To him that smote great kings, for his loving-kindness [endureth] for ever,
Psalm 136 has 26 verses, and every one of them ends with the same line about mercy that lasts forever. Verse 17 ties that refrain to the killing of kings, which raises a hard question: how can destruction and mercy share one line?
The psalm walks through history in order: creation, Egypt, the Red Sea, the wilderness, then the land. Verse 17 opens the last stage, and an old promise stands behind it.
Verse 16 summarizes their wilderness journey. The Psalmist goes on to remind them how God led them into the land of their possession, overthrowing great kings to place them there. He had told Abraham that He would bring his descendants into the land when the sin of the Amorite nations was full. God kept that promise.
Verse 17 opens a block of six verses about the land. One writer maps their shape, and names the kingdoms the later verses single out.
We now come to the land. The nations lose it because of their sin, and now they must hand Israel its inheritance. The six verses here clearly form three pairs. The first dwells on the power of those who had to yield. The second names the two Amorite kingdoms that stood in the way at the door of their inheritance. The third speaks of the inheritance itself, handed over to them. The wording is very brief.
The refrain does not stop at the pleasant verses. The same line follows the drowning of Pharaoh's army, and here the death of kings. One writer roots it in what God is.
Whether it is creation, or redemption, or judgment on their enemies, or mercy to themselves, one seal marks all His work: Jehovah's loving-kindness has been at work in it. And in everything He does, all that He is must act. If He is good, as God is, then He must be good in everything He does.
Israel's victory over Sihon was not a land grab. One writer says the killing carried out a sentence God had already passed, and that its mercy reached past Israel.
On Israel's part it was neither greed for land nor a love of destroying that brought this merciless destruction on Sihon and his people. The mercy was for the world, because it tore a deadly evil out of it. The charge against them is written elsewhere. God put the carrying out of His sentence into Israel's hand, and it was well suited to give them a sense of divine holiness that would not leave them.
Some readers stumble at a song that praises killing. One writer points to this part of the psalm, then says what to do with the part we still cannot explain.
Here we see the striking of Egypt's firstborn and the rescue of Israel. We see the passage through the Red Sea and the complete destruction of Pharaoh's army. We see the slaughter of the Canaanites and the giving of their lands to Israel. All of them alike showed the everlasting mercy of Jehovah… It is our privilege to declare God right in all His ways. We bow our heads in holy worship before judgements we cannot search out, and rest in the calm assurance that all God's ways are right. We do not understand them all. That would be impossible. The finite cannot grasp the infinite.
The people singing this psalm look back on the days when they were low, and on God remembering them. That place shapes the tone of the whole list, verse 17 included.
"He remembered us in our low estate." That is when praise truly comes out of a humble spirit. They know mercy now, and know it as unchanging favour in personal blessing. That mercy grows even more glorious and lovely, because a love that flowed from itself, and did not arise from its object, joins the praises as the sinner's only basis for them all.
- Mercy promised. God promised Abraham the land for his descendants once the Amorites' sin was full. Verse 17 is that word coming true.
- Mercy against power. The kings were great, and their greatness is the very thing that had to yield.
- Mercy in judgment. Sihon's fall was not greed for land. It tore a deadly evil out of the world, so its mercy reached wider than Israel.
- Mercy on everything. Creation, redemption, judgment on enemies, kindness to His own — one seal marks all His work, because a good God must be good in all He does.
- Mercy received. Where reason cannot follow God's ways, worship can. The praise rings truest from people who remember they were low.
And slew famous kings, for his loving-kindness [endureth] for ever;
Psalm 136 records the death of mighty kings. Then it adds the same refrain that follows creation and the exodus. How does the killing of kings belong in a list of mercies?
Every one of the twenty-six verses ends the same way. One writer asks why a phrase so comforting needs saying that often:
Why, we may ask, are these comforting words repeated as many as 26 times? There must be a reason, and an urgent one. The answer is that people are so easy-going and comfortable in accepting the wonderful mercies of God without being thankful. And this Psalm has the history of Israel chiefly in view. They were a people under the law. They forgot that the law only brought condemnation on them, while all the good things they enjoyed came to them on the ground of God's mercy.
The psalm names Sihon and Og next. One writer asks whose power won them the land:
Next the psalm celebrates Israel's entrance into their land by the defeat of great nations and kings (v. 17). But it was not Israel's power that did this. Apart from the power of God, they could have done nothing. In these verses, however, only the first kings they defeated are named, Sihon and Og (vv. 19-20), and God gave their land to Israel as an inheritance.
This is where readers stumble. One writer lines up the judgments with the rescues and finds the same thing in all of them:
Here we see the striking down of Egypt's firstborn and the deliverance of Israel; the crossing of the Red Sea and the complete destruction of Pharaoh's army; the killing of the Canaanites and the giving of their lands to Israel. All of these alike showed the everlasting mercy of Jehovah. So it was; so it is; and so it shall be. It must all turn to the glory of God.
