4 Their idols are silver and gold, The work of men's hands.
And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.
For the customs of the peoples are vanity; for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. They are like a palm-tree, of turned work, and speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good.
Such as lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance, they hire a goldsmith, and he maketh it a god; they fall down, yea, they worship. They bear it upon the shoulder, they carry it, and set it in its place, and it standeth, from its place shall it not remove: yea, one may cry unto it, yet can it not answer, nor save him out of his trouble.
And ye see and hear, that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they are no gods, that are made with hands:
Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth; their idols are upon the beasts, and upon the cattle: the things that ye carried about are made a load, a burden to the weary `beast'. They stoop, they bow down together; they could not deliver the burden, but themselves are gone into captivity.
Who hath fashioned a god, or molten an image that is profitable for nothing?
The image, a workman hath cast `it', and the goldsmith overlayeth it with gold, and casteth `for it' silver chains. He that is too impoverished for `such' an oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a skilful workman to set up a graven image, that shall not be moved.
What say I then? that a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? But `I say', that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have communion with demons.
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.
And when the townclerk had quieted the multitude, he saith, Ye men of Ephesus, what man is there who knoweth not that the city of the Ephesians is temple-keeper of the great Diana, and of the `image' which fell down from Jupiter?
What profiteth the graven image, that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, even the teacher of lies, that he that fashioneth its form trusteth therein, to make dumb idols? Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise! Shall this teach? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it. But Jehovah is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.
For from Israel is even this; the workman made it, and it is no God; yea, the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces.
They shall be turned back, they shall be utterly put to shame, that trust in graven images, that say unto molten images, Ye are our gods.
The idols of the nations are silver and gold, The work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak not; Eyes have they, but they see not; They have ears, but they hear not; Neither is there any breath in their mouths. They that make them shall be like unto them; Yea, every one that trusteth in them.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 115
Commentary on Psalms 115 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
Call to the God of Israel, the Living God, to Rescue the Honour of His Name
This Psalm, which has scarcely anything in common with the preceding Psalm except that the expression “house of Jacob,” Psalms 114:1, is here broken up into its several members in Psalms 115:12., is found joined with it, making one Psalm, in the lxx, Syriac, Arabic and Aethiopic versions, just as on the other hand Ps 116 is split up into two. This arbitrary arrangement condemns itself. Nevertheless Kimchi favours it, and it has found admission into not a few Hebrew manuscripts.
It is a prayer of Israel for God's aid, probably in the presence of an expedition against heathen enemies. The two middle strophes of the four are of the same compass. Ewald's conjecture, that whilst the Psalm was being sung the sacrifice was proceeded with, and that in Psalms 115:12 the voice of a priest proclaims the gracious acceptance of the sacrifice, is pleasing. But the change of voices begins even with Psalms 115:9, as Olshausen also supposes.
It has to do not so much with the honour of Israel, which is not worthy of the honour (Ezekiel 36:22.) and has to recognise in its reproach a well-merited chastisement, as with the honour of Him who cannot suffer the reproaching of His holy name to continue long. He willeth that His name should be sanctified. In the consciousness of his oneness with this will, the poet bases his petition, in so far as it is at the same time a petition on behalf of Israel, upon God's cha'ris and alee'theia as upon two columns. The second על , according to an express note of the Masora, has no Waw before it, although the lxx and Targum insert one. The thought in Psalms 115:2 is moulded after Psalms 79:10, or after Joel 2:17, cf. Psalms 42:4; Micah 7:10. איּה־נא is the same style as נגדּה־נּא in Psalms 116:18, cf. in the older language אל־נא , אם־נא , and the like.
