Text -- Psalms 89:1-19 (NET)

Psalm 89

89:1 A well-written song by Ethan the Ezrachite. I will sing continually about the Lord’s faithful deeds; to future generations I will proclaim your faithfulness. 89:2 For I say, “Loyal love is permanently established; in the skies you set up your faithfulness.” 89:3 The Lord said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one; I have made a promise on oath to David, my servant: 89:4 ‘I will give you an eternal dynasty and establish your throne throughout future generations.’” (Selah) 89:5 O Lord, the heavens praise your amazing deeds, as well as your faithfulness in the angelic assembly. 89:6 For who in the skies can compare to the Lord? Who is like the Lord among the heavenly beings, 89:7 a God who is honored in the great angelic assembly, and more awesome than all who surround him? 89:8 O Lord, sovereign God! Who is strong like you, O Lord? Your faithfulness surrounds you. 89:9 You rule over the proud sea. When its waves surge, you calm them. 89:10 You crushed the Proud One and killed it; with your strong arm you scattered your enemies. 89:11 The heavens belong to you, as does the earth. You made the world and all it contains. 89:12 You created the north and the south. Tabor and Hermon rejoice in your name. 89:13 Your arm is powerful, your hand strong, your right hand victorious. 89:14 Equity and justice are the foundation of your throne. Loyal love and faithfulness characterize your rule. 89:15 How blessed are the people who worship you! O Lord, they experience your favor. 89:16 They rejoice in your name all day long, and are vindicated by your justice. 89:17 For you give them splendor and strength. By your favor we are victorious. 89:18 For our shield belongs to the Lord, our king to the Holy One of Israel. 89:19 Then you spoke through a vision to your faithful followers and said: “I have energized a warrior; I have raised up a young man from the people.

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)

Wesley: Psa 89:1

He prefaces this, lest the following complainers of present miseries should argue ingratitude for former mercies.

Wesley: Psa 89:1

Whatsoever hath befallen us, it proceeded not from thy unfaithfulness.

Wesley: Psa 89:2

As firmly and durably as the heavens themselves.

Wesley: Psa 89:3

With David; whom I have chosen to the kingdom.

Wesley: Psa 89:4

I will perpetuate the kingdom to thy posterity; which was promised upon condition, and was literally accomplished in Christ.

Wesley: Psa 89:5

The inhabitants of heaven.

Wesley: Psa 89:5

Understand, shall be praised; which supplements are usual in scripture.

Wesley: Psa 89:6

The highest angels.

Wesley: Psa 89:7

With a fear of reverence.

Wesley: Psa 89:7

The whole society of angels.

Wesley: Psa 89:7

That encompass his throne.

Wesley: Psa 89:8

Like a girdle encompassing thee. It appears in all thy words and works.

Wesley: Psa 89:10

Egypt.

Wesley: Psa 89:12

The several parts of the land of Canaan, both within Jordan, where mount Tabor is; and without it, where Hermon lies.

Wesley: Psa 89:12

Shall be fruitful and prosperous, and so give their inhabitants cause to rejoice.

Wesley: Psa 89:12

By thy favour.

Wesley: Psa 89:14

Justice in judging.

Wesley: Psa 89:15

Who enjoy the presence of God and his ordinances, to which they are called by the sound of trumpets.

Wesley: Psa 89:15

Under the comfortable influences of thy favour.

Wesley: Psa 89:16

In the knowledge and remembrance of thy name, of thy infinite power and goodness.

Wesley: Psa 89:17

To thee alone belongs the glory of all their valiant achievements.

Wesley: Psa 89:19

Which then was the usual way by which God spake to the prophets.

Wesley: Psa 89:19

To thy holy prophets; the singular number being put for the plural; especially to Samuel and Nathan.

Wesley: Psa 89:19

I have provided help for my people.

Wesley: Psa 89:19

Upon a person of singular courage and wisdom.

JFB: Psa 89:1

Of Ethan--(See on Psa 88:1, title). This Psalm was composed during some season of great national distress, perhaps Absalom's rebellion. It contrasts the promised prosperity and perpetuity of David's throne (with reference to the great promise of 2Sa 7:12-17), with a time when God appeared to have forgotten His covenant. The picture thus drawn may typify the promises and the adversities of Christ's kingdom, and the terms of confiding appeal to God provided appropriate prayers for the divine aid and promised blessing. (Psa. 89:1-52)

JFB: Psa 89:1

Those promised (Isa 55:3; Act 13:34), and--

JFB: Psa 89:1

That is, in fulfilling them.

JFB: Psa 89:2

Expressed, as well as felt, my convictions (2Co 4:13).

JFB: Psa 89:3-4

The object of this faith expressed in God's words (2Sa 7:11-16).

JFB: Psa 89:3-4

Or literally, "to"

JFB: Psa 89:3-4

As the covenant is in the form of a promise.

JFB: Psa 89:6-7

This is worthy of our belief, for His faithfulness (is praised) by the congregation of saints or holy ones; that is, angels (compare Deu 33:2; Dan 8:13).

JFB: Psa 89:6-7

(compare Psa 29:1). So is He to be admired on earth.

JFB: Psa 89:8-14

To illustrate His power and faithfulness examples are cited from history. His control of the sea (the most mighty and unstable object in nature), and of Egypt (Psa 87:4), the first great foe of Israel (subjected to utter helplessness from pride and insolence), are specimens. At the same time, the whole frame of nature founded and sustained by Him, Tabor and Hermon for "east and west," and "north and south," together representing the whole world, declare the same truth as to His attributes.

JFB: Psa 89:12

Praise Thy perfections by their very existence.

JFB: Psa 89:15

His government of righteousness is served by "mercy" and "truth" as ministers (Psa 85:10-13).

JFB: Psa 89:15

Understand and appreciate the spiritual blessings symbolized by the feasts to which the people were called by the trumpet (Lev 25:9, &c.).

JFB: Psa 89:15

Live in His favor (Psa 4:6; Psa 44:3).

JFB: Psa 89:16-17

Or, "by"

JFB: Psa 89:16-17

Thy faithful just rule.

JFB: Psa 89:16-17

Or, "beauty."

JFB: Psa 89:16-17

They shall be adorned as well as protected.

JFB: Psa 89:16-17

Exalt our power (Psa 75:10; Luk 1:69).

JFB: Psa 89:18

(Margin). Thus is introduced the promise to "our shield," "our king," David.|| 15346||1||19||0||@Then==--when the covenant was established, of whose execution the exalted views of God now given furnish assurance.

JFB: Psa 89:18

Or godly saint, object of favor (Psa 4:3). Nathan is meant (2Sa 7:17; 1Ch 17:3-15).

JFB: Psa 89:18

Literally, "given help." David was chosen and then exalted.

Clarke: Psa 89:1

I will sing of the mercies of the Lord - I will celebrate the mercy of God to the house of Jacob; the mercy that has been shown to our fathers from time immemorial

Clarke: Psa 89:1

To all generations - What I say concerning thy mercy and goodness, being inspired by thy Spirit, is not only true, but shall be preserved by the Divine providence for ever.

Clarke: Psa 89:2

Mercy shall be built up for ever - God’ s goodness is the foundation on which his mercy rests; and from that source, and on that foundation, acts of mercy shall flow and be built up for ever and ever

Clarke: Psa 89:2

Thy faithfulness shalt thou establish - What thou hast promised to do to the children of men on earth, thou dost register in heaven, and thy promise shall never fail.

Clarke: Psa 89:3

I have made a covenant with my chosen - I have made a covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and renewed it with Moses and Joshua in reference to the Israelites in general: but I have made one with David in especial relation to himself and posterity, of whom, according to the flesh, the Christ is to come. And this is the covenant with David: -

Clarke: Psa 89:4

Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations - And this covenant had most incontestably Jesus Christ in view. This is the seed, or posterity, that should sit on the throne, and reign for ever and ever. David and his family are long since become extinct; none of his race has sat on the Jewish throne for more than two thousand years: but the Christ has reigned invariably since that time, and will reign till all his enemies are put under his feet; and to this the psalmist says Selah. It will be so, it is so; and it cannot be otherwise; for the Lord hath sworn that he shall have an euerlasting kingdom, as he has an everlasting priesthood.

Clarke: Psa 89:5

The heavens shall praise thy wonders - The works that shall be wrought by this descendant of David shall be so plainly miraculous as shall prove their origin to be Divine: and both saints and angels shall join to celebrate his praises

Clarke: Psa 89:5

Thy faithfulness also - All thy promises shall be fulfilled; and particularly and supereminently those which respect the congregation of the saints - the assemblies of Christian believers.

Clarke: Psa 89:6

For who in the heaven - שחק shachak signifies the ethereal regions, all visible or unbounded space; the universe. Who is like Jesus? given in his human nature none of the sons of the mighty can be compared with him. He atones for the sin of the world, and saves to the uttermost all who come unto God through him

This may also be considered a reproof to idolaters. Is there any among the heavenly hosts like to God? Even the most glorious of them were made by his hands. Can the stars, or the more distant planets, or the moon, or the sun, be likened unto God most high

Clarke: Psa 89:6

Who among the sons of the mighty - Instead of אלים elim , mighty ones, four of Kennicott’ s and De Rossi’ s MSS. have איל eil , strength: - sons of strength, strong persons. Several of the Versions seem to have read אלהים Elohim , God, instead of אלים elim , strong ones. So my old Psalter, following the Vulgate - For wha in the clowdes sal be evened to Lorde; like sal be to God in sons of God! which it paraphrases thus: "Emang al haly men nane may be evened to Ihu Crist: and nane may be like to hym in God’ s sons: for he is God’ s son be kynde, and thai thrugh grace."

Clarke: Psa 89:7

God is greatly to be feared - In all religious assemblies the deepest reverence for God should rest upon the people. Where this does not prevail, there is no true worship. While some come with a proper Scriptural boldness to the throne of grace, there are others who come into the presence of God with a reprehensible, if not sinful, boldness.

Clarke: Psa 89:8

O Lord God of hosts - Thou who hast all armies at thy command, and canst serve thyself by every part of thy creation, whether animate or inanimate

Clarke: Psa 89:8

Who is a strong Lord - See Psa 89:6

Clarke: Psa 89:8

Thy faithfulness round about thee? - Or, more properly, thy faithfulness is round about thee. Thou still keepest thy promises in view. God’ s truth leads him to fulfill his promises: they stand round his throne as the faithful servants of an eastern monarch stand round their master, waiting for the moment of their dismission to perform his will.

Clarke: Psa 89:9

Thou rulest the raging of the sea - Whoever has seen the sea in a storm, when its waves run what is called mountain high, must acknowledge that nothing but omnipotent power could rule its raging

Clarke: Psa 89:9

When the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them - Thou governest both its flux and reflux. Thou art the Author of storms and calms. There may be a reference here to the passage of the Red Sea, and the strong wind that agitated its waves at that time; as the next verse seems to indicate.

Clarke: Psa 89:10

Thou hast broken Rahab - Thou hast destroyed the power of Egypt, having overthrown the king and its people when they endeavored to prevent thy people from regaining their liberty

Clarke: Psa 89:10

As one that is slain - The whole clause in the original is, אתה דכאת כחלל רהב attah dikkitha kechalal Rahab , "Thou, like a hero, hast broken down Egypt."Dr. Kennicott has largely proved that חלל chalal , which we render wounded, slain, etc., means a soldier, warrior, hero; and it is certain that this sense agrees better with it than the other in a great number of places. Mr. Berlin translates, Tu contrivisti ut cadaver Aegyptum ; "Thou hast bruised down Egypt like a dead carcass."The whole strength of Egypt could avail nothing against thee. Thou didst trample them down as easily as if they had all been dead carcasses.

Clarke: Psa 89:11

The heavens are thine - Thou art the Governor of all things, and the Disposer of all events

Clarke: Psa 89:11

The world - The terraqueous globe

Clarke: Psa 89:11

And the fullness - All the generations of men. Thou hast founded them - thou hast made them, and dost sustain them

After this verse, the Editio Princeps of the Hebrew Bible, printed at Soncini, 1488, adds: -

לילה	לך	אף	יום	לך
lailah	lecha	aph	yom	lecha
ושמש	מאור	הכינות	אתה
vashamesh	maor	hachinotha	attah

To thee is the day; also to thee is the night

Thou hast prepared the light and the sun

But these same words are found in Psa 74:16.

Clarke: Psa 89:12

The north and the south - It is generally supposed that by these four terms all the four quarters of the globe are intended. Tabor, a mountain of Galilee, was on the west of Mount Hermon, which was beyond Jordan, to the east of the source of that river.

Clarke: Psa 89:14

Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne - The throne - the government, of God, is founded in righteousness and judgment. He knows what is right; he sees what is right; he does what is right; and his judgments are ever according to righteousness. His decisions are all oracles, no one of them is ever reversed

Clarke: Psa 89:14

Mercy and truth shall go before thy face - These shall be the heralds that shall announce the coming of the Judge. His truth binds him to fulfill all his declarations; and his mercy shall be shown to all those who have fled for refuge to the hope that is set before them in the Gospel. See the notes on Psa 85:10, Psa 85:11.

Clarke: Psa 89:15

Blessed is the people - " O the blessednesses of that people ( אשרי העם ( elp ashrey haam ) that know the joyful sound;"that are spared to hear the sound of the trumpet on the morning of the jubilee, which proclaims deliverance to the captives, and the restoration of all their forfeited estates. "They shall walk vigorously ( יהלכון yehallechun ) in the light of thy countenance"( באור פניך beor paneycha ) - the full persuasion of the approbation of God their Father, Redeemer, and Sanctifier.

Clarke: Psa 89:16

In thy name shall they rejoice - Or, "greatly exult," יגילון yegilun ; "all that day," היום haiyom , the jubilee, referred to above

Clarke: Psa 89:16

And in thy righteousness - In the declaration of thy righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, Rom 3:25, Rom 3:26

Clarke: Psa 89:16

Shall they be exalted - They shall be justified freely from all things, be purified from all unrighteousness, grow in grace, and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ here below, and at last be exalted to his right hand to reign with him for ever. The jubilee was a type of the Gospel, and under that type the psalmist here speaks of the glorious advent of the Lord Jesus, and the great happiness of believers in him. Let it be observed that the letters in the above Hebrew words called paragogic, as nun in יהלכון yehallechun , and יגילון yegilun , always increase and deepen the meaning of the words to which they are attached.

Clarke: Psa 89:17

For thou art the glory of their strength - They are strong in faith, and give glory to thee, because they know that their strength cometh from the Lord of hosts

Clarke: Psa 89:17

And in thy favor our horn shall be exalted - Instead of תרום tarum , "shall be exalted," תרים tarim , "thou shalt exalt,"is the reading of several MSS.: but תרום tarum , "shall be exalted,"is supported by forty-four of Kennicott’ s MSS., and sixty of De Rossi’ s, as well as by several ancient editions, with the Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate, and Arabic Versions. In the enjoyment of the Divine favor they shall grow more wise, more holy, more powerful, and, consequently, more happy.

Clarke: Psa 89:19

Then thou spakest in vision to thy holy one - Instead of חסידך chasidecha , "thy holy one," חסידיך chasideycha , "thy holy ones,"is the reading of sisty-three of Kennicott’ s and seventy-one of De Rossi’ s MSS., and a great number of editions besides

If we take it in the singular, it most probably means Samuel, and refers to the revelation God gave to him relative to his appointment of David to be king in the stead of Saul. If we take it in the plural, it may mean not only Samuel, but also Nathan and Gad

For what God revealed to Samuel relative to David, see 2Sa 7:5, etc.; 1Ch 11:2, 1Ch 11:3; and for what he said to Nathan on the same subject, see 1Ch 17:3, 1Ch 17:7-15. All the Versions have the word in the plural.

Calvin: Psa 89:1

1.I will sing of the mercies of Jehovah for ever It must be borne in mind, as I have just now observed, that the Psalmist opens with the praises of God, and with calling to mind the Divine covenant, to encourage the faithful to strengthen their faith against the formidable assaults of temptation. If when we set about the duty of prayer some despairing thought, at the very outset, presents itself to us, we must forcibly and resolutely break through it, lest our hearts faint and utterly fail. The design of the prophet, therefore, was to fortify the minds of the godly at the very commencement, with stable and substantial supports, that, relying on the Divine promise, which, to outward appearance, had almost fallen to the ground, and repelling all the assaults of temptation with which their faith was severely shaken, they might with confidence hope for the re-establishment of the kingdom, and continue perseveringly to pray for this blessing. From the sad spectacle of begun decay, ⁵²² which Ethan beheld, listening to the dictates of carnal reason, he might have thought that both himself and the rest of God’s believing people were deceived; but he expresses his determination to celebrate the mercies of God which at that time were hidden from his view. And as it was no easy matter for him to apprehend and acknowledge the merciful character of God, of whose severity he had actual experience, he uses the plural number, the Mercies of God, that by reflecting on the abundance and variety of the blessings of Divine grace he might overcome this temptation.

Calvin: Psa 89:2

2.For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever He assigns the reason why he perseveres in singing the Divine praises in the midst of adversities; which is, that he does not despair of the manifestation of God’s loving-kindness towards his people, although at present they were under severe chastisement. Never will a man freely open his mouth to praise God, unless he is fully persuaded that God, even when he is angry with his people, never lays aside his fatherly affection towards them. The words I have said, imply that the truth which the inspired writer propounds was deeply fixed in his heart. ⁵²³ Whatever, as if he had said, has hitherto happened, it has never had the effect of effacing from my heart the undoubted hope of experiencing the Divine favor as to the future, and I will always continue steadfastly to cherish the same feeling. It is to be observed, that it was not without a painful and arduous conflict that he succeeded in embracing by faith the goodness of God, which at that time had entirely vanished out of sight; — this we say is to be particularly noticed, in order that when God at any time withdraws from us all the tokens of his love, we may nevertheless learn to erect in our hearts that everlasting building of mercy, which is here spoken of, — a metaphor, by which is meant that the Divine mercy shall be extended, or shall continue till it reach its end or consummation. In the second clause of the verse something must be supplied. The sense, in short, is, that the Divine promise is no less stable than the settled course of the heavens, which is eternal and exempt from all change. By the word heavens I understand not only the visible skies, but the heavens which are above the whole frame of the world; for the truth of God, in the heavenly glory of his kingdom, is placed above all the elements of the world.

Calvin: Psa 89:3

3.I have made a covenant with my chosen ⁵²⁴ The more effectually to confirm himself and all the godly in the faith of the Divine promise, he introduces God himself as speaking and sanctioning, by his authority, what had been said in the preceding verse. As faith ought to depend on the Divine promise, this manner of speaking, by which God is represented as coming forward and alluring us to himself by his own voice, is more forcible than if the prophet himself had simply stated the fact. And when God in this way anticipates us, we cannot be charged with rashness in coming familiarly to him; even as, on the contrary, without His word we have no ground to presume that he will be gracious to us, or to hope, at the mere suggestion of our own fancy, for what he has not promised. Moreover, the truth of the promise is rendered still more irrefragable, when God declares that he had made a covenant with his servant David, ratified by his own solemn oath. It having been customary in ancient times to engrave leagues and covenants on tables of brass, a metaphor is here used borrowed from this practice. God applies to David two titles of distinction, calling him both his chosen and his servant. Those who would refer the former appellation to Abraham do not sufficiently attend to the style of the Book of Psalms, in which it is quite common for one thing to be repeated twice. David is called the chosen of God, because God of his own good pleasure, and from no other cause, preferred him not only to the posterity of Saul, and many distinguished personages, but even to his own brethren. If, therefore, the cause or origin of this covenant is sought for, we must necessarily fall back upon the Divine election.

The name of servant, which follows immediately after, is not to be understood as implying that David by his services merited any thing at the hand of God. He is called God’s servant in respect of the royal dignity, into which he had not rashly thrust himself, having been invested with the government by God, and having undertaken it in obedience to his lawful call. When, however, we consider what the covenant summarily contains, we conclude that the prophet has not improperly applied it to his own use, and to the use of the whole people; for God did not enter into it with David individually, but had an eye to the whole body of the Church, which would exist from age to age. The sentence, I will establish thy throne for ever, is partly to be understood of Solomon, and the rest of David’s successors; but the prophet well knew that perpetuity or everlasting duration, in the strict and proper sense, could be verified only in Christ. In ordaining one man to be king, God assuredly did not have a respect to one house alone, while he forgot and neglected the people with whom he had before made his covenant in the person of Abraham; but he conferred the sovereign power upon David and his children, that they might rule for the common good of all the rest, until the throne might be truly established by the advent of Christ.

Calvin: Psa 89:5

5.And the heavens shall praise thy wondrous work The prophet, having spoken of God’s covenant, even as faith ought to begin at the word, now descends to a general commendation of his works. It is, however, to be observed, that when he treats of the wonderful power of God, he has no other end in view than to exalt and magnify more highly the holiness of the covenant. He exclaims, that this is the God who has rightful claims to be served and feared, who ought to be believed, and upon whose power the most unhesitating confidence may be reposed. The words wondrous work, in the first clause, I would therefore limit to the power which God displays in preserving and maintaining his Church. The heavens, it is true, are most excellent witnesses and preachers of God’s wonderful power; but from attending to the scope of the passage, it will be still more evident, that the encomiums here pronounced have all a special reference to the end of which I have spoken. Some interpreters judiciously explain the word heavens, of the angels, among whom there is a common joy and congratulation in the salvation of the Church. This interpretation is confirmed from the last clause of the verse, in which it is asserted, that God’s truth will be celebrated in the congregation of the saints There is no doubt, that the same subject is here prosecuted, and that by the word truth, it is intended to signalise the remarkable deliverances by which God had manifested his faithfulness to the promises made to his servants.

Calvin: Psa 89:6

6.For who in the clouds can be compared to Jehovah? The prophet now proceeds to illustrate farther what he had said respecting God’s wonders, and exclaims emphatically, Who in the clouds can be compared to God? The reason why he speaks of the clouds, or heaven, is because, what is not surprising, nothing is to be found upon the earth which can at all approach the glory of God. Although man excels other living creatures, yet we see how contemptible and miserable his condition is, or rather, how full it is of shame and reproach. Whence it follows, that under heaven there is no excellence which can compete with that of God. But when we ascend to heaven, immediately ravished with admiration, we conceive of a multitude of gods, which do away with the true God. The last clause of the verse, in which it is said, that among the sons of the gods there is none like the true and only God, is an explanation of the first. The opinion of some, that by the clouds, or the heavens, is to be understood the sun, moon, and stars, is disproved by the context itself. The amount then is, that even in the heavens, God alone has the entire pre-eminence, having there none as a companion or equal. The appellation the sons of the gods is here given to angels, because they neither have their origin from the earth, nor are clothed with a corruptible body, but are celestial spirits, adorned with a Divine glory. It is not meant that they are a part of the Divine essence or substance, as some fanatics dream; but as God displays his power in them, this title is attributed to them, to distinguish between their nature and ours. In short, although a greater majesty shines forth in the angels than in other creatures, at the contemplation of which we are ravished with admiration, yet come they not near God, so as to obscure and impair his glory by their excellence, or to share with him in the sovereignty of the universe. This is a point worthy of our careful attention; for, although God everywhere declares in his word that the angels are only his servants, and always ready to execute his commands, yet the world, not contented with having only one God, forges for itself a countless number of deities.

Calvin: Psa 89:7

To the same effect is the following verse, in which it is affirmed, that God is very terrible in the assembly of the saints. In these words is censured that devilish superstition, to which almost all men are prone, of exalting angels beyond measure, and without reason. But if the angels themselves tremble, and are afraid before the Divine Majesty, why should they not be regarded as subjects, and kept in their own rank, that God alone may have the sovereignty entirely to himself? Farther, when they are represented as around God, the meaning is, that they surround his royal throne like body-guards, and are always ready to execute his behests. In the subsequent verse the same thing is repeated yet again, Who is a strong God as thou art? and this is done, that at least the fear of the Divine Majesty may teach us to beware of robbing him of the honor which belongs to him. That we may not, however, by too much fear, be prevented from approaching him, some portion of sweetness is intermingled with this description, when it is declared, that his truth is to be seen round about him on all sides; by which we are to understand, that God is always steadfast in his promises, and that whatever changes may happen, he nevertheless continues invariably true, both before and behind, on the right hand and on the left. ⁵²⁸

Calvin: Psa 89:9

9.Thou governest the pride of the sea I have already observed that what the prophet has hitherto spoken generally concerning the power of God, is to be referred to the miracle of the deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt, which he now celebrates in express terms. According to the interpretation of some, God is said to still the impetuous waves of the sea, because he does not suffer it to break forth and overflow the whole world by a deluge. But I would read the 9^th and 10^th verses connectedly, and would understand the prophet as speaking of the Red Sea, which God divided to make a way for the chosen tribes to pass over. The Psalmist adds immediately after, that all the land of Egypt was overthrown as a wounded man By these words he magnifies the grace of God, which was displayed in the deliverance of the Church. He intended, there can be no doubt, to set before his own mind and the minds of others, the paternal love of God, to encourage both himself and others to have recourse to Him for succor, with the greater freedom and alacrity. And in affirming that God had broken in pieces his enemies with his mighty arm, he concludes from the past experience of the Church, that his mode of acting will be always similar, whenever in his infinite wisdom he sees it to be required.

Calvin: Psa 89:11

11.The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine He again repeats, the third time, that the same God who had been the deliverer of the chosen people exercises supreme dominion over the whole world. From the fact that God created all things, he concludes, that it is He who actually presides over, and controls whatever takes place in heaven and in earth. It would be absurd to suppose, that the heavens, having been once created by God, should now revolve by chance, and that things should be thrown into confusion upon the earth either at the will of men, or at random, when it is considered that it belongs to God to maintain and govern whatever he has created; unless, like the heathen, we would imagine that he enjoys himself in beholding all the works of his hand, in this beautiful theater of the heaven and the earth, without giving himself any farther trouble about them. In speaking of the south and the north, and also of the mountains, Tabor and Hermon, the prophet accommodates his language to the unrefined apprehension of the common people: as if he had said, there is no part of the fabric of the world which does not reverence and honor its Creator. I also connect with this the next verse, which affirms, that the arm of God is furnished with power, his hand with strength, and that his right hand is exalted Some resolve the two last clauses of the verse into the form of a prayer, Strengthen thy hand, lift up thy right hand; but this seems too much removed from the mind of the prophet, who, with the simple view of encouraging all the godly, celebrates the inconceivable power of God.

Calvin: Psa 89:14

14.Righteousness and judgement are the place of thy throne These encomiums serve more effectually to confirm the hope of true believers than if the Divine power alone had been presented to our view. Whenever mention is made of God, it behoves us to apply our minds principally to those attributes of his nature which are specially fitted for establishing our faith, that we may not lose ourselves by vainly indulging in subtile speculations, by which foolish men, although they may minister to their own mental recreation, make no advances to the right understanding of what God really is. The prophet, therefore, in allusion to the insignia and pomp of kings, declares that righteousness and judgment are the pillars of the throne on which God sits conspicuous in sovereign state, and that mercy and truth are, as it were, his pursuivants; as if he had said, “The ornaments with which God is invested, instead of being a robe of purple, a diadem, or a scepter, are, that he is the righteous and impartial judge of the world, a merciful father, and a faithful protector of his people.” Earthly kings, from their having nothing in themselves to procure for them authority, and to give them dignity, ⁵³³ are under the necessity of borrowing elsewhere what will invest them therewith; but God having in himself an all-sufficiency, and standing in no need of any other helps, exhibits to us the splendor of his own image in his righteousness, mercy, and truth.

Calvin: Psa 89:15

15.Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound Here the same train of reflection concerning the Church is pursued, not only because unbelievers are blind to the consideration of God’s works, but also because the prophet has no other purpose in view than to inspire the godly with good hope, that they may with confidence rely upon God, and not be discouraged by any adversities from boldly calling upon him. It is declared that those are happy to whom it is given to rejoice in God; for although all men in common are sustained and nourished by his liberality, yet the feeling of his paternal goodness is far from being experienced by all men in such a manner as to enable them, from a certain persuasion that he is favorable to them, to congratulate themselves upon their happy condition. It is, therefore, a singular privilege which he confers upon his chosen ones, to make them taste of his goodness, that thereby they may be encouraged to be glad and rejoice. And, in fact, there is not a more miserable condition than that of unbelievers, when by their brutish insensibility they trample under foot the Divine benefits which they greedily devour; for the more abundantly God pampers them, the fouler is their ingratitude. True happiness then consists in our apprehending the Divine goodness which, filling our hearts with joy, may stir us up to praise and thanksgiving.

The prophet afterwards proves from the effect, that those who with joy and delight acknowledge God to be their father are blessed, because they not only enjoy his benefits, but also, confiding in his favor, pass the whole course of their life in mental peace and tranquillity. This is the import of walking in the light of God’s countenance: it is to repose upon his providence from the certain persuasion that he has a special care about our well-being, and keeps watch and ward effectually to secure it. The expressions rejoicing in his name, and glorying in his righteousness, are to the same purpose. The idea involved in them is, that believers find in God abundant, yea more than abundant, ground to rejoice and glory. The word daily appears to denote steadfast and unwavering perseverance; and thus there is indirectly censured the foolish arrogance of those who, inflated only with wind and presuming on their own strength, lift up their horns on high. Standing as they do upon an insecure foundation, they must at length inevitably fall. Whence it follows, that there is no true magnanimity nor any power which can stand but that which leans upon the grace of God alone; even as we see how Paul (Rom 8:31) nobly boasts, “If God be for us, who can be against us?” and defies all calamities both present and to come.

