Psalm 21
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
1 O LORD, in your strength the king rejoices, and in your salvation how greatly he exults!
2 You have given him his heart's desire and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah
This psalm is a victory song after battle. I imagine the king has returned to the celebration in Jerusalem with the spoils of war. There is much singing and mirth, but at some point, this prayer is spoken to formally acknowledge God’s hand in the victory. The king speaks the psalm, although he does so in 3rd person. It corresponds to Psalm 20 as a prayer of thanksgiving for the answered prayer made in Psalm 20. The king rejoices in the strength of YHWH and exults in God’s salvation. This was strength expressed in triumph over the enemy on the battlefield. The closest thing we have in ordinary life might be athletic competition -- our replacement for battle. The king also rejoices that God has granted him his heart’s desire. The king’s plans are in alignment with God’s will so gives him victory over his enemies. We don’t know the exact nature of the battle or the political conditions that preceded it. Had Israel been attacked, her borders crossed by an invading army? Was David trying to secure buffer zones between his kingdom and those around it? Was he trying to send a message to would-be invaders to stay back? It’s not likely that Israel was the aggressor given her history. Much like today, Israel only wants security for the land she possesses, and sometimes that means creating a buffer zone around your land so that war happens in those spaces and not in your hometown. The king’s desire is for peace and security. Victory in war has made this a reality. No one wants war (except maybe the most cynical arms manufacturer), and the reason we fight is to end war, to put bullies in their place so innocent people can live in peace. This is what the king prayed for and received. You should do the same thing. Pray that God’s strength (and human working in concert with him) would bring peace and justice to the world.
3 For you meet him with rich blessings; you set a crown of fine gold upon his head.
4 He asked life of you; you gave it to him, length of days forever and ever.
Consider the blessings of the king: wealth, power, military success, honor, lots of children, leisure time to create music and write psalms, some level of luxury compared to the commoner, and the opportunity to influence his immediate world and the world to come. With those come some pretty substantial responsibilities, but it was the LORD who crowned him and would grant him the strength to do all that was asked of him. The king asked for a long life, and the LORD gave it to him, stated in hyperbole, it is eternal life. David’s body is long dead, but in truth his legacy lives on in ways he could have never imagined. For one, I’m reflecting on his words almost every day! However, the biggest legacy is that he was a forerunner to the messiah of the world, Jesus. It is in Jesus that this prayer is ultimately fulfilled -- a descendent of David ruling on his throne forever. Jesus is introduced to us in Matthew’s gospel as the son of David. And at the end of the gospels the scholars point out that David called his son, Lord. How can the son be greater than the father? The answer is Jesus. David’s prayer here echoes through eternity. He asks for a long life, and God answers that prayer in a much bigger way than David even conceived. What big prayers are you praying today? How might God answer you if you called on him to do big things? Or will you just treat this day like any other, ordinary, inconsequential day? David prayed for big things (a long life) and got the Savior of the World. Pray for big things today.
5 His glory is great through your salvation; splendor and majesty you bestow on him.
6 For you make him most blessed forever; [make him a source of blessing forever] you make him glad with the joy of your presence.
The king is the recipient of glory, splendor and majesty as a gift from God. He is blessed forever, and he is blessed to be a blessing forever. The king’s splendor and majesty came in his trappings - the palace, the army, the treasury, the harem, the complete lack of want. But all of the strength and wealth that he possessed was to be used for the good of others. In addition to the material and social blessings, the real gift was the nearness of God. The king acted as God’s representative on earth, and while he was not allowed to enter the temple, he was a primary worship leader (at least the good kings were). They were at the center of corporate worship gatherings. Solomon saw the fire of God fall from heaven. Jehoshaphat and Hezekiah saw the miraculous deliverance of God on the battlefield. While the Spirit of God had not yet been poured out on all flesh (Acts 2), it seems that the Spirit of God was present in the lives of these men and others. The joy of God’s presence is the greatest blessing, and it is one that we share today. It is the privilege of presence that brings us joy in every circumstance and enables us to truly be a blessing to others, not just in a material sense. From another perspective, this is bigger than David or Solomon. This is ultimately Jesus of whom David and Solomon were types. But it is also true of us as Christians for we are children of the king. Ephesians 1 comes to mind as I think about how every spiritual blessing in Christ has been lavished on us. We are the recipients of glory, honor, and majesty and every blessing so that we might be a blessing to the world, living in the joyful presence of God.
