The Song of the King's Strength

Psalm 21 is a companion to Psalm 20, and they’re so similar in their themes that they might have been composed together or at least intentionally placed next to each other. Remember that Psalm 20 was a prayer and blessing for the king of Israel before he departed for battle. Psalm 21 has the tone of victory and thanksgiving, like the king is returning from the battle and hears this song of joy rising from the people at the city gates. The psalm begins: “O LORD, in your strength the king rejoices, and in your salvation how greatly he exults!” In Psalm 20, the king declared that he did not put his ultimate trust in chariots or in horses but in the name of the LORD, and here the outcome of that trust leads to joy and praise. “Salvation” or “deliverance” links back to Psalm 20, where the same root word appears three times. The strength and loyalty of the covenant LORD who saves his people out of their distress causes everyone here to burst out in a loud, exuberant song of worship. Some think that the point of view of the person speaking in the first half of this psalm could be a priest or a prophet, or perhaps the congregation as a whole, or even the king speaking of himself in the third person. In some ways, it doesn’t matter, because the psalm has the feel of unity and corporate praise, voices mingling together in celebration. In fact, the very last verse highlights the communal nature of this song: “Be exalted, O LORD, in your strength! We will sing and praise your power.” Again, this closing prayer echoes a similar prayer at the end of Psalm 20, but here it circles back to the theme of the LORD’s strength. Our God is strong. His power is unparalleled, and when we align ourselves with him, God uses his power to save his people.

The song of celebration continues as the people praise God for all the gifts that he gives the king. Remember that many psalms about kingship assume that we’re talking about an ideal king, a ruler who is pious and faithful and humble before the LORD. For this kind of king, God gives him the desires of his heart, because a righteous leader wants only what is glorifying to God and good for his people. God answers his prayers and blesses him with good things, granting him a measure of majesty and splendor that is meant to reflect God’s own glory. In verse 4, the king is promised a long life as well as a legacy: “He asked life of you; you gave it to him, length of days forever and ever.” There’s an echo here of 2 Samuel 7 in which God promised David a dynasty that would last forever. In verse 6, the people say, “For you make him most blessed forever,” and there’s some ambiguity about whether the king is the recipient or the vehicle of blessing. It’s likely both. As one commentator writes, “In the theology of the Bible a person receives God’s blessing in order to convey that blessing to others, and this is especially true of the Davidic king, who is expressly forbidden to use his blessed position to raise himself above his fellow Israelites.” What is the reason for this blessed position? Verse 7, which is the heart of the psalm: “For the king trusts in the LORD, and through the steadfast love of the Most High he shall not be moved.” Here again is the theme of trust connected to the loyal love, the hesed, of the LORD, Yahweh (God’s covenant name) and of the Most High, a term often used in the book of Psalms. So Psalm 21 begins and ends by praising God for his strength, but in the center, we come back to the steadfast love that is behind that strength. The reason we trust in the LORD is not only because he is omnipotent but also because he uses his strength to keep his beloved ones safe and secure. God’s love and God’s power are what lead his people to a life of joy.

Whereas the first half of Psalm 21 focused on the positive blessings that God gives to the king, the second half emphasizes the punishment that God gives to his enemies. Verse 8: “Your hand will find out all your enemies; your right hand will find out those who hate you.” In the wake of verse 7 declaring that the king will never be moved through the love of the Most High, the psalm turns its attention toward those who want to topple God’s king and destroy his people. It’s unclear throughout this section whether “you” refers to God or to the king, and that ambiguity might be intentional; if the king has aligned himself with God, then those who hate one will also hate the other. Here, the strength of God is described as a blazing oven, which in the prophets is a metaphor for divine judgment on evil. Verse 10 can be troubling to modern ears: “You will destroy their descendants from the earth, and their offspring from among the children of man.” These words probably assume that the enemies’ descendants would continue the same hostility as their parents, but like the rebels in Psalm 2, if someone abandons their wicked ways and humbles themselves before the LORD, they are offered forgiveness and refuge. Another interesting note about this section is that the words used here are a subtle allusion to Korah’s rebellion in Numbers 16, which came from inside Israel. This isn’t a crusade against non-Israelites; this is a bigger struggle in the world between those who trust in the LORD and those who hate God and plan evil against him. Just like Psalms 1 and 2, Psalm 21 should motivate us to examine ourselves and ask, “What path is my life taking, and where is my allegiance? Do I trust in myself, or do I rely on the steadfast love and the strong power of the Lord?”