Psa 118:22-27 | TDavid | STEP | EXPOSITION This passage ( ) will appear to be a mixture of the expressions of the people and of the hero himself. Verse 22 . The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. Here the people magnify God for bringing his chosen servant into the honourable office, which had been allotted to him by divine decree. A wise king and valiant leader is a stone by which the national fabric is built up. David had been rejected by those in authority, but God had placed him in a position of the highest honour and the greatest usefulness, making him the chief cornerstone of the state. In the case of many others whose early life has been spent in conflict, the Lord has been pleased to accomplish his divine purposes in like manner; but to none is this text so applicable as to the Lord Jesus himself: he is the living stone, the tried stone, elect, precious, which God himself appointed from of old. The Jewish builders, scribe, priest, Pharisee, and Herodian, rejected him with disdain. They could see no excellence in him that they should build upon him; he could not be made to fit in with their ideal of a national church, he was a stone of another quarry from themselves, and not after their mind nor according to their taste; therefore they cast him away and poured contempt upon him, even as Peter said, "This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders"; they reckoned him to be as nothing, though he is Lord of all. In raising him from the dead the Lord God exalted him to be the head of his church, the very pinnacle of her glory and beauty. Since then he has become the confidence of the Gentiles, even of them that are afar off upon the sea, and thus he has joined the two walls of Jew and Gentile into one stately temple, and is seen to be the binding cornerstone, making both one. This is a delightful subject for contemplation. Jesus in all things hath the preeminence, he is the principal stone of the whole house of God. We are accustomed to lay some one stone of a public building with solemn ceremony, and to deposit in it any precious things which may have been selected as a memorial of the occasion: henceforth that cornerstone is looked upon as peculiarly honourable, and joyful memories are associated with it. All this is in a very emphatic sense true of our blessed Lord, "The Shepherd, the Stone of Israel." God himself laid him where he is, and hid within him all the precious things of the eternal covenant; and there he shall for ever remain, the foundation of all our hopes, the glory of all our joys, the united bond of all our fellowship. He is "the head over all things to the church," and by him the church is fitly framed together, and groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord. Still do the builders refuse him: even to this day the professional teachers of the gospel are far too apt to fly to any and every new philosophy sooner than maintain the simple gospel, which is the essence of Christ: nevertheless, he holds his true position amongst his people, and the foolish builders shall see to their utter confusion that his truth shall be exalted over all. Those who reject the chosen stone will stumble against him to their own hurt, and ere long will come his second advent, when he will fall upon them from the heights of heaven, and grind them to powder. EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS Verse 22 . The stone . The head stone of the corner. Christ Jesus is a stone: no firmness, but in him. A fundamental stone: no building, but on him. A corner stone: no piecing nor reconciliation, but in him. James Ford, 1856. Verse 22 . The stone which the builders rejected , etc. To apply it to Christ, "The Stone" is the ground of all. Two things befall it; two things as contrary as may be, -- Refused, cast away; then, called for again, and made head of the building. So, two parts there are to the eye. The refusing; The raising; which are his two estates, his humiliation, and his exaltation. In either of these you may observe two degrees, a quibus, and quosque, by whom and how far. By whom refused? We weigh the word, aeificantes: not by men unskilful, but by workmen, professed builders; it is so much the worse. How far? We weigh the word, -- reprobaverunt; usque ad reprobari, even to a reprobation. It is not improbaverunt, disliked, as not fit for some eminent place; but reprobaverunt, utterly reprobate, for any place at all. Again, exalted, by whom? The next words are a Domino, by God, as good a builder, nay, better than the best of them; which makes amends for the former. And How far? Placed by him, not in any part of the building; but in the part most in the eye (the corner), and in the highest place of it, the very head. So, rejected, and that by the builders, and to the lowest estate: and from the lowest estate exalted in caput anguli, to the chiefest place of all; and that by God himself. Lancelot Andrewes. Verse 22 . The stone which the builders refused , etc. We need not wonder, that not only the powers of the world are usually enemies to Christ, and that the contrivers of policies, those builders, leave out Christ in their building, but that the pretended builders of the church of God, though they use the name of Christ, and serve their turn with that, yet reject himself, and oppose the power of his spiritual kingdom. There may be wit and learning, and much knowledge of the Scriptures, amongst those that are haters of the Lord Jesus Christ, and of the power of godliness, and corrupters of the worship of God. It is the spirit of humility and obedience, and saving faith, that teach men to esteem Christ, and build upon him. The vanity and folly of these builders' opinion appears in this, that they are overpowered by the great Architect of the church: his purpose stands. Notwithstanding their rejection of Christ, he is still made the head corner stone. They cast him away by their reproaches, and by giving him up to be crucified and then cast into the grave, causing a stone to be rolled upon this stone which they had so rejected, that it might appear no more, and so thought themselves sure. But even from thence did he arise, and became the head of the corner. Robert Leighton. Verse 22 . The stone which the builders refused , etc. That is to say, God sent a living, precious, chosen stone on earth; but the Jews, who then had the building of the church, rejected that stone, and said of it, "This man, who observeth not the Sabbath, is not of God and, "We have no king but Caesar," and, That seducer said, I will rise after three days"; and many similar things beside. But this stone, so rejected by the builders as unfit for raising the spiritual edifice, is become the head of the corner; has been made by God, the principal architect, the bond to connect the two walls and keep them together; that is to say, has been made the head of the whole church, composed of Jews and Gentiles; and such a head, that whoever is not under him cannot be saved; and whoever is built under him, the living stone, will certainly be saved. Now all this is the Lord's doing, done by his election and design, without any intervention on the part of man, and therefore, it is wonderful in our eyes. For who is there that must not look upon it as