Giving the Priestly Blessing

from: Christian Leadership Center

Psalm 134
Praise and Blessing

A Song of Ascents

1 Praise Yahweh, all your servants of Yahweh
who minister by night in the House of Yahweh.
2 Lift up your hands in the Sanctuary
and praise Yahweh.
3 May Yahweh, the Maker of heaven and earth
bless you from Zion.


SUMMARY

We come now to the final Pilgrim Psalm, a very short liturgy that seems to form a conclusion to the collection. The psalm is addressed to the priests in what appears to be some kind of vigil service, or perhaps a concluding service to one of the festivals. It simply calls for the priests to lead the people in their worship and to give their benediction, perhaps as the pilgrims depart from Jerusalem.

EXEGETICAL

Message
The psalmist calls for the priests who minister in the house of Yahweh to praise and bless Yahweh with lifted hands and then to declare the blessing on the people of God from Zion.

And from this call for the priests to praise God the psalmist leads immediately into a blessing for the people (v. 3). There would have been a very close connection between the priest’s praise of God and bestowal of the sacerdotal blessing, for the praise would have been for how the Lord had already blessed the people. We have clear references that show that when the priests lifted their hands in the sanctuary it often indicated the giving of the priestly blessing (see Lev. 9:22 when Aaron blessed the people). So it seems that the priests were being called on to bless God with their praise, and then turn that praise into a priestly blessing for the people (see Psalm 128:5; 118:26). For these acts they would raise their hands before Yahweh.
The great High Priestly blessing, recorded in Numbers 6:24-25, announces the blessing of Yahweh on the participants in the worship services: “Yahweh bless you and keep you, Yahweh make His face shine upon you and be gracious unto you, Yahweh lift up His face towards you and give you peace.”
The word “bless” (barak) has the basic idea of enrichment. The enrichment, the blessing from God, could be physical (enriched/blessed with cattle and sheep and silver) or spiritual (enriched/blessed with salvation). When the high priest announced the blessing, it declared to the people that on the basis of the atonement they had life and peace with God, that all was well spiritually between them and God. It is God who blesses; the priests could only declare God’s blessing. Numbers 6:27 says that when they blessed the Israelites, God would then put His name on the Israelites and bless them.
When the Bible uses the word “bless” for communications in ordinary relationships, it is often a prayer, or a wish, or a greeting. When Boaz came to his farm the workers greeted him with “Yahweh bless you.” This was certainly their wish and their prayer--because Boaz was generous, and if God blessed Boaz they would benefit! These “blessings” in themselves are good and have a proper place in the life of believers. They recognize that it is God who blesses. If a father gives his blessing to a child, say at a wedding, it too is a prayer or a wish. It would be most encouraging for the child to know that he or she has the father’s approval and blessing; it will bring added harmony to their relationship. But it expresses the father’s desire that God bless them, and in that way expresses his encouragement for the child’s success. But it is not a magical formula; saying it does not guarantee enrichment. There is more to giving a blessing than that.

Only theocratic administrators--prophets and priests and the like--who spoke for God, could declare a blessing that was in fact a divine oracle. But for most of the time when religious leaders pronounced God’s blessing, they were repeating the blessing that God had revealed for the specified situations. So when the people came to worship the Lord, and the blood atonement was made and sprinkled in the Holy of Holies, the priests could announce the high priestly blessing, for all was well between the people and God.
So the psalm concludes with the words of a general priestly blessing: “May Yahweh, the Maker of heaven and earth, bless you from Zion.” This is the kind of blessing that would form a benediction as the pilgrims began to depart from the holy city. It fits the general understanding that the temple in Jerusalem is the religious center from which God’s blessings flow--otherwise, why would there be pilgrimages to the holy city? (see Isa. 2:3 and Mic. 4:2).
The blessing comes from the “maker of heaven and earth,” a description that recalls Psalm 121:2. “Heaven and earth” is a common merism, meaning the whole of creation and everything in it. As a description of the Source of blessing this expression is significant: God had already blessed the world in and through creation--that is why they were there giving thanks; now God’s action of blessing their world would be reciprocal to their blessing God with praise and thanksgiving.

CONCLUSION

This little psalm addresses the priests, and calls for them to praise Yahweh and to bless the people. These ministries were at the heart of what they did morning and night in the sanctuary.
The indication is that out of the praise for Yahweh would come blessing for the people. The implication of these lines is that when priests led the people in giving thanks and praise to God they would be focusing on God’s bounty to them--they always had reasons for their praise and blessing. And as the people had come to the sanctuary to offer their thanksgiving to God for the bounty of life, for their good harvests and their flourishing flocks, they would anticipate continued blessings.
The psalm may be an extended summons to worship, perhaps a summons to the final benediction or the closing of an evening vigil (see Isa. 30:29), or perhaps as part of an ordinary service (1 Chron. 9:33). But it is directed to ministers who will take the lead in the praises and blessings of the assembly.
This has not changed over the years, even though the external forms of worship have. Those who are worship leaders must lead worship; the ministers must offer praise and blessing to God, which in turn will then provide the motivation for and the content of the blessing of God that they may declare to the people. They do not have the power in themselves to bless. They may only bless what God promises to bless, they may only declare forgiveness to those whom God has forgiven, they may only guarantee heaven to those whom God has promised heaven, etc.--for they are God’s messengers. (They also may invoke God’s blessings to be sure, and so they should constantly pray that God will bless His people). But based on what God has declared in His word ministers will have sufficient blessings with which to bless the people; and bless they must, for all the praise that is offered to God will reveal how much God has blessed His people, spiritually and materially, and how much He desires to bless them still.