Ps. 47.2 (Yhwh, Most High)

“For / Yhwh Most High / is to be feared – a Great King / over the whole earth.” We find in this verse an intricate confirmation of our previous reflection, beginning with God’s designation as ‘Yhwh, Most High’. This name combines within itself both Israel’s special election and the giving of the Divine Name (“Yhwh”) as well as one of the name’s most commonly associated with God outside of Israel, ‘Most High’ (Elyon). This extra-Israel designation is the one Melchizadek serves as priest-king, and to whom Abraham engages when they meet. Importantly, Elyon is the name given to God when he is set within an international context within the OT. This serves a very significant point: it is through the combining of these two terms that God’s kingship comes most fully into focus. This is Yhwh, but Yhwh is not a localized or tribal deity; he is also Elyon. The following verse furthers this by alluding to him as a “Great King” over the whole earth. The term “Great King” was often employed as the opening words of a covenant. Hence, the representatives of the nations (the “princely ones of the people”, vs. 9) gathered together with Israel represent, in their corporate gathering, the name “Yhwh, Most High” and the fact that they are, now, in covenant together, both with each other and beneath the “Great King”. This is a first realization of the “kingdom of God”—the opening phrase “all you peoples” should be read in the same absolute sense as, here, God’s kingship “over the whole earth”. This is the beginning of a great “in-gathering” whereby the families (the “peoples”) that have been separated (as the genealogies of Genesis show) are now being brought back together (through ties of kinship expressed by way of covenant) underneath their God—Yhwh, Most High.