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Psalm 89
Psalm 89 is about the defeat and humiliation of the Davidic king. The likely historical setting is the invasion of Judah by Shishak, king of Egypt, during the reign of Solomon’s son, Rehoboam. After Solomon died, the kingdom of Israel divided, which was a huge problem for the Davidic king. In addition, in Rehoboam’s fifth year, King Shishak of Egypt conquered Jerusalem and took the treasures of the Temple and the royal palace.
First Kings 4 tells us that Ethan the Ezrahite was renowned for his wisdom. In this psalm, he uses that wisdom to try and motivate God to intervene, restore the honor of the king and help the Jewish people.
A psalm of Ethan the Ezrahite.
Ethan has become a common name in English. We have a couple of Ethans here at Shema. The name means firm, strong, enduring ‑ fitting for the author of a psalm about the Lord’s love and faithfulness that endure forever.
I will sing of the Lord’s love forever! Young and old will hear of your faithfulness. Your love will last forever. Your faithfulness is as enduring as the heavens. The Hebrew word for “faithfulness” is emunah. It means firm, reliable, trustworthy. Ethan is saying: “Adonai, You are reliable, trustworthy and full of love. You have demonstrated Your love and faithfulness throughout history, and You will continue to be loving and faithful forever. Therefore I ask You to be loving and faithful now by restoring the Davidic monarchy to its place of honor.”
Next, Ethan connects God’s love and faithfulness to the covenant He made with David: The Lord said, “I have made a covenant with David, my chosen servant. I have sworn this oath to him: ‘I will establish your descendants as kings forever; they will sit on your throne from now until eternity.’”
God made a very limited number of covenants: with Adam, Noah and Abraham, with Moses and Israel at Sinai, with Pinchas the priest, with David, and the New Covenant with Messiah. Whenever God makes a covenant, it’s extraordinarily rare and important.
Adonai’s covenant with David is recorded in 2 Samuel 7. Ethan appeals to that covenant: “Lord, You made a covenant and swore this oath, promising David that his dynasty would endure forever. But the king is in a bad way. You must be true to Your covenant and to Your oath. You need to intervene and restore him to his place of honor.”
More reasons for the Lord to help the king: All heaven will praise your great wonders, Lord; myriads of angels will praise you for your faithfulness. For who in all of heaven can compare with the Lord? What mightiest angel is anything like the Lord? The highest angelic powers stand in awe of God. He is far more awesome than all who surround his throne. O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies! Where is there anyone as mighty as you, O Lord? You are entirely faithful.
In other words: “Lord, it’s not just me who knows You are mighty enough to save our king and faithful enough to keep Your promises. The heavenly hosts know it too. Thousands of mighty angels surround Your throne, stand in awe of You, and serve in Your heavenly armies. If You are going to maintain Your reputation in heaven for being faithful, You need to help our king.”
Still more reasons for the Lord to help the king:
You rule the oceans. You subdue their storm‑tossed waves. Nothing in creation is beyond Your control.
You crushed Rahab, the great sea monster. Rahab represents the forces of chaos. You are able to crush the greatest powers that oppose You.
You scattered your enemies with your mighty arm. You have repeatedly demonstrated that You are more powerful than all of Your enemies.
The heavens are yours, and the earth is yours; everything in the world is yours. You created everything. Everything belongs to You and You are able to do whatever You want with it.
You created north and south. You created everything on earth, from one end of the earth to the other.
Mount Tabor and Mount Hermon praise your name. The mountains testify that You are powerful and majestic.
Then Ethan summarizes: Powerful is your arm! Strong is your hand! Your right hand is lifted high in glorious strength.
Ethan’s point: “Lord, You made and rule the universe. You are all powerful. Use your power to restore our king.”
More reasons for the Lord to help the king: Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne. Love and truth walk before You as attendants. Happy are those who hear the joyful call to worship, for they walk in the light of Your presence, Lord. They rejoice all day long because of who You are. They exult in Your righteousness. You are their glorious strength, and it pleases You to make us strong. Our protection comes from You, and You, the Holy One of Israel, have given us our king.
