\\INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 149\\

This psalm is thought by Calvin and others to have been written for the
sake of the Jews that returned from the Babylonish captivity; and is a
prediction of great and famous things done in the times of the
Maccabees to Heathens and their princes, so Theodoret; the Syriac
version entitles it,

``concerning the new temple;''

that is, the second temple, built by Zerubbabel, and the things done
under that; but it rather seems to have been written by David in the
beginning of his reign, when he obtained victories over the
Philistines, Edomites, Moabites, Ammonites, and Syrians; and refers to
the times of the Messiah, as Kimchi, R. Obadiah Gaon, and others think;
not of the Jews' vainly expected Messiah, but of the true Messiah, who
is come, and will come again, spiritually and personally; and there are
many things in it applicable both to the first and latter part of his
days.