09 July

Bible In 365 Days                                                                               

Psalms 120-132

 

Psalm 120

The next series of psalms appear to have formed a book of themselves bearing the title, "The Songs of Ascents." That collection is incorporated by the editor at this point not without purpose.

The title appearing at the head of each has been variously translated, "A Song of Degrees," "A Song of Ascents," "A Song for the Goings Up." In the Hebrew translation to which we have already referred, it appears as "A Song of the Ascents," and in the title index in each case the psalm is called "Pilgrim's Song."

The meaning of this title has been variously interpreted also. Without referring to the different suggestions made, we shall consider them as songs sung by those pilgrims who went up to Jerusalem to worship. Placing the collection immediately after the great psalm dealing with the perfection of the will of God is significant. Those who know the will of God turn their faces toward the Temple of worship. These songs of desire, and hope, and approach are appropriate for the pilgrims' use as they go up to worship.

The first is wholly the cry of the soul acquainted with the perfection of the will of God. The first declaration is one of experience gained. He looks back, and remembers how he has been heard and answered. His present circumstance is absence from the house of his God. He is dwelling among a people whose motives and activities are contrary to his deepest convictions and desires. Mesech and the tents of Kedar figuratively describe the distance of his abode from the home and center of peace. He is surrounded by lying and deceitful people, such as hate peace and are all for war. His heart turns toward Jehovah and the dwelling of His glory, the holy house of worship. He cries to Jehovah for deliverance, and in the midst of adversity declares his confidence that the judgments of God will operate against the evildoers.

 

Psalm 121

This song, so full of beauty, marks another stage in the approach of the worshiper in that it sets forth his assurance of the present help of Jehovah. The singer is still far from the appointed place of worship, lifting his eyes toward the distant mountains. He is not far from Jehovah, however. In Jehovah's keeping, even though far from the center of external worship, the pilgrim realizes his safety. He lifts his longing eyes toward the mountains of Zion, where stands the house of his God, and asks:

"From whence shall my help come?"

Not from those mountains, precious as they are, but from Jehovah, who is with him even in the valley of distance. He then addresses the singer's heart with words of comfort and assurance. Jehovah keeps His children safe, never slumbering or sleeping in His faithful vigil.

The stately sentences which describe the tender care of Jehovah need no exposition. They are the common language of all who know Jehovah. These two psalms, revealing as they do the consciousness of the difficulty of exile and the heart's confidence in Jehovah prepare for the outburst of the next song for approach to the place of worship as the day dawns.

 

Psalm 122

This is the song of the pilgrims in anticipation of Jerusalem and the house of worship. It sets forth the glory of the establishment and compacted city where the tribes gather to give thanks to Jehovah. Yet through it all it is evident that the glory of city and Temple consists in the fact that they are the city and house of Jehovah. It is not a song of buildings or of material magnificence. It is rather the song of assembly, of testimony, of judgment, of peace, of prosperity. These all issue from the supreme fact of Jehovah's presence. To Him the tribes are gathered. Their testimony is of His name. The judgment, peace, and prosperity are all the outcome of Jehovah's relation to His people.

The tenses of the song have caused some bewilderment, as they seem to indicate the presence of the worshipers in the city, while yet they suggest the attitude of absence. The affirmation:

Our feet are standing within thy gates, is confidence of faith. It is the claim of citizenship, even though the citizen has not yet actually reached the city. The call has come to ascend to the house of the Lord, and with songs of praise and prayers for the city the pilgrim prepares to respond, while the hope becomes a present consciousness of the joy of assembly.

 

Psalm 123

Following the idea of the ascent of the worshiper to the longed-for house of Jehovah we have in this song an expression of the soul's strong confidence in Jehovah. The soul first affirms confidence as an experience, then breathes it as a prayer, and finally tells the circumstances calling forth the cry. Taking the last thing first, we can imagine this pilgrim who has been dwelling in the midst of the ungodly starting toward the place of worship, and by that very fact stirring up anew the scornful contempt of these people. This vexes his soul, but it becomes the occasion of prayer for the mercy of Jehovah.

