([A Psalm] of David.) Bless Jehovah, O my soul; and all that is within me, [bless] his holy name!
David does not open this psalm by speaking to God, and not to other people either. He turns and speaks to himself, ordering his own inner life to bless the LORD. Commentators hear the line as one man's private song and as the voice of a whole restored nation. They also ask what makes such praise possible at all.
The call is not to a passing feeling but to everything the psalmist has, directed at God under His covenant name.
The psalmist calls on his soul, with all its powers, to praise Jehovah — the eternal, unchangeable, covenant-God. Love showing itself in "all His benefits" wakes the soul to praise Him. Yet even in the middle of its joy, the soul feels how weak and changeable the creature is. It has had plenty of proof of that, set against His faithfulness.
One writer pictures the singer at the altar of incense, certain of salvation, looking back and forward from there.
In Psalm 103 a poor sinner stands, in spirit, at the golden altar with his incense of praise. That is, he stands in the full certainty of salvation. From that happy place he looks over the past and future dealings of the same Lord. This is the Lord who had blessed him like this in all His works and ways, both in creation itself and among His people.
That certainty is not cheap. Another writer traces the song back to David's experience in Psalm 51, and names what comes first before a heart can sing like this.
David had passed through the experience of Psalm 51. After that he could praise and worship God with a joyful heart, in the strains of Psalm 103. So God's majesty, holiness, and truth stood firm. Sin was judged in the light, the conscience cleared, the heart made happy, full communion restored, and the soul established in grace. The tears may have been more bitter than myrrh, but the results are sweeter than honey.
David brings nothing of his own to this song. The mercy behind it runs past all measuring.
When God has done it, there is nothing left to do but light the censer of praise and send it back to God who has done it. David could praise, not about David, but about God. I have done nothing, he would say, nothing but failure; but You have done it all. "Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name!" … Man's widest reach would be a poor measuring rod for mercy that runs from everlasting to everlasting. … Because His mercy is like this, it lays a practical claim on the heart: "Bless His holy name."
One writer asks whose voice this really is, and where the forgiveness behind it comes from.
No doubt the Spirit of Christ leads these praises, for His praise shall be of Jehovah in the great congregation. But the psalm speaks in the name of all Israel. They have forgiveness and mercy through the tender compassions and mercy of Jehovah. … Now Jehovah owned them with loving-kindness and tender mercies. All their sins were utterly removed from them.
The psalm opens with one person and ends the same way. In between, it widens out to everything God has made.
It begins with the individual, as always. It follows the forgiveness of all iniquities with the healing of all diseases. … It is not only that Jehovah's mercy is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him. His throne also stands firm in the heavens, and His kingdom rules over all. So His angels, His hosts, and all His works are to bless Jehovah everywhere, as his own soul did — and so it ends.
A soul that needs this order can also forget God.
The psalmist calls on his own soul to bless the Lord, and all that is within him. Being so greatly blessed, how could God's people ever forget His benefits? And how can we today forget the great blessing with which God has blessed the Church of God? Sadly, we know our own memories are too short about these things. May the Lord stir us to a greater appreciation of our many spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus our Lord!
- Bless — with all of you. The call is to the soul with all its powers, not to a mood; nothing inside is exempt.
- Bless — from solid ground. This praise rises from full certainty of salvation. It comes the hard way: sin judged, conscience cleared, communion restored.
- Bless — for His doing, not yours. "I have done nothing but failure; You have done it all." The only offering left is the praise itself.
- Bless — with a whole nation, led by Christ. The Spirit of Christ leads this song, and it speaks in the name of all Israel, whose sins are all removed.
- Bless — until everything joins. It starts with one soul and ends with angels, hosts and all His works, because His kingdom rules over all. So refuse the short memory.
Bless Jehovah, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits
In Psalm 103 David turns and speaks to his own soul. Verse 2 repeats the call and adds a warning: praise lives on memory. Why must a heart that has received so much hear the command twice?
Praise starts with a man speaking to his own soul. One writer notes that David had nothing of his own to show — only failure:
Then comes the burst of praise from Psalms 103, 104, 105 — all praise from earth. When God has done it, there is nothing left to do but light the incense of praise and send it back up to God who has done it. David could praise, not about David, but about God. I have done nothing, he would say, nothing but failure; but you have done it all. "Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name." When we can speak of nothing else, we can speak of God.
The second call is not repetition for its own sake. It admits something about the one praising:
The psalmist calls on his soul, with all its powers, to praise Jehovah — the eternal, unchangeable, covenant God. Love showing itself in "all His benefits" wakes the soul to praise Him. Yet even in the middle of its joy, the soul sees how weak and changeable the creature is. It has had abundant proof of this, set against His faithfulness: "forget not all His benefits."
Forgetting is not harmless. It shows up in how we face the next trial.
Forgetting is one of the dangers on a disciple's path. How quickly Israel forgot the hardships of Egypt and their great deliverance! They started grumbling and crying, "we shall die in the wilderness". But are we not in the same danger? We quickly forget the answered prayers of yesterday. We forget the help found in personal need or in shared trials. And we dishonour our Lord through "little faith". May we not join in the prayer of David, "Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits" (Ps. 103:2)?
