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Psalm 116Thanksgiving for Recovery from Illness1 I love the L ord, because he has heard my voice and my supplications. 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 L ord: “O L ord, I pray, save my life!”
5 Gracious is the L ord, and righteous; our God is merciful. 6 The L ord protects the simple; when I was brought low, he saved me. 7 Return, O my soul, to your rest, for the L ord has dealt bountifully with you.
8 For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling. 9 I walk before the L ord in the land of the living. 10 I kept my faith, even when I said, “I am greatly afflicted”; 11 I said in my consternation, “Everyone is a liar.”
12 What shall I return to the L ord for all his bounty to me? 13 I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the L ord, 14 I will pay my vows to the L ord in the presence of all his people. 15 Precious in the sight of the L ord is the death of his faithful ones. 16 O L ord, I am your servant; I am your servant, the child of your serving girl. You have loosed my bonds. 17 I will offer to you a thanksgiving sacrifice and call on the name of the L ord. 18 I will pay my vows to the L ord in the presence of all his people, 19 in the courts of the house of the L ord, in your midst, O Jerusalem. Praise the L ord! New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by
permission. All rights reserved.
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13. The cup of salvation He refers to a custom which was prevalent under the Law. For when they rendered solemn thanks to God, a feast was also appointed, at which, in token of their gladness, there was an holy libation. This being a symbol of their deliverance from Egyptian thraldom, is
for that reason here called the cup of salvation
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That there is here an allusion to the cup of wine drunk in the offering of eucharistical sacrifices is very generally admitted by commentators. During the feast that followed these sacrifices, the master of the family took a cup of wine into his hands, and after solemnly giving thanks to God for the mercies experienced, first drank of it himself, and then delivered it to all present to be partaken of in rotation. “The cup here spoken of by the
Psalmist,” says Cresswell, “was probably used by the master of a Hebrew family at an entertainment in his own house, at which the remainder of the victims was eaten, after he had offered (Leviticus 7:11, etc.) the sacrifice of a peace-offering for a thanksgiving; when, lifting up the cup of wine in his hand, he called upon the name of the Lord, giving him thanks. The modern Jews are said to use a similar
ceremony every year in commemoration of the deliverance of their ancestors from the bondage of Egypt.” Some, indeed, deny that there is any allusion to such eucharistical sacrifices, as Hengstenberg, who observes, that this communion cup is a mere fiction. In the institution of the festival offerings, nothing is indeed said of the cup; but we know from Matthew 26:29, 30, that in
the feast of the Passover, for instance, the drinking of a cup of wine and the singing of a hymn were parts of the observance. From Jewish tradition we also learn that such was the ancient practice. See Lightfoot’s Horae Hebraicae on Matthew 26. Our Lord, apparently in imitation of the Jewish custom, as the head of the family, at the feast of the Passover, “took the cup, and gave thanks,” (Luke 22:17.) In allusion
to this custom, Paul calls the communion cup in the Lord’s Supper “the cup of blessing,” (1 Corinthians 10:16.) The Psalmist, then, here intimates his intention of publicly yielding thanks to God for the mercies bestowed upon him.
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