서론
無標題
英文原文
As the foregoing psalm was a prayer for the king that God would protect and prosper him, so this is a thanksgiving for the success God had blessed him with. Those whom we have prayed for we ought to give thanks for, and particularly for kings, in whose prosperity we share. They are here taught, I. To congratulate him on his victories, and the honour he had achieved, Ps 21:1-6. II. To confide in the power of God for the completing of the ruin of the enemies of his kingdom, Ps 21:7-13. In this there is an eye to Messiah the Prince, and the glory of his kingdom; for to him divers passages in this psalm are more applicable than to David himself.
1-6
The Subject's Thanksgiving
臣民的感恩
交與伶長。大衛的詩。
¹ 耶和華啊，王必因你的能力歡喜；因你的救恩，他的快樂何其大！ ² 你將他心所願的賜給他，未嘗拒絕他的嘴唇所求的。（細拉） ³ 你以美福迎接他，把精金的冠冕戴在他頭上。 ⁴ 他向你求壽，你便賜給他，就是日子長久，直到永遠。 ⁵ 他因你的救恩大有榮耀；你又將尊榮威嚴加在他身上。 ⁶ 你使他有洪福，直到永遠；你使他在你面前歡喜快樂。
大衛在此首先為自己發言，宣稱他的喜樂乃在於神的能力與祂的拯救，而不在於軍隊的力量或戰事的勝敗。他也以此引導百姓與他一同喜樂，將他所得勝利的榮耀全歸於神；而這一切的目光都注視著基督，因為大衛的勝利不過是基督勝過黑暗權勢之影兒。1. 百姓在此向王的喜樂道賀，並與他同樂（詩 21:1）：「王必因你的能力歡喜」——他素來以你的能力為樂，我們也如此；王所喜悅的，我們也喜悅（撒下 3:36）。一個國家的王若以神的能力為他所信靠的、以神的拯救為他的喜樂，凡神國度的高升都使他歡欣，並信靠神在他為國度所作的一切事上扶助他——這樣的百姓是有福的。我們的主耶穌在祂偉大的工作上，也倚靠從天上來的幫助，並以祂藉此所要成就的那極大救恩的前景為樂。2. 百姓將王所喜樂之事的一切讚美歸給神。(1) 神應允了他的禱告（詩 21:2）：「你將他心所願的賜給他」（凡蒙悅納的禱告，必是心所願的），正是他們從前為他向神所求的（詩 20:4）。注意，神恩典地應允禱告，特別要求我們以謙卑的讚美作為回報。當神將列國賜給基督為業，使祂看見自己的後裔，並悅納祂為一切信徒所作的代求時，便是將祂心所願的賜給祂。(2) 神以恩惠出乎意料地臨到他，遠超他的期望（詩 21:3）：「你以美福迎接他。」我們一切的福氣都是美善之福，完全不是因我們有甚麼功勞，純粹只因神的良善。但詩人在此特別視之為加倍令人感激的，因為這些福氣是以「迎接」的方式賜下的；這一點抓住了他的目光，擴展了他的心靈，使他更加愛慕他的神，正如某人所言。當神的福氣比我們想像的更早臨到、比我們所求的更為豐富，在我們祈求之前、在我們預備好之前賜下，甚至在我們擔憂相反的結局之時臨到，那就可以說祂以福氣「迎接」了我們。誠然，沒有甚麼在基督以先；但對人類而言，再沒有比我們藉基督所得的救贖，以及祂中保之工的一切美福更能「迎接」我們的恩惠了。(3) 神使祂升到最高的尊榮與最廣的權柄：「你把精金的冠冕戴在他頭上」，並當仇敵企圖將其摘下時仍使之穩固。注意，冠權都在神手中；除了神所設立的，沒有人能戴冠冕，無論是為審判降於那地，或是為憐憫，結果將要顯明。在基督的頭上，神從未戴上金冠，而是先戴荊棘冠冕，後戴榮耀冠冕。(4) 神向他保證國度的永存，在其中為他所作的遠超他所能求所能想的（詩 21:4）：「當他出征危險的征途時，他向你求壽」，那時他將性命交在你手中，「你不但賜給他這一點，更賜他日子長久，直到永遠」，不但使他的壽數遠超期望延長，更保證他在來世得著蒙福的永生，並使他的國度在將從他後裔而出的彌賽亞身上延續。」請看神的賜予常常超過我們的祈求與盼望，由此可知祂對求告祂的人何等豐富地施以慈愛。也請看並為基督國度的日子長久而喜樂。祂誠然曾為使我們藉祂得生而死，但祂如今活著，並活到永永遠遠；祂的政權與平安必加增無窮（賽 9:7）；正因祂如此活著，我們也必如此活著。(5) 神使祂升到最高的尊榮與威嚴（詩 21:5）：「他的榮耀極大」，遠超鄰近諸王，乃在於你為他並藉他所成就的救恩。每一個敬虔人所渴慕的榮耀，就是看見耶和華的救恩。「你又將尊榮威嚴加在他身上」，如同他必須承擔的重擔，如同他須交賬的託付。耶穌基督從父神得了尊貴榮耀（彼後 1:17），就是祂在創世之前與父同有的榮耀（約 17:5）。普世的治理之責已加在祂身上，天上地下所有的權柄都交託給了祂。(6) 神使祂得著成為人類一切福氣之管道的滿足（詩 21:6）：「你使他永遠成為福源」（旁註如此譯），「你使他成為普世萬民的祝福，地上的萬族都必在他裏面得福，也必如此得福；因此你以你對他事業的認可、對他在推行過程中的同在，使他極其喜樂。」請看預言的靈在此如何逐步升到那唯獨屬於基督的境界，因為除祂以外，沒有人永遠蒙福，更談不上如此卓越地永遠為人祝福；論到祂，經上說神以自己的臉光使祂充滿喜樂。
我們歌唱此詩時，應當以祂的喜樂為樂，並因祂的高升而歡呼。
英文原文
The Subject's Thanksgiving
To the chief musician. A psalm of David.
¹ The king shall joy in thy strength, O LORD; and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!
² Thou hast given him his heart's desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips. Selah.
³ For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness: thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head.