So what are the benefits? One writer names them by the two titles this psalm gives to God:
In Psalm 103 he blesses Jehovah as the Forgiver and Healer of His people. In Psalm 104 he blesses Him as the glorious Creator. In Psalm 105 he blesses Him as faithful to His covenant with the fathers, and to His promises.
One writer shows the same pair — pardon and healing — given together in a single scene:
His first words to the paralysed man were not words of healing but of pardon. Had their spiritual sight been clear, they would have recognised that Psalm 103:3 had come true before their eyes: "who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases". Every tongue would then have exclaimed, "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits."
The psalm also looks ahead to a coming age when praise will meet no obstacle.
This psalm shows it beautifully. Unhindered praise will rise from the hearts of those redeemed and blessed in the millennium. The psalmist calls on his own soul to bless the Lord, and all that is within him. Being so greatly blessed then, how could they ever forget His benefits? And how can we today forget the great blessing with which God has blessed the Church of God? Sadly, we know our own memories are too short about these things.
Remembering benefits can go wrong in a second way — the gifts can crowd out the One who gave them.
To trust in prosperity, in earthly riches, is a danger for most believers, if not all. How much greater the folly of trusting them now, when our true riches are shown to be heavenly and not earthly! To boast of spiritual gifts and attainments as if we had gained them by our own skill offends the Lord even more. He alone gives as it pleases Him. It is to put God's blessings and favours in the place of God Himself. If the perishable things of this life are His gift, how much more the spiritual and eternal! Forget not all His benefits, but bless the Lord.
- Remember — the double call speaks to a heart that is weak and changeable. Memory is the fuel praise runs on.
- Benefits — the psalm names them: forgiveness and healing. It calls the Lord the Forgiver and Healer of His people.
- Fulfilled — Jesus pardoned the paralysed man and healed him. The psalm came true in front of witnesses.
- Forgotten — forget yesterday's answered prayers, and today you show "little faith". That dishonours the Lord.
- Blessed — the last danger is keeping the gifts and losing the Giver. Bless the Lord Himself, not only His benefits.
Who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases;
In Psalm 103 the singer tells his own soul not to forget what God has done, and his list opens with two gifts: pardon for every sin, and cure for every sickness. So when does God give both, and does He promise health to everyone He forgives?
Commentators find this verse acted out in the Gospels, in one meeting between Jesus and a paralysed man.
It is worth seeing how this connects with Christ in the Gospels. The Lord is the One who forgives and heals. This is just what the Lord does with the paralysed man. It was an example of how God governs and deals with man. He healed the paralysis, and besides, He forgave the sins. They say, "Who is this who forgives sins also?" He proved that He was the Lord who forgave them and healed their diseases.
Many readers take the second half of the verse as a picture of spiritual sickness. One writer rejects that reading.
The 103rd Psalm illustrates most beautifully Israel's coming praise. It is not only "who forgives all your iniquity," but also "who heals all your diseases." People usually read the diseases in this psalm as a picture of something spiritual, but that is incorrect. They are diseases of the body. The Son of Man did this for one paralysed man while He was here in humiliation. When He comes again, exalted, He will do it for the whole nation and for others on the earth in that coming age of glory.
One writer sets the verse in a day still to come, and finds a prophet saying the same about Jerusalem.
The fruits of sin, whether sickness or death, could be removed, and sins forgiven. This is in harmony with Psalm 103:3, which will be sung on a coming day: "who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases." Then, too, the bright forecast of the prophet about Jerusalem will come true: "And no inhabitant will say, 'I am sick'; the people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity" (Isaiah 33:24).
Does pardon carry a cure with it today? One writer answers with a question of his own.
But can we say that "who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases" is the way the Lord deals now with Christians? Where He forgives a person's iniquities, does He necessarily heal all their diseases? But here it is clear that the Lord had in view the cure of bodily diseases joined with the forgiveness of sins, in the same people and at the same time. When will this be? When God takes the government of the world into His own hands. When the One who was crucified is glorified — not only in heaven, but here below — the outward world, the body of man, and especially God's own people Israel, will feel the effect at once. We can take the spirit of the Psalms, so far as they apply to our condition now. But let us not forget: much in the Psalms does not apply to us.
Why then does God leave His people ill? One writer answers that He is training them.
True, He does heal now at times, but still He allows sickness to affect His people. Then the healing will not only be complete, but connected also with forgiveness. Some people think the grand thing is to have faith in God's power. He has only to speak, and the worst disease can be healed easily; but He is training us. Sometimes He sends sickness to prevent, sometimes to correct. We ought to have faith in His love as well as in His power, and in His wisdom too. Have faith in God, not simply in His power.
One writer adds that the Christian has even more than the pardon in this verse.
This is how Israel will be forgiven later on (compare Psalm 103:3). So the Lord here proves His authority to forgive, by healing the paralysed man's disease... The man was to know, in his relationship to God, that his guilt was gone. Through infinite grace, we are entitled to more than even this; for we have the righteousness of the accepted man in God's presence.
What does pardon leave behind in the person forgiven? One writer lists the results.
God's majesty, holiness, and truth have been upheld. Sin has been judged in the light, the conscience cleared, the heart made happy, full communion restored, and the soul established in grace. The tears may have been more bitter than myrrh, but the results are sweeter than honey.
