Bellarmine on Psalm CXXI: Verse 5

Verse 5

Because their seats have sat in judgment, seats upon the house of David.

Quia illic sederunt sedes in judicio, sedes super domum David.

This is the third praise of Jerusalem, because located there are the royal throne and the and the seat of supreme judgement; and this verse can be read as a continuation of the previous verse because of the conjunction quia / because. It seems to be offering a reason why God wanted 

the temple to be in Jerusalem, which the whole people of Israel had to visit three times a year because it was a royal city and a metropolis for the whole kingdom. He says: “Because there,” that is, in Jerusalem, “… seats have sat in judgment,” that is, the seats of kings succeeding each other, for whom it is proper to judge the people; “have sat,” that is, have remained firmly settled and fixed, which is different from what might be said of the seat of Saul, the first king, which was in Gaba of Benjamin, but it did not remain there because it was moved after a while; and likewise, different from the seats of the Judges, who came before the kings, who did not sit at a fixed location but moved from place to place; but the seats of the kings of David’s family were fixed in Jerusalem, and so he adds: “Seats upon the house of David,” that is, the seats of the kingdom founded on David’s family found rest and stability; for this was told to David by God in II Kings vii: “And thy house shall be faithful, and thy kingdom for ever before thy face, and thy throne shall be firm for ever.”[1] The words seats upon the house of David are not said to indicate they ruled David’s house (family): for they ruled over the whole house of 

Jacob, that is, all the twelve tribes of Israel, not only David’s family; but the seats are said to be upon the house of David because from that house were born the kings of God’s people. In Hebrew, it does not say upon the house of David, but to the house of David, that is, the seats given to the house of David. But all this applies much more to Christ and the heavenly Jerusalem. For lest the Jews perhaps should think the words of the Psalm were to be understood chiefly of the earthly Jerusalem, and not rather of the heavenly Jerusalem, of which it was a figure, God permitted not only the removal of the royal seat from Jerusalem but the overthrow of Jerusalem itself. That promise therefore pertains to Christ and to Jerusalem above, according to the prophecy in Isaiah chapter ix, and Daniel chapter ix, and the words of the angel to the Virgin in Luke I: “The Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father; and he shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever. And of his kingdom there shall be no end.”[2] Truly and properly speaking, their seats have sat in judgment in the heavenly Jerusalem, firstly, because Christ’s throne and the thrones of those who reign with Him have been established with full firmness in heaven; and secondly, because those saints reigning and judging with God are a seat (throne) for God; for the soul of the just is the seat of wisdom, and these seats truly sit in judgement, accorded to the Lord’s promise: “You, who have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit on the seat of his majesty, you also shall sit on twelve seats judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”[3] And the seats are founded upon the house of David, because all the royal and juridical power of the saints comes from Christ, who is called the son of David in the Gospel, and who received the throne of David, His father, who will reign forever in the house of Jacob, and of whose kingdom there shall be no end.

[1] And thy house shall be faithful, and thy kingdom for ever before thy face, and thy throne shall be firm for ever. Et fidelis erit domus tua, et regnum tuum usque in aeternum ante faciem tuam, et thronus tuus erit firmus jugiter. [II Reg. vii. 16]

[2] He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the most High; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father; and he shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever. And of his kingdom there shall be no end. hic erit magnus, et Filius Altissimi vocabitur, et dabit illi Dominus Deus sedem David patris ejus : et regnabit in domo Jacob in aeternum, et regni ejus non erit finis. [Luc. i. 32]

[3] And Jesus said to them: Amen, I say to you, that you, who have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit on the seat of his majesty, you also shall sit on twelve seats judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Jesus autem dixit illis : Amen dico vobis, quod vos, qui secuti estis me, in regeneratione cum sederit Filius hominis in sede majestatis suae, sedebitis et vos super sedes duodecim, judicantes duodecim tribus Israel. [Matt. xix. 28]

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.