Psalm 132

Introduction

The ark of the covenant was wooden box that held the tablets of law that Moses received on Mount Sinai.

The ark came to symbolize the presence of YHWH, who was envisioned as enthroned over the ark.

Fast-forward from the time of Moses to the time of David when the ark made its short journey from Kiriath-jearim to the newly captured city of David, Jerusalem, we see the ark’s arrival in Jerusalem as the culmination of a journey that began centuries earlier at Sinai.

Psalm 132 remembers how the ark came to rest in Jerusalem.

It remembers the determination of David.

It remembers God’s promise to David’s house.

And it remembers that God’s people are blessed according to the faithfulness of God’s anointed.

This psalm was written after David’s time but is old enough to have been quoted by Solomon when he was anointed king, but perhaps its included in these psalms of ascent to help Jewish pilgrims remember and celebrate God’s presence coming to dwell among them.

[TS] We will look at Psalm 132 one STANZA at a time and discuss as we go along…

Major Ideas

Stanza #1: David Swore to the Lord (Psalm 132:1-5)

Psalm 132:1–5 NASB95

1 Remember, O Lord, on David’s behalf, All his affliction; 2 How he swore to the Lord And vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob, 3 “Surely I will not enter my house, Nor lie on my bed; 4 I will not give sleep to my eyes Or slumber to my eyelids, 5 Until I find a place for the Lord, A dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.”

Q. What was the affliction David suffered in bringing the ark to Jerusalem?

During the reign of King Saul, Israel’s first king, the ark was neglected (1 Chr. 13:3), which is another way of saying that God’s Law and God’s presence was neglected.

Those things were important to David and seeing their neglect among God’s people broke his heart.

David was burdened to see the ark exalted among his people because David was burdened to see God exalted among his people.

So neglected was the ark during Saul’s reign that when David first attempted to move it to Jerusalem, it was transported incorrectly.

A man named Uzzah died because he touched the ark and David asked, “How can the ark of the Lord come to me?” (2 Sam. 6:9).

David was unwilling to move the ark into Jerusalem for some time afterward (2 Sam. 6:10).

Even so, the burden to see the ark exalted among the people of God remained in David and David was determined to see it come about.

Q. What stands out to you about David’s determination in vv. 2-5?

It was a determination before the Lord.

David “swore to the Lord and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob” (v. 2).

It was a serious determination.

David vowed to not live in his house, lie in his bed, or give sleep to his eyes until a resting place was found for the ark (vv. 3-5a).

Q. How should we take David’s pledge—as literal or symbolic?

We should understand David’s pledge to not live in his house or sleep in his bed as symbolic of his determination to bring the ark to is resting place in Jerusalem.

If we understand it literally, then David either broke his vow and slept or didn’t sleep for three months for that how long it took for David to bring the ark the short distance from Kiriath-jearim to Jerusalem (2 Sam. 6:11).

It was a determination aimed at glorifying the Lord.

Some have interpreted David’s action in bringing the ark to Jerusalem as a political maneuver meant to put the final flourish on his reign as king and the new capital of his kingdom, Jerusalem.

However, David’s real motivation was the glory of God, to “find a place for the LORD, a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob,” (v. 5).

It was a determination that recalled the history of God’s journey with his people.

The last time God was called “the Mighty One of Jacob” was way back in Genesis 49 (v. 24) when Jacob was foretelling the future of the twelve tribes of Israel—the twelve tribes that would come from his twelve sons.

The ark’s arrival in Jerusalem would be in David’s mind the last step in a journey that saw God’s people go from an enslaved people in Egypt to a ruling people in the Promised Land.

Stanza #2: Arise, O LORD, to Your Resting Place (Psalm 132:6-10)

Psalm 132:6–10 NASB95

6 Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah, We found it in the field of Jaar. 7 Let us go into His dwelling place; Let us worship at His footstool. 8 Arise, O Lord, to Your resting place, You and the ark of Your strength. 9 Let Your priests be clothed with righteousness, And let Your godly ones sing for joy. 10 For the sake of David Your servant, Do not turn away the face of Your anointed.

