Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24

Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24

¹ O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; 

his steadfast love endures forever! 

² Let Israel say, "His steadfast love endures forever."

¹⁴ The LORD is my strength and my might; 

he has become my salvation. 

¹⁵ There are glad songs of victory in the tents of the righteous: 

"The right hand of the LORD does valiantly; 

¹⁶ the right hand of the LORD is exalted; 

the right hand of the LORD does valiantly." 

¹⁷ I shall not die, but I shall live, 

and recount the deeds of the LORD. 

¹⁸ The LORD has punished me severely, 

but he did not give me over to death. 

¹⁹ Open to me the gates of righteousness, 

that I may enter through them and give thanks to the LORD. 

²⁰ This is the gate of the LORD; 

the righteous shall enter through it. 

²¹ I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation. 

²² The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. 

²³ This is the LORD's doing;

it is marvelous in our eyes. 

²⁴ This is the day that the LORD has made;

let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Psalm 118 is a pre-exilic psalm of individual thanksgiving. However, the reference to the nations and the battle imagery of verses 10-16 suggests a victory song. I offer a detailed literary, historical, and theological analysis, referencing both Jewish and Christian traditions, scholarly opinions, and scriptural cross-references with Exodus 15 and the New Testament. I focus on the steadfast love of God, covenant loyalty, and the motif of reversal emphasized in the text.

Introduction

The psalm is a powerful testimony to the direct help of God and joyful surrender to God who can overcome all afflictions.  The Talmud says worship leaders read it antiphonally in the liturgy.  Proselytes are part of the service.  Jewish tradition relates it to the feast of tabernacles, while many moderns relate it to the Feast of the Dedication of the Temple, since Ezra 6:15-16, Nehemiah 8, nor I Maccabees 4:54ff refer to it.  Dahood sees a king giving thanks for deliverance from death and military victory. Dahood sees associations with the ancient hymn of Exodus 15, thus being pre-exilic.  This provides the conclusion to the Hallel portion of the psalter that began with Psalm 113.  Leaders recited these psalms at the great Jewish feasts, including the Passover.  This may have been the psalm used in Nehemiah 8:13-18, which refers to the post-exilic celebration of the festival of booths, where the people were to gather branches and construct booths on their roofs and courtyards.  See Ezra 3:4, Zechariah 14:16 and Exodus 23:14 for the observances of festivals. Death is a formidable power, which wants to take control; but the Lord will not let it happen.  The day of rescue is a day for joy. 

Verse-by-verse study

Psalm 118:1-2 form the introduction. ¹ O give thanks to the Lord, for the Lord is good (tov); the steadfast love (hesed, lovingkindness, mercy, faithful or loyal love) of the Lord endures forever! The abiding goodness of the Lord is the theme of the psalm. He holds the Lord in highest esteem, as one whose qualities worshippers ought to desire. Jewish piety had the thought of the goodness of the Lord underlying the summons to praise and offer thanks in prayer, as here.^[1] One can understand hesed as covenant loyalty, graciousness, and kindness. The Lord honors covenants made with us human beings, sometimes even when we breach them.  ² Let Israel say, “The steadfast love (hesed) of the Lord endures forever.”The repetition of participants provides intensification via the various groups' repetition of this phrase. We see a similar pattern in Psalms 107:1, 117:1-2, and especially 136 (all); I Chronicles 16:34, 2 Chronicles 5:13, Ezra 3:11.

In verses 14-16, using imagery from Exodus 15:2, 6 and Isaiah 12:2, the poet affirms that ¹⁴ The LORD is my strength and my might; the Lord has become my salvation. We see no pride here. We see only submission to the victory of the Lord. ¹⁵ There are glad songs of victory in the tents of the righteous: "The right hand of the LORD does valiantly; ¹⁶the right hand of the LORD, which the Lord uses to defend Israel against its enemy, is exalted; the right hand of the LORD does valiantly." The Lord is the mighty hero. ¹⁷ I shall not die, but I shall live and recount the deeds of the LORD. The king views his future life and the time of suffering considering the Lord with whom he has had such a powerful experience. ¹⁸ The LORD has punished me severely, but the Lord did not give me over to death. Verses 19-20 are an allusion to entrance rituals whereby the righteous gain admittance to the temple, as in Psalm 15 and 24. ¹⁹ Open to me (the king) the gates of righteousness, referring to those in the temple, where only the godly righteous may enter. For the gatekeepers, one can also see Psalm 15, 24:3-10, and Matthew 25:31. Righteousness is living by the right, moral and ethical standards of the Lord in relationship to others, which includes mercy for the needy and helpless, along with equal justice for all in legal matters. Righteousness can also mean the saving vindication of the Lord. Hence, we see varied translations of 118:19: "Gates of righteousness" (NRSV, NIV, NASB), "Gates of victory" (Tanakh, NAB), and “Gates of saving justice" (NJB).[2] He wants the gates to open that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord. ²⁰ This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it. ²¹ I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation.

Psalm 118: 22-24 become the testimony of the congregation. It becomes a confession of faith in the Lord. The deliverance beat the odds, rescuing and honoring the unlikely. ²² The stone that the builders rejected, found unsuitable as a foundation stone, has become the chief cornerstone. A metaphor of reversal of expectations. Once rejected, Israel is now the keystone. The architectural imagery links with gates and gateway in verses 19-20. Verses 23-28 are a thanksgiving ritual in the temple amid the friend and family of the poet. The shift to the first-person plural suggests that these verses were recited by all those assembled. ²³ This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. It may refer to the building of the temple.  The saying implies that someone rejected has become prominent, and indeed irreplaceable. Some scholars consider this a proverbial expression that this passage applies to the king. "He had been near defeat and death, but now Yahweh has granted him victory and success.... Others take the stone to represent Israel, rejected as unimportant by the great empires.... In later times Judaism applied this verse not only to the king but also the expected Messiah, an interpretation adopted by the Christian church."[3] Given that Judaism applied it to Messiah, it is no surprise that Christians did so as well, for which see Matthew 21:42, Acts 4:11, and I Peter 2:7. From NT times, Christians have seen connections between Psalm 18:22-23 and the initial rejection and suffering of Jesus, followed by his subsequent vindication when God raised him from the dead. Ephesians 2:19-22 calls Jesus Christ ἀκρογωνιαίου (v. 20: the corner, cornerstone, capstone, or keystone). A popular hymn from the 600s and translated from the Latin by John Mason Neale (1818-1866) begins with the notion that God has made Christ the sure foundation, head, and cornerstone, the chosen one, and precious, binding all the church in one. ²⁴ This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it, where a note in the NRSV says “it” would be better to translate “him” It is the better translation, given the emphasis on thanksgiving (vv. 1, 19, 21, 28, 29) to the Lord for bringing “today’s” victory (“Lord” appears 28 times in 29 verses). In other words, worship is all about the Lord. Be glad for this day, but even more, be glad in the Lord.

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[1] (Pannenberg, Systematic Theology 1998, 1991)Volume 1, 432.

[2] The Theological Wordbook of the Bible (article 1879)

[3] Bratcher and Reyburn (A Handbook on Psalms, 993)