Commentary - Psalm 118:25-27

Bird's-eye view

This brief section of Psalm 118 is the liturgical and emotional climax of the entire psalm. Having celebrated God's enduring mercy and the triumph of the Messianic king, the rejected stone who has now become the cornerstone, the people respond with a series of urgent, joyful, and prophetic declarations. This is not quiet, private devotion; this is public, processional, festival worship. The passage contains the famous cry of "Hosanna," a plea for salvation that is simultaneously an acclamation of the Savior. It includes the blessing on the one who comes in God's name, a welcome that the crowds offered to Jesus on Palm Sunday. And it concludes with a profound statement about God's illuminating revelation and the appropriate response: the binding of the festival sacrifice to the very horns of the altar. In short, these three verses are a condensed summary of the gospel drama: a cry for salvation, the welcoming of the Savior, and the presentation of the ultimate sacrifice.

The New Testament writers saw these verses as finding their ultimate fulfillment in the Triumphal Entry of the Lord Jesus. The shouts of the Jerusalem crowd were not a mistake; they were a Spirit-prompted recognition that the King, the embodiment of Israel, was present to accomplish the salvation for which the psalm cries out. This passage, therefore, bridges the Old and New Covenants, showing us how the worship of ancient Israel was a dress rehearsal for the arrival of the Messiah, who is both the one who comes and the sacrifice that is bound to the altar.

Outline

Context In The Psalms

Psalm 118 is the final psalm in the collection known as the "Egyptian Hallel" (Psalms 113-118), which were sung at the great pilgrimage festivals of Israel, particularly Passover. This context is crucial. These are songs of deliverance, celebrating God's rescue of His people from bondage in Egypt and looking forward to an even greater, Messianic deliverance. Psalm 118 is a psalm of thanksgiving, with a kingly figure at its center who has been delivered from great distress and is now leading a procession into the house of the Lord. The immediately preceding verses (vv. 22-24) celebrate the stunning reversal where the stone rejected by the builders has become the head of the corner. Our passage, then, is the congregation's explosive response to this great victory. It is the sound of a people welcoming their triumphant king into the sanctuary, recognizing that his victory is their salvation.

Key Issues

The Cry of Palm Sunday

It is impossible for a Christian to read these words without hearing the echoes of the crowd on the road to Jerusalem. When the people shouted "Hosanna!" and "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" they were quoting this psalm. This was not a generic religious cheer. They were identifying Jesus of Nazareth with the triumphant king of Psalm 118. They were, whether they fully understood it or not, making a massive theological claim. The word "Hosanna" itself is a transliteration of the Hebrew phrase here, Hoshia na, which means "Save, we pray!" or "Save now!" It is both a petition and an acclamation. It is a desperate plea for help that is simultaneously filled with the confident expectation that the one being addressed is the very one who can and will bring that salvation. When the crowds shouted this at Jesus, they were praying that He would save them, and in the same breath, they were hailing Him as the Savior. This is the essential cry of faith.

Verse by Verse Commentary

25 O Yahweh, save! O Yahweh, succeed!

The verse breaks into two staccato cries, urgent and earnest. The first, as we have seen, is literally "Save, now!" This is not a leisurely request for some far-off future deliverance. It is a plea for immediate action. The battle has been won by the king, the cornerstone is in place, and the people are crying out for the results of that victory to be applied to them, right now. The second cry, "O Yahweh, succeed!" could also be rendered "send prosperity!" or "grant success!" It is a prayer for the victorious kingdom to flourish. It is a postmillennial prayer, we might say. It is a prayer that the salvation God brings would not be a small, contained thing, but that it would prosper, grow, and fill the earth. The people are asking God to make His saving work wildly successful.

26 Blessed is the one who comes in the name of Yahweh; We have blessed you from the house of Yahweh.

This is the official welcome. The first clause is the shout of the people as they see the king approaching the temple. The second clause is the response of the priests from within the temple courts. The "one who comes in the name of Yahweh" is the Messiah, the king, the one who acts as God's authorized agent. He does not come in his own authority, but as the representative of the covenant God of Israel. To bless him is to acknowledge his divine commission. When Jesus rode into Jerusalem, He was presenting Himself as this very figure. He was the one who comes. The blessing from the priests, "from the house of Yahweh," signifies that the official, liturgical center of Israel's life is the source of this blessing. The blessing of God flows outward from His sanctuary, through His ordained ministers, to the coming king and his people. It is a picture of well-ordered, covenantal worship.

27 Yahweh is God, and He has given us light; Bind the festival sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar.

This final verse is a dense statement of profound theological truth. It begins with the foundational confession of faith: "Yahweh is God." This is the cry of Elijah on Mount Carmel. It is the bedrock of all true religion. And the result of this God being our God is that "He has given us light." This is the light of revelation, of salvation, of favor. God has not left us in the dark but has shone His face upon us. And what is the proper response to this revelation? What do you do when God gives you light? You offer a sacrifice. Specifically, you "bind the festival sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar." The word for "festival sacrifice" (chag) refers to the special offerings made during the great pilgrimage feasts. This is a high and holy moment. The sacrifice is not just brought near; it is bound, secured to the horns of the altar. The horns were protrusions on the four corners of the altar of burnt offering, a place of atonement and refuge. To bind the sacrifice there was to irrevocably dedicate it to God. This is the point of no return. And of course, the ultimate festival sacrifice is Christ Himself. On the cross, He was bound to the altar of God's justice, the willing victim who secured our salvation. He is the light God has given us, and He is also the sacrifice bound for us.

Application

This passage teaches us the proper grammar of the gospel. It begins with a desperate cry for salvation. We must come to the end of ourselves and cry out, "Save, now!" We cannot save ourselves; we need a deliverer. If you have not yet cried "Hosanna" from the heart, you have not yet begun the Christian life.

Second, it teaches us to recognize and welcome the Savior. Jesus is the "one who comes in the name of the Lord." He is God's appointed King. Our task is to bless Him, to welcome Him, to submit to His rule not just as Savior but as Lord. We are to join the chorus of the church, blessing Him from the house of God, which is the congregation of the faithful. Our worship services should be a weekly Triumphal Entry, a welcoming of the King into our midst.

Finally, it teaches us the central place of sacrifice. The light of God's revelation shines most brightly at the cross. And our response must be one of total consecration. We are to see Christ as the sacrifice bound for us, and in response, we are to offer ourselves as living sacrifices (Rom 12:1). We are to bind ourselves to the altar, to be irrevocably His. The Christian life is a life that is tied fast to the horns of the altar, a life dedicated without reservation to the God who has given us light. We have cried for salvation, we have welcomed the King, and now we must live as those who belong entirely to Him, the God who is our light and our salvation.