Psalm 135

“Some Jewish authorities include Psalms 135 and 136 as part of the collection of Psalms 120-136, whereas others limit the Great Hallel psalms to 135-136, or even Psalm 136 alone”

135:1 Praise the LORD!- 113:1 The word praise is used as an imperative three times in the verse.

“The phrase Praise the LORD (and variations of the phrase) occurs seventy-five times in the Psalter, with no less that fifty-four occurrences in Book Five” NICOT, 944.

Praise Him, O servants of the LORD- The first two lines speak of the LORD as the object of praise and the last line mentioned the servants as the ones who give praise.

135:2 You who stand in the house of the LORD

In the courts of the house of our God!- Ps. 92:13; 116:19 “The priests and Levites were charged (v. 19-20) with the worship of the Lord ‘in the house of the LORD’” VanGemeren, 819.

135:3 Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good- I Chron. 16:34; II Chron. 5:13; 7:3; Ezra 3:11; Ps. 23:6; 100:5; 106:1; 107:1; 110:5; 118:1, 29; 119:68; 118:1, 29. “The Lord’s name is good (52:9), that He Himself is good (135:3) and that praising Him is good (147:1)” Kidner, 455.

Sing praises to His name- Ps. 68:4

for it lovely- The word lovely is a rare word in the OT used only 13 times. In the Psalms it is used in Psalm 16:6, 11; 81:2; 133:1; 147:1 besides here.

Good and pleasant (or lovely) appear together in 133:1 and 147:1.

135:4 For the LORD has chosen Jacob for Himself- Ex. 19:5-6; Deut. 7:6; 10:15; 14:2; Ps. 105:6. The goodness of God is manifested in the choice of Israel. “If the first ground of praise is the Lord’s character (3), the next is His love for us. The word Jacob is emphatic: ‘For it was Jacob that the Lord chose…’” Kidner, 455.

Israel for His own possession- His own possession or special treasure is one word used 8 times in the OT- Ex. 19:6; Deut. 7:6; 14:2; 25:18; I Chron. 29:3; Eccl. 2:8; Malachi 3:16.

135:5 For I know that the LORD is great-Ps. 48:1; 95:3; 145:3 I is emphatic.

And that our Lord is above all gods- Ex. 18:11; Ps. 95:3; 96:4-5; 97:7-9.

135:6 Whatever the LORD pleases, He does- 115:3. The Hebrew word translated does in vs. 6 is translated makes in vs. 7 and make in vs. 18. In vs. 15 the noun form is used and it is translated work.

In heaven and in earth- Jer. 10:13

in the seas and in all deeps- The LORD “is not limited to a particular sphere assigned to Him by His creatures, as is the case with pagan deities. The Lord is God over all realms by virtue of being the Creator. VanGemeren, 820.

135:7 He causes the vapors to ascend for the ends of the earth- Jer. 10:13; 51:16 “The rainy season with its storms and wind is under His providential control-not, it is implied, that of Canaanite Baal, as his devotees claimed” Laymen’s, 646. Since the weather is attributed to the LORD and not Baal, “it is another way of affirming that ‘our Lord is above all gods’ (v. 5)” McCann, 1220.

Who makes lightning for the rain- Job 38:22; Ps 77:17-18; 104:3-4 “His greatness even extends to the elements and powers of nature and wind (cf. Jer. 10:13; 51:16). The Canaanites believed that these powers belonged to Baal, but the psalmist confesses rightly that only Yahweh has power to ‘the ends of the earth’” VanGemeren, 820-821.

Who brings forth wind from His treasuries

135:8 He smote the firstborn of Egypt- 136:10; 78:51; 105:36; Ex. 12:29 Verses 5-7 stress the LORD’s power in nature while vs. 8-14

A Song of Ascents- “The pilgrimage began in ‘Kedar’ (120:5); it ends in the Lord’s house wherein the pilgrims ‘bless the Lord’ (2) and He blesses them (3)’” Motyer, 576. This “forms a magnificent conclusion to this collection of psalms” VanGemeren, 817. It is “a brief word of departure as they ready themselves to return to their homes in the surrounding countryside” NICOT, 940.

134:1 Behold, bless the LORD, all servants of the LORD- Allen says, 216, Behold “is here uniquely with an imperative” and he translates this Come.

Ps. 124:6 The word bless is used in each of these verses. In the first two verses servants are blessing the LORD but in vs. 3 the LORD is blessing us. “The Hebrew root that the NRSV regularly translates as ‘bless’ originally meant more literally ‘to kneel,’ as in paying homage to a superior (see above on Ps. 95:6; see also Pss. 16:7; 26:12; 34:1; 63:4; 103:1-2; 115:18; 135:19-20; 145:1, 10)” McCann, 1217.

In our attitude to God, bless means “to praise, thank, and glorify God” Miller, 416. The NIV translates 134:1-2 praise and 134:3 bless. This obscures the fact that all the verses use the same Hebrew word.

“Servants could apply to the whole nation in a different context, but here refers to those officiants who stand to minister (Ps. 135:1-2; Deut. 10:8) day and night (I Chron. 9:33) at the temple. By night is a plural in Hebrew and probably is to be taken in the distributive sense of ‘night after night’” Miller, 416-417.

The first step of the LORD blessing us originally is left out. “But the exchange is quite unequal: to bless God is to acknowledge gratefully what He is; but to bless man, God must make of him what he is not, give him what he has not” Kidner, 454.

