'I have declared Thy name, and will declare it.'
That this is to be issue of all. A grand prophecy.
III. Why put first.
Singular, that so remote a petition should stand at beginning. We should begin not with ourselves, but with God; not with temporal wants, not even with our own spiritual ones.
We begin not with men, but with God.
It is God's glory even more than men's knowledge of Him that the petition contemplates. And though the two things coincide, which of them is foremost in our minds makes an infinite difference.
Then in regard to God, we first ask not that His law may be kept, but that His nature may be known.
The place of this petition in the prayer is explained by considerations which suggest very important thoughts for ourselves and all men.
That true knowledge of God is the deepest and fundamental necessity for all men.
That the knowledge will affect their whole scheme of thought and life.