Holy Bible

Praise ye the Lord. Psalm 135 The sublime object of worship Homilist. : — I. IN HIS ABSOLUTE GOODNESS (vers. 1-3). He is "good" — essentially, eternally, infinitely, immutably. II. IN HIS RELATIVE KINDNESS (ver. 4). Britain is more favoured than ever Palestine was. It is the land of liberty, Bibles, churches, etc. III. IN HIS TRANSCENDENT SUPREMACY (ver. 5). He is King of all kings, and Lord of all lords. IV. IN HIS SOVEREIGN OPERATIONS (vers. 6-12). 1. In material nature (vers. 6, 7). 2. In human history (vers. 8-12). V. IN HIS ENDLESS EXISTENCE (vers. 13, 14). 1. His character is everlasting. 2. His remembrance is everlasting. 3. His kindness is everlasting. VI. IN HIS UNAPPROACHABLE GREATNESS (vers. 15-18). Idols, what are they to Him? What are the highest objects of the earth to Him? CONCLUSION — Do not the aspects in which the author of this ode presents Jehovah manifest His supreme claim to the hallelujah of all souls? ( Homilist. ) The Lord hath chosen Jacob unto Himself. Psalm 135:4 A strange yet gracious choice : — This is a psalm of praise all through. It is to be sung to the highsounding cymbals. There is not a low note anywhere; it is all robust, exhilarating, joyful. It is "Hallelujah!" from beginning to end; and it did not seem possible to the psalmist that he could omit from it the high jubilant note of election; for if there is anything that makes believers' hearts sing unto the Lord, it is the recollection that He has chosen them, and fixed His love upon them. I. THE CHOICE. 1. Divine. 2. Sovereign — irrespective of character. 3. Most gracious. 4. Very wonderful.When you have told me why He chose Jacob, I shall then try to find out why He chose me; and if I should find that out, probably you will at the same time discover why He chose you. God never acts unreasonably; yet He does not find His reasons for acting in men, but within Himself, in His compassion, in the eternal counsels of His own will. II. THE REASON OR RESULT OF GOD'S CHOICE. 1. That we might know Him. 2. That we might keep His truth alive in the world. 3. To keep up His worship. 4. That He might commune with us. III. THE SEPARATION WHICH GROWS OUT OF THIS CHOICE. He led Israel out into the wilderness that there He might speak to their hearts. He drew them away from men; He made them live solitary and alone, like eagles on the rock, that they might dwell there with Him, and have no strange god among them. Blessed are the people who enjoy this separation; but unhappy are the men and women who talk about election, and yet have never known the separation which stamps their election as being a matter of fact. IV. THEIR ELEVATION. "His peculiar treasure." God's people are everything to Him; there is nothing that you have, that you account rich or rare, that is anything to you in value in comparison with what God's people are to Him. His delight is in them: the pleasure which God has in His people is truly wonderful. ( C. H. Spurgeon . ) I know that the Lord is great. Psalm 135:5 A great God J. H. Evans, M. A. Right views of God lie at the foundation of all right religion. If our views of God are spiritual, scriptural — if they have a sanctifying tendency in our souls — we are right in other things. If we are wrong in this, we are wrong in all things: like the error in the proof-sheet, all goes through wrong. If we are right here, we are at the foundation of all that is right. I. THE GREATNESS OF GOD. God is great. If I look at Him in His being, He is great; if I look at Him in His perfections, He is great; if I look at Him in creation, He is great; if I look at Him in His providence, He is great; if I look at Him in His law, He is great; and still more gloriously does He appear great in the greatness of His Gospel. II. THE CERTAINTY WHICH DAVID SEEMED TO FEEL OF THIS BEING THE TRUTH. "I know" it, he says. There was a special inspiration, I doubt not; but he was led into the school of holy experience; he knew that God was great; and so does every child of God. He knows that He is great in His regenerating grace. Equally great is the work of revealing Christ. He has given you His Son, He has given you His Spirit, He has given you Himself, He has given you His Word, He has given you His promises, He has given you the foretastes of heaven; and He expects from you the very best that you have, to be given up to Him to be His own, because He is a great God. ( J. H. Evans, M. A. ) Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did He. Psalm 135:6 The activity of God David Thomas, D. D. : — I. God ACTS. He is the great worker, — never resting, never failing, never wearying, — the worker of all workers, the motor in all motions. II. God acts EVERYWHERE. In the heavens He rolls the massive orbs of space; on the earth He maketh the grass to grow and clotheth the earth with verdure. III. God acts FROM and FOR HIMSELF. 