Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Psalms 146:5

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Psalms 146:5. Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help — While he that trusts in man is miserable, he that trusts in God is happy. In the son of man, בן אדם ben Adam, there is no help, תשועה teshuah, no saving principle. Every son of Adam naturally comes into the world without this, and must continue so till the Lord open the eyes of the blind, Psalms 146:8; but a measure of light is given from that true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. This son of Adam returns to his earth, לאדמתו leadmatho, to the ground, from which he was taken; this refers directly to Genesis 2:7; Genesis 3:19. But he that has the God for his help who helped Jacob in his distress, and was with him, and sustained him in and through all adversities, can never be destitute; for this God changes not; he lives for ever, and his projects cannot perish. He has purposed that Israel shall be delivered from this captivity. Cyrus may change, but God will not; trust therefore in HIM. He has all power; he made heaven and earth; he has them under his government and at his disposal; and should earth itself fail, heaven endures. And he keeps his truth for ever; and therefore his promises must be fulfilled to them that trust in him. Fear not.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Psalm 145-146 God is gracious and merciful

The book of Psalms closes with six hymns of general praise. The first of these is David’s ‘Song of Praise’ and in the Hebrew is an acrostic. The other five have no titles, but each begins and ends with the words ‘Praise the Lord’.
God is great and worthy to be the object of people’s praise, day and night, for ever and ever (145:1-3). Those who know God’s greatness should meditate upon it and proclaim it to others (4-7). Not only is God great, but he is full of goodness, showing covenant faithfulness to his people and gracious love to people everywhere (8-9). Those who have tasted his love should show their gratitude by praising him and telling others of his mighty works. In this way they will help spread his rule to the lives of others (10-13a).
The generous help and free gifts of God are always available to all his creatures (13b-16). He is on the side of those who call upon him, honour him and love him, but he is against those who in their sin reject the offer of his mercy (17-20). All creation, and in particular his people, should bring him unending praise (21).
No matter how stable people may appear to be, they can never be fully relied upon. They do not have unlimited power and their lives may be cut short at any time (146:1-4). God, on the other hand, can be relied upon, for he is the all-powerful Creator and his life never ends (5-6). Also, he has special care for those suffering from poverty, injustice, physical handicaps and social insecurity (7-10).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

POSITIVE INSTRUCTION TO TRUST IN THE LORD

"Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, Whose hope is in Jehovah his God: Who made heaven and earth, The sea, and all that in them is; Who keepeth truth forever. Who executeth justice for the oppressed; Who giveth food to the hungry. Jehovah looseth the prisoners; Jehovah openeth the eyes of the blind; Jehovah raiseth up them that are bowed down; Jehovah loveth the righteous; Jehovah preserveth the sojourner; He upholdeth the fatherless and widow; But the way of the wicked he turneth upside down. Jehovah will reign forever, Thy God, O Zion, unto all generations. Praise ye Jehovah."

It was upon the basis of this paragraph that we entitled this psalm, "Praise the Lord for What he Does." Some of the psalms praise God for what he has done, but the emphasis here is rather upon what he is doing. A mere list of these is impressive.

• The Lord keepeth truth forever (Psalms 146:6).

• He executeth judgment for the oppressed (Psalms 146:7).

• He giveth food to the hungry (Psalms 146:7).

• He looseth the prisoners (Psalms 146:7).

• He openeth the eyes of the blind (Psalms 146:8).

• He raises up them that are bowed down (Psalms 146:8).

• He loveth the righteous (Psalms 146:8).

• He preserveth the sojourners (Psalms 146:9).

• He upholdeth the fatherless and widow (Psalms 146:9).

• He turns the way of the wicked upside down (Psalms 146:9)

• He reigns forever, unto all generations (Psalms 146:10).

Rhodes gave voice to a popular error, writing that, in the light of this passage, "According to both Testaments, personal gospel and social gospel are one gospel."The Layman's Bible Commentary, op. cit., p. 188. The truth is that what men today call the "social gospel" is nothing but a thinly-veneered "humanism," utterly void of the eternal salvation available "in Christ" as the Lord's devoted follower.

"The God of Jacob" In time, this expression came to be the virtual equivalent of "The God of Israel." It is by no means enough to praise "deity." One must praise the true God, even the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God revealed in the Holy Bible.

This final paragraph cannot be read without an acute consciousness of the fact that our Lord Jesus Christ stressed all of these things during his earthly ministry.

"Looseth the prisoners" "Deliverance from the bondage of sin may be intended here."The Pulpit Commentary, op. cit., p. 390.

"Openeth the eyes of the blind" "The spiritually blind, rather than the physically blind may be meant, because there was no healing of the physically blind in the Old Testament."Ibid.

