Paraphrase Upon the Books of the Psalms, Book 3 · Psalm 89
The Eighty Ninth Psalm.
MAschil of Ethan the Ezrahite.
Paraphrase. The eighty ninth Psalm is a commemoration of the mercies performed, and promised to be continued to David and his posterity to the end of the world, but now (in the time of some great affliction on Prince and people, probably in the captivity v. 38. &c. see note i.) seemingly interrupted by their sins, and their breach of Covenant with God, together with an hearty prayer for the returne of them. The Author of it is not known. It was set to the tune of a song of Ethan the sonne of Z…ah called Maschil (see note on Psalm Lxxxviii. b.)
1. I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever; with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations.
The mercies of our God, in making such gratious and glorious promises to his people, and his exact fidelity in performing them is so great, that it exacts all our lauds and most magnificent commemorations, thereby to proclaim and divulge them to all posterity.
2. Fora. I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever; thy saithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens.
God hath promised abundant kindness and mercy, and that to endure to us to all our posterities; and so I am most confident he will performe, make good, by his continual saithfulness from his seat of mercy and of justice, what he hath thus promised us.
3. I have made a Covenant with my chosen; I have sworn unto David my servant.
This promise of his was most solemnly made by way of a sworne Covenant, stricken with David, whom he chose to be King over his people, when he rejected and removed Saul.
4. Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations. Selah.
And the summe of his Covenant was, not only that he should be King over his people, but that this dignity should be continued to his posterity for many generations, and that in some degree (though with great disturbances which their sins should bring upon them) as long as this nation should continue, and that toward the time of the destruction thereof, the Messias should be borne of this very race of David, and erect a spiritual Kingdome in the hearts of all faithful men (the only true genuine posterity of Abraham and David) which should undoubtedly endure to the end of the world.
5. And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O Lord, thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the‖holy ones, see note b. saints.
This is a most glorious Covenant of transcendent and wonderfull mercies, which as thou hast made, so thou shalt exactly performe to us; the glories thereof shall be admired and celebrated by all the Angels in heaven, when they are met together for the praising and glorifying thee.
6. For who in the heaven‖or shall contest, or enter the lists with can be compared unto the Lord? who among the sons of theb. mighty can be likened unto the Lord?
7. God is†formidable in the great assembly of holy ones, that incompass him. greatly to be feared in the assembly of his saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him.
For though they be glorious creatures, and instruments and ministers of God, yet there is no least comparison between all the power and operations of all those, and that which is performed by God in these his admirable dispensations toward his people; which therefore are to be lookt on with amazement, and highest degree of reverence and adoration, by all those glorious creatures which attend him.
8. O Lord God of hosts, who is a strong Lord like unto thee?*and thy faithfulness incompasseth thee. c.or to thy faithfulness round about thee?
Thou art the Lord, and only supreme commander of all those armies of Angels: and as thou art armed with power above all those, so art thou guarded with fidelity; by the former thou canst, and by the latter thou wilt certainly performe all that thou hast covenanted with us.
9. Thou rulest‖over the pride, or, elation foreign the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them.
Thy power is sufficient to bring down and tame the proudest and most tumultuous element: the very ocean it selfe, when it is most boysterous, is immediately quiet on thy command.
10. Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces as one that is slain: thou hast scattered thine enemies with thy strong arme.
By this means, as once thou gavest thy people the children of Israel a passage out of Aegypt through the chanel of the red sea, so didst thou returne the sea upon Pharaoh and the Aegyptians, the tyrannizing enemies of thy people, destroyedst him there as discernibly and illustriously, as if thou hadst slain him with a sword, and together with him by thine own immediate interposition didst then overwhelme and drown the Aegyptians.
11. The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine: as for the world and thed. fulness thereof thou hast founded them.
Thou art the only creator of the whole world, and all that therein is; thou gavest it that stable firme being that it hath, (so that the sea, though much higher than the rest of the globe, doth not yet drown the earth.) And as in the creation all was ordered by thy command, so hast thou still the only right of power and dominion over all, in the administration of things.
