Charles H. Spurgeon

Whole Psalm. Some have applied this Psalm to Christ's ascension; but it speaks of his Second Coming. The Mighty One is seated peacefully on his throne. We are referred back to Ps 45:1-17. Andrew A. Bonar.

Verse 1. O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph. This should be done, 1. Cheerfully, Clap your hands, for this is a sign of inward joy, Na 3:19. 2. Universally: "O clap you hands, all ye people." 3. Vocally: Shout unto God with the voice of triumph. 4. Frequently: "Sing praises to God, sing praises: sing praises unto our King, sing praises", Ps 47:6; and again "sing praises", Ps 47:7. It cannot be done too frequently. 5. Knowingly and discreetly: "Sing ye praises with understanding; "know the reason why ye are to praise him. Adam Clarke.

Verse 1. O clap your hands, etc. Such expressions of pious and devout affection as to some may seem indecent and imprudent, yet ought not to be hastily censured and condemned, much less ridiculed; because if they come from an upright heart, God will accept the strength of the affection, and excuse the weakness of the expressions of it. Matthew Henry.

Verse 1. O clap your hands. The voice of melody is not so much to be uttered with the tongue, as with the hands; that it, it is our deeds not our words, by which God is here to be praised. Even as it was in him whose pattern we are to follow: "Jesus began both to do and to teach." J. M. Neale.

Verse 1. All ye people. Peoples, in the plural. Here it is used to call both Jews and Gentiles—all nations. William S. Plumer.

Verse 1. Shout unto God. Jubilate Deo: in God, and concerning God, and in honour of God. He does not excite them to carnal joy. Martin Geier.

Verse 2. For the Lord most high is terrible; he is a great king over all the earth. The church celebrates the ascension of Christ, because then he was "highly exalted; "then he became terrible to his enemies, all power in heaven and earth being committed to him; and then he began to display the excellent majesty of his universal kingdom, to which he was then inaugurated, being crowned "King of kings, and Lord of lords." George Horne.

Verse 2. The Lord most high is terrible. Christ is terrible, that is, fearful, or meet to be feared, not of his children only for their good, but of the wicked also for their punishment; terrible to the devil, as being stronger than he, casting out the prince of darkness by the finger of God. Lu 11:22 Joh 12:31. And therefore so soon as an unclean spirit saw Jesus, he cried out, "What have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us?" Mr 1:24; or as other devils, Mt 8:29, "Art thou come hither to torment us before the time?" for the devils in believing tremble. Terrible to hypocrites, and other impious agents of the devil, as having his fan in his hand to make clean his floor, and to gather his wheat into his garner, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. Mt 3:12. Or Christ is excelsus in potentia, terribilis in justitia; high in power, and fearful in justice; high in exalting the good, and terrible in humbling the bad. John Boys.

Verse 3. He shall subdue the people under us, and the nations under our feet. The consequence of our Lord's ascension was the going forth of the all subduing Word, under the influence and direction of which, the convinced and converted nations renounced their idols and their lusts, and bowed their willing necks to the yoke of Jesus. This is that great conquest, fore showed by the victories of Joshua, David, and all the faithful heroes of old time, and foretold in language borrowed from their history. George Horne.

Verse 3. He shall subdue the people under us, etc., or he shall lead like sheep; or bring unto to fold; as divers render the word, by comparing Isa 5:17 Mic 2:12. He seems to speak of such a subjugation of them, as was for the good of the people subdued, because this is matter of rejoicing to them, verse 1; which is true both of these people whom David subdued, who thereby had opportunities, obligations, and encouragements to own and worship the true God, which was the only way to their true and lasting happiness; and especially of those Gentiles who were subdued to Christ by the preaching of the gospel. The Gentile converts were in some sort brought under the Jews, because they were subjected to Christ and to his apostles, and to the primitive church, which were Jews. Matthew Poole.

