Deeper Commentary
Psa 149:1
Praise Yahweh! Sing to Yahweh a new song, His praise in the
assembly of the saints-
Even in the Old Testament, the idea of living in a spirit of newness of
life is to be found. David six times invites us to sing with him “a new
song” (Ps. 33:3; 40:3; 96:1; 98:1; 144:9; 149:1 cp. Is. 42:10). Invariably
these songs are associated with the experience of God’s redemption (cp.
Rev. 5:9). Obviously those ‘new songs’ were intended to be repeatedly
sung. Our regular experience of forgiveness and redemption should urge us
onwards in the spirit of ‘newness of life’. Like Paul we die daily with
the Lord, and the power of His resurrection life likewise daily breaks out
in us.
Quite possibly Ps. 51:10 speaks not so much of a one-off re-creation of
the heart / spirit, but of an ongoing experience: "Create in me a clean
heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me". Even the Kingdom
prophecy of Is. 40:16 has application to all God's servants now: "those
who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength". We who serve Him now,
awaiting His coming, renew our strength. Even as we lay dying on hospital
beds or dementia care homes. The Hebrew for "renew" (chalach) is
used of cutting down a tree so that new shoots can sprout from the stump,
e.g. Job 14:7: "For there is hope for a tree, if it be cut down, that it
will sprout again (chalach), and that its tender shoots will not
cease". We are cut down but not destroyed. For salvation is personal.
Nebuchadnezzar's humbling is a clear pattern for us all, fulfilling the
prophecy that the stump would remain and sprout again. But we sprout as
humbled people, still connected to our original stump, but new. Isaiah
speaks of salvation as a "new thing" (Is. 42:9; 43:19; 48:6). The new song
is about salvation. This is what we will be eternally praising God for
(see on Ps. 150:2).
And yet we can also read this psalm as a prophecy of the future
new song spoken of in Revelation (Rev. 5:9; 14:3), to be sung by all God's
redeemed people as we stand together in Zion after the day of judgment.
The language later in the psalm of God's people judging the nations can
only really be talking of this time. But we live the essence of the
Kingdom life now, for the "new song" experience is also for this life: "He
put a new song in my mouth... O sing to the Lord a new song... I will sing
a new song to you O God" (Ps. 40:3; 96:1; 98:1; 144:9; 149:1). The "new
song" of Ps. 33:3 is in the context of perceiving that creation all around
is not static but energized in an ongoing, conscious sense by God's
creative word. And that word likewise brings forth new creation in we who
are "in Christ" (2 Cor. 5:17). Staleness and the 'same old scene' syndrome
is what destroys spirituality in so much of churchianity. The message of
newness of life, singing and living well known hymns as a "new song", life
in the Spirit, is the antidote to this. Charles Wesley, composer of many
such hymns, commented that he only knew for sure that he was converted
because of reading of the newness in Ps. 40:3 and realizing he was
experiencing it: Ps. 40:3: "He put a new song in my mouth, a song of
praise to our God".
Psa 149:2
Let Israel rejoice in Him who made him, let the children of Zion
be joyful in their King-
I noted on Ps. 147:4; 148:3,4 that there is a major theme of God
working a new creation in the restored exiles. In this sense, Israel would
be "made" by God (Is. 44:2; 51:13), who would then be accepted as the king
enthroned in Zion. The exiles resisted this, largely preferring to remain
in exile in Babylon-Persia. And so no Davidic king was reestablished as
had been potentially possible.
David saw his sufferings as being bound up with those of Israel; those who hated him hated Zion, those who blessed him blessed Zion, and God's salvation of Israel was being expressed through God's deliverance of him in the daily vicissitudes of life; as God had chosen Zion, so He had David His servant; David's joy was Zion's joy, and her exaltation would be David's (Ps. 51:18; 69:35; 87:2; 106:5; 121:3,4; 125:1; 128:5; 146:10; 149:2). This is how we are to make sense of suffering- by understanding that it plays a role in the salvation of others, and is part of a wider nexus of Divine operation. We suffer so that we may be able to minister the comfort we receive to others (2 Cor. 1:4). Job likewise came to realize that his sufferings were not so much for his personal maturing, but for the teaching and salvation of the friends.
Psa 149:3
Let them praise His name in the dance! Let them sing praises to
Him with tambourine and harp!-
David asks Israel to join him in his praise on tambourine and harp
(s.w. 2 Sam. 6:5,14-16) for the ark returning to Zion. It is based upon
Israel's rejoicing after the deliverance from Egypt (Ex. 15:20). But these
images all had special relevance to the possibilities at the restoration
of the exiles. The young woman taking the timbrel and rejoicing in the
dance once again is presented as the epitome of the restoration (Jer.
