◄ Psalm 144:15 ►














Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
True National Prosperity
Psalm 144:12-15
R. Tuck
It is only a narrow and one-sided religion that can see anything out of place in this beatitude of plenty and peace. "As plants: this figure marks the native strength and vigor and freedom of the youth of the land. As corner-pillars: marks the polished gracefulness, the quiet beauty, of the maidens; who are like exquisitely sculptured forms (Caryatides) which adorned the corner of some magnificent hall or chamber of a palace." (It does not, however, seem probable that at any time sculptured figures were allowed in Hebrew houses or palaces.) Ornamentation and various coloring of pillars may be referred to. Three things make up temporal prosperity. Family joys; business success; social security. The sense of God's gracious relations sanctifies all three.

I. FAMILY JOYS. From Eastern points of view, large families were desirable; but usually in the East daughters are despised. Two things are noticeable in these verses.

1. Daughters are spoken of as honorably as sons.

2. It is the growing up, developing character of children, that is the chief source of family joy.

II. BUSINESS SUCCESS. Dealt with in the psalm from the strictly agricultural point of view. The figures employed all belong to farm-life. This may give indication of the date of the psalm; but we may take it as illustrative of all the ways in which men work for their living. Harvest is the key to the prosperity of the year, and that is in God's hand. Times of confidence and enterprise bring national prosperity.

III. SOCIAL SECURITY. This is suggested by the sentence, "That there be no breaking in nor going out." Security is the condition of business enterprise. Men will not work for what they have no hope of keeping when it is gained. Social security is imperiled by fear of attack from national foes, and also by the restlessness of sections within the nation (nihilists, and extravagant socialists, etc.). But family joys, business success, and social security are, in a way, merely material things. Back of them all there must be this secret of happiness - the "nation's God is the Lord." - R.T.

Biblical Illustrator
Happy is that people whose God is the Lord.
Psalm 144:15
A happy people
T. Lewis.
: —

I. EXAMINE WHAT IS COMPREHENDED IN THE RELATION REFERRED TO. This may refer —

1. To God as the object of religious worship.

2. To Him as the author of every blessing.

3. To the covenant relation in which He condescends to stand to His people. This includes —

(1)Divine acceptance.

(2)Delightful intercourse.

(3)Pleasing satisfaction.

II. ILLUSTRATE AND CONFIRM THE DECLARATION ITSELF. Such persons are happy —

1. Because all the Divine perfections are engaged in their behalf.

(1)Mercy to pardon their sins, and deliver them from guilt and misery.

(2)Wisdom to remove their ignorance, and guide them through the intricate mazes of this world.

(3)Power to assist their weakness, and be their guard and defence.

(4)Omnipresence to survey them in every possible condition.

(5)Holiness to conquer all their depravity.

(6)Riches to chase away their poverty.

(7)Plenty to supply all their wants. Faithfulness to perform all that has been promised.

2. Because in Him they are assured of finding a refuge in every time of need.

3. Because they are warranted to expect every needful supply.

4. Because in Him they have a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.

5. Because to them all the promises of the Gospel are yea and amen in Christ Jesus.

6. Because they have a sure prospect of being with Him for ever.Learn —

1. How mistaken the men of the world are with respect to the people of God.

2. How insignificant is the worldling's portion.

3. How dangerous is the condition of those who have not the Lord for their portion.

(T. Lewis.)

