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.