Charles H. Spurgeon

TITLE. The inscription of the psalm in Hebrew is only the single word rwmzm Mizmor, "Psalm" (whence probably the title "orphan Mizmor" in the Talmudic treatise Avodah Zara). J.J.S. Perowne.

Title. Hengstenberg remarks, "This is the only psalm which is entitled simply `a psalm.' This common name of all the psalms cannot be employed here in its general sense, but must have a peculiar meaning." He considers that it indicates that this is the lyric accompaniment of the more decidedly prophetical psalm which precedes it,—in fact, the psalm of that prophecy. He also notes that in the original we have in Ps 98:5-6 words akin to the title brought into great prominence, and perhaps this may have suggested it.

Title. It is at least interesting to notice that a song Of Zion which so exults in the king's arrival should be called preeminently rwmzm, Mizrnor; as if the Psalm of Psalms were that which celebrates Israel, and the earth at large, blessed in Messiah's Advent. Andrew A. Bonar.

Whole Psalm. A noble, spirit stirring psalm. It may have been written on the occasion of a great national triumph at the time; but may, perhaps, afterwards be taken up at the period of the great millennial restoration of all things. The victory here celebrated may be in prophetic vision, and that at Armageddon. Then will salvation and righteousness be openly manifested in the sight of the hostile nations. Israel will be exalted; and the blessed conjunction of mercy and truth will gladden and assure the hearts of all who at that time are Israelites indeed. Godliness will form the reigning characteristic of the whole earth. Thomas Chalmers.

Whole Psalm. The subject of the Psalm is the praise of Jehovah. It consists of three strophes of three verses each. The first strophe shows why, the second how Jehovah is to be praised; and the third who are to praise him. Frederick Fysh.

Whole Psalm. This psalm is an evident prophecy of Christ's coming to save the world; and what is here foretold by David is, in the Blessed Virgin's Song chanted forth as being accomplished. David is the Voice, and Mary is the Echo.

1. DAVID. "O sing unto the Lord a new song." (The Voice.) MARY. "My soul doth magnify the Lord." (The Echo.)

2. DAVID. "He hath done marvellous things." (The Voice.) MARY. "He that is mighty hath done great things." (The Echo.)

3. DAVID. "With his own right hand and holy arm hath he gotten himself the victory." (The Voice.) MARY. "He hath showed strength with his arm, and scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts." (The Echo.)

4. DAVID. "The Lord hath made known his salvation; his righteousness hath he openly showed, "&c. (The Voice.) MARY. "His mercy is on them that fear him, from generation to generation." (The Echo.)

5. DAVID. "He hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel." (The Voice.) MARY. "He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy." (The Echo.)

These parallels are very striking; and it seems as if Mary had this psalm in her eye when she composed her song of triumph. And this is a farther argument that the whole psalm, whether it record the deliverance of Israel from Egypt, or the Jews from the Babylonish captivity, is yet to be ultimately understood of the redemption of the world by Jesus Christ, and the proclamation of his gospel through all the nations of the earth: and taken in this view, no language can be too strong, nor poetic imagery too high, to point out the unsearchable riches of Christ. Adam Clarke.

Verse 1. O sing unto the LORD a new song. This is man's end, to seek God in this life, to see God in the next; to be a subjection the kingdom of grace, and a saint in the kingdom of glory. Whatsoever in this world befalleth us, we must sing: be thankful for weal, for woe: songs ought always to be in our mouth, and sometimes a new song: for so David here, "sing a new song:" that is, let us put off the old man, and become new men, new creatures in Christ: for the old man sings old songs: only the new man sings a new song; he speaketh with a new tongue, and walks in new ways, and therefore doth new things, and sings new songs; his language is not of Babylon or Egypt, but of Canaan; his communication doth edify men, his song glorify God. Or a new song, that is, a fresh song, nova res, novum canticum, new for a new benefit. Eph 5:20: "Give thanks always for all things." It is very gross to think God only in gross, and not in parcel. Hast thou been sick and now made whole? praise God with the leper, Lu 17:11-19: sing a new song for this new salve. Dost thou hunger and thirst after righteousness, whereas heretofore thou couldest not endure the words of exhortation and doctrine? sing a new song for this new grace. Doth Almighty God give thee a true sense of thy sin, whereas heretofore thou didst draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with cart ropes, and wast given over to work all uncleanness with greediness? 0 sing, sing, sing, a new song for this new mercy.

