Not unto us, O Jehovah, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy loving-kindness and for thy truth's sake.
A people push glory away from themselves and ask that God's name be honoured instead. The writers below use older wording: "Jehovah" for "the LORD", and "mercy" and "truth" where the ESV has "steadfast love" and "faithfulness".
The opening words set the tone by shutting a door.
The opening verse gives the theme of the psalm — God's people refusing any merit in themselves, and crediting every blessing to the Lord. Psalm 114 had traced their deliverance to the presence of the Lord acting in power on behalf of His people. Psalm 115 shuts out the power and glory of man. "Not to us," they say, "but to your name give glory." His mercy and His truth have combined for the blessing of His people.
The verse does not just say "give God glory." It says give glory to His name.
The name of Jehovah means what He is in Himself. It is the revelation of His character, and also of His relationship with His people. His name (or glory) and His people's blessing go together. But making His glory our first aim is the only true way to secure our blessing.
That order does two things at once. And both reasons the verse gives belong to His name:
The first principle set before us here is putting the Lord's glory first. It is simple, but mighty — "not to us but to your name." We see it perfectly in Christ. Yet all the same, that glory is then linked with God's people. The first principle gives purity of motive; the second gives faith its courage and hope... "Give the glory to your name for your mercy" — mercy is part of His name; "and for your truth's sake" — truth is another.
after
The verse gives two reasons for the glory: mercy and truth. The order matters.
These words are not only humble awareness, but righteous desire: "To your name give glory." If there were only truth, God must have rejected Israel, for they had crucified their Messiah as well as broken their law. But the promises of Jehovah must not fail because man fails. So in His wisdom, deeper than we can trace, He brings in by mercy the fulfilment of His truth. Instead of trying to set up their own righteousness, they stumble at the stumbling stone and take mercy as their only and just hope. Then God establishes His truth according to His own promises and heart.
Israel could boast in truth, since truth was specially theirs. Mercy leaves nothing to boast about.
Then the wonders of Jehovah will no longer puff Israel up. They will need no humiliation any more, being truly humble in that day. From now on Jehovah's name is everything. His "mercy" comes first, instead of their boasting in "truth" because truth was specially theirs.
One writer names the singers: a faithful few in Israel, with nothing of their own to claim.
What a combination we have here. Mercy and truth have met together. We can sing of this now. Israel will one day sing of it, for the psalm speaks of them, not the church, as verse 9 shows. They will be brought in guilty before God, knowing it, having failed to stand before Him on the ground of their own righteousness. Then the godly remnant will sing of this, and turn to give Him all the praise and the glory... All this, blessed as it will be, will give them no ground for boasting, but full ground to give all praise and glory to Jehovah.
One writer sets this confession beside the proud words of Jerusalem's people. The difference is one small word.
Compare, for example, the scornful words of the people of Jerusalem with the confession of the humble remnant: "Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory." Leaving out the word "NOT" proved the people of Jerusalem guilty of two things. They despised their brothers. They also claimed honour that was not theirs, instead of giving it to God, from whom it comes, and to whom all glory is due.
The verse is not only Israel's future song. It fits anyone who traces salvation back to its source.
We fully believe that faith is the gift of God. It does not come by man's will or by human power... So all who are saved have the free and sovereign grace of God to thank for it. Their song is, and always will be: "Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for your mercy, and for your truth's sake."
- Not to us. The verse first clears human merit out of the way. It shuts out the power and glory of man before it says anything else.
- But your name. In its place stands God's name: what He is in Himself, His character revealed, and His relationship with His people.
- For mercy. Mercy comes first because truth alone would have meant rejection. Mercy brings in the fulfilment of what God promised.
- And truth. Once they take mercy as their only hope, God makes good His promises according to His own heart.
- So glory. Glory first is not glory instead of blessing. It gives purity of motive, and God's name and His people's blessing go together.
Wherefore should the nations say, Where then is their God?
The question in this verse is mockery, not curiosity: God's people are in trouble, so the world decides their God has failed them. The psalm sets that jeer right after the plea of verse 1, and the rest of the psalm answers it.
Israel's own condition, not God's weakness, gave the enemy this opening.
In the way God governs, they had been cast off because of their failure and idolatry. That gave the enemy the chance to ask, "Where is their God?" Israel may call the earth to tremble at the presence of the God of Jacob (Ps. 114:7); but where is He?
The same reproach falls on the Lord's people whenever His dealings look slow:
Such reproaches are often thrown at the Lord's people: "Where is their God?" (Ps. 115:2.) But the psalmist's heart knows that these "judgments" are good. They are God's decisions about good and evil. While God is patient with men, His dealings with them do not always seem to confirm those decisions. With the enemies of the believer, this is always a favourite reproach against him.
Faith does not answer the insult by defending itself. It asks God to act for His own sake:
The psalm begins by pleading that Jehovah will act for Himself and for the glory of His Name. It asks Him not to let the nations taunt His people, as if He were one of their own gods, nowhere to be found in the time of need. In fact it is Israel's sin that has given this even the appearance of truth. So they ask Him to give glory to His own Name, if He cannot give it to theirs. Not that men's opinion of Him is so important in itself — it is important to them, and to the love in Him that cared for them. And He had pledged Himself to faith, so they could plead with Him for the sake of His truth as well.
The prayer is old, and it rests on a link God Himself made:
To display His ways, God had made Himself the God of His people. "Why should the nations say, 'Where is their God?'" This was the ancient plea of Moses and Joshua. It also stands in contrast with the idols of the nations. When faith seeks God's glory first, that glory does not only bring blessing to the people; it also opens up, so that they know and grasp that glory itself in their hearts.
The same cry runs back through earlier psalms and the prophets, and forward to Christ:
The godly one — that is, the Spirit — then points back to that cry, the bitter grief spoken of in Joel and mentioned again in Psalm 42 and Psalm 43. "Why should the nations say, 'Where is their God?'" Moses spoke in the same spirit: "the Egyptians will hear of it, and what will You do to Your great name?" What a blessed boldness of faith! This kind of sorrow shows that it was on the cross, in those last sufferings, that Christ entered into it. For that is what the Jews were in effect saying to Him then, though they never could have said it before. The believing Israelite's answer is, Our God is in heaven.
The taunt was not new, and the psalms record how heavy it felt:
Would the nations still ask where their God is, repeating the taunt they threw at them in past days (42:3, 10; 79:10)? It must have been a hard taunt to bear while they waited for deliverance, and while the godly one had been driven from his home. But now the Lord has returned to Jerusalem, so the faithful can answer it. There is a time to suffer reproach and a time to push it back — as we read in Ecclesiastes, "a time to keep silence, and a time to speak" (3:7).
The reply points upward, and one writer ties it to Christ raised from the dead:
Israel rejoices in the thought that their God is "in the heavens." (v. 3; see Ps. 110:1) They may not fully understand it; but we know that as Jesus in the grave was a sign to them (Matt. 12:40), so is Jesus in resurrection. (Acts 2:30-31, Acts 13:32-33) And they will have an answer to the challenge their enemies kept repeating, "where is your God?"
- Occasion — The taunt got its foothold from the people's own failure and idolatry, not from any absence of God.
- Reversal — Faith does not defend its own record. It asks God to act for the glory of His name, because His name is what the mockery touches.
- Precedent — Moses and Joshua made the same plea. It holds because God has linked His honour to the people He took up.
- Company — The same sneer met Christ in His last sufferings, so anyone who bears it stands in His company.
- Answer — There is a time to bear reproach in silence and a time to reply. The reply is that God is in heaven — seen by faith in Christ raised from the dead.
But our God is in the heavens he hath done whatsoever he pleased.
In verse 2 the nations mock a people who cannot show them their God. Verse 3 is faith's reply. It answers two questions at once: where is this God, and what is He doing?
The taunt carried real questions. If God is real, why did He not step in and rescue His servants? One writer shows how weak faith's reply sounded to people who judge by sight, and why it was in fact a great claim.
