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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0;"/><title>Psalm 118 Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</title><link rel="canonical" href="https://biblehub.com/commentaries/expositors/psalms/118.htm" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001com.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; cts.dataset.appid=i;cts.src='https://app.protectsubrev.com/catch_rp.js?cb='+Math.random(); document.head.appendChild(cts); }) (window,document,'head','script','rc-anksrH');</script></head> <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-LR4HSKRP2H"></script> <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'G-LR4HSKRP2H'); </script><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/psalms/118.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="//biblehu.com/bmcom/psalms/118-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="/commentaries/">Commentary</a> > <a href="../">Ellicott</a> > <a href="../psalms/">Psalm</a></div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../psalms/117.htm" title="Psalm 117">◄</a> Psalm 118 <a href="../psalms/119.htm" title="Psalm 119">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</div><div class="chap"><span class= "bld"> CXVIII</span><p>The character of this psalm as a Temple song of thanksgiving is stamped on every line of it. The marked divisions with the refrains (<a href="/context/psalms/118-1.htm" title="O give thanks to the LORD; for he is good: because his mercy endures for ever.">Psalm 118:1-4</a>; <a href="/context/psalms/118-8.htm" title="It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.">Psalm 118:8-9</a>) have induced commentators to arrange it in parts, supposed to have been sung in turn by the full choir, the congregation, and the priests. It is not, however, by any means certain to what particular event or time the psalm is to he assigned. Many incidents in connection with the rebuilding of the second Temple have been fixed upon in connection with <a href="/context/psalms/118-22.htm" title="The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.">Psalm 118:22-23</a>. Others have gone to the Maccabæan period for the occasion of the thanksgiving. Several expressions seem to allude to a particular feast, with its peculiar prayers and sacrifices (<a href="/context/psalms/118-24.htm" title="This is the day which the LORD has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.">Psalm 118:24-27</a>), and there can be little doubt that this was the Feast of Tabernacles. The words of <a href="/psalms/118-25.htm" title="Save now, I beseech you, O LORD: O LORD, I beseech you, send now prosperity.">Psalm 118:25</a> were, we know, sung on one of the days—called the Great Hosanna (<span class= "ital">Save now</span>)—of the feast; a name given also to the boughs carried and waved in the sacred procession. If <a href="/context/psalms/118-19.htm" title="Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise the LORD:">Psalm 118:19-23</a> imply the completion of the Temple, it is natural to fix on the first complete celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles after the Return (<a href="/nehemiah/8-14.htm" title="And they found written in the law which the LORD had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month:">Nehemiah 8:14</a> <span class= "ital">seq</span>.).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/118-1.htm">Psalm 118:1</a></div><div class="verse">O give thanks unto the LORD; for <i>he is</i> good: because his mercy <i>endureth</i> for ever.</div>(1-4) Comp. <a href="/context/psalms/115-9.htm" title="O Israel, trust you in the LORD: he is their help and their shield.">Psalm 115:9-13</a>, where a similar choral arrangement is found.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/118-5.htm">Psalm 118:5</a></div><div class="verse">I called upon the LORD in distress: the LORD answered me, <i>and set me</i> in a large place.</div>(5) <span class= "bld">I called.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">out of the straitness I cried to Jah; answered me, with freedom, Jah. </span>The meaning of the last clause (literally, <span class= "ital">with room. </span>Comp.: “Ay, marry, now my soul has elbow-room”—<span class= "ital">King John</span>) is determined by the parallelism of <a href="/psalms/18-19.htm" title="He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me.">Psalm 18:19</a>. The versions read “freedom of Jah,” <span class= "ital">i.e., </span>boundless freedom,”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/118-6.htm">Psalm 118:6</a></div><div class="verse">The LORD <i>is</i> on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?</div>(6) A reminiscence of <a href="/context/psalms/56-9.htm" title="When I cry to you, then shall my enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me.">Psalm 56:9-11</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/118-7.htm">Psalm 118:7</a></div><div class="verse">The LORD taketh my part with them that help me: therefore shall I see <i>my desire</i> upon them that hate me.