Psalms 122

The Psalmist has celebrated God’s watchful providence over us in our journeyings, as defending us from the sun by day and the moon by night, as preserving us from all evil, and keeping our very feet from harm. Paul ascribed “a prosperous journey” to “the will of God;” and James has instructed us, when we have a journey in view, to say, “If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this or that.” In these days of frequent and hurried journeying, there is less time for religious preparation, and often there is little thought of it. Yet, when we consider that the very facility and frequency of travel have multiplied both its pleasures and its perils, we surely shall bethink ourselves to commend to God those who are journeying by land or sea; and, in going from home, will commit ourselves to Him who is present everywhere and at every moment, and who doth neither slumber nor sleep. J. P. T.

As we gather up the lessons of the Psalm, we find a suggestion of our own helplessness in the words which assure us of Divine protection; we have the positive assurance of that protection based upon God’s power in creation, and God’s wisdom and love as shown in the past experience of His people. We are made to see that as our chief danger is spiritual, so our need of protection is constant, and that none but a Divine Protector can insure our safety; and that, in order to avail ourselves of this eternal safeguard, we must live within its compass, and not think that we can pass our time at our own pleasure, and in the place of our own choosing, and then claim God’s protection when emergencies arise. He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High, and abides under the shadow of the Almighty, he only can say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress.” “Because thou hast made the Most High thy habitation, there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. Because he hath set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him.” Thus all the pledges and assurances of the Psalm grow up in the sphere of life in God. It is a close walk with God, a life hidden in Him, which alone can interpret the sweetness of these pledges and make them fully available. V.

1. I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go unto the house of the LORD. 2 Our feet are standing Within thy gates, O Jerusalem; 3 Jerusalem, that art builded As a city that is compact together; 4 Whither the tribes go up, even the tribes of the LORD, For a testimony unto Israel, To give thanks unto the name of the LORD. 5 For there are set thrones for judgment,

The thrones of the house of David.

6. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: They shall prosper that love thee. 7 Peace be within thy walls, And prosperity within thy palaces. 8 For my brethren and companions’ sakes, I will now say, Peace be within thee. 9 For the sake of the house of the LORD our God I will seek thy good.

THIS Psalm, full of the sweet inspirations of love for the house of the Lord and for the scenes of worship there, is one of the “songs of the ascents,” every thought and sentiment in it being adapted to the case of Hebrew families joyfully setting forth on their stated pilgrimage to the holy city to join in the prescribed worship of stated festivals. C.

This Psalm, more emphatically than any in the Songs of Ascents, merits the title of a pilgrim song. It was evidently composed with immediate reference to one of the three yearly festivals, when the caravans of pilgrims “went up” to the holy city. The poet tells us how his heart had filled with joy as his friends and neighbors had invited him to go with them “to the house of Jehovah.” The next verse transports us at once within the gates of Jerusalem. They have reached their journey’s end; they are in the city which they love. Then the poet tells us, first, the impression made upon his mind by her stateliness and her beauty, and next, how there come crowding upon his memory the scenes of her earlier grandeur, the thought of all she had been as the gathering-place of the tribes of Jehovah, the royal seat of David and of his house. Filled with these thoughts, inspired by these memories, he bursts forth into hearty, fervent prayer—the prayer of one who loved his country as he loved his God, with no common devotion—for the welfare of that city so glorious in her past history, and with which all hopes for the future were so intimately bound up. And so the beautiful ode closes. P.

We have heard the Hebrew pilgrims bid farewell to their homes as they started for Jerusalem, with a sigh for peace, a prayer for Divine protection. We have heard them sing their evening hymn, what time the caravan halted for the night, as they looked toward the Mount of Succor and Benediction, and rejoiced in the Lord their Keeper. And, now, we rejoin them as they arrive in the Holy City, and, with the perils of the journey behind them, rejoice in the stately beauty of Jerusalem, in its pathetic memories, and in the sanctuary which is its crown and pride. No other Psalm in the pilgrims’ Psalter is so emphatically a pilgrim song as this. It was obviously written for the occasion, and not merely adapted to it; its author intended it to be sung as the caravans passed through the streets of Jerusalem on their way to the Temple. It was admirably suited to the purpose. It gathers into itself whatever could deepen and prolong the joy of the moment from the personal experience of the pilgrims, from their patriotic traditions, from their prophetic hopes. Cox.

1. Here is an example of the spirit in which we ought to approach the public worship of God; in a spirit of holy gladness. Ravensley.

2. Standing are our feet in Thy gates, O Jerusalem! The common version (shall stand)

is entirely ungrammatical. The past tense of the substantive verb with the participle means strictly have been standing, i.e., have begun to stand, or are already standing. A.—Our feet are standing. The lively expression of the satisfaction and delight of one who finds himself on this high day of festal joy within the sacred walls, mingling with the throng of worshippers who crowd the courts of the temple, and taking his part, with a full sense of his privileges as an Israelite, in the solemn services of the feast. P.

