Psalms

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Psalm 99

1 The Lord reigns! The nations tremble. He sits enthroned above the cherubim;⁠ the earth shakes. 2 The Lord is elevated in Zion; he is exalted over all the nations. 3 Let them praise your great and awesome name. He is holy!⁠ 4 The king is strong; he loves justice. You ensure that legal decisions will be made fairly; you promote justice and equity in Jacob. 5 Praise the Lord our God. Worship before his footstool.⁠ He is holy! 6 Moses and Aaron were among his priests; Samuel was one of those who prayed to him.⁠ They prayed to the Lord and he answered them.⁠ 7 He spoke to them from a pillar of cloud; they obeyed his regulations and the ordinance he gave them. 8 O Lord our God, you answered them. They found you to be a forgiving God, but also one who punished their sinful deeds. 9 Praise the Lord our God! Worship on his holy hill, for the Lord our God is holy.

Texts in conversation

Compare Psalm 99:6 and Ecclesiastes Rabbah 1:4

Hebrew Bible · Rabbinic

Summary

Psalm 99 lists Moses, Aaron, and Samuel together as men God answered. Rabbinic tradition in Ecclesiastes Rabbah connects that with the list of judges in 1 Samuel to argue that whoever leads a community now ranks with the celebrated leaders of the past.

Passages

Psalm 99:6

Hebrew Bible

5 Praise the Lord our God. Worship before his footstool. He is holy! 6 Moses and Aaron were among his priests; Samuel was one of those who prayed to him. They prayed to the Lord and he answered them. 7 He spoke to them from a pillar of cloud; they obeyed his regulations and the ordinance he gave them.

600–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Psalms

Ecclesiastes Rabbah 1:4

Rabbinic · Aggadah

Rabbi Yoḥanan said: It is written: “The Lord who made Moses and Aaron…” (I Samuel 12:6), and it is written: “The Lord sent Yerubaal, Bedan, Yiftaḥ and Samuel” (I Samuel 12:11). Yerubaal, this is Gideon; Bedan, this is Samson; Yiftaḥ as its plain meaning. And it is written: “Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among those who call His name” (Psalms 99:6) – the verse parallels three of the insignificant people of the world to three of the prominent people of the world,³ to teach you that Yerubaal’s court is as great and significant before the Holy One blessed be He as Moses’s court; Samson’s court is the equivalent of Aaron’s court; and Yiftaḥ’s court is the equivalent of Samuel’s court. This teaches you that anyone who is appointed a leader of the community, even if he is extremely insignificant, he is like the noblest of their noble predecessors, as it is stated: “You shall come to the priests, the Levites, and to the judge who will be in those days…” (Deuteronomy 17:9).

700–950 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Ecclesiastes Rabbah

References

“... Ecclesiastes 1:4 constitutes part of a section that speaks of the repetitive motion of life which is indicative of futility. The compiler of Ecclesiastes Rabbah overlooked the contextual meaning of Eccl 1:4 and wrote a discourse on the equal worth of Jewish leaders past and present. The Rabbis transformed the meaning of Eccl 1:4, and used Ps 99:6, which they introduced with the expression “it is also written,” in order to explain the base verse. This severalfold function of the base and the intertextual verses validates the present type of multiform intertextuality: [...] The concern of this passage is to defend the position, status, and reputation of the rabbinic office. The rabbinic message is indicative of its purpose; an appointed leader of a community, irrespective of his ethical status, is on the same level of worthiness with the most celebrated rabbinic authorities of the past. Ecclesiastes 1:4, under the Rabbis’ conspicuous interpretative manipulation, assists in their apologetic effort to highlight the importance of their class. ...”

Michail Kitsos, “Examples of Intertextuality in Ecclesiastes Rabbah: An Examination of the Book of Psalms in Ecclesiastes Rabbah with Methodological Nuances,” in Reading Ecclesiastes Intertextually, ed. Katharine Dell and Will Kynes (London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2014), 279–280.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

Psalms150 psalms

Compare Psalm 99:6 and Ecclesiastes Rabbah 1:4

Summary

Passages

Psalm 99:6

Ecclesiastes Rabbah 1:4

References

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