For the word of Jehovah is right, and all his work is in faithfulness.
Psalm 33 is a new song, and verse 4 gives the reason: God has spoken, and God has acted. Commentators treat this line as the base of the whole psalm — creation, the failed plans of nations, God's watching eye, all of it rests on what He says and does.
The song begins with forgiveness. That is what lets the singer lift his eyes off himself and look outward.
Psalm 33 follows on from the last verse of Psalm 32. The thought of forgiveness has put a new song in his mouth. So he can look out with clearer confidence on the principles men should act on, as he looks to the word and works of God. Here the earth stands under God's eye and direction — His government as applied to it.
Calling God's word right is not distant praise. It makes His word a rule you can live by — and a rule that measures you.
The works of the Lord are done in truth. I can perfectly count on His acting on the known principles of His holy will. So His word, which is essentially right, can judge me now. This is always an important principle. The Lord, though not visibly and publicly, does govern all things. So I can act on His word, and be sure of the consequences.
The two halves of the verse are not two separate subjects. One produces the other, and the product carries the maker's stamp.
We now have the testimony given to Him by His work and word. His work is in fact the product of His word — the creation of His mind and will. So it carries the stamp of His character.
These writers quote an older translation: "right" where the ESV has "upright", and "truth" where it has "faithfulness". Read it as faithfulness, and the steady working of the physical world becomes God keeping faith with His creatures.
"For right is the Lord's word, and in faithfulness all His work." The fixed laws that run all through it are the proof. They are so fixed and so widespread that we soon grow familiar with them in all the main points, and learn to rely on them. This is a priceless blessing, and only our being so used to it tends to hide it from us… Instead, we live in a world that is stable on the whole, with only enough uncertainty to encourage dependence.
The verse names two witnesses. Believing them pulls confidence away from what men achieve.
"For the word of the Lord is right, and all His work is done in truth" (v. 4). These are absolutely reliable witnesses to encourage our adoration of His person. To know God's word is always right is a precious basis for faith. To know that all His work is done in truth encourages us to turn away from the works of men and to have unshaken confidence in the One who acts in perfect truth.
The singer praises God in a world that openly opposes Him. Verse 4 answers that problem: God's purpose hangs on His word, and that word made the heavens.
But when we look at the world as it is morally, what do we see? A system that has gradually grown up and stands in opposition to God and His Word… But is God's purpose going to be frustrated? Never. We get the answer to this in Psalm 33… Now all this hangs on the word of the Lord. "For the word of the Lord is right, and all His works are done in truth." His own character has to be proved true in it… And it is the same word that made the heavens — the word of the Lord. By it the earth stood firm.
God's own government runs in two directions at once.
Psalm 33 celebrates the righteousness of God shown in all His acts. The Psalmist goes on to speak of how right and firm all His works in creation are, while the plans of the nations and the schemes of the peoples are all brought to nothing… It is also true that "the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him… that He may deliver." His holy government acts in both directions, not only against the ungodly but also for His people.
- Forgiven. The new song starts where Psalm 32 ends. A cleared conscience lets a person look at God's word and works with confidence, not fear.
- Upright. God's word is not just information. It is a rule you can act on, sure of the outcome, and a rule that judges you now.
- Faithful. His work comes out of His word, so it carries His character. The steady laws of the world are His faithfulness to His creatures.
- Reliable. Word and work stand as two witnesses that turn the heart away from the works of men to the One who acts in perfect truth.
- Unstoppable. The world's whole system opposes Him, yet His purpose rests on the same word that made the heavens — so it cannot fail.
He loveth righteousness and judgment the earth is full of the loving-kindness of Jehovah.
Psalm 33 opens a new song, and this verse gives it a theme. God's character is the reason for singing: what He loves, and what He pours out. It raises a real question — if the earth is full of His goodness, why does the world look the way it does?
Verse 4 speaks of God's word and His works; verse 5 turns to what lies behind them. One writer pairs the two verses. He notes that the singer's heart is not fixed on the scene around him.
Two special things are celebrated here. First, His word and His works (v. 4). Then His righteousness, and His goodness or mercy (v. 5). It is true that the scene around us is full of the plans of man. Psalm 2:2 tells us how high they rise. But the heart is not taken up with that. It is taken up with the Lord. His word is right, His works are truth. The heavens, the sea, the earth bear witness.
The verse does not say God practises righteousness. It says He loves it. One writer draws two things from that difference: a pattern for believers, and a fullness still to come.
He is not merely a judge who acts in righteousness, but He does so because He loves this. Some people do what is right only out of a sense of duty. But every believer should follow the Lord's own example and love righteousness and right judgment. Because of this pure love, "the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord." This will be fully true in the millennium, though not yet.
The two halves of the verse are therefore not two separate facts. A short comment ties them together:
His word and His works declare His character; "He loves righteousness and judgment," and goodness is combined with His righteousness.
Commentators differ on how much of this fullness is present now. Another writer reads the second half as a picture of ordinary life outside Eden. The kindness is so wide that we stop noticing it.
"He loves justice and judgment." The question here is not how men twist justice. It is about these same laws in their moral character, which testify for Him. The power which earth shows is a power that "makes for righteousness." "And the earth is full of the goodness of Jehovah." This is the wide kindness that everything in nature displays. The eye, the ear, the senses in general are provided for and satisfied. Beauty, melody and variety show, with much else, how God has cared for us, even though we are outside of Eden.
The same writer turns to the steady world we live in. He calls that steadiness faithfulness on God's part.
"For right is Jehovah's word, and in faithfulness all His work." The fixed laws that run through His work are the proof. They are so fixed and so widespread that we soon get used to them and learn to rely on them. This is a priceless blessing, and only our being so used to it tends to hide it from us… Instead we are in a world that is mostly stable, with just enough uncertainty to encourage dependence.
In older translations the last word here is "goodness." Elsewhere the same word is given as "mercy" or "loving-kindness," and the ESV has "steadfast love." William Kelly renders it "the mercy of Jehovah." That mercy is not detached from the first half of the verse. It rests on it.
The earth is full of the loving-kindness of Jehovah. But this rests upon His love of righteousness and judgment, and the "New Song" ties in here.
The new song is not about the world as it stands now. It looks ahead to a settled earth, and to what holds that hope up.
The "new song" means that a new state of things altogether is coming on earth. It celebrates that "the earth is filled with the goodness of the Lord." All this hangs on the word of the Lord… He does not give up His purpose for the world which He has made. His creation, and His counsel as to it, depend upon His word.
One writer ties the whole psalm to God's own character on display.
Jehovah's character, His word and works, stand out plainly, and the earth is now full of His goodness… So the great result of Jehovah stepping in stands before the faith of the remnant, sung as if it had all already come.
- Loves — God does not act rightly out of duty. He loves righteousness and judgment, and every believer is meant to copy that love, not merely obey rules.
