There will I cause the horn of David to bud forth; I have ordained a lamp for mine anointed.
Psalm 132 pairs prayers with God's answers, and verse 17 is one of the answers. It raises two questions: what are the horn and the lamp, and when will they shine?
The psalm sets prayers beside God's answers. Each answer gives more than the prayer asked for. One writer lines up the pairs, and this verse answers a plea for God's anointed. He quotes an older translation of the psalm.
The prayer is, "Let your priests be clothed with righteousness; and let your saints shout for joy." But the answer is, "I will also clothe her priests with salvation; and her saints will shout aloud for joy." Again the prayer is, "For your servant David's sake, do not turn away the face of your anointed." God answers, "There I will make the horn of David sprout." In every case God's answer goes far beyond the request.
The word "there" ties the promise to a place. God chose Zion for His rest, and there the horn will bud.
Zion is God's rest for ever. This is what He has chosen, and there He will make the horn of David sprout. The person of David's Son, royal grace in Zion, marks out the blessing. Whatever house is built, God remembers David and his trouble, not Solomon — a picture of David's son — and his house.
Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, praised God for a deliverer raised up in David's house. One writer ties that praise to this verse, and follows the story to its end.
In Scripture, horns stand for power. Zacharias, speaking as a prophet by the Holy Spirit, praised the Lord God of Israel for raising up a horn of deliverance, or salvation, in the house of David His servant. No doubt Psalm 132:17-18 was in his mind as he said this. Zacharias expected that this prophecy, and many more like it, were about to be fulfilled in the baby soon to be born in David's house. That was not to be. The envy of Israel's leaders and the blindness of the unrepentant nation refused to acknowledge the rightful claims of the Messiah, and in the end they crucified Him. Israel's deliverance, so vividly described in the prophetic Scriptures, was put on hold. It waits for the great day when its all-powerful Deliverer will come from Zion. He will deal with their ungodliness and set them free from their enemies.
The lamp is linked to the anointing, and the light runs on through David's line to Christ.
In the Old Testament, anointing and the lamp appear together: "There I will make a horn to sprout for David; I have prepared a lamp for My anointed" (Ps. 132:17); "that David My servant may always have a lamp before Me" (1 Kings 11:36). Scripture calls David himself "the lamp of Israel" (2 Sam. 21:17), and in a far higher sense our Lord Jesus declares Himself "the light of the world" (John 8:12). So we see that oil is a picture of the Holy Spirit, that the anointing was by Him, and that the power for light or testimony comes from Him too.
God has prepared this lamp. So where does it burn today?
Where does this lamp shine now? Not on earth. Jerusalem, the place of its display on earth, is "trampled underfoot by the Gentiles." But faith can see it shining with undimmed brightness "in the true tabernacle," where it will keep shining "until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in."
When will the horn bud and the lamp shine in full?
Even the simplest reader will see at once that these words can only come true when God's King is set up on His holy hill of Zion. Then all God's purposes for His Anointed, for His chosen people, and for the nations of the earth will reach their full accomplishment.
Abraham saw this lamp from far off. The Lord will light it in His own time.
The "lamp" promised here will shine in the kingdom of the Son of David in a coming day. Abraham saw it from far off (Gen. 15:17), and so he saw Christ's "day" and "was glad." Both Christ and His people have longed for it all through the night-time of this present world (Isa. 62:1). In answer to that longing, the Lord Himself will light it up at the right time.
- Asked — David prayed that God would not turn away the face of His anointed. Verse 17 is the reply. Like every reply in this psalm, it gives more than the prayer asked.
- Placed — God chose Zion for His own rest. There the horn buds, and the person of David's Son marks out the blessing.
- Power — the horn means power. Zacharias saw it in the child born in David's house. Israel's leaders refused the deliverer God raised up, so the deliverance waits.
- Light — the lamp goes with the anointing. Scripture calls David Israel's lamp, and Christ calls Himself the light of the world. For now faith sees that light, not the city trampled underfoot.
- Coming — the full answer waits for God's King on His holy hill. Then the Lord will light the lamp Abraham saw from far off.
His enemies will I clothe with shame; but upon himself shall his crown flourish.
Psalm 132 is a prayer for the throne of David, and this last verse is God's answer. Who is the king it speaks of, and what does it mean for a crown to shine on him?
Verse 10 asked God not to turn away the face of His anointed. Verses 17 and 18 give back more than the prayer asked for, and that pattern runs through the whole psalm.
It is interesting to see how God deals with us. His explanations, His answers to prayer, all His replies to us, go beyond the occasion of the request. So in Psalm 132, the reply in each case goes beyond what is asked. Compare verses 13-15 with verse 8, verse 16 with verse 9, and verses 17, 18 with verse 10.
Three images close the psalm: a horn, a lamp, and a crown. One writer traces them back to the prayer in verse 10 and explains what each one stands for.
The prayer in verse 10 was that God would not turn away "the face of Your anointed." In answer, God makes the horn of David bud; He appoints a lamp for His anointed, and upon Himself shall His crown flourish. A lamp is a picture of something that bears witness to a thing and shows that it is true and real. Here it refers, no doubt, to 2 Chronicles 21:7; 1 Kings 11:36, 15:4. The horn is, of course, a symbol of power, and a crown the sign of rule.
Older translations end the verse with "his crown shall flourish," where the ESV has "his crown will shine." "Flourish" is the word used for growing things: a crown that buds and blossoms instead of fading. The same picture of a new season covers the kingdom and its people:
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The half-open flowers are the emblem of a new season, of the beginning of spring. Thus these emblems are not only those of the kingdom, but also emblems of those who belong there. There will be perfect harmony between the glories of the kingdom and those who will have part in it... He is the true Son of David, and upon Himself shall His crown flourish.
The wording is exact. The crown is not just promised to David's children — it flourishes on one head.
Then the horn of David is "to bud," and God appoints "a lamp" for His Anointed — "On himself shall his crown flourish." It is not merely "their children." This shows us who David is in the prophets.
The two halves of the verse happen together. Shame covers the enemies as the crown buds, and nothing after that breaks it off.
And here, in the everlasting city, the horn of David's power will bud at last, with nothing to check or interrupt it. "I will set in order a lamp for My Anointed." Now there is final triumph: "His enemies will I clothe with shame; but upon Himself shall His crown flourish."
Shame is all that is left of the opposition. One writer puts it plainly:
And in the Psalm, there are no more enemies left; they are all clothed with shame.
Verse 17 begins with "there." That small word fixes where all of this happens.
The answer in verses 17, 18 is also more: the horn of David is to bud; God appoints a lamp there for Him, and His crown shall flourish on Him. That is, He goes beyond the wish. But note it is "there" — in Zion. Christ literally is King there, as in Psalm 2.
Love for Christ makes His crowning something we want for Him.
For do we not "love Him because He first loved us"? Then, truly, we shall desire earnestly that "upon Himself shall His crown flourish."
- Asked — David prayed that God would not turn away the face of His anointed. Every reply in this psalm gives more than the prayer asked for.
- Granted — the horn is power, the lamp is testimony, the crown is rule. God gives all three to His anointed.
- Personal — the crown flourishes "upon himself," not on his children. That points past David to the true Son of David.
- Final — one moment clothes His enemies with shame and sets the crown budding. Nothing checks it after that.
- Located — it happens "there," in Zion. Until then, love for Christ makes us long to see Him crowned.