Psalm 117

The Godly Man’s Witness

This is the shortest Psalm and the shortest chapter in the Bible. Some might think it
hardly deserves a reading, let alone a study. Some commentators treat this Psalm as if it
had no identity of its own. They think it conveys no special message. In their view, it is
better to attach it to the Psalm that precedes it or succeeds it because they cannot see how
it can stand on its own merits. But Psalm 117 is a testimony to the fact that sometimes
surprising things may be discovered in small packages. Despite its brevity, the message
of the Psalm is as sweeping, inclusive, and visionary as any larger Bible passage could
be. It is, after all, a revelation from God, given by inspiration of God. This makes it an
expression of the mind of God, not simply the thoughts of men. As such it encompasses
the whole world and all human history. Its message rings loud and clear for those who
have ears to hear. God never said or did anything that isn’t important, and this Psalm
proclaims what God has said and done. Like every other part of the word of God, it has
its place in God’s great redemption story. Like all of Scripture it testifies of Jesus Christ
and the redemption that he accomplished. What we really have here is the gospel being
heralded to the whole world in prophetic fashion. The message is that Israel’s blessings
are the only hope of the nations. God has done such great things for Israel that the nations
and peoples of the world come to share in the blessing of Israel’s God. This is the
testimony of the godly man.

The Godly Man’s Witness is Directed to the Nations and Peoples

(verse 1).

The first thing that is striking about this message is that it is directed to the nations and
peoples outside Israel. The godly man directs the nations and peoples to praise the Lord.
But why should they? Why should nations and peoples praise the Lord whom they claim
they do not know? The Lord, after all, was the God of Israel. The nations and peoples had
their own gods then as they do today. Nevertheless, this is a word from Israel to the
Gentiles, and the message is, “Praise the Lord, all you nations; extol him all you
peoples.” So who were the “nations and peoples” as far as the godly man of Psalm 117
was concerned?

The “nations” were everybody else besides Israel. They were the “goi,” the
uncircumcised, the heathen, the unclean. They were the nations that regarded Israel as an
outsider, but the people of Israel knew that they had been given a unique status in the
world of nations. At Mount Sinai the Lord God had instructed Moses to say to them,

“You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings
and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of
all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you
will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:4-6).

So Israel was in covenant with God, and everyone else was excluded from that covenant.
The nations were the outsiders. The children of Israel looked at the world in terms of
“them and us” and the nations were “them.” God called them out of the nations into a
covenant relationship that made them separate and distinct.

“I am the Lord your God, who has set you apart form the nations…You are to be holy to
me because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own”
(Leviticus 20:24,26).

Also, the nations were inevitably hostile to Israel. This was in part because the God of
Israel condemned the idolatry and immorality of the nations, demanding that his people
remain loyal to his covenant. Coupled with this was the fact that the Lord gave the
territory inhabited by the nations to Israel as an inheritance. He commanded them to drive
out the nations and neither intermarry with them nor make any treaty with them.

“When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives
out before you many nations…and when the Lord your God has delivered them over to
you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with
them and show them no mercy…Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut
down their Asherah poles and burn their idols in the fire. For you are a people holy to the
Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of
the earth to be his people, his treasured possession” (Deuteronomy 7:1-6).

Furthermore, God’s expectation was that Israel would maintain a witness to the nations.
What made them distinct and separate was the presence of God among them. They had
the light of God’s revelation in a dark world. They were the visible manifestation of the
kingdom of God. They were the people through whom God was working out his purpose
in the world and for the world. Moses understood all this as he admonished them to
remain faithful to God’s commandments.

“Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the
nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise
and understanding people.’ What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them
the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him?…Ask now about the
former days long before your time, from the day God created man on the earth; ask from
one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything so great as this ever happened, or has
anything like it ever been heard of? Has any other people heard the voice of God
speaking out of fire, as you have, and lived? Has any god ever tried to take for himself
one nation out of another nation...?” (Deuteronomy 4:6-8, 32-34).

