mh_parser/vol_split/19 - Psalms/Chapter 99.xml

<div2 id="Ps.c" n="c" next="Ps.ci" prev="Ps.xcix" progress="55.96%" title="Chapter XCIX">
<h2 id="Ps.c-p0.1">P S A L M S</h2>
<h3 id="Ps.c-p0.2">PSALM XCIX.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Ps.c-p1">Still we are celebrating the glories of the
kingdom of God among men, and are called upon to praise him, as in
the foregoing psalms; but those psalms looked forward to the times
of the gospel, and prophesied of the graces and comforts of those
times; this psalm seems to dwell more upon the Old-Testament
dispensation and the manifestation of God's glory and grace in
that. The Jews were not, in expectation of the Messiah's kingdom
and the evangelical worship, to neglect the divine regimen they
were then under, and the ordinances that were then given them, but
in them to see God reigning, and to worship before him according to
the law of Moses. Prophecies of good things to come must not lessen
our esteem of good things present. To Israel indeed pertained the
promises, which they were bound to believe; but to them pertained
also the giving of the law, and the service of God, which they were
also bound dutifully and conscientiously to attend to, <scripRef id="Ps.c-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.4" parsed="|Rom|9|4|0|0" passage="Ro 9:4">Rom. ix. 4</scripRef>. And this they are called to
do in this psalm, where yet there is much of Christ, for the
government of the church was in the hands of the eternal Word
before he was incarnate; and, besides, the ceremonial services were
types and figures of evangelical worship. The people of Israel are
here required to praise and exalt God, and to worship before him,
in consideration of these two things:—I. The happy constitution
of the government they were under, both in sacred and civil things,
<scripRef id="Ps.c-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.99.1-Ps.99.5" parsed="|Ps|99|1|99|5" passage="Ps 99:1-5">ver. 1-5</scripRef>. II. Some
instances of the happy administration of it, <scripRef id="Ps.c-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.99.6-Ps.99.9" parsed="|Ps|99|6|99|9" passage="Ps 99:6-9">ver. 6-9</scripRef>. In singing this psalm we must set
ourselves to exalt the name of God, as it is made known to us in
the gospel, which we have much more reason to do than those had who
lived under the law.</p>
<scripCom id="Ps.c-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.99" parsed="|Ps|99|0|0|0" passage="Ps 99" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Ps.c-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.99.1-Ps.99.5" parsed="|Ps|99|1|99|5" passage="Ps 99:1-5" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ps.99.1-Ps.99.5">
<h4 id="Ps.c-p1.6">The Dominion of God.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Ps.c-p2">1 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.c-p2.1">Lord</span>
reigneth; let the people tremble: he sitteth <i>between</i> the
cherubims; let the earth be moved.   2 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.c-p2.2">Lord</span> <i>is</i> great in Zion; and he <i>is</i>
high above all the people.   3 Let them praise thy great and
terrible name; <i>for</i> it <i>is</i> holy.   4 The king's
strength also loveth judgment; thou dost establish equity, thou
executest judgment and righteousness in Jacob.   5 Exalt ye
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.c-p2.3">Lord</span> our God, and worship at his
footstool; <i>for</i> he <i>is</i> holy.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.c-p3">The foundation of all religion is laid in
this truth, That <i>the Lord reigns.</i> God governs the world by
his providence, governs the church by his grace, and both by his
Son. We are to believe not only that <i>the Lord lives,</i> but
that <i>the Lord reigns.</i> This is the triumph of the Christian
church, and here it was the triumph of the Jewish church, that
Jehovah was their King; and hence it is inferred, <i>Let the people
tremble,</i> that is, 1. Let even the subjects of this kingdom
tremble; for the Old-Testament dispensation had much of terror in
it. At Mount Sinai Israel, and even Moses himself, did
<i>exceedingly fear and quake;</i> and then God was <i>terrible in
his holy places.</i> Even when he appeared in his people's behalf,
he did terrible things. But we are not now come to <i>that mount
that burned with fire,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.c-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.12.18" parsed="|Heb|12|18|0|0" passage="Heb 12:18">Heb. xii.
18</scripRef>. Now that <i>the Lord reigns let the earth
rejoice.</i> Then he ruled more by the power of holy fear; now he
rules by the power of holy love. 2. Much more let the enemies of
this kingdom tremble; for he will either bring them into obedience
to his golden sceptre or crush them with his iron rod. <i>The Lord
reigns, though the people be stirred with indignation</i> at it;
though they fret away all their spirits, their rage is all in vain.
