Psalm 115

Psa 115:1

SUBJECT: Scorn against idols. Poss author: Isaiah (Isa 44:9-20; 46:1-10). Cp 2Ch 32:17,19; Isa 3614,16,18; Psa 42:10; 74:10,18,22,23; 79:10,12.

LOVE AND FAITHFULNESS: "Mercy and truth" (AV). A technical term for God's promises (Mic 7:20; Gen 24:27; 32:9,10; Psa 40:10; 85:10).

Psa 115:2

The idiocy, from the pagan point of view, in worshiping a God no one can see! Well, where was He? -- they asked. To their consternation and eternal sorrow, they were soon to discover that -- though the God of Israel dwelt in heaven (v 3) -- His might and power and glory were centered in Jerusalem.

Psa 115:3

Cp the Lord's Prayer (Mat 6:9-11; Luk 11:2-4): "Which art in heaven... Thy will be done"; and v 1: "Hallowed by Thy Name".

Psa 115:4

Their idols are silver and gold. And so today many men worship silver and gold in a slightly different form! Are they any less "idolatrous" (see Col 3:5)?

MADE BY THE HANDS OF MEN: "Of a truth, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations, and their countries. And have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them" (Isa 37:18,19). "And they spake against the God of Jerusalem, as against the gods of the people of the earth, which were the work of the hands of man" (2Ch 32:19).

Psa 115:5

Vv 5-7: THEY HAVE MOUTHS... EYES... EARS... NOSES... HANDS... FEET...: So these idols should at least have the senses which a man has. But not they! Not one characteristic of life or intelligence. Thus they are called "vanities" and "nothing" (ie, "no-gods") by Paul (Act 14:15-17; 1Co 8:4-6; see BThes 38,39). Yet such "nothings" are worshiped by the most powerful nation on earth. "Lord, what fools these mortals be!"

EYES, BUT THEY CANNOT SEE:
"Half dazzled peering through the lens,
Self-blinded by the test-tube's reek,
They gauge the wave length of the tones,
But hear not the Creator speak.

"O fools and blind! O fools and blind!
The blinder since you think you see;
Tracing the veining of the leaf,
You miss the glory of the tree.

"The feather of the painted wing
You view with microscopic eye,
Laying each nerve and tendon bare,
Yet never see the butterfly.

"You seek the reptiles in the slime
Of oozy cave and cavern dim,
And see not circling overhead
The chariots of the Cherubim" (CAL).

Psa 115:8

THOSE WHO MAKE THEM WILL BE LIKE THEM: Like the idols, they who manufacture and then worship them will one day be silent (v 17) -- in their graves! Even now, they are "deaf", "dumb", "blind", and totally insensible to the Glory of God all around them. (Cp Christ's rebuke of the "blind" Pharisees: Joh 3:19,20; 9:39-41; 12:40.) That man grows more and more like what he admires or worships is a principle well-attested in Deu 7:26 -- and just as true today as in Moses' time: "Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it: but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing."

AND SO WILL ALL WHO TRUST IN THEM: "Trust" leads on to vv 9-11. What a contrast! Note Isa 37:10. It may be that "Israel", in v 9 here, means Hezekiah himself. This usage is common in Isaiah (eg, Isa 41:8,9; 43:1,5; 44:1,2,21).

Psa 115:10

HOUSE OF AARON: The high priest Urijah, whom Hezekiah inherited from his worthless father Ahaz, was a feeble flatterer and parasite (2Ki 16:10-16), soon to be replaced by the worthy Eliakim (Isa 22:20-22; 37:2).

Psa 115:11

YOU WHO FEAR HIM: That is, those out of the estranged northern tribes who rallied to Hezekiah's reformation and Passover (2Ch 30:1-12).

HELP AND SHIELD: Cp Psa 33:20. A chanted refrain (vv 9-11)! "For I will defend this city to save it for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake" (Isa 37:35).

Psa 115:12

The High Priest's blessing: Num 6:23-27.

Psa 115:13

Quoted in Rev 11:18; 19:5.

Psa 115:14

Hezekiah's anxiety that he might die childless, and the Davidic covenant be cut off (Psa 112;2; 113:9).

Psa 115:16

THE EARTH HE HAS GIVEN TO MAN: Either as an eternal inheritance in His Messianic Kingdom (v 18), or as an eternal sleeping place (v 17)! Heaven and earth are eventually combined in a lasting redemption through the Messiah (v 18).

For the earth as the eternal reward of the righteous, see (a small sampling of proof-texts!) Gen 13:15; Num 14:21; Psa 37:11,29; Pro 10:30; 11:31; Isa 11:9; 45:18; Dan 2:44; 7:27; Zec 14:16; Mat 5:5; Luk 13:28; Rom 4:13; Rev 2:26,27; 5:10.

Are there ramifications here regarding man's insatiable quest to explore outer space? Do more disasters await those who refuse to be content with the terrestrial home provided mankind by God?

Psa 115:17

THOSE WHO GO DOWN TO SILENCE: Not up into heaven to play a harp for ever!? Cp Hezekiah's psalm: "For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth" (Isa 38:18,19). Even a righteous man like Hezekiah knew he would not go to heaven at death (cp Joh 3:13; Act 2:29,34).

For death as an unconscious state, see Psa 6:5; 88:10-12; 104:33; 146:3,4; Ecc 9:5,6,10.

This v is particularly fitting to describe the Egyptian army overwhelmed under the waves of the Red Sea.