99
📚The LORD reigns!May the peoples tremble!
He sits between the cherubim 📖.
May the earth be moved!
99:1 This psalm begins with the same words as Psalms 93 and 97 and deals with the same subject – God’s reign on the earth. In this psalm the emphasis is somewhat different from the emphasis in those psalms. In this one the holiness of God is mentioned thrice (vs 3,5,9), and His mountain is called holy (v 9). And examples of God’s holy and righteous dealings in the past, and of those who rendered to God holy worship are given – vs 6-8.⚜
2 📚The LORD is great
in Zion,
and he is high above
all the peoples.
3 📚May they praise your great
and awe-inspiring name 📖,
for it is holy 📖.
4 📚The king’s strength also loves
justice.
You have established equity;
you have ordained justice and
righteousness in Jacob.
5 📚Exalt 📖 the LORD our God
and worship at his
footstool,
for he is holy.
6 📚Moses and Aaron were
among his priests,
and Samuel among those
who called on his name;
they called to the LORD,
and he answered them.
99:6 All three of these men acted as priests, though only Aaron was high priest in Israel (Lev 8:13-30; 1 Sam 9:13). All three worshiped and exalted God in the way the writer of this psalm exhorts men to do, and all three called on God and received answers to their prayers (Ex 17:4-7; 32:11-30; Num 11:2; 14:11-20; 21:7; Deut 5:5; 9:18-19; 1 Sam 7:9; 12:23; Ps 106:23).⚜
7 📚He spoke to them
in the cloudy pillar 📖.
They kept his testimonies,
and the ordinance that
he gave them.
8 📚You answered them,
O LORD our God.
You were a God who forgave
them,
though you took vengeance
on their misdeeds.
9 📚Exalt the LORD our God and
worship at his holy hill,
for the LORD our God is holy.
99:8-9 See Ps 78:38; Num 14:20. In these verses not only the three mentioned in the preceding verses but the people of Israel are in view. Observe that though God forgave them He also punished them. In other words, chastisement is consistent with forgiveness. God fights against sin no matter where it is found (Ex 32:28; Num 20:12; 2 Sam 12:13-14; see Ps 90:7-12). He is absolutely holy (Ex 15:11; Lev 20:7; Isa 6:3), and we should praise and glorify Him because He is that way.⚜