Bible Commentaries
Psalms 135

Introduction

VII.
THE LIVING GOD INFINITELY ABOVE DEAD IDOLS

"The idols of the nations are silver and gold, The work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak not; Eyes have they, but they see not. They have ears, but they hear not; Neither is there any breath in their mouths. They that make them shall be like unto them; Yea, every one that trusteth in them."

Despite the fact of these words being a quotation from Psalms 115, Yates noted that, "They are especially appropriate here in order to set in sharp contrast the omnipotence of the Lord and the uselessness of idols."^(F1)

The whole ancient world, at the time of this psalm, was worshipping and praising pagan idols. These words demonstrate how infinitely far above such senseless, dead and decaying "gods" is the true "and Eternal God of Israel." No stronger motivation for his praise could be imagined.

These verses occur also in Psalms 115:4-8, above, where we devoted several pages to a discussion of what is written here. See my commentary above under Psalms 115:8.

Verses 1-3

THE CALL TO PRAISE GOD

"Praise ye Jehovah. Praise ye the name of Jehovah; Praise him, O ye servants of Jehovah, Ye that stand in the house of Jehovah, In the courts of the house of our God. Praise ye Jehovah, for Jehovah is good: Sing praises unto his name; For it is pleasant."

Five times in these three verses, men are exhorted to "Praise God." Who is it that is so admonished? The Levites whose continual duties were in the Temple were included; and as Rawlinson pointed out, "Those that stand in the courts of the house of the Lord are not priests, or Levites, but the people, all of those who throng the courts of the Temple."^(F2)

"Praise ye Jehovah… Bless ye Jehovah" Ballard called these expressions, "`Cultic shouts,' which served as responses, repeated several times as responses to the exhortation, directed now to priests, now to Levites, now to the laity, to `Praise the Lord.'"^(F3) The phrases written here were most certainly usable in such a manner; but as Addis warned us, "All that is uncertain, and becomes much more uncertain when the divisions are carried out more minutely."^(F4)

"Praise him, O ye servants of Jehovah" Augustine stated that, "If we were to be forever only servants, yet we ought to praise the Lord; how much more ought those servants to praise the Lord, who have obtained the privilege of sons?"^(F5)

I.

"For Jehovah is good" This is the first of seven reasons advanced in this psalm as arguments demanding the worship and the praise of God. Baigent was correct in stating that, "The worship of God (as spoken of in the Bible) was never a vague, emotional outburst, but was logically founded in the person and/or the work of God."^(F6) The other six reasons are cited below in Psalms 135:4-18.

Verse 4

II.

"For Jehovah hath chosen Jacob unto himself, And Israel for his own possession."

"For Jehovah hath chosen Jacob." This is cited here as the second reason why God's people should praise him. "Election is one of the most forcible arguments for adoring love. Chosen! Chosen by God Himself!"^(F7) Husbands and wives love each other because each spouse is "the choice" of the other. Where is any Christian whose heart does not thrill to the thought of God's unmerited love, bestowed upon "the beloved in Christ?"

Verse 5

III.

"For I know that Jehovah is great, And that our Lord is above all gods."

The eternal and almighty God, omnipotent, ubiquitous and omniscient is surely entitled to praise and adoration on the part of men. All nature sings the glory of God, why shouldn't I?

"Above all gods." This is not a reference to idols, but to earthly rulers, as in Psalms 82. (See chapter introduction there). Idols are mentioned in Psalms 135:15-18, but not in this passage. The meaning of this phrase is, "Above all that is worshipped as gods."^(F8)

Verses 6-7

IV.

"Whatsoever Jehovah pleased, that hath he done, In heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps; Who causeth the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; Who maketh lightnings for the rain; Who bringeth forth the wind out of his treasuries."

A fourth reason why God should be praised is that he is the "God of all creation." Heaven, earth, seas and all `deeps,' - everything that exists is subject to the will and the pleasure of the Almighty God. "As the universal sovereign, God is entitled to universal praise and worship."^(F9)

"Who causeth the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth" This is not a question, but a declaration. The great and inexplicable mystery of the ascent of waters from the surface of the seas and their return to earth as rain is mentioned here because of the very mystery of what happens. As Job expressed it, "God bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them." (Job 26:8).

Thirteen hundred millions of tons of water ascend into the heavens every minute of the day, contrary to the law of gravity. Who does this? God.

Spurgeon mentioned a certain scientist who calculated that from every square mile of the ocean's surface, every twelve hours, the process which we call evaporation, "Lifts 6,914 tons of water from the surface of the sea."^(F10) At least 135,000,000 square miles of the planet earth are oceans, to say nothing of about one third of a million square miles of lakes.^(F11) Multiplying this times approximately 7,000 tons of water each twelve hours gives almost a trillion tons. The meaning of this is simply astounding. It means that approximately 1,300,000,000 tons of water per minute enter the heavens via evaporation.

Here indeed are the "waters above the firmament," as God revealed in Genesis 1:7. Despite this truth, we read some recent so-called "interpreter" who actually wrote that, "`The waters above the firmament' was an ancient superstition founded upon a myth!"

Verses 12-14

"And God gave their land for a heritage, A heritage unto Israel his people. Thy name, O Jehovah, endureth forever; Thy memorial name, O Jehovah, throughout all generations. For Jehovah will judge his people, And repent himself concerning his servants."

These verses stress God's goodness to Israel as grounds for their obligation to praise God. The entire Old Testament is a record of God's infinite forbearance, love, blessing, protection and encouragement of Israel throughout its history.

"Jehovah… will repent himself concerning his servants" We have no way of knowing exactly how the psalmist himself might have understood this promise; but we are sure that Israel as a whole misunderstood it. The nation, if we may judge by what they did, concluded that no matter what they did; no matter how often they rebelled against God; no matter how deliberate and bitter their resistance to God's will might become - no matter what, Israel would never lose their status as God's Chosen People, and that God would always deliver them and accommodate himself to their wickedness.

Even when Jerusalem was in the process of being destroyed by the armies of Vespasian and Titus, the final high priest of Judaism comforted his people with the statement that Jerusalem would stand until the Messiah came, and since the Messiah had not come, Jerusalem would continue to stand.

Verses 19-21

THE EPILOGUE

"O house of Israel, bless ye Jehovah: O house of Aaron, bless ye Jehovah: O house of Levi, bless ye Jehovah: Ye that fear Jehovah, bless ye Jehovah. Blessed be Jehovah out of Zion, Who dwelleth at Jerusalem. Praise ye Jehovah."

This epilogue matches the prologue in the triple repetition of the words, "Bless Jehovah." In the prologue, "Praise Jehovah" is the repeated clause. All Israel, the priests "as the house of Aaron," and the Levites "as the house of Levi," are the persons addressed in the epilogue.

Barnes described this epilogue as, "An earnest call on all classes of the people to bless and praise the Lord. The language here is expressive of overflowing joy, the utterance of a heart full of exalted conceptions of the majesty, glory and mercy of God."^(F12)

Anyone who reads this psalm can hardly fail to catch the mood and feelings of the psalmist and to say "Amen and Amen."