Psalms 99

Psalms 99:1-5

This psalm is a prophecy of the glory of the Messiah’s kingdom. 1. The people of God are called to praise and worship him in the name of his greatness and glory, ver. 1—5. 2. For the influence of his mercy of old vouchsafed to his people Israel, ver. 6—9.

1. The LORD reigneth, let the people tremble; he fitteth between the cherubims, let the earth be moved. 2. The LORD is great in Zion, and he is high above all people. 3. Let them praise thy great and terrible name: for it is holy. 4. The king’s strength also loveth judgment, thou doth chabble equity, thou executeeth judgment and righteousness in Jacob. 5. Exalt ye the LORD our God, and worship at his footstool: for it is holy.

2. THE LORD reigneth, let the people tremble; he fitteth between the cherubims, let the earth be moved. 2. The LORD is great in Zion, and he is high above all people. 3. Let them praise thy great and terrible name: for it is holy. 4. The king’s strength also loveth judgment, thou doth chabble equity, thou executeeth judgment and righteousness in Jacob. 5. Exalt ye the LORD our God, and worship at his footstool: for it is holy.

The exaltation of Jesus is the joy of his people and the terror of his enemies.

1. It speaks terror to his enemies. The Lord reigneth, whom men by wicked hands had crucified and slain; but by Divine power sailed from the dead, is set down at the right hand of the Majority on high; let the people tremble; all the enemies of his kingdom, that will not have him to reign over them, shall feel ere long with terror the rod of his judgment: he fitteth between the cherubims, on his exalted throne, attended by ministrating spirits, ready to fulfil his pleasure, let the earth be moved, as when the Jewish civil and ecclesiastical state was disfigured by his righteous vengeance, and as the whole world will be in the day of perdition of the ungodly. Nate, Many mock at the terrors of God’s judgments, who will, to their evil, fluneth find them awful realities.

2. It is the joy of his people. The Lord is great in Zion, where many of his miracles were wrought, and from whence his gospel went forth, or rather in the spiritual Zion his church, who behold the glory of his person and officers, and enjoy his protection and blessing, and he is high above all people; not only as head of his church, but as God over all, blessed for ever, and therefore are they bound to rejoice in him. Let the people thy great and terrible name; terrible to his foes, but must lovely to his people: for it is holy, and this is which renders it a terror to sinners, and so glorious in the eyes of his saints. The king’s strength also loveth judgment; Almighty as he is, his power is never abused to injustice, but righteousness is his delight, and the constant guide of his administration; thou did chastest equity; his laws are all most holy and just; or, thou hast prepared righteousness, a perfect and compleat righteousness, wrought out by his obedience unto death for his people, and withd but the fulness of Divine grace to bestow, to sanctify their hearts, and make them upright before him; thou executeeth judgment and righteousness in Jacob, protecting his people by his providence, correcting them when they offend, and governing his mediatorial kingdom in the most righteous manner; and for this his subjects are called upon to adore him. Exalt ye the Lord our God with heart and voice, in all the glorious offices he bears, and worship at his footstool with lovely reverence, preaching him for all his greatness and glory, and looking up to him for the continual supplies of his power and grace: for he is holy; worthy our highest adoration, and faithful to all his promise, as they will ever find who worship him in spirit and in truth.

3. Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among them that call upon his name: they called upon the LORD, and he answered them. 7. He spoke unto them in the cloudy pillar: they kept his testimonies, and the ordinance that he gave them. 8. Thou answereth them, O LORD our God: 9. thou with a God that forgaveeth them, though thou tooketh vengeance of their inventions. 9. Exalt the LORD our God, and worship at his holy hill: for the LORD our God is holy.

Psalms 99:6-9

The Lord hath been the object of adoration to all his saints of old, and their experience proves him to be the God that heareth and answereth the prayers of his people. We have,

1. The names and characters of these most eminent men of God: Moses and Aaron among his priests, Moses having exercised the sacerdotal office till Aaron was appointed thereunto, Ver. 1.

with his brethren, and thus by his consecration, and Samuel among them that call upon his name: these eminent worthies stand distinguished not so much for their station and dignity, to which God advanced them, as for their piety: they called upon the Lord, in every emergence they placed their dependence on God, and found him a never-failing refuge: they kept his testimonies, and the ordinance that he gave them, conscientiously observant of the precepts of his law, and the ceremonies of his worship: and they who thus walk in God’s ways, may expect in these ways he will meet them, and answer all their petitions.

2. The notice and regard God shewed them. He answered them, granted their requests, and commanded with them as a man with his friends. He spoke unto them out of the cloudy pillar; to Moses and Aaron often, and probably to Samuel also, in the frequent visions vouchsafed to him, or when he answered his prayer by mighty thunderings, I Sam. xii. 18. Thou answereth them, O Lord our God, when, as advocates for rebellious Israel, they lifted up their prayer for mercy: thou vouchst a God that forgaveeth them, at the consecration of these holy men, though thou tooketh vengeance of their inventions, making them smart for their sins by their sufferings, though pervaded upon by their prayers from utterly destroying them. Nate, [1.] We can never sufficiently value the prayers of good men; they are indeed often branded as the considers, but are in fact the preforms of the nation. [2.] God will make his own people smart severely for their pervertness, even when he hath, respecting the eternal consequences of their sins, delivered their souls from death.

3. The praise due to God for these mercies. Exalt the Lord our God; as our God he deserves our love and praise, and our father’s mercies are our own, and demand our grateful acknowledgments; and worship at his holy hill; in the church of Christ: for the Lord our God is holy in his nature, in all his works and ways, and to be exalted by all his people according to his adorable perfections.