Works Volume 4, Book 5 · Psalm 115
The Hundred and Fifteenth Pſalm.
The hundred and fifteenth (by the LXXII. and Syriack and Latin and Arabick and Aethiopick †So alſo the Jewiſh Arab, who having begun the former Pſalm with [even as, O Lord thou diddeſt when Iſrael went out of Aegypt, &c. begins this with foreign even ſo, O Lord, thou doſt not, or do thou not to us what we deſerve but to thy name, &c. So Kimchi notes it of ſome copies.annexed to the former, but diſtinguiſht in the Hebrew and Chaldee) is a rendring of all glory to the true and onelyonly God in oppoſition to all Idol-Deities, and a calling upon all ſorts of men to place their whole affiance and truſt in him.
1. NOT unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory,'Tis not with us, O Lord, not with us. for thy mercy and for thy truths ſake.
Paraphrase. 1. O Lord, we ſinfull and vile men are moſt unable in the leaſt degree to glorify thee, we are moſt unworthy of the leaſt of all thy goodneſs, abundantly reached out unto us; no ſtrength of ours hath contributed in the leaſt to our felicities, no merit or deſert of ours hath brought them down from thee by way of due or challenge: thine holy bleſſed and moſt glorious name, that hath wrought all in us and for us, muſt in all reaſon have the intire honour and praiſe of all; there being no other motive or impellent to excite or invite thy mercies but thine own meer grace and favour, and thy fidelity and immutable conſtancy to thy Covenant and promiſes freely made to us, which thou wilt never fail to perform.
2. Wherefore ſhould the heathen ſay, Where is now their God?
Paraphrase. 2. The heathen Idolaters round about us have not ſped ſo well in their machinations or attempts againſt us, as to have any temptation to reproach us of the God we worſhip, that he is either unable or unwilling to help us.
3. But our God is in the heavens, he hath done whatſoever he pleaſed.
Paraphrase. 3. Though the God we worſhip be not here in any viſible ſhape among us, as their Idols are, his court of reſidence, his palace and throne being in the higheſt heavens; yet hereby is he not ſo removed from us, but that he hath been always able to perform whatſoever he hath pleaſed, as readily and effectually as if he had been always bodily preſent among us.
4. Their Idols are ſilver and gold, the work of mens hands.
5. They have mouths, but they ſpeak not; eyes have they but they ſee not;
6. They have ears, but they hear not; noſes have they, but they ſmell not;
7. They have hands, but they handle not; feet have they, but they walk not, neither ‖breath, or …u…o…r,ſpeak they through their throats.
8. They that make them are like unto them, ſo is every one that truſteth in them.
Paraphrase. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Whereas the gods falſly ſo called, which the heathens worſhip, and from whom they expect relief and aſſiſtance, are nothing but ſo many liveleſs images of wood, ſtone, or metall, conceived by them to be inſpirited by the falſe deities to whoſe names they are conſecrated, but have really not the leaſt degree of ſenſe or life in them: The materials whereof they are made are perfectly inanimate, and the artificers carving on them mouths, and eyes, and ears, and noſes, and hands, and feet, and throats, is not at all available to give them the uſe or firſt faculty of language, or ſight, or any other ſenſe, or ſo much as of breath. And then they that can carve and work them to this end, ſpecially thoſe that can offer their prayers, repoſe their confidences in ſuch inanimate ſtatues, are certainly, as to any regular uſe of their faculties, as ſenſeleſs, as irrational as any of them, act as contrary to all reaſonable or animal rules, as meer images would doe, if they were ſuppoſable to doe any thing.
9. O Iſrael, truſt thou in the Lord; he is their help and their ſhield.
Paraphrase. 9. Whilſt thoſe, the beſt gods that other nations acknowledge, are thus perfectly impotent, the God of Iſrael is a God of goodneſs and of power, as able as willing to relieve them that truſt in him. O let all that are admitted to the honour of being own'd as his people, confidently rely and repoſe their truſt in him.
