The Lord Delights in His People

Psalm 149:4 (NIV)

For the Lord takes delight in His people; He crowns the humble with victory.

Our Verse of the Day comes from a Psalm focused on praise … as Verse 1 suggests. As usual, I thought to read the entire Psalm to review Verse 4 in context. As I read through Verse 5, I was identifying with the Psalmist and the ideas of how to praise the Lord. But as I read Verse 6 and the remainder of the Psalm, I was somewhat startled with the overtone of violence and how it had been connected with praise. I’ll let you read it, and contemplate it yourself for a moment.

Psalm 149

¹ Praise the Lord. Sing to the Lord a new song, His praise in the assembly of His faithful people.

² Let Israel rejoice in their Maker; let the people of Zion be glad in their King.
³ Let them praise His name with dancing and make music to Him with timbrel and harp.
⁴ For the Lord takes delight in His people;He crowns the humble with victory.
⁵ Let His faithful people rejoice in this honor and sing for joy on their beds.

⁶ May the praise of God be in their mouths and a double-edged sword in their hands,
⁷ to inflict vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples,
⁸ to bind their kings with fetters, their nobles with shackles of iron,

⁹ to carry out the sentence written against them— this is the glory of all His faithful people. Praise the Lord.

I sought out some commentaries to provide some historical or cultural context to afford a better understanding of the meaning or even symbolism for the language that the Psalmist used. I have reprinted below what I believe is a thoughtful reflection on the passage for us, and I hope sharing it will present some light on otherwise seemingly dark imagery:

Commentary From Enduring Word on Verses 6-9

Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand:

God’s people are pictured as ready for battle, equipped with two mighty weapons:

• They bear the high praises of God; their worship indicates the allegiance and surrender to the God of every victory experienced in life. In 2 Chronicles 20:20-21 a great victory was won for the people of God as they entered the battle with praise.

• They bear a two-edged sword in their hand, demonstrating both the use of practical weapons and means, and in a spiritual sense, their reliance upon the Word of God, which is described as a two-edged sword (Cf. Revelation 19:15); considered sharper than a one-edged sword (Cf. Hebrews 4:12); and metaphorically referenced as the sword of the Spirit (Cf. Ephesians 6:17).

i. In their mouth: “‘In their throat,’ per the Hebrew, for God’s saints sing deep down in their throats. There is a deeply rooted music when we praise God, which is altogether unlike the mere syllables of the lips that come from a hypocrite’s tongue.” (Spurgeon)

ii. “Their praise is not merely to be that of the chanting of words. It is also to be in the doing of His will. While the high praises of God are in their mouth, a two-edged sword is to be in their hand, with which they carry out His purposes among the peoples, the kings, and the nobles.” (Morgan)

iii. “In this state of mind, the Lord will grant victory to his people, as He did to Nehemiah and his men who worked with ‘sword and trowel’ while praying to the Lord (Cf. Nehemiah 4:9, 16–23), believing that ‘Our God will fight for us!’ (Cf. Nehemiah 4:20).” (Van Gemeren)

iv. A saying among Americans came from the Second World War: Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition. Psalm 149:6 has something of that idea.

v. The combination of these two – the high praises of God and the two-edged sword spiritually speaks to every leader among God’s people. The gatherings of God’s people should excel in both praise and the preaching of God’s Word. We should always press to have excellent praises of God and a right, sharp handling of the sword of the Spirit.

vi. “The Word of God is all edge; whichever way we turn it, it strikes deadly blows at falsehood and wickedness. If we do not praise, we shall grow sad in our conflict; and if we do not fight, we shall become presumptuous in our song. The verse indicates a happy blending of the chorister and the crusader.” (Spurgeon)

vii. “If you had a sword of steel, you would fight with men; but that is no part of your business. You are not called to that cruel work; but, as you have the sword of the Spirit, which is two-edged, which is indeed all edge, for it cuts whichever way you turn it, go forth and praise God by the use of that two-edged sword which is the Word of God.” (Spurgeon)

