Psalms 136

The Merciful Lord

Scripture v. 1-26:

Twenty six times this psalm asserts that the mercy of God endureth forever. Verses 1-3 give thanks to God because he is (1) Lord; (2) God of gods; and (3) Lord of lords. Verses 1-9 teach that there is mercy through His power; verses 10-22 teach that there is mercy through His providence; and verses 23-26 teach that there is mercy in His provision for men, with food and salvation.

This Psalm calls on men to praise and give thanks to the Lord for particular mercies, with each of the 26 verses closing with the phrase “for his mercy endureth forever.”

Verse 1 calls for thanks unto the Lord because He Is. good, and His “mercy endureth forever,” as taught 1Ch 16:8; Psa 25:8; Deu 4:31. His mercy is based on His infinite power and His goodness to Israel in her past history.

Verse 2 exhorts that men express gratitude unto God, because He is the God of gods, over all, as repeatedly set forth by word and by illustration, Exo 18:11; Deu 10:17; Psa 21:13; Jos 22:22; 2Ch 2:5; Dan 2:47.

Verse 3 adds a third time that men should give thanks to the trinitarian God, as Lord of lords, as in the thrice repeated Mosiac blessing, Num 6:24-26; For He is also king of kings, 1Ti 6:15; Rev 17:14; Rev 19:16.

Verse 4 asserts that this trinitarian-like-thanks should be given to Him alone or restrictedly, as to the one true God, Exo 20:1-2; Exo 4:21; Psa 72:18.

Verses 5, 6 reassert that great thanks should be given to God alone, who made the heavens by wisdom and stretched out (like a canvas) the earth above the waters, a worthy basis for acknowledging that: His mercy endureth for ever,” progressively, without cessation, as related Gen 1:1; Pro 3:19; Jer 51:15; see too Job 26:7; Psa 24:2; Isa 40:22; Jer 10:12; Zec 12:1; 2Pe 3:5-7.

Verses 7-9 call for thanks to Him: a) that “made the great lights that were for b) the sun to rule by day,” and for c) “the moon and stars to rule by night,” for it is declared that to each and all of these servants, “His mercy endures for ever,” continuously, without ceasing, Psa 74:16; Gen 1:16; Deu 4:19.

Verses 10-12 call for continued thanks a) to Him that smote Egypt in their firstborn, and b) brought Israel out from among them, even with c) “a strong hand, with a stretched out arm,” all because “His mercy endures for ever,” as related Exo 6:6; Exo 12:29; Deu 8:2; Deu 5:15; See also Exo 12:51; Exo 13:3; Exo 13:17; 1Sa 12:6-8.

Verses 13-15 extend the call for thanks to this God because He: a) divided the Red Sea into parts, Exo 10:19; Job 26:10; and b) caused Israel to pass Through the midst of it, Exo 14:16, providing them safe passage, and c) overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea, with each a just basis for Israel to thank God for His eternal mercies, Exo 15:4. They crossed in one night, over about an 18 mile length of channel of the sea, from Baal-zephom to Migdol, Exo 12:31-42. Because of His enduring mercies.

Verses 16-20 call for further thanks to the Lord: a) for leading His people Through the wilderness, for Divine leadership, Deu 8:2; b) for His smiting and slaying great and famous kings, Exo 14:14, even c) Sihon king of the Amorites, Num 21:21; and d) Og king of Bashan, all because, “His mercy continues for ever,” Num 21:33.

Verses 21, 22 assert that the Lord gave their land as an heritage “to Israel his servant,” because “His mercy endures forever,” Jos 12:1; Psa 135:11.

Verse 25 declares that this God of gods, and Lord of lords “giveth food to all flesh,” even to animals, continually, a just basis for giving thanks to Him, an evidence that His mercy never ceases toward men.

Verse 26 concludes by calling, for the 26th time in this single psalm, in every verse, for men to, “give thanks unto the God of heaven,” the omnipotent God, “for his mercy endureth for ever,” Mat 6:9.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

1. For his mercy, (172) etc. The insertion of this clause again and again in so many short and abrupt sentences, may seem a vain repetition, but verses repeated by way of chorus are both allowed and admired in profane poets, and why should we object to the reiteration in this instance, for which the best reasons can be shown, Men may not deny the divine goodness to be the source and Fountain of all their blessings, but the graciousness of his bounty is far from being fully and sincerely recognised, though the greatest stress is laid upon it in Scripture. Paul in speaking of it, (Rom 3:23,) calls it emphatically by the general term of the glory of God, intimating, that while God should be praised for all his works, it is his mercy principally that we should glorify. It is evident from what we read in sacred history, that it was customary for the Levites according to the regulation laid down by David for conducting the praises of God, to sing by response, “for his mercy endureth for ever.” The practice was followed by Solomon in the dedication of the Temple, (2Ch 7:3,) and by Jehoshaphat in that solemn triumphal song mentioned in 2Ch 20:21, of the same book. [Before proceeding to recite God’s works, the Psalmist declares his supreme Deity, and dominion, not that such comparative language implies that there is anything approaching] Deity besides him, but there is a disposition in men, whenever they see any part of his glory displayed, to conceive of a God separate from him, thus impiously dividing the Godhead into parts, and even proceeding so far as to frame gods of wood and stone. There is a depraved tendency in all to take delight in a multiplicity of gods. For this reason, apparently, the. Psalmist uses the plural number, not only in the word אלהים , Elohim, but in the word אדונים , Adonim, so that it reads literally, praise ye the Lords of Lords: he would intimate, that the fullest perfection of all dominion is to be found in the one God.

(172) Jebb observes, that “the 136 Psalm is altogether peculiar in its construction, as it has the recurrence of the same words, ‘For everlasting is his mercy,’ at the end of every distich.” He adds, that “this elaborate artifice of construction seems characteristic of that later period which comprised the captivity and restoration;” although he at the same time admits, that it is to be found in Psalms of an earlier date than the Baby-lonish captivity, quoting a passage in the account of the dedication of Solomon’s Temple, which informs us, that the whole choir of Israel united in praising God “for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever:” and observing that this expression forms the.commencement of three other Psalms, the Psa 106:0, Psa 107:0, and Psa 118:0. In his remarks on the Psa 119:0, after adverting to the alphabetical character of that Psalm, he adds, “There are other artifices of construction observable in the Psalms and Hymns composed in these later ages of the Church. For example, that repetition of the same words and clauses, and the frequent recurrence of a characteristic word, so frequent in the Greater Hallel, [from the Psa 111:0 to Psa 118:0 th, inclusive,] and in the Songs of Degrees: and in a continually recurring burden, in each distich, as in the Song of the three Children, and Psa 136:0, which latter is unique in the Psalter. It has been the tendency of the poetry of most countries, in the progress of time, to make its characteristic features depend less upon the exactness of sentimental arrangement, and more upon some external artifice, whether this be prosodial metre, alliteration, rhyme, assonance, or the recurrence of a burthen. Now, though the poetry of the Scriptures, because it was inspired, never declined from the perfection of its sentimental construction, still those artificial contrivances, practiced, indeed, in earlier times, seem to have been more prevalent at the time of the captivity, and the time immediately following, than heretofore. It was probably so ordained, for the purpose of assisting the memories of the Jews, who at Babylon were excluded from the open exercise of their religion, and from public teaching, and, therefore, required more private helps, which could be more easily communicated orally from parents to children, or from masters to disciples.” — Jebb’s Translation of the Psalms, etc., volume 2.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

INTRODUCTION

This Psalm, says Perowne, is little more than a variation and repetition of the preceding Psalm. It opens with the same liturgical formula with which the 106th and 118th Psalms open, and was evidently designed to be sung antiphonally in the Temple worship. Its structure is peculiar. The first line of each verse pursues the theme of the Psalm, the second line, For His loving-kindness endureth for ever, being a kind of refrain or response, like the responses, for instance, in our Litany, breaking in upon and yet sustaining the theme of the Psalm: the first would be sung by some of the Levites, the second by the choir as a body, or by the whole congregation together with the Levites. We have an example of a similar antiphonal arrangement in the first four verses of the 118th Psalm; but there is no other instance in which it is pursued throughout the Psalm. The nearest approach to the same repetition is in the Amen of the people to the curses of the Law as pronounced by the Levites (Deu. 22:14).

The Subjects Mentioned as the ground of the praise of the eternal mercy of God have so frequently engaged our attention in previous Psalms as to require but little additional illustration.

MERCY IN GOD AND IN CREATION

(Psa. 136:1-9)

I. Mercy in the Divine Being and Character (Psa. 136:1-3). We have here

1. A revelation of God in the names applied to Him.

(1.) O give thanks unto Jehovah. Jehovah = = the Self-Existing, the Continuing, the Permanent, the Everlasting.

(2.) O give thanks unto the God of gods,the Most High God, the Supremely Powerful, who is far above all that is called God or worshipped as God.

(3.) O give thanks to the Lord of lords,the Ruler of rulers, whose authority is supreme over all governors, princes, and kings. Such, then, are the ideas of God embodied in the names which are applied to Him by the poetthe Self-Existing, the Supremely Powerful, and the Supremely Authoritative.

(2.) A revelation of God in His character. O give thanks unto Jehovah; for He is good. (See Hom. Com. on Psa. 106:1; Psa. 135:3.) He is good both in Himself and in His dealings with His people.

3. A revelation of God in His relation to men. His mercy endureth for ever. Mercy is a modification of goodness. It is goodness in its relation to the sinful, the ill-deserving, and the miserable. To men God is rich in mercy. He delights in showing mercy to them. Connect the mercy of God with those aspects of His Being which are brought into view in the names applied to Him. Jehovah, the Self-Existing, is essentially merciful. His mercy is eternal as His Being. The God of gods, the Supreme Deity, the Omnipotent, is merciful. We cannot reverence mere power. Might is sometimes terrible. But the Most High is as tender as He is strong. He is infinite in mercy as in power. The Lord of lords, the Supreme Ruler over all kings and magistrates, is a merciful Being. His compassion is as wide and deep and lasting as His authority. For these reasons let us praise Him.

II. Mercy in the Divine work in Creation (Psa. 136:4-9). To the Psalmist the universe was neither eternal, nor self-originated, but a creation of God.

1. Creation is a work of wonder to man. To Him who alone doeth great wonders. The contrivances and constructions of the universe are wonderful in their skill and in their strength. The more thoroughly man becomes acquainted with the heavens and the earth, the more astonishing are the evidences which he discovers of infinite intelligence in designing and almighty power in creating them.

2. Creation is an embodiment of the wisdom of God. To Him that by wisdom made the heavens. The scientific student discovers design and the most benevolent and beautiful adaptations in every department of nature. Only a being of infinite intelligence could have designed the universe with its indescribable wonders, beauties, and utilities.

3. Creation is an expression of the mercy of God. It exhibits the benevolence as well as the wisdom of the Creator. In the devout student it excites not only wonder and admiration, but gratitude and praise. His mercy is manifest in the heavens. In their order and harmony and beauty, and in their benign influences, we discover indications of His mercy. It is manifest also in the earth. In making the earth fit for human habitation, and a pleasant habitation; in making it so fruitful, so safe, and so varied and beautiful in appearance, we see His kindness. It is manifest in the sun and the day. The sun is the source of light, warmth, life, and beauty. The reign of darkness would soon lead to the reign of death. By its light and warmth the sun sustains life and promotes joy. In a great measure the beauties of the universe are produced by his influence, and without his light no gleam of beauty would be discernible. So we see in the sun and the day the kindness of the Creator. His mercy is manifest in the night and the moon and stars. Night with its darkness and silence so eminently adapted for sleep and rest, with its enchanting and refining beauties of moon and stars in the heavens, and their reflection on the rippling surface of rivers and the restless waves of the sea,for these we have felt deep thankfulness times innumerable. But the Psalmist represents the sun as ordained to rule by day, and the moon and stars to rule by night. (a.) They rule by determining the duration of day and night. (See Hom. Com. on Psa. 104:19-23.) (b.) Their rule is an illustration of the principle taught by our Lord that he who is chief in service shall be chief in sovereignty,the true ruler most diligently and heartily serves those whom he governs. (Luk. 22:25-27.)

The mercy of God which is manifested in creation is eternal. His mercy endureth for ever; literally: For unto eternity His mercy. When the heavens and the earth shall have passed away, the mercy which was manifested in them shall continue. We shall need mercy throughout this life, in the hour of death, and in the day of judgment; and mercy will still endure and meet our need. The generations that shall tread this globe in the future will need mercy as much as we do, and for them also mercy shall remain as free and plenteous as ever. Unto eternity is His mercy.
Let us

Make life, death, and that vast for-ever,

One grand sweet song

of praise to Him whose mercy, like Himself, is eternal.

MERCY IN THE REVOLUTIONS OF PROVIDENCE

(Psa. 136:10-22)

There is no difficulty in discovering the kindness of the dealings of God with Israel. But where is mercy manifest in His treatment of the people of Egypt, of Pharaoh, Sihon, and Og? This we will endeavour to show. There was

I. Mercy in the judgments upon Egypt. O give thanks to him that smote Egypt in their firstborn; for His mercy endureth for ever. The Egyptian oppression of the Israelites was unjust, wicked, cruel; they had reduced them to slavery; they treated them with brutality; they refused to liberate them, although the command to do so was authenticated by extraordinary wonders and signs; judgments of less severity had produced only a transient and brief effect upon them; and so the Lord brought upon them the severe stroke of the death of the firstborn, both of man and beast, and of small and great. It is not only right but merciful to compel the strong to respect the rights of the weak, if they will not do so without compulsion. It is merciful to insist upon the doing of justice amongst men.

II. Mercy in the destruction of tyrannical kings. O give thanks to Him who overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea; for His mercy endureth for ever. To Him who smote great kings, &c. (Psa. 136:15; Psa. 136:17-20). (See Hom. Com. on Psa. 135:8-11.) We hold that it is in mercy that tyrannical and oppressive rulers are swept from the earth.

1. It is a mercy to themselves.

(1.) Supposing there be no retributory state in the future, then it is a mercy to terminate their existence; for their life must be tormented by the passions which they cherish in their breasts. Ambition, lust of power, cruelty, impoison their life at its very springs.
(2.) Supposing there be a retributory state in the future (and the evidence for the existence of such a state is to us irresistible), then it is a mercy to terminate the earthly existence of the incorrigibly evil; for while it continues, they are increasing their guilt, and treasuring up unto themselves wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. For them prolongation of life in the present will involve corresponding increase of misery in the future, therefore it is merciful to them to cut short their wicked career.
2. It is a mercy to mankind. The existence of cruel and tyrannical oppressors afflicts humanity like some terrible nightmare. When they are removed the race breathes freely once again. Such ambitious tyrants, if unchecked, would convert the fair world into a slaughterhouse reeking with human gore. The peace and progress of mankind unite in demanding the removal of ambitious tyrants and cruel oppressors from the face of the earth. To destroy such men is a mercy to the entire human race. Therefore let us give thanks to Him who smote great kings; for His mercy endureth for ever.

III. Mercy in the history of Israel. It was manifest

1. In their emancipation from Egypt and its bondage. This was not accomplished by a single act or effort. It involved a series of Divine interpositions. The poet here mentions:

(1.) Their deliverance from slavery and from the land of Egypt (Psa. 136:10-12). It was in mercy to them and to mankind that the Israelites were rescued from the crushing burdens which their oppressors imposed upon them. The greatness of the mercy may be approximately estimated by the severity of the sufferings from which it rescued them, and by the persistency and power exerted in doing so. Blessings have flowed to the entire human race through the deliverance of Israel from Egypt.

(2.) Their deliverance from peril at the Red Sea (Exodus 14). Point out their extremely perilous position. Can they be rescued from it? And how? Jehovah answers (.) By dividing the waters of the sea. To Him that divided the Red Sea into parts. (.) By nerving them to pass through the watery walls. And made Israel to pass through the midst of it. He manifested His power over the waters in dividing them, and over the hearts of the dismayed people by giving them courage to travel through a passage so unprecedented, and apparently so perilous. (.) By the destruction of their enemies by the same sea. And overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea. Thus the Lord completely and gloriously delivered them from the hands of their enemies, and conspicuously displayed His mercy to them.

2. In leading them through and supporting them in the wilderness. To Him which led His people through the wilderness; for His mercy endureth for ever. For the space of forty years He protected them from their enemies, provided for their necessities, and guided them in their wanderings by supernatural agencies; and He did this notwithstanding their oft-repeated unbelief and rebellion against Him. In His dealings with them in the wilderness, we have a most impressive display of His mercy to them.

3. In giving to them the land of Canaan for an inheritance. He slew famous kings; and gave their land for an heritage unto Israel, His servant; for His mercy endureth for ever. (See the Hom. Com. on Psa. 135:12.) The land had been defiled by the wars, the crimes, and the idolatries of the ancient Canaanites, so God overthrew and disinherited them, and gave their land for an heritage to the people of His choice. God manifests His mercy to His people by a special regard to their interests in His providential government of the world.

CONCLUSION.Inasmuch as the mercy of the Lord is perpetual

1. Let oppressors take warning. The constancy of His mercy towards His people is a pledge of the constant course of His justice against their enemies.

2. Let the oppressed and afflicted take encouragement. His mercy is far greater than their misery; it is infinite, and it endureth for ever.

MERCY IN HUMAN REDEMPTION AND PROVISION

(Psa. 136:23-26)

The poet refers in the 23rd and 24th verses to the deliverance of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity. But this section of the Psalm may appropriately be applied to the spiritual redemption and sustentation of man. Consider

I. The mercy of God in redemption (Psa. 136:23-24).

1. The need of redemption. This arose from

(1.) Mans depressed condition. Our low estate. From his high estate man fell by sin; the crown and glory of his being are gone; the completeness of his moral power is broken; he is a degraded, ruined being.

(2.) Mans oppressed condition. He is troubled from without as well as from within. He is begirt by enemies. The Chaldeans had taken the Jews into captivity and oppressed them. Man is enslaved by sin, led captive by the devil; his spiritual enemies are many and subtle and strong; and he is unable to cope successfully with them. He needs an emancipator, a redeemer.

2. The stages of redemption. The poet mentions two steps in the process of the redemption of man.

(1.) The exercise of Divine thoughtfulness. He remembered us in our low estate. It is unspeakably assuring and encouraging to know that the Lord thinketh upon us in our helplessness and need. He is interested in us. He careth for us. We never pass beyond His kindly notice and care.

(2.) The exertion of Divine power. He hath redeemed us from our enemies. He set free the Jews from their captivity in Babylon. He has redeemed sinful and lost men by the power of His love, manifested in the teaching and work, the life and death, of the Lord Jesus Christ. Ye were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. We have redemption through His blood, &c.

3. The source of redemption. For His mercy endureth for ever. In the heart of God our redemption took its rise. The streams of mercy by which we are refreshed, strengthened, and saved, flow from the throne of God. Our redemption must be traced to the loving-kindness of the Lord God. O give thanks unto the Lord; for He is good; for His mercy endureth for ever.

II. The mercy of God in provision. He giveth food to all flesh; for His mercy endureth for ever. At length, says Calvin, He extends the fatherly providence of God indiscriminately, not only to the whole human race, but to all animals, so that it might not appear wonderful He should be so kind and provident a Father towards His own elect, since He does not reckon it a burden to provide for oxen and asses, ravens and sparrows. (Comp. Psa. 104:27-28.) Two inquiries may fairly be proposed here

1. If He giveth food to the beasts, will He be unmindful of the needs of man who is made in His own image? How much then is a man better than a sheep? Ye are of more value than many sparrows. (Psa. 34:9-10.)

2. If He provides food for mans bodily necessities, will He not much more provide for His spiritual needs? He who has redeemed us from sin has also promised us strength to empower us for lifes duties, and grace to sustain us in lifes trials. The Lord will give grace and glory; no good will He withhold from them that walk uprightly. The mercy to which we owe so many and great blessings, both in the past and in the present, will never fail us. Through all eternity it will continue to enrich us with purest and most precious treasures. O give thanks unto the God of heaven; for His mercy endureth for ever.

HUMAN WRETCHEDNESS AND DIVINE COMPASSION

(Psa. 136:23-24)

Any one would remember us in a high estate; but Jesus remembers us in a low one.

I. To take a view of the wretched condition of mankind, in consequence of their apostacy from God.

Language does not afford a more emphatic description of complete wretchedness than to say of a man that he is losta captivea subject of corruptiondead!

1. Man has gone astray from the path of life and happiness. Apart from Revelation, human nature itself bears witness to itself by evident marks of degeneracy and corruption. The passions which enslave our minds; the diseases that afflict our bodies; the disorders in the natural and moral world around us; the various wretchedness of man; and the universal law of mortality, all proclaim that some unhappy change has passed on our nature since its original formation. Various conjectures have been formed to account for this state of things. But the Bible alone solves the appearances so difficult to be reconciled by unassisted reason. Here we are taught that man, by transgression, has debased himself below the rank originally assigned him in the creation of God; and that the consequences of the sin of our first parents attach to all their offspring, in the evils which arise from a sinful, sorrowful, and mortal condition. Our steps are now voluntarily turned far away from the only path of happiness. (See Job. 21:14; Jer. 2:13; Rom. 3:11-12.). For this is the habitual state of mind, not of the more grossly profligate and abandoned only, but of mankind generally, however improved by culture and enlightened by educationthe active principle of rebellion against God, which Grace alone can subdue.

