Psalms 92

A Psalm or Song. for the sabbath day.

Like Psalms 91:0, this also is barren of definite historical data for fixing the precise time and occasion of its origin; but, like it, is strongly marked by internal traits which conduct us to a reasonable probability. Prominently before the author were the “wicked,” the “workers of iniquity,” who “sprang up as grass” and “flourished,” but whose sudden doom was to “perish for ever,” (Psalms 92:7,) to be “scattered,” (Psalms 92:9.) These wicked were “brutish,” “foolish,” not knowing the works of God, nor his “deep thoughts,” (Psalms 92:5-6,) and hence rushed blindly on to their destruction. The righteous, meanwhile, shall be exalted with honour, (Psalms 92:10,) and being firmly grounded in the doctrine and worship of the only true God, shall grow and flourish. This avenging providence, always discriminative of character, and committed to the principle of true holiness, is the theme of the psalm, which the author treats in the sweet spirit of praise and the profound confidence of hope. The whole spirit and scope of the psalm suit the quieted and assured state of King Hezekiah after the announcement of the Prophet Isaiah. 2 Kings 19:20-34; Isaiah 27:21-35. The feelings of Hezekiah before this announcement are well portrayed in Psalms 73:0, and after the catastrophe in Psalms 46, 76. But the quiet trust of the assured mind of the king, resting in God’s word before the event, are well described in Psalms 92, 93, which should be taken as pairs, or two parts of one whole. But their application, like all Scripture, is general. The individual soul, and the collective body of the Church, struggling against the powers of evil, especially the combinations of wicked men, here find incentives to faith, hope, praise, and a firm adherence to the worship and institutions of God.

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A Psalm or Song for the sabbath day In the liturgical order of worship established by David, the daily temple service was accompanied by singing, and this psalm was probably, at an early day, assigned to the sabbath, as it is known to have stood thus in the arrangement from about three hundred years before Christ. It breathes the spirit of rest, as “the sabbath” denotes, (Genesis 2:2;) whether the rest of the seventh day, or of any public feast day wherein they were to abstain from labour. The allusions to God’s works in nature, providence, and covenant faithfulness, suit it to the feast of tabernacles in October, when the fruits of the year were brought in, or to the feast of weeks in May, when the wheat harvest was gathered.