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Commentary on Psalms 145 verses 1–9
The entitling of this David's psalm of praise may intimate not only that he was the penman of it, but that he took a particular pleasure in it and sung it often; it was his companion wherever he went. In this former part of the psalm God's glorious attributes are praised, as, in the latter part of the psalm, his kingdom and the administration of it. Observe,
I. Who shall be employed in giving glory to God.
1.Whatever others do, the psalmist will himself be much in praising God. To this good work he here excites himself, engages himself, and has his heart much enlarged in it. What he does, that he will do, having more and more satisfaction in it. It was his duty; it was his delight. Observe, (1.) How he expresses the work itself: "I will extol thee, and bless thy name (Psa 145:1); I will speak well of thee, as thou hast made thyself known, and will therein express my own high thoughts of thee and endeavour to raise the like in others." When we speak honourably of God, this is graciously interpreted and accepted as an extolling of him. Again (Psa 145:2): I will bless thee, I will praise thy name; the repetition intimates the fervency of his affection to this work, the fixedness of his purpose to abound in it, and the frequency of his performances therein. Again (Psa 145:5): I will speak of thy honour, and (Psa 145:6) I will declare thy greatness. He would give glory to God, not only in his solemn devotions, but in his common conversation. If the heart be full of God, out of the abundance of that the mouth will speak with reverence, to his praise, upon all occasions. What subject of discourse can we find more noble, more copious, more pleasant, useful, and unexceptionable, than the glory of God? (2.) How he expresses his resolution to persevere in it. [1.] He will be constant to this work: Every day will I bless thee. Praising God must be our daily work. No day must pass, though ever so busy a day, though ever so sorrowful a day, without praising God. We ought to reckon it the most needful of our daily employments, and the most delightful of our daily comforts. God is every day blessing us, doing well for us; there is therefore reason that we should be every day blessing him, speaking well of him. [2.] He will continue in it: I will bless thee for ever and ever, Psa 145:1 and again Psa 145:2. This intimates, First, That he resolved to continue in this work to the end of his life, throughout his ever in this world. Secondly, That the psalms he penned should be made use of in praising God by the church to the end of time, Ch2 29:30. Thirdly, That he hoped to be praising God to all eternity in the other world. Those that make praise their constant work on earth shall have it their everlasting bliss in heaven.
2.He doubts not but others also would be forward to this work. (1.) "They shall concur in it now; they shall join with me in it: When I declare thy greatness men shall speak of it (Psa 145:6); they shall abundantly utter it" (Psa 145:7), or pour it out (as the word is); they shall praise God with a gracious fluency, better than the most curious oratory. David's zeal would provoke many, and it has done so. (2.) "They shall keep it up when I am gone, in an uninterrupted succession (Psa 145:4): One generation shall praise thy works to another." The generation that is going off shall tell them to that which is rising up, shall tell what they have seen in their days and what they have heard from their fathers; they shall fully and particularly declare thy mighty acts (Psa 78:3); and the generation that is rising up shall follow the example of that which is going off: so that the death of God's worshippers shall be no diminution of his worship, for a new generation shall rise up in their room to carry on that good work, more or less, to the end of time, when it shall be left to that world to do it in which there is no succession of generations.
II. What we must give to God the glory of.
1.Of his greatness and his great works. We must declare, Great is the Lord, his presence infinite, his power irresistible, his brightness insupportable, his majesty awful, his dominion boundless, and his sovereignty incontestable; and therefore there is no dispute, but great is the Lord, and, if great, then greatly to be praised, with all that is within us, to the utmost of our power, and with all the circumstances of solemnity imaginable. His greatness indeed cannot be comprehended, for it is unsearchable; who can conceive or express how great God is? But then it is so much the more to be praised. When we cannot, by searching, find the bottom, we must sit down at the brink, and adore the depth, Rom 11:33. God is great, for, (1.) His majesty is glorious in the upper world, above the heavens, where he has set his glory; and when we are declaring his greatness we must not fail to speak of the glorious honour of his majesty, the splendour of the glory of his majesty (Psa 145:5), how brightly he shines in the upper world, so as to dazzle the eyes of the angels themselves, and oblige them to cover their faces, as unable to bear the lustre of it. (2.) His works are wondrous in this lower world. The preservation, maintenance, and government of all the creatures, proclaim the Creator very great. When therefore we declare his greatness we must observe the unquestionable proofs of it, and must declare his mighty acts (Psa 145:4), speak of his wondrous works (Psa 145:5), the might of his terrible acts, Psa 145:6. We must see God acting and working in all the affairs of this lower world. Various instruments are used, but in all events God is the supreme director; it is he that performs all things. Much of his power is seen in the operations of his providence (they are mighty acts, such as cannot be paralleled by the strength of any creature), and much of his justice - they are terrible acts, awful to saints, dreadful to sinners. These we should take all occasions to speak of, observing the finger of God, his hand, his arm, in all, that we may marvel.
