Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 121:1
A Song of degrees. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
1. I will lift up mine eyes unto the mountains:
From whence shall my help come? (R.V.)
The mountains are not the “mountains of Israel” (Eze 6:2 and often), to which the exile turns his longing eyes, but the mountains upon which Zion is built (Psa 87:1; Psa 125:1-2; Psa 133:3), the seat of Jehovah’s throne (Psa 78:68), from which He sends help to His people (Psa 3:4; Psa 20:2; Psa 134:3). The question of the second line (which cannot be taken as a relative clause) is not one of doubt or despondency, but is simply asked to introduce the answer which follows in Psa 121:2. That answer gives a deeper turn to the thought of the question. It is not from the mountains of Zion, but from Jehovah Who has fixed His earthly dwelling-place there that help comes.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
I will lift up mine eyes – Margin, Shall I lift up mine eyes to the hills? Whence should my help come? The expression would properly denote a condition where there was danger; when no help or aid was visible; and when the eyes were turned to the quarter from which help might be expected to come. What the danger was cannot now be ascertained.
Unto the hills – Hebrew, the mountains. To the quarter from where I look for assistance. This (as has been shown in the Introduction) may refer
(1) to the mountains from where one in danger expected help; or
(2) to heaven, considered as high, and as the abode of God; or
(3) to the hills on which Jerusalem was built, as the place where God dwelt, and from where aid was expected.
The third of these is the most probable. The first would be applicable to a state of war only, and the second is forced and unnatural. Adopting the third interpretation, the language is natural, and makes it proper to be used at all times, since it indicates a proper looking to God as he manifests himself to people, particularly in the church.
From whence cometh my help – A more literal rendering would be, Whence cometh my help? This accords best with the usage of the Hebrew word, and agrees well with the connection. It indicates a troubled and anxious state of mind – a mind that asks, Where shall I look for help? The answer is found in the following verse.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 121:1-8
I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills.
Guaranteed security
I. The godly mans need. Help. Can never outgrow this: dependence the characteristic of the creature: help must be had in the conflict or it will end in defeat, in the toil or it will issue in failure, in the pilgrim-march or we faint and fail by the way, etc.
II. The godly mans attitude: Looking for help–I will lift up my eyes, etc. He waits–he expects–he obtains. The truest vision is soul-vision. Looking up in solicitation, contemplation, expectation. Up, from the mud and mire of earth, and the sins and sorrows of self. The hills expressive of strength, the strength of the hills is His: of majesty–of stability, the everlasting hills: of veneration, the silence of the hills breathes veneration (Mrs. Hemans); striking and suitable emblem of Him to whom all might, and majesty, and duration, and reverence belong.
III. The godly mans confidence: My help cometh from the Lord, etc. He is assured that He who made the heavens and made the earth would rather let the sky fall and the earth perish from the want of His support, than that he should suffer injury from the withholding of His help. Help alone cometh from God: help does and ever will be vouchsafed, etc.
IV. The godly mans safety: He will not suffer, etc.
1. Safety guaranteed from the highest source: the Lord is thy Keeper (verse 5). His wisdom, power, love, all His attributes a royal battalion–bodyguard around him, unceasingly around him (verses 3, 4).
2. Safety guaranteed to the whole man, under all circumstances, through all time, from all evil (verses 7, 8). (J. O. Keen, D. D.)
The good in time of need
I. His attitude.
1. God is the only true help of the soul. He alone can raise it from its fallen condition, break its fetters, heal its wounds, energize its faculties, and set it on a course safe and prosperous.
2. To Him the godly soul instinctively looks in trial. The worldly man in trial looks to earthly things for succour and support, to social sympathies, to human friendships, to Church officers, but the good man turns at once to God, feels that from Him alone the necessary help can come.
II. His protector.
1. The universal Creator.
2. A sleepless Guardian.
3. The all-sufficient.
III. His confidence (verse 7). (Homilist.)
Looking to the hills
We see the exile, wearied with the monotony of the long-stretching, flat plains of Babylonia, summoning up before his mind the distant hills where his home was. We see him wondering how he will be able ever to reach that place where his desires are set; and we see him settling down, in hopeful assurance that his effort is not in vain, since his help comes from the Lord. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills; away out yonder westwards, across the sands, lies the lofty summits of my fatherland that draws me to itself. Then comes a turn of thought, most natural to a mind passionately yearning after a great hope, the very greatness of which makes it hard to keep constant. For the second clause must be taken as a question: I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills. From whence cometh my help? How am I to get there? And then comes the final turn of thought: My help cometh from the Lord, etc.
I. The look of longing. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills–a resolution, and a resolution born of intense longing. It comes to be a very sharp question with us professing Christians, whether the horizon of our inward being is limited by, and coterminous with, the horizon of our senses, or whether, far beyond the narrow limits to which these can reach, our spirits desire stretches boundless. Are, to us, the things unseen the solid things, and the things visible the shadows and the phantoms? We see with the bodily eyes the shadows on the wall, as it were, but we have to turn round and see with the eyes of our minds the light that flings the shadows. I will lift up my eyes from the mud-flats where I live to the hills that I cannot see, and, seeing them, I shall be blessed. Further, do we know anything of that longing that the psalmist had? He was perfectly comfortable in Babylon. There was abundance of everything that he wanted for his life. But for all that, fat, wealthy Babylon was not Palestine. So the psalmist longed for the mountains, though the mountains are often bare of green things, amidst the lush vegetation, the wealth of water and the fertile plains. Do we know anything of that longing which makes us that are in this tabernacle to groan, being burdened? Unless our Christianity throws us out of harmony and contentment with the present, it is worth very little. And unless we know something of that immortal longing to be nearer to God, and fuller of Christ, and emancipated from sense, and from the burdens and trivialities of life, we have yet to learn what the meaning of walking not after the flesh but after the Spirit really, is. Further, do we make any effort like that of this psalmist, who encourages and stimulates himself by that strong I will lift up my eyes? You will not do it unless you make a dead lift of effort.
II. The question of weakness. From whence cometh my help? The loftier our ideal, the more painful ought to be our conviction of incapacity to reach it. The Christian mans one security is in feeling his peril, and the condition of his strength is his acknowledgment and vivid consciousness always of his weakness. Blessed is the man that feareth always. Pride goeth before destruction. Remember the Franco-German war, and how the French Prime Minister said that they were going into it with a light heart, and how some of the troops went out of Paris in railway carriages labelled for Berlin; and when they reached the frontier they were doubled up and crushed in a month. Unless we, when we set ourselves to this warfare, feel the formidableness of the enemy and recognize the weakness of our own arms, there is nothing but defeat for us.
III. The assurance of faith. The psalmist asks himself: From whence cometh my help? and then the better self answers the questioning, timid self: My help cometh from the Lord, etc. There will be no reception of the Divine help unless there is a sense of the need of the Divine help. God cannot help me before I am brought to despair of any other help. If we conceit ourselves to be strong we are weak; if we know ourselves to be impotent, Omnipotence pours itself into us. We read once that Jesus Christ healed them that had need of healing. Why does the evangelist not say, without that periphrasis, healed the sick? Because he would emphasize, I suppose, amongst other things, the thought that only the sense of need fits for the reception of healing and help. If, then, we desire that God should be the strength of our hearts, and our portion for ever, the coming of His help must be wooed and won by our sense of our own impotence, and only they who say: We have no might against this great multitude that cometh against us, will ever hear from Him the blessed assurance: the Lord will fight for you. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Looking up
The text would be better rendered, Shall I lift up mine eyes unto the hills? Whence should my help come? It cometh from Jehovah, who is high up above the hills; even from the Maker of heaven and earth. Palestine is a mountain-land; and such a country exercises a strange fascination over its inhabitants. What a holy power the great mountains have over us all! They seem to be so near to God, so full of God, that they bring us near to Him, and they fill us full of Him. They make us look up. And that is precisely what we all need to have done for us.
I. World-drawn, we look down, and so are weak. We are in the world; in a thousand subtle ways we are kin with the world, we are subject to its influences, caught by its whirl of excitement, absorbed by its pressing claims, and easily we may become of the world as well as in it. But everything the world presents to us is below us, beneath us; and it so keeps us looking down, that at last the habit of down-looking grows upon us. How powerfully we are all drawn by world-interests! The influence of the world begets a downward look, a sort of set of the eyes and heart downwards. What do we see when we thus fix our gaze? Nothing elevating, inspiring, ennobling, much of self, of man, and of things. Much of conflict, and struggle, and loss, and pain, and change, and dissatisfaction. Much of man, and his things, that perish with the using. Much of man, and the fashion of this world that passeth away. Human grandeur, which, seen from above, is all of tinsel. Human successes, that are touched by the chill hand of death, and fade sooner than the summer cloud. What do we see when we look down? The hurry and bustle of thousands who, along with us, are hasting to be rich. The physicians, driving to homes that are full of pain, and grief, and fear. The mourners going about the streets. And the shadow of Gods curse on sin resting darkly everywhere. It is this downward, earthward looking that makes us so weak: so weak as those who, being made in the image of God, ought to be strong in the strength of God.
II. God-drawn, we look up, and so grow strong. God is ever calling. If we would stop and hush awhile, we might hear the voice of God in our souls, ever saying, Look up! Look up! Observe the gracious mission God has entrusted to the mountains.
1. Looking up, we find nothing of mans, it is all of God up above.
2. Looking up, we feel how pure Gods snow is.
3. Looking up, we find Gods clouds are glorified.
4. Looking up, we may hear the voices of the hills saying, The mists and the storms are all outside us; they are not us. We abide firm through all the changes. The mists pass swiftly about us, and pass away. The storms wildly rage about us, but the winds die down, the rains stream off, the thunder-voice is quieted, and we come forth again, only cleansed and purified. It is a message from God for us troubled, sorrow-stricken, storm-tossed men and women.
5. And the hills seem also to say, Up above is more sunshine than storm. Down below, mans smoke lies heavy over the towns, and Gods clouds seem dark; but it is almost always sunshine up here. These are the messages that seem to come from the hills. Look up! Look up morel (Robert Tuck, B. A.)
