Praise our Exalted Lord who exalts the poor and needy. (Psalm 113)
What makes someone great? Think about someone you would consider great. What makes such a person great? One person that history has titled Great is one of the rulers mentioned in Scripture, Herod the Great. He ruled Judea from 37 B.C. until just after Jesus’s birth. And he is remembered because of his great architectural feats. It was him who built the famous and ornate second temple in Jerusalem. He built a port city, Caesarea Maritima, which became the largest artificial harbor in the world. He built Masada, a fortress on the top of mountain next to the dead sea. And, in one of is greatest feats, he actually built a mountain and placed a palace on top. Because who could raise up mountains, but a god.
And yet, was he great? Though he did many amazing feats, he was also known as the paranoid king. He loved his power more than his people. In some cases, he assisnated rivals who might take his throne. He killed three of his sons and his own wife, because he thought they were conspiring against him. He slaughtered thousands of baby boys because he wanted to snuff out the messiah. When he knew he would die, he ordered that many jewish leaders be killed, so that there would be mourning around his death.
We can say that Herod, though he had great power, did not use that power for good. Though he was great, he did not use his greatness for the good of others. So, was he really great?
Today, we are going to read of our God. He also has amazing power. But he uses that power to exalt the poor and needy.
The main point of this sermon is: Praise our exalted Lord, who exalts the poor and needy. Please follow along as I read psalm 113. Read Psalm 113:1–9.
Pray.
Context Notes
This psalm is a hymn of praise. That is easy to see from the bookends at the beginning and the end, “praise the LORD.” And the context of this psalm is important. It comes at the beginning of a group of psalms with a special history in the people of Israel. This group is called the “Egyptian Hallel Psalms,” Psalms 113–118. You might recognize the word “Hallel.” It sounds a little like “Hallelujah.” Well, the word Hallel is the Hebrew word for praise. And, the end, “yah” is an abbreviated form of God’s name, Yahweh. So, Hallel and Yah became, “Hallelujah,” meaning “praise the Lord.”
Traditionally, these psalms, 113–118, were seen as a group, recounting and praising God for delivering his people from Egypt, from the house of slavery. We read in at the beginning of the next psalm
Psalm 114:1–2, “When Israel went out from Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of a strange language // Judah became his sanctuary // Israel his dominion.”
The group begins with our psalm, Psalm 113, which strongly emphasizes the Lord’s goodness to those who are needy. And it ends with Psalm 118, which is a strong call to give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his steadfast love endures forever. That one is a song of great hope, looking forward to future deliverance
And this group was likely used in Jewish feasts and festivals more than any other group. And according to tradition, during the feast of Passover, the first two psalms would be sung before the meal, 113 and 114, and the last four were sung after the meal. All of these psalms are aimed toward praising the Lord for his faithfulness and goodness.
This context is important because it shows that we need to read this psalm with exodus in mind. There are intentional connections to the exodus narrative that we must be careful to see. As I said, the main point is that our exalted God exalts the poor and needy. One way we will see this is by looking again and again at the exodus, Israel’s Old Testament salvation story.
Sermon Structure
As for the structure of the psalm, it begins with a call to praise.
1. First, praise Yahweh’s name, at all times and in all places. Vs. 1-3
Then, we will look at the reason he gives. It is a two-part reason.
2. First, our God is exalted (v.4–6)
3. Second, He exalts the Poor and Needy (v.7–9)
[First, lets look at v.1–3, the call to praise the name of the Lord at all times and in all places.]
The Call of the Psalm: Praise the name of LORD, at all times and in all places (v.1–3).
This psalm begins with a very repetitive call to worship. Right out of the gate, the psalmist calls us three times to praise the LORD.
Read v. 1. This very clearly shows the purpose of this psalm. It is a psalm that is meant to lead us to praise the LORD. This psalm is designed to both provoke and give voice to our praises.
But look what else v. 1 says. It calls the “servants of the LORD” to praise “the Name of the Lord.” Both of these, servants and name, point us back to exodus. Consider “the name of the Lord.”
Name: And it was in the book of Exodus that the LORD told his name. We remember Exodus 3, during God’s back and forth with Moses, God declares his name to Moses. First, he says,
Ex 3:14, God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”
But, notice, that is not his name. This is what God says next:
Ex 3:15, God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘[Yahweh], the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.
This is the name, Yahweh, which most Bibles type as LORD, all caps. Yahweh.
And when we are called to praise Yahweh’s name, it is a call to praise Yahweh. The name and the person are identical. This isn’t a call to give special reverence to God’s name, like the Pharisaic tradition, which commanded that we couldn’t say the name. Rather, we must know the name, and know who it represents.
Later in Exodus, Yahweh explains his name by explaining who he is.
