Psalm 89—A Contemplation of Ethan the Ezrahite.
The previous Psalm was the wage of sin, but here is the gift of God— “one of the very choicest songs in the night. Midst a stream of troubled thoughts there stands a fair island of rescue and redemption, which supplies standing-room for wonder and worship.” (C. H. Spurgeon)
This is a contemplation— "‘maschil,’ an instructive psalm, a psalm causing to understand; it treats concerning the covenant of grace, and the promises of it; and concerning the mercy and faithfulness of God, in making and keeping the same.” (John Gill)— “‘Of Ethan': perhaps the same person as Jeduthun, who was a musician in David's reign; was noted for his wisdom in Solomon's days, and probably survived till the troubles of Rehoboam's period. If this be the man, he must have written this Psalm in his old age, when troubles were coming thick and heavy upon the dynasty of David and the land of Judah; this is not at all improbable, and there is much in the Psalm which looks that way.” (C. H. Spurgeon)— "'the Ezrahite'— Word occurring only three times in the OT. Twice it is used as a title for Ethan (1 Kgs 4:31; Ps 89 title) and once as a name given to Heman (Ps 88 title)…. signifies a member of a pre-Israelite family” (Tyndale) pitted for destruction.
It is a patriotic ode sung by an Israelite indeed, marked as redeemed. Ethan, like Heman, was a convert to the faith—an Ezrahite by natural origins—but an Israelite by second birth. He was thus grafted into the Vine. Thus, especially in time of trouble, his hope “rested on the Messiah, the true David, and shepherd of Israel, as in Ezekiel 34. The Chaldee paraphrase, like the doctors of the christian church, refers all those expressions to the Messiah.” (Joseph Sutcliffe)
David's promise pertains to the Seed of the woman who would destroy the serpent. It was promised to him through his lineage and upon his throne in 2 Samuel 7:12-17— “‘When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your Seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish His kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of His kingdom forever. I will be His Father, and He shall be My Son. If He commits iniquity, I will chasten Him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men. But My mercy shall not depart from Him, as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever.’ According to all these words and according to all this vision, so Nathan spoke to David.”— “Notwithstanding these promises, the kingdom of Judah is overthrown, and the royal family nearly ruined, Psalm 89:38-45; and earnestly prays for their restoration, Psalm 89:46-52.” (Adam Clarke) Though the regime and religion would wane and revive from time to time, the temple in Jerusalem was ultimately destroyed in 70 AD. And the earthly kingdom soon thereafter failed. But a perpetual throne was promised.
1 I will sing of the mercies of Yahweh forever; with my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness to all generations. 2 For I have said, “Mercy shall be built up forever; Your faithfulness You shall establish in the very heavens.” 3 “I have made a covenant with My chosen, I have sworn to My servant David: 4 ‘Your seed I will establish forever, and build up your throne to all generations.’” Selah
"'I will sing of the mercies of Yahweh forever;' (1a) “Whatever we may observe abroad or experience in our own persons, we ought still to praise God for His mercies, since they most certainly remain the same, whether we can perceive them or not. Sense sings but now and then, but faith is an eternal songster.” (C. H. Spurgeon)- "'with my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness to all generations.' (1b) Nothing can be more beautiful or interesting than the transition which is here made from Ethan to Jehovah himself. The sacred writer had determined to make known God's mercies; but in so doing, the Lord himself is introduced as proclaiming them. Reader, pause, and recollect, who the speaker is in these verses; and then attend to the most blessed and gracious declarations contained in them.“ (Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary)
“For I have said, ‘Mercy shall be built up forever;’ What is this ‘mercy’ that is ‘built up for ever’? but the glorious and the gracious scheme, the glorious and the gracious fabric, of our salvation, founded in the eternal purpose of God ‘carried into execution by the labours and the death of Jesus Christ’ and then applied and brought home to the heart by the illuminating and converting power of the Holy Ghost? This is that ‘mercy’ which is ‘built up for ever.’ It was planned from everlasting, and will know no ruin or decay, through the illimitable line of eternity itself. Who is the builder of this fabric? Not man's free will. Not man's own righteousness or wisdom. Not human power nor human skill. Every true believer will here join issue with David, that it is God, and God alone, who builds up the temple of his Church; and who, as the builder of it, is alone entitled to all the glory. The elect constitute and form one grand house of mercy: an house, erected to display and to perpetuate the riches of the Father's free grace, of the Son's atoning merit, and of the Holy Ghost's efficacious agency. This house, contrary to the fate of all sublunary buildings, will never fall down, nor ever be taken down. As nothing can be added to it, so nothing can be diminished from it. Fire cannot injure it; storms cannot overthrow it; age cannot impair it. It stands on a rock, and is immovable as the rock on which it stands the threefold rock of God's inviolable decree, of Christ's finished redemption, and of the Spirit's never failing faithfulness.” (Augustus Montague Toplady)
5 And the heavens will praise Your wonders, O Lord; Your faithfulness also in the assembly of the saints. 6 For who in the heavens can be compared to Yahweh? Who among the sons of the mighty can be likened to Yahweh? 7 God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be held in reverence by all those around Him. 8 O Lord God of hosts, who is mighty like You, O Lord? Your faithfulness also surrounds You. 9 You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, You still them. 10 You have broken Rahab in pieces, as one who is slain; You have scattered Your enemies with Your mighty arm.
