The Final Ascent: Psalm 134

The final “Song of Ascent” completes the liturgical reconstruction of the Tabernacle of God and calls Him to appear in the clouds.

For the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys. (Exodus 40:38)

Songs of Ascent is the title given to fifteen of the Psalms (120-134) whose theme is drawing near to God on His holy hill for a tryst between heaven and earth.

The fifteen Songs of Ascent constitute two “matrix” cycles. The first works through the pattern of dominion (see Psalm 121 – A Song of Steps) and the second works through the elements of the Tabernacle. The theme of each psalm in the second cycle is represented in the following titles:

Come, Bless the Lord

The final Song of Ascent, Psalm 134, is the doxology of the sequence. As the “Shekinah” step of the Tabernacle pattern, it anticipates the coming of the Lord to His holy temple in response to the faithful worship of His people. The cycle begins with the statement that only Yahweh can build a house (a word that can also mean a household, implying a dynasty) and by the end of the cycle a song for each element of the cosmic temple has ascended as a fragrant sacrifice of praise, a sign that the will of God has been done on earth as it is in heaven, pointing to the ascension of Christ as the legal advocate for the entire world. The cycle is thus also cruciform, cross-shaped. (Note that the Bronze Altar was the Land “promised” on Day 3—alluded to in the spies’ haul of grapes from Eshcol—but not actually possessed until the end of the Week.)

The blessing of God was poured out as oil upon the High Priest in the previous psalm (which aptly corresponds to the Day of Atonement) and now the Levites are called to bless the God who has blessed obedient Israel. When Israel was united in worship, Israel was united as a nation. The same applies to the nations of the world, which can only be truly united as they bow the knee to Christ, join the fellowship of the Spirit, and confess Him as their Master. The Old Covenant formed the nations; the New fills them.

The Charge to the Watchers

According to the [second temple] authorities, two hundred and forty priests and Levites were the nightly guard, distributed over twenty-one stations. The captain of the guard visited these stations throughout the night with flaming torches before him, and saluted each with ‘Peace be unto thee.’ If he found the sentinel asleep he beat him with his staff, and had authority to burn his cloak [which the drowsy guard had rolled up for a pillow]. We all remember who warned His disciples to watch, lest coming suddenly He should find them asleep.

We may remember, too, the blessing pronounced in the Apocalypse on ‘Him who watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked.’ Shortly before daybreak the captain of the guard came, as the Talmud says: ‘All times were not equal. Sometimes he came at cockcrow, or near it, before or after it. He went to one of the posts where the priests were stationed, and opened a wicket which led into the court. Here the priests, who marched behind him torch in hand, divided into two companies which went one to the east, and one to the west, carefully ascertaining that all was well. When they met each company reported “It is peace.” Then the duties of the watch were ended, and the priests who were to prepare for the daily sacrifice entered on their tasks.’

Our psalm may be the chant and answering chant with which the nightly charge was given over to the watchers, or it may be, as some commentators suppose, ‘the call and counter-call with which the watchers greeted each other when they met.’

Figure then, to yourselves, the band of white-robed priests gathered in the court of the Temple, their flashing torches touching pillar and angle with strange light, the city sunk in silence and sleep, and ere they part to their posts the chant rung in their ears. (MacLaren’s Expositions)

Analysis

The psalm itself is fivefold, working through the related pattern of biblical covenants, the same pattern that structures the Torah.

 

TRANSCENDENCE: Just as Moses inherited the book of Genesis but authored the subsequent four books (the most likely scenario), so also this psalm is comprised of a thumb (the title presumably announced as spoken word, not sung) and four fingers. It is thus Word and image, head and body, priest and people, a hand on a harp.
 

HIERARCHY: The name of God given to Moses is at the center of stanza 2, which is a call to Israel as those whom God set apart to serve Him. The stanza begins with “Behold” which is usually a reference to the light of Creation. Yahweh is the burning bush in the center and also the pillar of fire at the end.
 

ETHICS: Leviticus brings us into the house of God as an invested priest, with a reference to the structure of the book itself which ends with blessings and curses (Oath/Sanctions) but includes no Succession.¹See The Shape of Leviticus. This is because the Levites were given no earthly inheritance. Their domain was the “heavenly country” of the house of God and the cities of refuge. They themselves possessed no land because they were the human “fruit bearers” lifted up above it as an offering to God. But there is another purpose to the allusion: the word “night” corresponds to the cursing of Israel in the wilderness, and the cutting off of the faithless and disobedient Egyptian generation without an inheritance in the Land.
 

OATH/SANCTIONS: The central three stanzas were likely sung by the High Priest or worship leader as a command to the watchers. Lifting up the hands in worship is an image of the wave offering (Exodus 29:19-28). Since the hands are empty, the entire body is offered, but in a corporate sense the worshipers, dressed in white, resemble a field of wheat that is ready to be harvested.
 

SUCCESSION: The final stanza is the opposite of the title. It is not spoken but sung, and sung by the entire choir. As the Succession stanza, it pictures the priests on the mountain of God as mediators between heaven and earth, ministering on behalf of the seventy nations, all of whom will one day confess and sing as flame-tongued cherubim for God.
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Thanks to David Parker for starting this one off in the Bible Matrix discussion forum.

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