Psalm 92 is designated as a psalm and song for the Sabbath day, emphasizing the joyful praise of God as a sacred duty. It reflects on the goodness and faithfulness of God, encouraging worship through thanksgiving and music, suitable for both morning and night. The psalm also addresses the triumph of righteousness over wickedness, reaffirming that the Sabbath is a day set apart for divine adoration and reflection on God's works.

1. PSALM 92 COMME TARY
EDITED BY GLE PEASE
A psalm. A song. For the Sabbath day.
I TRODUCTIO
SPURGEO , "TITLE —A Psalm or Song for the Sabbath day. This admirable
composition is both a Psalm and a Song, full of equal measures of solemnity and joy;
and it was intended to be sung upon the day of rest. The subject is the praise of
God; praise is Sabbatic work, the joyful occupation of resting hearts. Since a true
Sabbath can only be found in God, it is wise to meditate upon him on the Sabbath
day. The style is worthy of the theme and of the day, its inspiration is from the
"fount of every blessing"; David spake as the Spirit gave him utterance. In the
church of Christ, at this hour, no Psalm is more frequently sung upon the Lord's
day than the present. The delightful version of Dr. Watts is familiar to us all—
"Sweet is the work, my God, my King,
To praise thy name, give thanks, and sing;
To shew thy love by morning light,
And talk of all thy truth at night."
The Sabbath was set apart for adoring the Lord in his finished work of creation,
hence the suitableness of this Psalm; Christians may take even a higher flight, for
they celebrate complete redemption. o one acquainted with David's style will
hesitate to ascribe to him the authorship of this divine hymn; the ravings of the
Rabbis who speak of its being composed by Adam, only need to be mentioned to be
dismissed. Adam in Paradise had neither harps to play upon, nor wicked men to
contend with.
ELLICOTT, "In this psalm we seem to have the Sabbath musings (see ote to Title)
of one who had met the doubt born of the sight of successful wickedness, and
struggled through it to a firm faith in “the Rock in whom is no unrighteousness,”
though sometimes on earth iniquity seems to flourish and prevail. It is difficult to
determine whether the psalm simply expresses the religious feelings of Israel
generally after the restoration, or whether it owes its origin to any special event. In 1
Maccabees 9:23 there is an evident echo of, or quotation from, the Greek version of
Psalms 92:7. The versification is regular.
Title.—A psalm or song; more properly, a lyric psalm, i.e., one specially intended
for singing.

2. For the sabbath day.—The Talmud confirms this, saying that this psalm was sung
on the morning of the Sabbath at the drink offering which followed the sacrifice of
the first lamb ( umbers 28:9).
COKE, "Title. ‫מזמרו‬ ‫שׁיר‬ ‫ליום‬ ‫השׁבת‬ mizmor shiir leiom hash-shabbath.— This psalm
was used by the Jews in their public services on the Sabbath-day. The rabbis
pretend that it was written by Adam. But as the instruments of music here
mentioned were not used in the worship of God till David's time, it is most probable
that it was composed by him; and that not so much to commemorate the creation;
and the Sabbath which followed it, as to foretel that rest from persecution which
God had promised to give his church under the Messiah. See Dr. Hammond. Dr.
Delaney is of opinion, that this psalm was written in the interval between the first
Philistine defeat, and their second invasion, (see book 2: chap. 9.) upon their
confederating anew, and gathering together to a second attempt against him. "To
this, (says he,) I apprehend, refer those words in the 7th verse, When the wicked
spring up as grass. He had just mowed down his enemies, and they were now
springing up again, like a new crop of grass from a rich field; but, how flourishing
soever these workers of iniquity were, David fully confided that they should soon be
destroyed for ever. The glory of sinners is, at best, but the flower of a withering
grass: But the righteous (Psalms 92:12.) shall flourish like a palm-tree; he shall grow
like a cedar in Lebanon; which, at the same time that it enlarges upon earth, rises
towards heaven."
1 It is good to praise the Lord
and make music to your name, O Most High,
BAR ES, "It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord - literally, “Good is it
to give thanks unto Jehovah.” That is, the act is appropriate; the effect is good.
(1) The thing itself is appropriate, for there is much, under all circumstances, to be
thankful for: life, health, food, raiment, air, water, friends, recollections, hopes - and,
above all, the blessings of redemption, and the assurance that we may be happy forever.
Many of these things may be found in the condition of all; but if all else fail, the hope of
heaven - the assurance that the Redeemer died - the offer of salvation - cannot fail. That
is ours, and cannot be taken away.
(2) The effect is good. It is a desirable state of mind. It tends to happiness,

3. contentment, peace. A gloomy mind makes all things around more gloomy; an
unthankful mind is an unhappy mind; a murmuring, complaining, dissatisfied mind
makes its possessor wretched, and all around him miserable.
(3) It is good as it is due to God. For all his favor we should be thankful - and all that
we enjoy is his gift.
(4) It tends much to lessen the real troubles and afflictions of life to dwell on those
things for which we should be thankful.
And to sing praises unto thy name - Unto thee. As this psalm was designed for
the “Sabbath day,” this proves that one of the appropriate services of the Sabbath is
“praise.” It is a day when it is fit to recall the mercies of God to our recollection; and the
remembrance of those mercies, and their celebration by appropriate songs, tend to
diffuse joy over all the coming days of the week.
O Most High - God exalted over all. The fact that “he” is exalted over all - over us -
over our friends - over all worlds - is an appropriate thought when we come before him
to praise him; appropriate at all times, and in all circumstances of life.
CLARKE, "It is a good thing to give thanks - This Psalm begins very abruptly.
Good to confess unto the Lord. He had been acknowledging God’s goodness, and
praising him for his mercy; and now he breaks out and tells how good he felt this
employment to be.
GILL, "It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord,.... For all mercies,
temporal and spiritual; for Christ, and salvation by him; for the Gospel, and for Gospel
opportunities and ordinances; for, such days and seasons this psalm was composed for.
It is "good" so to do, for it is the will of God that we should in and for every thing give
thanks; it is due unto him, and is our reasonable service; it is well pleasing unto God
through Christ; it is pleasant work for the saints themselves, and is profitable unto them;
to be thankful for what they have is the way to have more. Kimchi connects this with the
title; the sabbath day is good to give thanks unto the Lord; it is a very fit opportunity for
such service; when a man is at leisure from worldly business, and his heart is engaged in
spiritual exercises, and especially when it is warmed with the love of God:
and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High; a name and epithet of God,
suitable to his majesty and glory, to his supereminence over all his creatures, and the
place where he dwells, and to whom the highest praises are due; these two phrases,
giving thanks, and singing praise, are much the same; only with this difference, the
former may be done in prayer, and without the modulation of the voice, as well as with
it; the latter only with it; hence these two are mentioned as distinct things in Eph_5:19.
HE RY 1-3, "This psalm was appointed to be sung, at least it usually was sung, in
the house of the sanctuary on the sabbath day, that day of rest, which was an instituted
memorial of the work of creation, of God's rest from that work, and the continuance of it
in his providence; for the Father worketh hitherto. Note, 1. The sabbath day must be a
day, not only of holy rest, but of holy work, and the rest is in order to the work. 2. The
proper work of the sabbath is praising God; every sabbath day must be a thanksgiving-
day; and the other services of the day must be in order to this, and therefore must by no

4. means thrust this into a corner. One of the Jewish writers refers it to the kingdom of the
Messiah, and calls it, A psalm or song for the age to come, which shall be all sabbath.
Believers, through Christ, enjoy that sabbatism which remains for the people of God
(Heb_4:9), the beginning of the everlasting sabbath. In these verses,
I. We are called upon and encouraged to praise God (Psa_92:1-3): It is a good thing to
give thanks unto the Lord. Praising God is good work: it is good in itself and good for us.
It is our duty, the rent, the tribute, we are to pay to our great Lord; we are unjust if we
withhold it. It is our privilege that we are admitted to praise God, and have hope to be
accepted in it. It is good, for it is pleasant and profitable, work that is its own wages; it is
the work of angels, the work of heaven. It is good to give thanks for the mercies we have
received, for that is the way of fetching in further mercy: it is fit to sing to his name who
is Most High, exalted above all blessing and praise. Now observe here, 1. How we must
praise God. We must do it by showing forth his lovingkindness and his faithfulness.
Being convinced of his glorious attributes and perfections, we must show them forth, as
those that are greatly affected with them ourselves and desire to affect others with them
likewise. We must show forth, not only his greatness and majesty, his holiness and
justice, which magnify him and strike an awe upon us, but his lovingkindness and his
faithfulness; for his goodness is his glory (Exo_33:18, Exo_33:19), and by these he
proclaims his name. His mercy and truth are the great supports of our faith and hope,
and the great encouragements of our love and obedience; these therefore we must show
forth as our pleas in prayer and the matter of our joy. This was then done, not only by
singing, but by music joined with it, upon an instrument of ten strings (Psa_92:3); but
then it was to be with a solemn sound, not that which was gay, and apt to dissipate the
spirits, but that which was grave, and apt to fix them. 2. When we must praise God - in
the morning and every night, not only on sabbath days, but every day; it is that which
the duty of every day requires. We must praise God, not only in public assemblies, but in
secret, and in our families, showing forth, to ourselves and those about us, his
lovingkindness and faithfulness. We must begin and end every day with praising God,
must give him thanks every morning, when we are fresh and before the business of the
day comes in upon us, and every night, when we are again composed and retired, and are
recollecting ourselves; we must give him thanks every morning for the mercies of the
night and every night for the mercies of the day; going out and coming in we must bless
God.
JAMISO , "Psa_92:1-15. A Psalm-song - (see on Psa_30:1, title). The theme: God
should be praised for His righteous judgments on the wicked and His care and defense
of His people. Such a topic, at all times proper, is specially so for the reflections of the
Sabbath day.
sing ... name — celebrate Thy perfections.
K&D 1-3, "The Sabbath is the day that God has hallowed, and that is to be
consecrated to God by our turning away from the business pursuits of the working days
(Isa_58:13.) and applying ourselves to the praise and adoration of God, which is the
most proper, blessed Sabbath employment. It is good, i.e., not merely good in the eyes of
God, but also good for man, beneficial to the heart, pleasant and blessed. Loving-
kindness is designedly connected with the dawn of the morning, for it is morning light
itself, which breaks through the night (Psa_30:6; Psa_59:17), and faithfulness with the
nights, for in the perils of the loneliness of the night it is the best companion, and nights
of affliction are the “foil of its verification.” ‫ּור‬‫שׂ‬ ָ‫ע‬ beside ‫ל‬ ֶ‫ב‬ֶ‫נ‬ (‫ל‬ ֶ‫ב‬ֵ‫)נ‬ is equivalent to ‫ּור‬‫שׂ‬ ָ‫ע‬ ‫ל‬ ֶ‫ב‬ֵ‫נ‬ in

5. Psa_33:2; Psa_144:9 : the ten-stringed harp or lyre. ‫ּון‬‫י‬ָ ִ‫ה‬ is the music of stringed
instruments (vid., on Psa_9:17), and that, since ‫הגה‬ in itself is not a suitable word for the
rustling (strepitus) of the strings, the impromptu or phantasia playing (in Amo_6:5,
scornfully, ‫ט‬ ַ‫ר‬ ָ ), which suits both Psa_9:17 (where it is appended to the forte of the
interlude) and the construction with Beth instrumenti.
CALVI , "1It is good to give thanks unto Jehovah. There is no reason to doubt that
the Jews were in the habit of singing this psalm, as the inscription bears, upon the
Sabbath-day, and it is apparent, from different passages, that other psalms were
applied to this use. As the words may be read literally in the Hebrew, it is good for
giving thanks unto the Lord, some interpreters, founding upon the letter ‫,ל‬ lamed,
prefixed to the verb, understand the Psalmist to mean that it was good to have a
certain day set apart for singing the praises of God — that it was a useful
arrangement by which one day had been chosen to be occupied by the Lord’s people
in celebrating his works. But it is well known that this letter, when prefixed, is
merely the ordinary mark of the infinitive mood — and I have given what is
obviously the simple meaning. The reason why the Psalmist appropriated this psalm
to the Sabbath is sufficiently obvious. That day is not to be holy, in the sense of
being devoted to idleness, as if this could be an acceptable worship to God, but in
the sense of our separating ourselves from all other occupations, to engage in
meditating upon the Divine works. As our minds are inconstant, we are apt, when
exposed to various distractions, to wander from God. (585) We need to be
disentangled from all cares if we would seriously apply ourselves to the praises of
God. The Psalmist then would teach us that the right observance of the Sabbath
does not consist in idleness, as some absurdly imagine, but in the celebration of the
Divine name. The argument which he adduces is drawn from the profitableness of
the service, for nothing is more encouraging than to know that our labor is not in
vain, and that what we engage in meets with the Divine approbation. In the
succeeding verse, he adverts to the grounds which we have for praising God, that we
may not imagine that God calls upon us to engage in this service without reason, or
simply in consideration of his greatness and power, but in remembrance of his
goodness and faithfulness, which should inflame our hearts to such exercise, if we
had any proper sense and experience of them. He would have us consider, in
mentioning these, that not only is God worthy of praise, but that we ourselves are
chargeable with ingratitude and perversity should we refuse it. We are the proper
objects of his faithfulness and goodness, and it would argue inexcusable indifference
if they did not elicit our cordial praises. It might seem a strange distinction which
the Psalmist observes when he speaks of our announcing God’s goodness in the
morning, and his faithfulness at night. His goodness is constant, and not peculiar to
any one season, why then devote but a small part of the day to the celebration of it?
And the same may be said of the other Divine perfection mentioned, for it is not
merely in the night that his faithfulness is shown. But this is not what the Psalmist
intends. He means that beginning to praise the Lord from earliest dawn, we should
continue his praises to the latest hour of the night, this being no more than his
goodness and faithfulness deserve. (586) If we begin by celebrating his goodness, we
must next take up the subject of his faithfulness. Both will occupy our continued

6. praises, for they stand mutually and inseparably connected. The Psalmist is not
therefore to be supposed as wishing us to separate the one from the other, for they
are intimately allied; he would only suggest that we can never want matter for
praising God unless indolence prevail over us, and that if we would rightly
discharge the office of gratitude, we must be assiduous in it, since his goodness and
his faithfulness are incessant.
In the fourth verse, he more immediately addresses the Levites, who were appointed
to the office of singers, and calls upon them to employ their instruments of music —
not as if this were in itself necessary, only it was useful as an elementary aid to the
people of God in these ancient times. (587) We are not to conceive that God enjoined
the harp as feeling a delight like ourselves in mere melody of sounds; but the Jews,
who were yet under age, were astricted to the use of such childish elements. The
intention of them was to stimulate the worshippers, and stir them up more actively
to the celebration of the praise of God with the heart. We are to remember that the
worship of God was never understood to consist in such outward services, which
were only necessary to help forward a people, as yet weak and rude in knowledge, in
the spiritual worship of God. A difference is to be observed in this respect between
his people under the Old and under the ew Testament; for now that Christ has
appeared, and the Church has reached full age, it were only to bury the light of the
Gospel, should we introduce the shadows of a departed dispensation. From this, it
appears that the Papists, as I shall have occasion to show elsewhere, in employing
instrumental music, cannot be said so much to imitate the practice of God’s ancient
people, as to ape it in a senseless and absurd manner, exhibiting a silly delight in
that worship of the Old Testament which was figurative, and terminated with the
Gospel. (588)
SPURGEO , "Ver. 1. It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, or
JEHOVAH. It is good ethically, for it is the Lord's right; it is good emotionally, for
it is pleasant to the heart; it is good practically, for it leads others to render the same
homage. When duty and pleasure combine, who will be backward? To give thanks
to God is but a small return for the great benefits wherewith he daily loadeth us; yet
as he by his Spirit calls it a good thing we must not despise it, or neglect it. We thank
men when they oblige us, how much more ought we to bless the Lord when he
benefits us. Devout praise is always good, it is never out of season, never
superfluous, but it is especially suitable to the Sabbath; a Sabbath without
thanksgiving is a Sabbath profaned.
And to sing praises unto thy name, O most High. It is good to give thanks in the
form of vocal song. ature itself teaches us thus to express our gratitude to God; do
not the birds sing, and the brooks warble as they flow? To give his gratitude a
tongue is wise in man. Silent worship is sweet, but vocal worship is sweeter. To deny
the tongue the privilege of uttering the praises of God involves an unnatural strain
upon the most commendable prompting of our renewed manhood, and it is a
problem to us how the members of the Society of Friends can deprive themselves of
so noble, so natural, so inspiring a part of sacred worship. Good as they are, they
miss one good thing when they decline to sing praises unto the name of the Lord.
Our personal experience has confirmed us in the belief that it is good to sing unto

7. the Lord; we have often felt like Luther when he said, "Come, let us sing a psalm,
and drive away the devil."
EXPLA ATORY OTES A D QUAI T SAYI GS.
Title. This is entitled A Psalm to be sung on the day of the Sabbath. It is known that
the Jews appropriated certain Psalms to particular days. R. Selomo thinks that it
refers to the future state of the blessed, which is a perpetual sabbath. Others
pretend that it was composed by Adam, on the seventh day of the creation. It might,
with more probability, have been supposed to be put, by a poetic fiction, into the
mouth of Adam, beholding, with wonder and gratitude, the recent creation. But
Psalms 92:2 seems to refer to the morning and evening sacrifice, which the psalmist
considers as most proper for prayer and praise. —D. Cresswell.
Title. For the Sabbath day. Perchance, as Lud. de Dieu remarks on this place, every
day of the week had its allotted psalms, according to what is said in the Talmud, lib.
Myvdq. The songs which the Levites formerly sang in the sanctuary are these: on
the first day, Psalms 24:1-10; on the second, Psalms 48:1-14; on the third, Psalms
82:1-8; on the fourth, Psalms 104:1-35; on the fifth, Psalms 81:1-16; on the sixth,
Psalms 93:1-5; on the seventh, the Psalms 92:1-15, the beginning of which is, a psalm
or a canticle for the Sabbath day, that is to say, for the future age, which will be
altogether a sabbath. —Martin Geier.
Title. For the Sabbath. It is observable that the name JEHOVAH occurs in the
Psalms seven times—the sabbatical number (1,4,5,8,9,
13,15). —C. Wordsworth.
Ver. 1. It is a good thing. It is bonum, honestum, jucundum, utile; an honest,
pleasant, and profitable good. The altar of incense was to be overlaid with pure
gold, and to have a crown of gold round about it. Which (if we may allegorically
apply it) intimates unto us, that the spiritual incense of prayers and praises is rich
and precious, a golden and a royal thing. —Henry Jeanes, in "The Works of
Heaven upon Earth", 1649.
Ver. 1. It is a good thing to give thanks, etc. Giving of thanks is more noble and
perfect in itself than petition; because in petition often our own good is eyed and
regarded, but in giving of thanks only God's honour. The Lord Jesus said, "It is
more blessed to give than to receive." ow, a subordinate end of petition is to
receive some good from God, but the sole end of thanks is to give glory unto God. â
€”William Ames (1576-1633), in "Medulla Theologica."
Ver. 1. "Give thanks; ""praises." We thank God for his benefits, and praise him for
his perfections. —Filliucius, out of Aquinas.
Ver. 1. To sing praises.
1. Singing is the music of nature. The Scriptures tell us, the mountains sing (Is
41:23); the valleys sing (Psalms 65:13); the trees of the wood sing (1 Chronicles
16:33). ay, the air is the birds' music room, where they chant their musical notes.
2. Singing is the music of ordinances. Augustine reports of himself, that when he
came to Milan and heard the people sing, he wept for joy in the church to hear that
pleasing melody. And Beza confesses, that at his first entrance into the congregation,
and hearing them sing Psalms 91:1-16 he felt himself exceedingly comforted, and did
retain the sound of it afterwards upon his heart. The Rabbis tell us, that the Jews,
after the feast of the Passover was celebrated, sang Psalms 91:1-16, and the five
following psalms; and our Saviour and his apostles "sang an hymn" immediately

8. after the blessed supper, (Matthew 26:30).
3. Singing is the music of saints. (1) They have performed this duty in their greatest
numbers, (Psalms 149:1). (2) In their greatest straits, (Is 26:19). (3) In their greatest
flight, (Is 42:10-11). (4) In their greatest deliverances, (Is 65:14). (5) In their greatest
plenties. In all these changes singing hath been their stated duty and delight. And
indeed it is meet that the saints and servants of God should sing forth their joys and
praises to the Lord Almighty; every attribute of him can
set both their song and their tune.
4. Singing is the music of angels. Job tells us, "The morning stars sang together",
(Job 38:7). ow these morning stars, as Pineda tells us, are the angels; to which the
Chaldee paraphrase accords, naming these morning stars, aciem angelorum, "a host
of angels." ay, when this heavenly host was sent to proclaim the birth of our
dearest Jesus, they delivered their message in this raised way of duty, (Lu 2:13).
They were ainountwn, delivering their messages in a "laudatory singing", the whole
company of angels making a musical choir. ay, in heaven, there is the angels'
joyous music, they there sing hallelujahs to the Most High, and to the Lamb who sits
upon the throne, (Revelation 5:11-12).
5. Singing is the music of heaven. The glorious saints and angels accent their praises
this way, and make one harmony in their state of blessedness; and this is the music
of the bride chamber, (Revelation 15:3). The saints who were tuning here their
psalms, are now singing hallelujahs in a louder strain, and articulating their joys,
which here they could not express to their perfect satisfaction. Here they laboured
with drowsy hearts, and faltering tongues; but in glory these impediments are
removed, and nothing is left to jar their joyous celebrations.
—John Wells(-1676), in "The Morning Exercises."
COFFMA , "Verse 1
PSALM 92
PRAISI G THE GREAT ESS OF GOD
The superscription refers to this psalm as, "A song for the sabbath day," meaning,
no doubt, that it was used by the Jews as part of their worship on each sabbath day.
In this connection, we were intrigued by a comment of Albert Barnes. "The Chaldee
Paraphrase has this for the title, `A song which the first man spoke for the sabbath
day.'... We have no proof of what would be so interesting a fact of our having a
genuine poetic composition of Adam."[1] Such a thing is an absolute impossibility,
because God did not reveal the sabbath day to Adam, there being no evidence
whatever that Adam ever heard of it. God revealed the sabbath day to Moses, not
Adam. Furthermore, it was never given to "all mankind" but only to the Jews. (For
further information on this subject see our extended comments on this matter in
Vol. 2, of our Series on the Pentateuch (Exodus), pp. 223-226,277-279.) The first
mention of a sabbath day is not in Genesis, but in Exodus 16:23; and the words,
`Remember the sabbath day' in the Decalogue are not a reference to Genesis, but to
Exodus 16:23.

9. Regarding the paragraphing of Psalms 92, there are nearly as many opinions as
there are scholars. The psalm has 15 verses, and a convenient way of dividing is the
method adopted by Delitzsch and Maclaren, in five divisions of three verses each.[2]
The Rabbinical tradition that Moses wrote the psalm is declared to be "untenable"
by most modern writers, despite the fact of there being absolutely nothing in the
psalm that supports such a dogmatic view. Of course, we cannot know who wrote it,
or upon what occasion he did so. An exception is the mention of instruments of
music, which, if authentic, would mean that Moses did not write this, but the
liturgical use of the psalm during the period of later Judaism might well have led to
the addition of this feature.
The same human conceit that added mechanical musical instruments to the temple
services would not have hesitated to add them to a psalm. See comment on Psalms
92:3, below.
Psalms 92:1-3
I TRODUCTIO
"It is a good thing to give thanks unto Jehovah,
And to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High;
To show forth thy lovingkindness in the morning,
And thy faithfulness every night.
With an instrument of ten strings, and with the psaltery;
With a solemn sound upon the harp."
These three verses are generally recognized as an introduction to the whole psalm.
It is of interest that "Most High" is here used as a synonym for Jehovah. The
extensive use of this title in Psalms has not received the attention from scholars that
it deserves. The Hebrew people never allowed this title to any pagan deity, although
it was sometimes so applied by pagans.
"In the morning ... every night" (Psalms 92:2). The most appropriate times for
worshipping God are morning and evening. Every morning, when men arise from
sleep, refreshed and strengthened from a night of rest, the blessing of God in the gift
of a new day and a new beginning for human activity should inspire every man to
`thank God' and worship the Most High. Likewise in the evenings, as one
remembers the achievements of the day and God's protection from danger and
failure, it is also appropriate to worship God.

10. Under the Law of Moses, the principle of morning and evening worship were
established in the institution of "the morning and evening sacrifices" (Exodus
29:38-42). In the Christian faith, through the tradition of offering thanks for meals,
the Lord is actually worshipped "three times daily."
"Instrument of ten strings ... solemn sound upon the harp" (Psalms 92:3). If this is
an authentic rendition of the sacred text, it is impossible to suppose that Moses is the
author, because such instruments of music were never used in God's worship till the
times of David and subsequently. We are not sure, however that the translation here
is accurate. Adam Clarke, a very able scholar, objected to it strenuously, declaring
that it should be translated: "`Upon the [~'asur], upon the [~nebel], upon the
[~higgayon],' with the [~kinnor]. Thus it stands in the Hebrew."[3] one of these
words is a reference to any kind of a musical instrument. They appear to be
instructions to the singers. Of course, there is no doubt that David did indeed
introduce the extensive use of mechanical instruments of music into God's worship;
and the only question here is whether or not this psalm mentions it.
BE SO , "Verse 1-2
Psalms 92:1-2. It is a good thing to give thanks, &c. — It is a good work, and a just
debt, which is due from us to God; to show forth thy loving- kindness, &c. — To
adore and celebrate thy goodness and truth continually, and especially at those two
solemn times of morning and evening, which, on every day, and particularly upon
the sabbath day, were devoted to the worship and service of God
CO STABLE, "In this Psalm , the unknown writer praised God for the goodness of
His acts and the righteousness of His character.
" Psalm 90-92are united by the development of concepts and the repetition of
vocabulary. These psalms lead the worshiper from a meditation on the transiency of
life ( Psalm 90), a call for wisdom ( Psalm 91), to a climactic celebration of divine
deliverance and protection ( Psalm 92)." [ ote: Ibid, p602.]
EBC, "AUTHORITIES differ in their arrangement of this psalm. Clearly, the first
three verses are a prelude; and if these are left out of account, the remainder of the
psalm consists of twelve verses, which fall into two groups of six each, the former of
which mainly deals with the brief prosperity and final overthrow of the wicked,
while the latter paints the converse truth of the security and blessedness of the
righteous. Both illustrate the depth of God’s works and purposes, which is the
psalmist’s theme. A further division of each of these six verses into groups of three is
adopted by Delitzsch, and may be accepted. There will then be five strophes of three
verses each, of which the first is introductory; the second and third, a pair setting
forth the aspect of Providence towards the wicked; and the fourth and fifth, another
pair. magnifying its dealings with the righteous. Perowne takes the eighth verse,
which is distinguished by containing only one clause. as the kernel of the psalm,
which is preceded by seven verses, constituting the first division, and followed by
seven, making the second. But this arrangement, though tempting, wrenches Psalms

11. 92:9 from its kindred Psalms 92:7.
Psalms 92:1-3 are in any case introductory. In form they are addressed to Jehovah,
in thankful acknowledgment of the privilege and joy of praise. In reality they are a
summons to men to taste its gladness, and to fill each day and brighten every night
by music of thanksgiving. The devout heart feels that worship is "good," not only as
being acceptable to God and conformable to man’s highest duty, but as being the
source of delight to the worshipper. othing is more characteristic of the Psalter
than the joy which often dances and sings through its strains. othing affords a
surer test of the reality of worship than the worshipper’s joy in it. With much
significance and beauty, "Thy lovingkindness" is to be the theme of each morning,
as we rise to a new day and find His mercy, radiant as the fresh sunshine, waiting to
bless our eyes, and "Thy faithfulness" is to he sung in the night seasons, as we part
from another day which has witnessed to His fulfilment of all His promises.
The second strophe contains the reason for praise-namely, the greatness and depth
of the Divine works and purposes. The works meant are as is obvious from the
whole strain of the psalm, those of God’s government of the world. The theme which
exercised earlier psalmists reappears here, but the struggles of faith with unbelief,
which are so profoundly and pathetically recorded in Psalms 73:1-28, are ended for
this singer. He bows in trustful adoration before the greatness of the works and the
unsearchable depth of the purpose of God which directs the works. The sequence of
Psalms 92:4-6 is noteworthy. The central place is occupied by Psalms 92:5 -a
wondering and reverent exclamation, evoked by the very mysteries of Providence.
On either side of it stand verses describing the contrasted impression made by these
on devout and on gross minds. The psalmist and his fellows are "gladdened,"
though he cannot see to the utmost verge or deepest abyss of Works or Plans. What
he does see is good; and if sight does not go down to the depths, it is because eyes are
weak, not because these are less pellucid than the sunlit shallows. What gladdens the
trustful soul, which is in sympathy with God, only bewilders the "brutish man"-i.e.,
the man who by immersing his faculties in sense, has descended to the animal level;
and it is too grave and weighty for the "fool," the man of incurable levity and self-
conceit, to trouble himself to ponder. The eye sees what it is capable of seeing. A
man’s judgment of God’s dealings depends on his relation to God and on the
dispositions of his soul
PULPIT,"THIS psalm is entitled, "a Psalm or Song for the sabbath day," and was
therefore, we may conclude, intended for liturgical use in the temple on that weekly
festival. Jewish tradition says that it was sung in the morning at the time of the
drink offering of the first lamb. It was also, we are told, recited on the second day of
the Feast of Tabernacles ('Middoth,' Psalms 2:5). The psalm is altogether one of
praise and thanksgiving. It is optimistic, looking forward to the complete
destruction of all God's enemies (Psalms 92:7-9), and the complete triumph and
happiness of his faithful ones (Psalms 92:10-14). Some Jewish commentators viewed
it as descriptive of the final sabbath of the world's rest; and so Athanasius, who says
of the author, αἰνεῖ ἐκείνην τὴν γενησοµένην ἀνάπαυσιν.