3. When he and the other visitors to the feast had reached the goal of their pilgrimage, and their feet stood still in the gates, as if charmed by the overpowering, glorious sight, he exclaims: Jerusalem, O thou that art built up again. Jerusalem has risen again out of its ruined and dismembered condition, the breaches and gaps are done away with, it stands there as a city in which house joins on to house. D.

4,5. Glances at the earlier times, when Jerusalem had been the great religious and political centre of the nation, the dwelling-place of Jehovah, to whose temple all the tribes were gathered at the three great feasts, and the seat of government of kings of the house of David. This had been its double glory. P.—Jerusalem is very fair to him in its present beauty, and it is pleasant to him to keep the feast for its own sake. But both feast and city grow more fair and pleasant and attractive as he remembers that, from of old, “the tribes, the tribes of Jah,” came up to the city in which he now stands, and kept the feast which he know attends. And in the main current of his song he runs back to David, and dwells on the fact that here, in this city, “thrones” had long been “set for the house of David,” i.e., for David and his descendants, David and his dynasty. Cox.

5. Thrones for judgment. On a throne of ivory, brought from Africa or India, the throne of many an Arabian legend, the kings of Judah were solemnly seated on the day of their accession. From its lofty seat, and under that high gateway, Solomon and his successors after him delivered their solemn judgments. That “porch” or “gate of justice” still kept alive the likeness of the old patriarchal custom of sitting in judgment at the gate; exactly as the Gate of Justice still recalls it to us at Granada, and the Sublime Porte (“the Lofty Gate”) at Constantinople. Stanley.

Jerusalem, the city of the one national sanctuary, was at the same time the city of the Davidic kingship. The phrase “thrones of judgment” is transferred here from the judicial persons who sit in judgment, to the seats which are set down and stand there for judgment. In the golden age of the Davidic kingship the palace was also the supreme court of justice in the land; the king was the chief judge, and the sons, brothers, or kinsmen of the king were his assessors and councillors. In the time of the poet it is different; but the attractiveness of Jerusalem, not only as the city of Jehovah, but also as the city of David, remains for all times. D.

The house of David. The expression plainly points to successors of David, not to members of his family associated with himself in government, administration of justice, etc.

6-9. The last four verses of the Psalm breathe a spirit of the noblest, most unselfish patriotism. Not for his own sake, but for the sake of his brethren—the people at large—and for the sake of his God, His temple, and His service, he wishes peace to Jerusalem, and calls upon others to wish her peace. With love to Israel and love to Jehovah there is naturally united a warm affection for Jerusalem, a hearty interest in her welfare. P.

The Psalmist is a man of God as well as a man of Israel. The temple is even dearer to him than the city. He is moved by religious as well as by patriotic emotion. The fate of Israel is bound up with that of the palace of the Great King. And so, looking rather to the future than to the past, he breaks out into a profusion of good wishes for Jerusalem, and for all who love her, not for her own sake simply, but mainly “for the sake of the house of the Lord.” One and the same good wish is cast into many varied forms, denoting the fervor of the spirit from which they proceed. He calls on all men to pray for the peace of the City of Peace. He wishes prosperity to all who love her. For himself he wishes and prays, “Peace be within thy walls, prosperity within thy palaces.” And he says on behalf of his brethren and friends, “Peace to thee,” saluting the city as though it were a person. He vows that, because the House of God stands in the midst of her, he will never cease to seek the good of the city. In all this variety of form—in adjuration and prayer, in salutation and vow—it is the fervor of the devout patriot that speaks. He holds the sanctuary to be the centre and stay of the national life. He holds that all Israel should exist for Jerusalem, and all Jerusalem for the temple, since the temple is the house and palace of the Most High. Cox.

A concern for the peace and happiness of our country is not only a political, but a religious virtue; a care that becomes us both as we are men, and as we are Christians; which stands not upon the narrow bottom of self-interest, but rises from a more generous principle, partaking of the love of God and love of our neighbor; since, while we seek the public peace, we show our beneficence to the one, and our obedience to the other. Bishop Sherlock.

6. “The peace of Jerusalem” is proposed as an object for prayer. “Peace” is here used to denote prosperity, all that is good. The Psalmist thus explains it in the succeeding verse: “Peace be within thy walls, prosperity within thy palaces.” The word, taken in this large acceptance, was customary among the Israelites; they wished “peace” to each other in the sense of “all good things.” R. Hall.

The Psalm teaches us not simply what the Hebrew pilgrims felt, but also what God would have us feel. He would have us glad when we are summoned to His house. He would have us deepen our gladness by recalling the glorious company, the goodly fellowship, with which we associate ourselves so often as we come and stand before Him. He would have us pray for the peace and prosperity of His Church, and seek its good. He assures us that we shall prosper as we labor for its prosperity, that we shall enter into peace as we seek its peace. Cox.