7 For the king trusts in the LORD, and through the steadfast love of the Most High he shall not be moved.
Verse 7 is perhaps the central statement of the entire psalm. The king trusts in the LORD and by the grace of God, he will not be moved. I’ve often wondered how David experienced the steadfast love of the LORD. How did he know for sure that YHWH had such qualities? I’m sure it began with his parents’ teaching, then his experiences as a young man shepherding and then fighting. You find yourself in life and death situations where you send up a prayer, and when you don’t die, you thank the God who heard your prayer. David could also read of God’s steadfast love in the Torah, the story of his people, a 1,000 year history of heroes and faith. These men and women demonstrated the faithful love of God in the outcome of their lives. So David continues their legacy by placing his trust in the steadfast love of God. And at the end of his life, despite some low points, he is still able to say, “I was not moved”. Desiring that kind of stability in my life I have to ask myself, have I done the same? Even today, am I willing to dare to do big things? With the communications tools at my disposal, and I willing to stand and be a voice of truth in a deceitful culture? What about the rest of my life? Have I surrendered my future to the LORD? I’m not even sure I’ve surrendered my present. Do I trust in the LORD? This is the central line of the psalm and it should be the central theme of my life as well. .
8 Your hand will find out all your enemies; your right hand will find out those who hate you.
9 You will make them as a blazing oven when you appear. The LORD will swallow them up in his wrath, and fire will consume them.
The psalmist moves from third person voice to addressing God in second person voice. He declares that God’s enemies cannot remain in hiding when YHWH is doing the searching. God’s right hand finds out those who hate him, and when he comes there will be complete destruction by fire. This is similar to the language of Psalm 97 where the Lord comes with a scalding judgment of the earth, “a fire goes before him and burns up all his enemies”. Is this purely metaphorical? Is this something that is fulfilled every time an empire falls -- Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, Hitler’s Germany? One after another they rise and fall. Is this something that happens on an individual level as each human being comes to the unavoidable end of their life? Psalm 90 (we are consumed in your wrath). This is clearly directed at God’s enemies, those that vocally and practically reject his existence and mastery of their lives. The New Testament echoes the same truth in Hebrews 10 and 2 Peter 3. It’s a truth that I rarely think about. If I did, I would care more about the eternal salvation of others. I would pray more for those that are enemies of God. I can’t ignore the consistent message of scripture. I come back to this quote often: “the moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” Surely the wrath of God expressed in final judgment is the completion of that arc. I know David is speaking here of his own context and the victory that he experiences over regional foes in battle, but the language is so similar, and the psalm is messianic, so one cannot help but think of Jesus’ triumphant return as well. Do I long for that day? Do I cry with the martyrs under the altar? Do I sacrifice all of my resources to advance the proclamation of the gospel? Do I care enough to do anything about the billions of lost people? Or will I continue on with my life as if the conflagration and judgment at the end of time is not a thing? I can no longer regard anyone with a worldly perspective. Everyone needs to hear. Help me to do something today -- to pray, to send, to speak, to go.
10 You will destroy their descendants from the earth, and their offspring from among the children of man.
11 Though they plan evil against you, though they devise mischief, they will not succeed.
12 For you will put them to flight; you will aim at their faces with your bows.
The psalmist describes here the complete destruction of the enemies of God, right down to their children and grandchildren. This sounds pretty harsh, but it is a historical reality. There are plenty of ancient people groups who no longer exist. They may not all have been wiped out to a man, but they intermarried with their conquerors and faded into humanity’s gene pool. The psalmist prays that with God’s help given to the king that the enemies of the nation would be no more. This may sound a bit drastic to modern ears, but less than 100 years ago the Nazis were trying to exterminate the Jews (and there have been genocides since). Certainly this is a prayer that the victims of genocide would pray as they seek relief from God against their enemies. The psalmist states that these enemies of the people are actually enemies of God. Even though they plan evil against God, they devise mischief (see Psalm 2:1-3), they will not succeed. They will retreat before God and he will aim for the head, a quick and certain death. The second psalm and others assure us that it is futile to resist the rule of God. Those who seek to destroy others with evil intent will have their actions come back to destroy them. Call it karma, but this is the way the world is wired, justice is ultimately done. The crushing empires of the ancient world have all turned to dust and even the more recent genocidal regimes of the last century are in the ash heap of history. It’s difficult to have that long view when you are in the midst of a conflict. The church is persecuted all over the world, and while it may seem crushing as believers are treated unjustly and displaced as refugees, God is still sovereign and his plans can not be resisted. Justice will be done. This is how the suffering servant deals with injustice.
13 Be exalted, O LORD, in your strength! We will sing and praise your power.
Fresh off the confidence of God’s ultimate judgment and victory over the enemies of the king, the congregation promises to sing and praise Him for his power. They desire for YHWH to be exalted above the nations, above all gods, and above all else. God’s actions will do this for him. His own salvation, his own power in nature, his own justice-wired system of human nature will triumph and he will receive praise. Other psalms (96 and 98 come to mind) remind us that even creation will join in the exaltation of God when he comes to judge the earth. When God makes things right, everyone is happy. This makes is super important to be sure that you are on God’s side, and secondly, it gives comfort to know that God will make everything right. We are living in a season here in the US where the church is not under direct attack from the state as it was a few years ago. It’s probably going to be a short reprieve until we are back at it, as we insist that life is sacred, marriage is between and woman, and men are men and women are women. These once obvious truths are up for debate in our culture, and if we come down on the unwoke side, there will be repercussions. Keep fighting the find, knowing that truth always wins and God will be praised. Sing and praise the power of God as you worship today.