a wonderful thing, to find a man crucified, dead and buried, rising, after three days, from the dead, immortal, with unbounded power, and declared Prince of men and angels, and a way opened through him for mortal man, to the kingdom of heaven, to the society of the angels, to a happy immortality? Robert Bellarmine. Verse 22 . The stone which the builders refused . Here we behold with how strong and impregnable a shield the Holy Ghost furnishes us against the empty vaunting of the Papal clergy. Be it so, that they possess the name, "chief builders"; but if they disown Christ, does it necessarily follow that we must disown him also? Let us rather contemn and trample under our feet all their decrees, and let us reverence this precious stone upon which our salvation rests. By the expression, is become the head of the corner, we are to understand the real foundation of the church, which sustains the whole weight of the edifice; it being requisite that the corners should form the main strength of buildings. John Calvin. Verse 22 . The stone , etc. That is, I, whom the great men and rulers of the people rejected ( ), as the builders of a house reject a stone unfit to be employed in it, am now become king over Israel and Judah; and a type of that glorious King who shall hereafter be in like manner refused ( ), and then be by God exalted to be Lord of all the world, and the foundation of all men's happiness. Thomas Fellton. Verse 22 The stone . The author of Historia Scholastica mentions it as a tradition that at the building of the second temple there was a particular stone of which that was literally true , which is here parabolically rehearsed, viz., that it had the hap to be often taken up by the builders, and as oft rejected, and at last was found to be perfectly fit for the most honourable place, that of the chief cornerstone, which coupled the sides of the walls together, the extraordinariness whereof occasioned the speech here following: This is the Lord's doing; it is marvellous in our eyes. Henry Hammond. Verse 22 . The head stone of the corner . How of the "corner"? The corner is the place where two walls meet: and there be many twos in this building: the two walls of nations. Jews and Gentiles; the two of conditions, bond and free; the two of sex, male and female: the great two (which this Easter day we celebrate) of the quick and the dead; above all, the greatest two of all, heaven and earth. Lancelot Andrewes. Verse 22 . Is become the head stone of the corner . Higher yet and ever higher, passeth he those ranks above, Where the seraphs are enkindled with the flame of endless love; Passeth them, for not even seraphs ever loved so well as he Who hath borne for his beloved, stripes, and thorns, and shameful tree; Ever further, ever onward, where no angel's foot may tread, Where the twenty-four elders prostrate fall in mystic dread: Where the four strange living creatures sing their hymn before the throne, The Despised One and rejected passeth, in his might alone; Passeth through the dazzling rainbow, till upon the father's right He is seated, his Co-Equal, God of God, anti Light of Light. R. F. Littledale. Verse 22 . Head stone of the corner . It is now clear to all by divine grace whom Holy Scripture calls the cornerstone. Him in truth who, taking unto himself from one side the Jewish, and from the other the Gentile people, unites, as it were, two walls in the one fabric of the Church; them of whom it is written, "He hath made both one"; who exhibited himself as the Cornerstone, not only in things below, but in things above, because he united on earth the nations of the Gentiles to the people of Israel, and both together to angels. For at his birth the angels exclaimed, "On earth peace, good will toward men." Gregory, quoted by Henry Newland, 1860. Verse 22 . The corner . By Bede it is rendered as a reason why the Jewish builders refused our Saviour Christ for the head place, Quia in uno pariete, stare amabant. They could endure no corner; they must stand alone upon their own single wall; be of themselves, not join with Gentiles or Samaritans. And Christ they endured not, because they thought if he had been heard he would have inclined that way. Alias oves oportet me adducere ( ). Alias they could not abide. But sure, a purpose there must be, alias oves adducendi, of bringing in others, of joining a corner, or else we do not facere secundum exemplar, build not according to Christ's pattern; our fashion of fabric is not like his. Lancelot Andrewes. Verse 22-27 . By the consent of all expositors , in this Psalm is typed the coming of Christ, and his kingdom of the gospel. This is manifested by an exaltation, by an exultation, by a petition, by a benediction. The exaltation: , The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. The Jews refused this stone, but God hath built his church upon it. The exultation: , This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. A more blessed day than that day was wherein he made man, when he had done making the world; "Rejoice we, and be glad in it." The petition: , Save now, I beseech thee, O LORD: O LORD, I beseech thee, send now prosperity. Thy justice would not suffer thee to save without the Messiah; he is come, "Save now, O LORD, I beseech thee." Our Saviour is come, let mercy and salvation come along with him. The benediction makes all clear: , Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the LORD. For what David here prophesied, the people after accomplished: , "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." The corollary or sum is in my text: , God is the LORD, which hath shewed us light: bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar. Thomas Adams. HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS Verse 22 . In these words we may notice the following particulars. The metaphorical view in which the church is here represented, namely, that of a house or building. The character that our Immanuel bears with respect to this building; he is the stone in a way of eminence, without whom there can be no building, no house for God to dwell in among the children of men. The character of the workmen employed in this spiritual structure; they are called builders. A fatal error they are charged with in building the house of God; they refuse the stone of God's choosing; they do not allow him a place in his own house. Notice the place that Christ should and shall have in this building, let the builders do their worst: he is made the head stone of the corner. The words immediately following declare how this is effected, and how the saints are affected with the news of his exaltation, notwithstanding the malice of hell and earth: "This is the Lord's doing, and it is wonderful in our eyes." Ebenezer Erskine. Verse 22-23 . The mystery stated. That which is least esteemed by men as a means of salvation is most esteemed by God. That which is most esteemed by God when made known is least esteemed by man. The mystery explained. The way of salvation is the Lord's doing, therefore marvellous in our eyes. --G.R. Verse 22-25 . -- Christ rejected. Christ exalted. His exaltation is due to God alone. His exaltation commences a new era. His exaltation suggests a new prayer. See Spurgeon's Sermon, no. 1,420.