2. Man has not only left the path of life, but stands exposed to the fatal effects of Divine displeasure, by actual transgression. The sentence of the broken law holds in full force (Gal. 3:10; Col. 3:6). And who knoweth the power of Gods anger? Who can imagine the judgments which God has in store against the enemies of truth and righteousness? (Job. 34:29; Job. 38:22-23; Psa. 39:11). If such be the effect of His fatherly chastisement under a dispensation of mercy, how dreadful must His fiery indignation be when Guilt has run its full course, and Justice is compelled to take its unrestricted sway! (Heb. 10:31.). There is not a part of these fleshly tabernacles which He cannot visit with exquisite anguish; and if but a spark of His wrath fall upon the soul, how dreadful is the ruin! Witness Cain, Judas, Simon Magus, Ananias, and Sapphira.

3. That we are unequal to our own deliverance.

II. To admire the method of Divine compassion to man in his rescue from this state of guilt and misery.

1. By the incarnation and death of the Son of God. Throwing a veil over the dazzling glories of Divinity, He came among us in great humility, bearing the attractive character of a kinsman and a friend. He is a Physician to heal, a Shepherd to seek, and a Saviour to restore. (Luk. 19:10.)

To see the nature and importance of His work, look back to the Old Testament. See what a space our redemption has occupied in the Divine counsels; see how all events in Providence were made to prepare for it; see what lofty representations are given of it by the ancient prophets; see how all the types and institutions of the law prefigured His approach, and how all these ancient prefigurations are accomplished in His death.

You become convinced of His high qualifications for this important work, when you observe the perfection of His mediatorial nature, blending the attributes of earth and heavenall the tenderness of suffering humanity with all the glory of the unapproached Divinity. In magnitude the work of redemption has no rival; and none but the Lord of life and glory was equal to such a work. We know that Infinite Wisdom would not make choice of a weak and ineffectual instrument, or appoint to so important an office one unqualified to perform it. All objections vanish and all fears are banished when we read of Him as Emmanuel, God with us. (Mat. 1:23; Joh. 1:14; 1Ti. 3:16). You may see the ability of Christ to save in the high attestations He received. Thrice did the Voice from heaven proclaim, This is My beloved Son, &c. On the Cross, when He offered Himself a sacrifice holy and acceptable, all nature was convulsed, and the veil of the Temple was rent in twain. At His resurrection the stone was rolled away from the door of the sepulchre, and He was declared to be the Son of God with power. By His ascension He rose victorious to heaven, that he might fill all things. And He is now exalted at the right hand of power as a Prince and a Saviour. (Heb. 7:25). Meditate much, therefore, upon His equal ability and willingness to save. As the merit of His atonement exceeds by infinite degrees the guilt of your sin, so does the power of His grace surpass the strength of your corruption.

2. By the work and agency of His Blessed Spirit. He who made your hearts can surely renew them; and He who glorified Christ in the days of the Apostles can glorify Him still in your experience, by applying the testimony of the Word, and raising you from the death of sin to the life of holiness. Commit yourself to Christ, therefore, as the great Physician. He will purify your souls by His Spirit, &c.

3. By the combined influence of His Providence and Grace. Christ is engaged to bring many sons to glory; and He overrules all the scenes of their earthly lot and mortal history, to guide their footsteps through time and discipline their hearts for the purity and bliss of heaven. (Isa. 26:7; Psa. 16:11.)Samuel Thodey.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Psalms 136

DESCRIPTIVE TITLE

A Second Call to Temple-Worship, with Responses Inserted.

ANALYSIS

Stanza I., Psa. 136:1-3, A Threefold Call for Thanks, based on the three leading Divine Names. Stanza II., Psa. 136:4-6, the Call Continued, based on the General Wonders of Heaven and Earth. Stanza III., Psa. 136:7-9, On the Ruling Lights of the Heavens. Stanza IV., Psa. 136:10-12, On the Exodus from Egypt. Stanza V., Psa. 136:13-15, On the Passage through the Red Sea. Stanza VI., Psa. 136:16-22, On Guidance through the Wilderness into Israels Promised Inheritance. Stanza VII., Psa. 136:23-26, On Subsequent Deliverance from Low Estate, Adversaries, and Famine.

(P.R.I.) Praise ye Yah.

1

Give ye thanks to Jehovahfor he is good,

For to the ages is his kindness.

2

Give ye thanks to the God of gods,

For to the ages is his kindness.

3

Give ye thanks to the Sovereign Lord of lords,

For to the ages is his kindness.

4

To him that doeth great wonders by himself alone,

For to the ages is his kindness.

5

To him who made the heavens with understanding.

For to the ages is his kindness.

6

To him that stretched out the earth upon the waters,

For to the ages is his kindness.

7

To him that made great lights,

For to the ages is his kindness.

8

The sun to rule over the day,

For to the ages is his kindness.

9

The moon and stars to rule over the night,

For to the ages is his kindness.

10

To him that smote the Egyptians in their firstborn,

For to the ages is his kindness.

11

And brought forth Israel out of their midst,

For to the ages is his kindness.

12

With a firm hand and an outstretched arm,

For to the ages is his kindness.

13

To him that divided the Red Sea into parts,

For to the ages is his kindness.

14

And caused Israel to pass over through the midst thereof,

For to the ages is his kindness.

15

And shook off Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea,

For to the ages is his kindness.

16

To him that led his people in the wilderness,

For to the ages is his kindness.

17

To him that smote great kings,

For to the ages is his kindness.

18

And slew majestic[789] kings,

[789] Br.: noble.

For to the ages is his kindness.

19

Even Sihon king of the Amorites,

For to the ages is his kindness.

20

Also Og king of Bashan,

For to the ages is his kindness.

21

And gave their land for an inheritance,

For to the ages is his kindness.

22

An inheritance to Israel his servant,

For to the ages is his kindness.

23

Who in our low estate was mindful of us,

For to the ages is his kindness.

24

And rescued us[790] from our adversaries,

[790] Ml.: tare us away.

For to the ages is his kindness.

25

Who giveth bread to all flesh,

For to the ages is his kindness.

26

Give ye thanks to the GOD of the heavens,

For to the ages is his kindness.

(Nm.)

PARAPHRASE

Psalms 136

Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His lovingkindness continues forever.
2 Give thanks to the God of gods, for His lovingkindness continues forever.
3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for His lovingkindness continues forever.
4 Praise Him who alone does mighty miracles, for His lovingkindness continues forever.
5 Praise Him who made the heavens, for His lovingkindness continues forever.
6 Praise Him who planted the water within the earth,[791] for His lovingkindness continues forever.

[791] Or, who separated the earth from the oceans.

7 Praise Him who made the heavenly lights, for His lovingkindness continues forever;
8 The sun to rule the day, for His lovingkindness continues forever;
9 And the moon and stars at night, for His lovingkindness continues forever.
10 Praise the God who smote the firstborn of Egypt, for His lovingkindness to Israel[792] continues forever.

11, 12 He brought them out with mighty power and upraised fist to strike their enemies, for His lovingkindness to Israel[792] continues forever.

13 Praise the Lord who opened the Red Sea to make a path before them, for His lovingkindness continues forever,
14 And led them safely through, for His lovingkindness continues forever
15 But drowned Pharaohs army in the sea, for His lovingkindness to Israel[792] continues forever.

16 Praise Him who led His people through the wilderness, for His lovingkindness continues forever.
17 Praise Him who saved His people from the power of mighty kings, for His lovingkindness continues forever,
18 And killed famous kings who were their enemies, for His lovingkindness to Israel[792] continues forever;

19 Sihon, king of Amoritesfor Gods lovingkindness to Israel[792] continues forever

20 And Og, king of Bashanfor His lovingkindness to Israel[792] continues forever.

21 God gave the land of these kings to Israel as a gift forever, for His lovingkindness to Israel[792] continues forever;

[792] Implied.

22 Yes, a permanent gift to His servant Israel, for His lovingkindness continues forever.
23 He remembered our utter weakness, for His lovingkindness continues forever.
24 And saved us from our foes, for His lovingkindness continues forever.
25 He gives food to every living thing, for His lovingkindness continues forever.
26 Oh, give thanks to the God of heaven, for His lovingkindness continues forever.

EXPOSITION

Though, in general purpose and in leading characteristics, this psalm is much like the preceding one, it nevertheless has several features of its own. It is a Hallel like the foregoing: that is, it is expressly adapted to Temple worship; and, like that, broadly bases Jehovahs claims to worship on creation and (national) redemption. It is, however, special, in that it formally introduces, as ground for adoration, the three leading Divine namesJehovah, Elohim (God) and Adonai (Sovereign Lord); deals with the passage through the Red Sea by three distinct movements (dividedcaused to passshook off); and, after falling back on the previous psalm by way of abbreviated quotation as to taking possession of Canaan, lastly brings forward three reminiscences, which throw a welcome sidelight on the time at which the psalm was probably composed. These three reminiscences are concerned with: (1) a low estate, (2) a rescue from adversaries, and (3) a supply of bread: just theseno othersno more: a cluster of coincidences, finding a striking verification in the times of King Hezekiah. (1) The low estate of the nation during the presence of the Assyrians in the land is manifest (cp. 2Ki. 17:19-23; 2Ki. 19:3, 2Ch. 29:8-9); and is a phrase more exactly fitted for that application than for the Exile in Babylon, which surely was something more than a low estate. (2) The forcible rescue from the Assyrians was unique; and the word is more suited to allude to that event than to permissions to captives to return to their land of their own free will. (3) As we have already been reminded by Psalms 126, there was a near approach to famine when the Assyrians were gone; and though the statement as to the provision of bread is here couched in general terms, yet a recent event might well have suggested such a grateful acknowledgement just here. Even Delitzsch, though clinging to a post-exilic origin to the psalm, sees here a reference to a time in which they suffered from famine as well as slavery. Invasion and famine wholly meet the case, and then there is the forcible rescue: respecting which Aglens note is suggestive: Redeemed.Better, as in original, snatched us from. (Compare Psa. 7:2, used of a lion suddenly seizing his prey.) So suddenly did Jehovah seize Sennacherib.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1.

This psalm is much like the one preceding it but it has its own distinctive features. Discuss the similarities and differences.

2.

Discuss the meaning and application of the three divine names; i.e. for our day.

3.

There are several triads in this psalm, three names, three stages of crossing the Red Sea; three reminiscences. Discuss the latter.

4.

Once again this psalm is linked with a Hezekiah and Sennacherib. How?

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

1. A common and favourite form of praise. Psa 118:1.

For his mercy endureth for ever A popular refrain, probably given by the congregation. See above in introduction.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Psalms 136

Theme – Psalms 136 resounds with the declaration of God’s mercy and love towards His creation. The Hebrew word “mercy” “ hesed ” ( ) (H2617) is used twenty-six times in this psalm, one use for each verse. The phrase “for his mercy endureth for ever” closes each verse of the psalm. This psalm reveals that God’s eternal love is the foundation or basis for all that He does for mankind and His creation, and within the context of this psalm, for the children of Israel.

Structure The writer of Psalms 136 opens with a call for everyone to give thanks unto the Lord because of His eternal mercy and love towards creation (Psa 136:1). He first declares God’s majesty (2-4), then declares two of God’s greatest wonders: the creation of the heavens and the earth (Psa 136:5-9), and the children of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt and entrance into the Promised Land (Psa 136:10-22). The psalmist acknowledges God in his personal redemption (Psa 136:23-25), then closes by repeating his opening call for everyone to give thanks unto the Lord (Psa 136:26).

Psa 136:4 To him who alone doeth great wonders: for his mercy endureth for ever.

Psa 136:4 Comments – In Psa 136:4 the psalmist states that God alone does great wonders, then he declares two of His greatest wonders, the story of Creation (Psa 136:5-9), and the story of Israel’s deliverance from bondage and entrance into the Promised Land (Psa 136:10-22).

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Exhortation to Give Thanks to God.

An antiphonal hymn, which takes up the theme of the preceding psalm and was intended to be sung in alternation by the choir and the congregation, the former chanting the invitation and the latter responding with the call, stating the reason for the hymn of praise.

v. 1. O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, exhibiting His goodness in all His works for the benefit of His children; for His mercy, His free favor and unmerited loving-kindness, endureth forever.

v. 2. O give thanks unto the God of gods, the Sovereign, whose creative and providential power is over every rank of government and everything that is worshiped falsely; for His mercy endureth forever.

v. 3. O give thanks to the Lord of lords, in whose hands is all power, the direction of all affairs of the universe; for His mercy endureth forever.

v. 4. To Him who alone doeth great wonders, all help and interference on the part of any creature being excluded; for His mercy endureth forever.

v. 5. To Him that by wisdom, by the application of divine knowledge and understanding. made the heavens; for His mercy endureth forever.

v. 6. To Him that stretched out the earth above the waters, the water of the world being partly visible, in the oceans, and partly invisible, in the underground streams and springs; for His mercy endureth forever.

v. 7. To Him that made great lights, Gen 1:14; for His mercy endureth forever:

v. 8. the sun to rule by day, to have dominion in controlling the division of time; for His mercy endureth forever:

v. 9. the moon and stars to rule by night, Gen 1:16; for His mercy endureth forever. The deliverance out of the bondage of Egypt is next proclaimed:

v. 10. To Him that smote Egypt in their first-born, Exo 12:29; for His mercy endureth forever;

v. 11. and brought out Israel from among them, Exo 12:51; for His mercy endureth forever;

v. 12. with a strong hand and with a stretched-out arm, with a manifestation of His majesty and power; for His mercy endureth forever.

v. 13. To Him which divided the Red Sea into parts, when Moses, at His command, stretched out his staff over the sea, Exo 14:21-22; for His mercy endureth forever;

v. 14. and made Israel to pass through the midst of it, the waters standing on either side like walls; for His mercy endureth forever;

v. 15. but overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea, literally, “shaking them,” as one would shake small particles in a bottle, the figure picturing the utter annihilation of the enemies; for His mercy endureth forever.

v. 16. To Him which led His people through the wilderness, during the forty-year journey, Deu 8:15; for His mercy endureth forever.

v. 17. To Him which smote great kings, such as possessed great power, mighty armies; for His mercy endureth forever;

v. 18. and slew famous kings, such as were celebrated far and wide for their power; for His mercy endureth forever:

v. 19. Sihon, king of the Amorites; for His mercy endureth forever;

v. 20. and Og, the king of Bashan; for His mercy endureth forever;

v. 21. and gave their land for an heritage; for His mercy endureth forever;

v. 22. even an heritage unto Israel, His servant; for His mercy endureth forever. Cf Psa 135:10-12; Deu 2:32 to Deu 3:11.

v. 23. Who remembered us in our low estate, either in the bondage of Egypt or in the captivity of Babylonia; for His mercy endureth forever;

v. 24. and hath redeemed us from our enemies, snatching them suddenly out of the hands of their adversaries; for His mercy endureth forever.

v. 25. Who giveth food to all flesh, His providential care embracing all His creatures; for His mercy endureth forever. The psalmist therefore sums up his exhortation in one final call:

v. 26. O give thanks unto the God of heaven, the great Ruler of the heavens and therefore the Sovereign of the earth as well; for His mercy endureth forever. It is a wonderful prayer of thanksgiving, which the Church and all its members will gladly send up to the throne of grace at all times.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

EXPOSITION

A PSALM with a familiar refrain (comp. Psa 118:1-4, Psa 118:29; 2Ch 5:13; Ezr 3:11) at the end of each line. In the main Psa 134:1-3; follows the line of Psa 135:1-21, calling upon Israel to praise God, and basing the call upon his glorious manifestations of himself in nature (Psa 135:5-9) and history (veto. 10-24), repeating in the latter case the very same facts. Metrically, the psalm is arranged, till near the end, in a series of triplets, but concludes with two stanzas of four lines each (Psa 135:19 -22 and verses 23-26). It is conjectured to have been written as the anthem called for in Psa 135:19-21 (Kay).

Psa 136:1

Oh give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth forever. Identical with the first verse of Psa 118:1-29, which is probably a very ancient formula, and one used at the erection both of the first (2Ch 5:13) and of the second temple (Ezr 3:11).

Psa 136:2

Oh give thanks unto the God of gods: for his mercy, etc. The phrase, “God of gods,” occurs first in Deu 10:17. It was one very familiar to the Assyrians and Babylonians. In the Bible it is used by Joshua (Jos 22:22), Nebuchadnezzar (Dan 2:47), Daniel (Dan 11:36), and this psalmist. It sanctions a secondary use of the word “God,” such as is found also in Psa 82:6; Psa 96:4; Psa 97:7, Psa 97:9; Psa 138:1.

Psa 136:3

Oh give thanks to the Lord of lords. “Lord of lords” occurs also first in Deu 10:17. It is used likewise by St. Paul (2 Timothy 6:15) and St. John (Rev 17:14; Rev 19:16). For his mercy, etc.

Psa 136:4

To him who alone doeth great wonders (comp. Psa 72:18). For his mercy, etc.

Psa 136:5

To him that by wisdom made the heavens. Creation is the work, not only of God’s power, bat of his wisdom also. Things were made as they are by the exertion of his forethought and understanding (comp. Pro 3:19; Eph 1:11). For his mercy, etc.

Psa 136:6

To him that stretched out the earth above the waters (comp. Isa 42:5; Isa 44:24; Psa 24:2). For his mercy, etc.

Psa 136:7

To him that made great lights (see Gen 1:14-16). For his mercy, etc.

Psa 136:8The sun to rule by day (comp. Gen 1:16). For his mercy, etc.

Psa 136:9

The moon and stare to rule by night (Gen 1:16, Gen 1:18). For his mercy, etc.

Psa 136:10

To him that smote Egypt in their firstborn. The parallelism with Psa 135:1-21, here becomes very close, and so continues till the end of verse 22. Five verses, however, are expanded into thirteen. For his mercy, etc.

Psa 136:11

And brought out Israel from among them (see Exo 12:51; Exo 14:19-31). For his mercy, etc.

Psa 136:12

With a strong hand, and with a stretched-out arm (comp. Exo 6:6; Deu 7:8, Deu 7:14; Neh 1:10, etc.). For his mercy, etc.

Psa 136:13

To him which divided the Red Sea into parts; literally, into sectioncut it, as it were, in two (see Exo 14:21). For his mercy, etc.

Psa 136:14

And made Israel to pass through the midst of it (see Exo 14:22, Exo 14:29; Exo 15:19). For his mercy, etc.

Psa 136:15

But overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea (see Exo 14:27, Exo 14:28; Exo 15:1-10). That the Pharaoh’s death in the Red Sea is not necessarily implied has been shown in the comment on Exodus. For his mercy, etc. Severity to their adversaries was “mercy” to Israel, who could not otherwise have been delivered.

Psa 136:16

To him which led his people through the wilderness (Exo 13:20-22; Exo 40:36-38; Deu 8:15). For his mercy, etc.

Psa 136:17

To him which smote great kings (see the comment on Psa 135:10). For his mercy, etc.

Psa 136:18

And slew famous kings. Oreb, Zeb, Zeba, Zalmunna, Agag. For his mercy, etc.

Psa 136:19

Sihon King of the Amorites (comp. Psa 135:11). For his mercy, etc.

Psa 136:20

And Og the King of Bashan (Num 21:33; Psa 135:11). For his mercy, etc.

Psa 136:21

And gave their land for an heritage (see Jos 12:1-6). For his mercy, etc.

Psa 136:22

Even an heritage unto Israel his servant (comp. Psa 135:12). For his mercy, etc.

Psa 136:23

Who remembered us in our low estate. When we were brought low. The time meant is probably that of the Babylonian captivity, which is the subject of the next psalm. For his mercy, etc.

Psa 136:24

And hath redeemed us from our enemies; rather, and redeemed usor, “snatched us”from our enemies. For his mercy, etc.

Psa 136:25

Who giveth food to all flesh. Has a care, i.e; not only for man, but also for animals (comp. Psa 104:27; Psa 145:15; Psa 147:9; Jon 4:11). For his mercy, etc.

Psa 136:26

Oh give thanks unto the God of heaven, “The God of heaven” is a favorite designation of God in the Books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Daniel (Ezr 1:2; Ezr 5:11, Ezr 5:12; Ezr 6:9, Ezr 6:10; Ezr 7:12, Ezr 7:21; Neh 1:4, Neh 1:5; Neh 2:4, Neh 2:20; Dan 2:18, Dan 2:19, Dan 2:37, Dan 2:44). It was a phrase known to the Assyrians, the Babylonians, and the Persians. For his mercy endureth forever.

HOMILETICS

Psa 136:1-26

The Divine constancy.

