Psalms 96:12

Let - To hinder or obstruct.

Let the field be joyful ... - This is taken - with the change of a single letter, not affecting the sense - from 1 Chronicles 16:32-33. It is a call on the fields - the cultivated portions of the earth - to rejoice in the reign of God. As if conscious of the beauty with which he clothes them, and of the happiness which they confer on man in their beauty and in the abundance of their productions, they are called on to praise God.

Then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice - The forests - the oaks, the cedars, the pines, that wave with so much majesty. If they were conscious of their own magnificence and beauty - if they could see how much wisdom and goodness God has lavished on them, in their forms, their branches, their leaves, their flowers, their fruit - if they could know how much they are made to accomplish in rendering the world beautiful, and in contributing to the happiness of man - if they understood what a bare, bleak, cold, desert world this would be but for them, they, too, would have abundant occasion for praise and joy.