Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 21:1
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The king shall joy in thy strength, O LORD; and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!
1. The prayers of Psalms 20 have been answered. The victory is won, and the king rejoices. He has trusted in Jehovah, and now the ground of his rejoicing is the strength which Jehovah has put forth on his behalf, the deliverance which Jehovah has wrought for him. Cp. Psa 9:14; Exo 15:2.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
1 7. The people’s thanksgiving for Jehovah’s favour to their king.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The king shall joy in thy strength – King David, who had achieved the victory which he had desired and prayed for, Psa 20:1-9. This is in the third person, but the reference is doubtless to David himself, and is to be understood as his own language. If it be understood, however, as the language of the people, it is still an ascription of praise to God for his favor to their king. It seems better, however, to regard it as the language of David himself. The word strength here implies that all the success referred to was to be traced to God. It was not by the prowess of a human arm; it was not by the valor or skill of the king himself; it was by the power of God alone.
And in thy salvation – In the salvation or deliverance from foes which thou hast granted, and in all that thou doest to save. The language would embrace all that God does to save his people.
How greatly shall he rejoice! – Not only does he rejoice now, but he ever will rejoice. It will be to him a constant joy. Salvation, now to us a source of comfort, will always be such; and when we once have evidence that God has interposed to save us, it is accompanied with the confident anticipation that this will continue to be the source of our highest joy forever.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 21:1-13
The king shall Joy in Thy strength, O Lord; and in Thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice.
The feelings of the good in relation to the subjugation of evil
Take the literal view of this Psalm as a type of the moral one against error and sin, and we have–
I. Thanksgiving for victory. Verses 1-7 are a triumphant declaration of some victory. Thou settest a crown of pure gold upon his bead. Now–
1. His conquest was a source of joy. The king shall joy, etc.
2. His conquest was of Divine mercy. Thou hast given him, etc. That mercy went before him. Thou preventest him, etc., and transcended his progress. He asked life of Thee, and Thou gavest it him, even length of days forever and ever.
3. His conquest exalted him to honour. His glory is great, etc. And–
4. Was connected with his trust in God. For the king trusteth, etc.
II. Expectation of yet further victory. Thine hand shall find out all Thine enemies, etc. In moral struggles, past victories promise future ones. Because–
1. The opposition is weakened.
2. The weapons cannot be injured. The sword of the Spirit cannot rest nor decay.
3. The resources are inexhaustible–Gods wisdom, love, and power.
4. The enemies already overcome are as great as any remaining; and
5. Each new conquest weakens the foe, but increases the strength of the conqueror.
III. Desire for victory over all enemies. And this shall be. Be Thou exalted, Lord, in, etc. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
The Lord Protector of princes
Here is God assisting, and the king trusting; God saving, and the king rejoicing; the king desiring, and God satisfying his desires to the full. In this verse are three remarkable conjugations. God is joined with the king. Strength with confidence. Salvation with exceeding great joy. Thus they depend on each other. The king on God. Confidence on strength. Joy of salvation. God exalteth the king. Strength begetteth confidence. Salvation bringeth with it exceeding joy. God is above the king. Salvation is above strength. Exceeding joy above confidence.
1. The only security of princes and states is in the strength of the Almighty.
2. God holdeth a special hand over sovereign princes.
3. Princes mightily defended and safely preserved by the arm of God must thankfully acknowledge this singular favour, and deliver their deliverances to after ages, that the children yet unborn may praise the Lord as we do this day. (D. Featley, D. D.)
Rejoicing in the strength of God
Oh, it is good rejoicing in the strength of that arm which shall never wither, and in the shadow of those wings which shall never cast their feathers! In Him that is not there yesterday and here today, but the same yesterday, today, and forever! For as He is, so shall the joy be. (Launcelot Andrews.)
In Thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice.
The joy of the heavenly King
I. This joy arose from a consciousness of newly-achieved victory.
1. This victory was achieved by supernatural power. Not by the ordinary tactics of military genius, or by the prowess of a human arm. The salvation of humanity is a Divine work.
2. This victory was granted in answer to earnest prayer (Psa 21:2). The agony of wrestling prayer is often turned into the rapture of success.
II. This joy was accelerated by possessing an affluence of Divine blessing.
1. He was surrounded with evidences of the Divine beneficence. Gods gifts are Gods love embodied and expressed.
2. He was invested with the most illustrious dignity (Psa 21:3; Psa 21:5). Jesus wore a thorn crown, but now He wears the glory crown.
3. He enjoyed the consciousness of an imperishable life (Psa 21:4). He was raised from the dead to die no more.
4. He became the source of endless blessing to others (Psa 21:6). In and through Him all nations of the earth are blessed.
5. He exults in the Divine favour (Psa 21:6). The countenance of God makes the Prince of heaven glad.
III. This joy was intensified by the assurance of the unshakeable permanency of His government.
1. The permanency of Messiahs throne is secured by the Divine mercy (Psa 21:7). He who is most high in every sense engages all His infinite perfections to maintain the throne of grace upon which our King in Zion reigns.
2. The assurance of this permanency is strengthened by Messiahs confidence in God (Psa 21:7). The joy and confidence of Christ our King is the ground of all our joy and confidence, and the pledge of final conquest over all our foes. (Homiletic Commentary.)
A completed salvation, Messiahs triumph
I. Look at our King as having accomplished salvation. But few Christians believe in a salvation finished, perfected. The salvation in Christ Jesus is complete; there is not an iota more to pay, not a single act of meritorious obedience left to perform, and not an enemy to combat but He has engaged to vanquish. Look at the manner in which He accomplishes this salvation.
1. By His suretyship and substitution.
2. By His atonement.
3. The entire labour is exclusively His own.
II. Our glorious King invested with kingly power to dispense salvation.
1. By His victories.
2. By application.
III. The King rejoicing in Gods salvation, seeing the trophies of it brought in and brought home. My soul seems in an ecstasy of thought in the contemplation of this. Precious Christ! It is all Thine own–all Thy work from first to last. (Joseph Irons.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
PSALM XXI
The psalmist returns thanks to God for giving him the victory
over his enemies; which victory he had earnestly requested,
1, 2.
He enters into a detail of the blessings that in consequent of
the victory he had obtained, 3-7.
He predicts the destruction of all those who may hereafter rise
up against him, 8-12;
and concludes with praising the power of Jehovah, 13.
NOTES ON PSALM XXI
In the title of this Psalm there is nothing particularly worthy of remark. The occasion of it is variously understood. Some think it was composed to celebrate the victory obtained over Sennacherib; others, that it was made on the recovery of Hezekiah, and the grant of fifteen years of longer life; see Ps 21:4. Others and they with most appearance of propriety consider it a song of rejoicing composed by David for his victory over the Ammonites, which ended in the capture of the royal city of Rabbah, the crown of whose king David put on his own head, see Ps 21:3, and to procure which victory David offered the prayers and sacrifices mentioned in the preceding Psalm. Lastly, many think that it is to be wholly referred to the victories of the Messiah; and it must be owned that there are several expressions in it which apply better to our Lord than to David, or to any other person; and to him the Targum applies it, as does likewise my old Anglo-Scottish Psalter in paraphrasing the text.
Verse 1. The king shall joy] melech Meshicha, “the King Messiah.” – Targum. What a difference between ancient and modern heroes! The former acknowledged all to be of God, because they took care to have their quarrel rightly founded; the latter sing a Te Deum, pro forma, because they well know that their battle is not of the Lord. Their own vicious conduct sufficiently proves that they looked no higher than the arm of human strength. God suffers such for a time, but in the end he confounds and brings them to naught.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
In thy strength conferred upon him, and put forth by thee on his behalf against his enemies.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. thy strength . . . thysalvationas supplied by Thee.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The king shall joy in thy strength, O Lord,…. Either in that strength which is in Jehovah himself, in whom is everlasting strength; and which is seen in the works of creation and providence, and is the same in Christ himself, as he is the mighty God; or else in the strength which Jehovah communicated to Christ as man, whereby he was strengthened in his human nature to go through and complete the work of man’s redemption; or in the strength which the Lord puts forth, and the power which he exerts towards and upon his people, in conversion; which is the produce of the exceeding greatness of his power; and in strengthening them, from time to time, to exercise grace, discharge duty, and withstand temptations and sin; and in keeping them safe to the end; in supporting them under all their trials, and in carrying on and finishing the work of faith upon their souls; all which is matter of joy to Christ;
and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice? meaning either his own salvation by the Lord, from all his sorrows and troubles, and out of the hands of all enemies, being in the presence of God, where is fulness of joy, Ps 16:9; or else the salvation of his people by him, which Jehovah appointed them to, secured for them in the covenant of grace, sent Christ to work out for them, applies by his Spirit, and at last puts into the full possession of: Christ rejoices at the effectual calling and conversion of his people, when salvation is brought near unto them; and especially at their glorification, when they shall be in the full enjoyment of it; then will they be his joy, and crown of rejoicing: this is the joy that was set before him, which made him go so cheerfully through his sufferings and death for them,
Heb 12:2; the reasons of this joy are, because of the great love he bears to them; the interest and property he has in them; his undertakings for them, as their surety, to bring them safe to glory; his purchase of them by his blood; his intercession for them, that they might be with him to behold his glory; and, last of all, because of his Father’s glory, his own glory, and the glory of the blessed Spirit, which are concerned in the salvation of these persons.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(Heb.: 21:2-3) The Psalm begins with thanksgiving for the bodily and spiritual blessings which Jahve has bestowed and still continues to bestow upon the king, in answer to his prayer. This occupies the three opening tetrastichs, of which these verses form the first. (whence , as in Psa 74:13, together with , Psa 63:3, and frequently) is the power that has been made manifest in the king, which has turned away his affliction; is the help from above which has freed him out of his distress. The , which follows the of the exclamation, is naturally shortened by the Ker into (with the retreat of the tone); cf. on the contrary Pro 20:24, where is interrogative and, according to the sense, negative). The . . has the signification eager desire, according to the connection, the lxx , and the perhaps also cognate , to be poor; the Arabic Arab. wrs , avidum esse, must be left out of consideration according to the laws of the interchange of consonants, whereas , Arab. wrt , capere, captare (cf. Arab. irt = wirt an inheritance), but not (vid., Psa 34:11), belongs apparently to the same root. Observe the strong negation : no, thou hast not denied, but done the very opposite. The fact of the music having to strike up here favours the supposition, that the occasion of the Psalm is the fulfilment of some public, well-known prayer.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Subject’s Thanksgiving. | |
To the chief musician. A psalm of David.
1 The king shall joy in thy strength, O LORD; and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice! 2 Thou hast given him his heart’s desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips. Selah. 3 For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness: thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head. 4 He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, even length of days for ever and ever. 5 His glory is great in thy salvation: honour and majesty hast thou laid upon him. 6 For thou hast made him most blessed for ever: thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance.
David here speaks for himself in the first place, professing that his joy was in God’s strength and in his salvation, and not in the strength or success of his armies. He also directs his subjects herein to rejoice with him, and to give God all the glory of the victories he had obtained; and all with an eye to Christ, of whose triumphs over the powers of darkness David’s victories were but shadows. 1. They here congratulate the king on his joys and concur with him in them (v. 1): “The king rejoices, he uses to rejoice in thy strength, and so do we; what pleases the king pleases us,” 2 Sam. iii. 36. Happy the people the character of whose king it is that he makes God’s strength his confidence and God’s salvation his joy, that is pleased with all the advancements of God’s kingdom and trusts God to bear him out in all he does for the service of it. Our Lord Jesus, in his great undertaking, relied upon help from heaven, and pleased himself with the prospect of that great salvation which he was thereby to work out. 2. They gave God all the praise of those things which were the matter of their king’s rejoicing. (1.) That God had heard his prayers (v. 2): Thou hast given him his heart’s desire (and there is no prayer accepted but what is the heart’s desire), the very thing they begged of God for him, Ps. xx. 4. Note, God’s gracious returns of prayer do, in a special manner, require our humble returns of praise. When God gives to Christ the heathen for his inheritance, gives him to see his seed, and accepts his intercession for all believers, he give him his heart’s desire. (2.) That God had surprised him with favours, and much outdone his expectations (v. 3): Thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness. All our blessings are blessings of goodness, and are owing, not at all to any merit of ours, but purely and only to God’s goodness. But the psalmist here reckons it in a special manner obliging that these blessings were given in a preventing way; this fixed his eye, enlarged his soul, and endeared his God, as one expresses it. When God’s blessings come sooner and prove richer than we imagine, when they are given before we prayed for them, before we were ready for them, nay, when we feared the contrary, then it may be truly said that he prevented us with them. Nothing indeed prevented Christ, but to mankind never was any favour more preventing than our redemption by Christ and all the blessed fruits of his mediation. (3.) That God had advanced him to the highest honour and the most extensive power: “Thou hast set a crown of pure gold upon his head and kept it there, when his enemies attempted to throw it off.” Note, Crowns are at God’s disposal; no head wears them but God sets them there, whether in judgment to his land or for mercy the event will show. On the head of Christ God never set a crown of gold, but of thorns first, and then of glory. (4.) That God had assured him of the perpetuity of his kingdom, and therein had done more for him than he was able either to ask or think (v. 4): “When he went forth upon a perilous expedition he asked his life of thee, which he then put into his hand, and thou not only gavest him that, but withal gavest him length of days for ever and ever, didst not only prolong his life far beyond his expectation, but didst assure him of a blessed immortality in a future state and of the continuance of his kingdom in the Messiah that should come of his loins.” See how God’s grants often exceed our petitions and hopes, and infer thence how rich he is in mercy to those that call upon him. See also and rejoice in the length of the days of Christ’s kingdom. He was dead, indeed, that we might live through him; but he is alive, and lives for evermore, and of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end; and because he thus lives we shall thus live also. (5.) That God had advanced him to the highest honour and dignity (v. 5): “His glory is great, far transcending that of all the neighbouring princes, in the salvation thou hast wrought for him and by him.” The glory which every good man is ambitious of is to see the salvation of the Lord. Honour and majesty hast thou laid upon him, as a burden which he must bear, as a charge which he must account for. Jesus Christ received from God the Father honour and glory (2 Pet. i. 17), the glory which he had with him before the worlds were, John xvii. 5. And on him is laid the charge of universal government and to him all power in heaven and earth is committed. (6.) That God had given him the satisfaction of being the channel of all bliss to mankind (v. 6): “Thou hast set him to be blessings for ever” (so the margin reads it), “thou hast made him to be a universal blessing to the world, in whom the families of the earth are, and shall be blessed; and so thou hast made him exceedingly glad with the countenance thou hast given to his undertaking and to him in the prosecution of it.” See how the spirit of prophecy gradually rises here to that which is peculiar to Christ, for none besides is blessed for ever, much less a blessing for ever to that eminency that the expression denotes: and of him it is said that God made him full of joy with his countenance.
In singing this we should rejoice in his joy and triumph in his exaltation.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Psalms 21
PSALM OF GRATITUDE
Verses 1-13:
Praise for Triumph Given
As the 20th Psalm prayed for deliverance “in the day of trouble,” and found it, so this 21st Psalm forms a dual partnership to thank and praise God for the triumph granted. The battle was fought, the victory was won, and this song of gratitude burst forth. Gratitude is a fruit of the spirit; or a Divine virtue that every believer should cultivate. David and Israel anticipated every victory promised them by the faithful Jehovah God, as redeemer and yet coming king; For God had promised that David’s house and throne should be forever, fulfilled in the Son of David.
Verse 1 declares that the king (David) would joy in the strength of the Lord and joy in his salvation, the salvation that should come through the Messiah, to triumph over all His enemies, as He had caused David to do over his. Through His promises all His children may also have joyful triumph over their foes as they “put on” the whole armor of God and stand in faith, prayer, and supplication to Him today, Eph 6:10-24. He causes us to “triumph in Christ,” 2Co 2:14.
Verse 2 states that the Lord had granted David his heart’s desire and had not held back from giving him what his lips had requested. Note, true prayer from the lips must originate from an earnest, honest heart, Joh 11:42. “Selah” means pause, meditate, and digest this for spiritual nourishment, 2Sa 7:16; 2Sa 7:24-29.
Verse 3 asserts that the Lord continually surprised him (David) with blessings of goodness, and set a perpetual, continuing crown of pure gold (royal reigning) upon his head, even through the Messiah to come through the tribe of Judah and family of David, Gen 49:10; 2Sa 7:18-19; Mic 5:2; Luk 1:31-33; Luk 2:4.
Verse 4 adds that he (David) asked life of the Lord and the Lord gave it to him, more, longer than he asked, even for ever and ever, in salvation, in perpetuity of his family and royal seed through the sure coming Messiah-Redeemer, Jesus Christ, 2Sa 7:13; 2Sa 7:16; 2Sa 7:19; Psa 61:5-6; Psa 89:4.
Verses 5, 6 disclose that the glory of the Lord exists in the great salvation that He wrought, to be exalted and enshrouded with glory, honor, and royal majesty through His triumphant death, burial, and resurrection for the redemption of the whole world, as expressed Heb 2:9-15.
Verse 6 adds that God had made the king, David and his seed “most blessed” for ever, and exceeding glad, by the favour of His countenance of grace, as expressed Gen 12:2; Psa 72:17; Psa 72:19; Luk 2:10-11; Act 3:25; Gal 3:14; Gal 3:19.
Verse 7 confides that the king (David) was continually trusting in the Lord, asserting that through the continuing mercy of the most High, the exalted, living God, he would not be moved or turned aside from faith in and obedience to Him, Psa 12:2; Psa 91:2.
Verses 8, 9 declare that the right hand (strong hand) of the most High God would find out, fall upon all His enemies, those who hated Him. It is explained that this will be, done in the time of His judgment anger that would come upon His enemies like an heated, explosive fiery oven flame, to swallow up or devour them, at the day of His great wrath, Deu 32:22; Mal 4:1; 2Th 1:7-10.
Verses 10-12 add that the seed or fruit of David and of all God’s enemies would be destroyed or removed from among men. Such was to come because they imagined and purposed, with premeditation to do evil against David, Israel, and Almighty God; Even such evil as they could not perform against a covenant people, and anointed king of God; David asserted that because of this deceitfulness God’s arrow would cause them to turn and flee in defeat, Jer 17:9; Psa 11:2; Psa 18:40; Job 7:20; Job 16:12; La 3:12.
Verse 13 returns to a note of gratitude in triumphant praise, exalting the Lord for His own strength that became available to all who cry for Him in sincerity and truth. David vows that he and all Israel, all the covenant people, will sing and extol God’s mighty power, Psa 18:46; Rev 11:16-17; Rev 15:3-4; Rev 16:5-7.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
1. The king will rejoice in thy strength, O Jehovah! David could have given thanks to God in private for the victories and other signal favors which he had received from him; but it was his intention to testify not only that it was God who elevated him to the throne, but also that whatever blessings God had conferred upon him redounded to the public good, and the advantage of all the faithful. In the beginning of the psalm the believing Israelites express their firm persuasion that God, who had created David to be king, had undertaken to defend and maintain him. It therefore appears that this psalm, as well as the preceding, was composed for the purpose of assuring the faithful that the goodness of God in this respect towards David would be of long duration, and permanent; and it was necessary, in order to their being established in a well-grounded confidence of their safety; to hope well of their king, whose countenance was as it were a mirror of the merciful and reconciled countenance of God. The sense of the words is: Lord, in putting forth thy power to sustain and protect the king, thou wilt preserve him safe; and, ascribing his safety to thy power, he will greatly rejoice in thee. The Psalmist has doubtless put strength and salvation for strong and powerful succor; intimating, that the power of God in defending the king would be such as would preserve and protect him against all dangers.
In the second verse there is pointed out the cause of this joy. The cause was this: that God had heard the prayers of the king, and had liberally granted him whatever he desired. It was important to be known, and that the faithful should have it deeply impressed on their minds, that all David’s successes were so many benefits conferred upon him by God, and at the same time testimonies of his lawful calling. And David, there is no doubt, in speaking thus, testifies that he did not give loose reins to the desires of the flesh, and follow the mere impulse of his appetites like worldly men, who set their minds at one time upon this thing, and at another time upon that, without any consideration, and just as they are led by their sensual lusts; but that he had so bridled his affections as to desire nothing save what was good and lawful. According to the infirmity which is natural to men, he was, it is true, chargeable with some vices, and even fell shamefully on two occasions; but the habitual administration of his kingdom was such that it was easy to see that the Holy Spirit presided over it. But as by the Spirit of prophecy the Psalmist had principally an eye to Christ, who does not reign for his own advantage, but for ours, and whose desire is directed only to our salvation, we may gather hence the very profitable doctrine, that we need entertain no apprehension that God will reject our prayers in behalf of the church, since our heavenly King has gone before us in making intercession for her, so that in praying for her we are only endeavoring to follow his example.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
THE MESSIANIC PRAYER
It anticipated His coming troubles.
The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble; the Name of the God of Jacob defend thee;
Send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion (Psa 20:1-2).
It took into account His self-offering.
Remember all Thy offerings, and accept Thy burnt-sacrifice; Selah.
Grant Thee according to Thine own heart, and fulfil all Thy counsel (Psa 20:3-4).
It trusted His unfailing Word.
We will rejoice in Thy salvation, and in the Name of our God we will set up our banners: the Lord fulfil all thy petitions.
Now know I that the Lord saveth His anointed: He will hear Him from His holy Heaven with the saving strength of His right hand.
Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the Name of the Lord our God.
They are brought down and fallen; but we are risen, and stand upright.
Save, Lord: let the King hear us when we call (Psa 20:5-9).
THE MESSIAHS PROGRESS
His path is one of pleasure.
The king shall joy in Thy strength, O Lord; and in Thy salvation how greatly shall He rejoice!
Thou hast given him his hearts desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips. Selah.
For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness; Thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head (Psa 21:1-3).
His petitions are all granted.
He asked life of Thee, and Thou gavest it him, even length of days for ever and ever.
His glory is great in Thy salvation: honour and majesty hast Thou laid upon Him.
For Thou hast made Him most blessed for ever: Thou hast made Him exceeding glad with Thy countenance.
For the king trusteth in the Lord, and through the mercy of the most High He shall not be moved (Psa 21:4-7).
His enemies are all vanquished.
Thine hand shall find out all Thine enemies: Thy right hand shall find out those that hate Thee.
Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of Thine anger: the Lord shall swallow them up in His wrath, and the fire shall devour them.
Their fruit shalt Thou destroy from the earth, and their seed from among the children of men.
For they intended evil against Thee: they imagined a. mischievous device, which they are not able to perform.
Therefore shalt Thou make them turn their back, when Thou shalt make ready Thine arrows upon Thy strings against the face of them.
Be thou exalted, Lord, in Thine own strength: so will we sing and praise Thy power (Psa 21:8-13).
THE MESSIAHS PASSION
The passion of fear.
My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me? why art Thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?
O my God, I cry in the daytime, but Thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.
But Thou art holy, O Thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
Our fathers trusted in Thee: they trusted, and Thou didst deliver them.
They cried unto Thee, and were delivered: they trusted in Thee, and were not confounded.
But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.
All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
He trusted on the Lord that He would deliver him: let Him deliver him, seeing he delighted in Him.
But Thou art He that took me out of the womb: Thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mothers breasts.
I was cast upon Thee from the womb: Thou art my God from my mothers belly.
Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help.
Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.
They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion.
I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.
My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and Thou hast brought me into the dust of death.
For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.
I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me.
They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.
But be not Thou far from me, O Lord: O my strength, haste Thee to help me.
Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog.
Save me from the lions mouth: for Thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns (Psa 22:1-21).
His passion of praise.
I will declare Thy Name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise Thee.
Ye that fear the Lord, praise Him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify Him; and fear Him, all ye the seed of Israel.
For He hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath He hid His face from him; but when he cried unto Him, He heard.
My praise shall be of Thee in the great congregation:
I will pay my vows before them that fear Him (Psa 22:22-25).
His passion of expectation.
The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the Lord that seek Him: your heart shall live for ever.
All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before Thee.
For the Kingdom is the Lords: and He is the governor among the nations.
All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before Him: and none can keep alive his own soul.
A seed shall serve Him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation.
They shall come, and shall declare His righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that He hath done this (Psa 22:26-31).
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
INTRODUCTION
The prayer which the Church offers up at the conclusion of the preceding psalm now issues in a hymn of praise, the result of a believing view of the glory which is to follow, when Messiahs sufferings are ended. This is one of the beautiful songs of which we find many in Scripture, prepared by the Holy Spirit to awaken and enliven the hopes and expectations of the Church while she waits for the Lord, and to give utterance to her joy at the time of His arrival. The theme is Messiahs exaltation and glory, and the time chosen for its delivery it just the moment when darkness covered the earth, and all nature seemed about to die with its expiring Lord. Scripture deals largely in contrasts. It seems to be suitable to the human mind to turn from one extreme to another. Man can endure any change, however violent and contradictory, but a long continuance, a sameness either of joy or sorrow, has a debilitating and depressing effect.Ryland.
THE JOY OF THE HEAVENLY KING
(Psa. 21:1-7.)
I. This joy arose from a consciousness of newly achieved victory. In Thy salvation how greatly shall He rejoice (Psa. 21:1).
1. This victory was achieved by supernatural power. In Thy strength, O Lord (Psa. 21:1). The Man of sorrows, as He entered into the stern conflict with evil, knew full well the victory could not be gained by the ordinary tactics of military genius, or by the prowess of a human arm. He relied on the strength of Jehovah, and not in vain: He emerged from the dark, fierce contest, an exultant conqueror. How often do we fail in the great battle of life by being too self-reliant; and in proportion to our blind confidence in an arm of flesh is the humiliation and misery of our defeat! Our weakness unstrings our harps, but His strength tunes them anew. If we cannot sing a note in honour of our own strength, we can at any rate rejoice in our omnipotent God. The salvation of humanity is a Divine work, and will be to myriads the source of ceaseless and ever-increasing joy.
2. This victory was granted in answer to earnest prayer. Thou hast given Him His hearts desire, and hast not withholden the request of His lips (Psa. 21:2). On the lonely shore, among the silent hills or under the shadows of the solitary garden, the Messiah poured out His soul in earnest prayer for strength to suffer and to prevail on behalf of His people; and He was heard and marvellously answered. What is in the well of the heart is sure to come up in the bucket of the lips; and those are the only true prayers where the hearts desire is first, and the lips request follows after. The requests of the Saviour were not withheld. He was and still is a prevailing pleader. Our Advocate on high returns not empty from the throne of grace.Spurgeon. The agony of wrestling prayer is often turned into the rapture of success. The last psalm, says Perowne, was a litany before the king went forth to battle. This is apparently a Te Deum on his return.