Calvin: Psa 89:17

17.For thou art the glory of their strength The same sentiment is confirmed when it is declared, that God never leaves his faithful servants destitute of strength. By the appellation the glory of their strength, which is ascribed to him, is meant that they are always so sustained by his present aid as to have just ground to glory in him; or which amounts to the same thing, that his power appears always glorious in aiding and sustaining them. They are, however, at the same time, reminded of the duty of yielding to God all the praise of their being preserved in safety. If this is true as to the present life, it is much more truly applicable to the spiritual life of the soul. Farther, the more highly to magnify this instance of God’s liberality, we are taught, at the same time, that it depends entirely upon his good pleasure, there being no other cause of it. ⁵³⁶ Whence it follows, that they are wholly bound and indebted to Him who is induced by his free bounty alone to continue to extend to them his help.

Calvin: Psa 89:18

18.For to Jehovah is our buckler As the chief protection of the people was in the person of their king, it is here expressly shown, that the maintenance of the welfare of the faithful by his instrumentality is the gift of God. But it is to be noticed, that the prophet’s mind was not so fixed upon this temporal and transitory kingdom as to neglect, at the same time, to consider the end of it, as we shall presently see. He knew that it was only on account of Christ that God made his favor to flow upon the head of the Church, and from thence upon the whole body. And, in the first place, while he calls the king metaphorically a buckler, — a figurative expression frequently employed in Scripture, — he confesses that when the people are defended by his hand and working, it is nevertheless done by the providence of God, and is thus to be traced to a higher source than human agency. The same thing is again repeated in the second clause, in which it is affirmed, that the king was given by God to govern the people; and that, therefore, the defense which comes from the king is a blessing of God. Moreover, we must remember that what is said of this kingdom, which was a shadow of something greater, properly applies to the person of Christ, whom the Father has given to us to be the guardian of our welfare, that we may be maintained and defended by his power.

Calvin: Psa 89:19

19.Then thou spakest in vision to thy meek ones The Psalmist now declares at greater length why he said that the king, set over the chosen people for the preservation of the public good, was given them from heaven; namely, because he was not chosen by the suffrages of men, nor usurped at his own hand the supreme power, nor insinuated himself into it by corrupt arts, but was elected by God to be the instrument of maintaining the public good, and performed the duties of his office under the auspices and conduct of God. The design of the prophet, as we shall shortly see more clearly, is to distinguish this Divinely-appointed king from all other kings. Although what Paul teaches in Rom 13:1, is true, “There is no power but of God;” yet there was a great difference between David and all earthly kings who have acquired sovereign power by worldly means. God had delivered the scepter to his servant David immediately with his own hand, so to speak, and had seated him on the royal throne by his own authority. The particle אז , az, which properly signifies then, is taken also for long since, or in old time. The meaning, therefore, is, that whereas some are born kings, succeeding their fathers by right of inheritance, and some are elevated to the royal dignity by election, while others acquire it for themselves by violence and force of arms, God was the founder of this kingdom, having chosen David to the throne by his own voice. Farther, although he revealed his purpose to Samuel, yet as the plural number is here used, implying, that the same oracle had been delivered to others, we may certainly conclude that it had been communicated to other prophets that they might be able, with one consent, to bear testimony that David was created king by the Divine appointment. And, indeed, as other distinguished and celebrated prophets lived at that time, it is not very probable that a matter of so great importance was concealed from them. But Samuel alone is named in this business, because he was the publisher of the Divine oracle and the minister of the royal anointing. As God in those days spake to his prophets either by dreams or by visions, this last mode of revelation is here mentioned.

There next follows the substance or amount of the Divine oracle, That God had furnished with help the strong or mighty one whom he had chosen to be the supreme head and governor of the kingdom. David is called strong, not because naturally and in himself he excelled in strength, (for, as is well known, he was of small stature, and despised among his brethren, so that even Samuel passed him over with neglects) but because God, after having chosen him, endued him with new strength, and other distinguished qualities suitable for a king; even as in a parallel case, when Christ chose his apostles, he not only honored them with the title, but at the same time bestowed the gifts which were necessary for executing their office. And at the present day he imparts to his ministers the same grace of his Spirit. The strength of David, then, of which mention is here made, was the effect of his election; for God, in creating him king, furnished him at the same time with strength adequate for the preservation of the people. This appears still more distinctly from the second clause, where this invincible strength is traced to its source: I have exalted one chosen from among the people. All the words are emphatic. When God declares that he exalted him, it is to intimate the low and mean condition in which David lived, unknown and obscure, before God stretched out his hand to him. To the same effect is the expression which follows, from among the people. The meaning is, that he was at that time unnoted, and belonged to the lowest class of the people, and gave no indications of superior excellence, being the least esteemed of his father’s children, in whose country cottage he held the humble office of a herdsman. ⁵³⁹ By the word chosen, God calls us back to the consideration of his own free will, as if he forbade us to seek for any other cause of David’s exaltation than his own good pleasure.

Defender: Psa 89:5

Psa 89:5-8 indicates that the setting is in heaven, with "the congregation of saints" assembled around God's throne, eulogizing the Lord and His mighty works. These "saints" are the holy angels, "the sons of the mighty" (Psa 89:6), gathered in "the assembly of the saints" (Psa 89:7) to give praise to God."

Defender: Psa 89:10

This is not a reference to the Jericho woman of Joshua's time but to Satan, the old "dragon" (Isa 51:9). The two names are slightly different in Hebrew spelling, although pronounced and transliterated the same in English. The word used here means "proud" and is translated this way in Job 9:13 and Job 26:12. In fact the name of "Pride" can appropriately be assigned to Satan for he is the very father of pride, presuming to war against his Creator! In a great day to come, he will indeed be "broken in pieces" and consigned forever to the lake of fire."

Defender: Psa 89:11

God is surely worthy of praise and worship. He has created heaven and earth and they belong to Him."

Defender: Psa 89:12

North-south directions could only be meaningful on a spherical planet if there are north and south "poles" on it - either geographic poles (formed by the establishment of an axial rotation) or magnetic poles (formed by the initiating of rotating electrical currents deep in the earth's core) or both. These were evidently created by God on the first day of Creation Week when God established the cycle of day and night (Gen 1:3-4)."

TSK: Psa 89:1

Ethan : 1Ki 4:31; 1Ch 2:6

I will : Psa 86:12, Psa 86:13, Psa 101:1, Psa 106:1, 136:1-26

with : Psa 40:9, Psa 40:10, Psa 71:8, Psa 71:15-19

thy faithfulness : Psa 89:5, Psa 89:8, Psa 89:33, Psa 89:49, Psa 36:5, Psa 92:2; Isa 25:1; Lam 3:23; Mic 7:20; Tit 1:2

all generations : Heb. generation and generation, Psa 89:4, Psa 119:90 *marg.

TSK: Psa 89:2

Mercy : Psa 36:5, Psa 103:17; Neh 1:5, Neh 9:17, Neh 9:31; Luk 1:50; Eph 1:6, Eph 1:7

faithfulness : Psa 89:5, Psa 89:37, Psa 119:89, Psa 146:6; Num 23:19; Mat 24:35; Heb 6:18

TSK: Psa 89:3

made : Psa 89:28, Psa 89:34, Psa 89:39; 2Sa 7:10-16, 2Sa 23:5; 1Ki 8:16; Isa 55:3; Jer 30:9, Jer 33:20, Jer 33:21; Eze 34:23, Eze 34:24; Hos 3:5; Luk 1:32, Luk 1:33

my chosen : Psa 89:19, Psa 78:70; Isa 42:1; Mat 3:17, Mat 12:18-21

sworn : Psa 89:35, Psa 132:11; 2Sa 3:9; Act 2:30; Heb 7:21

TSK: Psa 89:4

Psa 89:1, Psa 89:29, Psa 89:36, Psa 72:17, Psa 132:12; 2Sa 7:12-16, 2Sa 7:29; 1Ki 9:5; 1Ch 17:10-14; 1Ch 22:10; Isa 9:6, Isa 9:7; Zec 12:8; Luk 1:32, Luk 1:33, Luk 20:41-44; Act 13:32-37; Rom 1:3, Rom 1:4, Rom 15:12; Phi 2:9-11; Rev 22:16

TSK: Psa 89:5

heavens : Psa 19:1, Psa 50:6, Psa 97:6; Isa 44:23; Luk 2:10-15; Eph 3:10; 1Pe 1:12; Rev 5:11-14, Rev 7:10-12

in the congregation : Psa 89:7; Deu 33:2; Dan 7:10; 2Th 1:7; Heb 12:22, Heb 12:23; Jud 1:14, Jud 1:15; Rev 19:1-6

TSK: Psa 89:6

For who : Psa 89:8, Psa 40:5, Psa 71:19, Psa 73:25, Psa 86:8, Psa 113:5; Exo 15:11; Jer 10:6

the sons : Psa 29:1 *marg. Psa 52:1

TSK: Psa 89:7

Psa 76:7-11; Lev 10:3; Isa 6:2-7, Isa 66:2; Jer 10:7, Jer 10:10; Mat 10:28; Luk 12:4, Luk 12:5; Act 5:11; Heb 12:28, Heb 12:29; Rev 15:3, Rev 15:4

TSK: Psa 89:8

O Lord : Psa 84:12; Jos 22:22; Isa 28:22

a strong : Psa 89:13, Psa 24:8, Psa 147:5; 1Sa 15:19; Job 9:19; Isa 40:25, Isa 40:26; Jer 32:17; Mat 6:13

like : Psa 89:6, Psa 35:10, Psa 71:19; Deu 32:31; 1Sa 2:2

TSK: Psa 89:9

Psa 29:10, Psa 65:7, Psa 66:5, Psa 66:6, Psa 93:3, Psa 93:4, Psa 107:25-29; Job 38:8-11; Nah 1:4; Mat 8:24-27, Mat 14:32; Mar 4:39, Mar 4:41

TSK: Psa 89:10

Thou hast : Psa. 78:43-72, 105:27-45; Exod. 7:1-15:27

Rahab : or, Egypt

scattered : Psa 59:11, Psa 68:30, Psa 144:6; Isa 24:1

thy strong arm : Heb. the arm of thy strength, Exo 3:19, Exo 3:20; Deu 4:34

TSK: Psa 89:11

Psa 24:1, Psa 24:2, Psa 50:12, Psa 115:16; Gen 1:1, Gen 2:1; 1Ch 29:11; Job 41:11; 1Co 10:26, 1Co 10:28

TSK: Psa 89:12

north : Job 26:7

Tabor : Jos 19:22; Jdg 4:6, Jdg 4:12

Hermon : Psa 133:3; Deu 3:8, Deu 3:9; Jos 12:1

rejoice : Psa 65:12, Psa 65:13; Isa 35:1, Isa 35:2, Isa 49:13, Isa 55:12, Isa 55:13

TSK: Psa 89:13

a mighty arm : Heb. an arm with might, Psa 89:10, Psa 62:11; Dan 4:34, Dan 4:35; Mat 6:13

TSK: Psa 89:14

Justice : Psa 45:6, Psa 45:7, Psa 97:2, Psa 99:4, Psa 145:17; Deu 32:4; Rev 15:3

habitation : or, establishment, Pro 16:12

mercy : Psa 89:2, Psa 85:13; Joh 1:17

TSK: Psa 89:15

know : Psa 90:6, Psa 98:4-6, Psa 100:1; Lev 25:9; Num 10:10, Num 23:21; Isa 52:7, Isa 52:8; Nah 1:15; Luk 2:10-14; Rom 10:15, Rom 10:18

in the light : Psa 4:6, Psa 44:3; Num 6:26; Job 29:3; Pro 16:15; Isa 2:5; Joh 14:21-23; Act 2:28; Rev 21:23

TSK: Psa 89:16

name : Psa 89:12, Psa 29:5, Psa 29:7, Psa 33:21, Psa 44:8; Luk 1:47; Phi 4:4

righteousness : Psa 40:10, Psa 71:15, Psa 71:16; Isa 45:24, Isa 45:25, Isa 46:13; Jer 23:6; Rom 1:17, Rom 3:21-26; 2Co 5:21; Phi 3:9

TSK: Psa 89:17

For thou : Psa 28:7; 1Co 1:30, 1Co 1:31; 2Co 12:9, 2Co 12:10; Phi 4:13

our horn : Psa 89:24, Psa 75:10, Psa 92:10, Psa 112:9, Psa 132:17, Psa 148:14; 1Sa 2:1, 1Sa 2:10

TSK: Psa 89:18

the Lord is : etc. or, our Shield is of the Lord, and our King is of the Holy One of Israel, Psa 47:9, Psa 62:1, Psa 62:2, Psa 62:6, Psa 84:11, Psa 91:1, Psa 91:2; Gen 15:1; Deu 33:27-29

Holy : Psa 71:22; Isa 1:4, Isa 12:6, Isa 29:19, Isa 30:11, Isa 43:3, Isa 43:14

king : Psa 44:4; Isa 33:22

TSK: Psa 89:19

Then : 1Sa 16:1; 2Sa 7:8-17; Luk 1:70; 2Pe 1:21, 2Pe 3:2

to thy holy : Mar 1:24; Rev 3:7

I have laid : 1Sa 16:18; Isa 9:6; Jer 30:21

exalted : Psa 89:3; 1Ki 11:34; Phi 2:6-11; Heb 2:9-17

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)

Barnes: Psa 89:1

I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever - Particularly how the "mercy"was manifested in the promise made to David; the solemn covenant made with him in respect to the perpetuity of his throne. The appointment of David to the throne was an act of mere mercy or favor, since he was not in the royal line, and had no claim to the crown. It will be seen, also, that if it be supposed that the covenant with David, and the promise therein made to him, was intended to include the Messiah as descending from him, there was a still higher reason for celebrating the "mercies"of God, inasmuch as all mercy to our world comes through him.

With my mouth - Not merely in my heart, but with words. The meaning here is that he would make a record which might be used evermore as the language of praise.

Will I make known thy faithfulness - In the fulfillment of these promises. He felt assured that they would be fulfilled. Whatever appearances there might be to the contrary, the psalmist had no doubt that God would prove himself to be faithful and true. See the notes at Isa 55:3, on the expression, "the sure mercies of David."

To all generations - Margin, as in Hebrew, generation and generation. He would make a record which would carry down the remembrance of this faithfulness to all future ages.

Barnes: Psa 89:2

For I have said - The Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate render this, "Thou hast said,"which is more in accordance with what the connection seems to demand; but the Hebrew will not admit of this construction. The true meaning seems to be, that the psalmist had said; that is, he had said in his mind; he had firmly believed; he had so received it as a truth that it might be spoken of as firmly settled, or as an indisputable reality. It was in his mind one of the things whose truthfulness did not admit of a doubt.

Mercy shall be built up for ever - The mercy referred to; the mercy manifested in the promise made to David. The idea is, that the promise would be fully carried out or verified. It would not be like the foundation of a building, which, after being laid, was abandoned; it would be as if the building, for which the foundation was designed, were carried up and completed. It would not be a forsaken, half-finished edifice, but an edifice fully erected.

Thy faithfulness shalt thou establish - In the matter referred to - the promise made to David.

In the very heavens - literally, "The heavens - thou wilt establish thy faithfulness in them."That is the heavens - the heavenly bodies - so regular, so fixed, so enduring, are looked upon as the emblem of stability. The psalmist brings them thus before his mind, and he says that God had, as it were, made his promise a part of the very heavens; he had given to his faithfulness a place among the most secure, and fixed, and settled objects in nature. The sun in its regular rising; the stars in their certain course; the constellations, the same from age to age, were an emblem of the stability and security of the promises of God. Compare Jer 33:20-21.

Barnes: Psa 89:3

I have made a covenant with my chosen - With my chosen one; that is, with David. The original is in the singular number, though by the Septuagint, and the Vulgate, and by Luther, it is rendered in the plural - chosen ones - elect. This is undoubtedly the language of God himself, though it is not expressly ascribed to him. The design is to describe the solemn promise which God had made to David and to his posterity. Compare Psa 78:70-71. See also, on the use of the phrase "made a covenant,"see Psa 50:5, note; Psa 83:5, note.

I have sworn unto David my servant - I have taken a solemn oath in regard to him. The substance of the oath is stated in the next verse. The promise referred to is found in 2Sa 7:11-16.

Barnes: Psa 89:4

Thy seed will I establish for ever - Thy children; thy posterity. The reference is to his successors on the throne. The promise was that there should not fail to be one on his throne; that is, that his dynasty should never become extinct. See 2Sa 7:16 : "And thy house and thy kingdom shall be established forever before thee: thy throne shall be established forever."Compare also 1Ki 2:4. The word rendered "establish"means properly to fit; then, to make firm; to put on a solid basis.

And build up thy throne - It shall be kept up; it shall be like a building that is constantly progressing toward completion. The meaning is, that it would not fail. He would not begin the work, and then abandon it. The dynasty, the kingdom, the throne, would be complete and perpetual.

To all generations - As long as the world should stand. This can have been accomplished only by the Messiah occupying in a spiritual sense the throne of "his father David."Compare Luk 1:32-33.

Barnes: Psa 89:5

And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O Lord - That is, the inhabitants of heaven shall find new occasion for praise in the faithfulness evinced in carrying out the promise to David, and in the marvelous things which will occur under that promise, and in its accomplishment. If we suppose that this promise embraced the Messiah and his reign, then we shall see what new occasions the angels would find for praise - in the incarnation of the Redeemer, and in all that would be accomplished by him.

Thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints - In the assembly of the holy ones; that is, the angels. In their songs of praise, this will be among the things which will fill them with joy. The idea is, that the inhabitants of the heavens - the holy angels - would take a deep interest in the fulfillment of this promise, as it would furnish new manifestations of the character of God. Compare Rev 5:11-14; 1Pe 1:12.

Barnes: Psa 89:6

For who in the heaven ... - literally, In the cloud; that is, in the sky. The idea is that none in the regions above - the upper world - can be compared with God. There is no other god - there is no one among the angels, great and glorious as they are, that can be likened to him.

Who among the sons of the mighty ... - The angels - regarded as mighty. The "sons of the mighty"on earth are spoken of as mighty men - as men of power - as men of exalted rank. So here, the idea is, that none of the angels, though of exalted rank ("principalities,"or "powers,"compare Rom 8:38; Eph 1:21), could be put in comparison with God. See the notes at Isa 40:25.

Barnes: Psa 89:7

God is greatly to be feared - There is that in him which is suited to fill the mind with solemn feelings, and this is a proper state of mind with which to come before him. Nature teaches us that God should be approached with awe; and all the teachings of revelation confirm this. His power is to be feared; his justice is to be feared; his holiness is to be feared; and there is much also in his goodness, his benevolence, his mercy, to fill the mind with solemn emotions.

In the assembly of the saints - The assembly of the holy; the assembly that is convened for his worship. The reference here may be either to worshippers on earth or in heaven. Wherever, and whenever, in this world or in other worlds, creatures are engaged in the worship of God, there should be deep solemnity and reverence. On the word rendered "assembly"here - סוד sôd - a council, or assemblage for counsel, see Psa 25:14, note; Psa 64:2, note; compare Job 15:8. The idea here is founded on what is said in the previous verse, that none can be compared with God.

And to be had in reverence - In fear; in awe.

Of all them that are about him - That approach him; that are in his presence. The conscious presence of God should fill the mind with awe. When we feel that his eye is upon us, when we know that he sees us, how can we trifle and be thoughtless? How can we then be sinful?

Barnes: Psa 89:8

O Lord God of hosts - See the notes at Isa 1:9; Psa 24:10. God, commanding the armies of heaven; leading forth the stars; controlling all forces - all powers.

Who is a strong Lord like unto thee? - The original word here rendered "Lord"is יה Yâhh , or Jah . This is one of the few places where that word occurs, except in the compounding of words. It is an abbreviation of the name Yahweh, and has the same signification. See the notes at Psa 68:4. The meaning is, that there was no one who in respect to power could be compared with Yahweh.

Or to thy faithfulness round about thee? - Rather, "thy faithfulness is round about thee."That is, It attends thee at all times; it is always with thee; it is a part of thy very nature. To all round about thee, thou art faithful; wherever God is - and he is everywhere - there is faithfulness. He never changes; and people and angels may always trust in him. The psalmist then proceeds to illustrate the greatness of his power, and of his faithfulness, in the works of creation. The design of these illustrations, doubtless, is to keep before the mind the idea of the divine faithfulness as shown in the works of nature, and then to apply this to the covenant which had been made with David. The idea is, that he who is so faithful in nature will be the same in grace; that he who had shown such unchangeableness in the works of creation might be expected to show the like in respect to the promises which he had made.

Barnes: Psa 89:9

Thou rulest the raging of the sea - The pride; the anger; the lifting up of the sea. That is, when the sea is raging and boisterous; when it seems as if everything would be swept away before it, thou hast absolute control over it. There is, perhaps, no more impressive exhibition of divine power than the control which God has over the raging waves of the ocean: and yet this was the power which Jesus exercised over the raging sea of Galilee - showing that he had the power of God. Mar 4:39-41.

When the waves thereof arise - In the lifting up of the waves; when they seem to raise themselves up in defiance.

Thou stillest them - At thy pleasure. They rise no higher than thou dost permit; at thy command they settle down into a calm. So in the troubles of life - the storms - the waves of affliction; they rise as high as God permits, and no higher; when he commands they subside, and leave the mind as calm as the smooth sea when not a breath of wind moves over its surface, or makes a ripple on its placid bosom.

Barnes: Psa 89:10

Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces - Margin, "Egypt."See the notes at Psa 87:4. The reference is to the exodus of the Hebrew people, when he destroyed the power of Egypt.

As one that is slain - Slain on the field of battle; as a man pierced through with a sword or spear.

Thou hast scattered thine enemies - At the time referred to, in Egypt; and at other times, when the enemies of God and of his people had been discomfited.

With thy strong arm - Margin, as in Hebrew, the arm of thy strength. That is, by his power - the arm being the symbol of power. See the notes at Psa 77:15. Compare Deu 5:15; Deu 7:8, Deu 7:19, et al.

Barnes: Psa 89:11

The heavens are thine - Are thy work; and, therefore, thy property - the highest conception of property being that which is derived from creation. It is also implied here that as all things belong to God, he has a right to dispose of them as he pleases.

The earth also is thine - The earth itself, as made by thee; all that the earth produces, as having sprung out of that which thou hast made. The entire proprietorship is in thee.

As for the world - In the use of this word, the earth is spoken of as inhabitable, meaning that the earth and all that dwell upon it belong to God.

And the fulness thereof - All that it produces; what constitutes its enireness. That is, the earth itself considered as earth, or as a mass of matter; and all that springs from it; all that constitutes the earth, with all its mountains, seas, rivers, people, animals, minerals, harvests, cities, towns, monuments - the productions of nature, the works of power, and the achievements of art. Compare the notes at Psa 24:1.

Thou hast founded them - They all have their foundation in thee; that is, thou hast caused them all to exist. They have no independent and separate basis on which to rest.

Barnes: Psa 89:12

The north and the south, thou hast created them - All that there is in the north and in the south - in the northern and the southern sky - the constellations and the stars; and all that there is in the earth - in the regions of cold and of heat - far as they extend in either direction. The word rendered "north"here - צפון tsâphôn - means properly that which is hidden or dark, and was applied to the north, because the ancients regarded it as the seat of gloom and darkness. Hom. Od., ix. 25. The south, on the other hand, was regarded by them as illuminated and made bright by the beams of the sun. The word rendered "south"- ימין yâmı̂yn - means literally the right hand, and was applied to the south because the ancient geographers were supposed to face the east, as now they are supposed to face the north. Compare the notes at Job 23:9.

Tabor and Hermon - That is, the west and the east - the former of these mountains being on the western side of Palestine, the other on the eastern, and both of them being objects of beauty and grandeur. The idea is, that God had control of all parts of the universe; that the world in every direction, and in every part, declared his power, and made known his greatness.

Shall rejoice in thy name - Or, do rejoice in thee. That is, They, as it were, exult in thee as their God. They are clothed with beauty, as if full of joy; and they acknowledge that all this comes from thee as the great Creator. Compare Psa 65:8, Psa 65:12; Psa 96:11-12.

Barnes: Psa 89:13

Thou hast a mighty arm - Margin, as in Hebrew,"an arm with might."That is, Thou hast great power - the arm being the instrument by which we accomplish our purposes.

Strong is thy hand - The hand, too, is an instrument by which we execute our plans. Hence, God is so often represented a having delivered his people with a strong hand.

And high is thy right hand - It is by the right hand particularly that we carry out our purposes. We lift it high when we are about to strike with force. All this is expressive of the divine omnipotence.

Barnes: Psa 89:14

justice and judgment are the habitation of the throne - Margin, "establishment."The Hebrew word - מכון mâkôn - means properly a place where one stands; then, a foundation or basis. The idea here is, that the throne of God is founded on justice and right judgment; it is this which supports it; his administration is maintained because it is right. This supposes that there is such a thing as right or justice in itself considered, or in the nature of things, and independently of the will of God; that the divine administration will be conformed to that, and will be firm because it is thus conformed to it. Even omnipotent power could not maintain permanently a throne founded on injustice and wrong. Such an administration would sooner or later make its own destruction sure.

Mercy, and truth shall go before thy face - literally, anticipate thy face; that is, thy goings. Wherever thou dost go, wherever thou dost manifest thyself, there will be mercy and faithfulness. Thy march through the world will be attended with kindness and fidelity. So certain is this, that his coming will, as it were, be anticipated by truth and goodness.

Barnes: Psa 89:15

Blessed is the people - Happy is their condition. See the notes at Psa 1:1.

That know the joyful sound - That hear that sound. DeWette explains this of the call to the festivals and offerings, Lev 23:24; Num 10:10; Psa 27:6. That is, says he, those who honor and worship God. The Hebrew word - תרועה t^e rû‛âh - means a loud noise; a tumult; especially, shouts of joy, or rejoicing, Job 8:21; 1Sa 4:5; the "shout of a king,"that is, the joyful acclamations with which a king is welcomed, Num 23:21; the shout of battle, Jer 4:19; Jer 49:2. Then it means the sound or clangor of trumpets, Lev 25:9; Num 29:1-6. The word is, therefore, especially applicable to the sounding of the trumpets which attended the celebration of the great; festivals among the Hebrews, and there can be little doubt that this is the reference here. The idea is, that they are blessed or happy who are the worshippers of Yahweh, the true God; who are summoned to his service; who are convened to the place of his worship.

They shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance - They shall live in thy favor, and enjoy thy smiles.

Barnes: Psa 89:16

In thy name shall they rejoice - In thee shall they rejoice, or find their happiness. In thy being; thy perfections; thy protection; thy government; thy favor.

All the day - That is, continually. It is their privilege, and it is their duty to rejoice always. Thou art always the same, and the happiness which is found in thy being and attributes at one time may be found at all times; thy promises are ever the same, and thy people may find happiness in them always. There is no reason why the people of God should not be constantly happy; they who have such a God, and such hopes as they are permitted to cherish, should be so. Compare the notes at Phi 3:1; notes at Phi 4:4.

And in thy righteousness - Under thy righteous government; or, in the knowledge of thy righteous character.

Shall they be exalted - See Pro 14:34. The effect of that knowledge shall be to exalt or to elevate them in moral character, in happiness, in the esteem of others, and in true prosperity. Compare 1Ti 4:8.

Barnes: Psa 89:17

For thou art the glory of their strength - The ornament; the beauty; the honor; that is, Their strength derives its beauty and honor, not from anything in themselves, but from the fact that it is derived from thee. The strength thus imparted is an honor or ornament in itself; it is an honor and glory to them that it is imparted to them.

And in thy favor - Or, by thy favor, or good pleasure.

Our horn shall be exalted - The horn is a symbol of power. Compare Psa 22:21, note; Psa 75:4; Dan 7:8, note; Job 16:15, note. The meaning here is, that their power had been derived from God; or that all which contributed to their exaltation and honor in the world, had been derived from him.

Barnes: Psa 89:18

For the Lord is our defense - Margin, "Our shield is of the Lord."The original word rendered "defense,"is shield. Compare Psa 5:12, note; Psa 33:20, note; Psa 59:11, note. The meaning is, that protection was to be found in God alone. The true construction of this verse is, "For to Yahweh (belongs) our shield, and to the Holy One of Israel our king."That is, All that they had, and all that they relied on as a defense, belonged to God, or was of God; in other words, their very protectors were themselves protected by Yahweh. They had no other defense; nothing else on which they could depend.

Barnes: Psa 89:19

Then thou spakest in vision - Or, by a vision. See this word explained in the notes at Isa 1:1. The meaning is, that God had spoken this by means of visions, or by communications made to his people by the prophets. This "vision"was especially made known to Nathan, and through him to David. See 2Sa 7:4-17. The substance of what is here said is found in that passage in Samuel. In 2Sa 7:17, it is expressly called a "vision."

To thy holy one - The vision was addressed particularly to David, but was made through him to the people of Israel. The ancient versions render this in the plural, as referring to the people of Israel. The Hebrew is in the singular number.

I have laid help upon one that is mighty - I have so endowed him that he shall be the protector and defender of my people. He is qualified for the office entrusted to him, and in his hands the interests of the nation will be safe. This was not expressly said in the vision; but this was the substance of what was said. See 2Sa 7:9.

I have exalted one chosen out of the people - One not of exalted rank; one not descended from kings and conquerors; but one that had grown up among the people; one called from the ranks of common life; one chosen from among those engaged in humble occupations. In this way it was the more apparent that the power really came from God. Compare 2Sa 7:8; see also the notes at Psa 78:70-72.

Poole: Psa 89:2

I have said within myself. I have been assured in my own mind.

Mercy shall be built up for ever: as thou hast laid a sure foundation of mercy to David’ s family, by that everlasting covenant which thou hast made and established with it; so I concluded that thou wouldst carry on the same project of mercy towards it; that thou wouldst build it up, and not destroy it.

