SUBJECT. In the former psalm the past
wonders which God had wrought were recounted to his honour, and
in the present psalm he is entreated to glorify himself again,
because the heathen were presuming upon the absence of miracles,
were altogether denying the miracles of former ages, and
insulting the people of God with the question, "Where is
now their God?" It grieved the heart of the godly that
Jehovah should be thus dishonoured, and treating their own
condition of reproach as unworthy of notice, they beseech the
Lord at least to vindicate his own name. The Psalmist is
evidently indignant that the worshippers of foolish idols should
be able to put such a taunting question to the people who
worshipped the only living and true God; and having spent his
indignation in sarcasm upon the images and their makers, he
proceeds to exhort the house of Israel to trust in God and bless
his name. As those who were dead and gone could no longer sing
psalms unto the Lord among the sons of men, he exhorts the
faithful who were then living to take care that God is not
robbed of his praise, and then he closes with an exulting
Hallelujah. Should not living men extol the living God?
DIVISION. For the better expounding of
it, the psalm may be divided into an entreaty of God to
vindicate his own honour, verses 1, 2; a contemptuous
description of the false gods and their worshippers, 3-8; an
exhortation to the faithful to trust in God and to expect great
blessings from him, 9-15; an explanation of God's relationship
to their present condition of things, verse 16; and a reminder,
that, not the dead, but the living, must continually praise God
here below.
EXPOSITION
Verse 1. It will be well to remember that this psalm
was sung at the Passover, and therefore it bears relationship to
the deliverance from Egypt. The burden of it, seems to be a
prayer that the living God, who had been so glorious at the Red
Sea and at the Jordan, should again for his own name's sake
display the wonders of his power. Not unto us, O LORD, not unto
us, but unto thy name give glory. The people undoubtedly wished
for relief from the contemptuous insults of idolaters, but their
main desire was that Jehovah himself should no longer be the
object of heathen insults. The saddest part of all their trouble
was that their God was no longer feared and dreaded by their
adversaries. When Israel marched into Canaan, a terror was upon
all the people round about, because of Jehovah, the mighty God;
but this dread the nations had shaken off since there had been
of late no remarkable display of miraculous power. Therefore
Israel cried unto her God that he would again make bare his arm
as in the day when he cut Rahab and wounded the dragon. The
prayer is evidently tinctured with a consciousness of
unworthiness; because of their past unfaithfulness they hardly
dared to appeal to the covenant, and to ask blessings for
themselves, but they fell back upon the honour of the Lord their
God—an old style of argument which their great lawgiver,
Moses, had used with such effect when he pleaded,
"Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For
mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains,
and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy
fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people."
Joshua also used the like argument when he said, "What wilt
thou do unto thy great name?" In such manner also let us
pray when no other plea is available because of our sense of
sin; for the Lord is always jealous of his honour, and will work
for his name's sake when no other motive will move him.
The repetition of the words, Not unto us, would seem
to indicate a very serious desire to renounce any glory which
they might at any time have proudly appropriated to themselves,
and it also sets forth the vehemence of their wish that God
would at any cost to them magnify his own name. They loathed the
idea of seeking their own glory, and rejected the thought with
the utmost detestation; again and again disclaiming any self
glorifying motive in their supplication. For thy mercy, and for
thy truth's sake. These attributes seemed most in jeopardy. How
could the heathen think Jehovah to be a merciful God if he gave
his people over to the hands of their enemies? How could they
believe him to be faithful and true if, after all his solemn
covenant engagements, he utterly rejected his chosen nation? God
is very jealous of the two glorious attributes of grace and
truth, and the plea that these may not be dishonoured has great
weight with him. In these times, when the first victories of the
gospel are only remembered as histories of a dim and distant
past, sceptics are apt to boast that the gospel has lost its
youthful strength, and they even presume to cast a slur upon the
name of God himself. We may therefore rightly entreat the divine
interposition that the apparent blot may be removed from his
escutcheon, and that his own word may shine forth gloriously as
in the days of old. We may not desire the triumph of our
opinions, for our own sakes, or for the honour of a sect, but we
may confidently pray for the triumph of truth, that God himself
may be honoured.
Verse 2. Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is
now their God? Or, more literally, "Where, pray, is
their God?" Why should the nations be allowed with a sneer
of contempt to question the existence, and mercy, and
faithfulness of Jehovah? They are always ready to blaspheme; we
may well pray that they may not derive a reason for so doing
from the course of providence, or the decline of the church.
When they see the godly down trodden while they themselves live
at ease, and act the part of persecutors, they are very apt to
speak as if they had triumphed over God himself, or as if he had
altogether left the field of action and deserted his saints.
When the prayers and tears of the godly seem to be unregarded,
and their miseries are rather increased than assuaged, then do
the wicked multiply their taunts and jeers, and even argue that
their own wretched irreligion is better than the faith of
Christians, because for the present their condition is so much
preferable to that of the afflicted saints. And, truly, this is
the very sting of the trials of God's chosen when they see the
veracity of the Lord questioned, and the name of God profaned
because of their sufferings. If they could hope that some good
result would come out of all this they would endure it with
patience; but as they are unable to perceive any desirable
result consequent thereon, they enquire with holy anxiety.
"Wherefore should the heathen be permitted to speak
thus?" It is a question to which it would be hard to reply,
and yet no doubt there is an answer. Sometimes the nations are
permitted thus to blaspheme, in order that they may fill up the
measure of their iniquity, and in order that the subsequent
interposition of God may be rendered the more illustrious in
contrast with their profane boastings. Do they say, "Where
is now their God?" They shall know by and by, for it is
written, "Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries";
they shall know it also when the righteous shall "shine
forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." Do they
say, "Where is the promise of his coming?" That coming
shall be speedy and terrible to them. In our own case, by our
own lukewarmness and the neglect of faithful gospel preaching,
we have permitted the uprise and spread of modern doubt, and we
are bound to confess it with deep sorrow of soul; yet we may not
therefore lose heart, but may still plead with God to save his
own truth and grace from the contempt of men of the world. Our
honour and the honour of the church are small matters, but the
glory of God is the jewel of the universe, of which all else is
but the setting; and we may come to the Lord and plead his
jealousy for his name, being well assured that he will not
suffer that name to be dishonoured. Wherefore should the
pretended wise men of the period be permitted to say that they
doubt the personality of God? Wherefore should they say that
answers to prayer are pious delusions, and that the resurrection
and the deity of our Lord Jesus are moot points? Wherefore
should they be permitted to speak disparagingly of atonement by
blood and by price, and reject utterly the doctrine of the wrath
of God against sin, even that wrath which burneth for ever and
ever? They speak exceeding proudly, and only God can stop their
arrogant blusterings: let us by extraordinary intercession
prevail upon him to interpose, by giving to his gospel such a
triumphant vindication as shall utterly silence the perverse
opposition of ungodly men.
