1 Yahweh reigns! Let the peoples tremble. He sits enthroned among the cherubim. Let the earth be moved. 2 Yahweh is great in Zion. He is high above all the peoples. 3 Let them praise your great and awesome name. He is Holy! 4 The King's strength also loves justice. You do establish equity. You execute justice and righteousness in Jacob. 5 Exalt Yahweh our God. Worship at his footstool. He is Holy! 6 Moses and Aaron were among his priests, Samuel among those who call on his name; they called on Yahweh, and he answered them. 7 He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud. They kept his testimonies, the statute that he gave them. 8 You answered them, Yahweh our God. You are a God who forgave them, although you took vengeance for their doings. 9 Exalt Yahweh, our God. Worship at his holy hill, for Yahweh, our God, is holy! A Psalm of thanksgiving.
This psalm is closely linked in its general character and design with those which have gone before Ps. 95-98, and with the one following Psalm 100:1-5 - forming a connected group or series. The general subject is the kingship of Yahweh, or the foundations of praise derived from the fact that he reigns, or is king. As the foundation of praise on this account, reference is made in this group of psalms to his attributes; to what he has done in the works of creation; to what he has done for his people; and to the certainty that he will come ultimately to rule over all the earth, and to exercise just judgment among people.
This psalm consists of the following parts:
I. A statement of the fact that Yahweh reigns, and that this should make a deep impression on the world; that the people should tremble; that the earth should be moved, Psalm 99:1.
II. Reasons for this, or reasons why he should be reverenced and adored by mankind, Psalm 99:2-9. These reasons are two:
(1) The first is derived from the fact that he is a holy and a righteous God, and is therefore worthy of universal adoration, Psalm 99:2-5.
(2) The second is derived from what he has done for his people: for his merciful interposition in times of trouble, when Moses, and Aaron, and Samuel called upon his name; and from the fact that he answered his people when they cried unto him; and from the manner in which it was done, Psalm 99:6-9. He had shown himself ready to hear their protection in the cloudy pillar, he had answered their supplications, and had forgiven them. He had not swept them wholly away, or cut them off, but had spared them, and had shown mercy to them.
The empire of God in the world and the Church, Psalm 99:1, Psalm 99:2. He ought to be praised, Psalm 99:3. Justice and judgment are his chief glory, Psalm 99:4. He should be worshipped as among the saints of old, whom he graciously answered and saved, Psalm 99:5-8. Exalt him because he is holy, Psalm 99:9.
The Hebrew and Chaldee have no title; all the versions but the Chaldee attribute it to David. The Syriac says it concerns "the slaughter of the Midianites which Moses and the children of Israel had taken captive; and is a prophecy concerning the glory of the kingdom of Christ." But the mention of Samuel shows that it cannot be referred to the time of Moses. Calmet thinks that it was sung at the dedication of the city, or of the second temple, after the return from the Babylonish captivity. Eight of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS. join it to the preceding psalm.
INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 99
This psalm, with the foregoing from Psalm 90:1 is ascribed to Moses by Jarchi and others; but cannot be his, since mention is made of Samuel in it, who lived many years after him. The Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions, more rightly attribute it to David; the inscription of the Syriac version, after saying it is David's, subjoins,
"concerning the destruction of the Midianites, whom Moses and the people of Israel led captive;''
of which there is not the least mention in it; but it more truly adds,
"and a prophecy concerning the glory of the kingdom of the Messiah;''
as it undoubtedly is.
(Psalm 99:1-5) The happy government God's people are under.
(Psalm 99:6-9) Its happy administration.
Song of Praise in Honour of the Thrice Holy One
This is the third of the Psalm (Psalm 93:1-5, Psalm 97:1-12, Psalm 99:1-9) which begin with the watchword מלך ה. It falls into three parts, of which the first (Psalm 99:1-3) closes with קדושׁ הוּא, the second (Psalm 99:4, Psalm 99:5) with קדושׁ הוּא, and the third, more full-toned, with אלחנוּ קדושׁ ה - an earthly echo of the trisagion of the seraphim. The first two Sanctuses are two hexastichs; and two hexastichs form the third, according to the very same law by which the third and the sixth days of creation each consists of two creative works. This artistic form bears witness against Olshausen in favour of the integrity of the text; but the clare-obscure of the language and expression makes no small demands upon the reader.
Bengel has seen deepest into the internal character of this Psalm. He says, "The 99th Psalm has three parts, in which the Lord is celebrated as He who is to come, as He who is, and as He who was, and each part is closed with the ascription of praise: He is holy." The Psalm is laid out accordingly by Oettinger, Burk, and C. H. Rieger.
*More commentary available by clicking individual verses.