Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 115:17
The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence.
17. From heaven the poet passes to earth, and from earth to Sheol, which here, as in Psa 94:17, is termed ‘ silence.’ The dead raise no Hallelujahs; they are cut off from communion with God and from the power of rendering Him service of lip and life. For this gloomy view of the state of the dead cp. Psa 6:5; Psa 30:9; Psa 88:4-5; Psa 88:10-12; Isa 38:11; Isa 38:18; and many passages in Job, e.g. Job 7:9; Job 10:21 ff.; Job 10:14: and see Introd. pp. xciii ff.
The verse is partly a stimulus to employ life rightly; partly (in effect) a plea, for if Jehovah suffers his people to perish, He will lose their praises.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The dead praise not the Lord – The meaning of this is, that as those who are dead cannot praise God, or cannot worship him, this should be done while we are in the land of the living. This opportunity, like all other opportunities, will be cut off in the grave, and hence, we should be faithful in this duty, and should avail ourselves of this privilege, while life lasts. In regard to the sentiment here expressed, and the grounds on which that sentiment was entertained, see the notes at Isa 38:18-19; notes at Psa 6:5.
Neither any that go down into silence – Into the grave – the land of silence. Psa 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 human beings – 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 archangels trump.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 115:17-18
The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence.
But we will bless the Lord.
Living praise
The living God should be adored by a living people. A blessing God should be blessed by a blessing people. When we bless Him we should not rest till others do the same: we should cry to them, Praise the Lord. Our example and our persuasion should rouse them to praise.
I. A mournful memory. The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence. This reminds us–
1. Of silenced voices in the choirs of Zion. Good men and true who neither sing nor speak among us any longer.
2. Of our own speedy silence: so far as this world is concerned we shall soon be among the dead and silent ones.
3. Of the ungodly around us, who are already spiritually dead, and can no more praise the Lord than if they were dumb.
4. Of lost souls in hell. Never will these bless the Lord.
II. A happy resolution. But we will bless the Lord. In heart, song, testimony, action, we are resolved to give the Lord our loving praise; because–
1. We live. Shall we not bless Him who keeps us in being?
2. We live spiritually, and this demands perpetual thanksgiving.
3. We are blessed of the Lord: shall we not bless Him?
4. He will bless us. More and more will He reveal His love to us: let us praise Him more and more. Be this our steadfast vow, that we will bless the Lord, come what may.
III. An appropriate commencement. We will bless the Lord from this time forth.
1. When the heathen ask, Where is now their God? (verse 2), let us reply courageously to all atheistic questions, and meet infidelity with joyous adoration.
2. When under a sense of mercy, we are led to sing–The Lord hath been mindful of us (verse 12), let us then bless Him.
3. When spiritually renewed and comforted. When the four times repeated words, He will bless, have come true in our experience, and the Lord has increased us with every personal and family blessing (Psa 115:12-14), then let all that is within us bless the holy name of the Lord.
4. When led to confess Christ. Then should we begin the never-ending life-psalm. Service and song should go together.
5. When years end and begin–new-years days, birthdays, etc., let us bless God for–
(1) Sin of the year forgiven.
(2) Need of the year supplied.
(3) Mercy of the year enjoyed.
(4) Fears of the year removed.
(5) Hopes of the year fulfilled.
IV. An everlasting continuance: from this time forth and for evermore.
1. Weariness shall not suspend it. We will renew our strength as we bless the Lord.
2. Final falling shall not end it: the Lord will keep our soul in His way, and make us praise Him all our days.
3. Nor shall death so much as interrupt our songs, but raise them to a purer and fuller strain.
4. Nor shall any supposable calamity deprive the Lord of our gratitude (Job 1:21). (C. H. Spurgeon.)
United and continuous praise
On Thursday evening, March 29, 1883, for above an hour all who had occasion to use the telephone in Chicago found it vibrating to musical tones. Private and public telephones, and even the police and fire-alarm instruments, were alike affected. The source of the music was a mystery until the following day, when it was learned that a telegraph wire, which passes near most of the telephone wires, was connected with the harmonic system, that tunes were being played over it, and that the telephone wires took up the sounds by induction. If one wire carrying sweet sounds from place to place could so affect another wire by simply being near to it, how ought Christians, in communication with their Father in heaven, to affect all with whom they come in contact in the world! The Divine music of love and praise in their lives should be a blessing to society. (Pulpit Treasury.)
