Psalm 132:3

Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up into my bed;

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(3-5) It is vain to search the historical accounts for this vow. It may be implied from 2Samuel 7:2, and from the persistent purpose which David certainly nourished. The LXX. and Vulg. give the vow in even greater detail, adding, “and rest to my temples.”

(3) Tabernacle.—We have in the mention of tent either a reminiscence of the old nomadic times of the race, or an allusion to David’s own wandering and warlike habits.

Benson Commentary

Psalm 132:3-5. Surely I will not, &c. — As if he had said, I value not my own private domestic enjoyments and accommodations, in comparison of the settlement of God’s public worship. “He was so highly concerned,” says Dr. Hammond, “for the service of God, that, having built himself a house, (1 Chronicles 15:1; 1 Chronicles 15:11, &c.) he immediately prepared a place for the ark of God, and brought it up thither in pomp, having, it seems, solemnly vowed to do so before ever he would dedicate and bless (or dwell in) his own house, chap. 1 Chronicles 16:43. And, not content with that, his zeal further broke out to Nathan the prophet, (chap. Psalm 17:1,) being troubled to think of the magnificence of his own house, while the ark was but in a tent. And he resolved, if God should permit him, to erect a magnificent structure wherein the ark of God should be placed, and God’s solemn worship performed.” Bishop Patrick’s paraphrase is to the same purport: “I will not come into the new palace which I have built for myself, much less go to dwell and take up my lodging there; nay, I will not lay myself down to rest, nor take a wink of sleep, until I have found out a convenient place for the ark of the Lord, a habitation for that mighty one; who there makes himself present to his people the posterity of Jacob.” Henry supposes that, having procrastinated too long, amidst his difficulties, upon his first accession to the throne, “he one morning made a vow, that, before night, he would come to a resolution in this matter, and would determine the place where the tent should be fixed for the reception of the ark.” Some think that the spot on which the temple should be built was intended, and that David made this vow on the morning of the day of the pestilence, which cut off so many in Israel because he had numbered the people; and that the thrashing- floor of Ornan was pointed out to him in consequence of this resolution.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

132:1-10 David bound himself to find a place for the Lord, for the ark, the token of God's presence. When work is to be done for the Lord, it is good to tie ourselves to a time. It is good in the morning to fix upon work for the day, with submission to Providence, for we know not what a day may bring forth. And we should first, and without delay, seek to have our own hearts made a habitation of God through the Spirit. He prays that God would take up his dwelling in the habitation he had built; that he would give grace to the ministers of the sanctuary to do their duty. David pleads that he was the anointed of the Lord, and this he pleads as a type of Christ, the great Anointed. We have no merit of our own to plead; but, for His sake, in whom there is a fulness of merit, let us find favour. And every true believer in Christ, is an anointed one, and has received from the Holy One the oil of true grace. The request is, that God would not turn away, but hear and answer their petitions for his Son's sake.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house - The tent of my dwelling; the place where I abide. Nor go up into my bed The couch of my bed, or where I sleep. I will make it my first business to find a dwelling-place for the Lord; a place where the ark may repose.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

PSALM 132

Ps 132:1-18. The writer, perhaps Solomon (compare Ps 132:8, 9), after relating David's pious zeal for God's service, pleads for the fulfilment of the promise (2Sa 7:16), which, providing for a perpetuation of David's kingdom, involved that of God's right worship and the establishment of the greater and spiritual kingdom of David's greater Son. Of Him and His kingdom both the temple and its worship, and the kings and kingdom of Judah, were types. The congruity of such a topic with the tenor of this series of Psalms is obvious.

1-5. This vow is not elsewhere recorded. It expresses, in strong language, David's intense desire to see the establishment of God's worship as well as of His kingdom.

remember David—literally, "remember for David," that is, all his troubles and anxieties on the matter.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

This and the following clauses are not to be understood strictly and properly, as if he would never come into his house or bed till this was done, which is confuted by the history, 2 Samuel 11:2; but figuratively as an hyperbolical expression, such as are usual both in Scripture and in all other authors, to signify his passionate desire of doing this work, which was so earnest, that neither his house, nor bed, nor sleep could give him any content till this work was done, or in some forwardness.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house,.... The new house and palace David built for himself after he came to the throne, made of cedar, 2 Samuel 5:11; not that he should never enter into it till he had found a dwelling for God, but that he should not go into it with pleasure till that was done; for this and what follows are hyperboles, as Kimchi observes, and signify that he should have no peace nor satisfaction of mind till this was accomplished. It may be applied to our Lord's ascension to heaven, which was not till after he had purchased the church with his blood, which is the temple and habitation of God;

nor go up into my bed; or "the bed that made for me" (r); the royal bed, a bed of down, with soft pillows, fit for a person of such dignity to lie down on. Ainsworth renders it "the pallets of my bed"; the phrase of going up agrees with the custom of the eastern countries, who have galleries in their chambers where they are set; at one end of each chamber in their houses there is a little gallery raised three, four, or five feet above the floor, with a balustrade in the front of it, with a few steps likewise leading up to it; here they place their beds (s); so that when they went to bed they might with great propriety be said to go up to it; but this David could not do with pleasure, so long as there was no place and habitation for God.