"These verses belong to the `God of Jacob' exclusively and to no other. He is the God known to Israel and to Zion. This is the exclusivism of the Old Testament. The abstract concept of `deity' is not enough for a man to trust; nor is any other claimant to the title, `God.' Only one God is worthy of trust. He is to be found only in Jacob (Israel) and Zion."The New Bible Commentary, Revised, p. 544.

"Who keepeth truth forever" Barnes pointed out that two reasons are here given for trusting God: (1) He is the one and only true God, the Creator, able indeed to help those whom he loves. (2) He is faithful and may always be relied upon.Barnes' Notes on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, a 1987 reprint of the 1878 edition), op. cit., p. 326.

"Turneth the way of the wicked upside down" Dummelow explained this as meaning that, "God turns aside the way of the wicked into the trackless desert where it disappears."J. R. Dummelow's Commentary, p. 377.

"Jehovah will reign forever, Thy God, O Zion, unto all generations" Briggs pointed out that 10a here is a quotation from Exodus 15:18, and that 10b is a quotation from Psalms 147:12.International Critical Commentary, op. cit., p. 532.

One of the most interesting comments we have seen on this psalm is that of Rawlinson, who identified the "Zion of this passage as that of Hebrews 12:22, adding that, "God is the God of Zion and will remain so unto all generations, since the Church of Christ is now the true Zion of Hebrews 12:22."The Pulpit Commentary, op. cit., p. 391. It is also a fact that the Church of Christ is the true "Israel of God" (Galatians 6:16).

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help - Who may rely for protection on the God who defended Jacob in his travels and dangers. Or, perhaps the word Jacob is used here collectively to denote Israel - the Jewish people: the God whom they adore and worship, rather than the gods of the pagan. Compare Psalms 144:15, note; Psalms 54:4, note.

Whose hope is in the Lord his God - In Yahweh, worshipped as his God. That is, who truly worships Yahweh, or makes Yahweh his God.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

5.Blessed is he, etc. As it would not have been enough to reprove the sin, he submits the remedy upon which the proper correction of it depends; and this is, that the hopes of men are only stable and well-founded when they rest entirely upon God. For even the wicked sometimes come the length of acknowledging the folly of trust in man. Accordingly they are often angry with themselves for being so inconsiderate as to expect deliverance from men; but by neglecting the remedy, they are not extricated from their error. The Psalmist having condemned the infatuation, which we have seen to be natural to us all, wisely subjoins that they are blessed who trust in God. Jeremiah observes the same order. (Jeremiah 17:5.)

“Cursed is he that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm,” etc.;

and then — “Blessed is the man whose hope the Lord is.” When David pronounces those blessed whose help is the Lord, he does not restrict the happiness of believers to present sense, as if they were only happy when God openly and in outward acts appeared as their helper, but he places their happiness in this — that they are truly persuaded of its being entirely by the grace of God they stand. He calls him the God of Jacob, to distinguish him from the multitude of false gods in which unbelievers gloried at that time; and there was good reason for this; for while all propose to themselves to seek God, few take the right way. In designating the true God by his proper mark, he intimates that it is only by an assured faith of adoption that any of us can rest upon him; for he must show himself favorable to us before we can look for help from him.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Psalms 146:1-10

Now the final psalms or the Hallel psalms. They begin with hallelujah and end with hallelujah in the Hebrew.

Praise ye the LORD. Praise the LORD, O my soul. While I live I will praise the LORD: I will sing praises unto God while I have any being. Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goes forth, he returns to the earth; in that very day his thoughts perish. Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God: Which made the heaven, and the earth, and the sea, and all that is therein: which keeps truth for ever: Who executes judgment for the oppressed: who gives food to the hungry. The LORD frees the prisoners: The LORD opens the eyes of the blind: the LORD raises them that are bowed down: the LORD loves the righteous: The LORD preserves the strangers; he relieves the fatherless and the widow: but the way of the wicked he turns upside down. The LORD shall reign for ever, even thy God, O Zion, unto all generations. Hallelujah ( Psalms 146:1-10 ).

And so these things that he declares concerning the Lord, "Happy is the man who has the God of Jacob as his help, who has put his hope and trust in God. For God made the heaven and the earth. He keeps truth forever. He executes judgment for those that are oppressed. He gives food to the hungry. He frees the prisoners. Opens the eyes of the blind. Raises those that are bowed down." Of course, these things are making reference to the Kingdom Age. "For He shall reign forever and ever, even thy God, O Zion, unto all generations." "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Psalms 146

An anonymous psalmist promised to praise the Lord forever because of His greatness and His grace. His faithfulness to the oppressed of the earth-as Creator-is the particular emphasis in this psalm. Each of the last five psalms in the Psalter (Psalms 146-150) begins and ends with a charge to "Praise the Lord!" ("Hallelujah!").

"These five psalms are a short course in worship, and God’s people today would do well to heed their message." [Note: Wiersbe, The . . . Wisdom . . ., p. 377.]

