“The Lord reigns” could be translated as
“YHWH is King.” (NRSV, JPS)
By saying this the psalmists is saying:
“Marduk is NOT king!” and “Osiris is NOT king!” and “Ashur is NOT king!” because “Yhwh IS king!”

The Assyrians united the empire by presenting their god Ashur as the supreme god over all the nations. In fact, this Assyrian doctrine and political aspiration made its way into Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Ahaz (2 Kings 16:10-15) and Manasseh.

But, in Psalm 99:1-5 it is the Lord (Yhwh) who reigns over the trembling nations. Yhwh is not only the God of his covenant people Israel, but he is also above the nations, and so, the rightful response of the nations is to praise him.

The thing that separates Yhwh from the pagan images and idolatrous deities is his character. The Lord Yhwh is:

• Holy
• Lover of justice
• Mighty
• Does what is right

The pagan gods and idols are none of these things. Israel then asks the nations to “Exalt and worship our God!”

The image of the Lord’s feet resting on the Ark of the Covenant which served as his footstool
(Ps. 11:4; 47:8; 99:1) in Solomon’s temple would make the two large gold covered olive wood cherubim the seat upon which the Lord sat. These cherubim did not face each other, but instead stood parallel to each other and faced forward out towards the Holy Place from inside the Most Holy Place (1 Kings 6:23-28) The Lord is pictured seated on the wings of these two cherubim in Ezekiel 10 and Ezekiel 1.

The words of Scripture have divine authority. Jesus said “the Scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35) and that the words would never pass away (Matthew 5:17-18). The details of scriptural authority extend to:

1. All written Scripture
(2 Timothy 3:16)

2. All the words in Scripture (Matthew 22:43;
1 Corinthians 2:13)

3. Even the verb tenses or noun forms are maintained as part of inspired Scripture. (Matthew 22:32;
Galatians 3:16)

4. Even the smallest parts of the letters that make up the words are God-breathed Scripture. (Matthew 5:17-18)