1A song of ascents. O LORD, remember on behalf of David all the hardships he endured, 2how he swore an oath to the LORD, and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob: 3“I will not enter my house or get into my bed, 4I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids, 5until I find a place for the LORD, a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob.” 6We heard that the ark was in Ephrathah; we found it in the fields of Jaar. 7Let us go to His dwelling place; let us worship at His footstool. 8Arise, O LORD, to Your resting place, You and the ark of Your strength. 9May Your priests be clothed with righteousness, and Your saints shout for joy. 10For the sake of Your servant David, do not reject Your anointed one. 11The LORD swore an oath to David, a promise He will not revoke: “One of your descendants I will place on your throne. 12If your sons keep My covenant and the testimony I will teach them, then their sons will also sit on your throne forever and ever.” 13For the LORD has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His home: 14“This is My resting place forever and ever; here I will dwell, for I have desired this home. 15I will bless her with abundant provisions; I will satisfy her poor with bread. 16I will clothe her priests with salvation, and her saints will sing out in joy. 17There I will make a horn grow for David; I have prepared a lamp for My anointed one. 18I will clothe his enemies with shame, but the crown upon him will gleam.”
Matthew Henry's Commentary
David's care for the ark. (1-10) The promises of God. (11-18) 1-10 David bound himself to find a place for the Lord, for the ark, the token of God's presence. When work is to be done for the Lord, it is good to tie ourselves to a time. It is good in the morning to fix upon work for the day, with submission to Providence, for we know not what a day may bring forth. And we should first, and without delay, seek to have our own hearts made a habitation of God through the Spirit. He prays that God would take up his dwelling in the habitation he had built; that he would give grace to the ministers of the sanctuary to do their duty. David pleads that he was the anointed of the Lord, and this he pleads as a type of Christ, the great Anointed. We have no merit of our own to plead; but, for His sake, in whom there is a fulness of merit, let us find favour. And every true believer in Christ, is an anointed one, and has received from the Holy One the oil of true grace. The request is, that God would not turn away, but hear and answer their petitions for his Son's sake. 11-18 The Lord never turns from us when we plead the covenant with his anointed Prophet, Priest, and King. How vast is the love of God to man, that he should speak thus concerning his church! It is his desire to dwell with us; yet how little do we desire to dwell with him! He abode in Zion till the sins of Israel caused him to give them up to the spoilers. Forsake us not, O God, and deliver us not in like manner, sinful though we are. God's people have a special blessing on common enjoyments, and that blessing puts peculiar sweetness into them. Zion's poor have reason to be content with a little of this world, because they have better things prepared for them. God will abundantly bless the nourishment of the new man, and satisfy the poor in spirit with the bread of life. He gives more than we ask, and when he gives salvation, he will give abundant joy. God would bring to nothing every design formed to destroy the house of David, until King Messiah should arise out of it, to sit upon the throne of his Father. In him all the promises centre. His enemies, who will not have him to reign over them, shall at the last day be clothed with shame and confusion for ever.