10. O houſe of Aaron, truſt in the Lord; he is their help and their ſhield.
Paraphrase. 10. And above all, thoſe eſpecially that draw nigh to him, wait on his altar, officiate in his divine ſervice, are in peculiar manner obliged to offer up their prayers, and repoſe their affiance in him, who hath promiſed to be preſent and aſſiſtent to them, as thoſe which are his proxies and commiſſioners upon earth, to intercede betwixt God and man in things belonging to God.
11. Ye that fear the Lord, truſt in the Lord; he is their help and their ſhield.
Paraphrase. 11. And the ſame is the duty, or rather privilege, of all faithfull ſervants of God, to repoſe their whole truſt in him, as one that will be ſure never to fail them nor forſake them.
12. The Lord hath been mindfull of us, he will bleſs us; he will bleſs the houſe of Iſrael, he will bleſs the houſe of Aaron.
Paraphrase. 12. Of this we have had many experiences in the ſeveral acts of his power and mercy toward us, and each of thoſe is a pawn and ingagement to ſecure us of the continuance of the like both to our Church and State, Temple and People, whenſoever we have need of it.
13. He will bleſs them that fear the Lord, †the ſmall with the—foreign addeboth ſmall and great.
Paraphrase. 13. And the ſame will he not fail to doe to all true ſervants of his, of what condition ſoever they are in this world; the greateſt Prince ſhall not have any privilege herein above the meaneſt peaſant.
14. The Lord ſhall increaſe *upon you, upon you, and foreignyou more and more, you and your children.
Paraphrase. 14. And the ſame bleſſings which he beſtoweth on ſuch, he will continue and intail upon their poſterity.
15. Ye are the bleſſed of the Lord which made heaven and earth.
Paraphrase. 15. This is a prerogative indeed, wherein the pious man infinitely exceeds and ſurpaſſes all other men in the world, that he and his family, and all that come from him, are the peculiar province and care of the Creator of all the world; and what bleſſing is there that they may not confidently expect and depend on by that tenure?
16. ‖heavens of heavens foreignThe heavens, even the heavens are the Lords; but the earth hath he given to the children of men.
Paraphrase. 16. The higheſt heavens hath God provided for his own palace and court of reſidence; but the other part of the Univerſe, the inferiour globe of earth and air and ſea, hath he given to man, to have the dominion and uſe of the creatures that are therein.
17. The dead praiſe not the Lord, neither any that go down into ſilence.
18. But we will bleſs the Lord from this time forth and for evermore. Praiſe the Lord.
Paraphrase. 17, 18. And to this vaſt bounty of his what praiſes and acknowledgments of ours can ever bear any proportion? The moſt we can doe in diſcharge of this duty is, to bleſs and ſerve him conſtantly whilſt we live here; and when we are gone off from this ſcene where this ſervice is performed to him, and our bodies laid in their graves, where there is nothing but ſilence, no power or opportunities of ſerving or magnifying God any longer, to leave it as a legacy to our poſterity through all ſucceſſions unto the end of the world, that they may ſupply our defects, and ſing continual Hoſanna's and Hallelujah's to him for ever.
Annotations on Pſal. CXV.
foreignV. 1. Not unto us] foreign is literally to be rendred not with us, in the notion wherein that is ſaid to be with us which we have, or is in our power: as foreign Pſal. 73.25. who is with me? or, whom have I in heaven? and Gen. 33.9. foreign enough with me, or I have enough.
