Latest / Reformed Thinking / Praise the Lord Who Lifts the Lowly (Psalm 113) | Charles Spurgeon

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Praise the Lord Who Lifts the Lowly (Psalm 113) | Charles Spurgeon · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to reformed thinking. It is great to be here for
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another deep dive. So I want you to picture a man
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sitting on a rotting, smoldering heap of garbage in the ancient
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Near East. Just a horrific scene, right?
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Yeah, he's covered in ash, completely ostracized from
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society, and left to scrape by in the refuse.
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I mean, it is the absolute lowest point of human existence.
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Right now, I want you to pull your perspective back.
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Way back. Pull it back Past the
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atmosphere, past our solar system, past the Milky Way, all
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the way to the very edge of the observable universe.
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That is quite the zoom out. It is.
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Consider the creator of those billions of galaxies, a being
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whose scale is so vast that he has to physically stoop down
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just to look at a supernova. Oh wow.
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Today, we're going to investigate what happens when
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that infinite creator reaches his hand directly into that
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rotting ash. Heap.
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That contrast you just painted is the very heartbeat of this
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text. We're opening up Charles
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Spurgeon's massive work, The Treasury of David to look
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specifically at Psalm 113, and we are doing this to challenge
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how you, the listener, view your own spiritual state.
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Yes, because we are looking at a God who is exalted far above the
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heavens, yet who willingly and purposefully steps down into the
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most wretched, discarded corners of human existence.
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It is a staggering shift in scale.
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It really is. And we are operating from a
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distinctly reformed theological baseline today.
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Which means we have a very specific lens for this.
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Right. We are reading this text through
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the lens of God's absolute sovereignty and human inability.
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We are aligning our conversation with the Westminster
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Confession's view of God. Namely, that He is infinite,
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eternal, and unchangeable in his being, Wisdom and holiness.
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Yes, and because of that, this text leaves zero room for human
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boasting. It completely dismantles any
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idea that we contribute to our own rescue.
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Absolutely. But before we get to the ash
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heap, we need to understand the song itself.
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This Psalm is part of something called the Halal.
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What is the historical context here?
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Well, to grasp the weight of Psalm 113, you have to
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understand when and how it was sung.
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Charles Spurgeon notes that this specific Psalm begins the Hello,
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which translates to the Hallelujah of the Jews.
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So this is a specific collection of songs.
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Right. It spans Psalms 113 through 118,
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and it was reserved for their most solemn feasts.
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But the historical context gets much sharper when we look at the
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research of Doctor Alfred Edersheim.
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He draws extensively from the Talmud to point out the specific
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intense suitableness of this song to the Passover.
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And the Passover was the definitive marker of Israel's
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national identity, right? Yes, it was the moment they
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transitioned from being beaten, impoverished slaves making
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bricks in Egypt to a free people worshipping Jehovah.
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That is a massive. Shift I mean it is everything.
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So when the people open this song with the phrase Praise E
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Jehovah, ye servants of Jehovah, they were making a huge
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historical statement. They were declaring that they
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were no longer the servants of Pharaoh.
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Spot on. The whip was gone.
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The bondage was broken. You know that transition from
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slavery to worship is really the defining arc of redemption.
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Think of the halal as a national anthem of rescue, but one that
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is exclusively reserved for celebrations of sheer grace.
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That is a great way to frame it. There is a fascinating detail in
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the source material from Frank de Lynch.
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He notes that this collection of psalms was sung at the Feast of
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Dedication and at the New Moon, but it was strictly forbidden on
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mournful days. Oh wow, forbidden entirely.
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Yeah, you could not sing the Hallel on New Year's Day, and
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you could not sing it on the Day Atonement.
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That is so interesting. De Lich brings up a rabbinic
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tradition explaining why the song was not sung in its
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entirety on the last days of Passover.
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The tradition suggests a divine sentiment, saying my creatures
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were drowned in the sea and ought eat a break out into songs
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of rejoicing. So there was a boundary on when
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this level of celebration was appropriate.
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Right. But restricting the song from
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days of mourning or days of ongoing atonement raises a
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massive question. Does this suggest that true
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biblical praise requires a specific posture?
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I mean, does it require the recognition of an accomplished,
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finished rescue? Well, the structure of their
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worship calendar suggests precisely that you do not sing
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the hallel while the outcome is in doubt, and you do not sing it
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while morning sin. That makes a lot of sense.
