But thou hast rejected and cast off; thou hast been very wroth with thine anointed
For thirty-seven verses the psalm celebrates God's sworn covenant with David. Then verse 38 turns: the God who promised is now the God who casts off His own anointed king in anger, and the rest of the psalm lives on one question — has God's word failed?
Verse 37 ends with the word "Selah," a call to pause and think. One writer sets verse 38 against that pause:
We might think deeply about God's faithfulness — and now we face a completely opposite condition, brought on by man's cold rebellion. For the present, in contrast to the future, God has cast off and abhorred even His anointed (here, David as a man on earth) and has shown fury toward him instead. He has renounced the covenant (the covenant of law), and cast his throne, his authority, down to the ground.
The words sound like a charge laid against God. One writer reads them as something else:
Psalm 89 takes the other side of Jehovah's relationship with Israel: not the nation, which was under law, but Jehovah's promises to David. Notice that what is brought forward here is not guilt — guilt was surely the ground of the condition in both cases — but wrath, instead of salvation. Jehovah had been Israel's Saviour, and faith still saw Him that way; yet instead of the promise made to David being fulfilled, David was deserted. There is no trace of confession of sin… Here the complaint is Israel's against Jehovah Himself — not in an unholy way, I take it, and not as blame, but as an appeal to Him on the ground of what He had been for Israel.
The covenant had named a penalty for a disobedient line. Verse 38 shows that penalty falling:
Sadly, David's descendants broke down completely. They abandoned the law and did not walk in God's judgments; they broke His statutes and did not keep His commandments (vv. 30-31). So the rod God had threatened (v. 32) has fallen on the nation. They are cast off, and the covenant appears to be made void. Their land is ruined and they are in disgrace. Their enemies are lifted up over them, their glory is gone, their throne is brought down, and shame covers them.
Which throne is in view? One writer insists it is an earthly one, and warns against treating Christ's place in heaven as the answer to this promise:
David's line has long seemed to be set aside, and the earthly throne has had no occupant. It might seem as if it never would have one again. Christians themselves have argued this way, when they should know better. They appeal to Christ being on the throne of heaven as if that were the fulfilment of the covenant here. But David's throne is not the throne of heaven. Man's sin has come in here to interrupt and delay a blessing — yet through the changeless grace of God, sin cannot set that blessing aside.
Who brought that throne down? One writer answers that God Himself did it, and did it as a judge:
There is such a thing as God profaning His own ordinance. It is a judgment on stewards who have been unfaithful to Him. So the throne of David, God's arrangement for earthly government, was profaned… God profaned David's throne when He took earthly rule away from it and let that rule pass into Gentile hands; for that throne was meant to hold earthly rule.
The psalm does not end in the rubble of verse 38. It closes with praise:
All that is left here is the pleading of the covenant — David's covenant, those "sure mercies," whose fulfilment has been delayed so long. Here in place of that fulfilment is the outburst of joy and praise with which the book now ends. Jehovah! Blessed be He for ever! Even though on earth everything still seems to contradict God's promise and faithfulness — He is Jehovah, the covenant-God, the Unchangeable. Not merely when we see, but when we do not see, let us bless His Name. Faith is where we do not see: here is its glory to God and its victory.
- Wrath, not salvation. The anointed here is David as a man on earth, and what meets him is fury instead of the salvation the covenant promised.
- Rod, not repeal. David's line abandoned God's law, so the rod threatened inside the covenant fell. They are cast off, and the covenant appears to be void.
- Profaned, by God Himself. The crown thrown to the ground was God's own arrangement for earthly rule. He dishonoured it as a judge when He let that rule pass into Gentile hands.
- Delayed, not deleted. Sin can interrupt and delay the blessing. God's grace does not change, so sin cannot set that blessing aside — and Christ's throne in heaven is not offered here as a substitute for David's.
- Appeal, then praise. The complaint is not blame but an appeal to God for what He has been. The psalm ends blessing Him, because faith is where we do not see.
Thou hast made void the covenant of thy servant; thou hast profaned his crown to the ground
Psalm 89 spends thirty-seven verses celebrating an oath God swore to David. Then the song breaks, and the singer charges God with scrapping that very covenant and throwing the royal crown into the dirt.
What makes this section unusual is what it leaves out. There is no confession here, no admission that the nation earned this. The song lays the charge at God's door and measures it against His own recorded word.
