1 > Yahweh, remember David and all his affliction,
> I will lift up my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from?
Remember, Yahweh, what has come on us: Look, and see our reproach.
Remember my affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.
> Many times they have afflicted me from my youth up. Let Israel now say,
> Unless Yahweh builds the house, They labor in vain who build it. Unless Yahweh watches over the city, The watchman guards it in vain.
God remembered Noah, all the animals, and all the cattle that were with him in the ark; and God made a wind to pass over the earth. The waters subsided.
> If it had not been Yahweh who was on our side, Let Israel now say,
> To you I do lift up my eyes, You who sit in the heavens.
Yahweh, remember your tender mercies and your loving kindness, For they are from old times. Don't remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions. Remember me according to your loving kindness, For your goodness' sake, Yahweh.
It happened after this, that Absalom prepared him a chariot and horses, and fifty men to run before him. Absalom rose up early, and stood beside the way of the gate: and it was so, that when any man had a suit which should come to the king for judgment, then Absalom called to him, and said, Of what city are you? He said, Your servant is of one of the tribes of Israel. Absalom said to him, Behold, your matters are good and right; but there is no man deputized of the king to hear you. Absalom said moreover, Oh that I were made judge in the land, that every man who has any suit or cause might come to me, and I would do him justice! It was so, that when any man came near to do him obeisance, he put forth his hand, and took hold of him, and kissed him. In this manner Absalom did to all Israel who came to the king for judgment: so Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel. It happened at the end of forty years, that Absalom said to the king, please let me go and pay my vow, which I have vowed to Yahweh, in Hebron. For your servant vowed a vow while I abode at Geshur in Syria, saying, If Yahweh shall indeed bring me again to Jerusalem, then I will serve Yahweh. The king said to him, Go in peace. So he arose, and went to Hebron. But Absalom sent spies throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then you shall say, Absalom is king in Hebron. With Absalom went two hundred men out of Jerusalem, who were invited, and went in their simplicity; and they didn't know anything. Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David's counselor, from his city, even from Giloh, while he was offering the sacrifices. The conspiracy was strong; for the people increased continually with Absalom. There came a messenger to David, saying, The hearts of the men of Israel are after Absalom. David said to all his servants who were with him at Jerusalem, Arise, and let us flee; for else none of us shall escape from Absalom: make speed to depart, lest he overtake us quickly, and bring down evil on us, and strike the city with the edge of the sword. The king's servants said to the king, Behold, your servants are ready to do whatever my lord the king shall choose. The king went forth, and all his household after him. The king left ten women, who were concubines, to keep the house. The king went forth, and all the people after him; and they stayed in Beth Merhak. All his servants passed on beside him; and all the Cherethites, and all the Pelethites, and all the Gittites, six hundred men who came after him from Gath, passed on before the king. Then said the king to Ittai the Gittite, Why go you also with us? return, and abide with the king: for you are a foreigner, and also an exile; [return] to your own place. Whereas you came but yesterday, should I this day make you go up and down with us, seeing I go where I may? return you, and take back your brothers; mercy and truth be with you.
It happened, when he had made an end of speaking to Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. Saul took him that day, and would let him go no more home to his father's house. Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul. Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him, and gave it to David, and his clothing, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his sash. David went out wherever Saul sent him, [and] behaved himself wisely: and Saul set him over the men of war, and it was good in the sight of all the people, and also in the sight of Saul's servants. It happened as they came, when David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king Saul, with tambourines, with joy, and with instruments of music. The women sang one to another as they played, and said, Saul has slain his thousands, David his ten thousands. Saul was very angry, and this saying displeased him; and he said, They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands: and what can he have more but the kingdom? Saul eyed David from that day and forward. It happened on the next day, that an evil spirit from God came mightily on Saul, and he prophesied in the midst of the house: and David played with his hand, as he did day by day. Saul had his spear in his hand; and Saul cast the spear; for he said, I will strike David even to the wall. David avoided out of his presence twice. Saul was afraid of David, because Yahweh was with him, and was departed from Saul. Therefore Saul removed him from him, and made him his captain over a thousand; and he went out and came in before the people. David behaved himself wisely in all his ways; and Yahweh was with him. When Saul saw that he behaved himself very wisely, he stood in awe of him. But all Israel and Judah loved David; for he went out and came in before them. Saul said to David, Behold, my elder daughter Merab, her will I give you as wife: only be valiant for me, and fight Yahweh's battles. For Saul said, Don't let my hand be on him, but let the hand of the Philistines be on him. David said to Saul, Who am I, and what is my life, [or] my father's family in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king? But it happened at the time when Merab, Saul's daughter, should have been given to David, that she was given to Adriel the Meholathite as wife. Michal, Saul's daughter, loved David: and they told Saul, and the thing pleased him. Saul said, I will give her to him, that she may be a snare to him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him. Therefore Saul said to David, You shall this day be my son-in-law a second time. Saul commanded his servants, [saying], Commune with David secretly, and say, Behold, the king has delight in you, and all his servants love you: now therefore be the king's son-in-law. Saul's servants spoke those words in the ears of David. David said, Seems it to you a light thing to be the king's son-in-law, seeing that I am a poor man, and lightly esteemed? The servants of Saul told him, saying, On this manner spoke David. Saul said, Thus shall you tell David, The king desires no dowry except one hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king's enemies. Now Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines. When his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to be the king's son-in-law. The days were not expired; and David arose and went, he and his men, and killed of the Philistines two hundred men; and David brought their foreskins, and they gave them in full number to the king, that he might be the king's son-in-law. Saul gave him Michal his daughter as wife. Saul saw and knew that Yahweh was with David; and Michal, Saul's daughter, loved him. Saul was yet the more afraid of David; and Saul was David's enemy continually. Then the princes of the Philistines went forth: and it happened, as often as they went forth, that David behaved himself more wisely than all the servants of Saul; so that his name was much set by.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Psalms 132
Commentary on Psalms 132 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
PSALM 132
Ps 132:1-18. The writer, perhaps Solomon (compare Ps 132:8, 9), after relating David's pious zeal for God's service, pleads for the fulfilment of the promise (2Sa 7:16), which, providing for a perpetuation of David's kingdom, involved that of God's right worship and the establishment of the greater and spiritual kingdom of David's greater Son. Of Him and His kingdom both the temple and its worship, and the kings and kingdom of Judah, were types. The congruity of such a topic with the tenor of this series of Psalms is obvious.
1-5. This vow is not elsewhere recorded. It expresses, in strong language, David's intense desire to see the establishment of God's worship as well as of His kingdom.
remember David—literally, "remember for David," that is, all his troubles and anxieties on the matter.
5. habitation—literally, "dwellings," generally used to denote the sanctuary.
6. These may be the "words of David" and his pious friends, who,
at Ephratah—or Beth-lehem (Ge 48:7), where he once lived, may have heard of the ark, which he found for the first time
in the fields of the wood—or, Jair, or Kirjath-jearim ("City of woods") (1Sa 7:1; 2Sa 6:3, 4), whence it was brought to Zion.
7. The purpose of engaging in God's worship is avowed.
8, 9. The solemn entry of the ark, symbolical of God's presence and power, with the attending priests, into the sanctuary, is proclaimed in the words used by Solomon (2Ch 6:41).
10-12. For thy servant David's sake—that is, On account of the promise made to him.
turn … anointed—Repulse not him who, as David's descendant, pleads the promise to perpetuate his royal line. After reciting the promise, substantially from 2Sa 7:12-16 (compare Ac 2:30, &c.), an additional plea,
13. is made on the ground of God's choice of Zion (here used for Jerusalem) as His dwelling, inasmuch as the prosperity of the kingdom was connected with that of the Church (Ps 122:8, 9).
14-18. That choice is expressed in God's words, "I will sit" or "dwell," or sit enthroned. The joy of the people springs from the blessings of His grace, conferred through the medium of the priesthood.
17. make the horn … to bud—enlarge his power.
a lamp—the figure of prosperity (Ps 18:10, 28; 89:17). With the confounding of his enemies is united his prosperity and the unceasing splendor of his crown.