The refrain of each verse of the psalm may supply us with a guiding thought in our treatment of it. From the first beginnings of creation (as we are affected by them) to the last hour of human experience, we have evidence of the goodness, the “mercy,” of the Lord. It has endured through all generations, is with us now, will attend our race (we are sure) to the end of time. We find it

I. IS THE DIVINE PROVISION. God gave us sun, moon, and stars at the first. These have been giving light to men everywhere and in all ages. They have been regulating the seasons of the year and the tides of ocean, and they have been counting time for us with unbroken constancy. Seed-time and harvest have not failed; food has been given to all flesh, to man and beast, through all the centuries (Psa 136:25). If the earth has been barren in one part, it has been fruitful in another. Nothing has been needed to supply all mankind with the necessaries and the comforts of life but man’s own diligence, enterprise, and economy. God has supplied his part. His kindness is constant.

II. IN DIVINE RETRIBUTION. (Psa 136:10-15, Psa 136:17-20.) No doubt this recurring sentence, “His mercy endureth for ever,” is written by the psalmist from Israel’s point of view. That is quite obvious from the words with which these verses are connected. The destruction of Israel’s enemies meant the deliverance, in mercy, of Israel itself. But we may pause to remember that all righteous retribution is a part of Divine goodness. No greater calamity could befall us than Divine indifference to sin and unlimited permission to indulge in it; no more serious injury, therefore, could be done us than the withholding of Divine penalty when sin and wrong are done by us. That would inevitably issue in the loss of all real reverence for God, and of all respect for ourselves. It would mean the simple annihilation of human character, of human worth, of the distinctive excellency of human life. God’s abiding hatred and punishment of sin is an element of his constant kindness to our race, as well as a permanent feature of his own Divine character.

III. IN DIVINE COMPASSION AND REDEMPTION. God has ever been pitiful, and his compassion has called forth his power to save.

1. There are two notable instances of this in Hebrew historythe deliverance from Egyptian hardship and bondage (Exo 3:7, Exo 3:8), and the restoration from captivity in Babylon (Ezr 1:1-11.). God “remembered them in their low estate,” and “redeemed them from their enemies.”

2. There was one culminating and transcendent illustration of this in the advent of our Lord. He saw us in our “low estate.” The world was sunk in superstition, in vice, in violence, in misery, in spiritual death. No “estate” could be lower than that of the human world when Jesus Christ came into it; and then he accomplished that work which is to issue in its “redemption.”

3. We have individual-illustrations of it now. The eye that looked down in pity on the earliest sorrows and struggles of his children regards today with tender commiseration the sufferings and the trials of his people. In all our affliction he is afflicted. He is “touched with the feeling of our infirmities” (Heb 4:15). He is mindful of our danger when in the midst of temptation, and, in answer to our prayer, redeems us from the power of our adversary. To the latest hour of individual life, to the last hour of time, we shall be able to look up with holy confidence for sympathy and succor; “for his mercy endureth for ever.”

HOMILIES BY S. CONWAY

Psa 136:1-26

Repetitions many, but not vain.

Over and over again the refrain comes, “His mercy endureth for ever.” But it is never a vain repetition, unless the mind, by its heedlessness, makes it so. It is like the German piece of music which is called ‘The Fremensberg,’ which tells one of the old legends of the regionhow “a great noble of the Middle Ages got lost in the mountains, and wandered about with his dogs in a violent storm, until at last the faint tones of a monastery-bell, calling the monks to a midnight service, caught his ear, and he followed the direction the sounds came from, and was saved. A beautiful air runs through the music without ceasing, sometimes loud and strong, sometimes so soft that it can hardly be distinguished, but it is always there. It swung grandly along the shrill whistling of the storm-wind, the rattling patter of the rain, and the boom and crash of the thunder; it wound soft and low through the lesser sounds, the distant ones, such as the throbbing of the convent-bell, the melodious winding of the hunter’s horn, the distressed bayings of his dogs, and the solemn chanting of the monks; it rose again, with a jubilant ring, and mingled itself with the country songs and dances of the peasants assembled in the concert-hall to cheer up the rescued huntsman as he ate his supper, imitating all these sounds with marvelous exactness. The solemn chanting of the monks was not done by instruments, but by men’s voices, and it rose and felt and rose again in that rich confusion of warring sounds and pulsing bells, and the stately swing of that ever-present enchanting air, and it seemed to me that nothing could be more divinely beautiful” (Mark Twain). So the sweet refrain of this psalm is heard amid all variety of circumstances, and is never absent, but investing with its own charm every one of the manifold statements which the psalm contains. But wherefore all this repetition?

I. BECAUSE WE ARE SO APT TO FORGET THE TRUTH IT TELLS OF. Is not this so? “The ox knoweth its owner,” etc. (Isa 1:1-31.).

II. BECAUSE IT IS A TRUTH SO UNSPEAKABLY IMPORTANT. We repeat messages to those who we know are liable to forget, and we do so the more according to the importance of the message. And none can be more important than this, consider it how we will. Who is there that does not need to remember it, that is not every way the better for the remembrance of it?

III. BECAUSE, WHEN IT IS REMEMBERED, BELIEVED, AND REALIZED IN THE HEART WE CANNOT KEEP SILENCE ABOUT AT. “I believed, therefore have I spoken,” said St. Paul; and it has ever been so. He who wrote this psalm believed this most blessed truth of God’s mercy enduring forever, and he could not keep silence; nor shall we when we in like manner believe.S.C.

Psa 136:1-26

Does his mercy endure forever?

How many voices there are that seem to deny the blessed declaration which is repeated in every verse of this psalm, and in so many other psalms and Scriptures beside!

I. THE VOICE OF EARTHLY SORROW SEEMS TO DENY IT. “What!” says one, “his mercy endureth for ever? And I, once so happily placed, and to whom all life was bright, and now so utterly poor, a ruined man: how can his mercy endure forever? I cannot believe it.” And here is another who has been bitterly bereaved, the light of his home gone out. And another whose heart smarts within him from a sense of cruel wrong which has been inflicted on him, and which has embittered all his life. And another whose existence is one long pain. And another racked with anxiety. Oh, how many such there are to whom the talk of God’s mercy seems as an impossible and an idle thought!

II. AND THE VOICE OF THE POPULAR THEOLOGY HAS PRACTICALLY DENIED IT. For it represents God as a moral Governor who has attached a tremendous penalty to sina penalty at the very thought of which the heart shudders, and who would inflict this on mankind generally, for that all have sinned, only that mercy interposes, and by the sacrifice of Christ opens a way of escape for all who will believe. Now, in this representation there is very much that is scriptural and true, but it errs in representing the foundation of the Divine character as that of the magistrate rather than of the father. As if his great purpose were to maintain a law rather than to train and to teach, to restore and to redeem. And hence they limit this salvation to the baptized, or to the elect, or to those who dwell in Christian lands. And they limit it likewise to the present life. Thus, practically, they seem to deny the ever-enduring character of God’s mercy.

III. AND THERE IS MUCH IN SCRIPTURE THAT SEEMS TO SUPPORT THIS DENIAL. Certainly there are no direct statements that teach that outside the limits of faith in Christ, and of the present life, there is yet salvation, and there are many which seem to distinctly say there is not.

IV. AND THERE ARE AWFUL FACTS IN LIFE WHICH POINT IN THE SAME DIRECTION. Men, many of them, do, so far as we can see, die in their sins, having no part nor lot in the kingdom of God.

V. BUT, IN SPITE OF ALL THIS, GOD‘S MERCY ENDURETH FOREVER.

1. It must be so because of his declared character. God is love. He is our Father. His mercy is not an attribute external to himself, something that he has assumed; but it is what he is in his own inherent nature. Therefore so long as God exists, his mercy must exist likewise, that is, must endure forever.

2. Because of his declared purpose. He has no pleasure in the death of him that dieth. He will have all men to be saved. He gave his only begotten Son to die for us all, and to him every knee shall bow. “The Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil.” Can his purpose, then, be forever thwarted?

3. The manifest design of all his dealings with us. His perpetual goodness. The afflictions and sorrows he sends, they are for good, not ill; for healing, not harm. And the punishments he inflicts, they are not in vengeance, but to subdue the perverse will Love is at the heart of things, the ultimate reason of them all.

4. What he has already done. The most stubborn wills he has subdued, and does subdue day by day. The resources of his mercy are not exhausted or exhaustible.S.C.

Psa 136:1-26 (every verse)

The Church’s antiphon.

There can be no doubt that this psalm was sung antiphonally in the Jewish temple, some of the priests reciting or chanting the first portion of each verse, and then the whole congregation responding, “For his mercy endureth forever.” But this oft-repeated declaration belongs not to the Jewish Church alone, but to the whole Church of God throughout all the ages and in all the world. “One February night, A.D. 358, the great church at Alexandria was bright with lights far into the night, and still the congregation did not disperse. The Bishop Athanasius was there, and the service was to be prolonged till morning; for next day the Holy Communion was to be celebrated, and it was the frequent custom among the early Christians to spend the preceding night in prayer and singing hymns. All knew that further troubles were hanging over their beloved bishop, and that the time of his presence with them would probably be very short. Suddenly a clashing noise broke the stillness. The church was surrounded by armed men. With calm presence of mind, Athanasius rose and gave out the hundred and thirty-sixth psalm, which has to every verse the response, For his mercy endureth for ever. The whole congregation joined in thundering forth those grand words, when the door was burst open, and the imperial envoy, at the head of a body of soldiers, walked up the aisle. For a moment the soldiers drew back in awe at the solemn sound of the chanting, but again they pressed on, and a shower of arrows flew through the church. Swords flashed, arms rattled, and rough shouts interrupted the music. Athanasius retained his seat till the congregation had dispersed, then he too disappeared in the darkness, and no one knew where he was gone. He found a refuge among his old friends the hermits of Egypt” (quoted from Perowne). The blessed truth it declares is

I. THE EXPLANATION OF ALL THAT GOD IS AND DOES. After each recital of what God is or of what he has done, it is added, as if by way of explanation, “For his mercy,” etc. And it is declared, not in connection alone with statements as to the holiness, the greatness, the majesty, and the love of God, not alone in connection with his acts of creation and of beneficence, but with those of judgment and awful punishment as well All are included. And they all must have some explanation. The psalm gives this, “For his mercy,” etc. Can any one find a better, or one that so meets the manifold aspects of the problem of human life? Even his judgments, his “strange work,” have mercy at the heart of them, as a little reflection will perceive.

II. THE CLAMANT NEED OF ALL THE CHILDREN OF GOD. For who is there of woman born that does not need mercy, that can say he has no sin, that God has nothing to accuse him of? Where, but for God’s mercy, should any of us have been? And not only do we need mercy, but enduring mercy. We can give God no guarantee that if he forgive us we shall need his forgiveness never more. Alas! it is our daily need. Even as we are taught to ask day by day for daily bread, so also are we to pray daily, “And forgive us our sins.”

III. THE INSPIRATION OF ALL THE SERVANTS OF GOD. “The love of Christ constraineth us,” said St. Paul; and as it was with him so is it with all God’s servants. It is not the lack of fear, the goading of conscience, the command of duty, that impel the servant of God, but the inspiration of the love this antiphon declares.

IV. THE GLAD CONFESSION OF ALL THE REDEEMED OF GOD. They confess it here on earth; in heaven, “Worthy is the Lamb,” which is but another form of this same blessed truth, is the perpetual theme of the ransomed there.

V. THE ENCOURAGEMENT FOR ALL WHO DESIRE TO RETURN TO GOD. See the prodigal. it was the memory of his father’s house that determined him on returning home. He felt sure that his father’s love would not fail him. And so still, it is the proclamation and the belief of the mercy that endureth forever which emboldens the contrite heart to cast itself upon God (Psa 51:17).

VI. THAT WHICH THE BELIEVER KEEPS TELLING OVER AND OVER AGAIN UNWEARIEDLY. See in this psalm how perpetually it is repeated, and this is but an example of what the heart of God’s redeemed people ever delights in. What are the favorite hymns, the most blessed portions of Scripture, but those which tell most clearly and fully of the mercy that endureth for ever? And when we come to die, there is nothing else that so soothes and strengthens the departing soul as this same truth as it is seen in Jesus Christ our Lord.S.C.

Psa 136:4

The great wonders of God.

I. WHAT ARE THEY? They are seen in nature; in providence; and especially in grace. The whole purpose, plan, and accomplishment of man’s salvation is full of them.

II. GOD IS EVER DOING GREAT WONDERS. It is not that he once did them and has now ceased, but he is ever doing and will continue to do them. Hence we may expect them in regard to others and to ourselves.

III. No ONE ELSE DOES THEM.

1. In Nature we see this plainly. No one thinks that he can do her works.

2. In providence we see this partly. Men are apt to think that they themselves are the authors of the good that comes to them.

3. In grace men are slow to see this at all. They persist in thinking they must bring something, do something, or else they cannot be saved. They haggle over God’s free gift.

IV. AND THEY ARE GREAT WONDERS. Not common and ordinary.

1. It was to be expected that they would be. For they are the works of God.

2. It was necessary they should be. For how else was man to be saved?

3. They have all the conditions of greatness. Rarity; transcendent power; wisdom; grace.

V. THEY DESERVE AND DEMAND OUR PRAISE. Of the heart, the lip, the life.S.C.

Psa 136:10-25

From Egypt to Canaan.

Almost every reader of Israel’s history has seen, as surely it was intended that there should be seen, the pattern and picture of the soul’s journey cut of the misery and bondage of sin into the glorious liberty wherewith Christ doth make his people free. It is a long and arduous journey, but blessed are they which take it. These verses imply or state its chief stages.

I. THE PREPARATION FOR THIS JOURNEY. This is not stated, but implied. We know the weariness and distress, the hard bondage and the cruel oppression, which led Israel to cry out unto the Lord. And the like of it the soul knows in its more than Egyptian bondage and oppression through sin. And ere the actual deliverance comes there has been the cry unto the Lord.

II. ITS DIFFERENT STEPS.

1. Believing in God. This was shown by their obedience to the command as to the Passover. Unbelief might have caviled and objected, but the spirit of faith was given, and all Israel kept the Passover. And ere deliverance comes to the soul, there is and must be faith in Christ our Passover; the definite trust in him as our Savior.

2. The breaking of the oppressor‘s power. (Psa 136:10.) That which in the consciousness of the redeemed soul corresponds to what this verse tells of is the suspension of the power of sin. Whether permanently or not, for a time that power seems paralyzed, as was the power of Pharaoh when the firstborn were smitten. We are under its cruel compulsion no longer.

3. The actual deliverance. (Psa 136:12, Psa 136:13.) They went out of Egypt; so does the soul abandon its old ways, and start for the promised possession.

4. Complete consecration. It seemed as if Israel were to be dragged back again into slavery there at Pihahirothas if the old misery were to come over again. How often the soul has found the like of that! But the command came to Israel to “go forward.” It seemed impossible, but they obeyed, and lo! the Red Sea parted asunder (Psa 136:13, Psa 136:14). St. Paul speaks of this as their being “baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea.” It was the type of the soul’s complete consecration. It will obey God, cost what it will; though it be like plunging into the sea, yet it will obey. That is what we must do. Then comes:

5. Further and complete deliverance. (Psa 136:15.) When the soul thus resolves to obey God at all costs, even if it be like going straight to death, then, behold! the way will be opened, and what seemed like death will prove to be life, and our enemies trouble us no more. The soul’s self-surrender to God is the destruction of its foes.

6. The wilderness trial and training. (Psa 136:16.) The Law was given, and then came the tests of obedience. Israel was tried by providential circumstances, by evil example, by fierce attacks of mighty kings. The redeemed life must be a tried life; but, if we be really of God’s Israel, it will be an overcoming life.

III. ITS BLESSED END. (Psa 136:21, Psa 136:22.) And so the soul shall come into its heavenly places in Christ (see the Epistle to the Ephesians). It shall gain its inheritance and keep it, in the rest which remaineth for the people of God, of which Canaan was the earthly type.S.C.

Psa 136:23

Remembered of God.

We were so; for

I. WE WERE ALL IN “LOW ESTATE.”

1. By inherited nature inclining us to sin.

2. By our own actual sin.

3. By our subjection to earthly care and sorrow.

4. By death overtaking us all.

II. BUT GOD REMEMBERED US.

1. He might have acted far otherwise. Condemned us all to death, or forgotten us and left us to go our own ways.

2. But he remembered us. Indeed, though it seemed to our eye as if we had but just come into God’s mind, we had, in fact, never been absent from his mind. (See the evolution of man’s redemption from the first purpose of grace in God down to our own individual redemption.) On and on the blessed work proceeded.

3. And he remembers us still.

III. THE EXPLANATION OF THIS IS THE NEVER–FAILING MERCY OF GOD.

1. For think of God. Could he, being so great and gracious as he is, do other than give this redemption to us?

2. Of the gift itself. Could we by any acts of our own purchase or procure it? Was it not utterly out of our reach?

3. Of ourselves. Not only are we lacking in great amount of merit, but in all merit. How but by God’s mercy can we be saved?S.C.

HOMILIES BY R. TUCK

Psa 136:1

The enduring mercy.

This is very evidently a psalm arranged for alternate singing in the temple service. One section of the singers gives the sentences, and the other section answers with the ever-recurring refrain of the psalm, “For his mercy endureth forever.” It is a refrain which has peculiar point and interest when regarded as sung by the returned exiles in their restored temple. They felt very deeply what it was to be “monuments of God’s mercy,” and that sense of God’s mercy to them enabled them to read aright the story of the ages old and hoary, and to anticipate aright the ages that were yet to be. God’s mercy evidently had been upon his people from everlasting, and that was the best of guarantees that it would be unto everlasting. Let any man worthily apprehend God’s mercy to him, and that man will be well assured that God’s “mercy endureth for ever.”

I. THE PERSONAL SENSE OF GOD‘S MERCY. There are some things, perhaps many things, which cannot be learned intellectually, which no man can know until he knows experimentally. He may know about them, and may be able to talk about them, but the knowledge is a surface-matter; it is not real, not spiritually effective, until it comes through personal experience. God’s mercy is one of these things. There are elements in mercy which we can mentally apprehend, such as tenderness, considerateness, gentleness, pity; but there is an element which we can only realize by feeling in relation to it. A man must feel undeserving before he can know what God’s mercy is. Then he gains a right sense of the “pitifulness of thy great mercy.” The self-satisfied Pharisee never thinks that God’s mercy concerns him. In that mercy the penitent publican finds refuge.

II. ITS RAYS THROWN BACK ON THE PAST OF DIVINE DEALING. Let a man feel thus in relation to God’s mercy, and then he can look back over his own past, and back over the past of history, and find God’s mercy, as bearing and forbearing, everywhere. So the returned exiles would be able to read their old history as a nation. What shone out to view everywhere was God’s mercy. Man’s waywardness and willfulness, and God’s pitifulness and gentleness.

III. ITS RAYS THROWN FORWARD ON THE FUTURE OF DIVINE DEALING. It is alone on the basis of what God is to us that we can rest our confidence of what he is going to be. Our soul’s argument takes this form, “This God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our Guide even unto the end.” Because his mercy is our portion, we are sure that “his mercy endureth for ever.” R.T.

Psa 136:2

God and other gods.

“Oh give thanks unto the God of gods.” This expression appears to recognize other gods in order to make comparison with them of the One only, living, and true God. It is necessary to keep in mind that there are gods for whom their worshippers claim that they are verily and indeed gods. True, “the gods of the nations are idols (helpless vanities), but the Lord (Jehovah) made the heavens;” but that is the view which the worshippers of Jehovah take, not the view which the nations that serve these gods take. For us there is no comparison between God and the gods. And yet Scripture invites us to make comparisons. Some freshness may be gained by taking one point of view; but it must be regarded as a point of view, and in no sense a complete setting of truth in relation to this subject. Gods, as distinct from God, are always wrongly treated when they are regarded as distinct and independent deities. It may be the fact of history that to the mass of the people they become such; but that is their delusion. They never really are such; they are always either incarnations of God, in order to bear direct relation to human and earthly things, or they are guardian angels or patron saints. This may be clearly illustrated from the Hindu religion. Brahma is the one living god; but there are five cults of Brahma, according as he is presented incarnate in Vishnoo, ‘Siva, ‘Sakti, Gane’sa, or Surya. It might be said that these are gods, but the deeper truth is that they are no more than sensible helps to the apprehension of Brahma, and to right relations with him. This suggests interesting points of reflection.

I. THE SPIRITUALITY OF GOD IS OF SUPREME IMPORTANCE FOR MAN. Leave man alone, and anywhere and everywhere he will inevitably materialize God and give him some formal shape, either in act or thought. And then man deteriorates, because he puts the stamp of superiority on his bodily investiture instead of on his spiritual self. His god becomes a body, with passions to be indulged. Therefore God so jealously guards for the Israelites his unseen, spiritual Being, and forbids every attempt to make a likeness of him.

II. THE SPIRITUALITY OF GOD IS PRESERVED IN THE ONE INCARNATION IN WHICH HE HAS SHOWN HIMSELF. The “Man Christ Jesus” is the One and only true incarnation of God. It was a simple and genuine man’s life, which soon gave place to a presence spiritually realized. The Christ we worship is no figure of a God. It is the God who was unseen passing by us and for a moment removing his hand and letting us see, and then passing into the unseen again.R.T.