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Psa 116:1-19
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 17. The dead praise not the Lord] hammethim, those dead men who worshipped as gods dumb idols, dying in their sins, worship not Jehovah; nor can any of those who go down into silence praise thee: earth is the place in which to praise the Lord for his mercies, and get a preparation for his glory.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The dead; such as we shall suddenly be, if thou dost not succour us.
Into silence; into the place of silence, the grave.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
The dead praise not the Lord,…. Not the dead in sin; such as the makers of idols, and those that trust in them, who are like unto them; men must be made spiritually alive, ere they can show forth the praises of God: nor the dead corporeally. The souls of departed saints can and do praise the Lord: these die not with their bodies, nor sleep in the grave; they go immediately to God and Christ, and are employed in the service of God continually; particularly in praising him, as do the angels with whom they join; they sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb, of providence and grace; especially the song of redeeming love, with which they always praise the Lord: but they cannot praise him with their bodily organs until the resurrection, which by death are rendered useless; they can praise him no more among men on earth, as they have before done; there is no work of this kind in the grave.
Neither any that go down in silence; the grave, so called, because everything is mute and silent there c; the instruments of speech are no more used on any account; no noise and clamour there from wicked men; there the wicked cease from troubling; and no songs of praise from good men, all still and quiet there. So the Targum,
“not any that go down to the house of the grave of the earth;”
or the earthly grave. And therefore save us, O Lord, suffer not the enemy to destroy us; for, should he, we shall no more be capable of praising thee, as we have done and desire to do; for no such service is to be done in the grave, see Ps 6:4.
c “Silet rex ipsa silentum”, Virgil. “Migrantesque domos animarum intrasse silentum”. Propert. l. 3. Eleg. 12. v. 33.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
17 O God! the dead shall not praise thee In these words the prophet goes on to beseech God to show himself propitious towards his Church, were there no other object to be gained than the preventing mankind from being utterly cut off, and the preserving a people, not only to enjoy his kindness, but also to invoke and praise his name. After celebrating God’s peculiar favor towards the Israelites, and the beneficence which he displayed towards mankind at large, he has recourse to the mercy of God for the pardoning of the sins of his people. And he proceeds on this footing, that though the heathen nations revel amidst the profuseness of God’s bounty, yet the seed of Abraham alone are set apart to celebrate his praises. “Lord, if thou shouldst allow us to perish, what would be the result, but that thy name would become extinct, and would be entombed with us?” From his appearing to deprive the dead of all sensibility, a question occurs: If souls, after they have departed from their corporeal prison, still survive? It is certain that they are then more vigorous and active, and; therefore, it must inevitably follow that God is also praised by the dead. Moreover, in appointing mankind their abode upon earth, he so disconnects them with God, that he leaves them a life such as they enjoy in common with the brutal tribes. For the earth was not given exclusively to men, but also to oxen, swine, dogs, lions, and bears, and what is more, to every sort of reptile and insect. For there is not a fly, nor a creeping thing, however mean, which the earth does not supply with an abode. (372) The solution of the first question is easy. Men were so situated on the earth that they might, as it were, with one voice celebrate the praises of God. And it was to this concord that the prophet in this place referred, as does also the Scripture in many other passages.
“
I shall not die, but live, and declare the words of the Lord,” (Psa 118:0 : 17).
The good king Hezekiah also, said,
“
The living, the living, he shall praise thee,” (Isa 38:19).
