Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine.
-Now Yahweh awakes as one out of sleep, and destroys His people's enemies, and restores the ark; but Shiloh of Ephraim is now no more His resting-place, but Zion, and David is His chosen king. The inference is tacitly left to be drawn-Let not Ephraim and Israel resist like their fathers, but joyfully give in their adhesion to God's appointment.
Verse 65. Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep. He had seemed, so far as His people's cause was concerned, like one sleeping (Psalms 44:23). Now he arose (in the days of Samuel, Saul, and David) to deliver them from their enemies (1 Samuel 5:1-12; 1 Samuel 6:1-21; 1 Samuel 7:10-14).
Like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine - whose natural strength in stimulated by wine, so that he shouts as a warrior under its gladdening influences (Psalms 104:15).
Verse 66. And he smote his enemies in the hinder part - literally fulfilled on the Philistines by the "emerods in their secret parts" (1 Samuel 5:9). Hengstenberg takes it as in Psalms 9:3, 'He smote them back' - i:e., so as to flee back.
He put them to a perpetual reproach. The Philistines went down step by stop, until they were annihilated as a nation.
Verse 67. Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph (Psalms 78:59-60) - "the tabernacle of Shiloh."
And chose not the tribe of Ephraim - which under the Judges had been the ruling tribe. The rejection refers only to their previous precedency, and the presence of the sanctuary among them. As part of the nation, Ephraim shared in the common privilege of the whole people of God.
Verse 68. But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion - to be at once the seat of time sanctuary and of the monarchy (Psalms 78:69-71).
Verse 69. And he built his sanctuary like high (palaces) - rather 'like the heights,' namely, of heaven: standing in antithetical correspondence to "the earth" (Gesenius.) Hengstenberg takes it, 'like the high (mountains): for the Hebrew (ramim) is the common term applied to a mountain, whence Ramah is used of high-lying places; but it is never applied to heaven; nor is the sanctuary at Zion compared usually to heaven, but to high hills (cf. Psalms 68:15-16).
Like the earth which he hath established for ever. As the comparison to the heights of heaven marks Zion's glory and spiritual excellency, so the comparison to "the earth which he hath established forever" (cf. Psalms 104:5; Ecclesiastes 1:4) marks her stability; not like the sanctuary of Gilgal, Shiloh, and Nob, which did not abide permanently. In Zion "the Lord will dwell forever" (Psalms 68:16; Psalms 132:14; 1 Kings 8:13). The fullness of the promise of eternal permanence belongs to the spiritual Zion. The temple on Zion was overthrown by Nebuchadnezzar, and again by Titus; but against the true temple built on Christ "the gates of hell shall never prevail" (Matthew 16:18; Revelation 21:10-26). The height of Zion is only to be discerned by the eye of faith. To the eye of sense many world hills seem higher.
Verse 70,71. He chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds - from following the ewes great with young. So the Septuagint, Vulgate, and Ethiopic. 'The suckling sheep,' the Syriac, Chaldaic, and Arabic versions.
He brought him to feed Jacob - literally, 'to feed in Jacob;' 'to tend as a shepherd among the people of Jacob.' The true shepherd feels especial care for the tender sheep. and those with young he does not overdrive them (Genesis 33:13-14). Such to his people wee King David designed to be (2 Samuel 7:8). The Psalmist appeals to the Israelites to show loving loyalty to such a shepherd-like king. David, alas! was not always the shepherd, but once "took the poor man's lamb" (2 Samuel 12:4-9). The antitypical David always "feeds His flock like a shepherd, gathers the lambs with His arm, carries them in His bosom, and gently leads those that are with young" (Isaiah 40:11).
Verse 72. So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart - (1 Kings 9:4.) "He" - i:e., not God, but David, who, as a shepherd king, realized God's design, by ruling Israel not merely for his own, but for the peoples good. Let rulers remember that they are made for the state, not the state for them.
And guided them by the skillfulness of his hands - circumspectly guarding against his sheep suffering assault or neglect. The shepherd, with rod and staff in hand, guides the sheep (Psalms 23:4); so David exhibited his skill, not only by counsel, but in execution by the hands.