From verse 38 we seem to hear the direct pleading of the Spirit of Immanuel. This pleading declares the desolation of His land and the profaning of His crown. It does not point to the nation's sin, which had broken down the wall of their security. It sets them, as a reproach, against the recorded promise of the covenant. The word had gone out of Jehovah's lips; but the fact flatly contradicted the promise. How long would this continue? (verse 46.)
Darby reads the psalm the same way. Israel brings a case against God, but brings it in faith, not as an accusation.
Psalm 88 is a complaint of death and wrath; and this one (89), when mercy was to be built up forever, shows the covenant made void and the crown profaned… But here the complaint is Israel's against Jehovah Himself. It is not irreverent, I judge, and not blame. It is an appeal to Him on the ground of what He had been for Israel.
The verse sounds final. Yet commentators are careful to say the covenant only seems cancelled. The line of David did break down, and the promised rod of discipline did fall.
Sadly, the descendants of David completely broke down. They forsook the law and did not walk in God's judgments; they broke His statutes and did not keep His commandments (vv. 30-31). So the threatened rod (v. 32) has fallen on the nation. They are cast off and, apparently, the covenant is made void. Their land is ruined and they themselves are in disgrace. Their enemies are raised over them and their glory is gone. Their throne is brought down, and they are covered with shame.
The crown in the dust is not just an image. A real king lost his crown on a real day, and God's word fixed how long it would stay off.
While David's throne stood, however weak and despised its occupants might be, it was still "the throne of Jehovah." The last king, Zedekiah, brought on the ruin by his treachery… Now note the words of Jehovah to him: "And you, O profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day has come, the time of your final punishment, thus says the Lord God: Remove the turban and take off the crown… I will make it a ruin, a ruin, a ruin. And it shall not be, until he comes, the one to whom judgment belongs, and I will give it to him" (Ezek. 21:25-27). Ever since that day David's throne has lain in the dust, and the crown of rule over the nations has been removed.
A throne with no occupant looks like a broken promise. Some answer that Christ already sits on the throne of heaven. F. W. Grant rejects that answer.
David's seed has long seemed to be set aside, and the earthly throne has had no occupant: it might look as if it never would again. Christians who should know better have argued this way. They point to Christ being on the throne of heaven as if that were the fulfilment of the covenant here. But David's throne is not the throne of heaven. The greater glory still to come cannot, as that does, include the lesser. Man's sin has come in here to interrupt and delay the blessing. It cannot cancel it, because the grace of God does not change.
Verse 39 is a low point inside a song whose subject is mercy that cannot fail.
Its subject is the mercies of Jehovah… and their unchangeableness — the sure mercies. There was faith to say "forever," for it was grace. This gave the ground of appeal… Mercy, goodness made visible, shall be built up forever. Faithfulness was established where nothing could reach it.
The answer has not come yet. The praise comes anyway.
They wait for an answer. They know it must come, because God's faithfulness cannot fail. So they say "Blessed be the Lord forevermore. Amen and Amen."
- Cause. David's descendants broke God's statutes, so the rod He had warned of fell (v. 32) and God cast the nation off.
- Appearance. The covenant only looks void. The psalm states how things look, and that look is real: land ruined, glory gone, throne down.
- Appeal. The psalm offers no confession. It presses the complaint against God on the ground of His own promise and what He had been for His people.
- Limit. God removed the crown in Zedekiah's day, and by His own word it stays off "until he comes, the one to whom judgment belongs."
- Certainty. Sin can interrupt and delay the blessing, but grace that never changes means sin cannot cancel it. So faith answers the silence with "Amen and Amen."
Thou hast broken down all his hedges; thou hast brought his strongholds to ruin.
This psalm spends verse after verse on God's sworn promise to David's throne. Then the tone breaks: the defences are gone, and the psalmist says God Himself pulled them down.
The two ruined things stand for two kinds of safety. Older translations call the walls "hedges", and one commentator takes each in turn:
God broke down all the hedges in Israel. This speaks of His removing everything that separated Israel from the nations, so that nothing kept them apart from evil influences any more. Strongholds brought to ruin shows their defenses gone.