12. The North and thee. South thou hast created them, Tabor and Hermon shall rejoyce in thy name.
All the regions of all the quarters of the earth, as the Northen and Southern, so the Western and Eastern coasts, are created by thy power, and protected and supported by it, and accordingly are obliged to bless thy providence for all the least good that they enjoy.
13. Thou hast a mighty arme; strong is thy hand, and†exalted foreign high is thy right hand.
Thy power is farre removed above all the oppositions and resistances in nature: whatsoever thou wilt, thou art perfectly able to doe, and thy providential power of mercy, of delivering and obliging, is, above all the other works of it, eminently observable.
14. *Righteousnessf.Justice and judgment are the‖preparing habitation of thy throne, mercy and truth shall goe before thy face.
Whatsoever thou doest, thy mercy and pity is discernible in it, and so is thy Justice and fidelity also: Thou makest promises of abundant mercy to thy servants, and never failest to performe them.
15. Blessed is the people that know theg. joyfull sound; they shall walke, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance.
And 'tis no small degree of bliss to be thus honoured by God, as the people of Israel is, to receive such stupendious mercies from him, and to be taught the way of praising and acknowledging his mercies, so as will be acceptable to him: such as they, are secured of Gods continual favour, if they be not stupidly wanting to themselves; there being no more required of them, than humbly to begge, and qualify themselves to receive his mercies; and then thankfully to acknowledge, and being secured of this, they can want nothing to live most comfortably and pleasurably. Psal. cxxxv. 3.
16. In thy name shall they rejoyce all the day, and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted.
Two soveraign benefits shall they enjoy hereby; 1. a continual delight and joy, that they are favoured by thee, which they shall as delightfully express in singing continual prayses to thee (and this very communion with God, a confidence of Gods kindness, and a perpetual blessing him for it, is of all others the most pleasurable way of living, a paradise or antepast of heaven here) 2. the natural consequent of Gods favour and mercy, his raising them up out of the most low and dejected state (see v. 17.) to the greatest height of dignity.
17. For thou art the glory of their strength; and in thy favour shall our horne be exalted.
For though such men have no solid strength of their own, yet by additions they receive from thee, they may confidently attempt any thing, and depend on thee for the performance: And that gives us thy servants, by thy continued favour and kindness to us, an humble assurance, that thou wilt raise us out of our present dejection, v. 38. &c. to an high degree of power and dignity. (see Luk. 1. note n.)
18. For‖of or from the Lord theh. Lord is our defence, and†from the the holy one of Israel is our King.
The ground of our assurance being only this, that the supreme God of heaven and earth, he that hath made and performed such wonderfull promises to this people of Israel, and by his own special providence appointed David to be King over us, by this owning us peculiarly as his own Kingdome, is he that undertakes to shield and secure us from all dangers.
19. Then thou spakest in vision to thy holy one, and saidst, I have laid help upon,*an eminent man. one that isi. mighty, I have exalted one chosen out of the people;
20. I have found David my servant, with my holy oyle have I annointed him,
One special act of his goodness to us it was, that appearing in vision to Samuel the good Prophet, he told him who it was that he had chosen to be King in Saul's stead, to rule and defend his people, a person of eminent vertues, and though mean in the eyes of men, an approved faithful servant of his (herein an eminent type of Christ, the fountain of all good to mankinde.)
21. With whom mine hand shall be‖read for firme foreign established, mine arme also shall strengthen him.
To him God promised to be alwayes present, and ready at hand to assist, and preserve, and secure him in all his undertakings,
22. The enemyk. shall not†deceive him exact upon him, nor the son of wickedness afflict him.
To protect him from the stratagems and violences of the most rapacious enemies,
23. And I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate him.
And to bring the greatest mischiefs, even destruction and utter ruine, on them that designed him any. (This had an eminent completion in the crucifiers, and all other the obstinate opposers of Christ.)
24. But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him, and in my name shall his horne be exalted.
And herein, and in all other exercises of his mercy, to make good his covenant and promise, to approve his fidelity to him, as being the immediate visible signal author as of his first advancement, so of all the dignities that should be heaped on him.
25. I will set his hand also in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers.
To him he then promised what he abundantly since performed, to extend his dominions from the Ocean to Euphrates (And therein to typifie the progress and propagation of the faith of Christ to all the regions of the world.)
