The Bible Commentaries and Others: Psalms 149 v 1

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Posted by Psalms on Sunday, 17 January 2016

Psalms 149:1

Praise ye the LORD. Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise in the congregation of saints.

1. Praise ye the Lord. Specially you, chosen people, whom he has made to be his saints. With renewed zeal and fresh delight lift up your song unto Jehovah. Sing unto the Lord a new song. Sing, for it is the fittest method for expressing reverent praise. Sing a hymn newly composed, for you have now a new knowledge of God. He is ever new in his manifestations; his mercies are new every morning; his deliverances are new in every night of sorrow; let your gratitude and thanksgivings be new also. It is well to repeat the old; it is more useful to invent the new. Our singing should be unto the Lord; the songs we sing should be of him and to him, “for of him, and to him, and through him are all things.” Among our novelties there should be new songs; alas, people are fonder of making new complaints than new psalms. Our new songs should be devised in Jehovah’s honor; indeed all our newest thoughts should run towards him. Never can we find a nobler subject for a song than the Lord, nor one more full of fresh matter for a new song, nor one which we are personally so much bound to sing as a new song “unto the Lord.” And his praise in the congregation of saints. God is in the midst of saints, and because of this we may well long to be among them. They are so full of his praise that we feel at home among them when we are ourselves full of praise. The sanctuary is the house of praise as well as the house of prayer. All saints praise God: they would not be saints if they did not. Personal praise is sweet unto God, but congregated praise has a multiplicity of sweetnesses in it. Saints do not gather to amuse themselves with music, nor to extol one another, but to sing his praise whose saints they are. A congregation of saints is heaven upon earth. Yet at times even saintly conclaves need to be stirred up to thanksgiving; for saints may be sad and apprehensive, and then their spirits require to be stimulated to happier worship.

Excerpt from:

The Treasury of David by Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892)