Bible Commentaries
Psalms 99

Verses 1-9

This Ps. is like the preceding ones in the prominence it gives to God’s Kingship, and no doubt belongs to the same period with them. God’s holiness, too, is emphasised in the refrain of Psalms 99:3, Psalms 99:5, Psalms 99:9. The Ps. begins with a call to worship God with the awe and reverence which are due to Him (Psalms 99:1-3). His righteous rule in Israel is a reason for repeating the summons (Psalms 99:4-5). The history of His dealings with His people from the days of Moses and Aaron to the time of Samuel is summed up (Psalms 99:6-8). Psalms 99:9 is almost a repetition of Psalms 99:5, and implies that the Temple has been restored.

1. People] RV ’peoples.’ So in Psalms 99:2.

Between the cherubims] RV ’upon the cherubim’: see on Psalms 80:1.

2. Zion] The Temple at Jerusalem is God’s dwelling and the seat of His rule.

3. For it is holy] RV ’holy is he.’

4. The king] God: see Psalms 80:1.

5. His footstool] The ark is so called in 1 Chronicles 28:2, but if this Ps. was written after the exile the ark cannot be directly referred to here. The language may be a survival of an earlier usage.

For he is holy] RV ’holy is he,’ as in Psalms 99:3.

6-8. These vv. may be taken as an illustration from the past of the principle on which God still deals with His people, or they may be translated by present tenses, as referring to the intercessors in Israel whose prayers God has answered in the deliverance from captivity, and who are figuratively called ’A Moses.. a Samuel.’

8. Both in the past and in the Psalmist’s time God has shown at once His hatred of sin and His forgiving love to His people. Inventions] RV ’doings.’