Psalm 136:1-3
O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.
O give thanks unto the God of gods: for his mercy endureth for ever.
O give thanks to the Lord of lords: for his mercy endureth for ever.
HENRY SMITH (1560-1591): Many sweet things are in the word of God—but the name of mercy is the sweetest word in all the Scriptures, which made David harp upon it twenty-six times in this Psalm, “For his mercy endureth for ever.”
THOMAS SCOTT (1747-1821): The frequent repetition of this sentence shows how greatly the Lord delights in mercy, and deems Himself honoured by the exercise of it: and it teaches us that this attribute should be peculiarly dear to us, being the source of all our hopes and comforts. At every half verse, one half of the choir answers to the other in these words: “For His mercy endureth for ever.”
C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): When the chorus was taken up by the whole of the people, accompanied by a blast of trumpets, this must have been a magnificent hymn of praise.
JOHN GILL (1697-1771): And the design of this psalm is to show that blessings of every kind flow from the grace, goodness, and mercy of God, which is constant and perpetual; and to impress a sense of it upon the minds of men.
C. H. SPURGEON: It commences with a three-fold praise to the Triune Lord.
DANIEL CRESSWELL (1776-1844): The three several names of the Deity are commonly rendered Jehovah, God, and Lord, respectively; the first having reference to His essence as self-existent, and being His proper name; the second designating Him under the character of a judge or of an all-powerful being; and the third, representing Him as exercising rule.
C. H. SPURGEON: If there be any other god, if there can be imagined to be any, our God is infinitely above them all. The gods of the heathen are idols, but our God made the heavens.
G. CAMPBELL MORGAN (1863-1945): All other mighty beings, false or true, are less than He; and subservient to Him. In the same way He is Lord of lords.
C. H. SPURGEON: There are lords many—but but Jehovah is the Lord of them all. All lordship is vested in the Eternal. He makes and administers law, He rules and governs mind and matter, He possesses in Himself all sovereignty and power. All lords in the plural are summed up in this Lord in the singular: He is more lordly than all emperors and kings condensed into one. For this we may well be thankful, for we know the superior Sovereign will rectify the abuses of the underlings who now lord it over mankind. He will call these lords to his bar, and reckon with them for every oppression and injustice. He is as truly the Lord of lords as He is Lord over the meanest of the land, and He rules with a strict impartiality, for which every just man should give heartiest thanks.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Every verse of this psalm outlines God’s wondrous mercy in creation, in providence and power, in judgment and deliverance, and in forgiveness and redemption.
WILLIAM JAY (1769-1853): We are here reminded of the source of our salvation…Thus Peter says, “According to his abundant mercy he hath begotten us again to a lively hope by the resurrection from the dead,” 1 Peter 1:3; and Paul says, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us,” Titus 3:5. The whole design of our salvation originates in and is secured by the purpose and grace of God.
THOMAS SCOTT: By mercy we understand the Lord’s disposition to compassion and to relieve those whom sin has rendered miserable and base; His readiness to forgive and be reconciled to the most provoking of transgressors, and to bestow all blessings upon them; together with all the provision which He has made for the honour of His name, in the redemption of sinners by Jesus Christ. The counsels of this mercy have been from everlasting; the effects of it will be eternal to all who are interested in it: and the Lord continues, from age to age, equally ready to show mercy to all who seek to Him for it.
ROBERT HARRIS (1578-1658): Mercy pleaseth Him—it is His delight: and we are never weary of receiving, therefore He cannot be of giving it; for it is a more blessed thing “to give than to receive,” Acts 20:35; so God takes more content in the one, than we in the other.
PHILIP HENRY (1631-1696): “Who remembered us in our low estate: for his mercy endureth for ever: And hath redeemed us from our enemies: for his mercy endureth for ever,” verses 23-24. “And.” If the end of one mercy were not the beginning of another, we were undone.
THOMAS GOODWIN (1600-1679): My brethren, God’s mercies are from everlasting; and it is a treasure that can never be spent, never exhausted, unto eternity…If God will but continue to be merciful to me, will a poor soul say, I have enough? Why, saith Isaiah, “in His mercies is continuance, and we shall be saved,” Isaiah 64:5. Hath God pardoned thee hitherto? But hast thou sinned again? Can He stretch His goodness and mercy a little further? Why, He will stretch them out unto eternity, unto everlasting; and if one everlasting be not enough, there are twenty-six everlastings in this one Psalm.
JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): “O give thanks unto the God of heaven, for his mercy endureth for ever,” vs. 26. His mercy in providing heaven for His people is more than all the rest.
EDITOR’S NOTE: But notice what is said immediately before that very last verse of this psalm—“Who giveth food to all flesh, for his mercy endureth for ever,” vs. 25.
THOMAS MANTON (1620-1677): The very air we breathe in, the bread we eat—our common blessings, be they never so mean, we have them all from grace, and all from the tender mercy of the Lord. You have in this psalm the story of the notable effects of God’s mercy, and the Psalmist doth not only ascribe those mighty victories, those glorious instances of His love and power, to his unchangeable mercy, but he traces our daily bread to the same cause. In eminent deliverances of the church we will acknowledge mercy; yea, but we should do it in every bit of meat we eat; for the same reason is rendered all along. What is the reason his people smote Sihon king of the Amorites, and Og the king of Bashan, and that they were rescued so often out of danger? “For his mercy endureth for ever.” And what is the reason he giveth food to all flesh? “For his mercy endureth for ever.” It is not only mercy which gives us Christ, and salvation by Christ, and all those glorious deliverances and triumphs over the enemies of the church; but it is mercy which furnisheth our tables, it is mercy that we taste with our mouths and wear at our backs. It is notable, our Lord Jesus, when there were but five barley loaves and two fishes, John 6:11, “He lift up his eyes and gave thanks.” Though our provision be never so homely and slender, yet God’s grace and mercy must be acknowledged.
C. H. SPURGEON: Let us arouse ourselves to laud our glorious Lord! And let this one reason suffice us for three thanksgivings, or for three thousand—
For His mercy shall endure,
Ever faithful, ever sure.
