Psalms 89

Psalms 89:1-52

Help in Another. Maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite. We have now, however, in the last psalm of the book, what is in entire contrast with the previous one, the grace of God as revealed in His covenant with David, upon which the blessing to Israel as a nation rests. These “sure mercies of David” to which the apostle at Antioch refers, quoting Isaiah, (Isaiah 55:3) are fulfilled, as he declares, in Christ, and in Christ raised from the dead, His work accomplished, which is what makes them “sure.” That Christ is the true David, he, with Peter at Jerusalem, proves from the sixteenth psalm. If David had there said, “Thou wilt not suffer Thy Pious One to see corruption,” he had himself yet surely seen corruption. Only Christ, the antitypical David, had not seen it. Here, then, is the “Pious One” of the nineteenth verse. God is speaking in the typical language so constantly used in the Old Testament, and thus the glorious assurances given in His Name are fully justified. The psalm is another Maskil, and no wonder; and it is the maskil of another Ezrahite, Ethan; whose name means, in full accordance with his subject, “constant, durable.” And here too we find what is “proper to the soil” it springs from, the covenant of promise rooting itself in what God is; “durable,” because Jehovah endures, the same yesterday, today, and for ever."

1. The two main divisions are strongly contrasted in their character. The first enlarges on the covenant of promise itself, and its inviolable nature is strongly insisted on. The second shows us how, nevertheless, the promise might seem to have failed; and this, which is brought forward in solemn appeal to God, goes on to what may be considered the end of the psalm; the closing verse being the usual ascription of praise to Jehovah, with which the third book ends. It is, however, plainly suited as this to be the third division of the psalm, and can scarcely be anything else than this; while its energetic brevity, coming after the long plaint of sorrow, seems even to give it emphasis as the resurrection of faith, which needs no argument, and precedes the answer on God’s part: an answer that is fully given in the fourth book. (1) The first division has also two subdivisions: the first of which dwells upon Jehovah as being the Maker of the covenant; necessarily (inasmuch as it is a covenant of promise) the only party to it. Thus, if He be faithful, and at the same time all-powerful, all is secure. The argument is so simple and complete, that nothing can be simpler. (a) Accordingly the first section declares the inviolability of the promise, founded on Jehovah’s righteousness. “I will sing for ever,” says the psalmist, “of Jehovah’s loving-kindness: with my mouth will I make known Thy faithfulness to all generations. For I have said, Loving-kindness shall be built up for ever: in the very heavens shall Thy righteousness be exalted.” This is what he says in view of the covenant which the next verse declares. Upon earth, indeed, things may seem for the present to be in conflict with this; and from the Jewish stand-point the testimony of many generations now might seem to be against it. The tree of David’s house is leveled to the ground and Israel are wanderers among the nations. But the heavens have for faith another story to tell, since the Crucified has become the Glorified; and they will have a marvelous witness to give when the fruits of the cross shall be seen in the multitude of the redeemed in heaven; soon to be seen in His train as He comes forth from thence, not merely King of Israel, but King of kings. (b) The covenant is now affirmed as from Jehovah’s lips: it is said and sworn. The wondrous tenderness of God’s oath for such as we are, the apostle bids us consider, in his epistle to the Hebrews (Hebrews 6:16-18). In fact, the whole idea of “covenant” is one which speaks of gracious adaptation to our infirmity. The covenant with David here -while a greater than David is surely to be seen in it -has its reason in this, that it is to David himself that it is given; and for the assurance of others with him. We must not go back of this, and argue, as so many have, a covenant in eternity between the Father and the Son, as if such could be needed between the Persons of the Godhead, one in eternal counsel. Surely, spite of its large adoption by theologians, this is only the introduction of human thoughts into a sphere to which they cannot belong.

