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Psalms 132:18 King James Version with Strong's Concordance (STRONG)

18 His enemies H341 will I clothe H3847 with shame: H1322 but upon himself shall his crown H5145 flourish. H6692

Cross Reference

Job 8:22 STRONG

They that hate H8130 thee shall be clothed H3847 with shame; H1322 and the dwelling H168 place of the wicked H7563 shall come to nought. H369

Psalms 35:26 STRONG

Let them be ashamed H954 and brought to confusion H2659 together H3162 that rejoice H8056 at mine hurt: H7451 let them be clothed H3847 with shame H1322 and dishonour H3639 that magnify H1431 themselves against me.

Psalms 109:29 STRONG

Let mine adversaries H7853 be clothed H3847 with shame, H3639 and let them cover H5844 themselves with their own confusion, H1322 as with a mantle. H4598

Psalms 21:8-9 STRONG

Thine hand H3027 shall find out H4672 all thine enemies: H341 thy right hand H3225 shall find out H4672 those that hate H8130 thee. Thou shalt make H7896 them as a fiery H784 oven H8574 in the time H6256 of thine anger: H6440 the LORD H3068 shall swallow them up H1104 in his wrath, H639 and the fire H784 shall devour H398 them.

Psalms 72:8-11 STRONG

He shall have dominion H7287 also from sea H3220 to sea, H3220 and from the river H5104 unto the ends H657 of the earth. H776 They that dwell in the wilderness H6728 shall bow H3766 before H6440 him; and his enemies H341 shall lick H3897 the dust. H6083 The kings H4428 of Tarshish H8659 and of the isles H339 shall bring H7725 presents: H4503 the kings H4428 of Sheba H7614 and Seba H5434 shall offer H7126 gifts. H814 Yea, all kings H4428 shall fall down H7812 before him: all nations H1471 shall serve H5647 him.

Isaiah 9:6-7 STRONG

For unto us a child H3206 is born, H3205 unto us a son H1121 is given: H5414 and the government H4951 shall be upon his shoulder: H7926 and his name H8034 shall be called H7121 Wonderful, H6382 Counsellor, H3289 The mighty H1368 God, H410 The everlasting H5703 Father, H1 The Prince H8269 of Peace. H7965 Of the increase H4766 of his government H4951 and peace H7965 there shall be no end, H7093 upon the throne H3678 of David, H1732 and upon his kingdom, H4467 to order H3559 it, and to establish H5582 it with judgment H4941 and with justice H6666 from henceforth even for H5704 ever. H5769 The zeal H7068 of the LORD H3068 of hosts H6635 will perform H6213 this.

Isaiah 58:10-12 STRONG

And if thou draw out H6329 thy soul H5315 to the hungry, H7457 and satisfy H7646 the afflicted H6031 soul; H5315 then shall thy light H216 rise H2224 in obscurity, H2822 and thy darkness H653 be as the noonday: H6672 And the LORD H3068 shall guide H5148 thee continually, H8548 and satisfy H7646 thy soul H5315 in drought, H6710 and make fat H2502 thy bones: H6106 and thou shalt be like a watered H7302 garden, H1588 and like a spring H4161 of water, H4325 whose waters H4325 fail H3576 not. And they that shall be of thee shall build H1129 the old H5769 waste places: H2723 thou shalt raise up H6965 the foundations H4146 of many H1755 generations; H1755 and thou shalt be called, H7121 The repairer H1443 of the breach, H6556 The restorer H7725 of paths H5410 to dwell in. H3427

Daniel 12:2 STRONG

And many H7227 of them that sleep H3463 in the dust H6083 of the earth H127 shall awake, H6974 some to everlasting H5769 life, H2416 and some to shame H2781 and everlasting H5769 contempt. H1860

Matthew 28:18 STRONG

And G2532 Jesus G2424 came G4334 and spake G2980 unto them, G846 saying, G3004 All G3956 power G1849 is given G1325 unto me G3427 in G1722 heaven G3772 and G2532 in G1909 earth. G1093

