Psalms 149

A Particular Psalm to Israel Scripture v. 1-9:

Let it be recalled that there are two specific kinds of Psalms:
1) The first kind are those specifically, restrictedly, and definitively applying to Israel, who is directly addressed; 2) The second kind are addressed to or concern all people, especially, all the redeemed of all ages, such as Psalms 23; Psalms 33; Psalms 150, the latter two of which specifically admonish and extol the use of mechanical, musical instruments in connection with offering joyous praises, thanksgiving, and worship to the Lord.

Verse 1 calls on the congregation (assembly) of Israel to sing a new song, in public worship and praise, as saints (dedicated ones of God’s order of worship) directly to or before the Lord, Psa 9:11; Psa 33:3; Isa 42:10; Psa 35:18. Each has a new song put in his heart and mouth when redeemed, a song of hope, joy, and peace, even as David did, Psa 40:3; 2Co 5:17; Psa 144:9.

Verse 2 more specifically exhorts, “Let Israel rejoice in him that made him, (made him his’ choice as the Mosaic covenant administrator) Deu 12:7; He adds, “Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King,” of glory, the King of all the earth, even the Messiah who was to come of David’s lineage, Exo 15:18; Zec 9:9; Isa 9:6-7; Mat 21:5. See also Job 35:10; Act 16:25; Gen 49:10; Luk 11:30-33.

Verses 3, 4 call on them to praise the Lord in (with) the dance (or the pipe) a musical instrument of joyful sound, and to sing praises to him with (in harmony with), “the timbrel and harp,” adding, “The Lord taketh (continually takes) pleasure in his people,” in such praise, Pro 11:20; Zep 3:17; declaring “He will beautify the meek (humble) with salvation,” or deliverance from oppression, Mat 5:5; Such musical praise was usual on solemn occasions, Exo 15:20-21; Psa 30:11; Jer 31:4; Jer 31:13.

Verses 5, 6 exhort “Let the saints (of Israel’s obedient program of worship and service) be joyful in glory; Let them sing aloud upon their beds,” where they had repented and afflicted themselves in shame of their former sins, but He had now exalted them, Psa 85:9; Psa 112:9; Psa 148:14; Neh 1:3; Neh 4:4; Neh 4:6; Neh 6:16; Hos 7:14; Job 35:10; Psa 42:8. The psalmist adds, “Let the high praises of God be in their mouth (throat) and a two-edged sword in their hand,” Psa 66:17; Neh 4:16-18; Neh 12:31.

Verse 7 explains that with praise of their mouths and the two-edged sword in their hand they were to execute vengeance upon the heathen and punishment upon their idolatrous oppressors, as righteous deeds, Deu 32:3; Deu 32:5; Isa 13:11. See also Mar 6:20; Act 24:25; 2Co 10:4; Eph 6:17; Heb 4:12; Rev 1:16.

Verse 8 adds, “To bind their (heathen) kings with chains and their nobles (ruling helpers) with fetters of iron,” to administer Divine vengeance as prescribed by the law of the Lord, Deu 32:35; Psa 105:22; Isa 60:11; Jdg 16:21; Isa 45:14; So shall all kings and nations one day bow before and do homage to Jesus Christ, King of kings and Lord of lords, Rev 21:24.

Verse 9 concludes that this two-edged sword of Divine judgment vengeance of the Lord has already been written (foretold and made available) to warn the wicked, Deu 7:2; Exo 6:6. So that they are without excuse, Rom 2:1-2. ft is asserted “this honor (of execution, accompanied with shouts of Hallelujah joy) v.5-7, have all the saints,” true covenant people of God, 1) Israel, and 2) the church, enjoying the final “Praise ye the Lord,” for victories given, and those awaiting that final hour, Gen 14:15; Psa 37:18; Dan 7:27; 1Co 15:58; 1Jn 5:4; Act 15:13-15.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

1. Sing to Jehovah a new song. This exordium proves what I have just said, that the exhortation now given is addressed only to God’s people; for the singular goodness which is particularly extended to them affords more ample matter of praise. The probable conjecture is, that the Psalm was composed at the time when the people were begun to rejoice, or after they had returned to their native country from the Babylonish captivity. We will see from the context that a promise is given of recovery from their ruined condition. The object, I think, of the Psalmist, is to encourage them to expect the full and complete deliverance, some prelude of which had been suddenly and unexpectedly given in the permission to return. As the Church was not fully restored at once, but was with difficulty and only after a long period brought to a state of vigor, comfort such as this was much needed. The Spirit of God would also furnish a remedy for evils which were afterwards to break out; for the Church had scarcely begun to respire when it was again harassed with various evils, and oppressed by the cruel tyranny of Antiochus, which was followed up by a dreadful dispersion. The Psalmist had good reason therefore for animating the godly to look forward for the full accomplishment of the mercy of God, that they might be persuaded of divine protection until such time as the Messiah should arise who would gather all Israel. He calls this a new song, as we have noticed elsewhere, to distinguish it from those with which the saints commonly and daily praised God, for praise is their continued exercise. It follows that he speaks of some rare and unusual benefit, demanding signal and particular thanksgiving. And I am disposed to think that whoever may have been the author of the Psalm, he alludes to that passage in Isaiah, (Isa 42:10,) “Sing unto the Lord a new song,” when he speaks of the future restoration of the Church, and the eternal kingdom of Christ. In the second clause of the verse there is a promise implied. For though he proceeds to exhort the Lord’s people to sing God’s praises together, he hints along with this that the Church would coalesce again into one body, so as to celebrate God’s praises in the solemn assembly. We know that so scattered were the Israelites, that the sacred songs ceased to be sung, as elsewhere they complain of being called upon to sing —

“

How shall we sing the songs of the Lord in a strange land?” (Psa 137:4.)

He bids them prepare therefore after this sad dispersion for holding their sacred assemblies again.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

INTRODUCTION

This Psalm, like the others of the series of which it forms a part, bears evident traces both in style and language, and in the feelings which it expresses, of belonging to the post-exile literature. It was probably composed soon after the return from the captivity in Babylon. It breathes, says Perowne, the spirit of intense joy and eager hope which must have been in the very nature of things characteristic of the period which succeeded the return from the Babylonish captivity. Men of strong faith and religious enthusiasm and fervent loyalty must have felt that in the very fact of the restoration of the people to their own land was to be seen so signal a proof of the Divine favour, that it could not but be regarded as a pledge of a glorious future yet in store for the nation. The burning sense of wrong, the purpose of a terrible revenge, which was the feeling uppermost when they had first escaped from their oppressors (as in Psalms 137), was soon changed into the hope of a series of magnificent victories over all the nations of the world, and the setting up of a universal dominion. It is such a hope which is expressed here. The old days of the nation and the old martial spirit are revived. God is their King (Psa. 149:2), and they are His soldiers, going forth to wage His battles, with His praises in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hands. A spirit which now seems sanguinary and revengeful had, it is not too much to say, its proper function under the Old Testament, and was not only natural but necessary, if that small nation was to maintain itself against the powerful tribes by which it was hemmed in on all sides. But it ought to require no proof that language like that of Psa. 149:6-9 of this Psalm is no warrant for the exhibition of a similar spirit in the Christian Church.

THE JUBILANT PEOPLE OF GOD

(Psa. 149:1-5)

The summons to praise in this Psalm is addressed to the people of God. He is to be praised in the congregation of saints. Let Israel rejoice in Him, &c. The tone of the Psalm is intensely joyous. Let us notice

I. The reasons of their rejoicing.

1. The mercies received by them from God. That they had received recent and great mercies from God is implied in the summons to sing unto Him a new song. The new song was for some new and special occasion for praise. Probably the mercies to be thus celebrated were the return from captivity, and the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem and of the Temple. And these blessings had awakened new hopes which were also to find expression in the new song. In the life of the people of God new mercies are ever calling for new songs. His goodness should enkindle the gratitude and joy of His people.

2. The relationships sustained by them to God.

(1.) They are His subjects. Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King. Barnes: In God as their King. (a.) That they have a King, or that there is One to rule over them. (b.) That they have such a King; One so wise, so powerful, so good. (c.) That He administers His government with so much efficiency, impartiality, equity, wisdom, goodness. Perowne: Such a King will not leave them under foreign rule; He will break the yoke of every oppressor from their neck. Let the Christian rejoice that he is a subject of the Lord Jesus.

(2.) They are His saints. The congregation of saints. Let Israel rejoice in Him that made him. Jehovah taketh pleasure in His people. Let the saints be joyful in glory. They are His people and His saints because He has made them what they are. He selected and called the Israelites to their high spiritual privileges; He made them His own covenant-people. Christians are now made by Him. All that they have and are is to be traced to Him, as really as the universe of matter is to be traced to His power. Their condition is not one of development, or one which is the result of their own wisdom, grace, or power; but of His grace and power.
(3.) They are His delight. Jehovah taketh pleasure in His people. He regards them with complacency. He taketh pleasure (a) in their progress and prosperity; (b) in their worship and service; (c) in their future destiny. He has provided heaven for them, and He is preparing them for heaven. So shall we ever be with the Lord.
3. The adorning wrought in them by God. He beautifieth the meek with salvation. The primary significance of these words is well expressed by Moll: The help which God vouchsafes to His oppressed people against their oppressors is not merely manifested to the world as deliverance and salvation generally, but serves also as an ornament and honour to that people themselves, so that, coming forth arrayed in it, they gain for it recognition and praise (Isa. 55:5; Isa. 60:7; Isa. 60:9; Isa. 60:13; Isa. 61:3; Isa. 62:7). Gods spiritual salvation is a beautifying of the human character and life. The lowly and meek He clothes with Divine grace. The beauty of the Lord our God is upon them. Beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, they are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord. For all these reasons let the people of God rejoice in Him.

II. The character of their rejoicing.

1. It is religious. They are called to sing unto Jehovah; to rejoice in Him; and to praise His Name. Their exultation is not sinful or selfish, but holy and in honour of God.

2. It is constant. Both by day and in the congregation of saints, and also by night and upon their beds. They are to cultivate an abiding spirit of pious gladness; to rejoice evermore.

3. It is intense. The number of times and the various forms of expression employed by the Psalmist in calling upon them to rejoice, and the various modes in which he calls upon them to express their joy, show that the joy is deep and full, active and abounding.

III. The expression of their rejoicing.

The poet calls upon Israel to express their joy

1. With a new song. The exultant soul naturally speaks the language of poetry in the tones of music. New mercies demanded a new song. They required a new song also to express all the new hopes and joys of a new era, a new spring of the nation, a new youth of the Church bursting forth into a new life.

Thus far His arm hath led us on;
Thus far we make His mercy known:
And while we tread this desert land,
New mercies shall new songs demand.

2. With music and dancing. Let them praise His Name in the dance; let them sing praises unto Him with the timbrel and harp. The dance, says Dr. Hayman, is spoken of in Holy Scripture universally as symbolical of some rejoicing, and is often coupled for the sake of contrast with mourning, as in Ecc. 3:4, a time to mourn and a time to dance (comp. Psa. 30:11; Mat. 11:17). In the earlier period it is found combined with some song or refrain (Exo. 15:20; Exo. 32:18-19; 1Sa. 21:11); and with the tambourine (A. V., timbrel), moreespecially in those impulsive outbursts of popular feeling which cannot find sufficient vent in the voice or in gesture singly. Women among the Hebrews made the dance their especial means of expressing their feelings. But, as Barnes remarks, there is much in the Hebrew mode of worship which cannot be transferred to the forms of Christian worship without an obvious incongruity and disadvantage; and because a thing has been done, and is not in itself wrong, we should not infer that it should always be done, or that it would be always best. Yet whatever is seemly and suitable in music may be employed as an aid in the expression of religious joy.

3. Both in public and in private. In the congregation of saints, and upon their beds. In the public assemblies for religious worship we should extol our King and our God. And in the quiet of the night our holy joy may rise to Him in songs of praise. The godly man praises God both in the chamber and in the church.

Let Christians see their privilege, and cultivate and exhibit a spirit of religions thankfulness and joy. Rejoice in the Lord alway: again I say, Rejoice.

THE PEOPLE AND PLEASURE OF THE LORD

(Psa. 149:4)

For the Lord taketh pleasure in His people.

I. The people.

1. They have a special relation to God.
2. They are regenerated and sanctified by His Spirit.
3. They are conformed to His image.
4. They are zealous for His glory.

II. The pleasure.

I. In their persons.

2. In their welfare.
3. In their services.
4. In their graces.
5. In their fellowship.
(1.) Are we the Lords people?
(2.) Do we realise our privilege as the objects of the Divine delight?
(3.) Do we delight in God?George Brooks.

THE BEAUTIES OF HOLINESS

(Psa. 149:4)

He beautifieth the meek with salvation.

Salvation is a word which is used by men to represent very different things. The lowest conception of it is that miserably selfish one of deliverance from punishment and the realisation of happiness. The highest is perhaps this, the attainment of spiritual beauty, becoming like Christ, finding our heaven in God. Salvation beautifies human character and life. I fear we are not sufficiently alive to the importance of beauty in the culture of character. God has made the soul receptive of the beautiful, capable of appreciating it, and profiting by it; and He hath made everything beautiful in its time, to minister to mans thirst for beauty. The beautiful in character is for many reasons the highest beauty. This God promises to the meek. How many blessings come to the meek which the proud never receive! The meek will He guide in judgment, and the meek will He teach His way. The meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace. The Lord lifteth up the meek The High and Lofty One that inhabiteth eternity dwelleth with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. Thus saith the Lord, To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Jehovah beautifieth the meek with salvation.

Meekness in itself is beautiful. Who does not love the modest violet? The ornament of a meek and quiet spirit is in the sight of God of great price. Our Lord Jesus is meek and lowly in heart. Haughtiness repels; meekness attracts.

Meekness is further beautified with salvation. Salvation is the transforming of our morally disfigured natures into glorious and unfading beauty.

I. Salvation promotes physical beauty.

Sin is moral ugliness; and it tends to produce physical ugliness. The sins of the drunkard, and glutton, and sensualist, banish refinement, purity, and beauty from the features, and make them coarse, vulgar, and brutal. Every debauch thickens the lips, dims the fire of the eye, effaces something of the spiritual from the countenance, and stamps it with something animal or even brutal. Now, as salvation promotes temperance, chastity, and spirituality, it also promotes physical beauty. Purity of heart will gradually and silently mould even coarse features into refinement and comeliness. Again, evil passions deform their victims I once saw three portraits of one man, taken at different periods of his life. There was that of youthfair, beautiful, and apparently ingenuous; there was that of young manhood, still fair and beautiful, but with more of maturity and less of ingenuousness; there was that of the man still young in years, but old in passion, old in sin; and now the features are hard, cynical, bitter, repulsive, reminding one of his own words

To be thus

Grey-haird with anguish, like these blasted pines,
Wrecks of a single winter, barkless, branchless,
A blighted trunk upon a cursed root,
Which but supplies a feeling to decay
And to be thus, eternally but thus,
Having been otherwise!

But while evil passions darken and scar the features, salvation, which curbs and conquers evil passion, and imparts calmness and peace and love, gives repose and sweetness and beauty of countenance. If truth and purity, spirituality and meekness, peace and love are ours, they will inform the features with a spiritual and divine beauty.

II. Salvation is spiritual beauty.

Beauty is the robe of holiness: the more holiness, the more beauty.

1. The beauty of salvation resembles the beauty of God Himself. Moses prayed, Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us. Meekness and patience, truth and righteousness, purity and love,these constitute the infinite loveliness of the ever-blessed God; and these are the beauties with which He adorns the meek. All human beauty is but a reflection of the beauty of the Lord our God. Every grace that adorns human character is a ray from the splendours of the loveliness of the Infinite.

