The final Song of Ascents, Psalm 134, is a call to “all servants of the LORD, who serve by night in the house of the LORD” (v. 1). These are the priests and Levites who were prominent during the pilgrim feasts in Jerusalem. They are to bless the LORD(vv. 1-2) with their hands lifted up toward the sanctuary, the holy place, of the temple. The song refers to those Levites, specifically the singers, who serve by night as described in 1 Chronicles 9:33.
Now these are the singers, heads of fathers’ households of the Levites, who lived in the chambers of the temple free from other service; for they were engaged in their work day and night.
This suggests that the full-time job of this particular group of priests was to sing praise to the LORD 24-7, probably in shifts in order to cover the night watches. I’ve heard of 24-hour prayer chains, but not 24-hour praise chains! But if we see the Lord God for who He truly is, then such a response will not seem so unusual. Frances Havergal captured the notion in her hymn Take My Life with stanzas such as:
Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord to Thee.
Take my moments and my days, let them flow in ceaseless praise.And:
Take my voice and let me sing always, only for my King.
Even more striking is the heavenly scene around the throne of God in Revelation 4:
And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say,
Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY,
who was and who is and who is to come (Rev. 4:8).
Blessing the LORD in song is always in season, including the latest watches of the night. (For your personal study, read Acts 16:16-34; note v. 25.) And in Psalm 134:3, the very last verse of the 15 songs of ascent, the priests return the blessing to God’s people.
May the LORD bless you from Zion, He who made heaven and earth.
Yours and His,
Pastor Ed Smith