True Worship
Read Ps 133 & 134:1-3
Context: Ps 133 compared the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit among God’s people to oil poured on the head of Aaron, and to life-giving dew that moistens the vegetation of mount Hermon.
1) How do these metaphors illustrate the meaning of sanctification (i.e. its purpose, the means, its value, …)?
- By comparison, what is added to these images by Ps 134?
- v1: How does this short final Song of Ascents complete the theme of unity among believers?
- Hint: Who is addressed? What difference does it make whether v1 means a group of clerics, or whether it means you? Rev 5:10; 20:6 [cf royal priesthood, 1Pet 2:9]
- v1: What are we all called to do first and foremost as those priests ‘who reign with Christ‘? *
- What does it mean ‘to bless the Lord’? (lit. ‘speak well off’)
2) v1: In what sense is the community of believers a priest like Aaron?
- What makes them ‘Servants of the Lord‘ in the first place? cf Rev 1:6; 1Pet 2:4-9
- In the OT, priests had to minister day and night (1Chr 9:33). What did this ordinance signify?
3) v2, “Lift up your hands…”: Is this about whether we pray with hands raised up literally? Or is it about where we reach, and how?
- Read 1Tim 2:8. Why is worship unacceptable that is tainted by quarrels and anger?
- Why is there such emphasis in v1 on ‘…all you servants of the Lord..’? cf 1Cor 1:10
- Why is it necessary to continue to preach this calling even today?
- Hint: How does our sanctification depend on that ‘oil’?
- Read Eph 4:32. How realistic is it to replace quarreling by the tenderheartedness commanded by Jesus?
- How realistic for whom? cf Mt 19:24-26
4) What do you make of how the Songs of Ascents end in v3?
- What does the Bible mean by ‘blessing’? cf Mt 5:8
- Why add “from Zion”? Why make blessing depend on a place, and why on this one only?
- How did the Songs of Ascents in general, and 134:2 in particular stress that Zion cannot mean the literal Jerusalem?
- Hint: Why were priests who literally served within the sanctuary urged to raise their hands to another (!) holy place, v2?** cf Ps 132:7
5) If the Songs of Ascents (lit. ‘of steps’) progress in any logical ‘ascending’ order, what could that logic be?
- Why sing about the purpose of Christian unity, its source and its impact on worship here at the end?
- Read Ps 120:1, 7. Why not tell the worshipers right there in Ps 120 to simply be nice and stop quarrelling?
- Why is the proclamation of Jesus and his peace bound to stir such opposition even among the religious? Jn 15:18-21; Mt 10:35
6) What do the first and the last two songs say about the ultimate purpose why God calls his people to ascend and meet at His footstool?
- For such restoration of peace with God and among his people, why did the worshipers not immediately proceed (or ascend) to Ps 134 directly after Ps 120? Why were 13 other songs necessary in between?
- Among a total of 7+1+7 songs, where would you look for the answer? (Bible rule of thumb: Among sevens, check out the middle = Ps 127:1)
7) Personal & application
- Why do Ps 133:3 and 134:3 emphasize so strongly that God ‘commanded’ his blessing of eternal life in Zion?
- Where is that?
- Where else are we tempted to seek it?
- What could it mean to join those “..who stand by night in God’s (spiritual) house and (still) bless his name”, v1?
- How do you “bless His name”?
- How can you help one another to live like that?
* What the Bible means by Christ’s reign ‘from heaven‘ and by our ‘reigning’ with Him is explored on this site by a separate series of studies on the book of Revelation.
** Some translate “in your sanctuary”, although the sanctuary here is Christ rather than a literal temple.
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