Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to Psalms · About this commentary
As Far as the East Is From the West
Psalms 103:1-22
1 By David. Praise Yahweh, my soul! All that is within me, praise his holy name! · WEB
A man instructs his own soul to remember, and the list he produces is the fullest account of God's character in the collection.
Praise Yahweh, my soul! All that is within me, praise his holy name! Psalms 103:1.
The psalm opens and closes with the same command, addressed by a man to himself. Praise is being organized rather than felt, and all that is within me concedes that some of it was not participating.
Praise Yahweh, my soul, and don't forget all his benefits Psalms 103:2.
The reason for the self-address. Forgetting is the danger, and the remedy is a list.
Who forgives all your sins, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies, who satisfies your desire with good things Psalms 103:3–5.
Five participles, each beginning with who, and they run from the deepest need to the most ordinary. Forgiveness first, then healing, then rescue, then a crown, then satisfaction — and the last is the most surprising item on any list of divine benefits.
Yahweh is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness Psalms 103:8.
The self-description from Sinai Exodus 34:6, which this collection quotes more often than any other sentence in the law.
He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor repaid us for our iniquities Psalms 103:10.
A plain statement that what has been received is not what was earned, and it is followed by three comparisons that are among the most quoted in Scripture.
As the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his loving kindness Psalms 103:11 — an immeasurable distance, used to measure something.
As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us Psalms 103:12. North and south have poles and therefore a maximum distance. East and west do not; travel far enough in either and the distance never closes. The choice of axis is deliberate.
Like a father has compassion on his children, so Yahweh has compassion on those who fear him Psalms 103:13.
For he knows how we are made. He remembers that we are dust Psalms 103:14.
The most tender verse in the Psalter, and it explains the three before it. The compassion is grounded in an accurate assessment. He is not overestimating anyone, and the memory of what a human being is made of is what stands between the race and what it deserves — the same reason given in the seventy-eighth psalm Psalms 78:39.
As for man, his days are like grass... For the wind passes over it, and it is gone. Its place remembers it no more Psalms 103:15–16.
Even the ground forgets. Against which: Yahweh's loving kindness is from everlasting to everlasting with those who fear him Psalms 103:17.
Praise Yahweh, you angels of his... Praise Yahweh, all you works of his Psalms 103:20–22. The psalm widens from one man's soul to the whole created order and then returns, in its last three words, to where it started.
settled What this mark means