Psalm 135

Introduction

Psalm 135 begins with a call to praise the Lord. And in the rest of the psalm, the psalmist tells us why God should be praised. He should be praised because of his goodness and because of his power. We see his goodness in the way he chose his people. We see his power in his work of providence and in his work of redemption. And so, all his servants should praise the name of the Lord our God.

Verses 1 and 2

The psalm begins in verses 1 and 2 with a call to praise the Lord. As you can see, the psalmist is using God’s special covenant name, which appears in our English Bibles as LORD in capital letters. God’s special covenant name speaks us to of how he has bound himself to his people with a promise to be their God and to take care of them always. And so, instead of praising Baal or Molech or Dagon, praise this God, the Lord.

And the psalmist calls on the servants of the Lord — who minister in the courts of the house of the Lord — to praise him. He’s referring to the priests and Levites, who served in the temple in Jerusalem. This recalls Psalm 134, where the psalmist was leaving Jerusalem. But before he left, he called on the priests and Levites who remained in Jerusalem to continue to worship the Lord. And here at the beginning of Psalm 135, the psalmist again calls on the priests and Levites to praise the Lord.

Verses 3 and 4

And they should praise the Lord, because the Lord is good. That’s in verse 3.

When we studied the attributes of God a few years ago, we thought about God’s goodness. And I said that God is good in the sense that he is excellent. A person might be praised for being a good or excellent parent; or for being a good or excellent child; or for being a good or excellent spouse; or for being good or excellent at their job. And God should be praised because he is a good God. He’s an excellent God. There is no one who is better than him.

So, God is good in the sense that he is excellent. But he’s also good in the sense that he’s kind. He’s good and kind to his whole creation, because he provides his creatures with what we need. He sends the sun and the rain on all kinds of people and on the animals and gives them the food they need.

But then his goodness also includes his kindness to the church. And that’s what the psalmist is thinking about in verses 3 and 4, because he praises the Lord for choosing Jacob. And when he refers to Jacob, he’s not only thinking of the man Jacob, but of all the people who came from Jacob. He’s thinking of the people of Israel who were the church of God in Old Testament times. Of all the nations of the world, the Lord chose the descendants of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob to be his treasured possession. He chose them to be his special people. And while he continued to show his kindness to the other nations by sustaining them day after day, he was especially kind and good to the people of Israel, because he established a covenant with them to be their God and to take care of them always. And he promised to give them the land of Canaan, an Eden-like land flowing with milk and honey, where he would bless them abundantly and where he would dwell in their midst. And he gave them his law and he gave them instructions on the sacrifices they should offer for the forgiveness of their sins.

So, praise the Lord for his goodness to his people.

Verses 5 to 7

And praise the Lord for his power, which we see in his works of providence.

We’re now looking at verses 5 to 7, where the psalmist says that he knows the Lord is great. In fact, he knows that the Lord is greater than all gods. The nations might boast about their gods, but the God of Israel was far, far, far greater. He’s far greater than they are, because he’s able to do whatever pleases him. You and I can’t do whatever pleases us, because we’re continually frustrated by our limitations and weaknesses and by our circumstances. But the Lord is not limited or restricted in any way and there is nothing he cannot do and there is nothing that is impossible for him. And he’s therefore able to do whatever pleases him in the heavens above and on the earth below and in the seas and all their depths.

And when it came to the gods of the nations, one god was believed to have authority over one place, but not another. But the Lord our God rules over the whole of his creation. And he’s the one who makes clouds rise and he sends lightning and rain and the wind. You and I cannot control the weather. We hope the sun will shine, but we can’t make the sun shine. But the Lord our God is great. He’s powerful. He’s the one who controls the weather and everything else in his creation.

Verses 8 to 12

And God displays his power in his work of redemption. So, we’re now looking at verses 8 to 12.

He refers first of all to the time of the exodus when God sent the plagues on the Egyptians to persuade them to let his people go. He mentions the tenth plague first, when God struck down the firstborn males in Egypt. And then he refers to the other plagues in verse 9 where he calls them signs and wonders. And so, he performed these mighty deeds to rescue his people from their captivity.

