Seventh-day Adventist Bible CommentaryPsalms 103

Bless the Lord. See on Ps. 63:4. Soul. See on Ps. 16:10. All that is within me. Nothing less than the use of all our faculties is sufficient to praise the Lord. Name. See Ps. 33:21; also see on Ps. 7:17. The inversion of the order in which the ideas are presented (the rhetorical figure of chiasmus) is a pleasing rhetorical variation in the synonymous parallelism.

Forget not. A warning frequently uttered by Moses (see Deut. 4:9, 23; etc.). “We have nothing to fear for the future, except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us, and His teaching in our past history” (LS 196). “Lest we forget” is the refrain of Rudyard Kipling’s Victorian jubilee poem, “Recessional.”

Who forgiveth. See on Ps. 32:1.

Lovingkindness. Heb. chesed, “divine love” (see Additional Note on Ps. 36).

Like the eagle’s. The ancient story that after a certain time the eagle molted and renewed its youth is without scientific foundation. The bird molts inconspicuously. Perhaps the psalmist has in mind the fact that the eagle lives longer than many other birds and keeps its vigor. The forgiven sinner shows the freshness of renewed youth. With this personal ascription of praise, David turns to the experience of God’s children. Note the six blessings in vs.: 3–5: forgives, heals, redeems, crowns, satisfies, renews.

Unto Moses. See Ex. 33:13. God’s ways are “past finding out” (Rom. 11:33). They must be “made known,” sometimes by divine revelation, as at Sinai (Ex. 20).

Merciful and gracious. Compare Ex. 34:6; Ps. 86:15.

Rewarded us. In Christ the penalty for sin is mitigated.

Is high. God’s love is as immeasurable as the infinite distance between heaven and earth.

Removed our transgressions. Compare Isa. 38:17; Micah 7:19. We cannot understand the vastness of the universe, but we can understand fatherhood (see v. 13).

Like as a father. See Deut. 32:6.

Knoweth our frame. Man’s frailty and transitoriness are strong appeals to God’s loving-kindness (see Gen. 8:21; Ps. 89:5; Ps. 139:1–18). Dust. See Gen. 2:7; 3:19; Job 34:15.

Man. Heb. ’enosh (see on Ps. 8:4). As grass. Compare Isa. 40:6–8; Isa. 51:12.

Hath prepared. The reign of the King of the universe is not national, or even imperial, but universal. God is King of kings and Lord of lords (Rev. 19:16), not merely king of the nation of Israel. David began the psalm with his own experience, and then, poetically, included with himself all that fear the Lord, in partaking of God’s goodness. Now he calls on all creation, animate and inanimate, to unite in blessing the Lord.

Excel in strength. The picture of the angels doing “his commandments” binds the family of heaven close to the family of God’s commandment-keeping children on earth.

Hosts. See on Ps. 24:10; Luke 2:13.

Ministers. Parallel with “hosts” (see Ps. 104:4; Dan. 7:10; Heb. 1:14).

All his works. The psalmist calls upon the whole creation in heaven and on earth, animate and inanimate, to join in the chorus of thanksgiving (see Ps. 148). Bless the Lord. After the universal paean of praise there is an infinite pathos in David’s repetition of the phrase with which the psalm began. Conscious that the universe is now vocal with the praise of God he would also have his own voice heard.