Psalms 120

A Song of Degrees. There can no certain account be given, why this and fourteen other Psalms, which follow, are called Songs of Degrees, or Ascents. Their conjecture seems to mc most probable, who think the title denotes, either the elevation of the voice in the singing these songs, or the excellence ~ of the composure, or of the music to which they were set, or the high esteem they had of them upon some account or other; particularly because they were so fit for their use (though most of them composed in former times), at and after their return from the captivity of Babylon. Then, some think, this title was given to them because they sung them as they went tip to their own country again. But this present Psalm seems to have been made by David, • when the calumnies of Docg, and others, forced him to flee his country, and to go as far as the Kedarens, or Arabians, (ver. 5.) whose company was very irksome to him. We do not read, indeed, in his history that he was there: but we may well think he sought for safety in more places than arc particularly mentioned; and might as well be there, as among the Moabites, and in the wilderness of Paran, (1 Sam. xxv. 1.) which was not O far from them. As for Mcsech, I fake that to signify* not a place, but the length of time which he stayed there, before he durst stir from thence; or which he was forced to spend in exile: as all the ancient interpreters, except one, understand it. (Sec Bochart, in his Phaleg. lib. iii. cap. 12.)

Psalms 120:1

AN my distress I cried unto the Lord, and he heard me. I have had frequent experience of the goodness of the Lord; who, when I have earnestly implored his help in my straits and difficulties, hath constantly relieved me.

Psalms 120:2

Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue. Slay it please thee, O Lord, still to continue thy mercy towards me: and now that men strike at my life, by calumnies and cunningly-devised lies, (1 Sam. xxii. 9. xxiv. 9.) to preserve mc from the danger into which they have thrown me.

Psalms 120:3

Wliat shall be given unto thee? or what shall be done unto thee, thou false tongue?. O thou false accuser! what dost thou hope to get by these specious tales which thou hast forged? What will they add to that heap of wealth which thou trcasurest up? (Psal. Iii. 7.) * •'

Psalms 120:4

Sharp arrows of the Almighty, with coals of