Psalm 103 (LSB) Bless Yahweh, O My Soul

Of David.

• MT Psalm 103 = LXX Psalm 102 (Psalms 10–113 sit one number behind in the LXX).
• Pure praise.
• No conflict, no sorrow. Worship from truths known about the Lord.

Psalm 103:1–5 (LSB) Forget None of His Benefits

1 Bless Yahweh, O my soul,

And all that is within me, bless His holy name.

2 Bless Yahweh, O my soul,

And forget none of His benefits;

3 Who pardons all your iniquities,

Who heals all your diseases;

4 Who redeems your life from the pit,

Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion;

5 Who satisfies your years with good things,

So that your youth is renewed like the eagle.

• Yahweh. His name.
• Exodus 3:14–15 (LSB)

14 And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

15 And God furthermore said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name from generation to generation.

• Exodus 6:2–3 (LSB)

2 God spoke further to Moses and said to him, “I am Yahweh;

3 and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name, Yahweh, I was not known to them.

• Exodus 15:3 (LSB)

3 “Yahweh is a warrior;

Yahweh is His name.

• Exodus 20:2 (LSB)

2 “I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

• Exodus 33:19 (LSB)

19 And He said, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of Yahweh before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.”

• Soul. All internal.
• Praise is not automatic. He is reminding himself of his required action.
• What are you praising him for? Firstly vs. 1 praise Him for who He is.
• Do not forget!
• ♫ Count your blessings, name them one by one. ♫
• Keep a record.
• John 4:23–24 (LSB)

23 “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.

24 “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

• Fill up your life with remembering all of his benefits.
• Who pardons all your iniquity. Folks that is the big one.
• We could praise him if He only forgave half of them. If I was sent to Hell with half of the multitude of sins I have committed I would justifiably be grateful.
• How much more that he would forgive them all.
• Remember His benefits, because He does not remember your sins!
• The older you get, the more appreciative you are of this.
• V. 3 “Who heals all your diseases”
• Sin is a sickness.
• Exodus 15:26 (LSB) 26 And He said, “If you will earnestly listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, and do what is right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, Yahweh, am your healer.”
• He not only cares about your eternity, he cares for you in your physical life here too.
• V. 5 “your youth is renewed like the eagle” – shares the eagle-strength image with:
• Isaiah 40:31 (LSB) 31 Yet those who hope in Yahweh Will gain new power; They will mount up with wings like eagles; They will run and not get tired; They will walk and not become weary.
• He has given us much to remember, wonderful care, and encouraging truths that give us strength.

Psalm 103:6–14 (LSB) Yahweh Is Compassionate and Gracious

6 Yahweh performs righteous deeds

And judgments for all who are oppressed.

7 He made known His ways to Moses,

His acts to the sons of Israel.

8 Yahweh is compassionate and gracious,

Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.

9 He will not always contend with us,

And He will not keep His anger forever.

10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins,

And He has not rewarded us according to our iniquities.

11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him.

12 As far as the east is from the west,

So far has He removed our transgressions from us.

13 As a father has compassion on his children,

So Yahweh has compassion on those who fear Him.

14 For He Himself knows our form;

He remembers that we are but dust.

• He is what we should be. He is always righteous.
• He defends the oppressed.
• V. 8 “compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness” this is the covenant self-revelation formula first spoken at Sinai (also echoed at Numbers 14:18; Nehemiah 9:17; Psalm 86:15; Psalm 145:8; Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2):
• When Scripture Repeats – we should put it to memory.
• Exodus 34:6–7 (LSB) 6 Then Yahweh passed by in front of him and called out, “Yahweh, Yahweh God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; 7 who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”
• V9 is a courtroom term. He will not continually make an inditement against us.
• His anger has a limit.
• He doesn’t reward us as we deserve.
• As high as the heavens? He’s describing something incomprehensible.
• So great is His loving kindness
• As far as east from west?
• So far has he removed our transgressions…
• So great, so far.
• V13 He has pity on us as a compassionate father. What an analogy.
• V. 14 “He remembers that we are but dust” – echoes the judgment-word at the fall:
• Genesis 3:19 (LSB) 19 By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.”

Psalm 103:15–18 (LSB) His Lovingkindness Is from Everlasting to Everlasting

15 As for man, his days are like grass;

As a flower of the field, so he flowers.

16 When the wind has passed over it, it is no more,

And its place acknowledges it no longer.

17 But the lovingkindness of Yahweh is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him,

And His righteousness to children’s children,

18 To those who keep His covenant

And remember His precepts to do them.

• He remembers we are but dust, and he is aware of our temporary nature. Even the greatest of men, will pass, we’ve seen so much of that recently.
• Vv. 15–16 “his days are like grass … flower of the field … the wind has passed over it” – shares this grass/flower/wind formula with Isaiah 40:6–8, which is itself quoted (small caps in LSB) in 1 Peter 1:24–25 – 1 Peter follows the LXX’s δόξα (“glory”) where Isaiah 40:6 (LSB, following the Hebrew chesed) reads “lovingkindness”:
• Isaiah 40:6–8 (LSB) 6 A voice says, “Call out.” Then he answered, “What shall I call out?” All flesh is grass, and all its lovingkindness is like the flower of the field. 7 The grass withers, the flower fades, When the breath of Yahweh blows upon it; Surely the people are grass. 8 The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.
• It’s useful to compare yourself and your ideas, your life’s work and efforts, with Gods word. When we open this book, we are standing under something eternal. And therefor superior. This is why we remind ourselves of this verse every time we open it here.
• 1 Peter 1:24–25 (LSB) 24 For, “All flesh is like grass, And all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, And the flower falls off, 25 But the word of the Lord endures forever.” And this is the word which was proclaimed to you as good news.
• V. 11 says how great his lovingkindness is, to the heavens
• v17 tells us how enduring his loving kindness is. Infinite and eternal.

