the site of the future Temple, he procured the necessary means and materials for the building of it, he made all the necessary arrangements for the future Temple-service, he inspirited the people for the gigantic work of building that was before them, and handed over to his son the model for it, as it is all related to us in detail by the chronicler. The divine name “the mighty One of Jacob” is taken from Gen 49:24, as in Isa 1:24; Isa 49:26; Isa 60:16. The Philistines with their Dagon had been made to feel this mighty Rock of Jacob when they took the sacred Ark along with them (1Sa 5:1-12). With אם David solemnly declares what he is resolved not to do. The meaning of the hyperbolically expressed vow in the form of an oath is that for so long he will not rejoice at his own dwelling-house, nor give himself up to sleep that is free from anxiety; in fine, for so long he will not rest. The genitives after אהל and ערשׂ are appositional genitives; Ps 44 delights in similar combinations of synonyms. יצוּעי (Latin strata mea) is a poetical plural, as also is משׁכּנות. With תּנוּמה (which is always said of the eyelids, Gen 31:40; Pro 6:4; Ecc 8:16, not of the eyes) alternates שׁנת (according to another reading שׁנת) for שׁנה. The āth is the same as in נחלת in Psa 16:6, cf. 60:13, Exo 15:2, and frequently. This Aramaizing rejection of the syllable before the tone is, however, without example elsewhere. The lxx adds to Psa 132:4, καὶ ἀνάπαυσιν τοῖς κροτάφοις μου (וּמנוּחה לרקּותי), but this is a disagreeable overloading of the verse.
Verses 6-10
In Psa 132:6 begins the language of the church, which in this Psalm reminds Jahve of His promises and comforts itself with them. Olshausen regards this Psa 132:6 as altogether inexplicable. The interpretation nevertheless has some safe starting-points. (1) Since the subject spoken of is the founding of a fixed sanctuary, and one worthy of Jahve, the suffix of שׁמענוּה (with Chateph as in Hos 8:2, Ew. §60, a) and מצאנוּה refers to the Ark of the covenant, which is fem. also in other instances (1Sa 4:17; 2Ch 8:11). (2) The Ark of the covenant, fetched up out of Shiloh by the Israelites to the battle at Ebenezer, fell into the hands of the victors, and remained, having been again given up by them, for twenty years in Kirjath-Jearim (1Sa 7:1.), until David removed it out of this Judaean district to Zion (2Sa 6:2-4; cf. 2Ch 1:4).