1. From Himself. Our activity is often excited and controlled by something external to ourselves. His never. Nothing is extra. No ruling principles or persons, not all the hierarchies of intelligences, nor the rushing forces and forms of universal matter can excite Him. His action is that of absolute spontaneity. He is responsible to no one. 2. For Himself. There is no other reason for His activity but what pleases Him. The chief measure of any moral intelligence is the gratification of His predominant disposition. In God this is love. Hence His pleasure in creating the universe and sustaining it is the diffusion of His own happiness. His pleasure is the pleasure of His creatures; His happiness and theirs are identical. ( David Thomas, D. D. ) The idols... are silver and gold. Psalm 135:16 The gold-god David Thomas, D. D. Idolatry consists in giving to any object, whether animate or inanimate, the work of man's hands, or the work of the Divine hands, the love and worship which belongs to the Supreme Existence. "Thou shalt have no other God but Me." But to have Him means to love Him with all the heart, mind, and strength. The god of the man is the object he most loves. Hence gold is a divinity, and by no means an insignificant one, perhaps the chief. I. The gold-god is the most POPULAR of the gods. It is said that ancient Greece and Rome had not less than thirty thousand divinities, and that in modern heathendom, at present, their name is legion. But throughout this civilized world the gold-god reigns supreme. Tell me, is there aught besides that engrosses so much of human thoughts, human affections, human plans, activities and time, as gold? Civilization everywhere multiplies the shrines, the altars, and the devotees of mammon. II. The gold-god is the most MISCHIEVOUS of the gods. The ponderous wheels of Juggernaut's chariot have crushed millions; Krishna, Moloch and other heathen divinities have tortured and destroyed their devotees, but is there a divinity in the long roll of idolatrous worship more terribly destructive than the gold-god? 1. How soul-debasing! It deadens the sense of virtue, blinds moral perceptions, seals up the social sympathies, manacles the moral faculties, and chains that soul made to wing the immeasurable regions of light and truth to a mere clod of dust. It is a law that the soul can never rise above its god. 2. How peace disturbing! It keeps its devotee in a constant tumult. It breaks the harmony of families, disturbs the order of society, raises nations into war and bloodshed. "Midas," says Carlyle," longed for gold and insulted the Olympians. He got gold so that whatever he touched became gold, and he, with his long ears, was little the better for it. Midas had insulted Apollo and the gods: the gods gave him his wish, and a pair of long ears which also were a good appendage to it. What a truth in these old fables!" ( David Thomas, D. D. ) Blessed be the Lord out of Zion. Psalm 135:21 Thankfulness W. D. Horwood. I. THE PSALMIST'S EXPRESSIONS OF THANKFULNESS. 1. We are taught by the whole of this psalm that these expressions spring from a grateful memory. Everywhere around him he beholds some memorial of the Divine goodness, some landmark of the ancient inheritance of his fathers, some footprint of the Divine mercy and power, which has lingered on from generation to generation, through calms and storms, judgments and blessings. And surely we also can recall the past, with its evidences of God's love and pity. 2. The expressions of thankfulness, observe, are specially appropriate to the Church in her present state of trial. It is "out of Zion" the voice of blessing is to go up to heaven. It is in our gatherings on the Sabbath that the heart is to give free scope to its grateful memories and feelings. The Church of God is still in the wilderness; but though in the wilderness, battling with wrong, and with the visible and invisible enemies of her path, still she is able to raise the anthem — "Blessed be the Lord out of Zion, which dwelleth at Jerusalem." II. THE REASONABLENESS OF THIS THANKFULNESS. 1. This might be urged from the Divine Presence of "the Lord, which dwelleth at Jerusalem." It was the fact of this recognized Presence, this "Shield," this "Refuge," this "Strength," which gave the deep, full impulse to the thankfulness of the Jewish heart; so should it act with us. There is no comfort so great and so lasting to a right. minded Christian man as the consciousness of the Almighty Presence. 2. The reasonableness of thanksgiving arises, too, not only from a sense of duty, and of manifold blessings bestowed from day to day, but also from the gracious truth that God's dwelling is to be found on earth; that He has not deserted it, nor given it over to destruction. And the fact that this meaning is conveyed to us by the naming of Jerusalem is very certain. Thus we are not directed to look for the Divine Presence out of our own spheres of existence, far away beyond the limits of our comprehension, but to look for it at our very doors, even within our own hearts. Is not this a cause of thankfulness? 3. In the fact of God's dwelling at Jerusalem we find another reason for thankfulness in the form of His dwelling, namely, the symbol of "the Shekinah," the visible glory between "the wings of the cherubim overshadowing the mercy-seat." Thus, in the presence of Christ, our God and Saviour, we have a protection, a shelter, and a security against danger. ( W. D. Horwood. ).

