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Commentary on Psalms 118 verses 1–18
It appears here, as often as elsewhere, that David had his heart full of the goodness of God. He loved to think of it, loved to speak of it, and was very solicitous that God might have the praise of it and others the comfort of it. The more our hearts are impressed with a sense of God's goodness the more they will be enlarged in all manner of obedience. In these verses,
I. He celebrates God's mercy in general, and calls upon others to acknowledge it, from their own experience of it (Psa 118:1): O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is not only good in himself, but good to you, and his mercy endures for ever, not only in the everlasting fountain, God himself, but in the never-failing streams of that mercy, which shall run parallel with the longest line of eternity, and in the chosen vessels of mercy, who will be everlasting monuments of it. Israel, and the house of Aaron, and all that fear God, were called upon to trust in God (Psa 115:9-11); here they are called upon to confess that his mercy endures for ever, and so to encourage themselves to trust in him, Psa 118:2-4. Priests and people, Jews and proselytes, must all own God's goodness, and all join in the same thankful song; if they can say no more, let them say this for him, that his mercy endures for ever, that they have had experience of it all their days, and confide in it for good things that shall last for ever. The praises and thanksgivings of all that truly fear the Lord shall be as pleasing to him as those of the house of Israel or the house of Aaron.
II. He preserves an account of God's gracious dealings with him in particular, which he communicates to others, that they might thence fetch both songs of praise and supports of faith, and both ways God would have the glory. David had, in his time, waded through a great deal of difficulty, which gave him great experience of God's goodness. Let us therefore observe here,
1.The great distress and danger that he had been in, which he reflects upon for the magnifying of God's goodness to him in his present advancement. There are many who, when they are lifted up, care not for hearing or speaking of their former depressions; but David takes all occasions to remember his own low estate. He was in distress (Psa 118:5), greatly straitened and at a loss; there were many that hated him (Psa 118:7), and this could not but be a great grief to one of an ingenuous spirit, that strove to gain the good affections of all. All nations compassed me about, Psa 118:10. All the nations adjacent to Israel set themselves to give disturbance to David, when he had newly come to the throne, Philistines, Moabites, Syrians, Ammonites, etc. We read of his enemies round about; they were confederate against him, and thought to cut off all succours from him. This endeavour of his enemies to surround him is repeated (Psa 118:11): They compassed me about, yea, they compassed me about, which intimates that they were virulent and violent, and, for a time, prevalent, in their attempts against him, and when put into disorder they rallied again and pushed on their design. They compassed me about like bees, so numerous were they, so noisy, so vexatious; they came flying upon him, came upon him in swarms, set upon him with their malignant stings; but it was to their own destruction, as the bee, they say, loses her life with her sting, Animamque in vulnere ponit - She lays down her life in the wound. Lord, how are those increased that trouble me! Two ways David was brought into trouble: - (1.) By the injuries that men did him (Psa 118:13): Thou (O enemy!) hast thrust sore at me, with many a desperate push, that I might fall into sin and into ruin. Thrusting thou hast thrust at me (so the word is), so that I was ready to fall. Satan is the great enemy that thrusts sorely at us by his temptations, to cast us down from our excellency, that we may fall from our God and from our comfort in him; and, if Go had not upheld us by his grace, his thrusts would have been fatal to us. (2.) By the afflictions which God laid upon him (Psa 118:18): The Lord has chastened me sore. Men thrust at him for his destruction; God chastened him for his instruction. They thrust at him with the malice of enemies; God chastened him with the love and tenderness of a Father. Perhaps he refers to the same trouble which God, the author of it, designed for his profit, that by it he might partake of his holiness (Heb 12:10, Heb 12:11); howbeit, men, who were the instruments of it, meant not so, neither did their heart think so, but it was in their heart to cut off and destroy, Isa 10:7. What men intend for the greatest mischief God intends for the greatest good, and it is easy to say whose counsel shall stand. God will sanctify the trouble to his people, as it is his chastening, and secure the good he designs; and he will guard them against the trouble, as it is the enemies' thrusting, and secure them from the evil they design, and then we need not fear.
This account which David gives of his troubles is very applicable to our Lord Jesus. Many there were that hated him, hated him without a cause. They compassed him about; Jews and Romans surrounded him. They thrust sorely at him; the devil did so when he tempted him; his persecutors did so when they reviled him; nay, the Lord himself chastened him sorely, bruised him, and put him to grief, that by his stripes we might be healed.
