A verse by verse commentary on Psalm 103 dealing with praise to God for all His benefits and forgiveness of sin. He is the healer and the giver of all good things.God is a heavenly father with compassion for his children, and His love is everlasting.

1. PSALM 103 COMME TARY
EDITED BY GLE PEASE
Of David.
I TRODUCTIO
SPURGEO , "TITLE. A Psalm of David. —Doubtless by David; it is in his own
style when at its best, and we should attribute it to his later years when he had a
higher sense of the preciousness of pardon, because a keener sense of sin, than in his
younger days. His clear sense of the frailty of life indicates his weaker years, as also
does the very fainess of his praiseful gratitude. As in the lofty Alps some peaks rise
above all others so among even the inspired Psalms there are heights of song which
overtop the rest. This one hundred and third Psalm has ever seemed to us to be the
Monte Rosa of the divine chain of mountains of praise, glowing with a ruddier light
than any of the rest. It is as the apple tree among the trees of the wood, and its
golden fruit has a flavour such as no fruit ever bears unless it has been ripened in
the full suushine of mercy. It is man's reply to the benedictions of his God, his Song
on the Mount answering to his Redeemer's Sermon on the Mount. ebuchadnezzar
adored his idol with flute, harp, sacbut, psaltery, dulcimer and all kinds of music;
and David, in far nobler style awakens all the melodies of heaven and earth in
honour of the one only living and true God. Our attempt at exposition is commenced
under an impressive sense of the utter impossibility of doing justice to so sublime a
composition; we call upon our soul and all that is within us to aid in the pleasurable
task; but, alas, our soul is finite, and our all of mental faculty far too little for the
enterprize. There is too much in the Psalm, for a thousand pens to write, it is one of
those all-comprehending Scriptures which is a Bible in itself, and it might alone
almost suffice for the hymn-book of the church.
DIVISIO . First the Psalmist sings of personal mercies which he had himself
received Psalms 103:1-5; then he magnifies the attributes of Jehovah as displayed in
his dealings with his people, Psalms 103:6-19; and he closes by calling upon all the
creatures in the universe to adore the Lord and join with himself in blessing
Jehovah, the ever gracious.
ELLICOTT, "This psalm has been compared to a stream which, as it flows,
gradually acquires strength and volume till its waves of praise swell like those of the
sea. The poet begins by invoking his own soul to show its gratitude for the Divine
favour, and, by a highly artistic touch, makes the psalm, after rising to sublime
heights, end with the same appeal to personal experience. But national mercies till
much the larger space in his thought, and he speaks throughout as much in the

2. person of the community as his own. Beyond one probable Aramaism in Psalms
103:3, and a possible dependence in one passage on the Book of Job (comp. Psalms
103:16 with Job 17:10), there is nothing to indicate the time of the psalm’s
composition. The rhythm is varied, and the form irregular.
1 Praise the Lord, my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
BAR ES, "Bless the Lord, O my soul - The word “bless,” as applied to God,
means to praise, implying always a strong affection for him as well as a sense of
gratitude. As used with reference to people, the word implies a “wish” that they may be
blessed or happy, accompanied often with a prayer that they may be so. Such is the
purport of the “blessing” addressed to a congregation of worshippers. Compare Num_
6:23-27. The word “soul” here is equivalent to mind or heart: my mental and moral
powers, as capable of understanding and appreciating his favors. The soul of man was
“made” to praise and bless God; to enjoy his friendship; to delight in his favor; to
contemplate his perfections. It can never be employed in a more appropriate or a more
elevated act than when engaged in his praise.
And all that is within me ... - All my powers and faculties; all that can be employed
in his praise: the heart, the will, the affections, the emotions. The idea is, that God is
worthy of all the praise and adoration which the entire man can render. No one of his
faculties or powers should be exempt from the duty and the privilege of praise.
CLARKE, "Bless the Lord - He calls on his soul, and all its faculties and powers, to
magnify God for his mercies. Under such a weight of obligation the lips can do little; the
soul and all its powers must be engaged.
GILL, "Bless the Lord, O my soul,.... His better part, his soul, which comes
immediately from God, and returns to him, which is immaterial and immortal, and of
more worth than the world: God is to be served with the best we have; as with the best of
our substance, so with the best of our persons; and it is the heart, or soul, which he
requires to be given him; and such service as is performed with the soul or spirit is most

3. agreeable to him; he being a Spirit, and therefore must be worshipped in spirit and in
truth: unless the spirit or soul of a man, is engaged in the service of God, it is of little
avail; for bodily exercise profiteth not; preaching, hearing, praying, and praising, should
be both with the spirit, and with the understanding: here the psalmist calls upon his soul
to "bless" the Lord; not by invoking or conferring a blessing on him, which as it is
impossible to be done, so he stands in no need of it, being God, all sufficient, and blessed
for evermore; but by proclaiming and congratulating his blessedness, and by giving him
thanks for all mercies, spiritual and temporal:
and all that is within me, bless his holy name; meaning not only all within his body,
his heart, reins, lungs, &c. but all within his soul, all the powers and faculties of it; his
understanding, will, affections, and judgment; and all the grace that was wrought in him,
faith, hope, love, joy, and the like; these he would have all concerned and employed in
praising the name of the Lord; which is exalted above all blessing and praise; is great
and glorious in all the earth, by reason of his works wrought, and blessings of goodness
bestowed; and which appears to be holy in them all, as it does in the works of creation,
providence, and redemption; at the remembrance of which holiness thanks should be
given; for he that is glorious in holiness is fearful in praises, Psa_97:12.
HE RY, "David is here communing with his own heart, and he is no fool that thus
talks to himself and excites his own soul to that which is good. Observe,
I. How he stirs up himself to the duty of praise, Psa_103:1, Psa_103:2. 1. It is the Lord
that is to be blessed and spoken well of; for he is the fountain of all good, whatever are
the channels or cisterns; it is to his name, his holy name, that we are to consecrate our
praise, giving thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. 2. It is the soul that is to be
employed in blessing God, and all that is within us. We make nothing of our religious
performances if we do not make heart-work of them, if that which is within us, nay, if all
that is within us, be not engaged in them. The work requires the inward man, the whole
man, and all little enough. 3. In order to our return of praises to God, there must be a
grateful remembrance of the mercies we have received from him: Forget not all his
benefits. If we do not give thanks for them, we do forget them; and that is unjust as well
as unkind, since in all God's favours there is so much that is memorable. “O my soul! to
thy shame be it spoken, thou hast forgotten many of his benefits; but surely thou wilt not
forget them all, for thou shouldst not have forgotten any.”
JAMISO , "Psa_103:1-22. A Psalm of joyous praise, in which the writer rises from a
thankful acknowledgment of personal blessings to a lively celebration of God’s gracious
attributes, as not only intrinsically worthy of praise, but as specially suited to man’s
frailty. He concludes by invoking all creatures to unite in his song.
Bless, etc. — when God is the object, praise.
my soul — myself (Psa_3:3; Psa_25:1), with allusion to the act, as one of intelligence.
all ... within me — (Deu_6:5).
his holy name — (Psa_5:11), His complete moral perfections.
CALVI , "1.Bless Jehovah, O my soul! The prophet, by stirring up himself to
gratitude, gives by his own example a lesson to every man of the duty incumbent
upon him. And doubtless our slothfulness in this matter has need of continual

4. incitement. If even the prophet, who was inflamed with a more intense and fervent
zeal than other men, was not free from this malady, of which his earnestness in
stimulating himself is a plain confession, how much more necessary is it for us, who
have abundant experience of our own torpor, to apply the same means for our
quickening? The Holy Spirit, by his mouth, indirectly upbraids us on account of our
not being more diligent in praising God, and at the same time points out the remedy,
that every man may descend into himself and correct his own sluggishness. ot
content with calling upon his soul (by which he unquestionably means the seat of the
understanding and affections) to bless God, the prophet expressly adds his inward
parts, addressing as it were his own mind and heart, and all the faculties of both.
When he thus speaks to himself, it is as if, removed from the presence of men, he
examined himself before God. The repetition renders his language still more
emphatic, as if he thereby intended to reprove his own slothfulness.
SPURGEO , "Ver. 1. Bless the Lord O my soul. Soul music is the very soul of
music. The Psalmist strikes the best keymote when he begins with stirring up his
inmost self to magnify the Lord. He soliloquizes, holds self-communion and exhorts
himself, as though he felt that dulness would all too soon steal over his faculties, as,
indeed, it will over us all, unless we are diligently on the watch. Jehovah is worthy to
be praised by us in that highest style of adoration which is intended by the term
bless —"All thy works praise thee, O God, but thy saints shall bless thee." Our
very life and essential self should be engrossed with this delightful service, and each
one of us should arouse his own heart to the engagement. Let others forbear if they
can: "Bless the Lord, O MY soul." Let others murmur, but do thou bless. Let others
bless themselves and their idols, but do thou bless the LORD. Let others use only
their tongues, but as for me I will cry, "Bless the Lord, O my soul."
And all that is within me, bless his holy name. Many are our faculties, emotions, and
capacities, but God has given them all to us, and they ought all to join in chorus to
his praise. Half-hearted, ill-conceived, unintelligent praises are not such as we
should render to our loving Lord. If the law of justice demanded all our heart and
soul and mind for the Creator, much more may the law of gratitude put in a
comprehensive claim for the homage of our whole being to the God of grace. It is
instructive to note how the Psalmist dwells upon the holy name of God, as if his
holiness were dearest to him; or, perhaps, because the holiness or wholeness of God
was to his mind the grandest motive for rendering to him the homage of his nature
in its wholeness. Babes may praise the divine goodness, but fathers in grace magnify
his holiness. By the name we understand the revealed character of God, and
assuredly those songs which are suggested, not by our fallible reasoning and
imperfect observation, but by unerring inspiration, should more than any others
arouse all our consecrated powers.
EXPLA ATORY OTES A D QUAI T SAYI GS.
Title. A Psalm of David, which he wrote when carried out of himself as far as
heaven, saith Beza. John Trapp.
Whole Psalm. How often have saints in Scotland sung this Psalm in days when they
celebrated the Lord's Supper! It is thereby specially known in our land. It is
connected also with a remarkable case in the days of John Knox. Elizabeth

