Psalms 132:8-9

Psalms 132:8

In the Psalm before us this prayer stands in a kind of central position: central to the need which prompted it on the one hand, and on the other hand to the bountiful answer which it received.

I. The Temple is here spoken of as the "rest" or abiding-place of God. The original allusion is doubtless to the long wanderings of the symbol of His presence; and it marks a transition from the nomadic condition of the tribes to the compacted life of the nation, and a transfer of obligation suited to the change.

II. The Temple, gorgeous as it was, was incomplete and valueless without the ark. Unless the Lord took possession, the house was left unto the builders desolate, alienated from the purposes of its construction, a lonely and decorated folly.

III. Notice the other blessings which are directly or by obvious implication asked for in the prayer. (1) The presence of God is the chief, the all-absorbing, object of desire; but that presence implies its own diffusion in blessing. The ark of His strength in the Temple implies that those who are in communion with Him may draw upon the resources of His power. (2) The prayer then asks that the "priests may be clothed with righteousness," which is, in fact, a petition for personal purity. (3) The third blessing asked for is a holy joy in God joy which has its foundation in the sense of oneness with God both in favour and feeling, and which has its outlet in the appropriate expressions of praise.

IV. Notice the bountiful answer to the prayer, so prompt, so generous, so full. The first ten verses of the Psalm are the prayer. In the eleventh the answer begins. The petition is, "Arise, O Lord, into Thy rest;" the answer, "This is My rest for ever:" the prayer, "Let Thy priests be clothed with righteousness;" the answer, "I will also clothe her priests with salvation"which is of righteousness the flower, and crown, and perfecting: the prayer, "Let Thy saints shout for joy;" the response, "And her saints shall shout aloudfor joy." And then, as if were thrown in the largess of the King, there are abundance and bounty, the blessings of the camp and of the "horn;" that is, the gifts of wisdom and power, the discomfiture of his enemies and on his head an ever-prosperous crown.

W. Morley Punshon, Christian World Pulpit,vol. iii., p. 385.