Give ye thanks unto Jehovah; for he is good; for his loving-kindness [endureth] for ever.
Psalm 118 opens with a line Israel had sung for centuries, and it ends with the same words. The psalm names the ground of all praise first: what God is, and how long His mercy lasts. (Where older translations read "mercy" and "Jehovah," the ESV reads "steadfast love" and "the LORD.")
The line was already old. One writer traces where Israel had sung it, and where they will sing it again:
David in his day, along with the whole congregation, proclaimed it (1 Chron. 16:34). Solomon, with the people in unison, echoed it years later (2 Chron. 5:13; 7:3). The returned remnant, in all their weakness, gave voice to it when they laid the Temple foundations again (Ezra 3:11). By and by, in full chorus, the returned and finally delivered people of Israel will confirm it. Language that suited them nearly three thousand years ago will suit Israel for ever.
Verses 2 to 4 name three groups, the same three named in Psalm 115:
"Israel" means the whole nation — the born-again nation that will enter into millennial blessedness. "The house of Aaron" is the priestly family, brought into special nearness to God. "Those who fear the LORD" is a description that would include the godly from among the Gentiles. In Psalm 115 they were all told to trust in the Lord, who proves Himself to be a help and a shield. Here, in the light of what He has accomplished, they are to praise Him and say that His mercy endures forever.
Why is the priestly family named on its own? One writer sees a reminder of what everything rests on:
The house of Aaron is kept separate from the rest of the nation. That still seems to show the sacrificial basis on which everything for them always depends.
The theme has already filled psalm after psalm. One writer says why it keeps coming back:
We have already seen the emphasis on the lovingkindness of the Lord throughout all the previous psalms. Yet it is a subject that never grows old. It needs repeating over and over, because our minds and hearts are so dull. God is good and "His lovingkindness endures forever": it knows no change for eternity. Why do we need to be told this? Because we have a natural tendency to complain, whatever our circumstances may be.
Why can they say "for ever"? Not because their own record was clean:
This Psalm takes up mercy as enduring for ever. It is not merely the sense of how great that mercy is right now. When they saw how God's truth had held firm despite their sin, they see the incomparable patience of God — His own character celebrated in them, as "mercy for ever." Israel, Aaron, and all may now say, "Indeed, His mercy endures for ever."
Everything the psalm goes on to describe sits between this line and its return at the end:
The psalm closes with the well-known verse of Israel's thankful praise that it had begun with: "Give thanks to Jehovah, for He is good, for His mercy endures for ever." So three things are unfolded together: the spiritual grasp of God's dealings, the coming to worship Jehovah in righteousness, and the owning of the despised and rejected Messiah. All of it is tied to the deliverance and blessing of Israel, and to the full display of Jehovah's nature and character. Various verses of this psalm are quoted at the close of the Saviour's trials; no psalm indeed so often.
This psalm had a fixed place in Jewish worship, and that place puts it on the Lord's own lips:
Here this Hallel (meaning praise), the name the Jews give to Psalms 113 to 118, comes to an end. These are sung in the family celebration of Passover night.
One writer traces the same mercy across a Christian's whole story, and says we may sing Israel's song too:
So from first to last, and through the whole stretch between, it is and will be nothing but mercy. Mercy in creation — and we can go further back still, even to God's purposes of grace in Christ before the foundation of the world. Mercy in our redemption, our guidance through the wilderness, our deliverance from our enemies. Mercy in our being put in possession of all that God has secured for us in Christ, whether now or when we are for ever with the Lord. So we may take up Israel's song and cry without ceasing, "Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!"
- Cause. The call rests on one ground: He is good. We need to hear that again and again, because our instinct is to complain.
- Gift. What proves the "for ever" is not a clean record. It is God's truth holding firm despite their sin.
- Reach. The call reaches three groups: the nation, the priestly family, and Gentiles who fear God. The priests mark the sacrifice it all rests on.
- Result. The psalm ends where it began. Deliverance, worship and the owning of the rejected Messiah all sit inside one sentence of praise.
- Echo. David sang this line, then Solomon, then the returning remnant. Israel will sing it again in full chorus, and Jewish families sing it at Passover. The same words fit for ever.
Oh let Israel say, that his loving-kindness [endureth] for ever.
The psalm opens with a call to give thanks. This verse is the first of three calls that follow. Israel speaks first, then the priestly family, then all who fear the Lord — each taking up the same refrain. So who is being called here, and what has happened that lets a whole nation say it? (Older translations read "mercy" where the ESV reads "steadfast love.")
Verses 2 to 4 name three different groups.
In verses 2-4 the same three groups appear that we had in Psalm 115. "Israel" is of course the whole nation — the born-again nation that will enter the blessing of the coming kingdom. "The house of Aaron" is the family of priests, brought into special nearness to God. "Those who fear the Lord" is a description that would include the godly among the Gentiles. In Psalm 115 they were all told to trust in the Lord, who proves Himself to be a help and a shield. Here they see what He has done, as the rest of the Psalm tells it. So they are to praise Him and say that His mercy endures forever.
Once the psalm told these three to trust. Now it tells them to speak.
Israel does not say this because life is going well. They say it after seeing what their own sin could not undo.
This Psalm takes up mercy as something that lasts for ever. It is not just a sense of how great that mercy is right now. When they saw that God's truth had held firm despite their sin, they see the matchless patience of God. They see His own character celebrated in them, as "mercy for ever." Israel, Aaron, and all may now say, "Indeed, His mercy endures forever."
The refrain is not a report on their feelings. It is a verdict on God's character.
Writers tie this refrain to one moment: the day Israel turns back to the One it once rejected.
When God brings Israel to repentance, then "the stone that the builders rejected" will become the cornerstone, and they will acknowledge Him. They will say, "Oh give thanks to the Lord, for His mercy endures for ever."
Hamilton Smith reads the whole psalm the same way. Israel's troubles and its recovery both turn on Christ.
The restored nation of Israel is called to praise the Lord for His enduring mercy. Their trials are traced back to their rejection of Christ. Their restoration is traced back to their confession of Christ.
This is not a new line. Israel has said it before, at every fresh mercy, and will say it again.
We have already met this refrain in Psalm 106:1 and Psalm 107:1, and we shall meet it again in Psalm 136. David in his day, and the whole congregation with him, proclaimed it (1 Chronicles 16:34). Years later Solomon and the people echoed it together (2 Chronicles 5:13; 7:3). The returned remnant, in all their weakness, said it when the foundations of the Temple were laid again (Ezra 3:11). One day the returned and fully delivered people of Israel will confirm it in full chorus. Words that fitted nearly three thousand years ago will fit Israel for ever.
The refrain runs through psalm after psalm. That repetition is deliberate, and it says something about us.
We have already seen the Lord's lovingkindness stressed all through the earlier psalms. Yet it is a subject that never grows old. It has to be said over and over again, because our minds and hearts are so dull. God is good and "His lovingkindness endures forever": it knows no change for eternity. Why do we need to be told this? Because we have a natural tendency to complain, whatever our circumstances may be.
Israel is the one addressed here. Yet one writer traces the same mercy across a believer's whole story, from creation to glory.
So from first to last, and all the way in between, it is and will be nothing but mercy. Mercy in creation — and we can go further back still, even to God's purposes of grace in Christ before the foundation of the world. Mercy in our redemption, in our guidance through the wilderness, in our deliverance from our enemies. Mercy in giving us all that God has secured for us in Christ, whether now or when we are for ever with the Lord. So we may take up Israel's song and never stop crying, "Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy endures for ever."
- Called. The psalm names three: the nation, the priestly family, and Gentiles who fear God. Once told to trust, now told to speak.
- Convinced. God's truth held firm despite their sin. Seeing that patience, Israel calls His character "mercy for ever."
- Confessing. The saying belongs to the day the nation repents and acknowledges the stone the builders rejected.
- Continuing. David, Solomon and the returned remnant all sang this line. Words that fitted three thousand years ago still fit.
- Contagious. Everything from creation to glory is mercy. So others may take up Israel's song too — and repeat it, because dull and complaining hearts forget.
