Psalms 120

ch. 120-134

OR THE PILGRIM BOOK. These Psalms have much in common. The tone never rises in any of them above a certain height, and descends very graduallyfrom that height when gained; they all bear the character of simplicity; with the exception of Psalms 132., which partakes the least of the peculiar characteristics of these poems, they are all of short compass; in all of them, with the exception of the Psalm above mentioned, the parallelism of the clauses is little at-tended to; no one of these Psalms bears an individual character, they all refer to the whole church of God,a with the exception, in some measure, of only Ps. cxxvii., which, without being individual, places before us, in the first instance, the particular members of the church, but which the collector has applied also to the cir-cumstances of the whole community. Finally, all bear in the title the same name המעלות שיר, or as it stands in the title of Psalms 121. למעלות שיר. Five of these fifteen Psalms bear the name of the author at their head, four that of David-viz., Psalms 122:122; Psalms 124:124; Psalms 131:131; Psalms 131:133., one that of Solomon, Ps. 127., ten on the other hand are nameless. The ten nameless Psalms again have a certain peculiar impression stamped upon them, distinguishing them from those above mentioned all of which are connected together by no common tie, but stand isolated from each other. All were sung when the people of God were placed in troublous circum-stances; all are suitable to the relations (these relations come more particularly forward in some of them, especially in Psalms 120:120; Psalms 121:121; Psalms 121:125.) which existed after the deliverance from the cap-tivity, at the time when the building of the temple was inter-rupted, and the contests with the Samaritans were carried on.

That Psalms 134., where mention is made of the house of the Lord and the sanctuary, must not be removed from the circle of these relations, is obvious from the remarks which were made at page 381 of this volume, (comp. vol. i., p. 483), according to which even the tent which existed before the erection of the first temple, and stood on its site, was called the house of the Lord, and was considered as the sanctuary. Further, all bear the cha- a Thus Lampe: The identity of the title demands that the subject of all the fifteen Psalms be considered as the same; for it does not permit us to doubt that they have been brought together, and arranged agreeably to a certain plan. It will at once be ad-mitted that the condition of one person or place cannot be made up of the various posi-tions which alternately succeed each other. Sometimes also it is not one person but a whole assembly that speaks, Psalms 122:122; Psalms 123:123; Psalms 123:124., &c. Hence we infer that these songs relate to the state of the universal church, which is termed the Israel of God, Psalms 124:1; Psalms 125:5; Psalms 128:6; Psalms 130:8; Psalms 131:3.racter of pensive melancholy. The fundamental thought in all is: the providence of God watching over his church.a The title must be of some importance in explaining the pecu-liarities which are common to all these fifteen Psalms. Before, however, we can make any use of it we must determine its im-port.

This has been very decidedly ascertained. We must, how-ever, limit ourselves to the examination of those opinions which have been most widely disseminated; we cannot allow ourselves to enter upon the views of individuals. 1.

The translation, “Step-Psalms” (Sept. ὠהבי פשם ἀםבגבטלשם, Vulg. Psalms of degrees), has found many defenders: it is moreover a very favour-ite one with Jewish expositors. The name of the Psalms is thus supposed to be derived from their being appointed to be sung on certain steps in the sanctuary, according to several, on the fifteen steps between the court of the men and the court of the women. This exposition is the one which is in reality adopted by Luther, who translates: “a song in high chorus.” For that he did not, as Gesenius and others suppose, after the example of Saadias, Gaon, and Abenesra, imagine that an elevation of the voice was meant, is clear from his own words in the introduction to these Psalms, where, after rejecting the explanation of Lyra about the fifteen steps of the temple, on each of which one of these Psalms was sung, he says, “I adopt the simplest of all views, and main-tain that these Psalms were so named, because they were sung in a high place, in high chorus by the Levites or priests. . .I consider that these Psalms were sung not by the crowd of peo-ple who were in the temple, but by some distinguished indivi-duals who sung before the rest; they were therefore sung or at least begun from a high place.” Luther therefore adopts the idea that מעלות denotes the place where the Psalms were sung, but supposes that place to have been not the steps themselves, but some high place to which the ascent was by steps. No ety-mological objection can be urged against the translation, “Step-Psalms.” The fact, however, that some of these Psalms, parti-cularly Psalms 121:121; Psalms 121:122., could not possibly have been sung in the temple, is decisive against this view. a Lampe.: The general argument of these Psalms is the celebration of the faithfulness and the constancy of God in preserving his church in the midst of all the billows of temptation in the sea or this world. 2. Several understand the title as denoting the peculiarity in point of form of these Psalms. This view is in accordance with the hypothesis started by Gesenius, and latterly defended by him in his Thesaurus. He supposes that the title denotes a certain step-rhythm which occurs in these Psalms, the nature of which he describes as follows: “that sometimes the last clause of the verse, more frequently a part of it, carries forward a thought or an expression into the following verse, where it has another turn given to it, is expanded, or receives something added to it.” Thus, for example, Psalms 121.: “I direct my eyes to the hills. From whence shall help come to me? My help comes from the Lord, the creator of heaven and of earth. . . .

