The King Rejoices in the Lord's Strength

Psm. 21:9 Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger: the LORD shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them.

Anticipation of further blessing

The king was now addressed by the congregation. Because he trusted in the Lord, they knew he would defeat his enemies convincingly. (On God’s wrath being like fire see Psm. 79:5; 89:46; 97:3.) David would inflict a tremendous defeat on his foes, the objects of God’s “wrath,” thus ending their hopes of having any posterity.

Thou (David) shalt make...

שׁית

shı̂yth

Definition:

1) to put, set

1a) (Qal)

1a1) to put, lay (hand upon)

1a2) to set, station, appoint, fix, set mind to

1a3) to constitute, make (one something), make like, perform

1a4) to take one’s stand

1a5) to lay waste

1b) (Hophal) to be imposed, be set upon

Part of Speech: verb

them as a fiery...

אשׁ

'êsh

Definition:

1) fire

1a) fire, flames

1b) supernatural fire (accompanying theophany)

1c) fire (for cooking, roasting, parching)

1d) altar-fire

1e) God’s anger (figuratively)

Part of Speech: noun feminine

oven...

תּנּוּר

tannûr

Definition:

1) furnace, oven, fire-pot, (portable) stove

1a) for cooking

1b) of God’s wrath, His furnace (figuratively)

1c) of hunger, desire for evil

1d) fire-pot

Part of Speech: noun masculine

in the time...

עת

‛êth

Definition:

1) time

1a) time (of an event)

1b) time (usual)

1c) experiences, fortunes

1d) occurrence, occasion

Part of Speech: noun feminine

of thine (God's) anger:...

פּנה / פּנים

pânı̂ym / pâneh

Definition:

1) face

1a) face, faces

1b) presence, person

1c) face (of seraphim or cherubim)

1d) face (of animals)

1e) face, surface (of ground)

1f) as adverb of loc/temp

1f1) before and behind, toward, in front of, forward, formerly, from beforetime, before

1g) with preposition

1g1) in front of, before, to the front of, in the presence of, in the face of, at the face or front of, from the presence of, from before, from before the face of

Part of Speech: noun masculine

the Lord...

יהוה

yehôvâh

Definition:

Jehovah = “the existing One”

1) the proper name of the one true God

1a) unpronounced except with the vowel pointing of אדני

'ădônây

Definition:

1) my lord, lord

1a) of men

1b) of God

2) Lord - title, spoken in place of Yahweh in Jewish display of reverence

Part of Speech: noun masculine

Part of Speech: noun proper deity

shall swallow them up...

בּלע

bâla‛

Definition:

1) to swallow down, swallow up, engulf, eat up

1a) (Qal)

1a1) to swallow down

1a2) to swallow up, engulf

1b) (Niphal) to be swallowed up

1c) (Piel)

1c1) to swallow

1c2) to swallow up, engulf

1c3) squandering (figuratively)

1d) (Pual) to be swallowed up

1e) (Hithpael) to be ended

Part of Speech: verb

in His (God's) wrath,...

אף

'aph

Definition:

1) nostril, nose, face

2) anger

Part of Speech: noun masculine

and a fire... see them as a fiery above.

shall devour...

אכל

'âkal

Definition:

1) to eat, devour, burn up, feed

1a) (Qal)

1a1) to eat (human subject)

1a2) to eat, devour (of beasts and birds)

1a3) to devour, consume (of fire)

1a4) to devour, slay (of sword)

1a5) to devour, consume, destroy (inanimate subjects i.e., pestilence, drought)

1a6) to devour (of oppression)

1b) (Niphal)

1b1) to be eaten (by men)

1b2) to be devoured, consumed (of fire)

1b3) to be wasted, destroyed (of flesh)

1c) (Pual)

1c1) to cause to eat, feed with

1c2) to cause to devour

1d) (Hiphil)

1d1) to feed

1d2) to cause to eat

1e) (Piel)

1e1) consume

Part of Speech: verb

them...

The enemies of God. This psalm is a pendant to the preceding. There the people prayed for the king; here they give thanks for him: there they asked that his desires might be fulfilled; here they bless Jehovah, who has fulfilled them: there the battle was impending; here it has been won, though foes are still in the field: there the victory was prayed for; here it is prophesied. Who is the "king"? The superscription points to David.

