Jehovah, our God, *thou* answeredst them a forgiving God wast thou unto them, though thou tookest vengeance of their doings.
Psalm 99 praises the Lord as holy and seated on His throne, and verse 8 looks back at how He treated His people. How can the same God both forgive and punish those He calls His own?
The "them" in this verse are the men the psalm has just named. They stood between a failing nation and God.
Israel's history had been one long story of sin and failure. Yet there had always been a godly remnant among these failing people. Moses and Aaron among the priests, and Samuel among the prophets, are outstanding examples of this godly remnant. In the middle of the greatest failure, they interceded for the people (Ex. 17:11-12; Num. 12:13; 1 Sam. 7:5-9). These leaders called on God in the day of trouble. God answered them and spoke to them in the pillar of cloud, and they obeyed His word.
Some older translations read "their inventions," which sounds like clever ideas. The word behind it is plainer than that.
In Ps. 99:8; Ps. 106:29, 39, the word signifies "doings."
The verse holds two things together at once. One writer shows how both run through God's dealings, then and now.
Israel had completely failed. They had cast off the LORD, rejected the Messiah, and were judged and cast off. But the LORD had never given up His faithfulness and grace. So the Spirit turns back here to recognise the saints of the old covenant who had, through grace, been faithful. The relationship of faith was there. The LORD answered them, but He also governed His people, taking vengeance on their doings. So, at the end, everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved; but how surely He punishes their doings! These are the two hinges of all God's ways — grace, and an ear of goodness open to the cry of the meek and needy, and government that is holy and true. So with us: only we have a Father's government (still God's) after salvation and adoption.
Notice what the punishment falls on. The text does not say He took vengeance on them.
Because they were His, He answered them. He was a "forgiving God," for they were often in great need of forgiveness. Because He loved them, He took vengeance on their deeds, not on them personally (v. 8). But He did use the discipline they needed.
If God shrugged at sin, the word "forgiving" would lose its weight. The severity in this verse is what keeps the mercy honest.
On them it was not wrath, but chastening love. It was grace, showing itself by declaring His wrath on the evil, to make them "share His holiness" (Heb. 12:10). So "grace reigns" in holiness as well as in righteousness. The "vengeance" only shows that the forgiveness is real forgiveness, and not indifference. It also shows that "without holiness no one will see the Lord" (Heb. 12:14).
This is not only ancient history. One writer applies it to David's time living among the Philistines.
The full year and four months David spent in the land of the Philistines show none of the brightness that marked his time in the wilderness with his followers. Psalm 99:8 says, "O LORD our God, you answered them; you were a forgiving God to them, but an avenger of their wrongdoings," and this holds good in principle today. Compare 1 Cor. 11:31-32: "But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world."
The psalm looks back so it can look forward. Past mercy becomes the ground for future mercy.
Can the godly remnant hope for any favour at His hand? His ways with Moses, Aaron, and Samuel are recalled as encouragement (6-8). God forgave them. He can and will act in similar grace towards the faithful remnant of His earthly people.
- They called. Moses, Aaron and Samuel prayed for a failing nation, and God answered them.
- He forgave. Grace met people who needed forgiving again and again.
- He disciplined. The vengeance fell on their doings, not on their persons — chastening love, not wrath.
- Both are one. Grace and government are the two hinges of all God's ways. The discipline is what proves the pardon is real.
- Still true. The same principle runs on today, under a Father's hand: He disciplines His own so they will not be condemned with the world.
Exalt Jehovah our God, and worship at the hill of his holiness; for holy is Jehovah our God.
Twice already this psalm has stopped to say that the Lord is holy. It ends by saying it a third time, with a call to lift Him high and bow at His mountain — so why holiness, and why that mountain?
The repeated word frames the whole psalm. Here it marks where all God's dealings are heading.
The final result of all God's dealings in grace and government will be to surround Himself with a people who "worship at his holy mountain." For the third time the psalm reminds us that "God is holy" (vv. 3, 5, 9). In heaven there will be a redeemed people "holy and without blame before him in love." On earth there will be a company worshipping at His holy mountain, made fit for His holy name.
The nations praise a name that is holy. Some can add a personal word to it. (The writer follows an older translation, where verse 3 says the Name is holy and verse 5 says "He is holy.")
He is the King who loves justice, and the peoples praise His Name: "It is holy." But there are those who can say "the LORD our God." In a nearer and more intimate way they can say, "He is holy" (v. 5). They worship at His footstool — at the hill of His holiness. Is not this Zion? (Compare v. 2 and v. 9). Looking back over the great principles of His ways with their fathers, they exalt Him and cry, "the LORD our God is holy."
In verse 8 God forgave the same people He punished. That is not a contradiction. The punishing had a purpose.
Upon them it was not wrath, but chastening love — grace that showed itself in this, that it declared His wrath upon the evil, to make them "share His holiness" (Heb. 12:10). So "grace reigns" in holiness as well as righteousness. The very "vengeance" shows that the forgiveness is real forgiveness, and not indifference. It also shows that without holiness no one will see the Lord (Heb. 12:14). Blessed, healthy lessons, worthy of God to give!
The place named is not chosen at random. It is where God has set His throne on earth, and it becomes the meeting point for the nations.
When Messiah's glory appears, the full rays of the divine holiness will shine out on the furthest families of the nations. Long ago that holiness dwelt hidden in Israel's tabernacle, veiled from every eye — even from the tribes of His own inheritance… Verse 5 states plainly that Jerusalem is holy, as the footstool of the Lord and the appointed place where the nations gather to worship His name.
Verse 9 does not ask for something new. Verse 6 has already named three men who did it.
The three together — Moses, Aaron and Samuel — stand here as practical examples of the worship the people are now called to. These were the men who drew near to Him, His priests. Samuel was not a priest by office, but in practice he stood in that place when the priests themselves had left Him. He was known above all as one who called on His Name. All these He had answered in His faithfulness, drawing near to those who drew near to Him.
One writer applies the verse to King Josiah, who set out to restore Israel's worship.
The king was right to feel that the Lord must be worshipped in pure surroundings. "Exalt the LORD our God, and worship at his holy mountain; for the LORD our God is holy" (Ps. 99:9)… Josiah's order is instructive. First he purged the land and the temple. Next he "repaired the house of the LORD his God." Then he felt ready to call the people together to keep the feast.
- Holy, three times. The word closes verses 3, 5 and 9 — the psalm's refrain and its argument, not a decoration.
- Holy to us. The nations praise a holy name; those who say "our God" speak of that same holiness from nearer in.
- Holy through pardon. In verse 8 God forgives and still punishes wrongdoing, so the pardon is real and it brings the people to share His holiness.
- Holy ground. The mountain is Zion, the Lord's footstool on earth, and from it His holiness shines out to the furthest nations.
- Holy worshippers. Moses, Aaron and Samuel show the drawing near the psalm calls for; Josiah shows the clearing out that makes room for it.