PSALMS 89


1 (Maschil of Ethan the Ezrahite.) I will sing of the mercies of Yahweh for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations.



Eureka translation

2 For I have said, A hidden period of mercy shall be builded; thy faithfulness in them, the heavens, thou wilt establish.

3 I have devised a covenant for my chosen one; I have sworn to David my servant, saying,

4 during a hidden period I will establish thy seed; and I will build thy throne for a generation of the race. Selah.



5 And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O Yahweh: thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints.

6 For who in the heaven can be compared unto the Yahweh? who among the sons of El can be likened unto Yahweh?

7 El is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him.

8 O Yahweh Elohim Tz'vaoth, who is a strong Yah like unto thee? or to thy faithfulness round about thee?

9 Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them.

10 Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces, as one that is slain; thou hast scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm.

11 The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine: as for the world and the fulness thereof, thou hast founded them.

12 The north and the south thou hast created them: Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name.

13 Thou hast a mighty arm: strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand.

14 Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face.




15 Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O Yahweh, in the light of thy countenance.

What the True Gospel Is
(From the Gospel Banner.)

The word "Gospel," as is pretty well known-signifies "good news" or "glad tidings." It is derived from the Saxon god, good; and spel, speech or news. In the Greek its equivalent is euanggelion; from eu, good, and anggelion, a message-a good message.

When the definite article the is placed before the word, it is used to denote, by way of preƫminence, that particular "good news" which concerns the best interests of the human race as revealed in the Bible, viz., salvation.

So far, then, all agree; but the common idea stops short here, dealing only in generalities, and cannot enter into particulars, nor give a clear, consistent definition, except some vague theory that it is

"the good news of forgiveness of sins through Christ's death on the cross to save men from eternal woe."

...This "joyful sound," Ps. 89:15, is known by various names in Scripture. It is called "the Gospel of God," because it comes from him, as its author, Rom. 15:16, and "the gospel of the grace of God," Acts 20:24, because it publishes his favour and loving kindness to fallen men, and because all this favour is freely given by him, unbought either by Christ's blood or anything else. Hence the term "grace" in many texts, must be understood as referring to the gospel, though not always specified. Such as-Acts. 13:43; Rom. 5:2, 15; 1 Cor. 1:4; 2 Cor. 6:1; 9:14; Gal. 2:14; Eph. 3:2, 7; Heb. 5:10.

It is called the "gospel of Christ," because it is about him, and sent forth by him, Rom. 15:19, 29; 1 Cor. 4:15; 2 Cor. 4:4; and is glad tidings concerning the mission of mercy he is working out for men.

It is this "grace," kindness or favour of God and of Christ, that brings us salvation, Titus 2:11; and is bestowed on men without any former merit or purchase on their part.

This "gospel of our salvation" is identical with the "Word of Truth," Eph. 1:13; and Jas. 1:18, 21; it is called the "Word of the Truth of the Gospel," Col. 1:6; and had Pilate waited a little to receive an answer to his question, "What is truth," may be he might have received one which would have definitely settled the matter in the plainest terms.

Still there is sufficient to show to the candid that "the Truth as it is in Jesus" must be comprehensive of the gospel, Eph. 4:21. "The Truth" and "the Gospel," are therefore convertible terms, and so is the phrase "the Faith;" and frequently another expression, "the Word of the Lord," or more simply "the Word," is used to denote the gospel enlarged to its fullest extent by the additional testimonies of Jesus and the Apostles, and is applied both to God and Christ.

This expression does not always mean the Bible, as many suppose, but is generally restricted in the New Testament to the collection of those grand and saving truths which formed the subject-matter of their preaching. And occasionally it is termed "the Word of Life," 1 John 1:1, and "the words of this life," Acts 5:20; because it reveals Immortality.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Jan 1859



16 In thy name shall they rejoice all the day: and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted.

17 For thou art the glory of their strength: and in thy favour our horn shall be exalted.

18 For the Yahweh is our defence; and the Holy One of Israel is our king.



19 Then thou spakest in vision to thy holy one, and saidst, I have laid help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people.

I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will - Acts 13: 22.

Habitual uprightness, service, zeal, faith, occasional failings, intense repentance. His subjection to temptation gives more meaning to his tremendous record of faith, for he was a weak mortal man, just like us.

