He Is My LIFE

Psalm 134 NIV

A song of ascents. 1 Praise the Lord, all you servants of the Lord who minister by night in the house of the Lord. 2 Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the Lord. 3 May the Lord bless you from Zion, he who is the Maker of heaven and earth.

The Final Song of Ascents

summary of the entire pilgrimage, borrow lines and themes from the other previous psalms in this collection

Psalm 134 is the last psalm in the section of songs of ascents. We have noted how these psalms all point to that pilgrimage journey the people of Israel would take for one of the three festival celebrations in Jerusalem each year. They are psalms that speak of the anticipation and longing to be near the presence of God. They are psalms that speak about the joy and wonder of worshipping in the presence of God. They are psalms that speak to Israel’s need and dependence upon the continual presence of God; they speak of the hope God’s people have. And today we reach the conclusion of those pilgrim songs. Psalm 134 is a summary of this entire pilgrimage in that it seems to borrow lines and themes from among the other previous psalms in this collection. But it is also conclusion in that it anticipates the sending-out of the people back to their own towns and villages.

conclusion of assembly | all are being sent back to homes | worship continues

Perhaps, then, it is an appropriate place for us to pause and consider our own place in this story. In a time of global pandemic, we are all finding ourselves scattered and sent back to our own homes and places of dwelling. It might be good to contemplate for a bit how it is that the blessing and worship of the Lord continues and goes with us even when we leave the gathered assembly of God’s people together. That seems to be what Psalm 134 is anticipating as the worshippers left the assembly of God’s people in Jerusalem.

The setting we see taking place in verse one is the scene of worship at the temple in Jerusalem. But the reference to those who minister by night tells us that the day of worship activity is over. The time of gathered celebration has finished. We pick up on a scene here in which the people anticipate waking up the next morning and beginning their journey homeward.

gathered assembly of worshipers is going home; but worship continues to take place when they leave

But at the same time, this psalm is calling for the people to continue praising the Lord even though the assembled activity of worship is disbanding. Verse two instructs the people of God to lift up their hands and praise the Lord. The physical expression of raised hands is a gesture of worship. The priests who remain and minister in the temple continue this activity of worship even after all the other people have left.

mix of emotions like end of vacation trip | praise, assembly - longing sadness, dispersing - hope - anticipation restoration

I imagine a mixture of emotion placed into this event. One the one hand, it is a moment filled with praise and worship—that’s what the psalm is calling for. On the other hand, it is possibly also a moment of loss and lament. The festival celebration is over. Everybody has to go home now. I imagine it like the last night of a great vacation trip. There has been a time of wonderful activity and deep relationships with those we know and love. Part of you wants it to keep going. Part of you wants to back up the calendar and do it all again. Part of you is already starting to think about and plan the next awesome get-away adventure. Part of you experiences a heart full of joy. And part of you is sort of sad to see it end.

I have to admit, I am not sure I ever thought about worship in those kind of terms like I have the last few weeks. I don’t know about you, but it seem like I have taken for granted the gathered assembly of God’s people for worship now that we are faced with several weeks in which the physical congregation assembly cannot take place. I think perhaps many of us are facing moments now of recognizing that same bitter-sweet expression which is buried in these words of Psalm 134. The heart of praise which has gathered and found its expression in the assembly of God’s people; the heart of longing sadness upon the realization of dispersed isolation; the heart of anticipation leaning into the hope of restoration. These feelings all tucked away into these few short verses of Psalm 134 have found some new expression among God’s people in these past few weeks in which we have been apart.

Reciprocity - the Echo of Praise/Blessing

verses 1&2 - call for praise from people to God

verse 3 call for blessing from God to people

both are the same Hebrew word: barak = “praise/blessing”

The theme of Psalm 134 centers on the back-and-forth exchange between God and his people. That’s worth taking a little close look for a few minutes. Verse one and verse two both call forth for God’s people to give praise to God. Verse three calls for God to give blessing to the people. In the original Hebrew, praise and blessing are the same word. It is the Hebrew word barak which the NIV Bible translates as “praise” when the direction is from the people to God. And the NIV translates Barak as “blessing” when the direction is from God to the people. And so the activity called forth in each verse of Psalm 134 is actually a repetition of the exact same word. In verses one and two it is a call for barak from the people to God. And in verse three it is a call for barak from God to the people.

greek eulogia | barak root as physical reference to knees

We might not think of praise and blessing as the same thing, but in the Hebrew world of the Bible that is exactly what is going on. Maybe some Greek will help explain. When the Greeks translated the Hebrew Old Testament into the Greek language—a version of the Old Testament that we call the Septuagint—they chose to translate the Hebrew word barak as the Greek word eulogia. This word in Greek literally means “kind words” or “to speak well of.” This is what both praise and blessing have in common. The similarity is in the expression of goodness represented by those words. The worshipper who praises God lifts words of goodness which are an expression of the heart of the worshipper. And God blesses his people through his holy word which is an expression of the revealed heart of God’s love for his people.