Verse 3. But our God is in the heavens—where
he should be; above the reach of mortal sneers, over hearing all
the vain jangling of men, but looking down with silent scorn
upon the makers of the babel. Supreme above all opposing powers,
the Lord reigneth upon a throne high and lifted up.
Incomprehensible in essence, he rises above the loftiest thought
of the wise; absolute in will and infinite in power, he is
superior to the limitations which belong to earth and time. This
God is our God, and we are not ashamed to own him, albeit
he may not work miracles at the beck and call of every vain
glorious boaster who may choose to challenge him. Once they bade
his Son come down from the cross and they would believe in him,
now they would have God overstep the ordinary bounds of his
providence and come down from heaven to convince them: but other
matters occupy his august mind besides the convincement of those
who wilfully shut their eyes to the superabundant evidences of
his divine power and Godhead, which are all around them. If our
God be neither seen nor heard, and is not to be worshipped under
any outward symbol, yet is he none the less real and true, for
he is where his adversaries can never be—in the heavens,
whence he stretches forth his sceptre, and rules with boundless
power. He hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Up till this
moment his decrees have been fulfilled, and his eternal purposes
accomplished; he has not been asleep, nor oblivious of the
affairs of men; he has worked, and he has worked effectually,
none have been able to thwart, nor even so much as to hinder
him. "Whatsoever he hath pleased": however distasteful
to his enemies, the Lord has accomplished all his good pleasure
without difficulty; even when his adversaries raved and raged
against him they have been compelled to carry out his designs
against their will. Even proud Pharaoh, when most defiant of the
Lord was but as clay upon the potter's wheel, and the Lord's end
and design in him were fully answered. We may well endure the
jeering question, "Where is now their God?" while we
are perfectly sure that his providence is undisturbed, his
throne unshaken, and his purposes unchanged. What he hath done
he will yet do, his counsel shall stand, and he will do all his
pleasure, and at the end of the great drama of human history,
the omnipotence of God and his immutability and faithfulness
will be more than vindicated to the eternal confusion of his
adversaries.
Verse 4. Their idols are silver and gold, mere
dead inert matter; at the best only made of precious metal, but
that metal quite as powerless as the commonest wood or clay. The
value of the idol shows the folly of the maker in wasting his
substance, but certainly does not increase the power of the
image, since there is no more life in silver and gold than in
brass or iron. The work of men's hands. Inasmuch as the maker is
always greater than the thing that he has made, these idols are
less to be honoured than the artificers, who fashioned them. How
irrational that men should adore that which is less than
themselves! How strange that a man should think that he can make
a god! Can madness go further? Our God is a spirit, and his
hands made the heavens and the earth: well may we worship him,
and we need not be disturbed at the sneering question of those
who are so insane as to refuse to adore the living God, and yet
bow their knees before images of their own carving. We may make
an application of all this to the times in which we are now
living. The god of modern thought is the creation of the thinker
himself, evolved out of his own consciousness, or fashioned
according to his own notion of what a god should be. Now, it is
evident that such a being is no God. It is impossible that there
should be a God at all except the God of revelation. A god who
can be fashioned by our own thoughts is no more a God than the
image manufactured or produced by our own hands. The true God
must of necessity be his own revealer. It is clearly impossible
that a being who can be excogitated and comprehended by the
reason of man should be the infinite and incomprehensible God.
Their idols are blinded reason and diseased thought, the product
of men's muddled brains, and they will come to nought.
Verse 5. They have mouths, but they speak not.
The idols cannot utter even the faintest sound, they cannot
communicate with their worshippers, they can neither promise nor
threaten, command nor console, explain the past nor prophesy the
future. If they had no mouths they might not be expected to
speak, but having mouths and speaking not, they are mere dumb
idols, and not worthy to be compared with the Lord God who
thundered at Sinai, who in old time spake by his servants the
prophets, and whose voice even now breaketh the cedars of
Lebanon. Eyes have they, but they see not. They cannot tell who
their worshippers may be or what they offer. Certain idols have
had jewels in their eyes more precious than a king's ransom, but
they were as blind as the rest of the fraternity. A god who has
eyes, and cannot see, is a blind deity; and blindness is a
calamity, and not an attribute of godhead. He must be very blind
who worships a blind god: we pity a blind man, it is strange to
worship a blind image.
Verse 6. They have ears, but they hear not. The
Psalmist might have pointed to the monstrous ears with which
some heathen deities are disfigured,—truly they have ears; but
no prayer of their rotaries, though shouted by a million voices,
can ever be heard by them. How can gold and silver hear, and how
can a rational being address petitions to one who cannot even
hear his words? Noses have they, but they smell not. The
Psalmist seems to heap together these sentences with something
of the grim sardonic spirit of Elijah when he said, "Cry
aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing,
or he is on a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be
awaked." In sacred scorn he mocks at those who burn sweet
spices, and fill their temples with clouds of smoke, all offered
to an image whose nose cannot perceive the perfume. He seems to
point his finger to every part of the countenance of the image,
and thus pours contempt upon the noblest part of the idol, if
any part of such a thing can be noble even in the least degree.
Verse 7. They have hands, but they handle not.
Looking lower down upon the images, the Psalmist says,
"They have hands, but they handle not, "they cannot
receive that which is handed to them, they cannot grasp the
sceptre of power or the sword of vengeance, they can neither
distribute benefits nor dispense judgments, and the most
trifling act they are utterly unable to perform. An infant's
hand excels them in power. Feet have they, but they walk not.
They must be lifted into their places or they would never reach
their shrines; they must be fastened in their shrines or they
would fall; they must be carried or they could never move; they
cannot come to the rescue of their friends, nor escape the
iconoclasm of their foes. The meanest insect has more power of
locomotion than the greatest heathen god. Neither speak they
through their throats. They cannot even reach so far as the
guttural noise of the lowest order of beasts; neither a grunt,
nor a growl, nor a groan, nor so much as a mutter, can come from
them. Their priests asserted that the images of the gods upon
special occasions uttered hollow sounds, but it was a mere
pretence, or a crafty artifice: images of gold or silver are
incapable of living sounds. Thus has the Psalmist surveyed the
idol from head to foot, looked in its face, and sounded its
throat, and he writes it down as utterly contemptible.
Verse 8. They that make them are like unto them.
Those who make such things for worship are as stupid, senseless,
and irrational as the figures they construct. So far as any
spiritual life, thought, and judgment are concerned, they are
rather the images of men than rational beings. The censure is by
no means too severe. Who has not found the words leaping to his
lips when he has seen the idols of the Romans? So is every one
that trusteth in them. Those who have sunk so low as to be
capable of confiding in idols have reached the extreme of folly,
and are worthy of as much contempt as their detestable deities.
Luther's hard speeches were well deserved by the Papists; they
must be mere dolts to worship the rotten relics which are the
objects of their veneration. The god of modern thought
exceedingly resembles the deities described in this Psalm.
