GENRE: THANKSGIVING – Verses 1-5 summons worshipers to praise the LORD, the king of the universe; verses 6-7 provides a selected piece of Mosaic history—the divine interaction between Yahweh and the leaders of Israel; verses 8-9 closes the hymn with a prayer and renewed encouragement to offer God praise.

AWESOME GOD – A close comparison with the other enthronement psalms will reveal similarities that have come to be associated with the holy nature of God: God is absolute freedom, transcendent, and unapproachable. Yet here, we see a new push toward redefinition of God: God is also involved, as well as holy and forgiving as well as just.

NIB ON PSALM 99 – The association of Psalm 99 with the transfiguration may be due to the Gospel accounts’ mention of Moses and the cloud, but there is a deeper connection. The transfiguration is a scene that partakes of the fundamental sense of holiness; Jesus is set apart and unapproachable, and the disciples are terrified. In each Gospel, however, the transfiguration follows immediately Jesus’ first announcement that he must go to Jerusalem to suffer, die, and be raised. Like Psalm 99, this juxtaposition pushes toward a redefinition of holiness and sovereignty in the direction of committed involvement and suffering love. Defying the conventional notion of holiness and the worldly definition of royal power, God is the holy One who is persistently present in our midst. Because the Holy One is committed to being with us and enacting justice and righteousness among us, it is fitting that Jesus taught us to pray, “hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come, thy will be done, ‘on earth’ as it is in heaven.”

 

What attributes of God are you most aware of? What characteristics of God do you have the understanding about?
If your theme were to be: God, the Sovereign of all the Earth, what would your psalm sing? What images could you draw upon to picture such a God?

 

As always, the psalm’s rightful place in worship normally is found in the liturgy itself—from canticles to choral praise. On this Sunday, use Psalm 99 along with the other transfiguration lessons, letting the psalm confirm the conversation you’ve had with Exodus and Luke and even 2 Corinthians 3.
For a homiletic idea, consider this. The hymn celebrates God’s reign. The vision that emerges from Psalm 99 is one of a holy God who reigns enthroned upon the cherubim in heaven (vv. 1-3), a God who loves justice and equity upon the earth (v. 5).
How does one respond to a vision of such holiness and Mystery? Within the psalm itself comes at least part of an appropriate response--fear (v. 1), worship (vv. 5-9), and praise (v. 9).
Bringing it home--draw upon the collective memory of your community of faith or of the larger Church. Who do we know personally or from Church history whose lives personally testify to God’s continuing glory and Presence and work in our midst?

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[1] The New Interpreter’s Bible IV (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1996), page 1076.