Israel did not attack Sihon out of greed. They were carrying out a sentence God had already passed:
It was neither greed for land nor a love of destroying that brought this complete destruction on Sihon and his people. The mercy was for the world, in rooting a poisonous evil out of it. The charge against them is given elsewhere. God put the carrying out of His sentence into Israel's hand, and it was well suited to impress them with a sense of divine holiness that would not leave them.
Another writer describes what those nations had become:
God is light, as well as love. The nations in and around Canaan were so riddled with terrible evils that they were a moral ulcer in the middle of the earth. God put up with them with much patience. To destroy them completely was mercy to others, as well as righteousness in God.
The psalm before this one runs through the same history. One writer shows what each song draws out of it:
Compared with Psalm 135, this Psalm sees mercy where that one had seen glory. The same events — God's dealings with Egypt, with the Amorites, with Bashan and with the Canaanites — had declared God's name or glory and had drawn out praise (135); now the very same things are celebrated as making known His mercy, and they draw out thanksgiving (136)… The same ways and works of the Lord make known both His name and His mercy, His glory and His grace. Just as clearly and surely they honour Him and bless His people… For they look first at God's name or glory, as reflected in His works, and then at their own blessing or gain from those works.
The song does not end with victories. It closes by remembering weakness, and that is where praise becomes real:
"He remembered us in our low estate." Then praise truly comes out of a humble spirit. And mercy known now, known as unchanging favour in personal blessing, is more glorious and lovely still. For a love that flowed out of itself, and was not drawn out by its object, is added to the praises. That love is the sinner's only basis for them all.
- Mercy, repeated. The refrain returns twenty-six times for a reason. People take God's kindness and forget to thank Him.
- Mercy, not merit. Israel lived under the law, and the law only condemned them. Every good thing they had came by mercy.
- Mercy in power. The mighty kings fell to God's power, not Israel's. The land was God's gift, not Israel's achievement.
- Mercy in judgment. These kings fell under a sentence God had already passed. Rooting out that evil was mercy to the world, and it taught Israel what God's holiness is.
- Mercy remembered. Praise is truest from people who remember how low they were. Every blessing traces back to a love that started in God Himself.
Sihon king of the Amorites, for his loving-kindness [endureth] for ever,
Every line of this psalm ends with the same refrain about God's steadfast love, and here it lands on the defeat of one man — Sihon, king of the Amorites. A song about mercy names a battlefield, which raises the question of how a king's fall belongs among God's kindnesses.
The psalm names Sihon without explaining him.
He was king of the Amorites. After his own victory over the Moabites, the Israelites defeated and killed him and his army. His territory lay east of the Jordan, from the Arnon to the Jabbok, and the Israelites took it over. Two of the Psalms celebrate the victory.
Where the ESV has "steadfast love," older translations read "mercy," and that is the word the writers below use. The verse is one link in a chain that traces this mercy through Israel's story, stage by stage.
It is beautiful to notice how the Psalmist ties the mercy of the Lord to the whole of Israel's relationships and history... Verses 5-9 praise God as Creator, and praise Him for His mercy. Next He is praised as Redeemer (vv. 10-15)... So verse 16 praises Him who led His people through the wilderness. Verses 17-20 praise Him who rescued them from their enemies along the way. Verses 21 and 22 praise Him who put them in possession of their land. The One who had brought them out had also brought them in, for His mercy endures for ever.
Some readers stumble at the idea of singing about a slaughter. One writer answers from this very psalm: acts of judgment and acts of rescue carry the same refrain.
Here we see the killing of Egypt's firstborn and the rescue of Israel. We see the passage through the Red Sea and the complete destruction of Pharaoh's army. We see the slaughter of the Canaanites and the giving of their lands to Israel. All of them alike showed the everlasting mercy of Jehovah... It is our privilege to justify God in all His ways. We bow our heads in holy worship before judgements we cannot search out. We rest in the calm assurance that all God's ways are right. We do not understand them all; this would be impossible. The finite cannot grasp the infinite.
The same works make known two things at once. Psalm 135 and Psalm 136 sing them side by side.
Notice that Psalm 136 is "mercy," and 135 is "glory." The creation of the heavens and God's dealings with the Amorites have all declared His name, or glory. And now those very same things are sung as making known His mercy. The same ways and works of the Lord make known both His name and His mercy, His glory and His grace, with equal clearness and certainty. They honour Him and bless His people.
That mercy was not for Israel alone. Sihon's fall came at a set moment, and the good of it reached past the nation that took his land.
What is emphasized here... is that God gave him into their hand. Even the stubbornness that refused to let Israel's army pass through came from Him, because the iniquity of the Amorites was now full... On Israel's side it was not greed for land, and not a love of destroying, that brought this merciless uprooting on Sihon and his people. The mercy was for the world, in rooting a poisonous evil out of it.
The psalm credits these victories to God, not to the army that won them.
Next the psalm celebrates Israel's entrance into their land through the defeat of great nations and kings (v. 17). But it was not Israel's power that did this. Apart from the power of God, they could have done nothing. In these verses, though, it names only the kings defeated first, Sihon and Og (vv. 19-20), and their land given by God to Israel as an inheritance.
