Would you like some ideas for further study in this delightful Psalm 132? This is rich territory!
Perhaps you’ll be surprised at the many parallels linking the two sections of Psalm 132 (vv 1-10 and 11-18). Compare the following couplets. “David…swore to the Lord” (vv 1-2) with “The Lord has sworn…to David” (v 11). “Arise, O Lord, to Your resting place” (v 8) with “This is My resting place forever” (v 14). “Let Your priests be clothed with righteousness” (v 9) with “I will also clothe her priests with salvation” (v 16). “And let Your saints shout for joy” (v 9) with “And her saints shall shout aloud for joy” (v 16). “Do not turn away the face of Your Anointed” (v 10) with “I will prepare a lamp for My Anointed” (v 17). Notice also that David strongly desired to “find a place for the Lord, a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob” (v 5, see also vv 3-4). In the second part, “the Lord has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His dwelling place” (v 13). There are two other places besides Zion mentioned in the psalm, but they are somewhat disguised, as if left to be discovered by those seeking a resting place as eagerly as David did. They’re both found in verse 6. “We heard of it in Ephrathah; we found it in the fields of the woods.” Those conversant in Hebrew say the phrase “the fields of the woods” is a reference to Kirjath Jearim (meaning “town of forests”). After the ark of the covenant was captured on the battlefield in the days of Eli’s wicked sons, then made its ill-fated sojourn through Philistia, and wreaked havoc in Beth Shemesh, it ended up in Kirjath Jearim. There David “found it,” and it began its journey up to Zion. And Ephrathah? The old name for Bethlehem, where as a lad David “heard of” the displaced ark. And there it was that the true Ark came to tabernacle among us (Jn 1:14), ultimately bringing God’s glory up to Zion.