Benson Commentary Psalm 135:1 Praise ye the LORD. Praise ye the name of the LORD; praise him , O ye servants of the LORD. Psalm 135:1-3 . O ye servants of the Lord — Ye priests and Levites, as in the former Psalm, or the people; that stand in the courts, &c. — Either in the sanctuary or the inner court, both which were appropriated to the priests and Levites; or in the outward court, which was for the people. Praise, &c ., for the Lord is good — Bountiful and gracious, especially to you, and therefore he justly expects and deserves your praises. Sing praises, &c., for it is pleasant — Thus two reasons are assigned why they should praise the Lord, first, his goodness, and, secondly, the pleasantness of the employment. “The latter of these reasons hath a natural and necessary dependance on the former. A sense of the divine mercy will tune our hearts and voices to praise.” Psalm 135:2 Ye that stand in the house of the LORD, in the courts of the house of our God, Psalm 135:3 Praise the LORD; for the LORD is good: sing praises unto his name; for it is pleasant. Psalm 135:4 For the LORD hath chosen Jacob unto himself, and Israel for his peculiar treasure. Psalm 135:4-5 . For the Lord hath chosen Jacob, &c. — Here we have a third reason why the Israelites should praise the Lord, namely, “the circumstance of their having been selected from among the nations to be his church, to receive the law and the promises, to have his presence residing in the midst of them, and to be the guardians of the true faith and worship.” For I know that the Lord is great, &c. — Here he assigns a fourth reason for their praising God, “his superiority over the gods of the heathen, and, consequently, over those who worshipped them; from whence followed this comfortable inference, that he was able to protect and to defend his people against every enemy.” — Horne. Psalm 135:5 For I know that the LORD is great, and that our Lord is above all gods. Psalm 135:6 Whatsoever the LORD pleased, that did he in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places. Psalm 135:6 . Whatsoever the Lord pleased — Either in the creation or government of the world; that did he in heaven and in earth — His power and jurisdiction are universal, and not like those of the heathen gods, confined, as their worshippers allowed, to their several countries; in the seas, and all deep places — In the visible seas, and in the invisible depths, both of the earth and of the waters. Here, then, the psalmist evinces the pre-eminence of Jehovah above the gods of the nations, by this consideration, that he at the beginning “created and formed those powers of nature whose operations in the heavens, the earth, and the waters, led the heathen world, after it had lost the knowledge of the Creator, to adore the creature as independent.” Psalm 135:7 He causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings for the rain; he bringeth the wind out of his treasuries. Psalm 135:7 . He causeth the vapours to ascend, &c. — “They who in old time paid their devotions to the elements, imagined those elements to be capable of giving or withholding rain at pleasure. Therefore we find the Prophet Jeremiah reclaiming that power to Jehovah, as the God who made and governed the world, Jeremiah 14:22 . Among the Greeks and Romans we meet with a Jupiter, possessed of the thunder and the lightning, and an Æolus ruling over the winds. The psalmist teacheth us to restore the celestial artillery to its rightful owner. Jehovah, the God of Israel, and Creator of the universe, contrived the wonderful machinery of light and air, by which vapours are raised from the earth, compacted into clouds, and distilled into rain. At his command the winds are suddenly in motion, and as suddenly at rest again; we hear the sound, but cannot tell whence they come, or whither they go; as if they were taken from the secret store- houses of the Almighty, and then laid up till their service was required again.” He maketh lightnings for the rain — He makes thick clouds, which, being broken, produce lightnings, and so are dissolved into showers of rain. Or, he maketh lightnings with rain. “It is a great instance of the divine wisdom and goodness that lightning should be accompanied by rain, to soften its rage and prevent its mischievous effects.” — Horne. He bringeth the wind out of his treasures — Out of those secret places where he preserves them, and whence he brings them as he sees fit. Thus we read of treasures of snow and hail, Job 38:22 , not that they are formally laid up in any certain places, but to signify that God hath them as much at his disposal as any man hath that which he hath laid up in his stores. Psalm 135:8 Who smote the firstborn of Egypt, both of man and beast. Psalm 135:8 . Who smote the firstborn of Egypt — From the general works of nature he comes to God’s special works of providence