(35) Sinners be consumed.--This imprecation, which comes in at the close of this otherwise uniformly glad hymn, has been variously excused. The truth seems to be that from a religious hymn of Israel, since religion and patriotism were one, the expression of the national feeling against heathen oppressors and apostates who sided with them could not well be absent, whatever its immediate subject and tone. But the poet touches even a profounder truth.[19] The harmony of creation was soon broken by sin, and the harmony of the song of creation would hardly be complete, or rather, would be false and unreal, did not a discord make itself heard. The form such a suggestion would take was conditioned by the nationality of the poet; the spirit of it brings this ancient hymn at its close into accord with the feeling of modern literature, as reflected in Wordsworth's well-known "Verses Written in Early Spring":--

[19] In reality the power of sin to interfere with God's pleasure. in His universe is present as an undercurrent of thought in Psalms 103, as well as 104. In the former it is implied that forgiveness and restoration are requisite before the harmony of the universe (Psalm 104:20-22) can become audible. The two psalms are also closely related in form.

"I heard a thousand blended notes,

While in a grove I lay reclined,

In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts

Bring sad thoughts to the mind.

To her fair works did Nature link

The human soul that through me ran

And much it grieved my heart to think

What Man has made of Man."

Bless thou the Lord.--This is the first hallelujah in the psalter. Outside the psalter it is never found, and was therefore a liturgical expression coined in a comparatively late age. It is variously written as one or two words.

Verse 35. - Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth; i.e. "Let the great blot upon creation - sin and sinners - exist no more. Let the harmony upon the earth be complete, by the elimination of this "one jarring string." And let the wicked be no more. Repetition for the sake of emphasis. Bless thou the Lord, O my soul. Then, when this blot is removed, when the trials of the godly, from the persecutions and vexations of sinners, are over, it will be the part of my soul, with greater heartiness than ever, to "bless the Lord." Praise ye the Lord. Then, too, all mankind may well be called upon to join in a chorus of praise and blessing, and to sing, as saints and angels sing in the courts of heaven, "Hallelujah!" (Revelation 19:1, 3, 4, 6).

104:31-35 Man's glory is fading; God's glory is everlasting: creatures change, but with the Creator there is no variableness. And if mediation on the glories of creation be so sweet to the soul, what greater glory appears to the enlightened mind, when contemplating the great work of redemption! There alone can a sinner perceive ground of confidence and joy in God. While he with pleasure upholds all, governs all, and rejoices in all his works, let our souls, touched by his grace, meditate on and praise him.Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth,.... Not in common, for all men are sinners, even good men are not without sin; but notorious sinners, whose lives are one continued series and course of sinning; such as will not have Christ to reign over them, and do not give him the glory due unto him; particularly antichrist, the man of sin, and his followers; they that worship the beast and his image: these will be consumed with the breath of his mouth, and with the brightness of his coming, and will perish out of his land, 2 Thessalonians 2:3.

And let the wicked be no more; as the wicked one, antichrist, will be no more when consumed; there will never rise another, when the beast and false prophet are taken and cast alive into the lake of fire; there will no more of the antichristian party remain, the remnant of them will be slain with the sword; after the battle of Armageddon, there will be none left of the followers of antichrist, nor any ever rise up any more.

Bless thou the Lord, O my soul; as for his mercies, spiritual and temporal, so for the destruction of all his enemies. The psalm begins and ends alike as the preceding.

Praise ye the Lord, or hallelujah: this is the first time this word is used in this book of Psalms, though frequently afterwards: and it is observable that it is only used, in the New Testament, at the prophecy of the destruction of antichrist, Revelation 19:1 which may serve to confirm the sense before given; and is to be considered as a call upon the saints to praise the Lord, on account of his righteous judgments on his and his church's enemies; so Aben Ezra.