The Incomparable King and His Covenant Joy Text: Psalm 89:5-18
Introduction: The Crisis of a Collapsing Throne
We come now to the middle section of a very turbulent psalm. Psalm 89 is a raw, honest, and ultimately faithful cry to God in the midst of what appears to be a total covenant collapse. The first part of the psalm is a glorious celebration of God's covenant faithfulness, His hesed, His loyal love pledged to David. The last part of the psalm is a gut-wrenching lament over the apparent failure of that very promise. The throne is cast down, the crown is defiled in the dust, and the enemies are mocking. It feels like God has forgotten His oath.
And right in the middle, wedged between the celebration and the lamentation, we have this section. This is the theological anchor that keeps the whole ship from being dashed to pieces on the rocks of despair. Before the psalmist, Ethan the Ezrahite, can even begin to process the disaster on the ground, he must first lift his eyes and establish a foundational, non-negotiable truth. And that truth is this: God is utterly, absolutely, and terrifyingly incomparable. There is no one like Him in Heaven or on earth. He is not one god among many. He is not the chairman of the board of deities. He is in a category all by Himself.
This is not abstract theology for the psalmist, and it cannot be for us. This is the bedrock of sanity when the world seems to be coming apart at the seams. When your circumstances are screaming that God has failed, that His promises are void, that the enemy has won, the only thing that can steady your soul is a right and high view of God. If your God is small, your problems will be big. If your God is big, your problems will shrink to their proper, manageable size. Before you can make sense of the chaos in your life or in the world, you must first get this straight: Who is God? What is He like? Is there anyone who can challenge Him? This passage is the answer to those questions, and it is the necessary foundation for weathering any storm.
The Text
The heavens will praise Your wonders, O Yahweh; Your faithfulness also in the assembly of the holy ones. For who in the sky is comparable to Yahweh? Who among the sons of the mighty is like Yahweh, A God greatly dreaded in the council of the holy ones, And fearsome above all those who are around Him? O Yahweh God of hosts, who is like You, O mighty Yah? Your faithfulness also surrounds You. You rule the swelling of the sea; When its waves rise, You still them. You Yourself crushed Rahab like one who is slain; You scattered Your enemies with Your strong arm. The heavens are Yours, the earth also is Yours; The world and its fullness, You have founded them. The north and the south, You have created them; Tabor and Hermon sing with joy at Your name. You have a mighty arm; Your hand is strong, Your right hand is exalted. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Lovingkindness and truth go before You. How blessed are the people who know the loud shout of joy! O Yahweh, they walk in the light of Your face. In Your name they rejoice all the day, And by Your righteousness they are exalted. For You are the beauty of their strength, And by Your favor our horn is exalted. For our shield belongs to Yahweh, And our king to the Holy One of Israel.
(Psalm 89:5-18 LSB)
The Heavenly Court (vv. 5-8)
The psalmist begins by establishing God's peerless authority, not on earth, but in the heavens themselves.
"The heavens will praise Your wonders, O Yahweh; Your faithfulness also in the assembly of the holy ones. For who in the sky is comparable to Yahweh? Who among the sons of the mighty is like Yahweh, A God greatly dreaded in the council of the holy ones, And fearsome above all those who are around Him? O Yahweh God of hosts, who is like You, O mighty Yah? Your faithfulness also surrounds You." (Psalm 89:5-8)
The praise for God begins in the heavens, among the "assembly of the holy ones." This refers to the angelic hosts, the divine council. In the ancient pagan worldviews, the gods were a squabbling, dysfunctional family. They plotted and fought and were rivals. The Bible takes that concept and demolishes it. Yes, there is a heavenly council, an assembly of powerful spiritual beings, the "sons of the mighty." But they are not God's rivals; they are His creation and His court. They don't debate with Him; they dread Him. He is "greatly dreaded" and "fearsome above all."
The psalmist asks a series of rhetorical questions designed to have only one possible answer. Who is comparable to Yahweh? Who is like Him? The answer is a thunderous "No one!" He is utterly unique, transcendent, and supreme. He is Yahweh, God of hosts, the commander of the angelic armies. He is mighty Yah. This is not the language of equals. This is the language of absolute monarchy.
And what is the defining characteristic of this terrifyingly majestic King? "Your faithfulness also surrounds You." His power is not arbitrary or capricious. It is girded with faithfulness. His omnipotence is always in the service of His covenant promises. His character is the belt that holds all His other attributes together. This is crucial. The God who is incomparably powerful is also incomparably faithful. This is the truth the psalmist must cling to when he later beholds the wreckage of the Davidic throne. The circumstances may change, but the character of God, surrounded by faithfulness, does not.
The Tamed Chaos (vv. 9-13)
From the heavenly court, the psalmist moves to God's absolute sovereignty over the created order, particularly over the symbols of chaos and rebellion.
"You rule the swelling of the sea; When its waves rise, You still them. You Yourself crushed Rahab like one who is slain; You scattered Your enemies with Your strong arm... The heavens are Yours, the earth also is Yours; The world and its fullness, You have founded them. The north and the south, You have created them; Tabor and Hermon sing with joy at Your name. You have a mighty arm; Your hand is strong, Your right hand is exalted." (Psalm 89:9-13)
In the ancient world, the sea was the ultimate symbol of chaos, untamable power, and death. The pagan gods were often depicted as battling the sea monster at the dawn of time. But Yahweh does not battle the sea; He rules it. When its waves rise in arrogant rebellion, He simply stills them. This is the same authority we see in the Lord Jesus, asleep in the boat, who awakens and rebukes the wind and the waves, and there is a great calm (Mark 4:39). He is Yahweh in the flesh.
