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7.For God is King of all the earth The Psalmist, having called God in the close of the preceding verse King of the chosen people, now calls him King of all the earth; and thus, while he claims to the Jews the right and honor of primogeniture, he at the same time joins to them the Gentiles as associates and partakers with them of the same blessing. By these words he intimates that the kingdom of God would be much more magnificent and glorious at the coming of the Messiah, than it was under the shadowy dispensation of the Law, inasmuch as it would be extended to the utmost boundaries of the earth. To show the greater earnestness in his exhortation, he repeats the words, Sing praises to God, five times. The word מםכיל, maskil, (187) is put in the singular number instead of the plural; for he invites to this exercise all who are skillful in singing. He, no doubt, speaks of knowledge in the art of music; but he requires, at the same time, the worshippers of God to sing the praises of God intelligently, that there may not be the mere sound of tongues, as we know to be the case among the Papists. Knowledge of what is sung is required in order to engage in a proper manner in the singing of psalms, that the name of God may not be profaned, as it would certainly be, were there nothing more but the voice which melts away or is dissolved in the air. (188)
(187) Calvin renders this word in the Latin version by “intelligens;” and in the French by “entendu;” and in the margin of the French version there is the note, “C’ O vous chacun entundu !” — “ is, O every one of you who understandeth!” Dr Adam Clarke reads, “ an instructive song;” and observes, “ sense and sound go together. Let your hearts and heads go with your voices. ”
(188) “Comme de faict il seroit s’ n’ avoit seulement que la voix qui s’ en l’.” — Fr.