Psalm 118
Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
for his steadfast love endures forever!
Let Israel say,
“His steadfast love endures forever.”
Let the house of Aaron say,
“His steadfast love endures forever.”
Let those who fear the Lord say,
“His steadfast love endures forever.”
Out of my distress I called on the Lord;
the Lord answered me and set me free.
The Lord is on my side; I will not fear.
What can man do to me?
The Lord is on my side as my helper;
I shall look in triumph on those who hate me.
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.
All nations surrounded me;
in the name of the Lord I cut them off!
They surrounded me, surrounded me on every side;
in the name of the Lord I cut them off!
They surrounded me like bees;
they went out like a fire among thorns;
in the name of the Lord I cut them off!
I was pushed hard, so that I was falling,
but the Lord helped me.
The Lord is my strength and my song;
he has become my salvation.
Glad songs of salvation
are in the tents of the righteous:
“The right hand of the Lord does valiantly,
the right hand of the Lord exalts,
the right hand of the Lord does valiantly!”
I shall not die, but I shall live,
and recount the deeds of the Lord.
The Lord has disciplined me severely,
but he has not given me over to death.
Open to me the gates of righteousness,
that I may enter through them
and give thanks to the Lord.
This is the gate of the Lord;
the righteous shall enter through it.
I thank you that you have answered me
and have become my salvation.
The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.
This is the Lord’s doing;
it is marvelous in our eyes.
This is the day that the Lord has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Save us, we pray, O Lord!
O Lord, we pray, give us success!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
We bless you from the house of the Lord.
The Lord is God,
and he has made his light to shine upon us.
Bind the festal sacrifice with cords,
up to the horns of the altar!
You are my God, and I will give thanks to you;
you are my God; I will extol you.
Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
for his steadfast love endures forever!
Hosanna – A joyful Aramaic exclamation of praise, apparently specific to the major Jewish religious festivals (especially Passover and Tabernacles) in which the Egyptian Hallel (Psalms 113-118) was recited. Originally an appeal for deliverance (Heb. hosia na, Please save Psalm 118:25 ), it came in liturgical usage to serve as an expression of joy and praise for deliverance granted or anticipated. When Jesus came to Jerusalem for his final presentation of himself to Israel, the expression came readily to the lips of the Passover crowds.
A joyful praise of deliverance – “I pray, Eternal God, open me, free me, make me safe, I pray now, Eternal God, push me forward to break out into prayer!”
The Psalm, the scripture, the Word that the children and crowds would find themselves shouting to Jesus as he made his triumphant entry would transfer the idea of preparedness, provision, and accomplishment – salvation, the ultimate accomplishment – upon one man. Who is that? Jesus!
From the feast of tabernacles – William Aldis Wright, in “Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible,” 1863.
The very children who could wave the palm branches were expected to take part in the solemnity. From the custom of waving the boughs of myrtle and willow during the service the name Hosannah was ultimately transferred to the boughs themselves, so that according to Elias Levita (15th century Hebrew sage, poet, and grammarian), “the bundles of the willows of the brook which they carry at the Feast of Tabernacles are called Hosannahs.”
The Feast of Tabernacles included the Jews building makeshift, impermanent shelters to live in for a week. They were required to bring four separate offerings from the earth (including palm leaves) to march around the alter, proclaiming Hosanna from Psalm 118. The Feast was about God providing everything the Israelites needed to survive, and water would play a prominent role as well.
John 12:12-13
The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!”
נָא na’ {naw}
a primitive particle of incitement and entreaty, which may usually be rendered: “I pray,” “now,” or “then”
יָשַׁע yasha` {yaw-shah’}
a primitive root; properly to be open, wide or free, that is, (by implication) to be safe; causatively to free or succor:— X at all, avenging, defend, deliver (-er), help, preserve, rescue, be safe, bring (having) salvation, save (-iour), get victory
צָלַח tsalach {tsaw-lakh’}
צָלֵחַ tsaleach {tsaw-lay’-akh}
primitive root; to push forward, in various senses (literally or figuratively, transitively or intransitively):—break out, come (mightily), go over, be good, be meet, be profitable, (cause to, effect, make to, send) prosper (-ity, -ous, -ously).
äNä y’hwäh hôshiyäh Nä äNä y’hwäh hatz’liychäh Nä
Literally the psalmist states – “I pray, Eternal God, open me, free me, make me safe, I pray now, Eternal God, push me forward to break out into prayer!”
Jesus himself, not long before his triumphant entry, would stand up and declare at the Feast of Tabernacles,
John 7:37-38
“If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'”
We shout Hosanna. We sing Hosanna. We have, at times, literally given the name Hosanna to Jesus himself. As did the Israelites. He is our preparedness, He is our provision, He is our accomplishment. His name is Hosanna. “I pray, Eternal God, open me, free me, make me safe, I pray now, Eternal God, push me forward to break out into prayer!”
He is our atonement, and as we all know more so than the aforementioned feast, Jesus had arrived for the Passover. And coincidence or not, the Jews would also call upon Psalm 118 as part of the Hallel to celebrate the Passover, to offer a joyful praise of deliverance – and they would bestow this request, this name, this prayer upon Jesus – “I pray, Eternal God, open me, free me, make me safe, I pray now, Eternal God, push me forward to break out into prayer!”
Do you know your salvation, or do you request your salvation?
What’s the difference?
Does it make a difference if this shouting of Hosanna is a praise or a request? What do you think?
If this is a request, then we are ultimately asking to be saved – save, we pray. It is an acknowledgment that we need God and all that He is. We need to learn to be prepared, we need God to provide for us, and we need His blessing in order to accomplish anything.
