Psalm CXLIX
Sing unto the Lord a new song, and his praise in the congregation of saints.
2 Let Israel rejoice in him that made him:
Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.
3 Let them praise his name in the dance:
Let them sing praises unto him with the trimbrel and harp.
4 For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek
with salvation.
5 Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds.
6 Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in
their hand;
7 To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishment upon the
people;
8 To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron;
9 To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his
saints.
Praise ye the Lord.
Another Halle- This Hallelujoh Psalm begins somewhat in the strain with ujah sam ^^lq q preceding one closed. In Psa. cxlviii. 14, not Israel only, but “all saints,” were represented as giving honour to him who had in sovereign grace redeemed his people; and so here, while Israel are called on as peculiarly indebted to Jehovah, yet all saints are joined with them in the triumphant song.
“Sing to Jehovah a new song; Let Ms praise he in the congregation of saints.” (Psa. cxlviii. 14.)
Are we not carried away to the scene in Rev. v. 9, to the “new song” to the Lamb who takes the book and opens its seals, and claims possession of earth? Let all saints accord in this great hymn of triumph. Yet let Israel not fail to lift up their voice above all others, for they have been peculiarly honoured, and are above all others exalted. “Let Israel rejoice in him that MADE HIM,” i. €., made him what he is, as Deut. xxxii. 6; Isa, lvi 5.; Job XXXV. 10. “Let Zions children rejoice in their King” who takes them under his special protection, and deigns to be specially called “King of the Jews.”
“Praise His name in the dance,
Play to Him with timbrel and harp;”
as David before the ark (2 Sam. vi. 5, 1 4, 1 5), and as Jephthah’s daughter welcoming her sire, (Judges xi. 34). For the Lord “gloriously helps the wretched” (say some), or better far, “Beautifies the meek with salvation,” i. c, with all the spoils of that victory which he has achieved.
“Let Ms saints exult in joy /” —
No longer obscure, despised, the offscouring of all things, but glorious in the glory of their King, let them joyfully exult. And “on their couches” when resting from active work and meditating on the Lord’s ways (not as Psa. xxxvi. 14, nor Psa. iv. 4 even; but in loftier and happier themes) “let them sing.”
“High praises loudly sung,
The two-edged sword waved aloft /”
The “exaltings” or “extollings’ seem to refer us to all previous psalms wherein worshippers have said —” I will extolihee, O God,” for the root is the same; and here, “in their throat” as it is in the Hebrew, is equivalent to speaking aloud, like Isa. lviii, 1; the very opposite of the heathen’s dumb idols, Psa. cxv. 7. And what is the “Two-EDGED sword?” Is it not the peculiar symbol of Messiah? As Bunyan represents his captains with their escutcheons — Captain Boanerges, with three burning thunderbolts; Captain Execution, with the axe lying at the foot of the tree — so we may say that the escutcheon of the King that cometh to avenge his Father’s honour, is the two-edged sword: for thus we find it in Rev. i. 16, ii. 12, as well as Heb. iv. 12; and we may add Rev. xix. 15. It is the Ehud-dagger (Judg. iii. 16) that slays the oppressor. The time is come for this now. “The meek” (ver, 4) put on salvation-strength; and their King associates them with himself in the battle. It is like Rev. ii. 26-27, and iii. 21, even as “beautifying with salvation” is like Rev. ii. 28. Some, indeed, confine this to Israel, and compare Jer. Ii. 20, 21. But as we find “all the saints’^ associated in the work, we prefer the view that makes verses 6-9 to refer to “the saints judging the world.” They are figuratively said to lift up the “two-edged sword,” because they join with Messiah in inflicting the fourfold vengeance, (Deut. xxxii. 41). At the same time, Israel in the flesh shall
45-i PSALM CL. — A CALT, UPON THK UNIVERSE
be acting a part analogous to that of their King and his heavenly hosts, (Ezek. xxxviii., Zech. xiv,).
What an echoing back of this song is Rev. xix. 1-6, with all its ‘* Hallehtjahs!” Israel is the chief musician, or rather, their King. Messiah himself leads the praise; but it is for the lips of the whole congregation of his redeemed — “lids honour is to all his saints.” Still, sovereign grace puts Israel prominently forward; so that we cannot fail to see in this Psalm, Triumphant praise from Israel, because of their King and all his saints subduing the nations.