Psalm 75:1
To the chief Musician, Altaschith, A Psalm or Song of Asaph.
Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks, unto thee do we give thanks: for that thy name is near thy wondrous works declare.
ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): The Chaldee supposes that this Psalm was composed at the time of the pestilence, when David prayed the Lord not to destroy the people, 2 Samuel 24:17.
CHARLES BRIDGES (1794-1869): David gloried in the number of his people, and the Lord diminished them by pestilence, 2 Samuel 24:15.
MATTHEW POOLE (1624-1679): “Altaschith” signifies “destroy not.”
ADAM CLARKE: Some of the Jews suppose that Altaschith is the air of which this Psalm was to be set and sung.
MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): It might be called “a song of Asaph” because always sung by the sons of Asaph; or, it might be penned by Asaph who lived in David’s time.
THOMAS SCOTT (1747-1821): If Asaph wrote this psalm, it is probable that he did it by the desire of David.
JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): As to the author of it, this is a point which I am not inclined to give myself much trouble. Whoever he was, whether David or some other prophet, he breaks forth at the very commencement into the language of joy and thanksgiving.
MATTHEW HENRY: Unto thee, O God! do we give thanks for all the favours thou hast bestowed upon us; and again, unto thee do we give thanks; for our thanksgivings must be often repeated. Did not we often pray for mercy when we were in pursuit of it; and shall we think it will suffice once or twice to give thanks when we have obtained it? Not only I do give thanks, but we do, and I and all my friends. If we share with others in their mercies, we must join with them in their praises. “Unto thee, O God! the author of our mercies (and we will not give that glory to the instruments which is due to Thee only), we give thanks.
JOHN CALVIN: The verbs in the Hebrew are in the past tense; but the subject of the psalm requires that they should be translated into the future; which may be done in perfect consistency with the idiom of the Hebrew language…The repetition serves the more forcibly to express his strong affection and his ardent zeal in singing the praises of God.
JOHN GILL (1697-1771): It is repeated to show the constancy, fervency, and sincerity with which this was performed: it may be rendered, “unto thee do we confess” sins committed against God, unworthiness to receive favours from Him, and His grace and goodness in bestowing them.
MATTHEW POOLE: “And David spake unto the LORD when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly: but these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father’s house,” 2 Samuel 24:17. He looked upon himself as the only transgressor, and his people as innocent, and as harmless as sheep; he thought of no sins but his own; these were uppermost in his mind, and lay heavy on his conscience; it grieved him extremely that his people should suffer on his account.
G. CAMPBELL MORGAN (1863-1945): It should cause all those who are called to positions of leadership to realize their great responsibilities.
THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): To those who object to the people’s being involved in David’s punishment as inconsistent with the divine justice, we reply, that the reader ought to be put in mind that kings may be punished in their regal capacities, for the errors of their administration, by public calamities; by famine, pestilence, foreign wars, domestic convulsions, or some other like distresses, which affect their people—indeed, this is nothing more than what continually happens in the common course of Providence.
MATTHEW POOLE: But they were not so innocent—it was not only for his, but for their sins, that this evil came.
THOMAS COKE: Even supposing that they were free from all blame in this affair, can we conceive that they were so entirely free from all other transgressions, as that it was injustice in God to visit them with a pestilence? Is it not expressly said in the first verse of Second Samuel 24, that “the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel?”
C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): Nations never will be glad till they follow the leadership of Jesus Christ, the great Shepherd; they may shift their modes of government from monarchies to republics, and from republics to communes, but they will retain their wretchedness till they bow before the Lord of all.
JAMES HARRINGTON EVANS (1785-1849): We must learn the godly art of resigning ourselves to His leadership, content to be taken by a way that we know not. We have His promise, “I will guide thee with mine eye,” Psalm 32:8, and we must look Upward.
MARTIN LUTHER (1483-1546): “In every thing give thanks,” 1 Thessalonians 5:18. To say this is easy, but in times of trial, when the conscience writhes in the presence of God, it is not so easy to do.
JOHN NEWTON (1725-1807): Dark seasons afford the surest and strongest manifestations of the power of faith.
JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): Every bird can sing in a summer’s day, but in deep affliction to cover God’s altar, not with our tears, as Malachi 2:13, but with the calves of our lips, Hosea 14:2, this none can do but the truly religious…To believe in an angry God, as David; in a killing God, as Job; to stick to Him in deepest desertion, as the Church, Psalm 44:17,18; to trust in His name, and stay upon His word, where there is darkness and no light, as Isaiah 50:10; to cast anchor even in the darkest night of temptation, when neither sun nor stars appear, as Paul and his company, Acts 27:20, praying still for day, and waiting till it dawn—it is a virtue proper to true Christians, heartily, and not hollowly, to give God thanks for crosses, for it proceeds from the joy of faith, and some taste of God’s fatherly care of us in our corrections.
JOHN GILL: “For that thy name is near thy wondrous works declare.” These words are a reason of the above thanksgiving, and are to be understood of God Himself, for His name is Himself; Who is near to His people, both in relation, being their Father, and as to presence, communion, and fellowship, which are matter of praise and thanksgiving; or His works and Word, by which He is known and made manifest.
ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): The Psalmist loves to dwell upon the precious name of the Lord. And when we consider the honour due to this holy name, and the regard the Lord hath in all ages manifested towards it, we may well join with the Psalmist in celebrating it.
JOHN TRAPP: ‘We celebrate thee, O God, we celebrate thee;’ both for mercies and crosses sanctified; for these also are to be reckoned upon the score of God’s favours.
C. H. SPURGEON: Some of us have a further reason for renewing our vows of love to our Lord, because we have lately risen from a sickbed.
AUGUSTINE (354-430): If good things befall thee, bless God, and they shall be increased; if evil things, bless God, and they shall be removed.