2.The favour God vouchsafed to him in his distress. (1.) God heart his prayer (Psa 118:5): "He answered me with enlargements; he did more for me than I was able to ask; he enlarged my heart in prayer and yet gave more largely than I desired." He answered me, and set me in a large place (so we read it), where I had room to bestir myself, room to enjoy myself, and room to thrive; and the large place was the more comfortable because he was brought to it out of distress, Psa 4:1. (2.) God baffled the designs of his enemies against him: They are quenched as the fire of thorns (Psa 118:12), which burns furiously for a while, makes a great noise and a great blaze, but is presently out, and cannot do the mischief that it threatened. Such was the fury of David's enemies; such is the laughter of the fool, like the crackling of thorns under a pot (Ecc 7:6), and such is the anger of the fool, which therefore is not to be feared, any more than his laughter is to be envied, but both to be pitied. They thrust sorely at him, but the Lord helped him (Psa 118:13), helped him to keep his feet and maintain his ground. Our spiritual enemies would, long before this, have been our ruin if God had not been our helper. (3.) God preserved his life when there was but a step between him and death (Psa 118:18): "He has chastened me, but he has not given me over unto death, for he has not given me over to the will of my enemies." To this St. Paul seems to refer in Co2 6:9. As dying, and behold we live; as chastened, and not killed. We ought not therefore, when we are chastened sorely, immediately to despair of life, for God sometimes, in appearance, turns men to destruction, and yet says, Return; says unto them, Live.
This also is applicable to Jesus Christ. God answered him, and set him in a large place. He quenched the fire of his enemies; rage, which did but consume themselves; for through death he destroyed him that had the power of death. He helped him through his undertaking; and thus far he did not give him over unto death that he did not leave him in the grave, nor suffer him to see corruption. Death had no dominion over him.
3.The improvement he made of this favour. (1.) It encouraged him to trust in God; from his own experience he can say, It is better, more wise, more comfortable, and more safe, there is more reason for it, and it will speed better, to trust in the Lord, than to put confidence in man, yea, though it be in princes, Psa 118:8, Psa 118:9. He that devotes himself to God's guidance and government, with an entire dependence upon God's wisdom, power, and goodness, has a better security to make him easy than if all the kings and potentates of the earth should undertake to protect him. (2.) It enabled him to triumph in that trust. [1.] He triumphs in God, and in his relation to him and interest in him (Psa 118:6): "The Lord is on my side. He is a righteous God, and therefore espouses my righteous cause and will plead it." If we are on God's side, he is on ours; if we be for him and with him, he will be for us and with us (Psa 118:7): "The Lord takes my part, and stands up for me, with those that help me. He is to me among my helpers, and so one of them that he is all in all both to them and me, and without him I could not help myself nor could any friend I have in the world help me." Thus (Psa 118:14), "The Lord is my strength and my song; that is, I make him so (without him I am weak and sad, but on him I stay myself as my strength, both for doing and suffering, and in him I solace myself as my song, by which I both express my joy and ease my grief), and, making him so, I find him so: he strengthens my heart with his graces and gladdens my heart with his comforts." If God be our strength, he must be our song; if he work all our works in us, he must have all praise and glory from us. God is sometimes the strength of his people when he is not their song; they have spiritual supports when they want spiritual delights. But, if he be both to us, we have abundant reason to triumph in him; for, he be our strength and our song, he has become not only our Saviour, but our salvation; for his being our strength is our protection to the salvation, and his being our song is an earnest and foretaste of the salvation. [2.] He triumphs over his enemies. Now shall his head be lifted up above them; for, First, He is sure they cannot hurt him: "God is for me, and then I will not fear what man can do against me," Psa 118:6. He can set them all at defiance, and is not disturbed at any of their attempts. "They can do nothing to me but what God permits them to do; they can do no real damage, for they cannot separate between me and God; they cannot do any thing but what God can make to work for my good. The enemy is a man, a depending creature, whose power is limited, and subordinate to a higher power, and therefore I will not fear him." Who art thou, that thou shouldst be afraid of a man that shall die? Isa 51:12. The apostle quotes this, with application to all Christians, Heb 13:6. They may boldly say, as boldly as David himself, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me; let him do his worst. Secondly, He is sure that he shall be too hard for them at last: "I shall see my desire upon those that hate me (Psa 118:7); I shall see them defeated in their designs against me; nay, In the name of the Lord I will destroy them (Psa 118:10-12); I trust in the name of the Lord that I shall destroy them, and in his name I will go forth against them, depending on his strength, by warrant from him, and with an eye to his glory, not confiding in myself nor taking vengeance for myself." Thus he went forth against Goliath, in the name of the God of Israel, Sa1 17:45. David says this as a type of Christ, who triumphed over the powers of darkness, destroyed them, and made a show of them openly. [3.] He triumphs in an assurance of the continuance of his comfort, his victory, and his life. First, Of his comfort (Psa 118:15): The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous, and in mine particularly, in my family. The dwellings of the righteous in this world are but tabernacles, mean and movable; here we have no city, no continuing city. But these tabernacles are more comfortable to them than the palaces of the wicked are to them; for in the house where religion rules, 1. There is salvation; safety from evil, earnests of eternal salvation, which has come to this house, Luk 19:9. 