2.Of his goodness; this is his glory, Exo 33:19. It is what he glories in (Exo 34:6, Exo 34:7), and it is what we must give him the glory of: They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, Psa 145:7. God's goodness is great goodness, the treasures of it can never be exhausted, nay, they can never be lessened, for he ever will be as rich in mercy as he ever was. It is memorable goodness; it is what we ought always to lay before us, always to have in mind and preserve the memorials of, for it is worthy to be had in everlasting remembrance; and the remembrance we retain of God's goodness we should utter, we should abundantly utter, as those who are full of it, very full of it, and desire that others may be acquainted and affected with it. But, whenever we utter God's great goodness, we must not forget, at the same time, to sing of his righteousness; for, as he is gracious in rewarding those that serve him faithfully, so he is righteous in punishing those that rebel against him. Impartial and inflexible justice is as surely in God as inexhaustible goodness; and we must sing of both together, Rom 11:22. (1.) There is a fountain of goodness in God's nature (Psa 145:8): The Lord is gracious to those that serve him; he is full of compassion to those that need him, slow to anger to those that have offended him, and of great mercy to all that seek him and sue to him. he is ready to give, and ready to forgive, more ready than we are to ask, than we are to repent. (2.) There are streams of goodness in all the dispensations of his providence, Psa 145:9. As he is good, so he does good; he is good to all, to all his creatures, from the highest angel to the meanest worm, to all but devils and damned sinners, that have shut themselves out from his goodness. His tender mercies are over all his works. [1.] All his works, all his creatures, receive the fruits of his merciful care and bounty. It is extended to them all; he hates nothing that he has made. [2.] The works of his mercy out-shine all his other works, and declare him more than any of them. In nothing will the glory of God be for ever so illustrious as in the vessels of mercy ordained to glory. To the divine goodness will the everlasting hallelujahs of all the saints be sung.
Instead of speaking of him [God the Father] as “ungenerated,” it is permissible to call him the “First Cause” or “Father of the Only-Begotten,” or to speak of him as “existing without cause,” and many such expressions that lead to the same thought. In that case Eunomius confirms our doctrines by the very arguments in which he brings charges that we do not know any name indicative of the divine nature. We are taught the fact of its existence, while we assert that a name of such breath as to include the unspeakable and infinite nature either does not exist at all or at any rate is unknown to us. Let him then abandon his usual fictive language, and show us the names that signify the real meanings and then proceed further to divide the subject by the divergence of their names. But as long as the statement of the Scripture is correct that Abraham and Moses were not capable of the knowledge of the name, and that “no one has seen God at any time,” and that “no one has seen him, nor can see,” and that the light around him is unapproachable and “there is no end of his greatness,” so long can we say and believe these things. This is similar to an argument that promises any comprehension and expression of the infinite nature by means of the meaning of names to one who thinks that he can enclose the whole sea in his own hand! Just as the hollow of one’s hand is comparable to the entire depth of the sea, so is all the power of language comparable to that nature that is unspeakable and incomprehensible.