Patiently he submitted for weary years to Saul's wicked and ungrateful persecution. He never fought back. He always left the issue in God's hands, content to wait God's good time. God had appointed Saul, and he was the "Lord's anointed." Even in the extremity of self-defense against murderous persecution, he would not harm him.

In assessing David's life, let us try to picture and realize the perils and hardships he endured. During his twenties, when he was hardly yet a man, he was hunted and chased like a criminal from place to place for a period of several years, never knowing where to go or whom to trust, with wives and children to care for, and six hundred very difficult and quarrelsome men, with their families, to provide for.

David was a giant, one of the few really great men of all history. He was great in both strength and sweetness. In physical courage, and in spiritual discernment, poetry, music, and psalms.

David is The Psalms, and The Psalms are David. David was privileged to write the songs of praise for the people of God for the whole 3,000-year period from his day to the establishment of the Kingdom, and doubtless for the endless ages beyond. Truly the Psalms are prophetically and inspirationally the mind of the Spirit of Christ, but David's own heart and mind were the Spirit's chosen medium.

David is pre-eminently the "sweet Psalmist of Israel" -- Israel both natural and spiritual. Clearly the great love and ambition of David's life was the pure service and worship of the God of Israel. He found that worship broken down, scattered, almost non-existent: the neglected Tabernacle in one obscure place, the forgotten Ark in another.

He left it firmly established and thoroughly arranged in careful, organized depth and detail: with a numerous and orderly course of priests, singers and Levites; the Ark brought lovingly to a place of honor at Jerusalem; a magnificent Temple completely planned and designed; and a vast wealth of materials for it assembled. And it would have been built too, if God had permitted him.

The spirit of David was the spirit of song: of praise, worship, supplication, prayer, thanksgiving, adoration. This was his greatest gift to his generation, and to all subsequent generations of the sons of God. The Psalms of David have ever been the cherished Hymnal of God's people. They express all the joys and sufferings, hopes and fears, praises and supplications, of the children of God of all time.

The Psalms would lose much beauty and power and value for us without the deep spirit of repentance and supplication, and joy in forgiveness and reconciliation, that David's bitter experiences added to them.

David gave life and power to the worship of God in Israel by giving it song. He gave Israel all the necessary exterior framework for faithfulness and inspiration and unity and holiness. We cannot help but think of bro. Roberts' similar vast labors and accomplishments for the people of God in these last days, now all but forgotten in many quarters. And the preparation of our Hymn Book, containing fifty of the Psalms, is one of the most powerful works bro. Roberts did for the Truth and the Brotherhood.

The national provision David set up, the splendid Temple and the impressive worship and service, failed for the majority, and failed soon and miserably. But this has not lessened its value and power for the remnant of grace that has always existed through the ages. In the providence of God, no one can take from His children the priceless treasure of the Psalms of David.

Bro Growcott - BYT 1.18.



20 I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him:

The anointing


Do ye understand the mighty idea involved in this expression? Many talk as if it were a mere effusion of galvanism - the pouring out of something which, when poured, was a limited quantity in the possession of him anointed. We shall find it imports a profounder thing than this-viz., the establishment of such a connection between the anointer (God) and the anointed, as that the power and intelligence of the one streams with the anointing through the other, establishing a unity of which we have little conception.

Whence comes the term anointed? It is borrowed from the practice under the law of pouring oil in token of appointment or consecration. Confined to this, the limited idea referred to is in its place, but it must be remembered that the anointing with oil was a mere type of that marvellous operation which was to result in Christ-the great end and substance and antitype of all the Mosaic ceremonials:-God manifest in the flesh by the spirit, constituting a Son of God.

When that operation was accomplished, Jesus of Nazareth was in the bosom of the Father, "for God giveth not the spirit by measure unto him." By the spirit, he was in God, and God was in him. The connection was one of power and intelligence.

If the limited action of the spirit on a prophet made the prophet's mind en rapport with the Deity for the time being, what was the mental condition of a man begotten of the spirit and inhabited by the spirit in measureless presence? It was a condition of unity with the great fountain head. Jesus and the Father were one.

When did this begin? There were stages in the development. The first was when the words of the angel to Mary were fulfilled.

"The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee; and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also shall that holy thing that shall be born of thee be called the Son of God."-(Luke 1:35.)

A child begotten of the Holy Spirit-that is, of God-was a very different child from one begotten of the will of the flesh. The difference was manifest in the fact that at no period did the child commit sin. An ordinary child, however well organized, would have gone astray before acquiring the experience necessary to give wisdom.