2. This beauty is varied. The beauty of creation is varied. Each of the seasons has its own peculiar charm. There are the beauties of the sea and shore, the beauties of wild mountain districts, and the beauties of quiet, fertile, pastoral scenes. So spiritual beauty is varied. In Mary we have the beauty of a receptive, meditative, deep, deathless love; in Martha that of an active, careful, ministering, and equally deathless love; in Job we have the beauty of trust in God sorely tested and sublimely triumphant; in Paul the beauty of a self-surrender and earnestness which has never been surpassed by man, &c.

The totality of beauty is found only in Jesus Christ He is the Altogether Lovely.

3. This beauty is immortal. The beauty of flowers soon perishes. The beauty of the human face divine is short-lived even at the longest. As our great dramatist says

Beauty is but a vain and doubtful good,
A shining gloss that fadeth suddenly;
A flower that dieth when first it gins to bud;
A brittle glass thats broken presently;
A doubtful good, a gloss, a glass, a flower,
Lost, faded, broken, dead within an hour.

But spiritual beauty is a pure good, and it never perishes. Truth, love, and holiness are Divine, and always young and beautiful. The beauties with which they invest the soul have nothing temporal about them; they are the beauties of eternity. The beauties of salvation are unfading.

4. This beauty is ever-increasing. The meek, rejoicing in perpetual youth, will increase in loveliness through all eternity. The redeemed soul will become invested with more and more of the Divine beauty for evermore.

Let us seek to be beautified with salvation. We have not sufficiently thought of salvation as an adornment, a thing of light and loveliness. We have not sufficiently sought to add sweetness to strength, and tenderness to integrity of character. Too often the thought of our safety has filled our mind to the exclusion of the nobler solicitude to be beautiful with Divine grace and radiance. Yet we are being saved only so as by fire if we are not growing in amiability and loveliness. Oh, seek to be beautified with salvation!

THE MILITANT PEOPLE OF GOD

(Psa. 149:6-9)

In interpreting this portion of the Psalm we shall do well to heed the words of Delitzsch: The dream that it was possible to use such a prayer as this, without a spiritual transubstantiation of the words, has made them the signal for some of the greatest crimes with which the Church has ever been stained. It was by means of this Psalm that Casper Sciopius in his Clarion of the Sacred War (Classicum Belli Sacri), a work written, it has been said, not with ink, but with blood, roused and inflamed the Roman Catholic Princes to the Thirty Years War. It was by means of this Psalm that, in the Protestant community, Thomas Mnzer fanned the flames of the War of the Peasants. We see from these and other instances that when in her interpretation of such a Psalm the Church forgets the words of the Apostle, the weapons of our warfare are not carnal (2Co. 10:4), she falls back upon the ground of the Old Testament, beyond which she has long since advanced,ground which even the Jews themselves do not venture to maintain, because they cannot altogether withdraw themselves from the influence of the light which has dawned in Christianity, and which condemns the vindictive spirit. The Church of the Old Testament, which, as the people of Jehovah, was at the same time called to wage a holy war, had a right to express its hope of the universal conquest and dominion promised to it, in such terms as those of this Psalm; but, since Jerusalem and the seat of the Old Testament worship have perished, the national form of the Church has also for ever been broken in pieces. The Church of Christ is built up among and out of the nations; but neither is the Church a nation, nor will ever again one nation be the Church, . Therefore the Christian must transpose the letter of this Psalm into the spirit of the New Testament.

We may use these verses as suggesting certain features of the spiritual warfare of the Church of Christ.

I. The true spirit of the Church militant.

The people of God in this world are a combatant people. They have enemies which they must war against. They have to contend against evil

(1) in themselves. The flesh lusteth against the spirit, &c. I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection, &c. Starke: Wage a good warfare against thyself above all; take vengeance and inflict punishment upon the heathenish desires of thy heart; strike down with the sword of the Spirit what contends against God and His honour. They have to contend against evil
(2) in the world. Satan is active in human society. Wicked men are arrayed against the cause of God. Sinful principles and practices are mighty upon earth. Against these Christians have to do battle. They have to conquer the world to Christ by the power of His grace and truth. The spirit in which they should wage this warfare is indicated in the text: With the high praises of God in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand. Let them go into the conflict with songs; let their spirit be that of triumphant trust in God. The victories of truth and grace are never won either by cowards or by the self-confident, but by those whose strength is in God, and whose courage is inspired by Him. Not with craven fears, but with confident hopes, let the soldiers of Christ war their warfare.

II. The trusty weapon of the Church militant

A two-edged sword in their hand. The grand weapon in Christian warfare is the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. The Word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword. The only weapon which can slay error is truth. The only power which can convert men to God is His own power in the Gospel. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God, &c. Many and glorious victories have already been won by this weapon, and yet wider and more brilliant triumphs will be achieved by it in the future.

III. The Divine warrant of the Clhurch militant.

To execute upon them the judgment writtell. Various interpretations have been given to these words; some of which we need not mention here. The correct view, we think, will be found in this brief quotation from Perowne: Others understand by a judgment written one in accordance with the Divine will as written in Scripture, as opposed to selfish aims and passions (so Calvin). But perhaps it is better to take it as denoting a judgment fixed, settledas committed to writing, so as to denote its permanent, unalterable characterwritten thus by God Himself. As in Isa. 65:6, God says, Behold, it in written before Me, &c. Christians have a Divine commission for their holy warfare. That warfare accords with the purposes and plans of God. As Thou hast sent Me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. Go ye, make disciples of all the nations, &c. Go ye into all the world, and preach, &c. And He who thus sends them forth, promises to be with them, and to conduct them to complete victory.

IV. The grand design of the Church militant.

This honour have all His saints. More correctly, It is a11 houour for all His saints. That is, says Perowne, the subjection of the world described in the previous verses. But perhaps it is better to take the pronoun as referring to God: He is a glory to all, &c.: i.e., either

(1) His glory and majesty are reflected in His people; or
(2) He is the autllor and fountain of their glory; or
(3) He is the glorious object of their praise. The latter seems to us the true interpretation. The glory of the victory of the Church in the subjection of all the world to God will be entirely His in the eyes of all His people. All the praise and honour they will ascribe to Him. The glory of God is the grand end of the work and warfare of the Church. God shall be all in all. It should lead us to shout Hallelujah, that we are permitted to be employed in any way, however humble, in carrying out the Divine plans, or in accomplishing those great designs which He contemplates toward our race Praise ye Jehovah.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Psalms 149

DESCRIPTIVE TITLE

A New Song for Israel, which Others may Not Sing.

ANALYSIS

Stanza I., Psa. 149:1-3, A Well-Defined People Addressed. Stanza II., Psa. 149:4-6, A Well-Defined Time Indicated. Stanza III., Psa. 149:7-9, A Well-Defined Work Described.

(P.R.I.) Praise ye Yah.[893]

[893] Apparently doubled. See Exposition of 147.

1

Sing ye to Jehovah a song that is new,

his praise in the assembly of his men of kindness.[894]

[894] Cp. Intro., Chap. III., Kindness.

2

Glad be Israel in his great Maker,

let the sons of Zion exult in their King:

3

Let them praise his name in the dance,

with timbrel and lyre let them make melody unto him.

4

Since Jehovah is taking pleasure in his people,

adorneth the humble ones with victory[895]

[895] Or: salvation.

5

Let the men of kindness exult with glorying,[896]

[896] Or: with (ascriptions of) gloryO.G. 459. Cp. Psa. 29:9.

let them ring out their joy at their great Habitation:[897]

[897] So Br. w. probability: departing by one letter from M.T.: i.e., sh-k-n instead of sh-k-b.

6

Let extollings of GOD be in their throat,

and a sword of two-edges be in their hand.

7

To execute an avenging on the nations,

chastisements on the peoples;

8

To bind their kings with chains,

their honourables with fetters of iron;

9

To execute on them the sentence written[898]

[898] Viz, by prophets, in such passages as Mic. 4:13, Isa. 41:15 f, Joe. 3:12-14Dr.

a stateliness it is for all his men of kindness.[899]

[899] M.T. adds: Praise ye Yah.

(Nm.)[900]

[900] Apparently doubled. See Exposition of 147.

PARAPHRASE

Psalms 149

Hallelujah! Yes, praise the Lord! Sing Him a new song. Sing His praises, all His people.
2 O Israel, rejoice in your Maker. O people of Jerusalem, exult in Your King.
3 Praise His name by marching together to the Temple,[901] accompanied by drums and lyre.

[901] Literally, Let them praise His name in the dance.

4, 5 For Jehovah enjoys His people; He will save the humble. Let His people rejoice in this honor. Let them sing for joy as they lie upon their beds.
6, 7 Adore Him, O His people! And take a double-edged sword to execute His punishment upon the nations.
8 Bind their kings and leaders with iron chains,
9 And execute their sentences.

*

*

*

*

*

He is the glory of His people. Hallelujah! Praise Him!

EXPOSITION

The well-defined People is the Ideal Nation of Israel; the well-defined Time is the time of Israels Restoration to Jehovahs favour, when that people again realise that Jehovah is indeed their King; and the well-defined Work is the work of punishing Gentile nations. The lines along which legitimate interpretation should run are reasonably clear; but, by a corrupted exegesis, the scope of this psalm has been so perverted, that the Sword has been placed in unauthorised hands, and the earth has been drenched with human blood, shed without Divine Authority. The secret of the mischief has lain in substituting the Church for Israel; and this, again, has resulted from the corruption of a Church which has forgotten her own especial calling, and mistakenly deemed herself to be the Kingdom, and has vaingloriously vaulted herself into a place in the Prophetic Word never designed for her.

Happily, expositors are beginning to discover the mistake, and to trace back to it the deplorable consequences which have ensued; though it may be doubted whether they can be said to have laid the axe to the root of the tree so long as they call the nation of Israel a Church. The following extract from Delitzsch will lay bare the terrible results which have sprung from this mistaken application of the Word of God:
The New Testament spiritual Church cannot pray as the Old Testament state Church prays here. Under the delusion that it could be used as a prayer without any spiritual transformation, Psalms cxlix. has been the pass-word of the most horrible aberrations. By means of this Psalm Caspar Scioppius in his Classicum belli sacri, which, as Bakius says, is written not with ink but with blood, inflamed the Roman Catholic princes to the Thirty Years religious war. And within the Protestant Church Thomas Munzer by means of this Psalm stirred up the War of the Peasants. One can easily see that the Christian cannot directly appropriate such a psalm without disavowing the apostolic admonition: ta hopla tees strateias heemon ou sarkika [the weapons of our warfare are not carnal] (2Co. 10:4).

The serious question arises, whether, in view of such consequences of a mistaken exegesis as are here disclosed, it would not be better to leave off altogether the habit of speaking of the Old Testament Nation as a CHURCH; and, instead of merely abstaining from directly appropriating such a psalm as this, would it not be more reverent and far safer to abstain altogether from appropriating it? Why appropriate it at all? It is not for us. Nevertheless, we can learn much from it. We can gather therefrom lessons which are by no means yet exhausted; and if some Jew-baiting communities would only listen to Jehovahs voice ringing through it, they would not be surprised to hear their rulers calling out to them, with genuine concern, Hands off!

It may not be out of place to observe that there is enough in this psalm to prevent even the favoured nation itself from hastily taking up the sword, though it were in self-defence. Let them make reasonably sure that Jehovah is again favouring his people, and intends to adorn the humble ones with victory! When Jehovah wills them to thresh, he will not fail to say unto them Arise! Besides which, it has yet to be emphasised, that even upon Israel a restriction is placed which further safeguards the power of the sword, as commissioned by this psalm. This restriction has already been respected by the qualifying term ideal in the phrase ideal Israel: it is only to ideal Israel that the commission to use the sword is here prophetically given. Now, as the ideal Israel is necessarily a purified and godlike Israelthe real nation, indeed, but the real nation as morally qualified for the stern and critical task of punishing Gentile kings and nations,it is important that this restriction to the mission of the sword be thoroughly grasped and tenaciously held.

Note then, first, that the restriction is well in evidence hereabouts in the Psalms. Recall how strongly it appeared at the close of the last psalm (Psalms 148). The perfect tense there may perhaps be safely taken as the prophetic perfect of anticipation: He hath uplifted a horn for his peoplethe horn being a well-known symbol of royal power and prowess. This horn Jehovah will have given to his people: say,naturally, in a Hebrew psalm,to his people Israel. But in what moral condition are his people to be when this horn of power is restored to them? It is to be observed that the restoration is to be a theme of praise for all Jehovahs men of kindness. It follows, that it will be an event which will fill Jehovahs men of kindness with joy.

His men of kindness! but who are they? They are His hasidhim: THE RECEIVERS AND REFLECTORS OF HIS OWN DIVINE KINDNESS. It is not difficult to define them: our only misfortune is, that we have not a single word to denote them; and, in the last resort, that is doubtless our own fault; for if we had been awake to the immense importancewithin the realm of the Old Testamentof the idea, the happy word to express it would surely have been agreed upon before now; and English readers would not have been suffered to lose themselves amid such a variety of renderings of this Hebrew designation as holy ones, pious ones, godly ones, favoured ones, &c, &c. Surely the idea and the character embodying it, should by no means be allowed to escape us. Just here, the restriction implied is vital.

So, then, Jehovahs men of kindness will rejoice and give praise when a horn is again uplifted for his people; which presupposes their confidence that his people are prepared to wield the sword in strict accord with Jehovahs will. And the next line in Psalms 148 confirms this confidence; for by the very way in which it follows on, without a conjunction, such as and or moreover, that linethe last of the psalmis turned into an expansion of the foregoing; and so implies that the sons of Israel, AS A BODY, will have become men of kindness; in other words, will have become Jehovahs ideal nation; the perception of which prepares us for the splendid climaxa people near himmorally near him, and not merely by outward privilege and profession: ONLY TO SUCH A PEOPLE, hath Jehovah here promised to raise up a horn of power and prowess.

All of which brings us, on a full-flowing tide, over the bar at the entrance of our present psalm, the redoubtable 149th: Sing ye to Jehovah a song that is new; and indeed it is new, even to Israel,so new and peculiar that no others than Jehovahs ideal Israel have any right to sing it with self-appropriation. The same restrictive peculiarity immediately reappears as the psalmist, in the second line, says: his praise in the assembly of his men of kindness. These peculiarly godlike men have now become an assembly; and, from what follows, we may infer that they are the whole national assembly of humble ones who have borne the sin and the curse and the shame of centuries: JEHOVAHS IDEAL ISRAEL. These are the men to whom alone it is possible, without fanaticism, to have, at one and the same time, the extollings of God in their throat, and a sword of two edges in their hand!

With a remarkableand indeed quite an unusualmaintenance of descriptive power the final stanza of this ominous psalm conducts us steadily up to its unique and amazing climax: To executechastisebindexecute the sentence written (and we thank Dr. Driver for referring us to such appropriate parallels for showing what that sentence is) is a stateliness for all his men of kindness! thus, once more and finally, holding us to the Divinely imposed restriction of this unique commission to such mento these menand to no others. A stateliness: a quite unusual and significant word, whose peculiar value the psalms have recently taught us. As glory is an attribute of majesty, so is stateliness an attribute of the glory of majesty (Psa. 145:5). Such statelinesssuch magnificence, as the Sep. in some places has ithas Jehovah in reserve for his men of kindness. Some day a relieved world will wake up to discover how Jehovah himself has displayed his own kindness in thus forcibly sweeping away centuries of oppression and wrong. Let all tyrants beware!

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1.

This is a most interesting psalm, at least the sometimes tragic use made of it is of real interest, Rotherham feels it has been very much misused. What is the basic mistake?