To the taunt of the nations, faith has an answer: "Our God is in the heavens." To those who walked by sight this might seem a poor reply. If He was God, why did He not appear to rescue His servants? If He was the living God, how could He allow His own to be persecuted to death? If He was the only God, why did He not prove it by entering into conflict with all those who claimed to be God? Faith's answer was this: He was in the heavens. In one sense that seemed a small thing to say. In another sense it was a great deal. It claimed for the Lord that place which everyone agrees is God's proper place — heaven.
The psalm sets this God against the gods of the nations. The comparison turns on one thing: which of them can act.
These nations who taunted them — what were they? What were their gods? The Lord was unseen, yet seeing all that went on. These gods could be seen, but could not see. God was the living God, who dwelt in heaven. These had the form of living creatures, but without life, and were found on earth. He acted as He pleased. These could not at all. They began in the craftsman's imagination, and got their shape from the workman's skill.
"All that He pleases" can sound cold, as if raw power were the point. One commentator ties God's pleasure to what He did with it.
From the heavens where He dwelt on high, He had shown the glory of His power and made it felt. He had done according to His pleasure (verse 3), and that pleasure was the deliverance of His people. He had been mindful (verse 12) of those whom He had seemed to have forgotten.
If God does all He pleases, then what they suffered also came from Him. That is exactly how they took it.
They wait for His time, for they know Him. Though He is unseen, they know He is aware of all that goes on. They accept everything they have suffered from others as coming from Him. A God in heaven, acting in sovereign will and power — such was their God. Their lot was bitter, but it was God's will. Not one complaint escapes their lips.
Verse 2 shows a delay long enough for outsiders to draw conclusions from it. Verse 3 explains the delay without removing it.
Verse 3 gives the simple answer: "Our God is in the heavens; He does all that He pleases." He is above the level of their trials. If He pleases to delay an answer to their troubles, this is heavenly wisdom.
A long delay also tests whether we still believe God is fair.
The enlightened Christian will always vindicate God. "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" (Gen. 18:25) — grand words of Abraham — is a question to which he must ever give an emphatic "Yes." There we rest content. God is in the heavens. He reigns. He is carrying out the purpose of His own will. Where we cannot see, we can trust. There we can rest. Hallelujah!
The verse also throws light on Christ, by contrast. He is the one Person who could have claimed its freedom for Himself and did not.
His obedience went far beyond what the law required (Phil. 2:8). As the eternal Son of God He had the right to do as He pleased. But in becoming flesh He took the place of one from whom obedience was due (Ps. 115:3; Ps. 135:6; Ps. 40:7-8). He did the will of His Father, and not His own will, whatever it cost Him (John 4:34; Matt. 26:39; Heb. 5:7-8).
- Taunt. The nations ask where Israel's God is. No one can see Him, and He has not yet acted. People who walk by sight will always ask this.
- Answer. Faith names His location, not His appearance: He is in heaven, the place everyone agrees belongs to God.
- Contrast. People can see idols, but idols cannot see. A craftsman shaped them, and they can do nothing. He acts as He pleases; they cannot act at all.
- Pleasure. What pleased Him was the rescue of His people; He remembered those He had seemed to forget.
- Rest. He is above the level of our trials, so a delayed answer is wisdom, not neglect — and where we cannot see, we can trust.
Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands
Psalm 115 answers a taunt aimed at Israel: "Where is their God?" Faith points to the God of heaven, and verse 4 turns on the gods of the nations.
The verse is not an isolated remark about religion. It is the second half of a comparison, set against the God who is in the heavens.
(vv. 3-8) Faith replies, "Our God is in the heavens." A contrast is then drawn between the unseen God, known to faith, and the visible idols that the nations trust in.
Notice the reversal. The unseen God acts. The gods people can see do nothing.
"Silver and gold" names the material; "the work of human hands" names the maker. Between them, the idol has nothing left but the value of its metal.
"Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands" — worthless objects, except for the value of the metal they were made from. They were the work of human hands, so what could they do for man? How could a dying creature make a living God to save him? Why would a man who could make a God ever need one? What mockery, what delusion was all this! Man could mold the metal into human form and shape it after the noblest of God's creatures on earth. But where was the life? Where was the will? Where was the power?
One question there cuts deepest. A man who can make a god has already shown he does not need one.
The psalm does not say the idols were wood or clay. It names the two metals people prize most. One writer treats that detail as the clue to how idolatry starts.
"Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands," says the psalmist (Ps. 115:4). "Their land is filled with silver and gold … their land is filled with idols," says the prophet (Isa. 2:7-8). Man makes a god out of what he considers most precious, what his heart craves, and what adds to his glory. That is the root of idolatry. In lifting up his idol, he pushes God aside and lifts up himself.
The verses that follow spell out the result. A god with a mouth that stays shut shapes the person kneeling in front of it.
But the nations are foolish. The God of heaven does not visibly step in to give them whatever blessing they want, so they make gods of their own — out of material that the God of heaven created. They give them mouths, but what for? — because they do not speak; and eyes that are sightless… Who do such people think made them in the first place? — and made them capable of these various functions? But they drag themselves down to the level of their worthless idols. They cannot make right use of the parts of the body God has blessed them with.
If idolatry only meant carved images, the verse would be a museum piece. Commentators apply it far wider than that.
You do not have to bow down to a block of wood or a stone to be an idolater. Whatever commands the heart is an idol. Giving your heart to that thing is idolatry, and the person who gives it is an idolater… Take that one great, crying, universal sin of "covetousness." What does the inspired apostle call it? He calls it "idolatry." How many hearts are commanded by money! How many worshipers bow down before the idol of gold!
Having emptied out the idols, the psalm does not leave the reader with nothing. It redirects the trust — and it widens the invitation past Israel.
Since the LORD, the true God, is the help and shield of those who trust in Him, such favour is not limited to Israel. So the call reaches wider: "You who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield." It is the day of faith for all who fear God, whether Jews or Gentiles… It is the time to trust — and to trust in Him, who is both a help and a shield.
- Made — The verse tells the idol's whole story: precious metal, human hands. It claims nothing more for it.
- Maker — Idolatry begins when a man crowns what he already craves. He lifts up the idol so that he can lift up himself.
- Mockery — A dying creature cannot make a living God to save him. Anyone who can make one has shown he does not need one.
- Mirror — Worshippers sink to the level of what they worship, losing the right use of powers the true God gave them.
- Master — Whatever commands the heart is the idol. So the psalm's answer is not just to smash images but to trust the LORD as help and shield.
They have a mouth, and they speak not; eyes have they, and they see not;
Psalm 115 answers a taunt. The nations had asked Israel, "Where is their God?" The singers reply by pointing at the gods people can see. Then they list, part by part, what those gods cannot do.
The taunt worked because Israel's God could not be seen. One writer turns it around. The gods you can see are the ones with no sight and no life.
These pagans who taunted them — what were they? What were their gods? The Lord Jehovah was unseen, yet He saw everything that went on. These gods could be seen, but could not see. God was the living God, who lived in heaven. These had the form of living creatures, but no life, and were found on earth. He acted as He pleased. These could not act at all. They began in the craftsman's imagination and owed their shape to the workman's skill. ... Outwardly nothing was missing. Yet they lacked one thing: the breath of life. That came from God, and man with all his will could not give it. Like a corpse with all its parts complete, there was no life — and unlike a corpse, they had never lived, for man was their creator, not God.
The list starts with the mouth and the eyes. From those two parts of a person you get an answer.
What were they, these idol-images? Simply matter — silver and gold — shaped by men's hands! Mouth and eyes are there all right. People say that both of them "speak." In different ways both bear witness for the man himself, and show what is in his heart. But the idol gives no response to its worshipper by word or look.
The mockery does not stop with the statue. A maker who can give a mouth that cannot speak has forgotten who gave him his own.
