Psalm 65 · a question people ask
"Blessed is the one whom you choose and cause to come near" (65:4). Who is that?
The psalm doesn't name him. It says what God does for him, choose and cause to come near (tap come near), and why: "that he may live in your courts" (65:4). The same two Hebrew verbs come together where Moses speaks to Korah and his company (Numbers 16:4-5): "the LORD will show who are his, and who is holy, and will cause him to come near to him. Even him whom he shall choose, he will cause to come near to him" (Numbers 16:5). There the matter is who may come near to do "the service of the LORD’s tabernacle" (Numbers 16:9). Psalm 65 doesn't refer to Numbers 16, and it doesn't stay with the one: the same verse goes on, "We will be filled with the goodness of your house, your holy temple" (Psalm 65:4). These notes don't say who the one is.
The verses
“Blessed is the one whom you choose and cause to come near, that he may live in your courts. We will be filled with the goodness of your house, your holy temple.”
“When Moses heard it, he fell on his face. He said to Korah and to all his company, “In the morning, the LORD will show who are his, and who is holy, and will cause him to come near to him. Even him whom he shall choose, he will cause to come near to him.”
“Is it a small thing to you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself, to do the service of the LORD’s tabernacle, and to stand before the congregation to minister to them; and that he has brought you near, and all your brothers the sons of Levi with you? Do you seek the priesthood also?”