Psalm 67:2

That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(2) Saving health.—The Hebrew word is that generally rendered “salvation,” but often better rendered “help,” or “deliverance.” By “health” the translators meant “healing power,” as in Shakespeare, King John, Act V., Scene 2:—

“For the health and physick of our right.”

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

67:1-7 A prayer for the enlargement of Christ's kingdom. - All our happiness comes from God's mercy; therefore the first thing prayed for is, God be merciful to us, to us sinners, and pardon our sins. Pardon is conveyed by God's blessing, and secured in that. If we, by faith, walk with God, we may hope that his face will shine on us. The psalmist passes on to a prayer for the conversion of the Gentiles, which shows that the Old Testament saints desired that their advantages might also be enjoyed by others. And many Scripture prophecies and promises are wrapped up in prayers: the answer to the prayer of the church is as sure as the performance of God's promises. The joy wished to the nations, is holy joy. Let them be glad that by his providence the Lord will overrule the affairs of kingdoms; that even the kingdoms of this world shall became the kingdom of the Lord, and of his Christ. Then is declared a joyful prospect of all good when God shall do this. The success of the gospel brings outward mercies with it; righteousness exalts a nation. The blessing of the Lord sweetens all our creature-comforts to us, and makes them comforts indeed. All the world shall be brought to worship Him. When the gospel begins to spread, it shall go forward more and more, till it reaches to the ends of the earth. It is good to cast in our lot with those that are the blessed of the Lord. If nothing had been spoken in Scripture respecting the conversion of the heathen, we might think it vain to attempt so hopeless a work. But when we see with what confidence it is declared in the Scriptures, we may engage in missionary labours, assured that God will fulfil his own word. And shall we be backward to make known to the heathen the knowledge with which we are favoured, and the salvation we profess to glory in? They cannot learn unless they are taught. Then let us go forward in the strength of the Lord, and look to him to accompany the word the Holy Ghost; then Satan's kingdom shall be destroyed, and the kingdom of our Redeemer established.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

That thy way may be known upon earth - The law of God; the principles and methods of the divine administration; the way in which God rules mankind and in which he bestows his blessings on people. The prayer is, that all the earth might be made acquainted with the methods in which God deals with his people, or confers favors on people. The happiness of man depends on a knowledge of the principles on which God bestows his favors; for all people are, in all things, dependent on him. The success of a farmer depends on his understanding, and complying with, the laws and principles on which God bestows a harvest; the preservation of health, the restoration of health when we are sick, depends on a knowledge of the great laws which God has ordained for the continuance of the healthy functions of our bodies, and on the use of the means which he has provided for restoring health when those functions are disordered; and, in like manner, the salvation of the soul depends on the right understanding of the method which God has appointed to secure his favor. In neither of these cases - in no case - is it the business of people to originate laws of their own; laws for the cultivation of the earth, or for the preservation of health, or for the saving of the soul. The business of man is to find out the rules in accordance with which God bestows his favors, and then to act in obedience to them. The psalmist here supposes that there are certain rules or principles, in accordance with which God bestows blessings on mankind; and he prays that those rules and principles may be everywhere made known upon the earth.

Thy saving health among all nations - The original word here rendered "saving health," is "salvation." It is with great uniformity so rendered. It is indeed translated "welfare," in Job 30:15; help, in Psalm 3:2; Psalm 42:5; deliverance, in Psalm 18:50; Psalm 44:4; Isaiah 26:18; helping, Psalm 22:1; and health, in Psalm 42:11; but elsewhere it is in all cases rendered "salvation." The words "saving health" were adopted from an older version, but no argument should be founded on, them. The word "salvation" expresses all that there is in the original; and the prayer is, that the method by which God confers salvation on people may be made known throughout all lands. Assuredly no more appropriate prayer could be offered than that all the race may be made acquainted with the way in which God saves sinners.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2. thy way—of gracious dealing (Isa 55:8), as explained by—

saving health—or literally, "salvation."