He will set his King upon his holy hill of Zion in spite of them
(<scripRef id="Ps.c-p3.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.2.1-Ps.2.6" parsed="|Ps|2|1|2|6" passage="Ps 2:1-6">Ps. ii. 1-6</scripRef>); first, or
last, he will make them <i>tremble,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.c-p3.3" osisRef="Bible:Rev.6.15" parsed="|Rev|6|15|0|0" passage="Re 6:15">Rev. vi. 15</scripRef>, &amp;c. <i>The Lord reigns, let
the earth be moved.</i> Those that submit to him shall be
established, and not <i>moved</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.c-p3.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.96.10" parsed="|Ps|96|10|0|0" passage="Ps 96:10">Ps.
xcvi. 10</scripRef>); but those that oppose him will be moved.
Heaven and earth shall be shaken, and all nations; but the kingdom
of Christ is what cannot be moved; the <i>things which cannot be
shaken shall remain,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.c-p3.5" osisRef="Bible:Heb.12.27" parsed="|Heb|12|27|0|0" passage="Heb 12:27">Heb. xii.
27</scripRef>. <i>In these is continuance,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.c-p3.6" osisRef="Bible:Isa.64.5" parsed="|Isa|64|5|0|0" passage="Isa 64:5">Isa. lxiv. 5</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.c-p4">God's kingdom, set up in Israel, is here
made the subject of the psalmist's praise.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.c-p5">I. Two things the psalmist affirms:—1.
God presided in the affairs of religion: <i>He sitteth between the
cherubim</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.c-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.99.1" parsed="|Ps|99|1|0|0" passage="Ps 99:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>),
as on his throne, to give law by the oracles thence delivered—as
on the mercy-seat, to receive petitions. This was the honour of
Israel, that they had among them the Shechinah, or special presence
of God, attended by the holy angels; the temple was the royal
palace, and the Holy of holies was the presence-chamber. <i>The
Lord is great in Zion</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.c-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.99.2" parsed="|Ps|99|2|0|0" passage="Ps 99:2"><i>v.</i>
2</scripRef>); there he is known and praised (<scripRef id="Ps.c-p5.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.76.1-Ps.76.2" parsed="|Ps|76|1|76|2" passage="Ps 76:1,2">Ps. lxxvi. 1, 2</scripRef>); there he is served as
great, more than any where else. <i>He is high</i> there <i>above
all people;</i> as that which is high is exposed to view, and
looked up to, so in Zion the perfections of the divine nature
appear more conspicuous and more illustrious than any where else.
Therefore <i>let those</i> that dwell in Zion, and worship there,
<i>praise thy great and terrible name,</i> and give thee the glory
due unto it, <i>for it is holy.</i> The holiness of God's name
makes it truly great to his friends and terrible to his enemies,
<scripRef id="Ps.c-p5.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.99.3" parsed="|Ps|99|3|0|0" passage="Ps 99:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. This is that
which those above adore—<i>Holy, holy, holy.</i> 2. He was all in
all in their civil government, <scripRef id="Ps.c-p5.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.99.4" parsed="|Ps|99|4|0|0" passage="Ps 99:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. As in Jerusalem was the testimony
of Israel, whither the tribes went up, so <i>there were set thrones
of judgment,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.c-p5.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.122.4-Ps.122.5" parsed="|Ps|122|4|122|5" passage="Ps 122:4,5">Ps. cxxii. 4,
5</scripRef>. Their government was a theocracy. God raised up David
to rule over them (and some think this psalm was penned upon
occasion of his quiet and happy settlement in the throne) and he is
<i>the king</i> whose <i>strength loves judgment.</i> He is strong;
all his strength he has from God; and <i>his strength</i> is not
abused for the support of any wrong, as the power of great princes
often is, but it <i>loves judgment.</i> He does justice with his
power, and does it with delight; and herein he was a type of
Christ, to whom God would give <i>the throne of his father David,
to do judgment and justice.</i> He has power to crush, but his
<i>strength loves judgment;</i> he does not rule with rigour, but
with moderation, with wisdom, and with tenderness. The people of
Israel had a good king; but they are here taught to look up to God
as he by whom their king reigns: <i>Thou dost establish equity</i>
(that is, God gave them those excellent laws by which they were
governed), and <i>thou executest judgment and righteousness in
Jacob;</i> he not only by his immediate providences often executed
and enforced his own laws, but took care for the administration of
justice among them by civil magistrates, who reigned by him and by
him did decree justice. Their judges judged for God, and their
judgment was his, <scripRef id="Ps.c-p5.7" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.19.6" parsed="|2Chr|19|6|0|0" passage="2Ch 19:6">2 Chron. xix.