12. Metrically, the psalm seems to divide into three portions, the first and second of four
verses each (Psalms 92:1-4, Psalms 92:5-8), the third of seven verses (Psalms 92:9-
15).
Psalms 92:1
It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord (comp. Psalms 147:1). By "a good
thing" is meant that which is at ones right and pleasant. And to sing praises unto
thy ame, O Most High. Israel's Lord, Jehovah, is also "the Most High over all the
earth" (Psalms 83:18), and should at all times be thought of as both.
BI 1-3, "It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord.
Good to be thankful
1. Had we no other motive but our own personal happiness, we should find it “a good
thing to be thankful.” When we have reviewed the mercies of past years, traced the
hand of Providence in all our course from infancy onwards, and seen goodness
following us all the way, and then have fallen down before our God, with melting
hearts and tender eyes, or have poured forth our feelings in some sacred hymn of
praise, have we not at such times known the highest luxury this earth can afford? A
friend of mine in travelling, happened to lodge in one of the hotels of a
neighbourhood city, and in the middle of the night he heard some one in an
adjoining room singing in a low but earnest tone of voice, Addison’s hymn, “When all
Thy mercies, O my God,” etc., the whole of which he went through, evidently
supposing that none heard him but his God. He proved to be a governor of one of our
Western States, suffering under an incurable disease, of which he soon after died.
But what a frame of mind must that have been which poured forth the gushings of a
full heart at the midnight hour, and with a consciousness of approaching death, in
such a hymn as that. And as there is no grace which so immediately fills the heart
with pleasure, so again it would seem as if none might be more easily cherished than
thankfulness. We have so much to make us thankful, that it would appear as if none
could resist the impulse. And then, in addition to this, the natural heart is apparently
more susceptible of this Christian grace than of any other, so that they who show
right feeling in nothing else have seemed moved at times to gratitude to God. And
though earth has many trials, yet God has given to us, as well as to everything else in
nature, a wonderful restoring power, which makes it easy for us to recover a cheerful
and thankful spirit.
3. Again, it is a good thing to be thankful, because such a spirit exhibits religion in a
beautiful form to others. We have read of instances of great thankfulness in the
midst of great privations, and we may have seen them. We may have gone to some
wretched abode of poverty, where it seems, that had it been our lot to dwell there, we
could discover nothing but occasion to murmur at our hard fate, and we may have
heard there expressions of gratitude and acknowledgments of God’s goodness that
have perfectly amazed us. Have we not gone away in love with such a spirit, and
ashamed that we possessed no more of it?
4. “It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord,” because it is pleasing to Him. It
is true that our returns of praise can add nothing to God’s glory or happiness, and yet
He has declared that “whoso offereth Him thanks and praise, he glorifieth Him.”
When we confer a favour on a fellow-man we say that we want no thanks for it,

13. meaning thereby that we did not do it for the sake of the thanks; we want not the
thanks for our own sake, but as evidence of a right state of heart in him. And for the
same reason God loves the returns of gratitude. (W. H. Lewis, D.D.)
Thankfulness
After the return of the Jews from captivity the liturgy of the temple service was
rearranged, and this psalm was selected as the Sabbath psalm, and appointed to be sung
in the morning service when, on the offering of the first lamb, the wine was poured out
as a drink-offering unto the Lord. We must all feel the appropriateness of the selection.
What more proper and profitable Sabbath employment than to sing praises unto the
name of the Most High? This Sabbath, then, let us raise this Sabbath psalm. By our
thanksgiving we shall worship God; through our thanksgiving God will bless us, and we
shall prove, in our own experience, “It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord.”
I. Thankfulness is the best antidote to the evils of life and lightens life’s burdens. The
burdens of life are not equally distributed; but no life is without them. “Man is born to
trouble as the sparks fly upwards.” The chief difference between us lies here—while one
man gets him to his burden and carries it, another frets and murmurs and magnifies it.
Now, thankfulness, perhaps more than anything else, helps us to keep our eye fixed upon
the brighter side of life. If every night as we retired to rest we added up and recorded the
mercies of the day, and started each following morning with the record in our hands,
what a transfiguration of our life there soon would be! The gloom around us would be
scattered, the trees would seem to clap their hands, the mountains and the hills to
rejoice together, and the meadows to break out into song.
II. Thankfulness quickens spiritual perception and enlarges spiritual capacity. Take a
son who accepts every attention and provision of his mother as a matter of course,
regards all that she has done for him as her duty and his due, looks upon all her service
as simply fulfilling her obligation to him—what will that son know of his mother’s heart?
She may make some great sacrifice for him, and he will greedily accept the gift without
appreciating the cost at which it is given. But take a child whose tender heart is touched
with every token of the mother’s thoughtfulness and love, that child will understand
something of the mother’s heart; as it leaves the gift to fly into its mother’s arms, it will
feel something of the joy the mother feels in giving, and the mother’s love will be more to
it than the gift itself. It is precisely so with us in our relation to God—the thankful heart
discerns and realizes God. The more we are thankful the more we know God as our
Friend and our Father. Our thoughts will be nearer the truth and our hearts will be
nearer to God because we accept His blessings with gratitude. And thankfulness enlarges
spiritual capacity. There are some attitudes of mind and heart in which God cannot bless
us. The thirsty man might as well lower a sealed bottle into the well as a man seek
blessing from God with a sealed heart. Let us remember this when we think of
unanswered prayers. Now, thankfulness opens the heart to God, and God’s blessing fills
the open heart as the fresh air rushes through the open window, and the light of heaven
fills the unshuttered room. When the heart is thankful for past mercies, new mercies are
not far away.
III. Thankfulness fosters confidence and love. The heart that registers mercy received
knows there is mercy to follow. The milestones we reach on the King’s highway become
guide posts to the Royal City. The ungrateful heart keeps no record of the past, its
memory furnishes no evidence of the eternal faithfulness, and every step in life is an
untrodden path; but the thankful heart treasures up the record of the past, and travels

14. along as though it had been that way before. That record becomes a guide. With that in
our hand we feel no fear, shrink before no difficulty, cringe before no spectre, bow
beneath no burden, but trudge along in the confident possession of a strength greater
than our own. Soldiers march best to music. They go to face the fatal fire of the
musketry, and encounter the keen edge of the sword, but the cheerful and triumphant
strain of music quickens their spirit, strengthens their resolve, whets their energy,
dissipates their fear, and inspires their courage. Christians live best to praise. It lifts
their thoughts from the possibilities of the “awful unknown” and centres them in the
faithfulness of their Father. (F. Wells.)
Thanksgiving—a good thing
I. The spirit of thankfulness, and the audible acknowledgment of mercies received, are
good on the part of the individual recipient thereof.
II. It is a good thing for the Church of God to give thanks unto the Lord, in open and
special acts of acknowledgment.
III. It is a good thing for a nation to give thanks unto the Lord, and especially when
distinguished national mercies are vouchsafed. (T. W. Aveling.)
To sing praises unto Thy name, O Most High.—
Praise
I. The reasonableness of praising God. It is His due; and we defraud Him of that which
He has a just claim to, at our hand, if we hold it back. To have minds furnished with
scientific acquirements, or stored with historical information, or replenished with
theological doctrine, and yet to fail to confess with adoring praise that God, with whose
wonders, whether of science or of providence or of redemption, we are daily
conversant—this is to be as like Satan as we well can be. While, on the other hand,
devoutly to acknowledge God in His great works, to laud and magnify His holy name
more and more, in proportion as our knowledge is enlarged—this is to be like the holy
angels, who live in the continual contemplation of His excellencies, and in the adoring
acknowledgment of them.
II. The advantages which accompany the right discharge of this duty.
1. It is a most cheering and enlivening occupation. It is impossible for any one to
enter into it with all his heart, without having his spirit refreshed and invigorated by
the exercise. One cannot imagine a person to be habitually dejected who spends
much of his time in it.
2. It is an antidote to our natural selfishness. In many of our duties we have an eye to
ourselves, even while our thoughts are directed to God or to our neighbour. In
prayer, for instance, this is the case, and even in thanksgiving. But praise, as distinct
from thanksgiving, is eminently unselfish: it draws away our thoughts from
ourselves, and fixes them exclusively upon God. We adore and praise Him not merely
for those of His perfections, of the advantage of which to ourselves we are directly
conscious, but for others also—such as His majesty and greatness, His justice, His
wisdom, His power, the advantage of which to ourselves is less immediate and less
obvious. (C. A. Heurtley, D.D.)

15. 2 proclaiming your love in the morning
and your faithfulness at night,
BAR ES, "To show forth thy loving-kindness - To celebrate thy mercy; thy
goodness; thy love.
In the morning - That is, there is a fitness in doing this in the morning; or, there are
special reasons why we should do this at that time.
(a) We have been preserved through the dangers of the night; dangers when we were
asleep, unconscious, and defenseless.
(b) Life is then, as it were, a new gift - for we are raised from “the image of death” -
sleep - and we should regard life then “as if” we had been raised from the dead.
(c) To praise God in the morning will have a good influence on us, in promoting
cheerfulness; in making us benignant and kind; in preparing us for the toils and trials of
the day.
There is no better preparation for a day, in view of its burdens, cares, toils, and trials,
than a thankful, cheerful mind in the morning. He who begins a day with a sour, a
morose, a complaining, an irritable spirit - who has been preserved through the night,
and sees nothing to be thankful for in the morning - will be a miserable man through the
day, and will make all miserable around him. He who sees nothing to be thankful for in
the morning will see nothing to hope for in the day; he who has no gratitude for the past,
will have no bright anticipations of the future.
And thy faithfulness - Faithfulness in the laws of nature; in thy promises; in thy
character: in thy providential dealings with people.
Every night - Margin, in the nights.” The reference is to the return of evening; and
the meaning is, that it is a good thing, or that it is appropriate to contemplate the
faithfulness of God at the close of every day.
(a) The mind is then calm, after the toils of the day are over.
(b) The time - evening - its stillness - its twilight - its approaching darkness - all is
favorable for reflection.
(c) There is much in every day to be thankful for, and it is well to recall it at night.
(d) It has a happy effect on the mind when we are about to lie down to rest, to recall
the mercies of God; to reflect on what he has done for us; to gather, from his kindness in
the past, lessons of confidence and hope for the times to come.
We lie down at night more calmly in proportion as we are disposed at the close of a
day to think of the mercies which we have received at the hand of God; and the recalling

16. of those mercies to remembrance with the voice, and with instruments of praise, is
always an appropriate mode of closing a day.
CLARKE, "To show forth thy loving-kindness - ‫חסדך‬ chasdecha, thy abundant
mercy, in the morning - that has preserved me throughout the night, and brought me to
the beginning of a new day: and thy faithfulness in the night, that has so amply fulfilled
the promise of preservation during the course of the day. This verse contains a general
plan for morning and evening prayer.
GILL, "To show forth thy lovingkindness in the morning,.... God has shown
forth his lovingkindness in Christ, and Christ has shown it in a ministerial way; and
saints should show it forth also with their lips, to warm the hearts of one another, and
encourage distressed minds; this should be a part, and a considerable one, of their
thanksgiving and praise; as it will appear to be, when the objects of it are considered, not
angels, but men, and these the worst and vilest; the instances of it in election,
redemption, calling, adoption, and eternal life; and the freeness, earliness, and
immovableness of it; and this is to be done in the "morning", not of the sabbath day only,
but every other day, giving praise and thanks for the mercies of the night. Jarchi
interprets it of the time of salvation:
and thy faithfulness every night: or "in the nights" (b); not the night and goings out
of the sabbath only, so Arama; but every other night, observing and declaring the
faithfulness and truth of God in his counsels and covenant, in his word and promises,
and in the preservation of his people, and the continuance of favours to them;
particularly praising his name, and giving thanks unto him openly for the mercies of the
day past: morning and night being mentioned may have some respect to the morning
and evening sacrifices; and may signify that our sacrifices of praise should be offered up
to God continually, Heb_13:15.
JAMISO , "in the morning, ... every night — diligently and constantly (Psa_
42:8).
loving kindness — literally, “mercy.”
faithfulness — in fulfilling promises (Psa_89:14).
SPURGEO , "Ver. 2. To shew forth thy loving kindness in the morning. The day
should begin with praise: no hour is too early for holy song. Loving kindness is a
most appropriate theme for those dewy hours when morn is sowing all the earth
with orient pearl. Eagerly and promptly should we magnify the Lord; we leave
unpleasant tasks as long as we can, but our hearts are so engrossed with the
adoration of God that we would rise betimes to attend to it. There is a peculiar
freshness and charm about early morning praises; the day is loveliest when it first
opens its eyelids, and God himself seems then to make distribution of the day's
manna, which tastes most sweetly if gathered ere the sun is hot. It seems most meet
that if our hearts and harps have been silent through the shades of night we should
be eager again to take our place among the chosen choir who ceaselessly hymn the
Eternal One.
And thy faithfulness every night. o hour is too late for praise, the end of the day

17. must not be the end of gratitude. When nature seems in silent contemplation to
adore its Maker, it ill becomes the children of God to refrain their thanksgiving.
Evening is the time for retrospect, memory is busy with the experience of the day,
hence the appropriate theme for song is the divine faithfulness, of which another
day has furnished fresh evidences. When darkness has settled down over all things,
"a shade immense", then there comes over wise men a congenial, meditative spirit,
and it is most fitting that they should take an expanded view of the truth and
goodness of Jehovah—
"This sacred shade and solitude, what is it?
It is the felt presence of the Deity."
"Every night, "clouded or clear, moonlit or dark, calm or tempestuous, is alike
suitable for a song upon the faithfulness of God, since in all seasons, and under all
circumstances, it abides the same, and is the mainstay of the believer's consolation.
Shame on us that we are so backward in magnifying the Lord, who in the daytime
scatters bounteous love, and in the night season walks his rounds of watching care.
EXPLA ATORY OTES A D QUAI T SAYI GS.
Ver. 2. In the morning. When indeed the mind after the rest of the night is more
active, devoted and constant. In other parts of the day, as at noon, or in the
afternoon, many sounds of business disturb, and greater lassitude oppresses.
Compare Ps 5:4 59:17 58:2 88:14 Psalms 119:147-148, where this same part of the
day is celebrated as the fittest for sacred meditations. However, this ought not to be
taken exclusively, as if, in the morning alone, and not also at noon or in the evening,
it was suitable to celebrate divine grace. —Martin Geier.
Ver. 2. In the morning. The Brahmins rise three hours before the sun, to pray. The
Indians would esteem it a great sin to eat in the morning before praying to their
gods. The ancient Romans considered it impious if they had not a little chamber, in
their house, appropriated to prayer. Let us take a lesson from these Turks and
heathen; their zealous ardour ought to shame us. Because we possess the true light,
should their zeal surpass ours? —Frederic Arndt, in "Lights of the Morning",
1861.
Ver. 2. To shew forth thy lovingkindness in the morning. Our praise ought to be
suitably arranged. In the time of prosperity or the morning we should declare thy
lovingkindness, because whatever of prosperity we have proceeds from the mercy
and grace of God; and in the time of adversity or night, we should declare thy
justice or faithfulness, because whatever adversity happens to us is ordained by the
just judgment of God. —J. Turrecremata.
Ver. 2. God's mercy is itself the morning ray, which scatters away darkness (Ps 3:5
59:16); his faithfulness the guardian, that assures us against night peril. —F.
Delitzsch.
Ver. 2. In the morning, and...every night. God is Alpha and Omega. It is fit we
should begin and end the day with his praise, who begins and ends it for us with
mercy. Well, thou seest thy duty plainly laid before thee. As thou wouldst have God
prosper thy labour in the day, and sweeten thy rest in the night, clasp them both
together with thy morning and evening devotions. He that takes no care to set forth
God's portion of time in the morning, doth not only rob God of his due, but is a thief
to himself all the day after, by losing the blessing which a faithful prayer might
bring from heaven on his undertakings. And he that closes his eyes at night without

18. prayer, lies down before his bed is made. —William Gurnall.
Ver. 2. Thy faithfulness (Vulg. `veritas, ')every night. Truth can be taken in its
proper signification. Thus St. Jerome on our Psalm takes it, and says: "The truth of
the Lord is announced in the night, as if it were wrapped up in some verbal
obscurities. In an enigma it is spoken, and in parables; that seeing, they should not
see, and hearing, they should not understand. Moses ascended Mount Sinai, Exodus
24:9, and passed into the tempest and into the blackness and darkness, and there
spake with the Lord." Thus Jerome. Christ brings back the light to us, as Lactantius
teaches. Shall we wait, says he, till Socrates shall know something? Or Anaxagoras
find light in the darkness? Or Democritus draw forth the truth from a well? Or till
Empedocles expands the paths of his soul? Or Ascesilas and Carneades see, feel, and
perceive? Behold a voice from heaven teaches us the truth, and reveals it more
clearly to us than the sun himself ...In the night truth is to be shown forth, that the
night may be turned into day. —Le Blanc.
PULPIT, "To show forth thy loving kindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness
every night. The suitableness of worship every morning and evening has been
almost universally felt. The Mosaic Law provided for it by the establishment of the
morning and evening sacrifice (Exodus 29:38, Exodus 29:39), with the
accompanying ritual. Jewish piety added a noonday prayer (Psalms 55:17; Daniel
6:10), and Christian zeal established the "seven hours of prayer." Morning and
evening still, however, remain, by common acknowledgment, the most appropriate
times for worship.
3 to the music of the ten-stringed lyre
and the melody of the harp.
BAR ES, "Upon an instrument of ten strings - The general idea in this verse is,
that instruments “of all kinds” are to be employed in celebrating the praises of God. On
the instrument here referred to, see the notes at Psa_33:2.
And upon the psaltery - Or “lyre.” See the notes at Isa_5:12. The word is there
translated viol.
Upon the harp with a solemn sound - Margin, upon the solemn sound with the
harp.” Prof. Alexander renders this, “On meditation with a harp.” On the word rendered
“harp,” see the notes at Isa_5:12. The Hebrew word rendered “solemn sound” is ‫הגיון‬
higgâyôn which means properly “murmur;” then, the sound of a harp; and then,
meditation. See the notes at Psa_9:16. Here the meaning seems to be, “with murmurs

19. upon the harp;” that is, with the sound of the harp - its murmuring tones. It does not
denote here a distinct instrument of music, but it refers to the tones of the harp: not to
the meditations of the mind - of the worshipper - but to the low and gentle sounds of the
instrument itself.
CLARKE, "Upon an instrument of ten strings - Eusebius, in his comment on
this Psalm, says: Ψαλτηριον δε δεκαχορδον, ᅧ του ᅓγιου Πνευµατος δια των αισθητηριων
πεντε µεν του σωµατος, ισαριθµων δε της ψυχης δυναµεων, επιτελουµενη λατρεια· “The
Psaltery of ten strings is the worship of the Holy Spirit, performed by means of the five
senses of the body, and by the five powers of the soul.” And, to confirm this
interpretation, he quotes the apostle, 1Co_14:15 : “I will pray with the spirit, and with
the understanding also; I will sing with the spirit, and with the understanding also.” “As
the mind has its influence by which it moves the body, so the spirit has its own influence
by which it moves the soul.” Whatever may be thought of this gloss, one thing is pretty
evident from it, that instrumental music was not in use in the Church of Christ in the
time of Eusebius. which was near the middle of the fourth century. Had any such thing
then existed in the Christian Church, he would have doubtless alluded to or spiritualized
it; or, as he quoted the words of the apostle above, would have shown that carnal usages
were substituted for spiritual exercises. I believe the whole verse should be translated
thus: Upon the asur, upon the nebel, upon the higgayon, with the kinnor. Thus it stands
in the Hebrew.
GILL, "Upon an instrument of ten strings,.... An harp of ten strings, as the
Targum. The harp invented by Terpander had only seven strings (c); according to Pliny
(d); Simonides added the eighth, and Timotheus the ninth; but this of David was of ten
strings:
and upon the psaltery; of which See Gill on Psa_33:2, "upon the harp with a solemn
sound"; or "upon higgaon with the harp"; which "higgaon", Aben Ezra says, was either
the tune of a song, or an instrument of music; all these instruments of music were typical
of the spiritual joy and melody which the saints have in their hearts when they praise the
Lord; hence mention is made of harps in particular in this spiritual sense, under the
Gospel dispensation, Rev_5:8.
JAMISO , "In such a work all proper aid must be used.
with a ... sound — or, on Higgaion (see on Psa_9:16), perhaps an instrument of that
name, from its sound resembling the muttered sound of meditation, as expressed also by
the word. This is joined with the harp.
SPURGEO , "Ver. 3. Upon an instrument of ten strings; with the fullest range of
music, uttering before God with the full compass of melody the richest emotions of
his soul.
And upon the psaltery; thus giving variety to praise: the Psalmist felt that every
sweet-sounding instrument should be consecrated to God. George Herbert and
Martin Luther aided their private devotions by instrumental music; and whatever

20. may have been the differences of opinion in the Christian church, as to the
performance of instrumental music in public, we have met with no objection to its
personal and private use.
Upon the harp with a solemn sound, or upon meditation with a harp; as much as to
say, my meditative soul is, after all, the best instrument, and the harp's dulcet tones
comes in to aid my thoughts. It is blessed work when hand and tongue work
together in the heavenly occupation of praise.
"Strings and voices, hands and hearts,
In the concert bear your parts:
All that breathe, your God adore,
Praise him, praise him, evermore."
It is, however, much to be feared that attention to the mere mechanism of music,
noting keys and strings, bars and crotchets, has carried many away from the
spiritual harmony which is the soul and essence of praise. Fine music without
devotion is but a splendid garment upon a corpse.
EXPLA ATORY OTES A D QUAI T SAYI GS.
Ver. 3. Upon an instrument of ten strings. Eusebius, in his comment on this psalm,
says: "The psaltery of ten strings is the worship of the Holy Spirit performed by
means of the five senses of the body, and by the five powers of the soul." And to
confirm this interpretation, he quotes the apostle, 1 Corinthians 14:15 : "I will pray
with the spirit, and with the understanding also; I will sing with the spirit, and with
the understanding also." "As the mind has its influence by which it moves the body,
so the spirit has its own influence by which it moves the soul." Whatever may be
thought of this gloss, one thing is pretty evident from it, that instrumental music was
not in use in the church of Christ in the time of Eusebius, which was near the middle
of the fourth century. Had any such thing then existed in the Christian Church, he
would have doubtless alluded to or spiritualized it; or, as he quoted the words of the
apostle above, would have shown that carnal usages were substituted for spiritual
exercises. —Adam Clarke.
Ver. 3. In Augustine to Ambrose there is the following passage bearing on this same
subject: —"Sometimes, from over jealousy, I would entirely put from me and from
the church the melodies of the sweet chants that we use in the Psalter, lest our ears
seduce us; and the way of Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, seems the safe one,
who, as I have often heard, made the reader chant with so slight a change of voice,
that it was more like speaking than singing. And yet, when I call to mind the tears I
shed when I heard the chants of thy church in the infancy of my recovered faith,
and reflect that I was affected, not by the mere music, but by the subject, brought
out as it were by clear voices and appropriate tune, then, in turn, I confess how
useful is the practice."
Ver. 3. We are not to conceive that God enjoyed the harp as feeling a delight like
ourselves in mere melody of sounds; but the Jews, who were yet under age, were
restricted to the use of such childish elements. The intention of them was to
stimulate the worshippers, and stir them up more actively to the celebration of the
praise of God with the heart. We are to remember that the worship of God was
never understood to consist in such outward services, which were only necessary to
help forward a people, as yet weak and rude in knowledge, in the spiritual worship
of God. A difference is to be observed in this respect between his people under the

21. Old and under the ew Testament; for now that Christ has appeared, and the
church has reached full age, it were only to bury the light of the Gospel, should we
introduce the shadows of a departed dispensation. From this, it appears that the
Papists, in employing instrumental music, cannot be said so much to imitate the
practice of God's ancient people, as to ape it in a senseless and absurd manner,
exhibiting a silly delight in that worship of the Old Testament which was figurative,
and terminated with the gospel. —John Calvin.
Ver. 3. Chrysostom says, "Instrumental music was only permitted to the Jews, as
sacrifice was, for the heaviness and grossness of their souls. God condescended to
their weakness, because they were lately drawn off from idols; but now instead of
organs, we may use our own bodies to praise him withal." Theodoret has many like
expressions in his comments upon the Psalms and other places. But the author
under the name of Justin Martyr is more express in his determination, as to matter
of fact, telling us plainly, "that the use of singing with instrumental music was not
received in the Christian churches as it was among the Jews in their infant state, but
only the use of plain song." —Joseph Bingham.
Ver. 3. Instrumental music, the more I think of it, appears with increasing evidence
to be utterly unsuited to the genius of the gospel dispensation. There was a glare, if I
may so express it, which characterized even the divine appointments of Judaism. An
august temple, ornamented with gold and silver, and precious stones, golden
candlesticks, golden altars, priests in rich attire, trumpets, cymbals, harps; all of
which were adapted to an age and dispensation when the church was in a state of
infancy. But when the substance is come, it is time that the shadows flee away. The
best exposition of harps in singing is given by Dr. Watts—
"Oh may my heart in tune be found,
Like David's harp of solemn sound."
—Andrew Fuller.
Ver. 3. (last clause). On meditation with a harp. ( ew translation.) By a bold but
intelligible figure, meditation is referred to as an instrument, precisely as the lyre
and harp are, the latter being joined with it as a mere accompaniment. —J.A.
Alexander.
Ver. 3. With a solemn sound. Let Christians abound as much as they will in the
holy, heavenly exercise of singing in God's house and in their own houses; but let it
be performed as a holy act, wherein they have immediately and visibly to do with
God. When any social open act of devotion or solemn worship of God is performed,
God should be reverenced as present. As we would not have the ark of God depart
from us, her provoke God to make a breach upon us, we should take heed that we
handle the ark with reverence. —Jonathan Edwards, in "Errors connected with
singing praises to God."
PULPIT, "Upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery. Some think
that only one instrument is intended here, and translate, "Upon an instrument of
ten strings, even upon the psaltery" (or, "the lute"). (On the character of the
psaltery, see the comment on Psalms 33:2.) Upon the harp with a solemn sound. The
reference is clearly to the public service of the temple, since in the private devotions
of the faithful instruments were not likely to be used.

