Bird's-eye view
In this sharp and potent conclusion to the central argument of Psalm 135, the psalmist pivots from celebrating the unique, sovereign power of Yahweh to a scathing polemic against the gods of the nations. The contrast is absolute. The God of Israel is the one who does whatever He pleases in heaven and on earth (v. 6), the one who acts decisively in history to save His people (vv. 8-12). The gods of the heathen, in stark contrast, are impotent, man-made contraptions. This section is a masterpiece of biblical sarcasm, systematically deconstructing the very idea of a manufactured god. The core of the argument is not simply that idols are false, but that they are lifeless, and this lifelessness is contagious. The passage culminates in one of the most profound principles in Scripture: you become like what you worship. Those who craft and trust in these dead things become spiritually dead themselves. It is a diagnosis of the vanity of paganism and a solemn warning against the perennial human temptation to trade the glory of the immortal God for a mute block of wood or stone.
This is not just an ancient critique of primitive religion. It is a foundational statement about the nature of worship itself. Worship is transformative. Beholding the glory of the living God changes us into that same glory (2 Cor. 3:18). By the same token, bowing down to that which is deaf, dumb, and blind will render the worshipper spiritually deaf, dumb, and blind. The psalmist is laying the groundwork for the gospel, demonstrating the utter bankruptcy of all religious systems apart from the revelation of the one true God, who not only speaks and sees, but who became flesh and dwelt among us.
Outline
- 1. The Worthlessness of Idols (Ps 135:15-18)
- a. Their Material Origin: Man-Made (Ps 135:15)
- b. Their Sensory Failure: A List of Deficiencies (Ps 135:16-17)
- c. Their Transformative Power: Making Men Like Themselves (Ps 135:18)
Context In Psalms
Psalm 135 is one of the "Hallel" psalms, a song of praise. It begins and ends with the exhortation "Praise the LORD!" (Hallelujah). The psalmist calls on the priests and Levites, the "house of Aaron" and the "house of Levi," along with all who fear the Lord, to bless His name. The central portion of the psalm (vv. 5-14) gives the reasons for this praise: God's greatness, His absolute sovereignty over creation, and His mighty acts of redemption in the history of Israel, particularly the Exodus and the conquest of Canaan. The section we are examining (vv. 15-18) serves as the foil to all of this. It functions as a reductio ad absurdum. Having just celebrated the God who speaks, acts, sees, and saves, the psalmist turns to the "gods" of the surrounding nations and shows them to be the complete opposite. This polemic against idolatry is a common theme in the Psalms (e.g., Psalm 115:4-8, which is nearly identical) and the prophets (e.g., Isaiah 44:9-20). It reinforces the central claim of Israel's faith: Yahweh alone is God, and there is no other.
Key Issues
- The Nature of Idolatry
- The Sovereignty of God vs. the Impotence of Idols
- The Principle of Spiritual Transformation Through Worship
- The Folly of Humanism and Self-Made Religion
The Contagion of Nothingness
The Bible treats idolatry with a unique blend of deadly seriousness and mocking contempt. It is a capital offense against the first and greatest commandment, yet it is also presented as a piece of cosmic buffoonery. A man cuts down a tree, uses half of it to warm himself and cook his dinner, and then with the other half he carves an image, bows down to it, and says, "Deliver me, for you are my god!" (Isa. 44:17). The prophets want us to see the sheer absurdity of it all. The idols of the nations are nothing. They are vanity. Wind and confusion.
But this nothingness is not inert. It is a spiritual black hole that sucks the life out of its worshippers. This is the central point of our text. Idols are not just neutral objects; they are transmitters of their own vacuity. They are a bundle of infirmities. They have mouths that cannot form a single syllable, eyes that cannot see a thing, and ears that cannot hear a prayer. They are breathless corpses. And the great spiritual law laid down here is that those who make them, and those who trust them, come to share in all these disabilities. They become spiritually lifeless. This is why idolatry is never a small matter. It is a choice between being conformed to the image of the living Christ or being conformed to the image of a dead rock.
