This psalm has three clearly marked stanzas. In the first three verses (8 lines) David speaks in the first person singular. In vv. 4–6 (7 lines) he speaks in the third person, about the kings of the earth. In the last two verses (7-8, 7 lines) he speaks again in the first person singular.
The big question that has to be faced is, what unites these three stanzas and makes of them a coherent whole?
The whole is a psalm of praise, but that still does not give us an adequate answer.
Can we answer the question by asking what are the reasons for praise?
In the first stanza David praises the Lord for his lovingkindness and truth, for magnifying his word above his name, for answering his cries, and for making him bold. In the second stanza David says that the kings of earth will give thanks for his word, for his majesty, for his regard to the humble, and for his distance from the proud. In the last stanza, David specifies some of the lovingkindnesses the Lord will do in the future: you will revive me when I walk in the midst of trouble, you will stretch out your hand against my enemies, you will save me. You will complete what you have done for me because your lovingkindness is forever.
That’s still not really an entirely satisfactory explanation of the relationship between the middle stanza and the other two. However, there is a verbal link between verse 2 and verse 4. In verse 2 David says, “You have magnified your word above all your name.” This is one of his reasons for praise. Then in verse 4 he says, “All the kings of the earth shall praise you, O Lord, when they hear the words of your mouth.” That is the clue we need.
This is a psalm about the universality of praise, indirectly about the universality of salvation, and about the connection between David’s personal praise and the universal praise that follows from it.
- David praises the Lord’s word before the gods.
Let’s look first at the words David uses to describe his praise. The NKJV has “praise” for the first word, but this is not the word that we find in Hallelujah, praise the Lord. It is instead the word that we often translate “give thanks.” The basic idea of this word is to confess—not to confess sin, but to confess the name of the Lord, to declare his truth. That’s how the Septuagint translates it. That word also occurs in verses 2 and 4, where the NKJV also has praise. I think that it’s important here because David is talking about confessing the name of the Lord before the gods. He has in mind a public profession of the goodness the Lord has shown to him. Giving of thanks is part of it because thankfulness moves him to make his confession.
This public giving of thanks wil be with his whole heart. All his thoughts, all his will, all his desires will be focused on this one thing: I will give thanks to the Lord.
The NKJV translates the second word that David uses as sing praise. This is a musical term, and some prefer using the word hymn: “I will hymn to him.” David’s confession is at least partly in song.
The third expression that David uses is “worship toward your holy temple.” This is a more general term. It includes all the acts of worship that he will do in the temple: the offering of sacrifices, the prayers of supplication and thanksgiving, the songs and the hearing of the Lord’s word. He will humble himself before the Lord and honor him.
The fourth word is the same as the first – I will confess your name.
The second thing we want to look at in these verses is the reasons for praise. Those reasons appear in verses 2 and 3. The first reason is the Lord’s lovingkindness and truth. He shows both of these in his covenant and in his house, the place of the enjoyment of the covenant. He shows abundant love in many deeds of kindness and faithfulness to the unfaithful.
The second reason is “you have magnified your word above all your name.” That is a very unusual expression and not one that we grasp readily. God has revealed his name in the creation. It is a glorious name: “How excellent is your name in all the earth!” But there is a greater and better revelation in his word. The word stands above the name, the revelation of God in creation. It is a fuller revelation, but it is also a more powerful revelation. Creation convicts men of the reality of God, and leaves them without excuse. The entrance of the Lord’s word gives light. It is able to save.
This reason is related to the one before, because it is in the word, not in the name of God in creation, that his lovingkindness and truth shine forth. It is primarily by his word that he does his works of lovingkindness and truth.
The third reason for his confession and thanksgiving is that the Lord answered his cries. His answers to our cries comes especially through his word, and the declaration of his lovingkindness and truth contained in it..
The final blessing is that he made me bold with strength in my soul. His soul was weak and cowering, afraid to confess the name of the Lord, but the Lord strengthened him and made him bold to speak.
That brings us to the last point we need to make about these verses. He says in verse 1 that he will sing praises before the gods. That word “gods” should be taken in the sense of men who have authority. It’s not a frequent use of the word, but it does appear.
David is particularly concerned about speaking to those in authority, to kings, princes and rulers. It is before them that he must confess the name of the Lord, sing his praise and worship. These are men who have power to interfere, to do him harm, to frighten him into submission. That is why boldness is so important to him.
This is what Jesus encouraged when he told us that we should not worry about what we will say when men persecute us for our faith. The Spirit will teach us. We see examples of this boldness in Paul before the Jews and Roman governors and in Luther’s self-defense before the Diet of Worms. We see a negative example in Peter’s denial of the Lord. Proverbs 28:1 is to the point. See Acts 13:46, Philippians 1:14, 1 Thessalonians 2:2.
- The kings of the earth praise the Lord for his word (4-6)
In the second stanza David anticipates the response of the kings of the earth to his proclamation of the word.
The kings of the earth will not respond negatively, but positively. Daved based this psalm on the promise to Abraham that he would be the father of many nations, as well as examples he had seen of Gentiles converted and brought into Israel. This psalm is itself prophecy of the gathering of the Gentiles.