22. 4 For you make me glad by your deeds, Lord;
I sing for joy at what your hands have done.
BAR ES, "For thou, Lord, hast made me glad - Thou hast made me happy;
thou hast given me such a state of feeling as finds an appropriate expression in “praise.”
Through thy work - Either the work of creation, the finishing of which the Sabbath
was designed particularly to commemorate; or the works of God in general - the
universe; or the general dealings of his providence; or some particular interpositions of
Providence in his behalf that called for special praise. All these are appropriately
combined in the celebrations - the praises - of the Sabbath; to these should be added, as
among the most marvelous of his works, and that which furnishes special occasion for
praise on the Christian Sabbath, the wonderful work of redemption - that which of all
the “works” of God makes a heart rightly affected most “glad.”
I will triumph - I will exult or rejoice.
In the works of thy hands - In all thy works; in all that thou hast done.
CLARKE, "For thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy work - I am
delighted with thy conduct towards me; with the work of thy providence, the works of
thy grace, and thy works of creation.
GILL, "For thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy work,.... Either of
creation, which work is mentioned in the precept of the sabbath, as an argument for it;
and therefore a very proper work to be remembered and observed on that day; or of
providence, which in general extends to all men, but especially to them that believe; or of
the work of redemption wrought out by Christ, which is cause of great joy and gladness;
or of the work of grace upon the soul, which when a man is satisfied of, gives him infinite
pleasure, as knowing it will be performed until the day of Christ; and when a man is in
such a joyful frame of spirit, he is in a very suitable one to sing the praises of God, Jam_
5:13,
I will triumph in the works of thine hands; those before mentioned; or shout
aloud for joy, on account of them; and also triumph over all enemies, as being out of the
reach of them, so as to be hurt and ruined by them.
HE RY, " We have an example set before us in the psalmist himself, both to move us to

23. and to direct us in this work (Psa_92:4): Thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy
work. Note, 1. Those can best recommend to others the duty of praise who have
themselves experienced the pleasantness of it. “God's works are to be praised, for they
have many a time rejoiced my heart; and therefore, whatever others may think of them, I
must think well and speak well of them.” 2. If God has given us the joy of his works,
there is all the reason in the world why we should give him the honour of them. Has he
made our hearts glad? Let us then make his praises glorious. Has God made us glad
through the works of his providence for us, and of his grace in us, and both through the
great work of redemption?
JAMISO , "thy work — that is, of providence (Psa_90:16, Psa_90:17).
K&D 4-6, "Statement of the ground of this commendation of the praise of God.
Whilst ‫ל‬ ַ‫ּע‬ is the usual word for God's historical rule (Psa_44:2; Psa_64:10; Psa_90:16,
etc.), ָ‫יך‬ ֶ‫ד‬ָ‫י‬ ‫י‬ ֵ‫שׂ‬ ֲ‫ע‬ ַ‫מ‬ denotes the works of the Creator of the world, although not to the
exclusion of those of the Ruler of the world (Psa_143:5). To be able to rejoice over the
revelation of God in creation and the revelation of God in general is a gift from above,
which the poet thankfully confesses that he has received. The Vulgate begins Psa_92:5
Quia delectasti me, and Dante in his Purgatorio, xxviii. 80, accordingly calls the Psalm il
Salmo Delectasti; a smiling female form, which represents the life of Paradise, says, as
she gathers flowers, she is so happy because, with the Psalm Delectasti, she takes a
delight in the glory of God's works. The works of God are transcendently great; very deep
are His thoughts, which mould human history and themselves gain from in it (cf. Psa_
40:6; Psa_139:17., where infinite fulness is ascribed to them, and Isa_55:8, where
infinite height is ascribed to them). Man can neither measure the greatness of the divine
works nor fathom the depth of the divine thoughts; he who is enlightened, however,
perceives the immeasurableness of the one and the unfathomableness of the other,
whilst a ‫ר‬ ַ‫ע‬ ַ ‫ישׁ־‬ ִ‫,א‬ a man of animal nature, homo brutus (vid., Psa_73:22), does not come
to the knowledge (‫ידע‬ ‫,לא‬ used absolutely as in Psa_14:4), and ‫יל‬ ִ‫ס‬ ְⅴ, a blockhead, or one
dull in mind, whose carnal nature outweighs his intellectual and spiritual nature, does
not discern ‫ּאת‬‫ז‬‫ת־‬ ֶ‫א‬ (cf. 2Sa_13:17), id ipsum, viz., how unsearchable are God's judgments
and untrackable His ways (Rom_11:33).
CALVI , "4Because thou, Jehovah, hast made me glad. The Psalmist repeats the
truth that the Sabbath was not prescribed as a day of idleness, but a season when we
should collect our whole energies for meditation upon the works of God. He
intimates, at the same time, that those are best qualified for celebrating the praises
of God who recognize and feel his fatherly goodness, and can undertake this service
with willing and joyful minds. His language implies that the goodness and
faithfulness of God, which he had already mentioned, are apparent in his works
upon a due examination of them. What produces joy in our hearts is the exhibition
which God gives of himself as a Father, and of his deep and watchful anxiety for our
welfare; as, on the other hand, the cause of our brutish indifference is our inability
to savor or relish the end designed in the works of God. (589) As the universe
proclaims throughout that God is faithful and good, it becomes us to be diligently

24. observant of these tokens, and to be excited by a holy joy to the celebration of his
praise.
SPURGEO , "Ver. 4. For thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy work. It was
natural for the psalmist to sing, because he was glad, and to sing unto the Lord,
because his gladness was caused by a contemplation of the divine work. If we
consider either creation or providence, we shall find overflowing reasons for joy;
but when we come to review the work of redemption, gladness knows no bounds,
but feels that she must praise the Lord with all her might. There are times when in
the contemplation of redeeming love we feel that if we did not sing we must die;
silence would be as horrible to us as if we were gagged by inquisitors, or stifled by
murderers.
I will triumph in the works of thy hands. I cannot help it, I must and I will rejoice in
the Lord, even as one who has won the victory and has divided great spoil. In the
first sentence of this verse he expresses the unity of God's work, and in the second
the variety of his works; in both there is reason for gladness and triumph. When
God reveals his work to a man, and performs a work in his soul, he makes his heart
glad most effectually, and then the natural consequence is continual praise.
EXPLA ATORY OTES A D QUAI T SAYI GS.
Ver. 4. Thou LORD hast made me glad through thy work. One of the parts of the
well spending of the Sabbath, is the looking upon, and consideration of the works of
creation. The consideration of the Lord's works will afford us much sweet
refreshment and joy when God blesses the meditation; and when it is so we ought to
acknowledge our gladness most thankfully and lift up our heart in his ways. —
David Dickson.
Ver. 4. Thy work. The "work of God" here is one no less marvellous than that of
creation, which was the original ground of hallowing the Sabbath (see title of this
Psalm) —namely, the final redemption of his people. —A.R. Fausset.
Ver. 4. Made me glad through thy work, etc. Surely there is nothing in the world,
short of the most undivided reciprocal attachment, that has such power over the
workings of the human heart as the mild sweetness of ature. The most ruffled
temper, when emerging from the town, will subside into a calm at the sight of an
extended landscape reposing in the twilight of a fine evening. It is then that the
spirit of peace settles upon the heart, unfetters the thoughts, and elevates the soul to
the Creator. It is then that we behold the Parent of the universe in his works; we see
his grandeur in earth, sea, sky; we feel his affection in the emotions which they
raise, and half mortal, half etherealized, forgot where we are in the anticipation of
what that world must be, of which this lovely earth is merely the shadow. —Miss
Porter.
Ver. 4. I will triumph in the works of thy hands. Here it will be most fitting to
remind the reader of those three great bursts of adoring song, which in different
centuries have gushed forth from souls enraptured with the sight of nature. They
are each of them clear instances of triumphing in the works of God's hands. How
majestically Milton sang when he said of our unfallen parents, —
" or holy rapture wanted they to praise
Their Maker, in fit strains pronounced or sung

25. Unmeditated; such prompt eloquence
Flowed from their lips in prose or numerous verse,
More tunable than needed lute or harp
To add more sweetness."
Then he gives us that noble hymn, too well known for us to quote, the reader will
find it in the fifth book of the Paradise Lost, commencing—
"These are thy glorious works, Parent of good, Almighty!"
Thomson also, in his Seasons, rises to a wonderful height, as he closes his poem with
a hymn—
"These as they change, Almighty Father, these
Are but the varied God."
Coleridge in his "Hymn before Sunrise, in the Vale of Chamouni", equally well
treads the high places of triumphant devotion, as he cries—
"Awake my soul! not only passive praise
Thou owest! not alone these swelling tears,
Mute thanks and secret ecstasy! Awake,
Voice of sweet song! Awake, my heart, awake!
Green vales and icy cliffs, all join my hymn."
ELLICOTT, "(4) The Vulgate rendering of this verse is quoted by Dante in a
beautiful passage descriptive of the happiness which flows from delight in the
beauty of the works of God in nature. But the reference is to the works in history,
not in nature. The psalmist is really expressing his gladness at God’s wonders
wrought for Israel. (Comp. Psalms 90:15-16,” Make us glad . . . let thy work appear
unto thy servants.)
PULPIT, "For thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy work. It is difficult to say
what "work" is intended. Some have supposed "the work of creation," as the psalm
is one "for the sabbath" (see title); but perhaps the general "working" of God's
providence in the world is more probable. (So Hengstenberg, Kay, and Cheyne.) I
will triumph in the works of thy hands. A repetition for the sake of emphasis.
COFFMA , "Verse 4
THE GREAT WORKS OF GOD
"For thou, Jehovah, hast made me glad through thy work:
I will triumph in the works of thy hands.
How great are thy works, O Jehovah!
Thy thoughts are very deep.
A brutish man knoweth not;
either doth a fool understand this!"

26. "Made me glad through thy work" (Psalms 92:4). It is not clear just which works of
God gladdened the heart of the psalmist; perhaps the gladness was from "all" of the
works of God. Rawlinson supposed that it was probably, "God's work of providence
in the world."[4] The starry heavens alone are enough to inspire any thoughtful
person with gladness and praise of God.
"Thy thoughts are very deep" (Psalms 92:5). The thoughts of God are beyond the
comprehension of any man, regardless of how learned and intelligent he may be.
The universe in which we live with its thousands of galaxies arranged according to a
pattern in outer space, deployed in an astounding arrangement featuring millions of
light years between them, the quasars, the black holes, the jets of astounding
energies, the speed of light, the particular attention of God to the tiny speck of
matter called `earth,' and a million other things stagger the imagination of the most
intelligent man who ever lived.
Of course, it is also true in this connection, as stated by Addis, that, "God's counsels
are too deep for the stupid man."[5]
"The evidence for the exalted nature of God's works and thoughts is so great that a
man who falls to acknowledge them, must be classified as a brute and a fool."[6] We
like Delitzsch's word for such a man, "Homo brutus."[7]
"Man can neither measure the greatness of God's works nor fathom the depths of
divine thought. The enlightened man, however, perceives the immeasurableness of
the one and the unfathomableness of the other; but a man of animal nature, `homo
brutus,' a blockhead, or one dull in mind, whose carnal nature outweighs his
intellectual and spiritual nature, cannot discern how unsearchable are God's
judgments and how untrackable are his ways."[8]
BE SO , "Verse 4-5
Psalms 92:4-5. For thou hast made me glad through thy work, &c. — Which thou
didst create by thine almighty power, and dost still govern with infinite wisdom. “A
prospect of creation, in the vernal season,” says Dr. Horne, “fallen as it is, inspires
the mind with joy, which no words can express. But how doth the regenerate soul
exult and triumph at beholding that work of God’s hands whereby he creates all
things anew in Christ Jesus! If we can be pleased with such a world as this, where
sin and death have fixed their habitation; shall we not much rather admire those
other heavens and that other earth wherein dwell righteousness and life? What are
we to think of the palace, since even the prison is not without its charms!” O Lord,
how great are thy works! — Great beyond expression, beyond conception! The
products of boundless power and unsearchable wisdom; men’s works are nothing to
them. We cannot comprehend the greatness of God’s works, and therefore must
reverently and awfully wonder, and even stand amazed at the magnificence of them.
Thy thoughts are very deep — Here he assigns the reason of the inconceivable
greatness and grandeur of God’s works. Mens’ works are little and trifling, for their
thoughts are shallow: but God’s works are very great, and such as cannot be

27. measured, because his thoughts are very deep, and such as cannot be fathomed. Or,
he speaks of God’s counsels and methods in the government of the world and of his
church. All his counsels, whether in creation or providence, as much exceed the
contrivances of human wisdom as his works do the efforts of human power!
CO STABLE, "Verses 4-7
The psalmist gloried in the Lord"s goodness to him, which was evident in His acts
for him. God"s thoughts, as He revealed them to His prophets and in His Word, also
drew the writer"s praise. These revelations helped him understand what God was
doing. He understood, as those who do not benefit from God"s revelation cannot,
that the prosperity of the wicked is only temporary.
SIMEO , "GOD ADMIRED I HIS WORKS
Psalms 92:4-5. Thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy work: I will triumph in
the works of thy hands. O Lord, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very
deep.
TO man, in this vale of tears, God has opened many sources of happiness; many in
his intercourse with his fellow-man, but more and greater in communion with his
God. In truth, if it be not his own fault, he may have in a measure the felicity of the
Paradisiacal state restored to him: for though, through the weakness of the flesh,
“he is in heaviness through manifold temptations,” he has a God to go unto, a God
ever at hand, in whom it is his privilege always to rejoice: “Rejoice in the Lord
alway,” says the Apostle; and “again,” he adds, “Rejoice.”
The frame of David’s mind, in the psalm before us, (for we can scarcely doubt but
that the composition was his,) being that which we should cultivate, we will
consider,
I. The works which he contemplated—
It is probable that the writer of this psalm had primarily in his view the wonders of
creation; because the psalm was written for the Sabbath-day [ ote: See the title to
the Psalm.], which was instituted to commemorate God’s rest from his creating
work. Yet, in the body of the psalm, much is spoken respecting the dispensations of
God in his providence: and David, whom I consider as the author of it, had
experienced the most wonderful interpositions in his behalf; so that, amongst all the
children of men, there was not one who had more cause than he to sing of “the
loving-kindness and the faithfulness of Jehovah;” of his “loving-kindness,” in
selecting him to such high destinies; and his “faithfulness,” in accomplishing to him
his promises in their full extent. But the language of my text necessarily leads our
minds to that greatest and most stupendous of all God’s works, the work of
Redemption—
[This may be treated either in reference to Redemption generally, as wrought out
for us by the incarnation, and death, and resurrection, and ascension of the Lord

28. Jesus Christ; or with a special reference to any one of these topics which may be
suited to a particular season. But, in whatever way it be treated, the greatness of the
work must be the point chiefly insisted on.]
II. His experience in the contemplation of them—
He was filled,
1. With triumphant joy—
[It is not possible to view these wonders of Redeeming Love, and not feel the
reasonableness of that command: “Rejoice in the Lord alway; and again I say,
Rejoice [ ote: Philippians 4:4.].” Well does the Psalmist say, “It is a good thing to
give thanks unto the Lord.” It is indeed good, at all times [ ote: ver. 2.], and in
every possible way [ ote: ver. 3.]. In this holy exercise should every faculty of our
souls be engaged [ ote: Psalms 103:1.].]
2. With adoring gratitude—
[This, after all, is the fittest expression of our joy. The wonders of God’s love are so
stupendous, that all attempts to celebrate them aright must fail; and silence, the
profoundest silence, on such a subject, if proceeding from an overwhelming sense of
it, may justly be accounted the sublimest eloquence. The Psalmist’s experience was
of this kind [ ote: ver. 5,]; as were St. Paul’s also, when he exclaimed, “O the depth
[ ote: Romans 11:33.]!”]
Address—
1. Those who are strangers to this frame—
[Alas! how little is this state of mind experienced by the generality of Christians!
and in what humiliating terms is their insensibility described in the words following
my text! I would not speak offensively, or wound the feelings of any: but I would ask
you, whether David speaks too strongly, when he characterizes such persons as
“brutish and fools [ ote: ver. 6.]? You well know that the prophets often speak the
same language [ ote: Isaiah 1:3 and Jeremiah 8:7.]; and I pray you to repent of
your insensibility, that these characters may no longer attach to you.]
2. Those who aspire after it—
[Let your thoughts soar to high and heavenly things; and especially let them be
occupied on the works of God, and on his perfections as displayed in the great
mystery of Redemption. Surely you shall not long meditate on these things in vain.
Your God will cause you to “triumph in Christ Jesus.” But never rest, till you have
those overwhelming views of Christ which characterize the worship of heaven. The
glorified saints and angels all fall upon their faces before the throne: seek ye the
same frame of mind with them; and soon you shall join with them in everlasting

29. hallelujahs to God and to the Lamb.]
5 How great are your works, Lord,
how profound your thoughts!
BAR ES, "O Lord, how great are thy works! - Compare Psa_8:3; Psa_40:5. See
also the notes at Job_11:7. The meaning here is this: The psalmist, on the Sabbath, in
giving himself to meditation on the works of God, is overwhelmed with a sense of their
vastness, their incomprehensible nature, and the depth of wisdom evinced, far beyond
the grasp of man, in what God had done. How soon is man lost; how soon does he get
beyond his depth; how soon does he feel that here is greatness which he cannot
comprehend, and wisdom which he cannot fathom, and goodness which he cannot
appreciate, when he sits down to meditate on the works of God!
And thy thoughts are very deep - Compare Isa_28:29; Rom_11:33-34. The
meaning is, that the plans or the purposes of God, as evinced in the works of creation
and providence, are too profound for man to understand them. Who but God himself
can comprehend them?
CLARKE, "Hour great are thy works! - They are multitudinous, stupendous, and
splendid: and thy thoughts - thy designs and counsels, from which, by which, and in
reference to which, they have been formed; are very deep - so profound as not to be
fathomed by the comprehension of man.
GILL, "O Lord, how great are thy works!.... Of nature, providence, and grace, both
for quantity and for quality, for number, excellency, and glory, as they are a display of
God's wisdom, power, and goodness; see Psa_104:24,
and thy thoughts are very deep; his counsels, purposes, and designs, they are
unfathomable and unsearchable; see 1Co_2:10.
HE RY, " Let us thence fetch matter for holy adorings and admirings of God (Psa_
92:5): O Lord! how great are thy works - great beyond conception, beyond expression,
the products of great power and wisdom, of great consequence and importance! men's
works are nothing to them. We cannot comprehend the greatness of God's works, and
therefore must reverently and awfully wonder at them, and even stand amazed at the

30. magnificence of them. “Men's works are little and trifling, for their thoughts are shallow;
but, Lord, thy works are great and such as cannot be measured; for thy thoughts are
very deep and such as cannot be fathomed.” God's counsels as much exceed the
contrivances of our wisdom as his works do the efforts of our power. His thoughts are
above our thoughts, as his ways are above our ways, Isa_55:9. O the depth of God's
designs! Rom_11:33. The greatness of God's works should lead us to consider the depth
of his thoughts, that counsel of his own will according to which he does all things - what
a compass his thoughts fetch and to what a length they reach!
JAMISO , "great ... works — correspond to deep or vast thoughts (Psa_40:5;
Rom_11:23).
CALVI , "5O Jehovah! how highly exalted are thy works! The Psalmist, having
spoken of the works of God in general, proceeds to speak more particularly of his
justice in the government of the world. Though God may postpone the punishment
of the wicked, he shows, in due time, that in conniving at their sins, he did not
overlook or fail to perceive them; and though he exercises his own children with the
cross, he proves in the issue, that he was not indifferent to their welfare. His reason
for touching upon this particular point seems to be, that much darkness is thrown
upon the scheme of Divine Providence by the inequality and disorder which prevail
in human affairs. (590) We see the wicked triumphing, and applauding their own
good fortune, as if there was no judge above, and taking occasion from the Divine
forbearance to run into additional excesses, under the impression that they have
escaped his hand. The temptation is aggravated by that stupidity and blindness of
heart which lead us to imagine that God exerts no superintendence over the world,
and sits idle in heaven. It is known, too, how soon we are ready to sink under the
troubles of the flesh. The Psalmist, therefore, intentionally selects this as a case in
which he may show the watchful care exerted by God over the human family. He
begins, by using the language of exclamation, for such is the dreadful distemper and
disorder by which our understandings are confounded, that we cannot comprehend
the method of God’s works, even when it is most apparent. We are to notice, that the
inspired penman is not speaking here of the work of God in the creation of the
heavens and earth, nor of his providential government of the world in general, but
only of the judgments which he executes amongst men. He calls the works of God
great, and his thoughts deep, because he governs the world in quite another manner
than we are able to comprehend. Were things under our own management, we
would entirely invert the order which God observes; and, such not being the case,
we perversely expostulate with God for not hastening sooner to the help of the
righteous, and to the punishment of the wicked. It strikes us as in the highest degree
inconsistent with the perfections of God, that he should bear with the wicked when
they rage against him, when they rush without restraint into the most daring acts of
iniquity, and when they persecute at will the good and the innocent; — it seems, I
say, in our eyes to be intolerable, that God should subject his own people to the
injustice and violence of the wicked, while he puts no check upon abounding
falsehood, deceit, rapine, bloodshed, and every species of enormity. Why does he
suffer his truth to be obscured, and his holy name to be trampled under foot? This is

31. that greatness of the Divine operation, that depth of the Divine counsel, into the
admiration of which the Psalmist breaks forth. It is no doubt true, that there is an
incomprehensible depth of power and wisdom which God has displayed in the
fabric of the universe; but what the Psalmist has specially in view is, to administer a
check to that disposition which leads us to murmur against God, when he does not
pursue our plan in his providential managements. When anything in these may not
agree with the general ideas of men, we ought to contemplate it with reverence, and
remember that God, for the better trial of our obedience, has lifted his deep and
mysterious judgments far above our conceptions.
SPURGEO , "Ver. 5. O Lord, how great are thy works! He is lost in wonder. He
utters an exclamation of amazement. How vast! How stupendous are the doings of
Jehovah! Great for number, extent, and glory and design are all the creations of the
Infinite One.
And thy thoughts are very deep. The Lord's plans are as marvellous as his acts; his
designs are as profound as his doings are vast. Creation is immeasurable, and the
wisdom displayed in it unsearchable. Some men think but cannot work, and others
are mere drudges working without thought; in the Eternal the conception and the
execution go together. Providence is inexhaustible, and the divine decrees which
originate it are inscrutable. Redemption is grand beyond conception, and the
thoughts of love which planned it are infinite. Man is superficial, God is inscrutable;
man is shallow, God is deep. Dive as we may we shall never fathom the mysterious
plan, or exhaust the boundless wisdom of the all comprehending mind of the Lord.
We stand by the fathomless sea of divine wisdom, and exclaim with holy awe, "O the
depth!"
EXPLA ATORY OTES A D QUAI T SAYI GS.
Ver. 5. Thy thoughts. The plural of tbvrm, from the verb bvr, to meditate, to count,
to weave; and this last word gives a good idea of what is here made the subject of
admiration and praise, the wonderful intricacy and contrivance with which the
Divine Mind designs and executes his plans, till at length the result is seen in a
beautifully woven tissue of many delicately mingled and coloured threads. —
Christopher Wordsworth.
Ver. 5. Thy thoughts are very deep. Verily, my brethren, there is no sea so deep as
these thoughts of God, who maketh the wicked flourish, and the good suffer:
nothing so profound, nothing so deep; therein every unbelieving soul is wrecked, in
that depth, in that profundity. Dost thou wish to cross this depth? Remove not from
the wood of Christ's cross; and thou shalt not sink: hold thyself fast to Christ. —
Augustine.
6 Senseless people do not know,
fools do not understand,

32. BAR ES, "A brutish man knoweth not - A man who is stupid, and who is like
the beasts or brutes; that is, a man whose tastes and propensities are like the brutes, or
who does not seem to act as if endowed with a rational nature. The idea evidently is, that
there are many such people, and that it is not to be wondered at that they have no
exalted idea of the greatness of God. As a matter of fact there are many in human form -
many made in the image of God - who seem to have no more notion of God, and who see
no more wisdom and goodness in his works, than the horse or the ox. Compare Isa_1:3.
Neither doth a fool understand this - A fool, in the sense that he has been made
foolish and stupid by sin; that he does not worship and honor God. He has no right
understanding in regard to the Maker and the Governor of the universe.
CLARKE, "A brutish man knoweth not - ‫בער‬ ‫איש‬ ish baar, the human hog - the
stupid bear - the boor; the man who is all flesh; in whom spirit or intellect neither seems
to work nor exist. The brutish man, who never attempts to see God in his works.
Neither doth a fool understand this - ‫כסיל‬ kesil, the fool, is different from ‫בער‬
baar, the brutish man; the latter has mind, but it is buried in flesh; the former has no
mind, and his stupidity is unavoidable.
GILL, "A brutish man knoweth not,.... The lovingkindness of the Lord, and his
faithfulness, nor how to show them forth, nor his great works and deep thoughts; man
was made originally far above the brute creatures, and had them all under his dominion;
but, sinning, became like the beasts that perish; and is in Scripture often compared to
one or other of them, as the horse, ass, &c. a brutish man is one that only knows things
naturally, as brute beasts do, and in which also he corrupts himself; he is governed by
sense, and not by reason, and much less by faith, which he has not; one that indulges his
sensual appetite, whose god is his belly, and minds nothing but earth and earthly things;
and, though he has an immortal soul, has no more care of it, and concern about it, than a
beast that has none; he lives like one, without fear or shame; and in some things acts
below them, and at last dies, as they do, without any thought of, or regard unto, a future
state:
neither doth a fool understand this; what is before said, or else what follows in the
next verse, as Jarchi and others interpret it, concerning the end and event of the
prosperity of the wicked; Arama interprets it of the Gentiles not knowing this law of the
land, the sabbath, and so rejected it: a "fool" is the same with the "brutish" man, one that
is so, not in things natural and civil, but in things moral, spiritual, and religious.
HE RY, " We are admonished not to neglect the works of God, by the character of
those who do so, Psa_92:6. Those are fools, they are brutish, who do not know, who do
not understand, how great God's works are, who will not acquaint themselves with them,

33. nor give him the glory of them; they regard not the work of the Lord nor consider the
operation of his hands (Psa_28:5); particularly, they understand not the meaning of
their own prosperity (which is spoken of Psa_92:7); they take it as a pledge of their
happiness, whereas it is a preparative for their ruin. If there are so many who know not
the designs of Providence, nor care to know them, those who through grace are
acquainted with them, and love to be so, have the more reason to be thankful.
JAMISO , "A brutish man knoweth not — that is, God’s works, so the Psalmist
describes himself (Psa_73:22) when amazed by the prosperity of the wicked, now
understood and explained.
CALVI , "6The foolish man shall not know them. This is added with propriety, to
let us know that the fault lies with ourselves, in not praising the Divine judgments as
we ought. For although the Psalmist had spoken of them as deep and mysterious, he
here informs us that they would be discerned without difficulty, were it not for our
stupidity and indifference. By the foolish, he means unbelievers in general, tacitly
contrasting them with believers who are divinely enlightened by the word and
Spirit. The ignorance and blindness to which he alludes have possession of all
without exception, whose understandings have not been illuminated by Divine
grace. It ought to be our prayer to God, that he would purge our sight, and qualify
us for meditation upon his works. In short, the Psalmist vindicates the
incomprehensible wisdom of God from that contempt which proud men have often
cast upon it, charging them with folly and madness in acting such a part; and he
would arouse us from that insensibility which is too prevalent, to a due and serious
consideration of the mysterious works of God.
SPURGEO , "Ver. 6. A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand
this. In this and the following verses the effect of the psalm is heightened by
contrast; the shadows are thrown in to bring out the lights more prominently. What
a stoop from the preceding verse; from the saint to the brute, from the worshipper
to the boor, from the psalmist to the fool! Yet, alas, the character described here is
no uncommon one. The boorish or boarish man, for such is almost the very Hebrew
word, sees nothing in nature; and if it be pointed out to him, his foolish mind will
not comprehend it. He may be a philosopher, and yet be such a brutish being that he
will not own the existence of a Maker for the ten thousand matchless creations
around him, which wear, even upon their surface, the evidences of profound design.
The unbelieving heart, let it boast as it will, does not know; and with all its parade
of intellect, it does not understand. A man must either be a saint or a brute, he has
no other choice; his type must be the adoring seraph, or the ungrateful swine. So far
from paying respect to great thinkers who will not own the glory or being of God,
we ought to regard them as comparable to the beasts which perish, only vastly lower
than mere brutes, because their degrading condition is of their own choosing. O
God, how sorrowful a thing it is that men whom thou hast so largely gifted, and
made in thine own image, should so brutify themselves that they will neither see nor
understand what thou hast made so clear. Well might an eccentric writer say, "God

34. made man a little lower than the angels at first, and he has been trying to get lower
ever since."
EXPLA ATORY OTES A D QUAI T SAYI GS.
Ver. 6. —Expressively he wrote: "The man brute will not know; the fool will not
understand this", viz., that when the wicked spring up with rapid and apparently
vigorous growth as the summer flowers in Palestine, it is that they may ripen soon
for a swift destruction. The man brute precisely translates the Hebrew words; one
whom God has endowed with manhood, but who has debased himself to brutehood;
a man as being of God's creation in his own image, but a brute as being self
moulded (shall we say self made?) into the image of the baser animals! —Henry
Cowles.
Ver. 6. A brutish man knoweth not, etc. A sottish sensualist who hath his soul for
salt only, to keep his body from putrefying (as we say of swine) he takes no
knowledge of God's great works, but grunts and goes his ways, contenting himself
with a natural use of the creatures, as beasts do. —John Trapp.
Ver. 6. A brutish man knoweth not, etc. That is, he being a beast, and having no
sanctified principle of wisdom in him, looks no further than a beast into all the
works of God and occurrences of things; looks on all blessings as things provided
for man's delight by God; but he extracts seldom holy, spiritual, and useful thoughts
out of all, he wants the art of doing it. —Thomas Goodwin.
Ver. 6. A brutish man knoweth not. How universally do men strive, by the putrid
joys of sense and passion, to destroy the fineness of the sensibilities which God has
given them. This mind, which might behold a world of glory in created things, and
look through them as through a transparent veil to things infinitely more glorious,
signified or contained within the covering, is as dull and heavy as a piece of
anthracite coal. Who made it so? Alas, habits of sense and sin have done this. If
from childhood the soul had been educated for God, in habits accordant with its
spiritual nature, it would be full of life, love, and sensibility, in harmony with all
lovely things in the natural world, beholding the spiritual world through the
natural, alive to all excitement from natural and intellectual beauty, and as ready to
its duty as a child to its play. What a dreadful destruction of the mind's inner
sensibilities results from a sensual life! What a decline, decay, and paralysis of its
intuitive powers, so that the very existence of such a thing as spiritual intuition, in
reference to a spiritual world, may be questioned, if not denied!
A man may be frightfully successful in such a process of destruction if long enough
continued, upon his own nature. "Who can read without indignation of Kant",
remarks De Quincey, "that at his own table in social sincerity and confidential talk,
let him say what he would in his books, he exulted in the prospect of absolute and
ultimate annihilation; that he planted his glory in the grave, and was ambitious of
rotting for ever! The King of Prussia, though a personal friend of Kant's, found
himself obliged to level his State thunders at some of his doctrines, and terrified him
in his advance; else I am persuaded that Kant would have formally delivered
Atheism from the professor's chair, and would have enthroned the horrid ghoulish
creed, which privately he professed, in the University of Königsberg. It required
the artillery of a great king to make him pause. The fact is, that as the stomach has
been known by means of its natural secretion, to attack not only whatsoever alien
body is introduced within it, but also (as John Hunter first showed), sometimes to

35. attack itself and its own organic structure; so, and with the same preternatural
extension of instinct, did Kant carry forward his destroying functions, until he
turned them upon his own hopes, and the pledges of his own superiority to the dog,
the ape, the worm." —George B. Cheever, in "Voices of ature", 1852.
Ver. 6. A fool. The simpleton is an automaton, he is a machine, he is worked by a
spring; mere gravity carries him forward, makes him move, makes him turn, and
that unceasingly and in the same way, and exactly with the same equable pace: he is
uniform, he is never inconsistent with himself; whoever has seen him once, has seen
him at all moments, and in all periods of his life; he is like the ox that bellows, or the
blackbird which whistles; that which is least visible in him is his soul; it does not act,
it is not exercised, it takes its rest. —Jean de la Bruyère (1639-1696), quoted by
Ramage.
Ver. 6. either doth a fool understand this.
He roved among the vales and streams,
In the green wood and hollow dell;
They were his dwellings night and day, —
But nature never could find the way
Into the heart of Peter Bell.
In vain, through every changeful year,
Did ature lead him as before;
A primrose by a river's brim
A yellow primrose was to him,
And it was nothing more.
In vain, through water, earth, and air,
The soul of happy sound was spread,
When Peter on some April morn,
Beneath the broom or budding thorn,
Made the warm earth his lazy bed.
At noon, when by the forest's edge
He lay beneath the branches high,
The soft blue sky did never melt
Into his heart; he never felt
The witchery of the soft blue sky!
There was a hardness in his cheek,
There was a hardness in his eye,
As if the man had fixed his face,
In many a solitary place,
Against the wind and open sky.
—W. Wordsworth, 1770-1850.
ELLLICOTT, "(6) A brutish man.—The Hebrew is apparently from a root
meaning “to eat,” and so refers to the man of mere animal nature, who lives for his
appetites.
Fool.—From root meaning “fat,” hence “gross,” “stupid.”
In the one case the moral sense has not come into play at all, in the other it is