- Forgiven — one Lord does both. Jesus pardoned the paralysed man and then healed him, doing what this psalm credits to the Lord.
- Healed — the diseases are real illnesses of the body, not a picture of inner trouble; the cure is as literal as the pardon.
- Together — the psalm's hope is a day when forgiveness and health reach the same people at the same time.
- Not yet — that is not how God deals with believers now. Pardon is certain; health is not.
- Trusted — meanwhile God may send sickness to prevent or correct, and asks for faith in His love and wisdom, not only in His power.
Who redeemeth thy life from the pit, who crowneth thee with loving-kindness and tender mercies;
Psalm 103 lists what the soul must never forget. This verse names two of those gifts: a life bought back from the pit, and a head circled with love. Writers read it two ways. It is the song of a nation rescued at the end of its long trouble. It is also the language of any person whose sins have been dealt with. The older translations they quote read "loving-kindness and tender mercies" where the ESV has "steadfast love and mercy."
The psalm has already named forgiveness and healing. This verse adds rescue from the pit, which older translations call destruction. One writer sees a whole nation lifted out of it.
Now at last, the nation redeemed from destruction renews its life. The righteous judgment of the Lord will end the long centuries of oppression the Jew has suffered under the rule of the Gentiles. That oppression came as the result of their rejection of their Messiah.
One writer follows this word across Scripture. It covers the body, the inheritance and the nation, and it always has a price behind it.
Divine power has another use, still future, that is also called redemption. Romans 8 uses the word of "our body," raised or changed at Christ's coming. It uses the word the same way of the possession He has bought, "our inheritance." This power of His glory rests on His work as well as on His person. The same principle governs the very frequent use of the word in the Psalms and Prophets for the future deliverance of Israel for His kingdom on earth. See Ps. 103:4, Ps. 106:10, Isa. 43:1... All of it, however, rests on His blood-shedding. The return from Babylon was an outward sample and pledge.
"Crowns" is not only honour placed on the head. The word behind it means a ring drawn around a person. Older translations of Psalm 5:12 keep that picture with the word "compass."
The word "crownest" might be rendered "encircled for protection" or "compassed about," and is given that way in Psalm 5:12 — "For You bless the righteous, O LORD; You cover him with favour as with a shield."
The crown is made of loving-kindness and tender mercies. One writer traces them to God's own nature, and names who receives them.
They have forgiveness and mercy through the tender compassions and mercy of Jehovah. As for man, he is like grass; and the people had been like grass and had withered (Isa. 40). But the mercy of Jehovah is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, the obedient ones. So it all comes from His goodness, and from His faithfulness too, which springs from the very nature and name of Jehovah — but it comes to the obedient ones, the godly remnant. Now Jehovah owned them with loving-kindness and tender mercies. All their sins were utterly removed from them.
Many read this psalm for comfort today. One writer says most readers miss a second layer: it is also a song for the future.
This is the well-loved psalm. God's people love it for its precious and beautiful expressions. It tells out the full salvation of our Saviour Lord and the gracious compassion He shows towards His own. But we must not overlook the prophetic aspect, which few believers have recognised. It is really the hymn of praise that redeemed and restored Israel will sing... God has forgiven their iniquities, healed their diseases, redeemed their life from the pit, and crowned them with loving-kindness and tender mercies.
Praise like this has a history behind it. One writer traces the joy of Psalm 103 back to the confession of Psalm 51.
David had passed through the experience of Psalm 51. After that, he could praise and worship God with a joyful heart in the strains of Psalm 103... So God's majesty, holiness, and truth stood firm. Sin was judged in the light, the conscience cleared, the heart made happy, full communion restored, and the soul established in grace. The tears may have been more bitter than myrrh, but the results are sweeter than honey.
- Redeemed — God buys the life back from the pit. The word always points beyond rescue to a price: "All of it, however, rests on His blood-shedding."
- Crowned — the crown is a circle, not just an ornament. The same word means "encircled for protection," so love and mercy ring the redeemed round like a shield.
- Made of mercy — the crown is woven from God's own tender compassion. It comes from His goodness and His faithfulness, never from the head that wears it.
- Sung by the restored — writers hear in it the coming song of a nation. Sins forgiven, diseases healed, oppression ended.
- Learned in confession — the man who sings it had first written Psalm 51. A cleared conscience and restored communion turn bitter tears into praise.
Who satisfieth thine old age with good [things]; thy youth is renewed like the eagle's.
The psalm lists five benefits the soul must not forget: forgiveness, healing, rescue, crowning, and now food and fresh strength. The eagle raises an obvious question: whose youth is renewed, and when?
One writer places this song in the day when the Lord acts for Israel. He marks the double gift it ends with: inward blessing and outward power.
When the day of the Lord comes, how they will rejoice in what grace will give them! Israel will then sing, "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits … so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's." As His earthly people they will enjoy the reversal of their old uncleanness and infirmities, along with soul blessing and external power.
The word rendered "mouth" is uncertain. In his own translation, Kelly keeps both options side by side:
Who satisfies your adornment (mouth, or soul?) with the good: your youth is renewed like the eagle.
One writer says the psalm's personal comfort is real, but not the whole of it. The psalm has a future singer.
