Psalm 89:29

Psalm 89 is a Maskil, a psalm for instruction, by Ethan the Ezrahite, who was probably a temple musician or sage. It begins with praise of God’s mercy and faithfulness and of his power over all creation (Psalm 89:1–18). These verses follow, with God himself speaking. Then the psalm turns to lament (Psalm 89:38–51). The king is disgraced, the kingdom is shattered, and the psalmist asks why God has cast off his anointed. The psalm comes from a time of deep national distress, perhaps a military defeat or the Babylonian exile, when David’s throne had fallen or was close to falling.

So the covenant recited here is the ground the psalmist stands on when he prays. He sets out everything God said before he tells God what has happened, and the promise makes the lament sharper, because what he sees around him looks like the opposite of what God swore. His lament is an appeal to God to do what he has promised, made by a man who still trusts the word he is quoting. God’s people may bring him both his promise and their trouble in the same prayer, and ask him to make good his word.

God gave this covenant to David through the prophet Nathan, promising him a house, a kingdom and a throne established for ever (2 Samuel 7:8–16). The kings of other nations claimed their gods’ favour to support their rule. The covenant with David was begun by the LORD alone and rests on his own faithfulness, and it became the root of Israel’s hope of the Messiah.

“Then thou spakest in vision to thy holy one” turns the psalm from praise to God’s own speech, which runs to the end of verse 37. A vision, châzôwn, is revelation that comes directly from God, and this one is the word that came to David through Nathan (2 Samuel 7, 1 Chronicles 17). Everything the psalm goes on to say rests on it. The one who received it is God’s “holy one”, châçîyd, a word from the root chasad that describes someone godly, kind and devoted, set apart by God for his purpose. Here it is David. The title also looks forward to Christ, the Holy One of God in the fullest sense. Peter applies the Holy One of Psalm 16, whose body was kept from decay, to the risen Jesus (Acts 2:27), and he names Jesus the Holy One again when he preaches in Acts 3:14.

“I have laid help upon one that is mighty.” Help, ʻêzer, is plain aid, and the mighty one, gibbôwr, is a warrior or champion. David was famous for his courage in battle, and God says that he himself laid that help on him (shâvâh ʻêzer), so David’s strength, skill and success were God’s gift and were sustained by God. “I have exalted one chosen out of the people” says the same thing from another side. To exalt, rûwm, is to raise up or lift high, and David was chosen (bâchar) from the people (ʻam), a commoner from an ordinary family. God took a shepherd and made him king, because God chooses whom he will, and he often chooses the humble.

“I have found David my servant.” The verb mâtsâ is the ordinary word to find or attain. The one God found was a shepherd from Bethlehem. When Samuel came to Jesse’s house he looked first at David’s older brothers, and the LORD told him, “man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:1–13). Paul echoes this verse when he tells the story of Israel: “I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will” (Acts 13:22).

David is “my servant”, ʻebed, a title of honour that describes loyal, obedient service to a master. David’s kingship was service, for he ruled under God and by God’s will. The title looks ahead to the Servant of the LORD in Isaiah (Isaiah 42:1), who is fulfilled in Christ (Isaiah 53:11), the one who “took upon him the form of a servant” (Philippians 2:7).

“With my holy oil have I anointed him.” The verb mâshach means to smear or rub with oil, to anoint, and when it is done with consecrated oil it sets a person apart for a sacred office. Prophets, priests and kings were anointed in Israel. The oil is “my holy oil”, shemen qodesh, so God calls the anointing his own act, though Samuel’s hand poured the oil. What it meant is shown in 1 Samuel 16:13: when Samuel anointed David, the Spirit of the LORD came upon him from that day forward. The anointed king was God’s Mashiach, his anointed one, the word that gives us “Messiah”.

“With whom my hand shall be established: mine arm also shall strengthen him.” The hand, yâd, pictures power, means and direction, and the arm pictures might in action. God speaks of himself in human terms so that we can grasp what he does. To be established, kûwn, is to stand upright and be made firm, and the form used here says that God’s hand will be made firm with David, so that his throne and his authority stand on God’s support. To strengthen, ʼâmats, is to make strong and courageous. God gives David stability and strength together, and he makes the same promise to all his people: “I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee” (Isaiah 41:10).

“The enemy shall not exact upon him.” The word for enemy, ʼôyêb, is a participle of ʼâyab, “to be hostile”, and it is the usual word for a foe. To exact, nâshâʼ, means to lend on interest and so to press a debtor for payment. An enemy who exacts from a king lays demands on him, takes tribute from him or forces him into service, which is what strong kings did to weaker ones. God promises David freedom from that kind of bondage. “Nor the son of wickedness afflict him” uses bên ʻevel, which joins bên, “son”, with ʻevel, unrighteousness or moral evil. In Hebrew a “son of” something is a person marked by it, so a son of wickedness is a wicked man. Between them the two lines cover enemies outside the kingdom and rebels within it.

