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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.”


17. There will I make, etc. He reverts to the state of the kingdom, which God had promised to take under his care and protection. It is necessary that we should attend to the peculiar force of the words employed ­ I will make the horn of David to bud Now there can be no doubt as to the meaning of the term horn, which in Hebrew is very commonly used to signify force or power; but we are to mark that by the horn budding there is an allusion to the humble original of the kingdom, and the singular restorations which it underwent. David was taken from the menial drudgery of the sheepfold, and from the lowly cottage where he dwelt, the youngest son of his father, who was no more than an ordinary shepherd, and was advanced to the throne, and rose by a series of unlooked for successes. Under Jeroboam the kingdom was at an early period so effectually cut down again, that it was only by budding forth from time to time that it maintained itself in a moderate degree of advancement. Afterwards it underwent various shocks, which must have issued in its destruction, had it not still budded anew. And when the people were dispersed in the captivity, what must have become of them, had not God made the broken and trampled horn of David, again to bud? Isaiah accordingly seems to have had this in his eye when he compared Christ to a rod which should spring not from tree in full growth, but from a trunk or stem. (Isaiah 11:1.) To the prophecy now before us Zechariah perhaps refers when he says, “Behold the man whose name is the Branch,” (Zechariah 6:12,) intimating that in this way only could the power and dignity of the kingdom be restored after the dismemberment and ravages to which it had been exposed. In 2 Samuel 23:5, David makes use of the word employed in the verse before us, but in somewhat a different sense, referring to the continual advancement of the kingdom unto further measures of prosperity. Here the inspired penman rather refers to the singular manner in which God would cause the horn of David to revive again, when at any time it might seem broken and withered. The figure of the lamp is much to the same effect, and occurs in many other places of Scripture, being a prophecy very generally in the mouths of the people. The meaning is, that the kingdom, though it underwent occasional obscurations, would never be wholly extinguished under the calamities which overtook it, being as the lamp of God constantly burning, and pointing out safety to the Lord’s people, though not shining to a great distance. At that time all the illumination enjoyed was but the feeble lamp which shone in Jerusalem; now Christ, the sun of righteousness, sheds a full radiance all over the world.


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