21 To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
21:1 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
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.
5 His glory is great through your salvation;
splendor and majesty you bestow on him.
6 For you make him most blessed forever;1
you make him glad with the joy of your presence.
7 For the king trusts in the Lord,
and through the steadfast love of the Most High he shall not be moved.
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.
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.
13 Be exalted, O Lord, in your strength!
We will sing and praise your power.
Section Overview
Psalm 21 is a companion to Psalm 20 (cf. Section Overview of Psalm 20). The theme here is that of thanks for God’s answer to the prayers for the king’s success in battle.
Like Psalm 20, this psalm repeats an interest in how the Lord provides “salvation” for the king (vv. 1, 5).
Section Outline
I. Thanksgiving (21:1–7)
II. Confidence for the Future (21:8–12)
III. Be Exalted! (21:13)
As with Psalm 20, we must keep a clear perception of the participants. Psalm 21:1–7 addresses the Lord (cf. v. 1), so “you” in these verses is God. In verses 8–12 the “you” could still be God, but it seems more likely, in view of the association with the crisis of Psalm 20, that we turn to address the Davidic king. It is his task to continue his military exploits on behalf of the people. Verse 13 comes back to addressing God.
I. (21:1–7) Thanksgiving. These verses are addressed to the Lord (“you”) about the king (“he”), celebrating the military success prayed for in Psalm 20. As with Psalm 20, such terms as “salvation” (21:1, 5), “your presence” (v. 6), and “trusts” (v. 7) make clear that the psalm assumes a pious and faithful king and is not intended to offer endorsement to sinful plans. These verses are similar to 18:50.
God’s rescue here is called “your salvation” (21:1, 5), that is, “your deeds of saving the king.” In 20:5 the same expression (“your salvation”) is addressed to the king, and thus it means “the saving deeds you received from God.”
The ESV text for Psalm 21:6 (“You make him most blessed forever”) might also be rendered: “You make him a source of blessing forever” (ESV mg.). The Hebrew is literally “You make him blessings forever,” and the difficulty is in ascertaining whether the king is to be the recipient (text) or the vehicle (margin) of blessings. Verse 3 (“You meet him with rich blessings”) probably tips the balance toward the first option (ESV text), but in the theology of the Bible a person receives God’s blessing in order to convey that blessing to others,190 and this is especially true of the Davidic king, who is expressly forbidden to use his blessed position to raise himself above his fellow Israelites (Deut. 17:20).
The “steadfast love of the Most High” (Ps. 21:7) could be the Most High’s steadfast love for the king and people or the king’s steadfast love for the Most High. The similar 18:50, together with the celebratory tone of this stanza, make it virtually certain that the first is intended. (On the title “Most High” cf. comment on 7:17; on “Not be moved” cf. comments on 10:1–11[at v. 6]; 15:5c.)
II. (21:8–12) Confidence for the Future. As suggested in the Section Overview, in this stanza we now turn to speak to the Davidic king, anticipating that he will continue his military exploits on behalf of the people. It is necessary (cf. comments on Psalm 20) to see that these “enemies” are “those who hate” the king (the Lord’s anointed; 20:6) and “plan evil against” him (21:11). When the king lives by the Davidic ideal, God takes hostility against the king as hostility against his own purposes, and thus against himself; therefore the godly king is the tool of God’s “wrath” (v. 9).
The expressions in verse 9, “Swallow them up” and “Fire will consume them,” may well evoke the account of the rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram in Numbers 16 (cf. Num. 26:10). This shows that the “enemies” may be Gentiles, but they may also be Israelites who do not submit to the Lord’s direction for his people. The words of the psalm are adaptable to either situation.
The description of Psalm 21:10 about destroying the enemies’ descendants may sound unduly harsh, but the words probably assume that the “descendants” and “offspring” of these hostile enemies carry on the hostility of their parents. The treatment would be different for those who leave off their animosity.
III. (21:13) Be Exalted! As in 18:46, the Lord is “exalted” when he shows his power in making the faithful king successful.
Response
Psalm 21 is the form for giving thanks when a prayer like that of Psalm 20 has been answered. Like Psalm 20 it nurtures faith and also promotes aspirations for the king to be one who “trusts in the Lord” and who “through the steadfast love of the Most High . . . shall not be moved” (21:7). That is, the way in which this thanksgiving is expressed should shape the king and people to seek after the role God has given them.
As with Psalm 20, Christians can sing this thanksgiving psalm in reference to Jesus, “great David’s greater son” (from “Hail to the Lord’s Anointed,” James Montgomery’s 1828 hymn based on Psalm 72). He has protected his church from persecuting enemies who would destroy them, and he will continue to do so until “the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Isa. 11:9).Psalm 21
Psalm 22