This verse has been interpreted by Athanasius, Adam Clarke, Albert Barnes, and others as referring to Sunday as the day of worship for the NT church. One may well ask how this passage, without any contextual relationship to any weekly day of worship, could be applied to the first day of the week. These commentators make such an application by connecting v. 24 with vs. 22, 23. They claim that since Christ is the chief cornerstone of His church (see vs. 22, 23), and the whole structure of Christianity is built on Him, therefore the day of His resurrection is the day when He was made “head stone of the corner,” and that this resurrection day is the day spoken of in v. 24.

 Other commentators reject this interpretation, asserting that they see no basis in the context for a reference to any day of weekly worship. Among this latter group are Augustine, Luther, Calvin, and many modern expositors. They believe that Ps. 118 was composed either in connection with the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles of Nehemiah’s time (see Neh. 8:14-18), and hence apply the expression “this is the day” to that event, or in connection with whatever other special day of rejoicing the psalm was intended to celebrate.

 Ps. 118 is a congregational song of praise. Verse 19 seems to picture a group of worshipers standing before the gates of the Temple crying for admittance. Verse 20 gives the response of the priests within the Temple. “This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it” (RSV). As the procession enters the sacred precincts, they cry in ecstasy, “This is the day, etc.” Verses 20, 24 both begin with the Hebrew demonstrative pronoun zeh. In v. 20 the text points to the gate, a present reality. Verse 24 points to the day on which the gate was being entered, also a present reality. Patently, Sunday is not even hinted at in this text.