Psalms 132
Chuck Smith on Psalms 132
Verse by verse, the C2000, 1979 to 1985 and C3000, 1985 to 1999 series. Permission granted by The Word For Today.
C2000 · 1979 to 1985
Verses 1–5
LORD, remember David, and all his afflictions: How he sware unto the LORD, and vowed unto the mighty God of Jacob; Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up into my bed; I will not give sleep to my eyes, or slumber to my eyelids, until I find out a place for the LORD, a habitation for the mighty God of Jacob (132:1-5).
David had determined that he was going to build a house for God. He said, "I'm not going to rest until I build a house for God. It's not fair. I'm living in this beautiful palace and we still are worshipping God in a tent. God should have a temple. A beautiful house to worship Him in. So it's not right, I'm not going to rest until I build a house for God." Great zeal. Lord, remember David. All of his afflictions and how he had determined to build a house.
Verses 6–11
Lo, we heard of it at Ephratah: we found it in the fields of the wood. We will go into his tents: we will worship at his footstool. Arise, O LORD, into thy rest; thou, and the ark of thy strength. Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness; and let thy saints shout for joy. For thy servant David's sake turn not away the face of thine anointed. The LORD hath sworn in truth unto David; he will not turn from it; Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne (132:6-11).
God had sworn to David by an oath that from the fruit of his body there would sit one upon the throne forever. Going back to the prophecy of Isaiah that we studied this morning, Isaiah 6, or Isaiah 9:6-7, "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. And of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon His kingdom, to order it, and to establish it in judgment and in justice from henceforth even for ever." It's going to happen. God has sworn to David that from the fruit of David's loins there would be one who would sit upon the throne. "From the fruit of thy body I will set one upon the throne." Jesus came from David. As the angel said unto Mary, "He shall be great. He shall be called the Son of the Highest: and He shall sit upon the throne of His father David" (Luke 1:32). Because Mary was a direct descendant of David. And the promise that Jesus would sit upon the throne of David is yet to be fulfilled and will be fulfilled when He returns again and establishes the Kingdom Age. He will sit then upon the throne of David and God's oath will be fulfilled.
Verse 12
If thy children will keep my covenant and my testimony that I shall teach them, their children shall also sit upon thy throne for evermore (132:12).
Jesus gave the promise actually to the church. "Unto him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me upon My throne in My kingdom, even as I have overcome, and have sat down with My Father on His throne" (Revelation 3:21). So to the faithful is the promise made.
Verse 13
For the LORD hath chosen Zion; he has desired it for his dwelling place (132:13).
God chose Jerusalem; God desires it. And it is interesting, I don't think that Jerusalem is that beautiful a city. You know, you go to some cities, Seattle, beautiful city. Some cities on the lakeshores or on the ocean, Jerusalem is just in a rocky crate. So many rocks you can't grow too many trees. And yet God has chosen it. Why He chose it, I don't know. But it is His choice. He chose it. When He dwells upon the earth, that's where He's going to dwell. That's where He's going to reign. Of all the places on the earth, I probably would have chosen somewhere in Kauai or somewhere, you know, Hanalei Bay. But He's chosen Jerusalem. And because He has chosen it, it becomes special. Not because it is special. It's only because He chose it that it's special. He didn't choose it because it was special; but because He chose it, it has become special. It all lies in His choice. That's what made it special.
Verse 14
Now God answers at this point, verse 14, God now is talking and God declares,
This is my rest for ever (132:14):
Talking about Jerusalem.
Verses 14–18
here will I dwell; for I have desired it. I will abundantly bless her provision: I will satisfy her poor with bread. I will also clothe her priests with salvation: and her saints shall shout aloud for joy. There will I make the horn of David to bud: I have ordained a lamp for mine anointed. His enemies will I clothe with shame: but upon himself shall his crown flourish (132:14-18).
Now here is God speaking, and in the last two verses He's referring, actually, His anointed is His Messiah, or is Jesus. "There will I make the horn of David to bud," as Jesus sits upon the throne of David. "I have ordained a lamp for Mine anointed." Or My Messiah. "And His enemies will be clothed with shame, but His crown, His reign will flourish."
