Psalm 132 A Song of Ascents.

 ¹Lord, remember David

And all his afflictions;

²How he swore to the Lord,

And vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob:

³“Surely I will not go into the chamber of my house,

Or go up to the comfort of my bed;

⁴I will not give sleep to my eyes

Or slumber to my eyelids,

⁵Until I find a place for the Lord,

A dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.”

⁶Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah;

We found it in the fields of the woods.

⁷Let us go into His tabernacle;

Let us worship at His footstool.

⁸Arise, O Lord, to Your resting place,

You and the ark of Your strength.

⁹Let Your priests be clothed with righteousness,

And let Your saints shout for joy.

¹⁰For Your servant David’s sake,

Do not turn away the face of Your Anointed.

¹¹The Lord has sworn in truth to David;

He will not turn from it:

“I will set upon your throne the fruit of your body.

¹²If your sons will keep My covenant

And My testimony which I shall teach them,

Their sons also shall sit upon your throne forevermore.”

¹³For the Lord has chosen Zion;

He has desired it for His dwelling place:

¹⁴“This is My resting place forever;

Here I will dwell, for I have desired it.

¹⁵I will abundantly bless her provision;

I will satisfy her poor with bread.

¹⁶I will also clothe her priests with salvation,

And her saints shall shout aloud for joy.

¹⁷There I will make the horn of David grow;

I will prepare a lamp for My Anointed.

¹⁸His enemies I will clothe with shame,

But upon Himself His crown shall flourish.”

Commentary

Vs. 1-5 ¹Lord, remember David

And all his afflictions;

²How he swore to the Lord,

And vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob:

³“Surely I will not go into the chamber of my house,

Or go up to the comfort of my bed;

⁴I will not give sleep to my eyes

Or slumber to my eyelids,

⁵Until I find a place for the Lord,

A dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.”

The Psalm opens with a plea for the Lord to remember…, to remember his servant David and all his afflictions... afflictions which he bore in keeping his own word to the Lord, his sworn oath and vow to the Lord to build Him a dwelling place on earth. Such then was David’s commitment to this very purpose that he swore that he would neither find rest nor comfort in his own house until he had accomplished this mission. Now we know that later the Lord would not permit him to fulfill this himself, because David had been a man of war and had shed much blood, therefore the Lord promised him that he would raise up a son from him who would build His house (i.e. Temple) and He would establish his throne forever (see 1 Samuel 7:1-17; 2 Samuel 7:1-17; 1 Kings 8:17-21; 1 Chr. 22:1-19; 28:1-29:20; 2 Chr. 6:3-11 etc.). And so the Psalmists recalling David’s tribulations born out of David keeping his promise to the Lord is an appeal to the Lord to remember His house which He founded through David, for it came at the cost of His own servant sufferings. All which is ultimately fulfilled in Christ.

Vs. 6-7 ⁶Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah;

We found it in the fields of the woods.

⁷Let us go into His tabernacle;

Let us worship at His footstool.

The Psalm now takes a step back to the time when the Ark of the Covenant was recovered and then later moved by David into its finial resting place in Jerusalem, from where it would eventually be placed in the Temple built by Solomon. But first a little history. Ephrathah is the ancient name of Bethlehem (Gen. 48:7). And so here it is recalled by the Psalmist the joy of the people there after the Ark of Covenant that had been captured by the Philistines (see 1 Samuel 4:1-11) was returned because the hand of God was heavy upon them (see 1 Samuel 6:1-7:2). And so the Ark came to the territory of Kirjath-Jearim (which means, city in the woods) and stayed there for twenty years, before David moved the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem to establish a place there for it forever (see 1 Samuel 6:1-7:17). Thus, in  verses (vs. 6-8) they are in recalling that celebratory mood when David moved the Ark successfully to its Tabernacle, the Holy Tent, that it dwelt in before the Temple was built to motivate and move God’s people to make their joyful pilgrimage and come and worship the Lord at His footstool in Jerusalem.

Vs. 8-9 ⁸Arise, O Lord, to Your resting place,

You and the ark of Your strength.

⁹Let Your priests be clothed with righteousness,

And let Your saints shout for joy.

With the Ark of the Covenant returned to its holy place, the priests now call on the Lord to return to His resting place, the Tabernacle and later the Temple in Jerusalem where His offerings were to be given Him and His presence was to be sought. In accord with this, the prayer is for a Godly lineage of priests to maintain its service, and that all His people once again shout for joy at His return and presence amongst them. Worshiping the Lord then entails both righteousness and wholeheartedness. 

Vs. 10-11 ¹⁰For Your servant David’s sake,

Do not turn away the face of Your Anointed.

¹¹The Lord has sworn in truth to David;

He will not turn from it:

“I will set upon your throne the fruit of your body.

In verse ten we have a Messianic turn, for the Anointed here is not Solomon, but ultimately like all of God’s promises to David about setting up his seed on his throne, it finds its prophetic fulfillment in Christ.

Vs. 12 “If your sons will keep My covenant

And My testimony which I shall teach them,

Their sons also shall sit upon your throne forevermore.”

God’s Covenant with David was unconditional, but David's son’s position with God as His kings was conditional upon their obeying Him. And in this none of the later kings ever found the favor of the Lord as David had, for ultimately His Promise here was to be fulfilled in God's own Son the Lord Jesus Christ, for He is the One, the only One who ever fully obeyed Him. 

Vs. 13-18 ¹³For the Lord has chosen Zion;

He has desired it for His dwelling place:

¹⁴“This is My resting place forever;

Here I will dwell, for I have desired it.

¹⁵I will abundantly bless her provision;

I will satisfy her poor with bread.

¹⁶I will also clothe her priests with salvation,

And her saints shall shout aloud for joy.

¹⁷There I will make the horn of David grow;

I will prepare a lamp for My Anointed.

¹⁸His enemies I will clothe with shame,

But upon Himself His crown shall flourish.”

Having established His Throne the Lord Himself now takes His stand for Zion, assuring all His people that this will be His dwelling place forever! (vs. 13-14). Therefore, starting in verse thirteen all the previous prayer requests will now be fulfilled. For the Lord Himself will abundantly bless her provision; He will satisfy her poor with bread (vs. 15). This will be the state of Jerusalem when Christ Reigns. Furthermore, He will clothe all her priests with salvation, (not just righteousness), and all her saints, that is every believer, shall shout aloud for joy! And it will be there that the Lord will make the horn of David grow, that is with Him David's position will never be diminished.  And He will Raise up His Mighty King the Lord Jesus Christ through David’s throne for it will be a lamp for His Anointed, that is through David the Lord Jesus Christ’s Throne will be established (vs. 17). As for His enemies, all of them shall be clothed with shame, while He Himself Ruling as King shall have no end (Isaiah 9:7; Luke 1:33).

Scripture Quotations

New King James (1982): Thomas Nelson.