Psalm 111:9

He sent redemption unto his people: he hath commanded his covenant for ever: holy and reverend is his name.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

111:1-10 The Lord is to be praised for his works. - The psalmist resolves to praise God himself. Our exhortations and our examples should agree together. He recommends the works of the Lord, as the proper subject, when we are praising him; and the dealings of his providence toward the world, the church, and particular persons. All the works of the Lord are spoken of as one, it is his work; so admirably do all the dispensations of his providence centre in one design. The works of God, humbly and diligently sought into, shall all be found just and holy. God's pardoning sin is the most wonderful of all his works, and ought to be remembered to his glory. He will ever be mindful of his covenant; he has ever been so, and he ever will be so. His works of providence were done according to the truth of the Divine promises and prophecies, and so were verity, or truth; and by him who has a right to dispose of the earth as he pleases, and so are judgment, or righteous: and this holds good of the work of grace upon the heart of man, ver. 7,8. All God's commandments are sure; all have been fulfilled by Christ, and remain with him for a rule of walk and conversation to us. He sent redemption unto his people, out of Egypt at first, and often afterwards; and these were typical of the great redemption, which in the fulness of time was to be wrought out by the Lord Jesus. Here his everlasting righteousness shines forth in union with his boundless mercy. No man is wise who does not fear the Lord; no man acts wisely except as influenced by that fear. This fear will lead to repentance, to faith in Christ, to watchfulness and obedience. Such persons are of a good understanding, however poor, unlearned, or despised.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

He sent redemption unto his people - In their deliverance from Egypt. He has now sent it in a higher sense under the great Deliverer, the Saviour.

He hath commanded his covenant for ever - He has ordained or appointed it. The covenant is here represented as if it were obedient to the will of God, or under his control. The covenant refers to his arrangements with his people; his assurances of favor, with the terms on which that favor will be shown.

Holy and reverend is his name - Holy and to be venerated; literally, "to be feared." That is, he has shown in all this that he is holy, and that he is a Being who is to be had in reverence.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

9. The deliverance He provided accorded to His established covenant. Thus He manifested Himself in the sum of His perfections (Ps 20:1, 7; 22:3) worthy of reverence.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Redemption; that deliverance out of Egypt, which was a type and pledge of that greater and higher redemption by Christ.

Commanded, i.e. appointed or established firmly by his power and authority. And so this word is oft used, as Psalm 33:9 42:8 105:31,34. See Poole "Psalm 111:7", the ground of which signification may be taken from hence, that the command of a sufficient authority concerning any thing doth commonly establish and effect it. For ever; through all successive generations of his people to the end of the world; for the covenant is the same for substance in all, and differed only in circumstances.

Holy and reverend; terrible to his enemies, and venerable in his people’s eyes, and holy in all his dealings with all men.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

He sent redemption unto his people,.... Or one to redeem them, who effected it; Moses to redeem Israel out of Egypt, and Christ to redeem his people from sin, Satan, and the law, and who has done it; and having obtained eternal redemption, he sent his ministers to publish it in the world, and his Spirit to apply it, and to show his people their interest in it; and make it over to them, and the blessings of it, that they may enjoy it, and all the comforts and advantages arising from it; temporal redemption, as typical of the spiritual and eternal one, is here meant.

He hath commanded his covenant for ever; which cannot be the covenant of circumcision, or that at Sinai, neither of which were for ever; but the covenant of grace made with Christ, and which stands fast with him for ever; it is everlasting, sure, and can never be removed; its blessings and promises are for ever; and it is so made and framed, and so kept and observed, as that it shall always continue, which is meant by its being "commanded": as well as it may denote the decree and resolution of God never to break and alter it; see Psalm 89:3.

Holy and reverend is his name; the name of God is "holy"; it is his nature, and appears in all his works; and in which he is glorious, and so is reverend; he is to be feared and reverenced by all his creatures, and among his saints, as he is by the angels in heaven.

Geneva Study Bible

He sent redemption unto his people: he hath commanded his covenant for ever: holy and reverend is his name.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

9. He hath sent redemption] The primary reference is to the deliverance from Egypt (Deuteronomy 7:8 and often), and the ratification of the covenant at Sinai: but the restoration from exile in Babylon had been a second and scarcely less notable act of redemption. By it Jehovah had given proof of His faithfulness to His covenant, which in the dark days of the Exile might have seemed abrogated for ever (Jeremiah 33:20 ff.; Isaiah 49:14).

holy and reverend is his name] To be feared (Psalm 96:4); elsewhere rendered fearful (Deuteronomy 28:58) or terrible (Psalm 99:3). By these deliverances and acts of grace Jehovah has revealed Himself as a God Who is holy and must be feared (Exodus 15:11; Isaiah 29:23; Isaiah 8:13).

