Psalm 135:5 I know that the LORD is great, that our Lord is greater than all gods.
Psalm 135 is the third psalm (after 106 and 113) to begin and end with a hallelujah. It also has a series of hallelujahs at the end (19-21) calling on All you Israelites ... house of Aaron ... house of Levi and you who fear him to praise the LORD. The final verse says Praise be to the LORD from Zion, to him who dwells in Jerusalem. Praise the LORD. The psalm begins in the same vein calling for praise from you servants of the LORD, you who minister in the house of the LORD, etc. The reason the LORD is to be praised is because he is good and great. It is also pleasant to sing praise to him. He chose his people Israel to be his treasured possession and does great things in creation and redemption. The psalmist concludes (13, 14) Your name, LORD, endures forever, your renown, LORD, through all generations. For the LORD will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants. We then have, before the very last verses, four verses decrying idols (15-18). When he says, therefore, I know that the LORD is great, that our Lord is greater than all gods he cannot be suggesting a pantheon with God as head. He makes quite clear that idols are nothing. Rather his point is that the LORD is greater than all so called gods. He is a God who does whatever pleases him throughout creation. He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth; he sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses. (7) He is the one who brought the plagues on Egypt and brought about the defeat of Sihon and Og and all the kings of Canaan and who gave their land as an inheritance, an inheritance to his people Israel. This is why he is so much worthy of all praise.
Psalm 135 is the third psalm (after 106 and 113) to begin and end with a hallelujah. It also has a series of hallelujahs at the end (19-21) calling on All you Israelites ... house of Aaron ... house of Levi and you who fear him to praise the LORD. The final verse says Praise be to the LORD from Zion, to him who dwells in Jerusalem. Praise the LORD. The psalm begins in the same vein calling for praise from you servants of the LORD, you who minister in the house of the LORD, etc. The reason the LORD is to be praised is because he is good and great. It is also pleasant to sing praise to him. He chose his people Israel to be his treasured possession and does great things in creation and redemption. The psalmist concludes (13, 14) Your name, LORD, endures forever, your renown, LORD, through all generations. For the LORD will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants. We then have, before the very last verses, four verses decrying idols (15-18). When he says, therefore, I know that the LORD is great, that our Lord is greater than all gods he cannot be suggesting a pantheon with God as head. He makes quite clear that idols are nothing. Rather his point is that the LORD is greater than all so called gods. He is a God who does whatever pleases him throughout creation. He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth; he sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses. (7) He is the one who brought the plagues on Egypt and brought about the defeat of Sihon and Og and all the kings of Canaan and who gave their land as an inheritance, an inheritance to his people Israel. This is why he is so much worthy of all praise.
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