Psalms 118:26 NKJV
26
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
We have blessed you from the house of the Lord.
My Thoughts
Psalms 118:26 highlights the blessing bestowed upon those who come in the name of the Lord, showing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of this scripture. Various commentators reflect on its significance, emphasizing that He comes with divine authority to act for God’s purpose. The priests and ministers call for blessings upon both the people and the deliverer. The passage also connects to New Testament events, particularly Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, where crowds proclaimed Him blessed. The overarching theme is the importance of welcoming Jesus and acknowledging His spiritual blessings in our lives……Bill
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Commentaries:
Matthew Henry
Let the priests, the Lord’s ministers, do their part in this great solemnity, v. 26.
[1.] Let them bless the prince with their praises: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Jesus Christ is he that cometh–ho erchomenos, he that was to come and is yet to come again, Rev. 1:8. He comes in the name of the Lord, with a commission from him, to act for him, to do his will and to seek his glory; and therefore we must say, Blessed be he that cometh; we must rejoice that he has come; we must speak well of him, admire him, and esteem him highly, as one we are eternally obliged to, call him blessed Jesus, blessed forever, Ps. 45:2. We must bid him welcome into our hearts, saying, “Come in, thou blessed of the Lord; come in by thy grace and Spirit, and take possession of me for thy own.” We must bless his faithful ministers that come in his name, and receive them for his sake, Isa. 52:7; Jn. 13:20. We must pray for the enlargement and edification of his church, for the ripening of things for his second coming, and then that he who has said, Surely I come quickly, would even so come.
[2.] Let them bless the people with their prayers: We have blessed you out of the house of the Lord. Christ’s ministers are not only warranted but appointed to pronounce a blessing, in his name, upon all his loyal subjects that love him and his government in sincerity, Eph. 6:24. We assure you that in and through Jesus Christ you are blessed; for he came to bless you. “You are blessed out of the house of the Lord, that is, with spiritual blessings in heavenly places (Eph. 1:3), and therefore have reason to bless him who has thus blessed you.”
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Charles Spurgeon
“Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the LORD.” The champion had done everything “in the name of the Lord.” In that name, he had routed all his adversaries, and had risen to the throne, and in that name he had now entered the temple to pay his vows. We know who it is that cometh in the name of the Lord beyond all others. In the Psalmist’s days, he was The Coming One, and he is still The Coming One, though he hath already come. We are ready with our hosannas both for his first and second advent; our inmost souls thankfully adore and bless him, and upon his head unspeakable joys. “Prayer also shall be made for him continually: and daily shall he be praised.” For his sake, everybody is blessed to us who comes in the name of the Lord, we welcome all such to our hearts and our homes; but chiefly, and beyond all others, we welcome himself when he deigns to enter in and sup with us and we with him. O sacred bliss, fit antepast of heaven!
Perhaps this sentence is intended to be the benediction of the priests upon the valiant servant of the Lord, and if so, it is appropriately added, “We have blessed you out of the house of the LORD.” The priests, whose business it was to bless the people, in a sevenfold degree blessed the people’s deliverer, the one chosen out of the people whom the Lord had exalted. All those whose high privilege it is to dwell in the house of the Lord forever, because they are made priests unto God in Christ Jesus, can truly say that they bless the Christ who has made them what they are, and placed them where they are. Whenever we feel ourselves at home with God and feel the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, “Abba Father,” the first thought of our hearts should be to bless the elder Brother, through whom the privilege of sonship has descended to such unworthy ones. In looking back upon our past lives we can remember many delightful occasions in which with joy unutterable we have in the fulness of our heart blessed our Savior and our King; and all these memorable seasons are so many foretastes and pledges of the time when in the house of our great Father above we shall for ever sing, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain,” and with rapture bless the Redeemer’s name.
