Ps. 89.12 (creation and conversion)

You have created / the North and the South
Tabor and Herman / sing for joy / in your name. 

The content of Yhwh’s creative governance is deepened in these verses. The previous verses alluded to Yhwh owning “heaven and earth” and establishing “the earth and its fullness”. These are acts of ‘kingly or sovereign governance.’ Now, however, the psalm moves into the ‘act of creation’, except here what is created is the expanse of creation (‘north and south’). It is a vision of total creation; I don’t’ think it is meant to exclude ‘east and west’. It is, in other words, a re-casting of the image of ‘the earth and its fullness’ but through the lens of space or geography. From this vantage the psalm then turns to Tabor and Hermon. It appears commentators have had a hard time figuring out exactly what this line refers to. My reflection leads me to think that from the totalizing creation of ‘space’ the psalmist now shifts to the totalizing force of liturgy. In other words, this verse works somewhat like a chiasmus, as follows: A) You have created B) North and the South; B1) Tabor and Hermon, A1) sing for joy in your name. If this is correct Tabor and Hermon are a type of “North and South” with creation being a type of ‘liturgy in the name’. 

An additional support for this is the fact that both Tabor and Hermon likely operated as liturgical centers in Israel, and before. As such, they represent the totality of liturgical praise to Yhwh (not the ‘expanse’ of Yhwh’s governance, but the liturgical totality of Yhwh’s glory). They are the ‘earthly’ counterpoint to the ‘heavenly ones’. Just as Yhwh’s faithfulness has been ‘fixed’ (and built) in the heavens, so too now are Tabor and Herman “founded” by Yhwh and, consequently, turn to him in praise. This also explains the fact that Zion is not mentioned, nor Jerusalem. We must recall, the holy ones are the retinue around Yhwh and his throne. On earth, David and Zion/Jerusalem would represent that center. Tabor and Herman would then be the ‘congregating centers’ around the ‘one center’ of David and Jerusalem. The psalm then works a subtle de-emphasis of these liturgical centers, subordinating them to David/Jerusalem just as the ‘holy ones’ are subordinated to Yhwh and his throne. (Incidentally, it is possible that Tabor was once a major Canaanite liturgical center. If so, by subordinating Tabor to Jerusalem, the psalm is ‘subordinating’ it to Yhwh’s reign but doing so by envisioning it in praise to Yhwh, much like, perhaps, many of the ‘holy ones’ would now do.).