36. overgrown by sensuality, so that spiritual discernment, insight into the glories of the
Divine mind, is impossible.
BE SO , "Psalms 92:6. A brutish man — Who cannot, or doth not, seriously
consider things; whose mind is corrupted by sensual and brutish appetites; who is
led by sense, and not by reason and faith, knoweth not — That thy works are so
inexpressibly great and wonderful; neither doth a fool understand this — The depth
of wisdom displayed in thy counsels, and of power in thine operations, or the
particular work of God, described Psalms 92:7. “Glorious are thy works, profound
thy counsels, marvellous thy dispensations in nature, in providence, in grace; but all
are lost to the man void of spiritual discernment; who, like his fellow-brutes, is
bowed down to earth, and knoweth no pleasures but those of sense. Here he hath
chosen his paradise, and set up his tabernacle; not considering that his tabernacle
must shortly be taken down, and he must remove hence for ever.” — Horne.
Reader, is this thy character?
COKE, "rse 6-7
Psalms 92:6-7. A brutish man, &c.— The foolish man doth not observe, nor the
thoughtless man take notice of this: Psalms 92:7. That when the wicked spring up
like the grass, and all the practisers of idolatry flourish, it is that they may be
destroyed for ever. See Green and Mudge. It is clear to a demonstration from these
verses, that this psalm could not have been composed by Adam.
7 that though the wicked spring up like grass
and all evildoers flourish,
they will be destroyed forever.
BAR ES, "When the wicked spring as the grass - When they grow up as plants
do; when they seem to flourish and prosper. Compare Psa_90:5-6; Psa_37:2, Psa_37:35,
Psa_37:38. The word “grass” here refers to the vegetable creation generally, embracing
plants and flowers of all kinds.
And when all the workers of iniquity do flourish - As plants and flowers do.
They are like vigorous plants; not like the stunted and dry shrubs of the desert.
It is that they shall be destroyed for ever - The meaning here is, not that the
design of their being thus made to flourish is that they should be destroyed, or that they
are made to flourish for that purpose, but that such “will be” the result. They will not be
made happy in another world by their prosperous and prospered wickedness here, as if

37. God approved of their course; but the end will be that they will be destroyed forever. The
design of the psalmist seems to be to turn the mind from the idea that mere external
prosperity is necessarily connected with happiness; or that one who is prospered in this
life is on that account safe. There is another world, and “there” ample justice will be done
to all. See Psa_73:16-20.
CLARKE, "When the wicked spring as the grass - This is a lesson which is
frequently inculcated in the sacred writings. The favor of God towards man is not to be
known by outward prosperity; nor is his disapprobation to be known by the adverse
circumstances in which any person may be found. When, however, we see the wicked
flourish, we may take for granted that their abuse of God’s mercies will cause him to cut
them off as cumberers of the ground; and, dying in their sins, they are destroyed for
ever.
GILL, "When the wicked spring as the grass,.... Out of the earth, as they do, and
are of the earth earthly, and become numerous as spires of grass, and look pleasant and
beautiful for a while, as that does; but, like it, weak and unstable, and of a short
continuance:
and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; in the health of their bodies;
not being afflicted as other men, and their eyes standing out with fatness; while a Job, an
upright man, is smitten with boils from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot: in
wealth and riches, in which they increase often to such a degree, as to think of pulling
down their barns, and building greater, to put their substance in; in their progeny and
offspring, having a numerous issue; as well as in their cattle, and the standing of them,
and in other stores; likewise in their power and authority, grandeur and glory, being set
in high places of honour and profit, though slippery ones: these are the godly, who are
"wicked" at heart, and show it by their wicked works; who are continually committing
sin, it is the course of their conversation, and yet prosper in the world; which is
sometimes a stumblingblock to God's people, and a hardening of sinners, who consider
not that
it is that they shall be destroyed for ever they are like brute beasts, made to be
taken and destroyed, and as lambs and other creatures are nourished and fattened for
the day of slaughter, 2Pe_2:12, and as land is manured and cultivated, and grass springs
up and flourishes, that it may be, when grown, cut down, and become the fodder of
beasts, or the fuel of fire; so the prosperity of the wicked issues in their ruin, and is an
aggravation of their damnation; their destruction is of soul and body in hell, and is an
everlasting one; the Targum is,
"and it shall be that God shall destroy them for ever,''
HE RY, "The psalmist had said (Psa_92:4) that from the works of God he would
take occasion to triumph; and here he does so.
I. He triumphs over God's enemies (Psa_92:7, Psa_92:9, Psa_92:11), triumphs in the
foresight of their destruction, not as it would be the misery of his fellow-creatures, but as
it would redound to the honour of God's justice and holiness. He is confident of the ruin
of sinners, 1. Though they are flourishing (Psa_92:7): When the wicked spring as the

38. grass in spring (so numerous, so thickly sown, so green, and growing so fast), and all
the workers of iniquity do flourish in pomp, and power, and all the instances of outward
prosperity, are easy and many, and succeed in their enterprises, one would think that all
this was in order to their being happy, that it was a certain evidence of God's favour and
an earnest of something as good or better in reserve: but it is quite otherwise; it is that
they shall be destroyed for ever. The very prosperity of fools shall slay them, Pro_1:32.
The sheep that are designed for the slaughter are put into the fattest pasture. 2. Though
they are daring, Psa_92:9. They are thy enemies, and impudently avow themselves to be
so. They are contrary to God, and they fight against God. They are in rebellion against
his crown and dignity, and therefore it is easy to foresee that they shall perish; for who
ever hardened his heart against God and prospered? Note, All the impenitent workers
of iniquity shall be deemed and taken as God's enemies, and as such they shall perish
and be scattered. Christ reckons those his enemies that will not have him to reign over
them; and they shall be brought forth and slain before him. The workers of iniquity are
now associated, and closely linked together, in a combination against God and religion;
but they shall be scattered, and disabled to help one another against the just judgment of
God. In the world to come they shall be separated from the congregation of the
righteous; so the Chaldee, Psa_1:5. 3. Though they had a particular malice against the
psalmist, and, upon that account, he might be tempted to fear them, yet he triumphs
over them (Psa_92:11): “My eye shall see my desire on my enemies that rise up against
me; I shall see them not only disabled from doing me any further mischief, but reckoned
with for the mischief they have done me, and brought either to repentance or ruin:” and
this was his desire concerning them. In the Hebrew it is no more than thus, My eye shall
look on my enemies, and my ear shall hear of the wicked. He does not say what he shall
see or what he shall hear, but he shall see and hear that in which God will be glorified
and in which he will therefore be satisfied. This perhaps has reference to Christ, to his
victory over Satan, death, and hell, the destruction of those that persecuted and crucified
him, and opposed his gospel, and to the final ruin of the impenitent at the last day.
Those that rise up against Christ will fall before him and be made his footstool.
K&D 7-9, "Upon closer examination the prosperity of the ungodly is only a
semblance that lasts for a time. The infinitive construction in Psa_92:8 is continued in
the historic tense, and it may also be rendered as historical. ‫ה‬ ָ‫ת‬ְ‫י‬ ָ‫ה‬ ‫ּאת‬‫ז‬ (Saadia: Arab.
fânnh) is to be supplied in thought before ‫ם‬ ָ‫ד‬ ְ‫ֽמ‬ ָ ִ‫ה‬ ְ‫,ל‬ as in Job_27:14. What is spoken of is
an historical occurrence which, in its beginning, course, and end, has been frequently
repeated even down to the present day, and ever confirmed afresh. And thus, too, in time
to come and once finally shall the ungodly succumb to a peremptory, decisive (‫ד‬ ַ‫י־ע‬ ֵ‫ד‬ ֲ‫)ע‬
judgment of destruction. Jahve is ‫ם‬ ָ‫ּל‬‫ע‬ ְ‫ל‬ ‫ּום‬‫ר‬ ָ‫,מ‬ by His nature and by His rule He is “a height
for ever;” i.e., in relation to the creature and all that goes on here below He has a nature
beyond and above all this (Jenseitigkeit), ever the same and absolute; He is absolutely
inaccessible to the God-opposed one here below who vaunts himself in stupid pride and
rebelliously exalts himself as a titan, and only suffers it to last until the term of his
barren blossoming is run out. Thus the present course of history will and must in fact
end in a final victory of good over evil: for lo Thine enemies, Jahve - for lo Thine
enemies.... ‫ה‬ֵ ִ‫ה‬ points as it were with the finger to the inevitable end; and the emotional
anadiplosis breathes forth a zealous love for the cause of God as if it were his own. God's
enemies shall perish, all the workers of evil shall be disjointed, scattered, ‫דוּ‬ ְ‫ֽר‬ ָ ְ‫ת‬ִ‫י‬ (cf. Job_
4:11). Now they form a compact mass, which shall however fall to pieces, when one day

39. the intermingling of good and evil has an end.
CALVI , "7When the wicked flourish as the grass. He points out, and exposes, by a
striking and appropriate figure, the folly of imagining that the wicked obtain a
triumph over God, when he does not, it may be, immediately bring them under
restraint. He makes an admission so far — he grants that they spring up and
flourish — but adds immediately, by way of qualification, that they flourish, like the
grass, only for a moment, their prosperity being brief and evanescent. In this way he
removes what has been almost a universal stumbling-block and ground of offense;
for it would be ridiculous to envy the happiness of men who are doomed to be
speedily destroyed, and of whom it may be said, that to-day they flourish, and to-
morrow they are cut down and wither, (Psalms 129:6.) It will be shown, when we
come to consider the psalm now quoted, that the herbs to which the wicked are
compared are such as grow on the roofs of houses, which want depth of soil, and die
of themselves, for lack of nourishment. In the passage now before us, the Psalmist
satisfies himself with using simply the figure, that the prosperity of the wicked
draws after it the speedier destruction, as the grass when it is full grown is ready for
the scythe. There is an antithesis drawn, too, between the shortness of their
continuance and the everlasting destruction which awaits them; for they are not said
to be cut down that they may flourish again, as withered plants will recover their
vigor, but to be condemned to eternal perdition. (591) When he says of God, that he
sits exalted for evermore, some understand him to mean, that God holds the power
and office of governing the world, and that we may be certain nothing can happen
by chance when such a righteous governor and judge administers the affairs of the
world. Various other meanings have been suggested. But it seems to me that the
Psalmist compares the stability of God’s throne with the fluctuating and changeable
character of this world, reminding us that we must not judge of Him by what we see
in the world, where there is nothing of a fixed and enduring nature. God looks down
undisturbed from the altitude of heaven upon all the changes of this earthly scene,
which neither affect nor have any relation to him. And this the Psalmist brings
forward with another view than simply to teach us to distinguish God from his
creatures, and put due honor upon his majesty; he would have us learn in our
contemplations upon the wonderful and mysterious providence of God, to lift our
conceptions above ourselves and this world, since it is only a dark and confused
view which our earthly minds can take up. It is with the purpose of leading us into a
proper discovery of the Divine judgments which are not seen in the world, that the
Psalmist, in making mention of the majesty of God, would remind us, that he does
not work according to our ideas, but in a manner corresponding to his own eternal
being. We, short-lived creatures as we are, often thwarted in our attempts,
embarrassed and interrupted by many intervening difficulties, and too glad to
embrace the first opportunity which offers, are accustomed to advance with
precipitation; but we are taught here to lift our eyes unto that eternal and
unchangeable throne on which God sits, and in wisdom defers the execution of his
judgments. The words accordingly convey more than a simple commendation of the
glorious being of God; they are meant to help our faith, and tell us that, although his
people may sigh under many an anxious apprehension, God himself, the guardian of

40. their safety, reigns on high, and shields them with his everlasting power.
SPURGEO , "Ver. 7. When the wicked spring as the grass, in abundance, and
apparent strength, hastening on their progress like verdant plants, which come to
perfection in a day,
and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; flowering in their prime and pride,
their pomp and their prosperity;
it is that they shall be destroyed for ever. They grow to die, they blossom to be
blasted. They flower for a short space to wither without end. Greatness and glory
are to them but the prelude of their overthrow. Little does their opposition matter,
the Lord reigns on as if they had never blasphemed him; as a mountain abides the
same though the meadows at its feet bloom or wither, even so the Most High is
unaffected by the fleeting mortals who dare oppose him; they shall soon vanish for
ever from among the living. But as for the wicked— how can our minds endure the
contemplation of their doom "for ever." Destruction "for ever" is a portion far too
terrible for the mind to realise. Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, the full terror of
the wrath to come!
EXPLA ATORY OTES A D QUAI T SAYI GS.
Ver. 7. When the wicked spring as the grass, etc. Their felicity is the greatest
infelicity. —Adam Clarke.
Ver. 7. Little do they think that they are suffered to prosper that like beasts they
may be fitter for slaughter. The fatter they are, the fitter for slaughter, and the
sooner slain: "He slew the fattest of them." Psalms 78:31. —Zachary Bogan.
ELLICOTT, "(7) This verse apparently introduces the statement of the truth which
the sensualist does not understand, viz., that the prosperity of the wicked is only
momentary, and will render their destruction all the more impressive. The
Authorised Version is incorrect in introducing the second conjunction “when.”
Literally, In the springing of the wicked like grass, flourish all the workers of
iniquity to be destroyed for ever, i.e., the prosperity of an evil class or community
gives an impulse to evil, and apparently for a time iniquity seems to have the upper
hand, but it is only that the inevitable destruction may be more signal. For the
emblematic use of vegetable life in the psalter see ote, Psalms 1:3-4.
COFFMA , "Verse 7
THE WICKED TO BE DESTROYED
"When the wicked spring as the grass, And when all the workers of iniquity do
flourish;
It is that they shall be destroyed forever.
But thou, O Jehovah, art on high forevermore.
For, lo, thine enemies, O Jehovah,

41. For, lo, thine enemies shall perish;
All the workers of iniquity shall be scattered."
"When the wicked spring as the grass" (Psalms 92:7). The Good ews Bible reads
this, "Grow like weeds." We have encountered this adequate metaphor before.
othing provides any better picture of wicked men than the grass which flourishes
one day and is destroyed the next.
"They shall be destroyed forever" (Psalms 92:7). "The prosperity of the wicked has
posed a difficult problem for some. Job struggled with it (Job 21:7-21); and Asaph
was troubled by it (Psalms 73:2-15); but the psalmist here found no problem at all
with it. He saw the prosperous condition of the wicked as nothing but a prelude to
their destruction."[9] o enemy of God has any future except that of eternal
destruction from the presence of God and the glory of his power (2 Thessalonians
1:9).
BE SO , "Verse 7-8
Psalms 92:7-8. When the wicked spring, &c. — Many interpreters connect this with
the preceding verse, thus: A brutish man knoweth not, &c., that when the wicked
spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish, it is that they
shall be destroyed for ever: “they are only nourishing themselves, like senseless
cattle, in plentiful pastures, for the approaching day of slaughter.” Their present
worldly prosperity is a presage and occasion of their utter ruin. But thou, O Lord,
art most high for evermore — That is, they shall perish, but thou shalt endure, as is
said in a like comparison, Psalms 102:26. They flourish for a season, but thou rulest
for ever, to judge and punish them. So this verse is added by way of opposition to
the former.
EBC, "The sterner aspect of Providence is dealt with in the next strophe (Psalms
92:7-9). Some recent signal destruction of evil-doers seems to be referred to. It
exemplifies once more the old truth which another psalmist has sung, [Psalms 37:2]
that the prosperity of evil-doers is short-lived, like the blossoming herbage, and not
only short-lived, but itself the occasion of their destruction. The apparent success of
the wicked is as a pleasant slope that leads downward. The quicker the blossoming,
the sooner the petals fall. "The prosperity of fools shall destroy them." As in the
previous strophe the middle verse was central in idea as well as in place, so in this
one. Psalms 92:8 states the great fact from which the overthrow of the wicked,
which is declared in the verses before and after results. God’s eternal elevation
above the Transitory and the Evil is not merely contrasted with these, but is
assigned as the reason why what is evil is transitory. We might render "Thou,
Jehovah, art high (lit. a height) for evermore," as, in effect, the LXX and other old
versions do; but the application of such an epithet to God is unexampled, and the
rendering above is preferable. God’s eternal exaltation "is the great pillar of the
universe and of our faith" (Perowne). From it must one day result that all God’s
enemies shall perish, as the psalmist reiterates, with triumphant reduplication of the
designation of the foes, as if he would make plain that the very name "God’s

42. enemies" contained a prophecy of their destruction. However closely banded, they
"shall be scattered." Evil may make conspiracies for a time, for common hatred of
good brings discordant elements into strange fellowship, but in its real nature it is
divisive, and, sooner or later, allies in wickedness become foes, and no two of them
are left together. The only lasting human association is that which binds men to one
another, because all are bound to God.
From the scattered fugitives the psalmist turns first to joyful contemplation of his
own blessedness, and then to wider thoughts of the general wellbeing of all God’s
friends. The more personal references are comprised in the fourth strophe (Psalms
92:10-12). The metaphor of the exalted horn expresses, as in Psalms 75:10; Psalms
89:17, triumph or the vindication of the psalmist by his deliverance. Psalms 92:10 b
is very doubtful. The word usually rendered "I am anointed" is peculiar. Another
view of the word takes it for an infinitive used as a noun, with the meaning
"growing old," or, as Cheyne renders, "wasting strength." This. translation ("my
wasting strength with rich oil") is that of the LXX and other ancient versions, and
of Cheyne and Baethgen among moderns. If adopted, the verb must be understood
as repeated from the preceding clause, and the slight incongruity thence arising can
be lessened by giving a somewhat wider meaning to "exalted" such as "strengthen"
or the like. The psalmist would then represent his deliverance as being like
refreshing a failing old age, by anointing with fresh oil.
Thus triumphant and quickened, he expects to gaze on the downfall of his foes. He
uses the same expression as is found in Psalms 91:8, with a similar connotation of
calm security, and possibly of satisfaction. There is no need for heightening his
feelings into "desire," as in the Authorised and Revised Versions. The next clause
(Psalms 92:11 b) "seems to have been expressly framed to correspond with the
other; it occurs nowhere else in this sense" (Perowne). A less personal verse (Psalms
92:12) forms the transition to the last strophe, which is concerned with the
community of the righteous. Here the singular number is retained. By "the
righteous" the psalmist does not exactly mean himself, but he blends his own
individuality with that of the ideal character, so that he is both speaking of his own
future and declaring a general truth. The wicked "spring like herbage" (Psalms
92:7), but the righteous "spring like the palm." The point of comparison is
apparently the gracefulness of the tree, which lifts its slender but upright stem, and
is ever verdant and fruitful. The cedar in its massive strength, its undecaying
vigour, and the broad shelves of its foliage, green among the snows of Lebanon,
stands in strong contrast to the palm. Gracefulness is wedded to strength, and both
are perennial in lives devoted to God and Right. Evil blooms quickly, and quickly
dies. What is good lasts. One cedar outlives a hundred generations of the grass and
flowers that encircle its steadfast feet.
PULPIT, "When the wicked spring as the grass; i.e. "spring up"—"flourish" (see
Psalms 92:12). The difficulty is that which disturbed Job (Job 21:7-21) and Asaph
(Psalms 73:2-15), viz. the prosperity of the wicked. The present writer, however, is
not disturbed—he sees in their prosperous condition nothing but a prelude to their
overthrow. And when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; or, "do blossom." It is

43. that they shall be destroyed forever; literally, it is for their destruction forever
(comp. Psalms 73:18-20).
8 But you, Lord, are forever exalted.
BAR ES, "But thou, Lord, art most high for evermore - In the treatment of
the righteous and the wicked, thou wilt maintain thine own exalted place as a sovereign.
Whatever may occur to people, God will maintain this exalted position as supreme over
all.
CLARKE, "High for evermore - They are brought down and destroyed; but the
Lord is exalted eternally, both for his judgments and his mercies.
GILL, "But thou, Lord, art most high for evermore,.... God is "the most High";
that is one of his names; he is above all, is higher than the highest; and he dwells on
high, and looks down upon the inhabitants of the earth, and sees what is doing among
them; and to him they will be accountable another day for what they do; and when
wicked, men perish, being destroyed, he will continue for ever in all his greatness, glory,
and majesty; for there seems to be an antithesis in this verse to the former, or between
wicked men and the Lord; and besides he endures for ever to inflict punishment upon
them; and therefore it is that they shall be destroyed for ever.
HE RY, "He triumphs in God, and his glory and grace. 1. In the glory of God (Psa_
92:8): “But thou, O Lord! art most high for evermore. The workers of iniquity who fight
against us may be high for a time, and think to carry all before them with a high hand,
but thou art high, most high, for evermore. Their height will be humbled and brought
down, but thine is everlasting.” Let us not therefore fear the pride and power of evil men,
nor be discouraged by their impotent menaces, for the moth shall eat them up as a
garment, but God's righteousness shall be for ever, Isa_51:7, Isa_51:8. 2. In the grace of
God, his favour and the fruits of it,
JAMISO , "This he does in part, by contrasting their ruin with God’s exaltation and
eternity.
most high — as occupying the highest place in heaven (Psa_7:7; Psa_18:16).
SPURGEO , "Ver. 8. But thou, Lord, art most high for evermore. This is the
middle verse of the Psalm, and the great fact which this Sabbath song is meant to

44. illustrate. God is at once the highest and most enduring of all beings. Others rise to
fall, but he is the Most High to eternity. Glory be to his name! How great a God we
worship! Who would not fear thee, O thou High Eternal One! The ungodly are
destroyed for ever, and God is most high for ever; evil is cast down, and the Holy
One reigns supreme eternally.
EXPLA ATORY OTES A D QUAI T SAYI GS.
Ver. 8. Here is the central pivot of the Psalm. But thou, Lord, art most high for
evermore, lit. "art height", & c., the abstract used for the concrete, to imply that the
essence of all that is high is concentrated in Jehovah. When God and the cause of
holiness seem low, God is really never higher than then; for out of seeming weakness
he perfects the greatest strength. When the wicked seem high, they are then on the
verge of being cast down for ever. The believer who can realize this will not despair
at the time of his own depression, and of the seeming exaltation of the wicked. If we
can feel "Jehovah most high for evermore", we can well be unruffled, however low
we lie. —A.R. Fausset.
COKE, "Verse 8-9
Psalms 92:8-9. But thou, Lord, &c.— But thou, O Lord, dwellest on high for
evermore; Psalms 92:9. While, behold, thine enemies perish, and all the practisers of
idolatry are scattered abroad. Green and Mudge. The phrase of God's dwelling or
sitting on high, is equivalent to God's sitting in heaven, and there over-ruling all the
designs of men to his own glory, and the good of his servants.
9 For surely your enemies, Lord,
surely your enemies will perish;
all evildoers will be scattered.
BAR ES, "For, lo, thine enemies, O Lord, for, lo, thine enemies shall
perish - The repetition of the word “lo” here - “behold!” - is emphatic. The attention of
the psalmist was fixed on this as an event which would be sure to occur. It was certain
that God would be exalted; it followed from this, that all his enemies would be subdued
in order that he might be thus exalted.
All the workers of iniquity shall be scattered - More literally, “shall scatter or
disperse themselves;” implying eagerness and activity, as if they were in haste to flee
away. The allusion is to an army that is discomfited, disorganized, “demoralized,” and
scattered; or to chaff that is dispersed by the wind. See Job_21:18; Isa_17:13; Isa_29:5;

45. Hos_13:3.
GILL, "For, lo, thine enemies, O Lord,.... The particle "lo", or "behold", is not used
for the sake of God, but for the sake of men; to excite their attention, and to observe unto
them that those who are everlastingly destroyed are the enemies of the Lord; who are
enemies in their minds by wicked works, yea, enmity itself against God; and therefore
their perdition is just as well as certain; sooner or later these shall be brought forth and
slain before him; and for the certainty of it is repeated,
for, lo, thine enemies shall perish; the Targum adds, in the world to come: "all the
workers of iniquity shall be scattered"; one from another, and not be able to unite and
combine together against the saints, as they have done; or they shall be separated from
them at the last day, being placed at Christ's left hand; and shall not stand in judgment,
nor in the congregation of the righteous; and so the Targum,
"and all the workers of iniquity shall be separated from the congregation of the
righteous;''
JAMISO , "A further contrast with the wicked, in the lot of the righteous, safety and
triumph.
CALVI , "9For, lo! thine enemies, O Jehovah! From what was already said in the
verse preceding, the Psalmist concludes it to be impossible that God should not
overthrow his enemies. This, as I have already observed, clearly shows that it was
his design to establish our faith under the strong temptations to which it is
subjected, and, more especially, to remove that offense out of the way, which has
disturbed the minds of many, and led them astray; — we refer to the prosperity of
the wicked, and its effect in attaching a certain perplexity to the judgments of God.
As our faith is never called to a more sharp and arduous trial than upon this point,
the Psalmist delivers the truth, which he announces with much force of expression,
using both exclamations and repetition. First, he declares the destruction of God’s
enemies to be as certain as if it had already taken place, and he had witnessed it
with his own eyes; then he repeats his assertion: and from all this we may see how
much he had benefited by glancing with the eye of faith beyond this world to the
throne of God in the heavens. When staggered in our own faith at any time by the
prosperity of the wicked, we should learn by his example to rise in our
contemplations to a God in heaven, and the conviction will immediately follow in
our minds that his enemies cannot long continue to triumph. The Psalmist tells us
who they are that are God’s enemies. God hates none without a cause; nay, so far as
men are the workmanship of his hand, he embraces them in his fatherly love. But as
nothing is more opposed to his nature than sin, he proclaims irreconcilable war with
the wicked. It contributes in no small degree to the comfort of the Lord’s people, to
know that the reason why the wicked are destroyed is, their being necessarily the
objects of God’s hatred, so that he can no more fail to punish them than deny
himself. (595)
The Psalmist, shortly afterwards, shows that he intended this to be a ground of

46. comfort and hope under all cares, griefs, anxieties, and embarrassments. He speaks
under the figure of oil of enjoying Divine blessings, and by green or fresh oil is
meant, such as has not become corrupted, or unfit for use by age. It is noticeable
that he appropriates, and improves for his own individual comfort, that grace of
God which is extended to all the Lord’s people without exception; and would teach
us by this that mere general doctrine is a cold and unsatisfactory thing, and that
each of us should improve it particularly for himself, in the persuasion of our
belonging to the number of God’s children. In one word, the Psalmist promises
himself the protection of God, under whatever persecutions he should endure from
his enemies, whether they were secret, or more open and violent, that he may
encourage himself to persevere with indefatigable spirit in the world’s conflict. We
may judge from this how absurd is the opinion of the Rabbin, who conjectured that
Adam was the author of this psalm (596) — as if it were credible that his posterity
should have set themselves up in rebellion against him.
SPURGEO , "Ver. 9. For, lo, thine enemies, O Lord. It is a wonder full of
instruction and warning, observe it, O ye sons of men;
for, lo, thine enemies shall parish; they shall cease from among men, they shall be
known no more. In that the thing is spoken twice it is confirmed by the Lord, it shall
surely be, and that speedily.
All the workers of iniquity shall be scattered; their forces shall be dispersed, their
hopes broken, and themselves driven hither and thither like chaff before the
tempest. They shall scatter like timid sheep pursued by the lion, they will not have
the courage to remain in arms, nor the unity to abide in confederacy. The grass
cannot resist the scythe, but falls in withering ranks, even so are the ungodly cut
down and swept away in process of time, while the Lord whom they despised sits
unmoved upon the throne of his infinite dominion. Terrible as this fact is, no true
hearted heart would wish to have it otherwise. Treason against the great Monarch
of the universe ought not to go unpunished; such wanton wickedness richly merits
the severest doom.
EXPLA ATORY OTES A D QUAI T SAYI GS.
Ver. 9. "Lo thine enemies"; "lo thine enemies." He represents their destruction as
present, and as certain, which the repetition of the words implies. —Matthew Pool.
Ver. 9. Thine enemies shall perish. This is the only Psalm in the Psalter which is
designated a Sabbath song. The older Sabbath was a type of our rest in Christ from
sin; and therefore the final extirpation of sin forms one of the leading subjects of the
psalm. —Joseph Francis Thrupp.
Ver. 9. All the workers of iniquity shall be scattered. The wicked may unite and
confederate together, but the bands of their society are feeble. It is seldom that they
long agree together; at least as to the particular object of their pursuit. Though they
certainly harmonize in the general one, that of working iniquity. But God will soon
by his power, and in his wrath, confound and scatter them even to destruction. —
Samuel Burder.
WHEDO , "9. For, lo… for, lo—This repetition of the interjective particle is
intensive, as if the speaker was seized with sudden amazement and horror at the
spectacle of such an unlooked for destruction of his enemies, who were also God’s

