“Lord, remember David and all his afflictions; how he swore to the Lord, and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob: ‘Surely I will not go into the chamber of my house or go up to the comfort of my bed. I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids, until I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.’ Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah. We found it in the fields of the woods.” Psalm 132:1-6
In these verses, Solomon asks God for His favor, and acknowledges that building the temple was done according to God’s design and according to his father David’s earnest desire. [2] David had often stayed awake at night working on plans to build the temple.
God helped Solomon to fulfill his father David’s desire to have a house for God’s Name. He asked the Lord to remember all that his father did to maintain God’s witness in the world. [3]
Just as Moses prayed in Exodus 32:13, “Remember Abraham,” so Solomon asked God to remember David. [4]
Nowadays, we have someone greater than Abraham and David to hold up before God when we pray. We pray in the Name of Jesus Christ. In doing so, we ask our Heavenly Father to remember the atoning sacrifice of His Son and His resurrection from the dead on our behalf, and to graciously grant the answer to our prayer.
David made his vow “to the Lord, to the mighty God of Jacob.” A vow is made to God because He is both the One who hears it and the One who holds us accountable. Jacob himself was weak, but God is almighty.
David promised to find a place for the Lord. He wanted a permanent place for the Ark of the Covenant. Atop the Ark is where the atoning blood was applied on the Day of Atonement. The Ark was symbolic of Messiah. The Ark contained the Ten Commandments. Thus, it both had the Word of God in it, and blood of the lamb placed above it. So, symbolic of Christ! It was a witness to Word that God later spoke in James 2:13: “Mercy triumphs over judgment.” Positionally speaking, the Mercy Seat was atop the Ark and the Ten Commandments inside it.
David was so determined to find a resting place for the Ark that he would not rest until he found it. The matter had been discussed for a long time, but nothing had been done. [5]
Towards the end of David’s earthly life, he amassed great quantities of building materials and skilled laborers to get the temple project done. According to 1 Chronicles 22:1-4, he amassed iron and bronze beyond measure, as well as cedar wood from Lebanon. According to 1 Chronicles 29:4, he donated 112 tons of the finest gold, and 262 tons of refined silver for the building of the temple.
Such a miracle! At one stage of his life, David was a poor shepherd boy. At another stage, he was a fugitive fleeing from his government. At still another stage, he was a king living in exile due to a coup état. But at the end of his life, he was exceedingly wealthy.
The various stages of David’s life are symbolic of a Christian’s life on earth. We go through many twists and turns, many ups and downs, but at the end of our lives, we inherit eternity with God. In the kingdom of heaven, gold is so abundant that it is used as street pavement. Jewels are so many that they are used for city walls. Pearls are so great that they are used to make city gates.
In 1 Chronicles 21:1, it is written that Satan stood up against Israel and moved David to count how many people were in his kingdom. David did it. God was not pleased. He sent a plague upon Israel and 70,000 men died from the plague.
In 1 Chronicles 21:15, the Lord told the destroying angel to stop the plague. The angel was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan when he stopped.
In 1 Chronicles 21:16-22:1, the Lord opened David’s eyes to see the destroying angel. The angel instructed the prophet Gad to tell David to build an altar in this place and offer a sacrifice there. David did it, and the Lord commanded the angel to put his sword away. God turned the place where human pride caused a disaster into a resting place for the Ark of the Covenant. This story is a foreshadowing of Christ. For in Jerusalem the devil got the spiritual leaders of the city to crucify Christ, but God turned the day of their evil pride into a day of atonement for sins. Christ died and resurrected in Jerusalem.
“Let us go into His tabernacle. Let us worship at His footstool.” Psalm 132:7
David desired to honor God with worship. Worship of God had been neglected during the reign of Saul. In 1 Chronicles 13:3, David said, “Let us bring the Ark of our God back to us, for we have not inquired at it since the days of Saul.” [6]
“Arise, O Lord, to Your resting place, You, and the Ark of Your strength.” Psalm 132:8
The Ark is called, “The Ark of Your [God’s] strength” because it represented God’s presence among His people. It was God’s presence, His resting, in the temple that made it great. [7]
“Let Your priests be clothed with righteousness and let Your saints shout for joy.” Psalm 132:9
He asked God to help the priests be righteous. The righteousness of God is the most honorable vestment that any minister can wear. Priests are called to be holy as God is holy.
