Psalm 132--The LORD Has Chosen Zion

Psalm 132
English Standard Version
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The LORD Has Chosen Zion
A Song of Ascents.
132 Remember, O LORD, in David's favor,
    all the hardships he endured,
2 how he swore to the LORD
    and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob,
3 “I will not enter my house
    or get into 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.”

6 Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah;
    we found it in the fields of Jaar.
7 “Let us go to his dwelling place;
    let us worship at his footstool!”

8 Arise, O LORD, and go to your resting place,
    you and the ark of your might.
9 Let your priests be clothed with righteousness,
    and let your saints shout for joy.
10 For the sake of your servant David,
    do not turn away the face of your anointed one.

11 The LORD swore to David a sure oath
    from which he will not turn back:
“One of the sons of your body
    I will set on your throne.
12 If your sons keep my covenant
    and my testimonies that I shall teach them,
their sons also forever
    shall sit on your throne.”

13 For the LORD has chosen Zion;
    he has desired it for his dwelling place:
14 “This is my resting place forever;
    here I will dwell, for I have desired it.
15 I will abundantly bless her provisions;
    I will satisfy her poor with bread.
16 Her priests I will clothe with salvation,
    and her saints will shout for joy.
17 There I will make a horn to sprout for David;
    I have prepared a lamp for my anointed.
18 His enemies I will clothe with shame,
    but on him his crown will shine.”

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This psalm is a song about the Davidic covenant and how the LORD had chosen Jerusalem (Zion) for the place for His house (The Temple) to be built.  While David did not want to rest until he had built the LORD's house, the LORD did not choose David to build the house, but his son Solomon.  Instead, David did all that he could to make preparations, for he did not trust Solomon with a task so great.  David began to gather the bronze, silver and gold, the wood, and the carpenters, metal workers and stone masons.  He arranged for the skilled craftsmen of Tyre and Sidon to help build the Temple by making arrangements with King Hiram, and for them to give Solomon whatever he needed in terms of materials or workmen.

Before this though, David had returned the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, and he worshiped and sacrificed before the Ark of the Covenant.  The Ark had been kept by a priest who lived in Ephraim, but it had now been returned to Jerusalem.  The people greatly rejoiced that the Ark of the Covenant that represented the LORD's presence was once again among them.  David then asks for the LORD to dress His priests in righteousness and to hear and accept the joyful worship of HIs saints.

David then talks not about what he wanted to do for God, but what God promised to do for him--that there would always be a son of David ruling over the people of Israel until the Messiah, the Son of David, would come.  His kingdom and dominion would be without end and everlasting.  He would sit on the throne of His father David in Jerusalem (this is yet to come with the Second Coming of Christ, but you notice there are no more kings over Israel because Jesus has come and is the rightful heir to the throne.  This is one of the things that the Pharisees were afraid of and why they turned the hearts of the people to cry "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!").  Now He sits at the right hand of His Father waiting for the Day when He will return with glory, power and authority to set up His kingdom here on this Earth.  It will only last 1,000 years before Satan is released and those born during the 1,000 year reign rebel against Him and there is a final war that ends with the destruction of this world and the judgment of the living and the dead, but after that there will be a New Heaven and New Earth that will be made and the Bride of Christ will come down from heaven like a radiant city--The New Jerusalem--that will be the place where God the Father and God the Son dwell with those called both priests and saints forever and ever.

The LORD chose Jerusalem to be His city--a city on a hill that cannot be hidden from where His Light would shine to the whole world.  It would be the place where the gospel would be centered around and the place where Jesus is coming back to and will reign from, but for now, it would be the place where the Temple would be built, and the Ark of the Covenant would rest.  No longer would the LORD live in a tent that is a temporary dwelling place because the people no longer moved about in tents.  They had homes and the king had palaces, so shouldn't the LORD have the biggest and nicest house of anyone?  Should it not be even more splendid than the king's palace?  David certainly thought so!  The LORD told David that no house could contain Him for the heavens are His throne room and the earth is but His footstool, but He appreciated David's thought, and the LORD was happy to dwell among His people in a more permanent way to show them that He intended them to live in the Land He had given them forever and ever.  They just needed to keep the covenant so that they would not have to be driven out of the Land and Exiled--yet, even if that happened, He would still go with them.  He would not need the Tabernacle or Ark of the Covenant to do so, because the LORD is already in all places at all times, and we knew He was with His people in Egypt before the Tabernacle was ever built just as He was with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob before the Aaronic priesthood ever existed.  So is the promise for us today that the Lord will be with us wherever we go.

Yet the LORD has chosen Jerusalem and still has much to accomplish there.  It is still the city that bears His name and is the place that He chose to be The City of the Great King (that's Jesus).  It is the city that we as God's people should identify with, and it will be the name of that holy city that will be our eternal dwelling place with Him--the New Jerusalem.  Let us pray for the peace of Jerusalem as we are commanded and let us pray for the people of Jerusalem and all of Israel to understand the gospel and once again become the LORD's priests and saints.  He wants to bless them, and we know that there will be 144,000 Jewish evangelists that will share the gospel in the end times.  If 12 Jewish men (the Apostles) were chosen to take the gospel to the whole world originally, imagine 12 x 12,000 Jewish men being chosen to take the gospel to the whole world in the end times.  That's rather exciting for me and I want to see the gospel spread throughout the world like wildfire when these evangelists go forth from Jerusalem to tell everyone that Salvation has come, and His name is Jesus!  He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and the Judge of the Living and the Dead!