Or new, that is, no common or ordinary song; but as God's mercy toward us is exceeding marvellous and extraordinary, so our thanks ought to be most exquisite, and more than ordinary: not new in regard of the matter, for we may not pray to God or praise God otherwise than he hath prescribed in his word, which is the old way, but new in respect of the manner and making, that as occasion is offered, we may bear our wits after the best fashion to be thankful.

Or, because this Psalm is prophetical, a new song, that is, the song of the glorious angels at Christ's birth, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men, "(Lu 2:14); a song which the world never heard before: that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head is an old song, the first that ever was sung; but this was no plain song, till Christ did manifest himself in the flesh. In the Old Testament there were many old songs, but in the New Testament, a new song. That "unto us is born a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord, "is in many respects a new song;for whereas Christ was but shadowed in the Law, he is showed in the Gospel; and new, because sung of new men, of all men. For the sound of the Gospel is gone through all the earth, unto the ends of the world (Ro 10:18); whereas in old time God's old songs were sung in Jewry: "His name is great in Israel. In Salem also is his tabernacle, and his dwelling place in Zion, "Ps 76:1-2. John Boys.

Verse 1. A new song. O ye who are new in Christ, though formerly old in the Old Adam, sing ye to the Lord. Psalter of Peter Lombard, 1474.

Verse 1. He hath done marvellous things. He has opened his greatness and goodness in the work of redemption. What marvels has not Christ done?

1. He was conceived by the Holy Ghost.
2. Born of a virgin.
3. Healed all manner of diseases.
4. Fed thousands with a few loaves and fishes.
5. Raised the dead.
6. And what was more marvellous, died himself.
7. Rose again by his own power.
8. Ascended to heaven.
9. Sent down the Holy Ghost.
10. And made his apostles and their testimony the instruments of enlightening, and ultimately converting, the world.
—Adam Clarke.

Verse 1. His right hand. Since the Psalmist says, that Christ hath gotten him the victory by his right hand and his arm, it is not only a demonstration of his divine and infinite power, but also excludes all other means, as the merits of saints and their meretricious works. Martin Luther.

Verse 1. Holy arm. The creation was the work of God's fingers: "When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, "Ps 8:3; redemption a work of his arm; "His holy arm hath gotten him the victory"; yea, it was a work of his heart, even that bled to death to accomplish it. Thomas Adams.

Verse 1. A clergyman in the county of Tyrone had, for some weeks, observed a little ragged boy come every Sunday, and place himself in the centre of the aisle, directly opposite the pulpit, where he seemed exceedingly attentive to the services. He was desirous of knowing who the child was, and for this purpose hastened out, after the sermon, several times, but never could see him, as he vanished the moment service was over, and no one knew whence he came or anything about him. At length the boy was missed from his usual situation in the church for some weeks. At this time a man called on the minister, and told him a person very ill was desirous of seeing him; but added, "I am really ashamed to ask you to go so far; but it is a child of mine, and he refuses to have any one but you; he is altogether an extraordinary boy, and talks a great deal about things that I do not understand." The clergyman promised to go, and went, though the rain poured down in torrents, and he had six miles of rugged mountain country to pass. On arriving where he was directed, he saw a most wretched cabin indeed, and the man he had seen in the morning was waiting at the door. He was shown in, and found the inside of the hovel as miserable as the outside. In a corner, on a little straw, he beheld a person stretched out, whom he recognised as the little boy who had so regularly attended his church. As he approached the wretched bed the child raised himself up, and, stretching forth his arms, said, "His own right hand and his holy arm hath gotten him the victory," and immediately he expired. K. Arvine.