The "his" of this verse is the king of David's line, and what falls on him falls on the whole nation. God had warned in this same psalm that if David's sons abandoned His law, the rod would follow:
The seed of David entirely broke down. They forsook the law and did not walk in God's judgments. They broke His statutes and did not keep His commandments (vv. 30-31). So the threatened rod (v. 32) has fallen upon the nation. They are cast off, and the covenant seems to be made void. Their land is ruined and they live in disgrace. Their enemies are lifted up over them. Their glory has passed away, their throne is brought down, and shame covers them.
Notice what the psalmist does not say. He never mentions the nation's guilt. One writer hears the Spirit of Christ pleading here, holding the wreckage up against the covenant:
From verse 38 on we seem to be listening to the direct pleading of the Spirit of Immanuel. He declares the ruin of His land and the shaming of His crown. He does not point to the nation's sin, though that sin had broken down the wall of their security. He sets the ruin against the recorded promise of the covenant, as a reproach. The word had gone out of Jehovah's lips, but the facts flatly contradicted the promise. How long would this last?
Speaking this way to God could sound like accusation. One writer reads it instead as an appeal built on what God has been:
Psalm 88 is a complaint of death and wrath. Psalm 89, where mercy was to be built up for ever, shows the covenant made void and the crown profaned… There is no trace of confession of sin. Here the complaint is Israel's against Jehovah Himself. It is not unholy, I think, and not blame. It is an appeal to Him on the ground of what He had been for Israel.
The Psalms also promise that the godly man prospers in all he does. One writer weighs that promise against this verse:
Hear the psalmist himself crying out, "You have renounced the covenant with your servant, breached all his walls, laid his strongholds in ruins, exalted the right hand of his foes, made all his enemies rejoice." Then it is clear that "in all that he does, he prospers" is not an absolute promise, fulfilled in every sense, in every case, and at all times… Now it was part of Jehovah's covenant with Israel that obedience would bring prosperity.
The ruin in verse 40 is real, and it has lasted. One writer weighs what sin can and cannot do to a promise:
Man's sin has come in here to interrupt and delay a blessing. Through the changeless grace of God, sin cannot set that blessing aside… Meanwhile the complete collapse of the nation has caused the gap in the fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy, and God has filled that gap with New Testament blessing and much wider and fuller grace.
The same writer turns the ruin around. God warned that the rod would fall, and it fell:
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.
- Walls — the broken walls, or hedges, mean the separation that kept Israel apart from the nations is gone. The ruined strongholds mean its defences are gone too.
- Rod — the collapse is not random. God had already named this rod in verse 32 for the day David's sons abandoned His law, and here it lands.
- Appeal — the psalmist never brings up the nation's sin. He holds the wreckage up against God's recorded promise and asks, "How long?" He presses God with His own word instead of blaming Him.
- Delay — sin can interrupt and postpone the blessing. It cannot cancel it. Meanwhile God has filled the gap with wider, fuller grace.
- Proof — the ruin is not evidence against God's faithfulness. It is evidence for it. God did what He warned He would do.
All that pass by the way plunder him; he is become a reproach to his neighbours.
Psalm 89 spends thirty-seven verses celebrating God's sworn covenant with David. Then verses 38-45 describe the opposite: a stripped, plundered, mocked people. Verse 41 sits inside that reversal. How can a nation lie open to every passing robber if God's promise still stands?
The "him" who is plundered is Israel, pictured as a property whose hedge is gone. One writer walks through each phrase:
When God broke down all the hedges in Israel, this speaks of His removing everything that separated Israel from the nations. Nothing kept evil influences out any more. Strongholds brought to ruin shows that their defenses are gone. Those who pass by take advantage of his trouble to plunder his possessions, and his neighbors show contempt for his condition (v. 41).
The cause comes earlier in the psalm. David's line abandoned God's law:
Sadly, David's descendants broke down completely. They abandoned the law and did not walk in God's judgments. They broke His statutes and did not keep His commandments (vv. 30-31). So the rod He had threatened (v. 32) has fallen on the nation. He has cast them off, and it looks as if the covenant has been made void. Their land is ruined and they themselves are in reproach. Their enemies are lifted up over them, their glory has passed away, their throne is brought down, and shame covers them.
Yet the psalm never confesses any of that. What we hear is an appeal to God, and one writer weighs its tone:
Notice that it is not guilt that is brought forward — in both cases guilt was certainly the ground of the state described — but wrath, instead of salvation... There is no trace of confession of sin... But here the complaint is Israel's, against Jehovah Himself. I take it that this is not irreverent. It is not blame, but an appeal to Him on the ground of what He had been for Israel.
