Psalm 134

Very pleasant ought it be to us, and we should rejoice because it is pleasant, to which this Psalm exhorts us. For it says, "Praise the name of the Lord". And it immediately appends the reason, why it is just to praise the name of the Lord. "Praise the Lord, you servants." What more just? What more worthy? What more…

...Therefore, "Ye who stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God, praise the Lord" (ver. 2). Be thankful; ye were without, and ye stand within. Since then ye stand, is it a small thing for you to think where He should be praised, who raised you when you were cast down, and caused you to…

"Who smote many nations," who possessed that land, which God willed to give His people.

"And slew mighty kings, Sehon king of the Amorites, and Og the king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan." All these things which the Psalm records simply, do we read likewise in others of the Lord's books, and there the hand of the Lord is great. When you see what has been done to the wicked, take heed lest it…

All these things which the Psalm records simply, do we read likewise in others of the Lord's books, and there the hand of the Lord is great. When thou seest what has been done to the wicked, take heed lest it be done to thee. ...But when the good man sees what the wicked has suffered, let him cleanse himself from all…

Then follows the loud cry of His praise. "Thy Name, O Lord, is for ever and ever" (ver. 13), after all these things which Thou hast done. For what do I see that Thou hast done? I behold Thy creation which Thou hast made in heaven, I behold this lower part, where we dwell, and here I see Thy gifts of clouds, and winds,…

"The Lord has judged His people, and will be called upon among His servants". Already has He judged the people. Save the final judgment, the people of the Jews is judged. What is "judged"? The just are taken away, the unjust are left. But if I lie, or am thought to lie, because I have said, it is already judged, hear…

Lastly, after all that arrangement and dispensation, the Spirit of God turns itself to reproaching and ridiculing those idols, which are now ridiculed by their very worshippers. "The idols of the Gentiles are silver and gold". As God made all these things, who made whatever He would in heaven and earth, what can…

But as these things are senseless, why make ye men of silver and gold to be gods? See ye not that the gods which you make see not? "They have a mouth, and will not speak; they have eyes, and will not see".

"They have ears, and will not hear; neither is there any breath in their mouth"; "they have nostrils, and will not smell; they have hands, and will not work; they have feet, and will not walk." All these things could the carpenter, the silversmith, the goldsmith make, both eyes, and ears, and nostrils, and mouth, and…

And man, you laugh doubtless at what you have made, if you know by whom you are made. But of them who know not, what is said? "All they who make them, and all they who trust in them, are like them". And ye believe, brethren, that there is a likeness to these idols expressed not in their flesh, but in their inner man.…

But daily do men believe through the miracles of Christ our Lord; daily the eyes of the blind, the ears of the deaf are opened, the nostrils of the senseless are breathed into, the tongues of the dumb are loosed, the hands of the palsied are strengthened, the feet of the lame are guided; sons of Abraham are raised up…

But even granting that it is said of that house, and the people of Israel is meant, from thence did the Apostles and thousands of the circumcised believe? "Bless the Lord, ye house of Aaron. Bless the Lord, ye house of Levi" (ver. 20). Bless the Lord, ye nations, this is, the "house of Israel" generally; bless Him, ye…

Let us also with one voice say what follows: "Blessed be the Lord out of Zion, who dwells in Jerusalem". Out of Zion is Jerusalem too. Zion is "watching," Jerusalem the "vision of peace." In what Jerusalem will He dwell now? In that which has fallen? Nay, but in that which is our mother, which is in the heavens, of…

What reason shall I give why you should praise Him? "Because the Lord is good" (ver. 3). Briefly in one word is here explained the praise of the Lord our God. "The Lord is good;" good, not in the same manner as the things which He here made are good. For God made all things very good; not only good, but also very…

"For the Lord has chosen Jacob to Himself, Israel for His own possession"....Let not Jacob therefore extol himself, let him not boast himself, or ascribe it to his own merits. He was known before, predestinated before, elected before, not elected for his own merits, but found out, and gifted with life by the grace of…

..."Because," says he, "I know that the Lord is great, and our God is above all gods". If we should say to him, we ask thee, explain to us His greatness; would he not perchance answer us, He whom I see is not so very great, if He be able to be expounded by me. Let him then return to His works, and tell us. Let him…

"All whatsoever the Lord willed, He made in the heaven, and in the earth, in the sea, and in all its deep places". Who can comprehend these things? Who can enumerate the works of the Lord in the heaven and earth, in the sea, and in all deep places? Yet if we cannot comprehend them all, we should believe and hold them…

"Raising the clouds from the ends of the earth". We see these works of God in His creation. For the clouds come from the ends of the earth to the midst thereof, and rain; you scan not whence they arise. Hence the prophet signifies this, from "the ends of the earth," whether it be from the bottom, or from the…

We see therefore these things in that work of His; we praise, we marvel at, we bless God; let us see what He has done among men for His people. "Who smote the first-born of Egypt." But withal those divine doings are told which you might love, those are not told which you might fear. Attend, and see that also when He…

"He sent signs and wonders into the midst of you, O Egypt!" You know, you have read what the hand of the Lord did by Moses in Egypt, to crush and cast down the proud Egyptians, "on Pharaoh and on all his servants." Little did He in Egypt: what did He after His people was led out thence?