*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
Let Jehovah live. If it is thought proper to adopt this reading, which is in the optative mood expressing a wish that God might live, the manner of expression may seem somewhat strange; but it may be alleged in defense of it, that it is a metaphor borrowed from the custom of men, who not only use this manner of speaking when they wish well to any one, but likewise utter it with loud and applauding acclamation, when they intend to receive their princes with due honor. According to this view, it would be an expression in which praise is ascribed to God, and suitable for a triumphal song. It may, however, be very properly considered as a simple affirmation, in which David declares that God lives, in other words, that he is endued with sovereign power. Farther, the life which David attributes to God is not to be restricted to the being or essence of God, but is rather to be understood of the evidence of it deducible from his works, which manifest to us that he liveth. Whenever he withdraws the working of his power from before our eyes, the sense and cognisance of the truth, "God liveth," also evanishes from our minds. He is, therefore, said to live, inasmuch as he shows, by evident proofs of his power, that it is he who preserves and upholds the world. And as David had known, by experience, this life of God, he celebrates it with praises and thanksgiving. If we read the first clause in the present tense, The Lord liveth, the copula and, which follows, has the force of an inference; and, accordingly, the words should be resolved thus:-- Jehovah liveth, and, therefore, blessed be my strength The epithet, My strength, and the other which occurs in verse 48th, My deliverer, confirm what I have already stated, that God does not simply live in himself, and in his secret place, but displays his vital energy in the government of the whole world. The Hebrew word, tsvry, tsuri, which we have translated my strength, is here to be understood in a transitive sense for Him who bestows strength.
The Lord liveth - Yahweh - the name used here - is often described as the living God in contradistinction to idols, who are represented as without life, Deuteronomy 5:26; Joshua 3:10; 2-Kings 19:4; Psalm 42:2; Matthew 16:16; 1-Thessalonians 1:9. Compare Psalm 115:5; Psalm 135:16. It is probably in allusion to this idea that the phrase "The Lord liveth" is used here. It is a joyful exclamation in view of all that God had done; of all the deliverances which he had performed for the author of the psalm. In the remembrance of all this the psalmist says that God had shown himself to be the living, that is, the true God. These interpositions furnished abundant demonstration that Yahweh existed, and that he was worthy of adoration and praise as the true God. So, in view of mercy and salvation, the heart of the redeemed exultingly exclaims, "The Lord lives - there is a living God."
And blessed be my Rock - God, who has shown himself to be a refuge and a protector. See the note at Psalm 18:2.
And let the God of my salvation be exalted - The God who has saved me from my enemies. Let him be exalted, be praised, be honored, be adored. Let his name be exalted above all idol gods; above all the creatures that he has made. The wish is, that His name might be made prominent; that all creatures might praise and honor Him.
The Lord liveth - By him alone I have gained all my victories; and he continueth, and will be my Rock, the Source whence I may at all times derive help and salvation. May his name be blessed! May his kingdom be exalted!
The Lord liveth, and blessed be my Rock,.... This, with what follows, is the concluding part of the psalm, which ends with a celebration of the Divine Being, and with thankfulness for mercies received from him. The psalmist praises him on account of what he is in himself, what he was to him, and had done for him: in himself he is the living God, "the Lord liveth": he has life in himself, essentially, originally, and independently; and is the fountain and author of life to all others, even to all creatures that have life, whether rational or irrational: he is the giver of natural life to all men, and the supporter of it; and of spiritual and eternal life to his chosen people; and he continues to live, and ever will; wherefore the saints may conclude that their life in every sense is safe and secure. Some render the phrase, by way of wish, "may the Lord live" (r); but then it must be understood only that he would show himself more abundantly to be the living God, and that he might be acknowledged so by others. The next clauses are by way of petition; "and blessed be my Rock"; on which he was built and established, to which he betook himself in times of distress, which was his place of defence, and from whence he had a supply; wherefore he desires he might be blessed, not by invoking or conferring a blessing on him, neither of which can be; there being none greater than he to call upon, and he being "Elshaddai", God all sufficient, and in no need of any; but by declaring his blessedness, by celebrating his greatness and goodness, and by ascribing blessing and honour and glory to him;
and let the God of my salvation be exalted; God was the God of his salvation in a temporal sense, saving him daily from his many enemies; and in a spiritual sense, being the contriver, author, and applier of it to him; on which account he would have him be exalted both by himself, and in the high praises of his people; ascribing the whole of salvation to him, and giving him all the glory of it. Some render the words, "the God of my salvation is high" (s); he is the most high God, the high and lofty One that inhabits eternity, and is above all others. In 2-Samuel 22:47 the words are read, "and exalted be the God of the Rock of my salvation".
(r) "vivat Jehova", Musculus, Tigurine version, Piscator, Muis; so some in Vatablus, Ainsworth. (s) "excelsus est", Gejerus.
The Lord liveth--contrasts Him with idols (1-Corinthians 8:4).
(Hebrews.: 18:47-49) The hymn now draws towards the end with praise and thanksgiving for the multitude of God's mighty deeds, which have just been displayed. Like the (צוּרי) בּרוּך which is always doxological, חי ה (vivus Jahve) is meant as a predicate clause, but is read with the accent of an exclamation just as in the formula of an oath, which is the same expression; and in the present instance it has a doxological meaning. Accordingly וירוּם also signifies "exalted be," in which sense it is written וירם (וירם = וירם) in the other text. There are three doxological utterances drawn from the events which have just been celebrated in song. That which follows, from האל onwards, describes Jahve once more as the living, blessed (εὐλογητόν), and exalted One, which He has shown Himself to be. From ויּדבּר we see that הנּותן is to be resolved as an imperfect. The proofs of vengeance, נקמות, are called God's gift, insofar as He has rendered it possible to him to punish the attacks upon his own dignity and the dignity of his people, or to witness the punishment of such insults (e.g., in the case of Nabal); for divine vengeance is a securing by punishment (vindicatio) of the inviolability of the right. It is questionable whether הדבּיר (synonym רדד, Psalm 144:2) here and in Psalm 47:4 means "to bring to reason" as an intensive of דּבר, to drive (Ges.); the more natural meaning is "to turn the back" according to the Arabic adbara (Hitzig), cf. dabar, dabre, flight, retreat; debira to be wounded behind; medbûr, wounded in the back. The idea from which הדביר gains the meaning "to subdue" is that of flight, in which hostile nations, overtaken from behind, sank down under him (Psalm 45:6); but the idea that is fully worked out in Psalm 129:3, Isaiah 51:23, is by no means remote. With מפלטי the assertion takes the form of an address. מן רומם does not differ from Psalm 9:14 : Thou liftest me up away from mine enemies, so that I hover above them and triumph over them. The climactic אף, of which poetry is fond, here unites two thoughts of a like import to give intensity of expression to the one idea. The participle is followed by futures: his manifold experience is concentrated in one general ideal expression.
The Lord - He and he only is the true living God.
*More commentary available at chapter level.