5. Adamson, a woman who attended on his preaching, "because he more fully opened
the fountain of God's mercies than others did, "was led to Christ and to rest, on
hearing this Psalm, after enduring such agony of soul that she said, concerning
racking pains of body, "A thousand years of this torment, and ten times more
joined", are not to be compared to a quarter of an hour of my soul's trouble. She
asked for this Psalm again before departing: "It was in receiving it that my troubled
soul first tasted God's mercy, which is now sweeter to me than if all the kingdoms of
the earth were given me to possess." Andrew A. Bonar.
Whole Psalm. The number of verses in this Psalm is that of the letters of the Hebrew
alphabet; and the completeness of the whole is further testified by its return at the
close to the words with which it started, "Bless the Lord, O my soul." J. F. Thrupp.
Whole Psalm. The Psalm, in regard to number, is an alphabetical one, harmonized
in such a way as that the concluding turns back into the introductory verse, the
whole being in this manner finished and rounded off. In like manner, the name
Jehovah occurs eleven times. The Psalm is divided into two strophes, the first of ten
and the second of twelve verses. The ten is divided by the five, and the twelve falls
into three divisions, each of four verses. Jehovah occurs in the first strophe four,
and in the second seven times.
The Psalm bears the character of quiet tenderness. It is a still clear brook of the
praise of God. In accordance with this, we find that the verses are of equal length as
to structure, and consist regularly of two members. It is only at the conclusion,
where the tone rises, that the verses become longer: the vessel is too small for the
feeling.
The testimony which the title bears on behalf of the composition of the Psalm by
David, is confirmed by the fact that the Psalm in passages, the independence of
which cannot be mistaken, bears a striking resemblance to the other Psalms of
David, and by the connection with Psalms 102:1-28 David here teaches his posterity
to render thanks, as in the previous Psalm he had taught them to pray: the
deliverance from deep distress which formed there the subject of prayer, forms here
the subject of thanks. E. W. Hengstenberg.
Whole Psalm. It is observable that no petition occurs throughout the entire compass
of these twenty-two verses. ot a single word of supplication is in the whole Psalm
addressed to the Most High. Prayer, fervent, heartfelt prayer, had doubtless been
previously offered on the part of the Psalmist, and answered by his God.
Innumerable blessings had been showered down from above in acknowledgment of
David's supplications; and, therefore, an overflowing gratitude now bursts forth
from their joyful recipient. He touches every chord of his harp and of his heart
together, and pours forth a spontaneous melody of sweetest sound and purest
praise. John Stevenson, in "Gratitude: an Exposition of the Hundred and Third
Psalm, "1856.
Ver. 1. Bless the LORD, O my soul. O how well they are fitted! for what work so fit
for my soul as this? Who so fit for this work as my soul? My body, God knows, is
gross and heavy, and very unfit for so sublime a work. o, my soul, it is thou must
do it; and indeed what hast thou else to do? it is the very work for which thou were
made, and O that thou wert as fit to do the work as the work is fit for thee to do!
But, alas, thou art become in a manner earthy, at least hast lost a great part of thy
abilities, and will never be able to go through with this great work thyself alone. If

6. to bless the Lord were no more but to say, Lord, Lord, like to them that cried, "The
temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord; "then my tongue alone would be
sufficient for it, and I should not need to trouble any other about it; but to bless the
Lord is an eminent work, and requires not only many but very able agents to
perform it; and therefore, my soul, when thou goest about it, go not alone; but, take
with thee "all that is within thee; "all the forces in my whole magazine, whether it
be my heart, or my spirits; whether my will, or my affections; whether my
understanding, or my memory; take them all with thee, and bless the Lord. Sir R.
Baker.
Ver. 1. All that is within me. The literal translation of the form here used is my
insides or inner parts, the strong and comprehensive meaning of the plural being
further enhanced by the addition of all, as if to preclude exception and reserve, and
comprehend within the scope of the address all the powers and affections. J. A.
Alexander.
Ver. 1. All that is within me, etc. Let your conscience "bless the Lord, "by
unvarying fidelity. Let your judgment bless Him, by decisions in accordance with
his word. Let your imagination bless him, by pure and holy musings. Let your
affections praise him, by loving whatsoever he loves. Let your desires bless him, by
seeking only his glory. Let your memory bless him, by not forgetting any of his
benefits. Let your thoughts bless him, by meditating on his excellencies. Let your
hope praise him, by longing and looking for the glory that is to be revealed. Let your
every sense bless him by its fealty, your every word by its truth, and your every act
by its integrity. John Stevenson.
Ver. 1. Bless the LORD, O my soul. You have often heard, that when God is said to
bless men, and they on the other hand are excited to bless him, the word is taken in
two very different senses. God is the only fountain of being and happiness, from
which all good ever flows; and hence he is said to bless his creatures when he
bestows mercies and favours upon them, gives them any endowments of body and
mind, delivers them from evils, and is the source of their present comforts and
future hopes. But in this sense, you will see there is no possibility of any creature's
blessing God; for as his infinite and unblemished perfection renders him incapable
of receiving any higher excellency, or improvement in happiness; so, could we put
the supposition that this immense ocean of good might be increased, it is plain that
we, who receive our very being and everything that we have or are from him, could
in no case contribute thereto. To bless God, then, is, with an ardent affection
humbly to acknowledge those divine excellencies, which render him the best and
greatest of beings, the only object worthy of the highest adoration: it is to give him
the praise of all those glorious attributes which adorn his nature, and are so
conspicuously manifested in his works and ways. To bless God, is to embrace every
proper opportunity of owning our veneration and esteem of his excellent greatness,
and to declare to all about us, as loudly as we can, the goodness and grace of his
conduct towards men, and our infinite obligations for all our enjoyments to him, in
whom we live, move, and have our being. And a right blessing of God must take its
rise from a heart that is full of esteem and gratitude, which puts life into the songs of
praise.
And then, of all others, the most lively and acceptable method of blessing God, is a
holy conversation and earnest endeavor to be purified from all iniquity; for blessing

7. of God consists, as I told you, in adoring his excellencies, and expressing our esteem
and veneration of them: but what can be so effectual a way of doing this, as the
influence that the views of them have upon our lives? That person best exalts the
glory of the divine power, who fears God above all, and trembles at the
apprehensions of his wrath; and of his justice, who flees from sin, which exposes
him to the inexorable severity thereof; and of his love, who is softened thereby into
grateful returns of obedience; and then we celebrate his holiness, when we
endcavour to imitate it in our lives, and abandon everything that is an abomination
to the eyes of his purity. William Dunlop, 1692-1720.
Ver. 1. O my soul. God's eye is chiefly upon the soul: bring a hundred dishes to
table, he will carve of none but this; this is the savoury meat he loves. He who is
best, will be served with the best; when we give him the soul in a duty, then we give
him the flower and the cream; by a holy chemistry we still out the spirits. A soul
inflamed in service is the cup of "spiced wine of the juice of the pomegranate" (Song
of Solomon 8:2) which the spouse makes Christ to drink of. Thomas Watson.
Ver. 1. Bless his holy name. The name of God frequently signifies his nature and
attributes, in Scripture. ow, holiness is the glory of this name; the purity of God is
that which beautifies all his perfections, and renders them worthy to be praised. His
eternity, and knowledge, and power, without justice, and goodness, and truth, might
indeed frighten and confound us; but could not inflame our love, or engage us to
hearty blessing. But when infinite mightiness, and unerring wisdom, and eternal
dominion, are mixed with unchangeable love, and inviolable veracity and goodness,
which exalts itself above all his works; when thus it becomes a holy name, then the
divine perfections are rendered truly amiable, and suitable objects of our hope and
confidence and loudest songs; so that you see how elegantly the Psalmist upon this
occasion mentions the purity of God: "Bless his holy name."
And besides this, there is indeed nothing that more exalts the glory of divine grace
and of redeeming love towards a soul, than the consideration of God's holiness;for if
your Maker were not of purer eyes than man is, yea, if his hatred to sin, and love to
righteousness, were not greater than that of the noblest angel, his pardoning of sin,
and patience towards transgressors would not be such a wonderful condescension;
but is his name infinitely holy so that "the heavens are not clean in his sight?" Is the
smallest iniquity the abhorrence of his soul, and what he hates with a perfect
hatred? Surely, then, his grace and love must be incomparably greater than our
thoughts. William Dunlop.
Ver. 1-2. The well is seldom so full that water will at first pumping flow forth;
neither is the heart commonly so spiritual, after our best care in our worldly
converse (much less when we somewhat overdo therein) as to pour itself into God's
bosom freely, without something to raise and elevate it; yea, often, the springs of
grace lie so low, that pumping only will not fetch the heart up to a praying frame,
but arguments must be poured into the soul before the affections rise. Hence are
those soliloquies and discourses which we find holy men use with their own hearts to
bring them into a gracious temper, suitable for communion with God in ordinances.
It seems by these verses] David either found or feared his heart would not be in so
good a frame as he desired; consequently he redoubles his charge: he found his
heart somewhat drowsy, which made him thus rouse himself. William Guruall.
Ver. 1-3. The Psalmist's gratitude here has four attributes. The first is personal.