- Overflows — because He loves righteousness, His goodness pours out. The two stand together; they are not rivals.
- Fills the earth — that goodness reaches the eye and the ear. It shows in beauty, melody and variety, and in the steady laws that keep life stable outside Eden.
- Rests on His word — the whole hope hangs on the word of the Lord. He has not given up His purpose for the world He made.
- Sung now — faith takes up the new song ahead of the sight, celebrating a full earth as though it had already come.
By the word of Jehovah were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.
Psalm 33 rests everything on the word of the Lord, and verse 6 takes that word back to the beginning of everything. How were the heavens made, what is "all their host," and why does the psalm credit a word and a breath?
Why does a song about God's character turn to the making of the heavens? One writer ties the two together:
Now all this hangs on the word of the Lord. "For the word of the LORD is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness." His own character must be made good in it. "He loves righteousness and justice." And it is the same word that made the heavens — the word of the Lord. By it the earth stood firm... He does not give up His purpose about the world which He has made. His creation, and His counsel about it, depend upon His word.
The verse names no labour and no materials — only a word and a breath.
Even the heavens — space itself — are a creation of God, made simply by His word. The billions of stars were made by the breath of His mouth. We may feel that it must have taken God ages of work to create so many heavenly bodies. But He speaks of it as nothing more than breathing out!
The word behind "host" is the same one used in the title "the Lord of hosts," and its range is wide:
I may add that the same word translated "hosts" — for example, Jehovah Tzebaoth, the Lord of hosts, Psalm 24:10 — also describes the hosts of the heavens in Psalm 33:6... It covers armies, angels, and created things such as sun, moon, and stars.
Here the term points to what fills the sky, and Scripture gives those lights a further sense:
This term stands for the sun, moon, and stars. One of the Psalms shows it: "By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host" (Psalm 33:6). And it is just as plain from the Scriptures that the sun, moon, and stars are symbols of ruling authorities — the sun the supreme authority, the moon a derived one, and the stars authorities under them.
after
"Breath of His mouth" — a picture of power going out from God Himself. One writer shows the same figure at work in two very different ways:
"The breath of his mouth" expresses the inner energy of divine power. That power may be creative, as in Psalm 33:6, or judicial, as in 2 Samuel 22:16, Job 4:9, Psalm 18:15, Isaiah 11:4 and Isaiah 30:33. It is the power with which the Lord will destroy the lawless one.
One writer reads "the word of the LORD" here alongside the New Testament's teaching about the Son:
He is the Word, who was with God, and was God, through whom all things came forth... "By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host. He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap... Let all the earth fear the LORD" (Psalm 33:6, 8)... And God has spoken to us fully and finally in the Son, "through whom also He created the world."
So where does knowledge of that beginning come from?
We know nothing about the origin of creation, and we can know nothing, except what God's revelation tells us... God spoke, and brought things into existence. At the command of the Almighty created things appeared; they did not evolve out of things that already existed. Matter is not eternal.
The same word that started everything also holds it up:
Everything that God does He does by His Word: to this fact all Scripture bears united testimony. He wills the thing to be; He commands, and it exists... "upholding the universe by the word of his power" (Hebrews 1:3). By His Word He created all things, and by His Word they subsist.
- Word — The heavens exist because God spoke; He needed no materials and no long process.
- Breath — The same "breath of His mouth" that filled space with stars is the power that will one day destroy the lawless one.
- Host — The word covers armies, angels and stars. Here it means the sun, moon and stars — which Scripture also uses as pictures of ruling authority.
- Counsel — Since His word made and still upholds creation, His purpose for this world cannot fail either.
- Trust — Faith here rests on revelation, not research. God said it, and the psalm's whole confidence stands on that word.
He gathereth the waters of the sea together as a heap; he layeth up the deeps in storehouses.
Psalm 33 praises God for what He made. Verse 7 turns to the sea: piled up like a heap, stored away in storerooms, and wholly under His hand.
The first line of the verse describes something anyone can still check.
The way God has designed the earth — our present home — is amazing too. Over 70% of the earth's surface is water, yet it does not overflow the land. God gathers the waters together, for all the seas connect with one another. It is as though God designed the earth in such a way that it formed storehouses to hold the waters (v. 7).
The word behind "the deeps" carries more weight than a calm surface suggests. One writer traces it back to the opening of Genesis.
Beneath the heavens stretches their earthly reflection, the great sea. Its waters, massed as a heap under the Lord's hand, reduce man to nothing before Him (Psalm 107:23-30). … The word for "depths" is the plural of the word in Genesis 1:2, tehom, which means the "raging deep." He lays these depths up beneath the quiet and smiling surface, in treasuries. He brings them out whenever He has use for them, and the effect is decisive. This is how the pagan sailors who carried Jonah, and Jonah himself, learned how foolish it is to try to escape the Lord's power.
Israel once walked between those waters. One writer shows where the power actually lay.
God used the "strong east wind" to split the Red Sea. The waters stood as "crystal walls" on either side and made a path for His people to cross. Yet God had invested His power and authority in the staff Moses stretched out. "He divided the sea and let them pass through it, and made the waters stand like a heap" (Psalm 78:13). "He rebuked the Red Sea, and it became dry" (Psalm 106:9).
One writer finds this same power in a Person asleep in the middle of wind and waves.
Then we see this wonderful Person rise from His sleep. With all the power of the infinite Creator He rebukes the winds and the waves, and at once there is calm. No mere man could do such a thing! This was the Person who had gathered the waters under heaven into one place (Genesis 1:9). He is the One who had made the sea stand up as a solid wall to give the Israelites passage.
The psalm does not stop at what God made. One writer follows the step from creation to God's own purpose.
From this view of creation we turn next to the Lord making good His name (the Unchangeable) in His dealings with His creatures. The counsels of the nations cannot stand against His counsel. … On the other hand, His counsel stands forever, and the thoughts of His heart last "from generation to generation." This contrast only brings more lasting comfort to those who anchor their weakness to the rock of His stability.
One writer turns these storehouses into a question for the reader.
Are we content with a shallow knowledge of the things of God? Or do we know, in the power of the Spirit of God, the blessedness of the deep things of God that have been revealed to us? These "deep things of God" are far more important and far more precious than everything else. They are the precious things connected with Christ in glory, for the depths of God are connected to a risen Christ. In Psalm 33:7, God speaks of the storehouses of the depth. This is surely a sign of the abundance available to us as we are found truly desiring these things.
- Gathered. The seas connect as one body, and the water stays off land it could cover. That is design, not accident.
- Stored. "The deeps" is the raging deep of Genesis 1:2, laid up under a calm surface in treasuries God opens when He chooses.
- Opened. Jonah met a storehouse opened against him. At the Red Sea, Israel walked through the same waters heaped up for them.
