18 Praise be to the LORD God, the God of Israel,
who alone does marvelous deeds.
The word for “praise” here is baruch. The root meaning of baruch is to kneel down, and it’s often translated “bless.” Here the writer urges other believers to kneel, to bless; to praise the Lord. The word “marvelous” (niphlaoth) is related to God’s rare name “wonderful, marvelous” (Judges 13:18). The word we should pay very close attention to here is “alone,” which reminds us that, as David said, our souls find rest “in God alone” (Psalm 62:1,5), that God alone is truly good (Luke 18:19), and that God alone can forgive sins (Mark 2:7).
19 Praise be to his glorious name forever;
may the whole earth be filled with his glory.
Amen and Amen.
“Amen” (Hebrew amen) means “truly.” By recording it twice, the author is emphasizing the idea of the truth. Note that “amen” doesn’t say anything about the seriousness or solemness of a statement, but it only says that the statement is true. We conclude prayers with this Hebrew word, but most people probably feel that it’s become a formula for “the prayer is over” or “the end” more than “What I have prayed is true.”
20 This concludes the prayers of David son of Jesse. (NIV)
This is not the final psalm or prayer by David in the book of Psalms. It’s a fitting conclusion to this part of the Psalms, however. Up to this point, most of the psalms were written by David. After this point, David is less often the writer.
The psalms are divided into five “books” in the Bible. Each book has some distinctive characteristics, and they tend to have a uniformity about their content.
Book I begins with an introduction to the whole Psalter (Psalm 1). It also ends with a doxology very much like the verses before us: Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Amen and amen (41:13). Book III also ends this way: Praise be to the LORD forever! Amen and amen (89:51). By this time we shouldn’t be surprised at Book IV’s ending: Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Let all the people say, “Amen!” Praise the LORD (106:47). I would see Psalm 150 as the conclusion to the entire book.
Some scholars speculate that Ezra, the scribe who was a contemporary of Nehemiah, was the man who collected the psalms after the exile and put them into the order in which we have them today. In his time, he was the leader people turned to for God’s word (Nehemiah 8:13) and who led worship (Nehemiah 12:36). Although it’s possible that Ezra himself wrote these little “add-ons” to a few of the psalms, it’s equally possible that for the conclusion of each of the sections of the book, he chose Psalms that ended in this way, with a similar-sounding blessing. Many other psalms also have blessings in the final verses (Psalm 29:10-11, 32:11, 46:11, 59:17, etc.).
This psalm points us to Israel’s great King of Kings, the Messiah, Jesus Christ. It underscores that Christ’s work is sufficient and complete for our salvation (“who alone does marvelous deeds”). Our attention is on him, and our hearts look to him. He is the only way to heaven, the only rescue from sin. And we already have everything from his hand.
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. His wife, Kathryn, attended Chapel from 1987-1990 while studying Secondary Education (Theater and Math) at UW-Madison. Kathryn’s father, John Meyer, was also the first man to serve as a Vicar at Chapel.
To receive God’s Word for You via e-mail, please .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
