Psalm 132:8-9 Arise, O LORD, into your rest; you, and the ark of your strength.… I. THE TEMPLE IS HERE CALLED THE PLACE OF REST, OR THE ABIDING PLACE OF GOD. II. THE TEMPLE, GORGEOUS AS IT WAS, WAS INCOMPLETE AND VALUELESS WITHOUT THE ARK. In all ages the ark in the Temple is its life. Still the quick heart within the man, and you will have the stately skeleton soon. Withdraw the magic vapour, and the wheels whirr no longer, and the most exquisite contrivances are mute and motionless machinery. Take the breath from the great organ's heart, and in vain you bid it discourse its harmonies. III. LOOK AT THE OTHER BLESSINGS WHICH ARE ASKED FOR, EITHER OBVIOUSLY OR BY DIRECT IMPLICATION IN THE PSALM. 1. The ark of God's strength in the Temple implies that God's power is in the Temple, and He waits to exert it in the Word, in the minister's appeals, in the people's prayers. 2. The prayer proceeds to ask that the priests may be "clothed with righteousness," which is, in fact, a petition for universal purity. It is a prayer not only for us who minister, but for you who hearken, that we may, all of us, be robed always, robed already, in the new linen, clean and white, in which the saints were seen in heaven. 3. The third blessing that is asked for is holy joy in God, which has its foundation in oneness with God, both in favour and feeling, and which has its outlet in the appropriate expressions of praise. (W. M. Punshon, LL. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Arise, O LORD, into thy rest; thou, and the ark of thy strength.WEB: Arise, Yahweh, into your resting place; you, and the ark of your strength. |
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