Psalm 118 GW
By some calculations, Psalm 118:8 is the center of the Bible, with just as much content preceding it as there is following it. If you are reading through the Bible, take heart! You have reached the halfway point.
I have often been struck by the placement of the Psalms in the Bible. The books of the Bible were not just randomly compiled, a collection of old books into a volume. The longer I read it the more I perceive the order. You do not know where in the Bible to find the songbook? Open it right in the middle, you will find it. In a corresponding way, the Psalms are central to the formation of a Christian conscience. We learn the mind of our God here. We learn how Jesus thinks, for these are his songs.
Some folks object to this, saying that Jesus taught us a different ethic, to love our enemies, not to pray for their destruction. He did indeed teach us this, but it is decidedly not a different ethic. In order to say so, you must of necessity find fault with the Spirit’s work in the creation of the Psalms. Was David inspired by God to write Psalm 109? Were the people of God really supposed to sing this? The heading, “To The Choirmaster” seems to say so. I have heard men passionately argue that he wasn’t. But do you really want to go there? The Bible is the inspired Word of God, except for the points I cannot reconcile with my own thinking?
Don’t be that guy. The words of Jesus in the New Testament are by no means contradictory to the words of Jesus in the Old Testament.
Psalm 118 has in it a phrase that our Lord Jesus took up against the Pharisees, one that referred to him and his work. The leaders of the religious folk were trying hard to build a future for Israel that did not include reference to Jesus, Israel’s Messiah. Jesus told them the parable of the tenants, those folk who were purportedly looking after the Kings’ vineyard while he was away, but who kept beating and murdering the ones the King would send to them for an accounting. When he sent his son to them, they, like Joseph’s more vile brothers, said, “Let us kill him, and have his inheritance for ourselves!”
“When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”
They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.”
Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:
“‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?
Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.” Matt. 21:40-44
It is easy indeed to imagine Jesus as both the singer of Psalm 118 and the content of Psalm 118. As Jesus said to the Pharisees, “You search the Scriptures, for in these you say you have eternal life; but these are they that testify of Me.” The whole of the Old Covenant Scriptures were about Jesus, and there is nowhere more evident that this is indeed the case than here in the Psalms.
The old Genevan tune on 118 is a rousing good tune. May it never be lost.
This is my tune, using the newer lyrics from the Canadian Reformed Book of Praise.
Here are the lyrics.
His Steadfast Love Endures Forever
118 Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!
2 Let Israel say, “His steadfast love endures forever.”
3 Let the house of Aaron say, “His steadfast love endures forever.”
4 Let those who fear the Lord say, “His steadfast love endures forever.”
5 Out of my distress I called on the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me free.
6 The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?
7 The Lord is on my side as my helper; I shall look in triumph on those who hate me.
8 It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man.
9 It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes.
10 All nations surrounded me; in the name of the Lord I cut them off!
11 They surrounded me, surrounded me on every side;
in the name of the Lord I cut them off!
12 They surrounded me like bees; they went out like a fire among thorns;
in the name of the Lord I cut them off!
13 I was pushed hard, so that I was falling, but the Lord helped me.
14 The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.
15 Glad songs of salvation are in the tents of the righteous:
“The right hand of the Lord does valiantly,
16 the right hand of the Lord exalts, he right hand of the Lord does valiantly!”
17 I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the Lord.
18 The Lord has disciplined me severely, but he has not given me over to death.
19 Open to me the gates of righteousness,
that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord.
20 This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it.
21 I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation.
22 The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
23 This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.
24 This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
25 Save us, we pray, O Lord! O Lord, we pray, give us success!
26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
We bless you from the house of the Lord.
27 The Lord is God, and he has made his light to shine upon us.
Bind the festal sacrifice with cords, up to the horns of the altar!
28 You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God; I will extol you.
29 Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!
