John Calvin Commentary Psalms 149:1

"Praise ye Jehovah. Sing unto Jehovah a new song, And his praise in the assembly of the saints." — Psalms 149:1 (ASV)

Sing to Jehovah a new song. This introduction proves what I have just said: that the exhortation now given is addressed only to God’s people, for the singular goodness which is particularly extended to them provides more ample reason for praise. The probable conjecture is that the Psalm was composed at the time when the people had begun to rejoice, or after they had returned to their native country from the Babylonian captivity.

We will see from the context that a promise of recovery from their ruined condition is given. The Psalmist’s object, I think, is to encourage them to expect the full and complete deliverance, a prelude to which had been suddenly and unexpectedly given in the permission to return.

Since the Church was not fully restored at once, but only with difficulty and after a long period was brought to a state of vigor, comfort such as this was much needed. The Spirit of God would also provide a remedy for evils that were later to break out. For the Church had scarcely begun to breathe again when it was once more harassed with various evils and oppressed by the cruel tyranny of Antiochus, which was followed by a dreadful dispersion.

The Psalmist therefore had good reason for encouraging the godly to look forward to the full accomplishment of God’s mercy, so that they might be persuaded of divine protection until the time when the Messiah should arise who would gather all Israel. He calls this a new song, as we have noticed elsewhere, to distinguish it from those with which the saints commonly and daily praised God, for praise is their continual practice.

It follows that he speaks of some rare and unusual benefit, demanding notable and particular thanksgiving. I am inclined to think that whoever may have been the author of the Psalm, he alludes to that passage in Isaiah (Isaiah 42:10), Sing unto the Lord a new song, when he speaks of the future restoration of the Church and the eternal kingdom of Christ.

In the second clause of the verse, a promise is implied. For though he exhorts the Lord’s people to sing God’s praises together, he also hints that the Church would coalesce again into one body to celebrate God’s praises in the solemn assembly. We know that the Israelites were so scattered that the sacred songs ceased to be sung, as they complain elsewhere when called upon to sing—

How shall we sing the songs of the Lord in a strange land? (Psalms 137:4).

He therefore urges them to prepare, after this sad dispersion, to hold their sacred assemblies again.