Psalms 148:14

Saints - Men and women of God.

Be also exalteth the horn - Raises to power and authority his people.

The praise - Jehovah is the subject of the praise of all his saints.

A people near unto him - The only people who know him, and make their approaches unto him with the sacrifices and offerings which he has himself prescribed. Praise ye the Lord!

O what a hymn of praise is here! It is a universal chorus! All created nature have a share, and all perform their respective parts.

All intelligent beings are especially called to praise him who made them in his love, and sustains them by his beneficence. Man particularly, in all the stages of his being - infancy, youth, manhood, and old age: all human beings have their peculiar interest in the great Father of the spirits of all flesh.

He loves man, wheresoever found, of whatsoever color, in whatever circumstances, and in all the stages of his pilgrimage from his cradle to his grave.

Let the lisp of the infant, the shout of the adult, and the sigh of the aged, ascend to the universal parent, as a gratitude-offering. He guards those who hang upon the breast; controls and directs the headstrong and giddy, and sustains old age in its infirmities; and sanctifies to it the sufferings that bring on the termination of life.

Reader, this is thy God! How great, how good, holy merciful, how compassionate! Breathe thy soul up to him; breathe it into him; and let it be preserved in his bosom till mortality be swallowed up of life, and all that is imperfect be done away.

Jesus is thy sacrificial offering; Jesus is thy Mediator. He has taken thy humanity, and placed it on the throne! He creates all things new; and faith in his blood will bring thee to his glory! Amen! hallelujah!

The beautiful morning hymn of Adam and Eve, (Paradise Lost, book v., line 153, etc).,: -

"These are thy glorious works, Parent of good;

Almighty, thine this universal frame," etc.

has been universally admired. How many have spoken loud in its praises, who have never attempted to express their feelings in a stanza of the hundred and forty-eighth Psalm! But to the rapturous adorers of Milton's poetry what is the song of David, or this grand music of the spheres! Know this, O forgetful man, that Milton's morning hymn is a paraphrase of this Psalm, and is indebted to it for every excellency it possesses. It is little else that the psalmist speaking in English instead of Hebrew verse.

He also exalteth the horn of his people - He gives them power and prosperity. See the notes at Psalm 89:17 : "And in thy favor our horn shall be exalted." Compare Psalm 92:10; Psalm 112:9.

The praise of all his saints - That is, "he has raised up praise for all his saints;" or, has given them occasion for praise. He has so blessed them with special mercies as to make praise especially appropriate for them.

Even of the children of Israel, a people near unto him - whom he admits to his presence as his friends; whom he regards as his own. See the notes at Ephesians 2:13; compare the notes at Acts 2:39.

Praise ye the Lord - Hallelu-jah. Let all unite in his praise.

148:14 The horn - In scripture commonly denotes strength, victory, glory, and felicity.