⁴ He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, even length of days for ever and ever.
⁵ His glory is great in thy salvation: honour and majesty hast thou laid upon him.
⁶ For thou hast made him most blessed for ever: thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance.
David here speaks for himself in the first place, professing that his joy was in God's strength and in his salvation, and not in the strength or success of his armies. He also directs his subjects herein to rejoice with him, and to give God all the glory of the victories he had obtained; and all with an eye to Christ, of whose triumphs over the powers of darkness David's victories were but shadows. 1. They here congratulate the king on his joys and concur with him in them (Ps 21:1): "The king rejoices, he uses to rejoice in thy strength, and so do we; what pleases the king pleases us," 2Sa 3:36. Happy the people the character of whose king it is that he makes God's strength his confidence and God's salvation his joy, that is pleased with all the advancements of God's kingdom and trusts God to bear him out in all he does for the service of it. Our Lord Jesus, in his great undertaking, relied upon help from heaven, and pleased himself with the prospect of that great salvation which he was thereby to work out. 2. They gave God all the praise of those things which were the matter of their king's rejoicing. (1.) That God had heard his prayers (Ps 21:2): Thou hast given him his heart's desire (and there is no prayer accepted but what is the heart's desire), the very thing they begged of God for him, Ps 20:4. Note, God's gracious returns of prayer do, in a special manner, require our humble returns of praise. When God gives to Christ the heathen for his inheritance, gives him to see his seed, and accepts his intercession for all believers, he give him his heart's desire. (2.) That God had surprised him with favours, and much outdone his expectations (Ps 21:3): Thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness. All our blessings are blessings of goodness, and are owing, not at all to any merit of ours, but purely and only to God's goodness. But the psalmist here reckons it in a special manner obliging that these blessings were given in a preventing way; this fixed his eye, enlarged his soul, and endeared his God, as one expresses it. 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 us with them. Nothing indeed prevented Christ, but to mankind never was any favour more preventing than our redemption by Christ and all the blessed fruits of his mediation. (3.) That God had advanced him to the highest honour and the most extensive power: "Thou hast set a crown of pure gold upon his head and kept it there, when his enemies attempted to throw it off." Note, Crowns