The reign of the Lord in Sion: that is, of Christ in his church.
1 A psalm for David himself. The Lord hath reigned, let the people be angry: he that sitteth on the cherubims: let the earth be moved.
2 The Lord is great in Sion, and high above all people.
3 Let them give praise to thy great name: for it is terrible and holy:
4 And the king’s honour loveth judgment. Thou hast prepared directions: thou hast done judgment and justice in Jacob.
5 Exalt ye the Lord our God, and adore his footstool, for it is holy.
6 Moses and Aaron among his priests: and Samuel among them that call upon his name. They called upon the Lord, and he heard them:
7 He spoke to them in the pillar of the cloud. They kept his testimonies, and the commandment which he gave them.
8 Thou didst hear them, O Lord our God: thou wast a merciful God to them, and taking vengeance on all their inventions.
9 Exalt ye the Lord our God, and adore at his holy mountain: for the Lord our God is holy.
Commentary
[1] “Let the people be angry”: Though many enemies rage, and the whole earth be stirred up to oppose the reign of Christ, he shall still prevail. [4] “Loveth judgment”: Requireth discretion.– Ibid. [4] “Directions”: Most right and just laws to direct men. [5] “Adore his footstool”: The ark of the covenant was called, in the Old Testament, God’s footstool: over which he was understood to sit, on his propitiatory, or mercy seat, as on a throne, between the wings of the cherubims, in the sanctuary: to which the children of Israel paid a great veneration. But as this psalm evidently relates to Christ, and the New Testament, where the ark has no place, the holy fathers understand this text, of the worship paid by the church to the body and blood of Christ in the sacred mysteries: inasmuch as the humanity of Christ is, as it were, the footstool of the divinity. So St. Ambrose, L. 3. De Spiritu Sancto, c. 12. And St. Augustine upon this psalm. [6] “Moses and Aaron among his priests”: By this it is evident, that Moses also was a priest, and indeed the chief priest, inasmuch as he consecrated Aaron, and offered sacrifice for him. Lev. 8. So that his pre-eminence over Aaron makes nothing for lay church headship. [8] “All their inventions”: that is, all the enterprises of their enemies against them, as in the case of Core, Dathan, and Abiron.
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