toward his people. “Egypt was the theatre of the grand contest between the God of Israel and the gods of the heathen. The superiority of the former over the latter was shown in every possible way, by the miracles of Moses, which demonstrated all the powers of nature, to be under the dominion of Jehovah, and to act at his command, so that, instead of being able to protect, they were made to torment and destroy their deluded votaries.” Psalm 135:9 Who sent tokens and wonders into the midst of thee, O Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his servants. Psalm 135:10 Who smote great nations, and slew mighty kings; Psalm 135:10-12 . Who smote great nations, &c. — “The victories gained by Israel over Sihon and Og, in their passage to Canaan, and afterward over the idolatrous kings of that country, are further proofs of the same point. For Israel therefore conquered because Jehovah fought for them, and put them in possession of that good land when the iniquity of its old inhabitants was full, and cried to heaven for vengeance.” Psalm 135:11 Sihon king of the Amorites, and Og king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan: Psalm 135:12 And gave their land for an heritage, an heritage unto Israel his people. Psalm 135:13 Thy name, O LORD, endureth for ever; and thy memorial, O LORD, throughout all generations. Psalm 135:13-14 . Thy name, O Lord, endureth for ever — These wonderful works of thine shall never be forgotten. They, together with the land which thou gavest us through them, and which we yet enjoy, are an everlasting monument of thy power and goodness, and an obligation upon, and an encouragement to us, to trust in thee, in all our present or future difficulties. For the Lord will judge his people — Will, in due time, plead the cause of his people, or give judgment for them. And he will repent himself, &c. — He will recall that severe sentence which for their sins he had passed upon them. Psalm 135:14 For the LORD will judge his people, and he will repent himself concerning his servants. Psalm 135:15 The idols of the heathen are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. Psalm 135:15-18 . The idols of the heathen are silver and gold — Here he sets forth the difference between the God of Israel and the idols of the nations, as also between the worshippers of each, all tending to confirm the truth of what was asserted, Psalm 135:5 , I know that the Lord is great, and that our Lord is above all gods. Of these verses, see the notes on Psalm 115:4-5 . Psalm 135:16 They have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not; Psalm 135:17 They have ears, but they hear not; neither is there any breath in their mouths. Psalm 135:18 They that make them are like unto them: so is every one that trusteth in them. Psalm 135:19 Bless the LORD, O house of Israel: bless the LORD, O house of Aaron: Psalm 135:19-21 . Bless the Lord, O house of Israel — He who proved himself to be infinitely superior to the objects of heathen idolatry, is no less superior to every object on which deluded men can place their affections. Let the house of Israel, therefore, the house of Levi, and the house of Aaron, the church, the ministers thereof; and let all who fear the Lord, though not of the house of Israel, bless and praise his holy name, in his temple here below, until they shall be admitted to do it for evermore in that which is above: see Horne. Psalm 135:20 Bless the LORD, O house of Levi: ye that fear the LORD, bless the LORD. Psalm 135:21 Blessed be the LORD out of Zion, which dwelleth at Jerusalem. Praise ye the LORD. Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Expositor's Bible Commentary Psalm 135:1 Praise ye the LORD. Praise ye the name of the LORD; praise him , O ye servants of the LORD. Psalm 135:1-21 LIKE Psalm 97:1-12 ; Psalm 98:1-9 , this is a cento, or piece of mosaic work, apparently intended as a call to worship Jehovah in the Temple. His greatness, as manifested in Nature, and especially in His planting Israel in its inheritance, is set forth as the reason for praise; and the contemptuous contrast of the nothingness of idols is repeated from Psalm 115:1-18 , and followed, as there, by an exhortation to Israel to cleave to Him. We have not here to do with a song which gushed fresh from the singer’s heart, but with echoes of many strains which a devout and meditative soul had made its own. The flowers are arranged in a new bouquet, because the poet had long delighted in their fragrance. The ease with which he blends into a harmonious whole fragments from such diverse sources tells how familiar he was with these, and how well he loved them. Psalm 135:1-4 are an invocation to praise Jehovah, and largely consist of quotations or allusions. Thus Psalm 134:1 underlies Psalm 135:1-2 . But here the reference to nightly praises is omitted, and the summons is addressed