Catholic Commentary on Psalm 21

"The king rejoices in your strength, Lord. How great is his joy in the victories you give!" (Psalm 21:1)

Royal Thanksgiving

Psalm 21 is the companion to Psalm 20: before battle the community prayed for the king; after victory the king and community give thanks. The king's joy is entirely in God's strength and in the victories God gives. God granted him his heart's desire and did not withhold the request of his lips. Long life, blessings, and the joy of the Lord's presence: these are the gifts enumerated as the fruit of God's favour toward the king.

The key theological note of the psalm is in verse 7: For the king trusts in the Lord; through the unfailing love of the Most High he will not be shaken. The king's stability is not in his own military success or the breadth of his kingdom. It is in the trust he places in the Lord and in the unfailing love, the hesed, of the Most High. Hesed is the covenant love of God that endures through every reversal of fortune. The king who trusts in it will not be shaken because its foundation is God's own faithfulness, not human achievement.

The Royal Psalms and the Messiah

The Church has always read the royal psalms, Psalms 2, 18, 20, 21, 45, 72, 89, 110, and 132, as ultimately referring to Christ, the King of Kings. The victories celebrated in Psalm 21 are ultimately the victory of the Cross and the empty tomb. The long life promised is the eternal life of the resurrection. The glory and majesty bestowed are the glory of the ascended Lord seated at the right hand of the Father. The Catechism teaches that Christ is the fulfilment of all messianic hope: everything the kings of Israel partially and imperfectly embodied, he embodies perfectly and completely (CCC 436).

Living the Word

Brothers and sisters, Psalm 21 is a psalm of thanksgiving for answered prayer. When has God granted your heart's desire? When has he given you victory you could not have achieved by your own strength? Take time today to name those moments with gratitude. The God who answered then hears you now. The unfailing love that did not let the king be shaken has not been withdrawn from you.

Prayer

Lord our God, we rejoice in your strength and in the victories you give. You have blessed us with the good things of your presence and have granted us more than we asked. Through the unfailing love of the Most High, let us not be shaken. And may all our joy be in you, the source of every victory. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

21
After the Battle
(Proverbs 21:1–31)
For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
 
1 O LORD, the king rejoices in Your strength.
How greatly he exults in Your salvation!
2 You have granted his heart’s desire
and have not withheld the request of his lips.
Selah
3 For You welcomed him with rich blessings;
You placed on his head a crown of pure gold.
4 He asked You for life, and You granted it—
length of days, forever and ever.
 
5 Great is his glory in Your salvation;
You bestow on him splendor and majesty.
6 For You grant him blessings forever;
You cheer him with joy in Your presence.
7 For the king trusts in the LORD;
through the loving devotion of the Most High,
he will not be shaken.
 
8 Your hand will apprehend all Your enemies;
Your right hand will seize those who hate You.
9 You will place them in a fiery furnace
at the time of Your appearing.
 
In His wrath the LORD will engulf them,
and the fire will consume them.
10 You will wipe their descendants from the earth,
and their offspring from the sons of men.
 
11 Though they intend You harm,
the schemes they devise will not prevail.
12 For You will put them to flight
when Your bow is trained upon them.
 
13 Be exalted, O LORD, in Your strength;
we will sing and praise Your power.

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