The Book of Psalms

Word Study

"joy," Hebrew yismach (יִשְׂמַח), rejoice, be glad. Psalm 20 asked God to grant the king victory; Psalm 21 celebrates that God has done it. And notice at once where the king's joy is directed: "The king shall joy in thy strength, O LORD; and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!" This is the mark of a godly heart: it rejoices not in what it has achieved but in what God has done.

"thy strength," uzzekha (עֻזֶּךָ). The victory is won, but the king does not glory in his own prowess or his army's might; his joy is entirely in the LORD's strength and the LORD's salvation. He remembered before the battle that "some trust in chariots" but he would trust the name of the LORD (Psalm 20:7), and now, having triumphed, he gives all the glory back to God.

"thy salvation," yeshu'atekha (יְשׁוּעָתֶךָ), thy deliverance, the root of the name Jesus. When God delivers His people, the right response is not self-congratulation but exuberant joy in Him.

"how greatly," mah-yagel me'od (מַה־יָּגֶל מְאֹד), the exclamation of overflowing joy. The exclamation "how greatly shall he rejoice!" shows that joy in God's salvation is not a small, muted thing but an overflowing gladness. The one who trusted God before the victory worships God after it.

Explanation

Run your eye down the verbs of this psalm and you will notice something remarkable: the king does almost nothing, and God does everything. "Thou hast given him his heart's desire... thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness... thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head... thou gavest it him... thou hast made him most blessed... thou hast made him exceeding glad." Six times over, the active hand in the sentence is God's; the king is the one receiving, crowned, gladdened, blessed. Even the opening joy is not a thing he manufactures but a response to what God has done, "the king shall joy in thy strength." This is the deep grammar of grace: the crowned man is first of all a receiving man. And the psalm frames it beautifully, for it opens and closes on the same word, "strength", the king joying "in thy strength" (v1) and the people crying at the end, "Be thou exalted, LORD, in thine own strength" (v13). From first line to last, the strength in view is never the king's own.

Gospel Focus

"The king shall joy in thy strength, O LORD; and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!", these words find their highest meaning in Jesus Christ, the King who, having finished His work, entered into joy. "Thy salvation," yeshu'ah, is the root of the name Jesus; the King rejoices in the very salvation He came to accomplish. For "the joy that was set before him" Christ "endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Hebrews 12:2). Having triumphed over sin and death, the risen King entered into resurrection joy, and He shares that joy with His people: "these things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full" (John 15:11). The believer, saved by the King's victory, joins the King's joy, rejoicing not in our own strength or achievement but in God's salvation wrought in Christ. Like the king of the psalm, we glory in the LORD's strength and the LORD's salvation, and our gladness overflows, for the great battle against sin and death has been won, and won for us. "How greatly shall he rejoice!", and how greatly may we rejoice with Him, whose joy is our joy and whose victory is ours.

Word Study

"asked," Hebrew sha'al (שָׁאַל), requested. The gifts God pours on the king mount up: He "preventest him", that is, goes before him, "with the blessings of goodness" and sets "a crown of pure gold on his head" (v3). Then comes a gift that bursts the bounds of any earthly reign: "He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, even length of days for ever and ever."

"life," chayyim (חַיִּים). An earthly king might ask for a long life and be granted many years; but "for ever and ever"? No mere man reigns that long.

"gavest," natattah (נָתַתָּה). David himself, who first sang this, died and was buried. What God is said to have given here strains past the historical king toward one whose life truly is "for ever and ever."

"length of days," orekh yamim (אֹרֶךְ יָמִים). Here, as so often in the royal psalms, the Spirit lifts the words above their first occasion to point to the King who would ask life and receive it without end, the King who would conquer death itself.

"for ever and ever," olam va'ed (עוֹלָם וָעֶד), unto the age and beyond, everlasting. The "length of days for ever and ever" is the language of resurrection and eternal reign, and it can be finally and fully true only of one King, great David's greater Son.