- Embodied. Commentators identify this Creator with the One who rose from sleep and rebuked the wind and waves.
- Anchored. The God who stores up oceans has counsel that stands forever. That is where weakness finds comfort, and why His depths are worth searching.
Let all the earth fear Jehovah; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.
The psalm has just traced the heavens and the seas back to one cause: the spoken word of God. Now it turns outward and calls every nation to fear Him — but why should the whole world tremble, and what sort of fear is meant?
The call does not stop at the borders of Israel. It runs as wide as creation itself.
By His word He brought the creation into being. All the earth, with all its inhabitants, are called to own Him as the mighty Creator.
The summons is not left hanging. The very next verse gives the reason.
These marvellous facts surely call for the deep consideration of all mankind (v. 8). They should make us fear the Lord with reverent awe and admiration. "For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm" (v. 9). All the visible creation came into being in a moment, just by the voice of the Lord. It was no process, but immediate creation. Scientists have recently put forward the theory of the "big bang" to explain how suddenly matter appeared. But they have no idea what it was that exploded to cause the big bang.
The Hebrew behind the second half of the verse carries a picture the English loses. It places the creature, whose life is brief, next to the One whose life is not.
"Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him!" To stand in awe is literally to "sojourn" — to live as guests with Him, to whom alone belongs eternity... He who brought them into being clearly still holds them in His control.
Being told to fear God can sound like bad news. It is not.
This fear of the Lord is not the cringing dread that marks the superstitious. No. It is reverent trust joined with a hatred of evil. "The fear of the LORD is hatred of evil" (Prov. 8:13). "The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever." Where this fear is kept up, the presence of the Lord is real and a joy.
This fear does not push a person away from God.
But this does not put us at a distance, or make us want distance. It is simply the creature conscious of being a creature — and where else should it be so conscious? — and this is its safeguard. "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom": for it keeps God in His place, and man in his; and this is the simple key to true understanding.
Writers link the creating word of verse 6 with the Word of John's Gospel — and note that the world's failure to fear is not for lack of evidence.
He is the Word, who was with God, and was God, through whom all things came forth... "By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their host. He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap... Let all the earth fear the LORD" (Ps. 33:6, 8). "This is hidden from men through their own wilfulness" (2 Peter 3:5).
Commentators also read the psalm forward, to a time when God acts and the call of verse 8 is finally answered.
Meanwhile the nations had been shaping proud plans, driven by the cunning and power of the ruler of this world. Their thoughts had been set high against the Lord and against His Christ. But the time had come for God to rise up in power, so that the inhabitants of the world would stand in awe of Him.
Yet the psalm is not on hold until then.
But this is only a suggestion about how the Psalm may apply to prophecy. Meanwhile, let those who love the Lord remember that it is all their own. The practical value of such songs to the believer does not depend on pinning down exactly which period they belong to.
- Cause. God spoke, and creation was there. It was "no process, but immediate creation" — facts that "call for the deep consideration of all mankind."
- Creature. To "stand in awe" is literally to "sojourn". We are short-term guests of the One "to whom alone belongs eternity", who still holds everything He made.
- Character. This fear is not the dread of the superstitious. It is "reverent trust joined with a hatred of evil". It keeps "God in His place, and man in his" — the key to true understanding.
- Compass. The call reaches past Israel to "all the earth, with all its inhabitants". They are called to own their Maker. The world ignores Him by its own wilfulness, not for lack of proof.
- Consummation. Commentators see a day when God rises in power and the world does stand in awe. Until then, the psalm already belongs to everyone who loves the Lord.
For *he* spoke, and it was [done]; *he* commanded, and it stood fast.
One short line tells how everything began: God spoke, and it was there. It also raises a bigger question — does the God who spoke still hold the world He made?
Writers take this line as Scripture's own answer to questions about origins. One writer says God had no existing material to work with:
We know nothing, and can know nothing, about the origin of creation except what divine revelation discloses. "By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host." "He spoke, and it came to be." So wrote the psalmist (Ps. 33:6, 9). "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth" (Gen. 1:1). So wrote the lawgiver. God spoke, and brought things into existence. By the command of the Almighty created things appeared. They did not evolve out of things that already existed. Matter is not eternal.
Another writer notes what the verse rules out:
All the visible creation was brought into being in a moment, just by the voice of the Lord. It was no process, but immediate creation.
The word "for" ties this verse to the call in the verse before. Making the world cost God nothing but a word:
After this, then, comes the call, "Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him." "Stand in awe" is literally "sojourn" — be as sojourners with Him, to whom alone eternity belongs. The argument is given in the next verse. These mighty and stable powers came into existence by His mere command. He who brought them into being clearly has them still under His control.
The psalm does not say who spoke. One writer names Him:
"The universe was created by the word of God," as Hebrews 11:3 has told us; or we may take the words of Psalm 33:9. How significant here is the opening of John's Gospel: "In the beginning was the Word." He existed before the first beginnings of creation. Moreover He "was with God, and… was God… All things were made through him." So it was the Word who uttered the words of power that created and made all things — the same Word who later "became flesh and dwelt among us."
The same One who once only commanded came into a place where He learned to obey:
Until then He had commanded; He spoke, and it was done. Now He learns obedience in suffering, as each of the four God-given accounts of His perfect life makes known to us. It was in this school that He learned the rare and precious art of sympathy and of speaking a word to the weary: weariness and weeping, hunger and poverty, contact with every form of human misery and grief. He learned it in this everyday school, not in the untroubled dignities of heaven.
The psalm moves from what God spoke into being to what God plans. One writer links the two:
The earth stood firm by the same word that made the heavens — the word of the LORD. "He spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm." Then verse 11 says, "The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations." He does not give up His purpose for the world He has made. His creation, and His counsel about it, depend on His word.
Because the first creation cost only a word, the last one will cost no more:
He acted to bring the old creation into existence, according to Genesis 1. He acts again to bring the new into existence. As before, so here, the word of His power is enough. Formerly "He spoke, and it came to be" (Ps. 33:9). Now again He speaks, and His words are, "It is done." Both are accomplished with equal ease.
- Spoke — Creation came by command, not from material God had to work with. Matter is not eternal. Nothing evolved out of what was already there.
- Instantly — The verse leaves no room for a process. It was immediate creation at the sound of His voice.
- Therefore fear — The whole earth has one reason to stand in awe. The One who made these vast powers by a word still holds them under His control.
- The Word Himself — The voice of Genesis 1 is the Word of John 1. He later became flesh and learned obedience through suffering, so He could speak to the weary.
- It stood firm — The word that steadied creation also secures His counsel, which stands forever. That same word will yet speak the new creation into being, with equal ease.
Jehovah frustrateth the counsel of the nations; he maketh the thoughts of the peoples of none effect.
