... in the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
Amen. Through the prayers of our
holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us. Amen. Glory
to You, our God, Glory to You.
O Heavenly King,
the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, You are everywhere and fill all things,
Treasury of blessings, and Giver of life: come and abide in us, and cleanse us
from every impurity, and save our souls, O Good One.
Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy
Immortal, have mercy on us (three times).
Glory be to the
Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, as it is now, was in the
beginning, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Maschil of Ethan the Ezrahite.
I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever. With my mouth I will
make known Your faithfulness to all generations: for I have said, “Mercy shall
be built up forever. You shall establish
Your faithfulness in the very heavens.”
I have made a covenant with My chosen. I have sworn to David My servant. Your seed I will establish forever, and build
up Your throne to all generations. Consider.
The heavens shall praise Your wonders, Lord. Your faithfulness also in
the congregation of the saints: for who in the heaven can be compared to the Lord? [Who] among the sons of the mighty can be likened to the Lord? God is greatly to be feared
in the assembly of the saints, to be had in reverence of all about Him. Lord God of
hosts, Who [is] a strong Lord like You? Your faithfulness [is] round about You? You rule the raging of the sea. When the waves of it arise, You still them. You have broken Rahab in pieces, as one who
is slain. You have scattered Your
enemies with Your strong arm. The
heavens [are] Yours. The earth also [is] Yours. The world and its
fullness, You have founded them. The
north and the south, You have created them. Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in Your name. You have a mighty arm. Strong is Your hand. High is Your right hand. Justice and judgment [are] the dwelling of Your throne. Mercy and truth shall go before Your face.
Blessed [is] the people[2] who know
the joyful sound. They shall walk, Lord, in the light of Your countenance.
In Your name they shall rejoice all the day. In Your righteousness they shall be exalted: for
You [are] the Glory of their strength.
In Your favor, our horn shall be
exalted: for the Lord [is] our defense. The Holy One of Israel [is] our king.
Then You spoke in a vision to Your Holy One,
and said,
“I have laid help on [one who is] mighty. I have
exalted [one] chosen from the people. I have found David My servant. With My holy oil have I Christened him. With whom My hand shall be established. My arm also shall strengthen him. The enemy shall not demand from him; Nor the
son of wickedness afflict him. I will
beat down his foes before his face, and plague those who hate him. But My faithfulness and My mercy [shall be] with him. His horn shall be exalted in My name. I will set his hand also in the sea, and his
right hand in the rivers. He shall cry to
Me, ‘You [are] my Father, my God, and
the rock of my salvation.’ Also I will
make him [My] firstborn, higher than
the kings of the earth. I will keep My
mercy for him forever. My covenant shall
stand fast with him. His seed also will
I make [endure] forever, and his
throne as the days of heaven. If his
children forsake My law, and walk not in My judgments; if they break My
statutes, and keep not My commandments; then will I visit their transgression
with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.
Nevertheless, I will not utterly take My lovingkindness from him, nor
suffer My faithfulness to fail. I will
not break My covenant, nor alter the thing that is gone from My lips. Once I have sworn by My holiness, I will not
lie to David. His seed shall endure forever,
and his throne as the sun before Me. It
shall be established forever as the moon, and [as] a faithful witness in heaven.”
Consider.
But You have cast off and abhorred. You have been offended with Your Christ. You have made void the covenant of Your
servant. You have profaned his crown [by casting it] to the ground. You have broken down all his hedges. You have brought his strong holds to ruin. All that pass by the way spoil him. He is a reproach to his neighbors. You have set up the right hand of his
adversaries. You have made all his
enemies rejoice. You have also turned
the edge of his sword, and have not made him stand in the battle. You have made his glory cease, and cast his
throne down to the ground. You have
shortened the days of his youth. You have
covered him with shame. Consider.
How long, Lord? Will You hide Yourself forever? Shall Your fury burn like fire? Remember how short my time is. Why have You made all men in vain? What man [is
he who] lives, and shall not see death?
Shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? Consider.
Lord, where [are] Your former lovingkindnesses, [which] You swore to David in Your truth? Remember, Lord, the reproach of Your servants;
[the reproach of] all the mighty
people; wherewith Your enemies have reproached, Lord; wherewith
they have reproached the footsteps of Your Christ.
[1] Whereas
Psalm 88 expresses the bitterest lament; Psalm 89 delivers an outright complaint. Not many men would dare to rebuke God, or
haul Him into court for failure to perform, but Ethan does exactly that, this
is the force of Psalm 89. If we are
honest in our prayers, we often feel that God has let us down, that His answers
are taking longer than they need to, that we are going to die before we know
God’s will. Ethan did die, hundreds of
years before the answer to his complaint was delivered: but I have no doubt
that he was satisfied with God’s final answer.
