Psalm 103

Psalms 103:1

“If even the prophet, who was inflamed with a more intense and fervent zeal than other men, was not free from this malady, of which his earnestness in stimulating himself is a plain confession, how much more necessary is it for us, who have abundant experience of our own torpor, to apply the same means for our quickening?”

Psalms 103:1

“Bless the Lord O my soul. Soul music is the very soul of music. The Psalmist strikes the best keymote when he begins with stirring up his inmost self to magnify the Lord. He soliloquizes, holds self-communion and exhorts himself, as though he felt that dulness would all too soon steal over his faculties, as, indeed, it will over us all, unless we are diligently on the watch.”

Psalms 103:1

“Bless, &c.--when God is the object, praise. my soul--myself (Ps 3:3; 25:1), with allusion to the act, as one of intelligence. all . . . within me-- (De 6:5). his holy name-- (Ps 5:11), His complete moral perfections.”

Psalms 103:1

“Blessing God and giving him glory must be the alpha and the omega of all our services. He began with Bless the Lord, O my soul! and, when he had penned and sung this excellent hymn to his honour, he does not say, Now, O my soul! thou hast blessed the Lord, sit down, and rest thee, but, Bless the Lord, O my soul! yet more and more.”

Psalms 103:2

“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget all his rewards. The Lord has bestowed many rewards upon us, he has bestowed great benefits upon us: for he made the heaven, the earth, all the elements for us. The sun itself and the moon and the stars and all the elements run and run back again for our sake. O wretched creatures that we are: the elements serve us, and we do not serve the Lord. It is a great thing, therefore, that God made for our sake all the things we see.”

Psalms 103:2

“How is it that we are so listless and drowsy in the performance of this the chief exercise of true religion, if it is not because our shameful and wicked forgetfulness buries in our hearts the innumerable benefits of God, which are openly manifest to heaven and earth?”

Psalms 103:2

“Bless the Lord, O my soul. He is in real earnest, and again calls upon himself to arise. Had he been very sleepy before? Or was he now doubly sensible of the importance, the imperative necessity of adoration? Certainly, he uses no vain repetitions, for the Holy Spirit guides his pen; and thus he shews us that we have need, again and again, to bestir ourselves when we are about to worship God, for it would be shameful to offer him anything less than the utmost our souls can render.”

Psalms 103:3

“Who heals all your infirmities. Our soul has many infirmities. As many sins, so many infirmities. Indeed, there was also that woman in the Gospel, who for eighteen years had a spirit of infirmity, and could not lift her head upright... See what he says. When someone has a spirit of infirmity, he is bent over, he looks downward, he gazes at the earth, he cannot see heaven.”

Psalms 103:3

“Who forgiveth all thy iniquities He now enumerates the different kinds of the divine benefits, in considering which he has told us that we are too forgetful and slothful. It is not without cause that he begins with God's pardoning mercy, for reconciliation with him is the fountain from which all other blessings flow.”

Psalms 103:3

“Who forgiveth all thine iniquities. Here David begins his list of blessings received, which he rehearses as themes and arguments for praise. He selects a few of the choicest pearls from the casket of divine love, threads them on the string of memory, and hangs them about the neck of gratitude. Pardoned sin is, in our experience, one of the choicest boons of grace, one of the earliest gifts of mercy, —in fact, the needful preparation for enjoying all that follows it. Till iniquity is forgiven, healing, redemption, and satisfaction are unknown blessings.”

Psalms 103:3

“These two go together; for, as for God, his work is perfect and not done by halves; if God take away the guilt of sin by pardoning mercy, he will break the power of it by renewing grace. Where Christ is made righteousness to any soul he is made sanctification, 1 Cor. i.”

Psalms 103:4

“Who crowns you in mercy and compassions. Who crowns you. When he has redeemed, then he crowns. And he crowns, not because of your merits, but because of his own mercy. "O Lord, you have crowned us as with a shield of your good will." See what he says, O Lord, you have crowned us as with a shield of your good will. Does anyone crown with a shield? Surely he who crowns, crowns with flowers, crowns with gold, crowns with the other kinds of crowns. Does anyone crown with a shield?”

Psalms 103:4

“Who redeemeth thy life from destruction. By purchase and by power the Lord redeems us from the spiritual death into which we had fallen, and from the eternal death which would have been its consequence. Had not the death penalty of sin been removed, our forgiveness and healing would have been incomplete portions of salvation, fragments only, and but of small value, but the removal of the guilt and power of sin is fitly attended by the reversal of the sentence of death which had been passed upon us.”

