Psalm 135 · a question people ask
"our Lord is above all gods" (135:5). Is the psalm saying there are other gods?
The psalm says it in those words, and in the same psalm it says what the gods of the nations are: "The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands" (135:15), with mouths that can't speak and ears that can't hear (135:16-17). Psalm 95 raises the same question over "a great King above all gods" (Psalm 95:3), and its notes set the other psalms that say it side by side (Psalm 96:4-5, 97:9); these notes don't repeat them. Psalm 135 puts "above all gods" (135:5) three verses before the firstborn of Egypt (135:8), and when the LORD speaks to Moses and Aaron of that night (Exodus 12:1), he says, "I will execute judgments against all the gods of Egypt" (Exodus 12:12). The psalm doesn't say more about the gods, and these notes go no further.
The verses
“For I know that the LORD is great, that our Lord is above all gods.”
“He struck the firstborn of Egypt, both of man and animal.”
“The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they can’t speak. They have eyes, but they can’t see. They have ears, but they can’t hear, neither is there any breath in their mouths.”
“For the LORD is a great God, a great King above all gods.”