National religion
C. A. Berry, D. D.
: — There is in this psalm the outline-sketch of an ideal people. The tuneful seer pictures a nation whose every citizen is animated by the love of God, a community in which each separate soul is governed and guided by the wisdom which is from above. Redeemed by Divine grace, every man lives to the full the manifold life that is in him. There is no discord between a man's duties and his desires, no disproportion and no inequity between the functions of the flesh and those of the mind and spirit. Every man achieves and sustains a large and harmonious life. Recognizing the fatherhood of God, every man realizes and ministers to the brotherhood of man. Freedom is unrestrained by law because conditioned by love. Selfishness is banished under the gracious constraint of truth and charity. Righteousness is wedded to peace. The sunshine of plenty is unsullied by shadows of want. Progress leaves in its train no accumulation of poverty. Law is no longer an imposed coercion but an indwelling and spontaneous rule. Culture is sweetened by piety. Power yields to the loving dominance of gentleness. Religion is crowned with humanity. And upon this happy nation bountiful Nature, as the minister of God, showers the blessings of abundance and content. This splendid ideal, lifted up by Hebrew bard and preacher, given them by inspiration of God, naturally found its clearest expression, its most attractive unfolding, in God's Messiah. It was the declared purpose of our Lord Jesus Christ to inaugurate upon earth this kingdom of heaven. With suggestive repetition He spoke of this kingdom, this new society or body politic. He ever looked beyond, while He looked redemptively at, the individuals who gathered around Him. He saw as from a mountain-top the distant beauty of a new heaven and a new earth, and He saw that the path to it lay through the slow achievement of individual conversion. But the end was clear to Him, and certain. The kingdoms of this world are to become the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ. And that is our dream because it is Christ's.

I. Here, then, we emerge into THE BROADER OUTLOOKS AND IDEALS OF A TRULY NATIONAL MOVEMENT IN RELIGION. It is a movement to win England for Christ through the regeneration of every Englishman by the Spirit. We may get, we ought to toil for, more Christian laws, fairer conditions and better prospects for the people. We may, through the social elevation of men, and through the cleansing of their environment, help to advance them to a higher stage of life. By the organization and impact of Christian opinion we may prevent national iniquity and promote public righteousness. All these instruments of battle and victory are within the Christian armoury. But only through new men can new nations emerge, and only through the patient evangelization of our people can our country become a truly Christian land.

II. Let me now remind you that WE ARE MOVED TO THIS HIGH EFFORT BY REVERENCE FOR CHRIST AND LOVING PASSION FOR MEN. The first of these motives has already been emphasized. It springs from the belief that everything was made for Christ as well as by Him; that the nations are His inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth His possession. It proceeds upon a broad conception of Christ's work as the redemption to God of all life's departments and faculties, of all earth's dominions and resources. It is fired by the determination to lay at Christ's feet everything the world counts glorious, and to place on His head the many crowns. Nothing smaller can satisfy our gratitude or reverence. We cannot rest content till the world for which He died acclaims Him Saviour and King. And we are stirred to the same endeavour by our compassion for men, and by our belief that the Gospel holds the secret of all wealth and joy. It is new life men need, the new life of a pardoned and accepted and endowed soul. And because we possess the secret of it in the Gospel we cannot rest. Its possession is an impulse, its experience a contagion. Its incoming peace creates an outgoing sympathy. We can only keep it by giving it; the heart would break did the mouth not speak. Yes, the enthusiasm of humanity is the essential effect of Christ in the heart.

III. It is in no sense derogatory to the sublime spirituality of our theme to say that BY LOVE OF COUNTRY, NOT LESS THAN BY PROMPTINGS OF PIETY, ARE WE IMPELLED TO THIS BROAD MISSION. Our desire to see England, the land of our birth and love, foremost among the nations in the cause of Christ and humanity, is a distinct and legitimate factor in our zeal. "Patriotism" is a noble word, and it. stands for a grand quality. The England whose glory shines through many clouds, whose fair fame has won affection and scattered blessing the wide world over, is the England of the martyrs, the confessors, those speakers for God who made room for man, whose blood has been the seed of religion and liberty. It is the England of the missionary, the explorer, the emancipator, the philanthropist; the land of the open Book and the free charter, of the pious home and the sacred sanctuary, of the day of rest and the progressive faith; the land where heroes and saints have wrought to make life possible and to stir the grand enthusiasms of a broad humanity. That is our England. Round her our affections cling. For her our prayers arise. In her our faith and hope find anchorage. Love of such an England is love of all mankind through her. The patriotism which is loyal to such a land is the initial form of an enthusiasm for humanity. Hers is the opportunity, and hers the obligation, to lead the world to the knowledge of Christ; to teach mankind how to blend culture with piety, intelligence with faith, spiritual aspiration with practical service, and freedom of action with gracious constraint of obedience. Yes, that, and that supremely, is England's mission.