Exodus 34:6–8 (ESV) “6 [Yahweh] passed before him and proclaimed, “[Yahweh, Yahweh], a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”
Indeed, Much of what the book of Exodus is doing is teaching us what the name of God means, what Yahweh means. It is not giving us a literal definition of the four Hebrew letters, but it is explaining who God is. The book of exodus does that best in the Old Testament. Our God is merciful and just. He judges the wicked but saves his people in order to dwell among them. Exodus shows us that. It teaches us what the name means by teaching us who God is. So, we are called to praise YHWH
We also see in v.1 the word servants.
Servants: The word “servants” also points back to Exodus. Before the exodus, Israel was slaves, serving Pharaoh. But here, God’s people are called “slaves of Yahweh,” if you are reading from the Legacy Standard Bible. It is the same word. And as slaves of God, part of our service is worship. God said to Moses in
Ex 3:12, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”
They did not go there to meet God’s needs. To wait on him and hand and foot. No, they served him by entering covenant with him. Their service was a form of worship. This was the goal of the exodus. Later God says to Pharoah
Exodus 4:22–23 (ESV) “22 Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the LORD, Israel is my firstborn son, 23 and I say to you, “Let my son go that he may serve me.’”
God wanted to dwell among his people so that they could serve him, could worship him. In other words, our praise is a form of our service.
And think of that word, slave. It is such a dirty word in most of our minds. But, in this case, this word serves to highlight the goodness of God. What other slaves could worship their master? Imagine telling someone, I am a slave of Christ with a smile on your face. That is Paul’s language all the time. Indeed, it is good to be a slave if our master is Christ. If you told someone that, they would just kind of look at you with surprise, maybe disgust. But that is how good our master is, that we are able to worship him.
The next two verses (2–3) expand on this call to praise the Lord by saying that we should praise Yahweh at all times and in all places. From now until eternity and from the east to the west. Everyone everywhere should praise the Lord.
[Now, this is really an astounding claim. Who is this God that all creation should worship him? One might say that this is either an ignorant or an intolerant claim. On the one hand, how does this author know there is not a better, stronger god? What makes him so great? Or, how do we know this god is for everyone?
Well, to back up his command, the Author is going to give a two-part reason. Because (1) our exalted God (2) exalts the poor and needy.
First, he is going to explain where YHWH is. Then, he will explain what YHWH does. And, when we see understand this reason, we will see that the only proper response to praise Yahweh at all times and in all places.
Reason Part 1: Yahweh is exalted above all things (v.4–6)
Read again 4–6. The first reason that this psalm gives for us to praise the LORD is because he is exalted above everything. Verse 4 tells us that Yahweh is high above all nations. Here, again, our minds could go back to the exodus narrative. God says to Pharoah through Moses in
Exodus 9:15–16 (ESV) “15 For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth. 16 But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.”
The Exodus is clear example of God’s power over the nations. At that time, no kingdom rivaled the strength of Egypt, and the Egyptian army possessed a strength unmatched. But, just like the flood, God wiped away their whole army with the crashing of some waves. He killed the king's firstborn son. No nation, then or now, can stand against him.
The second part of verse 4 explains this truth even more. From the book of Exodus, we could maybe just assume that the Lord, Yahweh, just happens to be the strongest god so far. Or maybe he is just the “regional god” over the Red Sea. He destroyed the Egyptian gods, but maybe a stronger power is coming. The rest of v.4 tells us that that is certainly not the case. Not only is he above the nations, but he is above the heavens. That is a way of saying he is far above everything. He created the heavens. He is in fact much, much bigger. He is the sole creator of all things, the one who gives life and breath to everything.
And the next two verses build on this point (v.5–6). These two verses have four lines. The best way to read these verses as single question that starts in line one and ends in line four: “who is like the Lord our God…in the heavens and the earth?” This question is then interrupted by a two-line description of Yahweh. He is seated on high and he looks far down. These verses continue to describe how Yahweh is exalted above all things, and they do so by asking a rhetorical question. Scripture loves these rhetorical questions. We see many in the book of Isaiah. Think of
Isaiah 40:25–26 (ESV) “25 To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One. 26 Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name; by the greatness of his might and because he is strong in power, not one is missing.”
When we read questions like this, it is right to turn them into statements. In other words, this psalm is saying, “no one is like Yahweh our God in the heavens and the earth.”
This is the clear testimony of the Old and New Testament. There is only one true God. There is no one who compares to the might and glory of our Lord. Take any nation, any of the world’s gods, any human power, and our God is above it. He is greater. This is who our God is. This is the first part of the psalmist reason. We have an exalted God.