Thy faithfuless shalt thou establish in the very heavens: so the sense may be this. Thou sittest in the heavens, and there thou didst make this everlasting and unchangeable decree and covenant concerning David and his house, and from thence thou beholdest and orderest all the affairs of this lower world, and therefore, I doubt not, thou wilt so order these matters as to accomplish thine own counsel and word. But thee Hebrew words are by some others, and may very well be, translated thus, with (as the Hebrew prefix beth is oft rendered) the very heavens , i.e. as firmly and durably as the heavens themselves; as with the sun, in the Hebrew text, Psa 72:5 , is by most interpreters rendered, as long as the sun endureth , as our translation hath it. And so this phrase in the last branch of this verse answers to for ever in the former; as it is also in the foregoing verse, and so in Psa 89:4 ; in both which verses for ever in the first clause is explained thus in the latter, to all generations .

Poole: Psa 89:3

With my chosen with David, whom I have chosen to the kingdom.

Poole: Psa 89:4

I will perpetuate the kingdom to thy posterity; which was promised upon condition, and was literally and fully accomplished in Christ, who was of the seed of David.

Poole: Psa 89:5

The heavens i.e. the inhabitants of heaven, the holy angels, as Job 15:15 ; who clearly discern and constantly adore thy mercy and faithfulness, when men upon earth are filled with doubts and perplexities about it.

Thy faithfulness also understand, shall be praised , out of the foregoing clause; which supplements are most usual in Scripture, as hath been already showed by divers instances.

In the congregation of the saints either, first, Of thy saints upon earth in their public assemblies; who always acknowledge and celebrate thy truth, although they cannot always discern the footsteps of it. Or rather, secondly, Of the angels of heaven, of whom he speaks in the foregoing clause; who are oft called saints or holy ones , as Deu 33:2 Job 15:15 Dan 4:13,17 8:13 .

Poole: Psa 89:6

Among the sons of the mighty either, first, among the potentates of the earth; or rather, secondly, among the highest angels; who well may and needs must admire and adore time, because thou art incomparably and infinitely more excellent than they.

Poole: Psa 89:7

God is greatly to be feared with a fear of reverence; for dread and terror have no place in those blessed mansions and holy spirits.

In the assembly of the saints to the whole society of angels, called saints, as Psa 89:5 .

Them that are about him the angels, which are always in his presence, and encompass his throne.

Poole: Psa 89:8

Who is a strong Lord like unto thee? who is equal to thee in power, or, as it follows, in faithfulness?

To thy faithfulness round about thee Heb. and thy faithfulness is round about thee , like a girdle adorning and encompassing thee. It appeareth in all thy paths and actions, in thy words and works.

Poole: Psa 89:9

Giving commands and setting bounds to its waves when they are most impetuous and unruly.

Poole: Psa 89:10

Rahab Egypt, as Psa 87:4 . As one that is slain; thou didst wound them not slightly, but unto death. See Exo 14:15 .

Poole: Psa 89:11

The fulness thereof all the creatures wherewith it is replenished, as Psa 24:1 50:12 .

Thou hast founded them they are all thy creatures, and therefore wholly subject to thy power and pleasure; and therefore all the monarchs and kingdoms of the earth cannot hinder thee from making good thy promise to the house and kingdom of David.

Poole: Psa 89:12

The north and the south the northern and southern parts of the world, yea, even the remotest ends thereof; though not yet known to us, were made and are ruled by thee. Or possibly he may understand the northern and southern empires, and people of the world, who have from time to time annoyed and disturbed the kingdom of David and of Israel, of which this Psalm principally treats, such as Syria, Chaldea, and Assyria; which in Scripture phrase are called the north , in reference to that kingdom; and Egypt, and Ethiopia, and Arabia, which are southward from it. These, saith he, are all thy creatures, and none of them can withstand thee, if thou wilt undertake to deliver thy people. But this I only propose with submission.

Tabor and Hermon two eminent mountains in the land of Canaan; Tabor in the west and within Jordan, Hermon on the east and without Jordan; by which he may understand either, first, The western and eastern parts of the world; and so all the four parts of the world are contained in this verse. But this may seem an uncouth and incongruous description of the east and west, partly because the north and the south here mentioned are not those parts of the land of Canaan, but of the world with respect to it; and therefore the east and west should in reason have been so too; and partly because these places were not so situated in Canaan, for Tabor was not in the west part of Canaan, but rather in the middle space between the sea and Jordan; and Hermon was not so much on the east as on the north, being indeed the northern border of the land without Jordan. Or, secondly, The several parts of the land of Canaan, both within Jordan, where Mount Tabor is; and without it, where Hermon lies. And the mountains may be named rather than the valleys, because when their fertility is expressed, the fertility of the valleys is more strongly supposed.

Shall rejoice i.e. shall be fruitful and prosperous, and so give their inhabitants cause to rejoice. Joy and singing are oft ascribed to mountains and fields, &c., in a poetical strain.

In thy name in or by thy favour, and the fruits thereof.

Poole: Psa 89:13

Thy hand either thy left hand, because thy right hand seems to be opposed to it; or thy right hand, as it is limited and explained in the next clause.

High is or, is or shall be exalted , or lifted up . That strength of thy hand hath been, or shall be, put forth for thy people, as occasion requireth.

Poole: Psa 89:14

Justice and judgment i.e. just judgment, or justice in judging, as Jer 9:24 22:3 . A common figure, called hendiaduo . The habitation ; or, the basis or foundation , as this word is used Ezr 2:68 3:3 Psa 97:2 104:5 ; the groundwork of all his proceedings, and the stability of his throne and government. For God could not be the Judge and Ruler of the world if he did not right, Gen 18:25 : compare Pro 16:12 . The sense and scope of this verse may be this, Though thy present dispensations, in breaking thy covenant with David, and in suffering his posterity and thine own people to be devoured by such as are much more wicked than they, be a great deep and secret, yet I rest satisfied that they are just. In like manner the prophet fortifies himself under the like thoughts, Jer 12:1 .

Shall go before thy face as thy harbingers and companions, wheresoever thou goest. Thou art neither unmerciful nor unfaithful in any of thy dealings.

Poole: Psa 89:15

The psalmist, intending to describe the doleful estate of the royal family and kingdom of Israel, aggravates it by the consideration of their former felicity.

That know the joyful sound i.e. who enjoy the presence of God and his ordinances, and the tokens of his grace and mercy to them, to which they were called and invited by the sound of trumpets, which upon that only reason was very pleasant and grateful to the Israelites. See Num 10:9,10 . So the sign is put for the thing signified, as is manifest, both from the following clause of the verse, and because otherwise the hearing of the outward sound of trumpets could never make them blessed.

Walk in the light of thy countenance they live under the comfortable influences of thy grace and favour; whereof at present we are bereaved.

Poole: Psa 89:16

In thy name in the knowledge and remembrance of thy name, i.e. of thy infinite power and goodness, revealed and imparted to them.

In thy righteousness whereby thou art both inclined and in some sort engaged to hear the prayers of thy people, and to save them from all their enemies.

Poole: Psa 89:17

All that strength in which they do or may glory is not their own, but is a mere vouchsafement of thy grace, and to thee alone belongs the glory of all their valiant achievements.

Our horn shall be exalted i.e. our power and honour, which now lies in the dust, shall be raised and recovered.

Poole: Psa 89:18

This verse gives a reason of the psalmist’ s confidence that their horn would be exalted.

The Holy One of Israel is our King having therefore so potent a Friend, we have no reason to despair of our restitution to our former felicity. Or, as the words may well be, and are by divers, rendered, Of or from the Lord is or was our shield , (to wit, our king, as it is explained in the next branch of the verse, compared with Psa 47:9 ) and of or from the Holy One of Israel , i.e. the Lord, who is oft so called, is or was our king . He gave us our king and royal family at first, and therefore he can easily restore it when he sees it fit.

Poole: Psa 89:19

Then i.e. of old; for this particle is sometimes put indefinitely. Or, then, when thou didst set David in the throne.

In vision which then was the usual way by which God spake to the prophets, Num 12:6 .

To thy holy one: to thy holy prophets; the singular number being put for the plural; especially to Samuel and Nathan; for part of the following message was delivered to the former, and part to the latter. I have laid help ; I have provided help and relief for my people, which I have put into safe hands.

Upon one that is mighty upon a person of singular courage and wisdom, and every way fit for so great a charge.

One chosen out of the people one whom I have picked and chosen out of all the people, as the fittest for the kingly office, one enriched with eminent gifts and graces, &c.

Haydock: Psa 89:1

A prayer for the mercy of God; recounting the shortness and miseries of the days of man.

Haydock: Psa 89:1

God. This characterizes the Jewish legislator [Moses]. (Berthier) (Deuteronomy xxxiii. 1.) (Du Hamel) ---

David composed it in his [Moses'] name, (Menochius) or it bears some analogy with his writings. St. Jerome maintains, that he [Moses] was the author of the nine following psalms, (Calmet) which have no title in Hebrew. (Tirinus) ---

But St. Augustine thinks they would then have formed a part of the pentateuch. (Calmet) ---

The life of man was longer in the days of Moses than seventy or eighty years. (Bellarmine; ver. 10.) ---

Moses cannot be the author of the 94th and 95th psalms. (Worthington) ---

In Psalm xcviii. 6., Samuel is mentioned, and it is not necessary to haver recourse to the prophetic spirit. One of the descendants of Moses, during the captivity, may have been the author, (Calmet) or David may have predicted that event. (Haydock)

Haydock: Psa 89:2

Formed. Hebrew, "brought forth," Job xxxviii. 8. (Calmet) ---

Here Origen improperly concluded the sentence. (St. Jerome, Ep. ad Cypr.) ---

God, is not in Septuagint, Syriac, or ancient Latin psalters. (Calmet) ---

Al signifies both God, and not, and seems to be twice explained in the Vulgate, as Hebrew omits not, ver. 3. (Haydock) ---

The sentence would be very striking, if God were left out, as it is done by Houbigant. The eternity of matter is refuted by this text. (Berthier) (Worthington) ---

God's eternity is contrasted with man's short life. (Calmet) ---

New gods must of course be false. (Menochius) ---

Plato asserted, that "the creator of all must be unbegotten and eternal." (Plut. Conviv. viii.)

Haydock: Psa 89:3

Turn not man away, &c. Suffer him not quite to perish from thee, since thou art pleased to call upon him to be converted to thee. (Challoner) ---

God wills not the death of the sinner. (Worthington) ---

Give him grace not to yield to his base passions. (St. Augustine) ---

Hebrew, "thou humblest man," (Haydock) that he may enter into himself. (Calmet)

Haydock: Psa 89:4

For, &. This thought naturally tends to convert the sinner. ---

Watch. Consisting of three hours, (Berthier) which were of unequal length, according to the seasons. (Calmet) ---

A thousand years seem not so long to God. (Haydock) ---

What them must be the short life of man? See Job vii. 8. (Calmet) ---

None ever lived one thousand years. Yet what would that be, compared with eternity? (Worthington)

Haydock: Psa 89:5

Their years be. Hebrew, "thou strikest, (Calmet) or inundatest them: they are a dream." But our version is accurate. (Berthier)

Haydock: Psa 89:6

Fall. Hebrew, "it is cut down and dries." The heat of the climate caused the flowers to decay ver soon, Isaias xl. 6. Man's youth touches on old age. (Calmet) ---

The present moment is all we can call our own. (Berthier) ---

"A young man may die soon: an old man cannot live long," says an English proverb. (Worthington)

Haydock: Psa 89:8

Life. Literally, "age." Thou clearly discernest all our proceedings. (Haydock) ---

Man is condemned for Adam's sin. The Israelites who were fit for arms, and gave way to murmuring, were sentenced to die in the desert. He may allude to this event. (Berthier) ---

Hebrew may signify also, "our hidden things," or "youth," (Calmet) or "mistakes," (Houbigant) or "negligences." (St. Jerome) ---

From these we should always pray to be delivered, Psalm xxiv. 7. (Haydock) ---

Sin occasions the shortness of life, (Worthington) as man was created to be immortal. (Haydock) ---

Before the deluge, men lived indeed longer. (Menochius)

Haydock: Psa 89:9

As a spider. As frail and weak as a spider's web; and miserable withal, whilst, like a spider, we spend our bowels in weaving webs to catch flies. (Challoner) ---

Meditabuntur is here used in a passive sense. (Tirinus) ---

Hebrew, "we have spent our years like one speaking a word." (St. Jerome) ---

When he has done, the sound is no more: so their memory has perished with a sound, Psalm ix. 8. (Haydock) ---

Hebrew, Chaldean, &c., do not mention the spider: Yet it seems to have been originally in the text, as it is recognized by the Syriac, Septuagint, and the other Greek interpreters, and makes the sense more complete. (Calmet) ---

The transcribers might more easily omit than the Septuagint, &c., could insert this word. (Berthier)

Haydock: Psa 89:10

In them. Years, (Calmet) "in the world." Chaldean, "together." Symmachus, years. This was the usual term of man's life in David's time, (Haydock) and about the captivity, when this was written. Many lived above one hundred years when Moses wrote. (Calmet) ---

Yet this proves nothing, as there are still instances of equal longevity, though it is true, that people in general seldom live above seventy, or eighty, or if they do, their days ar a burden to them. The same might be the case under Moses. He probably alludes to those warriors, who were cut off in the wilderness, few of whom would survive 80. (Berthier) ---

The author of Ecclesiasticus, (xviii. 8.) gives one hundred, for the utmost limits of life. The pagan sages speak in the same style as the psalmist. (Calmet) ---

Strong. Septuagint, "in dominion." But here it means in a vigorous constitution. (Bellarmine) ---

Princes lived no longer than others. Hebrew and Vulgate may be "the prime, or most of them," as even a great part of the time before seventy, as well as after, (Haydock) is usually spent in misery, Genesis xlvii. 9. (Calmet) ---

Mildness. God's mildness corrects us: in as much as he deals kindly with us, in shortening the days of this miserable life; and so weaning our affections from all its transitory enjoyments, and teaching us true wisdom. (Challoner) ---

Hebrew, "we pass quickly and fly away, (St. Jerome) like birds of passage, (Calmet) or "it is cut down soon," (Montanus) "in silence," (Drusius) tacitisque senescimus annis. (Haydock) ---

St. Jerome wonders, that the Septuagint should have translated as they have done: But they are followed by Theodotion, and the Sext. edition, who may have had different copies, equally good. (Berthier) ---

Corrected ( corripiemur ) or "hurried away," Genebrard. ---

But this is not the sense of the Septuagint. (Amama) ---

"We grow tired." (Houbigant) ---

It is a mercy of God to shorten men's lives, (Menochius) as many would sin more, if they had a probability of continuing upon earth. (Worthington)

Haydock: Psa 89:11

Anger? God must punish actual sin severely, since he thus condemns mankind on account of original sin. (Worthington)

Haydock: Psa 89:12

Thy right hand. Your Messias, to liberate and instruct us. (St. Augustine) ---

"Make us know how to number our days thus, and we shall come to thee with a wise heart." (St. Jerome) (Ecclesiasticus vii. 40.) (Haydock) ---

Septuagint have read iminoc for yamenu, "our days." (Amama) ---

Make us truly wise, (Sa) or acquainted with teachers of truth. (Bellarmine) (Menochius)

Haydock: Psa 89:14

We are. Hebrew, "Fill us." (Montanus) ---

But the psalmist feels interiorly, that his petition has been granted. (Berthier) ---

The prospect of a glorious immortality fills us with hope in proportion to our sufferings for the truth. (Worthington)

Haydock: Psa 89:17

Yea, the work. Each in particular. Roman Septuagint, &c., omit this sentence, which Houbigant improperly deems useless. (Berthier) ---

Charity must direct all. (St. Augustine) (Worthington)

Gill: Psa 89:1

I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever,.... Both temporal and spiritual, especially the latter, in which there is a large display of the rich and abundant mercy of God, from whence they are so called; as in the choice of men to everlasting life, who are said to be vessels of mercy; in the covenant of grace made with them, the blessings of which are the sure mercies of David; in the mission of Christ, whose coming, as the dayspring from on high, is owing to the tender mercy of our God; in redemption by him, in which mercy and truth have met together; in regeneration, which is according to abundant mercy; in the forgiveness of sins, which is according to the multitude of his tender mercies; and in the whole of salvation, which is not by works of righteousness, but by the mercy of God through Christ: the word may be rendered "graces, kindnesses, goodnesses" ^l, and designs the abundance of grace; as in the heart of God, in the covenant, in the hands of Christ, as displayed through him, and in the several parts of salvation, and the whole of it: and these are a proper subject for a song; and a truly gracious soul, sensible of these things, thankful for them, cheerful on account of them, and seeing his interest in them, cannot but "sing" of them; and will determine to do it "for ever", every day, and all the day long, as long as he lives, and while he has any being, and which he will do to all eternity:

with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations; God is faithful to himself, to all the perfections of his nature, to his truth, holiness, and justice, he cannot deny himself; he is so to his Son, and to all engagements with him, and promises to him; to all his counsels, purposes, and decrees; all which are faithfulness and truth, or faithfully and truly performed; and to his covenant and promises made to his people in Christ, in whom they are all yea and amen: and that this glorious perfection of God might be made known to the saints in all successive generations, and be taken notice of by them, the psalmist spoke and sung this psalm with his mouth, and penned it with his hand; in which there is more mention made of the faithfulness of God than perhaps in any other passage of Scripture besides; see Psa 89:2.

Gill: Psa 89:2

For I have said,.... That is, in his heart he had said, he had thought of it, was assured of it, strongly concluded it, from the Spirit and word of God; he believed it, and therefore he spoke it; having it from the Lord, it was all one as if he had spoke it:

Gill: Psa 89:3

I have made a covenant with my chosen,.... Not with Abraham, as the Targum expresses it: but with David, as in the following clause; not David, literally understood, though he was chosen of the Lord to be his servant, and a covenant was made with him, and a promise made to him of the perpetuity of his throne and kingdom in his family, Psa 78:70 but mystical David, the Messiah, David's son and antitype; after, on this account, called David in Scripture, Eze 34:23 and who is the Lord's "chosen" One, foreordained to be the Redeemer of lost sinners, chosen to be the Mediator between God and them, to be the head of the church, and Saviour of the body; and his human nature was chosen to the grace of union to the Son of God, Psa 89:19, hence he is called God's elect, Isa 43:1 and with him the covenant of grace was made from all eternity, and all the blessings and promises of it were put into his hands; he is the Mediator, surety, and messenger of it, and by his blood it is ratified and confirmed: the Septuagint render it, in the plural number, "with mine elect ones"; and it is a truth, that the covenant of grace is made with all the elect, considered in Christ, and is made with them as such, and not as believers, converted persons, &c. election is the foundation of the covenant, and the source of all covenant blessings:

I have sworn unto David my servant: to the Messiah, called David, as before observed, and who is the Lord's servant, as man and Mediator, of his choosing, calling, sending, and supporting, Isa 42:1, to whom he swore, and he will not repent; and which oath of his, joined to his covenant and promise, makes for the strong consolation of the heirs of promise; see Psa 89:35, the sum and substance of which covenant and oath follow.

Gill: Psa 89:4

Thy seed will I establish for ever,.... Meaning not the natural seed of David, at least not only them; whose family was indeed preserved, though in very low circumstances, until the Messiah came, who sprung from thence, Luk 1:27, but the spiritual seed of Christ, to whom it was promised that he should have a seed, and should see and enjoy it, and which should endure for ever; see Psa 89:29, and so he always has had a seed to serve him in all generations, in the worst of times, and will; and who are established in him, and will be kept and preserved by him, and whom he will present to his Father, saying, "Lo, I and the children whom thou hast given me", Heb 2:13.

and build up thy throne to all generations; and this shows that the passage is not to be understood literally of David, and of his temporal throne and kingdom, which did not last many generations; but of the spiritual throne and kingdom of the Messiah, who sprung from him, called the throne of his father David, whose throne is for ever and ever, and whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, Luk 1:32, Psa 45:6, his throne is in the heavens, where he will reign until all enemies are put under his feet; and it is also in the midst of his church, and in the hearts of his people, where he reigns as King of saints; and he is on the same throne with his Father; it is the same with his, as to glory, power, and authority; on this he will sit, and judge the world at the last day; and on it he will reign with his people a thousand years, in the New Jerusalem state, and after that to all eternity, Rev 3:21.

Selah. See Gill on Psa 3:2.

Gill: Psa 89:5

And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O Lord,.... Which, by a prosopopceia, may be understood of the heavens literally, in the same sense as other inanimate creatures praise the Lord, Psa 148:3, or mystically of the church, consisting of heaven born souls, and whose doctrines and ordinances are from heaven; or of the apostles, as Jerom, who had their ministry, mission, commission, and gifts, from thence; or rather of the angels, the inhabitants of heaven, who praise the Lord for his wonderful works of nature, providence, and grace, Psa 148:2, particularly they admire and praise the wonderful work of redemption "that wonderful thing of thine" ^m, as the word may be rendered, being in the singular number: the person of the Redeemer is wonderful, and that is his name; his incarnation is a most amazing thing, it is the great mystery of godliness; and the redemption wrought out by him is the wonder of men and angels: when he appeared in the world, the angels of God worshipped him; at his birth, they sung glory to God in the highest; and the mysteries of his grace are what they look into with wonder and praise, Heb 1:6,

thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints; i.e. is praised there; which Aben Ezra and Kimchi interpret of the angels also, who are called saints, Deu 33:2, of which there is a congregation, even an innumerable company, Rev 19:6, these not only admire and praise the wonderful works of the Lord, but his perfections also; and particularly his faithfulness in the execution of promises and threatenings, Rev 7:11, but rather holy men are meant, such as are called to be saints, and are gathered together in a Gospel church state, designed by a congregation of them, among and by whom the truth and faithfulness of God, as well as his lovingkindness and mercy, are spoken of with the highest commendation, Psa 40:9.

Gill: Psa 89:6

For who in the heaven can be compared unto the Lord?.... Or "ranked" ⁿ, or put upon a par, with him; none of the angels in heaven; for though they are holy, wise, knowing, powerful, faithful, kind, and merciful creatures, yet not to be compared with the Lord for holiness, wisdom, knowledge, strength, faithfulness, and mercy; see Exo 15:11,

who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord? the Syriac version very wrongly renders it "the sons of angels", seeing angels do not propagate their species, Luk 20:36 to which Kimchi agrees, who makes the "mighty" to be angels, and their sons to be the host of heaven, which are moved and guided by them: the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Ethiopic, and Arabic versions, render it "the sons of God"; and this phrase, indeed, is applicable to the angels, Job 38:7, and so the Targum interprets it of the multitude of the angels; but rather the mighty men of the earth, and their children, are meant; princes, nobles, judges, and civil magistrates of all sorts, men of power and authority in the world; there are none of them to be likened to the Lord, who is King of kings, and Lord of lords; see Psa 82:1.

Gill: Psa 89:7

God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints,.... Which Jarchi and Kimchi understand of angels again, and render it "God is to be feared in the great assembly of them"; for they are a very large number, even an innumerable company, in and by whom the Lord is feared and worshipped, Heb 12:21, but rather an assembly or congregation of holy men are designed: it is the duty of such to assemble together publicly for religious worship; they ought to do it on account of the Lord, who requires it, and encourages it by his presence, he has promised; on the account of themselves, it being for their profit and pleasure; and on the account of others, for their conversion and comfort; and in imitation of the people of God, in all ages; nor should they forsake the assembling of themselves: the word סוד rendered "assembly", signifies "counsel" or "secret"; see Gen 49:6 and so the Targum,

"God is mighty in the secrets of the saints, sitting on a throne of glory;''

in the assembly of the saints, the secrets of God's love are disclosed unto them; the doctrines and mysteries of his grace, called the whole counsel of God, Act 20:27 are there made known; and the ordinances of the Gospel, which also are styled the counsel of God, Luk 7:30, are there administered: now, where all this is done,

God is greatly feared herein; not with a slavish fear, a fear of hell and damnation, such as may be in devils; nor with an hypocritical fear, such as is taught by the precepts of men; but with a filial, godly fear, such as is peculiar to the children of God; with an holy and humble fear, with a fiducial and fearless one; with a reverential affection for the Divine Being, and such as includes all worship of him, internal and external: and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him; which the Targum paraphrases

"and is to be feared above all the angels that stand round about him''

and so Kimchi interprets it; see Rev 5:11, but the same thing, in different words, is meant, as in the preceding clause.

Gill: Psa 89:8

O Lord God of hosts,.... Of all the hosts of heaven, the sun, moon, and stars, and of all the heavenly hosts of angels, of all the armies in heaven, and the inhabitants of the earth:

who is a strong Lord like unto thee? he is Jah, or Jehovah, and he alone is so, and is the most High in all the earth, Psa 83:18 and there is none like him for his great power and strength, by which he has made the heavens and the earth, and upholds them in their being; and by which he has redeemed his people, plucked them out of the hands of sin and Satan, and preserves them safe to his kingdom and glory: see Job 40:9,

or to thy faithfulness round about thee; none so faithful as the Lord, none to be trusted as he, either angels or men; some understand it of the faithful ones that are about him, his trusty servants the angels, who stand round about him ready to do his will; or the glorified saints that are with him, the called, chosen, and faithful; see Psa 103:19 or rather the words are to be read, "and thy faithfulness is round about thee"; and so the Targum,

"and thy truth (or faithfulness) surroundeth thee:''

look all around him, and his faithfulness is everywhere to be seen; to himself, and the perfections of his nature; to his Son, and agreements with him; and to his counsels of old, his purposes and decrees, and to his covenant and promises: he is as it were clothed with faithfulness, and it appears in all the dispensations of his providence and grace.

Gill: Psa 89:9

Thou rulest the raging of the sea,.... The power, pride, and elation of it, when it swells, and foams, and rages, and becomes boisterous, and threatens vessels upon it with utter ruin and destruction; but the Lord, who has it under his dominion and government, restrains it; he has made and can manage it, and he only: his power over it is seen in assigning it its place, and ordering the waters of it to it when first made; in placing the sand for its boundary by a perpetual decree, which it cannot pass; by commanding the stormy wind to lift up its waves, and by making the storm a calm, and the waves thereof still; see Psa 107:25, instances of this were at the universal deluge, and at the Red sea:

when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them; when the sea lifts up its waves, and both lift up their voice, and make a noise, and roar, the Lord hushes them, and makes them still and quiet, as a parent its child when it cries, or a master his scholars, when they are noisy and tumultuous; so Christ rebuked the wind, and checked the raging sea, and made it calm, when the ship in which he was with his disciples was covered with its waves; and as this is mentioned here as an instance of the great power and strength of the Lord of hosts, so that was a proof and evidence of the true and proper divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, Mat 8:24, all this may be understood, in a mystical sense, of the sea of this world, and the wicked inhabitants of it, who are as the troubled sea, and cannot rest, casting up mire and dirt, reproaching and blaspheming God and man; and particularly of tyrannical princes and potentates, who are like the proud waters and raging waves of the sea; but the Lord on high is mightier than they, and can and does restrain their wrath and rage, so that his people have nothing to fear from them; see Psa 124:3.

Gill: Psa 89:10

Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces, as one that is slain,.... Or Egypt, as in Psa 87:4 or the Egyptians, and particularly Pharaoh their king; so the Targum explains it,

"Rahab or the proud one, this is Pharaoh the wicked;''

who and his people were broken to pieces by the plagues that were brought upon them, especially when all their firstborn were slain; and he and his host were broke in pieces at the Red sea, and were seen by the Israelites on the shore, all dead men; and this was done as easily by the Lord, as one slain with the sword, as a dead carcass which has no life, power, and strength to defend itself, may be trampled upon, crushed, bruised, and broken to pieces, by a living man. All this may be an emblem of the Lord's breaking in pieces the proud and insolent one Satan, as Rahab signifies; of his breaking his head, destroying his works, and spoiling his principalities and powers; and indeed of his destruction of every proud and haughty sinner, that says, Pharaoh like, who is the Lord, that I should obey him? and of every vain boaster, and self-righteous person, that trusts in his own righteousness, and will not submit to the righteousness of Christ; and particularly of mystical Egypt, the proud beast of Rome, antichrist, who sits in the temple of God as if he was God, showing himself to be so, blaspheming God, his name, his tabernacle, and his saints; who will be broken to shivers as a potter's vessel, when the vials of God's wrath are poured out, and at and by the coming of Christ:

thou hast scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm; as the Egyptians were in the Red sea, by the waves of it, and cast upon the shore by them; and as the Amorites were by Moses, and the Canaanites by Joshua; which instances may be here referred unto; see Num 10:35 these are further proofs of the power and strength of the Lord, Job 40:9.

Gill: Psa 89:11

The heavens are thine,.... They are made and inhabited by him, they are the work of his hands, and the seat of his majesty, and the throne of his glory; the angels of heaven are his, his creatures and servants; the several heavens are his, the airy, starry, and third heavens; the place and state of the blessed and glorified saints is of his preparing and giving:

the earth also is thine; the whole terraqueous globe, and all that is in it, being made, preserved, and continued by him, and by him given to the sons of men, Psa 116:15,

as for the world, and the fulness thereof: the habitable world, and all that dwell therein, all the children of men, the beasts of the field, and cattle on a thousand hills, and the provisions for them all; which is the goodness of the Lord, the earth is full of; these are all the Lord's; see Psa 24:1,

thou hast founded them; the world, and the inhabitants of it; the earth is founded upon the seas, and the world upon nothing; and the inhabitants are wonderfully preserved and continued by the power and providence of God; see Psa 24:2.

Gill: Psa 89:12

The two extreme parts of the world, the northern and southern poles, whether inhabited or uninhabited, are created by the Lord, to answer some purpose or another; see Job 26:7.

Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name; Tabor was a mountain in the western part of Galilee, in the tribe of Zebulun, Jos 19:12. This mountain, according to Mr. Maundrell ^a, stands by itself in the plain of Esdraelon, about 1200 to 1800 yards within the plain; it has a plain area at top, most fertile and delicious, of an oval figure, extended about six hundred yards in breadth, and twice that in length; this area is enclosed with trees on all parts, except towards the south, in which there are in several places cisterns of good water. It is generally thought to be the mountain Christ was transfigured upon before his disciples; and if so, it might then be said to rejoice in his name, when he appeared in so glorious a form upon it; Moses and Elias talking with him, and a voice from the excellent Glory declaring him his beloved Son; and especially the disciples rejoiced in his name there and then, who could say, It is good for us to be here, Mat 17:1. Hermon was a mountain called by the Sidonians Sirion, and by the Amorites Shenir, Deu 3:8 and was in the east; and so Mr. Maundrell ^b, speaking of Tabor, says, not many miles eastward you see Mount Hermon, at the foot of which is seated Nain, famous for our Lord's raising the widow's son there, Luk 7:11, there was an Hermon near Mount Tabor, thought likely to be here meant; but, be these mountains where and what they may, they were no doubt very high and fruitful ones, clothed with fruitful trees and grass, and covered with flocks; which made the proprietors and all the beholders rejoice in the goodness, wisdom, and power of God: the Targum in the king's Bible gives the four quarters very truly,

"the desert of the north, and the inhabitants of the south, thou hast created; Tabor on the west, and Hermon on the east, praise in thy name.''

Gill: Psa 89:13

Thou hast a mighty arm,.... Christ is the arm of the Lord, and a mighty one he is, and so is the Gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation; here it seems to design the almighty power of God, displayed in the works of creation and providence; see Isa 51:9.

strong is thy hand; thy "left hand", as some, it being distinguished from his right hand, mentioned in the next clause; the Targum adds,

"to redeem thy people;''

the work of redemption was put into the hand of Christ, and it prospered in his hand, and his own arm brought salvation to him; and his hand is strong to keep and preserve his people, where they are put, and where they are safe; and the hand of the Lord is strong to correct and chastise them, and sometimes his hand lies heavy upon them, and presses them sore, when it becomes them to humble themselves under his "mighty hand": and it also strong to punish his and their enemies:

and high is thy right hand; when it is lifted up in a way of judgment against wicked men, and for the defence of his people, then may it be said to be exalted: and it is high enough to reach the highest and most powerful of his adversaries; see Psa 118:16. The Targum adds,

"to build the house of thy sanctuary.''

Some render ^c these two last clauses as a wish or prayer; "let thy hand be strong, and let thy right hand be lifted up".

Gill: Psa 89:14

Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne,.... The seat and throne on which he sits; all the administrations of his kingly power in the government of the world, in the salvation of his people, and in the punishment of his enemies, being according to the strict rules of justice and judgment: or "the preparation of thy throne" ^d; all that the Lord does according to the counsel of his will; and these counsels were of old, and were formed in strict justice and judgment, and were a preparation for his future government in providence and grace: or "the establishment of thy throne" ^e; the throne of an earthly king is established by righteousness; and so the throne of God, and of Christ, is ordered and established with justice and judgment in the exercise of righteousness for evermore, Pro 16:12.

mercy and truth shall go before thy face; be and appear wherever he is; all his ways are mercy and truth, Psa 25:10, "mercy" in pardoning and saving sinners that come unto him by Christ; and "truth" in performing all his purposes and promises; and these make the joyful sound next mentioned.

Gill: Psa 89:15

Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound,.... Of the love, grace, and mercy of God displayed in Christ, of peace and pardon by his blood, of justification by his righteousness, of atonement by his sacrifice, and of complete salvation by his obedience, sufferings, and death; this is the sound of the Gospel, and a joyful one it is to sensible sinners; and is so called in allusion either to a shout made upon a victory gained, and such a sound is the Gospel; it declares victory by Christ over sin, Satan, the world, and death, and every enemy; and that he has made his people more than conquerors over them; or to the jubilee trumpet, which proclaimed liberty and a restoration of inheritances, Lev 25:9 and so the Gospel proclaims liberty to the captives, freedom from the dominion of sin, and condemnation by it, from the tyranny of Satan, and the bondage of the law; and gives an account of the inheritance the saints have in Christ, and through his death, to which they are regenerated, and for which they are made meet by the Spirit of God, and of which he is the seal and earnest: or to the silver trumpets, for the use of the congregation of Israel, and blown at their solemn feasts, and other times, and were all of a piece, Num 10:1, the trumpet of the Gospel gives a certain sound, an even one, a very musical one; there is no jar nor discord in it; is a soul charming alluring sound, and very loud; it has reached, and will reach again, to the ends of the earth, Rom 10:18, it is a blessing to hear it, but it is a greater to "know" it, not merely notionally, but spiritually and experimentally; so as not only to approve of it, and be delighted with it, but so as to distinguish it from all other sounds; and by faith to receive it, and appropriate the things it publishes to a man's own soul; and such must be "blessed", or happy persons, for the reasons following in this verse, and in Psa 89:16,

they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance: enjoy the gracious presence of God, have the manifestation of himself, the discoveries of his love, communion with him through Christ, and the comforts of the Holy Spirit, and these continued; so that they shall walk in the sunshine of these things, though not always; for sometimes they walk in darkness, and see no light; but it is an unspeakable mercy and blessing to walk herein at any time, for ever so short a season, see Psa 4:6.

Gill: Psa 89:16

In thy name shall they rejoice all the day,.... That know the joyful sound, and walk in the light of God's countenance, as they have reason to do; these will "rejoice" in the Lord himself, for his "name" is himself; in the perfections of his nature, as displayed in redemption and salvation by Christ; in him as the God of all grace, as their covenant God and Father in Christ, and the God of their salvation; and they will rejoice in Christ, in his name, in which is salvation, and therefore precious; in his person, blood, righteousness, sacrifice, and fitness; and that "all the day" long, continually; there is always reason, ground, and matter for rejoicing in Christ, though it is sometimes interrupted by sin, temptation, and desertion; see Phi 4:4.

and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted; from a low estate of sin and misery to an high estate of grace and glory; from a state of condemnation and death to a state of justification of life; from being beggars on the dunghill, to sit among princes, and to inherit the throne of glory; such as are clothed with the righteousness of the Son of God are exalted to great honour, as to be admitted into the presence of the King of kings in raiment of needlework, to stand at his right hand in gold of Ophir, and to live and reign with him for evermore in his kingdom and glory.

Gill: Psa 89:17

For thou art the glory of their strength,.... By which they walk, and do all they do, exercise every grace, and discharge their duty; they have their strength from Christ, as well as their righteousness, without whom they can do nothing, but all things through him strengthening them; and as his righteousness exalts them, his strength adorns and glorifies them; how glorious and beautiful does a believer look, that is strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might, in the grace that is in Christ, and in the exercise of faith on him, giving glory to God; on whom the power of Christ rests, and it overshadows, and in whose weakness his strength is made perfect!

and in thy favour our horn shall be exalted; either Christ, the Horn of their salvation, who in an acceptable time, in the time of God's favour, or good will, was heard and helped by him as man, carried through his sufferings and death, was raised from the dead, and exalted at his right hand; see Psa 89:24 or the saints themselves, their power and strength, kingdom and glory; by the special favour of God in Christ, their mountain is made so strong, and they so highly exalted, as that they think they shall never be moved; and in the latter day the mountain of the Lord's house shall be exalted above the hills, Psa 30:6.

Gill: Psa 89:18

For the Lord is our defence,.... From all their enemies, being all around them, as a wall of fire to protect them, and as the mountains were round about Jerusalem, and being kept by his power as in a fortress, strong hold, or garrison, unto salvation; or our shield ^f; see Psa 84:9 as are his favour, righteousness, and salvation, Psa 5:12 or "to the Lord belongs our defence or shield" ^g our protection and salvation is from him:

and the Holy One of Israel is our King; he who was to be, and is of Israel according to the flesh, and is holy in his nature, life, and office; he is King of saints, that rules over them, protects and defends them, and therefore they must be happy: or "to" or "with the Holy One of Israel is our king" ^h; Christ is King of Zion by designation, appointment, and constitution, of God the Holy One of Israel, the holy God that has chosen Israel for his peculiar people; though it rather seems that Christ is the Holy One by what follows.

Gill: Psa 89:19

Then thou spakest in vision to thy Holy One,.... Samuel the prophet, that holy man of God, to whom the Lord spoke in vision, or by a spirit of prophecy, concerning David, the choice and exaltation of him to the kingdom, and his unction for it, 1Sa 16:1. The Vulgate Latin version reads it "to thy Holy Ones": and so the Targum, with which agree the Septuagint and Arabic versions, which render it "thy sons"; and the Syriac version "his righteous ones", and so takes in Nathan also, to whom the Lord spake in a vision, by night, concerning the settlement and perpetuity of the kingdom in David's family, 2Sa 7:4, &c. Aben Ezra interprets it of the singers, Heman, Ethan, and others; and Jarchi of Gad and Nathan: but the whole is rather to be understood of David's son, the Messiah; and it may be rendered "concerning thy Holy One" ⁱ as he is called, Psa 16:10, concerning whom in vision, that is, in prophecy, see Isa 1:1. The Lord said, by the mouth of his holy prophets, from the beginning of the world, the following things:

and saidst, I have laid help upon one that is mighty; this "mighty" One is the Messiah, the mighty God, the mighty Man, the mighty Mediator and Redeemer; who was mighty to save to the uttermost, and was every way fit for and equal to the work of a Redeemer; for which reason the Lord "laid help" upon him, not for himself; for this is not to be understood of help promised or given him as man and Mediator: this is after spoken of, Psa 89:21, but for others; and so the Targum adds, "for my people": laying it on him is no other than ordering or enjoining him, to which he agreed, to help his people out of that miserable condition they were fallen into, through Adam's transgression, and their own sins, out of which they could not help themselves: the work assigned to Christ, and devolved on him in council and covenant, was to help them out of this estate by price and power; and to help them on in their way to heaven, through all difficulties, trials, and temptations; and to help them to heaven itself, and introduce them there: and being thus laid upon him, according to his Father's will and purpose, and with his own consent, it was found in him, and exercised by him, Hos 13:9.

I have exalted one chosen out of the people; the same as before, the Messiah, God's elect, his chosen One, Isa 42:1 "chosen" to be the head of the church, to be the Mediator between God and man, and to be the Saviour and Redeemer of lost sinners; to be the foundation and corner stone in the spiritual building, and to be the Judge of quick and dead: and he was "chosen out of the people"; out of the vast number of the individuals of human nature God determined to create, there was a certain number which he selected for himself, for his own glory, and to be eternally happy with him; and out of these he singled one "individuum" of human nature, to be united to the eternal Word, the second Person in the Trinity; and which may be truly said to be the "chiefest among", or, as the Septuagint version has it, "chosen out of ten thousand", Son 5:10, this the Lord "exalted" to the grace of union to the Son of God, whereby it became higher than angels and men, and to have a more excellent name than either of them, it bearing the name of him to whom it is united, Heb 1:4, and he has exalted him to the offices of Prophet, Priest, and King, for which he is

anointed above his fellows; and he has also, having done his work, highly exalted him at his right hand; angels, principalities, and powers, being subject to him.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Psa 89:1

¹ sn Psalm 89. The psalmist praises God as the sovereign creator of the world. He recalls God’s covenant with David, but then laments that the promises of the covenant remain unrealized. The covenant promised the Davidic king military victories, but the king has now been subjected to humiliating defeat.

² tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. See the note on the phrase “well-written song” in the superscription of Ps 88.

³ tn Or “forever.”

⁴ tn Heb “to a generation and a generation I will make known your faithfulness with my mouth.”

NET Notes: Psa 89:2

¹ tn Heb “built.”

² sn You set up your faithfulness. This may allude to the Lord’s heavenly throne, which symbolizes his just rule and from which the Lord decrees his unconditional promises (see vv. 8, 14).

NET Notes: Psa 89:3

¹ tn The words “the Lord said” are supplied in the translation for clarification. It is clear that the words of vv. 3-4 are spoken by the Lord, in contrast to vv. 1-2, which are spoken by the psalmist.

NET Notes: Psa 89:4

¹ tn Heb “forever I will establish your offspring.”

² tn Heb “and I will build to a generation and a generation your throne.”

NET Notes: Psa 89:5

¹ tn As the following context makes clear, the personified “heavens” here stand by metonymy for the angelic beings that surround God’s heavenly throne.

² tn Heb “in the assembly of the holy ones.” The phrase “holy ones” sometimes refers to God’s people (Ps 34:9) or to their priestly leaders (2 Chr 35:3), but here it refers to God’s heavenly assembly and the angels that surround his throne (see vv. 6-7).

NET Notes: Psa 89:6

¹ tn Heb “sons of gods”; or “sons of God.” Though אֵלִים (’elim) is vocalized as a plural form (“gods”) in the Hebrew text, it is likely that the final mem (ם) is actually enclitic rather than a plural marker. In this case one may read “God.” Some, following a Qumran text and the LXX, also propose the phrase occurred in the original text of Deut 32:8. The phrase בְנֵי אֵלִים (vÿney ’elim, “sons of gods” or “sons of God”) occurs only here and in Ps 29:1. Since the “sons of gods/God” are here associated with “the assembly of the holy ones” and “council of the holy ones,” the heavenly assembly (comprised of so-called “angels” and other supernatural beings) appears to be in view. See Job 5:1; 15:15 and Zech 14:5, where these supernatural beings are referred to as “holy ones.” In Canaanite mythological texts the divine council of the high god El is called “the sons of El.” The OT apparently uses the Canaanite phrase, applying it to the supernatural beings that surround the Lord’s heavenly throne.

NET Notes: Psa 89:7

¹ tn Heb “feared.”

² tn Heb “in the great assembly of the holy ones.”

³ tn Or perhaps “feared by.”

NET Notes: Psa 89:8

¹ tn Traditionally “God of hosts.” The title here pictures the Lord as enthroned in the midst of the angelic hosts of heaven.

NET Notes: Psa 89:9

¹ tn Heb “the majesty of the sea.”

² tn Heb “rise up.”

NET Notes: Psa 89:10

¹ tn Heb “Rahab.” The name “Rahab” means “proud one.” Since it is sometimes used of Egypt (see Ps 87:4; Isa 30:7), the passage may allude to the exodus. However, the name is also used of the sea (or the mythological sea creature) which symbolizes the disruptive forces of the world that seek to replace order with chaos (see Job 9:13; 26:12). Isa 51:9 appears to combine the mythological and historical referents. The association of Rahab with the sea in Ps 89 (see v. 9) suggests that the name carries symbolic force in this context. In this case the passage may allude to creation (see vv. 11-12), when God overcame the great deep and brought order out of chaos.

² tn Heb “like one fatally wounded.”

NET Notes: Psa 89:11

¹ tn Heb “the world and its fullness, you established them.”

NET Notes: Psa 89:12

¹ sn Tabor and Hermon were two of the most prominent mountains in Palestine.

NET Notes: Psa 89:13

¹ sn The Lord’s arm, hand, and right hand all symbolize his activities, especially his exploits in war.

² tn Heb “is lifted up.” The idiom “the right hand is lifted up” refers to victorious military deeds (see Pss 89:42; 118:16).

NET Notes: Psa 89:14

¹ sn The Lord’s throne symbolizes his kingship.

² tn Heb “are in front of your face.” The idiom can mean “confront” (Ps 17:13) or “meet, enter the presence of” (Ps 95:2).

NET Notes: Psa 89:15

¹ tn Heb “who know the shout.” “Shout” here refers to the shouts of the Lord’s worshipers (see Pss 27:6; 33:3; 47:5).

² tn Heb “in the light of your face they walk.” The idiom “light of your face” probably refers to a smile (see Eccl 8:1), which in turn suggests favor and blessing (see Num 6:25; Pss 4:6; 31:16; 44:3; 67:1; 80:3, 7, 19; Dan 9:17).

NET Notes: Psa 89:16

¹ tn Heb “are lifted up.”

NET Notes: Psa 89:17

¹ tn Heb “for the splendor of their strength [is] you.”

² tn Heb “you lift up our horn,” or if one follows the marginal reading (Qere), “our horn is lifted up.” The horn of an ox underlies the metaphor (see Deut 33:17; 1 Kgs 22:11; Ps 92:10). The horn of the wild ox is frequently a metaphor for military strength; the idiom “exalt/lift up the horn” signifies military victory (see 1 Sam 2:10; Pss 75:10; 89:24; 92:10; Lam 2:17).

NET Notes: Psa 89:18

¹ tn The phrase “our shield” refers metaphorically to the Davidic king, who, as God’s vice-regent, was the human protector of the people. Note the parallelism with “our king" here and with “your anointed one” in Ps 84:9.

² sn The basic sense of the word “holy” is “set apart from that which is commonplace, special, unique.” The Lord’s holiness is first and foremost his transcendent sovereignty as the ruler of the world. He is “set apart” from the world over which he rules. At the same time his holiness encompasses his moral authority, which derives from his royal position. As king he has the right to dictate to his subjects how they are to live; indeed his very own character sets the standard for proper behavior. This expression is a common title for the Lord in the book of Isaiah.

NET Notes: Psa 89:19

¹ tn The pronoun “you” refers to the Lord, who is addressed here. The quotation that follows further develops the announcement of vv. 3-4.

² tc Many medieval mss read the singular here, “your faithful follower.” In this case the statement refers directly to Nathan’s oracle to David (see 2 Sam 7:17).

³ tn Heb “I have placed help upon a warrior.”

⁴ tn Or perhaps “a chosen one.”

Geneva Bible: Psa 89:1

"Maschil of Ethan the Ezrahite." I will ^{( a )} sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations.

^{( a )} Though the horrible confusion of things might cause them to despair of God's favour, yet the manifold examples of his mercies cause them to trust in God though to man's judgment they saw no reason to.

Geneva Bible: Psa 89:2

For I have ^{( b )} said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: thy faithfulness shalt thou ^{( c )} establish in the very heavens.

^{( b )} As he who surely believed in heart.

^{( c )} As your invisible heaven is not subject to any alteration and change: so shall the truth of your promise be unchangeable.

Geneva Bible: Psa 89:3

^{( d )} I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant,

^{( d )} The prophet shows what the promise of God was, on which he grounded his faith.

Geneva Bible: Psa 89:5

And the ^{( e )} heavens shall praise thy wonders, O LORD: thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints.

^{( e )} The angels will praise your power and faithfulness in delivering your Church.

Geneva Bible: Psa 89:6

For who in the heaven can be compared unto the LORD? [who] among the ^{( g )} sons of the mighty can be likened unto the LORD?

^{( g )} Meaning, the angels.

Geneva Bible: Psa 89:7

God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the ^{( h )} saints, and to be had in reverence of all [them that are] about him.

^{( h )} If the angels tremble before God's majesty and infinite justice, what earthly creature by oppressing the Church dares to set himself against God?

Geneva Bible: Psa 89:9

^{( i )} Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them.

^{( i )} For as he delivered the Church by the Red sea, and by destroying Rahab, that is, the Egyptians, so will he deliver it, when the dangers are great.

Geneva Bible: Psa 89:12

The north and the south thou hast created them: ^{( k )} Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name.

^{( k )} Tabor is a mountain west from Jerusalem, and Hermon to the East, so the prophet signifies that all parts and places of the world will obey God's power for the deliverance of his Church.

Geneva Bible: Psa 89:14

^{( l )} Justice and judgment [are] the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face.

^{( l )} For by this he judges the world and shows himself to be a merciful father and faithful protector to his.

Geneva Bible: Psa 89:15

Blessed [is] the people that ^{( m )} know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy ^{( n )} countenance.

^{( m )} Feeling in their conscience that God is their father.

^{( n )} They will be preserved by your fatherly providence.

Geneva Bible: Psa 89:17

For thou [art] the ^{( o )} glory of their strength: and in thy favour our horn shall be exalted.

^{( o )} In that they are preserved and continue, they should give the praise and glory to you alone.

Geneva Bible: Psa 89:18

For the LORD [is] our ^{( p )} defence; and the Holy One of Israel [is] our king.

^{( p )} In that our King has power to defend us, it is the gift of God.

Geneva Bible: Psa 89:19

Then thou spakest in vision to ^{( q )} thy holy one, and saidst, I have laid help upon [one that is] ^{( r )} mighty; I have exalted [one] chosen out of the people.

^{( q )} To Samuel and to others, to assure that David was the chosen one.

^{( r )} Whom I have both chosen and given strength to execute his office, as in (Psa 89:21).

Commentary -- Verse Range Notes

TSK Synopsis: Psa 89:1-52

1 The psalmist praises God for his covenant;

5 for his wonderful power;

15 for the care of his church;

19 for his favour to the kingdom of David.

38 Then complaining of contrary events,

46 he expostulates, prays, and blesses God.

Maclaren: Psa 89:14

Continual Sunshine

Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of Thy countenance.'--Psalm 89:15.

THE Psalmist has just been setting forth, in sublime language, the glories of the divine character--God's strength, His universal sway, the justice and judgment which are the foundation of His Throne, the mercy and truth which go as heralds before His face. A heathen singing of any of his gods would have gone on to describe the form and features of the god or goddess who came behind the heralds, but the Psalmist remembers Thou shalt not make unto thyself any… likeness of God.' A sacred reverence checks his song. He veils his face in his mantle while He whom no man can see and live passes by. Then he breaks into rapturous exclamations which are very prosaically and poorly represented by our version. For the text is not a mere statement, as it is made to be by reading' Blessed is the people,' but it is a burst of adoring wonder, and should be read, Oh! the blessedness of the people that know the joyful sound.'

Now, the force of this exclamation is increased if we observe that the word that is rendered joyful sound' is the technical word for the trumpet blast at Jewish feasts. The purpose of these blasts, like those of the heralds at the coronation of a king, was to proclaim the presence of God, the King of Israel, in the festival, as well as to express the gladness of the worshippers. Thus the Psalmist, when he says, Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound,' has no reference, as we ordinarily take him to have, to the preaching of the Gospel, but to the trumpet-blasts that proclaimed the present God and throbbed with the gladness of the waiting worshippers. So that this exclamation is equivalent to Oh! how blessed are the people who are sure that they have God with them!' and who, being sure, bow before Him in loving worship. It is to be further noticed that the subsequent words of the text state the first element which it indicates of that blessedness of a devout life, They shall walk, O Lord! in the light of Thy countenance.'

I. We Deal First With The Meaning Of This Phrase.

Of course, the light of Thy countenance' is a very obvious and natural symbol for favour, complacency, goodwill on the part of Him that is conceived of as looking on any one. We read, for instance, in reference to a much lower subject in the Book of Proverbs, In the light of the king's countenance is life, and his favour is as a cloud of the latter rain.' Again we have, in the Levitical benediction, the phrase accompanied in the parallel clauses by what is really an explanation of it, The Lord cause His face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee.' So that the simple and obvious meaning of the words, the light of Thy countenance,' is the favour and lovingkindness of God manifested in that gracious Face which He turns to His servants. As for the other chief word in the clause, to walk' is the equivalent throughout Scripture for the conduct of the active life and daily conversation of a man, and to walk in the light is simply to have the consciousness of the divine Presence and the experience of the divine lovingkindness and friendship as a road on which we travel our life's journey, or an atmosphere round us in which all our activities are done and in which we ever remain, as a diver in his bell, to keep evil and sin from us.

There is only one more remark in the nature of explanation which I make, and that ,is that the expression here for walking is cast in the original into a form which grammarians call intensive, strengthening the simple idea expressed by the word. We may express its force if we read, They walk continually in the light of Thy countenance.'

Is not that just a definition of the Christian life as an unbroken realisation of the divine Presence, and an unbroken experience of the lovingkindness and favour of God? Is not that religion in its truest, simplest essence, in its purest expression? The people who are sure that they have their King in their midst, and who feel that He is looking down upon them with tender pity, with loving care, with nothing but friendship and sweetness in His heart, these people, says the Psalmist, are blessed. So much, then, for the meaning of the word.

II. Consider The Possibility Of Such A Condition Being Ours.

Can such a thing be? Is it possible for a man to go through life carrying this atmosphere constantly with him? Can the continuity which, as I remarked, is expressed by the original accurately rendered, be kept up through an ordinary life that has all manner of work to do, or are we only to' hear the joyful sound,' now and then, at rare intervals, on set occasions, answering to these ancient feasts? Which of the two is it to be, dear brethren? There is no need whatever why any amount of hard work, or outward occupations of the most secular character, or any amount of distractions, should break for us the continuity of that consciousness and of that experience. We may carry God with us wherever we go, if only we remember that whore we cannot carry Him with us we ought not to go. We may carry Him with us into all the dusty roads of life; we may always walk on the sunny side of the street if we like. We may always bear our own sunshine with us. And although we are bound to he diligent in business, and some of us have had to take a heavy lift of a great deal of hard work, and much of it apparently standing in no sort of relation to our religious life, yet for all that it is possible to bend all to this one direction, and to make everything a means of bringing us nearer to God and fuller of the conacious enjoyment of His presence. And if we have not learned to do that with our daily work, then our daily work is a curse to us. If we have allowed it to become so absorbing or distracting as that it dims and darkens our sense of the divine Presence, then it is time for us to see what is wrong in the method or in the amount of work which is thus darkening our consciences. I know it is hard, I know that an absolute attainment of such an ideal is perhaps beyond us, but I know that we can approach--I was going to say infinitely, but a better word is indefinitely--nearer it than any of us have ever yet done. As the psalm goes on to say in the next clause, it is possible for us to rejoice in His Name all the day.' Ay, even at your tasks, and at your counters, and in your kitchens, and in my study, it is possible for us; and if our hearts are what and where they ought to be, the possibility will be realised. Earthly duty has no necessary effect of veiling the consciousness of God.

Nor is there any reason why our troubles, sorrows, losses, solitude should darken that sunshine. I know .that that is hard, too, perhaps harder than the other is more difficult to have a sense of the sunshine of the divine Presence shining through the clouds of disaster and sorrow than even it is to have it shining through the dust that is raised by traffic and secular occupation. But it is possible. There is nothing in all the sky so grand as clouds smitten by sunshine, and the light is never so glorious as when it is flashed back from them and dyes their piled bosoms with all celestial colours. There is no experience of God's Presence so blessed as that of a man who, in the midst of sorrow, has yet with him the assurance of the Father's friendship and favour and love, and so can say' as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.' This sunshine shines in the foulest corners, and the most thunder laden clouds only flash back its glories in new forms.

There is only one thing that breaks the continuity of that blessedness, and that is our own sin. We carry our own weather with us, whether we will or no, and we can bring winter into the middle of summer by flinging God away from us, and summer into the midst of winter by grappling Him to our hearts. There is only one thing that necessarily breaks our sense of His Presence, and that is that our hearts should turn away from His face. A man can work hard and yet feel that God is with him. A man can be weighed upon by many distresses and yet feel that God is with him and loves him; but a man cannot commit the least tiny sin and love it, and feel at the same time that God is with him. The heart is like a sensitive photographic plate, it registers the variations in the sunshine; and the one hindrance that makes it impossible for God's light to fall upon my soul with the assurance of friendship and the sense of sweetness, is that I should be hugging some evil to my heart. It is not the dusty highway of life nor the dark vales of weeping. and of the shadow of death through which we sometimes have to pass that make it impossible for this sunlight to pour down upon us, but it is our gathering round ourselves of the poisonous mists of sin through which that light cannot pierce; or if it pierce, pierces transformed and robbed of all its beauty.

III. Let Me Note Next The Blessedness Which Draws Out The Psalmist's Rapturous Exclamation.

The same phrase is employed in one of the other psalms, which, I think, bears in its contents the confirmation of the attribution of it to David. When he was fleeing before his rebellious son, at the very lowest ebb of his fortunes, away on the uplands of Moab, a discrowned king, a fugitive in danger of death at every moment, he sang a psalm in which these words occur: There be many that say, Who will show us any good?' Lord, lift up the light of Thy countenance upon us'; and then follows, Thou hast put gladness into my heart more than when their corn and wine abound.' The speech of the many, Who will show us any good?' is contrasted with the prayer of the one, Lord, lift Thou up the light of Thy countenance upon us.' That is blessedness. It is the only thing that makes the heart to be at rest. It is the only thing that makes life truly worth living, the only thing that brings sweetness which has no after taint of bitterness and breeds no fear of its passing away. To have that unsetting sunshine streaming down upon my open heart, and to carry about with me whithersoever I go, like some melody from hidden singers sounding in my ears, the Name and the Love of my Father God--that and that only, brother, is true rest and abiding blessedness. There are many other joys far more turbulent, more poignant, but they all pass. Many of them leave a nauseous taste in the mouth when they are swallowed; all of them leave us the poorer for having had them and having them no more. For one who is not a Christian I do not know that it is,

Better to have loved and lost Than never to have loved at all.'

But for those to whom God's Face is as a Sun, life in all its possibilities is blessed; and there is no blessedness besides. So let us keep near Him, walking in the light,' in our changeful days, as He is in the light' in His essential and unalterable being; and that fight will be to us all which it is taken in Scripture to symbolise--knowledge and joy and purity; and in us, too, there will be no darkness at all.'

But there is one last word that I must say, and that is that a possible terror is intertwined with this blessedness. The next psalm to this says, with a kind of tremulous awe in the Psalmist's voice: Thou hast set our iniquities before Thee, our secret sins in the light of Thy countenance.' In that sense all of us, good and bad, lovers of God and those that are careless about Him, walk all the day long in the light of His face, and He sees and marks all our else hidden evil. It needs something more than any of us can do to make the thought that we do stand in the full glaring of that great searchlight, not turned occasionally but focussed steadily on us individually, a joy and a blessing to us. And what we need is offered us when we read, His countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength, and I fell at His feet as dead. And He laid His hand upon me and said, Fear not! I am He that liveth and was dead; and behold! I am alive for ever more.' If we put our poor trust in the Eternal Light that was manifest in Christ, then we shall walk in the sunshine of His face on earth, and that lamp will burn for us in the darkness of the grave and lead us at last into the ever-blazing centre of the Sun itself.