This is the well-beloved Psalm. God's people love it for its precious and beautiful words, which tell out the full salvation of our Saviour Lord and the gracious compassion He shows towards His own. But we must not overlook the prophetic aspect, which few believers have recognised. It is really the hymn of praise which will be sung by redeemed and restored Israel. Their iniquities are forgiven. Their diseases are healed. Their life is redeemed from the pit. They are crowned with loving-kindness and tender mercies. Their youth is renewed like the eagle's (Isaiah 40:28-31), which will be fulfilled then.
One writer names a mistake that ends in failure, and points to what God gives every morning instead.
But to bring this strain into heavenly things — to try to eke out what we have, instead of continually going to the Lord for a fresh supply — is a real mistake, and the result must be failure and disappointment. Daily renewing is what God delights to give — "the inward man is renewed day by day" (2 Cor. 4:16). Grace and strength every morning. Fresh oil to make the face shine, and bread to strengthen man's heart.
The same writer challenges the idea that aging must bring spiritual decline. He ties the eagle's renewal to a satisfied soul.
Oh, that young believers would learn to use God's renewings. There are, sadly, so many old ones whose love and devotedness have grown cold and whose life is stunted, that young ones begin to think they must end up just as impoverished and spiritually worn out. It is not so! Only start with God, and go on with God. Get your souls satisfied with His good things, and your youth will be renewed as the eagle's.
One writer notes that the psalmist sang this as something he had lived. He then asks whether renewal belongs to believers too.
The praising psalmist sang, "Bless the Lord, O my soul: … your youth is renewed like the eagle's!" He experienced the reality of it. But what about the new creation, to which we belong? We may well ask, "Is renewal known there too?" Certainly it is. Colossians 3:10 tells us that we "have put on the new self, which is being renewed" also.
One writer follows an older translation that reads "satisfies your mouth with good things." He turns the verse into thanks at an ordinary meal.
When they came before the Lord to "eat the fat, and drink the sweet" (Neh. 8:10), the inspired words of thanksgiving for their lips would be: "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits … who satisfies your mouth with good things; so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's" (Ps. 103:1-5). Now it is the believer who is called to show an example to all men of what is due to God for all His benefits.
- Renewed last. Forgiven, healed, redeemed, crowned, satisfied — renewal comes at the end of the list, not the start.
- Renewed inside and out. The verse joins soul blessing to outward strength. God reverses the old weakness and decay.
- Renewed then. Commentators say the psalm is the praise a restored Israel will sing. The eagle's youth belongs to that day.
- Renewed daily. God gives a fresh supply each morning. He never asks us to stretch yesterday's stock, and age need not bring decline.
- Renewed for thanks. A mouth filled with good things is a mouth that should bless the Giver, at the plainest meal.
Jehovah executeth righteousness and justice for all that are oppressed.
Psalm 103 has been listing what God does for one soul: forgiving, healing, redeeming, crowning. At verse 6 the song widens to take in everyone crushed by wrong. Who are these oppressed people? And when does God set things right?
Commentators mark verse 6 as the start of a fresh movement in the psalm. What follows is no longer a list of personal favours but a portrait of God drawn from His whole record with His people.
Verses 6-13 show how perfect God's character is. It had shown itself in Jehovah's general dealings with His people. Israel's ancestors saw His acts, but He showed the secret of His ways to Moses alone.
The word "oppressed" covers everyone wronged by someone stronger. One writer notes that God has been watching all of it, and that the promise here is the moment He stops watching and acts.
Then the oppressed find a Judge of unfailing righteousness. This is the character in which Israel's King is so often pictured. It carries the tender assurance that the pitying eyes of the Almighty have rested on human misery and wrong all the time that He put up with it. The prophet says about Israel (Isa. 63:9), "In all their affliction He was afflicted." Now has come the time of stepping in and setting right — the revelation of the God in whom men have not believed.
The oppression named here has a long history behind it.
Now at last, the nation redeemed from destruction renews its life. The righteous judgment of the Lord will end the long centuries of oppression. The Jews have suffered under the rule of other nations because they rejected their Messiah.
The next verse points back to Moses. That link matters: this justice is not something new, but the same character God showed long ago.
Those who have been oppressed before will find that the Son of God will carry out righteousness and justice for them (v. 6). This agrees perfectly with His own ways, made known centuries earlier to Moses (v. 7). God gave Moses grace to understand His ways, which means His character always working behind the scenes. The children of Israel saw His acts, though they may have understood little of His ways. But God always acts consistently with His character.
Commentators differ over the timing. Believers in every age have leaned on this psalm, but one writer is honest: its words outrun what we see now, and verse 6 is his example.
Many and many a child of God has found comfort and encouragement from this Psalm. Much of it applies to believers in all ages who have proved the mercy of their God. Yet we must admit that every word of it could not really be applied to believers in Christian times. Not all their diseases are healed (3). Righteousness and judgment are not carried out for everyone who is oppressed now (6).
A hard question sits inside the verse. How can a righteous God act for a guilty people? One writer answers by pointing to Messiah's suffering.
But His dealings with Israel bring all this out into the light before the children of men: His faithfulness, His patience, His healing mercy, His allowance for their weakness and low condition, His deep interest in His people, and mercy and righteousness that never failed… But through Messiah's mediation and suffering for the necessary glory of Jehovah, the full tide of His righteousness and compassion can flow towards them.
