Psalms 135

Psalm 135 and Psalm 136 form an appendix to the Songs of Ascent (Psalms 120-134). They are the songs of praise of all Israel because of the goodness and great mercies of the LORD now that Israel is once again a nation of twelve tribes returned in the land with Him. In Psalm 135, the restored nation of Israel is called upon to praise the Name of the Lord. Psalm 136 is the answer to that.

In Psalm 135 we see representatives of the twelve tribes standing in the courts of the LORD’s house. They are called upon to magnify the LORD (verses 1-4) because of His great power and His redemption (verses 5-12) and because of the purifying of the people (verses 13-18). In the final verses, all are called to praise the LORD (verses 19-21).

The psalm begins with “praise the LORD!” or “hallelujah!” (verse 1). This word “hallelujah” meaning “praise the LORD” occurs fifteen times in Psalms, the first time only in Psalm 104 (Psa 104:35). In the New Testament, this word occurs only – and only four times – in the book of Revelation, when the LORD has accepted the kingdom (Rev 19:1,3,4,6). This sparse use in the Bible stands in stark contrast to the frequent use of this word in certain parts of professing Christianity.

In this psalm, the “hallelujah” sounds three times (verses 1,3,21). The object of the praise is “the Name of the LORD”; the bringers of the praise are the “servants of the LORD”. The Name of the LORD is “I AM WHO I AM” (Exo 3:14), that is, He is without beginning, without origin. He is Himself the origin of everything. He is the Eternal, the eternally Being.

He created everything to His glory. Therefore, it is becoming for every creature to praise Him. Not all creatures do. His servants do. It is an enormous privilege to serve Him, because that means being in His presence. That alone is reason enough to praise Him.

Then the place where the praise is done is mentioned (verse 2). It happens “in the house of the LORD, in the courts of the house of our God”. “The house of the LORD” – that is the new temple described by Ezekiel (Ezekiel 40-43) – is His dwelling place in the midst of His people. “The courts” are the court for the priests and a great, or outer, court for the people (2Chr 4:9). The two courts show that there is a separation between the priests and the common people (cf. Eze 10:3,5).

This separation does not exist for the believer of the church. The New Testament believer is both a priest and an ordinary member of the people (1Pet 2:5,9). That he is a priest points to the privilege to draw near to God with sacrifices. That he is an ordinary member of the people points to his every day life that he is to live in accordance with his high calling as a child of God to be a witness in the world. His life in ‘the great court’ of the world takes place in the direct presence of God, even though his earthly obligations prevent him from thinking of it in concrete terms. His life is to the praise of God when he remembers in everything that he lives before His face.

There is reason to praise the LORD, “for the LORD is good” (verse 3). He alone is good (Mk 10:18b). He is good in His benefits to His people by virtue of the new covenant (Jer 31:31-34). There are two reasons to magnify Him:
1. His eternal power and Divinity, which are evident in creation.
2. His redemptive power.
We see the first aspect in Revelation 4 and the second in Revelation 5.

There is also reason to sing psalms “for His Name, for it is lovely” (cf. Psa 147:1). He has made His Name known in love to His people, which He also proved, as the next verse says.

The word “for” with which verse 4 begins indicates that now the reason for the call in the previous verse follows. A close relationship has been established between God and His people. That relationship has emanated from God. He “has chosen Jacob for Himself, Israel for His own possession” (cf. Exo 19:5; Deu 7:6; 14:2; cf. Mal 3:17).

The word “possession” refers to a precious treasure, which is carefully kept and is to the special joy of a king (cf. Exo 19:5; Mt 13:44). This is a wonder of grace, about which the people can only marvel and rejoice with gratitude. For this he can praise the LORD and sing psalms.

It is clear that God’s election of Jacob is in no way due to Jacob himself. The name Jacob means ‘heels holder’. Jacob’s life – and that of his descendants – proves that he ‘honored’ his name. This only adds to the wonder of his election. When it is added that God elected “Israel for His own possession”, it is because He made Jacob Israel. God has done that. To Him therefore belongs all honor, praise, glory and worship.

For us, believers of the church, the same applies and to an even greater degree. We may know that God has chosen us for His own possession, which means that He has predestined us to adoption as sons to Himself (Eph 1:4-5). This is an unfathomable, immeasurable privilege when we consider what we are by nature and where we have come from.

We lived in sin and deserved the second death: the lake of fire (Rev 20:14-15). We had absolutely no right to anything whatsoever. And now we have been made household members of God (Eph 2:11-22). What Israel is as a people, we are personally. We are personally the special objects of His grace and joy (Tit 2:14; 1Pet 2:9). This cannot but bring us to great admiration and gratitude which we express in praise to Him Who conceived and wrought all this (Rev 1:5-6).

