Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 135:13

Thy name, O LORD, [endureth] forever; [and] thy memorial, O LORD, throughout all generations.

13. Cp. Exo 3:15; Psa 30:4; Psa 102:12. Jehovah’s Name is called His memorial, as bringing to mind all that He is and does. Such as He has once revealed Himself to be He will continue for ever. Cp. Heb 13:8.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

13 18. Jehovah is eternally the same, and will not forget His people; whereas the impotent gods of the heathen cannot protect their worshippers.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Thy name, O Lord, endureth for ever – Thou art the ever-living, the unchanging God. The generations of people pass away; the kingdoms of the earth change; the idols perish, but thou art the same. The object here seems to be to bring the image or the idea of God before the mind as he was when he performed these great works, as a God interposing in behalf of his people, and as worthy of praise. The idea is that he is the same now that he was then; and as he then impressed the world with a sense of his majesty and power, and as he then interposed in behalf of his people by mighty signs and wonders, we should feel that, being an unchangeable God, he can do it now, and is now equally worthy. of confidence, adoration, and praise.

And thy memorial – Thy remembrance; the memory of thyself. That is, What thou hast done to secure a remembrance among people is of such a nature as to make the same impression to all coming time. The events were such that the memory of them should never pass away from mankind.

Throughout all generations – Margin, as in Hebrew, To generation and generation. There never will be a generation on the earth, in the latest periods, to which the memory of these things should not be transmitted.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

These wonderful works of thine shall never be forgotten. The land which thou gavest us, Psa 135:12, and which we yet enjoy, is an everlasting monument of thy power and goodness, and an obligation and encouragement to trust in thee in all our present or future difficulties.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

13. heritageor, “possession.”

name . . . memorialEachdenote that by which God is made known.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Thy name, O Lord, [endureth] for ever,…. The Lord himself endures for ever, in his nature, being, and perfections; and the fame of him, the fame of those acts of power and goodness before mentioned: the name of Christ endures for ever; his person and offices, his Gospel, which is his name; his children and people, who are called by his name, and in whom his name is perpetuated; the fame of his wondrous works in nature, providence, and grace; and especially of his great work of redemption and salvation;

[and] thy memorial, O Lord, throughout all generations; or “the remembrance of them to, generation and generation”; to every age; the love of Christ is remembered by his people in every age, the blessings of his grace in redemption, justification, pardon, &c. and cannot be forgotten as long as his Gospel is preached, the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s supper administered, and he has a people in the world, all which will be as long as the sun and moon endure, there will be a memorial of him.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

This God who rules so praiseworthily in the universe and in the history of Israel is the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever. Just as Psa 135:13 (cf. Psa 102:13) is taken from Exo 3:15, so Psa 135:14 is taken from Deu 32:36, cf. Psa 90:13, and vid., on Heb 10:30-31.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

13. O Jehovah! thy name is for ever There are many reasons why the name of God ought always to be kept up in the world, but here the Psalmist speaks more especially of that everlasting praise which is due to him for preserving his Church and people, the cause being immediately added — that God will judge his people The whole world is a theater for the display of the divine goodness, wisdom, justice, and power, but the Church is the orchestra, as it were — the most conspicuous part of it; and the nearer the approaches are that God makes to us the more intimate and condescending the communication of his benefits, the more attentively are we called to consider them. The term judging in the Hebrew expresses whatever belongs to just and legitimate government, (166) the future tense denoting continued action apparently, as it often does, so that what the Psalmist says is tantamount to this — that God would always watch over and preserve his people, and that being thus under God’s guardian care, they would be placed in safety. Or we may suppose that the Psalmist employs the future tense to teach us that, under affliction, we must have a sustained hope, not giving way to despondency, though God may seem to have overlooked and deserted us, since whatever temporary delays there may be of his help, he will appear as our judge and defender at the proper season, and when he sees that we have been sufficiently humbled. This may recommend itself the more to be the true meaning, because the Psalmist seems to allude to the expression of Moses, (Deu 32:36,) whose very words indeed, he quotes. As some alleviation under the divine chastisements which the people would suffer, Moses foretold that God would come forth as their judge, to help and deliver them when in extremity. And this the writer of the present Psalm, whoever he may have been, makes use of with a general application to the Church, declaring that God would never allow it to be altogether destroyed, since upon the event of its destruction he would cease to be a King. To propose changing the tense of the verb into the past, and understand it of God having shown himself to be the judge of his people against the Egyptians, puts a feeble sense upon the passage, and one which does not suit with the context, either of this Psalm or of the address of Moses. The Hebrew verb נחם, nacham, means either to repent, or to receive comfort, and both meanings answer sufficiently well. On the,one hand, when God returns in mercy to his people, though this implies no change in him, yet there is a change apparent in the event itself. Thus he is said to repent when he begins to show mercy to his people, instead of manifesting his displeasure in just judgments against them. Again, he is said to receive consolation, or to be appeased and reconciled towards his people, when in remembrance of his covenant, which endures for ever, he visits them with everlasting mercies, though he had corrected them for a moment. (Isa 54:8.) The meaning, in short, is, that the displeasure of God towards his people is but temporary, and that, in taking vengeance upon their sins, he remembers mercy in the midst of wrath, as Habakkuk says. (Hab 3:2.) Thus God is spoken of as man, manifesting a father’s affection, and restoring his children, who deserved to have been cast off, because he cannot bear’ that the fruit of his own body should be torn from him. Such is the sense of the passage — that God has a compassion for his people because they are his children, that he would not willingly be bereaved of them and left childless, that he is placable towards them, as being dear to him, and that having recoginsed them as his offspring, he cherishes them with a tender love.

(166) “ Le mot de juger selon les Hebrieux,, contient en soy toutes les parties d’un juste et legitime gouvernement. — Fr.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(13) This verse is from Exo. 3:15.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

Psa 135:13. Thy memorial See Exo 12:14. Mudge says, memorial is but another word for name; and both of them mean the same as being, existence.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

And in these verses the reason is assigned, namely, his covenant engagements. See those scriptures in proof, Exo 5:1 ; Num 21:21-25 ; Deu 7:22-23 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Psa 135:13 Thy name, O LORD, [endureth] for ever; [and] thy memorial, O LORD, throughout all generations.

Ver. 13. Thy name, O Lord, &c. ] Else, O nos ingratos!

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)