The verse sits in a song about God's word — the same word that made the heavens now empties the plans of the nations. It answers a question people still ask: when world powers scheme, whose purpose decides history?
One writer ties this psalm to the forgiveness celebrated just before it. That forgiveness frees the singer to look at the world with confidence.
Psalm 33 follows on from the last verse of Psalm 32. The thought of forgiveness had put a new song in his mouth. So he can look out with clearer confidence on the principles on which men should act, looking to the word and works of God. The psalm views the earth as under God's eye and direction — His government applied to it.
The verse names two groups: the nations and the peoples. One writer notes that the second word reaches wider than the first.
Against His counsel the counsels of the nations cannot stand. The world is away from Him and against Him, so the thoughts of peoples cannot stand either. The second word takes in more than the first: it takes in even Israel, His "people." On the other hand, His counsel stands forever: the thoughts of His heart "from generation to generation."
The verse does not stand alone in the psalm. The lines just before it describe creation by a spoken word, and the same word is what dismantles what men have planned.
Moreover His word and His works bring the counsels of the nations to nothing, and make clear that the counsels of the Lord will not only be fulfilled, but will stand forever.
That link between creation and counsel is the argument of the whole psalm. God's purpose for the world He made rests on the same foundation as the world itself.
It is the same word that made the heavens — the word of the Lord — and the earth stood firm by it. "He spoke, and it came to be; He commanded, and it stood firm." He does not give up His purpose concerning the world which He has made. His creation, and His counsel about it, depend on His word.
God does more than defeat the plans of men. He shows them up for what they always were.
The Lord shows that His counsels will be realized for what they are. He makes every opposition to them powerless. He brings the counsel of the nations to nothing, and He exposes the plans of mere men as just that — the plans of mere men.
One writer saw the same thing in the world's great alliances.
As it was then, so it is today; all the plans of men, however wise, will be brought to nothing if the Lord so desires. We have seen the great League of Nations break up in pieces, though the great powers of the earth set it up. The United Nations has already proved to be a weak and powerless instrument, even when very small nations defy it.
One writer reads the psalm as one government working in two directions at once.
The Psalmist goes on to speak of how right and firm all His works in creation are. The counsel of the nations and the devices of the peoples, on the other hand, all come to nothing. From His dwelling on high He looks down on the sons of men and disciplines them in this way. But it is also true that "the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him… to deliver." His holy government acts in both directions, not only against the ungodly but also for His people.
God does not always stop a scheme in advance. Sometimes He lets it run to the end, and that is how it defeats itself.
David prayed, "O Lord, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness." God answered that prayer by making Absalom listen to someone else's counsel. But He allowed man's wicked counsel to get rid of Christ to be carried out in full, and it ended in its own defeat… What a comfort for believers to realize that God is greater than any combination of men that can be against Him, even though behind them all lies the subtlety and force of Satan himself.
- Counsel forgiven. The song starts from forgiveness. A clear conscience lets a person face the world's scheming without fear.
- Counsel spoken. The word that made the heavens is the word that empties human plans. God's purpose for the world rests on the same foundation as the world itself.
- Counsel exposed. God does more than beat the opposition. He shows the plans of mere men to be just that — from ancient nations to modern alliances.
- Counsel overruled. The plans of "peoples" include God's own people. No one is outside it. God's government humbles the proud and delivers those who fear Him.
- Counsel standing. Even a plan God allows to succeed ends in its own defeat. The cross proves it. God is greater than any group of men set against Him.
The counsel of Jehovah standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart from generation to generation.
The verse sits right after a picture of collapse: the plans of the nations come to nothing. Against that ruin the psalm sets one thing that never moves — what God has decided, and what He holds in His heart.
One writer traces that pattern from the psalm to our own day:
Psalm 33:10-11 sets the counsel of the Lord against the counsel of the nations. The Lord brings all the plans of the nations to nothing. But His counsel is eternal. Nothing can frustrate it. It remains, showing the wisdom and the power of God. As it was then, so it is today. However wise the plans of men are, the Lord will bring them to nothing if He so desires. We have seen the great League of Nations, set up by the great powers of the earth, break up in pieces. And events have already exposed the United Nations as a weak and powerless instrument, even when very small nations defy it.
Earlier in the psalm, God speaks and the world comes into being. One writer links that same word to the counsel of verse 11:
But is God's purpose going to be frustrated? Never. We get the answer to this in Psalm 33… It is the same word that made the heavens — the word of the Lord. The earth stood firm by it. "He spoke, and it came to be; He commanded, and it stood firm." Then verse 11 says, "The counsel of the Lord stands for ever, the thoughts of His heart to all generations." He does not give up His purpose for the world He has made. His creation, and His counsel about it, depend upon His word.
(The ESV reads "the plans of His heart"; older versions have "the thoughts of His heart".)
The phrase "to all generations" points to a God who does not change. One writer draws out the comfort in that:
After looking at creation, we are led on to see Jehovah living out His name — the Unchangeable One — in the way He deals with His creatures. The counsels of the nations cannot stand against His counsel… His own counsel, though, stands forever: the thoughts of His heart "from generation to generation." That contrast only brings deeper and longer-lasting comfort to those who anchor their weakness to the rock of His stability.
If God's counsel stands, why does the world still look like man's counsel is winning? One writer names the stretch of time we live in, and what it is for:
The "times" are running on. They form the period between the declaring of the counsels of the Lord and their fulfilment. During that period men try to set up their own counsels. In the end the Lord will frustrate them and bring them to nothing, so that the thoughts of His heart may stand to all generations. During these times faith is tested, and that testing is far more precious than gold that perishes.
One writer applied this verse to a dark hour in Judah, when a usurper sat on the throne God had promised to David's family:
But faith endures as seeing Him who is invisible. The enemy may appear for a time to triumph, but it is only in appearance, and for a short time. "The counsel of the Lord stands for ever, and the thoughts of His heart to all generations." God is over all, and above all. His word can never fail. Let us "only believe," and trust in Him. In due time God will answer faith, fulfil the promise, and completely confound every enemy.
Another writer applies the same verse to failure inside the people of God:
There is a limit even to the patience of God. Righteousness demands it. So in the second letter to Timothy we see the house, the great house (in some sense the house of God), as a ruined and disowned thing. But "the counsel of the Lord stands for ever, the thoughts of His heart to all generations." The vessel is marred on the wheel in the hand of the Potter. But the Potter, in His sovereign right over the clay, makes another vessel as it has pleased Him.
- Counsel stands. The Lord breaks the plans of the nations; His own counsel remains.
- Because His word stands. The word that made the heavens carries His purpose for the world — He does not abandon what He made.
- Through all generations. He is the Unchangeable One, so weak people can anchor themselves to the rock of His stability.
