The Treasury of David: the 150th Psalm

Do we give God the glory, honor, and praise He deserves? The simple answer is no. So… we can go, nothing else to see here. It’s not that simple, or is it. Do we just resign ourselves to not giving God His due, or is there something we are missing. Israel had a hymn book, a book of praise we call the Psalms, today. It is a collection of poetic and melodious refrains that often deal with praise and honor toward God. I’ve been doing some BLOGs on Spurgeon’s commentary on the Psalms. I find great instruction, comfort, and even been challenged, as I wrestle with the passages.

Back to the issue at hand, the last Psalm gives us an interesting picture of the Psalms, and I would argue our responsibility to honor our Lord.

Psalm 150:1-6 (HCSB) “1 Hallelujah! Praise God in His sanctuary. Praise Him in His mighty heavens. 2 Praise Him for His powerful acts; praise Him for His abundant greatness. 3 Praise Him with trumpet blast; praise Him with harp and lyre. 4 Praise Him with tambourine and dance; praise Him with flute and strings. 5 Praise Him with resounding cymbals; praise Him with clashing cymbals. 6 Let everything that breathes praise the LORD. Hallelujah!”

Though I will not claim we ever reach the full mark on the ‘praise-o-meter’, we are able, and should desire, to praise God. “Praise” is the catch word, the key word, in this passage, obviously. As the book of Psalms ends, with the 150th, we are encouraged to praise God. Spurgeon said, “We have now reached the last summit of the mountain chain of Psalms. It rises high into the clear azure, and its brow is bathed in the sunlight of the eternal world of worship, it is a rapture. The poet prophet is full of inspiration and enthusiasm. He slays not to argue, to teach, to explain; but cries with burning words, ‘Praise him, Praise him, Praise ye the Lord.’” (‘The Treasury of David’ as are all quotes in this article).

Spurgeon adds, “Whenever we assemble for holy purposes our main work should be to present praises unto the Lord our God.” Notice that the praise begins in “his sanctuary.” In David’s day this meant the Temple, or the Tabernacle. Today we come into His ‘house’ when we enter the church building. We are not in an illusion that it is ‘God’s house’ as is often said, not in the way the Israelite was in David’s day. No, but we do enter the presence of the Lord, as assuredly if not more, when God’s people gather in corporate worship. We find in his ‘Explanatory Notes and Quaint Sayings’ section this quote, “The place of worship where God specially hears prayer and accepts praise, and the firmament where angels fly at his command, and veil their faces in adoration, are each a sanctuary. The sanctuary is manifestly here looked at as the temple of grace, the firmament as the temple of power. So the verse proclaims both grace and glory.”—Martin Geier.

As we move to the second verse, Spurgeon said, “Praise him for his mighty acts. Here is a reason for praise. In these deeds of power we see himself. These doings of his omnipotence are always on behalf of truth and righteousness. His works of creation, providence, and redemption, all call for praise; they are his acts, and his acts of might, therefore let him be praised for them. Praise him according to his excellent greatness. His being is unlimited, and his praise should correspond therewith.” We have reasons to praise our Lord, surely we see this great truth. I think we should praise Him, just because He is God, as the last part of verse 2 seems to imply. Spurgeon quotes Joseph Caryl, “Praise him according to his excellent greatness, or, as the words may bear, "according to his muchness of greatness"; for when the Scripture saith, "God is great", this positive is to be taken as a superlative. "God is great", that is, he is greatest, he is greater than all; so great that all persons and all things are little, yea, nothing before him.”

Verse 3 is concerned with the ‘how’. Spurgeon said, “Dulcet notes are to be consecrated as well as more startling sounds. The gospel meaning is that all powers and faculties should praise the Lord—all sorts of persons, under all circumstances, and with differing constitutions, should do honour unto the Lord of all. If there be any virtue, if there be any talent, if there be any influence, let all be consecrated to the service of the universal Benefactor. Harp and lyre—the choicest, the sweetest, must be all our Lord's.” Let our talent (be it musical or not) sing forth the praise of our mighty Lord. Of interesting note in the ‘Explanatory…Quaint’ section, this quote, “The "psaltery" was a ten stringed instrument. It is constantly mentioned with the "harp." The psaltery was struck with a plectrum, the harp more gently with the fingers. Psaltery and harp speak to us in figure of "law and gospel."”—Thomas Le Blanc.

