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.
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.
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.
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-
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.
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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