So the nations included Egypt, where the children of Israel were in slavery four hundred
years until God brought them out with almighty power. The nations included the various
Canaanite nations whom they dispossessed of their land. The nations included the
Babylonians, who destroyed their holy city and temple and kept them in exile for seventy
years. But what about the “peoples?” Obviously the parallelism of the Psalm suggests
that “peoples” are similar to “nations,” but they are not exactly the same. The Psalmist
did not have in mind people in general, in the sense of all human beings. Rather the word
describes groups of people who are related to each other in some way and therefore
constitute “people groups.” It is something like the word for “mother” and this might help
to explain in what sense a “people” is a “people” – they were descended from a common
mother. They do not simply happen to live within the same national boundaries, but they
are more like a tribe or clan. It is the word used to refer to the sons of Ishmael as “twelve
tribal rulers according to their settlements and camps” (Genesis 25:16). The only other
use of the word is in Numbers 25:15 where a certain “Zur, a tribal chief of a Midianite
family,” is mentioned. A similar word that is found much more frequently in the Old
Testament is used in the expression “gathered to his people” (Genesis 25:8). Again, it
points to common ancestry or tribal identity. Thus the message of the Psalm is directed to
“all kinds of people.”

What did this message direct the nations and the peoples to do? The godly man wants
them to praise the Lord. The “hallelujah” of praise is the heart and soul of the Psalms.
This Psalm is one of many that begin and end with the summons to praise the Lord
(Psalms 103; 104; 106; 113). Most of the references to praising the Lord in the Psalms are
in the imperative. People are commanded to praise the Lord. To praise means to laud,
hail, acclaim, or express joy toward something superior or superb. It is most often used of
praising the Lord, and almost always in what is known in the Hebrew language as the
“intensive” form of the verb. In other words, praising the Lord is always intensive! “You
who fear the Lord, praise him!” (22:23). “Praise the Lord. Praise the name of the Lord;
praise him, you servants of the Lord” (Psalm 135:1).

“Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise him in the heights above.
Praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his heavenly hosts. Praise him, sun and moon,
praise him, all you shining stars. Praise him, you highest heavens and you waters above
the skies” (Psalm 148:1-4).

But the godly man also wants the nations and peoples to “extol” the Lord. This is another
rarely used word whose meaning is similar to the more common “praise.” It conveys the
sense of adoration, glorification, or commendation. “Because your love is better than life,
my lips will glorify you” (Psalm 63:3). “Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from the
nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name and glory in your praise” (Psalm
106:47). “One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of your
mighty acts” (Psalm 145:4). This word expresses a triumphant joy in what the Lord has
done. So the directive of Psalm 117 is consistent with other similar appeals heard in the
Psalms. They make it clear that all peoples ought to pay their debt of praise and gratitude
to the one true God. There is also the frequent emphasis on the necessity of proclaiming
among the nations of the world what God has said or done. “Sing praises to the Lord,
enthroned in Zion; proclaim among the nations what he has done” (Psalm 9:11). Even
though the nations are those outside the commonwealth of Israel and oppose and mock
Israel and Israel’s God, they are still summoned to praise him. The psalmist was right in
asking, “Why do the nations say, ‘Where is their God?’” (Psalm 115:2). Yet in Psalm 2
and other passages it is clear that the nations that are in rebellion will eventually be
subdued by God’s anointed King. Israel’s Lord, after all, is the Lord of all the earth and
all the nations and peoples belong to him by right. “The earth is the Lord’s, and
everything in it, the world, and all who live in it” (Psalm 24:1).
The Godly Man’s Witness is Derived from the Purpose and Promise of God
(verse 2).