IV. IS IT POSSIBLE OUR DREAM MAY BE REALIZED? I for one dare believe no less. But as to its probability, that depends. Others before us were called to do God's work, and they perished miserably because of failure. That fate may be ours. Should we grow into a nation of idlers, sensualists, atheists, our candlestick will surely be removed out of its place. It depends upon Christian men and Churches whether our sun is to sink in storm. If we would have England saved for her noble destiny, we must be more true in faith and practice. To that noble undertaking let me once more call you. Then shall the past of our country pale before its future. Our song shall be without discord, our glory shall be as the glory of the Lord, and in the gathering of the nations around the throne of the King our fatherland shall be foremost in service and reward.

(C. A. Berry, D. D.)

The happiness of those whose God is the Lord
W. M. Arthur, M. A.
: — As a child in any of the families in our midst can only be happy by being docile and obedient and trustful to the wise and benevolent guidance of a godly father, or to the tender leading of a gentle and saintly mother, so, we all acknowledge at least, can we experience the highest good of the soul only by being reverent and truthful towards Him who is the Parent of us all — in whom we live and move and have our being. To be thus is to have Jehovah for our God; and only in this way shall we be happy. Now, if this is true, as unquestionably it is, of individuals, it follows that it must also be so of large collections of individuals or of nations; and this is the idea which the psalmist had principally in his mind when the words of the text were uttered. The true happiness — may I not go farther, and say the true prosperity? — of a nation will rise or fall, advance or recede, just as the love of God and the practice of justice and goodness and generosity and forbearance are or are not prevalent among the people, from the sovereign and the advisers of the crown downwards to the very humblest in the land. The true recognition of God or a conscientious regard for goodness and straightforward dealing, existing to any extent in a vast community, is a solid ground of hope in the midst of national distress or under the cloud of national calamity. If ten righteous men had been found in Sodom that city would have been saved from the destroying fire. Not only a ground of hope, therefore, but also a token of safety — of returning prosperity, of reappearing happiness. It was so as to the experience of God's ancient people, commemorated in the psalm from which our text is taken. The wrath of God had kindled against the apostate race; the proud tyrant of Babylon had been permitted to carry them away on account of their sins; but by and by this affliction became a purifying process. The love of God returned to their hearts, and the darkness began to brighten; and here there is anticipated in lofty strains a renewed golden age of power and plenty, of prosperity and happiness. The youth of the land are to be marked by native strength and vigour and freedom, whilst the maidens in their polished gracefulness and quiet beauty are to resemble the exquisitely sculptured forms which adorn the corners of some magnificent hall or chamber of a palace. Plenty both in the produce of the field and in flocks and herds is to be granted by a kindly-disposed Heaven; the very streets of their towns and villages are to re-echo to nothing but sounds of joy and thankfulness. Happiness is to prevail, but that simply because goodness is to be the national characteristic. Not one of us can fail to see most clearly his duty in this connection. We love our country, and we desire to see it great and glorious and free and happy; but let us recollect that the only way in which this result can be obtained is by the individual members of the community devoting themselves to the honest service of goodness — in their homes, at their business, in the company into which they go, at their everyday work, always and everywhere. Thus only shall we be happy individually, and also as a people.

(W. M. Arthur, M. A.).

I will extol Thee, my God, O King.
Psalm 145
The Kinghood of God, and the glory of His providence:
David Thomas, D. D.
I. THE KINGHOOD OF GOD (vers. 1-13).

1. Absolutely incomparable.

(1)Majesty incomprehensible.

(2)Reign perpetual.

(3)Power tremendous.

2. Supremely praiseworthy.

(1)By all.

(2)At all times.

(3)For ever.

II. THE GLORY OF HIS PROVIDENCE (vers. 14-21). His kindness to —

1. Fallen man.

2. Universal life. The —

(1)extent;

(2)seasonableness;

(3)readiness;

(4)completeness of His providential care. Whatever the wants — corporeal, intellectual, moral, social — He satisfies all.

3. His kindness to the genuinely pious.

(1)Its spiritual activity.

(2)Its transcendent privilege.

(a)Nearness to God.

(b)Satisfaction of desires.

