It is not possible now to ascertain on what occasion this psalm was composed, or who was its author. It has been generally believed that it was written in the later periods of the Jewish history, and after the captivity in Babylon. There is no improbability in the supposition, though there is nothing so marked in the psalm as to make this supposition necessary. It is evident from Psalms 115:2-3, that it was composed in a time of national calamity, and especially of such national disaster as might lead the surrounding nations to say of them that they were forsaken by the God whom they worshipped. This charge is replied to by saying that what had occurred had taken place under the divine permission, and was no proof that Yahweh was not the true God. This thought leads the author of the psalm to prove the utter powerlessness of idols as compared with Yahweh, and, in view of this, to exhort the people of Israel still to trust in their own God as the Being in whom alone they could hope for protection and safety.
The psalm, therefore, comprises the following parts:
I. A statement that all which they had was to be traced to God, Psalms 115:1.
II. The existing troubles of the nation as being so great that the pagan were led to infer that Yahweh could not help them, and to ask, with some show of plausibility, where now was the God in whom they trusted? Psalms 115:2.
III. The general statement of the psalmist that what had occurred was to be traced to God; that it was not evidence that he had forsaken them, but was proof that he was a sovereign, Psalms 115:3.
IV. A statement of the utter weakness, helplessness, and inefficiency of idols; of their entire powerlessness as being without life; and of the stupidity and folly of worshipping such lifeless objects, Psalms 115:4-8.
V. An exhortation to trust in the Lord, on the ground of what he had done, and of the blessings which were to be expected of him, Psalms 115:9-16.
VI. An exhortation to do this at once, since death would soon occur, and praise could not be rendered to him in the grave, Psalms 115:17-18,