Commentary - Psalm 136:4-9

Bird's-eye view

Psalm 136 is a great litany of responsive praise, a corporate declaration of God's objective goodness, grounded in His mighty acts in creation and redemption. The structure is antiphonal, with the leader making a declaration about God and the congregation responding with the great, central refrain: "For His lovingkindness endures forever." This psalm is designed to catechize the people of God, to drill into their hearts and minds the foundational truth that God's covenant loyalty, His hesed, is the bedrock of reality. It is not a fleeting sentiment but an everlasting, structural feature of the cosmos.

The psalm moves methodically from the general to the particular. It begins with a call to thank God for who He is in His essence (good, God of gods, Lord of lords) and then grounds that character in what He has done. The first great demonstration of His enduring lovingkindness is the act of creation itself. The verses in our passage (4-9) focus squarely on this. God's creative work is not presented as a brute display of power, but as an expression of His wisdom, skill, and covenant faithfulness. The very fabric of the heavens, the stability of the earth, and the rhythmic rule of the sun and moon are all testimonies to a love that does not change. This section establishes that the God of redemption is first the God of creation, and His faithfulness to His people is as reliable as the sunrise.

Outline

Context In Psalms

Psalm 136 is part of the "Great Hallel," which traditionally includes Psalms 113-118, but is often associated with the psalms that surround it, including this one. These were psalms of high praise and thanksgiving, sung during major festivals like the Passover. The responsive nature of Psalm 136 makes it particularly suited for corporate worship. It functions as a creedal hymn, recounting the story of Israel's faith from the beginning of all things. It follows Psalm 135, which also praises God for His work in creation and His special choosing of Israel. But while Psalm 135 is a more standard hymn of praise, Psalm 136 drives home a single, overwhelming point with its relentless refrain. Every act of God, from shaping the cosmos to striking down Pharaoh, is an expression of the same unchanging reality: His hesed is forever.

Key Issues

For His Hesed is Forever

The central refrain of this psalm, which our translations render as "For His lovingkindness endures forever," is in the Hebrew, ki le'olam hasdo. The key word there is hesed. This is one of the most important words in the Old Testament, and it is notoriously difficult to capture with a single English term. "Lovingkindness" is good, "mercy" is part of it, "steadfast love" gets closer. But at its core, hesed is about covenant loyalty. It is a love that is not based on feelings or circumstances, but on a sworn commitment. It is God's absolute faithfulness to His promises and to His people.

The King James Version supplies the verb "endureth," but it is not in the original. The line is more stark: "For His hesed forever." This refrain is the bass note that sounds under every melody of God's action. Why did God perform great wonders? For His hesed forever. Why did He make the heavens? For His hesed forever. This is not just a poetic flourish. It is a profound theological statement. The universe was created as an act of covenant love. The world is not an accident, nor is it a neutral stage. It is a theater of God's glory, and the script for the entire drama is God's unwavering faithfulness to His covenant purposes, which find their ultimate expression in Jesus Christ.

Verse by Verse Commentary

4 To Him who alone does great wonders, For His lovingkindness endures forever;

The psalmist begins the narrative portion of the hymn by ascribing all "great wonders" to God alone. This is a polemical statement in a world full of petty gods and so-called wonder-workers. The magicians of Egypt could perform their little tricks, but only Yahweh can create a cosmos out of nothing and split a sea with a word. He alone is in this category. A wonder is something that evokes awe, that stops you in your tracks. Our modern world, with its evolutionary pretensions, tries to domesticate these wonders, to explain them away as the product of time and chance and natural processes. But the Bible will have none of it. The world is shot through with wonders, and they all point back to the one true God. And the reason He does these things is rooted in His character. His wonders are not arbitrary flexes of power; they are expressions of His eternal covenant loyalty. His power serves His love.