[However, this reason does stand alone. Think back to the original image, to Herod the great. He was a man with amazing power, but he used it selfishly. He used it to make himself great. Indeed, there have been many similar men in the history of the world. Their power has corrupted them in one way or another.
Or take the humorous example of Emperor Kuzco in the Emperor’s New Groove. At the beginning of the movie, all he cares about himself. When he looks down, he sees insects, he sees inconveniences. He has a general dislike of his people, hence his phrase “no touchy” when any commoner tries to touch him. He does not care for his people.
This is in fact how much of our culture thinks of power. That those in power are always oppressors. Those in power feed off of the people underneath them. And too often that is true.
But this is not what we see in Scripture. God made authority for good and God uses his power, his greatness for good. Specifically, he uses his power to exalt the poor and needy. He looks far down, and he acts based on what he sees.
The second part of the reason to praise Yahweh is because he exalts the poor and the needy.
4. Reason Part 2: He exalts the poor and needy (v. 7–9).
If v.5-6 are primarily about Yahweh’s transcendence, then this section is about his immanence. Though he is the sovereign Lord, he draws near to his creation. He looks down, but then comes close. And this section explains why v.5-6 are good news. This section is the real sweetness of this psalm. It is good news that God is great. Why? Because he is also good. Look who he looks at.
v. 7 speaks of the poor and the needy. The Lord raises the poor and needy. Now, this is certainly a theme that is all over the Old Testament, that God has an eye for those who are suffering, those who are weak, those who are oppressed.
But, we should ask, “In this passage, who are the poor and the needy?” It is true that God cares for all who are physically poor and needy in the world. In Deuteronomy, Moses commands the people over and over again to have compassion on the sojourner, the widow, the fatherless, the poor. And Jesus himself commands his disciples to give to the needy in Luke 12. Our God cares for those who are physically poor and believers must too.
However, I think these words have a slightly different meaning in the psalms, not just those who are physically poor. For instance, David says in Psalm 70:5
“But I am poor and needy; / hasten to me, O God!”
Now, financially, David was the King of Israel. He had everything he needed. So what does he mean. Well, particularly in the psalms, poverty and neediness should be understood as first and foremost spiritual realities. And no doubt we understand that experience, even if we cannot describe it well in words.
So, when God raises the poor and needy, we should see him giving joy, life, hope to his people who felt for one reason or another weak, helpless, struggling. It is a kind of poverty and neediness that is seen in so many places in the psalms. That is characterized by lament. When the believer is broken by sin and by the difficulties of life, it is God who raises them up. But look at where he places them.
V.8 teaches that he gives the poor and needy a place of honor. I like better the word CSB is “nobles,” instead of “princes” in the ESV. The point is not that those who are poor are made rich and powerful. Rather, the point is that they are taken from their place of dishonor and disgrace and they are given a position of honor, of nobility. The ashheap in v.6 was a place for garbage and uncleanness and human waste. It is one of the lowest places around, like a dump and a sewage heap, combined. The poor person is being lifted from that unclean, unworthy, disgusting place, and placed with nobility, with those who deserve honor. Because God has exalted him.
This principle, that God exalts the poor, this movement from poverty to nobility, is best understood through examples. In the final verse of this psalm, we get an example of that movement. However, before we get there, I want us to think of one more example.
Example 1: Exodus
We have already looked a lot at Exodus. But, consider where Israel was before God worked. We read at the end of Ex 2
Exodus 2:23–25 (ESV) “23 During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. 24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.”
We can imagine the dire position the Israelites were in. The pain they were subject to, the weakness they felt. They were completely helpless to fix their position. They were in the ashheap, the position of disgrace and despair. But God knew. He saw their struggles. He heard their cries, and he delivered them. He released them from slavery, he triumphed over their oppressors, he gave them honor. That is this principle. He lifted them up, he took them out of their suffering and blessed them so much. That is the first example of this principle, God raising the poor and needy. And he took them from that ashheap, and what did he say to them. You will be my treasured possession; I will dwell with you. Raised them and gave them the place of honor. Israel is the first example.
Example 2: Hannah
For a second example, lets look again at v.9. Read v.9. This is a clear image, taking our minds to many of the places in Scripture where God miraculously brought life into a barren womb. However, I want us to specifically look at Hannah at the beginning of the 1 Samuel. Many of us remember well Hannah’s story. Her husband Elkannah had two wives. The other wife, Hannah’s rival, was able to have children, but Hannah could not. She was barren and her barrenness tore her apart. He rival would provoke her, would irritate her. So much so that Hannah would weep and would not eat. Her grief and pain were so strong that she couldn’t eat. And we read of her going to the house of God and weeping bitterly as she prays to God. In her prayer, she vowed,
1 Samuel 1:11b (ESV), “O LORD of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head.”
In her distress, she turned to the Lord. But what did God do. We read in laterAnd what do we read very soon after.
