Psalms 115:18

But we will bless the LORD from this time forth and for evermore. Praise the LORD. BUT WE WILL BLESS THE LORD FROM THIS TIME FORTH AND FOR EVERMORE - i:e., we shall have the opportunity still given us by Him to bless Him from this time and forever (). These two verses contain the plea why Yahweh should and must deliver His people from extinction. Compare ; ; Psalms 88:10; Isaiah 38:18....

9-18 It is folly to trust in dead images, but it is wisdom to trust in the living God, for he is a help and a shield to those that trust in him. Wherever there is right fear of God, there may be cheerful faith in him; those who reverence his word, may rely upon it. He is ever found faithful. The greatest need his blessing, and it shall not be denied to the meanest that fear him. God's blessing gives an increase, especially in spiritual blessings. And the Lord is to be praised: his goodness is large, for he has given the earth to the children of men for their use. The souls of the faithful, after they are delivered from the burdens of the flesh, are still praising him; but the dead body cannot praise God: death puts an end to our glorifying him in this world of trial and conflict. Others are dead, and an end is thereby put to their service, therefore we will seek to do the more for God....

Verse Psalms 115:18. _BUT WE WILL BLESS THE LORD_] Our fathers, who received so much from thy bounty, are _dead_, their _tongues_ are _silent_ in the _grave_; we are in their place, and wish to magnify thy name, for thou hast dealt bountifully with us. But grant us those farther blessings before we die which we so much need; and we will praise thee as _living_ monuments of thy mercy, and the praise we begin _now_ shall continue for ever and ever. The _Targum_, for "neither any that go down into silence," has "nor any that descend into the house of earthly sepulture," that is, the _tomb_. The Anglo-Saxon: [A.S.], _neither all they that go_ _down into hell_. _Nogh the dede sal loue the Lorde, ne al that_ _lyghtes in hell_. Old Psalter. The word _hell_ among our ancestors meant originally the covered

BUT WE WILL BLESS THE LORD ... - While life lasts; now and ever onward. Our lives are spared; and while those lives shall be continued they shall be spent in praise. We will transmit the praise to future times; and when we are dead, the voice of praise shall be prolonged by those who come after us. It may be added here that we have now higher and clearer views of the grave and of the future world than the psalmist had, and that though it is certain that our voices of praise must be stilled by death, yet in another world we shall continue the work of praise in strains more lofty than here, and in a continuance of service that shall never end. The grave is, indeed, before us all; but so is also heaven, if we belong to those who truly fear the Lord, and who sincerely worship him through Christ Jesus....

EXPOSITION A LITURGICAL psalm, in which a divided choir, together with a leader—a priest or precentor—take separate parts. The occasion is one of danger (Psalms 115:2), but, at the same time, of confident hope and trust (Psalms 115:3, Psalms 115:9). A portion of the choir begin with an appeal to God for help against the heathen, whose vain worship of idols they cover with scorn (Psalms 115:1). The leader then exhorts to trust in God in the first clause of three consecutive verses (Psalms 115:9,...

BUT WE WILL BLESS THE LORD FROM THIS TIME FORTH AND FOR EVERMORE,.... The Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Ethiopic, and Arabic versions, render it, "we who are alive"; both in a corporeal and in a spiritual sense who, as long as we live, and while we have a being, will bless the Lord; being made spiritually alive, quickened by the Spirit and grace of God, and so capable of ascribing blessing, praise, and glory to him, for all the great and good things he has done; and especially when in lively frames, or in the lively exercise of grace: and that from this time; under a sense of present favours, and outward mercies being renewed every day; yea, throughout the whole of life, and so to all eternity in the world above; see Isaiah 38:19. PRAISE THE LORD; let others do the same as we; let us join together in this work, now and hereafter....

This is one of the Psalms, which were sung by the Jews at the feast of the Passover. It is highly probable that they were sung by our Lord on that memorable night when he instituted the sacred feast which is to be the perpetual memorial of his death, «until he come.» They have, however, a message for us who are now gathered together here. Psalms 115:1. _Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake. Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God?_ They talk about what he did when he brought his people up out of Egypt; but they tauntingly ask, «Where is now their God?» Thou art not dead, O God! Nor art thou even waxing weak; wilt thou not let the heathen know that they are resisting thee in vain? Psalms 11

Psalms 115 Who Their God is? _ 1. Israel's God (Psalms 115:1)_ 2. In Contrast with Idols (Psalms 115:4) 3. O Israel Trust in the Lord (Psalms 115:9) Here Israel acknowledges her Saviour-Lord, unto Him alone is glory due. The nations had asked, Where is now their God? (Psalms 43:3; Psalms 79:10) The Contrast between the God of Israel and the dumb idols of the nations follows. But Israel's God, the Lord, who has delivered them, is the l

CXV. THE BLINDNESS OF IDOLATRY AND THE VIRTUE OF UTTER TRUST IN YAHWEH. Psalms 115:2 f. An invisible god was unintelligible to the average heathen; he believed that the god was specially present in the idol, his energy being focussed there. On the other hand, the heathen did not, as the Psalmist assumes, identify idol and god. Psalms 115:17, like Psalms 80:5, expressed the common Jewish belief that all connexion between God and man ends with the life that now is. After death God remembers us no more....

PRAISE THE LORD. Hebrew Hallelu-Jah....