Psa 136:4

Wonders of creative power.

“Who alone doeth great wonders.” “Jehovah is the great Thaumaturge, the unrivalled Wonder-worker. None can be likened unto him; he is alone in wonderland, the Creator and Worker of true marvels, compared with which all other remarkable things are as child’s play. None of the gods or the lords helped Jehovah in creation or in the redemption of his people.” As the theme of this psalm is the Divine mercy, we must find the merciful in the wonderful. This psalm recalls to our minds the first chapter of Genesis, which declares the absolute Creatorship of God. It does not consist of a precise, definite, and detailed account of the processes of creation, but contains a series of distinct and repeated affirmations of God’s supreme relations to all forms of existence, in all their order, all their origin, all their growth, all their relations. It is designed to impress on us that the world was not created by chance, by self-regeneration, by impersonal powers of nature, or by many agents acting either in harmony or in antagonism. God is distinct from that he has made. God is the one primal Source of all things. God’s will is represented in all laws that rule. God’s good pleasure shapes all ends. This chapter impresses on mind and heart the existence, independence, and personality of one Divine Being, the universality of his rule, the omnipotence of his power, and the eternal persistence of his relationship to the world he has created.

1. The chapter declares God’s unique relation to every part of creation. We may conceive of no created thing, no existing thing, to which the assurance is not attachedGod made it, God ordained it, God arranged it. The chapter includes all the components of the earth’s crust; all the treasures of the mighty deep; all the elements of the atmosphere; all the hosts of heaven, from the ruling sun to the faintest distant star; all the multiplied forms of vegetable life; all the higher forms of animal life; and all the yet higher forms of human life. And the declaration of God’s creation includes all the natural laws and forces that act in creation. These things may be illustrated.

2. The relation of God as Cause and Arranger to all the changes of creation. One living God is at the beginning of all changes, designing all change, and presiding over all change.

3. The relation of God as Cause and Controller to the entire range of development in creation. Tell us of millions of bygone ages: God was there. Show us a thing: God made it. Describe a change: God ordered it. Talk of immeasurable distances, in which the stars swing free: God set them there.R.T.

Psa 136:10, Psa 136:11

God’s judgments are two-sided.

“To him that smote Egypt in their firstborn; and brought out Israel from among them.” Much misapprehension of the Divine dealings follows from fixing attention too exclusively on one side of the Divine judgments. We readily see what they are to those who suffer under them, but we do not sufficiently see what they are to those who are delivered through them. God smote Egypt, but the smiting was a delivering of his people; and if we would understand his doing we must see it on both its sides. Suppose that God designs to discipline a particular race for a great world-mission which he purposes to entrust to it, then the presence of Israel in Egypt is explained. And when the time has come for that race to go forth and accomplish its mission, the ordinary difficulties of getting a great part of a nation’s population safely away had to be dealt with, and the special complications arising had to be mastered. So deliverance had to take the form of judgment. There are two possible explanations of Divine judgments.

I. THE EASIER EXPLANATION: THEY VINDICATE THE DIVINE RIGHTEOUSNESS IN THE PUNISHMENT OF WRONGDOERS. This is familiar truth. Some time or other the cup of a man’s, or a family’s, or a city’s, or a nation’s iniquity becomes full, and then the Divine judgments must descend. The world before the Flood, the cities of the plain, the Egyptians, the Israelites, Nineveh, and Babylon illustrate this. Egypt was smitten for its national sins. We see one special feature of that sin; it was Pharaoh Menephthah’s treatment of God’s people, in spite of all warnings that were given him. “Is God righteous who taketh vengeance?” Certainly he is. He would be no righteous God if he did not.

II. THE PEEPER EXPLANATION: THE LAW OF VICARIOUS SUFFERING APPLIES EVEN IN THE CASE OF DIVINE JUDGMENTS. We have yet to apprehend that all moral and spiritual laws are as absolute, universal, and unchangeable as all natural laws. Vicarious suffering is absolutely universal. Nobody ever gets any good without somebody suffering loss. Egypt must suffer if Israel is to be delivered. An adequate impression of the Divine power must be made on Israel as a basis of its belief in God, and Egypt must suffer that God’s power may be shown. It is a thrillingly interesting view of one of the supreme mysteries of human life, that on one side of them God’s judgments should be apprehended as vicarious sufferings for the sake of others.R.T.

Psa 136:13

Overcoming natural obstacles.

“Divided the sea in sunder.” The peculiarity of the account given us of this miracle wrought for the deliverance of Israel is that it gives so distinctly the natural agencies by which it was wrought. A certain natural obstacle had to be overcome, and it was overcome by such forces as man would have used if he had had the nature-forces in his control. We can distinctly recognize the suitability of the agencies. But here the true miracle comes in. There was no manufacture of new forces; there was absolute control of existing forces. There was no accident of wind and tide; there was the Divine using of wind and tide. When God made natural forces he did not loosen them from his control. He is always controlling them, and we are made to feel sure that he is, by some such extraordinary cases of controlling as we have in this crossing of the sea. Geikie says, “Ebb and flood tide, in the narrow northern ford especially, are greatly affected by the wind prevailing at any given time A violent north-east gale blew all night, and drove the waters before it, at ebb-tide, into the south-west ford, till the sandy ridge of the ford was laid bare, the shore-waters thus becoming a wall or protection to the Hebrews on the right, and those of the open sea on the left hand. The storm prolonging the ebb, delayed the flow of the tide, and thus before morning the whole of the Hebrews were able to reach the east shore.”

I. NATURAL OBSTACLES STILL HINDER GOD‘S PEOPLE. Such natural obstacles as are related to the circumstances of God’s people nowadays. They often appear as bodily frailty, or as sickness of those to whom we are bound in duty, or in limitation of means, or insufficiency of premises for Christian work, or hindering distances from fields of labor, or strange enmities that seem to check us in every enterprise. And it is not altogether easy to associate God with such material things, and to realize that he is actually working for us in the control or removal of them. And yet just that is the lesson for the ages to be learned from God’s removal of the hindering Red Sea.

II. NATURAL OBSTACLES DO BUT REPRESENT THE SPIRITUAL OBSTACLES OF GOD‘S PEOPLE. “We wrestle, not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers.” The spiritual weaknesses of ourselves, the spiritual forces of evil. Of our spiritual enemy we may say, “We are not ignorant of his devices.” Nor is God. Nor does he fail to master these obstacles or to counteract his devices.R.T.

Psa 136:16

Providential guidance.

“Which led his people.” The addition, “through the wilderness,” is significant and suggestive, because a wilderness is distinctly a pathless region, in which mere human skill is baffled. And it reminds us that Israel was provided for and guided for thirty-eight long years in such a region. Surely Israel ought to have said, “God’s providence is mine inheritance.” Is it a gain or a loss that we have ceased to recognize or to speak much of God’s providence? It was a very real thing to our fathers; it is not very real to us. At least, this might appear to be the fact. We are, however, disposed to argue that the truth and fact are as truly preserved and valued as ever they were, only they have gained a new setting and new shaping.

I. THE IDEA OF PROVIDENCE FITTED THE OLDER CONCEPTION OF GOD. It belongs to the apprehension of God as Creator, Sustainer, Ruler. He is Lord of the whole world of things, and is thought of as controlling all things in the interest of his own special people. He is the Universal Provider, and our fathers delighted in stories of remarkable providential interpositions, guidances, and arrangements. And still no man can read his own life, or watch the lives of others, without being impressed with the wonder-working ways of Divine providence, which make the “unexpected” the thing that happens. Constantly in life we find things are brought round for us which we could in no way have mastered or arranged.

“There’s a divinity that shapes our ends,
Rough-hew them how we will.”

II. THE NEWER CONCEPTION OF GOD GLORIFIES HIS PROVIDENCE. Christ has brought to men a comprehensive name for God. It includes the very essence of every previous conception and name, but puts man into a new and more directly personal and affectionate relation with God. He is our Father. And his providence is his fatherly care of our every interest. Has a child any such providence as his father is to him? And yet a child never thinks of, or speaks of, his father as providence. And in the measure in which we can enter into the idea of God as our Father, we shall find that we lose out of use the term “providence,” but keep all the reality of it, and indeed glorify it, as we lose the impersonal and therefore cold element, and see it to be the wisdom and power and activity of our Father, which is beautified and sanctified by his love for us his sons.R.T.

Psa 136:21, Psa 136:22

Fulfillment of race-missions.

“And gave their land for an heritage.” The Amorites had their race-mission; when it was fulfilled they had to pass away, and their land had to be occupied by another race, which also had its peculiar mission. It has been pointed out that no absolutely original and independent race ever existed on the face of the earth. No race has a simple beginning, and no race can unfold without streams of life pouring into it from outside and modifying its character. This may be strictly true, but nevertheless the fact remains that distinct races of men can be discerned in actual existence, as well as in the records of ancient history. Explain it how we may, qualify the statement how we may, it remains the fact that God has been pleased to separate humanity into races; and this division is even more important than that into nations. Families and races are Divine divisions; nations are purely human arrangements, which God may be pleased to use, but cannot be said directly to arrange. Races are differentiated with a Divine purpose, and each race should be regarded as entrusted with a Divine mission. It is well to bear in mind that by God everything is done or borne with a view to the ultimate well-being of humanity. God always has the whole in view, and deals with every part in the interests of the whole. The Israelitish race attracts great attention, but it was not the only race placed under Divine commission. What we so clearly see was true of itwas true of every other race, and its mission was but an illustrative mission. The better we understand the peculiarities of the races that have had their day and ceased to be, and the more fully we understand God’s educative purposes for humanity, the more clearly shall we apprehend that every race has had some imperiled truth to preserve, and some active witness to make. God has commissioned them all, and worked by means of them all, just as truly as by the Hebrew race; and every race is immortal till its work is done; then it passes and gives place to the new race with the new mission.R.T.

Psa 136:23

The Divine dealing with the humiliated.

“Who remembered us in our low estate.” This closing portion of the psalm proves its association with the restored exiles. That long time in Babylon was ever thought of and spoken of as the great time of national humiliation. Never before had the national life been broken up, the national capital been in the hands of the enemy, and laid in ruins, or the temple, as the center of the religious life of the nation, destroyed. Humiliation expresses precisely the experience through which the nation had been called to pass. But a condition of humiliation never puts either a man or a nation out of the Divine regard. Such conditions belong to the Divine discipline, and that means the immediate and direct Divine interest. And this the psalmist recognizes. God had remembered his people in their low estate; and how practical that remembrance was is seen in the fact that, in due time, he redeemed his people from out of the hands of the enemies that humiliated them.

I. THE DIVINE DEALING WITH THE HUMILIATED MAY BE AN ENDURANCE. He may let it continue. He may seem to hold aloof, and to restrain himself. But endurance is altogether different from lost interest or forsaking. Endurance means knowledge, watchfulness, and sympathy. It is only “biding his time,” patiently waiting until the best time has come, and so supremely seeking the highest well-being of the humiliated, that no limitation of the stern discipline can be permitted. There are conditions of lifereligious lifein which God can only carry out his purposes of grace by our humiliation. It is the marvel of his love that he will even do a thorough work of humiliation.

II. THE DIVINE DEALING WITH THE HUMILIATED IS SURE TO PASS INTO A REDEMPTION. God’s endurings have no stamp of permanency. They are only agencies working with a view to some issue. And God’s final issues are always redemptions. God’s people cannot be humiliated forever in any Babylonian slavery. Man may humiliate his fellow, and never loosen the humiliation. The overruling God never does. There is always something good and gracious towards which the humiliation is moving. Sooner or later, the humiliated will be redeemed.R.T.

Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary

Psalms 136.

An exhortation to give thanks to God for particular mercies.

THIS psalm, like the former, is a commemoration of the wonderful things which God had done for the Jews. Bishop Patrick supposes it to have been intended for the use of their solemn festivals; as it was called by the Jews, hallel haggadol, the great thanksgiving. He observes upon the frequent repetition of the half verse, that this was done to make them more sensible that they owed all they had to the divine bounty; to excite them to depend entirely upon that bounty, and to rest assured that it would never fail them, if they piously and sincerely acknowledged it. This form of acknowledgment, for his mercy, &c. was prescribed by David to be used continually in the divine service, 1Ch 16:41 followed by Solomon, 2Ch 3:6 and observed by Jehoshaphat, 2Ch 20:21. See Bishop Lowth’s 29th Prelection.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Psalms 136

1O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good:

For his mercy endureth for ever.

2O give thanks unto the God of gods:

For his mercy endureth for ever.

3O give thanks to the Lord of lords:

For his mercy endureth for ever.

4To him who alone doeth great wonders:

For his mercy endureth for ever.

5To him that by wisdom made the heavens:

For his mercy endureth for ever.

6To him that stretched out the earth above the waters:

For his mercy endureth for ever.

7To him that made great lights:

For his mercy endurethfor ever:

8The sun to rule by day:

For his mercy endureth for ever:

9The moon and stars to rule by night:

For his mercy endureth for ever.

10To him that smote Egypt in their first-born:

For his mercy endureth for ever:

11And brought out Israel from among them:

For his mercy endureth for ever:

12With a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm:

For his mercy endureth for ever.

13To him which divided the Red sea into parts:

For his mercy endureth for ever:

14And made Israel to pass through the midst of it:

For his mercy endureth for ever:

15But overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red sea:

For his mercy endureth for ever.

16To him which led his people through the wilderness:

For his mercy endureth for ever.

17To him which smote great kings:

For his mercy endureth for ever:

18And slew famous kings:

For his mercy endureth for ever:

19Sihon king of the Amorites:

For his mercy endureth for ever:

20And Og the king of Bashan:

For his mercy endureth for ever:

21And gave their land for a heritage:

For his mercy endureth for ever:

22Even a heritage unto Israel his servant:

For his mercy endureth for ever.

23Who remembered us in our low estate:

For his mercy endureth for ever:

24And hath redeemed us from our enemies:

For his mercy endureth for ever.

25Who giveth food to all flesh:

For his mercy endureth for ever.

26O give thanks unto the God of heaven:

For his mercy endureth for ever.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Contents and Composition.This Psalm is an exhortation to give thanks to Jehovah, the true God and the real Lord of the universe, and of all its powers and dominions (Psa 136:1-3) who, by mighty deeds in nature, has displayed His greatness as the Creator of the world (Psa 136:4-9), and by deeds of deliverance and judgment in history, His pre-eminence as the Redeemer, Guide. and Guardian of His people (Psa 136:10-25), for which they are to offer their thanksgiving.It is essentially a repetition of the foregoing, with some insertions, full of allusions to passages in Deuteronomy and the second part of Isaiah, and adapted by antiphonal arrangement for liturgical use, after the analogy of Exodus 15:51; Deu 27:14 f. For the introduction see Psalms 106, 118; on the name great Hallel applied to it, see Psalms 113.

[The conjecture of Delitzsch in his first edition that the Psalm originally consisted of 22 verses, corresponding to the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet, Psa 136:19-22 being interpolated from Psalms 135, is considered possible by Perowne, but is wisely withdrawn by Delitzsch himself in his last edition.Alexander: The grand peculiarity of form in this Psalm, by which it is distinguished from all others, is the regular occurrence at the end of every verse of a burden or refrain, like the responses in the Litany, but carried through with still more perfect uniformity. It has been a favorite idea with interpreters that such repetitions necessarily imply alternate or responsive choirs. But the other indications of this usage in the Psalter are extremely doubtful, and every exegetical condition may be satisfied by simply supposing that the singers in some cases answered their own questions, and that in others, as in the case before us, the people united in the burden or chorus, as they were wont to do in the Amen.J. F. M.]

Psa 136:2-4. God of gods is an expression after Deu 10:17. It sets forth His creative and providential power by His strong hand and His outstretched arm (Deu 4:34; Deu 5:15, compare Jer 32:21). The term great (Psa 136:4), applied to the wonders which God alone does, recalls Psa 72:18 (comp. Psa 86:10.

Psa 136:5-7. The term (Psa 136:5), applied to the wisdom which made the world, is taken from Pro 3:19 or Jer 10:12. (Psa 136:6) is an epithet of God, Isa 42:5; Isa 44:24, as of Him who spreads out the earth like a plain upon the waters or over the waters (Exo 20:4; Psa 24:2). [Delitzsch: Because the water is partly visible and partly invisible.J. F. M.] It does not mean: He who makes firm (De Wette). Elsewhere God is called: = sterneus. The plural: =luces, for =lumina, occurs only here.

Psa 136:9-15.The dominions (Psa 136:9) [the dominions of the night; E. V.: to rule the night] do not mean ruling powers, but the two-fold exercise of ruling (Psa 114:2); here those of the moon and of the stars. In Psa 136:13 is used of the dividing of the Red Sea, as of something cut into two parts, Gen 15:17, instead of , Psa 78:13; Neh 9:11, which follow Exo 14:21. But (Psa 136:15) is the established term taken from Exo 14:27.

Psa 136:26.The name God of heaven is, as in Neh 1:4; Neh 2:4, an appellation of God which originated in a late period. The language, also, employed after Psa 136:17 conveys a strong impression of the same age. [Alexander: The God of heaven is a new description as to form, but substantially equivalent to that in Psa 7:8; Psa 11:4; Psa 14:2; Psa 33:13-14.J. F. M.]

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

God will have a people in the world which belongs to Him alone and serves Him; for this He has created the world and preserves it with its inhabitants.It is well, in considering all the wonderful works and great deeds of God in nature and history, to regard mercy as their divine source: by this we learn to thank God most fervently and to trust Him most firmly.We have ever reason enough to praise God with gratitude, and occasion enough, also, as we are so often urged to do; but, alas! we have not always delight in that service, and too often but little zeal.Gods power is incomparable, His wisdom boundless, His love infinite. Alas! that men begin so late to know God and cease so soon to thank Him, that they falter so much in their faith, and exercise themselves so little in the obedience of love.

Starke: God is goodness itself: therefore as long as God remains, goodness remains. He is a stronghold in distress.He who would praise Gods goodness worthily must have had some experience, some tokens of it, and have retained them still further in blissful enjoyment.The world ascribes nothing to Gods goodness. With it everything depends upon fortune; but be thou of a different mind. Let it not so often be said in vain to thee: His goodness endureth forever.The work of creation is so full of depths of Gods omnipotence and wisdom that a mortal becomes lost in reflecting upon it and must take His stand upon the everlasting goodness of God.God will perform in His Church works which supersede the laws of nature, rather than allow her to succumb and perish in her afflictions.He who will oppose Gods will, as Pharaoh did, need expect nothing else than that the mighty hand of God will urge him on to destruction.Whenever we eat a morsel of bread or take a reviving draught, we can taste and see how kind God is.If God were to portion out His goodness to us according to the measure of our recognition and acknowledgment of it, it might well not linger with us another hour, for no manifestation of it comes to us which we do not sin away.

Richter: God, while showing special favor towards Israel, His chosen people, His first-born, is also gracious and merciful to all. He it is who has adapted and arranged the whole heavens for the good of the earth and of all created things.Guenther: O that every deliverance here below were an earnest of the last great deliverance from the enemy of all enemies, and that the assurance of the children of God were unchangeably firm!Taube: It must and will be Israel that leads the song of thanksgiving, inspired by that nearer revelation given to them in the history of redemption, which gave them the key to the knowledge of the works of God.

[Matt. Henry: We are never so earnestly called upon to pray and repent as to give thanks. For it is the will of God that we should abound most in the most pleasant exercises of religion, in that which is the work of heaven.It is good to enter into the detail of Gods favors, and not to view them in the gross, and in each instance to observe and own that Gods mercy endureth forever.We should trace each stream to the fountain. This and that particular mercy may perhaps endure for a while; but the mercy that is in God endures forever: it is an inexhaustible fountain.Bp. Horne: How many of those for whom the works of creation, providence, and redemption have been wrought think none of them worthy their attention! Angels admire and adore when man will not deign to cast an eye or employ a thought.Be Gods praise as universal and lasting as His mercy!Scott: Repetitions, disgustful to the fastidious, are often salutary and necessary, because we are so prone to overlook or forget the Lords goodness and mercy; yet they convey a severe reproof and should cause us to unite humiliation with our gratitude to our condescending Instructor.Barnes: Mere power might fill us with dread; power, mingled with mercy and able to carry out the purposes of mercy, must lay the foundation for praise.J. F. M.]

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

CONTENTS

This Psalm is so much to the same purport with the former, that it should seem to be but a repetition of it, with the chorus of praise added to every verse. The subject is the same, and the words for the greater part are the same: so that it is a beautiful duplicate of what went before, with the addenda of Hallelujah.

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

In these verses the Psalmist is calling for praise to Jehovah from his numberless acts of goodness in the wisdom of creation. From the great works of God, the formation of the heavens, the earth, the sea, the lights of heaven, and the ordination of the servants of the Lord in the heavenly bodies; the Psalmist takes occasion to excite mankind to universal adoration. Sweet thought! how much Jesus, in his unequalled ministry, calls upon his people to unceasing praise and adoration!

