Psalm 21- The Response of Faith
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
In light of God’s deliverance in the time of Jacob’s trouble— "the Church is here blessing the Lord for those victories of her Redeemer and King,...” (Hawker's Poor Man's Commentary)
“Some think it was composed to celebrate the victory obtained over Sennacherib; others, that it was made on the recovery of Hezekiah, and the grant of fifteen years of longer life;… Others and they with most appearance of propriety consider it a song of rejoicing composed by David for his victory over the Ammonites which ended in the capture of the royal city of Rabbah, the crown of whose king David put on his own head…and to procure which victory David offered the prayers and sacrifices mentioned in the preceding Psalm.—> Lastly, many think that it is to be wholly referred to the victories of the Messiah; and it must be owned that there are several expressions in it which apply better to our Lord than to David, or to any other person; and to him the Targum applies it, as does likewise my old Anglo-Scottish Psalter…” (Adam Clarke)
1 The King shall have joy in Your strength, O Lord; and in Your salvation how greatly shall He rejoice! 2 You have given Him His heart’s desire, and have not withheld the request of His lips. Selah
“‘The King‘- משיחא מלך melech Meshicha, ‘the King Messiah.’ - Targum...— 'shall have joy in your Strength and in Your salvation'— Father— 'how greatly shall He rejoice! You have given Him His heart’s desire,’— This seems to refer to the prayers offered in the preceding Psalm; see Psalm 21:4.” (Clarke) “’You have not withheld the desire of His lips’. — “His own resurrection and exaltation, for the benefit of His church; and now He ever liveth to make request [intercession] with His lips, for the conversion and salvation of sinners.” (Horne) "He will not only grant what is asked from Him, but, anticipating the requests of the King, will load Him with every kind of good thing far beyond what He had ever expected.” (Calvin) Selah. Meditate upon the future benefits of present service to Him.
3 For You meet Him with the blessings of goodness; You set a crown of pure gold upon His head. 4 He asked life from You, and You gave it to Him— length of days forever and ever. 5 His glory is great in Your salvation; honor and majesty You have placed upon Him. 6 For You have made Him most blessed forever; You have made Him exceedingly glad with Your presence. 7 For the King trusts in Yahweh, and through the mercy of the Most High He shall not be moved.
“For You meet Him with the blessings of goodness. You set a crown of pure gold upon His head;’—which is expressive of His victory over all enemies, sin, satan, and the world, death and hell; and of His being possessed of His throne and kingdom; and has respect to His exaltation at the right hand of God, where He is crowned with glory and honour: and this crown being of ‘pure gold’ denotes [deity, that is] the purity, glory, solidity, and perpetuity of His kingdom; this is a crown,... which His father put upon Him, who has set Him King over His holy hill of Zion, Psalm 2:6; compare with this Revelation 14:14..— ’He asked life from You, and You gave it to Him,’.—… Both for Himself,....that He might be raised to life again, which was granted Him; and for His people, that they might live spiritually and eternally... — ‘even length of days for ever and ever’—… and the life which is granted them at His request is an everlasting one,.. for though they die as other men, they shall live again in the resurrection of the just, and never die more, but shall be like the angels in heaven; and as for the second death, that shall not harm them, nor have any power over them; they will live and reign with Christ forever.” (John Gill)
“When You shall make His soul an offering for sin, He shall prolong His days. Length of days for ever and ever.” (Isa 53:10) So, this “ is an expression which, however some understand of David and his successors on the throne, can with no degree of propriety belong to him or to them, but as referring to that King forever, who was of the lineage of David, and of Whose Kingdom there shall be no end. See Luke 1:32-33.” (Tho. Coke)
“’For You have made Him most blessed forever;’ i.e. to be the Author of all felicity and blessedness to His subjects and servants. See Galatians 3:8. In conformity to the next clause, ‘Thou hast made Him glad, etc. Jesus Christ says of Himself, ‘My heart is glad, and My glory rejoices; in Thy presence is the fulness of joy’, etc. Psalms 9:11.“ (Thomas Coke) “For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him.” (Col 1:19) “‘He is THE Mediator between God and man. ‘You have made Him exceeding glad’ - Jesus, as Messiah, for the joy that was set before him, of redeeming a lost world by his death, endured the cross, and despised the shame, and is for ever set down on the right hand of God.” (Adam Clarke)
8 Your hand will find all Your enemies; Your right hand will find those who hate You. 9 You shall make them as a fiery oven in the time of Your anger; Yahweh shall swallow them up in His wrath, and the fire shall devour them. 10 Their offspring You shall destroy from the earth, and their descendants from among the sons of men. 11 For they intended evil against You; they devised a plot which they are not able to perform.12 Therefore You will make them turn their back; You will make ready Your arrows on Your string toward their faces. 13 Be exalted, O Lord, in Your own strength! We will sing and praise Your power.
“‘Your hand’— the man of your own choosing, whose hands were nailed to the tree, “shall find out all the adversaries of the cross. ‘Your right hand will find those who hate You.’ These may stand in the high places, and defy Thee; but Thou wilt hurl them down.” (C. H. Spurgeon) You “shall discover, overtake, and destroy them.” (Joseph Benson) “’You shall make them as a fiery oven,’ a very strong expression to show how utterly the Lord's vengeance would consume them.— 'In the time of Your anger, Yahweh shall swallow them up in His wrath, and the fire shall devour them,’ this being an unmistakable reference to the punishment following the final Judgment, 2 Peter 3:1.” (Paul E. Kretzmann) ”’Their offspring You shall destroy from the earth, and their descendants from among the sons of men.’ - Even their posterity shall be cut off, and thus their memorial shall perish.” (Adam Clarke) “God will take away both root and branch; the parents and all that wicked race of the uregenerate.” (Joseph Benson) This includes all children who continue to walk in the way of their parents.
“'For they intended evil against You; they devised a plot which they are not able to perform. Therefore You will make them turn their back.’
God can in a moment strike the most powerful and numerous army, even in the moment of victory, with panic; and then even the lame, the army which they had nearly routed, shall take the prey, and divide the spoil." (Clarke) ‘You will make ready Your arrows on Your string toward their faces.’ “The judgments of God are called His arrows, being sharp, swift, sure, and deadly.” (Horne) When the verdicts are given, none can answer. “Thou shalt cause them to turn their backs and fly, as if a volley of arrows had been discharged in their faces.” (Adam Clarke)
While no enemy shall escape the unquenchable fire: “Be Thou exalted, Lord, in Thine own strength, with the glory which rightly belonged to Him for this mighty deliverance; so will we sing and praise Thy power.”