The Cry Of The Mortal To The Undying

Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us: and establish Thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish Thou it.--Psalm 90:17.

IF any reliance is to be placed upon the superscription of this psalm, it is one of the oldest, as it certainly is of the grandest, pieces of religious poetry in the world. It is said to be A prayer of Moses, the man of God,' and whether that be historically true or no, the tone of the psalm naturally suggests the great lawgiver, whose special task it was to write deep upon the conscience of the Jewish people the thought of the wages of sin as being death.

Hence the sombre magnificence and sad music of the psalm, which contemplates a thousand generations in succession as sliding away into the dreadful past, and sinking as beneath a flood. This thought of the fleeting years, dashed and troubled by many a sin, and by the righteous retribution of God, sent the Psalmist to his knees, and he found the only refuge from it in these prayers. These two petitions of our text, the closing words of the psalm, are the cry forced from a heart that has dared to look Death in the eyes, and has discovered that the world after all is a place of graves.

Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish Thou the work of our hands upon us.' There are two thoughts there--the cry of the mortal for the beauty of the Eternal; and the cry of the worker in a perishable world for the perpetuity of his work. Look at these two thoughts briefly.

I. We Have Here, First, The Yearning And Longing Cry Of The Mortal For The Beauty Of The Eternal.

The word translated beauty' in my text is, like the Greek equivalent in the New Testament, and like the English word grace,' which corresponds to them both susceptible of a double meaning. Grace' means both kindness and loveliness, or, as we might distinguish both graciousness and gracefulness. And that double idea is inherent in the word, as it is inherent in the attribute of God to which it refers. For that twofold meaning of the one word suggests the truth that God's lovingkindness and communicating mercy is His beauty, and that the fairest thing about Him, notwithstanding the splendours that surround His character, and the flashing lights that come from His many-sided glory, is that He loves and pities and gives Himself. God is all fair, but the central and substantial beauty of the divine nature is that it is a stooping nature, which bows to weak and unworthy souls, and on them pours out the full abundance of its manifold gifts. So the beauty of the Lord' means, by no quibble or quirk, but by reason of the essential loveliness of His lovingkindness, both God's loveliness and God's goodness; God's graciousness and God's gracefulness (if I may use such a word).

The prayer of the Psalmist that this beauty may be upon us conceives of it as given to us from above and as coming floating down from heaven, like that white Dove that fell upon Christ's head, fair and meek, gentle and lovely, and resting on our anointed heads, like a diadem and an aureole of glory.

Now that communicating graciousness, with its large gifts and its resulting beauty, is the one thing that we need in view of mortality and sorrow and change and trouble. The psalm speaks about all our years' being passed away in Thy wrath,' about the very inmost recesses of our secret unworthiness being turned inside out, and made to look blacker than ever when the bright sunshine of His face falls upon them. From that thought of God's wrath and omniscience the poet turns, as we must turn, to the other thought of His gentle longsuffering, of His forbearing love, of His infinite pity, of His communicating mercy. As a support in view both of our dreary and yet short years, and our certain mortality, and in the contemplation of the evils within and suffering from without, that harass us all, there is but one thing for us to do--namely, to fling ourselves into the arms of God, and in the spirit of this great petition, to ask that upon us there may fall the dewy benediction of His gentle beauty.

That longing is meant to be kindled in our hearts by all the discipline of life. Life is not worth living unless it does that for us; and there is no value nor meaning either in our joys or in our sorrows, unless both the one and the other send us to Him. Our gladness and our disappointments, our hopes fulfilled and our hopes dissipated and unanswered are but, as it were, the two wings by which, on either side, our spirits are to be lifted to God. The solemn pathos of the earlier portion of this psalm--the funeral march of generations--leads up to the prayerful confidence of these closing petitions, in which the sadness of the minor key in which it began has passed into a brighter strain. The thought of the fleeting years swept away as with a flood, and of the generations that blossom for a day and are mown down and wither when their swift night falls, is saddening and paralysing unless it suggests by contrast the thought of Him who, Himself unmoved, moves the rolling years, and is the dwelling-place of each succeeding generation. Such contemplations are wholesome and religious only when they drive us to the eternal God, that in Him we may find the stable foundation which imparts its own perpetuity to every life built upon it. We have experienced so many things in vain, and we are of the' fools' that, being brayed in a mortar,' are only brayed fools after all, unless life, with its sorrows and its changes, has blown us, as with a hurricane, right into the centre of rest, and unless its sorrows and changes have taught us this as the one aspiration of our souls: Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us,' and then, let what may come, come, let what can pass, pass, we shall have all that we need for life and peace.

And then, note further, that this gracious gentleness and long-suffering, giving mercy of God, when it comes down upon a man, makes him, too, beautiful with a reflected beauty. If the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, it will cover over our foulness and deformity. For whosoever possesses in any real fashion God's great mercy will have his spirit moulded into the likeness of that mercy. We cannot have it without reflecting it, we cannot possess it without being assimilated to it. Therefore, to have the grace of God makes us both gracious and graceful. And the true refining influence for a character is that into it there shall come the gift of that endless pity and patient love, which will transfigure us into some faint likeness of itself, so that we shall walk among men, able, in some poor measure: after the manner of our Master, to say, He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.' He said it in a sense and in a measure which we cannot reach, but the assimilation to and reflection of the divine character is our aim, or ought to be, if we are Christians. Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us,' and' change us into the same image from glory to glory.'

II. We Have Here The Cry Of The Worker In A Fleeting World For The Perpetuity Of His Work.

Establish,' or make firm, the work of our hands upon us, yea the work of our hands establish Thou it.' The thought that everything is passing away so swiftly and inevitably, as the earlier part of the psalm suggests, might lead a man to say, What is the use of my doing anything? I may just as well sit down here, and let things slide, if they are all going to be swallowed up in the black bottomless gulf of forgetfulness.' The contemplation has actually produced two opposite effects. Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die,' is quite as fair an inference from the fact as is Awake to righteousness and sin not,' if the fact itself only be taken into account. There is nothing religious in the clearest conviction of mortality, if it stands alone. It may be the ally of profligate and cynical sensuality quite as easily as it may be the preacher of asceticism. It may make men inactive, from their sense of the insignificant and fleeting nature of all human works, or it may stimulate to intensest effort, from the thought, I must work the works of Him that sent me while it is day. The night cometh.' All depends on whether we link the conviction of mortality with that of eternity, and think of our perishable selves as in relationship with the unchanging God.

This prayer expresses a deep longing, natural to all men, and which yet seems incompatible with the stern facts of mortality and decay. We should all like to have our work exempted from the common lot. What pathetically futile attempts to secure this are pyramids, and rock-inscriptions, and storied tombs, and posthumous memoirs, and rich men's wills! Why should any of us expect that the laws of nature should be suspended for our benefit, and our work made lasting while everything beside changes like the shadows of the clouds? Is there any way by which such exceptional permanence can be secured for our poor deeds? Yes, certainly. Let us commit them to God, praying this prayer, Establish Thou the work of our hands upon us.'

Our work will be established if it is His work. This prayer in our text follows another prayer (Psalm 90:16)--namely, Let Thy work appear unto Thy servants.' That is to say, My work will be perpetual when the work of my hands is God's work done through me. When you bring your wills into harmony with God's will, and so all your effort, even about the little things of daily life, is in consonance with His will, and in the line of His purpose, then your work will stand. If otherwise, it will be like some slow-moving and frail carriage going in the one direction and meeting an express train thundering in the other. When the crash comes, the opposing motion of the weaker will be stopped, reversed, and the frail thing will be smashed to atoms. So, all work which is man's and not God's will sooner or later be reduced to impotence and either annihilated or reversed, and made to run in the opposite direction. But if our work runs parallel with God's, then the rushing impetus of His work will catch up our little deeds into the swiftness of its own motion, and will carry them along with itself, as a railway train will lift straws and bits of paper that are lying by the rails, and give them motion for a while. If my will runs in the line of His, and if the work of my hands is Thy work,' it is not in vain that we shall cry' Establish it upon us,' for it will last as long as He does.

In like manner, all work will be perpetual that is done with' the beauty of the Lord our God' upon the doers of it. Whosoever has that grace in his heart, whosoever is in contact with the communicating mercy of God, and has had his character in some measure refined and ennobled and beautified by possession thereof, will do work that has in it the element of perpetuity.

And our work will stand if we quietly leave it in His hands. Quietly do it to Him, never mind about results, but look after motives. You cannot influence results, let God look after them; you can influence motives. Be sure that they are right, and if they are, the work will be eternal.

Eternal? What do you mean by eternal? how can a man's work be that?' Part of the answer is that it may be made permanent in its issues by being taken up into the great whole of God's working through His servants, which results at last in the establishment of His eternal kingdom. Just as a drop of water that falls upon the moor finds its way into the brook, and goes down the glen and on into the river, and then into the sea, and is there, though undistinguishable, so in the great summing up of everything at the end, the tiniest deed that was done for God, though it was done far away up amongst the mountain solitudes where no eye saw, shall live and be represented, in its effects on others and in its glad issues to the doer.

In the highest fashion the Psalmist's cry for the perpetuity of the fleeting deeds of dying generations will be answered in that region in which his dimmer eye saw little but the sullen flood that swept away youth and strength and wisdom, but in which we can see the solid land beyond the river, and the happy company who rejoice with the joy of harvest, and bear with them the sheaves, whereof the seed was sown on this bank, in tears and fears. Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord. Their works do follow them.' The world passeth away, and the fashion thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.'

MHCC: Psa 89:1-4

Though our expectations may be disappointed, yet God's promises are established in the heavens, in his eternal counsels; they are out of the reach of opposers in hell and earth. And faith in the boundless mercy and everlasting truth of God, may bring comfort even in the deepest trials.

MHCC: Psa 89:5-14

The more God's works are known, the more they are admired. And to praise the Lord, is to acknowledge him to be such a one that there is none like him. Surely then we should feel and express reverence when we worship God. But how little of this appears in our congregations, and how much cause have we to humble ourselves on this account! That almighty power which smote Egypt, will scatter the enemies of the church, while all who trust in God's mercy will rejoice in his name; for mercy and truth direct all he does. His counsels from eternity, and their consequences to eternity, are all justice and judgment.

MHCC: Psa 89:15-18

Happy are those who so know the joyful sound of the gospel as to obey it; who experience its power upon their hearts, and bring forth the fruit of it in their lives. Though believers are nothing in themselves, yet having all in Christ Jesus, they may rejoice in his name. May the Lord enable us to do so. The joy of the Lord is the strength of his people; whereas unbelief dispirits ourselves and discourages others. Though it steals upon us under a semblance of humility, yet it is the very essence of pride. Christ is the Holy One of Israel; and in him was that peculiar people more blessed than in any other blessing.

MHCC: Psa 89:19-37

The Lord anointed David with the holy oil, not only as an emblem of the graces and gifts he received, but as a type of Christ, the King Priest, and Prophet, anointed with the Holy Ghost without measure. David after his anointing, was persecuted, but none could gain advantage against him. Yet all this was a faint shadow of the Redeemer's sufferings, deliverance, glory, and authority, in whom alone these predictions and promises are fully brought to pass. He is the mighty God. This is the Redeemer appointed for us, who alone is able to complete the work of our salvation. Let us seek an interest in these blessings, by the witness of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. As the Lord corrected the posterity of David for their transgressions, so his people shall be corrected for their sins. Yet it is but a rod, not a sword; it is to correct, not to destroy. It is a rod in the hand of God, who is wise, and knows what he does; gracious, and will do what is best. It is a rod which they shall never feel, but when there is need. As the sun and moon remain in heaven, whatever changes there seem to be in them, and again appear in due season; so the covenant of grace made in Christ, whatever alteration seems to come to it, should not be questioned.

Matthew Henry: Psa 89:1-4

The psalmist has a very sad complaint to make of the deplorable condition of the family of David at this time, and yet he begins the psalm with songs of praise; for we must, in every thing, in every state, give thanks; thus we must glorify the Lord in the fire. We think, when we are in trouble, that we get ease by complaining; but we do more - we get joy, by praising. Let our complaints therefore be turned into thanksgivings; and in these verses we find that which will be matter of praise and thanksgiving for us in the worst of times, whether upon a personal or a public account, 1. However it be, the everlasting God is good and true, Psa 89:1. Though we may find it hard to reconcile present dark providences with the goodness and truth of God, yet we must abide by this principle, That God's mercies are inexhaustible and his truth is inviolable; and these must be the matter of our joy and praise: " I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever, sing a praising song to God's honour, a pleasant song for my own solace, and Maschil, an instructive song, for the edification of others."We may be for ever singing God's mercies, and yet the subject will not be drawn dry. We must sing of God's mercies as long as we live, train up others to sing of them when we are gone, and hope to be singing them in heaven world without end; and this is singing of the mercies of the Lord for ever. With my mouth, and with my pen (for by that also do we speak), will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations, assuring posterity, from my own observation and experience, that God is true to every word that he has spoken, that they may learn to put their trust in God, Psa 78:6. 2. However it be, the everlasting covenant is firm and sure, Psa 89:2-4. Here we have, (1.) The psalmist's faith and hope: "Things now look black, and threaten the utter extirpation of the house of David; but I have said, and I have warrant from the word of God to say it, that mercy shall be built up for ever. "As the goodness of God's nature is to be the matter of our song (Psa 89:1), so much more the mercy that is built for us in the covenant; it is still increasing, like a house in the building up, and shall still continue our rest for ever, like a house built up. It shall be built up for ever; for the everlasting habitations we hope for in the new Jerusalem are of this building. If mercy shall be built for ever, then the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down, shall be raised out of its ruins, and built up as in the days of old, Amo 9:11. Therefore mercy shall be built up for ever, because thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens. Though our expectations are in some particular instances disappointed, yet God's promises are not disannulled; they are established in the very heavens (that is, in his eternal counsels); they are above the changes of this lower region and out of the reach of the opposition of hell and earth. The stability of the material heavens is an emblem of the truth of God's word; the heavens may be clouded by vapours arising out of the earth, but they cannot be touched, they cannot be changed. (2.) An abstract of the covenant upon which this faith and hope are built: I have said it, says the psalmist, for God hath sworn it, that the heirs of promise might be entirely satisfied of the immutability of his counsel. He brings in God speaking (Psa 89:3), owning, to the comfort of his people, " I have made a covenant, and therefore will make it good."The covenant is made with David; the covenant of royalty is made with him, as the father of his family, and with his seed through him and for his sake, representing the covenant of grace made with Christ as head of the church and with all believers as his spiritual seed. David is here called God's chosen and his servant; and, as God is not changeable to recede from his own choice, so he is not unrighteous to cast off one that served him. Two things encourage the psalmist to build his faith on this covenant: - [1.] The ratification of it; it was confirmed with an oath: The Lord has sworn, and he will not repent. [2.] The perpetuity of it; the blessings of the covenant were not only secured to David himself, but were entailed on his family; it was promised that his family should continue - Thy seed will I establish for ever, so that David shall not want a son to reign (Jer 33:20, Jer 33:21); and that it should continue a royal family - I will build up thy throne to all generations, to all the generations of time. This has its accomplishment only in Christ, of the seed of David, who lives for ever, to whom God has given the throne of his father David, and of the increase of whose government and peace there shall be no end. Of this covenant the psalmist will return to speak more largely, Psa 89:19, etc.

Matthew Henry: Psa 89:5-14

These verses are full of the praises of God. Observe,

I. Where, and by whom, God is to be praised. 1. God is praised by the angels above: The heavens shall praise thy wonders, O Lord! Psa 89:5; that is, "the glorious inhabitants of the upper world continually celebrate thy praises." Bless the Lord, you his angels, Psa 103:20. The works of God are wonders even to those that are best acquainted and most intimately conversant with them; the more God's works are known the more they are admired and praised. This should make us love heaven, and long to be there, that there we shall have nothing else to do but to praise God and his wonders. 2. God is praised by the assemblies of his saints on earth ( praise waits for him in Zion ); and, though their praises fall so far short of the praises of angels, yet God is pleased to take notice of them, and accept of them, and reckon himself honoured by them. "Thy faithfulness and the truth of thy promise, that rock on which the church is built, shall be praised in the congregation of the saints, who owe their all to that faithfulness, and whose constant comfort it is that there is a promise, and that he is faithful who has promised."It is expected from God's saints on earth that they praise him; who should, if they do not? Let every saint praise him, but especially the congregation of saints; when they come together, let them join in praising God. The more the better; it is the more like heaven. Of the honour done to God by the assembly of the saints he speaks again (Psa 89:7): God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints. Saints should assemble for religious worship, that they may publicly own their relation to God and may stir up one another to give honour to him, and, in keeping up communion with God, may likewise maintain the communion of saints. In religious assemblies God has promised the presence of his grace, but we must also, in them, have an eye to his glorious presence, that the familiarity we are admitted to may not breed the least contempt; for he is terrible in his holy places, and therefore greatly to be feared. A holy awe of God must fall upon us, and fill us, in all our approaches to God, even in secret, to which something may very well be added by the solemnity of public assemblies. God must be had in reverence of all that are about him, that attend him continually as his servants or approach him upon any particular errand. See Lev 10:3. Those only serve God acceptably who serve him with reverence and godly fear, Heb 12:28.

II. What it is to praise God; it is to acknowledge him to be a being of unparalleled perfection, such a one that there is none like him, nor any to be compared with him, Psa 89:6. If there be any beings that can pretend to vie with God, surely they must be found among the angels; but they are all infinitely short of him: Who in the heaven can be compared with the Lord, so as to challenge any share of the reverence and adoration which are due to him only, or to set up in rivalship with him for the homage of the children of men? They are sons of the mighty, but which of them can be likened unto the Lord? Nobles are princes' peers; some parity there is between them. But there is none between God and the angels; they are not his peers. To whom will you liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One, Isa 40:25. This is insisted on again (Psa 89:8): Who is a strong Lord like unto thee? No angel, no earthly potentate, whatsoever, is comparable to God, or has an arm like him, or can thunder with a voice like him. Thy faithfulness is round about thee; that is, "thy angels who are round about thee, attending thee with their praises and ready to go on thy errands, are all faithful."Or, rather, "In every thing thou doest, on all sides, thou approvest thyself faithful to thy word, above whatever prince or potentate was."Among men it is too often found that those who are most able to break their word are least careful to keep it; but God is both strong and faithful; he can do every thing, and yet will never do an unjust thing.

III. What we ought, in our praises, to give God the glory of. Several things are here mentioned. 1. The command God has of the most ungovernable creatures (Psa 89:9): Thou rulest the raging of the sea, than which nothing is more frightful or threatening, nor more out of the power of man to give check to; it can swell no higher, roll no further, beat no harder, continue no longer, nor do any more hurt, than God suffers it. " When the waves thereof arise thou canst immediately hush them asleep, still them, and make them quiet, and turn the storm into a calm."This coming in here as an act of omnipotence, what manner of man then was the Lord Jesus, whom the winds and seas obeyed? 2. The victories God has obtained over the enemies of his church. His ruling the raging of the sea and quelling its billows was an emblem of this (Psa 89:10): Thou hast broken Rahab, many a proud enemy (so it signifies), Egypt in particular, which is sometimes called Rahab, broken it in pieces, as one that is slain and utterly unable to make head again. "The head being broken, thou hast scattered the remainder with the arm of thy strength."God has more ways than one to deal with his and his church's enemies. We think he should slay them immediately, but sometimes he scatters them, that he may send them abroad to be monuments of his justice, Psa 59:11. The remembrance of the breaking of Egypt in pieces is a comfort to the church, in reference to the present power of Babylon; for God is still the same. 3. The incontestable property he has in all the creatures of the upper and lower world (Psa 89:11, Psa 89:12): "Men are honoured for their large possessions; but the heavens are thine, O Lord! the earth also is thine; therefore we praise thee, therefore we trust in thee, therefore we will not fear what man can do against us. The world and the fulness thereof, all the riches contained in it, all the inhabitants of it, both the tenements and the tenants, are all thine; for thou hast founded them, "and the founder may justly claim to be the owner. He specifies, (1.) The remotest parts of the world, the north and south, the countries that lie under the two poles, which are uninhabited and little known: " Thou hast created them, and therefore knowest them, takest care of them, and hast tributes of praise from them."The north is said to be hung over the empty place; yet what fulness there is there God is the owner of it. (2.) The highest parts of the world. He mentions the two highest hills in Canaan - " Tabor and Hermon "(one lying to the west, the other to the east); "these shall rejoice in thy name, for they are under the care of thy providence, and they produce offerings for thy altar."The little hills are said to rejoice in their own fruitfulness, Psa 65:12. Tabor is commonly supposed to be that high mountain in Galilee on the top of which Christ was transfigured; and then indeed it might be said to rejoice in that voice which was there heard, This is my beloved Son. 4. The power and justice, the mercy and truth, with which he governs the world and rules in the affairs of the children of men, Psa 89:13, Psa 89:14. (1.) God is able to do every thing; for his is the Lord God Almighty. His arm, his hand, is mighty and strong, both to save his people and to destroy his and their enemies; none can either resist the force or bear the weight of his mighty hand. High is his right hand, to reach the highest, even those that set their nests among the stars (Amo 9:2, Amo 9:3; Oba 1:4); his right hand is exalted in what he has done, for in thousands of instances he has signalized his power, Psa 118:16. (2.) He never did, nor ever will do, any thing that is either unjust or unwise; for righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne. None of all his dictates or decrees ever varied from the rules of equity and wisdom, nor could ever any charge God with unrighteousness or folly. Justice and judgment are the preparing of his throne (so some), the establishment of it, so others. The preparations for his government in his counsels from eternity, and the establishment of it in its consequences to eternity, are all justice and judgment. (3.) He always does that which is kind to his people and consonant to the word which he has spoken: " Mercy and truth shall go before thy face, to prepare thy way, as harbingers to make room for thee - mercy in promising, truth in performing - truth in being as good as thy word, mercy in being better."How praiseworthy are these in great men, much more in the great God, in whom they are in perfection!

Matthew Henry: Psa 89:15-18

The psalmist, having largely shown the blessedness of the God of Israel, here shows the blessedness of the Israel of God. As there is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, so, happy art thou, O Israel! there is none like unto thee, O people! especially as a type of the gospel-Israel, consisting of all true believers, whose happiness is here described.

I. Glorious discoveries are made to them, and glad tidings of good brought to them; they hear, they know, the joyful sound, Psa 89:15. This may allude, 1. To the shout of a victorious army, the shout of a king, Num 23:21. Israel have the tokens of God's presence with them in their wars; the sound of the going in the top of the mulberry-trees was indeed a joyful sound (2Sa 5:24); and they often returned making the earth ring with their songs of triumph; these were joyful sounds. Or, 2. To the sound that was made over the sacrifices and on the solemn feast-day, Psa 81:1-3. This was the happiness of Israel, that they had among them the free and open profession of God's holy religion, and abundance of joy in their sacrifices. Or, 3. To the sound of the jubilee-trumpet; a joyful sound it was to servants and debtors, to whom it proclaimed release. The gospel is indeed a joyful sound, a sound of victory, of liberty, of communion with God, and the sound of abundance of rain; blessed are the people that hear it, and know it, and bid it welcome.

II. Special tokens of God's favour are granted them: " They shall walk, O Lord! in the light of thy countenance; they shall govern themselves by thy directions, shall be guided by the eye; and they shall delight themselves in thy consolations. They shall have the favour of God; they shall know that they have it, and it shall be continual matter of joy and rejoicing to them. They shall go through all the exercises of a holy life under the powerful influences of God's lovingkindness, which shall make their duty pleasant to them and make them sincere in it, aiming at this, as their end, to be accepted of the Lord."We then walk in the light of the Lord when we fetch all our comforts from God's favour and are very careful to keep ourselves in his love.

III. They never want matter for joy: Blessed are God's people, for in his name, in all that whereby he has made himself known, if it be not their own fault, they shall rejoice all the day. Those that rejoice in Christ Jesus, and make God their exceeding joy, have enough to counterbalance their grievances and silence their griefs; and therefore their joy is full (1Jo 1:4) and constant; it is their duty to rejoice evermore.

IV. Their relation to God is their honour and dignity. They are happy, for they are high. Surely in the Lord, in the Lord Christ, they have righteousness and strength, and so are recommended by him to the divine acceptance; and therefore in him shall all the seed of Israel glory, Isa 45:24, Isa 45:25. So it is here, Psa 89:16, Psa 89:17. 1. "In thy righteousness shall they be exalted, and not in any righteousness of their own."We are exalted out of danger, and into honour, purely by the righteousness of Christ, which is a clothing both for dignity and for defence. 2. "Thou art the glory of their strength, "that is, "thou art their strength, and it is their glory that thou art so, and what they glory in." Thanks be to God who always causes us to triumph. 3. "In thy favour, which through Christ we hope for, our horn shall be exalted. "The horn denotes beauty, plenty, and power; these those have who are made accepted in the beloved. What greater preferment are men capable of in this world than to be God's favourites?

V. Their relation to God is their protection and safety (Psa 89:18): " For our shield is of the Lord "(so the margin) "and our king is from the Holy One of Israel. If God be our ruler, he will be our defender; and who is he than that can harm us?"It was the happiness of Israel that God himself had the erecting of their bulwarks and the nominating of their king (so some take it); or, rather, that he was himself a wall of fire round about them, and, as a Holy One, the author and centre of their holy religion; he was their King, and so their glory in the midst of them. Christ is the Holy One of Israel, that holy thing; and in nothing was that peculiar people more blessed than in this, that he was born King of the Jews. Now this account of the blessedness of God's Israel comes in here as that to which it was hard to reconcile their present calamitous state.

Matthew Henry: Psa 89:19-37

The covenant God made with David and his seed was mentioned before (Psa 89:3, Psa 89:4); but in these verses it is enlarged upon, and pleaded with God, for favour to the royal family, now almost sunk and ruined; yet certainly it looks at Christ, and has its accomplishment in him much more than in David; nay, some passages here are scarcely applicable at all to David, but must be understood of Christ only (who is therefore called David our king, Hos 3:5), and very great and precious promises they are which are here made to the Redeemer, which are strong foundations for the faith and hope of the redeemed to build upon. The comforts of our redemption flow from the covenant of redemption; all our springs are in that, Isa 55:3. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David, Act 13:34. Now here we have an account of those sure mercies. Observe,

I. What assurance we have of the truth of the promise, which may encourage us to build upon it. We are here told, 1. How it was spoken (Psa 89:19): Thou didst speak in vision to thy Holy One. God's promise to David, which is especially referred to here, was spoken in vision to Nathan the prophet, 2Sa 7:12-17. Then, when the Holy One of Israel was their king (Psa 89:18), he appointed David to be his viceroy. But to all the prophets, those holy ones, he spoke in vision concerning Christ, and to him himself especially, who had lain in his bosom from eternity, and was made perfectly acquainted with the whole design of redemption, Mat 11:27. 2. How it was sworn to and ratified (Psa 89:35): Once have I sworn by my holiness, that darling attribute. In swearing by his holiness, he swore by himself; for he will as soon cease to be as be otherwise than holy. His swearing once is enough; he needs not swear again, as David did (1Sa 20:17); for his word and oath are two immutable things. As Christ was made a priest, so he was made a king, by an oath (Heb 7:21); for his kingdom and priesthood are both unchangeable.

II. The choice made of the person to whom the promise is given, Psa 89:19, Psa 89:20. David was a king of God's own choosing, so is Christ, and therefore both are called God's kings, Psa 2:6. David was mighty, a man of courage and fit for business; he was chosen out of the people, not out of the princes, but the shepherds. God found him out, exalted him, laid help upon him, and ordered Samuel to anoint him. But this is especially to be applied to Christ. 1. He is one that is mighty, every way qualified for the great work he was to undertake, able to save to the uttermost - mighty in strength, for he is the Son of God - mighty in love, for he is able experimentally to compassionate those that are tempted. He is the mighty God, Isa 9:6. 2. He is chosen out of the people, one of us, bone of our bone, that takes part with us of flesh and blood. Being ordained for men, he is taken from among men, that his terror might not make us afraid. 3. God has found him. He is a Saviour of God's own providing; for the salvation, from first to last, is purely the Lord's doing. He has found the ransom, Job 33:24. We could never have found a person fit to undertake this great work, Rev 5:3, Rev 5:4. 4. God has laid help upon him, not only helped him, but treasured up help in him for us, laid it as a charge upon him to help fallen man up again, to help the chosen remnant to heaven. In me is thy help, Hos 13:9. 5. He has exalted him, by constituting him the prophet, priest, and king of his church, clothing him with power, raising him from the dead, and setting him at his own right hand. Whom God chooses and uses he will exalt. 6. He has anointed him, has qualified him for his office, and so confirmed him in it, by giving him the Spirit, not by measure, but without measure, infinitely above his fellows. He is called Messiah, or Christ, the Anointed. 7. In all this he designed him to be his own servant, for the accomplishing of his eternal purpose and the advancement of the interests of his kingdom among men.

III. The promises made to this chosen one, to David in the type and the Son of David in the antitype, in which not only gracious, but glorious things are spoken of him.

