Blessed are the Obedient
#Blessed are the Obedient
PSALM 132
A SONG OF ASCENTS
Lord, remember David
and all his self-denial,
He swore an oath to the LORD,
He made a vow to the Mighty One of Jacob:
“I will not enter my house or go to my bed,
I will allow no sleep to my eyes
or slumber to my eyelids,
till I find a place for the LORD,
a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob.”
We heard it in Ephrathah,
we came upon it in the fields of Jaar:
“Let us go to his dwelling place,
Let us worship at his footstool, saying,
‘Arise, LORD, and come to your resting place,
You and the ark of Your might.
May your priests be clothed with your righteousness;
May your faithful people sing for joy.’”
For the sake of your servant David,
do not reject your anointed one.
The LORD swore an oath to David,
a sure oath he will not revoke:
“One of your own descendants
I will place on your throne.
If your sons keep my covenant
and the statutes I teach them,
then their sons will sit
on your throne for ever and ever.”
For the LORD has chosen Zion,
he has desired it for his dwelling, saying,
“This is my resting place for ever and ever;
here I will sit enthroned, for I have desired it.
I will bless her with abundant provisions;
her poor I will satisfy with food.
I will clothe her priests with salvation,
and her faithful people will ever sing for joy.
“Here I will make a horn grow for David
and set up a lamp for my anointed one.
I will clothe his enemies with shame,
but his head will be adorned with a radiant crown.”
This longest of the Psalms of Ascents focuses on the ark of the covenant in Jerusalem as joyful pilgrims reach their worship destination. This psalm, referred to by Eugene Peterson as the psalm of David’s obedience, can be divided into two sections:
Verses 1 – 10 are a prayer for the Lord to remember David and his desire to build a dwelling place for the Lord.
Verses 11 – 18 offer a poetic rendition of the promise that the Lord swore to David (II Samuel 7) that one of his sons would occupy his throne forevermore.
Psalm 132 starts off by celebrating David’s capture of Jerusalem and then the carrying of the Ark into the city. The ark of the covenant was a box approximately 114 cm long, 69 cm broad and 69 cm deep, constructed of wood and covered with gold. Its lid of solid gold was called the mercy seat. Two cherubim, one on each end, framed the space from which God’s word was heard. It had been made under the supervision of Moses and was a symbol of the presence of God among his people. The ark had accompanied Israel from Sinai, through their wilderness wanderings, and had been kept at Shiloh. During a battle with the Philistines, the ark had been captured and then displayed as a trophy of war in one of their cities until it became a problem to them. It was subsequently returned to the village of Kiriath-jearim in Israel. It rested here until David came to get it and take it to Jerusalem where it later became enshrined in Solomon’s temple.
For the Hebrews, the history of the ark provided an account of the presence of God among the people. Peterson explains that the ark was the symbol, not the reality. Its history showed the importance of having God with you and the danger of trying to use God.
But back to David, “a man after God’s own heart.” (I Samuel 13:14) Through his remarkable leadership and shrewd statesmanship, he takes Israel from a loosely organized group of tribes to a highly organized monarchy. But David was also a deeply spiritual man who loved the Lord and worshipped him with Psalms and song and dance. I love how one pastor calls David a mensch. It is a Yiddish word used to describe an authentic, likeable, down-to-earth human being. Someone you can’t help but admire.
As David established Jerusalem as his capital, he built himself a fine palace, but soon he felt guilty, for a mere tent represented God’s dwelling place. 2 Samuel 7 reminds us that when David approached the prophet Nathan with the idea to build God a house, he agreed, only to be told by Nathan that that honour would not belong to David, but to his son. Still, God was so pleased with David’s heart that He promised to build David a house. About this extraordinary promise, one Bible commentator writes, “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 exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think.’”
Verse 14 reads, “This is my resting place forever; Here I will dwell, for I have desired it.” And tells us that once the ark of the covenant came into Jerusalem, there was to be no more traveling for the tabernacle. The tabernacle, the temple, the altar, and the ark would never rest in another place than Jerusalem. How beautifully Spurgeon relates this to the church, comforting us with, “if the Lord dwell in her, she shall not be moved; if the Lord desire her, the devil cannot destroy her.”
In the last three verses, we read about God’s remarkable promises to His servants:
I will also clothe her priests with salvation, and her saints shall shout aloud for joy.
There I will make the horn of David grow; I will prepare a lamp for My Anointed.
His enemies I will clothe with shame, But upon Himself His crown shall flourish.
In Christ, God’s promises to David has been fulfilled. He is the new temple, the dwelling place of God with his people. He is the anointed king who will sit on the throne forever. In fact, the more we dig into the relationship between David and Jesus, the more we understand why the story of David is the longest single narrative in the whole Bible.
David Guzik, the famous Bible commentator reminds us that in spite of his greatness, David life falls apart during a season of sin and consequently his family tears itself apart. Within a few generations, David’s great kingdom begins to crumble. Beginning with this raging river of a man, David’s dynasty slows and meanders until it’s a stinking swamp of human ineptitude and sin. This reminds us that even the best of us, like David, cannot build a Kingdom that will last.
It is now, after the demise of a long line of Davidic kings, that Israel begins to associate the Davidic covenant with the coming Messiah. We see it already in Luke’s story of the annunciation. The angel Gabriel says to Mary about her promised son, “He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom there will be no end.” This, of course, marks the fulfilment of God’s promise to David in 2 Samuel 7.
And so, the two halves of Psalm 132 are joined together and fulfilled in Jesus Christ. He is the house, the temple David wanted to build as a dwelling place for the Lord in Zion. But he is also the son of David, the eternal king who God promised will rule his people with love and justice forever.
