For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Psa 149

1 Praise the Lord.

Sing to the Lord a new song,
    his praise in the assembly of his faithful people.

2 Let Israel rejoice in their Maker;
    let the people of Zion be glad in their King.
3 Let them praise his name with dancing
    and make music to him with tambourine and harp.
4 For the Lord takes delight in his people;
    he crowns the humble with victory.
5 Let his faithful people rejoice in this honour
    and sing for joy on their beds.

6 May the praise of God be in their mouths
    and a double-edged sword in their hands,
7 to inflict vengeance on the nations
    and punishment on the peoples,
8 to bind their kings with fetters,
    their nobles with shackles of iron,
9 to carry out the sentence written against them –
    this is the glory of all his faithful people.

Praise the Lord.

A. Find Out

1. What is the call for who to do where? v.1
2. What are Israel & Jerusalem to do and how? v.2,3,5
3. What does the Lord do? v.4
4. What twofold arming of Israel does the psalmist see? v.6
5. For what reason? v.7-9a
6. How will that be seen? v.9b

B. Think:

1. What grounds for praising the Lord are given here?
2. What role is apparently given to the people of God?
3. How are the two things linked?

C. Comment:

                This psalm starts out apparently as just another call to praise the Lord, but it appears to be a call for a ‘new’ song to be sung among the people of God (v.1).  This is followed by a call for the people of God to recognise the goodness of knowing God who is Creator of all things, and having Him as your king (v.2). The call is to let this praise be expressive, in song and dance (v.3). The wonder is that the Lord delights in His people and saves the humble (v.4). Thus the call to praise is specifically in recognition of the honour of experiencing this salvation from the hand of the Lord (v.5).

                But then the psalm takes a completely different turn. It sees this praising people (v.6a) with battle swords in their hands (v.6b). In the New Testament the word of God is seen as doing the work of a sword, but better, cutting open hearts (Heb 4:12).

                But the purpose of these sword carrying people is to bring vengeance and punishment on nations of the world (v.7), and specifically on world rulers (v.8)  i.e. the judgment of God, called for by God and to be carried out by the people of God (v.9a). The people of God are thus to become God’s instrument of correction for the world and this is their glory (v.9b). No longer is it to be a physical sword but the word of God bringing submission to God.

D. Application:

1. Our call is to present the word of God to the world.
2. That word, if it is from God, will cut to the heart and convert..