The prosperity of the Church consists in the piety of its members. Their numbers, without this, are as nothing. A church without piety is a synagogue of Satan, a sect and school of pestilence. The measure of piety in a church is the measure of prosperity. Without this, however rich, it is poor; however outwardly flourishing, inwardly wretched. Where the love of God, the faith of Jesus Christ, the fruits of the Spirit abound, there the Church is in a state of prosperity, however afflicted in outward circumstances. As members of the Church, we profess to make ourselves over to the Father, Son, and Spirit; if we keep back our hearts from God, if we transfer our affections to the world, we are not true members of the Church; our profession is false and hollow. Another feature of church prosperity is the prevalence of brotherly love; the spirit of union among the members. This is the mind of Christ, and He prescribes it as His own new commandment, as the distinguishing characteristic of His true disciples. How lovely a spectacle does that church present in which brotherly love prevails! no jarring passions, no envious competitions; but a delightful retirement from the troubles of the world. It is when Christians preserve “the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” that the prosperity of the Church of Christ peculiarly appears. Conscientious and diligent attendance on all the ordinances of religion, public and domestic, is a third requisite to the prosperity of a Christian society. Neglect of these is contagious among the members, and fatal to the well-being of a church. All should conspire to strengthen the hands of their ministers and their brethren by an attentive observance of the appointed means of grace. To this must be added, as a fourth point, the due exercise of church discipline. The spiritual power with which Christ has armed His Church is a high and mysterious power, which has no parallel on earth. The sentence of excommunication, in particular, harmonizing with the dictates of conscience, and re-echoed by her voice, is truly terrible; it is the voice of God, speaking through its legitimate organ, which he who despises ranks with heathen men, joins the synagogue of Satan, and takes his lot with an unbelieving world, doomed to perdition. Excommunication is a sword which, strong in its apparent weakness, and the sharper and more efficacious for being divested of all sensible and exterior envelopments, lights immediately on the spirit, and inflicts a wound which no balm can cure, no ointment can mollify, but which must continue to ulcerate and burn, until it be healed by the blood of atonement, applied by penitence and prayer. R. Hall.

If a man loves God he will take his part with God, just as a citizen who loves his country will take the part of his country. He will draw himself to all God’s friends and count them brothers, rejoicing with them in the fellowship of the common love. He will set himself in every manner to strengthen, comfort, edify, stimulate them in their fidelity and application to good works. All this he will do by the simple instinct of his love to God. If there were no such thing enjoined upon the disciples of Christ as a formal profession, or church organization, there would yet be generated, within six months, exactly the same thing. The disciples would come out of the world in a body, testifying what God has done for them in the quickening grace of Christ shed abroad in their hearts, and claiming their fellowship with each other. They would band themselves together in holy covenant before God, to co-operate in a form of spiritual order—a church. They would have their officers and leaders. They would watch for each other. They would have terms adjusted by which to separate themselves from hypocrites and impostors—all that we now have in our formal politics and church compacts. Co-operation is the strength of such as have a common cause, and organization is the certain requisite of this. H. B.

This work of Christ’s house is varied to different individuals. “The Son of Man gave to every one;” that is, to each one, his work. Some are there to teach, some to counsel and administer; some to tend the young; some to visit the sick-bed; some to conduct the temporal affairs of the Church; some to be liberal givers as God has prospered them, and some, without any formal mode of action, come under this description, which applies to them all: “Sons of God, without rebuke, shining as lights in the world, holding forth the Word of Life.” It is very beautiful to see how the God who has bound His world into a grand harmony by its very diversity, has arranged for this same end in His Church, by giving the members their different faculties of work; how the pure light that comes from the sun breaks into its separate hues when it touches the palace-house of Christ, with its varied cornices and turrets, till every color lies in tranquil beauty beside its fellow. If it is not so it should be so; and as the Church grows it will be so. Use and ornament, the corner-stone and the cope-stone, shall both be felt to have their due place. To see how this may be, is to perceive that an end can be put to all jealousies and heart-burnings, and may help us even now to take our position calmly and unenviously, working in our department, assured that our labor shall be found to contribute to the full proportion of the whole. Ker.

Righteous men, lovers and doers of the truth, are as the lightning conductors, drawing aside the fiery bolts of His vengeance, which would else have long since scorched, shattered, and consumed a guilty world. Oftentimes, it may be, they are little accounted of among men, being indeed the hidden ones of God crying in their secret places for the things which are done against the words of God’s lips. The world may pass them, may know nothing of them, yet it is for their sakes that the world is endured and continues unto this day. And this reminds us of the duty of prayer and intercession for others. Prayer for others is never lost, is never in vain; often by it we may draw down blessing upon others, but always and without fail it will return in blessing on ourselves. Trench.

In praying for the salvation of a single soul, we pray for more than the whole world and its glories, more than the empire of the world, more than all possible inanimate creations. For we pray for one on whom the good pleasure of the Holy Trinity rests; for one whom the Father wills to be saved, for whom the Son was in-

carnate, with whom the Holy Ghost has pleaded and will plead. Oh, for heart of fire, for fiery zeal for souls, that if we can do no more, we may yet plead with God with burning thoughts, burning longings, burning desires, for God’s glory in the salvation of souls! Pusey.