Psalm 99

1 The LORD reigns; let the peoples tremble! He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!

2 The LORD is great in Zion; he is exalted over all the peoples.

The psalmist makes four categorical statements regarding the nature of God. He reigns. He dwells between the cherubim. He is great in Zion. He is exalted over all the peoples. The result of this is that the peoples tremble and the earth shakes. First, YHWH reigns over all the earth. The first two words of this psalm may be the theme of the entire book of Psalm -- YHWH reigns. In your joy and in your sorrow, in your pleasure and in your pain, YHWH reigns. He is sovereign, absolute in his rule over the universe. Nothing happens without his knowledge and permission. Without getting into the subject of why bad things happen if God is king, suffice to say that YHWH is equally benevolent (that will be expounded upon further in the psalm). Second, YHWH sits enthroned upon the cherubim (literally, YHWH dwells cherubim). This may be a reference to the belief that God not only inhabited a heavenly throne room surrounded by glorious beings devoted to his worship (cherub = devoted one), but also that he dwelt on earth in the most holy place of the tabernacle/temple. The ark (box) of the covenant was his throne and the invisible God was flanked on both sides by representations of cherubim. YHWH had come to earth to dwell in the midst of his people. This was earthshaking. Third, YHWH is great in Zion, that is Jerusalem, the city of God. Zion came to represent the dwelling place of God on earth, the physical location where God manifested his presence in the temple. This was not unique to Israel, many nations had temples and gods who were believed to dwell in them. What is unique here is the fourth statement about YHWH, he is exalted over all the peoples. He was not just the God of Israel, a regional deity confined to a small kingdom in the middle east. He is the King of everyone. These verses should make us approach God in worship with fear and trembling. With a heavy dose of humility and reverence, we should approach the throne of God not so casually as we often do. Too often we treat God like a divine butler when he is actually the master. Yes He is our father and our friend, but He is also the sovereign majesty of the universe, adored by angels and earth-shaking in his power. Tremble like the earth before him. 

3 Let them praise your great and awesome name! Holy is he!

4 The King in his might loves justice. [The might of the King loves justice] You have established equity; you have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob.

Having stated in absolute terms the sovereign nature of God, the psalmist implores all peoples to praise His great and awesome name. He is holy. That is, he is like no other. He is perfectly unique and far beyond all that we see and know. He is awesome in his power. None can stand before him -- no person and no planet. He can shake them both. The psalmist continues with a description of the King’s reign. He is strong and he uses his strength to establish justice and equity. He has done this in Jacob, his people. Jacob is the original name of Israel. The meaning of the name Jacob was “he grasps the heel” which meant “deceiver, one who trips another”. His name was changed to Israel after he wrestled with an angel/God. Israel means “He wrestles with God.” The two names are used interchangeably in the psalms, likely for poetic variety, and both speak to the nature of humankind. We are deceivers, grasping to get what we want on our own, not relying on God. We are wrestlers with God, striving to do his will while simultaneously resisting it. Somehow through our flawed humanity, God executes justice and righteousness. At our best we can be agents of justice and righteousness, and at our worst we can be perpetrators of the opposite. That God would use us to accomplish his just purposes is astonishing given our track record. He does this by transforming us, just as he did Jacob. We strive for his blessing and he bestows it. God ultimately accomplished this transformation through Jesus who  came to Israel, revealed the nature of God, and took the just punishment for our rebellion. Having experienced his grace and righteousness, we can then show grace and righteousness to a fallen world. 

