Psalm 89:39

Thou hast made void the covenant of thy servant: thou hast profaned his crown by casting it to the ground.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(39) Made void.—Better, cast off, as the word is rendered in Lamentations 2:7, the only other place where it occurs. There the LXX. have “shook off;” here, “turned upside down.”

Thou hast profaned.—Comp. Psalm 74:7.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

89:38-52 Sometimes it is not easy to reconcile God's providences with his promises, yet we are sure that God's works fulfil his word. When the great Anointed One, Christ himself, was upon the cross, God seemed to have cast him off, yet did not make void his covenant, for that was established for ever. The honour of the house of David was lost. Thrones and crowns are often laid in the dust; but there is a crown of glory reserved for Christ's spiritual seed, which fadeth not away. From all this complaint learn what work sin makes with families, noble families, with families in which religion has appeared. They plead with God for mercy. God's unchangeableness and faithfulness assure us that He will not cast off those whom he has chosen and covenanted with. They were reproached for serving him. The scoffers of the latter days, in like manner, reproach the footsteps of the Messiah when they ask, Where is the promise of his coming? 2Pe 3:3,4. The records of the Lord's dealings with the family of David, show us his dealings with his church, and with believers. Their afflictions and distresses may be grievous, but he will not finally cast them off. Self-deceivers abuse this doctrine, and others by a careless walk bring themselves into darkness and distress; yet let the true believer rely on it for encouragement in the path of duty, and in bearing the cross. The psalm ends with praise, even after this sad complaint. Those who give God thanks for what he has done, may give him thanks for what he will do. God will follow those with his mercies, who follow him with praises.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Thou hast made void the covenant of thy servant - Thou hast dealt with him as if there were no such covenant; as if no such promise had been made to him. The word rendered "made void," means to abhor, or reject.

Thou hast profaned his crown, by casting it to the ground - literally, "Thou hast profaned to the earth his crown;" that is, Thou hast treated it as a polluted thing; a thing to be rejected and abhorred; a thing which one casts indignantly upon the ground.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

39. An insult to the "crown," as of divine origin, was a profanation.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Made void the covenant; which seems contrary to thy word given Psalm 89:34.

Of thy servant, i.e. made with him.

Profained his crown, by exposing that sacred person, and family, and kingdom to contempt, and giving his sceptre and power into the hands of the uncircumcised.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Thou hast made void the covenant of thy servant,.... His servant David the Messiah, Psalm 89:3, meaning not the covenant of circumcision, nor the covenant at Sinai, which were really made void at the death of Christ; but the covenant of grace and redemption made with Christ, which it was promised should stand fast, and never be broken, Psalm 89:3, but was thought to be null and void when the Redeemer was in the grave, and all hopes of redemption by him were gone, Luke 24:21, but so far was it from being so, that it was confirmed by the sufferings and death of Christ; and every blessing and promise of it were ratified by his blood, hence called the blood of the everlasting covenant, Hebrews 13:20,

thou hast profaned his crown by casting it to the ground: by suffering it to be cast to the ground, and used contemptibly; as when Jesus was crowned with thorns, and saluted in a mock manner; when an "if" was put upon his being the King of Israel, Matthew 27:29, and which seemed very inconsistent with the promise, Psalm 89:27 that he should be made higher than the kings of the earth; and yet so it was, and is; he is highly exalted, made Lord and Christ, crowned with glory and honour, and is set far above all principality and power, and every name that is named in this world or that to come, notwithstanding all the above usage of him.

Geneva Study Bible

Thou hast {d} made void the covenant of thy servant: thou hast profaned his {e} crown by casting it to the ground.

(d) Because of the horrible confusion of things, the prophet complains to God, as though he did not see the performance of his promise and thus discharging his cares on God, he resists doubt and impatience.

(e) By this he means the horrible dissipation and tearing of the kingdom which was under Jeroboam, or else by the Spirit of prophecy Ethan speaks of those great miseries which came to pass soon after at the captivity of Babylon.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

39. Thou hast abhorred the covenant of thy servant:

Thou hast cast his desecrated crown to the ground.

Thine anointed, thy servant (cp. Psalm 89:20) include both David and the successor who represents him. The titles plead the claim which the king had on God’s protection.

