Sing unto the LORD, all the earth; shew forth from day to day his salvation.
On the day David brought the ark to Jerusalem with rejoicing and worship, he gave this song to be sung calling all the earth to sing to the Lord and tell His salvation day after day. It was written as poetry for singing, taking up Psalm 96 with slight changes just as the verses before it take up Psalm 105. That daily telling is a continual proclaiming of the gospel of God's love and power to sinners while probation lasts before judgment and wrath, both by word and by life. God did not give Israel His law and promises for themselves alone but to make the whole nation His priests to the world, living His law and making His glory and salvation known to win others. It is the duty and blessed privilege of His people to show forth that salvation daily, rejoicing as those passed from death to life and drawing living water from its wells, so the lost hear the new song and turn to accept it; when Hezekiah after his healing and deliverance showed Babylon his treasures instead of God's grace, he awakened covetousness that ended in captivity, proving that if God's people will not witness in prosperity they must witness in adversity.
Setting and Poetic Form
1 Chronicles 16:23 belongs to the account of David bringing the ark to Jerusalem. That event stands in the setting of Israel's rejoicing and David's worship. The verse is part of the inspiring psalm connected with bringing the ark of God to Jerusalem, the psalm David gave to be sung on that occasion. It belongs to the Bible's collection of prayer and praise and was written in poetic form expressly to be sung, as the psalms were written to be sung.
The passage containing the verse reproduces Psalm 96 with revisions and alterations. 1 Chronicles 16:23-33 preserves Psalm 96 with slight variations, just as 1 Chronicles 16:8-22 reproduces the first fifteen verses of Psalm 105. The passage is Hebrew poetry whose wording is figurative poetic diction and is not to be construed literally like prose.
In this chapter creation is represented as praising God, and the trees are described as singing in His presence. This is personification, a way of speaking about inanimate things as though they were living and able to speak. It is the giving to inanimate things the sentiments, actions, and language of rational beings.
Proclaiming Salvation Worldwide
Sing to the Lord, all the earth, and proclaim His salvation from day to day, continually and without ceasing. That proclamation to the whole world is to be made both by His works and by His Word. It is the gospel message of God's love and power, offered to sinful people during their time of probation, before judgment and the time of wrath come. The command that salvation was to be so proclaimed proves that the gospel had already been preached world-wide in the past.
To declare His salvation daily is to rejoice in the assurance of present salvation as one passed from death to life, born again, a child of the King, with the soul delivered from death. It is daily to draw living water from the wells of salvation and to pray to be kept from falling. It is for professed followers to have a new song in the mouth that the lost hear and by which they are led to accept salvation. It is to give thanks to the Lord, to call upon His name, to make known His deeds among the people, to sing to Him, to talk of all His wondrous works, to glory in His holy name, with the heart of seekers rejoicing.
It is the Lord's desire that His people preach His gospel in word and in deed, in precept and in life, proclaiming His salvation day by day to all the earth. It is their duty and blessed privilege to show forth His salvation from day to day in word and life and to preach when opportunity comes. God did not give His truth and law to Israel for themselves alone but to make the whole nation His priest to the world, living the law and proclaiming His glory and salvation to all the earth to win others, that converted Gentiles might then join Israel under the same law. He gave them the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises in order to fit them to make Him known among the peoples, because the world needed the gospel. He entrusted the gospel to the people best fitted to give it to the world and placed them in the great highway of nations for this very purpose, choosing the least of the nations so that all would see that it was God who wrought and not man.
After God overthrew the enemies of the truth for Hezekiah, healed him from sickness unto death, prolonged his life fifteen years, and caused mighty powers including Babylon to send ambassadors from afar, Hezekiah should have told them of the riches of God's grace and goodness and declared His glory among the nations and His marvelous works among all peoples. Instead he showed them the house of his precious things, the silver and gold and spices and precious oil and armor and all in his house and dominion, and told nothing of God's grace and goodness. He thus aroused the cupidity of Babylon instead of satisfying its need, so that treasure was coveted until Jerusalem fell and was carried to Babylon with certain of the royal seed including Daniel and his three companions. If His people fail in prosperity to witness for His truth they must witness in adversity, for either the gospel would be lost to the world or God must raise up other people and use other means, even the heathen, to spread the glories of His name. Royalty that would not witness for God in peace and prosperity on the throne must witness for God in strife, adversity, and captivity.
The singing of the trees in God's presence stands with the blood of Abel crying, the depth and sea and destruction and death speaking, the stone hearing, the trees holding an election, the stone crying from the wall, the withheld hire crying, dead Abel speaking, and the souls under the altar crying. It proves that the dead in hades in the parable of Dives and Lazarus are personified to speak and act concerning their cases as though alive, though that place is darkness, silence, secrecy, and death.
