John Calvin Commentary Psalms 89:40

"Thou hast broken down all his hedges; Thou hast brought his strongholds to ruin." — Psalms 89:40 (ASV)

Thou hast broken down all his walls. The prophet, although he might easily have found another cause to which to attribute the breaking down and razing of the fortifications, yet, under the influence of devout and sanctified feeling, acknowledges God as the author of this calamity. He was fully convinced that men could not, at their own pleasure, have destroyed the kingdom that God had established if the Divine anger had not been kindled.

Speaking metaphorically, he later complains that the kingdom was exposed as prey to all passers-by, resembling a field or garden whose walls were broken down and whose ground was laid open to plunder. To worsen a calamity that was already grievous enough, the additional indignity is highlighted: that the king was a reproach to his neighbors.

Undoubtedly, the worldly and the profane, finding an opportunity so much according to their wishes, derided him, saying, “Is this that king of God’s choice, a king more excellent than the angels, and whose throne was to continue as long as the sun and the moon should endure?” As these taunts also reflected upon God himself, the prophet justly complains of the reproachful derision with which God’s Anointed was treated, whose dignity and royal status were ratified and confirmed by heavenly anointing.