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Hello Father,

This morning, while reciting the Morning Prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours, I came across once again this part of Psalm 149 “Feast of the friends of God,” which always leaves me somehow perplexed:

“Let the faithful rejoice in their glory, cry out for joy on their couches, With the praise of God in their mouths, and a two-edged sword in their hands, To bring retribution on the nations, punishment on the peoples, To bind their kings in shackles, their nobles in chains of iron, To execute the judgments decreed for them – such is the glory of all God’s faithful.”

I imagine and hope that it is something metaphorical that hides some deeper meanings. Could you kindly explain to me the meaning of these very harsh words?

Best regards and praise be to Jesus Christ.

Priest’s answer

Dear friend,

  1. The author of this psalm is not indicated. Therefore, it is not David. The Jerusalem Bible says it is from the Hellenistic era, that is, it dates back to the time of the Maccabees. It is approximately from the 2nd century BC.
  2. Marco Sales would date it a few centuries further back, to the times of Ezra and Nehemiah, but still after the return from Babylonian exile. Therefore, it would be the 5th century BC.
  3. Marco Sales further states about this psalm: “Israel, glad to see Jerusalem restored with the temple, and the theocratic state partially restored, bursts into songs of joy and gratitude, but still finds itself surrounded by enemies who fight with all their power any theocratic restoration, and therefore must still fight forcefully and eagerly for its complete triumph over all enemies.”
  4. This desire was fulfilled with the coming of the Messiah. “He alone has conquered and continues to conquer all the peoples of the earth, subjecting them one after the other to his yoke. It is predicted, in fact, that the king Messiah would subject to the God of Israel all the peoples, who together with Israel would form one people, namely, the people or kingdom of God. The triumphs achieved by the Israelites over the pagan peoples are a figure or symbol of the triumphs achieved by Jesus Christ.”
    So, this psalm should be understood in a spiritual sense (you say “metaphorical”) referring to Christ.
  5. Coming now to the verse that seems the hardest to understand, this is what Marco Sales says: “Israel has the great mission in the world of subjecting all peoples to God, and the psalmist urges Israel to accomplish its mission as soon as possible and to conquest the pagans with the praise of God on his lips and the two-edged sword in its hand.”
    “In the two-edged sword, which is the weapon of the faithful army, one can see the prayer of the saints imploring justice against persecutors and against peoples opposed or enemies of God.”
  1. “The conquest of the pagans to the true religion is presented with the image of a victory or triumph, as it was customary in ancient times to celebrate the victory with the kings bound in chains and the nobles bound in shackles, as can be seen in Assyrian bas-reliefs and Egyptian monuments. The judgment is already written by God in the decrees of his justice, and more specifically in the books of the law and the prophets. It is the glory of the people of Israel to have been chosen by God as the enforcer of his justice, and in general as an instrument for the conversion of the pagans.”
  2. The kings bound in chains and the nobles bound in shackles indicate that the pagans, initially persecutors of the Christians, will no longer be able to act in this way because they will convert.

I bless you, I wish you a peaceful continuation of the Christmas holidays, and I remember you in prayer.

Father Angelo