2. Where there is salvation there is cause for rejoicing, for continual joy in God. Holy joy is called the joy of salvation, for in that there is abundant matter for joy. 3. Where there is rejoicing there ought to be the voice of rejoicing, that is, praise and thanksgiving. Let God be served with joyfulness and gladness of heart, and let the voice of that rejoicing be heard daily in our families, to the glory of God and encouragement of others. Secondly, Of his victory: The right hand of the Lord does valiantly (Psa 118:15) and is exalted; for (as some read it) it has exalted me. The right hand of God's power is engaged for his people, and it acts vigorously for them and therefore victoriously. For what difficulty can stand before the divine valour? We are weak, and act but cowardly for ourselves; but God is mighty, and acts valiantly for us, with jealousy and resolution, Isa 63:5, Isa 63:6. There is spirit, as well as strength, in all God's operations for his people. And, when God's right hand does valiantly for our salvation, it ought to be exalted in our praises. Thirdly, Of his life (Psa 118:17): "I shall not die by the hands of my enemies that seek my life, but live and declare the works of the Lord; I shall live a monument of God's mercy and power; his works shall be declared in me, and I will make it the business of my life to praise and magnify God, looking upon that as the end of my preservation." Note, It is not worth while to live for any other purpose than to declare the works of God, for his honour and the encouragement of others to serve him and trust in him. Such as these were the triumphs of the Son of David in the assurance he had of the success of his undertaking and that the good pleasure of the Lord should prosper in his hand.
All nations compassed me about: but in the name of the LORD will I destroy them.
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SUMMARY
Psalms 118:10 powerfully declares the psalmist's unwavering confidence in God's delivering power amidst overwhelming opposition. Though "all nations" encircled the psalmist, representing formidable and hostile forces, the declaration is not one of despair but of certain victory. The verse asserts that triumph over these adversaries will be achieved not through human might or strategic prowess, but decisively "in the name of the LORD," signifying reliance on God's inherent authority, character, and omnipotent presence to utterly defeat every foe. It stands as a profound testament to divine sovereignty and the assurance of victory for those who trust in the Almighty.
CONTEXT
Literary Context: Psalms 118 is the final psalm in the Hallel collection (Psalms 113-118), traditionally sung during major Jewish festivals, most notably Passover, Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles. It serves as a climactic song of thanksgiving, celebrating God's enduring mercy (hesed) and miraculous deliverance. The psalm begins with a universal call to praise God for His steadfast love, then transitions into a personal testimony of distress and subsequent divine rescue (vv. 5-7). Verse 10 builds upon the theme of trusting God over human strength, echoing the sentiment found throughout Psalm 118:8-9, where the psalmist declares, "It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man." The surrounding verses continue to emphasize the psalmist's encirclement by enemies (v. 11), followed by a triumphant declaration of God's decisive victory (vv. 12-14), ultimately culminating in the celebration of the "stone the builders rejected" becoming the cornerstone (vv. 22-23), a verse famously applied to the Messiah. This psalm's placement within the Hallel underscores its communal and eschatological significance, looking forward to a future, ultimate deliverance.
Historical & Cultural Context: The "me" in this verse can be interpreted on multiple levels: the individual psalmist (possibly a king like David, or a representative figure), or more broadly, the nation of Israel. Throughout its history, Israel frequently found itself "compassed about" by hostile "nations" (goyim), including the Philistines, Arameans, Assyrians, Babylonians, and others, who sought to subjugate or destroy them. This constant threat fostered a deep reliance on divine intervention, as their very existence often depended on God's miraculous hand. Culturally, the phrase "in the name of the LORD" (beshem YHWH) was far more than a mere verbal invocation; it represented acting with the full authority, power, and character of God Himself. To invoke God's name was to declare His active presence and mandate in a given situation, especially in warfare or significant undertakings. It signified a profound declaration of dependence and an expectation of divine action, reflecting the covenant relationship between God and His people, where His name was synonymous with His very being and power.