are at God's disposal; no head wears them but God sets them there, whether in judgment to his land or for mercy the event will show. On the head of Christ God never set a crown of gold, but of thorns first, and then of glory. (4.) That God had assured him of the perpetuity of his kingdom, and therein had done more for him than he was able either to ask or think (Ps 21:4): "When he went forth upon a perilous expedition he asked his life of thee, which he then put into his hand, and thou not only gavest him that, but withal gavest him length of days for ever and ever, didst not only prolong his life far beyond his expectation, but didst assure him of a blessed immortality in a future state and of the continuance of his kingdom in the Messiah that should come of his loins." See how God's grants often exceed our petitions and hopes, and infer thence how rich he is in mercy to those that call upon him. See also and rejoice in the length of the days of Christ's kingdom. He was dead, indeed, that we might live through him; but he is alive, and lives for evermore, and of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end; and because he thus lives we shall thus live also. (5.) That God had advanced him to the highest honour and dignity (Ps 21:5): "His glory is great, far transcending that of all the neighbouring princes, in the salvation thou hast wrought for him and by him." The glory which every good man is ambitious of is to see the salvation of the Lord. Honour and majesty hast thou laid upon him, as a burden which he must bear, as a charge which he must account for. Jesus Christ received from God the Father honour and glory (2Pe 1:17), the glory which he had with him before the worlds were, Joh 17:5. And on him is laid the charge of universal government and to him all power in heaven and earth is committed. (6.) That God had given him the satisfaction of being the channel of all bliss to mankind (Ps 21:6): "Thou hast set him to be blessings for ever" (so the margin reads it), "thou hast made him to be a universal blessing to the world, in whom the families of the earth are, and shall be blessed; and so thou hast made him exceedingly glad with the countenance thou hast given to his undertaking and to him in the prosecution of it." See how the spirit of prophecy gradually rises here to that which is peculiar to Christ, for none besides is blessed for ever, much less a blessing for ever to that eminency that the expression denotes: and of him it is said that God made him full of joy with his countenance.
In singing this we should rejoice in his joy and triumph in his exaltation.
7-13
The Subject's Hope
臣民的盼望
⁷ 王倚靠耶和華，因至高者的慈愛必不致動搖。 ⁸ 你的手要搜出你的一切仇敵；你的右手要搜出那些恨你的人。 ⁹ 你發怒的時候，要使他們如炎熱的火爐；耶和華要在他的震怒中吞滅他們；那火要把他們燒盡了。 ¹⁰ 你必從地上滅絕他們的果子，從人間塗抹他們的後裔。 ¹¹ 因為他們有意加害於你；他們想出計謀，卻不能作成。 ¹² 你必使他們轉背逃跑，當你的弓弦向著他們的臉頰預備箭矢的時候。 ¹³ 耶和華啊，願你因自己的能力被高舉；這樣我們要歌頌、讚美你的大能。
