The Epistle to the Hebrews quotes vv. 25-27 as spoken of "the Son." Such an application of the words rests on the fact that the psalm speaks of the coming of Jehovah for redemption, who is none other than Jehovah manifested fully in the Messiah. But Jehovah whose coming brings redemption and His recognition by the world is also Creator. Since, then, the Incarnation is, in truth, the coming of Jehovah, which the psalmist, like all the prophets, looked for as the consummation, He in whom the redeeming Jehovah was manifested is He in whom Jehovah the Creator "made the worlds." The writer of the Epistle is not asserting that the psalmist consciously spoke of the Messiah, but he is declaring that his words, read in the light of history, point to Jesus as the crowning manifestation of the redeeming, and therefore necessarily of the creating, God.
1 Bless Jehovah, my soul, And all within me [bless] His holy name! 2 Bless Jehovah, my soul! And forget not all His benefits, 3 Who forgives all thy iniquity, Who heals all thy diseases, 4 Who redeems thy life from the pit, Who crowns thee [with] loving-kindness and compassions, 5 Who satisfies thy mouth (?) with good, [So that] thy youth is renewed like the eagle.
6 Jehovah executes righteousness And judgments for all the oppressed. 7 He made known His ways to Moses, To the children of Israel His great deeds. 8 Full of compassion and gracious is Jehovah, Slow to anger and abundant in loving-kindness. 9 He will not continually contend, And will not keep His anger for ever. 10 Not according to our sins has He dealt with us, And not according to our iniquities has He recompensed us. 11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, [So] great is His loving-kindness to them that fear Him. 12 As far as sunrise is from sunset, [So] far has He put our transgressions from us. 13 As a father has compassion on his children, Jehovah has compassion on them that fear Him. 14 For He--He knows our frame, Being mindful that we are dust. 15 Frail man--like grass are his days, Like a flower of the field, so he flowers. 16 For a wind passes over him and he is not, And his place knows him no more. 17 But the loving-kindness of Jehovah is from everlasting even to everlasting upon them that fear Him, And His righteousness is to children's children; 18 To those who keep His covenant, And to those who remember His statutes to do them.
19 Jehovah has established His throne in the heavens, And His kingdom rules over all. 20 Bless Jehovah, ye His angels, Ye mighty in strength, who perform His word, Hearkening to the voice of His word! 21 Bless Jehovah, all His hosts, Ye His ministers, who perform His will! 22 Bless Jehovah, all His works, In all places of His dominion! Bless Jehovah, my soul!
There are no clouds in the horizon, nor notes of sadness in the music, of this psalm. No purer outburst of thankfulness enriches the Church. It is well that, amid the many psalms which give voice to mingled pain and trust, there should be one of unalloyed gladness, as untouched by sorrow as if sung by spirits in heaven. Because it is thus purely an outburst of thankful joy, it is the more fit to be pondered in times of sorrow.
The psalmist's praise flows in one unbroken stream. There are no clear marks of division, but the river broadens as it runs, and personal benefits and individual praise open out into gifts which are seen to fill the universe, and thanksgiving which is heard from every extremity of His wide dominion of loving-kindness.
In ver. 1-5 the psalmist sings of his own experience. His _spirit_, or _ruling self_, calls on his "soul," the weaker and more feminine part, which may be cast down (Psalms xlii., xliii.) by sorrow, and needs stimulus and control, to contemplate God's gifts and to praise Him. A good man will rouse himself to such exercise, and coerce his more sensuous and sluggish faculties to their noblest use. Especially must memory be directed, for it keeps woefully short-lived records of mercies, especially of continuous ones. God's gifts are all "benefits," whether they are bright or dark. The catalogue of blessings lavished on the singer's soul begins with forgiveness and ends with immortal youth. The profound consciousness of sin, which it was one aim of the Law to evoke, underlies the psalmist's praise; and he who does not feel that no blessings could come from heaven, unless forgiveness cleared the way for them, has yet to learn the deepest music of thankfulness. It is followed by "healing" of "all thy diseases," which is no cure of merely bodily ailments, any more than redeeming of life "from the pit" is simply preservation of physical existence. In both there is at least included, even if we do not say that it only is in view, the operation of the pardoning God in delivering from the sicknesses and death of the spirit.