- Across the gap. We live between the plan announced and the plan fulfilled. That gap is where faith is tested.
- Even through ruin. Enemy triumph is appearance only, and the Potter remakes even a marred vessel.
Blessed is the nation whose God is Jehovah, the people that he hath chosen for his inheritance!
Psalm 33 has just said that the plans of nations come to nothing while the LORD's counsel stands. Then it calls one people happy. Their blessing rests on one fact: who their God is. The claim also runs the other way. God has chosen them as His own.
The blessing is not a change of subject. It is the comfort that comes out of the collapse of every rival plan.
Against His counsel the counsels of the nations cannot stand. Nor, since the world is away from Him and in opposition to Him, can the thoughts of peoples stand either. That second phrase includes even Israel, His "people"; the first does not. On the other hand, His counsel stands forever: the thoughts of His heart "from generation to generation." So the contrast only brings more lasting comfort to those who anchor their weakness to the rock of His stability — "the nation whose God is the LORD, and the people whom He has chosen" (as Israel is) "as His heritage."
Commentators read the verse as naming Israel. That raises an obvious objection, which one writer meets head-on.
Verse 12 refers plainly to Israel, the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He has chosen as His own inheritance. Of course, there are those who criticize His choice of such a nation — a nation that has failed so badly since He chose them… But God knew perfectly well how evil they would prove to be. What other nation would have proved better? Not one!… Why did God then choose them? Because He is God and has a right to choose whom He will. Though they have failed, He will still restore them amazingly, and they will indeed be greatly "blessed."
The privilege of having the LORD as their God came with duties that set Israel apart from every nation around them.
An immense privilege, as the Psalmist confessed… But His people carried responsibilities that other nations knew nothing about… Israel were something neither the Egyptians nor the Canaanites could claim, or ever become: the Lord's own special people, whom He had chosen for Himself. So He told them: "You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you" (Leviticus 18:3).
The verse calls this people God's heritage. That reverses the usual direction: God is the one who inherits.
That God should inherit a people is a familiar idea in Scripture. He always had a people, and in grace He called His chosen His inheritance (Deut. 32:9). This expression makes clear to faith the true position of God's chosen people in the middle of a rejected world.
Commentators differ over how far that carries across to Christians. One draws a sharp line between Israel's position and ours:
Whose land was Israel's? It was God's inheritance, and those in whom He inherited it were Israel. We are not an inheritance, but we are heirs of God.
Countries often borrow this verse to call themselves God's own. One writer answers that directly.
A special feature of the present age is this: God has set aside all national or inherited religion, as seen in His chosen nation of Israel. No other nation is ever called His chosen in Scripture. In its place He has put the testimony that takes in all the Gentiles — that is, every nation and tribe under the sun.
One writer reads the psalm forward, to a day when the nation sings it with understanding.
It is a song for Israel's last days. By then the veil will be gone from the nation's heart, and their eyes will see the Lord their righteousness in the person of the once rejected Jesus. It is a new song… The performance of the mercy will call out from the heart of the new-born nation the high and fitting praises of their God and Saviour.
Yet the same writer refuses to lock the psalm away until then.
Meanwhile let those who love the Lord remember that it is all their own. Such songs are just as valuable to the believer even when we cannot say exactly which period they belong to.
- Counsel — The nations' plans collapse, but God's counsel stands forever. The happy people are the ones anchored to Him.
- Choice — Israel is the nation meant. God chose them knowing how they would fail. The reason lies in His right to choose, not in their record.
- Cost — The privilege carried duties no other nation had. Israel were not to live like Egypt or like Canaan.
- Claim — "His inheritance" reverses the direction of ownership: God inherits a people. Commentators differ on how this applies to Christians. Some call believers heirs of God, not His inheritance.
- Chorus — No modern nation is Scripture's chosen nation. The song waits for the day Israel sees. Until then it belongs to everyone who loves the Lord.
Jehovah looketh from the heavens; he beholdeth all the sons of men
Psalm 33 praises God as Creator and as ruler of the nations. At verse 13 the psalm turns to us: is this look a distant glance, a close inspection, or the gaze of One who already knows every heart?
The psalm has just called a nation happy because the LORD is its God. Verse 13 grounds that happiness. The God who chose them also surveys everyone else.
Psalm 33 celebrates the full result of deliverance. It calls the upright to rejoice. Jehovah makes His character, His word and His works plain, and the earth is now full of His goodness. He is the glorious Creator. The earth is to fear Him. All that man devises and plans comes to nothing before Him; His counsel stands. How blessed is the nation whose God is Jehovah, the people He has chosen for His inheritance. It is Jehovah who has looked down on men and ordered everything; but His eye is on those who fear Him and hope in His mercy.
This is not casual noticing. One writer presses how closely God looks, and who it is that looks.
From this safe harbor the world of living men is now reviewed. Jehovah Himself looks at them. He does not only see them; He examines them closely. And He is the One who formed them, the One who knows perfectly everything they do. But the result is only this: man's nothingness is seen once more. The army around a king cannot save him, and neither can a hero's strength.
How far does this sight reach? One writer answers that nothing can hide from it, and that earlier writers had already said so.
This range of vision has no bounds. It is so penetrating and clear-sighted that no object can be hidden from it. Earlier inspired writers had already pointed to it, and credited it to Him "who sits in the heavens."
The next verses say He fashions every heart and weighs every deed. One writer holds the two together: each heart is His own work, and each deed is the person's own responsibility.
In His counsels God brings His own to a place of highest blessing. Yet He also looks down from heaven. He sees and takes full account of the condition and needs of the people on earth. That condition is one of utter weakness and of dependence on power high above the earth (vv. 13-14). But it is He Himself who fashions their hearts, everyone in a different way (v. 15), yet all utterly dependent. For the very activities of people's hearts are just as diverse as the appearance of their faces. But all their works too, which are their own responsibility, He fully considers.
For a nation with enemies, this verse settles who is in control. God sees those who oppose His people, and they do not decide the outcome.
How blessed then the nation whose God is the LORD. They may have failed badly, but God has chosen Israel, and He will carry out "the plans of his heart" for the nation. Men may oppose but God has seen all the sons of men. He knows their hearts: He considers their works. Men trust in their kings, their armies, and their "great strength," but the Lord orders everything according to His counsels.
The survey of all people ends by resting on one group. What began as inspection ends as care.
As He looked down from heaven, He took notice of all that was going on among men. He saw where they put their confidence. But His eye was resting on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His mercy. Not only do they know Him, but He knows them. They are the objects of His care.
The same look can carry a heavier weight. One writer draws a line between God's constant sight and a look that comes just before He acts.
It is not simply that all is under the eye of God, which is ever true, but this is the look that precedes judgment.
- Looks — This is a survey from heaven, not a glance. He examines closely, and He is the One who made what He examines.
