We are almost at the last Psalm, and still among the Hallelujahs. This is "a new song," evidently intended for the new creation, and the men who are of new heart. It is such a song as may be sung at the coming of the Lord, when the new dispensation shall bring overthrow to the wicked and honour to all the saints. The tone is exceedingly jubilant and exultant. All through one hears the beat of the feet of dancing maidens, keeping time to the timbrel and harp.

Hints to Preachers

Psalm 149:1. - "Praise ye the Lord."

I. The one work of a life.

II. The work of the truly living of all degrees.

III. Their work in many and various forms.

IV. A work for which there is abundant cause, reason, and argument.

Psalm 149:1. -

I. A wonderful gift - to be a saint.

II. A wonderful people - who are saints.

III. A wonderful assembly - a congregation of saints.

IV. A wonderful God - the object of their song.

Psalm 149:1, Psalm 149:2. - The new song of the saints.

I. The saints are God's children by the new birth.

II. The new birth has given them a new heart.

III. The new heart utters itself in a new song. - C. A. D.

Psalm 149:1, Psalm 149:5. -

I. We must praise God in public, "in the congregation of the saints": the more the better; it is like to heaven.

II. We must praise him in private. "Let the saints" be so transported with their joy in God as to "sing aloud upon their beds," when they awake in the night, as David; Psalm 119:62. - Matthew Henry.

Psalm 149:2. - The duty, reasonableness, and benefit of holy joy.

Psalm 149:2. - A peculiar people, their peculiar God, and their peculiar joy in him.

Psalm 149:2 (second clause). - Christ's people may well rejoice: -

I. In the majesty of his person.

II. In the righteousness of his rule.

III. In the extent of his conquests.

IV. In the protection they enjoy under him.

V. In the glory to which he will raise them. - From "The Homiletical Library," 1882.

Psalm 149:2, Psalm 149:4. - The cause given to God's Israel for Praise. Consider,

I. God's doings for them. They have reason to rejoice in God, and employ themselves in his service; for it is he that "made" them.

II. God's dominion over them. This follows upon the former: if he made them he is their King.

III. God's delight in them. He is a King that rules by love, and therefore to be praised.

IV. God's designs concerning them. Besides the present complacency he hath in them, he hath prepared for their future glory. "He will beautify the meek," etc. - Matthew Henry.

Psalm 149:4. - The text bears other renderings. Head as in Authorized Version.

I. The character to be aimed at - "the meek."

1. Submissive to God. To his truth. To his dealings.

2. Gentle towards men. Bearing with patience. Forgiving with heartiness. Loving with perseverance.

3. Lowly in ourselves.

II. The favour to be enjoyed - "beautify."

1. The beauty of gentleness.

2. The beauty of peace.

3. The beauty of content.

4. The beauty of joy.

5. The beauty of holiness.

6. The beauty of respect and influence.

III. The good results to be expected.

1. God will be glorified and Christ manifested.

2. Men will be attracted.

3. Heaven will be anticipated.

Psalm 149:4 (first clause). - The Lord's taking pleasure in his people is,

I. A wonderful evidence of his grace.

II. The highest honour they can desire.

III. Their security for time and eternity. - J. F.

Psalm 149:5. - Saintly joy.

I. The state to which God has lifted the saints: "glory," in contrast with sin, reproach, affliction.

II. The emotion which accordingly befits the saints, "be joyful."

III. The utterance of that emotion incumbent on the saints, "sing aloud." - C. A. D.

Psalm 149:5 (second clause). - Let them praise God -

I. Upon their beds of rest, upon their nightly couch.

1. Because of what God has done for them during the day.

2. Because sleep is the gift of God.

3. Because they have a bed to lie upon.

4. Because the Lord is their keeper (Psalm 4:5, Psalm 4:8).

II. Upon their beds of sickness.

1. Because it is God's will they should suffer.

2. Because affliction is often a proof of God's love.

3. Because, if sanctified, sickness is a great blessing.

4. Because praise offered upon a bed of sickness is a testimony to the power of religion.

III. Upon their beds of death.

1. Because the sting of death is removed.

2. Because their Lord has passed through death.

3. Because Christ is with them while they suffer.

4. Because of what awaits them.

5. Because they have the glorious hope of resurrection. - G. W. Townsend.

Psalm 149:6. -

I. The Christian life a combination of adoration and conflict.

II. In each case it should be at its best: "high praises, two-edged sword."

III. In each case holiness should be conspicuous: it is of saints that the text speaks.

Psalm 149:8. - The restraining and subduing power of the gospel.

Psalm 149:9. - The honour common to all saints.

