A maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite
89:Title This is another psalm of the Messiah – one that contains a prophecy about the Lord Jesus Christ. The author is Ethan, a colleague of Heman and Asaph in the days of King David (1 Chron 15:19). This is the only psalm of his we have. He may have written it in very old age at the time of the division of the kingdom of Israel into two parts during the time of Rehoboam. Maskil was probably a literary or musical term.⚜
89
📚I will sing of the mercies of the LORD forever.
With my mouth I will make known
your faithfulness to all generations 📖.
89:1 Here he gives the theme of the psalm – the mercy and faithfulness of the LORD (Jehovah), the covenant God of Israel. God’s faithfulness is mentioned by name in vs 1,2,5,8,14,24,33,49. The same attribute is indicated by the words “I will not lie” in v 35, and “I have sworn” or “you swore” in vs 3,35,49. God’s mercy is spoken of in vs 1,2,14,24,28,33,49.⚜
2 📚For I have said,
“Mercy will stand firm forever;
you will establish your faithfulness
in the very heavens”.
89:2 God’s mercy and faithfulness are permanent, fixed, and eternal (Ps 103:17; 119:89-90). There is no change of mind, no going back, no shadow of turning with God (1 Sam 15:29; Titus 1:2; Jam 1:17), and no one can separate His loved ones from His love (Rom 8:38-39).⚜
3 📚You have said “I have made
a covenant with my chosen one;
I have sworn to my servant David:
4 📚I will establish your offspring
forever,
and make your throne firm
to all generations”. Selah
5 📚And the heavens will praise
your wonders,
O LORD, and also
your faithfulness in the
congregation of the saints.
6 📚For who in the heavens can be
compared to the LORD?
Who among the sons
of the mighty can be likened
to the LORD?
7 📚God is greatly to be feared
in the assembly of the saints,
and to be regarded with reverence
by all those who are
around him.
8 📚O LORD God of hosts,
who is powerful
like you, O LORD?
Your faithfulness surrounds you.
9 📚You rule the raging of the sea.
When its waves rise up,
you still them.
10 📚You have broken Rahab 📖
in pieces,
like one who is slain.
You have scattered your enemies
with your strong arm.
11 📚The heavens are
yours,
the earth also is yours.
As for the world and
its fulness,
you have founded them.
12 📚You have created the north
and the south.
Tabor and Hermon will rejoice
in your name.
13 📚You have a mighty arm.
Your hand is strong, and
your right hand is exalted.
89:5-13 Ethan is disappointed by the way in which God has dealt with the house of David (vs 38-51). It seems to him that such ruin is beginning in Israel that the fulfillment of God’s promise is endangered. Why should this be? Is God not able to fulfill His word to David? In these verses (vs 5-13) Ethan reminds himself of God’s almighty power. There is no one like Him (vs 6,8). He controls the elements of nature (v 9); He subdued Egypt and other enemies (v 10); He is the Creator who possesses all things (vs 11,12). God is well able to do all He said to David (v 13).⚜
14 📚Righteousness and justice
are the foundation
of your throne.
Mercy and truth go before your face.
15 📚Blessed are the people
who know the joyful sound.
They will walk, O LORD, in the light
of your countenance.
16 📚In your name they will rejoice
all day long,
and in your righteousness
they will be exalted.
89:14-16 God is not only able to keep His promises, His whole character must cause Him to do so. Verse 14 is a very wonderful verse. On earth all too often dishonesty, corruption, and injustice reign supreme. But we can and should rejoice that righteousness and justice are the very foundations of God’s throne. God will not turn a hair’s breadth from perfect justice and holiness. This is indeed a cause of rejoicing all day long.⚜
17 📚For you are the glory
of their strength,
and by your favour our horn
will be exalted.
18 📚For the LORD is our
defense,
and the Holy One of Israel is
our king.
89:17-18 Ethan encouraged himself by these facts. God is gracious, God is mighty, and God has Israel under His protection and has chosen Israel’s king. “Horn” here means strength.⚜
19 📚Then you spoke in a vision
to your holy one, and said,
“I have granted help to one who
is mighty.
I have exalted one chosen
from the people.
20 📚I have found David my servant.
I have anointed him with
my holy oil.
21 📚With him my hand will be
established;
my arm will also strengthen him.
22 📚The enemy will not make him
a debtor,
nor will the son of wickedness
oppress him.
23 📚And I will beat down his foes
before his face,
and plague those who hate him.
24 📚But my faithfulness and
my mercy will be
with him,
and in my name his horn will be
exalted.
25 📚I will also set his hand
over the sea,
and his right hand over the rivers.
26 📚He will cry out to me,
‘You are my father 📖,
my God,
and the rock 📖 of my salvation.’
27 📚Also I will make him 📖
my firstborn,
the highest 📖 of the kings
of the earth.
28 📚I will keep my mercy
for him forevermore,
and my covenant will stand firm
with him.
