Jehovah is gracious, etc. He opens up the goodness of which he spoke by using several expressions, as that God is inclined to mercy, (for such is the proper meaning of the word chnvn, channun,) and that he helps us willingly, as one sympathizing with our miseries. It is to be noticed that David has borrowed the terms which he here applies to God from that celebrated passage in Exodus 34:6; and as the inspired writers drew their doctrine from the fountain of the law, we need not wonder that they set a high value upon the vision which is there recorded, and in which as clear and satisfactory a description of the nature of God is given us as can anywhere be found. David, therefore, in giving us a brief statement of what it was most important we should know in reference to God, makes use of the same terms employed there. Indeed no small part of the grace of God is to be seen in his alluring us to himself by such attractive titles. Were he to bring his power prominently into view before us, we would be cast down by the terror of it rather than encouraged, as the Papists represent him a dreadful God, from whose presence all must fly, whereas the proper view of him is that which invites us to seek after him. Accordingly, the more nearly that a person feels himself drawn to God, the more has he advanced in the knowledge of him. If it be true that God is not only willing to befriend us, but is spoken of as touched with sympathy for our miseries, so as to be all the kinder to us the more that we are miserable, what folly were it not to fly to him without delay? But as we drive God's goodness away from us by our sins, and block up the way of access, unless his goodness overcome this obstacle, it would be in vain that the Prophets spoke of his grace and mercy. It was necessary, therefore, to add what follows, that great is his mercy, that he pardons sins, and bears with the wickedness of men, so as to show favor to the unworthy. As regards the ungodly, although God shows them his long-suffering patience, they are incapable of perceiving pardon, so that the doctrine on which we insist has a special application to believers only, who apprehend God's goodness by a living faith. To the wicked it is said -- "To what end is the day of the Lord for you? the day of the Lord is darkness and not light, affliction and not joy." (Amos 5:18.) We see in what severe terms Nahum threatens them at the very beginning of his prophecy. Having referred to the language used in the passage from Moses, he adds immediately, on the other hand, to prevent them being emboldened by it, that God is a rigid and severe, a terrible and an inexorable judge. (Nahum 1:3.) They therefore who have provoked God to anger by their sins, must see to secure his favor by believing.

The Lord is gracious - See Psalm 86:5, note; Psalm 86:15, note.
And full of compassion - Kind; compassionate; ready to do good. See the notes at Psalm 103:8.
Slow to anger - See Psalm 103:8, where the same expression occurs.
And of great mercy - Margin, great in mercy. His greatness is shown in his mercy; and the manifestation of that mercy is great: great, as on a large scale; great, as manifested toward great sinners; great, in the sacrifice made that it may be displayed; great, in the completeness with which sin is pardoned - pardoned so as to be remembered no more.

The Lord is gracious - His holy nature is ever disposed to show favor.
Full of compassion - Wherever he sees misery, his eye affects his heart.
Slow to anger - When there is even the greatest provocation.
Of great mercy - Great in his abundant mercy. These four things give us a wonderful display of the goodness of the Divine nature.

The LORD [is] gracious, and full of (e) compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy.
(e) He describes after what sort God shows himself to all his creatures though our sins have provoked his vengeance against all: that is, merciful not only in pardoning the sins of his elect, but in doing good even to the reprobate, although they cannot feel the sweet comfort of the same.

The Lord is gracious,.... These are the epithets of our Lord Jesus Christ, and may be truly and with great propriety said of him; he is "gracious", kind, and good, in the instances before mentioned; he is full of grace, and readily distributes it; his words are words of grace; his Gospel, and the doctrines of it, are doctrines of grace; his works are works of grace, all flowing from his wondrous grace and mercy:
and full of compassion: or "merciful" (d), in the most tender manner; hence he came into the world to save sinners, and in his pity redeemed them; and when on earth showed his compassion both to the bodies and souls of men, by healing the one and instructing the other; and particularly had compassion on the ignorant, and them that were out of the way; pitying those that were as sheep without a shepherd, as the blind Jews under their blind guides were; and is very compassionate to his people under all their temptations, afflictions, trials, and exercises; see Hebrews 2:17;
slow to anger; to the wicked Jews, though often provoked by their calumnies and reproaches, and by their ill behaviour to him in various instances; yet we never read but once of his being angry, and that was through grief at the hardness of their hearts, Mark 3:5; and likewise to his own disciples, who were often froward and perverse, and of bad spirits, very troublesome and afflictive to him, yet he patiently bore with them:
and of great mercy; a merciful High Priest, typified by the mercy seat, where we may find grace and mercy at all times; through whom God is merciful to sinners, and to whose mercy we are to look for eternal life.
(d) "misericors", V. L. Tigurine version, Musculus, Piscator, Cocceius, Michaelis.

(Compare Psalm 103:8; Psalm 111:4).
over all, &c.--rests on all His works.

This memorable utterance of Jahve concerning Himself the writer of Ps 103, which is of kindred import, also interweaves into his celebration of the revelation of divine love in Psalm 145:8. Instead of רב־חסד the expression here, however, is וגדול חסד (Kerמ, as in Nahum 1:3, cf. Psalm 89:29, with Makkeph וּגדל־). The real will of God tends towards favour, which gladly giving stoops to give (חנּוּן), and towards compassion, which interests itself on behalf of the sinner for his help and comfort (רחוּם). Wrath is only the background of His nature, which He reluctantly and only after long waiting (ארך אפּים) lets loose against those who spurn His great mercy. For His goodness embraces, as Psalm 145:9 says, all; His tender mercies are over all His works, they hover over and encompass all His creatures. Therefore, too, all His works praise Him: they are all together loud-speaking witnesses of that sympathetic all-embracing love of His, which excludes no one who does not exclude himself; and His saints, who live in God's love, bless Him (יברכוּכה written as in 1-Kings 18:44): their mouth overflows with the declaration (יאמרוּ) of the glory of the kingdom of this loving God, and in speaking (ידבּרוּ) of the sovereign power with which He maintains and extends this kingdom. This confession they make their employ, in order that the knowledge of the mighty acts of God and the glorious majesty of His kingdom may at length become the general possession of mankind. When the poet in Psalm 145:12 sets forth the purpose of the proclamation, he drops the form of address. God's kingdom is a kingdom of all aeons, and His dominion is manifested without exception and continually in all periods or generations (בּכל־דּור ודר as in Ps 45:18, Esther 9:28, a pleonastic strengthening of the expression בּדר ודר, Psalm 90:1). It is the eternal circumference of the history of time, but at the same time its eternal substance, which more and more unfolds and achieves itself in the succession of the periods that mark its course. For that all things in heaven and on earth shall be gathered up together (ἀνακεφαλαιώσασθαι, Ephesians 1:10) in the all-embracing kingdom of God in His Christ, is the goal of all history, and therefore the substance of history which is working itself out. With Psalm 145:13 (cf. Daniel. 3:33, Daniel 4:31, according to Hitzig the primary passages) another paragraph is brought to a close.