9, 10. A final summary of God’s love and man’s duty.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 9. - He sent redemption unto his people. The "redemption" from Egypt (Exodus 6:6) is perhaps especially in the writer's mind, but he may be thinking also of other deliverances. He hath commanded his covenant forever (comp. Genesis 9:12; Genesis 17:13; Exodus 31:16, etc.). Holy and reverend is his Name. Intrinsically "holy," and therefore "reverend," or to be reverenced. Psalm 111:9

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

That which the poet purposes doing in Psalm 111:1, he puts into execution from Psalm 111:2 onwards. ועדה, according to Psalm 64:7; Psalm 118:14, is equivalent to ועדתם. According to Psalm 111:10, הפציהם in Psalm 111:2 apparently signifies those who find pleasure in them (the works of God); but חפצי equals חפצי (like שׂמחי, Isaiah 24:7 equals שׂמחי) is less natural than that it should be the construct form of the plural of חפץ, that occurs in three instances, and there was no need for saying that those who make the works of God the object of their research are such as interest themselves in them. We are led to the right meaning by לכל־חפצו in 1 Kings 9:11 in comparison with Isaiah 44:28; Isaiah 46:10, cf. Isaiah 53:10, where חפץ signifies God's purpose in accordance with His counsel: constantly searched into, and therefore a worthy object of research (דרשׁ, root דר, to seek to know by rubbing, and in general experimentally, cf. Arab. drâ of knowledge empirically acquired) according to all their aims, i.e., in all phases of that which they have in view. In Psalm 111:4 זכר points to the festival which propagates the remembrance of the deeds of God in the Mosaic age; טרף, Psalm 111:5, therefore points to the food provided for the Exodus, and to the Passover meal, together with the feast of unleavened bread, this memorial (זכּרון, Exodus 12:14) of the exemption in faithfulness to the covenant which was experienced in Egypt. This Psalm, says Luther, looks to me as though it had been composed for the festival of Easter. Even from the time of Theodoret and Augustine the thought of the Eucharist has been connected with Psalm 111:5 in the New Testament mind; and it is not without good reason that Psalm 111:1-10 has become the Psalm of the church at the celebration of the Lord's Supper. In connection with הגּיד one is reminded of the Pesach-Haggada. The deed of redemption which it relates has a power that continues in operation; for to the church of Jahve is assigned the victory not only over the peoples of Canaan, but over the whole world. The power of Jahve's deeds, which He has made known to His people, and which they tell over again among themselves, aims at giving them the inheritance of the peoples. The works of His hands are truth and right, for they are the realization of that which is true and which lasts and verifies itself, and of that which is right, that triumphantly maintains its ground. His ordinances are נאמנים (occasionally pointed נאמנים), established, attested, in themselves and in their results authorizing a firm confidence in their salutariness (cf. Psalm 19:8). סמוּכים, supported, stayed, viz., not outwardly, but in themselves, therefore imperturbable (cf. סמוּך used of the state of mind, Psalm 112:8; Isaiah 26:3). עשׂוּים, moulded, arranged, viz., on the part of God, "in truth, and upright;" ישׂר is accusative of the predicate (cf. Psalm 119:37), but without its being clear why it is not pointed וישׁר. If we have understood Psalm 111:4-6 correctly, then פּדוּת glances back at the deliverance out of Egypt. Upon this followed the ratification of the covenant on Sinai, which still remains inviolable down to the present time of the poet, and has the holiness and terribleness of the divine Name for a guarantee of its inviolability. The fear of Jahve, this holy and terrible God, is the beginning of wisdom - the motto of the Chokma in Job (Job 28:28) and Proverbs (Proverbs 1:7; Proverbs 9:10), the Books of the Chokma. Psalm 111:10 goes on in this Proverbs-like strain: the fear of God, which manifests itself in obedience, is to those who practise them (the divine precepts, פקודים) שׂכל טּוב (Proverbs 13:15; Proverbs 3:4, cf. 2 Chronicles 30:22), a fine sagacity, praiseworthy discernment - such a (dutiful) one partakes of everlasting praise. It is true, in glancing back to Psalm 111:3, תּהלּתו seems to refer to God, but a glance forward to Psalm 112:3 shows that the praise of him who fears God is meant. The old observation therefore holds good: ubi haec ode desinit, sequens incipit (Bakius).