Biblical Commentary

INVESTIGATION
Once the Israelites settled into Canaan, life was certainly better than it had been wandering in the desert. They established towns, homes, places of worship, and businesses. Old Testament worship served multiple purposes, but one purpose was to remind God’s people they were dependent on Him. Yes, they were enjoying the benefits of being a people of the covenant, but they should have always remembered that it was only because of God’s love that they had such lives.

All around were signs of God’s love. Psalm 136 points out this evidence and encourages worshipers not to forget. One sign is creation. Surely the world of nature should remind the worshiper that God is a God of love. Another sign is history. Year by year, God had shown His people He was powerful, faithful, and loving. This psalm reminded the Israelites of God’s faithful love.

IMPORTANCE
This lesson teaches the essential truth God is. Psalm 136 both attributes greatness to God and offers praise to Him. In verses 4–9, the author credits God with the creation of the universe. Verses 10–22 remember God’s faithfulness and sovereign power in delivering the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. Finally, verses 23–26 praise God for His sustaining provision. Throughout the psalm, the author praised God for His eternal love. This is a passage that clearly and powerfully reveals the eternal greatness of God. Throughout all time, He is faithful in love to His children.

Psalm 136 also shows us that The Future is in God’s Hands. He was faithful in the past. He is clearly faithful today. Surely we can trust Him to hold the future, as well.

INTERPRETATION
Psalm 136:1–3 This psalm immediately invites the reader into an experience of worship. It is a deep, ancient worship of the God of Abraham and Moses. It expresses a shared, community worship rather than isolated, individual worship.
Many Christian churches include responsive reading in worship. Responsive reading can be a meaningful experience of worship and praise. Psalm 136 is exactly this type of worship text. After a priest read or sang each stanza, the people responded with the same verse throughout. When Ezra told of the rebuilding of the Temple, priests led the people in responsive singing (Ezra 3:10–11). The people responded with words very similar to those in Psalm 136.

This particular psalm is one of several praise hymns in Psalms. Tradition has given Psalm 136 the title “The Great Hallel.” It has had great importance in Judaism, being recited on the Sabbath and at Jewish festivals, especially Passover.

The first three verses set the pattern for this psalm; it is a psalm of praise and thanks. The worshipers are led to “give thanks.” Part of the pattern set by these verses is with the response repeated throughout the psalm: “His love endures forever.”

What an amazing response for the congregation to offer up to God! This love is His love. It is the kind of love that could come only from Him. The love that endures is God’s steadfast love, the essential love that defines who God is. It “endures forever,” lasting beyond all we could imagine. Since this concept is so difficult to grasp, Psalm 136 repeats this phrase over and over again.

Psalm 136:4–9 If the first three verses tell us we should worship this good God, and if the refrain praises Him for His everlasting love, the next verses begin to lay out specific reasons for praising Him. This God does great wonders in the world around us. Even with all the scientific advancement our civilization has known in the past decades, we are still amazed by the universe around us. Some of us have marveled at the photographs sent back from the Hubble space telescope. The massive power of the sun and the distance to the nearest star astound us. The natural world was just as incredible to the Israelites 3,000 years ago. Then, as now, God was to be praised as the Creator and Sustainer of the universe.

These verses are both poetic and specific. The language is rhythmic and musical. At the same time, when a congregation sang this song, they sang of specific creative acts of God. God made the heavens follow specific patterns. People knew the patterns of the moon. They knew and named stars, and they knew how the stars moved throughout the year. Day always followed night, and then evening once again came. The seasons could be trusted to follow one after the other, year after year. God had made the universe so that it was observable, predictable, and understandable. What a great and awesome God!

Psalm 136:10–15 God’s work in nature is certainly awe-inspiring. It is God’s unique work in the lives of His chosen people, however, that called especially for praise. One of the great, defining acts of God’s goodness to Israel was His choice to deliver them out of Egypt. All people enjoyed creation, but the exodus was for the Hebrew people alone. The picture given of God in these verses is that of a great hero. God was a mighty warrior, striking down Egyptians and dividing the sea with his mighty arm! God had delivered the Israelites from one of the greatest powers on earth. Their God had defeated the great Pharaoh. That called for praise.

All Israelites must surely have known these events by heart. Why did they recite them repeatedly, year after year? Why did the people continue to respond with “His love endures forever”? It must have been essential for God’s people to be reminded that God brought about these events in history. He brought them about because “His love endures forever.” Maybe, in addition to offering worship to God, there is something powerful or transformative about restating these truths. God’s people need to say it, and say it often.

Psalm 136:16–24 This psalm does not stop with the crossing of the Red Sea; the taking of the Promised Land is described. Two key victories for God’s people are mentioned. One victory was over the Amorites. Another victory was over Bashan, ruled at the time by a king named Og  (Deut. 3:1–11). The taking of Bashan had given the Israelites bountiful farmland and surely boosted their economy. These were important, loving acts on the part of God.

The result of all this victorious military action was that the Israelites could take their Promised Land. The land they lived in was a reminder that God was good. They had not attained it on their own; God had done it for them.

Psalm 135:25–26 God is good. He is a wonderful Creator, and He acts in history to protect His people. God also sustains His people in everyday life. Food is not as awesome as the cosmos or as stirring as a military victory. Yet, the reality is that we must have food. God, Creator of the universe, cares to provide food that sustains His creatures. We are called to praise Him as the One who cares for the great and the small things alike.

The responsive reading concludes as we would expect. It ends with the priest calling out a phrase similar to the first lines in the psalm: “Give thanks to the God of heaven.” The people then respond, “His love endures forever.” It certainly does.

IMPLICATIONS
We all live in a hurried, future-oriented world. We are always moving forward at a fast pace, rarely considering where we have been. How do we help teenagers reflect on how God has shaped their world? In many ways, our society is much less connected to nature than in the past. How do we make ourselves and our students more aware of the awesomeness of God’s work in nature? Compared to much of the world, most of us have comfortable, affluent lifestyles. Much of that comfort and affluence we take for granted. Where does God fit into that? One of the characteristics of adolescents is that they are self-absorbed and unappreciative. How do we show them kindly that they do not deserve what God has given them, that all they are and have is a loving blessing? No matter what they become in the future, no matter how hard they work for it, it will all be a result of God’s love.

One of the traditional ways Christians have talked about wisdom is as “wakefulness” or “mindfulness.” Maturing in faith increases our awareness of God and His presence and action in our world. Is our awareness of God’s loving action toward us is at risk? We say we trust God with our lives, but how often do we actually recount the ways He has blessed us in the past? We ask God to show His will for us, but how frequently do we thank Him for the direction and love He has previously shown?

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