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<p>David here speaks for himself in the first place, professing that his joy was in God’s strength and in his salvation, and not in the strength or success of his armies. He also directs his subjects herein to rejoice with him, and to give God all the glory of the victories he had obtained; and all with an eye to Christ, of whose triumphs over the powers of darkness David’s victories were but shadows. 1. They here congratulate the king on his joys and concur with him in them <a class="bibleref" title="Ps.21.1" href="/passage/?search=Ps.21.1">Ps. 21:1</a>: “<i>The king rejoices</i>, he uses to rejoice <i>in thy strength</i>, and so do we; what pleases the king pleases us,” <a class="bibleref" title="2Sam.3.36" href="/passage/?search=2Sam.3.36">2Sam. 3:36</a>. Happy the people the character of whose king it is that he makes God’s strength his confidence and God’s salvation his joy, that is pleased with all the advancements of God’s kingdom and trusts God to bear him out in all he does for the service of it. Our Lord Jesus, in his great undertaking, relied upon help from heaven, and pleased himself with the prospect of that great salvation which he was thereby to work out. 2. They gave God all the praise of those things which were the matter of their king’s rejoicing. (1.) That God had heard his prayers (<a class="bibleref" title="Ps.21.2" href="/passage/?search=Ps.21.2">Ps. 21:2</a>): <i>Thou hast given him his heart’s desire</i> (and there is no prayer accepted but what is the heart’s desire), the very thing they begged of God for him, <a class="bibleref" title="Ps.20.4" href="/passage/?search=Ps.20.4">Ps. 20:4</a>. Note, God’s gracious returns of prayer do, in a special manner, require our humble returns of praise. When God gives to Christ the heathen for his inheritance, gives him to see his seed, and accepts his intercession for all believers, he give him his heart’s desire. (2.) That God had surprised him with favours, and much outdone his expectations (<a class="bibleref" title="Ps.21.3" href="/passage/?search=Ps.21.3">PS. 21:3</a>): <i>Thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness</i>. All our blessings are blessings of goodness, and are owing, not at all to any merit of ours, but purely and only to God’s goodness. But the psalmist here reckons it in a special manner obliging that these blessings were given in a preventing way; this fixed his eye, enlarged his soul, and endeared his God, as one expresses it. When God’s blessings come sooner and prove richer than we imagine, when they are given before we prayed for them, before we were ready for them, nay, when we feared the contrary, then it may be truly said that he prevented us with them. Nothing indeed prevented Christ, but to mankind never was any favour more preventing than our redemption by Christ and all the blessed fruits of his mediation. (3.) That God had advanced him to the highest honour and the most extensive power: “<i>Thou hast set a crown of pure gold upon his head</i> and kept it there, when his enemies attempted to throw it off.” Note, Crowns are at God’s disposal; no head wears them but God sets them there, whether in judgment to his land or for mercy the event will show. On the head of Christ God never set a crown of gold, but of thorns first, and then of glory. (4.) That God had assured him of the perpetuity of his kingdom, and therein had done more for him than he was able either to ask or think (<a class="bibleref" title="Ps.21.4" href="/passage/?search=Ps.21.4">Ps. 21:4</a>): “When he went forth upon a perilous expedition <i>he asked</i> his <i>life of thee</i>, which he then put into his hand, <i>and thou</i> not only <i>gavest him that</i>, but withal gavest him <i>length of days for ever and ever</i>, didst not only prolong his life far beyond his expectation, but didst assure him of a blessed immortality in a future state and of the continuance of his kingdom in the Messiah that should come of his loins.” See how God’s grants often exceed our petitions and hopes, and infer thence how rich he i
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