Psalms 131

A Song of degrees of David.

Hengstenberg well suggests that this psalm must have been written in the full tide of prosperity, for the danger of high minded thoughts could then only arise; in times of trouble they vanish of themselves. But this should not preclude the thought of the temporary chastisement which underlies the psalm. The spirit of David, in whom childlike humility blends with royalty more than in any other of the Hebrew monarchs, pervades this brief and beautiful poem, and confirms the title which ascribes it to him. The psalm is to be taken as illustrative of its author’s personal experience, and at the same time concede its national character, according to Psalms 131:3, and consider that the author speaks in his representative character, not only as the political head of the nation, but as their model and exemplar. This was according to the common law of Providence in selecting individual holy men to become the instructors of the people: their experiences became illustrations of what the people should be, and they spake at once from the heart of the nation and from the secret mind of God. Many suppose the psalm was written during Saul’s persecutions of David, yet no time in history better suits its spirit and professions than after the judgments following the numbering of the people. 2 Samuel 24:0; 1 Chronicles 21:0. David was then the chief monarch of western Asia, and if he had been influenced by a temptation to a “lofty” mind in numbering the people, he was now restored, and weaned from the pride of power. As well does the psalm suit the humbled exiles of a once haughty nation, now returning to rebuild their city, and by them aptly classed with the national “Pilgrim Songs.”