Verse 7. - For the king trusteth in the Lord. This is at once the ground and the result of God' s favour to him. God favours David because of his trust, and David trusts in God because of his favour. The result is that, through the mercy (or, loving-kindness, Revised Version) of the Most High he shall not be moved (comp. Psalm 15:5; Psalm 112:6). The words appear to denote a conviction, as Professor Alexander says, that David "would never be shaken from his standing in God' s favour." This conviction we may well conceive him to have felt, and to have regarded as one that might fittingly be expressed by his subjects, in whose mouth he placed it. But such a conviction is not always borne out by events, and David confesses elsewhere, that, at any rate, once in his life, after he had said, "I shall never be moved," God "hid away his face from him," and he "was troubled" (Psalm 30:6, 7).
21:7-13 The psalmist teaches to look forward with faith, and hope, and prayer upon what God would further do. The success with which God blessed David, was a type of the total overthrow of all Christ's enemies. Those who might have had Christ to rule and save them, but rejected him and fought against him, shall find the remembrance of it a worm that dies not. God makes sinners willing by his grace, receives them to his favour, and delivers them from the wrath to come. May he exalt himself, by his all-powerful grace, in our hearts, destroying all the strong-holds of sin and Satan. How great should be our joy and praise to behold our Brother and Friend upon the throne, and for all the blessings we may expect from him! yet he delights in his exalted state, as enabling him to confer happiness and glory on poor sinners, who are taught to love and trust in him.
For the King trusteth in the Lord,.... That is, the King Messiah, as the Targum paraphrases it; he trusted in the Lord for his support and sustenance as man, for assistance and help in his time of trouble, and for deliverance out of it; he trusted in the Lord that he would hear him for himself, and for his people; and that he would glorify him with all glory, honour, majesty, and blessedness, before spoken of; see Psalm 22:8;
and through the mercy of the most High he shall not be moved; God the Father is the most High; Christ is called the Son of the Highest, and the Spirit the power of the Highest, Luke 1:32; there is mercy with him, which is a ground of hope and trust, in his people, and also in the Messiah; see Psalm 89:28; and some versions make the mercy of the most High to be what the King Messiah trusts in, reading the words (b), "for the King trusteth in the Lord, and in the mercy of the most High"; but the accent "athnach", which distinguishes the propositions, will not admit of it; but the sense is, that because of the mercy, grace, goodness, and faithfulness of God in making and keeping his promises, Christ would not be and was not moved from his trust and confidence in the Lord; nor shall he even be removed from his throne of glory on which he sits; nor from the glorious and happy state in which he is: nor will it ever be in the power of his enemies to displace him; for these in time will be destroyed by him, as the following words show.
and through the mercy of the most High he shall not be moved; God the Father is the most High; Christ is called the Son of the Highest, and the Spirit the power of the Highest, Luke 1:32; there is mercy with him, which is a ground of hope and trust, in his people, and also in the Messiah; see Psalm 89:28; and some versions make the mercy of the most High to be what the King Messiah trusts in, reading the words (b), "for the King trusteth in the Lord, and in the mercy of the most High"; but the accent "athnach", which distinguishes the propositions, will not admit of it; but the sense is, that because of the mercy, grace, goodness, and faithfulness of God in making and keeping his promises, Christ would not be and was not moved from his trust and confidence in the Lord; nor shall he even be removed from his throne of glory on which he sits; nor from the glorious and happy state in which he is: nor will it ever be in the power of his enemies to displace him; for these in time will be destroyed by him, as the following words show.
(b) So Genebrard, Muis,