Bullinger's Companion Notes
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Geneva Study Bible
Commentary Critical Unabridged
Trapp's Commentary
Poole's Annotations
The Biblical Illustrator
Coke's Commentary
Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Wesley's Notes
Whedon's Commentary
Range Specific (7)Keil & Delitzsch
Kingcomments
Restoration Commentary
Poor Man's Commentary
Benson's Commentary
Horae Homileticae
Utley Commentary
Chapter Specific (19)Dummelow on the Bible
Expositor's Dictionary
Meyer's Commentary
Gaebelein's Annotated
Morgan's Exposition
Garner-Howes
Everett's Study Notes
Smith's Writings
Gray's Concise Commentary
Parker's The People's Bible
Sutcliffe's Commentary
Kretzmann's Commentary
Lange's Commentary
Peake's Commentary
Preacher's Homiletical
The Biblical Illustrator
The Expositor's Bible Commentary
The Pulpit Commentaries
Scott on the Psalms
Verse Psalms 115:12. The Lord hath been mindful ' He has never yet wholly abandoned us to our enemies.
He will bless the house of Israel ' He will bless the people as a nation; he will bless the priesthood and Levites; he will bless all of them who fear him, great and small, in whatsoever station or circumstances found. There is a great deal of emphasis in this verse: several words are redoubled to make the subject the more affecting. I give a literal translation: -
Psalms 115:12: "The Lord has been mindful of us he will bless the house of Israel; she will bless the house of Aaron.
Psalms 115:13: He will bless them that fear Jehovah, the small with the great.
Psalms 115:14: Jehovah will add upon you, upon you and upon all your children.
Psalms 115:15: Blessed are ye of the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. Ver. 16: The heavens of heavens are the Lord's: but the earth he hath given to the sons of Adam."
Jehovah is absolute Master of the universe. He has made the heavens of heavens, and also the earth; and this he gives to the children of Adam. When he exiled him from paradise, he turned him out into the earth, and gave it to him and his sons for ever, that they might dress, till, and eat of its produce all their days.
Copyright StatementPsalms 115-117 Saved from death
God was always faithful to Israel, though the Israelites were often unfaithful to him. Their sins brought God's punishment upon them, causing their pagan neighbours to mock them with the accusation that their God was unable to help them and had deserted them (115:1-2). The Israelites reply that their God is alive and in full control. The pagan gods, by contrast, are useless, and the reason they are useless is that they are lifeless. Those who trust in them will achieve nothing (3-8).
Israel's people will therefore trust in God for help and protection (9-11). They know that he will bless them and their descendants after them, for he is the almighty Creator (12-15). He has given the earth to humankind as a dwelling place, but has limited the number of years that each person may live on it. Therefore, God's people should make sure that they fill their few short years with praise to him (16-18).
In Psalms 116:0 an individual worshipper brings a sacrifice to God to pay his vows and offer thanks (see v. 17-18). Before offering his sacrifice, he pauses to think quietly on the great mercy and love of God. As he does so, he finds that his own love towards God increases, particularly when he recalls how God has answered his prayers and saved his life (116:1-4). He has personally experienced God's compassion and goodness (5-7). When he was unable to help himself and when so-called friends proved useless, he still trusted God. He prayed, and God gave him new life (8-11). He will now publicly thank God by offering prayers and sacrifices in fulfilment of his vow (12-14). He sees how highly God values the life of the believer. God does not allow him to die, as if death is a thing of no importance in God's sight. God preserves him alive, and for this he offers overflowing thanks (15-19).
God's loyal love to Israel should cause his people to spread the good news of his love to other nations. This, in turn, will cause the people of those nations to bring their praise to him (117:1-2).
Copyright StatementISRAEL ENTREATED TO TRUST IN THE LORD
"O Israel, trust thou in Jehovah: He is their help and their shield. O house of Aaron, trust ye in Jehovah: He is their help and their shield. Ye that fear Jehovah trust in Jehovah: He is their help and their shield. Jehovah hath been mindful of us; he will bless us. He will bless the house of Israel; He will bless the house of Aaron. He will bless them that fear Jehovah, Both great and small."
As Dummelow noted, "Psalms 115:9-11 here seem to have been written to be sung antiphonally,"J. R. Dummelow's Commentary, p. 371. the response, "He is their help and their shield," to each exhortation being sung by a separate group of singers.
The only question that arises here is that of, "Just who are those addressed as `Ye that fear Jehovah.'"? Three different groups have been supposed to be indicated. "The identification of this third group is uncertain. It may be composed (1) of Gentile converts to Judaism (often called God-fearers), (2) an inner circle of the truly devout (the true seed of Abraham as distinguished from the rest of Israel), or (3) both the laity and priests already mentioned separately."The Layman's Bible Commentary, Vol. 9, p. 159. (Parenthetical statements here by J.B.C.)