47. enemies. If we apply this, historically, to Sennacherib, compare this vision of his
catastrophe with the proud beginnings of the war, when he first marched to
Jerusalem by the way of Michmash, (described Isaiah 10:28-32,) and Isaiah’s
prediction of his overthrow, Isaiah 10:33-34; compare, also, 2 Kings 19:35-37.
Scattered—Broken to pieces, that is, with violence and without order.
BE SO , "erse 9-10
Psalms 92:9-10. For lo, thine enemies, &c., shall perish — He represents their
destruction as certain, and as present, which the repetition of the words implies. But
my horn shalt thou exalt, &c. — But, as for me and other righteous persons, (of
whom he says the same thing, Psalms 92:12,) we shall be advanced to true and
everlasting honour and felicity: I shall be anointed with fresh oil — Oil, sweet and
uncorrupted; that is, I shall have great cause of rejoicing, and testifying my joy, by
anointing myself; as the manner was in feasts, and all joyful solemnities.
10 You have exalted my horn[b] like that of a wild
ox;
fine oils have been poured on me.
BAR ES, "But my horn shalt thou exalt - The horn is a symbol of strength or
power (see the notes at Psa_18:2); and the meaning here is, that, while the wicked would
be cut off, he would be prospered; that is, he had such confidence that he was the friend
of God, that he believed God would honor him and exalt him. The psalmist here speaks
of himself not so much with reference to his own particular case, but as the
representative of the righteous. The idea is, that God will thus exalt “a righteous man.”
Like the horn of an unicorn - Supposed to be remarkable for the strength of its
horn. On the animal here referred to, see the notes at Job_39:9; compare Psa_22:21.
I shall be anointed with fresh oil - Oil pure and sweet; not old and rancid. That is,
he would be made happy, cheerful, bright, and prosperous. Anointing with oil in the East
was the symbol of all this, or was equivalent to what we mean by putting on festive
apparel - holiday apparel. Compare the notes at Psa_23:5.
CLARKE, "Like the horn of a unicorn - ‫ראים‬ reeym, perhaps here, the oryx or
buffalo. But the rhinoceros seems to be the real monoceros of the Scriptures.
I shall be anointed unth fresh oil - Perhaps the allusion is here not to any

48. sacramental anointing, but to such anointings as were frequent among the Asiatics,
especially after bathing, for the purpose of health and activity.
GILL, "But my horn shall thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn,.... Which is
said to be very high and strong, see Deu_33:17 this may be understood of the
establishment of David's kingdom, of his royal authority, power, and the glory of it,
signified by his horn; which was fulfilled when he had subdued the neighbouring
nations, and the kings of them, and was exalted above them, and had rest from all his
enemies: and may be applied unto the Messiah, the horn of David, the horn of salvation
raised up in his house, Psa_132:17 and so may refer to exaltation at the right hand of
God, and the strength and glory of his kingdom; see 1Sa_2:10, and also may be
interpreted of every good man, in opposition to the wicked; who, though low and
abased, God will exalt and set them among princes, and cause them to inherit the throne
of glory, and even to sit down on the same throne with Christ; see 1Sa_2:8.
I shall be anointed with fresh oil; oil of olive, as the Targum; oil of myrrh, as Aben
Ezra; it may respect David's unction to office, as king of Israel; for not only after he had
been anointed by Samuel, but even after he was anointed by the men of Judah as king
over them, he was afresh anointed by all the tribes of Israel as their king, 2Sa_2:4, "oil"
often signifies the Spirit of God, his gifts and graces; and "fresh" oil may intend new
supplies of his grace out of the fulness of it, which is in Christ; and also the renewed joys
and comforts of the Holy Spirit, who is the oil of gladness Christ was anointed with
above his fellows, and is given to his people in measure.
HE RY 10-15, "To himself (Psa_92:10): “Thou, O Lord! that art thyself most high,
shalt exalt my horn.” The great God is the fountain of honour, and he, being high for
evermore, himself will exalt his people for ever, for he is the praise of all his saints, Psa_
148:14. The wicked are forbidden to lift up the horn (Psa_75:4, Psa_75:5), but those that
serve God and the interest of his kingdom with their honour or power, and commit it to
him to keep it, to raise it, to use it, and to dispose of it, as he pleases, may hope that he
will exalt their horn as the horn of a unicorn, to the greatest height, either in this world
or the other: My horn shalt thou exalt, when thy enemies perish; for then shall the
righteous shine forth as the sun, when the wicked shall be doomed to shame and
everlasting contempt. He adds, I shall be anointed with fresh oil, which denotes a fresh
confirmation in his office to which he had been anointed, or abundance of plenty, so that
he should have fresh oil as often as he pleased, or renewed comforts to revive him when
his spirits drooped. Grace is the anointing of the Spirit; when this is given to help in the
time of need, and is received, as there is occasion, from the fulness that is in Christ
Jesus, we are then anointed with fresh oil. Some read it, When I grow old thou shalt
anoint me with fresh oil. My old age shalt thou exalt with rich mercy; so the Septuagint.
Compare Psa_92:14, They shall bring forth fruit in old age. The comforts of God's
Spirit, and the joys of his salvation, shall be a refreshing oil to the hoary heads that are
found in the way of righteousness. (2.) To all the saints. They are here represented as
trees of righteousness, Isa_61:3; Psa_1:3. Observe, [1.] The good place they are fixed in;
they are planted in the house of the Lord, Psa_92:13. The trees of righteousness do not
grow of themselves; they are planted, not in common soil, but in paradise, in the house
of the Lord. Trees are not usually planted in a house; but God's trees are said to be
planted in his house because it is from his grace, by his word and Spirit, that they receive
all the sap and virtue that keep them alive and make them fruitful. They fix themselves to

49. holy ordinances, take root in them, abide by them, put themselves under the divine
protection, and bring forth all their fruits to God's honour and glory. [2.] The good plight
they shall be kept in. It is here promised, First, That they shall grow, Psa_92:12. Where
God gives true grace he will give more grace. God's trees shall grow higher, like the
cedars, the tall cedars in Lebanon; they shall grow nearer heaven, and with a holy
ambition shall aspire towards the upper world; they shall grow stronger, like the cedars,
and fitter for use. He that has clean hands shall be stronger and stronger. Secondly,
That they shall flourish, both in the credit of their profession and in the comfort and joy
of their own souls. They shall be cheerful themselves and respected by all about them.
They shall flourish like the palm-tree, which has a stately body (Son_7:7), and large
boughs, Lev_23:40; Jdg_4:5. Dates, the fruit of it, are very pleasant, but it is especially
alluded to here as being ever green. The wicked flourish as the grass (Psa_92:7), which is
soon withered, but the righteous as the palm-tree, which is long-lived and which the
winter does not change. It has been said of the palm-tree, Sub pondere crescit - The
more it is pressed down the more it grows; so the righteous flourish under their
burdens; the more they are afflicted the more they multiply. Being planted in the house
of the Lord (there their root is), they flourish in the courts of our God - there their
branches spread. Their life is hid with Christ in God. But their light also shines before
men. It is desirable that those who have a place should have a name in God's house, and
within his walls, Isa_56:5. Let good Christians aim to excel, that they may be eminent
and may flourish, and so may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour, as flourishing trees
adorn the courts of a house. And let those who flourish in God's courts give him the
glory of it; it is by virtue of this promise, They shall be fat and flourishing. Their
flourishing without is from a fatness within, from the root and fatness of the good olive,
Rom_11:17. Without a living principle of grace in the heart the profession will not be
long flourishing; but where that is the leaf also shall not wither, Psa_1:3. The trees of the
Lord are full of sap, Psa_104:16. See Hos_14:5, Hos_14:6. Thirdly, That they shall be
fruitful. Were there nothing but leaves upon them, they would not be trees of any value;
but they shall still bring forth fruit. The products of sanctification, all the instances of a
lively devotion and a useful conversation, good works, by which God is glorified and
others are edified, these are the fruits of righteousness, in which it is the privilege, as
well as the duty, of the righteous to abound; and their abounding in them is the matter
of a promise as well as of a command. It is promised that they shall bring forth fruit in
old age. Other trees, when they are old, leave off bearing, but in God's trees the strength
of grace does not fail with the strength of nature. The last days of the saints are
sometimes their best days, and their last work is their best work. This indeed shows that
they are upright; perseverance is the surest evidence of sincerity. But it is here said to
show that the Lord is upright (Psa_92:15), that he is true to his promises and faithful to
every word that he has spoken, and that he is constant to the work which he has begun.
As it is by the promises that believers first partake of a divine nature, so it is by the
promises that that divine nature is preserved and kept up; and therefore the power it
exerts is an evidence that the Lord is upright, and so he will show himself with an
upright man, Psa_18:25. This the psalmist triumphs in: “He is my rock and there is no
unrighteousness in him. I have chosen him for my rock on which to build, in the clefts of
which to take shelter, on the top of which to set my feet. I have found him a rock, strong
and stedfast, and his word as firm as a rock. I have found” (and let every one speak as he
finds) “that there is no unrighteousness in him.” He is as able, and will be as kind, as his
word makes him to be. All that ever trusted in God found him faithful and all-sufficient,
and none were ever made ashamed of their hope in him.

50. JAMISO , "horn ... exalt — is to increase power (Psa_75:5).
anointed ... fresh — or, “new”
oil — (Psa_23:5) a figure for refreshment (compare Luk_7:46). Such use of oil is still
common in the East.
K&D 10-12, "The hitherto oppressed church then stands forth vindicated and
glorious. The futt. consec. as preterites of the ideal past, pass over further on into the
pure expression of future time. The lxx renders: καᆳ ᆓψωθήσεται (‫ם‬ ָ‫ר‬ ָ ַ‫)ו‬ ᆞς µονοκέρωτος τᆵ
κέρας µου. By ‫ים‬ ֵ‫א‬ ְ‫ר‬ (incorrect for ‫ם‬ ֵ‫א‬ ְ‫,ר‬ primary form ‫ם‬ ְ‫א‬ ִ‫,)ר‬ µονόκερως, is surely to be
understood the oryx, one-horned according to Aristotle and the Talmud (vid., on Psa_
29:6; Job_39:9-12). This animal is called in Talmudic ‫קרשׂ‬ (perhaps abbreviated from
µονόκερως); the Talmud also makes use of ‫ארזילא‬ (the gazelle) as synonymous with ‫ם‬ ֵ‫א‬ ְ‫ר‬
(Aramaic definitive or emphatic state ‫א‬ ָ‫ימ‬ ֵ‫.)ר‬
(Note: Vid., Lewysohn, Zoologie des Talmud, §§146 and 174.)
The primary passages for figures taken from animal life are Num_23:22; Deu_33:17.
The horn is an emblem of defensive power and at the same time of stately grace; and the
fresh, green oil an emblem of the pleasant feeling and enthusiasm, joyous in the prospect
of victory, by which the church is then pervaded (Act_3:19). The lxx erroneously takes
‫י‬ ִ‫ּות‬ ַ as infin. Piel, τᆵ γᇿράς µου, my being grown old, a signification which the Piel cannot
have. It is 1st praet. Kal from ‫ל‬ ַ‫ל‬ ָ , perfusus sum (cf. Arabic balla, to be moist, ballah and
bullah, moistness, good health, the freshness of youth), and the ultima-accentuation,
which also occurs in this form of double Ajin verbs without Waw convers. (vid., on Job_
19:17), ought not to mislead. In the expression ‫ן‬ָ‫נ‬ ֲ‫ֽע‬ ַ‫ר‬ ‫ן‬ ֶ‫מ‬ ֶ‫,שׁ‬ the adjective used in other
instances only of the olive-tree itself is transferred to the oil, which contains the strength
of its succulent verdure as an essence. The ecclesia pressa is then triumphans. The eye,
which was wont to look timidly and tearfully upon the persecutors, the ears, upon which
even their name and the tidings of their approach were wont to produce terror, now see
their desire upon them as they are blotted out. ְ ‫ע‬ ַ‫מ‬ ָ‫שׁ‬ (found only here) follows the sense
of ְ ‫ה‬ፎ ָ‫,ר‬ cf. Arab. nᏻr fı, to lose one's self in the contemplation of anything. ‫י‬ ָ‫שׁוּר‬ is either a
substantive after the form ‫וּז‬ , ‫וּר‬ , or a participle in the signification “those who regarded
me with hostility, those who lay in wait for me,” like ‫,נוּס‬ fled, Num_35:32, ‫,סוּר‬ having
removed themselves to a distance, Jer_17:13, ‫,שׁוּב‬ turned back, Mic_2:8; for this
participial form has not only a passive signification (like ‫,מוּל‬ circumcised), but
sometimes too, a deponent perfect signification; and ‫חוּשׁ‬ in Num_32:17, if it belongs
here, may signify hurried = in haste. In ‫י‬ ָ‫,שׁוּר‬ however, no such passive colouring of the
meaning is conceivable; it is therefore: insidiati (Luzatto, Grammatica, §518: coloro che
mi guatavano). There is no need for regarding the word, with Böttcher and Olshausen,
as distorted from ‫י‬ ַ‫ר‬ ְ‫ֽר‬ּ‫שׁ‬ (the apocopated participle Pilel of the same verb); one might more
readily regard it as a softening of that word as to the sound (Ewald, Hitzig). In Psa_
92:12 it is not to be rendered: upon the wicked doers (villains) who rise up against me.

51. The placing of the adjective thus before its substantive must (with the exception of ‫ב‬ ַ‫ר‬
when used after the manner of a numeral) be accounted impossible in Hebrew, even in
the face of the passages brought forward by Hitzig, viz., 1Ch_27:5; 1Sa_31:3;
(Note: In the former passage ‫ראשׁ‬ ‫כהן‬ is taken as one notion (chief priest), and in
the latter ‫בקשׁת‬ ‫אנשׁים‬ (men with the bow) is, with Keil, to be regarded as an
apposition.)
it is therefore: upon those who as villains rise up against. The circumstance that the poet
now in Psa_92:13 passes from himself to speak of the righteous, is brought about by the
fact that it is the congregation of the righteous in general, i.e., of those who regulate their
life according to the divine order of salvation, into whose future he here takes a glance.
When the prosperity lit. the blossoming of the ungodly comes to an end, the springing
up and growth of the righteous only then rightly has its beginning. The richness of the
inflorescence of date-palm (‫ר‬ ָ‫מ‬ ָ ) is clear from the fact, that when it has attained its full
size, it bears from three to four, and in some instances even as many as six, hundred
pounds of fruit. And there is no more charming and majestic sight than the palm of the
oasis, this prince among the trees of the plain, with its proudly raised diadem of leaves,
its attitude peering forth into the distance and gazing full into the face of the sun, its
perennial verdure, and its vital force, which constantly renews itself from the root - a
picture of life in the midst of the world of death. The likening of the righteous to the
palm, to the “blessed tree,” to this “sister of man,” as the Arabs call it, offers points of
comparison in abundance. Side by side with the palm is the cedar, the prince of the trees
of the mountain, and in particular of Mount Lebanon. The most natural point of
comparison, as ‫ה‬ֶ ְ‫שׂ‬ִ‫י‬ (cf. Job_8:11) states, is its graceful lofty growth, then in general τᆵ
δασᆷ καᆳ θερµᆵν καᆳ θρέψιµον (Theodoret), i.e., the intensity of its vegetative strength, but
also the perpetual verdure of its foliage and the perfume (Hos_14:7) which it exhales.
SPURGEO , "Ver. 10. But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn.
The believer rejoices that he shall not be suffered to perish, but shall be
strengthened and enabled to triumph over his enemies, by the divine aid. The
unicorn may have been some gigantic ox or buffalo now unknown, and perhaps
extinct—among the ancients it was the favourite symbol of unconquerable power;
the psalmist adopts it as his emblem. Faith takes delight in foreseeing the mercy of
the Lord, and sings of what he will do as well as of what he has done.
I shall be anointed with fresh oil. Strengthening shall be attended with refreshment
and honour. As guests were anointed at feasts with perfumed unguents, so shall the
saints be cheered and delighted by fresh outpourings of divine grace; and for this
reason they shall not pass away like the wicked. Observe the contrast between the
happiness of the brutish people and the joy of the righteous: the brutish men grow
with a sort of vegetable vigour of their own, but the righteous are dealt with by the
Lord himself, and all the good which they receive comes directly from his own right
hand, and so is doubly precious in their esteem. The psalmist speaks in the first
person, and it should be a matter of prayer with the reader that he may be enabled
to do the same.

52. EXPLA ATORY OTES A D QUAI T SAYI GS.
Ver. 10. Thou shalt lift up, as a Reêym, my horn, seems to point to the mode in
which the bovidoe use their horns, lowering the head and then tossing it up. —
William Houghton, in Smith's Bible Dictionary.
Ver. 10. The horn of an unicorn. —After discussing the various accounts which are
given of this animal by ancient and modern writers, Winer says, I do not hesitate to
say, it is the Antelope Leucoryx, a species of goat with long and sharp horns. —
William Walford.
Ver. 10. If shall be anointed with fresh oil. Montanus has, instead of "fresh oil",
given the literal meaning of the original virido oleo, "with green oil." Ainsworth also
renders it: "fresh or green oil." The remark of Calmet is: "The plants imparted
somewhat of their colour, as well as of their fragrance, hence the expression, `green
oil.'"Harmer says, "I shall be anointed with green oil." Some of these writers think
the term green, as it is in the original, signifies "precious fragrant oil"; others,
literally "green" in colour; and others, "fresh" or newly made oil. But I think it will
appear to mean "cold drawn oil", that which has been expressed or squeezed from
the nut or fruit without the process of boiling. The Orientals prefer this kind to all
others for anointing themselves; it is considered the most precious, the most pure
and efficacious. early all their medicinal oils are thus extracted; and because they
cannot gain so much by this method as by the boiling process, oils so drawn are very
dear. Hence their name for the article thus prepared is also patche, that is, "green
oil." But this term, in Eastern phraseology, is applied to other things which are not
boiled or raw: thus unboiled water is called patchi-tameer, "green water": patche-
pal, likewise, "green milk", means that which has not been boiled, and the butter
made from it is called "green butter"; and uncooked meat or yams are known by
the same name. I think, therefore, the Psalmist alludes to that valuable article which
is called "green oil", on account of its being expressed from the nut or fruit, without
the process of boiling. —Joseph Roberts's Oriental Illustrations.
Ver. 10. Anointed with fresh oil. Every kind of benediction and refreshment I have
received, do receive, and shall receive, like one at a feast, who is welcomed as a
friend, and whose head is copiously anointed with oil or fragrant balm. In this way,
the spirits are gently refreshed, an inner joyousness excited, the beauty of the face
and limbs, according to the custom of the country, brought to perfection. Or, there
is an allusion to the custom of anointing persons at their solemn installation in some
splendid office. Compare Psalms 23:5 "Thou anointest my head with oil, "and
Psalms 45:7, "God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness." —Martin
Geier.
Ver. 10. (last clause). The phrase is not "I am anointed", hvm; but ytlb, imbutus
sum—perfusus sum; apparently in reference to the abundance of perfume
employed on the occasion, viz., his being elected King over all the tribes, as
indicative of the greater popularity of the act, or the higher measure of Jehovah's
blessing on his people. The difference, indeed, between the first anointing of David
and that of Saul, as performed by Samuel, is well worthy of notice on the present
occasion. When Samuel was commanded to anoint Saul, he "took a vial of oil, and
poured it upon his head." in private, 1 Samuel 16:13. Here we find the horn again
made use of and apparently full to the brim—David was soaked or imbued with it.
—John Mason Good.

53. PULPIT, "But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn; rather, of a
wild ox. The Hebrew, like the Assyrian, reym, is certainly a species of wild cattle,
whether the aurochs, or the bison, or the buffalo, may be doubted. The psalmist
speaks in the name of Israel, or of God's faithful ones generally, and confidently
predicts their exaltation to glory and honour simultaneously with the destruction of
God's enemies. I shall be anointed with fresh oil. Oil was supposed to give vigour to
the frame; and "fresh oil," or "green oil," would be the most efficient and the best.
COFFMA , "Verse 10
THE JOY OF THE RIGHTEOUS
"My horn hast thou exalted like the horn of the wild ox:
I am anointed with fresh oil.
Mine eyes also hath seen my desire on mine enemies,
Mine ears have heard my desire of the evil-doers that rise up against me.
The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree:
He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon."
"My horn" (Psalms 92:10). The horn is a symbol of power, ability, stature and
prosperity.
"Like the horn of the wild ox" (Psalms 92:10). This animal is frequently mentioned
in the Old Testament, as in umbers 23:22; 24:8; Deuteronomy 33:17; Job 39:9-10;
Psalms 22:21; 29:6; 92:10; Isaiah 34:7, where all of these references in the KJV are
translated "the unicorn."[10] The unicorn is usually referred to as a "mythical
animal." We should not think that the King James translators were thinking of the
fabulous mythological `unicorn'; "They may have been thinking of some one-
horned creature such as the rhinoceros."[11]
To some, the theory that there was indeed, at one time, such an animal is attractive.
The absence of any fossil evidence, etc., seems conclusive enough, but it cannot be
considered as final unless we were certain that "all the animals of antiquity" are
known to modern man, which, it seems to us, is a rather precarious assumption. The
use of this animal as an emblem of British royalty, and the existence of such realistic
tapestries as "The Unicorn Tapestries," which are displayed in the "Cloisters," ew
York City, lend some plausibility to such a theory.
"I am anointed with fresh oil" (Psalms 92:10). Taylor suggested that the anointing
here, "Was that of a priest in connection with some sickness, such as leprosy
(Leviticus 14:10-18)."[12] However, to us, the extreme joy that prevails in the psalm
seems rather to indicate that the "anointing" was perhaps like that of Psalms 23, a

54. festive anointing, provided for honored guests on the occasion of a banquet.
"Mine eye hath seen my desire on mine enemies ... mine ears have heard my desire,
etc" (Psalms 92:11). "Following the pattern of antiquity, the psalmist gloats over the
destruction of enemies; but returns quickly to a description of the happy lot of the
righteous."[13]
"The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: ... like a cedar in Lebanon." The
palm tree and the cedar are both used as metaphors of the righteous in the Old
Testament. The palm's ability to stand straight and tall in savage winds, its grace
and beauty, its marvelous fruitfulness (sometimes six hundred pounds of dates from
a single tree) and its longevity make it an appropriate metaphor.
The cedar "of Lebanon" was used in the construction of Solomon's temple; it is a
very valuable timber, grows tall and handsome, is the source of rich perfume which
is fatal to obnoxious insects, and was coveted as a material used in the building of
grand residences. Such qualities echo the traits of the righteous. The desirability of
cedar for residences is illustrated by the fact that the residence of the first president
of the Republic of Texas, Washington-on-the Brazos, was constructed totally of
cedar lumber.
Baigent pointed out the contrast between such magnificent trees as the palm and the
cedar and the grass mentioned in Psalms 92:7. " ot grass, but long-lived trees are
the best description of the vitality and worth of the righteous."[14] The secret of
this, of course, is their frequenting the house of the worship of God. The use of this
metaphor appears in the very first Psalm, where the righteous is described as, "A
tree planted by the streams of water."
WHEDO , "10. But my horn shalt thou exalt—Thou shalt “exalt” me to power and
honour.
Unicorn—Or buffalo. See on Psalms 22:21. There is no animal of one horn which
answers to the Hebrew ‫,ראם‬ (re’eem,) which, following the Septuagint and Vulgate,
our translators have always rendered “unicorn.” The rhinoceros does not meet the
Bible description, and far less the antelope. See more in note on Psalms 22:21 .
Exalting the “horn” denotes strength and victory, and the figure is based upon the
majestic and proud elevation of the “horns” of the wild buffalo when excited by
danger. On his proverbial strength see umbers 23:22.
Fresh oil—Green oil. “Retaining,” says Calmet, “somewhat of the colour and
fragrance of the plant.” Roberts thinks it is cold-drawn oil, which has been
extracted from the berry or fruit without the process of boiling. “The orientals,” he
says, “prefer this kind for anointing themselves to all others. It is considered the
most precious and the most pure and efficacious. early all the medicinal oils are
thus extracted, and are very dear.”
COKE, "Psalms 92:10. But my horn shalt thou exalt, &c.— But thou exaltest my

55. horn, like the horn of the oryx; my old age is fresh invigorated with oil. I translate
‫בלתי‬ ballothi; with the LXX, by old age, or decay; as the very same letters are used
by Sarah in this sense, and the word is more familiar, and the image the same with
that in Psalms 92:14. Mudge.
CO STABLE, "Verse 10-11
Rather than defeating the writer ( Psalm 92:9), the Lord made him stronger, as
strong as the horn of a wild ox. He had also refreshed him and made him glad.
Refreshment and joy are what anointing with oil represented in Israel. Psalm 92:10
b does not necessarily mean the writer was a king or a priest in Israel, though he
may have been. God had blessed him by allowing him to experience victory over his
enemies rather than dying.
11 My eyes have seen the defeat of my
adversaries;
my ears have heard the rout of my wicked foes.
BAR ES, "Mine eye also shall see my desire - That is, I shall be permitted to
see the destruction of my foes; I shall be gratified with seeing them overthrown. On the
sentiment here expressed, see Psa_54:7, note; Psa_59:10, note.
On mine enemies - The word used here - ‫שׁור‬ shûr - occurs nowhere else. It means,
properly, a lier-in-wait; one who “watches;” one who is in ambush; and refers to persons
who “watched” his conduct; who “watched” for his ruin.
And mine ears ... - literally, “Of those rising up against me, evil-doers, my ear shall
hear.” He would hear of their ruin; he would hear what he desired to hear.
CLARKE, "Mine eye also shall see, - and mine ears shall hear - Even in my own
times my enemies shall be destroyed; and of this destruction I shall either be an eye-
witness or have authentic information.
GILL, "Mine eyes also shall see my desire on mine enemies,.... The Targum

56. supplies thus,
"shall see destruction;''
Aben Ezra, shall see "the vengeance of God", as in Psa_58:10, and Kimchi, as we do,
shall "see what I will", or "my desire"; which arose not from a revengeful spirit, or from a
spirit of private revenge, but from a regard to the glory of God, and the honour of his
name; and in no other view could the destruction of fellow creatures, though his
enemies, be grateful to him:
and mine ears shall hear my desire of the wicked that rise up against me; he
should see the ruin of some, and hear of the destruction of others; that which his eyes
saw not, his ears should hear; the report would be brought to him; as in the latter day
the voice of the angel will be heard, "Babylon is fallen"; and other voices heard in
heaven, giving glory to God; an account of which will be acceptable to the saints, because
of the justice of God, and the honour of it, as well as because it will make for their future
peace and comfort, Rev_18:2.
JAMISO , "see ... [and] ... hear my desire — or, literally, “look on” my enemies
and hear of the wicked (compare Psa_27:11; Psa_54:7) - that is, I shall be gratified by
their fall.
SPURGEO , "Ver. 11. Mine eye also shall see MY DESIRE on mine enemies. The
words, "my desire", inserted by the translators, had far better have been left out.
He does not say what he should see concerning his enemies, he leaves that blank,
and we have no right to fill in the vacant space with words which look vindictive. He
would see that which would be for God's glory, and that which would be eminently
right and just.
And mine ears shall hear MY DESIRE of the wicked that rise up against me. Here,
again, the words "my desire" are not inspired, and are a needless and perhaps a
false interpolation. The good man is quite silent as to what he expected to hear; he
knew that what he should hear would vindicate his faith in his God, and he was
content to leave his cruel foes in God's hands, without an expression concerning his
own desire one way or the other. It is always best to leave Scripture as we find it.
The broken sense of inspiration is better let alone than pieced out with additions of
a translator's own invention; it is like repairing pure gold with tinsel, or a mosaic of
gems with painted wood. The holy psalmist had seen the beginning of the ungodly,
and expected to see their end; he felt sure that God would right all wrongs, and
clear his Providence from the charge of favouring the unjust; this confidence he
here expresses, and sits down contentedly to wait the issues of the future.
EXPLA ATORY OTES A D QUAI T SAYI GS.
Ver. 11. Mine enemies. —The word here used rwv shur — occurs nowhere else. It
means, properly, a lier in wait, one who watches; one who is in ambush; and refers
to persons who watched his conduct; who watched for his ruin. —A. Barnes.
WHEDO , "11. Mine eye… shall see… desire—The enemies which were feared had
become powerless. God had made “the horn” of his power a terror to them, and the

57. gladness of promised victory had come to the author’s soul like fresh oil. His eye, his
ear, could desire no more. The expression “Thine eye shall see,” etc., denotes, Thou
shalt witness and consider. Compare Psalms 37:34; Psalms 59:10; Psalms 91:8. This
language is yet to receive, in the spiritual sphere, its highest fulfilment to the
Church.
BE SO , "Verse 11
Psalms 92:11. Mine eye also shall see my desire, &c. — The words, my desire, are
twice inserted in this verse by our translators, and it seems improperly, as there is
nothing for them in the original, which is literally, Mine eye also shall look upon
mine enemies, and mine ears shall hear of the wicked that rise up against me; nor
are they found in the Septuagint, or in several other versions ancient and modern.
There is indeed an ellipsis, but, as Dr. Horne observes, would it not be better to
supply it thus: “Mine eye shall behold the fall of mine enemies; and mine ears shall
hear of the destruction of the wicked?” &c. The psalmist undoubtedly foresaw their
dreadful doom, but we cannot infer, from that circumstance, that he desired it.
12 The righteous will flourish like a palm tree,
they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon;
BAR ES, "The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree - That is, the
beauty, the erectness, the stateliness, the growth of the palm-tree - all this is an emblem
of the condition, the prosperity, the happiness of a righteous man. The wicked shall be
cut down; but the righteous shall flourish. This image - the comparison of a righteous
man to a flourishing, majestic, green, and beautiful tree - is not uncommon in the
Scriptures. See the notes at Psa_1:3; compare Jer_17:8. On the “palm-tree,” see the
notes at Mat_21:8. “The stem,” says Dr. Thomson (“land and the Book,” vol. i. p. 65)”
tall, slender, and erect as Rectitude herself, suggests to the Arab poets many a symbol for
their lady-love; and Solomon, long before them, has sung, ‘How fair and how pleasant
art thou, O love! for delights; this thy stature is like the palm-tree.” Son_7:6-7. The
following remarks of Dr. Thomson (“land and the Book,” vol. i. pp. 65, 66) will illustrate
the passage before us; - “The palm grows slowly, but steadily, from century to century,
uninfluenced by those alternations of the seasons which affect other trees. It does not
rejoice overmuch in winter’s copious rain, nor does it droop under the drought and the
burning sun of summer. Neither heavy weights which people place upon its head, nor
the importunate urgency of the wind, can sway it aside from perfect uprightness. There
it stands, looking calmly down upon the world below, and patiently yielding its large

