Chapter Ninety-One

This psalm has no inscription naming the author. Given the general nature of its content, there are no precise facts by which it could be attributed with certainty to any particular time, so about the latter one can only speculate.

The psalm indicates the destruction of numerous enemies (Ps 91:8-10), the salvation of the righteous from them and his exaltation (Ps 91:11-13), and the miraculous character of this protection (Ps 91:14). Such indications in the psalm and the joyful and grateful feeling toward God that permeates it bring the psalm very close to Psalm 90, where the same thing is expressed (Ps 90:1), which is why one can think that it was written for the same reason and at the same time as Ps 90—that is, during the reign of Hezekiah, because of the miraculous destruction of Sennacherib’s forces near Jerusalem. Who was its author cannot be stated precisely; perhaps it was Hezekiah himself.

The inscription “a song for the sabbath day” indicates the time for its liturgical performance in the temple on Sabbaths. Such designation of the psalm is preserved among the Jews to this day.

How joyful it is to praise the Lord and throughout the day to sing of His mercies (2–4)! You have filled me with gladness at Your wonderful works, which are often beyond human understanding (5–6). The wicked multiply and flourish, but only to perish, while You exalt the righteous, like the palm and the cypress (7–13). As these trees are fruitful and vigorous even in old age, so the righteous one, planted in the house of the Lord, will always praise You.

Psalm 91:2. It is good to praise the Lord and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High, Psalm 91:3. to proclaim Your love in the morning and Your faithfulness at night, “It is good to praise.” The glorification of God, the composition and singing of hymns of praise and thanksgiving to Him, provides the writer with soul’s comfort. He is full of a religiously ecstatic feeling, and the expression of the latter in words and songs is his life and happiness. “To proclaim Your love in the morning ... and ... at night”—constantly, throughout the entire day to be filled with such a mood.

Psalm 91:5. For You have made me glad, O Lord, by Your works; I sing for joy at what Your hands have done. Psalm 91:6. How great are Your works, O Lord! How profound Your thoughts! Psalm 91:7. The senseless do not know, nor do the foolish understand this. Psalm 91:8. Though the wicked spring up like grass and all evildoers flourish, they will be forever destroyed— Psalm 91:9. but You, O Lord, are exalted forever! Psalm 91:10. Surely Your enemies, O Lord, surely Your enemies will perish; all evildoers will be scattered; Psalm 91:11. But my horn You have exalted like that of the wild ox; I am anointed with fresh oil; Psalm 91:12. My eyes have seen the defeat of my adversaries; my ears have heard the rout of my wicked foes. Psalm 91:13. The righteous flourish like the palm; they grow like a cedar of Lebanon; Such a feeling and disposition of the writer is sustained by the greatness and incomprehensibility to human understanding of the works accomplished by God. Many events, by natural human understanding, can inspire in him fear and anxiety, when in reality they lead to a different result and outcome. For instance, the multiplication and flourishing of the wicked appears as a threat to the righteous, yet in reality they perish by the will of God, while the righteous is exalted, which clearly shows how unknown and profound are the works and thoughts of the Lord. The writer here probably means the fears and apprehension that seized the Jews and Hezekiah from the numerous and blasphemous forces of Sennacherib that mocked his faith in God. By natural reasoning, the destruction of Hezekiah and Jerusalem seemed inevitable; by divine determination and action, however, the enemies perished, and the “horn” of the “righteous” was exalted, and through this attack of enemies, the significance of Hezekiah not only did not diminish, but his name became so well known among other peoples and the position of the Jewish state became so strengthened, as the palm is renowned in the East for its fruitfulness, or as the cedar is strong, the beauty and pride of the forests of Lebanon.

Psalm 91:14. planted in the house of the Lord, they flourish in the courts of our God; “Planted in the house of the Lord” are the righteous, living by faith in Jehovah and flourishing through this faith. Here there is an indication that every righteous person, as in this case Hezekiah, earnestly seeking divine help, is never abandoned by Him but receives from Him unexpected and supernatural aid. So it was with the Assyrians, who in one night by the will of God perished to the number of 185,000.