Psalms 113-118 are a collection of six psalms known as the Hallel which are recited at key Jewish festivals, including that of Passover. In this series of posts I will take a brief look at each of them in turn as we move through Lent. As I reflect on the Hallel I will have in mind the line that concludes both Matthew and Mark’s accounts of the Last Supper: ‘And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives’ (Matthew 26:30; Mark 14:26). It wouldn’t at all surprise me if the last hymn which Jesus sung was the Hallel…
Israel was a small nation surrounded by various people groups and nations who didn’t worship God. These nations had their own gods who they represented using idols which in turn became the objects of their worship. As per the second commandment (Exodus 20:4-6) the Israelites were prohibited from creating any carved image or representation of God. After opening Psalm 115 with a prayer asking that God would glorify His name, the psalmist picks up on this lack of a tangible, visible god by describing how other nations were able to point directly to their gods while taunting Israel with, ‘Where is your God?’ (v2). The clear response is that Israel’s God resides in heaven and is so all-mighty that ‘He does all that He pleases’(v3). In contrast, say verses 4-7, the idols of the nations may look incredible in their gold and silver but they are not divine. They may have mouths, eyes, ears, noses, hands and feet but they can’t speak, see, hear, smell, feel or walk. They flatter to deceive. They promise a higher power but are fashioned by human hands. They look useful but are useless. They look powerful but are powerless. They look alive but are dead.
And those who make them and trust them become like them (v8).
Instead of model gods, God had provided Israel with a priesthood through the line of Aaron whose job it was to point the people constantly and repeatedly to God, and God alone. Verses 9-13 cycle twice through the nation (Israel), the priesthood (house of Aaron), and faithful individuals, exhorting each group to trust in the Lord. There is no need for idols because He alone is their help and shield. Their God, who is in the heavens doing whatever He pleases (v3), remembers His people and blesses them – nation, priesthood, and citizens both great and small – on one condition: that they fear the Lord. When they do this blessing will follow (v14). The Creator of the heaven and earth will bless those who fear Him (v15).
The basis of these claims are quite simply that the heavens and the earth belong to the Lord. He has made them and inhabits them (v16) while the dead (idols) have no way of returning with blessing any loyalty shown to them (v17). The whole psalm is an argument for the worshipper to remember Who their God really is, to recognise His power and glory, to realise the impotence of alternative gods, and to commit afresh to trusting Him.
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And so as Jesus sung these words at the Last Supper maybe His thoughts turned with sadness to the fact that the Israelites seemed to place more trust in having a glorious Temple than in the One whose glory should fill the Temple. Maybe the anger He experienced a few days earlier when He saw the Temple courts filled with traders rose up again as He recalled how far His people had drifted from true worship. Maybe He looked ahead and knew how the High Priest and religious leaders who were meant to stand in the shoes of Aaron and point the nation towards God would actually be involved in His arrest and death.
But Jesus knew that He was the true High Priest. He will hold this status forever and will soon be ‘seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven’ (Hebrews 8:1). Idols, and the false gods they represent, would not prevail. Jesus will reveal afresh ‘Our God who is in the heavens and who does whatever He pleases’ (v3). His name will be glorified (v1).
The Sharpened Sword 