Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 89:13
Thou hast a mighty arm: strong is thy hand, [and] high is thy right hand.
13. THINE is an arm with might. ‘Arm,’ ‘hand,’ ‘right hand’ (terms frequently used in connexion with the Exodus, e.g. Exo 15:6; Exo 15:9; Exo 15:12; Exo 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, emphasises the thought, that God not only possesses but exercises His power.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Thou hast a mighty arm – Margin, as in Hebrew, an arm with might. That is, Thou hast great power – the arm being the instrument by which we accomplish our purposes.
Strong is thy hand – The hand, too, is an instrument by which we execute our plans. Hence, God is so often represented a having delivered his people with a strong hand.
And high is thy right hand – It is by the right hand particularly that we carry out our purposes. We lift it high when we are about to strike with force. All this is expressive of the divine omnipotence.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 89:13
Thou hast a mighty arm; strong is Thy hand, and high is Thy right hand.
The mighty arm
When the soul is perfectly reconciled to God, and comes to delight in Him, it rejoices in all His attributes. At the first, perhaps, it dwells almost exclusively upon His love and His mercy, but it afterwards proceeds to find joy in the sterner attributes, and especially delights itself in His holiness and in His power. How clearly is His power beheld in creation; there, indeed, O Lord, Thou hast a mighty arm. We injure ourselves and dishonour our Creator when we pass over His works as if they were beneath the notice of spiritual minds. The world is not left to itself, or to tyrants; the might is with the right after all, for power belongeth unto God. But our theme just now is power in alliance with grace.
I. First, the mighty arm of God displayed in the way of grace, as manifested in our experience.
1. First, remember the Divine longsuffering. What a mighty arm of grace it must have been which held back the anger of God while we were in a state of rebellion and impenitence. Glory be unto Thy lovingkindness and Thy longsuffering, O God, for in them we see Thy mighty self-restraining power.
2. But, next, we saw the power of God so as to recognize it when the Lord subdued us by His mighty grace. What omnipotence is displayed in the conquest of every rebellious sinner! He makes the lion to lie down with the lamb, so that a little child shall lead it. Thus the power of God is seen in the conquest of sinners. That power is equally seen in their transformation; for is it not a marvel that God should be able to make old and corrupt rebels into new creatures in Christ Jesus? Every conversion is a display of omnipotence. To turn the wilderness into springs of water and the desert into a flowing stream is nothing compared with turning the dead, cold, dry heart of man into a mighty wellspring of love springing up unto eternal life. Glory be to Thy power, O Thou infinitely mighty Jehovah, Thou hast a mighty arm.
3. That same power is seen in the various deliverances which the Lord gives to His people at the outset, when their enemies come against them so fiercely. And, since then, in the continual upholding of the saints, in their final perseverance which is guaranteed, how much of the power of God is seen. Is it not a marvel that though your faith has been as a bruised reed it has not been broken, and though your piety has been like smoking flax it has never been quenched? Kept alive with death so near, preserved when enemies have been so fierce, will you not say indeed, Thou hast a mighty arm, strong is Thy right hand?
II. The mighty arm of God as specially displayed in the person of christ jesus.
1. In the choice of Him (Psa 89:19). Christ is the incarnation of the power of Divine grace, in Him dwells the power of God to save the sons of men; and yet in what weakness it dwelt. Strong is Thy right hand, O Saviour, for by weakness and suffering and death thou hast overthrown all Thy peoples foes.
2. In our Lords anointing (Psa 89:20). In His preaching there went out of His mouth a sharp two-edged sword with which He smote sin, because the Spirit of God was upon Him. On the day of Pentecost the Spirit bore witness in the entire body of Christ, making all His servants speak with tongues of fire. The Spirit of God is with Christ on earth still in His Church, so that, feeble though the speech of His ministers may be, a secret power attends it, irresistibly subduing the forces of evil.
3. Because of the continuance of the empire of Christ in the world (Psa 89:21-23).
4. In His mighty intercession (Psa 89:26).
III. How is this power to re practically recognized?
1. Yield to it. Shall wax fight with the fire, or tow contend with the flame?
2. Trust Him to save you. All power lies with Him, He can forgive all sin, and He can also subdue all iniquity, change the most depraved heart, and implant every grace in the soul (Isa 26:4).
3. Trust Him in everything. Bring your burdens, your troubles, your wants, your griefs, pour them out like water before Him, let them flow forth at the foot of the Almighty, and they shall pass away and you shall sing (Exo 15:2).
4. Shake off all fear of man. Trust in God and fear not, for the mighty God of Jacob is with us, and greater is He that is for us than all they that can be against us.