The brain brings nothing into the world but impulse. There is the latent capacity for wisdom, but no wisdom until the experience of evil imparts it. But this child had wisdom from the beginning: Wisdom was its starting point. It grew in wisdom; it never sinned: at twelve it knew its Father and its mission and devoted himself to His work-a knowledge intuitively derived from the Spirit that guided him from his mother's womb; (Psalm 22:9-10; 71:6); for such a knowledge with such results at such an age would have been an impossibility with a merely human brain.

At 30, the time had arrived to introduce him to Israel, and to bestow an increase of the power to which he owed his existence. Accordingly, it was revealed to John (sent to prepare the way of the Lord), that on whomsoever, among the crowds that came to his baptism, the Spirit should visibly descend that was the Christ. When Jesus came out of the water, the manifestation was given; and the Messiah (or Christ) stood revealed;

"This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased!"

He then entered upon the second stage: the manifestation of God in mortal flesh by the spirit shed without measure upon a man provided for himself by the operation of the spirit upon the "seed of David according to the flesh." For three years and a half, this wonderful man - in whom God tabernacled - to whom the winds and the sea were obedient - went about doing good, speaking the words of God, and teaching as one having authority and not as the scribes.-(Matt. 7:29.)

At the end of that time, he was crucified, and the Father left him for three days. On the third day, He returned to him, and the anointing was then consummated in the substance of the man Christ Jesus being changed to spirit, and he was "received up into glory," where 

"he ever liveth to make intercession for those who come unto God by him."

The Christadelphian, Oct 1869


21 With whom my hand shall be established: mine arm also shall strengthen him.

22 The enemy shall not exact upon him; nor the son of wickedness afflict him.

23 And I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate him.

24 But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him: and in my name shall his horn be exalted.

25 I will set his hand also in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers.

26 He shall cry unto me, Thou art my father, my El, and the rock of my salvation.

27 Also I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth.

28 My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him.

29 His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven.

30 If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments;

31 If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments;

32 Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.

33 Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail.


34 My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.

is quoted in proof of the unchangeableness of the Sabbath. Its connection with the subject in hand is by no means clear. The spirit in David is not saying anything in this Psalm about the Sabbath. Its most prominent topic is the re-establishment of the throne of David.

It is the Davidic covenant to which the above verse refers. The verse following proves this:

"Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not be unto David."

No attempt is made to show that the Sabbath forms part of the Davidic covenant. Therefore this passage is quite foreign to the subject in hand. If it be intended to show that when God once enacts a law, or ordains a covenant, He never abolishes them, it is strangely inconsistent with the admission that the Mosaic covenant has been abrogated.

Is the Observance of the Sabbath Binding on Believers? Bro J. J. Andrew.

The Christadelphian, July 1872




35 Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David.

36 His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me.

37 It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven. Selah.

38 But thou hast cast off and abhorred, thou hast been wroth with thine anointed.

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

40 Thou hast broken down all his hedges; thou hast brought his strong holds to ruin.

41 All that pass by the way spoil him: he is a reproach to his neighbours.

42 Thou hast set up the right hand of his adversaries; thou hast made all his enemies to rejoice.

43 Thou hast also turned the edge of his sword, and hast not made him to stand in the battle.

44 Thou hast made his glory to cease, and cast his throne down to the ground.

45 The days of his youth hast thou shortened: thou hast covered him with shame. Selah.

46 How long, Yahweh? wilt thou hide thyself for ever? shall thy wrath burn like fire?

47 Remember how short my time is: wherefore hast thou made all men in vain?


48 What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? Selah.

Away from the Truth the answer to this is doleful indeed. What man indeed? Not the highest, not the richest, not the most gifted, not the most blameless, not the most loved, can escape the inflexible law which works in every human frame and dissolves it in death at last. The grave opens her mouth, and the whole stream of human glory descends into it from age to age.

... Apart from Christ, there is no hope at all; in him we have a hope sure and certain. God has given him the power over all flesh to do as he wills, and he has made known his ready and most gracious willingness to exercise it beneficially towards all who humble themselves to his requirements.

"Him that cometh to me," he says, "I will in no wise cast out."

Not only so, but he has issued his invitation to-

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

Bro Roberts - The completeness of the truth