Bible Commentaries
Psalms 134

Introduction

Ver. 1 and 2 contain a call to the servants of God to praise him and supplicate his aid, followed in Psalms 134:3 by the pronouncing of a blessing.

That the Psalm has a dramatic character, appears from the transition from the plural to the singular, and still more decisively from the circumstance, that the pronouncing of a blessing in Psalms 134:3 cannot proceed from the same person, as the entreaty at the Lord to bless in Psalms 134:1-2. 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 Psalms 134:1-2 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 Psalms 134:3 can only be directed to those who had themselves 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 consists of the Mosaic blessing, that could only be pronounced by the priests.

Accordingly the outline of the Psalm may be given more exactly 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 exposition), and the “creator of heaven and earth,” of the conclusion, which points the church in their felt impotence to the almightiness 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.

Verses 1-3

Ver. 1. A Song of the Pilgrimages. 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 Psalms 134:1, the echo of that in the preceding Psalm, shows 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 determination 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 answer in Psalms 134:3; to bless the people was a privilege of the priests. To bless the Lord, is, as to its import, as much as, to praise and glorify him. But the word itself is to be retained on account of its correspondence with that in Psalms 134:3: 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 Psalms 134:1-2 were regarded as a mere reminding of the priests to discharge the duty of their office, the address and answer would run into each other. The praise of God, as this answer shows, 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 terminated with the offering of the evening sacrifice. Even with the Levitical 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, Psalms 134:2, as the gesture of prayer, symbolizing the elevation of the heart, comp. on Psalms 28:2: “while I lift up my hands to thy most holy oracle.” Luther falsely: in the sanctuary.

At Psalms 134:3 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 undeniable reference to the Mosaic blessing, Numbers 6:24. The expression: 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.

We have now a group of twelve Psalms, sung after the prosperous completion of the temple, and probably at its dedication, consisting of three new Psalms at the beginning, and one at the end, Psalms 146, which enclose in the middle eight Psalms of David.

The extremities of the group are pointedly, marked by the circumstance of the first and the last Psalm in it, having Halleluiah at the beginning and the end, and also from the first and the last Psalm being otherwise very strikingly related to each other at the beginning and the end. That the eight Psalms marked with the name of David cannot stand here, in an isolated and independent state, but must have been arranged into a cycle of a later period, is clear from the express decla-ration of the collector, after Psalms 72, according to which no more Psalms of David were to be expected in a separate or independent form. And that the author of this cycle has not satisfied himself with prefixing a trilogy of new Psalms for these Psalms of David, but that Psalms 146 also forms a component part of the cycle, is clear, even apart from the manifest and intentional connection which Psalms 146 has with Psalms 145, from the single fact, that all the other mixed groups (Psalms 101-107, Psalms 108-119, Psalms 120-134) supply at the close a testimony from the present.

The tendency to console and elevate the people of God, is common to the whole group. In Psalms 135, Psalms 136, this is done by pointing to the glorious deeds of God in nature and history, which guarantee the return of prosperity to Israel. Psalms 137 quickens the hope arising from the already-begun execution of God's judgment upon the enemies; Psalms 146 presents the Lord as the almighty and faithful helper of his suffering people. It is common to the two first Psalms, and the last Psalm of the group, that the consolation and the encouragement are administered in the form of praise to God.

The intermediate Davidic Psalms place the glorious promise made to David, and along with him also to the people, of the everlasting kingdom of his seed in the fore-ground, accompany the seed of David and the people in a consolatory style, through the assaults of the world, which threatened to bring the promise to nought, and conclude with a solemn: Lord God, we praise thee, on account of its final, glorious verification. No period was more suitable for the appropriation of this Davidic cycle of Psalms, than that in which the Davidic stem was, poorly enough, represented by Zerubbabel, whose humbled condition also gave occasion to the prophets of that period, Haggai and Zechariah, to lay a firmer and deeper hold on the rich promises given to the race of David, For the more exact determination of the time, see what is said on Psalms 137.