Excelsior! –
I. Who is it that ascends?–The Christian ascends.
II. Whither? Heavenwards: to the everlasting hills.
III. From whence? From this vale of tears.
IV. By what steps? By faith and repentance. (C. A. Fowler, M. A.)
The mountaineers psalm
I imagine the psalmist had either dwelt under the mountains, or had climbed some of their steep sides. Palestine, it is true, was not a mountainous country, like Switzerland; but still, it had its mountains, notably Hermon, which is over 9,000 feet above sea-level, and usually covered with a cap of snow. In a small way the psalmist might have been, probably was, a mountaineer, and so knew the unique feelings which come to one in lofty places. The special point I want to enforce is this–that what the mountains are to the lower, that God is to the higher life of man.
I. Invigoration comes from the mountains. Every one is conscious of this. In the valleys there is beat and the languor it produces. On the mountains there may be heat from the sunlight, but there is the tonic which comes from glacier or snow-field. In the valley the air is heavy and depressing. On the mountains the air is light and exhilarating. And so exertion which is impossible down below, is possible and easy higher up. And what the mountains are to the body God is to the soul. He is the true invigorator. In Him is our help found. Like the body, the soul needs invigoration, and that invigoration is found only in God. Immunity from evil comes only from an invigorated spiritual nature–and such a nature comes only from the sense of God.
II. There come from the mountains wide outlooks. Down in the valleys the outlooks are narrow. You can see the valley sides, and it may be you can catch the sight of some solitary peak shining with snow, but all is limited. You cannot look into the valleys near, or see the peaks that lie beyond. But move upward to the hills which frame in the valley, or, better still, climb some lofty peak, and the whole land lies before you–peak after peak, valley after valley, till you are almost overpowered with the sight. And it is so when we lift our eyes to God. With Him in our heart we get wide outlooks. Look at the world from the standpoint of God. Lord Salisbury once advised people who were talking ignorantly about foreign affairs, and who knew little of the geography of the world, to turn to large maps. I venture to bid those depressed at heart to take wider outlooks–to come up out of the valley where the little drama of the present is being enacted, and remember that there is still One who sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and who will guide the world, in spite of its aberrations, into the way of righteousness and peace.
III. The mountains may remind us of the lowliness of man and the greatness of God. Down in the cities of the world man seems the great factor. He is in evidence everywhere. His works face us at every turn. But up among the mountains man and his work fade from view, and God and His work alone are in evidence. God is nearer to us in flower and tree, valley and mountain, than in any buildings made with hands. And the voices which have gone deepest into the hearts of this generation are not the voices of men who dwelt amid the crowded haunts of men, but of those who in the quietness of the country heard the voice of God. Wordsworth amid the dales of Cumberland; Tennyson amid the heather-clad slopes of Surrey, or by the sea at Farringford; and, before and beyond all these, the Christ Himself, who said to His disciples, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest awhile. (W. G. Horder.)
Looking up and lilting up
Hills have a fascination for those brought up among them. How Israel in Babylon sighed for their much-loved hills! How the Swiss away from their own country pine for the mountains of their native land! Jesus loved the hills. His chosen walks were among them. The hills were His sanctuary for prayer, His temple for worship; from the hills of Capernaum He preached; the crest of Tabor was the scene of His transfiguration; on the hill of Calvary He was crucified; from Olivet He ascended. There is an affinity between souls and hills. Especially for those who have become acquainted with their own solemn depths and sublime heights. The outward world tends to awaken the sympathy of the thoughtful for the true order which has been lost. It pictures to him both sides of his nature–his real and his ideal life, the life he lives, and the life of which he dreams, and for which he prays. The hills represent heights that he ought to attain–the deep places, depths of degradation into which he has fallen. Though imprisoned by a sinful darkness, and fettered by a chain of evil habits, the hills will not allow him wholly to forget his lost heights of freedom, peace, and blessedness, to which, now and again, he fain would, but feels he cannot return. The way of ascent is difficult. There is a broad and easy way, but it leads to deeper depths and heavier bonds. But ha the deepest depths, and under the heaviest burdens, he ever and again remembers the heights, though the corresponding life may, long since, have been transferred to his dreams. There are no heights like those to which the soul rises ha the exercise of faith–heights incredible to the senses. By faith, we finite creatures, with a sense-experience only of the finite, nevertheless apprehend the infinite; by faith, we creatures of flesh and blood, shut in by the material, discover our only true home to be in the spiritual; by faith, we mortals, in a world of mortality, anticipate immortality; by faith, we poor slaves of a manifold bondage look for perfect liberty; by faith, we, the offspring of earthly parentage, claim God for our Father, and Heaven for our home. These are some of the heights of which the hills are representative, and to which they point, hills of hope, and help for our original and eternal nature. From the hill of the Lord we receive help for the valley. If we look up we shall receive light for our way, and be led in a plain path. The hill of the Lord is to the pilgrim who looks up what the compass is to the mariner who finds his course by it through the troubled waters of the pathless sea. For those who look to Him, the Lord opens up a way in the desert, a path through the woods, and turns the sea into dry land. In the presence of their enemies He prepares them a table and causes them to lie down in peace, and goes before them in the way–a guardian, guiding Presence a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. In this short psalm the writer is so full of the protection and help of Jehovah that he cannot find terms enough in which to express the rich fulness of his icy and confidence, Fifteen times in eight verses he assures Israel of the help, keeping, and preservation of God–at all times; under all circumstances; for every one, with respect to his whole nature and history; for time and eternity. Oh, what hills of hope and help there are for the upward use of our eyes, altitudes of our own nature as seen in Jesus, which, like Alpine summits, far above every storm-swept height, look down in the mute eloquence and sublime repose of their eternal state invitingly on all below! The men who permanently bless the world are men who look up, and receive that which, travelling down the starry road of the Infinites abode, fills their eyes with reverence and a grand hope, and inspires their souls with a divine disdain of earthly goods and worldly honours, as being unworthy of mans chief end. This habit of looking up will teach us to understand the use of trouble in the valley. Let us learn to regard all that troubles and disturbs us in our health, our home, our circumstances as the means by which God calls upon us to look up,–to disengage ourselves from earthly entanglements,–to prepare to ascend. By the trouble to which we are born, He seeks to wean us from the love of earth, that He may woo us to the love of heavenly things and the spiritual life of our eternal home. (W. Pulsford, D. D.)
Lift up the eyes of the soul
This verse would be a suitable inscription for a church entrance. It is a scripture to be repeated when walking to the temple. If ever the eyes are strained towards heaven, it is by rose who go to the sanctuary, or long to do so. Yet it is possible to join the assembly of Gods saints, and not lift up our eyes to the hills. Some who make excursions seem to see all the meaning of their journey in what they take with them, others go chiefly to refresh themselves in the contemplation of Gods flowers and trees, rocks and rivers, valleys and hills. Of travellers climbing together to a mountain summit, there are those who, on reaching it, as if they had done all, lie down till the moment for returning; while their wiser companions, as if there were something for which they had been at the trouble of ascending, stand on the top, and look forth earnestly. They admire the prospect, and mark the direction of a more lofty mountain which they intend to gain, and how the road lies by which they will have to travel thither. Our feet are to visit the hill of the earthly Zion, that our hearts may get a better view of the mountain of the Lords house in the heavenly country. The object in attending the services of the sanctuary is to hear of heaven and learn the way. (E. J. Robinson.)
Hills
Hills make us look up. It is well they do so, for all that is necessary for our life here comes from above. An artist whose eyes have been much accustomed to look up, has painted some very beautiful pictures of sunset skies, which astonish many people who visit the Kensington Museum in London. They have never seen such gorgeous sunsets, and for the good reason that they have not looked for them. We lose much by fixing our eyes upon the things beneath and seldom looking up. A king once asked a duke if he had seen an eclipse of the sun on the previous day. No, sir, replied the nobleman, I have so much business on earth that I have no time to look up. By looking up the wise men of the East were led to the Saviour, who then lay an infant in Bethlehems manger. By looking up many a downcast heart has rejoiced to see the mornings sun rise, which seemed to speak to them of brighter days yet to come. But there is another kind of looking up that is necessary to give joy and true satisfaction to the soul. The high hills, the lovely skies, and the glowing sunsets should lead us to look higher up still–even to the Lord who made the heavens and the earth. This looking consists of real faith in God and in His promises. It is the soul looking beyond itself and all that is earthly to the Rock that is higher than we are. Looking unto Jesus is the secret of all true joy in the Christian life. It is as we look up with the eye of faith that the beauty of the Saviour is reflected upon us, and we are made like Him. But the hills have a few more lessons for us.
1. They give us a taste for what is beautiful. Some of the prettiest scenery in the world is amongst the hills. It is there we find flowery glens and mossy dells, where happy birds in song agree. It is there we behold the delightful waterfalls and other beauties of nature. We have read of a traveller who went to America to see the Falls of Niagara, and who, after a long, weary journey, was within a few miles of them, and inquired of a man if the rumbling noise he heard was that of the Falls. The man replied that perhaps it was, but he had never been there, although all his life he had lived so near them. But it is not always that people have the time and the means for travelling, and so they are to be excused. There is, however, no excuse for people being ignorant of the beauties of the Kingdom of God. The Holy Spirit opens the eyes of all who come to Christ to see spiritual sights which gladden the heart and prepare the soul for heaven. Travellers tell us of beauty in other lands far surpassing anything we have ever seen here. And there is also a heavenly land which is so fair that its glory can never be told us, as we have no language to express it or mind to conceive it.
2. The hills are very valuable to us. Their lofty summits cause the moisture of the air to descend rain or snow to refresh and make the earth fruitful. Then they give motion to the water, and thus keep it from growing stagnant or impure. Otherwise the water would have disease and death in it. Our souls, too, require heavenly rains to descend to refresh them, and to make them bear the fruits of the Spirit. We need the pure river of the water of life to flow through our souls to keep them in the love of God.