Oh let the house of Aaron say, that his loving-kindness [endureth] for ever.
Psalm 118 opens with a call to give thanks from three named voices: the nation, the priests, and all who fear the Lord. Verse 3 calls on the house of Aaron — Israel's priestly family — to say the line themselves.
Verses 2–4 name three groups, and each name carries weight. One writer identifies all three, and shows what has changed since Psalm 115.
In verses 2-4 the same three groups appear that we had in Psalm 115. "Israel" is of course the whole nation — the born-again nation that will enter into the blessing of the coming thousand-year reign. "The house of Aaron" is the priestly family, brought into special nearness to God. "Those who fear the LORD" is a description that would include the godly among the Gentiles. In Psalm 115 they were all told to trust in the Lord, who proves Himself to be a help and a shield. Here, in the light of what He has done — as the rest of the Psalm tells it — they are to praise Him and say that His mercy endures forever.
Verse 2 already calls the whole nation, and that takes in the priests. So why name them again? One writer finds the answer in what their work stands for.
All are urged to give Him thanks for this. They are divided, as elsewhere, into Israel, the national witness for Him; the house of Aaron, the priestly family; and those who fear the LORD, which would include, at least, those turned to Him from the Gentiles. Setting the house of Aaron apart from the rest of the nation still seems to show the basis of sacrifice, on which everything for them always depends.
The verse calls it steadfast love; the writers quoted here call it mercy or loving-kindness. It is not a general statement that God is kind, but a verdict from a people looking back at their own record.
This Psalm takes up mercy as mercy that lasts for ever. It is not just a sense of how great that mercy is right now. When they saw how God's truth had stood firm despite their sin, they see the matchless patience of God. His own character is celebrated in them, as "mercy for ever." Israel, Aaron, and all may now say, "Indeed, His mercy endures for ever."
Verse 3 asks the priests to say something out loud. One writer sums up the whole psalm, and there too everything turns on what Israel says:
The restored nation of Israel is called to praise the Lord for His enduring mercy. The nation's trials are traced to its rejection of Christ; its restoration to its confession of Christ.
This line did not begin with Psalm 118, and it does not end there. One writer follows it across centuries of Israel's worship.
We have already met this refrain in Ps. 106:1 and 107:1, and we shall meet it again in Ps. 136. David in his day, and the whole congregation with him, proclaimed it (1 Chron. 16:34). Years later Solomon and the people echoed it together (2 Chron. 5:13; 7:3). The remnant who came back from exile, weak as they were, said it when they laid the foundations of the Temple again (Ezra 3:11). In time the people of Israel, brought back and rescued at last, will confirm it in full chorus. Language that fitted them nearly three thousand years ago will fit Israel for ever.
In Psalm 115 these same groups get a call to trust. One writer carries that call over to Christians now.
The psalm speaks to the nation as a whole first, then singles out the priestly family, the house of Aaron (v. 10). If they needed this urgent call, so do believers today, who are all priests. Because our faith grows too weak, our souls need stirring up, so that we trust the Lord at every step of the way.
The same writer asks why one line needs saying so often. The fault lies in us, not in the subject.
It is a subject that never grows old. It needs repeating over and over, because our minds and hearts are dull. God is good, and "His steadfast love endures forever": it will never change, for eternity. Why do we need to be told this? Because complaining comes naturally to us, whatever our circumstances.
- Called — The psalm calls three groups in turn: the nation, Aaron's family, and all who fear the Lord. The circle widens and leaves nobody out.
- Grounded — The psalm gives the priests a line of their own. Their work speaks of sacrifice, and everything else rests on that.
- Proved — The refrain is a conclusion, not a slogan. God's people say it after seeing His faithfulness hold firm despite their sin.
- Repeated — David, Solomon, the exiles who came home, and a rescued Israel still to come all sing the same line. Words fitted for three thousand years ago still fit.
- Yours — Believers now hold the priestly place, and need the same stirring up. We repeat the line because our hearts are dull and quick to complain.
Oh let them that fear Jehovah say, that his loving-kindness [endureth] for ever.
Verse 4 gives the third and widest call in the psalm's opening chorus. Israel and the house of Aaron have already had their turn, and now everyone who fears the Lord must say the same short sentence — but who are they? (The commentators use an older translation, "His mercy endures forever." The ESV reads "His steadfast love endures forever.")
The opening verses name three circles of people. One writer identifies each one, and points to an earlier psalm where the same three appear together:
In verses 2-4, the same three classes appear that we had in Psalm 115. "Israel" is of course the whole nation — the born-again nation that will enter into the blessing of the coming thousand-year kingdom. "The house of Aaron" is the priestly family, brought into special nearness to God. "Those who fear the Lord" is a description that would include the godly from among the Gentiles. In Psalm 115 they were all told to trust in the Lord, who proves Himself a help and a shield. Here they are to praise Him for what He has done, as the rest of the Psalm tells it, and say that His mercy endures forever.
The third group is the widest, yet the priestly family is still kept distinct from the rest of the nation — and that distinction carries meaning:
All are urged to give Him thanks for this. The division is the one we have had elsewhere: Israel, the national witness for Him; the house of Aaron, the priestly family; and those who fear the Lord, which would include, at least, those turned to Him from the Gentiles. Keeping the house of Aaron separate from the rest of the nation still seems to show the sacrificial basis on which everything always depends for them.
The refrain is not about how good the moment feels. It says something about God that His people see only when they look back at their own sin:
This Psalm takes up mercy as enduring for ever, not merely a sense of how great that mercy is now. When they saw how God's truth had stood firm despite their sin, they see the incomparable patience of God — His own character celebrated in them, as "mercy for ever." Israel, Aaron, and all may now say, "Indeed, His mercy endures for ever."
These words were not new when this psalm was written. They had already been sung at the high points and the low points of the nation's story, and they are not finished yet:
This refrain appears already in Psalm 106:1 and Psalm 107:1, and we shall meet it again in Psalm 136. David in his day, and the whole congregation with him, proclaimed it (1 Chron. 16:34). Solomon, with the people in unison, years later re-echoed it (2 Chron. 5:13; 7:3). The returned remnant in all their weakness, when the foundations of the Temple were again laid, gave expression to it (Ezra 3:11). In time, in full chorus, the returned people of Israel, delivered at last, will confirm it. Language that fitted nearly three thousand years ago will fit Israel for ever.
Verse 4 closes the summons. The next verse gives the reason for it:
The first four verses take up the well-known chorus of Israel's praise. The fifth gives the occasion for going over the lasting character of the Lord's mercy: the psalmist called on the Lord in distress, and the Lord answered him and set him in a large place. Taken in its prophetic form, that distress came, and will come, from the nations who will gather against Jerusalem in the last days, as we read in Zechariah.
This psalm belonged to the Passover meal, which means the Lord Himself sang these words hours before the cross:
The Saviour and His disciples sang a hymn before leaving the supper table — so Matthew and Mark inform us. This was probably the great Hallel, consisting of Psalms 115-118. Wonderful words to come from His lips at such a moment! "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone" (Ps. 118:22) — Himself the rejected of earth about to be glorified on high.
- Three voices. The psalm names three circles — Israel the nation, Aaron's family of priests, and all who fear the Lord — and gives each the same sentence to say.
- One basis. The psalm keeps Aaron's house distinct to mark the sacrificial ground on which all the blessing rests.
- Widest reach. "Those who fear the Lord" opens the chorus beyond Israel to the godly from among the nations.
- Tested mercy. The refrain celebrates not a good mood but God's patience proved against His people's sin.
- Unbroken song. David sang it, Solomon's congregation sang it, the returning exiles sang it, the Lord sang it at the Passover table — and a delivered Israel will sing it yet.
I called upon Jah in distress; Jah answered me [and set me] in a large place.
Verses 1–4 shout that His steadfast love endures forever, and verse 5 gives the occasion: a cry from a tight place, and an answer that gave room. Who is the "I," what lies behind the word "distress," and what freedom does the answer bring?
At verse 5 a single voice takes over, and commentators read that voice as the nation's own.
