Praising In The Night
1 Behold bless the LORD, All you servants of the LORD Who by night stand in the house of the LORD! 2 Lift up your hands in the Sanctuary, And Bless the LORD. 3 The LORD who made heaven and Earth Bless you from Zion Psalm 134:1-3
I Chronicles 9:33 and I Chronicles 25 tells us that Levitical singers were on duty day and night in the sanctuary. Moses had summed up the role of the Levites to carry the ark and to stand before the Lord to minister and to bless his name (Deuteronomy 10:8). Because the Ark was no longer being moved from place to place, David had given the Levites new responsibilities, but worship remained paramount: “They shall stand every morning, thanking and praising the Lord, and likewise at evening (I Chronicles 23:30).
In pagan temples, the temples would fall silent at night allowing for the supposed sleep of the gods. Elijah made fun of this in I Kings 18:27 when he said to the priests of Baal “And so it was at noon, that Elijah mocked them and said, ‘Cry aloud, for he is a god; either he is meditating, or he is busy, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened’” (I Kings 18:27).
But the Psalmist said “He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep (Psalm 121:3-4).
So, David set courses of choirs to come and sing in the sanctuary by day and throughout the night. He is telling the singers to lift high their hands in praise to the Lord and to bless the Lord.
We praise and bless the Lord for He alone is the creator of the world and because of our praises and blessing we poor out upon our God, he in turn will bless each of us from Zion.
What does this mean to us today. David is telling us to lift up your voice and wave your arms singing praises and blessing upon the Lord both day and night that he might bless you with the blessings that flow without measure from Zion.
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