Five-minute study · Day 359 · Psalms 118
Psalm 118:24
A word worth stopping on: made / fashioned עָשָׂה asah
'This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.' The Hebrew word for made is asah. It means to fashion, to construct, to produce something with skill and intention. Asah is the word used in Genesis 1:7 when God made the firmament. It is the word for constructing the tabernacle (Exodus 25:10). It describes a craftsman at work. Each day, the psalm says, is something God has built. The context of the verse is important: this is not a greeting card sentiment. Psalm 118 is a victory song. The preceding verses describe enemies surrounding the psalmist like bees (v. 12), pushing him to the point of falling (v. 13), and a stone rejected by builders becoming the cornerstone (v. 22). The 'day the LORD has made' is a day of rescue after near-destruction. The rejoicing comes after the threat, not before it.
Word study: made / fashioned
- Hebrew
- עָשָׂה
- Pronounced
- asah
- Strong's
- H6213
- Definition
- To do, to make, to fashion, to accomplish, to construct. One of the most common verbs in the Hebrew Bible (over 2600 occurrences). Used for divine creation, human craftsmanship, and any purposeful act of production.
Asah appears over 2,600 times in the Hebrew Bible, making it one of the most frequently used verbs in the language. BDB defines it as 'to do, to make.' The range covers every kind of purposeful action: God asah the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:7, 1:16, 1:25, 1:31), a carpenter asah a table, a woman asah a garment, a king asah war, a judge asah justice. The word implies intention. Whatever is asah is produced on purpose, with design and skill.
Allen's commentary on Psalms 101-150 reads Psalm 118:24 within the liturgical context of the psalm. Psalm 118 is the last of the Egyptian Hallel psalms (Psalms 113-118), sung during the great Jewish festivals, particularly Passover, Tabernacles, and Pentecost. The Mishnah (Sukkah 3:9, Pesachim 5:7) records that the Levites sang the Hallel while the Passover lambs were slaughtered in the temple courts. Psalm 118 was the final song, the climactic conclusion. Jesus and his disciples sang it after the Last Supper: 'And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives' (Matthew 26:30).
Allen observes that the 'day' in verse 24 is specific. The 'day' in verse 24 is specific: 'this' day, the day of deliverance the psalm has been describing. The rejected stone has become the cornerstone (v. 22). The gates of righteousness have opened (v. 19). The psalmist who was pushed to the point of falling has been saved (v. 13). 'This is the day' refers to the moment when the reversal happens, when the rejected becomes the chosen, when the threatened becomes the delivered. Allen notes that asah gives the day the quality of an artifact. God built this day the way a potter builds a vessel or an architect builds a house. The day is a construction. The rescue is designed. The joy is the appropriate response to realizing that the day you are standing in was fashioned on purpose.
Historical context · c. 6th century BCE - 1st century CE
The Egyptian Hallel and the Temple Liturgy
Psalms 113-118, known collectively as the Egyptian Hallel (or simply the Hallel), formed the core of Jewish liturgical singing at the three pilgrimage festivals: Passover, Shavuot (Pentecost), and Sukkot (Tabernacles). The Mishnah prescribes their use in detail. During the Passover seder, Psalms 113-114 were sung before the meal and Psalms 115-118 after it. During the slaughter of the Passover lambs in the temple, the Levitical choir sang the complete Hallel while worshippers processed through the courts.
Psalm 118 held a position of particular prominence as the final psalm of the sequence. Its opening and closing verses, 'O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: because his mercy endureth for ever,' functioned as a congregational refrain. The Mishnah (Sukkah 3:9) records that the people waved their lulav (palm branches) at the words 'Save now, I beseech thee' (hoshia na, v. 25, the origin of the word 'Hosanna'). During Tabernacles, worshippers processed around the altar while singing these verses. On the seventh day (Hoshana Rabbah), they circled the altar seven times.
Allen connects Psalm 118:22 ('the stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner') to its liturgical function. The verse became one of the most frequently quoted Old Testament texts in the New Testament. Jesus cites it in Matthew 21:42. Peter quotes it before the Sanhedrin in Acts 4:11. Paul alludes to it in Ephesians 2:20. The early church understood the rejected stone as a reference to Christ: rejected by the religious establishment, executed by the state, and raised to the position of ultimate authority. The 'day the LORD has made' in verse 24, read through this lens, becomes the day of resurrection. The day when the rejected stone was placed at the head of the corner. The day that was fashioned, asah, constructed with divine intention before any human participant understood the blueprint.
For reflection
The verse is usually read as a general encouragement. In its original context, it follows a description of enemies swarming like bees, a near-fatal push, and a rejected stone becoming the most important one in the building. The rejoicing is earned. What day in your life looked like a defeat and turned out to be something God had built on purpose? Can you see the construction now that you could not see then?
Asah means to fashion with skill. The day is not accidental. The rescue is not luck. God built the day you are standing in. The design includes everything you walked through to get here.
Sources: BDB; Allen, "Psalms 101-150"