Psalm 67

Psalms 67:1-3

cause his face to shine upon us: The opening lines echo the priestly blessing of Numbers 6:24-26 closely, God be merciful unto us and bless us and cause his face to shine upon us reworking Aaron's words from a blessing spoken over one man at a time into one spoken over the whole congregation. Verse 2 turns the blessing outward before it is even received, that thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations, Israel asking to be blessed so that the nations can see it. The refrain that closes the unit, let the people praise thee, O God, let all the people praise thee, doubles the plea, the same word for peoples used first of Israel and then of everyone else.

Psalms 67:4-5

let the nations be glad and sing for joy: The nations are given a reason to be glad that has nothing to do with Israel's own borders: thou shalt judge the people righteously, and govern the nations upon earth, the same God who blessed Israel ruling every other people by the same fairness. Gill reads govern in the sense of a shepherd's leading, the verb elsewhere used of guiding a flock rather than of a conqueror's rule. The refrain returns unchanged, let the people praise thee, O God, let all the people praise thee, the psalm's second Selah falling where the plea repeats.

Psalms 67:6-7

The harvest closes the psalm in the language of an answered prayer, then shall the earth yield her increase, which several commentators connect to a festival of ingathering, the nation's material blessing offered as evidence to the nations that the blessing of verse 1 was granted. God, even our own God repeats the covenant name twice in one line, the God of all the earth still named the God who belongs to this people particularly. The last line completes the psalm's outward movement, all the ends of the earth shall fear him, the private blessing of verse 1 arriving at the fear of God among people who never heard Aaron's words directly.