Psalms 149

Psalm 149:1-3 . Sing unto the Lord a new song — For these new mercies conferred upon us, denied to former times. Let Israel rejoice in him that made him — That made them not only his creatures, but, which is unspeakably greater, his people; or, that advanced them to, and adorned them with, singular privileges, as the word עשׁה , here used, is understood 1 Samuel 12:6 , and elsewhere. Let the children of Zion be joyful in their king — In Jehovah, who condescends, in a peculiar sense, to become their king, and, in the exercise of his kingly power, delivers, protects, and governs them as his subjects. Let them praise his name in the dance, &c. — According to the usage of that time and dispensation: see notes on Exodus 15:20-21 ; 2 Samuel 6:14 . True Christians are now the people to whom belong the names and characters of saints, Israel, and children of Zion. They sing this holy song as the psalmist hath enjoined them to do. They sing it as new men, with new affections and dispositions, and in its evangelical sense, celebrating new victories, and victories of a new kind, and new and greater mercies, even a spiritual salvation and an eternal redemption. “They rejoice with hearts and voices,” if not also with “instruments, and every other token of joy, in him who made them, who created them anew in righteousness and true holiness: they are joyful in their king, who hath himself overcome, and is now leading them on to final conquest and triumph, to honour and immortality.”

Psalm 149:4 . The Lord taketh pleasure in his people — He loveth them above all people, and rejoiceth over them to do them good. He will beautify the meek — The humble, and lowly, and contrite in heart, that tremble at his word, and submit to it; that are patient under their afflictions, and show all meekness toward all men. These the men of the world vilify and asperse; but God will justify them, and wipe off their reproach; nay, he will beautify, or adorn, or glorify them, as יפאר signifies. They shall appear, not only clear, but comely and honourable before all the world, with the comeliness and dignity wherewith he clothes them. He will beautify them with salvation, perhaps with temporal salvation, working remarkable deliverances for them; and then they who had lain among the pots, become as the wings of a dove covered with silver, Psalm 68:13 : but especially with eternal salvation. The righteous shall be beautified indeed in that day when they shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.

1 Praise ye the Lord. Sing unto the Lord a new song, and his praise in the congregation of saints. 2 Let Israel rejoice in him that made him - let the children of Zion be joyful in their King. 3 Let them praise his name in the dance - let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp. 4 For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation. 5 Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds. 6 Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand; 7 To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people; 8 To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; 9 To execute upon them the judgment written - this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the Lord. Psalm 149:1 "Praise ye the Lord." Specially you, ye chosen people, whom he has made to be his saints. You have praised him aforetime, praise him yet again; yea, for ever praise him. With renewed zeal and fresh delight lift up your song unto Jehovah. "Sing unto the Lord a new song." Sing, for it is the fittest method for expressing reverent praise. Sing a hymn newly composed, for you have now a new knowledge of God. He is ever new in his manifestations; his mercies are new every morning; his deliverances are new in every night of sorrow; let your gratitude and thanksgivings be new also. It is well to repeat the old; it is more useful to invent the new. Novelty goes well with heartiness.

Our singing should be "unto the Lord"; the songs we sing should be of him and to him, "for of him, and to him, and through him are all things." Among our novelties there should be new songs: alas! men are fonder of making new complaints than new Psalms. Our new songs should be devised in Jehovah's honour; indeed all our newest thoughts should run towards him. Never can we find a nobler subject for a song than the Lord, nor one more full of fresh matter for a new song, nor one which we are personally so much bound to sing as a new song "unto the Lord." "And his praise in the congregation of saints." Saints are precious, and a congregation of saints is a treasure house of jewels. God is in the midst of saints, and because of this we may well long to be among them. They are so full of his praise that we feel at home among them when we are ourselves full of praise. The sanctuary is the house of praise as well as the house of prayer. All saints praise God: they would not be saints if they did not. Their praise is sincere, suitable, seasonable, and acceptable. Personal praise is sweet unto God, but congregated praise has a multiplicity of sweetnesses in it. When holy ones meet, they adore the Holy One. Saints do not gather to amuse themselves with music, nor to extol one another, but to sing his praise whose saints they are. A congregation of saints is heaven upon earth: should not Jehovah, the Lord of saints, have all the praise that can come from such an assembly?

(3) In the dance. —Rather, as margin, with the pipe. The use of the word machôl in what was evidently a list of all the orchestral instruments used in the Temple in the next psalm, would alone be almost decisive of the meaning. But one possible derivation is certainly in favour of this rendering, as also the translation in the Syriac version by the name of a flute still found in Syria. Its connection, too, with the timbrel or drum (comp. our pipe and tabor), just as a cognate, chalîl, is connected in 1Samuel 10:5 ; Isaiah 5:12 , points the same way. (See Bible Educator, i. p. 70, and Note to Song of Solomon 6:13 .) Timbrel.—See Exodus 15:20; Bible Educator, i. 314. Harp.—See Psalm 33:2.