Ps. 99.5 (entering exaltation)

Exalt Yhwh / our God
bow down / at his footstool
holy is he. 

In this verse we come to the expression that, in a sense, expresses the dynamic between Israel-and-the-people we have been reflecting. We recall that dynamic being that Israel cannot be understood as merely a ‘nation among the nations’ but, rather, more like Adam, the ‘firstborn son’ of Yhwh. Just as Yhwh is not merely a ‘god among gods’, so Israel, when it is covenanted to this god, is no longer a ‘nation among nations’. In other words, Israel is humanity, and Israel is the place from which Yhwh will re-Adamize the peoples ‘in his image’, and re-Zionize (Edenize) the creation. In a very profound sense, you can’t ‘see’ Israel unless you ‘see’ Yhwh, and the more you come to see Yhwh, the more you come to see Israel. And, this is what is found in our verse today—the covenant between Yhwh and his people. That bond that lifts them into his sphere and what, so to speak, is the ladder by which he comes to dwell among them; the covenant is, in other words, the entire dynamic of Sinai—the going up to be with Yhwh and Yhwh’s descending in flame and smoke to dwell with them. The more one comes to ‘see’ that event, in all its holy terror and glory, the more one comes to perceive the covenant itself. 

“You will be my people, and I will be your God”. This is the ‘creed’ of the covenant. And it is why it appears here, after fully establishing the fact that Yhwh is Lord of all, and exalted far above all people, that he is now referred to as “Yhwh our God.” Yhwh has already been understood as intimately associated with this place (Zion) and this people (‘in Jacob’). But now the full ‘glory’ of that localization is revealed: Yhwh has become “kin” to Israel; he has covenanted (seven’ed) himself to Israel like a husband to a wife, or a father to a son. From this point forward in the psalm Yhwh will relate to Israel not only through Zion or through instruction but through his chosen humans (his priests and prophets): Moses, Aaron and Samuel (notably, David seems to be missing…). Yhwh’s “Name” will now not simply direct Israel, but will, in fact, be responsive to them. This is the full ‘opening of communication’ of the covenant. It is not simply that Israel is Yhwh’s people, but Yhwh is Israel’s god. Now he can be called upon.  

We might say it this way: Yhwh, entirely on his own, elects Israel, but when he does so the ‘monologue’ of Yhwh now becomes the ‘dialogue’ between them as he, truly, lifts them up into his realm. Lastly, we see this ‘opening of the covenant’ in the ‘exaltation’. Previously, Yhwh was described as ‘exalted over all the peoples’ (vs. 2). Now, Israel is called upon to enter into this ‘exaltation’ and perform it—“Exalt Yhwh our God…”. 

This is a profoundly significant point and we may describe it this way—that before the covenant the ‘exaltation’ that was inherent to Yhwh was one that evoked the ‘holy dread’ of verse 1. It was, in a sense, something entirely objective. However, with the covenant, that whole realm is now open to Israel. She now enters it. And, in so doing, she no longer merely passively observes it but actively engages in it. It is as if she now was able to take part in the heavenly liturgy. “The people” “tremble” at Yhwh (vs. 1); in Israel (where exaltation is now open), they “bow down” (vs. 5). Yhwh’s covenant people still display the proper reverence and ‘holy fear’ but their obeisance is liturgical. Of course this, in many ways, is precisely what Moses delivers to Israel in Torah, with its very central focus on the proper liturgy to Yhwh. It is just as heavenly a revelation as is the Temple construction.

Ps. 99.4 (building jacob)

You have established equity
deeds of justice / and acts of righteousness / in Jacob
you have done. 