Explanatory Notes and Quaint Sayings

Whole Psalm

The foregoing Psalm was a hymn of praise to the Creator; this is a hymn to the Redeemer. - Matthew Henry.

Whole Psalm

The New Testament spiritual church cannot pray as the Old Testament national church here prays. Under the illusion that it must be used as a prayer without any spiritual transmutation, Psalm 149:1-9 has become the watchword of the most horrible errors. It was by means of this Psalm that Caspar Scloppius, in his Classicurn Belli Sacri, which, as Bakius says, is written, not with ink, but with blood, inflamed the Roman Catholic princes to the Thirty Years' Religious War. And in the Protestant church Thomas Mntzer stirred up the War of the Peasants by means of this Psalm. We see that the Christian cannot make such a Psalm directly his own, without disavowing the apostolic warning, "The weapons of our warfare are not carnal" (2 Corinthians 10:4). The praying Christian must therefore transpose the letter of this Psalm into the spirit of the New Covenant. - Franz Delitzsch.

Psalm 149:1

"A new song"; for this Psalm is a song of renovation. If Israel when restored and renewed had new cause for rejoicing, much more should the New Covenant Israel feel constrained to strike the new note of triumph. Infidels blaspheme, the ungrateful murmur, the thoughtless are silent, the mournful weep, all acting according to their old nature; but new men take up a new mode, which is the divinely-inspired song of peace, charity, and joy in the Lord. - Johannes Paulus Palanterius.

Psalm 149:1

"A new song." - The old man hath an old song, the new man a new song. The Old Testament is an old song, the New Testament is a new song..... Whoso loveth earthly things singeth an old song: let him that desireth to sing a new song love the things of eternity. Love itself is new and eternal; therefore is it ever new, because it never groweth old. - Augustine.

Psalm 149:1

"Saints." - A title not to be restricted to the godly of the first times, but common to all that are saved in all after-times also, as Ephesians 4:12. This name putteth mere morality and formal profession out of countenance, as the sun doth a glow-worm. Saintship is a matter of Divine workmanship, and therefore it is far more remarkable than human excellence. We should keep up the name of "saints," that the reality of the true religion be not lowered by avoiding this title; for in these times it is to be feared that the name is out of use, because holiness itself is out of fashion. - Thomas Goodwin.

Psalm 149:2

"Let Israel rejoice," etc. Give us, oh, give us the man who sings at his work! Be his occupation what it may, he is equal to any of those who follow the same pursuit in silent sullenness. He will do more in the same time - he will do it better - he will persevere longer. One is scarcely sensible of fatigue whilst he marches to music. The very stars are said to make harmony as they revolve in their spheres. Wondrous is the strength of cheerfulness, altogether past calculation its powers of endurance. Efforts to be permanently useful must be uniformly joyous - a spiritual sunshine - graceful from very gladness - beautiful because bright. - Thomas Carlyle.

Psalm 149:2

"Rejoice in him that made him: let the children of Zion be joyful." You are never right until you can be heartily merry in the Lord, nor until you can enjoy mirth in connection with holiness. - Walter Marshall.

Psalm 149:2

"Him that made him." Jehovah is called Maker, as one who formed Israel as a nation, and constituted the people a kingdom, though they had been a race of slaves. This is more than a general creation of men. - Hermann Venema.

Psalm 149:2

Literally the Hebrew here brings forward the mystic doctrine of the Trinity, for it reads, "Let Israel rejoice in God his Makers." - Simon de Muis.

Psalm 149:2

"Joyful in their King." I beg the reader to remark with me, here is nothing said of Israel being joyful in what their king had done for them. These things in their proper place, became sweet subjects of praise. But the subject of praise in which Israel is now to be engaged is Jesus himself. Reader, pause over this apparently small, but most important, distinction. The Lord is gracious in his gifts, gracious in his love, gracious in his salvation. Every thing he gives, it is from his mercy, and ever to be so acknowledged. But Jesus' gifts are not himself: I cannot be satisfied with his gifts, while I know that to others he gives his Person. It is Jesus himself I want. Though he give me all things that I need, yet if he be to me himself all things that I need, in him I have all things. Hence, therefore, let us see that Jesus not only gives us all, but that he is our all. - Robert Hawker.

Psalm 149:3

"The dance" was in early times one of the modes of expressing religious joy (Exodus 15:20; 2 Samuel 6:16). When from any cause men's ideas shall undergo such a revolution as to lead them to do the same thing for the same purpose, it will be time enough to discuss that matter. In our time, dancing has no such use, and cannot, therefore, in any wise be justified by pleading the practice of pious Jews of old. - William Swan Plumer.

