Deeper Commentary
Psa 21:1 For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David.
The king rejoices in Your strength, Yahweh! How greatly he rejoices in Your
salvation!- The Psalm could be thanks for David's becoming king after
Saul's death, when he had the crown placed upon his head (:3). But the
reference to being given eternal life at this time (:4) means that the
"salvation" in view is surely not limited to David's miraculous salvation
from Saul and establishment as king of Israel. It perhaps refers to his
greater belief that his Messianic son would become an eternal king of Judah.
But there are many connections with Ps. 20, which I explained as a Psalm
before going into battle, perhaps against the Ammonites (see on Ps. 20:1).
The crowning of David in :3 could however refer to the crowning of David
with the gold crown of the Ammonite king (2 Sam. 12:30; 1 Chron. 20:2). This
however was straight after his sin with Bathsheba. So David's joy in God's
salvation was due to his sense that God had given him this victory by grace
when he himself was a sinner. His thanks for giving him eternal
life (:4) was therefore in the sense that he believed that despite his sin,
he would be eternally saved, and he saw the victory against Ammon as a
foretaste of that.
Psa 21:2 You have given him his heart’s desire, and have not withheld the
request of his lips. Selah- Often, “desire” is seen by God as prayer
(Ps. 10:17; 21:2; 27:4; 59:10; 92:11; 140:8; 145:19; Mt. 18:32; Rom. 10:1; 1
Jn. 5:15). God interprets that inner desire as prayer, even if it is not
articulated in specific requests. The heart's desire in this case was the
prayer for victory against the Ammonites in Ps. 20:4.
Psa 21:3 For You meet him with the blessings of goodness, You set a crown
of fine gold on his head- The reference would be to he crowning of
David in :3 could however refer to the crowning of David with the gold
crown of the Ammonite king (2 Sam. 12:30; 1 Chron. 20:2). This however was
straight after his sin with Bathsheba. So David's joy in God's salvation
was due to his sense that God had given him this victory by grace when he
himself was a sinner.
Psa 21:4 He asked life of You, You gave it to him, even length of days
forever and ever- His thanks for giving him eternal life comes after
his forgiveness for the sin with Bathsheba (see on :1-3). It was therefore
in the sense that he believed that despite his sin, he would be eternally
saved, and he saw the victory against Ammon as a foretaste of that.
Psa 21:5 His glory is great in Your salvation; You lay honour and majesty
on him- David marvelled at this because he was such a sinner who had
just been forgiven for the sin with Bathsheba. The victory against Ammon
assured him that God was going to eternally save him, as it was a
foretaste of God's great salvation (see on :1-4).
Psa 21:6 for You make him most blessed forever. You make him glad with joy
in Your presence- After the sin with Bathsheba, David had asked for
God to restore to him the joy of God's salvation (Ps. 51:12), and here he
is thanking God for having done so, through the blessing of God's grace.
See on :1.
Psa 21:7 for the king trusts in Yahweh. Through the grace of the Most
High, he shall not be moved- David in his earlier Psalms exalts and
boasts to God that his feet have not slipped, indeed he was overly
confident that his feet would never slip / "be moved" (Ps. 17:5; 21:7;
55:22; 62:2,6; 125:1). His more mature reflection is that he had wrongly
said "I shall never slip [AV "be moved"]" (Ps. 30:6), and his feet had
indeed slipped, not least over the Bathsheba incident (Ps. 38:16; 94:18).
As explained on :1, this Psalm may well have been written immediately
after receiving forgiveness for the sin; and so David is asking that he
shall never slip like that again. Solomon didn't learn this lesson, for he likewise assumed that the
righteous would never be moved / slip (Prov. 10:30), although he appears
to accept that even a righteous man like his father had indeed slipped
(Prov. 25:26). And Solomon himself did so, not learning the lesson from
his father's mistaken assumption that the righteous can never slip.
Psa 21:8 Your hand will find out all of Your enemies; Your right hand will
find out those who hate You- David saw the victory over the Ammonites
as an encouragement that all his future enemies would likewise be
overcome; but by God's hand / operation / strength, rather than his own
military prowess (:3).
Psa 21:9 You will make them as a fiery furnace in the time of Your anger.
Yahweh will swallow them up in His wrath, the fire shall devour them-
This is the language of the condemnation of the last day (Mt. 13:42).
David sees a portent of future things in his victory over the Ammonites,
and the Divine judgment and salvation by grace meted out thereby. See on
:1-3.
Psa 21:10 You will destroy their descendants from the land, their
posterity from among the children of men- David saw these Ammonites
as a seed which should be destroyed from the eretz. His vision
was of the eretz promised to Abraham full of the righteous.
Psa 21:11 For they intended evil against You, they plotted evil against
You which cannot succeed- There is a strange connection of ideas here
with Joseph's comment to his brothers that "You thought / intended evil
against me; but God meant it unto good... to save much people alive" (Gen.
50:20). The connection shows Joseph to be far more gracious spirited than
David, who seems to relish the thought of God's destruction of his enemies
(despite his recent forgiveness for the Bathsheba / Uriah incident, see on
:1).
Psa 21:12 For You will make them turn their back when You aim drawn bows
at their face- As noted on :11, this appears a far too bloodthirsty
attitude. So often in the psalms, David reveals a vicious desire for the
blood of his enemies. Perhaps it was because of this bloodlust that David
was precluded from building the temple because he had been a man of wars
and had shed blood (1 Chron. 28:3). Solomon also shed blood as did many of
God's servants, so that alone seems no reason why David couldn't build the
temple. Perhaps it was his bloodthirsty attitude, albeit tinged with
moments of great grace, forgiveness and gentleness, which led to God's
prohibition.
Psa 21:13 Be exalted, Yahweh, in Your strength; so we will sing and praise
Your power- Whatever David's weakness of attitude noted on :11,12, he
is very deeply and genuinely aware that he is strong only in God's
strength, and this awareness was the basis for his absolutely genuine
praise of Yahweh; despite having wrong attitudes in other sectors of his
life. And all the same he was accepted by God.
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