God Keeps His Promises - Psalms 87-89

Psalms 89:29-35 (ESV)
I will establish his offspring forever
and his throne as the days of the heavens.
If his children forsake my law
and do not walk according to my rules,
if they violate my statutes
and do not keep my commandments,
then I will punish their transgression with the rod
and their iniquity with stripes,
but I will not remove from him my steadfast love
or be false to my faithfulness.
I will not violate my covenant
or alter the word that went forth from my lips.
Once for all I have sworn by my holiness;
I will not lie to David.

Psalm 89 begins by telling us this song was a Maskil (a musical term) of Ethan the Ezrahite.  We don’t know a lot about Ethan the Ezrahite.   Solomon’s wisdom was compared to Ethan’s wisdom.  In 1 Kings 4:31 we are told that Solomon’s wisdom was greater than Ethan’s wisdom.   That is about all we know for sure.  Since he therefore comes before Solomon and he is writing about God’s covenant with David, we can be assured that he was a contemporary of David.  There was an Ethan who carried the Ark by to Jerusalem with King David (1 Chronicles 15:17) but he is called Ethan the son of Kushaiah.   Since that Ethan is a song writer, as well, some have thought the two are one in the same.   The key thought here is that Ethan is praising God in this song and his focus is on the covenant God made with David.   God promised that David would always have someone sitting on the throne (the ultimate reference is to the Messiah, the Son of God).   The other part of the promise was that those children that disobeyed would be disciplined, but David would be continued to be protected and lifted up.   God promised this to David and never failed in that promise.   God was his protector even when David’s son, Absolum, disobeyed.    God keeps His promises, right down to the very last detail.   We are to join Ethan in this song of praise that God keeps watch over His servants and keeps every detail of His promises to them.   David’s grief over his son’s rebellion is recorded for us.   But, in the middle of that grief and rebellion, God promised that He would show steadfast love for David, in the midst of that rebellion.   Although in the middle of that Absolum ran David completely out of his own kingdom, David had the steadfast love of God to refresh him and to remind him of God’s faithfulness to His promises.   God is faithful to what He promises.