Psalms 118:27 - Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

Bible Comments

Shewed us light... — Whether this is literal or figurative is difficult to decide. If literal, it may be a repetition of Psalms 118:24; or if there is a particular reference in this psalm to the Feast of Tabernacles, Mr. Burgess’s suggestion, which connects the light with the pillar of cloud and fire, of which that feast was very probably specially commemorative, is most worthy of notice. Figuratively the words would, of course, mean “the light of salvation and hope,” as so frequently in the Psalms. It is also possible there may be allusion to the priestly benediction (Numbers 6:25), where the verb is the same.

Bind the sacrifice... — This cannot well be, “tie the victim to the horns of the altar,” for the Hebrew is “as far as to,” and no satisfactory explanation is possible of binding animals as far as the altar, unless we are to translate “bind and lead.” But the Hebrew word rendered victim might by derivation (“to go round”) easily mean a circlet or crown, and by supplying the verb go we get bind on a crown, go with garlands even to the horns of the altar. The ancient versions, LXX., Vulg., Aquila, Symmachus, all point to this rendering.

Psalms 118:27

27 God is the LORD, which hath shewed us light: bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar.