Psalms in chronicles

2 Chronicles 6:40-42

We move now to the brief excerpts from Psalm 132 that appear as the conclusion of Solomon's long prayer at the dedication of the temple in 2 Chr 6:14-39. In the course of his prayer, Solomon had prayed that Yahweh fulfill his dynastic promises to David (vv. 16-17), and then he prayed in general that God would hear prayers that would be spoken in or toward the temple in Jerusalem (vv. 18-21). Solomon cited seven different examples of prayers that Israelite individuals or the entire community might bring to Yahweh (vv. 22-39), and Solomon asked that Yahweh would hear in heaven, the place of his enthronement, and then forgive, act, and bring back to the land. This lengthy prayer, originally written for the book of Kings, is taken from 1 Kings 8 into 2 Chronicles 6 with a few minor changes that need not occupy us here.

At the end of the prayer, however, the Chronicler does not include the Deuteronomistic conclusion (1 Kgs 8:50a[beta]-53). Instead, the Chronicler wrote his own conclusion, which consists of excerpts from Psalm 132.

Professor Erhard Gerstenberger has recently described Psalm 132 as a messianic hymn or a Zion song, and one of its central features is a series of three petitions to which there are three divine responses. The first petition asks God to remember the slavish toil of David, how he took an oath and went without sleep in his all-out effort to find a place for Yahweh, aye, a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob (132:1-5). Yahweh responds to this oath in the second half of the psalm (132:11-12) by swearing in a counter-oath that David's son would sit on the throne and that subsequent sons of Solomon too would rule if they would keep the requirements of Yahweh's covenant.

A second petition in Ps 132:8-9 asks Yahweh and his ark to go to their resting place in the temple and prays that the priests will be clothed with righteousness, and God's loyal folk will give a ringing cheer. Yahweh responds to this petition in vv. 14-16 by affirming his choice of Zion and identifying it as indeed his resting place. Among the blessings he showers on Zion are the promise to clothe the priests with salvation or victory and the opportunity for God's loyal folk to give their ringing cultic cheer.

A third petition in v. 10 returns to the royal concerns of the first petition and asks Yahweh, for David's sake, not to reject his anointed king. In response, vv. 17-18, Yahweh makes a series of promises to the Davidic kings: (a) I will make a horn sprout for David; (b) I have prepared a lamp for my anointed; (c) I will clothe the king's enemies with shame, and (d) the king's crown will gleam. This psalm promises the restoration of the monarchy. Gerstenberger remarks: "In this case one can imagine Zion and David festivals in situations of resurging hopes among believers for a powerful restoration of the lost monarchy" (Psalms, Part 2, and Lamentations, FOTL XV [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001], 369). I find this to be a convincing interpretation of the psalm itself.