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Praise, in the context of Psalm 113, is the explosive response
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to a finished rescue. It is the song of the secure.
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The song of the secure. I like that.
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And we see this connection in the most vivid, visceral way
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possible when we look at the historical timeline provided by
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commentators A A Bonar and Barton Bouchier.
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What do they point out? They point out a historical
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reality that should stop every Christian in their tracks.
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Jesus Christ himself sang this very Psalm in the Upper Room.
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Wait, stop right there and let that sink in.
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We read in the gospel accounts that after the Last Supper they
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sang a hymn before going out to the Mount of Olives.
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Yes, that hymn was the Hello Jesus sang Psalm 113.
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Think about the gravity of that moment.
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Jesus is literally hours away from becoming the ultimate
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Passover lamb. He is walking to his own
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execution. Right.
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He knows the sheer terror of Gethsemane is waiting for him in
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the dark. He knows the mockery, the
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scourging and the crucifixion are eminent it.
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Is looming right in front of him.
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And what is coming out of his mouth?
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A song about God pulling the destitute from the ash.
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Heep. He is singing about redemption
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from the lowest depth while he is walking directly toward the
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cross to secure that very redemption.
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It is the ultimate display of what Reformed theology calls the
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active obedience of Christ. Can you break that down a bit?
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Sure, He is not just passively going to the cross.
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He is actively fulfilling every righteous requirement of the Law
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on our behalf. That includes the requirement of
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perfect praise. Because the Passover lamb had to
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be spotless. Yes, and the Passover liturgy
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had to be observed perfectly. Jesus, the true Lamb, stands in
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the upper room and sings the perfect song of praise to the
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Father on behalf of a people who have entirely failed to praise
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God. He secures the rescue and he
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provides the song. He does both.
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That historical reality takes a text that could feel like a dry
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historical document and turns it into a blood bot reality.
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It really changes how you read it.
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Knowing that Jesus sang this, knowing it is tied to the
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celebration of deliverance from slavery, directly informs how
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the Israelites were commanded to sing it.
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Which leads us right into the opening verses.
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Yeah, that brings us to the actual mechanics of praise
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verse. One starts with an intense,
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almost overwhelming repetition. It says, Praise ye the Lord,
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praise O ye servants of the Lord, praise the name of the
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Lord. Bergen points out that in the
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original language this translates to Hallelujah praise
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to JH Jehovah. So we see the word hallelujahs
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over and over. Yes, and one of the commentators
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cited in the material, Molaris, argues this repetition is highly
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intentional. Why is that?
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He says it is there to wake us up out of our spiritual torpor.
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He claims human beings are inherently dull and slow to
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consider the blessings of God, so we require these massive
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repetitive stimuli. Basically, we fall asleep at the
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wheel. We do, and the physical
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structure of the temple singing was engineered to reinforce this
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wakefulness. Doctor Edersheim describes the
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temple liturgy as a highly responsive communal event.
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So it was not a passive performance.
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Not at all. Every first line of a Psalm was
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chanted by the Levites and then repeated by the people.
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But for every subsequent line, the people responded with a
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resounding Hallelujah. So the Levites would sing
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praise, O ye servants of Jehovah.
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And the massive crowd would shout Hallelujah.
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That must have been deafening. It was meant to be.
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Spurgeon is very careful to note that these were not vain
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repetitions. In Pagan worship you see
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repetitive chanting designed to induce a trance state.
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Right to zone out. But here the repetition is
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designed to do the opposite. It is meant to snap the
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worshipper out of a trance. The theme of God's majesty is
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something the soul must be forced to dwell upon because our
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natural inclination is to drift toward the mundane.
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There's also a distinct theological layer to the
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repetition. In that first verse, Spurgeon
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observes the threefold use of the divine name.
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Oh yes, the Trinity. Yeah, he says.
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Those who understand the doctrine of the Trinity can
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regard this as a veiled allusion to that holy mystery.
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The call is for the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit to all
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be praised as the one only living and true God.
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Herenitarian connection adds incredible depth, but the
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primary function of the command remains the same.
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We are being ordered to vocalize our adoration.
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I have to admit, reading verse 1, the repetition of praise,
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praise, praise almost sounds, well, needy, like a deity
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demanding applause. That is a very common objection.
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Let me pose a question that skeptics often bring up and that
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even believers wrestle with quietly.
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Matthew Hull's commentary states that God Almighty twisted his
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own glory and our happiness together, meaning that at the
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same time we advance the one, we promote the other.
