Look! Praise Yahweh, all you servants of Yahweh, who stand by night in Yahweh’s house!
Lift up your hands in the sanctuary. Praise Yahweh!
May Yahweh bless you from Zion, even he who made heaven and earth.
Parallel Translations
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Look! Praise Yahweh, all you servants of Yahweh, who stand by night in Yahweh’s house!
Lift up your hands in the sanctuary. Praise Yahweh!
May Yahweh bless you from Zion, even he who made heaven and earth.
-
Behold, bless ye the LORD, all ye servants of the LORD, which by night stand in the house of the LORD.
Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the LORD.
The LORD that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion.
Show all 3 translations
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A Song of Ascents. Behold, bless ye the LORD, all ye servants of the LORD, that stand in the house of the LORD in the night seasons.
Lift up your hands to the sanctuary, and bless ye the LORD.
The LORD bless thee out of Zion; even He that made heaven and earth.
Cross-references (41)
- Psalms 128:5 (v3) May Yahweh bless you out of Zion, and may you see the good of Jerusalem all the days of your life.
- Psalms 28:2 (v2) Hear the voice of my petitions, when I cry to you, when I lift up my hands toward your Most Holy Place.
- 1 Timothy 2:8 (v2) I desire therefore that the men in every place pray, lifting up holy hands without anger and doubting.
- Psalms 63:4 (v2) So I will bless you while I live. I will lift up my hands in your name.
- Psalms 120:1 (v1) In my distress, I cried to Yahweh. He answered me.
Show all 41 cross-references
- 1 Chronicles 9:33 (v1) These are the singers, heads of fathers’ households of the Levites, who lived in the rooms and were free from other service; for they were…
- Psalms 20:2 (v3) send you help from the sanctuary, grant you support from Zion,
- Psalms 135:1-2 (v1) Praise Yah! Praise Yahweh’s name! Praise him, you servants of Yahweh, you who stand in Yahweh’s house, in the courts of our God’s house.
- Psalms 141:2 (v2) Let my prayer be set before you like incense; the lifting up of my hands like the evening sacrifice.
- 2 Chronicles 29:11 (v1) My sons, don’t be negligent now; for Yahweh has chosen you to stand before him, to minister to him, and that you should be his ministers,…
- Psalms 124:8 (v3) Our help is in Yahweh’s name, who made heaven and earth.
- Lamentations 3:41 (v2) Let’s lift up our heart with our hands to God in the heavens.
- Revelation 19:5 (v1) A voice came from the throne, saying, “Give praise to our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, the small and the great!”
- Leviticus 8:35 (v1) You shall stay at the door of the Tent of Meeting day and night seven days, and keep Yahweh’s command, that you don’t die: for so I am…
- Psalms 122:1 (v1) I was glad when they said to me, “Let’s go to Yahweh’s house!”
- Psalms 135:21 (v3) Blessed be Yahweh from Zion, who dwells at Jerusalem. Praise Yah!
- Psalms 146:5-6 (v3) Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in Yahweh, his God: who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in…
- Lamentations 2:19 (v2) Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the watches! Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord. Lift up your…
- Romans 11:26 (v3) and so all Israel will be saved. Even as it is written, “There will come out of Zion the Deliverer, and he will turn away ungodliness from…
- Psalms 26:6 (v2) I will wash my hands in innocence, so I will go about your altar, Yahweh,
- Psalms 63:2 (v2) So I have seen you in the sanctuary, watching your power and your glory.
- Psalms 121:1 (v1) I will lift up my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from?
- Psalms 135:19-21 (v1) House of Israel, praise Yahweh! House of Aaron, praise Yahweh! House of Levi, praise Yahweh! You who fear Yahweh, praise Yahweh! Blessed be…
- Luke 2:37 (v1) and she had been a widow for about eighty-four years), who didn’t depart from the temple, worshiping with fastings and petitions night and…
- Psalms 110:2 (v3) Yahweh will send out the rod of your strength out of Zion. Rule among your enemies.
- Psalms 131:1 (v1) Yahweh, my heart isn’t arrogant, nor my eyes lofty; nor do I concern myself with great matters, or things too wonderful for me.
- Psalms 132:1 (v1) Yahweh, remember David and all his affliction,
- Deuteronomy 10:8 (v1) At that time Yahweh set apart the tribe of Levi to bear the ark of Yahweh’s covenant, to stand before Yahweh to minister to him, and to…
- 1 Chronicles 23:30-32 (v1) and to stand every morning to thank and praise Yahweh, and likewise in the evening; and to offer all burnt offerings to Yahweh, on the…
- Psalms 14:7 (v3) Oh that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion! When Yahweh restores the fortunes of his people, then Jacob shall rejoice, and…
- Psalms 123:1 (v1) I lift up my eyes to you, you who sit in the heavens.
- Psalms 126:1 (v1) When Yahweh brought back those who returned to Zion, we were like those who dream.
- Psalms 128:1 (v1) Blessed is everyone who fears Yahweh, who walks in his ways.
- Psalms 129:1 (v1) Many times they have afflicted me from my youth up. Let Israel now say,
- Psalms 130:6 (v1) My soul longs for the Lord more than watchmen long for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.
- Psalms 103:21 (v1) Praise Yahweh, all you armies of his, you servants of his, who do his pleasure.
- Psalms 133:1 (v1) See how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to live together in unity!
- 1 Chronicles 9:23 (v1) So they and their children had the oversight of the gates of Yahweh’s house, even the house of the tent, as guards.
- Psalms 124:1 (v1) If it had not been Yahweh who was on our side, let Israel now say,
- Psalms 125:1 (v1) Those who trust in Yahweh are as Mount Zion, which can’t be moved, but remains forever.
- Psalms 127:1 (v1) Unless Yahweh builds the house, they who build it labor in vain. Unless Yahweh watches over the city, the watchman guards it in vain.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (27 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv1, 3 1. Behold! bless ye Jehovah. Some interpreters think, that…
1. Behold! bless ye Jehovah. Some interpreters think, that others besides the Levites are here intended, and it must be granted, at least, that some of the more zealous of the people remained over night in the Temple, as we read (Luke 2:37) of Anna, a widow, “who served God constantly with prayers night and day.” “We know generally,” says Fry, “that there was a nightly service in the Temple, (2 Chronicles 21:) and Kimchi, a Jewish writer, represents those who by night stand in the house of the Lord, as holy men who rose from their beds in the night and went to pray in the Temple.” After referring to the case of “Anna, a Prophetess,” he adds, “And St. Paul, before Agrippa, speaking ‘of the hope of the promise made unto the fathers,’ gives us this remarkable description: ‘unto which our’ twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come. There was public service in the Temple at Jerusalem not only by day but by night; which latter service many of the Jews, for whose special use this and the next Psalm seem to have been composed, were in the habit of attending.” — Cresswell.
Ye servants off the Lord, etc., i.e., ye Levites, whose duty it was, according to the Talmudists, to keep watch by night, standing in the Temple: the High Priest was the only one who sat in the Temple. Compare Leviticus 8:35; 1 Chronicles 9:33 Psalm 92:2; Psalm 119:147; Luke 2:37.” — Cresswell.
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“Car a quel propos les hommes eslevent ils les mains en priant, sinon afin qu’ils eslevent aussi leurs esprits a Dieu?” — Ft.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1–3 Ye that are Levites and chiefly appointed to this…
Ye that are Levites and chiefly appointed to this office.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–3 Psa 134:1 « A Song of degrees. » Behold,…
Psa 134:1 « A Song of degrees. » Behold, bless ye the LORD, all [ye] servants of the LORD, which by night stand in the house of the LORD.
Ver. 1. Behold, bless ye the Lord] This short psalm (the last of the fifteen graduals) is breve Sacerdotum speculum, saith an expositor; a mirror for ministers, who are first excited by a Behold, as by the sounding of a trumpet, or the ringing of a sermon bell. And, secondly, exhorted to praise God, and to pray unto him; whereunto if we add their teaching of Jacob God’s judgments, whereof Moses reminds them, Deu 33:10, what more can be required of Archippus, to the fulfilling of his ministry? and if he be slack, he must be told of it, Col 4:17, yet with all due respect and reverence to his office, 1Ti 5:1. And it were far better, if they would rouse up themselves with the wakeful cock, and not keep sleepy sentry in the sanctuary.
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All ye servants of the Lord] Ye priests and Levites, who are God’s servants, but of a more than ordinary alloy; servants of noblest employment about him. Such are all faithful ministers; each of them may say with Paul, Act 27:23, "Whose I am, and whom I serve."
Which by night stand in the house of the Lord] Keeping watch and ward there in your turns, Num 18:1-2, &c.; 1Ch 9:33. The Rabbis say, that the high-priest only sat in the sanctuary (as did Eli, 1Sa 1:1-28), the rest stood, as ready priest to do their office.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1–3 Behold, bless ye the Lord; do not stand there…
Behold, bless ye the Lord; do not stand there like statues, dumb and idle, but employ your hearts and tongues in singing forth the praises of the Lord.
Ye servants of the Lord; peculiarly so called, priests and Levites, who are set apart to the service of God and of the sanctuary, as the next clause restrains this general expression. By night; not only by day, but also and especially by night, when their watch was more necessary. See Exo 27:21; Lev 8:35; 1Sa 3:3. As you watch by night when others sleep, so do you utter the praises of God when others are silent.
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Stand, i.e. serve or minister, as this word is used, Deu 10:8; 18:7, and oft elsewhere. House; which word includes both the temple and courts belonging to it, as hath been noted before.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v1 This psalm instructs us concerning a two-fold blessing: -
This psalm instructs us concerning a two-fold blessing: -
I. Our blessing God, that is, speaking well of him, which here we are taught to do, Psa 134:1, Psa 134:2. 1. It is a call to the Levites to do it. They were the servants of the Lord by office, appointed to minister in holy things; they attended the sanctuary, and kept the charge of the house of the Lord, Num 3:6, etc. Some of them did by night stand in the house of the Lord, to guard the holy things of the temple, that they might not be profaned, and the rich things of the temple, that they might not be plundered. While the ark was in curtains there was the more need of guards upon it. They attended likewise to see that neither the fire on the altar nor the lamps in the candlestick went out. Probably it was usual for some devout and pious Israelites to sit up with them; we read of one that departed not from the temple night or day, Luk 2:37. Now these are here called upon to blesss the Lord. Thus they must keep themselves awake by keeping themselves employed. Thus they must redeem time for holy exercises; and how can we spend our time better than in praising God? It would be an excellent piece of husbandry to fill up the vacancies of time with pious meditations and ejaculations; and surely it is a very modest and reasonable to converse with God when we have nothing else to do. Those who stood in the house of the Lord must remember where they were, and that holiness and holy work became that house. Let them therefore bless the Lord; let them all do it in concert, or each by himself; let them lift up their hands in the doing of it, in token of the lifting up of their hearts. Let them lift up their hands in holiness (so Dr. Hammond reads it) or in sanctification, as it is fit when they lift them up in the sanctuary; and let them remember that when they were appointed to wash before they went in to minister they were thereby taught to lift up holy hands in prayer and praise. 2. It is a call to us to do it, who, as Christians, are made priests to our God, and Levites, Isa 66:21. We are the servants of the Lord; we have a place and a name in his house, in his sanctuary; we stand before him to minister to him. Even by night we are under his eye and have access to him. Let us therefore bless the Lord, and again bless him; think and speak of his glory and goodness. Let us lift up our hands in prayer, in praise, in vows; let us do our work with diligence and cheerfulness, and an elevation of mind. This exhortation is ushered in with Behold! a note commanding attention. Look about you, Sirs, when you are in God's presence, and conduct yourselves accordingly.