26. He shall cry unto me, Thou art my father, my God, andl. the rock of my salvation.
To deal with him as a father with a beloved son, a God with an eminent servant, and to secure and deliver him from all troubles and dangers, and finally to support him in, or redeem him out of them. (This had a most literal eminent completion in the Messiah, the eternal son of God, to whom God was hypostatically present in all his works and sufferings on earth, and at length raised him out of the grave, and exalted him to his regal power in heaven.)
27. Also I will make him my first-born, higher then the Kings of the earth.
To deal with him as with an eldest son, to whom the double portion of honour and possessions is due, advancing him to greater dignity and wealth than any other Prince in the world. (This in the fullest latitude was to belong to Christ, the first-borne of every creature, the most eminent person that ever the world saw, on whom all power was instated both in heaven and earth.)
28. My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him.
29. His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the dayes of heaven.
And herein did the height of this promised mercy consist, that it should inviolably be made good to David to the end of the world, and when the royall power over this people of God should fail from his family, there should be another more illustrious Kingdome erected in the hearts of men, the spiritual Kingdome of the Messias, who should be borne of the seed and posterity of David, and that Kingdome should never be extinguished, but changed only into the Kingdome of glory in Heaven.
30. If his children forsake my Law, and walk not in my judgments,
31. If they‖pollute, profane foreign break my statutes, and keep not my commandments,
32. Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with†scourges foreign stripes.
To him it was foretold and bound with Gods oath v. 35. irrevocably, that as in case of uniforme and faithfull obedience, his mercies should be continued to his feed; so in case his succeeding heirs should depart from that obedience, and violate the commandments of God, falling off to known and wilfull transgressions, God would deliver them up to very sore and severe punishments, deportations, and at length to utter rejection from the regal dignity, and upon an universal defection of the people and obstinate impenitency, holding out against the most efficacious methods, send an universal destruction on the Kingdome.
33. Nevertheless my loving-kindness will I not*break from with him foreign utterly take from him, nor‖lie in my faithfulness foreign suffer my faithfulness to faile.
34. My covenant will I not†profane see v. 31. break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.
35. Once have I sworne by my holiness, that I will not lie unto David.
36. His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me.
37. It shall be established for ever as the moone, and as a faithfull witness in heaven. Selah.
And even when this should by their sins be most justly brought upon them, yet should not this covenant of mercy made under oath with David's seed be in the least measure infringed, the posterity of that faithfull servant of God being perpetuated in Christ, the Messias that should rise and spring from the loines of David; and his Kingdome, though not an earthly or secular, yet in a much greater height, a divine and spiritual Kingdome in the hearts of Christians, is secured, that it shall never have an end, or be destroyed, as long as this world lasts. And this is a full evidence of the fidelity and performance of Gods promise to David and his seed, beyond any thing that any creature in the world injoyes. The heavens are lookt on as an immutable unchangeable body, the Sun and Moon divide all time betwixt them, and are ordained and fixt in their spheres to be signes of times and seasons Gen. i. 14. and so they shall certainly continue as long as this world lasts: But then, when there shall be no farther use of them, they shall be set aside; whereas the Church and Kingdome of Christ, that spiritual seed of him which is the most eminent son of David (when all other branches of this stock are destroyed) shall endure beyond all time, lasting as long as this world lasts, and then not be concluded, but removed only and transplanted to heaven.
38. But thou hast cast off and abhorred, thou hast been wroth with thine anointed;
39. Thou hast made void the covenant of thy servant, thou hast profaned his crown*to the earth foreign by casting it to the ground:
40. Thou hast broken down all his hedges, and hast‖made foreign brought his strong holds†a ruine.foreign to ruine.
But notwithstanding this firme promise to David and his posterity, and the perpetuating of the Kingdome to them, thy punishments are now very heavy upon his family. They have provoked thy wrath, and thy covenant with them (the condition being broken on their part) hath not secured them from the bitterest effects of it, devesting them of their regal power, and demolishing and laying wast all their forces. (The Covenant, it seems, mutable in respect of this seed of David, and if they continue in their sins, revocable; but under oath v. 35. and immutable only in respect of Christ, that eminent promised seed of Abraham and David.)
