SONG OF THE KING’S CONQUEST A Royal Psalm: It is a royal and a liturgical prayer for the sake of the king’s conquest. Like psalm 20 it concentrates on the king, and may suit any royal celebration, or any memorial occasion that concerns the king.. According to some scholars, psalm 20 was sung before the battle, whereas this psalm (21) was a song of praise, sung after the battle, to thank God for responding to the prayer in the preceding psalm. It was written by David, in the climax of joy with the spirit of thanksgiving to God who has granted him conquest, probably on the people of Ammon in Rabbah (2 Samuel 12: 26-31). According to other scholars, this psalm, like the one preceding it, reflects a celebration in the temple before going into battle, with a basic difference, that psalm 20 seeks help and success in war, while psalm 21 refers to the circle of the divine gifts as a whole, granted to the Lord’s anointed. Yet, according to Theodoret alone, this psalm was written to commemorate king Hezekiah’s falling ill and his healing by a command of the Lord. And to L. Sabourin: [This psalm was probably a part of the coronation liturgy of the king (See verse 4 – the Septuagint version); the priest -- in the presence of the king – recites the blessings in a worshipping way (2 – 7), and the prayer (9 – 13), while the congregation recite the verses 8 and 14 as an antiphon, like psalm 60: 6 … According to him, this psalm is a special liturgy concerning the king’s coronation like psalms 5, 16, 23, 27, 42-43, 61, 63, 84, 91, 101] A Messianic psalm; https://coptic-treasures.com/ According to R. J. Clifford: {After the royal system came to an end in Israel after the sixteenth century B.C., the text of this psalm came to be used concerning the Son of David to come}. And to Gaebelein: [This psalm is Messianic; The ‘Tergom’ (the Chaldean version of the Old Testament), and the ‘Telmud’, refer to the king mentioned in this psalm as the Messiah. This interpretation was accepted by Rabbi Soliman Isaac, known as ‘Rachi’, a great scholar in the ‘Telmud’ (born 1040 B.C.), who suggested that this psalm should be left to the account of the Christians, to use as a proof that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah. Before the Christian era, this psalm was certainly used in the temple worship. And for several generations, it was truly used by the liturgical Christians in the celebration of the feast of Ascension, as a memorandum of the return of our Lord to His glory, and to His role as our Greatest High Priest … ]. Although certain parts of this psalm (like verse 4), could never apply except to the Messiah; Yet, it was not quoted in the New Testament, other than two hints in Hebrew 2: 9; and 12: 2. This psalm, called ‘The song of the king’s victory’, by which we sing a praise of love for the Messiah, the Glorious King of Kings, in whom we are granted the fellowship of glories; leads us to the next psalm (22), which is ‘The psalm of ‘The glorious passion of Christ’, leads us to the Mount of Golgotha, and brings us forth into the threshold of His throne. This psalm exhorts us to dedicate our life completely to the account of our Lord Jesus Christ, in absolute obedience to the will of God; with a strong trust in God’s faithfulness toward us. A guidance word (a key word of the book); https://coptic-treasures.com/ The guidance word is “strength” (1, 13); and it is befitting of us here to refer, as well, to another word, related to strength, which came in verse 7: “Through the mercy (steadfast love) of the Most High, he shall not be moved”; which interprets the source of every strength found in the covenant between the Lord and His people; the strong bond of love; the faithfulness through the salvation blood of Christ. The general frame: 1- The previous conquests of the King Messiah 1 - 7 2- The future conquests of Christ 8 - 12 3- Praise and thanksgiving by the people 13 1- THE PREVIOUS OF THE KING MESSIAH: (1 – 7) This division (1 – 7) is a thanksgiving for the sake of the privileges given to the king; who, as we have already stated, is the Son of David, portrayed by the psalmist as a Warrior King who fights against the devil and his wicked hosts, to our account. We, as well, being members of the body of Christ, have become warrior kings, drawing help from the King of kings in our spiritual war. Hence, several expressions of this psalm were used in the Latin liturgies, like ‘Desiderium cordis euis tribuistiei’ (1) Thanksgiving to God for His strength and salvation: “The king shall have joy in Your strength, O Lord; And in Your salvation, how greatly shall he rejoice!” (1) When Pilate asked the Lord Christ: “Are You the King of the Jews? Jesus answered him: ‘Are you speaking for yourself on this, or did others tell you about Me?... You say rightly that I am King; …For this cause I was born, “And I have come into the world, that https://coptic-treasures.com/ I should bear witness to the truth” (John 18: 33 – 38). He is not just ‘a king’, but He is “The King”, who was raised up on the cross, by love, as His throne, to set up His kingdom in the hearts and in the souls. We can say that the previous psalm is the song of the King in the garden of Gethsemane, as He enters into the battle of the cross – the day of tribulation – to deliver His life a burnt offering. The Father responded to His supplication and His