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A Meditation on Psalm 21
O Lord, in your strength the king rejoices,
and in your salvation how greatly he exults!
You have given him his heart's desire
and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah
For you meet him with rich blessings;
you set a crown of fine gold upon his head.
He asked life of you; you gave it to him,
length of days forever and ever.
His glory is great through your salvation;
splendor and majesty you bestow on him.
For you make him most blessed forever;
you make him glad with the joy of your presence.
For the king trusts in the Lord,
and through the steadfast love of the Most High he shall not be
moved.
Your hand will find out all your enemies;
your right hand will find out those who hate you.
You will make them as a blazing oven
when you appear.
The Lord will swallow them up in his wrath,
and fire will consume them.
You will destroy their descendants from the earth,
and their offspring from among the children of man.
Though they plan evil against you,
though they devise mischief, they will not succeed.
For you will put them to flight;
you will aim at their faces with your bows.
Be exalted, O Lord, in your strength!
We will sing and praise your power.
The most striking thing about Psalm 21 is its placement; the psalm that follows it is David’s famous, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” The contrast between that line and “O Lord, in your strength the king rejoices” (also of David) is stunning. We should therefore read Psalm 21 in light of Psalm 22.
Of course, what makes Psalm 22 famous is that the opening line is among Christ’s final words on the cross. This has implications for how we read Psalm 21; because we read Psalm 21 and Psalm 22 in light of each other, and because we read Psalm 22 in light of Christ, we should therefore also read Psalm 21 in light of Christ.
All of the kingly psalms work this way, by the way. Psalm 2 (“Why do the nations rage and the people plot in vain?”) is a psalm about the king, but it is also obviously a messianic psalm, so we most frequently read it with Jesus in mind.
So let us consider a few lines from Psalm 21 in light of what they prophesy about Christ:
For you meet him with rich blessings; you set a crown of fine gold upon his head. … His glory is great through your salvation; splendor and majesty you bestow on him. “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil 2.9-11).
He asked life of you; you gave it to him, length of days forever and ever. “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself” (John 5.25-26).
Your hand will find out all your enemies; your right hand will find out those who hate you. You will make them as a blazing oven when you appear. The Lord will swallow them up in his wrath, and fire will consume them. “Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. … His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire” (Matt 3.10, 12).
Though they plan evil against you, though they devise mischief, they will not succeed. “So the Jews said to him, ‘What sign do you show us for doing these things?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up’” (John 2.18-19).
Be exalted, O Lord, in your strength! We will sing and praise your power. “And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, ‘Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! … Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed” (Rev 15.3-4).
