149 Praise the Lord!
Sing to the Lord a new song,
his praise in the assembly of the godly!
2 Let Israel be glad in his Maker;
let the children of Zion rejoice in their King!
3 Let them praise his name with dancing,
making melody to him with tambourine and lyre!
4 For the Lord takes pleasure in his people;
he adorns the humble with salvation.
5 Let the godly exult in glory;
let them sing for joy on their beds.
6 Let the high praises of God be in their throats
and two-edged swords in their hands,
7 to execute vengeance on the nations
and punishments on the peoples,
8 to bind their kings with chains
and their nobles with fetters of iron,
9 to execute on them the judgment written!
This is honor for all his godly ones.
Praise the Lord!
Section Overview
This hymn of praise (cf. Section Overview of Psalm 146) calls on God’s people to praise the Lord for their special privileges. In particular, if Psalm 148 recalls the benefits the whole world will one day receive through God’s work on behalf of the faithful in Israel, then Psalm 149 ends by calling to mind the expectation that the faithful will one day be God’s agents of judgment throughout the world.
The word “godly” is repeated (vv. 1, 5, 9), pointing to a unified theme to the whole. (For this Hb. term, hasid, cf. comment on 4:2–3).806 The first section ponders the Lord’s pleasure in his people as the source of praise (149:1–4), while the second anticipates the role the godly will play in sharing God’s rule (vv. 5–9).
Section Outline
I. Let the Godly Sing to Their Maker, Who Delights in Them (149:1–4)
II. Let the Godly Exult in the Honor of Sharing in God’s Rule (149:5–9)
Response
It cannot have been easy in ancient Israel to hold firmly to one’s faith. The ordinary stresses of subsistence farming would have been difficult enough, but, especially as time went on, the nation of Israel became smaller and less significant. Finally Judah went into exile. Though afterward restored, it was still subject to powers that had little sympathy with biblical faith, and it was constantly threatened with oppression and even persecution. Singing Psalm 149 should help the faithful to keep their heads up and rejoice amid hardship and danger, knowing that God has a glorious future for those who trust in him—a future that includes a role in his dispensing of justice in his own good time!
Christians have inherited both the glorious position of Israel and, at times, the precarious standing in the world as it now is. And yet they profess that they will have a role in judging the world (1 Cor. 6:2–3; Jude 14–15; Rev. 19:14), and they can sing Psalm 149 to hold fast their faith and confidence.Psalm 149
Psalm 150