3. Hills praise God. They are commanded to do so in Scripture. One way by which they praise God is by producing holy desires in the hearts of men. They often cause people to think of the greatness and the glory of God. And they daily witness to His power and wisdom. We also are commanded to praise God, and we can do it consciously, which the hills are unable to do. We ought to praise God by the adoration of our hearts, the fruit of our lips, and the devotion of our lives.
4. The hills and the love of God are contrasted (Isa 54:10). How blessed it is to know that when the hills shall have passed away there is something that shall abide! Yes; the love of Jesus shall remain, and we shall dwell in the enjoyment of His glorious presence. His love was manifested upon a hill, which of all hills should never be forgotten–the hill at Calvary. This hill speaks of the amazing love of God in giving up His only Son to die for us, and of the matchless love of Christ in bearing our sins in His own body on the tree. (John Mitchell.)
The far-away look
In one of Dr. Millers helpful anecdotes we are told of a Christian woman, a busy editorial worker, whose eyes began to trouble her, until she was obliged to go to an oculist to see what was the matter with them. She told him she thought she needed a new pair of glasses. The oculist told her that what she needed was not new glasses, but rest for the eyes. That, she told him, was impossible. Her work compelled her to sit all day bending over a desk, reading and writing. The wise oculist asked her where she lived, and found it was in full sight of the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Alleghanies. Go home, he said, and do your work as usual, but every hour or so leave your desk, and go and stand on your porch and look at the mountains. The far-away look will rest your eyes after the long strain of reading manuscripts and proof-sheets. That is what Sabbaths are for–the far-away looks. We all need them–an hour or two on Sunday, if no more. Then–and here is the lesson for many a busy housemother who must prepare meals even on Sunday for her hungry children, who must often nurse the sick ones or stay at home with the little ones–if anything calls one away from the rest of soul and body, remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said that God wants mercy (kindness, goodness, helpfulness) even more than sacrifice.
From whence cometh my help.—
The help of the hills
Let me speak of the helpfulness of the mountains as a sign, not a measure, but an imperfect sign of the helpfulness of God. The most sheltered spots of earth are mountain guarded. When we rejoice in the valley, let us remember only the mountain made it possible. Is it protected from devastating storms such as involve the plains in their fury? It is because the mountain has guarded it. It has broken the hurricanes wing and the cyclones wheel. Is it alive with meadow streams that sing their gladsome song to the green grasses that bend over to listen? It is because the mountains sent the streamlets flashing down, pure as crystal and full of tonic for every living thing in the valley. Has there been an abundance of rain? The mountain nurtured the storm full of menace, but so full of blessing that when it saw the fields suffering for its baptism, it opened its veins of life with the lightnings lance, and became balm and benison to the blighted fields. Not only so, but the mountains give their fresh wealth to supply new soil to the valley. The storms that scar their old sides are ploughing up fresh soil for the cornfields and the valley. And the streams are the carriers that, plunging gaily from steep to steep, carry it down. The Alleghanies help to make the Ohio Valley. The Rockies enrich the Missouri, the mountains of Central Africa make the exhaustless granary of the Nile delta. Oh! the help there is in the stern hills Oh! the blessing God is to this low world! How He comes to shield from storms. How He sends upon us the living streams of His truth. Yes, how He bends Himself to be the nourishment and strength of His people! Consider the influence of the hills on the civilization of the world. They have been the nurseries of heroism, of physical and moral strength. The early Turanians, who displaced the stagnant barbarism of Asia with a rude vigour, descended for their work from the mountain ranges of Siberia. The Modes and Persians, who came down like messengers of Divine judgment on the effeminate luxury and showy splendour of Babylon, came from the hill country. The Spartans who filled the Thermopylae Pass were mountain men. The Waldenses, who held their own for liberty, held it in poverty and pain among the pinnacles of Piedmont–held it against all the cultured and disciplined power of the cities on the plains. Their natures were as rugged as the grey Alps around them. It is a grand preparation for heroism to be obliged to fight lifes battle under the stern conditions of the mountains. They do not smile on easy living. They are severe masters, but they enforce the lesson. He who has overcome the mountains has overcome many other things at the same time. But I do not believe that the chief value of mountains as promoters of heroism is of a physical sort. At last heroism has a moral base. Mountains make tough animals. They are the habitation of daring wild beasts, but they also work on those moral qualities which make great patriots. They affect mens thoughts. They appeal to a mans reverence. They overawe him with power. They work on his conscience. To face Mont Blanc is itself a sort of judgment day. It says God. There is absolutely no support for tired human spirits but in the idea of God, and that which that idea implies. To the mountain of Sinai you must look for the quickening of conscience; to the mountain of Calvary for salvation from sin. As the mountains lift themselves above the world in a stillness of perpetual benediction, so God rises to our faith and hope above these storm-driven plains of time. His Fatherhood overhangs us like a perpetual benediction. He helps us with a help that is quite sufficient, and that sustains us amid all circumstances; yea, with a help that makes us indifferent to circumstance. To men accustomed only to the light of reason and calculation it is difficult to present the spiritual help of the Lord. It cannot be explained. But it is the one profound fact that makes the difference between the submissive and meek-brewed; yea, the rejoicing saint and the complaining and rebellious sinner. I have often asked friends, What is the source of the contented lives the Swiss peasants live amid their secluding mountains? Contented and peaceful they undeniably are, and that, too, in poverty and toil from beginning to end. It seems as if the genii of the mountains from unseen sources beyond the storms brought unfailing peace and comfort as the streams that spring from the snows water their flocks and their pastures. The reservoir never fails. Now, Gods sustaining grace is like those streams of Alpine blessing. You cannot quite trace; you certainly cannot explain it. The child of God who perhaps has nothing but poverty and pain, misery and misfortune, as the world reckons, somehow holds a boundless peace, and the martyr who smiles in his agonies is not a more conspicuous example of this strange unseen help of God than is the quiet patient soul who, in ordinary ways of uneventful living, holds a steadfast faith and a happy hope in God. (C. L. Thompson, D. D.)
Help needed and provided
It, was help and only help, which he looked for from his God; and help is not that which dispenses with exertion on our part, but rather that which supposes such exertion. Helping a man is not the doing everything for him, and leaving him nothing to do for himself; but rather the assisting him in his efforts,–making those efforts effectual, when perhaps without aid they would be insufficient and frustrated. It is help, and nothing more than help, which is promised throughout the Scriptures. Help us, O God of our salvation, is the burden of the supplications of David; and St. Paul, when he would found an argument for boldness in approaching the mercy-seat, on the fact of our having an High Priest who can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, does not apply it to the expecting more than mercy and help–That we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. There cannot be a more dangerous delusion than the supposing that the operations of Divine grace are such as to supersede the necessity for exertion, or such (so to speak) as will make us religious in spite of ourselves. The Spirit will not force us to pray; but if we yield to His impulse, and endeavour to pray, He will Help our infirmities, and enable us to pray effectually. He will not make it impossible for us to be overcome of temptation; but if we strive against it, He will so come to our assistance as to ensure us the victory. He will not bring to maturity the virtues implanted by Himself without requiring from us any of the processes of moral husbandry; whilst the showers and the sunshine are altogether His, the labour and the tillage must be ours. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
PSALM CXXI
The resolution of a godly man, 1, 2.
The safety and prosperity of such, as they and theirs shall
be under the continual protection of God, 3-8.
NOTES ON PSALM CXXI
This appears to be a prayer of the Jews in their captivity, who are solicitous for their restoration. It is in the form of a dialogue.
Ver. 1, 2. The person who worships God speaks the two first verses, “I will lift up mine eyes – my help cometh,” – Ps 121:1-2.
Ver. 3. The ministering priest answers him, “He will not suffer thy foot to be moved.” “He that keepeth thee will not slumber,” Ps 121:3.
To which the worshipper answers, that he knows that “he who keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep,” Ps 121:4; but he seems to express a doubt whether he shall be an object of the Divine attention.
Ver. 5, c. The priest resumes and, to the conclusion of the Psalm, gives him the most positive assurances of God’s favour and protection.
Verse 1. Unto the hills] Jerusalem was built upon a mountain; and Judea was a mountainous country; and the Jews, in their several dispersions, turned towards Jerusalem when they offered up their prayers to God.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Unto the hills; either to Zion and Moriah, which are called the holy mountains, Psa 87:1; or rather,
2. To the hills in general, whereof there were many in the land of Canaan, and upon which the forces, which he hoped would come to his aid, might be seen at a great distance.
