I wrote that Peter loved and often quoted Psalm 118:22. He quoted it before the Sanhedrin, as I said. But he also used it in his first letter in combination with a number of other texts that speak along the same lines: Isaiah 8:14 and 28:16, as well as Psalm 118:22 (see 1 Peter 2:4-8). In introducing these verses Peter says, “As you come to him, the living stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him—you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ" (vv. 4,5). That is a great privilege and a joy.
Psalm 118:22 pictures Jesus' death and resurrection. We know this because it is the way Jesus himself used these words. In the same chapter of Matthew in which we read about the people of Jerusalem hailing Jesus with verses 25 and 26 of Psalm 118, we also find Jesus quoting verses 22 and 23 in reference to himself (in Matt. 21).
As we discussed in yesterday's study, while this psalm is not strictly Messianic, key verses of this psalm are used in the New Testament about Jesus. And it is in this sense that the psalm is Messianic.
This is a long psalm, consisting of ten stanzas plus an opening theme verse and two closing ones (according to the New International Version). It begins with a summons to Israel to praise God, picking up the second line of verse 1: "His love endures forever” (vv. 2-4).
Psalm 117 is so short that any number of commentators try to tack it on to Psalm 116, as an appendage, or join it to Psalm 118 as a prelude. It is neither, of course. Psalm 117 stands by itself as one of the great short psalms of the Psalter, in fact, the shortest. Nevertheless, it is a fit introduction to Psalm 118, for its major message—“great is his (God's] love toward us, and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever" (v. 2)—is what Psalm 118 elaborates at length.