II. This joy was accelerated by possessing an affluence of Divine Blessing.
1. He was surrounded with evidences of the Divine Beneficence. Thou preventest Him with the blessings of goodness. To prevent signifies to anticipate, to go before. Thou goest before Him with the blessings of Thy goodness as a pioneer, to make crooked ways straight and rough places smooth; or as one who strews flowers in the path of another, to render the way beautiful to the eye and pleasant to the tread. Gods gifts are Gods love embodied and expressed. And this greatly enhances the value of our blessingsthat they are cups as full of God and of Gods kindness as of happiness and blessedness.S. Martin.
2. He was invested with the most illustrious dignity. Thou settest a crown of pure gold on His head. His glory is great in Thy salvation: honour and majesty hast Thou laid upon Him (Psa. 21:3; Psa. 21:5). Jesus wore the thorn-crown, but now wears the glory-crown. It is a crown, indicating royal nature, imperial power, deserved honour, glorious conquest, and Divine government. The crown of pure gold has respect to His exaltation at the right hand of God, where He is crowned with glory and honour; and this crown being of pure gold denotes the purity, glory, solidity, and perpetuity of His kingdom. The diadems of earthly monarchs are liable to be suddenly displaced; but this crown is set upon the head of the Redeemer so firmly that no power can remove it. Honour and majestyas Parkhurst readssplendour and beautyhast Thou laid upon Him. As the wood of the tabernacle was overlaid with pure gold, so is Jesus covered with honour and glory.Spurgeon, in loco. Were there ten thousand millions of heavens created above these highest heavens, and again as many above them, and as many above them, till angels were wearied with counting, it were but too low a seat to fix the princely throne of that Lord Jesus above them all.Rutherford.
3. He enjoyed the consciousness of an imperishable life (Psa. 21:4). Even length of days for ever and ever. The lavish endowments of God often exceed our greatest petitions and loftiest hopes. Jesus, as man, asked for life, and He was heard in that He feared. He was raised from the dead, to die no more. The power of God and all His moral attributes secure the perpetuity of the life of the risen and exalted Saviour. He was endowed with length of days for ever and everthe prolonged ages of this world which the Church was to have, and after them an eternity, world without end.
4. He became the source of endless blessing to others. For Thou hast made Him most blessed for ever (Psa. 21:6). Messiah is the source whence all blessings for time and for eternity shall be derived. He is an overflowing well-spring of blessing to others, a sun filling the universe with light. In and through Him all nations of the earth are blessed. True blessedness is found, not in accumulating riches, not in the weary, treadmill circle of philosophic research, not in travel and commune with Nature in her varying moods: it is found only in Christ. And yet men, in seeking for the streams of bliss, wander from its source.
5. He exults in the Divine favour. Thou hast made Him exceeding glad with Thy countenance (Psa. 21:6). Though this be metaphorically used for favour, yet is the speech not all metaphor, and that well-experienced Christians will tell you. The countenance of God makes the Prince of Heaven glad: how ought we to seek it, and how careful should we be lest we should provoke Him by our sins to hide His face from us! Our anticipations may cheerfully fly forward to the hour when the joy of our Lord shall be shed abroad on all the saints, and the countenance of Jehovah shine on all the blood-bought.Spurgeon.
III. This joy was intensified by the assurance of the unshakeable permanency of is government.
1. The permanency of Messiahs throne is secured by the Divine mercy. Through the mercy of the Most High He shall not be moved (Psa. 21:7). He who is Most High in every sense, engages all His infinite perfections to maintain the throne of grace upon which our King in Zion reigns. He was not moved from His purpose, nor in His sufferings, nor by His enemies, nor shall He be moved from the completion of His designs. It is an encouraging evidence of the Divine mercy that the throne of the Great Redeemer still exists among men. If human malice and Satanic rage had not been restrained by the Divine mercy, that throne would have been overthrown long ago.
2. The assurance of this permanency is strengthened by Messiahs confidence in God. For the king trusteth in the Lord (Psa. 21:7). He did not depend on worldly armies or human skill and stratagem; but wholly in Jehovah, the Lord of Hosts. A holy confidence in God is the true mother of victories. The joy and confidence of Christ our King, is the ground of all our joy and confidence, and the pledge of final conquest over all our foes.
CHRIST AS THE SOURCE OF BLESSING TO THE RACE
(Psa. 21:6.)
I. Is exalted to the highest dignity. He who was despised and rejected of men, and who Himself despised and rejected the affluence and honours of the world, was lifted up on high and clothed with majesty and glory. The cross was exchanged for a throne, the cast-off garment for a robe of peerless lustre, comparative obscurity for undying fame, suffering for felicity, the ribaldry of the mob for angelical applause. The most forbidding and unlikely appearances may disguise great resources. The dry, knotty, leafless, sapless vine seems past all recovery; but erelong it flourishes in verdant beauty, and bends under the weight of abundant fruitfulness. Christ was as a root out of a dry groundlowly and unattractive in the beginning of His earthly life; and it seemed very improbable that anything great could ever come out of such humble and miserable surroundings. But He is now exalted to the highest dignity, and has become the benefactor to the race: before His glory all earthly splendour fades, and on His bounty the life of all depends.
II. Is endowed with all power. Whatever can minister to the happiness and prestige of His people, Christ has unlimited ability to bestow. All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. All the forces of the universe are under His control. All created intelligences are obedient to His will. He can transmute the instruments of evil into agencies of good. He can cripple and destroy the most formidable opposition. He can deliver in the latest emergency; and turn despair into victory. The soul that relies on Him can never be confounded.
III. Is inexhaustible in supply. Thou hast made Him most blessed for ever. At all times, in all circumstances, His aid is suitable and sufficient. The river that has flowed for ages and borne afar its treasured argosies, is not more certain in the perpetual supply of its liquid current, than is the vast stream of the Divine beneficence that flows perennially from the heavenly hills, burdened with the wealth of blessing to every needy soul. The fruit of the vintage may fail and the gathering time may not come, the earth may be shut up in hopeless barrenness, all human resources may be cut off, but the fountain of Divine blessing is never sealed, and its supplies continually abound. Of His fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.
IV. Rejoices to communicate. It was the saying of a certain generous Spanish captain, There is no way of enjoying ones property like giving it away. It is a joy, a luxury to give. The generosity of God knows no stint. When a certain English monarch once threw open his park and gardens to the public, the royal gardener, finding it troublesome, complained to his Majesty that the visitors plucked the flowers. What, said the kind-hearted king, are my people fond of flowers? Then plant some more! So our heavenly King, with lavish hand, scatters on our daily pathway the flowers of blessing, and, as fast as we can gather them, spite of the grudging, churlish world, more are supplied. Not as the world giveth, give I unto you. The greater our need, and the more urgent our cry for help, the greater the rapture of our Divine benefactor in supplying that need. The Lord rejoiced over you to do you good (Deu. 28:63).
THE EXPOSURE AND PUNISHMENT OF SIN
(Psa. 21:8-9.)
I. That the exposure of sin is inevitable. Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies. Iniquity delights in cunning, and is itself a masterpiece of cunning. It may succeed in deluding its victims, and for a time escape detection. But there is One to whom every detail of the plot is fully known; and He grieves to see the toilsome ingenuity of the wicked, and smiles at its utter impotency. Sin is often its own detective. An unguarded word, a suspicious sign, an unconscious oversight, will unmask the most carefully disguised plans, and lead to exposure and misery. It is the theme of many a ballad, how the cranes aided in the discovery of the assassins of Ibycus, the poet. Recently, the house of the Caliph of the Ben Oreazen in Algeria, was entered by a band of robbers, and a box containing 25,000 francs stolen. In their haste to escape, the thieves left behind them an Arab cake bearing a particular mark, which one of the bakers of the town recognised as the sign used by Ben Xerafas, it being the custom for each family in sending their bread to the oven to mark it so as to distinguish the loaves. The police acted on the information, and, descending on a certain hut, caught the robbers asleep, with a portion of the plunder still in their possession. A simple Arab cake was the insignificant agent of discovery and exposure! If the sinner does not betray himself, the hand of God, which has power to tear away every covering, will sooner or later find him out.
II. That the exposure of sin will extend to the inmost feelings of the heart. Thy right hand shall find out those that hate Thee. That sin is not always the worst which is most apparent. The bland, submissive countenance may cover the most vile and malignant feelings of the heart. The secret haters of God only want the opportunity and the power; and they would outrival the most notoriously wicked. The wilful and obstinate sinner would, if it were possible, bury Christ again within the rock of his hardened heart, and seal the stone that He might never rise. An electric log has recently been constructed, which thrown overboard will register the speed of the vessel through the water. By a simple contrivance, the captain, while sitting in his cabin, can detect the dial movements of the log in the depths of the sea, and ascertain his rate of sailing every quarter of an hour. If it were possible, by any method, to watch the operations of a sinful heart, what a depth and rush of wickedness would be discovered there! And yet the day is coming when the strong hand of God shall turn aside all disguise and reveal iniquity in all its loathsomeness and deformity. He shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil.
III. That the punishment of sin will be terrible and complete.
1. It will be terrible. Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of Thine angerThy angry look. Since the king is in the presence of Jehovah (Psa. 21:6), when He directs His face upon His enemies, it exerts that destructive power which is usually ascribed to the angry look of Jehovah. However coldly God now seems to look upon the enemies of Christ, the more will His anger burn against them in the future. God has His limited time as well for His wrath as for His grace.Lange. The sins of the impenitent wicked will supply fuel to the fire of their sufferings, and perhaps be used as the means of punishing othersone class of sinners tormenting another class. Who can abide in the fierceness of His anger? (Nah. 1:6).
2. It will be complete. The Lord shall swallow them up in His wrath, and the fire shall devour them. The certainty of punishment for wrong-doing is evident, not only from the declarations of Scripture, but also from the history of mankind. Nations are an examplethe Antediluvians, the Sodomites, the Jews. Individuals are an exampleKorah, Dathan, Abiram, Saul, and Judas. The hearts that will not glow with holy gratitude and praise shall burn with shame and infinite remorse, and the awful sentence, Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, shall be but the echo of their own self-abhorring consciences.
THE UTTER OVERTHROW OF THE ENEMIES OF CHRIST
(Psa. 21:8-13.)
As God had already granted victory and gone so far beyond the expectations and hopes of those who had gone forth to battle, the idea evidently suggested by these verses is, that there will be ultimately a complete victory over all the foes of Messiah and of His people. Note:
I. That the enemies of Christ are full of malignity.
1. They are skilful in plotting mischief. For they intended evil against Thee: they imagined a mischievous device (Psa. 21:11). They extended, or stretched out evilan idea derived from stretching out or laying snares for the purpose of entrapping wild beasts or birds. The brain of the evil-doer is continually racked, either in devising new plans of mischief, or in counter-acting the plans of others that threaten to interfere with his own. It is hard work to be wicked; it involves anxious thought, incessant activity, and sleepless vigilance. The fair goddess who lured to the first transgression and threw around it an irresistible charm, is now transformed to a demon, and tyrannises over its victim, forcing him to do as a necessity what he began to do as a pleasure. All wrong-doing begins in the intention: there the most malignant venom is secreted.
2. They are impotent in carrying out their wicked designs. Which they are not able to perform (Psa. 21:11). The power of evil is limited, else virtue would soon cease to exist, and the throne of righteousness be overturned. But sinners are not permitted to do all that is in their power; much less are they able to accomplish all they intend. There is all the virulence of malice aforethought, all the barefaced evidence of guilty intention; but there is the lack of that which can alone give efficiency and success to their villanythe lack of power. They are not able to perform. The serpent may hiss, but his head is broken; the lion may worry, but he cannot devour; the tempest may thunder, but cannot strike.
II. That the enemies of Christ will be certainly detected and exposed. Thine hand shall find out all Thine enemies: Thy right hand shall find out those that hate Thee (Psa. 21:8). Not only are the eyes of the Lord upon the wicked, but His hand is in search of them; and as sure as His eyes see, so certainly will His hand grasp all the workers of iniquity. None can hide from His gaze; none can escape from the terrible grip of His right hand. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living Godthe offended and avenging God! Rocks and mountains will be no better shelter at last, than fig-leaves were at first. The finding out, says Spurgeon, relates not only to the discovery of the hiding-places of the haters of God, but to the touching of them in their tenderest part, so-as to cause the severest suffering. When He appears to judge the world hard hearts will be subdued into terror and proud spirits humbled into shame. He who has the key of human nature can touch all its springs at His will, and find out the means of bringing the utmost confusion and terror upon those who aforetime boastfully expressed their hatred of Him.
III. That the enemies of Christ will be stricken with dismay. Therefore shalt Thou make them turn their back when Thou shalt make ready Thine arrows upon Thy strings against the face of them (Psa. 21:12). Thou shalt cause them to turn their backs and fly as if a volley of arrows had been discharged in their faces. God can in a moment strike the most powerful and numerous army, even in the moment of victory, with panic; and then even the lame, the army which they had nearly routed, shall take the prey and divide the spoil.A. Clarke. The idea is that the Almighty has set up His enemies as a butt. (Comp. Job. 7:20; Job. 16:12; Lam. 3:12-13). The judgments of God are called His arrows, being sharp, swift, sure, and deadly. What a dreadful situation, to be set as a mark and butt at which these arrows are directed! View Jerusalem encompassed by the Roman armies without, and torn to pieces by the animosity of desperate and bloody factions within! No further commentary is requisite upon this verse. G. Horne.
IV. That the enemies of Christ will be utterly overthrown.
1. Their overthrow will entail severe suffering. Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of Thine anger: the Lord shall swallow them up in His wrath, and the fire shall devour them (Psa. 21:9). The wicked shall be consumed with the fire of Divine wrath, like wood put into a furnace. The wrath of God is often represented under the image of fire. (See Deu. 4:24; Deu. 32:22; Psa. 18:8; Mat. 13:42; Mat. 18:8; Mat. 25:41; Mar. 9:44; 2Th. 1:8.) The enemies of Christ shall not only be cast into the furnace of fire; but the Lord shall make them themselves as a fiery oven: they will be their own tormentors. Our pleasant vices are made the whips to scourge us. It is said that a frown of Queen Elizabeth killed Sir Christopher Hatton, the Lord Chancellor of England. Who then can stand before the frown and fierce anger of the insulted Majesty of Heaven?
2. The overthrow will be complete. Their fruit shalt Thou destroy from the earth, and their seed from among the children of men (Psa. 21:10). That which they prize the most, and which has cost a life of toil and anxiety to acquire, will perish. The ambitious dream, the hoarded treasure, the coveted honour, shall vanish as a fractured bubble. Even their posteritythe children who have imbibed their acrimony and trod in their footstepsshall pass away, so that the race shall come to an end, and their memory be forgotten. The righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance; but the name of the wicked shall rot. The possessions of the haters of Christ are a heritage of woe.
V. That the overthrow of the enemies of Christ will illustrate the supreme power of Jehovah.
1. The supreme power of Jehovah is self-sustained. Be Thou exalted Lord, in Thine own strength (Psa. 21:13). Exalt Thyself, O LordThy creatures cannot exalt Thee. Lift Thyself up and discomfit Thy foes by Thine own strength! Gods right hand has often given the victory to His followers, though they struck not one blow in their own defence. How little can the strength of man avail when the Lord raiseth up Himself to the battle. The end of all conflict with evil will be the eternal, unchallengeable exaltation of Jehovah. While He watches over and ensures the best interests of His people, He preserves inviolate His own honour and majesty.
2. The supremacy of Jehovah should be Joyfully celebrated. So will we sing and praise Thy power (Psa. 21:13). God is to receive praise in reference to that attribute which He has exhibited most in the defence or salvation of His followers. One feels himself lost, condemned, on the brink of hell; he calls for mercy, is heard and saved: mercy therefore will be the chief subject of his praise, and the burden of his song. Another feels himself beset with powerful adversaries, with the weakest of whom he is not able to cope; he cries to the Almighty for strength; he is heard and strengthened with strength in his soul. He therefore will naturally magnify the all-conquering power of the Lord.A. Clarke. Joy should always flow in the channel of praise. The leading thought in the whole psalm is, that God will ultimately triumph over all His enemies, and that this triumph will be followed by universal rejoicing and praise. Haste, O haste, the happy eza!
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Psalms 21
DESCRIPTIVE TITLE
Thanks for the Kings Victory, and Confidence of Further Triumphs.
ANALYSIS
Stanza I., Psa. 21:1-6, Recent Victory with Joy Acknowledged, Psa. 21:1-2; traced back to Blessings beginning with Coronation, Psa. 21:3, when Long Life was asked, Psa. 21:4; the Continuance of which Life and Blessings is now Counted upon with Confidence, Psa. 21:5-6. Refrain, Psa. 21:7, The People extol their Monarchs Faith, and Assure Themselves of the Stability of his Reign. Stanza II., Psa. 21:8-12, Coming Conquests Foretold, Psa. 21:8, bringing on Enemies Fearful Punishments, Psa. 21:9-10, and the Defeat of their Devices, Psa. 21:11-12. Refrain, Psa. 21:13, Jehovahs Power Extolled.
(Lm.) PsalmBy David.
1
Jehovah in thy might rejoiceth the king,
and in thy victory[195] he exulteth greatly!
2
The longing of his heart thou hast given him,
and the request of his lips hast thou not withheld.
3
For thou camest to meet him with blessings of goodness,
thou didst set on his head a crown of fine gold:
4
Life he asked of theethou gavest it him.
length of days to the ages and beyond
5
Great is his glory in thy victory,[195]
[195] Or: salvation.
majesty and state thou layest upon him;
6
For thou dost appoint him blessings evermore,
thou dost cheer him with gladness by thy countenance.
7
Yea the king is trusting in Jehovah,
and in the kindness of the Highest he will not be shaken.
8
Thy hand will find out all thy foes,
thy right hand will find them who hate thee:
9
Thou wilt put them in a furnace of fire,
in the time of the setting of thy face against them.
Jehovah in his anger will swallow them up,
and there shall consume them the fire of his wrath;[196]
[196] Psa. 21:9 slightly expanded by Br., to make four lines and fill stanza.
10
Their offspring[197] out of the earth wilt thou destroy,
[197] M.L.: their fruit.
and their seed from among the sons of men.
11
Though they have held out over thee a wicked thing,
devised an evil device they shall not prevail;
12
For thou wilt make them turn shoulder in flight,
on thy bow-strings wilt thou make ready against their faces.
13
Be thou exalted Jehovah in thy strength, We will sing and will harp thy power.
(Lm.) To the Chief Musician. (CMm.) Concerning The Hind of the Dawn? = The King in his Beauty.
PARAPHRASE
Psalms 21
How the king rejoices in Your strength, O Lord! How he exults in Your salvation.
2 For You have given him his hearts desire, everything he asks You for!
3 You welcomed him to the throne with success and prosperity. You set a kingly crown of purest gold upon his head.
4 He asked for a long, good life, and You have granted his request; the days of his life stretch on and on forever!
5 You have given him fame and honor. You have clothed him with splendor and majesty.
6 You have endowed him with eternal happiness. You have given him the unquenchable joy of Your presence.
7 And because the king trusts in the Lord, he will never stumble, never fall; for he depends upon the steadfast love of the God who is above all gods.
8 Your hand, O Lord, will find Your enemies, all who hate You.
9, 10 When You appear, they will be destroyed in the fierce fire of Your presence. The Lord will destroy them and their children.
11 For these men plot against You, Lord, but they cannot possibly succeed.
12 They will turn and flee when they see Your arrows aimed straight at them.
13 Accept our praise, O Lord, for all Your glorious power! We will write songs to celebrate Your mighty acts!
EXPOSITION
The temptation to declare this psalm to be simply a Coronation Psalm, to which some expositors have yielded, is obvious. On closer examination, however, it will probably be found that a more satisfactory view of the setting and scope of the whole psalm can be obtained by regarding the reference to coronation as incidental to the more general conception of reign. A recent victory restores the lustre of a reign which had become beclouded by the invasion of foes: this very naturally brings up a reminiscence of the high hopes with which the reign was begun. The king then became Jehovahs vicegerent; for Jehovah crowned him. Aspiring to rule well, as every dutiful Son of David must,he naturally desired to rule long; in which desire his people loyally united, apprehensive of the evils of succession and change. Hence sprang the coronation greeting, May the King live! How long? Who could think of assigning a limit? Nay, may the king live for ever! as long as ever Jehovah please: loyalty declines to assign a limit. Besides, who knows when King Messiah shall come? Who can ever tell whether this Heir to the Throne may not be He? and who knows whether the Heir Himself, breathing such an atmosphere, may not have conceived the incipient wish that it might be himself? Dim, visionary, yet withal dazzling,the wish may have been father to the prayer: Life he ask of thee, to which he felt no need to assign an endlife, only life! The spirit of the Messiah, working in the psalmist, carries him out of himself. It has not been revealed to the psalmist who will be the Messiah. But, in language vaguely and benevolently suited to any Son of David, yet strictly applicable only to the Son of David, he adds:thou gavest it him, Length of days, olam wa-edh, age-abidingly and beyond. From this point onward the radiance of a Messianic light rests on the psalm. It is King David or King Jehoshaphat who sits yonder, but on him rests a light from afar, not his own. Through the type, we catch glimpses of the Antitype.
While abiding by the dominant view of authorship appended to the preceding psalm, hearty consent may be accorded to the following judgment:When, in after times, the prosperity of Hezekiah was celebrated in the Temple worship, this psalm was singularly appropriate. Whether by adaptation or not, Psa. 21:4 had a special meaning when spoken of him; and Psa. 21:11-12 tell of the Assyrian army and its destructionThirtle, O.T.P., 31415.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1.
This is referred to as a Coronation hymnwhy?
2.
What is meant by the expressionLong live the King? i.e. in context.
3.
There are three applications to each of these psalms:
(1)
apply it to David or the writer;
(2)
apply it to the Messiah;
(3)
apply it to ourselves.
What personal encouragement is found in this psalm?
4.
Notice the possible Messianic application of Psa. 21:3 through 6. Cf. 2 Samuel 7.
5.
Anticipation of victory instead of defeat is a great source of encouragementRead Psa. 21:8 through 13 with personal applications.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(1) The king shall.Rather, the king is exulting in thy might (which has secured the victory he prayed for), and in thy help how greatly glad is he.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
1. The king shall joy Chaldee, the king Messiah.
In thy strength Because through the strength of Jehovah alone he had triumphed.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Praise and Worship Is Offered To YHWH For His Goodness And Faithfulness Towards His Anointed ( Psa 21:1-7 ).
Psa 21:1
‘The king will joy in your strength, O YHWH,
And in your salvation how greatly will he rejoice!’
The psalmist declares that the king will rejoice in YHWH’s strength, especially His strength as revealed in His great deliverance on behalf of His people, because He has given them victory. As God’s anointed God has blessed him by revealing His saving power through him, and he can now rejoice in the fulfilment of the promises given to him as God’s chosen one. So should all rejoice who find themselves being used as His instruments as God goes before them to give them victory, although often only after the battle has been fierce.
Jesus Messiah also rejoiced in His Father’s strength and wisdom, and in the wonder of His salvation as worked out through Himself (Luk 10:20-22; Joh 12:28).
Psa 21:2
‘You have given him his heart’s desire,
And have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah’
For YHWH has given to His king the desire of his heart, victory over his enemies and the enemies of God’s people. He has not withheld from him anything of what he requested. Selah. ‘Think of that!’ Think also of the fact that in the end all triumphs by the people of God are due to Him.
This psalm is a reminder to us that the Davidic king was ever seen as having the responsibility of being a chief intercessor on behalf of his people, for as king of Jerusalem he was seen as a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek (Psa 110:4), responsible before God for the welfare of the city. This would also be why he was to have a special place in Ezekiel’s heavenly temple (Eze 44:3).
How much more then will that be true of the Great Intercessor, the High Priest after the order of Melchizedek described in Hebrews, (see Heb 6:20 and regularly in the letter), Who makes intercession continually on behalf of His own.
It is a reminder that we too should never forget to rejoice in God when He hears and answers our prayers.
Psa 21:3-4
‘For you meet him with the blessings of goodness,
You set a crown of fine gold on his head.’
‘He asked life of you, you gave it to him,
Even length of days for ever and ever.’
Indeed God goes to meet the king with ‘the blessings of goodness’. This probably signifies ‘the blessings that come from the goodness of God’. These blessings include his crown of fine gold, a symbol of his prosperity and victory, and the longevity promised to the house of David.
Kings were regularly greeted with the words, ‘May the king live for ever’ (1Ki 1:31; Neh 2:3). The thought was that he might have long days and be succeeded by his sons. Here that is extended to ‘forever and ever’. It is never to cease. The exaltation is in the fact that he is the chosen of YHWH, Who will give him long life and will give to him through his seed an everlasting kingdom (2Sa 7:16).
‘You set a crown of fine gold on his head.’ There may be an allusion here to 2Sa 12:30 as an illustration of the glory that He constantly gave him in the defeat of his enemies. It possibly especially has in mind the crown of gold he had received from the enemy he had recently defeated. For it was customary for the victor to take the defeated king’s crown. But it may rather simply indicate that he was God’s anointed and therefor crowned with the finest of crowns.
‘He asked life of you, you gave it to him, even length of days for ever and ever.’ Compare Psa 61:5-6. Long life was always the request of kings both for their own sake, and because it was thought to evidence their righteousness. It was especially important in view of the fact that a king’s death could bring hardship on his people, especially if his successors were weak or quarrelsome (compare also Hezekiah’s concern in Isa 38:10-20 and see Exo 23:26; 1Ki 3:11-14; Pro 3:1-2 in respect of length of days). So the king is given ‘length of days’. But here the thought would seem to include life through a long and successful dynasty, ensuring the effective continuation of his rule (2Sa 7:12-16).
But far more wonderfully was it fulfilled in the One Who was crowned with glory and honour (Heb 2:9) and Whom God raised from the dead that He might be our everlasting King (Act 2:24; Act 2:32-36) and give us life for evermore.
Psa 21:5-6
‘His glory is great in your salvation,
Honour and majesty you lay upon him.’
‘For you make him most blessed for ever,
You make him glad with joy in your presence.’
