|
Click a verse to see commentary
|
Select a resource above
|
Psalm 115The Impotence of Idols and the Greatness of God1 Not to us, O L ord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness. 2 Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”
3 Our God is in the heavens; he does whatever he pleases. 4 Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. 5 They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. 6 They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. 7 They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; they make no sound in their throats. 8 Those who make them are like them; so are all who trust in them.
9 O Israel, trust in the L ord! He is their help and their shield. 10 O house of Aaron, trust in the L ord! He is their help and their shield. 11 You who fear the L ord, trust in the L ord! He is their help and their shield.
12 The L ord 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 L ord, both small and great.
14 May the L ord give you increase, both you and your children. 15 May you be blessed by the L ord, who made heaven and earth.
16 The heavens are the L ord’s heavens, but the earth he has given to human beings. 17 The dead do not praise the L ord, nor do any that go down into silence. 18 But we will bless the L ord from this time on and forevermore. Praise the L ord! New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by
permission. All rights reserved.
|
11. Ye who fear Jehovah! He does not speak of strangers, as some erroneously suppose, as if this were a prediction respecting the calling of the Gentiles. Connecting them with the children of Israel and with the sons of Aaron, they are of opinion that he refers to the heathens and to the uncircumcised who were not yet gathered into the sheepfold. By parity of reason one might infer, that the priests are not of the seed of Abraham, because they are separately mentioned. It is more probable that there is in these words a tacit correction of what he had said before, by which he makes a distinction between the genuine worshippers of God and those hypocrites who were the degenerate sons of Abraham. Not a few of the seed of Abraham according to the flesh having departed from the faith of their father, the prophet here restricts the promise to those who, having received it by faith, were worshipping God in purity. We now perceive the reason for his first addressing the Israelites, next the house of Aaron, and then the fearers of Jehovah It is as if a person in our times were to point his exhortation first to the whole body of the Church, and then come more particularly to the ministers and teachers, who ought to be ensamples to others. And as many falsely pique themselves upon the mere name of being connected with the Church, and hence deserve not to be classed with God’s true followers, he expressly mentions the genuine and not the counterfeit worshippers of God. |