Pantheism is wondrously akin to Polytheism, and yet differs very
little from Atheism. The god manufactured by our great thinkers
is a mere abstraction: he has no eternal purposes, he does not
interpose on the behalf of his people, he cares but very little
as to how much man sins, for he has given to the initiated
"a larger hope" by which the most incorrigible are to
be restored. He is what the last set of critics chooses to make
him, he has said what they choose to say, and lie will do what
they please to prescribe. Let this creed and its devotees alone,
and they will work out their own refutation, for as now their
god is fashioned like themselves, they will by degrees fashion
themselves like their god; and when the principles of justice,
law, and order shall have all been effectually sapped we may
possibly witness in some form of socialism, similar to that
which is so sadly spreading in Germany, a repetition of the
evils which have in former ages befallen nations which have
refused the living God, and set up gods of their own.
Verse 9. O Israel, trust thou in the LORD.
Whatever others do, let the elect of heaven keep fast to the God
who chose them. Jehovah is the God of Jacob, let his children
prove their loyalty to their God by their confidence in him.
Whatever our trouble may be, and however fierce the blasphemous
language of our enemies, let us not fear nor falter, but
confidently rest in him who is able to vindicate his own honour,
and protect his own servants. He is their help and their shield.
He is the friend of his servants, both actively and passively,
giving them both aid in labour and defence in danger. In the use
of the pronoun "their, "the Psalmist may have spoken
to himself, in a sort of soliloquy: he had given the
exhortation, "trust in Jehovah, "and then he whispers
to himself, "They may well do so, for he is at all times
the strength and security of his servants."
Verse 10. O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD.
You who are nearest to him, trust him most; your very calling is
connected with his truth and is meant to declare his glory,
therefore never entertain a doubt concerning him, but lead the
way in holy confidence. The priests were the leaders, teachers,
and exemplars of the people, and therefore above all others they
should place an unreserved reliance upon Israel's God. The
Psalmist is glad to add that they did so, for he says, He is
their help and their shield. It is good to exhort those to faith
who have faith: "These things have I written unto you that
believe on the name of the Son of God; ...that ye may believe on
the name of the Son of God." We may stir up pure minds by
way of remembrance, and exhort men to trust in the Lord because
we know that they are trusting already.
Verse 11. The next verse is of the same tenor—Ye
that fear the LORD, trust in the LORD, whether belonging to
Israel, or to the house of Aaron, or not, all those who
reverence Jehovah are permitted and commanded to confide in him.
He is their help and their shield. He does aid and protect all
those who worship him in filial fear, to whatever nation they
may belong. No doubt these repeated exhortations were rendered
necessary by the trying condition in which the children of
Israel were found: the sneers of the adversary would assail all
the people, they would most bitterly be felt by the priests and
ministers, and those who were secret proselytes would groan in
secret under the contempt forced upon their religion and their
God. All this would be very staggering to faith, and therefore
they were bidden again and again and again to trust in Jehovah.
This must have been a very pleasant song to households in
Babylon, or far away in Persia, when they met together in the
night to eat the Paschal supper in a land which knew them not,
where they wept as they remembered Zion. We seem to hear them
repeating the threefold word, "Trust in Jehovah, "men
and women and little children singing out their scorn of the
dominant idolatry, and declaring their adhesion to the one God
of Israel. In the same manner in this day of blasphemy and
rebuke it becomes us all to abound in testimonies to the truth
of God. The sceptic is loud in his unbelief, let us be equally
open in the avowal of our faith.
Verse 12. The Lord hath been mindful of us, or
"Jehovah hath remembered us." His past mercies prove
that we are on his heart, and though for the present he may
afflict us, yet he does not forget us. We have not to put him in
remembrance as though he found it hard to recollect his
children, but he hath remembered us and therefore he will in
future deal well with us. He will bless us. The word "us"
is supplied by the translators, and is superfluous, the passage
should run, He will bless; he will bless the house of Israel
he will bless the house of Aaron. The repetition of the word
"bless" adds great effect to the passage. The Lord has
many blessings, each one worthy to be remembered, he blesses and
blesses and blesses again. Where he has once bestowed his favour
he continues it; his blessing delights to visit the same house
very often and to abide where it has once lodged. Blessing does
not impoverish the Lord: he has multiplied his mercies in the
past, and he will pour them forth thick and threefold in the
future. He will have a general blessing for all who fear him, a
peculiar blessing for the whole house of Israel, and a double
blessing for the sons of Aaron. It is his nature to bless, it is
his prerogative to bless, it is his glory to bless, it is his
delight to bless; he has promised to bless, and therefore be
sure of this, that he will bless and bless and bless without
ceasing.
Verse 13. He will bless them that fear the LORD,
both small and great. So long as a man fears the Lord it
matters nothing whether he be prince or peasant, patriarch or
pauper, God will assuredly bless him. He supplies the want of
every living thing, from the leviathan of the sea to the insect
upon a leaf, and he will suffer none of the godly to be
forgotten, however small their abilities, or mean their
position. This is a sweet cordial for those who are little in
faith, and own themselves to be mere babes in the family of
grace. There is the same blessing for the least saint as for the
greatest; yea, if anything, the "small" shall be
first; for as the necessity is the more pressing, the supply
shall be the more speedy.
Verse 14. The LORD shall increase you more and
more, you and your children. Just as in Egypt he multiplied
the people exceedingly, so will he increase the number of his
saints upon the earth; not only shall the faithful be blessed
with converts, and so with a spiritual seed; but those who are
their spiritual children shall become fruitful also, and thus
the multitude of the elect shall be accomplished; God shall
increase the people, and shall increase the joy. Even to the end
of the ages the race of true believers shall be continued, and
shall increasingly multiply in number and in power. The first
blessing upon mankind was, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and
replenish the earth"; and it is this blessing which God now
pronounces upon them that fear him. Despite the idols of
philosophy and sacramentarianism, the truth shall gather its
disciples, and fill the land with its defenders.
Verse 15. Ye are blessed of the LORD which made
heaven and earth. This is another form of the blessing of
Melchizedek: "Blessed be Abram of the Most High God,
possessor of heaven and earth"; and upon us through our
great Melchizedek this same benediction rests. It is an
omnipotent blessing, conveying to us all that an Almighty God
can do, whether in heaven or on earth. This fulness is infinite,
and the consolation which it brings is unfailing: he that made
heaven and earth can give us all things while we dwell below,
and bring us safely to his palace above. Happy are the people
upon whom such a blessing rests; their portion is infinitely
above that of those whose only hope lies in a piece of gilded
wood, or an image of sculptured stone.
