Psalm 149:5

Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(5) The two clauses are directly parallel:

“Let the chasîdîm raise a cry in glory:

Let them sing aloud upon their couches.”

Either the rejoicing is carried far into the night, and when retired to rest the happy people burst ‘out anew into singing; or (see Hosea 7:14), the couches may rather be the divans where feasts were held.

Benson Commentary

Psalm 149:5-8. Let the saints be joyful in glory — For the honour which God puts upon them. Let them sing aloud upon their beds — By night as well as by day, in the time usually devoted to rest and sleep, which they shall borrow to praise God in for his eminent and extraordinary blessings. Let the high praises of God be in their mouths; &c. — “In assured hopes of victory they shall go to war with psalms and hymns in their mouths, concerning the great acts of the Lord, which they shall courageously sing with a loud voice when they shall fall upon their enemies, and prefer to the two-edged sword which they carry in their hands.” — Bishop Patrick. To execute vengeance upon the heathen — For all their cruelties and injuries toward God’s people. This was literally accomplished by David upon the Philistines, Ammonites, Syrians, and other neighbouring nations. Their kings and nobles were taken prisoners, (Psalm 149:8,) and on some of them the judgment written (Psalm 149:9) was executed, as by Joshua on the kings of Canaan, by Gideon on the princes of Midian, and by Samuel on Agag. Jehoshaphat’s army had, at the same time, the high praises of God in their mouths, and a two-edged sword in their hand; for they went forth to war singing the praises of God, and then their sword did execution, 2 Chronicles 20:23. It may be applied to the time of the Maccabees, when the Jews sometimes gained great advantages against their oppressors. And it is evident from many passages both of the Old and New Testaments, especially from Zechariah 9:13-16; and Zechariah 14:17-19; Revelation 19:11-21, that something of a similar nature will take place when the antichristian powers are destroyed, and more glorious times are introduced.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

149:1-5 New mercies continually demand new songs of praise, upon earth and in heaven. And the children of Zion have not only to bless the God who made them, but to rejoice in him, as having created them in Christ Jesus unto good works, and formed them saints as well as men. The Lord takes pleasure in his people; they should rejoice in Him. When the Lord has made sinners feel their wants and unworthiness, he will adorn them with the graces of his Spirit, and cause them to bear his image, and rejoice in his happiness for ever. Let his saints employ their waking hours upon their beds in songs of praise. Let them rejoice, even upon the bed of death, assured that they are going to eternal rest and glory.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Let the saints be joyful in glory - In the glory of their condition; in the favor of God; in the honor which he bestows upon them. Let them rejoice in this; let them shout and triumph over this. Other men rejoice in honor; in wealth; in houses, lands, parks, libraries, works of art: let the saints rejoice in the glory of being the friends of God; in the hope of heaven. Compare Psalm 84:11.

Let them sing aloud upon their beds - Compare Job 35:10, note; Acts 16:25, note; Psalm 34:1, note. The idea is, that in the meditations of the night, when darkness is around them, when alone with God, they may find occasion for exultation and praise. Their hearts may be full of joy, and alone they may give expression to their joy in songs of praise.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

5. in glory—the honorable condition to which they are raised.

upon their beds—once a place of mourning (Ps 6:6).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Be joyful in glory, for the honour which God putteth upon them.

Sing aloud upon their beds; either,

1. For their safe and sweet repose and peace, which is signified by resting in beds, Isaiah 57:2; or,

2. By night as well as by day, even in the time devoted to rest and sleep, which they shall borrow to praise God for his eminent and extraordinary blessings, as David frequently did upon such occasions.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Let the saints be joyful in glory,.... In the glory put upon them now, being beautified with salvation; in the righteousness of Christ on them, and the grace of Christ in them, which makes them all glorious within; and in the glory they expect to have hereafter, both upon their bodies and souls, and in the hope of that, Romans 5:2. Some copies of the Ethiopic version render it, "in his glory"; in the glory of Christ, asa divine Person and as Mediator, seen now in the glass of the Gospel, and will be the object of the beautiful vision hereafter; and now is, and then will be, matter of joy unspeakable, 2 Corinthians 3:18. Or "gloriously" (l), in a glorious manner; as saints do rejoice, when they ascribe all the glory of salvation to the free grace of God and death of Christ, and rejoice on that account; saints have reason to rejoice, and indeed none but they; who being regenerated and sanctified, are meet for and shall partake of eternal glory;

