The Radiant Crown: Psalm 132

Good morning!  We’re marching on through our series on the Psalms of Ascent.  These are a beautiful collection of “marching songs” for the pilgrimage that the Israelites were to Jerusalem for the appointed festivals (Passover, Weeks, Booths).

The subject matter in these Psalms of Ascent is broad.  We’ve heard prayers about deliverance (120), prayers for God to show mercy (123), prayers for Israel’s restoration (125), and prayers against Israel’s enemies (129); there was a dialog of confession and assurance (121); we’ve sung songs of joy over Jerusalem (122), songs of praise for deliverance (124), and songs of joy for the restoration of Zion and return of the captives (126); and, we’ve heard testimonies of godly living (127 and 128), testimonies of trust in the Lord (130); and a confession of trust in God (131).

Today’s psalm will take us in yet another direction of prayer and seeking God.  (Systematic and comprehensive.)  We also have the joy of looking forward to the arrival of the Savior.  Let’s pray and ask God to give us insight and application for Psalm 132.

Father God, I pray that you would give each one here a clear take away from this morning’s time.  I pray that you would impact all of us including me with this Psalm freshly, even now.  Thank you for these Psalms and the testimonies, prayers, and praises they contain.  Help us to worship You in greater ways by knowing them better.  You alone are worthy of praise, and You have called us to worship You alone.  Amen.

We could also talk about the different sources of all the Psalms of Ascent.  Obviously, some come from before the captivity, some during, and some after.  In many cases, it is difficult to say with precision who had written them.  Our Psalm today has some of that uncertainty as well.  We aren’t given the author, but the portions of the material have some similarities with the prayer offered by Solomon at the consecration of the Temple in II Chronicles 6:41-42, so he is cited as the most likely author.

This Psalm pertains to do with David, with the promises and covenants between God and David, and especially with the anointed one, the son of David who would come to rule on his throne.  Spoiler alert!  Who might that be? (Jesus)

Let’s open with verse 1:

O LORD, remember David

and all the hardships he endured.

Psalm 132:1

Why remember David?  David was the anointed King, chosen by God.  God made a covenant with David, so remembering David would include remembering that covenant.  The covenant (I Chronicles 17:11-14) was that there would always be one to rule from David’s throne forever.  When God remembers David, he also remembers His covenant, and that means blessing for the people of Israel.

What about hardships?  We had a series several years ago titled Broken Vessels.  This series dealt with people, followers of God, from the Old Testament.  We looked at their strengths and weaknesses, their victories and their failures, their faith and their lack of faith in God.  You can go to the Message Archive on the website and find the transcripts if you want to dig deep.  In that overall series, there is a 3 part mini-series about David.  (You can also go directly to the first installment using this link:  http://www.clemsoncc.blogspot.com/
2009/09/broken-vessels-david-part-i.html) 

David was called by God, “a man after My own heart.”  God also said of David, “he will do everything I want him to do.”  (Acts 13:22)  I don’t know about you, but I have had and still have this idea if I do everything God wants me to do, that my life would be perfect and easy.  And yet, David faced incredible hardships.  Some were of his own making but many did come about because of David’s wrong choices.  They weren’t his fault.

Even as a boy, his brothers weren’t the most loving toward him.  At least his older brother wasted no time dressing him down in public, in the army camp, before David defeated Goliath.  (We never find out what Eliab thought after the battle.) 

Then, there was Saul’s jealousy.  David was more loved by the Israelites than Saul.  Saul hated David for it, feared him, and wanted to and tried to kill him multiple times.  Fleeing for his life, David was helped by the priests at Nob.  Later Saul massacred the entire city of Nob.  David took on himself the responsibility and guilt for it although Saul had carried it out.  David lived for years on the run from Saul in Judah.