What Yhwh ‘loves’, he has ‘established in Jacob’. It is important to note this ‘locating’ of Yhwh. It has occurred before when Yhwh is described as “in Zion” (vs. 2). Here, his equity is established “in Jacob”. The imagery of building—of establishment—is important. Yhwh’s “deeds of justice and acts of righteousness” are his acts of Yhwh-the-builder/shaper. As we said previously, this is, so to speak, Yhwh’s ‘internal life’ being built-into-Jacob.   What we see then, is this—Zion (the Temple) is Yhwh’s building, built for him; Jacob is the building, built by Yhwh in ‘equity’. The one, housing his glory, the other, housing his ‘equity’. What is key in this is that Yhwh’s equity is an act of separation; it declares innocent and guilty; it blesses and it ‘curses’. In some way this is the dynamic of creation itself, when Yhwh ‘separates’ the differing elements to create the stage of creation. That is what ‘equity’ does in the service of creating justice. This dynamic, established in Jacob, is given voice later in the psalm, when it says: “you were a forgiving god to them, though punishing their wrongdoing” (vs. 8). Absolutely crucial to this is the fact that this equity, in the midst of the fact that it enacts punishment, is a thing to be treasured. As in Genesis, “it is good”. It is creative; it is life-giving. This ‘equity’, this ‘justice’ is what “all the peoples” come to see as established by Yhwh in Zion and what, therefore, they praise Yhwh for. (vs. 3). It ‘radiates’, it ‘shines’, it is compelling, it is an object of beauty. It is understood to be that which ‘establishes’ life. This is the ‘beauty’ of Yhwh’s, so to speak, ‘internal life’, as expressed externally by his radiant glory, housed in the Temple..

Ps. 99.3 (Zion-izing the peoples)

Let them / praise your name / O great and Awesome One
Holy is it
and the might of the king / who loves justice. 

From Yhwh-in-Zion who is ‘exalted over all peoples’, the psalmist now turns his attention to these people directing (asking) them to praise Yhwh. This movement is important—Yhwh as ‘exalted over all people’ leads to an absolute unification of all people in praise to him. Importantly, though, what is implied is that this praise will be one focused on Zion, because that is ‘where Yhwh is’. It is, at this point, that I think it deserves pointing out that the Name, Yhwh, is mentioned precisely seven times in the psalm. Standing alone, this may indicate simply the perfect number or expression of Yhwh. However, there may be more going on here when we think of Genesis (with the ‘seven-fold’ Temple-Creation); Exodus (with the seven-fold commands of Moses to construct the tabernacle); and Chronicles (when the Temple is dedicated in the ‘seven of seven’ in time). What these point to is that the inhabiting of the Name within a dwelling/Temple (or Zion) is intimately associated with the number seven. ‘All the peoples’ “praise of the Name (that is expressed seven times and, here, is ‘in Zion’)”, then, is a Zion-praise. To draw this in our previous reflections on the nature of Israel—what we see here is the ‘Zion-izing’ of “all the peoples”. They are being brought within the realm of Israel, as Israel had been brought within the realm of Yhwh. The fact that this psalm, in particular, falls at the conclusion of the ‘King’ psalms 96-99 is, also, not coincidental. 

A shift. The concluding line of the psalm shifts perspective (or, perhaps better, ‘deepens it’). Up to this point Yhwh has been portrayed as inhabiting, or exhibiting, the awesome force of the divine realm; the ‘terror of the holy’. Here, however, we move into the realm of ‘goodness’, of Yhwh’s “will for justice” and his love of it. It seems, in other words, that we are being provided a glimpse of the, so to speak, ‘subjectivity’ of Yhwh, of his ‘inner life’. And the first glimpse is of him as the ‘good king’, the ‘king who loves justice’. The psalm, will, from this point forward, largely ‘flesh out’ this inner life and how he instantiates it in Israel (and, hence, in ‘all the peoples’).

Ps. 99.2 (Yhwh in Zion)

Yhwh / in Zion / is the Great One
and exalted / over all peoples. 

