4:9-11 All true believers wholly ascribe their redemption and conversion, their present privileges and future hopes, to the eternal and most holy God. Thus rise the for-ever harmonious, thankful songs of the redeemed in heaven. Would we on earth do like them, let our praises be constant, not interrupted; united, not divided; thankful, not cold and formal; humble, not self-confident.

Verse 11. - Thou art worthy, O Lord; or, thou art worthy, our Lord and our God. In 13, the Syriac, Andreas, Arethas, Theodore-Stud., Arm., and many others, ἅγιος, "the holy one," is added. To receive glory and honour and power (τήν δόξαν, etc.). The presence of the article either

(1) denotes universality, and the expression is thus equivalent to "all glory," "all honour," "all power; or

(2) refers to the glory and honour mentioned in ver. 9. The former view seems more probable (cf. Revelation 1:6). The Church is represented as ascribing to God all power (δύναμιν); that power which he exercises in its fulness in heaven, and which, though partially abrogated on earth, he will nevertheless again take up, as foretold in Revelation 11:17. For thou hast created all things; or, for thou didst create all things (τὸ πάντα) - the universe. The representatives of creation thank God for their existence; the Church sees in his creation reason to ascribe power to him. Thus the reason for the doxology is given - "because thou didst create." And for thy pleasure; much better, as in the Revised Version, and because of thy will (διὰ τὸ θέλμα). When God willed it, the universe had no existence; again, when he willed it, the universe came into being. They are, and were created; or, they were, and were created (Revised Version). There are three variations in the reading of this passage:

(1) η΅σαν is read in א al40 fere Vulgate, Coptic, Syriac, Arethas, Primasius (in another version), anon-Augustine, Haymo;

(2) εἰσί is read in S, P, 1, 7, 35, 49, 79, 87, 91, et al. et Andreas;

(3) οὐκ η΅σαν is read in B, 14, 38, 51. "They were" signifies "they existed," whereas before they were not in existence; "and were created" points to the manner of coming into existence and the Person to whom this existence was due. If εἰσί be read, the meaning is the same. Οὐκ η΅σαν would simplify the sentence very much. It would then run: For thy pleasure, or, At thy will they were not existent, and again, at thy will they were created. But the weight of authority is against this reading.

Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory honour, and power,.... The Alexandrian copy, and some others, the Complutensian edition, the Vulgate Latin version, and all the Oriental ones, read, "thou art worthy, O Lord, and our God, to receive"; that is, to receive the acknowledgment and ascription of glory, honour, and power; for otherwise God cannot be said to receive these from his creatures, than by their confessing and declaring that they belong unto him: and that for the reasons following,

for thou hast created all things; the whole universe, the heavens, the earth, and sea, and all that in them are:

and for thy pleasure they are and were created; God is the first cause, and the last end of all things; by his power they are made, and according to his will, and for his own glory, and therefore is worthy of such a doxology; see Proverbs 16:4. What is here said is contrary to a notion imbibed by the Jews (z), that the world was not created but for the sake of the Israelites: and elsewhere (a) they say,

"the world was not created but for David; and one says for Moses; and Rabbi Jochanan says for the Messiah;''

which last is truest.

(z) Zohar in Exod. fol. 6. 3. & Tzeror Hammor, fol. 109. 1. & 161. 3.((a) T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 98. 2.

11. O Lord—The two oldest manuscripts, A, B, Vulgate, and Syriac add, "and our God." "Our" by virtue of creation, and especially redemption. One oldest manuscript, B, and Syriac insert "the Holy One." But another, A, Vulgate, and Coptic omit this, as English Version does.

glory, &c.—"the glory … the honour … the power."

thou—emphatic in the Greek: "It is THOU who didst create."

all things—Greek, "the all things": the universe.

for, &c.—Greek, "on account of"; "for the sake of Thy pleasure," or "will." English Version is good Greek. Though the context better suits, it was because of Thy will, that "they were" (so one oldest manuscript, A, Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic read, instead of English Version "are": another oldest manuscript, B, reads, "They were not, and were created," were created out of nothing), that is, were existing, as contrasted with their previous non-existence. With God to will is to effect: to determine is to perform. So in Ge 1:3, "Let there be light, and there was light": in Hebrew an expressive tautology, the same word and tense and letters being used for "let there be," and "there was," marking the simultaneity and identity of the will and the effect. D. Longinus [On the Sublime, 9], a heathen, praises this description of God's power by "the lawgiver of the Jews, no ordinary man," as one worthy of the theme.

were created—by Thy definite act of creation at a definite time.

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