Verse 2. The LORD hath made known his salvation. By the appearance of his Son in the flesh, and the wonders which he did. His righteousness hath he openly shewed, etc., in the gospel, to all men; that righteousness which is called the "righteousness of God, " and which is enjoyed by faith of Jesus Christ, unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference. Ro 3:22. B. Boothroyd.

Verse 2. The LORD hath made known, etc. The word uydx denotes not only a publication and promulgation, but also a clear and certain demonstration which produces conviction and causes the matter to be laid up in the mind and memory and preserved: for the proper signification of the root ydy is to lay up what is to be preserved. The word hlg is added, which properly means to uncover, to be uncovered, hence he revealed or uncovered, that it might be both naked and clear, for the purpose of more fully illustrating the character of the manifestation of the Gospel, opposed to what is obscure, involved in shadows and types, and veiled in legal ceremonies. Of which the apostle treats expressly in 2Co 3:7-18. Lastly, when it is added, that in the sight of the nations this uncovering is done, it signifies that this salvation pertains to them also, that it comes to them without distinction, since the Gospel is nakedly and clearly announced. From which it also clearly appears, that the matter reason of the new song are found in such a singular event, since God who formerly permitted the nations to walk in their own ways, now under Messiah calls all without distraction to salvation through faith and newness of life. Venema.

Verse 2. Made known: He says not, He shewed, but He made known. Adam knew him, and predicted concerning him, "A man shall leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they twain shall be one flesh." Abel knew him, who offered the lamb; Seth knew him, and called upon him; Noah knew him, and saved all the race in the ark; Abraham knew him, and offered up his son to him. But because the world had forgotten him and worshipped idols, the Lord made his Jesus known, when he sent the Word in flesh to the Jews, and revealed his righteousness to the nations, when he justified them through faith. Wherefore did he reveal him to the nations? Because of his mercy. Wherefore old he make him known to the Jews? Because of his truth, that is, his promise. Honorius, the Continuator of Gerhohus.

Verse 3. He hath remembered his mercy and his truth. The psalmist very properly observes, that God in redeeming the world "remembered his truth, "which he had given to Israel his people—language, too, which implies that he was influenced by no other motive than that of faithfully performing what he had himself promised. The more clearly to show that the promise was not grounded at all on the merit or righteousness of man, he mentions the "mercy" of God first, and afterwards his "faithfulness" which stood connected with it. The cause, in short, was not to be found out of God himself, (to use a common expression,)but in his mere good pleasure, which had been testified long before to Abraham and his posterity. The word "remembered" is used in accommodation to man's apprehension; for what has been long suspended seems to have been forgotten. Upwards of two thousand years elapsed from the time of giving the promise to the appearance of Christ, and as the people of God were subjected to many afflictions and calamities, we need not wonder that they should have sighed, and given way to ominous fears regarding the fulfilment of this redemption. John Calvin.

Verse 3. He hath remembered his mercy and his truth. His mercy moved him to make his promise, and his truth hath engaged him to perform it; and he hath been mindful of both, by scattering the blessed influences of his light and bounty over the face of the whole earth, and causing all nations to set and partake of the salvation of God. Matthew Hole(-1730).

Verse 3. All the ends of the earth have seen, etc. O unhappy Judea. The ends of the earth have seen, the salvation of God, every land is moved to joy, the whole globe is glad, the floods clap their hands, the hills rejoice; yet the evil hearts of the Jews believe not, but are smitten with the penalty of unbelief in the darkness of their blindness. Gregory, in Lorinus.

Verse 3. Have seen. There is a degree of point in the expression have seen; it implies actual faith, united with knowledge, that moves the will to love and to desire; for they cannot be said to have seen God's salvation, who, content with nominal faith never bestow a thought on the Saviour. Bellarmine.