29 📚I will also cause his offspring
to remain forever,
and his throne as long as the days
of heaven.
89:28-29 Observe the word “forever”. As long as the heavens endure so long will remain the throne of David, and the Lord Jesus will occupy it (Isa 9:7; Luke 1:32; Acts 2:30). The covenant God made with David went far beyond the earthly rule of a small kingdom in western Asia. It concerned the eternal rule of God’s Son over the whole world.⚜
30 📚If his children forsake my law,
and do not walk in my judgments,
31 📚If they break my statutes,
and do not keep my commandments,
32 📚Then I will punish their
transgression with the rod,
and their wickedness with blows.
33 📚Nevertheless, I will not
completely take
my loving kindness from him,
or allow my faithfulness to fail.
34 📚I will not break my covenant,
or alter what has gone out
of my lips.
35 📚Once I have sworn by
my holiness that I
will not lie to David.
36 📚His offspring will remain forever,
and his throne as long
as the sun before me.
37 📚It will be established forever
like the moon,
and like the faithful witness
in the heavens”. Selah
89:30-37 These verses apply first of all to David’s descendants, but they are true also of all who are children of God by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. From Bible history we know that many of David’s descendants violated God’s covenant and failed to follow God’s law. God’s children now likewise fail in many ways. They may prove, and in fact, often do prove, to be unfaithful. But God will not be unfaithful because they are (Rom 3:3-4; 2 Tim 2:13). Nothing will keep Him from fulfilling His promises to David. He will punish unfaithfulness on the part of His people. He will chastise all of His sons (Heb 12:5-13). But He will never make void the covenant He made with David. David’s royal house (the meaning of throne here) will last forever.⚜
38 📚But you have cast him
away and abhorred him.
You have been angry with your
anointed one.
39 📚You have spurned the covenant
with your servant.
You have defiled his crown
by throwing
it down on the ground.
40 📚You have broken down
all his walls;
you have brought his strongholds
to ruin.
41 📚All who pass by the way plunder
him.
He is an object of reproach
to his neighbours.
42 📚You have set up the right hand
of his foes.
You have caused all his enemies
to rejoice.
43 📚You have also turned away
the edge of his sword,
and have not caused him to stand
in battle.
44 📚You have made his glory cease,
and cast his throne down
to the ground.
45 📚You have shortened the days
of his youth.
You have covered him with shame. Selah
89:38-45 Ethan now reveals what has troubled his mind. He can’t understand why God has been acting toward the house of David as He has. He uses very strong language to God and even accuses Him of ignoring His covenant with David. Ethan knows this cannot be true, but it seems to be true; so he pours out his heart to God. We do not know the circumstances that called forth these words. Perhaps it was something God revealed to Ethan that would happen in the future. The destruction of Judah by the Babylonians and the captivity there of Judah’s king and people would fit the language here. But Ethan lived several hundreds of years before that event – unless the author of this psalm was an Ethan other than the one who lived in David’s time.
Observe here that Ethan says that the source of all the calamities that have come on David’s house is God Himself – “You have cast him away and abhorred him”, “You have spurned”, etc. Whatever human instruments were involved, Ethan was sure that it was God who was behind it all. And because of God’s action David’s throne, which God said would remain forever, was cast to the ground (v 44). This was a puzzle to Ethan.
Many things in life will puzzle and dismay believers if they are too much occupied with circumstances. We must get our theology and find our rest, not in what seems to be happening in the world, but in God’s unchanging and faithful Word.⚜
46 📚How long, LORD?
Will you hide yourself forever?
Will your wrath burn like fire?
47 📚Remember how short
my time is.
Why have you made all men in vain?
48 📚What man is there who
lives who will not see death?
Will he deliver his soul from the hand
of the grave 📖? Selah
49 📚Lord, where are your former
acts of loving kindness,
which you swore to
David in your truth?
89:3-4 Here Ethan refers to the covenant God made with David. See 2 Sam 7:8-16. From here to the end of the psalm he writes of God’s love and faithfulness as they relate to this covenant.⚜
50 📚Remember, Lord, the scorn your
servants have endured,
how I bear in my heart
the taunting of
all the mighty people,
51 📚The scorn with which your
enemies have taunted,
O LORD, with which they
have taunted the footsteps of
your anointed one.
89:46-51 He longs for and prays for a restoration of God’s favor to the house of David. He gives several reasons why he thinks God should answer his prayers – the brevity of life, the vanity of life without God’s favor (vs 47,48), the promises of God (v 49), the suffering of God’s people and the triumph of God’s enemies (vs 50,51). See how fitly the last sentence in v 50 applies to the Lord Jesus.⚜
52 📚Blessed be the LORD
forevermore.
Amen, and Amen.
89:52 Here is victory and peace for troubled hearts. No matter what seems to be happening, God is still the faithful God worthy of all praise (Phil 4:6-7).⚜