Psalm 136:2














Oh give thanks unto the God of gods. This expression appears to recognize other gods in order to make comparison with them of the One only, living, and true God. It is necessary to keep in mind that there are gods for whom their worshippers claim that they are verily and indeed gods. True, "the gods of the nations are idols (helpless vanities), but the Lord (Jehovah) made the heavens;" but that is the view which the worshippers of Jehovah take, not the view which the nations that serve these gods take. For us there is no comparison between God and the gods. And yet Scripture invites us to make comparisons. Some freshness may be gained by taking one point of view; but it must be regarded as a point of view, and in no sense a complete setting of truth in relation to this subject. Gods, as distinct from God, are always wrongly treated when they are regarded as distinct and independent deities. It may be the fact of history that to the mass of the people they become such; but that is their delusion. They never really are such; they are always either incarnations of God, in order to bear direct relation to human and earthly things, or they are guardian angels or patron saints. This may be clearly illustrated from the Hindu religion. Brahma is the one living god; but there are five cults of Brahma, according as he is presented incarnate in Vishnoo, 'Siva, 'Sakti, Gane'sa, or Surya. It might be said that these are gods, but the deeper truth is that they are no more than sensible helps to the apprehension of Brahma, and to right relations with him. This suggests interesting points of reflection.

I. THE SPIRITUALITY OF GOD IS OF SUPREME IMPORTANCE FOR MAN. Leave man alone, and anywhere and everywhere he will inevitably materialize God and give him some formal shape, either in act or thought. And then man deteriorates, because he puts the stamp of superiority on his bodily investiture instead of on his spiritual self. His god becomes a body, with passions to be indulged. Therefore God so jealously guards for the Israelites his unseen, spiritual Being, and forbids every attempt to make a likeness of him.

II. THE SPIRITUALITY OF GOD IS PRESERVED IN THE ONE INCARNATION IN WHICH HE HAS SHOWN HIMSELF. The "Man Christ Jesus" is the One and only true incarnation of God. It was a simple and genuine man's life, which soon gave place to a presence spiritually realized. The Christ we worship is no figure of a God. It is the God who was unseen passing by us and for a moment removing his hand and letting us see, and then passing into the unseen again. - R.T.

To Him which smote great kings.
Homilist.
I. THE MERCY OF GOD RECOGNIZED IN THE DESTRUCTION OF TYRANTS.

1. It appears in their own destruction.(1) If there be no future state it puts an end to their miseries.(2) If there be, as we believe there is, a state of future punishment, the sooner the incorrigible sinner dies the better for himself; the longer he lives the more guilt he contracts, and the greater his guilt the greater his agonies in a world of retribution.

2. It appears in the relief afforded to the race. When such demons in human flesh are cut down, the world breathes freer, obstacles are swept from its path of progress; when the Pharaohs are engulfed the human Israel can march forward to promised lands.

II. THE PRAISES OF GOD CELEBRATED ON ACCOUNT OF THE PERPETUITY OF HIS MERCY.

1. Because Divine mercy will always work for good. Therefore, the longer it continues, the better.

2. Because the future ages of the world will require mercy. There will be much for mercy to do on this planet yet, before the race will be brought hack into harmony with God.

3. Because we ourselves shall ever be dependent on mercy.

(Homilist.)

These six verses reiterate the same fact. Is the tautology tedious; do the chimes weary you with their monotony? For my part I like a repetition in the tune of a psalm as well as in its language. No doubt one verse instead of these six might have sufficed. It might have run thus, "Who slew famous kings, Sihon, king of the Amorites, Og, king of Bashan, and gave their land for a heritage to His people, for His mercy endureth for ever." That would have comprehended all the sense. But by this repetition we learn that it is well to dwell long and to dwell deliberately upon some of God's dealings with Us. This is the theme on which I want to thread a few reflections. And —

I. IT IS WELL TO DELIBERATE LONG OVER THE MERCIFUL SIDE OF GOD'S JUDGMENTS. We might have thought it more natural if we had read, for His justice, or, for His vengeance endureth for ever. But though terrible for these tyrants, it was a great mercy for others. When tyrants die nations have time to breathe. When lions fall, or the wolves are slain, the deer and sheep have time to rest. Not mercy to the one man, perhaps, to Nero, Caligula, Tiberius or the like, but to the millions who groaned under his abominable rule. And so of huge systems of error and superstition which have oppressed men. They have passed away, and others shall, "for His mercy endureth for ever."

II. EACH MERCY DESERVES TO BE REMEMBERED. See with what special point and emphasis each instance is put. They are thus given —

1. Because each mercy we have received is undeserved. In the very chapter which tells of these victories of Israel their murmurings and the fiery serpents that chastised them are told of also. It was to these people God gave these repeated victories.