From verse 5 the Holy Spirit speaks as delivered Israel, and speaks of this faithfulness of Jehovah. Now that He is on their side, they need not fear man. Jehovah is better than man, and better than princes.
Why should one man's rescue be the whole nation's praise?
The occasion of the praise is the deliverance of Israel. The Holy Spirit uses the experience of one delivered man to represent how God steps in for the nation. This godly man called upon the Lord in his distress, and the Lord answered and brought him into a large place.
One writer traces the word behind "distress" to a specific and terrible situation.
The word translated "distress" in verse 5 is, we are told, close to the word "siege." Israel's distress will certainly reach its peak during the siege that Zechariah 14:2 speaks of. At that critical moment the Lord will step in for them, as the next verse shows.
The same writer explains why a still-future rescue is described in the past tense: prophecy often speaks this way, "since the accomplishment of what is declared is so certain that there is nothing incongruous in speaking of it as already done."
In some translations the name called on here is the short form, Jah. Where that name first appears shows what it carries.
We first meet Jah in Exodus 15:2, after God delivered the people from Pharaoh at the Red Sea... If we look at the context of most of the places where it occurs, I think we will be convinced that it is not just a short form of Jehovah. It has a meaning of its own. It reminds His people that He has stepped in with power for them, and will do so again.
The ESV ends the verse with "set me free." Older translations read "set me in a large place." The picture is a prisoner let out into open ground.
When the Lord answered him and set him in a broad place, He delivered him from the confinement that sin had caused — a confinement like that of prison. So his bondage gives way to liberty, and he realizes the Lord is on his side.
Elsewhere in the Psalms the same writer applies the phrase two ways: "For Israel the large place will be blessing in the millennium. But for the Church of God the large place is that of heavenly places in Christ Jesus."
The verse joins two things and nothing in between: a call from a needy man, and an answer from God.
They called on Him in a tight place; He answered in a large place. The way and the end are joined that simply, and the simplicity is the sweetness of it. What power the cry of a needy person has with Him! As a result the soul becomes bold in its confidence: with Jehovah on his side, what can man — all men — do?
One writer hears in these verses not only Israel's cry, but Christ entering into it with them.
Here we have the fellowship of Christ with Israel's special national sorrows in that day, and so bringing Jehovah to be with them. (Verses 4, 5, 7.) All the nations had gathered together against Jerusalem, but Christ was there with them in His heart in the trouble. Jehovah could be with Him, for He trusted in Him, and in His name He destroyed them.
- Narrow. The word behind "distress" is close to "siege" — for Israel, a final encirclement of Jerusalem with no way out.
- Cry. The verse links just two things: a needy person's call and God's answer. The sweetness lies in that directness.
- Jah. The name used is the one first heard after the Red Sea, marking God as the One who steps in with power for His people.
- Wide. The answer is not just relief but room. Prison gives way to liberty: for Israel a coming earthly blessing, for the church a place in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
- Bold. Once God answers, the soul grows bold: with the Lord on his side, what can man do?
Jehovah is for me, I will not fear; what can man do unto me?
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
Jehovah is for me among them that help me; and I shall see [my desire] upon them that hate me.
Psalm 118:7 sits inside a short burst of testimony (verses 5–7). A man cried out under pressure. He says the Lord answered him and stood with him. Two questions shape it. What does it mean that the Lord is "on my side as my helper"? And how can a believer look at people who hate him and speak of triumph?
Commentators read this psalm as pointing ahead to a future rescue of Israel. It is told in the words of one man's experience. The word behind "distress" in verse 5 gives the scene its shape.
The word translated "distress" in verse 5 is, we are told, related to the word "siege." Without doubt Israel's distress will reach its peak during the siege that Zechariah 14:2 speaks of. At that critical moment the Lord will step in for them, as the next verse shows. His answer to their cry will bring them out into a large place and destroy their foes, as verse 7 of our Psalm shows.
Another writer marks the same movement in verses 5–7, and names what it stands against.
Verses 5–7 are a memorial of the Lord's past dealings with His people. From the low place of their last distress they cried to Him, and He heard them. Then verses 8 and 9 set their full and grateful confidence and joy in Him against their former empty and fruitless trust in created things.
The phrase is not a claim that God agrees with me. It is the discovery that God has stepped into the case on my behalf — and it was made in the hard place, not away from it.
In his distress he learned that the Lord was on his side and taking his part. If the Lord is for him, who can be against him? He asks, "What can man do to me?" He also learns that it is better to trust in the Lord than in man, or in the great ones of the earth.
Older translations read the verse as "the Lord is for me among those who help me." So it does not deny that others help. It puts the Lord among them, and that changes the outcome for his enemies.
His bondage gives way to liberty, and he realises the Lord is on his side (v. 6). Certainly then he has no reason to fear, for man can do nothing to thwart the Lord's protection. If the Lord is for me (v. 7), along with others who give Him His place of honour, enemies will not only be helpless. They will be completely subdued.
One writer hears another voice in the psalm. He traces the confidence of verse 7 to Christ entering the nation's sorrow, and so bringing the Lord into it with them.
Here Christ shares the national, special sorrows of Israel in that day, and so brings the Lord to be with them (verses 4, 5, 7). All the nations had gathered together against Jerusalem, but Christ was there with them in His heart in the trouble. With Him the Lord could be, for He trusted in Him, and in His name He destroyed them.
The second half of the verse looks on those who hate him. That raises an honest problem for a Christian, who is told to pray for his enemies. Writers here draw a line. Some words of the Psalms a Christian can take as his own. Others belong to a different dealing of God.
We are allowed to take up the words of the Psalmist and say boldly, "The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?" (Heb. 13:6; Ps. 118:7). But the Christian is told by example and by command to pray for his enemies and to return good for evil. How can he use language such as Psalm 55:15? That is not an isolated case at all. Passages run all through the Psalms that are quite unsuitable for the lips of a Christian, though they are right for the dealing of God they have in view.
One writer takes the same confession and turns its final clause into a question rather than a boast.
If the Lord speaks like this, we may boldly say, "The Lord is my helper, and I will not be afraid: what will man do to me?" The last sentence is really a question. If the Lord is my helper, what can man do?
- Distress — the cry of verses 5–7 comes from a besieged, cornered place. The confession of verse 7 is learned there, not before it.
- Takes my part — "on my side" means the Lord takes his part. With the Lord for him, no one can be against him.
- Among helpers — the Lord stands among those who help him. His enemies are not merely held off. They are completely subdued.
- Christ with them — one writer hears Christ sharing the nation's sorrow. His trust brings the Lord into the trouble with them.
- Boldly say — Hebrews 13:6 puts the first half of this confession on Christian lips. But not every line of the Psalms fits a people told to pray for their enemies.
It is better to trust in Jehovah than to put confidence in man;
Psalm 118 gives thanks for a rescue, and its centre holds one comparison: the Lord against man. It reads like a settled conclusion, so what experience produced it, and why is it so hard to learn?
The words are not detached advice. They close a section that begins with a cry and an answer. (Older translations read "trust in the LORD" where the ESV has "take refuge.") One writer explains why one man's story stands for the whole nation.
(verses 5-9) The reason for the praise is the deliverance of Israel. The Holy Spirit uses the experiences of one delivered man to stand for God's way of stepping in for the nation. This godly man called on the Lord in his distress, and the Lord answered and brought him into a large place.
The lesson came while the distress was still on him.
So in his distress he learned that the Lord was on his side and taking his part. And if the Lord is for him, who can be against him? He asks, "What can man do to me?" He also learns that it is better to trust in the Lord than in man, or in the great ones of the earth.
Some have counted this verse as the middle verse of the whole Bible. One writer finds that position fitting.
Their confidence in man, even in princes, has broken down. They see that it is better to trust in the Lord. Some say verse 8 is the middle verse of the Bible. If so, it is very fitting. It states one of the greatest facts the Bible teaches: the central fact on which everything for us turns. How quickly we put confidence in man; how slowly we trust in the Lord! Yet Israel has to learn to give up man and trust in God. And we have to learn it too.
