Psalms 107:32

Here are set forth the perils of seafaring, futility of man's, and efficiency of God's, help. go . . . sea--alluding to the elevation of the land at the coast.

Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people. Thanks for such mercies should be given in public in the place where men congregate for worship. And praise him in the assembly of the elders. The praise should be presented with great solemnity in the presence of men of years, experience, and influence. High and weighty service should be rendered for great and distinguished favours, and therefore let the sacrifice be presented with due decorum and with grave seriousness. Often when men hear of a narrow escape from shipwreck they pass over the matter with a careless remark about good luck, but it should never be thus jested with. When a heart has been in great spiritual storms and has at last found peace, there will follow as a duty and a privilege the acknowledgment of the Lord's mercy before his people, and it is well that this should be done in the presence of those who hold office in the church, and who from their riper years are better able to appreciate the testimony.

Let them exalt him also in the congregation - Their deliverance from such imminent danger, and in a way which clearly showed the Divine interposition, demands, not only gratitude of heart and the song of praise at the end of the storm, but when they come to shore that they publicly acknowledge it in the congregation of God’s people. I have been often pleased, when in sea-port towns, to see and hear notes sent to the minister from pious sailors, returning thanks to the Almighty for preservation from shipwreck, and, in general, from the dangers of the sea; and for bringing them back in safety to their own port. Thus “they exalt the Lord in the congregation, and praise him in the assembly of the elders.” And is it not something of this kind that the psalmist requires?

Let them exalt him also - Let them lift up his name on high; let them make it conspicuous. The word means “to lift up,” and is applied to praise because we thus, as it were, “lift up” God, or make him conspicuous. In the congregation of the people - Not merely in private, but in public. As his doings are public and conspicuous - as they pertain to all - people should acknowledge him in their public capacity, or when assembled together. And praise him in the assembly of the elders - The old men; the men eminent for experience and wisdom. Perhaps this refers to those who occupied some official position in public worship, as appointed to preside over that worship, and to conduct it. We know that the arrangement was early made to appoint a body of aged men to preside over the assemblies for worship, and to direct the devotions of the people. In the presence of such venerable and venerated men, they are here exhorted to give due praise to God. The “reason” for this seems to be partly drawn from what had been referred to in the previous verses - the power of God as seen in stilling the tempests of the ocean; and partly from what is immediately referred to - the blessing of God on the labors of man in cultivating the earth.