Psalms 145:1

PSALM 145

JEHOVAH EXTOLLED FOR HIS GOODNESS AND POWER

This is the last of the psalms in Book V which are ascribed to David; but it is impossible to determine the occasion of it with any certainty. "Like Psalms 25 and Psalms 34, which are also Davidic, this psalm is an acrostic, and like them it is incomplete, the letter `nun' being omitted."[1] Addis noted that the Septuagint (LXX) supplies the missing line beginning with "nun." "It came after Psalms 145:13 and reads, `Faithful is Yahweh in his words, and holy in all his works.'"[2]

The theme here is the righteousness and goodness of God; and like most of the other acrostic psalms, this single theme dominates the thought throughout.

As for the organization of this composition, we shall follow the finding of Rawlinson who described it as being, "A metrical arrangement in three stanzas of seven verses each."[3] The first paragraph speaks of God's righteousness and goodness to all mankind; the second division stresses these blessings upon God's own people; and the final stanza tells of God's special concern for "all."

Psalms 145:1-7

GOD'S GREATNESS VISIBLE TO ALL MANKIND

"I will extol thee my God, O King;

And I will bless thy name forever and ever.

Every day will I bless thee;

And I will praise thy name forever and ever.

Great is Jehovah, and greatly to be praised;

And his greatness is unsearchable.

One generation shall laud thy works to another,

And shall declare thy mighty acts.

Of the glorious majesty of thine honor,

And of thy wondrous works, will I meditate.

And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts;

And I will declare thy greatness.

They shall utter the memory of thy great goodness,

And shall sing of thy righteousness."

"Every day will I bless thee" (Psalms 145:2). God blesses all of us every day. If one will only think, he can name a dozen blessings God has bestowed upon him even before he eats breakfast. "It is proper then that we should give thanks to God every day."[4] No Christian should think of omitting prayers of thanksgiving three times daily at mealtimes. It was the neglect of this simple duty that began the long decline and eventual debauchery of the pre-Christian Gentile world (Romans 1:20-26).

"One generation shall laud thy works to another" (Psalms 145:4). "The great and mighty acts of God are told from one generation to the next. The Bible is a divine record of such actions";[5] and our own lives bear witness to the same truth. This writer's mother read the entire Bible to him before he was old enough to attend school.

"Men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts ... and utter the memory of thy greatness ... and ... sing of thy righteousness" (Psalms 145:6-7). "David could have had little inkling in store for the fulfilment of his words."[6] Just think of all the praises spoken and sung to the honor and glory of God all over the world continually, in every language spoken on earth, in all nations, and by all races of mankind! Today, there is no nation on earth where the present generation is not telling to the next generation the mercies and love of God, even in Russia, and in the nations once behind the iron curtain!

"Men shall speak of thy terrible acts" (Psalms 145:6). What are the terrible acts of God? There is no catalogue of all of them, but a few are surely revealed in the holy Bible.

(1) The Great Deluge must head the list. How terrible is the thought of drowning the entire human race in one disastrous flood! In this terrible act, God achieved a new beginning for his Operation Adam, in the family of Noah.

(2) The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah as recorded in Genesis is another of God's terrible acts. Two prosperous cities were completely devoured by fire from heaven, which God sent upon them because of their intolerable wickedness. This, in the New Testament, is made a type of the final destruction of all men upon the occasion of the Final Judgment. The same thing is also true of the Great Deluge.

(3) The overthrow of the army of Pharaoh in the Red Sea, an action which delivered Israel from Egyptian bondage, must be added to the list.

(4) The extermination of the pagan peoples of Canaan in order to settle the children of Israel in the Promised Land was terrible indeed. Whole cities were destroyed, young and old, soldiers and infants, everyone, upon the specific orders of God himself.

(5) The destruction of No-Amon in the overthrow of Egypt by Nineveh was terrible indeed, as described in Nahum 3.

(6) The destruction of 185,000 of the army of Sennacherib (2 Kings 19).

(7) The destruction of Nineveh "with an over-running flood" (Nahum 1:9). See the detailed prophecy of this in Nahum 3.

(8) The destruction of Jerusalem by the armies of Nebuchadnezzar.

(9) The destruction of Babylon with "a drought upon her waters."

These are only a few of the "terrible acts of God," and by no means all of them. Even since the First Advent of Christ, there has been another destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. and many other `terrible acts of God' throughout history. The fall of Rome, the Fall of France, the destruction of Nazi Germany, the collapse of Communism, and many other historical events betray indelible marks of the hand of God in the record of what happened.