought by tuition to the comprehension of much that relates to our redemption, it is nevertheless totally incapable of comprehending Divine things, unless God heals it; for the understanding is so corrupted by sin, that “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them.” And how is this done? Beyond the seas, out there in the East, they have crowned their singers, their speakers, their wrestlers, with laurel leaves; but I never read in Eastern story that they ever had laurels for the man whose tragedy was never acted, whose oration found no audience, whose song was never sung before the great Greek congregation. (Read Psalm 103:15-18) How short is man's life, and uncertain! "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible". My youth is renewed like the eagle’s! If they were marks, like tracks or other marks, they would soon be covered up, so as to be wholly irrecoverable. Psalm 103 is a psalm of blessing and praise to the Lord. It is the spirit of the heavenly world. We are told it is a psalm of David, and his heart of love for his creator is visible … The Book of Psalms (/ s ɑː m z / or / s ɔː (l) m z / SAW(L)MZ; Hebrew: תְּהִלִּים ‎, Tehillim, "praises"), commonly referred to simply as Psalms, the Psalter or "the Psalms", is the first book of the Ketuvim ("Writings"), the third section of the Hebrew Bible, and thus a book of the Christian Old Testament. Grateful thanksgiving is the most reasonable of all human duties, for the earliest instincts of our redeemed nature turn us towards the immediate acknowledgment of our vast spiritual favours received. You might blame God or just give up. "Commentary on Psalms 103:2". ), What recollections have we of the sunsets that delighted us last year? And when he sees himself a poor old broken-winged eagle, to him, the poor old sinner, the memory of the eagle comes back. https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/jfb/psalms-103.html. A moment ago there was a saint standing like Joshua, clad with filthy garments, an accuser accusing him, a gallows awaiting him, a broken law, a guilty sinner without any one to help him. 1909-1922. This latter power of keeping past experience in the mind out of consciousness is in some respects the most extraordinary feature in the whole realm of psychology. https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/ebc/psalms-103.html. We take things too much as a matter of course, not only in human relationships, but in the sphere of religion. Copyright StatementThese files are public domain.Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. But his wife died. The energy of an impression fades from the memory and becomes more and more indistinct every day.