And the heavens shall celebrate thy wonders, O Jehovah, and thy faithfulness in the congregation of the saints.
Psalm 89 rests not on Israel's obedience but on God's covenant with David. Verse 5 then lifts the reader's eyes off the earth: the praise moves to heaven, and to a company gathered there.
One writer sets two grounds side by side — law, and the covenant of grace made with David. He quotes verse 2 in an older translation:
This Psalm is about the unchangeable promises of God and the sure mercies of David. If the people stand before God on the ground of the law, that can only end in the darkness of judgment and death. If they stand on the ground of the covenant of grace made with David, it leads to this: "Mercy shall be built up forever: your faithfulness You shall establish in the very heavens" (v. 2) — in the heavens, where nothing can ever touch it.
The wonders heaven celebrates are God's works done on earth. One writer, quoting an older wording of the verse, notes that heaven and earth serve each other:
"And the heavens shall praise your wonders," for they also recognise His works below, and so they minister to one another.
On earth the facts have long pointed the other way:
On earth, for now, things may seem to be in conflict with this. From the Jewish standpoint, the witness of many generations might seem to be against it. The tree of David's house is levelled to the ground and Israel are wanderers among the nations. But for faith the heavens have another story to tell, because the Crucified has become the Glorified. They will have a marvellous witness to give when the fruits of the cross are seen in the multitude of the redeemed in heaven.
Commentators differ on who this company is. One writer gives the answer a Jewish reader would reach for first, then offers a second:
Again the heavens come in with their praise. For a Jew, the "congregation of the holy ones" would at first thought have to mean the angelic host. But once we take the deeper meaning into account, they may be the "seed" already spoken of, royal and heavenly. As such, they will proclaim His faithfulness and the wonder of His grace.
Another writer reaches a similar answer from a different direction:
The Old Testament does not speak of the saints who will inherit heaven. Yet no doubt they are included in the prophecy. Certainly all the heavenly company will find great delight in praising the Lord for His wonders in the blessing of Israel that is still to come.
Two different Hebrew words in Psalm 89 are both translated "holy." A dictionary sets them out, with the Greek words that match them:
There are two corresponding words in the Hebrew, and both occur in Psalm 89. Hosios corresponds with chasid, "your holy One," in Psalm 89:19. Hagios corresponds with qadosh, "the holy One" in Psalm 89:18 — the singular of the word translated "saints" in Psalm 89:5, 7.
So the "holy ones" of verse 5 are the plural of the same Hebrew word used of the holy One in verse 18.
The praise of the verse falls into two parts, and it ends in reverent fear:
The psalmist then celebrates the glory of Jehovah — the One who has made the covenant with David. The heavens declare His wonders; the saints His faithfulness. No creature can be compared with Jehovah. In His supreme glory as God there can be none likened to Him. In the assembly of His saints He is the object of reverent fear.
- Grace first. The psalm rests on the mercies promised to David, not on Israel's keeping of the law. That is why it can say "forever."
- Grace secured. God sets His faithfulness in the heavens, where nothing on earth can touch it.
- Grace witnessed. The heavens praise God's wonders because they see His works done below.
- Grace shared. Commentators read the assembly of the holy ones as the angels, or as the heavenly seed. Either way, the whole company above joins the praise.
- Grace vindicated. When the facts on earth contradict the promise, faith listens to heaven instead. The Crucified has become the Glorified.
For who in the heaven can be compared to Jehovah? [who] among the sons of the mighty shall be likened to Jehovah?
Psalm 89 sings of God's covenant mercies to David, then pauses to look upward. It asks whether anyone in the skies stands beside the Lord, and the answer shapes everything that follows.
The verse sits in a section that turns from the promise made to David to the character of the One who made it. One writer holds the two together:
The psalmist then celebrates the glory of Jehovah — the One who has made the covenant with David. The heavens declare His wonders; the saints His faithfulness. No creature can be compared with Jehovah. In His supreme glory as God there can be none likened to Him.
The worth of a promise depends on who makes it. The psalm settles that first.
One writer traces the thought here, including the phrase the ESV gives as "heavenly beings" and older translations as "sons of the mighty":
To put the question is to answer it — where is one like Him as 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. More than that, He is the unchanging God of hosts, whom they all serve. Where then can there be might like the might of Jah — the strong, decisive name? And His faithfulness — here is the comfort of it all — is all about Him, matching the outgoing of His glorious power.
Commentators differ on the identity of the beings named here. One line of reading connects the Hebrew wording to the "sons of God" found elsewhere in the Old Testament, and takes it of angels:
It is impossible to deny that "sons of God," in the early books of the Bible (Job 1:6, Job 2:1, Job 38:7), are found applied to angels. So in a slightly different form of the Hebrew we read in Ps. 29:1 and Ps. 89:6... there is no ground from Old Testament usage to question this. The phrase applies to angels, not to men — even faithful and righteous men.
Others read the same phrase in Psalm 29 as addressed to the great ones of earth rather than to angels:
It is surely not an address to angels, as perhaps mostly held, but to the mighty of the earth, in view of what follows... They are to ascribe glory and strength to Jehovah as the only Source of these.
Either way the verse lands in the same place. Heaven's ranks or earth's — no one survives the comparison.