- Sees — Nothing falls outside that sight. No place and no person can hide.
- Knows — He fashions each heart in its own way. He also weighs each person's works, and those works stay their own responsibility.
- Rules — He has seen every person. So kings, armies and human strength decide nothing. His counsel orders everything.
- Rests — The same eye that scans everyone settles on those who fear Him and hope in His mercy. They know Him, and He knows them.
From the place of his habitation he looketh forth upon all the inhabitants of the earth;
The psalm has just said that God's counsel stands and His chosen people are blessed. Now it turns from His throne to the crowded earth below — and the question is what this look is, and what it means to live under it.
God looks out from safety, and He takes in every living person. The look is closer than a glance.
From this safe harbour the world of living men is now reviewed. Jehovah Himself regards them: He not only beholds, He examines them closely; and He is the One who fashioned them, who has perfect knowledge of all they do. But the result is only that man's nothingness is realised once more. The army that surrounds a king cannot save him, nor can the strength of a hero.
"All the inhabitants of the earth" leaves no one out. Geography sets no limit to what He sees, and the One who sees is the One who governs.
His "eyes" run to and fro through the whole earth, beholding the evil and the good. Nothing can possibly escape His notice, whether it is done in the far east or the extreme west, at either of the poles or at the equator. He has shown Himself strong again and again for those whose heart is perfect toward Him. He is the One who controls the destinies of the nations and of the whole earth.
What does He see when He looks out? One writer finds two things: what people need, and what people do.
In His counsels God brings His own to a place of highest blessing. Yet He also looks down from heaven to see and take full account of the condition and needs of the inhabitants of the earth. That condition is one of complete weakness. People depend on a power high above the earth (vv. 13-14)… But all their works too, which are their own responsibility, He fully considers. In fact, even unbelievers will give account for their works at the Great White Throne (Rev. 20:11-12).
In Psalms 14 and 53 the same look finds only corruption. One writer says the survey here carries a different note.
This leads into a meditation on the state of the sons of men as Jehovah sees them (vv. 13-15). It is not like Psalms 14 and 53, which look at their corruptions. Here it is according to His own loving-kindness (vv. 18, 19).
Mercy does not cancel God's government. The verse says He looks out from where He lives on high, and one writer traces that look in two directions.
From the place where He lives on high He looks down on the sons of men and chastens them in this way. But it is also true that "the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him… that he may deliver their soul from death". His holy government acts in both directions, not only against the ungodly but also for His people.
So where does this leave the person being looked at? Human strength has already proved worthless, and the psalm points to fear and hope instead.
It is Jehovah who has looked down on men and disposed of all; but His eye is on those who fear Him and hope in His mercy. So the great result of Jehovah's intervention is set before the faith of the remnant, sung as if it had all already come.
- He looks from the throne. God looks out from a settled place: His counsel stands and His chosen people are secure. The look begins from a safe harbour.
- He looks at everyone. East or west, pole or equator — no act is out of range. The eye that runs through the whole earth is the eye that controls the destinies of nations.
- He looks closely. This is not a glance. He examines closely, He fashioned the people He watches, and He fully considers their works.
- He looks in loving-kindness. Psalms 14 and 53 expose only corruption; here loving-kindness sets the tone. The same government still chastens, and it acts for His people as well as against the ungodly.
- So look back. Fear Him and hope in His mercy. No army and no hero's strength can save the man who trusts them instead.
He who fashioneth the hearts of them all, who considereth all their works.
Psalm 33 has just shown the Lord looking down from heaven on every person alive. This verse says why nothing escapes Him: He made the very hearts He is watching, and He keeps account of what they do.
The psalm moves from creation to the Creator's inspection of living people. One writer points out that this is no casual glance. The One looking closely is the One who made them.
From this safe harbour the world of living men is now reviewed. The Lord Himself regards them: He not only beholds, He scrutinises closely; and He is the One who fashioned them, who has perfect knowledge of all they do. But the result only shows man's nothingness once more.
"Them all" does not mean a mass. One writer reads this fashioning as individual work. God makes each heart, and the person still answers for what he does with it.
But it is He Himself who fashions their hearts, everyone in a different way (v. 15), yet all utterly dependent. For the very activities of people's hearts are just as diverse as the appearance of their faces. But all their works too, which are their own responsibility, He fully considers. Indeed, even unbelievers will have to give account for their works at the Great White Throne (Rev. 20:11-12).
Another writer draws the same connection in a later psalm. What God knows about a person, He knows as that person's Maker.
Now the psalmist considers God's works in the details of his own existence. Because God is Creator, He therefore reaches into those details fully and perfectly. Nothing is hidden from Him, including the very thoughts of the heart.
To "observe all their deeds" is more than counting them. God's measure of an action is its quality. Only the One who reaches the heart behind the act can measure that way.
God will remember everything and assess it Himself. "The LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed" (1 Sam. 2:3). Not "counted," as if quantity were everything with God, but "weighed"; quality is the chief thing with Him. "Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the heart" (Prov. 21:2).
That weighing also unsettles our own confident view of a good deed.
On the outside they may often seem good and beautiful. But if the motive behind them came to light, it might completely change how we judge them. The Father's eye rests on the deepest sources of our conduct. So He is never deceived.
Nothing arranged on the outside changes what He sees. That is bad news for pretending, and good news for honesty.
On the other hand, no attractive appearance, no mere profession, no religious front deceives Him. "All are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account." And the upright heart that truly knows His love would not want it otherwise. It gives great comfort and rest to such a heart that He knows and discerns everything perfectly.
The searching never stops, so the question is how to live under it. A commentator links the greatest blessing a person can receive to a heart kept right before the God who knows hearts.
I am speaking of God's knowledge of us. He searches the hidden depths within us perfectly, laying bare our secret motives. I am speaking too of our own awareness that God's eyes in heaven are always on us — not only on our outward appearance, which people also see, but on the heart, which people do not see. The man whose heart is kept right before the heart-knowing God receives the greatest blessing from God.
- Fashioned — God did not only look at human hearts. He formed each one, every person differently, and all alike dependent on Him.
- Known — because He is the Maker, He reaches into every detail of our lives. Nothing is hidden from Him, not even the thoughts of the heart.
- Weighed — He does not glance, He examines. He does not count actions, He weighs them: quality, not quantity, counts with Him.
- Exposed — no appearance, profession or religious front deceives Him. The motive behind a fine-looking deed can overturn our whole view of it.
- Answered — unbelievers will give account for these same deeds at the Great White Throne. For the upright heart, His perfect knowledge is comfort and rest, and the heart kept right before Him receives the fullest blessing.
The king is not saved by the multitude of [his] forces; a mighty man is not delivered by much strength.
The psalm has just described God reviewing every person alive and weighing what they do. Now it says where safety is not found — not in armies, not in muscle — and leaves one question: if strength cannot save, what can?