2.

There is not Church in the Old Testament. How is this thought to be understood. Discuss.

3.

Rotherham evidently believed the physical nation of Israel was to (will) be used by God. How? When? Why? Where?

4.

Who are His men of kindness? What is their work?

5.

In the analysis of this psalm we learn of a new song for Israel. When will they sing it? For what reason? Is there another way of interpreting this psalm? Discuss.

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(1) A new song.See Psa. 33:3.

The congregation.Apparently the psalm puts us in the Maccaban age, when the chasdm was become a regular title for the patriotic party.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

1. A new song Suited to the new era of the nation’s history, and the new joys and hopes awakened. This call for a “new song,” which occurs five times in the Psalms, always indicates some marked occasion for joy and thanksgiving epochal points in the history of the individual or of the nation.

In the congregation For now, after seventy years’ dispersion, the holy convocation of the covenant people is again witnessed.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Psalms 149

Theme – Psa 149:1-4 tell God’s people to praise Him. Psa 149:5-9 tell the results of praising the Lord. The judgment of God is released through the praises of His people. There are a number of examples of this in the Old Testament.

In the march thru the wilderness for forty years, God appointed the tribe of Judah, the tribe of praise, to lead the other tribes through the wilderness.

Num 10:14, “In the first place went the standard of the camp of the children of Judah according to their armies: and over his host was Nahshon the son of Amminadab.”

Joshua led the children of Israel in a march around Jericho, with the trumpets leading the army.

Jos 6:6, “And Joshua the son of Nun called the priests, and said unto them, Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the LORD.”

Jehoshaphat led his people into battle by appointing singers to lead the army.

2Ch 20:20-21, “And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper. And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the LORD, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy endureth for ever.”

Psa 149:1  Praise ye the LORD. Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise in the congregation of saints.

Psa 149:1 Illustrations:

Joshua and the conquest of Canaan.

Psa 118:10-12, “All nations compassed me about: but in the name of the LORD will I destroy them. They compassed me about; yea, they compassed me about: but in the name of the LORD I will destroy them. They compassed me about like bees; they are quenched as the fire of thorns: for in the name of the LORD I will destroy them.”

Psa 149:6-9 The Power God Gives His Children Psa 149:6-9 declares the power that God has given to His children.

Num 25:16-18, “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Vex the Midianites, and smite them: For they vex you with their wiles, wherewith they have beguiled you in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of a prince of Midian, their sister, which was slain in the day of the plague for Peor’s sake.”

Psa 149:8  To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron;

Psa 149:8 Illustration:

Jos 10:23-24, “And they did so, and brought forth those five kings unto him out of the cave, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon. And it came to pass, when they brought out those kings unto Joshua, that Joshua called for all the men of Israel, and said unto the captains of the men of war which went with him, Come near, put your feet upon the necks of these kings. And they came near, and put their feet upon the necks of them.”

Psa 149:9  To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the LORD.

Psa 149:9 “To execute upon them the judgment written” Comments – The devil has already been judged and defeated (Joh 16:11). Declare unto him his judgment.

Joh 16:11, “Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.”

Illustration:

Deu 7:1-2, “When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou; And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them:”

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Hallelujah to the God of Victory.

A song of praise exhorting particularly the chosen people, the true believers, to praise God for favors of the past, as well as for future victories, which His promise assures them.

v. 1. Praise ye the Lord, this being the constant occupation of the faithful, their moat delightful pastime. Sing unto the Lord a new song, one composed under the pressure of new, youthful energy, as the congregation enters upon a new era of growth and prosperity, and His praise in the congregation of saints, in the midst of those who have remained faithful to the true God and are impelled to make known the faith of their hearts in open avowal to Him.

v. 2. Let Israel, the congregation of believers, rejoice in Him that made him, who has once more renewed His covenant with His children and established them as His people; let the children of Zion, the members of the Church, be joyful in their King, in Christ, the Messiah, Ruler of the Kingdom of Grace.

v. 3. Let them praise His name in the dance, in ecstatic marching and rhythmic leaping, as we read of Miriam and of David, Exo 15:20-21; 2Sa 6:14; let them sing praises unto Him with the timbrel, a small kettle-drum, and harp, or zither, their accompanied with the most joyful instrumental music.

v. 4. For the Lord taketh pleasure in His people, accepting their offerings and thereby declaring Himself well pleased with them; He will beautify the meek with salvation, adorning those who come to Him with sorrowful, repentant hearts, with faith, hope, joy, and peace.

v. 5. Let the saints be joyful in glory, on account of the honor granted them by virtue of their adoption as children of God; let them sing aloud upon their beds, the change from mourning and lamentation being so great that the day is too short to express the happiness possessing their hearts, for which reason they continue their hymns of praise even after they have retired for the night.

v. 6. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, literally, in their throat, to indicate the bubbling over of the joy of their hearts in hymns glorifying Jehovah, and a two-edged sword in their hand, signifying their willingness to defend the truth of their belief against the whole world, true soldiers of the Cross,

v. 7. to execute vengeance upon the heathen, at that time a part of Israel’s duty, and punishments upon the people; the fleshly warfare having now been replaced by the warfare of the Word, attended by the victories of the Gospel;

v. 8. to bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron;

v. 9. to execute upon them the judgment written, the proclamation of the Gospel continuing to have the effect of taking captive the hearts of even mighty and learned ones of this world and convincing them of the truth of the Gospel, Isa 53:12; Isa 49:23; Rev 3:8-9. This honor have all His saints, the glory of being a soldier of the Cross not being confined to the regularly ordained pastors and missionaries, but being the privilege of all Christians, as they are inspired with missionary energy flowing from the Word and go forth to win the Lord’s battles. Praise ye the Lord! Cf 2Co 2:14-17.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

EXPOSITION

A “Hallelujah Psalm,” combining the praise of God for mercies already received with anticipations of future vengeance, through God’s help, on heathen enemies that are still bent on persecuting God’s “loving ones.” The tone is that of Psa 109:1-31; though the expressions used are less fierce. Metrically, the psalm seems to divide itself into three stanzas of three verses each (Psa 109:1-3, Psa 109:4-6, Psa 109:7-9).

Psa 149:1

Praise ye the Lord. Sing unto the Lord a new song. A “new song” on account of a new deliverance (comp. Psa 33:3). The deliverance may have been one of those under Nehemiah (Neh 4:7-23; Neh 6:2-16). And his praise in the congregation of saints. The psalm would seem to have been composed for a special thanksgiving service.

Psa 149:2

Let Israel rejoice in him that made him; or, “in his Maker” (comp. Psa 95:6). This ground of thankfulness Israel possesses in common with all the rest of mankind; but he has also another exclusive groundlet the children of Zion be joyful in their King (comp. Jdg 8:23; 1Sa 8:7; 1Sa 10:19; 1Sa 12:12, etc.). God, by covenant with Israel, had constituted himself in an especial way their King (Hos 13:10).

Psa 149:3

Let them praise his Name in the dance (comp. Psa 150:4). (On the employment of dancing by the Hebrews as a religious exercise, and in their most solemn acts of worship, see Exo 15:20; 2Sa 6:14 -160. Let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp. (On the toph, or “timbrel,” see the comment upon Psa 68:25). It was used to accompany a hymn of rejoicing by Miriam (Exo 15:20), by Jephthah’s daughter (Jdg 11:34), and by David (2Sa 6:5).

Psa 149:4

For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people. God had shown by the mercy, whatever it was (Psa 149:1), recently vouchsafed to his people, that he was well pleased with them, and might be counted on to support and sustain them. He will beautify the meek with salvation. Those who patiently submit to his chastisements God will ultimately “adorn,” or “beautify,” with his salvation.

Psa 149:5

Let the saints be joyful in glory. Therefore let God’s saints at the present timehis restored people, who have just had a fresh deliverancerejoice, in the “glory” that covers themrejoice and give God thanks for it. Let them sing aloud upon their beds. Not, as in former days, weeping through the long night (Psa 6:6; Psa 77:2-6), and watering their couches with their tears, but, like Paul and Silas (Act 16:25), singing hymns of praise to God “at midnight” as they rest upon their beds.

Psa 149:6

Let the high praises of God be in their mouth; literally, in their throat (comp. Isa 58:1). And a two-edged sword in their hand. Some understand this metaphorically. But the weapons of Jewish warfare in Nehemiah’s time were thoroughly carnal (Neh 4:13, Neh 4:16, Neh 4:17, Neh 4:18); and against adversaries such as Sanbailat, Geshem, and Tobiah, a nation threatened with extermination is certainly entitled to use the sword.

Psa 149:7

To execute vengeance upon the heathen. Not private revenge, but the just vengeance which a threatened nation has, from time to time, to execute on its persecutors in self-defense. And punishments upon the people; rather, upon the peoples. A variant of the phrase in the preceding clause, without any serious modification of the meaning.

Psa 149:8

To bind their kings with chains. Even royal captives were thus treated in the ancient world. Assyrian and Babylonian monarchs always represent their captives, even when kings, as fettered. Nebuchadnezzar “bound Zedekiah with fetters of brass” (2Ki 25:7). Parthia, and later Persia, and even Rome, followed the same practice. And their nobles with fetters of iron. On the monuments, cap-fives below the rank of kings are not often seen “fettered.” Their arms, however, are frequently tied together with a cord, and they are fastened one to another by a stout rope.

Psa 149:9

To execute upon them the judgment written. The allusion is probably to Deu 32:41, Deu 32:42, where God announces the judgments that he will execute upon the oppressors of his people. This honor have all his saints; rather, a glory is this to all his saints. “The victories of their Lord reflect glory on all his faithful and devoted servants” (Kay.). Praise ye the Lord (comp. Deu 32:1).

HOMILETICS

Psa 149:1-9

God’s pleasure in us, and ours in him.

The more particularly inviting passage is found in the fourth verse; but those before and after are also suggestive. Taking them first, and that last, we have

I. THE CONSTANCY OF OCCASION FOR PRAISING GOD. (Psa 149:1.) The “new song” of the psalmist is surely not a fresh composition, though we may well be thankful for the new hymnologist, and consider him a very valuable gift of God to the Church; but it is rather the song which rises fresh from the heart at the consciousness of some fresh mercy received at the hand of God, whether uttered in a familiar or an original strain. And if our hearts are as full of thanksgiving as our lives are crowded with blessings, we shall be always ready to sing “a new song” unto our God. “Moments come fast, but mercies are more free and fleet than they.” They who are quick to see loving-kindnesses will not be long before they find a fresh reason for lilting up the heart in praise.

II. PUBLIC WORSHIP. Private and public worship are the complement of one another; neither is complete without the other. We praise God “in the congregation of saints” all the more happily and heartily because we bless him for his goodness in the home. We worship him more reverently in the home because we sing his praise with his people in the sanctuary.

III. GOD‘S CLAIM ON US AS OUR CREATOR AND OUR RULER. (Psa 149:2.) We cannot too often or too earnestly recall the great fact that our God called us into being, gave us our very selves, made us all that we are, with all our immeasurable capacities and possibilities. He also is the indisputable Sovereign to whom we bring our loyal allegiance, in whom, as our righteous and gracious Ruler, we rejoice.

IV. THE TRIUMPH OF THE TRUTH. (Psa 149:6-9.) The psalmist saw in his vision the people of God mingling the praises of their lips with brave and strong blows from their hand dealt against their enemies and the Lord’s. We see in our vision another and better warfare. We see the ministers and missionaries of the gospel assailing error and superstition with “the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God;” doing battle earnestly and devotedly with all forms of sin and wrong, their one weapon being the revealed truth of God. And we see, not kings in chains and soldiers slaughtered on battle-fields, but heathen temples in decay, the ashes of old idols that have been “utterly abolished,” peoples clothed and in their right mind, nations walking in the fear and love of God.

V. GOD‘S GOOD PLEASURE IN US, AND OUR HOPE IN HIM. (Psa 149:4.)

1. His heritage in us.

(1) God is deeply interested in all his children, is concerned for their well-being, is seeking those that are afar off, is prepared to welcome them home; but while they are rebellious, obdurate, indifferent, he regards them with a Divine regret and even displeasure.

(2) He is looking with deepest interest on those who are inquiring their way home to him.

(3) He receives the repenting and believing one with every sign of parental joy (see Luk 15:1-32.).

(4) He is accepting the service, loving though imperfect, which his returned children are rendering him.

(5) He looks with tenderness and joy on all earnest endeavors to grow in wisdom and worth, to extend his kingdom, to bless and save others. His people are his heritage, and in their service he finds a Divine pleasure.

2. Our heritage in him. The proud and the contentious find little satisfaction anywhere; but “the meek,” who are willing to learn and to receive, are adorned or crowned with “salvation.” To them are given the peace, the joy, and the hope, which the gospel of Christ confers on the humble-hearted.

HOMILIES BY R. TUCK

Psa 149:1

The ever-repeated call for a new song.

“A new song (as in Psa 33:3; Psa 96:1; Psa 144:9) is the old song of praise, made new by newness of heart and newness of air.” “New as expressive of all the new hopes and joys of a new era; a new spring of the nation; a new youth of the Church, bursting forth into a new life.”

I. A NEW SONG IS WANTED BECAUSE THERE ARE ALWAYS NEW OCCASIONS. A song was sung by Israel, under the lead of Moses and Miriam, when the people were safely on the further shore of the Red Sea. It was well to keep that song in remembrance, and it was wisely repeated when the great deliverance was recalled. But there came occasions in the national history when that song was unsuitable, and a new song on the old lines had to be made. Illustrate by the song of Deborah; the songs of David on bringing up the ark; of Solomon on dedicating the temple; of the exiles on return from captivity; of the Maccabees on recovering the holy city; of Mary on receiving the visit of the angel. So in a single life there are recurring occasions when the heart is inspired to make a new song.

II. A NEW SONG MAY BE THE OLD SONG PUT IN A NEW FORM. Perhaps it would be true to say that there really is no new song; for man there can never be anything more than the oh! song put into a new form. For man’s song is always a loving and grateful recognition of God’s goodness. And yet how much importance attaches to the fact that the old song does get set in ever-varying forms! The old song would lose interest, would become formal; its old form would become too strait, unsuitable, repressive of feeling. The song of Moses will not always satisfy. It will need to have much more put into it, and then it will appear as the “song of Moses and the Lamb.”

III. AN OLD SONG IS NEW WHEN A NEW SPIRIT IS PUT INTO IT. And that is the spirit of a man’s individuality. Everything is new to me that is actually minea genuine expression of myself. It may be as old as the hills; it is new to me; it is the output of my feeling, the creation of my experience. It is like nothing else, for on it rests the stamp of my individuality.R.T.

Psa 149:2

The Maker of nations.

The expression seems to refer rather to the selection and constitution of Israel as the people of Jehovah than to the act of creation. By the restoration from Babylon, Israel had been appropriated anew in this special character; made or constituted a nation. It was in the restored and renewed national life that the people so greatly rejoiced.

I. GOD MAKES FAMILIES. It is well for us to see distinctly what is the Divine order for humanity. God made man in his image as a Father; gave him a helpmeet, through whom a family was to gather round him. That family was to be trained by Personal influence for an independent family life, into which its members would pass; and so families would reproduce families, and by means of families the whole earth would be peopled, and the moral perfection of the entire family of God attained. This, God’s ideal, man’s self will and passion have spoiled.

II. MAN–MADE NATIONS. Cowper says, “God made the country, and man made the town.” It is answering fact to say, “God made the family, and man made the nation.” It is full of significance that the aggregation of men for mutual protection, out of which nations and civil governments have been evolved, was a device of the sons of Cain; i.e. of those who, in some sense, had been “driven out from the presence of the Lord.” It is easy to see that, had God’s family idea been preserved, no schemes for mutual protection would have been necessary, no walled cities, no government, no army, no police; for brothers in a family would never think of injuring brothers, and the family feeling would also save the relations of families.