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II. God's blessing us, and that is doing well for us, which we are here taught to desire, Psa 134:3. Whether it is the watchmen's blessing their captain, or the Levites' blessing the high priest, or whoever was their chief (as many take it, because it is in the singular number, The Lord bless thee), or whether the blessing is pronounced by one upon many ("The Lord bless thee, each of you in particular, thee and thee; you that are blessing God, the Lord bless you"), is not material. We may learn, 1. That we need desire no more to make us happy than to be blessed of the Lord, for those whom he blesses are blessed indeed. 2. That blessings out of Zion, spiritual blessings, the blessings of the covenant, and of communion with God, are the best blessings, which we should be most earnest for. 3. It is a great encouragement to us, when we come to God for a blessing, that it is he who made heaven and earth, and therefore has all the blessings of both at his disposal, the upper and nether springs. 4. We ought to beg these blessings, not only for ourselves, but for others also; not only, The Lord bless me, but, The Lord bless thee, thus testifying our belief of the fulness of divine blessings, that there is enough for others as well as for us, and our good-will also to others. We must pray for those that exhort us. Though the less is blessed of the greater (Heb 7:7), yet the greater must be prayed for by the less.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–3 Behold, bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of…
Behold, bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord,.... All men are of right the servants of God being his creatures; and are under obligation, through his providential goodness, to bless and praise him; though they are not all in fact so: but all good men are, being made so by the power of divine grace; which frees them from the servitude of sin, Satan, and the world, and makes them willing to serve the Lord; as they do in righteousness and holiness, with reverence and godly fear, heartily and willingly, and with great pleasure; and yet have no dependence on any service they perform: and as these are under the highest obligations to bless the Lord; the is, to ascribe greatness to him, to give him the glory of his works, and thanks for his mercies, temporal and spiritual; so they do in this way, and for those things, bless and praise him, to which they are here excited;
which by night stand in the house of the Lord: according to Kimchi, these were the wise and holy men, that rose from their beds in the night, and went to pray in the temple, and to praise the Lord; and such a holy person was Anna, Luk 2:37; according to R. Obadiah and Arama, they were such who continued in the chambers of the temple in the night season to study in the law and in the expositions of it: but it is generally interpreted of the priests and Levites, who watched in the temple by night, that it might not be profaned nor plundered; and they were obliged to stand, for none might sit in the temple but a king of the house of David (d). The priests watched in three places, and the Levites in twenty one, according to the Jewish Misnah (e). The Targum is,
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"who stand in the watch house of the sanctuary of the Lord, and praise in the nights;''
which was one part of their service, Ch1 9:33. Under the Gospel dispensation all the saints are priests, and they have a place in the house of the Lord; where they wait upon him in his ordinances, and serve him, and which they do continually. Some understand, by "nights", times of affliction, darkness, and desertion.
(d) Maimon. Beth Habbechirah, c. 7. s. 6. (e) Middot, c. 1. s. 1.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1, 3 In this Psalm the priests or Levites who watched…
In this Psalm the priests or Levites who watched all night in the temple, exhort one another, and pray for one another, ver. 1-3. A song of degrees.
Servant - Peculiarly so called, priests and Levites. Night - Not only by day, but also by night, when their watch was more necessary. Stand - Serve or minister.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1–3 An exhortation to praise God in his sanctuary, 1-3.
PSALM CXXXIV
An exhortation to praise God in his sanctuary, 1-3.
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NOTES ON PSALM CXXXIV
This is the last of the fifteen Psalms called Psalms of degrees. Who was the author is uncertain; it is attributed to David only by the Syriac; it is intimately connected with the two preceding Psalms, and is an exhortation to the priests and Levites who kept nightly watch in the temple, to the assiduous in praising the Lord. It seems to consist of two parts: 1. An exhortation, probably from the high priest, to those priests and Levites who kept watch in the temple by night, to spend their time profitably, and duly celebrate the praises of God, Ps 134:1-2. The second part, which is contained in the third verse, Ps 134:3 is the prayer of the priests and Levites for the high priest, who seems now to be going to his rest.
Verse 1. Behold, bless ye the Lord] I believe הנה hinneh should be taken here in the sense of take heed! Be upon your guard; you serve a jealous God; provoke him not.
Which by night stand] Who minister during the night.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1, 3 Psa 134:1-2. Behold, bless ye the Lord, &c. —…
Psa 134:1-2. Behold, bless ye the Lord, &c. — Attend to your duty, O ye ministers of the Lord; who not only by day, but by night also, reverently wait upon him in his house, 1Ch 9:33. Employ your hearts and tongues in his praises, and cease not to declare how great and good he is.
Lift up your hands, &c. — Unto God, in prayer and praise; in the sanctuary — In that holy house of God where you stand; or, in holiness, as the margin reads it, and as is prescribed 1Ti 2:8. Do not therefore content yourselves with lifting up your hands, but see that this be done with pure and holy hearts. And bless the Lord — Be fervent and unwearied in your devotions and praises.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1–3 Behold - As if calling attention to the fact…
Behold - As if calling attention to the fact that they were there, or had come.
Bless ye the Lord - Praise Yahweh. Making known their desire that God should be praised, and calling on those who presided over the public worship of the sanctuary to engage now in that service as expressive of their feelings.
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All ye servants of the Lord - The priests or ministers of religion, appointed especially to this service.
Which by night stand in the house of the Lord - There was a class of singers in the temple who devoted the night, or a part of the night, to praise; and it is possible that this service may have been, as it was subsequently in some of the monasteries, continued by succeeding choirs, during the entire night. Thus in 1Ch 9:33, it is said, “And these are the singers, chief of the fathers of the Levites, who remaining in the chambers were free, for they were employed in that work day and night.” This class is particularly addressed in this psalm, as if they were especially favored, or as if they especially possessed the ear of God in the silence of the night, and when the world slumbered around them. There is something favorable to devotion in the silence of the night; when the world sleeps; when we are alone with God; when it seems as if God would more particularly attend to our cry since the rest of the world is still, and does not (as it were) need his care. All this may be fancy; but the effect may be to make the mind more solemn, and better suited for devotion.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 Psalms 134
Psalms 134
A Song of Degrees
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Behold, bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord,
Which by night stand in the house of the Lord.
2 Lift up your hands in the sanctuary,
And bless the Lord.
3 The Lord that made heaven and earth
Bless thee out of Zion.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Contents and Composition.—It is held by some that this Psalm is occupied with the mutual relation of blessing subsisting between God and His servants who praise Him in the sanctuary (Kimchi, J. H. Mich., Hupfeld). Other views are that it is a responsive song between the president of the Levites who hold the night-watch in the Temple, and the Levites themselves (Amyrald), or between those of the Temple-watchers who are mounting guard, and those who are retiring (Köster, Tholuck), or between the Levites on guard among themselves, in order to encourage one another to watchfulness, forming one of a class of songs of the night-watchers (De Wette). But that view is probably the preferable one which regards it as (Psa_134:1-2) an exhortation of the Church to the priests and Levites, who are charged with the night service, and a greeting in response (Psa_134:3), after the priestly model (Num_6:24), to the Church “as one person, and to the individual members in this united Church” (Delitzsch, following older commentators, similarly, Hengstenberg and Hitzig). [Delitzsch: “This Psalm consists of a greeting, Psa_134:1-2, and a reply, Psa_134:3. The greeting is addressed to those priests and Levites who held the night-watch in the Temple. This antiphone is intentionally placed at the end of the collection of the Songs of the Ascents, in order to take the place of a final blessing.”—J. F. M.] There is no indication that it was a form employed to introduce the nightly recitation of hymns, whether by priests or other pious Israelites (Olsh.). The time of composition cannot be determined.
Psa_134:1. Behold.—An exclamation to excite attention (Gen_19:1), instead of pointing with the finger. Every believer is and is called a minister or servant of the Lord, but the designation: “those who stand in the house of the Lord,” is a technical expression, not for the priests and Levites generally, but for those who stand ready before Jehovah to minister in His service. The phrase: at nights, is not to be joined to the following verse (Sept. et al.), or with: “blessed” (Kimchi, Rudinger, Hupfeld). For such cases as that mentioned in Luk_2:37 form exceptions, and the idea: at all times, unceasingly, or: early and late, would require another mode of expression.
Psa_134:2. קֹדֶשׁ is not an accusative of definition = in holiness, that is, after the hands have been washed (Rabbins), or holiness of the kind alluded to in 1Ti_2:8 (Junilius). Nor does it indicate the position of the worshipper = in the sanctuary (Kimchi, Luther). It is an accusative of direction, Psa_28:2 (Sept., Jerome): towards the Holy of Holies. [So nearly all the expositors. E. V. has, by conjecture, the wrong preposition.—J. F. M.]
According to Delitzsch, the Temple-watch was arranged as follows: “After midnight the chief of the door-keepers took the key of the inner Temple, and went, with some of the priests, through the postern in the Fire-gate. In the inner court, this patrol divided itself into two companies, each carrying a burning torch, one company turning west, the other east; and so they compassed the court, to see whether all were in readiness for the following morning. At the bake-house, where the meat-offering of the high-priest was baked, they met, exclaiming: ‘all is well.’ Meanwhile, the rest of the priests arose, bathed themselves, and put on their garments of service. They then went into the square-chamber (one-half of which formed the hall of session of the Sanhedrim), where, under the direction of the Superintendent of the Lot, and of one of the Sanhedrim, surrounded by priests dressed in their robes of office, the duties of the several priests for the ensuing day were assigned them by lot.” Comp. Reland, Antiq. Sacræ, II. 5, 7; 6, 7.
Venema has supposed that בַּלֵילֹות (—in nights) is syncopated from בְּהַלֵּילֹות (=with shouts of praise). Delitzsch rightly characterizes this as a product of fancy, and says: “The Psalter contains Morning Psalms (3, 63) and Evening Psalms (4, 141); why then may it not have a Watch-Psalm?”