The word nçzer means (1) consecration, and (2) the crown or diadem of the high priest (Exodus 29:6) or the king (2 Samuel 1:10), as the mark of consecration to their office. For the phrase profaned to the ground cp. Psalm 74:7.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 39. - Thou hast made void the covenant of thy servant; or, "abhorred" (Cheyne, Revised Version). The verb is a very unusual one, occurring only here and in Lamentations 2:7. Thou hast profaned his crown by casting it to the ground (comp. Psalm 74:7). The theocratic crown was so holy a thing, that any degradation of it might be regarded as a "profanation." Psalm 89:39

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Now after the poet has turned his thoughts towards the beginnings of the house of David which were so rich in promise, in order that he might find comfort under the sorrowful present, the contrast of the two periods is become all the more sensible to him. With ואתּה in Psalm 89:39 (And Thou - the same who hast promised and affirmed this with an oath) his Psalm takes a new turn, for which reason it might even have been ועתּה. זנח is used just as absolutely here as in Psalm 44:24; Psalm 74:1; Psalm 77:8, so that it does not require any object to be supplied out of Psalm 89:39. נארתּה in Psalm 89:40 the lxx renders kate'strepsas; it is better rendered in Lamentations 2:7 ἀπετίναξε; for נאר is synonymous with נער, to shake off, push away, cf. Arabic el-menâ‛ir, the thrusters (with the lance). עבדּך is a vocational name of the king as such. His crown is sacred as being the insignia of a God-bestowed office. God has therefore made the sacred thing vile by casting it to the ground (חלּל לארץ, as in Psalm 74:17, to cast profaningly to the ground). The primary passage to Psalm 89:41-42, is Psalm 80:13. "His hedges" are all the boundary and protecting fences which the land of the king has; and מבצריו "the fortresses" of his land (in both instances without כל, because matters have not yet come to such a pass).

(Note: In the list of the nations and cities conquered by King Sheshonk I are found even cities of the tribe of Issachar, e.g., Shen-ma-an, Sunem; vid., Brugsch, Reiseberichte, S. 141-145, and Blau as referred to above.)

In שׁסּהוּ the notions of the king and of the land blend together. עברי־דרך are the hordes of the peoples passing through the land. שׁכניו are the neighbouring peoples that are otherwise liable to pay tribute to the house of David, who sought to take every possible advantage of that weakening of the Davidic kingdom. In Psalm 89:44 we are neither to translate "rock of his sword" (Hengstenberg), nor "O rock" (Olshausen). צוּר does not merely signify rupes, but also from another root (צוּר, Arab. ṣâr, originally of the grating or shrill noise produced by pressing and squeezing, then more particularly to cut or cut off with pressure, with a sharply set knife or the like) a knife or a blade (cf. English knife, and German kneifen, to nip): God has decreed it that the edge or blade of the sword of the king has been turned back by the enemy, that he has not been able to maintain his ground in battle (הקמתו with ē instead of ı̂, as also when the tone is not moved forward, Micah 5:4). In Psalm 89:45 the Mem of מטהרו, after the analogy of Ezekiel 16:41; Ezekiel 34:10, and other passages, is a preposition: cessare fecisti eum a splendore suo. A noun מטּהר equals מטהר with Dag. dirimens,

(Note: The view of Pinsker (Einleitung, S. 69), that this Dag. is not a sign of the doubling of the letter, but a diacritic point (that preceded the invention of the system of vowel-points), which indicated that the respective letter was to be pronounced with a Chateph vowel (e.g., miṭŏhar), is incorrect. The doubling Dag. renders the Sheb audible, and having once become audible it readily receives this or that colouring according to the nature of its consonant and of the neighbouring vowel.)

like מקדּשׁ Exodus 15:17, מנּזר Nahum 3:17 (Abulwald, Aben-Ezra, Parchon, Kimchi, and others), in itself improbable in the signification required here, is not found either in post-biblical or in biblical Hebrew. טהר, like צהר, signifies first of all not purity, but brilliancy. Still the form טהר does not lie at the basis of it in this instance; for the reading found here just happens not to be טהרו, but מטּהרו; and the reading adopted by Norzi, Heidenheim, and Baer, as also by Nissel and others, so far as form is concerned is not distinct from it, viz., מטּהרו (miṭtŏharo), the character of the Sheb being determined by the analogy of the following (cf. בּסּערה, 2 Kings 2:1), which presupposes the principal form טהר (Bttcher, 386, cf. supra, 2:31, note). The personal tenor of Psalm 89:46 requires that it should be referred to the then reigning Davidic king, but not as dying before his time (Olshausen), but as becoming prematurely old by reason of the sorrowful experiences of his reign. The larger half of the kingdom has been wrested from him; Egypt and the neighbouring nations also threaten the half that remains to him; and instead of the kingly robe, shame completely covers him.