seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Psalm 89[a] A maskil(b) of Ethan the Ezrahite.
1 I will sing of the Lord’s great love forever;
with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known
through all generations.
2 I will declare that your love stands firm forever,
that you have established your faithfulness in heaven itself.
3 You said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one,
I have sworn to David my servant,
4 ‘I will establish your line forever
and make your throne firm through all generations.’”[c]
5 The heavens praise your wonders, Lord,
your faithfulness too, in the assembly of the holy ones.
6 For who in the skies above can compare with the Lord?
Who is like the Lord among the heavenly beings?
7 In the council of the holy ones God is greatly feared;
he is more awesome than all who surround him.
8 Who is like you, Lord God Almighty?
You, Lord, are mighty, and your faithfulness surrounds you.
9 You rule over the surging sea;
when its waves mount up, you still them.
10 You crushed Rahab like one of the slain;
with your strong arm you scattered your enemies.
11 The heavens are yours, and yours also the earth;
you founded the world and all that is in it.
12 You created the north and the south;
Tabor and Hermon sing for joy at your name.
13 Your arm is endowed with power;
your hand is strong, your right hand exalted.
14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;
love and faithfulness go before you.
15 Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you,
who walk in the light of your presence, Lord.
16 They rejoice in your name all day long;
they celebrate your righteousness.
17 For you are their glory and strength,
and by your favor you exalt our horn.[d]
18 Indeed, our shield[e] belongs to the Lord,
our king to the Holy One of Israel.
Footnotes:
a. Psalm 89:1 In Hebrew texts 89:1-52 is numbered 89:2-53.
b. Psalm 89:1 Title: Probably a literary or musical term
c. Psalm 89:4 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here and at the end of verses 37, 45 and 48.
d. Psalm 89:17 Horn here symbolizes strong one.
e. Psalm 89:18 Or sovereign
This is from the easy English site.
God made special promises to David. They are in 2 Samuel 7:12-17. The important promise is that someone from David’s family would always be king. Ethan wrote Psalm 89 many years after this. He called it a maskil, a psalm that teaches us something.
In the psalm, Ethan sings about a problem. God had promised that there would always be a king in David’s family. But now there was no Jewish king! The army from Babylon had beaten the Jewish army. They took the Jewish king to Babylon and the King of Babylon (Nebuchadnezzar) became king of the Jews. How could anyone explain this?
Christians have sung this psalm on Christmas Day for many centuries. This is because Jesus is a king from David’s family, he will always be king and he was born at Christmas. That is how we explain the problem ... but Ethan did not know this!
In verse 3 the covenant is what God and the Jews agreed. If the Jews would love and obey God, then he would keep them safe. The Jews had a special covenant name for God: Yahweh. We translate it LORD, with 4 capital letters. In this part of the psalm, Ethan says that he still believes that God will do what he had promised. Ethan was right! We think that SELAH means a place to stop and pray, or think, or listen to music.
In verses 5 and 7 the angels/ones are holy because they live with God. Holy means "very, very good". Only God is really holy. In verse 6, "sons of God" is another name for "holy angels" or "holy ones". They are not people from earth, but God’s servants in heaven. The answer to the two questions is "Nobody". The angels are not like God (or as good and powerful as God). In verse 8,it may mean "who on earth is as strong as you are?" The answer again is "Nobody", not even the "*sons of God" and "the holy ones", verses 6-8.
In verses 9 - 14, the psalmist comes "down to earth". He has talked about God as the most powerful person in heaven in verses 5 to 8. Now he talks about God’s power on earth. In verse 9, God can make an angry ("boiling") sea quiet. This means he can make the loudest sea quiet. Jesus did this when he stopped the storm at sea. Jesus could do this because he was God. In verse 10, Rahab was either a sea-monster, or a name for Egypt. In verse 12, Tabor and Hermon are the names of mountains in Israel. When we see great hills and mountains, we remember that God made (created) them. That makes us praise God. Mountains do not praise God, they make us praise God!
In verses 15 - 18, we read about God’s people. They are people that praise God. In verse 15 "walk" means "live". "The light of your face" means "God being good" or "God showing the way". God’s face is where God is. Verse 17 is full of special Christian words. (Some people call them "jargon"!) Some Bible students think it means:
· because you are great and powerful you will make them strong
· because you are kind you will make us strong
"Lift up our horn" is jargon for "make us strong". Note that the psalmist changes from "them" to "our" in this verse. He has been talking about God’s people all the time. Now he says so! In verse 18, "the Holy One of Israel" is a name for God.
Well the good news.... Rahab, in this poem, is not the whore who saved Joshua's spies..... According to the commentary, Rahab may be a sea monster...... or......Rahab is an area of land in Egypt.... and the people of Rahab keep a warirng relationship with Israel. So.... this time Rahab is either a monster or land.... but not a whore..... and it's about angels in heaven....
