Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 136:23
Who remembered us in our low estate: for his mercy [endureth] forever:
23. in our low estate ] The humiliation of the Exile.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
23 26. Jehovah the Deliverer of Israel and the Supporter of all things living.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Who remembered us in our low estate – When we were few in number; when we were a feeble people; when we were a people unable to contend with such mighty foes.
For his mercy … – By all that he did for us when thus feeble; by all his power put forth to defend us from our enemies, he has showed his mercy and kindness to us and to the world.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 136:23-24
Who remembered us in our low estate.
Raised from low estate
I. By apostasy from God we are reduced to a condition of great degradation.
1. By sinning we have lost all moral excellence.
2. All sources of supply are forfeited.
II. God remembered us in this our low estate.
1. He devised a way of escape from our thraldom.
2. He remembered us in the day of our conversion.
3. Since our conversion to Himself, how many have been the seasons of distress in which God has remembered us!
III. Such remembrance could only arise from the mercy of God. (Isaac Mann.)
.
Psa 137:1-9
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 23. Who remembered us in our low estate] He has done much for our forefathers; and he has done much for us, in delivering us, when we had no helper, from our long captivity in Babylon.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
23. remembered usor, “forus” (Ps 132:1).
our low estatethat is,captivity.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Who remembered us in our low estate,…. The Israelites; either in Egypt, as Jarchi, when in bondage and distress there, and sent them a deliverer; or in the times of the Judges, whom God raised up one after another, to save his people out of the hands of their enemies, by whom they were oppressed; or in the Babylonian captivity, as Aben Ezra and Kimchi: though the latter thinks their present captivity is rather intended; but as yet they are not remembered in a gracious way and manner. This may be applied to the people of God in a spiritual sense; who, before conversion, are in a low estate through sin, which has brought them into deep poverty, into debt they are not able to discharge, but are liable to a prison; it has stripped them of their original righteousness, instead of which at best they are clothed with filthy rags; it has left them, starving and famishing, to feed on ashes, sensual lusts and pleasures; it has brought them to a dunghill, from whence they are taken as beggars; yea, to a ditch, a pit wherein is in no water; even an horrible pit, the mire and clay of corrupt nature. Man, that was lord of all, is by sin reduced to the utmost slavery to it, and to Satan; and is in the greatest distress and misery; filled with diseases, loathsome and incurable by him; quite lost and undone, helpless, and hopeless, and under the sentence of condemnation and death: but the Lord has remembered his chosen people, and provided a Saviour for them; who has paid all their debts; brought in an everlasting righteousness to clothe them; given his flesh for the life of them; healed all their diseases; delivered them from thraldom and bondage; saved them from condemnation and death, and raised them to sit in heavenly places with him: and not only so, but he sends down his Spirit to convince and convert them, renew and sanctify them; to bring them from death to life; out of darkness into marvellous light; from bondage to liberty; from fellowship with wicked men, into communion with Christ and his people; and to make them meet for heaven and happiness. These are sometimes in a low estate after conversion; when corruptions prevail, and the temptations of Satan are strong; when grace is weak; or God hides his face; or they are grown carnal and secure, lukewarm and indifferent to spiritual things; yet the Lord remembers them again, his lovingkindness, his covenant and promises; and with everlasting kindness has mercy on them, heals their backslidings, and loves them freely Ho 14:4. The Targum is,
“he hath remembered his covenant with us;”
so Kimchi;
for his mercy [endureth] for ever; which appears in the mission of his Son to save; in giving his Spirit to regenerate and quicken when dead in sin, and to revive and restore when backslidden.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| Divine Mercy Celebrated. | |
23 Who remembered us in our low estate: for his mercy endureth for ever: 24 And hath redeemed us from our enemies: for his mercy endureth for ever. 25 Who giveth food to all flesh: for his mercy endureth for ever. 26 O give thanks unto the God of heaven: for his mercy endureth for ever.