He lets not thy feet slide, thy Keeper sleeps not. Behold the keeper of Israel sleeps not and slumbers not.” The hypothesis, however, is unten-able.

It is quite true indeed that this Psalm shews something of the kind; but it is by no means true that the series of Psalms is characterised by it throughout, which, if the hypothesis were true, must have been the case. We may compare, for example. Psalms 127:127; Psalms 128:128; Psalms 128:131., cxxvii., where nothing whatever of the kind occurs. It does not occur even once throughout in any one of these Psalms; yea the above-mentioned Psalms, 121., is the only one in which it is at all prominent. The assertion of Gesenius that the term is applied a potiori, irrespective of the fact that the appearances are few in number and weak, is inadmissible on the ground that every separate song bears the name of a song of the Maaloth. Further, we saw that all these Psalms pos-sess a number of characteristic peculiarities in common.

We are entitled to expect that the title which is common to them all, should contain a key to the explanation of this fact; and we must regard it as a touchstone for the correctness of any ex-planation of the title that it serves this end. According to this canon the hypothesis in question must be rejected.

The re-maining peculiarities of the Psalms can by no means be consi-dered as flowing from the one which, according to it, is indi-cated the title. Next the circumstance that למעלות stands instead of המעלות is quite decisive. This variation, which as-suredly is not accidental, shows in what way the more ambiguous genitive in the other titles is to be interpreted; that “a Song of the Maaloth” is equivalent to a Song for the Maaloth. Afterthese decisive reasons, there is scarcely any need for adding that the explanation in question has nothing whatever to bear it out in an etymological point of view, inasmuch as the assumed figurative use of the מעלות nowhere occurs; and that the name itself would not even be a suitable one, as it would lead us to expect an as-cending progress, a gradation, whereas it is merely a repetition that exists. 3. The translation, “Pilgrim Songs,” or songs to be sung on the journey to Jerusalem, has found very many supporters. This translation, which occurs in Theodotion (ἆףלב פחע בםבגבףושע), and in Aq. and Symm. (וἰע פבע ἀםבגבףויע) has the usus loquendi entirely on its side.

The verb עלה, is the standing expression for the journey up to Jerusalem (which was considered as the civil and religious metropolis), more on account of its moral than on account of its physical height. The word before us, מעלה, is used itself of the journey to Jerusalem, Ezra 7:9.

The title of Psalms 30 :is altogether analogous to the title before us construed in this way: “A Song of the dedication of the house,” instead ofa Song intended to be sung at the dedication of the house." The supporters of this exposition are again divided into two parties. (a.) The idea adopted by Ewald is a very old one: that the title points out those Psalms which were sung by Israel on the way home from Babylon. This view is expressly given in the titles of the old Syrian translation, and also by Chrysostom and Theodoret. The consideration, however, is altogether against it, that the return from Babylon is never simply denoted a מעלה, a pilgrimage; Ezra 7:9, which has been appealed to, is not in favour of מעלה being so used, but against it, for the journey homeward of the exiles is not simply termed מעלה, but מבבל מעלה, and even in Ezra 2:1, עלה is more fully defined. This translation, moreover, does not sufficiently justify the use of the plural. The explana-tion of this becomes satisfactory only when the songs are con-sidered as intended for successive pilgrims to Jerusalem. Far-ther, according to this explanation, we must, without any good reason, affirm that the titles of several of these Psalms, according to which, David and Solomon are to be considered as their au-thors, give false information.