“’And the heavens’ i.e. the inhabitants of heaven, the holy angels, as Job 15:15; who clearly discern and constantly adore thy mercy and faithfulness, when men upon earth are filled with doubts and perplexities about it— ‘will praise Your wonders, O Lord. Your faithfulness also in the assembly of the saints.'… Of thy saints upon earth in their public assemblies; who always acknowledge and celebrate thy truth, although they cannot always discern the footsteps of it….” (Matthew Poole)
At the end of time, all the the inhabitants of heaven will find new occasion for praise in the marvelous things which Jesus has accomplished. "The God of the promise is He who is praised by the heavens and the holy ones above.” (Keil & Delitzsch) "If we suppose that this promise embraced the Messiah and His reign, then we shall see what new occasions [men and] the angels would find for praise - in the incarnation of the Redeemer, and in all that would be accomplished by Him.” (Albert Barnes) “'O Yahweh God of hosts, who is mighty like You, O Yah?' The original word here rendered ‘Lord’ is יה Yah.” (Albert Barnes) In the few uses in the Bible, it signifies the Second Coming of Jesus riding on the clouds in glory. "‘Your faithfulness also surrounds You,' that is, that great cloud of witnesses, whom You will raise from the grave at Your coming."‘God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be held in reverence by all those around Him.’ While some come with a proper Scriptural boldness to the throne of grace, there are others who come into the presence of God with a reprehensible, if not sinful, boldness.” (Adam Clarke)
"'You rule the raging of the sea;’ when it tries to rise against His laws in insolent defiance; ‘when its waves rise, You still them,’ causing them to sink back in powerless rage." (Paul E Kretzmann) "He who rules the raging of the sea, also rules the raging of the sea of the peoples, Psalms 65:8. גּאוּת , a proud rising, here of the sea, like גּאוה in Psalms 46:4.” (Keil & Delitzsch) “When its waves rise, You still them." Thus: "'You have broken Rahab in pieces,’ Thou hast destroyed the power of Egypt, having overthrown the king and its people when they endeavored to prevent thy people from regaining their liberty; ‘as one who is slain;’ The whole clause in the original is,... ‘Thou, like a hero, hast broken down Egypt.’ Dr. Kennicott has largely proved that חלל chalal, which we render wounded, slain, etc., means a soldier, warrior, hero; and it is certain that this sense agrees better with it than the other in a great number of places.” (Adam Clarke) “‘You have scattered Your enemies with Your mighty arm.’ All the enemies of the Lord and of His Church will be mortally wounded and overthrown by the strength of His almighty arm.” (Paul Kretzmann)
11 The heavens are Yours, the earth also is Yours; the world and all its fullness, You have founded them. 12 The north and the south, You have created them; Tabor and Hermon rejoice in Your name.
