Psalms 113

CXIII. This psalm begins the Hallel, or as sometimes called, the great Hallel—though that name more properly is confined to Psalms 136—recited at the great Jewish feasts. It is partly modelled on Hannah’s song. Its form is regular.

Psalms 113:1

(1) Ye servants of the Lord—i.e., Israel. (See Psalms 69:36.)

Psalms 113:4

(4) Comp. Psalms 8:1, &c

Psalms 113:6

(6) Humbleth himself.—Contrast this condescension with the indifference to human joys and sorrows which heathen deities were said to show.

Psalms 113:7-8

(7-8) See 1 Samuel 2:8, from which the verses are taken; and comp. Luke 1:52. So the heathen poet sang of Jove (Hor.: Odes i., 34, 35).

Psalms 113:9

(9) He maketh.—See margin. Motherhood alone assured the wife of a fixed and dignified position in her husband’s house. The quotation from Hannah’s song suggested the allusion to her story. We are no doubt right in taking this joyful mother as emblematic of the nation itself restored to prosperity and joy.