詩人既已教導他的百姓，帶著喜樂與讚美回顧神為他和對他們所行的事，此處便教導他們憑信心、盼望與禱告，向前瞻望神將要為他們進一步成就的事：王因神快樂（詩21:1），所以我們也當感恩；王倚靠神（詩21:7），所以我們也當受鼓勵。我們的王基督的喜樂與信靠，乃是我們一切喜樂與信靠的根基。
I. 他們深信大衛國度的穩固。因至高者的慈愛——而非因自己的功勞或力量——*他必不致動搖。*他興旺的景況不致被攪擾；他那支撐心靈的信心與盼望不致被震動。至高者的慈愛（即神聖的良善、能力與主權），足以保障我們的福樂；因此我們對這慈愛的信靠，也當足以平息我們一切的恐懼。基督在受苦時神在他的右邊（詩16:8），而他在榮耀裏在神的右邊，我們便可以確信他必不致、也不能被震動，卻要永遠長存。
II. 他們深信大衛國度一切頑梗不化、不肯悔改之仇敵必遭毀滅。神迄今所賜給大衛兵器的得勝，是神將使他從四圍一切仇敵得享安息的憑據，也是一切不願基督作王治理他們的基督仇敵將被全然推翻的預表。請注意， 1. 他仇敵的描寫。他們就是恨他的人（詩21:8）。他們恨大衛，因為神已將他分別為聖歸於自己；他們恨基督，因為他們恨光；但兩者之被恨都沒有正當的緣由，而且在兩者身上，神都被恨惡了（約15:23，25）。 2. 他仇敵的計謀（詩21:11）：他們有意加害於你，想出計謀；他們表面上是單單要攻打大衛，但他們的敵意卻是指向神自己。那些想要廢黜大衛王的人，實際上就是想要廢掉耶和華作神。凡針對信仰，以及針對神所興起支持並推進信仰之器皿所策劃、所設計的事，都是極其邪惡、極其有害的；神看它如同針對他自己所策劃、所設計的，也必如此追討。 （3）他們的失敗：「他們想要作成卻不能」（詩21:11）。他們的惡毒是無能為力的，他們所謀的是虛妄的事（詩2:1）。 （4）他們的被發現（詩21:8）：「你的手要搜出他們來。」無論他們怎樣以友好的藉口和表面功夫巧妙偽裝，無論他們怎樣混跡於這國度忠實的子民之中而難以分辨，無論他們怎樣逃避追討、藏匿於隱密之處，你的手終必把他們無論在何處都搜出來。沒有人能逃脫神報應的眼目，沒有人能走出他手掌的範圍；巖石和山嶺最終也並不比起初的無花果樹葉子作更好的遮蔽。 （5）他們的毀滅；這將是徹底的毀滅（路19:27）；他們必被吞滅、被燒盡（詩21:9）。地獄——就是一切基督仇敵的分——是身體與靈魂完全的悲慘。他們的果子與他們的後裔必被滅絕（詩21:10）。神國度的仇敵，在每個時代都必落在同樣的判決之下；他們整個世代至終必被連根拔除，一切反對的執政的、掌權的、有能的都必被廢去。神震怒的箭矢必使他們混亂、使他們潰逃，因為這些箭是瞄準他們的臉面而發（詩21:12）。那便是膽敢當面對抗神之仇敵的結局。神震怒的火必將他們燒盡（詩21:9）；他們不僅要被扔在火爐裏（太13:42），他更要使他們自己如同炎熱的火爐；他們要作自己的刑罰者；他們自己良心的控告與恐懼，便是他們的地獄。那些本可讓基督作王拯救他們，卻拒絕他、並與他爭戰的人，必發現甚至僅僅這事的記憶，也足以使他們在永遠裏成為自己的火爐：這就是那不死之蟲。
III. 他們既懷這信靠，便求神仍然為他的受膏者顯現（詩21:13），求他以自己的能力親自為他行事——以萬軍之耶和華、萬靈之父的身份，憑他能力直接的運行，少用方法和器皿。如此， 1. 他便要高舉自己、榮耀自己的名。「我們的力量微小，沒有當有的活躍為你效力，這是我們的羞愧；主啊，求你親自接管這工，沒有我們也去作成，這便是你的榮耀。」 2. 他們便要高舉他：「這樣我們要歌頌，更要得勝地讚美你的大能。」當拯救正在成就之時，神越少用我們的事奉；當拯救沒有我們而作成之時，神便越要得著我們的讚美。
英文原文
The Subject's Hope
⁷ For the king trusteth in the LORD, and through the mercy of the most High he shall not be moved.
⁸ Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies: thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee.
⁹ Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger: the LORD shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them.
¹⁰ Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth, and their seed from among the children of men.
¹¹ For they intended evil against thee: they imagined a mischievous device, which they are not able to perform.
¹² Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back, when thou shalt make ready thine arrows upon thy strings against the face of them.
¹³ Be thou exalted, LORD, in thine own strength: so will we sing and praise thy power.
The psalmist, having taught his people to look back with joy and praise on what God had done for him and them, here teaches them to look forward with faith, and hope, and prayer, upon what God would further do for them: The king rejoices in God (Ps 21:1), and therefore we will be thankful; the king trusteth in God (Ps 21:7), therefore will we be encouraged. The joy and confidence of Christ our King is the ground of all our joy and confidence.
