Gerber 1

SOVEREIGNTY, HOLINESS, AND CHRIST:

PSALM 99 AND ITS INTERPRETATION

By Jacob D. Gerber

Introduction

Psalm 99 proclaims the reality that YHWH is king. More than that, the psalm ties

YHWH's sovereignty to his holiness. In this paper, we will analyze the context, text, and history

of interpretation of Psalm 99 in order to hear its message that YHWH reigns, and that he is holy

“in supreme majesty, in justice, and in responsibility.”1 Specifically, we will examine the way

that early church saw this psalm as self-evident proof of Christ's holiness, divinity, and kingship.

Context of Psalm 99

Within the Psalter, we find Psalm 99 in the middle of four key contextual units. First, it is

located in Book IV of the Psalter, which Gerald Wilson describes as the “editorial 'center'” of the

Book of Psalms:

As such this grouping [Book IV] stands as the “answer” to the problem posed in
Psalm 89 as to the apparent failure of the Davidic covenant with which Books
One-Three are primarily concerned. Briefly summarized, the answer is given: (1)
YHWH is king; (2) He has been our “refuge” in the past, long before the monarch
existed (i.e., in the Mosaic Period); (3) He will continue to be our refuge now that
the monarchy is gone; (4) Blessed are they that trust in him!2

Indeed, we see each of these emphases in Psalm 99: (1) the psalm opens with a proclamation that

“YHWH reigns” (v. 1); (2) Moses, Aaron, and Samuel are named explicitly as “among his

priests” and “among those who called upon his name” (v. 6); (3) implicitly, the call to worship

YHWH is a call to follow in the footsteps of the faith of those patriarchs; (4) also implicitly, the

recognition that God “answered them” and was “a forgiving God to them” serves as an assurance

1 James Mays, Psalms, Interpretation (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1994), 316.
2 Gerald H. Wilson, The Editing of the Hebrew Psalter (Chico, Ca: Scholars Press, 1985), 215.
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that YHWH will continue to answer and forgive his people. In this way, Psalm 99 functions as a

quintessential Book-IV psalm, which, as we will see, will be important for its interpretation.

Second, form-critical scholars would place Psalm 99 within the context of the several

“enthronement psalms” included throughout the psalter. According to Sigmund Mowinckel,

these psalms were used in the worship of Israel to celebrate that YHWH was taking up his reign

while the Israelites worshiped:

The most prominent feature of these psalms is, as we have seen, their actuality
and contemporaneous character. There can be no doubt that the situation into
which the poets have projected themselves, which forms the basis of their vision,
and which they want the singer and the listeners to take part in, is this: that the
people—the congregation—is now actually standing in the presence of the new
king to salute him as the victorious king who has ousted his competitors and
seated himself on the throne, has established his kingdom and inaugurated a
beneficial reign over this people and the whole earth.3

Mowinckel envisions a vibrant celebration of something the Israelites believed was happening in

their midst, rather than some dry reading of a text that has no bearing on reality, as the reading of

the psalter often sounds like today.

Third, Psalm 99 stands as a part of a specific sub-group of enthronement psalms within

Book IV that spans Psalms 93-100. David M. Howard, Jr., who wrote his doctoral dissertation

on the structure of these eight psalms, argues that they cohere not only “on modern form-critical

grounds,” but also by “lexical, thematic, generic, and structural links.”4 Psalm 99 is more,

however, than merely the penultimate psalm in the group, yielding the final word to the last in

the series, because the role of Psalm 100 is different from the preceding psalms: it functions as “a

doxological conclusion to the theme of Yhwh's universal kingship that began with Psalm 93.”5
3 Sigmund Mowinckel, The Psalms in Israel's Worship, trans. D. R. Ap-Thomas (Grand Rapids: William B.
Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2004), 109.
4 David M. Howard, Jr., The Structure of Psalms 93-100 (Winona Lake, In: Eisenbrauns, 1997), 20.
5 David C. Mitchell, The Message of the Psalter: An Eschatological Programme in the Book of Psalms (Sheffield,
Eng.: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997), 290.
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Therefore, we might regard Psalm 99 as the final catechetical word on YHWH's kingship in this

series, with Psalm 100 as a reflection on all these psalms together. Thus, we find Psalm 99 not

only at the “editorial center” of the Psalter, located within Book IV, but also as the final word of

instruction in a prominent set of psalms that focus together upon Book IV's most prominent

theme, the kingship of YHWH.