8. Bless the Lord, my soul. He has the self-same application in the close of the Psalm,
after he has called on others to do this work. Our religion must be social as well as
personal: but while it must not end at home, it must begin at home; and relative
religion, without personal, will always be found wanting in excitement, in energy, in
extent, in continuance, and very commonly in success.
Secondly, It is fervent. And all that is within me, bless his holy name —all my
thoughts, my feelings, my understanding, my will, my memory, my conscience, my
affections, my passions.
"If there be passions in my soul,
(And passions, Lord, there be);
Let them be all at thy control,
My gracious Lord, for thee."
Thirdly, it is rational, and demanded by the facts of his past life. Therefore "forget
not all his benefits." othing can properly affect or influence us when it is out of our
recollection. "Out of sight out of mind; "and out of mind, out of motive. Whence
arose the ingratitude of the Jews of old? Bad memories. "Of the rock that begat thee
thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten the God that formed thee." "The ox
knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my
people doth not consider." It should therefore be your concern, not only to recall
your mercies, but to reckon them.
Lastly, it is specific:Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases.
When all the words in a discourse are emphatic, nothing is emphatic, when we dwell
on everything, we dwell on nothing effectively. We are more struck, in a landscape,
with a selected point of vision for inspection, than by the general prospect. David
was a poet, and understood poetry well; and poetry differs from philosophy. The
one seeks to rise from particular facts and instances, to establish general principles
and rules: the other is always for descending from generalization to
particularization; and much of its beauty and force arises from individualities.
William Jay, 1849.
WHEDO , "1. Bless the Lord, O my soul—To “bless the Lord” is to praise him by
declaring his attributes and works, and offering thanksgiving. To “bless” an
individual man is to invoke the favour of God upon him. See umbers 6:22-27.
“Soul,” here, cannot be taken as the intermediate, or psychical nature, between the
mind and body, according to the Greek trichotomy, but the ego, the self, and is
parallel to the all that is within me, or inward parts, in the next line; or, as we would
say, my inmost soul—the depth of my being. It is to be a soul-work, not formal or lip
service. David rouses himself to the sum total of all his higher powers in ascribing
praise to God. The word “bless” occurs six times in the psalm.
BE SO , "Verses 1-3
Psalms 103:1-3. All that is within me, bless his holy name — Let all my thoughts and
affections be engaged, united, and raised to the highest pitch in and for this work.
Forget not all his benefits — In order to our duty, praising God for his mercies, it is
necessary we should have a grateful remembrance of them. And we may be assured
we do forget them, in the sense here meant by the psalmist, if we do not give sincere
and hearty thanks for them. Who forgiveth all thine iniquities — This is mentioned

9. first, because, by the pardon of sin, that which prevented our receiving good things
is taken away, and we are restored to the favour of God, which ensures good things
to us, and bestows them upon us. Who healeth all thy diseases — Spiritual diseases,
the diseases of the soul. The corruption of nature is the sickness of the soul: it is its
disorder, and threatens its death. This is cured by sanctification. In proportion as
sin is mortified, the disease is healed. These two, pardon and holiness, go together, at
least a degree of the latter always accompanies the former: if God take away the
guilt of sin by pardoning mercy, he also breaks the power of it by renewing grace.
Where Christ is made righteousness to any soul, he is also made sanctification to it
in a great measure; for, if any man be in Christ he is a new creature: old things are
passed away, behold, all things are become new.
COFFMA , "Verse 1
PSALM 103
PRAISI G GOD FOR ALL OF HIS MERCIES
The superscription identifies this as a Psalm of David; and, " othing in it forbids
the supposition that he was the author. However, nothing in the psalm or anywhere
else enables us to determine the precise occasion on which it was written."[1]
This is a perfect psalm, suitable to all times and situations. Christians more
frequently turn to this psalm than to any other. Its terminology has entered into the
speech of all generations. This writer remembers from the prayers of his
grandfather the employment of Psalms 103:10 verbatim as it appears in the King
James Bible, and also an exclamation that, "The time and place that know us now,
shall soon know us no more for ever," founded upon Psalms 103:16.
Some of the critical writers would assign this psalm to the times of the exile, or
afterward, depending upon the occurrence of certain Aramaisms; but as Leupold
observed, "Aramaisms are never a sure index of date."[2] As Paul T. Butler, a
distinguished Christian Church scholar of Joplin, Missouri, wrote in 1968,
"Aramaisms cannot be made a criterion for determining date, because they are
found in both early and late Old Testament books. Also, the recently-discovered Ras
Shamra texts reveal Aramaic elements (Aramaisms) dating back to 1500 to 1400
B.C."[3] This, of course, knocks the keystone out of the arch of critical devices for
late-dating Old Testament writings.
Another unwarranted assumption that labels many psalms "liturgical" is also very
untrustworthy. "Of course, it cannot be denied that liturgical use of many psalms
could have been made, but it is equally correct that they are beautifully adapted to
personal use."[4]
The organization of this psalm appears to be: (1) a self-exhortation to praise God
(Psalms 103:1-5); (2) Israel exhorted to bless God (Psalms 103:6-13); (3) God's
consideration for man's frailty (Psalms 103:14-18); and (4) all in God's kingdom to
bless Him (Psalms 103:19-22).

10. Psalms 103:1-5
SELF-EXHORTATIO
"Bless Jehovah, O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless his holy name.
Bless Jehovah, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.
Who forgives all thine iniquities;
Who healeth all thy diseases;
Who redeemeth thy life from destruction;
Who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;
Who satisfieth thy desire with good things,
So that thy youth is renewed like the eagle."
Who is it who cannot make the spirit of this worship his own? Every mortal life has
received countless benefits at the hand of the Lord, has been healed of many
diseases, has received forgiveness of sins, has experienced the redemption of his life
from destruction threatened by many dangers seen and unseen, and has enjoyed
countless satisfactions from the good things which the Lord has provided.
"So that thy youth is renewed like the eagle" (Psalms 103:5). There was an ancient
fable of the eagle renewing its youth in old age, similar to the fable of the Phoenix;
but as Briggs noted, "It is doubtful whether there is any allusion here to the fable;
but at all events it is the fulness of the life and vigor of the eagle that is thought
of."[5]
K&D 1-5, "In the strophe Psa_103:1 the poet calls upon his soul to arise to praiseful
gratitude for God's justifying, redeeming, and renewing grace. In such soliloquies it is
the Ego that speaks, gathering itself up with the spirit, the stronger, more manly part of
man (Psychology, S. 104f.; tr. p. 126), or even, because the soul as the spiritual medium
of the spirit and of the body represents the whole person of man (Psychology, S. 203; tr.
p. 240), the Ego rendering objective in the soul the whole of its own personality. So here
in Psa_103:3 the soul, which is addressed, represents the whole man. The ‫ים‬ ִ‫ב‬ָ‫ו‬ ְ‫ק‬ which
occurs here is a more choice expression for ‫ים‬ ִ‫ע‬ ֵ‫מ‬ (‫ם‬ִ‫י‬ ַ‫ע‬ ֵ‫:)מ‬ the heart, which is called ‫ב‬ ֶ‫ר‬ ֶ‫ק‬ κατ
ʆ ᅚξοχήν, the reins, the liver, etc.; for according to the scriptural conception (Psychology,
S. 266; tr. p. 313) these organs of the cavities of the breast and abdomen serve not
merely for the bodily life, but also the psycho-spiritual life. The summoning ‫י‬ ִ‫כ‬ ֲ‫ֽר‬ ָ is

11. repeated per anaphoram. There is nothing the soul of man is so prone to forget as to
render thanks that are due, and more especially thanks that are due to God. It therefore
needs to be expressly aroused in order that it may not leave the blessing with which God
blesses it unacknowledged, and may not forget all His acts performed (‫ל‬ ַ‫מ‬ָ = ‫ר‬ ַ‫מ‬ָ) on it
(‫מוּל‬ְ, ምᇿµα µέσον, e.g., in Psa_137:8), which are purely deeds of loving-kindness), which
is the primal condition and the foundation of all the others, viz., sin-pardoning mercy.
The verbs ‫ח‬ ַ‫ל‬ ָ‫ס‬ and ‫א‬ ָ‫פ‬ ָ‫ר‬ with a dative of the object denote the bestowment of that which is
expressed by the verbal notion. ‫לוּאים‬ ֲ‫ֽח‬ ַ (taken from Deu_29:21, cf. 1Ch_21:19, from ‫א‬ ָ‫ל‬ ָ‫ח‬
= ‫ה‬ ָ‫ל‬ ָ‫,ח‬ root ‫,הל‬ solutum, laxum esse) are not merely bodily diseases, but all kinds of
inward and outward sufferings. ‫ת‬ ַ‫ח‬ ַ ִ‫מ‬ the lxx renders ᅚκ φθορᇰς (from ‫ת‬ ַ‫ח‬ ָ‫,שׁ‬ as in Job_
17:14); but in this antithesis to life it is more natural to render the “pit” (from ַ‫)שׁוּח‬ as a
name of Hades, as in Psa_16:10. Just as the soul owes its deliverance from guilt and
distress and death to God, so also does it owe to God that with which it is endowed out of
the riches of divine love. The verb ‫ר‬ ֵ ִ‫,ע‬ without any such addition as in Ps 5:13, is “to
crown,” cf. Psa_8:6. As is usually the case, it is construed with a double accusative; the
crown is as it were woven out of loving-kindness and compassion. The Beth of ‫ּוב‬ ַ in
Psa_103:5 instead of the accusative (Psa_104:28) denotes the means of satisfaction,
which is at the same time that which satisfies. ְ‫ך‬ֵ‫י‬ ְ‫ד‬ ֶ‫ע‬ the Targum renders: dies senectutis
tuae, whereas in Psa_32:9 it is ornatus ejus; the Peshîto renders: corpus tuum, and in
Psa_32:9 inversely, juventus eorum. These significations, “old age” or “youth,” are pure
inventions. And since the words are addressed to the soul, ‫י‬ ִ‫ד‬ ֲ‫ע‬ cannot also, like ‫ּוד‬‫ב‬ ָ‫כ‬ in
other instances, be a name of the soul itself (Aben-Ezra, Mendelssohn, Philippsohn,
Hengstenberg, and others). We, therefore, with Hitzig, fall back upon the sense of the
word in Psa_32:9, where the lxx renders τάς σιαγόνας αᆒτራν, but here more freely,
apparently starting from the primary notion of ‫עדי‬ = Arabic chadd, the cheek: τᆵν
ᅚµπιπλራντα ᅚν ᅊγαθοሏς τᆱν ᅚπιθυµίαν σου (whereas Saadia's victum tuum is based upon a
comparison of the Arabic gdâ, to nourish). The poet tells the soul (i.e., his own person,
himself) that God satisfies it with good, so that it as it were gets its cheeks full of it (cf.
Psa_81:11). The comparison ‫ר‬ ֶ‫שׁ‬ֶ ַⅴ is, as in Mic_1:16 (cf. Isa_40:31), to be referred to the
annual moulting of the eagle. Its renewing of its plumage is an emblem of the renovation
of his youth by grace. The predicate to ‫י‬ ִ‫כ‬ְ‫ֽי‬ ָ‫עוּר‬ְ‫נ‬ (plural of extension in relation to time)
stands first regularly in the sing. fem.
ELLICOTT-GREAT TEXTS, "Verses 1-5
All His Benefits
Bless the Lord, O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless his holy name.

12. Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And forget not all his benefits:
Who forgiveth all thine iniquities;
Who healeth all thy diseases;
Who redeemeth thy life from destruction;
Who crowneth thee with loving-kindness and tender mercies:
Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things;
So that thy youth is renewed like the eagle.—Psalms 103:1-5.
This psalm, with which we are all familiar from our childhood, shines in the
firmament of Scripture as a star of the first magnitude. It is a song of praise, yet not
the praise of an angel, but the praise of one who has been redeemed from sin and
from destruction, and who has experienced that grace which, although sin abounds
unto death, doth much more abound unto eternal life. It is the song of a saint, yet
not of a glorified saint, but of one who is still working in the lowly valley of this our
earthly pilgrimage, and who has to contend with suffering, with sin, and to
experience the chastening hand of his Heavenly Father. And therefore it is that this
psalm, after beginning upon the lofty mountain heights of God’s greatness and
goodness, in which all is bright and strong and eternal, descends into the valley
where the path is always narrow and often full of darkness and danger and sadness.
But as the Psalmist lives by faith, and as he is saved by faith, so he is also saved by
hope; and after having described all the sadness and all the afflictions and conflicts
of this our earthly pilgrimage, he shows that even at this present time he is a
member of that heavenly and everlasting Kingdom of which the throne of God is the
centre, and where the angels, who are bright and strong, are his fellow-worshippers,
and in which all the works which God has made will finally be subservient to His
glory and be irradiated with His beauty. And thus he rises again, praising and
magnifying the Lord and knowing that his own individual soul shall, in that vast
and comprehensive Kingdom, for evermore be conscious of the life and of the glory
of the Most High.
I
Bless the Lord
1. To praise God, to bless God, is only the response to the blessing which God has
given us. God speaks, and the echo is praise. God blesses us and the response is that
we bless God. And those five verses of praise in Psalms 103 are nothing but the
answer of the believing heart to the benediction of Aaron, which God commanded
should be continually laid upon the people. The Lord who is the God of salvation;
the Lord, who has revealed His Holy ame as Redeemer; the Lord who, by His
Spirit, imparts what the Father of love gives, what the filial love reveals—this is the
Lord who is the object of the believer’s praise. For to praise God means nothing else
than to behold God and to delight in Him as the God of our salvation. Singing may
be the expression of praise, may be the helpful accompaniment of praise, but praise
is in the spirit who dwells upon God, who sees the wonderful manifestation of God
in His Son Jesus Christ, and the wonderful salvation and treasures of good things
stored up in His beloved Son.
We commonly begin our prayers with a request that God will bless us; the Psalmist

13. begins his prayer by calling on his soul to bless God! The eye of the heart is
generally directed first to its own desires; the eye of the Psalmist’s heart is directed
first to the desires of God! It is a startling feature of prayer, a feature seldom looked
at. We think of prayer as a mount where man stands to receive the Divine blessing.
We do not often think of it as also a mount where God stands to receive the human
blessing. Yet this latter is the thought here. ay, is it not the thought of our Lord
Himself? I have often meditated on these words of Jesus, “Seek ye first the kingdom
of God and his righteousness”! I take them to mean: Seek ye first the welfare of
God, the establishment of His Kingdom, the reign of His righteousness! Before you
yield to self-pity, before you count the number of the things you want, consider what
things are still wanting to Him! Consider the spheres of life to which His Kingdom
has not yet spread, consider the human hearts to which His righteousness has not
yet penetrated! Let your spirit say, “Bless the Lord.” Let the blessing upon God be
your morning wish. It is not your power He asks, but your wish. Your benediction
cannot sway the forces of the Universe; your Father can do that without prayer. But
it is the prayer itself that is dear to Him, the desire of your heart for His heart’s joy,
the cry of your spirit for His crowning, the longing of your soul for the triumph of
His love. Evermore give Him this bread!1 [ ote: G. Matheson, Leaves for Quiet
Hours, 213.]
If we want to know what it is to praise God, let us remember such a chapter as the
first chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians, where Paul blesses God who has blessed
him with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, and where he sees
before him the whole counsel and purpose of the Divine election, of the wonderful,
perfect, and complete channel of the purposes of God in the redemption which is in
the blood of Jesus, and the wonderful object and purpose of the Divine grace, that
we, united with Christ, should through all ages show forth the wonderful love of
God. That is to praise God, when we see God and when we appropriate God as He
has manifested Himself to us in Christ Jesus. And it is only by the light which comes
from above, and by the wonderful operation of the Holy Ghost, that it is so wrought
in the heart of the Christian, although it may be in silence, that his soul magnifieth
the Lord and his spirit rejoiceth in God his Saviour.2 [ ote: A. Saphir.]
2. “Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy name.” The
Psalmist desires to bless God with all that is within him. He who succeeds in doing
this offers to God an eloquent worship. Eloquence means speaking out, letting the
whole soul find utterance. And the Psalm before us supplies us with a choice sample
of the kind of worship made by David. In this Psalm, mind, heart, conscience,
imagination, all come into play. The whole inner man speaks rightfully,
thoughtfully, devoutly, musically, pathetically; and, as was to be expected, God is
praised to some purpose.
The metrical version of the Psalm puts us in possession of the fuller meaning of this
verse:
O thou my soul, bless God the Lord;
And all that in me is

14. Be stirred up his holy name
To magnify and bless.
How truly and with what fine knowledge of the soul of every spiritual man has this
rendering caught the real point of that verse! And it is not this once only that the
metrical psalm selects and emphasizes some word which we did not quite realize in
the prose version. Here and there it may be that to our modish and sophisticated
ears the psalms in metre may fail as poetry; but they never fail in spiritual
discernment. They always take hold of the point, of the real business of the prose
text. They always recognize the matters which really concern our souls; so that
again and again the metrical psalm serves as a kind of commentary upon the prose,
developing the finer sentiments, bringing out of the text certain beauties which we
might never have become aware of, though we recognize them at once the moment
they are set out for us. You see what I mean in this particular instance. The prose
reads: “Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy name.”
We might read those words again and again, feeling in each case that it is merely a
devout utterance of the soul, having nothing individual or characteristic about it.
But how the metrical version cuts down to the root of the idea! What a distinction,
what a precise meaning, the metrical form gives to the prayer!
O thou my soul, bless God the Lord;
And all that in me is
Be stirred up his holy name
To magnify and bless.
It was pure spiritual genius to bring out that idea of “stirring up” all that is within
our souls.1 [ ote: J. A. Hutton, The Soul’s Triumphant Way, 23.]
II
Forget ot
If we would rightly praise God, we must keep ourselves from forgetfulness. Moses
warns against this vice when he says: “Beware lest thou forget the Lord thy God, in
not keeping his commandments, and his judgments and his statutes, which I
command thee this day, lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly
houses, and dwelt therein; and when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy
silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied; then thine
heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God, which brought thee forth out
of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” In the Prophets the sad
complaint re-echoes from the Lord’s mouth: “Ye are they that forget my holy
mountain.”
One of the first stories I recall from my childhood was a story of the evil of
forgetting God. I remember the very spot on which it was told to me. I feel the warm
grasp of the hand which had hold of mine at the time. I see once more the little
seaport town stretching up from the river mouth, with its straggling “fisher town”
at one extremity, and at the other its rows of well-built streets and its town hall and
academy. On this occasion we were standing on a high bank looking down on the
beautiful shore at our feet. Across the tiny harbour, and along the shore on the
other side of the river, is a very different scene. What one sees there is a dreary

15. waste of sand. o grass grows there, no trees shadow it, no house stands upon it. It
is a place forsaken and desolate. It has been a desolation longer than the oldest
inhabitant can remember. But it was not always desolate. It was once a fair estate,
rich in cornfields and orchards. A stately mansion stood in the midst of it, and
children played in the orchards, and reapers reaped the corn. But the lords of that
fair estate were an evil race. They oppressed the poor, they despised religion, they
did not remember God. They loved pleasure more than God, and the pleasures they
loved were evil. To make an open show of their evil ways they turned the day of the
Lord into a day of rioting and drunkenness. And this evil went on a long while. It
went on till the long-suffering of God came to an end. And then upon a Sunday
evening, and in the harvest-time, when the corn was whitening for the reaper, the
riot and wickedness had come to a height. The evil lord and his evil guests were
feasting in the hall of the splendid house. And on that very evening there came a
sudden darkness and stillness into the heavens, and out of the darkness a wind, and
out of the wind a tempest; and, as if that tempest had been a living creature, it lifted
the sand from the shore in great whirls and clouds and filled the air with it, and
dropped it down in blinding, suffocating showers on all those fields of corn, and on
that mansion, and on the evil-doers within. And the fair estate, with all its beautiful
gardens and fields, became a widespread heap of sand and a desolation, as it is to
this day.1 [ ote: Alexander McLeod.]
III
All His Benefits
Of the benefits that David enumerates the first three are all negative: He forgives
our sin, He heals the consequences of our sin, our diseases, He delivers us from
destruction, the wages of our sin. But in the forgiveness of sin and in the healing of
our diseases, in the deliverance from the devil and from everlasting hell, God gives
Himself, He gives the whole fulness of His love, He elevates the soul into the very
highest spiritual life; and therefore, the Psalmist continues, he who has been thus
delivered out of destruction is a king, he is crowned with lovingkindness and with
tender mercies, he is enriched and satisfied with good things; and not merely
outwardly enriched, but there is a life given him which is unfading, the youth of
which is perennial, continually renewing itself by the very strength of God.
1. The Psalmist sets himself to count up the benefits he has received from God. He
has not proceeded very far when he finds himself to be engaged in an impossible
task. He finds he cannot count the blessings he has received in a single day, how
then can he number the blessings of a week, of a month, of a year, of the years of his
life? He might as well try to count the number of the stars or the grains of sand on
the seashore. It cannot be done.
St. Francis, dining one day on broken bread, with a large stone for table, cried out
to his companion: “O brother Masseo, we are not worthy so great a treasure.”
When he had repeated these words several times, his companion answered: “Father,
how can you talk of treasure where there is so much poverty, and indeed a lack of
all things? For we have neither cloth nor knife, nor dish, nor table, nor house;
neither have we servant nor maid to wait upon us.” Then said St. Francis: “And this