Psm. 21:10 Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth, and their seed from among the children of men.

First, we have the striking picture of Jehovah coming forth to meet the conqueror with "blessings of goodness," as Melchizedek met Abraham with refreshments in his hand; and benedictions on his lips. Victory is naturally followed by repose and enjoyment, and all are Jehovah’s gift. The subsequent endowments may possibly be regarded as the details of these blessings, the fruits of the victory. Of these the first is the coronation of the conqueror, not as if he had not been king before, but as now more fully recognized as such.

Psm. 21:11 For they intended evil against thee: they imagined a mischievous device, which they are not able to perform.

Even though they schemed to overthrow the king, they would turn in fear from before him. Thus the king, who trusted in the Lord, was assured of future victories.

The destructive effect of Jehovah’s countenance (Psm. 34:17) is here transferred to His king’s, into whose face has passed, as he gazed, in joy on the face of Jehovah, some of the lustre which kills where it does not gladden. Compare "everlasting destruction from the face of the Lord." (2Th. 1:9) The king is so completely representative of Jehovah that the destruction of the enemy is the work of the one fire of wrath common to both. The destruction extends to the whole generation of enemies, as in the ferocious warfare of old days, when a nation was wiped off the earth. The psalmist sees in the extremest vengeance the righteous and inevitable consequence of hostility condemned by the nature of the case to be futile, and yet criminal: "They cause evil to hang over thee: they meditate mischief; they will achieve nothing."

Then comes a signal instance of the king’s closeness of intercourse with Jehovah and of his receiving his heart’s desire in that he asked for "life" and received "length of days forever and ever." No doubt the strong expression for perpetuity may be paralleled in such phrases as "O king, live forever." and others which are obviously hyperbolical and mean not perpetual, but indefinitely protracted, duration; but the great emphasis of expression here and its repetition in Psm. 21:6 can scarcely be disposed of as mere hyperbole. If it is the ideal king who is meant, his undying life is substantially synonymous with the continuance of the dynasty which 2Sam. 7:1-29 represents as the promise underlying the Davidic throne. The figure of the king is then brought still nearer to the light of Jehovah, and words which are consecrated to express Divine attributes are applied to him in Psm. 21:5.

Psm. 21:12 Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back, when thou shalt make ready thine arrows upon thy strings against the face of them.

The task of the ideal king was to crush and root out opposition to his monarchy, which was Jehovah’s. Very terrible are the judgments of his hand, which sound liker those of Jehovah than those inflicted by a man, as Hupfeld and others have felt. In Psm. 21:8 the construction is slightly varied in the two clauses, the verb "reach" having a preposition attached in the former, and not in the latter, which difference may be reproduced by the distinction between "reach towards" and "reach." The seeking hand is stretched out after, and then it grasps, its victims. The comparison of the "fiery oven" is inexact in form, but the very negligence helps the impression of agitation and terribleness. The enemy are not likened to a furnace, but to the fuel cast into it. But the phrase rendered in A.V. "in the time of thine anger" is very remarkable, being literally "in the time of thy face."

The dread scene is completed by the picture of the flying foe and the overtaking pursuer, who first puts them to flight, and then, getting in front of them, sends his arrows full in their faces. The ideal of the king has a side of terror; and while his chosen weapon is patient love, he has other arrows in his quiver. The pictures of the destroying conqueror are taken up and surpassed in the New Testament. They do not see the whole Christ who do not see the Warrior Christ, nor have they realized all His work who slur over the solemn expectation that one day ‘men’ shall call on rocks and hills to cover them from "the steady whole of the Judge’s face."

Psm. 21:13 Be thou exalted, LORD, in thine own strength: so will we sing and praise thy power.

Vow to praise

The congregation vowed to sing and praise the might and power of the Lord, who alone is to be exalted.

The close is a brief petition, which asks the fulfillment of the anticipations in Psm. 21:8-12, and traces, as in...

The king’s triumph to Jehovah’s strength. The loyal love of the nation will take its monarch’s victory as its own joy and be glad in the manifestation thereby of Jehovah’s power. That is the true voice of devotion which recognizes God, not man, in all victories, and answers the forth flashing of His delivering: power by the thunder of praise.