The Book of Psalms

Word Study

"word," Hebrew devar (דְּבַר). The psalm grounds its praise in the greatness of God the Creator, and it does so by stressing the ease of His creating: "By the word of the LORD were the heavens made." God did not labour to build the universe; He merely spoke, and it was. Verse 9 states it as plainly as language can: "For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast."

"of the LORD," YHWH. The word that made the worlds is not an impersonal force but the utterance of the covenant God by name. The believer who grasps the power of God's creating word will trust that same word in every promise it makes.

"heavens," shamayim (שָׁמַיִם). The immensity of the cosmos, which staggers our minds, cost God nothing but a command. This is the sheer omnipotence of God: what would be impossible to all the power of men and angels combined, He accomplishes by a word.

"made," na'asu (נַעֲשׂוּ). The heavens were made -- they are not eternal, not self-existent, but the product of another's work. And the work required no more than speech.

"host," tzeva'am (צְבָאָם), the array of stars. "And all the host of them by the breath of his mouth." The countless starry array, drawn up like an army, came into being at His word.

"breath," ruach (רוּחַ), breath, wind, spirit. The whole cost of creation is measured here in a breath. If His word made the heavens, His word can do anything; nothing is too hard for the God who speaks worlds into existence.

"of his mouth," piv (פִּיו). And the lesson for worship is clear: such a God is to be feared and adored, "Let all the earth fear the LORD" (v8). The mouth that spoke the stars into their places is the mouth that speaks to us in Scripture.

Explanation

Look at the two things set in parallel: "the word of the LORD" made the heavens, "and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth." Word and breath, and both are God's own. This is worth pausing on, for it guards a precious truth. As a man's word and a man's breath are simply himself going forth, no separate helpers, but his own utterance and his own life-breath, so God created by His own word and His own breath (ruach, breath, spirit). The one God did not summon assistants or share the work with rival deities; He spoke, and His speaking and His breathing were His own self at work. And feel the sheer effortlessness of it, "he spake, and it was done" (v9). The nations around Israel told of creation as a violent struggle, gods warring against monsters of chaos, hacking the world into shape out of a defeated enemy. This psalm answers all of that with a word. The cosmos is not the trophy of a divine battle; it is the echo of a divine sentence. The God who had only to speak to fling the stars into being is under no strain to keep any promise He makes, for the word that made the heavens is the same word that pledges to save.

Gospel Focus

"By the word of the LORD were the heavens made", the Word by whom the heavens were made is Jesus Christ, the eternal Word of God come in flesh. John opens his Gospel by taking up this very truth: "In the beginning was the Word... All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made" (John 1:1-3). The word that spoke the stars into being is the Lord Jesus, "by whom also he made the worlds," who upholds "all things by the word of his power" (Hebrews 1:2-3); "by him were all things created... and by him all things consist" (Colossians 1:16-17). The mighty word of creation and the tender word of the gospel are the same word, for the God who said, "Let there be light," is the God who "hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6). And this creating Word still works by speaking: He rebuked the storm and it was calm, He called the dead and they lived, He speaks and dead souls are made alive. So when the same Christ speaks a promise, we may trust it utterly, for the Word that made the heavens cannot fail. Adore the Creator, and know Him as your Saviour: the Word made flesh, by whom all things were made and by whom we are made new.

Word Study

"blessed," Hebrew ashrei (אַשְׁרֵי), O the happinesses of. Having shown that the LORD rules the nations, bringing "the counsel of the heathen to nought" while "the counsel of the LORD standeth for ever" (vv10-11), the psalm draws a striking conclusion and does it with an exclamation: O the happinesses of the nation whose God is the LORD.

"nation," goy (גּוֹי). The world measures a nation's happiness by its wealth, power, or armies; God measures it by one thing only. The verse has just been set against the nations whose counsel God brings to nothing.

"whose God is the LORD," asher-YHWH elohav (אֲשֶׁר־יְהוָה אֱלֹהָיו). This is the single measure. The truly blessed people are not the strongest or richest, but those who belong to the LORD -- and the first half of the bond is that they take Him as their God.

"chosen," bachar (בָּחַר). "And the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance." Here is the other half of the bond: the LORD takes the people to Himself. Israel was such a nation, chosen by God to be His peculiar treasure (Deuteronomy 7:6).

"inheritance," nachalah (נַחֲלָה), a treasured possession. God's people are His own treasured possession -- a mutual belonging, they His and He theirs. The deepest happiness of any people, or any soul, lies not in what it possesses but in whose it is. To have the LORD as your God, and to be chosen and owned by Him, is the highest blessedness there is, richer than any earthly greatness.