Then, David fled and lived among the Philistines for 16 months.  This was a poor choice David made without seeking God.  In order to carry on a pretense with the Philistine ruler, David raided and killed the nomads.  He lost his family and all the families of his men to the Amelekites when he went to fight the Israelites with Achisch.  After the death of Saul, civil war erupted between Judah and the other tribes over who should be king.

There was David’s seduction of Bathsheba and murder of Uriah, and then the murder of his son Amnon by his son Abasalom.  There was the conspiracy of his son Absalom to steal the kingdom.  Finally, in his old age, his son Adonijah set himself up as king.

And yet, amidst all this David remained “a man after God’s own heart.”  He did not give up humbling himself and seeking God.  In response to David’s heart attitude, even in the worst of situations, it is written, “But David found strength in the Lord his God.” (I Samuel 30:6b)

Even when David had done wrong, made horrible choices, he recognized the truth that God is more concerned with what’s going on inside that what we put on for show on the outside.  “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.” (Psalm 51:17)  God does not reject those who come before Him repentant and broken.

Carl wrote this back in that 2009 message, “Today’s world would call David a hopelessly embarrassing hypocrite. God calls him a shining example of faith.”

What did David do when he had been delivered from his enemies?

He swore an oath to the LORD

and made a vow to the Mighty One of Jacob:

“I will not enter my house

or go to my bed—

I will allow no sleep to my eyes,

no slumber to my eyelids,

till I find a place for the LORD,

a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob.”

Psalm 132:2-5

This vow is not found elsewhere in the Old Testament.  In fact, we know that God would not allow David to build a temple because he was a man of bloodshed.  (I used to think this was rather unfair to David.  Was it really his fault that all the hardships happened?  Wasn’t he a “man of bloodshed” because of the warring between Israel and the Philistines to start with?  But there were times that David shed blood when it was not necessary.  The first one that comes to mind is the matter of Uriah the Hittite, but there was also that season when David lived among the Philistines and he had nomadic tribes of Amelekites and Kenites killed man, women, and child so that no word of his deception of the Philistines could reach them.)

However, David did amass great amounts of materials for the construction of the temple even before Solomon became king.  This allowed the temple construction to begin only 4 years after Solomon became king, and it was completed in only 7 years.

In addition, God led David to build an altar to the Lord on what would be the site of the temple on Mount Moriah.

During the time of the Judges, the Israelites called out the Ark of the Covenant to be used as a kind of “insurance policy” in battle.  They would bring the ark to big battles as an effort to “bring God along.”  They didn’t seek God, but rather brought the box with the covenant in it.  You can imagine how this worked out.  God is not going to go along with our efforts to make him do our bidding.  So, the ark gets captured by the Philistines, but then God curses the Philistines for having it and they send it back to Israel, and so it sits separated from the tabernacle.  David retrieved the ark and brought it to Jerusalem, another piece in the puzzle of bring the temple to full realization.

David did not get to fulfill his vow to build the temple, but he did many things to promote and provide for its construction by his son Solomon.

We heard it in Ephrathah,

we came upon it in the fields of Jaar:

Psalm 132:6

This is a geek out verse for Bible scholars.  It doesn’t dramatically affect the reading of the Psalm, but among commentators there seem to be many ways of interpreting it.  It’s almost as if God allowed for some uncertainty here so that those who like to ponder things would have a diversion.

First off, we’ve got a couple of rarely used place names.  Place names are fun in the Bible and sometimes a bit mysterious.  There is no “Google map” for ancient Israel, and some names can be reused for more than one place.  Usually, when you hear the word Ephrathah (12 times), you think of Bethlehem (51 times) Ephrathah (7 times), David’s hometown, the city where Jesus was born.  There is also a reference to a Caleb Ephrathah in I Chronicles.  This is the only place, and it is not mentioned elsewhere.  So we can ponder which Ephrathah?  Probably Bethlehem, but obviously a place in Israel.

Jaar means woods or forests.  The only place where it is translated as a proper noun is this passage.  Many commentators and translators associate this with the city Kiriath Jearim.  The name is literally city of the wooded plain or fields.  So probably the area around Kiriath Jearim, but again obviously a place in Israel.