58. clusters of golden fruit from generation to generation. They ‘bring forth fruit in old age.’
The allusion to being planted in the house of the Lord is probably drawn from the
custom of planting beautiful and long-lived trees in the courts of temples and palaces,
and in all ‘high places’ used for worship.
This is still common; nearly every palace, and mosque, and convent in the country has
such trees in the courts, and, being well protected there, they flourish exceedingly.
Solomon covered all the walls of the ‘holy of holies’ round about with palm-trees. They
were thus planted, as it were, within the very house of the Lord; and their presence there
was not only ornamental, but appropriate and highly suggestive; the very best emblem,
not only of patience in well-doing, but of the rewards of the righteous - a fat and
flourishing old age - a peaceful end - a glorious immortality.” The following cut will
furnish an apt representation of the appearance of the tree, and a proper illustration of
the beauty of the passage before us.
He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon - On the cedars of Lebanon, see the notes
at Isa_2:13. The following remarks by Dr. Thomson (“land and the Book,” vol. i. pp. 292,
295), with the accompanying cut, will show the propriety of the image here. “The
platform where the cedars stand is more than six thousand feet above the
Mediterranean, and around it are gathered the very tallest and grayest heads of Lebanon.
The forest is not large - not more than five hundred trees, great and small, grouped
irregularly on the sides of shallow ravines, which mark the birthplace of the Khadisha, or
Holy River.
“But, though the space covered by them does not exceed half a dozen acres, yet, when
fairly within the grove, and beneath the giant arms of those old patriarchs of a hundred
generations, there comes a solemn hush upon the soul as if by enchantment. Precisely
the same sort of magic spell settles on the spirits, no matter how often you repeat your
visits. But it is most impressive in the night. Let us by all means arrange to sleep there.
The universal silence is almost painful. The gray old towers of Lebanon, still as a stone,
stand all around, holding up the stars of heaven to look at you, and the trees gather like
phantoms about you, and wink knowingly, or seem to, and whisper among themselves
you know not what. You become suspicious, nervous, until, broad awake, you find that it
is nothing but the flickering of your drowsy fire, and the feeble flutter of bats among the
boughs of the trees. A night among the cedars is never forgotten; the impressions,
electrotyped, are hid away in the inner chamber of the soul, among her choicest
treasures, to be visited a thousand times with never-failing delight.
“There is a singular discrepancy in the statements of travelers with regard to the
number of trees. Some mention seven, others thirteen - intending, doubtless, only those
whose age and size rendered them Biblical, or at least historical. It is not easy, however,
to draw any such line of demarcation. There is a complete gradation from small and
comparatively young to the very oldest patriarchs of the forest. I counted four hundred
and forty-three, great and small, and this cannot be far from the true number. This,
however, is not uniform. Some are struck down by lightning, broken by enormous loads
of snow, or torn to fragments by tempests. Even the sacrilegious axe is sometimes lifted
against them. But, on the other hand, young trees are constantly springing up from the
roots of old ones, and from seeds of ripe cones. I have seen these infant cedars in
thousands just springing from the soil; but as the grove is wholly unprotected, and
greatly frequented both by human beings and animals, they are quickly destroyed. The
fact, however, proves that the number might be increased “ad libitum.” Beyond a doubt,
the whole of these upper terraces of Lebanon might again be covered with groves of this
noble tree, and furnish timber enough not only for Solomon’s Temple and the house of
the forest of Lebanon, but for all the houses along this coast. But, unless a wiser and

59. more provident government controls the country, such a result can never be realized,
and, indeed, the whole forest will slowly die out under the dominion of the Arab and
Turk. Even in that case the tree will not be lost. It has been propagated by the nut or seed
in many parks in Europe, and there are more of them within fifty miles of London than
on all Lebanon.
“We have seen larger trees every way, and much taller, on the banks of the Ohio, and
the loftiest cedar might take shelter under the lowest branches of California’s vegetable
glories. Still, they are respectable trees. The girth of the largest is more than forty-one
feet; the height of the highest may be one hundred. These largest, however, part into two
or three only a few feet from the ground. Their age is very uncertain, nor are they more
ready to reveal it than others who have an uneasy consciousness of length of days. Very
different estimates have been made. Some of our missionary band, who have experience
in such matters, and confidence in the results, have counted the “growths” (as we
Western people call the annual concentric circles) for a few inches into the trunk of the
oldest cedar, and from such data carry back its birth three thousand five hundred years.
It may be so. They are carved full of names and dates, going back several generations,
and the growth “since the earliest date” has been almost nothing. At this rate of increase
they must have been growing ever since the Flood. But young trees enlarge far faster, so
that my confidence in estimates made from such specimens is but small.” The idea in the
passage before us is, that the righteous will flourish like the most luxuriant and majestic
trees of the forest; they may be compared with the most grand and beautiful objects in
nature.
CLARKE, "The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree - Very different
from the wicked, Psa_92:7, who are likened to grass. These shall have a short duration;
but those shall have a long and useful life. They are compared also to the cedar of
Lebanon, an incorruptible wood, and extremely long-lived. Mr. Maundrell, who visited
those trees in 1697, describes them thus: “These noble trees grow among the snow, near
the highest part of Lebanon. Some are very old, and of prodigious bulk. I measured one
of the largest, and found it twelve yards six inches in girt, and yet sound; and thirty-
seven yards in the spread of its boughs. At about five or six yards from the ground, it was
divided into live limbs, each of which was equal to a large tree.” Some of these trees are
supposed to have lived upwards of one thousand years! The figure of the palm-tree gives
us the idea of grandeur and usefulness. The fruit of the palm-tree makes a great part of
the diet of the people of Arabia, part of Persia, and Upper Egypt. The stones are ground
down for the camels; the leaves are made into baskets; the hard boughs, or rather strong
leaves, some being six or eight feet in length, make fences; the juice makes arrack, the
threads of the web-like integument between the leaves make ropes, and the rigging of
small vessels; and the wood serves for slighter buildings and fire-wood. In short, the
palm or date tree, and the olive, are two of the most excellent and useful productions of
the forest or the field.
The cedar gives us the idea of majesty, stability. durableness, and incorruptibility. To
these two trees, for the most obvious reasons, are the righteous compared. William
Lithgow, who traveled through the holy land about a.d. 1600, describes the cedars of
Mount Lebanon as “being in number twenty-four, growing after the manner of oaks, but
a great deal taller straighter, and thicker, and the branches growing so straight, and
interlocking, as though they were kept by art: and yet from the root to the top they bear
no boughs, but grow straight and upwards like to a palm-tree. Their circle-spread tops
do kiss or embrace the lower clouds, making their grandeur overlook the highest bodies

60. of all other aspiring trees. The nature of this tree is, that it is always green, yielding an
odoriferous smell, and an excellent kind of fruit, like unto apples, but of a sweeter taste,
and more wholesome. The roots of some of these cedars are almost destroyed by the
shepherds, who have made fires thereat, and holes where they sleep; yet nevertheless
they flourish green above, in the tops and branches.” - Lithgow’s 17 years’ Travels, 4th.,
London, 1640.
GILL, "The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree,.... Not like grass, as the
wicked, Psa_92:7 which is weak and tender, and soon cut down; but like trees, and like
palm trees, that are firm and strong, and of a long continuance: the word for righteous
being of the singular number, has led some to think that Christ is meant; but though he
is eminently the righteous One, being so in himself, and the author of righteousness to
others, yet not he, but his church and people, are compared to a palm tree, Son_7:7, the
reason why the singular number is made use of is, as Aben Ezra thinks, because the
righteous are very few, in comparison of the wicked: the sense is, that everyone of the
righteous, or everyone that is righteous, through the righteousness of Christ imputed to
them, and are created anew in righteousness and true holiness, and live soberly,
righteously, and godly, are like the flourishing palm trees; which grow upright, and
under the greatest pressures, and rise upwards against the greatest weight upon them
(e); whose force and vigour is on the top of them, which being cut off, they die; which
delight in hot climates and sunny places, bear a delicious fruit, are ever green, are very
durable, and their branches used in token of joy and victory; it is said to be a perfect
image of a man, and in many things to resemble him (f): so truly righteous persons are
upright ones in heart and life, grow up into their head, Christ, and rise up heavenwards
in their desires and affections; and, like the Israelites, the more they are pressed with the
weight of afflictions, the more they grow; their grace and strength, their life and rigour,
lie in their head, Christ; from whom was it possible they could be separated, as it is not,
they would instantly die; they flourish under him, the sun of righteousness, and his
warming beams of love, and bring forth the fruits of righteousness by him, to the glory of
God; their leaf of profession does not wither, but is always green; the grace of God,
which is in them, being an incorruptible and never dying seed: hence, in the issue, they
make that palm, bearing company in Rev_7:9 who are more than conquerors through
Christ, that has loved them: the Greek version is, "as the phoenix", which some of the
ancients understood of a bird so called, supposed to rise out of its ashes, and use it to
prove the resurrection of the dead (g):
he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon; where the best, tallest, largest, and
strongest cedars grow; See Gill on Isa_37:24 to which the righteous are compared, who
grow up by degrees higher and higher, even to the measure of the stature of the fulness
of Christ; and, stronger and stronger in him, go from strength to strength, having their
spiritual strength renewed by him; and cast forth their roots in him, like Lebanon, and
the cedars there; and spread their boughs and branches, like them, in the exercise of
grace and discharge of duty; and grow in every grace, of faith, hope, love, humility, self-
denial, and submission to the will of God, and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ; and are
durable as the cedar, never die, their life being hid with Christ in God. Kimchi refers this
to the days of the Messiah.
JAMISO , "The vigorous growth, longevity, utility, fragrance, and beauty of these
noble trees, set forth the life, character, and destiny of the pious;

61. CALVI , "12The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree. He now passes to the
consideration of another general truth, That though God may exercise his people
with many trials, subject them to hardships, and visit them with privations, he will
eventually show that he had not forgotten them. We need not be surprised that he
insists so explicitly and carefully upon this point, as nothing is more difficult than
for the saints of God to entertain expectations of being raised up and delivered when
they have been reduced almost to the state of the dead, and it does not appear how
they can live. Some think the cedar is mentioned from the fragrancy of its smell, and
the palm for the sweetness of its fruit; but this is too subtile a meaning to attach to
the words. The sense seems simply, that though the righteous may appear for a time
to be withered, or to have been cut down, they will again spring up with renewed
vigor, and flourish as well and as fair in the Church of God as the stateliest trees
upon Lebanon. The expression which is employed — planted in the house of the
Lord — gives the reason of their vigorous growth; nor is it meant that they have
merely a place there, (which can be said even of hypocrites,) but that they are firmly
fixed, and deeply rooted in it, so as to be united to God. The Psalmist speaks of the
courts of the Lord, because none but the priests were allowed to enter the holy
place; the people worshipped in the court. By those who are planted in the Church
he means such as are united to God in real and sincere attachment, and insinuates
that their prosperity cannot be of a changeable and fluctuating nature, because it is
not founded upon anything that is in the world. or indeed can we doubt that
whatever has its root, and is founded in the sanctuary, must continue to flourish and
partake of a life which is spiritual and everlasting. It is in this sense that he speaks
of their still budding forth, and being fat, even in old age, when the natural sap and
juices are generally dried up. The language amounts to saying that they are exempt
from the ordinary lot of men, and have a life which is taken from under the common
law of nature. (599) It is thus that Jacob, speaking of the great renovation which
should take place in the Church, mentions, that at that happy period he who was an
hundred years old should be a child, meaning that, though old age naturally tends to
death, and one who has lived a hundred years is upon the very borders of it, yet in
the kingdom of Christ; a man would be reckoned as being merely in his childhood,
and starting in life, who entered upon a new century. This could only be verified in
the sense, that after death we have another existence in heaven.
SPURGEO , "Ver. 12. The song now contrasts the condition of the righteous with
that of the graceless. The wicked "spring as the grass", but The righteous shall
flourish like a palm tree, whose growth may not be so rapid, but whose endurance
for centuries is in fine contrast with the transitory verdure of the meadow. When we
see a noble palm standing erect, sending all its strength upward in one bold column,
and growing amid the dearth and drought of the desert, we have a fine picture of
the godly man, who in his uprightness aims alone at the glory of God; and,
independent of outward circumstances, is made by divine grace to live and thrive
where all things else perish. The text tells us not only what the righteous is, but what
he shall be; come what may, the good man shall flourish, and flourish after the
noblest manner.
He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. This is another noble and long lived tree.
"As the days of a tree are the days of my people", saith the Lord. On the summit of

62. the mountain, unsheltered from the blast, the cedar waves its mighty branches in
perpetual verdure, and so the truly godly man under all adversities retains the joy
of his soul, and continues to make progress in the divine life. Grass, which makes
hay for oxen, is a good enough emblem of the unregenerate; but cedars, which build
the temple of the Lord, are none too excellent to set forth the heirs of heaven.
EXPLA ATORY OTES A D QUAI T SAYI GS.
Ver. 12. Like the palm tree. Look now at those stately palm trees, which stand here
and there on the plain, like military sentinels, with feathery plumes nodding
gracefully on their proud heads. The stem, tall, slender, and erect as Rectitude
herself, suggests to the Arab poets many a symbol for their lady love; and Solomon,
long before them, has sung, "How fair and how pleasant art thou, O love, for
delights! This thy stature is like a palm tree" (Song of Solomon 7:6-7). Yes; and
Solomon's father says, "The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree", etc. The royal
poet has derived more than one figure from the customs of men, and the habits of
this noble tree, with which to adorn his sacred ode. The palm grows slowly, but
steadily, from century to century uninfluenced by those alternations of the seasons
which affect other trees. It does not rejoice over much in winter's copious rain, nor
does it droop under the drought and the burning sun of summer. either heavy
weights which men place upon its head, nor the importunate urgency of the wind,
can sway it aside from perfect uprightness. There it stands, looking calmly down
upon the world below, and patiently yielding its large clusters of golden fruit from
generation to generation. They bring forth fruit in old age.
The allusion to being planted in the house of the Lord is probably drawn from the
custom of planting beautiful and long lived trees in the courts of temples and
palaces, and in all "high places" used for worship. This is still common; nearly
every palace, and mosque, and convent in the country has such trees in the courts,
and being well protected there, they flourish exceedingly. Solomon covered all the
walls of the "Holy of Holies" round about with palm trees. They were thus planted,
as it were, within the very house of the Lord; and their presence there was not only
ornamental, but appropriate and highly suggestive. The very best emblem, not only
of patience in well doing, but of the rewards of the righteous—a fat and flourishing
old age—a peaceful end—a glorious immortality. —W.M. Thomson.
Ver. 12. The palm tree. The palms were entitled by Linnaeus, "the princes of the
vegetable world"; and Von Martius enthusiastically says, "The common world
atmosphere does not become these vegetable monarchs: but in those genial climes
where nature seems to have fixed her court, and summons around her of flowers,
and fruits, and trees, and animated beings, a galaxy of beauty, —there they tower
up into the balmy air, rearing their majestic stems highest and proudest of all. Many
of them, at a distance, by reason of their long perpendicular shafts, have the
appearance of columns, erected by the Divine architect, bearing up the broad arch
of heaven above them, crowned with a capital of gorgeous green foliage." And
Humboldt speaks of them as "the loftiest and stateliest of all vegetable forms." To
these, above all other trees, the prize of beauty has always been awarded by every
nation, and it was from the Asiatic palm world, or the adjacent countries, that
human civilization sent forth the first rays of its early dawn.
On the northern borders of the Great Desert, at the foot of the Atlas mountains, the
groves of date palms form the great feature of that parched region, and few trees

63. besides can maintain an existence. The excessive dryness of this arid tract, where
rain seldom falls, is such that wheat refuses to grow, and even barley, maize, and
Caffre corn, (Holcus sorghum,)afford the husbandman only a scanty and uncertain
crop. The hot blasts from the south are scarcely supportable even by the native
himself, and yet here forests of date palms flourish, and form a screen impervious to
the rays of the sun, beneath the shade of which the lemon, the orange, and the
pomegranate, are cherished, and the vine climbs up by means of its twisted tendrils;
and although reared in constant shade, all these fruits acquire a more delicious
flavour than in what would seem a more favourable climate. How beautiful a
comment do these facts supply to the words of Holy Writ, "The righteous shall
flourish like the palm tree!" Unmoved by the scorching and withering blasts of
temptations or persecutions, the Christian sustained by the secret springs of Divine
grace, lives and grows in likeness to his Divine Master, when all others are
overcome, and their professions wither. How striking is the contrast in the psalm.
The wicked and worldlings are compared to grass, which is at best but of short
duration, and which is easily withered; but the emblem of the Christian is the palm
tree, which stands for centuries. Like the grateful shade of the palm groves, the
Christian extends around him a genial, sanctified, and heavenly influence; and just
as the great value of the date palm lies in its abundant, wholesome, and delicious
fruit, so do those who are the true disciples of Christ abound in "fruits of
righteousness", for, said our Saviour, "Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear
much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples."
—"The Palm Tribes and their Varieties." R.T. Society's Monthly Volume.
Ver. 12. The righteous shall flourish. David here tells us how he shall flourish. "He
shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon." Of the
wicked he had said just before, "When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all
the workers of iniquity do flourish; it is that they shall be destroyed for ever." They
flourish as the grass, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven. What a
contrast with the worthlessness, the weakness, transitoriness, and destiny, of grassâ
€”in a warm country too—are the palm tree and cedar of Lebanon! They are
evergreens. How beautifully, how firmly, how largely, they grow! How strong and
lofty is the cedar! How upright, and majestic, and tall, the palm tree. The palm also
bears fruit, called dates, like bunches of grapes. It sometimes yields a
hundredweight at once.
He tells us where he shall flourish. "Those that be planted in the house of the Lord
shall flourish in the courts of our God." The allusion is striking. It compares the
house of God to a garden, or fine well watered soil, favourable to the life, and
verdure, and fertility, of the trees fixed there. The reason is, that in the sanctuary we
have the communion of saints. There our fellowship is with the Father, and with his
Son Jesus Christ. There are dispensed the ordinances of religion, and the word of
truth. There God commandeth the blessing, even life for evermore.
He also tells us when he shall flourish. "They shall still bring forth fruit in old age."
This is to show the permanency of their principles, and to distinguish them from
natural productions.
"The plants of grace shall ever live;
ature decays, but grace must thrive;
Time, that doth all things else impair,

64. Still makes them flourish strong and fair."
The young Christian is lovely, like a tree in the blossoms of spring: the aged
Christian is valuable, like a tree in autumn, bending with ripe fruit. We therefore
look for something superior in old disciples. More deadness to the world, the vanity
of which they have had more opportunities to see; more meekness of wisdom; more
disposition to make sacrifices for the sake of peace; more maturity of judgment in
divine things; more confidence in God; more richness of experience.
He also tells us why he shall flourish. "They shall be fat and flourishing; to shew
that the Lord is upright." We might rather have supposed that it was necessary to
shew that they were upright. But by the grace of God they are what they are—not
they, but the grace of God which is in them. From him is their fruit found. Their
preservation and fertility, therefore, are to the praise and glory of God; and as what
he does for them he had engaged to do, it displays his truth as well as his mercy, and
proves that he is upright. —William Jay.
Ver. 12. The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree.
1. The palm tree grows in the desert. Earth is a desert to the Christian; true
believers are ever refreshed in it as a palm is in the Arabian desert. So Lot amid
Sodom's wickedness, and Enoch who walked with God amongst the antediluvians.
2. The palm tree grows from the sand, but the sand is not its food; water from below
feeds its tap roots, though the heavens above be brass. Some Christians grow, not as
the lily, Hosea 14:5, by green pastures, or the willow by water courses, Isaiah 44:4,
but as the palm of the desert; so Joseph among the Cat-worshippers of Egypt,
Daniel in voluptuous Babylon. Faith's penetrating root reaches the fountains of
living waters.
3. The palm tree is beautiful, with its tall and verdant canopy, and the silvery flashes
of its waving plumes; so the Christian virtues are not like the creeper or bramble,
tending downwards, their palm branches shoot upwards, and seek the things above
where Christ dwells, Colossians 3:1 : some trees are crooked and gnarled, but the
Christian is a tall palm as a son of the light, Matthew 3:12; Philippians 2:15. The
Jews were called a crooked generation, De 32:5, and Satan a crooked serpent, Isaiah
27:1, but the Christian is upright like the palm. Its beautiful, unfading leaves make
it an emblem of victory; it was twisted into verdant booths at the feast of
Tabernacles; and the multitude, when escorting Christ to his coronation in
Jerusalem, spread leaves on the way, Matthew 21:8; so victors in heaven are
represented as having palms in their hands, Revelation 7:9. o dust adheres to the
leaf as it does with the battree; the Christian is in the world, not of it; the dust of
earth's desert adheres not to his palm leaf. The leaf of the palm is the same—it does
not fall in winter, and even in the summer it has no holiday clothing, it is an
evergreen; the palm trees' rustling is the desert orison.
4. The palm tree is very useful. The Hindus reckon it has 360 uses. Its shadow
shelters, its fruit refreshes the weary traveller, it points out the place of water, such
was Barnabas, a son of consolation, Acts 4:36; such Lydia, Dorcas, and others, who
on the King's highway showed the way to heaven, as Philip did to the Ethiopian
eunuch, Acts 9:34. Jericho was called the City of Palms, De 34:3.
5. The palm tree produces even to old age. The best dates are produced when the
tree is from thirty to one hundred years old; 300 pounds of dates are annually
yielded: so the Christian grows happier and more useful as he becomes older.

65. Knowing his own faults more, he is more mellow to others: he is like the sun setting,
beautiful, mild, and large, looking like Elim, where the wearied Jews found twelve
wells and seventy palm trees. —J. Long, in "Scripture Truth in Oriental Dress",
1871.
Ver. 12. Palm trees. The open country moreover wears a sad aspect now: the soil is
rent and dissolves into dust at every breath of wind; the green of the meadows is
almost entirely gone, —the palm tree alone preserves in the drought and heat its
verdant root of leaves. —Gotthelf H. von Schubert, 1780-1860.
Ver. 12. A cedar in Lebanon. Laying aside entirely any enquiry as to the palm tree,
and laying aside the difficulty contained in the Psalms 92:13, I have only to compare
this description of the cedar in Lebanon with the accounts of those who have visited
them in modern days. Without believing (as the Maronites or Christian inhabitants
of the mountains do), that the seven very ancient cedars which yet remain in the
neighbourhood of the village of Eden in Lebanon are the remains of the identical
forest which furnished Solomon with timber for the Temple, full three thousand
years ago, they can yet were be proved to be of very great antiquity. These very
cedars were visited by Belonius in 1550, nearly three hundred years ago, who found
them twenty-eight in number. Rawolf, in 1575, makes them twenty-four. Dandini, in
1600, and Thevenot about fifty years after, make them twenty-three. Maundrell, in
1696, found them reduced to sixteen. Pococke, in 1738, found fifteen standing, and a
sixteenth recently blown down, or (may we not conjecture?) shivered by the voice of
God. In 1810, Burckhardt counted eleven or twelve; and Dr. Richardson, in 1818,
states them to be no more than seven. There cannot be a doubt, then, that these
cedars which were esteemed ancient nearly three hundred years ago, must be of a
very great antiquity; and yet they are described by the last of these travellers as
"large, and tall, and beautiful, the most picturesque productions of the vegetable
world that we had seen." The oldest are large and massy, rearing their heads to an
enormous height, and spreading their branches afar. Pococke also remarks, that
"the young cedars are not easily known from pines. I observed, they bear a greater
quantity of fruit than the large ones." This shows that the old ones still bear fruit,
though not so abundantly as the young cedars, which, according to Richardson, are
very productive, and cast many seeds annually. How appropriate, then, and full of
meaning, is the imagery of the Psalmist: "The righteous shall flourish like the palm
tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They shall still bring forth fruit in old
age; they shall be fat and flourishing." —R.M. Macheyne.
Ver. 12-15. The life and greenness of the branches in an honour to the root by which
they live. Spiritual greenness and fruitfulness is in a believer an honour to Jesus
Christ who is his life. The fulness of Christ is manifested by the fruitfulness of a
Christian. —Ralph Robinson.
ELLICOTT, "(12) Palm tree.—This is the only place where the palm appears as an
emblem of moral rectitude and beauty of character, yet its aptness for such
comparison has often been noticed. (See Tristram’s atural History of the Bible, p.
384; and comp. Thomson’s The Land and the Book, p. 49.)
A moral use was more often made of the cedar. Emblem of kingly might, it also
became the type of the imperial grandeur of virtuous souls. (See Bible Educator, iii.

66. 379.)
The contrast of the palm’s perennial verdure, and the cedar’s venerable age, an age
measured not by years, but by centuries, with the fleeting moments of the brief day
of the grass, to which the wicked are compared (Psalms 92:7), is very striking, as
striking as that in Psalms 1 between the empty husk and the flourishing fruit-tree.
WHEDO , "12. The righteous shall flourish—The psalmist now drops the first
person, as used in Psalms 92:4; Psalms 92:10-11, and again speaks in general terms
of general principles.
Like the palm—This tree was long-lived, vigorous, fresh in its growth, perpetual in
its verdure, and renowned for its beauty and fertility. Song of Solomon 7:7. It was
once the glory of Palestine, though now almost perished from the land. The
branches of the palm were used as the emblem of joy and triumph, (Leviticus 23:40;
ehemiah 8:15; John 12:12-13; Revelation 7:9;) but the metaphor in the text is
based on the fresh, rapid, and healthful growth of the tree, as the word “flourish”
indicates. See the use of this word in Ezekiel 17:24; Isaiah 35:1-2, translated
blossom;Song of Solomon 6:11; Song of Solomon 7:12; Psalms 92:13.
Cedar—The pride of the mountain, as the palm was of the lower lands. It is
celebrated for its breadth of branch, its majesty, its verdure, and its utility.
BE SO , "Psalms 92:12. The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree — Which
is constantly green and flourishing, spreads its branches very wide, and grows to a
vast size, affording a most refreshing shade to travellers. It also produces dates, a
very sweet, luscious, and grateful kind of fruit; is a most beautiful tree, and every
way an invaluable treasure to the inhabitants of those hot countries, and therefore a
fit emblem of the flourishing state of a righteous man. He shall grow like a cedar in
Lebanon — The cedars in Lebanon are immensely large, being some of them thirty-
five, or even forty feet in the girt, and thirty-seven yards in the spread of their
boughs. They flourish for ages, and are always green; and, when cut down, yield a
most beautiful kind of wood, inclining to a brown colour, solid, durable, and, in
some sort, incorruptible. These then, as well as the palm-trees, compared with the
short-lived and withering grass, are a striking illustration of the well-founded,
durable, and continually increasing virtue and happiness of the truly righteous, in
opposition to the momentary, trifling, and perpetually decaying prosperity of the
wicked.
PULPIT, "The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree. To an Oriental the palm is
the queen of trees. "Of all vegetable forms," says Humboldt, "the palm is that to
which the prize of beauty has been assigned by the concurrent voice of nations in all
ages". Its stately growth, and graceful form, its perpetual verdure, its lovely and
luxuriant fruit, together with its manifold uses (Strabo, 16.1, § 14), give it
precedence over all other vegetable growths in the eyes that are accustomed to rest
upon it. It is rather remarkable that, in the Old Testament, it is used as a figure for
beauty only here and in So Psalms 7:7. Man, in his most flourishing growth, is

67. ordinarily compared either to the cedar (2 Kings 14:9; So 2 Kings 5:15; Ezekiel
31:3-9; Amos 2:9, etc.)or the olive tree ( 9:8, 9:9; Psalms 52:8; Jeremiah 11:16;
Hosea 14:6, etc.). He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon (see, besides the passages
already quoted, 2 Kings 19:23; 2 Chronicles 2:8; Jeremiah 22:23; Zechariah 11:1).
COKE, "Psalms 92:12. The righteous shall flourish, &c.— The flourishing state of
the righteous in this verse, is beautifully opposed to that of the wicked, Psalms 92:7.
For of these it is intimated, that their prosperity should be momentary, trifling, and
perpetually decaying: but the prosperity of the righteous shall be well-founded,
durable, and continually increasing. When the wicked flourish, it is only said of
them, that they are green as the grass; of which our Saviour says, To-day it is, and
to-morrow is cast into the oven. But the righteous flourish like a palm-tree, and
spread abroad their boughs like a cedar in Lebanon. The better to illustrate the
force of this comparison, I shall add Mr. Maundrell's account of the cedars of
Libanus, who paid them a visit in the month of May 1697. "These noble trees grow
among the snow near the highest part of Lebanon; and are remarkable, as well for
their old age and largeness, as for those frequent allusions made to them in the word
of God. Here are some of them very old, and of a prodigious bulk; and others
younger, of a smaller size. Of the former I could reckon up only sixteen; and the
latter are very numerous. I measured one of the largest, and found it twelve yards
six inches in girt, and yet sound; and thirty-seven yards in the spread of its boughs.
At about five or six yards from the ground it was divided into five limbs; each of
which was equal to a great tree." This account adds a beauty to that passage, Psalms
104:16 where God is said to have planted the cedars of Lebanon. See Travels, p. 142.
REFLECTIO S.—1st,
1. The Psalmist encourages us to join heartily in the sacred song. It is a good thing to
give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High; it is
both our duty and privilege, the tribute of gratitude we owe, and the preparation for
the service of heaven; and abundant matter we have for the blessed service, to shew
forth thy loving-kindness in the morning, the various instances of it that we have
experienced in providential care, and especially in the spiritual blessings obtained
by Christ Jesus, and thy faithfulness every night; not merely confining our grateful
acknowledgment to one day, but day and night continually, as most bounden,
ascribing to God the glory due unto his name, whose mercy and truth never fail.
ote; (1.) Whatever our engagements may be, we are bound at least to begin and
end each day with prayer and praise. (2.) They who have themselves a deep
experience of the divine love and faithfulness, will delight to be telling of his
salvation from day to day.
2. He sets before us his own example for our imitation. Thou, Lord, hast made me
glad through thy work; the works of creation and providence, or rather of
redemption and grace by Jesus Christ: an experimental knowledge of which is
matter of the most enlivening joy: I will triumph in the works of thy hands. O Lord,
how great are thy works! when we contemplate the works of creation, providence,

