At the Passover meal, the faithful Jew would traditionally sing Psalms 113 and 114 at the beginning of his observance and then sing Psalms 115, 116, 117, and 118 at its close. Matthew 26:30 lends credence to the possibility that Jesus did this in His final observation of the Passover.
Psalm 113 is a declaration of pure praise. It begins with “Praise the Lord!” and calls all the servants of Jehovah to praise His name (i.e. His character, authority, and person). It pronounces a beatitude upon the Lord and declares that He is to be universally praised. “Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forevermore! From the rising of the sun to its going down the Lord’s name is to be praised” (vv. 2-3).
Jehovah’s utter praiseworthiness is stated in incomparable majesty. “The Lord is high above all nations, His glory above the heavens. Who is like the Lord our God, Who dwells on high, Who humbles Himself to behold the things that are in the heavens and in the earth? He raises the poor out of the dust and lifts the needy out of the ash heap, that He may seat him with princes—with the princes of His people. He grants the barren woman a home, like a joyful mother of children” (vv. 4-9).
The incarnation of Jesus, who so humbled Himself to be born of a woman so He could raise all humanity out of the abject poverty and ash heap of sin and make sons/princes of God out of the sons of Adam, intensifies exponentially the psalm’s final burst of “Praise the Lord!”
