A Commentary on the Book of Psalms: Psalm 131 — A Prayer for the Fulfilling of the Promise Made to David
12 The oath and the promise in reference to his only son Christ, of whose kingdom there will be no end, was given and made unconditionally; but not so to others—it was on condition, “if they will keep my covenant;” the treaty I entered into with them of having no strange gods, and of their observing “my testimonies,” my commandments, in which case “they shall sit upon thy throne,” and if not, they will be cast out. David expressed this idea much more clearly to Solomon, when he said, “If thou seek him thou shalt find him; But if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off forever;” and God himself, speaking of Solomon, a short time before, says, “And I will establish his kingdom forever, if he continue to keep my commandments, and my judgments, as at this day;” and in Psalm 88, where we read, “And if his children forsake my law, I will visit their iniquities with a rod;” and he does not add, but my mercy I will not take away from them, “but from him,” that is, from David, whose throne was everlasting, by reason of his being the type of Christ, even though the temporal sovereignty of Solomon, Roboam, and their successors may have an end.
13–14 These verses apply, to a certain extent, to the city of Jerusalem, inasmuch as it was a type of the Church militant, and afterwards triumphant; because God chose that city for a time as the seat of royalty and of the priesthood, and in it were to be found the throne and the temple. But, as that city was soon to be laid in ruins, and the kingdom upset, and the temple itself to be burned, we are constrained to say that these verses apply to the Church, the kingdom of Christ, and that the Sion, or Jerusalem, alluded to here is that of which he speaks in the second Psalm, when he says, “But I am appointed king by him over Sion, his holy mountain,” a continuation of which we have in verse 11 of this Psalm. “The Lord hath sworn truth to David, and he will not make it void, of the fruit of thy womb I will set upon thy throne;” that is to say, he swore to David that he would place and establish his Son, Christ, on his throne, which is Sion, and which is, consequently, called the city of David, because “the Lord hath chosen Sion,” that is, the Church, “as his dwelling forever,” and said in regard of it, “This is my rest forever and ever;” that is to say, I will never desert this Church, but I will rest forever in her, because I will remove her to a perfect certainty in heaven; and there “I will dwell” in her forever, “because I have chosen it,” by a firm and everlasting decree.
15 This and the following verses promise many blessings to Sion, the city of David, which are, to a certain extent, applicable to that city, inasmuch as she was a type of the Church, but they are much more applicable to the Church itself. He, first, promises such an abundance of the good things of this world that even the widows, who are generally destitute, and all the poor in general, will enjoy an abundance. Now, this abundance, as applied to the Church, means an abundance of spiritual food, of the food of the word of God and of the sacraments, an abundance of which is enjoyed by the children of the Church, especially by those who are poor in spirit.
16 The second blessing conferred on the holy city will consist in its priests being conspicuous for their justice and their holiness, because, as iniquity is the disease of the soul, so is justice its salvation; and, as Solomon previously prayed that “her priests be clothed with justice,” God now says, that “he will clothe those priests with salvation,” which is the same as justice when there is question of our spiritual salvation.
17 The third and the greatest blessing to be conferred on holy Sion will be, that there will the kingdom of David have its rise. The horn metaphorically means the power and the dignity of the king, and that by reason of its preeminence and durability. But, in a literal sense, the horn of David means the kingdom of the Messiah, that was to have its rise in Sion, and to be propagated from thence throughout the entire world. Zacharias announced it when he said, Lk. 1, “And he hath raised up a horn of salvation to us in the house of David, his servant.” The prophet, too, foretold it; for Isaias says, chap. 9, “He shall sit upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom, to establish it and strengthen it forever.” Jeremias has the following: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, and I will raise up to David a just branch, and a king shall reign and shall be wise, and shall execute judgment and justice.” Ezechiel not only foretells the kingdom of Christ, but even describes his triumphal chariot, drawn by four animals, a man, a lion, a calf, and an eagle, meaning the four Evangelists. In Daniel 2, we have, “But in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed;” and Zach. 9, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Sion, shout for joy, O daughter of Jerusalem, behold, thy king will come to thee, the just and Savior; he is poor and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foal of an ass.” From all of which prophecies it is clear that this verse cannot possibly apply to Solomon or to his kingdom, for he was then alive and on his throne, whereas some future king is evidently intended. The expression, “will I bring forth,” means, I will make David’s horn, or power, spring up, as it were, and germinate, wherein he evidently foretells the destruction of Jerusalem, and the establishment of the everlasting kingdom of the Messias in place of the temporal power enjoyed hitherto by its kings. “I have prepared a lamp for my anointed.” St. Augustine says, the lamp alludes to St. John Baptist; for, as the Messias was to come without any show, pomp, or retinue, it was likely that the carnal Jews, who expected quite a different Messias, would hardly receive him had not John preceded him, who, by his singular sanctity and austerities, “like a light shining in a dark place,” brought the eyes of all upon him. “There will I bring forth a horn to David;”
this means, I have established the eternal kingdom of the Messias; “I have prepared a lamp,” the precursor, who will be as a lamp, “for my anointed,” for the Messias; and Christ himself seems to allude to this verse when he said of St. John, “He was a burning and a shining lamp.”
18 He prophesies that Christ will have many enemies, as, in truth, he had amongst the Jews, who said, “We will not have this man to reign over us;” and when they said to Pilate, “We have no king but Caesar;” but he also prophesies the punishment in store for them. “His enemies I will clothe with confusion.” I will brand them with infamy, as we see all over the world. Soon after the death of Christ, the Romans sacked and destroyed the city, slew immense numbers of them, sold many of them as slaves, and exposed a great many of them to wild beasts in the public games; and from thence to the present day, the Jewish race are everywhere in a state of slavery, and are everywhere despised; but on the last day, then not only will Jews, but all pagans, heretics, and all false brethren, who, through his brethren, have been enemies to Christ, will be “clothed with confusion.” While they shall be “clothed with confusion,” Christ will be clothed with glory, because the seed that had been buried in the earth will then flower forth into glory, by budding forth the flowers of sanctification; and not only will Christ be clothed with glory, but so will all his members too, because such sanctification will then produce flowers of incredible beauty, when grace shall be turned into glory.