Psalm 92: It is a good thing!

This is a song of unknown authorship, meant to be sung on the Sabbath day. The author

may be Moses, if we follow the theory that unattributed Psalms were composed by the

last named author. The Psalm speaks of the blessedness of praising the Lord, as well as

God triumphing over His enemies. The Psalmist also speaks of how God will exalt him

and lift him up, giving him strength all of his days. There is beautiful poetry and

encouragement here.

(1) A Psalm or Song for the sabbath day. It is a good thing to give thanks to the

LORD, and to sing praises to Your name, O most High; (2) To show forth

Your lovingkindness in the morning, and Your faithfulness every night,

• Praise is a good thing! We have already seen (Psalm 22) that God inhabits the

praises of His people, and so as He manifests His presence not only do we give

Him the glory He deserves, we also are blessed and refreshed to sense Him near.

• To give thanks here is the word yadah, which meant to extend the hand and thus

also meant worshipping with hands extended. This is the ancient posture of

prayer, and indicates that we are making supplication as well as offering and

surrendering our lives to the Lord.

• Real praise recognizes God, as the Psalmist does here, as the Most High. When

we can really perceive God for who He is, and see his wonderful works, then we

will surely praise Him!

Psalms Bible Study Psalm 92

• The great secret of faith used by the men of praise such as Moses and David was

to take many opportunities to give God worship. They would extol the Lord many

times throughout the day, and always to begin and to close the day.

• The elements of God’s character which caused them to rejoice so readily were His

lovingkindness and His faithfulness. These are two great encouragements to our

faith and should inspire us to give God glory, just as they inspired the writer.

(3) Upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery; upon the

harp with a solemn sound.

• The “psaltery” here is the lyre or small harp which could be played in the hand, as

opposed to larger harps which must rest on the floor. The harp making a solemn

sound is a reference to a murmuring sound of the instrument and not a mournful

voice.

• Clearly it is intended here that God should be praised with many kinds of

instruments – and there are many listed in the Bible such as trumpets, harps,

timbrels, pipes, etc. The worship of the Hebrews could be a noisy affair, but also

very peaceful and introspective; you will recall how the young David was brought

into the presence of Saul to soothe him by playing the harp.

(4) For You, LORD, have made me glad through Your work; I will triumph

in the works of Your hands.

• It would be common to celebrate God’s victories in music. We can recall Miriam

leading the women of Israel in praise on the seashore after God led them across

2
Psalms Bible Study Psalm 92

the Red Sea. Some of the Psalms which come later in the Book of Psalms are

antiphonal chants of praise which recount God’s great deeds on behalf of his

people down through time.

(5) O LORD, how great are Your works! And Your thoughts are very deep.

(6) A brutish man does not know; neither does a fool understand this.

• In modern times mankind has learned more fully than ever just how small he

really is. The ancients were awestruck at the majesty that is to be found in God’s

created order, and they did not even know of the vast expanse of galaxies that we

actually inhabit. The vault of the heavens that they could see with the naked eye is

only the very immediate neighborhood of our world. In the same way, the vast

complexity of the microscopic world was unknown to men such as Darwin, who

imagined that cells and microorganisms were “primitive,” whereas we now know

that nothing could be further from the truth.

• The brutish man is the man who is governed by animal passions; indeed the

Hebrew word carries the idea of one who simply consumes food like cattle. The

foolish man here is one who is silly. These people are unable to understand the

works of God.

(7) When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of

iniquity do flourish, it is that they shall be destroyed forever;

• This verse sets forth the truth that even evil men are raised up to display the glory

of God. The Pharaoh of the Exodus was raised up by God to demonstrate His

power. Many other kings and dictators, even those who caused great damage in

3
Psalms Bible Study Psalm 92

the Earth, were ultimately used to advance the Kingdom of God. The Roman

Empire, as cruel as it was, created a system of roadways that facilitated the

spread of the Gospel.

• When the wicked do prosper their fall only serves to highlight the principles of

God and His eternal purposes. So it was prophesied, most notably by Daniel, that

there would be a series of world-empires which would rule the Middle East. The

rise and fall of these empires, together with their eventual conquest by the

Kingdom of God, shows that God directs the flow of history.

(8) But You, LORD, are most high for evermore. (9) For, lo, Your enemies,

O LORD, for, lo, Your enemies shall perish; all the workers of iniquity shall

be scattered.

• In contrast to His enemies, who play on a mere earthly stage, God sits eternally

enthroned above the world. His kingdom is the one which will endure. This

language is echoed by the Father's words to Jesus in Hebrews 1: 11: They shall

perish; but thou remainest…

• The believer can therefore have confidence that there is a hand on the steering

wheel of history. As the history of Man’s government draws to an end on this

world we should be encouraged to know that nothing will transpire in the nations

to bring about the final cataclysms of the end of the age until God says so. It is in

fact Jesus Christ who opens the seals of the heavenly scroll (Rev. 6)that begins

the countdown to taking possession of this planet for God.

o These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out

of the earth. But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and

4
Psalms Bible Study Psalm 92

possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever…. And the kingdom

and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven,

shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom

is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.

(Daniel 7:17-18, 27).

(10) But my horn shall You exalt like the horn of a unicorn; I shall be

anointed with fresh oil.

• In contrast to the destruction of the wicked, the godly man will flourish. The

symbol of the horn being exalted was, as we have seen before, a representation of

the person’s strength. It also meant promotion in the sense of being advanced

over other people in authority.

• The “unicorn” here is actually the wild ox or aurochs, an animal much larger than

the oxen of today and which became extinct only a few hundred years ago. These

are the famous bulls weighing over a ton seen on cave paintings:

5
Psalms Bible Study Psalm 92

• The meaning is obvious – that God will give His people powerful strength over

His enemies.

(11) My eye also shall see my desire on my enemies, and my ears shall hear

my desire of the wicked that rise up against me.

• God will also work against your enemies for you and you will hear of how He has

brought them low.

(12) The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree; he shall grow like a

cedar in Lebanon. (13) Those who are planted in the house of the LORD

shall flourish in the courts of our God. (14) They shall still bring forth fruit

in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing; (15) To show that the LORD is

upright: he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.

• The palm tree flourished in the desert – so God will enable us to grow and even

give shade to others in difficult times and in difficult surroundings.

• The cedar was the largest tree known to the ancient world, and lived a very long

time. This is a promise of longevity and of beauty in our lives.

• These blessings come from being planted and rooted in God’s presence (v. 13).

• All these blessings come to show that God is upright!