From the depths of his heart, the righteous acknowledges in an emphatic personal confession, “I”, that “the LORD is great” (verse 5). This is, as it were, the echo of Jethro’s personal confession when he saw what the LORD had done to Israel (Exo 18:11). He is absolute in His greatness. It is folly to make any comparison between Him and anyone or anything else. There is no one and nothing to compare Him to (Exo 15:11; Isa 40:18,25). The gods that are there are dwarfed in His presence.

The muslims cry ‘allahu akbar’ – meaning ‘allah is greater’ (than other gods) – but the psalmist exclaims “the LORD is great”. In the book of Isaiah, the LORD is called “the First and the Last” (Isa 44:6), meaning that He is not only the greatest, but also the Only One, the only true God. There is no God outside of Him.

He is the “Lord”, Adonai, the sovereign Ruler of the universe. This is how the righteous know Him, for they speak of “our Lord”. He is the absolute Ruler, Who can and does do whatever pleases Him (verse 6). He not only has a sovereign will, but also absolute power and might to carry out His will. Nor is there any area or territory that can escape His power. His sovereignty and power are unlimited. He does what pleases Him “in heaven and in the earth” and also “in the seas and in all the deeps” (cf. Jer 10:13; 51:16). The “deeps” are the subterranean waters.

That He is Lord over creation is a fact. That He is Lord over men is at present a choice. The believers acknowledge His lordship, the unbelievers do not, that is, not yet. For a day is coming “that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil 2:10-11).

The entire universe is created by Him and therefore subject to Him. Here it is not primarily about the LORD as Creator, but about His power over creation. It is about God’s eternal power and Divine nature, which have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made (Rom 1:20). Knowing His eternal power and Divine nature should lead us to honor Him and give thanks to Him as God (Rom 1:21). That is what the psalmist is doing here.

His power is evident in causing vapors to ascend (verse 7). We speak of evaporating the water, but the psalmist teaches us here that God does it. The Canaanites believe that the Baal works this. In the future, man will believe that the beast can do anything (Rev 13:4). The remnant, however, puts their trust in Him Who has said that to Him all authority in heaven and on earth has been given (Mt 28:18).

The psalmist is not speaking as a physicist, but as a believer who knows that everything that happens on earth comes from God, is worked by Him. In the same way, we speak of ‘it lightens’ and ‘it blows’, while here we read that God “makes lightnings for the rain” and “brings forth the wind from His treasuries” (cf. Job 38:22). He is indeed incomparably great. We cry out with the writer of the song: ‘How great Thou art, how great Thou art!’

God is not only great in His power over creation and nature, He is also great when He uses His power to redeem His people. That people He has chosen to be His people, that they may serve Him. The redemption of the remnant of Israel in the future is now described in the language of the redemption from Egypt.

The redemption from Egypt is a foreshadowing of the redemption to come. The redemption from Egypt focuses on the death of the firstborn (verse 8), and from verse 10 on the death of the hostile kings. The future redemption involves driving out the antichrist and defeating the kings of the nations.

In their deliverance from Egypt, God acted with great display of power. The greatest display of power is mentioned first, which is His power over life and death. For the deliverance of His people, He broke the power of the enemy by smiting “the firstborn of Egypt, both of man and beast” (Exo 11:5; 12:29). It is the culmination of the ten plagues on Egypt, the culmination of the signs and wonders for God’s people. Egypt is struck to the heart by it.

He did have this supreme display of power precede by “signs and wonders into your midst, O Egypt” (verse 9; Psa 105:27-36). In the middle of his argument, the psalmist suddenly addresses Egypt, so involved is he in and impressed by what God has done. Pharaoh and all his servants have had to acknowledge the power of God in the signs and wonders done in their midst.

The Israelites owe their existence to the LORD’s deliverance from Egypt. That is why this is repeated again and again (cf. Psa 78:51; Neh 9:10). The believers of the New Testament dispensation realize that they owe their existence to the redemption by the Lord Jesus on the cross of Calvary. Therefore, their redemption is also spoken of with regularity (cf. Gal 2:20; Eph 1:7; Rev 1:5b).

After He delivered His people from the bondage of Egypt, He did not leave them to themselves. On their journey through the wilderness, He “smote many nations and slew mighty kings” (verse 10; Deu 7:1) who sought to bar their way to the promised land.

The first redemption of Israel is their redemption from the power of the false king, Pharaoh of Egypt. The first deliverance in the future is from the power of the false king of Israel, the antichrist. The final deliverance of Israel, before the people enter the promised land, is from hostile powers in the wilderness side of Jordan. The last deliverance from hostile powers in the future, just before the realm of peace, is also in the area at the eastside of Jordan, namely from the power of the hostile nations in Edom (Isa 63:1-6).

