The Expositor's Bible: The Psalms, Vol. 3: Psalms XC.-CL.Maclaren, Alexander
Religion
The Expositor's Bible: The Psalms, Vol. 3: Psalms XC.-CL.
Maclaren, Alexander
Bible. Psalms -- Commentaries
With ver. 14 the Divine Voice resumes, and echoes the petitions of the
earlier part. The psalmist asked God to arise into His rest, and He
answers by granting the request with the added promise of perpetuity:
"Here will I dwell _for ever_." He adds a promise which had not been
asked--abundance for all, and bread to fill even the poor. The psalmist
asked that the priests might be clothed in righteousness, and the
answer promises robes of _salvation_, which is the perfecting and most
glorious issue of righteousness. The psalmist asked that God's favoured
ones might utter shrill cries of joy, and God replies with an emphatic
reduplication of the word, which implies the exuberance and continuance
of the gladness. The psalmist asked for favour to the anointed, and God
replies by expanded and magnificent promises. The "horn" is an emblem
of power. It shall continually "sprout"--_i.e._, the might of the
royal house shall continually increase. The "lamp for Mine anointed"
may be simply a metaphor for enduring prosperity and happiness, but
many expositors take it to be a symbol of the continuance of the
Davidic house, as in 1 Kings xv. 4, where, however, the word employed
is not the same as that used here, though closely connected with it.
The promise of perpetuity to the house of David does not fit into the
context as well as that of splendour and joy, and it has already been
given in ver. 12. Victory will attend the living representative of
David, his foes being clothed by Jehovah with shame--_i.e._, being
foiled in their hostile attempts--while their confusion is as a dark
background, against which the radiance of his diadem sparkles the more
brightly. These large promises are fulfilled in Jesus Christ, of the
seed of David; and the psalm is Messianic, as presenting the ideal
which it is sure shall be realised, and which is so in Him alone.
The Divine promises teach the great truth that God over-answers our
desires, and puts to shame the poverty of our petitions by the wealth
of His gifts. He is "able to do exceeding abundantly above all that
we ask or think," for the measure of His doing is none other than
"according to the Power that worketh in us," and the measure of that
Power is none other than "the working of the strength of His might,
which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set
Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places."
PSALM CXXXIII.
1 Behold, how good and how pleasant [it is]
That brethren dwell in unity!
2 Like the precious oil on the head,
Flowing down on the beard,
[Even] Aaron's beard,
That flows down on the opening of his garments.
3 Like the dew of Hermon, that flows down on the mountains of Zion.
For there Jehovah has commanded the blessing,
Life for evermore.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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