One of the major themes of these eight psalms is the response (or lack of response) to

YHWH's reign from human beings and even creation itself. In Psalm 93, the reign of YHWH

causes the floods to roar in what seems to be defiance;6 however, in the end it is YHWH who is

“mightier than the waves of the sea” (93:4). In Psalm 94, the psalmist pleads with YHWH to

“Rise up, O judge of the earth; repay to the proud what they deserve” (94:2), warning the wicked

nations (94:10) against continuing to refuse obedience to YHWH's reign. Similarly, in Psalm 95,

the psalmist warns the people of Israel not to “harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at

Massah in the wilderness, when your fathers put me to the test” (95:8-9). So, in Psalms 93-95,

the psalmist warns nature and all the peoples of the earth—both of Israel and of the nations—to

heed the coming reign (and therefore judgment) of YHWH.

In Psalm 96-98, however, the news of YHWH's reign is (for the most part) good news for

all the peoples of the earth. Psalm 96 urges the “families of the peoples [to] ascribe to the LORD

glory and strength” (96:7), and he urges the servants of YHWH to “Say among the nations, 'The

LORD reigns!'” (96:10). Even the coming judgment of YHWH is a picture of joy: “Then shall

all the trees of the forest sing for joy before the LORD, for he comes, for he comes to judge the

earth. He will judge the world in righteousness, and the peoples in his faithfulness” (96:12-13).

6 Davidson, The Vitality of Worship, 310. Davidson takes the floods as a reference “the forces of chaos which had
to be conquered in creation, but which ever threaten to break into the ordered universe.”
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Psalm 97 similarly declares, “The LORD reigns, let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be

glad!” (97:1), although we should also note that it contains words of warning and a call to

repentance for the wicked: “All worshipers of images are put to shame, who make their boast in

worthless idols; worship him, all you gods!” (97:7). Psalm 98 also urges the nations to worship

King YHWH: “Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and

sing praises....make a joyful noise before the King, the LORD!” (98:4, 6). The reason for this

celebration, just as in 96:13, is the coming of YHWH: “Let the rivers clap their hands; let the

hills sing for joy together before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the

world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity” (98:8-9). Thus, in Psalms 93-98, the

coming of YHWH as king is cause for warning and for celebration.

Fourth, the psalmist creates a link between the psalm and the call narrative in Isaiah in

the way that he describes YHWH's kingship in terms of his holiness. The psalm is made up of

three divisions (v. 1-3, v. 4-5, v. 6-9), each division ending with the exclamation “Holy is he!” (v.

3, 5) or the fuller, “Holy is YHWH our God!” (v. 9). Thus, the psalmist describes YHWH to be

thrice holy, echoing the seraphim whom Isaiah hears calling out, “Holy, holy, holy is YHWH of

hosts; the whole earth is fully of his glory!” (Isa.6:3)7 In the canonical context, Psalm 99

exposits what the seraphim were proclaiming, so that James Mays calls the psalm “a liturgy for

the vision.”8 In Isaiah 6, the prophet sees “the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up.”

The psalmist uses the same words as Isaiah for “sitting” and “lifted up,” and he similarly

envisions YHWH as being enthroned in the temple.9 Through this link, the psalmist underscores

7 Many commentators have noted this important link. Cf. Franz Delitzch, A Commentary on the Book of Psalms,
vol. 3, trans. Francis Bolton (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans), 99; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, vol. 2
(Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1963), 222; Robert Davidson, The Vitality of Worship (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,
1998), 324.
8 Mays, Psalms, 316.
9 Willem Vangemeren, Psalms, EBC, ed. Frank Gaebelein (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1991), 635-36.
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the connection between the reign of YHWH as King and the worship of YHWH as the Holy One.

