Ps. 71.19 (the first commandment)

 Your righteousness / O God / is heaven high
the great things / you have done
O God / who is like you? 

The psalmist now stands not in comprehension so much as in awe of God’s redemptive power (his righteousness and ‘great things’). In a very real sense they are utterly astounding to him. They cross the boundaries of his language and his imagination. They fill the expanse not only of earth, but are ‘heaven high’. Their glory reaches into the realm of the divine, indeed up to its very top. This is language faltering. It is crucial at this point to see that it in this context that God’s ‘uniqueness’ emerges—it is in this context that this ‘first commandment’ is now portrayed liturgically…in the context of awe at God’s astonishing redemptive power. The historical power of God for his people is what reveals to them his utter uniqueness, apart from every other god and power. This verse reads in a very similar manner to verse 16: “I would come with an account of your mighty deeds O Lord Yhwh, I would commemorate your righteousness, yours alone.” There as here—God’s ‘mighty deeds’ is paired with his righteousness which is perceived to be entirely without comparison (“yours alone”). God’s uniqueness (the ‘first commandment’) is revealed precisely in the overpowering and surpassing intensity of his concern for his people. The greater the act of deliverance, the more unique he is perceived to be (“…for God so loved the world…”; “…before the foundation of the world…”).