41. All that pass by the way spoile him, he is a reproach to his neighbours.
They that were wont to be victorious over all their affailants, that subdued in Davids time the Philistims and Edumeans and Ammonites and Moabites, &c. are now by their captivation under the Assyrians, delivered up to be spoiled and scorned by all these their revengefull neighbours (see Psal. Lxxxiii. 6. &c.)
42. Thou hast set up the right hand of his adversaries, thou hast made all his enemies to rejoyce.
And now their enemies and affailants are as continually prosperous, as David himselfe was wont to be.
43. Thou hast also turned the edge of his sword, and hast not made him to‖rise foreign stand in the battell.
Their weapons that were for ever victorious, by thy forsaking them have quite lost their keenness; they that were never accustomed to defeats in their fights, are now subdued, and unable to make any farther resistance.
44. Thou hast made his†splendor foreign glory to cease, and cast his throne down to the ground.
The great same and renoun and power which they had among all men is now utterly lost:
45. The dayes of his youth hast thou shortned; thou hast covered him with shame. Selah.
Our Princes slain, and their people subdued, and captivated, and contumeliously handled.
46. How long, Lord, wilt thou hide thy selfe, for ever shall thy wrath burne like fire?
This is a most sad estate, and if we be not speedily res…ued out of it, we shall all be finally destroyed, and the people, and seed of David to whom those Illustrious promises were made, utterly consumed.
47. Remember*what my age is foreign how short my time is: hast thou made all men in vain?
48. What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? shall be deliver his soule from the hand of‖hades foreign the grave? Selah.
Our age and space of life here is very transient and flitting, and is soon and certainly concluded in the grave, that inevitable lot of all mankinde: And in this state of captivity we have little joy or comfort in that life which is afforded us, we are borne miserable, and pass through a succession of miseries here, and are shortly seised with death. (And this is farre distant from the purport of that Covenant made with David, the benefits of which we, it seems, by our sins have, as to this age of ours, utterly forfeited.)
49. Lord, where arem. thy†pri…i…in…, former loving kindnesses which thou snarest unto David in thy truth?
O blessed Lord be thou at length pleased to be propitiated, to pardon these our provoking sins, to remember and resume thy methods of mercy, and by what wayes thine own wisdome shall best chose, to performe the purport of thy Covenant so long since ratified to David. In this thy fidelity is concerned, and this we are sure will be made good in the eyes of all. O that it might be thy good pleasure to manifest it at this time by the restoring of David's posterity, our Monarchie, temple and people to the former dignity.
50. Remember, Lord, the reproach of thy servants, how I do bear in my bosome the*total of many people foreign reproach of all the mighty people,
51. Wherewith thine enemies have reproached, O Lord, wherewith they have reproachedn. the‖delayes foot-steps of thine anointed.
Till thou please thus by some means to rescue us, we are likely to be the reproach of all the heathen people about us, who will now object the evacuation and frustration of our faith and hopes founded on thy promises to David's seed, and say by way of derision, that our Messias is very long a coming.
52. Blessed be the Lord for evermore. Amen, and Amen.
But whatever their contumelies or our sufferings are, they shall not discourage or take us off from blessing and praising thee, and steadily relying on thee; whatsoever desertion our soule provoking sins have most justly now brought upon us, yet upon our reformation thou wilt certainly returne in mercy to us; and whatsoever interruptions thy promised mercies may seem to have in respect of our captive Prince and people, the present posterity and kingdome of David, yet 'tis most certain, the promises made for sending the Messias, whose Kingdome and redemption is not of this world, but spiritual and eternal, the erecting of his throne in his servants hearts, and the redeeming them from sin and Satan, shall in due time be performed in Christ, that most illustrious son of David, to whom (and none else) belonged the promise under the oath of God. And in this completion of Gods Covenant with David his servant (of which all Gods faithfull servants shall have their portions) we securely and with full confidence acquiesce, and all joyne in an ardent and most devout celebration of God's fidelity, his constant performance of all his promises, and so conclude. So be it, Lord, and So certainly it shall be.
The End of the Third Book.