III. GOD OVERRULES THE MAKING OF NATIONS. He, in a way, accepts as facts, and use s for his purposes, the conditions in which man has set himself. He lets man have what has been called a “free experiment;” and as it pleases man to create nations, God is pleased to deal with nations as such, using them for his purposes, even as he uses individuals. And nations really are aggregations of men in which personal individualities are sunk in order to construct a composite individuality. God deals with that individuality, and uses it. We call it the “national genius.”R.T.

Psa 149:4

God’s pleasure in his people.

The Peculiarity of religion is that it gives us pleasure in the thought of God, by removing the fear of him which is common to sinful men. This is seen in the joy-songs of the psalmists. When we cherish the thought of God, we find our hearts are incited to praise him

(1) for what he is in his own glorious nature;

(2) for what he is in the ordering of his gracious providences;

(3) for what he is in covenant relations with his people.

Whether we are finding pleasure in the thought of God is one of the surest and best tests of our religion. In the verse before us, our joy in God and praise of God are demanded on two very sufficient and suggestive grounds.

I. GOD‘S PRESENT PLEASURE IN HIS PEOPLE. That ought to be a constant pleasure and joy to us. It is not only that he cares for usthat may be but a cold consideration. It is not only that he loves uswe may feel almost lost among the many whom he loves. It is that he finds pleasure in us, and that necessarily involves some form of personal relations. But what can there possibly be in us in which God can find personal pleasure?

1. We are to him as children.

2. We are the objects of his great redemption.

3. We may reflect his image. There is a strange pleasure in discovering our characteristic self in another person.

4. We may lean upon his grace. And there is great pleasure felt by the good man in simply being relied on. What gave Christ his pleasure in his disciples? Take home the thought of God’s pleasurable interest in us, and then see under what obligations we lie never to spoil his pleasure, but do all we can to increase it.

II. GOD‘S FUTURE PURPOSE FOR HIS PEOPLE. HIS pleasure in them makes him work for them. And those for whom he works are indicated by their chief characteristic-meekness. “I will beautify the meek.” For such God has:

(1) Salvation in its fullest, deepest senses.

(2) Help for every emergency, constant as their need, and adapted to it in its ever-varying forms.

(3) Final emancipation from the evil which has been all along marring and spoiling our beauty. Illustrate how beauty returns when encroaching and enfeebling disease is at last mastered and dismissed. It is important to dwell on the pointthat the salvations of God which are going on in us and for us, because he takes pleasure in us, are adornments to the Christian. God’s grace to him and in him tends to “beautify him.”

It may be shown how they tend to beautify

(1) his very face;

(2) his character; and

(3) his relationships.

What, then, will be our beauty in the sight of God when his salvation work in us is fully complete?R.T.

Psa 149:4

God’s pleasure in his people.

In what respects does the Lord take pleasure in his people?

I. He takes pleasure in them, inasmuch as HE DELIGHTS IN THE EXERCISES OF THEIR GRACES TOWARDS HIM. They all believe in him, and have faith in his Word and promises; they rely on his truth and power; they hope in his mercy; they fear his displeasure; they love his Person and Name.

II. He takes pleasure IN THE SERVICES OF HIS PEOPLE. They can do but little for him, and he regards their services, not with an eye to their intrinsic value in themselves, but for the sake of the willing mind from which they flow.

III. He takes pleasure IN THE PROSPERITY OF HIS PEOPLE. His Name is love; his nature is goodness. And can we doubt that he loves to see his people happy? Even in those dispensations which in themselves are grievous and painful, he is seeking their good, and in the end promoting their happiness. (After C.H.S.)R.T.

Psa 149:6

Song and stroke.

“Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their handy “The age when such a psalm was most likely to be produced was undoubtedly that of the Maccabees, and the coincidence between this verse and 2 Macc. 15:27 may indicate the very series of events amid which, with hymns of praise in their throats, and a two-edged sword in their hand, the chasidim in battle after battle claimed and won the honor of executing vengeance on Jehovah’s foes.” Illustration may be taken also from Nehemiah’s providing the workmen engaged on the wall with a weapon as well as a tool. But in that case the weapon was for defensive purposes only. The point here is that the sword was for active and aggressive work against the foes of God and the nation; such foes as were the Syrians in the days of the Maccabees.

I. GOD‘S WORK IN THE WORLD CALLS FOR STROKE AS WELL AS SONG. It is quite true that the weapons of our warfare are “not carnal;” but they are weapons, and they are for a warfare. There is some danger of overdoing the peaceful and submissive side of the Christian religion. There are many evils, and especially those of a private and personal character, which can bestperhaps can onlybe met and conquered by submission. But there are other evils, and especially those of a public character, which must be actively dealt with in a spirit of war. For them the servant of God must have strokesstroke upon stroke. The two injunctions can be, and must be, observed”Resist not evil;” “Resist the devil.” The spirit of the soldier should be in every Christian. (Illustrate by F. W. Robertson of Brighton.)

II. GOD‘S WORK OF “STROKE” IS NEVER RIGHTLY DONE SAVE AS WE KEEP THE SOUL OF SONG. That keeps us from a wrong spirit in doing what so easily arouses a bad spirit. The song in our soul shows we are only God’s servants; and it keeps us reminded that even in doing stern things we are only doing good, trying to waken song in other souls.R.T.

Psa 149:9

The limitation of all human vengeance.

“To execute upon them the judgment written.” “It was the thought that vengeance was the righteous retribution, written in the book of God, which made Israel glory in inflicting it.” “The psalmist probably desires to fire the broken-spirited despondency which the history shows to have weighed so heavily on the returned exiles.” Just in one thing humanity has always failedit has overdone its vengeance. Vengeance may be duty, but whenever man tries to do that duty, his passions come in and spoil his work. Illustrate by the treatment of the conquered in Old Testament wars; by the horrors of the Roman siege of Jerusalem; by the awful scenes at the sacking of besieged cities in modern warfare. Christianity has wrought a great blessing for humanity in putting strict limitation on vengeance. And it puts as strict limitations on the vengeance which an individual man may take on a fellow-man who has wronged him. Works of fiction often present the exaggerated vengeance taken by men who are under no restraint of Christianity. The Christian limitations are twofold.

I. HUMAN VENGEANCE IS LIMITED BY THE FACT THAT THOSE ON WHOM WE TAKE IT STAND IN THE LOVE OF GOD. The Mohammedan can freely slay the “infidels” in propagating his doctrines with the sword, because in his view they are altogether out of the love of God, and these vengeance-takers think they are executing the vengeance of God. We can do nothing of the kind, for that love of God in which we live embraces every fellow of our humanity. To strike a man is to strike one whom God loves. This checks our taking vengeance.

II. HUMAN VENGEANCE IS LIMITED BY THE NECESSITY OF KEEPING IN VIEW THE WELL–BEING OF THOSE ON WHOM THE VENGEANCE IS TAKEN. The servant of God must never do anything but good to anybody. He may do seeming injury in order to reach ends of good; but he must always have in view the salvationin the large senseof those with whom he deals.R.T.

HOMILIES BY C. SHORT

Psa 149:1-5

The voice of praise.

“Breathes the spirit of intense joy and eager hope in the period which succeeded the return from Babylon. The poet saw in their return so signal a proof of the Divine favor, that he regarded it as a pledge of a glorious future yet in store for the nation. But language like that of Psa 149:6-9 is no warrant for the exhibition of a similar spirit in the Christian Church.”

I. A NEW ERA IN THE LIFE OF THE NATION OR INDIVIDUAL FURNISHES NEW MATERIAL FOR PRAISE. (Psa 149:1.) Escape from a miserable captivity and the return home was a new national experience, if they had not lost the spirit of freedom. How many eras in our individual life correspond to this? A long sickness recovered from, or a long habit of sin escaped from.

II. SOCIAL WORSHIP IS MOST CONGENIAL TO THE SPIRIT OF PRAISE, (Psa 149:1.) The people were summoned to rejoice in the congregation. Enthusiasm of any kind more easily inspired in a multitude than in an individual, and more easily propagated.

III. WE ARE TO REJOICE IN OUR CREATOR AND KING AS OUR REDEEMER. (Psa 149:2, Psa 149:3.) Such a King will not leave them subject to alien rule, but redeem them.

1. For God rejoices in his near relation to his people. (Psa 149:4.) Takes pleasure in his fellowship with them and in their welfare.

2. He delights to array them in honor and glory. To put beauty and glory upon the outcast and afflicted.

IV. THE JOY OF THE REDEEMED WILL UTTER ITSELF IN PRIVATE AS WELL AS IN PUBLIC. (Psa 149:5.) “Upon their beds.” In their most restful moments they will exult in God’s favor now, and in hope for the future.S.

Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary

Psalms 149.

The prophet exhorteth to praise God for his love to the church, and for that power which he hath given to it.

THIS psalm appears to have been composed upon some signal victory, and some great exploits done by the Jews; and therefore probably relates to the times of David, when they made the greatest figure, and gained the most considerable victories.

Psa 149:1. A new song St. Chrysostome commenting on this place gives us an account of the meaning of a new song, which, according to the use of the word new in other places, (when the Hebrews would express a thing very wonderful, such as had not been seen or heard of before, as Num 16:31., Jer 31:22.) he takes to denote an illustrious and celebrated hymn, made for great victories or atchievements.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Psalms 149

1Praise ye the Lord.

Sing unto the Lord a new song,

And his praise in the congregation of saints.

2Let Israel rejoice in him that made him:

Let the children of Zion be joyful in their king.

3Let them praise his name in the dance:

Let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp.

4For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people:

He will beautify the meek with salvation.

5Let the saints be joyful in glory:

Let them sing aloud upon their beds.

6Let the high praises of God be in their mouth,

And a twoedged sword in their hand;

7To execute vengeance upon the heathen,

And punishments upon the people;

8To bind their kings with chains,

And their nobles with fetters of iron;

9To execute upon them the judgment written:

This honor have all his saints.
Praise ye the Lord.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Contents and Composition.The first part of the Psalm contains an exhortation to the Church of Israel to praise Jehovah, its Creator and King, in a new song, since it is well-pleasing to Him that His saints should thus honor Him (Psa 149:1-5). This passes over in the second part, into a triumphant expression of joy at the means afforded, at that time, for the execution of the Divine judgments upon the heathen and their princes (Psa 149:6-9).

Psa 149:6 has nothing to do with Neh 4:11. For that passage relates to defence during the erection of the walls; this, to the subjection of the nations in fulfilment of the Divine judgment. It is neither self-contradictory nor irreligious that a people should feel themselves called to this work, and regard themselves as an instrument in the hand of the Almighty, and should accordingly have in mind the destruction of their enemies as enemies of God, at the same time with the praise and glory of God, and utter both in the same breath. On the other hand, Old Testament and New Testament conceptions must not be confounded together, as must always happen when Israel and Zion are brought directly into comparison with the Christian Dispensation and Church. In relation to the resulting abuse of this passage, Bake has already instanced the fact, that Scioppius, in a book written, as he said, not with ink, but with blood, employed this Psalm to excite the Roman Catholic Princes to the Thirty Years Religious War which rent Germany. Delitzsch also alludes to Thomas Mnzer, who stirred up the Peasant War by the use of this very Psalm. There is no reference in the passage to the spiritual weapons of our warfare (2Co 10:4); nor to the Sword of the Spirit, which Israel, in the time of the Messiah, should draw, and with it take the noblest revenge upon their heathen conquerors (Hengst., after older expositors, also Stier). It is the spirit of the later Judaism that is displayed here (2Ma 15:27). And yet there is no reason for assigning the composition historically to the Maccaban period (Hitzig), or to assume that the Psalm is a prophecy of the same (many older commentators). It is impossible to assign the exact period with certainty; we can only recognize a strong affinity with the preceding Psalm. It is very questionable whether there is a reference to the military procession to the Temple (Neh 12:31 f.) at the dedication of the newly-restored walls (Hengstenberg). The new song, however, alludes to renewed experience of mercy, and that in the history of Gods people; for they are summoned as such to the solemn praise of the Lord. This, together with the whole tone of joyous and elevated feeling, decides against a time of oppression, when thoughts of vengeance and triumph would be excited (Hupfeld). But it is very suitable to the renovation of the people in the period of Ezra and Nehemiah. [So the English expositors, Alexander, Perowne, Wordsworth, and generally. Wordsworth, like Hengstenberg, takes the spiritual view of the sword, fetters, etc., and draws the following contrast between the second Psalm and this, the second from the end of the Psalter: Doubtless this latter Psalm refers to the former, and is to be explained by it. The bands of Gods laws were broken asunder, and His cords were cast away by kings of the earth and rulers of the heathen, and the people at the Passover when Christ was crucified, and they are so treated by all anti-Christian imitators of such rebellion. But these bands and cords are voluntarily assumed by kings and nations of heathendom, influenced by the grace of the Holy Ghost, given to the world at Pentecost. There is a great deal of beauty in this comparison, but the actual feelings of those who first sung the Psalm are probably better represented in the words of Perowne, which express the opinion more generally held: The old days of the nation, and the old martial spirit are revived. God is their king (Psa 149:2) and they are His soldiers, going forth to wage His battles, with His praises in their mouths and a two-edged sword in their hands. A spirit, which now seems sanguinary and revengeful, had, it is not too much to say, its proper function under the Old Testament, and was not only natural, but necessary, if that small nation was to maintain itself against the powerful tribes by which it was hemmed in on all sides.J. F. M.]

Psa 149:4-8.

Psa 149:4. Beautifies. The help which God vouchsafes to His oppressed people against their oppressors is not merely manifested to the world as deliverance and salvation generally, but serves also as an ornament and honor to that people themselves, so that, coming forth arrayed in it, they gain for it recognition and praise (Isa 55:5; Isa 60:7; Isa 60:9; Isa 60:13; Isa 61:3; Isa 61:11; Isa 62:7; comp. Psa 103:5; Isa 49:18). [Translate: He beautifies the oppressed with salvation. J. F. M.] Their being joyful upon their beds (Psa 149:5) is probably not a silent praise in their hearts during the night, comp. Psa 4:5 (Hupfeld), as contrasted with the loud rejoicing just mentioned. It stands in contrast to the previous lamentation (Hos 7:14) and weeping (Psa 6:7) in longings after a better time, Isa 26:8 (Hengstenberg, Del.). Psa 149:8 recalls the hopes expressed in Isa 45:14; Isa 49:7; Isa 49:23; Isa 60:3; comp. Jer 52:24 f.

Psa 149:9.The judgment written is regarded by most as that written in the Book of the Law (Chald., Kimchi); by some expositors in the sense of a command, with special reference to the judgment ordered to be executed upon the Canaanites (Deu 32:41 f.), which is then taken as a type of the divine judgments generally (Geier, Amyrald, Stier). A better view is that of those who view it as a divine declaration and promise of the vengeance which God will in His own time inflict upon the enemies of His people, with special reference to Deu 32:40 f. (Hengstenberg). But the best view is that which goes beyond the Pentateuch, and not merely adds Isa 45:14; Eze 25:14 (Del.), and kindred passages, such as Ezek. 38:39; Zechariah 14 (Kimchi), but understands in the expression of Psa 149:9 a. the judgments registered in the Sacred Books generally, and thereby legitimized for Israel, with reference to prisoners of war and vanquished nations, including statements concerning actual events, Num 31:8;Deu 20:13; 1Sa 15:3; 1Sa 15:32-33; 1Sa 16:8 f.; 1Ki 20:42 (Hitz.). These written rules of justice (Geier, et al.) are not at the same time contrasted to the promptings of carnal passion (Calvin). Some explain the words to refer to a decision firmly established in the divine counsel, which is here described as having been written down, the Psalmist being supposed to transfer to the counsels of God the custom followed in courts of justice of committing the decisions to writing, Isa 10:1 (Grotius, Clericus, Venema, Hupfeld). But this is unnatural. [It is the view preferred by Perowne, who refers also to Isa 65:6.J. F. M.]