1. With reference to himself, as king and God's servant: and what makes for him makes for all his loving subjects. It is here promised, (1.) That God would stand by him and strengthen him in his undertaking (Psa 89:21): With him my hand not only shall be, but shall be established, by promise, shall be so established that he shall by it be established and confirmed in all his offices, so that none of them shall be undermined and overthrown, though by the man of sin they shall all be usurped and fought against. Christ had a great deal of hard work to do and hard usage to go through; but he that gave him commission gave him forces sufficient for the execution of his commission: " My arm also shall strengthen him to break through and bear up under all his difficulties."No good work can miscarry in the hand of those whom God himself undertakes to strengthen. (2.) That he should be victorious over his enemies, that they should not encroach upon him (Psa 89:22): The son of wickedness shall not exact upon him, nor afflict him. He that at first broke the peace would set himself against him that undertook to make peace, and do what he could to blast his design: but he could only reach to bruise his heel; further he could not exact upon him nor afflict him. Christ became a surety for our debt, and thereby Satan and death thought to gain advantage against him; but he satisfied the demands of God's justice, and then they could not exact upon him. The prince of this world cometh, but he has nothing in me, Joh 14:30. Nay, they not only shall not prevail against him, but they shall fall before him (Psa 89:23): I will bend down his foes before his face; the prince of this world shall be cast out, principalities and powers spoiled, and he shall be the death of death itself, and the destruction of the grave, Hos 13:14. Some apply this to the ruin which God brought upon the Jewish nation, that persecuted Christ and put him to death. But all Christ's enemies, who hate him and will not have him to reign over them, shall be brought forth and slain before him, Luk 19:27. (3.) That he should be the great trustee of the covenant between God and men, that God would be gracious and true to us (Psa 89:24): My faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him. They were with David; God continued merciful to him, and so approved himself faithful. They were with Christ; God made good all his promises to him. But that is not all; God's mercy to us, and his faithfulness to us, are with Christ; he is not only pleased with him, but with us in him; and it is in him that all the promises of God are yea and amen. So that if any poor sinners hope for benefit by the faithfulness and mercy of God, let them know it is with Christ; it is lodged in his hand, and to him they must apply for it (Psa 89:28): My mercy will I keep for him, to be disposed of by him, for evermore; in the channel of Christ's mediation all the streams of divine goodness will for ever run. Therefore it is the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ which we look for unto eternal life, Jud 1:21; Joh 17:2. And, as the mercy of God flows to us through him, so the promise of God is, through him, firm to us: My covenant shall stand fast with him, both the covenant of redemption made with him and the covenant of grace made with us in him. The new covenant is therefore always new, and firmly established, because it is lodged in the hands of a Mediator, Heb 8:6. The covenant stands fast, because it stands upon this basis. And this redounds to the everlasting honour of the Lord Jesus, that to him the great cause between God and man is entirely referred and the Father has committed all judgment to him, that all men might honour him (Joh 5:22, Joh 5:23); therefore it is here said, In my name shall his horn be exalted; this shall be his glory, that God's name is in him (Exo 23:21), and that he acts in God's name. As the Father gave me commandment, so I do. (4.) That his kingdom should be greatly enlarged (Psa 89:25): I will set his hand in the sea (he shall have the dominion of the seas, and the isles of the sea), and his right hand in the rivers, the inland countries that are watered with rivers. David's kingdom extended itself to the Great Sea, and the Red Sea, to the river of Egypt and the river Euphrates. But it is in the kingdom of the Messiah that this has its full accomplishment, and shall have more and more, when the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ (Rev 11:15), and the isles shall wait for his law. (5.) That he should own God as his Father, and God would own him as his Son, his firstborn, Psa 89:26, Psa 89:27. This is a comment upon these words in Nathan's message concerning Solomon (for he also was a type of Christ as well as David), I will be his Father and he shall be my Son (2Sa 7:14), and the relation shall be owned on both sides. [1.] He shall cry unto me, Thou art my Father. It is probable that Solomon did so; but we are sure Christ did so, in the days of his flesh, when he offered up strong cries to God, and called him holy Father, righteous Father, and taught us to address ourselves to him as our Father in heaven. Christ, in his agony, cried unto God, Thou art my Father (Mat 26:39, Mat 26:42, O my Father ), and, upon the cross, Father, forgive them; Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. He looked upon him likewise as his God, and therefore he perfectly obeyed him, and submitted to his will in his whole undertaking (he is my God and your God, Joh 20:17), and as the rock of his salvation, who would bear him up and bear him out in his undertaking, and make him more than a conqueror, even a complete Saviour; and therefore with an undaunted resolution he endured the cross, despising the shame, for he knew he should be both justified and glorified. [2.] I will make him my firstborn. I see not how this can be applied to David; it is Christ's prerogative to be the firstborn of every creature, and, as such, the heir of all things, Col 1:15; Heb 1:2, Heb 1:6. When all power was given to Christ both in heaven and in earth, and all things were delivered unto him by the Father, then god made him his firstborn, and far higher, more great and honourable, than the kings of the earth; for he is the King of kings, angels, authorities, and powers, being made subject to him, 1Pe 3:22.

2. With reference to his seed. God's covenants always took in the seed of the covenanters; this does so (Psa 89:29, Psa 89:36): His seed shall endure for ever, and with it his throne. Now this will be differently understood according as we apply it to Christ or David.

(1.) If we apply it to David, by his seed we are to understand his successors, Solomon and the following kings of Judah, who descended from the loins of David. It is supposed that they might degenerate, and not walk in the spirit and steps of their father David; in such a case they must expect to come under divine rebukes, such as the house of David was at this time under, Psa 89:38. But let this encourage them, that, though they were corrected, they should not be abandoned or disinherited. This refers to that part of Nathan's message (2Sa 7:14, 2Sa 7:15), If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him, but my mercy shall not depart from him. Thus far David's seed and throne did endure for ever, that, notwithstanding the wickedness of many of his posterity, who were the scandals of his house, yet his family continued, and continued in the imperial dignity, a very long time, - that, as long as Judah continued a kingdom, David's posterity were kings of it, and the royalty of that kingdom was never in any other family, as that of the ten tribes was, in Jeroboam's first, then in Baasha's, etc., - and that the family of David continued a family of distinction till that Son of David came whose throne should endure for ever; see Luk 1:27, Luk 1:32; Luk 2:4, Luk 2:11. If David's posterity, in after-times, should forsake God and their duty and revolt to the ways of sin, God would bring desolating judgments upon them and ruin the family; and yet he would not take away his lovingkindness from David, nor break his covenant with him; for, in the Messiah, who should come out of his loins, all these promises shall have their accomplishment to the full. Thus, when the Jews were rejected, the apostle shows that God's covenant with Abraham was not broken, because it was fulfilled in his spiritual seed, the heirs of the righteousness of faith, Rom 11:7.

(2.) If we apply it to Christ, by his seed we are to understand his subjects, all believers, his spiritual seed, the children which God has given him, Heb 2:13. This is that seed which shall be made to endure for ever, and his throne in the midst of them, in the church in the heart, as the days of heaven. To the end Christ shall have a people in the world to serve and honour him. He shall see his seed; he shall prolong his days. This holy seed shall endure for ever in a glorified state, when time and days shall be no more; and thus Christ's throne and kingdom shall be perpetuated: the kingdom of his grace shall continue through all the ages of time and the kingdom of his glory to the endless ages of eternity.

[1.] The continuance of Christ's kingdom is here made doubtful by the sins and afflictions of his subjects; their iniquities and calamities threaten the ruin of it. This case is here put, that we may not be offended when it comes to be a case in fact, but that we may reconcile it with the stability of the covenant and be assured of that notwithstanding. First, It is here supposed that there will be much amiss in the subjects of Christ's kingdom. His children may forsake God's law (Psa 89:30) by omissions, and break his statutes (Psa 89:31) by commissions. There are spots which are the spots of God's children, Deu 32:5. Many corruptions there are in the bowels of the church, as well as in the hearts of those who are the members of it, and these corruptions break out. Secondly, They are here told that they must smart for it (Psa 89:32): I will visit their transgression with a rod, their transgression sooner than that of others. You only have I known, and therefore I will punish you, Amo 3:2. Their being related to Christ shall not excuse them from being called to an account. But observe what affliction is to God's people. 1. It is but a rod, not an axe, not a sword; it is for correction, not for destruction. This denotes gentleness in the affliction; it is the rod of men, such a rod as men use in correcting their children; and it denotes a design of good in and by the affliction, such a rod as yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness. 2. It is a rod on the hand of God ( I will visit them ), he who is wise, and knows what he does, gracious, and will do what is best. 3. It is a rod which they shall never feel the smart of but when there is great need: If they break my law, then I will visit their transgression with the rod, but not else. Then it is requisite that God's honour be vindicated, and that they be humbled and reduced.

[2.] The continuance of Christ's kingdom is made certain by the inviolable promise and oath of God, notwithstanding all this (Psa 89:33): Nevertheless, my kindness will I not totally and finally take from him. First, "Notwithstanding their provocations, yet my covenant shall not be broken."Note, Afflictions are not only consistent with covenant-love, but to the people of God they flow from it. Though David's seed be chastened, it does not follow that they are disinherited; they may be cast down, but they are not cast off. God's favour is continued to his people, 1. For Christ's sake; in him the mercy is laid up for us, and God says, I will not take it from him (Psa 89:33), I will not lie unto David, Psa 89:35. We are unworthy, but he is worthy. 2. For the covenant's sake: My faithfulness shall not fail, my covenant will I not break. It was supposed that they had broken God's statutes, profaned and polluted them (so the word signifies); "But,"says God, "I will not break, I will not profane and pollute, my covenant;"it is the same word. That which is said and sworn is that God will have a church in the world as long as sun and moon endure, Psa 89:36, Psa 89:37. The sun and moon are faithful witnesses in heaven of the wisdom, power, and goodness of the Creator, and shall continue while time lasts, which they are the measurers of; but the seed of Christ shall be established for ever, as lights of the world while the world stands, to shine in it, and, when it is at an end, they shall be established lights shining in the firmament of the Father.

Keil-Delitzsch: Psa 89:1-4

The poet, who, as one soon observes, is a חכם (for the very beginning of the Psalm is remarkable and ingenious), begins with the confession of the inviolability of the mercies promised to the house of David, i.e., of the הסדי דוד הנּאמנים , Isa 55:3.

(Note: The Vulgate renders: Misericordias Domini in aeternum cantabo . The second Sunday after Easter takes its name from this rendering.)

God's faithful love towards the house of David, a love faithful to His promises, will he sing without ceasing, and make it known with his mouth, i.e., audibly and publicly (cf. Job 19:16), to the distant posterity. Instead of חסדי , we find here, and also in Lam 3:22, חסדי with a not merely slightly closed syllable. The Lamed of לדר ודר is, according to Psa 103:7; Psa 145:12, the datival Lamed . With כּי־אמרתּי (lxx, Jerome, contrary to Psa 89:3 , ὅτι εἶπας ) the poet bases his resolve upon his conviction. נבנה means not so much to be upheld in building, as to be in the course of continuous building (e.g., Job 22:23; Mal 3:15, of an increasingly prosperous condition). Loving-kindness is for ever (accusative of duration) in the course of continuous building, viz., upon the unshakeable foundation of the promise of grace, inasmuch as it is fulfilled in accordance therewith. It is a building with a most solid foundation, which will not only not fall into ruins, but, adding one stone of fulfilment upon another, will rise ever higher and higher. שׁמים then stands first as casus absol ., and בּהם is, as in Psa 19:5, a pronoun having a backward reference to it. In the heavens, which are exalted above the rise and fall of things here below, God establishes His faithfulness, so that it stands fast as the sun above the earth, although the condition of things here below seems sometimes to contradict it (cf. Psa 119:89). Now follow in Psa 89:4-5 the direct words of God, the sum of the promises given to David and to his seed in 2 Sam. 7, at which the poet arrives more naturally in Psa 89:20. Here they are strikingly devoid of connection. It is the special substance of the promises that is associated in thought with the "loving-kindness"and "truth"of Psa 89:3, which is expanded as it were appositionally therein. Hence also אכין and תּכין , וּבניתי and יבּנה correspond to one another. David's seed, by virtue of divine faithfulness, has an eternally sure existence; Jahve builds up David's throne "into generation and generation,"inasmuch as He causes it to rise ever fresh and vigorous, never as that which is growing old and feeble.

Keil-Delitzsch: Psa 89:5-8

At the close of the promises in Psa 89:4-5 the music is to become forte . And ויודוּ attaches itself to this jubilant Sela . In Psa 89:6-19 there follows a hymnic description of the exalted majesty of God, more especially of His omnipotence and faithfulness, because the value of the promise is measured by the character of the person who promises. The God of the promise is He who is praised by the heavens and the holy ones above. His way of acting is פלא , of a transcendent, paradoxical, wondrous order, and as such the heavens praise it; it is praised ( יודו , according to Ges. §137, 3) in the assembly of the holy ones, i.e., of the spirits in the other world, the angels (as in Job 5:1; Job 15:15, cf. Deu 33:2), for He is peerlessly exalted above the heavens and the angels. שׁחק , poetic singular instead of שׁחקים (vid., supra on Psa 77:18), which is in itself already poetical; and ערך , not, as e.g., in Isa 40:18, in the signification to co-ordinate, but in the medial sense: to rank with, be equal to. Concerning בּני אלים , vid., on Psa 29:1. In the great council (concerning סוד , of both genders, perhaps like כּוס , vid., on Psa 25:14) of the holy ones also, Jahve is terrible; He towers above all who are about Him (1Ki 22:19, cf. Dan 7:10) in terrible majesty. רבּה might, according to Psa 62:3; Psa 78:15, be an adverb, but according to the order of the words it may more appropriately be regarded as an adjective; cf. Job 31:34, כּי אערץ המון רבּה , "when I feared the great multitude."In Psa 89:9 He is apostrophized with אלהי צבאות as being the One exalted above the heavens and the angels. The question "Who is as Thou?"takes its origin from Exo 15:11. חסין is not the construct form, but the principal form, like גּביר , ידיד , עויל ,יד , and is a Syriasm; for the verbal stem Syr. hṣan is native to the Aramaic, in which Syr. haṣı̄nā' = שׁדּי . In יהּ , what God is is reduced to the briefest possible expression (vid., Psa 68:19). In the words, "Thy faithfulness compasseth Thee round about,"the primary thought of the poet again breaks through. Such a God it is who has the faithfulness with which He fulfils all His promises, and the promises given to the house of David also, as His constant surrounding. His glory would only strike one with terror; but the faithfulness which encompasses Him softens the sunlike brilliancy of His glory, and awakens trust in so majestic a Ruler.

Keil-Delitzsch: Psa 89:9-14

At the time of the poet the nation of the house of David was threatened with assault from violent foes; and this fact gives occasion for this picture of God's power in the kingdom of nature. He who rules the raging of the sea, also rules the raging of the sea of the peoples, Psa 65:8. גּאוּת , a proud rising, here of the sea, like גּאוה in Psa 46:4. Instead of בּשׂוע , Hitzig pleasantly enough reads בּשׁוא = בּשׁאו from שׁאה ; but שׂוא is also possible so far as language is concerned, either as an infinitive = נשׂוא , Psa 28:2; Isa 1:14 (instead of שׂאת ), or as an infinitival noun, like שׂיא , loftiness, Job 20:6, with a likewise rejected Nun . The formation of the clause favours our taking it as a verb: when its waves rise, Thou stillest them. From the natural sea the poet comes to the sea of the peoples; and in the doings of God at the Red Sea a miraculous subjugation of both seas took place at one and the same time. It is clear from Psa 74:13-17; Isa 51:9, that Egypt is to be understood by Rahab in this passage as in Psa 87:4. The word signifies first of all impetuosity, violence, then a monster, like "the wild beast of the reed,"Psa 68:31, i.e., the leviathan or the dragon. דּכּאת is conjugated after the manner of the Lamed He verbs, as in Psa 44:20. כּחלל is to be understood as describing the event or issue (vid., Psa 18:43): so that in its fall the proudly defiant kingdom is like one fatally smitten. Thereupon in Psa 89:12-15 again follows in the same co-ordination first the praise of God drawn from nature, then from history. Jahve's are the heavens and the earth. He is the Creator, and for that very reason the absolute owner, of both. The north and the right hand, i.e., the south, represent the earth in its entire compass from one region of the heavens to the other. Tabor on this side of the Jordan represents the west (cf. Hos 5:1), and Hermon opposite the east of the Holy Land. Both exult by reason of the name of God; by their fresh, cheerful look they give the impression of joy at the glorious revelation of the divine creative might manifest in themselves. In Psa 89:14 the praise again enters upon the province of history. "An arm with ( עם ) heroic strength,"says the poet, inasmuch as he distinguishes between the attribute inherent in God and the medium of its manifestation in history. His throne has as its מכון , i.e., its immovable foundation (Pro 16:12; Pro 25:5), righteousness of action and right, by which all action is regulated, and which is unceasingly realized by means of the action. And mercy and truth wait upon Him. קדּם פּני is not; to go before any one ( הלּך לפני , Ps 85:14), but anticipatingly to present one's self to any one, Psa 88:14; Psa 95:2; Mic 6:6. Mercy and truth, these two genii of sacred history (Psa 43:3), stand before His face like waiting servants watching upon His nod.

Keil-Delitzsch: Psa 89:15-18

The poet has now described what kind of God He is upon whose promise the royal house in Israel depends. Blessed, then, is the people that walks in the light of His countenance. הלּך of a self-assured, stately walk. The words יՀ“עי תּרוּעה are the statement of the ground of the blessing interwoven into the blessing itself: such a people has abundant cause and matter for exultation (cf. Psa 84:5). תּרוּעה is the festive sound of joy of the mouth (Num 23:21), and of trumpets or sackbuts (Psa 27:6). This confirmation of the blessing is expanded in Psa 89:17-19. Jahve's שׁם , i.e., revelation or manifestation, becomes to them a ground and object of unceasing joy; by His צדקה , i.e., the rigour with which He binds Himself to the relationship He has entered upon with His people and maintains it, they are exalted above abjectness and insecurity. He is תּפארת עזּמו , the ornament of their strength, i.e., their strength which really becomes an ornament to them. In Psa 89:18 the poet declares Israel to be this happy people. Pinsker's conjecture, קרנם (following the Targum), destroys the transition to Psa 89:19, which is formed by Psa 89:18 . The plural reading of Kimchi and of older editions (e.g., Bomberg's), קרנינוּ , is incompatible with the figure; but it is immaterial whether we read תּרים with the Chethîb (Targum, Jerome), or with the Kerî (lxx, Syriac) תּרוּם .

(Note: Zur Geschichte des Karaismus , pp. קפא and קפב , according to which, reversely, in Jos 5:1 עברוּ is to be read instead of עברם , and Isa 33:2 זרענוּ instead of זרעם , Psa 12:8 תשמרנּוּ instead of תשמרם , Mic 7:19 חטאתנוּ instead of חטאתם , Job 32:8 תביננּוּ instead of תבינם , Pro 25:27 כבודנוּ instead of כבודם (the limiting of our honour brings honour, - an unlikely interpretation of the חקר ).)

מגנּנוּ and מלכּנוּ in Psa 89:19 are parallel designations of the human king of Israel; מגן as in Ps 47:10, but not in Psa 84:10. For we are not compelled, with a total disregard of the limits to the possibilities of style (Ew. §310, a ), to render Psa 89:19 : and the Holy One of Israel, (as to Him, He) is our King (Hitzig), since we do not bring down the Psalm beyond the time of the kings. Israel's shield, Israel's king, the poet says in the holy defiant confidence of faith, is Jahve's, belongs to the Holy One of Israel, i.e., he stands as His own possession under the protection of Jahve, the Holy One, who has taken Israel to Himself for a possession; it is therefore impossible that the Davidic throne should become a prey to any worldly power.

Keil-Delitzsch: Psa 89:19-22

Having thus again come to refer to the king of Israel, the poet now still further unfolds the promise given to the house of David. The present circumstances are a contradiction to it. The prayer to Jahve, for which the way is thus prepared, is for the removal of this contradiction. A long line, extending beyond the measure of the preceding lines, introduces the promises given to David. With אז the respective period of the past is distinctly defined. The intimate friend of Jahve ( חסיד ) is Nathan (1Ch 17:15) or David, according as we translate בחזון "in a vision"or "by means of a vision."But side by side with the לחסידך we also find the preferable reading לחסידיך , which is followed in the renderings of the lxx, Syriac, Vulgate, Targum, Aquila, Symmachus, and the Quarta, and is adopted by Rashi, Aben-Ezra, and others, and taken up by Heidenheim and Baer. The plural refers to Samuel and Nathan, for the statement brings together what was revealed to these two prophets concerning David. עזר is assistance as a gift, and that, as the designation of the person succoured by it ( שׁוּה על as in Psa 21:6) with גּבּור shows, aid in battle. בּחוּר (from בּחר = בּגר in the Mishna: to ripen, to be manly or of marriageable age, distinct from בּחיר in Psa 89:4) is a young man, adolescens : while yet a young man David was raised out of his humble lowly condition (Psa 78:71) high above the people. When he received the promise (2 Sam. 7) he had been anointed and had attained to the lordship over all Israel. Hence the preterites in Psa 89:20-21, which are followed by promissory futures from Psa 89:22 onwards. תּכּון is fut. Niph ., to be established, to prove one's self to be firm, unchangeable (Psa 78:37), a stronger expression than תּהיה , 1Sa 18:12, 1Sa 18:14; 2Sa 3:10. The Hiph . השּׁיא , derived from נשׁא = נשׁה , to credit (vid., on Isa 24:2; Gesenius, Hengstenberg), does not give any suitable sense; it therefore signifies here as elsewhere, "to impose upon, surprise,"with בּ , as in Psa 55:16 with על . Psa 89:23 is the echo of 2Sa 7:10.

Constable: Psa 73:1--89:52

I. Book 3: chs 73--89

A man or men named Asaph wrote 17 of the psalms in this book (Pss. 73-83). Other writers were the sons of Korah (Pss. 84-85, 87), David (Ps. 86), Heman (Ps. 88), and Ethan (Ps. 89). Asaph, Heman, and Ethan were musicians from the tribe of Levi who were contemporaries of David.

Constable: Psa 89:1-52

Psalm 89

The writer of this royal psalm was Ethan, another wise Levitical musician in David's service (1 Kings 4:31; 1 Chron. 15:17-18).

The occasion of writing is unclear. Judging from the content of the psalm it appears to have been a time after David had suffered defeat and some severe affliction.

Ethan interceded for the king claiming the Davidic Covenant promises (cf. 2 Sam. 7:5-16; 1 Chron. 17). Why was God afflicting David so severely since He had promised to bless him so greatly? Ethan called on God to honor the Davidic Covenant and send the king relief.

Constable: Psa 89:1-3

1. God's character and covenant with David 89:1-4

Ethan announced two major themes of this psalm in verses 1 and 2. These are the loyal love (Heb. hesed) and faithfulness of Yahweh. References to God's loyal love occur in verses 1, 2, 14, 24, 28, 33, and 49. He referred to God's faithfulness in verses 1, 2, 5, 8, 24, 33, and 49. He proceeded to appeal to God to honor His promises to David on the basis of these qualities.

The psalmist restated the Davidic Covenant promises in verses 3 and 4. Interestingly the word "covenant" does not occur in either 2 Samuel 7 or 1 Chronicles 17, the two places in the Old Testament where God recorded the giving of that covenant. Three key terms used in these two verses also recur throughout this psalm. These are "covenant" (vv. 3, 28, 34, and 39), "David My servant" (vv. 3, 20, and 50 where it is just "My servant"), and "throne" (vv. 4, 14, 29, 36, and 44). Obviously the Davidic Covenant was central in the writer's thinking in this psalm.

"The background for the Davidic Covenant and the sonship imagery associated with it is the ancient Near Eastern covenant of grant, whereby a king would reward a faithful servant by elevating him to the position of sonship' and granting him special gifts, usually related to land and dynasty. Unlike the conditional suzerain-vassal treaty, after which the Mosaic Covenant was patterned, the covenant of grant was an unconditional, promissory grant which could not be taken away from the recipient.¹⁵⁴ Consequently God's covenantal promises to David were guaranteed by an irrevocable divine oath (89:3, 28-37; 132:11)."¹⁵⁵

Constable: Psa 89:4-17

2. The character of God 89:5-18

89:5-14 These verses exalt the uniqueness of Yahweh. Ethan praised Him for His attributes (vv. 5-8) and works (vv. 9-14). Outstanding among His attributes are His faithfulness and His might. The "holy ones" (v. 7) are the angels. The works he cited were subduing the flood, defeating Egypt (Rahab, cf. 87:4) at the Exodus, and creating the heavens and earth. He personified Mt. Tabor and Mt. Hermon rejoicing in God's great power.

"Tabor and Hermon are possibly paired as works of God which praise Him in different ways: the lowly Tabor (1,900 ft.) by its history, as the scene of Deborah's victory, and the giant Hermon (9,000 ft.) by its physical majesty. The Creator's hand is both strong and high (13)."¹⁵⁶

89:15-18 Ethan went on to speak of the blessings the Israelites who acknowledged and walked with God experienced. They had joy, exaltation, glory, strength, and security. "The joyful sound" (v. 15, NASB) refers to the shout of joy God's people uttered when they saw Him lifted up and honored (cf. 1 Sam. 4:5-6).¹⁵⁷ A better translation might be, "Happy the people who have learnt to acclaim thee" (NEB). "Our horn" (v. 17) means "our strength." Ethan rejoiced that Israel's king who was her defense belonged to God (v. 18).

Constable: Psa 89:18-36

3. The promises of God 89:19-37

89:19-20 The psalmist now reminded God that He had chosen David to be His anointed servant king. God's "godly ones" (v. 19) were the godly in Israel.

89:21-25 God had promised to bless David with success and power. He had said he would defeat his enemies and extend his influence greatly. Furthermore He had pledged to be faithful and loyal to David.

89:26-29 God promised that David would enjoy a special relationship of intimacy with Yahweh who would treat him as His first-born son (2 Sam. 7:14). This involved double blessings and much authority under his Father. David would become the most highly exalted king on the earth. Moreover God would bless him with a dynasty that would rule Israel forever (cf. 2 Sam. 7:12-13, 17).

89:30-37 Sin and disobedience would not cancel God's promises to David in the covenant. They would bring discipline on the offenders, but God swore to deliver the blessings He had promised David.

Since Jesus Christ, David's descendent, has not yet ruled over Israel as these promises guarantee, we should look for a literal fulfillment of them in the future. This means He will rule on the earth since this is what God promised David (2 Sam. 7:5-16). For this reason we look for an earthly reign of Messiah, not just a heavenly reign over the hearts of all believers. The hope of an earthly reign over Israel is what distinguishes premillennialists from amillennialists. This hope rests on a literal interpretation of God's promises in the Davidic Covenant (cf. vv. 3-4, 27-29, 35-37, and 49).¹⁵⁸

Commentary -- Other

Evidence: Psa 89:6

Nothing on this earth or in heaven compares to God. Even the regenerate mind can’t begin to comprehend His infinite greatness.

Evidence: Psa 89:14

QUESTIONS & OBJECTIONS

" Why does the Old Testament show a God of wrath and the New Testament a God of mercy?"

The God of the New Testament is the same as the God of the Old Testament. The Bible says that He never changes. He is just as merciful in the Old Testament as He is in the New Testament. Read Nehemiah 9 for a summary of how God mercifully forgave Israel, again and again, after they repeatedly sinned and turned their back on Him. The psalms often speak of God’s mercy poured out on sinners.

He is also just as wrath-filled in the New Testament as He is in the Old. He killed a husband and wife in the Book of Acts, simply because they told one lie. Jesus warned that He was to be feared because He has the power to cast the body and soul into hell. The apostle Paul said that he persuaded men to come to the Savior because he knew the " terror of the Lord." Read the dreadful judgments of the New Testament’s Book of Revelation. That will put the " fear of God" in you, which incidentally is " the beginning of wisdom."

Perhaps the most fearful display of His wrath is seen in the cross of Jesus Christ. His fury so came upon the Messiah that it seems God enshrouded the face of Jesus in darkness so that cre-ation couldn’t gaze upon His unspeakable agony. Whether we like it or not, our God is a consuming fire of holiness ( Heb 12:29 ). He isn’t going to change, so we had better...before the Day of Judgment. If we repent, God, in His mercy, will forgive us and grant us eternal life in heaven with Him.

Introduction / Outline

JFB: Psalms (Book Introduction)

The Hebrew title of this book is Tehilim ("praises" or "hymns"), for a leading feature in its contents is praise, though the word occurs in the title of only one Psalm (the hundred forty-fifth). The Greek title (in the Septuagint, a translation made two hundred years before Christ) is psalmoi, whence our word "Psalms." This corresponds to the Hebrew word mizmoi by which sixty-five Psalms are designated in their inscriptions, and which the Syriac, a language like the Hebrew, uses for the whole book. It means, as does also the Greek name, an ode, or song, whose singing is accompanied by an instrument, particularly the harp (compare 1Ch 16:4-8; 2Ch 5:12-13). To some Psalms, the Hebrew word (shir) "a song," is prefixed. Paul seems to allude to all these terms in Eph 5:19, "singing . . . in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs."

TITLES.--To more than a hundred Psalms are prefixed inscriptions, which give one or more (and in one case, [Psalm 60], all) of these particulars: the direction to the musician, the name of the author or the instrument, the style of the music or of the poetry, the subject or occasion. The authority of these inscriptions has been disputed by some writers. They say that the earliest translators, as the Greek and Syriac, evince a disregard for their authority, by variations from a proper translation of some, altering others, and, in several instances, supplying titles to Psalms which, in Hebrew, had none. It is also alleged that the subject of a Psalm, as given in the title, is often inconsistent with its contents. But those translators have also varied from a right translation of many passages in the Bible, which all agree to be of good authority; and the alleged inconsistency may be shown, on more accurate investigation, not to exist. The admitted antiquity of these inscriptions, on the other hand, and even their obscurity, raise a presumption in their favor, while such prefaces to a composition accord with the usages of that age and part of the world (compare Isa 38:9).