Verse 3. And the nations under our feet. By this manner of speech is meant, that the Gentiles should be scholars, and the Jews schoolmasters, as it were to them; for to sit under the feet, or at the feet, is used in Scripture for being a scholar, or learning, as Ac 22:3. Thomas Wilcocks.

Verse 4. He shall choose. Futures are variously rendered; and accordingly the vulgar Latin, Syriac, and Arabic, render this word, He hath chosen. Matthew Poole.

Verse 4. He shall choose our inheritance for us. It is reported of a woman who, being sick, was asked whether she was willing to live or die; she answered, "Which God pleases." But, said one, if God should refer it to you, which would you choose? "Truly, "replied she, "I would refer it to him again." Thus that man obtains his will of God, whose will is subjected to God. We are not to be troubled that we have no more from God, but we are to be troubled that we do no more for God. Christians, if the Lord be well pleased with your persons, should not you be well pleased with your conditions? There is more reason that you should be pleased with them, than that he should be pleased with you. Believers should be like sheep, which change their pastures at the will of the shepherd; or like vessels in a house, which stand to be filled or emptied at the pleasure of their owner. He that sails upon the sea of this world in his own bottom, will sink at last into a bottomless ocean. Never were any their own carvers, but they were sure to cut their own fingers. William Secker.

Verse 4. He shall choose our inheritance for us, means that he who knows what is better for us than ourselves, hath chosen, that is, hath appointed, and that of his own good will and mercy towards us, our inheritance; not only things meet for this life, as lands, and houses, and possessions, etc., but even all other things concerning the hope of a better life, to wit, a kingdom that cannot be shaken, an everlasting habitation, and inheritance which is immortal and undefiled, and fadeth not away, reserved for us in heaven. John Boys.

Verse 4. The excellency (or glory) of Jacob, whom he loved; that is, even all those excellent things that he gave and promised to Jacob, wherein he might glory and rejoice. The faithful mean, that they had as great, both abundance and assurance of God's grace and goodness, as ever Jacob had. Thomas Wilcocks.

Verse 4. It may be thou art godly and poor. It is well; but canst thou tell whether, if thou wert not poor, thou wouldst be godly? Surely God knows us better than we ourselves do, and therefore can best fit the estate to the person. Giles Fletcher.

Verse 5. God is gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. It is worthy (as Origen suggests) that this mention of the shout, and the voice of the trumpet, serves to connect together past and future events in the history of the church and of the world, and carry our thoughts forward to Christ's coming to judgment. Christopher Wordsworth.

Verse 5. Thou hast great cause, O my soul, to praise him, and to rejoice before him, especially if thou considerest that Christ ascended not for himself, but also for thee: it is God in our nature that is gone up to heaven: whatever God acted on the person of Christ, that he did as in thy behalf, and he means to act the very same on thee. Christ as a public person ascended up to heaven; thy interest is in this very ascension of Jesus Christ; and therefore dost thou consider thy Head as soaring up? O let every member praise his name; let thy tongue (called thy glory), glory in this, and trumpet out his praise, that in respect of thy duty it may be verified: "Christ is gone up with a shout, the Lord with a sound of a trumpet." Isaac Ambrose.

Verse 7. For God is the King of all the earth: as if he had said, "our King, said I? it is too little; he is King of all the earth." John Trapp.

Verse 7. Sing ye praises with understanding. How may we make melody in our hearts to God in singing of Psalms? We must sing with understanding. We must not be guided by the time, but the words of the Psalm; we must mind the matter more than the music, and consider what we sing, as well as how we sing; the tune may affect the fancy, but it is the matter affects the heart, and that God principally eyes. The psalmist advises us in this particular, and so doth the apostle 1Co 14:15. Otherwise this sweet duty would be more the work of a chorister than of a Christian, and we should be more delighted in an anthem of the musician's making, than in a Psalm of the Spirit's making. A. Lapide observes that in the text, 1Co 14:15, the word understanding is maschil, (lyksm), profound judgment: we must sing wisely, if we will sing gratefully; we must relish what we sing. In a word, we must sing as we must pray; now the most rude petitioner will understand what he prays. 1Co 14:15. If we do not understand what we sing, it argues carelessness of spirit, or hardness of heart; and this makes the service impertinent. Upon this the worthy Davenant cries out, "Adieu to the bellowing of the Papists, who sing in an unknown tongue." God will not understand us in that service which we understand not ourselves. One of the first pieces of the creation was light, and this must break out in every duty. John Wells(—1676), in "Morning Exercises."