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But if God is utterly self-sufficient, lacking
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absolutely nothing, why the constant demand for us to
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vocalize His worth? Does the Creator of the cosmos
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require our applause to feel validated?
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That is the needy deity objection, and it is a crucial
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theological not to untangle. Why command us to wake from our
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torpor and repeat his name endlessly?
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Well, if God required our praise to complete his glory, he would
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not be the God of the Bible. He would be a dependent idol.
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OK, that is a strong distinction the.
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Reformed understanding of God's ontology.
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His very nature is that he is entirely complete within
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himself. The technical term is a seity.
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A seity having life in himself. Yes.
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He does not demand praise because he is lacking in self
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esteem or because His glory requires human validation to
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exist. His glory is infinite, eternal,
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and completely independent of creation.
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So if he gains nothing from the applause, what is the mechanism
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at work here? Why the command?
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Because praise is the logical, necessary and inevitable
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response of a renewed heart encountering objective truth.
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OK, unpack that for me. Think about the nature of
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reality. When you see something genuinely
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magnificent, a towering mountain range, a flawless piece of art,
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or an act of staggering heroism, your natural instinct is to
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vocalize your awe. Yeah, you turn to the person
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next to you and say look at that.
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Exactly. I mean, yes, spot on.
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The praise does not add value to the mountain.
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It is simply the correct response to the mountain's
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existing value that. Makes a lot of sense.
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John Boys categorizes this obligation beautifully in the
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source material. He says all men owe this duty to
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God simply as the workmanship of His hands.
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A creature owes recognition to its Creator.
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But he narrows it down further right.
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He does. He says Christians owe it above
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other men as being the rescued sheep of his pasture.
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Preachers owe it above other Christians as be the appointed
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pastors of his sheep. So the demand for praise is
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actually a demand for creation to align with reality.
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Precisely when we praise God, we are aligning our finite minds
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and hearts with the objective infinite truth of the universe.
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Therefore, the command is entirely for our benefit.
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Because living in accordance with reality brings the creature
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into its proper joyful state. Yes, when we fail to praise Him,
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we are not hurting God. We are living in a delusion.
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We are living a lie, acting as if we are the center of the
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universe. The command to say Hallelujah is
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God's grace snapping us out of that destructive delusion.
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That makes the shift in verse 3 incredibly compelling.
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The text moves from the individual's obligation to the
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worldwide scope of this objective reality.
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It zooms out again. It does.
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Verse 3 says from the rising of the sun and to the going down of
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the same, the Lord's name is to be praised.
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Now historically the Israelites singing this were a tiny
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localized nations surrounded by massive Pagan empires.
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Very true. Yet they are singing a song
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about global domination through worship.
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James Bait points out the brilliant prophetic nature of
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this phrase. He sees it as predicting the
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spread of Christianity from East to West.
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And Torschel notes this as well, mentioning that the western
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parts of the world were prophesied to enjoy the worship
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of God after the Jews in the East.
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There is a fascinating extrapolation we can make here,
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drawing from the hints provided for village preachers in the
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source material. What are the notes suggest?
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They suggest that this single verse entirely abolish is the
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concept of canonical hours and holy places.
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I'll explain the mechanics of that.
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How does the rising of the sun destroy the idea of a holy hour?
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Think about the physical rotation of the Earth.
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The sun is always rising somewhere at every single moment
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in time. Dawn is breaking over some
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portion of the globe. That is undeniable.
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If God's name is to be praised from the rising of the sun to
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its setting, and the sun is constantly rising and setting
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across the sphere of the earth, then the globe is in a
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perpetual, unbroken state of worship.
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There is no specific hour required for praise to be valid,
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and there is no singular building required for God to
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hear it. The whole Circuit of the sun
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dictates that someone, somewhere, in some language is
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offering adoration to Jehovah at every conceivable moment.
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So isn't an isolated event on Sunday morning, it is a
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perpetual, rolling global state. That is an awe inspiring
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concept. We are commanded to join a
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ceaseless song that spans from East to West.
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But what specific attributes make this God worthy of a
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perpetual global chorus? The Psalm answers this by
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pointing to a sheer elevation above creation.
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In verses 4 through 6, the text says the Lord is high above all
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nations, and his glory above the heavens.
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Who is like unto the Lord our God, who dwelleth on high?
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Spurgeon makes a point here that God has incommunicable
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attributes. Meaning things he does not share
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with us. Right.