Now if any one should ask for some interpretation, description and explanation of the divine essence, we are not going to deny that we are unlearned in this kind of wisdom, acknowledging only so much as this, that it is not possible that which is by nature infinite should be comprehended in any conception expressed by words. The fact that the divine greatness has no limit is proclaimed by prophecy, which declares expressly that of his splendor, his glory and his holiness, “there is no end.” If his surroundings have no limit, much more is he himself in his essence, whatever it may be, comprehended by no limitation in any way. If then interpretation by way of words and names implies by its meaning some sort of comprehension of the subject, and if, on the other hand, that which is unlimited cannot be comprehended, no one could reasonably blame us for ignorance, if we are not bold in respect of what none should venture on. For by what name can I describe the incomprehensible? By what speech can I declare the unspeakable? Accordingly, since the Deity is too excellent and lofty to be expressed in words, we have learned to honor in silence what transcends speech and thought. If he who “thinks more highly than he ought to think” tramples on this cautious speech of ours making a jest of our ignorance of things incomprehensible, and recognizes a difference of unlikeness in that which is without figure, or limit, or size or quantity (I mean in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit) and brings forward to reproach our ignorance that phrase that is continually alleged by the disciples of deceit, “ ‘You worship you know not what,’ if you know not the essence of that which you worship,” we shall follow the advice of the prophet. We shall not fear the reproach of fools or be led by their reviling to talk boldly of things unspeakable. That unpracticed speaker Paul we make our teacher in the mysteries that transcend knowledge. He is so far from thinking that the divine nature is within the reach of human perception that he calls even the judgments of God “unsearchable” and his ways “past finding out.” He affirms that the things promised to them that love him, for their good deeds done in this life, are above comprehension so that it is not possible to behold them with the eye, or to receive them by hearing or to contain them in the heart.
You cannot, then, heretic [Arian], build up a false doctrine on the basis of an analogy of human procreation. Nor can you gather the means for such a purpose from our discussion, for we cannot embrace the greatness of infinite godhead, “of whose greatness there is no end,” in our limited speech. If you should seek to give an account of a human’s birth, you must certainly point to a time. But the divine generation is above all things. It reaches far and wide, and it rises high above all thought and feeling. For it is written, “No one comes to the Father, except by me.” Whatever, therefore, you conceive concerning the Father—yes, even his eternity—you cannot conceive anything concerning him except with the Son’s aid nor can any understanding ascend to the Father except through the Son. “This is my dearly beloved Son,” the Father said. “Is,” please note, means that who he is, and what he is, is [true] forever. Hence David is also moved to say, “O Lord, your Word abides forever in heaven,” for what abides fails neither in time nor in eternity.
"Great is the Lord, and very much to be praised" [Psalm 145:3]. How much was he about to say? What terms was he about to seek? How vast a conception has he included in the one word, "very much"? Imagine what you will, for how can that be imagined, which cannot be contained? "He is very much to be praised. And of His Greatness there is no end;" therefore said he "very much:" lest perchance thou begin to wish to praise, and think that you can reach the end of His praises, whose Greatness can have no end. Think not then that He, whose Greatness has no end, can ever be enough praised by you. Is it not then better that as He has no end, so neither should your praise have end? His Greatness is without end; let your praise also be without end....
“Can any praise be worthy of the Lord’s majesty?” “How magnificent his strength! How inscrutable his wisdom!” Humankind is one of your creatures, Lord, and his instinct is to praise you. He bears about him the mark of death, the sign of his own sin, to remind him that you “thwart the proud.” But still, since he is a part of your creation, he wishes to praise you. The thought of you stirs him so deeply that he cannot be content unless he praises you, because you made us for yourself and our hearts find no peace until they rest in you.Grant me, Lord, to know and understand whether a person is first to pray to you for help or to praise you and whether he must know you before he can call you to his aid. If he does not know you, how can he pray to you? For he may call for some other help, mistaking it for yours.
Or are people to pray to you and learn to know you through their prayers? “Only, how are they to call on the Lord until they have learned to believe in him? And how are they to believe in him without a preacher to listen to?”
“Those who look for the Lord will cry out in praise of him,” because all who look for him shall find him, and when they find him they will praise him. I shall look for you, Lord, by praying to you, and as I pray I shall believe in you, because we have had preachers to tell us about you. It is my faith that calls to you, Lord, the faith that you gave me and made to live in me through the merits of your Son, who became man, and through the ministry of your preacher.
