Psalm 115:16-18 Earthly Praise

Psalm 115:16-18 The highest heavens belong to the LORD, but the earth he has given to man. It is not the dead who praise the LORD, those who go down to silence; it is we who extol the LORD, both now and for evermore. Praise the LORD.

These final words of Psalm 115 jar a little. They sound a little like the sort of arguments worldly people use. The highest heavens belong to the LORD is fine but not the earth he has given to man. Surely the earth is the LORD's too. What comes next makes us even more nervous, It is not the dead who praise the LORD, those who go down to silence; it is we who extol the LORD, both now and for evermore. Praise the LORD. Again, one part is okay but surely the dead also praise God? What is going on?

Psalm 115 ends with a hallelujah but is taken up largely with a polemic against idols. Pagans would mock God's people in those days asking where their God was, as they saw no idol representing him. It probably sounded like a good argument at the time. The psalmist has an excellent answer though. Why can you not see our God? Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him. As for the idols that the pagans boasted of, being made by the hands of men and consequently, although they do have mouths, eyes, ears, noses, hands, etc, they are incapable of doing any of the things connected with those physical features. Unlike the unseen God they cannot speak or hear or see or do anything. He powerfully adds Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them. Following these reflections he turns to stirring up God's people to praise. The "God is in heaven, we are on earth" argument then is simply an acknowledgement of why true faith is unlike idolatry. Yes, we cannot see God in the way idolaters see their idols but there is good reason for that. Similarly, unlike pagans, we are not interested in making contact with the dead as, from one point of view, death, despite what they say, produces only silence. It is we who must extol the LORD here in the land of the living. Of course, as the writer says, we praise God not only now but for evermore.  However, while here on earth, it is praise by faith that should drive us not idolatry or trying to delve into the realms of the dead.