Psalm CXXII
A Song of degrees of David.
1 I WAS glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord.
2 Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem.
3 Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together:
4 Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, unto the testimony of
Israel,
To give thanks unto the name of the Lord.
5 For there are set thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David.
6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! they shall prosper that love thee.
7 Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces.
8 For my brethren and companions’ sakes, I will now say, Peace be within
thee.
9 Because of the house of the Lord our God I will seek thy good.
The theme. “A PSALM of David.”
Love and joy. Hope was the prevailing feature of the first Song of Degrees; faith characterised the second; and surely love and joy abound in this one which we now take up. The first verse strikes the key-note —
“O ’twas a joyful sound to hear
Our friends devoutly say,
Up, Israel! To your Temple haste!
And keep your festal day.” — (Ta«e and Brady.)
“/ have rejoiced,” says the worshipper, “among (or, over
PSALM CXXII. THE CTTY TO WHICH HE JOUI^NEYS. .385
those who say, Let us go to the house of the Lord!” David, who wrote this song, had felt that joy fill his whole soul, because of the love he bore to the Lord of the place. And lo! instantly the pilgrim-worshipper fancies himself arrived — he is already standing at the gate in the early morning, waiting to enter, along with those who said — “Let us go.”
“Our feet are standing at thy gates, 0 Jerusalem /”
The gates are thrown open, and they enter; the city on every side engaging their attention. They see in it a city, not ruined by war, but built in its place — not like the straggling dwellings of the villages, nor like the wide spaces of Babylon, with gardens between, but with firm-built streets of stately edifices.
“Jerusalem is builded as a city!
(A city) tohich is bound together.’’’’ (Ver. 3.)
The very compactness of its streets suggesting the close union of its inhabitants in brotherly love.
“(A city) where are* the tribes who go up, The tribes of Jehovah.” (Jah, as Psa. lxviii. 4, &c.)
How pleasant to meet, not the Canaanite — not the uncircumcised — but the tribes who, with one accord, worship the Lord; who go up to this city for that end.
“(A city where is) the testimony (given) to Israel, That they might praise the name of the Lord.’’’
“The Testimony” is by some considered to mean “The Law;” by others, more probably. The Ark, so often called “The Ark of the Testimony;” as we also find “The Tabernacle of Testimony.” We may perhaps best understand it as a reference to all these together — they together setting forth Jehovah’s character, and will, and ways, to men. And there, in its gateways, sit those who explain and enforce these laws and testimonies, according to the ancient promise in Deut. xvii. 8, 9; and there, also, sit the king and his princes.
* The here, and in verse .S, is, according to Hengstenberg, the old popular dialect of common life, as found in Deborah’s song. If it be the popular style, it is most suitably adopted in a song for the nation at large at its feasts.
Bb
38() PSALM CXXII. — THE CITY TO WHICH HE JOURNEYS,
‘’ Fvr there (HD!^) «’’<^ set (Ezck. xlviii. ^5).
Thrones for judgment, (^)
Thrones for the house cf David.” O)
In all this, we may easily trace a type of our Jerusalem and its privileges. With Christ our Head, as well as with David, we look for another city that “hath foundations” — surely built, and “that lieth foursquare,” compactly built (Rev. xxi. 1 6) — a city where we shall meet none but friends, our own friends and friends of God, — a city where the Lord’s testimony is fully opened out, and his name praised, — a city at whose gates judgment is fully given, and where “a King reigneth in righteousness, and princes decree judgment,” (Isa. xxxii, 1).
And if Israel’s devout people did so pray for their Jerusalem, verses 6, 7, 8, 9, how much more shall the pilgrims toward that New Jerusalem “seek the better, that is, the heavenly country.” It is interesting to know that the expression, USbp ^bip (ver. 6), generally means, “Salute ye,” — q. d., Greet ye Jerusalem with your good wishes reminds us of some of the mediaeval hymns,* e. g. —
“Urbs in portu satis tuto,
De longinquo, te salute,
Te salute, te suspiro,
Te affecto, te require.”
And these old hymns were borrowed from Augustine, who (in his De Spirit, et Anim.) exclaims, “O civitas sancta, civitas speciosa, de longinquo te saluto, ad te clamo, te require.” All of us, who follow the Lord, surely join in this ardent panting for entrance into that city of which the other was but a type, and of which we can say —
* And of Tasso’s famons passage {Gierus. lib. iii. 3) —
“Ecco apparir Gierusalem si vede,
Ecco additar Gierusalem si scorge I
Ecco da niille voci unitamente,
Gierusalenime salutare si sente!”
Horne mentions from De Thou, that Theodore Zuingerfelt this Psalm so appropriate to one getting near glory, that he spent his last hours in versifying it in Latin: for he could sing —
“I’er Chriili merit vm patet
Vitiv porta beatct.”
“They that love thee shall prosper;
There shall he peace in thy bulwarks,
Prosperiiy in thy palaces.”
Or take it, as some render the words; ‘’ Peace within thy ramparts! Repose within thy “palaces!” Love to our brethren, whom we hope to meet there (ver. 8), and love to God who has so loved us (ver. 9), must lead us to this earnest desire — “because of my brethren, and because the house of my God is there.” Thus, then, now concerning the Antitype, as hereafter of the type through which he looked to the Antitype, The Lord’s servant sings of the City of Habitation to which he journeys.