[Psa_134:3. Hengstenberg: “That the people are addressed, is clear from the parallel passage, Psa_128:5. Only in that case does the Psalm form a suitable conclusion to the whole Pilgrim-book. That the future is to be taken optatively, … is clear from the undeniable reference to the Mosaic blessing, Num_6:24. The expression: Creator of heaven and earth, comp. Psa_121:2; Psa_124:8, forms the counterpoise to the depth of misery and weakness in which the community of God was sunk.”—J. F. M.]
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
To praise God is the surest means of gaining blessing from Him.—Watching and praying are inseparably connected, and should be the concern of all believers; the ordained ministers of the sanctuary must not allow the people to put them to shame in these duties.
Augustine: If the wicked enemy is ever on the watch to tempt thee, shouldst thou not watch in order to resist him?—Starke: He who would praise the Lord worthily must be a servant of the Lord, and, consequently, not a servant of the world and sin.—God, it is true, is present everywhere, even in the smallest peasant-huts, yea, in the most sequestered nooks, but pre-eminently in the Church.—Those outward gestures in prayer which conduce to devotion and humility, are justly to be retained, and a suppliant has no need to be ashamed of them.—If the blessing of an earthly father can build houses for his children, and extend even to children’s children, how should not still more than this be imparted by the blessing of Him who is the true Father of all that are called His children in Heaven and upon earth! (Eph_3:15).
Frisch: If God is so ready and willing to bestow His blessing upon thee, do not by presumption make thyself unfit or not entitled to receive it.—Richter: How seldom is God praised in the night!—Guenther: God will have the praise, and give us new life thereby.—Diedrich: He who has no higher wish than that God may be blessed unceasingly, shall receive from Him blessing without end.—Taube: God alone is so Almighty as to be able to bless us bodily and spiritually, temporally and eternally, and so compassionate as to be willing to do it.
[Matt. Henry: It would be an excellent piece of good husbandry to fill up the vacancies of time with pious meditations and ejaculations, and surely it is a modest and reasonable demand to converse with God when we have nothing else to do.—We ought to beg those blessings not only for ourselves, but for others also; not only: the Lord bless me, but: the Lord bless thee; thus testifying our belief of the fulness of the Divine blessings, that there is enough for others as well as for us; and our good-will also to others.—Bp. Horne: Thus it is that prayer and praise, which by grace are caused to ascend from our heart to God, will certainly return in the benedictions of heaven upon our souls and bodies, our persons and our families, our churches and our country.—Scott: If our hearts were filled with the love of God, as His holy law commands, our mouths would be filled with His praises, and though our frail bodies would need rest, yet our souls would never be weary of His pleasant service.—Barnes: There is always in Zion—in the Church—a voice by day and night which pronounces a blessing on those who wish it well, who seek its good, and who desire to partake of the favor of God.—Go not away unblessed; go not without a token of the Divine favor; for God will bless you.—J. F. M.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1–3 1. The behold calls for special attention, as if…
1. The behold calls for special attention, as if something important was to be done or said. It was the special duty of the priests to pronounce the blessing on the people.
Bless ye the Lord—We “bless the Lord” when we confess and praise him as the Source of all good. He blesses us when he confers good upon us. The call is to excite and encourage the priests to the duties of their holy office.
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Which… stand in the house of the Lord—The word “stand” denotes being in the place and act of duty, and is specially used of the priest’s office, Deu_10:8; Deu_18:5; Deu_18:7. This attitude of duty continued, in various forms, through the night watches, not only to guard, but to see that everything was ready for the morning service. See introduction. “If the Psalter contains morning psalms (Psalms 3, 63) and evening psalms, (Psalms 4, 141,) why should it not then contain a watch psalm?”
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–3 1. all ye servants of the Lord] Not Israelite…
1. all ye servants of the Lord] Not Israelite worshippers in general, but, as the following clause shews, ministrants in the Temple.
which by night stand in the house of the Lord] ‘To stand before Jehovah’ was the regular term for priestly or Levitical ministration. Cp. Deu_10:8 &c.; Heb_10:11.
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The words imply that services of praise and thanksgiving were held in the Temple at night; possibly a reference to such services is to be found in 1Ch_9:33.
The addition even in the courts of the house of our God in the P.B.V. is derived through the Vulg. from the LXX, and comes from Psa_135:2.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–3 (1) All ye servants.—We learn from 1Ch_9:33 that there…
(1) All ye servants.—We learn from 1Ch_9:33 that there were Levites whose duties brought them to the Temple by night. Moreover, the word ‘âmad, “stand,” is the customary word for sacerdotal service (Deu_10:8; Deu_18:7; 1Ch_23:30, &c).
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1–3 THE "Little Psalter of" "Songs of Ascents" terminates here…
THE "Little Psalter of" "Songs of Ascents" terminates here with a short psalm, due probably to the compiler a psalm of four lines only. It consists of two portions:
(1) A call from those without the temple, upon God"s servants, who conduct his service within his house during the night season, (1Ch_9:33) to praise and thank the Lord in their name for his met-ties vouchsafed to them (vers. 1, 2); and
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(2) a response from those within the temple, who ask God to "bless out of Zion" those who have addressed them. The psalm is very suitable for pilgrim-bands arriving, as they commonly would, late in the day at the temple gates, and announcing their arrival to those within, who would be expecting them, and would call on God to bless their pilgrimage to them (ver. 3).
Behold. The word calls attention to an immediate need something that is to be done, and to be done at once. Bless ye the Lord. This must mean "for us our behalf." Thank God for having brought our journey to a prosperous end. All ye servants of the Lord, which by night stand in the house of the Lord; i.e. ye special servants of the Lord, priests and Levites, now standing within his courts, and engaged in his worship. The temple was never left without a body of priests and Levites, to keep it and sing praises in it.
Vers. 1-3. God and man; reciprocal relations.
"It must needs be a matter of conjecture who the speakers are" in this short psalm; but these three verses bring before us the reciprocal relations existing between our God and ourselves, particularly as those engaged in his worship. "Bless ye the Lord... the Lord bless thee.
I IN APPROACH AND NEARNESS OF SPIRIT. We draw nigh unto him, and he draws nigh unto us. (2Ch_15:2 Jam_4:8) We come up to his house to "seek his face", (Psa_27:8) and he seeks us; he finds us; he makes us conscious of his presence. He manifests himself unto us as not unto the world. And when we leave the sanctuary, and (partly through the help we have gained there) cherish the sense of God"s near presence, and feel that we are "with him " everywhere, then is he "with us," not only in nearness of spiritual presence (Psalm 139), but in fullness of Divine sympathy and the putting forth of Divine power on our behalf.
II IN PRAYER ON OUR PART, AND IN COMMUNICATION OF TRUTH ON HIS PART. We speak to him in prayer (ver. 2). With uplifted hands, in reverent adoration, we pour out our heart in humble, earnest supplication, or in renewing before him and unto him our solemn vows. We may do well to put it to ourselves in these simple terms that we are together, that with one voice and one thought and hope we may "speak to God." Then we listen as he speaks to us. As we listen to the reading of his Word, we may feel Surely this is nothing other than God speaking to our hearts. Such a thought should make him that reads and those who hear feel that this is not the least important part of Divine worship, and is not undeserving of our best effort and attention. The preacher in the sanctuary should set before him as his high aim, as his noble and holy function, so to declare his message that, through his human voice, God will be speaking to the people of his charge. Thus, before leaving the house of God, we shall have reverently spoken to him; he will have graciously spoken to us.
III IN BLESSING. "Bless ye the Lord... the Lord bless thee.
1. We bless God as we offer him our lowly but sincere adoration; as we ascribe to him all power, wisdom, faithfulness, holiness, mercy, patience; as we present to him the tribute of our praise for all his past kindness to us, and especially for his grace to us in Christ Jesus; as we thank him for all he has promised to us in the near and in the further future.
2. He blesses us as he lifts on us the light of his reconciled countenance; as he enlightens our understanding, and enables us to perceive new and fuller truth, or recognize familiar truth more clearly or vividly; as he kindles in our waiting heart a stronger flame of gratitude and love; as he stablishes and strengthens our soul in our purpose of devotion; as he draws out our sympathies with all that suffer and are in need; as he sends us forth from his presence confirmed and enlarged in heart, rejoicing in himself and in his service. It may be added that:
a. If we honor him, he will honor us. (1Sa_2:30)
b. If we love him, he will love us. (Joh_14:21)
c. If we crown him Lord of our heart and life, he will crown us with the crown of eternal life.
HOMILIES BY S. CONWAY Vers. 1-3. The songs of degrees" doxology.
This series of psalms ends, as all service of worship should, with the voice of praise and thanksgiving. It is ill if our prayers and varied waiting upon God do not bring us into the spirit which would bless the Lord, and bid all others do the same. That spirit is present in this psalm. Note
I THE EXHORTATION HERE GIVEN. "Behold, bless ye the Lord." Now, this psalm, being placed here at the end of the series, bids us look back and trace, in the psalms that have gone before, the manifold reasons wherefore we should bless the Lord. The first of these psalms, Psalm 120, tells of deliverance from cruel enemies; Ps 121, of God"s continual preservation of his people; Ps 122, of joy and delight realized in the worship of the Lord; Ps 123, of waiting continually upon God in times of trouble; Ps 124, of deliverance from fierce foes; Ps 125, of experience of God"s guardian care; Psalm 126, of the joy of God"s salvation; Ps 127, of the Lord alone being our sure Keeper; Ps 128, of God"s grace and goodness sweetening the home; Psalm 129, of afflictions many, but of preservation in them all; Ps 130, of God"s blessed uplifting; Ps 131, of the soul kept in the peace of God; Ps 132, of the prosperity of the Church; and Ps 133, of her unity; and now in Ps 134, there is, as there well may be, the command to bless the Lord. What a long list it is of mercies, and help, and deliverances, and blessings unspeakable! If men will look back along their lives, they too will bless the Lord.
II To WHOM IT IS ADDRESSED.
1. To all servants of the Lord. For there is none that has not good reason for obeying it. But especially:
2. To them who by night stand in the house of the Lord. " Now, here allusion is made, so it seems, to those whose office it was to minister before the Lord during the night watches there were priests and Levites who had duties by night as well as by day. (1Ch_9:33) There was a night watch of choristers who kept up the worship of God through the silent hours." Two verses of the psalm seem to have been the salutation of the congregation addressed to them, and ver. 3 is their response.
3. And God has yet many servants whose duty is to serve him through the night hours. The sleepless ones those who from one cause and another have to say, "Thou holdest mine eyes waking." Well is it for such to employ those hours in the praise of the Lord. (cf. Psa_63:5, Psa_63:6) And such as the sailor pacing the deck in the night watch, the sentry on guard, the nurse in her ward, well is it for them in the night to bless the Lord.