Read one way, the plundering of verse 41 is evidence that God's word failed. Read another way, it is evidence of a God who keeps every part of His word — including the warning:
What follows here is a picture of ruin that we all know well. But instead of being an argument against God's faithfulness, it illustrates it. In the end that is coming, the remnant of the Jewish people will surely take up these words and plead them with God — the words the Spirit of God has prepared for them in this psalm.
The earlier half of the psalm already ruled out the idea that discipline means cancellation:
With David's descendants there is the possibility of failure, and of the governmental consequences that follow (vv. 30-32). Still, God will not take His loving-kindness away from them completely, and He will not let His faithfulness fail. God will not break His covenant or change the word that has gone out of His lips (vv. 33-34).
The scorn of his neighbors is not only a national humiliation. The psalm's closing verses speak of enemies who "mock the footsteps of your anointed." One writer ties that scorn to the One the people belong to:
But He has gone ahead of that day of suffering, so that His Spirit might speak as with His voice in His people. For in that day the scorn of the mighty ones and of those who have abandoned the faith will fall on the footsteps of God's anointed. And if the faithful walk in those footsteps, they will share the scorn that comes from the enemies of Jehovah.
Psalm 89 does not end with relief. It ends with praise while the plundering is still going on:
Even though for now everything on earth looks like a contradiction of God's promise and faithfulness — He is Jehovah, the covenant-God, the Unchangeable. Let us bless His Name not only when we see, but when we do not see. Faith belongs where we do not see. That is where it gives glory to God, and that is its victory.
Another writer sets this darkness against what comes after it:
That was the dark night. Soon comes the dawn of the day when the Sun of righteousness rises with healing in His wings for the afflicted righteous, and He will tread down the wicked like ashes.
- Hedge — God Himself took down the wall that had kept Israel separate from the nations. Their defenses fell, and every passer-by could help himself.
- Cause — Commentators point back to verses 30-32. David's line abandoned God's law, and the rod God had warned of fell. Yet the psalm voices no confession of sin — only an appeal to God on the ground of what He had been.
- Covenant — The same psalm that reports the plundering says God will not take away His loving-kindness or change what His lips have spoken. Discipline is not cancellation.
- Christ — The reproach does not stop at the people. It touches the footsteps of God's anointed, and those who walk in them share it.
- Praise — The book closes in blessing while nothing has changed to the eye. Faith belongs where sight fails, and a dawn follows the dark night.
Thou hast exalted the right hand of his oppressors; thou hast made all his enemies to rejoice
Psalm 89 has just sung God's oath to David. Now the psalm says God Himself raised up the enemy and gave him cause to celebrate. How does faith hold a sworn covenant in one hand and visible defeat in the other?
The psalm moves in blocks. This verse belongs to the block where fact seems to contradict everything sung before.
Verse 1: joy in the mercies of Jehovah, and verse 2 in mercy. Verses 3 and 4, Jehovah speaks: "I have made a covenant with my elect one; my oath is to my servant David: I will establish your seed." Verses 5-14, faith in the remnant replies: joy in Him and His works. Verses 15-18: yours is a blessed people. Verses 19-37: the covenant, its unchangeableness and certainty in you. Verses 38-45: but experience and fact seem to say you have abhorred Messiah and made void the covenant, and all seems lost.
The losses come in order: fences down, forts down, plunder, scorn — then the enemy raised up and rejoicing.
When God broke down all the hedges in Israel, He removed everything that separated Israel from the nations. Nothing was left to keep evil influences out. Strongholds brought to ruin shows their defenses gone. Passersby take advantage of his plight and plunder his possessions. His neighbors show contempt for his condition (v. 41). He wins no victory over his enemies. Instead they are exalted at his expense, so that they rejoice while he suffers defeat (v. 42). In battle his sword does him no good, because God no longer sustains him as He does those who depend on His faithfulness (v. 43).
Earlier in the psalm God had said He would use the rod if David's line abandoned His law. The defeat in this verse is that threat carried out.
The seed of David entirely broke down. They forsook the law and did not walk in God's judgments. They broke His statutes and did not keep His commandments (vv. 30-31). So the threatened rod (v. 32) has fallen upon the nation. They are cast off, and it looks as if the covenant has been made void. Their land is ruined and they themselves are in reproach. Their enemies are exalted over them. Their glory has passed away and their throne has come down. Shame covers them.