5. As to thy service, to which thou art called by the Lord. If He be so strong, do not think of thine own weakness any longer, except as being a platform for His strength. Art thou weak as water? Then rejoice this day, and glory in infirmity, because the power of God shall rest upon thee. Think not of what thou canst do–that is a very small affair, but consider what He can do by thee. He can strengthen the feeble against the strong.
6. With regard to all the future which lies before you–is God so strong? Then commit it to His hands. You have a great trouble to face to-morrow, you are expecting a greater trouble still at the end of the week. Now, be not afraid, for the Lord liveth to deliver thee. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The mighty arm
I. First, some few words about the power of God itself, having as my drift the stirring up of believers minds to ask and to expect a great display of it.
1. Gods power is like Himself, self-existent and self-sustained. Power in the creature is like water in the cistern; power in the Creator is like water in the fountain. The creature is the moon, which shines with reflected light; the Creator is the Sun whose light is underived, springing from Himself within. Naturally and spiritually this statement holds good.
2. Gods power is comprehensive, including within itself all the power which resides in all the creatures in the universe.
3. The power of God is immutable. Whatever He did of old, He is able to repeat now. We talk of changing ages, but we must not dream of a changing God.
4. Gods power is in the fulness of it irresistible. When He puts forth His omnipotence proud hearts are humbled, hard hearts are broken, iron melts, and rock dissolves.
5. Gods power is entirely independent-of place, time, instruments.
6. Gods power is infinite. Ask of Him that He would give the heathen unto Christ for His inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for His possession; for the sceptre of Jehovah shall go forth, and the monarchy of Christ shall be extended from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same.
7. This Divine power is all our own, for we are told that this God is our God for ever and ever.
II. The manifestations of this power are very varied in character and altogether innumerable in multitude.
1. In destruction (Psa 89:10). Here is a very strong argument for the people of God to stir them up to pray. The fearful nature of the sinners doom should arouse us to earnestness, vehement and abiding. Must we not plead with God when we think of our fellow-creatures who are liable to prove the terror of the Almightys arm?
2. In creation (Psa 89:11-12). His word fashioned the creation of old, and His word can work marvels still. Spoken by whomsoever He pleases to send, His word shall be as potent now as in primeval days. There may be darkness and confusion in the sinners soul; a word shall remove all, and swift and quick, requiring not even six days.
3. In sustentation (Psa 89:12). The mighty arm of God has been conspicuous in supporting His Church in years gone by. No voyage more dangerous than hers! She has tracked a narrow channel between threatening rocks and hidden quicksands. As for her crew, they have been a feeble folk, but little able to cope with boisterous elements and furious tempests. Oftentimes the good vessel of the Church has mounted up to heaven upon the crown of an outrageous billow, and anon has gone down again into the depths of a yawning sea, while her sailors have reeled like drunken men, staggering to and fro, being at their wits end; but they have cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He who was strong to stir up the deep from its very bottom and make it boil like a pot, has been equally strong to speak the word and still the raving of its waves. Let us be then of good comfort. Why should not God bless and succour His well-beloved Church now?
4. In redemption. That was no light labour which Jesus undertook. Hercules cleansed the Augean stable, saith the fable, but what an Augean stable was this world! Yet Christ will purge it; He is purging it, did purge it by His death. This Aceldama shall yet become an Elysium; the field of blood shall be transformed into a garden of delights.
III. The lessons from the whole. There have been vouchsafed in the past very wonderful manifestations of Divine favour. Churches have grown very lukewarm, ministers very dull, doctrines have become unsound, the hearts of Gods people have failed, the faithful have almost died out; on a sudden God has raised up some one man, perhaps some half-dozen; and the face of the Church was changed from languor to energy. These men did but strike the spark, and the flame flew over all lands. The Reformation was a marvellous type of genuine revivals, God-given revivals, which have been frequent in all times. In England we have had them, in America they have been abundant. Ireland has not been without them. In the darkest day when every one said the cause of religion was growing hopeless, then the great lover of the Church has appeared. Have you never read the story of Livingstone preaching in a heavy shower of rain, outside the kirk of Shotts, to the multitude of people standing there, who would not stir from the hearing of the Word? Or have you not heard the story of Whitefields mighty preaching, when the people moved to and fro, as the corn is moved by the wind in summer, and at last fell down beneath the Word as the sheaves fall before the reapers scythe? Why may we not see all this again? Why not? And why not greater things than these? What hinders but our unbelief? O God, Thou hast a mighty arm.