4. Or, we may take the night as telling of the night of sorrow those times of darkness and depression through which we all have to pass (see Paul and Silas in the dungeon at Philippi, at midnight singing praises unto God). How often have these psalms been used by God"s people at such hours, and with what rich results in the quickening of faith and hope and joy in God!
5. And if, as some maintain, there was no later service in the temple than the evening sacrifice, then the many evening congregations gathered together may take these words as addressed to them.
III HOW IT IS TO BE OBEYED. They were to "lift up their hands to the sanctuary." The body should bear its part; posture and gesture help the spirit.
IV WHAT COMES OF SUCH OBEDIENCE. The Lord will bless us (ver. 3). He who hath all power, who made heaven and earth, he will bless the soul that worships him. (cf. Psa_135:3) All who have thus drawn near to God have found that he draws near to them. S.C.
HOMILIES BY R. TUCK Ver 1. Representative worshippers.
From a Targum we learn that "the custom in the second temple appears to have been this: After midnight the chief of the doorkeepers took the key of the inner temple, and went with some of the priests through the small postern of the Fire Gate. In the inner court this watch divided itself into two companies, each carrying a burning torch; one company turned west, the other east; and so they compassed the court to see whether all were in readiness for the temple service on the following morning. In the bakehouse, where the mincha (meat offering) of the high priest was baked, they met with the cry, "All well!" Meanwhile the rest of the priests arose, bathed themselves, and put on their garments. They then went into the stone-chamber (one half of which was the hall of session of the Sanhedrim), and there, under the superintendence of the officer who gave the watchword and one of the Sanhedrim, surrounded by the priests clad in their robes of office, their several duties for the coming day were assigned to each of the priests by lot." It should be always borne in mind that, in the Divine idea, the entire people of Israel made up a nation of priests. Every man was regarded as a consecrated man, separated unto the honor, worship, and service of Jehovah. What were called the actual priests were only representatives of these universal priests, and they were only daily doing materially what every man-priest of the nation was pledged to do, and if he was a true and worthy man, was trying to do spiritually. If this point can be clearly seen, a new interest will be found to attach to the various doings of the representative priesthood. Men are always learning from them what they should be and what they should do in a spiritual sense. One thing is set prominently in this psalm. The work of the priests is to "bless Jehovah." This they do in a formal manner by lifting up their hands and voices, waving the censers, etc. Let an Israelite see or hear a priest blessing God, and his heart ought at once to respond, saying, "That is just what I ought to be doing, with heart, and lip, and deed, and above all by the thankful, trustful, devoted spirit of my life. R.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain On vv1–3 A Song of Degrees. We have now reached the…
A Song of Degrees. We have now reached the last of the Gradual Psalms. The Pilgrims are going home, and are singing the last song in their psalter. They leave early in the morning, before the day has fully commenced, for the journey is long for many of them. While yet the night lingers they are on the move. As soon as they are outside the gates they see the guards upon the temple wall, and the lamps shining from the windows of the chambers which surround the sanctuary; therefore, moved by the sight, they chant a farewell to the perpetual attendants upon the holy shrine. Their parting exhortation arouses the priests to pronounce upon them a blessing out of the holy place: this benediction is contained in the third verse. The priests as good as say, "You have desired us to bless the Lord, and now we pray the Lord to bless you."
The Psalm teaches us to pray for those who are continually ministering before the Lord, and it invites all ministers to pronounce benedictions upon their loving and prayerful people.
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Ver. 1. Behold. By this call the pilgrims bespeak the attention of the night watch. They shout to themBehold! The retiring pilgrims stir up the holy brotherhood of those who are appointed to keep the watch of the house of the Lord. Let them look around them upon the holy place, and everywhere "behold" reasons for sacred praise. Let them look above them at night and magnify him that made heaven and earth, and lighted the one with stars and the other with his love. Let them see to it that their hallelujahs never come to an end. Their departing brethren arouse them with the shrill cry of "Behold!" Behold! see, take care, be on the watch, diligently mind your work, and incessantly adore and bless Jehovah's name.
Bless ye the LORD. Think well of Jehovah, and speak well of him. Adore him with reverence, draw near to him with love, delight in him with exultation. Be not content with praise, such as all his works render to him; but, as his saints, see that ye "bless" him. He blesses you; therefore, be zealous to bless him. The word "bless" is the characteristic word of the Psalm. The first two verses stir us up to bless Jehovah, and in the last verse Jehovah's blessing is invoked upon the people. Oh to abound in blessing! May blessed and blessing be the two words which describe our lives. Let others flatter their fellows, or bless their stars, or praise themselves; as for us, we will bless Jehovah, from whom all blessings flow.
All ye servants of the LORD. It is your office to bless him; take care that you lead the way therein. Servants should speak well of their masters. Not one of you should serve him as of compulsion, but all should bless him while you serve him; yea, bless him for permitting you to serve him, fitting you to serve him, and accepting your service. To be a servant of Jehovah is an incalculable honour, a blessing beyond all estimate. To be a servant in his temple, a domestic in his house, is even more a delight and a glory: if those Who are ever with the Lord, and dwell in his own temple, do not bless the Lord, who will?
Which by night stand in the house of the LORD. We can well understand how the holy pilgrims half envied those consecrated ones who guarded the temple, and attended to the necessary offices thereof through the hours of night. To the silence and solemnity of night there was added the awful glory of the place where Jehovah had ordained that his worship should be celebrated, blessed were the priests and Levites who were ordained to a service so sublime. That these should bless the Lord throughout their nightly vigils was most fitting: the people would have them mark this, and never fail in the duty. They were not to move about like so many machines, but to put their hearts into all their duties, and worship spiritually in the whole course of their duty. It would be well to watch, but better still to be "watching unto prayer" and praise.
When night settles down on a church the Lord has his watchers and holy ones still guarding his truth, and these must not be discouraged, but must bless the Lord even when the darkest hours draw on. Be it ours to cheer them, and lay upon them this chargeto bless the Lord at all times, and let his praise be continually in their mouths.
Whole Psalm. It is a beautiful little ode, equally full of sublimity and simplicity. It is commonly supposed to be the work of David. With what admiration should we contemplate the man whose zeal in the cause of religion thus urged him to embrace every opportunity that could occur to him, among the lowest as well as the highest ranks of life, of promoting the praise and glory of his Creator; now composing penitential hymns for his own closet; now leading the temple service in national eulogies of the most sublime pitch to which human language can reach; and now descending to the class of the watchmen and patrol of the temple and the city, and tuning their lips to a reverential utterance of the name and the service of God! John Mason Good (1764-1827), in "An Historical Outline of
the Book of Psalms."
Whole Psalm. This Psalm consists of a greeting, Ps 109:1-2, and the reply thereto. The greeting is addressed to those priests and Levites who have the night watch in the Temple; and this antiphon is purposely placed at the end of the collection of Songs of Degrees in order to take the place of a final "beracha" (Blessing). In this sense Luther styles the Psalm epiphonema superiorum. ("I take this Psalm to be a conclusion of those things which were spoken of before." Luther). It is also in other respects an appropriate finale. Franz Delitzsch.
Whole Psalm. The last cloud of smoke from the evening sacrifice has mixed with the blue sky, the last note of the evening hymn has died away on the ear. The watch is being set for the night. The twenty-four Levites, the three priests, and the captain of the guard, whose duty it was to keep ward from sunset to sunrise over the hallowed precincts, are already at their several posts, and the multitude are retiring through the gates, which will soon be shut, to many of them to open no more. But they cannot depart without one last expression of the piety that fills their hearts; and turning to the watchers on tower and battlement, they address them in holy song, in what was at once a brotherly admonition and a touching prayer: Behold, bless ye LORD, all ye servants of the LORD, which by night stand in the house of the LORD. Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the LORD. The pious guard are not unprepared for the appeal, and from their lofty heights, in words that float over the peopled city and down into the quiet valley of the Kidron, like the melody of angels, they respond to each worshipper who thus addressed them with a benedictory farewell: The LORD bless thee out of Zion, even he who made heaven and earth. Robert Nisbet.
Whole Psalm. The tabernacle and temple were served by priests during the night as well as the day. Those priests renewed the altar fire, fed the lamps, and guarded the sacred structure from intrusion and from plunder. The Psalm before us was prepared for the priests who served the sacred place by night. They were in danger of slumbering; and they were in danger of idle reverie. Oh, how much time is wasted in mere reveriein letting thought wander, and wander, and wander! The priests were in danger, we say, of slumbering, of idle reverie, of vain thoughts, of useless meditation, and of profitless talk: and therefore it is written, "Behold, bless ye the LORD, all ye servants of the LORD, which by night stand in the house of the LORD." Is it your duty to spend the night in watching? Then spend the night in worship. Do not let the time of watching be idle, wasted time; but when others are slumbering and sleeping, and you are necessarily watchful, sustain the praises of God's house; let there be praise in Zionstill praise by night as well as by day! Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the LORD.
We may suppose these words to be addressed to the sacred sentinels, by the head of their course, or by the captain of the guard, or even by the high priest. We can imagine the captain of the guard coming in during the night watches, and saying to the priests who were guarding the temple, Behold, bless ye the LORD, all ye servants of the LORD, which by night stand in the house of the LORD. Or we could imagine the high priest, when the watch was set for the first part of the night, going to the priests who were under his control, and addressing to them these same soul stirring words. Now our text is the response of these sacred sentinels. As they listened to the captain of the guard, or to the high priest, telling them to worship by night in the courts of the Lordto lift up their hands in the sanctuary, and bless the Lordthey answered him, The LORD that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion. So that here you have brought before you the interesting and instructive subject of mutual benedictionthe saints blessing each other. Samuel Martin, 1817-1878.
Ver. 1. The Targum explains the first verse of the Temple watch. "The custom in the Second Temple appears to have been this. After midnight the chief of the doorkeepers took the key of the inner Temple, and went with some of the priests through the small postern of the Fire Gate. In the inner court this watch divided itself into two companies, each carrying a burning torch; one company turned west, the other east, and so they compassed the court to see whether all were in readiness for the Temple service on the following morning. In the bakehouse, where the Mincha ("meat offering") of the High Priest was baked, they met with the cry, `All well.' Meanwhile the rest of the priests arose, bathed themselves, and put on their garments. They then went into the stone chamber (one half of which was the hall of session of the Sanhedrim), and there, under the superintendence of the officer who gave the watchword, and one of the Sanhedrim, surrounded by the priests clad in their robes of office, their several duties for the coming day were assigned to each of the priests by lot. Lu 1:9." J.J. Stewart Perowne.