68. redemption, and grace, we are lost in admiration, and can only wonder and adore;
and the thoughts are very deep, unfathomable by the shallow line of human reason,
and above our conception as the heaven is higher than the earth.
3. They who disregard the works of God, and neglect to praise him, are brutish and
wicked. A brutish man knoweth not: neither doth a fool understand this; by the
indulgence of their appetites they degrade themselves into beasts; and, brutish in
their knowledge, looking no higher than the earth, nor farther than the grave, they
leave God far above out of their sight, insensible of all his mercies, and negligent of
his service.
2nd, The Psalmist triumphs over his enemies, and in God's love and favour to
himself and all his faithful ones.
1. He expects to see the ruin of the wicked, however prosperous and proud. When
the wicked spring as the grass, so numerous and vigorous, and when all the workers
of iniquity do flourish, in health, wealth, power, and every earthly possession, it is
that they shall be destroyed for ever: their prosperity becomes their ruin, and they
are only fattened for the slaughter. But thou, Lord, art most high for evermore,
reigning over all, abasing the proud, and ever living to inflict on them their deserved
punishment. For lo, thine enemies, O Lord, for lo, thine enemies shall perish; for
such are all the workers of wickedness, who daringly oppose the most High, reject
his government, and rebel against his crown and dignity; but vain their impotent
malice, they must perish under his eternal wrath; and all the workers of iniquity
shall be scattered, their schemes frustrated, their combinations broken, their ruin
irrecoverable and everlasting, when God shall say unto them, Depart, ye cursed, &c.
But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn, establishing his royal
authority, and exalting his throne on high. This may be applied to the Messiah, who
is the horn of salvation, raised up from the house of David, Luke 1:69. And thus also
will all the faithful at the last day be set above their enemies. I shall be anointed with
fresh oil; every attack of his foes should only serve to bring renewed supplies of
grace, strength, and divine consolations into his soul. Mine eye also shall be my
desire an mine enemies: and mine ears shall hear my desire of the wicked that rise
up against me, whose power to hurt shall be broken, and God glorified in their
punishment. ote; (1.) All the enemies of Christ and his people rage in vain; they
who will not submit to his government, must perish together and for ever under his
vengeance. (2.) Though we may not wish evil to our bitterest enemies through any
private revenge, we cannot but desire to see the power of the wicked restrained, and
God's glory manifested in his righteous judgments.
2. He expects to see the exaltation of the saints of God, however now depressed and
low. The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree; whatever burdens are laid on
him, he shall not only be enabled to support them, but prosper in his soul under the
load. Crescit sub pondere virtus. He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon, strong and
high, reaching to the heavens, and unmoved by stormy blasts. Such is the faithful
believer, going from strength to strength, having his affections set on heaven and
heavenly things, and rooted in Christ. Those that be planted in the house of the

69. Lord, removed from the wilderness of the world, grafted into Christ, and thus
transplanted into his church, where they partake of the heavenly dew of divine
benediction, and in the word and ordinances are watered day by day, these shall
flourish in the courts of our God, being full of sap derived from Christ the living
root, and adorning the doctrine of God their Saviour in all things. They shall bring
forth fruit in old age, grace being often most vigorous and fruitful when nature's
strength decays: they shall be fat and flourishing, partaking of the fatness of the
root; Romans 11:17 walking in the most enlivened exercise of divine grace, and
abounding in every good work: To shew that the Lord is upright, true to all his
promises, carrying his faithful people on to hoary hairs and to eternal glory. He is
my rock, firm and stable; such the Psalmist had by experience proved him to be,
and so will every soul that perseveringly trusts upon him; and their is no
unrighteousness in him; he never raises expectations to disappoint them, what he
promises he fully performs; and fails not to punish the workers of iniquity, for just
and right is he.
CO STABLE, "Palm trees produced tasty fruit, so they symbolized fruitfulness.
Cedars were not subject to decay, so they stood for long life in the ancient ear
Eastern mentality (cf. Psalm 92:7). Both types of trees were also beautiful and
desirable. The writer likened the godly to these trees planted in the temple environs.
They represent people who delight in drawing near to God (cf. Psalm 1:3; Psalm
52:8). Such people praise God for His consistent righteousness. Because of His
unwavering righteousness, He is a sure foundation-similar to a large rock-on whom
people can build their lives (cf. Matthew 7:24-27). [ ote: See Richard D. Patterson,
" Psalm 92:12-15: The Flourishing of the Righteous," Bibliotheca Sacra166:663
(July-September2009):271-88.]
Reflection on God"s good acts and His righteous character gives His people
optimism as they face life. As believers, we can see things in their proper perspective
and go through life rejoicing.
EXPOSITOR'S DICTIO ARY OF TEXTS, "Is called by Dante (Purg. XXVIII:80),
Il Salmo Delectasti, because, in the Vulgate, the4th verse begins with the words,
"Thou hast made me glad". A beautiful female form, representing the higher life, is
introduced as saying, "She is so happy because she can sing like the Psalm
Delectasti, "Thou, Lord, hast made me glad through Thy work"". Casaubon was
one of the most learned men of his age, and truly devout. He was so humble and
reticent, that some doubted his religious spirit; but there is an incident he records in
his diary which reveals it, and which shows the hold the book of Psalm had on the
hearts of Christians of that time. He and his wife, residing in Paris, wished to go to
the Protestant Church of Charenton. There was only a frail old boat to take them up
the Seine, but they ventured it rather than lose the service. "On embarking," he
says, "my wife, as her custom was, began to sing the Psalm. We had finished Psalm
XCI. and had reached Psalm 92:12, when the boat sank. With difficulty we saved
our lives, but the Psalm -book, which had been a wedding gift to my wife twenty-two
years before, was lost. We reached in time for the second service; and on looking
into the book of a young man near me to see what was being sung, I found it was

70. Psalm 86:13, "for great is Thy mercy towards me: and Thou hast delivered my soul
from the lowest grave". I thought immediately of the word of St. Ambrose, that
"those who listen to, or read, the Psalm aright may find as if. they had been indited
expressly for themselves"."
References.—XCII:2.—Spurgeon, Morning by Morning, p227. Ibid. Sermons, vol.
xix. o1138. XCII:6.—W. L. Alexander, Sermons, p191. XCII:10.—M. O. Evans,
Christian World Pulpit, 1891 , p322. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xix. o1122.
The Palm-tree
Psalm 92:12
There is a singular Rabbinical tradition that the92Psalm was composed and sung by
Adam in Paradise to celebrate God"s power in creation. "For Thou, Lord, hast
made me glad through Thy work: I will triumph in the works of Thy hands" (v4).
More in accordance with its actual history is the fact that this Psalm was sung in the
temple services every Sabbath morning at the time of the offering of the first lamb,
when the wine was poured out as a drink-offering unto the Lord. It is still used in
the Sabbatical services of the synagogue: and so this92Psalm has been interwoven
with the religious history of the Jewish race for nearly three thousand years.
The great thought of the Psalmist is to express his joy in the clear conviction of
God"s righteous government of the world, manifested in the final overthrow of the
wicked and the triumph of the righteous.
I have singled out the palm-tree as the subject of my sermon because I believe there
is not in the Word of God a more striking type of the Christian life. I believe, with
Basil, that ature, as the handmaid of Revelation , is the "school and lecture-room
of souls". To the sanctified imagination, creation is instinct with Divine teaching. In
spring, the seed sown—some falling among thorns and some by the wayside, some
on the rocky ground and some in the good soil—has its lessons of warning and
instruction. In the summer, the new-mown grass speaks to us of the brevity of life.
"All flesh is as grass." The golden sheaves of autumn remind us of the harvest at the
end of the world; whilst the purity of winter"s snow tells us that, although our sins
may be as scarlet, yet that we may, through pardoning grace and justifying
righteousness, be as white as snow.
The tall, stately palm, with its dark, pillar-like shaft, and its capital of feathery
fronds, is one of the most graceful objects in nature. I am not surprised that
Linnaeus should call this tree "the prince of the vegetable world," or that Humboldt
should speak of the palm as "the loftiest and stateliest of all vegetable forms".
Whilst this tree is associated, speaking generally, with that part of the world which
was the cradle of the human race, it is especially connected with the land of
Palestine. The word Phoenicia is doubtless derived from the Greek word for palm.
So much was the palm the representative tree of Palestine that Vespasian, when
striking a coin to commemorate the capture of Jerusalem by Titus , depicts Judaea

71. as a woman sitting dejected and desolate beneath a palm-tree, guarded by a Roman
soldier. The Middle Ages continued this connexion of thought by giving the name of
Palmer to the pilgrim who had returned from the Holy Sepulchre, because of the
custom of bringing home the sacred branch. The palm was to Syria what the oak is
to England, the spruce to orway, the pine to Canada, and the chestnut to Spain—
the representative tree.
I. It often flourishes in the desert, and always indicates moisture. We are told by
travellers that on the northern borders of the Great Desert, under the Atlas
Mountains, groves of palms are the great feature of the arid region. The heat is so
intense that even the natives can scarcely endure the scorching blast when the wind
blows from the south; and yet here, as we have observed, the palm flourishes. What
is the explanation? Beneath the sand is moisture. The palm-tree rises from the
sterile surface, but its tap-root drinks in the water from beneath. These palms of the
desert seem to be striking emblems of many Christian lives. All men are equally
dependent upon the aid of the Holy Spirit, but how different are the influences
which surround the children of God! Some are planted, not as the palms in the Plain
of Jericho, nor as willows by the water-courses, but rather as palms in the sterile
desert. When we think of a man like Lot in Sodom, or of Joseph in Egypt, of
Obadiah in the court of Ahab, of Daniel in Babylon, of saints in Caesar"s
household, we ask, How could they live a life of holiness in such a moral desert?
They were in the world and not of it! How can this thing be? Faith"s penetrating
root reached the fountain of living water. Their life was "hid with Christ in God".
II. The palm-tree grows as long as it lives. Physically we are like the Exogens, the
oak and the elm, etc. We grow to maturity, and then imperceptibly we begin to
decay. It is a law of our nature, but God never intended that it should be thus with
our inner life, with the growth of grace in the soul. If we are truly children of God,
we shall be like the palm. We shall grow till we die. "The righteous shall flourish
like the palm-tree." We shall "go from strength to strength" until every one
appeareth before God in Zion.
III. The palm-tree gives a grateful shade. The Christian ought to extend a genial, a
sanctified, and a heavenly influence. If we think of a palm-grove as a picture of
Christianity, we observe what beneficent institutions have grown beneath its
shadow.
IV. The main feature of the palm is its upward growth—its tall, straight shaft. The
idols of the Gentiles are compared to it. "They are upright as the palm-tree" (
Jeremiah 10:5). The affections of a righteous man are set on things above, and not
on things below. They are ever moving heavenward, where Christ is. He is ever
desiring more intimate communion with Jesus, ever breathing after heavenly joys,
ever seeking a greater conformity to his Master, till he comes, "in the unity of the
faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect Prayer of Manasseh ,
unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ".
V. The palm has ever been the emblem of joy and victory. Palm branches were used

72. by the Greeks and Romans to celebrate their triumphs. So the saint on earth is
victorious over sin and Satan and the world. He is more than conqueror "through
Him that hath loved him," and ere long he will join the "palmiferous company,"
that "great multitude which no man can number, of all nations, and kindreds, and
peoples, and tongues," standing "before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed
with white robes, and palms in their hands".
—J. W. Bardsley, Many Mansions, p80.
Three Typical Forms of Growth
Psalm 92:12
There are three typical ideas illustrated in the realm of plant life.
I. The palm is what is known as an Endogen, or inside grower, that Isaiah , the
oldest and hardest wood is at the circumference, the newest and softest at the centre.
Man"s life is very much moulded and determined by his surroundings and by the
intricate network of influences that hedge him in. Anyone, when once awakened to
the sense of spiritual realities, and seeking to work out his own righteousness,
appreciates the value of all outward helps, and accordingly makes diligent use of
them. But the result is unsatisfactory. The deep places of the heart too often remain
untouched.
II. The cedar is an Exogen, that Isaiah , it grows from the centre to the
circumference, like most of our finest trees, adding a new ring of growth to the
outside every successive year, so that you can tell its age by the number of
concentric rings which the horizontal section of its stem exhibits. This is the method
of growth more especially illustrated in the evangelic or Protestant form of
Christianity. ormal Christianity begins with the heart. A leading peculiarity of the
cedar and other plants which are marked by a growth from the centre to the
circumference, is that they send out branches, and, being expansive, often cover an
extensive area. Religious character is a growing thing, year by year, necessarily
expanding and progressive, reaching forward to further and happier results, never
satisfied with past attainments, but striving unceasingly after fuller unfolding and
perfecting of character.
III. There is a third typical form, as may be instanced in the tree fern. This typical
form is called by the botanist an Acrogen or top-grower, the growth of every
successive year being a fresh layer of new wood on the summit of the former year"s
growth, suggesting the fact that your life must be upward as well as inward and
outward, nearer to God, more heavenly. This growth Godward and heavenward
will best insure the growth both of your inner being and that of the more outward
aspects of Christian life.
—J. Miller, Sermons Literary and Scientific, p172.

73. The Blessing of Righteousness
Psalm 92:12
You will at once see by looking at this text that it is an exceedingly precious promise
The condition of the promise is that of righteousness. I. The righteous man is the
man who is in right relation with God, who has been made right, who has been
properly adjusted to the law and the plan of Divine government for his life. Man in
Adam lost his righteousness, and hence the work of God from that sad day until this
good hour has been to bring man back into proper relationship and fellowship with
God, and in order that that might be done it was necessary there should be
atonement. The whole race of mankind has been redeemed and made righteous in
the atoning death of Jesus Christ. But even this is conditional. It is here provided in
the atonement of Jesus Christ, but no man ever shares that which is provided in this
marvellous atonement until he comes, submitting by an act of his faith, and
appropriates the merits of this atonement. To share the blessings of this promise
there must be adjustment made between the soul and God. The soul must look up
and receive by faith the atoning merit of the grace of Jesus Christ.
II. ow David is taking a simple everyday illustration, and with it he is attempting
to teach the most profound and the most blessed truth. First of all, it is said of the
palm-tree that it is the only tree that has its growth from the heart out. The
righteous is a man whose growth shall be from within out. It is at the heart that the
Spirit of God aims His first work, and from the heart to the head and to the feet and
to the hands goes the Spirit of God, ramifying every avenue of our being in the
likeness of Christ.
III. Then, again, let me say that the righteous shall grow like the palm-tree in that
the palm-tree will not mix with any other tree. You cannot graft a palm-tree, you
cannot graft anything to a palm-tree; the moment you begin a grafting process with
the palm-tree it dies. The righteous man shall be a man that can live in any
community and not find himself taken up with the conduct of the community in
which he lives, provided that community is unrighteous.
IV. It is said by travellers in Eastern countries that as they pass through the desert
regions the sight of the palm-tree, which tells of water near by, is greeted with great
joy. So it is with the righteous man who is in right relationship with God, spiritually
and bodily—that man is a sign of joy. He is a great comfort to this sorrowing world.
Wherever a, righteous man is found, a man in right relationship with God and right
relationship with his fellow-men, he has got a reputation, and his reputation is like
an oasis in the great desert world of need; and so it is with the Church.
—Len. G. Broughton, The Homiletic Review, 1908 , vol. LVI. p466.
EBC, "The last part extends the thoughts of Psalms 92:12 to all the righteous. It
does not name them, for it is needless to do so. Imagery and reality are fused
together in this strophe. It is questionable whether there are trees planted in the

74. courts of the Temple; but the psalmist’s thought is that the righteous will surely be
found there, and that it is their native soil, in which rooted, they are permanent. The
facts underlying the somewhat violent metaphor are that true righteousness is found
only in the dwellers with God, that they who anchor themselves in Him as a tree in
the earth, are both stayed on, and fed from Him. The law of physical decay does not
enfeeble all the powers of devout men, even while they are subject to it. As aged
palm trees bear the heaviest clusters, so lives which are planted in and nourished
from God know no term of their fruitfulness, and are full of sap and verdant, when
lives that have shut themselves off from Him are like an old stump, gaunt and dry,
fit only for firewood. Such lives are prolonged and made fruitful, as standing proofs
that Jehovah is upright, rewarding all cleaving to Him and doing of His will, With
conservation of strength, and ever-growing power to do His will.
SIMEO , "THE BELIEVER’S SECURITY
Psalms 92:12-15. The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree: he shall grow like a
cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in
the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat
and flourishing; to shew that the Lord is upright: he is my rock, and there is no
unrighteousness in him.
WELL may we be filled with gratitude, whilst we contemplate the wonders of
creation and of providence [ ote: ver. 1–5.]: but deeper far are the wonders of
redeeming love, secured as they are to the saints by the immutable perfections of
God. “A brutish man, indeed, knows them not; nor does a fool understand them
[ ote: ver. 6,]:” but those who “are anointed with that heavenly unction which
teacheth them all things [ ote: 1 John 2:20; 1 John 2:27.]” have an insight into
them, and can attest the truth of the assertions of the Psalmist, whilst he declares,
I. The privileges of the righteous—
“The righteous” are indeed highly favoured of the Lord. To them, amidst
innumerable other blessings, are secured,
1. Stability—
[“The palm-tree and the cedar” are trees of most majestic growth; the one retaining
its foliage all the year, and the other pre-eminent in respect of strength and
durability. And like these shall the righteous “flourish:” nothing shall despoil them
of their beauty, nothing shall subvert their souls — — — They may indeed be
assailed with many storms and tempests; but they shall not be cast down; or, if cast
down, shall not be destroyed [ ote: Job 5:19. Psalms 34:19. 2 Corinthians 4:8-10.]
— — — Being once “planted in the house of the Lord, they shall flourish in the
courts of our God,” never withering for want of nourishment [ ote: Psalms 1:3 and
Jeremiah 17:8.], nor ever decaying by the lapse of years [ ote: Isaiah 65:22.].]
2. Fruitfulness—

75. [The Gospel, wherever it comes, brings forth fruit [ ote: Colossians 1:6.]; and all
who receive it aright become “fat and flourishing,” “being filled with the fruits of
righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God [ ote:
Philippians 1:11.]. For every season in the year they have appropriate fruit [ ote:
Ezekiel 47:12.]: and even to “old age,” when other trees decay, these retain their
vigour and fertility. There may, indeed, be a difference in the fruits produced by
them at the different periods of life; that of youth being more beauteous to the eye;
and that of age, more pleasant to the taste, as savouring less of crudity, and as being
more richly flavoured through the influence of many ripening suns. “The fruits of
the Spirit,” indeed, are seen in both [ ote: Galatians 5:22-23.]; but in one, the fruit
of activity and zeal; and in the other, a patient waiting for the coming of their Lord
[ ote: 1 Corinthians 1:7.]. To the latest hour of their existence shall they bring forth
fruit unto God [ ote: Hosea 14:5-7.], and God shall be “glorified in them [ ote:
Isaiah 61:3.].” ever shall their leaf wither or their fruit fail, till they are
transplanted to the Paradise above.]
The confidence with which David announces to the righteous their privileges, will
lead us to consider,
II. Their security for the enjoyment of them—
God has solemnly engaged to confer these blessings upon them—
[From all eternity did he enter into covenant with his dear Son, that “if he would
make his soul an offering for sin, he should see a seed, who should prolong their
days; and the pleasure of the Lord should prosper in his hand [ ote: Isaiah
53:10.].” The terms being accepted by the Lord Jesus, a people were “given to him;”
with an assurance that not one of them should ever be lost [ ote: John 17:2; John
17:6; John 17:9-12; John 17:24.]. Accordingly, we find innumerable promises made
to them, that “God will keep their feet [ ote: 1 Samuel 2:9.],” and carry on his work
in their hearts [ ote: Philippians 1:6.], and “preserve them blameless unto his
heavenly kingdom [ ote: 1 Corinthians 1:8. 1 Thessalonians 5:23.].”]
From respect to these engagements, he will assuredly fulfil his word—
[ ot one jot or tittle of his word shall fail [ ote: Isaiah 54:9-10.]. His children may,
indeed, by their transgressions, call forth some tokens of his displeasure: yet, though
he visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes, his loving-
kindness will he not utterly take from them, nor suffer his faithfulness to fail. His
covenant will he not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of his lips; for once he
has sworn by his holiness, that he will not lie unto David [ ote: Psalms 89:30-35.].
Having thus pledged his truth and faithfulness in their behalf [ ote: 1
Thessalonians 5:24.], and engaged never to leave them till he has accomplished in
them and for them all that he has promised [ ote: Hebrews 13:5-6.], he considers
his own honour as involved in their happiness [ ote: Ezekiel 39:25.]; and would
account himself “unrighteous,” if he left so much as one of them to perish [ ote:

76. Hebrews 6:10.]. But “he cannot lie [ ote: Titus 1:2.]:” and, therefore, all who have
fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before them, may have the most abundant
consolation [ ote: Hebrews 6:17-18.],” in an assured expectation that “he will
perfect that which concerneth them [ ote: Psalms 138:8.],” and “keep them, by his
own power, unto everlasting salvation [ ote: 1 Peter 1:5.].”]
Comforting as this Scripture is, it needs to be very carefully guarded from abuse.
Permit me, then, to address myself,
1. To those who are indulging in undue security—
[Is there any one that will dare to say, ‘I cannot fall; or, if I fall, I cannot but rise
again: for, if God were to leave me to perish, he would be unfaithful and unjust?’ I
must reply to such an one, ‘Thou art on the very border and precipice of hell.’ Who
art thou, that thou shouldst not fall, when David, and Solomon, and Peter fell? Or,
who art thou, that thou must be raised again, when Demas, as far as we know, fell
for ever? Hast thou been up to heaven, and seen thy name written in the Book of
Life? Hast thou inspected that covenant which was made between the Father and
the Son, and seen that thou wast among the number of those who were given to
Christ before the foundation of the world? “The Lord knoweth them that are his;”
but who besides him possesses that knowledge? What knowest thou, except as far as
causes can be discerned by their effects? Thou hast experienced what appears to be
a work of grace in thy soul. Be thankful: but be not over confident: thousands have
deceived themselves: and thou mayest have done the same. Could it be infallibly
ascertained that thou wast given to Christ before the foundation of the world, and,
in consequence of God’s engagement with him, wast effectually called to a state of
union with him, we will acknowledge that none should ever pluck thee out of the
Father’s hands [ ote: John 10:27-29.]: for “his gifts and calling are without
repentance [ ote: Romans 11:29.].” But, as this can never be ascertained but by a
special revelation from God, I must say to thee, and would say, if thou wert the most
eminent Christian upon earth, “Be not high-minded, but fear [ ote: Romans
11:20.].” It is certain that multitudes of most distinguished professors have
apostatized from their faith: and such may be thine end; yea, and will, if thy
confidence be so daring and presumptuous: and, if this should be thine unhappy
fate, we shall not for one moment question the fidelity of God; but shall say of you,
as St. John did of the apostates in his day, “They went out from us; but they were
not of us: for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us:
but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us
[ ote: 1 John 2:19.].”]
2. To those who have actually backslidden from God—
[Are there none of this character amongst us? Would to God there were not! But
look back, I pray you, and see whether it is still with you as it was in “the day of
your espousals [ ote: Jeremiah 2:2.].” Have none of you “left your first love [ ote:
Revelation 2:4.]?” Time was, perhaps, when the concerns of your souls were of such
importance in your eyes, that you thought you could never do enough to promote

77. their eternal interests. The word of God and prayer were then, as it were, your daily
food: you walked with God all the day long. To maintain communion with him was
your highest delight: you dreaded every thing that might draw you from him: your
bodies and souls were, like living sacrifices, offered to him daily upon his altar. But
how is it with you now? Perhaps at this time any formal service will suffice to satisfy
the conscience: the duties of the closet are become irksome to you; the world has
regained an ascendant over your minds; and evil tempers, which once appeared
subdued and mortified, display themselves on every occasion, to the destruction of
your own peace, and to the annoyance of all around you. Ah! think what dishonour
you do to God, and what cause of triumph you give to his enemies. Through your
misconduct, “the way of truth is evil spoken of,” and “the very name of God is
blasphemed.” But His word is true, whether men stumble over it or not: and,
whatever a profane world may imagine, “He is a Rock; and there is no
unrighteousness in him.” But delude not yourselves with notions about electing love,
or God’s faithfulness to his promises. The only promises in which ye have any part,
are those which are made to weeping penitents: “Repent ye, then, without delay, and
do your first works [ ote: Revelation 2:5.]:” else “you shall be filled with your own
ways [ ote: Proverbs 14:14.],” and reap for ever the bitter fruit of your own devices
[ ote: Proverbs 1:31; Proverbs 22:8.].]
2. To those who are holding on in the good way—
[You are living witnesses for God, that he is both merciful and “upright.” You know
whence it is that you have been preserved. You know that you would have fallen,
even as others, if he had not upheld you in his everlasting arms. Give Him the glory,
then; and cast yourselves altogether upon him. Beg of him to water your roots, and
to make you “fruitful in every good work.” Entreat him, not only “not to turn away
from you, but to put his fear in your hearts, that you may never depart from him
[ ote: Jeremiah 32:40.].” So may you look forward to all the occurrences of life with
a joyful hope, that you shall be preserved even to the end, and be “more than
conquerors through Him that loved you [ ote: Romans 8:35-39.].” The proper
medium to be observed, is that between presumptuous hope and servile fear. A filial
confidence is your high privilege: and you may go forward with joy, knowing in
whom you have believed, that He is both able and willing to keep that which you
have committed to him [ ote: 2 Timothy 1:12.],” and that he will be eternally
glorified in the salvation of your souls.]
ISBET, "PALM-TREE CHRISTIA S
‘The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree.’
Psalms 92:12
The characteristic thing about the palm-tree Christian, mentioned three times, is
that he ‘shall flourish.’ To flourish means four things in such a connection: To grow
luxuriantly, to increase and enlarge; to thrive and to be prosperous; to be
prominent; and to be in a state of activity or production.
I. The palm-tree Christian grows luxuriantly.—In sandy wastes, arid, where other
vegetation fails, the palm-tree flourishes. In spite of howling and devastating storms

78. the cedar in Lebanon grows. The palm-tree Christian flourishes in circumstances
that seem barren and hopeless to the worldly and the half-way Christian. His
flourishing does not depend at all upon varying circumstances, but upon something
that changes not.
II. The palm-tree Christian thrives and is prosperous.—The seasons run their
changing round; but the palm-tree steadily, through all seasons, flourishes. The
worldly and half-hearted Christians have seasons of flourishing and seasons of
deadness; the palm-tree Christian grows steadily on, in revivals or when others
wither, whether men commend or persecute, when fortune smiles and when fortune
frowns.
III. The palm-tree Christian is prominent.—The palm overtops all other vegetation
of its vicinage. So do palm-tree Christians stand out among their contemporaries
and in history. The tall ones of history are either very wicked or else palm-tree
saints. Half-devoted hearts, though numerous, are inconspicuous. A grove of palms
in the desert, with tall, straight stems and fronded heads, looks like a temple of
divinity.
IV. Palm-tree Christians are in a state of activity or production.—The Hindus say
that the palm serves 360 different uses. A good date-palm will yield 300 pounds a
year, besides the value of its leaves, its bark, its stem, its roots. The worldling and
the worldly Christian have some good points, and many not so good. The palm-tree
Christian is good through and through, and all his uses to the world are valuable.
He is the light of the world and its saving salt and its fountain of life-giving water;
God comes to men through all His words and ways, to bless them. He lasts. The date
palm bears best when from thirty to one hundred years old, and perhaps a half-
century more. The true child of God flourishes and brings forth fruit, even in old
age.
V. Why are these things so?—Four reasons are given.
(1). The palm-tree Christian is planted, ‘trees of righteousness, the planting of the
Lord.’ He is born again, transplanted from darkness to light.
(2) He is protected, ‘planted in the house of the Lord, flourish in the courts of our
God.’ As Solomon planted palm-trees all about the temple walls, so God sets His
friends in protection from destruction; He is around about them, their defence.
(3) He is deep-rooted. The palm grows where other vegetation withers, because it
strikes its roots down thirty feet, if need be, to find water. So the saint, deep-rooted
and grounded in the love of God and man, finding living water when all earthly
springs run dry.
(4) ‘To show that the Lord is upright.’ He is, of all men, most like his Maker,
upright among the fallen and depraved and selfish, glorifying thus his God.

