Psalms 106:48

106:34-48 The conduct of the Israelites in Canaan, and God's dealings with them, show that the way of sin is down-hill; omissions make way for commissions: when they neglected to destroy the heathen, they learned their works. One sin led to many more, and brought the judgments of God on them. Their sin was, in part, their own punishment. Sinners often see themselves ruined by those who led them into evil. Satan, who is a tempter, will be a tormentor. At length, God showed pity to his people for his covenant's sake. The unchangeableness of God's merciful nature and love to his people, makes him change the course of justice into mercy; and no other change is meant by God's repentance. Our case is awful when the outward church is considered. When nations professing Christianity, are so guilty as we are, no wonder if the Lord brings them low for their sins. Unless there is general and deep repentance, there can be no prospect but of increasing calamities. The psalm concludes with prayer for completing the deliverance of God's people, and praise for the beginning and progress of it. May all the people of the earth, ere long, add their Amen.

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,.... God is to be blessed as the Father of mercies; as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; and as the covenant God and Father of his people in him, of the true Israel of God: which is done by celebrating his blessedness in himself; by ascribing to him all blessedness enjoyed, as the author of it; and by giving him honour, glory, and blessing for it. From everlasting to everlasting; here and hereafter, in time and to all eternity; from this world to that which is to come, as the Targum; and which Arama observes are the days of the Messiah. And let all the people say, Amen; so be it; to giving thanks to God, to praising his name, and ascribing blessing to him. Praise ye the Lord; or "hallelujah"; so these two words, "Amen, hallelujah", are joined together in Revelation 19:4. The psalm ends as it began; for though the greatest part of it is taken up in relating the sins of the people of Israel; yet as the Lord was merciful to them and forgave them, and notwithstanding bestowed great mercies on them, there was reason for praise and thanksgiving. Here ends the fourth part of the book of Psalms; the fifth part begins, with the following psalm.

48 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting; and let all the people say, Amen. Praise ye the Lord. "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting." Has not his mercy endured for ever, and should not his praise be of like duration? Jehovah, the God of Israel, has blessed his people, should they not also bless him? "And let all the people say, Amen." They have all been spared by his grace, let them all join in the adoration with loud unanimous voice. What a thunder of praise would thus be caused! Yet should a nation thus magnify him, yea, should all the nations past and present unite in the solemn acclaim, it would fall far short of his deserts. O for the happy day when all flesh shall see the glory of God, and all shall aloud proclaim his praise. "Praise ye the Lord," or "Hallelujah." Reader, praise thou the Lord, as he who writes this feeble exposition now does with his whole heart. "Now blest, for ever blest, be He, The same throughout eternity, Our Israel's God adored! Let all the people join the lay, And loudly, 'Hallelujah,' say, 'Praise ye the living Lord!'"

Verse 48. - Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting. This verse is not so much a part of the particular psalm, as a mark that here another Book of the Psalms has reached its conclusion (comp. Psalm 41:13 ; Psalm 72:19 ; Psalm 89:52 ). The form has, however, been modified so as to make it run on smoothly with the verse immediately preceding. And let all the people say. In their praises and thanks to God (see ver. 47). Amen. Praise ye the Lord. The other terminal psalms end with "Amen and Amen;" here alone do we have "Amen. Praise ye the Lord." the intention being evidently that the last words of the psalm should be an echo of the first (see ver. 1). Psalm 106:48

48 . Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Israel, From eternity even to eternity. And all the people shall say, Amen, Hallelujah. The liturgical direction “and all the people shall say, Amen, Hallelujah” seems to imply that the doxology here is not a mere mark of the end of the Fourth Book, but was actually sung at the close of the Psalm. This was the usage in the time of the Chronicler, for in 1 Chronicles 16 he prefixes the words, “and say ye,” to Psalm 106:35-36 (= Psalm 106:47-48 here), and turns the direction into a statement, “and all the people said, Amen, and praised Jehovah.” This doxology then, as Robertson Smith points out (OTJC.2, p. 196), differs in character from the doxologies at the close of the first three books. It is a part of the Psalm and not an addition by the collector of the Psalter. For the use of similar doxologies cp. 1 Chronicles 29:10 ; Nehemiah 9:5 . It came however to be regarded as marking the end of a fourth book, although Psalms 106, 107 are closely connected together, and the division of the fourth and fifth books does not correspond to any difference of source or character, as is the case in the other books. Cp. Introd. p. liv.

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting - Forever. As he has been adored in the past - even from the beginning of the creation - so let him be adored and praised in all periods to come - forever and forever. See the notes at Psalm 41:13 . And let all the people say, Amen - In Psalm 41:13, this is, "Amen and amen." The idea is, Let all the people join in this; let them all express and declare their assent to this: let them all say, "Be it so." The word "Amen" is a word expressing assent - meaning verily, truly, certainly. Praise ye the Lord - Hebrew, "Hallelu-jah." See Psalm 104:35.

The closing doxology of the Fourth Book. The chronicler has ואמרוּ before Psalm 106:47 (which with him differs only very slightly), an indispensable rivet, so to speak, in the fitting together of Psalm 106:1 ( Psalm 107:1 ) and Psalm 106:47 . The means this historian, who joins passages together like mosaic-work, calls to his aid are palpable enough. He has also taken over. Psalm 106:48 by transforming and let all the people say Amen, Hallelujah! in accordance with his style (cf. 1 Chronicles 25:3 ; 2 Chronicles 5:13 , and frequently, Ezra 3:11 ), into an historical clause: ויּאמרוּ כל־העם אמן והלּל ליהוה. Hitzig, by regarding the echoes of the Psalms in the chronicler as the originals of the corresponding Psalms in the Psalter, and consequently 1 Chronicles 16:36 as the original of the Beracha placed after our Psalm, reverses the true relation; vid., with reference to this point, Riehm in the Theolog. Literat. Blatt, 1866, No. 30, and Kצhler in the Luther. Zeitschrift, 1867, S. 297ff. The priority of Psalm 106 is clear from the fact that Psalm 106:1 gives a liturgical key-note that was in use even in Jeremiah's time ( Psalm 33:11 ), and that Psalm 106:47 reverts to the tephilla-style of the introit, Psalm 106:4 . And the priority of Psalm 106:48 as a concluding formula of the Fourth Book is clear from the fact that is has been fashioned, like that of the Second Book ( Psalm 72:18 .), under the influence of the foregoing Psalm.

The Hallelujah is an echo of the Hallelujah-Psalm, just as there the Jahve Elohim is an echo of the Elohim-Psalm. And "let all the people say Amen" is the same closing thought as in Psalm 106:6 of Ps, which is made into the closing doxology of the whole Psalter. Ἀμὴν ἀλληλούΐα together ( Revelation 19:4 ) is a laudatory confirmation.