2. Not one could be dispensed with. Had the Lord stopped when Sihon was slain, what would have become of Israel?

3. There was a peculiarity about each mercy. You never had two mercies from God that were quite alike.

4. But if any mercy deserves to be particularly remembered, it is early mercy. The children of Israel had not got their hands into fighting yet. They were young recruits. And so with ourselves, how we ought to remember God's mercy to us in the beginning of our career.

III. EACH MERCY DOES REALLY IN ITSELF DESERVE SEPARATE CONTEMPLATION. How we dwell in detail and fulness on our troubles. Should we not do so also with our mercies? When I have got some trouble of my own, I think I generally find myself turning it inside out and showing every bit of it — every point of it — upside down, the wrong way up, the right way up, and all ways. Ought I not to do the same with my mercies?

IV. CONTINUED BENEFITS ARE A SPECIAL PROOF OF ENDURING MERCY. For God to give one mercy might not prove that His mercy endureth for ever, but when no sooner is one given than another follows, and another follows that, the unbroken succession of wave upon wave in ceaseless regularity does show that His mercy endureth for ever. And is not this what so many of us have to tell of?

V. THE OVERRULING OF TRIALS IS A SUBJECT TO DWELL UPON WITH DELIGHT. Israel did not expect to have the territory of Sihon and Og. Their land was on the other side Jordan, but since they attacked them as unexpected foes, they got out of them unexpected territory. Unexpected trials often issue in unexpected advantages.

VI. THAT ALL THIS SHOULD BE FOR THE SAME PERSONS FURTHER SHOWS THAT "HIS MERCY," ETC. For whom does Sihon, does Og, fall but for Israel? All is for them, undeserving, evil, full of provocation as they were. Is there one of us who might not justly be in hell before the clock ticks again, if it were not that His mercy endureth for ever? Do any say, "My sins are strong, how can I master them?" Cannot He who slew great kings, yea, famous kings, cannot He slay them?

( C. H. Spurgeon.)

People
Amorites, Egyptians, Og, Pharaoh, Psalmist, Sihon
Places
Jerusalem
Topics
Age, Endures, Endureth, Everlasting, Forever, Gods, Kindness, Love, Loving, Lovingkindness, Loving-kindness, Mercy, O, Oh, Praise, Steadfast, Thanks, Unchanging
Outline
1. An exhortation to give thanks to God for particular mercies.

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Psalm 136:1-10

     4963   past, the

Psalm 136:1-20

     1035   God, faithfulness

Psalm 136:1-26

     1085   God, love of
     8352   thankfulness

Library
Pilgrim Song
Gerhard Ter Steegen Ps. cxxxvi. 16 Come, children, on and forward! With us the Father goes; He leads us, and He guards us Through thousands of our foes: The sweetness and the glory, The sunlight of His eyes, Make all the desert places To glow as paradise. Lo! through the pathless midnight The fiery pillar leads, And onward goes the Shepherd Before the flock He feeds; Unquestioning, unfearing, The lambs may follow on, In quietness and confidence, Their eyes on Him alone. Come, children, on and
Frances Bevan—Hymns of Ter Steegen, Suso, and Others

The Last Discourses of Christ - the Prayer of Consecration.
THE new Institution of the Lord's Supper did not finally close what passed at that Paschal Table. According to the Jewish Ritual, the Cup is filled a fourth time, and the remaining part of the Hallel [5717] repeated. Then follow, besides Ps. cxxxvi., a number of prayers and hymns, of which the comparatively late origin is not doubtful. The same remark applies even more strongly to what follows after the fourth Cup. But, so far as we can judge, the Institution of the Holy Supper was followed by the
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

The Minstrel
ELISHA needed that the Holy Spirit should come upon him to inspire him with prophetic utterances. "Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." We need that the hand of the Lord should be laid upon us, for we can never open our mouths in wisdom except we are under the divine touch. Now, the Spirit of God works according to his own will. "The wind bloweth where it listeth," and the Spirit of God operates as he chooseth. Elisha could not prophesy just when he liked; he must wait until
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 27: 1881

Gethsemane
We turn once more to follow the steps of Christ, now among the last He trod upon earth. The hymn,' with which the Paschal Supper ended, had been sung. Probably we are to understand this of the second portion of the Hallel, [5818] sung some time after the third Cup, or else of Psalm cxxxvi., which, in the present Ritual, stands near the end of the service. The last Discourses had been spoken, the last Prayer, that of Consecration, had been offered, and Jesus prepared to go forth out of the City, to
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

Psalms
The piety of the Old Testament Church is reflected with more clearness and variety in the Psalter than in any other book of the Old Testament. It constitutes the response of the Church to the divine demands of prophecy, and, in a less degree, of law; or, rather, it expresses those emotions and aspirations of the universal heart which lie deeper than any formal demand. It is the speech of the soul face to face with God. Its words are as simple and unaffected as human words can be, for it is the genius
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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