(3-5) It is vain to search the historical accounts for this vow. It may be implied from 2Samuel 7:2, and from the persistent purpose which David certainly nourished. The LXX. and Vulg. give the vow in even greater detail, adding, "and rest to my temples."

(3) Tabernacle.--We have in the mention of tent either a reminiscence of the old nomadic times of the race, or an allusion to David's own wandering and warlike habits.

Verse 3. - Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house. I will not take up my abode quietly and comfortably in my own solid and substantial house (see 2 Samuel 5:11). Nor go up into my bed. Indulge, i.e., in luxurious repose. (Fur a contrary feeling on the part of some Israelites, see Haggai 1:4.)

132:1-10 David bound himself to find a place for the Lord, for the ark, the token of God's presence. When work is to be done for the Lord, it is good to tie ourselves to a time. It is good in the morning to fix upon work for the day, with submission to Providence, for we know not what a day may bring forth. And we should first, and without delay, seek to have our own hearts made a habitation of God through the Spirit. He prays that God would take up his dwelling in the habitation he had built; that he would give grace to the ministers of the sanctuary to do their duty. David pleads that he was the anointed of the Lord, and this he pleads as a type of Christ, the great Anointed. We have no merit of our own to plead; but, for His sake, in whom there is a fulness of merit, let us find favour. And every true believer in Christ, is an anointed one, and has received from the Holy One the oil of true grace. The request is, that God would not turn away, but hear and answer their petitions for his Son's sake.Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house,.... The new house and palace David built for himself after he came to the throne, made of cedar, 2 Samuel 5:11; not that he should never enter into it till he had found a dwelling for God, but that he should not go into it with pleasure till that was done; for this and what follows are hyperboles, as Kimchi observes, and signify that he should have no peace nor satisfaction of mind till this was accomplished. It may be applied to our Lord's ascension to heaven, which was not till after he had purchased the church with his blood, which is the temple and habitation of God;

nor go up into my bed; or "the bed that made for me" (r); the royal bed, a bed of down, with soft pillows, fit for a person of such dignity to lie down on. Ainsworth renders it "the pallets of my bed"; the phrase of going up agrees with the custom of the eastern countries, who have galleries in their chambers where they are set; at one end of each chamber in their houses there is a little gallery raised three, four, or five feet above the floor, with a balustrade in the front of it, with a few steps likewise leading up to it; here they place their beds (s); so that when they went to bed they might with great propriety be said to go up to it; but this David could not do with pleasure, so long as there was no place and habitation for God.

(r) "lectum strati mei, vel stratorum meorum", Gejerus, Michaelis. (s) Dr. Shaw's Travels, p. 209. Ed. 2.