A contract of such sort would naturally imply some diversity of thought where none is possible, and help to foster the unworthy notion of the cross being the reconciliation of the Father to us, instead of God’s love to the world being declared in the gift of His beloved Son. Of such a use of covenant Scripture knows nothing -can know nothing. Covenant with David we can understand well enough, and bless God for His tenderness to men in such a pledge. A pledge to Him Christ could not need. Yet that in no way hinders our seeing in David the One who is the Centre of the eternal purposes, the One expression and justification of Divine grace. David was indeed the chosen of God, as the seventy-eighth psalm has emphasized; and this, not without a certain character in him which is pointed out there also, spite of his dreadful failure. He is in this only the mere shadow of the King that was to come, but still the shadow. In Christ “David” is indeed, in fulfillment of that name, the “Beloved” and “My Servant” was all through, the character in which He acted, who exchanged the “form of God” for this “form” (Philippians 2:1-30). It is in this way that God Himself announces Him in the fullest prophecy of Him that can be found in the Old Testament (Isaiah 52:13-15). And it is in that prophecy as here that His “seed” is spoken of: “He shall see a seed; He shall prolong His days; and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.” Here, His seed also is to be “established for ever, and His throne be built up from generation to generation.” But we shall have more of this later in the psalm. Again the heavens come in with their witnessing praise, and the “congregation of the holy ones” would at first thought be, for a Jew inevitably, the angelic host. When we take into consideration the deeper meaning here, they may be in this application the “seed” that has been spoken of, royal and heavenly, who will, as that, proclaim His faithfulness and the wonder of His grace. (c) From this the psalmist turns to consider the glory of God. To put the question is to answer it -where is one like Him far as infinite space extends? and the sons of the mighty -perhaps rather of might (a “plural of majesty”) -who among them can be compared to Jehovah? Think of Him in connection with the assembled wisdom of the holy ones, He is an object only of reverent fear to and above them all. Nay, he is the Immutable God of hosts, whom they all serve: where then can there be might like that of Jah? using the strong, decisive word: and His faithfulness -here is the comfort of it all -is all about Him; commensurate with the outgoing of His glorious power. (d) From thence the psalmist looks round upon nature, to claim it all for Him. The sea is the very type of unruled strength and pride; but He stills the tossing of its angry waves. Rahab, that name of pride, Egypt -and here history furnishes him with the experience, -lay before His might crushed and as if slain: enemies to Him, He scattered them. The heavens too are His, -the earth yea, the inhabited world with all that men count to be their treasures: the north with its darkness, and frost; the south with its teeming plenty: they are His as Creator of them. And they exult -Tabor and Hermon, the visible types before the eyes of Israel -sing for joy in His Name. (e) Thus having seen all nature prostrate at His feet, the psalmist turns once more to consider the character of the divine government upon earth. This power of which he has been speaking is its first essential: absolute power is a necessity for perfect and universal government. “An arm with might” is therefore here put foremost. But right rule is service, and love is the spirit of service which to be effectual must be discriminative -must have respect to all differences, all relationships. And such is the character of divine rule which is now announced: righteousness and judgment -not a sentiment of right merely, but maintained executively are the basis of this government; while loving-kindness and truth, in corresponding activity, go before the face of the glorious King. As the type and expression of this the perfect Servant will be upon the throne in the days to which all these psalms look forward: all judgment His because He is the Son of man (John 5:22; John 5:27). And in this, too, the third feature is anticipated: it is a government in which the divine Ruler does not withdraw Himself from His people, but on the contrary seeks to be known and manifest Himself to them: the people who know the signal-sound -the trumpet-call by which as in the wilderness Israel was summoned to attention -shall walk in the light of His countenance. Blessed indeed are such: “in Thy Name shall they exult all the day and in Thy righteousness shall they be exalted.” The issue of their being thus with God is stated in the last verse in this section, and applied to Israel: “For Thou art the glory of their strength” -the One through whom it becomes so great, and so real a cause of rejoicing “and by Thy favor shall our horn be exalted.” Israel, conformed to the divine conditions of blessing, shall find this fulfilled to them. (2) We now come to look at the terms of the covenant which Jehovah, the True and Faithful and Almighty, has made and sworn. And these are declared with a fullness and earnestness of detail which show how much the heart of the divine Speaker is in His words. (a) First, the Mighty One on whom Jehovah has laid help is brought before us, and His might is seen to be God-given might. He is true man and dependent, -a thing which, as to David himself, needs no argument, but which is true also of Him who has taken the place of Man upon earth, to hold it not in mere semblance, but reality. In Him the higher and lower kingdoms, of which the books of Samuel and Kings so preach to us, come together, and the King sits (as is said of Solomon) “on the throne of Jehovah,” but here as the true Image as well as Representative, of Jehovah Himself. This is as far as the psalm