(c)Salvation from all evil.(3) Its worshipping spirit.

(David Thomas, D. D.)

The happy duty of daily praise
If I were to put to you the question, "Do you pray?" the answer would be very quickly given by every Christian person, "Of course I do, and every day, and often in the day." But let me change the inquiry, and say, "Do you bless God every day?" I am not sure the answer would be quite so certain, so general, so prompt. Praise is certainly not so common in family prayer as other forms of worship. Be this our resolve: "I will extol Thee," etc. We ought to do this, for it is due to God, and praise is pre-eminently characteristic of the true child of God. It is singularly beneficial to ourselves; if we had more of it we should be greatly blest. Besides, unless we praise God here how are we preparing for our eternal home? Now to help in this joyful duty of praise let us turn to our text and see in it —

I. THE RESOLVE OF PERSONAL LOYALTY.

1. He pays homage to God as his King.

2. He personally appropriates God to himself by faith. "My God." That word "my" is a drop of honey, nay, like Jonathan's word, it is full of honey. And —

3. He is firmly resolved to praise God. My text has four "I wills" in it. And —

4. He himself will do this. No matter what other people do. Let none of us lose our own personality in the multitude, saying, "Things will go on very well without me." Each one of us must praise God.

5. And he will be always doing this In the second clause of our text we have —

II. THE CONCLUSION OF AS INTELLIGENT APPRECIATION. "And I will bless," etc.

1. He presents the worship of inward administration. Therefore he blesses the Divine name.

2. And he meant that he wished well to the Lord. To bless a person means to do that person good. If we cannot give anything to God, we can desire that He may be known, loved and honoured by all men. It seems that David studied the character and doings of God, so that he found nothing in God which he could not praise. And he is very intense over this. "For ever and ever." The words run parallel with Addison's verse which tells that "Eternity's too short to utter all Thy praise." Somebody cavilled at that once, and said, "Eternity cannot be too short." But in poetry and in praise "the letter killeth." Language is poor when the soul is on fire.

III. There is also THE PLEDGE OF DAILY REMEMBRNACE. "Every day will I," etc. For the greatness of gifts we have already received demands it. To-day it becomes us to sing of the mercies of yesterday. Each day has its mercy, and should render its praise. If we cannot praise God on any one day for what we have had that day let us praise Him for to-morrow. There is a seasonableness about the praising of God every day. For the praise of God is always in season. The last sentence tells —

IV. THE HOPE OF ETERNAL ADORATION David believed, therefore, that God was unchangeable, and in the immortality of the soul. And his resolve was that while here he would ever praise. But yonder we will praise him better.

( C. H. Spurgeon.)

God's chosen people extolling their Sovereign King
R. C. Dillon, D. D.
: —

I. THE SOVEREIGNTY HERE ASSERTED.

1. In the heart.

2. In the Church.

3. Over all things — in heaven, earth, hell.

II. THE EXPERIENCE CLAIMED. "My God." He is my Father, and has made me an heir of His kingdom.

III. THE VOW RECORDED. "I will extol Thee."

1. With the praises of the lips.

2. With the vigour of the new and inner man.

3. With the valour of faith.

(R. C. Dillon, D. D.)

Christ the King of saints:
Rev. Thomas Spurgeon, preaching on "Ecee Rex," tells the story of a soldier's death. He was wasted with disease and just about to pass into the unseen world and answer to the muster-roll above. Despite his weakness he sat himself upright in bed, lifted his hand to his forehead in a military salute, and said, "The King," and so died.

People
David, Psalmist
Places
Jerusalem
Topics
TRUE, Blessings, Case, David, Fall, Happiness, Happy, Nation, O, Ordered, Praise, Psalm, Situated, Situation, Thus, Yea, Yes
Outline
1. David blesses God for his mercy both to him and to man
5. He prays that God would powerfully deliver him from his enemies
9. He promises to praise God
11. He prays for the happy state of the kingdom