Further benefits that the king receives are now described. He gets great glory from the recent deliverance as plaudits are poured on him, honour and majesty are bestowed on him as a result of his conquest, as kings submit their kingdoms to him, but most importantly he continues in the everlasting blessing of God, revealed in continual triumphs, and enjoys gladness and joy in the presence of God. He enjoys peace with God and peace for his kingdom. No one ever loses by their faithfulness to God.
For the success of the king is evidence of the divine favour, so that he basks in His glory, and as a truly righteous king walks in the light of His presence (see Psa 4:6; Psa 16:11; Psa 89:15; Psa 140:13).
How much more then is the eternal glory poured out on the King Messiah Who receives all these things in even greater abundance as He takes His throne in Heaven, with all being made subject to Him. For glory, honour and majesty are divine attributes (Psa 8:1; Psa 8:5; Psa 104:1).
‘For you make him most blessed for ever.’ This is literally ‘you make him blessings for ever’ (compare Gen 12:2). He is not only blessed but he dispenses blessing and is the source of blessing to his people. The people are themselves blessed in the success of their king, both because his success brings peace and joy, and because it brings stability and wealth. And of none was this more true in the spiritual sphere than with the King of Kings.
Psa 21:7
‘For the king trusts in YHWH,
And through the lovingkindness of the Most High he will not be moved.’
And all this results from the king’s faith in God. It is because he trusts in YHWH, and through His lovingkindness, that nothing can move or defeat him. It is his trust in God that is the foundation of his success.
Again we see how true this also was of the King Messiah, for He too trusted His Father fully, and was confident in His mercy and goodness. That was the root of His own success. And it gained Him the victory.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
A Prayer of Thanksgiving for Victory.
To the chief musician, a psalm of David, probably composed after his return from a victorious campaign, but certainly typifying and prophesying the great victory of Christ over all the enemies of mankind.
v. 1. The king shall joy in Thy strength, O Lord, v. 2. Thou hast given him his heart’s desire, v. 3. For Thou preventest him, v. 4. He asked life of Thee, v. 5. His glory is great in Thy salvation, v. 6. For Thou hast made him most blessed forever, v. 7. For the king trusteth in the Lord,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
Psa 21:1-13 is generally regarded as a companion composition to Psa 20:1-9, being the thanksgiving after the victory for which the preceding psalm was the supplication. It consists of three parts:
(1) a direct thanksgiving to God, offered by the people on behalf of the king (Psa 20:1-7);
(2) an address to the king, auguring for him future successes on the ground of his recent victory (Psa 20:8 -12); and
(3) a brief return to direct praise of God in two short ejaculatory sentences. Part 1 is interrupted by a pause (“Selah” ) at the end of Psa 20:2, when thank-offerings may have been made. The Davidical authorship, asserted in the title, is not seriously disputed.
Psa 21:1
The king shall joy. The future is used to give the idea of continuance, “The king rejoices, and will go on rejoicing.” In thy strength, O Lord; i.e. in the strength that thou puttest forth to help and protect him (comp. Psa 20:6). And in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice: God’ s “salvation” had been confidently anticipated (Psa 20:5, Psa 20:6, Psa 20:9), and has now been experienced.
Psa 21:2
Thou hast given him his heart’ s desire (comp. Psa 20:4, “Grant thee according to thine own heart”). And hast not withholden the request of his lips. “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” The deliverance from his enemies, which David had earnestly desired in his heart, he had also devoutly requested with his lips (Psa 20:1, Psa 20:5). Selah. The pause here may have been for the presentation of a thank-offering.
Psa 21:3
For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness; i.e. thou givest him blessings before he asks, and more than he asks.. “The blessings of goodness” is pleonastic, since a blessing cannot be otherwise than a good. Thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head. It is remarked that David, as the result of one of his wars, did actually take the crown of the conquered king, which was a crown of gold, from off the king’ s head, and place it upon his own head (2Sa 12:30); but this is scarcely what is intended here. As Hengstenberg observes, “The setting on of the crown marks the bestowment of dominion,” not in one petty ease only, but generally, and is scarcely to be altogether separated from the promises recorded in 2Sa 7:12-16.
Psa 21:4
He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, even length of days for ever and ever. The “life” intended cannot be ordinary human life, since in David’ s case this certainly did not continue “for ever and ever.” We must understand the psalmist to have asked for continuance in his posterity, and this was guaranteed him in the message which God sent him by Nathan (2Sa 7:13, 2Sa 7:16). In the full sense the promise was, of course, Messianic, being fulfilled only in Christ, the God-Man, who alone of David’ s posterity “liveth for ever.”
Psa 21:5
His glory is great in thy salvation. David’ s glory exceeds that of all other living men, through the “salvation” which God vouchsafes him. That salvation is partly temporal, consisting in deliverance from his foes; partly of an unearthly and spiritual character, arising out of his relationship to the coming Messiah. It is from the latter point of view, rather than the former, that it is said, Honour and majesty hast thou laid upon him.
Psa 21:6
For thou hast made him most blessed for ever; literally, for thou settest him to be blessings for ever. Thou makest him, i.e; to be a perennial source of blessings to men. As all mankind were blessed in Abraham (Gen 12:3; Gen 18:18; Gen 22:18), i.e. in his seed, so were they all blessed in David’ s seed. Thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance; i.e. with thy favour and protection, so frequently and so markedly extended to him.
Psa 21:7
For the king trusteth in the Lord. This is at once the ground and the result of God’ s favour to him. God favours David because of his trust, and David trusts in God because of his favour. The result is that, through the mercy (or, loving-kindness, Revised Version) of the Most High he shall not be moved (comp. Psa 15:5; Psa 112:6). The words appear to denote a conviction, as Professor Alexander says, that David “would never be shaken from his standing in God’ s favour.” This conviction we may well conceive him to have felt, and to have regarded as one that might fittingly be expressed by his subjects, in whose mouth he placed it. But such a conviction is not always borne out by events, and David confesses elsewhere, that, at any rate, once in his life, after he had said, “I shall never be moved,” God “hid away his face from him,” and he “was troubled” (Psa 30:6, Psa 30:7).
Psa 21:8-12
In this second portion of the psalm, the people address themselves to David, anticipating future glories for him. “Having shown what God would do for his anointed, the psalm now describes what the latter shall accomplish through Divine assistance” (Alexander). Past success is taken as a guarantee of victory over all other enemies.
Psa 21:8
Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies; i.e. “shall reach them, attain them, punish them”. Thy right hand (the hand of greater power) shall find out those that hate thee; and, of’ course, punish them severely.
Psa 21:9
Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of his anger. Some suppose a reference to the event mentioned in 2Sa 12:31, “He (David) made them (the Ammonites) to pass through the brick-kiln.;” but the expression “fiery oven” is probably not intended to be taken literally, but metaphorically. Severe suffering is continually compared in Scripture to confinement in an oven or furnace (see Deu 4:20; 1Ki 8:51; Isa 48:10; Jer 11:4; Eze 22:18, Eze 22:20, Eze 22:22; Mal 4:1). And we may best understand the present passage to mean simply that in the time of his anger David would subject such of his enemies as fell into his hands to very terrible sufferings. (See, as showing what extreme severities David did sometimes inflict on captured enemies, 2Sa 12:31 which is to the point, as also is 1Ki 11:15,1Ki 11:16.) The Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them. The metaphor is followed up, with the addition that what was previously attributed to David alone is here declared to have the sanction of God.
Psa 21:10
Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth; i.e. their offspring or progeny. Joab, by David’ s orders, remained in Edom “until he had cut off every male” (1Ki 11:16). And their seed from among the children of men. The second clause, as so often, re-echoes the first; without adding anything to it.
Psa 21:11
For they intended evil against thee. Their destruction is brought upon them by their own selves. They plot against the people of God, and thus provoke God to anger, and cause him to deliver them into their enemy’ s hand. It does not matter that they can effect nothing. The “intention” is enough. They imagined a mischievous device, which they are not able to perform. The inability is not so much from a deficiency of strength in themselves, as from the opposition offered to their schemes by God. The best-laid plans an powerless, if God wills to baffle them.
Psa 21:12
Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back; literally, their neck (comp. Is. Psa 18:40). The meaning is simply, “Thou shalt put them to flight.” When thou shalt make ready thine arrows upon thy strings against the face of them. The Authorized Version, by supplying “when” and “thine arrows,” expresses what the psalmist has left to the intelligence of the reader. The psalmist says, “Thou shalt put them to flight; thou shalt make ready upon thy strings against the face of them, no doubt meaning that the discharge of arrows would produce the hasty flight, but not saying it.
Psa 21:13
Be thou exalted, Lord, in thine own strength. The psalm, as already remarked, ends, as it began, with the praise of God. “Be thou exalted” means, “Be thou lifted up, both in thyself, and in the praises of thy people” (comp. Psa 18:46; Psa 46:10). So will we sing and praise thy power. We, at any rate, will do our part to exalt thee. Our tongues shall ever sing of the great deeds thou doest for us.
HOMILETICS
Psa 21:2
The triumph of victory.
“Thou hast given him his heart’ s desire.” We seem to hear in this psalm the trumpets and harps and shawms of the temple, and jubilant voices of Levites praising God for some great victory. Joy-bells are rung and Te Deum laudamus chanted because the king has come home in triumph. The psalm is closely connected with the preceding one. There we see the king going forth to war, consecrating his banner and trusting his cause to God. The Church prays, “The Lord hear thee grant thee according to thine own heart” (Psa 20:1-4). Here it triumphs in victory, and praises God as the Hearer of prayer. Whether the psalm refers to some special victory of David or any of his successors; or whether it be applied to Christ and his kingdom, the practical spiritual lessons we may draw from it are the same. One of the greatest Jewish commentators says, “Our ancient doctors interpreted this psalm of King Messiah; but against the heretics (Christians) it is better to understand it of David” (Rashi, quoted by Perowne). Take up briefly the leading thoughts which the text naturally suggests.
I. DESIRE IS THE MAINSPRING OF LIFE. Could the infinite multitude of desires, good or bad, transient or constant, noble or base, loving or selfish, which at this moment agitate human hearts, all cease, and be replaced by dull apathy, hope and effort would die. The whole busy drama of life would come to a dead stand, like an engine stopping when the fire is burnt out. Because so many of these desires are either wrong or ill-regulated, the word “lust”often used in our English Bible, originally meaning simply “pleasure” or “desire “has come to have an ill meaning. St. James puts his finger on these ungoverned discordant desires as the source of all the strife that disturbs the world (Jas 4:1, Jas 4:2). If all hearts submitted their desires to reason and God’ s law, the world would be one vast peace society. Vexatious litigation and unfair competition would be unknown.
II. Therefore OUR HEART‘ S DESIRE IS THE TEST OF OUR CHARACTER. Not what a man says and does, but what he would like to say and do, if he could and dared, decide his character. “As he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” From the momentary wish, too unreasonable or too languid to stir us to action, to the deep steadfast purpose which rules a life, our desires mark us for what we are, and mould us to what we shall be. Find what it is you deeply and habitually desire, and you have the key to your characters (Pro 19:22).
III. DESIRE IS THE SOUL OF PRAYER. If we do not present to God our heart’ s desire, we do not pray. Words without desire are not living prayer, only a dead form. Desire without words may be the truest, highest kind of prayer (Rom 8:26). Here is the peril of even the best forms of prayer. Their benefit is that they help to put our best desires into better words than we could find for ourselves; and by the power of association, as well as aptness, quicken our desires and instruct us what we ought to desire. Their danger is that we may mistake form and habit for life and spirita danger not confined to set forms. Extempore prayer may be as heartless and lifeless as a Tartar prayer-mill. Our own private prayers may degenerate into dead forms. Every earnest Christian (I suppose) is aware of this danger. When men came to our Saviour, his question was not “What have you to say?” but “What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?” What is thy heart‘s desire?
IV. The whole world of human desire is OPEN TO GOD‘ S EYE. Heart-secrets are no secrets to him (Jer 17:9, Jer 17:10). The silent wish that flashed to the surface of consciousness, soaring up into light, or plunging, like a guilty thing, into darknessGod saw it; sees it still. The passionate longing, so timid yet so strong that the heart would die sooner than betray it, is to him as though proclaimed with sound of trumpet. No wish so sudden, strange, ambitious, as to take him by surprise. No lawful desire but he has provided for its satisfaction, either in creatures or in his own uncreated fulness. And unlawful desires are so, not because he forbids anything really good for us, but because they mean our harm, not happiness. This perfect Divine knowledge of all our desires, and of the wisdom or unwisdom of granting them, is not confined, remember, to the moment when we become conscious of them, or present them in prayer. They are foreseen. For the most partperhaps, if we knew all, in every casean answer to prayer implies preparation. Our prayer for daily bread is answered out of the fulness of last year’ s harvestthe fruit of all harvests since corn was first reaped and sown. This abyss of Divine foreknowledge utterly confounds our intellect; yet to doubt it would be to doubt if God is God. Why then, with this boundless knowledgeforeknowledgeof all our desires and the conditions of their fulfilment, has God appointed prayer? Why does his Word show it to us as the very heart of religion? Partly, we may venture to say, because God delights to answer prayer. If not, it would scarcely be trueat least intelligiblethat “God is love.” Partly because blessings are doubly, nay, tenfold, precious when they come in answer to prayer; a strong help to faith, a spur to hope, an assurance of God’ s love, and powerful motive to love (Pro 13:19). But supremely (I venture to think) in order that what is deepest, innermost, strongest, in our natureour “heart’ s desire”should bring us closest to God; make us intensely feel our dependence on him; be consecrated, being offered to him in prayer.
V. Thank God, OUR HEART‘ S DESIREShow large, lofty, pure, reasonable, soeverARE NOT THE MEASURE OF GOD‘ S GIVING; do not circumscribe his willingness, any more than his power. He is “able to do exceeding abundantly,” etc. (Eph 3:20). If men’ s desires are like the sea, his mercy is the shore. His chiefest, “his unspeakable Gift” came in answer to no desire of human hearts or prayer from human lips. “God so loved” a prayerless, thankless, godless “world, that he gave his only begotten Son.” This Gift has given us a new measure of expectation (Rom 8:32). What is more vital, it has opened a new fountain of desire in our hearts, and thereby enlarged, deepened, exalted, the whole scope of our life. Desire to be like Christ, to glorify Christ, to be with Christ,these three give to life a new meaning, purpose, hope. If these be our heart’ s desires, they are secure of fulfilment, because they are in agreement with God’ s most glorious Gift, his most merciful purpose, his most precious promises. Here, as everywhere, our Saviour has left us an example, that we should follow his steps. We know what the supreme consuming desire of his heart was Joh 4:34. In the midst of life and usefulness, he longed for death; not as an escape from this world, but as the accomplishment of his destined work (Luk 12:50; Joh 10:17, Joh 10:18). “For the joy,” etc. (Heb 12:2). In your salvation and mine he sees “of the travail of his soul” (Isa 53:1-12 :24).
CONCLUSION. We are furnished with a practical testfirst, of our desires; secondly, of our prayers. Our desires (we said) are the index to our character. Will they fit into our prayers? Are they such that we can come with boldness to the throne of grace through the blood of Jesus, and say, “Lord, all my desire is before thee” (Psa 38:9; Isa 26:8)? Prayer (we said) is living, real, worth offering, only as it is the utterance of our desires, the pouring out of our heart. Are our prayers such a true outbreathing of our “heart’ s desire” ? Suppose, when you have joined in some high-toned hymn, or prayed in the earnest words of some ancient saint, a voice from heaven were to ask, “Do you mean what you say?” would it be for good or ill, here and hereafter, if God indeed granted your heart’ s desire?
HOMILIES BY C. CLEMANCE
Psa 21:1-13
A royal thanksgiving for answers to prayer. (For a day of national thanksgiving.)
We fail to see, in the structure of this psalm, sufficient indications of its being the counterpart of the preceding one, to lead us to call it a Te Deum, to be sung on returning from battle as victor. It would equally well suit other occasions on which the grateful hearts of king and people desired to render praises in the house of God for mercies received; e.g. Psa 21:4 : would be equally adapted to the recovery of the king from sickness. Its precise historic reference it is, however, now impossible to ascertain; but this is of comparatively small importance. That the psalm is meant for a public thanksgiving is clear; and thus, with differences of detail in application thereof according to circumstances, it may furnish a basis for helpful teaching on days of national rejoicing over the mercies of God. We must, however, carefully avoid two errors in opening up the hid treasure of this psalm. We must not interpret it as if its references were only temporal, nor as if we lost sight of the supernatural revelation and of the Messianic prophecies which lie in the background thereof; nor yet, on the other hand, may we interpret its meaning as if the religious knowledge or conceptions of Israel’ s king were as advanced as the thoughts of Paul or John. E.g. “His glory is great in thy salvation.” If we were to interpret this word “salvation” as meaning, primarily, the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, we should be guilty of an anachronism. Its first meaning is, rescue from impending trouble or danger. This, however, may be regarded as prophetic of the triumph awaiting the Church’ s King; but our exposition will be sure and clear only as we begin with the historic meaning, an& then move carefully forward. The prayers and thanksgivings of a people cannot rise above the level of inspiration and revelation which marked the age in which they lived. We, indeed, may now set our devotions into another form than that which is represented by verses 8-12; and, indeed, we are bound so to do. For since revelation is progressive, devotion should be correspondingly progressive too. So that if the remarks we make on the psalm are in advance of the thinkings of believers in David’ s time, let us remember that this is because we now look at all events and read all truth in the light of the cross, and not because we pretend to regard such fulness of meaning as belonging to the original intention of the psalm. There are here six lines of exposition before us.
I. HERE IS THE RECALL OF A TIME OF TROUBLE– OF TROUBLE WHICH GATHERED, ROUND THE PERSON OF THE KING. (Verse 1.) We cannot decide (nor is it important that we should) what was the precise kind of anxiety which had been felt. The word “life” in the fourth verse may indicate that some sickness had threatened the life of the king. The word “deliverance” and the allusions to “enemies’ rather point to peril from hostile forces. Either way, when a monarch’ s life is threatened, either through sickness or war, the burden is very heavy on the people’ s heart. The first cause of anxiety was felt in Hezekiah’ s time; the second, often and notably in the days of Jehoshaphat.
II. THE TROUBLE LED TO PRAYER. We gather from the contents of the psalm that the specific prayer was for the king’ s life, either by way of recovery from sickness or of victory in war. Note: Whatever is a burden on the hearts of God’ s people may be laid before God in prayer. Prayer may and should be specific; and even though our thought, desires, and petitions in prayer may be very defective, still we may tell to God all we feel, knowing that we shall never be misunderstood, and that the answer will come according to the Father’ s infinite wisdom, and not according to our defects; yea, our God will do abundantly for us above all that we can ask or think. Hence we have to note
III. THE PRAYER BROUGHT AN ANSWER. The trust of the praying ones was not disappointed (cf. verses 2-7). The jubilant tone of the words indicates that the prayer had not been barely, but overflowingly answered. God’ s good things had gone far ahead of the petitions, and had even anticipated the king’ s wishes and wants (verse 3). “Life” had been asked; and God had granted “length of days for ever and ever.” This cannot refer to the personal earthly life of any human king; the meaning is that in the deliverance vouchsafed there had been a new confirmation of that “everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure,” wherein God had promised to establish David’ s throne for ever (Psa 61:6; Psa 132:11-14). Dr. Moll says, “I find here the strongest expression of the assurance of faith in the personal continuance of the life of those who hold fast to the covenant of grace in living communion with Jehovah.” Yea, the old Abrahamic covenant has been again confirmed. “Thou hast made him to be blessings for ever”. So that this deliverance thus celebrated in Hebrew song is at once a development of God’ s gracious plan, and the answer to a king’ s and a people’ s prayer! “Thou settest a crown of pure gold upon his head” (verse 3; cf 2Sa 12:30).
IV. NEW ANSWERS TO PRAYER INSPIRED NEW HOPE (Verse 7.) “Through the loving-kindness of the Most High he shall not be moved” (cf. Psa 23:6; Psa 63:7). He who proves himself to be our Refuge to-day, thereby proves himself our Refuge for every day.
V. THE PROVIDENTIAL INTERPOSITIONS IN ANSWER TO PRAYER AFFORDED NEW ILLUSTRATIONS OF GOD‘ S WORKS AND WAYS. (Verses 8-13.) God is what he is. He remains “the same, yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.” But he cannot seem the same to his enemies as to his friends; the same events which fulfil the hopes of his friends are the terror and dread of his foes. This general principle is always true: it must be (verse 10); and side by side with the Divine provision for the continuance of good, there is the Divine provision for shortening the entail of evil. But we are not bound in our devotions to single out others as the enemies in whose overthrow and destruction we could rejoice. At the same time, it is but just to the Hebrews to remember that they were the chosen people of God, and from their point of view, and with their measure of light, they regarded their enemies as God’ s enemies (see Psa 139:22). The way David sometimes treated his foes can by no means be justified. The views of truth which God’ s people hold are often sadly discoloured by the conventionalisms of their time; and David was no exception thereto. We may pray for the time when Zion’ s King “shall have put all enemies under his feet,” and even praise him for telling us that it will be so. But we may surely leave all details absolutely with ]aim.
VI. THE EVER–UNFOLDING DISCLOSURES OF WHAT GOD IS MAY WELL CALL FORTH SHOUTS OF JOYOUS SONG. (Verse 13.) When we have such repeated illustrations of God’ s loving-kindness, mercy, and grace, we can feel unfeigned delight in singing of his power. What rapturous delight may we have in the thought that-
“The voice which rolls the stars along
Speaks all the promises;”
that the same Being who is most terrible to sin, is infinitely gracious to the sinner, and. that to all who trust him he is their “exceeding Joy”!C.
HOMILIES BY W. FORSYTH
Psa 21:1-13
Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.
This psalm concerns the king. But the question is which king? It may have been David. There is much that might apply to him. Perhaps on his recovery from some sickness, or on his return from some signal victory over his enemies, or on the occasion of his birthday or some great anniversary, David and his people may have rejoiced before the Lord with the voice of joy and praise. But a greater than David is here. If the psalm in part is true of David, it finds its highest and most complete fulfilment in David’ s Sou and Lord, and in the glorious salvation which he has accomplished for his people. We know that Jesus is a King. As a King he was announced by Gabriel (Luk 1:32); as a King he was worshipped in his cradle by the Wise Men (Mat 2:11); as a King he was rejected by the Jews, persecuted by the chief priests, and crucified by Pilate (Joh 19:19). And as a King he rose from the dead, was received up into glory, and now rules in power in heaven and upon earth (1Ti 6:15). To this day and everywhere Jesus receives royal honourshis people say as with one voice and one heart, in the words of the ancient hymn, “Thou art the King of glory, O Christ!” The burden of this psalm may be said to be, “Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.”
I. BECAUSE OF HIS FAVOUR WITH GOD. (Psa 21:1-3.) Other kings have been honoured of God, but none like Jesus. From the cradle to the cross we find continual proof and token of the favour of God towards him (Luk 2:52; Luk 9:35; Joh 3:35; Joh 8:29). The secret was in the perfect accord between the Father and the Son, and the absolute and complete surrender of the Son to do his Father’ s will. What was said of the land of Israel, and still more tenderly of the house of the Lord, is true in the higher sense of God’ s dear Son, “Mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually” (Deu 11:12; 1Ki 9:3).
II. BECAUSE OF THE GREAT SALVATION WHICH HE HAS ACCOMPLISHED. (Psa 21:1, Psa 21:5.)
1. This salvation was very dear to him. It was “his heart’ s desire.”
2. This salvation was obtained by a stupendous sacrifice. “Life” (Psa 21:4). We may take the scene in the Garden of Gethsemane as the true interpretation of this passage (Mat 27:38 44). There we see Jesus in an agony. There we see him “asking life,” thrice, with strong crying and tears. And there we see him submitting, with the truest faith and love, to the holy will of God, which decreed that he should die that sinners might be saved (Mat 27:53, Mat 27:54; Joh 10:17, Joh 10:18; Heb 2:14, Heb 2:15).
3. This salvation has secured inestimable benefits to mankind. (Psa 21:6; 2Co 5:14, 2Co 5:15; Eph 1:7; Eph 2:4-6.)
III. BECAUSE OF THE SURE TRIUMPH OF HIS CAUSE AND KINGDOM. (Psa 21:7-13.)
1. Certain. (Psa 21:8.) Might here is right. God’ s word is pledged, and what he has promised he is able to perform. The King’ s strength is still in God, and through him all opposition shall be overthrown.
2. Complete. (Psa 21:9-12.) The same power that is able to crush and confound the foe is arrayed in defence of God’ s people. The end is as the beginningpraise. It is like an anticipation of the song of Moses and the Lamb of the Apocalypse (Rev 15:3).WF.
Psa 21:4
Prayer.
What is true of Christ is true, in a sense, of his people. Here we learn
I. THE TRUE NATURE OF PRAYER. It is the desire of the heart (Psa 21:2). This is frequently taught by doctrine and fact in Holy Scripture. Words are of the mouth, thoughts are of the heart. “Words without thoughts never to heaven go.” It is asking of God for things agreeable to his will. While there is real “asking,” there is also loving trust and acquiescence. God’ s will is aye the best will.
II. SOME LIGHT AS TO THE MANNER IN WHICH GoD ANSWERS PRAYER.
1. By giving what is good. “Life.”
2. In a higher sense than we thought of. “For ever.”
3. In such a way as shall be for the greatest benefit to others as well as to ourselves. “Blessings”
(cf. Paul, “more needful for you,” Php 1:24). Hence faith is confirmed. Our hopes as to the future are sustained. Our hearts are soothed amidst the disappointments and trials of life, by the assurance that all is well. We ask “life” for ourselves; and God gives what he sees best. We ask “life” for our friends. Some child or loved one is in peril of death. We plead for him. We entreat that he may be spared. We continue with “strong crying and tears” to pray that his life, so precious and so dear, may be prolonged. But in vain. He dies. We are troubled. We mourn in bitterness of soul, as if God had forgotten to be gracious. But when we look at things aright, we find comfort. God has answered us in his own way. He knows what is best. Your little one has gone quickly to heaven. Your darling boy has been taken to a nobler field of service than earth. The “desire of your eyes” has been caught up into the glory of God. There they await us. Love never faileth. The fellowship in Christ endures for ever.W.F.
HOMILIES BY C. SHORT
Psa 21:1-13
Thanksgiving for prayer answered.
