Ps. 97.2b (foundations)

Righteousness and justice / are the foundations of his throne. 

In other psalms the earth is described as being established in (or, by) ‘righteousness and justice’. The world itself ‘exhibits’, ‘displays’ or ‘enacts’ these qualities. This is what both begins the world and what maintains it. It is the ‘right order’ of the world; what Genesis would call the ‘separation’ of different spheres of reality and their maintenance in those different spheres (earth/sky; water/land, etc..). In a sense, ‘at its root’ the world is not simply quantifiable, but a qualitative reality (or, we might say, the ‘qualitative’ display is perceived in the quantifiable; regardless, reality is perceived as exhibiting a moral component). Here, this ‘moral’/qualitative reality is what serves as the foundation of Yhwh’s throne. His rule, his reign, ‘at its roots’ is ‘righteousness and justice’. His very throne, the seat of his power, is, like the world, ‘founded’ upon these qualitative aspects. The ‘enactment of his reign’, like the ‘enactment of creation’, is ‘righteousness and justice’. They inhere in his every act; they are the ‘soil’ from which his acts grow. 

Finally, to carry forward the previous reflection, we should note that Yhwh is never described. We began in him ‘surrounded in darkness and cloud’. We now move ‘below’ to the throne. Next we will see fire “before him”. But, never him. What, so to speak, radiates from him, truly reveals him, but he is never fully revealed. At least, not yet.