Psalms 100

A Psalm of praise.

This psalm is in the spirit of Psalms 99:0, of which, according to Hengstenberg and others, it may be considered as the concluding part. It is an anticipation of New Testament times, when the gospel should be given to all the nations, and is a call, or exhortation, to “all lands” to come and worship Jehovah the form in which the Hebrews expressed their faith in the universal kingdom of Messiah. It closes the series which began with Psalms 91:0, and more especially with Psalms 93:0, and is in striking conformity with the second part of Isaiah, or from the fortieth chapter to the close.

The lyrical versions of this psalm are among our sublimest hymns of praise in the modern Church; like that of Watts, “Before Jehovah’s awful throne,” etc., and the standard tune to the long metre version “Old Hundredth” derives its name from this psalm, as it stood in the Geneva collection in 1564.TITLE:

A Psalm of praise The word תודה , ( todah,) is variously translated praise and thanksgiving in the common Version. In its ritualistic sense it denotes, when connected with זבח , ( zebahh,) victim, sacrifice, the praise offering, or thank offering, which was expressive of the feelings of the worshipper upon his realization of a state of peace and friendship with God. Leviticus 7:11-15. It differed from the sin offering and trespass offering, which were to expiate the cause of enmity, or the guilt of transgression. Leviticus 4:0; Leviticus 5:15-16. This zebahh-hatodah, or praise offering, was one of the three forms of peace offering, accompanied with a social feast, to denote friendship and reconciliation. Leviticus 7:15. The title of this psalm is not to be taken in the general sense of a “psalm for thanksgiving,” but in the liturgical sense above given, as in Psalms 107:22; Psalms 116:17. It is the echo of Psalms 95:2, where also the same word occurs in the same sense. “It is commonly thought that it was composed to be sung on the occasion of offering the sacrifice of thanksgiving.” Phillips.