Ethan is saying: “Lord, You are righteous, just, loving and faithful. We are Your people. We know who You are and worship You joyfully. We live in Your presence. You give us strength and protection through our king. We need our king restored to his rightful place so we can continue to live as Your holy, faithful and joyful people. That will be good for us and it will honor You.”
And more reasons still: Long ago you spoke in a vision to your faithful people. You said, “I have raised up a warrior. I have selected him from the common people to be king. I have found my servant David. I have anointed him with my holy oil. I will steady him with my hand; with my powerful arm I will make him strong. His enemies will not defeat him, nor will the wicked overpower him. I will beat down his adversaries before him and destroy those who hate him. My faithfulness and love will be with him, and by my authority he will grow in power. I will extend his rule over the sea, his dominion over the rivers. And he will call out to me, ‘You are my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation.’ I will make him my firstborn son, the mightiest king on earth. I will love him and be kind to him forever; my covenant with him will never end. I will preserve an heir for him; his throne will be as endless as the days of heaven.”
Ethan explains: “Lord, You chose David, made him king, and promised to strengthen him, protect him, and give him victory over his enemies so he could rule over a great dominion. You promised to make him the mightiest king on Earth, to preserve his heirs and make his throne as endless as the days of heaven. But that’s not happening. The king is not strong. His enemies are winning. Your promises require You to act.”
More reasons for the Lord to help the king: But if his descendants forsake my instructions and fail to obey my regulations, if they do not obey my decrees and fail to keep my commands, then I will punish their sin with the rod, and their disobedience with beating. But I will never stop loving him nor fail to keep my promise to him. No, I will not break my covenant; I will not take back a single word I said. I have sworn an oath to David, and in my holiness I cannot lie: His dynasty will go on forever; his kingdom will endure as the sun. It will be as eternal as the moon, my faithful witness in the sky!
Ethan recognizes that God’s covenant included discipline for disobedience, and he understands that the king and the nation are now experiencing that discipline. But discipline does not mean God has abandoned His covenant. So Ethan is saying: “Lord, we are experiencing Your discipline, but Your covenant has not been canceled. You swore an oath. You can’t lie. You promised David’s dynasty would endure like the sun and moon. Look at what’s happening! Now is the time for You to intervene.”
More reasons for the Lord to help the king: But now you have rejected him and cast him off. You are angry with your anointed king. You have renounced your covenant with him; you have thrown his crown in the dust. You have broken down the walls protecting him and ruined every fort defending him. Everyone who comes along has robbed him, and he has become a joke to his neighbors. You have strengthened his enemies and made them all rejoice. You have made his sword useless and refused to help him in battle. You have ended his splendor and overturned his throne. You have made him old before his time and publicly disgraced him.
The king and the nation are in a terrible situation, and Ethan attributes it to God: “You have rejected him. You are angry with him. You have renounced Your covenant with him and thrown his crown in the dust. You have allowed him to be plundered and be a joke to the neighboring nations. You have made his enemies strong and happy, and him weak and humiliated.” Ethan is not blaming the Lord for punishing the king and his people in these ways. He has already acknowledged that the covenant included discipline for disobedience, and they deserved it. But the same Lord who allowed these punishments has the ability to reverse them, and He should – right away.
More reasons the Lord should help the king: O Lord, how long will this go on? Will you hide yourself forever? How long will your anger burn like fire? Remember how short my life is, how empty and futile this human existence! No one can live forever; all will die. No one can escape the power of the grave. Ethan doesn’t want God to act someday. He wants Him to act now. He is saying: “Lord, we don’t have forever. Our lives are short. Our strength is limited. Death is inevitable.”
He is also appealing to God’s compassion: “We are Your creatures, fragile and mortal. Won’t You give us a little happiness during our brief time on Earth? Intervene and restore the king to his rightful place of honor while there is still time for us to enjoy the blessings that will follow.”
