Psalm 99.
This Psalm is a further development of the millennium theme: The Lord (Jehovah) reigns.
“The peoples” (verses 1 and 2) refers, not to Israel, but to the Gentile nations who will be blessed and brought into divine favor through Israel. So, “He sitteth between (or dwells above) the cherubim,” once the place of God’s dwelling in the midst of Israel (Numbers 7:89; 1 Samuel 4:4; 2 Samuel 6:2; 2 Kings 19:15; 1 Chronicles 13:6; Isaiah 37:16; Psalm 80) points to the place that He will then have taken as the Judge or Governor of the nations, as well as of Israel.
Cherubim (verse 1) are always seen in Scripture in connection with God’s ways in government. When man had lost that original state of innocencecy, and as a sinner was driven out of the garden of Eden, they were set to guard the way to the tree of life (Genesis 3:24). In symbolic figures they were in the tabernacle, over the ark of the covenant, shadowing the mercy seat (Exodus 25 and 37; Hebrews 9:5); afterward in Solomon’s temple the figures of two cherubim were in the holiest (2 Chronicles 3 and 5; 1 Kings 6 and 8).
Seraphim are seen in Isaiah 6; and the living creatures (mistakenly called “beasts”) in Revelation 4 and 5 combine the characters of cherubim and seraphim. The seraphim give the thought of the consuming holiness of God.
“And the strength of the King that loveth justice” (verse 4)—The King is the Messiah, but also the LORD (Jehovah); He it is that will bring equity and establish judgment and righteousness in Jacob, who for a long time has been far from God in heart and way.
The Holy Spirit here turns back to those faithful men of old, Moses and Aaron and Samuel; they had called to Jehovah in the days of their pilgrimage, and He had answered them; they kept His testimonies. And He was a forgiving God to them, though He never forgot His government in dealing with them; He “took vengeance of their inventions,” or doing.
This will be His way in the time to which these. Psalms refer, yet it has always been His way: grace to all who will receive it, and government as holy and true as He is. The Israel that will be, is thus linked with the Israel of early days.
It will be noticed that the holiness of the Divine Person who reigns is emphasized in this Psalm, as His faithfulness was in the 98th, and His righteousness in the 97th.
ML 07/26/1931