Cometh; or, may come; Heb. will come.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. I will lift up mineeyesexpresses desire (compare Ps25:1), mingled with expectation. The last clause, read as aquestion, is answered,
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills,…. Not to the hills and mountains in Judea, looking about to see if the inhabitants of them, or any bodies of men, appeared upon them to his help in distress; rather to the hills of Moriah and Zion, where the ark of God, the symbol of his presence, was, and to whom he looked for assistance and deliverance: or to heaven, the holy hill of the Lord, and to him that dwelleth there; see Ps 3:2. The lifting up of the eyes is a prayer gesture, Joh 11:41; and is expressive of boldness and confidence in prayer, and of hope and expectation of help and salvation, Job 11:15; when, on the contrary, persons abashed and ashamed, hopeless and helpless, cannot look up, or lift up their eyes or face to God, Ezr 9:6. Some read the words, “I will lift up mine eyes upon the hills” f; standing there and looking up to the heavens, and God in the heavens; who is the most High over all the earth, higher than the highest, and above all gods. Others render them interrogatively, “shall I lift up mine eyes to the hills?” g to the idols worshipped on hills and mountains, and pray unto them, and expect help from them? No, I will not; salvation is not to be had from them, Jer 3:23; or to the kings of the nations, as R. Obadiah interprets it; and to powerful kingdoms and states he was in alliance with, comparable to mountains and hills, Ps 46:2? No, I will not; “it is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes”, Ps 118:9. And so the following clause may be read,
from whence shall my help come? h not from hills and mountains; not from men, for vain is the help of man; not from kings and princes, the great men of the earth, nor from the most powerful nations; but from the Lord, as in Ps 121:2, which may be an answer to this.
f “super montes”, Vatablus, Amama; so Kimchi. g “attollerem oculos meos ad illos montes?” Junius Tremellius “attollamne”, c. Piscator so Gejerus and Ainsworth. h So Musculus, Cocceius, Gejerus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Michaelis.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Apollinaris renders as meaninglessly as possible: – with a reproduction of the misapprehended of the lxx. The expression in fact is , and not . And the mountains towards which the psalmist raises his eyes are not any mountains whatsoever. In Ezekiel the designation of his native land from the standpoint of the Mesopotamian plain is “the mountains of Israel.” His longing gaze is directed towards the district of these mountains, they are his kibla , i.e., the sight-point of his prayer, as of Daniel’s, Dan 6:11. To render “from which my help cometh” (Luther) is inadmissible. is an interrogative even in Jos 2:4, where the question is an indirect one. The poet looks up to the mountains, the mountains of his native land, the holy mountains (Psa 133:3; Psa 137:1; Psa 125:2), when he longingly asks: whence will my help come? and to this question his longing desire itself returns the answer, that his help comes from no other quarter than from Jahve, the Maker of heaven and earth, from His who sits enthroned behind and upon these mountains, whose helpful power reaches to the remotest ends and corners of His creation, and with ( ) whom is help, i.e., both the willingness and the power to help, so that therefore help comes from nowhere but from ( ) Him alone. In Psa 121:1 the poet has propounded a question, and in Psa 121:2 replies to this question himself. In Psa 121:3 and further the answering one goes on speaking to the questioner. The poet is himself become objective, and his Ego, calm in God, promises him comfort, by unfolding to him the joyful prospects contained in that hope in Jahve. The subjective expresses a negative in both cases with an emotional rejection of that which is absolutely impossible. The poet says to himself: He will, indeed, surely not abandon thy foot to the tottering ( , as in Psa 66:9, cf. Psa 55:23), thy Keeper will surely not slumber; and then confirms the assertion that this shall not come to pass by heightening the expression in accordance with the step-like character of the Psalm: Behold the Keeper of Israel slumbereth not and sleepeth not, i.e., He does not fall into slumber from weariness, and His life is not an alternate waking and sleeping. The eyes of His providence are ever open over Israel.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Confidence in God. | |
A song of degrees.
1 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. 2 My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth. 3 He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber. 4 Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand. 6 The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. 8 The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.
This psalm teaches us,
I. To stay ourselves upon God as a God of power and a God all-sufficient for us. David did so and found the benefit of it. 1. We must not rely upon creatures, upon men and means, instruments and second causes, nor make flesh our arm: “Shall I lift up my eyes to the hills?“–so some read it. “Does my help come thence? Shall I depend upon the powers of the earth, upon the strength of the hills, upon princes and great men, who, like hills, fill the earth, and hold up their heads towards heaven? No; in vain is salvation hoped for from hills and mountains, Jer. iii. 23. I never expect help to come from them; my confidence is in God only.” We must lift up our eyes above the hills (so some read it); we must look beyond instruments to God, who makes them that to us which they are. 2. We must see all our help laid up in God, in his power and goodness, his providence and grace; and from him we must expect it to come: “My help comes from the Lord; the help I desire is what he sends, and from him I expect it in his own way and time. If he do not help, no creature can help; if he do, no creature can hinder, can hurt.” 3. We must fetch in help from God, by faith in his promises, and a due regard to all his institutions: “I will lift up my eyes to the hills” (probably he meant the hills on which the temple was built, Mount Moriah, and the holy hill of Zion, where the ark of the covenant, the oracle, and the altars were); “I will have an eye to the special presence of God in his church, and with his people (his presence by promise) and not only to his common presence.” When he was at a distance he would look towards the sanctuary (Psa 28:2; Psa 42:6); thence comes our help, from the word and prayer, from the secret of his tabernacle. My help cometh from the Lord (so the word is, v. 2), from before the Lord, or from the sight and presence of the Lord. “This (says Dr. Hammond) may refer to Christ incarnate, with whose humanity the Deity being inseparably united, God is always present with him, and, through him, with us, for whom, sitting at God’s right hand, he constantly maketh intercession.” Christ is called the angel of his presence, that saved his people, Isa. lxiii. 9. 4. We must encourage our confidence in God with this that he made heaven and earth, and he who did that can do any thing. He made the world out of nothing, himself alone, by a word’s speaking, in a little time, and all very good, very excellent and beautiful; and therefore, how great soever our straits and difficulties are, he has power sufficient for our succour and relief. He that made heaven and earth is sovereign Lord of all the hosts of both, and can make use of them as he pleases for the help of his people, and restrain them when he pleases from hurting his people.
II. To comfort ourselves in God when our difficulties and dangers are greatest. It is here promised that if we put our trust in God, and keep in the way of our duty, we shall be safe under his protection, so that no real evil, no mere evil, shall happen to us, nor any affliction but what God sees good for us and will do us good by. 1. God himself has undertaken to be our protector: The Lord is thy keeper, v. 5. Whatever charge he gives his angels to keep his people, he has not thereby discharged himself, so that, whether every particular saint has an angel for his guardian or no, we are sure he has God himself for his guardian. It is infinite wisdom that contrives, and infinite power that works, the safety of those that have put themselves under God’s protection. Those must needs be well kept that have the Lord for their keeper. If, by affliction, they be made his prisoners, yet still he is their keeper. 2. The same that is the protector of the church in general is engaged for the preservation of every particular believer, the same wisdom, the same power, the same promises. He that keepeth Israel (v. 4) is thy keeper, v. 5. The shepherd of the flock is the shepherd of every sheep, and will take care that not one, even of the little ones, shall perish. 3. He is a wakeful watchful keeper: “He that keepeth Israel, that keepeth thee, O Israelite! shall neither slumber nor sleep; he never did, nor ever will, for he is never weary; he not only does not sleep, but he does not so much as slumber; he has not the least inclination to sleep.” 4. He not only protects those whom he is the keeper of, but he refreshes them: He is their shade. The comparison has a great deal of gracious condescension in it; the eternal Being who is infinite substance is what he is in order that he may speak sensible comfort to his people, promises to be their umbra–their shadow, to keep as close to them as the shadow does to the body, and to shelter them from the scorching heat, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land, Isa. xxxii. 2. Under this shadow they may sit with delight and assurance, Cant. ii. 3. 5. He is always near to his people for their protection and refreshment, and never at a distance; he is their keeper and shade on their right hand; so that he is never far to seek. The right hand is the working hand; let them but turn themselves dexterously to their duty, and they shall find God ready to them, to assist them and give them success, Ps. xvi. 8. 6. He is not only at their right hand, but he will also keep the feet of his saints, 1 Sam. ii. 9. He will have an eye upon them in their motions: He will not suffer thy foot to be moved. God will provide that his people shall not be tempted above what they are able, shall not fall into sin, though they may be very near it (Psa 73:2; Psa 73:23), shall not fall into trouble, though there be many endeavouring to undermine them by fraud or over throw them by force. He will keep them from being frightened, as we are when we slip or stumble and are ready to fall. 7. He will protect them from all the malignant influences of the heavenly bodies (v. 6): The sun shall not smite thee with his heat by day nor the moon with her cold and moisture by night. The sun and moon are great blessings to mankind, and yet (such a sad change has sin made in the creation) even the sun and moon, though worshipped by a great part of mankind, are often instruments of hurt and distemper to human bodies; God by them often smites us; but his favour shall interpose so that they shall not damage his people. He will keep them night and day (Isa. xxvii. 3), as he kept Israel in the wilderness by a pillar of cloud by day, which screened them from the heat of the sun, and of fire by night, which probably diffused a genial warmth over the whole camp, that they might not be prejudiced by the cold and damp of the night, their father Jacob having complained (Gen. xxxi. 40) that by day the drought consumed him and the frost by night. It may be understood figuratively: “Thou shalt not be hurt either by the open assaults of thy enemies, which are as visible as the scorching beams of the sun, or by their secret treacherous attempts, which are like the insensible insinuations of the cold by night.” 8. His protection will make them safe in every respect: “The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil, the evil of sin and the evil of trouble. He shall prevent the evil thou fearest, and shall sanctify, remove, or lighten, the evil thou feelest. He will keep thee from doing evil (2 Cor. xiii. 7), and so far from suffering evil that whatever affliction happens to thee there shall be no evil in it. Even that which kills shall not hurt.” 9. It is the spiritual life, especially, that God will take under his protection: He shall preserve thy soul. All souls are his; and the soul is the man, and therefore he will with a peculiar care preserve them, that they be not defiled by sin and disturbed by affliction. He will keep them by keeping us in the possession of them; and he will preserve them from perishing eternally. 10. He will keep us in all our ways: “He shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in. Thou shalt be under his protection in all thy journeys and voyages, outward-bound or homeward-bound, as he kept Israel in the wilderness, in their removes and rests. He will prosper thee in all thy affairs at home and abroad, in the beginning and in the conclusion of them. He will keep thee in life and death, thy going out and going on while thou livest and thy coming in when thou diest, going out to thy labour in the morning of thy days and coming home to thy rest when the evening of old age calls thee in,” Ps. civ. 23. 11. He will continue his care over us from this time forth and even for evermore. It is a protection for life, never out of date. “He will be thy guide even unto death, and will then hide thee in the grave, hide thee in heaven. He will preserve thee in his heavenly kingdom.” God will protect his church and his saints always, even to the end of the world. The Spirit, who is their preserver and comforter, shall abide with them for ever.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Psalms 121
The Lord Is My Helper
Scripture v. 1-8:
Verse 1 is a resolve of the psalmist to lift up his eyes “unto (or beyond) the hills (above and beyond them, to heaven), from whence cometh (continually) my help,” even from the Lord of the heavens; Though in this ascending psalm, chanted or sung on the way up to Zion for annual feasts, they looked for the hills of Zion, those surrounding Jerusalem, their faith vision was of God who made the hills, who existed as their help, at His chosen seat in Zion, Psa 24:3; Psa 25:1; La 3:41. It is not the hills that gave help, but the Lord of the hills, Psa 3:4; Psa 14:7; Psa 20:2; Exo 15:7.
