*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
His glory is great. By these words the people intimate that their king, through the protection which God afforded him, and the deliverances which he wrought for him, would become more renowned than if he had reigned in peace with the applause of all men, or had been defended by human wealth and human strength, or, finally, had continued invincible by his own power and policy; for thereby it appeared the more clearly that he had only attained to the royal dignity by the favor, conduct, and commandment of God. The believing Israelites, therefore, leave it to heathen kings to ennoble themselves by their own achievements, and to acquire fame by their own valor; and they set more value upon this, that God graciously showed himself favorable towards their king, than upon all the triumphs of the world. At the same time, they promise themselves such assistance from God as will suffice for adorning the king with majesty and honor.
His glory is great in thy salvation - Not in himself; not in anything that he has done, but in what thou hast done. The fact that thou hast saved him, and the manner in which it has been done, has put upon him great honor. He felt indeed that his condition as king, and as to the prospects before him, was one of great "glory" or honor; but he felt at the same time that it was not in "himself," or for anything that he had done: it was only in the ""salvation"" which "God" had conferred upon him. Every child of God, in like manner, has great "glory" conferred upon him, and his "glory" will be great forever; but it is not in himself, or in virtue of anything that he has done. It is "great" in the "salvation" of God:
(a) in the "fact" that God has interposed to save him; and
(b) in the "manner" in which it has been done.
The highest honor that can be put upon man is in the fact that God will save him.
Honour and majesty hast thou laid upon him -
(a) In making him a king;
(b) in the victories and triumphs which thou hast now given him, placing on his head, as it were, a brighter crown;
(c) in the promised perpetuity of his reign.
So we may say of the ransomed sinner - the child of God - now. Honour and majesty have been laid on him:
(a) in the fact that God has redeemed him;
(b) in the manner in which this has been accomplished;
(c) in his adoption into the family of God;
(d) in the rank and dignity which he occupies as a child of God;
(e) in the hope of immortal blessedness beyond the grave.
His glory is great - But great as his glory was, it had its greatness from God's salvation. There is no true nobility but of the soul, and the soul has none but what it receives from the grace and salvation of God.
His glory is great in thy salvation,.... That is, the glory of the King Messiah is great in the Lord's salvation of him; delivering him from all his troubles and sorrows, and out of the hands of all his enemies, when he was raised from the dead, and was set at the right hand of God, and crowned with glory and honour: or the sense is, that his glory is great in the salvation of his people by him; it was his glory as Mediator to be appointed to be the Lord's salvation to them; and it being effected by him declares the glory and greatness of his person; and the nature of it is such as cannot fast of bringing glory to him; and such is the sense his people have of it, that it obliges them to ascribe the glory of it alone to him;
honour and majesty hast thou laid upon him; which is to be understood not of the honour and majesty of his divine nature, which are essential to him, and not laid upon him by any; nor of the glory which the saints attribute to him on account of their salvation by him; but of that which his Father has put upon him, and lies in the introduction of him into his glory after his sufferings and death, and resurrection from the dead; in exalting him at his right hand above all creatures and things; in giving him all power in heaven and in earth; in putting all the gifts of the Spirit into his hands, which he receiving gave to men, and in ordaining him Judge of quick and dead.
(Hebrews.: 21:6-7) The help of God turns to his honour, and paves the way for him to honour, it enables him-this is the meaning of. Psalm 21:6 - to maintain and strengthen his kingship with fame and glory. שׁוּה על used, as in Psalm 89:20, of divine investiture and endowment. To make blessings, or a fulness of blessing, is a stronger form of expressing God's words to Abram, Genesis 12:2 : thou shalt be a blessing i.e., a possessor of blessing thyself, and a medium of blessing to others. Joy in connection with (את as in Psalm 16:11) the countenance of God, is joy in delightful and most intimate fellowship with Him. חדּה, from חדה, which occurs once in Exodus 18:9, has in Arabic, with reference to nomad life, the meaning "to cheer the beasts of burden with a song and urge them on to a quicker pace," and in Hebrew, as in Aramaic, the general signification "to cheer, enliven."
Glory - His fame or renown. Salvation - By reason of those great and glorious deliverances which thou hast wrought both for him, and by him.
*More commentary available at chapter level.