before us goes, but still it permits us to see a Figure greater than that of David, One whom David in Spirit owns to be his Lord, even though after the flesh He is his Son. But the first verse here shows us, in connection with what follows, the action of the higher kingdom, of which the last section has spoken. “For Jehovah is our Shield; and the Holy One of Israel is our King.” The David upon whom help is laid takes not away -as many an Israelitish king did -from the simplicity of this. The man after God’s own heart was this, in that with all his failure, he never swerved from the confession of God. His psalms tell us what God was to him. And He whom he represents in this picture is the One who in His blessed work has given God such a throne as alone He could delight in on the earth. “Jehovah our Shield -the Holy One”: never could such things have been joined together, had not He, the Mediator, joined them. Thus the ark of the covenant, with its double material, holding and enshrining Jehovah’s law, declares Him, as well as the golden mercy-seat, which was His throne in the midst of the people. And may not this be the reason for the “then” of the next verse, which otherwise seems without sufficient connection with what goes before it, -“then spakest Thou in vision of Thy Pious One”? that is, as being Israel’s Shield and King, then; when the need discovered itself, Thou showedst Thou hadst provided for it? This was, of course, true of David, while faith with its longer sight can see much more. This title -“pious one” -which we have often met before, speaks directly of heart for God, the character needed by one who steps forth for Him. And thus was David in his time the “mighty one,” and in this way alone can any find true might. He, too, was “one chosen from the people” that is, from the mass undistinguished in men’s eyes. Among these in grace, our blessed Lord was found. Next we see Him as the Anointed One -the Christ: the Spirit of God being the Unction in His case. As “servant” He is marked again; for this is how the Spirit of God comes upon Him, rising up from those Jordan-waters, in which John’s hearers had taken their place, “confessing their sins” and death the due of them. Into death, then; He (to fulfill all righteousness) must come for them; and thus He must now be anointed for His work. The Father’s voice declares His delight in Him; and John then proclaims as the Lamb of God, the unblemished Sacrifice. How perfectly all this unites together to proclaim what He has done! But what follows carries us on into what is future yet -His manifest kingly glory. Jehovah’s hand is firm with Him, His arm strengthens Him; no enemy exacts upon Him, no son of perversity afflicts Him: His adversaries are beaten down before His face. Yet “David and his afflictions” were as true a type of Him as was David in his glory; and what seems but in contrast with His glory here is in fact but the manifestation of His fullest glory. (b) We have now the establishment of His power, first defining it as representative authority: His horn being exalted in Jehovah’s Name, He is the true King of Israel, acting for and glorifying God in all things; so that His faithfulness and loving-kindness are ever with Him. Then His kingdom fills the full limits of God’s gift to Abraham, as far as the Sea (the Mediterranean) and the rivers (the Euphrates and the Nile). His relation to God is that of Son pith a Father, in whom is His sanctuary of strength, His might and His salvation. Yea, He is first-born Son; and thus His kingdom swells into universal empire: He becomes supreme over the kings of the earth. With Him God’s covenant stands fast forever, His love being unchangeably with Him. David is evidently here only a faint, though true, type of wider glory. (c) When His seed are contemplated, and not as to Himself, as if there could be doubt as to Him, -the necessary conditions of divine holiness appear. Yet His seed too shall be established for ever, even as His throne unchangeable. But here failure is foreseen as possible, and such an event provided for. In this case, holiness must be manifested in chastening: the character of God must be maintained. Christ is not contemplated here, but David’s posterity in general, spite of whose unfaithfulness, the throne will be preserved. In fact in millennial days there will be a “prince” in Israel, of whom Ezekiel speaks, who will doubtless be of David’s seed; for the house of David is distinctly mentioned for blessing at that time (Zechariah 12:7-8; Zechariah 12:10; Zechariah 12:12). That he is prince only is of course due to the fact that he is but the vice-gerent of the real and glorious King. (d) But with Christ, the true David, there can be no failure -no breach therefore of covenant in His case. Here holiness itself is pledged on His behalf, for by it God has sworn to Him; and cannot recall it. (e) The promise to the seed is therefore reiterated, and the stability of His throne again positively assured; the comparisons made naturally carrying up our thoughts as Christians to the heavens to which that throne belongs, and where also a glorious fulfillment of this seed shall be found in the days to which all this points forward, when the thrones around the Throne shall be filled with a company which John in Spirit foresees and pictures for us; -a company that shall cast their crowns at the feet of the Lamb and cry: “Thou art worthy, for Thou hast redeemed us to God out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation, and hast made us unto our God kings and priests; and we shall reign over the earth.” Does there not even seem to be contained in the symbols that are used a reference to the kingdom of Christ in its full sun-like glory, as He represents it, and then in those lesser planetary thrones around the throne, where the light is but reflected, like the moon’s, and yet where stability is assured also? as it is said of Israel’s blessing in that day, “Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself; for Jehovah shall be thine everlasting Light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended” (Isaiah 60:20). Here, plainly, the sun being stable establishes the moon; which as it cannot shine without him; with him cannot but shine. 