Verse 2 adds, “my help cometh (continuously) from the Lord, who made heaven and earth,” Psa 115:15. Those who have such an helper need never despair, Heb 13:5; Jer 3:23.
Verse 3 assures that “He will not suffer (permit) thy foot to be moved (to slip): slumber,” become derelict in guarding, protecting you, for even one moment, as assured 1Sa 2:9; Pro 3:23; Pro 3:26; Psa 127:1; Isa 27:3; Heb 13:5.
Verse 4 adds “behold (take note, observe) he that keepeth Israel (continually as) thy keeper; the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand,” your “shade-shelter” from the pilgrim exposure to the burning sun, upon the “right hand,” position of protection, further assured, Isa 25:4; Psa 16:8; Psa 109:31.
Verse 6 pledges “the sun shall not smite thee by day,” with its blistering heat, “nor the moon by night.” The pledge is one of Divine help, available to the godly by day and by night, continually; The moon “rules the night,” Gen 1:16, as the sun governs the day; Gen 31:40; Jer 36:30.
The moon has very blind-damaging rays to those who sleep in the open desert at night, unless they cover their eyes while sleeping; yet God cares for His own, no lasting hurt shall befall His people, as expressed further, Psa 91:5; Isa 49:10; Rev 7:16.
Verse 7 asserts “the Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul,” assuring the fearful believer, repeatedly of God’s love and certain care for His own, Psa 41:2; Psa 97:10; Psa 145:20.
Verse 8 concludes “the Lord shall, (not may), preserve (protect) thy going out, and thy coming in,” your travels in every direction, “from this time (moment) forth, and even for evermore,” as covenanted Deu 28:6; Pro 2:8; Pro 3:6. Whatever you undertake, if honorable, He will protect, from beginning to the end or completion. When God started His creation He did not cease till He finished, an example for man’s perseverance, in all that is good; Be no quitter, Mat 28:20; Heb 13:5.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
l I will lift up my eyes to the mountains. The inspired writer, whoever he was, seems, in the opening of the Psalm, to speak in the person of an unbelieving man. As God prevents his believing people with his blessings, and meets them of his own accord, so they, on their part, immediately east their eyes directly upon him. What then is the meaning of this unsettled looking of the Prophet, who casts his eyes now on this side and now on that, as if faith directed him not to God? I answer, that the thoughts of the godly are never so stayed upon the word of God as not to be carried away at the first impulse to some allurements; and especially when dangers disquiet us, or when we are assailed with sore temptations, it is scarcely possible for us, from our being so inclined to the earth, not to be moved by the enticements presented to us, until our minds put a bridle upon themselves, and turn them back to God. The sentence, however, may be explained as if expressed in a conditional form. Whatever we may think, would the Prophet say, all the hopes which draw us away from God are vain and delusive. If we take it in this sense, he is not to be understood as relating how he reasoned with himself, or what he intended to do, but only as declaring, that those lose their pains who, disregarding God, gaze to a distance all around them, and make long and devious circuits in quest of remedies to their troubles. It is indeed certain, that in thus speaking of himself, he exhibits to us a malady with which all mankind are afflicted; but still, it will not be unsuitable to suppose, that he was prompted to speak in this manner from his own experience; for such is the inconstancy natural to us, that so soon as we are smitten with any fear, we turn our eyes in every direction, until faith, drawing us back from all these erratic wanderings, direct us exclusively to God. All the difference between believers and unbelievers in this respect is, that although all are prone to be deceived, and easily cheated by impostures, yet Satan bewitches unbelievers by his enchantments; whereas, in regard to believers, God corrects the vice of their nature, and does not permit them to persevere in going astray. The meaning of the Prophet is abundantly obvious, which is, that although all the helps of the world, even the mightiest, should offer themselves to us, yet we ought not to seek safety anywhere but in God; yea, rather, that when men shall have long wearied themselves in hunting after remedies, now in one quarter and now in another, they will at length find from experience, that there is no assured help but in God alone. By the mountains, the Prophet means whatever is great or excellent in the world; and the lesson he teaches is, that we ought to account all such favor as nothing.
Farther, these two verses ought to be read connectedly, bringing out this sense: When I shall have lifted up my eyes to the mountains, then I will at length experience that I have fallen into a rash and unprofitable mistake, until I direct them to God alone, and keep them fixed upon him. It is at the same time to be observed, that God in this place is not in vain honored with the title of Creator of heaven and earth; it being intended hereby tacitly to rebuke the ingratitude of men, when they cannot rest contented with his power. Did they in good earnest acknowledge him as Creator, they would also be persuaded, that as he holds the whole world in his hand, and governs it as seemeth good in his sight, he is possessed of infinite power. But when, hurried away by the blind impetuosity of their passions, they have recourse to other objects besides him, they defraud him of his right and empire. In this way ought we to apply this title of God to the case in hand. The amount is, that whilst we are naturally more anxious than is needful in seeking alleviation and redress to our calamities, especially when any imminent danger threatens us, yet we act a foolish and mistaken part in running up and down through tortuous mazes: and that therefore we ought to impose a restraint upon our understandings, that they may not apply themselves to any other but God alone. Nor is the opinion of those unsuitable, who think that the Hebrew word אל , el, which we translate to, namely, to the mountains, is put for על , al, which signifies above, giving this sense, That men, however high they may look, will find no true salvation except hi God.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
INTRODUCTION
This Song of the Ascentsa title slightly varying from that of each of the other Gradual Psalmsis as suitable as any for the Israelites use when not leaving his home for the earthly Jerusalem, but only meditating on the circumstances and prospects of his spiritual progress, especially when life is drawing to a close; but its beauties are more apparent if we regard it as bursting from the lips of the pilgrims as after their long, weary, and dangerous march, in spite of Mesech and Kedar, though not yet beyond their reach, they come at last in sight of the mountain range of Moriah and Zion. O joyful! Yonder is Jerusalem! There is the sheen of the Temple! Our journey is nearly over! Jehovah is appealed to by the Church or saint in the first three verses, and in the remainder answers and confirms His believing people.The Caravan and Temple.
JEHOVAH THE REFUGE OF THE DISTRESSED
(Psa. 121:1-4)
Wherever the devout Hebrew wandered, and whatever might be his condition, his eyes turned towards the mountain heights of his native Judea. In the distance those heights assumed the appearance of one vast mountain, on which there was a particular eminence that arrested the gaze of the eager worshipper, as if held by the spell of an irresistible fascination. This was Mount Zion, the consecrated hill of the Lordthe foundation on which He had built His Church, and the symbol of its permanencythe charmed circle of divinest manifestationthe central fountain from which streams of blessing have issued for the healing of the nations. As the mountaineer, pressed and worsted in the conflict, fled to his native hills for refuge and defence, so the suffering Israelite sought comfort and protection from Him whose righteousness is like the great mountains.
Note.
I. That the soul is often placed in circumstances of distress.
Suffering is the commonest, yet most mysterious, feature of our human life. None are exempted. Heaven has no dispensations to grant to special favourites. Whatever differences there may be in mental endowments, wealth, or social position, there is, among all the descendants of Adam, an unavoidable, all-levelling communism in suffering. Apparent and numerous as may be the physical sufferings of mankind, there is a depth of mental distress of which the outer world knoweth not, and with which a stranger may not intermeddle. The hope deferred that maketh the heart sick; the collapse of undertakings that have cost days and nights of anxious thought and devoted labour; the wounds inflicted by unjust and mean insinuations, or by words barbed with envy and dipped in the venom of a heartless cruelty; the nameless pang of disappointment occasioned by the faithlessness of one we trusted, and to whom we knew not how far we had surrendered our heart till he flung it from him a pierced and bleeding thingall these, and infinitely more, are hidden from the great world outside; they are beyond its power to assuage, or even to appreciate.
II. That in every time of distress Jehovah is an ever-available Refuge.
1. His power is unbounded. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth. The Creator of all can succour and defend all. The great forces of both worlds are under His control. He restrains their malignant, and multiplies their beneficent, ministries. However complicated our straits and pungent our grief, His power is all-sufficient. With such a refuge despair would be madness.
2. His defence is invincible. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved. The sliding of the foot is an emblem of misfortune frequently used, and a very natural and suggestive one to the dweller in the Hebrew mountains, where a single slip of the foot was often attended with great danger (Psa. 38:16; Psa. 66:9). The foundation on which the believer reststhe Divine power and goodnessis immovable, and while fixed on this basis his foot shall not be moved. The giddy whirl of pleasure; the artful devices of the tempter; the sombre tempest of calamities will, alike, be powerless to harm while he is circled by the Divine defence.
3. His vigilance is unwearied. He that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. Sleep is necessary to repair the waste occasioned by toil. It is an indication of weakness and limitation. All mundane creatures sleep. God never sleeps. He knows no weariness. To Him there is no night; the darkness and the light are both alike to Him. Nothing can escape His eye. No enemy can secrete himself unnoticed; no ambush can surprise Him. The sentinel may slumber at his post; the steersman at the helm; the mother by the sick-bed; but God never slumbers. He is never exhausted; never inattentive to the condition of His people, or the wants of the universe.
III. That the most signal manifestations of Divine help are realised in the sanctuary.
The hills from whence cometh my help. On those hills the Temple stoodthe pride of the Hebrew, the marvel of the ages. There Jehovah localised His presence; there the ineffable glory hovered; there the people held sublime communion with their God; there were witnessed the brightest visions of His face; there were realised the strongest consolations of His love. The fondest, dearest memories of life cluster around the experiences of the sanctuary. The sad heart has there lost its burden; joy has been raised into a purer passion; the holy resolution been confirmed; and the future lit up with the kindling radiancy of hope. Who can estimate the loss to the worshipper of a single careless neglect of the service of the sanctuary!