The ruin is not traced back to the nation's sin here. It is set beside the promise instead.
From verse 38 we seem to listen to the immediate pleading of the Spirit of Immanuel. The desolation of His land and the profaning of His crown are declared. They are not traced to the national sin, which had broken down the wall of their security. They are set in reproachful contrast to the recorded promise of the covenant. The word had gone out of Jehovah's lips, but the fact was in pointed contradiction to the promise. How long should this be? (verse 46.)
Another writer hears appeal in it, not resentment:
Here the complaint is Israel's against Jehovah Himself. It is not unholy blame, I think, but an appeal to Him on the ground of what He had been for Israel.
The rejoicing enemies are not just triumphing over a nation. They are jeering at the path of God's own Anointed, and anyone who walks that path collects the same insults.
He has anticipated that day of suffering, so that His Spirit might speak as with His voice in His people. For in that day the reproach of the mighty ones and apostates will reproach the footsteps of God's anointed. And if the faithful walk in those footsteps, they will share the reproach from the enemies of Jehovah.
One writer reads the same wreckage the other way round.
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 coming end, the remnant of the Jewish people will take up the words the Spirit of God has prepared for them in this psalm. They will certainly plead those words with God.
So the psalm ends in blessing, not bitterness. On the ground, nothing has changed yet.
On earth everything may still seem to contradict the promise and faithfulness of God. Yet Jehovah He is — the covenant-God, the Unchangeable. Let us bless His Name not only when we see, but when we do not see. Faith is where we do not see: here is its glory to God and its victory.
- Cause — the rod warned of in verse 32 has fallen. God removed the hedge, the defences went down, and the enemy's hand rose.
- Complaint — the psalm does not argue from the nation's sin here. It lays the ruin beside the sworn promise and asks "How long?"
- Appeal — the words are not blame but a plea addressed to God on the ground of what He has already been to His people.
- Company — the mockery aimed at the Anointed falls on everyone who walks in His footsteps. The faithful share His reproach.
- Conclusion — read this way, the wreckage illustrates God's faithfulness instead of disproving it. Faith blesses the unchanging covenant-God while it still sees nothing.
Yea, thou hast turned back the edge of his sword, and hast not made him stand in the battle.
Psalm 89 spends thirty-seven verses celebrating God's sworn covenant with David, then turns into a list of losses. Verse 43 puts God Himself behind the defeat, which raises a hard question: how can a blunted sword stand beside promises God said He would never break?
One writer traces the useless sword to God: He is no longer holding His man up in the fight.
In battle his sword does him no good. God no longer sustains him as He sustains those who depend on His faithfulness (v. 43).
Israel never had strength of its own to fall back on. One writer shows this from an earlier defeat:
If sin kept them from bringing the resources of God to bear on their circumstances, they were weaker than other men. Israel's only hope was in God. If God were not there, and it were simply a fight between man and man, an Israelite was no match for a Philistine.
Verse 43 sits inside a run of losses that begins at verse 38. One writer reads them as the rod God threatened in verse 32 now falling.
(vv. 38-45) Sadly, the seed of David broke down completely. They abandoned the law and did not walk in God's judgments. They broke His statutes and did not keep His commandments (vv. 30-31). So the rod God threatened (v. 32) has fallen on the nation. They are cast off, and it seems the covenant has been made void. Their land is ruined and they themselves are in disgrace. Their enemies are lifted up over them. Their glory has passed away. Their throne is brought down. Shame covers them.
Commentators differ on what drives this section. One asks whether Israel's complaint against God is itself wrong:
Psalm 88 is a complaint about death and wrath. And Psalm 89, which speaks of mercy being built up for ever, shows the covenant made void and the crown dishonoured… But here the complaint is Israel's against Jehovah Himself. It is not unholy, I judge — not blame, but an appeal to Him on the ground of what He had been for Israel.
Another hears a greater voice from verse 38 on, and notes what the pleading leaves out:
From verse 38 we seem to hear the direct pleading of the Spirit of Immanuel. The ruin of His land and the dishonouring of His crown are set out. They are not linked to the nation's sin, which had broken down the wall of their safety. They are held up in reproachful contrast to the promise recorded in the covenant. The word had gone out of Jehovah's lips, but the fact flatly contradicted the promise. How long should this last? (verse 46.)
