Psa 89:4-5 | KingComments | STEP | Psalm 88 and Psalm 89 belong together. Together they form the closing part of the third book of Psalms. Both writers of these psalms, Heman (Psalm 88) and Ethan (Psalm 89) are Ezrahites ( ; ). They both wrote only one psalm under their names. They also both wrote a maskil, a teaching, in view of the maskilim , that is, a teaching on the ways of God in the end time to gain insight into it. The first psalm of the third book of Psalms, Psalm 73, indicates that the psalmist did not understand the ways of God ( ) with the people. The solution is that only in the sanctuary we do learn the ways of God ( ). Now the third book of Psalms is pre-eminently the book of the sanctuary, it is the ‘Leviticus book’ of Psalms. In Psalms 74-87 we see prophetically the experiences and spiritual exercises of the faithful remnant, both of the two and of the ten tribes. They will undergo a terrible suffering, a suffering that will result in their purification. Psalm 88 and Psalm 89 then summarize these ways of God together in two maskil-psalms. The hallmark of Psalm 89 is trust in God on the basis of His promises. This trust speaks all the more because outward circumstances give no basis for the fulfillment of those promises. This means that their fulfillment is based on grace. That grace takes shape in Christ, in Whom all the promises of God are yes and amen ( ). He will fulfill them, yes, He is the fulfillment. Psalm 89 consists of two parts: 1. contain a description of the covenant. 2. describe the connection between the covenant and suffering. The teaching of Psalm 89 is that suffering does not contradict God’s faithfulness to His covenant. On the contrary, this psalm is a thanksgiving for the faithfulness of God right through suffering! is the title and the conclusion of the psalm and the conclusion of the third book of Psalms. For “a maskil” see at Psalm 32:1. The psalm is “of Ethan the Ezrahite”. It is the only psalm of him under this name in Psalms. Ethan is a wise, a Levite, and a singer ( ; ). In 1 Chronicles 6 we find Heman, Asaph, and Ethan side by side ( ). All three are Levites: Heman of Kohath, Asaph of Gersom, and Ethan of Merari. The psalmist, in whom we hear the spirit of the remnant speaking, is deeply impressed by “the lovingkindness of the LORD” ( ). This refers, as show, to the LORD’s lovingkindness toward David in making him king over His people. Even greater expressions of lovingkindness are attached to the great Son of David, through Whom God’s lovingkindness flows to the entire world. Of this lovingkindness, he says, he will sing “forever”. Inseparable from these expressions of lovingkindness is God’s “faithfulness”. God will faithfully fulfill all the promises He has made to David and the Son of David. He has recorded these in a covenant that He made with David. These covenant promises Ethan will “make known” “to all generations” with his “mouth”. He turns them into a psalm that can be sung to the glory of God throughout all generations. This psalm is about the lovingkindness, Adonai, which is the covenant faithfulness of the LORD toward the faithful remnant. Psalm 88 is about the suffering of the remnant and the suffering of Christ. Psalm 89 makes it clear that God can only give His blessing through His covenant along the way of suffering. Christ had to suffer, the blood of the new covenant had to be poured out, to prove the lovingkindness of God. Such are the ways of God. The foundation of God’s blessings is the suffering of Christ. Receiving these blessings is through the suffering of believers, in this case the remnant of Israel. For us too, it applies that “if indeed we suffer with [Him] so that we may also be glorified with [Him]” ( ). What matters is that the LORD is to be trusted or reliable concerning His covenant. He remembers the covenant He made with Abraham forever ( ). It is noteworthy in this context that the name Ethan means: enduring, steadfast. God’s covenant is enduring. Not without reason does the LORD give the guarantee further on in the psalm: “Nor deal falsely in My faithfulness” ( ). The word ‘faithful’, which is ‘reliable’, occurs seven times in this psalm. This is unique and endorses the importance of this word as the theme of this psalm. Ethan speaks with great assurance – “I have said” – of “lovingkindness” and “Your faithfulness”. They are unshakable attributes of God. He has said to God: “Your lovingkindness will be built up forever” ( ). His lovingkindness toward David is presented as a house that will be “built up forever”. The LORD Himself builds this house for David ( ). Therefore, it is a house with a permanence without end date, imperishable, eternal. His lovingkindness endures forever. As for God’s faithfulness, the same applies, for “in the heavens You will establish Your faithfulness”. Just as the heavenly bodies are fixed and continuous in the sky, so His faithfulness is fixed. Nothing changes in His faithfulness, just as the sun, the moon, and the stars do not change their positions. Everything that happens on earth, where so many things change, cannot diminish His faithfulness in the least ( ). Then Ethan tells what God’s lovingkindness and faithfulness refer to: to “a covenant” that God has made “with My chosen” ( ; cf. ). God gave to David unconditional and eternal covenant promises ( ; ). Those promises are firm and sure. God even ratified His covenant with the swearing of an oath. It is a covenant of which God alone takes all obligations upon Himself. David is God’s chosen one ( ). Regardless of any conditions, God has sworn to His servant David: “I will establish your seed forever” ( ; cf. ). There is talk of the covenant of God with Abraham, with Israel, and with David. The covenant was also made with David, the man after God’s heart. This is emphasized in this psalm. In 2 Samuel 7 we find the background to this psalm ( ). David is the anointed chosen by God ( ). Yet this anointed is rejected and despised by God Himself ( ). In this he is a type of the One who is more than David, the Son of David Who is also the Lord of David. He is the Chosen, the Anointed, the Christ. But … the Christ had to suffer this and so enter His glory ( ). The difference is that David was rejected – by his son Absalom seizing power and driving him out – because of his own sins, while Christ was rejected because of the sins of others. His suffering is substitutional for the remnant ( ). God solemnly promises that a descendant of David will always sit on the throne. He will build his “throne to all generations” (cf. ). He will not fail in this, even if it sometimes appears so, as we read later in the psalm. God’s promise is just as unchanging as His lovingkindness and His faithfulness. Who this God is Who can make such unconditional promises, is impressively presented in the following verses.

