Psalms 89:23

Psa 89:23 And I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate him.

Ver. 23. And I will beat down his foes, &c.] Victory over enemies is of the Lord; he may better say than any mortal monarch, Cui adhaereo, praeest, He whom I take part with is sure to prevail.

That hate hint] That secretly malign him, though they can do him no mischief.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

24. (Psa 89:23) And I will crush before him his foes, and his haters I will smite. The last verb is especially applied to strokes inflicted by the hand of God.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Psalms Translated and Explained (1850) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Though there shall be evermore enemies against God’s kingdom, yet he promiseth to overcome them.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

(23) Beat down.—Probably bray, as in a mortar.

Plague.—Or, smite.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

23. But I will beat down his adversaries before him,

And smite them that hate him.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him,.... The "faithfulness" of God was and is with Christ, in performing promises made to him respecting his work, and strength to do it, as man, and the glory that should follow; and also those made to his people in him, relating to grace here, and happiness hereafter: and though there was no "mercy" shown to Christ, as the surety of his people, but he was dealt with in strict justice; yet, as Mediator of the covenant, the special mercy of God is with him, even every blessing of it, called "the sure mercies of David"; and is only communicated through him; he is the mercy seat, from whence mercy is dispensed, and the propitiation through whom God is merciful to men; the words may be rendered, "my truth and my grace" (e), as they are by the Targum; and both are with Christ, the truth of doctrine, and all the fulness of grace, justifying, sanctifying, pardoning, adopting, and persevering grace, Joh 1:14,

and in my name shall his horn be exalted, or "his glory", as the Targum; his power and dominion, of which the horn is an emblem; and his glory is displayed in having the same name his Father has: his name is expressive of his nature, being, and perfections, the name Jehovah; and his name of title and office "King of Kings, and Lord of lords"; or his name the Word of God, as the Targum; who, as such, is the brightness of his Father's glory: or the sense is, that, by the power of God, he should be raised from the dead, and have glory given him, and be exalted at his right hand, and made Lord and Christ; or by means of the Gospel, which is the name of the Lord, Joh 17:6, his kingdom and dominion should be spread in the world; see Sa1 2:10.

(e) "et veritas mea, et gratia mea", Cocceius, Gejerus, Michaelis.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

And I will beat down his foes before his face - I will crush them, or destroy them: showing that the power of doing this was not his own, but was the power of God exerted in his behalf.

And plague them that hate him - His enemies. I will bring “plagues” upon them: calamities, judgments, afflictions. The word is commonly used to denote those judgments which come directly from the hand of God - as famine, pestilence, wasting sickness, the plague, or the “plagues” of Egypt. Exo 12:13; Exo 30:12; Num 8:19; Num 17:11-12. These are all in the hand of God, and can be employed at his pleasure, as storms and tempests may be, in executing his purposes.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ver. 23. And I will beat down his foes before his face crushing them and their plans. God himself thus fights the battles of his Son, and effectually overturns his foes.

And plague them that hate him, or smite his haters. May none of us learn the terror of this threatening, which is surely being fulfilled upon all those unbelievers who have rejected the Son of God, and died in the hardness of their hearts. The prophecy is also having another fulfilment in the overthrow of systems of error, and the vexation caused to their promoters. There is no such plague to bad men as the prosperity of the cause of Jesus.

Psalms 89:24*

Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

And I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate him. (comp. 2Sa_7:9)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

What is promised in Psa 89:26 is a world-wide dominion, not merely dominion within the compass promised in the primeval times (Gen 15:18; Ch2 9:26), in which case it ought to have been said ובנהר (of the Euphrates). Nor does the promise, however, sound so definite and boundless here as in Psa 72:8, but it is indefinite and universal, without any need for our asking what rivers are intended by נהרות. נתן יד בּ, like שׁלח (in Isa 11:14, of a giving and taking possession. With אף־אני (with retreated tone, as in Psa 119:63, Psa 119:125) God tells with what He will answer David's filial love. Him who is the latest-born among the sons of Jesse, God makes the first-born (בּכור from בּכר, to be early, opp. לקשׁ, to be late, vid., Job 2:1-13 :21), and therefore the most favoured of the "sons of the Most High," Psa 82:6. And as, according to Deu 28:1, Israel is to be high (עליון) above all nations of the earth, so David, Israel's king, in whom Israel's national glory realizes itself, is made as the high one (עליון) with respect to the kings, i.e., above the kings, of the earth. In the person of David his seed is included; and it is that position of honour which, after having been only prelusively realized in David and Solomon, must go on being fulfilled in his seed exactly as the promise runs. The covenant with David is, according to Psa 89:29, one that shall stand for ever. David is therefore, as Psa 89:30 affirms, eternal in his seed; God will make David's seed and throne לעד, into eternal, i.e., into such as will abide for ever, like the days of heaven, everlasting. This description of eternal duration is, as also in Sir. 45:15, Bar. 1:11, Taken from Deu 11:21; the whole of Psa 89:30 is a poetic reproduction of Sa2 7:16.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

No enemy will exact from him No enemy will overwhelm him to become as his creditor.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.