"Psalms 146-150 constitute the last Hallel (’praise’) collection. These five Hallelujah psalms have the characteristic genre of the hymn of descriptive praise. These psalms were used at some point as a part of the daily prayers in the synagogue worship. The other two collections are the Egyptian Hallel psalms (113-118) and the Great Hallel (120-136)." [Note: VanGemeren, p. 864.]

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

2. God’s ability to save 146:5-6

In contrast to those who look to other people for deliverance, those who trust in Israel’s God, Yahweh, will experience blessing. He is the Creator who even made the humanly uncontrollable sea and all its creatures. Yahweh is not only supremely powerful, but He is also faithful to His Word.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Happy [is he] that [hath] the God of Jacob for his help,.... The God of the patriarch Jacob, the Messiah, who is that God that fed him all his life, the Angel that redeemed him from all evil, with whom in the form of a man he wrestled, when he had power over God, and saw him face to face; the God of the posterity of Jacob, the Angel of Jehovah's presence, who went before them by day and night in the wilderness, and saved and carried them all the days of old; the God of spiritual Jacob, or Israel, the church of the chosen, redeemed, and called ones; the God of every Israelite indeed, of every true believer, as he was Thomas's Lord and God: now happy is that man that has him for his help, who helps his servant Israel, all his people out of the sad estate of sin and misery into which they are brought; helps them to all the blessings of grace, and to all the supplies of it in their time of need; helps them under all their infirmities, temptations, and afflictions; helps them in all their way to heaven, and against every enemy of their souls; and at last helps them to everlasting glory and happiness;

whose hope [is] in the Lord his God; in Immanuel, God with us, God manifest in the flesh; Christ the hope of Israel, and the Saviour thereof; who is our hope, and in all his people the hope of glory; not only the author and giver of the grace of hope, but the object, ground, and foundation of it: now happy is that man whose hope alone is in him; who hopes for salvation, pardon, righteousness, and eternal life, through him, and him only; such are safe and secure, who, as prisoners of hope, turn to him their strong hold; those shall want no good thing that hope and trust in him; they have peace now through his blood and righteousness, and shall be saved with an everlasting salvation; see

Jeremiah 17:7.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      5 Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God:   6 Which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is: which keepeth truth for ever:   7 Which executeth judgment for the oppressed: which giveth food to the hungry. The LORD looseth the prisoners:   8 The LORD openeth the eyes of the blind: the LORD raiseth them that are bowed down: the LORD loveth the righteous:   9 The LORD preserveth the strangers; he relieveth the fatherless and widow: but the way of the wicked he turneth upside down.   10 The LORD shall reign for ever, even thy God, O Zion, unto all generations. Praise ye the LORD.

      The psalmist, having cautioned us not to trust in princes (because, if we do, we shall be miserably disappointed), here encourages us to put our confidence in God, because, if we do so, we shall be happily secured: Happy is he that has the God of Jacob for his help, that has an interest in his attributes and promises, and has them engaged for him, and whose hope is in the Lord his God.

      I. Let us take a view of the character here given of those whom God will uphold. Those shall have God for their help, 1. Who take him for their God, and serve and worship him accordingly. 2. Who have their hope in him, and live a life of dependence upon him, who have good thoughts of him, and encourage themselves in him, when all other supports fail. Every believer may look upon him as the God of Jacob, of the church in general, and therefore may expect relief from him, in reference to public distresses, and as his God in particular, and therefore may depend upon him in all personal wants and straits. We must hope, (1.) In the providence of God for all the good things we need, which relate to the life that now is. (2.) In the grace of Christ for all the good things which relate to the life that is to come. To this especially the learned Dr. Hammond refers this and the following verses, looking upon the latter part of this psalm to have a most visible remarkable aspect towards the eternal Son of God in his incarnation. He quotes one of the rabbies, who says of Psalms 146:10; Psalms 146:10 that it belongs to the days of the Messiah. And that it does so he thinks will appear by comparing Psalms 146:7; Psalms 146:8, with the characters Christ gives of the Messiah (Matthew 11:5; Matthew 11:6), The blind receive their sight, the lame walk; and the closing words there, Blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me, he thinks may very well be supposed to refer to Psalms 146:5; Psalms 146:5. Happy is the man that hopes in the Lord his God, and who is not offended in him.