6</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.c-p6">II. Putting these two things together, we
see what was the happiness of Israel above any other people, as
Moses had described it (<scripRef id="Ps.c-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.7-Deut.4.8" parsed="|Deut|4|7|4|8" passage="De 4:7,8">Deut. iv. 7,
8</scripRef>), that they had <i>God so nigh unto them,</i> sitting
between the cherubim, and that they had <i>statutes and judgments
so righteous,</i> by which equity was established, and God himself
ruled in Jacob, from which he infers this command to that happy
people (<scripRef id="Ps.c-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.99.5" parsed="|Ps|99|5|0|0" passage="Ps 99:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>):
"<i>Exalt you the Lord our God, and worship at his footstool;</i>
give him the glory of the good government you are under, as it is
now established, both in church and state." Note, 1. The greater
the public mercies are which we have a share in the more we are
obliged to bear a part in the public homage paid to God: the
setting up of the kingdom of Christ, especially, ought to be the
matter of our praise. 2. When we draw night to God, to worship him,
our hearts must be filled with high thoughts of him, and he must be
exalted in our souls. 3. The more we abase ourselves, and the more
prostrate we are before God, the more we exalt him. We must
<i>worship at his footstool,</i> at his ark, which was as the
footstool to the mercy-seat between the cherubim; or we must cast
ourselves down upon the pavement of his courts; and good reason we
have to be thus reverent, <i>for he is holy,</i> and his holiness
should strike an awe upon us, as it does on the angels themselves,
<scripRef id="Ps.c-p6.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.6.2-Isa.6.3" parsed="|Isa|6|2|6|3" passage="Isa 6:2,3">Isa. vi. 2, 3</scripRef>.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Ps.c-p6.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.99.6-Ps.99.9" parsed="|Ps|99|6|99|9" passage="Ps 99:6-9" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ps.99.6-Ps.99.9">
<h4 id="Ps.c-p6.5">Divine Justice and Mercy.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Ps.c-p7">6 Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel
among them that call upon his name; they called upon the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.c-p7.1">Lord</span>, and he answered them.   7 He
spake unto them in the cloudy pillar: they kept his testimonies,
and the ordinance <i>that</i> he gave them.   8 Thou
answeredst them, <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.c-p7.2">O Lord</span> our God:
thou wast a God that forgavest them, though thou tookest vengeance
of their inventions.   9 Exalt the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.c-p7.3">Lord</span> our God, and worship at his holy hill; for
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.c-p7.4">Lord</span> our God <i>is</i> holy.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.c-p8">The happiness of Israel in God's government
is here further made out by some particular instances of his
administration, especially with reference to those that were, in
their day, the prime leaders and most active useful governors of
that people—Moses, Aaron, and Samuel, in the two former of whom
the theocracy or divine government began (for they were employed to
form Israel into a people) and in the last of whom that form of
government, in a great measure, ended; for when the people rejected
Samuel, and urged him to resign, they are said to reject God
himself, that he should not be so immediately their king as he had
been (<scripRef id="Ps.c-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.8.7" parsed="|1Sam|8|7|0|0" passage="1Sa 8:7">1 Sam. viii. 7</scripRef>), for
now they would have a king, like all the nations. Moses, as well as
Aaron, is said to be <i>among his priests,</i> for he executed the
priest's office till Aaron was settled in it and he consecrated
Aaron and his sons; therefore the Jews call him the <i>priest of
the priests.</i> Now concerning these three chief rulers
observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.c-p9">I. The intimate communion they had with
God, and the wonderful favour to which he admitted them. None of
all the nations of the earth could produce three such men as these,
that had such an intercourse with Heaven, and whom God <i>knew by
name,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.c-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Exod.33.17" parsed="|Exod|33|17|0|0" passage="Ex 33:17">Exod. xxxiii. 17</scripRef>.
