NOTES for Psa 98
1 O sing unto the LORD a new song; for he hath done marvellous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory. |
2 The LORD hath made known his salvation: his righteousness hath he openly shewed in the sight of the heathen. |
3 He hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel: all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. |
4 Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise. |
5 Sing unto the LORD with the harp; with the harp, and the voice of a psalm. |
6 With trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the LORD, the King. |
7 Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. |
8 Let the floods clap their hands: let the hills be joyful together |
9 Before the LORD; for he cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity. |
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David praises God's victory, accomplished at a particular moment in history, and two characteristic aspects are important in this praise. On the one hand, this most likely concerns God's miraculous help to David in his struggle against his adversaries. But the king does not call it his own victory: it is God's victory, in which His mercy was revealed—not to David, no, but to all God's people. This means that the point is not that God helps David, but that David's royal ministry takes place according to the Creator's will, within the course of His design.
On the other hand, beyond events that are concrete, though important to him, the king sees a different historical perspective. The salvation which God has revealed before the eyes of the nations is only a sign of God's coming, complete, and final victory over evil and death. This is why David proclaims praise to the Lord, calling all nations and the whole created world to do the same. And this is why David's prayer becomes words for all time, and for more than three thousand years we have addressed God with these words.
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