Final reasons for the Lord to help the king: Lord, where is your love? You promised it to David with a faithful pledge. Consider, Lord, how your servants are disgraced! I carry in my heart the insults of so many people. Your enemies have mocked me, O Lord; they mock your anointed king wherever he goes.
Ethan tells the Lord that His inactivity contradicts the love He pledged to David. He also asks Him to take note that the humiliation belongs to His own people, not strangers. God should protect His servants, and especially the king He anointed, from insult and disgrace. And not only because they are His servants, but to insult God’s servants and the king He has appointed is to insult God Himself – and the Lord should not tolerate that. He should intervene and end this insulting situation.
And then the psalm ends with: Blessed be the Lord forever! Praise the Lord forever! Amen and amen! Ethan has tried to persuade the Lord to act, motivate the Lord to intervene, appealing to His love, faithfulness, power, righteousness, truth, covenant, oath, reputation and compassion. But he never tells us that the Lord answered his prayers and that the king was restored. Nevertheless, he praises the Lord because he is sure the Lord will answer his prayer.
To reinforce his certainty, he ends with “amen and amen.” “Amen” comes from the same Hebrew root as emunah, faithfulness, which Ethan used to describe God’s character at the beginning of the psalm. To say “amen” at the end of a prayer is to say to God, “These prayers are true and trustworthy. So please answer them.” And Ethan says amen twice. In Scripture, repetition is emphasis. So Ethan is saying, “Lord, my prayers are very faithful and very true, so, how can You, the faithful God, not answer them?”
Final thoughts: While God may have answered Ethan’s prayers for the restoration of the Davidic monarchy through good kings like Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah and Josiah, the reality is that there has not been a Davidic king ruling over Israel since the Babylonian exile – nearly 2,600 years ago. Today, some may claim today to be descendants of David, but those claims can’t be verified because the genealogical records were destroyed.
So what’s the answer to the problem of Israel having no Davidic king?
The answer is King Yeshua. Yeshua is a descendant of David, and the fulfillment of the covenant God made with David.
However, unlike every other king who has ruled over Israel, Yeshua is a perfect King. He never sinned. God will never have to discipline Him for His failures. He will never lead His people into sin or bring suffering upon them because of His disobedience.
His reign will be greater than the reigns of David, Solomon, Hezekiah or Josiah. In fact, His reign will be greater than the reign of every king who has ever ruled on Earth. When Yeshua returns, He will establish a kingdom characterized by righteousness, justice, peace and prosperity for Israel and the nations.
And here is more good news: we don’t have to wait until Yeshua returns to experience the blessings of having Him as our King. We can experience them right now.
When we enter into His new covenant, we enjoy the blessings of His rule.
We have forgiveness of our sins.
We have peace with God. The hostility caused by our sin has been removed. We can live with the assurance that we belong to God and that we are no longer His enemies but His beloved children.
Most kings are inaccessible. It’s impossible for the average person to have a conversation with their king. But we have access to the King. We can bring our requests, fears, burdens directly to Him at any.
Not only that but we have the presence of the King living in us. His Spirit is living in, teaching us, guiding us, strengthening us and empowering us to resist temptation and live righteous and holy lives.
We have His protection and His provision. This doesn’t mean that we will never experience hardship. But we know that our King is with us when we suffer and that He cares for us, provides what we truly need and works all things together for our ultimate good.
We have a new identity and a new purpose. We are no longer living merely for ourselves. We belong to the King. Our lives have meaning and purpose because we are part of His kingdom and are called to serve Him, represent Him and proclaim His kingdom to others.
So let’s live as people under the authority of our King. Let’s trust Him, obey Him, follow Him and serve Him. And let’s look forward with confidence to the day when the King who reigns in our hearts now will reign over the whole world.
Let’s pray:
Father, we praise You for Your love and faithfulness. Like Ethan, we bring You our problems and our desires for You to act. Help us remain faithful and loyal to You while we are waiting for You to answer our prayers.
Thank You that You answered Ethan’s prayer in Yeshua, the perfect Son of David, whose kingdom will never end. Reign in our hearts now, King Yeshua, until You reign over all the earth. Amen and amen.