As verse 4 comes upon us, the excitement seems 'ramped' up, as we have broken into “dance.” Spurgeon said of this verse, “Associated with the deliverance at the Red Sea, this form of worship set forth the most jubilant and exultant of worship. The hands and the feet were both employed, and the entire body moved in sympathy with the members. Are there not periods of life when we feel so glad that we would fain dance for joy? Let not such exhilaration be spent upon common themes, but let the name of God stir us to ecstasy.” Today, we see little of the ‘dance’ as worship, and I’m not sure we are the better for it. Sadly, satan has corrupted a form of worship greatly employed and enjoyed for centuries by God’s people. Spurgeon seems to say as much, “There is enough in our holy faith to create and to justify the utmost degree of rapturous delight. If men are dull in the worship of the Lord our God they are not acting consistently with the character of their religion.”

Verse 5 speaks of cymbals, the crashing sound any good symphony or orchestra uses to make a dramatic point. The crashing of the cymbals release the power and emotion of the band, as it strikes to emphasize the point of the musical piece. Spurgeon notes, “Let the clash of the loudest music be the Lord's: let the joyful clang of the loftiest notes be all for him. Praise has beaten the timbrel, swept the harp, and sounded the trumpet, and now for a last effort, awakening the most heavy of slumberers, and startling the most indifferent of onlookers, she dashes together the disks of brass, and with sounds both loud and high proclaims the glories of the Lord.” Again, in the ‘Explanatory…’ section, Spurgeon relates this passage, “…when we intend to glorify God with our cymbals, it should not be our only care to have them loud enough, but our first care should be to have them well tuned, else the louder the worse. Zeal does very well—there is great, yea, necessary use for it in every part of God's service. The cymbal will be flat, it will have no life or spirit in it, it will not be loud enough without it. But if meekness, peaceableness, and moderation do not first put the cymbal into good tune, the loudness will but make it the more ungrateful in the player, the more ungrateful to the hearer.” (—Robert Sanderson, 1587-1662).

As we come to the last verse, “everything” that breathes, everything that can, and everything should praise our Lord. Spurgeon said, “…that is to say, all living beings. He gave them breath, let them breathe his praise. His name is in the Hebrew composed rather of breathings than of letters, to show that all breath comes from him: therefore let it be used for him. Join all ye living things in the eternal song. Be ye least or greatest, withhold not your praises.” Praise is our duty, Jesus claimed the rocks (Luke 19:40) would cry out to God if it was withheld by us. In the ‘Explanatory…’ section we read, “The very ambiguity of "all breath" gives extraordinary richness of meaning to this closing sentence. From the simple idea of wind instruments, mentioned in the context, it leads us, by a beautiful transition, to that of vocal, articulate, intelligent praise, uttered by the breath of living men, as distinguished from mere lifeless instruments. Then, lastly, by a natural association, we ascend to the idea expressed in the common version, "everything that hath breath", not merely all that lives, but all that has a voice to praise God.” (—Joseph Addison Alexander).

As we close, Spurgeon’s ‘Hints to the Village Preacher’ section closes this Psalm with a good ‘sermon’ outline:

“A fitting close to the psalter, considered as a desire, a prayer, or an exhortation.

1. As a desire, it realizes the glory due to God, the worship ennobling to man, the disposition of heart which would make all the world into a holy brotherhood.

2. As a prayer, it seeks the downfall of every superstition, the universal spread of the truth, the conversion of every soul.

3. As an exhortation, it is plain, pertinent, pure in its piety, perfect in its charity.”—J.F.

We should ‘desire’ to give God the glory due Him, in prayer or praise, exhorted to do no less.