Silent Trust

Parents, have you ever received a birthday gift, Christmas gift, fathers’ day, or mother’s day gift from one of your young children? The irony of this gift, is that it came from you in the first place, right? perhaps your spouse or someone else close to the child helped with the gift, but most of the time the bought the gift or payed for the supplies to make the gift came from the common household purse, am I right? Let’s say your three-year-old daughter picks out and buys you a bracelet. Does the gift mean any less because in some sense you were the one that paid for it?

Psalm 134 ESV

A Song of Ascents. 1 Come, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord, who stand by night in the house of the Lord! 2 Lift up your hands to the holy place and bless the Lord! 3 May the Lord bless you from Zion, he who made heaven and earth!

Psalms, Volume 2 Original Meaning

Psalm 134 is the final poem in the Songs of Ascent (see Ps 120). In this last song in the collection, the worshipers have made their way to Jerusalem and now find themselves in the sanctuary and prepared to worship before they depart and return home.

“Season by season pilgrims would return to this earthly link with Yahweh, to worship and to receive fresh benediction upon themselves, their work, and their homes. Only if the holy city survived and prospered could they continue to experience this blessing.” - WBC.

“Before the pilgrims or a representative member of their ranks is set the ideal of a life of reverent obedience to God’s moral will. “The spirit of pilgrimage always incorporates walking in the ways of the Lord” -WBC

Word Biblical Commentary, Volume 21: Psalms 101–150, Revised Explanation

Worship at Zion is a doorway that opens out into the power behind the world. Blessing extends in a remarkable cycle. Dynamic potential is given to those who sincerely acknowledge God’s power. Essentially it is unsought and comes as a gracious byproduct of worship. In keeping with this attribute of power, the divine object of blessing becomes an active subject. God generously shares resources of omnipotence with devoted followers so that abundant life may be theirs.

Word Biblical Commentary, Volume 21: Psalms 101–150, Revised Comment

Blessing is the largesse of life in abundance from the generous hand of Yahweh

In a time and place where daily bread was survival and olive oil was the good life, the Ancient Israelites were taught to look to God for their daily provision.