Jonah, too, when cast out of the belly of the fish, said,
“
I will offer sacrifices, and I will pay my vows unto the Lord,” (Jon 2:10.) (373)
In short, the prophet very justly excludes the dead from taking any part in the celebration of God’s praises; for among them there is no communion and fellowship qualifying them for mutually sounding forth his praises: the proclaiming of his glory on the earth being the very end of our existence. The reply to the second inquiry is this: The prophet says that the earth was given to mankind, that they might employ themselves in God’s service, until they be put in possession of everlasting felicity. True, indeed, the abundance of the earth belongs also to the brutal tribes; but the Holy Spirit declares that all things were created principally for the use of men, that they might thereby recognize God as their father. In fine, the prophet concludes that the whole course of nature would be subverted, unless God saved his Church. The creation of the world would serve no good purpose, if there were no people to call upon God. Hence he infers that there will always be some left alive upon the earth. And he not only promises that the Church shall be preserved, but also calls upon all who are thus preserved to offer a tribute of gratitude to their deliverer; and, moreover, he engages in their name to set forth the praises of God. He does not speak merely of the persons who belong to one age, but of the whole body of the Church which God upholds from one generation after another, that he may never leave himself without some to testify and declare his justice, goodness, and mercy.
(372) “ Nulla enim musca est, nullus pediculus cui domicilium non praebeat terra.” — Lat.
(373) Thus the present text of Scripture, and others of a similar kind, as Psa 6:6; and Isa 38:18, are not to be understood as implying that the Hebrews of those times had no idea of a future state of existence beyond death and the grave. Such an interpretation would be at variance with many passages of the Old Testament, as Psa 16:10; Pro 14:32; Ecc 8:11; with the most explicit declarations of the New, as to the possession of this knowledge by the ancient Hebrews, Heb 11:0; Luk 20:37; and with what might reasonably be supposed of persons who were favored with a supernatural revelation, and who enjoyed special intercourse with God, but who, had they been ignorant of a future state, knew less on this subject than Pagan writers, many of whom anticipated such a state in which virtue would receive its appropriate reward. In such passages the sensible appearances occasioned by death, and these alone, are represented. As to the eye of sense, nothing appears in the victim of death but inactivity, silence, decay, and corruption, the sacred writers seize upon these concomitants of that solemn and affecting event to add to the force of the argument which they are prosecuting.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(17) Silence.The land of silence is, of course, Shel, the under-world. (So the LXX., Hades.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
(17, 18) The connection of these verses with the rest of the psalm is far from plain. Why the psalmist should suddenly be struck with the dreadful thought that death broke the covenant relationship, and silenced prayer and praise, is not easy to see. Was the psalm first chanted after some victory? and was this suggested by the sight of the slain, who, though they had helped to win the triumph, could yet have no share in the praises that were ascending to Jehovah?
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
17. The dead praise not the Lord That is, they do not show forth God’s praise upon earth, and among the living. If they have any office, to living men it is invisible, and cannot be recognized as a public medium before human beings for showing forth the praise of God. These forms of speech are simply phenomenal, and are no proof that the doctrine of a future state is not taught in the Old Testament. See notes on Psa 6:5; Psa 49:14-20; Psa 88:10-12
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 115:17. The dead praise not the Lord See on Psa 6:5.
REFLECTIONS.1st, The Psalmist here,
1. Bids the people of God ascribe not to themselves, but to Jehovah, the glory of their salvation, as derived from his boundless mercy. Note; We must be ever in our own eyes nothing, and Christ all in all: to his grace every good in us, or done by us, must be ascribed; and at his feet our crowns in glory will be for ever laid.
2. He answers the taunts of the insulting heathen, who, puffed up with their success, spurned at Israel’s God, as unable to deliver his people. But our God is in the heavens, and from his throne laughs them to scorn; he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased, able to save or destroy at his sovereign pleasure; whose will is law, his power omnipotent, and resistance against it vain. How unlike the boasted vanities of the heathen! their rock is not as our rock; senseless idols, the work of man, fashioned after his form, but destitute of his faculties; they can neither hear, nor see, nor speak, nor feel, nor walk; unable to help themselves, much less their votaries, whose adorations prove them stupid, and senseless as the stock and stone they worship.