"Man" here is not only other people. One man tempts each of us more than the rest.
It is a fact beyond dispute that each of us knows one man we are strongly tempted to trust. We are more likely to trust him than all other men put together. The man you are likely to trust is yourself. The man I am likely to trust is myself. Yet, "Whoever trusts in his own heart is a fool" (Prov. 28:26).
Israel once asked for a king because Samuel's sons had failed them. One writer turns the question on us.
Why did it not occur to the elders of Israel that as Samuel's sons had proved a disappointment to them, the King might be no better? Is a change of government, whether in times ancient or modern, a necessary cure for every ill? Why turn from flesh in one form to flesh in another? Are we not sometimes as foolish as they when difficulties arise?
One man in the same story took the other path. Jonathan went up against the Philistines with almost nobody behind him.
It really is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes. Jonathan proved it in the happiest way. He went up against the Philistines in the power of that word, "Nothing can stop the Lord from saving by many or by few." It was "the Lord" who filled his soul. Having Him, "many or few" made no difference. Faith does not count on circumstances, but on God.
Rulers fall short too, and not always because they are dishonest.
No matter how well meaning and honest they may be, they cannot untangle the world's problems. This is because God is not the start of their plans, and His glory is not the goal of their policies… but if the Christian trusts in the Lord, the Lord will keep him in peace. "You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You."
Two prisoners make the comparison sharp. Joseph asked Pharaoh's cupbearer to remember him and was forgotten; a dying criminal asked Jesus to remember him and was answered at once.
Joseph put his confidence, for the moment, in man, and he was disappointed… The dying criminal also put his confidence in a Man. But that Man was the Messiah, David's Son and David's Lord, so he was not put to shame… It is useless to try, as Joseph was tempted to do, to bring the Lord's deliverance about by human means.
- Distress teaches it. The verse is the conclusion of a man who cried out in distress; the Lord answered him and brought him into a large place.
- Deliverance proves it. Once the Lord takes your part, one question is left: "What can man do to me?"
- Self is the last idol. The man we are most tempted to trust is ourselves — yet whoever trusts his own heart is a fool.
- Swapping men solves nothing. Israel traded Samuel's failed sons for a king. We repeat that mistake whenever trouble comes.
- One Man is safe. The dying criminal trusted a Man — the Messiah — and that Man did not fail him. This comparison may well stand at the very centre of the Bible.
It is better to trust in Jehovah than to put confidence in nobles.
Psalm 118 is the song of a people brought out of deep trouble, and verses 8 and 9 record the conclusion they draw from it. Verse 8 has already set aside confidence in ordinary men. Verse 9 goes further. It names the people with real power to help, and still puts them below the Lord. The writers quoted below use an older translation, which reads "trust in Jehovah" where the ESV has "take refuge in the LORD."
These words are not abstract advice. A man cried out in trouble. God answered him. This is what he learned, and his experience stands for the whole nation's.
He learned in his distress that the Lord was on his side and taking his part. And if the Lord is for him, who can be against him? He asks, "What can man do to me?" He learns moreover that it is better to trust in the Lord than in man, or the great ones of the earth.
The "princes" of the verse are the great ones of the earth: rulers with rank and reach. Verses 8 and 9 mark a turn from one confidence to another.
Here they express full and grateful confidence and joy in Him (verses 8, 9). This stands in contrast with their old, empty and fruitless reliance on created things. All of it now brings praise to the glory of His grace, for He had shown them light.
The verse is not a complaint about corrupt leaders. Sincerity is not the issue.
To whom can we go but to Him? "It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes." No matter how well meaning and honest they may be, they cannot untangle the world's problems. And this is because God is not the start of their plans, and His glory is not the goal of their actions.
One writer tests the verse against Israel's demand for a king.
Why did it not occur to the leaders of Israel that, since Samuel's sons had disappointed them, the king might be no better? Is a change of government, whether in ancient or modern times, a necessary cure for every ill? Why turn from flesh in one form to flesh in another? Are we not sometimes as foolish as they when difficulties arise? "It is better to trust in Jehovah than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in Jehovah than to put confidence in princes" (Psalm 118:8-9). Have both reader and writer learned this simple lesson?
Israel had the king they asked for and still trembled before their enemies.
Jonathan proved how much better it is to trust the Lord. He went up against the Philistines trusting the word, "Nothing can stop the Lord from saving by many or by few." It was "the Lord" who filled his soul. Having Him, "many or few" made no difference. Faith does not count on circumstances, but on God.
One writer notes where this verse sits in the Bible, and how much rests on it.
Their confidence in man, even in princes, is broken. They recognize it is better to trust in the Lord. Some have said that verse 8 is the middle verse of the Bible. If so, it is very fitting. It states one of the greatest facts the Bible teaches. Everything for us turns on it. How quickly do we put confidence in man; how slowly do we trust in the Lord! Yet Israel has to learn to stop leaning on man and to trust in God. And we have to learn it too.
There is a nearer prince than any ruler, and he is the hardest to give up.
Beyond dispute, each of us knows one man we are strongly tempted to trust. We are more likely to trust in him than in all other men put together. The man you are likely to trust is yourself. The man I am likely to trust is myself. Yet, "He that trusts in his own heart is a fool" (Prov. 28:26).
The verse says one thing is better, so what does the better choice secure? Ebed-melech pulled the prophet Jeremiah out of a pit, and God promised to spare him because he had trusted in the Lord.
Trust in the Lord is never wasted. Ebed-melech's trust was so small that only He could see it. It is better, then, to trust in Jehovah than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in Jehovah than to put confidence in princes. He has all power and might against the enemy, and His grace toward us knows no limits.
- Better, learned — This is not a theory. In distress, a rescued man found the Lord on his side and stopped counting on the great ones of the earth.
- Better than the best — Honest, well meaning rulers still fail. God is not the start of their plans, and His glory is not the goal of their actions.
- Better than a change of rulers — Israel asked for a king and gained nothing. Turning from flesh in one form to flesh in another is no cure.
- Better than yourself — The man each of us is most tempted to trust is the one in the mirror. Scripture calls that trust foolish.
- Better, always — Trust in the Lord is never wasted, even when only He can see it. He has all power against the enemy, and His grace toward us knows no limits.
All nations encompassed me; but in the name of Jehovah have I destroyed them.
Psalm 118 is a song of thanks after a great rescue. At verse 10 the singer tells how the rescue came. The striking thing is who speaks: a man ringed by all nations, claiming victory over them in a name that is not his own.
Commentators read this encirclement as something still ahead for Jerusalem.
Verses 10-12 seem to link on with verse 7. All nations will indeed surround Jerusalem when the day of the Lord comes. Zechariah 14:2 says this plainly, and it also says that they come to their own destruction. That will be the moment when Jehovah appears to deliver His people and overthrow their enemies. In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives.
The word "all" is not exaggeration. The pressure comes from several directions at once.
They will be attacked from every side. Besides the Assyrian (the king of the north), there will be the first beast of Revelation 13 (the imperial head of the western empire) and his ally the Antichrist, as well as the king of the south. This helps us understand the words of the Spirit of Christ in Psalm 118.
Verse 10 follows two verses about trusting God rather than man. That order matters.
Verses 8 and 9 state the conclusion which they reach. Their confidence in man, even in princes, is broken. They recognize it is better to trust in the Lord. Verse 8 states one of the greatest facts the Bible teaches: the central fact on which everything for us turns. How quickly do we put confidence in man; how slowly do we trust in the Lord!
The phrase comes three times in verses 10-12. Older translations read "I will destroy them" where the ESV reads "I cut them off."
Three times we get the words, "In the Name of the Lord will I destroy them," or, more literally, as the margin shows, "I cut them off." The past tense is still used in its prophetic sense. It is remarkable that the psalmist should say, "I cut them off." But note that he does it "in the Name of the Lord." That means the power that does the thing is the Lord's, and not his own. Verses 13-17 acknowledge this fully. It is the right hand of the Lord that has won the victory, and the right hand of Jehovah is Christ... So instead of the godly being brought down to death, they live and declare the works of the Lord. This is the great deliverance to be worked in the last days, and it will move Israel to give thanks to the Lord, saying that His mercy endures forever.