The verse is not a stray proverb. It is the conclusion of a survey, and one writer traces where that survey lands:
From this safe harbour the world of living men is now reviewed. Jehovah Himself takes notice of them. He does not only see them; He examines them closely. He is the One who made them, and He knows everything they do. But the result only shows once more that man is nothing. The host that surrounds a king cannot save him, nor the strength of a hero. Nor can the strength of a horse be enough to deliver him, even to escape. But this is only the necessary prelude to another witness to God Himself.
History proves it. Ben-hadad, king of Syria, brought a huge army against an Israel that looked tiny:
The Syrians "filled the country," while Israel encamped "like two little flocks of goats" (1 Kings 20:27). The Lord told Israel He would deliver the great army into their hand (v. 28). Israel killed 100,000 foot soldiers. So his own great army did not save Ben Hadad, king of Syria — far from it. He went into an inner room to hide (v. 30). This is only one of many occasions that prove the truth of this verse.
A king can also trust his horses. Solomon wrote the truth about that in Proverbs, then forgot it:
In Proverbs 21:31 Solomon himself says, "The horse is made ready for the day of battle." Then he adds what he later forgot completely: "but the victory belongs to the LORD." So horses were used for war in his time... but David wrote before Solomon began to reign, "The war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by its great might it cannot rescue" (Psalm 33:17).
The verse denies that numbers save. It does not say that few are holier than many. That correction matters, because a small group can be just as proud as a large one:
We must not despise numbers. Pride may lurk in the hearts of a few, as well as among the many.
Jonathan showed the opposite. He went up against the Philistines because numbers do not limit God:
He goes up against the Philistines in the power of that word: "nothing can hinder the LORD from saving by many or by few." It was "the Lord" who filled his soul. Having Him, "many or few" made no difference. Faith does not reckon on circumstances, but on God.
The danger is rarely a loud rejection of God. It is a slow shift of confidence toward something visible. One writer measures it precisely:
Nothing is more certain than this. When a believer puts any degree of confidence in man, or in himself, he takes that much of his trust away from "the living God."... But faith alone can use the weapons of our warfare, and when faith fails, we always turn in practice to the world and its strength and wisdom for help.
One writer reads the verse forward to the end. When the nations finally gather against Israel, this psalm gets its closing proof:
Then the final lesson will appear. No king is saved by the size of his army. No mighty man is delivered by great strength. No horse can give safety. Israel at last are poor in spirit, and Jehovah brings the counsel of the nations to nothing, while His counsel stands for ever.
- Weighed. The verse follows God's survey of every person alive. He made them and knows all they do, and the result shows that man is nothing.
- Not saved. The biggest army cannot save a king. The strongest man cannot deliver himself. The horse cannot rescue by its might.
- Proved. Ben-hadad's huge army left him hiding in an inner room. Solomon filled his stables and forgot his own proverb.
- Not numbers. Pride can hide in a few as well as in a crowd. Faith does not count circumstances; it counts on God, so "many or few" makes no difference.
- Transferred. Confidence put in man is trust taken away from the living God. At the end, the nations' plan comes to nothing and His counsel stands for ever.
The horse is a vain thing for safety; neither doth he deliver by his great power.
Psalm 33 praises a God whose word made the heavens and whose plan outlasts every human one. Then it looks at what people lean on instead. Verse 17 names the strongest weapon an ancient army could own and says it cannot rescue anyone. So what can?
In the world of the psalm, the horse meant military power. One writer shows what God told His people about it:
Especially in those ancient days, and in the East, people used the horse mainly in war. God warned His people not to put their trust in this mighty instrument of war: "The war horse is a false hope for salvation." "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God" (Ps. 20:7). It is He who "has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider He has thrown into the sea" (Ex. 15:1). Jehovah is infinitely exalted above all His creatures… Deliverance must come, not from horses, but from the Lord on high.
David wrote this psalm before Solomon became king. Solomon repeated the same lesson in one of his proverbs, and then forgot it.
Solomon himself tells us in Proverbs 21:31 that "The horse is made ready for the day of battle." Then he adds what he afterwards completely forgot: "but the victory belongs to the LORD."… But David wrote before Solomon began to reign, "The war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by its great might it cannot rescue" (Psalm 33:17). And again, Jehovah's "delight is not in the strength of the horse" (Psalm 147:10). In days of danger Jehovah is worth more to His people than regiments of cavalry.
(Older translations read "safety is of Jehovah" in Proverbs 21:31 and "a vain thing for safety" in this verse. That shared word is why Fereday links them.)
The horse has gone; the instinct behind it has not. One writer puts the war horse beside a man's own strength, and beside every other defence people choose:
A mighty man trusts his own strength, and in the long run it fails him. He may trust the strength of a war horse in the same way. But this is a vain hope. In the end he will find even the great strength of the horse failing him. So people choose many methods of self-defence. These prove useless to protect them, because they are not depending on their Creator. But we all seem very slow to learn this most basic lesson. The strength of the creature, in any form, is pathetically weak. We need the strength of God to keep us safe.
One writer sees the same lesson taught one last time, when God brings the plans of the nations to nothing:
Then one final lesson will appear. No king is saved by the size of his army. A mighty man is not delivered by much strength. And the war horse is a false hope for salvation. Israel at last are poor in spirit. Jehovah brings the counsel of the nations to nothing, while His counsel stands for ever.
The psalm does not stop at this dead end. One writer shows what changes at verse 18, and why:
Though no deliverance is found in verses 16 and 17, how blessed is the change in the verses that follow. Why? Because "the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him" (v. 18). This is the fear that drives them into His presence. His eye of perfect discernment both inspires and approves them. Their hope is not in His justice, but in His mercy… He delights in the confessed weakness and failure of a believing heart, and He extends His mercy to them in full.
One writer names what a nation's weapons cannot reach, and what does reach it:
The sword is in the hands of the governing authorities, to punish the one who does evil. But the sword is no protection against spiritual powers… Yes, we may, we must pray. Prayer brings God in. It is the recognition of His supremacy and of our dependence upon Him; it is the right attitude of man towards God.
- Strength named. The horse was the strongest weapon of its day. God warned His people not to trust it.
- Strength forgotten. Solomon wrote that victory belongs to the LORD, and then forgot his own words. The warning is easy to quote and hard to keep.
- Strength exposed. Every kind of created strength fails in the end, and we are slow to learn it.
- Strength surrendered. Verses 16–17 find no rescue at all. Verse 18 finds the eye of the LORD on those who hope in His mercy, not on those who deserve His justice.
- Strength replaced. No weapon reaches spiritual powers. Prayer does, because it recognises His supremacy and our dependence on Him.
Behold, the eye of Jehovah is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his loving-kindness,
Psalm 33 has just stripped away every visible source of safety: armies, strength, war horses. Then it says "Behold," and God's eye settles on people marked out by fear and hope, not power.