Verse 4. Make a joyful noise. Bless God for a Christ. The Argives when delivered by the Romans from the tyranny of the Macedonians and Spartans, Quae guadia, quae vociferationes fuerunt! quid florum in Consulem profuderunt! what great joys expressed they! what loud outcries made they! The very birds that flew over them fell to the ground, astonied at their noises. The crier at the Nemean games was forced to pronounce the word Liberty, iterumque, iterumque, again, and again. John Trapp.

Verses 4-6. Wherewith is God to be praised? In a literal sense with all kind of music: vocal, sing unto the Lord: chordal, Praise him upon the harp: pneumatical, with trumpets, etc. In an allegorical exposition (as Euthymius interprets it) we must praise God in our actions, and praise him in our contemplation; praise him in our words, praise him in our works; praise him in our life, praise him at our death; being not only temples (as Paul), but (as Clemens Alexaudrinus calls us) timbrels also of the Holy Ghost. John Boys.

Verse 5. With the harp, with the harp. The repetition made use of is emphatic, and implies that the most ardent attempts men might make to celebrate the great work of the world's redemption would fall short of the riches of the grace of God. John Calvin.

Verse 5. The voice of a psalm. The sound of the Zimrah, hrmz, here, as in Ps 81:2, is certainly the name of some musical instrument. But what the particular instrument might be, which went by that name, is quite uncertain. Samuel Horsley.

Verse 5. The voice of a Psalm. With psalms Jehoshaphat and Hezekiah celebrated their victories. Psalms made glad the heart of the exiles who returned from Babylon. Psalms gave courage and strength to the Maccabees

Verse 6. Trumpets. tlruux, Chatsotseroth:here only in the Psalter. These were the straight trumpets (such as are seen on the Arch of Titus) used by the priests for giving signals. Nu 10:2-10; 1Ch 15:24,28, etc. The shofar, rmwv (cornet), was the ordinary curved trumpet, cornet, or horn. William Kay.

Verse 6. Trumpets. The word here used is uniformly rendered trumpets in the Scriptures, Nu 10:2,8-10 31:6; et al. The trumpet was mainly employed for convening a public assembly for worship, or for assembling the hosts for battle. The original word, xruux chatsotserah, is supposed to have been designed to imitate "the broken pulse like sound of the trumpet, like the Latin, taratantara." So the German trarara, and the Arabic, hadadera. The word here used was given to the long, straight trumpet. Albert Barnes.

Verse 6. Trumpets. The trumpet served the same purpose, in a religious and civil sense, as bells among Christians, and the voice among Mohammedans. Indeed, it is understood that Mohammed directed the voice to be employed, in order to mark a distinction between his own sect and the Jews with their trumpets and the Christians with their bells. Kitto's Pictorial Bible.

Verse 6. With trumpets. Origen calls the writings of the evangelists and the apostles trumpets, at whose blast all the structures of idolatry and the dogmas of the philosophers were utterly overthrown. He teaches likewise that by the sound of the trumpets is prefigured the trumpet of the universal judgment, at which the world shall fall in ruin, and whose sound shall be joy to the just, and lamentation to the unjust. Lorinus.

Verse 6. Before the Lord, the King. Since it is distinctly added before Jehovah the King, and the words, with trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise, are used, there seems to be a reference to that public rejoicing commonly manifested at the coronation of kings, or the celebration of undertakings for the public safety. This idea is not foreign to the present passage, since Jehovah is represented as King and Saviour of the people. Venema.

Verses 7-8. Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. Let the floods clap their hands.

And thou, majestic main!
A secret world of wonders in thyself,
Sound his stupendous praise, whose greater voice
Or bids you roar, or bids your roarings fall.
—James Thomson.