God’s everlasting mercy is here celebrated, 1. In the redemption of his church, Psa 136:23; Psa 136:24. In the many redemptions wrought for the Jewish church out of the hands of their oppressors (when, in the years of their servitude, their estate was very low, God remembered them, and raised them up saviours, the judges, and David, at length, by whom God gave them rest from all their enemies), but especially in the great redemption of the universal church, of which these were types, we have a great deal of reason to say, “He remembered us, the children of men, in our low estate, in our lost estate, for his mercy endureth for ever; he sent his Son to redeem us from sin, and death, and hell, and all our spiritual enemies, for his mercy endureth for ever; he was sent to redeem us, and not the angels that sinned, for his mercy endureth for ever.” 2. In the provision he makes for all the creatures (v. 25): He gives food to all flesh. It is an instance of the mercy of God’s providence that wherever he has given life he gives food agreeable and sufficient; and he is a good housekeeper that provides for so large a family. 3. In all his glories, and all his gifts (v. 26): Give thanks to the God of heaven. This denotes him to be a glorious God, and the glory of his mercy is to be taken notice of in our praises. The riches of his glory are displayed in the vessels of his mercy, Rom. ix. 23. It also denotes him to be the great benefactor, for every good and perfect gift is from above, from the Father of lights, the God of heaven; and we should trace every stream to the fountain. This and that particular mercy may perhaps endure but a while, but the mercy that is in God endures for ever; it is an inexhaustible fountain.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
23. Who remembered us in our humiliation The six verses taken from the previous Psalm I pass over without observation; and I shall only touch very briefly upon the others, which do not need lengthened consideration. We may just observe that the Psalmist represents every age as affording’ displays of the same goodness as had been shown to their fathers, since God had never failed to help his people by a continued succession of deliverances. It was a more notable proof of his mercy to interpose for the nation at a time when it was nearly overwhelmed by calamities, than to preserve it in its entire state and under a more even course of affairs, there being something in the emergency to awaken attention and arrest the view. Besides, in all the deliverances which God grants his people, there is an accompanying remission of their sins. In the close he speaks of the paternal providence of God as extending not only to all mankind, but to every living creature, suggesting that we have no reason to feel surprise at his sustaining the character of a kind and provident father to his own people, when he condescends to care for the cattle, and the asses of the field, and the crow, and the sparrow. Men are much better than brute beasts, and there is a great difference between some men and others, though not in merit, yet as regards the privilege of the divine adoption, and the Psalmist is to be considered as reasoning from the less to the greater, and enhancing the incomparably superior mercy which God shows to his own children.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
23. The remainder of the psalm recites their recent history.
Our low estate An evident allusion to their Babylonian exile; as is also redeemed us from our enemies, Psa 136:24
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 136:23. Who remembered us in our low estate It is not easy to translate otherwise. But as the original is lanu, to us, it means that God remembered in their favour; remembered to them what was past, and his covenant made with their forefathers; In their low estate, when they were severely afflicted for their sins, and in danger of being thrown out of the good land into which he had brought them. See Judges, chap. ii, iii, 4:
REFLECTIONS.1st, Repeated calls are needful for us, who are so backward to the work of praise. The object of our praise is Jehovah, the God of gods, the Lord of lords, transcendently great and glorious, whom angels and men adore: and most worthy is he to be praised.
1. Because he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. This is his most delightful attribute; mercy in an overflowing stream descends from him the fountain, and all his faithful people will prove it so eternally.
2. Because he alone doth great wonders: in heaven above his wisdom appears; vast the work, stupendous the contrivance, amazing the execution, in order, beauty, proportion, formed with exactest harmony, the sun to rule the day, the moon and stars the night, in regular succession: and his wonder-working hand is seen in earth beneath, rising above the waters, and garnished with every necessary for man and beast, and this because his mercy endureth for ever, as in his works of creation and providence abundantly appears; and therefore he claims, from all, continual adoration, love, and praise.
2nd, From general mercies, of which all alike partake, the Psalmist passes on to the peculiar instances of God’s regard to his believing people, from whom he expects a peculiar tribute of praise, for spiritual mercies bestowed, as well as for the enduring mercy that he hath yet in store for the faithful: various instances of these are here mentioned.
1. Their deliverance from Egypt, wrought with a stretched-out arm, after the most awful plagues executed on their oppressors; which closed with that most terrible judgment the death of their first-born. Yet more enduring are his mercies still towards all his spiritual and faithful children, who have in Jesus Christ a greater deliverance from the bondage of sin and Satan, and eternal redemption from all the powers of evil.
2. Their passage through the Red Sea, divided by miraculous power, to let them safely through, then closing with tremendous roar on their pursuers, and overwhelming them under its mighty waters: and such mercy for ever shall the faithful find; in all their trials he will open them a way through a stormy world, bring them safe to the shore of eternal rest, and from thence enable them to look back on all their enemies, destroyed for ever, as these Egyptians on the shore.