let them sing aloud upon their beds; while others are taking their rest and ease, let them meditate on the word of God; commune with their own hearts about their state and condition; remember the Lord, and his goodness to them; all which give an occasion to give thanks unto him, and sing aloud his praise, Psalm 63:5; and when they awake on their beds in a morning, after sound sleep and a good repose, it becomes them to praise the Lord, who gives his beloved sleep; and who only makes them sleep, and dwell in safety, Psalm 4:8. And the phrase denotes the safe and secure state of the saints upon their beds, lying down and sleeping comfortably, having nothing to fear, the Lord sustaining them; and so may and should sing upon their beds, Psalm 3:5; Yea, saints may sing upon their sick beds; since the Lord is with them there, and strengthens them on a bed of languishing, and makes all their bed in their sickness, Psalm 41:3; and even upon their death beds may sing aloud the triumphant song, "O death, where is thy sting?" &c. 1 Corinthians 15:55. Saints in a future state are on beds; the grave is a bed, where their flesh rests in hope; and the bosom and arms of Jesus are the bed in which their souls rest; and where they are, not in a state of insensibility and inactivity, but are walking and talking, and singing aloud the praises of electing, redeeming, and calling grace, Isaiah 57:1. So Arama interprets the saints on their beds, those that lie in the grave, when they shall rise from thence,

(l) "gloriose", Castalio.

Geneva Study Bible

Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their {d} beds.

(d) He alludes to that continual rest and quietness which they should have if they would suffer God to rule them.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

5. Let the beloved exult in glory] Let Israel triumph in the honour thus restored to them. Perhaps glory as in Psalm 85:9 may include the thought of the renewed manifestation of Jehovah’s Presence among His people.

upon their beds] “Songs in the night” take the place of tears and sorrow (Psalm 4:4; Psalm 6:6). They can lie down in peace without the fear of being roused to repel a sudden assault (Nehemiah 4:23).

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 5. - Let the saints be joyful in glory. Therefore let God's saints at the present time - his restored people, who have just had a fresh deliverance - rejoice, in the "glory" that covers them - rejoice and give God thanks for it. Let them sing aloud upon their beds. Not, as in former days, weeping through the long night (Psalm 6:6; Psalm 77:2-6), and watering their couches with their tears, but, like Paul and Silas (Acts 16:25), singing hymns of praise to God "at midnight" as they rest upon their beds. Psalm 149:5

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

A period, in which the church is renewing its youth and drawing nearer to the form it is finally to assume, also of inward necessity puts forth new songs. Such a new era has now dawned for the church of the saints, the Israel that has remained faithful to its God and the faith of its fathers. The Creator of Israel (עשׂיו, plural, with the plural suffix, like עשׂי in Job 35:10, עשׂיך in Isaiah 54:5, cf. עשׂו in Job 40:19; according to Hupfeld and Hitzig, cf. Ew. 256, b, Ges. 93, 9, singular; but aj, ajich, aw, are always really plural suffixes) has shown that He is also Israel's Preserver and the King of Zion, that He cannot leave the children of Zion for any length of time under foreign dominion, and has heard the sighing of the exiles (Isaiah 63:19; Isaiah 26:13). Therefore the church newly appropriated by its God and King is to celebrate Him, whose Name shines forth anew out of its history, with festive dance, timbrel, and cithern. For (as the occasion, hitherto only hinted at, is now expressly stated) Jahve takes a pleasure in His people; His wrath in comparison with His mercy is only like a swiftly passing moment (Isaiah 54:7.). The futures that follow state that which is going on at the present time. ענוים is, as frequently, a designation of the ecclesia pressa, which has hitherto, amidst patient endurance of suffering, waited for God's own act of redemption. He now adorns them with ישׁוּעה, help against the victory over the hostile world; now the saints, hitherto enslaved and contemned, exult בכבוד, in honour, or on account of the honour which vindicates them before the world and is anew bestowed upon them (בּ of the reason, or, which is more probable in connection with the boldness of the expression, of the state and mood);

(Note: Such, too (with pomp, not "with an army"), is the meaning of μετὰ δόξης in 1 Macc. 10:60; 14:4, 5, vid., Grimm in loc.))

they shout for joy upon their beds, upon which they have hitherto poured forth their complaints over the present (cf. Hosea 7:14), and ardently longed for a better future (Isaiah 26:8); for the bed is the place of soliloquy (Psalm 4:5), and the tears shed there (Psalm 6:7) are turned into shouts of joy in the case of Israel.