Exposition of Psalm 99

Regardless, however, of whether or not one agrees with the canonical connection

between Psalm 99 and Isaiah 6, it is indisputable that the psalmist organized the psalm into three

sections which are separated by the refrain, “Holy is he!” Each section emphasizes a different

aspect of YHWH's kingship and his holiness. As referenced in the introduction, Mays writes:

In its three parts, the psalm defines and modifies the basic meaning of “holy.”
The LORD is thrice holy: in supreme majesty, in justice, and in responsibility.
“Holy” becomes a notion that means more than the fearful and fascinating divine;
used to praise the LORD it takes on connotations that the people of the LORD
have come to know in their experience of his rule.10

Mays gives three very helpful section descriptions: YHWH in supreme majesty; YHWH in

justice; and YHWH in responsibility. We will use these descriptions in the psalm's exposition.

So, in verses 1-3, YHWH is holy in his supreme majesty. The psalm opens with an

unambiguous declaration that “YHWH reigns,” using the same language as Psalms 93 and 97

before it. The response to this reign is not the joy anticipated in parts of the immediately

preceding psalms, but is the awesome, unmistakable power of Psalm 93, when YHWH conquers

the chaos of the floods, and of Psalm 97, when YHWH melts mountains and enemies alike. The

peoples tremble11 and the earth quakes in fear of him! The psalmist declares that YHWH is

“great in Zion,” which is to be expected, as YHWH is the God of the inhabitants of Zion, the

Israelites. What is unexpected, however, is that the psalmist also insists that YHWH is “exalted

Vangemeren notes that the reference to “cherubim” refers to the cherubim figures on top of the ark of the
covenant, so that the “footstool” would be, by extension, a reference to the temple.
10 Mays, Psalms, 316.
11 Many ancient commentators took this as “Let the peoples be angry!” because of the Vulgate's rendering of the
phrase: irascantur populi. In the Qal stem, however, the Hebrew word ragaz has to do with terror, rather than
anger (e.g., Ex. 15:14). Cf. Francis Brown, The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (Peabody,
Ma: Hendrickson, 2005; reprinted from Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, and Company, 1906), 919.
 Gerber 6

over all the peoples” (99:2). No other gods can rightfully claim dominion over any people

whatsoever, because YHWH reigns over all—holy is he!

In a nutshell, the best description of the God portrayed in Psalm 99:1-3 is found in v. 2:

“he is exalted.” Again, this is the same word found in Isaiah 6, when the prophet says that he

saw the Lord “high and lifted up,” and Davidson argues that it is “a key word in these three

sections....It appears in verse 2 in the description of the LORD as 'exalted.' It reappears in verses

5 and 9 in the repeated call to the congregation to 'extol'..., to lift on high the God they

worship.”12 In other words, the fact that YHWH is exalted becomes the motivation for the

people to exalt him with their praises.

YHWH's exaltation, however, is not merely admirable; more than that, YHWH's supreme

majesty is terrifying: “let the peoples tremble!” Our fear, however, should be no deterrent from

praising him. As Spurgeon insists, we must worship this terrible aspect of God as much as his

gracious aspect: “Under the most terrible aspect the Lord is still to be praised. Many profess to

admire the milder beams of the sun of righteousness, but burn with rebellion against its more

flaming radiance: so it ought not to be: we are bound to praise a terrible God and worship him

who casts the wicked down to hell.”13 Indeed, that YHWH is “terrible” (v. 3, KJV) is not a

negotiable part of his personality; he is terrible precisely because holy is he.

YHWH's absolute power, however, does not corrupt him—as the second part of the

psalm makes clear, YHWH is holy in his justice. In fact, the psalmist uses a very difficult

Hebrew construction to point our the irony (from a human perspective) that a mighty king should

love justice (v. 4)—human beings corrupt every bit of power they can get, but this King used his

12 Davidson, The Vitality of Worship, 324.

13 Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, 223.
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power to “establish equity and execute justice and righteousness in Jacob.” (v. 4).

