Psalms 120

Psalms 120:1-7

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.

In my distress This and the following fourteen Psalms are called “Songs of Degrees,” or of “Goings Up.” They were, perhaps, composed for singing as the Ark was being borne to its resting place. In any case they became the pilgrim songs of the people who sang them as they went up from all parts of the country to the annual Feasts. This Psalm, like so many of David’s, seems to refer to Doeg, or a man of his sort whose lies had brought untold mischief to the singer (1 Samuel 22:9).

Psalms 120:1. I cried; and He heard Let those that are in distress lay this testimony to heart. If you cannot pray, cry.

Psalms 120:2. Deliver from lying lips! Slander is a vine sin. Christian people are not as watchful against it as they should be (James 3:1-18).

Psalms 120:3. Thou false tongue! The strongest treatment is not too much to be meted out to those who forge lies.

Psalms 120:4. Sharp arrows with coals of juniper A figurative intimation of the punishment in reserve for slanderers. As sure as the poisoned arrow shot by an expert takes its victim, revenge shall overtake such an offender against God and man.

Psalms 120:5. Woe is me! By a proverbial allusion, an outcast life is described. Denied the joys of home and friendship, and participation in the ordinances of God’s house, the believer is very like a wanderer among barbarians.

Psalms 120:6-7. I am for peace they are for war! Having opened with a statement of the gracious treatment he received at the hands of the Lord, the Psalmist closes with a contrasted reference to man’s ill-treatment of him. He was for peace, but his enemy desired war. In like manner the Christian is frequently made painfully aware of the “contradiction of sinners.” (Hebrews 12:3).