Psalms 149 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
After the exile, roughly 500 to 400 BC, when Judah was a subject province with no army of its own
Location
Jerusalem, in the gathering of the faithful and, in the closing image, on beds at night as well
Audience
The post exile community in Judah, worshiping as a people still under foreign rule
Situation
A call for a new song, with dancing, tambourine and lyre, moving into a startling picture of the faithful holding high praises of God in their throats and a double edged sword in their hands to carry out judgment on the nations.
Key Background
Dancing with hand drums was traditionally how Israelite women celebrated a military victory, as Miriam did after the sea crossing and as the women did when Saul and David returned from battle, so the instruments themselves already carry the theme of triumph. The two edged sword combined with singing turns a battle scene into a worship scene, and later Jewish and Christian readers generally understood the judgment as God's own work rather than a call for the congregation to take up weapons. Binding foreign kings with chains reverses the community's actual experience, since these were people whose own leaders had been marched off in chains to Babylon within living memory.