Even though Ethan delivers a complaint, he does not speak rashly,
he begins with an opening statement affirming Yahweh’s unbroken
faithfulness. It is this statement that
lays the foundation of his complaint, which is that God has acted unfaithfully,
out of character with His perfectly faithful nature.
There is a second part to Ethan’s opening address: namely,
that Yahweh has made an eternal promise to David, which cannot possibly be
broken. This second part will establish
the specific grounds for God’s failure to perform. At this point, everyone in the courtroom is
in complete agreement with Ethan’s well-chosen words.
Now Ethan lays out a detailed description of God’s character
and nature. This is not an abstract
theological discussion of God’s aseity and ubiquity. Nor is it an apophatic approach to God. This is a declaration of reality associated
with historic acts. The reference to
Rahab may be associated with the Exodus.
God is seen to be good and great because of the wonderful things He
does, like creation, the flood, leading the Exodus, giving the law, bringing
entrance to the promised land, and establishing the dynasty of David. Jesus will touch upon these very issues as He
establishes Himself as the fulfillment of this Psalm. Particularly obvious is the stilling of the
sea which was accomplished twice on Galilee.
The salient points are that God is faithful, incomparable, strong,
active in rule, creator of all, just, merciful, and honest.
The people chosen by such a God are richly blessed. This is a popular phrase to quote, yanking it
out of its context of complaint. This forms
extenuating circumstances, it will explain what God’s failure has done to His
people. Ethan is building his case that “the joyful sound” is no longer heard in the land. The Shekinah is absent, so is the
king, and they are an enslaved people, dependent upon aliens in every way and dominated
by them.
Now Ethan cites as evidence all the details
of the Davidic Covenant, all the things that God promised to do in establishing
David’s eternal dynasty. There are those
who will grasp at this covenant to establish a Divine Right of kings: but no
such right exists. Others lay claim to a
national Manifest Destiny: but no such destiny exists. The only Divine Right of kings is that given
exclusively to David. The only Manifest
Destiny is that given to The Church to fill this world with the Father’s Glory
by patient evangelism, not by force. The
promise to David is eternal. It has
provisions for punishment of those heirs who act sinfully. It has provisions for the destruction of that
which is sinfully built. It has no
provision whatsoever for termination.
Ethan delivers his complaint.
Yahweh, You broke Your own promise.
You terminated the Davidic Covenant.
You have not done what You said You would do. This is an equally apt description of Western
Civilization today. “Where is the sign
of [Your] coming (Matthew 24:3; 2 Peter 3:4)?”
The churches are empty, the law is in disregard, the Bible has no
authority; people everywhere live in unbelief and wantonness, inventing new rules
for themselves, rules that suit their own lusts. The complaint is delivered firmly and
forcefully in the accusative You. You,
God, It’s all your fault. You have let
us down, when we needed You the most.
Ethan delivers his concluding argument in two parts delivered
to Yahweh, Who is both Judge and Jury in this court. How long will this go on, Yahweh? Is life nothing but vanity? Is death it…?
In part two, Ethan asks, What happened to all of David’s
glory? Where did it all go? It has seemingly evaporated before our very
eyes. Ethan prefigures Christ with “I bear in my bosom.”
Evidently, Ethan has suffered his share of verbal abuse, heartache, and
possibly even beatings over this. We must
also suffer.
Even in complaint, Ethan concludes with
respect, he is confronting the King of the Universe, “Blessed [be] the Lord forever.” Somehow, Ethan knows that there is more to
the story, but he is frustrated and vexed because he cannot see it: his
forefathers were able to see the Glory of God plainly for hundreds of years,
and now it is gone. Ethan cannot
understand what is going on, but he does understand with Whom he speaks. We don’t need to understand God, to know
Him. We must know Him (not about Him),
to begin to understand Him.
[2] Note
that Yahweh chooses His people (Romans 8:33); whereas idolaters choose and
manufacture their idols from chunks of metal, from clay, from rocks, from sticks,
and from thin air. The choice is not up
to us. We may only chose God because He
has already chosen us. What has God
chosen for redemption? The whole human
race. Why are all not redeemed? Because some simply refuse the gift of God’s
eternal love.
[3] If you have been blessed or helped by any of these meditations in
Psalms, please repost, share, or use any of them as you wish.
These meditations are not controlled by
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ND. They are designed and intended for
your free participation. They were
freely received, and are freely given.
No other permission is required for their use.
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