Psalms 134:1-3 - Homilies By S. Conway

The songs of degrees' doxology.

This series of psalms ends, as all service of worship should, with the voice of praise and thanksgiving. It is ill if our prayers and varied waiting upon God do not bring us into the spirit which would bless the Lord, and bid all others do the same. That spirit is present in this psalm. Note—

I. THE EXHORTATION HERE GIVEN . "Behold, bless ye the Lord." Now, this psalm, being placed here at the end of the series, bids us look back and trace, in the psalms that have gone before, the manifold reasons wherefore we should bless the Lord. The first of these psalms, Psalms 120:1-7 ; tells of deliverance from cruel enemies; Psalms 121:1-8 ; of God's continual preservation of his people; Psalms 122:1-9 ; of joy and delight realized in the worship of the Lord; Psalms 123:1-4 ; of waiting continually upon God in times of trouble; Psalms 124:1-8 ; of deliverance from fierce foes; Psalms 125:1-5 ; of experience of God's guardian care; Psalms 126:1-6 ; of the joy of God's salvation; Psalms 127:1-5 ; of the Lord alone being our sure Keeper; Psalms 128:1-6 ; of God's grace and goodness sweetening the home; Psalms 129:1-8 ; of afflictions many, but of preservation in them all; Psalms 130:1-8 ; of God's blessed uplifting; Psalms 131:1-3 ; of the soul kept in the peace of God; Psalms 132:1-18 ; of the prosperity of the Church; and Psalms 133:1-3 ; of her unity; and now in Psalms 134:1-3 , there is, as there well may be, the command to bless the Lord. What a long list it is of mercies, and help, and deliverances, and blessings unspeakable! If men will look back along their lives, they too will bless the Lord.

II. To WHOM IT IS ADDRESSED .

1. To all servants of the Lord . For there is none that has not good reason for obeying it. But especially:

2. To them " who by night stand in the house of the Lord ." Now, here allusion is made, so it seems, to those whose office it was to minister before the Lord during the night watches—there were priests and Levites who had duties by night as well as by day ( 1 Chronicles 9:33 ). There was " a night watch of choristers who kept up the worship of God through the silent hours." Two verses of the psalm seem to have been the salutation of the congregation addressed to them, and Psalms 134:3 is their response.

3. And God has yet many servants whose duty is to serve him through the night hours . The sleepless ones—those who from one cause and another have to say, "Thou holdest mine eyes waking." Well is it for such to employ those hours in the praise of the Lord (cf. Psalms 63:5 , Psalms 63:6 ). And such as the sailor pacing the deck in the night watch, the sentry on guard, the nurse in her ward,—well is it for them in the night to bless the Lord.

4. Or , we may take the night as telling of the night of sorrow—those times of darkness and depression through which we all have to pass (see Paul and Silas in the dungeon at Philippi, at midnight singing praises unto God). How often have these psalms been used by God's people at such hours, and with what rich results in the quickening of faith and hope and joy in God!

5. And if, as some maintain, there was no later service in the temple than the evening sacrifice, then the many evening congregations gathered together may take these words as addressed to them .

III. HOW IT IS TO BE OBEYED . They were to "lift up their hands to the sanctuary." The body should bear its part; posture and gesture help the spirit.

IV. WHAT COMES OF SUCH OBEDIENCE . The Lord will bless us ( Psalms 134:3 ). He who hath all power, who made heaven and earth, he will bless the soul that worships him (cf. Psalms 135:3 ). All who have thus drawn near to God have found that he draws near to them.—S.C.