16. is why I look upon it as a great treasure, because man has no hand in it, but all has
been given us by Divine Providence, as we clearly see in this bread of charity, in this
beautiful table of stone, in this clear fountain.”1 [ ote: E. Meynell, The Life of
Francis Thompson (1913), 283.]
I was walking along one winter’s night, hurrying towards home, with my little
maiden at my side. Said she, “Father, I am going to count the stars.” “Very well,” I
said; “go on.” By and by I heard her counting—“Two hundred and twenty-three,
two hundred and twenty-four, two hundred and twenty-five. Oh! dear,” she said, “I
had no idea there were so many.” Ah! dear friends, I sometimes say in my soul,
“ ow, Master, I am going to count Thy benefits.” I am like the little maiden. Soon
my heart sighs—sighs not with sorrow, but burdened with such goodness, and I say
within myself, “Ah! I had no idea that there were so many.”2 [ ote: M. G. Pearse.]
2. But if he cannot remember them all, he may at least try not to forget them all. He
may try to remember some of them. But this also is a hard task. For memory is
weak, and the blessings are many and manifold. How can he help himself not to
forget? How shall he help himself to remember those benefits which he values most
highly? He sets himself to find helps to memory, helps not to forget. So he falls upon
a plan which he finds to be most helpful, and which others ever since have found to
be so. He takes those benefits which he desires not to forget, and he ties them up in
bundles. And then, to make sure that he will not forget them, the Psalmist shapes
the bundles of God’s benefits into a song. A song is the easiest thing of all to
remember. So he shapes them into a song, which people can sing by the wayside as
they journey, can carry with them to their work, and brood over in their hours of
leisure.
By tying the benefits up in bundles, and by shaping them into a song, the Psalmist
earned for himself the undying gratitude of future generations. Specially has he
earned for himself our gratitude, for he gave us a song which we sing in Scotland to-
day, and have sung for more than three hundred years, when our religious emotions
are at their highest and their best. We sing this song when the feeling of
consecration has been renewed, widened, and deepened by communion with God at
His table. I never was at a communion-time at which this song has not been sung,
and no other song could do justice to the feelings of gratitude of the Lord’s people.
So we sing, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: who
forgiveth, who healeth, who redeemeth, who crowneth, and who satisfieth.”1 [ ote:
James Iverach, The Other Side of Greatness, 121.]
i
Forgiveness
“Who forgiveth all thine iniquities.”
ote how the Psalmist begins. He begins with iniquity. Where else could a sinful
man begin? The most needful of all things for a sinful man is to get rid of his sin. So
the Psalmist begins here. This beginning is not peculiar to him, it is the common
note of the Bible. In fact, we here come across one of the distinctive peculiarities of
the Bible. We may read other literatures and never come across the notion of sin in

17. them. Crimes, blunders, mistakes, miseries enough one may find, but sin as
estrangement from a holy personal God who loves man and would serve him one
never finds. But in the Bible we are face to face with sin from first to last. One
chapter and a bit of another are given to the story of the making of the world and
the making of man, and then the story of the entrance of sin is told, and the reader is
kept face to face with sin in every part of it. In the gospel story we read at the outset:
“Thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins”; and in
John almost the first word about Him is, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh
away the sin of the world.” It is characteristic of the Bible to keep its reader face to
face with sin and its consequences, till he is stirred up to the effort to get rid of it.
Sometimes in business a man will say: “There is a limit to everything. I have trusted
such an one, and he has deceived me. I have forgiven him much, but now he has
crossed the score, and I will have no more dealings with him.” But it is only when
men, in their own estimation, have got over that score that the heavenly business
begins. Some minister comes from somewhere, to preach some day, and preaches the
forgiveness of sins, and that is the beginning of the business; and at length the man
finds Heaven for himself, and can say: “He forgiveth all mine iniquities.”2 [ ote: A.
Whyte.]
ii
Healing
“Who healeth all thy diseases.”
Once a prophet said, “From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no
soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores.” When we read
these words, we are inclined to say they are Oriental figures of speech, exaggerated
metaphors. If our spiritual vision were as keen as that of the prophet, we should
find that he was speaking what he knew. Sin then makes disease, and God’s relation
to disease is described as that of healing. In the Scriptures this relation is described
so fully that it gives a distinctive name for God—Jehovah the Healer. He not only
forgives sin, He also so deals with the results of sin that He removes every trace of
sin. He heals all our diseases.
The nineteenth century produced three famous persons in this country who
contributed more than any of their contemporaries to the relief of human suffering
in disease: Simpson, the introducer of chloroform; Lister, the inventor of antiseptic
surgery; and Florence ightingale, the founder of modern nursing. The second of
the great discoveries completed the beneficent work of the first. The third
development—the creation of nursing as a trained profession—has co-operated
powerfully with the other two, and would have been beneficent even if the use of
anæsthetics and antiseptics had not been discovered. The contribution of Florence
ightingale to the healing art was less than that of either Simpson or Lister; but
perhaps, from its wider range, it has saved as many lives, and relieved as much, if
not so acute, suffering as either of the other two.1 [ ote: Sir Edward Cook, The Life
of Florence ightingale, i. 439.]
iii

18. Redemption
“Who redeemeth thy life from destruction.”
That is, God preserves the life that He saves. Here is first a life forfeited. That life is
then saved by forgiveness. Then there is a life imperilled by disease, and saved by
God’s healing. But that life is in a thousand dangers. Many seek after the young
child—the Christ within us—to destroy it. But God “redeemeth thy life from
destruction.” How often God has saved some of us from impending ruin, He alone
knows.
In my native town of Stirling workmen were blasting the castle rock near where it
abuts upon a wall that lies open to the street. The train was laid and lit, and an
explosion was momentarily expected. Suddenly, trotting round the great wall of
cliff, came a little child going straight to where the match burned. The men shouted.
That was mercy. But by their very shouting they alarmed and bewildered the poor
little thing. By this time the mother also had come round. In a moment she saw the
danger, opened wide her arms, and cried from her very heart, “Come to me, my
darling.” That was Render mercy; and instantly, with eager, pattering feet, the little
thing ran back and away, and stopped not until she was clasped in her mother’s
bosom. ot a moment too soon, as the roar of the shattered rock told.1 [ ote: A.
Grosart.]
I remember one who had been for a long time drifting towards an evil act which was
certain to do more harm to others than to himself, but who had not as yet
determined on flinging friends, society, work, good repute, his past and future, and
God Himself, to the winds. The one thing that kept him back was a remnant of
belief in God, in One beyond humanity, beyond the world’s laws of convention and
morality. othing else was left, for he had, in the desire for this wrong thing, passed
beyond caring whether the whole world went against him, whether he injured
others or not. He was as ready to destroy all the use of his own life as he was careless
of the use of the lives of others. But he felt a slow and steady pull against him. He
said to himself, “This is God, though I know Him not.” At last, however, he
determined to have his way. One day the loneliness and longing had been too great
to be borne, and when night came he went down his garden resolved on the evil
thing. “This night,” he said, “I will take the plunge.” But as he went he heard the
distant barking of a dog in the village; the moon rose above a dark yew tree at the
end of the garden, and he was abruptly stopped in the midst of the pathway.
Something seemed to touch him as with a finger, and to push him back. It was not
till afterwards that he analysed the feeling, and knew that the rising of the moon
over the yew tree and the barking of the dog in the distance had brought back to
him an hour in his childhood, when in the dusk he had sat with his mother, after his
father’s death, in the same garden, and had heard her say—“When thou passest
through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not
overflow thee.” It was this slight touch that saved him from wrong which would
have broken more lives than his own. It was God speaking; but it would have been
as nothing to him, had he not kept his little grain of faith in God alive, the dim
consciousness that there was One who cared for him, who had interest that he
should conquer righteousness. ext day, he left his home, travelled and won his

19. battle; and his action redeemed not only his own but another’s life.1 [ ote: S. A.
Brooke, The Ship of the Soul, 23.]
There is an old poem which bears the curious title of “Strife in Heaven,” the idea of
which is something like this. The poet supposes himself to be walking in the streets
of the ew Jerusalem, when he comes to a crowd of saints engaged in a very earnest
discussion. He draws near and listens. The question they are discussing is which of
them is the greatest monument of God’s saving grace. After a long debate, in which
each states his case separately, and each claims to have been by far the most
wonderful trophy of God’s love in all the multitude of the redeemed, it is finally
agreed to settle the matter by a vote. Vote after vote is taken, and the list of
competition is gradually reduced until only two remain. These are allowed to state
their case again, and the company stand ready to join in the final vote. The first to
speak is a very old man. He begins by saying that it is a mere waste of time to go any
further; it is absolutely impossible that God’s grace could have done more for any
man in heaven than for him. He tells again how he had led a most wicked and
vicious life—a life filled up with every conceivable indulgence, and marred with
every crime. He has been a thief, a liar, a blasphemer, a drunkard, and a murderer.
On his death-bed, at the eleventh hour, Christ came to him and he was forgiven. The
other is also an old man, who says, in a few words, that he was brought to Christ
when he was a boy. He had led a quiet and uneventful life, and had looked forward
to heaven as long as he could remember. The vote is taken; and, of course, you
would say it results in favour of the first. But no, the votes are all given to the last.
We might have thought, perhaps, that the one who led the reckless, godless life—he
who had lied, thieved, blasphemed, murdered; he who was saved by the skin of his
teeth, just a moment before it might have been too late—had the most to thank God
for. But the old poet knew the deeper truth. It required great grace verily to pluck
that withered brand from the burning. It required depths, absolutely fathomless
depths, of mercy to forgive that veteran in sin at the close of all those guilty years.
But it required more grace to keep that other life from guilt through all those
tempted years. It required more grace to save him from the sins of his youth and
keep his Christian boyhood pure, to steer him scathless through the tempted years
of riper manhood, to crown his days with usefulness, and his old age with patience
and hope. Both started in life together; to one grace came at the end, to the other at
the beginning. The first was saved from the guilt of sin, the second from the power
of sin as well. The first was saved from dying in sin. But he who became a Christian
in his boyhood was saved from living in sin. The one required just one great act of
love at the close of life; the other had a life full of love—it was a greater salvation by
far. His soul was forgiven like the other, but his life was redeemed from
destruction.1 [ ote: H. Drummond, The Ideal Life, 149.]
iv
Crowning
“Who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies.”
So far the Psalmist has been thinking of God’s action as it is defined in relation to
sin. ow his thoughts take a grander flight, and he thinks of the Divine action when
sin is taken out of the way, and no longer presents a barrier to the fellowship