This verse exhibits much of the dynamic we spoke about in the previous reflection—of Israel not being merely a nation-among-the-nations because her covenant-God is not merely a god-among-the-gods. Here, the Yhwh who “reigns” and before whom all of humanity (all of Adam) and all of creation quake, the “Great One” is in Zion. This does not in any way lessen or diminish the fact that he is “exalted over all peoples”. Contained within this contrast is the astonishment of David when Yhwh first declared that he would reside in a Temple, that overwhelming graciousness of Yhwh, whom even the heavens can’t contain, decides (elects) to ‘dwell in Zion’. In some mysterious fashion this exhibits the wonder of the Philippian hymn, when it describes Christ’s “becoming flesh”. Here, Zion represents Yhwh ‘emptying himself’ in such a way as to dwell in the Temple. This may, however, obscure something important—there is no sense of a ‘loss’ on Yhwh’s part in this psalm. The “Cherubim-Enthroned-One” rules with just the same overwhelming authority. Now, he does it in Zion. It is this fact that begins the transformation of Zion and Israel—to the extent that Yhwh ‘comes down’ to them are they ‘raised up’ into his realm. Zion is no longer merely a city-among-cities, a mountain-among-mountains, a temple-among-temples—while it may exhibit similarities with other cities/mountains/temples, there is a profound and deep discontinuity to Zion that limns the same discontinuity of Yhwh and the other ‘gods’. In other words, Zion will be the mountain ‘exalted above all mountains’ just as, here, Yhwh is “exalted over all peoples”. This is the explosive and transformational power of Yhwh’s Presence and Name. As the psalm progresses, Yhwh will be seen to more and more ‘indwell’ Israel. Here, it is in Zion. Later it will be through ‘equity and justice in Jacob’, the arc of the covenant (his footstool), then in his priesthood (Moses and Aaron), and his prophets (?) Samuel. As Yhwh will ‘expand’ into Israel (in blessing and judgment), Israel will ‘expand’ into Yhwh’s reign and rule. 

Ps. 99.1 (holy terror and discontinuity)

Yhwh reigns / let the people tremble
before the Cherubim-Enthroned-One / let the earth quake. 

It is tempting to say that this psalm exhibits a tension between Israel and the nations. One could, in fact, divine the psalm along those lines with the first section, verses 1-5, focusing on the fact that Yhwh is the king of all the nations while the second section, verses 6-9, focuses on Yhwh as the ‘god of Israel. As tempting as that may be, however, I think it obscures a fundamental point and, in fact, potentially distorts the psalm. In other words, I think there is a very strong continuity between the sections and not a discontinuity. The source of the continuity is, ultimately, in what we have remarke on in the previous reflections: that it is highly misleading to think of Israel as simply a ‘nation among the nations’. Rather, Yhwh’s election of her brought her into his realm of absolute mastery (the realm from which he is the Creator King). As such, her election ‘Adam-izes’ her—making of her the real (redeemed) humanity. She is the beginning of all people’s redemption, of all the people’s ‘Adam-izing’. For this reason, there cannot be a strict separation, or absolute barrier, between her and the ‘nations’. This is the source of the ‘continuity’ between Israel and “all the people”. Israel’s election is not ‘a’ beginning; it is ‘the’ beginning of Yhwh’s redeeming kingship over all people. 

This is crucial to grasp as we begin to contemplate the opening section of this psalm. With it in mind, what we see in the opening verses is not Yhwh’s absolute authority over creation that will then, jarringly, be met by Israel’s particularity. Rather, what we see is a focus on the absolute sphere into which Israel is then elected into. In other words, this is the ‘realm’ into which Israel will expand. She will, as Yhwh’s people, be stretched to the boundaries of his authority (just as Adam and Eve were the single ‘image of god’). This is her mission—this ever-expanding movement into Yhwh’s authority. So, the more deeply she plumbs her election, and looks at the face of the one who has elected her, the more she, in turn, turns out toward the nations (as her neighbor/brother); the more she sees herself as “the beginning” (rather than ‘a’ beginning).   

Here, what we see is that this ‘realm’ is terrifying, and is only to be entered in fear: ‘let the people tremble’. In fact, it is of such a tremendous, that the entire earth “quakes”. What we see is that the ‘human’ and the ‘creation’ react to Yhwh in the same fashion—in a type of holy terror and wonder before him that overwhelms, overpowers and, with immediacy, consumes them. The ‘expansion’ of Israel into Yhwh’s sphere of authority will always entail, at every moment, the holly terror of this opening verse. If there is a ‘discontinuity’ in this psalm is not between Israel and the nations but between Israel (and the earth) and her God.