Ver. 1. Behold. The Psalm begins with the demonstrative adverb Behold setting the matter of their duty before their eyes, for they were to be stimulated to devotion by looking constantly to the Temple. We are to notice the Psalmist's design in urging the duty of praise so earnestly upon them. Many of the Levites, through the tendency which there is in all men to abuse ceremonies, considered that nothing more was necessary than standing idly in the Temple, and thus overlooked the principal part of their duty. The Psalmist would show that merely to keep nightly watch over the Temple, kindle the lamps, and superintend the sacrifices, was of no importance, unless they served God spiritually, and referred all outward ceremonies to that which must be considered the main sacrifice, the celebration of God's praises. You may think it a very laborious service, as if he had said, to stand at watch in the Temple, while others sleep in their own houses; but the worship which God requires is something more excellent than this, and demands of you to sing his praises before all the people. John Calvin.
Ver. 1. Behold. The first word in this verse, "Behold", seemeth to point at the reasons which the priests in the Temple had to bless Jehovah; as if it had been said, Behold, the house of God is built, the holy services are appointed, and the Lord hath given you rest from your enemies, that you may serve him acceptably; set about it, therefore, with gratitude and alacrity. We read (1Ch 9:33) that the Levitical singers were "employed in their work day and night"; to the end, doubtless, that the earthly sanctuary might bear some resemblance to that above, where St. John tells us, the redeemed "are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple": Re 7:15. George Horne.
Ver. 1. Behold, bless ye the LORD, all ye servants of the LORD. From the exhortation to the Lord's ministers, learn, that the public worship of God is to be carefully looked unto; and all men, but especially ministers, had need to be stirred up to take heed to themselves, and to the work of God's public worship, when they go about it; for so much doth "behold" in this place import. David Dickson.
Ver. 1. By night. Even by night the Lord is to be remembered, and his praises are to be rehearsed. Martin Geier, 1614-1681.
Ver. 1. Stand in the house of the LORD. The Rabbins say, that the high priest only sat in the sanctuary (as did Eli, 1Sa 1:9); the rest stood, as ready pressed to do their office. John Trapp.
Ver. 1. Which stand in the house of the LORD. YOU who have now a permanent house, and no longer, like pilgrims, have to dwell in tents. Robert Bellarmine.
Ver. 1. Which stand in the house of the LORD. Let not this your frequent being in his presence breed in you contempt; as the saying is, "Too much familiarity breeds contempt; "but bless him always, acknowledge, and with reverence praise his excellency. John Mayer, 1653.
Whole Psalm. There are two things in this Psalm.
1. Our blessing God: Ps 134:1-2.
a) How? By gratitude, by love, by obedience, by prayer, by praise.
b) Where? "in the house of the Lord", "in the sanctuary."
c) When? Not in the day merely, but at night. Some of old spent the whole night, others part of the night, in the temple, praising God. As Christ spent whole nights in prayer for his people, they should not think it too much occasionally to spend whole nights in praise of him. Evening services should not be neglected on the Sabbath, nor on other days of the week.
2. God blessing us: Ps 134:3.
a) The persons blessed: "bless thee" every one who blesses him.
b) The condition: "out of Zion." In the fulfilment of religious duties, not in the neglect of them.
c) The blessing itself: of the Lord. They are blessed whom he blesses. R.
Whole Psalm.
1. GodJehovahthe fountain of blessing.
2. The heavens and the earth, evidence of divine capacity to bless.
3. The church, a channel of blessing.
4. The saints, the means of spreading blessing, through the spirit of blessing.
5. The riches involved in the divine benediction. Samuel Martin.
Whole Psalm.
1. Unique service: temple watching, night sentinelship. 2 Sublime society: the awful things of the sanctuary.
3. Holy uplifting: hands, hearts, eyes.
4. Praise in the darkness heard far up in the light.
5. Response from the stars fulfilling the prayer: "The Creator Lord bless thee." W.B.H.
Ver. 1.
1. Night settles on the holy place: dark periods of church story.
2. But God has his guards: Wycliffe and his band watching for the Reformation; Waldenses, etc. Never a night so dark but God is praised and served.
3. Be it night or day, let the Levites fulfil their courses. W.B.H.
Ver. 1. The Lord's servants exhorted to be,
1. Devout and joyful in their service. Sing at your work, though it be in the dark.
2. Zealous to employ every season of service aright. "By night", as by day, "bless the Lord."
3. Careful to avoid all hindrances to devotion in their service. When tempted to indolence and drowsiness, say:
"Wake, and lift up thyself, my heart,
And with the angels bear thy part,
Who all night long, unwearied, sing
High praise to the Eternal King." W.H.J.P.
Ver. 1. Directions for worship.
1. It should be with great care: "Behold."
2. With grateful joy: "Bless ye the Lord."
3. Unanimously: "all ye."
4. With holy reverence, as by "servants of the Lord."
5. With unflagging constancy: "stand by night."
Ver. 1. Ye that stand by night. The night watchmen of the Lord's house, their value, their obscurity, their danger slumber, their consolation, their dignity, their reward.
Psalms 134:2*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv1–3 Behold, bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of…
Psa_134:1-3
Behold, bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord.
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Man blessing the Lord and the Lord blessing man
The two first verses of this psalm--the last of the Pilgrim Psalms--are addressed by the congregation to the priests and Levites who had charge of the temple during the night (1Ch_9:27-33). The last verse seems to be the answer of the priests in dismissing the people with a blessing.
I. Man is here represented as blessing the Lord. Bless ye the Lord. That is, praise ye the Lord--worship Him, worship Him in spirit and in truth.
II. The Lord is here represented as blessing man (verse 3). This is the usual form of priestly benediction (Num_6:24).
1. The Author of the blessing. The Lord that made heaven and earth. What a condescension in Him, what an honour for us!
2. The condition of the blessing. He will bless us on the condition that we bless Him or worship Him. So it ever is, there is a Divine blessing in worship. (Homilist.)
Pastors and people
It seems unnecessary, and is perhaps impossible, to determine whether this last of the fifteen Songs of Degrees was meant for the pilgrims on their arrival at the temple, or when they appeared within its courts, or on their departure from its sacred threshold. Adapted to particular occasions, yet it was not unfit for repetition anywhere, outside or within Jehovahs dwelling-place, on the road to or from Jerusalem, with the lips or only in the mind. It includes a greeting and a reply. An exhortation to ministerial duty, expressing encouragement and approval, is answered by an affectionate benediction. As the two commandments of our Lord condense the law, this brief dramatic song is a summary of worship.
1. It is to be expected of ministers that with humble gladness they deem themselves, and show that they wish to be considered servants of the Lord. They are also servants of the Church (2Co_4:5). But they may no more follow the will of men, as if blind slaves to the congregation, than their own independent will, as being lords over Gods heritage (1Pe_5:3). It must be their great concern to ascertain, obey and teach the will of their Supreme Master. Having received Divine instruction, they must, in a becoming spirit and manner, fearless of consequences, speak and act accordingly (1Co_4:1-4; 2Ti_2:3; 1Pe_4:10). The address in the psalm implies a call upon ministers to speak in their lives what they say with their lips, and be themselves the blessing they pronounce. The margin reads, Lift up your hands in holiness. Cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, etc. (Luk_6:42). Be thou an example of the believers, etc. (1Ti_4:12). Merit the title we give you of servants of the Lord. Deserve, as far as possible, to praise Jehovah for the congregation, and in His name to bless His people.
2. What the people of God require their pastors to be and do they aim at for themselves in prayer and practice. Language like this in the psalm, addressed to the Lords servants in the place where prayer is wont to be made, implies the possession of a praying spirit, and an engagement to offer prayer. We cannot turn our wishes and counsels into prayer without also, in our relation and degree, turning them into practice. The psalm implies that all who use it, in the spirit of it, people as well as pastors, are servants of the Lord; and in nearly every respect the duty of ministers of religion exhibits that of their fellow-worshippers. And not only in the worship of the temple and the reading of the sacred volume, but in the cleanness of your hands, in the purity of your hearts, in the holiness of your lives be as consistent as you would have your ministers. (E. J. Robinson.)
The pilgrims farewell to Zion
The pilgrims are going home, and are singing the last song in their Psalter. They leave early in the morning, before the day has fully commenced, for the journey is long for many of them. While yet the night lingers they are on the move. As soon as they are outside the gates they see the guards upon the temple wall, and the lamps shining from the windows of the chambers which surround the sanctuary; therefore, moved by the sight, they chant a farewell to the perpetual attendants upon the holy shrine. Their parting exhortation arouses the priests to pronounce upon them a blessing out of the holy place: this benediction is contained in the third verse. The priests as good as say, You have desired us to bless the Lord, and now we pray the Lord to bless you. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Which by night stand in the house of the Lord.--
The charge to thy watchers in the temple
This psalm, the shortest but one in the whole Psalter, will be more intelligible if we observe that in the first part of it more than one person is addressed, and in the last verse a single person. No doubt, when used in the temple service, the first part was chanted by one half of the choir, and the other part by the other. Who are the persons addressed in the first portion? The answer stands plain in verse 1. They are the priests or Levites whose charge it was to patrol the temple through the hours of night and darkness, to see that all was safe and right there, and to do such other priestly and ministerial work as was needful; they are called upon to lift up their hands in--or rather towards--the sanctuary, and to bless the Lord. The charge is given to these watching priests, these nightly warders, by some single person--we know not whom. Perhaps by the High Priest, perhaps by the captain of their band. They listen to the exhortation to praise, and answer, in the last words of this little psalm, by invoking a blessing on the head of the unnamed speaker who gave the charge.
I. The charge to the watchers. Bless ye the Lord. It is because they are the servants of the Lord that, therefore, it is their business to bless the Lord. It is because they stand in the house of the Lord that it is theirs to bless the Lord. So for us Christians. We are servants of the Lord--His priests. That we stand in the house of the Lord expresses not only the fact of our great privilege of confiding approach to Him and communion with Him, whereby we may ever abide in the very Holy of Holies, and be in the secret place of the Most High, even while we are busy in the world, but it also points to our duty of ministering; for the word stand is employed to designate the attendance of the priests in their office, and is almost equivalent to serve. To bless the Lord, then, is the work to which we are especially called. And then there is another lesson here, and that is that all times are times for blessing God. Although no sacrifice was smoking on the altar, and no choral songs went up from the company of praising priests in the ritual service; and although the nightfall had silenced the worship and scattered the worshippers, yet some low murmur of praise would be echoing through the empty halls all the night long, and the voice of thanksgiving and of blessing would blend with the clank of the priests feet on the marble pavements as they went their patrolling rounds; and their torches would send up a smoke not less acceptable than the wreathing columns of the incense that had filled the day. And so as in some convents you will find a monk kneeling on the steps of the altar at each hour of the four-and-twenty, adoring the sacrament exposed upon it, so in the Christian heart there should be a perpetual adoration and a continual praise--a prayer without ceasing. What is it that comes first of all into your minds when you wake in the middle of the night? Yesterdays business, to-morrows vanities, or Gods present love and your dependence upon Him? In the night of sorrow, too, do our songs go up, and do we hear and obey the charge which commands not only perpetual adoration, but bids us fill the night with music and with praise? Well for us if it be anticipating the time when they rest not day nor night saying Holy! Holy! Holy!
