Psalm 118: Trusting God’s gracious love

Psalm 118:1-4 (NIV)
¹ Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.
² Let Israel say: “His love endures forever.”
³ Let the house of Aaron say: “His love endures forever.”
⁴ Let those who fear the Lord say: “His love endures forever.” …

This thanksgiving psalm calls us to join in, with gratitude for God’s unfailing love, his covenant loyalty (ḥě·sěḏ). We’ll see what the Psalm meant for Israel first, since what it means for us rises out of what it meant to them.

For Israel

Everyone knew Psalm 118. Every year at Passover and Tabernacles, they sang this song as they joined in the festal procession towards God’s house (verse 27).

It begins with a priest calling God’s people to celebrate another year of his faithful love for his covenant people (verses 1-4). For each call, the crowd responds, “His love endures forever,” as they do in Psalm 136.

Then a new voice speaks:

Psalm 118:5-7 (NIV)
⁵ When hard pressed, I cried to the Lord; he brought me into a spacious place.
⁶ The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?
⁷ The Lord is with me; he is my helper. I look in triumph on my enemies.

This is the leader of God’s people. He speaks for the community as he leads them in procession to God’s house. It sounds just like the king’s voice in previous psalms, like David in Psalm 56:4: “In God I trust and am not afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?”

In the time of the kingdom, godly kings like Hezekiah and Josiah led their people to worship the heavenly king (2 Chronicles 30, 35). But who led this procession after the exile?

It could be someone like Zerubbabel the governor, a descendant of David. God told Zerubbabel to support the temple as they waited for God to restore the kingship (Zechariah 4:6-10; 6:9-15; 9:9-11). David wasn’t reigning while they were captive to other nations, but his descendants may have still been leading the people towards the house of God’s throne. The focus of Book 4 was “The Lord reigns” (Psalms 93:1; 95:3; 96:10; 97:1; 99:1) even though David no longer did (Psalm 89:38-51).

In that setting, these words come alive:

Psalm 118:8-9 (NIV)
⁸ It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in humans.
⁹ It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes.

If that’s right, the son of David who was not king combined his lament and his faith like this:

Psalm 118:10-14 (NIV)
¹⁰ All the nations surrounded me, but in the name of the Lord I cut them down.
¹¹ They surrounded me on every side, but in the name of the Lord I cut them down.
¹² They swarmed around me like bees, but they were consumed as quickly as burning thorns; in the name of the Lord I cut them down.
¹³ I was pushed back and about to fall, but the Lord helped me.
¹⁴ The Lord is my strength and my defence; he has become my salvation.

Wow! Surrounded on every side (verse 11) by nations that swarm like bees (verse 12), the leader was about to fall (verse 13). Yet even after the nation has fallen, the not-king proclaims the victory the Lord will give to the son of David, his trust that God will yet save his nation with a new exodus (as in Exodus 15:2).

By faith, he anticipates the kingship will rise again:

Psalm 118:15-18 (NIV)
¹⁵ Shouts of joy and victory resound in the tents of the righteous: “The Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!
¹⁶ The Lord’s right hand is lifted high; the Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!”
¹⁷ I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the Lord has done.
¹⁸ The Lord has chastened me severely, but he has not given me over to death.

Verse 18 recalls the promise that God would chasten the disobedient kings but not reject them (2 Samuel 7:14-15). The kingship will rise again, to lead the procession to God’s house, just as David did in Psalm 24.

Psalm 118:19-21 (NIV)
¹⁹ Open for me the gates of the righteous; I will enter and give thanks to the Lord.
²⁰ This is the gate of the Lord through which the righteous may enter.
²¹ I will give you thanks, for you answered me; you have become my salvation.

How is their faith and hope impacting you?