1 Samuel 1:19–20 (ESV), “19 They rose early in the morning and worshiped before the LORD; then they went back to their house at Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the LORD remembered her. 20 And in due time Hannah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Samuel, for she said, ‘I have asked for him from the LORD.’”
God raised her from the ashheap. He saw her poverty and lifted her up. And what does Hannah do in response. She prays a wonderful prayer of thanksgiving, and listen to part of this prayer. Listen to what Hannah says.
1 Samuel 2:7–8 (ESV) “7 The LORD makes poor and makes rich; he brings low and he exalts. 8 He raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor. For the pillars of the earth are the LORD’s, and on them he has set the world.’”
Did you see that? Psalm 113 quotes part of Hannah’s prayer exactly. The psalmist is saying, you know what I am talking about here. Hannah is an example of this. She experienced this exalting. God saw her poverty and raised her up. That is what this psalm is describing. We have to see it in Scripture. We need to see examples of this. God exalting the poor and the needy.
Now, perhaps there are some of us here that can really identify with Hannah in barrenness, with Israel in slavery. You feel beaten down by life, you feel weak and powerless and helpless. You feel discouraged by your war with the world, the flesh, the devil. You know deeply, what it is to be poor and needy. I want to say a couple words to you:
1. First, look at the examples I just mentioned, Israel and Hannah. Look at the depth of their suffering, and, most importantly, look at what their suffering did. It brought them to God, in prayer, in weeping. Often a purpose of God in our suffering is to bring us closer to him. This is what Paul says in 2 Cor 12. When he was suffering from his thorn in the flesh, he was brought to God in pleading prayer. And God said, “my grace is sufficient for you. For my power is made perfect in weakness.” This is a lesson that we can only learn through suffering. There is no other way. Let your suffering bring you into fellowship with God. Turn to God. Let the laments in the psalter become your prayers and songs.
2. Second, see what hope you have in our God. He is a God who exalts the poor and needy. That is who he is. If you are in this position of weakness, friend you have no one else you can turn to. No one will care for you like he does. He delights in exalting the poor and needy. You can hope in our God. And you can praise God because this is who our God is.
However, this brings us to a third example. It is better than the other two, because it shows us why this verse is good news for all of us. As we sang today, we are all sinners, poor and needy, weak and wounded, sick and sore. And, as that song showed us, we are invited to Christ, the clearest example of this principle.
Example 3: Christ
He was indeed exalted, the eternal Son of the eternal Father, the second person of the trinity, the firstborn overall creation. He was and is the immortal God. Since before time existed, he was dwelling with the Father and perfect happiness. And in that state, what did he do? Did he look indifferently at his languishing creation? No. He looked far down and saw a world of poor and needy people. He took on flesh, lived and died. He became poor for our sake so that we might become rich. He took on pain so that we could be exalted. And now, he stands, full of pity, love and power.
Brothers and sisters, when we read these verses, we ought to remember our hope in Christ. If this was not who our God is, we would be lost in our sin. We are poor, we are needy, we have no right and no ability in ourselves to come to God. And this is our fault. Now, in many ways it is the lot we were given, we were born in sin, but it is also who we are. None of us, by our deeds, deserve to be exalted. We deserve to be punished.
But God has raises us up in Christ. He has taken our poverty and given us his riches. Because he has given us himself. And with Christ, in Christ, we have all that we need. We who once were disgusting and small are now nobility, honored in God’s eyes. This is only because of the work of Christ. Because of his grace. All the riches of heaven are in our hands, if Christ is in them.
If you are here and you do not know Christ, I want to ask you the question from v.5-6. Who is like Yahweh? Who is like this God? Where else can you find someone to exalt you, to take your poverty and give you this eternal wealth, eternal life. Where else will you go?
5. Conclusion
Well, I think we can see that our only response can be praise. Fellow believers, truly our God is the only great and good king. He is indeed exalted above the heavens. And yet, from on high, he comes down, in order to exalt us. What a privilege. What a grace. While we deserve to stay in the heap, to stay in the muck and filth, the creator God compassionately comes to us. He draws us out, he cleans us off, and he sets us up.
So, how could we not respond in praise to this God. After seeing his goodness so clearly displayed, after tasting it, how could our mouths not poor forth praise. He is worthy of all praise, he is worthy of all worship, because he is great and because he is good.
And believer, see the future hope of this passage. We have been exalted, raised up in Christ, even now. And yet, we await a final day, when we will be ultimately exalted. We will be freed of all sin, of all our poverty. We will be exalted forever. See that day, and respond in praise to our God!