Verse 7. Sing ye praises with understanding, sing an instructive song. Let sense and sound go together. Let your hearts and heads go with your voices. Understand what you sing, and feel what you understand. Adam Clarke.

Verse 7. Sing ye praises with understanding; because in the full light of the new dispensation, the darkness of the patriarchal ages, the seeing as through a glass of the Levitical law, are turned into the vision of full and very reality. Hugo Victorinus.

Verse 7. Sing ye praises with understanding. Mark this, thou who daily readest the Psalms, and yet does not understand them. Simon de Muis.

Verse 7. With understanding. If they had sung with understanding, they had not adored stones. When a man sensible sang to a stone insensible, did he sing "with understanding"? But now, brethren, we see not with our eyes whom we adore, and yet correctly we adore. Much more is God commended to us, that with our eyes see him not. Augustine.

Verse 9. The princes of the people are gathered together. I note from hence, 1. That it is not impossible for great men to be good men; for the heads of a country to be members of Christ; and for princes as well as the people to serve the God of Abraham. It is said by the prophet, "upon my peace came great bitterness; ""a thousand fell on the left hand, but ten thousand at the right hand" Ps 91:7: ten perish in their prosperity, for one that falleth in adversity. Homo victus in paradiso, victum in stercore: Adam in the garden of pleasure was overcome by the subtil serpent, whereas Job on the dunghill of misery was more than a conqueror. Woodmen say that deer are more circumspect in fat pastures; so the godly fear most in a rich estate: nihil timendum video (saith one), timeo tamen. (Seneca.) It is a sweet prayer of our church in the Litany, "Good Lord, deliver us in all time of our wealth, "insinuating that our minds are not so wanton as in abundance: yet, as you see, such is Christ's unspeakable goodness towards all sort of men, in preventing them even with the riches of his mercy, that not only the mean people, but also the mighty princes among the heathen are joined unto the church of the God of Abraham. John Boys.

Verse 9. Gathered together. Christ's gathering of the saints together unto him will be at his second coming, his coming to judgment, the general and final judgment. "Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him." 2Th 2:1. James Scott (—1773), in "A Collection of Sermons, "1774.

Verse 9. The people of the God of Abraham. First, touching the God of Abraham, it is Christ, whose day Abraham desired to see, and in seeing whereof he did so much rejoice Joh 8:1-59; that is, not only the day of his birth, which he saw, as we learn by the oath which he caused his servant to take Ge 24:1-67 but also the day of his passion, which he saw long ago, and rejoiced in seeing it, when he said to his son Isaac in the mount, "The Lord will provide a sacrifice." Ge 22:8. Secondly, The people of the God of Abraham, are his children and posterity: not only that they are the seed of Abraham, coming out of his loins, and are "the children of the flesh" Ro 9:9; but "the children of the promise; "for if they that come out of Abraham's loins were only his children, then the Hagarins, the Turks, and Ishmaelites should be the people of God; "But in Isaac shall thy seed be called." They that lay hold of the promise by faith, "They that are of the faith, are the children of Abraham" Ga 3:7, that have the same spirit of faith that Abraham had. As the apostle saith Ro 2:28, "He is not a Jew that is one outwardly, but a Jew inwardly is the true Jew." They that worship the Messias by believing in him with the faith of Abraham, they are Abraham's children, and the people of Abraham's God, which thing John Baptist affirms Mt 3:1-17, "God can of stones raise up children unto Abraham." So the Gentiles, which worshipped stones, and therefore were "like unto them" Ps 115:1-18, were notwithstanding raised up to be children to Abraham. Lancelot Andrewes.