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

PSALMS

XI

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF PSALMS

According to my usual custom, when taking up the study of a book of the Bible I give at the beginning a list of books as helps to the study of that book. The following books I heartily commend on the Psalms:

1. Sampey’s Syllabus for Old Testament Study . This is especially good on the grouping and outlining of some selected psalms. There are also some valuable suggestions on other features of the book.

2. Kirkpatrick’g commentary, in “Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges,” is an excellent aid in the study of the Psalter.

3. Perowne’s Book of Psalms is a good, scholarly treatise on the Psalms. A special feature of this commentary is the author’s “New Translation” and his notes are very helpful.

4. Spurgeon’s Treasury of David. This is just what the title implies. It is a voluminous, devotional interpretation of the Psalms and helpful to those who have the time for such extensive study of the Psalter.

5. Hengstenburg on the Psalms. This is a fine, scholarly work by one of the greatest of the conservative German scholars.

6. Maclaren on the Psalms, in “The Expositor’s Bible,” is the work of the world’s safest, sanest, and best of all works that have ever been written on the Psalms.

7. Thirtle on the Titles of the Psalms. This is the best on the subject and well worth a careful study.

At this point some definitions are in order. The Hebrew word for psalm means praise. The word in English comes from psalmos , a song of lyrical character, or a song to be sung and accompanied with a lyre. The Psalter is a collection of sacred and inspired songs, composed at different times and by different authors.

The range of time in composition was more than 1,000 years, or from the time of Moses to the time of Ezra. The collection in its present form was arranged probably by Ezra in the fifth century, B.C.

The Jewish classification of Old Testament books was The Law, the Prophets, and the Holy Writings. The Psalms was given the first place in the last group.

They had several names, or titles, of the Psalms. In Hebrew they are called “The Book of Prayers,” or “The Book of Praises.” The Hebrew word thus used means praises. The title of the first two books is found in Psa 72:20 : “The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.” The title of the whole collection of Psalms in the Septuagint is Biblos Psalman which means the “Book of Psalms.” The title in the Alexandrian Codex is Psalterion which is the name of a stringed instrument, and means “The Psalter.”

The derivation of our English words, “psalms,” “psalter,” and “psaltery,” respectively, is as follows:

1. “Psalms” comes from the Greek word, psalmoi, which is also from psallein , which means to play upon a stringed instrument. Therefore the Psalms are songs played upon stringed instruments, and the word here is used to apply to the whole collection.

2. “Psalter” is of the same origin and means the Book of Psalms and refers also to the whole collection.

3. “Psaltery” is from the word psalterion, which means “a harp,” an instrument, supposed to be in the shape of a triangle or like the delta of the Greek alphabet. See Psa 33:2 ; Psa 71:22 ; Psa 81:2 ; Psa 144:9 .

In our collection there are 150 psalms. In the Septuagint there is one extra. It is regarded as being outside the sacred collection and not inspired. The subject of this extra psalm is “David’s victory over Goliath.” The following is a copy of it: I was small among my brethren, And youngest in my father’s house, I used to feed my father’s sheep. My hands made a harp, My fingers fashioned a Psaltery. And who will declare unto my Lord? He is Lord, he it is who heareth. He it was who sent his angel And took me from my father’s sheep, And anointed me with the oil of his anointing. My brethren were goodly and tall, But the Lord took no pleasure in them. I went forth to meet the Philistine. And he cursed me by his idols But I drew the sword from beside him; I beheaded him and removed reproach from the children of Israel.

It will be noted that this psalm does not have the earmarks of an inspired production. There is not found in it the modesty so characteristic of David, but there is here an evident spirit of boasting and self-praise which is foreign to the Spirit of inspiration.

There is a difference in the numbering of the psalms in our version which follows the Hebrew, and the numbering in the Septuagint. Omitting the extra one in the Septuagint, there is no difference as to the total number. Both have 150 and the same subject matter, but they are not divided alike.

The following scheme shows the division according to our version and also the Septuagint: Psalms 1-8 in the Hebrew equal 1-8 in the Septuagint; 9-10 in the Hebrew combine into 9 in the Septuagint; 11-113 in the Hebrew equal 10-112 in the Septuagint; 114-115 in the Hebrew combine into 113 in the Septuagint; 116 in the Hebrew divides into 114-115 in the Septuagint; 117-146 in the Hebrew equal 116-145 in the Septuagint; 147 in the Hebrew divides into 146-147 in the Septuagint; 148-150 in the Hebrew equal 148-150 in the Septuagint.

The arrangement in the Vulgate is the same as the Septuagint. Also some of the older English versions have this arangement. Another difficulty in numbering perplexes an inexperienced student in turning from one version to another, viz: In the Hebrew often the title is verse I, and sometimes the title embraces verses 1-2.

The book divisions of the Psalter are five books, as follows:

Book I, Psalms 1-41 (41 chapters)

Book II, Psalms 42-72 (31 chapters)

Book III, Psalms 73-89 (17 chapters)

Book IV, Psalms 90-106 (17 chapters)

Book V, Psalms 107-150 (44 chapters)

They are marked by an introduction and a doxology. Psalm I forms an introduction to the whole book; Psa 150 is the doxology for the whole book. The introduction and doxology of each book are the first and last psalms of each division, respectively.

There were smaller collections before the final one, as follows:

Books I and II were by David; Book III, by Hezekiah, and Books IV and V, by Ezra.

Certain principles determined the arrangement of the several psalms in the present collection:

1. David is honored with first place, Book I and II, including Psalms 1-72.

2. They are grouped according to the use of the name of God:

(1) Psalms 1-41 are Jehovah psalms;

(2) Psalms 42-83 are Elohim-psalms;

(3) Psalms 84-150 are Jehovah psalms.

3. Book IV is introduced by the psalm of Moses, which is the first psalm written.

4. Some are arranged as companion psalms, for instance, sometimes two, sometimes three, and sometimes more. Examples: Psa 2 and 3; 22, 23, and 24; 113-118.

5. They were arranged for liturgical purposes, which furnished the psalms for special occasions, such as feasts, etc. We may be sure this arrangement was not accidental. An intelligent study of each case is convincing that it was determined upon rational grounds.

All the psalms have titles but thirty-three, as follows:

In Book I, Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 10 ; Psa 33 , (4 are without titles).

In Book II, Psa 43 ; Psa 71 , (2 are without titles).

In Book IV, Psa 91 ; Psa 93 ; Psa 94 ; Psa 95 ; Psa 96 ; Psa 97 ; Psa 104 ; Psa 105 ; Psa 106 , (9 are without titles).

In Book V, Psa 107 ; III; 112; 113; 114; 115; 116; 117; 118; 119; 135; 136; 137; 146; 147; 148; 149; 150, (18 are without titles).

The Talmud calls these psalms that have no title, “Orphan Psalms.” The later Jews supply these titles by taking the nearest preceding author. The lack of titles in Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; and 10 may be accounted for as follows: Psa 1 is a general introduction to the whole collection and Psa 2 was, perhaps, a part of Psa 1 . Psalms 9-10 were formerly combined into one, therefore Psa 10 has the same title as Psa 9 .

QUESTIONS

1. What books are commended on the Psalms?

2. What is a psalm?

3. What is the Psalter?

4. What is the range of time in composition?

5. When and by whom was the collection in its present form arranged?

6. What the Jewish classification of Old Testament books, and what the position of the Psalter in this classification?

7. What is the Hebrew title of the Psalms?

8. Find the title of the first two books from the books themselves.

9. What is the title of the whole collection of psalms in the Septuagint?

10. What is the title in the Alexandrian Codex?

11. What is the derivation of our English word, “Psalms”, “Psalter”, and “Psaltery,” respectively?

12. How many psalms in our collection?

13. How many psalms in the Septuagint?

14. What about the extra one in the Septuagint?

15. What is the subject of this extra psalm?

16. How does it compare with the Canonical Psalms?

17. What is the difference in the numbering of the psalms in our version which follows the Hebrew, and the numbering in the Septuagint?

18. What is the arrangement in the Vulgate?

19. What other difficulty in numbering which perplexes an inexperienced student in turning from one version to another?

20. What are the book divisions of the Psalter and how are these divisions marked?

21. Were there smaller collections before the final one? If so, what were they?

22. What principles determined the arrangement of the several psalms in the present collection?

23. In what conclusion may we rest concerning this arrangement?

24. How many of the psalms have no titles?

25. What does the Talmud call these psalms that have no titles?

26. How do later Jews supply these titles?

27. How do you account for the lack of titles in Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 10 ?

XII

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF PSALMS (CONTINUED)

The following is a list of the items of information gathered from the titles of the psalms:

1. The author: “A Psalm of David” (Psa 37 ).

2. The occasion: “When he fled from Absalom, his son” (Psa 3 ).

3. The nature, or character, of the poem:

(1) Maschil, meaning “instruction,” a didactic poem (Psa 42 ).

(2) Michtam, meaning “gold,” “A Golden Psalm”; this means excellence or mystery (Psa 16 ; 56-60).

4. The occasion of its use: “A Psalm of David for the dedication of the house” (Psa 30 ).

5. Its purpose: “A Psalm of David to bring remembrance” (Psa 38 ; Psa 70 ).

6. Direction for its use: “A Psalm of David for the chief musician” (Psa 4 ).

7. The kind of musical instrument:

(1) Neginoth, meaning to strike a chord, as on stringed instruments (Psa 4 ; Psa 61 ).

(2) Nehiloth, meaning to perforate, as a pipe or flute (Psa 5 ).

(3) Shoshannim, Lilies, which refers probably to cymbals (Psa 45 ; Psa 69 ).

8. A special choir:

(1) Sheminith, the “eighth,” or octave below, as a male choir (Psa 6 ; Psa 12 ).

(2) Alamoth, female choir (Psa 46 ).

(3) Muth-labben, music with virgin voice, to be sung by a choir of boys in the treble (Psa 9 ).

9. The keynote, or tune:

(1) Aijeleth-sharar, “Hind of the morning,” a song to the melody of which this is sung (Psa 22 ).

(2) Al-tashheth, “Destroy thou not,” the beginning of a song the tune of which is sung (Psa 57 ; Psa 58 ; Psa 59 ; Psa 75 ).

(3) Gittith, set to the tune of Gath, perhaps a tune which David brought from Gath (Psa 8 ; Psa 81 ; Psa 84 ).

(4) Jonath-elim-rehokim, “The dove of the distant terebinths,” the commencement of an ode to the air of which this song was to be sung (Psa 56 ).

(5) Leannoth, the name of a tune (Psa 88 ).

(6) Mahalath, an instrument (Psa 53 ); Leonnoth-Mahaloth, to chant to a tune called Mahaloth.

(7) Shiggaion, a song or a hymn.

(8) Shushan-Eduth, “Lily of testimony,” a tune (Psa 60 ). Note some examples: (1) “America,” “Shiloh,” “Auld Lang Syne.” These are the names of songs such as we are familiar with; (2) “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” and “There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood,” are examples of sacred hymns.

10. The liturgical use, those noted for the feasts, e.g., the Hallels and Hallelujah Psalms (Psalms 146-150).

11. The destination, as “Song of Ascents” (Psalms 120-134)

12. The direction for the music, such as Selah, which means “Singers, pause”; Higgaion-Selah, to strike a symphony with selah, which means an instrumental interlude (Psa 9:16 ).

The longest and fullest title to any of the psalms is the title to Psa 60 . The items of information from this title are as follows: (1) the author; (2) the chief musician; (3) the historical occasion; (4) the use, or design; (5) the style of poetry; (6) the instrument or style of music.

The parts of these superscriptions which most concern us now are those indicating author, occasion, and date. As to the historic value or trustworthiness of these titles most modern scholars deny that they are a part of the Hebrew text, but the oldest Hebrew text of which we know anything had all of them. This is the text from which the Septuagint was translated. It is much more probable that the author affixed them than later writers. There is no internal evidence in any of the psalms that disproves the correctness of them, but much to confirm. The critics disagree among themselves altogether as to these titles. Hence their testimony cannot consistently be received. Nor can it ever be received until they have at least agreed upon a common ground of opposition.

David is the author of more than half the entire collection, the arrangement of which is as follows:

1. Seventy-three are ascribed to him in the superscriptions.

2. Some of these are but continuations of the preceding ones of a pair, trio, or larger group.

3. Some of the Korahite Psalms are manifestly Davidic.

4. Some not ascribed to him in the titles are attributed to him expressly by New Testament writers.

5. It is not possible to account for some parts of the Psalter without David. The history of his early life as found in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1and 2 Chronicles, not only shows his remarkable genius for patriotic and sacred songs and music, but also shows his cultivation of that gift in the schools of the prophets. Some of these psalms of the history appear in the Psalter itself. It is plain to all who read these that they are founded on experience, and the experience of no other Hebrew fits the case. These experiences are found in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles.

As to the attempt of the destructive critics to rob David of his glory in relation to the Psalter by assigning the Maccabean era as the date of composition, I have this to say:

1. This theory has no historical support whatever, and therefore is not to be accepted at all.

2. It has no support in tradition, which weakens the contention of the critics greatly.

3. It has no support from finding any one with the necessary experience for their basis.

4. They can give no reasonable account as to how the titles ever got there.

5. It is psychologically impossible for anyone to have written these 150 psalms in the Maccabean times.

6. Their position is expressly contrary to the testimony of Christ and the apostles. Some of the psalms which they ascribe to the Maccabean Age are attributed to David by Christ himself, who said that David wrote them in the Spirit.

The obvious aim of this criticism and the necessary result if it be Just, is a positive denial of the inspiration of both Testaments.

Other authors are named in the titles, as follows: (1) Asaph, to whom twelve psalms have been assigned: (2) Mosee, Psa 90 ; (3) Solomon, Psa 72 ; Psa 127 ; (4) Heman, Psa 80 ; (5) Ethem, Psa 89 ; (6) A number of the psalms are ascribed to the sons of Korah.

Not all the psalms ascribed to Asaph were composed by one person. History indicates that Asaph’s family presided over the song service for several generations. Some of them were composed by his descendants by the game name. The five general outlines of the whole collection are as follows:

I. By books

1. Psalms 1-41 (41)

2. Psalms 42-72 (31)

3. Psalms 73-89 (17)

4. Psalms 90-106 (17)

5. Psalms 107-150 (44)

II. According to date and authorship

1. The psalm of Moses (Psa 90 )

2. Psalms of David:

(1) The shepherd boy (Psa 8 ; Psa 19 ; Psa 29 ; Psa 23 ).

(2) David when persecuted by Saul (Psa 59 ; Psa 56 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 52 ; Psa 54 ; Psa 57 ; Psa 142 ).

(3) David the King (Psa 101 ; Psa 18 ; Psa 24 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 110 ; Psa 20 ; Psa 20 ; Psa 21 ; Psa 60 ; Psa 51 ; Psa 32 ; Psa 41 ; Psa 55 ; Psa 3:4 ; Psa 64 ; Psa 62 ; Psa 61 ; Psa 27 ).

3. The Asaph Psalms (Psa 50 ; Psa 73 ; Psa 83 ).

4. The Korahite Psalms (Psa 42 ; Psa 43 ; Psa 84 ).

5. The psalms of Solomon (Psa 72 ; Psa 127 ).

6. The psalms of the era of Hezekiah and Isaiah (Psa 46 ; Psa 47 ; Psa 48 )

7. The psalms of the Exile (Psa 74 ; Psa 79 ; Psa 137 ; Psa 102 )

8. The psalms of the Restoration (Psa 85 ; Psa 126 ; Psa 118 ; 146-150)

III. By groups

1. The Jehovistic and Elohistic Psalms:

(1) Psalms 1-41 are Jehovistic;

(2) Psalms 42-83 are Elohistic Psalms;

(3) Psalms 84-150 are Jehovistic.

2. The Penitential Psalms (Psa 6 ; Psa 32 ; Psa 38 ; Psa 51 ; Psa 102 ; Psa 130 ; Psa 143 )

3. The Pilgrim Psalms (Psalms 120-134)

4. The Alphabetical Psalms (Psa 9 ; Psa 10 ; Psa 25 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 37 ; 111:112; Psa 119 ; Psa 145 )

5. The Hallelujah Psalms (Psalms 11-113; 115-117; 146-150; to which may be added Psa 135 ) Psalms 113-118 are called “the Egyptian Hallel”

IV. Doctrines of the Psalms

1. The throne of grace and how to approach it by sacrifice, prayer, and praise.

2. The covenant, the basis of worship.

3. The paradoxical assertions of both innocence & guilt.

4. The pardon of sin and justification.

5. The Messiah.

6. The future life, pro and con.

7. The imprecations.

8. Other doctrines.

V. The New Testament use of the Psalms

1. Direct references and quotations in the New Testament.

2. The allusions to the psalms in the New Testament. Certain experiences of David’s life made very deep impressions on his heart, such as: (1) his peaceful early life; (2) his persecution by Saul; (3) his being crowned king of the people; (4) the bringing up of the ark; (5) his first great sin; (6) Absalom’s rebellion; (7) his second great sin; (8) the great promise made to him in 2Sa 7 ; (9) the feelings of his old age.

We may classify the Davidic Psalms according to these experiences following the order of time, thus:

1. His peaceful early life (Psa 8 ; Psa 19 ; Psa 29 ; Psa 23 )

2. His persecution by Saul (Psa 59 ; Psa 56 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 7 ; Psa 52 ; Psa 120 ; Psa 140 ; Psa 54 ; Psa 57 ; Psa 142 ; Psa 17 ; Psa 18 )

3. Making David King (Psa 27 ; Psa 133 ; Psa 101 )

4. Bringing up the ark (Psa 68 ; Psa 24 ; Psa 132 ; Psa 15 ; Psa 78 ; Psa 96 )

5. His first great sin (Psa 51 ; Psa 32 )

6. Absalom’s rebellion (Psa 41 ; Psa 6 ; Psa 55 ; Psa 109 ; Psa 38 ; Psa 39 ; Psa 3 ; Psa 4 ; Psa 63 ; Psa 42 ; Psa 43 ; Psa 5 ; Psa 62 ; Psa 61 ; Psa 27 )

7. His second great sin (Psa 69 ; Psa 71 ; Psa 102 ; Psa 103 )

8. The great promise made to him in 2Sa 7 (Psa 2 )

9. Feelings of old age (Psa 37 )

The great doctrines of the psalms may be noted as follows: (1) the being and attributes of God; (3) sin, both original and individual; (3) both covenants; (4) the doctrine of justification; (5) concerning the Messiah.

There is a striking analogy between the Pentateuch and the Psalms. The Pentateuch contains five books of law; the Psalms contain five books of heart responses to the law.

It is interesting to note the historic controversies concerning the singing of psalms. These were controversies about singing uninspired songs, in the Middle Ages. The church would not allow anything to be used but psalms.

The history in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles, and in Ezra and Nehemiah is very valuable toward a proper interpretation of the psalms. These books furnish the historical setting for a great many of the psalms which is very indispensable to their proper interpretation.

Professor James Robertson, in the Poetry and Religion of the Psalms constructs a broad and strong argument in favor of the Davidic Psalms, as follows:

1. The age of David furnished promising soil for the growth of poetry.

2. David’s qualifications for composing the psalms make it highly probable that David is the author of the psalms ascribed to him.

3. The arguments against the possibility of ascribing to David any of the hymns in the Hebrew Psalter rests upon assumptions that are thoroughly antibiblical.

The New Testament makes large use of the psalms and we learn much as to their importance in teaching. There are seventy direct quotations in the New Testament from this book, from which we learn that the Scriptures were used extensively in accord with 2Ti 3:16-17 . There are also eleven references to the psalms in the New Testament from which we learn that the New Testament writers were thoroughly imbued with the spirit and teaching of the psalms. Then there are eight allusions ‘to this book in the New Testament from which we gather that the Psalms was one of the divisions of the Old Testament and that they were used in the early church.

QUESTIONS

1. Give a list of the items of information gathered from the titles of the psalms.

2. What is the longest title to any of the psalms and what the items of this title?

3. What parts of these superscriptions most concern us now?

4. What is the historic value, or trustworthiness of these titles?

5. State the argument showing David’s relation to the psalms.

6. What have you to say of the attempt of the destructive critics to rob David of his glory in relation to the Psalter by assigning the Maccabean era as the date of composition?

7. What the obvious aim of this criticism and the necessary result, if it be just?

8. What other authors are named in the titles?

9. Were all the psalms ascribed to Asaph composed by one person?

10. Give the five general outlines of the whole collection, as follows: I. The outline by books II. The outline according to date and authorship III. The outline by groups IV. The outline of doctrines V. The outline by New Testament quotations or allusions.

11. What experiences of David’s life made very deep impressions on his heart?

12. Classify the Davidic Psalms according to these experiences following the order of time.

13. What the great doctrines of the psalms?

14. What analogy between the Pentateuch and the Psalms?

15. What historic controversies concerning the singing of psalms?

16. Of what value is the history in Samuel, 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles, and in Ezra and Nehemiah toward a proper interpretation of the psalms?