The last clause does not mean that God is glory for the saints (Venema, Hupfeld) either as Author of their glory or as Object of their glorifying. Nor does it mean that this honor falls to the lot of all the saints (Sept., J. H. Michaelis), but that this, namely, the subjection of the world in fulfilment of the divine judgments, is to all saints the glory, i.e. the praise and honor of God.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

The Church is to restrain its praise of God as little as His wonderful deeds towards His Church come to an end.God gives to His Church one victory after another, and therefore she must ever praise Him with new songs. God will preserve against all her foes the Church which He has founded; but she must yield herself up to His control.

Starke: The old song of the law, which could only condemn, is abolished by Christ: with the gospel He has put a new song into thy mouth. Praise Him then with renewed lips and heart.Those who still remain in the old birth cannot have the new song.Earthly victors know how to boast of and delight in their victories; much greater reason have the children of God to do the same.What more lofty or glorious could be said of a believer than that God takes pleasure in him? If thou wouldst exchange that for the whole world, what would it help thee? Thou must nevertheless die.Rejoice, O believing soul, in thy glory with God. The earthly glory of an emperor, king or prince dies with him. But salvation and glory follow thee in heaven.If the heart is full of the knowledge of God and Christ, the lips will overflow with it, and no idle words will be heard.The true means of the conversion of unbelievers are not outward force, but the testimony of the divine word in spirit and in power.Wage a good warfare against thyself above all; take vengeance and inflict punishment upon the heathenish desires of thy heart; strike down with the sword of the Spirit what contends against God and His honor.Many a heart is dissatisfied in view of the glory of Gods children, doubting whether it has a share; but thou hearest here what may delight thee. All the saints shall be partakers of the same.If Christs victory is ours, so are also His honor and glory; for we are His saints and the sharers of His mercy. If thou dost stand in the faith, thou art one of these.

Diedrich: Let believers be joyful and confident in God; but let them expect all conflict in the world.Gods people are the royal nation over all nations.Taube: The new salvation gives a new heart, and a new heart gives a new song.The time will come when all who once would not, from the heart, bow the knee before the Lord, must bow it with anguish. And the Lion will rend those who would not follow the Lamb.

[Matt. Henry: We must sing a new song, newly composed on every special occasion; sing with new affections, which make the song new, though the words may have been used before, and keeping them from growing threadbare.When Gods Israel is brought to a quiet settlement, let them enjoy that with thankfulness to God; much more may true believers, that are entered into Gods rest, and find repose in Jesus Christ, sing aloud for joy of that. Upon their sick beds, upon their death-beds, let them sing the praises of their God. Bp. Horne: From heaven Christ shall return to beautify the meek with salvation and to place on the heads of His true disciples, the lowly, patient and peaceable ones, a bright and incorruptible crown. Therefore are the saints joyful in glory; they sing aloud in a state of perfect ease and security, resting from their labors, but not from their hallelujahs.Scott: Christ shall clothe the meek with the robes of righteousness, adorn them with the graces of His Spirit, renew them to the beauty of holiness, and cause them to bear His image, reflect His glory, and rejoice in His felicity forever.Barnes: It should lead us to shout Hallelujah! that we are permitted to be employed in any way, however humble, in carrying out the divine plans, or in accomplishing those great designs which He contemplates towards our race.J. F. M.

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

CONTENTS

If possible, the composition of this hymn riseth to higher notes than the former. The sacred writer, in the close of the foregoing Psalm, called upon the Zion of the Lord to praise him; but here the call is more earnest.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Israel, by name, is here demanded to come forward to the pleasant employment of praise; and Jesus, King in Zion, is to be their one glorious theme. I beg the reader to remark, that here is nothing said of Israel’s being joyful in what their King had done for them. These things, in their proper place, became sweet subjects of praise. But the subject of praise, in which Israel is now to be engaged, is Jesus himself. Reader, pause over this apparently small, but most important distinction. The Lord is gracious in his gifts, gracious in his love, gracious in his salvation. Everything he gives, is from his mercy, and is ever to be so acknowledged. But Jesus’s gifts, are not himself: I cannot be satisfied with his gifts, while I know that to others he gives his person. It is Jesus himself that I want. Though he give me all things that I need, yet if he be to me himself all things that I need, in him I have all things. Hence, therefore, let us see, that Jesus not only gives us all, but that he is, our all. Let Israel rejoice in him that made him; let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

God’s Inheritance in Saints

Psa 149:4

The Lord takes pleasure an 1 finds delight in those that run to do His bidding.

I. The Lord cares nothing for the strength of a horse or for the rapidity with which a man’s legs can carry him from place to place; but He loves to see a meek and humble believer trusting Him. That delight begins with the repentance and with the true sorrow for sin, the sorrow according to God. There is a godly element in sorrow.

II. God is the highest and the holiest of beings. He is in heaven; He is enthroned there; that is His proper throne and His proper shrine; but there is one dwelling-place for the sake of which He will come down from heaven that is, when He sees a humble and a contrite heart, where there is reverence for His Word and a trembling and holy fear not a servile fear, but a filial fear, like that of a child to a father.

III. It is very common for people to say that the angels rejoice over every returning sinner. Whose joy is it? Not the angels’ joy, it is God’s joy, and the thought is that God is so full that He cannot contain His joy, and so the whole of the heavenly hosts are marshalled, and He says, ‘Share My joy,’ and the great heart of God overflows and they hold up their cups to catch the overflowing of the infinite chalice of the love of God.

IV. It is a great thing to have Christ’s compassion when you have fallen. Is it not a greater thing to have Christ’s sympathy when you stand, and is it not worth while to fortify ourselves against all the assaults of the devil when we remember that we can change the feeling of compassion in Jesus Christ over our fall to one of delight and sympathy over our victory?

Arthur T. Pierson, Homiletic Review, 1904, vol. XLVIII. p. 378.

References. CXLIX. 4. G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons, p. 98. Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 120. CXLIX. 9. J. Keble, Sermons for the Saints’ Days, p. 444. J. Bolton, Selected Sermons (2nd Series), p. 97. CXLIX. International Critical Commentary, vol. ii. p. 641.

Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson

The Grand Doxology

Psalms 146-150

How could the Book of Psalms end but in this way? Psalms cannot end in prose. Whether the arrangement is mechanical or inspired, it is the best possible. There is a fitness of things, and that fitness is realised in this peroration. It is as if a great broad river had suddenly become a resounding cascade; these five psalms are the final cataract. The Psalmist will have everything pressed into the choir. He will not have a small band. He ranges creation through, and brings everybody and everything into the orchestra. There goes out from him a great sound, “Praise ye the Lord.” Not only will he deliver this exhortation, he will exemplify what he means, and therefore he continues, “Praise the Lord, O my soul.” We must be on fire ourselves if we would set other people on fire. “While I live will I praise the Lord: I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being.” He will have all instruments pressed into this service. He knows all the instruments by name; he says, There are three sorts of instruments at least: the wind instruments, which a man seems to play with his soul “the Lord breathed into his nostrils the breath of life,” and with that heaven-given afflatus the truly praising soul addresses itself to the instrument; and there are stringed instruments as the harp and lute to which a man speaks through his hands, the soul running out at the finger-tips; there are also percussive instruments which a man must smite, as the drum, and the tambourine, the cymbals, the triangles, and instruments many. So he would have skilled fingers that know how to operate upon stringed instruments, and skilled strong fingers and hands quite a muscular service to make the drum throb, and take a share in this offering of hallelujah and acclaim unto God. He must have read all the Psalms before he wrote these five. He seems to have written all the Psalms as well as read them. There is a way of reading a book, which is the next best thing to having written it. To hear the book well read, to hear your own letter well uttered! There is an authorship of reading. It would seem as if this man had taken up all the great psalms and had rewritten them in his heart, and had come out at last with an appropriate conclusion.

In these five psalms we have great burst of praise. The instruments were made for the psalms. Everything was made for the Church. Perversions many there have been, and probably will be, but they are perversions, and must be recognised and stigmatised as such. No bad man has a right to any instrument of music. He holds it by no right that can be established in the court of equity; he does not know how to handle that thing of beauty, he does not know how to speak to that secret of sweet sounds. There is nothing more horrible than that a blaspheming man should sing at a sacred concert. There is no irony so unpardonable. Christian men should not support it. Christian service should be rendered by Christian people. For a man who has been guilty of anything that is vilely wrong to sing in any of the great oratorios is a lie seven times told; a black and most pestilent thing quite a horrible outrage to taste, to decency, to the genius of piety. Some have supposed that the Psalmist really did not desire to have all these instruments, but that he is simply struggling or working his way towards a great human appeal, namely, Praise ye the Lord: especially let Israel praise the Lord; he is simply trying to construct a great altar of Hebrew music. Grammatically that may be partly right; in a narrow sense of the terms, the Psalmist may have been fixing his thoughts wholly upon the human temple, and when he calls for a universal song his universe may have been restricted to Israel. Some men do not know the meaning of their own words. Great religious utterances have to be interpreted to the speakers themselves. Isaiah might profitably listen to a modern discourse upon his own prophecies, and be told what he meant when he used his own mother-tongue. I prefer, therefore, to take the larger construction, and to believe that the Psalmist was seeking to press everything into God’s service. He saw that the universe itself is silent music, a dumb poem, a most marvellous miracle in the expression of fitness, interdependence, harmony. Said he, This great universe wants but one little spark to fall upon it, and the whole will rise as if in flames of praise. Man has nothing to do in the way of improving the universe. Poor man! he can but take a little part of the universe to pieces, and call it science. He cannot improve the rotundity of the earth, he cannot add a beam to the moon. The Psalmist, looking upon these things from a great height, said, All this means something more than has yet been articulated: this silence is supreme eloquence, this is all that prose can do: God is waiting for the man whom he will inspire with the spirit of poetry, and if that man will let fall one short syllable on this miracle of prose it will become poetry infinite, ineffable. It will be a sad thing when a man can tell all he means. Do not believe that the grammarian can exhaust the Bible. Do not entertain the thought that the Bible-writers knew one ten-thousandth part of what they were writing about. They were instruments, they were the clerks of God, they were but scribes hired to do the work of human education. All things are tending in the direction of universal praise. If this were mere reverie, we might applaud it as such, and dismiss it; but all through these five concluding psalms there runs a line of sternest logic, boldest, truest, sweetest reasoning. This is so with the whole Bible. All its flowers are grown upon rocks; far below the fecundant soil lies the stable masonry. The flowers are thousands upon thousands, squared and cubed, and then redoubled and multiplied again; but under all there lies the base of truth.

Shall we join this praise? Which God shall we worship in song? The Psalmist says, I will give you his full address: this is the God “which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is.” That is force, energy: how can I blow the instrument, or strike the string, or smite the drum in praise of force, though it be set out in strong typography on the printed page? Then saith the Psalmist, You have interrupted me, that is not the full address of the Most High; he but begins there, the continuance thereof is this, “Which keepeth truth for ever: which executeth judgment for the oppressed.” That is majesty, moral, spiritual, sublime. We might raise a tremulous hymn to such a Personality, but we should almost have to look down whilst we sang the adoring psalm. But, said the Psalmist, you have interrupted me, that, is not the full address of the Most High “Which giveth food to the hungry:” now he is domestic, companionable, approachable. “The Lord openeth the eyes of the blind:” now how tender, gentle, pitiful!” The Lord raiseth them that are bowed down:” then he is almost like one of them. “Praise ye the Lord.” Certainly! we must. We can adore majesty, and run away from it because it may overpower us by its intolerable sublimity, but if God feed the hungry, open the eyes of the blind, and raise them that are bowed down, we can look at him in the face whilst we are singing his hymns. But, saith the Psalmist, that is not all: “The Lord preserveth the strangers:” why, we are all strangers when we are two miles from the beaten track. “He relieveth the fatherless and widow:” what! the God of suns and constellations and universes on which no measuring-line has been laid, does he care for the widow and the orphan in their affliction? “Praise ye the Lord.” Here is an end of ecstasy. This is no sentimental rapture; this is a reply, praise answering love, a glorious consent, a concert which the universe approves. Herein must our musical education be perfected. An impious singer ought to be frowned down, avoided, and left desolate. It will be a sad thing when we admire the music and neglect the sentiment. The choir constituted by the Psalmist is a choir of appreciative, grateful, responsive hearts. Nor can he get away altogether from this line of annotation. He puts the same thought in many different ways. He does not neglect the majesty of the Lord; he represents the Lord as telling the number of the stars, and calling them all by their names; as covering the heaven with clouds, preparing rain for the earth, making grass to grow upon the mountains: he represents God as giving snow like wool, scattering the hoarfrost like ashes, casting forth his ice like morsels, and coming upon the universe with a cold before which it perishes. Then he runs parallel with all this, a line more than golden, a line more than loving: “Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite:” hear how the trumpets blare and roar as they utter that glorious sentiment! Now “he healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.” The Lord is the doctor of the family, the physician of the soul; as if neglecting the stars awhile, he comes down to human hearts.

Let us not then say that the Psalmist is a mere contemplatist or rhapsodist; he is a man who recognises the providential side of life, and will have a hymn appropriate thereto. If we made our providences the beginning of our psalms our psalms would never end. “He also exalteth the horn of his people, the praise of all his saints; even of the children of Israel, a people near unto him.” “The Lord taketh pleasure in his people; he will beautify the meek with salvation.” This is the providential aspect. Here is God working in human history. Here the Lord is building his own monument of love, and writing his own memorial of tender mercy, and the Psalmist calls us around this memorial and this monument that we may join him in holy rapturous song. We should count our family mercies before we determine where our hymn shall begin and end. We are poor reckoners if we begin with our disadvantages. We do not mean to end well; we are trying, however subtly or unconsciously, to get up a case against the goodness and mercy of God. We should begin at the other end: with the sunshine and the music, with all little things and great things that make up the best aspect of our home-life. Then when the Psalmist says, “I am going to sing,” we shall say, So am I: let us sing together that we may create an opportunity for others; let us announce our intention far and wide, and mayhap some will sing as followers who could not well begin the holy tune themselves. Thus praise becomes contagious, thus song begets song, until the whole universe is full of melody. There are some who have never sung. By the term “sung” we do not here mean anything that is technical or mechanical. There is a singing without words, there is a silent singing; there is a way of singing by sympathy. Sometimes people think they are not singing unless they can hear their own voices; certainly to uplift the voice is one way of singing: some can sing better through sympathy, they feel that others are expressing what they wanted to say, and in the expression of others they find rest and joy. Whether in this way or in that, every man should sing. Every man should recognise the providences of God. You were brought low, and he helped you; you were in the jungle of a tremendous thicket, and he relieved you; you were trying to thread your way through a labyrinth, and you found yourself coming back again and again upon your own steps, and he gave you the clue, and in an hour or two you were out at the wicket-gate free again, and you met the Psalmist there; for that Psalmist stands for us at every turn in life, and he said, “Praise ye the Lord;” and if you had not instantly answered in song, personal or sympathetic, you would have proved yourself unworthy of the divine deliverance.

