Table of Contents
Background and Context
Psalm 89 is a powerful and poignant national lament, written by “Ethan the Ezrahite,” who is mentioned in 1 Kings 4:31 as one of the wisest men of his time, a contemporary of Solomon. This psalm is the final one in Book Three of the Psalter and it grapples with one of the most severe theological crises in the history of ancient Israel: the apparent failure of God’s covenant with David.
The psalm was almost certainly written after a catastrophic military defeat that resulted in the downfall of the reigning Davidic king. The most likely historical setting is the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem in 586 B.C., which ended the Davidic dynasty, sent the people into exile, and left the promises of God in apparent ruins.
The psalmist, Ethan, constructs a powerful and emotional argument. He begins by extravagantly praising God’s universal power and His covenant faithfulness. He then meticulously recites the specific, eternal, and seemingly unbreakable promises God made to David in the Davidic Covenant (recorded in 2 Samuel 7). Finally, in a shocking and painful turn, he confronts God with the brutal reality of the present: the king is defeated, the throne is overturned, and the covenant seems to have been broken. The psalm is a brave and honest prayer that wrestles with the agonizing gap between God’s promises and painful human experience.
Theological Themes
This psalm is a profound exploration of faith in the face of apparent contradiction, built on several major theological themes.
The Unshakable Faithfulness of God: The psalm opens and is saturated with the themes of God’s unfailing love (hesed) and faithfulness (’emunah). Ethan declares, “I will sing of the LORD’s great love forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations” (verse 1). He praises God’s faithfulness as being as firm as the heavens. This foundational belief in God’s trustworthy character is what gives him the standing to even ask his painful questions later on.
The Davidic Covenant: The heart of the psalm is a detailed recital of God’s eternal covenant with David. This covenant included the promises of an enduring dynasty, a special father-son relationship between God and the king, divine protection from enemies, and, most importantly, an unbreakable oath from God that His love would never be taken away, even if David’s descendants sinned.
The Agony of Apparent Covenant Failure: The central crisis of the psalm is the painful contradiction between God’s sworn oath and the current reality of national ruin. After beautifully recounting God’s promises, the psalmist cries, “But you have rejected, you have spurned, you have been very angry with your anointed one” (verse 38). The psalm is a model of how to lament honestly when our experience seems to contradict God’s promises.
Wrestling with God in Prayer: Ethan does not abandon his faith in the face of this crisis. Instead, he takes his complaint directly to God. He holds up God’s promise in one hand and his painful reality in the other and essentially asks God, “How can both of these things be true?” This is not an act of unbelief, but an act of profound faith that takes God and His word seriously enough to wrestle with Him over it.
Literary Structure and Genre
Psalm 89 is a royal psalm that functions as a community lament. Its structure is a masterful and dramatic three-part argument.
- Part 1: A Hymn of Praise to God’s Faithfulness (verses 1-18): The psalmist establishes the foundation of his argument by celebrating God’s unchanging character, His covenant love, and His supreme power over all creation.
- Part 2: A Recital of God’s Covenant with David (verses 19-37): The psalmist carefully and poetically recounts the specific promises God made to David, emphasizing their eternal and unconditional nature.
- Part 3: A Lament Over the Covenant’s Apparent Breach (verses 38-51): The psalmist presents his painful complaint, detailing the current defeat of the king and directly questioning God about His promises.
- Doxology (verse 52): A concluding verse of praise that was likely added by the editors to close Book Three of the Psalter.
Verse by Verse Commentary on Psalm 89
Verses 1-18: Praise to the Faithful Creator-King
“I will sing of the LORD’s great love forever… For you said, ‘I will establish my love forever; in heaven I will establish my faithfulness.’… The heavens praise your wonders, LORD, your faithfulness too… For who in the skies above can compare with the LORD?… You rule over the surging sea… You crushed Rahab like one of the slain… Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne.”
The psalm opens with a magnificent hymn. Ethan declares his lifelong commitment to singing about God’s love (hesed) and faithfulness. He praises God as the one who has supreme power over both the heavenly council (“the assembly of the holy ones”) and the forces of chaos in creation (the “surging sea” and “Rahab,” a mythical sea monster representing chaos, often used as a poetic name for Egypt). He is the creator of the world and has a mighty arm. Crucially, the foundation of this powerful King’s throne is righteousness and justice. This is the character of the God who made the covenant.
