Psalms 122

Psalms 122:1

Psalm 122: The City of PeaceOh, the pure delight of a single hour That before Thy throne I spend, When I kneel in prayer, and with Thee, my God, I commune as friend with friend! Fanny J. Crosby122:1 David caught the scent of that pure delight when the reminder was passed to him by God-fearing Jews that it was time to go to the feast in Jerusalem. He was glad. It was no burdensome duty or dreary routine. In going to the temple to worship he found fulfillment and gladness. 122:2 And now faith’s pilgrims were actually standing inside the city. “Our feet have been standing within your gates, O Jerusalem!” As if by a divine homing instinct, they had returned to the place which God had chosen. It was wonderful to be there! 122:3, 4 They stand back to admire the ocher-tinted city, built compactly together. Within its sun-drenched walls, one mile square, were domed and flat-roofed houses and cluttered alleys. But the one building for which the people had a fierce sentimental attraction was the temple of the Lord. In a real sense it was the temple that made the city for them. That was the place to which the tribes of the LORD made their pilgrimages. It was the one spot on earth where God had decreed for His people to gather and give thanks to His name. 122:5 Jerusalem also was the political capital of Israel, of course. It was the seat of the royal house of David, and therefore it was the appointed place for the administration of justice. 122:6 Though its name means “the city of peace,” the name has been a misnomer so far. Few cities have known the strife, the suffering, the carnage that this city has: Jerusalem’s stones bear the stigmata of her sanctity and her walls the memory of the crimes committed within them in the name of religion. David and Pharaoh, Sennacherib and Nebuchadnezzar, Ptolemy and Herod, Titus and the Crusaders of Godefrey de Bouillon, Tamerlane and the Saracens of Saladin, all fought and killed there. In prophecy as well as in history, there is an ocean of meaning in the poignant plea, “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!” Dark days lie ahead. The narrow streets of the city will echo to the tread of Gentile invaders until the Prince of Peace, Israel’s Messiah, returns to assume the reins of government (Luk_21:24). F. B. Meyer notes that there is a graceful alliteration here in verse 6: Peace in the City of Peace. May those be at peace who love her. The benediction of peace rests upon all who love the city of the Great King. 122:7-9 This love is expressed in praying for and promoting tranquility within its walls and safety within its towers. What the godly Jew desired for Jerusalem, we should desire for the church. How we should endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Eph_4:3)! It is through the peace and prosperity of the church that blessing will flow out to the world. That is the thought in verse 8. For the sake of relatives and friends, we should long to see the internal wounds of the church healed, its strifes and divisions ended. Barnes explains: This expresses the true feelings of piety all over the world; this is one of the grounds of the strong love which the friends of God have for the Churchbecause they hope and desire that through the Church those most near to their hearts will find salvation. As already mentioned, the greatest glory of the city is that the house of the Lord is there. Not the city’s location, nor its misshapen buildings nor its sad historyno, the central fact is that God chose this city as the site for the temple. The presence of the Lord casts an aura of glory about all that He touches in grace. Centuries later Jesus was to remind the Pharisees and scribes of this truth. They valued the gold of the temple more than the temple itself, the gift on the altar more than the altar. Jesus pointed out that it is the temple that makes the gold sacred, and the altar that sanctifies the gift (Mat_23:16-22). And so it is the Lord Himself who set Jerusalem apart from all other cities in the world.