It follows, at all events, from thetitles, that the collectors of the Canon had other views in regard to the design of these Psalms. In like manner, we must shut our ears to internal reasons, according to which these Psalms really belong to David and Solomon as their authors, or at least to times previous to the captivity.

In this case also, it will be impossible to explain the very marked difference to which we have already adverted, between the nameless Psalms and those which bear a name, which, according to this hypothesis, must all be classed together. Finally, even the nameless Psalms, considered in them-selves, by no means favour this hypothesis. Not one of them refers to the circumstances of the returning captives. And on the other hand, several of them, such as Psalms 120., cxxvi., mani-festly refer to the circumstances of the already-settled new co-lony; and it is the more difficult to separate the rest from these circumstances, to which they all at least remarkably correspond, as they are all bound together into one whole by their formal ar-rangement, and by their unity of design, tone, and expression. (b.) Other expositors seek the origin of the appellation in the fact that these songs were sung by the pilgrims who event up. yearly to Jerusalem, at the great festivals. This explanation is undoubtedly the correct one. The עלה, is the usual expression for these festival-journeys; comp.

Psalms 122:4, Exodus 34:24, 1 Kings 12:27; 1 Kings 12:28. The המעלות, the journeys to Jerusalem, by way of pre-eminence, can only be those ordinary journeys which were yearly repeated and prescribed in the law; comp.

Psalms 122:4. All other journeys to Jerusalem would have needed some expression added to define them. Further, the oldest to all appearance of these pilgrim-songs, that, viz., which was com-posed by David soon after the elevation of Zion to the sanctuary, and af the commencement of the pilgrimages to it, Psalms 122. con-tains two clauses explanatory of the מעלות, corresponding to the explanation of the משכיל Psalms 32., viz., “we will go to the house of the Lord,” in ver. 1, and “to which the tribes go up,” עלו in ver. 4. The circumstance, moreover, that some of these Psalms have, in accordance with the most manifest internal marks, been used for this purpose, is quite decisive. This is the case with Psalms 121., which, according to ver. 1, was designed to be sung in view of the mountains of Jerusalem, and is manifestly an even-ing song for the sacred band of pilgrims, to be sung in the last night watch, the figures of which are also peculiarly suitable for a pilgrim-song; and with Psalms 122. which, according to the express announcement in the introduction, was sung, when the sacred pilgrim trains had reached the gates of Jerusalem, and halted for the purpose of forming in order, for the solemn proces-sion into the sanctuary, Psalms 134. Besides this we may add finally, that, according to this interpretation, all the common pe-culiarities of these Psalms are easily accounted for. The simpli-city, the want of the parallelism, the artless way of forming a transition by a word retained from the preceding verse, the bre-vity, all these are peculiarities of sacred popular and pilgrim song.

The objections which have been urged against this interpreta-tion are insignificant. Thus it has been said, that it is scarcely possible to conceive that such mournful songs as are these Psalms to some extent, could have been sung in the course of the joyful journeys to Jerusalem.

Just as if the tone of these festival jour-neys would not be entirely dependent upon the then existing con-dition of the people! No one will deny that the nameless Psalms truly emanated from the innermost feelings of the people at the time when they were originally composed; and the people could at that time find in them only a representation of their own state. Next it is objected that several of these Psalms contain no refer-ence to such a special occasion. But such a reference was not in every case necessary; the contents might be general, and the indicating of the purpose of the Psalms might be attended to only in the form and appearance which they were made to assume; and this is really the case. The practice of travelling to Jerusalem at the festivals had already taken deep root even in the days of David and Solomon. We see this clearly from the conduct of Jeroboam, in 1 Kings 12:28, compare also at Psalms 122. It was hence very natural that David, who employed his gift of sacred song in ministering to all the wants of the people of God, should attend to this matter also, and that Solomon should continue the work. The pilgrimages suffered grievous interruption from the separation of the ten tribes; and it was only in the days of the new colony that they regained their ancient importance. In these days a third pilgrim poet arose to take his place alongside of the two ancient ones,who wrought up his own productions along with those of his pre-decessors into one well-arranged whole, a pilgrim-book. The whole is grouped around Ps. cxxvii., which was composed by Solomon, who stands in middle between the first and the last of the pilgrim poets. On both sides there stands a heptade of pil-grim songs consisting of two Psalms composed by David and five new ones, which have no name.