They give them mouths, but what for? — because they do not speak; and eyes that are sightless. But it is just as well for them, since their idols cannot see what their worshippers are doing! In the same way, their deaf ears are better than having a god who could hear their evil words. Who do such people think made them in the first place, and gave them the power to do all these things? But in their folly they sink to the level of their worthless idols. They cannot use as they should the parts of the body God has blessed them with.
The verse is often read as a description of foreign statues only. One writer gives that test a wider reach. An idol is anything with the outward look of God's attributes and none of the substance.
In one of the Psalms you find a description of the idols of the nations. On the outside they have everything that speaks of wisdom and power and intelligence, but not the reality. So to serve idols is to put the heart and the conscience under the power of something God has not revealed to the soul as real.
Against the silent mouth and the blind eye stands a God who does what the idol cannot.
After the flood idolatry came into the world. Men worshipped gods of their own making. Of them the Psalmist wrote, "They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see... They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk" (Psalm 115:5-7). How different from the idols of the nations was the living God! He said to Moses, "I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters; I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them" (Exodus 3:7-8). From the very beginning of man's history God has shown Himself interested in man's welfare, with special interest in those who trust Him.
The psalm does not stop at ridicule. It calls for trust, and widens that call past Israel.
Since Jehovah, the true God, is the help and shield of those who trust in Him, such favours are not limited to Israel. So the call takes a wider range: "You who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield." It is the day of faith for all who fear God, whether Jews or Gentiles. It is not yet the bright, joyful time of deliverance.
- Living or lifeless — an idol has every part but no breath. The God you cannot see is the God who sees everything.
- Mouth and eyes — the psalm names these first because a person answers you by word and look. The idol returns neither.
- Made, then imitated — the maker forgets who gave him his own senses, and sinks to the level of the thing he made.
- The wider test — an idol is anything that looks like wisdom and power without the reality. The heart then rests on what God has not revealed.
- The living answer — the living God saw Israel's affliction, heard their cry, and came down to deliver them. The psalm calls all who fear Him to trust Him as help and shield.
They have ears, and they hear not; a nose have they, and they smell not;
The nations sneer at Israel, "Where is their God?" The psalm answers by turning the question back on the gods those nations can point to. Verse 6 takes two more senses off the list: an ear that catches no prayer, a nose that catches no offering.
One writer sets the unseen God beside the gods everyone can see, and finds the visible ones weaker.
God Jehovah was unseen, yet seeing all that went on. These gods could be seen, but could not see. God was the living God, who dwelt in heaven. These had the form of living creatures, but without life, and were found on earth. He acted as He pleased. These could do nothing at all. Man could mould the metal into human form, shape it according to the noblest of God's creatures on earth. But where was the life? Where the will? Where the power? Mouth, eyes, ears, nose, hands, feet, throat, all were there. On the outside, nothing was missing. Yet they lacked one thing, the breath of life. That came from God, and man with all his will could not give it. Like a corpse with every part complete, there was no life. Yet in one way they differed from a corpse. The corpse had lived, for God had given it life. These never lived, because man made them, and not God.
The psalm goes through the organs one by one. Each one names a service the worshipper wanted and never got.
But the idol gives no response to his worshipper by word or look. No, he notices nothing. He does not hear the voice that cries to him. He does not smell the incense or the sacrifice. He can stretch out no hand to help. No foot of his stirs to bring relief. Not even a murmur of sound comes from the idle throat.
Set that deaf ear beside the living God. He hears the cry, and He comes down.
After the flood idolatry came into the world, and men worshipped gods of their own making, of whom the Psalmist wrote, "They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. They have ears, but do not hear" (Psalm 115:5-6). The living God was nothing like the idols of the nations. He said to Moses, "I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters; I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them" (Ex. 3:7-8).
One writer finds grim humour in these dead senses. The worshipper is better off with a god that notices nothing — but the joke turns back on the maker.
They give them mouths, but what for? — because they do not speak; and eyes that are sightless. But it is just as well for them, since their idols cannot see what their worshippers are doing! In the same way, deaf ears are better than a god that can hear their evil words. Their noses smell nothing, their hands can do nothing, their feet cannot walk. Who do such people think made them in the first place, and made them able to do these various things? But they foolishly drag themselves down to the level of their worthless idols, unable to make right use of the parts of the body God has blessed them with.
The mockery clears the ground for a call to trust. And that call is not fenced off to one nation.
And since the LORD, the true God, is the help and shield of those who trust in Him, such favours are not confined to Israel. So the call takes a wider range: "You who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield." It is the day of faith for all, whether Jews or Gentiles, who fear God.
One writer widens the word idol to whatever now takes God's seat.
And let us remember that the same tendency is at work with us today. That is why the first letter of John ends with the words, "keep yourselves from idols." Now for us an idol is anything that traps us and takes over in our hearts the place that belongs to God alone.
- Dead god. The idol has every organ and no life. It is a corpse in metal, because the breath of life comes from God, and no craftsman can supply it.
- Deaf ear. Verse 6 names what the worshipper wanted: a god who hears his cry and takes his offering. Neither prayer nor incense reaches anyone.
- Deadened worshipper. The mockery turns on the maker. Those who bow to what cannot see or hear sink to the level of what they made.
- Living God. The living God sees the affliction, hears the cry, knows the suffering, and comes down to deliver. That is the opposite of the dead ear and nose.
- Living trust. So the psalm ends not in ridicule but in a call to trust Him as help and shield. It is open to Israel and to all who fear God. And it still asks what has taken His place in your heart.
They have hands, and they handle not; feet have they, and they walk not; they give no sound through their throat.
Psalm 115 sets the God of Israel against the gods the nations made for themselves. He is in the heavens, and He does whatever He pleases. Verse 7 ends the list of these made gods. Hands, feet and throat are all there, and all useless. The sting of the list is what it says about the people who bow down to them.
The figure is complete. The maker has carved or cast into the metal every organ a living body needs. Still nothing happens.
The idols are the work of human hands. What could they do for man? How could a dying creature make a living God to save him? Man could shape the metal into human form. He could model it on the noblest of God's creatures on earth. But where was the life, where the will, where the power? Mouth, eyes, ears, nose, hands, feet, throat, all were there. From the outside, nothing was missing. Yet they lacked one thing: the breath of life. That came from God, and man with all his will could not give it. Like a corpse, with all the members complete, there was no life.
The psalm is not simply cataloguing defects. It walks through the moment of need. The worshipper calls, burns incense and waits. At each point the idol fails him.
The idol gives no response to his worshipper by word or look. In fact he takes in nothing. He does not hear the voice that cries to him. He does not notice the smell of incense or of sacrifice. No hand can he stretch out to help, no foot of his will move to bring relief, not even a murmur of sound is in the idle throat.
Verse 8 turns the list back on the people who made these gods.
They foolishly drag themselves down to the level of their worthless idols. They fail to use rightly the parts of the body God has blessed them with.
The contrast here is not between a better god and a worse one. It is between a thing that is made and the One who makes.
"Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands," says the psalmist (Ps. 115:4); with hands, eyes, lips, but neither power, knowledge, nor words — man's miserable creature. How worthless it looks next to the true God, the Creator and Lord of all! With Him is power, knowledge, wisdom; and "He who planted the ear, does He not hear? He who formed the eye, does He not see?" (Ps. 94:8-9).
One writer places this psalm at a future turning point for Israel. Two things happen there together.
It is clearly the day of Israel's repentance (v. 2; Joel 2:12-17). They look on Him whom they have pierced and weep for Him. This is their repentance for having rejected Christ. Following this is their rejection of the idols they once sought after (vv. 4-8).
The psalm does not stop at mockery. It turns to an invitation. Israel, the house of Aaron, and all who fear the Lord are each called to trust Him:
He alone can help, and defend those who trust in Him.
A silver statue is easy to dismiss. The principle behind the psalm is harder to escape.
