Making 'Psense' of Psalms--Psalm 118: Capstone

The fringe of trees atop green hills in southeast Washington
state reminded me of how a palm-branch procession
to Jerusalem's temple may have looked to distant onlookers.

Part of a series on selected psalms.
Memorable quotes characterize Psalm 118, including, “This is the day the Lord has made.  Let us rejoice and be glad in it” (v. 24). That verse hung in my thoughts one August day in 1981 as I prepared for my wedding day. Both of us never-married at 34 and 36, we did rejoice in marriage and were glad of it! But as I have taken the time to study Psalm 118 in its historical setting, I realize I may have been guilty of lifting that verse out of context. The psalm was likely written after the Jews returned from exile in Babylon and began rebuilding their temple in Jerusalem. It has strong elements of a festal procession as they rejoice in resuming the worship practices they missed during seventy years of captivity. Yet in another sense, the verse fits any celebration that reminds us that with God, all things are possible. The return of the Jews to their homeland after 70 years under foreign rule stands as one great example of that.  A more important truth from this psalm concerns the “capstone,” a key building block of the temple, which became a prophecy for the role of Jesus Christ. With festive songs at its beginning and end, the psalm seems to build to a climax at the verse exalting the “capstone.”

CHORUS (VV. 1-4)

The psalm opens with a statement based on Exodus 34:6, in which God expressed His nature through Moses after giving the Jews a new set of tablets containing the Ten Commandments.  The quote was a favorite of the post-exilic Jewish community, which like the Hebrews under Moses struggled to come back after failing God.  
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.
In Psalm 118, it is declared antiphonally (alternating singers) as part of a worship processional. Jeremiah even prophesied they’d worship like this after the seventy-years’ captivity (Jeremiah 33:10-11).
 

CONFLICT (VV. 5-18)

Life is tough!  That message resounds in the psalm’s middle section.  He was anguished (v. 5), surrounded by nations (vv. 10-11) that swarmed around him like bees (v. 12) and nearly pushed him over (v. 13). But at each point of attack or pressure, he turned to God. If you count words, the amount given to praise for God’s help far exceeds his list of complaints. He called on the name of the LORD (vv. 10-12). In a declaration that’s become a praise song in our times, he says, “The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation” (v. 14). He credits success to God, not to himself (vv. 15). The whole section suggests victory in the midst of impossibility, which would certainly resonate with the Jews’ elation over being freed after seven decades of captivity. The psalmist admits this battle was a chastening time to bring him back to God:
I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the LORD has done.
The LORD has chastened me severely, but he has not given me over to death. (vv. 17-18)
Only those who live can speak of God—a truth so compelling that Martin Luther had verse 17 written on his study wall.  It also inspired hymn-writer William Cowper, who battled significant health crises yet gave us hymns like “There is a Fountain Filled with Blood” and “O for a Closer Walk with God.”

CENTRAL VERSES (VV. 8-9)

From this section come many memorable phrases, including this:
It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man.
It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes. (vv. 8-9)
People who track details tell us that these two verses are the exact middle of the Bible. However, it’s important to point out that the original Hebrew and Greek manuscripts had no chapter or verse divisions.  For ease in finding passages, chapters were added about 1200 A.D. and verses in the 1500s. Yet it’s significant that the “center” of the Bible points to the central conflict of the ages, between God and evil.  Someday, evil will lose out entirely!
 

This road construction debris brought
to mind the inevitable mess for
building the temple, despite having
the stones cut off site.

CAPSTONE (VV. 22-23)

The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; The LORD has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes.
As the worshippers came through the gates, they could look up at a uniquely angled “capstone,” its Hebrew name from words meaning “chief, foremost” and “corner, pinnacle.” Whatever its placement, it was important to the integrity of the structure. It’s almost important to know that all stones for the temple were cut and “dressed” off-site at the quarry, so that “no hammer, chisel or any other iron tool was heard at the temple site while it was being built” (1 Kings 6:7). The relative quiet was considered essential for ongoing worship services. Given the primitive math, tools and transportation modes of that era, I find that an incredible statement. So why was the eventual “capstone” rejected? One explanation derives from an old rabbinic parable that the “capstone,” though one of the first stones cut and delivered, was rejected and discarded by builders who didn’t see it in their current plans. Only as the temple was finished did they find a glaring gap and inquired the quarry about it. When quarry workers said they’d already sent that important stone, they looked around and found it discarded amidst weeds. I don’t know how true that story is, but the point is that we don’t always recognize what is right in front of us.

More remarkable, Jesus dipped into this curious part of Psalm 118 to show its fulfillment as He answered the religious leaders’ quarrel about His spiritual authority. Matthew 21 and Luke 20 recount how He told a parable about a man who hired caretakers for his vineyard while he was away. At harvest time, they acted wickedly, mistreating three messengers from the owner. Finally the owner sent his beloved son, whom the caretakers murdered. In response, the owner had the caretakers killed, and gave the vineyard to others. Jesus’ story shocked his listeners, and then:

Jesus looked directly at them and asked, ‘Then what is the meaning of that which is written: ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone’?” (Luke 20:17)
In rejecting Jesus, God’s Son (=son of the owner), the Jews were rejecting God’s Choice for establishing His kingdom. As the “capstone,” Jesus was to be exalted above all else (Philippians 2:9-11). So compelling was this teaching about Jesus that Peter quoted it in defense of Christianity before the high Jewish officials known as the “Sanhedrin.” He also quoted it in his first letter to the churches (1 Peter 2:4-8). Paul also picked up the analogy (Ephesians 2:19-22) in describing Christians as a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit.

 CLAP AND CHEER (VV. 19-21, 24-29)

The “capstone” reference is important, but it is framed by enthusiastic and urgent calls to open the gates for those coming through to thank God for all He had done. Note that they’re entering the “gates of righteousness” (v. 19), the difficult decades of exile turning them back to true worship. “O Lord, save us,” the crowd shouts (v. 25). In Hebrew, it’s Hosanna!—the same greeting crowds gave Jesus as He entered triumphantly into Jerusalem just before the week that would bring His death. “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD” (v. 26), they cheered, quoting this psalm as Jesus passed by on a humble donkey. In both cases, the people came with boughs in hand for a festal procession (v. 27).  In the psalmist’s days, this ended at the altar where sacrifices were offered. In Jesus’ life, it ended a few days later at a cross, where the Lamb of God was slain for the sins of the world. Like other prophetic psalms, this one cannot be read without thinking of what the Lord Jesus did for us. The psalmist’s response must be ours as well:
You are my God, and I will give you thanks. You are my God and I will exalt you.
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, his love endures forever. (vv. 28-29)

 Next: Psalm 119