The obvious use of these verses is as evidence against God. One writer turns that around:
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 coming, the remnant of the Jewish people will surely take up these words and plead them with God. They are the words the Spirit of God has prepared for them in this psalm.
One writer answers those who apply the psalm to someone other than David's line:
If you will take the trouble to read the psalm, you will find it is a complaint that the family of David is completely overthrown, his crown thrown to the ground, and everything contrary to the hope founded on this promise… Now if you apply it to David's seed, which is what the psalm speaks of, the case is quite clear. It has been set aside. Their throne has been cast down. As Ezekiel says, "I will overturn, overturn, overturn it, until he comes whose right it is, and I will give it to him."
The words from Ezekiel follow an older translation than the ESV.
- God's hand. Verse 43 traces the blunted sword and the lost battle to God. He no longer holds up the man He once carried to victory.
- God's absence. Without Him His people are weaker than anyone else. He was always their only strength.
- God's rod. This defeat is one loss among many: ruined land, enemies lifted up, a fallen throne, shame. It is the discipline the covenant itself had warned of.
- God's promise. The complaint offers no excuse and no confession. It holds God's promise up against the facts and asks, "How long?"
- God's faithfulness. The ruin argues for Him, not against Him. The throne lies overturned only until He comes whose right it is.
Thou hast made his brightness to cease, and cast his throne down to the ground;
Psalm 89 spends forty verses celebrating God's sworn promise to David. Then it turns to a ruined kingdom and a throne thrown down, which raises a hard question: had God's word failed?
The throne thrown to the ground is David's, and its fall was no ordinary change of government. One writer explains why this loss mattered to every nation, not only to Israel:
David's throne has a place in God's ways that no other throne has ever had, or can have. It is the centre of God's government of the earth, and only the Lord Jesus can fill it perfectly. It was a sad day for all the nations, as well as for Israel, when Jehovah in righteousness had to "make his splendor to cease and cast his throne to the ground" (Psalm 89:44). Then "the times of the Gentiles" began (Luke 21:24).
The verse names God as the one who threw the throne down. One writer sets what Israel lost beside the covering it could have had:
What he once gloried in is lost. God has stepped in — not in saving power, but in disciplining judgment — casting the throne of his lost authority down to the ground (v. 44). So his days have been cut short, and shame covers him instead of the grace of God (v. 45). How dreadful the low state of a nation God once honored and blessed! Again the word "Selah" is added: "pause and consider."
So had God torn up His promise? One writer answers that the covenant itself had already provided for this fall:
No, the covenant with David and his offspring is not broken. Far from it: the captivity was part of the chastening the covenant itself promised if David's children failed to walk in his steps. But power did change hands. It passed from Israel altogether to the Gentiles.
Some say Christ already reigns in heaven, so the promise is kept and the empty throne on earth no longer matters. One writer answers that argument head-on:
For a long time David's offspring has seemed to be set aside, and the throne on earth has had no one on it. It might seem as if it never will again. Christians who should know better have argued this way, pointing to Christ on 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 cannot, in that way, include the lesser. Man's sin has come in here to interrupt and delay a blessing, but because the grace of God never changes, sin cannot set that blessing aside… Meanwhile the total collapse of the nation has left the gap in the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, and God has filled that gap with New Testament blessing and much wider, fuller grace.
So the ruin proves the opposite of what it looks like. The same writer adds that these words will be prayed again:
Instead of being an argument against God's faithfulness, it is an illustration of it. In the end that is coming, the remnant of the Jewish people will surely take up these words and plead them with God — the words the Spirit of God has prepared for them in this psalm.
One writer points to the feature of this psalm that stands out most:
Psalm 89 has one remarkable feature we should notice here. It is reliance on the faithfulness of God according to His original word of promise, when everything on the outside is against it. And the expectation of fulfilment rests on mercy — in fact on Christ, in whom all the promised mercies come together.
The distinction between the throne cast down here and the throne Christ occupies now is drawn carefully:
Jehovah would no longer have a throne on earth. His throne had been the one unique throne of David's house (1 Chron. 29:23). Other kings reign by God's providence. But Jehovah reigned through David and his line alone, looking ahead to One greater than all of them — the Messiah… Until He comes to take the throne of David, power passes to the Gentiles. Right now He is on His Father's throne, plainly not on His own (Rev. 3:21).
