Susan Gillingham - Psalms Through the Centuries, Volume 3

This reading was common in later Jewish writings. *Rashi actually reads the reference to the ‘anointed one’ in verse 51 as pertaining to ‘King Messiah’, a future figure whom God will raise up to end the present exile. This is quite different from his concern to read the ‘anointed one’ historically, as David, in Ps. 84:10 (Eng. v. 9) and Ps. 2:2, in refutation of the Christian beliefs about Christ the Messiah. Here, in the light of what is read as the failure of the Davidic covenant, a reference to David himself as the ‘anointed one’ would be impossible. 271*Kimḥi also sees the lament in verses 38 onwards as a prayer for the coming of the Messiah, to renew the covenant with Abraham and David. 272

This psalm was used to speak of Jesus as the ‘anointed one’ as early as New Testament times; he becomes the means of God continuing to ‘remember’ the covenant made with David. In Peter’s first speech in Acts 2:25–36, Ps. 89:4–5 is one of four psalms to be used to show that Jesus is even greater than David, for he alone has risen from the dead. In Paul’s speech in Acts 13:17–41, Ps. 89:20 is adapted, along with Pss. 2:7 and 16:10, to argue that Jesus is the Messiah.

This Messianic reading persists throughout the Church Fathers to reformation writers. *Augustine, for example, reads 89:3 as about the ‘new’ covenant with the ‘ son of David’. Thus the first part applies to Christ, not to David, and of special importance is verse 26: ‘He shall cry to me, “Thou art my Father…”’. 273The final part of Psalm 89—the lament—is thus, like Psalm 88, read as a prophecy predicting Christ’s suffering. 274(Verse 38 is a difficult verse, for it speaks of God’s wrath against his servant; here—ironically, this is seen to apply to David, not to Christ.) *Evagrius, writing on verse 6 (‘Who in the skies can be compared to the Lord?’), presumes the answer is Christ, and that this refers to Christ’s unique nature, as Creator and Redeemer, with unique knowledge of both the Father and creation. 275

The different readings of this psalm by *Luther and *Calvin provide good examples of their distinctive modes of exegesis: Calvin reads verse 27 (‘I will make him the firstborn.’) as a reference to David , who is a type of Christ, i.e. preparing the way for the Messiah. 276Luther, in the Dictata , reads Psalm 89 as a whole as about ‘the perpetuity and stability of the reign of David’—i.e. assuming this means the spiritual reign of Christ. 277Hence verse 29 (‘I will establish his line forever’) Luther sees as an unfulfilled promise if this was about the literal David: but the promises have been fulfilled, in Christ and his Church. 278

In Jewish liturgy, the ceremony of the Blessing on the Moon’s Reappearance ( Birkat Levanah ), praising God for sustaining the world through its seasons, has implicitly been linked to verse 38 (Eng. v. 37) of this psalm: ‘It (i.e. the Davidic covenant) will be established like the moon forever’. From this link between the moon and the Davidic dynasty, the Blessing on the Moon’s Reappearance has also linked to the coming of the Messiah at the time of the new moon. 279A near parallel is found in Christian liturgy: because the first part of this psalm speaks of the descendants of the king and the promise of a covenant ‘forever’, it has been used as early as the *Roman Rite for the liturgy for Christmas Day, celebrating the arrival of the ‘Messiah’. The latter part of the psalm (verses 38–51), on the sufferings of the king, is associated with Easter. 280Many hymnic versions of this psalm focus on one part or another. For example, the * Genevan Psalter (1562) takes up the more positive aspects of the psalm; a recent version is found in the Anglo-Genevan Psalter of the Canadian Reformed Church. 281Isaac *Watts wrote at least seven metrical versions of this psalm, taken from verses 1–6; 7–14; 15–18; 19–37; 38–41; and 42–52. Of the two on 42–52, one has intriguing correspondences with Watts’ ‘O God our Help in Ages Past’, from Psalm 90. 282A more recent Methodist version, of verses 1–4, 19–37 (again, the positive parts), is ‘O Lord Your Love is Constant’, arranged by Don Saliers. 283

Musical performances for a concert audience are also mostly from verses in the first part of the psalm. *Handel, for example, used verses 13–14 in his ‘Let Thy Hand be Strengthened’, a coronation anthem (1727) for mixed chorus and orchestra, which was sung as George I was presented to the people, ending with a triumphant alleluia. 284Handel’s composition ‘My Song shall be Alway’ (1717–1718) is also taken from selections of the first part of this psalm, using a chorus for verse 5, tenor for verse 6, soprano, tenor and bass for verse 9, bass for verse 11, chorus for verse 14, cantor for verse 15, and a final triumphant chorus for verse 17. 285Other choral settings include da *Palestrina’s settings of verse 25 and of verses 12, 15 in Latin, and *Purcell’s arrangement of verses 1, 5–10 and 14–15 in English.

Its use in liturgy, as well as its narrative about the promises and broken promises to the king, have resulted in a number of poetic imitations. 286The eighteenth-century writer Christopher *Smart has a work attributed to him called A Song to David , which is about the relationship between David and Christ; it is a lengthy poem in imitation of Psalm 89. Each verse is a four-line stanza, set in 6–8–6–8 with the rhyme a-b-a-b; unlike Mary *Sidney’s version, this loses some of the composite complex nature of the psalm, yet at the same time creates a simple directness in its account of God’s dealing with his people: the Christian overlay is only implicit. Verses 34–37, on the promises to David and his descendants, read: 287

But yet I will not wholly take

My kindness from his seed;

Nor void that blessed promise make

To which my truth agreed.

I will for my own glory care

Nor change the word I past;

Once by my holiness I swore

That David’s house should last.

The line of his descent shall run

With deathless heroes crowned;

Before my presence, as the sun,

His throne shall be renowned.

Illuminated psalters usually ‘Christianise’ this psalm. Byzantine examples, such as * Theodore (fol. 118r), use verse 12 (‘Tabor and Hermon joyously praise your name’) as an inspiration for an image of Jesus’ transfiguration. 288This is also taken up in * Khludov (fol. 88v), * Bristol (fol. 147v), and * Barberini (fol. 152r). *Carolingian psalters record different Christian episodes. The *Utrecht Psalter , for example, has two images of Christ which conform to the two parts of the psalm. One is set in heaven, in a globe-*mandorla, and the other on earth, depicted by a scene of his crucifixion. To the left of the crucifixion is a nude David, anointed by an angel: kings are seen bearing gifts (the seas are represented at the bottom of the image) illustrating verse 25 (‘I will set his hand on the sea’) and verse 27 (‘I will make him… the highest of the kings of the earth’). 289By contrast, one of the images in the * Stuttgart Psalter (fol. 103v) focusses on verse 5 (‘your faithfulness… in the assembly of the holy ones’) and has a scene of Christ in glory (not his transfiguration) with Saint Peter, Saint Paul and another saint. 290

Two very different contemporary artists illustrate well the differences between Jewish and Christian readings of this psalm: Moshe *Berger’s image is of a bright white central orb out of which emanates Hebrew calligraphy, amidst deep blue rays; a crown is visible above the orb, and above that, the blue rays turn to red. The reference is from verse 29 (Eng. v. 28), translated here as ‘I was kind to David when I made him King. This kindness will endure for ever. I entered into covenants with Abraham and David and I shall keep them forever.’ This accords very much with the more positive reading of the psalm as a whole in Jewish tradition, which was discussed earlier. 291