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Psalm 144:12-15

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Library
Sermons on Selected Lessons of the Gospels.
Adoption, a sonship higher than that of nature, [482]255; frequently mentioned in Holy Scripture, [483]255, [484]256; the term of ancient use among the Jews, [485]256; "raising up seed to brother," [486]256; used by St. Paul to express the mystery of our adoption in Christ, [487]256. Adversary, to be agreed with and delivered from, [488]442; not so Satan, [489]442; the Law our, so long as we our own, [490]443; must agree with, by obedience, and so made no longer adversary, [491]443. Affliction, blessing …
Saint Augustine—sermons on selected lessons of the new testament

Period ii. The Church from the Permanent Division of the Empire Until the Collapse of the Western Empire and the First Schism Between the East and the West, or Until About A. D. 500
In the second period of the history of the Church under the Christian Empire, the Church, although existing in two divisions of the Empire and experiencing very different political fortunes, may still be regarded as forming a whole. The theological controversies distracting the Church, although different in the two halves of the Graeco-Roman world, were felt to some extent in both divisions of the Empire and not merely in the one in which they were principally fought out; and in the condemnation …
Joseph Cullen Ayer Jr., Ph.D.—A Source Book for Ancient Church History

Thankfulness for Mercies Received, a Necessary Duty
Numberless marks does man bear in his soul, that he is fallen and estranged from God; but nothing gives a greater proof thereof, than that backwardness, which every one finds within himself, to the duty of praise and thanksgiving. When God placed the first man in paradise, his soul no doubt was so filled with a sense of the riches of the divine love, that he was continually employing that breath of life, which the Almighty had not long before breathed into him, in blessing and magnifying that all-bountiful, …
George Whitefield—Selected Sermons of George Whitefield

The Resemblance Between the Old Testament and the New.
1. Introduction, showing the necessity of proving the similarity of both dispensations in opposition to Servetus and the Anabaptists. 2. This similarity in general. Both covenants truly one, though differently administered. Three things in which they entirely agree. 3. First general similarity, or agreement--viz. that the Old Testament, equally with the New, extended its promises beyond the present life, and held out a sure hope of immortality. Reason for this resemblance. Objection answered. 4. …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion

The Knowledge of God Conspicuous in the Creation, and Continual Government of the World.
1. The invisible and incomprehensible essence of God, to a certain extent, made visible in his works. 2. This declared by the first class of works--viz. the admirable motions of the heavens and the earth, the symmetry of the human body, and the connection of its parts; in short, the various objects which are presented to every eye. 3. This more especially manifested in the structure of the human body. 4. The shameful ingratitude of disregarding God, who, in such a variety of ways, is manifested within …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion

The Godly are in Some Sense Already Blessed
I proceed now to the second aphorism or conclusion, that the godly are in some sense already blessed. The saints are blessed not only when they are apprehended by God, but while they are travellers to glory. They are blessed before they are crowned. This seems a paradox to flesh and blood. What, reproached and maligned, yet blessed! A man that looks upon the children of God with a carnal eye and sees how they are afflicted, and like the ship in the gospel which was covered with waves' (Matthew 8:24), …
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12

Scriptural Christianity
"Whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head." Ezek. 33:4. "And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost." Acts 4:31. 1. The same expression occurs in the second chapter, where we read, "When the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all" (the Apostles, with the women, and the mother of Jesus, and his brethren) "with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing …
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions

Letter Xl to Thomas, Prior of Beverley
To Thomas, Prior of Beverley This Thomas had taken the vows of the Cistercian Order at Clairvaux. As he showed hesitation, Bernard urges his tardy spirit to fulfil them. But the following letter will prove that it was a warning to deaf ears, where it relates the unhappy end of Thomas. In this letter Bernard sketches with a master's hand the whole scheme of salvation. Bernard to his beloved son Thomas, as being his son. 1. What is the good of words? An ardent spirit and a strong desire cannot express …
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux

Psalms
The piety of the Old Testament Church is reflected with more clearness and variety in the Psalter than in any other book of the Old Testament. It constitutes the response of the Church to the divine demands of prophecy, and, in a less degree, of law; or, rather, it expresses those emotions and aspirations of the universal heart which lie deeper than any formal demand. It is the speech of the soul face to face with God. Its words are as simple and unaffected as human words can be, for it is the genius …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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