“The destruction of Israel's enemies, in the ruin of Rahab is particularly mentioned with praise. And as this was typical of Christ's victory over Satan and all the enemies of the church, so believers find great consolation in the assured interest they have in Christ and his finished salvation. Hence the prophet, ages before it was accomplished, looking back to the event of Egypt's destruction, sang aloud of the victories of Jesus. Art thou not it which hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon? Art thou not it which hast dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over? Therefore the redeemed, of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion, and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads, etc. Isaiah 51:9-11... Tabor and Hermon, which are here said, in a figurative manner, to rejoice in Jehovah's name, are much spoken of in the OT scriptures, and perhaps with peculiar reference to the New. Those hills, the one to the east, and the other to the west, in Canaan, were much frequented by the saints of God. David speaks of the sacred hill of Hermon, and compares brotherly-love to the dew of it, Psalms 42:6; Psa_133:3. And Tabor is yet more eminent, as being the memorable spot of Christ's transfiguration, where God the Father proclaimed his perfect love and approbation of Jesus as his dear Son. Well might this hymn, therefore, in allusion to those glorious events, call even the holy hills to rejoice in Jehovah's name. Matthew 17:1-5.” (Robert Hawker)
13 You have a mighty arm; strong is Your hand, and high is Your right hand.
“‘You have a mighty arm,’ etc. THINE is an arm with might. ‘Arm,’ ‘hand,’ ‘right hand’ (terms frequently used in connexion with the Exodus, e.g. Exodus 15:6; Exodus 15:9; Exodus 15:12; Exodus 15:16) denote not merely power but the exertion of power; and the use of verbs in the second line, lit. ‘Thy hand sheweth strength, thy right hand exalteth itself,’ emphasizes the thought, that God not only possesses but exercises His power.” (Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges) Christ is the arm and right hand of Yahweh “and a mighty one He is.” (John Gill)
14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; mercy and truth go before Your face.15 Blessed are the people who know the joyful sound! They walk, O Lord, in the light of Your countenance.
“‘Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne;’ For God could not be the Judge and Ruler of the world if he did not right, Genesis 18:25... The sense and scope of this verse may be this, Though thy present dispensations, in breaking thy covenant with David, and in suffering his posterity and thine own people to be devoured by such as are much more wicked than they, be a great deep and secret, yet I rest satisfied that they are just. In like manner the prophet fortifies himself under the like thoughts, Jeremiah 12:1— ‘mercy and truth go before Your face,’ as thy harbingers and companions, wheresoever thou goest.” (Matthew Poole)
“”Blessed are the people who know the joyful sound! They walk, O Lord, in the light of Your countenance.’ Observe: He doth not say, Blessed is the people that hear only, but they that know the joyful sound. Probably he alluded to the calling of the people up to the assemblies of divine worship, the new moon feasts, and especially the jubilee trumpet on the great day of release. And although this trumpet of the jubilee was never sounded but once in every fiftieth year, and consequently was not familiar from frequency, yet not a poor captive in Israel's camp, that longed for the year of release, but perfectly knew the sound, the moment it reached his ear, on the morning of the day of deliverance.” (Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary) People who know- “This is not a mere common or ordinary knowledge; it is not earthly knowledge; for man, by his own powers, could never have discovered a way of reconciliation with God.” (E. Tottenham)
16 In Your name they rejoice all day long, and in Your righteousness they are exalted. 17 For You are the glory of their strength, and in Your favor our horn is exalted. 18 For our shield belongs to the Lord, and our king to the Holy One of Israel. 16 In Your name they rejoice all day long, and in Your righteousness they are exalted. 17 For You are the glory of their strength, and in Your favor our horn is exalted. 18 For our shield belongs to the Lord, and our king to the Holy One of Israel.