5 To Him who made the heavens with skill, For His lovingkindness endures forever;

Here we get the first specific wonder: the creation of the heavens. The text says He made them "with skill" or "by wisdom." The universe is not a chaotic accident. It is an intricate, ordered, and brilliantly designed masterpiece. Think of the fine-tuning of the physical constants that make life possible, the mathematical elegance of the planetary orbits, the sheer aesthetic glory of a spiral galaxy. This is not the work of a blind process; it is the work of a master craftsman, an infinitely intelligent mind. The heavens declare the glory of God because they reflect the wisdom of God. And why this display of skill? "For His hesed forever." He built this magnificent cosmic temple as a place for His covenant people to dwell with Him. The skill in creation is an act of love for those who would inhabit it.

6 To Him who spread out the earth above the waters, For His lovingkindness endures forever;

This verse recalls the imagery of Genesis 1, where God separates the land from the waters, establishing a stable place for life to flourish. "Spread out" or "stamped out" gives the idea of a metalsmith hammering out a sheet of bronze. It is an act of powerful, deliberate formation. God established the dry land, the realm of man, as a stable platform in the midst of the chaotic waters. This is a picture of His providential care. He doesn't just create; He creates a safe and ordered world for His creatures. He brings order out of chaos. This physical act of providing stable ground is a picture of the spiritual stability He provides for His people. He is our rock, our firm foundation. And this provision is, again, an outworking of His covenant faithfulness. He provides a place for us because His lovingkindness is forever.

7 To Him who made the great lights, For His lovingkindness endures forever:

Having established the heavens and the earth, the psalmist now populates the heavens with their rulers. The "great lights" are, of course, the sun and moon. In the ancient world, these celestial bodies were universally worshipped as powerful deities. But the Bible demotes them. They are not gods; they are "lights." They are created things, artifacts made by the one true God. They are servants, not masters. Their purpose is to serve God's purposes on earth. This is a direct assault on pagan idolatry. You worship the sun? Our God made your god on the fourth day of His work week. And He made it as an act of covenant love for His people.

8 The sun to rule by day, For His lovingkindness endures forever,

The sun is given a specific function: "to rule by day." This is the language of governance. The sun is God's viceroy, governing the daylight hours. Its rule provides the light and warmth necessary for all life. Its rhythm provides the basis for our calendar, for our cycles of work and rest. This dependable, consistent rule of the sun is a daily sermon on the faithfulness of God. As Jeremiah would later argue, the fixed order of the sun and moon is a guarantee of God's covenant with His people (Jer 31:35-36). Every sunrise is a new installment of God's mercy, a fresh declaration that His hesed is forever.

9 The moon and stars to rule by night, For His lovingkindness endures forever.

And what the sun does for the day, the moon and stars do for the night. They have their own dominion. They provide light in the darkness, they mark the seasons, they guide the traveler. Their silent, steady procession across the night sky is another testimony to God's faithful, ordering love. The sheer number of the stars, which God promised would be a picture of Abraham's offspring, is a reminder of His covenant promises. He governs the day and He governs the night. There is no time and no place that is outside the reach of His rule, and that rule is always and ever an expression of His unending, unbreakable covenant loyalty.

Application

This passage is a call to look at the created world and to see it for what it truly is: a monument to the lovingkindness of God. We are catechized by our culture to see the world as a meaningless collection of atoms, a product of a long and bloody evolutionary struggle. The result is that we take it all for granted. We have lost the capacity for wonder.

The psalmist calls us back to reality. The sun is not a random ball of gas; it is a ruler appointed by God to serve you with its light and warmth. The ground beneath your feet is not just dirt; it is a platform lovingly hammered out by God to give you a stable place to live. The stars are not just distant nuclear furnaces; they are a nightly reminder of God's promise to Abraham and to all who are in Christ.

The application, then, is to cultivate a thankful and doxological view of creation. We must refuse the drab, gray narrative of materialism and instead learn to see the world in blazing color, charged with the grandeur of God. When you see the sun rise, you should think, "For His lovingkindness endures forever." When you look up at the moon, you should think, "For His lovingkindness endures forever." Every part of creation is preaching the same sermon, over and over. This world was made by a wise and loving King, and that same King has demonstrated the ultimate expression of His hesed by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to redeem this world. The God who made the sun with skill is the same God who died on a cross to save sinners. His love in creation and His love in redemption are one and the same, and that love is forever.