20. between God and His people. His words take on a finer meaning, and mould
themselves into a more musical form. For he tries to represent the intercourse
between God and the children of God, when sin is removed from between them.
“Who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies.” These words are
about the most musical and pathetic in the whole Bible, and they are as fine in
meaning as they are in form.
God puts honour upon the brow of a forgiven man. He does not merely forgive, and
that in a formal way, but, when He forgives, He crowns. He crowns me with the title
of “son,” and He places the coronet of heirship upon my head, for “if children, then
heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ.” Sweet picture this. Observe
that it is not a crown of merit, for “He crowneth thee with lovingkindness and
tender mercies.” This is the only crown that I can consent to wear.2 [ ote: A. G.
Brown.]
1. Lovingkindness.— ote how the translators of the Psalm have been constrained to
tie two English words together in order to set forth the meaning of the original.
These translators of the Bible were poets as well as scholars. They took the two
words “love” and “kindness” and tied them together in order to shut out the weaker
meanings of both, and from the union of them set forth a higher and better meaning
than either alone could express. Love has always been recognized to be the strongest
and best thing in the world of life, and in recent years it has come to even larger
recognition. It really holds society together, is at the basis of family life, is the motive
power of the highest activities of mankind. But while love is so and acts so, it may
partake of the weakness or the selfishness of human nature. It may become fierce,
jealous, regardless of the interest of the person who is its object. It may look at the
person merely as belonging to itself, and fiercely insist on exclusive possession. o
doubt ideal love would labour, toil, and spend itself for the good of the person loved.
But all love is not ideal, and it may have more ferocity than kindness in it. So this
fierce side of love is shut out, and only the ideal side is kept, and kept by uniting it
with kindness. But kindness is apt to be weak, injudicious, and foolish. It is the
kindness, perhaps, of a fond young mother who gives the baby whatever it desires,
cloys it with sweets, or gives it unwholesome food because the child likes it, or, as
George MacDonald suggests, gives the child a lighted candle because it cries for it.
This foolish side of kindness is shut out by tying it to the firmer, wiser fact of love.
So united, kindness becomes lovingkindness, and the two become, in their union,
something higher and better than either of the two elements contained in it, when
these are taken by themselves.
Another young friend writes: “From such an array of beautiful characteristics as is
called up by his name it is hard to choose the greatest, but his ‘loving-kindness’ is
the outstanding trait that not only those who knew him best, but those who came
only casually into contact with him, will remember with tenderness. How he loved
every one, especially ‘those who were of the household of faith’! How eagerly would
he seek out, even when on holiday, the brother-minister, superannuated by affliction
from active work, to encourage and help him by his sympathy, to cheer him with his
humour and his jollity, to stimulate him with his wide and varying interests! And in

21. what good stead that wonderful fund of quiet humour stood him through the days
of pain and weakness and weariness through which God’s veteran passed, and from
which he is now released! One revered him as a saint, but loved him as a man, a
man who radiated such love as compelled a willing love in return.”1 [ ote: Love
and Life: The Story of J. Denholm Brash (1913), 179.]
It is twenty-five years since I first had my attention drawn to this clause. I went to
college then, and one day a minister gave me a tract, and told me, “Take that and
read it, and when you bring it back, tell me what you think of it.” He said to me—
and he proved a sound prophet—“I may not live to see it, but you will see it. The lad
that spoke these words—his name will be heard wherever the English language is
spoken,”—the name was Charles Spurgeon. It was a discourse on this word—“He
crowneth me with lovingkindness and tender mercies.” He had never been to
college, and had taken none of your envied degrees that seem to stamp a man as a
Master of Divinity. My friend said: “I may not live to see it, but you will.” A young
man in his teens, not far up in the offices yet, Spurgeon was under twenty-one when
he preached a sermon that made my old friend prophetic. “When God takes a man’s
head out of the dust”—said this young fledgling Puritan preacher—“He crowns it
with a crown that is so heavy with His grace and goodness that he could not wear it
were it not lined with the sweet velvet of His loving-kindness.” ot a classic figure
perhaps, but Spurgeon’s figure is graven on my memory while many a classic figure
has faded away. Many a costly gift, given carelessly with lavish abundance, you have
nearly forgotten: but one gift, given many years ago, you remember still. It was only
a cup of cold water, perhaps, but given with a hand and with a look of loving-
kindness. And when God crowns us with such love as this, when He smiles upon us,
no wonder that it gladdens the heart so that a man never forgets it.2 [ ote:
Alexander Whyte.]
2. Tender mercies.—Mercy in itself is one of the grandest things in human nature. It
is not mere feeling, it is feeling in action. It is not mere sympathy or pity, it is
sympathy made alive and active. It is not pity, it is pity going forth into action, to
bind up the broken-hearted, to comfort the sorrowful, to make the widow’s heart to
sing for joy. But tender mercy is even more than mercy, great and good though the
exercise be. It is mercy exercised in the most tender way. For mercy may be
exercised in such a way as to wound the feelings of the person to whom you are
merciful. You may intend to help your friend who has fallen into misfortune. He
may have been blameworthy, his misfortune may have arisen from his want of
thought, from his recklessness, or even from wrong-doing. You intend to help him,
but you are annoyed with his conduct; you insist on showing him how foolish he
was, how reckless was his conduct, how unprincipled was his motive, until he almost
feels that he would be without the help if he could be free from the scolding. Or you
are merciful to the person who asks you for help, but you fling the penny to him
across the street. It is possible in this way to undo all the effects of a merciful action
by the ungracious way in which it is done. Mercy according to our text is exercised
tenderly. You help your friend, or come to the assistance of those who are in poverty
and need, in such a way as to bind up their wounds, to cheer them, and to give them
courage to begin the battle of life anew, though life heretofore has been all a failure.

22. For the mercy which man shows to man interprets for man the tender mercies of
God. After that interview with you, during which you entered into the sorrow of
your friend sympathetically and tenderly, gave him of your wisdom, of your
experience, of your means, he goes forth to the work of life again with a new
outlook, with a firmer resolution to do well. He says to himself, “It is a good, kind
world after all, and there are good, kind people in it. I must show myself worthy to
live in so good a world, and worthy of the help I have received.” So tender mercies
help, but they help in such a way as to bind up the broken-hearted, and to open a
door of hope for those who have failed, and to give them courage to lift them above
the feeling of despair.
Stern and unflinching in his denunciation of drunkenness, Ernest Wilberforce was
tenderness itself in his dealings with the individual sinner. Few cases are more
distressing or more difficult to deal with than those where a clergyman has fallen
into habits of intemperance. The Bishop’s correspondence in one of them is lying
before me as I write, marked throughout by the strong sense of justness and fairness
which ever characterized him, yet compassionate and considerate, so far as
consideration was possible. The facts were clear, and the unfortunate gentleman was
induced to vacate his office without the scandal of judicial proceedings. But there
were features which induced the Bishop to hope that, under happier auspices, he
might yet do good and useful work in his chosen calling. Without any effort at
minimizing the sad story, he succeeded in inducing an experienced parish priest in
another diocese to give the transgressor a fresh start. The good Samaritan had no
cause to regret his charity, and in writing to the Bishop he congratulated the clergy
of orthumberland in having one set over them to whom they could appeal with
perfect confidence in the hour of need. “If ever,” he wrote, “I should be in a fix, I
shall wish for such a friend as your Lordship.”1 [ ote: J. B. Atlay, Bishop Ernest
Wilberforce, 162.]
v
Satisfaction
“Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the
eagle.”
1. The word “crowneth” suggests something external, something coming to us from
without, and after the crowning there may conceivably be some wants unsupplied,
some needs of man which have not been met. But the note of Christianity is that no
human needs are left unsatisfied. “My God shall supply all your need.” Satisfied
with good, so that every need shall be met—this is the promise.
The thirst of the mind for truth, the thirst of the will and conscience for guidance,
and the thirst of the heart for life are satisfied through Him who is the Way, and the
Truth, and the Life. If there were needs which He could not or would not satisfy, He
would have told us of them.2 [ ote: James Iverach, The Other Side of Greatness,
133.]
2. The Psalmist felt, as we often feel, that he had emerged from the very gulf of
destruction; that he had been, as it were against his will, rescued from moral

23. suicide; that all his life had been redeemed by God. Therefore he burst out into joy
and thanksgiving! He who had been through grave sorrows; who had known sin,
disease, even destruction; who might have cursed life and shrieked at what men call
Fate; cries out in unfeigned and mistakable rapture—it is a very outburst of song—
“Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the
Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.” And in realizing this joyful victory
of the moral and spiritual powers; in the resurrection of his spiritual being into
strength; in the leaving behind him in its own grave of all that was dead in his past;
in the great cry of his heart as he looked back—“I am not there, I am risen”—his
youth was renewed like the eagle’s! It was a great triumph; for his best life came
back in a higher and a stronger way, with now but little chance of failure. He could
again, like the eagle, look upon the sun, and love the upper ranges of the sky; again
soar, but with steadier beat of wing than in youth; again possess the freedom he
loved before disease and destruction had enslaved his plumes; again breathe the
breath of immortal love; again in conscious union with God hear the great spheres
“in measured motion draw after the heavenly tune.” And certainty was now with
this victory, for he had known and found the Father of his spirit. The waters of his
new life arose out of the fountain Life of God Himself, and he knew whence they
came. There was now a source as well as a goal for his ideals, hopes, efforts, for the
beauty he loved, and for universal joy. It was the Almighty Love and Life of
loveliness Himself who was now in him—a personal friend, redeemer, strengthener,
exalter; who crowned him with lovingkindness and tender mercies. This is the true
resurrection; this is the triumph of life.
The brilliant Princess Anastasia Malsoff (the ancy Malsoff of the Russian Court)
was one of those led to Christ by the Maréchale, with whom she kept up a close
friendship during the rest of her life. One of the Princess’s letters is peculiarly
interesting: “I will see the Emperor in these days,” she writes, “and I will seek
strength to speak to him. You see, my darling, speaking is not enough, one must in
such a case pour out one’s soul and feel that a superior force guides one and speaks
for one.” It turned out as she hoped. One night she was at the Palace in St.
Petersburg. After dinner the Czar came and seated himself beside her. Soon they
were deep in intimate conversation. She began telling him what her new-found
friend in Paris had done for her. She talked wisely as he listened attentively. At
length he said: “But, ancy, you have always been good, always right.” “ o,” she
answered; “till now I have never known the Christ. She has made Him real to me,
brought Him near to me, and He has become what He never was before—my
personal Friend.”1 [ ote: J. Strahan, The Maréchale (1913), 184.]
“I shall be sorry,” says Eckhart, the German mystic, “if I am not younger to-
morrow than I am to-day—that is, a step nearer to the source whence I came.” And
Swedenborg tells us that when heaven was opened to him he found that the oldest
angels seemed to be the youngest.
’Tis said there is a fount in Flower Land,—
De Leon found it,—where Old Age away
Throws weary mind and heart, and fresh as day