C3000 · 1985 to 1999
Chapter introduction
The one hundred and thirty-second psalm is a psalm that is, more or less, dedicated to David who made Jerusalem the center of worship for the nation of Israel. During the time of Saul’s reign the Ark and the tabernacle were in Gilboa. It was then captured at the end of Saul’s reign by the Philistines who found that they could not live with the Ark and thus they sent it back to the Israelis who carried it to the House of Obededom in Kirjath Jearim. There it remained up until the time that David came to the throne. Once David was established upon the throne one of the first things that he desired to do was to bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem to make the tabernacle there in Jerusalem so that that would become the place of worship for the nation. It would become the religious center of the nation so that when the people came to worship the Lord on the feast days they would becoming to Jerusalem, to Mount Zion, to the place that God had chosen for the arc to dwell.
This is the songs of the pilgrims as they were coming to Jerusalem to worship God. In the coming to Jerusalem to worship God there is that realization of the reason why we are coming to Jerusalem is because of what God laid upon the heart of David to do.
Verse 1
LORD, remember David, and all his afflictions: (132:1).
He had his share.
Verses 2–5
How he sware unto the LORD, and vowed unto the mighty God of Jacob: Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up to my bed: I will not give sleep to mine eyes, or slumber to mine eyelids, Until I find out a place for the LORD, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob [Israel] (132:2-5).
I’m not going to be content, I’m not going to rest until I created a place for the Ark of the Covenant where the people could come and worship God. It was just on the heart of David to do. So much so that he was determined not to rest in his own home, his own tabernacle. He was not going to rest until he created this place for God, that we can rest this tabernacle there where God can dwell there in the midst of the people.
Now we know that later on in David’s life, as he had then built a palace and he was dwelling in the palace, they were still worshiping the Lord in the tabernacle the tent. David said one day sitting there in his palace and enjoying all the luxuries of the palace, maybe he saw the old tent flapping in the wind “That’s not fair, that’s not right. God is living in a tent and me in a house”. So he was determined that he was going to build this magnificent for the Lord. He told his friend Nathan that he was going to build this marvelous temple to place the arc of the Covenant, a place for God to dwell. Nathan said, “David that sounds great”. God short-circuited that plan, came to Nathan in the night and said to tell David that he cannot build the house. That’s when God said, “Tell him I’ll build him a house” and God promised that the Messiah would come.
It was a disappointing thing to David that God would reject him from building the house. God said, “Your hands are too bloody. I can’t have you building a house for me. Your son will build it”. So David said, “God didn’t say anything about not planning it” so David drew up the plans. He said, “God didn’t say anything about not gathering the materials” so David gathered all of the gold and everything else for the house of the Lord. Again David’s concern with the place of worship, the house of the Lord. In bringing and setting up the tabernacle, it was so that they could bring in the Ark of the Covenant so that the people would have a place to come and worship God.
Verses 6–8
Lo, we heard of it at Ephratah: we found it in the fields of the wood. We will go into his tabernacles: we will worship at his footstool. Arise, O LORD, into thy rest; thou, and the ark of thy strength (132:6-8).
The Kirjath Jearim was in Ephratah. That’s where David went to get the ark to bring it onto Jerusalem. So we will go into the tabernacle, worship at his footstool, arise O Lord into thy rest or the place that we have created for the Ark of the Covenant. The ark of thy strength is the Ark of the Covenant, setting it up there in the tabernacle there in Jerusalem. Now that we have established this place of worship.
Verses 9–11
Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness; and let thy saints shout for joy. For thy servant David’s sake turn not away the face of thine anointed. The LORD hath sworn in truth unto David; he will not turn from it; Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne (132:9-11).
In second Chronicles chapter six this was the close of Solomon’s prayer of dedication for the temple. These verses beginning with verse nine, you have Solomon’s prayer and dedication back in verse forty in second Chronicles chapter six.
“Now, my God, let, I beseech thee, thine eyes be open, and let thine ears be attent unto the prayer that is made in this place. Now therefore arise, O LORD God, into thy resting place, thou, and the ark of thy strength: let thy priests, O LORD God, be clothed with salvation, and let thy saints rejoice in goodness. O LORD God, turn not away the face of thine anointed: remember the mercies of David thy servant (II Chronicles 6:40-42).