2. We are now suddenly, however, plunged in darkness so extreme, that the very brightness before seems to add intensity to it. Of course it is unbelief: for there is no darkness like this, but through unbelief. Of course, the world is always a dark place, which the One Light itself shines on without illuminating, as it is said, “the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not.” But that too is the darkness of unbelief, and it is only too easily thus accounted for. But here we have to see, not the darkness of the world, but of those who are not of the world, not of darkness, -the unbelief of believers, than which nothing else can be so distressing, -so humiliating to realize. Not that it had not plenty of arguments, no doubt: arguments that contradict what are first principles, -for him who believes in God at all, not to be argued about, but to be received as self-evident. It was but a question about God, entertained as a question, which darkened paradise itself to our first parents; and then they too in paradise even had arguments. Why a forbidden tree at all? why the knowledge of good and evil forbidden? why forbidden to be as God in knowing this? So the devil became man’s trusted teacher, and has been such ever since. Arguments! that begin in a suspicion; which “makes the meat it feeds on”! arguments drawn from a world that is out of course, forgetting what has put it out of course! and that are meant at best honestly to prove whether men it is that are fallen or God is! Ah, how the eyes are cleared by the simple apprehension of what is so obvious, that “God is not a man that He should lie, nor the son of man; that He should repent”; and that “clouds and darkness are round about Him” is not the first step in disproof that “God is light.” How strange, perhaps, to find arguments of this kind in an inspired psalm! but how good that God has permitted thus all the conflict and contradiction that can be in the hearts of His people to come out, as it were with a strange, unconscious simplicity, and to be poured out to Him; who in the serene glory of His presence, not so much meets the arguments, as shines forth in His own blessedness, and they are gone, as a dream on waking. Job-like, our eyes see Him the Unrepenting, and we it is who abhor ourselves, and repent in dust and ashes. So it is here: the unbelief is poured out here, -seems to find no answer, passes and is gone, and in one single, joyous, outburst at the end we learn that it is gone. No argument is there at all, but the sweet adoring rapture which says all -“Blessed be Jehovah for ever! Amen and Amen.” But we must go through the strange dark road that leads us thither. (a, b) “And Thou hast rejected and cast off: Thou hast overflowed with wrath against Thine anointed. Thou hast made void the covenant of Thy servant: Thou hast profaned his crown to the ground.” Absalom’s rebellion might furnish the occasion for such complaint; but for the full meaning we must go beyond this. David’s seed has long apparently been set aside, and the earthly throne has had no tenant: it might seem as if it would never have again. So have argued Christians themselves who should know better, appealing to Christ being upon the throne of heaven as if that were the fulfillment of the covenant here. But David’s throne is not the throne of heaven; and the greater glory yet cannot, as that, include the less. Man’s sin has here come in to interrupt and delay a blessing which, through the changeless grace of God, it cannot set aside and the divine declaration has already provided for the understanding of the present suspension of the promise, though the delay be long. Meanwhile the utter collapse of the nation has caused the gap in the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy which God has filled in with New Testament blessing and much wider and fuller grace. (c) What follows here is the picture of a ruin familiar to us all. Only instead of being an argument against God’s faithfulness, it is an illustration of it. In the end that is approaching the remnant of the Jewish people will undoubtedly take up and plead with God the words which the Spirit of God has prepared for them in this psalm. Their fleeting generations passing away into Sheol without power of recovery from it, and under the wrath of God against sin; are put before Him, to plead in their need and hopelessness, save through Him; the renewal of those loving-kindnesses sworn to David in His truth. They too, His servants, though under the reproach of all the nations round, shall they not be remembered by that holy but merciful government -the reproach under which they now are being also the reproach of Christ Himself? So it will be necessarily when antichrist is carrying away the multitudes with the “strong delusion” in which apostate Christendom and apostate Israel will come to a common end. Here the limit of God’s patience will in fact be reached, and in their extremity the true Joseph, the rejected of His brethren; will be made known to them as their Deliverer. 3. But nothing of this is here. Only the pleading of the covenant, David’s covenant, those sure mercies," whose fulfillment to them has been so long delayed. Here in place of that fulfillment is, as already said, the outburst of joy and praise with which now the book ends. Jehovah! Blessed be He for ever! Even though as yet upon earth all seems to be contradiction to the promise and faithfulness of God, -Jehovah He is, the covenant-God, -the Unchangeable. Not merely when we see, but when we see not, let us bless His Name. Faith is where we see not: here is its glory to God and its victory; for victorious it is and must be: shout it in the face of all His foes, “Blessed be Jehovah for ever! Amen; and Amen.”