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Psalm 92: It Is A Good Thing!
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
• 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
• 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
• 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
• 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
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
(4) For You, LORD, have made me glad through Your work; I will triumph
leading the women of Israel in praise on the seashore after God led them across
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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
(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
• 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
• 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
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Psalms Bible Study Psalm 92
the Earth, were ultimately used to advance the Kingdom of God. The Roman
• 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
(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
• The believer can therefore have confidence that there is a hand on the steering
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
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
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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.
(10) But my horn shall You exalt like the horn of a unicorn; I shall be
• 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
• 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:
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• 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
• God will also work against your enemies for you and you will hear of how He has
(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
• The palm tree flourished in the desert – so God will enable us to grow and even
• The cedar was the largest tree known to the ancient world, and lived a very long
• These blessings come from being planted and rooted in God’s presence (v. 13).