3. Forty years he led them through the wilderness, and fed them by repeated miracles; nor did repeated provocations stop the current of his favours to those who were faithful, for his mercy endureth for ever.
4. He brought them safe to the land of Canaan, after subduing mighty kings and their armies before them, according to the promise made unto their fathers, that they might see how astonishing his mercies were, and be engaged to trust in them for ever. A better land is prepared for God’s faithful persevering children; and through grace, amidst all the opposition of their spiritual enemies, they shall be preserved to this everlasting kingdom, where to eternity they will acknowledge that his mercy endureth for ever.
3rdly, The more we reflect, the more cause we shall find to praise God’s amazing mercy and love.
1. For his grace in redemption. He remembered us in our low estate, and redeemed us from our enemies; many a time he rescued the Jewish people from their bonds, when most oppressed; but he hath done infinitely more for his spiritual and faithful Israel; when sunk under guilt, corruption, misery, at the gate of the grave, and ready to sink into the belly of hell, he hath ransomed us by his blood, raised us from our state of sin and death, and will save every persevering believer with an everlasting salvation. Praise the Lord, O my soul!
2. For his kind provision. He giveth food to all flesh; the meanest reptile partakes of his care in common with the greatest of his creatures; he openeth his hand, and they are filled with good; for his mercy is over all his works.
3. For all this are we most deeply obliged to give thanks unto the God of heaven; all other creatures on earth want the power to speak his praise; from man alone that tribute is expected, as the tongue of this lower world, and as the peculiar object of that mercy which endureth for ever.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psa 136:23 Who remembered us in our low estate: for his mercy [endureth] for ever:
Ver. 23. Who remembered us in our low estate ] Still God helpeth those who are forsaken of their hopes, et vindictae gladium miserationis oleo emollit, as Nicephorus saith.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 136:23-26
23Who remembered us in our low estate,
For His lovingkindness is everlasting,
24And has rescued us from our adversaries,
For His lovingkindness is everlasting;
25Who gives food to all flesh,
For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
26Give thanks to the God of heaven,
For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
Psa 136:23-26 This strophe functions as a summery of YHWH’s great acts toward Israel as well as His acts as sustainer of all human life (cf. Psa 104:27-30; Psa 145:15; Mat 5:45; Act 14:17). This combines the connotation of the titles
1. Elohim – Creator, Provider, sustainer
2. YHWH – Savior, Deliverer, Covenant-making God
See SPECIAL TOPIC: NAMES FOR DEITY .
Psa 136:23 in our low estate It is uncertain if this refers to
1. period of the Judges
2. slavery in Egypt
3. exile in Mesopotamia
Psa 136:26 God of heaven This was later a Zoroastrian title for God, so common in the post-exilic period. The Jews often took the descriptive phrases and titles of pagan gods and foreign rulers to describe YHWH.
Heaven is plural, as so many Hebrew words are to denote greatness. The rabbis often discussed how many levels of heaven are mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. See Special Topic: The Heavens and the Third Heaven.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
This is a study guide commentary which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.
These discussion questions are provided to help you think through the major issues of this section of the book. They are meant to be thought provoking, not definitive.
1. What does YHWH is good mean?
2. Why is lovingkindness such an important theological term?
3. Does Psa 136:1-4 clearly express monotheism?
4. What event does Psa 136:6 refer to?
5. Why are the sun, moon, and stars mentioned as creations of YHWH?
6. Where is the Red Sea?
7. Where in Genesis is the conquest prophesied?
8. To what characteristic of God does Psa 136:25 refer?
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
remembered: Psa 102:17, Psa 106:43-45, Gen 8:1, Deu 32:36, Isa 63:9, Eze 16:3-13, Luk 1:48, Luk 1:52
in our low estate: Psa 72:12-14, Psa 113:7, Psa 116:6, Psa 142:6, 1Sa 2:7, 1Sa 2:8
Reciprocal: Gen 19:29 – that God Lev 14:32 – whose hand Lev 26:42 – and I will Num 10:9 – remembered 1Sa 1:19 – and the Lord Ezr 9:9 – yet our God Psa 25:6 – Remember Psa 88:5 – whom Psa 115:12 – hath
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
136:23 Who remembered us in our {g} low estate: for his mercy [endureth] for ever:
(g) In our greatest affliction and slavery when we looked for nothing less than to have had any help.