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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Psalms 89:19 - 89:19
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Having thus again come to refer to the king of Israel, the poet now still further unfolds the promise given to the house of David. The present circumstances are a contradiction to it. The prayer to Jahve, for which the way is thus prepared, is for the removal of this contradiction. A long line, extending beyond the measure of the preceding lines, introduces the promises given to David. With אָז the respective period of the past is distinctly defined. The intimate friend of Jahve (חָסִיד) is Nathan (1Ch 17:15) or David, according as we translate בְחָזֹון “in a vision” or “by means of a vision.” But side by side with the לחסידֶך we also find the preferable reading לחסידֶיך, which is followed in the renderings of the lxx, Syriac, Vulgate, Targum, Aquila, Symmachus, and the Quarta, and is adopted by Rashi, Aben-Ezra, and others, and taken up by Heidenheim and Baer. The plural refers to Samuel and Nathan, for the statement brings together what was revealed to these two prophets concerning David. עֵזֶר is assistance as a gift, and that, as the designation of the person succoured by it (שִׁוָּה עַל as in Psa 21:6) with גִּבֹּור shows, aid in battle. בָּחוּר (from בָּחַר = בָּגַר in the Mishna: to ripen, to be manly or of marriageable age, distinct from בְּחִיר in Psa 89:4) is a young man, adolescens: while yet a young man David was raised out of his humble lowly condition (Psa 78:71) high above the people. When he received the promise (2 Sam. 7) he had been anointed and had attained to the lordship over all Israel. Hence the preterites in Psa 89:20-21, which are followed by promissory futures from Psa 89:22 onwards. תִּכֹּון is fut. Niph., to be established, to prove one's self to be firm, unchangeable (Psa 78:37), a stronger expression than תִּהְיֶה, 1Sa 18:12, 1Sa 18:14; 2Sa 3:10. The Hiph. הִשִּׁיא, derived from נָשָׁא = נָשָׁה, to credit (vid., on Isa 24:2; Gesenius, Hengstenberg), does not give any suitable sense; it therefore signifies here as elsewhere, “to impose upon, surprise,” with בְּ, as in Psa 55:16 with עַל. Psa 89:23 is the echo of 2Sa 7:10.