So, another commandment to praise God. We've covered numerous times how wonderful it is and appropriate it is to praise God. David and the psalmists have issued several lists and given lots of reasons why God is due the praise of His saints.
The 149th Psalm takes a bit of a departure. This is the first time I can recall, or at least that I noticed that the praise of God could be a weapon. A double-edged sword. Created to cut down enemies. The praise of God accomplishes a few things here before unwritten.
- Inflicts vengeance
- Punishes the people
- Binds kings with fetters
- Binds nobles with shackles
- Carries out the sentence against them
Pretty interesting. Of course it couldn't be the actual praise of God that does all these things. Right? Could this be a case of morale? Even though Israel may be scuffling, struggling, they still cry out to God in worship. Would that serve to dishearten their captors or oppressors? Or is it a case of fulfillment of the covenant. Praising God reflects a close relationship between Israelite and God, resulting in or as a result of Israel keeping their end of the bargain. When this happened, God saw fit to crush Israel's oppressors...you know, inflicting vengeance, throwing off kings and serving as God's hand of punishment against those who did not follow God's law.
Praise the Lord and grab your sword!
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