Theological Commentary: Click Here
It’s only
fitting that the book of psalms ends with two psalms of praise. If the book of psalms are the Lord’s Greatest
Hits book, then it should end with words that bring glory to His name. Life, our very human existence, is best lived
when our very being brings Him glory.
We’ve grown
accustomed to psalmists speaking about the various things that give God
praise. In this set of psalms we have a
focus on musical instruments. We hear
about trumpets and cymbals and lutes and harps and tambourines. I can only imagine the symphony of sound the
psalmist imagines as he pens these words.
The words, though, make sense.
These instruments would all be useful in bringing praise to the Lord.
Naturally,
we also have the human element in the praise.
The humans play the instruments.
The humans give their bodies up in dance. The very breath of the humans is spent in
giving praise to the Lord.
In all of
these images that make sense, there is a unique image to be found. Psalm 149:6 call for more than just psalms of
praise to be in the throats of the faithful.
This psalm calls for double-edged swords to be in the hands of the
faithful to execute judgment upon the nations.
It’s an interesting concept to pair psalm and sword.
How do these
ideas fit together? Remember that the
subject of the praise is a perfect and righteous God. He is a perfect and righteous God who
executes justice upon the nations. He is
the only one righteous enough to be the judge!
It makes sense, then, that the faithful would be the hands and feet of
such judgment. This brings out a neat
point. We are not the righteous
judge. We are the servants who praise
the righteous judge. He is the judge,
not us. We praise Him. We act upon His desires. In all this we remember that we are ourselves
not the judge.
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