II. The answering blessing (verse 3). May we venture to draw from this interchange of counsel and benediction a simple lesson as to the best form in which mutual goodwill and friendship may express itself? It is by the interchange of stimulus to Gods service and praise, and of grateful prayer. He is my best friend who stirs me up to make my whole life a strong sweet song of thanksgiving to God for all His numberless mercies to me. Even if the exhortation becomes rebuke, faithful are such wounds. It is but a shallow affection which can be eloquent on other subjects of common interests, but is dumb on this, the deepest of all; which can counsel wisely and rebuke gently in regard to other matters, but has never a word to say to its dearest concerning duty to the God of all mercies. And the true response to any loving exhortation to bless God, or any religious impulse which we receive from one another, is to invoke Gods blessing on faithful lips that have given us counsel. But observe, further, the two kinds of blessing which answer to one another--Gods blessing of man, and mans blessing of God. The one is communicative, the other receptive and responsive. The one is the great stream which pours itself over the precipice; the other is the basin into which it falls, and the showers of spray which rise from its surface, rainbowed in the sunshine, as the cataract of Divine mercies comes down upon it. God blesses us when He gives. We bless God when we thankfully take, and praise the Giver. Gods blessing, then, must ever come first. Ours is but the echo of His, but the acknowledgment of the Divine act, which must precede our recognition of it as the dawn, must come in order that the birds may wake to sing. Our highest service is to take the gifts of God and with glad hearts to praise the Giver. Our blessings are but words. Gods blessings are realities. We wish good to one another when we bless each other. But He does good to men when He blesses them. Observe, too, the channel through which Gods blessings come--out of Zion. For the Jew the fulness of the Divine glory dwelt between the cherubim, and the richest of the Divine blessings were bestowed on the waiting worshippers there. And no doubt it is still true that God dwells in Zion, and blesses men from thence. The New Testament analogue to the Old Testament temple is no outward building. A material type must have a spiritual fulfilment. In the true sense, Jesus Christ is the Temple. In Him God dwelt; in Him man meets God; in Him was the place of Revelation; in Him the place of Sacrifice. In this piece is one greater than the temple, and the abiding of Jehovah above the mercy-seat was but a material symbol, shadowing and foretelling the true indwelling of all the fulness of the Godhead bodily in that true tabernacle which the Lord hath pitched and not man. So the great Fountain of all possible good and benediction, which was opened for the believing Jew in Zion, is opened for us in Jesus Christ who stood in the very court of the temple, and called in tones of clear, loud invitation: If any man thirst let him come unto Me and drink. There is another application of the temple symbol in the New Testament--a derivative and secondary one--to the Church, that is, to the aggregate of believers. In it God dwells through Christ. Receiving His Spirit, instinct with His life it is His Body, and as in His earthly life He spake of the temple of His literal body, so now that Church becomes the temple of God, being builded through the ages. In that Zion all Gods best blessings are possessed and stored, that the Church may by faithful service impart them to the world. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Watchers by night
Who are these night watchers, and to whom does the psalmist refer? Probably there were guards or sentinels set to pace the sacred courts and to trim the lamps which burned dim within that holy place, which was the presence-chamber of the great King. The gloom must have been oppressive, and sometimes they must have trembled as they paced the long corridors and looked up at the vast vault overhead, through which a dim lamp or two shot a feeble ray like a star seen through the rack of clouds on a stormy night. To cheer these watchers, and to impress on them that solitude is not awful if Gods presence be there, this psalm was probably written. It was written for us, too, who have to pass through the same solitude, and to stand by night in the house of the Lord. There is, then, a night-time of sorrow and suffering here on earth, during which we may be said to be like watchers in the outer courts of Gods temple. But there is a completer sense of the passage than this, and it is to this second sense that I wish to turn your attention. It is well to take the calm expression of the psalmist, and apply it in this way, Ye that by night stand in the house of the Lord. In this temple there is an inner shrine, where all is dark, and yet amid the solemn gloom Gods presence is felt to be inexpressibly near. No conception of the middle or waiting state between death and the general resurrection is so near the mark as this. Suspended activity, but not suspended consciousness--this sets us thinking what can be the occupation of those who are set to stand as watchers by night in the house of the Lord. May it not be that this is the very counteraction necessary for the undue activities of our too busy, bustling existence on earth? Now, are we willing to be watchers by night in the house of the Lord? I use the term night in two senses. There is a night-time of sorrow here, and of separation hereafter from those we love on earth. We have to pass through these two seasons of watching--an evening and a midnight watch, as I may describe them by way of contrast. It is the faithful watcher on earth who will stand by night and watch in the house of the Lord during the interval between death and the Resurrection morning. Season of solitude here, in which we get spiritual strength through loneliness and isolation from our fellow-men, will prepare us for that midnight watch when we are called within the veil and there stand and wait for the full morning of Resurrection blessedness. What hours of weariness under pain and privation of the usual outlets for activity in the affairs of life many of us are to pass through God only knows. Some have had to pass through long years of such watching. Our soul, then, waits for the Lord--in the pathetic language of the psalmist, more, I say, than they that wait for the morning. But such discipline has its uses. Silent suffering is a school, and hours of loneliness are also a school quite as much or even more than racking pain or positive privation. It disciplines us in faith and patience. It strengthens the character by forcing us to see that all our fresh springs must be in God and in Him alone. In all this Christ was our example, and, more than this, our forerunner. (J. B. Heard, M. A.)
Hours of watching need not be lost
They may by prayer and praise become times of spiritual power. All earth is the temple of the Lord. Many have to keep night watches. Some, through sleeplessness, wait anxiously for the morning. Some have to sit in the sad sick-chamber by the side of the fevered, restless sleeper in disease. Some on the ships deck look out on the black, hissing waters and watch the stars roll by. To them comes the exhortation, Lift up your hands in prayer and bless the Lord. Let a spirit of devotion engage your thought and feeling. Amidst the forces that affect men, who can estimate the influence of holy night watchers who call on God in prayer? The Lord blesses out of Zion. The refreshing showers which cleanse the plants and bedew the flowers, which fill the watercourses and cause the rivers to roll, take their rise in quiet uprising mists often by night. So the showers of blessing the Lord God pours out on His people spring from the quiet mists of prayer ever uprising to the heavens from holy souls in retirement. It is the Divine plan. For the blessings of His grace He will be sought. More things are done by prayer than this world dreams of. Hear a mythic tale. One night Rabbi Ben Israel sat through the dark hours in anxious thought, desiring to know the forces at work in the nation, lie would trace effects to their cause. When an aged beggar knocked at his door and asked for food, the rabbi rose from his meditations and gave him his own supper, which he had not touched. Then the stranger told him he was an angel in disguise, and bid him come forth, as he was about to visit the man of greatest power in the city. First they took their way towards the palace, and the rabbi said to himself, Surely it is the king, but the stranger led him past the royal entrance. Then they turned and went to the quarter where the general of the army lived, and the rabbi thought, Surely it is the captain of the host, but they passed his door. They passed the abodes of men of wealth, great councillors, and that of the high priest, but visited none of these. At length they came to the gate of the temple, which opened at the touch of the angel. They passed the outer court. The angel pointed out to the rabbi the Levite in charge, who was lifting up his hands in earnest prayer for the people. Then the rabbi learned that, as the Lord is the most powerful of all, and has all the hosts of earth and heaven under His control, the man who can prevail with Him must be the mightiest on earth. Prayer can do more than the merchants gold, the soldiers sword, or the kings sceptre. (J. H. Cooke.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v1 Psalms 134
Psalms 134
THIS fragment of song closes the pilgrim psalms after the manner of a blessing. It is evidently antiphonal, Psa_134:1-2 being a greeting, the givers of which are answered in Psa_134:3 by a corresponding salutation from the receivers. Who are the parties to the little dialogue is doubtful. Some have thought of two companies of priestly watchers meeting as they went their rounds in the Temple; others, more probably, take Psa_134:1-2, to be addressed by the congregation to the priests, who had charge of the nightly service in the Temple, while Psa_134:3 is the response of the latter, addressed to the speakers of Psa_134:1-2. 1Ch_9:33 informs us that there was such a nightly service, of the nature of which, however, nothing is known. The designation "servants of Jehovah" here denotes not the people, but the priests, for whose official ministrations "stand" is a common term. They are exhorted to fill the night with prayer as well as watchfulness, and to let their hearts go up in blessing to Jehovah. The voice of praise should echo through the silent night and float over the sleeping city. The congregation is about to leave the crowed courts at the close of a day of worship, and now gives this parting salutation and charge to those who remain.
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The answer in Psa_134:3 is addressed to each individual of the congregation-"Jehovah bless thee!" and it invokes on each a share in the blessing which, according to the preceding psalm, "Jehovah has commanded" in Zion. The watchers who remain in the sanctuary do not monopolise its blessings. These stream out by night, as by day, to all true hearts; and they are guaranteed by the creative omnipotence of Jehovah, the thought of which recurs so often in these pilgrim psalms, and may be due to the revulsion from idolatry consequent on the Captivity and Restoration.
With this sweet interchange of greeting and exhortation to continual worship, this group of psalms joyously ends.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 “Three things,” says Delitzsch, “are clear with regard to…
INTRODUCTION
“Three things,” says Delitzsch, “are clear with regard to this Psalm. First, that it consists of a greeting, Psa_134:1-2, and a reply, Psa_134:3. Next, that the greeting is addressed to those priests and Levites who had the night-watch in the Temple. Lastly, that this Psalm is purposely placed at the end of the collection of Pilgrim Songs in order to take the place of a final blessing.” The words of Psa_134:1-2 were probably addressed by the people to the priests and Levites, and those of Psa_134:3 by the priests to the people. Both the author of the Psalm and the occasion of its composition are unknown.
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DOXOLOGY AND BENEDICTION
I. Doxology. In Psa_134:1-2 the people exhort the priests and Levites to praise the Lord. Consider—
1. The offering to be presented. “Behold, bless ye the Lord.” The ministers of the Temple are called to offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving unto the Lord. Here are two points.
(1.) The nature of this offering. Praise. “Bless ye the Lord.” This should be presented (a) because of what He does for us. Gratitude urges—“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits.” And (b) because of what He is in Himself. He is “glorious in holiness.” Admiration and reverence urge us to “Bless His holy Name.”
(2.) The importance of this offering. “Behold.” This word calls attention to the exhortation which follows as a thing of importance and urgency. Worship is an engagement of the utmost moment to man. The obligations to it are most binding. And the exercise of it is essential to the right development and to the perfection of the human spirit.