This prayer, born of such experience, is based on the relation of the pilgrim to Jehovah. To Him, the enthroned One, the eyes are lifted. This is the reaffirmation of the truth sung in the earlier song (Psalms 121:1-8). The figures of relationship are full of beauty. The eyes look to Jehovah as to the Master of the household, who commands, and guards, and supplies all the needs of His servants. To set the life toward worship in an ungodly age is ever to be the object of scorn and contempt. What matters it? The eyes of Jehovah's pilgrims are lifted to the throne high set above all the tumult and strife of tongues.

 

Psalm 124

The journey from the place of exile to the city and Temple of Jehovah has now commenced. The heart of the song is in the words:

Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers.

Escape brings a sense of the dangers left behind, and therefore a keen appreciation of the fact that Jehovah has been acting as Deliverer:

"If it had not been the Lord!"

What a tone of joy is in that sigh. We often speak of a sigh of relief, and here is one indeed. The thunder of the threatening flood is heard behind. It was a strong tide against which these pilgrims could have had no might. If Jehovah had not helped, how great would have been the calamity! But He has helped, and the sigh which trembles with the consciousness of past peril, merges into the glad song:

"Blessed be Jehovah."

This first experience of escape is ever one of great delight. There stretches before the pilgrim a long road yet, and there will be much searching of heart before the final rest is won; but "the snare is broken, and we are escaped" is a song full of rapture, one that prepares the heart for all that awaits it on the way.

 

Psalm 125

The pilgrims catch the first glimpse of the city toward which their faces are set. The journey is not ended, but from some vantage ground there in the distance is seen the home of the heart. It is founded upon rock, and stands out in all the majesty and strength of its assured position. Round about it are the mountains, guarding it against it foes. Over it is the throne of God, ensuring a government which gives the righteous their opportunity. It is an ideal picture, but a true one as to Divine intention.

Yet it is not of the material fact that the pilgrims sing. All that is but a symbol of the safety and protection and government of the trusting people. Jehovah is their rock foundation, their encompassing protection, their enthroned King. In Him is all their strength and confidence, and on the pathway, with the city seen afar, of Him they sing.

The song merges into a prayer that He will exercise on their behalf all that guidance and deliverance in which they make their boast. As in the previous song they looked back to that from which they had escaped, in this they look forward to that to which they go; and in each case their song is of Jehovah. This is true retrospect and prospect, and both minister to the strength of pilgrimage.

 

Psalm 126

The pilgrims have looked back and praised Jehovah for escape. They have looked on, and praised Him for their hope and present sense of security. Now they break forth into an expression of their glad experience.

It is all so wonderful this restoration by Jehovah, that it is hardly believable, it is as though they dreamed. Laughter and singing are the only fitting expressions of their rejoicing hearts. Even the nations are compelled to recognize the doings of Jehovah on their behalf. Yet in the consciousness of the wonders wrought by Jehovah is created a keen sense of their own imperfection. The deliverance is not yet complete, and the prayer is offered, "Turn again our captivity," "Restore our fortunes." The restoration already in progress is the inspiration of the prayer for its fulfilment. The song ends with a declaration of confidence that the sorrowful experiences of the past must issue in the realization of all that they so earnestly desire.

 

Psalm 127

The thought of the pilgrim centres upon the city toward which his face is turned as the place of home. The strength of the Hebrew people in the past, and all that remains of it today, largely results from the keen sense which they ever cherished of the importance of the home and the family. The house, the city, labour, are all important to the conserving of the strength of the family. Towards these the pilgrims look, but as they hope, they recognise that, as in the settlement which will make these possible Jehovah is the one Worker, so in these also He is the one and only Strength of His people. He must build the house and guard the city. He must be the Partner in toil, giving to His beloved even when they rest in sleep. After toil is over.

The last is a thought full of comfort to the toiler. Jehovah is never weary, and carries on the enterprise while His trusting child gains new strength in sleep. Children, the glory of the house, are His gift, and they become the support and defence of their parents. Thus the pilgrims look forward to the rest which follows exile, in the city of God; and recognise that this also in all its details, will result from His power and working.

 

Psalm 128

This song naturally follows the one in which Jehovah's relation to the home, as building and establishing it, is recognised. It is chiefly interesting as it reveals the singer's conception of the relation between the prosperity of the family and that of the city.

As to the home, the condition of its prosperity is declared to be fear of the Lord, walking in His ways. Then the resulting blessings are promised. This blessedness of home life issues in the good of Jerusalem. The line of development is most important; the God-fearing man, the God-fearing family, the God-fearing city.