I. They are confident of the stability of David's kingdom. Through the mercy of the Most High, and not through his own merit or strength, he shall not be moved. His prosperous state shall not be disturbed; his faith and hope in God, which are the stay of his spirit, shall not be shaken. The mercy of the Most High (the divine goodness, power, and dominion) is enough to secure our happiness, and therefore our trust in that mercy should be enough to silence all our fears. God being at Christ's right hand in his sufferings (Ps 16:8) and he being at God's right hand in his glory, we may be sure he shall not, he cannot, be moved, but continues ever.
II. They are confident of the destruction of all the impenitent implacable enemies of David's kingdom. The success with which God had blessed David's arms hitherto was an earnest of the rest which God would give him from all his enemies round about, and a type of the total overthrow of all Christ's enemies who would not have him to reign over them. Observe, 1. The description of his enemies. They are such as hate him, Ps 21:8. They hated David because God had set him apart for himself, hated Christ because they hated the light; but both were hated without any just cause, and in both God was hated, Joh 15:23,25. 2. The designs of his enemies (Ps 21:11): They intended evil against thee, and imagined a mischievous device; they pretended to fight against David only, but their enmity was against God himself. Those that aimed to un-king David aimed, in effect, to un-God Jehovah. What is devised and designed against religion, and against the instruments God raises up to support and advance it, is very evil and mischievous, and God takes it as devised and designed against himself and will so reckon for it. (3.) The disappointment of them: "They devise what they are not able to perform," Ps 21:11. Their malice is impotent, and they imagine a vain thing, Ps 2:1. (4.) The discovery of them (Ps 21:8): "Thy hand shall find them out. Though ever so artfully disguised by the pretences and professions of friendship, though mingled with the faithful subjects of this kingdom and hardly to be distinguished from them, though flying from justice and absconding in their close places, yet thy hand shall find them out wherever they are." There is no escaping God's avenging eye, no going out of the reach of his hand; rocks and mountains will be no better shelter at last than fig-leaves were at first. (5.) The destruction of them; it will be an utter destruction (Lu 19:27); they shall be swallowed up and devoured, Ps 21:9. Hell, the portion of all Christ's enemies, is the complete misery both of body and soul. Their fruit and their seed shall be destroyed, Ps 21:10. The enemies of God's kingdom, in every age, shall fall under the same doom, and the whole generation of them will at last be rooted out, and all opposing rule, principality, and power, shall be put down. The arrows of God's wrath shall confound them and put them to flight, being levelled at the face of them, Ps 21:12. That will be the lot of daring enemies that face God. The fire of God's wrath will consume them (Ps 21:9); they shall not only be cast into a furnace of fire (Mt 13:42), but he shall make them themselves as a fiery oven or furnace; they shall be their own tormentors; the reflections and terrors of their own consciences will be their hell. Those that might have had Christ to rule and save them, but rejected him and fought against him, shall find that even the remembrance of that will be enough to make them, to eternity, a fiery oven to themselves: it is the worm that dies not.
III. In this confidence they beg of God that he would still appear for his anointed (Ps 21:13), that he would act for him in his own strength, by the immediate operations of his power as Lord of hosts and Father of spirits, making little use of means and instruments. And, 1. Hereby he would exalt himself and glorify his own name. "We have but little strength, and are not so active for thee as we should be, which is our shame; Lord, take the work into thy own hands, do it, without us, and it will be thy glory." 2. Hereupon they would exalt him: "So will we sing, and praise thy power, the more triumphantly." The less God has of our service when a deliverance is in the working the more he must have of our praises when it is wrought without us.
正如前一篇是求神保護、賜福君王的禱告，本篇則是為神所賜給他的成功而獻的感恩。我們曾為誰禱告，就當為誰謝恩，特別是為君王——他們的興盛我們有分。在此他們受教導：一、為他的勝利與所得的尊榮向他道賀（詩二一1-6）。二、信靠神的大能，相信祂必徹底傾覆他國度的仇敵（詩二一7-13）。其中含有對彌賽亞君王與祂國度榮耀的仰望；因為本篇中有多處經文，應用於祂比應用於大衛本人更為貼切。