Psalm 115:1-8

Vindication of God’s Glory over against the Idols

This psalm may have been a cry of Israel for the assistance of the Lord in the face of invading enemies, who placed their confidence in their heathen idols.

V. 1. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, the repetition of the cry serving for emphasis, but unto Thy name give glory, so that His essence and His attributes might properly be proclaimed before all men, for Thy mercy, His free, unmerited favor, and for Thy truth’s sake, on account of the faithfulness set forth in the promises of His Word. It is God’s glory, and that alone, about which the faithful are ever concerned, not about their own honor.

V. 2. Wherefore should the heathen say, in mockery on account of the sorry plight of God’s people forsaken by their God, Where is now their God? This taunt was actually used by the messengers of Sennacherib, the Assyrian king, in his campaign against Hezekiah, Is. 36, 15-20. But while the psalmist records the mockery of the enemies, he also sets over against it the trust of the believers.

V. 3. But our God is in the heavens, invisible indeed, but nevertheless ruling the world; He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased, for He alone is the almighty God, in contrast with the utter impotence of the idols of the heathen.

V. 4. Their idols are silver and gold, carved images, manufactured out of precious metals, indeed, but without real existence, the work of men’s hands, constructed, poured, carved, by weak and puny human beings, not even created, but made.

V. 5. They have mouths, as fashioned by the artist making them, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not; v. 6. they have ears, but they hear not; noses have they, but they smell not; v. 7. they have hands, but they handle not, or, “ their hands are there, yet they feel not”; feet have they, but they walk not; neither speak they through their throat, they cannot even mutter, utter an articulate sound. Note the pairing of the members and the effective way of grouping each pair, in order to bring out strongly the inanimate, dead character of the idols. Compare Psalm 135, 15-17; Isaiah 44, 9-17; Jeremiah 10, 3-6.

V. 8. They that make them are like unto them, devoid of proper understanding; so is everyone, whether maker or worshiper, that trusteth in them. Idolatry lowers not only the religious and moral, but also the intellectual standard of a people.