Psalm 100:1-5
SS Lesson for 11/17/2024
Devotional Scripture: Psalm 116:12-18
The confession that God constantly cares for humans points us to the reality of mystery. Why should God care? Would it be appropriate for an eternal being to care about such short-lived creatures as human beings? Given the apparently unnecessary suffering in the world, and in Israel’s history specifically, how can we know that God cares? Most of the Bible concerns these questions. Its answers should provoke a profound sense of wonder in all of us. Psalm 100 makes a simpler point, however. It confesses that God shows profound care for a whole people, the Israelites, preserving them during times of political and social turmoil, teaching them how to live better lives through the Torah, and listening to their prayers whether the people were praising or lamenting. That view of God’s work lies at the very heart of the faith of both the synagogue and the church. We are part of a great flock tended by the shepherd who drives away the wolves and leads us to good pastures, as Psalm 23 says (see lesson 10). Psalm 100 is familiar to many Christians through the hymn “All People That on Earth Do Dwell,” whose tune is called “Old Hundredth.” The superscription to Psalm 100 states the obvious. The psalm concerns praise, or better, thanksgiving. Anyone singing this psalm should come to God with deep gratitude. The book of Psalms is actually a collection of five books or sections. Most Bibles note these book divisions (often with Roman numerals) at the beginnings of Psalms 1; 42; 73; 90, and 107. Altogether these five books feature 150 poems. Psalm 100, today’s text, is found in the fourth of these five books. Many scholars consider this section of Psalms (that is, Psalms 90-106) to be the answer to the problem presented in the first three books: the Davidic dynasty established (Psalm 2); the flourishing of that dynasty (Psalm 72); and the failure of that dynasty (Psalm 89). The emphasis in Book IV of Psalms is simply that God reigns! The verbs throughout the psalm that are plural invite all who hear the psalm to join in praising God. The original singers were to express their appreciation for God’s work among them in the central location, the temple in Jerusalem (compare 2 Chronicles 5:2, 12-13). The reason for the gratitude appears in Psalms 93-99, which should be read along with Psalm 100. Since it is so short, it seems unlikely that it should stand by itself. Rather, it concludes a sequence of psalms that concern Israel’s joyous celebration of God’s benevolent kingship. Much of the psalm has precise parallels in Psalms 95; 96, and 98.
4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name
(Scriptural Text from the New King James Version; cross-references from the NIV)
1 Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!
2 Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before His presence with singing.
1 Sing joyfully to the Lord, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise him.
10 For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
11 But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you.
1 The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad; let the distant shores rejoice.
15 Shouts of joy and victory resound in the tents of the righteous: "The Lord's right hand has done mighty things!
26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
1 There is no need for me to write to you about this service to the saints. 2 For I know your eagerness to help, and I have been boasting about it to the Macedonians, telling them that since last year you in Achaia were ready to give; and your enthusiasm has stirred most of them to action.
10 God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.
1 So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God. 2 Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.
8 The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. 9 For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.
19 Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord,
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.
13 Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise.
7 Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; make music to our God on the harp.
2 Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts.
2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.
3 Know that the Lord, He is God; it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
12 And again, Isaiah says, "The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; the Gentiles will hope in him."
14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.
36 "Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ."
6 By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth. 7 He gathers the waters of the sea into jars; he puts the deep into storehouses. 8 Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the people of the world revere him. 9 For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.
6 You alone are the Lord. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.
19 By wisdom the Lord laid the earth's foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in place; 20 by his knowledge the deeps were divided, and the clouds let drop the dew.
16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
13 Then we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will praise you forever; from generation to generation we will recount your praise.
7 for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Today, if you hear his voice,
11 He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.
31 You my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, are people, and I am your God, declares the Sovereign Lord.'"
25 For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
5 For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations.
29 the other man's conscience, I mean, not yours. For why should my freedom be judged by another's conscience? 30 If I take part in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of something I thank God for?
6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
1 I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone—
20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
19 How great is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you, which you bestow in the sight of men on those who take refuge in you.