2. The persons by whom it is to be offered. “All ye servants of the Lord, which by night stand in the house of the Lord.” The priests and Levites are here addressed. But in this Christian dispensation priesthood is a thing of character, not of class. Every believing and reverent soul is a priest unto God by virtue of the highest and holiest consecration. Every Christian is exhorted to “offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of lips giving thanks to His Name.”
3. The time at which it is to be offered. “By night.” Some of the ministers of the Temple were in attendance there all night. (Compare Exo_27:20-21; 1Ch_9:33.) They were there to guard the sacred and precious things of the Temple, and to keep the lamps alight and the fire upon the altar burning. Hengstenberg thinks that when the Pilgrim bands arrived at the Temple in the evening they addressed this exhortation to the servants of the Lord. The rest and quiet of the night render it a suitable season for praising God. When the duties of the day are done, and its busy and confused noises are silenced, the soul may be lifted up in adoration to God without interruption.
4. The place towards which it is to be offered. “Lift up your hands in the sanctuary.” Margin: “in holiness.” Hengstenberg and Perowne regard קֹרֶשׁ as “the accusative of direction,” and translate, “to the sanctuary.” The most holy place was regarded as the audience-chamber of the Most High, the place where God hears prayer, and whence He communicates answers to His people. The Lord Jesus Christ is the true Shekinah and Holy of Holies. We draw near unto God through Him. He is the meeting-place between God and man. Thus, then, let us offer to God the sacrifice of praise from grateful and adoring hearts.
II. Benediction. “The Lord that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion.” This benediction is taken in part from the form used by the high priest in blessing the children of Israel. This accounts for the use of the singular, “thee,” not the plural, you. Notice—
1. The power of God to bless. “The Lord that made heaven and earth” is omnipotent. He “is able to do exceeding abundantly,” &c.
2. The means by which God blesses man. “Bless thee out of Zion.” God blesses the world through the Church. He employs the Church in communicating spiritual blessings to mankind.
3. The authority of the servants of God to pronounce His blessing. The poet represents the priests as authoritatively pronouncing the blessing of God upon the people. And the ministers of the Lord Jesus Christ still possess this authority, not because they are priests, but because they are Christians. Every Christian has the right to pronounce the benediction of God upon devout worshippers; and the minister of Christ has this right not only as being himself a Christian, but as the representative of the Church.
CONCLUSION.—Here are two of the highest privileges to which any created spirit can aspire. Through Christ we may draw near to the great God with ascriptions of honour and praise, being confident of audience, acceptance, and blessing. And by our voice the Divine blessing may be conveyed to the ear and heart of our fellow-men. Let us endeavour to live in the grateful and reverent exercise of these privileges.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 We see here:—
Psa 134:3
We see here:—
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I. Jehovah, the fountain of blessing. The love or goodness of God renders Him the source of blessing. There is in God: (1) an infinite capacity to bless; (2) actual blessing according to that capacity.
II. The heavens and the earth are here brought forward as evidence of Divine capacity to bless.
III. The Church is the channel of blessing.
IV. The saints are the means of spreading this blessing, and that, too, by the spirit of blessing.
V. What is involved in the words "The Lord that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion"? It means, The Lord speak comfortably to thee. It means, as expanded in the form given to Aaron, The Lord keep thee; the Lord be thy Shepherd; the Lord restore thy soul when thy spirit wanders; the Lord keep thee in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.
S. Martin, Westminster Chapel Pulpit, 1st series, No. 17.
Reference: Psalm 134— S. Cox, The Pilgrim Psalms, p. 307.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
F. W. Grant 1903 · Public Domain On v1 In the Sanctuary.
In the Sanctuary.
A song of the ascents.
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The last song of ascents shows us Israel in the sanctuary, the night bringing no cessation of constant praise, the praise of a dependent people, rich with the blessing of Jehovah their God. This is, in brief, its three portions.
Here the work of the true Melchizedek is seen; the One who as Man leads out
His people’s heart in a praise in which He is foremost. While as God, the Representative of God, He can pronounce and bring in the blessing. This is Immanuel and Melchizedek in one; and that is the end here. Everything is in His hand who is the Father of eternity, the Maker and Upholder of the new creation. And here the last "ascent" is fully reached.
F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v1 Psa 134:1 - Psa 134:3.
Psalms
THE CHARGE OF THE WATCHERS IN THE TEMPLE
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Psa 134:1 - Psa 134:3.
This psalm, the shortest but one in the whole Psalter, will be more intelligible if we observe that in the first part of it more than one person is addressed, and in the last verse a single person. It begins with ‘Bless ye the Lord’; and the latter words are, ‘The Lord bless thee.’ No doubt, when used in the Temple service, the first part was chanted by one half of the choir, and the other part by the other. Who are the persons addressed in the first portion? The answer stands plain in the psalm itself. They are, ‘All ye servants of the Lord, which by night stand in the House of the Lord.’ That is to say, the priests or Levites whose charge it was to patrol the Temple through the hours of night and darkness, to see that all was safe and right there, and to do such other priestly and ministerial work as was needful; they are called upon to ‘lift up their hands in’-or rather towards-’the Sanctuary, and to bless the Lord.’
The charge is given to these watching priests, these nightly warders, by some single person-we know not whom. Perhaps by the High Priest, perhaps by the captain of their band. They listen to the exhortation to praise, and answer, in the last words of this little psalm, by invoking a blessing on the head of the unnamed speaker who gave the charge. So we have in this antiphonal choral psalm a little snatch of musical ritual falling into two parts-the charge to the watchers and the answering invocation. We may find a good deal of practical teaching in it. Let us look, then, at this choral charge and the response to it.
The charge to the watchers.
We do not know what the office of these watchers was, but in the second Temple, to the period of which this psalm may possibly belong, their duties were carefully defined, and Rabbinical literature has preserved a minute account of the work of the nightly patrol.
According to the authorities, two hundred and forty priests and Levites were the nightly guard, distributed over twenty-one stations. The captain of the guard visited these stations throughout the night with flaming torches before him, and saluted each with ‘Peace be unto thee.’ If he found the sentinel asleep he beat him with his staff, and had authority to burn his cloak {which the drowsy guard had rolled up for a pillow}. We all remember who warned His disciples to watch, lest coming suddenly He should find them asleep. We may remember, too, the blessing pronounced in the Apocalypse on ‘Him who watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked.’ Shortly before daybreak the captain of the guard came, as the Talmud says: ‘All times were not equal. Sometimes he came at cockcrow, or near it, before or after it. He went to one of the posts where the priests were stationed, and opened a wicket which led into the court. Here the priests, who marched behind him torch in hand, divided into two companies which went one to the east, and one to the west, carefully ascertaining that all was well. When they met each company reported “It is peace.” Then the duties of the watch were ended, and the priests who were to prepare for the daily sacrifice entered on their tasks.’
Our psalm may be the chant and answering chant with which the nightly charge was given over to the watchers, or it may be, as some commentators suppose, ‘the call and counter-call with which the watchers greeted each other when they met.’
Figure then, to yourselves, the band of white-robed priests gathered in the court of the Temple, their flashing torches touching pillar and angle with strange light, the city sunk in silence and sleep, and ere they part to their posts the chant rung in their ears:-’Bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord which by night stand in the House of the Lord! Lift up your hands to the Sanctuary, and bless the Lord!’ Notice, then, that the priests’ duty is to praise. It is because they are the servants of the Lord that, therefore, it is their business to bless the Lord. It is because they stand in the House of the Lord that it is theirs to bless the Lord. They who are gathered into His House, they who hold communion with Him, they who can feel that the gate of the Father’s dwelling, like the gate of the Father’s heart, is always open to them, they who have been called in from their wanderings in a homeless wilderness, and given a place and a name in His House better than of sons and daughters, have been so blessed in order that, filled with thanksgiving for such an entrance into God’s dwelling and of such an adoption into His family, their silent lips may be filled with thanksgiving and their redeemed hands be uplifted in praise.
So for us Christians. We are servants of the Lord-His priests. That we ‘stand in the House of the Lord’ expresses not only the fact of our great privilege of confiding approach to Him and communion with Him, whereby we may ever abide in the very Holy of Holies and be in the secret place of the Most High, even while we are busy in the world, but it also points to our duty of ministering; for the word ‘stand’ is employed to designate the attendance of the priests in their office, and is almost equivalent to ‘serve.’ ‘To bless the Lord,’ then, is the work to which we are especially called. If we are made a ‘royal priesthood,’ it is that we ‘should show forth the praises of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvellous light.’ The purpose of that full horn of plenty, charged with blessings which God has emptied upon our heads, is that our dumb lips may be touched into thankfulness, because our selfish hearts have been wooed and charmed into love and life.
The Rabbis had a saying that there were two sorts of angels: the angels that served, and the angels that praised; of which, according to their teaching, the latter were the higher in degree. It was only a half-truth, for true service is praise.
But whatever the form in which praise may come, whether it be in the form of vocal thanksgiving, or whether it be the glad surrender of the heart, manifested in the conscious discharge of the most trivial duties, whether we ‘lift up our hands in the Sanctuary, and bless the Lord’ with them, or whether we turn our hands to the tools of our daily occupation and handle them for His sake, alike we maybe praising Him. And the thing for us to remember is that the place where we, if we are Christians, stand, and the character which we, if we are Christians, sustain, bind us to live blessing and praising Him whilst we live. ‘Behold!’-as if He would point to all the crowded list of God’s great mercies-’Bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord that . . . stand in the house of the Lord.’
And then there is another point that comes out of this charge to the watchers, viz. the necessity of strenuously trying to unite together service of God and communion with God. These priests might have said-’When we go our rounds through the empty and echoing corridors of the dark Temple, we perform the charge which God gave us; and it needs not that we pray. We are working for Him and doing the work which He appointed us; and that is better than all external ritual.’ But this unknown speaker who charges them knew better than that. The priests’ service under the Old Covenant was very unspiritual service. Their work was sometimes very repulsive and always purely external work, which might be done without one trace of religion or devotion in it. And so the speaker here warns them, as it were, against the temptation which besets all men that are concerned in the outward service of the house of God, to confound the mere outward service with inward devotion. The charge bids us remember that the more sedulously our hands and thoughts are employed about the externals of religious duties, the more must we see to it that our inmost spirits are baptized into fellowship with God.
It is not enough to patrol the Temple courts unless we ‘lift up our hands to the sanctuary,’ and with our hearts ‘bless the Lord.’ And all we who in any degree and any department are officially or semi-officially connected with the work of the Christian Church have very earnestly and especially to lay this to heart. We ministers, deacons, Sunday-school teachers, tract distributors, have much need to take care that we do not confound watching in the courts of the Temple with lifting up our own hands and hearts to our Father that is in heaven; and remember that the more outward work we do, the more inward life we ought to have. The higher the stem of the tree grows and the broader its branches spread the deeper must strike and the wider must extend its underground roots, if it is not to be blown over and become a withered ruin.
