Commentary - Psalm 134

Bird's-eye view

Psalm 134 is the final Song of Ascents, the last step on the pilgrim's journey up to the house of the Lord. It is a short, potent psalm, a liturgical firecracker. It functions as a call and response, a reciprocal blessing that bookends the worship of God's people. The pilgrims, having arrived and participated in the worship, now call upon the priests and Levites, the full-time servants of the sanctuary, to continue the work of praise through the night. In response, the priests pronounce the Lord's blessing back upon the people. This psalm is a beautiful picture of the covenant relationship: God's people bless Him, and He in turn blesses them. It is all about blessing, and it all flows from Zion, the place of God's chosen dwelling.

The psalm neatly divides into two parts. The first two verses are the charge from the people to the priests: "Behold, bless Yahweh...Lift up your hands...and bless Yahweh." The final verse is the authoritative response from the priests to the people: "May Yahweh bless you from Zion." This is not just an exchange of pleasantries. This is covenantal transaction. We bless God with our praise, our obedience, our lifted hands, and He blesses us with His favor, His protection, His very self, all because He is the great God who made heaven and earth.

Outline

Verse by Verse Commentary

A Song of Ascents.

We have come to the end of this psalter-within-the-psalter. These fifteen psalms (120-134) have traced the journey of the faithful Israelite, from the far-flung places of affliction and trial, making his way up, step by step, to Jerusalem, to the house of the Lord. This final psalm is the culmination. The pilgrim has arrived, the festival is likely concluding, and as the people prepare to depart, they leave a final charge with those who minister in the sanctuary. It is a fitting conclusion to a journey that is all about drawing near to God in worship. The entire Christian life is a Song of Ascents, a continual pilgrimage to the heavenly Zion.

v. 1 Behold, bless Yahweh, all you slaves of Yahweh, Who stand in the house of Yahweh by night!

The psalm opens with a summons: "Behold." Look! Pay attention! This is important. What follows is not a suggestion but a command, a joyful exhortation. "Bless Yahweh." To bless God is to praise Him, to speak well of Him, to extol His virtues. We, who are but dust, are called to bless the infinite God. This is a profound privilege. How do we bless Him who lacks nothing? We do it with our words, our songs, our obedience. We reflect His glory back to Him.

The ones summoned are "all you slaves of Yahweh." In the immediate context, this refers to the priests and Levites, those set apart for the full-time service of the temple. They were God's bond-servants in a special sense. But in the new covenant, this title belongs to every believer. We have been bought with a price, and we are not our own. We are all slaves of Christ, and therefore we are all called to this task of blessing His name.

They are described as those "Who stand in the house of Yahweh by night." The work of the temple did not cease when the sun went down. The lamps had to be tended, the gates guarded, and a watch maintained. Praise was to be perpetual. This is a picture of the unceasing worship that is to characterize the people of God. Even in the dark times, in the "night seasons" of life, the servants of the Lord are to be found at their post, standing and blessing His name.

v. 2 Lift up your hands to the sanctuary And bless Yahweh.

The charge is repeated and amplified. The posture for this blessing is specified: "Lift up your hands." This is not an incidental detail. Our bodies are involved in worship. We are not disembodied brains in a carrying case. We are to present our bodies as living sacrifices, and this is our spiritual worship (Rom. 12:1). Lifting the hands is a biblical posture of prayer and praise (1 Tim. 2:8). It signifies surrender, dependence, and reception. We lift empty hands to God, acknowledging that we have nothing to offer Him but what He has first given us. We also lift them in celebration and adoration.

They are to lift their hands "to the sanctuary," or "in holiness." The sanctuary was the place of God's special presence. For us, the heavenly sanctuary is where Christ has entered as our high priest. When we worship, we ascend in the Spirit to that heavenly Zion. We lift our hands on earth, but our worship joins with the unceasing praise of heaven. And the call is once again, "bless Yahweh." This is the central duty and delight of the creature: to give glory and honor and praise to the Creator.

v. 3 May Yahweh bless you from Zion, Who made heaven and earth.

Here the direction of the blessing reverses. The priests, having been charged to bless God, now turn and pronounce God's blessing upon the people. This is the divine response. This is the gospel economy. We give to God what is already His, and He lavishes upon us the riches of His grace. The blessing comes from Yahweh, the covenant-keeping God.

And it comes "from Zion." Zion was the mountain on which the temple stood, the epicenter of God's covenant administration in the Old Testament. But Zion is more than a geographical location. In the New Testament, we have come to Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem (Heb. 12:22). The Church is the new Zion, the place from which God's blessings flow out into the world. All of God's covenant blessings are mediated to us through His appointed means, through His Church.

The psalm concludes by grounding this blessing in the absolute sovereignty of God. The one who blesses us from Zion is the one "Who made heaven and earth." This is no tribal deity, no localized god. This is the sovereign Lord over all creation. His power to bless is unlimited because His power in creation is absolute. He who spoke the cosmos into existence is certainly able to speak a blessing into your life that will stick. The God who made all things is the God who remakes all things in Christ. His blessing is not a sentimental wish; it is a creative, powerful, re-ordering word. And because He is the Creator, He is able to bless His people, not just in the sanctuary, but everywhere His creation extends, which is to say, everywhere.

Application

This little psalm is a potent reminder of the rhythm of the Christian life. We are called to be a people of perpetual praise. Our lives, day and night, are to be an act of blessing God. This is not just for pastors or church leaders, but for all "slaves of Yahweh." Whether you are changing diapers in the middle of the night or driving a truck through the dark, you are on duty. You are standing in the house of the Lord, and your post is a post of praise.

We must also remember that our worship is embodied. We are not Gnostics. God gave us hands, and He is pleased when we lift them in praise to Him. Our physical actions in worship matter because God is redeeming us, body and soul. Physical worship offered in faith is spiritual worship.

Finally, we must live in the happy confidence of God's reciprocal blessing. As we bless Him, He blesses us. This is not a transaction where we earn His favor, but rather the joyful reality of covenant life. He has promised to bless those who draw near to Him. And His blessing is no small thing. It comes from the Creator of the cosmos, mediated through His Son, Jesus Christ, and administered in His body, the Church. So come, behold, and bless the Lord. And as you do, be prepared to receive His powerful blessing in return.