5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age,
3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
12 How can I repay the Lord for all his goodness to me? 13 I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. 14 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people.
28 I will maintain my love to him forever, and my covenant with him will never fail. 29 I will establish his line forever, his throne as long as the heavens endure. 30 "If his sons forsake my law and do not follow my statutes, 31 if they violate my decrees and fail to keep my commands, 32 I will punish their sin with the rod, their iniquity with flogging; 33 but I will not take my love from him, nor will I ever betray my faithfulness.
34 The fact that God raised him from the dead, never to decay, is stated in these words: "'I will give you the holy and sure blessings promised to David.' 35 So it is stated elsewhere: "'You will not let your Holy One see decay.' 36 "For when David had served God's purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his fathers and his body decayed. 37 But the one whom God raised from the dead did not see decay.
106 Praise the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.
11 As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job's perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
2 Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.
8 For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth.
9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth)
TITLE. A Psalm of Praise; or rather of thanksgiving. This is the only psalm bearing this precise inscription. It is all ablaze with grateful adoration, and has for this reason been a great favorite with the people of God ever since it was written. "Let us sing the Old Hundredth" is one of the every-day expressions of the Christian church, and will be so while men, exist whose hearts are loyal to the Great King. Nothing can be more sublime this side heaven than the singing of this noble psalm by a vast congregation. Watts' paraphrase, beginning "Before Jehovah's awful throne, "and the Scotch "All people that on earth do dwell, "are both noble versions; and event Tare and Brady rise beyond themselves when they sing
"With one consent let all the earth
To God their cheerful voices raise."
In this divine lyric we sing with gladness the creating power and goodness of the Lord, even as before with trembling we adored his holiness.
EXPOSITION.
Ver. 1. Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. This is a repetition of Psalms 98:4. The original word signifies a glad shout, such as loyal subjects give when their king appears among them. Our happy God should be worshipped by a happy people; a cheerful spirit is in keeping with his nature, his acts, and the gratitude which we should cherish for his mercies. In every land Jehovah's goodness is seen, therefore in every land should be praised. Nearer will the world be in its proper condition till with one unanimous shout it adores the only God. O ye nations, how long will ye blindly reject him? Your golden age will never arrive till ye with all your hearts revere him.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.
Title. This is the only Psalm in the whole collection entitled "A Psalm of Praise." It is supposed to have received this appellation because peculiarly adapted, if not designed to be sung, when the sacrifices of thanksgiving were offered. See Leviticus 7:12. The Greeks think it was written by David, who here invites all the world to join with the Israelites in the service of God, whose divine sovereignty he here recognizes. Samuel Burder.
Whole Psalm. If we are right in regarding Psalms 93-99 as forming one continuous series, one great prophetic oratorio, whose title is "Jehovah is King, "and through which there runs the same great idea, this Psalm may be regarded as the doxology which closes the strain. We find lingering in it notes of the same great harmony. It breathes the same gladness; it is filled with the same hope, that all nations shall bow down before Jehovah, and confess that he is God. J.J.S. Perowne.
Whole Psalm. This Psalm contains a promise of Christianity, as winter at its close contains the promise of spring. The trees are ready to bud, the flowers are just hidden by the light soil, the clouds are heavy with rain, the sun shines in his strength; only a genial wind from the south is wanted to give a new life to all things. "The Speaker's Commentary, "1873.
Whole Psalm. Luther would have immortalized his name had he done no more than written the majestic air and harmony to which we are accustomed to sing this Psalm, and which, when the mind is in a truly worshipping frame, seems to bring heaven down to earth, and to raise earth to heaven, giving us anticipations of the pure and sublime delights of that noble and general assembly in which saints and angels shall forever celebrate the praises of God. Ingram Cobbin.
Whole Psalm. This is a bunch of the grapes of Eshcol. It is a taste of what is still the Promised Land. The Jewish church came to its perfection in the reign of Solomon, but a greater than Solomon is here. The perfection of the New Testament church is here anticipated. This psalm teaches,
1. That there will be a joyful state of the whole world (Psalms 100:1). (a) To whom the address is given to "all lands, "and all in those lands. (b) The subject of the address “Make a joyful noise." What a doleful noise it has made! (c) By whom the address is given, by him who secures what he commands.