24. Springs from the dark and joins Aurora’s band:
This tale, transformed by some skilled trouvère’s wand
From the old myth in a Greek poet’s lay,
Rests on no truth. Change bodies as Time may,
Souls do not change, though heavy be his hand.
Who of us needs this fount? What soul is old?
Age is a mask,—in heart we grow more young,
For in our winters we talk most of spring;
And as we near, slow-tottering, God’s safe fold,
Youth’s loved ones gather nearer:—though among
The seeming dead, youth’s songs more clear they sing.2 [ ote: Maurice Francis
Egan.]
SIMEO , "DUTY OF PRAISI G GOD FOR HIS MERCIES
Psalms 103:1-5. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless his holy
name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: who forgiveth all
thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases: who redeemeth thy life from
destruction; who crowneth thee with loving-kindness and tender mercies: who
satisfieth thy mouth with good things, so that thy youth is renewed like the eayle’s.
IT is a favourite opinion of some divines, that we are bound to love God for his own
perfections, without having any respect to the benefits which we receive from him.
But this appears to us to be an unscriptural refinement. That God deserves all
possible love from his creatures on account of his own perfections, can admit of no
doubt: and we can easily conceive, that persons may be so occupied with an
admiration of his perfections, as not to have in their minds any distinct reference to
the benefits they have received from him: but that any creature can place himself in
the situation of a being who has no obligations to God for past mercies, and no
expectation of future blessings from him, we very much doubt: nor are we aware
that God any where requires us so to divest ourselves of all the feelings of humanity,
for the sake of engaging more entirely in the contemplation of his perfections. or
indeed can we consent to the idea, that gratitude is so low a virtue [ ote:
Deuteronomy 28:47.]. On the contrary, it seems to be the principle that animates all
the hosts of the redeemed in heaven; who are incessantly occupied in singing praises
to Him who loved them, and washed them from their sins in his own blood. By this
also all the most eminent saints on earth have been distinguished. In proof of this,
we need go no further than to the psalm before us, wherein the man after God’s own
heart adores and magnifies his Benefactor, for some particular mercies recently
vouchsafed unto him. To instil this principle into your minds, and to lead you to a
measure of that devotion with which the sweet singer of Israel was inspired, we
shall,
I. State the grounds we have to praise God—
To enumerate all the benefits we have received from God, would be impossible. We

25. must content ourselves with adverting to them in the peculiar view in which they are
set before us in the text. We would call you then to consider,
1. The freeness and undeservedness of them—
[It is this which gives a zest to every blessing we enjoy: in this view, the very food we
eat, and the air we breathe, demand our most grateful acknowledgments. The
Psalmist begins with speaking himself as a guilty and corrupt creature, who unless
pardoned and renewed by the grace of God, must have been an everlasting
monument of his righteous displeasure. The same thought also should be uppermost
in our minds. We should contrast our state with that of the fallen angels, who never
had a Saviour vouchsafed unto them; and with that of the unbelieving world, who,
in consequence of rejecting the Saviour, have perished in their sins. What claim had
we, any more than the fallen angels? and, if we had been dealt with according to our
deserts, where would have been the difference between us and those who are gone
beyond the reach, of mercy Let us but contemplate this, and the smallest mercy we
enjoy will appear exceeding great; yea, any thing short of hell will be esteemed a
mercy [ ote: See how this consideration enhanced the favours which God
vouchsafed to David, Psalms 8:1 and St. Paul, Ephesians 3:8.].]
2. The richness and variety—
[The psalm primarily relates to David’s recovery from some heavy disorder: and the
terms wherein he expresses his gratitude are precisely such as are used by other
persons on similar occasions [ ote: Isaiah 38:17.]. On this account, in our review of
God’s mercies, it will be proper first to notice the blessings of his providence. How
often have we been visited with some bodily disorder, which, for aught we know, has
been sent as a preventive or punishment of sin! (We certainly have reason to think,
that at this time, as well as in former ages, God punishes the sins of his people in this
world, that they may not be condemned in the world to come [ ote: Compare 1
Corinthians 11:30; 1 Corinthians 11:32. with James 5:15].) And how often have we
been raised from a state of weakness and danger, to renewed life and vigour! At all
events, we have been beset with dangers, and yet not permitted to fall a sacrifice to
them; and been encompassed with wants, which have been liberally supplied. Can
we view all these mercies with indifference? do they not demand from us a tribute of
praise?
But the expressions in the text lead us to contemplate also the blessings of God’s
grace. And can we adopt the words in this view? O how great and wonderful are
they, if we appreciate them aright! To be forgiven one sin is a mercy of
inconceivable magnitude; but to be forgiven all, all that we have ever committed,
this is a mercy which neither the tongues of men nor of angels can ever adequately
declare. Think too of the corruptions which with most inveterate malignity infect
our souls: to have these healed! to have them all healed: We no longer wonder at the
ardour of the Psalmist’s devotion; we wonder only at our own stupidity.
Contemplate moreover the efforts which Satan, that roaring lion, is ever making to
destroy us; consider his wiles, his deceits, his fiery darts: what a stupendous mercy

26. is it that we have not been given up as a prey unto his teeth!. Look around at the
mercies of all kinds with which we are encircled: and mark the provision of
ordinances, and promises, yea, of the body and blood of God’s only dear Son, with
which our souls are nourished and renewed; so that our drooping spirits, like the
eagle when renewed in its plumage, are enabled to soar to the highest heavens with
confidence and joy. Can we find in these things no grounds of praise? Must not our
hearts be harder than adamant itself, if they do not melt at the contemplation of
such mercies as these?]
3. The constancy and continuance—
[See how triumphantly the Psalmist dwells on this [ ote: Forgiveth, healeth,
redeemeth, crowneth, satisfieth.]; and let us compare our experience with his. Has
not God made us also the objects of his providential care, by day and by night, from
the earliest period of our existence to this present moment? Has he not also renewed
to us every day and hour the blessings of his grace, “watering us as his garden,” and
“encompassing us with his favour as with a shield?” Surely we may say that
“goodness and mercy have followed us all our days;” there has not been one single
moment when our Divine keeper has ever slumbered or slept; he has kept us, “even
as the apple of his eye;” “lest any should hurt us, he has kept us day and night.”
Say now, what are the feelings which such mercies should generate in our souls; and
what are the returns which we ought to make to our heavenly Benefactor?]
ot doubting but that all of you must acknowledge your obligation to praise God,
we will, as God shall enable us,
II. Stir you up to the performance of this duty—
It is the office of your minister to stir up your pure minds “by way of
remembrance,” yea, “to put you in remembrance of these things, though ye know
them, and be established in the present truth.” We therefore call upon you to praise
God,
1. Individually—
[This is not the duty of ministers only, but of all, whatever be their age, situation, or
condition in life: every one is unspeakably indebted to God; and therefore every one
should say for himself, “Bless the Lord, O my soul!”
If any object, that they have never yet been made partakers of the blessings of
Divine grace, we answer, That you have not on this account the less reason to bless
God; for the very “long-suffering of God should be accounted by you as salvation;”
and if you compare your state (as yet on mercy’s ground) with that of those who
have been cut off in their sins, you will see that all the thanks which you can
possibly render unto God, are infinitely less than what he deserves at your hands.

27. Moreover, if you have received no signal deliverances from sickness or danger, you
have the more reason to adore your God, who has preserved you so long in the
uninterrupted enjoyment of health and peace.]
2. Fervently—
[Praise is not a service of the lip and knee, but of the warmest affections of the soul.
The “soul, and all that is within you,” should be exercised in this blessed work. As
you are to “love God with all your heart, and mind, and soul, and strength,” so also
you are to bless him with all your faculties and powers. You must not however
mistake vociferation, and talkativeness, and bodily fervour, for devotion; your
expressions of gratitude, even when most elevated and joyous, must resemble those
which are used among the heavenly hosts; who “veil their faces and their feet,” or
“cast their crowns at the feet” of their adorable Redeemer. ot to bless him in this
manner, is constructively and really to “forget the benefits” you have received from
him: yea, an utter forgetfulness of them were less criminal than such an ungrateful
remembrance.]
3. Incessantly—
[“Bless, bless, bless the Lord!” says the Psalmist to his soul; shewing thereby that he
would have that to be the continual exercise of his mind. Thus should we also labour
to have our minds in a constant readiness for this glorious work. We need not
indeed be always engaged in the act of praise; for we have many other acts in which
a great part of our time must be occupied; but the frame of our minds should always
be disposed for this duty, so as to be ready for it whensoever occasion may call for
the performance of it. That we shall feel backwardness to it at times, must be
expected: the Psalmist intimates as much, by so repeatedly urging his reluctant soul
to this duty. But let us follow his example, and urge our souls, however reluctant, to
this blessed work. Let us say with him, “Bless the Lord, O my soul; bless him, bless
his holy name!” or like Deborah, “Awake, awake, Deborah; awake, awake; utter a
song!”
Thus to bless God is our privilege on earth: thus to bless him is an antepast of
heaven.]
2 Praise the Lord, my soul,
and forget not all his benefits—