Or maybe it helps to think of it in physical terms. The Hebrew word barak also comes from the same root word as the knees. Sometimes we think of worship as including a physical expression of kneeling. To kneel before God is to express adoration for the Lord by being upon our knees. Similarly, the ancient practice of an Old Testament blessing being passed from a parent to a child would symbolically happen as a father would set and hold the child upon his knee. The picture of God blessing his people is a picture in which the people sit upon the knee of the heavenly Father to receive the blessing.

praise/blessing takes place at gathered assembly, and continues even when people are disbanded

Either way, Psalm 134 pictures for us an exchange of Barak. The praise/blessing offered by the people up to God continues in the temple sanctuary even after the people have disbanded. And the praise/blessing given by God to the people continues even after the people have left the gathered assembly.

The New Zion

We have noted in the Psalms of Ascents the way in which these festivals all center upon God’s presence experienced at the temple in Jerusalem. Zion is the location where all of this activity looks to take place. When the people come to be near the presence of God, they do so by approaching Mount Zion, the place where the temple is in Jerusalem. The reference to the house of the Lord in verse one and the sanctuary in verse two and Zion in verse three are all references to the same place. This is the place where the presence of God dwells.

Psalms of Ascents focus on presence of God at the temple in Jerusalem (Zion)

And so, it is fitting that the direction of praise and blessing both flow through Zion. The people direct their praise and worship toward Zion because this is the place where God dwells to receive this praise. And the blessing which is poured out by God upon the people is a blessing which comes forth from Zion to the people.

praise/blessing flows through Zion

does not stop even when the people leave Zion

praise/blessing cannot be shut off or stopped

The point that Psalm 134 seems to be reinforcing among the people is that this activity of praise and blessing which is seen and experienced so vividly when all are gathered together at the temple does not stop when the people leave the temple. God’s blessing does not shut off just because the people are no longer physically gathered together on Zion. And the praise of the people up to God continues even in the absence of all being gathered in one place to do that together. This activity of praise and blessing cannot be stopped. It cannot be turned off.

Jesus is the new Zion - place where the presence of God dwells with his people

Luke 19 - if hosannas are silent, then rocks will cry out

Luke’s version of Palm Sunday in chapter 19 tells us about an exchange between Jesus and the Pharisees. As Jesus was riding the colt into Jerusalem and all the people were shouting hosanna, the Pharisees demanded that Jesus tell them to all stop. Jesus replies to the Pharisees that if the people keep quiet, then the stones will cry out. The expression of praise and worship which explodes forth from the creation to its creator will not be silenced. Nothing can stand in the way of our praise being received by our heavenly Father.

Jewish authorities cannot stop Jesus | entering a week when all those who shout hosanna would be dispersed

Palm Sunday also shows us that the same is true of God’s blessing imparted upon his people. In the week ahead as Jesus rode into Jerusalem, the Jewish religious authorities would do everything they could to stop Jesus. They thought that killing him upon a cross would make the point certain and sure. There is no blessing from this messiah—or so they thought. There is no future anymore in following this king—or so they thought. Jesus was entering a week in which all those who gathered on this Palm Sunday and lifted their praise would soon be scattered and dispersed. Jesus was entering a week in which even his closest followers would soon hide away, cut off from contact with all others. Jesus was entering a week in which he would be abandoned and alone.

in that dark place of abandonment, the grace of God would do its most powerful work

And in that dark place of abandonment, the grace of God would do its most powerful work. Take that thought with you into this Holy Week of Christian reflection. As we continue into another week of isolation in which we are cut off from one another, we remember the journey that Jesus traveled this week in which he was left and abandoned by all those around him. But even in those dark and lonely places, the love of God cannot be stopped. Even in abandonment, the flow of God’s blessing through the anointed Messiah cannot be held back. On this Palm Sunday we remember through the psalms that sometimes praise and blessing come in the shouted hosannas of a great assembly; God is present there. And sometimes praise and blessing come in the dark silence of lonely abandonment; God is present there. Always the grace and salvation of God is near to his people, no matter where we are today.