Commentary - Psalm 138:4-6

Bird's-eye view

This section of Psalm 138 is a glorious, postmillennial prophecy. David, having received personal deliverance and strength from God, immediately broadens his vision to encompass the entire world. His personal testimony is not a private affair; it is destined for the ears of kings. The logic of the psalm is that the Word of Yahweh, once heard, is irresistible. When the rulers of the earth finally hear the words of God's mouth, not the garbled traditions of men, but the pure, potent Word, their only possible response will be worship. They will not just give grudging assent; they will sing of the ways of Yahweh. This royal chorus will be motivated by a true sight of God's glory. The psalm then pivots to the central paradox of the gospel: the great God, the high King, is the one who has respect for the lowly. The conclusion reveals the moral axis upon which this whole global conversion turns. God draws near to the humble, but keeps His distance from the proud. It is humility that inherits the earth, and it is the proud kings who must come down from their thrones in order to truly rule.

In short, David is providing a template for world evangelization. It begins with a faithful believer testifying to God's Word, and it ends with the kings of the earth joining the choir. The central message they must learn is that the God who is truly high is the God who condescends to the lowly, and this is most perfectly displayed in the incarnation, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. The proud are kept at arm's length, not because God cannot see them, but because He can see them all too clearly from His holy habitation.

Outline

Context In Psalms

Psalm 138 is a psalm of David, a song of thanksgiving that radiates outward from personal experience to global prophecy. It begins with David's individual praise, offered with his whole heart "before the gods," meaning in the face of all rival spiritual powers (v. 1). He gives thanks for God's lovingkindness and truth, and for the fact that God has magnified His word above His very name (v. 2). This is a staggering statement; God has bound Himself to His promises. When David cried out, God answered and strengthened him (v. 3). It is on the foundation of this personal, answered prayer and this high view of God's Word that the prophecy of our text is built. The psalm does not end with global conversion but returns to the personal, expressing confidence that though he walks in trouble, God will preserve him and perfect His work in him (vv. 7-8). This psalm, therefore, beautifully models the relationship between personal piety and global mission. The confidence that God will save the nations is rooted in the experience of being saved by God personally.

Key Issues

The Gospel for Kings

We live in a democratic age that is suspicious of authority, and so we often read the Bible with an egalitarian squint. We like the parts about God caring for the poor and lowly, and we cheer when the mighty are cast down from their thrones. And that is certainly a biblical theme. But we must not miss the other side of it. God is not interested in leveling everyone down into some gray, uniform mass. He is interested in saving everyone, and that includes the kings. God wants all kinds of men to be saved, and that includes corporate CEOs, senators, and presidents.

This psalm is one of the great promises that God is going to assemble a great choir composed of humbled kings. The gospel is not just for the down-and-out; it is for the up-and-in. The message is the same for both: you must humble yourself. For the poor man, that might mean humbling himself to trust God instead of his own street smarts. For the king, it means humbling himself to trust God instead of his armies and treasuries. The ground is level at the foot of the cross, but you have to be willing to kneel to get there, and that is often a greater distance for a king to travel. But this psalm promises that they will make that journey. When they hear the words of His mouth, they will come.

Verse by Verse Commentary

4 All the kings of the earth, O Yahweh, will give You thanks, When they hear the words of Your mouth.

David makes a stunning and unqualified prediction. Not some kings, not a few token rulers, but all the kings of the earth. This is a prophecy of the comprehensive success of the Great Commission. The catalyst for this global movement of thanksgiving is not a political program or a military victory, but rather the hearing of God's Word. "When they hear the words of Your mouth." Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God, and this is as true for a king as it is for a commoner. This means that the central task of the church is proclamation. We are to speak the words of God's mouth, the law and the gospel, to the nations, and that includes speaking to the rulers of the nations. We are not to be embarrassed about our Book. We are not to trim its message to make it more palatable in the halls of power. The unvarnished Word of God is what has the power to bring kings to their knees in gratitude.

5 And they will sing of the ways of Yahweh, For great is the glory of Yahweh.

Their conversion will not be a merely formal or political affair. It will be a joyful, heartfelt worship. "They will sing." And what will they sing about? "The ways of Yahweh." This refers to God's entire economy, His manner of dealing with mankind, His justice, His mercy, His covenants, His plan of redemption. They will celebrate the wisdom of His governance. The reason for this outburst of song is that they will have seen something that overwhelms all their previous notions of power and majesty: "For great is the glory of Yahweh." The glory of an earthly king, with all his pomp and circumstance, is a flickering candle next to the sun of God's glory. Once a man has seen the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, all earthly glories are revealed for the tawdry things they are. This is what will capture the hearts of kings, a true apprehension of the greatness of God's glory.

6 For Yahweh is high, Yet He sees the lowly, But the one who exalts himself He knows from afar.

This is the theological core of the passage. It explains the "ways of Yahweh" that the kings will sing about. It is the great paradox of the Christian faith. God is high, transcendent, lifted up above all creation. Our minds cannot begin to grasp His loftiness. And yet, this very height is what enables Him to see, to regard, to have respect for the lowly. His thoughts are not our thoughts. We think that to be high means to be distant and aloof from what is small. God teaches that to be truly high is to be able to condescend. He dwells in two places: in the highest heaven, and with the man of a humble and contrite spirit (Isa 57:15). The ultimate expression of this is the Incarnation, where the Most High became a lowly man.

The second half of the verse provides the necessary contrast. God knows the proud man, the one who exalts himself, but He knows him "from afar." This is a magnificent biblical put-down. The proud man thinks his self-inflation has gotten him closer to God, that he is climbing some celestial ladder. But God says that all his puffing and posturing has only increased the distance. God has fellowship with the humble; He keeps the proud at a distance. He knows all about them, He has their number, but He does not invite them in. A lowly slave who fears God is infinitely higher and closer to Him than a conceited king.

Application

The first application is that we must be bold in our witness, especially to those in authority. We are not to be intimidated by worldly power, because we have a Word that can make kings sing. Our task is to faithfully proclaim the words of His mouth, and trust the Holy Spirit to do the work of conversion. We should pray for our leaders, not just that they would leave us alone, but that they would be saved, that they would come to give thanks to Yahweh and sing of His ways.

Second, we must understand the moral structure of the universe. It is built to reward humility and to punish pride. God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. This means that true influence and true exaltation come through the path of lowliness. If you want to be great in God's kingdom, you must become the servant of all. This is a fundamental inversion of the world's value system. The world says, "Promote yourself, make a name for yourself, climb the ladder." The Bible says, "Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time."

Finally, we must cultivate a heart that is impressed with the right things. The kings in this psalm are converted when they see that "great is the glory of Yahweh." Our problem is that we are far too easily impressed by the flimsy glories of this world, wealth, fame, power, success. We need to pray for eyes to see the surpassing glory of God in Christ. When we see that glory for what it is, it reorders all our loves. Humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less because you are preoccupied with thinking about Him. Humility, in the final analysis, is an inference we draw from gazing at the greatness of God.