The Psalmist indicates a retributive element in the service of praise: “Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand; to execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people; to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron.” These words have been fruitful of oppression. They have been misused by nearly all sections of the Church. No one section can blame another, saying, “You have perverted these words,” because we are all in one condemnation. We have mistaken fury for reasoning: we have forgotten that the democracy is heathenism, if it be not educated and morally inspired. It is not our business to strike off the ears of men, nor to throw chains upon kings, and fetters of iron upon nobles. They have to come down that is written in the books that cannot be burned but they must come down otherwise; not by violence, but by the uplifting of the general mass of the people; so there shall not be so much a coming down of some as the raising up of all; then the new democracy shall be the true aristocracy. Let us beware of religious oppression above all other. No one man, as we have often seen, has all the truth, nor ought to set himself up as the papal administrator of all that is right and wrong in intellectual beliefs. This man has part of the truth, and his brother has another part; they should meet, and mutually contribute; and the third man should add his share, and every other man contribute his quota, that from the sum-total of humanity we may get the sum-total of the revelation of God. You do not improve your oppression by singing to it. You do not make murder less murder because you dance your way to the scene of execution. Keep the high praises of God for holy hearts and holy mouths.

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

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

XV

PSALM AFTER DAVID PRIOR TO THE BABYLONIAN EXILE

The superscriptions ascribed to Asaph twelve palms (Psa 50 ; 73-83) Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun presided over the Levitical singers in the time of David. Their sons also directed the various bands of musicians (1Ch 25 ). It seems that the family of Asaph for many generations continued to preside over the service of song (Cf. Ezr 3:10 ).

The theme of Psa 50 is “Obedience is better than sacrifice,” or the language of Samuel to Saul when he had committed the awful sin in respect to the Amalekites. This teaching is paralleled in many Old Testament scriptures, for instance, Psa 51:16-17 . For thou delightest not in sacrifice; else would I give it: Thou hast no pleasure in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

The problem of Psa 73 is the problem of why the wicked prosper (Psa 73:1-14 ), and its solution is found in the attitude of God toward the wicked (Psa 73:15-28 ). [For a fine exposition of the other psalms of this section see Kirkpatrick or Maclaren on the Psalms.]

The psalms attributed to the sons of Korah are Psa 42 ; Psa 44 ; Psa 45 ; Psa 47 ; Psa 48 ; Psa 49 ; Psa 84 ; Psa 85 ; Psa 87 . The evidence that Psalms 42-43 were one poem is internal. There are three stanzas, each closing with a refrain. The similarity of structure and thought indicates that they were formerly one psalm. A parallel to these two psalms we find in the escape of Christian from the Castle of Giant Despair in Pilgrim’s Progress .

Only two psalms were ascribed to Solomon, viz: Psa 72 and 127. However, the author believes that there is good reason to attribute Psa 72 to David. If he wrote it, then only one was written by Solomon.

The theme of Psa 72 is the reign of the righteous king, and the outline according to DeWitt, which shows the kingdom as desired and foretold, is as follows: (1) righteous (Psa 72:1-4 ) ; (2) perpetual (Psa 72:5-7 ); (3) universal (Psa 72:8-11 ); (4) benign (Psa 72:12-14 ); (5) prosperous (Psa 72:15-17 ).

Psa 127 was written when Solomon built the Temple. It is the central psalm of the psalms of the Ascents, which refer to the Temple. It seems fitting that this psalm should occupy the central position in the group, because of the occasion which inspired it and its relation to the other psalms of the group. A brief interpretation of it is as follows: The house here means household. It is a brief lyric, setting forth the lessons of faith and trust. This together with Psa 128 is justly called “A Song of Home.” Once in speaking to Baylor Female College I used this psalm, illustrating the function of a school as a parent sending forth her children into the world as mighty arrows. Again I used this psalm in one of my addresses in our own Seminary in which I made the household to refer to the Seminary sending forth the preachers as her children.

The psalms assigned to the era of Hezekiah and Isaiah are Psa 46 ; Psa 47 ; Psa 48 . The historical setting is found in the history of the reign of Hezekiel. Their application to Judah at this time is found in the historical connection, in which we have God’s great deliverances from the foreign powers, especially the deliverance from Sennacherib. We find in poetry a description of the destruction and desolation of Jerusalem in the Lamentations of Jeremiah and in Psa 74 ; Psa 79 .

The radical critics ascribe Psa 74 ; Psa 79 to the Maccabean period, and their argument is based upon the use of the word “synagogues,” in Psa 74:8 . The answer to their contention is found in the marginal rendering which gives “places of assembly” instead of “synagogues.” The word “synagogue” is a Greek word translated from the Hebrew, which has several meanings, and in this place means the “place of assembly” where God met his people.

The silence of the exile period is shown in Psa 137 , in which they respond that they cannot sing a song of Zion in a strange land. Their brightening of hope is seen in Psa 102 . In this we have the brightening of their hope on the eve of their return. In Psa 85:10 we have a great text:

Mercy and truth are met together;

Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

The truth here is God’s law demanding justice; mercy is God’s grace meeting justice. This was gloriously fulfilled in Christ on the cross. He met the demands of the law and offers mercy and grace to all who accept them on the terms of repentance and faith.

Three characteristics of Psa 119 are, first, it is an alphabetical psalm; second, it is the longest chapter in the Bible, and third, it is an expansion of the latter part of Psa 19 . Psalms 146-150 were used for worship in the second temple. The expressions of innocence in the psalms do not refer to original sin, but to a course of conduct in contrast with wicked lives. The psalmists do not claim absolute, but relative sinlessness.

The imprecations in the psalms are real prayers, and are directed against real men who were enemies of David and the Jewish nation, but they are not expressions of personal resentment. They are vigorous expressions of righteous indignation against incorrigible enemies of God and his people and are to be interpreted in the light of progressive revelation. The New Testament contains many exultant expressions of the overthrow of the wicked. (Cf. 1Co 16:22 ; 2Ti 4:14 ; Gal 5:12 ; Rev 16:5-6 ; Rev 18:20 .) These imprecations do not teach that we, even in the worst circumstances, should bear personal malice, nor take vengeance on the enemies of righteousness, but that we should live so close to God that we may acquiesce in the destruction of the wicked and leave the matter of vengeance in the hands of a just God, to whom vengeance belongs (Rom 12:19-21 ).

The clearest teachings on the future life as found in the psalms, both pro and con, are found in these passages, as follows: Psa 16:10-11 ; Psa 17:15 ; Psa 23:6 ; Psa 49:15 ; Psa 73:23-26 . The passages that are construed to the contrary are found in Psa 6:5 ; Psa 30:9 ; Psa 39:13 ; Psa 88:10-12 ; Psa 115:17 . The student will compare these passages and note carefully their teachings. The first group speaks of the triumph over Sheol (the resurrection) ; about awaking in the likeness of God; about dwelling in the house of the Lord forever; about redemption from the power of Sheol; and God’s guiding counsel and final reception into glory, all of which is very clear and unmistakable teaching as to the future life.

The second group speaks of DO remembrance in death; about no profit to the one when he goes down to the pit; of going hence and being no more; about the dead not being able to praise God and about the grave as being the land of forgetfulness ; and about the dead not praising Jehovah, all of which are spoken from the standpoint of the grave and temporal death.

There is positively no contradiction nor discrepancy in the teaching of these scriptures. One group takes the spirit of man as the viewpoint and teaches the continuity of life, the immortality of the soul; the other group takes the physical being of man as the viewpoint and teaches the dissolution of the body and its absolute unconsciousness in the grave.

QUESTIONS

1. How many and what psalms were ascribed to Asaph?

2. Who presided over the Levitical singers in the time of David?

3. What is the theme of Psa 50 , and where do we find the same teaching in the Old Testament?

4. What is the problem of Psa 73 , and what its solution?

5. What psalms are attributed to the sons of Korah?

6. What is the evidence that Psalms 42-43 were one poem and what the characteristic of these two taken together?

7. What parallel to these two psalms do we find in modern literature?

8. What psalms were ascribed to Solomon?

9. What is the theme of Psa 72 ?

10. What is the outline according to DeWitt, which shows the kingdom as desired and foretold?

11. When was Psa 127 written and what the application as a part of the Pilgrim group?

12. Give a brief interpretation of it and the uses made of it by the author on two different occasions.

13. What psalms are assigned to the era of Hezekiah and Isaiah, and what their historical setting?

14. What is their application to Judah at this time?

15. Where may we find in poetry a description of the destruction and desolation of Jerusalem?

16. To what period do radical critics ascribe Psalms 74-79; what is their argument, and what is your answer?

17. Which psalm shows the silence of the exile period and why?

18. Which one shows their brightening of hope?

19. Explain Psa 85:10 .

20. Give three characteristics of Psa 119 .

21. What use was made of Psalms 146-150?

22. Explain the expression of innocence in the psalms in harmony with their teaching of sin.

23. Explain the imprecations in the psalms and show their harmony with New Testament teachings.

24. Cite the clearest teachings on the future life as found in the psalms, both pro and con.

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

Psa 149:1 Praise ye the LORD. Sing unto the LORD a new song, [and] his praise in the congregation of saints.

Ver. 1. Praise ye the Lord ] See Psa 148:1 .

Sing unto the Lord a new song ] A New Testament song, of a new argument, and for new benefits by the coming of Christ, whereof this psalm is prophetic. Old things are past, all things are become new, 2Co 5:16 ; new commandments, new promises, new sacraments, new grace, new praises, new privileges.

In the congregation of saints ] His beneficiaries, whose joint praises must come before him as the sound of many waters; this is heaven upon earth.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

is “Praise ye Jah.” It is expressly a new song for Israel, no longer enemies as touching the gospel, no longer only beloved for the fathers’ sake, but a congregation of pious ones, Zion’s sons rejoicing in their King. Their position is judicial on earth; but we who believe, without seeing Christ, have our joy in His heavenly grace and glory.

Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 149:1-4

1Praise the Lord!

Sing to the Lord a new song,

And His praise in the congregation of the godly ones.

2Let Israel be glad in his Maker;

Let the sons of Zion rejoice in their King.

3Let them praise His name with dancing;

Let them sing praises to Him with timbrel and lyre.

4For the Lord takes pleasure in His people;

He will beautify the afflicted ones with salvation.

Psa 149:1-4 The strophe starts off with two parallel Piel imperatives.

1. praise

2. sing

These are followed by a series of four imperfects used as jussives.

1. let Israel be glad

2. let Zion rejoice

3. let them praise His name

4. let them sing praises to Him

The psalmist prays that Israel will respond appropriately to their military victory by recognizing it is from YHWH and not themselves.

Psa 149:1 a new song This would represent a cultural way to commemorate an event (compare Exo 15:1-18; Exo 15:21; Jdg 5:1-13; 1Sa 18:6; Psa 33:3; Psa 40:3; Psa 96:1; Psa 98:1; Isa 42:10).

congregation This is Qahal (BDB 874), which in the LXX, was translated ekklesia. See Special Topic: Church (ekklesia) .

the godly ones This is the same word used in Psa 148:14, which comes from hesed (BDB 339). See note at Psa 16:10 online.

Psa 149:2 Maker This (BDB 793 I) does not refer to creation but to the call of Abraham and the promise to his descendants, which was fully ratified on Mt. Sinai (cf. Exodus 19-20). It is also alluded to in Psa 95:6; Psa 100:3; Isa 17:7). YHWH was uniquely their Maker, Savior, and Covenant Deity!

their King This theological understanding goes back to 1Sa 8:7, cf. Psa 47:6; Psa 89:18. The King of God’s people was meant to be His earthly representative, His Undershepherd.

Zion See Special Topic: Zion .

Psa 149:3 dancing This implies a special worship event celebrating

1. a military victory (cf. Exo 15:20; Jdg 11:34; 1Sa 18:6)

2. a worship event (cf. 2Sa 6:5; Psa 150:4)

3. a restoration (cf. Psa 30:11; in connection with this, bed [BDB 1012] may refer to a place sick people lie, cf. Exo 21:18; Job 33:19)

Psa 149:4 the afflicted ones Although this root (BDB 776) can refer to the poor and needy, it often was used of God’s persecuted people.

salvation See Special Topic: Salvation (OT) .

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

The fourth of the concluding five Hallelujah Psalms, answering to NUMBERS. Compare verses: Psa 149:5-9 with Num 24:17-24.

Praise ye THE LORD. Hebrew Hallelu-JAH. App-4.

the LORD. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4.

congregation = assembly (in its military aspect).

saints = favoured ones, or beloved, Psa 149:5.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Psa 149:1-9

Praise the LORD. Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise in the congregation of the saints. Let Israel rejoice in him that made him: let the children of Zion be joyful in their King. Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and the harp. For the LORD takes pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation. Let the saints be joyful in glory: and let them sing aloud upon their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand; To execute the vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people; To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; To execute upon them the judgment written: this honor have all his saints. Praise ye the LORD ( Psa 149:1-9 ).

Now here he mentions of the praising of the Lord in song, in dance, with the timbrel and the harp.

I think that many times our forms of worship get rather stilted and stereotyped. I think that it would be fine to have variety in our worship and praise. The Jewish people, again, are very exuberant people. It’s such a thrill to go down on Friday evening and watch the young men come down from the upper part of the city from their school. And come down in their dances before the Western Wall on the beginning of the Sabbath as they hail the coming in of the Sabbath day. To see them in their worship and their praise, to hear their songs, their chants. And to see them as they praise the Lord in the song and as they praise the Lord in the dance.

Now, I am not really advocating some things that I have seen passed off as praise unto the Lord. I do not feel that our praise of the Lord should ever be such that it draws attention unto ourselves. And I have seen many people supposedly praising the Lord, but really they were putting on quite an exhibition that drew a lot of attention to them. And to that I am unalterably opposed. I do not feel that we should ever draw attention to ourselves in our worship and praise of God. I don’t think that we should sing in a weird way that causes people to turn, “Who’s singing that obbligato?” or whatever, you know. Because it takes the attention off the music and onto a person who may have a great operatic voice and something. And you may be a frustrated opera star, but when you’re singing with the congregation, you ought to seek to have your voice blend with that of the congregation rather than drawing attention to yourself.

And in our praises unto the Lord, we should take care that our praises are such that they do not draw attention to me, because then what value… then people are looking at me. “Oh, you see how he can dance? Oh, look how he plays the tambourine, you know. Oh, you know, isn’t he clever?” And the attention then is drawn to the person and not to God. So then the whole effect is negated if I’m really seeking to bring people into a praise and worship of God. And yet, I think that there, you know… I think that we… I think that there’s a balance and we need to find this beautiful balance somewhere. I think there is a place for the dance. I think there’s a place for the expression of praise to God with timbrels and tambourines and all. I love the Jewish folk dances, and I think that they can be very expressive in their praises unto the Lord. I love the exuberance of them and all. But yet, again, maintaining that balance so that as I am praising the Lord, I don’t do it in such a way that it draws a lot of attention to me. That I just sort of blend in harmony my praises as those of God’s people. And there’s probably, I don’t think that we are in the middle. I think that we are probably a little on the stilted side, and we could perhaps move a little bit more towards a more meaningful kind of a praise. I’m open to the worship of God in other than just sitting and singing choruses or in the forms that we’ve followed. And yet, as I say, I surely don’t… I’d rather be on this side than on the other side of the balance. And that’s probably my problem. “

Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary

The whole Book of Psalms is full of praise, but the praise culminates at the close. There are five Hallelujah Psalms at the end of the Book; they are so named because they both begin and conclude with the word Hallelujah, Praise ye the Lord. It must be to the intense regret of all reverent persons to find the word Hallelujah so used today, in a hackneyed way, that it is made to be a commonplace instead of a very sacred word,-Hallelujah, or, Praise be unto Jah, Jehovah. He who uses this word in a flippant manner is guilty of taking the name of the Lord in vain.