2. That this joyful state of the whole world will arise from the enjoyment of the Divine Being (Psalms 100:2). (a) Men have long tried to be happy without God. (b) They will find at last that their happiness is in God. The conversion of an individual in this respect is a type of the conversion of the world.
3. That this enjoyment of God will arise from a new relation to him (Psalms 100:3). (a) Of knowledge on our part: he will be known as the Triune God, as a covenant God, as the God of salvations God. (b) Of rightful claim on his part; (1.) by right of creation “He hath made us; " (2.) By light of redemption "Ye were not a people, but are now the people of God, "&c.; "I have redeemed thee: thou art mine"; (3.) by right of preservation “We are the sheep, "&c.
4. That this new relation to God will endear to us the ordinances of his house (Psalms 100:4). (a) Of what the service will consist “thanksgiving" and praise. (b) To whom it will be rendered. Enter into his gates his courts be thankful unto him bless his name. That this service will be perpetual; begin on earth, continued in heaven. This fact is founded
5. That this service will be perpetual; begun on earth, continued in heaven. This face is founded (a) Upon essential goodness. "For the Lord is good." (b) Upon everlasting mercy. "His mercy, "etc. (c) Upon immutable truth. "His truth, "etc. G. R.
EXPOSITION.
Ver. 2. Serve the LORD with gladness. "Glad homage pay with awful mirth." He is our Lord, and therefore he is to be served; he is our gracious Lord, and therefore to be served with joy. The invitation to worship here given is not a melancholy one, as though adoration were a funeral solemnity, but a cheery gladsome exhortation, as though we were bidden to a marriage feast.
Come before his presence with singing. We ought in worship to realize the presence of God, and by an effort of the mind to approach him. This is an act which must to every rightly instructed heart be one of great solemnity, but at the same time it must not be performed in the servility of fear, and therefore we come before him, not with weepings and wailings, but with Psalms and hymns. Singing, as it is a joyful, and at the same time a devout, exercise, should be a constant form of approach to God. The measured, harmonious, hearty utterance of praise by a congregation of really devout persons is not merely decorous but delightful, and is a fit anticipation of the worship of heaven, where praise has absorbed prayer, and become the sole mode of adoration. How a certain society of brethren can find it in their hearts to forbid singing in public worship is a riddle which we cannot solve. We feel inclined to say with Dr. Watts
"Let those refuse to sing
Who never knew our God;
But favorites of the heavenly king
Must speak his praise abroad."
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.
Ver. 2. The first half of this verse is from Psalms 2:11, only that instead of "with fear, "there, where the psalmist has to do with fierce rebels, there is substituted here "gladness" or joy. F.W. Hengstenberg.
Ver. 2. Serve the LORD with gladness. It is a sign the oil of grace hath been poured into the heart "when the oil of gladness" shines on the countenance. Cheerfulness credits religion. Thomas Watson.
Ver. 2. Serve the LORD. It is our privilege to serve the Lord in all things. It is ours to please the Lord in loosing the latchet of a shoe; and to enjoy the expression of his favor therein. The servant of God is not serving at the same time another master; he has not been hired for occasional service; he abides in the service of his God, and cannot be about anything but his Master's business; he eats, he drinks, he sleeps, he walks, he discourses, he findeth recreation, all by the way of serving God. Serve the Lord with gladness. Can you bear to be waited upon by a servant who goes moping and dejected to his every task? You would rather have no servant at all, than one who evidently finds your service cheerless and irksome. George Bowen.
EXPOSITION.
Ver. 3. Know ye that the Lord, he is God. Our worship must be intelligent. We ought to know whom we worship and why. "Man, know thyself, "is a wise aphorism, yet to know our God is truer wisdom; and it is very questionable whether a man can know himself until he knows his God. Jehovah is God in the fullest, most absolute, and most exclusive sense, he is God alone; to know him in that character and prove our knowledge by obedience, trust, submission, zeal, and love is an attainment which only grace can bestow. Only those who practically recognize his Godhead are at all likely to offer acceptable praise.
