Psalm 149:4-8
"For the LORD taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation.
Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a twoedged sword in their hand;
To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people; To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron;"
For ages, humans have spent much time and energy grappling with a couple of questions regarding our existence. Why are we here? How did we get here? These two questions are so closely connected, that they can not be answered apart from each other. Biblically speaking, we (speaking of humans in general) arrived on earth through the creation and we were
created for the purpose of pleasing God. Revelations 4:11 bears this out by saying "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created".
Most dictionaries define pleasure as "the state of being gratified or indulged". Pleasure involves the satisfaction of desires. Though we usually think of pleasure as being something negative, God-honoring pleasure is actually something that we were created to partake in. Going beyond human pleasure, Psalm 149:4 tells us about something much more significant! It tells us what God takes pleasure in.
Who are these people that King David refers to? The usage of "people" in this case indicates a "nation" or "kinsman". Obviously the phrase "my people" was used throughout the Old Testament to refer to the physical nation of Israel. Does "my people" exclude Gentile believers? Of course not! True Gentile believers have become the "children of the promise" (Romans 9:8). Furthermore,Romans 9:25 specifically calls Gentiles "my people". Those of us who have been redeemed have a special standing before God that allows us to please Him, namely the redemption purchased by Jesus Christ. While God certainly expects us to be righteous (Matthew 5:20), He does not want us to trust in our own righteousness for the sake of pleasing Him. The passage we are considering truly teaches us that God loves His people and guides them and also covers them with righteousness.
"He will beautify the meek with salvation" seems to refer to how God adorns believers with the graces of His Holy Spirit and forms them in His image. This beautiful act is the creation of what we call the "the new man" or "the new creation". This new creation is essential to please God, seeing that "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God" (I Corinthians 15:50).
From this natural sense of awe at the profound beauty of the plan of salvation, praise and joy flow out of our lips and hearts. This is clearly expressed in verses 5-6. However, at the end of verse 6, we see something of a suprise. A two-edged sword!!! This is a phrase that we associate with the New Testament (namely Hebrews 4:12), yet it has its root in the Old Testament (verse 6 and also Proverbs 5:4).
Verse 7-8 are a bit hard to interpret, even though they are not to be ignored! A similar concept is repeated in Romans 13:4. God has often used physical punishment on the heathen and evildoers. Matthew Henry once said "Some of God's servants of old were appointed to execute vengeance according to his word. They did not do it from personal revenge or earthly politics, but in obedience to God's commands". This earthly justice was a foreshadow of the eternal justice that unredeemed sinners will face. One writer once said "The wrath of God is His eternal detestation of all unrighteousness. It is the displeasure and indignation of Divine equity against evil. It is the holiness of God stirred into activity against sin. It is the moving cause of that just sentence which He passes upon evil-doers. God is angry against sin because it is a rebelling against His authority, a wrong done to His inviolable sovereignty".
It is also helpful to interpret verses 6-8 in a figurative way. God's Word (the sword) is in the hand of the believers (his people) and they use it to confound the enemy (referred to as the heathen, kings, and nobles in this passage). The enemy may be Satan or even those who work against the Gospel. While it is a horrible though to think of justice and judgement, it clearly shows us the gravity of not obeying God. Mark 9:43 illustrates the gravity of sin by saying "And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:".
Let's all strive to use our Sword (the Bible) to cut off those things that make us disobey God (whether they be thoughts, motives, habits, opinions, attitudes, actions, etc). Those of us who are Christians need to also cry out to Jesus as our intercessor, and the unsaved ought to cry out to Jesus perchance He will save them.
"For the LORD taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation.
Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a twoedged sword in their hand;
To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people; To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron;"
For ages, humans have spent much time and energy grappling with a couple of questions regarding our existence. Why are we here? How did we get here? These two questions are so closely connected, that they can not be answered apart from each other. Biblically speaking, we (speaking of humans in general) arrived on earth through the creation and we were
created for the purpose of pleasing God. Revelations 4:11 bears this out by saying "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created".
Most dictionaries define pleasure as "the state of being gratified or indulged". Pleasure involves the satisfaction of desires. Though we usually think of pleasure as being something negative, God-honoring pleasure is actually something that we were created to partake in. Going beyond human pleasure, Psalm 149:4 tells us about something much more significant! It tells us what God takes pleasure in.
Who are these people that King David refers to? The usage of "people" in this case indicates a "nation" or "kinsman". Obviously the phrase "my people" was used throughout the Old Testament to refer to the physical nation of Israel. Does "my people" exclude Gentile believers? Of course not! True Gentile believers have become the "children of the promise" (Romans 9:8). Furthermore,Romans 9:25 specifically calls Gentiles "my people". Those of us who have been redeemed have a special standing before God that allows us to please Him, namely the redemption purchased by Jesus Christ. While God certainly expects us to be righteous (Matthew 5:20), He does not want us to trust in our own righteousness for the sake of pleasing Him. The passage we are considering truly teaches us that God loves His people and guides them and also covers them with righteousness.
"He will beautify the meek with salvation" seems to refer to how God adorns believers with the graces of His Holy Spirit and forms them in His image. This beautiful act is the creation of what we call the "the new man" or "the new creation". This new creation is essential to please God, seeing that "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God" (I Corinthians 15:50).
From this natural sense of awe at the profound beauty of the plan of salvation, praise and joy flow out of our lips and hearts. This is clearly expressed in verses 5-6. However, at the end of verse 6, we see something of a suprise. A two-edged sword!!! This is a phrase that we associate with the New Testament (namely Hebrews 4:12), yet it has its root in the Old Testament (verse 6 and also Proverbs 5:4).
Verse 7-8 are a bit hard to interpret, even though they are not to be ignored! A similar concept is repeated in Romans 13:4. God has often used physical punishment on the heathen and evildoers. Matthew Henry once said "Some of God's servants of old were appointed to execute vengeance according to his word. They did not do it from personal revenge or earthly politics, but in obedience to God's commands". This earthly justice was a foreshadow of the eternal justice that unredeemed sinners will face. One writer once said "The wrath of God is His eternal detestation of all unrighteousness. It is the displeasure and indignation of Divine equity against evil. It is the holiness of God stirred into activity against sin. It is the moving cause of that just sentence which He passes upon evil-doers. God is angry against sin because it is a rebelling against His authority, a wrong done to His inviolable sovereignty".
It is also helpful to interpret verses 6-8 in a figurative way. God's Word (the sword) is in the hand of the believers (his people) and they use it to confound the enemy (referred to as the heathen, kings, and nobles in this passage). The enemy may be Satan or even those who work against the Gospel. While it is a horrible though to think of justice and judgement, it clearly shows us the gravity of not obeying God. Mark 9:43 illustrates the gravity of sin by saying "And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:".
Let's all strive to use our Sword (the Bible) to cut off those things that make us disobey God (whether they be thoughts, motives, habits, opinions, attitudes, actions, etc). Those of us who are Christians need to also cry out to Jesus as our intercessor, and the unsaved ought to cry out to Jesus perchance He will save them.
