Bible Commentaries
Psalms 103

Verses 1-22

It seems almost a work of supererogation to write anything about this psalm. It is perhaps the most perfect song of pure praise to be found in the Bible. It has become the common inheritance of all who through suffering and deliverance have learned the goodness of Jehovah. Through centuries it has been sung by glad hearts, and today is as fresh and full of beauty as ever. It is praise intensive and extensive.

As to its intensity, notice how the entire personality of the singer is recognised. The spirit of the man speaks. He addresses his soul, or mind, and calls it to praise first for spiritual benefits, and then for physical. And again notice how in the sweep of the song, things so small as the frame of the physical and its constituent dust are recognised, while yet the immeasurable reaches of east and west are included.

The extensive mercy of Jehovah, as evident in the same system, is seen in other psalms, but perhaps never so majestically as here. It begins with individual consciousness (vv. Psa 103:1-5 ); proceeds in recognition of national blessings (vv. Psa 103:6-18 ); and ends with the inclusion of all the angels, and hosts, and works in the vast dominion of Jehovah. The “my” of personal experience merges into the “our” of social fellowship, thus culminates in the “all” of universal consciousness. Yet all ends with the person word, and the perfect music of the psalm is revealed in the fact that it opens and closes on the same not.