Here is, 1. Their gracious observance of God. No kingdom had men
that honoured God as these three men of the kingdom of Israel did.
They honoured him, (1.) By their prayers. Samuel, though not among
his priests, yet was <i>among those that called on his name;</i>
and for <i>this</i> they were all famous, <i>They called upon the
Lord;</i> they relied not on their own wisdom or virtue, but in
every emergency had recourse to God, towards him was their desire,
and on him their dependence. (2.) By their obedience: <i>They kept
his testimonies, and the ordinances that he gave them;</i> they
made conscience of their duty, and in every thing made God's word
and law their rule, as knowing that unless they did so they could
not expect their prayers should be answered, <scripRef id="Ps.c-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Prov.28.9" parsed="|Prov|28|9|0|0" passage="Pr 28:9">Prov. xxviii. 9</scripRef>. Moses did all according to
the pattern shown him; it is often repeated, <i>According to all
that God commanded Moses, so did he.</i> Aaron and Samuel did
likewise. Those were the greatest men and most honourable that were
most eminent for keeping God's testimonies and conforming to the
rule of his word. 2. God's gracious acceptance of them: <i>He
answered them,</i> and granted them the things which they called
upon him for. They all wonderfully prevailed with God in prayer;
miracles were wrought at their special instance and request; nay,
he not only condescended to do that for them which they desired, as
a prince for a petitioner, but he communed with them as one friend
familiarly converses with another (<scripRef id="Ps.c-p9.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.99.7" parsed="|Ps|99|7|0|0" passage="Ps 99:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>): <i>He spoke unto them in the
cloudy pillar.</i> He often spoke to Samuel; from his childhood the
word of the Lord came to him, and, probably, sometimes he spoke to
him by a bright cloud overshadowing him: however, to Moses and
Aaron he often spoke out of the famous <i>cloudy pillar,</i>
<scripRef id="Ps.c-p9.4" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16.10 Bible:Num.12.5" parsed="|Exod|16|10|0|0;|Num|12|5|0|0" passage="Ex 16:10,Nu 12:5">Exod. xvi. 10; Num. xii.
5</scripRef>. Israel are now reminded of this, for the confirming
of their faith, that though they had not every day such sensible
tokens of God's presence as the cloudy pillar was, yet to those
that were their first founders, and to him that was their great
reformer, God was pleased thus to manifest himself.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.c-p10">II. The good offices they did to Israel.
They interceded for the people, and for them also they obtained
many an answer of peace. <i>Moses stood in the gap,</i> and
<i>Aaron between the living and the dead;</i> and, when Israel was
in distress, Samuel cried unto the Lord for them, <scripRef id="Ps.c-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.7.9" parsed="|1Sam|7|9|0|0" passage="1Sa 7:9">1 Sam. vii. 9</scripRef>. This is here referred
to (<scripRef id="Ps.c-p10.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.99.8" parsed="|Ps|99|8|0|0" passage="Ps 99:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>): "<i>Thou
answeredst them, O Lord our God!</i> and, at their prayer, <i>thou
wast a God that forgavest</i> the people they prayed for; and,
<i>though thou tookest vengeance of their inventions,</i> yet thou
didst not cut them off from being a people, as their sin deserved."
"<i>Thou wast a God that wast propitious for them</i> (so Dr.
Hammond), for their sakes, and sparedst the people at their
request, even when thou wast about to <i>take vengeance of their
inventions,</i> that is, when thy wrath was so highly provoked
against them that it was just ready to break in upon them, to their
utter overthrow." These were some of the many remarkable instances
of God's dominion in Israel, more than in any other nation, for
which the people are again called upon to praise God (<scripRef id="Ps.c-p10.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.99.9" parsed="|Ps|99|9|0|0" passage="Ps 99:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>): "<i>Exalt the Lord our
God,</i> on account of what he has done for us formerly, as well as
of late, <i>and worship at his holy hill</i> of Zion, on which he
has now set his temple and will shortly <i>set his King</i>
(<scripRef id="Ps.c-p10.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.2.6" parsed="|Ps|2|6|0|0" passage="Ps 2:6">Ps. ii. 6</scripRef>), the former a
type of the latter; there, as the centre of unity, let all God's
Israel meet, with their adorations, <i>for the Lord our God is
holy,</i> and appears so, not only in his holy law, but in his holy
gospel."</p>
</div></div2>