We asked the question above as to why the nations and the peoples should be expected to
praise and extol the Lord. We have seen that, from the perspective of the speaker in the
Psalm, the nations are the outsiders because Israel alone among them was in covenant
with the Lord. We have seen that the nations were hostile to Israel and the God of Israel.
And we have seen that the nations are in spiritual darkness and that the people of God
were to shine as a light among them. God’s people have always understood these things.
The godly man of the Psalm could trace these truths all the way back to the tower of
Babel (Genesis 11), the table of nations (Genesis 10), the family of Noah (Genesis 6-9),
and beyond to the origin of the human race (Genesis 1-5). He knew that all men belong to
the God of Israel because he is the Creator of all. “He himself gives all men life and
breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men…” (Acts
17:25,26). Not only so, but the godly man knows that the same holds true as far as the
future of all the nations and peoples is concerned. He knows that all men will stand in
judgment before their Creator when the court is seated and the books are opened (Daniel
7:10). “All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one
from another” (Matthew 25:32). Every knee will bow in the presence of the Son of God
(Isaiah 45:23; Philippians 2:10).

But the primary focus of the godly man’s witness is neither on the Lord as Creator nor
Judge, but on what he is and does in the meantime. The great and compelling reason for
praise is indicated by the first word of this verse. “For great is his love toward us, and the
faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.” The word “For” indicates that this verse gives
the reason or justification for the command in verse 1. In other words, the love and
faithfulness of the Lord are the twofold cause for praise. “For great is his love toward us,
and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.” What is the love referred to here? The
KJV translates it “merciful kindness.” What is the faithfulness intended by this word that
is often rendered “truth” in the KJV? They are the covenant love and faithfulness of the
Lord revealed so long ago when he proclaimed his name to Moses: “The Lord, the Lord,
the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness”
(Exodus 34:6). The covenant character of the Lord was reflected in the promise the spies
made to Rahab: “we will treat you kindly and faithfully when the Lord gives us the land”
(Joshua 2:14). The love and faithfulness of the Lord often appear together in the Psalms.
“All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of his
covenant” (Psalm 25:10). “Do not withhold your mercy from me, O Lord; may your love
and your truth always protect me” (Psalm 40:11). The psalmist described the salvation of
the Lord in these terms, declaring, “God sends his love and his faithfulness” (Psalm
57:3). “Not to us, O Lord, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love
and faithfulness” (Psalm 115:1).

The love and faithfulness of the Lord are words of covenant and promise. God is named
by his covenant name three times in this brief Psalm. He is not only God, he is the
LORD, Jehovah or Yahweh, and he has committed himself to fulfill an eternal purpose
that reaches all the nations and all the peoples. Genesis 1 reverberates with the creative
power of the word of God, who speaks and it is done. But in Genesis 2 it is as “the LORD
God” that he reveals a plan and purpose in all he does. The godly man lives and dies by
the promises of God. But the godly man also knows that he has no message of hope for
the nations and peoples without the love and faithfulness of the Lord. He knows that only
through the promise to Abraham can the nations and peoples participate in the salvation
of the Lord (Genesis 12:3). In this Psalm Israel, considering the enduring love and
faithfulness of the Lord toward them, appeals to the Gentiles to praise and extol the Lord.
When we think about what the connection could possibly be that would make God’s
faithfulness to Israel the basis of the nations praising Israel’s God, what could it be? It
can only be on the basis of God’s covenant promise to Abraham that this Psalm could
either talk about the faithfulness of God to Israel or offer the nations any reason to praise
the Lord because of this. It is the covenant of promise to which the Lord is faithful. It is
the covenant of promise that held out real hope of blessing for the nations.

