
Text -- Psalms 47:4 (NET)




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collapse allCommentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)
He will appoint and bestow upon us.

Wesley: Psa 47:4 - -- The presence and worship, and blessing of God. This God had chosen for the Israelites and resolved to chuse or set apart for the Gentiles.
The presence and worship, and blessing of God. This God had chosen for the Israelites and resolved to chuse or set apart for the Gentiles.

Wesley: Psa 47:4 - -- Of the people of Jacob or Israel, who are frequently called Jacob, for these did actually enjoy the presence of God in his sanctuary.
Of the people of Jacob or Israel, who are frequently called Jacob, for these did actually enjoy the presence of God in his sanctuary.
The heathen to be possessed by His Church (Psa 2:8), as Canaan by the Jews.

JFB: Psa 47:4 - -- Literally, "pride," or, that in which he glories (not necessarily, though often, in a bad sense), the privileges of the chosen people--
Literally, "pride," or, that in which he glories (not necessarily, though often, in a bad sense), the privileges of the chosen people--

His love being the sole cause of granting them.
Calvin -> Psa 47:4
Calvin: Psa 47:4 - -- 4.He hath chosen our inheritance for us The inspired poet here celebrates more distinctly the special grace which God, in his goodness, had bestowed ...
4.He hath chosen our inheritance for us The inspired poet here celebrates more distinctly the special grace which God, in his goodness, had bestowed upon the chosen and holy seed of Abraham. As he passed by all the rest of the word, and adopted to himself a people who were few in number and contemptible; so it was proper that such a signal pledge of his fatherly love should be distinguished from his common beneficence, which is extended to all mankind without distinction. The word chosen is therefore peculiarly emphatic, implying that God had not dealt with the children of Abraham as he had been accustomed indiscriminately to deal with other nations; but that he had bestowed upon them, as it were by hereditary right, a peculiar dignity by which they excelled all others. The same thing is expressed immediately after by the word glory Thus then the prophet enjoins the duty of thanksgiving to God, for having exalted, in the person of Jacob, his chosen people to the highest degree of honor, so that they might boast that their condition was distinguished from that of all other nations. He shows, at the same time, that this was entirely owing to the free and unmerited favor of God. The relative pronoun whom is put instead of the causal particle for or because, as if the Psalmist had attributed the cause of this prerogative by which they were distinguished to God himself. Whenever the favor of God towards the Jews is commended, in consequence of his having loved their fathers, this principle should always be kept in mind, that hereby all merits in man are annihilated. If all the excellence or glory of the holy patriarch depended purely and simply upon the good pleasure of God, who can dare to arrogate any thing to himself as peculiarly his own? If God then has given us any thing above others, and as it were by special privilege, let us learn to ascribe the whole to the fatherly love which he bears towards seeing he has chosen us to be his flock. We also gather from this passage that the grace which God displays towards his chosen is not extended to all men in common, but is a privilege by which he distinguishes a few from the great mass of mankind.
TSK -> Psa 47:4
TSK: Psa 47:4 - -- choose : Deu 11:12; Jer 3:19; Eze 20:6; Mat 25:34; 1Co 3:22, 1Co 3:23; Eph 1:18; 1Pe 1:4
excellency : Psa 16:3; Isa 60:15; Amo 6:8, Amo 8:7; Nah 2:2
w...