Most commentators seem to say the “it” in these verses to be the Ark of the Covenant though I did read one commentary which spoke of “it” as the call to worship.  Their explanation for why it didn’t refer to the ark or the tabernacle (or holy tent) was because the Hebrew nouns have gender like many other languages.  The pronoun is feminine, but the noun ark and tabernacle and holy tent are masculine in Hebrew.  The funny thing is that the word most often used to describe a call to worship is also masculine.  So why is “it” a feminine pronoun?

I was starting to get worried about this.  I was thinking how am I going to get around this?  Then, God cleared it up for me during a quiet time yesterday morning.  Whenever you get stressed out about trying to interpret something in the Bible, an important thing to remember is that our God is a God of order, not a God of confusion or chaos.  If you want to know why something is written the way it is, you should try to understand it in the context of what it is written.

The question is pretty simple.  When do we use pronouns?  After we’ve made it clear what noun we are talking about.  Well, I looked at all the nouns that came before this verse.  Of all the nouns I looked at, I found one that was feminine.  The past participle of taking an oath is feminine in Hebrew.  What did the people here in Ephrathah and Jaar?  The oath that David had made.  Where was the oath heard?  In Israel, naturally.  Possibly in Bethlehem, David’s hometown.  Also, near Kiriath Jearim.  What happened in Kiriath Jearim?  That was where the ark of the covenant was before David brought it to Jerusalem.  This all seems to make sense.  Building a house for God may have been on David’s heart for a long time.  The tabernacle and the ark had been separated for at least 20 years when David retrieved the ark to Jerusalem. 

How then did the hearer’s respond to this oath?

“Let us go to his dwelling place;

let us worship at his footstool—

arise, O LORD, and come to your resting place,

you and the ark of your might.

May your priests be clothed with righteousness;

may your saints sing for joy.”

Psalm 132:7-9

This portion fits perfectly with the theme Psalms of Ascent.  “Let us GO!”  “Let us WORSHIP!”

We also get the feeling that the hearers of the oath know that the temple is in the process of completion.  They are asking the Lord to come to his resting place.  They are asking the ark to come there.  When the temple was built, the ark was already in the City of David, so it only had to come from there to Mount Moriah which was not more than half a mile.

It may sound strange to our ears to consider worshiping at a footstool, but the imagery was that God sits on His throne in heaven and earth, more specifically Zion, more specifically the holy mountain, more specifically the resting place for the ark, was His footstool.  “The Most High does not live in houses made by men.”  (Acts 7:48)  Solomon’s throne had an integrated gold footstool.  God’s heavenly throne also has a “footstool,” a resting place.  During the time of the tabernacle and the temple, that place was the Holy of Holies.  That is not always the case, as I hope we can talk about later.

For the sake of David your servant,

do not reject your anointed one.

The LORD swore an oath to David,

a sure oath that he will not revoke:

“One of your own descendants

I will place on your throne—

if your sons keep my covenant

and the statutes I teach them,

then their sons will sit

on your throne for ever and ever.”

Psalm 132:10-12

David had a sure promise from God, a covenant.  One of his descendants would be the anointed one, mashiyach or Messiah.  In this promise is another, if David’s sons keep God’s covenant and statutes, in other words, the Old Testament Law, then their sons will sit on David’s throne as well.  (We’ll come back to that thought more in a minute.)  We know how it turned out though for David’s successor.  Already before a generation had passed, Solomon turned away, led astray by his many, many foreign wives.  Jesus, the Messiah, is not descended from Solomon, but rather through Nathan, one of his brothers who was never King of Israel.

For the LORD has chosen Zion,

he has desired it for his dwelling:

“This is my resting place for ever and ever;

here I will sit enthroned, for I have desired it—

I will bless her with abundant provisions;

her poor will I satisfy with food.