Close connection between this and the previous psalmthat a prayer for the king; this a thanksgiving that the prayer has been answered. The people speak to God (Psa 21:1-7); then (Psa 21:8-12) they speak to the king; then in Psa 21:13 they speak again to God. The occasion of the psalm has been disputed. Some think it is a birthday ode; some, a coronation hymn; and others, a thanksgiving for victory in battle. Let us take it first
I. AS A BIRTHDAY ODE. “He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, even length of days for ever and ever.”
1. This notwithstanding his sin. Which was thought in the Hebrew mind to forfeit length of days. His long life, therefore, was a special act of God’ s salvation (Psa 21:1, Psa 21:4, Psa 21:6).
2. His long life had been made a prosperous one. (Psa 21:2.) His heart’ s desire had been granted him. How few can say this of a long life! How few feel that they have grasped the greatest good in life!
II. A CORONATION HYMN. (Psa 21:3, Psa 21:5.) “Thou forestallest, or surprisest him with choicest blessings; thou settest a crown of gold upon his head.” “Honour and majesty hast thou laid upon him.”
1. This highest earthly honour was to represent God. He was God’ s vicegerent to the nation. The Lord’ s anointed, who stood on earth for God in heaven; the image of the invisible King. This ought to be the idea still of all the highest earthly officesking, statesman, teacher.
2. But the grandest crown is that of supreme moral influence. That is Christ’ s crown; he is King of men, not by physical force, but by spiritual power. And this is our brightest crown when we can influence men supremely for their good.
III. THANKSGIVING FOR VICTORY IN BATTLE. (Psa 21:8-12.) This may be the bearing of the whole strain of the psalm. Then from his previous victories it is prophesied in the eighth and following verses that he shall gain the victory in all future battles.
1. Trust in God is the source of all our strength in our conflicts. This is the victory that overcometh the world, even your faithnot a passive, but an active faith.
2. Former victories show us that we can, if we will, conquer in all future conflicts. By taking unto us “the whole armour of God.”S.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Psalms 21.
A thanksgiving for victory. Confidence of further success.
To the chief musician, A Psalm of David.
Title. lamnatseach mizmor ledavid. Dr. Delanely is of opinion, that this psalm was composed by David in a transport of joy and thanksgiving after his conquest of Rabbah, and triumph over the Ammonites. It is of the same kind with the preceding. The two first verses seem to be spoken upon seeing the sacrifice promise well; the five next express the continued series of divine favour to the king, and from thence the priest promises him success against his enemies. The last is an address to God. The psalm is generally thought, even by the Jews themselves, to have a relation to Christ; and indeed there are some things in it which are more literally fulfilled in Christ than in David. See Psa 21:4-6. We shall, therefore, in the following notes, consider it particularly as relating to Christ.
Psa 21:1. The king Though, by the king, we may here understand king David, who composed this psalm, yet it may be much better explained of the king Messiah. In thy strength, means in the divine power, which was manifested in the resurrection of Christ, and in the establishment of his gospel.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psalms 21
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David
1The king shall joy in thy strength, O Lord;
And in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!
2Thou hast given him his hearts desire,
And hast not withholden the request of his lips. Selah.
3For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness:
Thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head.
4He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him,
Even length of days for ever and ever.
5His glory is great in thy salvation:
Honour and majesty hast thou laid upon him.
6For thou hast made him most blessed for ever:
Thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance.
7For the king trusteth in the Lord,
And through the mercy of the Most High he shall not be moved.
8Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies:
Thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee.
9Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger:
The Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them.
10Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth,
And their seed from among the children of men.
11For they intended evil against thee:
They imagined a mischievous device, which they are not able to perform.
12Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back,
When thou shalt make ready thine arrows upon thy strings against the face of them.
13Be thou exalted, Lord, in thine own strength:
So will we sing and praise thy power.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Its Contents and Character.In the first half of this Psalm Jehovah is addressed and thanks are expressed to Him for the great benefits shown to the king. The words seem to refer not merely to general blessings (Hupf.), but to special blessings, and particularly to a powerful Divine assistance, with reference to wishes and prayers previously expressed, which greatly rejoices the king, and this as an exhibition of Divine power and grace, connected with the preservation of the kings life and the strengthening of his government so that it continues as a blessing to the entire people. The supposition of a reference to the event presupposed in the previous Psalm is very natural, especially as David, after the conquest of Rabbah, set upon his head the royal crown of the Ammonites, which was adorned with precious stones (2Sa 12:30), and some of the people were thrown into brickkilns, after the fall of the strong city had been decided by the personal presence of David. Psa 21:9 might refer to this.1 In the second half of the Psalm Jehovah is not again addressed (Hupf.), but the king. The expressions in Psa 21:11 are especially against the reference to Jehovah, although in other respects this reference is favored. The address of prayer to God, which expressed thanks for the help and blessings which had been received, passes over into the prediction of still further victories of the king over his enemies, in spite of all crafty devices. Psa 21:7 makes the transition which speaks of Jehovah as well as the king in the third person (Hengst.). Psa 21:13 gives the conclusion, with an appeal to Jehovah, which does not put the entire Psalm somewhere before the beginning of an impending war (De Wette), but refers to the realization of the promise last expressed. The mutual relation of the two Psalms is perhaps due to the one who arranged them. Many of the more ancient interpreters, even Rosenm. 2 Ausg., after the example of the Chald. and the more ancient Rabbins, regard the Psalm as Messianic, especially on account of Psa 21:4; Psa 21:6; Psa 9:2 Hitzig, on account of , Psa 21:1, thinks of the king Uzziah () whose father and grandfather had fallen victims to conspiracies (2Ki 12:21 sq. 2Ki 14:19), which might likewise attempt the life of the heir to the throne. Psa 21:4 is said to refer to this, in connection with which we are reminded that already in 2Ki 10:14; 2Ki 11:1, the design was to exterminate the family of David. Ewald thinks of the king Josiah, would however rather descend to a later time. Hengstenberg finds expressed in the Psalm, the thanks of the people for the promise given to David, 2 Samuel 7, and the joyful hope in its fulfilment. The prophecy of Nathan, at all events, is the revealed foundation for connecting the Messianic hopes with the house of David, and is rechoed in the Psalms, and has even to a certain extent been further carried out in them. In the present Psalm, however, there is not the slightest trace of such a development; and the Messianic interpretation is shattered already in the fact that the crown cannot be taken as symbolical, as Job 19:9; Lam 5:16, because it is called a crown of fine gold.3 But it must be conceded, that the references to the Syrian and Ammonite war are only possible, but not direct, and that the words would more naturally remind us of the elevation of David to the royal throne by the hand of God, than the laying hold of the crown of a king conquered by David. But a reference to the above mentioned prophecy is nowhere to be recognized. For this has to do with the continuance of the house of David and his kingdom (2Sa 7:13; 2Sa 7:16) to which Psa 89:4; Psa 132:12 refer. Now the expressions in this Psalm, length of days, and forever and ever, may not be referred to the continuance of the life of his posterity (Calvin, Hengst.), but must be taken as personal and individual.4 For the mention of prayer for life immediately precedes, and this can only be understood of saving or of preserving life. When now it is said, that God not only has heard this prayer in its primary sense, but his given the king an unending life, extending into eternity, the Messianic interpretation was very natural to the congregation in later times; the author, however, has used the expression only of the person of the king, not of his race which culminates in Christ (Hengst.). If now David is the author, who speaks of himself in the third person, for which reason this Psalm might be a song of the congregation, that expression may not be interpreted as hyperbole, and explained with reference to 1Ki 1:31; Neh 2:3 (Hupf. Hitzig, Delitzsch). For it is an entirely different thing whether a people or a subject congratulates a king, that his days may have no end, or whether he says of himself that God has given him a life that will not end, and makes this the subject of public thanksgiving. Therefore, I find here the strongest expression of the assurance of faith in the personal continuance of the life of those who hold fast to the covenant of grace in living communion with Jehovah. That which elsewhere shines forth as hope in the soul of David, and declares itself at times in words of prophecy, which do not themselves transcend Davids own understanding, has here attained the form and language of assurance, and presupposes a maturity of spiritual experience, and a reflection upon previous gracious guidances and revelations, which in order to be understood lead to the latter period of Davids life. With this agree the following words likewise, in which David manifests a consciousness of his position and importance in the history of redemption. He is placed for a blessing forever, that is, for an object and mediator of blessing as Abraham, Gen 12:2; the people, Isa 19:24; Eze 34:26; Zec 8:13; the righteous, Psa 37:26, and has in the presence (before the face) of Jehovah (Psa 16:11) in future as at present the source of his joy, and the triumphant assurance of his victory over all enemies.
[Str. I. Psa 21:1. Rejoiceth exulteth.The imperfects are presents (Hupf., Delitzsch, Ewald, Hitzig, Moll.) and not futures (A. V., shall joy shall rejoice. Perowne: Shall be glad, shall exult. Alexander: Shall rejoice, shall exult).
Psa 21:2. Request of his lips.Hupf.; This is the spoken wish, the explicit prayer (corresponding with , Psa 21:4) placed along side of the quiet wish of the heart as its complement (only found here) is correctly given in Sept. . is a secondary form of (as likewise in the Arabic and Talmud nominal forms from are found with instead of ) properly = , to be empty, to need (comp. Niphal and the related to be poor) hence to desire, and then afterward the usual meaning of take possession, possess, etc.C. A. B.]
[Str. II. Psa 21:3. Preventest.Barnes. Thou goest before him; thou dost anticipate him, vid.Psa 17:13, margin. Our word prevent is now most commonly used in the sense of hinder, stop, or intercept. This is not the original meaning of the English word; and the word is never used in this sense in the Bible The English word when our translation was made, meant to go before, to anticipate, and this is the uniform meaning of it in our English version, as it is the meaning of the original. The meaning here is, that God had anticipated him or his desires. He had gone before him. He had designed the blessing even before it was asked Hupfeld, whom Moll and Perowne follow, render it, Thou comest to meet him. This is perhaps better.Crown of pure gold.Hupfeld regards this not as the crown of a conquered king but as his own, as symbol of the royal dignity given him by God. Barnes refers it to the victory. He was crowned with triumph, he was shown to be a king; the victory was like making him a king, or setting a crown of pure gold upon his head. Perowne regards it as a poetical figure. Delitzsch refers it to the captured crown of the king of the Ammonites, which is most likely.
Psa 21:4. He asked life of thee.Barnes: The expression itself would be applicable to a time of sickness, or to danger of any kind, and here it is used doubtless in reference to the exposure of life on going into battle, or on going forth to war.Length of days.Hupfeld: Preservation of life and long life; a standing feature of blessings (Psa 61:7; Psa 91:16), derived from the promise of the law, and the proverbs of the fear of God and wisdom, Pro 3:16; Pro 4:10; Pro 9:11; here as the consequence of Divine protection and especial Divine grace.Forever and ever.Perowne: There is no difficulty in this expression even as applied to David. It was usual to pray that the king might live forever (1Ki 1:31; Neh 2:3, etc.), and a like anticipation of an endless life occurs in other Psalms (Psa 23:6; Psa 61:6; Psa 91:16.C. A. B.]5
[Str. III. Psa 21:5. Great is his glory through Thy deliverance (A. V., His glory is great in thy salvation).The idea is that the saving help of God in giving him the victory over his enemies had made his glory great. Hupfeld: (glory) properly of the Divine majesty, here its reflection, the royal, vid.Psa 8:1; Psa 8:5. Delitzsch: The help of God redounds to his glory, and paves the way for his glory, it enables him, as Psa 21:5 b means, famously and gloriously to maintain and strengthen his kingdom. The verbs Psa 21:5 b and ver 6, are presentsLayest upon him (Moll, Delitzsch, Perowne, et al. A. V. has, laid upon him).
Psa 21:6. For Thou settest him as a blessing forever. (A. V., Thou hast made him most blessed forever. Marginal reading, and set him to blessings).Barnes: The expression in our translation, as it is now commonly understood, would mean, that God had made him happy or prosperous. This does not seem to be the sense of the original. The idea is, that he had made him a blessing to mankind, or to the world, or that he had made him to be a source of blessing to others.Delitzsch: To set as blessings or fulness of blessings is an emphatic expression of Gods word to Abram, Gen 12:2; be a blessing, that is, the possessor and mediator of blessings.Thou dost gladden him withjoy in Thy presence.So Perowne, Moll, and Delitzsch, and Hupfeld, more exactly, before Thy face; Ewald, before Thee. Vid. Ps. 16:12. The presence of God is the joy of the righteous, to be before His face, beholding His face is their greatest privilege and pleasure. The A. V., with thy countenance is an incorrect rendering of the Hebrew .C. A. B.]
[Str. IV. Ver 7 This verse connects the former part of the Psalm with the latter For, gives the reason of the blessings which the king has received. He trusteth in Jehovah, he depends upon Him and not upon himself and therefore he shall not be moved, he shall not be shaken from the firm rock upon which he is established.C. A. B.]
Str. V. [Ver 8. Perowne; The hope passing into a prophecy that in every battle the king will be victorious over his enemies Alexander: By a kind of climax in the form of expression hand is followed by right hand, a still more empatic sign of active strength. To find, in this connection includes the ideas of detecting and reaching. Comp. 1Sa 23:17; Isa 10:10, in the latter of which places the verb is construed with a preposition (), as it is in the first clause of the verse before us, whereas in the other clause it governs the noun directly. If any difference of meaning was intended, it is probably not greater than that between find and find out in English.C. A. B ]
Psa 21:9. Set as a fiery oven.Hupfeld prefers to regard this as a nominative, because he refers the passage to God,6 whose wrath is frequently described as a consuming fire, whose punishment Isa 31:9; Mal. 3:19 is compared with a fiery oven as the instrument of consuming. But even with this interpretation set is an expression derived from other connections; and Jehovah is not spoken of as a devouring fire until the following clause. Most interpreters, therefore, explain the expression, as a loose comparison and remind us of Sodom, whose smoke (Gen 19:28) is compared to the smoke of a furnace, or to the consuming of the Ammonites in the oven (2Sa 12:31).In the time of thy angry look. [A. V. thine anger].Since the king is in the presence of Jehovah, Psa 21:6, when he directs his face upon his enemies, it exerts that destructive power which is usually ascribed to the angry look of Jehovah Hitzig understands these words of his personal appearance (2Sa 17:11). [So Riehm: When thou (the king) marchest personally against them at the head of thy army and showest them thy countenance, before which namely, they will not stand but will fall.C. A. B.]
[Str. VI Psa 21:10. Perowne. Their fruit,= children, posterity, etc.,Lam 2:20, Hos 9:16; more fully fruit of the womb, Psa 127:3; Psa 132:11.C. A. B.]
Str. VII. [Psa 21:11. They have stretched out evil (A. V.: They intended evil).Barnes: The idea seems to be derived from stretching out or laying snares, nets, or gins, for the purpose of taking wild beasts. That is, they formed a plan or purpose to bring evil upon God and His cause: as the hunter or fowler forms a purpose or plan to take wild beasts. So Moll and most interpreters. But Hengst., Hitzig, Delitzsch and Riehm render it They bent evil over thee, that is in order to cast it down upon thee, vid. the parallel expression, Psa 55:3; 2 Samuel 15They shall not prevail.The rendering of the A. V. as a relative clause which they are not able to perform, is inexact and spoils the force of the poetry.
Psa 21:12. For thou wilt make them turn their back (lit., make them shoulder, vid.Psa 18:40), with thy (bow) strings wilt thou also aim against their face.Alexander: The common version of the first word (therefore) is not only contrary to usage, but disturbs the sense by obscuring the connection with the foregoing verse, which is thus: They shall not prevail, because Thou shalt make them turn their back.C. A. B.]. Luther remarks upon this verse: Their troubles excite them to flight, and the bow hastening against them compels them to return, and thus they are taken in a strait, and are in such a condition that they fall out of the frying pan into the fire.7
[Psa 21:13. Perowne: The singer has done with his good wishes and prophecies for the king. Now he turns to the Giver of victory, and prays Him to manifest Himself in all His power and glory, that His people may ever acknowledge Him as the only source of their strength.C. A. B.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. Thankfulness for received help is becoming. There is great salvation when heart and lip agree in it, and people and prince unite in it, as well as in the prayer for help. And when a king rejoices more in Gods strength than in his own strength, and when the congregation acknowledges the same with praise, it is a sign of correct judgment and true piety, which gives us hope of further blessings and opens the sources of enduring happiness.
2. He who can wear a crown has attained to much honor and greatness If he has received it from Gods hand, he may reckon it among the great blessings of success. If he continues to remember whence his crown came, it will not bring any spiritual injury to him, or do any injury to his soul. He will give God the honor in thankful joy, and in humble faith ask of God what he needs; but more than the golden crown will he value the imperishable crown of eternal life and the crown of righteousness, and indeed as the gracious gift of Him who does exceeding abundant above all that we ask and understand.
3. He who receives blessings from God, has likewise to spread them abroad upon others. But the greatest blessings are received and spread abroad by the bearers of divine revelation, the mediators of the history of redemption. Their communications not unfrequently, it is true, transcend the immediate understanding; but there is no occasion in this to conceal and withhold them from the congregation. In them is developed rather the understanding of revealed truth and participation in the salvation and life bestowed on them by God.
4. The pious experience the greatest joy when they are with God, here on earth in the foretaste of grace, especially in Divine service, there in the full enjoyment of life, when after awaking they are satisfied with the form of God (Psa 17:15). During this earthly life there are still many enemies to combat, which are inflamed even to hate, exert their strength to destroy the pious, and in their craftiness stretch out their nets of destruction against them. But he who puts his trust in God, will not totter or fall, but rather will not only be delivered and preserved by the grace of the Almighty, but will completely vanquish and triumph over his enemies.
5. In these circumstances and relations there is a reason and summons to daily petition and thanksgiving. For we could not dispense with Gods rising up to our assistance, and the efficacy of His power, in any undertaking or situation of our life. This, moreover, we ought likewise to recognize, and to express with glad thankfulness in praising God, who is as much the true Hero and the true Conqueror, as the Lord over all lords and King over all kings.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
True thankfulness towards God is an expression of pious joy, and indeed not only in the help and gifts that have been received, but chiefly in the strength and love of God which has been made known.God hears prayer, but He does far more and gives far more than all we ask or understand.A pious king confesses that he has his crown from God, but he values the crown of eternal life far more than the golden crown, and the joy in the presence of God is worth more to him than the glory of earthly success.He who has been anointed by God, is placed by God as a blessing for others, but this Divine purpose finds its complete realization in Jesus Christ alone.He who bases himself in the love of God, and supports himself upon the strength of the Most High, has the best security against tottering and fallingThe glory, grandeur, and strength of princes is only a reflection of the majesty of God; therefore those are the greatest among them who serve God the most conscientiously.The anointed of God has a twofold task to perform; he Isaiah 1) a mediator of Divine blessing, and 2) an executor of Divine judgment.
Starke: Gods goodness is still so great towards His children that He often gives them much more than they have the courage to ask or to hope (Eph 3:20).As long as Christ lives, His believers must likewise live; for His life is their life (Joh 14:19).The worldly-minded trouble themselves only for temporal blessings, health of body, riches, great honor, and long life; but all this is a dream and shadow in comparison with the heavenly and eternal blessings of the pious.True joy is beholding the face of God, which takes place here on earth in faith, and in the Word, but in heaven face to face (1Jn 3:2).However coldly God now seems to look upon the enemies of Christ, the more will His anger burn against them in the future.As the enemies of the Church are unable to carry out their wicked designs against the Head of the church, so they will not against His members. Therefore be comforted ye children of the Most High! He who is for us, is greater and stronger than all that are against us (1Jn 4:4).Osiander: God looks for awhile upon the pride of His enemies; yet if He has stored up against them for a long time. He will punish with still greater severity afterwards.Geier: God has His limited time as well for His wrath as for His grace.Frisch: Joy must finally follow pain; help follow trouble; the blessing the curse; the golden crown the crown of thorns; life death; decoration and honor shame.Rieger: From the thankful recognition of what God has thus far done for the king, and therefore for the whole people, flows good confidence in still further assistance from God.Guenther: All regents in the world are only instruments of God to bless and chastise the nations.Diedrich: Trust in God is an inexhaustible strength, which maintains the victory in all necessities, and through all sufferings.Where God gives joy, nothing will venture to trouble us.
[Matth. Henry: When Gods blessings come sooner, and prove richer, than we imaginewhen they are given before we prayed for them, before we were ready for them, nay, when we feared the contrary,then it may be truly said, that He prevented us with them. Nothing, indeed, prevented Christ; but to mankind never was any favor more preventing than our redemption by Christ, and all the blessed fruits of His mediation.Barnes: Truth meets error boldly; face to face, and is not afraid of a fair fight. In every such conflict error will ultimately yield; and whenever the wicked come openly into conflict with God, they must be compelled to turn and flee.If all the devices and desires of the wicked were accomplished, righteousness would soon cease in the earth, religion and virtue would come to an end, and even God would cease to occupy the throne.Spurgeon: Mercy in the case of many of us, ran before our desires and prayers, and it ever outruns our endeavors and expectancies, and even our hopes are left to lag behind.Prevenient grace deserves a song.All our mercies are to be viewed as blessings, gifts of a blessed God, meant to make us blessed; they are blessings of goodness, not of merit, but of free favor; and they come to us in a preventing way, a way of prudent foresight, such as only preventing love could have arranged.For a time the foes of God may make bold advances, and threaten to overthrow everything, but a few ticks of the clock will alter the face of their affairs.At first they advance impudently enough, but Jehovah meets them to their teeth, and a taste of the sharp judgments of God speedily makes them flee in dismay.C. A. B.]
Footnotes:
[1][Perowne: The last Psalm was a litany before the king went forth to battle. This is apparently a Te Deum on his return. In that, the people cried, Jehovah give thee according to thy hearts desire; in this, they thank God who has heard their prayer: The wish of his heart hast Thou given him. Delitzsch: In both Psalms the people appear before God in the affairs of their king, there wishing and praying, here thanking and hoping, here as there in the midst of war, but here after the recovery of the king, in the assurance of its victorious termination.C. A. B.]
[2][Wordsworth: Doubtless, in a primary sense both these Psalms concern David himself; but they extend far beyond him. The King, here displayed to us, is King of kings; He is the Ever-living One, Christ Blessed forever. The Chaldee Targum opens here with these remarkable words: O Lord, the King Messiah shall rejoice in Thy strength; and Rashi owns that the older Hebrew doctors expounded this Psalm of the Messiah; but he adds, that in order to obviate the arguments of Christians, it is better to confine it to David. They, therefore, who limit it to the literal sense, imitate the Jews. The Church has declared her own Judgment on this question by appointing this Psalm to be used in the festival of Christs ascension into heaven.C. A. B.]
[3][Vid., however, Hupfeld on Psa 21:3.C. A. B.]
[4][Vid. exposition of Psa 21:4.C. A. B.]
[5][Wordsworth: This could not be predicted of David himself; but is true of Christ, who says, in the Apocalypse, I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold I am alive forever more, (Rev 1:18; comp. Rom 6:10).C. A. B.]
[6][Hupfeld: Thou wilt be for them as a fiery oven.C. A. B.]
[7][German: Aus dem Regen in die Traufe, that is, out of the rain and into the water which falls from the roof.C. A. B.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
DISCOURSE: 524
THE KINGDOM OF DAVID AND OF CHRIST
Psa 21:1-7. The king shall joy in thy strength, O Lord; and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice! Thou hast given him his hearts desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips. For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness; thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head. He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, even length of days for ever and ever. His glory is great in thy salvation: honour and majesty hast thou laid upon him. For thou hast made him most blessed for ever: thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance. For the king trusteth in the Lord; and, through the mercy of the Most High, he shall not be moved.
THIS psalm is appointed by the Church to be read on the day of our Lords Ascension: and on a close examination, it will appear to be well suited to that occasion. We will,
I.
Explain it
In its primary and literal sense, it expresses Davids gratitude on his advancement to the throne of Israel
[After acknowledging, in general terms, Gods goodness towards him in this dispensation, he speaks of his elevation as an answer to his prayers, though in its origin it was altogether unsolicited and unsought for [Note: ver. 14.] Impressed with the greatness of the honour conferred upon him, he exults in it, especially as affording him an opportunity of benefiting others [Note: ver. 5, 6.]; and declares his confidence, that his enemies, so far from ever being able to subvert his government, shall all be crushed before him [Note: ver. 712.]
Passing over this view of the psalm, we proceed to observe, that]
It is yet more applicable to Christ, as expressing his feelings on his ascension to the throne of glory
[David was a type of Christ, as Davids kingdom was of Christs kingdom: and Christ, on his ascension to heaven, may be considered as addressing his Father in the words of this psalm.
He declares his joy and gratitude on account of the blessedness vouchsafed to him, and on account of the blessedness which he was now empowered to bestow on others. With respect to his own blessedness we observe, that his conflicts were now terminated. These had been numerous and severe. From his first entrance into the world to the instant of his departure from it, he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. View him especially during the three years of his Ministry, what contradiction of sinners against himself did he endure! View more particularly the four last days of his life, what grievous and accumulated wrongs did he sustain! Consider his conflicts also with the powers of darkness, and the terrors of his Fathers wrath O what reason had he to rejoice in the termination of such sufferings, and to magnify his Father who had brought him in safety through them! For this he had prayed; and God had given him the fullest answer to his prayers [Note: Heb 5:7. with ver. 2, 4.]. Now also he was restored to glory. He had a glory with the Father before the worlds were made [Note: Joh 1:1; Joh 1:18; Joh 17:5.]: and of that glory he had divested himself when he assumed our nature [Note: Php 2:6-8.]. But now he was restored to it: and what a contrast did it form with that state, from which he had been delivered! A few days ago he had not where to lay his head: now he is received into his Fathers house, his Fathers bosom. Lately he was derided, mocked, insulted, spit upon, buffeted, and scourged by the vilest of the human race; and now he is seated on his throne of glory, and worshipped and adored by all the hosts of heaven Great indeed was the glory that now accrued to him, and great the majesty that was now laid upon him [Note: ver. 5.] and, as it had proceeded from his Father [Note: Php 2:9-11.], so he justly acknowledges it as his Fathers gift.
But it was not to himself only that Jesus had respect: he blesses his Father also for the blessedness which he was empowered to bestow on others. The words, Thou hast made him most blessed for ever, are translated in the margin of our Bibles, Thou hast set him to be blessings for ever. This version opens a new and important view of the subject, a view which particularly accords with all the prophecies respecting Christ. It is said again and again concerning him, that in him shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; and we are well assured, that to communicate blessings to a ruined world is a source of inconceivable happiness to himself. We apprehend that to have been a very principal idea in the mind of the Apostle, when, speaking of Christ, he said, Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God [Note: Heb 12:2.].