The previous verse has just called on the heavens to praise. So this verse is not measuring God against weak or unworthy rivals — it is measuring Him against the best that heaven holds:
All the heavenly company will find great delight in praising the Lord for His wonders in relation to the eventual blessing of Israel. Though there will be multitudes in heaven, none can compare with the blessed Lord of glory (v. 6).
The distance is not one of degree but of kind. A creature, however glorious, remains a creature:
Take the angels who "excel in strength." The most glorious and excellent of them, in wisdom, power, and every attribute, still has only a creature excellence. Beyond that stretches just as far the infinity of distance to Godhead... God is God, and man is man, and his happiness is to know that this is eternally true.
The next verse draws the practical conclusion: God is to be feared in the council of the holy ones. One writer applies that directly to how we speak to God and about Him:
The growing disregard of reverence for sacred things is a sad thing. It marks the last days we live in. Even professing Christians speak of God as if He were someone like themselves. In the big modern evangelistic campaigns you often hear people pray to God as if they were on very familiar terms with the Most High. They speak to Him as freely as if He were little more than themselves — in a way they would not dare to address the highest official in their land.
- Covenant first. The psalm is about the promise sworn to David. The verse weighs the worth of the One who swore it.
- Question, not comparison. To ask who in the skies stands beside the Lord is already to answer it — no name fits.
- Best of heaven, still no rival. Heaven's own multitudes are the ones on the scales, and not one of them compares with the Lord of glory.
- Creature stays creature. Even angels that excel in strength have only creature excellence. The distance to Godhead stays infinite.
- So, reverence. Because no one is like Him, we do not speak to Him casually, as if He were someone like ourselves.
God is greatly to be feared in the council of the saints, and terrible for all that are round about him.
Psalm 89 celebrates God's covenant with David, and here the song lifts its eyes from earth to heaven. The verse asks what God is like among those who stand closest to Him.
One writer places this whole section of the psalm above the earth:
At verse 5 a strain of rest and triumph begins, and it runs to verse 18. Verses 5-7 praise the faithfulness of the Lord, in keeping with the perfect worship presented to Him now and in the future in the heavenly places. His faithfulness will be celebrated there in long-lasting songs. The singers are those who are to be presented faultless before the throne of God, because He is able in faithfulness to save.
Older translations read "assembly of the saints" here, and later quotes on this page keep that wording. One writer gives the phrase two readings:
Once again the heavens come in with their witnessing praise. To a Jew, the "congregation of the holy ones" would at first mean the angelic host. But if we take the deeper meaning here into account, in this application they may be the "seed" already spoken of, royal and heavenly, who as that seed will proclaim His faithfulness and the wonder of His grace.
Nearness to God is a privilege, and exactly where reverence belongs. One writer reads on into the next verse, where the psalmist asks who is mighty like the Lord:
For He is God, greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, whether in heaven or on earth. Those who have the privilege of being in His presence are to hold Him in reverence (v. 7). Then the psalmist breaks out in genuine adoration of Him who is "Lord of hosts": "Who is mighty like You, O Lord?" (v. 8). He does not say "as mighty as You," for only He is mighty at all. None others are really mighty in any way. They may be mighty compared to others, but in contrast to Him, they have no might whatever.
Sin inside the camp is never a private matter. One writer hears this verse as the warning Achan ignored — an Israelite whose greed lost his people a battle:
The story of Achan, in Joshua 7, is solemn and moving in the highest degree. It says in our hearing, with the deepest emphasis, words our careless hearts are only too ready to forget: "God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of His saints, and to be held in reverence by all who are around Him." Had Achan remembered this, it would have taught him that he must nip the covetousness of his heart in the bud. That would have spared the whole assembly the humiliating defeat at Ai, and all the sorrow and discipline that followed.
Christians stand nearer to God than the psalmist did. One writer turns that nearness into a question:
In Psalm 89:7 we read, "God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be held in reverence by all who are around Him." But it is the Christian's privilege to know God in a far nearer and more blessed relationship than Old Testament saints could. We know God as Father; we know Christ as Firstborn among many brothers; we know that when He appears we shall be like Him. Then surely our fear of God, and reverence for God, should greatly exceed that of the psalmist of old. But does it?
Reverence shows in how people speak to God:
The growing disregard of reverence for sacred things is sad, and it marks the last days in which our lot is cast. Even professing Christians speak of God as if He were one like themselves. In big modern evangelistic campaigns you often hear people pray to God as if they were on very intimate terms with Him, the Most High. They approach Him as casually as if He were little more than themselves. They would not presume to speak that way to the head of their own government.
- Nearness sets the scene. Verses 5-7 lift the song into the heavenly places. There His faithfulness rings out from those He will present faultless before His throne.
- Nearness names the company. A Jewish reader would first think of the angels. The same words may reach further, to the heavenly seed who proclaim His faithfulness.
- Nearness deepens fear. Those closest to God are the very ones who hold Him in reverence. No one else is mighty at all beside Him.
- Nearness carries a cost. Achan forgot this verse. One man's covetousness dragged the whole assembly into defeat, sorrow and discipline.
- Nearness raises the standard. Christians know God as Father, and Christ as Firstborn among many brothers. So reverence should exceed the psalmist's, not fall short of it.