Luke 1:32-33 STRONG

He G3778 shall be G2071 great, G3173 and G2532 shall be called G2564 the Son G5207 of the Highest: G5310 and G2532 the Lord G2962 God G2316 shall give G1325 unto him G846 the throne G2362 of his G846 father G3962 David: G1138 And G2532 he shall reign G936 over G1909 the house G3624 of Jacob G2384 for G1519 ever; G165 and G2532 of his G846 kingdom G932 there shall be G2071 no G3756 end. G5056

Revelation 11:15 STRONG

And G2532 the seventh G1442 angel G32 sounded; G4537 and G2532 there were G1096 great G3173 voices G5456 in G1722 heaven, G3772 saying, G3004 The kingdoms G932 of this world G2889 are become G1096 the kingdoms of our G2257 Lord, G2962 and G2532 of his G846 Christ; G5547 and G2532 he shall reign G936 for G1519 ever G165 and ever. G165

Revelation 17:14 STRONG

These G3778 shall make war G4170 with G3326 the Lamb, G721 and G2532 the Lamb G721 shall overcome G3528 them: G846 for G3754 he is G2076 Lord G2962 of lords, G2962 and G2532 King G935 of kings: G935 and G2532 they that are with G3326 him G846 are called, G2822 and G2532 chosen, G1588 and G2532 faithful. G4103

Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 132

Commentary on Psalms 132 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary


Introduction

Prayer for the House of God and the House of David

Psalms 131:1-3 designedly precedes Psalms 132. The former has grown out of the memory of an utterance of David when he brought home the Ark, and the latter begins with the remembrance of David's humbly zealous endeavour to obtain a settled and worthy abode for the God who sits enthroned above the Ark among His people. It is the only Psalm in which the sacred Ark is mentioned. The chronicler put Psalms 132:8-10 into the mouth of Solomon at the dedication of the Temple (2 Chronicles 6:41.). After a passage borrowed from Psalms 130:2 which is attached by עתּה to Solomon's Temple-dedication prayer, he appends further borrowed passages out of Psalms 132 with ועתּה . The variations in these verses of the Psalms, which are annexed by him with a free hand and from memory ( Jahve Elohim for Jahve , לנוּחך for למנוּחתך , תּשׁוּעה for צדק , בּטּוב ישׂמחוּ for ירנּנוּ ), just as much prove that he has altered the Psalm, and not reversely (as Hitzig persistently maintains), that the psalmist has borrowed from the Chronicles. It is even still distinctly to be seen how the memory of Isaiah 55:3 has influenced the close of 2 Chronicles 6:42 in the chronicler, just as the memory of Isaiah 55:2 has perhaps also influenced the close of 2 Chronicles 6:41.

The psalmist supplicates the divine favour for the anointed of Jahve for David's sake. In this connection this anointed one is neither the high priest, nor Israel, which is never so named (vid., Habakkuk 3:13), nor David himself, who “in all the necessities of his race and people stands before God,” as Hengstenberg asserts, in order to be able to assign this Son of degrees, as others, likewise to the post-exilic time of the new colony. Zerubbabel might more readily be understood (Baur), with whom, according to the closing prophecy of the Book of Haggai, a new period of the Davidic dominion is said to begin. But even Zerubbabel, the פּחת יהוּדה , could not be called משׁיח , for this he was not. The chronicler applies the Psalm in accordance with its contents. It is suited to the mouth of Solomon. The view that it was composed by Solomon himself when the Ark of the covenant was removed out of the tent-temple on Zion into the Temple-building (Amyraldus, De Wette, Tholuck, and others), is favoured by the relation of the circumstances, as they are narrated in 2 Chronicles 5:5., to the desires of the Psalm, and a close kinship of the Psalm with Ps 72 in breadth, repetitions of words, and a laboured forward movement which is here and there a somewhat uncertain advance. At all events it belongs to a time in which the Davidic throne was still standing and the sacred Ark was not as yet irrecoverably lost. That which, according to 2 Sam. 6, 2 Samuel 7:1, David did for the glory of Jahve, and on the other hand is promised to him by Jahve, is here made by a post-Davidic poet into the foundation of a hopeful intercessory prayer for the kingship and priesthood of Zion and the church presided over by both.