      II. Let us take a view of the great encouragements here given us to hope in the Lord our God. 1. He is the Maker of the world, and therefore has all power in himself, and the command of the powers of all the creatures, which, being derived from him, depend upon him (Psalms 146:6; Psalms 146:6): He made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and therefore his arm is not shortened, that it cannot save. It is very applicable to Christ, by whom God made the world, and without whom was not any thing made that was made. It is a great support to faith that the Redeemer of the world is the same that was the Creator of it, and therefore has a good-will to it, a perfect knowledge of its case, and power to help it. 2. He is a God of inviolable fidelity. We may venture to take God's word, for he keepeth truth for ever, and therefore no word of his shall fall to the ground; it is true from the beginning, and therefore true to the end. Our Lord Jesus is the Amen, the faithful witness, as well as the beginning, the author and principle, of the creation of God,Revelation 3:14. The keeping of God's truth for ever is committed to him, for all the promises are in him yea and amen. 3. He is the patron of injured innocency: He pleads the cause of the oppressed, and (as we read it) he executes judgment for them. He often does it in his providence, giving redress to those that suffer wrong and clearing up their integrity. He will do it in the judgment of the great day. The Messiah came to rescue the children of men out of the hands of Satan the great oppressor, and, all judgment being committed to him, the executing of judgment upon persecutors is so among the rest, Jude 1:15. 4. He is a bountiful benefactor to the necessitous: He gives food to the hungry; so God does in an ordinary way for the answering of the cravings of nature; so he has done sometimes in an extraordinary way, as when ravens fed Elijah; so Christ did more than once when he fed thousands miraculously with that which was intended but for one meal or two for his own family. This encourages us to hope in him as the nourisher of our souls with the bread of life. 5. He is the author of liberty to those that were bound: The Lord looseth the prisoners. He brought Israel out of the house of bondage in Egypt and afterwards in Babylon. The miracles Christ wrought, in making the dumb to speak and the deaf to hear with that one word, Ephphatha--Be opened, his cleansing lepers, and so discharging them from their confinements, and his raising the dead out of their graves, may all be included in this one of loosing the prisoners; and we may take encouragement from those to hope in him for that spiritual liberty which he came to proclaim, Isaiah 61:1; Isaiah 61:2. 6. He gives sight to those that have been long deprived of it; The Lord can open the eyes of the blind, and has often given to his afflicted people to see that comfort which before they were not aware of; witness Genesis 21:19, and the prophet's servant, 2 Kings 6:17. But this has special reference to Christ; for since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind till Christ did it (John 9:32) and thereby encouraged us to hope in him for spiritual illumination. 7. He sets that straight which was crooked, and makes those easy that were pained and ready to sink: He raises those that are bowed down, by comforting and supporting them under their burdens, and, in due time, removing their burdens. This was literally performed by Christ when he made a poor woman straight that had been bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself (Luke 13:12); and he still does it by his grace, giving rest to those that were weary and heavily laden, and raising up with his comforts those that were humbled and cast down by convictions. 8. He has a constant kindness for all good people: The Lord loveth the righteous, and they may with the more confidence depend upon his power when they are sure of his good-will. Our Lord Jesus showed his love to the righteous by fulfilling all righteousness. 9. He has a tender concern for those that stand in special need of his care: The Lord preserves the strangers. It ought not to pass without remark that the name of Jehovah is repeated here five times in five lines, to intimate that it is an almighty power (that of Jehovah) that is engaged and exerted for the relief of the oppressed, and that it is as much the glory of God to succour those that are in misery as it is to ride on the heavens by his name Jah,Psalms 68:4. (1.) Strangers are exposed, and are commonly destitute of friends, but the Lord preserves them, that they be not run down and ruined. Many a poor stranger has found the benefit of the divine protection and been kept alive by it. (2.) Widows and fatherless children, that have lost the head of the family, who took care of the affairs of it, often fall into the hands of those that make a prey of them, that will not do them justice, nay, that will do them injustice; but the Lord relieveth them, and raiseth up friends for them. See Exodus 22:22; Exodus 22:23. Our Lord Jesus came into the world to help the helpless, to receive Gentiles, strangers, into his kingdom, and that with him poor sinners, that are as fatherless, may find mercy,Hosea 14:3. 10. He will appear for the destruction of all those that oppose his kingdom and oppress the faithful subjects of it: The way of the wicked he turns upside down, and therefore let us hope in him, and not be afraid of the fury of the oppressor, as though he were ready to destroy. It is the glory of the Messiah that he will subvert all the counsels of hell and earth that militate against his church, so that, having him for us, we need not fear any thing that can be done against us. 11. His kingdom shall continue through all the revolutions of time, to the utmost ages of eternity, Psalms 146:10; Psalms 146:10. Let this encourage us to trust in God at all times that the Lord shall reign for ever, in spite of all the malignity of the powers of darkness, even thy God, O Zion! unto all generations. Christ is set King on the holy hill of Zion, and his kingdom shall continue in an endless glory. It cannot be destroyed by an invader; it shall not be left to a successor, either to a succeeding monarch or a succeeding monarchy, but it shall stand for ever. It is matter of unspeakable comfort that the Lord reigns as Zion's God, as Zion's king, that the Messiah is head over all things to the church, and will be so while the world stands.