Psalms 118:22-27

EXPOSITION

This passage (Psalms 118:22-27) will appear to be a mixture of the expressions of the people and of the hero himself.

Verse 22. The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. Here the people magnify God for bringing his chosen servant into the honourable office, which had been allotted to him by divine decree. A wise king and valiant leader is a stone by which the national fabric is built up. David had been rejected by those in authority, but God had placed him in a position of the highest honour and the greatest usefulness, making him the chief cornerstone of the state. In the case of many others whose early life has been spent in conflict, the Lord has been pleased to accomplish his divine purposes in like manner; but to none is this text so applicable as to the Lord Jesus himself: he is the living stone, the tried stone, elect, precious, which God himself appointed from of old. The Jewish builders, scribe, priest, Pharisee, and Herodian, rejected him with disdain. They could see no excellence in him that they should build upon him; he could not be made to fit in with their ideal of a national church, he was a stone of another quarry from themselves, and not after their mind nor according to their taste; therefore they cast him away and poured contempt upon him, even as Peter said, "This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders"; they reckoned him to be as nothing, though he is Lord of all. In raising him from the dead the Lord God exalted him to be the head of his church, the very pinnacle of her glory and beauty. Since then he has become the confidence of the Gentiles, even of them that are afar off upon the sea, and thus he has joined the two walls of Jew and Gentile into one stately temple, and is seen to be the binding cornerstone, making both one. This is a delightful subject for contemplation.

Jesus in all things hath the preeminence, he is the principal stone of the whole house of God. We are accustomed to lay some one stone of a public building with solemn ceremony, and to deposit in it any precious things which may have been selected as a memorial of the occasion: henceforth that cornerstone is looked upon as peculiarly honourable, and joyful memories are associated with it. All this is in a very emphatic sense true of our blessed Lord, "The Shepherd, the Stone of Israel." God himself laid him where he is, and hid within him all the precious things of the eternal covenant; and there he shall for ever remain, the foundation of all our hopes, the glory of all our joys, the united bond of all our fellowship. He is "the head over all things to the church," and by him the church is fitly framed together, and groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord. Still do the builders refuse him: even to this day the professional teachers of the gospel are far too apt to fly to any and every new philosophy sooner than maintain the simple gospel, which is the essence of Christ: nevertheless, he holds his true position amongst his people, and the foolish builders shall see to their utter confusion that his truth shall be exalted over all. Those who reject the chosen stone will stumble against him to their own hurt, and ere long will come his second advent, when he will fall upon them from the heights of heaven, and grind them to powder.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

Verse 22. The stone. The head stone of the corner. Christ Jesus is a stone: no firmness, but in him. A fundamental stone: no building, but on him. A corner stone: no piecing nor reconciliation, but in him. James Ford, 1856.

Verse 22. The stone which the builders rejected, etc. To apply it to Christ, "The Stone" is the ground of all. Two things befall it; two things as contrary as may be, --

Again, exalted, by whom? The next words are a Domino, by God, as good a builder, nay, better than the best of them; which makes amends for the former. And How far? Placed by him, not in any part of the building; but in the part most in the eye (the corner), and in the highest place of it, the very head.

So, rejected, and that by the builders, and to the lowest estate: and from the lowest estate exalted in caput anguli, to the chiefest place of all; and that by God himself. Lancelot Andrewes.

Verse 22. The stone which the builders refused, etc. We need not wonder, that not only the powers of the world are usually enemies to Christ, and that the contrivers of policies, those builders, leave out Christ in their building, but that the pretended builders of the church of God, though they use the name of Christ, and serve their turn with that, yet reject himself, and oppose the power of his spiritual kingdom. There may be wit and learning, and much knowledge of the Scriptures, amongst those that are haters of the Lord Jesus Christ, and of the power of godliness, and corrupters of the worship of God. It is the spirit of humility and obedience, and saving faith, that teach men to esteem Christ, and build upon him. The vanity and folly of these builders' opinion appears in this, that they are overpowered by the great Architect of the church: his purpose stands. Notwithstanding their rejection of Christ, he is still made the head corner stone. They cast him away by their reproaches, and by giving him up to be crucified and then cast into the grave, causing a stone to be rolled upon this stone which they had so rejected, that it might appear no more, and so thought themselves sure. But even from thence did he arise, and became the head of the corner. Robert Leighton.

Verse 22. The stone which the builders refused, etc. That is to say, God sent a living, precious, chosen stone on earth; but the Jews, who then had the building of the church, rejected that stone, and said of it, "This man, who observeth not the Sabbath, is not of God and, "We have no king but Caesar," and, That seducer said, I will rise after three days"; and many similar things beside. But this stone, so rejected by the builders as unfit for raising the spiritual edifice, is become the head of the corner; has been made by God, the principal architect, the bond to connect the two walls and keep them together; that is to say, has been made the head of the whole church, composed of Jews and Gentiles; and such a head, that whoever is not under him cannot be saved; and whoever is built under him, the living stone, will certainly be saved. Now all this is the Lord's doing, done by his election and design, without any intervention on the part of man, and therefore, it is wonderful in our eyes. For who is there that must not look upon it as a wonderful thing, to find a man crucified, dead and buried, rising, after three days, from the dead, immortal, with unbounded power, and declared Prince of men and angels, and a way opened through him for mortal man, to the kingdom of heaven, to the society of the angels, to a happy immortality? Robert Bellarmine.