2nd, Having exposed the vanities of the heathen, the Psalmist,
1. Exhorts God’s people to trust in Jehovah. The house of Israel, however distressed; the house of Aaron, the peculiar servants of the sanctuary, and therefore the especial objects of the heathens’ hatred: yea, all that fear the Lord, shall find him their help and shield: their help in every time of need, to deliver them; their shield in every hour of danger, to defend them. Note; They cannot fail, whose faith does not; that ensures the final victory.
2. Abundant reason there is, why we should trust in Jehovah. He hath been mindful of us, as past experience comfortably testifies, and which should engage us still to commit ourselves to him, confident of finding the same kind remembrance, protection, and care. He will bless us with all needful things of this life, and all the spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus. He will bless the house of Israel, the congregation of his church in general, and the house of Aaron, his ministers, who labour in the word and doctrine: yea, all that fear the Lord, both small and great, every individual believer, whatever his circumstances and condition may be, shall find the blessings of providence and grace exactly suited to his necessities. The Lord shall increase you more and more, so far as he sees fit, with worldly goods, and success in earthly affairs; but especially with that best increase of the gifts and graces of his Spirit, enabling them to bring forth fruit unto God; and the mercy not be theirs alone, but descend upon their children: for ye are the blessed of the Lord, and whom he blesseth must be blessed; he who made heaven and earth, having all power to communicate the blessings that he pronounces on his believing people.
3. They who trust him will praise him, and find abundant matter for their songs. Great is he, and worthy to be praised; the heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord’s, not only the firmament spread over us, but all those things which are within that vail, secluded from mortal eye; the heaven of heavens, where the angelic hosts take up their abode, and glorified spirits dwell, all own him their creator, preserver, and rightful owner, and good as he is great: the earth hath he given to the children of men, appointed it for their use, and to be enjoyed to his glory and their comfort: justly therefore is the grateful tribute of thanksgiving due, and who shall pay it, if we do not? The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence; those who are gone down into the silent grave can no more join in the sacred choir; those who are dead in trespasses and sins have no heart to praise him. But we, the faithful followers of Jesus, who are maintained in life by the bounties of his providence, and are by his Spirit quickened to a better life of grace in our souls; we, as most bounden, will bless the Lord from this time forth and for evermore; while sojourners below, in this delightful work will we be employed; and when removed to that better world, our service there shall be everlasting praise. Hallelujah!
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psa 115:17 The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence.
Ver. 17. The dead praise not ] Therefore be active for God while we are upon earth; where for this he giveth us life and livelihood. See Psa 6:6 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
THE LORD. Hebrew Jah. App-4.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
dead
(See Scofield “Ecc 9:10”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
dead: Psa 6:5, Psa 30:9, Psa 88:10-12, Isa 38:18, Isa 38:19
go down: Psa 31:17, 1Sa 2:9
Reciprocal: Jos 24:29 – after these Psa 94:17 – dwelt
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 115:17-18. The dead praise not the Lord See note on Psa 6:5. Neither any that go into silence Into the place of silence, the grave. But we will bless the Lord But we hope for better things; that, notwithstanding our present and urgent danger, yet God will deliver us, and so give us occasion to bless his name; from this time forth and for evermore To the end of time, and afterward to all eternity. As the dead cannot praise him, we may be certain he will not suffer his people to be destroyed and extirpated; but will always preserve a church to bless him in all ages, to the end of the world; when the dead shall be raised, and the choirs of heaven and earth shall be united, to praise and glorify him together before his throne for evermore. Horne.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
115:17 The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that {l} go down into silence.
(l) Though the dead set forth God’s glory, yet he means here, that they praise him not in his Church and congregation.