The fact that power does not corrupt YHWH is not the only remarkable feature of his

love for justice. Beyond this, we should not too quickly forget the high and exalted, supremely

majestic portrayal of God in v. 1-3. Why should this exalted God care about establishing justice

among such lesser creatures as human beings? Furthermore, since we human beings repeatedly

demonstrate that we are not nearly as interested in justice as he is, why does this majestic God

continue to establish it? The psalmist gives us the answer: holy is he! The second aspect of

YHWH's holiness is his concern for equity, righteousness and justice on the earth. For this, we

should exalt him and worship at his footstool (i.e., his temple14).

In v. 6-9, we see we a portrayal of YHWH that seems to move even further away from his

supreme majesty than had his justice: we see YHWH's holiness in his responsibility. It would

seem that, even if the high and lofty YHWH insisted that his creatures live righteously and

practice justice, it would go too far to suggest that he actually care for those creatures personally.

After all, these are the same peoples who tremble in the face of his holiness—what could compel

him to care for them? Nevertheless, we read that YHWH called Moses and Aaron to serve him

among his priests, and that he called Samuel, who served among those who “called upon his

name” (v. 6). Not only did these three (along with the others, among whom they served) call

upon his name, but “he answered them” (v. 6), speaking through a pillar of the cloud! But even

beyond this level of shocking grace, we read that YHWH forgave them (v. 8), even as he was “an

avenger of their wrongdoings.” YHWH's grace goes shockingly far for the transcendent God of

the universe, but he still does not leave sin untouched: the sins of his people must be dealt with,

through forgiveness and/or vengeance. For these reasons, the psalmist exhorts us once more to

14 See note 9.
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“Exalt YHWH our God, and worship at his holy mountain; for YHWH our God is holy!” (v. 9).

Still, Psalm 99 goes further than merely describing YHWH's holy reign: while Psalm 93-

98 had celebrated the coming of the King, Psalm 99 celebrates that the King has come already.

Specifically, recall Psalm 98:8-9, cited earlier in this paper, which longingly anticipates the day

that YHWH will come to judge (that is, to establish justice)15 on the earth, and to judge the world

with righteousness, and the peoples with equity. In Psalm 99:4, YHWH is celebrated because

“you have established equity; you have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob.” Using the

perfect tense, Psalm 99 suggests that the action anticipated in Psalm 98 is completed action—the

call to praise YHWH in Psalm 99 is based on what he has already done.

Nevertheless, we must note that there is no hint in the Old Testament that this kingship

ever was established completely and triumphantly. After the Fall, nowhere do we see a genuine

example where YHWH once-and-for-all established equity, or executed justice and

righteousness. The Hebrew canonical form, which ends in 2 Chronicles with the decree from

Cyrus that the Jews may go home from the captivity, does indeed give hope that YHWH might

one day do these things; however, it would hardly be accurate to say that he did do those things

before the end of the Old Testament. Rather, we must see these perfect tense verbs as prophetic

perfect, where the prophet describes the reign of YHWH as if it were completed action because

of his certainty that it one day would be completed action.

Thus, Psalm 99 has a strong eschatological thrust, anticipating the reign of YHWH in

stronger terms than any of the previous psalms in this sequence had used. Psalm 100 picks up on

this eschatological certainty and celebrates the impending reign of YHWH with a “doxological

conclusion” to Psalms 93-99. Interestingly, Psalm 100 continues the trajectory of increasing

15 The word “judge” in 98:9 comes from the same root word as “justice” in 99:4.
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intimacy between the “exalted” YHWH and his people, exulting that “It is he who made us, and

we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture” (100:3). This point should not be too

quickly passed over—the series of psalms about the kingship of YHWH ends by celebrating his

close proximity to the people of Israel, rather than by trembling before his lofty transcendence.

We will return to this point later in this paper.