- Character, not mood. Verse 6 opens the section where the psalm stops listing gifts and describes the Giver — the same God who showed His ways to Moses.
- Seen, then settled. God has kept His eyes on human misery while enduring it. Here watching turns into stepping in and setting right.
- Wide reach. The oppressed include a nation held down by other nations for centuries. God's righteous judgment ends that.
- Not yet complete. One writer is frank: God does not yet carry out this righteousness for everyone oppressed today. The psalm reaches its full sense later.
- Costly ground. Because of Messiah's suffering, God's righteousness and compassion can flow together toward a guilty people.
He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel.
God's people watched Him split a sea and rain down bread. Yet He told only one man what He was doing and why. This verse marks two levels of knowing God. Who gets the deeper one, and why?
The two halves of the verse are not saying the same thing twice. Commenting on a king whose "acts" and "ways" were both recorded, one writer marks the difference:
"His acts," and "his ways"! God too has "ways" and "acts." "He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the people of Israel" (Ps. 103:7). His ways were the manifestations of His nature; His acts more the displays of His power.
Another writer draws out why the difference matters. Anyone can see power on display; character takes discernment.
Jehovah displayed His striking acts before the eyes of Israel. These acts of power did not require a close knowledge of Jehovah's character. They were plain to everyone. But only the spiritual could discern the ways of God — those dealings that flow from what He is.
Israel saw astonishing things. One writer lists them, then gives the verdict:
He sent plague after plague on their wicked oppressor. In the end He forced their release by striking the firstborn dead. He had divided the sea before them... in the wilderness He had rained bread from heaven to meet their hunger... And when they saw these things they believed His word and sang His praise. But it left no lasting effect. They soon forgot His works, and Him as well.
Moses asked for this knowledge. He pressed God to show him His way, and this verse records the answer. But there was a limit to what even he received:
The first request, then, of Moses was, "Show me now Your way," and God granted it, as we read in Psalm 103:7... The people saw the wonderful things He did, but Moses was allowed to know the goal God was pursuing in doing them. But when Moses made his second request, "I beg You, show me Your glory," he met with a refusal. He was allowed to see the Lord's "back" but not His "face," for no one could see that and live. Moses was to see God only after He had passed by, and so discern Him in the way He had taken.
Why Moses and not the nation? One writer answers from the man's own character, and turns it into a standing principle:
He deals like this with those who are morally near Him. He gives them the capacity to understand Him, and He tells them what is in His mind. This is solemn. Israel could only know Him in His open acts. They were morally far from Him, and so unfit to hear Him tell out His counsels and ways. This is ever so.
The same writer applies this to believers now. One desires to bow to God's will, and God teaches and guides him. Another "is dull of hearing, and learns but little."
What Moses received was real, but it was not the whole revelation of God:
But during the Jewish period, God, though known to be one, was not known as He is. "He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the people of Israel" (Ps. 103:7). He dwelt in the thick darkness... and a veil shrouded what display there was of the divine presence... It was only Jesus who made Him truly known.
Beyond His ways lie His purposes, which He held back from that generation:
"God made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the people of Israel." Did He reveal His counsels to them? No, that was reserved for us. God has let us share in His most hidden purposes, His eternal counsels about Christ. He has made us the friends He confides in. What grace!
One writer reads the verse against the psalm's theme of redemption, and finds grace in it rather than law:
Redemption is the subject here (vv. 3-5)... The same precious grace showed in their past history — in His ways made known to Moses, His acts to the people of Israel. The legal element in which Jehovah placed Israel in relationship with Himself is completely gone.
- Seen — Acts show God's power, and anyone can see them. Ways show His nature, and only the spiritual discern them.
- Forgotten — Israel saw the plagues, the sea and the bread from heaven. They sang, and then they forgot. Wonders on their own left no lasting mark.
- Asked — Moses had what the nation lacked because he asked. God granted "Show me now Your way," but refused "show me Your glory."
- Near — God confides in those morally near Him. Distance from Him, then and now, leaves a person able to see events but unable to understand them.
- More — What Moses saw was under a veil. Jesus made God truly known, and He opens His eternal counsels to us as friends He confides in.
Jehovah is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in loving-kindness.
Here Israel sings God's own description of Himself back to Him — the words He first spoke to Moses on the mountain, which they had proved true in their history. How can mercy and anger belong to the same God, and what does it mean that His anger is slow and not absent?
The line before this one says God made known His ways to Moses and His acts to Israel. This verse names those ways, and it echoes what God said about Himself on the mountain.
The ways of God, which He made known to Moses, will bring about the blessing of restored Israel. He showed His outward acts to Israel; to Moses He showed the principles on which He acted. These ways are now announced to the restored nation. In His ways God is merciful, gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. That is how He revealed Himself to Moses on the mountain (Ex. 34:6-7).
So what is the difference between God's "ways" and His "acts"?
God has both "ways" and "acts." "He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the people of Israel" (Ps. 103:7). His ways showed what He is like in Himself; His acts were more the displays of His power.
When God proclaimed His name to Moses, the words of mercy came joined to a solemn clause. The psalm quotes the mercy and stops there.
