Day 185, Psalms 134-142

Psalm 134
Come, Bless the Lord

A SONG OF ASCENTS. OF DAVID.

*A liturgy of praise–a brief exchange between the worshipers, as they are about to leave the temple after the evening service, and the Levites, who kept the temple watch through the night. In the Psalter it concludes the “songs of ascent.”

Come, bless the Lord,
all you servants of the Lord,
who stand by night in the house of the Lord!
Lift up your hands to the holy place
and bless the Lord!
May the Lord bless you from Zion,
he who made heaven and earth!
-Psalm 134

Psalm 135
Your Name, O Lord, Endures Forever

*A call to praise the Lord–the one true God: Lord of all creation, Lord over all the nations, Israel’s Redeemer. No doubt postexilic, it echoes many lines found elsewhere in the Old Testament. It was clearly composed for the temple liturgy.

Praise the Lord!
Praise the name of the Lord,
give praise, O servants of the Lord,
who stand in the house of the Lord,
in the courts of the house of our God!
Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good;
sing to his name, for it is pleasant!
-135:1-3

For I know that the Lord is great,
and that our Lord is above all gods.
Whatever the Lord pleases, he does,
in heaven and on earth,
in the seas and all deeps.
He it is who makes the clouds rise
at the end of the earth,
who makes lightnings for the rain
and brings forth the wind from the storehouses.
-135:5-7

Your name, O Lord, endures forever,
your renown, O Lord, throughout all ages.
For the Lord will vindicate his people
and have compassion on his servants.
-135:13-14

Psalm 136
His Steadfast Love Endures Forever

*A liturgy of praise to the Lord as Creator and as Israel’s Redeemer. Its theme and many of its verses parallel much of Psalm 135. Most likely a Levitical song leader led the recital, while the Levitical choir (1 Chronicles 16:41; 2 Chronicles 5:13; Ezra 3:11) or the worshipers (2 Chronicles 7:3,6; 2 Chronicles 20:21) responded with the refrain (see Psalm 106:1; Psalm 107:1; Psalm 118:1-4, 29). This liturgy concludes the Great Hallel.

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever.
Give thanks to the God of gods,
for his steadfast love endures forever.
Give thanks to the Lord of lords,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
to him who alone does great wonders,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
to him who by understanding made the heavens,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
to him who spread out the earth above the waters,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
to him who made the great lights,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
the sun to rule over the day,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
the moon and stars to rule over the night,
for his steadfast love endures forever.
-136:1-9

Give thanks to the God of heaven,
for his steadfast love endures forever.
-136:26

This psalm continued on to discuss all the great things the Lord did for his people and his wondrous works. It was a brief summarized history of the people of Israel and all the Lord did for them. Every line ended with “for his steadfast love endures forever.”

Psalm 137
How Shall We Sing the Lord’s Song?

*A plaintive song of the exile–of one who has recently returned from Babylon but in whose soul there lingers the bitter memory of the years in a foreign land and of the cruel events that led to that enforced stay. Here speaks the same deep love of Zion as that found in Psalm 42-43; Psalm 46; Psalm 84; Psalm 122; Psalm 126.

Psalm 138
Give Thanks to the Lord

OF DAVID.

*A royal song of praise for God’s saving help against threatening foes. In many respects it is like Psalm 18, though it is more concise and direct.

I give thanks, O Lord,
with my whole heart;
before the gods I sing your praise;
I bow down toward your holy temple
and give thanks to your name
for your steadfast love and your faithfulness,
for you have exalted above all things
your name and your word.
On the day I called, you answered me;
my strength of soul you increased.
All the kings of the earth shall give thanks, O Lord,
for they have heard the words of your mouth,
and they shall sing of the ways of the Lord,
for great is the glory of the Lord.
For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly,
but the haughty he knows from afar.
Though I walk in the midst of trouble,
you preserve my life;
you stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies,
and your right hand delivers me.
The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me;
your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever.
Do not forsake the work of your hands.
-Psalm 138

Psalm 139
Search Me, O God, and Know My Heart

TO THE CHOIRMASTER. A PSALM OF DAVID.

*A prayer for God to examine the heart and see its true devotion. Like Job, the author firmly claims his loyalty to the Lord. Nowhere (outside Job) does one find expressed such profound awareness of how awesome it is to ask God to examine not only one’s life but also his soul–God, who knows every thought, word and deed, from whom there is no hiding, who has been privy even to one’s formation in the dark concealment of the womb.

O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
-139:1-4

If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for the darkness is as light with you.
-139:9-12

For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.
-139:13-16

Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
I hate them with complete hatred;
I count them my enemies.
-139:21-22

I thought we weren’t supposed to hate? “Love each other as I have loved you.” Right?

Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
And see if there be any grievous ways in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!
-139:23-24

Psalm 140
Deliver Me, O Lord, from Evil Men

TO THE CHOIRMASTER. A PSALM OF DAVID.

*A prayer for deliverance from the plots and slander of unscrupulous enemies. It recalls Psalm 58 and Psalm 64 but employs a number of words found nowhere else in the Old Testament.

Guard me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked;
preserve me from violent men,
who have planned to trip up my feet.
-140:4

I say to the Lord, You are my God;
give ear to the voice of my pleas for mercy, O Lord!
O Lord, my Lord, the strength of my salvation.
-140:6-7

I know that the Lord will maintain
the cause of the afflicted,
and will execute justice for the needy.
Surely the righteous shall give thanks to your name;
the upright shall swell in your presence.
-140:12-13

Psalm 141
Give Ear to My Voice

A PSALM OF DAVID.

*A prayer for deliverance from the wicked and their evil ways. Like Psalm 140, the prayer is profuse in its physiological allusions: hands, mouth, lips, heart, head, bones, eyes.

O Lord, I call upon you; hasten to me!
Give ear to my voice when I call to you!
Let my prayer be counted as incense before you,
and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!
-141:1-2

Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth;
keep watch over the door of my lips!
-141:3

But my eyes are toward you, O God, my Lord;
in you I seek refuge; leave me not defenseless!
-141:8

Let the wicked fall into their own nets,
while I pass by safely.
-141:10

Psalm 142
You Are My Refuge

A MASKIL OF DAVID, WHEN HE WAS IN THE CAVE. A PRAYER.

*A plaintive prayer for deliverance from powerful enemies–when powerless, alone and without refuge.

With my voice I cry out to the Lord;
with my voice I plead for mercy to the Lord.
I pour out my complaint before him;
I tell my trouble before him.
When my spirit faints within me,
you know my way!
-142:1-3

I cry to you, O Lord;
I say, “You are my refuge,
my portion in the land of the living.”
-142:5