</div>(7) Made up of <a href="/context/psalms/54-4.htm" title="Behold, God is my helper: the Lord is with them that uphold my soul.">Psalm 54:4-7</a>, where see Notes.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/118-9.htm">Psalm 118:9</a></div><div class="verse"><i>It is</i> better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes.</div>(9) <span class= "bld">Trust.</span>—The word constantly used of the security the Israelite found in his relation to Jehovah. The meaning here is apparently, “Fidelity to the covenant is better than alliance with foreign princes,” though, of course, the larger sense, in which the words are applicable to all men, may be read into the words.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/118-11.htm">Psalm 118:11</a></div><div class="verse">They compassed me about; yea, they compassed me about: but in the name of the LORD I will destroy them.</div>(11) <span class= "bld">But in the name . . .</span>—Or, more emphatically, <span class= "ital">It is in Jehovah’s name that, </span>&c<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/118-12.htm">Psalm 118:12</a></div><div class="verse">They compassed me about like bees; they are quenched as the fire of thorns: for in the name of the LORD I will destroy them.</div>(12) <span class= "bld">Like bees.</span>—The image of the “bees” may be derived from <a href="/deuteronomy/1-44.htm" title="And the Amorites, which dwelled in that mountain, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do, and destroyed you in Seir, even to Hormah.">Deuteronomy 1:44</a> (comp. <a href="/isaiah/7-18.htm" title="And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.">Isaiah 7:18</a>), but the LXX. suggest that the poet employed an original and far more expressive image, for they read, “as bees surround the comb.” Possibly the word <span class= "ital">comb </span>dropped out of the Hebrew text, because the copyist was thinking of <a href="/deuteronomy/1-44.htm" title="And the Amorites, which dwelled in that mountain, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do, and destroyed you in Seir, even to Hormah.">Deuteronomy 1:44</a>.<p><span class= "bld">The fire of thorns.</span>—See <a href="/psalms/58-9.htm" title="Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath.">Psalm 58:9</a>, Note. The rapidity with which a fire made of thorns burns gives the point of the comparison. The LXX. and Vulg. gave this more plainly by rendering, “they burnt out like a fire in thorns.” Shakespeare may have had this verse in his thought when he wrote:<p>“Shallow jesters and rash bavin (<span class= "ital">i.e., </span>brushwood) wit,<p>Soon kindled and soon burnt.”<span class= "ital">—King Henry IV.</span><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/118-14.htm">Psalm 118:14</a></div><div class="verse">The LORD <i>is</i> my strength and song, and is become my salvation.</div>(14) <span class= "bld">Thou hast.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">Thou didst thrust and thrust at me. </span>This sudden change of person and challenge of the foes themselves is very dramatic.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/118-15.htm">Psalm 118:15</a></div><div class="verse">The voice of rejoicing and salvation <i>is</i> in the tabernacles of the righteous: the right hand of the LORD doeth valiantly.</div>(15) <span class= "bld">In the tabernacles of the righteous.</span>—Whether we are to see an allusion here to an actual encampment, as the context seems to indicate, or whether tents are put poetically for dwellings, depends on the view taken of the date and occasion of the psalm.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/118-16.htm">Psalm 118:16</a></div><div class="verse">The right hand of the LORD is exalted: the right hand of the LORD doeth valiantly.</div>(16) <span class= "bld">Is exalted.</span>—Here evidently the attitude of a warrior. The hand is <span class= "ital">lifted up to strike.</span><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/118-17.htm">Psalm 118:17</a></div><div class="verse">I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD.</div>(17) <span class= "bld">I shall not die, but live.</span>—It is Israel, and not an individual, who thus claims a continuance of life for the display of God’s glory. But as so often we find, the hope is so expressed as to suit not only the community for whom the psalm was composed and sung, but each member of it individually.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/118-19.htm">Psalm 118:19</a></div><div class="verse">Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, <i>and</i> I will praise the LORD:</div>(19) <span class= "bld">The gates of righteousness.</span>—This is explained by the next verse as the gate of the Temple, where the righteous, <span class= "ital">i.e., </span>Israel alone, entered. There does not seem the least reason for taking the words here in any but this literal sense, though doubtless they are capable of endless spiritual applications. We must imagine a procession chanting the triumphal song as in Psalms 24, and summoning the gates to open on its approach.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/118-22.htm">Psalm 118:22</a></div><div class="verse">The stone <i>which</i> the builders refused is become the head <i>stone</i> of the corner.