not only to those who stand in the house of Jehovah, but to those who stand in its courts. That expansion may mean that the call to worship is here directed to the people as well as to the priests (so in Psalm 135:19 ). Psalm 135:3 closely resembles Psalm 147:1 , but the question of priority may be left undecided. Since the act of praise is said to be "pleasant" in Psalm 147:1 , it is best to refer the same word here to the same thing, and not, as some would do, to the Name, or to take it as an epithet of Jehovah. To a loving soul praise is a delight. The songs which are not winged by the singer’s joy in singing will not rise high. True worship pours out its notes as birds do theirs-in order to express gladness which, unuttered, loads the heart. Psalm 135:4 somewhat passes beyond the bounds of the invocation proper, and anticipates the subsequent part of the psalm. Israel’s prerogative is so great to this singer that it forces utterance at once, though "out of season," as correct critics would say. But the throbs of a grateful heart are not always regular. It is impossible to keep the reasons for praise out of the summons to praise. Psalm 135:4 joyfully and humbly accepts the wonderful title given in Deuteronomy 7:6 . In Psalm 135:5-7 God’s majesty as set forth in Nature is hymned. The psalmist says emphatically in Psalm 135:5 "I-I know," and implies the privilege which he shared, in common with his fellow Israelites (who appear in the "our" of the next clause), of knowing what the heathen did not know-how highly Jehovah was exalted above all their gods. Psalm 135:6 is from Psalm 115:3 , with the expansion of defining the all-inclusive sphere of God’s sovereignty. Heaven, earth, seas, and depths cover all space. The enumeration of the provinces of His dominion prepares for that of the phases of His power in Nature, which is quoted with slight change from Jeremiah 10:13 ; Jeremiah 51:16 . The mysterious might which gathers from some unknown region the filmy clouds which grow, no man knows how, in the clear blue; the power which weds in strange companionship the fire of the lightning flash and the torrents of rain; the controlling hand which urges forth the invisible wind, -these call for praise. But while the psalmist looks on physical phenomena with a devout poet’s eye, he turns from these to expatiate rather on what Jehovah has done for Israel. Psalmists are never weary of drawing confidence and courage for today from the deeds of the Exodus and the Conquest. Psalm 135:8 is copied Exodus 13:15 , and the whole section is saturated with phraseology drawn from Deuteronomy. Psalm 135:13 is from Exodus 3:15 , the narrative of the theophany at the Bush. That Name, proclaimed then as the basis of Moses’ mission and Israel’s hope, is now, after so many centuries and sorrows, the same, and it will endure forever. Psalm 135:14 is from Deuteronomy 32:36 . Jehovah will right His people -i.e., deliver them from oppressors-which is the same thing as "relent concerning His servants," since His wrath was the reason of their subjection to their foes. That judicial deliverance of Israel is at once the sign that His Name, His revealed character, continues the same, unexhausted and unchanged forever, and the reason why the Name shall continue as the object of perpetual adoration and trust. Psalm 135:15-20 are taken bodily from Psalm 115:1-18 , to which the reader is referred. Slight abbreviations and one notable difference occur. In Psalm 135:17 b, " Yea, there is no breath at all in their mouths," takes the place of "A nose is theirs-and they cannot smell." The variation has arisen from the fact that the particle of strong affirmation (yea) is spelt like the noun "nose," and that the word for "breath" resembles the verb "smell." The psalmist plays upon his original, and by his variation makes the expression of the idols’ lifelessness stronger. The final summons to praise, with which the end of the psalm returns to its beginning, is also moulded on Psalm 115:9-11 , with the addition of "the house of Levi" to the three groups mentioned there, and the substitution of a call to "bless" for the original invitation to "trust." Psalm 135:21 looks back to the last verse of the preceding psalm, and significantly modifies it. There, as in Psalm 118:1-29 , Jehovah’s blessing comes out of Zion to His people. Here the people’s blessing in return goes from Zion and rises to Jehovah. They gathered there for worship, and dwelt with Him in His city and Temple. Swift interchange of the God-given blessing, which consists in mercies and gifts of gracious deliverance, and of the human blessing, which consists in thanksgiving and praise, fills the hours of those who dwell with Jehovah, as guests in His house, and walk the streets of the city which He guards and Himself inhabits. The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.