Precious to The Lord is The Death of His Saints

Commentary

In the last few verses of Psalm 116 the psalmist recounts how much he owes to God. 

 

1. He makes a statement as it pertains to death. “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints (v. 15). It is of great value to Him because of the death of His Son.

2. He expresses gladness for his position “I am thy servant” (v. 16).

3. He also expresses gladness for his promise “I will pay my vows unto the Lord” (v. 18).

 

Psalm 117 is short and sweet. Here is:   

      A solemn call to all nations to praise God, (v. 1).

      A proper matter for that praise suggested, (v. 2).

There is a great deal of gospel in this psalm. The apostle Paul has furnished us with a key to it (Rom. 15:11), where he quotes it as a proof that the gospel was to be preached to, and would be entertained by, the Gentile nations, which yet was so great a stumbling-block to the Jews. Why should that offend them when it is said, and they themselves had often sung it, Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and laud him, all you people. Some of the Jewish writers confess that this psalm refers to the kingdom of the Messiah; nay, one of them has a fancy that it consists of two verses to signify that in the days of the Messiah God should be glorified by two sorts of people, by the Jews, according to the law of Moses, and by the Gentiles, according to the seven precepts of the sons of Noah, which yet should make one church, as these two verses make one psalm. 

Application

When my wife’s father died with cancer at a rather early age my oldest son printed a card and placed it in the casket for the viewing with Psalm 116:15 _ “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.” This brought lots of comfort to the family and others during this time.