Psalms 121

Psalms 121:1-8

Where to Find Help Psalms 120:1-7; Psalms 121:1-8 This is the first of the “ Songs of Degrees.” It has been suggested that they were pilgrim-songs to beguile the journeys from all parts of the country to the great annual feasts. They have been associated with the reign of the good Hezekiah. Mesech and Kedar are typical enemies, who forced their way into the kingdom of Judah and vexed the people of God. They are compared to sharp swords and arrows in Psalms 57:4; Psalms 64:3, but now in turn they shall be pierced and scorched. How many who start on a pilgrimage to the Celestial City must run a similar gauntlet! Their enemies arise from their own household. In such distress of soul, prayer is our only hope, Psalms 120:1. Psalms 121:1-8 The keynote of this psalm is the word keep, which occurs in one form or another six times. In Psalms 121:1 and Psalms 121:2 the soloist suggests that in hours of trial we should look beyond mountains and hills to the Lord who made them all. In Psalms 121:3-8 the chorus endorses and commends the choice. All the saints of every dispensation add their cumulative testimony to the wisdom of entrusting the keeping of soul and body to our faithful Creator. Notice the exquisite sequence of phrases: neither slumber nor sleep; by day, by night; thy going out, and thy coming in; thee and. thy soul; this time forth and for evermore. The meshes are woven very closely.

The Lord is thy keeper Another of the Pilgrim Psalms prepared for the annual festival journeys, This seems to have been specially designed to be sung in view of the mountains about Jerusalem and is probably an evening song for the pilgrim-band. The keynote of the Psalm is the word keep, which occurs six times in one form or another (see R.V.).

Psalms 121:1. I willlift up mine eyes! We must not be contented with merely looking at the hills–but must look above and beyond them. The loftiest and mightiest sources of help are too low for us. Nothing short of God will avail for us.

Psalms 121:2. My help cometh from the Lord! The term applied to the Lord, as Creator of heaven and earth, indicates his inexhaustible abundance of help. “Despair is madness in any one who has such a God to help him.” Psalms 121:3. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved The sliding of the foot is a very natural type of misfortune, in so mountainous a land as Canaan, where it is dangerous to lose one’s foothold (see also Genesis 28:15; Psalms 26:1; Psalms 37:31).

Psalms 121:4. He shall neither slumber nor sleep This is said of Israel’s foes (Isaiah 5:27); but it is more true of Israel’s God. When the pilot comes on board, the captain may turn in to sleep.

Psalms 121:5. The Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand “Shade’” is a metaphor for protection from the scorching heat, like Jonah’s , gourd. God is a Sun (Psalms 84:11); but He is a shadow from the heat (Psalms 91:1; Isaiah 25:4).

Psalms 121:6. The sun shall not smite nor the moon Heat and cold stand for the extremes of condition to which we are all exposed. Sometimes everything is warm and bright around us. At other times we are lonely and depressed, but in all circumstances God is sufficient (Philippians 4:12).

Psalms 121:7. The Lord shall preserve! … He shall preserve! These repeated assurances are to calm and quiet our unbelief, which needs to be told again and again that God will watch over his own. Nothing that happens to us can be evil. Whatever God lets pass through the meshes of his protection must be for our good.

Psalms 121:8. Thy going out and thy coming in! The going out is for work and service; the coming in may be for rest and refreshment. The Good Shepherd keeps his flock through all (John 10:9).