Of these possibilities, we strongly favor understanding the third group as the true "sons of Abraham," as distinguished both from the priests and from the nation as a whole. Some prefer to think of them as the proselytes, but McCullough's comment casts much doubt on that interpretation. He wrote, "It is improbable, even if the psalm belongs to the Persian or early Greek period, that proselytes were present in the temple in sufficient numbers to form a special group of worshippers."The Interpreter's Bible, op. cit., p. 608.
"Both small and great" This is probably a reference to both young and old, adults and children.
Copyright StatementThe Lord hath been mindful of us - This would be especially appropriate if the psalm was written, as is commonly supposed, after the return from the captivity of Babylon. In such circumstances it would be every way proper to bring before the mind of the people the fact that God had remembered them and had delivered them.
He will bless us - Our past experience furnishes the fullest evidence that he will continue to bless us. He who has delivered us from so great calamities, and who has restored us to our native land after so long and so painful a captivity, will not forsake us now. There can be now no circumstances in which he cannot bestow on us all the blessings which we need; there will be none when we may not hope that he will bless us. If he could save us from such troubles, be can save us from all; if he did thus interpose, we may argue that he will always grant us his help when we need it.
He will bless the house of Israel; he will bless the house of Aaron - Compare Psalms 115:9-10.
Copyright Statement12Jehovah hath remembered us Many render the term bless in the past tense, he has blessed, it being the design of the prophet, according to them, to propose the past experience of God's kindness as an encouragement to cherish good hope for the future: 'We have already, from long experience, been taught how valuable the favor of our God is, because from this source alone have flowed our prosperity, our abundance, and our stability.' He assumes the principle, the truth of which ought to be admitted by all, that we neither enjoy prosperity nor happiness further than it pleases God to bless us. As often as the Israelites were rescued from manifold dangers, or succored in time of need, or treated in a friendly manner, so many palpable proofs had they of the loving-kindness of God towards them. As, however, there is no just cause to urge us to change the verb from the future into the past tense, it is quite in unison with the scope of the passage, if we say that the same blessing is here promised to the faithful which they have formerly realized. Thus the meaning will be, that God, mindful of his covenant, has hitherto been attentive to us; therefore, as he has begun to favor us, he will continue to do so for ever. In pronouncing these blessings, he observes the same order as above, assigning to the children of Aaron a superior place in God's benediction, excluding from it those among the Israelites who were hypocrites.
Copyright StatementPsalms 115:1-18 :
Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but to thy name give glory ( Psalms 115:1 ),
Here again we have the same idea. Don't reverend me. "Not unto us, Lord, not unto us, but to Thy name." Let there be ascribed glory and reverence and awe.
for thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake. Why should the heathen say, Where is now their God? ( Psalms 115:1-2 )
A lot of times people do say that. They say, "Well, where was your God when, you know. What happened to your God then, pal?" "Why should the heathen say, 'Where is now their God?'"
Our God is in the heavens: he has done whatsoever he hath pleased ( Psalms 115:3 ).
I need to remember that. "He has done what He has pleased." May not please me, but that isn't what's important.
Now referring again to the heathen, their idols. "Our God is in the heavens." He rules. But,
Their idols are silver and gold, they are the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak not: they have eyes, but they can't see: They have ears, but they can't hear: they have noses, but they don't smell: They have hands, but they cannot handle: they have feet, but they cannot walk: and neither do they speak through their throats. They that make them are like unto them; and so is every one that trusteth in them ( Psalms 115:4-8 ).
Now here is a philosophy expressed by the psalmist that is extremely profound as he observes the heathens and their gods. And the first observation that he makes is that men have a tendency to make their own god. Man has an innate desire to worship. And having this innate desire to worship, having to worship something, men make their own gods. But when a man makes a god, he makes his god like himself. So that my god is in reality a projection of myself. So in truth, I am actually worshipping myself. Self-worship. For he notices that when they make their gods, they carve mouths. They carve eyes. They carve ears. They carve feet and hands. Why? You carve hands in your little god? Because you have hands. Why do you carve a mouth? Because you have a mouth. Why do you carve ears? Because you have an ear.
When we were over in New Guinea, the missionaries told us of a tribe of people who have a congenital hip dislocation. And this whole tribe of people, it's a congenital thing; they all have a deformity of their right leg which is shorter than their left through this congenital hip problem. And they said that all of the little gods that this particular tribe carved out have a deformed right leg. Because a man makes a god like himself, a projection of myself. It is known as the anthropomorphic concept of God. Widely recognized. Man makes gods like himself.
But then the psalmist observed that though a man has made a god like himself, he has actually made his god infinitely less than himself. Because though I may carve out eyes on my little god, the eyes on my little god can't see. Though I may carve feet on my little god, they can't walk. Though I may carve hands on it, it can't handle. Though I may carve ears on it, it can't hear. Though I may carve a mouth on it, it can't speak. So I've made a god like myself, but in reality, I have made my god less than myself. And the final observation of the psalmist is, they that have made them have become like the gods that they have made. Or a man becomes like his god. This is a truth of life that you cannot escape. You are becoming like your god, whatever your god is. A man becomes like his god.
