This short psalm names three men from three different eras — Moses, Aaron, Samuel — and finds in all three the same pattern: genuine intimacy with God that never once excused them from real accountability.
A study in Psalm 99 · Arthur Baldwin · StandUp4Jesus.Org · 9 min read
The LORD Reigneth; Let The People Tremble
“The LORD reigneth; let the people tremble: he sitteth between the cherubims; let the earth be moved. The LORD is great in Zion; and he is high above all the people.”
Psalm 99:1-2
“Between the cherubims” places God specifically above the mercy seat of the ark, the exact spot where His presence was understood to dwell — not a vague cosmic sovereignty, but a rule genuinely located, tied to a specific place Israel could actually point to.
“The Lord reigneth; Let the people tremble: He sitteth between the cherubims; Let the earth be moved. The Lord is great in Zion; And He is high above all the people. Let them praise Thy great and terrible name; For it is holy… Exalt ye the Lord our God, And worship at His footstool; For He is holy.”
Ellen G. White · Prophets and Kings, p. 39
White places this psalm at the dedication of Solomon’s temple, the very moment the glory cloud filled the newly completed house — Solomon standing on a raised brass platform before the entire assembled nation, this psalm apparently the fitting response to that specific, visible display of God’s presence.
Exalt Ye The LORD Our God
“The king’s strength also loveth judgment; thou dost establish equity, thou executest judgment and righteousness in Jacob. Exalt ye the LORD our God, and worship at his footstool; for he is holy.”
Psalm 99:4-5
“The king’s strength also loveth judgment” connects God’s own reign to the standard a human king is meant to follow — strength used to establish equity, the same quality real royal power is supposed to demonstrate on a smaller, human scale.
Moses And Aaron Among His Priests
“Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among them that call upon his name; they called upon the LORD, and he answered them. He spake unto them in the cloudy pillar: they kept his testimonies, and the ordinance that he gave them.”
Psalm 99:6-7
These three names span roughly four hundred years of Israel’s history — the exodus generation and the era of the judges bridged into one single sentence, three men chosen deliberately as examples of the same close relationship with God across very different centuries.
Thou Wast A God That Forgavest Them
“Thou answeredst them, O LORD our God: thou wast a God that forgavest them, though thou tookest vengeance of their inventions.”
Psalm 99:8
Even Moses, who never entered Canaan because of his own failure at the waters of Meribah, is honestly included in this verse’s pairing of forgiveness and consequence — genuine intimacy with God, the psalm insists, never once functioned as an exemption from real accountability.
“Exalt the LORD our God, and worship at his holy hill; for the LORD our God is holy.”
Psalm 99:9
The word “holy” closes all three sections of this psalm in turn, the single word this entire song keeps circling back to — every other theme, God’s reign, His justice, His forgiveness of His closest servants, ultimately traced back to this same one root quality.