‏ Psalms 89:4-5

Introduction

Psalm 88 and Psalm 89 belong together. Together they form the closing part of the third book of Psalms. Both writers of these psalms, Heman (Psalm 88) and Ethan (Psalm 89) are Ezrahites (Psa 88:1; Psa 89:1). They both wrote only one psalm under their names. They also both wrote a maskil, a teaching, in view of the maskilim, that is, a teaching on the ways of God in the end time to gain insight into it.

The first psalm of the third book of Psalms, Psalm 73, indicates that the psalmist did not understand the ways of God (Psa 73:16) with the people. The solution is that only in the sanctuary we do learn the ways of God (Psa 73:17). Now the third book of Psalms is pre-eminently the book of the sanctuary, it is the ‘Leviticus book’ of Psalms.

In Psalms 74-87 we see prophetically the experiences and spiritual exercises of the faithful remnant, both of the two and of the ten tribes. They will undergo a terrible suffering, a suffering that will result in their purification.

Psalm 88 and Psalm 89 then summarize these ways of God together in two maskil-psalms.

The hallmark of Psalm 89 is trust in God on the basis of His promises. This trust speaks all the more because outward circumstances give no basis for the fulfillment of those promises. This means that their fulfillment is based on grace. That grace takes shape in Christ, in Whom all the promises of God are yes and amen (2Cor 1:20). He will fulfill them, yes, He is the fulfillment.

Psalm 89 consists of two parts:

1. Psa 89:1b-37 contain a description of the covenant.

2. Psa 89:38-51 describe the connection between the covenant and suffering.

The teaching of Psalm 89 is that suffering does not contradict God’s faithfulness to His covenant. On the contrary, this psalm is a thanksgiving for the faithfulness of God right through suffering!

Psa 89:1a is the title and Psa 89:52 the conclusion of the psalm and the conclusion of the third book of Psalms.

God’s Lovingkindness and Faithfulness

For “a maskil” see at Psalm 32:1.

The psalm is “of Ethan the Ezrahite”. It is the only psalm of him under this name in Psalms. Ethan is a wise, a Levite, and a singer (1Kgs 4:31; 1Chr 15:17 ; 19). In 1 Chronicles 6 we find Heman, Asaph, and Ethan side by side (1Chr 6:34-47). All three are Levites: Heman of Kohath, Asaph of Gersom, and Ethan of Merari.

The psalmist, in whom we hear the spirit of the remnant speaking, is deeply impressed by “the lovingkindness of the LORD” (Psa 89:1b). This refers, as Psa 89:3-4 show, to the LORD’s lovingkindness toward David in making him king over His people. Even greater expressions of lovingkindness are attached to the great Son of David, through Whom God’s lovingkindness flows to the entire world. Of this lovingkindness, he says, he will sing “forever”.

Inseparable from these expressions of lovingkindness is God’s “faithfulness”. God will faithfully fulfill all the promises He has made to David and the Son of David. He has recorded these in a covenant that He made with David. These covenant promises Ethan will “make known” “to all generations” with his “mouth”. He turns them into a psalm that can be sung to the glory of God throughout all generations.

This psalm is about the lovingkindness, Adonai, which is the covenant faithfulness of the LORD toward the faithful remnant. Psalm 88 is about the suffering of the remnant and the suffering of Christ. Psalm 89 makes it clear that God can only give His blessing through His covenant along the way of suffering. Christ had to suffer, the blood of the new covenant had to be poured out, to prove the lovingkindness of God.

Such are the ways of God. The foundation of God’s blessings is the suffering of Christ. Receiving these blessings is through the suffering of believers, in this case the remnant of Israel. For us too, it applies that “if indeed we suffer with [Him] so that we may also be glorified with [Him]” (Rom 8:17).

