5
He has given food to those who fear Him;
He will ever be mindful of His covenant.
My Thoughts
The discussion of Psalm 111:5 highlights God’s provision for those who fear Him, particularly through spiritual and physical sustenance. The commentaries below emphasize that God has continuously supplied believers, historically and through Christ, who is our source of nourishment. The promise of God’s covenant remains steadfast; He will not let His people lack what they need. The reflection underlines the assurance that, due to this covenant, God’s people can trust in His faithfulness to provide both materially and spiritually throughout their lives. Bill
And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Phillipians 4:19 NKJV
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Commentaries:
Charles Spurgeon
“He hath given meat unto them that fear him.” Or spoil, as some read it, for the Lord’s people, both in coming out of Egypt and at other times have been enriched from their enemies. Not only in the wilderness with manna, but everywhere else by his providence he has supplied the necessities of his believing people. Somewhere or other, they have had food convenient for them, and that in times of great scarcity. As for spiritual meat, that has been plentifully furnished them in Christ Jesus; they have been fed with the finest of the wheat and made to feast on royal dainties. His word is as nourishing to the soul as bread to the body, and there is such an abundance of it that no heir of heaven shall ever be famished. Truly the fear of the Lord is wisdom, since it secures to a man the supply of all that he needs for soul and body.
“He will ever be mindful of his covenant.” He could not let his people lack meat because he was in covenant with them, and they can never want in the future, for he will continue to act upon the terms of that covenant. No promise of the Lord shall fall to the ground, nor will any part of the great compact of eternal love be revoked or allowed to sink into oblivion. The covenant of grace is the plan of the great work which the Lord works out for his people, and it will never be departed from: the Lord has set his hand and seal to it, his glory and honor are involved in it, yea, his very name hangs upon it, and he will not even in the least jot or tittle cease to be mindful of it. Of this, the feeding of his people is the pledge: he would not so continually supply their needs if he meant, after all, to destroy them. Upon this most blessed earnest, let us settle our minds; let us rest in the faithfulness of the Lord, and praise him with all our hearts every time that we eat bread or feed upon his word.
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Enduring Word
He has given food to those who fear Him: Perhaps the psalmist had in mind God’s provision for Israel through the wilderness, or the more general principle David wrote of in Psalm 37:25, that he had never seen the descendants of the righteous begging bread. (Guzik)
He will ever be mindful of His covenant: God will never forget the covenant He made with Abraham and his descendants (Genesis 12) or the covenant He made with Israel at Mount Sinai (Exodus 24). (Guzik)
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Barnes
He hath given meat unto them that fear him – Margin, “prey.” The idea is that he has supplied their needs. The Hebrew word is “prey,” and the allusion is to the mode in which the needs of the beasts of the field are supplied. The meaning may be that they had obtained this from their enemies, as beasts of prey take their food by making war; or the word may be used in a general sense, as meaning that God had supplied their needs.
He will ever be mindful of his covenant – He will never leave or forsake his people; he will be faithful to all the promises that he has made to them.
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John Gill
He hath given meat to them that fear him,…. Or a “prey”, alluding to the spoil of the Egyptians; or to the manna; corporeal food, daily bread, which they that fear him shall not want, Psalm 34:9 spiritual meat, such that endures for ever; the flesh of Christ, which is meat indeed; the word and ordinances, in which are milk for babes, and meat for strong men; savory meat does God give his people, such as their souls love, and the world knows nothing of; all is given, and freely given, and in plenty.
He will ever be mindful of his covenant; made with Abraham, and that at Sinai; and especially which he made with his people in Christ before the world was; and which is the ground and foundation of all his works of grace and redemption, and the reason why he gives food unto them; he never forgets that, his promises in it, nor the blessings of it, nor the people for whom they are made and provided, nor his love unto them; he is a covenant keeping God.
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Matthew Henry
God’s pardoning sin is the most wonderful of all his works and which ought to be remembered to his glory. It is a further instance of his grace and compassion that he has given meat to those that fear him, v. 5. He gives them their daily bread, food convenient for them; so he does to others by common providence, but to those that fear him he gives it by covenant and in pursuance of the promise, for it follows, He will be ever mindful of his covenant; so that they can taste covenant-love even in common mercies. Some refer this to the manna with which God fed his people Israel in the wilderness, others to the spoil they got from the Egyptians when they came out with great substance, according to the promise, Gen. 15:14. When God broke the heads of leviathan he gave him to be meat to his people, Ps. 74:14. He has given prey to those that fear him (so the margin has it), not only fed them, but enriched them, and given their enemies to be a prey to them.
They are earnest of what he will do, according to his promise: He will ever be mindful of his covenant, for he has ever been so; and, as he never did, so he never will let one jot or tittle of it fall to the ground. Though God’s people have their infirmities and are often unmindful of his commands, yet he will ever be mindful of his covenant.
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Clarke
He hath given meat — טרף tereph, PREY. This may allude to the quails in the wilderness. The word signifies what is taken in hunting-wild beasts, venison, or fowls of any kind, particularly such as were proper for food. It also signifies spoil taken from enemies. And he may also refer to the wondrous manner in which they were fed and supported during their captivity; and by his support, he proved that he was mindful of his covenant. He had promised such blessings; he was faithful to his promises.
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Cross References
8 He hath remembered his covenant for ever,
The word which he commanded to a thousand generations.
The Holy Bible: King James Version, Psalm 105:8.
9 O fear the Lord, ye his saints:
For there is no want to them that fear him.
The Holy Bible: King James Version, Psalm 34:9.
10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse,
That there may be meat in mine house,
And prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts,
If I will not open you the windows of heaven,
And pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
The Holy Bible: King James Version, Malachi 3:10.
45 And he remembered for them his covenant,
And repented according to the multitude of his mercies.
The Holy Bible: King James Version, Psalm 106:45.
31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
The Holy Bible: King James Version, Matthew 6:31–33.
9 O fear the Lord, ye his saints:
For there is no want to them that fear him.
10 The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger:
But they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.
The Holy Bible: King James Version, Psalm 34:9–10.
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KJV W/Strongs Bible
111:5 He hath given 5414 8804 meat 2964 unto them that fear 3373 him: he will ever 5769 be mindful 2142 8799 of his covenant 1285.(meat: Heb. prey)
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Geneva Bible 1560
Psalm 111:5
5 He hathe given (c) a (^) portion unto them that fear him: he wil ever be mindful of his covenant.
(c) God has given to his people all that was necessary for them, and will do still even for his covenant’s sake, and in this sense the Ebrewe word is taken, Prov. 30.8, and 31.15. 5 (^) Or, prey, and food.
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Psalm 55:
16 As for me, I will call upon GOD and the LORD shall save me.
17 Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud, And He shall hear my voice.
18 He has redeemed my soul in peace from the battle that was against me,
22 Cast your burden on the LORD, And He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.
23 ….But I will Trust in YOU
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