"The Chief Musician" was the superintendent of the music (compare "to oversee," 1Ch 15:21, Margin). "To" prefixed to this, means, "pertaining to" in his official character. This inscription is found in fifty-three Psalms and is attached to Habakkuk's prayer (Hab. 3:1-19). The same Hebrew preposition is prefixed to the name of the author and translated "of," as "a Psalm of David," "of Asaph," except that to "the sons of Korah," it is translated "for," which is evidently wrong, as the usual direction, "to the chief musician," is given, and no other authorship intimated. On the apparent exception to this last remark, see below, and see on Psa 88:1, title. The explanations of other particulars in the titles will be given as they occur.

AUTHORS.--This book is often called "The Psalms of David," he being the only author mentioned in the New Testament (Luk 20:42) and his name appearing in more titles than that of any other writer. Besides about one-half of the Psalms in which it thus appears, Psalms 2 and 95 are ascribed to him (Act 4:25 and Heb 4:7). He was probably the author of many others which appear without a name. He used great efforts to beautify the worship of the sanctuary. Among the two hundred eighty-eight Levites he appointed for singing and performing instrumental music, we find mentioned the "sons of Korah" (1Ch 9:19); including Heman (1Ch 6:33-38); and also Asaph (1Ch 6:39-44); and Ethan (1Ch 15:17-19). God was doubtless pleased to endow these men with the inspiration of His Spirit, so that they used those poetic talents which their connection with the kindred art of music had led them to cultivate, in the production of compositions like those of their king and patron. To Asaph are ascribed twelve Psalms; to the sons of Korah, eleven, including the eighty-eighth, which is also ascribed to Heman, that being the only instance in which the name of the "son" (or descendant) is mentioned; and to Ethan, one. Solomon's name appears before the seventy-second and hundred twenty-seventh; and that of Moses before the ninetieth. Special questions respecting authorship will be explained as they arise.

CONTENTS.--As the book contains one hundred fifty independent compositions, it is not susceptible of any logical analysis. The Jews having divided it into five books, corresponding to the Five Books of Moses (First, Psalms 1-42; Second, Psalms 43-72; Third, Psalms 73-89; Fourth, Psalms 90-106; Fifth, Psalms 107-150), many attempts have been made to discover, in this division, some critical or practical value, but in vain. Sundry efforts have been made to classify the Psalms by subject. Angus' Bible Hand Book is perhaps the most useful, and is appended.

Still the Psalms have a form and character peculiar to themselves; and with individual diversities of style and subject, they all assimilate to that form, and together constitute a consistent system of moral truth. They are all poetical, and of that peculiar parallelism (see Introduction to the Poetical Books,) which distinguished Hebrew poetry. They are all lyrical, or songs adapted to musical instruments, and all religious lyrics, or such as were designed to be used in the sanctuary worship.

The distinguishing feature of the Psalms is their devotional character. Whether their matter be didactic, historical, prophetical, or practical, it is made the ground or subject of prayer, or praise, or both. The doctrines of theology and precepts of pure morality are here inculcated. God's nature, attributes, perfections, and works of creation, providence, and grace, are unfolded. In the sublimest conceptions of the most exalted verse, His glorious supremacy over the principalities of heaven, earth, and hell, and His holy, wise, and powerful control of all material and immaterial agencies, are celebrated. The great covenant of grace resting on the fundamental promise of a Redeemer, both alike the provisions of God's exhaustless mercy, is set forth in respect of the doctrines of regeneration by the Spirit, forgiveness of sins, repentance toward God, and faith toward Jesus Christ, while its glorious results, involving the salvation of men "from the ends of the earth" [Act 13:47], are proclaimed in believing, prophetic prayer and thankful praise. The personal history of the authors, and especially David's in its spiritual aspects, is that of God's people generally. Christian biography is edifying only as it is truth illustrated in experience, such as God's Word and Spirit produce. It may be factitious in origin and of doubtful authenticity. But here the experience of the truly pious is detailed, under divine influence, and "in words which the Holy Ghost" taught [1Co 2:13]. The whole inner life of the pious man is laid open, and Christians of all ages have here the temptations, conflicts, perplexities, doubts, fears, penitent moanings, and overwhelming griefs on the one hand, and the joy and hope of pardoning mercy, the victory over the seductions of false-hearted flatterers, and deliverance from the power of Satan on the other, with which to compare their own spiritual exercises. Here, too, are the fruits of that sovereign mercy, so often sought in earnest prayer, and when found, so often sung in rapturous joy, exhibited by patience in adversity, moderation in prosperity, zeal for God's glory, love for man, justice to the oppressed, holy contempt for the proud, magnanimity towards enemies, faithfulness towards friends, delight in the prosperity of Zion, and believing prayer for her enlargement and perpetuity.

The historical summaries of the Psalms are richly instructive. God's choice of the patriarchs, the sufferings of the Israelites in Egypt, their exodus, temptations of God, rebellions and calamities in the wilderness, settlement in Canaan, backslidings and reformations, furnish illustrations of God's providential government of His people, individually and collectively, tending to exalt His adorable grace and abase human pride. But the promises and prophecies connected with these summaries, and elsewhere presented in the Psalms, have a far wider reach, exhibiting the relations of the book to the great theme of promise and prophecy:

THE MESSIAH AND HIS KINGDOM.--David was God's chosen servant to rule His people, as the head at once of the State and the Church, the lineal ancestor, "according to the flesh" [Act 2:30; Rom 1:3], of His adorable Son, and His type, in His official relations, both in suffering and in triumph. Generally, David's trials by the ungodly depicted the trials of Christ, and his final success the success of Christ's kingdom. Typically, he uses language describing his feelings, which only finds its full meaning in the feelings of Christ. As such it is quoted and applied in the New Testament. And further, in view of the great promise (2Sa 7:12-16) to him and his seed, to which such frequent reference is made in the Psalms, David was inspired to know, that though his earthly kingdom should perish, his spiritual would ever endure, in the power, beneficence, and glory of Christ's. In repeating and amplifying that promise, he speaks not only as a type, but "being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne," he "foretold the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. His incarnation, humiliating sorrows, persecution, and cruel death are disclosed in the plaintive cries of a despairing sufferer; and His resurrection and ascension, His eternal priesthood, His royal dignity, His prophetical office, the purchase and bestowal of the gifts of the Spirit, the conversion of the nations, the establishment, increase, and perpetuity of the Church, the end of time, and the blessedness of the righteous who acknowledge, and the ruin of the wicked who reject this King in Zion, are predicted in the language of assured confidence and joy." While these great themes have supplied the people of God with a popular theology and a guide in religious experience and Christian morality, clothed in the language of devotion, they have provided an inspired liturgy in which the pious, of all creeds and sects, have, for nearly three thousand years, poured out their prayers and praises. The pious Jew, before the coming of Christ, mourned over the adversity, or celebrated the future glories, of Zion, in the words of her ancient king. Our Saviour, with His disciples, sang one of these hymns on the night on which He was betrayed [Mat 26:30]; He took from one the words in which He uttered the dreadful sorrows of His soul [Mat 27:46], and died with those of another on His lips [Luk 23:46]. Paul and Silas in the dungeon [Act 16:25], primitive Christians in their covert places of worship, or the costly churches of a later day, and the scattered and feeble Christian flocks in the prevalence of darkness and error through the Middle Ages, fed their faith and warmed their love with these consoling songs. Now, throughout the Christian world, in untold forms of version, paraphrase, and imitation, by Papists and Protestants, Prelatists and Presbyterians, Independents, Baptists, Methodists--men of all lands and all creeds, in public and private worship, God is still adored in the sentiments expressed in these venerable Psalms. From the tone of sorrow and suffering which pervade their earlier portions we are gradually borne on amid alternate conflicts and triumphs, mournful complaints and awakening confidence; as we approach the close the tones of sorrow grow feebler, and those of praise wax louder and stronger--till, in the exulting strains of the last Psalm, the chorus of earth mingles with the hallelujahs of the multitude, which no man can number, in the sanctuary above.

JFB: Psalms (Outline)

• ALEPH. (Psa 119:1-8). This celebrated Psalm has several peculiarities. It is divided into twenty-two parts or stanzas, denoted by the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Each stanza contains eight verses, and the first letter of each verse is that which gives name to the stanza. Its contents are mainly praises of God's Word, exhortations to its perusal, and reverence for it, prayers for its proper influence, and complaints of the wicked for despising it. There are but two verses (Psa 119:122, Psa 119:132) which do not contain some term or description of God's Word. These terms are of various derivations, but here used, for the most part, synonymously, though the use of a variety of terms seems designed, in order to express better the several aspects in which our relations to the revealed word of God are presented. The Psalm does not appear to have any relation to any special occasion or interest of the Jewish Church or nation, but was evidently "intended as a manual of pious thoughts, especially for instructing the young, and its peculiar artificial structure was probably adopted to aid the memory in retaining the language." (Psa. 119:1-176)
• BETH. (Psa 119:9-16). The whole verse may be read as a question; for,
• GIMEL. (Psa 119:17-24). Life is desirable in order to serve God; that we may do so aright, we should seek to have our eyes opened to behold His truth, and earnestly desire fully to understand it.
• DALETH. (Psa 119:25-32). Submitting ourselves in depression to God, He will revive us by His promises, and lead us to declare His mercy to others.
• HE. (Psa 119:33-40). To encourage us in prayer for divine aid in adhering to His truth, we are permitted to believe that by His help we shall succeed.
• VAU. (Psa 119:41-48). The sentiment more fully carried out. God's mercies and salvation, as revealed in His Word, provide hope of forgiveness for the past and security in a righteous course for the future.
• ZAIN. (Psa 119:49-56). Resting on the promises consoles under affliction and the tauntings of the insolent.
• CHETH. (Psa 119:57-64). Sincere desires for God's favor, penitence, and activity in a new obedience, truly evince the sincerity of those who profess to find God a portion (Num 18:20; Psa 16:5; Lam 3:24).
• TETH. (Psa 119:65-72). The reliance on promises (Psa 119:49) is strengthened by experience of past dealings according with promises, and a prayer for guidance, encouraged by sanctified affliction.
• JOD. (Psa 119:73-80). As God made, so He can best control, us. So as to Israel, he owed to God his whole internal and external existence (Deu 32:6).
• CAPH. (Psa 119:81-88). In sorrow the pious heart yearns for the comforts of God's promises (Psa 73:26; Psa 84:2).
• LAMED. (Psa 119:89-96). In all changes God's Word remains firm (1Pe 1:25). Like the heavens, it continually attests God's unfailing power and unchanging care (Psa 89:2).
• MEM. (Psa 119:97-104). This characteristic love for God's law (compare Psa 1:2) ensures increase.
• NUN. (Psa 119:105-112). Not only does the Word of God inform us of His will, but, as a light on a path in darkness, it shows us how to follow the right and avoid the wrong way. The lamp of the Word is not the sun. He would blind our eyes in our present fallen state; but we may bless God for the light shining as in a dark place, to guide us until the Sun of Righteousness shall come, and we shall be made capable of seeing Him (2Pe 1:19; Rev 22:4). The lamp is fed with the oil of the Spirit. The allusion is to the lamps and torches carried at night before an Eastern caravan.
• SAMECH. (Psa 119:113-120).
• AIN. (Psa 119:121-128). On the grounds of his integrity, desire for God's word, and covenant relation to Him, the servant of God may plead for His protecting care against the wicked, gracious guidance to the knowledge of truth, and His effective vindication of the righteous and their cause, which is also His own.
• PE. (Psa 119:129-136).
• TZADDI. (Psa 119:137-144). God's justice and faithfulness in His government aggravate the neglect of the wicked, and more excite the lively zeal of His people.
• KOPH. (Psa 119:145-152). An intelligent devotion is led by divine promises and is directed to an increase of gracious affections, arising from a contemplation of revealed truth.
• RESH. (Psa 119:153-160). Though the remembering of God's law is not meritorious, yet it evinces a filial temper and provides the pious with promises to plead, while the wicked in neglecting His law, reject God and despise His promises (compare Psa 9:13; Psa 43:1; Psa 69:18).
• SCHIN. (Psa 119:161-168). (Compare Psa 119:46, Psa 119:86).
• TAU. (Psa 119:169-176). The prayer for understanding of the truth precedes that for deliverance. The fulfilment of the first is the basis of the fulfilment of the second (Psa 90:11-17). On the terms "cry" and "supplication" (compare Psa 6:9; Psa 17:1).
• LIVING VOICES SHALL TAKE UP THE FAILING SOUNDS OF DEAD INSTRUMENTS, AND AS THEY CEASE ON EARTH, THOSE OF INTELLIGENT RANSOMED SPIRITS AND HOLY ANGELS, AS WITH THE SOUND OF MIGHTY THUNDERS, WILL PROLONG ETERNALLY THE PRAISE, SAYING: "ALLELUIA! SALVATION, AND GLORY, AND HONOR, AND POWER, UNTO THE LORD OUR GOD;" "ALLELUIA! FOR THE LORD GOD OMNIPOTENT REIGNETH." AMEN!.

TSK: Psalms (Book Introduction)

The Psalms have been the general song of the universal Church; and in their praise, all the Fathers have been unanimously eloquent. Men of all nations find in these compositions a language at once suitable to their feelings, and expressive of their highest joys and deepest sorrows, as well as of all the endlessly varied wishes and desires of their hearts. Whether the pious believer is disposed to indulge the exalted sentiments of praise and thanksgiving towards the ALMIGHTY FATHER of his being; to pour out his soul in penitence or prayer; to bewail, with tears of contrition, past offences; to magnify the goodness and mercy of GOD; to dwell with ecstacy on the divine attributes of wisdom and omnipotence; or to rejoice in the coming of the MESSIAH, the Psalms afford him the most perfect models for expressing all his feelings.

TSK: Psalms 89 (Chapter Introduction)

Overview

Psa 89:1, The psalmist praises God for his covenant; Psa 89:5, for his wonderful power; Psa 89:15, for the care of his church; Psa 89:19, for his favour to the kingdom of David; Psa 89:38, Then complaining of contrary events, Psa 89:46, he expostulates, prays, and blesses God.

A Psalm for Ethan, the Ezrahite, to give instructions. This Psalm is generally supposed to have been written during the Babylonian captivity, when, the family of David being dethroned, and the royal family ruined, the Divine promises had apparently failed.

Poole: Psalms (Book Introduction)

OF PSALMS

THE ARGUMENT

The divine authority of this Book of PSALMS is so certain and evident, that it was never questioned in the church; which being fixed, it is of small moment that the penman of some of them is not now known; nor doth this any more lessen its authority, than it invalidates the decree of a prince, or an act of parliament, that it is not certain by whose pen it was drawn up. Most of them were composed by David, as is evident, both from the title of them, and from the express testimony of the New Testament concerning some of them; and that by the inspiration of God’ s Spirit, as appears both from the Divine matter and frame of them, and from 2Sa 23:1 Mat 22:43 Act 1:16 2:25 . But some of them were composed by other persons; by Moses, as Ps 90 , by Heman, and Ethan, and Asaph, as the title of the Psalms show; and by others after their times, whose names are not mentioned, as is manifest from Ps 126 Ps 127 . It is apparent that the Psalms were not written in the order in which they now lie; and they were put into this order either by Ezra, as the Hebrew doctors affirm, or by some other holy prophet or prophets. It is sufficient for us that the whole book is owned as canonical by our blessed Saviour, Luk 24:44 .

PSALM 1

Poole: Psalms 89 (Chapter Introduction)

THE ARGUMENT

This Psalm manifestly treats of the declining and calamitous time and state of the house and kingdom of David, either, first, in Rehoboam’ s reign, as a late judicious interpreter conceives; to which those expressions, Psa 89:40-42 , do not agree; or rather, secondly, in or about the time of tim Babylonish captivity.

Either, first, he who is mentioned 1Ki 4:31 . And then the Psalm is prophetical of things to come; which yet, after the manner of the prophets, he represents as present. And this prophetical Psalm might be left upon record as a cordial for David’ s family in their future distresses, which Ethan by the Spirit of prophecy foresaw. Or, secondly, Some other person of the same name, and inspired by the same Spirit, Who had lived in the times of which the psalmist here speaketh.

The psalmist praiseth God for making and keeping covenant with David and his seed, Psa 89:1-4 ; for his great power and care over his church, Psa 89:5-18 ; for his favours to the kingdom of David, Psa 89:19-22 . The destruction of his enemies, Psa 89:23 . The faithfulness of God to them in covenant with him, Psa 89:24-37 . Complaining of contrary events, Psa 89:38-45 , he expostulateth with, prayeth unto, and blesseth the Lord, Psa 89:46-52 .

Intending to discourse of the doleful estate of David’ s family and of his kingdom, he prefaceth this, partly lest the following complaints of present miseries should argue ingratitude for former mercies. Thy faithfulness ; whatsoever hath befallen or shall befall David’ s house, or any other, it proceeded not from thy unfaithfulness, but from some other causes.

MHCC: Psalms (Book Introduction)

David was the penman of most of the psalms, but some evidently were composed by other writers, and the writers of some are doubtful. But all were written by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost; and no part of the Old Testament is more frequently quoted or referred to in the New. Every psalm either points directly to Christ, in his person, his character, and offices; or may lead the believer's thoughts to Him. And the psalms are the language of the believer's heart, whether mourning for sin, thirsting after God, or rejoicing in Him. Whether burdened with affliction, struggling with temptation, or triumphing in the hope or enjoyment of deliverance; whether admiring the Divine perfections, thanking God for his mercies, mediating on his truths, or delighting in his service; they form a Divinely appointed standard of experience, by which we may judge ourselves. Their value, in this view, is very great, and the use of them will increase with the growth of the power of true religion in the heart. By the psalmist's expressions, the Spirit helps us to pray. If we make the psalms familiar to us, whatever we have to ask at the throne of grace, by way of confession, petition, or thanksgiving, we may be assisted from thence. Whatever devout affection is working in us, holy desire or hope, sorrow or joy, we may here find words to clothe it; sound speech which cannot be condemned. In the language of this Divine book, the prayers and praises of the church have been offered up to the throne of grace from age to age.

MHCC: Psalms 89 (Chapter Introduction)

(Psa 89:1-4) God's mercy and truth, and his covenant.

(Psa 89:5-14) The glory and perfection of God.

(Psa 89:15-18) The happiness of those in communion with him.

(v. 19-37) God's covenant with David, as a type of Christ.

(Psa 89:38-52) A calamitous state lamented, Prayer for redress.

Matthew Henry: Psalms (Book Introduction)

An Exposition, with Practical Observations, of The Book of Psalms

We have now before us one of the choicest and most excellent parts of all the Old Testament; nay, so much is there in it of Christ and his gospel, as well as of God and his law, that it had been called the abstract, or summary, of both Testaments. The History of Israel, which we were long upon, let us to camps and council-boards, and there entertained and instructed us in the knowledge of God. The book of Job brought us into the schools, and treated us with profitable disputations concerning God and his providence. But this book brings us into the sanctuary, draws us off from converse with men, with the politicians, philosophers, or disputers of this world, and directs us into communion with God, by solacing and reposing our souls in him, lifting up and letting out our hearts towards him. Thus may we be in the mount with God; and we understand not our interests if we say not, It is good to be here. Let us consider,

I. The title of this book. It is called, 1. The Psalms; under that title it is referred to, Luk 24:44. The Hebrew calls it Tehillim , which properly signifies Psalms of praise, because many of them are such; but Psalms is a more general word, meaning all metrical compositions fitted to be sung, which may as well be historical, doctrinal, or supplicatory, as laudatory. Though singing be properly the voice of joy, yet the intention of songs is of a much greater latitude, to assist the memory, and both to express and to excite all the other affections as well as this of joy. The priests had a mournful muse as well as joyful ones; and the divine institution of singing psalms is thus largely intended; for we are directed not only to praise God, but to teach and admonish ourselves and one another in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, Col 3:16. 2. It is called the Book of Psalms; so it is quoted by St. Peter, Act 1:20. It is a collection of psalms, of all the psalms that were divinely inspired, which, though composed at several times and upon several occasions, are here put together without any reference to or dependence upon one another; thus they were preserved from being scattered and lost, and were in so much greater readiness for the service of the church. See what a good master we serve, and what pleasantness there is in wisdom's ways, when we are not only commanded to sing at our work, and have cause enough given us to do so, but have words also put in our mouths and songs prepared to our hands.

II. The author of this book. It is, no doubt, derived originally from the blessed Spirit. They are spiritual songs, words which the Holy Ghost taught. The penman of most of them was David the son of Jesse, who is therefore called the sweet psalmist of Israel, 2Sa 23:1. Some that have not his name in their titles yet are expressly ascribed to him elsewhere, as Psa 2:1-12 (Act 4:25) and Psa 96:1-13 and 105 (1 Chr. 16). One psalm is expressly said to be the prayer of Moses (Ps. 90); and that some of the psalms were penned by Asaph is intimated, 2Ch 29:30, where they are said to praise the Lord in the words of David and Asaph , who is there called a seer or prophet. Some of the psalms seem to have been penned long after, as Psa 137:1-9, at the time of the captivity in Babylon; but the far greater part of them were certainly penned by David himself, whose genius lay towards poetry and music, and who was raised up, qualified, and animated, for the establishing of the ordinance of singing psalms in the church of God, as Moses and Aaron were, in their day, for the settling of the ordinances of sacrifice; theirs is superseded, but his remains, and will to the end of time, when it shall be swallowed up in the songs of eternity. Herein David was a type of Christ, who descended from him, not from Moses, because he came to take away sacrifice (the family of Moses was soon lost and extinct), but to establish and perpetuate joy and praise; for of the family of David in Christ there shall be no end.

III. The scope of it. It is manifestly intended, 1. To assist the exercises of natural religion, and to kindle in the souls of men those devout affections which we owe to God as our Creator, owner, ruler, and benefactor. The book of Job helps to prove our first principles of the divine perfections and providence; but this helps to improve them in prayers and praises, and professions of desire towards him, dependence on him, and an entire devotedness and resignation to him. Other parts of scripture show that God is infinitely above man, and his sovereign Lord; but this shows us that he may, notwithstanding, be conversed with by us sinful worms of the earth; and there are ways in which, if it be not our own fault, we may keep up communion with him in all the various conditions of human life. 2. To advance the excellencies of revealed religion, and in the most pleasing powerful manner to recommend it to the world. There is indeed little or nothing of the ceremonial law in all the book of Psalms. Though sacrifice and offering were yet to continue many ages, yet they are here represented as things which God did not desire (Psa 40:6, Psa 51:16), as things comparatively little, and which in time were to vanish away. But the word and law of God, those parts of it which are moral and of perpetual obligation are here all along magnified and made honourable, nowhere more. And Christ, the crown and centre of revealed religion, the foundation, corner, and top-stone, of that blessed building, is here clearly spoken of in type and prophecy, his sufferings and the glory that should follow, and the kingdom that he should set up in the world, in which God's covenant with David, concerning his kingdom, was to have its accomplishment. What a high value does this book put upon the word of God, his statutes and judgments, his covenant and the great and precious promises of it; and how does it recommend them to us as our guide and stay, and our heritage for ever!

IV. The use of it. All scripture, being given by inspiration of God, is profitable to convey divine light into our understandings; but this book is of singular use with that to convey divine life and power, and a holy warmth, into our affections. There is no one book of scripture that is more helpful to the devotions of the saints than this, and it has been so in all ages of the church, ever since it was written and the several parts of it were delivered to the chief musician for the service of the church. 1. It is of use to be sung. Further than David's psalms we may go, but we need not, for hymns and spiritual songs. What the rules of the Hebrew metre were even the learned are not certain. But these psalms ought to be rendered according to the metre of every language, at least so as that they may be sung for the edification of the church. And methinks it is a great comfort to us, when we are singing David's psalms, that we are offering the very same praises to God that were offered to him in the days of David and the other godly kings of Judah. So rich, so well made, are these divine poems, that they can never be exhausted, can never be worn thread-bare. 2. It is of use to be read and opened by the ministers of Christ, as containing great and excellent truths, and rules concerning good and evil. Our Lord Jesus expounded the psalms to his disciples, the gospel psalms, and opened their understandings (for he had the key of David) to understand them, Luk 24:44. 3. It is of use to be read and meditated upon by all good people. It is a full fountain, out of which we may all be drawing water with joy. (1.) The Psalmist's experiences are of great use for our direction, caution, and encouragement. In telling us, as he often does, what passed between God and his soul, he lets us know what we may expect from God, and what he will expect, and require, and graciously accept, from us. David was a man after God's own heart, and therefore those who find themselves in some measure according to his heart have reason to hope that they are renewed by the grace of God, after the image of God, and many have much comfort in the testimony of their consciences for them that they can heartily say Amen to David's prayers and praises. (2.) Even the Psalmist's expressions too are of great use; and by them the Spirit helps our praying infirmities, because we know not what to pray for as we ought. In all our approaches to God, as well as in our first returns to God, we are directed to take with us words (Hos 14:2), these word, words which the Holy Ghost teaches. If we make David's psalms familiar to us, as we ought to do, whatever errand we have at the throne of grace, by way of confession, petition, or thanksgiving, we may thence be assisted in the delivery of it; whatever devout affection is working in us, holy desire or hope, sorrow or joy, we may there find apt words wherewith to clothe it, sound speech which cannot be condemned. It will be good to collect the most proper and lively expressions of devotion which we find here, and to methodize them, and reduce them to the several heads of prayer, that they may be the more ready to us. Or we may take sometimes one choice psalm and sometimes another, and pray it over, that is, enlarge upon each verse in our own thoughts, and offer up our meditations to God as they arise from the expressions we find there. The learned Dr. Hammond, in his preface to his paraphrase on the Psalms (sect. 29), says, " That going over a few psalms with these interpunctions of mental devotion, suggested, animated, and maintained, by the native life and vigour which is in the psalms, is much to be preferred before the saying over the whole Psalter, since nothing is more fit to be averted in religious offices than their degenerating into heartless dispirited recitations." If, as St. Austin advises, we form our spirit by the affection of the psalm, we may then be sure of acceptance with God in using the language of it. Nor is it only our devotion, and the affections of our mind, that the book of Psalms assists, teaching us how to offer praise so as to glorify God, but, it is also a directory to the actions of our lives, and teaches us how to order our conversation aright, so as that, in the end, we may see the salvation of God, Psa 50:23. The Psalms were thus serviceable to the Old Testament church, but to us Christians they may be of more use than they could be to those who lived before the coming of Christ; for, as Moses's sacrifices, so David's songs, are expounded and made more intelligible by the gospel of Christ, which lets us within the veil; so that if to David's prayers and praises we all St. Paul's prayers in his epistles, and the new songs in the Revelation, we shall be thoroughly furnished for this good work; for the scripture, perfected, makes the man of God perfect.

As to the division of this book, we need not be solicitous; there is no connexion (or very seldom) between one psalm and another, nor any reason discernable for the placing of them in the order wherein we here find them; but it seems to be ancient, for that which is now the second psalm was so in the apostles' time, Act 13:33. The vulgar Latin joins the 9th and 10th together; all popish authors quote by that, so that, thenceforward, throughout the book, their number is one short of ours; our 11 is their 10, our 119 is their 118. But they divide the 147th into two, and so make up the number of 150. Some have endeavoured to reduce the psalms to proper heads, according to the matter of them, but there is often such a variety of matter in one and the same psalm that this cannot be done with any certainty. But the seven penitential Psalms have been in a particular manner singled out by the devotions of many. They are reckoned to be Psa 6:1-10, Psa 32:1-11, 38, 51,102, Psa 130:1-8, and Psa 143:1-12. The Psalms were divided into five books, each concluding with Amen, Amen, or Hallelujah; the first ending with Psa 41:1-13, the second with Ps. 72, the third with Ps. 89, the fourth with Ps. 106, the fifth with Psa 150:1-6. Others divide them into three fifties; others into sixty parts, two for every day of the month, one for the morning, the other for the evening. Let good Christians divide them for themselves, so as may best increase their acquaintance with them, that they may have them at hand upon all occasions and may sing them in the spirit and with the understanding.

Matthew Henry: Psalms 89 (Chapter Introduction)

Many psalms that begin with complaint and prayer end with joy and praise, but this begins with joy and praise and ends with sad complaints and petitions; for the psalmist first recounts God's former favours, and then with the consideration of them aggravates the present grievances. It is uncertain when it was penned; only, in general, that it was at a time when the house of David was woefully eclipsed; some think it was at the time of the captivity of Babylon, when king Zedekiah was insulted over, and abused, by Nebuchadnezzar, and then they make the title to signify no more than that the psalm was set to the tune of a song of Ethan the son of Zerah, called Maschil; others suppose it to be penned by Ethan, who is mentioned in the story of Solomon, who, outliving that glorious prince, thus lamented the great disgrace done to the house of David in the next reign by the revolt of the ten tribes. I. The psalmist, in the joyful pleasant part of the psalm, gives glory to God, and takes comfort to himself and his friends. This he does more briefly, mentioning God's mercy and truth (Psa 89:1) and his covenant (Psa 89:2-4), but more largely in the following verses, wherein, 1. He adores the glory and perfection of God (Psa 89:5-14). 2. He pleases himself in the happiness of those that are admitted into communion with him (Psa 89:15-18). 3. He builds all his hope upon God's covenant with David, as a type of Christ (v. 19-37). II. In the melancholy part of the psalm he laments the present calamitous state of the prince and royal family (Psa 89:38-45), expostulates with God upon it (Psa 89:46-49), and then concludes with prayer for redress (Psa 89:50, Psa 89:51). In singing this psalm we must have high thoughts of God, a lively faith in his covenant with the Redeemer, and a sympathy with the afflicted parts of the church.

Maschil of Ethan the Ezrahite.

