Hallelujah. 1 א I will thank Jehovah with my whole heart, ב In the council of the upright and in the congregation. 2 ג Great are the works of Jehovah, ד Inquired into by all who delight in them. 3 ה Honour and majesty is His working, ו And His righteousness stands fast for aye. 4 ז He has made a memorial for His wonders, ח Gracious and compassionate is Jehovah. 5 ט Food has He given to those who fear Him, י He remembers His covenant for ever. 6 כ The power of His works has He showed to His people, ל In giving them the inheritance of the nations. 7 מ The works of His hands are truth and judgment נ Trustworthy are all His commandments; 8 ס Established for aye and for ever, ע Done in truth and uprightness. 9 פ Redemption has He sent to His people, צ He has ordained His covenant for ever, ק Holy and dread is His name. 10 ר The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom, ש Good understanding [belongs] to all who do them; ת His praise stands fast for aye.
Another series of psalms headed with Hallelujah begins here, and includes the two following psalms. The prefix apparently indicates liturgical use. The present psalm is closely allied to the next. Both are acrostic, and correspond verse to verse, as will appear in the exposition. Together they represent God and the godly, this psalm magnifying the Divine character and acts, the other painting the ideal godly man as, in some real fashion, an "imitator of God as a beloved child." Both are gnomic, and built up by accumulation of slightly connected particulars, rather than flowing continuously in a sequence which springs from one pregnant thought. Both have allusions to other psalms and to the Book of Proverbs, and share with many of the psalms of Book V. the character of being mainly working over of old materials.
The Psalmist begins by a vow to thank Jehovah with his whole heart, and immediately proceeds to carry it out. "The upright" is by some understood as a national designation, and "council" taken as equivalent to "congregation." But it is more in accordance with usage to regard the psalmist as referring first to a narrower circle of like-minded lovers of good, to whose congenial ears he rejoices to sing. There was an Israel within Israel, who would sympathise with his song. The "congregation" is then either the wider audience of the gathered people, or, as Delitzsch takes it, equivalent to "_their_ congregation"--_i.e._, of the upright.
The theme of thanksgiving is, as ever, God's works for Israel; and the first characteristic of these which the psalmist sings is their greatness. He will come closer presently, and discern more delicate features, but now, the magnitude of these colossal manifestations chiefly animates his song. Far-stretching in their mass and in their consequences, deep-rooted in God's own character, His great deeds draw the eager search of "those who delight in them." These are the same sympathetic auditors to whom the song is primarily addressed. There were indolent beholders in Israel, before whom the works of God were passed without exciting the faintest desire to know more of their depth. Such careless onlookers, who see and see not, are rife in all ages. God shines out in His deeds, and they will not give one glance of sharpened interest. But the test of caring for His doings is the effort to comprehend their greatness, and plunge oneself into their depths. The more one gazes, the more one sees. What was at first but dimly apprehended as great resolves itself, as we look; and, first, "Honour and majesty," the splendour of His reflected character, shine out from His deeds, and then, when still more deeply they are pondered, the central fact of their righteousness, their conformity to the highest standard of rectitude, becomes patent. Greatness and majesty, divorced from righteousness, would be no theme for praise. Such greatness is littleness, such splendour is phosphorescent corruption.