Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 135:6
Whatsoever the LORD pleased, [that] did he in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places.
6. Whatsoever Jehovah pleased hath he done,
In heaven, and in earth, in the seas and all deeps.
The first line is identical with Psa 115:3 b: the second is based on Exo 20:4. The deeps are “the waters under the earth,” the subterranean abyss of waters on which the earth was thought to rest. Cp. Psa 24:2; Psa 136:6.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Whatsoever the Lord pleased – God is an absolute sovereign. He has formed a plan, and has carried it out. He has made the world as he chose, and he has ordered all its arrangements according to his own pleasure. As a universal sovereign, he has a right to universal adoration. See the notes at Psa 115:3.
In heaven, and in earth … – These are put for the universe; these are the universe. In these places – in all worlds – on the land and in the ocean – even in the profound depths of the sea, there is nothing which has not been placed there by his will, and which he has not arranged according to his eternal plan.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 135:6
Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did He.
The activity of God
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.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 6. Whatsoever the Lord pleased] All that he has done is right, and therefore it is pleasing in his sight. He is the author of all existence. Angels, men, spirits, the heavens, the earth, and all their contents, were made by him, and are under his control.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Whatsoever the Lord pleased, either in, the creation or government of them,
that did he in heaven and in earth; his power and jurisdiction is universal, and not like that of the heathen gods, which is confined to their several countries.
In the seas, and all deep places; in the visible seas, and in those invisible depths, both of earth, and of the waters which are contained in the bowels of the earth.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. heaven, and . . . seas, and all .. . ends of the earthdenote universality.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Whatsoever the Lord pleased, [that] did he,…. In creation, producing into being what creatures he thought fit; in providence, doing according to his will in heaven and in earth; in grace, predestinating men to grace and glory, according to the good pleasure of his will, and calling by his grace whom he pleased: so Christ quickens whom he will; and the Spirit dispenses his gifts and grace severally to men as he pleases. Sovereignty, or acting according to will and pleasure, is peculiar to the Lord; the heavens, the sun, moon, and stars, are at his direction, and act by the laws of creation, which are at his control; angels do his will, and not their own: the most arbitrary and despotic princes cannot do everything they please; but the Lord can and does, even everything;
in heaven and in earth, in the seas and all deep places; in the formation of them, and filling them with inhabitants, and fitting them to perform the several ends and uses for which they were designed; as well as performing many wonderful things in them out of the ordinary course of nature, as did our Lord, or as were done when he was here on earth: a wonderful star appeared in the heavens, which guided the wise men to the place of his birth; unusual voices were heard from heaven at his baptism, transfiguration, and other times; the Spirit, with his extraordinary gifts, descended from hence after his ascension thither: surprising miracles were done by him on earth; the great work of redemption was finished here, where he glorified his divine Father; and throughout it he sent his apostles to publish his everlasting Gospel. He did wonders in the mighty waters; more than once he made the boisterous sea a calm, and walked upon the surface of it: and as of old he broke up the fountains of the great deep, and drowned the world; and at another time dried up the sea, and led his people through the depths, as through a wilderness; so he will hereafter bind the old serpent the devil, and cast him into the abyss, into the great deep, into the bottomless pit; where he will continue during the thousand years’ reign of Christ with his saints.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
6. Whatsoever doth please him, etc. This is that immeasurable greatness of the divine being, of which he had just spoken. He not only founded heaven and earth at first, but governs all things according to his power. To own that God made the world, but maintain that he sits idle in heaven, and takes no concern in the management of it, is to cast an impious aspersion upon his power; and yet the idea, absurd as it is, obtains wide currency amongst men. They would not say, perhaps, in so many words, that they believed that God slept in heaven, but in imagining, as they do, that he resigns the reins to chance or fortune, they leave him the mere shadow of a power, such as is not manifested in effects; whereas Scripture teaches us that it is a real practical power, by which he governs the whole world as he does according to his will. The Psalmist expressly asserts every part of the world to be under the divine care, and that nothing takes place by Chance, or without determination. According to a very common opinion, all the power necessary to be assigned to God in the matter, is that of a universal providence, which I do not profess to understand. The distinction here made between the heavens, earth, and waters, denotes a particular governments. The term חפר , chaphets, is emphatical. The Holy Spirit declares that he does whatsoever pleases him. That confused sort of divine government which many talk of, amounts to no more than a certain maintenance of order in the world, without due counsel. No account whatever is made of his will in this way, for will implies counsel and method. Consequently there is a special providence exerted in the government of the various parts of the world, there is no such thing as chance, and what appears most fortuitous, is in reality ordered by his secret wisdom. We are not called to inquire why he wills events which contradict our sense of what his administration should be, but if we would not unsettle the very foundations of religion, we must hold by this as a firm principle, that nothing happens without, the divine will and decree. (161) His will may be mysterious, but it is to be regarded with reverence, as the fountain of all justice and rectitude, unquestionably entitled as it is to our supreme consideration. For farther information upon this subject the reader may consult Psa 115:0.
