Psalm 135:8
He struck down the firstborn of Egypt, of both man and beast.
Sermons
God's PraisesC. Short Psalm 135:1-21
The March of MercyS. Conway Psalm 135:1-21
The Sublime Object of WorshipHomilistPsalm 135:1-21














All that Jehovah willeth he hath done. Observe the contrast with idols. If it were conceivable that they had the power to will, it is manifest that they have not the power to carry out, or execute, their will. Observe the contrast with men. They, undoubtedly, have the power to will, but the inability to perform oppresses them continually. "I would, but cannot," is the constant cry of man's feebleness. But a limitation on God's power to execute what he wills is inconceivable; and if we could conceive it, we should find we had lost all worthy ideas of God. "With God all things are possible" that are not ridiculous in the statement. Calvin says, "The specification of Jehovah's doings according to his pleasure, in heaven, earth, sea, and all deep places, puts before us in a graphic manner his particular care always and everywhere."

I. THE CONNECTION BETWEEN GOD'S WILL AND GOD'S POWER. That can be seen in all the three spheres of God's relations.

1. In the material world of things. It always was, and it always is, true that "he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood forth?" Laws in their working may seem to cross other laws; but they cannot hinder the outworking of what God wills.

2. In the world of people. God "doeth as he wills among the armies of heaven, and inhabitants of the earth."

3. In the spiritual world. Because that world is so difficult to apprehend, the connection between God's will and power escapes our attention, though it is as sure as anywhere else.

II. THE HINDRANCES PUT IN THE WAY OF THE CONNECTION. They never come from things. The disturbances of nature are not real; they only represent human conceptions based on what is humanly observed. Tempests, earthquakes, etc., are in the Divine order. The hindrances can only come from intelligent creatures, to whom is entrusted a limited self-will. Man has this awful possibility given to him; he can come in between God's will and the carrying out of that will.

III. THE TRIUMPH OVER THE HINDRANCES. That must sometimes be accomplished by the putting forth of Divine power; but it is the marvel of Divine grace that it is usually done by persuading the human will, bringing it into full harmony with the Divine will, and so getting the man himself to take the hindrances out of the way. - R.T.

Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did He.
: —

I. God ACTS. He is the great worker, — never resting, never failing, never wearying, — the worker of all workers, the motor in all motions.

II. God acts EVERYWHERE. In the heavens He rolls the massive orbs of space; on the earth He maketh the grass to grow and clotheth the earth with verdure.

III. God acts FROM and FOR HIMSELF.

1. From Himself. Our activity is often excited and controlled by something external to ourselves. His never. Nothing is extra. No ruling principles or persons, not all the hierarchies of intelligences, nor the rushing forces and forms of universal matter can excite Him. His action is that of absolute spontaneity. He is responsible to no one.

2. For Himself. There is no other reason for His activity but what pleases Him. The chief measure of any moral intelligence is the gratification of His predominant disposition. In God this is love. Hence His pleasure in creating the universe and sustaining it is the diffusion of His own happiness. His pleasure is the pleasure of His creatures; His happiness and theirs are identical.

(David Thomas, D. D.)

People
Aaron, Amorites, Jacob, Levi, Og, Pharaoh, Psalmist, Sihon
Places
Jerusalem
Topics
Animal, Animals, Beast, Death, Egypt, Firstborn, First-born, First-fruits, Smote, Struck
Outline
1. An exhortation to praise God for his mercy
5. For his power
8. For his judgments
15. The vanity of idols
19. An exhortation to bless God

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Psalm 135:8

     4605   animals, religious role
     5688   firstborn

Psalm 135:8-9

     4843   plague

Library
What Pleases God.
"Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places."--Psalm 135:6. "Was Gott gefaellt, mein frommes Kind." [74]Gerhardt. transl., Sarah Findlater, 1858 What God decrees, child of His love, Take patiently, though it may prove The storm that wrecks thy treasure here, Be comforted! thou needst not fear What pleases God. The wisest will is God's own will; Rest on this anchor, and be still; For peace around thy path shall flow, When only wishing here
Jane Borthwick—Hymns from the Land of Luther

From Kadesh to the Death of Moses.
Num. 14-Dt. 34. The Pathos of the Forty Years. The stories of this period have running through them an element of pathos arising especially from two sources. (1) Perhaps the experiences of Moses are most sorrowful. That he should now, after faithfully bringing this people to the very border of the land which they sought, be compelled to spend forty monotonous years in this bare and uninteresting desert must have been a disappointment very heavy to bear. During these wanderings he buried Miriam,
Josiah Blake Tidwell—The Bible Period by Period

Excursus on the Present Teaching of the Latin and Greek Churches on the Subject.
To set forth the present teaching of the Latin Church upon the subject of images and the cultus which is due them, I cite the decree of the Council of Trent and a passage from the Catechism set forth by the authority of the same synod. (Conc. Trid., Sess. xxv. December 3d and 4th, 1563. [Buckley's Trans.]) The holy synod enjoins on all bishops, and others sustaining the office and charge of teaching that, according to the usage of the Catholic and Apostolic Church received from the primitive times
Philip Schaff—The Seven Ecumenical Councils

Notes on the First Century:
Page 1. Line 1. An empty book is like an infant's soul.' Here Traherne may possibly have had in his mind a passage in Bishop Earle's "Microcosmography." In delineating the character of a child, Earle says: "His soul is yet a white paper unscribbled with observations of the world, wherewith at length it becomes a blurred note-book," Page 14. Line 25. The entrance of his words. This sentence is from Psalm cxix. 130. Page 15. Last line of Med. 21. "Insatiableness." This word in Traherne's time was often
Thomas Traherne—Centuries of Meditations

Christ's Kingly Office
Q-26: HOW DOES CHRIST EXECUTE THE OFFICE OF A KING? A: In subduing us to himself, in ruling and defending us, and in restraining and conquering all his and our enemies. Let us consider now Christ's regal office. And he has on his vesture, and on his thigh, a name written, "King of kings, and Lord of lords", Rev 19:16. Jesus Christ is of mighty renown, he is a king; (1.) he has a kingly title. High and Lofty.' Isa 57:15. (2.) He has his insignia regalia, his ensigns of royalty; corona est insigne
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

Introduction. Chapter i. --The Life and Writings of St. Hilary of Poitiers.
St. Hilary of Poitiers is one of the greatest, yet least studied, of the Fathers of the Western Church. He has suffered thus, partly from a certain obscurity in his style of writing, partly from the difficulty of the thoughts which he attempted to convey. But there are other reasons for the comparative neglect into which he has fallen. He learnt his theology, as we shall see, from Eastern authorities, and was not content to carry on and develop the traditional teaching of the West; and the disciple
St. Hilary of Poitiers—The Life and Writings of St. Hilary of Poitiers

Psalms
The piety of the Old Testament Church is reflected with more clearness and variety in the Psalter than in any other book of the Old Testament. It constitutes the response of the Church to the divine demands of prophecy, and, in a less degree, of law; or, rather, it expresses those emotions and aspirations of the universal heart which lie deeper than any formal demand. It is the speech of the soul face to face with God. Its words are as simple and unaffected as human words can be, for it is the genius
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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