Psalms 135:19

Psa 135:19 Bless the LORD, O house of Israel: bless the LORD, O house of Aaron:

Ver. 19. Bless the Lord] And not an idol, Isa 66:3, as the Philistines did their Dagon; and as Papists still do their male and female saints.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Psa 135:19-21. Bless the Lord, O house of Israel — He who proved himself to be infinitely superior to the objects of heathen idolatry, is no less superior to every object on which deluded men can place their affections. Let the house of Israel, therefore, the house of Levi, and the house of Aaron, the church, the ministers thereof; and let all who fear the Lord, though not of the house of Israel, bless and praise his holy name, in his temple here below, until they shall be admitted to do it for evermore in that which is above: see Horne.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

19. (Psa 135:19) O house of Israel, bless Jehovah! O house of Aaron, bless Jehovah! Having shewn what God is, in himself and in comparison with idols, he repeats the exhortation which this description was intended to explain and justify. With this and the next verse compare Ps. cxv. 9-11, cxviii. 2-4. Instead of trust we have here bless, as at the beginning of the Psalm. Compare Psa 134:1.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Psalms Translated and Explained (1850) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

135:19-21 The groups named here comprised the covenant community (see 115:9-11).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 19. Bless the Lord. O house, &c.] See similar verses, Ps 115:9-13, and the notes there.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(19, 21) From Psa_115:9-11, with the addition, “O house of Levi.”

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

19, 20. The three-fold call of Psa_115:9-11; Psa_118:2-4 is here expanded by the addition of the house of Levi.

19–21. All Israel is summoned to praise Jehovah.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Bless the Lord, O house of Levi,.... These were of the same tribe with the house of Aaron, but inferior ministers; they ministered to the priests, and had the charge of things in the tabernacle and temple; many of them were porters in the latter, and others were singers, and of these Kimchi interprets the words; whose work it was to give thanks morning and evening, and so are with great propriety called upon to bless the Lord, Num 3:6; and may mystically design inferior officers in the church, who are helps and assistants to ministers in the government and discipline of it, and have the care of its secular affairs; and who, when they behave well, purchase to themselves a good degree, and boldness in the faith; and even doorkeepers in the house of the Lord have reason to bless his name for a place there; and all the saints are the sweet singers of Israel, have the new song of electing, redeeming, and calling grace, put into their mouths, and therefore should bless the Lord;

ye that fear the Lord, bless the Lord; these are distinct from the Israelites, priests, and Levites, and design the proselytes among them of other nations that truly feared God, as Jarchi notes; and all such persons, whoever and wherever they are, have reason to bless the Lord for the fear of him they have, which is not from nature, but from grace; and for the layouts shown them, the blessings bestowed upon them, the good things laid up for them, and the guard that is about them, which the Scriptures abundantly declare, and experience confirms.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Bless the Lord, O house of Israel ... - This passage, also, is evidently an imitation of the passage in Psa 115:9-13. The form in Ps. 115, however, is rather an exhortation to trust in the Lord, and an assurance that God would bless the classes spoken of, than a call on them to bless the Lord. Still the same classes of persons are referred to; the house of Israel; the house of Aaron; and those who feared the Lord. The passage needs no further illustration than what is found in the notes at Psa 115:9-13. It is an earnest call on all classes of the people to bless and praise the Lord. It is language expressive of overflowing joy; the utterance of a heart full of exalted conceptions of the majesty, the glory, and the mercy of God; of a heart which feels to the utmost the fitness of praise, and desires that all classes of people - priests and people - that all created things should unite in the praise of Yahweh. Who, in reading the psalm, can fail to catch the feelings of the psalmist, and to say Amen and amen!

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ver. 19. Bless the LORD, O house of Israel. All of you, in all your tribes, praise the one Jehovah. Each tribe, from Reuben to Benjamin, has its own special cause for blessing the Lord, and the nation as a whole has substantial reasons for pouring out benedictions upon his name. Those whom God has named "the house of Israel", a family of prevailing princes, ought to show their loyalty by thankfully bowing before their sovereign Lord. Bless the LORD, O house of Aaron. These were elected to high office and permitted to draw very near to the divine presence; therefore they beyond all others were bound to bless the Lord. Those who are favoured to be leaders in the church should be foremost in adoration. In God's house the house of Aaron should feel bound to speak well of his name before all the house of Israel.

Ver. 19. Bless the LORD. Blessing of God is to wish well to, and speak well of God, out of goodwill to God himself, and a sense of his goodness to ourselves. God loves your good word, that is, to be spoken of well by you; he rejoiceth in your well wishes, and to hear from you expressions of rejoicings in his own independent blessedness. Though God hath an infinite ocean of all blessedness, to which we can add nothing, and he is therefore called by way of eminency, "The Blessed One" (Mr 14:61), a title solely proper and peculiar to him, yet he delights to hear the amen of the saints, his creatures, resounding thereto; he delights to hear us utter our "so be it." Thomas Goodwin.

Ver. 19. Bless the LORD. And not an idol (Isa 66:3), as the Philistines did their Dagon, and as Papists still do their he saints and she saints. John Trapp.

Ver. 19. House of Israel. The Lord's great goodness to all his people, perceived and proclaimed, and the Lord praised for it.

Ver. 19. House of Aaron. God's blessing on Aaron's house typical of his grace to those who are priests unto God.

Ver. 19-21.

1. The Exhortation.

a) To bless the Lord.

b) To bless him in his own house.

2. To whom it is addressed.

a) To the house of Israel, or the whole church.

b) To the house of Aaron, or ministers of the sanctuary.

c) To the house of Levi, or the attendants upon ministers, and assistants in the services.

d) To all who fear God, wherever they may be. Even they who fear God are invited to praise him, which is a sure sign that he delighteth in mercy. G. R.

Psalms 135:20*

Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

19, 20. These verses are taken from Psa_115:9-11, where see notes. To the enumeration of “Israel,” “house of Aaron,” and “those who fear the Lord,” in the latter passage, and in Psa_118:2-4, we have added in the text the house of Levi, by which language the common priesthood, as distinguished from the highpriesthood, is meant.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Bless the Lord, O house of Israel. The concluding strain corresponds to the opening one, and is a simple hymn of praise. Israel generally, the priestly order, the Levites, and the devout worshippers of God, of whatever class, are called upon in succession to praise and bless Jehovah. (comp. Psa_115:9-11) Bless the Lord, O house of Aaron. (see Psa_115:10, 12 118:3)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

A call to the praise of Jahve, who is exalted above the gods of the nations, addressed to Israel as a whole, rounds off the Psalm by recurring to its beginning. The threefold call in Psa 115:9-11; Psa 118:2-4, is rendered fourfold here by the introduction of the house of the Levites, and the wishing of a blessing in Psa 134:3 is turned into an ascription of praise. Zion, whence Jahve's self-attestation, so rich in power and loving-kindness, is spread abroad, is also to be the place whence His glorious attestation by the mouth of men is spread abroad. History has realized this.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

he who lives in Jerusalem

God is spoken of as if he lived in Jerusalem because the temple where the Israelites worshiped him was there. AT: "he whose temple is in Jerusalem" (See: Metonymy)

translationWords

descend

bless

Aaron

Levi

honor

Zion

life

Jerusalem

praise

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.