History of the Interpretation of Psalm 99

On the surface, Psalm 99 seems to have very little to do explicitly with Christ. There are

no clear prophecies of Christ's priestly lineage (Psalm 110), nor descriptions of his pierced hands

and feet (Psalm 22), nor even a single reference to his ancestor, David. Nevertheless, the

primary use of Psalm 99 in the church is as an apologetic text to “prove” the divinity and

kingship of Christ! Take Justin Martyr, for example. In his “Dialogue with Trypho,” Justin

rebukes Trypho (a Jewish man who does not believe that Christ is the Son of God) for his

unbelief on the basis of Psalm 99: “And in the ninety-eighth [99th] Psalm, the Holy Spirit

reproaches you, and predicts Him whom you do not wish to be king to be King and Lord, both of

Samuel, and of Aaron, and of Moses, and, in short, of all the others,”16 and then Justin goes on to

quote Psalm 99. To Justin, it is obvious that the Holy Spirit intended for Psalm 99 to testify to

the reign of Jesus Christ.

To the modern mind, Justin's argument does not make much sense. In fact, he seems to

be committing the logical fallacy of “begging the question”—that is, assuming the conclusion

(i.e., that Christ is YHWH, the King spoken of in Psalm 99) in his premises. This, however, does

not bother Justin in the least. Later on, Trypho softens somewhat to the point of believing that

16 Justin Martyr, “Dialogue with Trypho,” in The Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol I, ed. Alexander Roberts and James
Donaldson (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1965), chapter 37, p. 229.
 Gerber 10

Christ is God to the Gentiles, but he says that he still does not think that he, being Jewish, needs

to have anything to do with Christ. Upon this remark, Justin returns once again to Psalm 99:

Accordingly, if you had bestowed attention on the Scriptures previously quoted by

me, you would already have understood, that those who are saved of your own
nation are saved through this [man], and partake of His lot; and you would not
certainly have asked me about this matter. I shall again repeat the words of
David, previously quoted by me, and beg of you to comprehend them, and not to
act wrongfully, and stir each other up to give merely some contradiction.17

At this point, Justin again recites the words of Psalm 99. Why would Justin find Psalm 99 to be

singularly self-evident proof of Christ's divinity and of Christ's unique ability to save the Jews?

Despite our inability to see what Justin believed to be obvious, we should note that Justin

is not alone. Martin Luther shares similar sentiments:

The whole aim of the psalm is to exhort people to exalt Christ, of whom it knew
that He would be despised because of His having assumed humanity. For if these
words were said about God not incarnate, what need is there of saying them?
Since it would have been certain that among them He alone is Most High.18

Luther's logic features the same kind of question-begging logic that Justin demonstrates when he

asks a rhetorical question: What need there could be for Psalm 99 if not to exalt the incarnate

Christ? An interesting question, perhaps, but it is difficult for us modern readers to see how

anyone could find this persuasive.

So, to help us understand this perspective, we benefit from the guidance of Ambrose and

Augustine, both of whom give more explanation as they focus closely on v. 5: “Exalt YHWH our

God; worship at his footstool! Holy is he!” The Vulgate, however, reads “Exalt the Lord our

God, and worship his footstool, for he is holy.”19 Both Ambrose and Augustine, then, take the

17 Ibid., chapter 64, p. 229.

18 Martin Luther, “Psalm Ninety-Nine,” in Luther's Works, vol. XI “First Lectures on the Psalms, Pt. II,” ed. Hilton
C. Oswald (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1976), 277.
19 Exaltate Dominum Deum nostrum, et adorate scabellum podum ejus, quoniam sanctum est. The Hebrew text
uses a lamed preposition to indicate that we are to worship at the footstool, not to worship the footstool itself.
 Gerber 11

“footstool” as a reference to the humanity of Christ. Ambrose writes:

But they worship not only His Godhead but also His Footstool, as it is written:
'And worship His footstool, for it is holy.' Or if they deny that in Christ the
mysteries also of His Incarnation are to be worshipped, in which we observe as it
were certain express traces of His Godhead, and certain ways of the Heavenly
Word; let them read that even the apostles worshipped Him when He rose again in
the glory of His Flesh.20

Still, this line of logic is not quite clear. Even if we are supposed to worship the footstool itself,

why should we take the footstool as a reference to Christ's incarnation? Augustine clarifies the

reasoning behind the interpretation.