Verse 9. The shields of the earth belong unto God. There we have the rulers of the earth set forth by a double relation; the one upward, they are scuta Deo, they belong to God; the other downward, they are scuta terae, "the shields of the earth; "and both these noting two things, their dignity and their duty. They belong to God, it is their honour that he hath sealed them: they belong to God, it is their duty to be subject to him. They are shields of the earth, it is their honour that they are above others: they are the shields of the earth, it is their duty to protect others. Edward Reynolds (Bishop).

Verse 9. The shields of the earth are God's, is understood by many as spoken of princes. I admit that this metaphor is of frequent occurrence in Scripture, nor does this sense seem to be unsuitable to the scope of the passage...Yet the sense will be more simple if we explain the words thus: That, as it is God alone who defends and preserves the world, the high and supreme majesty which is sufficient for so exalted and difficult a work as the preservation of the world, is justly looked upon with admiration. The sacred writer expressly uses the word shields in the plural number, for, considering the various and almost innumerable dangers which unceasingly threaten every part of the world, the providence of God must necessarily interpose in many ways, and make use, as it were, of many bucklers. John Calvin.

Verse 9. The shields of the earth. Magistrates are said to bear the sword, not to be swords; and they are said to be shields, not to bear shields; and all this to show that protection and preservation are more essential and intrinsical to their office than destruction and punishment are. Joseph Caryl.

Verse 1. Unusual and enthusiastic expressions of joy when justifiable and even desirable.

Verses 1-4. Joy the true spirit of worship.

1. Joy in God's character.
2. In his reign.
3. In the triumphs of his gospel.
4. In his favour to his saints.

Verse 2. The terrors of the Lord viewed by faith as a subject of joy.

Verse 2 (second clause). The universal reign of Christ as it is and is to be.

Verse 3. The hope of victory to the church. What shall be subdued? By whose instrumentality? Us. By whose power? He. When shall it be accomplished? What is the token of it? The ascension, Ps 47:5.

Verse 3.

1. The final triumph of the saints. All enemies subdued under them in earth and hell, within and without—(a) gradually, (b)completely.

2. The power by which it is accomplished. He shall, etc.

(a) Not without means.
(b) Not by means only.
(c) But by appointed means made potent by divine energy. G. R.

Verse 4. This comprehends time and eternity. It is a matter of fact, of holy acquiescence, of desire, of thankfulness.

Verse 4.
1. God is willing to choose our inheritance for us in time and eternity.
2. His choice is better than ours—the excellency of Jacob.
3. He will leave us to the consequences of our own choice.
4. He will help us in obtaining that which he chooses for us. G. R.

Verse 5. The ascension. Its publicity, solemnity, triumph, joy. Who went up. Where he went up. To what he went up. For what purpose. With what result.

Verse 6. The importance of holy song. The repetition rebukes our slackness, and implies that earnestness, frequency, delight, and universality should characterise the praises offered.

Verse 7 (last clause). The psalmody of the instructed, and instruction by psalmody; praise should be both the fruit and the vehicle of teaching.

Verse 8 (last clause). Divine sovereignty always connected with holiness.

Verse 8.

1. God has a throne of holiness, for which he is to be feared by all men.
2. A throne of grace, for which he is to be loved by his redeemed.
3. A throne of glory, for which he is to be praised by his whole creation.

Verse 9.

1. A shield is a merciful weapon, none more so.

2. A shield is a venturous weapon, a kind of surety, which bears the blows and receives the injuries which were intended for another.

3. A shield is a strong weapon, to repel the darts of wickedness and break them in pieces.

4. A shield is an honourable weapon, none more: taking away of shields was a sign of victory; preserving them a sign of glory.

5. Remember, a shield must ever have an eye to guide it—you the shields, the law the eye. Bishop Reynolds.

In the Works of JOHN BOYS, 1626, folio, pp. 931-937, there is an Exposition of this Psalm.