The seven is divided both times by the four and the three. Each heptade contains the name of Jehovah twenty-four times; each of the connected groups, Psa_120:-123 :; Psa_124:–126 :; Psa_128:-131 :; Psa_132:-134., twelve times; this cannot be accidental, and it renders it evident that the collector of the whole must be identical with the author of the nameless Psalms.

The unity is not one merely of form, it also refers to the thoughts. The old Psalms are not thrown in loosely; but the author of the nameless Psalms has interwoven them with his own into one whole;-a task which, as the Psalms originated in dif-ferent circumstances and objects, could be accomplished only by resolving not to keep to the main thought, but by laying the em-phasis upon those thoughts which were secondary. Psalms 124 :is the only one which, in regard to its fundamental tone, is peculiarly suit-able for his purpose; it is distinguished from its nameless neigh-bourhood only by its courageous and powerful tone. He takes up Psalms 127. on the comforting side, while the prevailing aspect of it originally was hortatory. In Psalms 131. he sounds the cry,“Wait O Israel upon the Lord," in ver. 3, comp. Psalms 130:7.

In Psalms 133., the words, which in themselves are merely subordi-nate, “for there the Lord has ordained his blessing, life for ever more,” are brought forward into the foreground. That the author was driven by necessity to this course, that he was obliged to render unyielding materials subservient to his purpose, is mani-fest from this, that the Psalms which have names, and those which have none, though they fit in well enough to each other, cannot have proceeded from the same source.

This view is still further confirmed by the circumstance that each one of the Psalms which have names has its own peculiar thought and its own peculiar co-louring, while the nameless ones are all pervaded by the same com-mon fundamental thought, and are all characterised by one common tone. That the collector was not satisfied with a mere externaljuxtaposition of the pilgrim songs is clear also from this, that no Psalm with a name stands at the beginning or end of both heptades, but that the Psalms which have names are rather en-closed and hemmed in by those which have none,-that two Psalms with names never follow each other, that the last Psalm is remarkably suitable for a conclusion to the whole, and was composed to all appearance for the purpose of serving this object. The Introduction to the first heptade consists of a pair of Psa 120:120; Psalms 120:121., which brings us into the relations of the pre-sent, represents Israel’s conflict and distress, and his hope in God. The next in the series is a Psalm composed by David, 122., which represents Jerusalem’s glory, and expresses wishes and prayers for her salvation. With what is said there about the glory of Jerusalem, and with the wishes and prayers for her sal-vation, the present stands in marked contrast; and Psalms 123 :contains a pathetic prayer for the removal of this contrast. In the second group, faith half lying in the dust, rises up in the be-lieving and magnanimous song of David, Psalms 124., which finds its echo in Psalms 125:125; Psalms 125:126.

In the second heptade Psalms 128., forming an appendix to Ps. cxxvii., the one composed by Solomon, pronounces God fearing Israel to be happy. The Lord shall remove (Psalms 129:129; Psalms 129:130.) the misery of the present which appears to testify to the contrary.

Let Israel, in obedience to the exhortation of his royal Psalmist David, only wait upon the Lord! Psalms 131.-He shall cause David’s horn to bud, and shall prepare a lamp for his Anointed, Psalms 132. He has ordained a blessing for Zion, life for ever-more, Psalms 134. He shall bless his people out of Zion, Psalms 134. If the Pilgrim-book belongs to the time when the building of the temple was interrupted, it stands where it does, exactly in its proper place. It follows a dodecade of Psalms, which were composed on the occasion of the laying of the foundation-stone of the temple.Psalms 120.

May the Lord, who has recently delivered Israel out of great trouble, ver. 1, now also deliver him out of the oppression in which he finds himself involved in consequence of slandering wickedness, ver. 2; he will do it, and will recompense on the slanderers their wickedness on their own head, ver. 3, 4. In or-der that he may be the more inclined to do this, the church raises, ver. 5-7, a soft lamentation over the suffering which had been prepared for her, while at peace, by these peace-hating slanderers. -The formal arrangement is very simple.