Ephesians 1:3–12 (LSB)

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,

4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him in love,

5 by predestining us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,

6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He graciously bestowed on us in the Beloved.

7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our transgressions, according to the riches of His grace

8 which He caused to abound to us in all wisdom and insight,

9 making known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Him

10 for an administration of the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth in Him.

11 In Him, we also have been made an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will,

12 to the end that we who first have hoped in Christ would be to the praise of His glory.

Luke 10:18–20 (LSB)

18 And He said to them, “I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning.

19 “Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you.

20 “Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.”

• ♫ There is a new name written down in glory, and its mine, oh yes it’s mine ♫
• This truth is ancient.
• Exodus 32:32 (LSB)

32 “But now, if You will forgive their sin—but if not, please blot me out from Your book which You have written!”

• Psalm 69:28 (LSB)

28 May they be blotted out of the book of life

And may they not be recorded with the righteous.

• Isaiah 4:3 (LSB)

3 It will be that he who remains in Zion and is left in Jerusalem will be called holy—everyone who is written down for life in Jerusalem.

• Ezekiel 13:9 (LSB)

9 “So My hand will be against the prophets who see worthless visions and utter lying divinations. They will not be in the council of My people, nor will they be written down in the register of the house of Israel, nor will they enter the land of Israel, that you may know that I am Lord Yahweh.

• Daniel 12:1 (LSB)

1 “Now at that time, Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will stand. And there will be a time of distress such as never happened since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued.

• Philippians 4:3 (LSB)

3 Indeed, I ask you also, genuine companion, help these women who have contended together alongside of me in the gospel, with also Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.

• Hebrews 12:23 (LSB)

23 to the festal gathering and assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,

• Revelation 3:5 (LSB)

5 ‘He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments, and I will never erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.

• 5 more times in Revelation.
• V. 17 “the lovingkindness of Yahweh is from everlasting to everlasting … to children’s children” – quoted (small caps in LSB) in the Magnificat; Luke’s εἰς γενεὰς καὶ γενεὰς (“to generation and generation”) departs from the LXX’s ἀπὸ τοῦ αἰῶνος καὶ ἕως τοῦ αἰῶνος (“from everlasting to everlasting”) but keeps the psalm’s own “those who fear Him” and its generational-mercy language:
• Luke 1:50 (LSB) 50 And His mercy is upon generation after generation Toward those who fear Him.
• Eternal and everlasting mercy and love.
• To those who fear Him – John Piper had the best explanation I’ve ever heard.
• To fear Him means that would not DARE to run away from Him, only toward Him.

Psalm 103:19–22 (LSB) His Kingdom Rules Over All

19 Yahweh has established His throne in the heavens,

And His kingdom rules over all.

20 Bless Yahweh, you His angels,

Mighty in strength, who perform His word,

Obeying the voice of His word!

21 Bless Yahweh, all you His hosts,

You who serve Him, doing His will.

22 Bless Yahweh, all you works of His,

In all places of His rule;

Bless Yahweh, O my soul!

• V. 19 “His kingdom rules over all”:
• Psalm 145:13 (LSB) 13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, And Your dominion endures from generation to every generation.
• Bless the lord oh my soul, then speaking about all of His children, now expanded to all His creation, all are invited to praise Him. All, All, All!

Psalm 148 (LSB) 1 Praise Yah! Praise Yahweh from the heavens; Praise Him in the heights!

2 Praise Him, all His angels;

Praise Him, all His hosts!

3 Praise Him, sun and moon;

Praise Him, all stars of light!

4 Praise Him, heavens of heavens,

And the waters that are above the heavens!

5 Let them praise the name of Yahweh,

For He commanded and they were created.

6 He caused them to stand forever and ever;

He gave a statute and it will never pass away.

7 Praise Yahweh from the earth,

Sea monsters and all deeps;

8 Fire and hail, snow and clouds;

Stormy wind, doing His word;

9 Mountains and all hills;

Fruit trees and all cedars;

10 Beasts and all cattle;

Creeping things and winged bird;

11 Kings of the earth and all peoples;

Princes and all judges of the earth;

12 Both choice men as well as virgins;

The old with the young.

13 Let them praise the name of Yahweh,

For His name alone is set on high;

His splendor is above earth and heaven.

14 And He has raised up a horn for His people,

Praise for all His holy ones;

For the sons of Israel, a people near to Him. Praise Yah!

♫ Bless the Lord Oh my Soul… ♫ 10,000 reasons, based on this psalm.

v22 closes where v1 Begins " Bless Yahweh, O my soul!"

Oh my soul… let it start with me.