Father Boylan’s Introduction to Psalm 89 (88)

Various passages of this Psalm are used several times in both the Sunday and daily Mass readings. I’ve posted some notes on the verses which will be used on Tuesday, January 17, 2012 (Tuesday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time, Daily Lectionary Year II). The notes can be found here. What follows is an introductory overview to the Psalm penned many years ago by Fr. Patrick Boylan.

AN ELEGY ON THE DECLINE OF THE
DAVIDIC DYNASTY

This psalm is, for the most part, a complaint over the apparent failure of the House of David. The poem was composed in a time of political disaster. The House of David seems to be, for the moment, overthrown. The walls and fortifications of Jerusalem have been reduced to ruins. Everywhere is disgrace and shame. The precise period of Jewish history which is reflected in the psalm cannot be determined, but there is less reason for ascribing the poem to the Maccabean, than to the pre-Restoration, post-Exilic period. The Messianic outlook of the psalm is not that of the Maccabean period.

In the misery of the time the psalmist seeks to comfort his people with the thought of Yahweh’s power and His fidelity to His promises. He begins in hymn- like style with the praise of God’s kindness and truth. Sad as the time is, there is still ground for hope. The Lord has promised great things to David, and the things which He has promised must come to pass, for the graciousness and truth of Yahweh are as firm as the heavens (vv. 2-5).

In verses 6-18 the heavens burst forth into a hymn of praise in which the might and the fidelity of Yahweh are extolled. Yahweh is greater than all the angels. There is none like Him in the heavens. By His might He subdued the powers of Chaos, and built up the heavens and the earth. The mountains rejoice at His strength, for His arm only is strong. Yet not by force does He rule: kindness and truth are the stay of His throne. In spite of all, then, Israel must be happy and hopeful, for Yahweh is Israel’s God and King, and the shout of joy at Yahweh’s great festivals is yet known in the land. Once again will the horn of Israel be upraised. ‘Yea,’ answer the people in verse 19, ‘our King whom we look for, our Shield, is the possession of the mighty and faithful God, Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel.’

In verses 20-38 the psalmist reflects at length on the ancient Messianic oracles, and, above all, on the promise of Nathan to David (2 Sam 7). This section of the poem is a poetic paraphrase of the oracle of Nathan. The Davidic Dynasty is depicted as the dynasty to which the Messianic Kingdom is to be entrusted, and that Kingdom is represented chiefly as an external world-power. Its King is the ‘first-born’ and the mightiest of the kings of earth (cf. Ps 2:7; 72:11). So firmly is the Messianic hope attached to the House of David that even the transgression of Davidic kings will not make void the promise made through Nathan to David. Transgressing kings will be punished, but the pact with David will stand firm. What God has once sworn He will not repent of. The Throne of David will be firm as long as sun and moon endure. He that has
sworn is God, and God—’the Witness in heaven’—is true.

In verses 39-46 the psalmist utters his complaint. The present bitterly contrasts with all the glorious fortune that God had promised through Nathan. The King of Israel has been overthrown: Jerusalem is in ruins: the hostile peoples round about show their contempt for the city and the people, and are not rebuked. God has raised the enemies of the House of David aloft, and has gladdened all its foes. The sharp sword of the Davidic king God has turned aside in battle, and the throne of David, which was to stand firm as heaven, God has cast down. The days of Israel’s glory have been shortened, and she is covered with shame.

In verses 47-52 the psalmist prays almost peremptorily for a change in the attitude of God. The life of men is short, and if God does not make haste, the end of Israel will come speedily. Yahweh is reminded urgently, and indeed, as it were, threateningly, of His promises. Surely God will not forget His words—the words which He swore to David! Surely He will not permit the enemies of His people to mock Israel and Israel’s God. Surely He will requite the scorn with which the Gentiles have scorned the Davidic Dynasty !

Verse 53 is the Doxology marking the close of the third book of the Psalms.