Verse 22. The stone which the builders refused. Here we behold with how strong and impregnable a shield the Holy Ghost furnishes us against the empty vaunting of the Papal clergy. Be it so, that they possess the name, "chief builders"; but if they disown Christ, does it necessarily follow that we must disown him also? Let us rather contemn and trample under our feet all their decrees, and let us reverence this precious stone upon which our salvation rests. By the expression, is become the head of the corner, we are to understand the real foundation of the church, which sustains the whole weight of the edifice; it being requisite that the corners should form the main strength of buildings. John Calvin.

Verse 22. The stone, etc. That is, I, whom the great men and rulers of the people rejected (1 Samuel 26:19), as the builders of a house reject a stone unfit to be employed in it, am now become king over Israel and Judah; and a type of that glorious King who shall hereafter be in like manner refused (Luke 19:14 Luke 20:17), and then be by God exalted to be Lord of all the world, and the foundation of all men's happiness. Thomas Fellton.

Verse 22 The stone. The author of Historia Scholastica mentions it as a tradition that at the building of the second temple there was a particular stone of which that was literally true, which is here parabolically rehearsed, viz., that it had the hap to be often taken up by the builders, and as oft rejected, and at last was found to be perfectly fit for the most honourable place, that of the chief cornerstone, which coupled the sides of the walls together, the extraordinariness whereof occasioned the speech here following: This is the Lord's doing; it is marvellous in our eyes. Henry Hammond.

Verse 22. The head stone of the corner. How of the "corner"? The corner is the place where two walls meet: and there be many twos in this building: the two walls of nations. Jews and Gentiles; the two of conditions, bond and free; the two of sex, male and female: the great two (which this Easter day we celebrate) of the quick and the dead; above all, the greatest two of all, heaven and earth. Lancelot Andrewes.

Verse 22. Is become the head stone of the corner. Higher yet and ever higher, passeth he those ranks above,

Where the seraphs are enkindled with the flame of endless

love;

Passeth them, for not even seraphs ever loved so well as he

Who hath borne for his beloved, stripes, and thorns, and

shameful tree;

Ever further, ever onward, where no angel's foot may tread,

Where the twenty-four elders prostrate fall in mystic

dread:

Where the four strange living creatures sing their hymn

before the throne,

The Despised One and rejected passeth, in his might alone;

Passeth through the dazzling rainbow, till upon the

father's right

He is seated, his Co-Equal, God of God, anti Light of

Light. R. F. Littledale.

Verse 22. Head stone of the corner. It is now clear to all by divine grace whom Holy Scripture calls the cornerstone. Him in truth who, taking unto himself from one side the Jewish, and from the other the Gentile people, unites, as it were, two walls in the one fabric of the Church; them of whom it is written, "He hath made both one"; who exhibited himself as the Cornerstone, not only in things below, but in things above, because he united on earth the nations of the Gentiles to the people of Israel, and both together to angels. For at his birth the angels exclaimed, "On earth peace, good will toward men." Gregory, quoted by Henry Newland, 1860.

Verse 22. The corner. By Bede it is rendered as a reason why the Jewish builders refused our Saviour Christ for the head place, Quia in uno pariete, stare amabant. They could endure no corner; they must stand alone upon their own single wall; be of themselves, not join with Gentiles or Samaritans. And Christ they endured not, because they thought if he had been heard he would have inclined that way. Alias oves oportet me adducere (John 10:16). Alias they could not abide. But sure, a purpose there must be, alias oves adducendi, of bringing in others, of joining a corner, or else we do not facere secundum exemplar, build not according to Christ's pattern; our fashion of fabric is not like his. Lancelot Andrewes.

Verse 22-27. By the consent of all expositors, in this Psalm is typed the coming of Christ, and his kingdom of the gospel. This is manifested by an exaltation, by an exultation, by a petition, by a benediction. The exaltation: Psalms 118:22, The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. The Jews refused this stone, but God hath built his church upon it.

The exultation: Psalms 118:24, This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. A more blessed day than that day was wherein he made man, when he had done making the world; "Rejoice we, and be glad in it."

The petition: Psalms 118:25, Save now, I beseech thee, O LORD: O LORD, I beseech thee, send now prosperity. Thy justice would not suffer thee to save without the Messiah; he is come, "Save now, O LORD, I beseech thee." Our Saviour is come, let mercy and salvation come along with him.

The benediction makes all clear: Psalms 118:26, Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the LORD. For what David here prophesied, the people after accomplished: Matthew 21:9, "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." The corollary or sum is in my text: Psalms 118:27, God is the LORD, which hath shewed us light: bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar. Thomas Adams.

HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS

Verse 22. In these words we may notice the following particulars.

Verse 22-23.

Verse 22-25. --

EXPOSITION

Verse 23. This is the LORD'S doing. The exalted position of Christ in his church is not the work of man, and does not depend for its continuation upon any builders or ministers; God himself has wrought the exaltation of our Lord Jesus. Considering the opposition which comes from the wisdom, the power, and the authority of this world, it is manifest that if the kingdom of Christ be indeed set up and maintained in the world it must be by supernatural power. Indeed, it is so even in the smallest detail. Every grain of true faith in this world is a divine creation, and every hour in which the true church subsists is a prolonged miracle. It is not the goodness of human nature, nor the force of reasoning, which exalts Christ, and builds up the church, but a power from above. This staggers the adversary, for he cannot understand what it is which baffles him: of the Holy Ghost He knows nothing.