God killed “Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan” and defeated “all the kingdoms of Canaan” (verse 11; Num 21:21-26,33-35; Deu 2:30-33; 3:1-6). Sihon and Og are mentioned by name. The defeating of these kings is described in detail in Joshua 12 (Jos 12:1-6). They are the first hostile nations of whom God tells His people to conquer and take possession of their territory. Of the rest of the kings, “all the kingdoms”, only the names are mentioned in Joshua 12 with the mention at the end of “in all, thirty-one kings” (Jos 12:9-24).

Having thus paved the way for His people in power and majesty, God gave the land of the hostile nations “as a heritage, a heritage to Israel His people” (verse 12; Deu 4:38; Psa 111:6). The heritage consists of both the possession of the land on the east side of Jordan (Deu 3:12) and the possession of the land of Canaan.

The Name LORD is the Name of God by which He has made Himself known to His people and committed Himself to them (verse 13). In that Name He sent Moses to deliver His people from bondage and declared that this would be His Name forever, “throughout all generations” (Exo 3:15; 6:3,6-8). In that Name He has taken upon Himself the care of them forever. The Name here is associated with “Your remembrance, O LORD”. This is also the case with the Supper in the New Testament, of which the Lord Jesus said to eat the bread and drink the wine “in remembrance of Me” (1Cor 11:23-26).

That Name is the guarantee that He will provide justice for His people after the people have utterly failed (verse 14). They have turned their backs on Him and begun to serve idols. Moses describes this in his song in Deuteronomy 32 (Deu 32:36-39). On that basis, the LORD should, by the exercise of justice, exterminate them.

Moses also sings that the LORD “will have compassion on His servants”. “His servants” are those among the people who have remained faithful to Him, a remnant. To them He will fulfill His covenant. He will provide them justice on the basis of Christ’s work on the cross. Through this, reconciliation has been established between them and God and God can fulfill His promises to them.

In this section the judgment on the idols is presented (cf. Psa 115:4-8). This is a warning to the people and should keep them from placing any value at all on those idols. Unfortunately, they closed their eyes to that. They have committed fornication with the idols (Hos 2:2-15; 4:17). As a result, these idols also became the cause of their fall (cf. Deu 32:37-39). For this the ten tribes were taken away into the scattering by the Assyrians. For this the two tribes were taken away into exile to Babylon by the Babylonians.

“The idols of the nations” prove to be worthless in the defense of Canaan. God completely makes an end to them and gives the land to His people. The whole world belongs to Him and He determines who lives where, starting from the area He has reserved for His own people (Deu 32:8).

The idols, because they are of “silver and gold”, may look as shiny and valuable as ever, they are nothing more than “the work of man’s hands” (verse 15; Isa 40:19). It is folly at its best to trust in something of one’s own making, for which the material was taken from a perishable creation (Isa 44:9).

The description of the idols is full of sarcasm. Look at these images: “They have mouths, but they do not speak; they have eyes, but they do not see” (verse 16). You can ask them whatever you want, but you won’t get an answer, because they don’t speak. You can bow down to them and ask for their attention, but they will not see you, because they cannot see.

There are also ears made on their head (verse 17). You may think they hear you if you shout loudly, but they do not hear you, for they are made of dead matter. Don’t you see then that there is not “any breath at all in their mouths”? Breathing generally means life, but idols are totally lifeless.

These dumb, blind, deaf, lifeless human products are nothing but a representation of the thinking of their makers. Therefore, their makers will become like them (verse 18). “Everyone who trusts in them”, anyone who worships these dumb idols and expects anything from them, will become as dumb, blind, deaf, and lifeless as they are. That is what happened to the people of Israel (Isa 43:8; Jer 5:21). This is generally the condition of humanity in the end time (Rev 9:20).

The psalm ends with a fourfold call to bless or praise the LORD (verses 19-20). The call is addressed to the entire “house of Israel”, the “house of Aaron” (verse 19), the “house of Levi”, and “you who revere the LORD” (verse 20). This call corresponds to earlier calls (Psa 115:9-11; 118:2-4), to which the “house of Levi” is added here.

Psalm 134 also begins with this call to “bless the LORD“. To bless means to say good things about the LORD, to praise Him by word and deed, by showing that your trust is completely in Him. Psalm 135 begins with the call to praise the LORD – a different Hebrew word than in Psalm 134 – and ends with a fourfold call to bless Him, as in Psalm 134. The call to “you who revere the LORD” means that those from the nations who revere the LORD are also called to join Israel in praising the LORD.

This blessing of the LORD occurs “from Zion” (verse 21), for Zion is the center of worship. That is where the groups mentioned in the previous verses are located. They are now praising the LORD from His presence. The LORD is there. He dwells “in Jerusalem”, in His temple.

The righteous ends the psalm as he began it (verse 1), with a jubilant “hallelujah”, or “praise the LORD”. By this he is saying that the psalm is a psalm of praise from beginning to end.