And so all you Christian men and women! will you take the plain lesson that is here? All ye that stand ready for service, and doing service, all ‘ye that stand in the house of the Lord, behold’ your peril and your duty-and ‘bless ye the Lord,’ and remember that the more work the more prayer to keep it from rotting; the more effort the more communion; and that at the end we shall discover with alarm, and with shame confess ‘I kept others’ vineyards and my own vineyard have I not kept’; unless, like our Master, we prepare for a day of work and toil in the Temple by a night of quiet communion with our Father on the mountainside.
And then there is another lesson here which I only touch, and that is that all times are times for blessing God. ‘Ye who by night stand in the house of the Lord, bless the Lord’: so though no sacrifice was smoking on the altar, and no choral songs went up from the company of praising priests in the ritual service; and although the nightfall had silenced the worship and scattered the worshippers, yet some low murmur of praise would be echoing through the empty halls all the night long, and the voice of thanksgiving and of blessing would blend with the clank of the priests’ feet on the marble pavements as they went their patrolling rounds; and their torches would send up a smoke not less acceptable than the wreathing columns of the incense that had filled the day. And so as in some convents you will find a monk kneeling on the steps of the altar at each hour of the four-and-twenty, adoring the Sacrament exposed upon it, so {but in inmost reality and not in a mere vulgar outside form that means nothing} in the Christian heart there should be a perpetual adoration and a continual praise-a prayer without ceasing. What is it that comes first of all into your minds when you wake in the middle of the night? Yesterday’s business, to-morrow’s vanities, or God’s present love and your dependence upon Him?
In the night of sorrow, too, do our songs go up, and do we hear and obey the charge which commands not only perpetual adoration, but bids us fill the night with music and with praise? Well for us if it be, anticipating the time when ‘they rest not day nor night saying, Holy! Holy! Holy!’ Now, that is the priests’ charge. Look for a moment at the answering blessing: ‘The Lord that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion.’
‘Thee?’ Whom? Him who gave the solemn charge. Their obedience to it is implied in the blessing which the priests invoke on the head of the unnamed speaker. So they express their joyful consent to his charge, and their desires for his welfare whose clear voice has summoned them to their high duty and privilege. They obey, and their first prayer is a prayer for him.
May we venture to draw from this interchange of counsel and benediction a simple lesson as to the best form in which mutual goodwill and friendship may express itself? It is by the interchange of stimulus to God’s service and praise, and of grateful prayer. He is my best friend who stirs me up to make my whole life a strong sweet song of thanksgiving to God for all His numberless mercies to me. Even if the exhortation becomes rebuke, faithful are such wounds. It is but a shallow affection which can be eloquent on other subjects of common interests, but is dumb on this, the deepest of all; which can counsel wisely and rebuke gently in regard to other matters, but has never a word to say to its dearest concerning duty to the God of all mercies.
And the true response to any loving exhortation to bless God, or any religious impulse which we receive from one another, is to invoke God’s blessing on faithful lips that have given us counsel.
This is the best recompense to Christian teachers. If any poor words of ours have come to any of your hearts with power for conviction, or instruction, or encouragement, let your response be, I beseech you, ‘The Lord that hath made heaven and earth bless thee.’ We need your prayers. We are weak, often sad, often discouraged. We are tempted ever to handle God’s truth professionally, instead of living on it for ourselves. We are tempted to think that our work is in vain, and to lose heart because we do not see the spiritual results which we would fain reap. And in many an hour of languor and despondency, when the wheels of life turn heavily and the sky seems very far away, and our message seems to have lost its grandeur and certainty to ourselves, and our handling of it looks as if it had been one long failure, then we need and may be helped by the voice of cheer coming through the night from those whom we have tried to counsel: ‘The Lord that made heaven and earth bless thee.’
But observe, further, the two kinds of blessing which answer to one another-God’s blessing of man, and man’s blessing of God. The one is communicative, the other receptive and responsive. The one is the great stream which pours itself over the precipice; the other is the basin into which it falls and the showers of spray which rise from its surface, rainbowed in the sunshine, as the cataract of divine mercies comes down upon it. God blesses us when He gives. We bless God when we thankfully take, and praise the Giver. God’s blessing then, must ever come first. ‘We love Him because He first loved us.’ Ours is but the echo of His, but the acknowledgment of the divine act, which must precede our recognition of it as the dawn must come in order that the birds may wake to sing.
Our highest service is to take the gifts of God, and with glad hearts to praise the Giver.
Our blessings are but words. God’s blessings are realities. We wish good to one another when we bless each other. But He does good to men when He blesses them. Our wishes may be deep and warm, but, alas! how ineffectual. They flutter round the heads of those whom we would bless, but how seldom do they actually rest upon their brows. But God’s blessings are powers. They never miss their mark. Whom He blesses are blessed indeed.
That experience of the ineffectual emptiness of blessings from the most loving hearts gives point to the emphatic designation here of ‘the Lord which made heaven and earth,’ a formula which is common in this connection. It brings before the eye of faith the mighty Name, and the mighty work of Him in whose blessing we shall be rich. He is the Lord, the Eternal and the Covenant King. He has made heaven and earth. If He who lives above all limitations of time, the Source of life, who has the fulness of life in Himself, He who has revealed Himself to Israel and bound Himself to fulfil His covenant with all who plead it, He whose sovereign effortless power willed and spake into being the azure deeps of heaven with all its stars, and the solid earth with its tribes-if He, with such infinite resources to bestow on us as we need, if He blesses us, it will be with no vain wishes nor with the invoking of the goodwill of a higher power, but with the veritable communication of good, and we shall be blessed indeed.
Observe, too, the channel through which God’s blessings come-’out of Zion.’ For the Jew, the fulness of divine glory dwelt between the Cherubim, and the richest of the divine blessings were bestowed on the waiting worshippers there, and no doubt it is still true that God dwells in Zion, and blesses men from thence. The New Testament analogue to the Old Testament Temple is no outward building. That would be absurd confusing of the very nature of type and antitype. A material type must have a spiritual fulfilment. A rite cannot correspond to a rite, nor a building to a building. But the correspondence in Christianity to the Temple where God dwelt, and from which He scattered His blessings is twofold-one proper and original, the other secondary and derived. In the true sense, Jesus Christ is the Temple. In Him God dwelt; in Him, man meets God; in Him was the place of revelation; in Him the place of sacrifice. ‘In this place is one greater than the Temple,’ and the abiding of Jehovah above the mercy-seat was but a material symbol, shadowing and foretelling the true indwelling of all the fulness of the Godhead bodily in that true Tabernacle which the Lord hath pitched and not man. So the great fountain of all possible good and benediction which was opened for the believing Jew in ‘Zion,’ is opened for us in Jesus Christ who stood in the very court of the Temple, and called in tones of clear, loud invitation: ‘If any man thirst let him come unto Me and drink.’ We may each pass through the rent veil into the holiest of all, and there, laying our hand on Jesus, touch God, and opening our empty palm extended to Him, can receive from Him all the blessing that we need.
There is another application of the Temple symbol in the New Testament-a derivative and secondary one-to the Church, that is, to the aggregate of believers. In it God dwells through Christ. Receiving His Spirit, instinct with His life, it is His Body, and as in His earthly life ‘He spake of the Temple of His “literal” body,’ so now that Church becomes the Temple of God, being builded through the ages. In that Zion all God’s best blessings are possessed and stored, that the Church may, by faithful service, impart them to the world. Whosoever desires to possess these blessings must enter thither-not by any ceremonial act, or outward profession, but by becoming one of those who put their whole heart’s confidence in Jesus Christ. Within that sacred enclosure we receive whatever divine love and power can give. If we are knit to Christ by our faith, we share in proportion to our faith in all the wealth of blessing with which God has blessed Him. We possess Christ and in Him all. The ancient benediction, which came from the lips of the priestly watchers, and rang through the empty corridors of the darkened Temple, asked for much: ‘The Lord who made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion.’ But the Apostolic assurance sounds a yet deeper and more wonderful note of confidence when it proclaims that already, however to ourselves we may seem sad and needy, and however little we may have counted our treasures or made them our own, ‘God hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 A night-greeting addressed to the priests and Levites in…
A night-greeting addressed to the priests and Levites in the Temple. Psa_134:3 is their reply to the greeting.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v1 A Song of degrees
A Song of degrees
See title note; (See Scofield "Psa 120:1").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v1 The Office of the Servants of the Church.
The Office of the Servants of the Church.
A song of degrees, probably used, by its original purpose, as the greeting of the worshiping multitudes at the opening of a great festival, the priests answering the song of greeting with the assurance of God’s blessing.
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v. 1. Behold, bless ye the Lord, giving all praise and honor to Him, all ye servants of the Lord, which by night stand in the house of the Lord, the reference being either to the Temple chorus at the vesper service or to those officials of the tribe of Levi, both Levites and priests, who had charge of the Temple during the night, being responsible for the safety of all Temple property and making everything ready for the worship of the next day.
v. 2. Lift up your hands in the Sanctuary, in a gesture of appeal, and bless the Lord, the admonition being not to forsake the acts of worship and devotion while engaged in the duty of watching. The congregation having sent its greeting up to the Temple mount or to the Court of the Priests, the chorus of priests answers with a blessing,
v. 3. The Lord that made heaven and earth, the almighty Sovereign of the universe, bless thee out of Zion, from the place of His residence among His people, just as He now sends forth His blessings through the work of the Church, whose pastors, missionaries, and teachers bring the Gospel to men everywhere, the object being to make them wise unto salvation by faith in Christ Jesus, the avowed purpose of all Gospel-preaching.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3 General Information:
General Information:
Parallelism is common in Hebrew poetry. (See: Poetry and Parallelism)
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song of ascents
Possible meanings are 1) "song people sang while going up to Jerusalem for a celebration" or 2) "song people sang while going up the steps into the temple" or 3) "song whose words are like steps." See how you translated this in Psalms 120:1
all you servants of Yahweh
"all you who serve Yahweh"
Lift up your hands
This is how people prayed or praised God. (See: Symbolic Action)
to the holy place
Possible meanings are 1) "to the temple" or 2) "to the holy place in the temple."
translationWords
bless
Yahweh
servant
servant
house of God
holy
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v1 Ps 134 In the last of the pilgrims’ songs…
Ps 134 In the last of the pilgrims’ songs (Pss 120–134), the travelers call the Temple workers to praise the Lord. In return, they will receive a much-anticipated blessing.
134:1-2 Those who serve at night were the priests and Levites (see also 135:2).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.