Psalms 89:38-45

But thou hast cast off and abhorred, thou hast been wroth with thine anointed.

-The people of the covenant contrast the sad state of things actually with what the covenant seemed to promise. Similarly in Psalms 44:9.

Verse 38. But thou hast cast off ... thine anointed. The suppliant fears, from existing appearances, that the prostrate state of David's house and people is not a mere chastisement with "the rod" (Psalms 89:32), but a final destruction. Still the fact that he brings the case before God, and makes it the ground of prayer (Psalms 89:46-19), as also of praises in the majority of the psalms (Psalms 89:1), show that, because of God's unchangeable faithfulness, he still cherishes hope, and keeps fast hold of faith.

Verse 39. Thou hast made void the covenant of thy servant - in contrast to Psalms 89:34, "My covenant will I not break" [ nee'artaah (H5010)]. The Hebrew verb for "made void" occurs only here and Lamentations 2:7.

Thou hast profaned his crown by casting it to the ground - the crown of the king (like that of the high priest, on which was inscribed "holiness to the Lord") (Exodus 28:36) was a sacred thing, and therefore to cast it in the dust was to profane it. Compare also Psalms 89:44; contrast Psalms 89:36.

Verse 40. Thou hast broken down all his hedges. The king, as the personification of the State, and its representative, is hereby described as a vineyard hedged in by God's special care. But now 'all his hedges are broken down.' So the Israelite State is represented, Isaiah 5:1; also Psalms 80:12.

Thou hast brought his strong holds to ruin - or 'his fortifications,' the king here being regarded as a city once fortified on all sides. So Job 16:14. Thou leavest him now defenseless.

Verse 41 All that pass by the way spoil him also from Psalms 80:12 The Assyrians and subsequently the Verse 41. All that pass by the way spoil him - also from Psalms 80:12. The Assyrians, and subsequently the Babylonians on the north side, and the Egyptians on the south, while contending with one another for the supremacy, passed through the Holy Land, back and forward and made it their spoil.

He is a reproach to his neighbours - namely, to the adjoining nations, Edom, Moab, Ammon, Syria, and the Philistines. Once they feared, and paid tribute to David and Solomon (2 Samuel 8:2; 1 Kings 4:21; 1 Kings 5:1); now they despise the people of the covenant in their fallen state (Psalms 80:6).

Verse 42. Thou hast set up the right hand of his adversaries; thou hast made all his enemies to rejoice - in contrast to thy promise, Psalms 89:22-19, "The enemy shall not exact upon him; nor the son of wickedness afflict him. And I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate him;" and 2 Samuel 7:10, end. But even here there is the faith which must at last bring deliverance, implied in the fact that the suppliant looks beyond the "adversaries" and "enemies" to the Lord, as the first cause, who uses the adversaries as His instrument.

Verse 43. Thou hast also turned the edge of his sword - literally, the 'rock [ tsuwr (H6697)] of his sword;'

i.e., the strength of his sword, which would have remained unyielding as a rock, if the rock of his salvation had still been with him (cf. 2 Samuel 1:22 end).

Verse 44. Thou hast made his glory to cease - literally, 'his splendour:' 'thou hast made him to cease from his splendour.'

And cast his throne down to the ground. This and the previous clause apply to the time when the Jewish monarchy was much impaired, and the Kings of Judah were vassals at will to Egypt and Babylon by turns, just before the capture of Jerusalem. Perhaps the date was after good King Josiah had been overcome and slain by Pharaoh-Necho at Megiddo (2 Chronicles 35:22-14); and Jehoahaz his son was only showed to retain the kingdom three months, and was then dethroned by the King of Egypt, and carried to Egypt; and Judea was mulcted in an hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold; and Eliakim, or Jehoiakim, Josiah's brother, was raised to the throne (2 Chronicles 36:1).

Verse 45. The days of his youth hast thou shortened - exactly applying to Jehoahaz' youth (23 years in ascending the throne) and short continuing reign. However, though there be allusion to this, the main reference is to the shortening of the promised perpetual youth of David's dynasty and house. One meaning of the Hebrew for "chosen," in Psalms 89:19, is a 'young man.' Instead of having the vigour of youth, he is prematurely old in strength. It is in Messiah that the house of David "shall return to the days of his youth" (Job 33:25; Ezekiel 16:60; Hosea 2:15).