(A Song of degrees.) Behold, bless Jehovah, all ye servants of Jehovah, who by night stand in the house of Jehovah.
Psalm 134 is the last of the Songs of Ascents, and it ends the climb not with a request but with a call to bless the Lord. The line raises three questions: who these servants are, why they stand in God's house, and what the night means.
These psalms climb step by step, and this one is where they stop:
In Psalm 134 we reach the top of the staircase as far as these Songs of Degrees go. It is worship, and beyond that the believer can hardly get. All that we may receive from God, and enter into by faith in the energy of the Spirit, must flow back to God in this way. The servants of the Lord bless the Lord even though they stand in the house by night. Night is the time of darkness and of sleep. All nature is quiet. The song-birds have gone to roost. The only voice is that of the servant who lifts up his hands in the sanctuary and blesses the Lord.
The call goes out to "all you servants of the LORD," and the second half of the line shows who they are:
Psalm 134 is the Psalm of the uplifted hands, or, as we can say, the Psalm of the uplifted heart. "Come, bless the LORD, all you servants of the LORD" — these are His priestly servants, because it says "who stand by night in the house of the LORD," and so you have worship. Now, we have no earthly sanctuary, but still we are made a spiritual priesthood.
Standing in God's house is not idleness. One writer sets this psalm against the long journey behind it:
The closing psalm of these pilgrim songs presents the crowning experience of the godly in Israel. The previous psalm views the godly as brothers dwelling together in unity. Here they are the servants of the Lord, busy with the highest service — the worship of the Lord. Their worship never stops, even by night (1 Chr. 9:33). They offer it in a holy place — the sanctuary of the House of the Lord. Many a time they had raised their hands in prayer on their desert journey. Now they are called to lift up their hands in praise in the house of the Lord.
Commentators differ on the night. The psalm opens with a call to stop and consider, and one writer reads the night as real service in an age still to come:
"Behold," we are told, that is, consider what is fitting at this time. Of course it assumes the millennium has been brought in. This psalm singles out the servants "who stand by night in the house of the LORD" (v. 1). We do not know of priests serving by night in the temple. So this may teach us that in the millennium God will be served just as well in the night as in the day.
Others read the night as now, while Christ is away from this world:
"By night" would suggest the absence of Christ from this world. Yet there is a company who know God and draw near to Him. He has anointed them to worship Him in the sanctuary. This is the end of all that God is seeking today. It is ours, beloved, to take up this privilege of priestly service, to bless our God, and then we can be sure, as we do so, that He will bless us from His holy dwelling.
God has blessed them first, and the call to praise follows from that:
With this before them, He must be praised, and that by all His servants. And no time can be unsuitable for blessing Him who blesses them like this. By day and by night His praises should be declared… They have so often lifted their hands in prayer towards God's house. Now they are to lift them up in praise. The Lord answered those hands when they were raised in prayer. He will not be less mindful when they are raised in praise.
- Ascent. The Songs of Ascents end in worship. It is the highest point a believer reaches. All that we receive from God flows back to Him there.
- Servants. The call is to His priestly servants, marked out by where they stand. We have no earthly sanctuary now, yet we are made a spiritual priesthood.
- Service. Worship in God's house is the highest service there is. Hands once raised in prayer on the road are now raised in praise at the end of it.
- Night. Commentators differ. Some read the night of an age still to come. Others read it of Christ's absence now. Either way, a company draws near to God in the dark.
- Answer. No hour is unsuitable for blessing the God who blesses. He answered those hands when they were lifted in prayer. He will not be less mindful when they are lifted in praise.
Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless Jehovah.
Psalm 134 closes the Songs of Ascents with a call to the servants who keep watch in God's house at night. It tells them to lift their hands and bless Him in the dark — but is "the holy place" a building, or a state of heart?
Commentators see this psalm as the top of the whole series. What stands at the top is worship, not anything we receive.
In Psalm 134 we reach the top of the staircase as regards these Songs of Degrees. It is worship, and beyond that the saint can hardly get. All that we may receive from God, and enter into by faith in the energy of the Spirit, must flow back to God in this way. The servants of the Lord bless the Lord even though they stand in the house by night. All nature is quiet. The song-birds have gone to roost. The only voice is that of the servant who lifts up his hands in the sanctuary and blesses the Lord.
The same gesture had a different meaning earlier in the journey. Hands stretched out on the road were the hands of people in need; here the posture stays and the content changes.
Their worship never stops, even at night (1 Chr. 9:33), and they offer it in a holy place — the sanctuary of the House of the Lord. Many a time they had raised their hands in prayer on their desert journey; now they are called to lift up their hands in praise in the house of the Lord.
One writer adds that God listens just as closely when asking turns into thanks. The hands "so often lifted up in prayer towards God's house, are to be lifted up in praise. When raised in prayer the Lord had answered, He will not be less mindful when they are lifted up in praise."
The Hebrew word here carries two possible senses, and commentators differ over which the psalm intends. Kelly's rendering keeps both open:
Lift up your hands [in] the sanctuary (or, in holiness), and bless Jehovah.
Some prefer the second reading, and it changes what the verse asks for. The hands themselves must be clean, not just raised in the right building.
But though I have said "Sanctuary," I believe the word means instead "your hands of holiness." I understand that Paul, or the Spirit of God, refers to this when he says, "I want men to pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without anger or doubting." These men were called to lift up their hands as they stood in the house of the Lord "by night."
