Psalm 21:3

For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness: thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(3) Thou preventest—i.e., comest to meet him. The word “prevent” is familiar in this sense in the English collect: “Prevent us, O Lord, in all our doings.” (Comp. Psalm 79:8; 1Thessalonians 4:15.) The “crown “is by some identified with that won by David at Rabbah Moab. Others make it refer to a coronation. Ewald thinks of a birthday celebration. Probably no more is intended than a symbol of victory and rejoicing. Maidens were accustomed to meet a monarch returning in victory, and to offer a crown, or garland, which was a symbol of extraordinary rejoicing. (Comp. 1Samuel 18:6; Psalm 68:11; Song of Solomon 3:11; Wisdom Of Solomon 2:8; Judith 15:13; 3Ma 7:16.)

Benson Commentary

Psalm 21:3. Thou preventest him — Or, didst prevent him, namely, David; crowning him with manifold blessings, both more and sooner than he desired or expected, surprising him with the gift of the kingdom, and with many happy successes. With the blessings of goodness — That is, with excellent blessings, or with abundance of good. Applying this to Christ, we must say, The Son of God could not be more ready to ask for the blessings of the divine goodness than the Father was to give them, and his disposition is the same toward all his adopted sons. By the crown of pure gold, may be meant, in general, an illustrious crown, which is here represented as being set upon our Lord’s head at his exaltation into heaven, in token of his being then advanced to this chief exercise of his regal authority. Thus he is said, Psalm 8:5, to be crowned with glory and honour; and St. John says, with respect to his deified humanity, in which he was made King of kings, and Lord of lords, that on his head were many crowns, Revelation 19:12; Revelation 19:16.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

21:1-6 Happy the people whose king makes God's strength his confidence, and God's salvation his joy; who is pleased with all the advancements of God kingdom, and trusts God to support him in all he does for the service of it. All our blessings are blessings of goodness, and are owing, not to any merit of ours, but only to God's goodness. But when God's blessings come sooner, and prove richer than we imagine; when they are given before we prayed for them, before we were ready for them, nay, when we feared the contrary; then it may be truly said that he prevented, or went before us, with them. Nothing indeed prevented, or went before Christ, but to mankind never was any favour more preventing than our redemption by Christ. Thou hast made him to be a universal, everlasting blessing to the world, in whom the families of the earth are, and shall be blessed; and so thou hast made him exceeding glad with the countenance thou hast given to his undertaking, and to him in the prosecution of it. The Spirit of prophecy rises from what related to the king, to that which is peculiar to Christ; none other is blessed for ever, much less a blessing for ever.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For thou preventest him - Thou goest before him; thou dost anticipate him. See Psalm 17:13, margin. Our word "prevent" is now most commonly used in the sense of "hinder, stop, or intercept." This is not the original meaning of the English word; and the word is never used in this sense in the Bible. The English word, when our translation was made, meant to "go before," to "anticipate," and this is the uniform meaning of it in our English version, as it is the meaning of the original. See the notes at Job 3:12. Compare Psalm 59:10; Psalm 79:8; Psalm 88:13; Psalm 95:2; Psalm 119:147-148; Amos 9:10; see the notes at 1 Thessalonians 4:15. The meaning here is, that God had "anticipated" him, or his desires. He had gone before him. He had designed the blessing even before it was asked.

With the blessings of goodness - Blessings "indicating" goodness on his part; blessings adapted to promote the "good" or the welfare of him on whom they were bestowed. Perhaps the meaning here is, not only that they were "good," but they "seemed" to be good; they were not "blessings in disguise," or blessings as the result of previous calamity and trial, but blessings where there was no trial - no shadow - no appearance of disappointment.

Thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head - This does not refer to the time of his coronation, or the period when he was crowned a king, but it refers to the victory which he had achieved, and by which he had been made truly a king. He was crowned with triumph; he was shown to be a king; the victory was like making him a king, or setting a crown of pure gold upon his head. He was now a conqueror, and was indeed a king.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

3. preventest—literally, "to meet here in good sense," or "friendship" (Ps 59:10; compare opposite, Ps 17:13).

blessings of goodness—which confer happiness.

crown of pure gold—a figure for the highest royal prosperity.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Preventest him; or, didst prevent him; crowning him with manifold blessings, both more and sooner than he either desired or expected; surprising him with the gift of the kingdom, and with many happy successes.