The Psalm consists of four ten-line strophes. Only in connection with the first could any objection be raised, and the strophe be looked upon as only consisting of nine lines. But the other strophes decide the question of its measure; and the breaking up of the weighty Psalms 132:1 into two lines follows the accentuation, which divides it into two parts and places את by itself as being את (according to Accentssystem , xviii. 2, with Mugrash ). Each strophe is adorned once with the name of David ; and moreover the step-like progress which comes back to what has been said, and takes up the thread and carries it forward, cannot fail to be recognised.


Verses 1-5

One is said to remember anything to another when he requites him something that he has done for him, or when he does for him what he has promised him. It is the post-Davidic church which here reminds Jahve of the hereinafter mentioned promises (of the “mercies of David,” 2 Chronicles 6:42, cf. Isaiah 55:3) with which He has responded to David's ענות . By this verbal substantive of the Pual is meant all the care and trouble which David had in order to procure a worthy abode for the sanctuary of Jahve. ענה ב signifies to trouble or harass one's self about anything, afflictari (as frequently in the Book of Ecclesiastes); the Pual here denotes the self-imposed trouble, or even that imposed by outward circumsntaces, such as the tedious wars, of long, unsuccessful, and yet never relaxed endeavours (1 Kings 5:17). For he had vowed unto God that he would give himself absolutely no rest until he had obtained a fixed abode for Jahve. What he said to Nathan (2 Samuel 7:2) is an indication of this vowed resolve, which was now in a time of triumphant peace, as it seemed, ready for being carried out, after the first step towards it had already been taken in the removal of the Ark of the covenant to Zion (2 Sam. 6); for 2 Sam 7 is appended to 2 Sam. 6 out of its chronological order and only on account of the internal connection. After the bringing home of the Ark, which had been long yearned for ( Psalms 101:2), and did not take place without difficulties and terrors, was accomplished, a series of years again passed over, during which David always carried about with him the thought of erecting God a Temple-building. And when he had received the tidings through Nathan that he should not build God a house, but that it should be done by his son and successor, he nevertheless did as much towards the carrying out of the desire of his heart as was possible in connection with this declaration of the will of Jahve. He consecrated the site of the future Temple, he procured the necessary means and materials for the building of it, he made all the necessary arrangements for the future Temple-service, he inspirited the people for the gigantic work of building that was before them, and handed over to his son the model for it, as it is all related to us in detail by the chronicler. The divine name “the mighty One of Jacob” is taken from Genesis 49:24, as in Isaiah 1:24; Isaiah 49:26; Isaiah 60:16. The Philistines with their Dagon had been made to feel this mighty Rock of Jacob when they took the sacred Ark along with them (1 Samuel 5:1-12). With אם David solemnly declares what he is resolved not to do. The meaning of the hyperbolically expressed vow in the form of an oath is that for so long he will not rejoice at his own dwelling-house, nor give himself up to sleep that is free from anxiety; in fine, for so long he will not rest. The genitives after אהל and ערשׂ are appositional genitives; Ps 44 delights in similar combinations of synonyms. יצוּעי (Latin strata mea ) is a poetical plural, as also is משׁכּנות . With תּנוּמה (which is always said of the eyelids, Genesis 31:40; Proverbs 6:4; Ecclesiastes 8:16, not of the eyes) alternates שׁנת (according to another reading שׁנת ) for שׁנה . The āth is the same as in נחלת in Psalms 16:6, cf. 60:13, Exodus 15:2, and frequently. This Aramaizing rejection of the syllable before the tone is, however, without example elsewhere. The lxx adds to Psalms 132:4, καὶ ἀνάπαυσιν τοῖς κροτάφοις μου ( וּמנוּחה לרקּותי ), but this is a disagreeable overloading of the verse.


