Deeper Commentary

 

Psa 115:1

Not to us, Yahweh, not to us, but to Your name give glory, for Your the sake of Your grace and truth-
In Jewish tradition, Psalms 113 and 114 are recited before the Passover meal and Psalms 115–118 after the Passover meal. Even though Psalms 114 and 115 have no break between them in the earliest manuscripts. It is part of the "Hallel Psalms" (Ps. 111-118), chants sung at the feasts of Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles, which consist of Psalm 113-118. As with Ps. 114, the context appears to be an encouragement to the exiles to not lose heart, even though they couldn't keep the feasts as strictly required. This opening request is for God to glorify the Yahweh Name in order to fulfil His "grace and truth", a phrase often used of the promises to Abraham. The Psalm is asking God to fulfil those promises, which would glorify His Name, in the restoration of the exiles to Zion. Perhaps the request not to glorify the exiles may have in view how popular the exiles became in exile, as witnessed by the end of the book of Esther.

In the context of the restoration, no glory was given to Judah because the restoration was not done for their sakes; but because of God's Name (Ez. 36:22). The psalmist is aware of this, and so he volunteers the request for no glory to be given to God's people. But he asks that God glorify His Name- in delivering His people from their enemies who are mocking them. This first verse is therefore an appeal for Divine action. The Lord's prayer opens the same way: "Glorify Your Name / Hallwed be Thy Name". The articulation of God's Name, His characteristics and principles, is what we ask for. No glory to our name, no quick fix of whatever is on our immediate agenda- but His Name being glorified. Even when we do ask for specific things, we must always preface this by a desire to see His Name being glorified in the longer term and on the higher level. Requests for forgiveness can likewise be made on the basis that this will glorify God's Name: "Aid us, our rescuing God, for the honor of Your name, and save us and wipe out our sins for the sake of Your name" (Ps. 79:9).

"Your grace and truth" is a reference to the promises to Abraham that comprised the covenant. They were all of grace, and the "truth" refers to the way God will surely fulfil them. Hence in Gen. 24:27: "Blessed be Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken His grace and His truth toward my master". And Mic. 7:20 likewise: "You will give truth to Jacob, and grace to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old". Being in new covenant relationship with God, which is based on the promises to Abraham, means that He will come through for us- in the end.

Psa 115:2

Why should the nations say, Where is their God now?-
The way Moses pleaded with God to change His mind and not destroy Israel for the sake of what the surrounding nations would say is indeed inspirational to us all. It surely inspired the psalmist here to pray likewise. The request would be appropriate to the Jewish exiles in Babylon / Persia, mocked for having been forsaken by their God, and the prophecies of restoration apparently not coming true (Ps. 137:3).

Another historical reference is clearly to the Assyrians mocking the Jews outside the walls of Jerusalem, claiming Yahweh couldn't save them. The Rabshakeh uses the same phrase when he asks, “Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim?” (Is. 36:19). Psalm 115 taunts the Assyrian idols just as the Rabshakeh taunts Yahweh as a powerless god. The Assyrian idols are mocked as “the work of men’s hands, wood and stone” (Is. 37:19), which is just the phrase used here in Ps. 115:4. This would then make sense of the mocking of the Assyrian idols in :4-6; the appeal for faith in :9 is that made by Isaiah at that time; and the reference to the dead who don't praise Yahweh in :17 would refer to the slain Assyrians outside the walls of Jerusalem. The appeal to "trust in Yahweh!" in :9, and the four repeated calls to "trust" Him in :9-12, is all the response to the Rabshakeh's "Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in Yahweh!” (Is. 36:15). Hezekiah prepared for the Assyrian invasion by making shields (2 Chron. 32:5); but the triple appeal of the psalmist is to trust that Yahweh would be Judah's shield at this time (Ps. 15:9-11). The Psalm stresses that Yahweh is indeed enthroned in Heaven, and therefore has total power upon earth; and that is the spirit of Hezekiah's prayer in Is. 37:16: "Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, who is enthroned among the cherubim, You are the God, even You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; You have made heaven and earth".

Psa 115:3

But our God is in the heavens. He does whatever He pleases-
Although God was not coming through for them as apparently promised (:1), the psalmist has no doubt that God is still "our" God, He really exists, and does His will / pleasure- even if it is not what we are expecting or hoping for. The contrast is with the dead idols, who don't do their own will / pleasure because they are dead.

The implication may be that this was the answer of the faithful exiles to the mocking observation of the Gentiles that their God was apparently inactive because He was invisible. His visibility however is not related to His activity; and that is the huge difference between the true God and all idols. There may also be the admission that God is active according to His will / pleasure, and as He is omnipotent, that is often going to be above what we can explain to others. There is no shame in our making the same response to those who demand to 'see' our God in more visible action.

Psa 115:4

Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands-
This is grammatically not addressed to those who mocked the exiles in :2. Rather is this comfort to the exiles, that the idols of Babylon / Persia were indeed dumb. And yet according to Ezekiel and the implications of the book of Esther, idolatry was rife amongst the exiles. So this may have been also an appeal to the exiles to see the idols for what they were.

