John Calvin Commentary Psalms 92:1

"It is a good thing to give thanks unto Jehovah, And to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High;" — Psalms 92:1 (ASV)

It is good to give thanks unto Jehovah. There is no reason to doubt that the Jews were in the habit of singing this psalm, as the inscription indicates, on the Sabbath day, and it is apparent from various passages that other psalms were applied to this use. As the words may be read literally in the Hebrew, it is good for giving thanks to the Lord, some interpreters, basing their interpretation on the letter ל, lamed, prefixed to the verb, understand the Psalmist to mean that it was good to have a certain day set apart for singing the praises of God — that it was a useful arrangement by which one day had been chosen for the Lord’s people to be occupied in celebrating His works.

But it is well known that this letter, when prefixed, is merely the ordinary mark of the infinitive mood, and I have provided what is obviously the simple meaning. The reason why the Psalmist designated this psalm for the Sabbath is sufficiently clear. That day is not to be holy in the sense of being devoted to idleness, as if this could be an acceptable form of worship to God, but in the sense of our separating ourselves from all other occupations to engage in meditating on the Divine works.

Since our minds are fickle, we are prone, when exposed to various distractions, to wander from God. We need to be freed from all cares if we are to seriously apply ourselves to praising God. The Psalmist, then, would teach us that the right observance of the Sabbath does not consist in idleness, as some absurdly imagine, but in celebrating the Divine name.

The argument he presents is drawn from the benefit of this service, for nothing is more encouraging than to know that our labor is not in vain and that what we engage in meets with the Divine approval. In the following verse, he refers to the reasons we have for praising God, so that we may not imagine that God calls upon us to engage in this service without reason, or simply in consideration of His greatness and power, but in remembrance of His goodness and faithfulness, which should stir our hearts to such devotion, if we had any true understanding and experience of them.

He would have us consider, in mentioning these, that not only is God worthy of praise, but that we ourselves are guilty of ingratitude and perversity if we refuse it. We are the fitting recipients of His faithfulness and goodness, and it would indicate inexcusable indifference if they did not draw forth our heartfelt praises.

It might seem a strange distinction that the Psalmist observes when he speaks of our announcing God’s goodness in the morning, and His faithfulness at night. His goodness is constant, and not specific to any one time; why then devote only a small part of the day to celebrating it?

And the same may be said of the other Divine perfection mentioned, for His faithfulness is not shown merely in the night. But this is not what the Psalmist intends. He means that, beginning to praise the Lord from the earliest dawn, we should continue His praises to the latest hour of the night, as this is no less than His goodness and faithfulness deserve.

If we begin by celebrating His goodness, we must next take up the subject of His faithfulness. Both will occupy our continued praises, for they stand mutually and inseparably connected. The Psalmist is not, therefore, to be understood as wishing us to separate the one from the other, for they are intimately connected; he would only suggest that we can never lack reasons for praising God unless laziness overcomes us, and that if we would rightly fulfill the duty of gratitude, we must be diligent in it, since His goodness and His faithfulness are unceasing.

In the fourth verse, he more immediately addresses the Levites, who were appointed to the office of singers, and calls upon them to employ their instruments of music — not as if this were in itself necessary, but only because it was useful as a basic aid for the people of God in those ancient times.

We are not to imagine that God commanded the use of the harp because He felt a delight like ourselves in mere melody of sounds; but the Jews, who were yet underage, were restricted to the use of such childish elements. Their intention was to stimulate the worshipers and stir them up more actively to celebrate God’s praise with the heart.

We are to remember that the worship of God was never understood to consist in such outward services, which were only necessary to help advance a people still weak and undeveloped in knowledge, in the spiritual worship of God. A difference is to be observed in this respect between His people under the Old and under the New Testament; for now that Christ has appeared, and the Church has reached full age, it would merely bury the light of the Gospel should we introduce the shadows of a dispensation that has passed away. From this, it appears that the Papists, as I will have occasion to show elsewhere, in employing instrumental music, are not so much imitating the practice of God’s ancient people as they are aping it in a senseless and absurd manner, exhibiting a silly delight in that Old Testament worship which was figurative and ended with the Gospel.