Psalm 21 Jan. 9 For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David.  1The king rejoices in Your strength, Yahweh! How greatly he rejoices in Your salvation! 2You have given him his heart’s desire, and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah. 3For You meet him with the blessings of goodness, You set a crown of fine gold on his head. 4He asked life of You, You gave it to him, even length of days forever and ever. 5His glory is great in Your salvation; You lay honour and majesty on him, 6for You make him most blessed forever. You make him glad with joy in Your presence; 7for the king trusts in Yahweh. Through the grace of the Most High, he shall not be moved. 8Your hand will find out all of Your enemies; Your right hand will find out those who hate You. 9You 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. 10You will destroy their descendants from the land, their posterity from among the children of men. 11For they intended evil against You, they plotted evil against You which cannot succeed. 12For You will make them turn their back when You aim drawn bows at their face. 13Be exalted, Yahweh, in Your strength; so we will sing and praise Your power.   

Commentary

21:4 David felt that he had been given eternal life in the sense that the covenant blessings had an eternal quality to them (:6). And yet he often speaks about death as the end of conscious existence. We have here an Old Testament equivalent to Christ’s teaching that we can now have eternal life (Jn. 6:54); we will die, in hope of resurrection to eternal life, but we can live now the kind of life which we will eternally live. Hence the parables of the Kingdom of God teach about how life can be lived right now.