Somebody may say, What is an idol? I do not want to try to define it. But I am sure I can say this. An idol is whatever creeps into the affections and takes over the unique place in the heart that belongs to God alone.
- Made — the idol is metal shaped by human hands: every limb present, outwardly complete, with no breath of life in it.
- Motionless — no hand stretches out to help, no foot moves to bring relief, no sound comes from the throat. The worshipper's cry meets nothing.
- Mirrored — those who trust such gods come to resemble them, degraded to the level of what they made.
- Measured — the One who planted the ear hears, and the One who formed the eye sees. Power, knowledge and wisdom are with Him.
- Met — the psalm's answer is trust: Israel, the house of Aaron, and all who fear the Lord find in Him their help and shield.
They that make them are like unto them, -- every one that confideth in them.
The psalm has just described the idols of the nations: metal shaped into mouths, eyes and hands that do nothing. Now it turns from the statues to the people, and the verdict lands on the makers and on everyone who trusts them.
The images have every organ of a living person and not one of its powers. That emptiness does something to the worshipper. One writer traces the silence of the idol straight through to the state of the man kneeling before it:
The idol gives no response to his worshipper by word or look. He takes in nothing. He does not hear the voice that cries to him. He does not smell the incense or the sacrifice. No hand can he stretch out to help, no foot of his will move to bring relief, not even a murmur of sound is in the idle throat. What can these senseless gods do but degrade the men who bow before them into beings just as senseless? And this is the just penalty on those who can forsake God to follow what are plainly their own inventions.
Two things pass from the idol to the worshipper. The first is powerlessness. A writer sets the living God beside the idols:
Faith can say, "Our God has done whatever He pleased." As for the idols that men have made, they can neither speak, nor see, nor hear, nor smell, nor act, nor walk. In a word they are helpless — and so are those who trust in them.
The second is the loss of the mind itself. The same words come again in Psalm 135. There a writer says what the worshipper becomes:
They are without wisdom and without the ability to reason rightly. They have brought themselves down to the level of empty "nothings." And this is true of all those who trust in such worthless things.
The resemblance runs in both directions. A man makes his god, so the god ends up looking like the man who made it. One writer traces this across the nations:
Man lost the knowledge of God, and turned to the resources of his own mind to fill the void. It was soon filled with an object that never attracted love, though it raised fear. The homage paid was the price for turning away its anger. In fact the object took its character from that of its worshippers. The debased Egyptian worshipped an ox, reptiles and leeks. The cruel Canaanite, and the Israelite after him, burned his children in honour of Molech. The sensual Greek and Roman gave their gods qualities unfit to name.
The verse names two groups: those who make idols and those who trust them. Neither needs a carved image. One writer shows how the sin survives without one:
Idolatry takes various shapes. So the question is not the shape of the thing, but the thing itself. It is not the outward form, but the root or principle behind it. We read that "covetousness is idolatry," and that a covetous man is an idolater. That is, a man who wants more than God has given him is an idolater. He is guilty of the very sin of Israel when they made the golden calf and worshipped it. … And what do those closing words of the first letter of John mean: "Little children, keep yourselves from idols"? Do they not tell us that we are in danger of worshipping idols? They do indeed.
One history tells of Jean Leclerc. He begged the crowd to worship God alone, and confessed Christ before his judges. As his persecutors tortured him, he recited this psalm aloud:
"Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see… Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them. O Israel, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield."
- Trust decides. The verse turns on trust: what a person leans on is what he will come to resemble.
- Likeness is loss. To resemble an idol is to share its helplessness and its lack of sense. The worshipper sinks to an empty "nothing."
- Likeness is judgement. Commentators call this shrinking a just penalty. The man left God to follow his own inventions.
- Likeness is mutual. The god a man makes takes its character from him. Cruelty and lust get carved into worship, then handed back as religion.
- Likeness has no limits. Idolatry needs no statue. Wanting more than God has given is idolatry too, and John warns us to keep ourselves from idols.
O Israel, confide thou in Jehovah he is their help and their shield.
Psalm 115 answers the taunt of the nations, "Where is their God?" It sets the living God in heaven against idols of silver and gold. Those idols have mouths, eyes and hands, but they cannot use them. Verse 9 is the turn. The psalm has shown what idols cannot do. Now it calls the people to lean on the God who can, and it names Him in two words — help and shield.
The call to trust rests on what the psalm has just said about God and about idols.
In Psalm 115 faith speaks again. It claims that the God who acted in the past is the living God today. The idols of the nations are utter emptiness. The men who make them and then trust in them are just as foolish. Our God is in the heavens, and He still acts as He pleases. He is therefore worthy of all confidence. So the psalmist calls on Israel, the house of Aaron, and all who fear the Lord to trust Him as their help and shield.
Set against the idols, the two words are not just poetry. They meet two different needs: God holds His people up, and He keeps them safe.
What a contrast for the believer! Israel is told simply to trust in the Lord, who is both their help to sustain them and their shield to protect them (v. 9). The psalm speaks to the nation as a whole first. Then it singles out the priestly family, the house of Aaron (v. 10). If they needed this urgent warning, so do believers today, who are all priests. Because our faith grows too weak, we need our souls stirred up to trust the Lord constantly for every step of the way.
A shield is a soldier's word. Much of its work is never noticed.
The Lord God is also a shield. Ancient warriors used a shield to protect their bodies from arrows, spears and darts in battle. So our God is our shield. How little we know of the many dangers we escape every day of our lives because He Himself protects us. We should keep this in mind constantly.
Verse 9 begins a series. Israel, then the house of Aaron, then all who fear the LORD — each hears the same call and is given the same reason.
"Israel" is of course the whole nation — the born-again nation that will enter into millennial blessedness. "The house of Aaron" is the priestly family, brought into special nearness to God. "Those who fear the Lord" is a description that would include the godly from among the Gentiles. In Psalm 115 they were all told to trust in the Lord, who proves Himself to be a help and a shield.
Another writer reads the three as marking out different sides of God's dealings with His own — grace received, grace ministered, and grace at work within.
"Israel" is the nation as a whole, the people of Jehovah, the objects of His grace. Like their father Jacob, they are crippled in their own strength. So they cling to Him in their helplessness, and they do not cling in vain. The house of Aaron, on the other hand, are the recognised ministers of this grace. They speak of sacrifice — of the work of Another for them. And "those who fear Jehovah" show by this description the work of the Spirit in them.
The writer asks why such a call should be needed at all, and points ahead to a return of idol worship. He then widens the call beyond Israel.
It might seem strange that such a call should be needed. Yet we read that most of the nations will return to this sin and worship idols again. And since Jehovah, the true God, is the help and shield of those who trust in Him, such favours are not confined to Israel. So the exhortation takes a wider range: "You who fear Jehovah, trust in Jehovah, He is their help and their shield." This is the day of faith for all who fear God, whether Jews or Gentiles. The bright, joyful time of deliverance has not yet come. It is the time to trust, but to trust in Him who is at once a help and a shield.
One man, sentenced to death for calling people away from idols, spoke them as he died.
He confessed his crime freely — in fact he gloried in it. He urged the people to give up idolatry and return to the worship of the one true God. They passed sentence of death on him and hurried him to the place of his execution... But while the torture went on, he recited the psalmist's words in a clear, steady voice: "Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands... O Israel, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield."
- Contrast — Idols have mouths, eyes and hands that do nothing. The God of heaven "still acts as He pleases." He alone is worthy of confidence.
- Help — The first word meets our weakness. He holds up people who cling to Him "in their helplessness."
- Shield — The second word meets danger. Like a warrior's shield, He guards us from dangers we never even hear about.
- Reach — The same call runs from the nation, to the priestly family, to everyone who fears the LORD. These favours are "not confined to Israel."
- Now — The call reaches today. Believers, who are all priests, need their souls stirred up to trust "for every step of the way."
House of Aaron, confide in Jehovah he is their help and their shield.