The poet, with “And our God,” in the name of Israel opposes the scornful question of the heathen by the believingly joyous confession of the exaltation of Jahve above the false gods. Israel's God is in the heavens, and is therefore supramundane in nature and life, and the absolutely unlimited One, who is able to do all things with a freedom that is conditioned only by Himself: quod vult , valet ( Psalms 115:3 = Psalms 135:6, Wisd. 12:18, and frequently). The carved gods ( עצב , from עצב , cogn. חצב , קצב ) of the heathen, on the contrary, are dead images, which are devoid of all life, even of the sensuous life the outward organs of which are imagined upon them. It cannot be proved with Ecclesiastes 5:16 that ידיהם and רגליחם are equivalent to ידים להם , רגלים . They are either subjects which the Waw apodosis cf. Genesis 22:24; Proverbs 23:24; Habakkuk 2:5) renders prominent, or casus absoluti (Ges. §145, 2), since both verbs have the idols themselves as their subjects less on account of their gender ( יד and רגל are feminine, but the Hebrew usage of genders is very free and not carried out uniformly) as in respect of Psalms 115:7 : with reference to their hands, etc. ימישׁוּן is the energetic future form, which goes over from משׁשׁ into מוּשׁ , for ימשּׁוּ . It is said once again in Psalms 115:7 that speech is wanting to them; for the other negations only deny life to them, this at the same time denies all personality. The author might know from his own experience how little was the distinction made by the heathen worship between the symbol and the thing symbolized. Accordingly the worship of idols seems to him, as to the later prophets, to be the extreme of self-stupefaction and of the destruction of human consciousness; and the final destiny of the worshippers of false gods, as he says in Psalms 115:8, is, that they become like to their idols, that is to say, being deprived of their consciousness, life, and existence, they come to nothing, like those their nothingnesses (Isaiah 44:9). This whole section of the Psalm is repeated in Ps 135 (Psalms 115:6, Psalms 115:15).
After this confession of Israel there now arises a voice that addresses itself to Israel. The threefold division into Israel, the house of Aaron, and those who fear Jahve is the same as in Psalms 118:2-4. In Ps 135 the “house of Levi” is further added to the house of Aaron. Those who fear Jahve, who also stand in the last passage, are probably the proselytes (in the Acts of the Apostles σεβόμενοι τὸν Θεόν , or merely σεβόμενοι )
(Note: The appellation φοβούμενοι does not however occur, if we do not bring Acts 10:2 in here; but in Latin inscriptions in Orelli-Hentzen No. 2523, and in Auer in the Zeitschrift für katholische Theologie 1852, S. 80, the proselyte ( religionis Judaicae ) is called metuens .))
at any rate these are included even if Israel in Psalms 115:9 is meant to signify the laity, for the notion of “those who fear Jahve” extends beyond Israel. The fact that the threefold refrain of the summons does not run, as in Psalms 33:20, our help and shield is He , is to be explained from its being an antiphonal song. In so far, however, as the Psalm supplicates God's protection and help in a campaign the declaration of confident hope, their help and shield is He , may, with Hitzig, be referred to the army that is gone or is going forth. It is the same voice which bids Israel to be of good courage and announces to the people the well-pleased acceptance of the sacrifice with the words “Jahve hath been mindful of us” ( זכרנוּ ה , cf. עתּה ידעתּי , Psalms 20:7), perhaps simultaneously with the presentation of the memorial portion ( אזכרה ) of the meat-offering (Psalms 38:1). The יברך placed at the head is particularized threefold, corresponding to the threefold summons. The special promise of blessing which is added in Psalms 115:14 is an echo of Deuteronomy 1:11, as in 2 Samuel 24:3. The contracted future יסף we take in a consolatory sense; for as an optative it would be too isolated here. In spite of all oppression on the part of the heathen, God will make His people ever more numerous, more capable of offering resistance, and more awe-inspiring.
The voice of consolation is continued in Psalms 115:15, but it becomes the voice of hope by being blended with the newly strengthened believing tone of the congregation. Jahve is here called the Creator of heaven and earth because the worth and magnitude of His blessing are measured thereby. He has reserved the heavens to Himself, but given the earth to men. This separation of heaven and earth is a fundamental characteristic of the post-diluvian history. The throne of God is in the heavens, and the promise, which is given to the patriarchs on behalf of all mankind, does not refer to heaven, but to the possession of the earth (Psalms 37:22). The promise is as yet limited to this present world, whereas in the New Testament this limitation is removed and the κληρονομία embraces heaven and earth. This Old Testament limitedness finds further expression in Psalms 115:17, where דּוּמה , as in Psalms 94:17, signifies the silent land of Hades. The Old Testament knows nothing of a heavenly ecclesia that praises God without intermission, consisting not merely of angels, but also of the spirits of all men who die in the faith. Nevertheless there are not wanting hints that point upwards which were even better understood by the post-exilic than by the pre-exilic church. The New Testament morn began to dawn even upon the post-exilic church. We must not therefore be astonished to find the tone of Psalms 6:6; Psalms 30:10; Psalms 88:11-13, struck up here, although the echo of those earlier Psalms here is only the dark foil of the confession which the church makes in Psalms 115:18 concerning its immortality. The church of Jahve as such does not die. That it also does not remain among the dead, in whatever degree it may die off in its existing members, the psalmist might know from Isaiah 26:19; Isaiah 25:8. But the close of the Psalm shows that such predictions which light up the life beyond only gradually became elements of the church's consciousness, and, so to speak, dogmas.