Now, if I have made my own god like myself but I've made my god less than myself, then by worshipping the god that I have made, I am degrading myself. I am becoming less than I was. Because I'm becoming like my god. And my god is less than me because I've made my god like myself, but actually less than myself. So my god is insensate. It can't feel, it can't see, it can't hear. I become insensate. I no longer can feel the presence of God. I can no longer feel the touch of God. I can no longer see the hand of God. I can no longer hear the voice of God. I'm becoming insensate just like the little god that I made. For a man becomes like his god. If your god is false, you're becoming false. If you're god is cruel, you're becoming cruel.
A man becomes like his god. That can be the greatest curse in all the world. Or it can be the greatest blessing in all the world. It's all relative as to who is your god. "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we're going to be: but we know that, when He appears, we're going to be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is" ( 1 John 3:2 ). You see, a man becomes like his god. "We, with open face beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed from glory to glory, into His same image" ( 2 Corinthians 3:18 ). I'm becoming like my God everyday. And if I'm worshipping the true and the living God, how glorious it is as I am being transformed into His image daily as I worship Him. Man becomes like his god.
Now the New Testament tells us, "We are now the sons of God. It does not yet appear what we're going to be. We know when He appears, we'll be like Him." So you have actually in one side of it, man making a god like himself, infinitely less than himself; and thus, man being degraded as he worships his god. On the other hand, you have God making a man more than himself. More than man could ever be in himself. And thus, the worship of the true and the living God is always an elevating experience as God is conforming you into His image. Making you like Him.
Now I've either made a god like me, or God is making me like Him. You're in one of the two. You're either on the path down or the path up. Every man has a god. Don't believe a man who says, "I'm an atheist," because a god is only a title, and it is the title of what is the master passion of that person's life. What's the guiding principle of his life? Watch him for a while and you can see. Maybe the guiding passion of his life is pleasure and his whole life is lived for pleasure. Molech is his god. Maybe his whole life is lived for power and he's trying to control things, money, possessions and all. And Mammon is his god. Maybe he's trying to develop his intellect and the expansion of his consciousness and his understanding and all and he's made this the chief goal of life. Then Baal is his god. Every man has a god. Some of them are rather worthless gods, but gods indeed. And how good it is to worship and serve the true and the living God. Not one that I've created in my own mind. Not a concept that I have created. But to take the revelation of God of Himself to us and to worship the true and the living God.
So interesting observations from the psalmist here concerning the heathen and their gods.
O Israel, trust thou in Jehovah: for he is your help and your shield. O house of Aaron, trust in Jehovah: he is your help and your shield. Ye that reverence Jehovah, trust in Jehovah: for he is their help and their shield. Jehovah hath been mindful ( Psalms 115:9-12 )
And, of course, here again compounding, "O Israel, Aaron and ye that fear the Lord." It's a compounding of the idea, Hebrew poetry.
The Lord hath been mindful of us: he will bless us; he will bless the house of Israel; he will bless the house of Aaron. He will bless them that fear the LORD, both small and great ( Psalms 115:12-13 ).
Same compounding with the blessings now.
The LORD shall increase you more and more, and your children. Ye are blessed of the LORD which made heaven and earth. The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD'S: but the earth hath he given to the children of men ( Psalms 115:14-16 ).
The heavens were the Lord's, but God gave the earth to man. But man blew it and gave it to Satan. And Satan now possesses the earth. But Jesus came to redeem the earth back to God, and before long He's going to take and claim that which He purchased. And I can hardly wait.
The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence ( Psalms 115:17 ).
Now this is one of the proof text for soul sleep, but I don't have time to go into it tonight. We'll go into it when we get to Ecclesiastes, where the scripture definitely teaches is that there is a consciousness. This is the psalmist expressing a thought of his own mind, and it is much like Job where God said, "What do you, you know, what are you talking about death? You haven't been beyond the gates of hell. You don't know what's there. And talking out of your head." And so here the psalmist is speaking of things which are not in keeping with the whole body of scripture which tells us that of the state of the dead, and especially the words of Christ.
But we will bless the LORD from this time forth for evermore. Hallelujah ( Psalms 115:18 ).
May the Lord be with you now and fill you with His love. May He guide you through this week. Entering into that time of the year where pressures always increase as we prepare to celebrate the pagan holiday of Saturnalia in our own Christianized form. May God protect you from the crass commercialism and keep you out of the hype of man. That you lose not sight of God and the things of the Spirit. But may more and more we become spiritually minded. And may we walk in the Spirit that we will not be guilty of fulfilling the desires of our own flesh. May the Lord be with you now and bless and keep you in the love of Jesus Christ. "
Psalms 115
This anonymous psalm instructs God's people to trust in the Lord rather than in idols.
"Psalms 115 is one psalm with Psalms 114 in the LXX and the Vulgate. However, there is little doubt that they form two separate psalms. The motifs and genre of the psalms are too different. Psalms 114 is in the form of a hymn describing the wonder of Israel's redemption from Egypt, whereas the literary forms of Psalms 115 are quite varied and include lament, liturgy, and confidence.