Set against that name, the massed nations are weaker than they look.
Verse 10 refers especially to nations coming in the tribulation period to surround Israel and wipe them out. Yet in simple confidence the godly will be able to say, "in the name of the Lord I will destroy them." Though they threaten Israel without mercy, like swarms of bees, their fiery hostility is only like a fire of thorns, put out without difficulty.
Verse 10 is only the outer layer. Verses 13 and 18 name two more.
All nations had surrounded them; in Jehovah's name he would destroy them... In verse 13 the enemy had thrust hard at them to make them fall; Jehovah helped them... Behind it all it was Jehovah's chastening. He had chastened them severely, but He had not given them over to death, which for them was the power of the enemy. So we have the full character of trial, as we have seen it even in Job. First the instruments: men, even all nations. Next the enemy working through them, acting on the spirit, thrusting hard at the soul. But behind it, and before it too, is God chastening, but not giving over. This is full of instruction for us in many circumstances we pass through.
Commentators differ here. Dennett, quoted above, hears "the words of the Spirit of Christ" in verses 10-12. Darby draws a line, and treats this verse as the cry of the godly, not of Christ Himself:
The psalms describe the general condition of the saints in the last days, sometimes in a way that cannot apply to Christ personally at all, as in Psalm 118:10-11. Some passages apply generally to the righteous. Others may be applied to Christ and the circumstances He was in, some of them with prophetic purpose and exactness. All this has to be kept in mind, and God's teaching sought.
- Surrounded. Verse 10 pictures Jerusalem ringed by all nations at the day of the Lord. It is a real, public siege. The Assyrian, the imperial power of the west, and others press in at once.
- Emptied. Only people who have lost their confidence in man, and even in princes, can make the boast of verse 10 (vv. 8-9).
- Borrowed. "I cut them off" would be arrogance on its own. The power is the Lord's, not the speaker's. Verses 13-17 credit the victory to His right hand — and that right hand is Christ.
- Layered. Nations outside (v. 10), an enemy thrusting at the soul (v. 13), God's own chastening behind both (v. 18). Job knew the same three layers, and so do the troubles we pass through.
- Quenched. Enemies that swarm like bees burn out like a fire of thorns. The deliverance in that name will move Israel to give thanks for mercy that endures forever.
They encompassed me, yea, encompassed me; but in the name of Jehovah have I destroyed them.
Psalm 118 is a victory song, and verse 11 is the middle of three almost identical lines about enemies closing in on every side. Who is the "I" who cuts down whole nations, and how can a surrounded people talk of destroying anyone?
Commentators link these verses to a siege of Jerusalem still to come.
Verses 10-12 seem to link on with verse 7. All nations will indeed surround Jerusalem when the day of the Lord comes. Zechariah 14:2 states this plainly, and it also states that they do so to their own destruction. This will be the moment when Jehovah appears to deliver His people and overthrow their enemies. On that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives.
The pressure comes from more than one direction at once:
They will be attacked on every side. Besides the Assyrian (the king of the north), there will be the first beast of Revelation 13 (the imperial head of the western empire). There will also be his ally the Antichrist, and the king of the south.
Verse 12 compares the attackers to bees and to burning thorns. That picture explains how such a huge crowd can already be counted as finished.
All nations had gathered against Israel, only to be cut off by a feeble people sheltered and strengthened by Jehovah's Name. They gather like bees. They are like a fire of thorns, which flares up and dies out; they are put out and gone.
Verses 8-9 give the lesson behind that confidence:
Their confidence in man, even in princes, is broken. They recognise it is better to trust in the Lord. How quickly do we put confidence in man; how slowly do we trust in the Lord!
The verb is startling from a surrounded man. One commentator works from an older translation, whose margin gives the wording the ESV uses:
Three times we get the words, "In the name of the Lord I will destroy them." More literally, as the margin shows, it is "I cut them off." The past tense is still used in its prophetic sense. It is remarkable that the psalmist should say, "I cut them off." But note that he does it "in the name of the Lord." That means the power in which the thing is done is the Lord's, and not his own. Verses 13-17 acknowledge this fully. It is the right hand of the Lord that has achieved the victory.
Verse 11 is only the outer layer of the trouble. Verses 13 and 18 name two deeper ones.
All nations had surrounded them; in Jehovah's name he would destroy them... In verse 13 the enemy had thrust hard at them so that they might fall, and Jehovah helped them... Verse 18 gives another side of their trial. It was, after all, Jehovah's chastening. He had chastened them severely, but had not given them over to death... So we have the full character of trial, as we have seen it even in Job. First the instruments: men, even all nations. Next, the enemy working through them and acting on the spirit, thrusting hard at the soul. But behind it, and before it too, is God chastening, and not giving them up. This is full of instruction for us in many things we pass through.
How far is the "I" of this verse Christ Himself? One reading has Christ sharing His people's distress:
All the nations had gathered together against Jerusalem, but Christ was there with them in His heart in the trouble. With Him Jehovah could be, for He trusted in Him, and in His name He destroyed them.
Yet the same writer elsewhere reads these lines as belonging to God's people, not to Christ personally. Not every line of every psalm fits Him:
The psalms describe the general condition of the saints in the last days. Some of it cannot apply to Christ personally at all, as in Psalm 118:10-11. Some passages apply to the righteous in general. Others may be applied to Christ, and some are applied to Him with prophetic purpose and exactness.
- Surrounded — the doubled line fits a real siege. Enemies close in from north, south and west at once.
- Small — the ones speaking are "a feeble people". The nations are bees and burning thorns, loud and fierce but soon out.
- Name — the psalmist cuts them off only "in the name of the LORD". The power is His, and verses 13-17 credit the victory to His right hand.
- Deeper — three layers: nations outside, an enemy thrusting at the soul, and God's own chastening behind both. That chastening never hands His people over to death.
- Trust — the confidence of verse 11 grows out of verse 8, where trust in man has finally collapsed. That lesson is for us too.
They encompassed me like bees; they are quenched as the fire of thorns for in the name of Jehovah have I destroyed them.
Three times the psalmist says he is surrounded. This verse is the third time, and the most vivid. The enemy is a swarm of bees, and the swarm is a fire of thorns already burning out. Two questions follow: who are these attackers, and why is a hemmed-in man so sure of the end?
Two images sit side by side, and each says something different about the enemy. One writer holds them together:
All nations had gathered against Israel. A feeble people cut them off, sheltered and energized by the Lord's Name. Like bees they gather. Like a fire of thorns that flares up and dies out, they are quenched and gone.
Bees are not chosen at random. Other passages use them the same way:
Scripture uses them as a symbol of chasing and surrounding an enemy, and people have often felt how painful their attacks are. Deut. 1:44; Judges 14:8; Ps. 118:12; Isa. 7:18.
Which crisis is in view? One writer ties verses 10-12 to the day the nations gather against Jerusalem:
Verses 10-12 seem to connect with verse 7. All nations will indeed surround Jerusalem when the day of the Lord has come. Zechariah 14:2 says so plainly, and it also says that they do so to their own destruction. That will be the moment when the Lord appears to deliver His people and overthrow their enemies. His feet shall stand in that day on the Mount of Olives.
Another writer names the powers involved. The pressure comes from every direction at once:
They will be attacked on every side. Besides the Assyrian (the king of the north), there will be the first beast of Revelation 13 (the imperial head of the western empire) and his ally the Antichrist. There will also be the king of the south, named later in the same prophecy. This helps us understand the language of the Spirit of Christ in Psalm 118.
The ESV reads "I cut them off." Older translations have "I will destroy them." Either way, a surrounded man is speaking. One writer explains where the power lies:
Three times we get the words, "In the name of the Lord I will destroy them." More literally, as the margin shows, it is "I cut them off," for the past tense is still used in its prophetic sense. It is remarkable that the psalmist should say "I cut them off." But note that he does it "in the name of the Lord." That means the power behind the act is the Lord's, and not his own.
