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.