Psalm 115 first mocks lifeless idols, then calls three groups to trust the LORD. Verse 10 is the middle call, spoken to the priestly family descended from Aaron — which raises a question: why do the men closest to God need telling?
The psalm names three groups in turn, and the repetition is not decoration. One writer sets out what each name stands for:
"Israel" is the nation as a whole: the people of the LORD, the objects of His grace. Crippled like their father in their own human strength, they cling to Him in their helplessness — and they do not do so in vain. The house of Aaron, on the other hand, are the recognised ministers of this grace. They speak of sacrifice — of the work of Another for them. And "those who fear the LORD" show by that description the work of the Spirit in them.
One writer asks why such a call was needed at all, and points to what is still coming:
It might seem strange that such a call was needed at all. Could they not all see the idols, and learn what they were? Had not their forefathers suffered for idolatry? All true. Yet we read that most of the nations will return to this sin, and worship idols again. And the call to trust in the LORD will be needed even more then. For in that day those who fall away will be outwardly prosperous, having more than the heart could wish.
One writer explains what help and shield mean, then carries the call over to believers:
Israel is told simply to trust in the LORD, who is both their help to sustain and their shield to protect (v. 9). The psalm speaks to the nation first, then singles out the priestly family, the house of Aaron (v. 10). If they needed this urgent warning, so do believers today, who are all priests. Our faith becomes too weak, so our souls need stirring up to trust the Lord at every step of the way.
How far does that protection go? One writer presses the word "shield" to its limit:
Not one of His own can pass through death — not only without His permission, but without His express will. He has all authority, remember. All the unseen realms of the universe are under His control. "O Israel, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield" — a shield nothing can pierce.
Aaron's family held their place by birth, and that is the point of comparison:
All true believers are holy priests. They are made this by spiritual birth, just as Aaron's sons were priests because of their natural birth... How could anyone, long ago, have made himself a son of Aaron? Impossible. But being born of Aaron, he was thereby made a member of the priestly house.
Another writer names the privilege that comes with that place:
Christians are the priestly house of Christ, the true sons of the true Aaron. They alone match that picture, which most pass over in ignorance, as if it meant nothing. What privilege of the priest exceeds liberty of access to the sanctuary?
How could sinners call each other to this trust? One writer answers from God's own record, and follows the blessing out to each group the psalm names:
How then could they urge each other, and the Gentiles, to trust in the LORD? Their confidence rests on what He has done. "The LORD has remembered us." He had remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He had remembered the land too. Their forefathers had forgotten the LORD; He has remembered their children. "He will bless." They are hopeful — no, sure. "He will bless the house of Israel; He will bless the house of Aaron." Nor does the blessing stop there. "He will bless those who fear the LORD, both the small and the great."
- Three calls, one answer. The psalm calls Israel, the house of Aaron, and those who fear the LORD. Each one hears the same answer.
- Nearness is no substitute. The priestly family spoke of sacrifice in all their service, yet still needed this call. Believers need it too, because faith grows weak.
- Help and shield. One word sustains, the other protects. Nothing can pierce that shield, since even death waits on His express will.
- Birth, not effort. Aaron's sons were priests by birth. Believers are the priestly house of Christ on the same ground, so this call speaks to them too.
- Grounded in His record. This trust rests on what God has already done: He has remembered His people. And the blessing reaches all who fear Him, small and great.
Ye that fear Jehovah, confide in Jehovah he is their help and their shield.
This verse closes a three-fold call in verses 9–11, and it is the widest of the three: Israel, then the priestly family of Aaron, then everyone who fears the LORD. The psalm has just shown idols to be worthless things people make, so the real question is who is worth trusting — and what He does for those who trust Him.
The psalm names three groups in turn. Each name has a precise sense.
"Israel" is of course the whole nation — the born-again nation that will enter the blessing of the coming thousand-year kingdom. "The house of Aaron" is the priestly family, brought into special nearness to God. "You who fear the LORD" is a description that would include godly people from among the Gentiles.
The third group is marked by reverence, not by birth. So the call reaches past the borders of one nation.
Israel, the house of Aaron, and all who fear the LORD are called to trust Him. This last group would open the door to all Gentiles who sought Jacob's face.
This was no late addition to God's plan.
We have already read of this third group — those who fear God — in Psalm 22:23. It had been God's purpose all along to call out from the Gentiles a company of faithful souls (Deuteronomy 32:43; Isaiah 45:20-24).
The call to trust rests on the contrast the psalm has just drawn. Idols are made by men; the God addressed here is alive and free to act.
In Psalm 115 faith speaks again and claims that the God who acted this way in days gone by is the living God today. The idols of the nations are completely empty, and the men who make them and then trust them are just as foolish. Our God is in the heavens, and He still acts as He pleases. So He is worthy of all confidence.
The two words at the end of the verse are not repetition. They meet two different needs. The call is repeated because even devoted people grow weak.
Israel is told to simply trust the LORD, who is both their help to sustain them and their shield to protect them (v. 9)… Our faith grows weak. So we need our souls stirred up to keep trusting the LORD for every step of the way. Then it is added, "You who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD!" For even pure minds need to be reminded and stirred up, so that they think hard about this: He is their help and their shield.
Why keep urging people to trust, when they already know what idols are? One writer points to a coming day when those who turn away from God will look prosperous.
Yet we read that most of the nations will return to this sin and worship idols again… The call to trust in the LORD will be needed all the more, because in that day those who fall away from God will look prosperous… And since the LORD, the true God, is the help and shield of those who trust in Him, such favours are not limited to Israel. So the call reaches wider… It is the day of faith for all who fear God, whether Jews or Gentiles. It is not the bright, joyful time of deliverance. It is the time to trust — but to trust in Him, who is both a help and a shield.
The same three groups appear again in Psalm 118, and what they are told to do has changed.
In verses 2-4 the same three groups appear that we had in Psalm 115… In Psalm 115 they were all told to trust in the LORD, who proves Himself to be a help and a shield. Here, in the light of what He has done — as the rest of the Psalm tells it — they are to praise Him and say that His mercy endures forever.
This psalm also belongs to the group sung on the night before the crucifixion.
They sang a hymn or psalm — Psalms 115-118 were the usual portion, it is said. For the disciples it was no doubt just the usual custom. But what must it have been for the Lord?
- Trust — the call. The psalm gives one command three times: to the nation, to the priestly family, and last of all to anyone who fears the LORD.
- Trust — the reach. Reverence, not birth, defines the third group, so the door opens to Gentiles too.
- Trust — the ground. People make idols, and idols cannot act; the living God is in the heavens and does as He pleases.
- Trust — the gift. He is help to sustain and shield to protect — one word for weakness, one for danger.
- Trust — the outcome. What begins as an urging to trust ends in Psalm 118 as a call to praise, when the same three groups see what He has done.
Jehovah hath been mindful of us he will bless, he will bless the house of Israel; he will bless the house of Aaron;
The psalm gives all glory to God's name, not to the singers, and then mocks the lifeless idols of the nations. Verse 12 turns the corner: what God has already remembered becomes the ground for what He will do.
The singers are not appealing to their own record.
Their confidence rests on what He has done. "The LORD has remembered us." He had remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He had remembered the land too. Their forefathers had forgotten Jehovah. He has remembered their children. "He will bless." They are hopeful — more than that, they are sure.
Their disgust with idols and God's memory of them belong to the same day.
This only deepens their hatred of idols, which had trapped them for so long. But if they forgot Jehovah, He remembered them. That day is a day of blessing for Israel's house and for Aaron's, and for those who fear Jehovah, both small and great.
The verse moves from something already done to something not yet done. That move is only valid because of who God is.
That call to trust holds a great deal of encouragement. After it comes the argument from experience about this living God. For those who know that He never changes, saying "The LORD has remembered us" gives them the right to say "He will bless us."
What they look back on is a record of failures, not successes.
Though God is in the heavens (v. 3), the godly can look back over their long history of failure and say, "The LORD has remembered us." They have known Jehovah's care in the past. So they can look to the future with confidence, and say that He will bless Israel, the house of Aaron, and all who fear the Lord, both small and great.