Psa 115:5

they have mouths, but they don’t speak, they have eyes, but they don’t see-
The implication is that Yahweh has all these faculties. This implies that Yahweh is a personal God, and we are made in His image physically, although not morally.

Psa 115:6

They have ears, but they don’t hear, they have noses, but they don’t smell-
See on :5. This mockery of idolatry is similar of that addressed to the exiles in Is. 44:9-20; and the context is the same. The exiles are being recalled from idolatry (see on :4).  So often the prophets mock idolatry, and we likewise should see the idols of this world for what they are. Our God is real and personal, He can speak (Is. 1:20),  see (Ps. 113:6), hear (Ps. 6:8) and smell (Gen. 8:21). Paganism made little distinction between the symbol, and the thing symbolized. We see the same in the way people tend to see e.g. a crucifix as if it is actually the crucified Jesus. God is real, in Heaven, a personal being. Man is made in His image. Man is not to be worshipped, no glory is to be given to him, but only to God the creator of His own image (:1).

Psa 115:7

They have hands, but they don’t feel; they have feet, but they don’t walk, neither do they speak through their throat-
The implication is that the God of Israel doesn't just have a dead semblance of human form, but actually is real and living, in human form; for we are made in His image. His word is spoken through His throat, and elsewhere He is presented as speaking through lips (Job 23:12). All the other things in the preceding verses are what God does, in contrast with the dead idols. Speaking through the throat is the final example. Hence the wonder of the fact that Israel heard the actual voice of God at Sinai. No other nation, Moses reflects, had ever heard the actual voice of their god.

Psa 115:8

Those who make them will be like them; yes, everyone who trusts in them-
This is an abiding principle. We become like that which we worship and trust in. The process of trusting Yahweh will make us like Him. The requirement for faith and worship is therefore for our benefit. The idols have been portrayed as only appearing human; effectively they are dead, with eyes etc. which don't function. And those who worship them become likewise- not really alive as intended, not sensing reality as they are intended. Those who worship vanities become vain (Jer. 2:5). This was exactly the message to the exiles (Is. 44:9). Those who make dead idols are themselves dead, not fully as humans living in the image of the living God. They lose their consciousness, life and existence. All they think of is their dream vacation, holiday home or whatever. It is perhaps this kind of "dead" people who are referenced in :18. They do not praise God after their death just as they didn't in their lives. We who are alive to God are in fact walking amongst dead people, we are the sighted people walking amongst the blind, who grope in darkness even at noonday. Idols are called "vanities", and Is. 44:9-11 teaches that those who make them are alike "vain", and will have the terrible disappointment at the end of their lives and at judgment day: "Everyone who makes an engraved image is vain. The things that they delight in will not profit. Their own witnesses don’t see nor know, that they may be disappointed. Who has fashioned a god or moulds an image that is profitable for nothing? Behold, all his fellows will be disappointed; and the workmen are mere men".  

Psa 115:9

Israel, trust in Yahweh! He is their help and their shield-
As discussed above, this was an appeal for Israel to quit idolatry and trust in Yahweh alone. Thereby they would show themselves to be the true seed of Abraham, for whom Yahweh was His shield (Gen. 15:1), and of David likewise (Ps. 28:7).

Psa 115:10

House of Aaron, trust in Yahweh! He is their help and their shield-
This can be read as an appeal to the house of Aaron separately to Israel (:9). But often "Israel" are paralleled with the house of Aaron / Levi. And this seems an example of that. Ps. 135:19,20 parallels all Israel with the priestly family: “Bless the Lord, O house of Israel: bless the Lord, O house of Aaron: bless the Lord, O house of Levi: ye that fear the Lord, bless the Lord... praise ye the Lord”. All Israel were to aspire to the spirit of priesthood. Indeed, the Psalms often parallel the house of Aaron (i.e. the priesthood) with the whole nation (Ps. 115:9,10,12; 118:2,3).

As it was God’s intention that Israel were to be a nation of priests to the rest of the world, so the new Israel likewise are to all discharge the priestly functions of teaching their brethren (Ex. 19:6 cp. 1 Pet. 2:5; Rev. 1:6; 5:9,10). Under the new covenant, we should all teach and admonish one another (Col. 3:16). Indeed, God told Israel [unrecorded in the historical records]: “Ye are gods [elohim] and all of you are sons of the Most High” (Ps. 82:6 RV). Further, Ps. 96:9 makes the paradigm breaking statement that even the Gentiles could come before Yahweh of Israel in holy, priestly array- they too could aspire to the spirit of priesthood (Ps. 96:9 RVmg.). Moses spoke of how all Israel should pray that God would establish the work of their hands (Ps. 90:17)- but this was in fact his special request for the blessing of Levi, the priestly tribe (Dt. 33:11).

