Psalm 149:
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Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 Job Proverbs
Psalm 149
Complete Concise
The foregoing psalm was a hymn of praise to the Creator; this is
a hymn of praise to the Redeemer. It is a psalm of triumph in the God of Israel,
and over the enemies of Israel. Probably it was penned upon occasion of some
victory which Israel was blessed and honoured with. Some conjecture that it was
penned when David had taken the strong-hold of Zion, and settled his government
there. But it looks further, to the kingdom of the Messiah, who, in the chariot
of the everlasting gospel, goes forth conquering and to conquer. To him, and his
graces and glories, we must have an eye, in singing this psalm, which proclaims,
I. Abundance of joy to all the people of God (v. 1-5). II. Abundance of terror
to the proudest of their enemies (v. 6-9).
Verses 1-5
We have here,
I. The calls given to God's Israel to praise.
All his works
were, in the foregoing psalm, excited to
praise him; but here his saints
in a particular manner are required to bless him. Observe then, 1. Who are
called upon to praise God.
Israel in general, the body of the church (v.
2),
the children of Zion particularly, the inhabitants of that holy hill,
who are nearer to God than other Israelites; those that have the word and
ordinances of God near to them, that are not required to travel far to them, are
justly expected to do more in praising God than others. All true Christians may
call themselves
the children of Zion, for in faith and hope
we have
come unto Mount Zion, Heb. 12:22. The saints must praise God, saints in
profession, saints in power, for this is the intention of their sanctification;
they are devoted to the glory of God, and renewed by the grace of God, that
they
may be unto him for a name and a praise. 2. What must be the principle of
this praise, and that is holy joy in God:
Let Israel rejoice, and
the
children of Zion be joyful, and
the saints be joyful in glory. Our
praises of God should flow from a heart filled with delight and triumph in God's
attributes, and our relation to him. Much of the power of godliness in the heart
consists in making God our chief joy and solacing ourselves in him; and our
faith in Christ is described by our rejoicing in him. We then give honour to God
when we take pleasure in him. We must
be joyful in glory, that is, in him
as our glory, and in the interest we have in him; and let us look upon it as our
glory to be of those that rejoice in God. 3. What must be the expressions of
this praise. We must by all proper ways show forth the praises of God:
Sing
to the Lord. We must entertain ourselves, and proclaim his name, by
singing
praises to him (v. 3),
singing aloud (v. 5), for we should sing
psalms with all our heart, as those that are not only not ashamed of it, but are
enlarged in it. We must sing a
new song, newly composed upon every
special occasion, sing with new affections, which make the song new, though the
words have been used before, and keep them from growing threadbare. Let God be
praised
in the dance with timbrel and harp, according to the usage of the
Old-Testament church very early (Ex. 15:20), where we find God praised with
timbrels
and dances. Those who from this urge the use of music in religious worship
must by the same rule introduce dancing, for they went together, as in David's
dancing before the ark, and Jdg. 21:21. But, whereas many scriptures in the New
Testament keep up singing as a gospel-ordinance, none provide for the keeping up
of music and dancing; the gospel-canon for psalmody is to
sing with the
spirit and
with the understanding. 4. What opportunities must be
taken for praising God, none must be let slip, but particularly, (1.) We must
praise God in public, in the
solemn assembly (v. 1),
in the
congregation of saints. The more the better; it is the more like heaven.
Thus God's name must be owned before the world; thus the service must have a
solemnity put upon it, and we must mutually excite one another to it. The
principle, end, and design of our coming together in religious assemblies is
that we may join together in praising God. Other parts of the service must be in
order to this. (2.) We must praise him in private.
Let the saints be so
transported with their joy in God as to
sing aloud upon their beds, when
they awake in the night, full of the praises of God, as David, Ps. 119:62. When
God's Israel are brought to a quiet settlement, let them enjoy that, with
thankfulness to God; much more may true believers, that have entered into God's
rest, and find repose in Jesus Christ, sing aloud for joy of that. Upon their
sick-beds, their death-beds, let them sing the praises of their God.
II. The cause given to God's Israel for praise. Consider, 1.
God's doings for them. They have reason to rejoice inn God, to devote
themselves to his honour and employ themselves in his service; for it is he that
made them. He gave us our being as men, and we have reason to praise him for
that, for it is a noble and excellent being. He gave Israel their being as a
people, as a church, made them what they were, so very different from other
nations. Let that people therefore praise him, for he formed them for himself,
on purpose that they might
show forth his praise, Isa. 43:21. Let Israel
rejoice
in his Makers (so it is in the original); for God said,
Let us make man;
and in this, some think, is the mystery of the Trinity. 2. God's dominion over
them. This follows upon the former: if he made them, he is their King; he that
gave being no doubt may give law; and this ought to be the matter of our joy and
praise that we are under the conduct and protection of such a wise and powerful
King.