Israel, the house of Aaron, and those who fear the Lord are three named groups, and the third is the widest.
"Israel" means the whole nation — the born-again nation that will enter millennial blessing. "The house of Aaron" is the priestly family, brought into special nearness to God. "Those that fear the Lord" is a description that would include the godly from among the Gentiles.
Aaron's family is the priestly line descended from Moses' brother. Naming that group separately points to something on which everything else rests.
Setting the house of Aaron apart from the rest of the nation still seems to point to sacrifice as the basis on which everything for them always rests.
Just before verse 12, the psalm calls these same groups to put their confidence in the Lord. The blessing lands on the ones told to trust.
Jehovah, the true God, is the help and shield of all who trust in Him. So such favours are not limited to Israel. The call then goes wider: "You who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield." This is the day of faith for all who fear God, whether Jews or Gentiles. It is not the bright, joyous time of deliverance. It is the time to trust — to trust in Him who is both a help and a shield.
The order in the psalm matters. It seeks God's honour before it asks anything for His people, and the two are linked.
The first principle set before our eyes here is putting the Lord's glory first. It is simple but mighty — "not to us but to your name." We find it perfectly in Christ. Even so, that glory is then linked with God's people. The first principle gives purity of motive; the second gives the courage and hope of faith.
Commentators are careful about which blessing this psalm promises, and how it differs from what Christians are given.
Heaven was His; the earth He had given to men. This shows clearly that earthly blessing is the scene before us. He has not given us the earth. He has given us the cross in it — and heaven, and what is there, as our own things. We seek the things that are above, not the things that are on the earth.
- Remembered. They forgot Him. He remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and remembered their children.
- Unchangeable. Because He does not change, "The LORD has remembered us" earns the right to say "He will bless us."
- Widening. The blessing runs from Israel, to Aaron's priestly house, to everyone who fears Him — Gentiles included.
- Trusting. The same three groups were first told to trust Him as help and shield; blessing follows faith, not merit.
- Glorifying. Glory to His name comes first, which keeps motives pure. The blessing of His people follows, and gives faith its courage and hope.
He will bless them that fear Jehovah, both the small and the great.
Psalm 115 sets the living God against idols that cannot speak, see, or act. Verse 13 names who gains when He acts, and the answer turns on the fear of the LORD, not on birth or rank.
The verse names a third group after Israel and the house of Aaron. Commentators take "those who fear the LORD" to mean believers from outside the nation. God had always meant to gather them.
Of this third class just mentioned — those who fear God — we have read in Psalm 22:23. All along it had been God's purpose to call out a company of faithful souls from among the Gentiles (Deuteronomy 32:43; Isaiah 45:20-24). Now that God has stepped in for Israel, He can assure all three classes of His blessing.
Each group has its own standing before God. Yet the blessing does not stop with Israel and the priests.
Israel, as God's earthly people, have a special place before Him. Aaron's house, as the earthly priesthood, have their own privileges from Him. But God will bless Gentiles as well as Jews. He will overlook no one in that day. How often have the great ones of the earth neglected deserving people! The LORD will bless all who fear Him.
The same three groups appear just before, in the call to trust.
Israel, the house of Aaron, and all who fear the LORD are called to trust Him. This last would open the door to all Gentiles who sought Jacob's face.
The pair "small and great" is a way of naming rank. The same phrase appears in Revelation. One writer applies it there to people in every class who fear God's name.
There are those who fear the name of the Lord in all ranks and classes of society. The technical expression "the small and the great" marks out the standing of each in the world and before God.
One writer turns the phrase into comfort for anyone who measures himself against others.
Be willing to be among the "small" — heaven has fitted itself to receive "small" and "great" together. Do not be uneasy if you judge yourself little in fruitfulness, devotion, or grace compared with others. Be willing to enter heaven as a "small" one. The glory has made its reckoning accordingly.
The certainty of "He will bless" is not optimism. It rests on what God has already been to a people with a poor record.
Though God is in the heavens, the godly can look back over their long history of failure and say, "The LORD has been mindful of us." They have known the LORD's care in the past. So they can look to the future with confidence and say He will bless Israel, the house of Aaron, and all who fear the LORD, both small and great. What is more, He increases those He blesses, and blesses them now.
The people who say this had no claim of their own.
What right had these to take up such language? Were they not sinners themselves? Were they not suffering for their forefathers' sins in rejecting the Messiah of God? How then could they urge each other, and the Gentiles, to trust in the LORD? Their confidence rests on what He has done. He had remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He had remembered the land too. Their forefathers had forgotten the LORD; He has remembered their children.
One writer sets this blessing apart from what belongs to Christians now.
They were the blessed of the LORD, the maker of heaven and earth. Heaven was His; the earth He had given to men. This shows plainly that the earthly blessing is the scene before us. He has not given us the earth, but the cross in it — and heaven, and what is there, as our own things.
- Cause. Confidence rests on memory, not merit. God has been mindful of a people whose own history was failure.
- Gift. God promises blessing to a described people, not to an inherited class: those who fear the LORD.
- Reach. Blessing moves from Israel to Aaron's house and out to all who fear Him. Gentiles come in, and God overlooks no one.
- Measure. "Small and great" covers every rank. The least may take the promise as fully as the greatest, and need not measure himself against others.
- Result. The blessing here is earthly — the earth given to men — while the Christian's portion is heaven and what is there.
Jehovah will add unto you more, unto you and unto your children.
A promise of increase lands in a psalm that has just turned its back on idols. It raises a practical question: who receives this growth, and why does the promise name children beside their parents?
The psalm sits at a turning point. A nation is coming back to confidence in God after He has acted for them.
This is the celebration of their return to confidence in Jehovah, after His intervention in power, as in Psalm 114. It is clearly the day of Israel's repentance (v. 2). They look on Him whom they pierced and weep for Him. This is their repentance for having rejected Christ. Following this is their rejection of the idols they once ran after (vv. 4-8). Israel, Aaron, and those who fear Jehovah are called to this confidence. Their children too are formally brought into the joy of the blessing (v. 14).
The promise of more does not come first. It rests on what the people can already look back on.
Though God is in the heavens (v. 3), the godly can look back over their long history of failure and say, "The Lord has been mindful of us." Having experienced Jehovah's care for them in the past, they can look on to the future with confidence, and say He will bless Israel, the house of Aaron, and all who fear the Lord, both small and great. What is more, those He blesses are increased, and blessed in the present, for the psalmist says, "You are blessed." The One who blesses is the Maker of heaven and earth.
The "you" being multiplied is wider than one nation. The three groups called to trust in the earlier verses are the three groups now blessed.
Their confidence is based on what He has done. "The LORD has been mindful of us." He had remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob... Their forefathers had forgotten Jehovah. He has remembered their children. "He will bless." They are hopeful — no, they are sure. "He will bless the house of Israel; He will bless the house of Aaron." Nor does the blessing stop there. "He will bless those who fear the LORD, both the small and the great." ... Gentiles as well as Jews will share this blessing. Nobody will be overlooked in that day. Jehovah will bless all who fear Him. Not "your children after you," but "you and your children," both together. How complete that blessing must be, when the Creator of heaven and earth pours it down on them!
Naming the children is not a poetic flourish. One writer hears in it the same note Peter struck at Pentecost. That was the day the Holy Spirit came on the first believers.
Verse 14 is plainly like what Peter declared on the day of Pentecost: the promise is to their children, made good in a risen Christ. It is strong evidence of the mind of God for children. His principle is that the children share in the privilege. He states it plainly in every period: before the law in Abraham's family, under law, in the day of the gospel, and in the millennial scene.
That principle runs through one account after another, from the flood to the early church.