With what joy must he behold the myriads who had been exalted to glory through the virtue of his sacrifice, whilst yet it remained to be offered! It was through his obedience unto death that all the antediluvian and patriarchal saints were saved. Our First Parents looked to him as the Seed of the woman that should bruise the serpents head. To him righteous Abel had respect, in the offering which was honoured with visible tokens of Gods acceptance. To him Noah looked, when he offered the burnt-offerings, from which God smelled a sweet savour [Note: Gen 8:20-21.]. In a word, it is through his righteousness that forbearance and forgiveness were exercised from the beginning, just as they will be exercised even to the end: and all who were saved before his advent are in that respect on the same level with those who have been saved since: there is but one song amongst all the glorified saints in heaven; they are all harmonious in singing to Him that loved them and washed them from their sins in his own blood, &c. What a joy must it be to Christ to see in so many myriads the travail of his soul, who were brought forth, as it were, to God, even before he travailed! With what joy, too, did he then take upon him to dispense his blessings to the myriads yet unborn! He is Head over all things, not for his own sake merely, but for the Churchs sake. Knowing then how many of his most cruel enemies were given to him by the Father, with what pleasure would he look down upon them, (even while their hands were yet reeking with his blood,) and anticipate their conversion to God by the influence of his Spirit on the day of Pentecost! Every child of man that shall at any period of the world participate his grace, was at that moment before his eyes: and with what delight would he view them, as drawn by his word, as nourished by his grace, as comforted by his Spirit, as made more than conquerors over all their enemies [Note: Zep 3:17.] At that moment he saw, as it were, the whole company of the redeemed, the multitudes which no man can number, all enthroned around him, the monuments of his love, the heirs of his glory, the partners of his throne He saw that the kingdom which he had now established upon earth should never be moved; that the gates of hell should never prevail against it; and that it should stand for ever and ever [Note: ver. 7.]. Well therefore might he say, The King shall joy in thy strength, O Lord; and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!]
Having thus explained the psalm, we proceed to,
II.
Shew what improvement we should make of it
From its literal sense we learn, how thankful we should be for any blessings vouchsafed unto us
[In many respects God has prevented us with the blessings of goodness; and in many he has given them in answer to our prayers. We may account even his long-suffering towards us to be salvation, and much more the gift of his grace, and the knowledge of his dear Son. Can we reflect on the salvation to which he has called us, even the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory, and not be thankful for it? Can we reflect on the exaltation which we ourselves have received, from death to life, from slaves to free-men, from children of the devil to sons of God, and not rejoice in it? Can we think of our having been made kings and priests unto God, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ, yea, partners of his throne, and partakers of his glory for evermore; can we contemplate all this, and not say, In thy salvation how greatly shall I rejoice? Verily, if we do not rejoice and shout for joy, the very stones will cry out against us ]
From its mystical or prophetical sense we learn what should be our disposition and conduct towards the Lord Jesus
[Methinks, we should rejoice in his joy. If it were but a common friend that was released from heavy sufferings and exalted to glory, we should rejoice with him in the blessed change: how much more then should we participate in our minds the joy and glory of our adorable Redeemer! But more particularly we should submit to his government. This is strongly and awfully suggested in all the latter part of the psalm before us. God has highly exalted Jesus, that at his name every knee should bow: yea, he has sworn, that every knee shall bow to him: and that all who will not bow to the sceptre of his grace, shall be broken in pieces with a rod of iron. Read from the text to the end of the psalm; and endeavour to realize every expression in it O that we may be wise ere it be too late! Let us kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and we perish: for though now he condescends to follow us with entreaties to be reconciled towards him, the time is quickly coming, when he will say, Bring hither those that were mine enemies, who would not that I should reign over them, and slay them before me.
A further improvement we should make of this subject is, to confide in his care. He is set to be blessings to a ruined world. He has ascended up on high that he might fill all things: he has received gifts, even for the rebellious; and has all fulness treasured up in him, on purpose that we may receive out of his fulness grace for grace. There is nothing that we can want, but it may be found in him; nor any thing which he is not willing to bestow on the very chief of sinners. Let us then look to him, and trust in him; and assure ourselves, that, as he lost none that had been given him in the days of his flesh, so now will he suffer none to be plucked out of his hands. We cannot expect too much from such a King: however wide we open our mouths, he will fill them.
To seek the enlargement of his kingdom is the last duty we shall mention as suggested by the subject before us. In the prayer that he has taught us, we say, Thy kingdom come; and we close that prayer with ascribing to him the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever: and it is with similar sentiments that the psalm before us concludes. Let us enter into the spirit of them, saying, Be thou exalted, Lord, in thine own strength; so will we sing and praise thy power. Nothing should be so dear to us as the advancement of his glory. Let us reflect, how we may best promote it; and let the extension of his kingdom be our chief joy [Note: Psa 72:18-19.] ]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
CONTENTS
If the foregoing Psalm prayed for the Mediator’s success in his great undertaking of redemption, here we have a thanksgiving Psalm for the answer of Jehovah to that Prayer, in the triumphs of the Lord Jesus. The Church is here blessing the Lord for those victories of her Redeemer and King, and expressing her sure confidence of everlasting triumphs in Jesus.
To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
Psa 21:1
Reader, here is so much of Jesus, our glorious triumphant King, in this Psalm, that I do entreat you to be looking up for grace, and on the lookout through every portion of it, that we may not overlook or miss any of the very precious things which are here recorded concerning him. Observe, immediately on the opening of it, what is said of the Lord Jesus’s joy in the salvation of Jehovah. Yes: Jesus is the Christ of God. And the salvation he brought is Jehovah’s salvation to the ends of the earth. Isa 49:6 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Prevenient Grace
Psa 21:2-3
This Psalm is a battle song, a thanksgiving after the battle. It is full of the glow of triumph, the exultation of victory.
I. There has been a change of meaning in the word prevent since our English translation; or rather, as so often happens in the history of words, the meaning has taken on a different colour. ‘Prevent’ means simply to go before, and in the sense of our text meant to go before in order to help, to clear the way of difficulties, to anticipate, and prepare for the person following. There is in theology a term, still used, prevenient grace, meaning the grace which acts on a sinner before repentance inducing him to repent, the grace by which he attains faith and receives power to will the good. But we must not limit God’s prevenient grace to the act of repentance, to the steps which lead up to the consciousness of sonship with God. When we do awaken to that consciousness we will, like the Psalmist, look back and see how God has been in the past leading, guiding, guarding, shepherding us, preventing, going before us with the blessings of goodness. We can point to this place and to that in our life’s history where we have been kept from wrong by being kept from the opportunity. What we in blindness called hindering has been really helping.
II. Faith is of a piece. It believes about the future what it believes about the past; for God to it is the same yesterday, today, and for ever. We cannot live by faith now, and look forward to the fruition of faith in the days to come, unless we also interpret the past by faith. God’s dealings with us are consistent. There is no break in His providence. His grace is not intermittent. It is prevenient, as well as present. Our future may be obscure; we may not be able to see very far ahead a clear path for our feet; but we know already what it is to walk by faith when sight has failed us. Difficulties may even at this moment loom before us; but there have often been difficulties in our lives which when we went up to them vanished as if some one had gone before us and cleared the way, like the women who went on their loving errand to the sepulchre of their Master very early in the morning, with sinking hearts, saying in despair: ‘Who shall roll away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? And when they looked they saw that the stone was rolled away.’ We expected to be stopped, as the women did, by some insurmountable obstacle; but when we came up to it we saw our way past, and even when it seemed to block the way utterly we were enabled to make it a stepping-stone to higher things.
III. Even the valley of the shadow of death cannot bring evil. The love which illuminated all the day of life to us shall make our bed in dying, and in the eventide it shall also be light. Prevenient grace will not cease at death. Our faith fails not even here, and tells us that God goes before us with the blessings of goodness. ‘I go,’ said the Master, ‘to prepare a place for you.’ The forethought of love can never be exhausted. Our place has ever been prepared for us, and ever shall be. He has prepared our place for us at His Table. The broken bread and the poured out wine are symbols of that love in its culmination, tokens of the deathless love of God in Christ Jesus.
Hugh Black, Christ’s Service of Love, p. 209.
Prevenient Goodness
Psa 21:3
The word ‘prevent’ here is used in a different sense from that which it now bears. It has no suggestion of hindering about it; it means to anticipate or go before. ‘Thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness’ thou goest on ahead thou art in front. When the king reaches such and such an hour, he will discover that it has been prepared for. It is that assurance of a foreseeing power, of a footstep and a figure on ahead, which quieted and cheered the Psalmist’s soul, and helped him to be brave against the morrow. The Psalmist knew that Jehovah was behind him, in the subtle interweavings of the past. He knew that God was with him in the present, invisible, yet nearer than his breathing. But he knew also, and there were times for him when the thought was inexpressibly refreshing, that the path he should have to tread tomorrow was being shaped by hands Divine today. God is not only with us as we journey. God is on before us as we journey. First, we shall look at the beginning of life; next, at the progress of life; and lastly, at the end of life.
I. Think, then, of the beginnings of life, and of the state of things which then awaited us.
1. And first remember how when we were born we came into a world that was prepared. ‘Thou hast formed the world to be inhabited’ is one of the deep sayings of the prophets. For whatever ends the world has been created, it has been fashioned upon the lines of man. It has been decked in beauty for the human eye; covered with sustenance for the human frame; stored with energies that would have slept unused, but for the large intelligence of man. Nature has been getting ready for millenniums, since she awoke from the primeval chaos; and in her depths, and on her hills of pasturage, has been preparing for this very hour.
2. Again, let us bear this in mind, that we were born into a society that was prepared. Life perishes without a right environment, and an environment contains a thousand yesterdays. Thou goest before us with the blessings of goodness. We are all aristocrats and born into a heritage. We struggle through broken efforts into speech, and the speech of a little child is always wonderful. And yet the Celt is in it, and the Saxon, and the pride and chivalry of Norman conquerors, and it has been shaping for a thousand years that it might be ready for the child today.
3. And more than that, is it not also true that we were born into a home that was prepared? God has not only been busy in the world; God has also been busy in the home. Sometimes there comes a visitor to see us of whose coming we had no anticipation. He has been long abroad and for years we have not seen him, until one day he is standing at our door. But it is not thus that into Christian homes there come the joy and mystery of childhood. The child is born in a prepared place, and love has been very busy with its welcome. Thou goest before us with the blessings of goodness. Thou touchest hearts to fatherhood and motherhood. Thou givest to the little helpless child the sign and seal of sacramental baptism. And the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is there, and the memory of His love for little ones, and the cleansing of blood that was poured out in ransom, not yesterday, but long centuries ago.
II. In the second place, think of the progress of life as we advance in it from stage to stage. God is not only behind us in our memories, God is also before us in the way.
1. Think, for example, of the surprise of life its unexpected and unlooked-for element. There is not a life so dull and commonplace but has had ample experience of that. Our joys surprise us like birds upon the wing, flashing upon us suddenly and strangely.
2. Or think again of the cravings of our life; those longings that beset us as we journey. Our life is measured not by what we win: our life is measured by the thing we strive for. As a man deepens so his longings deepen, till they reach to the infinite and the eternal. And the strange thing is, that as these cravings alter, and rise from the transient to the enduring, so God is ever there before us, with His prepared answer to our quest.
III. Does not this thought illuminate the close of life? Thou goest before us into the dark valley. ‘I go to prepare a place for you,’ said Christ Whatever hell be, it is not man’s environment. It was prepared for the devil and his angels. Whatever heaven be, it is man’s native place, prepared for him from the foundation of the world. And then within that kingdom, all made ready, there is to be the individual touch I go to prepare a place for you.
G. H. Morrison, The Return of the Angels, p. 143.
The Prevenient Goodness of the Lord
Psa 21:3
The wonderful way in which God is beforehand with men always.
I. Let us remember how obvious it is with regard to our first appearance in this world at all. Before you put your tender cutting into the ground you are careful to prepare a fitting soil that it may take root readily. And before He plants His children in this world the Heavenly Husbandman is at singular pains to secure that the place they are to occupy be in rich readiness and favourable for their bearing the fruit he looks for from their lives.
( a ) That at least among ourselves is the rule. It is true there are exceptions or what must seem to us to be so. There are children born into the world for whom you would say little preparation had been made by any one. Is God beforehand with them with the blessings of goodness. One thing is certain; that He has the strangest ways of blending His mercy even with the most untoward environment.
( b ) There can hardly, I should think, be any one here but will find upon reflection how wonderfully his place in the world was prepared for him before he came to occupy it. Who is it that says that if you are to give a child a good education you must begin a hundred years before he is born? All down the generations the lot we should in due time stand in has been growing more goodly and favourable. Richly significant as such preparation for their arrival here may be, its influence nevertheless must be largely lost on men but for a further preparation made in the sphere that lies closer about them still. To have first drawn breath then, in a truly Christian home is to have been born to an inheritance which not all the world’s wealth could buy.
( c ) All this prevenient lovingkindness of God was expressed towards us in our baptism. For baptism is the seal of our lineage, and signifies that we come of the elect stock.
II. All through life the same truth holds how not merely at the beginning but from stage to stage thereafter God is beforehand with men. Take an illustration or two; for example: ( a ) The great joys of life. As a rule these are not of a man’s own working. They arrive we know not whence or how. And what does this mean but just that the Divine lovingkindness had prepared for us such mercy, and then at the fitting moment laid it bare.
( b ) The great sorrows and trials of life. If not at the time then later men and women become aware of the Divine purpose that was in their loss and pain. It is not given to all God’s children while presently under discipline to recognize the meaning and the mercy of it; but when they have emerged it is.
( c ) Or, once more, take temptation, that constant element in our lives. But with the temptation there is always a strength available for the bearing of it, which if we seize and are not overborne by it, nothing but good is the issue. It teaches faith. It teaches to pray.
III. Finally observe how the truth we are dealing with, and which is realized so unbrokenly through life, holds good to the end.
( a ) Life of course does wear to a close, and not all men are able to ignore it. Some are even haunted by the thought. What those who though believers must lay to heart is that their dying also, as well as everything else in their history, has been long ago provided for.
( b ) As for what they find upon the other side what shall we say of it? It is upon no barren shore that they step forth, but upon a better country, and one where they are looked for. Our Lord says a great word about it when He bids the faithful look to be bidden welcome to a kingdom ‘prepared’ for them ‘from the foundations of the world’.
( c ) It would seem that a more special provision of His mercy still is made for His children in the world to come, for He Who came from thence and went thither again has gone ‘to prepare a place for them’ that is, surely, a place of His own for each. We may believe that whatever our appointed place hereafter may be, it will not be so strange and unfamiliar as we are apt to think.
A. Martin Winning the Soul, p. 199.
The Ministry of Surprise
Psa 21:3
The element of surprise in the handiwork of God.
I. In nature. We talk of the uniformity of nature, and it is wonderful with what a steady march the days and seasons keep their appointed course: ‘While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and heat and cold, and summer and winter, shall not fail’. Now you would think it would be a dull dead world where everything was so uniform as that. Well I believe it is that dread monotony that God averts by His strange and beautiful method of surprise. I may have watched the coming of a score of springtimes; but when the next spring comes, with its throat of music and its cloak of green, it is all so fresh and wonderful to me as if there had never been a spring before. The glad surprise of every dawn and May day, in the teeth of iron and inexorable law, speaks better than a hundred arguments, of the presence of an immanent Creator.
II. The element of surprise, too, is found in human character. In our most commonplace neighbour there is something that in a twinkling upsets our calculations. We thought we knew our neighbour perfectly. But suddenly he is forced by opportunity, or a staggering blow falls, or a great crisis comes, and there flash upon the man such gleams of heroism, such dauntless resource, such noble fortitude, that our old estimates go by the board at once. There were deeps in him that we had never dreamed of.
III. This feature of surprise, again, has a large place in God’s providential dealings, so large that we all know the maxim of a shrewd observer: it is the unexpected that happens. We read about the call of David. We read of Samuel in the house of Jesse. And when Eliab came big, brave, and handsome, Eliab the first-born, every inch a king Samuel was certain this was Saul’s successor. But God was as certain Eliab was not His king was out on the hills with the sheep that morning. A minister gets home from his pulpit of a night, and sits down and says, ‘I have done well today,’ and in the judgment of heaven it may have all been failure. And another Sabbath his heart is sick: no one is listening: he failed; and souls will bless God to all eternity that they were touched and kindled by that message. It is God’s surprise in providential dealing.
IV. But I think it is in the life of Jesus Christ that the method of surprise comes to its Crown. Is there no surprise that the cradle was a manger? Is it not surprising that the King of Life should have been slain by cruel hands upon the Cross? We do not feel the marvel of it, because it is all familiar in our ears as household words. Did it come new to us, and freshly as the dawn, and find us unsophisticated, childlike, we should begin to marvel at it more.
G. H. Morrison, Flood-Tide, p. 252.
References. XXI. 3. S. Martin, Westminster Chapel Pulpit (1st Series), No. 2. J. E. Vaux, Sermon Notes (4th Series), p. 62. Preacher’s Monthly, vol. v. p. 15. XXI. I. Williams, The Psalms Interpreted of Christ, p. 380. XXII. 1. J. Pulsford, Our Deathless Hope, p. 92. Spurgeon, Morning by Morning, p. 106. XXII. 1-5. J. Keble, Sermons for the Holy Week, p. 373. XXII. 2. S. Home, The Soul’s Awakening, p. 131. XXII. 6-13. J. Keble, Sermons for the Holy Week, p. 380. XXII. 7. Spurgeon, Morning by Morning, p. 105. XXII. 9, 10. J. Keble, Sermons for Christmas and Epiphany, p. 139. XXII. 11. H. P. Liddon, Old Testament Outlines, p. 104. XXII. 14. Spurgeon, Morning by Morning, p. 103. XXII. 14-18. J. Keble, Sermons for the Holy Week, p. 387. XXII. 15. Preacher’s Monthly, vol. vii. p. 378. XXII. 16. C. G. Clark-Hunt, The Refuge of the Sacred Wounds, p. 35. XXII. 19. J. Keble, Sermons for the Holy Week, p. 394. XXII. 21. H. Windross, The Life Victorious, p. 46. XXII. 22, 23. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xiv. No. 799. XXII. 26. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxii. No. 1312. G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons, p. 134.
Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson
PSALMS
XI
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF PSALMS
According to my usual custom, when taking up the study of a book of the Bible I give at the beginning a list of books as helps to the study of that book. The following books I heartily commend on the Psalms:
1. Sampey’s Syllabus for Old Testament Study . This is especially good on the grouping and outlining of some selected psalms. There are also some valuable suggestions on other features of the book.
2. Kirkpatrick’g commentary, in “Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges,” is an excellent aid in the study of the Psalter.
3. Perowne’s Book of Psalms is a good, scholarly treatise on the Psalms. A special feature of this commentary is the author’s “New Translation” and his notes are very helpful.
4. Spurgeon’s Treasury of David. This is just what the title implies. It is a voluminous, devotional interpretation of the Psalms and helpful to those who have the time for such extensive study of the Psalter.
5. Hengstenburg on the Psalms. This is a fine, scholarly work by one of the greatest of the conservative German scholars.
6. Maclaren on the Psalms, in “The Expositor’s Bible,” is the work of the world’s safest, sanest, and best of all works that have ever been written on the Psalms.
7. Thirtle on the Titles of the Psalms. This is the best on the subject and well worth a careful study.
At this point some definitions are in order. The Hebrew word for psalm means praise. The word in English comes from psalmos , a song of lyrical character, or a song to be sung and accompanied with a lyre. The Psalter is a collection of sacred and inspired songs, composed at different times and by different authors.
The range of time in composition was more than 1,000 years, or from the time of Moses to the time of Ezra. The collection in its present form was arranged probably by Ezra in the fifth century, B.C.
The Jewish classification of Old Testament books was The Law, the Prophets, and the Holy Writings. The Psalms was given the first place in the last group.
They had several names, or titles, of the Psalms. In Hebrew they are called “The Book of Prayers,” or “The Book of Praises.” The Hebrew word thus used means praises. The title of the first two books is found in Psa 72:20 : “The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.” The title of the whole collection of Psalms in the Septuagint is Biblos Psalman which means the “Book of Psalms.” The title in the Alexandrian Codex is Psalterion which is the name of a stringed instrument, and means “The Psalter.”
The derivation of our English words, “psalms,” “psalter,” and “psaltery,” respectively, is as follows:
1. “Psalms” comes from the Greek word, psalmoi, which is also from psallein , which means to play upon a stringed instrument. Therefore the Psalms are songs played upon stringed instruments, and the word here is used to apply to the whole collection.
2. “Psalter” is of the same origin and means the Book of Psalms and refers also to the whole collection.
3. “Psaltery” is from the word psalterion, which means “a harp,” an instrument, supposed to be in the shape of a triangle or like the delta of the Greek alphabet. See Psa 33:2 ; Psa 71:22 ; Psa 81:2 ; Psa 144:9 .
In our collection there are 150 psalms. In the Septuagint there is one extra. It is regarded as being outside the sacred collection and not inspired. The subject of this extra psalm is “David’s victory over Goliath.” The following is a copy of it: I was small among my brethren, And youngest in my father’s house, I used to feed my father’s sheep. My hands made a harp, My fingers fashioned a Psaltery. And who will declare unto my Lord? He is Lord, he it is who heareth. He it was who sent his angel And took me from my father’s sheep, And anointed me with the oil of his anointing. My brethren were goodly and tall, But the Lord took no pleasure in them. I went forth to meet the Philistine. And he cursed me by his idols But I drew the sword from beside him; I beheaded him and removed reproach from the children of Israel.
It will be noted that this psalm does not have the earmarks of an inspired production. There is not found in it the modesty so characteristic of David, but there is here an evident spirit of boasting and self-praise which is foreign to the Spirit of inspiration.
There is a difference in the numbering of the psalms in our version which follows the Hebrew, and the numbering in the Septuagint. Omitting the extra one in the Septuagint, there is no difference as to the total number. Both have 150 and the same subject matter, but they are not divided alike.
The following scheme shows the division according to our version and also the Septuagint: Psalms 1-8 in the Hebrew equal 1-8 in the Septuagint; 9-10 in the Hebrew combine into 9 in the Septuagint; 11-113 in the Hebrew equal 10-112 in the Septuagint; 114-115 in the Hebrew combine into 113 in the Septuagint; 116 in the Hebrew divides into 114-115 in the Septuagint; 117-146 in the Hebrew equal 116-145 in the Septuagint; 147 in the Hebrew divides into 146-147 in the Septuagint; 148-150 in the Hebrew equal 148-150 in the Septuagint.
The arrangement in the Vulgate is the same as the Septuagint. Also some of the older English versions have this arangement. Another difficulty in numbering perplexes an inexperienced student in turning from one version to another, viz: In the Hebrew often the title is verse I, and sometimes the title embraces verses 1-2.
The book divisions of the Psalter are five books, as follows:
Book I, Psalms 1-41 (41 chapters)
Book II, Psalms 42-72 (31 chapters)
Book III, Psalms 73-89 (17 chapters)
Book IV, Psalms 90-106 (17 chapters)
Book V, Psalms 107-150 (44 chapters)
They are marked by an introduction and a doxology. Psalm I forms an introduction to the whole book; Psa 150 is the doxology for the whole book. The introduction and doxology of each book are the first and last psalms of each division, respectively.
There were smaller collections before the final one, as follows:
Books I and II were by David; Book III, by Hezekiah, and Books IV and V, by Ezra.
Certain principles determined the arrangement of the several psalms in the present collection:
1. David is honored with first place, Book I and II, including Psalms 1-72.
2. They are grouped according to the use of the name of God:
(1) Psalms 1-41 are Jehovah psalms;
(2) Psalms 42-83 are Elohim-psalms;
(3) Psalms 84-150 are Jehovah psalms.
3. Book IV is introduced by the psalm of Moses, which is the first psalm written.
4. Some are arranged as companion psalms, for instance, sometimes two, sometimes three, and sometimes more. Examples: Psa 2 and 3; 22, 23, and 24; 113-118.
5. They were arranged for liturgical purposes, which furnished the psalms for special occasions, such as feasts, etc. We may be sure this arrangement was not accidental. An intelligent study of each case is convincing that it was determined upon rational grounds.
All the psalms have titles but thirty-three, as follows:
In Book I, Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 10 ; Psa 33 , (4 are without titles).
In Book II, Psa 43 ; Psa 71 , (2 are without titles).
In Book IV, Psa 91 ; Psa 93 ; Psa 94 ; Psa 95 ; Psa 96 ; Psa 97 ; Psa 104 ; Psa 105 ; Psa 106 , (9 are without titles).
In Book V, Psa 107 ; III; 112; 113; 114; 115; 116; 117; 118; 119; 135; 136; 137; 146; 147; 148; 149; 150, (18 are without titles).
The Talmud calls these psalms that have no title, “Orphan Psalms.” The later Jews supply these titles by taking the nearest preceding author. The lack of titles in Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; and 10 may be accounted for as follows: Psa 1 is a general introduction to the whole collection and Psa 2 was, perhaps, a part of Psa 1 . Psalms 9-10 were formerly combined into one, therefore Psa 10 has the same title as Psa 9 .
QUESTIONS
1. What books are commended on the Psalms?
2. What is a psalm?
3. What is the Psalter?
4. What is the range of time in composition?
5. When and by whom was the collection in its present form arranged?
6. What the Jewish classification of Old Testament books, and what the position of the Psalter in this classification?
7. What is the Hebrew title of the Psalms?
8. Find the title of the first two books from the books themselves.
9. What is the title of the whole collection of psalms in the Septuagint?
10. What is the title in the Alexandrian Codex?
11. What is the derivation of our English word, “Psalms”, “Psalter”, and “Psaltery,” respectively?
12. How many psalms in our collection?
13. How many psalms in the Septuagint?
14. What about the extra one in the Septuagint?
15. What is the subject of this extra psalm?
16. How does it compare with the Canonical Psalms?
17. What is the difference in the numbering of the psalms in our version which follows the Hebrew, and the numbering in the Septuagint?
