Biblion Bible Commentary
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I Will Sing of Loving Kindness Forever
Psalms 89:1-37
1 A contemplation by Ethan, the Ezrahite. I will sing of the loving kindness of Yahweh forever. With my mouth, I will make known your faithfulness to all generations. · WEB
God's oath to David is quoted at length and in his own voice, with the clause about what happens when the sons fail.
I will sing of the loving kindness of Yahweh forever. With my mouth, I will make known your faithfulness to all generations Psalms 89:1.
Two words dominate this psalm and appear together more than a dozen times: loving kindness and faithfulness. They are the covenant pair, and everything in the first thirty-seven verses is built on them.
I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to David, my servant: "I will establish your offspring forever, and build up your throne to all generations" Psalms 89:3–4.
The promise of 2 Samuel 7, quoted in God's own voice. The psalm's whole crisis, when it comes, is about this sentence.
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne. Loving kindness and truth go before your face Psalms 89:14.
Four qualities again, as in the eighty-fifth psalm. Two are underneath the throne and two walk ahead of it — what God's government stands on, and what arrives before he does.
Blessed are the people who learn to acclaim you. They walk in the light of your presence Psalms 89:15.
The verb is learn. Acclamation is treated as a skill acquired rather than a reflex, which is what a hymnbook is for.
I have found David, my servant. I have anointed him with my holy oil Psalms 89:20.
The oracle proper begins, and it runs for eighteen verses in the first person. I will also appoint him my firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth Psalms 89:27 — firstborn is a rank here rather than a birth order, since David was the youngest of eight.
He will call to me, "You are my Father, my God, and the rock of my salvation!" Psalms 89:26.
The father-son language of the second psalm returns, and it is the covenant's characteristic vocabulary.
If his children forsake my law, and don't walk in my ordinances... then I will punish their sin with the rod Psalms 89:30–32.
The clause everything turns on. The covenant anticipates failure and specifies discipline for it — which means that when the disaster of the second half arrives, it does not fall outside the agreement.
But I will not completely take my loving kindness from him, nor allow my faithfulness to fail. I will not break my covenant, nor alter what my lips have uttered Psalms 89:33–34.
And the limit on the discipline, stated four ways in two verses. Punishment yes; withdrawal no.
Once I have sworn by my holiness, I will not lie to David Psalms 89:35.
God swears by the only thing he could swear by, and the letter to the Hebrews makes the same observation about the oath to Abraham — having no one greater, he swore by himself Hebrews 6:13.
His offspring will endure forever, his throne like the sun before me. It will be established forever like the moon, the faithful witness in the sky Psalms 89:36–37.
The first half ends with two guarantees hung in the sky where anyone can check them. The next verse begins but.
settled What this mark means