Psalm 113 Part 2 

Paul echoes v8 when he declares we are “seated in heavenly places in Christ.” (Eph 1:3). God lifts the poor and needy from the depths up to the heights. In light of the new covenant, we can make the connection with God’s work in the life of the believer as described in Eph 2:5: “Even when we were dead in trespasses, He made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” 

While v8 looks forward, it also looks back. V9 looks back to the song of Hannah, which is quoted almost exactly (cf. 7, 8a with 1Sam 2:8). Hence the sudden reference to the childless woman who becomes a mother (v9), for this was Hannah’s theme. Lifting the poor and needy to an honoured place is illustrated with the picture is of a woman barren of children becoming a joyful mother. Motherhood was the crowning achievement of any woman in these times and a barren woman was a social outcast, a disappointment to her husband, to other women and especially to herself.  

This psalm ends by saying that the great exalted God of the Bible is not only concerned about needy people in general but also with the individual. He cares about you. He cares for you and me personally. It is significant to remember that Jesus sang these words on the night He was betrayed and arrested, the night before His crucifixion. As he approached the ultimate depths in this stooping, He sang the song which offers praise to God for this condescending grace. The music ends as it began, praising the Lord from its first syllable to its last. May our life-psalm follow the same pattern and never Know a break or a conclusion. In an endless circle let us praise the Lord, whose loving kindnesses never cease.  

P.S. The circular notion of course is represented as a Chiasm as follows: 

A – v1 Praise to the Lord  
          B – V2-3  
                     C – v4  
                               D- v5(Apex statement)  
                     C – v6  
          B v7-9  
A – v9 praise to the Lord