Scripture speaks with unusual clarity about God's thought for the children of His people... In Genesis 7, God says to Noah, "Go into the ark, you and all your household." Then we have the blessing of Abraham's descendants... The New Testament continues this principle. The Lord says to Zacchaeus, "Today salvation has come to this house" (Luke 19:9). Peter on the day of Pentecost declares, "The promise is for you and for your children" (Acts 2:39). To Cornelius the angel says, "he will declare to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all your household" (Acts 11:14). And to the Philippian jailer Paul says, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household" (Acts 16:31).
The next verses tie the promise to the earth. One writer draws a sharp line between that hope and the Christian's.
He had been mindful of them, and would bless them; yes, increase them more and more, them and their children. They were the blessed of Jehovah, the maker of heaven and earth. Heaven was His; the earth He had given to men. This shows how clearly the earthly blessing is the scene before us. He has not given us the earth. He has given us the cross in it — and heaven, and what is there, as our own things. We seek the things that are above, not the things on the earth.
One writer allows a present use of these words. But he puts their full weight in the future reign of Christ on earth.
We may apply these verses to believers in the present time. But their fullest application is in the millennium. Then the Lord will certainly increase Israel more and more (v. 14), and as Creator of heaven and earth will bless them increasingly (v. 15).
- Ground — The promise comes to people who have just turned from idols. They can say God has been mindful of them. Memory of His care is what makes hope for the future reasonable.
- Gift — God adds the increase; nobody earns it. The One who promises it is the Maker of heaven and earth, so the supply matches the Giver.
- Reach — The blessing covers Israel, the priestly family of Aaron, and everyone who fears the Lord, small and great. It reaches Gentiles as well as Jews, and leaves nobody out.
- Children — The promise reads "you and your children" together, not the children after you. That is a settled principle of God, running from Noah's household to Abraham's family to Peter's word at Pentecost.
- Horizon — This blessing is earthly, and it reaches its fullness in the coming reign of Christ. The Christian's own portion is heaven, not the earth.
Ye are blessed of Jehovah, who made the heavens and the earth.
Psalm 115 opens with idols that cannot speak, see, or act. Verse 15 names the One who blesses instead — the Maker of heaven and earth.
The psalm's earlier verses set the contrast in place.
"Our God," faith can say, "has done whatever He has pleased." As to the idols that men have made, they can neither speak, nor see, nor hear, nor smell, nor act, nor walk. In a word they are helpless, as indeed are those who trust in them.
So the creation title in verse 15 does real work. One writer notes how often it turns up across this group of psalms. (The writers use "Jehovah" for the name the ESV prints as "the LORD.")
As we have seen in these later psalms, Jehovah's title as Creator is stressed again and again in connection with Israel redeemed.
Older translations word this line as a statement rather than a wish: "You are blessed of the Lord." The writers below follow that older wording. So the people already hold the blessing, and memory of the past carries their confidence forward.
God is in the heavens (v. 3). Yet the godly can look back over their long history of failure and say, "The Lord has been mindful of us." They have known Jehovah's care in the past. So they can look on to the future with confidence and say He will bless Israel, the house of Aaron, and all who fear the Lord, both small and great. More than that, He increases those He blesses, and they are blessed now, for the psalmist says, "You are blessed." The One who blesses is the Maker of heaven and earth.
Verse 15 blesses the groups named just before it. One writer notes how far that list runs, past Israel's own borders to the nations outside.
Israel, as God's earthly people, have a special place before Him. Aaron's house, as the priests on earth, have privileges of their own from Him. But Gentiles as well as Jews shall be blessed. In that day no one will be left out. How often the great ones of the earth have passed over people who deserved better! Jehovah will bless all who fear Him.
The blessing reaches the children as well, and one writer ties this to the Creator title.
Their children too are brought into the joy of the blessing (v. 14). For Jehovah is the Maker of the heavens and the earth, and He has handed out the earth to the children of men to live in.
The Maker owns both realms, so He can hand them out. The next verse does just that, and it shows which realm the psalm's blessing belongs to.
They were the blessed of Jehovah, the maker of heaven and earth. Heaven was His; the earth He had given to men. This shows plainly that the scene before us is earthly blessing. To us He has not given the earth, but the cross in it. He has given us heaven, and what is there, as our own. We seek the things that are above, not the things on the earth.
How far does the verse reach today? One writer allows an application to believers now, but keeps the fullest sense for the millennium — the coming age of blessing on earth.
We may apply these verses to believers today. Yet their fullest application belongs to the millennium. Then the Lord will surely increase Israel more and more (v. 14), and as Creator of heaven and earth He will go on blessing them (v. 15).
The psalm closes by turning the blessing back toward its source.
The heavens are the Lord's, but the earth He has given to the children of men to hold for His praise. If we are "blessed of the Lord," it is so that we may "Bless the Lord" (vv. 15-16). The psalm does not look beyond death. The blessing it speaks of is not heavenly, as the Christian's blessing is. The psalmist has in view the millennial life of blessing.
- Maker. Verse 15 names the Blesser as the Maker of heaven and earth — the opposite of idols that cannot speak, see, or act, and cannot help those who trust them.
- Mindful. The older wording states the blessing as a present fact, not a hope. The people look back and say the Lord has been mindful of them.
- Many. The "you" covers Israel, Aaron's family of priests, and all who fear the Lord, small and great. The nations outside Israel are in it, and so are the children.
- Measured. The Maker owns the heavens and has given the earth to men. Writers mark this blessing as an earthly portion, unlike the heavenly things the Christian seeks.
- Motive. The Lord blesses His people so that they may bless Him — they hold the earth for His praise.
The heavens are the heavens of Jehovah, but the earth hath he given to the children of men.
Psalm 115 speaks to people whom the nations mock with the question, "Where is their God?" Verse 16 answers by drawing a line between two realms. Heaven is God's own. Earth He has handed to people. So what kind of gift is that, and what have people done with it?
The verse names the world man was made for. One writer counts how often the Psalms speak of earth rather than heaven:
The earth was clearly man's sphere as he was first created, and there was the place of his rule. In keeping with this you find "heaven" mentioned only about thirty-eight times in the Psalms, and often meaning no more than the sky, where the birds fly and the clouds float. "Earth" is mentioned at least one hundred and thirty-five times. The New Testament view is very different and far wider, because God has raised Christ to glory.
"Given" does not mean signed over. God made the sea and the land for Himself, and He still holds the controls:
Since He made it, and the sea also, He made it for Himself. Even if He has allowed man to hold it for now (Ps. 115:16), we must remember He gives it to us only as a sacred trust. Indeed, how much control does man really have over the raging sea? — or even over the land?
The same writer, on this psalm, says how the trust has been handled and where it is heading:
In every age it has been true that the heavens are the Lord's, but the earth He has given to the children of men — badly as they have abused it. The millennial age will bring this out again (v. 16). Meanwhile men have tried to build into the heavens. They got only as far as the moon, and they could not set up any civilization there.
The line also answers the mockery. God's plan for the earth goes back to the start of the human story:
"The earth he has given to the children of man" (Psalm 115:16) is a thought that will comfort the remnant when the nations taunt them because their God does not appear. It announces to them, and to us, God's purpose for this world. Generation after generation has passed away, but God formed the earth for man, and man will yet enjoy it as a grant from God. God first made this purpose known when Adam came on the scene as the lord of creation, and Psalm 8 assures us He has not given it up.
The verse does not stand alone. It follows the blessing of verse 15, and the gift has a direction it is meant to travel back in:
The heavens are the Lord's, but the earth He has given to the children of men, to hold for His praise. If we are "blessed of the Lord," it is so that we may "Bless the Lord" (vv. 15-16). The psalm does not look beyond death: the blessing it speaks of is not heavenly, as it is for the Christian. The psalmist has in view the millennial life of blessing.