 

Psa 115:11

You who fear Yahweh, trust in Yahweh! He is their help and their shield-

Verses 9-11 speak of three groups: Israel, the house of Aaron, and those who feared Yahweh. These three groups are found in Ps. 114:9-11 and Ps. 118:2-4. They refer to the common people of Israel, to the priests, and the 'fearers of Yahweh' would refer to Gentile proselytes. The restoration prophets saw all three groups as being welded together into a new people of God, with equal access to the sanctuary. The psalmist speaks throughout the psalm of "we" and "us" (:12). He includes all three groups within the "we" of God's people who are keeping Passover (see on :1). Sadly this inclusive spirit was totally denied by Ezra and Nehemiah, and in practice, the returned exiles failed to achieve this unity. The ideal was that this multiethnic community would increase in number (:14 "you and your children"). But Ezra and Nehemiah excluded those Jews who married Gentiles, forcing them to divorce and leave those children fatherless.

Israel professed to "fear Yahweh", to respect Him as their God; but that's not necessarily the same as trusting in Him as help and shield. They are appealed to here, as we are, to go far beyond mere religion, in name only making a religious profession. As discussed on :4 and above, the exiles were veering towards idolatry, whilst claiming to still have Yahweh as their God.

Psa 115:12

Yahweh remembers us; He will bless us, He will bless the house of Israel, He will bless the house of Aaron-
The exiles were comforted against their impression that Yahweh had forgotten them- a woman cannot forget her newborn child (Is. 49:14,15). This psalmist believed that. The exiles had not in fact been forgotten, as they feared; they could experience the blessing of restoration when they received the blessing of forgiveness from Yahweh. But that required repentance. The allusion is perhaps to the blessing of Num. 6:24; but this Psalm was used at the feasts (:1), which were to remember / commemorate God's blessing of His people (Dt. 16:15). Yahweh would "remember" His people after punishing them in exile (Lev. 26:45 s.w.), and the psalmist asks for that moment to now come. 

Psa 115:13

He will bless those who fear Yahweh, both small and great-
The "small" perhaps especially thought that they were too insignificant to experience Yahweh's blessings. But the nature of Yahweh's covenant is that He doesn't respect the persons of all who are within it. The blessing of those who fear Yahweh would specifically be at the time when Zion was restored (Ps. 128:4,5), and that is what is here in view, in the context of the exiles. Both "small and great" were to be blessed if they accepted the new covenant offered to the exiles (Jer. 31:34).

Psa 115:14

May Yahweh increase you more and more, you and your children-
This alludes to the blessings promised to Abraham, to multiply his seed or children; and Yahweh would "increase more" His people after their exile (s.w. Is. 26:15). The exiles had broke the old covenant, and the prophets had invited them to accept a "new covenant", based upon the promises to Abraham rather than the law of Moses.

Psa 115:15

Blessed are you by Yahweh, who made heaven and earth-
The God powerful enough to create all things can easily focus that power to the blessing of His people. The fact God is creator is so often used as an appeal for His people to trust Him. As we are blessed by Him, so we are to bless / praise Him (:18). This is why the Hebrew for "bless" means both to bless and to praise.

Psa 115:16

The heavens are the heavens of Yahweh; but the earth has He given to the children of men-
Possibly there is specific reference to "the heaven of heavens", the actual location of God. The God who created that (:15), His own dwelling place, also created this tiny planet earth and is easily able to control things here. The reference may be specifically to the eretz promised to Abraham; it had been promised to Israel, "the children of men".

Psa 115:17

The dead don’t praise Yah, neither any who go down into silence-
This may be a request to restore the Kingdom in the lifetime of the exiles, or the psalmist in exile; so that they could praise Yahweh for it now, rather than die without seeing it. But all the same the point is established that death is not a conscious state; for even the righteous cannot praise Yahweh in death, which is a place of "silence". The  fact the dead don't praise God means that we who are alive must praise Him. And quite possibly, the more we are aware of our mortality, the deeper is our praise and gratitude to God. For this life, and for the eternal life ahead which is referenced in the next verse. "The dead" may specifically refer to those portrayed in :8- those who make dead idols and are like them, dead, not fully human even in their lives.   

Psa 115:18

but we will bless Yah, from this time forth and forevermore. Praise Yah!-

The "we" are in contradistinction to the dead of :17. It refers to those now alive; and "we", the psalmist's generation, would praise God then and forever. He may have in view the final resurrection at the last day; but he may  also have hoped as we do, that they were the final generation who would never die if the Kingdom was established in their lifetime.

The idea may be that we will eternally be praising the name of Yahweh; in the sense of appreciating and praising His characteristics. For the declaration of His Name to Moses involved the listing of His characteristics which combine to make up His personality. We can begin living the eternal life now, in that we can now act as we shall eternally. We shall be eternally appreciating, trusting, loving and praising God's Name- and we can begin that now. This is an Old Testament form (also in Ps. 113:2; 115:18; 121:8; 125:2; 131:3) of the Lord's teaching as recorded in John's Gospel, that we can have and live the eternal life right now. We have that life not in the sense that we shall never die, but in that we can begin living and being now as we shall eternally live and be.