Psalms 132:1-18

This is the most difficult of the Pilgrim Songs. According to accepted literary criticism it must be a post-exilic Ps. The Temple worship has been restored. The days of David are in the distant past. The circumstances of the time are such that God's promise to David of a perpetual dynasty is recalled as a ground of hope. Accordingly we must believe that the writer either incorporated a fragment from an earlier period, Psalms 132:6, or represented Israel speaking, dramatically describing three periods, (1) Psalms 132:6, the time of David; (2) 8, 9, the time of Solomon; (3) 10, the writer's own age. In any case, the Ps. is one of great charm and delicacy, echoing and re-echoing the promise that Jehovah hath chosen Zion for His habitation.