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Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents
118:19-27 Let Me Enter the Gate of the Lord's House. The next section seems to picture the singers in a liturgical procession, approaching the gates that lead into the temple courts (cf. the house of the Lord, v. 26; the festal sacrifice and the altar, v. 27).
118:19-21 The gates of righteousness are the gates of the temple, through which the worshipers enter (vv. 19, 20) in order to give thanks to the Lord (cf. vv. 1, 21, 28-29). The righteous refers to God's own people (because they have God's righteous laws; Deut. 4:8), especially the faithful, who keep those laws. become my salvation. See Ps. 118:14.
118:22-23 These verses use an image from ancient building practices (perhaps suggested by the newly built temple itself). The cornerstone is probably the large stone at the corner of the building's foundation, though some think it is the keystone or capstone of an arch (but the very similar expression in Isa. 28:16 makes the foundation interpretation more likely). The builders are the wise and knowledgeable, and they have rejected some particular stone as unsuited for this purpose. They were wrong in their judgment. The psalm is likening Israel (and perhaps particularly the person who had suffered) to such a stone; the imperial powers had thought little of Israel, but God had chosen his people to be the cornerstone of his great plan for the world. This is the Lord's doing, i.e., not a mere human accomplishment. The NT writers use this text (Matt. 21:42; Mark 12:10-11; Luke 20:17; Acts 4:11; 1 Pet. 2:7) to indicate that the powerful figures who rejected Jesus (esp. the Jewish leaders) were no wiser than the world powers that thought so little of Israel.
118:24 This is the day probably refers to the festival day that occasioned the psalm.
118:25 Save us, we pray. Cf. vv. 14-15, 21 (and see note on 3:2). This expression (Hb. hoshi‘ah na’), when transliterated into Greek, becomes hōsanna (cf. Matt. 21:9, 15; Mark 11:9, 10; John 12:13).
118:26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! The crowds used these words in their shouts at Jesus' triumphal entry (Matt. 21:9; Mark 11:9; Luke 19:38; John 12:13), indicating that they thought it was a special occasion. Jesus used it in speaking to Jerusalem; because of her resistance to God, her "house" (probably the temple) was desolate, and she would have to greet Jesus with these words if she was to "see" him properly (Matt. 23:39; Luke 13:35).