Psalms 103:5

“Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things, or rather "filling with good thy soul." No man is ever filled to satisfaction but a believer, and only God himself can satisfy even him. Many a worldling is satiated, but not one is satisfied. God satisfies the very soul of man, his noblest part, his ornament and glory; and of consequence he satisfies his mouth, however hungry and craving it might otherwise be. Soul-satisfaction loudly calls for soul-praise, and when the mouth is filled with good it is bound to speak good of him who filled it.”

Psalms 103:5

“When God, by the graces and comforts of his Spirit, recovers his people from their decays, and fills them with new life and joy, which is to them an earnest of eternal life and joy, then they may be said to return to the days of their youth, Job xxxiii. Goodness and Compassion of God. 6 The L ORD executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed.”

Psalms 103:6

“The Lord executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are of oppressed. Our own personal obligations must not absorb our song; we must also magnify the Lord for his goodness to others. He does not leave the poor and needy to perish at the hands of their enemies, but interposes on their behalf, for he is the executor of the poor and the executioner of the cruel. When his people were in Egypt he heard their groanings and brought them forth, but he overthrew Pharaoh in the Red Sea. Man's injustice shall receive retribution at the hand of God.”

Psalms 103:7

“He made known his ways unto Moses. Moses was made to see the manner in which the Lord deals with men; he saw this at each of the three periods of his life, in the court, in retirement, and at the head of the tribes of Israel. To him the Lord gave specially clear manifestations of his dispensations and modes of ruling among mankind, granting to him to see more of God than had before been seen by mortal man, while he cornmaned with him upon the mount. His acts unto the children of Israel.”

Psalms 103:7

“Or by his ways we may understand his precepts, the way which he requires us to walk in; and by his acts, or designs (as the word signifies), his promises and purposes as to what he will do with us.”

Psalms 103:8

“The Lord is merciful and gracious,.... So he made himself known to Moses, Exo 34:6, and so David found him to be, and therefore calls upon his soul to bless his name.”

Psalms 103:8

“The Lord is merciful and gracious. Those with whom he deals are sinners. However much he favours them they are guilty and need mercy at his hands, nor is he slow to compassionate their lost estate, or reluctant by his grace to lift them out of it. Mercy pardons sin, grace bestows favour: in both the Lord abounds. This is that way of his which he made known to Moses (Ex 34:6), and in that way he will abide as long as the age of grace shall last, and men are yet in this life.”

Psalms 103:9

“He will not always chide. He will sometimes, for he cannot endure that his people should harbour sin in their hearts, but not for ever will he chasten them; as soon as they turn to him and forsake their evil ways he will end the quarrel. He might find constant cause for striving with us, for we have always something in us which is contrary to his holy mind, but he refrains himself lest our spirits should fail before him.”

Psalms 103:9

“THIS verse has reference only to the children of God. The Psalm is for them—they alone can sing it and this statement concerns them only—for this reason, that the wrath of the great Judge of all the earth is removed from every true child of God. Our sins were laid upon Jesus Christ and He bore them for us. The penalty due to us on account of them, or its equivalent, has been endured by Jesus Christ, our Substitute.”

Psalms 103:9

“Though he signify his displeasure against us for our sins by the rebukes of Providence, and the reproaches of our own consciences, and thus cause grief, yet he will have compassion, and will not always keep us in pain and terror, no, not for our sins, but, after the spirit of bondage, will give the spirit of adoption.”

Psalms 103:10

“He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. Else had Israel perished outright, and we also had long ago been consigned to the lowest hell. We ought to praise the Lord for what he has not done as well as for what he has wrought for us; even the negative side deserves our adoring gratitude.”

Psalms 103:11

“For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. Boundless in extent towards his chosen is the mercy of the Lord; it is no more to be measured than the height of heaven or the heaven of heavens. "Like the height of the heavens" is the original language, which implies other points of comparison besides extent, and suggests sublimity, grandeur, and glory.”

Psalms 103:12

“As far as the east is from the west,.... Which Kimchi thinks is mentioned because it contains the length of the habitable world; and therefore it is not said as far as the north is from the south; since a man can go from east to west, but not from north to south, because of the extreme heat and cold.”

Psalms 103:12

“As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. O glorious verse, no word even upon the inspired page can excel it! Sin is removed from us by a miracle of love! What a load to move, and yet is it removed so far that the distance is incalculable. Fly as far as the wing of imagination can bear you, and if you journey through space eastward, you are further from the west at every beat of your wing.”

Psalms 103:13

“Like as a father pitieth his children,.... When in any affliction, disorder, or distress: the Lord stands in the relation of a Father to his people; they are his children by adopting grace, through the covenant of grace with them; by a sovereign act of his own will he puts them among the children, predestinates them to the adoption of children; and sends his Son to redeem them, that they might receive it, and his Spirit to bear witness to their spirits, that they are his children; and towards these he has all the affections of a tender parent.”