Key Themes:
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Psalms 118:10 employs several potent literary devices to convey its message with striking force. Hyperbole is evident in the phrase "all nations," which exaggerates the number of enemies to emphasize the overwhelming nature of the threat, thereby magnifying the power and glory of God's deliverance. This creates a dramatic Contrast between the psalmist's apparent vulnerability and the absolute, limitless power available through God. The verse is structured as an Antithetical Parallelism, where the first clause describes the problem ("All nations compassed me about") and the second clause provides the solution and confident declaration ("but in the name of the LORD will I destroy them"). This highlights the stark opposition between human weakness and divine strength, emphasizing that God's intervention is the decisive factor. Furthermore, "the name of the LORD" functions as a powerful Metonymy, where the "name" stands in for the full character, authority, power, and active presence of God Himself. It is not merely a word but the embodiment of divine agency and covenant faithfulness. The imagery of being "compassed about" evokes a vivid sense of Encirclement or siege, a common motif in ancient warfare, which further underscores the magnitude of the divine intervention required for such a complete and certain victory.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Psalms 118:10 is a profound theological statement on divine sovereignty, the efficacy of God's name, and the certainty of victory for those who place their trust in Him. It teaches that human strength, even when facing seemingly insurmountable odds, is utterly insufficient, and true power resides solely in the Lord. The invocation "in the name of the LORD" is not a magical formula but a declaration of complete reliance on God's character and covenant faithfulness, acknowledging His inherent authority and active presence. This verse affirms that God actively intervenes on behalf of His people, turning what appears to be certain defeat into glorious triumph. It foreshadows the New Testament understanding of spiritual warfare, where believers are called to stand firm against unseen adversaries, not in their own might, but by the power of God. The psalmist's confidence serves as a timeless model for faith, reminding us that no enemy, no challenge, and no circumstance is too great for the God whose name embodies all power and authority.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Psalms 118:10 offers profound encouragement and a powerful paradigm for believers navigating the complexities and challenges of contemporary life. When we feel "compassed about" by spiritual attacks, personal struggles, societal pressures, overwhelming anxieties, or even physical ailments, this verse redirects our gaze from the magnitude of the problem to the omnipotence of our God. It calls us to cultivate a radical dependence on Him, reminding us that our strength and ultimate victory come not from our own resources, intellect, or resilience, but from the Lord alone. To act "in the name of the LORD" means to live, pray, and engage in our battles with the conscious awareness that we are operating under His authority, empowered by His Spirit, and aligned with His divine purposes. This perspective transforms fear into faith, helplessness into active trust, and perceived defeat into the confident expectation of God's triumphant intervention. It compels us to step into the spiritual battles of our lives with divine assurance, knowing that the God who delivered the psalmist from "all nations" is the same God who is with us, ready to fight on our behalf, ensuring that His purposes will prevail.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Does "destroy them" imply physical violence for believers today?
Answer: While the original context of Psalms 118:10 refers to literal military conflict and the physical defeat of Israel's enemies, its application for New Testament believers is primarily spiritual. Christians are called to engage in spiritual warfare, not physical violence. The "nations" that "compass us about" today are often spiritual forces of evil, temptations, sin, and the destructive influences of the world system. Therefore, "destroying them in the name of the LORD" means overcoming these spiritual adversaries through faith, prayer, obedience to God's Word, and the power of the Holy Spirit. As 2 Corinthians 10:4 states, "For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds." Our victory is over sin and death, secured by Christ's triumph on the cross and resurrection.
What does it mean to act "in the name of the LORD" in a practical sense?
Answer: Acting "in the name of the LORD" means to operate under His authority, according to His will, and by His power. Practically, this involves several aspects:
It's not a magical phrase, but a declaration of our identity in Christ and our partnership with God in His redemptive work. As Colossians 3:17 encourages, "And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Psalms 118:10 finds its ultimate and most profound fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus Christ. While the psalmist, whether an individual or the nation of Israel, faced literal "nations" that "compassed" them, Jesus faced the ultimate "nations" and powers of darkness: sin, death, and the devil. He was indeed "compassed about" by hostile forces—the religious leaders, the Roman authorities, and the spiritual principalities and powers that sought to thwart God's redemptive plan. Yet, it was "in the name of the LORD," the very essence of God's power and authority, that Jesus triumphed. His entire ministry, from casting out demons to healing the sick, was a demonstration of acting "in the name of the LORD." His death on the cross, though appearing as defeat, was the decisive act where He "disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him" (Colossians 2:15). The resurrection, then, was the ultimate "destruction" of these spiritual enemies, demonstrating that Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, had conquered all that opposed God and humanity. Through His victory, He was given "the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth" (Philippians 2:9-10). Thus, the psalmist's declaration of triumph in God's name becomes a prophetic anticipation of Christ's definitive and eternal victory over all the forces that once "compassed" humanity, securing salvation and freedom for all who believe.