“Who is like the LORD our God, who is enthroned on high, who humbles Himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth? He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes, with the princes of His people” (Psa 113:5–8).
That is no accident. These very words, together with their theological connotations, stand strategically at the head of the Hallel Psalms.
Biblical allusions bring with them the theological freight of the passages they invoke. Psalm 113:5–9 cites, nearly word for word, Hannah’s prayer in 1 Samuel 2 (vv. 2, 5, 7–8). Hannah’s prayer not only sets the stage for David’s rise in 1–2 Samuel, but its horizon extends beyond David to the exalted Messianic King who will establish God’s kingdom (1 Sam 2:10; 2 Sam 22:51; 23:1). It is simply impossible, therefore, not to associate Hannah’s prayer with the Messianic hope, a connection Luke himself underscores through Mary’s Magnificat (Luke 1:46–55). That is no accident. These very words, together with their theological connotations, stand strategically at the head of the Hallel Psalms (Psalms 113—118).
Remarkably, these are the very psalms Yeshua sang with His disciples at the Passover Seder on the night He was betrayed (Matt 26:30; Mark 14:26). As He sang these words, Yeshua embraced Hannah’s prophetic prayer, one that anticipated not only David’s life but also the life of David’s greater Son. God would indeed “raise Him from the dust” and “lift Him from the ash heap” (Psa 113:7), not only to “sit with princes” (Psa 113:8), but to sit at His right hand (Psa 110:1).
Like David, He would be rejected and suffer terrible persecution. Yet before Gethsemane, before His arrest, and before the cross, Yeshua sang the words that celebrated the joy of His salvation, and ours: “The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief corner stone. This is the LORD’S doing; It is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day which the LORD has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psa 118:22–24).