So you can see the parallel between this psalm and the close of Solomon’s prayer. It could be that Solomon was quoting this at the end of his prayer.
God made the promise to David that from the fruit of his body he would set one upon the throne. David understood that to mean that the Messiah who would reign forever would be a descendent of David. He rightly interpreted it that way. God promised that there would never cease to be one of David’s seed sitting upon the throne but it was a conditional promise.
Verses 12–13
If thy children will keep my covenant and my testimony that I shall teach them, their children shall also sit upon thy throne for evermore. For the LORD hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation (132:12-13).
The promise that God made to David concerning his children sitting upon the throne, the dynasty of David being a perpetual dynasty was conditional upon them keeping God’s covenant and testimony. However, David’s descendents did not. By the time you get to Zedekiah they had turned away from the Lord, they had turned to idolatry thus they were destroyed. They went into captivity and God predicted the end of that dynasty.
There are those that do not look upon this as a conditional promise of God but as an unconditional promise. Thus they say it must be that God kept that promise and therefore they have established what they call the British Israel Teaching, that the Anglo-Saxon races are actually the ten northern tribes of Israel. So if you are an Anglo-Saxon then you then are actually an Israelite, you are from one of the ten northern tribes. They have a phrase that is not really scriptural, “The lost tribes of the house of Israel”. The Bible never speaks of the lost tribes, they were never lost. God always knew where they were as he knows where they are today. Paul the apostle was from the tribe of Benjamin, he knew that.
Jesus sent the disciples out to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and there are references of all of the tribes being known at the time of the writing of the New Testament. In order to embellish this British Israel Teaching they say that Jeremiah, when he knew that Nebuchadnezzar was coming with his troops back to Jerusalem after the rebellion of Gedaliah, took one of the descendents of David one of the children of the royal family and spirited him off to England. Supposedly there he crowned him in England with several of those from the northern tribes who escaped to England. According to their teachings, the Queen of England is a direct descendant of David. Thus it is the longest continuing monarchy and they try to trace it back to David, the Anglo-Saxon nations of Europe as the ten tribes of Israel.
They have such proof as Denmark meaning Dan’s mark, the tribe of Dan. They say that the tribe of Dan settled there in Denmark so they are called Danish people. The word “ish” in Hebrew means man so Danish, Dan’s man, thus the tribe of Dan (very obvious). The British, Swedish, wherever you get the “ish” is one of the tribes. Foolish…
Notice here and this is a quoting of the promise that God made, it was conditional. David’s descendents broke the condition but underneath it all the promise was fulfilled in Jesus. He shall reign forever and ever. He shall never cease sitting upon the throne.
“Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice” (Isaiah 9:6-7).
That promise will be fulfilled through Jesus Christ the Messiah who is coming and who will reign forever upon the throne of David. There shall never cease one of David’s seed sitting upon the throne. That’s the thing God told him that really wiped him out.
Verse 13
For the LORD hath chosen Zion [Jerusalem]; he hath desired it for his habitation (132:13).
They’re coming to Jerusalem to worship God because God had chosen this as his place to dwell and to meet the people.
Verse 14
This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it (132:14).
Quoting Psalm sixty-eight verse sixteen.
Verses 15–16
I will abundantly bless her provision I will satisfy her poor with bread. I will also clothe her priests with salvation: (132:15-16).
That’s a response to the prayer in the earlier part, “Let her priests be clothed with righteousness and salvation” in second Chronicles.
Verses 16–17
and her saints shall shout aloud for joy. There will I make the horn of David to bud: (132:16-17).
That is of course the horn of David would be Jesus Christ the Messiah.
Verse 17
I have ordained a lamp for mine anointed [Messiah] (132:17).
Anointed in Hebrew is Mashiyach or my Messiah.
Verse 18
His enemies will I clothe with shame: but upon himself shall his crown flourish (132:18).
God really responds here. You notice that the last where God speaks in response to the prayer; “Arise oh Lord to thy rest, Let your priests be clothed with righteousness, Let the saints shout for joy”. In verse fourteen God responds he said, “This is my rest forever, here will I dwell for I have desired it”. In response to verse thirteen, “I will abundantly bless her provision, I will satisfy her poor and I will also clothed her priests with salvation”. So God is responding, affirming that he will do these things.