Psalm 118 comments

 

Psalm 118:1 ¶  O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: because his mercy endureth for ever. 2  Let Israel now say, that his mercy endureth for ever. 3  Let the house of Aaron now say, that his mercy endureth for ever. 4  Let them now that fear the LORD say, that his mercy endureth for ever. 5  I called upon the LORD in distress: the LORD answered me, and set me in a large place. 6  The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me? 7  The LORD taketh my part with them that help me: therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me. 8  It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man. 9  It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes. 10  All nations compassed me about: but in the name of the LORD will I destroy them. 11  They compassed me about; yea, they compassed me about: but in the name of the LORD I will destroy them. 12  They compassed me about like bees; they are quenched as the fire of thorns: for in the name of the LORD I will destroy them. 13  Thou hast thrust sore at me that I might fall: but the LORD helped me. 14  The LORD is my strength and song, and is become my salvation. 15  The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous: the right hand of the LORD doeth valiantly. 16  The right hand of the LORD is exalted: the right hand of the LORD doeth valiantly. 17  I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD. 18  The LORD hath chastened me sore: but he hath not given me over unto death.

 

The sentiment of verse one is commonplace in the Psalms.

 

Psalm 103:17  But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children;

 

Psalm 106:1 ¶  Praise ye the LORD. O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

 

Psalm 107:1 ¶  O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

 

Psalm 136:1 ¶  O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

 

I particularly believe this is applicable to Christians and believe that our salvation is settled and final and we will have eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Paul makes it clear that you cannot be saved twice and if you could lose your salvation you could never be saved again.

 

Hebrews 6:4  For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 5  And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, 6  If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.

 

The Psalmist calls upon the Aaronic priesthood to praise God and to all those who fear God to praise Him, which would apply to all of us.

 

Verse 5 is one of those verses that speak to me regarding something Jesus promised His followers. From my comments on the Gospel According to John see this;

 

John 14:1 ¶  Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 2  In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

If you believe that God is preparing an eighteen room majestic home to occupy in your resurrected body I will not argue with you. I’m just going to give you the literal interpretation and you can do with it what you will. According to the Early Modern English database at http://leme.library.utoronto.ca/menu/menuSearch.cfm the word mansion at one time meant a dwelling place, a house, or even a large, luxurious apartment in a mansion house. Look at some of the cross references to verse 2.

2Corinthians 5:1 ¶  For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

In God’s house, the verse says, there are many mansions. My concern is that we are telling people in our excitement about Heaven and in their unwillingness to read the Bible that we are all going to have our own version of Buckingham Palace. Wouldn’t it be more likely, based on the construction of the sentence, that we will all have our own wonderful, dwelling place in God’s house rather than our own castle next to the golf course?

Psalm 18:19  He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me.

Psalm 31:8  And hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy: thou hast set my feet in a large room.

Psalm 118:5  I called upon the LORD in distress: the LORD answered me, and set me in a large place.

Historical evidence teaches us that, and I quote Michael L. Satlow’s book entitled, Jewish Marriage in Antiquity, the bride would be brought to the huppah, a private place prepared by the groom in his father’s house, where the marriage was consummated.( So, Jesus preparing a magnificent room in His Father’s house for His bride has parallels in Jewish customs of the time. There is a lot of interesting information, if you are willing to search it out, about those customs but be careful of copying anyone who doesn’t, at least, provide you with the sources of his statements.

Here, Jesus promises to His followers that He is going to prepare a place in His Father’s house and will return to take them there. This is an amazing promise apparently in keeping with Jewish custom and tradition for marriage. When Jesus ascended into heaven;

Acts 1:9  And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.

He went to prepare a place for His church, His bride.

2Corinthians 11:2  For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

He will return to take His bride to His Father’s house.

1Thessalonians 4:16  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Where there will be a feast, a marriage supper, and great rejoicing.

Revelation 19:9  And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

We await this greatest of all events in our lives.