It is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves. Shall not the creature reverence its maker? Some men live as if they made themselves; they call themselves "self-made men, "and they adore their supposed creators; but Christians recognise the origin of their being and their well-being, and take no honour to themselves either for being, or for being what they are. Neither in our first or second creation dare we put so much as a finger upon the glory, for it is the sole right and property of the Almighty. To disclaim honour for ourselves is as necessary a part of true reverence as to ascribe glory to the Lord. "Non nobis, dominc!" will forever remain the true believer's confession. Of late philosophy has labored hard to prove that all things have been developed from atoms, or have, in other words, made themselves: if this theory shall ever find believers, there will certainly remain no reason for accusing the superstitious of credulity, for the amount of credence necessary to accept this dogma of skepticism is a thousandfold greater than that which is required even by an absurd belief in winking Madonnas, and smiling Bambinos. For our part, we find it far more easy to believe that the Lord made us than that we were developed by a long chain of natural selections from floating atoms which fashioned themselves.
We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. It is our honour to have been chosen from all the world besides to be his own people, and our privilege to be therefore guided by his wisdom, tended by his care, and fed by his bounty. Sheep gather around their shepherd and look up to him; in the same manner let us gather around the great Shepherd of mankind. The avowal of our relation to God is in itself praise; when we recount his goodness we are rendering to him the best adoration; our songs require none of the inventions of fictions, the bare facts are enough; the simple narration of the mercies of the Lord is more astonishing than the productions of imagination. That we are the sheep of his pasture is a plain truth, and at the same time the very essence of poetry.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.
Ver. 3. Know ye that the LORD he is God, &c. From the reasons of this exhortation, learn, that such is our natural atheism, that we have need again and again to be instructed, that the Lord is God; of whom, and through whom, and for whom are all things. David Dickson.
Ver. 3. It is he that made us... we are his. Now, the ground of God's property in all things is his creating of all... Accordingly, you may observe in many scriptures, where the Lord's propriety is asserted, this, as the ground of it, is annexed: Psalms 89:11-12, the heavens, the earth, the whole world, and all therein is thine. Why so? "Thou hast founded them." And so are all the regions and quarters of the world, northern and southern, western and eastern; for Tabor was on the west and Hermon on the east; all are thine, for thou hast created them. So sea and land, Psalms 95:5. As all things measured by time, so time itself, the measure of all, Psalms 74:16-17. "Thou hast made the light, "i.e. the moon for the night and the sun for the day. He lays claim to all the climes of the earth, and all the seasons of the year on this account; he made them. This will be more evident and unquestionable, if we take notice of these particulars:
1. He made all for himself. He was not employed by any to make it for another, for in that case sometimes the maker is not the owner; but the Lord did employ himself in that great work, and for himself did he undertake and finish it. Proverbs 16:4 Colossians 1:15-16.
2. He made all things of nothing, either without any matter at all, or without any but what himself had before made of nothing. A potter when he makes an earthenware vessel, if the clay be not his own which he makes it of, he is not the full owner of the vessel, though he formed it: "the form is his, the matter is another's; "but since the Lord made all of nothing, or of such matter as himself had made, all is wholly his, matter and form, all entirely.
3. He made all without the help or concurrence of any other. There was none that assisted him, or did in the least co-operate with him in the work of creation... Those that assist and concur with another in the making of a thing may claim a share in it; but here lies no such claim in this case, where the Lord alone did all, alone made all. All is his only.
4. He upholds all things in the same manner as he created, continues the being of all things in the same way as he gave it. He does it of himself, without other support, without any assistant. All would fall into nothing in a moment, if he did not every moment bear them up. So that all things on this account have still their being from him every moment, and their well-being too, and all the means which conduce to it; and therefore all are his own. David Clarkson.