The verse gives earth to people and says nothing about giving heaven. One writer picks up that silence, and shows what God later did with heaven:
He had never given heavenly glory away to anyone. He was free to give it to whom He chose, and He now does give it to Christ and the church. No one doubts that the Old Testament believers looked for a heavenly city, and I am sure they will have it. If they looked for a better country, they will be there. But heaven is no small place. You cannot measure it in miles like the earth. Heaven is immense, and there will be plenty of room and many scenes for the display of God's glory.
- Given — heaven is God's own; He handed earth to people as their sphere, and the Psalms keep their gaze there.
- Given on trust — God lends the earth, He does not sign it over; He made the sea and the land, and He still controls them.
- Given and abused — men have handled the trust badly, and they could not climb out of it either; the millennial age will bring the gift out as it should be.
- Given and not withdrawn — God made this purpose known when Adam appeared, and He has not given it up; that is why this line comforts people mocked for a God who seems absent.
- Given back — those whom the Maker of heaven and earth blesses hold the earth for His praise; blessing received returns as blessing given.
The dead praise not Jah, neither any that go down into silence;
The psalm answers the nations' taunt, "Where is their God?", by pointing to the God in the heavens above idols that have mouths but cannot speak. Verse 17 is the sharp turn near the end: praise needs living voices, and the dead supply none.
The verse sets two groups apart: those alive to enjoy God's blessing, and the dead who cannot. One writer notes what the psalm leaves untouched:
But the dead know nothing of such blessings, and so they do not praise the Lord (v. 17). Those who share in the resurrection of the just will have infinitely greater blessing in the presence of the Lord. But this psalm, like the Old Testament as a whole, does not take up that great subject. That must wait for the New Testament.
The blessing this psalm sings about has a boundary, and that boundary is earth:
The closing verses show the result of being blessed by the Creator. The heavens are the Lord's, but He has given the earth to the children of men, to hold for His praise. If we are "blessed of the Lord", it is so that we may "Bless the Lord" (vv. 15-16). The psalm does not look beyond death: the blessing it speaks of is not heavenly, as the Christian's is.
So the verse is not gloom but argument — the reply this people can give to those who do not know God:
They speak of the dead as people apart from themselves. The hope they have embraced is being kept alive on earth, not resurrection… What an answer they can give to the nations who do not know God! Jehovah will bless His people, and they will be alive for evermore and will praise Him. For them there is no death.
What does death silence? One writer answers by setting out what a godly Israelite lived for:
A godly Israelite's ambition was to swell that great hallelujah chorus which the last five psalms give us, in the scene those psalms look forward to. Every thought he had of Jehovah's praise was tied to these things: celebrating His praises on earth, training up children for the service of His sanctuary, going up to that temple where the glory of Jehovah could be seen. You see it in that last quotation from Isaiah: "the father to the children shall make known Your truth." Death would cut that declaration short, and make those praises cease.
The same writer places the psalm in a coming day, and says who the dead in view are:
The 115th psalm is prophetic of a future day — a day when a judgment will purify the earth and destroy sinners out of it. Those sinners, I have little doubt, are the ones these passages speak of.
Elsewhere in the Psalms this reasoning becomes a prayer — a ground for asking God to hold back death:
Jesus here pleads (see also Ps. 6:5, Ps. 30:9, Ps. 115:17) for deliverance from death, on the ground that the dead could not praise God, and the grave could not declare Him. For God is not the God of the dead but of the living. "The living, the living, he shall praise You," says King Hezekiah… And so Jesus cries for deliverance on this most blessed plea: God is known in life, not in death. "I shall not die but live, and declare the works of the Lord."
Christians read this verse from the other side of the resurrection. Their hope runs the opposite way:
Heaven was His, and He had given the earth to men. This shows clearly that the earthly blessing is the scene before us. He has not given us the earth, but the cross in it — and heaven, and what is there, as our own things… So, in an even stronger way, the dead do not praise Jehovah. But we (says the Spirit in them) will praise Him from this time, the time of their final deliverance, for evermore. We say, "to depart and to be with Christ is far better."
- Living voices. The dead do not praise; the psalm hands the work of praise to those still alive on earth.
- Living sphere. God kept the heavens and gave the earth to people. The blessing sung here is earthly, and it stops at death's door.
- Living witness. "Silence" ends what the singer lived for: praise at the temple, and passing God's truth on to his children.
- Living God. "Let me live to praise You" is a plea, and Christ Himself took it up. God is known in life, not death.
- Living forever. The New Testament adds what this psalm could not: resurrection, and a departure to be with Christ that is far better.
But *we* will bless Jah from this time forth and for evermore. Hallelujah!
Psalm 115 ends with a vow. It has set the living God against idols, and promised that He will bless His people. Now comes the answer of the blessed — praise without end, sealed with "Praise the LORD!"
The last verse is the outcome of the ones before it. What is being blessed by God for?
The closing verses present the result of being blessed by the Creator. The heavens are the Lord's, but He has given the earth to the children of men, to hold it for His praise. If we are "blessed of the Lord", it is so that we may "Bless the Lord."
The verse says people bless God. What can a person give to a God who needs nothing?
This does not mean that mere man can bless God in the sense of imparting something to Him who is all-sufficient. In the Old Testament as well as the New, the word "blessed" means that He is worthy "to be praised, to celebrate with praises…". So we acknowledge His goodness, and we want to glorify Him.
The verse just before this one says the dead give no praise. The speakers put themselves among the living, and they expect to stay there.
They speak of the dead as people apart from them. The hope they have embraced is preservation on earth, not resurrection. "The dead do not praise the LORD, nor do any who go down into silence. But we will bless the LORD from this time forth and forevermore. Praise the LORD!" What an answer they can give to the nations that do not know God! The LORD will bless His people, and they, alive for evermore, will praise Him. For them there is no death.
So the nations that do not know God get an answer: a people who go on praising Him without end.
Does "forevermore" here mean heaven? The psalm has already handed the earth to the children of men. That sets this hope apart from the Christian's.
This shows how clearly the blessing here is an earthly one. He has not given us the earth, but the cross in it — and heaven, and what is there, as our own. We seek the things which are above, not the things which are on the earth. In an even stronger way, the dead do not praise Jehovah. But we (says the Spirit in them) will praise from this time on — the time of their final deliverance — and for evermore. We say, "to depart and to be with Christ is far better."
How far ahead does the psalmist look?
The psalm does not look beyond death: the blessing of which it speaks is not heavenly as with the Christian. It is the millennial life of blessing that the psalmist has in view. He says, "We will bless the LORD from this time forth and forevermore." Of the heavenly life beyond death he knows nothing.
The psalm's last word, "Hallelujah", follows a pattern across the book of Psalms.
Other Psalms in this book end in the same way — that is, Ps. 115:18, 116:19, 117:2, 135:21, 146:10, 147:20, 148:14, 149:9, 150:6… But this word "Hallelujah" does not appear in the Psalter until the Lord Jesus is seen as having returned to Zion. Psalms 104:35, 105:45, 106:1 and 48 are the only other places in the whole collection where it appears. We may look in vain elsewhere in the Old Testament for that word now so familiar to Christians.
"From this time forth" means praise starts today. The song that fills eternity has to begin somewhere.
Do you praise Him now? Oh let us give praise to our Lord! He has redeemed us by His own blood. He will soon gather us home, to be like Him and forever with Him. Let us sing our hallelujahs now, songs of praise in the night, while we wait for the break of day, the Morning Star. And the end of all for earth and heaven will be the hallelujah chorus, a praise which will never die in all eternity. Hallelujah!
- Blessed → bless. God blesses His people first; their praise is the return, not the payment. The verse is the result of the whole psalm, not a fresh idea.
- Bless means praise. No one adds anything to God. To bless Him is to acknowledge His goodness and call Him worthy.
- Living voices only. The dead go down into silence. God's answer to the nations is a people kept alive and praising.
- Earth, then heaven. Here the "forevermore" is set on earth. The Christian's better portion is to depart and be with Christ.
- Hallelujah last. In the Psalms this word waits for the Lord's return to Zion — and this psalm hands it on to eternity. Start singing it now.