The term gods as a synonym for great ones.
The allusion may be to the rulers of Israel (Psalms 119:46). The 'Speaker's Commentary,' however, thinks the meaning can only be this, "Before, or in presence of, the gods of the heathen, i.e. in scorn of, in sight of, the idols, who can do nothing, I will praise Jehovah, who does miracles for me and his people." Jennings and Lowe prefer the rendering, "before the national Elohim," or great men; meaning that, even before persons high in office, in whose presence he would be naturally abashed, he will declare the praise of his Deliverer, Jehovah. It is not easy to fit these words into the experience of an Israelite among his own people. Such a man was not in the least likely to speak of the elders, princes, and statesmen of his own nation as gods. That term does not suit the Hebrew mind or association. But if we could fix the psalm as Nehemiah's, and connect it with his success in securing the permission of the king to go to Jerusalem—and this he regarded as a remarkable answer to his prayer—then the term "gods" may well enough be applied to the princes, councilors, courtiers, and great men of Babylon, to whom Nehemiah's commission would be known, and before whom he would testify that God had heard his prayer, and made the way plain for him. Nehemiah would call the princes of Judah his brethren; he might well call the princes of Babylon, with a tinge of satire, "gods."
I. WHEREVER A MAN IS, THERE HE IS TO WITNESS FOR GOD BY PRAISING HIM. It is an absolute and ever-working law that there can no more be religious life without outward expression than there can be life in the seed without a blade thrusting through the soil. And the natural, necessary, and ever-influential expression of the religious life is praise—the praise of God. That
So praise is testimony, and the most persuasive of testimonies.
II. WHEREVER A MAN IS, THERE CAN BE NO CONDITIONS ALLOWED TO RESTRAIN PRAISE. He may be among great men and fear. But then he must praise, only he must be wise in his praise. He may be among scoffers. Still he must praise, only he must he judicious in his praise. There is in relation to praise a being "wise as serpents, and harmless as doves."—R.T.