“In Your name"— Yeshua— "'they rejoice all day long’ —the jubilee, referred to above— ‘and in Your righteousness’ - In the declaration of thy righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, Romans 3:25, Romans 3:26— ‘they shall they be exalted' - justified freely from all things, be purified from all unrighteousness, grow in grace, and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ here below, and at last be exalted to His right hand to reign with Him forever. The jubilee was a type of the Gospel, and under that type the psalmist here speaks of the glorious advent of the Lord Jesus, and the great happiness of believers in Him. Let it be observed that the letters in the above Hebrew words called paragogic, as nun in יהלכון yehallechun, and יגילון yegilun, always increase and deepen the meaning of the words to which they are attached.” (Adam Clarke)
“For You are the glory of their strength - The ornament; the beauty; the honor; that is, Their strength derives its beauty and honor, not from anything in themselves, but from the fact that it is derived from thee. The strength thus imparted is an honor or ornament in itself; it is an honor and glory to them that it is imparted to them.— ’And in Your favor’ - Or, by thy favor, or good pleasure— ‘our horn shall be exalted.’ The horn is a symbol of power. Compare Psalm 22:21, note; Psalm 75:4; Daniel 7:8, note; Job 16:15, note. The meaning here is, that their power had been derived from God; or that all which contributed to their exaltation and honor in the world, had been derived from Him.” (Albert Barnes) Though we may die and our bodies may return to the dust from which we were made, we “shall be raised and recovered.” (Matthew Poole)
“‘For Yahweh is our defense’— Heb. our shield; the body cannot be wounded, but through the shield. ‘And the Holy One of Israel is our king— How, then, can any one cry aloud?” (John Trapp) We are thus "entitled lo His omnipotent protection (Psalm 1:1-3. 32:1-2; 65:4. Matthew 5:3-12).” (Thomas Scott) “Having therefore so potent a Friend, we have no reason to despair of our restitution [by bodily resurrection] to our former felicity.” (Matthew Poole)
19 Then You spoke in a vision to Your holy one, and said:
“I have given help to One who is mighty; I have exalted One chosen from the people. 20 I have found My servant David; with My holy oil I have anointed Him, 21 with whom My hand shall be established; also My arm shall strengthen Him. 22 The enemy shall not outwit Him, nor the son of wickedness afflict Him. 23 I will beat down His foes before His face, and plague those who hate Him. 24 But My faithfulness and My mercy shall be with Him, and in My name His horn shall be exalted. 25 Also I will set His hand over the sea, and His right hand over the rivers. 26 He shall cry to Me, ‘You are my Father, My God, and the Rock of my salvation.’ 27 Also I will make Him My firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. 28 My mercy I will keep for Him forever, and My covenant shall stand firm with Him. 29 His seed also I will make to endure forever, and His throne as the days of heaven.”
“David was an eminent type of Christ, it is true; but the name of David, as meaning Christ, was used by the prophets ages after David was dead and buried. See Jeremiah 30:9; Ezekiel 34:23-24; Hosea 3:5. Hence Peter the apostle, in his sermon, on the memorable day of Pentecost, endeavored to call off the attention of the Jews wholly from David, to fix it on Christ. In this passage (the 19th verse) particularly, it would be doing the greatest violence to the Scripture to suffer the smallest idea of David, king of Israel, to cross the mind, while attending to the sublime truths here recorded. What vision, or what Holy One, could these words mean, but Him who was set up from everlasting, and who alone was found worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof? Proverbs 8:23; Revelation 5:1-9. And was not Christ in His human nature, as the Christ of God, chosen out of the people? Is it not blessed to consider that individual Person, that holy thing, so called, Luke 1:35; that body which the Father gave Him for the express purpose of salvation, Hebrews 10:5; the One, the very individual One chosen out of the people? To behold the Father's choice, and the Spirit's anointing of Him, our great Representative, suited for the purposes of our salvation, and accomplishing our redemption by His blood, and righteousness? And, in this point of view, how blessed are all those covenant-engagements and promises of a faithful God, and how eternally secure doth it make all our assurances of righteousness and everlasting happiness in Him! Reader, if we read these scriptures with reference to Christ and our interest in Him, by virtue of His merit in all He did and in all He suffered as the Surety and Representative of His people; we shall, through the Spirit's teaching, enter into the full enjoyment of the blessings here enumerated, and faith will find a sufficient warrant and authority in the Father's testimony concerning redemption.” (Hawker's Poor Man's Commentary)