Explanation

Set this psalm beside its twin, Psalm 20, and watch the prayers being answered one by one. In Psalm 20 the people had asked, "Grant thee according to thine own heart, and fulfil all thy counsel... the LORD fulfil all thy petitions" (20:4-5). Here in Psalm 21 the answer comes back word for word: "Thou hast given him his heart's desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips" (21:2). Petition and grant match like a key in a lock; God has kept His word, request for request. But then verse 4 records one asking that overflows every frame. The people prayed for victory and got it; the king "asked life... and thou gavest it him", and the answer runs clean off the edge of any earthly reign: "even length of days for ever and ever." A king may be granted many years, but not "for ever and ever"; David, who first sang it, died and was buried. Here the answered prayer outruns the man who prayed it. The one request that could not be fully granted to David is being reserved for great David's greater Son, the King who would ask life out of the very jaws of death and receive it without end.

Gospel Focus

"He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, even length of days for ever and ever", this is fulfilled in Jesus Christ, who asked life and received it in resurrection, and now lives for evermore. The King went down into death for us, but He prayed to the Father "that was able to save him from death" (Hebrews 5:7), and God gave Him life, raising Him never to die again: "Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him" (Romans 6:9). The risen Lord declares, "I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore" (Revelation 1:18), "length of days for ever and ever" in the fullest sense. And this everlasting life He shares with all who are His: "because I live, ye shall live also" (John 14:19); the King asked life, received it, and gives it to His people, "I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish" (John 10:28). The crown of pure gold set on His head is the crown of the everlasting Victor, and the length of days without end is the resurrection life He purchased for us. So this verse, too high for any earthly king, is the very heartbeat of the gospel: the King who died now lives for ever, and in Him we too shall live, world without end.

Word Study

"trusteth," Hebrew botéach (בֹּטֵחַ), leans his whole weight on, relies. Now the psalm names the secret behind all the king's blessing and joy. It is not his crown, his victory, or his strength: "For the king trusteth in the LORD." That little word "for" gives the reason for everything that has gone before. He leans his whole weight on the LORD, and the LORD's faithful mercy holds him fast so that nothing can overthrow him.

"the LORD," YHWH. Why does the king joy in God's strength, receive his heart's desire, wear the golden crown, and hold life for ever? Because he trusts in the LORD.

"mercy," chesed (חֶסֶד), steadfast covenant love. And the fruit of that trust is stability: "through the mercy of the most High he shall not be moved." His immovable security rests on two things named here, his trust and God's chesed, God's steadfast covenant love.

"the most High," Elyon (עֶלְיוֹן). The lesson is plain: all the blessings of the psalm flow from trust, and the security of the trusting soul rests not on his own steadfastness but on the unchanging mercy of the Most High.

"not be moved," bal-yimmot (בַּל־יִמּוֹט), shall not be shaken or overthrown. This is the same promise we have met before (Psalm 16:8; 15:5): the one anchored in God cannot be finally shaken. Trust in the LORD, and lean on His covenant love, and you shall not be moved.

Explanation

This verse sits at the exact hinge of the psalm, and its placement is its point. Everything before it (vv1-6) is blessing received by the king; everything after it (vv8-12) is judgment poured out on his enemies. Between the two stands verse 7 like a doorpost, holding both halves up: "For the king trusteth in the LORD." And here, at last, the king does something. We noticed that all through this psalm God is the actor and the king merely the receiver, "thou hast given... thou settest... thou gavest." Verse 7 names the one and only verb that belongs to the king himself: he trusteth. That is his whole contribution, and it is enough, because it leans the entire weight on God's chesed, His steadfast covenant love. The crown of pure gold on his head (v3) is a splendid thing, but a crown can be struck off; what makes him "not moved" is not the gold but the trust. The most secure man in the psalm is secure not because of what he wears but because of Whom he leans on.

Gospel Focus

"For the king trusteth in the LORD... he shall not be moved", this was perfectly true of Jesus Christ, the King who trusted the Father unwaveringly, even at the cross. His enemies flung this very charge at Him: "He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him" (Matthew 27:43), an unwitting quotation of the truth. And though He was crucified in weakness, He was not finally moved, for He trusted the Father through death and was raised: "I foresaw the Lord always before my face... therefore did my heart rejoice... moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope" (Acts 2:25-26). The King trusted, and through the mercy of the Most High He was not left in the grave but raised to reign for ever. And what was true of the King is made true of His people through Him. We are held not by our own strength but by the steadfast mercy of God in Christ, and so "he shall not be moved" becomes our own security: "neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand" (John 10:28). Trust in the Lord Jesus, lean the whole weight of your soul on Him, and rest in the covenant mercy of the Most High, and you shall not be moved, in this life or the next, for the King who trusted and was raised holds you fast for ever.