It is marvellous in our eyes. We actually see it; it is not in our thoughts and hopes and prayers alone, but the astonishing work is actually before our eyes. Jesus reigns, his power is felt, and we perceive that it is so. Faith sees our great Master, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come; she sees and marvels. It never ceases to astonish us, as we see, even here below, God by means of weakness defeating power, by the simplicity of his word baffling the craft of men, and by the invisible influence of his Spirit exalting his Son in human hearts in the teeth of open and determined opposition. It is indeed "marvellous in our eyes," as all God's works must be if men care to study them. In the Hebrew the passage reads, "It is wonderfully done": not only is the exaltation of Jesus of Nazareth itself wonderful, but the way in which it is brought about is marvellous: it is wonderfully done. The more we study the history of Christ and his church the more fully shall we agree with this declaration.

EXPOSITION

Verse 24. This is the day which the LORD hath made. A new era has commenced. The day of David's enthronement was the beginning of better times for Israel; and in a far higher sense the day of our Lord's resurrection is a new day of God's own making, for it is the dawn of a blessed dispensation. No doubt the Israelitish nation celebrated the victory of its champion with a day of feasting, music and song; and surely it is but meet that we should reverently keep the feast of the triumph of the Son of David. We observe the Lord's day as henceforth our true Sabbath, a day made and ordained of God, for the perpetual remembrance of the achievements of our Redeemer. Whenever the soft Sabbath light of the first day of the week breaks upon the earth, let us sing, "This is the day the Lord hath made,

He calls the hours his own;

Let heaven rejoice, let earth be glad,

And praise surround the throne."

We by no means wish to confine the reference of the passage to the Sabbath, for the whole gospel day is the day of God's making, and its blessings come to us through our Lord's being placed as the head of the corner.

We will rejoice and be glad in it. What else can we do? Having obtained so great a deliverance through our illustrious leader, and having seen the eternal mercy of God so brilliantly displayed, it would ill become us to mourn and murmur. Rather will we exhibit a double joy, rejoice in heart and be glad in face, rejoice in secret and be glad in public, for we have more than a double reason for being glad in the Lord. We ought to be specially joyous on the Sabbath: it is the queen of days, and its hours should be clad in royal apparel of delight. George Herbert says of it: "Thou art a day of mirth,

And where the weekdays trail on ground,

Thy flight is higher as thy birth."

Entering into the midst of the church of God, and beholding the Lord Jesus as all in all in the assemblies of his people, we are bound to overflow with joy. Is it not written, "then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord"? When the King makes the house of prayer to be a banqueting house, and we have grace to enjoy fellowship with him, both in his sufferings and in his triumphs, we feel an intense delight, and we are glad to express it with the rest of his people.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

Verse 24. This is the day which the LORD hath made.

Verse 24. This is the day, etc. The "queen of days," as the Jews call the Sabbath. Arnobius interprets this text of the Christian Sabbath; others, of the day of salvation by Christ exalted to be the head cornerstone; in opposition to that dismal day of man's fall. John Trapp.

Verse 24. Because believers have ever cause for comfort, therefore they are commanded always to rejoice, Philippians 3:1 4:4. Whether their sins or sufferings come into their hearts, they must not sorrow as they that have no hope. In their saddest conditions, they have the Spirit of consolation. There is seed of joy sown within them when it is turned under the clods, and appears not above ground. But there are special times when God calls for this grain to spring up. They have some red letters, some holy days in the calendar of their lives, wherein this joy, as wine at a wedding, is most seasonable; but among all those days it never relishes so well, it never tasteth so pleasantly, as on a Lord's day. Joy suits no person so much as a saint, and it becomes no season so well as a Sabbath.

Joy in God on other days is like the birds chirping in winter, which is pleasing; but joy on the Lord's day is like their warbling times and pretty notes in spring, when all other things look with a suitable delightful aspect. This is the day which the LORD hath made, (he that made all days, so especially this day, but what follows?) we will rejoice and be glad in it. In which words we have the church's solace, or joy, and the season, or day of it. Her solace was great: "We will rejoice and be glad." Those expressions are not needless repetitions, but shew the exuberance or high degree of their joy. The season of it: "This is the day which the LORD hath made." Compare this place with Matthew 11:22-23, and Acts 4:11, and you will find that the precedent verses are a prophetical prediction of Christ's resurrection, and so this verse foretells the church's joy upon that memorable and glorious day. And, indeed, if "a feast be made for laughter," Ecclesiastes 10:19, then that day wherein Christ feasts his saints with the choicest mercies may well command their greatest spiritual mirth. A thanksgiving day hath a double precedence of a fast day. On a fast day we eye God's anger; on a thanksgiving day we look to God's favour. In the former we specially mind our corruptions; in the latter, God's compassions; - - therefore a fast day calls for sorrow, a thanksgiving day for joy. But the Lord's day is the highest thanksgiving day, and deserveth much more than the Jewish Purim, to be a day of feasting and gladness, and a good day. George Spinnock.

Verse 24. Day which the LORD hath made. As the sun in heaven makes the natural day by his light, so does Christ the Sun of Righteousness make ours a spiritual day. Starke.

Verse 24. Day which the LORD hath made. Adam introduced a day of sadness, but another day is made by Christ: Abraham saw his day from afar, and was glad; we will walk even now in his light. Johann David Friesch, 1731.

HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS

Verse 24. --

(b) The sabbath day.

(b) To be joyfully received by man. --G.R.

