Psalms in Book 5 affirm that God does answer prayer, God’s promises are valid and it includes a long love song for God’s laws. 113-118 are called the Hallel or Egyptian Hallel and come between the acrostic songs of 112,113 & 119. In modern Jewish life, Psalms 113 and 114 are sung before the passover meal and Psalms 115-118 at its conclusion.
Another wonderful psalm here, which tells of how precious our lives are to God.
The books of Psalms are roughly themed like this:
Book 1: Psalms 1 – 41: God is beside us.
Book 2: Psalms 42 – 72: God goes before us
Book 3: Psalms 73 – 89: God is all around us.
Book 4: Psalms 90 – 106: God is above us.
Book 5: Psalms 107 – 150: God is among us.
116 I love the Lord, because he has heard
my voice and my pleas for mercy.
2 Because he inclined his ear to me,
therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
3 The snares of death encompassed me;
the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me;
I suffered distress and anguish.
4 Then I called on the name of the Lord:
“O Lord, I pray, deliver my soul!”5 Gracious is the Lord, and righteous;
our God is merciful.
6 The Lord preserves the simple;
when I was brought low, he saved me.
7 Return, O my soul, to your rest;
for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.8 For you have delivered my soul from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling;
9 I will walk before the Lord
in the land of the living.10 I believed, even when[a] I spoke,
“I am greatly afflicted”;
11 I said in my alarm,
“All mankind are liars.”12 What shall I render to the Lord
for all his benefits to me?
13 I will lift up the cup of salvation
and call on the name of the Lord,
14 I will pay my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all his people.15 Precious in the sight of the Lord
Psalm 116 ESVUK
is the death of his saints.
16 O Lord, I am your servant;
I am your servant, the son of your maidservant.
You have loosed my bonds.
17 I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving
and call on the name of the Lord.
18 I will pay my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all his people,
19 in the courts of the house of the Lord,
in your midst, O Jerusalem.
Praise the Lord!
Precious or grevious?
All the Christian translations of this psalm render verse 15 as “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints” or something with that meaning, going along with the meaning of most Jewish translations, including the Greek translation known as the Septuagint (LXX) which early Christian writers used. Some Jewish translations translate this word differently: The NJPS has, “The death of His faithful ones is grievous in the LORD’S sight.”
The Old Testament has come to us through a long route. The Hebrew was translated into Greek (Possibly via Aramaic), the Greek into Latin, and the Latin into English. All English translations have the legacy of the LXX, and the LXX says, if translated literally, “Precious before the Lord is the death of his devout ones.”
If we go back to the Hebrew, the word used for both precious and grievous here is yaqar, meaning heavy. Another meaning is inhibit. A third meaning, when used for gemstones, is precious. So is God grieved by the death of his devout followers, does he inhibit their deaths, or are their deaths precious to God?
The answer is found in the psalm itself. Psalm 116 is a prayer of praise to God for saving the psalmist’s life. Around verse 15 itself are two verses that throw doubt on the idea that God delights in his followers’ deaths, verses 14 and 18, which both say, “I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people.” You can’t do that if you are dead.
There is an exception to English translations saying the death of God's followers is precious. The NET Bible translates verse 15, "The Lord values the lives of his faithful followers."
Their notes on this verse say, “The point is not that God delights in or finds satisfaction in the death of his followers! The psalmist, who has been delivered from death, affirms that the life-threatening experiences of God’s followers get God’s attention, just as a precious or rare object would attract someone’s eye.”
Greater love has no one…
The idea, long held by Christians, that the death of martyrs is precious to God can’t be dismissed, though. Jesus said:
12 This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you.
John 15:12-14
Verse 13 above is about Jesus giving up his life, but the context of the verse is that Jesus’ friends are those who do as Jesus does and lay down their lives for each other. On the 80th anniversary of D-day, the Allied invasion of France in World War II, one veteran of the landings said, “I’m no hero. The heroes are the ones who didn’t come back!” Self-sacrificial acts are being Christ-like, even when Jesus is not your motivation.
Psalm 116 is not saying that God approves when one of his follower’s lives has been taken. Murder is specifically mentioned in God’s commands as being wrong. But that does not mean that God cannot use this. As Joseph said to his brothers in Egypt:
As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.
Genesis 50:20
God has the extraordinary ability to bring goodness out of adversity. Even though these situations may still cause pain, God stands by us in our suffering, accompanying us through difficult moments and granting us incomprehensible peace. This comforting promise is beautifully captured in verse 7.
Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.
< Psalm 115 | Psalm 116 | Psalm 117 >
Making an ass of myself 