atonement intercession on behalf of all His believers. Now, the praise of the resurrection is sung, being the song of the King, the Conqueror over death, and the Grantor of Joy to all those who enjoy His resurrected life. David has not rejoiced in his own throne, nor in the strength of his army; but in the strength of the Lord, and in His free salvation. We, as well, being united with the Son of David, should reign upon our lusts, to live by His resurrected life, as conquerors and victorious; As according to St. Paul: “Now, thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place” (2 Corinthians 2: 14). King David experienced that every salvation is realized by God, who once He presents salvation, all enemies are overcome. Why does David rejoice in the salvation of God? a- The salvation of God is active. By it, all enemies appear helpless, and unable to cause any harm to us. + Seeing how the devil has got hold of mankind, and led them in all his ways, full of offenses; … God, who dwells in everyone of us, by His limitless compassion, mercy, and un-perceived wisdom and love, intended to break down the pride and haughtiness of the devil, to show and expose his deception … He came to us, healed, encouraged, strengthened, and gave us conquest …; He gave us fellowship in His greatness, and lifted us up to His true and faithful kingdom. https://coptic-treasures.com/ (St. John El-Tabaiisy) + Now, by the resurrection of the Lord Christ, beloved brethren, … The devil, that tyrant who is against the whole world Is slain. Now, eating the “Word” of the Father, and having our hearts anointed by the blood of the New Covenant, we get to recognize the grace granted to us by the Savior, who said: “Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy” (Luke 10: 19); The power of death no longer reigns; for life reins instead, and the Lord says: “I am the life” (John 14: 6). Everything is now filled with joy and happiness; as it is written: “The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice” (Psalm 97: 1).. (Pope St. Athanasius the apostolic) The name “Jesus” has become the secret of the strength and conquest over the sin, the devil, and all the hosts of darkness. According to the scholar Origen: [By His name, demons are often driven out from men, if uttered in a sound way…. Amazing is the name of “Jesus”. Which heals the physically ill, and the mentally disturbed, and drives out the spirits of darkness]. b- Salvation is realized through unexpected ways. c- Salvation happens in the darkest moments. God never delays to present His mercies; However, He sometimes waits to the last moment. d- David rejoiced, not in his conquests, as much as in God’s strength and salvation. He did not boast in his possibilities, and the conquest of his armies; but gave all glory and honor to His Savior. https://coptic-treasures.com/ e- The conquests of David were shadows of those of the Son of David, realized on the cross; As according to St. Paul: “Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrew 12: 2). As our representative, He suffered and was crucified to our account; In Him we were risen, and in Him our inner man was lifted, together with Him up to heaven (Ephesians 3). That is why the Lord Christ, Himself, exults in the salvation of the Father, consummated in Him, and in His redeeming work … “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him, should not perish, but have an everlasting life” (John 3: 16). … Hence it is said: “The king shall have joy in Your strength, O Lord; and in Your salvation how greatly shall he rejoice” (1)… We, as well, having become kings, will rejoice in the fellowship with Him in His crucifixion, because, in what the King (Christ) rejoices, will bring joy to us as well. … In Jesus Christ we exult, when we enjoy His redeeming work in our daily life, and when we see others enjoy the same grace together with us. (2) Thanksgiving to God for responding to the request of our heart: “You have given him his heart desire, and have not withheld the request of his lips” (2) The psalmist starts by the heart’s desire, then consummates it by the lip’s request; the former precedes the later, and has to conform with it, for the inside and the outside to work together according to God’s will … For then, we shall find the sure and fast divine response to both the heart and the mouth. Praying to the Father by His lips, our Christ said: “Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You” John 17: 1); And as His words came to conform with His heart’s desire, they were responded to. https://coptic-treasures.com/ + Christ desired to eat the Passover with His disciples (Luke 22: 15), and to lay down His life by His own power and will, and to take it again (John 10: 18); And His desire was realized. (St. Augustine) Our Christ proclaimed His inner heart’s desire by both the secret and the manifest prayers; by the words, and also by the passions … His heart’s desire was realized, and still is in His church, until the strife of all the chosen is consummated, and they come to enjoy the inheritance together with Him. (3) Thanksgiving to God for glorifying His Son: “For You meet him with the blessings of goodness; You set a crown of pure gold upon his head” (3) According to the Hebrew text it came as: “For You preceded him with the blessings of goodness”. On account of that the blessings of His goodness