Perhaps as the pilgrims remember the ark’s arrival in the days of King David, they reenacted the search for the ark. It had been moved from Shiloh to Kiriath-jearim. Ephrathah and Jaar in v. 6 are found in Kiriath-jearim; there the ark was located and then brought to Jerusalem.

It’s presence incited God’s people to worship.

Q. In v. 7 we see the call to worship, but what can we discern about their reasons for worship in v. 8?

They worshipped because God’s presence, symbolized in the ark, rested with them and that means they rested with God.

Although the ark had arrived at its resting place, it was God who had led them to their resting place in the Promised Land.

In Numbers 10:33 it says…

Numbers 10:33 NASB95

33 Thus they set out from the mount of the Lord three days’ journey, with the ark of the covenant of the Lord journeying in front of them for the three days, to seek out a resting place for them.

And when the ark set out, Moses would say, “Arise, O Lord!” (Num. 10:35) just as we see quoted in Psalm 132:8, “Arise, O LORD, to your resting place...”

That God rested with them meant that they could rest with God.

They worshipped because God’s strength, symbolized in the ark, rested with them.

This, of course, meant that they could rest in God’s strength.

Q. God’s people understand, however, that God’s resting with them is conditional. In vv. 9-10, the people pray for three people. Who do they pray for and what do they ask God for them?

They prayed that the priests would be clothed in righteousness.

Q. Why was it important that the priest be clothed in righteousness?

If the priests, the spiritual leaders, weren’t righteous, the people weren’t going to be righteous.

They prayed that the godly ones (the truly pious Israelites) would sing for joy.

Q. What prompts their joyful song?

Their joy is the glory of God’s presence among them.

Because God’s presence rests among them, their joyful song is the right response.

They prayed that the king in the line of David, the Lord’s anointed, would never turn his face away from God.

Q. What would it mean for the king to turn his face away from God?

It would mean judgment for not only himself but all his people who followed him in turning away from God.

Though not perfect, King David was a man after God’s own heart who lead his people to seek God.

Following him, Israel’s history is replete with king’s who indeed turned their face away from God.

Conclusion

We will come back to this psalm next Wednesday night, Lord willing, but how does all this point us to Jesus?

Jesus is the true ark of the covenant.

In Jesus, God took on flesh and dwelt among us.

In his perfect obedience is the fulfillment of the Law.

By dying on a wooden cross, he atoned for our sin in breaking God’s Law and inaugurated the New Covenant (Lk. 22:20; 1 Cor. 11:25).

As we trust in his death and resurrection, the presence of God comes to rest in us.

Jesus is true priest clothed with righteousness.

The author of Hebrews calls him a high priest forever in the order of Melchizedek (Heb. 7:17).

Hebrews 7:26-28 says…

Hebrews 7:26–28 NASB95

26 For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens; 27 who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. 28 For the Law appoints men as high priests who are weak, but the word of the oath, which came after the Law, appoints a Son, made perfect forever.

As our great high priest died for us and rose again, Jesus, who was clothed in perfect righteousness, clothed us in his righteousness.

Jesus is the true Israelite joyfully singing to the glory of God.

The words of the Exodus, “Out of Egypt I have called my Son,” ultimately apply to Jesus (Hos. 11:1; Mt. 2:15) because Jesus is the true Israel.

Although Israel was unfaithful as it wondered in the wilderness for 40 years, Jesus emerged sinless from his 40-day wilderness temptation to begin his public ministry.

Jesus was what Israel failed to be, God’s mouthpiece to the nations.

Jesus is the true King whose face never turned away from God.

You remember his faithful words to his Father even as he faced the cross, “Nevertheless not my will but your’s be done… Into your hand I commit my spirit…”

But wait, didn’t Jesus also cry out, “My God, My God, why have your forsaken me?”

That doesn’t sound very faithful until we realize that Jesus is quoting Psalm 22, which begins with the Messiah’s agony on the cross, then includes his cry for deliverance, but ends with resurrection praise “for he has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; nor has he hidden his face from him; but when he cried to him for help, he heard,” (Ps. 22:24).

The resurrection is proof that King Jesus never turned away from God.

What the pilgrims remember in Psalm 132, we have perfectly in King Jesus.

All they ask for, we have eternally in him.

[PRAYER]