Psalmen 21:3 Kommentar

As the foregoing psalm was a prayer for the king that God would protect and prosper him, so this is a thanksgiving for the success God had blessed him with. Those whom we have prayed for we ought to give thanks for, and particularly for kings, in whose prosperity we share. They are here taught, I. To congratulate him on his victories, and the honour he had achieved (Psa 21:1-6). II. To confide in the power of God for the completing of the ruin of the enemies of his kingdom (Psa 21:7-13). In this there is an eye to Messiah the Prince, and the glory of his kingdom; for to him divers passages in this psalm are more applicable than to David himself. To the chief musician. A psalm of David.

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 21 To the chief Musician, a Psalm of David. This psalm was either written by David; and therefore called a "psalm of David"; or it was written, as it may be rendered, "for David", by some other person, on account of his victories and triumphs; or rather "concerning David" (s); that is, concerning the Messiah, the son of David, as Kimchi says some expound it; or concerning the Messiah, who is called David, Eze 37:24; and Jarchi observes, that their Rabbins interpret it of the Messiah; but, says he, it is right to explain it, moreover, of David himself, for an answer to the heretics (Christians) who err in it; and various passages in this psalm are by the Jewish writers understood of the Messiah; as "the King", in Psa 20:1 is in the Targum called the King Messiah; Psa 21:4 is in the Talmud applied (t) to him; Psa 21:3 are in Zohar (u), and in the Midrashes (w), interpreted of him; and many Christian writers understand the whole of him; which is right: though Theodoret thinks it was penned on the account of the health of King Hezekiah, and his restoration from his disease; which is not likely. (s) "pro Davide, vel de Davide", Vatablus. (t) T. Bab. Succah, fol. 52. 1. Vid. Nachman. disput. "cum fratre Paulo", p. 36. Ed. Wagenseil. (u) In Numb. fol. 68. 3. 4. (w) Midrash Tillim apud Viccars. in loc. & in Galatin. l. 3. c. 9. Bemidbar Rabba, fol. 212. 4. & 218. 1.

For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness,.... Not temporal, but spiritual blessings, which spring from the grace and goodness of God, and consist of it; and relate to the spiritual and eternal welfare of those for whose sake he receives them, and who are blessed with them in him: his being "prevented" with them denotes the freeness of the donation of them; that before he could well ask for them, or before he had done requesting them, they were given him; and also the earliness of the gift of them, they were put into his hands before his incarnation, before he was manifest in the flesh, even from the foundation of the world, and before the world began, Eph 1:3, Ti2 1:9, and likewise the order in which they were given; first to Christ, and then to his people in him, as the passages referred to show; thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head; which is expressive of his victory over all enemies, sin, Satan, and the world, death and hell; and of his being possessed of his throne and kingdom; and has respect to his exaltation at the right hand of God, where he is crowned with glory and honour: and this crown being of "pure gold" denotes the purity, glory, solidity, and perpetuity of his kingdom; this is a crown, not which believers put upon him by believing in him, and ascribing the glory of their salvation to him, or what the church, called his mother, has crowned him with, Sol 3:11, but which his father put upon him, who has set him King over his holy hill of Zion, Psa 2:6; compare with this Rev 14:14. The Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions read "a crown of a precious stone"; and so Apollinarius; and seem to refer to the crown set on David's head, which had precious stones in it, Sa2 12:30; Josephus (x) says it had a sardonyx. Fortunatus Scacchus (y) fancies the topaz is meant, and that the Hebrew text should be read "a crown of topaz"; mistaking the sense of the word "phaz", which never signifies a topaz, but the best gold, pure solid gold. (x) Antiqu. l. 7. c. 7. s. 5. (y) Elaeochrism. Sacr. l. 3. c. 40. p. 1003.

The crown of the Lord is the church gathered from the various nations, about which Paul in the person of the believers says, “My joy and my crown.”

"For You have presented Him with the blessings of sweetness" [Psalm 21:3]. Because He had first quaffed the blessing of Your sweetness, the gall of our sins did not hurt Him. " Diapsalma. You have set a crown of precious stone on His Head." At the beginning of His discoursing precious stones were brought, and compassed Him about; His disciples, from whom the commencement of His preaching should be made.

And what is here more fitly understood than that very desire of good of which we are speaking? For good begins then to be longed for when it has begun to grow sweet. But when good is done by fear of penalty, not by the love of righteousness, good is not yet well done. Nor is that done in the heart that seems to be done in the act, when a person would rather not do it if he could evade it with impunity. Therefore the “blessing of sweetness” is God’s grace, by which is caused in us that what he prescribes to us delights us, and we desire it—that is, we love it; in which if God does not precede us, not only is it not perfected but it is not even begun, from us. For if without him we are able to do nothing, we are able neither to begin nor to perfect, because to begin, it is said, “His mercy shall prevent me”; to finish, it is said, “His mercy shall follow me.”

