This psalm is without a title, and it is impossible to ascertain by whom, or on what occasion, it was composed. In the Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate, the title is, "Hallelujah. Of Haggai and Zechariah." But this is without authority, and it is not known how it came to be prefixed. The same title occurs in the Arabic Version. The Syriac Version has the title still more in full: "Spoken by Haggai and Zechariah the prophets, who ascended from the captivity at Babylon, concerning the morning ministration of the priests;" that is, to be used in their morning services. The tradition, therefore, would seem to be that this is a composition of those prophets. That it may have belonged to the times of Haggai and Zechariah is certainly possible, nor is there anything in the psalm inconsistent with that supposition, though there is no positive evidence that it is so. In this portion of the Psalm Ps. 146-150 all begin and end in the same manner, with a Hallelujah; they all belong to one group, and seem to pertain to the same occasion; and it is not inprobable that they constitute a series of psalms intended to commemorate the completion of the walls of Jerusalem, and the finishing of the temple. They would be eminently appropriate to such an event.
This psalm is a general psalm of praise which might be used at any time, containing thoughts such as are appropriately suggested by a contemplation of the character of God, and his dealings with people. The idea is that of the blessedness of trusting in God; the security of those who do it; the superiority of this confidence and peace over any which is reposed in princes; and the evidence that it will be safe to trust in him, furnished by his merciful interpositions in behalf of the oppressed, the hungry, the prisoner, the blind, the bowed down, the righteous, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. The psalm, then, has these parts:
I. An expression of a purpose to praise God; or, God as an object of praise, Psalm 146:1-2.
II. Reliance is not to be put in man, even in princes, since all are mortal, Psalm 146:3-4.
III. God is the only Being on whom we can rely, Psalm 146:5-9.
(1) the happiness of that reliance, Psalm 146:5.
(2) reasons for such reliance, Psalm 146:6-9. He is the Creator of all things; he keeps truth; he executes judgment for the oppressed; he shows his kindness toward the hungry, the prisoner, the blind, the bowed down, the righteous, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow.
IV. God will reign for ever, and he is the God of Zion. His people, therefore, should praise him, Psalm 146:10.

The psalmist, full of gratitude, purposes to praise God for ever, Psalm 146:1, Psalm 146:2; and exhorts not to trust in man, not even the most powerful; for which he gives his reasons, Psalm 146:3, Psalm 146:4. The great advantage of trusting in God, Psalm 146:5. The mercies which they who trust in God may expect, Psalm 146:6-9. The Divine government is everlasting, Psalm 146:10.
This is the first of the Psalm called Hallelujah Psalm, of which there are five, and which conclude the book. No author's name is prefixed to this, either in the Hebrew or Chaldee. But the Syriac, Vulgate, Septuagint, Ethiopic, and Arabic, attribute it to Haggai and Zechariah. It was probably written after the captivity, and may refer to the time when Cyrus, prejudiced by the enemies of the Jews, withdrew his order for the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem, to which revocation of the royal edict the third verse may refer: Put not your trust in princes etc.

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 146
This psalm is entitled by the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Ethiopic, and Arabic versions, "hallelujah", of Haggai and Zechariah; and by Apollinarius, the common hymn of them: and the Syriac inscription is still more expressive,
"it was said by Haggai and Zechariah, prophets, who came up with the captivity out of Babylon.''
Theodoret says this title was in some Greek copies in his time; but was not in the Septuagint, in the Hexapla: nor is it in any other Greek interpreters, nor in the Hebrew text, nor in the Targum; though some Jewish commentators, as R. Obadiah, take it to be an exhortation to the captives in Babylon to praise the Lord: and Kimchi interprets it of their present captivity and deliverance from it; and observes, that the psalmist seeing, by the Holy Spirit, the gathering of the captives, said this with respect to Israel; and so refers it to the times of the Messiah, as does also Jarchi, especially the Psalm 146:10; and which, though they make it to serve an hypothesis of their own, concerning their vainly expected Messiah; yet it is most true, that the psalm is concerning the Messiah and his kingdom, to whom all the characters and descriptions given agree.

(Psalm 146:1-4) Why we should not trust in men.
(Psalm 146:5-10) Why we should trust in God.

Hallelujah to God the One True Helper
The Psalter now draws to a close with five Hallelujah Psalm. This first closing Hallelujah has many points of coincidence with the foregoing alphabetical hymn (compare אחללה in Psalm 146:2 with Psalm 145:2; שׂברו in Psalm 146:5 with Psalm 145:15; "who giveth bread to the hungry" in Psalm 146:7 with Psalm 145:15.; "who maketh the blind to see" in Psalm 146:8 with Psalm 145:14; "Jahve reigneth, etc.," in Psalm 146:10 with Psalm 145:13) - the same range of thought betrays one author. In the lxx Psalm 146:1 (according to its enumeration four Psalm, viz., Psalm 145:1, Psalm 147 being split up into two) have the inscription Ἀλληλούια. Ἀγγαίου καὶ Ζαχαρίου, which is repeated four times. These Psalm appear to have formed a separate Hallel, which is referred back to these prophets, in the old liturgy of the second Temple. Later on they became, together with Psalm 149:1, an integral part of the daily morning prayer, and in fact of the פסוקי דזמרה, i.e., of the mosaic-work of Psalm and other poetical pieces that was incorporated in the morning prayer, and are called eve in Shabbath 118b Hallel,
(Note: Rashi, however, understands only Psalm 148:1-14 and Psalm 150:1-6 by פסוקי דזמרה in that passage.)
but expressly distinguished from the Hallel to be recited at the Passover and other feasts, which is called "the Egyptian Hallel." In distinction from this, Krochmal calls these five Psalm the Greek Hallel. But there is nothing to oblige us to come down beyond the time of Ezra and Nehemiah. The agreement between 1 Macc. 2:63 (ἔστρεψεν εἰς τὸν χοῦν αὐτοῦ καὶ ὁ διαλογισμὸς αὐτοῦ ἀπώλετο) and Psalm 146:4 of our Psalm, which Hitzig has turned to good account, does not decide anything concerning the age of the Psalm, but only shows that it was in existence at the time of the author of the First Book of Maccabees, - a point in favour of which we were not in need of any proof. But there was just as much ground for dissuading against putting confidence in princes in the time of the Persians as in that of the Grecian domination.