Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 89:2
For I have said, Mercy shall be built up forever: thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens.
2. For I have said ] ‘I have deliberately come to this conclusion.’ Thus emphatically the poet introduces the motive for his song. He is persuaded that one stone after another will continue to be laid in the building of God’s lovingkindness till it reaches to heaven itself, even though it may now seem to be a deserted ruin. Though for rhythmical reasons the verse is divided into two lines, its sense must be taken as a whole: ‘Lovingkindness and faithfulness shall be built up and established for ever in the heavens.’
For the metaphorical use of ‘build’ cp. Job 22:23; Jer 12:16; Mal 3:15. The choice of the word, as well as of ‘establish’ in the next line, is suggested by their use in Psa 89:4.
in the very heavens ] High as the heavens (Psa 36:5); or in the region where it is beyond the reach of earthly vicissitudes (Psa 119:89-90).
Many editors would read, Thou hast said My faithfulness shall be established &c., a change partly supported by the LXX and Jer. But the structure of the Psalm is against the change, for the verses run in pairs, and Psa 89:2 is clearly to be connected with Psa 89:1: moreover the emphatic ‘I have said’ is by no means superfluous.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For I have said – The Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate render this, Thou hast said, which is more in accordance with what the connection seems to demand; but the Hebrew will not admit of this construction. The true meaning seems to be, that the psalmist had said; that is, he had said in his mind; he had firmly believed; he had so received it as a truth that it might be spoken of as firmly settled, or as an indisputable reality. It was in his mind one of the things whose truthfulness did not admit of a doubt.
Mercy shall be built up for ever – The mercy referred to; the mercy manifested in the promise made to David. The idea is, that the promise would be fully carried out or verified. It would not be like the foundation of a building, which, after being laid, was abandoned; it would be as if the building, for which the foundation was designed, were carried up and completed. It would not be a forsaken, half-finished edifice, but an edifice fully erected.
Thy faithfulness shalt thou establish – In the matter referred to – the promise made to David.
In the very heavens – literally, The heavens – thou wilt establish thy faithfulness in them. That is the heavens – the heavenly bodies – so regular, so fixed, so enduring, are looked upon as the emblem of stability. The psalmist brings them thus before his mind, and he says that God had, as it were, made his promise a part of the very heavens; he had given to his faithfulness a place among the most secure, and fixed, and settled objects in nature. The sun in its regular rising; the stars in their certain course; the constellations, the same from age to age, were an emblem of the stability and security of the promises of God. Compare Jer 33:20-21.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 89:2
For I have said, Mercy shall be built up far ever.
The building up of a good government for the world
I. A good government for the world is a desirable thing. Human society would scarcely be possible without a government.
II. A good government for the world is destined to be established (Psa 89:3). The Supreme here pledges in the most solemn way the establishing of a government in the world of which Davids is a most imperfect type, viz. the moral reign of Christ. This reign will be the reign of truth and love, and will one day be commensurate with the race.
III. A good government for the world will be reared by mercy and faithfulness. Mercy and faithfulness are to be the elements of which it is to be composed. As all the great mountains in nature are built up of certain elements, all grand and beneficent institutions in the world are built of mercy and faithfulness. (Homilist.)
The house of mercy
(to children):–Mercy is here compared to a building.
I. The builder. Strangers when they visit this great metropolis, and see some of its remarkable buildings, such as St. Pauls Cathedral, for instance, very naturally ask, Who was the builder of this beautiful edifice? The answer would be, Sir Christopher Wren.
1. A wise builder.
2. A mighty builder.
II. The name of the building. The house of mercy.
1. A very beautiful name.
2. A most just and proper name. Every little child who goes to the door of this House of Mercy, and asks admittance, is instantly received; and, when admitted, that child receives from Him who raised the building the choicest mercies–the mercy of pardon, the mercy of acceptance, the mercy of adoption, the mercy of holiness, and of a title to heaven.
III. The foundation of the building. Jesus Christ (1Co 3:11).
IV. The apartments of the building.
1. The storeroom, containing precious food. The bread of life, etc. Also medicine for the sick and diseased. The balm of Gilead, etc.
2. The wardrobe, containing the robe of righteousness, the garments of salvation, etc.
3. The armoury (Eph 6:13-17).
4. The library, containing books of history; books of doctrine; books of promises; books of threatening (these are all bound in black, and are very dreadful-looking books, though of great importance); books of precepts; books of songs, and oh, what beautiful songs! the songs of David, and other sweet singers of Israel; books of prophecy; and books of experience, such as the Psalms, Lamentations, and Job.
V. The excellencies of the building. It is–
1. Ancient.
2. Large.
3. Commodious.
4. Beautiful.
5. High.
6. Durable.
If you look at a building in this city which is ten years old you will see that it shows the effects of the elements upon it; it hears traces of the frost and smoke and rain. But there is no change in this beautiful building. It is very commodious. There is every comfort within these walls for every one without exception. It is filled with light. It is warm. There is no cold winter within that noble edifice.
