Subject. - this Psalm is evidently taken from that sacred song which was composed by David at the time when "the ark of God was set in the midst of the tent which David had prepared for it .." See the sixteenth chapter of the first book of the Chronicles.
The former part of that song is probable omitted in this place because it referred to Israel, and the design of the Holy Ghost in this Psalm is to give forth a song for the Gentiles, a triumphant hymn wherewith to celebrate the conversion of the nations to Jehovah in gospel times. It follows fitly upon the last Psalm which describes the obstinancy of Israel, and the consequent taking of the gospel from them that it might be preached among the nations who would receive it, and in due time be fully won to Christ by His power.
Verse 1. "O sing unto the Lord a new song: sing unto the Lord, all the earth." "A new song," unknow to you before. Come, all ye nations of the wide earth, who, up to this hour have been giving your worship to dead gods that are no gods at all. Come and give your hearts to the true and only God in this new song.
Verse 1. "O sing unto the Lord a new song: sing unto the Lord, all the earth." "A new song;" for here are set forth those expectations strange to the Jewish creed of former days. - God's intention that "the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise," – begins to dawn upon the exclusive nation.
Verse 3. "Declare his glory among the heathen, his wonders among all people." His wonders. What a wonderful person he is, for he is God manifest in the flesh; what wonderful love he has shown in his incarnation, obedience, suffering, and death; what amazing miracles he wrought, and what a wonderful work he performed – the work of our redemption, the wonder of men and angels. Declare his wonderful resurrection from the dead, his ascension to heaven, his sitting at the right hand of God, and his intercession for his people. Declare the wonderful effusion of his Spirit, the conquests of his grace, the enlargement of his kingdom in the world, and also what wonders will be wrought by him when he appears a second time – how the dead will be raised, and all will be judged.
Verse 8. "Give unto the Lord the glory due to his name ..." It is a debt, and a debt, in equity must be paid. The glory and honour due to his name is to acknowledge him to be holy, just true, powerful. ... Defraud not his name of the least honour.
Verse 9. "O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness; fear before him all the earth." False worship consists in, the obscurity of ignorance, the dullness of formalism, the offensiveness of indulged sin, the hideousness of hypocrisy. True worship consists in "he beauty of holiness."
Verse 10. Say among the heathen that the Lord reigneth. ..." This clause reads in the old Latin version, "Tell it among the heathen that the Lord reigneth from the tree." Justin Martyr accuses the Jews of erasing the words "from the tree." A hymn writer renders the verse thus: -
"The truth that David learned to sing,
Its deep fulfilment here attains;
'Tell all the earth the Lord is King!'
Lo, from the cross, a King he reigns!"
Verse 13. "... for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth; he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth." "He cometh;" not, he shall come, but "he cometh." This is to show how near the time of judgment is. It is almost day-break, and the Court is ready to sit: "The Judge standeth at the door."
Verse 13. "... for he cometh, for he cometh to judge ..." It has been remarked that "to judge" is the word used instead of "to reign," because "judges" in the early days of the Holy Land exercised the power both of kings and magistrates. The Lord come to be a wiser judge than Samuel, a greater champion than Samson, a mightier deliverer than Gideon.