This psalm is simply entitled “A Song of Degrees.” The author of it is not known, nor can the occasion on which it was written be certainly ascertained. It would seem to have been composed in a time of public distress and disaster; when the affairs of the nation were in jeopardy, and especially when the line of the monarchy seemed about to fail, and the promises made to David seemed about to come to nought. It would have been a suitable occasion for such a psalm at the time immediately preceding the captivity in Babylon, or on the return from Babylon, when the throne was tottering or had fallen, and when God seemed to be about to forsake his house, the temple - or had forsaken it, and suffered it to fall to ruin. At such a time of national disaster, when it appeared as if the house of God was to be permanently destroyed, and the government to be overturned forever, it was natural and proper thus to make mention of the zeal, the toil, and the sacrifice of him who had sought a “habitation” for God; who had planned and labored that there might be a permanent dwelling-place for the Most High, and who had received gracious promises from God himself in regard to the permanent establishment of his family on the throne. It would be appropriate, also, to recall this as a foundation for the prayer that God would again visit Zion, and would fulfill the promises which he had given to David.
The psalm therefore consists properly of two parts:
I. A statement of the zeal of David for the ark, in securing a permanent abode for it, Psalms 132:1-8; and
II. A reference to the promises made to David and his posterity, and a prayer that these promises might be carried out and accomplished, Psalms 132:9-18.