The psalmist then mentions a specific victory: "You Yourself crushed Rahab." Rahab is a poetic name for a chaos monster, often used as a symbol for Egypt, the great enemy of God's people. This is a direct reference to the Exodus, where God drowned the mighty Egyptian army in the Red Sea. God did not just defeat His enemies; He crushed them "like one who is slain." He scattered them with His "strong arm." This is the language of effortless victory.
This dominion is not limited to the sea. It extends to everything. The heavens, the earth, the world and its fullness, the north and the south, all of it belongs to Him by right of creation. He founded it all. Even the great mountains, Tabor and Hermon, are personified as singing with joy at His name. Creation is not neutral; it is His possession and it rejoices in its King. All of this demonstrates His "mighty arm," His "strong hand," and His "exalted right hand." This is a God of infinite, active power.
The Throne of God (v. 14)
After establishing God's absolute power, the psalmist now describes the moral character of His rule.
"Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Lovingkindness and truth go before You." (Psalm 89:14)
This is one of the most important verses in all the Psalms. God's throne, His sovereign rule, is not founded on raw power alone. A tyrant can have power. God's rule is founded on "righteousness and justice." These are the immovable pillars of His kingdom. His reign is always morally perfect, always right, always just. There is no corruption, no partiality, no moral compromise in His government.
And notice who marches out in front of Him, like heralds announcing the arrival of the King. It is "lovingkindness and truth." The Hebrew words are hesed and emet. Hesed is that covenant loyalty, that steadfast, unfailing love. Emet is faithfulness, reliability, truth. This is the character of God's administration. When God comes to rule, He comes extending loyal love and absolute faithfulness. His justice is never separated from His mercy. His righteousness is never divorced from His truth. At the cross of Christ, these four attributes met and kissed. Justice was satisfied, righteousness was vindicated, lovingkindness was displayed, and truth was upheld (Psalm 85:10).
The Blessed People (vv. 15-18)
Having described the King, the psalmist now turns to describe the subjects of such a King. What is it like to live under the rule of this incomparable God?
"How blessed are the people who know the loud shout of joy! O Yahweh, they walk in the light of Your face. In Your name they rejoice all the day, And by Your righteousness they are exalted. For You are the beauty of their strength, And by Your favor our horn is exalted. For our shield belongs to Yahweh, And our king to the Holy One of Israel." (Psalm 89:15-18)
The blessedness belongs to the people who "know the loud shout of joy." This is the teruah, the shout of acclamation for a king, the blast of trumpets that signals a victory or the beginning of a festival. The blessed are not those who are quiet, reserved, and stoic in their religion. The blessed are those who know how to shout for joy before their King. This is exuberant, loud, public worship. Why? Because their King is worthy of it.
Because they worship rightly, they live in a state of blessing. They "walk in the light of Your face." This is a picture of intimate fellowship and divine favor. They are not hiding from God in shame; they are living in the sunshine of His approval. They "rejoice all the day" in His name, in His character. Their joy is not dependent on circumstances, but on the unchanging reality of who God is. And they are "exalted" not by their own righteousness, but by His.
Their strength comes not from within, but from Him. He is the "beauty of their strength." Any strength we have is a gift from Him, and the glory of it belongs to Him. By His favor, "our horn is exalted." The horn is a symbol of strength and victory. We are strong and victorious only because He chooses to show us favor.
The psalm concludes this section by summarizing the relationship. "For our shield belongs to Yahweh, and our king to the Holy One of Israel." God is their protector, their shield. And their king, the Davidic monarch who is currently in such trouble, ultimately belongs to God. This is both a statement of fact and a plea. Our shield is Yahweh, so why are the walls breached? Our king belongs to You, the Holy One of Israel, so why is his crown in the dust? The psalmist is laying the theological groundwork for the complaint that is to come. He is reminding God of who He is and what He has promised, in order to make his appeal on that solid basis.
Conclusion: The Unshakable Foundation
What does this mean for us? We live in a world where thrones are constantly shaking. Political orders rise and fall. Economies collapse. Cultural foundations crumble. And in our own lives, we face circumstances that can feel like our own personal throne has been kicked over and stomped into the mud.
In those moments, we must do what Ethan the Ezrahite did. We must anchor ourselves in the incomparability of God. Our God is the one who is dreaded in the council of angels. Our God is the one who stills the raging sea with a word. Our God is the one who crushed the great dragon of Egypt. Our God's throne is founded on perfect righteousness and justice. And our God's heralds are covenant love and faithfulness.
This is the God who has made a covenant with us in the blood of His Son, a better covenant with better promises than the one made with David. The throne of David did fall, for a time, so that the throne of the true and better David, Jesus Christ, could be established forever. His kingdom cannot be shaken.
Therefore, we are the people who know the joyful shout. We have every reason to rejoice, all the day, in His name. We walk in the light of His face, because in Christ, His favor rests upon us. He is our strength, He is our shield, and Jesus is our King. And because our King belongs to the Holy One of Israel, His throne will never be cast down, and His crown will never be defiled. He has already won the victory, and by His righteousness, we are exalted.