IV. That the soul is delivered from its distress only as it turns to Jehovah.
I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills. Help is not to be found in man. We cannot look to idols, or to the mighty, who, like hills, fill the earth, and raise their heads towards heaven. Truly, in vain is salvation hoped for from these hills (Jer. 3:23). When all human help fails, with God nothing is impossible. To brood over our distress is to increase it. Our greatest distress comes when we wander farthest from God, and vanishes when we turn again to Him with a sincere heart.
LESSONS:
1. Distress is never far to seek.
2. The Divine Refuge is open for all.
3. To receive timely help be always in your place in the sanctuary.
DIVINE PROTECTION
(Psa. 121:5-8)
A celebrated travellerafter an absence of three years, during which he had walked across the continent of Africa from east to west, through vast regions never before trodden by the foot of the white manrecently received an enthusiastic welcome home. As he approached the quiet Kentish village where he had spent his boyish days, his first act, before entering his much-loved home, was to pass through the portals of the church where his aged father ministered, and, humbly kneeling, offer his devout thanksgiving to that God who had watched over and preserved him in all his wanderings. Among other appropriate Scriptures, this Psalm was read. It was a touching scene! Many hearts heaved with emotion, and many tears were shed, as the reader, in trembling accents, uttered the words, The Lord is thy keeper. The Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coining in from this time forth, and even for evermore. It was a graceful and fitting acknowledgment of that Divine Goodness which had safely conducted the weary, sun-burnt traveller through all the perils of his great and adventurous journey. We should be ever ready to acknowledge and adore the Gracious Power that shelters and protects us every moment. Observe
I. The Divine protection is ample and efficient.
I. It is ample. The Lord is thy shade. He surrounds His people, and guards them at every point of attack. Without His encompassing shadow they are exposed to the fierce onslaught of numberless enemies, and must become an easy prey to their violence. Where the danger is greatest, there the Divine shade is thickest. The foe must be able to pierce the invulnerable, and conquer the invincible, before he can touch the feeblest saint who is sheltered by the wings of God.
2. It is efficient. Upon thy right hand. The right hand is the organ of action, either in aggression or defence. If that is paralysed, man is shorn of his main strength. As the enemies of Gods people are ever standing at their right hand to frustrate all their efforts in well-doing, so Jehovah is at their right hand to encourage and sustain those efforts, and restrain their enemies. At the point where the forces of evil most thickly concentrate, there the Divine protection operates most powerfully.
II. The Divine protection shields from the most open assaults. The sun shall not smite thee by day. To the inhabitants of the East, where the fierce rays of the sun are sometimes fatal in their effects upon the incautious traveller, these words would have a special significance. They also indicate figuratively the open dangers which threaten Gods people every day, and the flagrant, cruel, persecuting hatred of their most furious enemies. Dangers stand thick through all the ground; but God is present to defend. The worker in the dismal mine, the traveller by road, or rail, or sea, the toiler surrounded by the most destructive materials, is alike under the shadow of the Divine protection.
III. The Divine protection guards from the effects of the most secret treachery. Nor the moon by night. The moon is the ruler of the night; and everything belongs to it which happens during its reign, so that it is not necessary to trace all the evils of the night directly to the influence of the moon. The Lord will protect from all the subtle and invisible attacks of the wicked, though they come upon His people as silently and unseen as the penetrating cold of the moonlight night. He sees the approach of the least suspected danger, estimates the force of the subtlest influence, smiles at the treachery of His enemies, and disconcerts their cleverest combinations. The Divine Sentinel never slumbers. He can never be outwitted by the cunning of the most malicious.
IV. The Divine protection is a defence against every evil. The Lord shall preserve thee from evil: He shall preserve thy soul. He protects from the evil of sin and of suffering. He turns away the evil that is feared, and alleviates and sanctifies the evil He permits. He will preserve the life (the soul) of His saints in war or peacewhen the weapons of destruction hurtle through the air, or when disease silently sheds around its noxious poison. He will keep the soul from doing evil, cleanse it from all pollution, and invest it with a purity immaculate and fadeless.
V. The Divine protection is realised amid the active duties of life.
The Lord shall preserve thy going out. The good man is directed in the beginning of his undertakings, and shielded by the Divine presence during their active prosecution (Deu. 28:3-6). He is safe wherever his duties carry himin the workshop, the street, the busy mart, on the restless sea, or in strange and distant countries.
In foreign realms and lands remote,
Supported by Thy care,
Through burning climes they pass unhurt,
And breathe in tainted air.
When on the dreadful tempest borne,
High on the broken wave,
They know Thou art not slow to hear,
Nor impotent to save.
Addison.
A moment comes when there shall be the last going outthe ebb of life when the soul shall go out with the tide, to return no more! Then shall it be enfolded with the Divine protection, and preserved in endless bliss.
VI. The Divine protection overshadows the rest and quietness of home. And thy coming in. Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof. The Divine protection is not less exercised in the conclusion of any undertaking than in its commencement. Evening brings all home; and the weary one, after the toils and dangers of the day, enjoys the peace and rest of his home all the more because he knows he is encircled by the Divine guardianship. And when the shadows of lifes eventide gather round him, he fears not. The Lord will preserve his coming inhis tranquil entrance into the heavenly home!
VII. The Divine protection is unremitting. From this time forth and even for evermore. He is the continual portion and defence of all who trust in Him, in all places, at all times, in all actions, in life, in prosperity, in adversity, in death, in time, in eternity. No evil shall befall them to endanger their present and ultimate good. The safety of the Church and of every individual member is insured.
LESSONS:
1. Offer grateful praise for the protection of the past.
2. Fear not the most furious assaults of the enemy.
3. Put all your confidence in the Divine Protector.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Psalms 121
DESCRIPTIVE TITLE
Jehovah the True Helper and Keeper of Israel.
ANALYSIS
(See Inserted Headlines.)
(Lm.) Song of the Steps.
(THE KING, SEEING JERUSALEM SURROUNDED
BY AN ARMY.)
1
I keep lifting mine eyes unto the mountains
whence cometh my help?
(STRONG COUNSELLORS ASSURANCE.)
2
Help[730] is from Jehovah
[730] Merely omitting the suffix yod from the noun for help converts this verse into a timely positive assurance.
maker of heaven and earth!
(WEAK COUNSELLORS PIOUS WISH.)
3
May he not[731] suffer thy foot to slip!
[731] The subjective or deprecative negative is here used, and by the headline is dramatically accounted for.
may he that keepeth[732] thee not[731] slumber!
[732] N.B. how the strong counsellor catches up this word and repeats it five times.
(STRONG COUNSELLORS RE-ASSURANCE.)
4
Lo! neither[733] will slumber nor[733] sleep
[733] In contrast with the negative in Psa. 121:3, that here used is positive, and states a fact.
the Keeper of Israel.
5
Jehovahthy KeeperJehovah
is thy shade on thy right hand:
6
By day the sun shall not smite thee,
nor the moon by night.
7
Jehovah will keep thee from every evil
he will keep thy person,[734]
[734] Heb. nephesh: U.: soul. We need to be reminded how frequently nephesh means personin good contrast, here, with goings.
8
Jehovah will keep thy going out and thy coming in
from henceforth and to the ages![735]
[735] Cp. Intro., Chap. III., Ages.
(Nm.)
PARAPHRASE
Psalms 121
Shall I look to the mountain gods for help?
2 No! My help is from Jehovah who made the mountains! And the heavens too!
3, 4 He will never let me stumble, slip or fall. For He is always watching, never sleeping.
5 Jehovah Himself is caring for you! He is your defender.[736]
[736] Literally, your shade at your right hand.
6 He protects you day and night.
7 He keeps you from all evil, and preserves your life.
8 He keeps His eye upon you as you come and go, and always guards you.
EXPOSITION
Notwithstanding his strong faith in Jehovah, Hezekiahs confidence would naturally be tried as the Assyrians approached the sacred city. Jerusalem was surrounded by mountains; and to these the King would instinctively lift up his eyes to see whether the Assyrians were coming; and, in moments of distress, might well askwhence his help could come. Such a strong man as Isaiah would be at hand to assure him; and Psa. 121:2 would be worthy of him and of the occasion. It is easy to apprehend how a weaker counsellor might thereupon express the pious wish that Jehovahs help might not fail, but in such terms as tended rather to weaken the Kings faith than to strengthen it. The first adviser, therefore, renews his assurances of Jehovahs help in more vigorous and ample terms. Lo! says he,Look you!as of some open and manifest truthand then he proceeds with his re-assurance in positive terms of utmost vigour; accumulating the Divine titles to confidence, figuratively picturing the pervading presence of Jehovahs protection, playing with the word employed by his weaker friendKeepertill it echoes with triumphant faith. Then, too, the very word keep is exquisitely fitted to the position of a king who could not movebut must wait till he should see the salvation of God. How much easier thus to apply the words, than to force the accustomed thought of help coming from the mountains of Juda to bring the returning exiles out of Babylon.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1.
Verse one of this psalm is very much misunderstood. The help does not come from the hillsfrom whence? Discuss.
2.
Who would give help and assurance to Hezekiah? (i.e. besides God)
3.
