Psalm 100
5 verses · BSBPsalms book hub →
Speaks with:Psalms 95×2Psalms 98×1Luke 19×1Psalms 32×1Philippians 4×1Psalms 71×1
Summary
Chapter summary
The doxology of the enthronement collection: 'Make a joyful noise unto Jehovah, all ye lands. Serve Jehovah with gladness: come before his presence with singing.' Know ye that Jehovah, he is God: 'it is he that hath made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.' Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise. 'For Jehovah is good; his lovingkindness endureth for ever, and his faithfulness unto all generations': the Jubilate, and the tune every English church calls the Old Hundredth.
Context
Poetry · David, Asaph, Sons of Korah, others — Psalms overview
The world behind this chapter
Psalms 100The history
The title is a psalm of thanksgiving, and the Hebrew word is also the name of a specific offering. The thank offering came with loaves of bread, had to be eaten the same day, and could not possibly be finished by one family — so bringing one meant inviting people. A thanksgiving in Israel was a meal with a deadline and a guest list. This psalm is the words that went with it.
Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise, describes movement. The temple had an outer court where the people gathered, reached through actual gates. These are words for a crowd walking in, learned on the road and sung at the door.
We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Shepherding in that country meant leading rather than driving — the flock followed a voice it knew, moved between grazing grounds and water, and was penned at night in a stone fold with the shepherd lying across the opening. The point of the image is ownership and care, not stupidity.
Serve the LORD with gladness uses a word that covers both a servant's work and worship. In Israel there was no line between the two, and the psalm's five short lines were easy enough for anyone in the crowd to carry home.
What it meant to them
It tells worshippers why to be glad before it tells them to be: know ye that the LORD he is God, it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves.
The reason for the joy is ownership, not performance. And the last line is the ground it stands on — his mercy is everlasting, and his truth endures to all generations, with truth here meaning the kind of faithfulness you can lean your whole weight against.
Sources cited
- Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions
- Charles H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on Psalms 100. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.