VI. The inhabitants of the building.
1. All forgiven.
2. All sons and daughters of the living God.
3. All beautiful–no deformity there.
4. All happy.
VII. The road to the building. Every one who enters is convinced of three things:–
1. That he is a sinner.
2. That he is in danger of hell.
3. That he will never be saved till he enters this Building of Mercy.
VIII. The door of the building. The righteousness of Christ–what He did, became, and suffered.
IX. The servants employed to invite sinners to enter the building. (A. Fletcher, D.D.)
Thy faithfulness shalt Thou establish in the very heavens.
The establishment of Gods faithfulness
God draws us into the conscious knowledge and enjoyment of His faithfulness–
I. By keeping the promises of His grace to us.
II. By engaging us in special work. Though we have omnipotence on our side, God will employ the last ounce of our strength. He will not spare us thought, anxiety, trouble, endurance, labour, no, nor even some measure of disappointment–nothing that can conduce to make us workmen that need not be ashamed, and soldiers who can endure hardness. (J. P. Gledstone.)
Gods faithfulness
That is a Christmas psalm chosen for the day, and it is the psalm of dauntless courage, for it is a song that sings always the lovingkindness of the Lord; it goes up out of the darkness of desolation, it sees no cause for cheerfulness ringing it round as it sings. The singer stands, he tells us, in the heart of a great dismay. The cause of God is in ruin and contempt and impotence and misery. And yet, and yet he has but one song, and he must sing it out in defiance of his generation. No dishonour shall defeat it, no darkness shall choke it, no doubt or hesitation, no soreness or anger shall cloud his upward look or hold down the outpouring of his soul. The old words shall sing out from his lips which have never yet failed down all the long years. We would turn to this singer of long ago to ask him how it was that he retained his heroic confidence. What was his secret, in the thick of those old-world troubles, by force of which he still sang on this unswerving chant of victory? Can he pass the secret on to us who need it so sorely?
1. First, he relies absolutely on a word that God has once uttered, on a pledge that God has given to him (Psa 89:3-4). God has said it, God has sworn it. That is what he relies on! This looks so simple, but to estimate it aright let us recall that we touch here on that elementary conception of God which differentiated the Jews religion from all others. The Jew laid hold of God by this primary title, that He was a God who kept His word. A righteous God, so he called Him, and by righteousness he meant a God whose word can be trusted, and a God who never failed His pledge. This is the vital significance of the Jew that he was the first who took God seriously, the first to believe that God meant what He said, that what He spoke He spoke with a real and fixed purpose, and having spoken He held Himself bound by His own pronouncement.
2. Secondly, to justify his own confident assurance, he corroborates his belief in the verbal consistency of God by looking to that other handiwork of His, the vast fabric of ordered Nature. There it moves in its superb persistence, the immovable witness to the unchanging loyalty of God. Everywhere among the sequence of infinite changes Gods original creative word holds on changeless and true (Psa 89:8-11). Surely if a Jew had been allowed to know what we know of all that science tells us of the uniformities of Nature, of the persistence and conservation of force, he would have seen in these disclosures, not as we so stupidly do, the terms of a godless mechanism, but exactly the phrase that would best report his assurance of an imminent God. Everything that told him of the immutable permanence of a natural law beneath and through all change spoke to him directly of God Himself. Uniformity, persistence, conservation, yes, that is what he desires to find with all his soul in the world that God has made. That is the evidence he clings to of a God who keepeth His promise, whose word never faileth, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.
3. Thirdly, he finds the like witness yielded by the solid securities of history. Thou hast subdued Egypt–God has done it, and if He has done it, surely not in vain, surely not without a fixed and final purpose! A historic act like that is a pledge put down by God: Hath He begun and shall He not finish? Here again it is the faithfulness of God to which the appeal is made. He keepeth His promise for ever, the promise sealed by His deeds; He will prove Himself consistent; if He take one step He will follow it by another; if He gives a decision He will hold to it. That is the significance of the actual deeds done in history. They are stakes laid versesown which cannot be withdrawn. They lay the honour and the power under obligation, and He cannot afford to retract. And God is honourable; He has a reputation which lie will keep clear at all hazards. And God has made His choice; He has laid down His stakes, He has taken His side, He has ventured His honour, He did it when He brought up Israel out of Egypt. He has done it since throughout the long story of His people whom He had fathered and shepherded, on whom He set His name; He has consummated this by the further steps taken when He went to give Israel a king and chose David for the kingdom. Thou spakest, our psalm goes on, Thou spakest sometimes in visions and said, I have found David, etc. All this has been done–it is down in the pages recorded in history which cannot be blotted out. What is done cannot be undone, and what God has done binds God as it binds a man. His will has gone out of it, He will never gainsay. That is the Divine freedom, that He binds Himself by His own deeds and His own words. His truth once more is His troth, His righteousness is the assurance that He will never fail to justify Himself. No, even if the witness of Nature were to fail, yet the witness of Gods own acts in history would abide. God is true, God keeps His word. We want nothing further wherewith to meet the year before us. There may be anxieties and the sense of social trouble and a cloudy outlook, but nothing shall rob us of our song. (Canon Scott Holland.)
