Bible Commentaries
Psalms 21

Verses 1-7

Thanksgiving for the Great Victory.

To the chief musician, a psalm of David, probably composed after his return from a victorious campaign, but certainly typifying and prophesying the great victory of Christ over all the enemies of mankind.

v. 1. The king shall joy in Thy strength, O Lord, rejoicing in the fact that God gave him the strength to subdue the enemies; and in Thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice! exulting over the deliverance which was granted him by Jehovah.

v. 2. Thou hast given him his heart's desire, the victory which he so earnestly longed for, and hast not withholden the request of his lips, for the longing of his heart was brought out in a spoken prayer. Selah.

v. 3. For Thou preventest him, the Lord anticipated him, made ready the blessing even before the request was uttered, with the blessings of goodness; Thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head, as a token of triumph.

v. 4. He asked life of Thee, to be preserved in the midst of all the dangers which threatened his life, and Thou gavest it him, even length of days forever and ever, not merely preserving his life at his prayer, but granting him a long life, in the case of Christ a life of endless glory, His human nature entering upon the unlimited use of the divine attributes communicated to it in the incarnation.

v. 5. His glory is great in Thy salvation, the saving help of God in granting him the victory making his glory great, his name exalted; honor and majesty hast Thou laid upon him, his kingdom being maintained and strengthened in the eyes of all that heard of his great victory, before all the world.

v. 6. For Thou hast made him most blessed forever, setting him as a blessing to mankind or to the world, a source of everlasting blessing, this fact again finding its highest fulfillment in Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah; Thou hast made him exceeding glad with Thy countenance, gladdening him with joy in the presence of Jehovah, for to behold His face is the essence of eternal bliss in heaven.

v. 7. For the king trusteth in the Lord, this being the reason why the blessings of Jehovah were laid upon him, and through the mercy of the Most High he shall not be moved, not be shaken from the firm rock of his confidence in the God of his salvation. It is the mercy of God which keeps all believers in faith and sets before them the certainty of everlasting bliss in heaven.

Verses 8-13

The Confidence of Final Triumph

v. 8. Thine hand shall find out all Thine enemies, the psalmist's hopeful statement now becoming a definite prophecy concerning the final revenge of Jehovah; Thy right hand shall find out those that hate Thee, reaching out for them to inflict a certain punishment upon them.

v. 9. Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven, a very strong expression to show how utterly the Lord's vengeance would consume them, in the time of Thine anger; the Lord shall swallow them up in His wrath, and the fire shall devour them, this being an unmistakable reference to the punishment following the final Judgment, 2 Peter 3:1

v. 10. Their fruit, that is, their children, their posterity, shalt Thou destroy from the earth and their seed, all those descending from them, from among the children of men, because they followed their parents in their wickedness.

v. 11. For they intended evil against Thee, the figure being taken from the laying or stretching out of snares for the purpose of catching wild beasts; they imagined a mischievous device, plans for bringing harm upon the king, which they are not able to perform, due to the interference of the Lord they shall not prevail with their wickedness.

v. 12. Therefore shalt Thou make them turn their back, make them turn their shoulder, force them to retreat and flee, when Thou shalt make ready Thine arrows upon Thy strings against the face of them, that is, when their troubles would cause them to flee, the Lord would overtake them and set His bow to aim at their face, thereby harassing them on both sides, placing them between two fires, and thus annihilating them.

v. 13. Be Thou exalted, Lord, in Thine own strength, with the glory which rightly belonged to Him for this mighty deliverance; so will we sing and praise Thy power. Thus the believers ever acknowledge and praise the mercy of God and the wonderful manifestation of His might, who in Jesus Christ has given them a perfect, eternal deliverance.