Sihon was one of the first kings to fall, east of the Jordan. That made his defeat a pledge of everything still ahead.
The victories over Sihon and Og should have been Israel's guarantee of this. Every human power that Satan uses to stop them reaching and possessing their inheritance would be swept away.
- Mercy traced. The psalm follows one thread — mercy — through creation, the exodus, the wilderness, and now the conquest. A defeated king belongs on the same list as a divided sea.
- Mercy named. Sihon ruled the Amorites east of the Jordan, from the Arnon to the Jabbok; two psalms sing of his defeat, not one.
- Mercy in judgment. The killing of Egypt's firstborn, the drowning of Pharaoh's army, and the fall of the Canaanite kings all carry the same refrain. Where we cannot follow God's ways, we can still justify them.
- Mercy for the world. The Amorites' iniquity was full. Removing them rooted a poisonous evil out of the earth; this was not Israel's appetite for land or blood.
- Mercy as guarantee. Sihon fell first, east of the Jordan. His fall was the pledge that every power blocking God's people from their inheritance would be swept away.
And Og king of Bashan, for his loving-kindness [endureth] for ever;
Psalm 136 retells Israel's whole history, and one line comes back after every clause. Here that line follows the fall of a king, and the question is how Og's defeat belongs in a song about love that lasts forever.
The name in this verse belonged to a ruler whose kingdom was anything but easy prey. One writer describes the man, the walled cities he held, and why Moses recorded his iron bed:
The kingdom of Og in Bashan was a powerful kingdom. The cities had high walls with gates and bars. Their number was sixty… King Og was a giant. He belonged to what was left of the giant tribe of Rephaim. Moses mentions his iron bed. There is nothing exaggerated about it… Moses must have mentioned the bed of the slain giant for a reason. He wanted to remind the people of the great victory the Lord had given them, and to fill them with confidence about taking the land. The Lord who overthrew Og would not fail them when they entered the land and met the enemies there.
Sihon in the previous verse and Og in this one belong together. One writer shows how these verses are arranged:
We now come to the land. The nations there lose it because of their sin, and must yield Israel's inheritance to them. These six verses clearly fall into three pairs. The first pair dwells on the power of those who are forced to give way. The second names the two Amorite kingdoms that stood against Israel at the doorway of their inheritance. The third speaks of the inheritance itself, handed over to them.
Where the ESV says "steadfast love", older translations say "mercy" or "loving-kindness", and the writers quoted here use those older words. The refrain does not change when the psalm moves from creation to judgment on kings. The same writer traces that back to God's own character:
Creation, redemption, judgment on their enemies, mercy to themselves — one seal is set on all His work. Jehovah's loving-kindness has been working in it. And in all His acts everything He is must act. If He is good, as God is, He must be good in everything He does.
Some readers compare these battles to conquests in human history. One commentator refuses the comparison on one ground:
"And when you came to this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan" — formidable and much dreaded foes! — "came out against us to battle, and we struck them down." Had they been ten thousand times as great and as formidable, they would have proved to be like chaff before the God of the armies of Israel… There is this grand and all-important difference. Israel had the direct authority of God for what they did to Sihon and Og. The Spaniards could show no such authority for what they did to the poor ignorant natives of South America. This alters the case completely. Bringing in God and His authority is the one perfect answer to every question.
The same writer reads the psalm's refrain over every stage alike: "the smiting of Egypt's firstborn, and the deliverance of Israel; the passage through the Red Sea… the slaughter of the Canaanites and giving their lands to Israel — all alike illustrated the everlasting mercy of Jehovah."
Verse 20 sits inside a sequence. Its place there shows which mercy the psalm praises here:
So verse 16 gives the praise to Him who led His people through the wilderness. Verses 17-20 praise Him who rescued them from their enemies along the road. Verses 21 and 22 praise Him who put them in possession of their land. The One who had brought them out had also brought them in, for His mercy endures for ever.
Twenty-six verses end the same way. One writer asks why, and finds an urgent reason:
Why, we may ask, are these comforting words repeated no less than 26 times? There must be a reason, and that an urgent one. The answer is that people are so easy-going and complacent. They accept the wonderful mercies of God without being thankful. And this Psalm has the history of Israel chiefly in view. They were a people under the law, and they forgot that the law only brought condemnation on them. All the good things they enjoyed reached them on the ground of God's mercy.
- Mercy meets a giant. Og was a giant king with sixty walled cities. Israel met him at the doorway of their inheritance, and God brought him down.
- Mercy fights. Two Amorite kingdoms stood against Israel at the doorway of the land. Moses recorded Og's defeat to give the people confidence for the enemies still ahead.
- Mercy gives. Verses 17-20 praise God for rescue from foes along the road; verses 21-22 for possession of the land. The One who brought them out also brought them in.
- Mercy judges. Creation, redemption, judgment on enemies and mercy to His people all carry one seal. A God who is good must be good in everything He does.
- Mercy must be answered. The line repeats twenty-six times because people take God's mercies and stay complacent. Everything Israel enjoyed came to them on the ground of mercy, not law.