Psalm 116

1 Or believed, indeed; Septuagint believed, therefore

Comments

I. (116:1–4) I Love the Lord, Who Has Heard My Prayer. The psalm opens with a straightforward statement of its overall theme: “I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy.” The people of Israel are urged to love the Lord in response to his covenant blessings (Deut. 6:5; 11:1); that love grows as the faithful experience God’s work among the community and in their own lives. Likewise, the singer has “called on the name of the Lord” in distress (Ps. 116:4), and now resolves to “call on him as long as I live” (v. 2).

Verse 3 mentions the “snares of death” and the “pangs of Sheol,” which are probably the same thing in this parallelism. That is, the singer declares that he was on the brink of dying (cf. vv. 8, 15).694 (On Sheol as a poetic name for the grave cf. comment on 6:1–5 [at v. 5].)

The expression in 116:4 (“I called on the name of”) can be a general term for invoking a deity in prayer (1 Kings 18:24) but more often refers to a prayer that is part of public worship (cf. Gen. 4:26; 12:8; Ps. 105:1), which is likely the case here (in view of the same term in 116:13). That is, the request was made as part of a worship service.

II. (116:5–7) The Lord Deals Bountifully with His Own. The answer to the urgent prayer leads to reflection on the character of God, namely, that he is “gracious,” “merciful” (cf. Ex. 34:6), and “righteous” (which here means reliably faithful). The pious should know this already, and yet the experience being celebrated has made these notions all the more real to the believer.

The Lord demonstrates his character in the way he “preserves the simple.” In Psalms and Proverbs the “simple” are not firmly committed either to wisdom or to folly but are easily misled (cf. comment on 19:7–11; cf. Ps. 119:130; Prov. 1:4). That is, they are Israelites who have not fully laid hold of God’s grace—and yet the Lord in his generous love cares even for them. How much more, then, will he look after his faithful ones! Hence each worshiper can encourage his “soul,” his inner life: “Return . . . to your rest.” God’s bountiful dealings in the past supply the ground for confidence in the future.

III. (116:8–11) You Delivered My Soul from Death. The song returns to the desperate situation from which the person has been delivered: “death,” “tears,” and “stumbling.” These cover a wider variety of circumstances than simply the death of one’s body, and thus these may be the psalmist’s invitation to the singers to apply the psalm more generally to experiences of desperate need. The psalm also leads the thankful person to see how to make good use of the deliverance: “I will walk before the Lord,” in love, faith, and obedience toward him.

Psalm 116:10–11 recalls the feelings of hopelessness mixed with trust amid the trial. Though the person “spoke” the words about the greatness of his affliction, and though he was sure “all mankind are liars” (a hasty and exaggerated conclusion), nevertheless he “believed.” The NT uses phrases from these verses. Paul uses verse 10a from the LXX (“I believed, and so I spoke”) at 2 Corinthians 4:13. In context Paul narrates the kinds of desperate trials from which God has rescued him, and thus it is fitting that he would borrow these words. He also borrows the Greek wording of Psalm 116:11b (“every [human] is a liar”) at Romans 3:4 to emphasize God’s truthfulness (which respects the context of the psalm; Ps. 116:5).695

IV. (116:12–19) How Shall I Show My Thanks to Him? The final section raises the question: “What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits to me?” The answer is to do so with acts of public worship, as the following phrases show: “cup of salvation” (perhaps a part of the sacrifice of thanksgiving, v. 14; cf. Num. 15:10),696 “call on the name of the Lord” (cf. comment on 116:1–4), “pay my vows” and “offer you the sacrifice of thanksgiving” (cf. comments on 50:7–15; 56:12–13; 61:8; 66:13–15), “in the presence of all his people,” and “in the courts of the house of the Lord.”

These acts of worship focus especially on the peace offering. There are five broad categories of offerings in the Pentateuch, each with its own functions. The peace offering is the only one from which the ordinary worshiper can eat. Gordon Wenham describes it in this way:

In all the other sacrifices the worshipper received nothing back, but in the peace offering most of the flesh was shared out by the worshipper with his family and friends, thus making the sacrificial meal a joyful barbecue. . . .

What was acted out in this sacrifice was the believer’s daily experience: God had given him life and health initially, and every day in grace renewed these gifts. In every sacrifice the worshipper gave himself back to God in penitence and commitment, and in return received back a renewal of physical and spiritual life. Usually however there was no immediately visible sign of this renewal of life, but in the peace offering there was. The shared luxury of a meat meal was a tangible, indeed edible, token of God’s continuing mercy and grace. It was this that made peace offerings usually such joyous occasions.697

The personal deliverance is a benefit to the whole people, and the entire congregation shares in giving thanks (cf. Rom. 12:15).

Psalm 116:15 looks to the Lord’s tenderness: the “death of his saints” (of his faithful ones) is something he holds “precious,” which means he does not take it lightly. Verses 3, 8 had laid out the distress, and the song is celebrating the Lord as being true to his character.