Verse by Verse Commentary
15 The idols of the nations are silver and gold, The work of man’s hands.
The critique begins with the idol's origin and substance. They may be made of precious materials, silver and gold, designed to impress the worshipper with their value and beauty. But this is a sham. Their ultimate material is not what matters; their ultimate origin does. They are the work of man’s hands. This is the foundational absurdity. A creature cannot create his own creator. A man takes raw materials that God created, fashions them with the skill and strength that God gave him, and then prostrates himself before his own handicraft. It is a closed, pathetic loop of self-worship. The power does not flow from the idol to the man, but from the man into the idol. He is the source of its existence, and yet he looks to it for deliverance. This is the essence of all man-centered religion.
16 They have mouths, but they do not speak; They have eyes, but they do not see;
The psalmist now begins a systematic inventory of the idol's impotence, contrasting it with the living God. Yahweh is the God who speaks. He spoke the universe into existence. He spoke the law from Sinai. He speaks through His prophets. His Word is living and active. But the idols? They have mouths, carefully carved by their makers, but they are eternally silent. No word of comfort, no word of guidance, no word of judgment ever proceeds from them. They are mute. Likewise, they have eyes, perhaps inlaid with jewels to make them seem aware, but they see nothing. They cannot see the plight of their worshippers. They cannot see the impending judgment of God. Our God, however, is a seeing God. The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good (Prov. 15:3). He saw the affliction of His people in Egypt. The contrast is absolute: the silent, blind idol versus the speaking, seeing God.
17 They have ears, but they do not hear, Surely, there is not any breath in their mouths.
The list of deficiencies continues. They have ears, but they are deaf to the cries of those who pray to them. The prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel could shout and cut themselves all day, but their god heard nothing because he was nothing. But the God of Israel is the one who hears prayer. "O you who hear prayer, to you all flesh will come" (Ps. 65:2). The psalmist then sums up their condition with a final, damning observation: there is not any breath in their mouths. Breath is the biblical sign of life. God breathed into Adam's nostrils the breath of life (Gen. 2:7). The idols are breathless. They are inanimate. They are, in a word, dead. To worship an idol is to practice a form of spiritual necrophilia.
18 Those who make them will be like them, All who trust in them.
This is the punchline, and it is one of the most important theological principles in the entire Bible. The worship of these dead things has a profound, transformative effect on the worshipper. He becomes like the object of his worship. This is stated in two parts, encompassing both the manufacturers and the consumers. Those who make them, the craftsmen who pour their skill into these dead objects, become spiritually dead themselves. And not just them, but all who trust in them. You put your ultimate faith and confidence in something that cannot speak, see, hear, or breathe, and you will find your own spiritual senses dulled to nothing. You become blind to the truth of God, deaf to His call, and dumb in His praise. Your spiritual life suffocates. This is the just and fitting judgment for idolatry. God gives the idolater over to the emptiness he has chosen.
Application
It is easy for modern Christians to read a passage like this and think it applies only to people in loincloths bowing to stone statues. But that is to miss the point entirely. Idolatry is not fundamentally about statues; it is about what you trust. It is about what has the ultimate functional authority in your life. As Paul tells us, covetousness is idolatry (Col. 3:5). Anything that takes the place of God in your heart is an idol, whether it is money, sex, power, approval, comfort, or even your own family or political cause.
And the principle of Psalm 135:18 holds absolutely true for these more sophisticated idols. If you worship money, you will become as cold and impersonal as a transaction. If you worship sexual pleasure, you will become as shallow and transient as an orgasm. If you worship political power, you will become as deaf to conscience and mercy as the state itself. If you worship your own comfort, you will become spiritually inert, breathless, and useless for the kingdom. You become like what you worship.
The good news of the gospel is that this principle works in the other direction as well. This is the engine of our sanctification. "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory" (2 Cor. 3:18). We are called to turn away from the breathless, man-made idols of this world and to fix our eyes on the living and active God revealed in the face of Jesus Christ. He is the God who speaks, and we hear His voice in the Scriptures. He is the God who sees, and we live our lives before His face. He is the God who hears, and we bring all our cares to Him in prayer. He is the God who has the breath of life, and He has breathed His own Spirit into us. As we worship Him, we are changed. We who were spiritually deaf, dumb, and blind are made to hear, speak, and see. We are being made like Him. That is the choice before us every day: transformation into the image of a dead idol, or transformation into the image of the living Son of God.