To execute vengeance on the nations:

The power of praise and the Word of God will ultimately see God’s work accomplished among the nations. For those who persist in disobedience, it will be vengeance and punishments at the end of the age. Not even kings or nobles can escape this judgment to come.

i. “The stern close of the Psalm strikes a note which many ears feel to be discordant… [Yet] it is entirely free from any sentiment of personal vengeance.” (Maclaren)

ii. Execute vengeance: “For all their cruelties and injuries towards God’s people. This was literally accomplished by David upon the Philistines, Ammonites, Syrians, and other neighboring nations and princes, which were bitter enemies to God’s people.” (Poole)

iii. “Now, in terms of a holy war, such as those of Israel against the Canaanites, we sing of the retribution which will overtake the enemies of God. As a nation, Israel had been charged with executing this in literal fact at her entry into the promised land; and at the last day the angels, the armies of heaven, will accompany our Lord to judgment.” (Kidner)

iv. We see that in the immediate context of the Psalmist, in some way Israel was to be the agent to execute vengeance. This means that their joyful praise had to connect itself to radical obedience, even to God’s difficult and costly commands. As believers under a new covenant, we don’t battle flesh and blood enemies (Cf. Ephesians 6:12-18), yet we have the responsibility to be not only worshippers, but warriors in a spiritual warfare that at times will be difficult and costly. In a spiritual sense, we are to execute vengeance on everything that would oppose Jesus Christ and the work of His Kingdom in our life.

v. “Our equivalent of binding kings with chains (Verse 8) is to ‘take every thought captive to obey Christ’ (Cf. 2 Corinthians 10:5).” (Kidner)

vi. To execute on them the judgment written: “It would be a sad thing for anyone to misuse this text: lest any warlike believer should be led to do so, we would remind him that the execution must not go beyond the sentence and warrant; and we have received no warrant of execution against our fellow men.” (Spurgeon)

vii. For the believer under the New Covenant, there is a judgment written against every spiritual enemy, and Jesus wrote it by His work on the cross (Cf. John 16:11; Colossians 2:14).

viii. To execute vengeance: “The history of this song is one of great sadness, due to grave misinterpretation, and grievous misapplication. Delitzsch has said: ‘By means of this Psalm, Kaspar Scioppius, in his Classicum Belli Sacri, inflamed the Roman Catholic princes to the Thirty Years’ Religious War. And, within the Protestant Church, Thomas Münzer, by means of this Psalm, stirred up the War of the Peasants.’” (Morgan)

ix. Especially in light of how this verse has been abused, it is important to remember what Morgan noted: “There is no reference in this Psalm to the Church of God. As it specifically indicates, it has to do with ‘Israel,’ and with ‘the children of Zion.’”

This honor have all His saints:

In some way beyond our present comprehension, God will use His people in the setting right the wrongs of this present age. Even if our participation is only as an audience to the righteous judgments of God, it will be an honor to all His saints. “They are redeemed from bondage that they may be God’s warriors. The honor and obligation are universal.” (Maclaren)

Praise the LORD! This sentence – one word in the Hebrew, hallelujah – is understood as either a declaration or an exhortation. Here especially it can be taken as an exhortation, and encouragement for all those who reject and resist God to praise Him instead, to be among His saints and not among the nations who will receive God’s vengeance.

My friends, I know this discussion has been rather lengthy, but I anticipated that many of you would have read the entire Psalm as I did; and I felt like the transition in Verse 6 going into the remainder of the Psalm was fairly intense. To be honest, it bothered me greatly until I read some of the commentaries which gave me a better perspective and reminded me that the Word of God is a metaphoric double-edged sword. Its work within our inner being, through the agency of the Holy Spirit, is to wage war against the rebellion and evil so prevalent within the world because it lies within the human heart. I believe this presents a more balanced application for born-again believers under the New Covenant.

So Now You Know…

Have a Blessed Day!

His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor His delight in the legs of the warrior; the Lord delights in those who fear Him, who put their hope in His unfailing love. ~ Psalm 147:10-11