Psalm 118:9
It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes.
It is better
The phrase "It is better" suggests a comparison, indicating a choice between two options. In the Hebrew text, the word used is "טוֹב" (tov), which means good, pleasant, or beneficial. This word is often used in the Old Testament to describe what is morally right or advantageous. The psalmist is emphasizing the superiority of one action over another, urging the reader to consider what is truly beneficial for their spiritual well-being. This sets the tone for a lesson in trust and reliance, foundational themes in the wisdom literature of the Bible.

to take refuge
The Hebrew word for "to take refuge" is "חָסָה" (chasah), which conveys the idea of seeking shelter or protection. This term is frequently used in the Psalms to describe a deep trust in God as a protector and provider. The imagery here is of someone fleeing to a safe place during a storm or battle, highlighting the security and peace found in God's presence. In the historical context of ancient Israel, cities of refuge were places where individuals could seek asylum, symbolizing God's role as a divine sanctuary.

in the LORD
The phrase "in the LORD" uses the sacred name of God, "יהוה" (Yahweh), which is often translated as "LORD" in English Bibles. This name is deeply significant, representing God's eternal, self-existent nature and His covenant relationship with His people. Trusting in Yahweh implies a personal relationship and reliance on His faithfulness and sovereignty. Throughout the Old Testament, Yahweh is depicted as a warrior, shepherd, and king, providing a multifaceted understanding of His protective and guiding role.

than to trust
The word "trust" in Hebrew is "בָּטַח" (batach), meaning to have confidence or to be secure. This verb is used extensively in the Psalms to describe a wholehearted reliance on God. The psalmist contrasts this trust with misplaced confidence in human leaders or institutions. Trusting in God is portrayed as a foundational aspect of faith, one that brings peace and assurance even in uncertain times.

in man
The term "man" here is "אָדָם" (adam), which can refer to humanity in general. The psalmist warns against placing ultimate trust in human beings, who are inherently fallible and limited. This reflects a broader biblical theme that cautions against idolatry and the elevation of human power above divine authority. Historically, Israel often faced the temptation to rely on political alliances or military strength rather than God's provision, a lesson that remains relevant for believers today. The verse concludes with a call to prioritize divine wisdom and guidance over human understanding.

Persons / Places / Events
1. The LORD (Yahweh)
The covenant name of God, emphasizing His eternal presence and faithfulness to His people.

2. Princes
Symbolic of human leaders or authorities, representing earthly power and influence.

3. Psalmist
Traditionally attributed to King David, though the specific author of Psalm 118 is not definitively known. The psalmist expresses trust in God over human authority.

4. Israel
The nation often addressed in the Psalms, representing God's chosen people who are encouraged to trust in Him.

5. Temple Worship
Psalm 118 is part of the Hallel, a series of psalms (113-118) sung during Jewish festivals, particularly Passover, emphasizing deliverance and divine protection.
Teaching Points
Trust in Divine Sovereignty
Trusting in the LORD acknowledges His ultimate authority and control over all circumstances, surpassing any human power.

The Limitations of Human Authority
While human leaders can provide guidance and support, their power is limited and fallible compared to God's omnipotence.

Refuge in God
Taking refuge in the LORD offers security and peace, knowing that He is a stronghold in times of trouble.

Faith Over Fear
In uncertain times, placing trust in God rather than human solutions can alleviate fear and anxiety.

Daily Dependence on God
Cultivating a habit of seeking God's guidance and protection in everyday decisions reinforces our reliance on Him.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does the concept of taking refuge in the LORD challenge our natural inclination to rely on human leaders or systems?

2. In what ways can we practically demonstrate trust in God over trust in human authority in our daily lives?

3. Reflect on a time when you placed your trust in human solutions rather than in God. What was the outcome, and what did you learn from that experience?

4. How do the additional scriptures (e.g., Jeremiah 17:5-8, Proverbs 3:5-6) reinforce the message of Psalm 118:9?

5. What steps can you take to ensure that your trust in God remains steadfast, especially when faced with societal or political pressures?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Psalm 146:3-5
This passage also warns against placing trust in human leaders, emphasizing the blessedness of those whose hope is in the LORD.

