1 God be gracious to us, and bless us,
And cause His face to shine among us; Selah.
2 That Thy way may be known upon earth,
Thy salvation among all nations.
3 Let peoples give Thee thanks, O God,
Let peoples, all of them, give Thee thanks.
4 Let tribes rejoice and shout aloud,
For Thou wilt judge peoples in equity,
And tribes on the earth wilt Thou lead. Selah.
5 Let peoples give Thee thanks, O God,
Let peoples, all of them, give Thee thanks.
6 The earth has yielded her increase:
May God, [even] our God, bless us!
7 May God bless us,
And may all the ends of the earth fear Him!
This little psalm condenses the dominant thought of the two preceding
into a series of aspirations after Israel's blessing, and the
consequent diffusion of the knowledge of God's way among all lands.
Like Psalm lxv., it sees in abundant harvests a type and witness of
God's kindness. But, whereas in Psalm lxv. the fields were covered
with corn, here the increase has been gathered in. The two psalms may
or may not be connected in date of composition as closely as these two
stages of one harvest-time.
The structure of the psalm has been variously conceived. Clearly the
Selahs do not guide as to divisions in the flow of thought. But it may
be noted that the seven verses in the psalm have each two clauses,
with the exception of the middle one (ver. 4), which has three. Its
place and its abnormal length mark it as the core, round which, as
it were, the whole is built up. Further, it is as if encased in two
verses (vv. 3, 5), which, in their four clauses, are a fourfold
repetition of a single aspiration. These three verses are the heart
of the psalm--the desire that all the earth may praise God, whose
providence blesses it all. They are again enclosed in two strophes of
two verses each (vv. 1, 2, and 6, 7), which, like the closer wrapping
round the core, are substantially parallel, and, unlike it, regard
God's manifestation to Israel as His great witness to the world.
Thus, working outwards from the central verse, we have symmetry of
structure, and intelligible progress and distinctness of thought.
Another point of difficulty is the rendering of the series of
verbs in the psalm. Commentators are unanimous in taking those of
ver. 1 as expressions of desire; but they bewilderingly diverge in
their treatment of the following ones. Details of the divergent
interpretations, or discussions of their reasons, cannot be entered
on here. It may be sufficient to say that the adherence throughout to
the optative rendering, admitted by all in ver. 1, gives a consistent
colouring to the whole. It is arbitrary to vary the renderings in so
short a psalm. But, as is often the case, the aspirations are so sure
of their correspondence with the Divine purpose that they tremble on
the verge of being prophecies, as, indeed, all wishes that go out
along the line of God's "way" are. Every deep, God-inspired longing
whispers to its utterer assurance that so it shall be; and therefore
such desires have ever in them an element of fruition, and know
nothing of the pain of earthly wishes. They who stretch out empty
hands to God never "gather dust and chaff."
The priestly blessing (Numb. vi. 24-26) moulds ver. 1, but with the
substitution of _God_ for _Jehovah_, and of "among us" for "upon us."
The latter variation gives an impression of closer contact of men with
the lustre of that Divine Light, and of yet greater condescension in
God. The soul's longing is not satisfied by even the fullest beams
of a Light that is fixed on high; it dares to wish for the stooping
of the Sun to dwell among us. The singer speaks in the name of the
nation; and, by using the priestly formula, claims for the whole
people the sacerdotal dignity which belonged to it by its original
constitution. He gives that idea its widest extension. Israel is
the world's high priest, lifting up intercessions and holy hands of
benediction for mankind. What self-effacement, and what profound
insight into and sympathy with the mind of God breathe in that
collocation of desires, in which the gracious lustre of God's face
shining on us is longed for, chiefly that thence it may be reflected
into the dark places of earth, to gladden sad and seeking eyes! This
psalmist did not know in how true a sense the Light would come to
dwell among men of Israel's race, and thence to flood the world; but
his yearning is a foreshadowing of the spirit of Christianity, which
forbids self-regarding monopoly of its blessings. If a man is "light
in the Lord," he cannot but shine. "God hath shined into our hearts,
that we may give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God." A
Church illuminated with a manifestly Divine light is the best witness
for God. Eyes which cannot look on the Sun may gaze at the clouds,
which tone down its colourless radiance into purple and gold.
The central core of the psalm may either be taken as summons to the
nations or as expression of desire for them. The depth of the longing
or the stringency of the summons is wonderfully given by that fourfold
repetition of the same words in vv. 3 and 5, with the emphatic "all
of them" in the second clause of each. Not less significant is the
use of three names for the aggregations of men--nations (ver. 2),
peoples, and tribes. All are included, whatever bond knits them in
communities, whatever their societies call themselves, however many
they are. The very vagueness gives sublimity and universality. We
can fill the vast outline drawn by these sweeping strokes; and wider
knowledge should not be attended with narrowed desires, nor feebler
confidence that the Light shall lighten every land. It is noticeable
that in this central portion the deeds of God among the nations are
set forth as the ground of their praise and joy in Him. Israel had the
light of His face, and that would draw men to Him. But all peoples
have the strength of His arm to be their defender, and the guidance
of His hand by providences and in other ways unrecognised by them.
The "judgments" here contemplated are, of course, not retribution for
evil, but the aggregate of dealings by which God shows His sovereignty
in all the earth. The psalmist does not believe that God's goodness
has been confined to Israel, nor that the rest of the world has been
left orphaned. He agrees with Paul, "That which may be known of God is
manifest in them, for God manifested it to them."
The final strophe (vv. 6, 7) is substantially a repetition of vv. 1,
2, with the addition that a past fact is laid as the foundation of
the desires or hopes of future blessings. "The earth has yielded her
increase." This may show that the psalm is a harvest hymn, but it
does not necessarily imply this. The thought may have been born at any
time. The singer takes the plain fact that, year by year, by mysterious
quickening which he recognises as of God, the fertile earth "causes the
things sown in it to bring forth and bud," as an evidence of Divine care
and kindliness, which warrants the desire and the confidence that all
blessings will be given. It seems a large inference from such a premise;
but it is legitimate for those who recognise God as working in nature,
and have eyes to read the parables amid which we live. The psalmist
reminds God of His own acts, and, further, of His own name, and builds
on these his petitions and his faith. Because He is "our God" He will
bless us; and since the earth has, by His gift, "yielded her increase,"
He will give the better food which souls need. This the singer desires,
not only because he and his brethren need it, but because a happy people
are the best witnesses for a good King, and worshippers "satisfied
with favour and full of the blessing of the Lord" proclaim most
persuasively, "Taste, and see that God is good." This psalm is a truly
missionary psalm, in its clear anticipation of the universal spread of
the knowledge of God, in its firm grasp of the thought that the Church
has its blessings in order to the evangelisation of the world, and in
its intensity of longing that from all the ends of the earth a shout of
praise may go up to the God who has sent some rays of His light into
them all, and committed to His people the task of carrying a brighter
illumination to every land.