Titus 2:13  Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;

(21) Michael L. Satlow, Jewish Marriage in Antiquity (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2001), 172.

Verse 6 tells us not to be afraid of man, or what mankind will do.

 

Matthew 10:28  And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

 

The Lord is on our side and will avenge us. We should not put our confidence in political leaders or mankind in general.

 

The Psalmist is confident that all of the nations that surround him shall be destroyed. Does that not put in remembrance of a prophesy about the end of the millennial reign of Christ and what He does to those who have come up against Him?

 

Revelation 20:7  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 8  And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

9  And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.

 

2Thessalonians 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

 

For our sake, beyond the immediate context of David’s triumphs, the promise here is that God will deliver His people against all of the spiritual forces that rise against them. Yes, even the judgments of Hell itself shall not prevail against God’s people.

 

Matthew 16:18  And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

In Genesis, Lot sat in the gate indicating that he had become a judge in Sodom to judge disputes and help manage the city’s affairs. Sitting in the gate as a position of judgment is defined in the Bible. It was a place to meet with the elders of a city.

Deuteronomy 21:19  Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place;

It was a place of the king’s authority.

2Samuel 15:2  And Absalom rose up early, and stood beside the way of the gate: and it was so, that when any man that had a controversy came to the king for judgment, then Absalom called unto him, and said, Of what city art thou? And he said, Thy servant is of one of the tribes of Israel.

2Samuel 19:8  Then the king arose, and sat in the gate. And they told unto all the people, saying, Behold, the king doth sit in the gate. And all the people came before the king: for Israel had fled every man to his tent.

1Kings 22:10  And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah sat each on his throne, having put on their robes, in a void place in the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets prophesied before them.

The mention of the gate is equivalent to the deciding of judgment.

Amos 5:15  Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.

The gates of hell then is a reference to the judgments of Hell not some huge set of physical doors.

 

For verse 18 God might permit us to suffer in this life but our eternal destiny is secure.

 

Psalm 118:19 ¶  Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise the LORD: 20  This gate of the LORD, into which the righteous shall enter. 21  I will praise thee: for thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation. 22  The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. 23  This is the LORD’S doing; it is marvellous in our eyes. 24  This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. 25  Save now, I beseech thee, O LORD: O LORD, I beseech thee, send now prosperity. 26  Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the LORD: we have blessed you out of the house of the LORD. 27  God is the LORD, which hath shewed us light: bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar. 28  Thou art my God, and I will praise

thee: thou art my God, I will exalt thee. 29  O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

 

John Gill reported that verse 19 was a literal reference to the doors of the sanctuary or tabernacle.

 

Psalm 100:4  Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

 

Isaiah 26:2  Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in.

 

See how the Psalmist declares that God has become his salvation? Christ is our salvation when we believe Him and trust in His righteousness and not our own for eternal salvation.

 

Verses 22 and 23 are quoted by Christ Himself.

 

Matthew 21:42  Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?

 

He is the chief cornerstone of our faith, on which it rests.

 

Ephesians 2:19  Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; 20  And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; 21  In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: 22  In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

 

Verse 24 is a great memory verse and is quoted often by preachers. It is one we can say with rejoicing in the Lord’s mercy and in the bountiful life He freely gives to all men and women, whether they are His or not. But can it not also be a reference to the day of salvation, our translation and His return to rule?

 

Psalm 130:6  My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning.

 

1Thessalonians 5:2  For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night…4  But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.

 

2Peter 3:10  But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

 

I would pray this Psalm back to God, offering up our praises to the one who created us, sustains, and preserves us. Let me repeat it in closing.

 

25  Save now, I beseech thee, O LORD: O LORD, I beseech thee, send now prosperity. 26  Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the LORD: we have blessed you out of the house of the LORD. 27  God is the LORD, which hath shewed us light: bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar. 28  Thou art my God, and I will praise thee: thou art my God, I will exalt thee. 29  O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.