The psalmist then refers to the conquest of Canaan in verses 10 to 12. So, he struck down many nations and killed mighty kings and he took their land and gave it to the people of Israel as their inheritance. And so, he performed mighty deeds in order to give his people a land of their own.

And so, the rescued his people from their slavery in Egypt and he brought them through the wilderness and gave them the Promised Land. In this way, he displayed his great power. But, of course, he also displayed his goodness, because he exercised his great power on behalf of his people.

Verses 13 to 18

In verses 13 and 14, the psalmist says that the name of the Lord — or God’s renown — endures for ever and through all generations. God’s name or God’s renown refer to what God is known for. So, God is known for being good and powerful. And since God is good and powerful, he will vindicate his people and he will have compassion on his servants. The Lord will vindicate his people by rescuing from their enemies.

It’s possible the psalmist is thinking about the exile. For a time, because of their persistent rebellion, the Lord sent his people into exile so that a foreign nation ruled over them. But the Lord hadn’t abandoned his people, because when the time was right, he was going to rescue them from their captivity and bring them back to the Promised Land. And when they were in exile, the nations may have mocked them for trusting in their God. But in the end, their faith in God was vindicated when he delivered them and restored them to the Promised Land.

And so, their God is good and powerful. On the other hand, the gods of the nations are silver and gold. They are man-made. They have mouths, but can’t speak. They have eyes, but can’t see. They have ears, but can’t hear. There is no breath in their mouths, because they are lifeless. They’re only idols. Statutes. Whereas the Lord our God speaks to his people to reassure them of his love and mercy. And he sees his people and what they’re going through. And he hears their cries and he answers them. He is the one, true and living God. Those who make and trust in idols will become like them. In other words, they will die and become lifeless. But our God is the living God who gives life to his people.

Verses 19 to 21

And so, the psalm ends with another call to praise the Lord. All the people of Israel and all the Aaronic priests and all the Levites are called to praise the Lord. They’re to gather in the temple on Mount Zion to praise the Lord who dwells among his people in Jerusalem.

Conclusion

The psalmist called on the people of Israel to praise the Lord because he chose them. And the Lord has chosen us to be his people as well, even though we have done nothing and will never do anything to deserve it. Nothing we have done or ever will do will make us worthy to belong to him as members of his people. And so, his decision to choose us as his people is entirely due to his goodness to us in Christ Jesus.

The psalmist called on the people of Israel to praise the Lord because of his work of providence. He controls the weather and everything else in his creation. And as part of God’s providential control of all things, he made sure that his Only Begotten Son would be arrested and tried and sentenced and crucified for us and for our salvation. All of this happened according to his most holy and perfect plan, which he carried out perfectly. And on the third day, he who gives life to all things raised his Son from the dead and exalted him to the highest place. And as part of God’s providential control of all things, he also arranged for someone to tell us the good news so that we could repent and believe in Christ for salvation.

The psalmist called on the people of Israel to praise the Lord because of his work of redemption. He delivered his people from their slavery in Egypt and brought them to the Promised Land. And God has rescued us from our slavery to sin and satan and death and he will bring us and all his people to the Promised Land of Eternal Life in the new heavens and earth. And just as he rescued Israel from Egypt because of the death of the firstborn males, so he’s able to rescue us because of the death of his Only Begotten Son, who suffered in our place so that we might be spared from God’s wrath and curse which we deserve for a lifetime of sin.

The psalmist called on the people of Israel to praise the Lord because he will vindicate his people who trusted in him. And the Lord will vindicate us and will make clear to the whole world that we were right to trust in him when we’re raised from the dead to live with God for ever and for ever. Those who worship idols will become like them. But we who trust in the one, true and living God will become like him, because we will live with him for ever.

And so, if the people of Israel, the Old Testament church, had reason to praise the Lord, we have even more reasons to praise him. And so, we should praise him today and every day. And we should look forward to the day when we will praise him in the new creation to come, where we’ll give thanks to him for saving us and for giving us eternal life because of Christ our Saviour.