Psalms 120:1

In my distress I cried unto the Lord,.... Being at a distance from his own country, or, however, from the house of God; persecuted by men, under the lash of their tongues; reproached, abused, and

In my distress I cried unto the LORD, and he heard me. Psalms 120:1-7.-The first of the fifteen "Songs of degrees." The Septuagint, not probably, translate, 'Songs of the steps' [toon anabathmoon] -

Psalms 120:1 « A Song of degrees. » In my distress I cried unto the LORD, and he heard me.A Song of degrees] A most excellent song, Tremellius rendereth it; and so indeed this and the fourteen following are, both for the matter and for the form or manner of expression, which is wondrous short and sweet, as the very epigrams of the Holy Ghost himself, wherein each verse may well stand for an oracle. And in this sense Adam Hammahalah, or a man of degrees, is put for an eminent or excellent man, 1 Chronicles 17:17. Others understand it otherwise; wherein they have good leave to abound in their own sense; since sine periculo hic erratur, an error here is not dangerous. Ver. 1. In my distress I cried unto the Lord] Oratio sine malis est, ut avis sine alis, Distress addeth wings to our devotions. Our Saviour, being in an agony, prayed more earnestly, Luke 22:44. So do all his members, and especially when they lie under the lash of a lying tongue, as here, Psalms 120:2. "Being defamed, we pray," saith Paul, 1 Corinthians 4:13. And he heard me] "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much," James 5:16 Zechariah 13:9. He that prayeth ardently speedeth assuredly, Psalms 91:15, and the unmiscarrying return of prayer should be carefully observed and thankfully improved, Psalms 66:20.

PSALM CXX The psalmist, in great distress, calls on the Lord for deliverance from calumny and defamation, 1, 2; shows the punishment that awaits his persecutor, 3, 4; deplores the necessity of his residence with the ungodly, 5-7. NOTES ON PSALM CXX This Psalm, and all the rest that follow it, to the end of Psalm 134, fifteen in number, are called Psalms of Degrees; for thus the Hebrew title המעלות hammaaloth is generally translated, as coming from the root עלה alah, to ascend or mount upwards. Hence מעלות maaloth, steps or stairs for ascending, 1Kg 10:19-20; 2Kg 9:13. But as the word may be applied to elevation in general, hence some have thought that it may here signify the elevation of voice; "these Psalms being sung with the highest elevations of voice and music." Others have thought the word expresses rather the matter of these Psalms, as being of peculiar excellence: and hence Junius and Tremellius prefix to each Canticum excellentissimum, "A most excellent ode." R. D. Kimchi says, "There were fifteen steps by which the priests ascended into the temple, on each of which they sang one of these fifteen Psalms." This opinion I find referred to in the Apocryphal Gospel of the birth of Mary: "Her parents brought her to the temple, and set her upon one of the steps. Now there are fifteen steps about the temple, by which they go up to it, according to the fifteen Psalms of Degrees." But the existence of such steps and practices cannot be proved. Aben Ezra supposes that the word means some kind of tune sung to these Psalms. It is more likely, if the title be really ancient, that it was affixed to them on account of their being sung on the return from the Babylonish captivity, as the people were going up to Jerusalem; for though some of them are attributed to David, yet it is very probable that they were all made long after his time, and probably during the captivity, or about the end of it. The author of these fifteen Psalms is not known; and most probably they were not the work of one person. They have been attributed to David, to Solomon, to Ezra, to Haggai, to Zechariah, and to Malachi, without any positive evidence. They are, however, excellent in their kind, and written with much elegance; containing strong and nervous sentiments of the most exalted piety, expressed with great felicity of language in a few words. Verse 1. In my distress] Through the causes afterwards mentioned. I cried unto the Lord] Made strong supplication for help. And he heard one.] Answered my prayer by comforting my soul. It appears to be a prayer of the captives in Babylon for complete liberty; or perhaps he recites the prayer the Israelites had made previously to their restoration.

1. In my distress I called unto Jehovah, And he answered me. The Psalmist calls to mind past answers to prayer as an encouragement to fresh prayer in his present distress. Cp. Psalms 3:4. This is a simpler and more natural explanation of the verse than to take it as a confident anticipation of a favourable answer, I call … and he will surely answer me; or to suppose that the Psalmist is looking back upon trouble in the past, and that Psalms 120:2-4 are the prayer to which he refers in Psalms 120:1.

In my distress - In my suffering, as arising from slander, Psalms 120:2-3.

1. Distress… cried… heard—This serial form—trouble, prayer, and answer—was common for David, and his faith in God touching the answer, gathered from past experience, was the ground of all his hope.