Divine faithfulness
A learned minister, attending an aged Christian in humble life, when in his last illness, remarked that the passage in Heb 13:5, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee, was much more emphatic in the original language than in our translation, inasmuch as it contained no fewer than five negatives in proof of the validity of the Divine promise, and not merely two, as it appears in the English version; intending by this remark to convey to him that, in consequence of the number of negatives, the promise was expressed with much greater force in the original language than in the English. The mans reply was very simple and striking: I have no doubt, sir, that you are quite right, but I can assure you that if God had only spoken once I should have believed Him just the same.
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 2. Mercy shall be built up for ever] God’s goodness is the foundation on which his mercy rests; and from that source, and on that foundation, acts of mercy shall flow and be built up for ever and ever.
Thy faithfulness shalt thou establish] What thou hast promised to do to the children of men on earth, thou dost register in heaven, and thy promise shall never fail.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
I have said within myself. I have been assured in my own mind.
Mercy shall be built up for ever: as thou hast laid a sure foundation of mercy to Davids family, by that everlasting covenant which thou hast made and established with it; so I concluded that thou wouldst carry on the same project of mercy towards it; that thou wouldst build it up, and not destroy it.
Thy faithfuless shalt thou establish in the very heavens: so the sense may be this. Thou sittest in the heavens, and there thou didst make this everlasting and unchangeable decree and covenant concerning David and his house, and from thence thou beholdest and orderest all the affairs of this lower world, and therefore, I doubt not, thou wilt so order these matters as to accomplish thine own counsel and word. But thee Hebrew words are by some others, and may very well be, translated thus, with (as the Hebrew prefix beth is oft rendered) the very heavens, i.e. as firmly and durably as the heavens themselves; as with the sun, in the Hebrew text, Psa 72:5, is by most interpreters rendered, as long as the sun endureth, as our translation hath it. And so this phrase in the last branch of this verse answers to for ever in the former; as it is also in the foregoing verse, and so in Psa 89:4; in both which verses for ever in the first clause is explained thus in the latter, to all generations.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2. I have saidexpressed, aswell as felt, my convictions (2Co4:13).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For I have said,…. That is, in his heart he had said, he had thought of it, was assured of it, strongly concluded it, from the Spirit and word of God; he believed it, and therefore he spoke it; having it from the Lord, it was all one as if he had spoke it:
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
2 For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever. He assigns the reason why he perseveres in singing the Divine praises in the midst of adversities; which is, that he does not despair of the manifestation of God’s loving-kindness towards his people, although at present they were under severe chastisement. Never will a man freely open his mouth to praise God, unless he is fully persuaded that God, even when he is angry with his people, never lays aside his fatherly affection towards them. The words I have said, imply that the truth which the inspired writer propounds was deeply fixed in his heart. (523) Whatever, as if he had said, has hitherto happened, it has never had the effect of effacing from my heart the undoubted hope of experiencing the Divine favor as to the future, and I will always continue steadfastly to cherish the same feeling. It is to be observed, that it was not without a painful and arduous conflict that he succeeded in embracing by faith the goodness of God, which at that time had entirely vanished out of sight; — this we say is to be particularly noticed, in order that when God at any time withdraws from us all the tokens of his love, we may nevertheless learn to erect in our hearts that everlasting building of mercy, which is here spoken of, — a metaphor, by which is meant that the Divine mercy shall be extended, or shall continue till it reach its end or consummation. In the second clause of the verse something must be supplied. The sense, in short, is, that the Divine promise is no less stable than the settled course of the heavens, which is eternal and exempt from all change. By the word heavens I understand not only the visible skies, but the heavens which are above the whole frame of the world; for the truth of God, in the heavenly glory of his kingdom, is placed above all the elements of the world.
(523) “ Ex tristi ruinae spectaculo.” — Lat. “ Voyant ce commoncement pitoyable d’une ruine.” — Fr.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(2) Mercy . . . faithfulness.These words, so often combined, express here, as commonly in the psalms, the attitude of the covenant God towards His people. The art of the poet is shown in this exordium. He strikes so strongly this note of the inviolability of the Divine promise only to make the deprecation of present neglect on Gods part presently more striking.