Psa 149:1. Praise ye the LORD. Sing unto the LORD a new song,

You have had new mercies from the Lord; give him in return a new song. You have a new apprehension of his mercy, you who live under this gospel dispensation have something more to sing of than even David experienced; therefore, sing unto Jehovah a new song,-throw your hearts into it; do not let it be a matter of routine, but let your whole soul, in all its vigor and freshness, address itself to the praise of God.

Psa 149:1. And his praise in the congregation of saints.

All saints praise God; they are not saints if they do not. The praise of any one saint is sweet to him; but in the congregation of saints there is a linked sweetness, a wonderful commixture of precious things. Sing his praise, then, in the congregation of his holy ones.

Psa 149:2. Let Israel rejoice in him that made him:

Adore your Creator for your being, and for your well being. He has twice made you, ye people of God; give him therefore double praise,-not only the song of those who sang when creations work was done, but the praise of those who sing because they are made new creatures in Christ Jesus.

Psa 149:2-3. Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King. Let them praise his name in the dance:

The holy dance of those days differed altogether from the frivolous and lascivious dances of the present time. It was a sacred exercise in which the whole body expressed its delight before God.

Psa 149:3. Let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp.

The one to be struck and the other to be gently touched to yield its stringed sweetness.

Psa 149:4. For the LORD taketh pleasure in his people:

Should not they take pleasure in the condescension on his part to take any pleasure in them? Oh, what a lift up it is for us when we learn to take pleasure in the Lord!

Psa 149:4. He will beautify the meek with salvation.

He dresses all his children; but the meek are his Josephs, and upon them he puts the coat of many colors, and they shall inherit the earth.

Psa 149:5. Let the saints be joyful in glory:

God is their glory; let them be joyful in him.

Psa 149:5. Let them sing aloud upon their beds.

If they cannot come up to the congregation, yet, when they rest at home, or when they suffer at home, let them not cease from their music. Gods praise comes up sweetly, I do not doubt, this Sabbath evening, from many a lonely chamber where the saints are waiting for the appearing of their Lord.

Psa 149:6. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth,

In their throat, says the Hebrew, for Gods saints sing deep down in their throats. There is a deeply rooted music when we praise God, which is altogether unlike the mere syllables of the lips that come from a hypocrites tongue.

Psa 149:6. And a two-edged sword in their hand;

For we have to fight today with principalities, and powers, and wickednesses everywhere. With the sword of the Spirit in our hands, we fight the battles of the Prince of peace.

Psa 149:7-8. To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people; To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron;

So was it when Israel came into Canaan, ordained to execute the vengeance of God upon the heathen nations. We have no such warrant, and no such painful duty; but there is a prince who shall be bound with chains and with fetters of iron one day. The Lord shall bruise Satan under our feet shortly; and, meanwhile, we fight against the powers of evil of every kind. Oh, that God would help us to bind King Drunkenness with chains, and King Infidelity with fetters of iron! Would God the day were come when impurity, which defiles so many, were overcome and vanquished by the two-edged sword of the Spirit of God!

Psa 149:9. To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints.

Or it may be read, He is the honour of all his saints. Unto you that believe he is precious, or, he is an honour, says the apostle; and there is no honour like that which comes of being coupled with God, living in him, and living for him.

Psa 149:9. Praise ye the LORD.

What bursts of praise must have risen from the hosts of Israel when they gathered for their annual festivals, and sang together these last great Hallelujah Psalms!

This exposition consisted of readings from Psalms 149, 150.

Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible

Psa 149:1-4

Psalms 149

A SONG CONCERNING THE CONQUEST OF CANAAN

This psalm is allowed to be one of the most difficult in the Psalter; and the misunderstanding and abuse of it by the Catholic princes who brought on the Thirty Years War, as well as abuses by the Protestant war-monger Thomas Munzer “who stirred up the `Peasants’ War, have resulted in rejection and even enmity against this psalm. The facts noted here, “Have encouraged a hostile attitude toward Psalms 149 as though anything said in its defense is reprehensible. We have studied the “interpretations” of dozens of scholars regarding this psalm, finding ourselves in almost total disagreement with all of them.

The interpretations offered by the scholars whose writings are available to us are loaded with all kinds of impossibilities, which we shall note in the notes below. Of course, in isolated instances, they have stated many helpful things.

The Occasion. The most probable occasion spoken of in the psalm is that shortly after the conquest of Jericho by the Children of Israel under Joshua, making the psalm not merely pre-exilic, but pre-monarchical also. The only thing in the psalm that might cast a doubt on this is the mention of “their King,” (Psa 149:2); but that is a reference to God (indicated by the capital letter “K” in the ASV), as in Psa 145:1.

There are many who date the psalm in post-exilic times. Briggs said, “It is expressive of the vengeful military spirit of the Maccabean wars.” Barnes placed it, “After the return from the captivity. Rawlinson declined to date it at all. Ballard wrote that, “The date is late”; but he admitted that, “We must allow that the psalm may have reference to some earlier event in Jewish history. Dummelow allowed this psalm only a hundred words of comment, and McCaw finished his analysis in fifty-five words. There is certainly a lot of uncertainty about this psalm.

Maclaren placed the psalm after the captivity, stating that, “The restored Israel becomes the executor of God’s judgments on those who will not join in the praise which rings from Israel.

This image of “restored Israel,” in full possession of the favor of God, and as God’s executor of judgments upon pagan nations is contradictory to everything in the Old Testament. During the post-exilic period, during all of it, racial Israel had lost their status as God’s Chosen People, except in the very limited sense of Gomer’s being protected as a slave and not as a wife (Hosea 2). During this period, Israel became “worse than Sodom and Gomorrah” (Ezekiel 16); during this period, the total apostasy of Israel progressively developed into the terminal state of their judicial hardening, as explained by the apostle Paul (Romans 2; Romans 11). It simply is impossible to relate the great victory Israel had just enjoyed, and for which the early part of this psalm pours out praise and thanksgiving, and their joyful anticipation of many more victories, to anything that occurred after the captivity and prior to the First Advent of Christ.

The explanation of this psalm is possible only in the light of a full understanding of the prophecy of Hosea 2; Hosea 3; and Hosea 9. Those passages declare, in tones of thunder, the end of Israel’s status as God’s wife.

We have not been able to find very much scholarly support of our conviction that the “occasion” extolled in this psalm is the “conquest of Canaan,” except in piecemeal admissions here and there which collectively not only support, but prove, our view on this to be correct.

“This psalm was sung on the eve of a battle against the heathen nations. Therefore, Weiser appears to be correct in that `the verdict written’ (Psa 149:9) alludes to the destruction of the pagan nations of Canaan. In this interpretation the psalm would be of pre-Exilic origin.

There can be no denial of the truth that only the conquest of Canaan fits the picture that emerges here. We must admit that the, “children of Zion,” (Psa 149:2), which is a reference to Jerusalem, is a difficulty, because in the conquest of Canaan, Jerusalem had not been designated as God’s Zion. However, our explanation of this is that the psalmist who wrote this (probably during the post-exilic period) used the terminology for Israel then in vogue. We freely admit that the psalm might indeed have been written at a very late time, our contention being only that the event he extolled in it was the conquest of Canaan.

If we attempt to answer the question of why such an ancient event was selected for the theme of his psalm, it may very well have been merely for the purpose of the encouragement of the returned captives.

It also appears as a near-certainty that the great majority of Israel grossly misunderstood the purpose of this psalm. They apparently believed, that Israel was destined to complete the destruction of “all Gentiles,” after the manner of the conquest of Canaan, a destruction which God had surely commanded in that instance, and an instruction which they had not in any sense adequately obeyed. The returnees evidently thought that they saw in this psalm, “the chosen people of God in vigorous action to bring the whole world under the divine sway.

There are definitely overtones of eschatology in this psalm:

“Other scholars including Gunkel and Kittel believe the psalm is eschatological, that it was written to celebrate the great day in the future when Israel will, in fulfillment of the written promises of the prophets (Psa 149:9), execute judgment on kings and nations that have oppressed them.

We disagree with this quotation, except in the sense that it accurately states exactly what the majority of the racial Jews of the post-exilic period mistakenly thought the psalm meant. That accounts for the popularity of the psalm and for its appearance in this final collection in the Psalter. We cannot tell whether the psalm was actually written in this post-exilic period, or if a much older psalm (which is probable) was reworked and moved to this place in the Psalter. This would account for the term “Zion” in Psa 149:2.

Pertinent to the questions which arise here, are the following comments of Rolland Emerson Wolfe and W. J. Deane.

“The Jews looked for a new era in which the deity himself would be their special champion, miraculously intervening in history, subduing Israel’s enemies permanently, ushering in an age of world dominion and grandeur for Israel.

A less elegant statement of that widespread Jewish opinion is that, “They expected God to show up on a white horse, kill all the Gentiles, or enslave them to the Jews, and turn the government of the whole world over to the chosen people.”

“When the heathen should be thus judged, all the enemies of Israel defeated, then Israel would be exalted to the highest pitch of prosperity and dominion without regard to their moral condition.

It is easy to see how this psalm would have fed and encouraged such attitudes on the part of Israel. We may not suppose that the psalmist himself had any such errors in mind; but that something of that attitude certainly infected the people of Israel in the pre-Christian period cannot be denied. The only reason they rejected Christ is that he did not fit their false view of a Messiah who would rally the troops, kill all the Gentiles, and turn the world over to the Jews.

Psa 149:1-4

“Praise ye Jehovah. Sing unto Jehovah a new song,

And his praise in the assembly of the saints.

Let Israel rejoice in him that made him:

Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.

Let them praise his name in the dance:

Let them sing praise unto him with timbrel and harp.

For Jehovah taketh pleasure in his people:

He will beautify the meek with salvation.”

“Many interpreters understand the closing verses of this psalm as eschatalogical rather than historical. However, the first four verses are clearly related to a present reality of God’s deliverance.

“The children of Zion” (Psa 149:2). This means the “children of Jerusalem,” but depending upon the time when the psalm was written, or possibly adapted to the post-exilic period, it might have been a term developed later than the origin of the psalm.

“Praise his name in the dance, … timbrel … harp” (Psa 149:3). “Dancing to the accompaniment of timbrel and lyre (harp) was characteristic of the period of the exodus and the Judges (Exo 15:20; Jdg 11:34). That points not to post-exilic times, but to the period of Joshua and the conquest of Canaan.

“Timbrel” (Psa 149:3). “The mention of percussive instruments means that the psalm has overtones of the martial.” Here again, the military assault upon Canaan is suggested rather than any event after the captivity. God did not send Israel back to Jerusalem with any kind of a military commission.

“Jehovah taketh pleasure in his people” (Psa 149:4). This may not appropriately be referred to the post-exilic period. Any thought of such a thing is absolutely forbidden by the prophet Malachi. The reference here is to that vigorous generation who crossed the Jordan on dry ground when the river was at flood stage and who captured Jericho.

E.M. Zerr:

Psa 149:1. This verse is another that starts with the term that means “Hallelujah.” There is never any good reason for casting away a song because it is old, but there are always new reasons for singing praises to the Lord.

Psa 149:2. Israel owed his existence to the Lord, whether considered as a man or a nation of men. Zion and king are appropriately named together because the first refers to the capital of the kingdom.

Psa 149:3. The dance is a noun and named as one item in the praise activities offered to the Lord. There was a musical instrument also used in ancient times called the dance. In some passages of the Bible it is clearly what was meant. The following are places where the musical instrument was meant. Exo 15:20; Jdg 11:34. But it is also evident that dancing as an exercise of the body was engaged in by people of ancient times. It was sometimes under approved circumstances, but at others was connected with unlawful practices. But however the subject may be viewed, there is nothing in either Old or New Testament that justifies the modern promiscuous dance, engaged in together by the sexes where bodily contact is maintained in the performance.

Psa 149:4. According to this verse meekness is an adornment of beauty. We have about the same teaching in 1Pe 3:4. The Lord taketh pleasure means he is pleased with the conduct and standing of his people.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

As the last song ended by the recognition of the place of the saints in expressing the universal praise of Jehovah, this one enlarges the thought by confining itself wholly to the anthem of saints. His praise in the assembly of the saints (v. Psa 149:1); Let the saints exult in glory (v. Psa 149:5); This honour have all His saints (v. Psa 149:9). The saints are to praise Him as Creator and King. They are to do this with all the abandon of the dance and of music; because He has taken pleasure in them, and beautified them with salvation.

This praise is to be the perpetual attitude of their lives. They are to exult in glory, and to sing for joy upon their beds. Their praise is not merely to be that of the chanting of words. It is also to be in the doing of His will. While the high praises of God are in their mouth, a two-edged sword is to be in their hand, with which they carry out His purposes among the peoples, the kings, and the nobles. The privilege of praise in word and work is an honour, specially conferred upon His saints.

Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible

the Praise-Songs of Gods People

Psa 149:1-9; Psa 150:1-6

Israel was formed into a nation and delivered from Babylon, that her singers should lead the praises of mankind, and her teachers provide the metaphors and phrases for the worlds religious nurture. This people have I made for myself, said the Most High, that they might show forth my praise. Is it not also our Christian duty to be joyful in our King? Our religious life has not enough ecstasy and gladness in it to attract the world, which is sad enough beneath its outward gaiety.

Psa 150:1-6

A worthy close to the Psalter. Ten times the summons to praise rings out, and ten is the number of perfection. Think of the tears and groans, the questionings and perplexities, the feeble faith and disappointed aspiration, that have preceded! Now it all finishes thus! So life will finish! Our Misereres will be forgotten in the outbursting Jubilates . The first three books of the Psalter end with Amen and Amen, the firm expression of faith. The fourth book with Amen, Hallelujah, as though faith were beginning to be lost in glad realization. But here, at the end of all, there is one abounding and unhesitating Hallelujah!

For Review Questions, see the e-Sword Book Comments.

Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

Psa 149:9

I. The saints are in this Psalm described as meek-hearted.

The way to the highest glory is to be very quiet and humble.

“The Lord hath pleasure in His people; He will beautify the meek with salvation.”

II. The next verses go on to describe more exactly the beauty and brightness of the saints’ marvellous salvation. They are to be filled with all joy and glory, but how? Not, as the honoured ones of this world, with a great noise and show of outward things; but they shall rejoice and “sing aloud upon their beds.” It seems to say that one great privilege of the saints, one of the principal ways in which Almighty God prepares them for the great works which He has for them to do, is the putting good thoughts and good words into their minds in quiet and secret, when they are alone and unemployed, or lying awake upon their beds.

III. In the remainder of the Psalm we have a picture of the great war which is for ever going on between our Lord Christ and His saints on the one hand and this present evil world on the other. As warriors go out to battle with music and songs of encouragement, so the saints go out into the world with the high praises of God in their mouth. Besides, they have His two-edged sword in their hands. St. Paul tells us what this sword is; it is “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:” therefore it is represented as coming out of Christ’s mouth. Not by outward wars and fightings, but by its inward and searching power in men’s hearts, did the sword of Christ, borne by His saints, accomplish those great triumphs which are spoken of in the end of the Psalm.

J. Keble, Sermons for the Christian Year: Saints’ Days and Other Festivals, p. 444.

Fuente: The Sermon Bible

Praise ye the Lord: Heb. Hallelujah, Psa 148:1

Sing: Psa 33:3, Psa 96:1, Psa 98:1, Psa 144:9, Isa 42:10, Rev 5:9

in the congregation: Psa 22:22, Psa 22:25, Psa 68:26, Psa 89:5, Psa 111:1, Psa 116:18, Heb 2:12

Reciprocal: Psa 9:14 – in the gates Psa 30:4 – Sing Psa 47:6 – to God Psa 63:5 – with joyful Psa 81:2 – General Psa 135:1 – O ye servants Psa 150:1 – Praise ye the Lord Rev 14:3 – a Rev 19:1 – Alleluia

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

A HYMN OF SALVATION

Praise ye the Lord.