Jeremiah 17:5-8
Contrasts the curse of trusting in man with the blessing of trusting in the LORD, using imagery of a tree planted by water.

Proverbs 3:5-6
Encourages trust in the LORD with all one's heart, rather than relying on one's own understanding, promising guidance and direction.

Isaiah 31:1
Warns against seeking help from Egypt (symbolic of worldly power) instead of looking to the Holy One of Israel.

Matthew 6:33
Jesus teaches to seek first the kingdom of God, emphasizing reliance on divine provision over earthly concerns.
The Really Better May not be the Apparently BetterR. Tuck Psalm 118:8, 9
Confidence In. GodHomilistPsalm 118:8-13
The Duty of Trust in GodR. Fiddes.Psalm 118:8-13
Trust in Princes PerilousH. Livesey.Psalm 118:8-13
People
Aaron, Psalmist
Places
Jerusalem
Topics
Better, Confidence, Faith, Hope, Nobles, One's, Princes, Refuge, Rulers, Trust
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Psalm 118:9

     5802   care
     8021   faith, nature of

Psalm 118:6-9

     8224   dependence

Library
June the Thirtieth God My Strength and Song
"The Lord is my strength and my song." --PSALM cxviii. 14-21. Yes, first of all "my strength" and then "my song"! For what song can there be where there is languor and fainting? What brave music can be born in an organ which is short of breath? There must first be strength if we would have fine harmonies. And so the good Lord comes to the songless, and with holy power He brings the gift of "saving health." "And my song"! For when life is healthy it instinctively breaks into song. The happy, contented
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

Gratitude for Deliverance from the Grave
"I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord. The Lord hath chastened me sore: but he hath not given me over unto death."--Psalm 118:17, 18. HOW very differently we view things at different times and in differing states of mind! Faith takes a bright and cheerful view of matters, and speaks very confidently, "I shall not die, but live." When we are slack as to our trust in God, and give way to misgivings and doubts and fears, we sing in the minor key, and say, "I shall die. I shall
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 38: 1892

Bound to the Altar
Bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar.' (Psalm cxviii. 27.) Periodically in our Halls we have had what we call Altar Services. At such times, and more especially during the Self-Denial and Harvest Festival efforts, Soldiers, friends, and others who are interested in God's work are invited to come forward with gifts of money to lay upon the special table which, for that occasion, serves the purpose of an altar. Those who have been present at these Meetings will not need
T. H. Howard—Standards of Life and Service

The Entry into Jerusalem.
THE fame of Christ's acts had been diffused among the thousands of Jews [652] that had gathered from all quarters for the Passover. The resurrection of Lazarus, in particular, had created a great sensation. As soon as the Sabbath law allowed, [653] they flocked in crowds to Bethany to see Jesus, and especially to convince themselves of the resurrection of Lazarus by ocular evidence and inquiry on the spot. Perhaps on Sunday morning, too, before Christ went to Jerusalem, many had gone out. [654] The
Augustus Neander—The Life of Jesus Christ in Its Historical Connexion

On the Soul and the Resurrection.
Argument. The mind, in times of bereavement, craves a certainty gained by reasoning as to the existence of the soul after death. First, then: Virtue will be impossible, if deprived of the life of eternity, her only advantage. But this is a moral argument. The case calls for speculative and scientific treatment. How is the objection that the nature of the soul, as of real things, is material, to be met? Thus; the truth of this doctrine would involve the truth of Atheism; whereas Atheism is refuted
Gregory of Nyssa—Gregory of Nyssa: Dogmatic Treatises, Etc

Sabbath Morning Hymn.
"This is the day which the Lord hath made, we will rejoice and be glad in it."--Psalm 118:24 "Hallelujah! Schoener Morgen." Schmolk. [[66]Jonathan Krause] transl., Jane Borthwick, 1858 Hallelujah! Fairest morning, Fairer than my words can say, Down I lay tbe heavy burden Of life's toil and care to-day; While this morn of joy and love Brings fresh vigor from above. Sunday, full of holy glory! Sweetest rest-day of the soul, Light upon a darkened world From thy blessed moments roll. Holy, happy heavenly
Jane Borthwick—Hymns from the Land of Luther