18. What is the arrangement in the Vulgate?
19. What other difficulty in numbering which perplexes an inexperienced student in turning from one version to another?
20. What are the book divisions of the Psalter and how are these divisions marked?
21. Were there smaller collections before the final one? If so, what were they?
22. What principles determined the arrangement of the several psalms in the present collection?
23. In what conclusion may we rest concerning this arrangement?
24. How many of the psalms have no titles?
25. What does the Talmud call these psalms that have no titles?
26. How do later Jews supply these titles?
27. How do you account for the lack of titles in Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 10 ?
XII
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF PSALMS (CONTINUED)
The following is a list of the items of information gathered from the titles of the psalms:
1. The author: “A Psalm of David” (Psa 37 ).
2. The occasion: “When he fled from Absalom, his son” (Psa 3 ).
3. The nature, or character, of the poem:
(1) Maschil, meaning “instruction,” a didactic poem (Psa 42 ).
(2) Michtam, meaning “gold,” “A Golden Psalm”; this means excellence or mystery (Psa 16 ; 56-60).
4. The occasion of its use: “A Psalm of David for the dedication of the house” (Psa 30 ).
5. Its purpose: “A Psalm of David to bring remembrance” (Psa 38 ; Psa 70 ).
6. Direction for its use: “A Psalm of David for the chief musician” (Psa 4 ).
7. The kind of musical instrument:
(1) Neginoth, meaning to strike a chord, as on stringed instruments (Psa 4 ; Psa 61 ).
(2) Nehiloth, meaning to perforate, as a pipe or flute (Psa 5 ).
(3) Shoshannim, Lilies, which refers probably to cymbals (Psa 45 ; Psa 69 ).
8. A special choir:
(1) Sheminith, the “eighth,” or octave below, as a male choir (Psa 6 ; Psa 12 ).
(2) Alamoth, female choir (Psa 46 ).
(3) Muth-labben, music with virgin voice, to be sung by a choir of boys in the treble (Psa 9 ).
9. The keynote, or tune:
(1) Aijeleth-sharar, “Hind of the morning,” a song to the melody of which this is sung (Psa 22 ).
(2) Al-tashheth, “Destroy thou not,” the beginning of a song the tune of which is sung (Psa 57 ; Psa 58 ; Psa 59 ; Psa 75 ).
(3) Gittith, set to the tune of Gath, perhaps a tune which David brought from Gath (Psa 8 ; Psa 81 ; Psa 84 ).
(4) Jonath-elim-rehokim, “The dove of the distant terebinths,” the commencement of an ode to the air of which this song was to be sung (Psa 56 ).
(5) Leannoth, the name of a tune (Psa 88 ).
(6) Mahalath, an instrument (Psa 53 ); Leonnoth-Mahaloth, to chant to a tune called Mahaloth.
(7) Shiggaion, a song or a hymn.
(8) Shushan-Eduth, “Lily of testimony,” a tune (Psa 60 ). Note some examples: (1) “America,” “Shiloh,” “Auld Lang Syne.” These are the names of songs such as we are familiar with; (2) “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” and “There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood,” are examples of sacred hymns.
10. The liturgical use, those noted for the feasts, e.g., the Hallels and Hallelujah Psalms (Psalms 146-150).
11. The destination, as “Song of Ascents” (Psalms 120-134)
12. The direction for the music, such as Selah, which means “Singers, pause”; Higgaion-Selah, to strike a symphony with selah, which means an instrumental interlude (Psa 9:16 ).
The longest and fullest title to any of the psalms is the title to Psa 60 . The items of information from this title are as follows: (1) the author; (2) the chief musician; (3) the historical occasion; (4) the use, or design; (5) the style of poetry; (6) the instrument or style of music.
The parts of these superscriptions which most concern us now are those indicating author, occasion, and date. As to the historic value or trustworthiness of these titles most modern scholars deny that they are a part of the Hebrew text, but the oldest Hebrew text of which we know anything had all of them. This is the text from which the Septuagint was translated. It is much more probable that the author affixed them than later writers. There is no internal evidence in any of the psalms that disproves the correctness of them, but much to confirm. The critics disagree among themselves altogether as to these titles. Hence their testimony cannot consistently be received. Nor can it ever be received until they have at least agreed upon a common ground of opposition.
David is the author of more than half the entire collection, the arrangement of which is as follows:
1. Seventy-three are ascribed to him in the superscriptions.
2. Some of these are but continuations of the preceding ones of a pair, trio, or larger group.
3. Some of the Korahite Psalms are manifestly Davidic.
4. Some not ascribed to him in the titles are attributed to him expressly by New Testament writers.
5. It is not possible to account for some parts of the Psalter without David. The history of his early life as found in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1and 2 Chronicles, not only shows his remarkable genius for patriotic and sacred songs and music, but also shows his cultivation of that gift in the schools of the prophets. Some of these psalms of the history appear in the Psalter itself. It is plain to all who read these that they are founded on experience, and the experience of no other Hebrew fits the case. These experiences are found in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles.
As to the attempt of the destructive critics to rob David of his glory in relation to the Psalter by assigning the Maccabean era as the date of composition, I have this to say:
1. This theory has no historical support whatever, and therefore is not to be accepted at all.
2. It has no support in tradition, which weakens the contention of the critics greatly.
3. It has no support from finding any one with the necessary experience for their basis.
4. They can give no reasonable account as to how the titles ever got there.
5. It is psychologically impossible for anyone to have written these 150 psalms in the Maccabean times.
6. Their position is expressly contrary to the testimony of Christ and the apostles. Some of the psalms which they ascribe to the Maccabean Age are attributed to David by Christ himself, who said that David wrote them in the Spirit.
The obvious aim of this criticism and the necessary result if it be Just, is a positive denial of the inspiration of both Testaments.
Other authors are named in the titles, as follows: (1) Asaph, to whom twelve psalms have been assigned: (2) Mosee, Psa 90 ; (3) Solomon, Psa 72 ; Psa 127 ; (4) Heman, Psa 80 ; (5) Ethem, Psa 89 ; (6) A number of the psalms are ascribed to the sons of Korah.
Not all the psalms ascribed to Asaph were composed by one person. History indicates that Asaph’s family presided over the song service for several generations. Some of them were composed by his descendants by the game name. The five general outlines of the whole collection are as follows:
I. By books
1. Psalms 1-41 (41)
2. Psalms 42-72 (31)
3. Psalms 73-89 (17)
4. Psalms 90-106 (17)
5. Psalms 107-150 (44)
II. According to date and authorship
1. The psalm of Moses (Psa 90 )
2. Psalms of David:
(1) The shepherd boy (Psa 8 ; Psa 19 ; Psa 29 ; Psa 23 ).
(2) David when persecuted by Saul (Psa 59 ; Psa 56 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 52 ; Psa 54 ; Psa 57 ; Psa 142 ).
(3) David the King (Psa 101 ; Psa 18 ; Psa 24 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 110 ; Psa 20 ; Psa 20 ; Psa 21 ; Psa 60 ; Psa 51 ; Psa 32 ; Psa 41 ; Psa 55 ; Psa 3:4 ; Psa 64 ; Psa 62 ; Psa 61 ; Psa 27 ).
3. The Asaph Psalms (Psa 50 ; Psa 73 ; Psa 83 ).
4. The Korahite Psalms (Psa 42 ; Psa 43 ; Psa 84 ).
5. The psalms of Solomon (Psa 72 ; Psa 127 ).
6. The psalms of the era of Hezekiah and Isaiah (Psa 46 ; Psa 47 ; Psa 48 )
7. The psalms of the Exile (Psa 74 ; Psa 79 ; Psa 137 ; Psa 102 )
8. The psalms of the Restoration (Psa 85 ; Psa 126 ; Psa 118 ; 146-150)
III. By groups
1. The Jehovistic and Elohistic Psalms:
(1) Psalms 1-41 are Jehovistic;
(2) Psalms 42-83 are Elohistic Psalms;
(3) Psalms 84-150 are Jehovistic.
2. The Penitential Psalms (Psa 6 ; Psa 32 ; Psa 38 ; Psa 51 ; Psa 102 ; Psa 130 ; Psa 143 )
3. The Pilgrim Psalms (Psalms 120-134)
4. The Alphabetical Psalms (Psa 9 ; Psa 10 ; Psa 25 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 37 ; 111:112; Psa 119 ; Psa 145 )
5. The Hallelujah Psalms (Psalms 11-113; 115-117; 146-150; to which may be added Psa 135 ) Psalms 113-118 are called “the Egyptian Hallel”
IV. Doctrines of the Psalms
1. The throne of grace and how to approach it by sacrifice, prayer, and praise.
2. The covenant, the basis of worship.
3. The paradoxical assertions of both innocence & guilt.
4. The pardon of sin and justification.
5. The Messiah.
6. The future life, pro and con.
7. The imprecations.
8. Other doctrines.
V. The New Testament use of the Psalms
1. Direct references and quotations in the New Testament.
2. The allusions to the psalms in the New Testament. Certain experiences of David’s life made very deep impressions on his heart, such as: (1) his peaceful early life; (2) his persecution by Saul; (3) his being crowned king of the people; (4) the bringing up of the ark; (5) his first great sin; (6) Absalom’s rebellion; (7) his second great sin; (8) the great promise made to him in 2Sa 7 ; (9) the feelings of his old age.
We may classify the Davidic Psalms according to these experiences following the order of time, thus:
1. His peaceful early life (Psa 8 ; Psa 19 ; Psa 29 ; Psa 23 )
2. His persecution by Saul (Psa 59 ; Psa 56 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 7 ; Psa 52 ; Psa 120 ; Psa 140 ; Psa 54 ; Psa 57 ; Psa 142 ; Psa 17 ; Psa 18 )
3. Making David King (Psa 27 ; Psa 133 ; Psa 101 )
4. Bringing up the ark (Psa 68 ; Psa 24 ; Psa 132 ; Psa 15 ; Psa 78 ; Psa 96 )
5. His first great sin (Psa 51 ; Psa 32 )
6. Absalom’s rebellion (Psa 41 ; Psa 6 ; Psa 55 ; Psa 109 ; Psa 38 ; Psa 39 ; Psa 3 ; Psa 4 ; Psa 63 ; Psa 42 ; Psa 43 ; Psa 5 ; Psa 62 ; Psa 61 ; Psa 27 )
7. His second great sin (Psa 69 ; Psa 71 ; Psa 102 ; Psa 103 )
8. The great promise made to him in 2Sa 7 (Psa 2 )
9. Feelings of old age (Psa 37 )
The great doctrines of the psalms may be noted as follows: (1) the being and attributes of God; (3) sin, both original and individual; (3) both covenants; (4) the doctrine of justification; (5) concerning the Messiah.
There is a striking analogy between the Pentateuch and the Psalms. The Pentateuch contains five books of law; the Psalms contain five books of heart responses to the law.
It is interesting to note the historic controversies concerning the singing of psalms. These were controversies about singing uninspired songs, in the Middle Ages. The church would not allow anything to be used but psalms.
The history in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles, and in Ezra and Nehemiah is very valuable toward a proper interpretation of the psalms. These books furnish the historical setting for a great many of the psalms which is very indispensable to their proper interpretation.
Professor James Robertson, in the Poetry and Religion of the Psalms constructs a broad and strong argument in favor of the Davidic Psalms, as follows:
1. The age of David furnished promising soil for the growth of poetry.
2. David’s qualifications for composing the psalms make it highly probable that David is the author of the psalms ascribed to him.
3. The arguments against the possibility of ascribing to David any of the hymns in the Hebrew Psalter rests upon assumptions that are thoroughly antibiblical.
The New Testament makes large use of the psalms and we learn much as to their importance in teaching. There are seventy direct quotations in the New Testament from this book, from which we learn that the Scriptures were used extensively in accord with 2Ti 3:16-17 . There are also eleven references to the psalms in the New Testament from which we learn that the New Testament writers were thoroughly imbued with the spirit and teaching of the psalms. Then there are eight allusions ‘to this book in the New Testament from which we gather that the Psalms was one of the divisions of the Old Testament and that they were used in the early church.
QUESTIONS
1. Give a list of the items of information gathered from the titles of the psalms.
2. What is the longest title to any of the psalms and what the items of this title?
3. What parts of these superscriptions most concern us now?
4. What is the historic value, or trustworthiness of these titles?
5. State the argument showing David’s relation to the psalms.
6. What have you to say of the attempt of the destructive critics to rob David of his glory in relation to the Psalter by assigning the Maccabean era as the date of composition?
7. What the obvious aim of this criticism and the necessary result, if it be just?
8. What other authors are named in the titles?
9. Were all the psalms ascribed to Asaph composed by one person?
10. Give the five general outlines of the whole collection, as follows: I. The outline by books II. The outline according to date and authorship III. The outline by groups IV. The outline of doctrines V. The outline by New Testament quotations or allusions.
11. What experiences of David’s life made very deep impressions on his heart?
12. Classify the Davidic Psalms according to these experiences following the order of time.
13. What the great doctrines of the psalms?
14. What analogy between the Pentateuch and the Psalms?
15. What historic controversies concerning the singing of psalms?
16. Of what value is the history in Samuel, 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles, and in Ezra and Nehemiah toward a proper interpretation of the psalms?
17. Give Professor James Robertson’s argument in favor of the Davidic authorship of the psalms.
18. What can you say of the New Testament use of the psalms and what do we learn as to their importance in teaching?
19. What can you say of the New Testament references to the psalms, and from the New Testament references what the impression on the New Testament writers?
20. What can you say of the allusions to the psalms in the New Testament?
XVII
THE MESSIAH IN THE PSALMS
A fine text for this chapter is as follows: “All things must be fulfilled which were written in the Psalms concerning me,” Luk 24:44 . I know of no better way to close my brief treatise on the Psalms than to discuss the subject of the Messiah as revealed in this book.
Attention has been called to the threefold division of the Old Testament cited by our Lord, namely, the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms (Luk 24:44 ), in all of which were the prophecies relating to himself that “must be fulfilled.” It has been shown just what Old Testament books belong to each of these several divisions. The division called the Psalms included many books, styled Holy Writings, and because the Psalms proper was the first book of the division it gave the name to the whole division.
The object of this discussion is to sketch the psalmist’s outline of the Messiah, or rather, to show how nearly a complete picture of our Lord is foredrawn in this one book. Let us understand however with Paul, that all prophecy is but in part (1Co 13:9 ), and that when we fill in on one canvas all the prophecies concerning the Messiah of all the Old Testament divisions, we are far from having a perfect portrait of our Lord. The present purpose is limited to three things:
1. What the book of the Psalms teaches concerning the Messiah.
2. That the New Testament shall authoritatively specify and expound this teaching.
3. That the many messianic predictions scattered over the book and the specifications thereof over the New Testament may be grouped into an orderly analysis, so that by the adjustment of the scattered parts we may have before us a picture of our Lord as foreseen by the psalmists.
In allowing the New Testament to authoritatively specify and expound the predictive features of the book, I am not unmindful of what the so-called “higher critics” urge against the New Testament quotations from the Old Testament and the use made of them. In this discussion, however, these objections are not considered, for sufficient reasons. There is not space for it. Even at the risk of being misjudged I must just now summarily pass all these objections, dismissing them with a single statement upon which the reader may place his own estimate of value. That statement is that in the days of my own infidelity, before this old method of criticism had its new name, I was quite familiar with the most and certainly the strongest of the objections now classified as higher criticism, and have since patiently re-examined them in their widely conflicting restatements under their modern name, and find my faith in the New Testament method of dealing with the Old Testament in no way shattered, but in every way confirmed. God is his own interpreter. The Old Testament as we now have it was in the hands of our Lord. I understand his apostle to declare, substantially, that “every one of these sacred scriptures is God-inspired and is profitable for teaching us what is right to believe and to do, for convincing us what is wrong in faith or practice, for rectifying the wrong when done, that we may be ready at every point, furnished completely, to do every good work, at the right time, in the right manner, and from the proper motive” (2Ti 3:16-17 ).
This New Testament declares that David was a prophet (Act 2:30 ), that he spake by the Holy Spirit (Act 1:16 ), that when the book speaks the Holy Spirit speaks (Heb 3:7 ), and that all its predictive utterances, as sacred Scripture, “must be fulfilled” (Joh 13:18 ; Act 1:16 ). It is not claimed that David wrote all the psalms, but that all are inspired, and that as he was the chief author, the book goes by his name.
It would be a fine thing to make out two lists, as follows:
1. All of the 150 psalms in order from which the New Testament quotes with messianic application.
2. The New Testament quotations, book by book, i.e., Matthew so many, and then the other books in their order.
We would find in neither of these any order as to time, that is, Psa 1 which forecasts an incident in the coming Messiah’s life does not forecast the first incident of his life. And even the New Testament citations are not in exact order as to time and incident of his life. To get the messianic picture before us, therefore, we must put the scattered parts together in their due relation and order, and so construct our own analysis. That is the prime object of this discussion. It is not claimed that the analysis now presented is perfect. It is too much the result of hasty, offhand work by an exceedingly busy man. It will serve, however, as a temporary working model, which any one may subsequently improve. We come at once to the psalmist’s outline of the Messiah.
1. The necessity for a Saviour. This foreseen necessity is a background of the psalmists’ portrait of the Messiah. The necessity consists in (1) man’s sinfulness; (2) his sin; (3) his inability of wisdom and power to recover himself; (4) the insufficiency of legal, typical sacrifices in securing atonement.
The predicate of Paul’s great argument on justification by faith is the universal depravity and guilt of man. He is everywhere corrupt in nature; everywhere an actual transgressor; everywhere under condemnation. But the scriptural proofs of this depravity and sin the apostle draws mainly from the book of the Psalms. In one paragraph of the letter to the Romans (Rom 3:4-18 ), he cites and groups six passages from six divisions of the Psalms (Psa 5:9 ; Psa 10:7 ; Psa 14:1-3 ; Psa 36:1 ; Psa 51:4-6 ; Psa 140:3 ). These passages abundantly prove man’s sinfulness, or natural depravity, and his universal practice of sin.
The predicate also of the same apostle’s great argument for revelation and salvation by a Redeemer is man’s inability of wisdom and power to re-establish communion with God. In one of his letters to the Corinthians he thus commences his argument: “For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? -For after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preach-ing to save them that believe.” He closes this discussion with the broad proposition: “The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God,” and proves it by a citation from Psa 94:11 : “The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.”
In like manner our Lord himself pours scorn on human wisdom and strength by twice citing Psa 8 : “At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight” (Mat 11:25-26 ). “And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children that were crying in the temple and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased, and said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?” (Mat 21:15-16 ).
But the necessity for a Saviour as foreseen by the psalmist did not stop at man’s depravity, sin, and helplessness. The Jews were trusting in the sacrifices of their law offered on the smoking altar. The inherent weakness of these offerings, their lack of intrinsic merit, their ultimate abolition, their complete fulfilment and supercession by a glorious antitype were foreseen and foreshown in this wonderful prophetic book: I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices; And thy burnt offerings are continually before me. I will take no bullock out of thy house, Nor he-goat out of thy folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, And the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all of the birds of the mountains; And the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee; For the world is mine, and the fulness thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, Or drink the blood of goats? Psa 50:8-13 .
Yet again it speaks in that more striking passage cited in the letter to the Hebrews: “For the law having a shadow of good things to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshipers, once purged should have no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance made of sins year by year. For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, But a body didst thou prepare for me; In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hadst no pleasure: Then said I, Lo, I am come (In the roll of the book it is written of me) To do thy will, O God. Saying above, Sacrifice and offering and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou wouldst not, neither hadst pleasure therein, (the which are offered according to the law), then hath he said, Lo, I am come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second” (Heb 10:1-9 ).
This keen foresight of the temporary character and intrinsic worthlessness of animal sacrifices anticipated similar utterances by the later prophets (Isa 1:10-17 ; Jer 6:20 ; Jer 7:21-23 ; Hos 6:6 ; Amo 5:21 ; Mic 6:6-8 ). Indeed, I may as well state in passing that when the apostle declares, “It is impossible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins,” he lays down a broad principle, just as applicable to baptism and the Lord’s Supper. With reverence I state the principle: Not even God himself by mere appointment can vest in any ordinance, itself lacking intrinsic merit, the power to take away sin. There can be, therefore, in the nature of the case, no sacramental salvation. This would destroy the justice of God in order to exalt his mercy. Clearly the psalmist foresaw that “truth and mercy must meet together” before “righteousness and peace could kiss each other” (Psa 85:10 ). Thus we find as the dark background of the psalmists’ luminous portrait of the Messiah, the necessity for a Saviour.
2. The nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation to be wrought by the coming Messiah. In no other prophetic book are the nature, fullness, and blessedness of salvation so clearly seen and so vividly portrayed. Besides others not now enumerated, certainly the psalmists clearly forecast four great elements of salvation:
(1) An atoning sacrifice of intrinsic merit offered once for all (Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:4-10 ).
(2) Regeneration itself consisting of cleansing, renewal, and justification. We hear his impassioned statement of the necessity of regeneration: “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts,” followed by his earnest prayer: “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me,” and his equally fervent petition: “Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean; wash me and I shall be whiter than snow” (Psa 51 ). And we hear him again as Paul describes the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputes righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, And whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not reckon sin Psa 32:1 ; Rom 4:6-8 .
(3) Introduction into the heavenly rest (Psa 95:7-11 ; Heb 3:7-19 ; Heb 4:1-11 ). Here is the antitypical Joshua leading spiritual Israel across the Jordan of death into the heavenly Canaan, the eternal rest that remaineth for the people of God. Here we find creation’s original sabbath eclipsed by redemption’s greater sabbath when the Redeemer “entered his rest, ceasing from his own works as God did from his.”
(4) The recovery of all the universal dominion lost by the first Adam and the securement of all possible dominion which the first Adam never attained (Psa 8:5-6 ; Eph 1:20-22 ; Heb 2:7-9 ; 1Co 15:24-28 ).
What vast extent then and what blessedness in the salvation foreseen by the psalmists, and to be wrought by the Messiah. Atoning sacrifice of intrinsic merit; regeneration by the Holy Spirit; heavenly rest as an eternal inheritance; and universal dominion shared with Christ!
3. The wondrous person of the Messiah in his dual nature, divine and human.
(1) His divinity,
(a) as God: “Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever” (Psa 45:6 and Heb 1:8 ) ;
(b) as creator of the heavens and earth, immutable and eternal: Of old didst thou lay the foundation of the earth; And the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure; Yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; As a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed. But thou art the same, And thy years shall have no end Psa 102:25-27 quoted with slight changes in Heb 1:10-12 .
(c) As owner of the earth: The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof; The world, and they that dwell therein, Psa 24:1 quoted in 1Co 10:26 .
(d) As the Son of God: “Thou art my Son; This day have I begotten thee” Psa 2:7 ; Heb 1:5 .
(e) As David’s Lord: The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, Until I make thine enemies thy footstool, Psa 110:1 ; Mat 22:41-46 .
(f) As the object of angelic worship: “And let all the angels of God worship him” Psa 97:7 ; Heb 1:6 .
(g) As the Bread of life: And he rained down manna upon them to eat, And gave them food from heaven Psa 78:24 ; interpreted in Joh 6:31-58 . These are but samples which ascribe deity to the Messiah of the psalmists.
(2) His humanity, (a) As the Son of man, or Son of Adam: Psa 8:4-6 , cited in 1Co 15:24-28 ; Eph 1:20-22 ; Heb 2:7-9 . Compare Luke’s genealogy, Luk 3:23-38 . This is the ideal man, or Second Adam, who regains Paradise Lost, who recovers race dominion, in whose image all his spiritual lineage is begotten. 1Co 15:45-49 . (b) As the Son of David: Psa 18:50 ; Psa 89:4 ; Psa 89:29 ; Psa 89:36 ; Psa 132:11 , cited in Luk 1:32 ; Act 13:22-23 ; Rom 1:3 ; 2Ti 2:8 . Perhaps a better statement of the psalmists’ vision of the wonderful person of the Messiah would be: He saw the uncreated Son, the second person of the trinity, in counsel and compact with the Father, arranging in eternity for the salvation of men: Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:5-7 . Then he saw this Holy One stoop to be the Son of man: Psa 8:4-6 ; Heb 2:7-9 . Then he was the son of David, and then he saw him rise again to be the Son of God: Psa 2:7 ; Rom 1:3-4 .
4. His offices.
(1) As the one atoning sacrifice (Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:5-7 ).
(2) As the great Prophet, or Preacher (Psa 40:9-10 ; Psa 22:22 ; Heb 2:12 ). Even the method of his teaching by parable was foreseen (Psa 78:2 ; Mat 13:35 ). Equally also the grace, wisdom, and power of his teaching. When the psalmist declares that “Grace is poured into thy lips” (Psa 45:2 ), we need not be startled when we read that all the doctors in the Temple who heard him when only a boy “were astonished at his understanding and answers” (Luk 2:47 ); nor that his home people at Nazareth “all bear him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth” (Luk 4:22 ); nor that those of his own country were astonished, and said, “Whence hath this man this wisdom?” (Mat 13:54 ); nor that the Jews in the Temple marveled, saying, “How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?” (Joh 7:15 ) ; nor that the stern officers of the law found their justification in failure to arrest him in the declaration, “Never man spake like this man” (Joh 7:46 ).
(3) As the king (Psa 2:6 ; Psa 24:7-10 ; Psa 45:1-17 ; Psa 110:1 ; Mat 22:42-46 ; Act 2:33-36 ; 1Co 15:25 ; Eph 1:20 ; Heb 1:13 ).
(4) As the priest (Psa 110:4 ; Heb 5:5-10 ; Heb 7:1-21 ; Heb 10:12-14 ).
(5) As the final judge. The very sentence of expulsion pronounced upon the finally impenitent by the great judge (Mat 25:41 ) is borrowed from the psalmist’s prophetic words (Psa 6:8 ).
5. Incidents of life. The psalmists not only foresaw the necessity for a Saviour; the nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation; the wonderful human-divine person of the Saviour; the offices to be filled by him in the work of salvation, but also many thrilling details of his work in life, death, resurrection, and exaltation. It is not assumed to cite all these details, but some of the most important are enumerated in order, thus:
(1) The visit, adoration, and gifts of the Magi recorded in Mat 2 are but partial fulfilment of Psa 72:9-10 .
(2) The scripture employed by Satan in the temptation of our Lord (Luk 4:10-11 ) was cited from Psa 91:11-12 and its pertinency not denied.
(3) In accounting for his intense earnestness and the apparently extreme measures adopted by our Lord in his first purification of the Temple (Joh 2:17 ), he cites the messianic zeal predicted in Psa 69:9 .
