(To the chief Musician. On stringed instruments. A Psalm a Song.) God be gracious unto us, and bless us, [and] cause his face to shine upon us; Selah,
Here God's people ask for three things at once: grace, blessing, and the light of His face. Verse 2 then gives their reason, and commentators read the prayer as a cry for blessing so that the whole earth may learn who God is.
The wording is not new. It reaches back to the blessing Aaron the priest spoke over Israel, and to the prayer of Moses when the ark set out.
The next two psalms recall Aaron's blessing (Num. 6:25) and the prayer of Moses as the ark set forward (Num. 10:35). They complete this group of psalms (50–68), which show what the faithful remnant of Israel went through in their circumstances. From Psalm 61 onward, their faith has the King in view.
The picture behind the words comes from ordinary life: a face turned toward you.
In our verse the wish for blessing turns toward God's side. When He lifts up His face toward someone, it is a sign of His favour toward that person. Psalm 67:1 shows this: "May God be gracious to us and bless us and make His face to shine upon us."
Readers often hear themselves in that word. One commentator warns against that reflex and shows how to test it.
Who are the "us"? We are very apt, whenever we read the word "us" in the Bible, to think that it means ourselves. But it is not always so. It is well to examine the context and see who the "us" are on solid grounds. Sometimes the "us" does mean the Christian. Take these words: "For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." There the "we" are not the Jews but Christians, for the reference is to heaven... That hope of heaven is not what the Jew properly longs for. Beyond dispute, the Jew longs for God's unfailing mercy to plant them in their own land and make them a blessing, according to the promise to Abraham.
The word "that" joins verse 1 to verse 2. The order matters. The shining face comes first. Knowledge of God among the nations follows.
Here, then, the simple truth shines before us. It is when God shall have mercy upon Israel — when He shall cause His light to shine upon Zion — then will His way be known upon earth, His salvation among all nations. It is through Israel, not through the professing Church, that God will yet bless the nations.
Another writer pictures Israel as a channel. The people who receive the grace also put it on show.
The grace of God flows through Israel, as the channel of it to the nations; they being the living example of it before the eyes of all. The first two verses show this: "May God be gracious to us" — His people Israel — "and make His face to shine upon us, that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations."
The prayer does not stop with the people praying it. One writer ranks it with a prayer of the Lord Himself.
They desire blessing so that their God may be glorified among all nations. This is a very high order of prayer, and cannot but remind the reader of the prayer of the blessed Lord Himself, when He said, "Glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you." We might well learn from these perfect models.
The verse asks for God's face to shine. One commentator points to Christ, where that shining appears.
The verse may well end with a "Selah" — pause and consider. For God's face shining is certainly His being manifest in His beloved Son, the Lord Jesus. We see it at His transfiguration, when "his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light" (Matt. 17:2). It is confirmed in 2 Corinthians 4:6: "For God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." Believers today enjoy this blessed shining forth of God's glory in the face of Jesus Christ, and Israel will experience this great joy when the millennium dawns.
- Grace echoed. The prayer takes up Aaron's blessing from Numbers 6:25. A face turned toward someone is a sign of God's favour.
- Grace received. The people ask first for mercy, blessing, and God's face turned toward them.
- Grace channelled. Verse 1 exists for verse 2. God blesses Israel so that the whole earth may learn His way, and the blessed people become the living example.
- Grace reflected. One writer calls it a very high order of prayer to ask for blessing so that God may be glorified among the nations — an echo of "Glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you."
- Grace seen. Commentators read the "us" as Israel. Believers today already enjoy the shining of God's face in Jesus Christ.
That thy way may be known upon earth, thy salvation among all nations.
Verse 2 gives the reason for the prayer of verse 1. The people ask for mercy so that it will spread beyond them. They want God's way and His salvation known where no one knows them. That raises two questions: who are the "us," and how does blessing given to one people reach every nation?
The word "that" points the prayer past the people praying it. One writer sets their request beside a prayer of the Lord Jesus:
They desire blessing so that their God may be glorified among all nations. This is a very high order of prayer. It cannot help reminding the reader of the prayer of the blessed Lord Himself, when He said, "Glorify your Son that your Son may glorify you."
The same note is heard in the psalm as a whole — a people no longer wanting God's favour for themselves alone:
Israel, filled with a zeal that is according to knowledge, desires to spread abroad the name and the salvation of God, so that the ends of the earth may fear Him.
Who are the "us" asking for mercy? One writer names them, and shows why the blessing does not stop with them:
The grace of God flows through Israel. Israel is the channel of it to the nations, and the living example of it before the eyes of all. The first two verses show this. The "us" is His people Israel: "God be gracious to us, make His face to shine upon us, that Your way may be known on earth, Your saving power among all nations."
Commentators see an order here. The world's blessing waits on God's mercy to Israel, not the other way round.
Here the simple truth shines before us with remarkable force and beauty. It is when God has mercy on Israel, when He causes His light to shine on Zion — then and not until then — will His way be known on earth. Only then will all nations know His saving power. God will yet bless the nations through Israel, not through the church that professes His name.
This order is older than the psalm. It goes back to promises made to one family long before:
Such is the order of blessing in the world to come: the Jews in the inner circle, and in the outer circle the Gentiles through them. They will be glad and sing for joy, for God will govern in righteousness. The blessing of the nations was an ancient truth, repeated again and again. God proclaimed it to Abraham (Genesis 12:3), renewed it in the Seed (Genesis 22:18), and repeated it to Isaac (Genesis 26:4) and to Jacob (Genesis 28:14).
A reader may ask what this leaves for the present. One writer answers plainly:
In this day of grace the gospel goes out to Jew and Gentile alike, and "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved" (Romans 10). But in this present age, while Israel is in unbelief, there will be no such thing as the conversion of nations.
The older wording "saving health" is simply God's salvation, and both terms are read as pointing to a Person rather than a programme:
In Christ, therefore, God's way will be known on earth and His salvation will be known to all nations (v. 2). For Christ is God's Way (John 14:6) and He is God's Salvation (Luke 2:30).
The verse names two circles at once — the land first, then the nations beyond it:
Psalm 67: (v.1) May God shine out on us so that, (v.2) in the land and among the Gentiles, His way may be known.
The psalm does not stop at knowing God. It moves on to praise from every people, and to a world under righteous government:
Psalm 67 closes this short series by looking for the blessing of the remnant. That blessing is the righteous and merciful answer to their cry. It is also the way of spreading the knowledge of God's ways to all nations. "God be merciful to us, that Your way may be known on earth." So all the peoples will praise God, and He will judge and govern the earth in righteousness... The last verse sums up the result — "God shall bless us, and all the ends of the earth shall fear Him." For the repentant Jew is the way of blessing, life from the dead for the world.
- Cause — God's face shining on His people sets the whole psalm moving. Every wider result hangs on that mercy.
- Channel — Israel is not where the blessing stops. Israel is the pipe it runs through, and the living display of it before watching nations.
- Content — "Your way" and "your saving power" point to Christ Himself: God's Way and God's Salvation, made known where He is unknown.
- Reach — The verse states the scope twice over — in the land and among the nations — reaching to the ends of the earth.
- Result — Peoples praising, the earth governed in righteousness, and all the ends of the earth fearing Him. Blessing received becomes blessing passed on. So verse 2 is a pattern for prayer: ask for mercy, and ask for it so that others will know God.