"Psalms 115 may be classified as a psalm of communal confidence. The psalms of communal confidence are closely related to communal thanksgiving songs and to communal laments. The psalms of communal confidence convey a sense of need as well as a deep trust in the Lord's ability to take care of the needs of the people. There are three such psalms (115, 125, 129)." [Note: VanGemeren, p. 719. Cf. Bullock, p. 175.]
If you want to learn more, please visit our website 115*12.
Other scholars see Psalms 46 as one of these psalms and exclude Psalms 115. [Note: E.g., H. Kraus, Psalmen 1:iii.]
Copyright StatementTrust leads to blessing for all people. The writer made this connection by repeating the same groups (cf. Psalms 115:10-11 a and . Psa_115:12-13 a). In bestowing blessing, God does not allow worldly greatness to influence Him; He is gracious to all. The psalmist wished God's blessing on all His people. Since He made heaven and earth, He is able to bless, and His blessing can be abundant.
Copyright StatementThe Lord hath been mindful of us,.... The Targum is,
"the Word of the Lord hath remembered us for good.''
And is another reason why his people should trust in him: he has been mindful of his covenant with them and promises to them, and has kept them; he remembered them in their low estate, and sent redemption to them; goodness and mercy have followed them all their days. Past experiences of divine favour should encourage trust in the Lord, as well as promises of future blessings, as follow:
he will bless us; with all kind of blessings, temporal and spiritual; with blessings indeed, solid and substantial: it is certain and may be depended upon; he has promised it, and swore to it, that in blessing he will bless. Kimchi interprets it as a wish, "let him bless": the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and all the Oriental versions, render it in the past tense, "he hath blessed"; but the Targum as we: and as it follows,
he will bless the house of Israel; with whom he has made his new covenant; the household of faith, the family named of Christ, the whole Israel of God.
He will bless the house of Aaron; his priests, his ministers, all that offer up spiritual sacrifices to him; he will bless them with an increase of gifts and grace, and with his presence and Spirit, and therefore they should trust in him.
Copyright Statement9 O Israel, trust thou in the LORD: he is their help and their shield. 10 O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD: he is their help and their shield. 11 Ye that fear the LORD, trust in the LORD: he is their help and their shield. 12 The LORD hath been mindful of us: he will bless us; he will bless the house of Israel; he will bless the house of Aaron. 13 He will bless them that fear the LORD, both small and great. 14 The LORD shall increase you more and more, you and your children. 15 Ye are blessed of the LORD which made heaven and earth. 16 The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD's: but the earth hath he given to the children of men. 17 The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence. 18 But we will bless the LORD from this time forth and for evermore. Praise the LORD.
In these verses,
I. We are earnestly exhorted, all of us, to repose our confidence in God, and not suffer our confidence in him to be shaken by the heathens' insulting over us upon the account of our present distresses. It is folly to trust in dead images, but it is wisdom to trust in the living God, for he is a help and a shield to those that do trust in them, a help to furnish them with and forward them in that which is good, and a shield to fortify them against and protect them from every thing that is evil. Therefore, 1. Let Israel trust in the Lord; the body of the people, as to their public interests, and every particular Israelite, as to his own private concerns, let them leave it to God to dispose of all for them, and believe it will dispose of all for the best and will be their help and shield. 2. Let the priests, the Lord's ministers, and all the families of the house of Aaron, trust in the Lord, (Psalms 115:10; Psalms 115:10); they are most maligned and struck at by the enemies and therefore of them God takes particular care. They ought to be examples to others of a cheerful confidence in God, and a faithful adherence to him in the worst of times. 3. Let the proselytes, who are not of the seed of Israel, but fear the Lord, who worship him and make conscience of their duty to him, let them trust in him, for he will not fail nor forsake them, Psalms 115:11; Psalms 115:11. Note, Wherever there is an awful fear of God, there may be a cheerful faith in him: those that reverence his word may rely upon it.