There seems to be two counsellors in this psalm. What does each say? Who are they?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(1) Whence.Our version is certainly incorrect in following the LXX. and Vulg. in making whence a relative. The Hebrew word is always interrogative; even in Jos. 2:4 it is indirectly interrogative. But the margin is hardly right in making the whole verse interrogative. Render, I will lift up mine eyes to the hills. Whence comes my help? The hills are those on which Jerusalem is built, the plural being understood, as in Psa. 87:1. (See Note.) This gaze of hope does not absolutely decide the standpoint of the poet. He might have been like Ezekiel (Eze. 6:2) when bidden to turn towards the mountains of Israel in the distant plain of Mesopotamia; or he may have been close on the end of the pilgrim journey, and actually under the sacred hills. But wherever he stands, this question is not one of doubt; he knows, as in Psa. 3:4; Psa. 14:7, that help will come from Gods holy hill out of Zion. He puts the question for the sake of the emphatic answer in the next verse. Possibly, as suggested by the marginal rendering and reference, the poet may in his mind have been contrasting the confidence with which a worshipper of Jehovah might look up to the sacred city on the crest of the holy hill with that superstition and idolatry which was associated with so many hills and high places in Canaan. If this is so, the best commentary, both on the poetry and the religion of the psalm, is to be found in Mr. Ruskins fascinating discourses on mountains in Modern Painters, their influence on the ancient, mediaeval, and modern mind, and the part they have played alike in the mythology of the pagan times and the religion of the Christian world. There must also be added, in connection with the feeling of the Jew, the part his mountains played as a barrier of defence (Psa. 125:2), and as heights of observation from which to watch for the messengers of peace (Isa. 52:7; Nah. 1:15).
In the mountains did he feel his faith
. . . . and there his spirit shaped
Her prospects.WORDSWORTH.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
1. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills Not to the hills of Palestine in general, but to those of Jerusalem and its environs. See on Psa 125:2. Mount Zion, in David’s time, and Moriah afterward, were particularly holy mountains, the abode of Jehovah. Psa 14:7; Psa 20:2; Psa 48:2; Psa 48:11-12. The lifting up of the eyes here implies devotional trust and desire, or the lifting up of the soul, as in Psa 123:1; Psa 143:8.
From whence cometh The compound particle, meayin, is an interrogative, and should read, “From whence shall my help come?” The question is abrupt, but gives a dramatic effect, and prepares for the answer which immediately follows.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psalms 121
Introduction – There is no human being, no matter how strong and powerful, that does not face situations that are beyond his ability to control. Even King David saw his own weakness and need for a Saviour and Comforter. Psalms 121 reminded the children of Israel of their need for God’s sustaining help as they made their way up to Jerusalem on their holy pilgrimage.
Psa 121:1 (A Song of degrees.) I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
Psa 121:1
Psa 121:1 “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills” – Comments – The context of Psalms 121 is the march up to Jerusalem. The reference to the hills are those that surround the city of Jerusalem (Psa 125:2). In the same way that the hills surround the city of David, God surrounds His people. These protective hills make the city of Jerusalem a stronghold against the enemy (2Sa 5:7).
Psa 125:2, “ As the mountains are round about Jerusalem , so the LORD is round about his people from henceforth even for ever.”
2Sa 5:7, “Nevertheless David took the strong hold of Zion: the same is the city of David.”
Psa 121:2 My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.
Psa 121:3 Psa 121:3
Psa 34:7, “The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.”
Jud 1:24, “Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,”
Psa 121:6 The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.
Psa 121:6
Psa 121:8 The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.
Psa 121:8
Mat 28:20, “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world . Amen.”
Heb 13:5, “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee .”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Guardian Care of the Lord.
v. 1. I will lift up mine eyes, v. 2. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth, v. 3. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved, v. 4. Behold, v. 5. The Lord is thy Keeper; the Lord is thy Shade upon thy right hand, v. 6. The sun shall not smite thee by day, v. 7. The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil, v. 8. The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
THE preceding psalm is one of complaint; the present, one of comfort and consolation. The pilgrim lifts up his eyes to the hills, and is satisfied that help is coming to him. He then proceeds to cheer himself with assurances of God’s sleepless care and protection. Metrically, the psalm falls into four stanzas of four lines each.
Psa 121:1
I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills. The “holy hills,” that stand round about Jerusalem, are intended (Psa 87:1; Psa 125:2). There God had “promised his blessing, even life forevermore” (Psa 133:3). From whence cometh my help. Most modern critics regard this clause as interrogative, and translate, “Whence is it that my help shall come?” But “the question is only asked to give more effect to the answer” (Cheyne).
Psa 121:2
My help cometh from the Lord; literally, my help is from the Lord. He alone has both the power and the will to assist me. Which made heaven and earth; i.e. “which is omnipotent.”
Psa 121:3
He will not suffer thy foot to be moved. The psalmist addresses himself with consolatory assurances. God will not allow any evil to approach him, so as to do him hurt. He that keepeth thee will not slumber. God does not sleephis vigilance is unceasing (comp. Isa 27:3).
Psa 121:4
Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The assurance rises from the particular to the general. It is not one Israelite alone over whom God will watch unceasingly, but the whole people of Israel.
Psa 121:5
The Lord is thy Keeper; the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. “Thy shade” means “thy protection.” “thy defense.” Protection was especially needed on the right hand, as the side which no shield guarded. Latin writers call the right side “latus aperture.”
Psa 121:6
The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. These were the chief dangers of travelers, whether pilgrims or others. Coup de soleil was feared by day, and the deleterious influence of the moon’s rays by night. This last has sometimes been doubted, but the observation of modern travelers seems to show that bad effects actually fellow on sleeping in the moonlight in hot countries.
Psa 121:7
The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil; or, “keep thee.” The same verb is used throughout. He shall preserve thy soul; or, keep thy soul.
Psa 121:8
The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in (comp. Deu 28:6; 1Sa 29:6; 2Sa 3:25; 1Ki 3:7; 2Ki 19:27). The phrase is an equivalent of “The Lord shall preserve thee in all thy ways” (Psa 91:11). From this time forth, and even forevermore; i.e. so long as thou hast “goings out” and “comings in.” But the phrase used rather implies that these will never cease.
HOMILETICS
Psa 121:1-8
God our Guide: a New Year’s psalm.
In whatever special circumstances, or for whatever particular occasion, this psalm may have been written, it is certain that it is admirably suited to suggest New Year’s thoughts to our minds. We shall best appreciate it if we consider
I. THE GREATNESS OF OUR NEED. We have sometimes to face the future, and then we confront:
1. Certainties; duties, difficulties, vexations, trials, temptations, opportunities.
2. Uncertainties; possibly some very great joy, or some overwhelming sorrow, or some very sore perplexity, or even the last experience of death.
II. THE INSUFFICIENCY OF HUMAN HELP. We naturally and rightly look to our kindred and to our friends for sympathy and succor. But:
1. They do not remain with us; parents die; brothers and sisters are scattered far and wide; friends become estranged.
2. They cannot render us all the help we need. Oar wants go so far, and strike so deep, that human sympathy does not avail; it falls short; we need more than it can bring. We must not only look around, but above, must “lift up our eyes to the hills, from whence cometh our help,” for our “help cometh from the Lord” (Psa 121:1, Psa 121:2).
III. OUR HELP IN GOD.
1. With him is all power. He who “made heaven and earth” (Psa 121:2) can do anything, everything, for us. There can come no difficulty, no entanglement, from which he cannot deliver us; there can come no sorrow in which he will not be able to support us.
2. We can count on the constancy of his care. He “will not slumber,” etc. (Psa 121:3, Psa 121:4). Not for one small moment will he forget us; day and night we shall be the objects of his watchful love.
3. He will be present to defend us everywhere. He will be our Keeper, our Shade upon our right hand (Psa 121:5). His gracious power will overshadow us at every step we take. We cannot think o, any place, however remote, or obscure, or humble, where he will not be with his defending, delivering hand.
4. He will guard us from all forms of evil. Evil takes many forms; it comes to us in every guise. Now it is prosperity, and now adversity; it may be an intoxicating approval and adulation, or it may be a crushing depreciation and desertion; it may be a strong and sudden assault on our integrity, or it may be the more perilous approach of that which very gradually undermines or disintegrates. But whatever be its form, our God can “keep” us true, pure, holy. The sun shall not smite by day, nor the moon by night; “the Lord will preserve us from all evil” (Psa 121:6, Psa 121:7).
5. He will preserve us, ourselves; not only our home, our fortune, our credit, our reputation, but ourselves: “He shall preserve thy soul.” He will “not suffer thy foot to be moved” (Psa 121:3); he will uphold us in the path of righteousness; and if we have to walk “in slippery places,” yet his right hand will hold us, and our soul will not be stained with the sin which injures and defiles.
6. He will attend us to the close of life (Psa 121:8). “This God is our God forever and ever, he will be our guide even unto death” (Psa 48:14).
HOMILIES BY S. CONWAY
Psa 121:1-8
Kept from all evil.
This is what the writer of this precious psalm looks for from God (see the first two verses), and this is what the psalm promises, and that with the utmost particularity. There shall not be even a slip of the foot, a thing so common in mountainous lands, and often so perilous, and the keeping shall be night and day alike, and close at hand (Psa 121:5). The Lord himself shall see to if, whether during the heat of the day or the chill of the night, it matters not. The Lord shall keep thee inwardly and outwardly soul and body alike, from all evil and in all thy ways. “But”so ask not a few”is all that true? Are we so kept as this psalm promisesnot the mere godless crowd, but the company of God’s faithful ones: does the Lord keep them, as is here said, ‘from all evil’?” And then there are brought forward the long array of facts which seem to make against the truth of this word. Disease, accident, death, the overwhelming by earthquakes, lightning, flood, storm; by the ferocity or the folly of men, and by any of the ten thousand ills which flesh is heir to. As we contemplate the awful number of victims to such causes as we have named, and the yet worse ruin which comes from moral causes, it is not to be wondered at that some regard this psalm as rather a pious imagination than the declaration of actual fact. What are we to say? Are we to give up our faith in the blessed guardianship of God, and to consign to the category of credulity the trust which this psalm encourages? We will not do that, but we will reply
I. THE PROMISE IS NOT FOR EVERY COMMUNITY, BUT FOR THE PEOPLE OF GOD. The band of pilgrims who set out from Babylon to return to their native land and to re-establish the worship of God were a special and a holy company, and God did keep them as they journeyed on along the weary wilderness-ways. We must come within the circle of the covenanted people of God ere we can lay claim to the fulfillment of a psalm like this. It is not for the godless, but for the regenerated people of God. For them
II. THE GENERAL RULE OF GOD‘S PROVIDENTIAL CARE IS AS HERE SET FORTH. Not the universal, but the general rule. There have been and there are exceptions, but taking the history of God’s people in all ages, and looking at their average experience, may we not cryIt is well with the righteous; the Lord is their Keeper? God’s people are, after all, the happiest people under the sun.