Verse 16. The heaven, even the heavens, are the
Lord's. There he specially reigns, and manifests his
greatness and his glory: but the earth hath he given to the
children of men. He hath left the world during the present
dispensation in a great measure under the power and will of men,
so that things are not here below in the same perfect order as
the things which are above. It is true the Lord rules over all
things by his providence, but yet he allows and permits men to
break his laws and persecute his people for the time being, and
to set up their dumb idols in opposition to him. The free agency
which he gave to his creatures necessitated that in some degree
he should restrain his power and suffer the children of men to
follow their own devices; yet nevertheless, since he has not
vacated heaven, he is still master of earth, and can at any time
gather up all the reins into his own hands. Perhaps, however,
the passage is meant to have another meaning, viz., that God
will increase his people, because he has given the earth to
them, and intends that they shall fill it. Man was constituted
originally God's vicegerent over the world, and though as yet we
see not all things put under him, we see Jesus exalted on high,
and in him the children of men shall receive a loftier dominion
even on earth than as yet they have known. "The meek shall
inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance
of peace": and our Lord Jesus shall reign amongst his
ancients gloriously. All this will reflect the exceeding glory
of him who reveals himself personally in heaven, and in the
mystical body of Christ below. The earth belongs to the sons of
God, and we are bound to subdue it for our Lord Jesus, for he
must reign. The Lord hath given him the heathen for his
inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his
possession.
Verse 17. The dead praise not the LORD—So far
as this world is concerned. They cannot unite in the Psalms and
hymns and spiritual songs with which the church delights to
adore her Lord. The preacher cannot magnify the Lord from his
coffin, nor the Christian worker further manifest the power of
divine grace by daily activity while he lies in the grave.
Neither any that go down into silence. The tomb sends forth no
voice; from mouldering bones and flesh consuming worms there
arises no sound of gospel ministry nor of gracious song. One by
one the singers in the consecrated choir of saints steal away
from us, and we miss their music. Thank God, they have gone
above to swell the harmonies of the skies, but as far as we are
concerned, we have need to sing all the more earnestly because
so many songsters have left our choirs.
Verse 18. But we will bless the LORD from this time
forth and for evermore. We who are still living will take
care that the praises of God shall not fail among the sons of
men. Our afflictions and depressions of spirit shall not cause
us to suspend our praises; neither shall old age, and increasing
infirmities damp the celestial fires, nay, nor shall even death
itself cause us to cease from the delightful occupation. The
spiritually dead cannot praise God, but the life within us
constrains us to do so. The ungodly may abide in silence, but we
will lift up our voices to the praise of Jehovah. Even though
for a time he may work no miracle, and we may see no peculiar
interposition of his power, yet on the strength of what he has
done in ages past we will continue to laud his name "until
the day break, and the shadows flee away, "when he shall
once more shine forth as the sun to gladden the faces of his
children. The present time is auspicious for commencing a life
of praise, since today he bids us hear his voice of mercy.
"From this time forth" is the suggestion of wisdom,
for this duty ought not to be delayed; and it is the dictate of
gratitude, for there are pressing reasons for prompt
thankfulness. Once begin praising God and we have entered upon
an endless service. Even eternity cannot exhaust the reasons why
God should be glorified. Praise the Lord, or Hallelujah. Though
the dead cannot, and the wicked will not, and the careless do
not praise God, yet we will shout "Hallelujah" for
ever and ever. Amen.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Whole Psalm. Several manuscripts and editions, also
the Septuagint, the Syriac, and many of the old translators join
this Psalm to the preceding, and make one of them. But the
argument and the arrangement of the two Psalms do not allow of
the least doubt as to their original independence of each other.
Justus Olshausen.
Verse 1. Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto
thy name give glory. The Psalmist, by this repetition,
implies our natural tendency to self idolatry, and to magnifying
of ourselves, and the difficulty of cleansing our hearts from
these self reflections. If it be angelical to refuse an undue
glory stolen from God's throne, Re 12:8-9; it is diabolical to
accept and cherish it. "To seek our own glory is not glory,
"Pr 25:27. It is vile, and the dishonour of a creature,
who, by the law of his creation, is referred to another end. So
much as we sacrifice to our own credit, to the dexterity of our
hands, or the sagacity of our wit, we detract from God. Stephen
Charnock.
Verse 1. Not unto us, but unto thy name give glory,
etc. This is not a doxology, or form of thanksgiving, but a
prayer. Not for our safety or welfare, so much as for thy glory,
be pleased to deliver us. Not to satisfy our revenge upon our
adversaries; not for the establishment of our own interest; but
for the glory of thy grace and truth do we seek thine aid, that
thou mayest be known to be a God keeping covenant; for mercy and
truth are the two pillars of that covenant. It is a great
dishonouring of God when anything is sought from him more than
himself, or not for himself. Saith Austin, it is but a carnal
affection in prayer when men seek self more than God. Self and
God are the two things that come in competition. Now there are
several sorts of self; there is carnal self, natural self,
spiritual self, and glorified self; above all these God must
have the preeminence. Thomas Manton.
Verse 1. There are many sweet and precious texts of
Scripture which are so endeared, and have become so habituated
to us, and we to them, that one cannot but think we must carry
them with us to heaven, and that they will form not only the
theme of our song, but a portion of our blessedness and joy even
in that happy home... But if there be one text which more
especially belongs to all, and which must, I think, break forth
from every redeemed one as he enters heaven, and form the
unwearying theme of eternity, it is the first verse of this
Psalm. I am sure that not one of the Lord's chosen ones on
earth, as he reviews the way by which he has been led, as he
sees enemy after enemy prostrate before his utter feebleness,
and has such thorough evidence and conviction that his weakness
is made perfect in the Lord's strength, but must, from the very
ground of his heart, say, Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us,
but unto thy name be the praise and the glory ascribed. And
could we see heaven opened—could we hear its glad and glorious
hallelujahs—could we see its innumerable company of angels,
and its band of glorified saints, as they cast their crowns
before the throne, we should hear as the universal chorus from
every lip, "Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto
thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake.
I know not why this should not be as gladly and as gratefully
the angels' song as the song of the redeemed: they stand not in
their own might nor power,—they kept not their first estate
through any inherent strength of their own, but, like their
feebler brethren of the human race, are equally "kept by
the power of God"; and from their ranks, I doubt not, is
reechoed the same glorious strain, "Not unto us, O LORD,
not unto us, but unto thy name give glory. Even our blessed
Lord, as on that night of sorrow he sung this hymn of praise,
could truly say, in that nature which had sinned, and which was
to suffer, "Not unto us, "—not unto man, be ascribed
the glory of this great salvation, which I am now with my own
blood to purchase, but unto thy name and thy love be the praise
given. Barton Bouchier.
Verse 1. "Non nobis, Domine, sed tibi sit
gloria." A part of the Latin version of this Psalm is
frequently sung after grace at public dinners, but why we can
hardly imagine, except it be for fear that donors should be
proud of the guineas they have promised, or gourmands should be
vainglorious under the influence of their mighty feeding. C.H.S.
