Psalms 118:27

God [is] the Lord, which hath showed us light,.... These are the words of the people, acknowledging divine favours; particularly that the Lord had caused his face to shine upon them, as the priest wished for, Numbers 6:25.

God is the LORD, which hath shewed us light: bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar.

God is the Lord; God hath proved himself to be the Lord Jehovah by the accomplishment of his promises. See Poole "". Or, the Lord or Jehovah is God, as it was said upon another solemn occasion and appearance of God, ; or, is the mighty God, as this name of God signifies, and as he showed himself to be by this his mighty and wonderful work. Which hath showed us light; who hath caused light to shine out of darkness; who hath scattered our thick and dark clouds, and put us into a state of peace, and comfort, and safety, and happiness; all which are frequently signified by light in the Holy Scripture. Or, who hath discovered, and will in due time send, the Messias, who is called the light of the Gentiles, or of the world, or of men, 8:12 12:35,46, and by whom he will more clearly and fully reveal his whole mind and will to us, and tell us all things, as the Jews expected, , who also will enlighten our dark minds by his Spirit. Bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar: these words, as well as those which go before them in this verse, and those which follow after them, , may be the words of David unto the priests, who had now blessed him in God’ s name, . And this blessing of God which you wish me, God hath already given me; and therefore in way of gratitude I will offer sacrifices to him, which do you, O ye priests, according to your office, bind to the hems of the altar; of which see ; which horns are supposed by divers learned men to be made for this very use, that the beasts should be bound and killed there. And this may seem probable from ,12 Le 4:7, &c., where we read that the beasts were to be killed by the door of the tabernacle, which was very near the altar of burnt-offerings, and then immediately part of their blood was to be put upon the horns of the altar, and the rest poured out at the bottom of it. Although these words may be thus rendered, Bind and bring (one pregnant word being put for two, as above, , and in many other places of Scripture) the sacrifice with cords unto the horns of the altar, that it may be killed beside it, and its blood put upon the horns, after the manner. So they may be David’ s words to his servants to go and bring one of his beasts to be offered to God in his name.

Psalms 118:27 God [is] the LORD, which hath shewed us light: bind the sacrifice with cords, [even] unto the horns of the altar.Ver. 27. God is the Lord who hath showed us light] By giving us "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ," 2 Corinthians 4:6, he "hath brought us out of darkness into his marvellous light," 1 Peter 2:9. Bind the sacrifice with cords] Make them fast there, till the priests shall have time to offer them. Spare for no cost in showing your thankfulness for Christ and his benefits. Some render it, Obligate solennitates in frondosis; Austin hath it, in confrequentationibus.

(27) Shewed us light . . .—Whether this is literal or figurative is difficult to decide. If literal, it may be a repetition of Psa 118:24; or if there is a particular reference in this psalm to the Feast of Tabernacles, Mr. Burgess’s suggestion, which connects the light with the pillar of cloud and fire, of which that feast was very probably specially commemorative, is most worthy of notice. Figuratively the words would, of course, mean “the light of salvation and hope,” as so frequently in the Psalms. It is also possible there may be allusion to the priestly benediction (Numbers 6:25), where the verb is the same. Bind the sacrifice . . .—This cannot well be, “tie the victim to the horns of the altar,” for the Hebrew is “as far as to,” and no satisfactory explanation is possible of binding animals as far as the altar, unless we are to translate “bind and lead.” But the Hebrew word rendered victim might by derivation (“to go round”) easily mean a circlet or crown, and by supplying the verb go we get bind on a crown, go with garlands even to the horns of the altar. The ancient versions, LXX., Vulg., Aquila, Symmachus, all point to this rendering.

Verse 27. God is the Lord] Rather אל יהוה El Yehovah, the strong God Jehovah. Which hath showed us light] ויאר לנו vaiyaer lanu, "And he will illuminate us." Perhaps at this time a Divine splendour shone upon the whole procession; a proof of God's approbation. Bind the sacrifice with cords] The Chaldee paraphrases this verse thus: "Samuel the prophet said, Bind the little one with chains for a solemn sacrifice, until ye have sacrificed him and sprinkled his blood on the horns of the altar." It is supposed that the words refer to the feast of tabernacles, and חג chag here means the festival victim. Several translate the original "keep the festival with thick boughs of the horns of the altar." In this sense the Vulgate and Septuagint understood the passage. David in this entry into the temple was a type of our blessed Lord, who made a similar entry, as related Matthew 21:8-10.

27. Jehovah is God, and hath given us light] He has proved Himself to be El, the God of might, as of old at the Exodus (Exodus 15:2): He has once more banished the darkness of the night of calamity and shewn us the light of His favour. There may be an allusion to the pillar of fire (Exodus 13:21; cp. Nehemiah 9:12; Nehemiah 9:19); and to the priestly blessing (Numbers 6:25). bind &c.] Evidently an exhortation to some act of thanksgiving for God’s mercy. But the meaning is uncertain. It is doubtful whether chag, properly a pilgrimage festival, can mean a festival sacrifice: the horns were the most sacred part of the altar, on which the blood of the sin-offering was sprinkled (Leviticus 4:7; 1 Kings 1:50), and it seems improbable that the victims would ever have been bound to them: the preposition ‘ad, ‘up to,’ can hardly be used with the verb bind in the simple sense of ‘to.’ Various explanations have been proposed. (1) ‘Bind the victim with cords (and lead it) up to the horns of the altar,’ or, ‘till it is sacrificed and its blood sprinkled on the horns of the altar’: or, ‘so as to fill all the space right up to the altar,’ with reference to the number of beasts to be sacrificed. But these explanations, beside giving a doubtful meaning to chag, require much to be read into the sentence. (2) The LXX (συστήσασθεἑορτὴνἐντοῖςπυκάζουσιν), Symm. (συνδήσατεἐνπανηγύρειπυκάσματα) and Jerome (frequentate sollemnitatem in fronduosis) explain the word rendered ‘cords’ above to mean ‘thick boughs’ (cp. Ezekiel 19:11, and the use of the cognate adj. in Leviticus 23:40, ‘boughs of thick trees’) with reference either to the boughs of which the booths were made, or to the bundles of branches, known in later times as Lulab, which the worshippers at the Feast of Tabernacles carried. Hence Cheyne, ‘Bind the procession with branches, (step on) to the altar-horns’: Baethgen, ‘Link the dance with boughs, up to the altar-horns.’ It is supposed that one of the ceremonies of the festival was a procession or sacred dance round the altar, in which the worshippers carried the Lulab, and waved them so as to touch the horns of the altar. These interpretations are equally questionable, and it is possible that the text is corrupt.

God is the Lord - Still the language of the priests in their official capacity. The meaning here seems to be “God is Yahweh;” or, Jehovah is the true God.

27. God is the Lord—El is Jehovah; that is, The Mighty One is Jehovah; or, transposing the order, Jehovah is God, as in 1 Kings 18:19. El, (àì,) was the general Semitic name of God, and also of heathen gods.