Psalm 99

Psa 99:1

HISTORICAL SETTING: Like the others in this group, the awe-inspiring theophany in Hezekiah's reign, a manifestation which destroyed Sennacherib's army and saved Jerusalem.

THE LORD REIGNS: Psa 93:1; 97:1. Despite the boastful blasphemy of Rabshakeh, Yahweh (and not Sennacherib) is the great King.

LET THE NATIONS TREMBLE: Not only Assyrians, but "sinners in Zion" were afraid of the majesty of the Lord (Isa 33:14).

(NT) How many prophecies of the kingdom have terrifying pictures of earthquakes (Isa 2:10,19; Zec 14:4; Rev 6:12; 11:19; 16:18)!

HE SITS ENTHRONED BETWEEN THE CHERUBIM: "He sitteth above (not 'between') the cherubim" (AV) (Psa 80:1; cp Exo 25:21,22; Lev 16:2; 2Ch 7:1,2; Isa 37:16), as described in Eze 1:26-28; the ark of the covenant was his footstool (v 5). "He sits enthroned upon the cherubim" (RSV).

LET THE EARTH SHAKE: "The Lord of all the earth" is a title of God esp connected with the Cherubim (see on Psa 97:5). Evidently the great deliverance was also associated with earthquake (Psa 18:7,10; 97:4; Isa 6:4).

Psa 99:2

The sight of the Shekinah Glory is particularly associated with this period (as with the time of Moses and Aaron): Isa 6:2; 30:30-33; 37:36; 38:8.

Psa 99:3

See Isa 31:8,9. "Terrible" (AV for "awesome") is certainly the right word!

Psa 99:4

"Strength... establish" are specific allusions, again, to Boaz and Jachin -- the twin pillars of the Temple (1Ki 7:21).

Psa 99:5

HIS FOOTSTOOL: The Ark of the Covenant, and the Temple -- where the Almighty resides (Psa 132:7; Lam 2:1; 1Ch 28:2; Isa 60:13; 66:1).

HE IS HOLY: "And the four beasts... rest not day and night, saying, 'Holy, holy, holy (3 times!: cp Psa 99:3,5,9 here), Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come' " (Rev 4:8).

Psa 99:6

MOSES AND AARON... SAMUEL: Moses and Aaron were prophet and priest. Samuel was both. All these offered sacrifice, made a covenant, interceded (Samuel means 'God hears him': see v 6), and had experience of the cloudy pillar. And all three knew both the vengeance and the forgiveness of God.

Moses and Samuel are mentioned together again in Jer 15:1, as outstanding examples of intercessors on behalf of Israel; thus, in a slightly more general sense than Aaron, they were both his priests also. This ref to Samuel is appropriate enough, for through his intercession there was more than once a "theophany" and a deliverance of Israel: 1Sa 7:8-10 (and note how v 14 had its counterpart in Hezekiah's time); 1Sa 8:7; 12:12 ('the Lord reigneth'), 1Sa 8:19,23 (Samuel's intercession; cp Hezekiah's in Isa 37:15-20).

In speaking of these three men together and in this way, the psalmist is demonstrating, almost incidentally, that he believed in the God of the living and not the dead, and that there WILL be a resurrection (cp Mat 22:32; Mar 12:27; Luk 20:38)!

Psa 99:7

HE SPOKE TO THEM FROM THE PILLAR OF CLOUD: Exo 13:21; Num 12:5; 14:14; Deu 31:15. Cp also the description of Christ's coming, "in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory" (Mat 24:30; see Psa 97:2n). This will be God's ultimate, and climactic, "speaking" with men!

Psa 99:8

Vengeance and forgiveness were the double experience of Hezekiah's reign. Vengeance: Isa 8:7; 10:5,6. Forgiveness -- shown by the dramatic deliverance. The Name of Yahweh comprehends both awesome judgment and infinite mercy (Exo 34:6,7).

A FORGIVING GOD: (NT) Only poss when God's people repent: and it will be such a repentance that brings the 2nd Coming (see refs, Psa 81:13,14).

THOUGH YOU PUNISHED THEIR MISDEEDS: (1) of Moses and Aaron's days: the golden calf; (2) of Samuel's day: the ark being superstitiously carried into battle. And -- of Christ's day -- the various "traditions of men" that nullified the gospel message he preached.