1. God has proved the power of His arm in the persons whom He has saved. Saul of Tarsus. Lo, here is a great and hard rock; now wield Thy great hammer, and the sparks shall fly, and the flintstone shall be broken into pieces. Quarry Thine own stones, O God, and make them fit for Thy temple, for Thou hast a mighty arm.
2. This is seen sometimes in the number converted. Three thousand, in one day, under Peters sermon; why not three thousand again? Why not thirty thousand? Why not three hundred thousand in a day? There is nothing too great for us to ask for, or for God to grant. He could, if He willed, turn the hearts of men, as He turns the rivers by His foot.
3. This might has been manifested in the instruments which the Lord has employed, He has taken the base things and the despised, to make them the medium of His power, and we have then said, Thou hast a mighty arm to do such wonders by such puny things. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Thy hand; either thy left hand, because thy right hand seems to be opposed to it; or thy right hand, as it is limited and explained in the next clause.
High is; or, is or shall be exalted, or lifted up. That strength of thy hand hath been, or shall be, put forth for thy people, as occasion requireth.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
8-14. To illustrate His powerand faithfulness examples are cited from history. His control of thesea (the most mighty and unstable object in nature), and of Egypt (Ps87:4), the first great foe of Israel (subjected to utterhelplessness from pride and insolence), are specimens. At the sametime, the whole frame of nature founded and sustained by Him, Taborand Hermon for “east and west,” and “north and south,”together representing the whole world, declare the same truth as toHis attributes.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Thou hast a mighty arm,…. Christ is the arm of the Lord, and a mighty one he is, and so is the Gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation; here it seems to design the almighty power of God, displayed in the works of creation and providence; see Isa 51:9
strong is thy hand; thy “left hand”, as some, it being distinguished from his right hand, mentioned in the next clause; the Targum adds,
“to redeem thy people;”
the work of redemption was put into the hand of Christ, and it prospered in his hand, and his own arm brought salvation to him; and his hand is strong to keep and preserve his people, where they are put, and where they are safe; and the hand of the Lord is strong to correct and chastise them, and sometimes his hand lies heavy upon them, and presses them sore, when it becomes them to humble themselves under his “mighty hand”: and it also strong to punish his and their enemies:
and high is thy right hand; when it is lifted up in a way of judgment against wicked men, and for the defence of his people, then may it be said to be exalted: and it is high enough to reach the highest and most powerful of his adversaries; see Ps 118:16. The Targum adds,
“to build the house of thy sanctuary.”
Some render c these two last clauses as a wish or prayer; “let thy hand be strong, and let thy right hand be lifted up”.
c So Paginus, Montana, and V. L.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(13) High is thy right hand.The strong hand is supposed raised to strike. (Comp. Psa. 89:42.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 89:13 Thou hast a mighty arm: strong is thy hand, [and] high is thy right hand.
Ver. 13. Thou hast a mighty arm ] Men should, therefore, both tremble before God, and trust in him, 1Pe 2:6 .
Strong is thy hand
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
hand. Figure of speech Anthropopatheia. App-6.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
a mighty arm: Heb. an arm with might, Psa 89:10, Psa 62:11, Dan 4:34, Dan 4:35, Mat 6:13
Reciprocal: Exo 6:1 – with a strong Exo 13:9 – strong hand Jos 4:24 – that it is 1Ki 8:42 – thy strong hand 2Ch 6:32 – thy mighty Job 30:21 – thy strong hand Job 40:9 – Hast Psa 18:48 – liftest Psa 89:8 – a strong Psa 89:21 – mine Psa 118:15 – the right Isa 41:10 – the right Luk 1:51 – showed 1Pe 5:6 – the
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 89:13-14. Thou hast a mighty arm, &c. Thy power, extending itself throughout the whole, always effects, in every place, whatsoever thou designest, and that with an irresistible force; whether it be to punish evil- doers, or to preserve and exalt them that do well. Justice and judgment That is, just judgment, or justice in judging; are the habitation of thy throne, or the basis, or foundation, as the word mechon, is used, Ezr 2:68; Ezr 3:3; Psa 97:2; Psa 104:5. They are the ground- work of all thy proceedings, and the stability of thy throne and government. For God could not be the Ruler and Judge of the world if he did not in all things act according to the most perfect righteousness, which indeed is the result of his most holy and righteous nature, Gen 18:25. Mercy and truth shall go before thy face As thy harbingers and companions whithersoever thou goest. Thou art neither unjust, nor unmerciful, nor unfaithful in any of thy dealings with thy creatures: none shall be able to say thou doest them any wrong; for thou dost not rule the world merely by thy absolute power; but placest thy principal glory in justice and equity, mercy and fidelity; from which thou never swervest.