17. Give Professor James Robertson’s argument in favor of the Davidic authorship of the psalms.

18. What can you say of the New Testament use of the psalms and what do we learn as to their importance in teaching?

19. What can you say of the New Testament references to the psalms, and from the New Testament references what the impression on the New Testament writers?

20. What can you say of the allusions to the psalms in the New Testament?

XVII

THE MESSIAH IN THE PSALMS

A fine text for this chapter is as follows: “All things must be fulfilled which were written in the Psalms concerning me,” Luk 24:44 . I know of no better way to close my brief treatise on the Psalms than to discuss the subject of the Messiah as revealed in this book.

Attention has been called to the threefold division of the Old Testament cited by our Lord, namely, the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms (Luk 24:44 ), in all of which were the prophecies relating to himself that “must be fulfilled.” It has been shown just what Old Testament books belong to each of these several divisions. The division called the Psalms included many books, styled Holy Writings, and because the Psalms proper was the first book of the division it gave the name to the whole division.

The object of this discussion is to sketch the psalmist’s outline of the Messiah, or rather, to show how nearly a complete picture of our Lord is foredrawn in this one book. Let us understand however with Paul, that all prophecy is but in part (1Co 13:9 ), and that when we fill in on one canvas all the prophecies concerning the Messiah of all the Old Testament divisions, we are far from having a perfect portrait of our Lord. The present purpose is limited to three things:

1. What the book of the Psalms teaches concerning the Messiah.

2. That the New Testament shall authoritatively specify and expound this teaching.

3. That the many messianic predictions scattered over the book and the specifications thereof over the New Testament may be grouped into an orderly analysis, so that by the adjustment of the scattered parts we may have before us a picture of our Lord as foreseen by the psalmists.

In allowing the New Testament to authoritatively specify and expound the predictive features of the book, I am not unmindful of what the so-called “higher critics” urge against the New Testament quotations from the Old Testament and the use made of them. In this discussion, however, these objections are not considered, for sufficient reasons. There is not space for it. Even at the risk of being misjudged I must just now summarily pass all these objections, dismissing them with a single statement upon which the reader may place his own estimate of value. That statement is that in the days of my own infidelity, before this old method of criticism had its new name, I was quite familiar with the most and certainly the strongest of the objections now classified as higher criticism, and have since patiently re-examined them in their widely conflicting restatements under their modern name, and find my faith in the New Testament method of dealing with the Old Testament in no way shattered, but in every way confirmed. God is his own interpreter. The Old Testament as we now have it was in the hands of our Lord. I understand his apostle to declare, substantially, that “every one of these sacred scriptures is God-inspired and is profitable for teaching us what is right to believe and to do, for convincing us what is wrong in faith or practice, for rectifying the wrong when done, that we may be ready at every point, furnished completely, to do every good work, at the right time, in the right manner, and from the proper motive” (2Ti 3:16-17 ).

This New Testament declares that David was a prophet (Act 2:30 ), that he spake by the Holy Spirit (Act 1:16 ), that when the book speaks the Holy Spirit speaks (Heb 3:7 ), and that all its predictive utterances, as sacred Scripture, “must be fulfilled” (Joh 13:18 ; Act 1:16 ). It is not claimed that David wrote all the psalms, but that all are inspired, and that as he was the chief author, the book goes by his name.

It would be a fine thing to make out two lists, as follows:

1. All of the 150 psalms in order from which the New Testament quotes with messianic application.

2. The New Testament quotations, book by book, i.e., Matthew so many, and then the other books in their order.

We would find in neither of these any order as to time, that is, Psa 1 which forecasts an incident in the coming Messiah’s life does not forecast the first incident of his life. And even the New Testament citations are not in exact order as to time and incident of his life. To get the messianic picture before us, therefore, we must put the scattered parts together in their due relation and order, and so construct our own analysis. That is the prime object of this discussion. It is not claimed that the analysis now presented is perfect. It is too much the result of hasty, offhand work by an exceedingly busy man. It will serve, however, as a temporary working model, which any one may subsequently improve. We come at once to the psalmist’s outline of the Messiah.

1. The necessity for a Saviour. This foreseen necessity is a background of the psalmists’ portrait of the Messiah. The necessity consists in (1) man’s sinfulness; (2) his sin; (3) his inability of wisdom and power to recover himself; (4) the insufficiency of legal, typical sacrifices in securing atonement.

The predicate of Paul’s great argument on justification by faith is the universal depravity and guilt of man. He is everywhere corrupt in nature; everywhere an actual transgressor; everywhere under condemnation. But the scriptural proofs of this depravity and sin the apostle draws mainly from the book of the Psalms. In one paragraph of the letter to the Romans (Rom 3:4-18 ), he cites and groups six passages from six divisions of the Psalms (Psa 5:9 ; Psa 10:7 ; Psa 14:1-3 ; Psa 36:1 ; Psa 51:4-6 ; Psa 140:3 ). These passages abundantly prove man’s sinfulness, or natural depravity, and his universal practice of sin.

The predicate also of the same apostle’s great argument for revelation and salvation by a Redeemer is man’s inability of wisdom and power to re-establish communion with God. In one of his letters to the Corinthians he thus commences his argument: “For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? -For after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preach-ing to save them that believe.” He closes this discussion with the broad proposition: “The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God,” and proves it by a citation from Psa 94:11 : “The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.”

In like manner our Lord himself pours scorn on human wisdom and strength by twice citing Psa 8 : “At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight” (Mat 11:25-26 ). “And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children that were crying in the temple and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased, and said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?” (Mat 21:15-16 ).

But the necessity for a Saviour as foreseen by the psalmist did not stop at man’s depravity, sin, and helplessness. The Jews were trusting in the sacrifices of their law offered on the smoking altar. The inherent weakness of these offerings, their lack of intrinsic merit, their ultimate abolition, their complete fulfilment and supercession by a glorious antitype were foreseen and foreshown in this wonderful prophetic book: I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices; And thy burnt offerings are continually before me. I will take no bullock out of thy house, Nor he-goat out of thy folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, And the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all of the birds of the mountains; And the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee; For the world is mine, and the fulness thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, Or drink the blood of goats? Psa 50:8-13 .

Yet again it speaks in that more striking passage cited in the letter to the Hebrews: “For the law having a shadow of good things to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshipers, once purged should have no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance made of sins year by year. For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, But a body didst thou prepare for me; In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hadst no pleasure: Then said I, Lo, I am come (In the roll of the book it is written of me) To do thy will, O God. Saying above, Sacrifice and offering and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou wouldst not, neither hadst pleasure therein, (the which are offered according to the law), then hath he said, Lo, I am come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second” (Heb 10:1-9 ).

This keen foresight of the temporary character and intrinsic worthlessness of animal sacrifices anticipated similar utterances by the later prophets (Isa 1:10-17 ; Jer 6:20 ; Jer 7:21-23 ; Hos 6:6 ; Amo 5:21 ; Mic 6:6-8 ). Indeed, I may as well state in passing that when the apostle declares, “It is impossible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins,” he lays down a broad principle, just as applicable to baptism and the Lord’s Supper. With reverence I state the principle: Not even God himself by mere appointment can vest in any ordinance, itself lacking intrinsic merit, the power to take away sin. There can be, therefore, in the nature of the case, no sacramental salvation. This would destroy the justice of God in order to exalt his mercy. Clearly the psalmist foresaw that “truth and mercy must meet together” before “righteousness and peace could kiss each other” (Psa 85:10 ). Thus we find as the dark background of the psalmists’ luminous portrait of the Messiah, the necessity for a Saviour.

2. The nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation to be wrought by the coming Messiah. In no other prophetic book are the nature, fullness, and blessedness of salvation so clearly seen and so vividly portrayed. Besides others not now enumerated, certainly the psalmists clearly forecast four great elements of salvation:

(1) An atoning sacrifice of intrinsic merit offered once for all (Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:4-10 ).

(2) Regeneration itself consisting of cleansing, renewal, and justification. We hear his impassioned statement of the necessity of regeneration: “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts,” followed by his earnest prayer: “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me,” and his equally fervent petition: “Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean; wash me and I shall be whiter than snow” (Psa 51 ). And we hear him again as Paul describes the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputes righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, And whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not reckon sin Psa 32:1 ; Rom 4:6-8 .

(3) Introduction into the heavenly rest (Psa 95:7-11 ; Heb 3:7-19 ; Heb 4:1-11 ). Here is the antitypical Joshua leading spiritual Israel across the Jordan of death into the heavenly Canaan, the eternal rest that remaineth for the people of God. Here we find creation’s original sabbath eclipsed by redemption’s greater sabbath when the Redeemer “entered his rest, ceasing from his own works as God did from his.”

(4) The recovery of all the universal dominion lost by the first Adam and the securement of all possible dominion which the first Adam never attained (Psa 8:5-6 ; Eph 1:20-22 ; Heb 2:7-9 ; 1Co 15:24-28 ).

What vast extent then and what blessedness in the salvation foreseen by the psalmists, and to be wrought by the Messiah. Atoning sacrifice of intrinsic merit; regeneration by the Holy Spirit; heavenly rest as an eternal inheritance; and universal dominion shared with Christ!

3. The wondrous person of the Messiah in his dual nature, divine and human.

(1) His divinity,

(a) as God: “Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever” (Psa 45:6 and Heb 1:8 ) ;

(b) as creator of the heavens and earth, immutable and eternal: Of old didst thou lay the foundation of the earth; And the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure; Yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; As a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed. But thou art the same, And thy years shall have no end Psa 102:25-27 quoted with slight changes in Heb 1:10-12 .

(c) As owner of the earth: The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof; The world, and they that dwell therein, Psa 24:1 quoted in 1Co 10:26 .

(d) As the Son of God: “Thou art my Son; This day have I begotten thee” Psa 2:7 ; Heb 1:5 .

(e) As David’s Lord: The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, Until I make thine enemies thy footstool, Psa 110:1 ; Mat 22:41-46 .

(f) As the object of angelic worship: “And let all the angels of God worship him” Psa 97:7 ; Heb 1:6 .

(g) As the Bread of life: And he rained down manna upon them to eat, And gave them food from heaven Psa 78:24 ; interpreted in Joh 6:31-58 . These are but samples which ascribe deity to the Messiah of the psalmists.

(2) His humanity, (a) As the Son of man, or Son of Adam: Psa 8:4-6 , cited in 1Co 15:24-28 ; Eph 1:20-22 ; Heb 2:7-9 . Compare Luke’s genealogy, Luk 3:23-38 . This is the ideal man, or Second Adam, who regains Paradise Lost, who recovers race dominion, in whose image all his spiritual lineage is begotten. 1Co 15:45-49 . (b) As the Son of David: Psa 18:50 ; Psa 89:4 ; Psa 89:29 ; Psa 89:36 ; Psa 132:11 , cited in Luk 1:32 ; Act 13:22-23 ; Rom 1:3 ; 2Ti 2:8 . Perhaps a better statement of the psalmists’ vision of the wonderful person of the Messiah would be: He saw the uncreated Son, the second person of the trinity, in counsel and compact with the Father, arranging in eternity for the salvation of men: Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:5-7 . Then he saw this Holy One stoop to be the Son of man: Psa 8:4-6 ; Heb 2:7-9 . Then he was the son of David, and then he saw him rise again to be the Son of God: Psa 2:7 ; Rom 1:3-4 .

4. His offices.

(1) As the one atoning sacrifice (Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:5-7 ).

(2) As the great Prophet, or Preacher (Psa 40:9-10 ; Psa 22:22 ; Heb 2:12 ). Even the method of his teaching by parable was foreseen (Psa 78:2 ; Mat 13:35 ). Equally also the grace, wisdom, and power of his teaching. When the psalmist declares that “Grace is poured into thy lips” (Psa 45:2 ), we need not be startled when we read that all the doctors in the Temple who heard him when only a boy “were astonished at his understanding and answers” (Luk 2:47 ); nor that his home people at Nazareth “all bear him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth” (Luk 4:22 ); nor that those of his own country were astonished, and said, “Whence hath this man this wisdom?” (Mat 13:54 ); nor that the Jews in the Temple marveled, saying, “How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?” (Joh 7:15 ) ; nor that the stern officers of the law found their justification in failure to arrest him in the declaration, “Never man spake like this man” (Joh 7:46 ).

(3) As the king (Psa 2:6 ; Psa 24:7-10 ; Psa 45:1-17 ; Psa 110:1 ; Mat 22:42-46 ; Act 2:33-36 ; 1Co 15:25 ; Eph 1:20 ; Heb 1:13 ).

(4) As the priest (Psa 110:4 ; Heb 5:5-10 ; Heb 7:1-21 ; Heb 10:12-14 ).

(5) As the final judge. The very sentence of expulsion pronounced upon the finally impenitent by the great judge (Mat 25:41 ) is borrowed from the psalmist’s prophetic words (Psa 6:8 ).

5. Incidents of life. The psalmists not only foresaw the necessity for a Saviour; the nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation; the wonderful human-divine person of the Saviour; the offices to be filled by him in the work of salvation, but also many thrilling details of his work in life, death, resurrection, and exaltation. It is not assumed to cite all these details, but some of the most important are enumerated in order, thus:

(1) The visit, adoration, and gifts of the Magi recorded in Mat 2 are but partial fulfilment of Psa 72:9-10 .

(2) The scripture employed by Satan in the temptation of our Lord (Luk 4:10-11 ) was cited from Psa 91:11-12 and its pertinency not denied.

(3) In accounting for his intense earnestness and the apparently extreme measures adopted by our Lord in his first purification of the Temple (Joh 2:17 ), he cites the messianic zeal predicted in Psa 69:9 .

(4) Alienation from his own family was one of the saddest trials of our Lord’s earthly life. They are slow to understand his mission and to enter into sympathy with him. His self-abnegation and exhaustive toil were regarded by them as evidences of mental aberration, and it seems at one time they were ready to resort to forcible restraint of his freedom) virtually what in our time would be called arrest under a writ of lunacy. While at the last his half-brothers became distinguished preachers of his gospel, for a long while they do not believe on him. And the evidence forces us to the conclusion that his own mother shared with her other sons, in kind though not in degree, the misunderstanding of the supremacy of his mission over family relations. The New Testament record speaks for itself:

Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto them. How is it that ye sought me? Knew ye not that I must be in my Father’s house? And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them Luk 2:48-51 (R.V.).

And when the wine failed, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. And Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. Joh 2:3-5 (R.V.).

And there come his mother and his brethren; and standing without; they sent unto him, calling him. And a multitude was sitting about him; and they say unto him. Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee. And he answereth them, and saith, Who is my mother and my brethren? And looking round on them that sat round about him, he saith, Behold, my mother and my brethren) For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother Mar 3:31-35 (R.V.).

Now the feast of the Jews, the feast of tabernacles, was at hand. His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judea, that thy disciples also may behold thy works which thou doest. For no man doeth anything in secret, and himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou doest these things, manifest thyself to the world. For even his brethren did not believe on him. Jesus therefore saith unto them, My time is not yet come; but your time is always ready. The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that its works are evil. Go ye up unto the feast: I go not up yet unto this feast; because my time is not fulfilled. Joh 7:2-9 (R.V.).

These citations from the Revised Version tell their own story. But all that sad story is foreshown in the prophetic psalms. For example: I am become a stranger unto my brethren, And an alien unto my mother’s children. Psa 69:8 .

(5) The triumphal entry into Jerusalem was welcomed by a joyous people shouting a benediction from Psa 118:26 : “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord” (Mat 21:9 ); and the Lord’s lamentation over Jerusalem predicts continued desolation and banishment from his sight until the Jews are ready to repeat that benediction (Mat 23:39 ).

(6) The children’s hosanna in the Temple after its second purgation is declared by our Lord to be a fulfilment of that perfect praise forecast in Psa 8:2 .

(7) The final rejection of our Lord by his own people was also clear in the psalmist’s vision (Psa 118:22 ; Mat 21:42-44 ).

(8) Gethsemane’s baptism of suffering, with its strong crying and tears and prayers was as clear to the psalmist’s prophetic vision as to the evangelist and apostle after it became history (Psa 69:1-4 ; Psa 69:13-20 ; and Mat 26:36-44 ; Heb 5:7 ).

(9) In life-size also before the psalmist was the betrayer of Christ and his doom (Psa 41:9 ; Psa 69:25 ; Psa 109:6-8 ; Joh 13:18 ; Act 1:20 ).

(10) The rage of the people, Jew and Gentile, and the conspiracy of Pilate and Herod are clearly outlined (Psa 2:1-3 ; Act 4:25-27 ).

(11) All the farce of his trial the false accusation, his own marvelous silence; and the inhuman maltreatment to which he was subjected, is foreshown in the prophecy as dramatically as in the history (Mat 26:57-68 ; Mat 27:26-31 ; Psa 27:12 ; Psa 35:15-16 ; Psa 38:3 ; Psa 69:19 ).

The circumstances of his death, many and clear, are distinctly foreseen. He died in the prime of life (Psa 89:45 ; Psa 102:23-24 ). He died by crucifixion (Psa 22:14-17 ; Luk 23 ; 33; Joh 19:23-37 ; Joh 20:27 ). But yet not a bone of his body was broken (Psa 34:20 ; Joh 19:36 ).

The persecution, hatred without a cause, the mockery and insults, are all vividly and dramatically foretold (Psa 22:6-13 ; Psa 35:7 ; Psa 35:12 ; Psa 35:15 ; Psa 35:21 ; Psa 109:25 ).

The parting of his garments and the gambling for his vesture (Psa 22:18 ; Mat 27:35 ).

His intense thirst and the gall and vinegar offered for his drink (Psa 69:21 ; Mat 27:34 ).

In the psalms, too, we hear his prayers for his enemies so remarkably fulfilled in fact (Psa 109:4 ; Luk 23:34 ).

His spiritual death was also before the eye of the psalmist, and the very words which expressed it the psalmist heard. Separation from the Father is spiritual death. The sinner’s substitute must die the sinner’s death, death physical, i.e., separation of soul from body; death spiritual, i.e., separation of the soul from God. The latter is the real death and must precede the former. This death the substitute died when he cried out: “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me.” (Psa 22:1 ; Mat 27:46 ).

Emerging from the darkness of that death, which was the hour of the prince of darkness, the psalmist heard him commend his spirit to the Father (Psa_31:35; Luk 23:46 ) showing that while he died the spiritual death, his soul was not permanently abandoned unto hell (Psa 16:8-10 ; Act 2:25 ) so that while he “tasted death” for every man it was not permanent death (Heb 2:9 ).

With equal clearness the psalmist foresaw his resurrection, his triumph over death and hell, his glorious ascension into heaven, and his exaltation at the right hand of God as King of kings and Lord of lords, as a high Driest forever, as invested with universal sovereignty (Psa 16:8-11 ; Psa 24:7-10 ; Psa 68:18 ; Psa 2:6 ; Psa 111:1-4 ; Psa 8:4-6 ; Act 2:25-36 ; Eph 1:19-23 ; Eph 4:8-10 ).

We see, therefore, brethren, when the scattered parts are put together and adjusted, how nearly complete a portrait of our Lord is put upon the prophetic canvas by this inspired limner, the sweet singer of Israel.

QUESTIONS

1. What is a good text for this chapter?

2. What is the threefold division of the Old Testament as cited by our Lord?

3. What is the last division called and why?

4. What is the object of the discussion in this chapter?

5. To what three things is the purpose limited?

6. What especially qualifies the author to meet the objections of the higher critics to allowing the New Testament usage of the Old Testament to determine its meaning and application?

7. What is the author’s conviction relative to the Scriptures?

8. What is the New Testament testimony on the question of inspiration?

9. What is the author’s suggested plan of approach to the study of the Messiah in the Psalms?

10. What the background of the Psalmist’s portrait of the Messiah and of what does it consist?

11. Give the substance of Paul’s discussion of man’s sinfulness.

12. What is the teaching of Jesus on this point?

13. What is the teaching relative to sacrifices?

14. What the nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation to be wrought by the coming Messiah and what the four great elements of it as forecast by the psalmist?

15. What is the teaching of the psalms relative to the wondrous person of the Messiah? Discuss.

16. What are the offices of the Messiah according to psalms? Discuss each.

17. Cite the more important events of the Messiah’s life according to the vision of the psalmist.

18. What the circumstances of the Messiah’s death and resurrection as foreseen by the psalmist?

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

Psa 136:1 O give thanks unto the LORD; for [he is] good: for his mercy [endureth] for ever.

Ver. 1. O give thanks unto the Lord ] This psalm is by the Jews called Hillel gadol, the great gratulatory. See Psa 106:1 ; Psa 107:1 ; Psa 118:1 .

For his mercy endureth for ever ] His covenant mercy, that precious Church privilege; this is perpetual to his people, and should perpetually shine as a picture in our hearts. For which purpose this psalm was appointed to be daily sung in the old church, by the Levites, 1Ch 16:41 .

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

“Give thanks to Jehovah.” Very impressive is this answering song of thanks, with a refrain so suited then to Israel. He Who is pleased to dwell at Jerusalem in that day is the “God of the heavens,” not merely of the earth (Gen 14:19 ).

Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 136:1-9

1Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good,

For His lovingkindness is everlasting.

2Give thanks to the God of gods,

For His lovingkindness is everlasting.

3Give thanks to the Lord of lords,

For His lovingkindness is everlasting.

4To Him who alone does great wonders,

For His lovingkindness is everlasting;

5To Him who made the heavens with skill,

For His lovingkindness is everlasting;

6To Him who spread out the earth above the waters,

For His lovingkindness is everlasting;

7To Him who made the great lights,

For His lovingkindness is everlasting:

8The sun to rule by day,

For His lovingkindness is everlasting,

9The moon and stars to rule by night,

For His lovingkindness is everlasting.

Psa 136:1 Give thanks the verb (BDB 392, KB 389) basically means to throw or cast. In the Hiphil it is used of

1. thanksgiving by singing liturgical phrases

2. confessing (cf. Lev 5:5; Pro 28:13)

The AB suggests that there was a physical gesture connected to the act of thanksgiving which is the reason this seemingly unconnected root was used.

for He is good The first strophe (Psa 136:1-9) describes YHWH’s person and acts of creation.

1. He is good (cf. 1Ch 16:34; Psa 106:1; Psa 107:1; Psa 118:1; Psa 118:29; Psa 136:1; Jer 33:11)

2. He is over all gods (cf. Deu 10:17, see SPECIAL TOPIC: MONOTHEISM )

3. He is the creator of this planet, Psa 136:4-9 (cf. Genesis 1, see Special Topic: Wonderful Things for Psa 136:4 a)

For His lovingkindness is everlasting This is a recurrent affirmation of YHWH’s mercy and eternality (repeated in every verse).

For the term lovingkindness see Special Topic: Lovingkindness (hesed). For the term everlasting see Special Topic: Forever (‘olam).

Notice the different ways the significant covenant term hesed (BDB 338) is translated.

1. NASB – lovingkindness

2. NKJV, LXX – mercy

3. NRSV, JPSOA – steadfast love

4. TEV, REB – love

5. NJB – faithful love

6. NAB – God’s love

7. NET Bible – loyal love

I think the best way to describe this term is YHWH’s unconditional, loyal, covenant love. It is theologically analogous to the NT agap.

Psa 136:4 who alone This is an affirmation of monotheism, Israel’s uniqueness in the ANE (cf. Psa 72:18; Isa 44:24; see SPECIAL TOPIC: MONOTHEISM ).

great wonders The LXX omits the adjective. The UBS Text Project (p. 417) is divided over which one to accept, the MT or LXX. Great does appear with the term wonders in Deu 6:22.

Psa 136:5

NASBwith skill

NKJV, TEVby wisdom

NRSVby understanding

NJB, REBin wisdom

JPSOAwith wisdom

The feminine noun (BDB 108) is used in Pro 8:1 for God’s first creation which He used to create all things. Some other passages where this is used are Job 26:12; Pro 3:19; Pro 24:3; Jer 10:12.

The concept is parallel to spoke in Genesis 1. It refers to God’s creative activities.

The NT asserts that Jesus was God’s agent in creation (cf. Joh 1:3; Joh 1:10; 1Co 8:6; Col 1:16; Heb 1:2). Notice how the first three verses of the Bible involve the Trinity (see SPECIAL TOPIC: THE TRINITY ).

1. Elohim (God), Gen 1:1

2. Ruah (Spirit), Gen 1:2

3. God/Jesus said, Gen 1:3; Gen 1:6; Gen 1:9; Gen 1:14

Psa 136:6 spread out This verb (BDB 955, KB 1291) is used of God shaping the dome of atmosphere over the earth (cf. Job 37:18; Isa 42:5; Isa 44:24, see SPECIAL TOPIC: HEAVEN ).

The UBS Handbook says this verb refers to YHWH establishing dry land on the waters (cf. Psa 24:2). This is surely possible.

Psa 136:7-9 The mentioning of God’s creation of the lights in the sky was a Hebrew way of rejecting astral worship. This theological imagery is similar to the plagues of Egypt (cf. Exodus 8-11) rejecting the animal deities of Egypt. YHWH, and He alone, is God! There is no other (see SPECIAL TOPIC: MONOTHEISM ). Note who alone (BDB 94 II) in Psa 136:4 a.

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

the LORD. Hebrew Jehovah App-4. For, &c. Figures of Speech. Amoebaeon and Epistrophe. App-6.

mercy = loving-kindness, or grace.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Shall we turn now our Bibles to Psa 136:1-26 . Throughout the one-hundred-and-thirty-sixth psalm, we have the repeated phrase, “For His mercy endureth forever.” And this is repeated in each of the verses throughout the entire psalm. And so he begins the psalm by an exhortation of giving thanks.

O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever ( Psa 136:1 ).

Over and over in the psalms, this is a repeated kind of a refrain. Remember this is their songbook, and so one of the things of which they were constantly singing was the goodness of God and the mercies of God.

O give thanks unto the God of gods: for his mercy endureth for ever. O give thanks unto the Lord of lords: for his mercy endureth for ever. To him who alone doeth great wonders: for his mercy endureth for ever ( Psa 136:2-4 ).

And now he goes on to exhort praise and thanksgiving for God’s creative acts. And he starts out in the general act of creation. And then he lists many of the creative acts of God.

To him that by wisdom made the heavens: for his mercy endureth for ever. To him that stretched out the earth above the waters: for his mercy endureth for ever. To him that made great lights: for his mercy endureth for ever: The sun to rule by day: for his mercy endureth for ever: The moon and stars to rule by night ( Psa 136:5-9 ):

And now he commands the praise and thanksgiving to God for His special blessings upon the nation Israel and for the creation of that nation.

To him that smote Egypt in their firstborn: And brought Israel from among them: With a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm. To him which divided the Red sea into parts: And made Israel to pass through the midst of it: But overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red sea. To him that led his people through the wilderness. To him which smote great kings: And slew famous kings: Sihon the king of the Amorites: Og the king of Bashan: And gave their land for a heritage: Even a heritage unto Israel. Who remembered us in our low estate: And hath redeemed us from our enemies. Who giveth food to all flesh. O give thanks unto the God of heaven: for his mercy endureth for ever ( Psa 136:10-26 ).

And now in order that you might get sort of an idea of how many of these songs were sung, in a song such as this, quite often the men would take the first part and the women would answer in the refrain, “For His mercy endureth forever.” And so, much as we think some of the psalms where the women have sort of an after part, these particular psalms were written, designed for this after-part effect. So, in order that we might get sort of the idea of it, how about the fellows reading together the first part and the women answering each time, “For His mercy endureth forever.” And you’ll get the idea of how these songs were actually sung, as this is actually a songbook of the Hebrew people. Okay, fellows?

“O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. O give thanks unto the God of gods: for his mercy endureth for ever. O give thanks to the Lord of lords: for his mercy endureth for ever. To him who alone doeth great wonders: for his mercy endureth for ever. To him that by wisdom made the heavens: for his mercy endureth for ever. To him that stretched out the earth above the waters: for his mercy endureth for ever. To him that made great lights: for his mercy endureth for ever: The sun to rule by day: for his mercy endureth for ever: The moon and stars to rule by night: for his mercy endureth for ever. To him that smote Egypt in their firstborn: for his mercy endureth for ever: And brought out Israel from among them: for his mercy endureth for ever: With a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm: for his mercy endureth for ever. To him which divided the Red sea into parts: for his mercy endureth for ever: And made Israel to pass through the midst of it: for his mercy endureth for ever: But overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red sea: for his mercy endureth for ever. To him which led his people through the wilderness: for his mercy endureth for ever. To him which smote great kings: for his mercy endureth for ever: And slew famous kings: for his mercy endureth for ever: Sihon king of the Amorites: for his mercy endureth for ever: And Og the king of Bashan: for his mercy endureth for ever: And gave their land for an heritage: for his mercy endureth for ever: Even an heritage unto Israel his servant: for his mercy endureth for ever. Who remembered us in our low estate: for his mercy endureth for ever: And hath redeemed us from our enemies: for his mercy endureth for ever. Who giveth food to all flesh: for his mercy endureth for ever. O give thanks unto the God of heaven: for his mercy endureth for ever ( Psa 136:1-26 ).

Now the purpose of the psalm was to impress upon you a certain thought or idea. And I think you get the idea. By the time you’ve sung this through, you get the impression that God’s mercy endureth forever. And in all situations, under all circumstances, God’s mercy endureth forever. And it’s something that comes across as you go through the psalm; it’s something that’s impressed then upon your heart. And that was the purpose, to impress truth upon the hearts of the people. “

Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary

When the chorus was taken up by the whole of the people, accompanied by a blast of trumpets, this must have been a magnificent hymn of praise.

Psa 136:1. O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

The Psalm begins with the august name, the incommunicable title of the one living and true God, Jah, Jehovah. For this name the Jews had a high respect, which degenerated into superstition, for they would not write it in their Bibles, and put another word instead, in which our translators have imitated them, not to the improvement of the version. Surely, if it is Jehovah in the original, we should have it Jehovah here. The name is a very wonderful one, Je-ho-vah. No man knows exactly how it should be pronounced; it is said to consist of a succession of breathings, therefore is it written, Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord, whose name is a breathing, and in whom dwells the life of all who breathe. Let us take care that we never trifle with the name of God. I think that the common use of the word Hallelujah, or, Praise ye the Lord, is simply profane. Surely, this is not a word to be dragged in the mire; it should be pronounced with solemn awe and sacred joy.

Psa 136:2. O give thanks unto the God of gods: for his mercy endureth for ever.

If there be any other god, if there can be imagined to be any, our God is, infinitely above them all. The gods of the heathen are idols, but our God made the heavens. If there be any reverence due to magistrates, of whom we read in Psalms 82, I have said, Ye are gods, yet are they nothing at all compared with Jehovah, the God of gods.

Psa 136:3. O give thanks to the Lord of lords: for his mercy endureth for ever.

Whatever there be of authority, or lordship, or kingship of any kind, in the world, it is all in subjection to him who is the Lord of lords. I think I hear the trumpets sounding it out, and all the people joining in chorus, O give thanks to the Lord of lords: for his mercy endureth for ever. It is ever the same strain, the enduring mercy of God, that bore the strain of Israels sin, and Israels need, and Israels wandering.

Psa 136:4. To him who alone doeth great wonders: for his mercy endureth for ever.

Nobody does wonders that can be compared with Jehovahs wonders. Nobody helps him in the doing of his wonders; he asks no aid from any of his creatures.

Psa 136:5. To him that by wisdom made the heavens: for his mercy endureth for ever.

Every time you lift up your eyes to that one great arch which spans all mankind, praise the name of the great Builder who made that one enormous span, unbuttressed and unpropped. What a work it was! And it was made by mercy as well as by wisdom. If we go into the scientific account of the atmosphere, of the firmament, and of the stellar heavens, we see that the hand of mercy was at the back of wisdom in the making of it all: for his mercy endureth for ever.

Psa 136:6. To him that stretched out the earth above the waters: for his mercy endureth for ever.

We ought to praise him for the making of every country, especially, I think, we who dwell on these favored islands, because he has placed our lot in an island.

He bade the waters round thee flow;

Not bars of brass could guard thee so.

We might have been beneath the tyrants foot, if it had not been for the silver streak that gives us liberty. The whole earth, wherever men dwell, will afford some peculiar reason for their praise to Jehovah.

Psa 136:7-9. To him that made great lights: for his mercy endureth for ever: the sun to rule by day: for his mercy endureth for ever: the moon and stars to rule by night: for his mercy endureth for ever.

Why three verses about one thing? Because we are not wont to dwell upon Gods goodness as we should. We are therefore bidden, first, to remember light in general, and then the sun, the moon, the stars, each one in particular; and each time we do so, we may say, His mercy endureth for ever. We are not left in the daytime without the sun; and, when the day is over, the darkness of the night is cheered either by the moon or by the stars, which show us that, not only day unto day, but night unto night, be thinks upon us, for his mercy endureth for ever. Praise him, praise him, whether it be high noon or midnight, when the day is renewed or when the curtains of your rest are drawn, still praise him, for his mercy endureth for ever.

Psa 136:10. To him that smote Egypt in their firstborn: for his mercy endureth for ever:

It is not a common mercy of which we have to sing, but a peculiar theme for thanksgiving, he smote Egypt in their firstborn.

Psa 136:11. And brought out Israel from among them: for his mercy endureth for ever:

Sing of his goodness to his chosen, even though it involved a terrible stroke upon his proud adversary. There are some who cannot praise Gods left band, but we can; not only the right hand that helps his people out, but the left hand that smites the Egyptians. We praise him still with unabated joy in him. What he doeth, must be right; and in his vengeance there is justice, and justice is mercy to mankind.

Psa 136:12. With a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm: for his mercy endureth for ever.

In all Gods acts there is some peculiarity which commands especial attention. He brought out Israel, praise him for that. He did it with a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm, therefore again praise him. The ring is precious, but the brilliance in the ring is that to which in this verse you are bidden to look, namely, Jehovahs strong hand, and stretched out arm.

Psa 136:13-14. To him which divided the Red sea into parts: for his mercy endureth for ever: and made Israel to pass through the midst of it: for his mercy endureth for ever:

And when you, too, come to the Red Sea on your way to the heavenly Canaan, when your path is blocked, God will divide it for you; and as he gently leads you through the very deeps, he will have you sing, His mercy endureth for ever. No floods can drown his love, nor divide you from it.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Jehovah will split seas in two to make a passage for his people, for his mercy endureth for ever.

Psa 136:15. But overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red sea: for his mercy endureth for ever.

This is the deep bass of the hymn, he overthrew Pharaoh. The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. We cannot give up that verse; we cannot refuse to sing the song of Moses; we must praise and bless God for all that he did at the Red Sea, even though terrible were his deeds of righteousness, when the chivalry of Egypt sank to the bottom of the sea like a stone.

Psa 136:16. To him which led his people through the wilderness: for his mercy endureth for ever,

Here is another point where you can join with Israel. This world is a wilderness to you; but the Lord leads you through it. By his fiery-cloudy pillar, he conducts you all your journey through. By his manna, gently dropping from heaven, he feeds you still; and he will guide you till he brings you over Jordans stormy banks To Canaans fair and happy land.

Psa 136:17-20. To him which smote great kings: for his mercy endureth for ever: and slew famous kings: for his mercy endureth for ever: Sihon king of the Amorites: for his mercy endureth for ever: and Og the king of Bashan: for his mercy endureth for ever:

Here you have the repetitions of God. I have sometimes said that I like the tunes which allow us to repeat the line of a hymn; and, certainly, one likes a Psalm which turns over some great mercy of God, and makes us see the various facets of the wonderful jewel. The psalmist does not merely say that Jehovah smote great kings; but these kings were famous in battle, which rendered their greatness or power the more formidable; but whether men be great, or whether they be valorous, or both, they cannot prevent Gods mercy to his people. He will push a way for them against the horns of their adversaries, and they shall be victorious. As if to show the depth of his gratitude, the psalmist gives the names of these kings, and of the countries over which they ruled; and he dwells with emphasis upon these points of the mercy of God to his people, in that he slew famous kings, Sihon king of the Amorites, and Og the king of Bashan.

Psa 136:21-22. And gave their land for an heritage: for his mercy endureth for ever: even an heritage unto Israel his servant: for his mercy endureth for ever.

He gave them those countries which were beyond the land of promise, because these foes tried to stop their way. He did not limit Palestine; but, on the contrary, he stretched the ordained bounds of it, and enclosed the land of the Amorites and Bashan within the territory he gave to his people. Now comes a soft sweet verse; I think I hear the harps leading the singing:

Psa 136:23. Who remembered us in our low estate: for his mercy endureth for ever:

Can you not sing this tonight? Some of you, who were very poor, very sad, despairing, abhorred of men, slandered, persecuted, very low, perhaps some here, who once were in the slums of this city, now can sing, Who remembered us in our low estate. Spiritually, our estate was low enough; it had ebbed out, till we had no comfort nor hope left; but the Lord remembered us. That is a blessed prayer, Lord, remember me. That prayer has been answered for many here; aye, even before we prayed it. He remembered us in our low estate, for his mercy endureth for ever. Dear heart, are you in a very low estate tonight? Do you feel as if you were at deaths dark door, and at hells dread brink, by reason of the greatness and blackness of your sin? His mercy endureth for ever. Catch at that rope. Drowning men clutch at straws; but this is no straw. Do cling to it; it will bear your weight. It has been a means of salvation to myriads before you. Trust Gods mercy in Christ, and you are saved, for his mercy endureth for ever. Who remembered us what next?

Psa 136:24. And hath redeemed us —

This song is climbing up; it begins to ascend the heavenly ladder; it has already reached redemption.

Psa 136:24-25. From our enemies: for his mercy endureth for ever. Who giveth food to all flesh: for his mercy endureth for ever.

God is the great Feeder of the world. What a commissariat is that of the universe! One cannot think of the wants of the five millions in London without shuddering lest, some day, there should not be food enough for them; but there always is. I will not trace it to the mere fact that trade and commerce supply us. No, there is an over-ruling power at the back of it all, depend upon it. All the world seems eager to supply our markets, and to make the loaf for the labourer; but it is God who has planned it all. Let us praise him who giveth food to all flesh. As for spiritual meat, he will give us that; I trust we shall all have a portion of meat in due season tonight. If any shall be hungry at the end of the service, it shall be surely from want of willingness to be fed rather than lack of suitability in the Word of God to sustain the spirit, and bless the soul.

Psa 136:26. O give thanks unto the God of heaven: for his mercy endureth for ever.

Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible

Psa 136:1-26

Psalms 136

FOR HIS LOVINGKINDNESS ENDURETH FOREVER

This title we have chosen because that line is repeated in every one of the psalm’s 26 verses as a refrain. It is the only psalm in the Psalter where such a thing occurs.

This off-repeated refrain indicates that the composition, as it stands, was used liturgically, that is, as a kind of ritual in the Temple services, with one group, or perhaps even a soloist, singing or reading the first line of each verse, and the congregation responding in the refrain.

“It is called a Hallel Psalm and was sung at the beginning of Passover. It was a favorite Temple song.

Most of the scholars whose works we consult in this commentary devote very little space to the discussion of this psalm. There is very little, if any new material in it. It follows very closely the preceding Psalms 135. “It follows very closely Psalms 135 in content through verses 10-18 and quotes directly from it in :19-22.

Psa 136:1-26

TEXT OF Psalms 136

“Oh give thanks unto Jehovah; for he is good;

For his lovingkindness endureth forever.

Oh give thanks unto the God of gods;

For his lovingkindness endureth forever.

Oh give thanks unto the Lord of Lords;

For his lovingkindness endureth forever.

To him who alone doeth great wonders;

For his lovingkindness endureth forever.

To him that by understanding made the heavens;

For his lovingkindness endureth forever.

To him that spread forth the earth above the waters;

For his lovingkindness endureth forever.

To him that made great lights;

For his lovingkindness endureth forever.

The sun to rule by day;

For his lovingkindness endureth forever.

The moon and stars to rule by night;

For his lovingkindness endureth forever.

To him that smote Egypt in their first-born;

For his lovingkindness endureth forever.

And brought out Israel from among them;

For his lovingkindness endureth forever.

With a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm;

For his lovingkindness endureth forever.

To him that divided the Red Sea in sunder;

For his lovingkindness endureth forever.

And made Israel to pass through the midst of it;

For his lovingkindness endureth forever.

But overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea;

For his loving kindness endureth forever.

To him that led his people through the wilderness;

For his lovingkindness endureth forever.

To him that smote great kings;

For his lovingkindness endureth forever.

And slew famous kings;

For his lovingkindness endureth forever.

Sihon king of the Amorites;

For his lovingkindness endureth forever.

And Og king of Bashan;

For his lovingkindness endureth forever.

And gave their land for a heritage;

For his lovingkindness endureth forever.

Even a heritage unto Israel his servant;

For his lovingkindness endureth forever.

Who remembered us in our low estate;

For his lovingkindness endureth forever.

And hath delivered us from our adversaries;

For his lovingkindness endureth forever.

Who giveth food to all flesh;

For his lovingkindness endureth forever.

Oh give thanks unto the God of heaven;

For his lovingkindness endureth forever.”

There is nothing in this psalm upon which we have not already written commentary; and there are very few things which we shall cite here.

“The God of gods” (Psa 136:2). “The word `gods’ here is a secondary use of the term as is found in Psa 82:6. (See our comment in chapter introduction for Psalms 82, above.) As Dr. George DeHoff stated it, “God is the God over priests, spiritual rulers, those in power, including kings and magistrates. He is the Ruler over all the rulers of the earth. This does not have reference to idols. God is not their God.

“To him that spread forth the earth above the waters” (Psa 136:6). On this verse, Addis referred to Psa 24:2 and to Gen 1:6 f, affirming that, “There was a sea below the earth, another on a level with the earth, and a third `ocean’ above the firmament. Such a view is based upon a misinterpretation of what the scriptures say. The word is not `ocean’ but `waters.’ What a difference! And if one does not believe that the earth is stretched out over the waters, let him explain why men have been digging wells for countless generations, or let him explain the glorious artesian waters of Balmorhea. We appreciate the discernment of McCaw who wrote, “Happily, the earth is spread above the waters.