31:4,13), after the years of exile when Judah's dance had been turned to
mourning (Lam. 5:15). The invitation to "let" this happen confirms the
great theme observed so often- that the restoration from Babylon could
have led to the restored Kingdom of God, but was precluded by Judah's
impenitence. But the Psalm urges them to "let" these things happen by as
it were fulfilling the prophecies. The allusion to the praise
after the Red Sea deliverance must be understood in line with the opening
call for a "new song", to praise God with a sense of freshness as His
mercies are found to be repeated to us every morning. The Red Sea
deliverance is representative of our salvation through baptism (1 Cor.
10:1,2 etc.). But whilst these things were one off acts, the psalms call
for fresh praise because of the exodus salvation, as it were, again and
again taking the tambourine with Miriam.
Psa 149:4
For Yahweh takes pleasure in His people, He crowns the humble with
salvation-
This renewed "pleasure in His people" suggests the effective
remarriage of God and Israel, the exiles, based upon a new covenant seeing
they had broken the old covenant (Is. 54:7,8; 60:10). But they refused
that new covenant, seeking justification by the old covenant [the law of
Moses] which they had broken. And they never therefore remarried God as
intended, and so he turned to form a new people for relationship, the
Gentile-Jewish mix of the body of Christ. The crowning or adorning of
God's people is that spoken of in the restoration prophecies, when Zion
itself would be glorified (Is. 55:5; 60:7,9,13). But again, this didn't
happen at the restoration from Babylon as was potentially possible. The
prophecies are rescheduled and reapplied to God's final salvation of a
new, multiethnic people in Christ.
We see here perhaps the simplest statement in the entire Bible that humility is required for salvation. The camel must get on its knees to pass through the needle gate, we must humble ourselves under God's humbling hand before we can be exalted in due time. A king is crowned; here, the humble are crowned. So we have the idea of a humble king. The same image used by Zechariah of the Lord's humble entry into Jerusalem- as a king. And the crown of glory is laid up for us, Paul says, until the last day.
Psa 149:5
Let the saints rejoice in glory-
"Rejoice" is s.w. "triumph" in Ps. 94:3, where the psalmist has
asked how long shall the wicked triumph. Now finally is the day when the
"How long...?" question has been answered.
Let them sing for joy on their
beds-
The idea is that the believers are to praise God
collectively, as outlined in the previous verses, but also in private. We
have to ask whether our praise is simply within a church context, or
whether praise is in our hearts and private lives. David rightly perceived that what a man thinks alone on his bed is a
litmus indicator of his essential spirituality (Ps. 4:4; 149:5), and
he condemns Saul for plotting sin on his bed (Ps. 36:4). And yet the same
phrase "on his bed" is used for how David plotted the sin with Bathsheba
on his bed (2 Sam. 11:2). David was surely taught by his sin that he had
been too quick to condemn others for their wicked thoughts upon their
beds.
This is all the language of God's Kingdom upon earth, and it has some similarities with how David brought the ark to Zion; see on :3. But it was God who would make this happen (Ps. 132:16), rather than David's manipulation of the physical ark, and getting the people to shout for joy (Ps. 132:8,9). But as discussed on Ps. 132:8, David mistakenly thought that merely bringing the ark to Zion meant this would come about.
Psa 149:6
May the high praises of God be in their mouths, and a two-edged
sword in their hand-
Literally, a two mouthed sword; as if the praise coming out of their
mouths was parallel with the mouth of the sword they were wielding. The
restoration of the exiles was intended to coincide with the judgment and
fall of Babylon, which was to be effected on the ground by a glorified,
Spirit empowered, repentant Judah. But they didn't repent, Babylon didn't
fall as the "fall of Babylon" prophecies in the restoration prophets
envisaged. Instead those prophecies were reapplied and rescheduled to the
fall of a latter day Babylon as described in Rev. 18.
The image of singing praises with a sword in the hand is surely that of the priests marching around Jericho; and so :7 goes right on to talk about judgments upon the nations.
Psa 149:7
to execute vengeance on the nations, and punishments on the
peoples-
To pray for this to happen was effectively asking for the Kingdom to
come. For David is always careful to emphasize that vengeance belongs to
God and not man (see on Ps. 94:1).
Psa 149:8
to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of
iron-
At the restoration, a revived Judah could have bound their overlords
with chains (Is. 45:14). There was to be a radical inversion; they the
prisoners, the bound ones (s.w. Ps. 146:7; Is. 49:9; 61:1) were to be
loosed from exile, and were instead to bind their captors. But they were
themselves the leaders / nobles of Babylon-Persia (as the book of Esther
demonstrates) and didn't want at all to come out of Babylon.
Psa 149:9
to execute on them the judgment written. All His saints have this
honour. Praise Yah!-
The judgment written was, in the context of the exiles, the judgments upon
Babylon written at such length in the restoration prophecies such as
Isaiah and Jeremiah. But these prophecies were not fulfilled by the exiles
as envisaged. Most of them preferred to remain in Babylon-Persia, and
didn't "come out from among them" as commanded. They didn't want the
"honour" spoken of here; and so those prophecies were reapplied and
rescheduled to the fall of a latter day Babylon as described in Rev. 18.
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