1 Jehovah is King--the peoples tremble;
Throned [on] the cherubim--the earth totters.
2 Jehovah in Zion is great,
And exalted above all the peoples.
3 Let them praise Thy great and dread name,
Holy is He.
4 And the strength of the King loves judgment,
Thou, Thou hast established equity,
Judgment and righteousness in Jacob hast Thou wrought.
5 Exalt Jehovah our God,
And prostrate yourselves at His footstool,
Holy is He.
6 Moses and Aaron among His priests,
And Samuel among them that call [on] His name;
They called on Jehovah, and He, He answered them.
7 In a pillar of cloud He spoke to them,
They kept His testimonies,
And the statute [which] He gave them.
8 Jehovah our God! Thou, Thou didst answer them,
A forgiving God wast Thou unto them,
And executing retribution for their deeds.
9 Exalt Jehovah our God,
And prostrate yourselves at His holy mountain,
For holy is Jehovah our God.
Delitzsch has well called this psalm "an earthly echo of the
seraphic Trisagion," the threefold proclamation of the Divine
holiness, which Isaiah heard (Isa. vi. 3). It is, as already noted, a
pendant to Psalm xcviii., but is distinguished from the other psalms
of this group by its greater originality, the absence of distinct
allusion to the great act of deliverance celebrated in them, and its
absorption in the one thought of the Divine holiness. Their theme
is the event by which Jehovah manifested to the world His sovereign
rule; this psalm passes beyond the event, and grasps the eternal
central principle of that rule--namely, holiness. The same thought
has been touched on in the other members of the group, but here it
is the single subject of praise. Its exhibition in God's dealings
with Israel is here traced in ancient examples, rather than in recent
instances; but the view-point of the other psalms is retained, in so
far as the Divine dealings with Israel are regarded as the occasion
for the world's praise.
The first strophe (vv. 1-3) dwells in general terms on Jehovah's
holiness, by which august conception is meant, not only moral purity,
but separation from, by elevation above, the finite and imperfect. Ver.
1 vividly paints in each clause the glory reigning in heaven, and its
effect on an awestruck world. We might render the verbs in the second
part of each clause as futures or as optatives (_shall tremble, shall
totter_, or _Let peoples tremble_, etc.), but the thought is more
animated if they are taken as describing the result of the theophany.
The participial clause "throned on the cherubim" adds detail to the
picture of Jehovah as King. It should not, strictly speaking, be
rendered with a finite verb. When that vision of Him sitting in royal
state is unveiled, all people are touched with reverence, and the solid
earth staggers. But the glory which is made visible to all men has its
earthly seat in Zion, and shines from thence into all lands. It is by
His deeds in Israel that God's exaltation is made known. The psalmist
does not call on men to bow before a veiled Majesty, of which they
only know that it is free from all creatural limitations, lowliness
and imperfections; but before a God, who has revealed Himself in acts,
and has thereby made Himself a name. "Great and dread" is that name,
but it is a sign of His loving-kindness that it is known by men, and
thanksgiving, not dumb trembling, befits men who know it. The refrain
might be rendered "It is holy," referring to the name, but vv. 5
and 9 make the rendering _Holy is He_ more probable. The meaning is
unaffected whichever translation is adopted.
Jehovah is holy, not only because lifted above and separated from
creatural limitations, but because of His righteousness. The second
strophe therefore proclaims that all His dominion is based on
uprightness, and is a continual passing of that into acts of "judgment
and righteousness." The "And" at the beginning of ver. 4, following the
refrain, is singular, and has led many commentators to link the words
with ver. 3_a_, and, taking the refrain as parenthetical, to render,
"Let them give thanks to Thy great and dread name, [for it is holy],
and [to] the strength of the King [who] loveth," etc. But the presence
of the refrain is an insuperable bar to this rendering. Others, as
Delitzsch and Cheyne, regard "the strength of the king" as dependent
on "established" in ver. 4_b_, and suppose that the theocratic monarch
of Israel is represented as under Jehovah's protection, if he reigns
righteously. But surely one King only is spoken of in this psalm,
and it is the inmost principle and outward acts of His rule which
are stated as the psalmist's reason for summoning men to prostrate
themselves at His footstool. The "And" at the beginning of the strophe
links its whole thought with that of the preceding, and declares
eloquently how closely knit together are Jehovah's exaltation and His
righteousness. The singer is in haste to assert the essentially moral
character of infinite power. Delitzsch thinks that love cannot be
predicated of "strength," but only of the possessor of strength; but
surely that is applying the measuring line of prosaic accuracy to lyric
fervour. The intertwining of Divine power and righteousness could not
be more strongly asserted than by that very intelligible attribution to
His power of the emotion of love, impelling it ever to seek union with
uprightness. He is no arbitrary ruler. His reign is for the furtherance
of justice. Its basis is "equity," and its separate acts are "judgment
and righteousness." These have been done in and for Jacob. Therefore
the call to worship rings out again. It is addressed to an undefined
multitude, which, as the tone of all this group of psalms leads us to
suppose, includes the whole race of man. They are summoned to lift high
the praise of Him who in Himself is so high, and to cast themselves low
in prostrate adoration at His footstool--_i.e._, at His sanctuary on
Zion (ver. 9). Thus again, in the centre strophe of this psalm, as in
Psalms xcvi. and xcviii., mankind are called to praise the God who has
revealed Himself in Israel; but while in the former of these two psalms
worship was represented as sacrificial, and in the second as loud music
of voice and instrument, here silent prostration is the fitting praise
of the holiness of the infinitely exalted Jehovah.
