Psalms 89:19

REGARDING DAVID

"Then thou spakest in vision to thy saints,

And saidst, I have laid help upon one that is mighty;

I have exalted one chosen out of the people.

I have found David my servant;

With my holy oil have I anointed him:

With whom my hand shall be established;

Mine arm also shall strengthen him.

The enemy shall not exact from him,

Nor the son of wickedness afflict him.

And I will beat down his adversaries before him,

And smite them that hate him.

But my faithfulness and my lovingkindness shall be with him;

And in my name shall his horn be exalted

I will set his hand also on the sea,

And his right hand on the rivers.

He shall cry unto me,

Thou art my Father,

My God, and the rock of my salvation.

I also will make him my first-born,

And the highest of the kings of the earth.

My lovingkindness will I keep for him forevermore;

And my covenant shall stand fast with him."

"I have laid help upon one that is mighty" (Psalms 89:19). This rather strange expression is rendered as follows in the RSV. "I have set the crown upon one who is mighty."

"I will set his hand also on the sea, and his right hand on the rivers" (Psalms 89:25). This is probably a reference to the ideal boundaries of the Davidic kingdom, from the Mediterranean Sea to the Euphrates. "Rivers" here is either an honorific plural for the Euphrates, or perhaps, a reference "to the land between the rivers," namely, Mesopotamia.

"I will make him my first-born, the highest of the kings of the earth" (Psalms 89:27). The Spirit of God here passes from what was written of the literal king David to that which is true of no other who ever lived, except the Son of God, that Greater David, called "The Son of David" (Matthew 1:1).

Christ is the "first-born of all creation, the first-born from the dead," the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, indeed the "highest of the kings of the earth."

"Such ideals were only partially fulfilled in David and his earthly successors; it is the Christ who perfectly fulfills them all in his spiritual kingdom."[9] But, of course, Israel never had the slightest understanding of the true meaning of all this.

CONCERNING THE DYNASTY

"In this section (Psalms 89:28-37), the psalmist extended the application of 2 Samuel 7 to David's line of successors. The words here are principally a poetical paraphrase of 2 Samuel 7:14."[10]

The application of the prophecy in 2 Samuel 7 was elaborated in these verses.