“And I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate him.” To beat down, kâthath, is to crush or beat in pieces, a word used of conquest and of smashing idols, and it describes a defeat that leaves the enemy powerless. “Before his face” uses pânîym, a word plural in form and always used as a singular, meaning face or presence: David will see God win his battles for him. To plague, nâgaph, is to strike, smite or defeat. David’s foes were real nations, such as the Philistines, the Ammonites and the Arameans, and God fought them as he had fought Egypt at the sea, when Moses said, “The LORD shall fight for you” (Exodus 14:14). The law had promised Israel that God would make their enemies fall before them (Deuteronomy 28:7).

Those who hate God’s anointed are opposing God himself. The second psalm shows the Lord laughing at the nations that rage against him and his anointed (Psalm 2:4–6), and Proverbs says the same of every plan that sets itself against the LORD (Proverbs 21:30).

“But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him” brings back the two words the psalm opened with, when the psalmist sang of the LORD’s mercies and said, “Mercy shall be built up for ever” (Psalm 89:1–2). Faithfulness, ʼĕmûwnâh, comes from a root meaning firmness, and it describes someone reliable and trustworthy who stands by his word. Mercy, cheçed, is steadfast love: covenant loyalty, lovingkindness, a committed love that acts for the one it loves and holds even when the loved one fails. The KJV gives this word as “mercy” here and in verse 28 and as “lovingkindness” in verse 33, and it is the heart of the whole psalm. God promises that both of these, his reliability and his loyal love, will go with the king.

“And in my name shall his horn be exalted.” A horn, qeren, pictures strength, dignity and authority, drawn from oxen and rams that fight and defend themselves with their horns. To have one’s horn lifted up is to be raised in power and honour and to win over one’s enemies, and a broken horn means defeat and shame. The verb is rûwm, the same verb as “exalted” in verse 19. God’s name, shêm, is his whole character, reputation and authority, so “in my name” means that the king rises by God’s power and for God’s glory. Zacharias used this picture of Jesus when he blessed God, who “hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David” (Luke 1:69).

“I will set his hand also in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers.” To set, sûwm, is to put or place, and God is the one who places the king’s hand. The hand, yâd, stands for rule and control, and the right hand, yâmîyn, is the stronger hand, the hand of decisive action. The sea, yâm, is most likely the Mediterranean, the western edge of Israel’s world, and the same word can simply mean “west”. The rivers, nâhâr, are likely great rivers such as the Euphrates to the east or the Nile to the south, which marked the bounds of mighty empires. Together the sea and the rivers describe the widest reach a kingdom could have, the kind of reach the greatest kings of Egypt and Assyria claimed for themselves.

That reach looks past David to a King whose rule covers the whole earth. Another royal psalm says, “He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth” (Psalm 72:8), and God tells his anointed in the second psalm, “Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance” (Psalm 2:8). Zechariah foresees the coming king’s dominion stretching from sea to sea (Zechariah 9:10). Daniel sees the Son of Man given an everlasting dominion (Daniel 7:14) and a kingdom “which shall never be destroyed” (Daniel 2:44), and in Revelation the kingdoms of this world become “the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ” (Revelation 11:15). The risen Jesus says, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Matthew 28:18), and he upholds all things by the word of his power (Hebrews 1:3).

“He shall cry unto me, Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation.” God foretells the king’s own prayer. To cry, qârâʼ, is to call out to someone or address him, and here it is the earnest call of a son who relies on his father. Father, ʼâb, names a bond of love, trust, obedience and inheritance. God had promised of David’s son, “I will be his father, and he shall be my son” (2 Samuel 7:14), and in the second psalm God says to his king, “Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee” (Psalm 2:7). For the Davidic king this was a sonship given by covenant, an adoption by God’s choice. Hebrews applies that word of the second psalm to Christ, who is God’s Son eternally (Hebrews 1:5).

“My God” is the word of allegiance: the king owns the LORD as his sovereign and owes his throne to him. “The rock of my salvation” joins two pictures. A rock, tsûwr, is a cliff or a great stone, a refuge and a firm footing, and it is a title for God himself: “He is the Rock, his work is perfect” (Deuteronomy 32:4). Salvation, yᵉshûwʻâh, is deliverance of every kind, rescue, help and victory. The word is used of rescue that comes through people as well, and Scripture traces every rescue finally to the LORD. The three names build on one another, from the closeness of “father” to the majesty of “my God” to the security of “the rock of my salvation”.