Shall be built up for everBetter, is for ever being built up. Elsewhere figured as a place of shelter, a tower of refuge, Gods faithfulness is here presented as an edifice for ever rising on foundations laid in the heavens. (Comp. Psa. 119:89.) The heavens are at once the type of unchangeableness and of splendour and height. Mants paraphrase brings out the power of the verse:
For I have said, Thy mercies rise,
A deathless structure, to the skies;
The heavens were planted by Thy hand,
And as the heavens Thy truth shall stand.
And Wordsworth has sung of Him:
Who fixed immovably the frame
Of the round world, and built by laws as strong
The solid refuge for distress,
The towers of righteousness.
(Comp. Psa. 36:6.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
2. For I said Faith said, on the authority of the word of promise. The Septuagint changes to the second person: “For thou [Lord] hast said.”
Mercy shall be built up The work of mercy shall go steadily forward, though much may appear to hinder.
Establish in the heavens Or, As to the heavens, thou wilt establish thy faithfulness in them. The “heavens” may be mentioned as the seat of authority, and for settling the divine counsels, or as illustrating the faithfulness of God by the order and harmony of the celestial bodies. Psa 119:89-91; Psa 36:5
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
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. Mark what the Lord God saith: Mercy shall be built up forever. And how? In Christ: for He is the first-born in the womb of mercy, the promised mercy, which carne in with the fall, when it was said, the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent’s head; Gen 3:15 . And hence, when Zacharias sang concerning Christ’s approach, he called him by this very name, the Mercy promised; Luk 1:72 . Reader, indulge the delightful thought, for it is blessed. Christ is indeed the mercy, built up by Jehovah forever. For in him shall men be blessed; and out of him there is not a single mercy for the fallen race of Adam. Precious, precious Jesus! when I consider what a mercy thou art to thy people, and thy Father’s mercy also, to all the ends of the earth, how doth my soul rejoice in the consolation! Mercy shall be built up forever. It is blessed to observe how, in reference to this, in all ages of the church, the Holy Ghost comforted the people with an assurance that Jehovah would build the tabernacle of David, which was fallen down; that is, our poor ruined nature, and restore the desolations of many generations. Amo 9:11 ; Isa 61:4 ; Rev 21:3 . Jehovah, having thus made proclamation that the holy mountain of his will and pleasure, next proceeds to inform the church how the eternal edifice of mercy is established: I have made a covenant with my chosen. Here the church is referred to Jehovah’s covenant-purpose of redemption, founded in his own everlasting love, and assured to the church in the council of peace between the persons of the Godhead before the world began. Hence all those glorious scriptures, in which Jehovah is represented as transacting the eternal purposes of redemption with his dear Son, Isa 49:1-12 ; Psa 72:7Psa 72:7 ; Tit 1:2 ; and hence all those promises made to David, as typical of Christ, with which David’s history so much abounds. 2Sa 7:1-13 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 89:2 For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens.
Ver. 2. For I have said ] I believed, therefore have I spoken it; I dare say it shall be so, because thou hast said it (so the Greek here hath it). What God saith we may write upon it, because all the words of his mouth are in righteousness, neither is there anything froward or perverse in them, Pro 8:8 .
Mercy shall be built up for ever
Thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the heavens
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
I have said. Some codices, with Septuagint and Vulgate, read “Thou hast said”. Compare Psa 89:19. The words of Ethan, reminding Jehovah of His covenant with David.
Mercy = Lovingkindness, or grace. Note “Mercy” (Psa 89:2); “covenant” (Psa 89:3); “seed” (Psa 89:4); repeated below (verses: Psa 89:19-32 and verses: Psa 89:33-37).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Mercy: Psa 36:5, Psa 103:17, Neh 1:5, Neh 9:17, Neh 9:31, Luk 1:50, Eph 1:6, Eph 1:7
faithfulness: Psa 89:5, Psa 89:37, Psa 119:89, Psa 146:6, Num 23:19, Mat 24:35, Heb 6:18
Reciprocal: Psa 57:10 – For Psa 89:14 – mercy Psa 89:24 – But my Psa 92:2 – show Psa 97:6 – The heavens Psa 100:5 – and his truth Psa 103:11 – as the Psa 108:4 – thy mercy Psa 115:1 – for thy mercy Psa 119:90 – unto all generations Psa 138:2 – and praise Pro 29:14 – king Isa 16:5 – in mercy Isa 55:9 – General Jer 31:35 – which giveth Jer 31:37 – If Lam 3:23 – great Joh 1:17 – grace Act 13:34 – the sure 1Th 5:24 – Faithful 1Jo 3:1 – what
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
89:2 For I have {b} said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: thy faithfulness shalt thou {c} establish in the very heavens.
(b) As he who surely believed in heart.
(c) As your invisible heaven is not subject to any alteration and change: so shall the truth of your promise be unchangeable.