The Monk Nilus.
Nilus was born at Rossano, in Calabria, in the year 910, of an old Greek family. His pious parents, to whom only one child, a daughter, had been given, besought the Lord that he would give them a son. This prayer was heard, and that son was Nilus. They carried the child to the church, and consecrated him to the service of God. On that account, also, they gave him the name of Nilus, after a venerated monk of the fifth century, distinguished by his spirit of vital Christianity, and to whose example
Augustus Neander—Light in the Dark Places

Letter X (In the Same Year) the Same, when Bishop
The Same, When Bishop He exhorts him to adorn the dignity which he had obtained without preceding merits, by a holy life. 1. Charity gives me boldness, my very dear friend, to speak to you with great confidence. The episcopal seat which you have lately obtained requires a man of many merits; and I see with grief none of these in you, or at least not sufficient, to have preceded your elevation. For your mode of life and your past occupations seem in nowise to have been befitting the episcopal office.
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux

The Evolution of Early Congregationalism the Stone which the Builders Rejected is Become the Head of the Corner. --Psalm cxviii
CHAPTER I THE EVOLUTION OF EARLY CONGREGATIONALISM The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner.--Psalm cxviii, 22. The colonists of Plymouth, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Haven were grounded in the system which became known as Congregational, and later as Congregationalism. At the outset they differed not at all in creed, and only in some respects in polity, from the great Puritan body in England, out of which they largely came.[a] For more than forty years before
M. Louise Greene, Ph. D.—The Development of Religious Liberty in Connecticut

Epistle vii. To Anastasius, Patriarch of Antioch .
To Anastasius, Patriarch of Antioch [1310] . Gregory to Anastasius, &c. I have found what your Blessedness has written to be as rest to the weary, as health to the sick, as a fountain to the thirsty, as shade to the oppressed with heat. For those words of yours did not seem even to be expressed by the tongue of the flesh, inasmuch as you so disclosed the spiritual love which you bear me as if your soul itself were speaking. But very hard was that which followed, in that your love enjoined me to
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

The Effects of this Fourth State of Prayer. Earnest Exhortations to those who have Attained to it not to Go Back, nor to Cease from Prayer,
1. There remains in the soul, when the prayer of union is over, an exceedingly great tenderness; so much so, that it would undo itself--not from pain, but through tears of joy it finds itself bathed therein, without being aware of it, and it knows not how or when it wept them. But to behold the violence of the fire subdued by the water, which yet makes it burn the more, gives it great delight. It seems as if I were speaking an unknown language. So it is, however. 2. It has happened to me occasionally,
Teresa of Avila—The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus

Letter xx. To Pope Damasus.
Jerome's reply to the foregoing. Exposing the error of Hilary of Poitiers, who supposed the expression to signify "redemption of the house of David," he goes on to show that in the gospels it is a quotation from Psa. cxviii. 25 and that its true meaning is "save now" (so A.V.). "Let us," he writes, "leave the streamlets of conjecture and return to the fountain-head. It is from the Hebrew writings that the truth is to be drawn." Written at Rome a.d. 383.
St. Jerome—The Principal Works of St. Jerome

Of the Conformity of Our Will to that Will of God's which is Signified to us by his Commandments.
The desire which God has to make us observe his commandments is extreme, as the whole Scripture witnesses. And how could he better express it, than by the great rewards which he proposes to the observers of his law, and the awful punishments with which he threatens those who shall violate the same! This made David cry out: O Lord, thou hast commanded thy Commandments to be kept most diligently. [360] Now the love of complacency, beholding this divine desire, wills to please God by observing it; the
St. Francis de Sales—Treatise on the Love of God

'My Strength and Song'
'The Lord is my strength and song, and He is become my salvation....' EXODUS xv. 2. These words occur three times in the Bible: here, in Isaiah xii. 2, and in Psalm cxviii. 14. I. The lessons from the various instances of their occurrence. The first and second teach that the Mosaic deliverance is a picture- prophecy of the redemption in Christ. The third (Psalm cxviii. 14), long after, and the utterance of some private person, teaches that each age and each soul has the same mighty Hand working for
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