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Enduring Word
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD: The main point of this ceremony of song is to welcome God’s deliverer through the open gates into the holy city. This deliverer received a blessing from the singers as he approached the house of the LORD. (Guzik)
i. Matthew 21:9 (along with Mark 11:9 and John 12:13) quote this phrase as spoken by those who welcomed Jesus at His triumphal entrance into Jerusalem, when He formally presented Himself to Israel as their Messiah and King. The words save now are in Hebrew hosanna, which is exactly what the crowd at the triumphal entry cried out. (Guzik)
ii. We have a strange prediction that was fulfilled precisely. This deliverer was to be welcomed with open gates (Psalm 118:19), hosannas (Psalm 118:25), and blessings (Psalm 118:26). Yet He is and was the same chief cornerstone that would be rejected (Psalm 118:22). Exactly according to the words and spirit of this psalm, Jesus was welcomed as deliverer and Messiah on Palm Sunday, and rejected and crucified only a few days later. (Guzik)
iii. We have blessed you from the house of the LORD: “We can glimpse two companies at this point: one already in the temple court, greeting another which is arriving with the king. Blessed be he who enters, is an individual welcome, but We bless you is addressed to the many who are with him.” (Kidner)
iv. We have blessed you from the house of the LORD: “Thus say the priests to the people. Ministers must bless those that bless Christ, saying, ‘Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity,’ Ephesians 6:24.” (Trapp)
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Albert Barnes
Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord – See the notes at Matthew 21:9. This is the language of those who had charge of the sanctuary, addressing him who came in the name of the Lord to present his thank-offering. It is the language of welcome; the assurance that his offering would be acceptable to God. It was applicable to the Messiah, as coming in the name of the Lord, and was so used by the multitudes Matthew 21:9, and by the Savior himself Matthew 23:39; but this use of the language does not prove that it had original reference to him. The Old Testament abounds in language which may thus be employed to express ideas under the Christian dispensation, but this does not prove that all such language was originally designed to refer to that dispensation.
We have blessed you out of the house of the Lord – We, the priests, the ministers of religion, have pronounced and do pronounce you blessed. We welcome your approach. You may come freely with your thank-offering. It will be accepted of the Lord. You come under our benediction, and the benediction of God.
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John Gill
Blessed [be] he that cometh in the name of the Lord,…. These words were used by the multitude that followed Christ, as he went into Jerusalem, in order to eat his last passover, and suffer and die for his people, and are applied to him; as also by his disciples, who expressed them thus, “Blessed be the King that cometh,” &c. Luke 19:38; the King Messiah, who came from heaven to earth, from his Father into this world, to save the chief of sinners; who now came to Jerusalem on that errand, and into the temple, as the proprietor of it; where he showed his power, and exercised his authority: he came not in his own name, but in his Father’s name; and not to do his own will, but his; nor did he seek his own glory, but his Father’s: he came as his servant to do his work; he came with a commission from him, by his order, and to obey his commands, which he did; he came with his full consent and will, and, as man and Mediator, was helped and assisted by him; and as such he is pronounced blessed: all blessing, happiness, and honor, are wished for him, and ascribed unto him, as his just due; being Lord and King, Saviour and Redeemer, of his people;
we have blessed you out of the house of the Lord; these are the words of the priests, one part of whose office it was to bless the people, Numbers 6:23; but these were not the chief priests of the Jews in Christ’s time; for they were displeased with the multitude, and with the children in the temple, for crying “hosanna” to the son of David, and wishing well to him, Matthew 21:15. But the disciples of Christ, or ministers of the Gospel, who blessed the people that blessed their Lord and Master; or wished well to them, and prayed for them that wished well to him. The sense is, either we who are of the house of the Lord bless you; we who stand there, and serve him, are rulers of the household of God, and stewards of the mysteries of grace: or we bless you, and pray for your welfare, who are of the household of faith; who are fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God: or we bless you with provisions out of the house of God; with the goodness and fatness of his house, the word and ordinances, by administering them to you: or we pray that the Lord would bless you out of Zion, or out of the highest heavens, where he is; even with all spiritual blessings, in heavenly places in Christ Jesus; see Psalm 134:1. The Targum of this verse Psalm 118:25, is, “We beseech thee, O Lord, “save” now, said the builders; We beseech thee, O Lord, send now prosperity, said Jesse and his wife. Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord, said the builders; Let us bless you out of the house of the sanctuary of the Lord, said David.”
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Cross-References
Matthew 21:9 (KJV )
9 And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.
Matthew 23:39 (KJV )
39 For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
Luke 19:38 (KJV )
38 Saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest.
Luke 13:35 (KJV )
35 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate: and verily I say unto you, Ye shall not see me, until the time come when ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
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Geneva Bible 1560
Psalm 118:26
26 Blessed be he, that cometh in the Name of the Lord: (n) we have blessed you out of the house of the Lord.
(n) Which are the priests, and have the charge thereof, as Num. 6.23
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Closing Thoughts
Ephesians 3:14-21
For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen
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