Psalm 65:2

O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(2) Unto thee shall all flesh come.—This has usually, and most truly, been taken as prophetic of the extension of the true religion to the Gentiles. But we must not let what was, in the Divine providence, a fulfilment of the psalmist’s words, hide their intention as it was conscious to himself. The psalm shows us the exclusiveness of Hebrew belief, and, at the same time, the nobler and grander feelings which are from time to time found struggling against it. The peculiar privilege of Israel has been stated in the first verse. Silent, yet confident, waiting for Jehovah’s blessing, and then exultant praise for it (Tehillah). In this the other nations have no part; but all flesh may approach Jehovah in prayer (Tephillah). (Compare Psalm 65:5.)

Benson Commentary

Psalm 65:2-3. O thou that hearest prayer — That usest and delightest to hear and answer the prayers of thy people in Zion; which he justly mentions as one of the chiefest of God’s favours vouchsafed to his church; unto thee shall all flesh come — Men of all sorts and nations, who were allured by this and other singular benefits, to unite themselves to the Jewish Church, according to Solomon’s prediction, 1 Kings 8:41-43. Or, rather, this may be considered as a tacit prediction of the conversion of the Gentiles, namely, that on account of God’s mercy in hearing the prayers of his people, all mankind, out of every nation, should come and make their supplications before him in his church, when called by his gospel. And the chief subject of the prayers made by all flesh to God being the forgiveness of sin, in order to this it is here confessed, Iniquities prevail against me — My iniquities are so many and so great, that on account of them thou mightest justly reject my prayers, and destroy my person; they are a burden too heavy for me; but thou shalt purge them away — This is another glorious privilege granted to thy people, that, in answer to their prayers, thou dost graciously pardon and take away their sins.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

65:1-5 All the praise the Lord receives from this earth is from Zion, being the fruit of the Spirit of Christ, and acceptable through him. Praise is silent unto thee, as wanting words to express the great goodness of God. He reveals himself upon a mercy-seat, ready to hear and answer the prayers of all who come unto him by faith in Jesus Christ. Our sins prevail against us; we cannot pretend to balance them with any righteousness of our own: yet, as for our transgressions, of thine own free mercy, and for the sake of a righteousness of thine own providing, we shall not come into condemnation for them. Observe what it is to come into communion with God in order to blessedness. It is to converse with him as one we love and value; it is to apply ourselves closely to religion as to the business of our dwelling-place. Observe how we come into communion with God; only by God's free choice. There is abundance of goodness in God's house, and what is satisfying to the soul; there is enough for all, enough for each: it is always ready; and all without money and without price. By faith and prayer we may keep up communion with God, and bring in comfort from him, wherever we are. But it is only through that blessed One, who approaches the Father as our Advocate and Surety, that sinners may expect or can find this happiness.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

O thou that hearest prayer - Who hast revealed thyself as a God hearing prayer - one of the leading characteristics of whose nature it is that thou dost hear prayer. Literally, "Hearer of prayer, to thee shall all flesh come." Nothing as applied even to God is more sublime and beautiful than the appellative "Hearer of prayer." Nothing in his attributes is of more interest and importance to man. Nothing more indicates his condescension and goodness; nothing so much encourages us in the endeavor to overcome our sins, to do good, to save our souls, and to save the souls of others. Dark and dismal would this world be, if God did not hear prayer; gloomy, inexpressibly gloomy, would be the prospects of man, if he had not the assurance that God is a prayer-hearing God - if he might not come to God at all times with the assurance that it is his very nature to hear prayer, and that his ear is ever open to the cries of the guilty, the suffering, the sad, the troubled, the dying.

Unto thee shall all flesh come - That is, all people - for the word is here used evidently to denote mankind. The idea is, that there is no other resource for man, no other help, no other refuge, but the God that hears prayer. No other being can meet his actual needs; and those needs are to be met only in connection with prayer. All people are permitted to come thus to God; all have need of his favor; all must perish unless, in answer to prayer, he interposes and saves the soul. It is also true that the period will arrive on earth when all flesh - all people - will come to God and worship him; when, instead of the scattered few who now approach him, all nations, all the dwellers on continents and islands, will worship him; will look to him in trouble; will acknowledge him as God; will supplicate his favor.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2. All are encouraged to pray by God's readiness to hear.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

That hearest prayer; that usest and delightest to hear and answer the prayers of thy people in Zion; which he justly mentions as one of the chiefest of God’s favours and privileges vouchsafed to his church.

All flesh, i.e. men of all sorts and nations, who were allured by this and other singular benefits to join themselves to the Jewish church, according to Solomon’s prediction, 1 Kings 8:41-43. Withal this may be a tacit prophecy of the conversion of the Gentiles.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

O thou that hearest prayer,.... So as to answer it sooner or later, in one way or another, and always in the fittest time, and in the best way; so as to fulfil the requests and supply the wants of men, so far as may be for their good, and God's glory; which is a proof of the omnipresence, omniscience, and all sufficiency of God; who can hear the prayers of his people in all places at the same time, and knows all their persons and wants, and what is most proper for them, and can and does supply all their needs, and causes all grace to abound towards them; and it also shows his wondrous grace and condescension, to listen to the cries and regard the prayers of the poor and destitute;

unto thee shall all flesh come; being encouraged by the above character of him. All sorts of persons may come to him; men of all nations, of every rank and degree, condition and circumstance; there is no bar unto nor bounds about the throne of grace; the way to it lies open through the Mediator; and all sensible sinners shall and do come thither, though they are but "flesh", frail and mortal, corrupt and sinful creatures, and know themselves to be so; and they that come aright come through Christ, the new and living way, in his name, and in the faith of him, and of being heard for his sake, and under the gracious influences of the spirit of grace and supplication: it may be considered as a prophecy of the calling of the Gentiles, and of their calling upon God through Christ, and of their coming to God in his house, which was to be, and is, an house of prayer to all people, Isaiah 56:7.

