Today’s Passage: Psalm 149
This psalm opens with a new song, with dancing and the ring of the tambourine, and with a God who takes pleasure in His people. Then it turns, and into the same scene come a two-edged sword and the judgment of the nations. Hear the whole of it, both halves together. Do not soften the blade into a picture so that no one ever meets the Judge, and do not reach for it to settle a score of your own.
The book’s very last word was already sung back on Day 11, and today we sit with this psalm.
As you read, hold this: High praises in the mouth, and a two-edged sword in the hand.
Context Joy first. Then the sword.
There are nine verses here, and they move in two motions. First the assembly of the godly, the Maker, the King, and the shouting even upon their beds. Then the blade, the nations, the judgment written, and the honor of all His saints. The same mouth that sings the first sings the second. The Psalter has already given its final shout of praise, and yet this psalm still has to be heard on its own.
Psalm 149:1-3 (BSB)
¹ Hallelujah! Sing to the LORD a new song—His praise in the assembly of the godly. ² Let Israel rejoice in their Maker; let the children of Zion rejoice in their King. ³ Let them praise His name with dancing, and make music to Him with tambourine and harp.
A new song, sung in the assembly, to the Maker and the King, with dancing and tambourine and harp. Do not rush past any of it. This joy is not a setup on the way to something else, and it is not meant to be skipped.
Psalm 149:4-6 (BSB)
⁴ For the LORD takes pleasure in His people; He adorns the afflicted with salvation. ⁵ Let the saints exult in glory; let them shout for joy upon their beds. ⁶ May the high praises of God be in their mouths, and a double-edged sword in their hands,
He takes pleasure in His people and clothes the afflicted with salvation, and His saints shout for joy even upon their beds. Then comes the pairing this passage holds together: the high praises of God in the mouth, and a chereb, pronounced KHEH-rev. Strong's H2719, a sword. It is the ordinary word for a real blade, an edge on both sides. The psalm sets it in the very same hands that hold the high praises, and it neither explains the blade away nor hands it over to a private grudge. in the hand.
Psalm 149:7-9 (BSB)
⁷ to inflict vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples, ⁸ to bind their kings with chains and their nobles with shackles of iron, ⁹ to execute the judgment written against them. This honor is for all His saints. Hallelujah!
Vengeance on the nations, punishment on the peoples, their kings bound in chains and their nobles in iron, and the judgment already written now carried out. This honor belongs to all His saints. Hallelujah. Hear the words as they stand, and do not sand them down into a passing mood.
Study notes The judgment written
He judges, and that much is settled. The nations will not talk their way out of the judgment that has been written, and the saints are named in the honor of it. Exactly when this comes, and on what timetable, is a question this study leaves open.
Do not take up the blade to pay a private debt, for revenge is not baptized here. And do not turn the blade into a mere metaphor so that no one has to hear that there is a Judge.
John sees the King do what this psalm says will be done.
"And from His mouth proceeds a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and He will rule them with an iron scepter. He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty." Revelation 19:15 (BSB)
A sharp sword, the nations struck, the King ruling, and the winepress His own. High praises in the mouth, and a two-edged sword in the hand.
High praises in the mouth, and a two-edged sword in the hand.