79. Illustration
‘As trees planted in the courts of the Oriental houses flourished under their shelter,
so those who abode in God, and made a house of Him, should bring forth fruit in old
age. The Bible takes hold of the crises of life, and lays down the challenge to try God
by these. He is King at the flood-overwhelming periods, and trying times. When
George Müller spoke in Carr’s-lane pulpit, over ninety years of age, the general
remark was that he was full of sap—expecting all things, hoping all things, young in
spirit.’
13 planted in the house of the Lord,
they will flourish in the courts of our God.
BAR ES, "Those that be planted in the house of the Lord - As if plants were
reared up in the house of God. The same image, under the idea of the olive tree, occurs
in Psa_52:8. See the notes at that verse. The passage here may refer particularly to those
who have been trained up in connection with the church; young plants set out in the
sanctuary, and cultivated until they have reached their growth.
Shall flourish in the courts of our God - That is, Having been planted there, they
will grow there; they will send out their boughs there; they will produce fruit there. The
“courts” of the house of God were properly the areas or open spaces around the
tabernacle or the temple (see the notes at Mat_21:12); but the word came also to denote
the tabernacle or the temple itself, or to designate a place where God was worshipped. It
has this meaning here. The passage affords an encouragement to parents to train up
their children in attendance on the ordinances of public worship; and it shows the
advantage of having been born in the church, and of having been trained up in it - an
advantage which no one can fully appreciate. The passage may also be regarded as
furnishing a proof of what will be the result of being thus “planted” and nurtured in
connection with the church, inasmuch as trees carefully planted and cultivated are
expected to produce more and better fruit than those which grow wild.
CLARKE, "Those that be planted in the house of the Lord - I believe the
Chaldee has the true meaning here: “His children shall be planted in the house of the
sanctuary of the Lord, and shall flourish in the courts of our God.” As these trees flourish
in their respective soils and climates, so shall the righteous in the ordinances of God. I
do not think there is any allusion to either palm-trees or cedars, planted near the

80. tabernacle or temple.
GILL, "Those that be planted in the house of the Lord,.... Or being planted (e),
that is, everyone of the righteous before mentioned; such are they that are planted out of
the wilderness of the world, and into Christ, and are rooted in him, and are planted
together in the likeness of his death and resurrection; have the graces of the Spirit of
God implanted in them, have received the ingrafted word; and, in consequence of all
this, are grafted into the olive tree, the church; or have a place and name there, better
than that of sons and daughters, where they are as plants grown up in their youth; and
which is here meant by "the house of the Lord", in allusion to the tabernacle, or temple,
which had the figure of palm trees on the walls of it: so the Targum interprets it the
temple, rendering it,
"his children shall be planted in the sanctuary of the Lord:''
and though it may seem strange that trees should be planted in an house, it should be
remembered that the house of the Lord, or the church, is a garden, whose plants are an
orchard of pomegranates, Son_4:12, and such are not mere education plants, or such as
are merely by outward profession, or only ministerially, planted, but are planted by the
Lord himself; and so are choice and pleasant ones, by which God is glorified, and which
shall never be plucked up: and these
shall flourish in the courts of our God; like trees in courtyards before houses;
alluding to the courts in the tabernacle or temple, where the people worshipped: here
the righteous flourish like palm trees, as in the preceding verse, being rooted in Christ,
who is the righteous man's root, that yieldeth fruit, and from whom all his fruit is found;
but this flourishing is not merely in the leaves of profession, but in the fruits of grace and
righteousness, being watered with the dews of divine grace, and having the benefit of the
word and ordinances; which are the waters of the sanctuary, that refresh and quicken
the trees of righteousness that grow by it; see Eze_47:1. This is referred to the times of
the Messiah, and the resurrection, by the ancient Jews (f).
K&D 13-15, "The soil in which the righteous are planted or (if it is not rendered with
the lxx πεφυτευµένοι, but with the other Greek versions µεταφυτευθέντες) into which they
are transplanted, and where they take root, a planting of the Lord, for His praise, is His
holy Temple, the centre of a family fellowship with God that is brought about from that
point as its starting-point and is unlimited by time and space. There they stand as in
sacred ground and air, which impart to them ever new powers of life; they put forth buds
( ַ‫יח‬ ִ‫ר‬ ְ‫פ‬ ִ‫ה‬ as in Job_14:9) and preserve a verdant freshness and marrowy vitality (like the
olive, 52:10, Jdg_9:9) even into their old age (‫נוּב‬ of a productive force for putting out
shoots; vid., with reference to the root ‫,נב‬ Genesis, S. 635f.), cf. Isa_65:22 : like the
duration of the trees is the duration of my people; they live long in unbroken strength,
in order, in looking back upon a life rich in experiences of divine acts of righteousness
and loving-kindness, to confirm the confession which Moses, in Deu_32:4, places at the
head of his great song. There the expression is ‫ל‬ֶ‫ו‬ ָ‫ע‬ ‫ין‬ ֵ‫,א‬ here it is ‫ּו‬ ‫ה‬ ָ‫ת‬ ָ‫ּל‬‫ע‬ ‫ין‬ ֵ‫.א‬ This ‛ôlātha,
softened from ‛awlātha - So the Kerî - with a transition from the aw, au into ô, is also

81. found in Job_5:16 (cf. ‫ה‬ ָ‫ּל‬‫ע‬ = ‫ה‬ ָ‫ל‬ְ‫ו‬ ַ‫ע‬ Psa_58:3; Psa_64:7; Isa_61:8), and is certainly original
in this Psalm, which also has many other points of coincidence with the Book of Job (like
Ps 107, which, however, in Psa_107:42 transposes ‫ה‬ ָ‫ת‬ ָ‫ּל‬‫ע‬ into ‫ה‬ ָ‫ל‬ְ‫ו‬ ַ‫.)ע‬
SPURGEO , "Ver. 13. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish
in the courts of our God. In the courtyards of Oriental houses trees were planted,
and being thoroughly screened, they would be likely to bring forth their fruit to
perfection in trying seasons; even so, those who by grace are brought into
communion with the Lord, shall be likened to trees planted in the Lord's house, and
shall find it good to their souls. o heart has so much joy as that which abides in the
Lord Jesus. Fellowship with the stem begets fertility in the branches. If a man abide
in Christ he brings forth much fruit. Those professors who are rooted to the world
do not flourish; those who send forth their roots into the marshes of frivolous
pleasure cannot be in a vigorous condition; but those who dwell in habitual
fellowship with God shall become men of full growth, rich in grace, happy in
experience, mighty in influence, honoured and honourable. Much depends upon the
soil in which a tree is planted; everything, in our case, depends upon our abiding in
the Lord Jesus, and deriving all our supplies from him. If we ever really grow in the
courts of the Lord's house we must be planted there, for no tree grows in God's
garden self sown; once planted of the Lord, we shall never be rooted up, but in his
courts we shall take root downward, and bring forth fruit upward to his glory for
ever.
EXPLA ATORY OTES A D QUAI T SAYI GS.
Ver. 13. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of
our God, are not distinctive of some from others, as though some only of the
flourishing righteous were so planted; but they are descriptive of them all, with an
addition of the way and means whereby they are caused so to grow and flourish.
And this is their implantation in the house of the Lord, —that is, in the church,
which is the seat of all the means of spiritual life, both as unto growth and
flourishing, which God is pleased to grant unto believers. To be planted in the house
of the Lord, is to be fixed and rooted in the grace communicated by the ordinances
of divine worship. Unless we are planted in the house of the Lord, we cannot
flourish in his courts. See Psalms 1:3. Unless we are partakers of the grace
administered in the ordinances, we cannot flourish in a fruitful profession. —John
Owen.
Ver. 13. Those that be planted in, the house of the Lord, etc. Saints are planted in
the house of God; they have a kind of rooting there: but though the tabernacle be a
good rooting place, yet we cannot root firmly there, unless we are rooted in Jesus
Christ. To root in tabernacle work, or in the bare use of ordinances, as if that would
carry it, and commend us to God, when there is no heart work, when there is no
looking to the power of godliness, and to communion with Christ, what is this but
building upon the sand? Many come often to the tabernacle, who are more strangers
to Christ; they use pure ordinances, but are themselves impure. These may have a
great name in the tabernacle for a while, but God blots their names, and roots their
hopes out of the tabernacle; yea, he puts them from the horns of the altar, or slays

82. them there, as Solomon gave commandment concerning Joab. —Abraham Wright.
Ver. 13. In the house of the Lord. As if in a most select viridarium or as if in a park,
abounding in trees dedicated to God. And as in Psalms 5:12 he had made mention of
Lebanon, where the cedars attain their highest perfection, so now he tacitly opposes
to Lebanon the house of God, or church, wherein we bloom, grow, and bring forth
fruit pleasing to God. —Martin Geier.
COFFMA , "FURTHER DESCRIPTIO OF THE RIGHTEOUS
"They are planted in the house of Jehovah;
They shall flourish in the courts of our God.
They shall still bring forth fruit in old age;
They shall be full of sap and green:
To show that Jehovah is upright;
He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him."
"They are planted in the house of Jehovah" (Psalms 92:13). "The psalmist thinks of
the righteous as trees planted in the temple courts where they flourish in the
presence of God."[15] It is unknown whether trees were actually grown on the
grounds of the Jewish tabernacle or temple; but the metaphor is not teaching us
about trees, but about the righteous. It is an eternal fact that "the righteous" are
always "planted," that is, established, in the service of God and in his consistent and
continual worship.
Leupold commented that, "Regarding this verse (Psalms 92:13) as figurative
language yields a good meaning."[16]
"Fruit in old age ... to show that Jehovah is upright" (Psalms 92:14-15). The
longevity and fruitfulness of God's true worshippers is promised here, and there is a
special quality of such fruitfulness in that it does not cease with the decease of the
righteous. "Their works follow with them" (Revelation 14:13); and one reason why
the "crown of righteousness" cannot be awarded to saints immediately when they
die, but must wait, as Paul said, until "That Day," is that the eternal achievement of
any faithful soul cannot be fully known until it is concluded; and that conclusion
occurs not at death, but at the Judgment.
And how about this present life? Is it really true that prosperity and longevity are
provided for the people of God, as distinguished from the rest of mankind? The
answer is a bold and unequivocal affirmative. Where is the world's greatest
prosperity? Where are the longest life-spans? Are such things to be found where the
gospel of Christ is unknown? The answer is O! othing any more clearly
illustrates this than the example of Russia, once a nominally "Christian nation."

83. They renounced God and his holy religion in 1917; and after 73 years, the whole
nation was starving to death, and who was feeding them? The United States of
America was selling them 200 million metric tons of wheat every year for the last
dozen years of that godless regime.
"To show that Jehovah is upright" (Psalms 92:15). The facts just cited not merely
show that Jehovah is upright, but that he is truthful. He blesses those who serve him
and lays a heavy hand of judgment upon those who do not serve him.
"The happy and flourishing old age of the righteous are a strong indication of God's
faithfulness and truth, showing, as it does, that God keeps his promises, and never
forsakes those who put their trust in him."[17] In cases of individuals, this great
truth may not always be visible; but when the larger view, as evidenced in the
nations of the world mentioned above, the astounding truth of what is written here
shines like a beacon in the night.
PULPIT, "Those that be planted in the house of the Lord; rather, Planted (or, Being
planted) in the house of the Lord, they. This does not refer to the "trees" of the
preceding verse, but to the "righteous," who are viewed as passing their days almost
continually in the temple courts, and so as (in a certain sense) "planted" there. The
passage has no bearing on the question whether the temple courts were or were not
planted with trees. Shall flourish in the courts of our God (comp. Psalms 84:2,
Psalms 84:10).
WHEDO , "13. Planted in the house of the Lord—The metaphor is carried through
this and the following verses. The right planting is first essential to growth and
fertility. See note on Psalms 52:8; and compare Jeremiah 17:8; Ezekiel 19:10;
Ezekiel 19:13; Matthew 15:13.
Shall flourish—Grow vigorously, and with unfading leaf. See Psalms 92:12 and
Psalms 1:3. True church life, in its doctrines, ordinances, and fellowships, is God’s
soil for spiritual growth.
BE SO , "Verse 13-14
Psalms 92:13-14. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord — In his church, of
which all righteous persons are real and living members: those whom God, by his
gracious providence and Holy Spirit, hath planted and fixed there, and
incorporated with his people; shall flourish in the courts of our God — Like the
trees just mentioned, they shall retain their pleasant verdure, extend their cooling
shade, refresh many by their sweet and nourishing fruit, or support and adorn them
by their useful qualities, and increase continually in grace and goodness. They shall
still bring forth fruit in old age — When their natural strength decays it shall be
renewed: their last days shall be their best days, wherein, as they shall grow in
grace, so they shall increase in comfort and blessedness. He seems to allude to the
palm-trees above mentioned, which produce, indeed, little fruit till they be about
thirty years of age, but after that time, while their juice continues, the older they
become, are the more fruitful, and will bear each three or four hundred pounds of

84. dates every year. “Happy the man whose goodness is always progressive, and whose
virtues increase with his years; who loseth not, in multiplying of worldly cares, the
holy fervours of his first love, but goeth on, burning and shining more and more, to
the end of his days!” — Horne.
14 They will still bear fruit in old age,
they will stay fresh and green,
BAR ES, "They shall still bring forth fruit in old age - As a tree that is
carefully planted and cultivated may be expected to live long, and to bear fruit even when
it is old. It is true that such a tree may be cut down; or that it may be blown down by
winds and tempests; or that it may be unproductive, but as a general rule, and as laying
the foundation of a reasonable hope, such a tree may be expected to live long, and to
produce fruit even when it is old. So of one devoted early to God, and trained up under
the influences of religion. The care, the culture, the habits of temperance, of industry, of
moderation, and of sobriety so formed, are favorable to length of days, and lay the
foundation for usefulness when old age comes. An aged man should be useful. He should
feel that whatever wisdom he may possess as the result of long study and experience,
belongs to God and to truth; that one great reason for sparing him is that he may be
useful; that the world needs the benefit of his counsel and his prayers; that his life is
lengthened out not for his own ease or enjoyment, but that virtue and piety may be
extended in the world by all the influence which he can bring to bear upon it in advanced
years. It may be added that, as a matter of fact, those who are thus trained and are thus
preserved, are useful in old age. No one thus spared need be useless; perhaps almost
none are. There is something appropriate for old men to do, as there is for the young and
the middle-aged; and it should be the object of an aged Christian to find out what that is,
and to do it. The word rendered “old age means literally grey or hoary hair.”
They shall be fat - The meaning is, that they shall be vigorous, or have the
appearance of vigor and health.
And flourishing - Margin, as in Hebrew, “green.” This image is taken from a tree, as
if it were still green in old age, or gave no indications of decay.
CLARKE, "They shall still bring forth fruit in old age - They shall continue to
grow in grace, and be fruitful to the end of their lives. It is a rare case to find a man in old
age full of faith, love, and spiritual activity.
GILL, "They shall still bring forth fruit in old age,.... Being thus planted and
watered, they shall not only bring forth the fruits of righteousness, but shall continue,

85. and go on to do so, and even when they are grown old; contrary to all other trees, which,
when old, cease bearing fruit; but so do not the righteous; grace is often in the greatest
vigour when nature is decayed; witness Abraham, Job, David, Zachariah, and Elisabeth,
and good old Simeon, who went to the grave like shocks of corn, fully ripe:
they shall be fat and flourishing; or "green", full of sap and moisture, abound with
green leaves and precious fruit; or, in other words, abound in grace, and be fruitful in
every good work: being ingrafted into the true olive, the church of God, they partake of
the root and fatness of it; having a place in the house of the Lord, they are satisfied with
the goodness and fatness thereof, and are made to drink of the river of divine pleasure;
and being in the courts of the Lord, where a feast of fat things is provided for them, they
eat and feed, and so thrive and flourish; the allusion is to fat and flourishing palm trees
(g).
(g) "Praeferat Herodis palmetis pinguibus----". Horat. Ep. l. 2. Ep. 2. v. 148.
JAMISO , "The vigorous growth, longevity, utility, fragrance, and beauty of these
noble trees, set forth the life, character, and destiny of the pious;
SPURGEO , "Ver. 14. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age. ature decays
but grace thrives. Fruit, as far as nature is concerned, belongs to days of vigour; but
in the garden of grace, when plants are weak in themselves, they become strong in
the Lord, and abound in fruit acceptable with God. Happy they who can sing this
Sabbath Psalm, enjoying the rest which breathes through every verse of it; no fear
as to the future can distress them, for their evil days, when the strong man faileth,
are the subject of a gracious promise, and therefore they await them with quiet
expectancy. Aged believers possess a ripe experience, and by their mellow tempers
and sweet testimonies they feed many. Even if bedridden, they bear the fruit of
patience; if poor and obscure, their lowly and contented spirit becomes the
admiration of those who know how to appreciate modest worth. Grace does not
leave the saint when the keepers of the house do tremble; the promise is still sure
though the eyes can no longer read it; the bread of heaven is fed upon when the
grinders fail; and the voice of the Spirit in the soul is still melodious when the
daughters of music are brought low. Blessed be the Lord for this! Because even to
hoar hairs he is the I AM, who made his people, he therefore bears and carries
them.
They shall be fat and flourishing. They do not drag out a wretched, starveling
existence, but are like trees full of sap, which bear luxuriant foliage. God does not
pinch his poor servants, and diminish their consolations when their infirmities grow
upon them; rather does he see to it that they shall renew their strength, for their
mouths shall be satisfied with his own good things. Such an one as Paul the aged
would not ask our pity, but invite our sympathetic gratitude; however feeble his
outward man may be, his inner man is so renewed day by day that we may well envy
his perennial peace.
EXPLA ATORY OTES A D QUAI T SAYI GS.
Ver. 14. They shall still bring forth fruit in, old age. The point on which the Psalmist
in this passage fixes, as he contemplates the blessedness of God's own children, is the

86. beauty and happiness of their old age. The court or open area in the centre of an
eastern dwelling, and especially the court of any great and stately dwelling, was
often adorned with a tree, or sometimes with more than one, for beauty, for shade,
and, as it might be, for fruit. There sometimes the palm tree, planted by the cool
fountain, shot up its tall trunk toward the sky, and waved its green top, far above
the roof, in the sunlight and the breeze. There sometimes the olive, transplanted
from the rocky hill side, may have flourished under the protection and culture of the
household, and may have rewarded their care with the rich abundance of its
nutritious berries. With such images in his mind, the Psalmist, having spoken of the
brief prosperity of the wicked, and having compared it with the springing and
flourishing of the grass, which grows to its little height only to be immediately cut
down, naturally and beautifully compares the righteous, not with the deciduous
herbage, but with the hardy tree that lives on through the summer's drought and
the winter's storms, and from season to season still renews its growth. These trees of
righteousness, as the poet conceives of them, are "planted in the house of the Lord";
they stand fair and "flowering in the courts of our God" —even "in old age they
bring forth fruit" —they are "full of sap and flourishing" —they are living
memorials "to show that the Lord is faithful", and that those who trust in him shall
never be confounded. —Leonard Bacon, 1845.
Ver. 14. —There be three things which constitute a spiritual state, or belong to the
life of God. 1. That believers be fat; that is, by the heavenly juice, sap, or fatness of
the true olive, of Christ himself, as Romans 11:17. This is the principle of spiritual
life and grace derived from him. When this abounds in them, so as to give them
strength and rigour in the exercise of grace, to keep them from decays and
withering, they are said to be fat; which, in the Scripture phrase, is strong and
healthy. 2. That they flourish in the greenness (as the word is) and verdure of
profession; for vigorous grace will produce a flourishing profession. 3. That they
still bring forth fruit in all duties of holy obedience. All these are promised unto
them even in old age.
Even trees, when they grow old (the palm and the cedar), are apt to lose a part of
their juice and verdure: and men in old age are subject unto all sorts of decays, both
outward and inward. It is a rare thing to see a man in old age naturally vigorous,
healthy, and strong; and would it were not more rare to see any spiritually so at the
same season! But this is here promised unto believers as an especial grace and
privilege, beyond what can be represented in the growth or fruit bearing of plants
and trees. The grace intended is, that when believers are under all sorts of bodily
and natural decays, and, it may be, have been overtaken with spiritual decays also,
there is provision made in the covenant to render them fat, flourishing, and fruitful,
—vigorous in the power of internal grace, and flourishing in the expression of it in
all duties of obedience; which is that which we now inquire after. Blessed be God for
this good word of his grace, that he hath given us such encouragement against all
the decays and temptations of old age which we have to conflict withal!
And the Psalmist, in the next words, declares the greatness of the privilege: "To
shew that the Lord is upright: he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in
him." Consider the oppositions that lie against the flourishing of believers in old
age, the difficulties of it, the temptations that must be conquered, the acting of the
mind above its natural abilities which are decayed, the weariness that is apt to befall

87. us in a long spiritual conflict, the cries of the flesh to be spared, and we shall see it to
be an evidence of the faithfulness, power, and righteousness of God in covenant;
nothing else could produce this mighty effect. So the prophet, treating of the same
promise, Hosea 14:4-8, closes his discourse with that blessed remark, Hosea 14:9,
"Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know
them? for the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them." Spiritual
wisdom will make us to see that the faithfulness and power of God are exerted in
this work of preserving believers flourishing and fruitful unto the end. —John
Owen.
Ver. 14. Constancy is an ingredient in the obedience Christ requires. His trees bring
forth fruit in old age. Age makes other things decay, but makes a Christian flourish.
Some are like hot horses, mettlesome at the beginning of a journey, and tired a long
time before they come to their journey's end. A good disciple, as he would not have
from God a temporary happiness, so he would not give to God a temporary
obedience; as he would have his glory last as long as God lives, so he would have his
obedience last as long as he lives. Judas had a fair beginning, but destroyed all in the
end by betraying his Master. —Stephen Charnook.
Ver. 14. Flourishing. Here is not only mention of growing but of flourishing, and
here's flourishing three times mentioned, and it is growing and flourishing not only
like a tree, but like a palm tree, (which flourisheth under oppression), and like a
cedar (not growing in ordinary places, but) "in Lebanon", where were the goodliest
cedars. or doth the Spirit promise here a flourishing in boughs and leaves only (as
some trees do, and do no more), but in fruit; and this not only fruit for once in a
year, or one year, but they still bring forth fruit, and that not only in the years of
their youth, or beginnings in grace, but in old age, and that not only in the entrance
of that state which is called old age, threescore years, but that which the Scripture
calls the perfection of old age, threescore years and ten, as the learned Hebrews
observe upon the word used in the psalm. What a divine climax doth the Spirit of
God make in this Scripture, to show that the godly man as to his state, is so far from
declining, that he is still climbing higher and higher. —Joseph Caryl.
WHEDO , "14. Fruit in old age… fat and flourishing—The greenness and fertility
here may allude to the olive tree, (see on Psalms 52:8; Psalms 128:3;) but the
description transcends the laws of nature, as the doctrine of the divine life outsteps
the analogy of vegetable life. The fruits of the Spirit are grown upon the stock of the
immortal and regenerate mind, and are as unfailing as it. See note on Psalms 128:3
15 proclaiming, “The Lord is upright;
he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in
him.”

88. BAR ES, "To shew that the Lord is upright - That is, This will be a proof that
God is faithful to his promises; that he is the true friend of his people. The fact that they
live long - that they are happy and useful even in old age, will be a demonstration that
God is the friend of virtue, and that he deals with people according to their character.
He is my rock - He is my defense; that which constitutes my security. See the notes
at Psa_18:2. This is language of strong confidence in view of all that is said in the psalm.
And there is no unrighteousness in him - This is said in the most absolute form
- implying the most entire confidence. God is altogether to be trusted. There is no evil or
wrong in his character or in his dealings. In all respects he is worthy of confidence:
“worthy” to be loved, trusted, adored, obeyed, by the inhabitants of all worlds. What a
sublime thought is this! What a consolatory truth! What would the universe be if God, a
Being of infinite POWER, were not a Being of perfect RIGHTEOUSNESS, and could not
be trusted by the creatures which he has made!
CLARKE, "To show that the Lord is upright - Such persons show how faithful
God is to his promises, how true to his word, how kind to them who trust in him. He is
the Rock, the Fountain, whence all good comes.
There is no unrighteousness in him - He does nothing evil, nothing unwise,
nothing unkind. He is both just and merciful.
GILL, "To show that the Lord is upright,.... Or righteous, that is, faithful; as he is
in his counsels, covenant, and promises, which he makes good by causing his people to
grow and flourish, and become fruitful; by carrying on the work of grace upon their
souls, and by preserving them to the end safe to his kingdom and glory; by all which it
appears that he does not and will not suffer his faithfulness to fail: the Targum is,
"that the inhabitants of the earth may show, &c.''
he is my Rock; the psalmist sets his seal to the truth of God's faithfulness, firmness,
and constancy, calling him a Rock for his strength and stability, and claiming his interest
in him; declaring he found him to be so by experience,
even the Rock whose work is perfect; who always completes what he undertakes,
and finishes what he begins, and will not forsake the work of his own hands:
just and right is he; the Rock of ages, that remains firm, steadfast, and unalterable in
all generations:
and there is no unrighteousness in him; as not in his sovereign acts of grace, so
neither in his providential dispensations, either towards good men or bad men; not in
suffering the wicked to prosper, as in Psa_92:7, and the righteous to be afflicted; nor in
punishing bad men here, or hereafter; nor in justifying sinners by the righteousness of
his Son, and giving them the crown of righteousness at the last day: all his proceedings

89. are in the most
JAMISO , "and they thus declare God’s glory as their strong and righteous ruler.
CALVI , "15.That they may show that Jehovah is upright. It is evident from this
verse that the great object of the Psalmist is, to allay that disquietude of mind which
we are apt to feel under the disorder which reigns apparently in the affairs of this
world; and to make us cherish the expectation, (under all that may seem severe and
trying in our lot, and though the wicked are in wealth and power, flourish, and
abound in places and distinctions,) that God will bring light and order eventually
out of confusion. That they may show, it is said particularly, that the Lord is
upright; for through the influence of our corruption we are apt to conclude, when
things do not proceed as we would wish in the world, that God is chargeable not
only with neglect but with unrighteousness, in abandoning his people, and tolerating
the commission of sin. When God displays his justice in proceeding to execute
vengeance upon the wicked, it will be seen at once, that any prosperity which they
enjoyed was but the forerunner of a worse destruction in reserve for them. The
Psalmist, in calling God his rock, shows a second time that he reckoned himself
amongst the number of those in whom God would illustrate his justice by extending
towards them his protection.
SPURGEO , "Ver. 15. This mercy to the aged proves the faithfulness of their God,
and leads them
to shew that the Lord is upright, by their cheerful testimony to his ceaseless
goodness. We do not serve a Master who will run back from his promise. Whoever
else may defraud us, he never will. Every aged Christian is a letter of commendation
to the immutable fidelity of Jehovah.
He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him. Here is the psalmist's own
seal and sign manual; still was he building upon his God, and still was the Lord a
firm foundation for his trust. For shelter, for defence, for indwelling, for
foundation, God is our rock; hitherto he has been to us all that he said he would be,
and we may be doubly sure that he will abide the same even unto the end. He has
tried us, but he has never allowed us to be tempted above what we are able to bear:
he has delayed our reward, but he has never been unrighteous to forget our work of
faith and labour of love. He is a friend without fault, a helper without fail. Whatever
he may do with us, he is always in the right; his dispensations have no flaw in them,
no, not the most minute. He is true and righteous altogether, and so we weave the
end of the psalm with its beginning, and make a coronet of it, for the head of our
Beloved.
It is a good thing to sing praises unto the Lord, for "he is my rock, and there is no
unrighteousness in him."
EXPLA ATORY OTES A D QUAI T SAYI GS.
Ver. 15. He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in, him. Implying that God
can no more be moved or removed from doing righteously, than a rock can be
removed out of its place. —Joseph Caryl.

90. WHEDO , "15. To show that the Lord is upright—To vindicate the truth of his
promises, and the rectitude of his ways with those who fear him.
He is my rock—A precious confession, coming from the depths of a grateful and
triumphant soul.
There is no unrighteousness in him—Moses had said the same, after a long life of
wonderful experience. Deuteronomy 32:4. Evil may present various forms of
apparent contradiction of God’s faithfulness, but the deeper insight of faith
apprehends, and the result proves, that God is justified in his sayings, and will
overcome when he judges. Psalms 51:4; Romans 3:4.
PULPIT, "To show that the Lord is upright. The happy and flourishing old age of
the righteous (Psalms 92:14; comp. Psalms 91:16) is a strong indication of God's
faithfulness and truth, showing, as its does, that he keeps his promises, and never
forsakes those that put their trust in him (comp. Psalms 27:10; Psalms 37:25; Isaiah
41:17, etc.). He is my Rock—rather, that he is my Rock—and that there is no
unrighteousness in him. Both clauses depend on the "show" of the preceding
hemistich.
BE SO , "Psalms 92:15. To show that the Lord is upright, &c. — That he is true
to his promises, and faithful to every word that he hath spoken, and therefore does
not leave nor forsake those that cleave to him, but carries on the work which he has
begun. As it is by his promises that believers first partake of a divine nature, so it is
by his promises that that divine nature is preserved and maintained, and therefore
the power it exerts is an evidence that the Lord is upright, and such he will show
himself to be with an upright man, Psalms 18:25. He is my rock — I have chosen
him for my rock, on which to build my confidence and hopes for time and eternity,
and in the clefts of which to take shelter in the time of danger: and I have found him
a rock, strong and steadfast, and his word firm and stable. And there is no
unrighteousness in him — He is as able, and will be as kind, as his word represents
him to be. All that ever trusted in God have found him faithful and all-sufficient,
and none were ever made ashamed of their hope in him. He is just and upright in
his dealings with his intelligent creatures, “immoveable in his counsels, and
determined to punish the wicked and reward the good; so that, when his
proceedings shall come to be unfolded at the last day, it will appear to men and
angels that there is no unrighteousness in him.” — Horne.
EBC, "Psalms 92:15 is a reminiscence of Deuteronomy 32:4. The last clause is
probably to be taken in connection with the preceding, as by Cheyne ("And that in
my Rock there is no unrighteousness"). But it may also be regarded as a final
avowal of the psalmist’s faith, the last result of his contemplations of the mysteries
of Providence. These but drive him to cling close to Jehovah, as his sole refuge and
his sure shelter, and to ring out this as the end which shall one day be manifest as
the net result of Providence-that there is no least trace of unrighteousness in Him.