Constable: Psalms (Book Introduction)

Introduction

Title

The title of this book in the Hebrew Bible is Tehillim, which means "praise songs." The title adopted by the Septuagint translators for their Greek version was Psalmoi meaning "songs to the accompaniment of a stringed instrument." This Greek word comes from the Hebrew word mizmor that occurs in the titles of 57 of the psalms. In time the Greek word psalmoi came to mean "songs of praise" without reference to stringed accompaniment. The English translators transliterated the Greek title resulting in the title "Psalms" in English Bibles.

Date and Writers

The texts of the individual psalms do not usually indicate who wrote them.¹ However some of the titles of the individual psalms do contain information about the writers.² This is the only really reliable information we have as to who composed these psalms, though the commentators have their theories.

Not all the titles contain information about authorship.³ The ones that do refer to the following writers. Moses wrote Psalm 90.⁴ David composed 73 psalms, mostly in the first two books of the Psalter (i.e., Pss. 1-72). Asaph wrote 12 (Pss. 50, 73-83). Korah's descendents were responsible for 10 (Pss. 42, 44-49, 84, 87-88). Solomon wrote one or two (127 and perhaps 72). Heman the Ezrahite wrote one (Ps. 88). Ethan the Ezrahite composed one (Ps. 89).

Of these the earliest would have been the one Moses wrote (Ps. 90) and it probably dates from about 1405 B.C. Those David composed would have originated between about 1020 and 975 B.C. Asaph was a contemporary of David so we can date his in approximately the same period. Solomon's psalm(s) seem to have been produced about 950 B.C. Korah's descendents as well as Heman and Ethan probably lived after Solomon, but exactly when we cannot identify. Since Heman and Ethan are connected with Ezra as Ezrahites it is probable that they lived and wrote after the Babylonian exile as he did.

We can date some of the psalms that do not contain information about their writers in the title, if they have a title, by their subject matter. For example, David seems to have written Psalms 2 and 33 even though his name does not occur in the superscriptions (cf. Acts 4:25). Likewise Psalms 126 and 137 must have been late compositions dating from the time the Jews returned from Babylonian exile or shortly after that.

Most of the Psalms, then, were written between 1000 and 450 B.C. The one by Moses was composed considerably earlier and a few may have been written later, but probably not much later, than 450 B.C.

There is some internal evidence in the Book of Psalms that the Jews collected the individual psalms and compiled them into groups in various stages and that this process took some time.⁵ We would expect this because some psalms date hundreds of years after others. Psalm 72:20, for example, seems to mark the end of a collection of David's psalms that antedated the Psalter we now have, but which editors incorporated into the larger work. Psalm 1 appears intended to introduce this collection and, probably later, the entire Psalter. The writer of most of the first 72 psalms (Books 1 and 2 of our modern editions) was David.⁶ Solomon (2 Chron. 5:11-14; 7:6; 9:11; Eccles. 2:8), Jehoshaphat (2 Chron. 20:21-22), and Jehoiada (2 Chron. 23:18) all organized temple singing and may have had a hand in compiling some of the psalms. Hezekiah (715-686 B.C.; 2 Kings 18-20; 2 Chron. 29-32), one of Judah's best kings and one who led his people in returning to Scripture, may have added to and organized part of the Psalter (cf. 2 Chron. 29:25-28, 30; 30:21; 31:2; Prov. 25:1). So may Josiah, another reforming king of Judah (640-609 B.C.; 2 Kings 22:1-23:30; 2 Chron. 34-35; cf. 2 Chron. 35:15, 25). The last two books (sections) of Psalms (chs. 90-106 and 107-150) contain more miscellaneous psalms dating from Moses to the return from exile. It seems likely that Ezra, the great renovator of postexilic Judaism, may have been responsible for adding these and perhaps putting the whole collection in its final form.

"The picture that emerges is a mixture of order and informality of arrangement, which invites but also defeats the attempt to account for every detail of its final form. There is some chronological progression, with David most in evidence in the first half, and a clear allusion to the captivity towards the close of Book V (Ps. 137). But David reappears in the next psalm (138), and by contrast, the fall of Jerusalem had been lamented as far back as Psalm 74."⁷

Each of the five books or major sections of the Psalter ends with a doxology, and Psalm 150 is a grand doxology for the whole collection. The earliest evidence of the five-fold division of the Book of Psalms comes from the Qumran scrolls, which scribes copied early in the first century A.D. Undoubtedly the Psalter was in its final form by the close of the Old Testament canon, namely by 400 B.C.

Scope

Historically the psalms cover a period of about 1000 years, from the time of Moses (c. 1400 B.C.) to the Isrealites' return from exile (c. 450 B.C.).

In terms of subject matter they deal with selected events of that millennium. They provide us with the thoughts and feelings of those who went through the experiences recorded, especially their God-directed thoughts and feelings.

"Of all the books in the Old Testament the Book of Psalms most vividly represents the faith of individuals in the Lord. The Psalms are the inspired responses of human hearts to God's revelation of Himself in law, history, and prophecy. Saints of all ages have appropriated this collection of prayers and praises in their public worship and private meditations."⁸

Genre

"One should think of this aspect of interpretation as being like the Olympics, a grand occasion made up of a variety of sports. Though it is all sport, each game is played by its own rules and has its own expectations about how to play the game. The variety of literature is the same way. It all has a message, but it conveys that message in a variety of ways and with a variety of expectations. To try to play basketball with soccer's rules will never work, though both use a ball and require foot speed. Or think of musical instruments, they all make music, but in different ways with different sounds. One cannot play the violin like a piano or drums; nor should one expect a violin to sound like either a piano or the kettledrum! In the same way, to read the poetry of the Psalms like a historical book is to miss the emotional and pictorial impact of the message, though both genres convey reality about people's experience with God. To transform the imagery and setting of the Psalter into mere theological proposition is also to take the passion and lifeblood out of its veins."⁹

Types

The messianic psalms are perhaps the most commonly known type. They predict the coming of a messiah. Franz Delitzsch broke these psalms down into five kinds. The first is the purely prophetic, which predicts that a future Davidic king would be the Lord (Ps. 110). Second, the eschatological psalms predict the coming of Messiah and the consummation of His kingdom (Pss. 96-99, et al.). Third, we have the typological-prophetic in which the writer describes his own experience but goes beyond that to describe what became true of the Messiah (e.g., Ps. 22). Fourth, there are the indirectly messianic psalms composed for a contemporary king but having ultimate fulfillment in Messiah (Pss. 2: 45; 72). Fifth, we have the typically messianic in which the writer was in some way typical of Messiah, but all he wrote in the psalm did not describe Him (e.g., Ps. 34:20; 109:8 as used in Acts 1:20).¹⁰ The following seem to be messianic psalms in whole or in part: 2 (cf. Matt. 3:17; Acts 13:33; Heb. 1:5; 5:5; 7:28; 2 Pet. 1:17); 8 (Matt. 21:15-16; Heb. 2:6-9); 16 (Acts 2:25-28; 13:55); 22 (Matt. 27:46; Mark 15:34); 34; 40; 41; 45 (Heb. 1:8-9); 68; 69 (John 2:17; 15:25); 72; 96-99; 102; 109; 110; and 118 (Matt. 21:42).¹¹

The imprecatory psalms are thought of as a distinct type by some interpreters on the basis of their subject matter.¹² These psalms contain imprecations, or curses, on God's enemies. They have created a problem for some Christians since Jesus Christ taught His disciples to bless their enemies and not to curse them (Matt. 5:43-44; Luke 6:27-28; cf. Rom. 12:14). In the progress of revelation it was not easy for the writers of the psalms to see the details of the future distinctly. They could not feel the peace about God's ultimate establishment of justice that modern believers who know their Bibles do. Consequently when they witnessed injustice and oppression they did not usually know how God would deal with it so they called on Him to vindicate Himself immediately. With the coming of Jesus Christ and the added revelation He provided believers now have a fuller picture of how God will balance the scales of justice. It is therefore inappropriate for us to pray imprecations of the sort we find in the Old Testament. God has recorded them for our benefit, not as examples to follow in their wording but in their spirit of zeal for God's glory.¹³

What is now the most common way of classifying the psalms originated with the German scholar Hermann Gunkel at the beginning of the twentieth century.¹⁴ He was one of the founders of the form critical school of scholarship that sought to understand a given portion of Scripture by analyzing the form in which the writer composed it. Scholars then compared that form with other biblical and contemporary literature from the ancient Near Eastern countries that were Israel's neighbors, particularly Egypt and Mesopotamia. Gunkel classified the psalms into various categories or types (Germ. gattungen) by trying to identify the general situation in life (Germ. sitz im leben) that brought them into existence rather than by their content. He concluded that most of the psalms were postexilic. Many scholars have followed this form critical approach in their study of the Psalms as well as in other portions of the Old Testament.¹⁵

Most form critical scholars speculated about the origins of the various psalms and concluded that priests wrote most of them late in Israel's history. This has led many conservatives to reject form criticism completely. Nonetheless this school of interpreters has given us some helpful information, namely the various literary types of psalms that appear in the book.

Some of the more important types of psalms by literary form are the following. Individual laments are psalms by individuals calling on God for help from distress. National laments are similar but voice a corporate cry for help in view of some national situation.

"Laments outnumber every other kind of psalm in the Psalter; almost a third of the psalms belong to this category."¹⁶

Thanksgiving psalms--also called psalms of declarative praise--center on some act of deliverance God granted His people. Descriptive praise psalms offer praise to God for Himself or for His general working rather than for a specific instance of His working. The poets wrote the pilgrim psalms, also called songs of ascent, for singing by the Israelites as they made their thrice-yearly pilgrimages up to Jerusalem for the required festival observances there. Royal psalms are those in which the king of Israel is the chief character. Some event in his reign is being described such as his coronation, wedding, or going out to battle. The enthronement psalms speak of the Lord as the great king fulfilling His role in some way such as reigning or coming to judge.

Another type of psalm, based on the form in which the writer set it rather than on the subject matter, is the acrostic. In these each verse, or group of verses in the case of Psalm 119, begins with the succeeding letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The psalmists adopted this style so the Israelites could memorize and remember the psalm easily. The acrostic psalms are these: 9, 10, 25, 34, 37, 111, 112, 119, and 145.¹⁷

Message¹⁸

The Book of Psalms is an inspired collection of Hebrew poems intended for use in worship. Spirit directed compilers put them in their present order for several reasons including authorship and affinity of ideas. The compilers did not organize them in the order in which the psalmist wrote them. Each psalm is the expression of one writer who responded to God in the light of his particular circumstances when he wrote. Consequently there is no argument or progression of thought as the reader makes his or her way through the book.

The subject of the Book of Psalms is worship. Worship is the act of offering to God what is due Him because of who He is. The Hebrew word translated "worship" (shachah) means to bow oneself down or to do obeisance. The psalmists used it to describe prostration before God or some angel or another human being. It pictures an attitude of submission to a superior person. This word occurs only 15 times in Psalms with God as the object, but the idea of worshipping God is present in every psalm.

In these 15 passages the psalmists referred to God as Yahweh, Elohim, or Adonai. Those worshipping Him are individuals, kings, nations, and all the earth. His temple (Israel's central sanctuary) and His holy hill (Mt. Zion) were the central places of worship. Fear, holiness, and joy are the primary attitudes prominent in this worship.

God's people throughout history have loved the Psalter. There are a number of reasons for its popularity. First, it is a collection of songs that arise out of experiences with which we can all identify. It is very difficult to find any circumstance in life that does not find expression in some psalm or another. Some arose out of prosperity, others out of adversity. Some psalms deal with holiness, and others with sinfulness. Some are laments that bewail the worst of situations whereas others are triumphant hymns of joy and thanksgiving. Some look back to the past while others look forward to the future.

The psalms are great because their writers composed them out of their most profound experiences. Great poetry arises out of great living. "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks" (Matt. 12:34). They are also great because the writers brought these profound experiences into God's presence. They show how people behave when they are conscious of God, the only truly realistic way to live. Therefore the permanent value of the psalms lies in their revelation of worship.

First, the Psalter reveals the person of God who is the object of worship. The primary revelation of God's character in the psalms is His names. The writers employed dozens of titles and figures of speech to describe God, but the three names of God that they used most are Yahweh, Elohim, and Adonai. When we understand these names alone we will want to worship God.

The name Yahweh captures the essential being of God. He is who He is (Exod. 3:14). This name occurs more often than any other in the psalms. Essentially it means that God is the eternally self-existent Person who becomes all that His people need. God's being is never the subject of debate in the psalms. The writers assumed His existence. As Yahweh God is always an adequate resource for whatever His people need whenever they have needs. That is because the Name Yahweh describes God in covenant relationship with His people. Translators normally render it LORD in English translations. Psalm 139 is perhaps the greatest exposition of the essential being of God, and Psalm 23 the chief revelation of His becoming all His people need.

The second great name of God in the Psalter is Elohim. Normally this Hebrew word translates as "God" in our English Bibles. It is a plural word in the Hebrew, which does not necessarily signify number but immensity. God as He reveals Himself is so infinite that no singular word can express Him adequately. "Elohim" suggests God's essential might and the fact that He is extremely powerful. God's strength is not just potential, but kinetic (i.e., in motion). It is latent, but also active. Such power elicited the awe of the psalmists. Psalm 68 is perhaps the greatest revelation of God's essential might in the Psalter, and Psalm 46 sets forth His great power at work most impressively.

The title "Adonai" (Lord in the sense of Master) does not occur frequently in the psalms, but the idea it expresses is present constantly. This title expresses the sovereignty of God, the fact that there is no one higher in authority than He. He is the King over the whole universe and the ultimate ruler over Israel. Perhaps Psalm 86 sets forth the sovereignty of God more magnificently than any other psalm.

Whenever a person, king, nation, or race conceives of God as Yahweh, Elohim, or Adonai the result is worship. We can do nothing else but prostrate ourselves before such an One. That is what the writers of these psalms did as they reflected on their experiences in the light of who God is.

The second great revelation of the Psalter is man's attitude in worship. Briefly we see man responding to the revelation of God joyfully, trustfully, and submissively. When we understand that God Himself is an adequate resource for us regardless of our needs, we worship by rejoicing. When we appreciate God's mighty power we worship Him by trusting Him. When we learn that God is sovereign we respond in worship by submitting to Him.

When we appreciate God's grace in providing all we need we rejoice. In the psalms we see joy manifesting itself in penitence and adoration. Penitence manifests joy in the following way. We have God's promises of forgiveness if we confess when we sin. Forgiveness for sin is one of God's greatest gifts to humankind. It is not something we can earn or deserve. It is a gift of God based ultimately on a work God has done for us through His Son. The penitential root attitude blossoms into adoration for God's grace. The sweetest music comes out of hearts broken by sin, hearts aware of their total bankruptcy before God. The most glorious praises spring from the lips of those who most sense the great gifts God has given them.

Trust in God's almighty power expresses itself in honesty and courage. Honesty is the internal fruit of trust and courage its external manifestation. The person who really trusts God's power will be open and honest because he believes God will exercise His power to defend him. He will be willing to take risks because he is relying on God's supernatural power to sustain and uphold him. The psalmists expressed themselves and behaved honestly before God and people because they believed in His sovereignty. They also faced danger courageously because they believed God could and would provide adequate help for His own.

Submission to the sovereignty of God expresses itself in reverence and obedience in the psalms. Reverence is the external evidence of submission to God, and obedience the core proof of it. The person who really believes God is the ultimate authority will respect Him. He will also yield to God's superior authority submissively. We see the psalmists expressing their reverence for God and bowing humbly to His will throughout the Psalter.

The third major revelation concerning worship in the psalms is the activities of worship. As we have seen, one's conception of God leads to worship, and one's attitudes shape worship. One's activities also demonstrate worship.

The psalms reveal that worship grows out of something God has done for man. Man does not worship because there is something intrinsic within him that must come out. Worship is always a response to something God has done. God elicits worship. Man does not initiate it on his own. Throughout the psalms the psalmists responded to God's dealings with them. God is always the initiator and man the responder. This fact helps us see that God is worthy of worship.

Human response in worship involves opening the soul to God. David's confession in Psalm 32 is a good example of this. He rejoiced in his open relationship with God when he acknowledged his sin. He also received God's gift of pardon. Then he offered praise to God. These are the essential human activities of worship: confession, reception, and praise.

After God initiates worship and man responds by worshipping, God becomes to the worshipper all he or she needs. God is true and faithful in His dealings with worshippers. He becomes for us all we need when we worship Him. Thus the activities of worship begin and end with God. They begin with His initiating situations in life. They end with His drawing us to Himself. In between we bare our souls, receive His gifts, and offer our praise.

The message of the Psalter then is, "Worship God!" Turn every situation into an occasion for worship. If we are sad we should worship. If we are glad we should worship. If we are in the dark we should worship. If we are in the light we should worship. The Apostle Paul expressed it this way in Philippians 4:4 and 7: "Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, Rejoice. . . . And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. You praise the Lord" (Ps. 150:6).

Constable: Psalms (Outline)

Outline

I. Book 1: chs. 1-41

II. Book 2: chs. 42-72

III. Book 3: chs. 73-89

IV. Book 4: chs. 90-106

V. Book 5: chs. 107-150

Constable: Psalms

Psalms

Bibliography

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_____. "A Theology of the Psalms." In A Biblical Theology of the Old Testament, pp. 257-304. Edited by Roy B. Zuck. Chicago: Moody Press, 1991.

Christensen, Duane L. "The Book of Psalms within the Canonical Process in Ancient Israel." Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 39:3 (September 1996):421-32.

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Constable, Thomas L. "The Doctrine of Prayer." Th.D. dissertation, Dallas Theological Seminary, 1969.

_____. "What Prayer Will and Will Not Change." In Essays in Honor of J. Dwight Pentecost, pp. 99-113. Edited by Stanley D. Toussaint and Charles H. Dyer. Chicago: Moody Press, 1986.

Cooke, Gerald. "The Israelite King as Son of God." Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 73:2 (June 1961):202-25.

Curtis, Edward M. "Ancient Psalms and Modern Worship." Bibliotheca Sacra 153:615 (July-September 1997):285-96.

Delitzsch, Franz. Biblical Commentary on the Psalms. 3 vols. Translated by Francis Bolton. Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament. N.p.; reprint ed., Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., n.d.

Eissfeldt, Otto. Einleitung in das Alte Testament unter Einschluss der Apokryphen und Pseudepigraphen. Tubingen: Mohr, 1934.

Engnell, Ivan. Gamla Testamentet. Stockholm: Svenska Kyrkans Diakonistyrelses Bokforlag, 1945.

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Copyright 2003 by Thomas L. Constable

Haydock: Psalms (Book Introduction)

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

INTRODUCTION.

The Psalms are called by the Hebrew, Tehillim; that is, hymns of praise. The author, of a great part of them at least, was king David; but many are of opinion, that some of them were made by Asaph and others, whose names are prefixed in the titles. (Challoner) --- These, however, are not unquestionably of divine authority, though they deserve to be respected. (Calmet) --- St. Jerome (ad Cyprian) says: "Let us be convinced that those labour under a mistake, who suppose that David was the author of all the Psalms, and not those whose names appear in the titles." Paine is not, therefore, the first who has made this discovery. (Watson) (2 Paralipomenon xxix. 30.) --- Psalm lxxvi., compared with Psalms xxxviii., lxiv., lxx., cxi., cxxv., cxxxvi., and cxlv., seems favourable of this opinion, (Calmet; Tirinus; &c.) which is contrary to St. Ambrose, &c. The matter is not of great moment, as all confess that the 150 Psalms were dedicated by the Holy Ghost. (Du Hamel) --- St. Augustine (City of God xvii. 14.) attributes all the Psalms to David; and it seems best to adhere to this opinion, as it is most generally received. (Menochius) --- Our Saviour cites the cix. Psalm as belonging to David, (Matthew xxii. 44.) agreeably to the title; and the 2d Psalm is also attributed to him, by the apostles, (Acts iv. 25.) though it have no title at all, no more than the first. (Haydock) --- It has generally been asserted, that when a Psalm is in this position, it must be referred to the author who was mentioned last. But Bellarmine calls this in question: and the titles of themselves afford but a precarious argument, either to know the author or the real import of the Psalm. (Calmet) --- St. Jerome himself (ad Paulin.) seems to suppose that David was the writer of all the Psalms, (Worthington) and that he has left us compositions which may vie with those of the most celebrated pagan bards. In effect, nothing could excel the harmony of these divine hymns, to judge even from a translation. (Fleury.) --- What then would they be in the original? The difficulty of coming to a perfect knowledge of the author's meaning, arises chiefly from the variety of translations and commentaries, which have been more numerous on this work than any other. To examine all minutely, would require more volumes than our present limits will allow. The version which we have to explain, is not that which St. Jerome made from the Hebrew and which possesses the same intrinsic merit as the rest of his works: but the Church has declared authentic the holy doctor's corrected (Haydock) version from St. Lucian, (Bellarmine; Tirinus) or from the Septuagint as the people had been accustomed to sing the psalter in that manner; and it would have been difficult for them to learn another. (Calmet) --- A critical examination would show, that the Septuagint have not so often deviated from the original [Hebrew] as some would pretend. See Berthier, &c. Pellican extols the fidelity of our version on the Psalms, though he was a Protestant. (Ward. Err. p. 6.) --- When therefore we offer a different version, we would not insinuate that the Vulgate is therefore to be rejected. The copiousness of the Hebrew language, (Haydock) and on some occasions the uncertainty of its roots, or precise import, (Somon. Crit.) ought to make every one diffident in pronouncing peremptorily on such subjects. Let us rather adhere to the decision of the Church, when it is given on any particular text; and when she is silent, let us endeavour to draw the streams of life from our Saviour's fountains, and read for our improvement in virtue. (Haydock) --- No exhortations could be more cogent, than those which we may find in the Psalms. They contain the sum of all the other sacred books, as the Fathers agree. (St. Augustine; St. Basil; &c.) To understand them better, we must reflect upon what key or string they each play. Expositors discover ten such stings on this mysterious harp: 1. God; 2. his works; 3. Providence; 4. the peculiar people of the Jews; 5. Christ; 6. his Church; 7. true worship; 8. David; 9. the end of the world; 10. a future life. On some of these subjects the Psalm principally turns. The titles, composed by Esdras, or the Septuagint, (Worthington) or by some other, (Calmet) will often point out the subject; and if that be not the case, the context and other parts of Scripture will (Worthington) commonly (Haydock) do it. (Worthington) --- The greatest stress must be laid on these. (Calmet) --- An intimate acquaintance with the history of David, and with the Jewish and Christian religion, will also be of essential service to enable us to penetrate the hidden treasures contained in these most heavenly canticles. (Haydock) --- David excels all the pagans in point of antiquity, as he lived 100 years before Homer. His natural genius led him to follow the pursuits of poetry and music; (1 Kings xvi. 23.) and God inspired him to compose these poems, as works in metre are more easily remembered, and make a more pleasing impression upon the heart. Hence Moses and other prophets adopted the same plan, both in the Old and the New Testament. The pious king [David] not being permitted to build the temple, made nevertheless all necessary preparations for it; and among the rest, procured 288 masters of music to train up 4000 singers, 1 Paralipomenon xxiii. 25. He foresaw that these Psalms would be of service, not only on the Jewish festivals, but also in the Christian Church, (Psalm lvi., 10., &c.) gathered from all nations, (Worthington) among whom he sings by the mouths (Haydock) of the clergy, who are commanded daily to sing or recite some of these Psalms. (Worthington) --- The psalter takes its name from an instrument of ten strings, resembling the Greek [letter] Lamda, (Ven. Bede) and sounding from above, to insinuate that we may (Worthington) here learn to observe (Haydock) all the decalogue, and to aim at heaven. If difficulties present themselves in the perusal of these sacred writings, we must remember not to trust private interpretation, (2 Peter i.) but to the doctrine of the Church, (John xiv. 16., and 1 Corinthians xii.) which we may find in the works of the holy Fathers, (St. Augustine, Doct.[On Christian Doctrine?]) and exercise ourselves in humility, when any thing occurs above our comprehension. (St. Gregory xvii. in Ezechiel) (Worthington) --- We must pray with all earnestness to the Father of Lights, and surely no prayers can be more efficacious to obtain what we want, than those which he has here delivered. Whether just or sinners, whether in joy or sorrow, we may here find what may be suitable for us. (Haydock) --- In hoc libro spiritualis Bibliotheca instructa est. (Cassiodorus)

Gill: Psalms (Book Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO PSALMS

The title of this book may be rendered "the Book of Praises", or "Hymns"; the psalm which our Lord sung at the passover is called an "hymn", Mat 26:30; and the one hundred forty fifth Psalm is entitled תהלה, "an Hymn of David"; and the psalms in general are called "hymns" by Philo the Jew ^a, and songs and hymns by Josephus ^b; and to these several names of this book the apostle manifestly refers in Eph 5:19, Col 3:16. The Jews divided the writings of the Old Testament into three parts: the first division is the Law, or five books of Moses; the second is the Prophets, former and latter; and the third, the "Hagiographa", or holy writings; to which division Christ has a regard in Luk 24:44; and because the book of Psalms stand first in the last division, the whole goes by its name. This book by the Apostle Peter is entitled as here, Act 1:20; the title in the Syriac version is,

"the Book of the Psalms of David, King and Prophet,''

with which agrees the Arabic version. As to the divine authority of it, that it was written by inspiration of God, we have not only the testimony of David, who says, "the Spirit of God spake by me", 2Sa 23:2; but the testimonies of Christ and his apostles, Mat 22:43; and, as Aben Ezra ^c observes the whole of it was spoken ברוח הקודש, "by the Holy Ghost". Concerning the penman or amanuensis, employed by the Spirit of God in writing it, there are different opinions. The Jews make mention of ten, which are differently reckoned by them. According to Jarchi ^d, they were Adam, Melchizedek, Abraham, Moses, David, Solomon, Asaph, and the three sons of Korah. According to Kimchi ^e, they were Adam, the first, Melchizedek, Abraham, Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, Moses, and the three sons of Korah; Asir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph. Some ascribe all the Psalms to David ^f, and think that those which are said to be a psalm of Asaph, or of Heman, &c. should be rendered "a psalm to Asaph", &c. and only signify that they were psalms delivered to them, to be sung in a public manner. But the truest opinion seems to be, that the greater part of them were written by David, and for the most part those that have no title; and the rest by those whose names they bear. Some were written at and after the Babylonish captivity, as Psa 126:1 and Psa 137:1. The manner or form in which they were written was metre ^g, though some deny it that the Jews had metre: as appears by the different accentuation of them from other writings, and from their being sung vocally and on musical instruments. Josephus ^h, the Jewish historian, says, that

"David being free from war, and enjoying a profound peace, composed songs and hymns to God, of various metre; some trimeter, and some pentameter;''

that is, some of three feet, and others of five feet: for the Psalms of David are thought to be of the "lyric" kind; and Gomarus, in his Lyra, has given many instances out of them, which are of the "iambic", "trochaic" kind, &c. though the Jews for many years have lost the knowledge of the sacred poetry. R. Benjamin ⁱ indeed says, that in his time there were at Bagdad R. Eleazar and his brethren, who knew how to sing the songs, as the singers did when the temple was standing. The subject matter of this book is exceeding great and excellent; many of the psalms respect the person, offices, and grace of Christ; his sufferings and death, resurrection, ascension, and session at the right hand of God; and so are exceeding suitable to the Gospel dispensation. The whole book is a rich mine of grace and evangelical truths, and a large fund of spiritual experience; and is abundantly suited to every case, state, and condition, that the church of Christ, or particular believers, are in at any time.

Gill: Psalms 89 (Chapter Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 89

Maschil of Ethan the Ezrahite. Who this Ethan was is not certain. Kimchi takes him to be the same with Ethan the wise man, a grandson of Judah, 1Ki 4:31. But seeing he lived some hundreds of years before the times of David, it is not likely that he should be the writer of this psalm; for David is made mention of in it, which could not be, unless it can be thought to be by a spirit of prophecy; which indeed is the opinion of Doctor Lightfoot ^k, who takes this Ethan to be the penman of this psalm; and who

"from the promise, Gen 15:1 sings joyfully the deliverance (of Israel); that the raging of the Red sea should be ruled, Psa 89:9, and Rahab, or Egypt, should be broken in pieces, Psa 89:10, and that the people should hear the joyful sound of the law, Psa 89:15, and as for the name of David in it, this, he says, might be done prophetically; as Samuel is thought to be named by Moses, Psa 99:6, which psalm is held to be made by him; or else might be put into it, in later times, by some divine penman, endued with the same gift of prophecy, who might improve the ground work of this psalm laid by Ethan, and set it to an higher key; namely, that whereas he treated only of bodily deliverance from Egypt, it is wound up so high as to reach the spiritual delivery by Christ; and therefore David is often named, from whence he should come.''

There was another Ethan, a singer, in David's time; and it is more probable that he is the person, who might live to the times of Rehoboam, and see the decline of David's family, and the revolt of the ten tribes from it; or perhaps it was one of this name who lived in the times of the Babylonish captivity, and saw the low estate that David's family were come into; to which agrees the latter part of this psalm; and, in order to comfort the people of God, he wrote this psalm, showing that the covenant and promises of God, made with David, nevertheless stood firm, and would be accomplished: the title of the Septuagint version calls him Etham the Israelite; and the Arabic version Nathan the Israelite: the Targum makes him to be Abraham, paraphrasing it

"a good understanding, which was said by the hand of Abraham, that came from the east.''

But whoever was the penman of this psalm, it is "maschil", an instructive psalm, a psalm causing to understand; it treats concerning the covenant of grace, and the promises of it; and concerning the mercy and faithfulness of God, in making and keeping the same; and concerning the Messiah and his seed, his church and people; and the stability and duration of all these: many passages in it are applied to the Messiah by Jewish writers, ancient and modern; and Psa 89:20 is manifestly referred to in Act 13:22.