Psalm 132:12

If thy children will keep my covenant and my testimony that I shall teach them, their children shall also sit upon thy throne for evermore.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

132:11-18 The Lord never turns from us when we plead the covenant with his anointed Prophet, Priest, and King. How vast is the love of God to man, that he should speak thus concerning his church! It is his desire to dwell with us; yet how little do we desire to dwell with him! He abode in Zion till the sins of Israel caused him to give them up to the spoilers. Forsake us not, O God, and deliver us not in like manner, sinful though we are. God's people have a special blessing on common enjoyments, and that blessing puts peculiar sweetness into them. Zion's poor have reason to be content with a little of this world, because they have better things prepared for them. God will abundantly bless the nourishment of the new man, and satisfy the poor in spirit with the bread of life. He gives more than we ask, and when he gives salvation, he will give abundant joy. God would bring to nothing every design formed to destroy the house of David, until King Messiah should arise out of it, to sit upon the throne of his Father. In him all the promises centre. His enemies, who will not have him to reign over them, shall at the last day be clothed with shame and confusion for ever.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

If thy children will keep my covenant ... - This was the condition implied in the promise - that they were to keep the law of God, and to serve and obey him. If they did not, they could not, of course, plead the promise. This principle is universal. We cannot plead any promise of God in our behalf, or in behalf of our children, unless we obey his commands, and are ourselves faithful to him. See the sentiment in this verse illustrated in the notes at Psalm 89:30-37.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

10-12. For thy servant David's sake—that is, On account of the promise made to him.

turn … anointed—Repulse not him who, as David's descendant, pleads the promise to perpetuate his royal line. After reciting the promise, substantially from 2Sa 7:12-16 (compare Ac 2:30, &c.), an additional plea,

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

If thy children will keep my covenant, and my testimony that I shall teach them,.... The former part of the promise and oath is absolute, respecting the Messiah; but this is conditional, and relates to the seed of David, both immediate, and in succeeding generations; proposing their observance of the law of God, as the condition of their enjoying the kingdom after him. By the "covenant" and "testimony" are meant the same thing; the law, which was given to the people of Israel in the form of a covenant, and was a testimony of the will of God to them: in this the kings of Israel were to read continually, and conduct according to it in their personal walk and conversation, and by it to rule the people they were set over; and which the Lord promises to teach them by his prophets, whose business it was not to promulgate new laws, but to explain what were given. Now in case this was attended to, and the instructions of prophets observed, then thus it would be,

their children also shall sit upon thy throne for evermore; but, the condition not being fulfilled, this did not take place: Solomon, his immediate successor, fell into idolatry in the latter part of his life; and Rehoboam, his son, slighted the advice of the old men, founded upon the laws of God, and ten tribes revolted from him: several succeeding kings of Judah, of the house of David, were very wicked princes; and the race of them ended in Zedekiah, who was carried captive into Babylon. Indeed all this is true of Christ and his spiritual offspring; he kept the covenant of grace made with his divine Father; and the law or testimony; and fulfilled it in the room and stead of his people; and did the whole will and work of his Father, and in all things pleased him: and his children also lay hold by faith on the covenant and the promises of it; and receive, observe, and retain the testimony of the Gospel; and shall reign with Christ, on the same throne with him, for ever and ever.

Geneva Study Bible

If thy children will keep my covenant and my testimony that I shall teach them, their children shall also sit upon thy throne for {h} evermore.

(h) Because this cannot be accomplished but in Christ, it follows that the promise was spiritual.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

12. If thy sons will keep] The condition of the literal fulfilment of the promise is implied in 2 Samuel 7:14, and explicitly stated in 1 Kings 8:25. In Psalm 89:30 ff. the thought is developed, that man’s faithlessness cannot finally defeat God’s purpose.

my testimony] Or, as P.B.V., my testimonies. See p. 704.

their children &c.] Their sons also for ever shall sit upon thy throne, lit. upon a throne for thee, as thy representatives.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 12. - If thy children will keep my covenant and my testimony that I shall teach them, their children shall also sit upon thy throne forevermore (comp. 2 Samuel 7:14-16, where the conditional character of the promises made to David is also apparent). Psalm 132:12

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The "for the sake of David" is here set forth in detail. אמת in Psalm 132:11 is not the accusative of the object, but an adverbial accusative. The first member of the verse closes with לדוד, which has the distinctive Pazer, which is preceded by Legarmeh as a sub-distinctive; then follows at the head of the second member אמת with Zinnor, then לא־ישׁוּב ממּנּה with Olewejored and its conjunctive Galgal, which regularly precedes after the sub-distinctive Zinnor. The suffix of ממּנּה refers to that which was affirmed by oath, as in Jeremiah 4:28. Lineal descendants of David will Jahve place on the throne (לכסּא like לראשׁי in Psalm 21:4) to him, i.e., so that they shall follow his as possessors of the throne. David's children shall for ever (which has been finally fulfilled in Christ) sit לכסּא to him (cf. Jeremiah 9:5; Jeremiah 36:7). Thus has Jahve promised, and expects in return from the sons of David the observance of His Law. Instead of עדתי זוּ it is pointed עדתי זו. In Hahn's edition עדתי has Mercha in the penult. (cf. the retreat of the tone in זה אדני, Daniel 10:17), and in Baer's edition the still better attested reading Mahpach instead of the counter-tone Metheg, and Mercha on the ultima. It is not plural with a singular suffix (cf. Deuteronomy 28:59, Ges. 91, 3), but, as זו equals זאת indicates, the singular for עדוּתי, like תּחנתי for תּחנוּתי in 2 Kings 6:8; and signifies the revelation of God as an attestation of His will. אלמּדם has Mercha mahpach., זו Rebia parvum, and עדתי Mercha; and according to the interpunction it would have to be rendered: "and My self-attestation there" (vid., on Psalm 9:16), but zow is relative: My self-attestation (revelation), which I teach them. The divine words extend to the end of Psalm 132:12. The hypotheses with אם, as the fulfilment in history shows, were conditions of the continuity of the Davidic succession; not, however - because human unfaithfulness does not annul the faithfulness of God - of the endlessness of the Davidic throne. In Psalm 132:13 the poet states the ground of such promissory mercy. It is based on the universal mercy of the election of Jerusalem. אוּהּ has He mappic. like ענּה in Deuteronomy 22:29, or the stroke of Raphe (Ew. 247, d), although the suffix is not absolutely necessary. In the following strophe the purport of the election of Jerusalem is also unfolded in Jahve's own words.