Psalm 115:2

Psalm 115 belongs to the Hallel, Psalms 113 to 118, often called the Egyptian Hallel, a group of praise psalms that Israel sang at its great festivals, Passover above all. Before the people say anything else, they turn glory away from themselves. The words “Not unto us” come twice, and the repetition makes the point as strongly as it can be made: whatever good has come to Israel, the credit belongs to God. The doubled line also has the ring of something sung together, easy to remember and to say as one people.

“But unto thy name give glory” is a prayer as well as a confession. The psalmist asks the LORD himself to act in a way that brings honour to his name. In Scripture a name, shêm, stands for the one who bears it, with his character, his reputation and his authority. To give glory to God’s name is to honour all that he has made known of himself, his power, his holiness and his faithfulness to his covenant. The word for glory, kâbôwd, means glory, honour and splendour, here the honour due to God because of his worth.

The rest of Scripture says the same. Through Isaiah, God says that he will give his glory to no other (Isaiah 42:8). Paul writes that no flesh should glory in God’s presence, and that he who glories should glory in the Lord (1 Corinthians 1:29–31). The worship of heaven declares the Lord worthy of glory and honour (Revelation 4:11).

This prayer reaches the quieter idols as well as the carved ones: human achievement, intellect and power. Our existence, our gifts, our successes and every good thing we have are gracious gifts from a merciful and truthful God, and the psalm turns the credit for all of it back to him. The old Latin phrase soli Deo gloria, “to God alone be the glory”, says what this verse says.

“Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God?” The word for heathen, gôwy, means a nation or people, and here it names the nations outside Israel, peoples who worshipped other gods and were often hostile to the God of Israel. The verb “say”, ʼâmar, is the ordinary word for saying, and the scorn lies in the words it introduces. Those words are a taunt. They mock the presence and the power of Israel’s God, ʼĕlôhîym, a word plural in form that is read as a plural of majesty when it names the one true God.

Among the nations of that day a god was judged by how his people fared, and a nation’s god was tied to its victories, its prosperity and its land. When Israel suffered defeat, invasion or exile, the nations around it asked where its God was. The Babylonian captivity was one such time, and the taunt fits it well. Israel worshipped the LORD with no image of him, so the nations had nothing to look at, and they took the unseen God for an absent or powerless one.

“Wherefore”, lamah in Hebrew, simply asks why. The psalmist puts the question to God himself: why should these nations have cause to say such things? His plea is that the LORD would act and show his presence and power, so that the scoffers fall silent and his name is honoured among those who have mocked it. This follows straight on from verse 1. The psalmist’s first concern is the honour of God’s name, and Israel’s own suffering comes after it. God shares that concern. In Ezekiel 36:22–23 the LORD says that he will act for the sake of his holy name, which had been profaned among the nations, and show it to be holy before them.

The same taunt comes up elsewhere in the Psalms. In Psalm 42:3 the psalmist’s tears have been his food while people ask him where his God is, and Psalm 79:10 asks the very question of this verse, why the nations should say, “Where is their God?” It is the question the world puts to believers whenever God’s people suffer or God is silent, and the next verse gives the psalm’s answer.

“But our God is in the heavens” tells the nations where Israel’s God is. The heavens, shâmayim, are the sky above and the place where God dwells, as Solomon prayed, “hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place.” Here the word speaks of God’s high place, his majesty and his rule over all creation, far above every earthly limit. Isaiah speaks of God’s throne in heaven (Isaiah 66:1), and Stephen, in his speech in Acts, says that God dwells in no temple made with hands (Acts 7:48). The nations placed their gods in particular temples, shrines and powers of nature, and so tied each one to a place or a part of the world. Israel’s God reigns over all of it from heaven.

“He hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.” The verb châphêts means to like, to be pleased with or to desire. What God delights in, he does, and his deeds come from his own good will, free of any force outside him and of any hindrance. Scripture says this again and again. Job confesses that God can do all things (Job 42:2). God declares the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10). Whatever plans fill a man’s heart, the counsel of the LORD stands (Proverbs 19:21). Daniel records that God does according to his will in heaven and among the people of the earth (Daniel 4:35), and Paul says that he works all things after the counsel of his own will (Ephesians 1:11).

The two halves of the verse belong together. God reigns in heaven, and so his purposes prevail over all creation, all of history and all human affairs. The verse also prepares for the next part of the psalm, which describes the idols of the nations at length (Psalm 115:4–8). Of them it says, “They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not” (Psalm 115:5). Set beside those idols, the LORD is the living God who acts for his people out of his mercy and truth. The psalm then calls Israel to trust in the LORD (Psalm 115:9–11), and it closes with that call and with blessing on those who fear him (Psalm 115:9–18).

The glory these verses ask for is shown most fully in Jesus Christ. John says that the Word made flesh was “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14), words that echo the mercy and truth of verse 1. Jesus lived out the psalmist’s “Not unto us” himself. He said, “I seek not mine own glory: there is one that seeketh and judgeth” (John 8:50), and he prayed, “Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee” (John 17:1). At the cross, the fullest act of God’s mercy and truth, his glory shone brightest. Because of it every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, “to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9–11).

The taunt of verse 2 was thrown at God’s own Son. As Jesus hung on the cross, the chief priests, scribes and elders mocked him: “He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him” (Matthew 27:42). It looked like the moment of God’s absence and weakness, and in that very moment the Lamb of God was taking away the sin of the world (John 1:29). The resurrection gave the final answer, when the angel said, “He is not here: for he is risen, as he said” (Matthew 28:6). God is now with his people by the Holy Spirit, as Jesus promised (John 14:16–17), and Jesus tells his followers to let their light shine so that others may see their good works and glorify their Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16).

Verse 3 points to Christ as well. He came down from heaven (John 3:13), and when his work on the cross was finished (John 19:30) he ascended (Acts 1:9–11) and sat down at the Father’s right hand (Ephesians 1:20–21). From there he reigns over all things for the sake of his church (Ephesians 1:22) and intercedes for his people (Romans 8:34), and he will return to establish his kingdom. The God who is in the heavens did what he pleased in the death and resurrection of his Son.

These three verses give God’s people words for two moments: when we are tempted to take the credit, and when the world mocks our faith. The first verse gives all glory to the LORD’s name and rests it on his mercy and truth, so the praise of his people stands on who he is. The second verse admits that the world asks where our God is, most of all in times of suffering and of God’s silence, and it carries that question to God as a matter of his own honour. The third answers it with a confession that has steadied believers ever since: “But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.”

When that question is put to you, this verse is the answer the psalm gives. The idols of success, reputation and comfort have mouths and speak not, as the psalm goes on to say. The LORD rules from heaven, his purposes always prevail, and his mercy and truth make him worthy of every bit of the glory his people give him.