have been proclaimed even before His incarnation; “Abraham rejoiced to see His day; he saw it and was glad” (John 8: 56); And men of the Old Covenant have enjoyed the salvation through its symbols and shadows, and the hope for His death. We, as well, in the New Covenant, enjoy the blessings of His goodness, having got a multitude of divine gifts, before even seeking or asking for them: like the grace of existence; the enjoyment of the Christian faith; the gaining of baptism and the anointment of ‘Myron’; the dwelling of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, beside the many other things of no limits we were granted. … As David was granted the throne for no favor on his part. No one has sought a Savior, Yet, out of God’s love, the initial promise that the offspring of the woman will strike the serpent’s head (Genesis 3: 15) was https://coptic-treasures.com/ realized. God’s gifts to men were all initiated by His love and goodness; before we even existed, or came to recognize Him. Seeing, by the eye of prophecy, our Christ, crowned on the cross as a King, David cried out, saying: “You set a crown of pure gold upon His head” (3). According to appearance, it was a crown of thorns and not of gold, set on His head, to pay the price of our sins; But inside, we were crowned together with Him, to enjoy precious heavenly crowns. + If the angels rejoice to see one sinner return to God with repentance, How could they not greatly rejoice when they see the whole human nature – in its Firstborn – ascending today up to heaven?! (St. John Chrysostom) “His glory is great in Your salvation; Honor and majesty You have placed upon him; For You have made him blessed forever” (5, 6) For our sake He “emptied Himself of His glory” (Philippians 2: 7), and for our sake He was glorified; From the Father He has got honor and glory, “the glory which He had with Him before the world was” (John 17: 5). Our Lord Jesus – the King of kings – sets royal crowns upon the heads of His pious believers by His own hands. No rank of honor however high it may be, He would not lift us up to it, if He so desires; “He raises the poor out of the dust, and lifts the needy out of the ash heap, that He may seat him with princes” (Psalm 113: 6, 7), ‘the spiritual kings’. He has taken David from among his sheep, and set him a king on the greatest throne on earth at that time. In the worthiness of the precious blood, our Lord Jesus Christ granted us His Holy Spirit, who conforms our inner man to bear the fellowship of https://coptic-treasures.com/ glory and splendor in an exalted way + By the Holy Spirit, the Son makes those who receive Him, in His likeness. + When our image is renewed by holiness, through the work of this Spirit, we actually change to the image of God; according to the words of the apostle, saying: “My little children for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you” (Galatians 4: 19). Christ is (formed) in us by the Holy Spirit who renews our form according to God. + Christ is (formed) in us by the work of the Holy Spirit, who draws in our souls a divine image of righteousness and holiness. (St. Cyril the Great) (4) Thanksgiving to God for the sake of the resurrected life: “He asked life from You, and You gave it to him, length of days forever and ever” (4) The greatest reasons for giving thanks to God is probably our enjoyment of the new life, the conqueror of death. …. David probably gave God thanks, on account of that, from his youth until his old age, he has faced a multitude of tribulations, that brought him, according to human reason, on the threshold of death; and in every one of them, his salvation from death has been a gift from God, and not due to any human intervention. Hence David felt indebted to God by his whole life…. And if we set forth to the Son of David, we shall find Him obey even to death on the cross, to receive the resurrection from the Father, though He, Himself, is “the Resurrection”. By His own power, He laid His life, and took it … By obedience He gained the will of the Father to resurrect. .. We, as well, having become members in the body of Christ, resurrected from the dead, shall gain this new life in Him. https://coptic-treasures.com/ + “He asked life from You, and You gave it to him”.; namely, the resurrection, as is clear in His words: “Father, glorify Your Son” (John 17: 1). “You gave it to him, length of days forever and ever”; Namely, the years lived by the church now, and will continue to live to the end of ages. (St. Augustine) The verse saying: “length of days forever and ever”, was interpreted in the later Jewish eras, and by Christian scholars as well, as being a Messianic blessing, referring to the everlasting reign for the seed of David. (5) Thanksgiving for the divine blessings: “For You have made him most blessed forever” (6) The Lord Christ, the Source of every blessing, stretched His hands on the cross, opening His bosoms to all nations, for everyone to find his satisfaction and satiety of the divine blessings,. (6) Thanksgiving for the sake of the gladness to see God: “You have made him exceedingly glad with Your presence” (6) We give God thanks for the sake of His strength and salvation that fill us with joy and exultation; of realizing the desire of our hearts and the request of our lips in our prayers; of the glory we have gained inside us through