“I will praise You, for You have answered me, and have become my salvation” (Ps 118:21).
We have come to the last psalm of the Egyptian Hallel, sung by the Jewish people at the conclusion of the Passover celebration. We can hardly expect to be dry-eyed as we imagine an Upper Room, a handful of men gathered questioningly around their Master, sensing an encroaching darkness of evil but also a strange, heavenly light breaking through. They cannot know the horrors of the coming hours, yet they are led in song by the One in their midst who knows it all. They sing the mysterious words of Psalm 118. How much do they understand? How much do we understand? First, we notice the psalm begins and ends with the same words, as if we’re responding to the everlasting arms embracing us, “Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever” (vv 1, 29). After the general call to “give thanks” for the Lord’s forever-enduring “mercies” (Heb, hesed), the psalmist enjoins Israel (v 2), the Aaronic priesthood (v 3), and then all who reverently fear the Lord (v 4), to join in. The word hesed occurs 248 times in the Old Testament! It’s translated “mercy” 154x, “kindness” 45x, “lovingkindness” 30x, and “goodness” 13x, and many other translations render it as “faithful love” or “steadfast love.” What a wonderful family of ideas! After the call to praise in the first four verses, the rest of the psalm has two main sections. First, we see either a suffering person, or else the personification of suffering and restored Israel, rescued by the Lord in the nick of time (vv 5-21). In the latter portion (vv 22-29), we discover its weaving of remarkable messianic truth; this is, in fact, the last of the Messianic Psalms. Let’s consider these breathtaking themes, encapsulating two of history’s grandest dramas.