28. BAR ES, "Bless the Lord, O my soul - The repetition here denotes the intensity
or earnestness of the wish or desire of the psalmist. It is an emphatic calling upon his
soul, that is, himself, never to forget the many favors which God was continually
conferring upon him.
And forget not all his benefits - Any of his favors. This refers not to those favors
in the aggregate, but it is a call to remember them in particular. The word rendered
“benefits” - ‫גמול‬ ge
mûl - means properly an act, work, doing, whether good or evil, Psa_
137:8; and then, “desert,” or what a man deserves “for” his act; “recompence.” It is
rendered “deserving” in Jdg_9:16; benefit, as here, in 2Ch_32:25; “desert,” Psa_28:4;
“reward,” Psa_94:2; Isa_3:11; Oba_1:15; “recompence,” Pro_12:14; Isa_35:4; Isa_
59:18; Isa_66:6; Jer_51:6; Lam_3:64; Joe_3:4, Joe_3:7. The proper reference here is to
the divine “dealings,” - to what God had done - as a reason for blessing his name. His
“dealings” with the psalmist had been such as to call for praise and gratitude. What
those “dealings” particularly were he specifies in the following verses. The call here on
his soul is not to forget these divine dealings, as laying the foundation for praise. We
shall find, when we reach the end of life, that all which God has done, however dark and
mysterious it may have appeared at the time, was so connected with our good as to make
it a proper subject of praise and thanksgiving.
CLARKE, "Forget not all his benefits - Call them into recollection; particularize
the chief of them; and here record them for an everlasting memorial.
GILL, "Bless the Lord, O my soul,.... Which is repeated to show the importance of
the service, and the vehement desire of the psalmist, that his soul should be engaged in
it:
and forget not all his benefits; not any of them; the least of them are not to be
forgotten, being such as men are altogether unworthy of; they flow not from the merit of
men, but from the mercy of God; and they are many, even innumerable; they are new
every morning, and continue all the day; and how great must the sum of them be, and
not one should be forgotten; and yet even good men are very apt to forget them; as the
Israelites of old, who sung the praises of the Lord, and soon forgot his works: the Lord,
knowing the weakness of his people's memories, has not only, under the Gospel
dispensation, appointed an ordinance, to be continued to the end of the world, to
commemorate a principal blessing and benefit of his, redemption by his Son; but has
also promised his Spirit, to bring all things to their remembrance; and this they should
be concerned for, that they do remember what God has done for them, in order both to
show gratitude and thankfulness to him, and for the encouragement of their faith and
hope in him.
JAMISO , "forget not all — not any, none of His benefits.

29. CALVI , "2.And forget not any of his benefits Here, he instructs us that God is not
deficient on his part in furnishing us with abundant matter for praising him. It is
our own ingratitude which hinders us from engaging in this exercise. In the first
place, he teaches us that the reason why God deals with such liberality towards us is,
that we may be led to celebrate his praise; but at the same time he condemns our
inconstancy, which hurries us away to any other object rather than to God. How is
it that we are so listless and drowsy in the performance of this the chief exercise of
true religion, if it is not because our shameful and wicked forgetfulness buries in our
hearts the innumerable benefits of God, which are openly manifest to heaven and
earth? Did we only retain the remembrance of them, the prophet assures us that we
would be sufficiently inclined to perform our duty, since the sole prohibition which
he lays upon us is, not to forget them.
SPURGEO , "Ver. 2. Bless the LORD, O my soul. He is in real earnest, and again
calls upon himself to arise. Had he been very sleepy before? Or was he now doubly
sensible of the importance, the imperative necessity of adoration? Certainly, he uses
no vain repetitions, for the Holy Spirit guides his pen; and thus he shews us that we
have need, again and again, to bestir ourselves when we are about to worship God,
for it would be shameful to offer him anything less than the utmost our souls can
render. These first verses are a tuning of the harp, a screwing up of the loosened
strings that not a note may fail in the sacred harmony.
And forget not all his benefits. ot so much as one of the divine dealings should be
forgotten, they are all really beneficial to us, all worthy of himself, and all subjects
for praise. Memory is very treacherous about the best things; by a strange
perversity, engendered by the fall, it treasures up the refuse of the past and permits
priceless treasures to lie neglected, it is tenacious of grievances and holds benefits all
too loosely. It needs spurring to its duty, though that duty ought to be its delight.
Observe that he calls all that is within him to remember all the Lord's benefits. For
our task our energies should be suitably called out. God's all cannot be praised with
less than our all.
Reader, have we not cause enough at this time to bless him who blesses us? Come,
let us read our diaries and see if there be not choice favours recorded there for
which we have rendered no grateful return. Remember how the Persian king, when
he conld not sleep, read the chronicles of the empire, and discovered that one who
had saved his life had never been rewarded. How quickly did he do him honour!
The Lord has saved us with a great salvation, shall we render no recompense? The
name of ingrate is one of the most shameful that a man can wear; surely we cannot
be content to run the risk of such a brand. Let us awake then, and with intense
enthusiasm bless Jehovah.
EXPLA ATORY OTES A D QUAI T SAYI GS.
Ver. 2. Bless the Lord, O my soul. David found some dulness and drowsiness; hence
he so often puts the thorn to his breast; hence he so impetuously instigateth his soul,
as one here phraseth it. John Trapp.
Ver. 2. Forget not. This touches the secret spring of so much ingratitude—
forgetfulness, the want of re-collection, or gathering together again of all the varied
threads of mercy. Compare De 6:12; De 8:11, 14. "Si oblivisceris, tacebis" (If thou

30. forgettest, thou wilt be silent). J. J. S. Perowne.
Ver. 2. Forget not all his benefits. That is, forget not any of his benefits, as the form
of speech in the original doth import. David Dickson.
Ver. 2. Benefits. The word rendered "benefits" —lwmg gemul, means properly an
act, work, doing, whether good or evil, Psalms 137:8; and then, desert, or what a
man deserves for his act; recompense. It is rendered deserving in Jude 9:16; benefit,
as here, in 2 Chronicles 32:25; desert, Psalms 28:4; reward, Psalms 94:2, Isaiah 3:11,
Obadiah 1:15; recompense, Proverbs 12:14 Isa 35:4 59:18 66:6 Jeremiah 51:6 La
3:64, Joel 3:4; Joel 3:7. The proper reference here is to the Divine dealings, to what
God had done, as a reason for blessing his name. His dealings with the Psalmist had
been such as to call for praise and gratitude. What those dealings particularly were
he specifies in the following verses. Albert Barnes.
WHEDO , "2. Forget not all his benefits—A commandment of the law,
Deuteronomy 6:12; Deuteronomy 8:11-14; (compare, also, Deuteronomy 32:15,) and
a first duty of the creature. “He that has been blessed, and refuses to bless, has sunk
from the state of a man to that of a beast.”— Hengstenberg.
All—That is, any; the same word as in Psalms 147:20
3 who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
BAR ES, "Who forgiveth all thine iniquities - Pardoning all thy sins. That is, It
is a characteristic of God to pardon sin, and I have evidence that he has done it in my
own case, and this is a ground for praise. It is observable that this is the first thing in
view of the psalmist - the first of the “benefits” which he had received from God, or the
first thing in importance among his acts or his dealings, which called for praise. Properly
considered, this is the first thing which calls for praise. That God is a merciful God - that
he has declared his willingness to pardon sin - that he has devised and revealed a way by
which this can be done, and that he has actually done it in our own case, is the most
important matter for which we should praise him. When we understand all the things
which most affect our welfare, and which enter most deeply into our happiness here and
hereafter, we shall find that this is a blessing compared with which all other favors are
comparative trifles.
Who healeth all thy diseases - Perhaps, in the case of the psalmist, referring to
some particular instance in which he had been recovered from dangerous sickness. The
word rendered “diseases” - ‫תחלואים‬ tachălû'iym - occurs only in the plural form. It is

31. translated “sicknesses,” in Deu_29:22; “diseases,” as here, in 2Ch_21:19; “them that are
sick,” in Jer_14:18; and “grievous (deaths)” in Jer_16:4. It does not elsewhere occur. It
is applicable to all forms of sickness; or in this place it may refer to some particular
diseases with which David had been afflicted. We have several allusions in the Psalms to
times when the authors of the psalms were afflicted with sickness. So in the Psalms of
David. Compare Psa_6:2; Psa_38:7; Psa_41:8. The thought here is, that it is a proper
ground of praise to God that he has the power of healing disease. All instances of
restoration to health are illustrations of this, for whatever may be the skill of physicians,
or the wise adaptation of means, healing virtue comes from God alone.
CLARKE, "Who forgiveth - The benefits are the following,
1. Forgiveness of sin.
2. Restoration of health: “Who healeth all thy diseases.”
GILL, "Who forgiveth all thine iniquities,.... The psalmist explains here what he
means by benefits, and gives a particular enumeration of them; and begins with the
blessing of pardon, which is a special and peculiar benefit; it is according to the riches of
divine grace, and the multitude of tender mercies; without which all outward blessings
signify nothing; and, without a sense of this, a man is not in a suitable and proper frame
to bless the Lord; and this being the first benefit a soul sensible of sin, its guilt and is
concerned for, and seeks after; so enjoying it, it is the first he is thankful for: this is
rightly ascribed to God; for none can forgive sins but he; and what he forgives are not
mere infirmities, peccadillos, the lesser sins of life; but "iniquities", grosser sins,
unrighteousnesses, impieties, the most enormous crimes, sins of a crimson and scarlet
die; yea, "all" of them, though they are many, more than the hairs of a man's head; he
abundantly pardons, multiplies pardons, as sins are multiplied, and leaves none
unforgiven; original sin, actual sins, sins of heart, lip, and life, of omission and
commission, all are forgiven for Christ's sake: and the special mercy is when a man has
an application of this to himself, and can say to his soul, as David to his, God has
forgiven "thine" iniquities; for though it may be observed with pleasure, and it is an
encouragement to hope in the Lord, that he is a forgiving God, and has forgiven others,
yet what would this avail a man, if his sins should not be forgiven? the sweetness of the
blessing lies in its being brought home to a man's own soul: and it may be further
observed, that this is a continued act; it is not said who has forgiven, and will forgive,
though both are true; but "forgiveth", continues to forgive; for as there is a continual
virtue in the sacrifice of the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world, and in his
blood to cleanse from all sin, so there is a continual flow of pardoning grace in the heart
of God, which is afresh applied to the consciences of his people by his Spirit; and this is a
blessing to be thankful for:
who healeth all thy diseases; not bodily ones, though the Lord is the physician of the
bodies as well as of the souls of men, and sometimes heals the diseases of soul and body
at once, as in the case of the paralytic man in the Gospel; but spiritual diseases, or soul
maladies, are here meant; the same with "iniquities" in the preceding clause: sin is a
natural, hereditary, epidemical, nauseous, and mortal disease; and there are many of
them, a complication of them, in men, which God only can cure; and he heals them by
his word, by means of his Gospel, preaching peace, pardon, and righteousness by Christ;