EXPOSITION
This present "Song of Ascents" is well suited to be a "pilgrim-song"—sung by those who went up to Jerusalem to visit the temple, and revivify their faith in the God who had chosen Zion for his dwelling-place. It is concerned almost entirely with the temple, which it sets before the faithful from the first conception of it in the mind of David to its final glory when visited by the Redeemer. Psalms 132:1-5 are concerned with the birth of the idea in David's mind; Psalms 132:6-10, with its realization under Solomon; while Psalms 132:11-18 point to the time when David's true Son would be set upon David's throne, and the Lord himself would suddenly come to his temple, and make the glory of the second house greater than that of the first had ever been.
Metrically, the psalm consists of four stanzas, each of ten lines: Psalms 132:1-5; 6-10; 11-13; and 14-18.