EXPOSITION

Verse 25. Save now, I beseech thee, O LORD. Hosanna! God save our king! Let David reign! Or as we who live in these latter days interpret it, -- Let the Son of David live for ever, let his saving help go forth throughout all nations. This was the peculiar shout of the feast of tabernacles; and so long as we dwell here below in these tabernacles of clay we cannot do better than use the same cry. Perpetually let us pray that our glorious King may work salvation in the midst of the earth. We plead also for ourselves that the Lord would save us, deliver us, and continue to sanctify us. This we ask with great earnestness, beseeching it of Jehovah. Prayer should always be an entreating and beseeching.

O LORD, I beseech thee, send now prosperity. Let the church be built up: through the salvation of sinners may the number of the saints be increased; through the preservation of saints may the church be strengthened, continued, beautified, perfected. Our Lord Jesus himself pleads for the salvation and the prosperity of his chosen; as our Intercessor before the throne he asks that the heavenly Father would save and keep those who were of old committed to his charge, and cause them to be one through the indwelling Spirit. Salvation had been given, and therefore it is asked for. Strange though it may seem, he who cries for salvation is already in a measure saved. None can so truly cry, "Save, I beseech thee," as those who have already participated in salvation; and the most prosperous church is that which most imploringly seeks prosperity. It may seem strange that, returning from victory, flushed with triumph, the hero should still ask for salvation; but so it is, and it could not be otherwise. When all our Saviour's work and warfare were ended, his intercession became even more prominently a feature of his life; after he had conquered all his foes he made intercession for the transgressors. What is true of him is true of his church also, for whenever she obtains the largest measure of spiritual blessing she is then most inclined to plead for more. She never pants so eagerly for prosperity as when she sees the Lord's doings in her midst, and marvels at them. Then, encouraged by the gracious visitation, she sets apart her solemn days of prayer, and cries with passionate desire, "Save now," and "Send now prosperity." She would fain take the tide at the flood, and make the most of the day of which the Lord has already made so much.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

Verse 25. Save. With the Hebrews salvation is a wide word, comprising all the favours of God that may lead to preservation; and therefore the Psalmist elsewhere extends this act both to man and beast, and, as if he would comment upon himself, expounds swson save, by euodwson? It is so dear a title of God, that the prophet cannot have enough of it. Joseph Hall.

Verse 25. Save now, I beseech thee, O LORD. Let him have the acclamations of the people as is usual at the inauguration of a prince; let every one of his loyal subjects shout for joy, "Save now, I beseech thee, O LORD." This is like vivat rex, and speaks both a hearty joy for his accession to the crown, an entire satisfaction in his government, and a zealous affection to the interests and honour of it. Hosanna signifies, "Save now, I beseech thee." Lord, save me, I beseech thee; let this Saviour be my Saviour; and in order to that my Ruler: let me be taken under his protection, and owned as one of his willing subjects. His enemies are my enemies; Lord, I beseech thee, save me from them. Send me an interest in that prosperity which his kingdom brings with it to all those that entertain it. Let my soul prosper and be in health, in that peace and righteousness which his government brings. Psalms 72:3. Let me have victory over those lusts that war against my soul, and let divine grace go on in my heart, conquering and to conquer. Matthew Henry.

Verse 25. Save now, or, hosanna. Our thanksgivings on earth must always be accompanied with prayers for further mercies, and the continuance of our prosperity; Our hallelujahs with hosannas. Ingram Cobbin.

Verse 25. Save now, I beseech thee, O Lord, etc. Hosanna. The cry of the multitudes as they thronged in our Lord's triumphal procession into Jerusalem (Matthew 21:9,18 Mark 11:9,15 John 12:13) was taken from this Psalm, from which they were accustomed to recite Ps 118:25-26 at the Feast of Tabernacles. On that occasion the great Hallel, consisting of Psalms 113-118 was chanted by one of the priests, and at certain intervals the multitudes joined in the responses, waving their branches of willow and palm, and shouting as they waved them, Hallelujah, or Hosannah, or, "O LORD, I beseech thee, send now prosperity." This was done at the recitation of Psalms 118:1,29; but according to the school of Hillel, at the words "Save now, we beseech thee." The school of Shammai, on the contrary, say it was at the words, "Send now prosperity." Rabban Gamaliel and R. Joshua were observed by R. Akiba to wave their branches only at the words, "Save now, we beseech thee" (Mishna, Succah, 3. 9). On each of the seven days during which the feast lasted the people thronged the court of the temple, and went in procession about the altar, setting their boughs bending towards it; the trumpets sounding as they shouted Hosannah. But on the seventh day they marched seven times round the altar, shouting meanwhile the great Hosannah to the sound of the trumpets of the Levites (Lightfoot, Temple Service, 16. 2). The very children who could wave the palm branches were expected to take part in the solemnity (Mishna, Succah, 3. 15; Matthew 21:15). From the custom of waving the boughs of myrtle and willow during the service the name Hosannah was ultimately transferred to the boughs themselves, so that according to Elias Levita (Thisbi. sv), "the bundles of the willows of the brook which they carry at the Feast of Tabernacles are called Hosannahs." William Aldis Wright, in "Smith's Dictionary of the Bible," 1863.

Verse 25. Send now prosperity,. God will send it, but his people must pray for it. "I came for thy prayers," Daniel 10:12. John Trapp.

HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS

Verse 25. -- What is church prosperity? Whence must it come? How can we obtain it?

Verse 25. --

(b) Prosperity in righteousness.

