Albert Barnes Commentary Psalms 115

Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto your name give glory — This apparently abrupt commencement of the psalm was undoubtedly in reference to some circumstances. These would have been well understood when the psalm was composed, but they cannot be definitively ascertained now.

It seems to have been in view of some existing troubles. The language simultaneously expresses a hope for divine interposition and a conviction that the praise for such an interposition would belong entirely to God. The phrase "give glory" means to give all the honor and praise. See the notes at Psalms 29:1-2.

For your mercy — The mercy or the favor which we seek and look for—your gracious help in the time of trouble.

And for your truth’s sake — Your faithfulness to your promises; your faithfulness to your people. The psalmist anticipated this manifestation of faithfulness with confidence; he felt that all the praise for such an anticipated interposition would belong to God.

Wherefore should the heathen say - The nations; those who worshipped idols, and who claimed that those idols were true gods. Why should we, your people, be so left, so forsaken, so afflicted, as to lead these idolaters to suppose that we worship a false God, or that the God whom we adore is destitute of power or faithfulness; either that he does not exist, or that he cannot be relied on? It is evident that they were now in circumstances which would give some plausibility to the question here asked.

Where is now their God? - They seem to be forsaken. God, the God whom they worship, does not come forth for their defense. If he exists at all, he is destitute of power, or he is not true to the people who worship him, and he cannot be trusted. Compare Psalm 42:3, note; Psalms 42:10, note; Psalms 79:10, note.

But our God is in the heavens - The Septuagint adds, “and in the earth.” This is not, however, in the Hebrew. The idea is, our God really exists. He is the true God. He reigns in heaven. His plans are such as are formed in heaven, and rightly so: lofty, vast, incomprehensible. But he is still our God; our Ruler; our Protector. He is not a god of earth—whose origin is earth, and who dwells on earth alone, like the idols of the pagan—but the whole vast universe is under his control.

He has done whatever he has pleased - And, therefore, what has been done is right, and we should be submissive to it. He is a sovereign God; and mysterious as are his doings, and much as there seems to be occasion to ask the question “Where is now your God?” yet we are to feel that what has occurred has been in accordance with his eternal plans and is to be submitted to as a part of his arrangements.

It is, in fact, always a sufficient answer to the objections made to the government of God—as if he had forsaken his people by bringing affliction on them and leaving them, apparently without intervention, to poverty, to persecution, and to tears—that he is “in the heavens.” He rules there and everywhere; he has his own eternal purposes; and all things are ordered in accordance with his will. There must, therefore, be some good reason why events occur as they actually do.

Their idols—Their gods—the gods that they worship, as contrasted with the God whom we adore. The design of this description (Psalms 115:4–8) is to show the utter vanity of trusting in such gods, and to lead the people of Israel to put their trust in the true God—in Yahweh.

Are silver and gold—Made of silver and gold, they must therefore have the properties of silver and gold. They can be of value only as silver and gold. They cannot do the work of mind; they cannot do the work of God. The psalmist was not inclined to depreciate the real value of these idols, or to throw contempt on them which they did not deserve. He was inclined to treat them fairly. They were silver and gold; they had an intrinsic value as such. They showed, in the value of the material, how much the pagans were inclined to honor their objects of worship, and they were not held up to contempt as shapeless blocks of wood or stone.

The psalmist might have said that most of them were made of wood or stone, and were mere shapeless blocks; but it is always best to do justice to an adversary and not to attempt to underrate what he values. The argument of an infidel on the subject of religion may be utterly worthless as an argument for infidelity, but it may show ability, learning, subtlety, clearness of reasoning, and even candor.

And it is best to admit this, if it is so, and to give it all the credit it deserves as a specimen of reasoning or as stating a real difficulty that ought to be solved by someone—that is, to call it “silver and gold” if it is so, and not to characterize it as worthless, weak, or stupid, the result of ignorance and folly. He who acknowledges the real force of what an opponent says has a great advantage in an argument; he gains nothing who charges it as the offspring of stupidity, ignorance, and folly—unless he can show that it is so.

The work of men’s hands—Shaped and fashioned by people’s hands. They cannot, therefore, be superior to those who made them; they cannot answer the purpose of a God.

They have mouths ... - They are shaped like people, but have none of the attributes of intelligent beings.