God breaks weapons in Zion

In Judah the Name is known by broken weapons, not by a standing arsenal

In Judah is God known: his name is great in Israel. In Salem also is his tabernacle, and his dwelling place in Zion. There brake he the arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the battle. Salem is the psalm's name for the holy city; the scene is disarmed aggression at the dwelling place, not a museum of captured glory.

Thou art more glorious and excellent than the mountains of prey. The stouthearted are spoiled, they have slept their sleep: and none of the men of might have found their hands. At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, both the chariot and horse are cast into a dead sleep. Hands that cannot find themselves, and war-horses asleep, are the miracle. Zion is not praised here for winning a longer war.

Judgment from heaven is for the meek, and princes are not exempt

Thou, even thou, art to be feared: and who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry? Thou didst cause judgment to be heard from heaven; the earth feared, and was still, when God arose to judgment, to save all the meek of the earth. The stillness is the world's, and the rescue named is the meek, not a faction's banner.

Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain. Vow, and pay unto the LORD your God: let all that be round about him bring presents unto him that ought to be feared. He shall cut off the spirit of princes: he is terrible to the kings of the earth. Fear and vowed gifts answer a God who stops battle. The psalm cannot be turned into a modern territorial mandate, a blessing on sacralized warfare, or a claim that today's princes inherit Zion's exemption.