II. We are greatly encouraged to trust in God, and good reason is given us why we should stay ourselves upon him with an entire satisfaction. Consider, 1. What we have experienced (Psalms 115:12; Psalms 115:12): The Lord has been mindful of us, and never unmindful, has been so constantly, has been so remarkably upon special occasions. He has been mindful of our case, our wants and burdens, mindful of our prayers to him, his promises to us, and the covenant-relation between him and us. All our comforts are derived from God's thoughts to us-ward; he has been mindful of us, though we have forgotten him. Let this engage us to trust in him, that we have found him faithful. 2. What we may expect. From what he has done for us we may infer, He will bless us; he that has been our help and our shield will be so; he that has remembered us in our low estate will not forget us; for he is still the same, his power and goodness the same, and his promise inviolable; so that we have reason to hope that he who has delivered, and does, will yet deliver. Yet this is not all: He will bless us; he has promised that he will; he has pronounced a blessing upon all his people. God's blessing us is not only speaking good to us, but doing well for us; those whom he blesses are blessed indeed. It is particularly promised that he will bless the house of Israel, that is, he will bless the commonwealth, will bless his people in their civil interests. He will bless the house of Aaron, that is, the church, the ministry, will bless his people in their religious concerns. The priests were to bless the people; it was their office (Numbers 6:23); but God blessed them, and so blessed their blessings. Nay (Psalms 115:13; Psalms 115:13), he will bless those that fear the Lord, though they be not of the house of Israel or the house of Aaron; for it was a truth, before Peter perceived it, That in every nation he that fears God is accepted or him, and blessed, Acts 10:34; Acts 10:35. He will bless them both small and great, both young and old. God has blessings in store for those that are good betimes and for those that are old disciples, both those that are poor in the world and those that make a figure. The greatest need his blessing, and it shall not be denied to the meanest that fear him. Both the weak in grace and the strong shall be blessed of God, the lambs and the sheep of his flock. It is promised (Psalms 115:14; Psalms 115:14), The Lord shall increase you. Whom God blesses he increases; that was one of the earliest and most ancient blessings, Be fruitful and multiply. God's blessing gives an increase--increase in number, building up the family--increase in wealth, adding to the estate and honour--especially an increase in spiritual blessings, with the increasings of God. He will bless you with the increase of knowledge and wisdom, of grace, holiness, and joy; those are blessed indeed whom God thus increases, who are made wiser and better, and fitter for God and heaven. It is promised that this shall be, (1.) A constant continual increase: "He shall increase you more and more; so that, as long as you live, you shall be still increasing, till you come to perfection, as the shining light," Proverbs 4:18. (2.) An hereditary increase: "You and your children; you in your children." It is a comfort to parents to see their children increasing in wisdom and strength. There is a blessing entailed upon the seed of those that fear God even in their infancy. For (Psalms 115:15; Psalms 115:15), You are blessed of the Lord, you and your children are so; all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord has blessed,Isaiah 59:9. Those that are the blessed of the Lord have encouragement enough to trust in the Lord, as their help and shield, for it is he that made heaven and earth; therefore his blessings are free, for he needs not any thing himself; and therefore they are rich, for he has all things at command for us if we fear him and trust in him. He that made heaven and earth can doubtless make those happy that trust in him, and will do it.
III. We are stirred up to praise God by the psalmist's example, who concludes the psalm with a resolution to persevere in his praises. 1. God is to be praised, Psalms 115:16; Psalms 115:16. He is greatly to be praised; for, (1.) His glory is high. See how stately his palace is, and the throne he has prepared in the heavens: The heaven, even the heavens are the Lord's; he is the rightful owner of all the treasures of light and bliss in the upper and better world, and is in the full possession of them, for he is himself infinitely bright and happy. (2.) His goodness is large, for the earth he has given to the children of men, having designed it, when he made it, for their use, to find them with meat, drink, and lodging. Not but that still he is proprietor in chief; the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; but he has let out that vineyard to these unthankful husbandmen, and from them he expects the rents and services; for, though he has given them the earth, his eye is upon them, and he will call them to render an account how they use it. Calvin complains that profane wicked people, in his days, perverted this scripture, and made a jest of it, which some in our days do, arguing, in banter, that God, having given the earth to the children of men, will no more look after it, nor after them upon it, but they may do what they will with it, and make the best of it as their portion; it is as it were thrown like a prey among them, Let him seize it that can. It is a pity that such an instance as this gives of God's bounty to man, and such a proof as arises from it of man's obligation to God, should be thus abused. From the highest heavens, it is certain, God beholds all the children of men; to them he has given the earth; but to the children of God heaven is given. 2. The dead are not capable of praising him (Psalms 115:17; Psalms 115:17), nor any that go into silence. The soul indeed lives in a state of separation from the body and is capable of praising God; and the souls of the faithful, after they are delivered from the burdens of the flesh, do praise God, are still praising him; for they go up to the land of perfect light and constant business. But the dead body cannot praise God; death puts an end to our glorifying God in this world of trial and conflict, to all our services in the field; the grave is a land of darkness and silence, where there is no work or device. This they plead with God for deliverance out of the hand of their enemies, "Lord, if they prevail to cut us off, the idols will carry the day, and there will be none to praise thee, to bear thy name, and to bear a testimony against the worshippers of idols." The dead praise not the Lord, so as we do in the business and for the comforts of this life. See Psalms 30:9; Psalms 88:10. 3. Therefore it concerns us to praise him (Psalms 115:18; Psalms 115:18): "But we, we that are alive, will bless the Lord; we and those that shall come after us, will do it, from this time forth and for evermore, to the end of time; we and those we shall remove to, from this time forth and to eternity. The dead praise not the Lord, therefore we will do it the more diligently." (1.) Others are dead, and an end is thereby put to their service, and therefore we will lay out ourselves to do so much the more for God, that we may fill up the gap. Moses my servant is dead, now therefore, Joshua, arise. (2.) We ourselves must shortly go to the land of silence; but, while we do live, we will bless the Lord, will improve our time and work that work of him that sent us into the world to praise him before the night comes, and because the night comes, wherein no man can work. The Lord will bless us (Psalms 115:12; Psalms 115:12); he will do well for us, and therefore we will bless him, we will speak well of him. Poor returns for such receivings! Nay, we will not only do it ourselves, but will engage others to do it. Praise the Lord; praise him with us; praise him in your places, as we in ours; praise him when we are gone, that he may be praised for evermore. Hallelujah.