The fire image works the same way. The ESV has "they went out like a fire among thorns"; older translations read "they are quenched as the fire of thorns." The threat looks fierce, but the answer is a Name:
They threaten Israel like swarms of bees, and they show no mercy. Yet their fiery hostility is only like a fire of thorns, put out without difficulty. For the name of the Lord has no problem quenching the violence of fire.
The nations in verses 10-12 are only the outer layer. Read on, and two more layers come into view:
So we have the full character of trial, as we have seen it even in Job. First the instruments: men, even all nations. Next, the enemy working through them, acting on the spirit, thrusting hard at the soul. But behind it, and before it too, is God chastening, but not giving over. This teaches us much in the many circumstances we pass through, where all these elements are found.
That order is the ground of the confidence in this verse. Another writer puts it as a chain:
The devil is behind the outward enemies of God's people. But the Lord is behind the power of the devil, and there is no one behind the Lord.
- Surrounded — the enemy is a swarm: many, close in, and painful. The verse does not deny the sting; it says the swarm has an end.
- Quenched — thorns flare up and die out fast. The hostility that looks overwhelming has no staying power.
- Named — the surrounded man says "I cut them off," yet the power is not his. It is in the Lord's name, which quenches the fire without difficulty.
- Layered — nations outside, an adversary pressing the soul, and God chastening through both. Commentators find the same three layers in Job, and in what believers pass through still.
- Behind — the devil stands behind the enemies. The Lord stands behind the devil. No one stands behind the Lord. That is why a man ringed by bees can already sing.
Thou hast thrust hard at me that I might fall; but Jehovah helped me.
The psalm retells one rescue after another. This verse names the sharpest moment: a push meant to bring the singer down, and the Lord's help.
The verse is the middle step in a sequence. It moves from a crowd of enemies, to one adversary, to God Himself.
Verse 13, the enemy had thrust hard at them so that they might fall; Jehovah helped them... So we have the full character of trial, as we have seen it even in Job. First the instruments: men, even all nations. Next, the enemy working through them, acting on the spirit, thrusting hard at the soul. But behind it, and before it too, is God chastening, but not giving over. This is full of instruction for us. We pass through many circumstances where we meet all these elements.
Another writer lines up three lines from this psalm. He uses an older wording of verse 13, which reads it as words spoken to someone.
Put these three sentences together: "All nations surrounded me" (v. 10); "You thrust hard at me that I might fall" (v. 13); "The Lord has disciplined me severely" (v. 18). The first of these deals with what will be public. All men will know when all nations are fighting over Jerusalem. The next deals with what may not be so public. There is an adversary of a very special sort. His one object is to overthrow the people of God, just because they are the people through whom God will establish His purpose for the earth.
Commentators differ over who that "you" is. One writer names Satan, then allows a second reading.
Satan is that adversary, though perhaps we may take the "You" to mean the antichristian power he would use to crush them. And he would crush them, if the Lord did not help them and become their salvation, just as He did when He brought their forefathers out of Egypt.
Another reading takes the line as speech directed at a foe already beaten — the singer turns and speaks to the defeated attacker from safe ground.
The psalmist here speaks to the beaten enemy. "You thrust at me hard, to make me fall; but Jehovah helped me. Jehovah is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation." So singing and salvation are now heard in the tents of the righteous. As at the Red Sea, and even more wonderfully, Jehovah's right hand has done it all.
The chain of causes does not stop with the attacker. One writer follows it to the top.
The enemy had thrust hard at him to bring about his fall (v. 13). But the Lord has chastened him "severely" for his good. The enemy would oppose him to bring him into death; the LORD chastened him to save him from death... The devil is behind the outward enemies of God's people. But the Lord is behind the power of the devil, and there is no one behind the Lord.
The enemy's push had one aim: a fall. One writer shows what it actually produces.
The violence of the enemy in effect drives the godly into the refuge of the Lord's presence. Since this is so, the believer has reason to thank God for the oppression. So the help of the Lord is learned in real experience (v. 13). In fact, human weakness is in effect turned into strength, as Paul writes, "When I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Cor. 12:10). For the weakness that drives one into the Lord's presence becomes spiritual strength.
Read as prophecy, the verse belongs to Israel at a moment with no human way out.
The distress had been caused — or, if we take the psalm as prophecy, will be caused — by the nations that will gather against Jerusalem in the last days, as we read in Zechariah. To human eyes Israel's case will then be hopeless. It would be hopeless if Jehovah did not step in: "The Lord helped me." (v. 13.)
- Layer one — men. The nations surround, and everyone can see that trouble.
- Layer two — the adversary. Behind the crowd is one enemy, thrusting at the soul and aiming at a fall. This part of the trial stays hidden.
- Layer three — God. The same blows come as His chastening; the devil pushes toward death, the Lord chastens to save from it.
- The end of the chain. Satan stands behind the enemies, God stands behind Satan, and no one stands behind God.
- The outcome. The push that meant to topple you drives you into His presence. There weakness turns to strength, and helplessness turns into a song.
My strength and song is Jah, and he is become my salvation.
Verse 14 shouts praise right after a moment of near collapse: the enemy pushed hard, and the Lord held the psalmist up. Israel had sung these same words once before, at the Red Sea — so why does the line come back at every rescue?
One writer sees the same words fitting a new rescue of Israel, still ahead — one as complete as the first.
The point to observe is how beautifully these words fit Israel's new deliverance. That deliverance is as wonderful and complete as when their Redeemer God brought them out of Egypt and through the Red Sea. This Psalm is the voice of the remnant of Israel, brought through their final trials into blessing, looking back on their past circumstances and celebrating their deliverance... To human eyes, Israel's case will then be hopeless. It would be hopeless if Jehovah did not step in: "the Lord helped me" (v. 13). So the praise bursts out, just as it did long ago when they stood on the banks of the Red Sea.
The ESV prints the name here as "the LORD." The Hebrew word behind it is "Jah," and one writer sets that name apart from "Jehovah."
"Jehovah" is used for the name of God in relation with His people, while "Jah" appears to express His intrinsic being. The name is fitting on its own where it stands alone, as in Exodus 15:2, Exodus 17:16 and Psalm 118:14. Jah, then, is God in His absolute being, the Self-existent. Jehovah is God in His relative and continuous character, the God of the ages, especially in connection with the sons of Israel. He at last fulfils the promises He made to the fathers as God Almighty. So in Exodus 15:2, "Jah is my strength and song."
Strength, song and salvation are not three ways of saying one thing. Each has its own result in the verses that follow.
The devil, who drove the nations on, had thrust hard at him. But the Lord had stepped in to help him, and had become his "strength," his "song" and his "salvation" (vv. 13-14). The result follows: the "song" sounds in the dwelling of the righteous, the "strength" shows in the right hand of the Lord, and the "salvation" in deliverance from death (vv. 15-17).
The verb changes halfway through the line. The Lord is strength and song; He has become salvation. It points to something already done and now known in the soul. One writer says God teaches that knowledge by first showing His people their own weakness.
In delivering His people, the Lord proved His strength to them in a special way. All the wonders they had seen in Egypt had not taught them to sing, "The Lord is my strength." To sing this song, "the salvation of the Lord" must be known in the soul. But before showing Israel His strength, the Lord made their own weakness plain to them. No one really knows the power of God's salvation until he knows himself to be "without strength." God has His own way of teaching believers this necessary lesson.
The pressure of the enemy in verse 13, then, is not an interruption to the song but the road into it.
The violence of the enemy in effect drives the godly into the refuge of the Lord's presence. Since this is so, the believer has reason to thank God for the oppression... For the weakness that drives one into the Lord's presence becomes spiritual strength. "And He has become my salvation" (v. 14). The soul is lifted out of its bondage into the liberty of deliverance.
One writer traces what the Red Sea crossing pictures, and what it did to a nation of slaves.
