On High: Ma’rohm, masculine noun (Strong’s 4791).
Last week we looked at the phrase Who is like You? This week we’re going to continue looking at Psalm 71:19 and the word(s) “on high” or in Hebrew, ma’rohm.
Let’s take a look at how various translations break down Psalm 71:19…
NASB: For Your righteousness, God, reaches to the heavens, You who have done great things; God, who is like You?
NKJV: Also Your righteousness, O God, is very high, You who have done great things; O God, who is like You?
Aramaic Bible: And your righteousness, oh God, is unto The Highest Place, and the great things that you have done! Who is like you?
NET Bible: Your justice, O God, extends to the skies above; you have done great things. O God, who can compare to you?
NRSV: …and your righteousness, O God, reach the high heavens. You who have done great things, O God, who is like you?
ISV: Your many righteous deeds, God, are great. God, who can compare to you…
The question is, what is the status of God’s righteousness/justice?
- NKJV says that it is “very high”
- NASB says it “reaches to the heavens”
- The Aramaic Bible says it is “unto the Highest Place”
- The NET Bible says it “extends to the skies above”
- NRSV says it reaches “the high heavens”
- And the ISV leaves it out completely, saying instead that God’s righteous deeds are “great”
The Hebrew here is ad ma’rohm [עד מרום], literally meaning as far as [ad] from the high place [ma-rohm]. It’s the height of all heights.
Ma’rohm is a masculine noun, making it a place, and it comes from the Hebrew verb rum/room, meaning raised up, lifted high, or exalted. The prefix ma means from or out of so that we should see God’s righteousness is from the highest place.
YHWH was continually identified as being from “on high” and from the heights He created the heavens and the earth.
The garden of Eden was on the earth, but it also was often associated with the “mountain of God”. It’s a crossover where the divine and the earthly realms overlap in union. A touch of heaven on earth and a touch of earth onto the YHWH’s high place. And God saw that it was good!
But the melding of heaven and earth was severed when Adam and Eve left the Eden Garden. Now we are in the wilderness of earth and God is in the heights.
Location, Location, Location
The sense that we are down here and God is up there, highlights the separation that stands between us. In Isaiah we are told to look up and see the Creator:
Isaiah 40:25-26
“To whom then will you compare Me that I would be his equal?” says the Holy One.
Raise your eyes on high [ma’rohm מָר֨וֹם] and see who has created these stars, the One who brings out their multitude by number, He calls them all by name; because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, not one of them is missing.
We can look up and see the glory of YHWH and yet we can also pray, like David, that He would come down and save us:
Psalm 144:5-8
[David:] Bend down Your heavens, YHWH, and come down; touch the mountains, that they may smoke. Flash forth lightning and scatter them; send out Your arrows and confuse them. Reach out with Your hand from on high [mi-ma’rohm מִמָּ֫ר֥וֹם]; rescue me and save me from great waters, from the hand of foreigners whose mouths speak deceit, and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
YHWH responds to our prayers from on high! He sees us, hears us, and reacts!
Psalm 102:18-20
This will be written for the generation to come, that a people yet to be created may praise YHWH: For He looked down from His holy height [mi-ma’rohm מִמְּר֣וֹם]; from heaven YHWH looked upon the earth, to hear the groaning of the prisoner, to set free those who were doomed to death.
YHWH doesn’t sit in some secluded palace oblivious to the plights of His people. He wants to connect with us and bring us home! Wandering in the wilderness means we’re headed for death, but God would come and provide an escape from eternal death. And He would arrive in the most unique and unexpected way.
The Wicked try to place themselves “On High”
One of the main points of contention is that humans know that God is above, unreachable by human standards, and yet they constantly assume the role of the elevated. They want to claim the on high status for themselves:
Habakkuk 2:9-11
“Woe to him who makes evil profit for his household, to put his nest on high [ba-ma’rohm בַּמָּרוֹם֙], to be saved from the hand of catastrophe! You have planned a shameful thing for your house by bringing many peoples to an end; so you are sinning against yourself. For the stone will cry out from the wall, and the rafter will answer it from the framework.”
