Psalm CXXXII

A Song of degrees.

1 LoKD, remember David, and all his afflictions:

2 How he sware unto the Lord, and vowed unto the mighty God of

Jacob;

3 Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up iiuo

my bed,

4 I will not give sleep to mine eyes, or slumber to mine eyelids,

5 Until I find out a place for the Lord, an habitation for the mighty God

of Jacob.

6 Lo, we heard of it at Ephratah: we found it in the fields of the wood.

7 We will go into his tabernacles: we will worship at bis footstool.

8 Arise, O Lord, into thy rest; thou, and the ark of thy strength.

9 Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness; and let thy saints shout

for joy.

10 For thy servant David’s sake, turn not away the face of thine anointed.

11 The Lord hath sworn in truth unto David; he will not turn from it; Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne.

12 If thy children will keep my covenant and my testimony that I shall teach

them. Their children shall also sit upon thy throne for evermore.

13 For the Lord hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation.

14 This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it.

15 1 will abundantly bless her provision: I will satisfy her poor with bread.

16 I will also clothe her priests with salvation: and her saints shall shout

aloud for joy.

CC

Christ’s
membei-s.

17 There will 1 make the horn of Diivid to bud: I have ordained a lamp for

mine anointed.

18 His enemies will I clothe with shame: but upon himself shall his crown

flourish.

The theme. The pilgrim-worsliipper spreads before his God the pledges of of God. his favour to Zion, reminds him of prayers presented, and gets a reply that leaves him in adoring silence. The anxiety David felt about the Ark, and the Lord’s care in general, is meant in verse 1. ‘’Lord, remember i) as to David all his trouble:” all his efforts to establish thy sanctuary, and all he has undergone for thee, (or, in behalf of) even as 2 Chron. vi. 42, Solomon prays — “Remember the mercies of David thy servant.” Remember David’s solemn oath to the “Mighty One of Jacob” (see Gen. xlix. 25) — the Blesser of Joseph with all blessings of heaven, and earth, and the deep beneath. As the men of Israel so resolutely pursued the evil-doers of Gibeah that they swore (Judges XX. 8), “We will not any of lis go to his tent, neither will any of us turn into his house,” so did he swear, in following hard after the Lord’s glory, when desiring to build the Temple.

It seems as if the appeal altered its form at verse 6. The worshippers refer to the past history of the Ark, when dwelling at Shiloh; for by “Ephratah,” we do not understand Bethlehem,* the place where David spent his youth, but the district of Ephraim. As a man of Mount Ephraim is called ““jnEli, in 1 Sam. i. 1, so the district wovdd be rTJn”13i;iJ. The worshippers say, “We have heard the past history of the Ark at Shiloh in Ephraim; how the Lord warned Israel by judgments there against all formality and all irreverence. We have found it at Kirjath-jearim, where the Lord blessed those who made it welcome; and so we have learnt to honour it.” For, “fields jof the wood,” is agreed to be a name equivalent to “city of the woods,” i. 6-, Kirjath-jearim.

* It will not at all accord with the original, to find here an allusion to Christ’s journeying through the land — born at Ephratah, sitting on Jacob’s Well, &c. Nor, as Alexander would have it, “When in my youth I resided at Bethlehem, I heard of the Ark’s movements.”

f So, J. H. Michaelis’ Bible, note on 1 Sam xvii. 12, “Regio, Ephraia dici videtur.” And Tholuck says here that Shiloh in Ephraim is meant.

“Let us come to his tabernacles (the IIolj and Most Holy), Let us worship at Ids footstool (the Ark with its Mercy-seat, Lam. ii. 1). Arise, 0 Lord, (to go) to thy resting-place, Thou and thy mighty Ark.“” (2 Chron. vi. 41.)

Let US notice the prayer, verse 9, with the answer, verse 1 6. The prayer asks in behalf of the priests “righteousness,” i. e., what shews forth God’s righteous character; the answer is, “I will clothe her priests with salvation,” i. e., with what shews forth God’s gracious character. Caring for the interests of God, the worshipper finds his own interests fully cared for. And now, after spreading the Lord’s pledged word (verses 1 ], 12), before him, the worshipper hears the Lord himself utter the rejDly, q. d., “I will do all that has been sought.”

“For the Lord hath chosen Zion. (Ver. 13.) There will I make a horn bud up to David (one full of power, Messiah). IJmve prepared C^J^yii as Exod.xxvii. 20) a lamp for mine anointed One.”

In time of darkness, lo! the lamp (like the burners on the seven-branched lamp,) of mine Anointed shines! Messiah and his Church, the light of the world! As yet this has been fulfilled only in part; the lamp is lighted; the horn of David has shot up; but it is only in part that the last verse has been accomplished. The Lord’s Second Coming will accomplish all to the full.

“His enemies will I clothe with shame,
But upon himself shall the crown fonrish.^’

It is thus the pilgrim- worshippers going up to the feasts remind their Lord of the mercies he has given them reason to expect. They imitate the heavenly worshippers in Rev. v. 8, holding up their golden vials “full of incense,” i. e., of prayers as yet unanswered. When the type of the Ark at rest in Solomon’s Temple is fulfilled, all our prayers shall be answered. Meanwhile let us often use such an appeal as this, an appeal in which our Master could take part in the days of his flesh. It is a Psalm wherein we hear,

The Lord’s servant reminding Jehovah that he has pledged himself to hlec<s Zion.