The seven is divided by the four and the three. The situation is exactly described after the deliverance out of great misery, and in a new suffering brought on by slander, which proceeds from those with whom the Psalmist must dwell. That this is Israel is clear from the analogy of the other Psalms of this collection, not one of which bears a purely in-dividual character, from ver. 5, where the dwelling by (not in) the tents of Kedar is most naturally referred to the relation of one nation to another, from the parallel passage, Psalms 123:4, where the language refers to the people. From these firm positions it will not be difficult to ascertain the historical occasion which has been quite correctly fixed by several, and in the best way by Tiling, disquis. de cant. adscensionum, Bremen 1765, p. 66 ss. The church of the Lord, besides open and decided enemies, has to suffer also from false brethren, who, because their preten-sions cannot be fully acknowledged to their satisfaction, are embittered and enraged, and seek revenge by all means, but especially by the weapons of lies and slanders. Israel learned this, after the return from captivity, from the painful conduct of the Samaritans. These still continuing, to all intents and pur-poses, heathens at heart, supposed that a half acknowledgment of Israel’s God (an acknowledgment not at all proceeding from the deep root of faith), a God who had not made himself known to them, and whom they served at their own hand, would give them a claim to be participators with Israel in the kingdom of God. When Israel began to build the new temple, they came forward to them, according to Ezra iv., with the proposal, ‘‘We will buildwith you, for we seek your God as well as you." And when Is-rael met their ungrounded claims in an humble, quiet, but decided manner, and said: It is not becoming that you and we build the house of our God, but we alone will build the house of the Lord the God of Israel, “then the people in the land hindered the hand of the people of Judah, and terrified them in building; and hired counsellors against them to frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.” Exasperated, they endeavoured, by lying accusations, particularly as to the desire for dominion, and the rebellious purposes of the Israelites, to stir up the open heathen, under whose power the Israelites then were living; and they succeeded in this for a considerable time. Still the God of Israel helped them; and in spite of all opposition, the temple and city, as recorded at length in the books of Ezra and Nehe-miah, were brought to a prosperous termination.

Psalms 120:1-4

Ver. 1-4.-A Song of the Pilgrims.-Ver. 1. I cried to the Lord in my trouble, and he heard me. Ver. 2. O Lord, deliver my soul from the lips of lies, from the tongue of deceit. Ver. 3. What shall he give to thee, and what shall he add to thee, thou tongue of deceit. Ver. 4. Sharp arrows of the mighty with genista-fuel.-In ver. 1, it is obvious, on comparing Psalms 119:26; Psalms 118:5; Psalms 116:1; Psalms 116:2; Psalms 116:4; Psalms 116:5; Psalms 115:12, that we cannot translate “I call and he hears,” but, as is also most correct in point of grammar, “I called and he heard me,” and that the Psalmist places his allusion to answers which he had for-merly obtained before his prayer for further deliverance, for the purpose of quickening his hope and enabling him to pray rightly in faith, James 1:6.

The answers already obtained refer, according to the above passages, chiefly to the deliverance from captivity. The צרתה is the more full, sonorous form, as at Psalms 44:26 -My soul, ver. 2,-because the deceitful tongue had ex-posed his life to danger, comp. the constantly occurring expres-sion in Psalms 119., “quicken me,” for example, ver. 88, and “de-liver my soul,” Psalms 116:4. The Samaritans aimed at destroying the national existence of the Israelites, the centre-point of which was the temple. A “deceit-tongue” is a tongue which is wholly deceit, comp. “I am peace,” ver. 7, and in reference to the connection of both verses in the stat. absol. at Psalms 60:3. The רמיה is never anadject.; and the corresponding word שקר is against the idea that it is. That we are not to think of “hypocritical promises to keep peace,” but of wicked slandering, is obvious from the parallel passage, Psalms 119:69; Psalms 119:78, Psalms 31:18.

The recom-pense also of ver. 4 belongs to the same region.-The prayer is followed by confidence in ver. 3 and 4. This is expressed with lively feeling in the form of an address to the slanderers.