Copyright StatementPsalm 115 is a continuation of the collection of the Egyptian Hallel psalms (Psalms 113-118) sung by the Jews during their Passover celebrations. It therefore makes up part of the hymns which would have been sung by Jesus and His disciples on the night He was betrayed and arrested, the night before His crucifixion (Matthew 26:30 and Mark 14:26). It is especially meaningful to consider this psalm in the heart and on the lips of Jesus during those great moments.
Regarding the structure of this psalm, James Montgomery Boice observed: 'The opinion of the majority of scholars is that the psalm is liturgical, intended to be sung by alternating groups of worshipers: the priests, the high priest, the people, and so on.'
Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us,
But to Your name give glory,
Because of Your mercy,
Because of Your truth.
Why should the Gentiles say,
'So where is their God?'
a. Not unto us, but to Your name give glory: The singer of this psalm understood that when God did wonderful things, the glory should be given to God ' not to God's people (not unto us), even if they are in some sense active in the work. The glory should go unto God and His holy name.
i. 'This is the godly man's motto, and his daily practice.' (Trapp)
ii. 'Not first for the welfare of the people does [the psalmist] care, but for the vindication of his God. This is a deep note, and all too rare in our music. We are ever in danger of putting the welfare of man before the glory of God.' (Morgan)
iii. 'The repetition of the words, 'Not unto us,' would seem to indicate a very serious desire to renounce any glory which they might at any time have proudly appropriated to themselves, and it also sets forth the vehemence of their wish that God would at any cost to them magnify his own name.' (Spurgeon)
iv. 'Adoniram Judson, full of ambition, seeking a great name, met with this text, and rebelled against it; but he says that all his bright visions for the future seemed to vanish as these words sounded in his soul, 'Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory.'' (Spurgeon)
v. These verses were likely in the mind and heart of Jesus on the night before His crucifixion. Singing these words must have moved Him in a way beyond our comprehension. 'No soul ' neither that of the composer of the song, nor that of anyone who employs it ' ever entered so completely into all its deep spiritual significance, as did the soul of Jesus, as, before passing out to Olivet, to Gethsemane, to Calvary, He sang it with that little group of men.' (Morgan)
b. Because of Your mercy, because of Your truth: The mercy of God alone means that He is worthy of praise and glory ' not His people who receive His mercy. We may add to that His truth, because truth is grounded in Him and not in His people.
i. Mercy translates the great Hebrew word hesed, which may be understood as Yahweh's grace, His loyal love, His covenant love unto His people. When John later wrote grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (John 1:17), he wrote with the same idea of the psalmist and saw it perfectly fulfilled in Jesus.
ii. 'Thy mercy gave thy promise, thy truth fulfilled it.' (Clarke)
c. Why should the Gentiles say, 'So where is their God?' This is a skillfully formed prayer. The request is made subtly but powerfully. The psalmist asked God to deliver His people so that He would be glorified among the nations, and the Gentiles would have no reason to think God had forsaken them.
i. 'It was very natural that the heathen should say, 'Where is their God?' because they had no outward emblem, no visible image, no tangible token; whereas the heathen had their gods many, such as they were, made of wood and stone; so that they asked, 'Where is their God?'' (Spurgeon)
But our God is in heaven;
He does whatever He pleases.
Their idols are silver and gold,
The work of men's hands.
They have mouths, but they do not speak;
Eyes they have, but they do not see;
They have ears, but they do not hear;
Noses they have, but they do not smell;
They have hands, but they do not handle;
Feet they have, but they do not walk;
Nor do they mutter through their throat.
Those who make them are like them;
So is everyone who trusts in them.
a. But our God is in heaven: At best, nations worshipped imaginary beings and the projections of their own lusts and longing. At worst, the nations worshipped demonic spirits. Yet Yahweh, the covenant God of Israel is different. He lives and reigns in heaven, and sovereignly does whatever He pleases.
i. Our God is in heaven: 'Where he should be; above the reach of mortal sneers, over-hearing all the vain janglings of men, but looking down with silent scorn upon the makers of the babel.' (Spurgeon)
b. They have mouths, but they do not speak: The psalmist exposed the folly of idolatry. Men worshipped statues of silver and gold that they themselves made (the work of men's hands). The idols were fashioned with human body parts (mouths, eyes, ears, noses, hands, feet, and a throat). Yet they couldn't do with those body parts what their makers could ' speak, see, hear, smell, handle, walk, or even mutter. Men worship things so obviously below them!
