Remember David and All His Affliction
1 A Song of Ascents. Yahweh, remember David and all his affliction, 2 how he swore to Yahweh, and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob: 3 “Surely I will not come into the structure of my house, nor go up into my bed; 4 I will not give sleep to my eyes, or slumber to my eyelids, 5 until I find out a place for Yahweh, a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob.” 6 Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah. We found it in the field of Jaar. 7 “We will go into his dwelling place. We will worship at his footstool.” 8 Arise, Yahweh, into your resting place, you, and the ark of your strength. 9 Let your priests be clothed with righteousness. Let your saints shout for joy! 10 For your servant David’s sake, don’t turn away the face of your anointed one. 11 Yahweh has sworn to David in truth. He will not turn from it: “I will set the fruit of your body on your throne. 12 If your children will keep my covenant, my testimony that I will teach them, their children also will sit on your throne forever more.” 13 For Yahweh has chosen Zion. He has desired it for his habitation. 14 “This is my resting place forever. I will live here, for I have desired it. 15 I will abundantly bless her provision. I will satisfy her poor with bread. 16 I will also clothe her priests with salvation. Her saints will shout aloud for joy. 17 I will make the horn of David to bud there. I have ordained a lamp for my anointed. 18 I will clothe his enemies with shame, but on himself, his crown will shine.”
A man's vow to find God a house is answered by God choosing a house of his own and promising a lamp.
1 A Song of Ascents. Yahweh, remember David and all his affliction, 2 how he swore to Yahweh, and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob:
The longest of the Songs of Ascents, and it is built on two oaths — one sworn by a man and one sworn by God in reply.
3 “Surely I will not come into the structure of my house, nor go up into my bed; 4 I will not give sleep to my eyes, or slumber to my eyelids, 5 until I find out a place for Yahweh, a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob.”
David's vow. He will not sleep in his own house until God has one — and the point is the contrast that troubled him: he was living in a palace of cedar while the ark was in a tent 2 Samuel 7:2.
Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah. We found it in the field of Jaar.
The search for the ark, which had been left in a farming village for twenty years after the Philistines returned it. Nobody had come for it.
Arise, Yahweh, into your resting place, you, and the ark of your strength.
The words spoken when the ark was carried up, and the same sentence Solomon prayed at the temple's dedication 2 Chronicles 6:41.
Yahweh has sworn to David in truth. He will not turn from it: “I will set the fruit of your body on your throne.
The answering oath. Peter quotes this verse at Pentecost as the promise David knew would be kept in the resurrection Acts 2:30.
If your children will keep my covenant, my testimony that I will teach them, their children also will sit on your throne forever more.”
The condition attached, as in the eighty-ninth psalm.
13 For Yahweh has chosen Zion. He has desired it for his habitation. 14 “This is my resting place forever. I will live here, for I have desired it.
The reversal at the center of the psalm. David swore to find God a resting place; God announces that he has chosen one himself, and the reason given twice is desire. The verb is not obligation.
I will satisfy her poor with bread Psalms 132:15.
The first thing promised to the chosen city is that its poor will eat.
I will make the horn of David to bud there. I have ordained a lamp for my anointed.
A horn budding is growth from what looked finished. The lamp is the phrase used repeatedly of David's line surviving when it should not have — a light kept burning in Jerusalem for his sake 1 Kings 11:36.
settled What this mark means