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Psalm 89

God’s Covenant with David

A Maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite.

1

I will sing of your steadfast love, O L ord, forever;

with my mouth I will proclaim your faithfulness to all generations.

2

I declare that your steadfast love is established forever;

your faithfulness is as firm as the heavens.

 

3

You said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one,

I have sworn to my servant David:

4

‘I will establish your descendants forever,

and build your throne for all generations.’ ” Selah

 

5

Let the heavens praise your wonders, O L ord,

your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones.

6

For who in the skies can be compared to the L ord?

Who among the heavenly beings is like the L ord,

7

a God feared in the council of the holy ones,

great and awesome above all that are around him?

8

O L ord God of hosts,

who is as mighty as you, O L ord?

Your faithfulness surrounds you.

9

You rule the raging of the sea;

when its waves rise, you still them.

10

You crushed Rahab like a carcass;

you scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.

11

The heavens are yours, the earth also is yours;

the world and all that is in it—you have founded them.

12

The north and the south—you created them;

Tabor and Hermon joyously praise your name.

13

You have a mighty arm;

strong is your hand, high your right hand.

14

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;

steadfast love and faithfulness go before you.

15

Happy are the people who know the festal shout,

who walk, O L ord, in the light of your countenance;

16

they exult in your name all day long,

and extol your righteousness.

17

For you are the glory of their strength;

by your favor our horn is exalted.

18

For our shield belongs to the L ord,

our king to the Holy One of Israel.

 

19

Then you spoke in a vision to your faithful one, and said:

“I have set the crown on one who is mighty,

I have exalted one chosen from the people.

20

I have found my servant David;

with my holy oil I have anointed him;

21

my hand shall always remain with him;

my arm also shall strengthen him.

22

The enemy shall not outwit him,

the wicked shall not humble him.

23

I will crush his foes before him

and strike down those who hate him.

24

My faithfulness and steadfast love shall be with him;

and in my name his horn shall be exalted.

25

I will set his hand on the sea

and his right hand on the rivers.

26

He shall cry to me, ‘You are my Father,

my God, and the Rock of my salvation!’

27

I will make him the firstborn,

the highest of the kings of the earth.

28

Forever I will keep my steadfast love for him,

and my covenant with him will stand firm.

29

I will establish his line forever,

and his throne as long as the heavens endure.

30

If his children forsake my law

and do not walk according to my ordinances,

31

if they violate my statutes

and do not keep my commandments,

32

then I will punish their transgression with the rod

and their iniquity with scourges;

33

but I will not remove from him my steadfast love,

or be false to my faithfulness.

34

I will not violate my covenant,

or alter the word that went forth from my lips.

35

Once and for all I have sworn by my holiness;

I will not lie to David.

36

His line shall continue forever,

and his throne endure before me like the sun.

37

It shall be established forever like the moon,

an enduring witness in the skies.” Selah

 

38

But now you have spurned and rejected him;

you are full of wrath against your anointed.

39

You have renounced the covenant with your servant;

you have defiled his crown in the dust.

40

You have broken through all his walls;

you have laid his strongholds in ruins.

41

All who pass by plunder him;

he has become the scorn of his neighbors.

42

You have exalted the right hand of his foes;

you have made all his enemies rejoice.

43

Moreover, you have turned back the edge of his sword,

and you have not supported him in battle.

44

You have removed the scepter from his hand,

and hurled his throne to the ground.

45

You have cut short the days of his youth;

you have covered him with shame. Selah

 

46

How long, O L ord? Will you hide yourself forever?

How long will your wrath burn like fire?

47

Remember how short my time is—

for what vanity you have created all mortals!

48

Who can live and never see death?

Who can escape the power of Sheol? Selah

 

49

Lord, where is your steadfast love of old,

which by your faithfulness you swore to David?

50

Remember, O Lord, how your servant is taunted;

how I bear in my bosom the insults of the peoples,

51

with which your enemies taunt, O L ord,

with which they taunted the footsteps of your anointed.

 

52

Blessed be the L ord forever.

Amen and Amen.


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 (Romans 8:31) nobly boasts, “If God be for us, who can be against us?” and defies all calamities both present and to come.

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. 536536     “The Hebrew ליהוה, must be rendered of or from the Lord, in both places in this verse: ‘Of the Lord is our shield or defense;’ ‘Of the Lord, or from him,’ i e., of his appointment, ‘is our King.’”— Hammond 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.

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.

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 Romans 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. 539539     “L’ennemi n’aura puissance sur luy.” — Fr. “The enemy shall not have power over him.” 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.


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