i. 'The tone of the description is like that of the manufacture of an image in Isaiah 44:9-20.' (Maclaren)
ii. 'It is one of the places where Scripture, like the child in the story of the Emperor's New Clothes, takes a cool stare at what the world does not care to admit. What the psalm does to the gods, Ecclesiastes will do supremely to man and his ambitions.' (Kidner)
iii. Eyes they have, but they do not see: 'Certain idols have had jewels in their eyes more precious than a king's ransom, but they were as blind as the rest of the fraternity. A god who has eyes, and cannot see, is a blind deity; and blindness is a calamity, and not an attribute of godhead. He must be very blind who worships a blind god: we pity a blind man, it is strange to worship a blind image.' (Spurgeon)
iv. They do not smell: 'In sacred scorn he mocks at those who burn sweet spices, and fill their temples with clouds of smoke, all offered to an image whose nose cannot perceive the perfume.' (Spurgeon)
v. They do not walk: John Trapp related how an ancient city, under siege, put a chain on their idol statue of Hercules, so he would not abandon them in their time of need. Hercules did not go anywhere, but they were still conquered. 'The [smallest] insect has more power of [movement] than the greatest heathen god.' (Spurgeon)
vi. Nor do they mutter: 'Mutter, or make a noise, as this word signifies, Isaiah 10:14. They are so far from speaking with their throat and other instruments of speech as men do, that they cannot make such an inarticulate and senseless sound with them as the beasts do.' (Poole)
vii. 'A beautiful contrast is formed between the God of Israel and the heathen idols. He made everything, they themselves are made by men; he is in heaven, they are upon earth; he doeth whatsoever he pleaseth, they can do nothing; he seeth the distress, heareth and answereth the prayers, accepteth the offerings, cometh to the assistance, and effecteth the salvation of his servants; they are blind, deaf, and silent senseless, motionless, and impotent.' (Horne)
ix. Boice quoted Augustine's sharp addition to the indictment of idols and their worshippers: 'Even the dead surpass a deity who neither lives nor has lived.'
c. Those who make them are like them: The psalmist understood that when men worship things beneath them, it brings them lower. They begin to lose the strength of their own ability to perceive and interact with the world. All who make or all who trust in idols will have this as their destiny, and false gods draw men down, never up.
i. Those who make them are like them is virtually a spiritual law: we become like what we worship. When we worship the true God who reigns in righteousness, the God perfectly revealed in Jesus Christ, we become like Him. When we worship false and vain idols, we become like them.
ii. 'False worship is not innocent but demoralizing, and ultimately the worshipers will perish together with their perishable idols.' (VanGemeren)
iii. 'Worship is sure to breed likeness. A lustful, cruel god will make his devotees so. Men make gods after their own image, and, when made, the gods make men after theirs. The same principle which degrades the idolater lifts the Christian to the likeness of Christ.' (Maclaren)
iv. F.B. Meyer observed how this principle worked among those who worship idols: 'Men first impute to their deities their own vices, as the Greeks and Romans to the gods and goddesses of their Pantheon; and then endeavor to honor them by imitation.' He then noted how it worked in a positive sense among the disciples of Jesus: 'This is the Divine method: look and live; trust and be transfigured; abide in Him, and He shall abide in you.'
O Israel, trust in the LORD;
He is their help and their shield.
O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD;
He is their help and their shield.
You who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD;
He is their help and their shield.
a. O Israel, trust in the LORD: Knowing the folly of idolatry should renew our trust in the true God and compel us to look to Him as our help and shield. In this we have something of Peter's heart when he said, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life (John 6:68).
i. We see the singer's exhortation was not merely to trust the LORD, but to trust in Him. This goes beyond regarding Him as trustworthy, and actually placing our trust, our confidence, our reliance in Him and not in self or any idol.
ii. Despite our many disappointments when we look to other places for a help and a shield, we often repeat the mistake. We need to hear the commonsense exhortation to look nowhere else for help and protection.
iii. 'He is the succour, support, guardian, and defence of all who put their confidence in him.' (Clarke)
iv. We can imagine an idolater having to help and shield the idol he made or bought. It's much better to have a God who can be your help and shield.
b. O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD: If God's people as a whole should trust God, then those who are His appointed servants should trust Him even more. It was right and good for all the priesthood, all the house of Aaron, to regard the God of Israel as their help and their shield.
i. 'Ministers must be patterns to others of depending upon God, and living by faith.' (Trapp)
ii. 'You who are nearest to him, trust him most; your very calling is connected with his truth and is meant to declare his glory, therefore never entertain a doubt concerning him, but lead the way in holy confidence.' (Spurgeon)
c. You who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD: Those who truly respect and reverence Yahweh should take the logical step of putting their trust in the LORD. This third group (you who fear the LORD) may refer to Gentiles who loved and honored the God of Israel yet did not become Jews.
i. In the New Testament such people are known as God fearers (Acts 10:1-2, 13:16, 13:26), and the title may have come from such Old Testament passages as these. The Old Testament writers recognized Gentiles who honored the God of Israel (1 Kings 8:41, Isaiah 56:6).
ii. You who fear the LORD: 'These are most naturally understood as proselytes, and, in the prominence given to them we see the increasing consciousness in Israel of its Divine destination to be God's witness to the world.' (Maclaren)
iii. The thought of encouraging those who fear the LORD ' God-fearers, Gentiles who honor the God of Israel ' to trust in God must have sounded especially sweet to Jesus on the night of the last supper, knowing how great the harvest among the Gentiles would soon be.
