TL;DR:
Psalm 113:3 is a clear call to global worship of God, rather than a reference to daylight hours. Similar phrases in Psalm 50, Isaiah, and Malachi support a geographical understanding—from the farthest east to the farthest west. Across the centuries, Bible commentators have linked this verse to the Great Commission and the church’s responsibility to evangelize all nations.
Does Psalm 113:3 mean from sunrise to sunset, or does it mean from east to west?
Several years ago, young people came home from a quadrennial Nazarene Youth Conference singing Stephen P. Smith's "From the Rising of the Sun." As I watched them putting motions of a rising and setting sun to that musical rendition of Psalm 113:3, I suddenly realized they were singing about fulfilling the Great Commission.
To be sure, the wording of Psalm 113:3 can be taken to mean "from sunrise to sunset." However, that would ignore the context of the verse. Verse 2 says, "both now and forevermore." That refers to time. Even so, to say verse 3 also refers to time overlooks the phrase "to the place where [the sun] sets." As Barnes' classic Notes on the Bible puts it, verse 3 says, "From the farthest east to the farthest west." That meaning is even clearer in the similar wording of Psalm 50:1:
The Mighty One, God, the LORD,
speaks and summons the earth
from the rising of the sun to where it sets.
The author of Psalm 113 is not identified in Scripture. Whoever wrote it may have understood Israel’s calling in light of Exodus 19:6, where God describes His people as "a kingdom of priests"—a people through whom others could be drawn into God's presence.
This particular psalm has long been sung at Jewish Passover commemorations. Therefore, it likely would have been sung by Jesus and His disciples at the Upper Room meal before Jesus' arrest and crucifixion. After His Resurrection, Jesus spoke to His disciples about making disciples of "all nations" (Matthew 28:19–20). Is it possible that the idea of "from the farthest east to the farthest west" from Psalm 113:3 was still reverberating in the disciples' minds from that Passover celebration as Jesus spoke the words of His Great Commission to them?
Psalm 113:3 calls for the LORD's name to be praised everywhere. Three other passages use similar geographical wording: Psalm 50:1, Isaiah 45:6, and Isaiah 59:19. Together, they portray worldwide recognition of God. If God is not being praised somewhere between the farthest east and the farthest west, His people should seek to change that situation.
As Protestant missionary activity expanded during the 1700s, Bible scholar John Gill interpreted Psalm 113:3 as looking forward to worldwide evangelism. He said the verse looked forward to "Gospel times when the Gospel should be sent unto all the world, and many should be called from the east and west, the north and south" (BibleHub.com).
Psalm 113:3 is sung today at Jewish Passover celebrations and by Christians using musical settings composed by Stephen P. Smith, Paul Deming, and others. When those words are sung, they can remind worshipers of the calling to carry the Good News to every place on earth.
— Howard Culbertson, hculbert@snu.edu
This blog post on a world missions Bible passage is one of more than three dozen in the "Heart of God" series published in Engage, a monthly online magazine. That series looked at what the Bible says about missions.
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In a geographical sense, the rising and setting of the sun in Psalm 113 (as well as other passages with similar wording) symbolizes the entirety of the earth, from east to west. The words are a call to worldwide praise of God. Psalm 113 implies that in all cultural and ethnic contexts, from one end of the earth to the other, the God of the Bible is worthy of praise and worship.
"'My name will be great among the nations, from where the sun rises to where it sets. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to me, because my name will be great among the nations,' says the LORD Almighty." — Malachi 1:11, 2011 NIV