According to 2 Samuel 6:15, the “saints shouted for joy” when the Ark was brought into Jerusalem. In 2 Corinthians 1:24, Paul wrote: “We are helpers of your joy.” Faithful servants of God bring joy to the hearts of those who love the Lord and love His ways. [8]
“For Your servant David’s sake, do not turn away the face of Your Anointed.” Psalm 132:10
As God’s chosen king, Solomon was a picture of Christ. Christ is the ultimate Anointed One. The Father turned His face away from His Anointed One (Jesus) while Jesus bore the sins of many. But now Christ is seated in everlasting glory at the right hand of the Father. [9]
We have no righteousness of our own, but in Christ, we have His perfect righteousness and merits. Thus, God sees us as righteous. When we pray for ourselves and God’s people, we pray with confidence because Christ purchased us with His own blood.
“The Lord has sworn in truth to David. He will not turn from it: ‘I will set upon your throne the fruit of your body.” Psalm 132:11
God established David’s kingdom with a promise: “The Lord has sworn, and will not repent.” God promised David that the fruit of his body would set upon his throne. This promise was first fulfilled in Solomon. According to 1 King 1:48, David lived long enough to see Solomon become king and he rejoiced greatly. [10]
“If your sons will keep My covenant and My testimony which I shall teach them, their sons also shall sit upon your throne forevermore.’” Psalm 132:12
God’s promise had a condition. David’s descendants must keep God’s covenant, a reference to God’s Law given to Moses, and they must keep God’s testimony. [11] I like to think of God’s testimony as the Gospel, or in Old Testament times, the Passover and the atoning sacrifices.
In Revelation 12:17, the devil is at war with those who keep God’s commandments and the testimony of Jesus [the Gospel]. It is by the preaching of the Law that people are convicted of their sins, and it is by the preaching of the Gospel that they learned what to do with their sin. Or as Martin Luther put it, “The Law discovers the disease. The Gospel gives the remedy.”
A leader who wants to please God must do so God’s way. If David’s descendants remained faithful to the Lord, God promised a continual succession of them to reign forever and ever. [12]
In Acts 2:30-31, Peter preached that God’s promise to David was fulfilled in Jesus. “Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ...” [13]
In Luke 1:30-31, The angel Gabriel told Mary, “Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest. And the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David.” [14]
Jesus Christ fulfilled the condition of the promise. He kept God’s covenant. He perfectly obeyed His Father’s will in every way. Thus, the promise to David belongs to Christ and to all who belong to Christ. [15]
“For the Lord has chosen Zion. He has desired it for His dwelling place. ‘This is My resting place forever. Here I will dwell, for I have desired it.’” Psalm 132:13-14
According to Psalms 78:68, God chose Zion because He loved it. He chose Zion as the place for His presence to rest forever. Unlike Shiloh, which was only a temporary place of worship, Zion was chosen as a lasting place of God’s presence. [16]
Zion points forward to the Church which is called “Mount Zion” in Hebrews 12:22. Although earthly Zion was eventually destroyed and “ploughed as a field,” the Church of Christ remains as 1 Timothy 3:15 says, “the house of the living God.” [17]
“I will abundantly bless her provision. I will satisfy her poor with bread.” Psalm 132:15
God especially cares for the poor among His people. In Acts 6:1, when widows were being neglected in the daily food distribution, a cry arose from among the people and the leaders addressed the issue immediately.
“I will also clothe her priests with salvation, and her saints shall shout aloud for joy.” Psalm 132:16
“Priests” who understand and make understandable the good news of salvation are a source of great joy for people. So much so that they want to shout it out.
“There I will make the horn of David grow. I will prepare a lamp for My Anointed.” Psalm 135:17
The “horn” represents strength and power. God promised that David’s kingdom would continue to grow. [18] His kingdom is the small stone mentioned in Daniel 2:34-35 that strikes all the empires before it and destroys them, and it becomes a great mountain that fills all the earth.
“His enemies I will clothe with shame, but upon Himself His crown shall flourish.” Psalm 132:18
Those who oppose God’s purposes will fail. This especially applies to the enemies of Jesus Christ and His kingdom, who will face eternal shame and judgment. [19]
Earthly rulers lose their power. Their crowns fade. But the kingdom of God is forever. [20]
God’s promises to David point us to Christ whose kingdom and blessings are forever. [21]
[1] “The Song of Ascents” (Psalms 120–134) are songs to sing as one journeys toward God.
[2-21] Material derived from and edited from Matthew Henry’s Commentary
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