Psalm 21 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David Prayers for the King Answered

Ps 21:1-2 “Jahve fulfil all thy desires” cried the people in the preceding Psalm, as they interceded on behalf of their king; and in this Psalm they are able thankfully to say to God “the desire of his heart hast Thou granted.” In both Psalms the people come before God with matters that concern the welfare of their king; in the former, with their wishes and prayers, in the latter, their thanksgivings and hopes in the latter as in the former when in the midst of war, but in the latter after the recovery of the king, in the certainty of a victorious termination of the war. (from Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament: New Updated Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1996 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)

In the previous Psalm we speculated that instead of this being ‘the people’ it was the true believers near to David who knew of his sin. They would also have known of the agony of his repentance and his restoration. In their mind would have been the spiritual victory this was rather than primarily the physical victory of ultimate defeat of the Ammonites.

1 The king shall joy in thy strength, O LORD; and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice! 2 Thou hast given him his heart’s desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips. Selah.

This is quite a thing to meditate in the shadow of David’s monstrous sin. God did not give him all of his desires for the child had died but he did grant him the greatest of his desires, forgiveness and restoration, even though there was yet a price to be paid for his sins.

His agony had been a parallel of that of Jesus on the Cross, so much so that he penned the next Psalm which was to be so prophetic (22). But, in a similar way to Jesus, God had brought him through the agony to a place of Glory. David had not lost the Kingdom and neither would Jesus. The backside of the suffering would be great in its Glory.

3 For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness: thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head. “For Thou dost meet him with the blessings of good things;” NAS

“A crown of pure gold”? He was already King, already had a crown. The next verse will explain.

4 He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, even length of days for ever and ever.

Eternal life, which had been called into question by his sin and by his long continuance in it. Adultery, Murder, Deception and the Use of the King’s Office to conscript his most trusted general into collaboration with him in all of it. This is not the behavior of a converted man. David and all those who loved both God and him knew that.

I don’t think we should consider this his conversion but sometimes the restoration of a man from profound failure can seem as powerful, maybe even more so, than his original believing encounter with God. In any case, the reality of Eternal Life had been restored to him through the prayers of the saints.

5 His glory is great in thy salvation: honour and majesty hast thou laid upon him. 6 For thou hast made him most blessed for ever: thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance.

It was the recovered Communion with God that was his delight making him “most blessed for ever.” There is little in this life to compare with the restored joy of a Prodigal who has been received home again.

7 For the king trusteth in the LORD, and through the mercy of the most High he shall not be moved.

Faith on the part of man and Mercy on the part of God that has ever been the hope of the child of God. The saints who were rejoicing with him were encouraged at the confirmation of True Repentance in their King which confirmed also a True Faith.

It cannot be proven with certainty but it certainly seems reasonable that those saints saw in the fall of their Beloved King a working of the Evil One and his minions.

8 Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies: thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee. 9 Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger: the LORD shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them. 10 Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth, and their seed from among the children of men. 11 For they intended evil against thee: they imagined a mischievous device, which they are not able to perform.

David had physical enemies for sure that conspired against him and sought continually to overthrow him. Those, for the most part, were vanquished handily in battle. But his spiritual enemies almost succeeded in overthrowing him for they, in a sense, turned his Great Helper against him. God declared some mighty discipline upon the man for his great sins.

But, ultimately, David was to have the victory by the Hand of God upon those even that carried out the Lord’s discipline.

12 Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back, when thou shalt make ready thine arrows upon thy strings against the face of them.

And, All of the Glory was given to JHVH for His deliverance of their Beloved.

13 Be thou exalted, LORD, in thine own strength: so will we sing and praise thy power.

He does not forsake His own.

— April 29, 2020