then I will punish their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes,
The writer of this psalm approaches God's throne with the covenant made to David as his anchor: God promised to sustain His favor toward this people forever through their king. He rehearses God's power in all creation and His faithfulness in redemption, yet the complaint that follows cuts sharp, God has seemingly abandoned His Church to her enemies, withdrawn all help and comfort, as though He had forgotten His own word.
AI summary
Commenting on Psalm 89:1-52
Then will I visit their transgressions with the rod. Not with the sword, not with death and destruction; but still with a smarting, tingling, painful rod. Saints must smart if they sin: God will see to that. He hates sin too much not to visit it, and he loves his saints too well not to chasten them.
The covenant God made with David and his seed was mentioned before (Psa 89:3, Psa 89:4); but in these verses it is enlarged upon, and pleaded with God, for favour to the royal family, now almost sunk and ruined; yet certainly it looks at Christ, and has its accomplishment in him much more than in David; nay, some passages here are scarcely applicable at all...
Commenting on Psalm 89:19-37