EXPOSITION

Verse 26. Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the LORD. The champion had done everything "in the name of the Lord": in that name he had routed all his adversaries, and had risen to the throne, and in that name he had now entered the temple to pay his vows. We know who it is that cometh in the name of the Lord beyond all others. In the Psalmist's days he was The Coming One, and he is still The Coming One, though he hath already come. We are ready with our hosannas both for his first and second advent; our inmost souls thankfully adore and bless him and upon his head unspeakable joys. "Prayer also shall be made for him continually: and daily shall he be praised." For his sake everybody is blessed to us who comes in the name of the Lord, we welcome all such to our hearts and our homes; but chiefly, and beyond all others, we welcome himself when he deigns to enter in and sup with us and we with him. O sacred bliss, fit antepast of heaven! Perhaps this sentence is intended to be the benediction of the priests upon the valiant servant of the Lord, and if so, it is appropriately added,

We have blessed you out of the house of the LORD. The priests whose business it was to bless the people, in a sevenfold degree blessed the people's deliverer, the one chosen out of the people whom the Lord had exalted. All those whose high privilege it is to dwell in the house of the Lord for ever, because they are made priests unto God in Christ Jesus, can truly say that they bless the Christ who has made them what they are, and placed them where they are. Whenever we feel ourselves at home with God, and feel the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, "Abba Father," the first thought of our hearts should be to bless the elder Brother, through whom the privilege of sonship has descended to such unworthy ones. In looking back upon our past lives we can remember many delightful occasions in which with joy unutterable we have in the fulness of our heart blessed our Saviour and our King; and all these memorable seasons are so many foretastes and pledges of the time when in the house of our great Father above we shall for ever sing, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain," and with rapture bless the Redeemer's name.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

Verse 26. Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the LORD. The difference between Christ and Antichrist is to be noticed, because Christ did not come in his own name, but in the name of the Father; of which he himself testified, John 5:43, "I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not; if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive." Thus all faithful ministers of the Church must not come in their own name, or the name of Baal, or of Mammon and their own belly, but in the name of God, with a lawful call; concerning which see Hebrews 5:1-14 Revelation 10:1-11 15:1-8. Solomon Gesner.

EXPOSITION

Verse 27. God is the LORD, which hath shewed us light, or "God is Jehovah," the only living and true God. There is none other God but he. The words may also be rendered, "Mighty is Jehovah." Only the power of God could have brought us such light and joy as spring from the work of our Champion and King. We have received light, by which we have known the rejected stone to be the head of the corner, and this light has led us to enlist beneath the banner of the once despised Nazarene, who is now the Prince of the kings of the earth. With the light of knowledge has come the light of joy; for we are delivered from the powers of darkness and translated into the kingdom of God's dear Son. Our knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ came not by the light of nature, nor by reason, nor did it arise from the sparks which we ourselves had kindled, nor did we receive it of men; but the mighty God alone hath showed it to us. He made a day on purpose that he might shine upon us like the sun, and he made our faces to shine in the light of that day, according to the declaration of the twenty-fourth verse. Therefore, unto him be all the honour of our enlightenment. Let us do our best to magnify the great Father of lights from whom our present blessedness has descended.

"Bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar. Some think that by this we are taught that the king offered so many sacrifices that the whole area of the court was filled, and the sacrifices were bound even up to the altar; but we are inclined to keep to our own version, and to believe that sometimes restive bullocks were bound to the altar before they were slain, in which case Mant's verse is correct": "He, Jehovah, is our Lord:

He, our God, on us hath shined:

Bind the sacrifice with cord,

To the horned altar bind."

The word rendered "cords" carries with it the idea of wreaths and boughs, so that it was not a cord of hard, rough rope, but a decorated band; even as in our case, though we are bound to the altar of God, it is with the cords of love and the bands of a man, and not by a compulsion which destroys the freedom of the will. The sacrifice which we would present in honour of the victories of our Lord Jesus Christ is the living sacrifice of our spirit, soul, and body. We bring ourselves to his altar, and desire to offer him all that we have and are. There remains a tendency in our nature to start aside from this; it is not fond of the sacrificial knife. In the warmth of our love we come willingly to the altar, but we need constraining power to keep us there in the entirety of our being throughout the whole of life. Happily there is a cord which, twisted around the atonement, or, better still, around the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is our only Altar, can hold us, and does hold us: "For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then all died; and that he died for all, that they that live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again." We are bound to the doctrine of atonement; we are bound to Christ himself, who is both altar and sacrifice; we desire to be more bound to him than ever, our soul finds her liberty in being tethered fast to the altar of the Lord. The American Board of Missions has for its seal an ox, with an altar on one side and a plough on the other, and the motto "Ready for either," -- ready to live and labour, or ready to suffer and die. We would gladly spend ourselves for the Lord actively, or be spent by him passively, whichever may be his will; but since we know the rebellion of our corrupt nature we earnestly pray that we may be kept in this consecrated mind, and that we may never, under discouragements, or through the temptations of the world, be permitted to leave the altar, to which it is our intense desire to be for ever fastened. Such consecration as this, and such desires for its perpetuity, well beseem that day of gladness which the Lord hath made so bright by the glorious triumph of his Son, our covenant head, our well beloved.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

