“All things are mortal but the Jew…What is the secret of his immortality?” —Mark Twain
The first theme of Psalm 118 (vv 5-21) either describes a person, or Israel personified, being rescued by the Lord. Why would we think it’s the nation being featured? First, the call is to Israel to be thankful (v 2). Then it exactly records the nation’s history. In answer to their cry of distress in Egypt, the Lord brought them to Canaan (v 5). The first generation who took the land trusted in the Lord (vv 6-9). But then they were harassed by the Gentile nations around them (vv 10-13), and the repeated refrain speaks eloquently of the centuries of oppression they have faced, right to the present day. But when all seemed hopeless, the Lord came through for them, and the psalmist quotes a few lines from Moses’ victory song at the Red Sea to celebrate that (v 14, Ex 15:2). We again see the collective view in “the voice of rejoicing and salvation…in the tents of the righteous” (Ps 118:15). So often at the point of extinction, their final testimony will be, “I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord. The Lord has chastened me severely, but He has not given me over to death” (vv 17-18). Isn’t that the truth! But, after the long, sad night, culminating in the Time of Jacob’s Trouble, at last the gates of Jerusalem will swing open to the returning Jews. “Open to me the gates of righteousness; I will go through them, and I will praise the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord, through which the righteous shall enter” (vv 19-20). Finally the oft-repeated prayer of the scattered Jews of the Diaspora, “Next year in Jerusalem,” will be answered. And then they will discover who has saved them. “I will praise You, for You have answered me, and have become my salvation” (v 21). As we will now see, the “You” is the rejected Jesus, Yeshua Ha-mashiach!