Psalms 134

Psalms 134. Ver. 1 and 2 contain a call to the servants of God to praise him and supplicate his aid, followed in ver. 3 by the pronounc-ing of a blessing. That the Psalm has a dramatic character, appears from the transition from the plural to the singular, and still more deci-sively from the circumstance, that the pronouncing of a blessing in ver. 3 cannot proceed from the same person, as the entreaty at the Lord to bless in ver. 1 and 2. But the determination of the persons speaking cannot possibly be left to caprice, or any sort of conjecture. It must discover itself with certainty from the Psalm itself. Now who it is that speaks in ver. 1 and 2 is clear from the superscription, according to which the Psalm is a pilgrim-song. Hence, it can only be the community represented by the pilgrim-bands.

This addresses the servants of the Lord, who were assembled at evening in the house of the Lord. The address in ver. 3 can only be directed to those who had them-selves addressed in the preceding verses, the people, and must have proceeded from those who had then been addressed, the priests.

The matter also agrees with this, which just consistsof the Mosaic blessing, that could only be pronounced by the priests. Accordingly the outline of the Psalm may be given more ex-actly thus: the pilgrim bands present themselves on the evening of their arrival at the temple, and call upon the servants of the Lord, who were there at the time of the evening sacrifice, to praise the Lord in their name and that of the people, and to pray to him. Coming with such a state of mind, they could not remain long without the blessing, therefore the priests answered them by pronouncing that. Such a Psalm was most fitly appropriated as the close of the whole pilgrim-book; so that the collector of it, who was at the same time the author of all the nameless pilgrim-songs, undoubtedly placed this Psalm purposely at the end, or composed it with a view to its forming the conclusion of the whole. So already Lampe: forte ille, qui fasciculum canticorum graduum collegit-hoc canticum tanquam aptum epilogum addidit. That the Psalm was composed in a time of depression, appears from the call to praise and to supplicate the Lord (see the expo-sition), and the “creator of heaven and earth,” of the conclusion, which points the church in their felt impotence to the almighti-ness of their Lord. The important doctrine which is imprinted on the Psalm, is, that in the depressing and difficult circumstances of the church of God, the sure way to obtain the blessing of the Lord is to bless him.

Psalms 134:1-3

Ver.1-3.-Ver. 1. A Song of the Pilgrims. Behold, bless the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord, ye who stand in the house of the Lord by night. Ver. 2. Lift up your hands to the sanctuary, and bless the Lord. Ver. 3. The Lord bless thee out of Zion, the creator of heaven and earth.-The behold in ver. 1, the echo of that in the preceding Psalm, shews that the subject is a business immediately in hand, that it has to do with what was real, and must be done upon the spot. The expression, indeterminate in itself: Ye servants of the Lord, which might even be applied to the whole body of the people, receives its more specific determi-nation from what is added: who stand in the house of the Lord. That we are not to think of the Levites, is evident from the an-swer in ver. 3; to bless the people was a privilege of the priests. To bless the Lord, is, as to its import, as much as, to praise andglorify him.

But the word itself is to be retained on account of its correspondence with that in ver. 3: the Lord bless thee. This also renders it manifest that the people are here to be understood as calling upon the servants of the Lord to praise the Lord in their (the people’s) name and from their soul. Else, if ver. 1 and 2 were regarded as a mere reminding of the priests to dis-charge the duty of their office, the address and answer would run into each other. The praise of God, as this answer shews, is no idle service; it is only a veiled and indirect prayer, he is praised as the one that ran and will help. The service of the priests ter-minated with the offering of the evening sacrifice. Even with the Levittical singers there is not found a trace of their being heard by night. 1 Chronicles 9:33 has been improperly brought as a proof to the contrary.

The expression: by night, can be referred with less difficulty to the evening service, as it is used of this also in Psalms 92:2. Upon the lifting up of the hands, ver. 2, as the gesture of prayer, symbolizing the elevation of the heart, comp. on Psalms 28.: “while I lift up my hands to thy most holy oracle.” Luther falsely: in the sanctuary.-At ver. 3 we are to supply, according to what has been remarked: because thou thus blessest the Lord.

That the people are addressed, is clear from the parallel passage, Psalms 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-not: he will bless thee-is clear from the of deniable reference to the Mosaic blessing, Num. vi. 24. The exiression: creator of heaven and earth, comp. Psalms 121:2; Psalms 124:8 forms the counterpoise to the depth of misery and weakness in which the community of God was sunk.