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These are characteristics that belong entirely to him and
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cannot be shared with or fully understood by finite creatures.
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Spurgeon says that no metaphors can fully match him.
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Not at all. None of the figures in Scripture
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can give us a complete idea of His Majesty.
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And this is where the text introduces A theological paradox
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that should fracture our finite understanding.
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After establishing this unmatched incomprehensible
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elevation, verse 6 says He humbleth himself to behold the
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things that are in heaven and in the earth.
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I want to pause on the first part of that phrase, humbling
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himself to behold the things in heaven.
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We often think of God looking down at the earth as an act of
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grace. Right, because we are fallen.
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But the text says he has to humble himself just to look at
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heaven. Let's think about the angels for
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a moment. The Archangels are the highest
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of created beings. They are.
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Sinless, radiant, terrifyingly powerful entities that burn with
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holiness. Yet for God to even cast His
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gaze upon a Seraphim requires an act of humbling.
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It is a step down. That is wild to think about.
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Spurgeon writes. He dwells so far on high that
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even to observe heavenly things, he must humble himself.
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He must stoop to view the skies and bow to see what angels do.
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This completely shatters any scale we have for measuring
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greatness. It perfectly illustrates the
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Creator creature distinction, which is a massive pillar of
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Reformed thought. There is an infinite chasm
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between the Creator and everything He has made, even the
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sinless things. Valentine Nelson's commentary
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tackles this paradox brilliantly.
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He notes that God is not just humble, He is infinitely and
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superlatively humble beyond all human conception.
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Yes, Nelson challenges the universe to find a being endued
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with so much humility. And Thomas Hedges points out
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that God is so high he surmounts all created capacity to
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comprehend Him. No bodily eye can see him, and
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the eye of the understanding cannot perfectly reach Him.
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So how does God interact with the world that is infinitely
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beneath him? If looking at heaven requires A
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stoop, what is the mechanism of his interaction with us?
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Well, this is where we must be very precise.
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God does not gain knowledge by looking down.
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He is omniscient. He knows all things by His
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eternal decree. Right.
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He does not need to investigate the universe to see what is
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happening there, for his beholding is not an act of fact
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finding, it is an act of covenantal condescation.
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He is voluntarily stooping to interact with the finite world.
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He chooses to make himself known not by elevating us to his
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infinite level, which would destroy us, but by stepping down
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to our finite level. Matthew Henry connects this
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condescension directly to the Incarnation, which is the
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ultimate fulfillment of this verse.
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Oh. Does Henry phrase it?
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He says, if it is such an astonishing condescension for
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God to behold things in heaven and earth, what an
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incomprehensible condescension it was for the Son of God to
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come from heaven to earth, to take our frail nature upon him,
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to seek and save the lost. The Incarnation is the supreme
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act of stooping the infinite God confines himself to the womb of
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a teenager. The Creator of the universe
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subjects himself to hunger, thirst, and fatigue.
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The God who sustains the galaxies with a word allows his
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own creatures to nail him to a piece of wood.
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It is offended Majesty courting the offenders.
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Nelson brings this out beautifully.
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It is amazing to see the great King of Heaven stooping from his
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height to offer terms of reconciliation to his rebellious
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creatures. So if looking at a radiant,
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sinless Archangel requires God to stoop, what kind of
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unimaginable reach is required for him to interact with fallen,
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rebellious humanity? That is where the text
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introduces the most visceral imagery of the entire Psalm, the
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a sheep. Verses 7 and 8 say He raises up
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the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the
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dunghill, that he may set him with Princess, even with the
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Princess of his people. We need to spend some time here
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because the modern ear hears dunghill and thinks of a messy
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room or a slight disadvantage. Right, like stepping in
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something unpleasant. But the historical reality is
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far more brutal for us to. Lich provides the crucial
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cultural context for this. He explains the Arabic term
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mezbel, which translates to the Dunhill or heap of ashes.
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So this was not just a garbage can, no.
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Every village had a centralized location where all the refuse,
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the rotting garbage, the animal waste and the ashes from the
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ovens were dumped. Over time, this grew into a
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massive festering hill. That sounds absolutely horrific.
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Kalish explains that the man shut out from society, the
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leper, the outcast, the utterly destitute, would literally live
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on this ash heap. He would live there.
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By day he would sit on the rotting garbage, calling for
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alms. By night he would dig into the
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ashes, using the latent heat of the decomposing waste to keep
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from freezing to death. Wow.