Christ is the crown of the rational nature.

He indicates that humanity is ever adorned with the anticipatory grace of the Godhead, because no one offers anything to God first unless what is good is granted by a heavenly gift.

"For." Here he sets forth the things in which the desire is fulfilled. And first he speaks of the fulfillment of the desire of the heart. Second, of the fulfillment of the desire of prayer, which is the same as the desire of the lips, at "the life." Now there is a twofold benefit; and therefore first he sets forth the interior spiritual benefit, which is the benefit of grace: and as to this he says, "For you have anticipated him with blessings of sweetness." To bless is to speak good; and the speaking of God is his doing. Hence in the blessing of God is understood the infusion of goodness: Gen. 26: "I will bless you, and I will multiply your offspring," etc. And 17: "I will bless him, and I will multiply him, and I will increase him exceedingly." This blessing therefore is sweet: Wis. 12: "O how good and sweet is your spirit within us." Therefore "with blessings of sweetness," that is, with the goods of grace and with immunity from sins, "you have anticipated him," that is, Christ, in time: because from the beginning of his conception he was full of every grace: Jn. 1: "We saw him full of grace and truth, as the only-begotten of the Father": because as soon as he was conceived he was united to the divine nature, and just as soon was he full of grace. Likewise, "you have anticipated him" in quantity: because above all others he received grace, and not by measure. The saints too are said to be anticipated: 1 Jn. 4: "Not as though we have loved God, but because he first loved us": Wis. 6: "He anticipates those who desire him." And so in the figure of Christ, David was anticipated by special grace: because he was anointed king while he was still a boy, before he himself thought of the kingdom. The exterior benefit he shows by saying, "You have set upon his head a crown of precious stone." If these words refer to Christ, then the sense is: "You have set upon his head a crown of precious stone," etc., that is, you have made him king. The crown is the sign of royal dignity: because, as it says in Is. 33: "They shall see the king in his beauty": Song 3: "Go forth, O daughters of Zion, and see the king in the diadem with which his mother crowned him," that is, his divinity. On account of this he says "of precious stone," that is, of divinity: because his kingdom is not of this world, Jn. 18. Jerome has "of pure gold," that is, the purest: Rev. 6: "A crown was given to him." Or the crown of precious stone is the apostles: who are called precious stones on account of the preciousness of their teaching: Rev. 12: "On his head," namely Christ's, "a crown of twelve stars." Sir. 25: "The crown of the aged is great experience." Hence the company of the apostles is like a crown of Christ. Or, "you have set upon his head a crown," that is, the Church: Prov. 12: "A diligent woman," that is, the Church, "is a crown to her husband," that is, to Christ. Or this can be said of any saint: because the crown, or reward, is God himself: Is. 28: "In that day the Lord shall be a crown of glory." "Of stone," on account of its solidity, "precious," because David was literally crowned by God himself.

The pious are led by the Psalmist to celebrate God's favor to the king in the already conferred and in prospective victories. The doxology added may relate to both Psalms; the preceding of petition, chiefly this of thanksgiving, ascribing honor to God for His display of grace and power to His Church in all ages, not only under David, but also under his last greatest successor, "the King of the Jews." (Psa 21:1-13) thy strength . . . thy salvation--as supplied by Thee.

preventest--literally, "to meet here in good sense," or "friendship" (Psa 59:10; compare opposite, Psa 17:13). blessings of goodness--which confer happiness. crown of pure gold--a figure for the highest royal prosperity.

(Heb.: 21:4-5) "Blessings of good" (Pro 24:25) are those which consist of good, i.e., true good fortune. The verb קדּם, because used of the favour which meets and presents one with some blessing, is construed with a double accusative, after the manner of verbs of putting on and bestowing (Ges. ֗139). Since Psa 21:4 cannot be intended to refer to David's first coronation, but to the preservation and increase of the honour of his kingship, this particularisation of Psa 21:4 sounds like a prediction of what is recorded in Sa2 22:30 : after the conquest of the Ammonitish royal city Rabbah David set the Ammonitish crown (עטרת), which is renowned for the weight of its gold and its ornamentation with precious stones, upon his head. David was then advanced in years, and in consequence of heavy guilt, which, however, he had overcome by penitence and laying hold on the mercy of God, was come to the brink of the grave. He, worthy of death, still lived; and the victory over the Syro-Ammonitish power was a pledge to him of God's faithfulness in fulfilling his promises. It is contrary to the tenour of the words to say that Psa 21:5 does not refer to length of life, but to hereditary succession to the throne. To wish any one that he may live לעולם, and especially a king, is a usual thing, Kg1 1:31, and frequently. The meaning is, may the life of the king be prolonged to an indefinitely distant day. What the people have desired elsewhere, they here acknowledge as bestowed upon the king.