Verses 1-2. He, in a very short space, assigns three
reasons why God should seek the glory of his name in preserving
his people. First, because he is merciful; secondly, because he
is true and faithful in observing his promise; thirdly, that the
Gentiles may not see God's people in a state of destitution, and
find cause for blaspheming him or them. He therefore says, for
thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake, show thy glory, or give
glory to thy name, for it is then thy glory will be exhibited
when you show mercy to thy people; and then thou wilt have
carried out the truth of the promise which thou hast made to our
fathers. Lest the Gentiles should say, Where is their God?
lest the incredulous Gentiles should get an occasion of
detracting from thy power, and, perhaps, of ignoring thy very
existence. Robert Bellarmine.
Verses 2-3. If God be everywhere, why doth Christ
teach us to pray, "Our Father which art in heaven"?
And when the heathen made that scoffing demand, Where is now
their God? why did David answer, Our God is in the
heavens? To these and all other texts of like import we may
answer; heaven is not there spoken of as bounding the
presence of God, but as guiding the faith and hope of man.
"In the morning" (saith David, Ps 5:3) "will I
direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up!" When the eye
hath no sight of any help on earth, then faith may have the
clearest vision of it in heaven. And while God appears so little
in any gracious dispensation for his people on earth, that the
enemy begins to scoff, "Where is now their God?"
when his people have recourse by faith to heaven, where the Lord
not only is, but is glorious in his appearing. From whence as he
the better seeth how it is with us, so he seems to have a
position of advantage for relieving us. Joseph Caryl.
Verse 2-8. Contrast Jehovah with any other God. Why
should the heathen say, Where, pray, (ag) is your God?
Take up Moses' brief description in De 4:28, and expand it as is
done here. Idols of gold and silver have a mouth, but
give no counsel to their worshippers; eyes, but see not
the devotions nor the wants of those who serve them; ears,
but hear not their cries of distress or songs of praise; nostrils,
but smell not the fragrant incense presented to their images; hands,
but the thunderbolt which they seem to hold (as Jupiter Tonans
in after days), is a brutum fulmen, they cannot launch
it; feet, but they cannot move to help the fallen. Ah!
they cannot so much as whisper one syllable of response, or even
mutter in their throat! And as man becomes like his God,
(witness Hindu idolaters whose cruelty is just the reflection of
the cruelty of their gods,)so these gods of the heathen being
"soulless, the worshippers become soulless themselves"
(Tholuck). Andrew A. Bonar.
Verse 3. And our God (is) in heaven; all that he
pleased he has done. The "and, "though
foreign from our idiom, adds sensibly to the force of the
expression. They ask thus, as if our God were absent or had no
existence; and yet all the while our God is in heaven, in his
exalted and glorious dwelling place. Joseph Addison
Alexander.
Verse 3 (first clause). It would be folly to
assert the like concerning idols; therefore, if the heathen say,
Where is your God? we reply, He is in heaven,
&c.: but where are your idols? In the earth, not making the
earth, but made from the earth, &c. Martin Geier.
Verse 3. But our God is in the heavens. When
they place God in heaven, they do not confine him to a certain
locality, nor set limits to his infinite essence; but on the
contrary they deny the limitation of his power, its being shut
up to human instrumentality only, or its being subject to fate
or fortune. In short, they put the universe under his control;
and teach us that, being superior to every obstruction, he does
freely everything that may seem good to him. This truth is still
more plainly asserted in the subsequent clause, he hath done
whatsoever he hath pleased. God then may be said to dwell in
heaven, as the world is subject to his will, and nothing can
prevent his accomplishing his purposes. John Calvin.
Verse 4. Their idols are silver and gold. Can
there be anything more absurd than to expect assistance from
them, since neither the materials of which they are formed, nor
the forms which are given them by the hand of men possess the
smallest portion of divinity so as to command respect for them?
At the same time, the prophet tacitly indicates that the value
of the material does not invest the idols with more excellence,
so that they deserve to be more highly esteemed. Hence the
passage may be translated adversatively, thus, Though they are
of gold and silver, yet they are not gods, because they are the
work of men's hands. John Calvin.
Verse 4. Their idols are silver, etc. They are
metal, stone, and wood. They are generally made in the form of
man, but can neither see, hear, smell, feel, walk, nor speak.
How brutish to trust in such! and next to them, in stupidity and
inanity, must they be who form them, with the expectation of
deriving any good from them. So obviously vain was the whole
system of idolatry that the more serious heathens ridiculed it,
and it was a butt for the jests of their freethinkers and
buffoons. How keen are these words of Juvenal!
Audis,
Jupiter, haec? nec labra moves, cum mittere vocem
Debueras, vel marmoreus vel aheneus? aut cur
In carbone tuo charta pia thura soluta
Ponimus, et sectum vituli jecur, albaque porci
Omenta? ut video, nullum discrimen habendum est
Effigies inter vestras, statuamque Bathylli. Sat. 13, ver. 113.
"Dost thou hear, O Jupiter, these things? nor move thy
lips when thou oughtest to speak out, whether thou art of marble
or of bronze? Or, why do we put the sacred incense on thy altar
from the opened paper, and the extracted liver of a calf, and
the white caul of a hog? As far as I can discern, there is no
difference between thy statue and that of Bathyllus." This
irony will appear the keener, when it is known that Bathyllus
was a fiddler and player, whose image, by the order of
Polycrates, was erected in the temple of Juno at Samos. Adam
Clarke.
Verse 4. Idols. Idolaters plead in behalf of
their idols, that they are only intended to represent their
gods, and to maintain a more abiding sense of their presence.
The Spirit, however, does not allow this idea, and treats their
images as the very gods they worship. The gods they profess to
represent do not really exist, and therefore their worship is
altogether vain and foolish. Must not the same lie said of the
pretended worship of many in the present day, who would encumber
their worship with representative rites and ceremonies, or
expressive symbols, or frame to themselves in their imaginations
a god other than the God of revelation? W. Wilson.
Verse 4. Silver and gold proper things to make
money of, but not to make gods of. Matthew Henry.
Verse 4. The work of men's hands. The following
advertisement is copied from a Chinese newspaper:—"Archen
Tea Chinchin, sculptor, respectfully acquaints masters of ships,
trading from Canton to India, that they may be furnished with
figure heads of any size, according to order, at one fourth of
the price charged in Europe. He also recommends for private
venture, the following idols, brass, gold, and silver: the hawk
of Vishnoo, which has reliefs of his incarnation in a fish,
boar, lion, and turtle. An Egyptian apis, a golden calf and
bull, as worshipped by the pious followers of Zoroaster. Two
silver mammosits, with golden earrings; an aprimanes, for
Persian worship; a ram, an alligator, a crab, a laughing hyena,
with a variety of household gods on a small scale, calculated
for family worship. Eighteen months' credit will be given, or a
discount of fifteen percent for prompt payment of the sum
affixed to each article. Direct. China street, Canton, under the
marble Rhinoceros and Gilt Hydra." Arvine's Anecdotes.
