“Save now, I pray, O Lord” (Ps.118: 25)

 

(1) Six Psalms, 113 – 118, are the songs of praise of Tabernacle Feast and Hanukah (Dedication) Feast of the Jews. Psalms can be divided in to several groups according to their contents. One psalm may fall under different groups. Psalms of prophecy, psalms of penetration, psalms of morning praise, psalms of evening praise, psalms of thanks giving and so on; 18 are the groups for the convenience of study and meditation. In this perception, psalm 118, in its initial four verses and the concluding two, is praise and thanks giving. “.O give thanks to the Lord for He is good.” Psalms 105, 106 and 136 are of this group.

 

(2) There are also psalms in the Bible out side of the Book of Psalms. The first psalm in the Bible is the song of Miriam (Ex. 15: 1-21).  Judges 6; 2 Sam 22; 1 Chro.16: 8-36 and Habakkuk 3 are also psalms.

 

(3) In the main content, 118 is a psalm of Messianic Prophecy. Other psalms of Messianic Prophecies are 2, 16, 22, 24, 40, 45, 68, 69, 72 and 110. Every Sunday we hear the 15th verse from this psalm in our churches as a prelude to the Old Testament reading

 

“The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tents of the righteous”

 

“Neethimanmarude koodarathil.

Jayathinteyum rekshayudeyum shabdamennu

Daveed mukhandaram Parishudha Rooha paadi”

 

Some times we sing thus:

”Nayavaanmaar gehe jaya ghodha dwani-

yenna-lmavil Davee-damo-dal paadi”

 

(4) Verses 25 and 26 of this psalm are quoted as the praise of Hosanna in the Gospels.

 

               “Hosanna! Blessed is He comes in the name of the Lord” (Mark 11:9; John12; 13)

(See also Matt. 21: 9 and Luke 19: 38)

 

Meaning of the word Hosanna (Greek) is “Save now, we beseech Thee” “Yehove Rekshikkename”. Hosi-ah-na –Hebrew; Hosana -Aramic (Jerome Bible commentary)

It is the prayer of the pilgrims gathered for the feast of Tabernacle and the Feast of Dedication rather than a triumphal acclamation – A prayer for salvation- Save, now, we pray. “Hosanna to the Son of David” (Matt.21: 9) may be erroneous by passage of time. Such mistakes can happen in literature for improper editing etc.

 

(5) Our procession hymn, we also sing the same, “Oosana Oosana  Daveedalmajnoosana”; meaning, “Hosanna to the Son of David”. But if we sing with understanding, “Daveedalmajan Oosana”, it is meaning full. We have committed another error in our hymn by printing in the second couplet “Vara vahananai”, instead of the correct word “Khara vahananai”.

 

(6) It was not by intension that the multitude who saw Jesus in their Feast of Hanukah- Dedication sang from Psalm 118.Traditionally they used to do so, but the coincidence was Jesus’ presence in their midst to fulfill the Divine Prophecy of the psalmist, and the prophecy of Zechariah was also fulfilled on that day.

 

               “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem!

               Behold your king is coming to you; He is just and having salvation.

               Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, a foal of a donkey” (Zec.9: 9)

 

               (7) All these in the psalm seem directly related to our Hosanna meditation, but the three verses preceding, verses 22,23,24 and the one following, are not relatively connected to the rest of the verses and stand apart. Verse 22 and the second half of verse 27 attracts our particular attention.

 

(8) Verse 22

 “The stone which the builders rejected

 Has come the chief corner stone”

 

According to Jerome Bible Commentary, the Jews considered that the psalmist says this of himself, but New Testament quotes it as fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Matt.21: 42; Mark 12: 10; Acts 4: 11 and 1 Pet. 2: 5-8 connect to the salvefic and redemptive work of Jesus Christ.

 

“This is the day which the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in.” (v.24) Read with verse 15 above and, “Out of the mouth of the babes and infants you have ordained strength, Because of Your enemies, that you may silence the enemy and the avenger” Ps.8: 2)

 

(9) We do not find a literal fulfillment and accomplishment for verse 27 second half. “Bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar.”

 

(10) The significant meaning of this half verse in relation to Hosanna is generally not understandable. For that we have to consult the covenant with reference to sacrifice, altar and horns of altar.

 

(11) Sacrifice:  Levite chapters 1-7 detail the sacrifices. The center of worship of the Jews was the sacrifice and the altar. “A perpetual fire shall burn on the altar, it shall never go out” (Le. 6: 13), was the commandment of God through Moses. Of the sacrifices offered there, the important one was the holocaust (Dahana Yagam). “A male without blemish” was the offering for sacrifice (Lev.1: 3, 10)

Jews regarded the cry “Bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar” as “A command given to the community to execute a procession to the horns of the altar” (Jerome Bible Commentary) as good as a sacrifice

 

But for us, this does not seem meaningful. For us, Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the Calvary was the fulfillment of all the sacrifices and He was the real unblemished male whose shadow was the covenant. “There no longer remains a sacrifice for sin” (Heb. 10: 26) 

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(The Malayalam version “YAGA PASHU” is evidently erroneous. It should be understood as the sacrifice or the sacrificial animal)

 

(12) Horns of the Altar: In the Tabernacle and Jerusalem temple, there were two altars, one for the sacrifice and the other for innocence offering. Both had four strong horns each at four corners. The purpose of these is not mentioned, but the priest once in a year should sanctify these hones with blood of the sacrifice. (Ex. 27: 1-8; 38; 1-7; 29: 12;  30: 10; Lev. 4: 7; 8: 15; 9: 9;  16: 18 and Eze. 43: 18- 20). The horns, presumably, were for binding up the sacrifice on the altar; hence the cry in the psalm to bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of altar.

 

The horns of the altar have been the refuge for the criminals, pending judgment. (Ex.21: 14; 1Ki. 1: 50; 2: 28).

 

Before starting the temple worship, altar was the central place of the worship where the presence of the Glory of God was visible (Gen.8:20; 12:7; 26: 24-25; Ex.17:15).

 

Apart from all these, horn is depicted as the symbol of power, authority, majesty, strength and salvation. “The horn of my salvation” (Ps.18:2)

 

(13) In the Old Testament if the horns of the altar had been the refuge of the culprits and the criminals, in the New Testament the refuge of the sinners is the Holy Cross. Satan has no power to detach a sinner who puts his trust on the Holy Cross; however hardened sinner one might have been. See the descriptions in Zech. 3: 1 and Jude 9.

 

We have seen the reality of the sacrifice, the altar, and horns of the altar as Jesus Christ and His wholesome sacrifice on the Holy Cross. Our Hosanna procession is meaningfully accomplished only when we reach at the foot of the Cross with the prayer of Hosanna- Save now, I pray, O Lord.

 

 

Yesudasan Nedumoncave

 

 

 

 

 

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