In other words, this careful house you’ve built is going to fall down because you raised yourself up at the expense of others. You sought to be like God (on high), under our own power and volition, and you’ll fall from the heights because of it!
Obadiah 1:2-4 (see also Jeremiah 49:15-16)
[YHWH to the nation of Edom:] “Behold, I will make you small among the nations; you are greatly despised. The arrogance of your heart has deceived you, the one who lives in the clefts of the rock, on the height [ma’rohm מְר֣וֹם] of his dwelling place, who says in his heart, ‘Who will bring me down to earth?’
“Though you make your home high like the eagle, though you set your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down,” declares YHWH.
Edom, with their sense of heightened entitlement would not survive. They placed themselves above all others and God would bring them down off their high and mighty perch.
The Psalmist Asaph placed his hope in a God who would not let the wicked stand above him:
Psalm 73:8-9, 23-28
[Asaph:] They [the wicked] mock and wickedly speak of oppression; they speak from on high [mi-m’rohm מִמָּר֥וֹם]. They have set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue parades through the earth…
…Nevertheless I am continually with You; You have taken hold of my right hand. You will guide me with Your plan, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom do I have in heaven but You? And with You, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For, behold, those who are far from You will perish; You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to You. But as for me, the nearness of God is good for me; I have made the Lord YHWH my refuge, so that I may tell of all Your works.
The “Highs” and “Lows” of YHWH
In the scroll of Isaiah, YHWH is represented as dwelling on high and alongside the lowly:
Isaiah 57:15
For this is what the high [ram רָ֣ם] and exalted One who lives forever, whose name is Holy, says:
“I dwell in a high [ma’rohm מָר֥וֹם] and holy place, and also with the contrite and lowly of spirit in order to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.”
YHWH is on high but He also makes His presence known amongst us. He lives in humility, as should we. To truly reflect the image of YHWH, we shouldn’t elevate ourselves, we should bow ourselves down and lift up those in need:
Micah 6:6-8
With what shall I come to YHWH, bowing myself before the God on high [ma’rohm מָר֑וֹם]?
Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings, with yearling calves? Does YHWH take pleasure in thousands of rams, in ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give Him my firstborn for my wrongdoings, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
He has told you, mortal one, what is good; and what does YHWH require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
Life isn’t meant to be about seeing, desiring and taking. It isn’t about raising yourself above others with the accumulation of wealth and possessions. Life is about giving and finding ways to lift others up at the expense of yourself.
However, it’s not up to us to bring others down from their illusions of high status and self-importance. YHWH will do that work:
Isaiah 26:4-6
“Trust in YHWH forever, for in Yah YHWH we have an everlasting Rock. For He has brought low those who dwell on high [ma’rohm מָר֔וֹם], the unassailable city; He lays it low, He lays it low to the ground, He casts it to the dust. The foot will trample it, the feet of the poor, the steps of the helpless.”
Visiting Earth from On High
YHWH’s dwelling place is on high. We understand this spatially (as far as our minds can comprehend), but it’s also meant to convey the Divine supremacy of the Creator. YHWH is beyond our reach, but still worth reaching for! Our hope is that He comes down to us, where we’re at, to interact with His people and make a difference in our lives.
King David was so grateful for God’s interaction in his life. He celebrate, with poetry, his rescue and redemption:
2 Samuel 22:17-20 (see also Psalm 18)
[David:] “He [YHWH] (was) sent from on high [mi-ma-rohm מִמָּר֖וֹם], He took me; He drew me out of many waters. He rescued me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me, for they were too strong for me.
They confronted me on the day of my disaster, but YHWH was my support. He also brought me out into an open place; He rescued me, because He delighted in me.”
God came to David where he was at. We find this throughout the Tanakh (Old Testament) when YHWH became present to people in the visual form of the Angel (Messenger) of YHWH (malak YHWH).
