http://biblebitbybit.blogspot.com/2016/02/psalms-132-v-2.html
Posted by Psalms on Tuesday, 9 February 2016
Psalms 132:2
How he sware unto the LORD, and vowed unto the mighty God of Jacob;
132:2. Moved by intense devotion, David expressed his resolve in the form of a solemn vow, which was sealed with an oath. The fewer of such vows the better under a dispensation whose great Representative has said, “Swear not at all.” Perhaps even in this case it had been wiser to have left the pious resolve in the hands of God in the form of a prayer, for the vow was not actually fulfilled as intended, since the Lord forbade David to build him a temple. We had better not swear to do anything before we know the Lord’s mind about it, and then we shall not need to swear. The instance of David’s vow shows that vows are allowable, but it does not prove that they are desirable. Probably David went too far in his words, and it is well that the Lord did not hold him to the letter of his bond, but accepted the will for the deed, and the meaning of his promise instead of the literal sense of it. David imitated Jacob, that great maker of vows at Bethel, and upon him rested the blessing pronounced on Jacob by Isaac, “God Almighty bless thee” (Genesis 28:3), which was remembered by the patriarch on his death-bed, when he spoke of “the mighty God of Jacob.” God is mighty to hear us, and to help us in performing our vow. We should be full of awe at the idea of making any promise to the mighty God: to dare to trifle with him would be grievous indeed. It is observable that affliction led both David and Jacob into covenant dealings with the Lord: many vows are made in anguish of soul. We may also remark that, if the votive obligations of David are to be remembered of the Lord, much more are the suretyship engagements of the Lord Jesus before the mind of the great Lord, to whom our soul turns in the hour of our distress.
Jehovah was the God of Jacob, the same God evermore; he had this for his attribute, that he is mighty—mighty to succor his Jacobs who put their trust in him, though their afflictions be many. He is, moreover, especially the Mighty One of his people; he is the God of Jacob in a sense in which he is not the God of unbelievers.
The Treasury of David by Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892)
e-Sword v 9.5.1 Copyright 2000-2009 Rick Meyers
www.e-sword.net