Who serve by night in the house of the LORD- 122:1-2. I Chron. 23:26, 30. Serve is literally stand here- Ps. 135:1-2; Deut. 10:8; 18:7; I Chron. 23:30.
Exodus 12:42; Isaiah 30:29 Passover seems to have been celebrated at night. God, our Keeper, neither slumbers nor sleeps- Ps. 121:4- so this may be a wish that He is praised continually at the temple- Broyles, 475. “Evening duties included keeping the lampstand and the sacrifices burning as well as guarding the gates (Ex. 27:21; Lev. 6:9; I Chr. 9:22-27)” Longman, 441.

“Later Jewish tradition associates nocturnal services with the Feast of Tabernacles, the ceremony of water libation during the nights of the festival (Cf. Mishnah, Sukk. 5:4)” Allen, 218.

134:2 Lift up your hands to the sanctuary- Ex. 9:29; I Kings 8:30; Ps. 28:2; 63:4; I Tim. 2:8. Sanctuary is a single word and may refer to worshiping in holiness or to the holy place, sanctuary- Kidner, 454.
And bless the LORD

134:3 May the LORD bless you from Zion- Lev. 9:22-23; Num. 6:24-26; Ps. 128:5-6. The God who made everything dwells in a special way in Zion and sends His blessings from there. “Like His commandment, his blessing is not ‘far off’; not ‘in heaven’ nor ‘beyond the sea,’ but ‘every near you’ (Deut. 30:11-14; Rom. 10:6ff)” Kidner, 454. “Dynamic potential is given to those who give Yahweh since acknowledgment of His power…He generously shares with His devoted followers from His own resources of omnipotence so that abundant life may be theirs: Allen, 218.
He who made heaven and earth- Ps. 115:15; 121:2; 124:8; 146:6 He is LORD of all. The Creator of all “makes Himself known in historical relationships that are marked by particular people and particular places” Broyles, 475.

Jesus and Psalm 134
Luke 24:50-53
Eph. 1:3

Psalm 133

A Song of Ascents, of David

“The brief didactic psalm employs two beautiful similes to illustrate the beauty and value of unity” Miller, 415. The two similes are the oil and dew.

“The pilgrims came from many different walks of life, regions, and tribes, as they gathered for one purpose: the worship of the Lord in Jerusalem” VanGemeren, 815.

133:1 Behold, how good- “It is interesting that he gives no explanation as to why unity is good. Perhaps he does not need to do so, because this should be self-evident to everyone” Willis, vol. 3, 95. The word good is used in Gen. 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 31. It is not good that man live alone in Gen. 2:18. “The word good in Ps. 133:1 reminds the reciter of God’s provision of the community and relatedness for humanity” NICOT, 938.

and how pleasant it is- Psalm 16:6, 11; 135:3; 147:1 “Again, the poet gives no reason for this” Willis, 95. “Strife demands more energy, whereas peaceful unity means the corporate body can reach common goals with less stress. If individual cooperate, then their efforts are multiplied” Longman, 439.

133:2 It is like the precious oil upon the head- The word translated precious in vs. 2 is the same Hebrew word translated good in vs. 1. “The pouring of oil over the head seems to have been an act of hospitality, signaling joy and relatedness (see Pss. 23:5; 92:10; Luke 7:46) as well as an official act of consecrating kings and priests” McCann, 1214. Joy in Ecc. 9:7-8; Matt. 6:16-17.

Coming down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard- Lev. 21:5 The verb coming down is used three times- vss. 2, 2, 3. This stresses the origin of the blessings from heaven- Broyles, 474.

Unity “is like precious oil that runs down on the high priest’s beard, giving off a sweet-smelling fragrance (see Exodus 29:7; 30:22-33)” Lev. 8:12 Willis, 95. “Its fragrance could not be contained (Exodus 29:21)” Kidner, 453. “The anointed priest, in premonarchical days in particular, stood as a symbol of unity” Milller, 415. “The breastplate with the names of all 12 tribes. The oil thus symbolized the unity of the nation in worship under their consecrated priest” B.K. 888.

133:3 It is like the dew of Hermon- “The dew is understood to be an agency of fruitfulness” Alter, 463. Isaiah 26:19; Hosea 14:5 Mount Hermon is the only snow-capped mountain in Israel- Longman, 439. “Mount Hermon in the north at the headwaters of the Jordan is the highest elevation in Palestine. A spur of the Anti-Lebanon mountains. Mount Hermon reaches a height of over nine thousand feet. Heavy dew is to found on it slopes early in the summer mornings even during the dry season” Miller, 416.

Coming down upon the mountains of Zion- Ps. 48:2; 68:15-16; 87:2 “Situated more than one hundred air miles from Jerusalem, its dew could not literally come down upon the mountains of Zion. The simile is another allusion to the unifying effect that Jerusalem has on the nation” Miller, 416. Because of the geographical distance Alter, 463, emends the text to parched mountains instead of mountains of Zion.

Zion is stressed in the songs of ascents- Ps. 125:1; 126:1; 128:5; 129:5; 132:13; 133:3; 134:3.

Psalm 133 and Jesus

John 17:20-23; Eph. 2:11-22

Mark 14:3, 6 The anointing oil was poured down upon Jesus.

Matthew 10:34-37; Luke 12:51-53 Jesus is greater even than family and unity.

133:3 Mt. Zion as the place of blessing- Heb. 12:22-24; 13:14-16; Gal. 4:26; Rev. 14:1