Bible Commentaries
Psalms 136

Verse 1

CONTENTS

This Psalm is so much to the same purport with the former, that it should seem to be but a repetition of it, with the chorus of praise added to every verse. The subject is the same, and the words for the greater part are the same: so that it is a beautiful duplicate of what went before, with the addenda of Hallelujah.

Verses 1-9

In these verses the Psalmist is calling for praise to Jehovah from his numberless acts of goodness in the wisdom of creation. From the great works of God, the formation of the heavens, the earth, the sea, the lights of heaven, and the ordination of the servants of the Lord in the heavenly bodies; the Psalmist takes occasion to excite mankind to universal adoration. Sweet thought! how much Jesus, in his unequalled ministry, calls upon his people to unceasing praise and adoration!

Verses 10-25

From the kingdom of nature and providence, the sacred writer turns to the kingdom of grace, and in the history of Israel, in their deliverance from bondage, he showeth how great that salvation must be; which is in the person, and by the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Reader! what bringing out of Israel from Egypt, could equal the bringing out the souls of sinners from the worse than Egyptian bondage, even that of sin and death? What Red Sea, like the red sea of Christ's blood? What feeding in the wilderness, equal to Jesus feeding his people in this wilderness, with his own body and blood? And what enemies in Og king of Bashan, and Sihon, king of the Amorites, equal to the enemies of God, and of his Christ, which bring the Lord's Israel into continued bondage, and excite their fears unceasingly? Well may every child of God, whom the Lord hath set free, cry out, Who remembered us in our low estate, for his mercy endureth forever!

Verse 26

The Psalm sweetly ends as it began: Every good gift, and every perfect gift is from above. It is God that worketh in us, both to will, and to do of his good pleasure. And therefore we may find cause to give thanks to our God in Christ, and join the song, for his mercy endureth forever!

REFLECTIONS

READER! in going over this Psalm, which is a beautiful repetition of the former, I hope that both your heart and mine have been led out to see, that on every side causes are perpetually arising, to call up the voice of thanksgiving, and to lead the soul to God in Christ with hymns and anthems every hour. Say, Reader! can you adopt the chorus as your own? Doth the Lord's mercy endure forever? Did Jesus remember you in your low estate? Hath Jesus manifested himself in a way of grace? and do you know him as your Alpha and Omega, your hope and portion forever? It is truly blessed thus to see our mercies, that the soul may be kept alive to the remembrance of them, so as to call up love and adoration to the great Author of our mercies forever. May a gracious God in Christ, who hath afforded so many and such unceasing causes to praise him, give us also the grace of his Holy Spirit to acknowledge his goodness in bestowing such unmerited tokens of love, that all hearts may join the universal song, and say with the church, Who remembered us in our low estate, for his mercy endureth forever. Amen.