With the blessing of goodness, i. e. with excellent blessings. Or, with abundance (as this word both in Hebrew and Greek is sometimes used, as Psalm 84:6 Romans 15:29 2 Corinthians 9:5,6) of good.

A crown of pure gold either,

1. In token of victory. Or rather,

2. As an ensign of royal majesty conferred upon him.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness,.... Not temporal, but spiritual blessings, which spring from the grace and goodness of God, and consist of it; and relate to the spiritual and eternal welfare of those for whose sake he receives them, and who are blessed with them in him: his being "prevented" with them denotes the freeness of the donation of them; that before he could well ask for them, or before he had done requesting them, they were given him; and also the earliness of the gift of them, they were put into his hands before his incarnation, before he was manifest in the flesh, even from the foundation of the world, and before the world began, Ephesians 1:3, 2 Timothy 1:9, and likewise the order in which they were given; first to Christ, and then to his people in him, as the passages referred to show;

thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head; which is expressive of his victory over all enemies, sin, Satan, and the world, death and hell; and of his being possessed of his throne and kingdom; and has respect to his exaltation at the right hand of God, where he is crowned with glory and honour: and this crown being of "pure gold" denotes the purity, glory, solidity, and perpetuity of his kingdom; this is a crown, not which believers put upon him by believing in him, and ascribing the glory of their salvation to him, or what the church, called his mother, has crowned him with, Sol 3:11, but which his father put upon him, who has set him King over his holy hill of Zion, Psalm 2:6; compare with this Revelation 14:14. The Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions read "a crown of a precious stone"; and so Apollinarius; and seem to refer to the crown set on David's head, which had precious stones in it, 2 Samuel 12:30; Josephus (x) says it had a sardonyx. Fortunatus Scacchus (y) fancies the topaz is meant, and that the Hebrew text should be read "a crown of topaz"; mistaking the sense of the word "phaz", which never signifies a topaz, but the best gold, pure solid gold.

(x) Antiqu. l. 7. c. 7. s. 5. (y) Elaeochrism. Sacr. l. 3. c. 40. p. 1003.

Geneva Study Bible

For thou {b} preventest him with the blessings of goodness: thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head.

(b) You declared your liberal favour toward him before he prayed.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

3. thou preventest him &c.] For prevent, see note on Psalm 18:18. Jehovah, as it were, goes to meet the king and bless him with success (goodness = good things, Proverbs 24:25): and once more crowns him king. The victory is a Divine confirmation of his sovereignty (1 Samuel 11:13 ff.). There may possibly be an allusion to the crown of the Ammonite king (2 Samuel 12:30).

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 3. - For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness; i.e. thou givest him blessings before he asks, and more than he asks.. "The blessings of goodness" is pleonastic, since a blessing cannot be otherwise than a good. Thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head. It is remarked that David, as the result of one of his wars, did actually take the crown of the conquered king, which was a crown of gold, from off the king' s head, and place it upon his own head (2 Samuel 12:30); but this is scarcely what is intended here. As Hengstenberg observes, "The setting on of the crown marks the bestowment of dominion," not in one petty ease only, but generally, and is scarcely to be altogether separated from the promises recorded in 2 Samuel 7:12-16. Psalm 21:3

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

(Heb.: 21:4-5) "Blessings of good" (Proverbs 24:25) are those which consist of good, i.e., true good fortune. The verb קדּם, because used of the favour which meets and presents one with some blessing, is construed with a double accusative, after the manner of verbs of putting on and bestowing (Ges. ֗139). Since Psalm 21:4 cannot be intended to refer to David's first coronation, but to the preservation and increase of the honour of his kingship, this particularisation of Psalm 21:4 sounds like a prediction of what is recorded in 2 Samuel 22:30 : after the conquest of the Ammonitish royal city Rabbah David set the Ammonitish crown (עטרת), which is renowned for the weight of its gold and its ornamentation with precious stones, upon his head. David was then advanced in years, and in consequence of heavy guilt, which, however, he had overcome by penitence and laying hold on the mercy of God, was come to the brink of the grave. He, worthy of death, still lived; and the victory over the Syro-Ammonitish power was a pledge to him of God's faithfulness in fulfilling his promises. It is contrary to the tenour of the words to say that Psalm 21:5 does not refer to length of life, but to hereditary succession to the throne. To wish any one that he may live לעולם, and especially a king, is a usual thing, 1 Kings 1:31, and frequently. The meaning is, may the life of the king be prolonged to an indefinitely distant day. What the people have desired elsewhere, they here acknowledge as bestowed upon the king.