Psalms 89:12
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North and south You created; Tabor and Hermon shout for joy at Your name.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
Many psalms that begin with complaint and prayer end with joy and praise, but this begins with joy and praise and ends with sad complaints and petitions; for the psalmist first recounts God's former favours, and then with the consideration of them aggravates the present grievances. It is uncertain when it was penned; only, in general, that it was at a time when the house of David was woefully eclipsed; some think it was at the time of the captivity of Babylon, when king Zedekiah was insulted over, and abused, by Nebuchadnezzar, and then they make the title to signify no more than that the psalm was set to the tune of a song of Ethan the son of Zerah, called Maschil; others suppose it to be penned by Ethan, who is mentioned in the story of Solomon, who, outliving that glorious prince, thus lamented the great disgrace done to the house of David in the next reign by the revolt of the ten tribes. I. The psalmist, in the joyful pleasant part of the psalm, gives glory to God, and takes comfort to himself and his friends. This he does more briefly, mentioning God's mercy and truth (Psa 89:1) and his covenant (Psa 89:2-4), but more largely in the following verses, wherein, 1. He adores the glory and perfection of God (Psa 89:5-14). 2. He pleases himself in the happiness of those that are admitted into communion with him (Psa 89:15-18). 3. He builds all his hope upon God's covenant with David, as a type of Christ (v. 19-37). II. In the melancholy part of the psalm he laments the present calamitous state of the prince and royal family (Psa 89:38-45), expostulates with God upon it (Psa 89:46-49), and then concludes with prayer for redress (Psa 89:50, Psa 89:51). In singing this psalm we must have high thoughts of God, a lively faith in his covenant with the Redeemer, and a sympath…
Open source ↗89:12 Mount Tabor was in northern Israel. Mount Hermon formed the extreme northern border of the nation.
Open source ↗Original language
The Hebrew and Greek words behind this passage, with Strong's numbers — from openscriptures (CC BY-SA).
Cross-references
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The border reached Tabor, Shahazumah, and Beth-shemesh, and ended at the Jordan. There were sixteen cities, along with their villages.
He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth upon nothing.
Now these are the kings of the land whom the Israelites struck down and whose lands they took beyond the Jordan to the east, from the Arnon Valley to Mount Hermon, including all the Arabah eastward:
When Sisera was told that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up Mount Tabor,
She summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “Surely the LORD, the God of Israel, is commanding you: ‘Go and march to Mount Tabor, taking with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun.
It is like the dew of Hermon falling on the mountains of Zion. For there the LORD has bestowed the blessing of life forevermore.
Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy
Shout for joy, O heavens; rejoice, O earth; break forth in song, O mountains! For the LORD has comforted His people, and He will have compassion on His afflicted ones.
As surely as I live, declares the King, whose name is the LORD of Hosts, there will come one who is like Tabor among the mountains and like Carmel by the sea.