Dennett notes the same two senses and draws one lesson either way: "it is only in the 'sanctuary' that worship can be presented."
Writers apply the night watch to the time we live in now.
Man has his little lights, and he is well pleased with the little toys he has made himself. But the night goes on, and Israel, who has rejected her Lord, stays silent. She has not a word of praise... You and I are brought into this priestly place, and while it is the night of Christ's rejection, I think we can see the first dawning of the day. We, who are privileged to stand in the sanctuary by night, may lift up our hands and bless the Lord.
Darby contrasts the psalm's setting with the Christian's. The place is different, and so is the darkness:
This will not be fully ours till we are in our Father's house. But then, though praise will surely go up unceasingly, we shall not have need to call on others to bless. We are kings and priests, and even now we bless Him as such in spirit... We stand in reality in the holiest of all — the place where no Jewish priest could enter to bless, even as a picture. There we bless Him, in whose presence and light we stand. Night we cannot say then, for "there shall be no night there"; now we praise in spirit here, saying, "the night is far spent."
Verse 3 answers verses 1–2, and the movement runs both ways. As Hamilton Smith puts it on the closing verse: "When praise goes up blessing flows out."
- Lift as summit — Psalm 134 is the last step of the Songs of Ascents, and that step is worship. Everything we receive from God flows back to Him this way.
- Lift as praise — the hands raised in the desert were asking; the same hands raised in the house are blessing.
- Lift in holiness — the word may mean "the sanctuary" or "in holiness." On the second reading, the call is for clean hands, like the later call to pray lifting up holy hands.
- Lift in the night — the servants stand while it is dark, and the darkness of Christ's rejection is no reason for silence.
- Lift and receive — the psalm ends by turning the blessing round: praise rises, and blessing flows back out of Zion.
Jehovah, the maker of heavens and earth, bless thee out of Zion.
Psalm 134 closes the fifteen "Songs of Ascents". Two questions shape its last line. Who receives this blessing? And why does it come out of Zion, and not simply down from heaven?
The first two verses call God's servants to bless Him. This verse reverses the direction.
When the people at last bless the Lord in the sanctuary, the Lord will bless His people out of Zion. When praise goes up blessing flows out.
We might expect the psalm to end where praise ends. It does not.
At this point we might think, well, that is the top note. You cannot get any further than that. But the story does not end with the uplifting of our hands to God. ... The matter stands like this: we give the Lord our praise, and the Lord says I will roll it back in blessing. The Lord blesses and always has the last word.
Zion is where God dwells, and where His throne is. That changes what the blessing means.
The worshippers often lifted their hands in prayer towards God's house. Now they are to lift them in praise. When they raised them in prayer the Lord answered. He will not be less mindful when they lift them in praise. ... The Creator now dwells in Zion, and from there, in connection with the throne, can bless His people.
One writer looks ahead to the age when God deals with the world from Zion.
This blessing proceeds from Zion, the centre of God's dealings with the world in the millennial age. But notice: the holy city of Zion is the home of God's sanctuary then.
Verses 1–2 call on many servants. The last line blesses one person. Who speaks it?
Jehovah, who made heaven and earth, blessed now (not simply from heaven, but) out of Zion. It is the place of blessing Jehovah, and Jehovah blessing. I would rather count the last verse as the voice of Christ, the Son of David, speaking somewhat in the character of Melchizedek. He said, "Blessed be the most high God, and blessed be Abram of the most high God"... The last verse answers the call of the earlier ones. The Spirit of Christ in the remnant calls on Jehovah's servants to bless Him, and they in turn bless the godly one from Him.
Commentators differ. One writer sets both readings side by side and leaves the choice open. He starts with the title "who made heaven and earth".
The expression "Jehovah that made heaven and earth" shows us God as He made Himself known to His chosen people... even the saints in Jerusalem at Pentecost said, "Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them" (Acts 4:24)... Others, however, regard it as the Spirit's cry to Jehovah through the remnant, asking blessing on the Messiah Himself. We read, for example, in Psalm 72: "May prayer be made for him continually." The spiritual reader will judge which of these interpretations is most in keeping with the divine mind.
The psalm puts its worshippers in God's house at night. What carries over to us?
The psalm calls on His priestly servants. We know this because it says "who stand by night in the house of the Lord," and so you have worship. Now, we have no earthly sanctuary, but we are still made a spiritual priesthood.
One writer looks at what is already ours, and at what is still ahead.
This will not be fully ours until we are in our Father's house. But then, though praise will surely keep going up without end, we will not need to call on others to bless. We are kings and priests... We stand in reality in the holiest of all, where no Jewish priest could enter to bless even in figure. There we bless Him, in whose presence and light we stand. We cannot speak of night then, for "night will be no more"; now we praise in spirit here, saying, "the night is far gone."
- Praise goes up. God's servants bless Him in the sanctuary, hands lifted at night.
- Blessing comes back. Worship looks like the top note. The Lord answers it by rolling praise back as blessing, and He has the last word.
- Out of Zion. The blessing does not simply fall from heaven. It comes from the place where God dwells, beside His throne.
- On whom? Some hear Christ, the Son of David, blessing His people as Melchizedek once blessed. Others hear the Spirit asking blessing on the Messiah. Commentators differ.
- Ours now. We have no earthly sanctuary, yet we are made a spiritual priesthood. We praise while "the night is far gone", and in the day coming, night will be no more.