Psalms 135:12

"And God gave their land for a heritage,

A heritage unto Israel his people.

Thy name, O Jehovah, endureth forever;

Thy memorial name, O Jehovah, throughout all generations.

For Jehovah will judge his people,

And repent himself concerning his servants."

These verses stress God's goodness to Israel as grounds for their obligation to praise God. The entire Old Testament is a record of God's infinite forbearance, love, blessing, protection and encouragement of Israel throughout its history.

"Jehovah ... will repent himself concerning his servants" (Psalms 135:14). We have no way of knowing exactly how the psalmist himself might have understood this promise; but we are sure that Israel as a whole misunderstood it. The nation, if we may judge by what they did, concluded that no matter what they did; no matter how often they rebelled against God; no matter how deliberate and bitter their resistance to God's will might become - no matter what, Israel would never lose their status as God's Chosen People, and that God would always deliver them and accommodate himself to their wickedness.

Even when Jerusalem was in the process of being destroyed by the armies of Vespasian and Titus, the final high priest of Judaism comforted his people with the statement that Jerusalem would stand until the Messiah came, and since the Messiah had not come, Jerusalem would continue to stand.