Ver. 3. It is he that hath made us. The emperor Henry, while out hunting on the Lord's day called Quinquagesima, his companions being scattered, came unattended to the entrance of a certain wood; and seeing a church hard by, he made for it, and feigning himself to be a soldier, simply requested a mass of the priest. Now that priest was a man of notable piety, but so deformed in person that he seemed a monster rather than a man. When he had attentively considered him, the emperor began to wonder exceedingly why God, from whom all beauty proceeds, should permit so deformed a man to administer his sacraments. But presently, when mass commenced, and they came to the passage, Know ye that the Lord he is God, which was chanted by a boy, the priest rebuked the boy for singing negligently, and said with a loud voice, It is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves. Struck by these words, and believing the priest to be a prophet, the emperor raised him, much against his will, to the archbishopric of Cologne, which see he adorned by his devotion and excellent virtues. From "Roger of Wendover's (1237) Flowers of History."
Ver. 3. It is he that hath made us... we are his. Many a one has drawn balsatalc consolation from these words; as for instance Melancthon when disconsolately sorrowful over the body of his son in Dresden on the 12th July, 1559. But in "He made us and we are his, "there is also a rich mine of comfort and of admonition, for the Creator is also the Owner, his heart clings to his creature, and the creature owes itself entirely to him, without whom it would not have had a being, and would not continue in being. F. Delitzsch.
Ver. 3. He that made us, i.e. made us what we are, a people to himself; as in Psalms 95:5, 1 Samuel 12:6, and Deuteronomy 32:6. It was not we that made ourselves his (compare Ezekiel 29:3). "He (and not we ourselves) made us His people, and the flock whom he feeds." Andrew A. Bonar.
Ver. 3. Not we is added, because any share, on the part of the church, in effecting the salvation bestowed upon her, would weaken the testimony which this bears to the exclusive Godhead of the Lord. F. W. Hengstenberg.
Ver. 3, 5. Know ye what God is in himself, and what he is to you. Knowledge is the mother of devotion, and of all obedience; blind sacrifices will never please a seeing God. "Know" it, i.e. consider and apply it, and then you will be more close and constant, more inward and serious, in the worship of him. Let us know, then, these seven things concerning the Lord Jehovah, with whom we have to do in all the acts of religious worship.
1. That the Lord he is God, the only living and true God; that he is a being infinitely perfect, self-existent, and self-sufficient, and the fountain of all being.
2. That he is our Creator: It is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves. We do not, we could not make ourselves; it is God's prerogative to be his own cause; our being is derived and depending.
3. That therefore he is our rightful owner. The Masorites, by altering one letter in the Hebrew, read it, "He made us, and his we are, "or, "to him we belong." Put both the readings together, and we learn, that because God "made us, and not we ourselves, "therefore we are not our own but his.
4. That he is our sovereign Ruler. We are his people, or subjects, and he is our prince, our rector or governor, that gives laws to us as moral agents, and will call us to an account for what we do.
5. That he is our bountiful Benefactor; we are not only his sheep whom he is entitled to, but the sheep of his pasture, whom he takes care of.
6. That he is a God of infinite mercy and good (Psalms 100:5); The Lord is good, and therefore doth good; his mercy his everlasting.
7. That he is a God of inviolable truth and faithfulness; His truth endureth to all generations, and no word of his shall fall to the ground as antiquated or revoked. Matthew Henry.
EXPOSITION.
Ver. 4. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving. To the occurrence of the word thanksgiving in this place the Psalm probably owes its title. In all our public service the rendering of thanks must abound; it is like the incense of the temple, which filled the whole house with smoke. Expiatory sacrifices are ended, but those of gratitude will never be out of date. So long as we are receivers of mercy we must be givers of thanks. Mercy permits us to enter his gates; let us praise that mercy. What better subject for our thoughts in God's own house than the Lord of the house.
And into his courts with praise. Into whatever court of the Lord you may enter, let your admission be the subject of praise: thanks be to God, the innermost court is now open to believers, and we enter into that which is within the veil; it is incumbent upon us that we acknowledge the high privilege by our songs.