The subject to both verbs in ver. 3 is the Lord, who had been ad-dressed in the preceding verse; this is all the more obvious, as allusion is made to the usual form of swearing, “God do to thee and more also,” 1 Samuel 3:17; 1 Samuel 14:44, which denotes some very severe and permanent evil, with the change of the “do” into the“give,” used ironically, a use of the word intended to point to the good results of their wickedness which the slanderers had hoped for. The deceitful tongue of the slanderer is the object to which the address is directed. Ver. 4 contains the answer to the question in ver. 3: “He shall give thee,” &c. The “arrows of the warrior” corresponds to the “give,” and the “genista fuel” to the “add,” next to them. On “sharp warrior-arrows,” comp. Psalms 45:5, where it is said of the God-warrior: “Thine arrows are sharp, nations fall under thee, they pierce the heart of the enemies of the king.” In reference to the genista (Luther falsely: juniper), Robinson, P. 1st, p. 336, says, “The Arabians suppose it furnishes the best wood-fuel.” That the term is stron-ger than the preceding one is evident from the two portions of the first clause, the latter of which is stronger than the former.

The dealings of God are regulated by the law of retaliation. Slanders had wounded like sharp arrows, and had burned like genista-fuel. -The two verses have been misunderstood in various ways.

Luther, who is generally followed, translates: “what can the false tongue do to thee, and what can it effect? It is like a sharp arrow of a strong one, like fire in junipers.” He supposes the question to be directed to the caluminated person. “David’s design in it is to the stir himself up to take occasion to bring an accusation against the cunning, tongue.” But in this case there seems to beno reason for putting the question, as no doubt could exist as to the ruinous effects of the slandering; the undeniable allusion to the common form of swearing is lost; the comparison with sharp arrows of a warrior (and גבור, can only be translated in this way)is too noble a one for slander; and, finally, the analogy of Psalms 52 :is in favour of the address being directed to these slanderers. De Wette translates ver. 3, “What does the tongue of deceit give you, and what does it do for you (the give in a good sense), and considers ver. 4 as descriptive of the ruinous effects of slander. It does no good to you, and it does much injury to others. But the distinction between the deceitful tongue and the slanderer is contrary to ver. 2, and if it existed, the לשון would not be con-strued with the accusative, which can be accounted for only by supposing that the deceitful tongue stands for the slanderers. Then, according to this translation, the allusion to the usual form of swearing is lost; and the גבור also occasions difficulty.

Ewald translates: “how shall he punish thee, and how shall he chastise thee, thou deceitful tongue, ye sharp murderer-arrows, with glowing genista-fuel?” But in order to favour this transla-tion it is necessary for us arbitrarily to substitute murderer-arrows for warrior-arrows; arrows and fuel also can scarcely be used as the object of punishment, when they are so frequently seen as the instruments of punishment; comp. in reference to the arrows for example Psalms 7:13, and to fuel, Psalms 140:10; Psalms 18:12; Psalms 18:13.-Ver. 3 and 4 form the highest prophetical point of the Psalm to which the Psalmist had ascended by the two preliminary steps, realization of a former deliverance, and prayer for deliverance from present distress. A popular song cannot long maintain such a height.

The Psalmist therefore descends in the second part, and concludes with a simple description of his mournful con-dition in a soft elegaic tone.

Psalms 120:5-7

Ver. 5-7.-Ver. 5. Wo is me, that I tarry under Mesech, dwellby the tents of Kedar. Ver. 6. It is wearisome to my soul to dwell by those who hate peace. Ver. 7. I am peace, but when I speak they begin war.-The literal view of ver, 5 is impossible, as Israel never had any thing to do with Mesech, the Moschi who dwelt in the remotest parts of the world, and as mention is made of two countries most remote from each other in which the Psalmist could not possibly dwell at the same time. Ver. 6 gives the key. According to it Mesech and Kedar are both figurative expressions for such as hate peace. Mesech appears in Ezekiel 38:2 as the chief vassel of Gog, the representative of the heathen barbarian world. Even here the ground of the choiceis that so little is known about him: the more distant, the more fierce. Love of fighting was peculiar to the Arabians, of whom the Kedarenes formed a part. This had been already mentioned in Genesis 16:4 as a characteristic feature of the Ishmaelites.the connection of גור with the accus. comp. at Psalms 5:4.�In re-ference to the רבת in ver. 6, comp. at Psalms 65:9. The soul is named because the suffering deeply affected the Psalmist’s heart.-Peace, in ver. 7,-entirely peaceful. When I speak,-I need only to open my mouth, and they seek to find in the most harmless words an occasion for new hostilities.