Psalm 135

To my family and friends: pay careful attention to this Psalm.  It is a Hillel Psalm, meaning it begins and ends with praise the LORD!  That in itself is not unusual as there are several of these in God’s Hymnbook.  It calls for praise from the Levitical servants who served in the temple, as did Psalm 134.  Thus you might say it was placed here after the Songs of Ascents because it sounds like someone who has made pilgrimage to the temple.  Again, that is not why we need to pay attention.

The reason is because this call to worship is to the faithful God, and the proof of His faithfulness is for a reason that has always been important to Israel but is also critical to all mankind, and especially in our day and in the days to come.  The layout of this Psalm is simple; it’s message profound.

·       135:1-4: The Call to Praise.  Those called are, as we noted, the servants of the LORD, you who stand in the house of the LORD.  The reason they are singled out is because of what we find about God at the end of the Psalm (v21): He dwells in Jerusalem.  The reason for this call is the goodness of God (v3), but specifically that fact that He chose Jacob to be His special treasure, God’s own description at Mt. Sinai when He first established this relationship with the nation (Ex. 19:5) and again when they prepared to enter the land He gave them (Deut. 7:6).

·       135:5-18: The God who is to be Praised.  Israel’s God is great and is above all gods.  In other words, He not only chose Israel; He is able to fulfill His plan to make them His special treasure.  Consider the nature of Israel’s God.

o   135:6-7: He is able to do whatever He pleases in heaven and earth.  He is the Creator and Sustainer of Creation.

o   135:8-12: Thus He was able to do what He needed to do with the nations in order to give Israel the land He promised, a land that was commensurate with them being His special treasure.  It was a good land, flowing with milk and honey (Ex. 33:3 and many others).  The LORD delivered them from bondage in Egypt by using His creation to bring Pharaoh to let them go.  When they approached the land the LORD gave them victories over Sihon and Og, kings of the Amorites.  Then He gave them victories over the Canaanites.  God ordered the nations in such a way as to honor His special treasure Israel.

o   135:13-14: God’s enduring name and fame revolve around His goodness to Israel.  We believe this is still the case and will be the case in the future days of tribulation.  Through God’s faithfulness to Israel the nations will come to know Who is the true God (e.g. Ezek. 37:28; 39:21-29).

o   135:15-18: God’s greatness is set against the lifeless frailty of the gods men devise and in which they trust.  Idols means empty, vain; all other trusts are empty compared to the faithful, great God of Israel.

·       135:19-21: Thus all Israel and in fact all who fear the LORD are called to ascribe praise to God. 

Let us take this to heart.  Take it according to its interpretation: even today’s presence of a nation in the land, as imperfect as it may be, is something to note in terms of God’s faithfulness.  Then apply this truth.  God will be faithful to His word to each of us in our day by day situations.  This is His fame, that He is a God and the only God of whom this can be said.