Be thankful unto him. Let the praise be in your heart as well as on your tongue, and let it all be for him to whom it all belongs.
And bless his name. He blessed you, bless him in return; bless his name, his character, his person. Whatever he does, be sure that you bless him for it; bless him when he takes away as well as when he gives; bless him as long as you live, under all circumstances; bless him in all his attributes, from whatever point of view you consider him.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.
Ver. 4. Enter into his gates; for to the most guilty are the gates of his church open. Francis Hill Tucker.
Ver. 4. With thanksgiving. On the word hrwt the word used in Leviticus 7:12 for sacrifices of thanksgivings], Rabbi Menachen remarks: All sacrifices will be abolished; but the sacrifice of thanksgiving will remain. George Phillips.
Ver. 4. The former part of this Psalm may have been chanted by the precentor when the peace-offering was brought to the altar; and this last verse may have been the response, sung by the whole company of singers, at the moment when fire was applied to the offering. Daniel Cresswell.
EXPOSITION.
Ver. 5. For the Lord is good. This sums up his character and contains a mass of reasons for praise. He is good, gracious, kind, bountiful, loving; yea, God is love. He who does not praise the good is not good himself. The kind of praise inculcated in the Psalm, viz., that of joy and gladness, is most fitly urged upon us by an argument from the goodness of God.
His mercy is everlasting. God is not mere justice, stern and cold; he has bowels of compassion, and wills not the sinner's death. Towards his own people mercy is still more conspicuously displayed; it has been theirs from all eternity, and shall be theirs world without end. Everlasting mercy is a glorious theme for sacred song.
And his truth endureth to all generations. No fickle being is he, promising and forgetting. He has entered into covenant with his people, and he will never revoke it, nor alter the thing that has gone out of his lips. As our fathers found him faithful, so will our sons, and their seed forever. A changeable God would be a terror to the righteous, they would have no sure anchorage, and amid a changing world they would be driven to and fro in perpetual fear of shipwreck. It were well if the truth of divine faithfulness were more fully remembered by some theologians; it would overturn their belief in the final fall of believers, and teach them a more consolatory system. Our heart leaps for joy as we bow before One who has never broken his word or changed his purpose.
"As well might be his being quit
As break his promise or forget."
Resting on his sure word, we feel that joy which is here commanded, and in the strength of it we come into his presence even now, and speak good of his name.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.
Ver. 5. His mercy is everlasting. The everlasting unchangeable mercy of God, is the first motive of our turning to him, and of our continuing steadfast in his covenant, and it shall be the subject of unceasing praise in eternity. As the Lord is good, and his mercy everlasting, so the full perfection of these attributes in a perfect state will call forth praise unwearied from hearts that ever faint. W. Wilson.
(Adapted from URL:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/tod/psalms-100.html)
The center of Psalm 100 invites those singing it to know God’s goodness. That goodness shows up in God’s unfailing loyalty to Israel and repeated acts to help and heal them and other human beings. Psalm 100 concludes a group of psalms by inviting all human beings, and especially the people of Israel, to worship God in the joyful knowledge that he loves them and will care for them. By ending a group of psalms this way, Psalm 100 creates a sort of infinite loop. It invites us to begin with Psalm 93 and sing the rest of the hymns of praise, and when we reach Psalm 100, we can start over again. Throughout these hymns, God the king brings salvation and joy to a needy and expectant people. They acknowledge that blessing with the only resource they can: their collective singing. Psalm 100 ends with a look toward the future. Far from regarding the fate of the succeeding generations as bleak or hopeless, this psalm assumes that an eternal God will always care for those who come after. The invitation to praise extends to all people. It is not a distraction from the nitty-gritty details of life but a way of helping us understand what those details can mean when we submit them to our Creator. This perspective is worth recovering today because it frees us to find ways to bless our descendants rather than leaving them with problems and burdens. The hopefulness and joy of the psalm invites us to live in ways that future generations will remember us with approval. In reading or singing this psalm today, we can be confident that the God whom Israel trusted is still trustworthy. The hope to which they aspired, we also can embrace.