A New Kind of King
'On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm-trees, and went forth to meet Him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord. And Jesus, when He had found a young ass, sat thereon; as it is written, Fear not, daughter of Sion: behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass's colt. These things understood not His disciples at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Lively Stones. Rev. W. Morley Punshon.
"Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ."--1 PETER ii. 5. There is a manifest reference in the fourth verse to the personage alluded to in Psalm cxviii. 22, 23: "The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. This is the Lord's doing; it is marvellous in our eyes." And this passage is applied by Christ to himself in Matthew xxi. 42: "Jesus saith unto them, Did
Knowles King—The Wesleyan Methodist Pulpit in Malvern

To Pastors and Teachers
To Pastors and Teachers If all who laboured for the conversion of others were to introduce them immediately into Prayer and the Interior Life, and make it their main design to gain and win over the heart, numberless as well as permanent conversions would certainly ensue. On the contrary, few and transient fruits must attend that labour which is confined to outward matters; such as burdening the disciple with a thousand precepts for external exercises, instead of leaving the soul to Christ by the
Madame Guyon—A Short and Easy Method of Prayer

Lydia, the First European Convert
WE MAY LAUDABLY EXERCISE CURIOSITY with regard to the first proclamation of the gospel in our own quarter of the globe. We are happy that history so accurately tells us, by the pen of Luke, when first the gospel was preached in Europe, and by whom, and who was the first convert brought by that preaching to the Savior's feet. I half envy Lydia that she should be the leader of the European band; yet I feel right glad that a woman led the van, and that her household followed so closely in the rear.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 37: 1891

The Great Privilege of those that are Born of God
"Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin." 1 John 3:9. 1. It has been frequently supposed, that the being born of God was all one with the being justified; that the new birth and justification were only different expressions, denoting the same thing: It being certain, on the one hand, that whoever is justified is also born of God; and, on the other, that whoever is born of God is also justified; yea, that both these gifts of God are given to every believer in one and the same moment. In one
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions

The First Day in Passion-Week - Palm-Sunday - the Royal Entry into Jerusalem
At length the time of the end had come. Jesus was about to make Entry into Jerusalem as King: King of the Jews, as Heir of David's royal line, with all of symbolic, typic, and prophetic import attaching to it. Yet not as Israel after the flesh expected its Messiah was the Son of David to make triumphal entrance, but as deeply and significantly expressive of His Mission and Work, and as of old the rapt seer had beheld afar off the outlined picture of the Messiah-King: not in the proud triumph of war-conquests,
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

The Fourth Commandment
Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath-day and hallowed it. Exod 20: 8-11. This
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

In the Last, the Great Day of the Feast'
IT was the last, the great day of the Feast,' and Jesus was once more in the Temple. We can scarcely doubt that it was the concluding day of the Feast, and not, as most modern writers suppose, its Octave, which, in Rabbinic language, was regarded as a festival by itself.' [3987] [3988] But such solemn interest attaches to the Feast, and this occurrence on its last day, that we must try to realise the scene. We have here the only Old Testament type yet unfilfilled; the only Jewish festival which has
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

Letter Xlvi (Circa A. D. 1125) to Guigues, the Prior, and to the Other Monks of the Grand Chartreuse
To Guigues, the Prior, And to the Other Monks of the Grand Chartreuse He discourses much and piously of the law of true and sincere charity, of its signs, its degrees, its effects, and of its perfection which is reserved for Heaven (Patria). Brother Bernard, of Clairvaux, wishes health eternal to the most reverend among fathers, and to the dearest among friends, Guigues, Prior of the Grande Chartreuse, and to the holy Monks who are with him. 1. I have received the letter of your Holiness as joyfully
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux

A vision of Judgement and Cleansing
'And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. 2. And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? 3. Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the Angel. 4. And He answered and spake unto those that stood before Him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him He said,
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

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