I will clothe her priests with salvation,

and her saints will ever sing for joy.”

Psalm 132:13-16

Why is Jerusalem always in the news?  Why can’t we get enough of a country that is only slightly bigger than New Jersey with a lower population?  The UN makes more resolutions about Israel than any other nation by far.  In 2013, there were 25 resolutions by the UN condemning nations.  Twenty one of the dealt with Israel, more than 80%!  There was only one resolution condemning Syria who had carried out war against its own people and killed 120,000.  Three other nations cited individually were Iran, North Korea (satellite image), and Myanmar, one time each.

God has chosen Zion.  He has chosen Israel.  That small plot of land is still central to God’s plans.  We’ll see in the Revelation study that Jerusalem still figures large in the events to come.  The world hates anything that God loves.  God loves Israel.  Therefore, the world must hate it.

 God has great answers for the prayers of the hearer’s of David’s oath, the worshipers. Contrast their prayer to God’s answer.  He gives abundantly more than we could ask or imagine.

Verse 8 prays, “Lord come.”  Verses 14 and 15 answer, “It is my resting place for ever and ever.  I will sit here enthroned because I desired it.  I will bless, provide and satisfy.”

Verse 9 prays, “Priests be righteous and saints sing.”  Verse 16 answers, “I will clothe them with more than righteousness.  I will clothe them with salvation.  The saints will not just sing once, but ever sing for joy.”

Verse 10 prays, “Do not reject.”  Verses 17 and 18 answer, “I will establish and crown with glory.”

Do you see what a marvelous contrast the Lord’s answer has for the prayers of the saints.  We should have the courage to pray big prayers.  God’s answers show that He has greater plans that we do.  We have a monthly prayer letter for our region of churches in the southeast.  Berk Wilson is a pastor and NC State.  I had to laugh at the prayer request for August.  I don’t know if it’s a typo, but I don’t think so knowing Berk just a little.  The prayer for Grace Church in Raliegh is that 10,000 plus discipleship groups would spring forth from Grace.  10,000!  They are bigger church than Clemson Community, but not that much bigger.  And yet, Gideon with 300 men defeated an army of Midianites which could not be counted.  Jesus took five loaves and two fish and fed five thousand men plus women and children.

It’s been a while now, but I’ve started praying each day for entire nations.  I pray for nations where I have been or where I know people.  (Nepal, Ecuador, Germany, Hungary, China, Mexico, and the US.)  Taking a page from Carl’s playbook, I figure that I don’t want God to say I failed to pray big enough.  Let’s pray big prayers.

Yesterday, we went on our community outreach.  Taryn, Joseph, and I went to a neighborhood we had been to several times before.  We’ve gotten to know a few of the people, and one lady in particular named Esther.  When I first met her, you would probably say she was overweight.  Over the last few years, we’ve watched her dwindle away.  She had to stop working because she couldn’t even eat.  Since our last visit in April, she had even had a stay in ICU, and her family thought she was going to die.  And yet, God heard her prayers and ours from years past.  She was up on her feet frying fish in her kitchen.  She offered, and Joseph even ate a fish sandwich while we were visiting.  Her lowest weight when she was checked into the hospital was 87 pounds.  She’s gained 16 pounds now and eats regular food where before she was surviving on a diet almost exclusively of Ensure.

Esther should have probably died, but she didn’t.  God heard our prayers, and He answered.  Pray big and pray in faith even when things don’t look good.  It’s at those times we need to pray hardest.

Pray big … pray in faith.  Amen?

Let’s look again at those last two verses of our Psalm.

“Here I will make a horn grow for David

and set up a lamp for my anointed one.

I will clothe his enemies with shame,

but the crown on his head will be resplendent,

his head will be adorned with a radiant crown.”

Psalm 132:17-18

These verses kind of put an exclamation point on the Psalm.  They directly address the petition we saw in verses one and ten to remember David and not reject God’s anointed.