foreignV. 4. Idols] The Hebrew foreign ſignifies literally grievances; and 'tis uſually obſerved that the Jews impoſed names of ill omen on the heathen Deities: ſo the feaſts dedicated to them in their idiome are proportionably foreign mourning, foreign fear, and foreign contrition. But the word foreign which ſignifies to be ſad and anxious, ſignifies alſo by Metonymy, to form or frame any thing very diligently (applied to God's framing of us, Job 10.8. and to enemies diſtorting and depraving others words, Pſal. 56.5.) And in that notion of it alſo may be deduced foreign here, the ſimulacra, idols or Images of the Gentiles, which being conſecrated by their Prieſts, and thereby thought to be animated by thoſe whoſe images they are, thenceforth are worſhipped as Gods. So when 2 Sam. 5.21. we reade that the Philiſtims left there foreign their images, 1 Chron. 14.12. it is foreign their Gods. So S. Auguſtine De Civit. Dei l. 8. c. 23. tells us of the Theology of the heathens, received from Triſmegiſtus, that the ſimulacra or ſtatues were the bodies of their Gods, which by ſome magical ceremonies or foreign were forced to joyn themſelves as ſouls, and ſo animate and inliven thoſe dead organs, to aſſume and inhabit them. So ſaith Minutius, Iſti impuri ſpiritus ſub ſtatuis & imaginibus conſecratis deliteſcunt, thoſe impure ſpirits lie hid under the conſecrated ſtatues or images; and again, rapiunt ad ſe daemonia & omnem ſpiritum immundum per conſecrationis obligamentum, they catch and force to them the devils, and every unclean ſpirit, by the band of conſecration (the ſpirits are ſuppoſed to be annext and bound to them by their magical rites and ceremonies.) So Arnobius cont. Gent. l. 6. Eos ipſos in his (ſignis) colitis, quos dedicatio infert ſacra, & fabrilibus efficit inhabitare ſimulacris, the heathens in the images worſhip thoſe which the dedication or conſecration brings into them, and cauſes to dwell in their graven images. And ſo Proclus de Sacrif. & Mag. mentions it as their common opinion, that the Gods were by their favour and help preſent in their images. And therefore the Tyrians fearing that Apollo would forſake them, bound his image with golden chains, ſuppoſing then the God could not depart from them. The like did the Athenians imagine, when they clipt the wings of the image of Victory; and the Sicilians in Cicero de Divin. who complain that they had no Gods in their Iſland, becauſe Verres had taken away all their ſtatues: and ſo we know Laban, when he had loſt his Teraphim, tells Jacob Gen. 31.30. that he had ſtollen foreign his Gods. And ſo of the Golden calf, after the feaſts of conſecration, proclamation is made before it, Theſe be thy Gods, O Iſrael. But this of the animation and inſpiriting of images by their rites of conſecration being but a deception and fiction of their Prieſts, the Pſalmiſt here diſcovers it, and aſſures all men, that they are as inanimate and ſenſeleſs after the conſecration as before, bare ſilver and gold, with images of mouths and …ars, &c. but without any power to uſe any of them, and conſequently moſt unable to hear, or help their votaries.
V. 7. Speak they] What foreign here ſignifies, foreignwill be concluded by the context, which immediately before had mentioned their having mouths and not ſpeaking. Here therefore (as there the proper action of the mouth was ſpeech) the proper action of the throat or larynx ſeems to be intended, and that is to breath. So when Pſal. 90.9. he ſaith, we conſume our days, foreign, the Targum reads, foreign as a vapour, i. e. breath of the mouth in winter. If it be not this, then ſure 'tis an inarticulate ſound, contradiſtinct from ſpeaking. So Kimchi and Aben Ezra ſtate it, and quote Iſa. 38.14. where the word is applied to the murmuring of the dove.
V. 9. Truſt thou] For foreign in the imperative, foreigntruſt thou, the LXXII. appear to have read foreign in the praeter tenſe, and ſo render it foreign hath hoped, and ſo in v. 9, and 10. And ſo the Syriack foreign they of the houſe of Iſrael truſt. And if that were the true reading, the ſenſe would well accord, in oppoſition to what went before. The idol-worſhippers, that hope in their gods, are moſt ſenſeleſs perſons, loſe all their prayers that are poured out to them, receive no aid or relief from them; but the houſe of Iſrael truſt in the Lord of heaven, make their addreſſes to him, and they receive the benefit of their truſts and prayers, foreign he is their help and their ſhield, he actually defends and aſſiſts them, when they thus depend on him. But the Hebrew reading is to be adhered to, and the ſenſe is the ſame either way. The Jewiſh Arab altering the ſignification from the imperative, paraphraſeth, and as the houſe of Iſrael hath truſted in the Lord, becauſe he, &c. v. 12. ſo the Lord will be mindfull of us, and will bleſs us, &c.