Psalm 102:18

This shall be written for the generation to come: and the people which shall be created shall praise the LORD.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(18) Written.—This is interesting as being the only place in the Psalms where the memory of great events is said to be preserved in writing. Oral tradition is mentioned in Psalm 22:30; Psalm 44:1; Psalm 78:2.

Shall be created.—See Psalm 22:31, “a people that shall be born”—the coming generation (as the parallelism shows) for whom the world will be regenerated.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

102:12-22 We are dying creatures, but God is an everlasting God, the protector of his church; we may be confident that it will not be neglected. When we consider our own vileness, our darkness and deadness, and the manifold defects in our prayers, we have cause to fear that they will not be received in heaven; but we are here assured of the contrary, for we have an Advocate with the Father, and are under grace, not under the law. Redemption is the subject of praise in the Christian church; and that great work is described by the temporal deliverance and restoration of Israel. Look down upon us, Lord Jesus; and bring us into the glorious liberty of thy children, that we may bless and praise thy name.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

This shall be written for the generation to come - It shall be recorded for the instruction and encouragement of future ages. The fact that God has heard the prayer of his people in a time of trial shall be so recorded and remembered that it may be referred to in similar circumstances in all time to come, for he is an unchanging God. What he has done now, he will always be willing to do hereafter.

And the people which shall be created - Future generations. Each successive generation is in fact a new "creation;" each individual is also; for the essential idea in creation is that of bringing something into existence where there was nothing before. There is a "beginning" of existence in every human being. Man is not in any proper sense a "development" from former being, nor is his life merely a "continuance" of something which existed before.

Shall praise the Lord - Shall praise the Lord for what he has now done; shall learn, from the great principles now illustrated in regard to his administration, to praise him.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

18. people … created—(compare Ps 22:31), an organized body, as a Church.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

This shall be written; this wonderful deliverance shall not be lost nor forgotten, but carefully recorded by thy people. For the generation to come; for the instruction and encouragement of all succeeding generations. The singular number put for the plural, as is ordinary.

The people which shall be created; which may be understood, either,

1. Of the Jews which should be restored, who were in a manner dead and buried in the grave, and mere dry bones, Isaiah 26:19 Eze 37; and therefore their restoration might well be called a creation; or, as it is elsewhere, a resurrection. Or,

2. Of the Gentiles who should be converted, whose conversion is frequently, and might very justly, be called a second creation. See Isaiah 43:1,7,15 65:18 Ephesians 2:10,15.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

This shall be written for the generation to come,.... This prayer, as the Targum paraphrases it, is a directory to saints in distressed circumstances; or that which was just now said, that the Lord will regard, and not despise the prayer of the destitute; this shall stand on record, for the encouragement of praying souls in all generations; or this whole prophecy, concerning the glory of the church in the latter day; this shall be written for the next generation, and so on until it is accomplished, to keep up the faith and expectation of the fulfilment of it:

and the people which shall be created: born at the time when all this shall be done; or who shall become new creatures; be created in Christ Jesus, and made new men;

these shall praise the Lord, when he shall arise and have mercy on Zion; when he shall favour and rebuild her, in answer to the prayers of his people; then their prayers will be turned into praise; then will those voices be heard among them, hallelujah, salvation, glory, honour, and power unto the Lord our God, Revelation 19:1.

Geneva Study Bible

This shall be written for the generation to come: and the people which shall be {n} created shall praise the LORD.

(n) The deliverance of the Church is an excellent benefit, and therefore he compares it to a new creation for in their banishment the body of the Church seemed to have been dead, which by deliverance was as it were created anew.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

18. The good news of Jehovah’s mercy shall be recorded as the theme for the grateful praises of future generations. Cp. Jeremiah 30:2. The restoration of Israel will be nothing less than a new creation. Cp. Isaiah 43:7; Isaiah 43:21; Psalm 22:31.

shall praise the Lord] Heb. Jah. Here first in the Psalter we have the combination of words which forms the characteristic call to worship in the post-exilic Psalms, Hallelujah, ‘Praise ye Jah.’

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 18. - This shall be written for the generation to come; or, let it be written; γραφήτω αὕτη, LXX. The mercy of God in restoring his people to their own land and city must be recorded in writing, as his past mercies have been (Exodus 17:14; Deuteronomy 31:19), for the edification of future generations. The record was made by Ezra and Nehemiah. And the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord. Restored Israel is spoken of as a new creation (comp. Psalm 22:31; Isaiah 43:7, 21). It was, indeed, a sort of resurrection from the dead (see Ezekiel 37:1-10). (For the "praise" immediately rendered, see Ezra 3:10, 11; Ezra 6:16-22; Nehemiah 12:27-43.) Psalm 102:18

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The poet goes on advancing motives to Jahve for the fulfilment of his desire, by holding up to Him what will take place when He shall have restored Zion. The evangel of God's redemptive deed will be written down for succeeding generations, and a new, created people, i.e., a people coming into existence, the church of the future, shall praise God the Redeemer for it. דּור אחרון as in Psalm 48:14; Psalm 78:4. עם נברא like עם נולד Psalm 22:32, perhaps with reference to deutero-Isaianic passages like Isaiah 43:17. On Psalm 102:20, cf. Isaiah 63:15; in Psalm 102:21 (cf. Isaiah 42:7; Isaiah 61:1) the deutero-Isaianic colouring is very evident. And Psalm 102:21 rests still more verbally upon Psalm 79:11. The people of the Exile are as it were in prison and chains (אסיר), and are advancing towards their destruction (בּני תמוּתה), if God does not interpose. Those who have returned home are the subject to לספּר. בּ in Psalm 102:23 introduces that which takes place simultaneously: with the release of Israel from servitude is united the conversion of the world. נקבּץ occurs in the same connection as in Isaiah 60:4. After having thus revelled in the glory of the time of redemption the poet comes back to himself and gives form to his prayer on his own behalf.