5 Exalt the LORD our God; worship at his footstool! Holy is he!

The psalmist will declare the holiness of God three times in this psalm, reminding us of the three-fold cry of the angels in heaven, “holy, holy, holy.” The exhortation is to exalt YHWH our God. To exalt is to lift high, to honor and revere above all others. No one or no thing is to be higher than God in our lives. He is ultimate. Imagine all the things that you value in life lined up before you -- your body and your health, your family and friends, your talents and possessions, your entertainments and pleasures, your reputation, your very life itself. If they are on a platform in front of you, how do they rank? Which are higher than the others? Is YHWH higher than all of them? Is your relationship with Him the most important of all? How does it show in your life? Exalting YHWH is certainly something that we do in the corporate gathering when we sing worship songs and lift our hands together in emotional praise. But it is also much more than that. Now imagine the LORD seating on a throne in front of you. The command is to worship at the stool upon which his feet rest. It is an image of humility emphasizing the stark difference between us and God. He is multitudes of orders greater than we, and our proper place is at his feet. I think of the woman in the New Testament who washed Jesus’ feet, drying them with her tears. I think of Mary who sat at the feet of Jesus listening to him. I think of the feet of Jesus that walked the road to the cross. Worship at his feet. He is like no other. The psalm writer no doubt was thinking of YHWH’s presence in the temple, and worshiping at his feet meant coming to the temple which represented the throne room of heaven. The vast majority of worshipers could never enter the temple, only the priests. So God came to us in Jesus, stepping down from his throne to walk among us on our dusty roads. Now he is exalted and seated at the right hand of God, adored by angels and all who have been transformed by him. He is truly extraordinary and worthy of the highest place in the temple of our hearts. The empty idols that we worship must fall before him as surely as the Philistine god Dagon fell before the ark of God. 

6 Moses and Aaron were among his priests, Samuel also was among those who called upon his name. They called to the LORD, and he answered them.

7 In the pillar of the cloud he spoke to them; they kept his testimonies and the statute that he gave them.

The names of Israel’s leaders are rarely mentioned in the psalms, and here they seem to stand as representatives of three-roles in the community. Moses was a law-giver and leader, something close to a king before Israel was a kingdom. Aaron was a high priest, the ostensible spiritual leader of the nation who represented them before God and was supposed to mediate the presence of God to them. Samuel was a prophet, the voice of God to the people, adviser to kings, and the last of the judges. Together they may represent the three categories of leaders: king, priest, and prophet. These men were not perfect (although there is nothing negative recorded about Samuel), and in the context of this psalm, they are notable because they called on YHWH and he answered them. The LORD spoke to them from the cloud and they preserved God’s words and encouraged the nation to obey. The failures of these men are well known. In fact that’s one of the elements of the Bible that supports its historicity. The flaws of the nation’s heroes are on full display in the scriptures. There is no cover-up, something that would have been likely if an alternate history were written. Great men tended to be worshiped and their shortcomings overlooked. These men can serve as examples to us without us laboring under the belief that we have to be perfect. They remind us to call upon the LORD and to expect an answer. They inspire us to obey God’s statute and testimonies, even when it seems that we are standing alone. Moses and Samuel spoke before kings, conveying God’s message to them as well. The word statute here is singular and may refer to the command to assemble for corporate worship (including all the commands regarding how to do that properly). Keeping his testimonies may involve the copying, storing and promulgation of God’s word, the careful labor of the priests to care for the writings and teach them to the people. We must do both as well -- faithfully gather to worship with the community and keep the word of God alive and active by reading, teaching, and meditating on it.  

8 O LORD our God, you answered them; you were a forgiving God to them, but an avenger of their wrongdoings.

9 Exalt the LORD our God, and worship at his holy mountain; for the LORD our God is holy!

YHWH God is an answering God. Through the centuries that people have called upon him he has responded. First, he answered as a forgiving God. The word forgiving is a common word that means lift up, but it is translated here and one another place as forgive. God is uplifting and supportive when it comes to our failures. The failures of Moses and Aaron are well-known and yet they are heroes of the faith because God forgave them. As representatives of the people, this text is a reminder that God is forgiving and supportive of us when we fail. But the other side of the coin is that God is also just, and an avenger of their wrongdoings as well. Both Moses and Aaron suffered loss as well. Aaron forever had his reputation diminished because of his involvement in making the golden calf. Moses didn’t enter the promised land that he labored so hard to get to. Sin is both forgiven and punished. Of course ultimately the penalty for sin was punished in Jesus, but there are still consequences that we must bear when we sin. We experience this as God’s vengeance, but it is really just our behavior rubbing up next to reality. There is a way that we were made to work and when we violate that order (sin), there are necessary consequences. The psalmist returns to the earlier refrain with a slight variation. Instead of worshiping at his footstool, we are summoned to worship at his holy mountain (hill). The phrase our God occurs three times in these two verses, reminding us that this is a psalm for the community as they gather at the temple to worship. We are to exalt the LORD and bow the knee before him in the place of worship. He is holy and perfectly unlike any other.