“There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours.” (Ps 86:8)
When we say “God” today it is typically understood to be in reference to the God of the Bible, which is Jehovah. It is normally no longer needed to say Yahweh or Jehovah for someone to know who you are addressing or talking about. Though today there are still many individuals who believe in another god or many gods they do not hold the same magnitude of Jehovah God. This was not always the case though and in the time that Psalm 86 was written there were many gods that nations looked to as their supreme being. As the Psalmists writes though, none of them compare to the one true God.
During the time that this psalm was pinned, if it was in fact pinned by David, the other gods that the Israelite people would have been familiar with were man made idols; idols that were carved by man, literally hand made by them, and worshipped by them. These idols were worshiped by their creator instead of the creation worshiping the creator. One god that the Israelites would have been familiar with at this time is the Philistine god, Dagon. Dagon was supposedly the chief deity of the philistines being half man and half fish. Like the psalmist points out though Jehovah is greater and there are none like him. This is seen when the Ark of the Covenant is brought into the temple of Dagon and the statue of Dagon is destroyed by God in I Samuel 5. Another god that was well known and would even grow in popularity after this psalm was written is Baal. Baal was one of the gods of the Canaanites and considered to be the strongest patriarch god that they had. He would even infiltrate Israelite worship for a period of time. Baal, according to the Canaanites of this time period, was the god of fertility and also the god of storm. Being the god of storm when there was a draught, sacrifices were made to him in an attempt to try and appease him. In 1 Kings 17 however Elijah challenges Baal worshipers to pray to him during a drought for him to bring rain. Going into I Kings 18 we find that 450 prophets of Baal prayed yet nothing happened. In verse 39 after the prophets of Baal had ceased their praying, Elijah prayed to Jehovah and rain fell from the heavens. Once more the psalmist was proven right that there is no god who is like THE God.
This has always been the case though and we find several other characters throughout scripture claiming that there is no god that is like God Himself. After Israel was brought out of Egyptian captivate by the immense power of God Moses writes his famous song and in Exodus 15:11 Moses writes this very thing asking what other god is like God himself. This came just after God showed His power and how He was more powerful than any of the false Egyptian gods through the plagues that He sent. Ethan the Ezrahite would also ask this very question in Psalm 89:6. The question who is like Jehovah is a simple one and the writer of psalm 86 had the correct answer; there is none like You among the gods. There is one God and one God only. He holds the true power.
Consider God’s own words on the matter: “Besides Me there is no god.” (Isa. 44:6)
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