Psalm 149:3

"Let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp." They who from hence urge the use of music in religious worship, must, by the same rule, introduce dancing, for they went together, as in David's dancing before the ark (Judges 21:21). But whereas many Scriptures in the New Testament keep up singing as a gospel ordinance, none provide for the keeping up of music and dancing; the gospel canon for Psalmody is to "sing with the spirit and with the understanding." - Matthew Henry.

Psalm 149:3

"Timbrel." The toph was employed by David in all the festivities of religion (2 Samuel 6:5). The occasions on which it was used were mostly joyful, and those who played upon it were generally females (Psalm 68:25), as was the case among most ancient nations, and is so at the present day in the East. The usages of the modern East might adequately illustrate all the scriptural allusions to this instrument, but happily we have more ancient and very valuable illustration from the monuments of Egypt. In these we find that the tambourine was a favourite instrument, both on sacred and festive occasions. There were three kinds, differing, no doubt, in sound as well as in form; one was circular, another square or oblong, and the third consisted of two squares separated by a bar. They were all beaten by the hand, and often used as an accomplishment to the harp and other instruments. The tambourine was usually played by females, who are represented as dancing to its sound without the accompaniment of any other instrument. - John Kitto.

1 Praise ye the Lord. Sing unto the Lord a new song, and his praise in the congregation of saints.

2 Let Israel rejoice in him that made him - let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.

3 Let them praise his name in the dance - let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp.

4 For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation.

5 Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds.

6 Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand;

7 To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people;

8 To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron;

9 To execute upon them the judgment written - this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the Lord.

Psalm 149:1

"Praise ye the Lord." Specially you, ye chosen people, whom he has made to be his saints. You have praised him aforetime, praise him yet again; yea, for ever praise him. With renewed zeal and fresh delight lift up your song unto Jehovah. "Sing unto the Lord a new song." Sing, for it is the fittest method for expressing reverent praise. Sing a hymn newly composed, for you have now a new knowledge of God. He is ever new in his manifestations; his mercies are new every morning; his deliverances are new in every night of sorrow; let your gratitude and thanksgivings be new also. It is well to repeat the old; it is more useful to invent the new. Novelty goes well with heartiness. Our singing should be "unto the Lord"; the songs we sing should be of him and to him, "for of him, and to him, and through him are all things." Among our novelties there should be new songs: alas! men are fonder of making new complaints than new Psalms. Our new songs should be devised in Jehovah's honour; indeed all our newest thoughts should run towards him. Never can we find a nobler subject for a song than the Lord, nor one more full of fresh matter for a new song, nor one which we are personally so much bound to sing as a new song "unto the Lord." "And his praise in the congregation of saints." Saints are precious, and a congregation of saints is a treasure house of jewels. God is in the midst of saints, and because of this we may well long to be among them. They are so full of his praise that we feel at home among them when we are ourselves full of praise. The sanctuary is the house of praise as well as the house of prayer. All saints praise God: they would not be saints if they did not. Their praise is sincere, suitable, seasonable, and acceptable. Personal praise is sweet unto God, but congregated praise has a multiplicity of sweetnesses in it. When holy ones meet, they adore the Holy One. Saints do not gather to amuse themselves with music, nor to extol one another, but to sing his praise whose saints they are. A congregation of saints is heaven upon earth: should not Jehovah, the Lord of saints, have all the praise that can come from such an assembly? Yet at times even saintly conclaves need to be stirred up to thanksgiving; for saints may be sad and apprehensive, and then their spirits require to be raised to a higher key, and stimulated to happier worship.

Psalm 149:2

"Let Israel rejoice in him that made him." Here is that new creation which calls for the new song. It was Jehovah who made Israel to be Israel, and the tribes to become a great nation: therefore let the Founder of the nation be had in perpetual honour. Joy and rejoicing are evidently to be the special characteristics of the new song. The religion of the dead in sin is more apt to chant dirges than to sing hallelujahs; but when we are made new in the spirit of our minds we joy and rejoice in him that made us. Our joy is in our God and King: we choose no lower delight. "Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King." Those who had seen the tribes formed into a settled kingdom as well as into a united nation should rejoice. Israel is the nation, Zion is the capital of the kingdom, Israel rejoices in her Maker, Zion in her King. In the case of our God we who believe in him are as glad of his Government as we are of his Creation: his reign is as truly the making of us as was his divine power. The children of Israel are happy to be made a people; the children of Zion are equally happy to be ruled as a people. In every character our God is the source of joy to us: this verse issues a permit to our joy, yea it lays an injunction upon us to be glad in the Lord.

Psalm 149:3

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