Psalm 149 Commentary
Songs are a special conduit for praise. While verbal declarations can be plain and demand logical arrangements, a song, on the other hand, can break all these rules and still flow smoothly. You can also repeat yourself endlessly without boring Heaven.
Add an appropriate melody, and you can transport yourself into God’s special presence – a special awareness of God’s presence.
Sing a new praise song to the LORD. The lyrics are written from your daily experiences. Each day has its own grace. The compassions of the LORD are new every morning. And so, why not? Compose it. Sing it.
Praise activates your entire self. The body responds in joy. You can dance. You want the objects around you to join in. You can hit and manipulate them in a fashion that produces synchronized noise. Thus, a melody is created. The LORD is delighted.
Praise is a reserved right. It is absolutely an honor. The world should be clamoring for it, but who can see this treasure? They walk in darkness; they cannot see; they are blind. On the other hand, “let the saints rejoice in this honor.”
The last verses seem to suggest praise as part of the armory in the battle against the nations.
We are standing on the timeline. We can look backward and see that the nations are still free physically. Could this task of vengeance against the nations be a reserved messianic task? Probably yes. Israel as a nation stood in the place of the seed, albeit poorly.
We are living in times when the realities of creation are unfolding with the coming of the real seed, the LORD Jesus Christ. He is the real owner of the double-edged sword. Revelation 1 verse 16.
“Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. Revelation 19 verse 15.
Could the saint’s praise be the miniature version of the Lamb’s sharp sword?
This psalm presents different pictures of praise. It is both corporate and personal. Individual saints can praise the LORD from their beds in the night. But they can also come together as an assembly of saints to praise the LORD.
Yes, it’s a congregation of saints, and it’s beautiful! Let it never be a congregation of sinners, or a congregation of less serious mortals who don’t know what they are doing.
We can also answer the questions of when and where to pray. This psalm names “night” as the time of prayer. And the location is one’s bed! On this long trip in the Book of Psalms, we have seen several “times” and various locations for prayer. We can summarize it as follows: Always and everywhere – wherever the saint is.
The scripture teaches against ritualizing prayer time. Social media is full of calls for prayer at 3, midnight, noon, or New Year’s Day. The saint must watch against ritualizing their relationship with the Creator God. It shouldn’t be reduced to events!
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