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Psalm 132

The Eternal Dwelling of God in Zion

A Song of Ascents.

1

O L ord, remember in David’s favor

all the hardships he endured;

2

how he swore to the L ord

and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob,

3

“I will not enter my house

or get into my bed;

4

I will not give sleep to my eyes

or slumber to my eyelids,

5

until I find a place for the L ord,

a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.”

 

6

We heard of it in Ephrathah;

we found it in the fields of Jaar.

7

“Let us go to his dwelling place;

let us worship at his footstool.”

 

8

Rise up, O L ord, and go to your resting place,

you and the ark of your might.

9

Let your priests be clothed with righteousness,

and let your faithful shout for joy.

10

For your servant David’s sake

do not turn away the face of your anointed one.

 

11

The L ord swore to David a sure oath

from which he will not turn back:

“One of the sons of your body

I will set on your throne.

12

If your sons keep my covenant

and my decrees that I shall teach them,

their sons also, forevermore,

shall sit on your throne.”

 

13

For the L ord has chosen Zion;

he has desired it for his habitation:

14

“This is my resting place forever;

here I will reside, for I have desired it.

15

I will abundantly bless its provisions;

I will satisfy its poor with bread.

16

Its priests I will clothe with salvation,

and its faithful will shout for joy.

17

There I will cause a horn to sprout up for David;

I have prepared a lamp for my anointed one.

18

His enemies I will clothe with disgrace,

but on him, his crown will gleam.”


15. Blessing I will bless, etc. God’s dwelling in the midst of the people was what constituted the great source of their blessedness; and now some of the proofs are mentioned which he would give of his fatherly regard, such as preparing and administering their ordinary food, relieving their wants, clothing their priests with salvation, and filling all his people with joy and gladness. This it was necessary should be added, for unless we have ocular demonstration of the divine goodness, we are not spiritual enough to rise upwards to the apprehension of it. We have a twofold demonstration of it in the matter of our daily food; first in the earth’s being enriched so as to furnish us with corn, and wine, and oil; and again in the earth’s produce being multiplied, through a secret power, so as to provide us with sufficient nourishment. There is here a promise that God would exert a special care over his own people to supply them with food, and that though they might not have a great abundance, yet the poor would be satisfied. We must not omit mentioning the remarkable and ludicrous mistake which the Papists have made upon this passage, and which shows the judicial stupidity they lie under to be such, that there is nothing so absurd they will not swallow. By confounding two letters into one, for victus they read vidus, and then conjectured that this must be a mutilation for viduas ­ blessing I will bless her widows! Thus they made “widows” out of “food” ­ an extraordinary blunder, which we would scarcely credit, were it not a fact that they sing the word out in their temples to this present day. 139139     “צידה, her provision. The word ציד signifies food which is taken in hunting, and then it is used to express food of any kind — provision generally. The Septuagint has θήραν, which denotes provision that has been hunted, and so obtained; but another reading of the Greek version τὴν χήραν αὐτὢς, which has been followed by the Vulgate, Arabic, and Ethiopic; the rendering of the Vulgate being viduam ejus This corrupt reading is noticed by Jerome.” ­ Phillips. But God, who blesses the food of his own people, has infatuated their minds, and left them to confound everything in their absurd reveries and triflings. The inspired penman goes on to repeat what he had already said of other blessings, only the term salvation is used instead of righteousness, but in the same sense I already mentioned. Some understand it to have reference to purity of doctrine and holiness of life; but this seems a forced interpretation, and he means simply that they would be safe and happy under the divine protection.


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