Zion heard, and was glad; and the daughters of Judah rejoiced because of thy judgments, O LORD.
Zion heard and was glad, and the daughters of Judah — that is the towns of Judah — rejoiced because of the Lord's judgments, showing that God's righteous rule brings gladness to his people. The psalm pictures the Lord coming to judge the earth with righteousness and equity, with righteousness and judgment as the habitation of his throne and with clouds and darkness round about him. Fire goes before him burning up enemies, lightnings enlighten the world till the earth trembles, hills melt like wax and respond at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth, and the heavens declare his righteousness, while the earth rejoices.
That coming and judgment, including the gladness of Zion and rejoicing of the daughters of Judah because of God's judgments, are plain and literal in the same literal sense as the fire, tempest, and gathering of saints in Psalm 50. Psalms 96, 97, and 98 together describe that coming to judgment in language very like Psalm 50, in the strongest terms. Their whole structure with interwoven millennial matter, together with the use made of them in Hebrews 1:6, shows that coming and judgment to belong before the millennium.
Thus the gladness of Zion is the earth's rejoicing at Christ's personal coming to judge the earth with righteousness and equity before the millennium begins. That personal coming ushers in millennial glory and jubilee when the Lord reigns. Then graven images are confounded, mercy and truth to Israel are remembered, righteousness is openly shown, and all the ends of the earth see salvation.
Those who hold it for that millennial reason deny the coming and judgment in the psalm literal final-coming meaning and take them figuratively.
Zion heard and was glad, and the daughters of Judah — that is the towns of Judah — rejoiced because of the Lord's judgments, showing that God's righteous rule brings gladness to his people. The psalm pictures the Lord coming to judge the earth with righteousness and equity, with righteousness and judgment as the habitation of his throne and with clouds and darkness round about him. Fire goes before him burning up enemies, lightnings enlighten the world till the earth trembles, hills melt like wax and respond at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth, and the heavens declare his righteousness, while the earth rejoices.
That coming and judgment, including the gladness of Zion and rejoicing of the daughters of Judah because of God's judgments, are plain and literal in the same literal sense as the fire, tempest, and gathering of saints in Psalm 50. Psalms 96, 97, and 98 together describe that coming to judgment in language very like Psalm 50, in the strongest terms. Their whole structure with interwoven millennial matter, together with the use made of them in Hebrews 1:6, shows that coming and judgment to belong before the millennium.
Thus the gladness of Zion is the earth's rejoicing at Christ's personal coming to judge the earth with righteousness and equity before the millennium begins. That personal coming ushers in millennial glory and jubilee when the Lord reigns. Then graven images are confounded, mercy and truth to Israel are remembered, righteousness is openly shown, and all the ends of the earth see salvation.
Those who hold it for that millennial reason deny the coming and judgment in the psalm literal final-coming meaning and take them figuratively.