The passage of the children of Israel through the Red Sea is a figure of the death and resurrection of Christ for His people. The result is that the moment Israel got through the Red Sea they began to sing. While they were in Egypt there was no song. What were they doing? Sighing, crying, weeping, groaning — they were miserable slaves... But the moment they had gone through the Red Sea, by the path God had opened for them, what do I find? They begin to sing... And what is the burden of the song? "The LORD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation." It is what the Lord is, and what the Lord has done... They are saved, and they know they are saved.
- Pressure. Verse 13 sets up verse 14. The enemy's hard thrust drives the soul into the Lord's presence, and there weakness turns into strength.
- Person. "Jah" is God in His own absolute being, the Self-existent One. The strength named here is not a gift sent, but God Himself.
- Proof. "Has become my salvation" is past tense and personal. It belongs not to people hoping for rescue, but to people on the far shore who know they are saved.
- Praise. Song follows salvation, never comes first. Slaves sighed and groaned in Egypt; the singing began only once God had brought them out.
- Pattern. The Red Sea crossing pictures the death and resurrection of Christ. The same words fit every rescue God works for His people, from Israel's first deliverance to the one still ahead.
The voice of triumph and salvation is in the tents of the righteous the right hand of Jehovah doeth valiantly;
The song in this verse does not rise in a temple or a palace but in tents — the dwellings of people who have just come through danger. Commentators read it as the shout of a people just rescued. Two questions follow. Who is singing? And whose arm won the battle?
This joy comes after trouble, not instead of it. One writer walks through the layers of pressure the singers had survived.
Verses 10-18 unfold what Israel has passed through. All nations had surrounded them; in Jehovah's name he would destroy them. They are put out like a fire. In verse 13, the enemy had thrust hard at them so that they might fall; Jehovah helped them. Verses 14-17 sing the joy and rejoicing that followed. Verse 18 gives another side of their trial. It was also Jehovah's chastening. He had chastened them hard, but had not given them over to death, which was the enemy's power against them. So we have the full character of trial... first the instruments, men, even all nations; next, the enemy working through them, pressing on the spirit and thrusting hard at the soul; but behind it, and before it too, is God chastening, yet not giving them up. This is full of instruction for us in many circumstances we pass through.
This is not the first time God's people have sung like this. One writer hears the Red Sea behind these words, and says this rescue is even more wonderful.
So singing and salvation now speak out in the tents of the righteous. As at the Red Sea, and even more wonderfully, it is Jehovah's right hand that has done it all. Jehovah is the "man of war"; "the right hand of the LORD does valiantly."
A tent is not a settled home. One commentator notes that this joy does not wait for better housing. (Where the ESV has "glad songs of salvation," older translations read "the voice of rejoicing and salvation.")
This liberty issues in "the voice of rejoicing and salvation," even when still in tents, temporary dwellings (v. 15), for it is in effect the celebration of the valiant activity of the right hand of the Lord.
This Psalm also had a fixed place in Israel's year. One writer traces when it was sung, and who sang it.
From ancient times the Jews have used this Psalm as the last one in their Passover celebration at home... They call it the "Hallel," which means the Praise. Our Lord sang this Hallel with His disciples (Matthew 26:30; Mark 14:26)... It seems clear that they also sang it on other feast days, apart from Passover; perhaps at the feast of tabernacles.
The singers name the winner of the battle, and it is not themselves. Earlier in the Psalm the singer says he cut off the nations — but he adds four words: in the name of the LORD.
It is remarkable that the Psalmist should say, "I cut them off." But note that he does it "in the Name of the Lord." That means the power that does it is the Lord's, and not his own. Verses 13-17 fully acknowledge this. It is the right hand of the Lord that has achieved the victory, and the right hand of Jehovah is Christ. The Son of Man, made strong for Jehovah, is "the Man of Your right hand" (Ps. 80:17). So instead of going down to death, the godly live and declare the works of the Lord.
Verse 14 names what the Lord became to the sufferer. One writer follows each of those words into the verses that come next.
The Lord had intervened for his help and had become his "strength," his "song" and his "salvation" (vv. 13-14). The result: the "song" sounds in the dwelling of the righteous; the "strength" shows in the right hand of the Lord; and the "salvation" shows in deliverance from death (vv. 15-17).
- Trial first. Nations, an enemy thrusting at the soul, and God's own chastening stand behind this song. Yet He never gave the sufferer over to death.
- Strength given. What God became to them in verse 14 — strength, song, salvation — is what verses 15-17 then display in action.
- Song placed. The rejoicing sounds in tents, temporary dwellings, before any settled comfort arrives.
- Hand named. The singers credit the victory to the right hand of the LORD, not to themselves. One writer identifies that right hand with Christ.
- Life resulting. Because that hand acted, the delivered do not go down to death but live to tell what God has done.
The right hand of Jehovah is exalted, the right hand of Jehovah doeth valiantly.
This line is the shout of a people who have just survived an attack that should have destroyed them. The same claim about the Lord's right hand comes twice in one verse. That repetition shows where they place the credit. Three questions follow: whose hand is this, what victory are they celebrating, and when do they sing?
Across Scripture this phrase carries a settled set of ideas.
The "right hand" speaks of authority, power, and eminence. According to Exodus 15:6, delivering and subduing power belong to the right hand. In Genesis 48:14 the right hand is the dispenser of sovereign and irrevocable blessing.
Earlier in this psalm the speaker says he cuts off his enemies. Verse 16 shows who really did it, and one writer names whose hand it is.
That the Psalmist should say, "I cut them off," is remarkable. But note that he does it "in the Name of the Lord." That means the power in which the thing is done is the Lord's, not his own. This is fully acknowledged in verses 13-17. It is the right hand of the Lord that has achieved the victory, and the right hand of Jehovah is Christ. The Son of Man, made strong for Jehovah, is "the Man of Your right hand" (Ps. 80:17). So instead of the godly being brought down to death, they live and declare the works of the Lord.
Older translations read the first half of the verse as "the right hand of the Lord is exalted." That is the wording the next writer follows.
Scripture speaks of the right hand of the Lord as referring to Christ Himself, the One who carries out God's counsels. He is exalted, and He certainly does valiantly (v. 16).
The psalm borrows older words. One writer hears the Red Sea song behind this verse.
The psalmist speaks here to the defeated enemy. "You thrust at me hard, to make me fall; but Jehovah helped me. Jehovah is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation." So singing and salvation are now sounding out in the tents of the righteous. And as at the Red Sea, only more marvellously, it is Jehovah's right hand that has accomplished it all. Jehovah is the "man of war"; "Jehovah's right hand does valiantly."
Verse 14 names three things the Lord became: strength, song and salvation. Each one shows up in the verses that follow, and the strength shows up here.
Second, the enemy of his soul — the devil who energised the nations (Rev. 12:15-17) — had thrust hard at him. But the Lord had stepped in to help him. He had become his "strength," his "song" and his "salvation" (vv. 13-14). The result is that the "song" is heard in the dwelling of the righteous. The "strength" shows in the right hand of the Lord, and the "salvation" in deliverance from death (vv. 15-17).
One writer reads the psalm as the voice of a rescued nation looking back. He finds three layers in the trial, not one.
Verses 10-18 unfold the circumstances and dealings Israel has passed through. All nations had surrounded them; in Jehovah's name he would destroy them. … Verse 18 gives another side of their trial. It was also Jehovah's chastening. He had chastened them severely, but had not given them over to death, which was the enemy's power against them. So we have the full character of trial, as we saw it even in Job: instruments, men, even all nations; next, the enemy through them, acting on the spirit, thrusting hard at the soul. But behind it, and before it too, is God chastening, but not giving over. This is full of instruction for us in many circumstances we pass through.
Another writer dates the trouble to a crisis still ahead.
Taken in its prophetic form, the distress will come from the nations gathered against Jerusalem in the last days, as we read in Zechariah.
- Hand. The right hand means authority, power and eminence. It delivers, it subdues, and it gives blessing no one can take back.
- Person. Writers name that hand as Christ Himself — "the Man of Your right hand," who carries out God's purposes.
- Pattern. The song uses Red Sea words: Jehovah the man of war, doing it all Himself, only more marvellously this time.