The firstborn of each Israelitish family taught the Way and as recompense received a double potion of the father’s inheritance. “The title ‘firstborn’ is applied to Christ (Luke 2:7; Romas 8:29; Colossians 1:15, 18; Hebrews 1:6; Revelations 1:5). It stresses Christ's preeminence over all because He was the first to rise from the dead. As firstborn, Christ is heir of all things (Hebrews 1:2) and the Head of the church (Ephesians 1:20-23; Colossians 1:18, 24; Hebrews 2:10-12).” (Tyndale Bible Dictionary)
Here is the restoration declared in the congregation of Israel "'Hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know— Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it. For David says concerning Him: ‘I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken. Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad; moreover my flesh also will rest in hope. For You will not leave my soul in Hades, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. You have made known to me the ways of life; You will make me full of joy in Your presence.’ [Ps 16:8–11]— Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool.’[Ps 110:1] Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” (Acts 2:22-36)
Both Lord and Christ (36)— “Lord over all the creatures, beyond what the first Adam was; and Christ, King over all the people of God, to rule in them, and reign for them; for to this purpose he was the Christ, or the Anointed of God, declared by God to be so, and owned for such by all that believed in Him." (Matthew Poole) ”Previously He was indeed likewise Lord and Messiah, but in the form of a servant; and it was after laying aside that form that He became such in complete reality..." (F. B. Meyer) for He lived a perfectly obedient life, but was crucified- not for His own sins, but for the sins of the world. “Christ is said to be 'made [Lord and Christ]’ because he was advanced to that dignity, and therefore it is not spoken with reference to his nature, but with reference to his position and high dignity." (Geneva Study Bible)
30 “If his sons forsake My law and do not walk in My judgments, 31 If they break My statutes and do not keep My commandments, 32 then I will punish their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. 33 Nevertheless My lovingkindness I will not utterly take from him, nor allow My faithfulness to fail. 4 My covenant I will not break, nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips. 35 Once I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David: 36 His Seed shall endure forever, and His throne as the sun before Me; 37 It shall be established forever like the moon, even like the faithful witness in the sky.” Selah
“If his sons’— "his successors on the throne of Judah" Albert Barnes)— ‘forsake my law and do not walk in My judgments, If they break My statutes and do not keep My commandments,’ then I will punish their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes’ The rod was used upon Solomon (1 Kings 11:14-40), Rehoboam (1 Kings 12:16-20), Ahaziah (2 Kings 9:27), Joash (2 Kings 12:17-20), and all the wicked descendants of David, as sufficiently appears from the history of the divided kingdom in Kings and Chronicles. God visited their iniquity with stripes time after time, and generation after generation.” (Pulpit Commentary) .. Until he finally took kingdom out of their hands. That sepulcher will soon be given to Christ the King at His coming. Thus Yahweh will punish “not only their lesser, but even their greater sin.” (Matthew Poole) “Every transgression and disobedience… receiveth a just recompence of reward, Hebrews 2:2.”(Trapp)— death by hellfire. They will likewise perish as other men in the end-time Judgement. And the people of the kingdom of Judah would we carried away into captivity in Babylon; and after restoration, that earthly kingdom would be soon be folded up, as it was when the last prophet of Israel anointed a king for Judah.
“If this then is the rod, and these the stripes, there is danger lest backsliders and apostates should wrest the Scriptures to their own destruction; and while they expect but a few crosses and afflictions, they may, like Absalom and others, die in the grossest sins. David, who best understood the conditions of his own covenant, after charging Solomon to serve his father’s God, closed with this sanctifying caution: ‘But if thou forsake him, and rebel, he will cast thee off forever.’” (Joseph Sutcliffe)
“Nevertheless My lovingkindness I will not utterly take from him, nor allow My faithfulness to fail.' etc. . “But still there is the assurance that the power would not depart permanently from the successors of David, but that it would be restored ultimately to that line, and be permanent and eternal.” (Albert Barnes) “My determination to establish a spiritual kingdom, the Head of which shall be Jesus, the son of David, shall never fail. My prophets have declared this, and I will not alter the thing that is gone out of my mouth.” (Adam Clarke) “The first (temporal kingdom) waxed old like the tabernacle, the second (spiritual) shone like the sun; and the church, like the full orbed moon, reflected the glory. All covenants therefore are frail in man, but sure in Christ. Thus the church in time of trouble hung all her hopes on Christ, who is called ‘The sure mercies of David.’ Isaiah 55:4.” (Joseph Sutcliffe)