our union with Him; of our enjoyment of the new life in Jesus Christ, and of the flow of His blessings. … The crown of all that, https://coptic-treasures.com/ however, is our entrance into the kingdom of joy, through our enjoyment of seeing the face of our God. 2- THE FURURE CONQUESTS OF CHRIST: (8 – 12) The true thanksgiving, presented by the king and the people, is not, however, in glorifying the past, but rather for the sake of the trust in God’s work for them in the future. The psalmist taught his people to look back at the past with joy, glorifying the work of God with them, so as to trust in God who grants them conquest over their enemies, however mighty they may be. God has saved them, is saving them, and will continue to save them in the future. … And describing the enemies, their plans, and their destiny, the psalmist says: “Your hand will find all Your enemies; Your right hand will find those who hate You. You shall make them as a fiery oven in the time of Your anger. The Lord shall swallow them up in His wrath, and the fire shall devour them” (8, 9) Having, by His cross, “wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us which was contrary to us” (Colossians 2: 14), and having exposed the devil and all his hosts; On his ultimate coming, the Lord will utterly destroy their kingdom; He will make them as “a fiery oven” for themselves, “in the time of His anger”; namely, on the day He comes for His ultimate judgment.. He likened the enemies of the king, who were at the same time the enemies of God, to the dry grass, used as fuel for the fire in the oven. The word meaning “oven” came 15 times and the word meaning “furnace” came 5 times, in the Hebrew text; to express their complete perdition. The word “fire” is sometimes used in the Holy Book to express the wrath of God (See Deuteronomy 4: 12; 5: 22-25; Psalm 18: 14); and the ‘eschatological day of the Lord’ https://coptic-treasures.com/ (Amos 4: 14; 2: 2-15; Malachi 3: 2; 4: 1); And according to the book of Revelations about the wicked: “The smoke of their torment ascends forever” (Revelation 14: 11). The wrath of God does not imply any hate or a desire for revenge, but it is the wicked who, choosing for themselves to be grass, and refusing to enjoy a place in the divine bosom, they set themselves by their own will to reject the mercies of God to partake of His glories. “Their offspring You shall destroy from the earth, and their descendants from among the sons of men” (10) The word ‘fruit’ in Hebrew came as “offspring”, a very old way of talk (See Genesis 30: 2; Deuteronomy 7: 13; 28: 4; Psalm 127: 3; 132: 11; Isaiah 13: 18; Lamentations 2: 20; Hosea 9: 16; Micah 6: 7). In our Lord Jesus Christ, the offspring of the devil and all his hosts will be destroyed; namely, the sins which lie in the heart, as well as in the earth. By the grace of God, no trace of them will be left in our hearts, minds, or emotions; to say together with the prophet Moses: “Not a hoof shall be left behind” (Exodus 10: 26) As the Lord turns our hearts to heaven, the darkness of the devil and all his works will be scattered; No more dust or earth on which the enemy will be able to run; hence it is said: “Their offspring You shall destroy from the earth” (10). By “the earth” he probably means the body; The enemy will have no more fruit in our body, nor in our mind; for man will be wholly sanctified: body and soul together. “For they intended evil against You; they devised a plot which they are not able to perform” (11) However strong the enemies of Christ are, yet before Him they are too weak. However craftily they devise their plots against Him and His church; yet they fail, “they are not https://coptic-treasures.com/ able to perform”. They are like a viper bearing venom, yet with a crushed head; and like a lion, yet in a cage. According to father Caesarius, bishop of Arle, this prophecy was realized when the evil soldiers who were guarding the tomb of the Lord, claimed that His disciples came and took His away while they were asleep. …How could they know what happened if they were asleep? By so saying, they unknowingly confirmed the resurrection. 3- PRAISE AND THANKSGIVING BY THE PEOPLE: (13) “Be exalted, O Lord, in Your own strength; We will sing and praise Your power” (13) The end of this psalm came to a great extent like its forward, and like the end of the Doxology of the Lord’s prayer. … So, our sufferings, will come to an end, by the proclamation of the joyful glory of God in our life, and in our eternal encounter with Him. ------------------------ AN INSPIRATION FROM PSALM 21 YOUR HAND, O LORD, ALWAYS WORKS IN THE LIFE OF YOUR CHILDREN + You saved, are saving, and will save, until You bring us all into the fellowship of Your glories; + Receive, O Lord our thanksgiving, and exultations, for You came and saved us; You hear the pulse of our heart, and respond to the words of our lips; You pour Your splendor upon us, to make us worthy of a kingdom; You grant us Your life, the secret of resurrection, un-destructible by death; You flow upon us with a non-drying fountain of blessing; https://coptic-treasures.com/ And finally, You proclaim Yourself to us, to recognize, and to see You, face to face; + Destroy, O Lord, the (offspring) of the enemy in us; Set Your kingdom in us; And be glorified in us forever.
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