Verses 7-8. These appeals to nature in her great departments—of the sea in its mighty amplitude, and the earth with its floods and hills—form, not a warrant, but a call on Christian ministers to recognise God more in their prayers and sermons as the God of Creation, instead of restricting themselves so exclusively to the peculiar doctrines of Christianity. Do the one, and not leave the other undone. Thomas Chalmers.

Verses 7-8. The setting forth the praise of Christ for the redemption of sinners, may not only furnish work to all reasonable creatures; but also if every drop of water in the sea, and in every river and flood, every fish in the sea, every fowl of the air, every living creature on the earth, and whatsoever else is in the world: if they all had reason and ability to express themselves; yea, and if all the hills were able by motion and gesticulation to communicate their joy one to another; there is work for them all to set out the praise of Christ. David Dickson.

Verses 7-9. Matthew Henry on these verses quotes from Virgil's 4th Eclogue the verses (of which we subjoin Dryden's translation) in which the poet, he says, "either ignorantly or basely applies to Asinius Pollio the ancient prophecies which at that time were expected to be fulfilled; "adding that Ludovicus Vives thinks that these and many other things which Virgil says of this long looked for child "are applicable to Christ."

O of celestial seed! O foster son of Jove!
See, lab'ring Nature calls thee to sustain
The nodding frame of heaven, and earth, and main!
See to their base restored, earth, seas, and air;
And joyful ages, from behind, in crowding ranks appear.

Verse 8. Let the floods clap their hands. The clapping of the hands being a token of delight and approbation, and the striking or dashing of the water in a river being, for the noise of it, a resemblance of that, the rivers are here said to clap their hands. Henry Hammond.

Verse 8. Though the language be figurative, so far as it gives a voice to the inanimate creation in its various departments, yet, like all the figurative language of Scripture, it expresses a truth—that which the Apostle has stated without a metaphor in the express revelation that the "creation shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God." And this because the reason of that bondage will no more exist. It is the consequence of sin: but when the world shall be subjected to the righteous rule of its coming King (as predicted in the last verse of this psalm), then earth and all creation shall own its present Lord, and join its tribute of praise to that of Israel and the nations, and the redeemed and glorified chinch. William De Burgh.

Verse 9. The Psalter is much occupied in celebrating the benign fruits which Christ's reign is to yield in all the earth. It will be a reign of HOLINESS. This is its proper and distinctive nature. Under it, the ends of the earth will fear God, and rejoice in his salvation. It will be a reign of JUSTICE. Under it, the wars and oppressions and cruelties, the unequal laws and iniquitous institutions that have so long vexed and cursed the world, shall find a place no more. This happy reformation is usually foretold in the form of a proclamation that the Lord is coming "to judge the earth." It is important, therefore, to keep in mind the true sense and intention of that oft repeated proclamation. It does not refer, as an unwary reader might suppose, to the Judgment of the Great Day. There is no terror in it. The Psalms that have it for their principal burden are jubilant in the highest degree. The design of the proclamation is to announce Christ in the character of a Peaceful Prince coming to administer equal laws with an impartial hand, and so to cause wrong and contention to cease in the earth. This is Christ's manner of judging the earth. What he has already done in this direction enables us to form a clear conception of what he will yet set himself to do. When he designs to accomplish great and salutary reforms in the political and social institutions of a people, he begins by dislodging bad principles from men's minds and planting Scriptural principles in their stead; by purging evil passions from men's hearts, and baptising them with the Spirit of truth and justice, godliness and lovingkindness. A sure foundation having been thus laid for a better order of things, he will by some storm of controversy or of revolution sweep away the institutions in which injustice has entrenched itself, and will thus make it possible for righteousness to have free course. Oh what a store of comfort for the down trodden, the enslaved, the needy, is laid up in the announcement that the Lord is coming to be the avenger of all such! Well may all the creatures be invited to clap their hands for joy at the thought that he has taken this work in hand; that he sitteth upon the floods; and that the storms that agitate the nations are the chariot in which he rides to take possession of the earth, and make it an abode of righteousness and peace. William Binnie.