They will do it when they hear the words of the Lord’s mouth. Those are the words which David heard, but also the words which he spoke. They are that word which the Lord exalted above all his name.
They too will sing. The word here is different from the word David uses in verse 2 (sing praises), but it too is a musical term. The kings of the earth will hear David sing and will themselves sing the ways of the Lord, those ways that he has revealed in his word and that he works out through his word.
They will sing because they see how great is the glory of the Lord. That is the glory of the Lord revealed in the face of Jesus Christ, the glory which Peter, James and John saw on the mount of transfiguration, and which dwells in him. It is the glory of Christ in whom is the fulness of the Godhead bodily. He is the brightness of the Father’s glory (Hebrews 1:3) and we behold as in a mirror the glory of the Lord.
The Lord is on high, but he regards the lowly. He is very high, higher than all the kings of the earth. He holds heaven, earth, the seas and all deep places in his hand and rules kings with the rod of his strength, shattering them like potter’s vessels if they will not submit to him. Yet he regards the lowly. In fact, he so regarded the lowly that he became lowly himself. His glory is to be highly exalted, and yet to condescend to the humble and poor.
But he knows the proud from afar. The verbs used in these two lines are interesting. If you reversed them, you would have, it seems, a stronger statement: He knows the lowly, but he regards the proud from afar. He does know the humble. He knows them in the sense of foreknowing them, determining their way beforehand, and loving them from the foundation of the world. That’s the way Psalm 1 uses the word in the last verse. He does regard (the word is simply sees) the proud from far off. He is not unaware of their existence, but he stands far from them. But the text actually puts the word see with the humble. His eye is on them to keep them alive in every trouble. He knows the proud. He knows their hearts, their deeds, their desires, and their pride down to the ground – the reasons for it, what they are proud of, what contributed to it, and how they exercise themselves in it. But he stands far away from them. There is no love or compassion towards them.
Kings are often proud. The greater our strength, our glory, our accomplishments, the greater also will be our pride, unless we humble ourselves. We should humble ourselves, because we have nothing to boast of before God. Remember what Romans 4 says. He has something to boast about, but not before God. But kings too must humble themselves. The Lord will not see them, if they are proud.
- David recounts the lovingkindness of the Lord to himself (7,8)
In the last stanza of the psalm, David again speaks in the first person singular to describe what the Lord has done for him.
Since we have here a kind of chiastic structure, I think that this part of the psalm is really an extension of the first part. In it David carries on the thought of verses 1-3, but there is also a difference. In verses 1-3 he spoke of the present. Here he speaks of the future. So he is now looking forward to the rest of his life.
But the section also connects with verses 4-6 in this way, that David is recounting for the kings the blessings of the Lord to himself, so that they may know what the Lord will do for him, another king.
First, he does not expect to be free from trouble. Troubles will come, and the Lord will require of him that he walk in them. The Lord does not promise us a trouble-free life when we begin to follow him. In fact, he more or less promises that we will have trouble.
But in the trouble he will revive us, that is, he will give us life. He gives life in regeneration, and he maintains is with living bread and water. He will not withdraw these from us in our troubles. It may seem to us that he has done so, but it is not true.
Secondly, he will stretch out his hand against the wrath of our enemies. Not only will there be trouble in a general way, such as sickness, natural disaster, loss of friends and family, financial difficulties, and many others. But there will be enemies. These enemies will work against us in and through the troubles, trying to use troubles to tempt us into despair or rebellion, or bringing additional troubles on us. Their goal will be to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Their anger will be cruel and their hatred fierce. But the Lord will stretch out his hand against them to protect us, and to keep us from falling.
Thirdly, “your right hand will save me.” He will not limit his care to protection but will be actively at work to save from trouble and from enemies. Deliverance from one trouble may be followed by more trouble. Nevertheless, he is there and will ultimately bring us out of all trouble into the light of day.
Fourthly, he will perfect that which concerns me. He has begun something in us and he will not turn back from it or leave it unfinished. He has begun our sanctification; he will complete it. He has begun to make us over into new creatures; he will not stop until we are entirely new, both body and soul, in glory. He has begun our glorification; he will bring us in the end to fulness of glory in the presence of Christ.
He will do this because his mercy (lovingkindness) endures forever. It is as unchangeable as himself. Note that this means not just that he will always be the God of lovingkindness, but that having shown us lovingkindness, he will not change his mind and take it away again. Our hope is founded on that truth.
The psalm then ends with a prayer: “do not forsake the work of your hands.” Robert Alter points out that the word translated as “forsake” means really to let go, as you might let go of a coffee cup so that it drops to the floor. What you have begun, finish. Do not leave it incomplete. Do not let it drop from your mind or hands. I am yours. Make me over entirely in your image. You have promised fulness of joy. Grant it to me in your good time and way. His promise is that he will do what we ask (Phil 1:6).
This is the word of God which David declares before the gods, or kings. It is the word put into practice and accomplishing the purpose for which God sent it out. The kings will hear and give thanks. All nations of the earth will bow before him.
So we pray for this boldness, that we may not be afraid to speak before the mighty ones of the earth because we know that the Lord accomplishes his purpose of saving the world by our wtiness to the gospel.