Ps. 96.12 (the arrival)

He will judge the world / with righteousness
and its peoples / with his faithfulness. 

One thing I neglected to draw attention to in the previous reflection was how the ‘catholic’ (universal) impulse is on display. The verses emphasize, over and over again, that what is involved in this exuberant praise to Yhwh is not a portion “of heaven and earth”. Rather, “the sea and all within it” and “the fields and everything in them” and “all the trees of the forest.” Of this is summarized in the opening verse: “let the heavens rejoice and the earth…”. The entirety of the created order, without remainder and without qualification, has joined into praise of Yhwh. In other words, just as the all “the families of the peoples/‘nations’” have been rid of their idols and now acknowledge Yhwh, so too does all of creation now enter into this sphere of Yhwh’s reign. In heaven, Yhwh is the ‘high king’ over all the gods; however, ‘on earth’, that reign is not complete unless and until that same “all” is established in both the human and created realm (…and every knee shall bow…). In these verses, we begin to see this “all” of the earth entering into Yhwh’s reign. Which leads to today’s concluding verse of the psalm. Here, Yhwh is ‘exposed on earth’. Within the psalm, he has been portrayed ‘in heaven’; however, on earth he has only been the ‘one who is coming’. Now, he has arrived (although it is something he ‘will’ do). The reign has begun. And what we find is Yhwh himself, as king, “establishing equity” through righteousness and his faithfulness. In other words, the world has become saturated with his dominion and judgment. This is, now, heaven established on earth.