In his exposition, Augustine recalls that, on one hand, God defines the earth as his

footstool (cf. Isa. 66:1), but that, on the other hand, Scripture also commands that we only

worship the Lord. This creates for Augustine a dilemma, leaving him unsure about which

commandment he should obey:

In my uncertainty I turn to Christ, for he it is whom I am seeking in this psalm;

and then I discover how, without idolatry, the earth may be worshiped, how God's
footstool may be adored without impiety. He took earth from earth, because flesh
comes from the earth, and he received his flesh from the flesh of Mary. He
walked here below in that flesh, and even gave us that same flesh to eat for our
salvation. But since no one eats it without first worshipping it, we can plainly see
how the Lord's footstool is rightly worshiped. Not only do we commit no sin in
worshipping it; we should sin if we did not.21

So, for Augustine, Christ's body comes from the Lord's footstool, the earth (because God formed

the first man, Adam, from the dust), and since Christ gave his body to us to eat for our salvation,

then we are compelled to worship the Lord's footstool—that is, we are compelled to worship

Christ in his humanity.

20 Ambrose, “Of the Holy Spirit,” in The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, vol. X, trans.
Rev. H. de Romestin, Rev. E. de Romestin, and Rev. H. T. F. Duckworth, ed. Philip Schaaff and Henry Wace,
(Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1955), 145-46.
21 Augustine, “Psalm 98,” in Expositions of the Psalms, trans. Maria Boulding, OSB, Works of Saint Augustine: A
Translation for the 21st Century III/18 (Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, 2002), 474-75.
 Gerber 12

But is this a fair interpretation of the text, or are the fathers and doctors of the church

simply playing fast-and-loose with the text? Furthermore, how much credence should we give to

Ambrose and Augustine in particular, since they both make their case from a mistranslation of

the psalm into Latin? Finally, does any of this really prove the case as strongly as their

confidence would suggest? To bridge the gap between their logic and ours, perhaps it would

help to approach the issue from a different angle.

J. Clinton McCann, Jr. offers an important theological reflection on this psalm that may

help modern readers sympathize with the theological perspectives of these pre-critical

interpreters. First, he emphasizes the way that Psalm 99 moves from YHWH's sovereign

transcendence to his close proximity, which we noted above in the exposition. Recall also that

Psalm 100 presses this trajectory even further, by celebrating YHWH's kingship in terms of his

being Israel's shepherd. McCann writes, “A popular notion of sovereignty equates it with the

fundamental sense of holiness—that is, absolute freedom, transcendence, and unapproachability.

Thus it is significant that Psalm 99 pushes toward a redefinition of holiness in the direction of

involvement and committed, forgiving love.”22 McCann's point here is not controversial—the

psalm's theology clearly modifies the meaning of sovereignty (i.e., kingship) from YHWH's

being highly exalted to his being intimately involved with his people.

At this point, though, McCann moves this line of thinking a step further, extending the

trajectory from Psalm 99 into the incarnation, life, and death of Jesus:

In a word, the theology of Psalm 99 is incarnational....God is involved with a

particular place (vv. 1-2, 5, 9) and with particular people (vv. 6-8) in the struggle
for justice and righteousness (v. 4). Christians affirm a scandalous particularity
that is analogous. Replacing Zion and the Temple (see Mark 13:1-2; 14:58;

22 J. Clinton McCann, “The Book of Psalms,” in The New Interpreter's Bible, vol. IV (Nashville: Abingdon Press,
1996), 1076.
 Gerber 13

15:29), Jesus became the earthly locus of God's presence and power, the focus and
revelation of God's glory (see John 1:14-18). The incarnation of Jesus is the
ultimate redefinition of holiness: God resides in human flesh! And in the tension
represented in v. 8 between God's forgiving and God's holding accountable, it is
not difficult to discern the shape of a cross. God's sovereignty is manifested
ultimately in suffering love, a manner that appears to the world to be weakness
(see 1 Cor 1:22-25; 2 Cor 12:9).23