Now we have Jehovah Himself set before us: "merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love." This is exactly how He declared Himself to Moses — except that the shadow the law cast across it is removed here, the words "who will by no means clear the guilty" (Ex. 34:6-7). No, "He will not always chide, nor will He keep His anger forever." Israel has proved this in their history, and can say, "He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities." So He has shown who He is, and glorified Himself before their eyes.
"Slow to anger" can sound as if God does not mind evil much. One commentator says the opposite is true.
"Jehovah is slow to anger." Are we not all inclined to set these things against each other? But they do not really clash. The stronger God's feeling against whatever destroys His own glory, the more fitting it is that He should be slow to act on His anger — and we should be slow too, though for quite different reasons. Slowness to anger is usually the proof of moral greatness... This does not mean that slowness to feel belongs to God, or even to man; but acting on the feeling is another matter.
It matters who is singing these words. David was not describing mercy he had only heard about.
Think of David's words in Psalm 103:8: "The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love." Who knew the Lord's mercy better than David? David had been overtaken by a terrible fall, which led him to commit adultery and murder. No worse fall could have overtaken him; yet this is his testimony... Those of us who have fallen along the way learn to love these words. Mercy is what we need, and mercy is what we find in the heart of God.
This verse can be flattened into a vague sense that God is kind about everything. One writer marks the difference, and then turns it into a rule for our own ways and thoughts.
He is slow to anger, and abounding in mercy... So this is not vague goodness that deceives itself. We own the evil for what it is, and still know God in His goodness. This ought to shape our own ways and thoughts. We will still have to deal with evil, and if we go below the surface we meet it everywhere. But I ought to have gone to God about it in such a way that I bring Him back with me, according to what I have found Him to be above it all.
The same principle sets a boundary on correction. Discipline, one commentator notes, has limits that do not depend on how the person being corrected responds:
It should in its carrying out, bear the stamp of the God of all grace Who chastises "for our profit" (Heb. 12:10). He remembers how easily "the souls which he has made" (Isa. 57:16) may faint before Him.
- Revealed — this verse is not human guesswork about God. It repeats what He said of Himself to Moses, with the law's shadow lifted off it.
- Ways — Israel saw God's acts, the displays of His power. Moses learned His ways, the principles behind them, and this verse names those ways.
- Slow — His anger is slow, not shallow; delay in acting is the mark of moral greatness, not of weak feeling about evil.
- Proved — the man singing it had fallen as far as adultery and murder, so mercy here is testimony, not theory.
- Passed on — knowing God like this is not vague goodness that excuses sin. We still own the evil, and we meet it carrying the God we found above it.
He will not always chide, neither will he keep [his anger] for ever.
Psalm 103 praises God for what He is, and verse 9 sets a limit on His anger. It raises two questions: why does God contend with His people at all, and what ends that contending?
The verse sits in a section that describes God by the character He revealed to Moses. One commentator separates what Israel saw from what Moses learned.
The blessing of restored Israel will come through the ways of God that He made known to Moses. Israel saw His outward acts; God showed Moses the principles He acted on. God now declares these ways to the restored nation. In His ways God is merciful, gracious, slow to anger, and rich in mercy. This is how He revealed Himself to Moses on the mountain (Ex. 34:6-7), and He had always acted this way through the nation's long history. Because of their sins God had to chasten them, yet, "He will not always chide, nor will He keep His anger forever."
The word "chide" means to contend — to press a case against someone. One writer renders the line that way, and notes that the people who say these words have proved them in their own history.
Now we have Jehovah Himself set before us: "merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in loving-kindness." This is how He declared Himself to Moses, with only the law's dark shadow removed from it — the word that "He can by no means clear the guilty" (Ex. 34:6-7). No, "He will not always contend, nor will He keep it in mind forever." They have proved this now in their history, and can say, "He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor repaid us according to our iniquities." So He has shown Himself, and glorified Himself before their eyes.
A God who stops being angry could be mistaken for a God who never minded. The verses that follow rule that out.
Their sins and iniquities became the occasion for showing that His mercy and grace are greater than man's sin, even "as the heaven is high above the earth." So God is not indifferent to the sins of His people. He shows mercy to His people, but He deals with them because of their sins and removes their sins "as far as the east is from the west."
God does not set the limit on His anger by how fast the person improves. He sets it by what He Himself is, and by how fragile the person is.
People often forget that discipline has its limits. Those limits do not depend on the state of heart or conscience of the person being dealt with. When it is carried out, it should bear the stamp of the God of all grace, who disciplines us "for our profit" (Heb. 12:10). He remembers how easily "the souls which he has made" (Isa. 57:16) may faint before Him. The prophets are full of similar passages about restraining grace (Ps. 103:8-10).
The same principle reaches past Israel to believers now.
This is what confirms hope, and without hope there is no power to endure and no comfort either. His judicial chastenings of Israel are measured, and they will have an end. The same is true of His righteous government of us now.
If the anger is not permanent, there is a way out from under it — and the way is confession, not self-defence.
Thanks to a merciful God, blessing is not far away when the soul bends to the rod and confesses that the punishment is just. "He will not always chide, nor will He keep His anger forever." The surest way out from under God's governmental rod is to bow low in His presence and admit openly that the discipline was fully deserved.