</div>(22) <span class= "bld">The stone.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">a stone. </span>There is no article. Israel is, of course, this stone, rejected as of no account in the political plans of those who were trying to shape the destinies of the Eastern nations at their own pleasure, but in the purpose of God destined to a chief place in the building up of history. The image is developed by <a href="/context/isaiah/28-16.htm" title="Therefore thus said the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believes shall not make haste.">Isaiah 28:16-17</a>, and prepared, by the Messianic hope poured into it, for the use of Christ Himself and the repeated applications of it to Him by the apostles (<a href="/context/matthew/21-42.htm" title="Jesus said to them, Did you never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes?">Matthew 21:42-44</a>; <a href="/acts/4-11.htm" title="This is the stone which was set at nothing of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.">Acts 4:11</a>; <a href="/1_peter/2-7.htm" title="To you therefore which believe he is precious: but to them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner,">1Peter 2:7</a>; <a href="/ephesians/2-20.htm" title="And are built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;">Ephesians 2:20</a>; see <span class= "ital">New Testament Commentary</span>)<span class= "ital">.</span><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/118-23.htm">Psalm 118:23</a></div><div class="verse">This is the LORD'S doing; it <i>is</i> marvellous in our eyes.</div>(23) <span class= "bld">The Lord’s doing.</span>—This change of destiny, which made Israel of sudden political importance, is to be ascribed to none but Jehovah Himself.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/118-24.htm">Psalm 118:24</a></div><div class="verse">This <i>is</i> the day <i>which</i> the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.</div>(24) <span class= "bld">This is the day.</span>—Either the festival for which the psalm was composed (Feast of Tabernacles?) or more generally the day of triumph won by Jehovah, as in preceding verse.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/118-25.htm">Psalm 118:25</a></div><div class="verse">Save now, I beseech thee, O LORD: O LORD, I beseech thee, send now prosperity.</div>(25) <span class= "bld">Save now.</span>—This is not the adverb of time. Render, <span class= "ital">Save, we pray. </span>(See <a href="/matthew/21-9.htm" title="And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.">Matthew 21:9</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/118-26.htm">Psalm 118:26</a></div><div class="verse">Blessed <i>be</i> he that cometh in the name of the LORD: we have blessed you out of the house of the LORD.</div>(26) <span class= "bld">Blessed . . .</span>—These words of welcome are probably spoken by the Levite in charge, to the procession approaching the gates. According to Rabbinical writings, pilgrim caravans were thus welcomed on their arrival at Jerusalem.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/118-27.htm">Psalm 118:27</a></div><div class="verse">God <i>is</i> the LORD, which hath shewed us light: bind the sacrifice with cords, <i>even</i> unto the horns of the altar.</div>(27) <span class= "bld">Shewed us light . . .</span>—Whether this is literal or figurative is difficult to decide. If <span class= "ital">literal, </span>it may be a repetition of <a href="/psalms/118-24.htm" title="This is the day which the LORD has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.">Psalm 118:24</a>; or if there is a particular reference in this psalm to the Feast of Tabernacles, Mr. Burgess’s suggestion, which connects the light with the pillar of cloud and fire, of which that feast was very probably specially commemorative, is most worthy of notice. Figuratively the words would, of course, mean “the light of salvation and hope,” as so frequently in the Psalms. It is also possible there may be allusion to the priestly benediction (<a href="/numbers/6-25.htm" title="The LORD make his face shine on you, and be gracious to you:">Numbers 6:25</a>), where the verb is the same.<p><span class= "bld">Bind the sacrifice . . .</span>—This cannot well be, “tie the victim to the horns of the altar,” for the Hebrew is “as far as to,” and no satisfactory explanation is possible of binding animals as far as the altar, unless we are to translate “bind and lead.” But the Hebrew word rendered <span class= "ital">victim </span>might by derivation (“to go round”) easily mean a <span class= "ital">circlet </span>or <span class= "ital">crown, </span>and by supplying the verb <span class= "ital">go </span>we get <span class= "ital">bind on a crown, go with garlands even to the horns of the altar. </span>The ancient versions, LXX., Vulg., Aquila, Symmachus, all point to this rendering.<p> <div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers<br /><br />Text Courtesy of <a href="//biblesupport.com" target="_top">BibleSupport.com</a>. 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