God is promising a horn to rise up for David.  This is reminiscent of Isaiah 11 (v. 1 and 10) where God says “A shoot will come up from Jesse [David’s father]; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit … in that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious.”

The enemies of Jesus will ultimately and utterly be clothed with shame.  They will be thrown into a blazing furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 13:42, 50). 

That word radiant in Hebrew also has the meaning to grow or blossom.  It is the same word used to describe Aaron’s staff that budded.  Do you remember that story?  The Israelites complained that Aaron and Moses had been chosen as leaders.  Why were they in charge?  Weren’t all the people holy?  To settle the discussion, God had all the tribes bring a staff to tent of meeting.  They wrote the names of each leader on their staff.  Aaron’s name was on the staff for the Levite tribe.  They were instructed to leave them in the tent of meeting overnight.  Then, the staff that sprouted was the tribe and leader who was recognized by God as leader of the Israelites.

In the morning, Aaron’s staff “had not only sprouted, but had budded, blossomed and produced almonds.”  The Lord then had them put the staff in the tent of meeting as a sign of God’s choice.

In Revelation 19, it describes Jesus that “on his head were many crowns.”  I confess I have a hard time imagining what that would look like without getting a little absurd.  Maybe, this imagery helps.  God will adorn Jesus with a radiant, resplendent, budded crown far more beautiful than any crown we could imagine.  So much more amazing and beautiful that the only way to describe it is to use the plural:  many crowns.

Come Lord Jesus!  (Revelation 22:20)

"Crown Him with Many Crowns"

Crown Him with many crowns, the Lamb upon His throne.

 Hark! How the heavenly anthem drowns all music but its own.

 Awake, my soul, and sing of Him who died for thee,

 And hail Him as thy matchless King through all eternity.

Crown Him the virgin’s Son, the God incarnate born,

 Whose arm those crimson trophies won which now His brow adorn;

 Fruit of the mystic rose, as of that rose the stem;

 The root whence mercy ever flows, the Babe of Bethlehem.

Crown Him the Son of God, before the worlds began,

 And ye who tread where He hath trod, crown Him the Son of Man;

 Who every grief hath known that wrings the human breast,

 And takes and bears them for His own, that all in Him may rest.

Crown Him the Lord of life, who triumphed over the grave,

 And rose victorious in the strife for those He came to save.

 His glories now we sing, who died, and rose on high,

 Who died eternal life to bring, and lives that death may die.

Crown Him the Lord of peace, whose power a scepter sways

 From pole to pole, that wars may cease, and all be prayer and praise.

 His reign shall know no end, and round His pierced feet

 Fair flowers of paradise extend their fragrance ever sweet.

Crown Him the Lord of love, behold His hands and side,

 Those wounds, yet visible above, in beauty glorified.

 No angel in the sky can fully bear that sight,

 But downward bends his burning eye at mysteries so bright.

Crown Him the Lord of Heaven, enthroned in worlds above,

 Crown Him the King to Whom is given the wondrous name of Love.

 Crown Him with many crowns, as thrones before Him fall;

 Crown Him, ye kings, with many crowns, for He is King of all.

Crown Him the Lord of lords, who over all doth reign,

 Who once on earth, the incarnate Word, for ransomed sinners slain,

 Now lives in realms of light, where saints with angels sing

 Their songs before Him day and night, their God, Redeemer, King.

Crown Him the Lord of years, the Potentate of time,

 Creator of the rolling spheres, ineffably sublime.

 All hail, Redeemer, hail! For Thou has died for me;

 Thy praise and glory shall not fail throughout eternity.

Lord Jesus, You reign supreme.  Your rule shall never end.  You are King of kings and Lord of lords.  There is none like You.  Thank You for promises fulfilled.  Thank You for deliverance and salvation.  Thank You for eternal security.  Thank You for joy and life, love and hope.  There is no greater thing than knowing You.  We worship You alone.  Praise God.  Amen.