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SUMMARY
Psalms 145:3 is a profound declaration of Yahweh's infinite majesty, asserting His unparalleled greatness as the foundational truth that demands and inspires boundless praise from all creation. This verse encapsulates the core message of the psalm, presenting God's inherent, immeasurable nature as the singular and compelling reason for all worship and adoration, setting the tone for a comprehensive anthem dedicated to extolling His supreme and incomprehensible character.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Psalms 145:3 employs several powerful literary devices to convey its profound theological message. The most prominent is Emphasis through Repetition and Intensification: the word "great" (H1419, gâdôwl) appears twice, first as an adjective describing the LORD, and then its related noun "greatness" (H1420, gᵉdûwlâh) is used to describe His unsearchable quality. This repetition, coupled with the adverb "greatly" (H3966, mᵉʼôd), creates a powerful crescendo, underscoring the infinite scale of God's majesty and the required response of worship. The phrase "greatly to be praised" functions as a Divine Imperative, not merely a suggestion, but a necessary and fitting response to God's inherent nature, implying that His very being demands such a response. Furthermore, the concept of God's "unsearchable" greatness utilizes Hyperbole to convey the ineffable and transcendent nature of the divine, emphasizing that God's being surpasses all human capacity for full comprehension or exploration. This hyperbole evokes Awe and humility in the worshipper, preventing any attempt to confine God within human limitations and fostering a perpetual sense of wonder.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Psalms 145:3 is a foundational statement for understanding the nature of God and the appropriate human response. Theologically, it underscores God's transcendence—His absolute otherness and superiority to all creation—while simultaneously inviting immanence through the act of praise. His "unsearchable" greatness means He cannot be fully grasped or contained by human intellect, yet He reveals Himself sufficiently for us to know and worship Him. This paradox of divine revelation and hiddenness fosters humility and perpetual wonder in the believer. The call to "greatly to be praised" is a theological imperative, rooted in God's intrinsic worth, not in human need or benefit. It positions worship not as an optional religious activity, but as the natural and highest response to the One who is infinitely worthy, reflecting His absolute sovereignty and unique position as the only true God.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
This profound declaration in Psalms 145:3 calls believers to a deeper, more expansive, and more humble posture of worship. Recognizing God's "unsearchable" greatness should liberate us from attempting to confine Him within our limited understanding or theological frameworks. Instead, it should cultivate a spirit of constant wonder, awe, and intellectual humility, knowing that there are infinite depths of His being yet to be discovered and adored. Our praise, therefore, should be proportionate to His greatness—"greatly to be praised"—reflecting an active, joyful, and awe-filled response that acknowledges His boundless majesty. This verse encourages us to continually seek to know Him more, while simultaneously resting in the mystery of His infinite nature, allowing His unsearchable greatness to inspire rather than frustrate our pursuit of Him. It reminds us that true worship is an unending journey of discovery, where each new revelation of His character deepens our adoration and expands our capacity for praise, moving us from a superficial appreciation to a profound, lifelong devotion.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Why is God's greatness described as 'unsearchable'?
Answer: God's greatness is described as "unsearchable" because His attributes—His power, wisdom, love, justice, and holiness—are infinite and beyond the full comprehension of finite human minds. This term (Hebrew chêqer) implies that His being cannot be fully explored, investigated, or exhausted by human inquiry. It speaks to His transcendence and mystery, reminding us that while we can know God truly through His revelation (like in John 14:9), we can never know Him exhaustively. This unsearchability is not a barrier to relationship but an invitation to perpetual wonder and worship, fostering humility and awe in the face of His boundless nature, as expressed in Romans 11:33.
What does it mean to 'greatly praise' the Lord?
Answer: To "greatly praise" the Lord means to offer Him adoration that is commensurate with His infinite greatness. The Hebrew word mᵉʼôd (greatly) suggests an intense, vehement, and comprehensive form of praise. It implies that our praise should be enthusiastic, wholehearted, and unreserved, reflecting the boundless majesty of God. This isn't just about volume or frequency, but about the depth of our heart's response. It encompasses acknowledging His character, recounting His mighty deeds (as David does throughout Psalms 145), expressing gratitude, and living a life that honors Him. It's a call to let our entire being resonate with His worthiness, much like the heavenly beings who continually declare His holiness in Revelation 4:8.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Psalms 145:3, with its declaration of God's unsearchable greatness and His worthiness of immense praise, finds its ultimate and most profound fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus Christ. While the Old Testament reveals God's greatness through creation, law, and mighty acts, it is in Christ that the "unsearchable" greatness of God is made uniquely knowable and accessible to humanity. Jesus, being the image of the invisible God, fully embodies the divine greatness that David praises. Through His incarnation, life, atoning death, and glorious resurrection, the infinite power, wisdom, and love of God are perfectly displayed. The "greatness" of the Father, which is "unsearchable," is perfectly revealed in the Son, who is the radiance of God's glory and the exact imprint of His nature. Therefore, the call to "greatly praise" the Lord extends supremely to Christ, for at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, acknowledging His supreme authority and worthiness. In Him, the unsearchable depths of God's grace and truth are revealed, inviting an eternal and ever-deepening praise that will never exhaust the glory of the Lamb of God who sits on the throne.