Hagar, desperate in the wilderness, was comforted by the angel of YHWH (Genesis 16), Abraham was stopped by the angel of YHWH from sacrificing Isaac (Genesis 22) Jacob wrestled with God-man-angel (Genesis 32, Hosea 12), Moses interacted with the angel of YHWH/YHWH at the burning bush (Exodus 3), the Angel of YHWH stood in opposition to Balaam (Numbers 22), Gideon was visited by the angel of YHWH before facing the Midianites, Sampson’s mother was visited by the angel of YHWH who announced her upcoming pregnancy… this was God coming down and interacting in their lives.
All these moments pointed to a time when God’s Anointed One (Messiah) would come and wander upon the earth. He would face the wilderness alongside all humans in order to save the whole of humanity. This action was fulfilled when Yeshua (Jesus) came from on high and dwelt among the people.
When John (the Baptiser) was born, his father Zechariah, filled with the Holy Spirit, made a poetic (and prophetic) announcement to his son:
Luke 1:76-79
[Zechariah to the infant, John:] “And you, child, also will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare His ways; to give His people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, with which the Sunrise from on high [Greek: ex hypsous] will visit us, to shine on those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
This is a beautiful declaration. John would be the final prophet to herald the earthly arrival of the Most High Messiah. This Anointed One of YHWH (“The Sunrise from on high will visit us”) would come to shine a light to expose darkness and defeat death! This was spectacular news. He would visit the world and during His visitation He would save the world:
John 1:14-16
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us; and we saw His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John testified about Him and called out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who is coming after me has proved to be my superior, because He existed before me.’”
For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.
The grace we received was the gift of life beyond this mortal coil. Yeshua defeated death with his own death and paid the way to return us home, guiding our feet to the path of peace.
Luke 24:44-53
Now He said to them (His disciples), “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all the things that are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and He said to them, “So it is written, that the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high [Greek: ex hypsous].”
And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. While He was blessing them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they, after worshiping Him, returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple praising God.
Yeshua would go back up into the heavens. He would return to the heights from which He came. But notice what He said to His disciples: soon they would be, “clothed with power from on high”. This was pointing to a promise that Yeshua had made to His disciples before His crucifixion:
John 14:16-17, 26
“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, so that He may be with you forever; the Helper is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him; but you know Him because He remains with you and will be in you… the Helper, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and remind you of all that I said to you.”
During the Jewish festival of Shavuot (Pentecost) in Jerusalem the Holy Spirit, from on high, was infused into the hearts of all believers (Acts 2). They would now carry the power of the heights within them. This moment of the pouring of the Spirit on humanity was prophesied centuries earlier:
Isaiah 32:15-18
Until the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high [mi-ma’rohm מִמָּר֑וֹם], and the wilderness becomes a fertile field, and the fertile field is considered as a forest, then justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness will remain in the fertile field.
And the work of righteousness will be peace, and the service of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever. Then my people will live in a peaceful settlement, in secure dwellings, and in undisturbed resting places…
With the great “Helper” within us, we can stand tall as the true Image Bearers of YHWH, becoming the kind of humans we were always meant to be… loving, just, compassionate, merciful, honest, righteous, knowledgeable, wise and kind:
Isaiah 33:5-6, 15-17
YHWH is exalted, for He dwells on high [ma’rohm מָר֑וֹם]; He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness. And He will be the stability of your times, a wealth of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge; the fear of YHWH is his treasure….
…One who walks righteously and speaks with integrity, one who rejects unjust gain and shakes his hands so that they hold no bribe; one who stops his ears from hearing about bloodshed and shuts his eyes from looking at evil; he will dwell on the heights [m’rohmim מְרוֹמִ֣ים], his refuge will be the impregnable rock; his bread will be given him, his water will be sure.
Your eyes will see the King in His beauty; they will see a distant land.
It’s all about living like we’re already “on high” instead of just wandering “down here”. If we hand over our lives to the Spirit who is breathing and moving within us, we will (one day) see YHWH, our King in all His beauty. On that day we will see the “distant land”, the true “on high” for which we are all destined, because Yeshua (with His sacrifice) has put our feet on the path of peace. We just have to walk forward, prayerfully, one step at a time! Hallelujah! Amen!
Next week: A Special Announcement
Hebrew Word Lessons 