- Praise. Strength shows in the right hand, salvation in escape from death, and the song in the tents of the righteous.
- Purpose. Behind the nations stands the enemy. Behind the enemy stands God, chastening but never giving over. That is why the song ends in victory.
I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of Jah.
Psalm 118 is a thanksgiving song from people who have just come through danger on every side, and verse 17 is where their confidence turns from survival to speech. Two questions sit under it: who kept them alive, and what is the life for?
The verse does not come from a place of safety. These people can still count their enemies, and they steady themselves on what God has promised, not on what they can see.
Verse seventeen expresses, with much power and sweetness, how unshaken their faith stays. Hemmed in by fear on every side, His people think of the covenanted faithfulness and power of God, and look forward with joy to retelling His mighty acts.
Earlier in the psalm the speaker says he cuts off the nations. Older versions read "I will destroy them" there. Notice the phrase he attaches to that claim.
Three times we get the words, "In the Name of the Lord will I destroy them," or more literally, as the margin shows, "I cut them off"… That the Psalmist should say, "I cut them off," is remarkable. But note that he does it "in the Name of the Lord." That means the power behind the act is the Lord's, and not his own. It is the right hand of the Lord that has won the victory… So instead of going down into death, the godly live and declare the works of the Lord.
The next verse admits the Lord Himself had disciplined the speaker severely. So the pressure came in three layers, not one.
Third, behind the opposition of the nations and the power of Satan there was, in these trials, the chastening of the Lord. The enemy had thrust hard at him to bring about his fall (v. 13); but the Lord has chastened him "severely" for his good. The enemy would oppose him to bring him into death; the Lord chastened him to save him from death. If the Lord chastens, it is only to remove all that is contrary to Himself in His people. He does it to open a righteous way into His presence, so that they may stand there for His praise (vv. 18-21). The devil is behind the outward enemies of God's people, but the Lord is behind the power of the devil, and there is no one behind the Lord.
The second half of the verse explains the first. One writer reads the plea as the words of Jesus Himself.
Jesus here pleads (see also Ps. 6:5, Ps. 30:9, Ps. 115:17) to be delivered from death, on the ground that the dead could not praise God, nor the grave declare Him. For God is not the God of the dead but of the living. "The living, the living, he shall praise you," says Hezekiah, taught by the Spirit to speak as a man who knows he stands in resurrection. And so Jesus cries for deliverance on this most blessed plea, that God is known not in death but in life.
The hope in this verse points to earth, not to heaven. Commentators mark it out as different from the Christian's expectation.
Here we have a very different future for saints from the one that forms the Christian's hope. The Christian looks to be taken out of this scene, while the wicked remain for judgment (2 Thess. 1:7-9). The saint in the Psalms (Ps. 17:15 excepted) looks to stay alive on earth, having an earthly calling. So his proper expectation is to be kept from death (Ps. 68:20; 116:8-9, 15; 118:17).
Another writer names the moment when the verse will be fulfilled.
Verse 17 is particularly applicable to the godly remnant of Israel when entering the millennium. Many will have died during the great tribulation — in fact two-thirds of Israel — but one third will be brought through the fire, refined as silver, and will live on earth throughout the thousand years. They will indeed "live, and recount the deeds of the LORD."
Believers facing death have taken these words on their own lips. John Wycliffe lay ill, with monks crowding his bedside to make their speeches:
Wycliffe lay quite silent until they had finished their speeches. Then he asked his servant to raise him on his pillow, fixed his keen eyes on them and said sternly, "I shall not die, but live, and declare the evil deeds of the friars." In dismay and astonishment the monks rushed from the room. Soon his words came true. His sickness left him, and he rose from his bed to begin his most glorious work — giving the English people the Bible in their own language.
- Pressed — the trouble came in three layers: the nations, the enemy, and God's chastening hand behind both.
- Spared — the enemy pushed him toward death. The Lord chastened him to save him from it.
- Powered — the victory belongs to the Lord's right hand, not to the speaker's own strength, even where he says "I cut them off."
- Purposed — God keeps him alive so he can tell what God has done. The dead cannot praise Him; God is known in life, not in the grave.
- Proved — the confidence holds while the danger is still in sight. It reaches a people who will yet come through fire, and it has steadied believers on their sickbeds.
Jah hath chastened me sore; but he hath not given me over unto death.
The verse looks back on a trial so severe that death seemed the obvious end of it. Then it names the hand behind the trial: God's own. Every sufferer asks the same question. If God struck the blow, how far will He go, and what is He after?
The psalm names three pressures in turn. One writer sets them in order, and the last is the deepest:
All the nations had gathered together against Jerusalem. But Christ was there with them in His heart in the trouble... The adversary thrust hard to make him fall, but Jehovah was with him. Last of all, Jehovah had chastened him severely, but He had not given him over to death. There were three points, and the same three are known in an individual soul. The nations surrounded him. The adversary thrust hard at him. And last came the real secret, deepest in sorrow, yet the key to all deliverance in it: Jehovah had chastened him severely.
Two hands were at work in the same affliction, and they had opposite aims:
The enemy had thrust hard at him to bring about his fall (v. 13); but the Lord has chastened him "severely" for his good. The enemy would oppose him to bring him into death; the LORD chastened him to save him from death... The devil is behind the outward enemies of God's people. But the Lord is behind the power of the devil, and there is no one behind the Lord.
The second half of the verse sets a limit. Chastening has a purpose, and killing is not it:
He knew, however, that God's people would not die. The divine chastening that had come over Israel would not end in wiping the nation out... When a father chastises his child, it is not to kill it, but to form it according to his own character. This is how God deals with us too, "that we may become partakers of His holiness" (Heb. 12:10). This is a comforting thought. God acknowledges us as His children when He chastens us. He chastens us precisely because we are His children.
What gives the enemy his room to work? One writer points to something unjudged in the heart:
Evil on the conscience, or evil in the heart that we do not even notice, gives Satan a handle against the soul. Sometimes it is a terrible one, even where the soul is upright. The soul finds rest only in self-judgment and in confessing whatever gives him that handle. Satan would seek to make us fall this way. But behind all this we must see the hand of God, as in Job's case. "The LORD has disciplined me severely, but he has not given me over to death." It is for blessing.
The chastening had a goal beyond the pain. It opened a door:
They had had to face death, with the terror of God's wrath in it. Yet He had not given them over to it. The exercise had been profitable for them; the chastening had done its work; and now they would not die, but live. The gates of righteousness could now be opened to them, and they would enter in and give thanks to Jehovah.
Another writer names what the chastening was clearing away:
If the Lord chastens, it is only to remove all that is contrary to Himself in His people. His aim is to open a righteous way into His presence, so that they may be there for His praise.
Commentators read this psalm as the nation's future thanksgiving, looking back on trials already past. On that reading the timing of the rescue is deliberate:
He becomes their salvation, but only after His dealings in chastisement have had their full effect... God will deliver His people, but only after His chastening has achieved the happy end that it had in view.
Paul writes of himself, "as punished, and yet not killed" (2 Corinthians 6:9). One writer traces those words back to this psalm:
God's hand was on him, too, as well as man's. As a true son of the Father of spirits, he shared what all share whom God acknowledges as His (Heb. 12:5-7). If others forgot this, he did not. He said it openly, for the glory of God and for the comfort of his brothers. The Spirit led him to use words almost the same as the words that will one day swell the song of Zion's gladness, when the day of her return from captivity has come (Ps. 118:18).
- Cause. Behind the nations and behind the adversary stands a third hand: the Lord's own chastening. It is the deepest sorrow of the three, and "the key to all deliverance."
- Contrast. The enemy strikes to bring you into death; the Lord strikes to save you from it. There is no one behind the Lord.
- Limit. A father's rod is meant to shape, not to kill. So the verse stops short of death. That limit is the proof that He owns you as His child.
- Result. When the chastening has done its work, the gates of righteousness open. The sufferer does not die. He walks through them giving thanks.
- Reach. The same words serve a nation's future song and one man's daily hardships. Paul takes them up as "punished, and yet not killed."