On the day David brought the ark to Jerusalem with rejoicing and worship, he gave this song to be sung calling all the earth to sing to the Lord and tell His salvation day after day. It was written as poetry for singing, taking up Psalm 96 with slight changes just as the verses before it take up Psalm 105. That daily telling is a continual proclaiming of the gospel of God's love and power to sinners while probation lasts before judgment and wrath, both by word and by life. God did not give Israel His law and promises for themselves alone but to make the whole nation His priests to the world, living His law and making His glory and salvation known to win others. It is the duty and blessed privilege of His people to show forth that salvation daily, rejoicing as those passed from death to life and drawing living water from its wells, so the lost hear the new song and turn to accept it; when Hezekiah after his healing and deliverance showed Babylon his treasures instead of God's grace, he awakened covetousness that ended in captivity, proving that if God's people will not witness in prosperity they must witness in adversity.
Setting and Poetic Form
1 Chronicles 16:23 belongs to the account of David bringing the ark to Jerusalem. That event stands in the setting of Israel's rejoicing and David's worship. The verse is part of the inspiring psalm connected with bringing the ark of God to Jerusalem, the psalm David gave to be sung on that occasion. It belongs to the Bible's collection of prayer and praise and was written in poetic form expressly to be sung, as the psalms were written to be sung.
The passage containing the verse reproduces Psalm 96 with revisions and alterations. 1 Chronicles 16:23-33 preserves Psalm 96 with slight variations, just as 1 Chronicles 16:8-22 reproduces the first fifteen verses of Psalm 105. The passage is Hebrew poetry whose wording is figurative poetic diction and is not to be construed literally like prose.
In this chapter creation is represented as praising God, and the trees are described as singing in His presence. This is personification, a way of speaking about inanimate things as though they were living and able to speak. It is the giving to inanimate things the sentiments, actions, and language of rational beings.
Proclaiming Salvation Worldwide
Sing to the Lord, all the earth, and proclaim His salvation from day to day, continually and without ceasing. That proclamation to the whole world is to be made both by His works and by His Word. It is the gospel message of God's love and power, offered to sinful people during their time of probation, before judgment and the time of wrath come. The command that salvation was to be so proclaimed proves that the gospel had already been preached world-wide in the past.
To declare His salvation daily is to rejoice in the assurance of present salvation as one passed from death to life, born again, a child of the King, with the soul delivered from death. It is daily to draw living water from the wells of salvation and to pray to be kept from falling. It is for professed followers to have a new song in the mouth that the lost hear and by which they are led to accept salvation. It is to give thanks to the Lord, to call upon His name, to make known His deeds among the people, to sing to Him, to talk of all His wondrous works, to glory in His holy name, with the heart of seekers rejoicing.
It is the Lord's desire that His people preach His gospel in word and in deed, in precept and in life, proclaiming His salvation day by day to all the earth. It is their duty and blessed privilege to show forth His salvation from day to day in word and life and to preach when opportunity comes. God did not give His truth and law to Israel for themselves alone but to make the whole nation His priest to the world, living the law and proclaiming His glory and salvation to all the earth to win others, that converted Gentiles might then join Israel under the same law. He gave them the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises in order to fit them to make Him known among the peoples, because the world needed the gospel. He entrusted the gospel to the people best fitted to give it to the world and placed them in the great highway of nations for this very purpose, choosing the least of the nations so that all would see that it was God who wrought and not man.
After God overthrew the enemies of the truth for Hezekiah, healed him from sickness unto death, prolonged his life fifteen years, and caused mighty powers including Babylon to send ambassadors from afar, Hezekiah should have told them of the riches of God's grace and goodness and declared His glory among the nations and His marvelous works among all peoples. Instead he showed them the house of his precious things, the silver and gold and spices and precious oil and armor and all in his house and dominion, and told nothing of God's grace and goodness. He thus aroused the cupidity of Babylon instead of satisfying its need, so that treasure was coveted until Jerusalem fell and was carried to Babylon with certain of the royal seed including Daniel and his three companions. If His people fail in prosperity to witness for His truth they must witness in adversity, for either the gospel would be lost to the world or God must raise up other people and use other means, even the heathen, to spread the glories of His name. Royalty that would not witness for God in peace and prosperity on the throne must witness for God in strife, adversity, and captivity.
The singing of the trees in God's presence stands with the blood of Abel crying, the depth and sea and destruction and death speaking, the stone hearing, the trees holding an election, the stone crying from the wall, the withheld hire crying, dead Abel speaking, and the souls under the altar crying. It proves that the dead in hades in the parable of Dives and Lazarus are personified to speak and act concerning their cases as though alive, though that place is darkness, silence, secrecy, and death.