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! for behold thy king comes, the
king Messiah, whom God has
set upon his holy hill of Zion; let all the
children of Zion
be joyful in him, and go forth to meet him with their
hosannas, Zec. 9:9. 3. God's delight in them. he is a king that rules by love,
and therefore to be praised; for
the Lord takes pleasure in his people,
in their services, in their prosperity, in communion with them, and in the
communications of his favour to them. He that is infinitely happy in the
enjoyment of himself, and to whose felicity no accession can be made, yet
graciously condescends to
take pleasure in his people, Ps. 147:11. 4. God's
designs concerning them. Besides the present complacency he has in them, he has
prepared for their future glory:
He will beautify the meek, the humble,
and lowly, and contrite in heart, that tremble at his word and submit to it,
that are patient under their afflictions and
show all meekness towards all
men. These men vilify and asperse, but God will justify them, and wipe off
their reproach; nay, he will beautify them; they shall appear not only clear,
but comely, before all the world, with the comeliness that he puts upon them. He
will beautify them with salvation, with temporal salvations (when God works
remarkable deliverances for his people those that had
been among the pots
become as the wings of a dove covered with silver, Ps. 68:13), but
especially with eternal salvation. The righteous shall be beautified in that day
when they
shine forth as the sun. In the hopes of this, let them now, in
the darkest day,
sing a new song.
Verses 6-9
The Israel of God are here represented triumphing over their
enemies, which is both the matter of their praise (let them give to God the
glory of those triumphs) and the recompence of their praise; those that are
truly thankful to God for their tranquillity shall be blessed with victory. Or
it may be taken as a further expression of their praise (v. 6):
let the high
praises of God be in their mouth, and then, in a holy zeal for his honour,
let them take a
two-edged sword in their hand, to fight his battles
against the enemies of his kingdom. Now this may be applied, 1. To the many
victories which God blessed his people Israel with over the nations of Canaan
and other nations that were devoted to destruction. These began in Moses and
Joshua, who, when they taught Israel
the high praises of the Lord, did
withal put
a two-edged sword in their hand; David did so too, for, as he
was the sweet singer of Israel, so he was the captain of their hosts, and taught
the children of Judah the use of the bow (2 Sa. 1:18), taught their hands to
war, as God had taught his. Thus he and they went on victoriously, fighting the
Lord's battles, and avenging Israel's quarrels on those that had oppressed
them; then they
executed vengeance upon the heathen (the Philistines,
Moabites, Ammonites, and others, 2 Sa. 8:1, etc.)
and punishments upon the
people, for all the wrong they had done to God's people, v. 7. Their kings
and nobles were taken prisoners (v. 8) and on some of them the judgment written
was executed, as by Joshua on the kings of Canaan, by Gideon on the princes of
Midian, by Samuel on Agag. The honour of this redounded to all the Israel of
God; and to him who put it upon them they return it entirely in their
hallelujahs. Jehoshaphat's army had at the same time
the high praises of
God in their mouth and a two-edged sword in their hand, for they went forth
to war singing the praises of God, and then their sword did execution, 2 Chr.
20:23. Some apply it to the time of the Maccabees, when the Jews sometimes
gained great advantages against their oppressors. And if it seem strange that
the meek should, notwithstanding that character, be thus severe, and upon kings
and nobles too, here is one word that justifies them in it; it is
the
judgment written. They do not do it from any personal malice and revenge, or
any bloody politics that they govern themselves by, but by commission from God,
according to his direction, and in obedience to his command; and Saul lost his
kingdom for disobeying a command of this nature. Thus the kings of the earth
that shall be employed in the destruction of the New-Testament Babylon will but
execute
the judgment written, Rev. 17:16, 17. But, since now no such special
commissions can be produced, this will by no means justify the violence either
of subjects against their princes or of princes against their subjects, or both
against their neighbours, under pretence of religion; for Christ never intended
that his gospel should be propagated by fire and sword or his righteousness
wrought by the wrath of man. When the high praises of God are in our mouth with
them we should have an olive-branch of peace in our hands. 2. To Christ's
victories by the power of his gospel and grace over spiritual enemies, in which
all believers are more than conquerors. The word of God is the
two-edged
sword (Heb. 4:12), the
sword of the Spirit (Eph. 6:17), which it is
not enough to have in our armoury, we must have it in our hand also, as our
Master had, when he said,
It is written. Now, (1.) With this two-edged
sword the first preachers of the gospel obtained a glorious victory over the
powers of darkness; vengeance was executed upon the gods of the heathen, by the
conviction and conversion of those that had been long their worshippers, and by
the consternation and confusion of those that would not repent (Rev. 6:15); the
strongholds of Satan were cast down (2 Chr. 10:4, 5); great men were made to
tremble at the word, as Felix; Satan, the god of this world, was cast out,
according to the judgment given against him.
This is the honour of all
Christians, that their holy religion has been so victorious. (2.) With this
two-edged sword believers fight against their own corruptions, and, through the
grace of God, subdue and mortify them; the sin that had dominion over them is
crucified; self, that once sat king, is bound with chains and brought into
subjection to the yoke of Christ; the tempter is foiled and bruised under their
feet.
This honour have all the saints. (3.) The complete accomplishment
of this will be in the judgment of the great day, when
the Lord shall
come
with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, Jude
14, 15. Vengeance shall then be
executed upon the heathen (Ps. 9:17),
and
punishments, everlasting punishments,
upon the people. Kings and nobles,
that cast away the bands and cords of Christ's government (Ps. 2:3), shall not
be able to cast away the chains and fetters of his wrath and justice. Then shall
be executed
the judgment written, for
the secrets of men shall be
judged according to the gospel. This honour shall all the saints have, that,
as assessors with Christ, they shall
judge the world, 1 Co. 6:2. In the
prospect of that let them praise the Lord, and continue Christ's faithful
servants and soldiers to the end of their lives.
Psalm 149:
| Darby
| Geneva
| Gill
| Jamieson Faussett Brown
| Matthew Henry
| Matthew Henry Concise
| Spurgeon
| Wesley
| Index
| Bible Gateway |
Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 Job Proverbs
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