Explanation

Read this "blessed" in the light of the two verses just before it, because they are its foundation. Verses 10-11 have just declared: "The LORD bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought... The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations." The nations are frantically laying plans, and God is quietly overturning them; only one counsel in all the world will still be standing when history ends, and it is His. Then comes verse 12: "Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD." See what makes such a nation happy. It is not that it is strong, or safe by its own power; it is that it belongs to the one Planner whose plan can never be cancelled. Every other people stakes its future on schemes God will bring to nothing; this people is aligned with the single purpose that outlasts every empire. To have the LORD as your God is to be on the side of the counsel that stands for ever, to have thrown in your lot with the only future that has a future. And the bond runs deeper than possession the usual way round: normally a people owns its god, its temple, its idol; here God owns the people, "chosen for his own inheritance." The truly blessed are not those who have secured a god, but those whom the everlasting God has claimed as His treasure.

Gospel Focus

"Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance", this blessed people is now gathered from all nations into Jesus Christ, the church, God's chosen inheritance. What Israel was in shadow, the people of God in Christ are in fulness: "ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people... which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God" (1 Peter 2:9-10). Through Christ, God has chosen a people "out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation" (Revelation 5:9), so that the blessedness of belonging to the LORD is opened to all who are in Him. And believers are called God's "inheritance," His treasured possession, for Paul prays that we may know "the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints" (Ephesians 1:18); astonishingly, we are the LORD's own portion. This mutual belonging is sealed in Christ: He is our God, and we are His, "purchased with his own blood" (Acts 20:28). So the highest happiness is not the greatness of a nation but the grace of belonging to God through Jesus. Blessed indeed are the people whose God is the LORD, chosen, redeemed, and owned by Him in Christ, His inheritance for ever.

Word Study

"behold," Hebrew hinneh (הִנֵּה), a call to attention. The psalm has just dismantled every false ground of safety: "There is no king saved by the multitude of an host: a mighty man is not delivered by much strength. An horse is a vain thing for safety" (vv16-17). Then, against all this, comes a word that demands we look up and pay attention.

"eye," ein (עֵין). "Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him." That watching eye is a gaze of loving, attentive care, and the safety of God's people is not in the might they possess but in the God who watches over them.

"of the LORD," YHWH. Armies, strength, and cavalry cannot finally save; the covenant God can. The world trusts in horses and chariots (Psalm 20:7); the believer trusts in the watchful eye of the LORD.

"them that fear him," yere'av (יְרֵאָיו). Notice who is under that eye: not the self-sufficient, but the reverent. The gaze is fixed upon a particular people, and the purpose of it is stated next: "To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine" (v19). Where armies fail, the eye of God delivers.

"hope," hameyachalim (הַמְיַחֲלִים), wait expectantly. The same people are described again as those who wait expectantly, leaning forward toward God for what only He can give, rather than resting on their own resources.

"his mercy," lechasdo (לְחַסְדּוֹ), his steadfast love. This is what they hope in: "upon them that hope in his mercy." God's steadfast covenant love is the object of their expectation, and His gaze never leaves those who hope in it.

Explanation

Weigh what the psalm sets on the two sides of the scale, because the contrast is one of size. On the one side, the securities the world counts on, and they are all big, loud, countable things: "the multitude of an host," "much strength," a war "horse" (vv16-17), armies you can number, muscle you can measure, cavalry you can see. On the other side, God's answer, and it is the smallest, quietest thing imaginable: a single "eye." "Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him." One eye against whole armies, and the eye wins. That is the point: the believer's safety is not that he has out-armed the enemy, but that he is watched over, held in the personal attention of God. Armies are impersonal mass; an eye is intimate, deliberate, fixed on a face. And notice it is a look that meets a look. The eye rests on "them that hope in his mercy", and to hope, in Hebrew, is to wait with the eyes lifted, watching expectantly. So there are two gazes here, aimed at each other: the believer's eyes lifted up in hope toward God's mercy, and God's eye bent down in love upon the believer. The upward look of hope meets the downward look of care, and in that meeting of eyes, not in the multitude of a host, is the safety of the soul.

Gospel Focus

"Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy", the watchful eye of God rests upon His people in Jesus Christ, who sees, keeps, and delivers all who hope in His mercy. The care of God pictured in the watching eye is fulfilled in the Good Shepherd who knows His sheep by name and loses none, and in the Father whose eye marks even the sparrow's fall, "ye are of more value than many sparrows" (Matthew 10:31). The hope this psalm commends, hope "in his mercy," is exactly the hope the gospel gives, for we are saved "according to his mercy" (Titus 3:5), and our hope is anchored in "the God of hope" (Romans 15:13) who did not spare His own Son. And the deliverance the eye of the LORD brings, "to deliver their soul from death," is accomplished in Christ, who conquered death and gives eternal life to those who hope in Him: "whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die" (John 11:26). The believer's safety has never been in armies, wealth, or strength, but in the loving gaze of God fixed upon him in Christ. So we lift our eyes from every earthly confidence to the One whose eye is upon us, and with the psalm we conclude, "Let thy mercy, O LORD, be upon us, according as we hope in thee" (v22), resting our whole hope on the mercy of God in Jesus, whose watchful eye never leaves His own.