Psalm CXXXIV

A Song of degrees.

1 Behold, bless ye the Lord!

All ye servants of the Lord, which by night stand in the house ol’ the Lord.

2 Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the Lord.

3 The Lord that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion. -

This is the last of the “Songs of Degrees;” consisting of praise and blessing, yea calling on us for never-ceasing praise. The shutting of the Temple gates at night is by some (e. g., Horsley) supposed to indicate the appropriate time for singing this song. Hengstenberg assigns it to the time of the evening sacrifice, and compares Psa. xcii. 2, denying that there was any Levitical service during night. But 1 Chron. ix. 33 seems to assert, very clearly, that there was a service of song by night; and other places hint the same.

There is animation at least in Barclay’s paraphrase of this most lively Psalm —

“O bless the Lord, his servants all.
Who watch within the Temple-wiiU,
And nightly praise him as ye stand
With lifted eye, and lifted hand!
Clap, clap your hands, exult and sing.
In holiness of Christ your King I
Behold he hath redeemed you
To bless and praise him as ye do.”

Benediction was most appropriate in closing this series of “Psalms of Degrees.” The worshipper calls upon those who inhabit the sanctuary to be ever praising (ver. 1), and lifting up their hands “towards his sanctuary,” Psa. xxviii. 2; a call in which Paul most heartily joins, 2 Tim. ii. 8. And then, in verse 3, the priest pronounces a Melchizedec-blessing; for it is in the very style of Melchizedec, Gen. xiv. 18, 19. And this is the final blessing reserved for the Lord’s weary Abrahams, to be pronounced on them by the “Possessor of heaven and earth,” on the day of Christ; in prospect of which, and in enjoyment of all that Cometh even now from the same Lord,

The Lords servant calls for vnceasiiig praise to Jehovah.