38 But You have cast off and abhorred, You have been furious with Your anointed. 39 You have renounced the covenant of Your servant; You have profaned his crown by casting it to the ground. 40 You have broken down all his hedges; You have brought his strongholds to ruin. 41 All who pass by the way plunder him; he is a reproach to his neighbors. 42 You have exalted the right hand of his adversaries; You have made all his enemies rejoice. 43 You have also turned back the edge of his sword, and have not sustained him in the battle. 44 You have made his glory cease, and cast his throne down to the ground. 45 The days of his youth You have shortened; You have covered him with shame. Selah
"'But You have cast off and abhorred' Notwithstanding all that had been assured to David, the present state of the nation seems to contradict God’s gracious promises heretofore given, and to be a violation of his covenant with Israel.” (Daniel Whedon) The crown has been cast to be ground and the hedge has been taken away from a people in the earthly land of Israel. etc. The children of Israel were never intended to have an earthly king. Thus the remnant of Judah was a theocracy, meaning that God was to be their King. But they wanted to be like the nations. And they thus rejected Yahweh in demanding one. (1 Samuel 8) “The Jews simply could not get the ‘earthly kingdom’ out of their minds. All of the terrible things mentioned here did not merely ‘seem’ to have happened; they had actually occurred. David's earthly dynasty was being liquidated. All of the prayers for God to intervene were of no avail. ‘God said, I have given them a king in mine anger, and have taken him away in my wrath’ (Hosea 13:11; compare 1 Samuel 8). Despite the misunderstanding of all Israel, God never intended David's earthly successors to his throne to be an eternal institution.” (Burton Coffman) That kingdom has ended, though zealous men— called Zionist—have created a new nation in the land.
“‘The days of his youth You have shortened; You have covered him with shame.’- Our kings have not reigned half their days, nor lived out half their lives. The four last kings of Judea reigned but a short time, and either died by the sword or in captivity...Jehoahaz reigned only three months, and was led captive to Egypt, where he died. Jehoiakim reigned only eleven years, and was tributary to the Chaldeans, who pat him to death, and cast his body into the common sewer. Jehoiachin reigned three months and ten days, and was led captive to Babylon, where he continued in prison to the time of Evil-Merodach, who, though he loosed him from prison, never invested him with any power. Zedekiah, the last of all, had reigned only eleven years when he was taken, his eyes put out, was loaded with chains, and thus carried to Babylon. Most of these kings died a violent and premature death. Thus the days of their youth - of their power, dignity, and iife, were shortened, and they themselves covered with shame. Selah; so it most incontestably is.” (Adam Clarke)
46 How long, Lord? Will You hide Yourself forever? Will Your wrath burn like fire? 47 Remember how short my time is; for what futility have You created all the children of men? 48 What man can live and not see death? Can he deliver his life from the power of the grave? Selah 49 Lord, where are Your former lovingkindnesses, which You swore to David in Your truth? 50 Remember, Lord, the reproach of Your servants— How I bear in my bosom the reproach of all the many peoples, 51 with which Your enemies have reproached, O Lord, with which they have reproached the footsteps of Your anointed. 52 Blessed be the Lord forevermore! Amen and Amen.
No mortal man can deliver himself nor his fellow. All men are mortal, and subject to death. “No man, by wisdom, might, or riches, can deliver his life from the hand - the power, of death and the grave.” (Adam Clarke) Selah. “‘Lord, where are Your former lovingkindnesses, which You swore to David in Your truth? Remember, Lord, the reproach of Your servants—‘ etc.
“The thought here is that the psalmist prays that God will rescue Israel and restore the old order of things while he is yet alive [which He did from time to time for a season]. ‘Remember the reproach of thy servants’ (Psalms 89:50). This was to call God to notice the terrible reproaches being heaped upon Israel, and upon their kings, and upon God's name by all of the enemies. Leupold commented, concerning one extensive section of this psalm that, ‘Few comments are needed.’ And, in a sense, this applies to the whole psalm, the great element of which, is the pitiful disappointment of Israel; and yet, there is no way to avoid the conclusion that Israel itself was largely responsible of their tragic mistake.” (Burton Coffman)
“’Blessed be Yahweh forevermore! Amen and Amen.’ The kingdom of Messiah, King of kings and Lord of lords is the answer. Everything natural has failed— kings, and subjects, and the kingdom. ”But about the Son he says, 'Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy' (Psalm 45:6-7)." (Hebrews 1:8-9) He is a spiritual fountain of eternal life.