Commentary - Psalm 118:19-21

Bird's-eye view

In these climactic verses, the psalmist, having been brought through immense trial and delivered from his enemies, now stands at the threshold of corporate worship. This is not a timid request but a victor's demand, born of faith. He calls for the gates of righteousness to be opened, so that he may enter and do what the redeemed were made to do, which is give thanks. The passage defines this gate as belonging to Yahweh Himself, and specifies that only the righteous may enter. This righteousness is not a human achievement but a divine gift, which is why the psalmist concludes with a profound personal confession: God has not just given salvation, He has become salvation. The entire movement is a glorious foreshadowing of the gospel. Christ is the gate, and only those clothed in His righteousness may enter, their hearts overflowing with gratitude because God has answered them in the person of His Son.

Outline

Commentary on the Text

Open to me the gates of righteousness; (v. 19a)

The psalmist has just recounted his dire straits, how all nations surrounded him like bees, and how he was thrust back to the point of falling (vv. 10-13). But the Lord helped him. And so, having been delivered by the strong right hand of the Lord, he now comes to the gates of the sanctuary. This is a demand, not a suggestion. It is the cry of a son coming home after the war. These are the "gates of righteousness" because they are the entrance to the place where God's righteousness is declared and celebrated. It is the assembly of the saints, the courts of the Lord's house. But in the grammar of the gospel, we must confess that this is a cry for Christ. Jesus said, "I am the door" (John 10:9). There is no other gate into the presence of God, no other entry into the congregation of the just. This is the cry of every soul whom God has determined to save, a cry for the only way in.

I shall enter through them, I shall give thanks to Yah. (v. 19b-c)

Notice the certainty. Not "I hope to enter," but "I shall enter." This is the confidence of faith, grounded entirely in the prior work of God. He can be this certain of his entrance because the Lord has already become his strength and his song and his salvation (v. 14). We do not make ourselves worthy to enter; God's deliverance of us is what qualifies us. And what is the first order of business upon entering? It is to "give thanks to Yah." The purpose of our salvation is worship. The reason for our justification is adoration. We are not saved in order to admire our new status; we are saved in order to pour out our gratitude to the one who saved us. Thanksgiving is the native language of the redeemed.

This is the gate of Yahweh; The righteous will enter through it. (v. 20)

The psalmist immediately clarifies the nature of this gate. It is not a gate established by a committee of righteous men. It is the "gate of Yahweh." He owns it, He defines it, and He sets the terms of entry. This is crucial. The righteousness of the gate is not derived from the people who go through it, but from the God who established it. And who gets to enter? The righteous. This sounds like a terrible problem for all of us, until we understand what biblical righteousness is. The righteous are not those who have never sinned, but rather those who have been declared righteous by faith. They are the ones who, when surrounded by enemies, trusted not in princes or in their own strength, but in the Lord (vv. 8-9). In the new covenant, the righteous are simply those who are in Christ, clothed in a righteousness that is not their own. He is the gate of the Lord, and we, the righteous in Him, enter through Him.

I shall give thanks to You, for You have answered me, And You have become my salvation. (v. 21)

Here the psalmist brings it all home. The thanksgiving is not for some abstract concept of goodness. It is intensely personal and historical. "You have answered me." God heard his cry from distress (v. 5) and acted. Our faith is not in a set of principles, but in a God who intervenes in history. And the answer He gave was not just a thing, not just a favorable turn of events. The answer was God Himself. "You have become my salvation." The Hebrew here is potent. The word for salvation is yeshuah. The psalmist is effectively saying, "You have become my Jesus." God does not simply send salvation from a distance; He embodies it. He becomes it for us. This personal confession of God as Savior is the foundation for everything. It is because the psalmist knows God as his personal Yeshuah that he can then understand the identity of the cornerstone which the builders are about to reject in the very next verse.

Application

This passage teaches us the proper posture of a Christian approaching God. We come with boldness, not because of our own merit, but because Christ the gate has been opened to us through His finished work. Our access is secure. We do not have to wonder if we will be let in; for the righteous, the gate of Yahweh is always open. The only righteous people are those who have been made righteous in Christ.

Therefore, the central activity of the Christian life is thanksgiving. We enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise. Why? Because He has answered us. The ultimate answer to the cry of every human heart is Jesus. God has become our salvation. When we understand this, gratitude ceases to be a duty and becomes a reflex. It is the joyful and necessary consequence of being saved. We look at our deliverance, we look at the Gate who is Christ, and we say with the psalmist, "I shall give thanks to You."