Verse 27. God is the LORD, which hath shewed us light. The Psalmist was clearly possessed of light, for he says, "God is the Lord, which hath shewed us light." He was evidently, then, possessed of light; and this light was in him as "the light of life." This light had shone into his heart; the rays and beams of divine truth had penetrated into his conscience. He carried about with him a light which had come from God; in this light he saw light, and in this light he discerned everything which the light manifested. Thus by this internal light he knew what was good and what was evil, what was Sweet and what was bitter, what was true and what was false, what was spiritual and what was natural. He did not say, This light came from creature exertion, this light was the produce of my own wisdom, this light was nature transmuted some action of my own will, and thus gradually rose into existence from long time and assiduous cultivation. But he ascribes the whole of that light which he possessed unto God the Lord, as the sole author and the only giver of it. Now, if God the Lord has ever showed you and me the same light which he showed his servant of old, we carry about with us more or less of a solemn conviction that we have received this light from him. There will, indeed, be many clouds of darkness to cover it; there will often be doubts and fears, hovering like mists and fogs over our souls, whether the light which we have received be from God or not. But in solemn moments when the Lord is pleased a little to revive his work; at times and seasons when he condescends to draw forth the affections of our hearts unto himself, to bring us into his presence, to hide us in some measure in the hollow of his hand, and give us access unto himself, at such moments and seasons we carry about with us, in spite of all our unbelief, in spite of all the suggestions of the enemy, in spite of all doubts and fears and suspicions that rise from the depths of the carnal mind, in spite of all these counter workings and undermining, we carry about with us at these times a solemn conviction that we have light, and that this light we have received from God. And why so? Because we can look back to a time when we walked in no such light, when we felt no such light, when everything spiritual and heavenly was dark to us, and we were dark to them.

Those things which the Spirit of God enables a man to do, are in Scripture sometimes called sacrifices. "That we may offer," we read, "spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God, by Jesus Christ." The apostle speaks of "receiving of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from the brethren at Philippi; an odour of a sweet smell; a sacrifice acceptable and well pleasing to God." Php 4:18. So he says to the Hebrew church: "But to do good and to communicate (that is, to the wants of God's people), forget not; for with such sacrifices God is well pleased." Hebrews 13:16. Well, then, these spiritual sacrifices which a man offers unto God are bound also to the horns of the altar. They are not well pleasing in the sight of God, except they are bound to the horns of the altar, so as to derive all their acceptance from the altar. Our prayers are only acceptable to God as they are offered through the cross of Jesus. Our praises and thanksgivings are only acceptable to God as they are connected with the cross of Christ, and ascend to the Father through the propitiation of his dear Son. The ordinances of God's house are only acceptable to God as spiritual sacrifices, when they are bound to the horns of the altar. Both the ordinances of the New Testament -- baptism and the Lord's supper -- have been bound by the hands of God himself to the horns of the altar; and no one either rightly went through the one, or rightly received the other, who had not been first spiritually bound by the same hand to the horns of the altar. Every act of liberality, every cup of cold water given in the name of a disciple, every feeling of sympathy and affection, every kind word, every compassionate action, shown to a brother; all and each are only acceptable to God as they ascend to him through the mediation of his dear Son. And, therefore, every sacrifice of our own comfort, or of our own advantage, of our own time, or of our own money, for the profit of God's children, is only a spiritual and acceptable sacrifice so far as it is bound to the horns of the altar, linked on to the cross of Jesus, and deriving all its fragrance and odour from its connection with the incense there offered by the Lord of life and glory. J. C. Philpot.

Verse 27. How comfortable is the light! It is so comfortable that light and comfort are often put for the same thing: God is the LORD, which hath shewed us light, that is, the light of counsel what to do, and the light of comfort in what we do, or after all our sufferings. Light is not only a candle held to us, to do our work by, but it comforts and cheereth us in our work. Ecclesiastes 11:7. Joseph Caryl.

Verse 27. Shewed us light: bind the sacrifice. Here is somewhat received; somewhat to be returned. God hath blessed us, and we must bless God. His grace, and our gratitude, are the two lines my discourse must run upon. They are met in my text; let them as happily meet in your hearts, and they shall not leave you till they bring you to heaven. Thomas Adams.

Verse 27. Bind the sacrifice with cords, etc. The sacrifice we are to offer to God, in gratitude for redeeming love, is ourselves, not to be slain upon the altar, but "living sacrifices" (Romans 12:1) to be bound to the altar; spiritual sacrifices of prayer and praise, in which our hearts must be fixed and engaged, as the sacrifice was bound "with cords to the horns of the altar." Matthew Henry.

Verse 27. Bind the sacrifice, etc. It is a saying among the Hebrews, that the beasts that were offered in sacrifice, they were the most struggling beasts of all the rest; such is the nature of us unthankful beasts, when we should love God again, we are readier to run away from him; we must be tied to the altar with cords, to draw from us love or fear. Abraham Wright.

Verse 27. With cords. This word is sometimes used for thick twisted cords, Judges 15:13; sometimes for thick branches of trees, used at some feasts, Ezekiel 19:11 Leviticus 23:40. Hereupon this sentence may two ways be read; bind the feast with thick branches, or, bind the sacrifice with cords; both mean one thing, that men should keep the festivity with joy and thanks to God, as Israel did at their solemnities. Henry Ainsworth.

Verse 27. Even unto the horns of the altar. Before these words must be understood, lead it: for the victims were bound to rings fixed in the floor. "The horns" were architectural ornaments, a kind of capitals, made of iron or of brass, somewhat in the form of the curved horns of an animal, projecting from the four angles of the altar. The officiating priest, when he prayed, placed his hands on them, and sometimes sprinkled them with the blood of the sacrifice: compare Exodus 30:3 Leviticus 4:7,18. At the end of this verse the word saying must be supplied. Daniel Cresswell.

Verse 27. Unto the horns. That is, all the court over, until you come even to the horns of the altar, intending hereby many sacrifices or boughs. Henry Ainsworth.

HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS

Verse 27. -- Bind the sacrifice, etc. Devotion is the mother, and she hath four daughters.

Verse 27. -- Bind the sacrifice with cords, etc.