Verse 4. The work of men's hands. Works, and
not the makers of works. Adam Clarke.
Verse 4. The work of men's hands. And therefore
they must needs be goodly gods, when made by bunglers
especially, as was the rood of Cockram;which if it were
not good enough to make a god would make an excellent devil, as
the Mayor of Doncaster merrily told the complainants. John
Trapp.
Verses 4-7. A beautiful contrast is formed between the
God of Israel and the heathen idols. He made everything, they
are themselves made by men; he is in heaven, they are upon
earth; he doeth whatsoever he pleaseth, they can do nothing; he
seeth the distresses, heareth and answereth the prayers,
accepteth the offerings, cometh to the assistance, and affecteth
the salvation of his servants; they are blind, deaf, and dumb,
senseless, motionless, and impotent. Equally slow to hear,
equally impotent to save, in time of greatest need, will every
worldly idol prove, on which men have set their affections, and
to which they have, in effect, said, "Thou art my
God." George Horne.
Verses 4-7. In Alexandria there was a most famous
building called the Sarapion, a temple of Serapis,
who presided over the inundations of the Nile, and the fertility
of Egypt. It was a vast structure of masonry, crowning a hill in
the centre of the city, and was ascended by a hundred steps. It
was well fortified and very handsome. The statue of the god was
a colossal image, which touched with outstretched hands both
sides of the building, while the head reached the lofty roof. It
was adorned with rich metals and jewels. The Emperor Theodosius,
having commanded the demolition of the heathen temple,
Theophilus, the bishop, attended by the soldiers, hastened to
ascend the steps and enter the fane. The sight of the image, for
a moment, made even the Christian destruction pause. The bishop
ordered a soldier to strike without delay. With a hatchet he
smote the statue on the knee. All waited in some emotion, but
there was neither sound nor sign of divine anger. The soldiers
next climbed to the head and struck it off. It rolled on the
ground. A large family of rats, disturbed in their tranquil
abode within the sacred image, poured out from the trembling
statue and raced over the temple floor. The people now began to
laugh, and to destroy with increased zeal. They dragged the
fragments of the statue through the streets. Even the Pagans
were disgusted with gods who did not defend themselves. The huge
edifice was slowly destroyed, and a Christian church was built
in its place. There was still some fear among the people that
the Nile would show displeasure by refusing its usual
inundation. But as the river rose with more than usual fulness
and bounty, every anxiety was dispelled. Andrew Reed, in
"The Story of Christianity," 1877.
Verses 4-8. Theodoret tells us of S. Publia, the aged
abbess of a company of nuns at Antioch, who used to chant, as
Julian went by in idolatrous procession, the Psalm, "Their
idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands... They that
make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in
them"; and he narrates how the angry Emperor caused his
soldiers to buffet her till she bled, unable as he was to endure
the sting of the old Hebrew song. Neale and Littledale.
Verse 5. Mouths, but they speak not. The
noblest function of the mouth is to speak. Eyes, ears, and nose
are the organs of certain senses. The mouth contains the organ
of taste, and the hands and feet belong to the organ of touch,
but speech is the glory of the mouth. James G. Murphy.
Verse 6. They have ears, but they hear not. But
are as deaf as doornails to the prayers of their suppliants. The
Cretians pictured their Jupiter without ears, so little hearing
or help they hoped for from him. Socrates, in contempt of
heathen gods, swore by an oak, a goat, a dog; as holding these
better gods than those. John Trapp,
Verse 7. They have hands, but they handle not.
Even their artist therefore surpasses them, since he had the
faculty of moulding them by the motion and functions of his
limbs; though thou wouldest be ashamed to worship that artist.
Even you surpass them, though thou hast not made these things,
since thou doest what they cannot do. Augustine.
Verse 7. Neither speak they through their throat.
Yehgu;not so much as the low faint moaning of a dove. Isa
38:14. William Kay.
Verse 7. Speak, or, as the Hebrew word likewise
signifies, breathe. They are not only irrational, but
also inanimate. Thomas Fenton.
Verse 8. They that make them are like unto them.
They that make them images, show their ingenuity, and
doubtless are sensible men; but they that make them gods
show their stupidity, and are as senseless blockish things as
the idols themselves. Matthew Henry.
Verse 8. They that make them are like unto them.
They are like idols, because, though they hear and see, it is
more in appearance than in reality; for they neither see nor
hear the things that pertain to salvation, the things that only
are worth seeing, so that they may be said more to dream than to
see or hear; as St. Mark has it, "Having eyes ye see not,
having ears ye hear not." Robert Bellarmine.
Verse 8. Like unto them. etc. Every one is just
what his God is; whoever serves the Omnipotent is omnipotent
with him: whoever exalts feebleness, in stupid delusion, to be
his god, is feeble along with that god. This is an important
preservative against fear for those who are sure that they
worship the true God. E. W. Hengstenberg.
Verse 8. Like unto them. Namely,
"hollowness, "vanity, unprofitableness: (tohu).
Isa 44:9-10. William Kay.
Verse 8. They that serve a base god cannot but be of a
base spirit, and so can do nothing worthily and generously.
Every man's temper is as his god is. Thomas Manton.
Verse 9. He is their help. We should rather
have expected, "Our help and our shield, "&c. But
the burden thrice introduced, appears to be a well known formula
of praise. "Their, "i.e., "of all who
trust in him." The verses contain a climax: (1) Israel in
general is addressed; (2) the priests or ministers of God's
service; (3) the true Israelites; not only chosen out of all
people, or out of the chosen people for outward service; but
serving God in sincerity of heart. Speaker's Commentary.
Verse 10. He is the help of his people; they
are helpless in themselves, and vain is the help of man, for
there is none in him; there is no help but in the Lord, and he
is a present, seasonable, and sufficient help. Jehovah the
Father has promised them help, and he is both able and faithful
to make it good; he has laid help upon his Son for them; and has
set up a throne of grace, where they may come for grace to help
them in time of need. Christ has helped them out of the
miserable estate they were fallen into by sin; he helps them on
in their way to heaven, by his power and grace, and at last
brings them thither. The Spirit of God helps them to the things
of Christ; to many exceeding great and precious promises; and
out of many difficulties, snares and temptations; and he helps
them in prayer under all their infirmities, and makes
intercession for them, according to the will of God; and
therefore they should trust in the Lord, Father, Son, and
Spirit. John Gill.
Verse 12. The Lord hath been mindful of us: he will
bless us. God hath, and therefore God will, is an ordinary
Scripture argument. John Trapp.
Verse 13. He will bless... both small and great.