Christ prayed this verse with his life. He addressed God as Father (John 17:1) and said that the Son does what he sees the Father do (John 5:19). In the days of his flesh he offered up prayers “with strong crying and tears” and learned obedience by the things he suffered (Hebrews 5:7–8), and his last cry from the cross was “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit” (Luke 23:46). God proved himself the rock of his salvation when he raised him from the dead (Acts 2:24). Through Christ we too are given the Spirit of adoption, “whereby we cry, Abba, Father” (Romans 8:15, Galatians 4:6).

“Also I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth.” To make, nâthan, is the common verb to give, put or set, and here God gives the king his rank. The firstborn, bᵉkôwr, held first place among his brothers, received a double portion of the inheritance and led the family. God uses the word as a title of honour when he calls Israel “my son, even my firstborn” (Exodus 4:22). “Higher” is ʻelyôwn, a word meaning high or upper that also serves as a title of God himself, “Most High”. God sets his king high above all the kings of the earth.

“My mercy will I keep for him for evermore.” The mercy is cheçed again, God’s loyal covenant love. To keep, shâmar, is to guard and preserve, so God promises to watch over his own love for David, and “for evermore”, ʻôwlâm, sets it beyond any end. Abundant mercy is how God described himself to Moses (Exodus 34:6–7), and it runs through the covenants he has made, from his covenant with Abraham (Genesis 15, Genesis 17) to this one.

“And my covenant shall stand fast with him.” A covenant, bᵉrîyth, is a binding agreement, an alliance or treaty. Kings of that day made covenants in which a powerful king set terms for a weaker one, as Ahab did when he made a covenant with the defeated Benhadad and sent him away. God made this covenant on his own initiative, and its strength is God’s character. To stand fast is ʼâman, which in the form used here means to be firm, sure and trustworthy, and it is the root of “Amen”. God promises the same “everlasting covenant” in Isaiah, “even the sure mercies of David” (Isaiah 55:3). Jeremiah speaks of God’s covenant with David, and with the Levites, as unbreakable (Jeremiah 33:20–21), and Hebrews speaks of “the blood of the everlasting covenant” (Hebrews 13:20–21).

“His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven.” Seed, zeraʻ, is literally seed, and it is used for offspring and descendants, here the line of David’s heirs. “For ever” in this verse is ʻad, perpetuity. The throne, kiççêʼ, is the king’s seat, and it stands for his authority and his right to rule. “The days of heaven” compares the throne with the sky above, the most lasting thing anyone could see. Isaiah foresees a son on David’s throne whose government and peace increase for ever (Isaiah 9:6–7).

Now God speaks of the sons who will come after David, and he faces their sin squarely. “If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments”: to forsake, ʻâzab, is to leave, abandon or let go of something once held. The law, tôwrâh, is God’s whole instruction for his people, the teaching that shows them how to live with him. Judgments, mishpâṭ, are his just decisions and ordinances, the standards of justice that reflect his own character. To walk in them is to live by them day after day. The first line speaks of turning away from God’s teaching, and the second of a life that follows suit.

“If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments”: to break, châlal, is to profane, to treat something holy as common. A statute, chuqqâh, is something prescribed, an enactment, and a commandment, mitsvâh, is an order given by one with authority. Together they cover all that God has commanded. “Keep” is shâmar, the same verb as verse 28. God keeps his mercy for David, while David’s sons may fail to keep his commandments.

These are the words of the covenant of Sinai, where God gave his commandments (Exodus 20, Deuteronomy 5) and warned what disobedience would bring (Leviticus 26:14–16, Deuteronomy 28:15). God gave Solomon the same warning (1 Kings 9:6–7), and when Solomon turned away, the LORD told him that he would rend the kingdom from him, which brought the kingdom’s division (1 Kings 11:11).

“Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.” To visit, pâqad, is to attend to, inspect or call to account, and here God comes to deal with sin. Transgression, peshaʻ, is rebellion, an act of defiance against an authority. Iniquity, ʻâvôn, is moral crookedness and the guilt it brings. The rod, shêbeṭ, and the stripes, negaʻ, are the instrument and the marks of correction. negaʻ is a blow, stroke or wound, a word used most often of a sore on the skin and also of plagues and wounds, and here it means the blows of a beating. People then knew the rod and the stripes as the ordinary discipline of parents and judges, so God speaks as a father who corrects his sons.

“Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail.” “Nevertheless” turns sharply from the rod to the promise. Lovingkindness is cheçed once more, the same word the KJV gives as “mercy” in verses 24 and 28. The rod may fall hard, and even then the love remains. “Utterly take” translates pûwr, a verb meaning to crush or bring to nought. The second line speaks of ʼĕmûwnâh, God’s faithfulness, and the verb for fail, shâqar, means to deal falsely, to be untrue or to lie. God will keep his faithfulness from ever proving false.

Paul says the same: “If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself” (2 Timothy 2:13). When he asks whether men’s unbelief shall “make the faith of God without effect”, his answer is “God forbid: yea, let God be true” (Romans 3:3–4). Lamentations says that the LORD’s mercies and compassions are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22–23).

“My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.” The verb for break is châlal again, the same verb as “break my statutes” in verse 31. David’s sons may profane God’s statutes, and God answers with the same word: his own covenant he keeps holy. To alter, shânâh, is to change or go back on something. Lips, sâphâh, means the lip and so speech or language, and it can also mean the edge or shore of a thing. “The thing that is gone out of my lips” is God’s spoken promise, and once he has said it, it stands. “God is not a man, that he should lie” (Numbers 23:19), “I am the LORD, I change not” (Malachi 3:6), and “For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven” (Psalm 119:89). His word accomplishes what he sends it to do (Isaiah 55:11).

“Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David.” Once, ʼechâd, is the number one: God swore a single oath, and it is final. To swear, shâbaʻ, is to take a solemn oath, and Strong’s connects the word with the number seven, as though the promise were declared seven times over. Holiness, qôdesh, is God’s apartness, purity and righteousness, his very being. When God swears by his holiness he pledges himself, and he would have to deny his own nature to break his word. To lie, kâzab, is to deceive, to disappoint or to prove false. Paul speaks of “God, that cannot lie” (Titus 1:2), and Hebrews says that God bound his promise with an oath, so that by two immutable things, “in which it was impossible for God to lie”, we might have a strong consolation (Hebrews 6:17–18).

“His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me.” The seed and the throne, zeraʻ and kiççêʼ, are the words of verse 29 again, and “for ever” here is ʻôwlâm. The sun, shemesh, rises every day in sight of all, and so it pictures what is permanent, regular and sure. “Before me” means literally in front of God’s face, under his own eye and care, so the throne lasts because God himself watches over it.

Every promise in this passage reaches its fullness in Jesus. He is “the son of David” (Matthew 1:1) and “the root and the offspring of David” (Revelation 22:16), and Gabriel announced him in the words of this covenant: “He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end” (Luke 1:32–33). Peter preached at Pentecost that David, “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”, foresaw the resurrection of Christ, and that God has made Jesus “both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:29–36).

David was anointed with oil. Jesus, the Messiah, was anointed with the Holy Spirit, who came down on him at his baptism (Matthew 3:16) and whom God gives him without measure (John 3:34). The strength God laid on David is the power that raised Christ from the dead and set him at God’s right hand (Ephesians 1:19–20), and the exaltation promised to David’s horn is the name above every name given to Jesus (Philippians 2:9–11). The foes God beat down before David are the powers Christ triumphed over at the cross (Colossians 2:15). Through death he destroyed “him that had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Hebrews 2:14–15), he holds “the keys of hell and of death” (Revelation 1:18), and “he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet” (1 Corinthians 15:25). His people receive “a kingdom which cannot be moved” (Hebrews 12:28).

David’s sons broke God’s statutes and felt the rod. Jesus was tempted in all points as we are, “yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15), and he came to fulfil the law (Matthew 5:17). Then he took the stripes on himself: “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). He redeemed us from the curse of the law by being made a curse for us (Galatians 3:13), so that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk after the Spirit (Romans 8:3–4). Through him God made the new covenant he had promised, writing his law on his people’s hearts (Jeremiah 31:31–34), “a better covenant, which was established upon better promises” (Hebrews 8:6–13). In him “all the promises of God ... are yea, and in him Amen” (2 Corinthians 1:20), and he is himself “the Amen, the faithful and true witness” (Revelation 3:14).

These verses show us a God who binds himself. He chose a shepherd, put his own strength into him, and then tied his own name and holiness to a promise about that shepherd’s sons. He foresaw their sins and named the rod he would use, and in the same breath he swore that his lovingkindness would stay. His justice and his mercy, his discipline and his faithfulness, all stand together in him.

The psalmist held to this word when the throne had fallen, and God kept it in a way greater than the psalmist could see, in Jesus, the Son of David, who reigns for ever. Everyone who belongs to Christ stands within that promise. We may call God “my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation”, as the king was promised he would. When God’s hand corrects us, it is the hand of a father who has sworn to keep his love. And each time the sun rises and the moon crosses the night sky, they bear witness that what has gone out of God’s lips stands.