Psa 149:1

This psalm begins with the two well-known formulasHallelujah and Sing unto the Lord a new song. It designates itself as intended to be sung in the congregation of saints. That is to say, it belongs to the inner circle; it is a record of experience; it is a song of salvation. And very eloquently does it tell what salvation is.

I. Salvation is creation (Psa 149:2).Let Israel rejoice in Him that made him; let the children of Zion be joyful in their Kingthus the inspired singer begins. He calls Jehovah Him that made Israel. This making does not refer to the original creation, which Israel shared with all other creatures of God: it refers to the special Divine choice by which Israel was separated from the rest of the nations and made Jehovahs peculiar people. As thus the chosen race had a Divine origin, so it had a peculiar providential historyGod became its King in a special sense.

All this has its counterpart in the experience of Gods people in every age. They are in a special sense Gods creationIf any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Not only have we to thank God like the rest of the world for the gift of natural life, but we have to thank Him for the higher gift of spiritual life. And as He has begun this peculiar life by an original creative act, so He continues it by a special providence. All things work together for good to them that love God.

II. Salvation is beauty (Psa 149:4).The words exquisitely rendered in Psa 149:4, He will beautify the meek with salvation, may, perhaps, more literally be, He will beautify the oppressed with victory. They describe a change in the fortunes of the chosen people due to Gods loving-kindness. They had been oppressed in the Exile, and in their condition there was no form nor comeliness. But the Restoration reversed all thatit gave beauty for ashes. Israel became eminent and dignified among the nations; such was the result of the forth-putting of Gods arm on their behalf.

We apply these words to ourselves. The meeksuch are they whom God saves. It is when we have been humbled under a sense of sin and unworthiness that salvation comes nigh. Yet salvation is not mere deliverance from sin and its consequences. No, it is beautybeauty of character. This is what God always aims at; and this is the kind of religion by which He is honoured. Still, observe, it is salvation; the beauty of holiness is not a mere development of natural character.

III. Salvation is a hidden joy (Psa 149:5).This is expressed by saying that the saints are to sing aloud upon their beds. The Scripture attaches much importance to the way in which the minds of men are occupied in the watches of the night. The psalms abound with references to what people are doing as they lie awake. It is a part of the day when man is sequestered from his fellows; the influence of society is removed, and he rebounds to his native shape. Find out what any man is thinking of as he lies awake, and you find out what he really is, whether saint or sinner. Then the sinner rolls his favourite sin like a sweet morsel under his tongue, and then the saint thinks of his God. Never is a saint more different from a sinner than on his bed. This is seen especially when the bed of rest becomes a bed of sickness. What in these circumstances can the sinner do? He can only complain and curse his stars; but the saint is made a better man by his affliction, as gold is purified in the fire.

IV. Salvation is an open testimony (Psa 149:6-9).From the quiet and silent joy of the saint upon his bed, the psalm suddenly turns to describe the active work of the saints in promoting the Kingdom of God. The blood-thirsty ending of such a psalm has caused astonishment, and instances are quoted of religious fanatics who have made use of these words to incite to wars of persecution; but there is really no difficulty. There have been times in the history of the world when fighting with literal swords has been the best way of promoting the kingdom of righteousness; and there will be such times again.

Illustration

We read these verses, no doubt, incorporating them with Christian thought by what Delitzsch calls a spiritual transmutation. Only this was intended for faith, and not invented by modern refinement. Probably 1Co 6:2-3, is the spiritual transmutation of Psa 149:9.

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

The yielding of the nations.

“When Thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.” (Isa 26:9.) But what a tale that tells for man, that the kingdom of God and of Christ, the one perfect rule for which the earth groans must be introduced after such a manner! Yet it is a “judgment written,” as the psalm before us declares. Divine love must needs execute it: the “iron rod” is in the Shepherd’s hand, and will smite for the salvation of His people, and to “destroy those that destroy the earth.” (Rev 11:18.)

This is now what is briefly glanced at, the yielding of the nations to their Creator and King only when their pride is smitten in the dust, and the power they have abused is taken from them. Israel will have their part as instruments in God’s hand in that day, as of old when they took possession of their land, the iniquity of the Amorites being at last full. The dew of Hermon (Israel’s “great white throne”) will revive the mountains of Zion (Psa 133:3); and they will no more, as in the former time, be disobedient to their God.

This must then be the prelude to rest upon earth; the “trumpets of jubilee” sound for the destruction of Jericho; although then; as before, there will be a remnant saved out of it.

1. The call for praise sounds once more: a “new song” is to be upon the lips of Israel. He is to rejoice in Him that made him; and the children of Zion are to be glad in their King. Zion is, as we know, to be the place of His throne, and that throne He is now taking.

2. But they are to praise Him also as their Saviour. He is taking pleasure in His people; and having brought them into the humbled condition necessary for their exaltation, He will beautify the meek with salvation. This is assuredly more than a deliverance from their national foes. though it will include this. And thus they will learn to exult in the Name they have forgotten; and the joy of the Lord will be to them a strength they have never yet possessed. “He that is feeble among them in that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of Jehovah before them.” (Zec 12:8.)

3. Now they exult in glory; they sing aloud upon their beds. The quiet of their thoughts at the time God has ordained for us to help us to reality shall only make them more ecstatic in their praises. They will have the high praises of the Mighty in their mouth, and in their hand a two-edged sword: for the nations are now to meet the retribution, for long ages of wrong-doing. Their kings, without power to stand, will fall into the hands of these avengers, to be bound and fettered: for it is the judgment written that is now executed, and this is the honor committed to all His saints.

Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary

Psa 149:1-3. Sing unto the Lord a new song For these new mercies conferred upon us, denied to former times. Let Israel rejoice in him that made him That made them not only his creatures, but, which is unspeakably greater, his people; or, that advanced them to, and adorned them with, singular privileges, as the word , here used, is understood 1Sa 12:6, and elsewhere. Let the children of Zion be joyful in their king In Jehovah, who condescends, in a peculiar sense, to become their king, and, in the exercise of his kingly power, delivers, protects, and governs them as his subjects. Let them praise his name in the dance, &c. According to the usage of that time and dispensation: see notes on Exo 15:20-21; 2Sa 6:14. True Christians are now the people to whom belong the names and characters of saints, Israel, and children of Zion. They sing this holy song as the psalmist hath enjoined them to do. They sing it as new men, with new affections and dispositions, and in its evangelical sense, celebrating new victories, and victories of a new kind, and new and greater mercies, even a spiritual salvation and an eternal redemption. They rejoice with hearts and voices, if not also with instruments, and every other token of joy, in him who made them, who created them anew in righteousness and true holiness: they are joyful in their king, who hath himself overcome, and is now leading them on to final conquest and triumph, to honour and immortality.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

This is a grand ode of thanksgiving after victory; it is applied by the rabbi Kimchi to the days of the Messiah. The pious Hebrews always hang by the anchor of their hope.

Psa 149:3. Praise his name in the dance. Be-machol. Latin, in choro. It appears from the fourth verse of the next psalm, that this was an instrument of music, because it is put there between the instruments of music. Certainly they did not dance in the worship of the temple.The timbrel. Hebrews toph. Something like the instrument which the Italians call the tambour. The harp. Hebrews kinnor, an instrument struck with the fingers, which answers to the description of the harp.

REFLECTIONS.

Here Israel and the children of Zion are called upon by name to sing hallelujah to the Lord, and be joyful in their King. This psalm was introduced into the temple worship as a new song, and consequently to celebrate some recent victory over the enemy; and as a war song when going forth to battle.

They were to praise him also in the dance; for though it may appear ridiculous to us of graver habits, yet the Hebrews when most filled with the Holy Spirit, in their professions of joy, did use gesticulations with their feet, while their fingers struck the timbrel, or touched the cords of the harp. But the manner and the end of those dances were totally dissimilar from the objects of dancing in our wanton assemblies, dances which are not to be named in religious society.

They are exhorted to praise God, because he took pleasure in his people, and would beautify or glorify the meek with salvation. Nor was their devotion to be confined to the sanctuary. Every family sitting at ease, and not afraid of the heathen, was to sing praise after their meals; for they sat on beds, or rather couches, to receive their food. The King of glory having given David power to bind in chains the kings who leagued against Zion, they might serve the Lord without fear, in holiness and righteousness all their days. This honour, and it is great to say, have all his saints; namely, to vanquish all their foes with the two-edged sword of the Spirit, and then to sing praises to God as priests and kings, in songs of everlasting joy. Believer, only adopt in faith the language of this psalm, and all thy foes shall vanish as the hoar frost before the warmth of the morning sun. Yea, as Jonathan and his armour bearer, appearing more like gods scattering the Philistine hosts, so shalt thou banish the enemies of thy peace.

Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

CXLIX. A Song of Triumph and Messianic Expectation.Obviously this Ps. depicts a stage in the Maccabean war. It is addressed to the assembly of the saints, the Hasidim of Psa 4:3. The heroes whom the Ps. celebrates are meek (Psa 149:4) towards God, but they fight fiercely. The praises of God are in their mouth and a two-edged sword in their handsan admirable description of the Maccabean times, but unsuitable to any other period in Jewish history known to us. Maccabean also, though not exclusively Maccabean, is the confident belief that Israel will rule over all the world: it is the same belief which finds impressive utterance in the Book of Daniel, though there the victory is given immediately by God, here it is to be won by the sword of the saints. The Ps. falls into two divisions. In Psa 149:1-5 we hear the music and song, we see the dance after victory won. Such is the joy of the saints in Yahweh their King. Even when the exhausting day is over and pious souls lie down to rest, the triumphal song is still on their lips. In Psa 149:6-9 the vista of future conquest opens out before us. Israel is to punish and crush other nations. God has long ago set down in His book the vengeance which is to overtake the heathen: now He will carry it out. The Jewish notion of meekness is very different from that which Christians hold, or at least profess to hold.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

PSALM 149

Restored Israel called to be joyful in their King, as the sharers of His glory and His government.

(v. 1-4) The earthly congregation of the saints is called to praise the Lord. Their Maker is their King, who at last can take pleasure in His people, and save the meek.

(v. 5) Their long history of sorrow over, the day of glory has come, and, at rest, they can sing aloud the praises of God.

(vv. 6-9) If the praise of God is in their mouth, the sword of government will be in their hand; for in the day of glory they will share with the King in His government of the world, executing judgment upon the enemies of the King. This honour have all the saints.

Fuente: Smith’s Writings on 24 Books of the Bible

149:1 Praise ye the LORD. Sing unto the LORD {a} a new song, [and] his praise in the congregation of saints.

(a) For his rare and manifold benefits bestowed on his Church.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

Psalms 149

The unknown writer called on Israel to praise God, who saves the submissive and punishes the nations that oppose Him. Since this psalm shares the language and hope of the imprecatory psalms, many scholars consider it an eschatological hymn. [Note: E.g., Kidner, Psalms 73-150, p. 489; VanGemeren, p. 875; and L. Allen, pp. 319-20.] Like the previous psalm, this one also opens and closes with a call to worship: "Praise the LORD."

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

1. A call to rejoice in the Lord 149:1-3

The psalmist exhorted the Israelites to praise God enthusiastically and wholeheartedly. Their praise should be spontaneous and fresh, the connotations of a "new song" (cf. Psa 33:3; Psa 40:3; Psa 96:1; Psa 98:1; Psa 144:9). They should also praise Him publicly, in company with the other godly (Heb. hasidim) in the nation, because He had done something new for them. He had restored them and given them hope of final eschatological victory (cf. Psa 149:6-9; Rev 14:3). In common with Psalms 148 (especially Psalms 149:14), this one also uses several synonyms to describe the Israelites. The nation should remember its Maker, who formed the family of Abraham into a nation at the Exodus. Dancing and musical instruments were fitting accompaniments for such joyful celebration.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Psa 149:1-9

IN the preceding psalm Israels restoration was connected with the recognition by all creatures and especially by the kings of the earth and their people, of Jehovahs glory. This psalm presents the converse thought, that the restored Israel becomes the executor of judgments on those who will not join in the praise which rings from Israel that it may be caught up by all. The two psalms are thus closely connected. The circumstances of the Restoration accord with the tone of both, as of the other members of this closing group.

The happy recipients of new mercy are, as in Psa 96:1-13; Psa 98:1-9, summoned to break into new songs. Winter silences the birds; but spring, the new “life reorient out of dust,” is welcomed with music from every budding tree.

Chiefly should Gods praise sound out from “the congregation of His favoured ones,” the long-scattered captives who owe it to His favour that they are a congregation once more. The jubilant psalmist delights in that name for Israel, and uses it thrice in his song. He loves to set forth the various names, which each suggest some sweet strong thought of what God is to the nation and the nation to God-His favoured ones, Israel, the children of Zion, His people, the afflicted. He heaps together synonyms expressive of rapturous joy-rejoice, be glad, exult. He calls for expressions of triumphant mirth in which limbs, instruments, and voices unite. He would have the exuberant gladness well over into the hours of repose and the night be made musical with ringing shouts of joy. “Praise is better than sleep,” and the beds which had often been privy to silent tears may well be witnesses of exultation that cannot be dumb.

The psalmist touches very lightly on the reason for this outburst of praise, because he takes it for granted that so great and recent mercy needed little mention. One verse (Psa 149:4) suffices to recall it. The very absorption of the heart in its bliss may make it silent about the bliss. The bride needs not to tell what makes her glad. Restored Israel requires little reminder of its occasion for joy. But the brief mention of it is very beautiful. It makes prominent, not so much the outward fact, as the Divine pleasure in His people, of which the fact was effect and indication. Their affliction had been the token that Gods complacency did not rest on them; their deliverance is the proof that the sunlight of His face shines on them once more. His chastisements rightly borne are ever precursors of deliverance, which adorns the meek afflicted, giving “beauty for ashes.” The qualification for receiving Jehovahs help is meekness, and the effect of that help on the lowly soul is to deck it with strange loveliness. Therefore Gods favoured ones may well exult in glory-i.e., on account of the glory with which they are invested by His salvation.

The stern close of the psalm strikes a note which many ears feel to be discordant, and which must be freely acknowledged to stand on the same lower level as the imprecatory psalms, while, even more distinctly than these, it is entirely free from any sentiment of personal vengeance. The picture of Gods people going forth to battle, chanting His praises and swinging two-edged swords, shocks Christian sentiment. It is not to be explained away as meaning the spiritual conquest of the world with spiritual weapons. The psalmist meant actual warfare and real iron fetters. But, while the form of his anticipations belongs to the past and is entirely set aside by the better light of Christianity, their substance is true forever. Those who have been adorned with Jehovahs salvation have the subjugation of the world to Gods rule committed to them. “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal.” There are stronger fetters than those of iron, even “the cords of love” and “the bands of a man.”

“The judgment written,” which is to be executed by the militant Israel on the nations does not seem to have reference either to the commandment to exterminate the Canaanites or to the punishments threatened in many places of Scripture. It is better to take it as denoting a judgment “fixed, settled written thus by God Himself” (Perowne). Psa 149:9 b may be rendered (as Hupfeld does) “Honour [or, majesty] is He to all His favoured ones,” in the sense that God manifests His majesty to them, or that He is the object of their honouring; but the usual rendering is more in accordance with the context and its high-strung martial ardour. “This”-namely, the whole of the crusade just described-is laid upon all Jehovahs favoured ones, by the fact of their participation in His salvation. They are redeemed from bondage that they may be Gods warriors. The honour and obligation are universal.

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary