Psalm 125 - Peace Be Upon Israel

Psalm 125 – Peace Be Upon Israel

¹ Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion,    which cannot be shaken but endures forever.

Mount Zion is the mount upon which King David fortified the holy city of Jerusalem. Sometimes Zion and Jerusalem are used interchangeably. The mountain is used symbolically as something that cannot be moved and hence those who truly trust in God cannot be moved or shaken.

² As the mountains surround Jerusalem,    so the Lord surrounds his people    both now and forevermore.

This is most comforting. We have an unmovable, unshakable Lord who surrounds us. Notice he is ever with us. Now. And forever.

³ The scepter of the wicked will not remain    over the land allotted to the righteous,for then the righteous might use    their hands to do evil.

“The scepter of the wicked” conjures thoughts of evil and persecution and invasion. The way it is used here it also refers to great influence, meaning that the Lord will not allow that influence to incite his righteous followers into doing evil permanently.

⁴ Lord, do good to those who are good,    to those who are upright in heart.⁵ But those who turn to crooked ways    the Lord will banish with the evildoers.Peace be on Israel. 

These last two verses are a prayer. We know there is no one who is good except the Lord, but the psalmist is asking that the Lord do good to those who would try to be good – those who are “upright in heart” or trying to follow the straight and narrow. Verse 5 is a fact: God will banish evildoers – those who aren't on the straight path. And finally “Peace be on Israel.” Now there’s a prayer we should be praying daily.

Psalm 124 - Being on God's Side

Psalm 124

A song of ascents. Of David.

1 If the Lord had not been on our side—

    let Israel say—

2 if the Lord had not been on our side

    when people attacked us,

3 they would have swallowed us alive

    when their anger flared against us;

4 the flood would have engulfed us,

    the torrent would have swept over us,

5 the raging waters

    would have swept us away.

6 Praise be to the Lord,

    who has not let us be torn by their teeth.

7 We have escaped like a bird

    from the fowler’s snare;

the snare has been broken,

    and we have escaped.

8 Our help is in the name of the Lord,

    the Maker of heaven and earth.

New International Version (NIV) 

This is another Psalm of Ascent and it proclaims the fact that the Lord had been on Israel’s side. I love how it starts with a negative if/then supposition: if the Lord had not been on their side then a terrible devastation would have overcome them. What specifically? These verses give a pretty good picture of the Exodus. You know the story, especially the part about the parting of the Red Sea that is here depicted. If God had not been on their side then “the flood would have engulfed us, the torrent would have swept over us, the raging waters would have swept us away”.

It is good to have God on your side. But hold on a minute; think about this: do you believe God is always on your side? Or is it more likely that sometimes He will be on your opponent’s side? If you always want God on your side then here’s the solution: Be on God’s side.

Though the psalmist declares that the Lord is on their side I think we can also conclude that because the Israelites followed God’s instructions for how to be delivered from their captors that they were on God’s side. What do you think? Are you following God's word?

Psalm 122 - A Pilgrim's Psalm

The first church I remember attending - It is now closed

The third of the 15 Psalms of Ascent begins with a verse that I memorized in Sunday School when I was probably about six or seven: “I was glad when they said unto me let us go into the house of the Lord.” I can’t say that verse without remembering the dark paneled interior of the hundred year old church (pictured above) we attended so many (many, many) years ago. I would love to go back – I would be so thrilled to enter again the place where I first learned about God –therefore I can imagine the anticipation of the Jewish pilgrims as they made their way to Jerusalem and approached the temple, the house of the Lord.

Verse 2 says “Our feet are standing in your gates, O Jerusalem.” The growing excitement pauses as the psalmist veers off to describe Jerusalem and to tell us why they are there: to praise the name of the Lord. There is great enthusiasm in those verses as well, but we are reined in by the solemn statement that “there the thrones for judgment stand”.

The ending verses are somber, also, yet hopeful as the pilgrims are enjoined to pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May those who love you be secure. May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels.”

How does Psalm 122 relate to 21st century Christians? I should be excited to go to church and thankful that I get that opportunity much more often than the few times a year that these pilgrims had when they marched up to Jerusalem on feast days, reciting the psalms. I need to remember to “praise the name of the Lord according to the statute given to Israel”. And I must always “pray for the peace of Jerusalem”. Boy, that is certainly a current concern. Is Jerusalem ever out of the news?

“Peace be within you.”

Psalm 121 - One of the MOST Comforting Psalms of All

The second of the 15 Psalms of Ascent is packed with assurance for you of how closely and thoroughly God watches over you. Here are the promises: 1) He will not let your foot slip. 2) He watches over you without pause. 3) He will keep you from harm. 4) He will watch over your life now and forever. Of course there is much more poetry to the verses, but essentially this psalm of comfort and reassurance sings a hopeful declaration, a guarantee, in fact, that the Maker of heaven and earth is your constant helper.

Looking at these verses from our self-centered perspective though puts some obligation on us. We have a bit to do, too. The first verse says, “I will lift up my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from?” Most translations (I checked over 20) leave the final phrase as a question, but the old King James version (and a couple others) interpret that verse as: “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.” Regardless as to whether that was intended as a question or a statement the author of this psalm, King David, knew the answer and revealed it concretely in the next verse. We have the same obligation, first to lift our eyes, that is to make a decision to seek out help, and second to know where to look. Lifting your eyes also hints that there is an expectation, i.e. that you are looking in the right direction for that help.

The second verse says, “My help comes from the LORD (Yahweh), Who made heaven and earth.” Thank you, King David, for making that statement free from ambiguity, doubt, or vagueness. Now read the entire psalm and be comforted.

Psalm 121

A song of ascents.

¹ I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
    where does my help come from?
² My help comes from the Lord,
    the Maker of heaven and earth.

³ He will not let your foot slip—
    he who watches over you will not slumber;
⁴ indeed, he who watches over Israel
    will neither slumber nor sleep.

⁵ The Lord watches over you—
    the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
⁶ the sun will not harm you by day,
    nor the moon by night.

⁷ The Lord will keep you from all harm—
    he will watch over your life;
⁸ the Lord will watch over your coming and going
    both now and forevermore.

Psalm 120 - Are You in Distress?

There are 15 psalms that are called Psalms of Ascent (or Degrees) which were sung by the Jewish people as they ascended to Jerusalem for holy festivals three times a year. Psalm 120 is the first of these. It begins with a lament – a call for the Lord to save the psalmist from “lying lips and deceitful tongues”. He was surrounded by a wicked world. In fact there are clues in the psalm as to exactly which part of the wicked world encircled him: verse 5 says “Woe to me that I dwell in Meshech, that I live among the tents of Kedar!” 

Meshech was the son of Japheth whose descendants inhabited a barbarous area which is now the northern parts of Moscow, Russia. The tents of Kedar refers to descendants of one of Abraham’s sons who were nomads and plunderers … not very nice people.

The psalmist ends this short cry declaring that he is a man of peace, but when he speaks they (his evil neighbors) are ready for war. How distressful. This sounds utterly hopeless yet I would refer you back to the opening verse: “I call on the Lord in my distress, and he answers me.”

Call on the Lord in your distress and he will answer you.

Psalm 126, A Psalm of Ascent, Going up the Steps

Psalms 120 through 134 are the 15 “songs of ascent” that were sung as the priests walked up the 15 steps to the temple, stopping on each step to sing the next psalm. I have previously posted on Psalm 123 and Psalm 133. Today I’m looking at Psalm 126. Here is the passage:

1 When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dreamed.
2 Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.”
3 The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.
4 Restore our fortunes, LORD, like streams in the Negev.
5 Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy.
6 Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them.

Every time you see the word LORD in all capital letters it means that the original Hebrew text used the tetragrammaton, God's 4 letter name (you may know it as Yahweh or Jehovah, Jews will say Ha Shem or Adonai to avoid pronouncing it). God’s holy name is used 4 times in this short psalm. This is a wonderful song of praise alluding to the recognition of God’s work given even by the Gentiles/heathens. “The nations” in verse 2 refers to everyone other than the Israelites.

When the Israelites returned from 70 years of exile it must have seemed like a dream. Notice the laughter and the joy (4 times!) and the songs.

At Thanksgiving and Advent (Christmas) many churches include Psalm 126 in the pulpit readings because of its emphasis on rejoicing. The rejoicing comes as a result of the great things God has accomplished on behalf of His people.

I especially like the theme of going from weeping and tears to songs of joy. This is tremendously encouraging. Read it again and then let me know if you hear it in church during this Christmas season.

Psalm 123, A Song of Ascent - Going Up the Steps

Psalms 120 through 134 are the 15 “songs of ascent” that were sung as the priests walked up the 15 steps to the temple, stopping on each step to sing the next psalm. Psalm 123 is an anxious call for divine help (verses 1 and 2), a prayer for mercy (verse 3) and a statement of the circumstances which inspired the psalm (verse 4).

Here it is:

1 I lift up my eyes to you,
to you who sit enthroned in heaven.
2 As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a female slave look to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the LORD our God,
till he shows us his mercy.
3 Have mercy on us, LORD, have mercy on us,
for we have endured no end of contempt.
4 We have endured no end
of ridicule from the arrogant,
of contempt from the proud.


In verse 1 the psalmist says he lifts up his eyes implying that the Lord is above him, exalted. He acknowledges His sovereignty.


In verse 2 there are two comparisons as to how we are to keep our eyes on the Lord. In Bible times they directed their slaves by movements of their hands; hence, the slave had to keep his eyes on his master or he might miss a sign and thus fail to obey it. The second comparison may be used because the women were even more thorough than the men in the training of their servants. It is usually thought that women issued more commands, and were more sensitive to disobedience than men were. A hand could also symbolize protection, giving of gifts and giving of punishment.


Verse 2 also says we’re keeping our eyes on the Lord until He show us mercy (favor in some translations). The Hebrew word (chanan) encompasses mercy, favor, graciousness and pity.


Verse 3 is the prayer. Notice the repetition of the plea. This is an earnest supplication. The situation when this psalm was written was that the Israelites had just returned from 70 years of exile. Their heathen neighbors held them in contempt. In Nehemiah 2: 19 we find that the Horonites, the Ammonites, and the Arabs mocked, scorned and ridiculed them when they were trying to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem after the exile. The word contempt here includes contempt that springs from evil, from prosperity and from judgment. The psalmist complains of the situation in the last verse: they have had no end to the ridicule from the arrogant and the contempt of the proud.


These “arrogant” are translated “those that area at ease” in some versions. The actual Hebrew word here is sha’anan which means both of the above, but also is the word for “oppressor”. The Babylonians, their former oppressors, lived at ease, arrogant, contemptuous and proud.


It always amazes me that there is so much in so few verses.
(I previously blogged on another Psalm of Ascent: Psalm 133
and have since examined other ones so just search the tag psalm)