Verses 6-10

In Psalms 132:6 begins the language of the church, which in this Psalm reminds Jahve of His promises and comforts itself with them. Olshausen regards this Psalms 132:6 as altogether inexplicable. The interpretation nevertheless has some safe starting-points. (1) Since the subject spoken of is the founding of a fixed sanctuary, and one worthy of Jahve, the suffix of שׁמענוּה (with Chateph as in Hosea 8:2, Ew. §60, a ) and מצאנוּה refers to the Ark of the covenant, which is fem. also in other instances ( 1 Samuel 4:17; 2 Chronicles 8:11). (2) The Ark of the covenant, fetched up out of Shiloh by the Israelites to the battle at Ebenezer, fell into the hands of the victors, and remained, having been again given up by them, for twenty years in Kirjath-Jearim (1 Samuel 7:1.), until David removed it out of this Judaean district to Zion (2 Samuel 6:2-4; cf. 2 Chronicles 1:4). What is then more natural than that שׂדי־יער is a poetical appellation of Kirjath-Jearim (cf. “the field of Zoan” in Psalms 78:12)? Kirjath-Jearim has, as a general thing, very varying names. It is also called Kirjath-ha-jearim in Jeremiah 26:20 ( Kirjath-'arim in Ezra 2:25, cf. Joshua 18:28), Kirjath-ba'al in Joshua 16:1-10 :50, Ba'alah in Joshua 15:9; 1 Chronicles 13:6 (cf. Har-ha-ba'alah , Joshua 15:11, with Har-Jearim in Joshua 15:10), and, as it seems, even Ba'alê Jehudah in 2 Samuel 6:2. Why should it not also have been called Ja'ar side by side with Kirjath-Jearim , and more especially if the mountainous district, to which the mention of a hill and mountain of Jearim points, was, as the name “city of the wood” implies, at the same time a wooded district? We therefore fall in with Kühnöl's (1799) rendering: we found it in the meadows of Jaar, and with his remark: “Jaar is a shortened name of the city of Kirjath-Jearim.”

The question now further arises as to what Ephrathah is intended to mean. This is an ancient name of Bethlehem; but the Ark of the covenant never was in Bethlehem. Accordingly Hengstenberg interprets, “We knew of it in Bethlehem (where David had spent his youth) only by hearsay, no one had seen it; we found it in Kirjath-Jearim, yonder in the wooded environs of the city, where it was as it were buried in darkness and solitude.” So even Anton Hulsius (1650): Ipse David loquitur, qui dicit illam ipsam arcam, de qua quum adhuc Bethlehemi versaretur inaudivisset, postea a se ( vel majroibus suis ipso adhuc minorenni ) inventam fuisse in campis Jaar . But (1) the supposition that David's words are continued here does not harmonize with the way in which they are introduced in Psalms 132:2, according to which they cannot possibly extend beyond the vow that follows. (2) If the church is speaking, one does not see why Bethlehem is mentioned in particular as the place of the hearsay. (3) We heard it in Ephrathah cannot well mean anything else than, per antiptosin (as in Genesis 1:4, but without כּי ), we heard that it was in Ephrathah. But the Ark was before Kirjath-Jearim in Shiloh. The former lay in the tribe of Judah close to the western borders of Benjamin, the latter in the midst of the tribe of Ephraim. Now since אפרתי quite as often means an Ephraimite as it does a Bethlehemite, it may be asked whether Ephrathah is not intended of the Ephraimitish territory (Kühnöl, Gesenius, Maurer, Tholuck, and others). The meaning would then be: we had heard that the sacred Ark was in Shiloh, but we found it not there, but in Kirjath-Jearim. And we can easily understand why the poet has mentioned the two places just in this way. Ephrāth , according to its etymon, is fruitful fields, with which are contrasted the fields of the wood - the sacred Ark had fallen from its original, more worthy abode, as it were, into the wilderness. But is it probable, more especially in view of Micah 5:1, that in a connection in which the memory of David is the ruling idea, Ephrathah signifies the land of Ephraim? No, Ephrathah is the name of the district in which Kirjath-Jearim lay. Caleb had, for instance, by Ephrath, his third wife, a son named Hûr (Chûr), 1 Chronicles 2:19, This Hûr, the first-born of Ephrathah, is the father of the population of Bethlehem (1 Chronicles 4:4), and Shobal, a son of this Hûr, is father of the population of Kirjath-Jearim (1 Chronicles 2:50). Kirjath-Jearim is therefore, so to speak, the daughter of Bethlehem. This was called Ephrathah in ancient times, and this name of Bethlehem became the name of its district (Micah 5:1). Kirjath-Jearim belonged to Caleb-Ephrathah (1 Chronicles 2:24), as the northern part of this district seems to have been called in distinction from Negeb-Caleb (1 Samuel 30:14).