(161) “ Neantmoins si nous ne voulons arracher tons les rudimens de la vraye religion, ceci doit demeurer ferme,” etc. — Fr.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
Psa 135:6 Whatsoever the LORD pleased, [that] did he in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places.
Ver. 6. Whatsoever the Lord pleased ] This the heathens did never seriously affirm of any their dunghill deities; sure it is that none of them could say, I know it to be so. De diis utrum sint, non ausim affirmare, said one of their wise men.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
heaven, and in earth. Hezekiah’s expression. See App-67.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 135:6-7
Psa 135:6-7
IV.
“Whatsoever Jehovah pleased, that hath he done,
In heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps;
Who causeth the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth;
Who maketh lightnings for the rain;
Who bringeth forth the wind out of his treasuries.”
A fourth reason why God should be praised is that he is the “God of all creation.” Heaven, earth, seas and all `deeps,’ – everything that exists is subject to the will and the pleasure of the Almighty God. “As the universal sovereign, God is entitled to universal praise and worship.
“Who causeth the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth” (Psa 135:6). This is not a question, but a declaration. The great and inexplicable mystery of the ascent of waters from the surface of the seas and their return to earth as rain is mentioned here because of the very mystery of what happens. As Job expressed it, “God bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them.” (Job 26:8).
Thirteen hundred millions of tons of water ascend into the heavens every minute of the day, contrary to the law of gravity. Who does this? God.
Spurgeon mentioned a certain scientist who calculated that from every square mile of the ocean’s surface, every twelve hours, the process which we call evaporation, “Lifts 6,914 tons of water from the surface of the sea. At least 135,000,000 square miles of the planet earth are oceans, to say nothing of about one third of a million square miles of lakes. Multiplying this times approximately 7,000 tons of water each twelve hours gives almost a trillion tons. The meaning of this is simply astounding. It means that approximately 1,300,000,000 tons of water per minute enter the heavens via evaporation.
Here indeed are the “waters above the firmament,” as God revealed in Gen 1:7. Despite this truth, we read some recent so-called “interpreter” who actually wrote that, “`The waters above the firmament’ was an ancient superstition founded upon a myth!”
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 135:6. The things or places named are parts of what we call the universe, and they were all created by the Lord whom David and his people worshiped. The heathen worshiped the things created instead of the Creator.
Psa 135:7. Ends of the earth is said to indicate that man is not the maker of the vapors or rain since they come where no man is. Lightning is the visible sign of the conditions that bring rain and God is the maker of those conditions. Treasuries is a figurative name for the vast storehouse of God’s resources in the universe. Out of that storehouse he projects the winds in all of their variety of intensity.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Whatsoever: Psa 33:9, Psa 33:11, Psa 115:3, Isa 46:10, Dan 4:35, Amo 4:13, Amo 9:6, Mat 28:18
in the seas: Psa 136:13-15, Mat 8:26, Mat 8:27, Mat 14:25
Reciprocal: Exo 9:29 – that the earth Deu 4:39 – the Lord Job 23:13 – and what Job 34:33 – whether thou refuse Psa 59:13 – and let Psa 95:4 – deep Isa 36:18 – Hath Jon 1:14 – for 1Co 12:18 – as it
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 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.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
135:6 Whatsoever the LORD pleased, [that] {d} did he in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places.
(d) He joined God’s power with his will, to the intent that we should not separate them and by this he wills God’s people to depend on his power which he confirms by examples.