Psalm 123:2-3, “Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of the maidservant to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to YHWH our God, till He has mercy upon us. Have mercy upon us, O YHWH, have mercy upon us…”
Two things to notice: the repetition of hand and the repetition of mercy. The hand is the symbolic place of power and provision; it is from the hand that salvation, redemption, supply, strength etc. come. And so, the servant looking to the hand of the master is an image of the needy one looking to the source of provision, to the wellspring of their good.
The Psalmist looks to YHWH as the servant looks to the hand of the master and maidservant to the hand of her mistress. No mention is made of YHWH’s hand, but the implication is present….like an artist who skillfully guides our eyes to a point in his painting even though a direct line may not be present, so too the Psalmist guides our minds and imaginations to see the Psalmist looking to the all-providing, all-powerful “hand” of YHWH.
And for what does he look? For what is the Psalmist panting? Mercy. Repeated three times in rapid succession, the idea of mercy is strongly emphasized. And what is mercy? Mercy, unlike grace, implies underserved good toward wrong doing. Mercy means that something has been done to elicit judgment or punishment and that, instead, kindness, blessing etc. will be given. So when the Psalmist cries out three times for mercy, there is an implicit confession of sin and petition for forgiveness.
What we’ve seen thus far, then, is that the Psalmist looks to the hand of YHWH in humble confession of his sin and desperation for the undeserved kindness that the Lord alone can give. “Kyrie Eleison;” Lord, have mercy.
This is a beautiful scenario because—post cross—we know, as it were, what the Psalmist would see….we know what we “see” when we pray this prayer after Him. And what is that? It is the wounds in the hands of YHWH incarnate, the nail-scar in the hand of our master, which—for us—is an ever-flowing fountain of mercy. We know, we know, we know that YHWH will have mercy on us because when we lift our eyes in humble confession and desperate faith to the hand of our Master, we see etched therein the wounds of His steadfast love and faithfulness, wounds which declare our sin condemned, our punishment paid, our death overcome, and limitless mercy poured over us from the depths of God’s own grace-riven heart. Hallowed be His Name!