(4) Alienation from his own family was one of the saddest trials of our Lord’s earthly life. They are slow to understand his mission and to enter into sympathy with him. His self-abnegation and exhaustive toil were regarded by them as evidences of mental aberration, and it seems at one time they were ready to resort to forcible restraint of his freedom) virtually what in our time would be called arrest under a writ of lunacy. While at the last his half-brothers became distinguished preachers of his gospel, for a long while they do not believe on him. And the evidence forces us to the conclusion that his own mother shared with her other sons, in kind though not in degree, the misunderstanding of the supremacy of his mission over family relations. The New Testament record speaks for itself:
Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto them. How is it that ye sought me? Knew ye not that I must be in my Father’s house? And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them Luk 2:48-51 (R.V.).
And when the wine failed, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. And Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. Joh 2:3-5 (R.V.).
And there come his mother and his brethren; and standing without; they sent unto him, calling him. And a multitude was sitting about him; and they say unto him. Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee. And he answereth them, and saith, Who is my mother and my brethren? And looking round on them that sat round about him, he saith, Behold, my mother and my brethren) For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother Mar 3:31-35 (R.V.).
Now the feast of the Jews, the feast of tabernacles, was at hand. His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judea, that thy disciples also may behold thy works which thou doest. For no man doeth anything in secret, and himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou doest these things, manifest thyself to the world. For even his brethren did not believe on him. Jesus therefore saith unto them, My time is not yet come; but your time is always ready. The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that its works are evil. Go ye up unto the feast: I go not up yet unto this feast; because my time is not fulfilled. Joh 7:2-9 (R.V.).
These citations from the Revised Version tell their own story. But all that sad story is foreshown in the prophetic psalms. For example: I am become a stranger unto my brethren, And an alien unto my mother’s children. Psa 69:8 .
(5) The triumphal entry into Jerusalem was welcomed by a joyous people shouting a benediction from Psa 118:26 : “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord” (Mat 21:9 ); and the Lord’s lamentation over Jerusalem predicts continued desolation and banishment from his sight until the Jews are ready to repeat that benediction (Mat 23:39 ).
(6) The children’s hosanna in the Temple after its second purgation is declared by our Lord to be a fulfilment of that perfect praise forecast in Psa 8:2 .
(7) The final rejection of our Lord by his own people was also clear in the psalmist’s vision (Psa 118:22 ; Mat 21:42-44 ).
(8) Gethsemane’s baptism of suffering, with its strong crying and tears and prayers was as clear to the psalmist’s prophetic vision as to the evangelist and apostle after it became history (Psa 69:1-4 ; Psa 69:13-20 ; and Mat 26:36-44 ; Heb 5:7 ).
(9) In life-size also before the psalmist was the betrayer of Christ and his doom (Psa 41:9 ; Psa 69:25 ; Psa 109:6-8 ; Joh 13:18 ; Act 1:20 ).
(10) The rage of the people, Jew and Gentile, and the conspiracy of Pilate and Herod are clearly outlined (Psa 2:1-3 ; Act 4:25-27 ).
(11) All the farce of his trial the false accusation, his own marvelous silence; and the inhuman maltreatment to which he was subjected, is foreshown in the prophecy as dramatically as in the history (Mat 26:57-68 ; Mat 27:26-31 ; Psa 27:12 ; Psa 35:15-16 ; Psa 38:3 ; Psa 69:19 ).
The circumstances of his death, many and clear, are distinctly foreseen. He died in the prime of life (Psa 89:45 ; Psa 102:23-24 ). He died by crucifixion (Psa 22:14-17 ; Luk 23 ; 33; Joh 19:23-37 ; Joh 20:27 ). But yet not a bone of his body was broken (Psa 34:20 ; Joh 19:36 ).
The persecution, hatred without a cause, the mockery and insults, are all vividly and dramatically foretold (Psa 22:6-13 ; Psa 35:7 ; Psa 35:12 ; Psa 35:15 ; Psa 35:21 ; Psa 109:25 ).
The parting of his garments and the gambling for his vesture (Psa 22:18 ; Mat 27:35 ).
His intense thirst and the gall and vinegar offered for his drink (Psa 69:21 ; Mat 27:34 ).
In the psalms, too, we hear his prayers for his enemies so remarkably fulfilled in fact (Psa 109:4 ; Luk 23:34 ).
His spiritual death was also before the eye of the psalmist, and the very words which expressed it the psalmist heard. Separation from the Father is spiritual death. The sinner’s substitute must die the sinner’s death, death physical, i.e., separation of soul from body; death spiritual, i.e., separation of the soul from God. The latter is the real death and must precede the former. This death the substitute died when he cried out: “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me.” (Psa 22:1 ; Mat 27:46 ).
Emerging from the darkness of that death, which was the hour of the prince of darkness, the psalmist heard him commend his spirit to the Father (Psa_31:35; Luk 23:46 ) showing that while he died the spiritual death, his soul was not permanently abandoned unto hell (Psa 16:8-10 ; Act 2:25 ) so that while he “tasted death” for every man it was not permanent death (Heb 2:9 ).
With equal clearness the psalmist foresaw his resurrection, his triumph over death and hell, his glorious ascension into heaven, and his exaltation at the right hand of God as King of kings and Lord of lords, as a high Driest forever, as invested with universal sovereignty (Psa 16:8-11 ; Psa 24:7-10 ; Psa 68:18 ; Psa 2:6 ; Psa 111:1-4 ; Psa 8:4-6 ; Act 2:25-36 ; Eph 1:19-23 ; Eph 4:8-10 ).
We see, therefore, brethren, when the scattered parts are put together and adjusted, how nearly complete a portrait of our Lord is put upon the prophetic canvas by this inspired limner, the sweet singer of Israel.
QUESTIONS
1. What is a good text for this chapter?
2. What is the threefold division of the Old Testament as cited by our Lord?
3. What is the last division called and why?
4. What is the object of the discussion in this chapter?
5. To what three things is the purpose limited?
6. What especially qualifies the author to meet the objections of the higher critics to allowing the New Testament usage of the Old Testament to determine its meaning and application?
7. What is the author’s conviction relative to the Scriptures?
8. What is the New Testament testimony on the question of inspiration?
9. What is the author’s suggested plan of approach to the study of the Messiah in the Psalms?
10. What the background of the Psalmist’s portrait of the Messiah and of what does it consist?
11. Give the substance of Paul’s discussion of man’s sinfulness.
12. What is the teaching of Jesus on this point?
13. What is the teaching relative to sacrifices?
14. What the nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation to be wrought by the coming Messiah and what the four great elements of it as forecast by the psalmist?
15. What is the teaching of the psalms relative to the wondrous person of the Messiah? Discuss.
16. What are the offices of the Messiah according to psalms? Discuss each.
17. Cite the more important events of the Messiah’s life according to the vision of the psalmist.
18. What the circumstances of the Messiah’s death and resurrection as foreseen by the psalmist?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Psa 21:1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The king shall joy in thy strength, O LORD; and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!
Ver. 1. The king shall joy in thy strength ] This psalm dependeth upon the former, and is therefore fitly set next unto it. Some call it David’s triumphant song of praise, for victory gotten over the Ammonites and Syrians. For that victory it was certainly which he and the people had begged so fervently, Psa 20:1-9 , and promised solemnly to rejoice in God’s salvation &c., Psa 21:5 , as here is done accordingly. Vow and perform unto the Lord your God: bring presents, &c., Psa 76:11 .
And in thy salvation
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Here we have the answer to their desires, perhaps we may add to His also, as far as they could enter in. It too is “To the chief musician, a psalm of David.”
As it was into their trouble the remnant saw the Messiah enter, and therefore prayed that He might be heard of Jehovah, so now in the Spirit of prophecy they behold in His deliverance and exaltation the answer to their petitions as to His. Indeed they see more – that Jehovah had not only heard and given, but gone beyond, and of Himself anticipated with the blessings of goodness, and, if He with death before Him asked life, gave length of days for ever and ever. We may observe how completely Messianic all is, and bounded by Jewish hopes: not at all the far deeper truth of His eternal glory that dawned through the clouds of His rejection on those who so feebly followed to the cross and learnt all better in the light of His heavenly place and of His person. This is our portion, and therefore should we be the last to slight and the first to understand the very distinct relations of the godly remnant of Jews, who are to succeed us and take up His testimony for the earth when we shall have passed to heaven. It is the confusion of the earthly and the heavenly, of Jewish expectation in the Christian, that hinders our intelligence of either. Thus the enemy wrought from the beginning, first to hinder, then to darken and corrupt, the church; as all recovery, for such as by grace discern God’s mind to do His will, is by seeing in Christ the key to all; for He is the Head of the church in the heavenly places, as surely as He is Messiah of Israel and Son of man to rule all nations. Distinguishing things that differ (and the difference is immense) is the secret of learning by the word and Spirit of God.
So we see that the second part of the psalm anticipates Messiah’s proper action on His earthly foes.
Thus the opposition and enmity of those who would not have Him to reign over them are met by their overthrow and destruction before all; and Jehovah and His Anointed are identified, not more in public exaltation, than in the fire that devours their enemies. Messiah’s sufferings at the hands of men bring sure and unsparing judgments on them, as surely as His glories follow His sufferings, though none of Israel understood but the godly, who merged in the church and rose to higher hopes and better blessings by the power of the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven. So there will be godly ones to understand in the latter day after those who now compose the church are translated to meet the Lord. For when the heavenly counsels are fulfilled, at least virtually, the question of a godly people for the earth has to be solved; and these are the souls who will take up and make good the Jewish aspirations in that day, that the Lord may have not only His blessed associates on high, but hearts to welcome Him on earth for long eclipsed Zion.
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 21:1-6
1O Lord, in Your strength the king will be glad,
And in Your salvation how greatly he will rejoice!
2You have given him his heart’s desire,
And You have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah.
3For You meet him with the blessings of good things;
You set a crown of fine gold on his head.
4He asked life of You,
You gave it to him,
Length of days forever and ever.
5His glory is great through Your salvation,
Splendor and majesty You place upon him.
6For You make him most blessed forever;
You make him joyful with gladness in Your presence.
Psa 21:1 Note the synonymous parallelism between in Your strength and in Your salvation.
The term (BDB 447, feminine singular) translated salvation has several possible connotations.
1. prosperity Job 30:15
2. deliverance/help 2Sa 10:11; 1Ch 19:12; Psa 22:1
3. salvation Gen 49:18; Psa 3:2; Psa 3:8; Psa 14:7; Psa 35:3; Psa 53:6; Psa 62:2; and many more
4. victory Exo 15:2; Psa 20:6; Psa 21:1; Psa 21:5; Psa 44:4; Psa 68:20-21; Psa 118:14-15; Psa 118:21
YHWH is our great hope and there is no other! In light of this, faithful followers (in this context, the King) will continue to
1. be glad BDB 970, KB 1330, Qal imperfect, cf. Psa 9:2
2. rejoice BDB 162, KB 189, Qal imperfect, cf. Psa 9:14
Psa 21:2 This verse seems to link to Psa 20:4 and is connected to the King’s prayer for military victory.
Notice the two parallel perfect verbs (i.e., completed action).
1. has given BDB 678, KB 733, Qal perfect
2. has not withheld BDB 586, KB 602, negated, Qal perfect
NASB, NKJV,
NRSVrequest
NJBprayer
LXXwish
NEBask
The word (BDB 77, KB 92) is found only here in the OT. It seems, in context, to refer to a ritual liturgical prayer before a battle, possibly in the tabernacle/temple.
Selah See note at Psa 3:2 and Introduction to Psalms, VII. Some commentators feel it denotes a point in the liturgy where there is a transition to another liturgical act (i.e., praise, song, sacrifice, another liturgy read, bowing, etc.).
Psa 21:3-6 These are the actions of YHWH on behalf of the King.
1. meet him with the blessings of good things (i.e., YHWH Himself welcomes the victorious king)
2. set a crown of fine gold on his head (i.e., a reaffirmation of kingship or the liturgical transfer of the battle helmet for the royal crown)
3. gave him his prayer for life (i.e., victory in battle)
4. placed upon him
a. splendor (BDB 217)
b. majesty (BDB 214) these are descriptions of YHWH (cf. 1Ch 16:27; Psa 45:3; Psa 96:6; Psa 104:1; Psa 111:3), but because of YHWH’s image in mankind, they share these attributes (cf. Psa 8:5)
5. make him blessed for a long life (olam must be interpreted in context, see Special Topic at Psa 9:5; a literary parallel would be long live the king, cf. 1Sa 10:24; 1Ki 1:25; 1Ki 1:31; 1Ki 1:34; 1Ki 1:39; Dan 2:4; Dan 3:9)
6. make him joyful in Your presence
It is not just the King who is the recipient of YHWH’s actions, but through him all the covenant people.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
To the chief Musician. See App-64.
Title. A Psalm. See App-65.
of = pertaining or relating to.
strength = prevailing strength. Hebrew. ‘araz, as in Psa 21:13. Compare notes on Psa 20:2, Psa 20:6.
LORD. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 21:1-13
Again, to the chief musician, the psalm of David.
The king shall joy in thy strength, O LORD; and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice! Thou hast given him his heart’s desire, and you have not withheld the requests of his lips ( Psa 21:1-2 ).
Now the Selah indicates, really, sort of a change of thought. It sort of introduces a new idea. It is just sort of a rest, and then introducing of a new idea, new thought pattern.
For you prevent him with the blessings of goodness: you set a crown of pure gold on his head. He asks for life from thee, and you gave it to him, even the length of days for ever and ever. His glory is great in thy salvation ( Psa 21:3-5 ):
He is talking about the king’s delight in the Lord, and how he was just so gracious for what God has done.
For thou hast made him most blessed for ever: thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance. For the king trusts in the LORD, and through the mercy of the Most High he shall not be moved. Your hand shall find out all your enemies: your right hand shall find out those that hate thee. You will make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger: the LORD will swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them. Their fruit will you destroy from the earth, and their seed from among the children of men. For they intended evil against thee: they imagined mischievous devices, that they are not able to perform. Therefore thou shalt make them to turn their back, when thou shalt make ready your arrows upon thy strings against the face of them. Be thou exalted, LORD, in your own strength: so will we sing of thy praise and thy power ( Psa 21:5-13 ). “
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
Psa 21:1-2. The king shall joy in thy strength, O LORD; and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice! Thou hast given him his hearts desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips. Selah.
God gave to Jesus the strength needed to accomplish the work which he came to do, and he is daily giving him to see of the travail of his soul that he may be satisfied.
Psa 21:3. For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness:
They go before him, like scouts or forerunners. Wherever Jesus comes, the blessings of goodness fly before him to the sons of men.
Psa 21:3. Thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head.
Let us crown him afresh tonight with our poor garlands of praise, while God sets a crown of pure gold upon his head.
Psa 21:4. He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, even length of days for ever and ever.
And because he lives, we shall live also; the Father hath given to him to have life in himself, and hence he communicates of that life to us who believe in him.
Psa 21:5. His glory is great in thy salvation: honour and majesty hast thou laid upon him.
Heaped it on him. There is no one so worthy of honour as our Lord Jesus is; none are so majestic as the Man of sorrows who once bowed his head to death on his peoples behalf.
Psa 21:6. For thou hast made him most blessed for ever: thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance.
The Father rewards him for all his service: Thou hast made him most blessed for ever. We cannot imagine how great is the joy of Christ as his Father smiles upon him: Thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance.
Psa 21:7-8. For the king trusteth in the LORD, and through the mercy of the most High he shall not be moved. Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies:
Oh, what a wonderful prophecy that is! Christs hand shall find out all his enemies. If they hide themselves, he shall discover them. If they cover themselves with chain armor, yet still his hand will find out their vulnerable parts, and touch their very souls until they melt with fear: Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies. Are there any of these enemies of Christ here tonight? If so, not only will his eye find them out, but his hand will find them out, too.
Psa 21:8-13. Thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee. Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger: the LORD shell swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them. Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth, and their seed from among the children, of men. For they intended evil against thee: they imagined a mischievous device, which they are not able to perform. Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back, when thou shalt make ready thine arrows upon thy strings against the face of them. Be thou exalted, LORD, in thine own strength: so will we sing and praise thy power.
This exposition consisted of readings from PSALMS 20. and 21.
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible
Psa 21:1-2
A COMPANION PSALM TO Psalms 20; A SONG OF THANKSGIVING; A MESSIANIC IMPLICATION IN Psa 21:4.
Before commenting on this psalm, this writer believes the following comment from Arno C. Gaebelein is an appropriate consideration.
“This Psalm is Messianic. The Targum (The Chaldean paraphrase of the Old Testament) and the Talmud teach that the king mentioned in this Psalm is the Messiah. The great Talmudic scholar, Rabbi Solomon Isaaci, known by the name of Rashi (born in 1040 A.D.), while endorsing this interpretation, suggested that it should be given up on account of Christians making use of this Psalm as an evidence that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah.
“If Rashi were living today, he would not need to make such a suggestion as far as modernistic Christendom is concerned. The Destructive Criticism has, by its rationalistic inventions, disposed of the many Messianic prophecies in the Psalms and has made, in this respect, common cause with infidel Judaism, known as reformed Judaism.”
That God’s promised Messiah was identified for a thousand years as “The Son of David,” thus automatically establishing David, the king of Israel, as a legitimate type of the Messiah cannot intelligently be denied. Many of the things in David’s life were prophetic of the life of the Messiah; and that fact alone underlies the tireless efforts of unbelievers to deny the Davidic authorship of many of the Psalms. In this commentary, we shall treat such efforts with the contempt which they deserve.
“The Davidic kingship was consciously acknowledged from early times as a figure of the true … and the Messianic expectation is rightly found here.”
Furthermore, there is a great deal of the language in this Psalm which cannot in the wildest employment of the imagination be ascribed to anyone else except the Messiah.
Structurally, there are three divisions of the Psalm: (1) Psa 21:1-7; (2) Psa 21:8-12; and (3) a concluding prayer (Psa 21:13).
Regarding the occasion when the Psalm was written, Leupold concluded that it should be identified with the event narrated in 2 Samuel 7, “Where David is apprised of the fact that God will bless him in such a measure that his kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom, to be ruled by One of the line of David who shall reign eternally … Psa 21:4; Psa 21:6 emphasize in particular the eternal character of the blessings God had just bestowed on David.”
Rawlinson also agreed that there is a reflection here of the promise God made to David through Nathan in 2 Samuel 7, adding that, “In the full sense, the promise was, of course, Messianic, being fulfilled only in Christ, the God-man, who alone of David’s posterity `liveth forever.'”
Any ascription of such eternal continuity to any mortal whomsoever would be extremely foolish. “This Psalm in a true sense is Messianic, for it ascribes to the ideal king attributes which no king of Judah exhibited.”
Psa 21:1-2
“The king shall joy in thy strength, O Jehovah; And in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice! Thou has given him his heart’s desire, And thou hast not witholden the request of his lips, (Selah)”
The king spoken of here cannot be identified with any earthly monarch. The “king” here is the Messiah.
He is not merely a king, but The King; king over minds and hearts, reigning with a dominion of love before which all other rule is merely brute force. He was proclaimed King even upon the Cross, for there indeed in the eyes of faith, He reigned as on a throne, blessing with far more than imperial munificence the needy sons of earth.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 21:1. Please read my comments on Ch. 20:1. The people are still represented as praying for their king and they have confidence that the Lord will grant him much cause for rejoicing.
Psa 21:2. The people acknowledged that their king had been given his heart’s desire. That was because his desire was pleasing to God. We would expect that of a man who was after God’s own heart. (1Sa 13:14.)
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
The battle is over, the victory is won, and the assembled people sing the song of victory. This song, while it celebrates one victory, runs beyond it and praises Jehovah for all He has done for the king. They had prayed, “Grant thee thy heart’s desire” (20:4). The prayer is answered and now they sing, ‘Thou hast given him his heart’s desire” (21:2). They had sung of victory because their trust was in the name of Jehovah (20:7,8). Victory has been won and now they celebrate it (21:7-12).
The contrast is very vivid between the king trusting in Jehovah and therefore sustained, supplied, and led in triumph; and the enemies who intended evil against Jehovah and who are swallowed up and destroyed and utterly overcome. From the experience of the king the whole nation learns its lesson. The opening declaration, “The king shall joy in Thy strength,” issues in the final prayer, “Be Thou exalted, 0 Jehovah, in Thy strength: so will we sing and praise Thy power.”
Again let us remember our conflict is spiritual and still the ancient hymn is ours, for our King also triumphed through the strength of Jehovah and to our final victories we follow in His train.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
Rejoicing in the Strength of Jehovah
Psa 21:1-13
This is a companion to the psalm preceding. The blessings there asked for are here gladly acknowledged to have been granted; and bright anticipations are entertained for the future. How much of this psalm is true only of the ideal King-our Lord! Let us read it with special reference to Him as He rides forth on His white horse, Rev 19:11-16.
That which the heart desires, the lips at times find difficulty in expressing. Gods help always prevents us, that is, goes before us, anticipates our needs. The only life that can satisfy is the eternal, but that is ours already if we only knew it. Our beloved dead are more blessed forever, because they see Him face to face; but we also may share their joy. Trust in Christ is the secret of immovability. God has exalted Christ to be a Prince and a Savior, and we shall never be at peace until we have done the same, Act 5:31.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
The king shall joy in Thy strength, O Lord; and in Thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice. In other Psalms we have seen the blessed Lord walking through this earth in lowly subjection to the Father. Now we see Him, the risen One, ready to take His great power and reign as He will in Gods appointed time, rejoicing in the deliverance that came when God raised Him up from the dead. And the Psalmist says, Thou hast given Him His hearts desire, and hast not withholden the request of His lips. What was the hearts desire of the Lord Jesus? What was it that took Him to that cross, that took Him through Gethsemane, that sustained Him in those hours of darkness? The Apostle Paul tells us. He says, Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame (Heb 12:2). What was that joy? It was the joy of having you and me together with Him in the glory. What an amazing thing-His hearts desire was to have us with Him in heaven! That is what Isaiah means when he pictures the awful agony of the Cross and then says, He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied (Isa 53:11). The word travail refers only to one kind of suffering, and that is to the pangs of birth. And so Isaiah says, His awful agony on the Cross was the means of giving us life, of bringing salvation to us. He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied. Thou hast given Him His hearts desire. He is now at Gods right hand in the glory, and there will be millions through eternity who will owe everything to His precious blood. That will be the fulfillment of His hearts desire. The Psalmist has rather in view the kingdom on earth, but we may think of both.
Thou preventest Him with the blessings of goodness: Thou settest a crown of pure gold on His head. We sing, Crown Him, but the fact of the matter is, we are not going to crown Him. Of course what is meant is that we will participate in His coronation, but it is God the Father who crowns Him. Men crowned Him once. They put upon Him the fruit of the earth that was cursed. God said to the earth, when Adam had sinned, Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth (Gen 3:18), and they put a crown of thorns on the head of my Saviour. But God has torn away the crown of thorns, and we read, Thou settest a crown of pure gold on His head. He asked life of Thee, and Thou gavest it Him, even length of days for ever and ever. He was going to death but counted on God the Father to raise Him and to give Him length of days for ever and ever, and so we have resurrection blessing for all who trust Him.
His glory is great in Thy salvation: honour and majesty hast Thou laid upon Him. For Thou hast made Him most blessed for ever: Thou hast made Him exceeding glad with Thy countenance. For the king trusteth in the Lord, and through the mercy of the most High He shall not be moved. See how the humanity of our Lord again shines forth. He came into this scene as Man; He went to the Cross as Man; as Man He committed His soul to the Father, Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit (Luk 23:46); as man He went down into death, but now God the Father has raised Him from the dead, and He is come forth in resurrection glory in a life that can never again be destroyed, that can never come to an end, life for ever and ever. And now until that glad day when He yields up the kingdom to the Father He is still the subject One, He is still serving the Father as He is seeking to bring men to Himself and preparing the way for His coming glorious kingdom. When at last everything has been subdued to God He will deliver up the kingdom to the Father.
In verses 8 to the end of this Psalm we have Messiah reigning and the effect of that reign upon man here on earth. When He descends in power and glory to take the kingdom He is going to root out, we are told, all things that offend, and so we read, Thine hand shall find out all Thine enemies: Thy right hand shall find out those that hate Thee. What a sad thing to think that after all the infinite love and grace that God has shown to the world through the Lord Jesus Christ there are still myriads of men who hate Him, who have no desire to be reconciled to Him. And when He comes again in power and glory He is going to destroy the wicked out of the earth, that a kingdom of righteousness may be set up in this very scene. Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of Thine anger: the Lord shall swallow them up in His wrath, and the fire shall devour them. Now turn to a New Testament passage that touches on exactly this same thing. The Second Epistle to the Thessalonians, chapter 1, verses 6-10, Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; And to you who are troubled rest. When God recompenses tribulation to His enemies He will give rest to His own. To you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power, When He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day. This is the day when the kingdom is to be introduced, and it begins with the Lord taking vengeance on His enemies.
In the third chapter of Malachis prophecy we read of a group in the last days to whom the things of God are precious; and when Israel will be going through the time of Jacobs trouble this little group will come together to search His Word and to wait upon Him, and He says of them, in verse 17, And they shall be Mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up My jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. Spare them from what? from the judgment that is coming upon men. Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth Him not (verse 18). Now in chapter 4 we read, For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall bum them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. What a complete destruction of all the wicked in that day, the day of Jehovahs power. But now see the blessings for the righteous. It is of people who will be living then on this earth that He speaks. But unto you that fear My name [and He is speaking to men of Israeli shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts. I have often had some of these materialists come to me and point to a scripture like this and say, You tell us that the Bible teaches the eternal conscious punishment of those who reject the Lord Jesus Christ.
And I say, Yes, terrible as it is I find it in my Book, and I dare not teach men anything else.
But look, they say, in this passage it says that in the day of judgment the Lord is going to consume them root and branch and they will be ashes. Well, then, there wont be anything left.