Psalms 103:13

“Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. To those who truly reverence his holy name, the Lord is a father and acts as such. These he pities, for in the very best of men the Lord sees much to pity, and when they are at their best state they still need his compassion. This should check every propensity to pride, though at the same time it should yield us the richest comfort.”

Psalms 103:13

“IN the former part of this Psalm, the Psalmist sang of God's deeds of love, His gifts, His benefits and His acts of kindness. But here he goes deeper into the Divine motive and, therefore, he finds sweeter incentives to devout gratitude. There is a fullness of consolation in the fact that the heart of God is towards His people. He not only dispenses blessings—so does the sun, so do the clouds, so do the fruitful fields—but He takes a warm interest in our welfare and has a feeling towards us of kindly, gentle affection.”

Psalms 103:13

“WHAT a blow this is for our pride! Then God's children are pitiable objects, notwithstanding that He has crowned them with glory and honor, has given them perfection in Christ Jesus, has breathed into them the breath of spiritual life, has set their feet upon a rock and established their goings—yet they are and they always will be, so long as they are here below—pitiable objects! It is like tolling the death-knell of all our pride to talk about God pitying us!”

Psalms 103:13-14

“Observe, (1.) Whom he pities-- those that fear him, that is, all good people, who in this world may become objects of pity on account of the grievances to which they are not only born, but born again. Or it may be understood of those who have not yet received the spirit of adoption, but are yet trembling at his word; those he pities, Jer. xxxi.”

Psalms 103:14

“So do not forget the weak. Remember, Lord, that you have made me weak; remember that you have formed me from dust. How can I stand unless you always strengthen this clay, so that my strength may come forth from your face? When you turn your face away, everything is thrown into turmoil; if you pay attention, woe is me; you have nothing in me to look at, except the stains of sin; it is neither useful to abandon me, nor is it beneficial to behold me; for while we are seen, we offend.”

Psalms 103:14

“For he knoweth our frame. He knows how we are made, for he made us. Our make and build, our constitution and temperament, our prevailing infirmity and most besetting temptation he well perceives, for he searches our inmost nature. He remembereth that we are dust. Made of dust, dust still, and ready to return to dust. We have sometimes heard of "the Iron Duke, " and of iron constitutions, but the words are soon belied, for the Iron Duke is dissolved, and other men of like rigour are following to the grave, where "dust to dust" is an appropriate requiem.”

Psalms 103:15

Concerning the resurrection more will be said later; but now let us return to our immediate subject. We have shown that even holy people have, without any consideration for their merits, suffered many difficult things in this world, together with toil and misery. So David, in self-reflection, says, "Remember, Lord, that we are dust; as for [a] man, his days are but as grass"; and in another place, "[A] man is like a breath, his days pass away as a shadow."

Psalms 103:15

“As for man, his days are as grass,.... He himself is like the grass which springs out of the earth; continues on it for a time, and then drops into it; the continuance of the grass is very short, it flourishes in the morning, is cut down at evening, and withers; see Psa 90:”

Psalms 103:15

“As for man, his days are as grass. He lives on the grass, and lives like the grass. Corn is but educated grass, and man, who feeds on it, partakes of its nature. The grass lives, grows, flowers, falls beneath the scythe, dries up, and is removed from the field: read this sentence over again, and you will find it the history of man.”

Psalms 103:16

“For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone. Only a little wind is needed, not even a scythe is demanded, a breath can do it, for the flower is so frail. How small a portion of deleterious gas suffices to create a deadly fever, which no art of man can stay. No need of sword or bullet, a puff of foul air is deadlier far, and fails not to lay low the healthiest and most stalwart son of man. And the place thereof shall know it no more. The flower blooms no more.”

Psalms 103:17

“But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him,.... In opposition to the frailty of man, the stability and duration of the mercy of God is observed. This reaches from one eternity to another; it is from everlasting in the heart of God: it appeared in the choice of the vessels of mercy; in the covenant of grace, which is founded upon it, and filled with it; every blessing of which flows from it, and therefore are called the "sure mercies of David".”

Psalms 103:17

“But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him. Blessed but! How vast the contrast between the fading flower and the everlasting God! How wonderful that his mercy should link our frailty with his eternity, and make us everlasting too! From old eternity the Lord viewed his people as objects of mercy, and as such chose them to become partakers of his grace; the doctrine of eternal election is most delightful to those who have light to see it and love wherewith to accept it.”

Psalms 103:17-18

“Observe, [1.] The description of those to whom this mercy belongs. They are such as fear God, such as are truly religious, from principle. First, They live a life of faith; for they keep God's covenant; having taken hold of it, they keep hold of it, fast hold, and will not let it go.”