Some have used this line to argue that no punishment from God can ever be final. Commentators answer that these words have a particular audience, and that audience sets their scope.
But this objection is easy to answer. Even those who know little of Scripture will see that God speaks these words to Israel. He loves this people dearly. Yet He has set them aside for a time, because they were unfaithful and firmly rejected the salvation offered to them in Christ. God's word testifies that He will restore them once more to these privileges as His earthly people.
Writing on the parallel words in Isaiah 57:16, another commentator gives the reader a rule of reading rather than an argument.
Let me advise the simple reader, when a quotation is made, always to read the context before he receives a new doctrine.
- Ways — Israel saw God's acts; God showed Moses the principles behind them. Verse 9 states one of those principles.
- Contend — to chide is to press a case. God will not press His case against His people without end, and Israel's history proves it.
- Limit — God's own character fixes the boundary on discipline, not the sufferer's progress. He knows how soon we faint.
- Measured — His chastenings have an end, and the same holds in His government of believers today.
- Release — the quickest way out from under the rod is to bow and admit the correction was deserved.
He hath not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
Psalm 103 counts up God's benefits one by one. Here the singer counts something God has not done. If He does not treat us as our sins deserve, has He simply ignored them? And how can a holy God do that?
One writer calls this line the psalm's high point, and points to what lies behind it.
Verse 10 is a climax of touching power. The soul that God has taught the meaning of the cross, as the true expression of His grace, understands it well. He had not dealt with them according to their sins. In return for their hatred, He showed them His priceless love. In Him whom the nation hated, He had found the one who could truly bear the nation's guilt (Isa. 53).
The psalm sets God's public acts beside what He explained to Moses, the leader who brought Israel out of Egypt.
God revealed His outward acts to Israel; to Moses He revealed the principles on which He acted. These ways are now declared to the restored nation. In His ways God is merciful, gracious, slow to anger, and plentiful in mercy. This is how He revealed Himself to Moses on the mountain (Ex. 34:6-7). God had always acted this way through the long history of the nation. Because of their sins God had to chasten them, yet, "He will not always chide; nor will He keep His anger forever."
The verse could sound as if God shrugs at sin. The same writer reads it the other way round.
Their sins and iniquities became the occasion for showing that His mercy and grace are greater than man's sin — as high as the heavens are above the earth. So we see that God is not indifferent to the sins of His people. He shows mercy to His people, but He deals with them because of their sins, and He removes their sins "as far as the east is from the west."
If God did not repay us for our sins, the debt did not simply vanish. One writer points to the cross, where judgment on sin fell in full.
The way He worked for us showed righteousness — yes, divine righteousness. The cross is the solemn declaration of righteous judgment on sin. So much every Christian bows to and delights in; and only here was propitiation possible for us. He bore our sins so that we would not have to bear them. Since He bore them for us, we cannot bear them ourselves. "Their sins and iniquities I will remember no more" is now God's unchangeable word. It is the word of the same righteousness that the cross has so fully shown and glorified.
Israel spent forty years in the desert as the fruit of their own conduct. One writer reads this verse into that story.
If God had dealt with them as they deserved, He might at least have left them to wander alone through the desert. But — blessed for ever be His great name — He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. His thoughts are not as our thoughts; nor are His ways as our ways.
One writer reads the psalm as Israel's future thanksgiving, and applies it to believers now too.
Israel will then fully acknowledge, as believers do today, that He has not dealt with them as they deserved. He has not punished them as their great guilt deserved (v. 10). They will be humbled, but adoring.
That guards the verse from misuse. The same writer says what forgiveness is for.
If God forgives, it is so that people may fear Him, not so that they may think lightly of their sin or of God's mercy. Grace does not lead to a careless walk; on the contrary, it teaches us to live soberly, righteously, and godly (Titus 2:12).
- Measure — The verse names a yardstick God refused to use: our own sins.
- Ways — Israel saw God's acts. God showed Moses the principles behind them, and here the people grasp what Moses knew.
- Not indifference — God is not casual about sin. Their sins became the occasion for showing mercy as high as the heavens.
- Ground — The debt was not waived; it was borne. The cross declares righteous judgment on sin, and so the sins are remembered no more.
- Response — The right reaction is worship from a humbled heart, not carelessness. God forgives so that people may fear Him.
For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his loving-kindness toward them that fear him.
God measures His mercy here by the height of the sky, right after saying He has not treated His people as their sins deserved. Two questions follow: how large is that mercy, and who are the people it rests on?
The comparison invites a calculation no one can finish.
How beautiful it is to hear, "For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him" (Ps. 103:11). Do you want to know the measure of God's mercy? Try to measure the distance to heaven. You would have some difficulty doing that. You cannot measure it.
The gap between our weakness and God's greatness could shame us. Here it does the opposite.
We need to remember the infinite difference between our own weakness and the greatness of God. Yet He shows marvellous mercy to those so far below Him. But He uses that distance only to highlight the greatness of that mercy — mercy as high as the heavens are above the earth (v. 11). He also uses the immeasurable distance between east and west to show the total and absolute removal of our transgressions (v. 12).
A verse like this can sound as though God overlooks wrongdoing. Commentators press the opposite reading.