Verse 1. A new song. The duty, beauty, and benefit of maintaining freshness in piety, service, and worship.

Verse 1. He hath done marvellous things.

1. He hath created a marvellous universe.
2. He has established a marvellous government.
3. He hath bestowed a marvellous gift.
4. He hath provided a marvellous redemption.
5. He hath inspired a marvellous book.
6. He hath opened a marvellous fulness.
7. He hath effected a marvellous transformation.
—W. Jackson.

Verse 1. The victory. The victories of God in judgment, and in mercy: especially the triumphs of Christ on the cross, and by his Spirit in the heart, and in and by the church at large.

Verse 2. The Lord hath made known his salvation.

1. The contents of which it is composed.
2. The reasons for which it has been provided.
3. The price at which it has been procured.
4. The terms on which it shall be imparted.
5. The way in which it must be propagated.
6. The manner in which its neglect will be punished. W. J.

Verse 2. (first clause).

1. What is salvation?
2. Why it is called the Lord's: "Salvation is of the Lord."
3. How he has made it known.
4. For what purpose.
5. With what results. E.G. Gange.

Verse 2. The great privilege of knowing the gospel.

1. In what it consists. (a) Revelation by the Bible. (b) Declaration by the minister. (c) Illumination by the Spirit. (d) Illustration in daily providence.

2. To what it has led. (a) We have believed it. (b) We have so far understood it as to growingly rejoice in it. (c) We are able to tell it to others. (d) We abhor those who mystify it.

Verse 2. Salvation's glory.

1. It is divine—"his salvation."
2. It is consistent with justice—"his righteousness."
3. It is plain and simple—"openly showed."
4. It is meant for all sorts of men—"heathen."

Verse 3. (first clause). The Lord's memory of his covenant. Times in which he seems to forget it; ways in which even in those times he proves his faithfulness; great deeds of grace by which at other times he shows his memory of his promises; and reasons why he must ever be mindful of his covenant.

Verse 3. (last clause). All the ends of the earth.

1. Literally. Missionaries have visited every land.

2. Spiritually. Men ready to despair, to perish.

3. Prophetically. Dwell on the grand promises concerning the future, and the triumphs of the church. E.G.G.

Verse 3. All the ends of the earth have seen, &c.

1. The greatest foreigners have seen it; many have "come from the east and the west; "Greeks, Peter's hearers, the Eunuch, Greenlanders, South Sea Islanders, Negroes, Red Indians, &c., &c.

2. The ripest saints have seen it; they are at the light end of the earth, stepping out of the wilderness into Canaan, &c.

3. The vilest sinners have seen it; those who have wandered so far that they could get no farther without stepping into hell. The dying thief. The woman who was a sinner. Those whom Whitefield called "the devil's castaways." W. J.

Verse 4. The right use of noise.

1. "Make a noise." Awake, O sleeper. Speak, O dumb.

2. "Make a joyful noise." The shout of deliverance, of gratitude, of gladness.

3. "Make a loud noise, all the earth." Nature with her ten thousand voices. The church with myriad saints.

4. "Make a joyful noise unto God." Praise him alone. Praise him for ever. E.G.G.

Verse 6. Joy a needful ingredient of praise. The Lord as King, an essential idea in adoration. Expression in various ways incumbent upon us, when praising joyfully such a King.

Verses 7-8. Nature at worship. The congregation is

1. Vast. Sea, earth, rivers, hills.

2. Varied. Diverse in character, word, aspect, each from each other, constant and alike in this alone, that all, always worship God.

3. Happy. In this like the worshippers in heaven, and for the same reason—sin is absent. E.G.G.

Verse 8. The song of the sea, and the hallelujah of the hills.

Verse 9. The last judgment as a theme for thankfulness.

Verse 9. Before the Lord. Where we are, where our joy should be, where all our actions should be felt to be, where we shall be—"before the Lord." Enquire—What are we before the Lord? What shall we be when he cometh?