Psalms 103:18

“To such as keep his covenant,.... The covenant of grace, which is peculiarly the Lord's covenant, as distinct from man's; and which he keeps himself, and is ever mindful of it.”

Psalms 103:18

“Children of the righteous are not, however, promised the Lord's mercy without stipulation, and this verse completes the statement of the last by adding: To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them. The parents must be obedient and the children too.”

Psalms 103:19

“The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens,.... The heaven is his throne; here he sits enthroned in all the glory of his majesty, with all his attendants upon him, and courtiers about him. The Lord Christ is now in heaven; and where he will continue to the restitution of all things, and from whence his people expect him at the last day.”

Psalms 103:19

“The Lord has prepared his throne in the heavens. Here is a grand burst of song produced by a view of the boundless power, and glorious sovereignty of Jehovah. His throne is fixed, for that is the word; it is estabhshed, settled, immovable. About his government there is no alarm, no disorder, no perturbation, no hurrying to and fro in expedients, no surprises to be met or unexpected catastrophes to be warded off;—all is prepared and fixed, and he himself has prepared and fixed it.”

Psalms 103:19

“He takes cognizance of all the inhabitants, and all the affairs, of this lower world, and disposes all persons and things according to the counsel of his will, to his own glory ( Dan. iv. 35 ): His kingdom rules over all kings and all kingdoms, and from it there is no exempt jurisdiction.”

Psalms 103:20-21

"Your will be done on earth as in heaven." God's divine and blessed angels do the will of God, as David said in the psalm, "Bless the Lord, all his angels, mighty in strength, that do his pleasure." So then in effect this is what you mean when you pray, "as in the angels your will is done, so likewise be it done on earth by human beings, O Lord."

Psalms 103:20

“Bless the Lord, ye his angels,.... For their creation, being made by him; for their preservation, living, moving, and having their being in him; and for their happiness, in which they are continued, owing to their being chosen of God in Christ, and to their confirmation by Christ. These are always employed in the work of blessing and praising the Lord nor are they in the least backward to it, nor remiss it; nor does this address unto them suppose anything of this kind.”

Psalms 103:20

“Bess the Lord, ye his angels, that excel in strength. Finding his work of praise growing upon his hands, he calls upon "the firstborn sons of light" to speak the praises of the Lord, as well they may, for as Milton says, they best can tell. Dwelling nearer to that prepared throne than we as yet have leave to climb, they see in nearer vision the glory which we would adore.”

Psalms 103:20-21

“In short, the blessed angels are glorious attendants upon the blessed God. Observe, (1.) How well qualified they are for the post they are in. They are able; for they excel in strength; they are mighty in strength (so the word is); they are able to bring great things to pass, and to abide in their work without weariness.”

Psalms 103:21

“Bless ye the Lord, all ye his hosts,.... Which some understand of the sun, moon, and stars, sometimes called the hosts of heaven; and who in their way bless and praise the Lord; see Psa 148:2. Others, of the angels, as before; who are sometimes styled the heavenly host, Luk 2:13, and may be so called from their numbers, there being legions of them; and for their military employment, in guarding and protecting the saints, in encamping about them, and fighting for them.”

Psalms 103:21

“Bless ye the Lord, all ye his hosts; to whatever race of creatures ye may belong, for ye are all his troops, and he is the Generallissimo of all your armies. The fowl of the air and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the sea, should all unite in praising their Creator, after the best of their ability. Ye ministers of his that do his pleasure; in whatever way ye serve him, bless him as ye serve.”

Psalms 103:21

“His hosts - A title often given to the angels, in regard of their vast numbers, mighty power, unanimous concurrence, and exquisite order. Ministers - This Hebrew word is commonly used of the highest and most honourable sort of servants,”

Psalms 103:21

“To obey is better than sacrifice; for angels obey, but do not sacrifice. (2.) What their service is. They are his angels, and ministers of his --his, for he made them, and made them for himself--his, for he employs them, though he does not need them--his, for he is their owner and Lord; they belong to him and he has them at his beck.”

Psalms 103:22

“Bless the Lord, all his works, in all places of his dominion,.... Which some interpret of all his creatures, animate or inanimate, rational or irrational, throughout the whole world, which is all under his government; and who all of them, objectively, bless and praise the Lord, Psa 148:”

Psalms 103:22

“Bless the Lord, all his works in all places of his dominion. Here is a trinity of blessing for the thrice blessed God, and each one of the three blessings is an enlargement upon that which went before. This is the most comprehensive of all, for what can be a wider call than to all in all places? See how finite man can awaken unbounded praise! Man is but little, yet, placing his hands upon the keys of the great organ of the universe, he wakes it to thunders of adoration!”