Essentially, McCann is pointing to the tension in the theology of Psalm 99, where YHWH is

represented as both exalted beyond any possible reach of humanity and infinitely concerned for

the justice and welfare of his people. Certainly, this tension exists throughout the Old Testament,

which contains stories of a terrifying YHWH at Mount Sinai and a tender YHWH who ensures

the survival of baby Moses floating down the Nile River into the arms of the princess of Egypt.

Nothing in this tension necessarily proves that God would become a human being.

Still, if one accepts by faith that Jesus Christ is YHWH, the King in human flesh, then the

tension Psalm 99 takes on new importance as a theological justification for how the transcendent

King might remain sovereign while humbling himself all the way to death on a cross, both for

the forgiveness and the vengeance of the sins of his people. This is why Jews and Muslims—

monotheists who take seriously the transcendence of God—find the incarnation and crucifixion

of Christ to be a stumbling block: without taking seriously the theology of Psalm 99, it is

difficult to put these two paradoxical notions of God's holiness and sovereignty together.

This paradox is what brings us back to Justin Martyr and his dialogue with Trypho, the

Jew. After Justin quotes Psalm 99 for the first time, Trypho responds with exactly this objection:

“For you utter many blasphemies, in that you seek to persuade us that this crucified man was

with Moses and Aaron, and spoke to them in the pillar of the cloud; then that he became man,

was crucified, and ascended up to heaven, and comes again to earth, and ought to be

23 Ibid.
 Gerber 14

worshipped.”24 Note the disdain in describing Jesus as “this crucified man”: Trypho has not fully

grasped the theological implications of Psalm 99, and so he does not understand that God

exercises his sovereign, transcendent holiness even in the closest proximity possible to his people

—even by taking their own flesh, but also their own guilt, suffering, and shame upon himself.

Justin had quoted Psalm 99 in order to demonstrate that Jesus Christ is the highest example of

this type of holiness, and that he therefore deserves all the praise and worship that the Psalm

demands. In this way, we see that even Luther was spot-on in his exegesis: “The whole aim of

the psalm is to exhort people to exalt Christ, of whom it knew that He would be despised because

of His having assumed humanity.” Furthermore, we should credit Augustine and Ambrose for

being on the right track to see the humanity of Christ as a major theme in the psalm, even if we

still have reservations about their use of a mistranslated verse to get to that theme.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it would be helpful to meditate on the implications of Psalm 99 for the way

that we are to conduct our lives. We Christians rejoice because we have become transcendent

with God by virtue of having become united with Christ. Paul insists that “God, being rich in

mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our

trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up

with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:5-6). Because

we are in Christ, we are exalted with him above this world—this is indeed cause for rejoicing!

A problem arises, however, when we refuse to interact with those who are not exalted

with us in Christ. Christians sometimes separate from the world in the name of “holiness,”

thinking that the best way to maintain that “holiness” is by being as lofty and unapproachable as

24 Justin Martyr, “Dialogue with Trypho,” chapter 38, 213.

 Gerber 15

YHWH in Psalm 99:1-3. This, however, does not take all of Psalm 99 into account—we are holy

as much by our exaltation in Christ as we are by our seeking justice and by our associating with

the meek, lowly, and sinful in the world. In fact, there is a very real sense that the fully-orbed

concept of holiness described in Psalm 99 compelled the Father to send the Son into the world,

since holiness demands transcendence as much as it demands justice and intimate involvement.

Followers of Christ, therefore, cannot call aloofness from the world “holiness” because such a

posture rejects two of the three sides of holiness (justice and responsibility), even if it preserves

one (supreme majesty).

Therefore, let us exalt YHWH our God, and worship at his holy mountain; for holy is

YHWH our God! Let us, however, also imitate Jesus Christ—YHWH incarnate—in his full

revelation of what holiness means.