If this is a praise, then we are ultimately asking to be saved – save, we pray. It is an acknowledgment that God is all that He is. He is our preparation, He has provided, and He has already accomplished all things through Jesus, our salvation.
“I pray, Eternal God, open me, free me, make me safe, I pray now, Eternal God, push me forward to break out into prayer!”
Jesus is the control of any plan, never the variable. Try Him as a variable, truly cry out “Hosanna” and He becomes the constant. His provision is life, eternal peace, Love.
The Israelites may have been offering praise. They may also have been living in the insecurity that we all face, that every man and woman faces throughout their lives. Looking to preparedness and wanting – looking to provision and wanting – looking to accomplishment and wanting. They may have been pleading, requesting – save, we pray. And in their cry is the answer. In our cries, in our wants, in our needs, in our desires, in our heart’s longing is the answer. Hosanna! “I pray, Eternal God, open me, free me, make me safe, I pray now, Eternal God, push me forward to break out into prayer!”
Open me, God, look inside my soul. I pray that you keep me safe, that you keep my family safe, my brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, cousins, parents, wife, children, my community, my friends. Keep my country safe. Please provide for those in need, shelter, food, care, Love. Free me from the temptations that would threaten any of this through my own negligence. Push me past my emotions, past my intellect, past myself – push me to break out into prayer, time alone with You – to allow You to be You in my life. Amen.
The Israelites were looking to be saved from the Romans – God wants to save you from yourself through Jesus.
John 12:20-36
Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.”
“Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. So the crowd answered him, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?” So Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.”
The gravity of Jesus’ Triumphant Entry into Jerusalem – I don’t know if it is something that you may ever have had much consideration for. I mean, maybe more the “seeming contradiction” of Jesus’ Triumphant Entry into Jerusalem is more fitting. Let’s be honest, Jesus was about to be betrayed and denied by those closest to him, rejected by his own people, and ultimately put to death for nothing more than Loving, forgiving, and healing those that he encountered. Is Triumphant really the correct term here? Sure, he was well-received on this day. I’ve studied and I’ve learned about the term Hosanna and the depths of its meaning. Direct translation is “Save, we pray” and essentially, in the context of the Psalms where the term originates, it means, “I pray, Eternal God, open me, free me, make me safe, I pray now, Eternal God, push me forward to break out into prayer!” Boom! So, it was a big deal that this term was bestowed upon Jesus on this day. However, it would become evident very soon that at the signs of adversity, this Jesus was anything but Triumphant to the people who had so recently welcomed him. We figuratively cry Hosanna to Jesus on Sunday, but do we continue to do so when he chooses to die – when he calls us to die? Jesus calls us to forgive our enemies and neighbors, to reserve our judgment, to Love. The world at times will interpret this as defeat. We must learn to see where Triumph truly is. Triumph is revealed in Love as Love is revealed in triumph.
Triumph
Triumph is
Well triumph is an act, it is also a feeling
It is the deafening voice you cannot contain, and so you turn to kneeling
And it’s the thought that is reeling, entombed within the feeling
And triumph is
Well triumph is a man, it is also a healing
It is the hand that overturns the table, it is your conscience stealing
And it is the stolen feeling, that is forgotten in the healing
Triumph is
The poor in spirit
The good news of the gospel and those chosen to hear it
Those who mourn
The fears and doubts, the lives scratched and torn
The blessed meek
The hungry and the thirsty, and those that seek
The merciful
The one despised and cursed for all
The pure in heart
The remembered sentiment of a fateful start
The peacemakers
The kind, the humble, the true earth-shakers
You see, triumph is
A sword that divides, it’s double-edged and it hides, it attacks, and it decides
And it is relentless, bathed in repentance
It cannot concede
Victory its definition, sin in remission
Again, triumph is
The one among the ninety-nine, the one that is pruned amidst the vine,
And outside time, the undercurrent of the rhyme
We find, that we are sought
Much more than that, we are bought
By triumph
It is the elation of a child, Hosanna!
It is the provision of heaven, the Manna
One and the same, and so He remains,
He seeks, He finds, and yes, He claims
Triumph
And triumph is
Well triumph is a command, and too it is an event
A Love given without demand, a Love born in consent
Consent to a journey with a cross to bear
Consent to a life that enters despair
In Triumph
It is light, it is good, it’s the fight that we would
Dare to be honest and open and true
Dare to believe something more than just “you”
Dare to be gentle
Dare to forgive
Past sentimental
Dare to just live
In triumph
You see triumph is Jesus
His teaching
His Love
Triumph is reaching
Down from above
With no discrimination, no prejudice, no trial
Triumph is reaching past your denial
Past your heartache
And past your doubt
Past your pain
Just let it out
Shout today
Shout out his name
Shout out in triumph
In Jesus proclaim
Hosanna
Open me, free me, help me break out
Eternal God, to You, do I shout
Hosanna
It is triumph
About Reunion Community Church
We are a Bible teaching Christian church in Peoria, AZ. We love God and teach His Truth. We invite you, your family and friends to join us on the faith journey, growing closer to one another, the Christian community of believers at Reunion, and most importantly with God. Read more about the timeless Truth we build our lives and faith in Christ on HERE.
We are conveniently located just off the 101 on 83rd Ave and Cactus Rd. Join us on Sunday mornings, Weds. evenings, and throughout the week at our small groups, meeting in homes around the Valley, including Surprise, Glendale, Peoria, Phoenix, Goodyear, Litchfield, and more. Connect with us on Facebook and watch our live streaming service on YouTube.