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It is an emblem of the deepest poverty, utter desertion and
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complete helplessness. The smell, the isolation, the
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disease, it is a horrifying picture and John Gill takes that
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physical historical reality and maps it directly onto our
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spiritual condition. How does he frame it?
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He describes this dunghill as our fallen state.
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In Adam, he says men are not just brought into a low estate,
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they are brought into a loathsome one.
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We are a massive corruption from which we cannot deliver
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ourselves. Spurgeon is equally blunt.
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He calls it a heap of loathsomeness accumulated by our
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sinful lives, a sepulcher in which we saw corruption and were
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as dead men. This is the doctrine of total
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depravity in its most vivid, uncompromising form.
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And we should clarify what that means.
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Total depravity does not mean every human being is as evil as
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they could possibly be. Right.
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It means that the corruption of sin has extended to every single
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part of our nature, our mind, our will, our emotions, our
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flesh. We are spiritually dead.
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We are not sick patients in need of medicine.
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We are corpses rotting on a Mez bell.
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We are completely incapable of initiating our own salvation.
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I have to pause and look at how violently this metaphor collides
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with modern sensibilities. It really does clash with how we
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think today. The society loves a story of
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self improvement. We love a spiritual meritocracy.
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We want to believe that someone pulled themselves up by their
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bootstraps, that they showed a little spark of goodness, a
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little bit of initiative, and God honored that effort.
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But this text obliterates that idea.
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If we were rotting in a pile of festering ash, where is the room
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for human boasting and salvation?
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How does this imagery confront a listener who might secretly
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think they contributed, at least a little bit, to their own
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standing before God? It completely eradicates any
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notion of human contribution. If you are sitting on the ash
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heap waiting for someone to recognize your inherent value,
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you will die there. That is sobering.
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The theology at work in verses 7 and 8 is monarchism.
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Monarchism is the truth that God acts alone to resurrect the
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spiritually dead. Look at the verbs in the text.
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He raises up, He lifted, He may set him.
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Monarchism isn't just a textbook term.
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Is the physical act of the almighty arms plunging into the
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refuse. God does not stand at the top of
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the Mezbell. Throw a rope down to the rotting
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outcast and yell climb. He does not offer a partnership.
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No, Monergism is the sovereign muscle of God listing the dead
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weight. He reaches down, pulls the
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lifeless out of the refuse, cleanses them entirely, and
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seats them with Heavenly Princess.
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It is 100% an act of sovereign, unmerited grace.
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And Matthew Henry points out that God deliberately bypasses
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the wise and the noble to execute this grace.
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He proves that promotion comes exclusively from him by choosing
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the most unlikely candidates. Who does Henry list?
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Henry notes that God fetches Gideon from the threshing floor,
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Saul from seeking the asses, David from keeping the sheep and
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the apostles from their fishing Nets.
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He does not choose the scholars in Jerusalem, He chooses the
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unlettered fisherman in Galilee. Exactly.
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I mean, yes, that is the point. He does this so that the
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Excellency of the strength may be clearly seen as belonging to
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God alone. The Apostle Paul reiterates this
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in his letter to the Corinthians, noting that God
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chooses the foolish things of the world to shame the wise and
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the weak things to shame the strong, so that no one may boast
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before him. The dunghill guarantees that all
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the glory goes to the lifter, not the lifted.
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But God's grace does not stop at the rescue.
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He doesn't just pull us out of the refuse and leave us standing
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on the street corner. He brings us into His home and
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makes us fruitful, which is the focus of the final verse.
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Verse 9 says He maketh the barren woman to keep house and
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to be a joyful mother of children.
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We need to unpack the cultural weight of this verse because to
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a modern reader, it might just sound like a nice domestic
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scene. But in the ancient East, this
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was a matter of survival and identity.
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Joseph Roberts explains the severe cultural stigma of
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barrenness in the East. A childless woman was considered
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cursed by God. Her condition was viewed as a
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malady, a source of intense public shame.
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She had no economic security for her old age and her social
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standing was virtually non existent.
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She was the subject of whispers and scorn, but when the Lord
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visits her, the entire social fabric is inverted.
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Her neighbors, who once pointed at her in derision, now marvel
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at the miraculous fruit she has produced.
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Spurgeon lists the monumental historical examples of this
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specific miracle. Sarah, who laughed at the idea
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of bearing a child in her old age.
