Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

Psalm 89. This is a community lament, but with a distinctive flavor: it celebrates the Davidic kingship as a special gift of God's love to his people, and mourns the distress into which the people have fallen, interpreting that distress as God's wrath against his anointed (i.e., the king in the line of David). For the people to sing this faithfully is for them to choose as their own the way that God has chosen to administer his people, accepting that the covenant with David (2 Sam. 7:8-16) defines the heir of David as the divinely appointed representative for God's people, whose task is to lead them in faithfulness. Owning this arrangement, they pray earnestly for God to bless his people through blessing the Davidic king with wisdom, goodness, and might. This psalm is for those who acknowledge the house of David as their legitimate ruler, i.e., for the united kingdom under David and Solomon, and for Judah after the division. (The prophets also instructed the people of the northern kingdom that their hope lay with David's house, cf. Hos. 3:5; Amos 9:11.) Crises during this period, including the exile to Babylon, would have been suitable occasions to sing this psalm. Christians sing this too, recognizing that, in Jesus, God has kept his promises to David, forcefully displaying his steadfast love and faithfulness. Under no circumstances will God ever "reject" (Ps. 89:38) Jesus; and even though God may be displeased with his people, and chastise them, he will not allow their mission to fail. As this psalm reassured God's people of old, so it reassures Christians that God's steadfast love and faithfulness are a solid foundation for the promise to David, even when it feels like God has abandoned that promise.

89:1-4 The Covenant with David Expresses God's Steadfast Love and Faithfulness. The theme of this opening section is straightforward: in raising up David and his line to be kings for his people, God has displayed his steadfast love and his faithfulness. These words, which evoke Ex. 34:6 (a fundamental aspect of God's character is his enduring love for his people), appear throughout the psalm (Ps. 89:1, 2, 14, 24, 28 [see ESV footnote], 33, 49). Verses 3-4 refer to the events of 2 Sam. 7:8-16: God's promise to David to establish his offspring forever. Because the promise is rooted in God's enduring love for his people, and is a covenant and an oath, i.e., a sworn purpose (Ps. 89:3), the term "forever" (v. 4) should receive its full weight. This sets up the "problem" that occasioned the psalm, namely, the humiliation that has come to the people ruled by David's heir (vv. 38-45); it also provides the confidence by which God's people can offer this prayer: they are asking God to be true to his own word.