Geneva Study Bible

O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all {b} flesh come.

(b) Not only the Jews but also the Gentiles in the kingdom of Christ.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

2. O thou that hearest prayer] God is thus addressed, because He has given His people cause for the present thanksgiving by hearing their prayers. But the words are more than a reference to a particular answer to prayer. They proclaim that it is His inalienable attribute, His ‘nature and property,’ to hear and answer prayer.

unto thee shall all flesh come] At first sight the context seems to limit ‘all flesh’ to Israel, contemplated in its weakness and frailty as needing the strength of God (Joel 2:28). But it seems more consonant to the spirit of this and the two following Psalms to take it in the wider sense of all mankind. Already the Psalmist beholds the Temple becoming a house of prayer for all nations (Mark 11:17). It is no larger hope than was entertained by Isaiah and Micah (Isaiah 2:2 ff; Micah 4:1 ff) if not by some earlier prophet whom they both quote. Cp. Jeremiah 16:19; Isaiah 45:24; Isaiah 66:23; Psalm 22:27; Psalm 86:9; Psalm 94:10.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 2. - O thou that hearest prayer. A necessary and inalienable attribute of God. Calvin rightly observes on the passage: "God can no more divest himself of his attribute of hearing prayer than of being." Unto thee shall all flesh come. "All flesh" might certainly, in a psalmist's mouth, mean no more than "all Israel" (so Ewald and Hitzig). But the context (especially in vers. 5 and 8) shows that in this psalm the writer is universalist in his ideas, and embraces all mankind in his hopes and aspirations (comp. Psalm 22:27, 28; Psalm 86:9; Isaiah 66:23; Jeremiah 16:19; Joel 2:28). Psalm 65:2

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The praise of God on account of the mercy with which He rules out of Zion. The lxx renders σοὶ πρέπει ὕμνος, but דּומיּה, tibi par est, h. e. convenit laus (Ewald), is not a usage of the language (cf. Psalm 33:1; Jeremiah 10:7). דּמיּה signifies, according to Psalm 22:3, silence, and as an ethical notion, resignation, Psalm 62:2. According to the position of the words it looks like the subject, and תּהלּה like the predicate. The accents at least (Illuj, Shalsheleth) assume the relationship of the one word to the other to be that of predicate and subject; consequently it is not: To Thee belongeth resignation, praise (Hengstenberg), but: To Thee is resignation praise, i.e., resignation is (given or presented) to Thee as praise. Hitzig obtains the same meaning by an alteration of the text: לך דמיה תהלּל; but opposed to this is the fact that הלּל ל is not found anywhere in the Psalter, but only in the writings of the chronicler. And since it is clear that the words לך תהלה belong together (Psalm 40:4), the poet had no need to fear any ambiguity when he inserted dmyh between them as that which is given to God as praise in Zion. What is intended is that submission or resignation to God which gives up its cause to God and allows Him to act on its behalf, renouncing all impatient meddling and interference (Exodus 14:14). The second member of the sentence affirms that this praise of pious resignation does not remain unanswered. Just as God in Zion is praised by prayer which resigns our own will silently to His, so also to Him are vows paid when He fulfils such prayer. That the answers to prayer are evidently thought of in connection with this, we see from Psalm 65:3, where God is addressed as the "Hearer or Answerer of prayer." To Him as being the Hearer and Answerer of prayer all flesh comes, and in fact, as עדיך implies (cf. Isaiah 45:24), without finding help anywhere else, it clear a way for itself until it gets to Him; i.e., men, absolutely dependent, impotent in themselves and helpless, both collectively and individually (those only excepted who are determined to perish or despair), flee to Him as their final refuge and help. Before all else it is the prayer for the forgiveness of sin which He graciously answers. The perfect in Psalm 65:4 is followed by the future in Psalm 65:4. The former, in accordance with the sense, forms a hypothetical protasis: granted that the instances of faults have been too powerful for me, i.e., (cf. Genesis 4:13) an intolerable burden to me, our transgressions are expiated by Thee (who alone canst and also art willing to do it). דּברי is not less significant than in Psalm 35:20; Psalm 105:27; Psalm 145:5, cf. 1 Samuel 10:2; 2 Samuel 11:18.: it separates the general fact into its separate instances and circumstances. How blessed therefore is the lot of that man whom (supply אשׁר) God chooses and brings near, i.e., removes into His vicinity, that he may inhabit His courts (future with the force of a clause expressing a purpose, as e.g., in Job 30:28, which see), i.e., that there, where He sits enthroned and reveals Himself, he may have his true home and be as if at home (vid., Psalm 15:1)! The congregation gathered around Zion is esteemed worthy of this distinction among the nations of the earth; it therefore encourages itself in the blessed consciousness of this its privilege flowing from free grace (בחר), to enjoy in full draughts (שּבע with בּ as in Psalm 103:5) the abundant goodness or blessing (טוּב) of God's house, of the holy (ἅγιον) of His temple, i.e., of His holy temple (קדשׁ as in Psalm 46:5, cf. Isaiah 57:15). For for all that God's grace offers us we can give Him no better thanks than to hunger and thirst after it, and satisfy our poor soul therewith.