This song of the worshippers ascending toward the city and temple is one the application of which is of perpetual importance. The strength of any city lies in its strong family life. The true strength of the family issues from its ordering in the fear of the Lord. It is of real significance that these songs of home and of true civic consciousness are found among those which are sung on the way that leads to worship. It is ever good to carry into the place of our communion with God the interests of home and city. It is only by doing so that we can influence these for their lasting good.

 

Psalm 129

This song is that of one who ascending toward the much desired place of rest and worship, looks back and sees how in the past Jehovah has delivered from sore perils. The backward look would seem to be inspired by consciousness of present peril, for immediately the song expresses desire for the judgment of Jehovah against those who are described as hating Zion.

On the way to the city and temple those who hate the pilgrims of faith plot and scheme for their overthrow, and it is in the consciousness of this that the song celebrates past deliverances and seeks a continuance of them. While there is evidently a sense of danger in the mind of the singer, there is an utter absence of despair. It is the true attitude of those who have a rich experience of the faithfulness of God. In times of peril it is a good thing for the pilgrim to strengthen the heart by looking back and remembering past deliverances. Such an exercise will invariably create a present confidence.

"His love in time past forbids me to think He'll leave me at last in trouble to sink; Each sweet Ebenezer I have in review Confirms His good pleasure to help me quite through."

 

Psalm 130

After the backward look there would fittingly be an inward look as the worshipper approached the place of worship. This is always a disquieting look. There is no confession here of specific sins, but the cry is "out of the depths," and the figure suggests the singer's sense of deep need.

What the cause is may certainly be gathered from the apprehensive sigh, "If Thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?" If the sense is of the nation's distress with sin. All this is background which flings into bright relief the confidence of the soul in Jehovah as a pardoning and redeeming Lord. Some of the most beautiful things in the Psalter, or indeed in the Bible, are here. It was a Welshman in the midst of the wonderful revival of 1905 who rendered Psalms 130:4, "There is forgiveness with Thee - enough to frighten us!" which if not accurate translation is fine exposition. The deepest note in all true worship is this sense of "plenteous redemption," and the perfection of Jehovah's love as thus manifested. To mark iniquities would be to fill us with despair. To redeem from all iniquities is to inspire us with hope.

 

Psalm 131

This is a brief psalm, but it is very full of beauty, as it sets forth the contentment of a restless soul in the will of God. It follows the last as an advance of experience, and as a sequence. Its peculiar note is not that of a natural contentment, but of a satisfaction won in spite of all contrary tendencies. The thought of weaning is the dominant one. That for which a child craves it at last comes to be content without. So the soul of the singer, which once was ambitious and restlessly attempted to walk in ways for which it was not fitted, is with Him in quietness and contentment. The secret of victory over feverish ambition is divulged in the psalmist's appeal to Israel to hope in the Lord. That, interpreted in the light of the previous psalm, means that in the gracious sense of His forgiving love is the secret of a content which puts an end to all false ambition. Redemption truly apprehended, is more than forgiveness. It is restoration to the quiet peace of being in harmony with all the forces of the universe, because governed by the will of God.

 

Psalm 132

The pilgrims stand at the very entrance of the Holy City, and their song is one of strong desire, and equally strong confidence.

In the first part the desire is expressed (Psalms 132:1-10). It is for the fulfilment of the God-inspired purpose of David when, through affliction and at cost, he prepared for the building of the sanctuary. The idea of the Theocracy is in mind as they pray, "Arise, O Lord, into Thy resting-place." Jehovah is to be the Centre of gathering, while around Him are priests and saints, and before Him the anointed King.

The desire is answered by the assurance of the fidelity of Jehovah to His word (Psalms 132:11-18). He has sworn to David, and He will not turn from it. The order is then set forth. The faithful Jehovah, the anointed King, the chosen city, the clothed priests, the rejoicing people, the established kingdom, Whatever were the circumstances of the writing of this song, its placing here is significant. The worshipping people are to be conscious of the true order of their life, and the true meaning of their approach. A spacious conception of the purpose of God is ever necessary to a true worship. Lacking this, the exercises of worship may easily degenerate into selfish formalism. Where it is present, every individual is enabled to contribute to the whole, that which makes for the complete realization of the ideal.