Verses 19-37: The Unbreakable Promise to David
“Once you spoke in a vision… you said, ‘I have found David my servant; with my sacred oil I have anointed him… I will establish his line forever, his throne as long as the heavens endure. If his sons forsake my law… I will punish their sin with the rod… but I will not take my love from him, nor will I ever betray my faithfulness. I will not violate my covenant or alter what my lips have uttered. Once for all, I have sworn by my holiness—and I will not lie to David.'”
This section is a beautiful, poetic summary of the Davidic Covenant. God promised to make David strong and to defeat his enemies. He established a special relationship with him, declaring, “He will call out to me, ‘You are my Father.’” The promises are eternal: his line and his throne will endure forever.
Crucially, God anticipated the problem of sin. He promised that if David’s sons were disobedient, He would punish them. But—and this is the heart of the promise—He would never remove His love (hesed) or betray His faithfulness. He swears a solemn oath by His own holiness that He will not break His covenant.
Verses 38-52: The Painful Reality of a Broken Throne
“But you have rejected, you have spurned… You have renounced the covenant with your servant and have defiled his crown in the dust. You have broken through all his walls… You have cast his throne to the ground… How long, LORD? Will you hide yourself forever?… Lord, where is your former great love, which in your faithfulness you swore to David?”
The word “But” in verse 38 marks one of the most jarring transitions in the Psalter. After the glorious promises, Ethan lays out the devastating reality. He accuses God of rejecting His anointed king, of renouncing the covenant, and of allowing the king’s crown to be thrown in the dust. The king has been defeated, his strongholds are in ruins, his enemies rejoice, and his throne has been cast to the ground.
This leads to the final, agonizing questions. “How long, LORD?” Ethan reminds God of the shortness of human life and asks Him to remember the taunts of the enemies. His final plea is the question that hangs over the entire psalm: “Lord, where is your former great love…?“
The final verse, “Praise be to the LORD forever! Amen and Amen,” is a standard doxology used to close Book Three of the Psalms. It stands in stark tension with the unresolved questions of verse 51, modeling a faith that continues to praise even when it cannot understand.
Practical Lessons for Today
Ground Your Laments in God’s Character: Before Ethan brought his complaint, he spent 37 verses celebrating God’s power and His promises. This teaches us that the most effective way to wrestle with God in our pain is to first remind ourselves of who He truly is. Our praise and knowledge of God’s character give us the foundation to ask our hardest questions.
It is Okay to Ask God “How Long?”: This psalm gives us permission to be honest with God when His promises and our reality seem to be in conflict. Faith is not about pretending we don’t have questions. It’s about taking our questions and our broken hearts directly to the one who made the promises.
God’s “No” is Not the Final Answer: From Ethan’s perspective in 586 B.C., the Davidic covenant looked like a complete failure. But from the perspective of the New Testament, we know it was not. The covenant was ultimately fulfilled not in a political dynasty, but in the person of Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of David, whose kingdom will never end. This teaches us that even when God’s promises seem to fail in one sense, He is often working to fulfill them in a deeper, more profound way than we could have ever imagined.
Praise Even When You Don’t Have the Answers: The final doxology, placed right after the raw, unanswered questions, is a powerful model for our faith. We may not always get the answers we want in this life, but we can always choose to declare that God is worthy of our praise.
Cross References
2 Samuel 7:14-16: “I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with a rod wielded by men… But my love will never be taken away from him… Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.” This is the historical record of the Davidic Covenant that Psalm 89 recounts and wrestles with.
Isaiah 55:3: “Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David.” The prophet Isaiah, speaking during the exile, looks back to the Davidic covenant as the basis for God’s future restoration of Israel, showing that God had not forgotten His promise.
Lamentations 3:31-32: “For no one is cast off by the Lord forever. Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love.” The book of Lamentations wrestles with the same catastrophe as Psalm 89, but it also clings to the hope that God’s rejection is not final and His compassion will ultimately prevail.
Acts 13:34: “God raised him from the dead so that he will never be subject to decay. As God has said, ‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings promised to David.'” The Apostle Paul, preaching in Antioch, argues that God’s “sure” and “holy” promises to David are ultimately fulfilled in the resurrection of Jesus, which guarantees an eternal King on an eternal throne.