(r) "lectum strati mei, vel stratorum meorum", Gejerus, Michaelis. (s) Dr. Shaw's Travels, p. 209. Ed. 2.

Geneva Study Bible

Surely I {b} will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up into my bed;

(b) Because the chief charge of the king was to set forth God's glory, he shows that he would take no rest, neither would he go about any worldly thing, were it never so necessary before he had executed his office.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

3. the tabernacle of my house … my bed] Lit. the tent of my house … the couch of my bed.

3–5. David’s oath not to rest till he had found a resting-place for the Ark after all its wanderings in form of course is poetical hyperbole.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 3. - Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house. I will not take up my abode quietly and comfortably in my own solid and substantial house (see 2 Samuel 5:11). Nor go up into my bed. Indulge, i.e., in luxurious repose. (Fur a contrary feeling on the part of some Israelites, see Haggai 1:4.) Psalm 132:3

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

One is said to remember anything to another when he requites him something that he has done for him, or when he does for him what he has promised him. It is the post-Davidic church which here reminds Jahve of the hereinafter mentioned promises (of the "mercies of David," 2 Chronicles 6:42, cf. Isaiah 55:3) with which He has responded to David's ענות. By this verbal substantive of the Pual is meant all the care and trouble which David had in order to procure a worthy abode for the sanctuary of Jahve. ענה ב signifies to trouble or harass one's self about anything, afflictari (as frequently in the Book of Ecclesiastes); the Pual here denotes the self-imposed trouble, or even that imposed by outward circumsntaces, such as the tedious wars, of long, unsuccessful, and yet never relaxed endeavours (1 Kings 5:17). For he had vowed unto God that he would give himself absolutely no rest until he had obtained a fixed abode for Jahve. What he said to Nathan (2 Samuel 7:2) is an indication of this vowed resolve, which was now in a time of triumphant peace, as it seemed, ready for being carried out, after the first step towards it had already been taken in the removal of the Ark of the covenant to Zion (2 Samuel 6); for 2 Samuel 7 is appended to 2 Samuel 6 out of its chronological order and only on account of the internal connection. After the bringing home of the Ark, which had been long yearned for (Psalm 101:2), and did not take place without difficulties and terrors, was accomplished, a series of years again passed over, during which David always carried about with him the thought of erecting God a Temple-building. And when he had received the tidings through Nathan that he should not build God a house, but that it should be done by his son and successor, he nevertheless did as much towards the carrying out of the desire of his heart as was possible in connection with this declaration of the will of Jahve. He consecrated the site of the future Temple, he procured the necessary means and materials for the building of it, he made all the necessary arrangements for the future Temple-service, he inspirited the people for the gigantic work of building that was before them, and handed over to his son the model for it, as it is all related to us in detail by the chronicler. The divine name "the mighty One of Jacob" is taken from Genesis 49:24, as in Isaiah 1:24; Isaiah 49:26; Isaiah 60:16. The Philistines with their Dagon had been made to feel this mighty Rock of Jacob when they took the sacred Ark along with them (1 Samuel 5:1-12). With אם David solemnly declares what he is resolved not to do. The meaning of the hyperbolically expressed vow in the form of an oath is that for so long he will not rejoice at his own dwelling-house, nor give himself up to sleep that is free from anxiety; in fine, for so long he will not rest. The genitives after אהל and ערשׂ are appositional genitives; Psalm 44 delights in similar combinations of synonyms. יצוּעי (Latin strata mea) is a poetical plural, as also is משׁכּנות. With תּנוּמה (which is always said of the eyelids, Genesis 31:40; Proverbs 6:4; Ecclesiastes 8:16, not of the eyes) alternates שׁנת (according to another reading שׁנת) for שׁנה. The āth is the same as in נחלת in Psalm 16:6, cf. 60:13, Exodus 15:2, and frequently. This Aramaizing rejection of the syllable before the tone is, however, without example elsewhere. The lxx adds to Psalm 132:4, καὶ ἀνάπαυσιν τοῖς κροτάφοις μου (וּמנוּחה לרקּותי), but this is a disagreeable overloading of the verse.