Their sins and iniquities became the occasion for showing that His mercy and grace is greater than man's sin, even "as high as the heavens are above the earth." So God is not indifferent to the sins of His people. He shows mercy to His people, but He deals with them because of their sins and removes their sins "as far as the east is from the west."
The word "for" ties this measurement to the line before it. One writer calls that earlier line the high point of the psalm, and sees the cross in it.
Verse 10 rises to a climax of touching power. The soul that God has taught the meaning of the cross understands it well. The cross is the true expression of the grace of God. "He has not dealt with us according to our sins." He had not dealt with them according to their sins. In return for their hatred He had shown them His priceless love. In Him, whom the nation hated, He had found the One who truly bore the nation's guilt.
Earlier the psalm says God made His ways known to Moses. Mercy on this scale is part of what He showed there.
God revealed His outward acts to Israel, but to Moses He revealed the principles behind those acts. These ways are now declared to the restored nation. In His ways God is merciful, gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. This is how He revealed Himself to Moses on the mountain (Ex. 34:6-7).
The mercy has no limit, but the verse names who it rests on.
But the mercy of Jehovah is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, the obedient ones. So everything is traced to His goodness, and to His faithfulness too, which flow from the very nature and name of Jehovah — yet it comes to the obedient ones, the godly remnant.
Another rendering shows the force of the word:
His loving-kindness is mighty over those who fear Him.
The psalm does not end in wonder. It ends in a claim on the heart.
Higher and higher the soul climbs, scaling this mercy which, after all, is beyond all measure. You have redeemed my life from destruction, fed me, cared for me, guarded me; but, after all, I cannot measure it. … Since His mercy is like this, it lays one practical claim on the heart: "Bless His holy name."
- Cause. God had not treated His people as their sins deserved. This verse gives the size of that mercy.
- Measure. God sets His mercy beside the sky, a measure no one can take.
- Reach. This mercy rests on those who fear Him, the obedient ones, and it runs from everlasting to everlasting.
- Holiness. Mercy greater than sin is not blindness to sin. God removes transgressions; He does not ignore them.
- Response. Mercy this high lays one practical claim on the heart — bless His holy name.
As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
This psalm measures God's mercy with nothing a person can pace out — the height of the sky, and the distance from east to west. So what did God move that far away, and how could He do it?
One writer follows the song as it climbs. The singer lists what God has done for him, then admits he cannot measure the mercy behind it all.
In Psalm 103 David is tracing up to the root of things. Higher and higher the soul climbs, scaling, as it were, this mercy, which after all is beyond all measure. You have redeemed my life from destruction, fed me, cared for me, guarded me. But after all, I cannot measure it: "As far as the east is from the west." Man's widest span would be a poor ruler for that mercy, which is from everlasting to everlasting.
Mercy this wide could sound like God shrugging off what was done. One writer says it is the opposite.
Their sins and iniquities had become the occasion of showing that His mercy and grace is greater than man's sin, even "as the heaven is high above the earth." So we see that God is not indifferent to the sins of His people. He shows mercy to His people. But He deals with them because of their sins, and He removes those sins "as far as the east is from the west."
If the sins moved, someone moved them. One writer says who took the sins away, and on whom God laid them.
God alone could separate sins from us and lay them on Another. This He did to the praise of the glory of His grace. One day Israel will celebrate this goodness of Jehovah in triumph. They will bless Jehovah because He forgives all their iniquities and heals all their diseases. And they will add, "As far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our transgressions from us." They will see that Jehovah took their sins from them and laid them upon Christ, and that He was wounded and bruised for them.
One writer reads the verse alongside the day of atonement and its two goats. Each goat showed a different side of one act.
The two goats on the day of atonement give the double aspect of the one act. In the one we see God's glory maintained; in the other, sins put away. The one is as perfect as the other. We are as perfectly forgiven as God is perfectly glorified by the death of Christ… How many of the sins of Israel did the scapegoat bear away? "All." Precious word! Not one left behind. And where did he bear them? "Into a land not inhabited" — a land where they could never be found, because there was no one there to look for them.
The sins are gone, and that clears the way for something better.
The guilty one is released, forgiven… The forgiveness of sins includes another thought. Redemption by Christ brings us into a new state. The whole guilty past is forgiven and removed from us, so nothing hinders the enjoyment of what redemption brings us into.
Knowing your sins are that far off changes how honestly you can look at them. One writer pictures a man whose debts someone else has paid.
When we see our transgressions completely "blotted out," we have no interest in making our sinfulness look smaller… But if someone in great kindness had paid my debts for me, I could go and look through all my books. And if I found that I had owed a thousand pounds instead of a hundred, it would only deepen my sense of the greatness and value of the love that had paid it all for me. So it would increase my gratitude and joy.
- Distance measured. No human span can measure God's mercy, so the psalm reaches for the sky's height and the gap from east to west.
- Distance earned. God did not wave sin away. He separated sins from His people and laid them on Christ, who was wounded for them.
- Distance pictured. The live goat carried all the sins to a land with no inhabitants — a place where no one could ever go looking for them.
- Distance shared. The believer is forgiven as perfectly as the death of Christ glorified God. One act, two sides.
- Distance enjoyed. The whole guilty past is gone, so nothing blocks the new state redemption brings. A cleared conscience stops shrinking its debts and turns to gratitude and joy.