Two of the wisest men in the land sing of a death and resurrection The wisdom songs of Heman and Ethan

1. Adjacent Psalms
that tell a story
part 7
Psalm 88, 89
image from Youtube if pluto was a moon of earth
The wisdom psalms of Heman and Ethan
A dark lament followed by celebration - death and resurrection songs

2. Men known who set the bar for wisdom
and the first two in the list?
God gave Solomon wisdom and very great
insight, and a breadth of understanding as
measureless as the sand on the
seashore. Solomon’s wisdom was greater than
the wisdom of all the people of the East, and
greater than all the wisdom of Egypt. He was
wiser than anyone else, including Ethan the
Ezrahite—wiser than Heman, Kalkol and
Darda, the sons of Mahol. And his fame spread
to all the surrounding nations. 1 Kings 3

3. “Psalms 88 and 89 seem to be a deliberate psalm
pair. According to their titles, they are the only two
Ezrahite psalms in the Psalter. “
from https://www.enterthebible.org/resourcelink.aspx?rid=288

4. A lament with no upturn
A Psalm of Heman
Psalm 88
Psalm 88 is the bleakest lament in the Bible
It ends ‘darkness is my friend’
It begins at night and ends with darkness

5. Brutal honesty
A Psalm of Heman
Psalm 88
I Cry Out Day and Night Before You
A Song. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah. To the choirmaster: according to Mahalath Leannoth. A
Maskil[a] of Heman the Ezrahite.
88
O Lord, God of my salvation,
I cry out day and night before you.
2
Let my prayer come before you;
incline your ear to my cry!
Verse 2 is the only prayer in the psalm.
He asks God to listen to his cries, then
he cries till the end

6. I Cry Out Day and Night Before You
A Song. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah. To the choirmaster: according to Mahalath Leannoth. A
Maskil[a] of Heman the Ezrahite.
88
O Lord, God of my salvation,
I cry out day and night before you.
2
Let my prayer come before you;
incline your ear to my cry!
Verse 2 is the only prayer in the psalm.
He asks God to listen to his cries, then
he cries till the end
Verse 1 still calls God, the God of his salvation
but that’s about as optimistic as it will get

7. A lament of loneliness
Heman being estranged from his friends
mentioned twice
Instead darkness being his friend mentioned
at ending

8. 16
Your wrath has swept over me;
your dreadful assaults destroy me.
17
They surround me like a flood all day long;
they close in on me together.
18
You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me;
my companions have become darkness.
No happy ending

9. A bleak psalm portraying the death of Jesus
A Psalm of Heman
Psalm 88
Psalm 88 may have been written from a
historical context because of an event such as
the exile to Babylon, but also points toward
and foreshadows the death of the Messiah

10. The praise comes in the following psalm
A Psalm of Ethan
Psalm 89
Psalm 88 ends with ‘darkness is my friend’
Psalm 89 begins ‘I will sing of the mercies of
the Lord forever’
No transition

11. The praise comes in the following psalm
A Psalm of Ethan
Psalm 89
Psalm 89 English Standard Version (ESV)
I Will Sing of the Steadfast Love of the Lord
A Maskil[ of Ethan the Ezrahite.
89
I will sing of the steadfast love of the Lord, forever;
with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to
all generations.
2
For I said, “Steadfast love will be built up forever;
in the heavens you will establish your faithfulness.”

12. Spurgeon thought
Ethan was the same person as Jeduthan
who had 3 prior psalms

13. A perfect storm of hope
A Psalm of Ethan
Psalm 89
Promises made to David alluded to 4 times

14. A perfect story of hope
A Psalm of Ethan
Psalm 89
The anointed (aka Messiah) mentioned three
times

15. A perfect story of hope
A Psalm of Ethan
Psalm 89
Yes there is opposition but the response is
tempered with hope

16. There are NT allusions to this passage.
• The king is called firstborn (Ps 89:27), a common
title for Jesus (Col 1:15; Rom 8:29; Heb 1:6).
• He is also to be higher than the kings of the earth
(Ps 89:27), which may be alluded to in Rev 1:5,
which also refers to Jesus as firstborn.
• The “footsteps of the anointed/messiah” in Ps
89:51 could be alluded to in 1 Peter 2:21.
see http://mydigitalseminary.com/psalm-89-death-of-the-messiah/

17. Together the two psalms
make a fitting ending for the psalms
of the priests and levites
(books 2 and book 3)
Book 2 is poetically like Exodus
Book 3 is poetically like Leviticus
They have many Levite authors like Sons of
Korah and Asaph
As a fitting end, psalms 88 and 89 foreshadow
the messiah dying and is being resurrected as
these priestly books end, the ultimate sacrifice.

18. A forward looking, hopeful ending
but the opposition was real
Lord, where is your steadfast love of old,
which by your faithfulness you swore to David?
50
Remember, O Lord, how your servants are mocked,
and how I bear in my heart the insults of all the
many nations,
51
with which your enemies mock, O Lord,
with which they mock the footsteps of your
anointed.
52
Blessed be the Lord forever!
Amen and Amen.

19. Adjacent Psalms
that tell a story
part 7
The wisdom psalms of Heman and Ethan
A dark lament followed by celebration - death and resurrection songs
Psalm 88, 89