- Cast down — the splendor that ended was not just a royal family's prestige. It was the one throne on earth through which God ruled.
- Not cancelled — the covenant itself promised this chastening if David's sons failed. The fall keeps the covenant; it does not break it.
- Not replaced — power passed to the Gentiles and their times began. But God ruled through David's line alone, and no other throne took its place.
- Not wasted — God filled the gap left by the collapse with wider, fuller grace. Sin could delay the blessing, never set it aside.
- Not forgotten — faith holds God's sworn word when everything visible says otherwise, and waits for the Messiah to take the throne.
The days of his youth hast thou shortened; thou hast covered him with shame. Selah.
This line ends a long list of losses in Psalm 89. It is spoken to the same God who had just sworn an unbreakable covenant with David's house. So has God's promise failed? Or does something else explain the ruin of the king and his people?
Verses 38 to 45 read as the exact opposite of what God swore earlier in the psalm. One outline of the psalm marks the turn:
Verses 19–37: the covenant, unchangeable and certain in You. Verses 38–45: but experience and fact seem to say You have hated Messiah and made the covenant void, and all seems lost. Verse 46: How long, Jehovah, have Your enemies reproached the footsteps of Your Messiah?
The psalm had already set a condition. If David's sons turned from God's law, the rod would come. Verses 38–45 are that rod falling.
The seed of David entirely broke down. They forsook the law and did not walk in God's judgments. They broke His statutes and did not keep His commandments (vv. 30–31). So the threatened rod (v. 32) has fallen upon the nation. They are cast off, and it looks as if the covenant is void. Their land is ruined and they are in disgrace. Their enemies are lifted up over them. Their glory has passed away, their throne is brought down, and they are covered with shame.
Shame now covers the king, in place of the covering he once had.
What he once gloried in is lost. God has stepped in — not in saving power, but in disciplining judgment — casting the throne of his lost authority down to the ground (v. 44). So his days are shortened, and shame covers him instead of the covering of the grace of God (v. 45). How dreadful is the debased condition of a nation once so honoured and blessed by God! Again the word "Selah" is added: pause and consider.
Every verb in the verse points at God: You have cut short, You have covered. Yet commentators hear no rebellion in that.
Psalm 88 is a complaint of death and wrath; and this one (89), when mercy was to be built up for ever, shows the covenant made void and the crown profaned… But here the complaint is Israel's against Jehovah Himself — not, I take it, in an unholy way, as blame, but as an appeal to Him on the ground of what He had been for Israel.
A shortened reign and a crown in the dust look like proof that God's word failed. Commentators read it the other way round.
Man's sin has come in here to interrupt and delay a blessing. Because the grace of God never changes, sin cannot set that blessing aside. And God's own declaration has already explained why the promise is on hold now, however long the delay lasts.
The psalm opened on different ground:
Not only are there mercies and faithfulness with God; nothing man can do can touch these blessed qualities. They are beyond the reach of man's corrupting hand. Mercy is built up for ever, and faithfulness stands firm in the very heavens.
The shame does not stay with the nation alone. Commentators see Christ taking this ground first, so that those who follow Him share His reproach.
The Spirit of Christ comes in here, as He did with the wrath, to take the whole reality of the burden… He has gone ahead of that day of suffering, so that His Spirit might speak as with His voice in His people. For in that day the insults of the mighty and of those who abandon God will fall on the footsteps of God's anointed. And if the faithful walk in those footsteps, they will share the reproach that comes from the enemies of Jehovah.
The verse ends with "Selah." What follows the pause is not despair. It is a question.
Still, in the middle of their shame the faith of the remnant shines out. They realise that there will be a limit to the chastening of the Lord. So they ask, "How long, Jehovah?"… However great their failure, they say, we are "Your servants." Their enemies are "Your enemies," and they have put to shame "Your Anointed."
- Cause — The days were cut short because David's line forsook God's law; the rod God had warned of in verse 32 has landed.
- Covering — Shame took the place of the covering of grace. The throne fell, the glory went, the boast was gone.
- Complaint — Every "You have" speaks straight to God. It is an appeal to what He has been, not blame.
- Continuity — Sin can delay the promise. It cannot cancel it. Mercy and faithfulness lie beyond man's reach.
- Christ — Christ takes up this reproach first. Those who walk in His footsteps share it. And they can still ask "How long?" — the chastening has a limit.