But notice how descriptive the godly man is of the love and faithfulness of the Lord. “For
great is his love toward us,” he declared. A better way of expressing it suggests that his
love is upon us or over us. But either way, his love is “great.” The greatness of the love of
the Lord is not so much descriptive of its quantity, but of its power. It is powerful enough
to prevail and achieve its goals. It is like the waters, that “rose greatly on the earth, and
all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered” (Genesis 7:19). It is like
Saul and Jonathan, who “were stronger than lions” (II Samuel 1:23). The word “great” is
related to the image of the “mighty man of valor,” like Nimrod (Genesis 10:8,9), Gideon
(Judges 6:12), Kish (I Samuel 9:1), David (I Samuel 16:18), and Goliath (I Samuel
17:51). These were brave and powerful men, valiant and seemingly invincible. Such is
the covenant love of the Lord for his people. “For as high as the heavens are above the
earth, so great is his love for those who fear him” (Psalm 103:11). But also, “the
faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.” His covenant love is powerful, and his
covenant faithfulness is unending. The plan and purpose of God are never outdated. They
are as relevant and life changing as ever. If Israel could testify of God’s faithfulness to
them by way of bringing them out of Egypt as a people brought back from extinction, and
by way of establishing them in their own land in fulfillment of the promise, they could
offer the world the further promise that in Abraham’s seed all nations would be blessed. It
is clear that Israel’s national and religious life did not live up to the spirit of this Psalm.
Yet God saw to it that words such as these were placed upon Israel’s lips as a testimony to
the nations. This is the essence of the truest and highest spiritual life of Israel. It is the
witness of the godly man.

Paul the apostle appealed to this Psalm to reinforce a principle of godliness in Christian
relationships (Romans 15:11). It is only one example among many of how the New
Testament draws upon the Old Testament for purposes of setting forth the truth of the
gospel and its application. This means that the godly man of the Psalm was not engaging
in wishful thinking when he proclaimed his message to the nations. He was confident that
the message he preached would eventually transform the world, because God would do it.
God’s people today know and testify that God has done it in the ministry of Jesus Christ
and in the formation of the new people of God. In the context Paul was urging the
necessity of mutual acceptance among Christians. The standard by which our conduct is
to be guided is the Lord Jesus Christ, who has become a servant to the Jews in order to
fulfill the promises of God made to Abraham. The most fundamental of all kinds of
human animosity that Paul could have addressed was that which traditionally prevailed
between Jew and Gentile. There was no more insurmountable problem than this when it
came to Christians accepting one another. Yet Paul was telling them that they must
receive one another. This word “accept or receive” means to take to yourself. It was
sometimes used to describe taking food in the sense of eating it. This was an appropriate
use of the word, since the food becomes part of you once you have eaten it. It speaks of
the assimilation of one thing into another. When Paul wrote to Philemon about receiving
Onesimus as if he were Paul himself (Philemon 17), he was not talking about a Sunday
morning only relationship. It was in connection with this teaching that Paul enlisted the
support of several Old Testament passages. All of these, including the first part of Psalm
117, have something to say about the inclusion of the Gentiles among the people of God.
Paul was reminding the believers that Christ fulfilled the promises made to the patriarchs
so that the Gentiles could now glorify God for his mercy. They now are among those
enjoying the blessing of God through the promise. The true nature of a gospel church is
that it is comprised of people who receive one another because Christ has received them.
A local church serves as a practical, personal, real time demonstration of what the godly
man of Psalm 117 was calling for so long ago.

Do we have this witness? Can we make this message our own as people who have come
to know the realities of which it speaks? Do we know anything about this covenant love?
Does our life bear witness to how it is great toward us, how it is powerful and has
prevailed over sin, Satan, death and hell? And do we glory in the faithfulness of the Lord
in such a way that others have any reason to believe us when we tell them that it endures
forever? Our message is about the covenant love and faithfulness of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Whatever God promised to do, he has done and will do in and through Christ. At
the beginning of this study we noted that Psalm 117 is an example of the gospel being
heralded to the whole world before the coming of Christ. Have we understood the
gospel? Do our lives demonstrate to the nations and peoples around us not only that we
comprehend it, but that it has apprehended us?

June 2, 1991
Revised April 23, 2006

“From all that dwell below the skies

Let the Creator’s praise arise:
Let the Redeemer’s name be sung
Through every land, by every tongue.

Eternal are thy mercies, Lord;

Eternal truth attends thy word;
Thy praise shall sound from shore to shore,
Till suns shall rise and set no more.”
(Isaac Watts, 1719)