What matters is that the LORD is to be trusted or reliable concerning His covenant. He remembers the covenant He made with Abraham forever (Psa 105:8-9). It is noteworthy in this context that the name Ethan means: enduring, steadfast. God’s covenant is enduring. Not without reason does the LORD give the guarantee further on in the psalm: “Nor deal falsely in My faithfulness” (Psa 89:33). The word ‘faithful’, which is ‘reliable’, occurs seven times in this psalm. This is unique and endorses the importance of this word as the theme of this psalm.

Ethan speaks with great assurance – “I have said” – of “lovingkindness” and “Your faithfulness”. They are unshakable attributes of God. He has said to God: “Your lovingkindness will be built up forever” (Psa 89:2). His lovingkindness toward David is presented as a house that will be “built up forever”. The LORD Himself builds this house for David (2Sam 7:11). Therefore, it is a house with a permanence without end date, imperishable, eternal. His lovingkindness endures forever.

As for God’s faithfulness, the same applies, for “in the heavens You will establish Your faithfulness”. Just as the heavenly bodies are fixed and continuous in the sky, so His faithfulness is fixed. Nothing changes in His faithfulness, just as the sun, the moon, and the stars do not change their positions. Everything that happens on earth, where so many things change, cannot diminish His faithfulness in the least (Jer 33:20-21).

Then Ethan tells what God’s lovingkindness and faithfulness refer to: to “a covenant” that God has made “with My chosen” (Psa 89:3; cf. Psa 78:70-71). God gave to David unconditional and eternal covenant promises (2Sam 7:11-16; Isa 55:3). Those promises are firm and sure. God even ratified His covenant with the swearing of an oath.

It is a covenant of which God alone takes all obligations upon Himself. David is God’s chosen one (1Chr 28:4). Regardless of any conditions, God has sworn to His servant David: “I will establish your seed forever” (Psa 89:4; cf. 2Sam 7:12-13).

There is talk of the covenant of God with Abraham, with Israel, and with David. The covenant was also made with David, the man after God’s heart. This is emphasized in this psalm. In 2 Samuel 7 we find the background to this psalm (2Sam 7:8-17). David is the anointed chosen by God (Psa 89:3 ; 20). Yet this anointed is rejected and despised by God Himself (Psa 89:38).

In this he is a type of the One who is more than David, the Son of David Who is also the Lord of David. He is the Chosen, the Anointed, the Christ. But … the Christ had to suffer this and so enter His glory (Lk 24:26). The difference is that David was rejected – by his son Absalom seizing power and driving him out – because of his own sins, while Christ was rejected because of the sins of others. His suffering is substitutional for the remnant (Isa 53:1-12).

God solemnly promises that a descendant of David will always sit on the throne. He will build his “throne to all generations” (cf. Lk 1:31-33). He will not fail in this, even if it sometimes appears so, as we read later in the psalm. God’s promise is just as unchanging as His lovingkindness and His faithfulness. Who this God is Who can make such unconditional promises, is impressively presented in the following verses.

Who Is Like God?

God, Who assures David of an eternal throne, is Himself seated on the throne from which He governs the universe. He is the Object of the praise of heaven, which by the mouth of the inhabitants of heaven praises His wonders (Psa 89:5; cf. Lk 2:13-14). His “faithfulness” is praised on earth “in the assembly of the holy ones”, whereby we can think of the assembly of God’s people, i.e. the remnant. In Psa 89:1b the LORD is made great by the psalmist. From Psa 89:5 we see the response of heaven, which also starts to praise the LORD.

The question “who in the skies is comparable to the LORD?” (Psa 89:6), includes the answer. Of course there is no one who can measure up to Him, not in wisdom and understanding and not in strength. This also applies to the question of “who among the sons of the mighty is like the LORD”, which are the angelic princes. Of course, no one is like Him.

The reality is that God is “greatly feared in the council of the holy ones” (Psa 89:7). His power, His holiness, His righteousness, it fills everyone with great awe, even the angels, who far exceed man in strength. Angels stand and go at His command (cf. 1Kgs 22:19-22). He is “awesome above all those who are around Him”. He is surrounded by countless angels, but is not part of a circle of which He is said to be the principal. He is exalted far above the angels (Heb 1:5-13). He is the Creator and they are but creatures, the work of His hands, ministering spirits whom He may send forth (Heb 1:14).

Deeply impressed by God’s great exaltation, Ethan cries out: “O LORD God of hosts, who is like You?” (Psa 89:8). He calls God the “God of hosts” because God is above all earthly and heavenly hosts. All the powers, whether good or bad, are subject to Him, and He commands them (cf. 1Kgs 22:20-23). No host can go its own way.

God is the “mighty LORD”. No one is equal to Him in power, no one can be compared to Him (Isa 40:25). He is the “LORD”, the God of the covenant with David. He is not a God of arbitrariness, but of faithfulness. His faithfulness “surrounds” Him; it belongs to His nature and becomes visible in His actions. He is completely trustworthy in His promises. All His actions result from His faithfulness. He is mighty, He is faithful. This means that whatever He has promised in His covenant, He is also able to fulfil. His omnipotence and faithfulness are evident from the following passage.