psa 100:0
All nations are exhorted to praise the Lord, Psa 100:1, Psa 100:2; to acknowledge him to be the Sovereign God and their Creator and that they are his people and the flock of his pasture, Psa 100:3; to worship him publicly, and be grateful for his mercies, Psa 100:4. The reasons on which this is founded; his own goodness, his everlasting mercy, and his ever-during truth, Psa 100:5.
This Psalm is entitled in the Hebrew מזמור לתודה mizmor lethodah, not "A Psalm of Praise," as we have it, but "A Psalm for the confession, or for the confession-offering," very properly translated by the Chald:ee: שבחא על קורבן תודתא shibcha al kurban todetha, "Praise for the sacrifice (or offering) of confession." The Vulgate, Septuagint, and Ethiopic have followed this sense. The Arabic attributes it to David. The Syriac has the following prefixed: "Without a name. Concerning Joshua the son of Nun, when he had ended the war with the Ammonites: but in the new covenant it relates to the conversion of the Gentiles to the faith." It is likely that it was composed after the captivity, as a form of thanksgiving to God for that great deliverance, as well as an inducement to the people to consecrate themselves to him, and to be exact in the performance of the acts of public worship. Psalms 100:1
psa 100:0
This psalm - so beautiful - so grand - so often sung in all lands and languages - completes this "group" of psalms respecting the reign of God, or the reasons for praise as derived from the fact that he reigns. In the previous psalms in this group Ps. 95-99 the call to praise had been in some respects local and particular; in this, it is universal. All lands are called on to praise him; all people to worship him as God. The "ground" of this, as stated in the psalm, is that he is their "Maker;" that he is the Creator of all. As all have derived their being from him, they are called on to praise him as their common Creator and Father. So far as the reason here referred to is a ground for praise and worship, it applies to all people now. The nations - the people of the earth - are one. However much they may differ in complexion, in language, in customs, in religion, they have all been formed by the same God; they are all of one family; they are all entitled to the same privileges; they may all have the same access to his throne. The races of people are one; and all should gather around the throne of their common Creator, and render him united praise. This psalm has been sung by million and hundreds of million; it will continue to be sung to the end of time.
The psalm is entitled "A Psalm of praise In the margin, "thanksgiving." The Septuagint is, "A Psalm of Confession" - εἰς ἐξομολόγησιν eis homologēsin. So the Latin Vulgate, and the Chald:ee. The Syriac version is, "anonymous," or, without a name; "concerning Joshua the son of Nun, when he subdued the Ammonites." Luther: "A Psalm of Thanksgiving." Psalms 100:1