But משׁכּנותיו in Psalms 132:7 is now neither a designation of the house of Abinadab in Kirjath-Jearim, for the expression would be too grand, and in relation to Psalms 132:5 even confusing, nor a designation of the Salomonic Temple-building, for the expression standing thus by itself is not enough alone to designate it. What is meant will therefore be the tent-temple erected by David for the Ark when removed to Zion (2 Samuel 7:2, יריעה ). The church arouses itself to enter this, and to prostrate itself in adoration towards (vid., Psalms 99:5) the footstool of Jahve, i.e., the Ark; and to what purpose? The ark of the covenant is now to have a place more worthy of it; the מנוּחה , i.e., the בּית מנוּחה , 1 Chronicles 28:2, in which David's endeavours have through Solomon reached their goal, is erected: let Jahve and the Ark of His sovereign power, that may not be touched (see the examples of its inviolable character in 1 Samuel 5:1-12, 1 Sam 6, 2 Samuel 6:6.), now enter this fixed abode! Let His priests who are to serve Him there clothe themselves in “righteousness,” i.e., in conduct that is according to His will and pleasure; let His saints, who shall there seek and find mercy, shout for joy! More especially, however, let Jahve for David's sake, His servant, to whose restless longing this place of rest owes its origin, not turn back the face of His anointed one, i.e., not reject his face which there turns towards Him in the attitude of prayer (cf. Psalms 84:10). The chronicler has understood Psalms 132:10 as an intercession on behalf of Solomon, and the situation into which we are introduced by Psalms 132:6-8 seems to require this. It is, however, possible that a more recent poet here, in Psalms 132:7-8, reproduces words taken from the heart of the church in Solomon's time, and blends petitions of the church of the present with them. The subject all through is the church, which is ever identical although changing in the persons of its members. The Israel that brought the sacred Ark out of Kirjath-Jearim to Zion and accompanied it thence to the Temple-hill, and now worships in the sanctuary raised by David's zeal for the glory of Jahve, is one and the same. The prayer for the priests, for all the saints, and more especially for the reigning king, that then resounded at the dedication of the Temple, is continued so long as the history of Israel lasts, even in a time when Israel has no king, but has all the stronger longing for the fulfilment of the Messianic promise.


