Psalm 67--Make Your Face Shine upon Us

Psalm 67
English Standard Version

Make Your Face Shine upon Us
To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Psalm. A Song.
67 May God be gracious to us and bless us
    and make his face to shine upon us, Selah
2 that your way may be known on earth,
    your saving power among all nations.
3 Let the peoples praise you, O God;
    let all the peoples praise you!

4 Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,
    for you judge the peoples with equity
    and guide the nations upon earth. Selah
5 Let the peoples praise you, O God;
    let all the peoples praise you!

6 The earth has yielded its increase;
    God, our God, shall bless us.
7 God shall bless us;
    let all the ends of the earth fear him!

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The words of this psalm are probably in response to the blessing that the LORD gave to Aaron and his sons who would be priests over the tribes of Israel.  In Numbers 6:23-27, this is what the LORD said,


Numbers 6:23-27
English Standard Version
23 “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them,

24 The LORD bless you and keep you;
25 the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
26 the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

27 “So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.”

The blessing asks for the LORD to bless them and keep them.  The word "keep" is both an idea of defense, but also that God needs to make them the people able to keep the covenant so that they can be blessed and not cursed.  Without God's help, they have no ability to be His people who are called by His Name.

The blessing asks for God to show His face (reveal Himself in all His glory) to them.  No man in the Old Testament could look on the face of the LORD and live.  Moses was only allowed to see the "back side" of the LORD as He passed by, but we are told in the New Testament, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1:14).  Those who saw Jesus saw the Father because the Son and the Father are One (see John 14:9 and John 10:30).  Jesus told us plainly everything that the Father wanted Him to say.

The final blessing is that God's face would turn towards us (that He will take notice of us) and give us peace.  Jesus definitely fulfilled that too as God took note of us in our helpless estate and sent His one and only Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  It is only by Jesus and through Jesus that we experience all the blessings that were meant for Jesus as we become adopted children of God and co-heirs with Jesus.

The end of the passage in Numbers gives the reason for Aaron and his sons to bless the people of Israel this way--so that the Name of the LORD would be upon them.  They would be His people called by His Name.  Then, and only then would they be blessed.  We too are people called by the Name of the Lord (Jesus, the Christ).  We may be called Followers of the Way (He is the Way, the Truth and the Life) or we may be called "Christians" which means "Little Christs," but there is no way around the fact that we are identified with Him, especially through baptism where we identify with His death and resurrection.

Now back to our psalm for today.  I think you can see how the first verse brings our minds back to the passage I quoted and talked about from Numbers 6.  The people would immediately recognize it and there is time for the people to pause and reflect after hearing this so they can stop and think about all that the passage means (what I just explained).  We have an even fuller understanding now that Christ has come and been our Great High Priest who has given us an even better blessing.

David wants the LORD and His Name to be known on all the earth--for the LORD to be famous because of the salvation that only He provides.  No doubt "salvation" here was tied to the thought of the Passover for David and the Jewish people, but we too praise the LORD for the Salvation that He provides (the name Jesus means "The LORD's Salvation."  Yes, we also call on all the peoples of the earth to receive this salvation and join in praising the LORD for what He has done through the person and work of the Messiah.

The nations also rejoice because the LORD is in heaven reigning and judging over all the earth.  Nothing escapes Him, and He will deal justly, righteously and fairly (I think these are probably better translations than "with equity" as "equity" is a buzzword that has taken on a meaning to mean just about the opposite of what the word actually means.  To be equitable is to be impartial, but in today's language, being "equitable" means to be partial towards those to whom you perceive injustice has been done.)  The text wants us to know that the LORD will judge all the peoples of the earth without partiality.  No one will get away with committing sin and have that sin go unpunished.  Everyone will have their day in the LORD's courtroom where Jesus will sit as the Judge of the Living and the Dead, and He will identify those who belong to Him (who are called by His Name) and those who do not belong to Him.  Those who belong to Him enter into the Sabbath rest and blessings that have been prepared for them, and those that are not called by His name, but instead of identified themselves with the devil and his angels and their rebellion against the LORD-- saying, by their words, thoughts, attitudes, and actions, "I will be like God"--these people will be thrown into the Lake of Fire that was prepared for the devil and his angels.  That is something that should make everyone rejoice.  God will make all things right in the end, even if there is perceived injustice in the world today.

The last reason David tells all the peoples of the earth to bless the LORD is because He is the one that causes their crops to grow and gives them a bountiful harvest.  Without His assistance, they would have nothing to eat.  This is for the most part a common grace that the LORD gives to all men (the rain falls on the just and the unjust).  However, the LORD does use drought and famine and natural disasters to draw the attention of people to Him and call the wicked to repentance.  So, we should see all that the LORD provides and gladly give Him our tithes and offerings--for it all belongs to Him anyways.  "The earth is the LORD's and all that is in it." (Psalm 24:1, 1 Corinthians 10:26).  Therefore let us rejoice and sing praise to the LORD.