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Expositor's Bible Commentary Psalm 117:1 O praise the LORD, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people. Psalm 117:1-2 THIS shortest of the psalms is not a fragment, though some MSS attach it to the preceding and some to the following psalm. It contains large "riches in a narrow room," and its very brevity gives force to it. Paul laid his finger on its special significance, when he quoted it in proof that God meant His salvation to be for the whole race. Jewish narrowness was an after growth and a corruption. The historical limitations of God’s manifestation to a special nation were means to its universal diffusion. The fire was gathered in a grate, that it might warm the whole house. All men have a share in what God does for Israel. His grace was intended to fructify through it to all. The consciousness of being the special recipients of Jehovah’s mercy was saved from abuse, by being united with the consciousness of being endowed with blessing that they might diffuse blessing. Nor is the psalmist’s thought of what Israel’s experience proclaimed concerning God’s character less noteworthy. As often, lovingkindness is united with troth or faithfulness as twin stars which shine out in all God’s dealings with His people. That lovingkindness is "mighty over us"-the word used for being mighty has the sense of prevailing, and so "where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." The permanence of the Divine Lovingkindness is guaranteed by God’s Troth, by which the fulfilment of every promise and the prolongation of every mercy are sealed to men. These two fair messengers have appeared in yet fairer form than the psalmist knew, and the world has to praise Jehovah for a world wide gift, first bestowed on and rejected by a degenerate Israel, which thought that it owned the inheritance, and so lost it. The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

O praise the Lord, all ye nations: praise Him, all ye people . Psalm 117:1, 2 An exhortation to praise God for His goodness D. Dickson. 1. In God's worship it is not always necessary to be long; few words sometimes say what is sufficient, as this short psalm giveth us to understand. 2. The conversion of the Gentiles was foreseen and foretold long before the Jews were rejected, as this exhortation directed unto them, and prophesying of their praising God doth give evidence. 3. Invitation of any to the fellowship of God's worship, and in special unto praise and thanksgiving, is an invitation to them to renounce their sinful course, and to subject themselves unto God in Christ, and to embrace the offer of His grace, that so they may join with the Church in the song of praises. 4. Yea, this invitation to all the nations to praise God, set down in Scripture, is a prophecy which was to take effect in all the elect Gentiles in all nations, for so reasoneth the apostle ( Romans 15:11 ) from this place. 5. Albeit there be matter of praise unto God in Himself, though we should not be partakers of any benefit from Him, yet the Lord doth give His people cause to praise Him for favours to them in their own particular. 6. There is no less reason to praise God for what He hath promised, than for what He hath given already. 7. As God's kindness and truth are the pillars of our salvation, so also are they the matter of our praise, which always go together, and run in the same channel toward the same persons, and do run abundantly and for ever together. 8. All they who hear of God are bound to praise God. ( D. Dickson. ) Worship the duty of all peoples D. Thomas, D.D. I. ALL PEOPLES ARE TO WORSHIP THE SAME GOD. 1. All are identical in spiritual condition. They all have a capacity to form a conception of the same God, and the same tendency to reverence and adore. 2. All have identical moral relationships. "In Him all live and move and have their being." 3. All should have identical controlling sympathies. Thus true worship becomes the unifying force of the race. II. ALL PEOPLES ARE TO WORSHIP THE SAME GOD FOR THE SAME REASON. 1. His kindness to all. 2. His faithfulness to all. God is truth, hence He never alters. Error is like the clouds, never shifting; truth, like the sun, continues the same from age to age. ( D. Thomas, D.D. ) Universal adaptability of Christianity A. Maclaren, D.D. Christianity alone, of all so-called faiths, overleaps all geographical limits and lives in all centuries. It alone wins its trophies and bestows its gifts on all sorts and conditions of men. Other plants which the "Heavenly Father hath not planted," have their zones of vegetation and die outside certain degrees of latitude; but the seed of the kingdom is like corn, an exotic nowhere, for wherever man lives it will grow, and yet an exotic everywhere, for it came down from Heaven. Other food requires an educated palate for its appreciation, but any hungry man in any land will relish bread. For every soul on earth this living, dying love of the Lord Jesus Christ addresses itself to and satisfies his deepest wants. It is the bread which gives life to the world. ( A. Maclaren, D.D. ).

117:1,2 All people called upon to praise God. - Here is a solemn call to all nations to praise the Lord, and proper matter for that praise is suggested. We are soon weary of well-doing, if we keep not up the pious and devout affections with which the spiritual sacrifice of praise ought to be kindled and kept burning. This is a gospel psalm. The apostle, Ro 15:11, quotes it as a proof that the gospel was to be preached to the Gentile nations, and that it would be entertained by them. For many ages, in Judah only was God known, and his name praised; this call was not then given to any Gentiles. But the gospel of Christ is ordered to be preached to all nations, and by him those that were afar off are made nigh. We are among the persons to whom the Holy Spirit here speaks, whom he calls upon to join his ancient people in praising the Lord. Grace has thus abounded to millions of perishing sinners. Let us then listen to the offers of the grace of God, and pray for that time when all nations of the earth shall show forth his praises. And let us bless God for the unsearchable riches of gospel grace.