Ps. 89 The psalm opens joyfully, but is finally a lament. The issue at the heart of the psalm is the Davidic covenant. In 2 Sam. 7:4–17 (cf. 1 Chr. 17:1–15) God established a covenant with David in which He promised that the special relationship would pass on to David’s obedient sons (32:11). God’s language was bold; the covenant was to last “forever” (2 Sam. 7:13).

But this promise was not without conditions upon the recipients. If they sinned they would be punished (1 Kin. 8:25; 2 Sam. 7:14). David’s own son Solomon began his slide into apostasy by admitting the religious cults of his foreign wives (1 Kin. 11). The continuing disobedience of the Davidic kings resulted in the Babylonian exile and an end to that period of Israel’s monarchy in the sixth century b.c. But the spiritual substance of the promise was not canceled; Christ came to take the throne of David forever (Is. 9:7; Luke 1:32; 22:30).