Mercy, according to the covenant of grace, giveth the same
grounds of faith and hope to everyone within the church; so that
whatever of favour is shown to one of God's people, it is of a
general use and profit to others. This Scripture sheweth that as
the duty of trusting in the Lord is common to all sorts of
persons, so the blessing of trust is common, and doth belong to
all sorts of believers, small and great. God's Israel consists
of several degrees of men. There are magistrates who have their
peculiar service; there ate ministers who intercede between God
and man in things belonging to God; and there are the common
sort of them that fear God, and are admitted to the honour of
being his people. Now these have all the same privileges. If God
be the help and shield of the one, he will be the help and
shield of the other; if he bless the one he will bless the
other. Every one that feareth God, and is in the number of the
true Israelites, may expect his blessing as well as public
persons; the meanest peasant as well as the greatest prince, as
they have leave to trust in God, so they may expect his
blessing. The reason is that they have all an equal interest in
the same God, who is a God of goodness and power, able and
willing to relieve all those that trust in him. He is alike
affected to all his children, and beareth them the same love. Thomas
Manton.
Verse 13. He says, both small and great, by
which circumstance he magnifies God's paternal regard the more,
showing that he does not overlook even the meanest and the most
despised, provided they cordially seek his aid. Now as there is
no acceptance of persons before God, our low and abject
condition ought to be no obstruction to our drawing near to him,
since he so kindly invites to approach him those who appear to
be held in no reputation. The repetition of the word "bless"
is intended to mark the uninterrupted stream of his
lovingkindness. John Calvin.
Verse 14. The LORD shall increase you, etc. This is
expressive of the further and increasing blessing of Jehovah on
his Israel, upon his ministers, and upon the whole church. They
are to be increased in light and knowledge, in gifts and graces,
in faith and utterance, in numbers and multitude. Samuel
Eyles Pierce.
Verse 14.
The Lord will heap his blessings upon you,
Upon you and your children.
—William Green, in "A New Translation of the
Psalms," 1762.
Verse 15. Blessed are ye, etc. Ye are the
people blessed of old in the person of your father Abraham, by
Melchizedek, priest of the Most High God, "Creator of
heaven and earth, "Ge 14:19. "Of Jehovah, "
literally, to Jehovah, as an object of benediction to
him. Or the Hebrew proposition, as in many other cases, may be
simply equivalent to our by. The creative character of
God is mentioned, as ensuring his ability, no less than his
willingness, to bless his people. Joseph Addison Alexander.
Verse 16. The heaven, even the heavens, are the
LORD'S. He demonstrates, that, as God has his dwelling place
in the heavens, he must be independent of all worldly riches;
for, assuredly, neither wine, nor corn, nor anything requisite
for the support of the present life, is produced there.
Consequently, God has every resource in himself. To this
circumstance the repetition of the term "heavens"
refers. The heavens, the heavens are enough for God;and
as he is superior to all aid, he is to himself instead of a
hundred more. John Calvin.
Verse 16. The earth hath he given, etc. This
verse is full of beauty, when read in connection with what
follows, as a descriptive declaration of the effect of "the
regeneration" on this lower scene. For until then, man has
rather been given to the earth than the earth to the sons of
men. It is but a place of graves, and the day of death seems
better than the day of birth, so long as men walk in no brighter
light than that of the sun. Arthur Pridham.
Verse 17. The dead praise not the LORD, etc.
David considers not here what men do, or do not, in the next
world; but he considers only that in this world he was bound to
propagate God's truth, and that he could not do so if God took
him away by death. Now there is a double reason given of David's
and other holy men's deprecation of death in the Old Testament;
one in relation to themselves, qui promissiones obsurae,
because Moses had conveyed to those men all God's future
blessings, all the joy and glory of heaven, only in the types of
earthly things, and said little of the state of the soul after
this life. And therefore the promises belonging to the godly
after this life, were not so clear that in the contemplation of
them they could deliver themselves confidently into the jaws of
death: he that is not fully satisfied of the next world, makes
shift to be content with this. The other reason was quia
operarii pauci, because God had a great harvest in hand, and
few labourers in it, they were loath to be taken from the work;
and this reason was not in relation to themselves, but to God's
church, since they would not be able to do God's cause any more
good here. This was the other reason that made those good men so
loath to die. Quid facies nomini tuo? says Joshua in his
prayer to God. If the Canaanites come in to destroy us, and
blaspheme thee, what wilt thou do unto thy mighty name? What
wilt thou do unto thy glorious church, said the saints of God
under the Old Testament, if thou take those men out of the
world, whom thou hast chosen, enabled, and qualified, for the
edification, sustanation, and propagation of that church? Upon
this account David desired to live, not for his own sake, but
for God's glory and his church's good; neither of which could be
advanced by him when he was dead. Abraham Wright.
Verse 17. The dead praise not the LORD, etc.
Who are here meant by "the dead"? I cannot rest
in the view taken by those who consider this verse simply as a
plea by those who use it, that they may be saved from death.
They are words provided for the church at large, as the
subsequent verse proves By "the dead, "then, I
understand those who descend to the silence of eternal death,
who have not praised God, and never can. For them the earth
might seem never to have been given. W. Wilson.
Verse 17. Into silence. Into the grave—the
land of silence. Ps 94:17. Nothing is more impressive in regard
to the grave than its utter silence. Not a voice, not a
sound, is heard there,—of birds or men—of song or
conversation—of the roaring of the sea, the sighing of the
breeze, the fury of the storm, the tumult of battle. Perfect
stillness reigns there; and the first sound that shall be heard
there will be the archangel's trump. Albert Barnes.
Verses 17-18. The people of God cannot die,
because the praise of God would die with them, which would be
impossible. E. W. Hengstenberg.
Verses 17-18. It is not to be overlooked that there do
occur, in certain Psalms, words which have the appearance of
excluding the hope of eternal life (Ps 6:5 30:9 88:10,12 89:47
115:17)... Yet it is a very significant fact, that in all the
Psalms in question, there is an earnest solicitude expressed for
the glory of God. If death is deprecated, it is in order that
the Lord may not lose the glory, nor his church the services
which a life prolonged might furnish. This is well exemplified
in the hundred and fifteenth, which I the rather cite because,
being the sole exception to the rule, that the dark views of
death are found in Psalms of contrition and deep sorrow; it is
the only Psalm to which the preceding observations are
inapplicable. It is a tranquil hymn of praise.
17. It is not the dead who praise Jah: Neither any that go
down into silence.
18. But WE will bless Jah, From this time forth and for
evermore. Hallelujah!
