This second song in a trilogy has become the source for quite a number of hymns and praise songs in recent decades. The first half serves to justify the rest.
In these first four verses, this psalm written by the Korahites calls for both Israel and all nations to praise our Creator. Far more than the rowdy exuberance of fans whose sports team have just won a match, this is more deeply thrilling like a nation who have won a hard fought war under the command of their king. However, in this case, it is their God who has demonstrated His mastery of all the earth. Thus, He could have chosen any place on earth for Israel’s inheritance, but this Promised Land was the one place He wanted to make His earthly home. It is the homeland He shares with His chosen nation.
So with all the boundless pride and the matching grateful humility, the second half of the psalm exhorts the nation to extravagant formal worship. If this paints the image of standard protocols demanded by earthly potentates during special celebrations, how much more so the God who made all things. Of course this is all symbolic imagery, but it’s the only way to get a worshiper in the proper frame of mind.