The LORD has been mindful of us;
He will bless us;
He will bless the house of Israel;
He will bless the house of Aaron.
He will bless those who fear the LORD,
Both small and great.
a. The LORD has been mindful of us; He will bless us: The psalmist drew upon God's past faithfulness and used it as confidence in God's future blessing. He has not forgotten us in the past and He will not forget to bless us in the future.
i. 'God hath, and therefore God will, is an ordinary Scripture argument.' (Trapp)
ii. He will bless us: 'It is his nature to bless, it is his prerogative to bless, it is his glory to bless, it is his delight to bless; he has promised to bless, and therefore be sure of this, that he will bless and bless and bless without ceasing.' (Spurgeon)
b. He will bless the house of Israel: Blessings were pronounced upon all those who were called to trust in the Lord in Psalm 115:9-11. All who trust Him will be blessed, both small and great.
i. We take comfort that the small are mentioned first, meaning they will not be forgotten. 'God's blessing is for you, whoever you may be, if you will only stop trusting in yourself and your own devices and instead begin to trust God.' (Boice)
May the LORD give you increase more and more,
You and your children.
May you be blessed by the LORD,
Who made heaven and earth.
a. May the LORD give you increase more and more: In the world of ancient Israel, many looked to the idols of the nations for fertility and the prosperity of their fields, their flocks, and their families. In giving this blessing to those of us who fear and trust the LORD, the psalmist recognized Yahweh as the true source of such blessing, extending even to our children.
b. May you be blessed by the LORD, who made heaven and earth: Once again in this psalm, Yahweh is exalted above the idols of the nations. He alone has made heaven and earth.
i. 'If he blesseth, poverty cannot starve thee, sickness cannot kill thee, toil cannot wear thee out, sorrow cannot consume thee, life cannot allure thee, death cannot slay thee, hell cannot enclose thee.' (Spurgeon)
The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD's;
But the earth He has given to the children of men.
The dead do not praise the LORD,
Nor any who go down into silence.
But we will bless the LORD
From this time forth and forevermore.
Praise the LORD!
a. The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD's: The psalmist recognized God's authority as Creator over both heaven and earth (Psalm 115:15). Here he acknowledged God's continuing dominion over the heavens, probably in all three senses (the blue sky, the starry sky, and the heaven where God dwells).
b. The earth He has given to the children of men: Though God has authority over earth as the Creator, He has given a significant dominion on the earth to the children of men. The psalmist must have had in mind God's grant to Adam (and his descendants) of dominion over the earth (Genesis 1:26-30).
i. This dominion given by God means that men and women should use the earth and its resources for the good of humanity, as wise and thoughtful stewards. We can use, but we should not waste and destroy.
ii. 'The earth is man's, but by Jehovah's gift. Therefore its inhabitants should remember the terms of their tenure, and thankfully recognise His giving love.' (Maclaren)
iii. 'All is his, but we are his substantial heirs and trustees. There is generosity in the phrase, 'the earth he has given'; there is responsibility as well, for we are not its makers, nor is it simply 'there' as meaningless matter to exploit. Behind the gift is the Giver.' (Kidner)
c. The dead do not praise the LORD: Their voice is no longer heard among the living. Whatever heavenly choir they may join, they are absent from an earthly choir, and their praise will no longer testify to those who resist and reject the true God.
i. When Jesus sang this with His disciples (Matthew 26:30, Mark 14:26), He sang knowing that He would not sing among His disciples on earth anymore. Consider the depth of feeling in Jesus that would bring!
d. From this time forth and forevermore: Given the perceived uncertainty of praise in the life to come, the greatness of God, and the astounding blessing He has given to humanity, He is worthy to be praised forevermore. This is something to which God's people can say Hallelujah! (Praise the LORD!)
i. From this time forth and forevermore may have the sense, in this life and the life to come. There are only two times we should praise the LORD ' now and forever.
ii. 'We who are still living will take care that the praises of God shall not fail among the sons of men. Our afflictions and depressions of spirit shall not cause us to suspend our praises.' (Spurgeon)
iii. If the praise is to last forevermore, then it does extend into the world to come, even when the voice of praise is no longer heard on earth.
iv. 'Though the dead cannot, and the wicked will not, and the careless do not praise God, yet we will shout 'Hallelujah' for ever and ever. Amen.' (Spurgeon)
v. 'And again the thought reverts to the upper room, and the Singer Whose deepest passion was ever the will of God and the glory of His name; to the One Who was soon going into the silence where no note of praise would be heard; and yet to the One Who would turn the silence into song forevermore.' (Morgan)
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