Verses 16 and 17 leave nothing standing. One writer follows the psalm's survey of people to its end, and says what it prepares for:
From this safe harbour the world of living men is now reviewed. The LORD Himself regards them. He does not only see them; He looks closely. He is the One who formed them, and He has perfect knowledge of all they do. But the result is only that man's nothingness is once more realised. The host that surrounds a king cannot save him, nor the strength of a hero. Nor can the strength of a horse be enough even to let him escape. But this is only the necessary prelude to another witness to God Himself.
The verse marks its people twice: they fear God, and they hope in His mercy. Older translations read "mercy" where the ESV has "steadfast love." One writer explains each half:
Though no deliverance is found in verses 16 and 17, how blessed is the change in these following verses. Why? Because "the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him" (v. 18). This is the fear that drives them into His presence. His eye of perfect discernment both inspires and approves them. For their hope is not in His justice, but in His mercy... He delights in the confessed weakness and failure of a believing heart. He extends His mercy to them in full.
Earlier in the psalm God looks down on all people. Here His look becomes personal, and it teaches His people to wait:
He took notice of all that was going on among men as He looked down from heaven. He saw where they put their confidence. But His eye was resting on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His mercy. Not only do they know Him, but He knows them... They are the objects of His care. For a time He allows men to use His creation according to their own plans. Meanwhile His people learn to wait for the Lord as well as to trust in Him — their help and shield.
This is not watching from a distance. One writer lists the ordinary ways that care shows itself:
By His watchful care God shields His people from danger. He sets a bodyguard of angels around them (Ps. 34:7). That same care keeps the very bones of the saints (Ps. 34:20). It bottles their tears (Ps. 56:8). It strengthens the saints in their weakness (Heb. 11:34). It supplies all their needs out of its own basket of gifts (Ps. 23:5)... If God will give His people a kingdom when they die, He will not deny them daily bread while they live.
The same verse worked itself out in one man's life. A writer contrasts King Ahab with the prophet Elijah:
God was against Ahab, so He would make the king feel the full effects of the judicial rod. God was for Elijah, so He would sustain His servant. He would meet his needs by the care of His favour, outside of His own governmental order. One of the Psalms states this principle: "Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His steadfast love, to deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine."
People mean very different things by hoping in God's mercy. One writer marks off the psalm's hope from a false one:
What the world calls mercy, when people speak of hoping in the mercy of God, is nothing but indifference to good and evil. It is the hope that God will think as little about sin as I do.
Writers have argued over which future period the psalm's closing verses describe. One of them refuses to fence the verse off from ordinary believers:
Meanwhile let those who love the Lord remember that it is all their own. The practical value of such songs to the believer does not depend on working out exactly which period of God's dealings they belong to.
- Nothing — kings, heroes and horses all prove empty, and that emptiness sets up what comes next.
- Behold — the eye that examines every person on earth rests, with care, on a particular people.
- Fear — not dread that runs away, but the fear that drives a person into His presence.
- Mercy — they hope in His mercy, not His justice. And mercy is not the world's idea that God thinks as little of sin as we do.
- Kept — the care is practical: God sustained Elijah under judgment, and gives His people daily bread while they live.
To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine.
This verse tells us what the watching eye of God in verse 18 is for. An army cannot save a king. A horse cannot rescue him. God does two things no one else can: He holds a life back from death, and He carries it through hunger.
The verse comes after a list of the things people trust for safety. One writer runs through that list and shows what it is leading up to.
Not even the army that surrounds a king can save him, nor the strength of a hero. The strength of a horse is not enough to deliver him, even to escape. But this is only the necessary lead-up to another witness to God Himself.
Another writer reads the whole psalm the same way, and names who the deliverance is for.
The psalm celebrates the full deliverance of Israel from every enemy. It makes clear that this deliverance will not come by the plans of man, by victorious armies, or by human strength, but by the Lord Himself.
Two marks describe the people God watches over: they fear Him, and their hope rests on His mercy. One commentator explains both, and says what such a person can expect when he prays.
This is the kind of fear that drives them into His presence. His eye of perfect discernment both inspires and approves them. For their hope is not in His justice, but in His mercy. This is what Jacob depended on when he prayed, "I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant" (Gen. 32:10). Can God possibly ignore such a prayer? No: He delights in the confessed weakness and failure of a believing heart, and His mercy is fully extended to them.
The verse joins a great deliverance to a daily one. The same writer names each half, and says what it means for a person who admits he has no strength of his own.
It is He alone who delivers their soul from death and keeps them alive when they have no visible means of support (v. 19). So He is both our Saviour and our Preserver. So a person may realise his own utter weakness and depend instead on the strength of God. He may then rightly use the language of the apostle Paul: "For when I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Cor. 12:10).
One writer lists the ways God's care reaches His people day by day, and ends with an argument from the greater gift to the smaller.
In His providential care God keeps dangers away from His people. He sets a bodyguard of angels around them (Ps. 34:7)… It strengthens the saints in their weakness (Heb. 11:34). It supplies all their wants out of its basket of provision (Ps. 23:5). If God will give His people a kingdom when they die, He will not deny them daily bread while they live.
God keeps His people alive in famine. He does not lift them out of the hard times their nation goes through. Elijah lived under the same drought as the wicked king Ahab, and one writer uses this verse to explain the difference between the two men.
When God disciplines His people in public, even those with no part in the sins that caused it share in the results. So Elijah is subject to the hardships that followed the drought, just as Ahab is. There is, however, an immense difference. God was against Ahab, so He would let the king feel the full weight of the rod of judgment. But God was for Elijah. So He would support His servant and supply his needs by acts of His own favour, outside His usual way of governing.
Naomi's family left the land during a famine and went to Moab. One writer weighs her later complaint against this verse and calls her witness false.
It was false of her to declare that the hand of the Lord was against her. His hand had not led the family to Moab. They turned away by their own choice — away from the land where His hand would have kept their souls alive through the days of famine (see Ps. 33:18-19).
Writers differ over where this psalm sits in prophecy. One of them says that debate does not put its comfort out of reach.
Meanwhile let those who love the Lord remember that it is all their own. The practical value of such songs to the believer does not depend on pinning down exactly which age they describe.
- Nothing — armies, strength and horses all fail first, so the only deliverer left standing is God Himself.
- Notice — His eye rests on those who fear Him and hope in His mercy: fear that runs toward God, hope that appeals to mercy, not justice.
- Rescue — He delivers from death; He is Saviour.
- Ration — He keeps them alive in famine. He is Preserver: the God who gives a kingdom at death will not hold back bread before it.
- Place — God kept Elijah inside the drought. Naomi's family lost the promise by leaving the land where God's hand would have kept them.