Faithful Promise

Psalm 89

A Maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite.

¹I will sing of the steadfast love of the Lord, forever; with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.

²For I said, “Steadfast love will be built up forever; in the heavens you will establish your faithfulness.”

³You have said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one; I have sworn to David my servant:

⁴‘I will establish your offspring forever, and build your throne for all generations.’” Selah [see 2 Samuel 7:4-17 below]

⁵Let the heavens praise your wonders, O Lord, your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones!

⁶For who in the skies can be compared to the Lord? Who among the heavenly beings is like the Lord,

⁷a God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones, and awesome above all who are around him?

⁸O Lord God of hosts, who is mighty as you are, O Lord, with your faithfulness all around you?

⁹You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them.

¹⁰You crushed Rahab [enemy of God] like a carcass; you scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.

¹¹The heavens are yours; the earth also is yours; the world and all that is in it, you have founded them.

¹²The north and the south, you have created them; Tabor and Hermon [both mountains] joyously praise your name.

¹³You have a mighty arm; strong is your hand, high your right hand.

¹⁴Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; steadfast love and faithfulness go before you.

¹⁵Blessed are the people who know the festal shout, who walk, O Lord, in the light of your face,

¹⁶who exult in your name all the day and in your righteousness are exalted.

¹⁷For you are the glory of their strength; by your favor our horn is exalted.

¹⁸For our shield belongs to the Lord, our king to the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁹Of old you spoke in a vision to your godly one, and said: “I have granted help to one who is mighty; I have exalted one chosen from the people.

²⁰I have found David, my servant; with my holy oil I have anointed him,

²¹so that my hand shall be established with him; my arm also shall strengthen him.

²²The enemy shall not outwit him; the wicked shall not humble him.

²³I will crush his foes before him and strike down those who hate him.

²⁴My faithfulness and my steadfast love shall be with him, and in my name shall his horn be exalted.

²⁵I will set his hand on the sea and his right hand on the rivers.

²⁶He shall cry to me, ‘You are my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation.’

²⁷And I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.

²⁸My steadfast love I will keep for him forever, and my covenant will stand firm for him.

²⁹I will establish his offspring forever and his throne as the days of the heavens.

³⁰If his children forsake my law and do not walk according to my rules,

³¹if they violate my statutes and do not keep my commandments,

³²then I will punish their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes,

³³but I will not remove from him my steadfast love or be false to my faithfulness.

³⁴I will not violate my covenant or alter the word that went forth from my lips.

³⁵Once for all I have sworn by my holiness; I will not lie to David.

³⁶His offspring shall endure forever, his throne as long as the sun before me.

³⁷Like the moon it shall be established forever, a faithful witness in the skies.” Selah

³⁸But now you have cast off and rejected; you are full of wrath against your anointed.

³⁹You have renounced the covenant with your servant; you have defiled his crown in the dust.

⁴⁰You have breached all his walls; you have laid his strongholds in ruins.

⁴¹All who pass by plunder him; he has become the scorn of his neighbors.

⁴²You have exalted the right hand of his foes; you have made all his enemies rejoice.

⁴³You have also turned back the edge of his sword, and you have not made him stand in battle.

⁴⁴You have made his splendor to cease and cast his throne to the ground.

⁴⁵You have cut short the days of his youth; you have covered him with shame. Selah

⁴⁶How long, O Lord? Will you hide yourself forever? How long will your wrath burn like fire?

⁴⁷Remember how short my time is! For what vanity you have created all the children of man!

⁴⁸What man can live and never see death? Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah

⁴⁹Lord, where is your steadfast love of old, which by your faithfulness you swore to David?

⁵⁰Remember, O Lord, how your servants are mocked, and how I bear in my heart the insults of all the many nations,

⁵¹with which your enemies mock, O Lord, with which they mock the footsteps of your anointed.

⁵²Blessed be the Lord forever! Amen and Amen.

Psalm 88 and 89 are closely related and are probably joined together to create one thought. Psalm 88 is deeply personal and 89 is more nationalistic in tenor. But they still both enjoin the Creator God to maintain His faithfulness to His people. While 88 is in a more somber voice, 89 seems slightly more upbeat but the prayer to God is the same – come and save us!

This psalm was probably written after the Children of Israel had been carried into captivity and thus one can understand why these words question God’s memory of His promises. The author reminds God of His promise to King David to maintain the nation and keep one of David’s descendants on the throne forever.  

2 Samuel 7:4–17

⁴But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, ⁵“Go and tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord: Would you build me a house to dwell in? ⁶I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling. ⁷In all places where I have moved with all the people of Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”’ ⁸Now, therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel. ⁹And I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. ¹⁰And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly, ¹¹from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. ¹²When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹³He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. ¹⁴I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, ¹⁵but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. ¹⁶And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’” ¹⁷In accordance with all these words, and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.

Of course, God kept that promise for the Lord Jesus - Son of David, sits on that throne even today and He shall do so until the Father sends Him back to earth to take us all home with Him. Even while the author reminds God of these promises, He also praises God for His strength and faithfulness to us all so far.