collapse allCommentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)
Barnes -> Psa 47:4
Barnes: Psa 47:4 - -- He shall choose our inheritance for us - He has chosen or selected the land which we inherit. Of all the countries which compose the world, he ...
He shall choose our inheritance for us - He has chosen or selected the land which we inherit. Of all the countries which compose the world, he has chosen "this"to be the inheritance of his own people, or the place where they should dwell. The thought in this verse is based on the idea so common in the writings of the Hebrews, that their country was the glory of all lands - the place of all on earth most desirable to dwell in. It is in view of this fact that they are here called on to praise God, and to rejoice in him.
The excellency of Jacob - literally, "the pride -
Whom he loved - As one of the patriarchs. Perhaps special allusion is here made to "Jacob"rather than to Abraham and Isaac, because the land came actually into the possession of the Hebrew people in the time of Jacob’ s sons. It was divided among the descendants of his sons, the twelve tribes, bearing their names; and thus Jacob was most naturally referred to as having been in possession of the land. Abraham and Isaac dwelt in the land as strangers and pilgrims Heb 11:9-10, Heb 11:13, having no possession there, not even of a burying-place except as they purchased it (compare Gen 23:12-16); and the land actually came into the possession of the nation only in the family of Jacob.
Poole -> Psa 47:4
Poole: Psa 47:4 - -- He shall choose i.e. he will appoint and bestow upon us. This verb of the future tense may seem to agree well with the Gentiles, because this blessin...
He shall choose i.e. he will appoint and bestow upon us. This verb of the future tense may seem to agree well with the Gentiles, because this blessing was not now present, but future, and so the sense designed by the Holy Ghost may be this: Though at present we are wicked and wretched creatures, and strangers to the commonwealth of Israel, yet there is a time coming wherein God will choose or take us into the number of his children by gracious adoption. But futures are variously rendered; and accordingly the vulgar Latin, Syriac, and Arabic render this word. He hath chosen . The Chaldee renders this and the following words, He will take pleasure in us, so as to give us our inheritance. Our inheritance ; either the land of Canaan; or heaven, which was typified by that land; or rather, God himself, who is called his people’ s portion or inheritance , as Psa 16:5 73:26 , and elsewhere, or the presence, and worship, and blessing of God. This God had chosen for the Israelites, and resolved to choose or set apart for the Gentiles. The excellency , or glory ; wherein Jacob gloried and excelled all other people. See Eze 24:21 Amo 6:8 8:7 .
Of Jacob either,
1. Of the person of Jacob; who, though he never had the possession of the land of Canaan, yet had the Lord, and his presence and blessing, for his inheritance. Or rather,
2. Of the people of Jacob or Israel, who are frequently called Jacob, as Num 23:7,10,23 Ps 14:7 44:4 , &c., for these did actually enjoy the promised inheritance of Canaan, and the presence of God in his sanctuary.
Whom he loved: this he adds, partly as the reason why he chose such a noble inheritance for them, not for any peculiar worth in them more than in other people, but only for his free love to them, as he declareth, Deu 7:7,8 9:5 ; and partly as an evidence of the excellency of this inheritance, because it was chosen for his beloved people.
Haydock -> Psa 47:4
Haydock: Psa 47:4 - -- Houses. Hebrew, "palaces;" Septuagint, "towers." Greek: Baresi, a word which has again been mistaken for gravibus or gradibus, as [in] ver. 1...
Houses. Hebrew, "palaces;" Septuagint, "towers." Greek: Baresi, a word which has again been mistaken for gravibus or gradibus, as [in] ver. 14., and Psalm xliv. 9. God is the defence of his people, (Proverbs xviii. 10.) the Church, Matthew xvi. 18. (Calmet) ---
All particular houses, or churches, must come to the unity of faith, (Worthington) and to the seat of Peter. (St. Irenæus iii.)
Gill -> Psa 47:4
Gill: Psa 47:4 - -- He shall choose our inheritance for us,.... Either a portion in this life; God knows what is best for his people, and therefore they should leave it w...
He shall choose our inheritance for us,.... Either a portion in this life; God knows what is best for his people, and therefore they should leave it with him, who can make a better choice for them than for themselves: an Heathen c once gave this advice,
"give thyself wholly to the will and disposal of the celestial ones; for they who are used to give good things easily can also choose the fittest.''
Or the heavenly inheritance, so called in allusion to the land of Canaan, subdued and possessed by the Israelites, in which Christ is greatly concerned; his people are predestinated to the adoption of children, that is, to the inheritance they are adopted to by him, in whom they obtain it; through his death they receive the promise of eternal inheritance, he being the testator of that will of their heavenly Father which bequeaths it to them; it is his righteousness which gives them a title to it, and through his grace they have a meetness for it, and he will at last introduce them into it; all which is a reason for joy and gladness in them. The Arabic version renders it, "he hath chosen us an inheritance for himself"; so the Lord's people are, Deu 32:9. Christ asked them of his father, and he gave them for his inheritance, he having chosen them as such, and greatly delighted he is with them, Psa 2:8;
the excellency of Jacob whom he loved. The saints, who are, in his esteem, the excellent in the earth, and who will be in the latter day an eternal excellency, Psa 16:3; even the whole church, consisting of Jews and Gentiles, the spiritual Jacob or Israel of God, whom Christ has loved with an everlasting love, and therefore has chosen them for his portion and peculiar treasure; as Jacob in person was loved when Esau was hated.
Selah; on this word; see Gill on Psa 3:2.

expand allCommentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

expand allCommentary -- Verse Range Notes
TSK Synopsis -> Psa 47:1-9
TSK Synopsis: Psa 47:1-9 - --1 The nations are exhorted cheerfully to entertain the kingdom of Christ.
MHCC -> Psa 47:1-4
MHCC: Psa 47:1-4 - --The God with whom we have to do, is a God of awful majesty. The universal and absolute sovereignty of a holy God would be too terrible for us even to ...
Matthew Henry -> Psa 47:1-4
Matthew Henry: Psa 47:1-4 - -- The psalmist, having his own heart filled with great and good thoughts of God, endeavours to engage all about him in the blessed work of praise, as ...
Keil-Delitzsch -> Psa 47:4-8
Keil-Delitzsch: Psa 47:4-8 - --
(Heb.: 47:5-9) The ascent of God presupposes a previous descent, whether it be a manifestation of Himself in order to utter some promise (Gen 17:22...
Constable: Psa 42:1--72:20 - --II. Book 2: chs. 42--72
In Book 1 we saw that all the psalms except 1, 2, 10, and 33 claimed David as their writ...

Constable: Psa 47:1-9 - --Psalm 47
The psalmist called on all nations to honor Israel's God who will one day rule over them. This ...