We are conscious that Psa 24:2 states that the earth is stretched out “above the seas,” or “upon seas”; but in that reference it is the altitude of the earth which is above the seas, that is, higher than sea level!

This psalm mentions a number of events found in the Five Books of Moses and the Book of Joshua. For extensive comments on all of these events, we refer to our commentaries on those Bible books.

“Remembered our low estate … delivered us from our adversaries” (Psa 136:23-24). To this writer, it appears that these lines are a reference to the Babylonian captivity and God’s deliverance from it. This is certainly suggested by the proximity of the psalm to Psalms 137.

E.M. Zerr:

Psa 136:1. Giving of thanks is an oral expression of gratitude for favors received. There are two facts mentioned in this verse for which the Psalmist requested that thanks be given to the Lord, one pertaining to his personal character, the other to his treatment of the people. They are the words good and mercy or at least they indicate the two facts. What is significant about the mercy of the Lord is that it is not just occasional or of brief duration, but it endureth for ever. If at any time the Lord’s mercy ceases to be enjoyed by some person, it will not be because that mercy has run out or run its course or worn out. It will be on account of the shortcoming of the person in that he has failed to meet the terms on which divine mercy is offered. This clause about the mercy of the Lord is identical in the last part of each verse of this chapter, hence no further comment will be offered on it.

Psa 136:2. See the comments at Psa 86:12 for the detailed explanation of the name God. He is the only true object of worship, hence the Psalmist declares him to be above the gods whom the heathen worshiped. There is also something significant in the phrase God of gods. It means not only that the true God is greater than all, but he is also in control of all these objects that are falsely called gods.

Psa 136:3. Lord of lords will have about the same significance as “God of gods” in the preceding verse. It will be well also again to see comments at Psa 86:12.

Psa 136:4. The key word in this verse is alone. It denotes that the Lord is independent of all other beings and does things by his own infinite power.

Psa 136:5. The thought is not that wisdom was the force by which the heavens were made, but that all of the work of the Lord in forming the heavens was wisely done.

Psa 136:6. Above is from a Hebrew word that has also been rendered “beside” 17 times, and “against” over 100 times. It is the word for “beside” in Num 24:6, in the words “beside the waters.” The verse evidently means that God stretched out the earth by the side of or in connection with the waters, and each maintaining its own proper place in the order of things. This suggests the statements in Gen 1:9-10.

Psa 136:7. The great lights is a general reference to the heavenly bodies whose creation is recorded in Gen 1:14-18.

Psa 136:8. To rule means to regulate or measure the day as to the light. In other words, the daylight was to continue as long as the sun was visible.

Psa 136:9. The moon and stars were to “rule” the night on the same principle that the sun was to rule the day as explained in the preceding verse.

Psa 136:10. For comments on this event see those at Psa 135:8.

Psa 136:11. Brought out Israel was accomplished on the night of the first passover, when the Egyptians forced the Israelites to leave in haste. (Exodus 12.)

Psa 136:12. Strong hand would indicate the strength of the Lord, and stretched out arm refers to the long reach of that strength.

Psa 136:13. The parts of the Red Sea were the walls of ice on each side of the passage. See Exo 15:8 and the comments at that place for furher information.

Psa 136:14. Passing through the midst of the sea would indicate that a miracle was performed. An army could travel around a body of water without requiring anything but human strengh or that which would be required in the ordinary walks of life.

Psa 136:15. Both Pharaoh AND his army were destroyed in the sea. See my comments on this subject at Exo 14:4 in volume 1 of this Commentary.

Psa 136:16. This short verse refers to the 40-year journey through the wilderness and the original history is in the books of Exodus and Numbers.

Psa 136:17-18. Great and famous would mean that the kings were not only great in fact, but that it was generally known among the peoples of the country.

Psa 136:19-20. The original record of the overthrow of these kings is Numbers 21.

Psa 136:21. The land taken from the above named kings was in the territory that God had promised to the descendents of Abram (Gen 15:18), so the children of Israel rightfully obtained it as an inheritance (heritage).

Psa 136:22. Servants may inherit the property of their master if he so wills it. The passage in Gen 15:18 shows that such a provision was made for these servants.

Psa 136:23. By the pronoun us David includes himself with the Israelites who inherited the land having been held by those heathen kings. Low estate refers to the time when the children of Israel were wanderers in the wilderness and exposed to the hostility of the heathen living along their route.

Psa 136:24. Redeemed has an indefinite application. It first occured to the nation when the Egyptians were forced to let Israel go. And it was done many time afterward, when the heathen people sought to conquer them and hinder their travels.

Psa 136:25. This is too general to admit of any specific detail. In all the earth, wherever there is a creature that lives on food, the hand of God is the provider of it.

Psa 136:26. The chapter ends about like it began, with a request for the Lord to be thanked for his goodness to the children of men.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

This is a song of the age-abiding mercy of Jehovah. It opens and closes with a call to praise, and in its main movements sets forth the reason for such praise. In the opening call the three great names or titles of God are made use of, viz., Jehovah, Elohim, Adonahy. The first is mentioned in its lonely splendour, as it always is. There is no attempt at qualification of comparison. The second is used in comparison. He is the God of gods. All other mighty beings, false or true, are less than He; and subservient to Him. In the same way He is Lord of lords.

The reasons for praise are found in the manifestations of His power and interest in His people. His power as seen in creation is first sung (vv. Psa 136:1-9). Then His delivering power manifest behalf of His people (vv. Psa 136:10-15). This naturally merges into the song of His guidance and government of them, as He brought them into possession (vv. Psa 136:16-22). And finally His goodness in restoring His people after declension and wandering (vv. Psa 136:23-25). The dominant note is mercy as manifest in all the activities of God. To see the love and compassion of God in creation, in deliverance, in government, in restoration, is ever to be constrained to praise.

Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible

a Review of Gods Mercies

Psa 136:1-12

An antiphonal psalm, intended to be sung by two choirs or by a soloist and the Temple choir. This avowal of the eternity of Gods mercy, amid all the fluctuation and change of human affairs, is very striking. When we can look out on the history of our world from Gods standpoint, we discover that the black-edged pages have been interleaved with golden pages of mercy. When we review our own lives from the vantage ground of heaven, we shall see that the mercy of God was the blue sky of background across which the dark clouds floated for but a limited space.

The divisions are as follows: Creation, Psa 136:1-9; Redemption, Psa 136:10-22; Providence, Psa 136:23-26. In the first division the psalmist views the framework of the world and the redemption of Israel from Egypt as equal monuments of the divine loving-kindness. It was love that made the theater on which the great revelation of redemption was manifested. The crimson lips of a tulips petals are His work as well as the crimson blood that flowed at Calvary.

Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

Psalm 136

His Mercy Endureth Forever

This is a historical Psalm of praise, as His grateful people Israel think of all He has done. Twenty-six times we read His mercy endureth forever. The Psalm begins with a threefold call to give thanks unto the Lord, the God of gods, and the Lord of lords; the triune God is thus adored. And after this the brief sentences which rehearse His mighty deeds of the past as Creator and as the God of Israel, are followed by the praise of His mercy. This Psalm was undoubtedly used in the Temple worship. The Jews in their ritual call it the great Hallel. It will probably be used in the future, when in the new temple Israel will sing the praises of His Name.

Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)

– Title This Psalm is little else than a repetition of the preceding, with the addition of the burden, “for his mercy endureth for ever,” at the end of each verse; and it was doubtless composed on the same occasion. It seems evidently to have been a re

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

HIS MERCY ENDURETH FOR EVER

O give thanks unto the Lord.

Psa 136:1

I. There is a remarkable similarity between this psalm and the preceding one; but here a noble refrain is inserted after each clause. And what a wonderful conception this gives of the way in which a holy soul may view all things that are and have been. Here is a standpoint of vision from which to view Gods dealings with mankindthat all things are threaded by mercy and loving-kindness, which are in all, and through all, and over all.

II. You have seen Egypt smitten in its first-born: there is mercy there.You have heard the last cry of Pharaohs drowning host, but there is mercy there. You have beheld the overthrow of Sihon and Og, but there is mercy there. You may not be able to see the mercy, because you behold all things under creatural limitations, and amid so much prejudice and error; but could you understand the alleviations and compensations, the general result of Gods dealings with the great world of men, the entire scope and plan of Divine Providence, you would be able to say

His every act pure goodness is;

His path unsullied light.

III. My soul! I expect that thou hast had thine Ogs and Sihons, thy Pharaohs and Amalekites.Thou, too, hast been in Egypt, and traversed the weary desert. But Gods mercy is over it all. There is mercy in thy privations and oppressions. Dare to affirm it. Dare to look into the face of God and say, How much Thou lovest me, that Thou shouldst take so much pains with me! My God, I trust the perfect love, the circle of whose extent I cannot compass, but the centre of which is in Thy loving heart. Dare to believe that no package is delivered at thy door by Gods Providence which has not been packed by His love.

Illustration

It is startling and terrible to think of the aspect which Gods mercy presents to those that hate Him. That which is a blessing and help to His people is destruction to His foes, to Pharaoh and Og and Sihon. To the froward He shows Himself froward. The cloud which is light to Israel is black as pitch to Egypt. The sun which softens wax hardens clay. Oh, kiss the Son, lest He be angry!

The history of Israel was difficult in its unfolding, but as the Psalmist reviewed it from the standpoint of the years, he saw the golden thread of mercy woven with every incident. Thus, when we review our life from our Pisgah of vision, we shall see mercy where now we find hardship and trialmany incidents, but one unbroken chain of loving-kindness and tender mercy.

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

The confirmation.

The answer is now given to this call to bear witness, and the ground traveled over in the former psalm is gone over here again, but in short sentences to every one of which the celebration of Jehovah’s loving-kindness in what is spoken of is attached. Be it creation; be it redemption; judgment on their enemies,or mercy to themselves, this seal is set upon all His work, that Jehovah’s loving-kindness has been working in it. And indeed in all His acts all that He is must act: if He be good, as God is, He must be good in everything He does.

1. First of all He is Jehovah, the Unchangeable, the covenant-God God of gods, the alone Supreme, and Lord of lords, -exhibiting now this supremacy.

2. Then He is spoken of in His works of wisdom, the One who alone doeth great wonders. His creative work -as given in the second, third, and fourth verses -evidently corresponds to that of the second, third, and fourth of the six days. The second speaks of the firmament of the heavens, therefore, the separation of the waters from the waters. The third, of the bringing up of the dry land from under the waters, by which man’s abode was formed for him. The fourth, of the luminaries, which condition, by the changing seasons which they occasion; all the activities of his practical life.* But this the psalmist cannot pass so briefly, but must expand it in the two following verses. In the fifth place, the sun, as ruler in the day, is really the physical governor of man’s earth, and so of man: among material things the fullest representative of that goodness of God which wakes up all Nature in response, to minister to him. The moon; on the other hand, is but, as it were, a delegate of the sun; and can only imperfectly reflect his rays so as to limit the darkness. All this has abundance of teaching for us, and should help to make Nature, what God would have it for us, a great open lesson-book. But we have not space to dwell upon it here.**

{*See Appendix 3, on the Numerals, at the end of the volume.

** See, for more remarks on this, Appendix 3, on the Creative Days.}

3. The psalmist turns now to speak of God’s manifestations of Himself for His peculiar people; and as in the previous psalm; but in more detail, speaks first of His wonders in Egypt. First, the smiting of the first-born, smiting off their fetters. Then what was the direct consequence, their being brought out; the outstretched arm which manifested Him to all in this; the Sea yielding to His hand, and Himself bringing the people through; the victory over Pharaoh and all his host. The brief notice of the wilderness rounds off this section, completing, as it were, the deliverance in Egypt.

4. We now come to the land, in which the nations, dispossessed because of their sin, have now to yield to Israel their inheritance. The six verses here seem to be plainly three couplets: the first dwelling upon the power of those who are made to yield; the second specifies the twin Amorite kingdoms that opposed themselves at the threshold of their inheritance; the third speaks of the inheritance itself as made over to them. The language is of the very briefest. What seems possible in the way of spiritual application has been elsewhere dwelt upon; but here it is Israel’s song of praise, and doubtless for them these old histories may have new light shed upon them by their latter-day experiences.

5. The psalm closes with God’s remembrance of their low estate, and their new deliverance in the time to which the Psalms as a whole so constantly point forward. The third verse abruptly widens out to the acknowledgment of the full satisfaction for all flesh which the Lord of all has provided, and which may be surely applied in the fullest way to every kind of need. With Israel’s blessing, we are reminded that the blessing of the whole earth comes in; and the last verse may naturally be taken as the praise of all.

Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary

Psa 136:1. O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good We are called upon to praise Jehovah, first for his own essential attributes; then for the exertion of those attributes in his works. The attributes here mentioned are those of goodness and power; the one renders him willing, and the other able, to save: and what can we desire more, but that he should continue to be so! Of this likewise we are assured, by contemplating the unchangeableness of his nature. His disposition altereth not, and his kingdom none can take from him; his mercy endureth for ever. Horne.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

This psalm has no title in the Hebrew, and the author is unknown. It is reckoned the grand Te Deum of the Hebrew choir. The repetitions at the end of every verse, have correspondent examples in Greek and Latin poetry. This should not be done, except for great emphases.

Psa 136:1. For his mercy endureth for ever. Hebrews Ki le-lam chasdo. The Hebrew word lam, as in Psa 90:2, from everlasting to everlasting thou art God, when applied either to God, or to his attributes, cannot he understood of a limited existence. The primate Newcome, in support of Arianism, has strangely attempted to do this in his notes on Mic 5:2.

Psa 136:13. Which divided the red sea into parts. The elder rabbins say here, that their fathers passed through the sea in twelve divisions. The English reading cannot be correct, though copied from the Latin.

REFLECTIONS.

Chrysostom observes well, that God has given us those most delightful hymns and psalms of praise, to raise the mind above the sorrows and troubles of the present world. This is called by the Jews, the great hallel, or psalm of praise, and it is used in their daily service. Sihon and Og are mentioned towards the close. Here Dr. Lightfoot makes a curious note, and probably after some of the rabbins; that when those two kings fell, it was just twenty six generations after the flood; and the phrase, his mercy endureth for ever, is twenty six times repeated. Hence as Gods mercy endureth from one generation to another, we learn that the church should keep alive the sacrifice of praise throughout all ages; and expect the everlasting mercy of God to smile on all their works.

Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

CXXXVI. A long Hymn of Praise for Yahwehs Power and His Care of His People from Egypt till the Conquest of Canaan.

Psa 136:1-9 based on Genesis 1. Yahweh the Maker of all.

Psa 136:6. For the waters below the earth, see on Psa 24:2.

Psa 136:10-22. Yahwehs vengeance on Pharaoh and the kings who opposed Israels entrance into the promised land. His mercy to Israel in later days.

Psa 136:23-26. Gratitude for recent deliverance.

Psa 136:24 sounds strange in a Ps. which exults in the slaughter of the heathenbut it is easier to admit an inconsistency than to limit all flesh to all Jews.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

PSALM 136

Restored Israel acknowledges that all Jehovah’s ways with His people are marked by loving-kindness.

This psalm presents the response of Israel to the call to praise of the previous psalm. The first half of each verse presents the theme of praise; the second half the refrain of praise, For His loving-kindness endureth for ever. Every stage of Israel’s history is recounted to make manifest that throughout their checkered history the loving-kindness of the Lord had endured.

(vv. 1-3) The opening verses present the goodness of Jehovah, the unchangeable God, the One who is supreme above all that rule in the heavens, or that exercise dominion on earth – the God of gods and the Lord of lords.

(vv. 4-9) The verses that follow present the wonders of God, as well as His infinite wisdom in creation according to the order of the second, third, and fourth day’s work as presented in Genesis 1.

(vv. 10-15) Verses 10 to 15 present the way God has wrought on behalf of His people in delivering them from Egypt.

(v. 16) The following verse sets forth the mercy that brought the people through the wilderness.

(vv. 17-22) Following the wilderness journey, the mercy of the Lord is set forth in destroying every opposing force and bringing His people into their heritage.

(vv. 23-24) Finally, when His people, through their folly, had fallen into a low state, the Lord remembers them and delivers them from all their enemies.

(vv. 25-26) The restoration of Israel brings blessing to all flesh, who are called upon to give thanks to the God of heaven.

Fuente: Smith’s Writings on 24 Books of the Bible

136:1 O give thanks unto the LORD; for [he is] good: for his {a} mercy [endureth] for ever.

(a) By this repetition he shows that the least of God’s benefits bind us to thanksgiving: but chiefly his mercy, which is principally declared towards his Church.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

Psalms 136

This psalm is probably the last of the Great Hallel psalms (Psalms 120-136), though a few Jewish scholars viewed it as the only Great Hallel psalm. [Note: See the discussion of this issue in the introduction to Psalms 135 above.] Many scholars believe that the Israelites sang this psalm at Passover when they celebrated the Exodus. Other hallel psalms are 113-118 and 146-150. This psalm is unique because it repeats the same refrain in each verse. The Israelites probably sang this song antiphonally, with the leaders singing the first part of each verse and the people responding with the refrain. The content and basic structure are similar to Psalms 135. With this song, the Israelites praised God for His great acts and His loyal love that endures forever.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

1. Invitation to thank God 136:1-3

Three times the psalmist called on the people to give thanks to God. The refrain here and throughout the psalm explains the reason for praising Him. The repetition of the refrain in each verse serves to cause the reader to applaud every divine act that the writer mentioned. [Note: J. F. J. van Rensburg, "History as Poetry: A Study of Psalms 136," OTWSA 29 (1986):86-87.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Psa 136:1-26

THIS psalm is evidently intended for liturgic use. It contains reminiscences of many parts, of Scripture, and is especially based on the previous psalm, which it follows closely in Psa 136:10-18, and quotes directly in Psa 136:19-22. Delitzsch points out that if these quoted verses are omitted, the psalm falls into triplets. It would then also contain twenty-two verses, corresponding to the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet. The general trend of thought is like that of Psa 135:1-21; but the addition in each verse of the refrain gives a noble swing and force to this exulting song.

The first triplet is a general invocation to praise, coloured by the phraseology of Deuteronomy. Psa 136:2 a and Psa 136:3 a quote Deu 10:17. The second and third triplets (Psa 136:4-9) celebrate Jehovahs creative power. “Doeth great wonders” (Psa 136:4) is from Psa 72:18. The thought of the Divine Wisdom as the creative agent occurs in Psa 104:24, and attains noble expression in Pro 3:1-35. In Psa 136:6 the word rendered spread is from the same root as that rendered “firmament” in Genesis. The office of the heavenly bodies to rule day and night is taken from Gen 1:1-31. But the psalm looks at the story of Creation from an original point of view, when it rolls out in chorus, after each stage of that work, that its motive lay in the eternal lovingkindness of Jehovah. Creation is an act of Divine love. That is the deepest truth concerning all things visible. They are the witnesses, as they are the result, of lovingkindness which endures forever.

Psa 136:10-22 pass from world wide manifestations of that creative lovingkindness to those specially affecting Israel. If Psa 136:19-22 are left out of notice, there are three triplets in which the Exodus, desert life, and conquest of Caanan are the themes, -the first (Psa 136:10-12) recounting the departure; the second (Psa 136:13-15) the passage of the Red Sea; the third (Psa 136:16-18) the guidance during the forty years and the victories over enemies. The whole is largely taken from the preceding psalm, and has also numerous allusions to other parts of Scripture. Psa 136:12 a-is found in Deu 4:34, etc. The word for dividing the Red Sea is peculiar. It means to hew in pieces or in two, and is used for cutting in halves the child in Solomons judgment; {1Ki 3:25} while the word “parts” is a noun from the same root, and is found in Gen 15:17, to describe the two portions into which Abraham clave the carcasses. Thus, as with a sword, Jehovah hewed the sea in two, and His people passed between the parts, as between the halves of the covenant sacrifice. In Psa 136:15 the word describing Pharaohs destruction is taken from Exo 14:27, and vividly describes it as a “shaking out,” as one would vermin or filth from a robe.

In the last triplet (Psa 136:23-25) the singer comes to the Israel of the present. It, too, had experienced Jehovahs remembrance in its time of need, and felt the merciful grasp of His hand plucking it, with loving violence, from the claws of the lion. The word for “low estate” and that for “tore us from the grasp” are only found besides in late writings-the former in Ecc 10:6, and the latter in Lam 5:8.

But the song will not close with reference only to Israels blessings. He gives bread to all flesh. “The lovingkindness which flashes forth even in destructive acts, and is manifested especially in bringing Israel back from exile, stretches as wide in its beneficence as it did in its first creative acts, and sustains all flesh which it has made. Therefore the final call to praise, which rounds off the psalm by echoing its beginning, does not name Him by the Name which implied Israels special relation, but by that by which other peoples could and did address Him, “the God of heaven,” from whom all good comes down on all the earth.

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary