Introduction to Psalm 115:
My Thoughts
Psalm 115 emphasizes the futility of idols and the trustworthiness of God. The psalmist responds to the mockery of Gentiles questioning the presence of God by asserting His sovereignty and power, contrasting the lifelessness of idols with the living God. He urges Israel to trust in the Lord, who safeguards them and blesses those who revere Him. The psalm concludes with a commitment to praise the Lord eternally, underscoring the importance of acknowledging God amid national calamities and idol worship….Bill
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Commentaries:
Charles Spurgeon
In the former psalm, the past wonders which God had wrought were recounted to his honor, and in the present psalm he is entreated to glorify himself again because the heathen were presuming upon the absence of miracles, were altogether denying the miracles of former ages, and insulting the people of God with the question, “Where is now their God?” It grieved the heart of the godly that Jehovah should be thus dishonored, and treating their own condition of reproach as unworthy of notice, they beseech the Lord at least to vindicate his own name. The Psalmist is evidently indignant that the worshippers of foolish idols should be able to put such a taunting question to the people who worshipped the only living and true God; and having spent his indignation in sarcasm upon the images and their makers, he proceeds to exhort the house of Israel to trust in God and bless his name. As those who were dead and gone could no longer sing psalms unto the Lord among the sons of men, he exhorts the faithful who were then living to take care that God is not robbed of his praise, and then he closes with an exulting Hallelujah. Should not living men extol the living God?
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Enduring Word
Psalm 115 is a continuation of the collection of the Egyptian Hallel Psalms (Psalms 113-118) sung by the Jews during their Passover celebrations. It therefore makes up part of the hymns which would have been sung by Jesus and His disciples on the night He was betrayed and arrested, the night before His crucifixion (Matthew 26:30 and Mark 14:26). It is especially meaningful to consider this psalm in the heart and on the lips of Jesus during those great moments.
Regarding the structure of this psalm, James Montgomery Boice observed: “The opinion of the majority of scholars is that the psalm is liturgical, intended to be sung by alternating groups of worshipers: the priests, the high priest, the people, and so on.” (Guzik)
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Albert Barnes
It is not possible now to ascertain on what occasion this psalm was composed, or who was its author. It has been generally believed that it was written in the later periods of the Jewish history and after the captivity in Babylon. There is no improbability in the supposition, though there is nothing so marked in the psalm as to make this supposition necessary. It is evident from Psalms 115:2-3, that it was composed in a time of national calamity, and especially of such national disaster as might lead the surrounding nations to say of them that they were forsaken by the God whom they worshipped. This charge is replied to by saying that what had occurred had taken place under the divine permission and was no proof that Yahweh was not the true God. This thought leads the author of the psalm to prove the utter powerlessness of idols as compared with Yahweh, and, in view of this, to exhort the people of Israel still to trust in their own God as the Being in whom alone they could hope for protection and safety.
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John Gill
This psalm is by the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions, joined to the former, and makes one psalm with it: and Kimchi says, that in some books the psalm does not begin here; but in the best and correct copies of the Hebrew, and in the Targum, it stands a distinct psalm; and the different subject matter or argument shows it to be so. It is ascribed to various persons; by some to Moses and the Israelites, when pursued by Pharaoh: by others to the three companions of Daniel, cast into the fiery furnace: by others to Mordecai and Esther, when Haman distressed the Jews: by others to the heroes at the times of Antiochus and the Maccabees; so Theodoret: by some to Jehoshaphat, when a numerous army came against him; and by others to David, which is more probable; though on what occasion is not easy to say: some have thought it was written by him, when insulted by the Jebusites, 2 Samuel 5:6. The occasion of it seems to be some distress the church of God was in from the Heathens; and the design of it is to encourage trust and confidence in the Lord and to excite the saints to give him the glory of all their mercies, and to expose the vanity of idols.
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Matthew Henry
Many ancient translations join this psalm to that which goes next before it, the Septuagint particularly, and the vulgar Latin; but it is, in the Hebrew, a distinct psalm. In it, we are taught to give glory,
I. To God, and not to ourselves (v. 1).
II. To God, and not to idols (v. 2-8). We must give glory to God,
1. By trusting in him, and in his promise and blessing (v. 9-15).
2. By blessing him (v. 16-18).
Some think this psalm was penned upon occasion of some great distress and trouble that the church of God was in, when the enemies were in insolent and threatening, in which case the church does not so much pour out her complaint to God as place her confidence in God, and triumph in doing so; and with such a holy triumph we ought to sing this psalm.
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John D. Barry
Psalm 115, a psalm of confidence—expressing faith in God—is included in the collection of psalms known as the Egyptian Hallel (see note on 113:1–9). It portrays a community of worshipers declaring hope in God as they contrast the powerless, dead idols of the nations with their powerful, living God. The psalmist begins with a prayer for Yahweh’s help (vv. 1–2). He then contrasts Yahweh’s sovereign power with the uselessness of idols (vv. 3–8). He encourages Israel to trust in Yahweh (vv. 9–11), who will remember them and bless them (vv. 12–15). He concludes by emphasizing Israel’s living hope in the living God (vv. 16–18).
John D. Barry et al., Faithlife Study Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012, 2016), Ps 115:1–18.
The Futility of Idols and the Trustworthiness of God
1
Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us,
But to Your name give glory,
Because of Your mercy,
Because of Your truth.
2
Why should the Gentiles say,
“So where is their God?”
3
But our God is in heaven;
He does whatever He pleases.
4
Their idols are silver and gold,
The work of men’s hands.
5
They have mouths, but they do not speak;
Eyes they have, but they do not see;
6
They have ears, but they do not hear;
Noses they have, but they do not smell;
7
They have hands, but they do not handle;
Feet they have, but they do not walk;
Nor do they mutter through their throat.
8
Those who make them are like them;
So is everyone who trusts in them.
9
O Israel, trust in the Lord;
He is their help and their shield.
10
O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord;
He is their help and their shield.
11
You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord;
He is their help and their shield.
12
The Lord has been mindful of us;
He will bless us;
He will bless the house of Israel;
He will bless the house of Aaron.
13
He will bless those who fear the Lord,
Both small and great.
14
May the Lord give you increase more and more,
You and your children.
15
May you be blessed by the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.
16
The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord’s;
But the earth He has given to the children of men.
17
The dead do not praise the Lord,
Nor any who go down into silence.
18
But we will bless the Lord
From this time forth and forevermore.
Praise the Lord!
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Final Thoughts:
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. John 1:12-13 NKJV
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