In verse 22, the speaker changes from “I” to “us.” The gates have been opened so the people can enter the temple space that is under God’s reign (like entering an embassy of heaven). They respond with faith that God will restore his king (verses 22-24), joyfully calling on the name of the Lord to rescue them (verse 25):

Psalm 118:22-25 (NIV)
²² The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone;
²³ the Lord has done this, and it is marvellous in our eyes.
²⁴ The Lord has done it this very day; let us rejoice today and be glad.
²⁵ Lord, save us! Lord, grant us success!

The builders think they can throw down the rock that God put in place to protect his people. Those who build their own kingdoms (Genesis 10:11) and cities (Genesis 11:4-8) believe they can topple the reign of the Lord and his anointed (Psalm 2:2).

But from the rubble of a fallen Jerusalem, the Lord lifts the stone he has appointed, setting him in place as head of his global restoration project. The word translated cornerstone is literally “head,” like the capstone that holds an arch in place, or the foundation stone that sets the alignment of the whole building.

Their trust — that God would restore them as his people in the reign of the David to come — turns this festival day into a great celebration (verse 24).

“Lord, save us!” they sing in joyful anticipation: “YHWH Hosanna” in Hebrew/Aramaic. When they see the son of David arriving to reign in Jerusalem, God will have saved his people. This is how the Lord’s reign returns to them: in his anointed, the one who comes in the name of the Lord:

Psalm 118:26-27 (NIV)
²⁶ Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. From the house of the Lord we bless you.
²⁷ The Lord is God, and he has made his light shine on us. With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession up to the horns of the altar.

This festival anticipates the day when the king once again leads his people to God’s house, to recognize their heavenly sovereign as David did.

That leads us back to where we began: a song of gratitude for the Lord’s authority and his faithful covenant love that endures forever.

Psalm 118:28-29 (NIV)
²⁸ You are my God, and I will praise you; you are my God, and I will exalt you.
²⁹ Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.

For us

So, when was the hope of Psalm 118 fulfilled? When did the son of David return to reign in Jerusalem? Centuries after the processions of Psalm 118 were established, there was this Passover festival:

Mark 11:7-11 (|| Matthew 21:1-10; Luke 19:28-40; John 12:12-16)
⁷ When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. ⁸ Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. ⁹ Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted,

“Hosanna!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
¹⁰ “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!”
“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

¹¹ Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts.

What connections do you see between this event and Psalm 118?

What about the stone the builders rejected? (Psalm 118:22) Wasn’t it likely to be a problem for Jesus to be proclaimed as “king of the Jews” in a city ruled by Rome?

The problem for Jesus was not just the nations that had thrown down the rock God had set in place. The temple leaders betrayed their king to the nations (Matthew 26:2-4). So it was the temple leaders Jesus confronted:

Matthew 21:42-44 (|| Mark 12:10-12; Luke 20:17-18)
⁴² Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:

“ ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvellous in our eyes’? [Psalm 118:22]

⁴³ “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. ⁴⁴ Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”

Inevitably, the city that rejected its God-appointed king would fall:

Matthew 23:37-39 (|| Luke 23:37-39 and 13:35-35)
³⁷ “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.
³⁸ “Look, your house is left to you desolate. ³⁹ “For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say,

“‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’” [Psalm 118:26]

This is astounding! While they were preparing to kill him, Jesus opened the door for them to recognize his kingship, the one who came to them in the name of the Lord.

Jesus’ servants therefore called the leaders of Jerusalem to recognize their king:

Acts 4:11-12 (NIV)
¹¹ “Jesus is

‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ [Psalm 118:22]

¹² “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

Faith in Jesus means proclaiming him as the leader (king) appointed by God to restore his people:

Hebrews 13:6 (NIV)
So we say with confidence,

“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?” [Psalm 118:6-7]

That’s how the New Testament understands and applies Psalm 118.

Your thoughts?

Adapted from the series, “Formed in God’s Story: Psalms.” Full notes and podcasts here.

Related posts

• Psalm 97: The Lord is king
• Psalm 89: The Lord’s reign through David has died
• Hosanna: the king who saves his realm (Mt 21:6-9)
• The story of the Psalms