The Psalm thus closed, was one of the Songs of the Second
Temple. What we hear in it is the voice of the church, rather
than of an individual soul. And this may assist us in perceiving
its entire harmony with faith in the heavenly glory. It much
concerns the honour of God that there be continued, on the
earth, a visible church, in which his name may be recorded from
generation to generation. That is a work which cannot be
performed by the dead. Since, therefore, the uppermost desire of
the church ought ever to be that God's name may be hallowed, his
kingdom advanced, and his will done in the earth; it is her duty
to pray for continued subsistence here, on the earth, to witness
for God. And it is to be carefully observed, that not only in
this passage, but in all the parallel texts in which the
Psalmists seem to speak doubtfully or disparagingly of the state
of the departed, it is in connection with the interest of God's
cause on the earth. The thought that is uppermost in their
hearts is, that "in death there is no commemoration"
of God—no recording of his name for the salvation of men. This
single circumstance might, I think, suffice to put the reader on
his guard against a precipitate fastening on them of a meaning
which would exclude the hope of eternal life. It goes far to
show that what the Psalmist deprecates, is not death simply
considered, but premature death. Their prayer is, "O my
God, take me not away in the midst of my days." Ps 102:24.
And I do not hesitate to say that there are men so placed in
stations of eminent usefulness, that it is their duty to make
the prayer their own. William Binnie.
HINTS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER
Verse 1. The passage may be used as,
1. A powerful plea in prayer.
2. An expression of the true spirit of piety.
3. A safe guide in theology.
4. A practical direction in choosing our way of life.
5. An acceptable spirit when surveying past or present success.
Verse 1.
1. No praise is due to man. Have we a being? Not unto us,
etc. Have we health? Not unto us, etc. Have we outward comforts?
Not unto us, etc. Friends? Not unto us, etc. The means of grace?
Not unto us, etc. Saving faith in Christ? Not unto us, etc.
Gifts and graces? Not unto us, etc. The hope of glory? Not unto
us, etc. Usefulness to others? Not unto us, etc.
2. All praise is due to God. (a) Because all we have is from
mercy. (b) Because all we expect is from faithfulness. G. R.
Verse 2. A taunting question, to which we can give
many satisfactory replies.
Verse 2. Why do they say so? Why doth God permit them
to say so? Matthew Henry.
Verses 2-3.
1. The inquiry of heathens: Ps 115:2. (a) Of ignorance. They
see a temple but no god. (b) Of reproach to the people of God
when their God has forsaken them for a time: "While they
say daily unto me, where, "etc.
2. The reply to their inquiry: Ps 115:3. Do you ask where is
our God? Ask rather where he is not? Do you ask what he has
done? "He has done whatsoever he hath pleased." G.
R.
Verse 3.
1. His position betokens absolute dominion.
2. His actions prove it.
3. Yet he condescends to be "our God."
Verse 3 (second clause). The sovereignty of
God. Establish and improve the great scriptural doctrine, that
the glorious God has a right to exercise dominion over all his
creatures; and to do, in all respects, as he pleases. This right
naturally results from his being the Former and the Possessor
of heaven and earth. Consider
1. He is infinitely wise; he perfectly knows all his
creatures, all their actions, and all their tendencies.
2. He is infinitely righteous.
3. He is infinitely good. George Burder.
Verses 4-8.
1. The character of idol gods. Whether our gods are natural
objects or riches or worldly pleasures, they have no eye to
pity, no ear to hear petitions, no tongue to counsel, no hand to
help.
2. The character of the true God. He is all eye, all ear, all
tongue, all hand, all feet, all mind, all heart.
3. The character of the idol worshippers. All become
naturally assimilated to the objects of their worship.
Verse 8. The likeness between idolaters and their
idols. Work it out in the particulars mentioned.
Verse 9. The living God claims spiritual worship; the
life of such worship is faith; faith proves God to be a living
reality—"He is their help, "etc. Only elect Israel
will ever render this living worship.
Verses 9-11.
1. The reproof. "O Israel!" "O house of
Aaron!" "Ye who fear the Lord." Have you been
unbelieving towards your God?
2. The correction or admonition. "Trust in the Lord,
"Have you trusted in the true God as others have in their
false gods?
3. The instruction. "He is their help, "etc. Let
churches, ministers, and all who fear God know that at all times
and under all circumstances he is their help and their shield. G.
R.
Verse 10.
1. Those who publicly serve should specially trust. "O
house of Aaron, trust."
2. Those who are specially called shall be specially helped.
"He is their help."
3. Those who are specially helped in service may be sure of
special protection in danger...and their shield.
Verse 11. Filial fear the foundation of fuller faith.
Verse 12. What we have experienced. What we may
expect. Matthew Henry.
Verses 12-13.
1. What God has done for his people: "He hath
been mindful of us." (a) Our preservation proves this. (b)
Our mercies. (c) Our trials. (d) Our guidance. (e) Our
consolations. Everything, even the minutest blessing, represents
a thought in the mind of God respecting us. "How precious
are thy thoughts concerning me, O God, how great, "etc.,
and those thoughts go back to an eternity before we came into
being. "The Lord hath been mindful of us"; then should
we not be more mindful of him?
2. What he will do for his people—"He will
bless us." (a) Greatly. His blessings are like himself,
great. They are blessed whom he blesses. (b) Suitably. The house
of Israel, the house of Aaron, all who fear him, according to
their need, both small and great. (c) Assuredly. "He will,
""he will, ""he will, ""he
will." With one" will" he curses, with four
"wills" he blesses. G. R.
Verse 13.
1. The general character—"fear the Lord."
2. The degrees of development—"small and great."
3. The common blessing.
Verse 14.
1. Gracious increase—in knowledge, love, power, holiness,
usefulness, etc.
2. Growing increase—we grow faster, and advance not only
more, but more and more.
3. Relative increase—our children grow in grace through our
example, etc.
Verse 14. The blessings of God are,
1. Ever flowing "more and more."
2. Over flowing—"you and your children."
Let parents seek more grace for themselves for the sake of their
children. (a) That they may be more influenced by their example.
(b) That their prayers may be more prevalent on their behalf.
(c) That their children may be more blessed for their sakes. G.
R.
Verse 15. A blessing.
1. Belonging to a peculiar people—"ye."
2. Coming from a peculiar quarter—"of the Lord,
"etc.
3. Bearing a peculiar date—"are."
4. Stamped with peculiar certainty—"Ye are blessed."
5. Involving a peculiar duty—"Bless the Lord now and
evermore."
Verse 15. The Creator's blessing—its greatness,
fulness, variety, etc.
Verse 16. Man's lordship over the world, its limit,
its abuse, its legitimate bound, its grand design.
Verses 17-18.
1. Missing voices—"The dead praise not."
2. Their stimulus upon ourselves—"But we."
3. Their cry to others—"Praise ye the Lord." Let us
make up for the silent voices.
Verses 17-18.
1. They who do not praise God here will not praise him
hereafter. No reprieve therefore from punishment.
2. They who praise God in this life will praise him for
evermore. Hallelujah for this. "Praise the Lord." G.R.
Verses 17-18. A new year's sermon.
1. A mournful memory—"the dead."
2. A happy resolve—"but we will bless the Lord."
3. An appropriate commencement—"from this time
forth."
4. An everlasting continuance—"and for evermore."