The third strophe turns to examples drawn from the great ones of
old, which at once encourage to worship and teach the true nature of
worship, while they also set in clear light Jehovah's holiness in
dealing with His worshippers. Priestly functions were exercised by
Moses, as in sprinkling the blood of the covenant (Exod. xxiv.), and
in the ceremonial connected with the consecration of Aaron and his
sons (Lev. viii.), as well as at the first celebration of worship in
the Tabernacle (Exod. xl. 18 _sqq._). In the wider sense of the word
_priest_, he acted as mediator and intercessor, as in Exod. xvii. 12,
in the fight against Amalek, and xxxii. 30-32, after the worship of the
golden calf. Samuel, too, interceded for Israel after their seeking a
king (1 Sam. xii. 19 _sqq._), and offered sacrifices (1 Sam. vii. 9).
Jeremiah couples them together as intercessors with God (xv. 1).
From these venerable examples the psalmist draws instruction as
to the nature of the worship befitting the holiness of Jehovah.
He goes deeper than all sacrifices, or than silent awe. To call
on God is the best adoration. The cry of a soul, conscious of
emptiness and need, and convinced of His fulness and of the love
which is the soul of His power, is never in vain. "They called, and
He"--even He in all the unreachable separation of His loftiness from
their lowliness--"answered them." There is a commerce of desire
and bestowal between the holy Jehovah and us. But these answers
come on certain conditions, which are plain consequences of His
holiness--namely, that His worshippers should keep His testimonies,
by which He has witnessed both to His own character and to their
duty. The psalmist seems to lose sight of his special examples, and
to extend his view to the whole people, when he speaks of answers
from the pillar of cloud, which cannot apply to Samuel's experience.
The persons spoken of in ver. 8 as receiving answers may indeed be
Moses, Aaron, and Samuel, all of whom were punished for evil deeds,
as well as answered when they cried; but more probably they are the
whole community. The great principle, firmly grasped and clearly
proclaimed by the singer, is that a holy God is a forgiving God,
willing to hearken to men's cry, and rich to answer with needed
gifts, and that indissolubly interwoven with the pardon, which He
in His holiness gives, is retribution for evil. God loves too well
to grant impunity. Forgiveness is something far better than escape
from penalties. It cannot be worthy of God to bestow or salutary
for men to receive, unless it is accompanied with such retribution
as may show the pardoned man how deadly his sin was. "Whatsoever
a man soweth that shall he also reap" is a law not abrogated by
forgiveness. The worst penalty of sin, indeed--namely, separation
from God--is wholly turned aside by repentance and forgiveness; but
for the most part the penalties which are inflicted on earth, and
which are the natural results of sin, whether in character, memory,
habit, or circumstances, are not removed by pardon. Their character
is changed; they become loving chastisement for our profit.
Such, then, is the worship which all men are invited to render to
the holy Jehovah. Prostrate awe should pass into the cry of need,
desire, and aspiration. It will be heard, if it is verified as real
by obedience to God's known will. The answers will be fresh witnesses
of God's holiness, which declares itself equally in forgiveness and
in retribution. Therefore, once more the clear summons to all mankind
rings out, and once more the proclamation of His holiness is made.
There is joyful confidence of access to the Inaccessible in the
reiteration in ver. 9 of _Jehovah our God_. "Holy is He," sang the
psalmist at first, but all the gulf between Jehovah and us is bridged
over when to the name which emphasises the eternal, self-existent
being of the holy One we can add "our God." Then humble prostration
is reconcilable with confident approach; and His worshippers have not
only to lie lowly at His footstool, but to draw near, with children's
frankness, to His heart.