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Nor do we desire this mercy only for our comfort, but also for the advancement of thy glory, and the propagation of the true religion among all nations, who by the contemplation of thy gracious and wonderful works to and for us will be induced to love and serve thee, and to list themselves among thy people. By God’s way he understands, either,

1. That way wherein God walks; or the manner of his dealing with his people: How gracious and bountiful a Master thou art to all thy servants! Or rather,

2. That way wherein God requires men to walk, the way of God’s precepts, the way of truth, or the true religion; as the way or ways of the Lord are frequently taken, Genesis 17:19 Judges 2:22 Psalm 18:21 Psalm 119:1 Acts 18:25,26, &c.; the same which in the next clause is called his

saving health, Heb. salvation; and both together signify the way of salvation, which the psalmist desires may be known among all nations; which was expected by the ancient and godly Jews at the coming of the Messias, who is called the way, John 14:6, and God’s salvation, Luke 2:30. And so the sense of the place is this, Deal so graciously with thy people Israel, that thereby the Gentile world may at last be allured to join themselves with them, and to embrace their religion and Messias; according to that famous prophecy, Zechariah 8:23, In those days ten men out of all nations shall take hold of the skirt of a Jew, saying, We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

That thy way may be known upon earth,.... God's way and method of grace, in the salvation of sinners; the contrivance of it in Christ, the impetration of it by him, and the application of it by his Spirit; and the way of sinners to him through Christ, the way, the truth, and the life, the new and living way to the Father; and the way of life and salvation, which is grace, and by Christ alone; and the Gospel which points out this way, and is itself called the way of God, Acts 18:25; together with the ordinances of it, which are ways of pleasantness, and paths of peace; all this was made known by the apostles and first preachers of the Gospel; not only in the land of Judea, but throughout the whole earth;

thy saving health among all nations; or "thy salvation"; or "thy Jesus" (l); whose name signifies a Saviour; and who is the only one, and an able and willing one, and is God's salvation, of his appointing, promising, and sending; salvation is by him, and by him only; he came to obtain it, and he is the author of it; health is also by him, he is the physician of souls, and his blood the balm that cures every disease; so that he is the Saviour, salvation, and saving health, to his people; this was unknown to the nations of the world until the Gospel came among them, until the grace of God bringing this salvation appeared unto them, and shone upon them, Titus 2:11.

(l) "salutem tuam", Pagninus, Montanus, &c. "i.e. salvatorem cujus nomen erit Jesus", Gejerus.

Geneva Study Bible

That {b} thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations.

(b) That both Jews and Gentiles may know God's covenant made with them.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

2. Lit. that men may know thy way in the earth. The blessings which God bestows upon Israel will shew the nations what a God He is, and make them desire to serve Him. Cp. Jeremiah 33:9; Zechariah 8:20 ff; Isaiah 11:9. God’s way is His gracious method of dealing with men, explained in the next line as His saving health, i.e. salvation, as the word is generally translated. Health in old English meant healing power, deliverance, salvation. Cp. Psalm 42:11.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 2. - That thy way may he known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations. God is besought to bless his people Israel (ver. 1), in order that so his "way" may become known to all the earth, his "saving health," or his "salvation," to all (heathen) nations. The idea is not raised of any compulsory empire, but of one which will gradually extend itself, by winning the heathen over to it through the sight of Israel's blessedness (comp. Isaiah 49:18-23; Isaiah 60:3, 4). Psalm 67:2

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The Psalm begins (Psalm 67:1) with words of the priest's benediction in Numbers 6:24-26. By אתּנוּ the church desires for itself the unveiled presence of the light-diffusing loving countenance of its God. Here, after the echo of the holiest and most glorious benediction, the music strikes in. With Psalm 67:2 the Beracha passes over into a Tephilla. לדעת is conceived with the most general subject: that one may know, that may be known Thy way, etc. The more graciously God attests Himself to the church, the more widely and successfully does the knowledge of this God spread itself forth from the church over the whole earth. They then know His דּרך, i.e., the progressive realization of His counsel, and His ישׁוּעה, the salvation at which this counsel aims, the salvation not of Israel merely, but of all mankind.