But he is not speaking here of the final day of judgment, the great white throne; he is speaking of a judgment that is going to take place on this earth when King Messiah returns to reign, and the wicked on the earth shall be destroyed with the brightness of His presence, burning up root and branch, that is, father and son, and the righteous will be spared to enter into the millennial kingdom and all that will be left will be ashes. That has to do only with the body. You cannot burn a soul or a spirit to ashes. Suppose that you had been there the day after Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed, when fire had come down and burned up those cities. Suppose Abraham had gone down there, he could have walked the streets of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the wicked, the bodies of the wicked, would have been ashes under his feet. This has nothing to do with their souls. It is a judgment here on this earth. Look at those people who died so long ago. Are they annihilated? What does Jesus say? He says, speaking of the cities where most of His mighty works had been done, I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. For if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes (Mat 11:22; Mat 11:21). They were ashes under the feet of the righteous, but they are coming up in the day of judgment. Their spirits, their souls were not ashes and even their bodies are going to be raised from the dead, and they will stand in the day of judgment. And so this judgment is that which takes place on the earth when the Lord Jesus will be revealed In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God.
Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of Thine anger: the Lord shall swallow them up in His wrath, and the fire shall devour them. Their fruit shalt Thou destroy from the earth, and their seed from among the children of men. The generation of the wicked is blotted out in order that righteousness may reign for a thousand wonderful years. For they intended evil against Thee: they imagined a mischievous device, which they are not able to perform. Therefore shalt Thou make them turn their back, when Thou shalt make ready Thine arrows upon Thy strings against the face of them. The Lord is represented here as coming from heaven with a mighty army and like a bowman putting His arrow to the bow and His enemies fleeing before Him when He descends to deal with them in judgment.
The Psalm closes with an ascription of praise, Be Thou exalted, Lord, in Thine own strength; so will we sing and praise Thy power. Oh, what a day it will be when wickedness will no longer be permitted to have the ascendency.
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
Psa 21:3
I. God prevents us with the blessings of His goodness when we come into the world.
II. When we become personal transgressors.
III. When we enter upon the duties and the cares of mature life.
IV. When, in the general course of life, we enter upon new paths.
V. In the dark valley of the shadow of death.
VI. By giving us many mercies without our asking for them.
VII. By opening to us the gate of heaven, and by storing heaven with every provision for our blessedness.
S. Martin, Westminster Chapel Pulpit, 1st series, No. 2.
References: Psa 21:3.-Preacher’s Monthly, vol. v., p. 15; J. E. Vaux, Sermon Notes, 4th series, p. 62.
Psa 21:4
This verse, which King David was taught by the Spirit of God to set down as the greatest possible happiness, carries to most of our ears rather a disappointing and modifying sound with it. For although it be true that every man is fond of life, yet it is certain that very few appear much concerned about life eternal. Such is their perverseness that what they love best in the world when God offers it to them as His own gift and in the very highest perfection, loses its value directly in their eyes.
I. The chief reason is this, that men have got such a liking for the pleasures and profits of this bad world that without them the thought even of eternal happiness seems something dull and tiresome. No sensual or worldly-minded man can in earnest desire to go to such a place as heaven. Though he earnestly desires to live, yet he cares not for eternal life. Such is the miserable folly in which we lose ourselves when we set our hearts upon anything on this side the grave, rather than upon the glorious things which Jesus Christ bought for us with His own blood.
II. Something of the same sort is the case with many of us in the sickness and death of dear friends. We ask life for them, and yet are disappointed when God gives them a long life, even for ever and ever. How absurd it is in a Christian to be much troubled at the shortness either of his friend’s life or his own. It would be as if labourers should complain of their employer for paying them their wages and sending them home before their day’s work was done.
III. To ask life of God without a sincere purpose to repent of all our sins is only adding sin to sin; and to be discontented at His refusing us life or health, or any other outward blessing, is only showing that we do not indeed care for the blessing of eternal life. And if we do not care for it, we may be sure that we shall not enjoy it. Jesus Christ has taught us to pray, “Thy will be done.” And what we pray for every day we must practise every hour.
Plain Sermons by Contributors to “Tracts for the Times,” vol. iv., p. 98.
Reference: Psalm 21-I. Williams, The Psalms Interpreted of Christ, p. 380.
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
Psalms 21
The Kings Glory Anticipated and Contemplated
1. The Kings power, glory and salvation (Psa 21:1-6)
2. His victory over the enemies (Psa 21:7-13)
Psa 21:1-6. This is another Messianic Psalm in anticipation of the glory of the King. The prayers He offered up are all answered. (See Psa 20:4) He shares the strength of Jehovah as the Risen and Exalted One. The desire of His heart is fulfilled, as it will be when the kingly crown of pure gold is set upon His head, the head which was once crowned with thorns. He had gone down into the jaws of death and then received life, yea, eternal life, as the head of the new creation, which shares this life He has received. And His glory is great in Jehovahs salvation, the salvation which the Lord has planned and which He has accomplished, which is His glory.
Psa 21:7-13. Here once more the downfall and complete overthrow of the enemies, when the King reigns, is prophetically anticipated. Then we hear in the last verse a prophetic prayer, that all this might be accomplished. Be Thou exalted, LORD, in Thine own strength. And when He is exalted, then Israel redeemed will sing–So will we sing and praise Thy power.
(How the critics have made havoc with all these Psalms, trying to find a solution, when the Lord Jesus is the only solution as He is the key to all the Scriptures! The Targum reads in Psa 21:1 and Psa 21:7 King Messiah and Jewish interpretation has mostly been on Messianic lines. Perowne writes on this kingly Psalm Each Jewish monarch was but a feeble type of Israels true King; and all the hopes of pious hearts still looked beyond David or Davids children to Him who should be Davids Lord as well as Davids Son.)
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
The king: Psa 2:6, Psa 20:6, Psa 20:9, Psa 63:11, Psa 72:1, Psa 72:2, Isa 9:6, Isa 9:7, Mat 2:2
joy: Psa 28:7, Psa 62:7, Psa 95:1, Psa 99:4
in thy: Psa 20:5, Psa 71:17-24, Psa 118:14, Psa 118:15, Heb 12:2
Reciprocal: Deu 33:7 – and be thou 1Sa 2:10 – he shall 2Sa 22:51 – the tower Psa 9:14 – I will Psa 16:6 – in pleasant Psa 22:19 – O my Psa 24:7 – King Psa 27:6 – I will Psa 35:9 – General Psa 37:4 – and Psa 51:12 – joy Psa 62:2 – He only Psa 63:7 – therefore Psa 68:3 – exceedingly rejoice Psa 124:2 – when men Pro 13:19 – The desire Isa 25:9 – we will
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psalms 19
Proper Psalm for Christmas Day (Morning).
Psalms 19-21 = Day 4 (Morning).
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Christ appearing in His glory.
To the chief musician: a psalm of David.
The third psalm of this intermediate series now pictures Christ in His glory; although, when we look first at it in this light, there is natural disappointment. The view is still Jewish and the glory, while indeed heavenly, or it would not be His, is seen, however, from an earthly stand-point. As in the Lord’s words to Nathanael, Israel sees heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending [in attendance] upon the Son of man. A blessed thing to see, and which many Christians scarcely reach, and yet which is not entrance into those opened heavens themselves. But there is the joy of seeing One on whom the angels wait, who is still “Son of man,” who speaks of Himself in this way, is not ashamed of it, not ashamed of human “brethren” in those who are sanctified by His blood! Is it not true that hazy, indistinct views of Christ as man in heaven cause many to lose how much of such joy as this? Yet upon this depends the distinct realization of our place in Him, which cannot be as God but as Man only.
Of this place “in Him” also the Psalms (along with the Old Testament generally) make no explicit mention. (Eph 3:4-6.) It is here the Anointed King, King of Israel and the earth, -a glorious thing, too, to contemplate! to have the whole world obedient to Him, and the precious fruits of the obedience found. We too can sing with Israel here, and ought to be able to take a note above them.
As to the structure of the psalm, there are three parts in it: two of three verses each which show us His higher glory and then a third and longer one of seven which speaks of His manifestation upon earth, which is the day of manifestation also as to the earth itself, and of putting things straight the wicked, His enemies, being rooted out of it.
1. The first section speaks of His might, which is that of Jehovah also. He joys in Jehovah’s strength, and exults in His salvation. We see that His manhood is still insisted on, all judgment being committed to Him because He is the Son of man. (Joh 5:27.) He has given in Himself the perfect pattern of obedience, and thus has moral title to receive obedience. He requires no more than He yields; nay, He has yielded more than He ever requires. His path to the throne has been by the way of the Cross. The thorns gathered out of man’s path have made a crown for Him. He has not sought exaltation for Himself, who needed it not, but has stooped with infinite condescension to accept the government which is laid upon His shoulders, and which He takes that He may minister in it to the needs of men His creatures, and fulfill the Divine counsel of grace and blessing.
Thus the might of God is His. He knows the secret of power, and has acquired it as we also, in our measure, may acquire it. For who can lack power whose simple and supreme desire is to do the will of God in the conviction of its absolute goodness, and to glorify Him? Alas, we seek power, and make impossible the attainment of it by reason of the motive for which we seek it. If we had it, and used it not for Him, we should use it against Him, -use it therefore for mischief every way, and for misery to ourselves. Why then should He who is as wise as good impart it to us? Would we put the energy of steam into an engine off the track? Is He less wise than we?
But here is One fully proved and perfectly trustworthy “the desire of His heart hast Thou given Him, and hast not denied Him the request of His lips.” Nothing simpler possible than that! “If ye abide in Me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” (Joh 15:7.) That is positive enough, and simple a perfect account of prevailing prayer. His words form the desires and govern the heart; the will is perfect and so the prayer prevails. Christ the Lord, even upon the throne, is an Example for us, exceptional only as His perfection is exceptional.
It is this satisfaction of His desires that we see, therefore, in the third verse. He is met on God’s part with blessings that are really such: a crown of pure gold is set upon His head. What is this but the glory of God, which it is His, as now enthroned, to accomplish? for this was the desire of His heart, and this is what the figure naturally means: (figure, of course, it must be, as a prophecy of Christ). This is in fact the very meaning of His reign, that as by man sin had entered to His dishonor, so by man also shall the evil be undone, to His eternal praise. Thus too shall His work in creation be vindicated, and the creation itself be linked to God forever. Christ is thus the “Father of eternity.”
2. The second part insists on this dependent place which He has assumed as man. Gone down into death, even life itself He receives as the gift of God; a life eternal, which becomes thus the portion of the new creation, to which He is Head. “His salvation” becomes in the same way a true salvation of myriads of people, by which it becomes great indeed, and great His glory. And these eternal blessings find their consummation in the presence of God which He for them enters, and to which they find access also in Him. Thus, in this second part, the effects are seen of that dependent place which He has taken: for all these, unlike those of the first section, are shared blessings, blessings which are such to Him in the very fact that they are earned for others. And though this is left for us to discover, and not plainly interpreted; yet in the light of the New Testament interpretation is easy. In all these things He is the Representative of others; and to be this -the Saviour of multitudes who shall adore Him forever. -this without question is that wherein “His glory is great in Thy salvation.” We pass on now to what is very different from all this.
3. Yet even in His appearing in glory we are kept in mind of the place He has taken, a dependent place, of which He is not ashamed. His unchanging stability of glory is the answer to that trust in Jehovah’s steadfastness which in the depths to which He descended never for a moment wavered. As He believed, so is it done to Him. His sure faith finds the Rock it rests on, and is answered, as one may truly say, by a faith in Him on God’s side which can commit all divine interests to the care of Him in whom the Father’s delight is. How all through this psalm the “Leader and finisher of faith” is seen, even in the most unlikely places! The principles which are indicated all through apply to us as to Him, only to Him are principles ever declaring His supreme excellency; and this is as it must be.
Now His hand finds out all His enemies: none can escape, when the eye that seeks,them is omniscient. The time of His coming is that which is ordained for the destruction of the banded opposition against Jehovah and His Christ which we have found in the second psalm, and which will be then, as all prophecy witnesses, in fullest activity. The destruction will be sudden and complete, as pictured in these vivid images. Fruit and seed shall alike perish from the earth, for the time of its deliverance from oppression is now come, -the time to “destroy those that destroy the earth.” (Rev 11:18.)
The cause of this action of the divine power is stated in the eleventh verse: it is their malice against Christ, which, as we know, may be shown in the persecution of His people. (Act 9:4, and comp. Mat 25:45.) In fact, the Israelitish remnant will be plucked from the very jaws of their adversaries at the appearing of the Lord. (Zec 14:1-21.) The following verse may well speak of the discomfiture of these baffled foes.
{Verse 12, Literally, “turn their shoulder.”}
The psalm ends with a prayer that Jehovah would display His strength after this manner; and His people will praise Him for delivering power.
Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary
Psa 21:1. The king shall joy in thy strength Conferred upon him, and put forth, by thee, on his behalf, against his enemies. Though by the king here we may understand King David, who composed this Psalm, yet it may be much better explained of the King Messiah; understood of whom, the words thy strength mean the divine power, which was manifested in the resurrection of Christ, and in the establishment of his gospel.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 21:1. The king shall joy. The Targum here, and in other places, expressly names, The King Messiah.
Psa 21:3. A crown of pure gold. Here again, as in Psa 19:10, the LXX read, and they are followed by the Latin versions, A crown of precious stones. The gems were inconceivably more valuable than the gold.
Psa 21:12. Turn their backsthine arrows against their faces. The Latin, ut clibanus, as an oven, alluding to the anger of God, reconciles the opposite ideas of wounding their faces when their backs were turned. The reading of the LXX, Thou hast set them as a butt, &c. is preferable.
REFLECTIONS.
Answers to prayer demand a return of praise. When God hears the petition of his servants for public or private blessings, it becomes them to render thanks to him; to acknowledge the suitableness, seasonableness, and greatness of the mercy granted; and especially to take notice how graciously God has exceeded their prayers and their hopes.
This psalm naturally leads our thoughts to the Lord Jesus Christ. If the author of it had not a direct reference to him, as many suppose, yet Davids victories over his enemies were emblems of the nobler victories of the Redeemer. Let us rejoice in his exaltation and triumph, because God hath given him his hearts desire, conferred all authority upon him, and vanquished all his foes. He is set for a blessing for ever, and his seed, his faithful servants, shall enjoy everlasting happiness. Let us then submit to this king, and behave as his loyal subjects; for dreadful is that condemnation and ruin which shall be the final portion of his enemies. Let us heartily pray for the further spread and establishment of his kingdom, and do all we can for his service: and wherein the strength of the Lord appears to be exalted, and exalted too in spreading the gospel, and making any the willing subjects of the Lord Jesus Christ, let us sing and praise his power, and long for the happy day when all the kingdoms of the world shall become the kingdoms of the Lord, and of his anointed.
David, as we find in 2Sa 23:24., was in great trouble from the persecution of Saul; but he carried all his troubles to the Lord, and set the Messiah always before him. Psa 16:8. In the dense cloud of his grief a vista opened, presenting the sufferings of the Saviour. And when we see the head suffering all these things, how can the members complain? His views went yet farther: he saw the Lord rising out of the hands of his enemies, and the strong bulls of Bashan roar and fight against him in vain. What do we say; he saw the whole gentile world converted to their king, and the kingdom made everlasting.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
XXI. A Thanksgiving for Royal Victory.The indications of date are the same as in Psalms 20, though the tone is less religious.
Psa 21:4 b. For the hyperbole cf. 1Ki 1:31, Psa 61:7 f.
Psa 21:6. in thy presence: the king dwelt hard by the Temple.
Psa 21:9. Read, perhaps, Thou as a furnace shalt destroy them, like a fire at the time when thou appearest.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
PSALM 21
The testimony of the living Christ, exalted over all His enemies.
In this psalm we have the full answer to the desires expressed by the godly in Psalm 20. There Christ is seen as the faithful witness for God in the midst of His enemies; here He is seen as the witness for God in exaltation over all His enemies (v. 1). Christ in exaltation becomes a witness to the power and salvation of Jehovah. The godly can say, The King shall joy in thy strength, O Lord; and in thy salvation.
(v. 2) Further, His exaltation is a witness that every desire of the heart of Christ was in accord with the thoughts of God, for the godly say, Thou hast given him his heart’s desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips.
(vv. 3-6) Moreover, the exaltation of Christ is a witness to God’s infinite delight and satisfaction in the One whom men rejected. Gazing upon Christ in glory the godly can say, Thou hast met him with the blessings of goodness; thou hast set a crown of pure gold on his head (JND). At the hands of men His days were shortened; at the hands of God He is given length of days for ever and ever. They heaped upon Him shame and dishonour; God has given Him glory, honour and majesty. Men surrounded His path with trial and sorrow; God has blessed Him for ever, and made Him exceeding glad with divine favour.
(v. 7) This exaltation and blessing is viewed as the direct answer to the faithfulness of Christ when suffering from the hands of men. For, say the godly remnant, the king confideth in Jehovah, and through the loving-kindness of the Most High he shall not be moved (JND).
(vv. 8-12) In verses 3 to 7, the righteous government of God is borne witness to by the exaltation of Christ. It is only righteous that the One who was the faithful witness for God in the midst of evil should be exalted to a place of glory. In verses 8 to 12, the righteous government of God is borne witness to by the judgment executed upon the enemies of Christ. It is only righteous that those who have rejected Christ – the perfect witness for God – should come under judgment (Joh 16:9-11). The One whom man rejected is appointed to execute the judgment (Act 17:31). Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies. Thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee. Not only will the wicked be dealt with, but the fruit of their evil will be destroyed from the earth. The utter impotency of all those who oppose the Lord will be manifested. The evil they intended, and the mischievous devices they imagined, they were unable to perform.
(v. 13) Finally the exaltation of Christ, involving the judgment of His enemies will lead to the praise of God by the godly, So will we sing and praise thy power.
Fuente: Smith’s Writings on 24 Books of the Bible
21:1 [To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.] The king shall {a} joy in thy strength, O LORD; and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!
(a) When he will overcome his enemies, and so be assured of his calling.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Psalms 21
This royal psalm of thanksgiving is a companion to the preceding one in that it records David’s thanksgiving for the victory that he anticipated in Psalms 20.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
1. Joy in God’s strength 21:1-7
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Speaking of himself in the third person, King David gave thanks to God for giving him victory over another king and his kingdom. He acknowledged that it was the Lord’s strength, not his own, that had brought him salvation in the battle. God had given David victory as a gift. The crown (Psa 21:3) may refer to the literal crown of his enemy that victorious kings appropriated for themselves in David’s time. Metaphorically it could refer to a fresh coronation that David believed he had received from the Lord by granting him this victory. David’s life was safe, and much glory and joy had come to him as a result of the victory.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 21:1-13
This psalm is a pendant to the preceding. There the people prayed for the king; here they give thanks for him: there they asked that his desires might be fulfilled; here they bless Jehovah, who has fulfilled them: there the battle was impending; here it has been won, though foes are still in the field: there the victory was prayed for; here it is prophesied. Who is the “king”? The superscription points to David. Conjecture has referred to Hezekiah, principally because of his miraculous recovery, which is supposed to be intended in Psa 21:4. Cheyne thinks of Simon Maccabaeus, and sees his priestly crown in Psa 21:3. But there are no individualising features in the royal portrait, and it is so idealised or rather spiritualised, that it is hard to suppose that any single monarch was before the singers mind. The remarkable greatness and majesty of the figure will appear as we read. The whole may be cast into two parts, with a closing strain of prayer. In the first part (Psa 21:1-7), the people praise Jehovah for His gifts to the king; in the second (Psa 21:8-12) they prophesy to the king complete victory; in Psa 21:13 they end, as in Psa 20:1-9, with a short petition, which, however, here is in accordance with the tone of the whole, more jubilant than the former and less shrill.
The former psalm had asked for strength to be given to the king; this begins with thanks for the strength in which the king rejoices. In the former the people had anticipated triumph in the kings salvation or victory; here they celebrate his exceeding exultation in it. It was his, since he was victor, but it was Jehovahs, since He was Giver of victory. Loyal subjects share in the kings triumph, and connect it with him; but he himself traces it to God. The extraordinarily lofty language in which Jehovahs gifts are described in the subsequent verses has, no doubt. analogies in the Assyrian hymns to which Cheyne refers; but the abject reverence and partial deification which these breathe were foreign to the relations of Israel to its kings, who were not separated from their subjects by such a gulf as divided the great sovereigns of the East from theirs. The mysterious Divinity which hedges “the king” in the royal psalms is in sharp contrast with the democratic familiarity between prince and people exhibited in the history. The phenomena common to these psalms naturally suggest that “the king” whom they celebrate is rather the ideal than the real monarch. The office rather than the individual who partially fulfils its demands and possesses its endowments seems to fill the singers canvas. But the ideal of the office is destined to be realised in the Messiah, and the psalm is in a true sense Messianic, inasmuch as, with whatever mixture of conceptions proper to the then stage of revelation, it still ascribes to the ideal king attributes which no king of Judah exhibited. The transcendant character of the gifts of Jehovah enumerated here is obvious, however the language may be pared down. First, we have the striking picture of Jehovah coming forth to meet the conqueror with “blessings of goodness,” as Melchizedek met Abraham with refreshments in his hand; and benedictions on his lips. Victory is naturally followed by repose and enjoyment, and all are Jehovahs gift. The subsequent endowments may possibly be regarded as the details of these blessings, the fruits of the victory. Of these the first is the coronation of the conqueror, not as if he had not been king before, but as now more fully recognised as such. The supporters of the Davidic authorship refer to the crown of gold won at the capture of Rabbath of Ammon, but there is no need to seek historical basis for the representation. Then comes a signal instance of the kings closeness of intercourse with Jehovah and of his receiving his hearts desire in that he asked for “life” and received “length of days forever and ever.” No doubt the strong expression for perpetuity may be paralleled in such phrases as “O king, live forever.” and others which are obviously hyperbolical and mean not perpetual, but indefinitely protracted, duration; but the great emphasis of expression here and its repetition in Psa 21:6 can scarcely be disposed of as mere hyperbole. If it is the ideal king who is meant, his undying life is substantially synonomous with the continuance of the dynasty which 2Sa 7:1-29 represents as the promise underlying the Davidic throne. The figure of the king is then brought still nearer to the light of Jehovah, and words which are consecrated to express Divine attributes are applied to him in Psa 21:5. “Glory,” “honour and majesty,” are predicated of him, not as if there were an apotheosis, as would have been possible in Assyrian or Roman flattery, but the royal recipient and the Divine Giver are clearly separated, even while the lustre raying from Jehovah is conceived of as falling in brightness upon the king. These flashing emanations of the Divine glory make their recipient “blessings forever,” which seems to include both the possession and the communication of good. An eternal fountain of blessing and himself blessed, he is cheered with joy which comes from Jehovahs face, so close is his approach and so gracious to him is that countenance. Nothing higher could be thought of than such intimacy and friendliness of access. To dwell in the blaze of that face and to find only joy therein is the crown of human blessedness. {Psa 16:11} Finally the double foundation of all the kings gifts is laid in Psa 21:7 : he trusts and Jehovahs lovingkindness gives, and therefore he stands firm, and his throne endures, whatever may dash against it. These daring anticipations are too exuberant to be realised in any but One, whose victory was achieved in the hour of apparent defeat; whose conquest was both His salvation and Gods; who prays knowing that He is always heard; who is King of men because He endured the cross, -and wears the crown of pure gold because He did not refuse the crown of thorns; who liveth for evermore, having been given by the Father to have life in Himself; who is the outshining of the Fathers glory, and has all power granted unto Him: who is the source of all blessing to all, who dwells in the joy to which He will welcome His servants; and who Himself lived and conquered by the life of faith, and so became the first Leader of the long line of those who have trusted and therefore have stood fast. Whomsoever the psalmist saw in his vision, he has gathered into one many traits which are realised only in Jesus Christ.
The second part (Psa 21:8-12) is, by Hupfeld and others, taken as addressed to Jehovah; and that idea has much to recommend it, but it seems to go to wreck on the separate reference to Jehovah in Psa 21:9, on the harshness of applying “evil against thee” and “a mischievous device” (Psa 21:11) to Him, and on the absence of a sufficient link of connection between the parts if it is adopted. If, on the other hand, we suppose that the king is addressed in these verses, there is the same dramatic structure as in Psa 20:1-9; and the victory which has been won is now taken as a pledge of future ones. The expectation is couched in terms adapted to the horizon of the singer, and on his lips probably meant stern extermination of hostile nations. The picture is that of a fierce conqueror, and we must not seek to soften the features, nor, on the other hand, to deny the prophetic inspiration of the psalmist. The task of the ideal king was to crush and root out opposition to his monarchy, which was Jehovahs. Very terrible are the judgments of his hand, which sound liker those of Jehovah than those inflicted by a man, as Hupfeld and others have felt. In Psa 21:8 the construction is slightly varied in the two clauses, the verb “reach” having a preposition attached in the former, and not in the latter, which difference may be reproduced by the distinction between “reach towards” and “reach.” The seeking hand is stretched out after, and then it grasps, its victims. The comparison of the “fiery oven” is inexact in form, but the very negligence helps the impression of agitation and terribleness. The enemy are not likened to a furnace, but to the fuel cast into it. But the phrase rendered in A.V. “in the time of thine anger” is very remarkable, being literally “in the time of thy face.” The destructive effect of Jehovahs countenance {Psa 34:17} is here transferred to His kings, into whose face has passed, as he gazed, in joy on the face of Jehovah, some of the lustre which kills where it does not gladden. Compare “everlasting destruction from the face of the Lord.” {2Th 1:9} The king is so completely representative of Jehovah that the destruction of the enemy is the work of the one fire of wrath common to both. The destruction extends to the whole generation of enemies, as in the ferocious warfare of old days, when a nation was wiped off the earth. The psalmist sees in the extremest vengeance the righteous and inevitable consequence of hostility condemned by the nature of the case to be futile, and yet criminal: “They cause evil to hang over thee: they meditate mischief; they will achieve nothing.” Then, in Psa 21:12, the dread scene is completed by the picture of the flying foe and the overtaking pursuer, who first puts them to flight, and then, getting in front of them, sends his arrows full in their faces. The ideal of the king has a side of terror; and while his chosen weapon is patient love, he has other arrows in his quiver. The pictures of the destroying conqueror are taken up and surpassed in the New Testament. They do not see the whole Christ who do not see the Warrior Christ, nor have they realised all His work who slur over the solemn expectation that one day men shall call on rocks and hills to cover them from “the steady whole of the Judges face.”
As in Psa 20:1-9, the close is a brief petition, which asks the fulfilment of the anticipations in Psa 21:8-12, and traces, as in Psa 21:1, the kings triumph to Jehovahs strength. The loyal love of the nation will take its monarchs victory as its own joy and be glad in the manifestation thereby of Jehovahs power. That is the true voice of devotion which recognises God, not man, in all victories, and answers the forth flashing of His delivering: power by the thunder of praise.