Verses 11-13

The “for the sake of David” is here set forth in detail. אמת in Psalms 132:11 is not the accusative of the object, but an adverbial accusative. The first member of the verse closes with לדוד , which has the distinctive Pazer , which is preceded by Legarmeh as a sub-distinctive; then follows at the head of the second member אמת with Zinnor , then לא־ישׁוּב ממּנּה with Olewejored and its conjunctive Galgal , which regularly precedes after the sub-distinctive Zinnor . The suffix of ממּנּה refers to that which was affirmed by oath, as in Jeremiah 4:28. Lineal descendants of David will Jahve place on the throne ( לכסּא like לראשׁי in Psalms 21:4) to him, i.e., so that they shall follow his as possessors of the throne. David's children shall for ever (which has been finally fulfilled in Christ) sit לכסּא to him (cf. Jeremiah 9:5; Jeremiah 36:7). Thus has Jahve promised, and expects in return from the sons of David the observance of His Law. Instead of עדתי זוּ it is pointed עדתי זו . In Hahn's edition עדתי has Mercha in the penult . (cf. the retreat of the tone in זה אדני , Daniel 10:17), and in Baer's edition the still better attested reading Mahpach instead of the counter-tone Metheg , and Mercha on the ultima . It is not plural with a singular suffix (cf. Deuteronomy 28:59, Ges. §91, 3), but, as זו = זאת indicates, the singular for עדוּתי , like תּחנתי for תּחנוּתי in 2 Kings 6:8; and signifies the revelation of God as an attestation of His will. אלמּדם has Mercha mahpach ., זו Rebia parvum , and עדתי Mercha ; and according to the interpunction it would have to be rendered: “and My self-attestation there” (vid., on Psalms 9:16), but zow is relative: My self-attestation (revelation), which I teach them. The divine words extend to the end of Psalms 132:12. The hypotheses with אם , as the fulfilment in history shows, were conditions of the continuity of the Davidic succession; not, however - because human unfaithfulness does not annul the faithfulness of God - of the endlessness of the Davidic throne. In Psalms 132:13 the poet states the ground of such promissory mercy. It is based on the universal mercy of the election of Jerusalem. אוּהּ has He mappic . like ענּה in Deuteronomy 22:29, or the stroke of Raphe (Ew. §247, d ), although the suffix is not absolutely necessary. In the following strophe the purport of the election of Jerusalem is also unfolded in Jahve's own words.


Verses 14-18

Shiloh has been rejected (Psalms 78:60), for a time only was the sacred Ark in Bethel (Judges 20:27) and Mizpah (Judges 21:5), only somewhat over twenty years was it sheltered by the house of Abinadab in Kirjath-Jearim ( 1 Samuel 7:2), only three months by the house of Obed-Edom in Perez-uzzah ( 2 Samuel 6:11) - but Zion is Jahve's abiding dwelling-place, His own proper settlement, מנוּחה (as in Isaiah 11:10; Isaiah 66:1, and besides 1 Chronicles 28:2). In Zion, His chosen and beloved dwelling-place, Jahve blesses everything that belongs to her temporal need ( צידהּ for זידתהּ , vid., on Psalms 27:5, note); so that her poor do not suffer want, for divine love loves the poor most especially. His second blessing refers to the priests, for by means of these He will keep up His intercourse with His people. He makes the priesthood of Zion a real institution of salvation: He clothes her priests with salvation, so that they do not merely bring it about instrumentally, but personally possess it, and their whole outward appearance is one which proclaims salvation. And to all her saints He gives cause and matter for high and lasting joy, by making Himself known also to the church, in which He has taken up His abode, in deeds of mercy (loving-kindness or grace). There ( שׁם , Psalms 133:3) in Zion is indeed the kingship of promise, which cannot fail of fulfilment. He will cause a horn to shoot forth, He will prepare a lamp, for the house of David, which David here represents as being its ancestor and the anointed one of God reigning at that time; and all who hostilely rise up against David in his seed, He will cover with shame as with a garment (Job 8:22), and the crown consecrated by promise, which the seed of David wears, shall blossom like an unfading wreath. The horn is an emblem of defensive might and victorious dominion, and the lamp ( נר , 2 Samuel 21:17, cf. ניר , 2 Chronicles 21:7, lxx λύχνον ) an emblem of brilliant dignity and joyfulness. In view of Ezekiel 29:21, of the predictions concerning the Branch ( zemach ) in Isaiah 4:2; Jeremiah 23:5; Jeremiah 33:15; Zechariah 3:8; Zechariah 6:12 (cf. Hebrews 7:14), and of the fifteenth Beracha of the Shemone - Esre (the daily Jewish prayer consisting of eighteen benedictions): “make the branch ( zemach ) of David Thy servant to shoot forth speedily, and let his horn rise high by virtue of Thy salvation,” - it is hardly to be doubted that the poet attached a Messianic meaning to this promise. With reference to our Psalm, Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, changes that supplicatory beracha of his nation (Luke 1:68-70) into a praiseful one, joyfully anticipating the fulfilment that is at hand in Jesus.