What man can live and never see death? Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah
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in redemption, yet the complaint that follows cuts sharp, God has seemingly abandoned His Church to her enemies, withdrawn all help and comfort, as though He had forgotten His own word.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
What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? All must die. None of our race can answer to the question here propounded except in the negative; there is none that can claim to elude the arrows of death. Shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave?
In these verses we have, I. A very melancholy complaint of the present deplorable state of David's family, which the psalmist thinks hard to be reconciled to the covenant God made with David. "Thou saidst thou wouldst not take away thy lovingkindness, but thou hast cast off." Sometimes, it is no easy thing to reconcile God's providences with his promises, and yet we are sure...
Commenting on Psalm 89:38-52