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Rachel, who cried out to Jacob. Give me children, or else I'd
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die. Hannah, who wept bitterly
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outside the Tabernacle, and the wife of Manoah, the mother of
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Samson. The commentators take these
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historical accounts and apply them both corporately and
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individually. Joshua aren't and John boys
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apply the barren woman mystically to the church.
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They view her as a representation of the Gentile
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church. Right.
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Previously desolate, oppressed by the false church, and
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regarded as entirely useless, but by the sheer grace of God,
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she is now overflowing with offspring spreading to the ends
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of the earth. The individual application is
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even more piercing. John Boyce points out that all
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of us, by our fallen nature, are utterly barren of goodness.
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We have nothing to offer. He cites the Apostle Paul in
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Second Corinthians chapter 3 verse 5, noting that we are not
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even capable of thinking a good thought on our own.
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We are a dry tree, but the Father of Lights grants us grace
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to become a parent of many good deeds.
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The good fruit we produce, our sanctification, our acts of
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love, our obedience, these are the children born of a barren
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heart. It proves that the same God who
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can pull a corpse from the ash heap can make a dry tree yield
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massive amounts of fruit. I want to highlight the
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structural brilliance of the song here.
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Think about the massive shift in scale we have just witnessed.
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We started this song looking through a telescope.
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Yes, looking at a God ruling high above the heavens.
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Spanning the firmament, bowing down just to see the highest
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archangels. It was cosmic, staggering and
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infinite. And yet the climax of the Psalm,
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the closing image, is looking to a microscope.
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It is a quiet, intimate, domestic scene of a mother
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keeping house and rejoicing over her children.
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It is like an architect who spends his days designing
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massive, towering skyscrapers that touch the clouds and then
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comes home and has found painstakingly, joyfully crafting
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a tiny, intricate dollhouse for his daughter.
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That is a wonderful picture. Why does the psalmist use a
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private household joy as the climax of a cosmic hymn of
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praise? Albert Barnes addresses this
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brilliantly. He points out that while we can
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look abroad and find abundant occasion for praising God in His
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cosmic exultation, the warmest, most intense affections of the
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human soul are found in the domestic circle.
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That is where we live our actual lives.
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The shift in scale proves the totalizing nature of God's
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sovereignty. If you are listening to this
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right now and feeling like that dry tree yielding no fruit,
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wait, let me rephrase that. If your daily life feels
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entirely insignificant compared to the massive cosmic scope of
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God's majesty, you must realize that God's grace does not ignore
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the micro. It extends to the most intimate,
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mundane corners of your existence.
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The exact same God who humbles himself to view the heavens is
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the God who delights in bringing joy to a quiet, obscure
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household. The Holy Ghost can make your
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barren, frustrated heart bud like Aaron's rod.
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That brings the Psalm full circle.
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The text starts and ends with the exact same command.
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Praise ye the Lord, Hallelujah. We have traced the thematic arc
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from start to finish. It is a flawless circle.
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It starts with the command to praise Jehovah, expands the
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staggering distance from the highest heavens to the lowest
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rotting dunghill, and it proves conclusively that no one is
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outside the reach of his sovereign grace.
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He possesses unmatched majesty, he demonstrates astonishing
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condescension, and he exercises unilateral sovereign grace in
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elevating the spiritually dead. The physical structure of the
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song mimics the eternal nature of the subject matter, Spurgeon
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says. The music concludes upon its
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keynote. The Psalm is a complete circle,
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praising the Lord from its first syllable to its last.
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And the implication is clear. Just as the song is a circle,
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our lives should be an endless, unbroken circle, blessing the
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Lord whose mercies never cease. As we close out this study, let
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me leave you with a consideration based on the
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historical reality of how this song was used.
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Remember that the Israelites sang this specific song at the
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Passover. They sang it to deliberately
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call to mind their rescue from Pharaoh's whip right before they
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faced the brutal, terrifying reality of the wilderness.
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They stood in the upper room, just as Jesus did, singing about
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being lifted from the dunghill while facing the cross.
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If you take that specific dunghill to Prince memory and
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apply it to your own spiritual state, how does that radically
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alter the way you approach your life tomorrow morning?
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When the architect steps away from the skyscraper and focuses
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on the dollhouse, the world doesn't get smaller.
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Its intricacies just become more intensely personal.
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Recognizing the sheer sovereign scale of the grace that reached
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into the ash heap and pulled you out should change everything
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about how you treat your family, how you view your struggles, and
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even how you sweep the floor.