Ps. 89.13 (arm and hand)

Your arm / in enclosed with might
your hand / is strong
your right hand /is raised. 

The ‘arm’ is figured three times in this psalm. The first in verse 10, where it describes that power by which Yhwh defeats Rahab and “scatters his enemies.” The second is here. The third is in verse 21 where Yhwh’s arm “makes David strong.” Verses 22-23 then go on to describe the effect of that strengthening and it is very similar to that found in verse 10: the defeat of enemies, the beating of them to pieces. This is the enemy-arm of Yhwh. It enacts that mission given over to kings to subdue their realm by and through the destruction of their enemies. Verse 10 identifies the astounding power of God in the Rahab battle in order to highlight the fact in verse 21 that that same power is made present to David. That is (one of) the points of the covenant—the enable David to be instantiation of Yhwh on earth—to be ‘his image’—whereby that which is accomplished against Rahab will not be put at the service of David in fighting his enemies. Then, from the ‘arm’, the psalmist moves to the hand and the ‘right hand’ of Yhwh. The hand figures more prominently in the psalm but in largely the same capacity—it is that regal power by which a king manifests his strength. The ‘raising of the right hand’ is likely a reference to power over enemies (or, the ‘raising of the hand, ready to strike down’), as the ‘lowered hand’ signals weakness and defeat. One can recall here how Moses, when the Israelites were fighting the Amalekites, had to “keep his hands raised” in order for them to achieve victory and how every times he “lowered” his hands they began to lose. It may be that Moses was there enacting Yhwh’s ‘raised hand’, channeling Yhwh’s strength-over-his-enemies. In this psalm that becomes clear—David is “firmly supported” by Yhwh’s hand (vs. 21) and Yhwh places David’s “left hand on the sea and his right hand on the rivers” (vs. 25). When David’s covenant seems to implode it is perceived that Yhwh has “raised the right hand of his foes, you made all his enemies rejoice.” (vs. 42).