Psalms 112:1 - Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Bible Comments

Praise ye the LORD. Blessed is the man that feareth the LORD, that delighteth greatly in his commandments.

As in Psalms 111:1-10 God's past inter-positions were set forth to encourage the Jews still to obey God, so in Psalms 112:1-10 God is shown as the Rewarder of His faithful people. This psalm is an inspired commentary on Psalms 111:10 (cf. Psalms 112:3-4; Psalms 112:8).

Praise ye the Lord - `Hallelujah.' Psalms 111:1-10 begins with the same heading. The Hebrew alphabetical arrangement commences at the next clause [of which the character 'aleph (') is the first letter], and so marks the beginning of Psalms 112:1,

Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord that delighteth greatly in his commandments defining what Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly in his commandments - defining what constitutes the true "fear of the Lord," which was termed "the beginning of wisdom," Psalms 111:10. He who hath this true "fear" delights (Psalms 111:2) not merely in the theory, but in the practice of all 'the Lord's commandments.' Such fear, so far from being a 'hard' service, is the only "blessed" one (Jeremiah 32:39). Compare the Gospel commandments, 1 John 3:23-24; 1 John 5:3. True obedience is not task-work, as formalists regard religion, but a "delight" (Psalms 1:2). Worldly delights, which made piety irksome, are supplanted by the newborn delight in and taste for the will and ways of God (Psalms 19:7; Psalms 19:10).

Psalms 112:1

1 Praisea ye the LORD. Blessed is the man that feareth the LORD, that delighteth greatly in his commandments.