His enemies will I clothe with shame - They shall be so confounded that shame shall seem to cover them as a garment. See the notes at Psalm 109:29. That is, David would be triumphant.

But upon himself shall his crown flourish - His crown shall be as a fresh, blooming garland. The Hebrew word used here may mean either to glitter, or to flower, to fiourish or bloom. As applied to a crown, it may mean either that it would sparkle or glitter, as set with precious stones - or (under the idea of a garland) it may mean that it would appear to bloom or blossom. In either case it denotes success, joy, triumph - and is a promise of prosperity to David as a king. This was a part of the promise referred to by the psalmist, and a ground of the plea in the psalm. God had made these precious promises to David and his posterity; and now, in a time of sorrow and disaster, when the glory of the crown seemed about to pass away, the psalmist, in the name of the people, and in language to be used by the people, prays that those ancient promises might be remembered and fulfilled. So, in a time of general religious declension, we may plead the promises, so rich and so abundant, which God has made to his church, as a reason for his gracious interposition, for his coming to revive his work.

His enemies will I clothe with shame - Every opponent of the Christian cause shall be confounded.

But upon himself shall his crown flourish - There shall be no end of the government of Christ's kingdom. From Psalm 132:11-18, the spiritual David and his posterity are the subjects of which the Psalm treats.

His enemies will I clothe with shame, With the garments of shame, as the Targum; very different from the clothing of Zion's priests; all that are incensed against Christ as a King and Saviour shall sooner or later be ashamed; either here, when brought to a sense of their evil, to repentance for it, and faith in him; or hereafter, at the resurrection, when they will rise to shame and everlasting contempt, and when they shall see him come in the clouds of heaven, in power and great glory, to judge the world in righteousness, Isaiah 45:24;

but upon himself shall his crown flourish; being crowned with glory and honour, as he now is at the right hand of God, he reigns, and will reign, till all his enemies become his footstool; his throne is for ever and ever, and his kingdom an everlasting one; and will be very flourishing in the latter day, when his subjects shall be many, and when there shall be an abundance of peace and prosperity, and of that no end; the crown of the Messiah shall flourish on him as a king, shine out and be very conspicuous, as Aben Ezra and Jarchi interpret the word used; and so his crown as a priest; the same word is used of the holy crown of the priests put upon the mitre, on which Holiness to the Lord was inscribed; and the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions, render it, "my holiness"; and, as his own crown is a never-fading one, such an one he will give to his ministers, and all that love him appearing, 1 Peter 5:4.

His enemies will I clothe with shame: but upon himself shall his crown flourish.

132:11-18 The Lord never turns from us when we plead the covenant with his anointed Prophet, Priest, and King. How vast is the love of God to man, that he should speak thus concerning his church! It is his desire to dwell with us; yet how little do we desire to dwell with him! He abode in Zion till the sins of Israel caused him to give them up to the spoilers. Forsake us not, O God, and deliver us not in like manner, sinful though we are. God's people have a special blessing on common enjoyments, and that blessing puts peculiar sweetness into them. Zion's poor have reason to be content with a little of this world, because they have better things prepared for them. God will abundantly bless the nourishment of the new man, and satisfy the poor in spirit with the bread of life. He gives more than we ask, and when he gives salvation, he will give abundant joy. God would bring to nothing every design formed to destroy the house of David, until King Messiah should arise out of it, to sit upon the throne of his Father. In him all the promises centre. His enemies, who will not have him to reign over them, shall at the last day be clothed with shame and confusion for ever.