III. OUR IDEA OF BEING KEPT AND GOD‘S IDEA MAY BE VERY DIFFERENT.
1. We think so much of the keeping of the body, and of a man‘s outward circumstances. But in comparison with the soul’s well-being, God counts these things as of no importance. Hence God may preserve a man’s soul when he lets his outward affairs go all to ruin; for the sake of his soul this may be needed. But if his soul has been kept, has not God been true to his word?
2. God takes eternity into view; we think only of the present. If, then, a man be eternally saved, does the fact that during a period unspeakably short in comparison with eternity the man’s outward life was full of trouble invalidate the promise of this psalm and prove it false?
3. Further, we see only the surface of things; God looks at the reality. If, then, what we call disaster, and think to be so, be really amongst “all things which work together for [not merely precede, but produce the] man’s good” as is so often the case (see 2Co 4:17), then is God’s permission or sending of that disaster a falsifying of the promise of this psalm.
IV. THE PROMISE MAY BE TRUE TO THE HEART WHEN ITS FULFILLMENT IS NOT APPARENT TO THE EYE. What is the value of all God’s providential mercies, his blessed keeping of us in health and external well-beingwhat is the value of it except for the effect it has upon our minds? It is the inward happiness and peace and joy which these things impart which gives them their value. Otherwise they are of no good at all, any more than the strains of sweetest music are to the deaf, or the most beautiful scenery to the blind. But if God be ableas he isto impart that same and even greater inward happiness, peace, and joy by other means, and does so, as, blessed be his Name! he so often does, then again we askHas not God been true to his word? is not this psalm actual fact? Therefore we rest assured that the Lord will keep us flora all evil, he will keep our soul.S.C.
Psa 121:8
The sure keeping of God.
It has been remarked by a learned Bible scholar that part of the common complaints which are often brought against our English Bible is really owing to the likes and dislikes as to the usage of words in which we English people allow ourselves. It is constantly complained of that where, in the original Scriptures, the sacred writers employ only one word, our translators have put for that one word, two, three, four, five, or even several more different English words, thus conveying to our minds several ideas, where it was the intention of the Scriptures to convey only one. No doubt our translators did their best to find synonymswords, that is, which though, different in sound, have the same sensestill the senses so given are only similar, and may not be seen by ordinary readers to be so similar as it was thought they were. Hence such difference of rendering is often misleading, and rather a hiding than a setting forth of the Scripture’s true meaning. Now, in this beautiful psalm we have a notable instance of such different rendering. We do not see that the sense is obscured in this instance, but we think the emphasis and force are lessened. The one prominent word in the psalm is “keep:” the whole psalm is about the Lord God’s sure keeping of his people, and that this might be impressed on the mind, the writer six times over in the last five verses of the psalm repeats this word “keep.” Now in the three former verses out of these five our version adheres to the word “keep,” but in the last two it changes over to the less forcible word “preserve.” Our English dislike of using the same word repeatedly accounts for this change, and causes the loss of impressiveness which the repeated reverberations of the one emphatic word “keep” were intended to produce. But to pass on to what is of more importance, the truth itself of God’s sure keeping, let us
I. TAKE THE PROMISE LITERALLY.
1. It referred to Israel‘s journeyings from Babylon to Judah, or from wherever their abode might be, up to the great festivals. Now, even in this literal sense, the promise was no mean one. For those olden days were not days of settled law and order, in which life and property were secure, and evil-doers could scarce hope to escape punishment. But the very reverse was the truth. Might stood for right, and hence the “going out and coming in” of Israel in those days was ever attended with much peril.
2. And for ourselves the promise holds good. God has made our journeyings safe by means of what we call the inventions of science and the resources of civilization. They are but God’s instruments for our good. And when some terrible catastrophe occurs, as from time to time is the case, still, if we be of God’s Israel, we are kept: “He shall preserve thy soul.” Our real self is not harmed, the Lord is our Keeper, as he said.
II. AS APPLYING TO THE WHOLE OF OUR ACTIVE LIFE. Such is a frequent meaning of the expression, “going out and coming in” (see Deu 28:6, Deu 28:19; Deu 23:20; Jos 1:7; 1Sa 29:6). The general conduct and occupation of a man in his varied affairs are what is meant in all these passages. And how we need to be kept amid our daily work and business! How “the cares of this world” need to be guarded against, and “the deceitfulness of riches” also! How business life tends to absorb all time, all thought, all energy, so that scarce any are left for God! Hence blessed are they who are in God’s holy keeping in all the goings out and comings in of daily life!
III. TO OUR EXPERIENCES OF SORROW AND OF GLADNESS. “Going out” was a synonym for sorrow; “coming in,” for gladness and joy. For Israel was a people that had known what it was to go out to drear and dreadful exile, and that more than once. Hence whilst the idea of “going out” suggested only what was sad, that of “coming in,” the return from exile, was full of joy. “The redeemed of the Lord shall come with joy and singing,” etc. And in the New Jerusalem, one of its sweetest promises was that its people should “go no more out forever.” Sorrow has its snares, and so has joy. We need to be kept of God.
IV. TO THE MORNING AND EVENING OF LIFE. “Man goeth forth to his work and to his labor until the evening;” then he cometh in for rest. And if we truly desire it, the Lord will keep our going out and our coming in, in this sense also. “Our help cometh from the Lord.”S.C.
HOMILIES BY R. TUCK
Psa 121:1, Psa 121:2
Looking up.
“Shall I lift up mine eyes unto the hills? Whence should my help come?” The precise associations of the psalm cannot be fixed with any certainty. Perhaps it is best regarded as a psalm of the Exile. It might have been written by a Daniel, as he sat at his open window, and looked away over the broad, fiat plains of Babylon toward the distant mountain-land of Israel. The writer is oppressed with the burdens and sorrows of exile; he remembers Zion, and he sings his soul to quietness and peace by looking away from present cares to the high hills of God, and cheers his drooping spirit by remembering how, amid all the earth-changes, the everlasting hills abide. What a holy power upon us the mountains have! The grand, calm, strong, high thingsthey seem to be so near God; they seem to be so full of God; they bring us so near him, and fill us so full of him. One thing about them is suggested by our textthey make us look up. And is not that just what we need? Oh, to lose the downward look which has so grown upon us by the pressure of life-cares! The voice calls continually, “Lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh!”
I. WORLD–DRAWN, WE LOOK DOWN, AND SO ARE WEAK. We are in the worldin a thousand subtle ways we are kin with the world, subject to its influences, caught by its whirl of excitement, absorbed by its pressing claims, and easily we become of the world as well as in it. But everything the world presents to us is below us, beneath us; and it so keeps us looking down that the habit of down-looking grows upon us, and we are almost unable to look up. How powerfully we are all drawn by world-interests! Business man is world-absorbed. Domestic woman is world-absorbed. The influence of the world begets a downward look, a sort of set of the eyes and heart downwards. The world-thoughts abide with us, and even when the sabbath day brings God and heaven near, we find it very hard to get our eyes lifted up. Even in the sanctuary they drop on bills and stock and trade. To succeed in earthly things we must engage the whole heart and powers in them. It seems to be the one universal power that this sin-smitten world possesses over its creaturesit bends their shoulders, it bows their heads, it gives, it keeps, the downward look. And what do we see when we look down? Much of self, of man, and of things. The hurry and bustle of thousands who are hasting to be rich. And the shadow of God’s curse on sin resting everywhere. It is this down-looking that makes us so weak.
II. GOD–DRAWN, WE LOOK UP, AND SO GROW STRONG. For to men in this world God’s voice is ever calling. It sounds from the bright bands of the morning, from the high silver-tinted clouds of noonday, from the splendor and glory of the far-off sunset, from the lofty trees and the hill-tops, and the soaring birds of song, and the winds that roam free, and the “jewel-powdered skies” of night. Would we but stop and hush awhile, we might hear it always near us, saying, “Look up! Look up!” God has often refreshed his fainting servants with the sight of his everlasting hills. Moses was sent to feel the inspirations of Sinai. Elijah was calmed, and made himself again, by the soothing influences of Horeb, the mount of God. Our Lord sought seclusion among the hills of Eastern Galilee, and entered into the Divine glory on a spur of Hermon. And the mountains still soothe and calm God’s people. They teach us to look up.
1. Looking up, you find nothing of man’sit is all of God up above.
2. Looking up, you feel how pure God’s snow is, and think how much is in the promise, “They shall walk with me in white.”
3. Looking up, you see how earth-clouds are glorified.
4. Looking up, listen; you may hear the voices of the hills saying, “Be still! Hush the life-fever! Wait! In silence God doth speak.”
5. Look up and listen, and again the voices of the hills will say, “The mists and the storms are all outside us; they are not us.” Look up, and grow strong. Look up; you will feel the heaven-breath upon your face. Look up; your brow will soon lose those wreathings of anxiety and care. Look up, and you shall prove how God “wipes away all tears from our eyes.”R.T.
Psa 121:1, Psa 121:2
Not mountains, but God.
“From whence shall my help come?” This psalm is best taken as expressing the pious confidence of an individual believer, who addresses his inner self in words of comfort which are framed as if proceeding from another person. The psalmist is, as it were, holding a colloquy with himself. It is not that he expects help from the mountainshis hope is fixed on him who made the mountains. This comes out plainly in Perowne’s rendering, “Whence should my help come? My help (cometh) from Jehovah, the Maker of heaven and earth.”
I. THE MOUNTAINS CANNOT GIVE US HELP AND SAFETY. Illustrate from the times of Lot. He fled to the mountains; but God preserved him, not the mountain. From the times of David’s persecution, he fled to the mountain country of Judaea and the south; but God preserved him, not the hills. Covenanters and others found safety in the rocks and mountains in days of religious persecution; but their God was their real defense. So let mountains stand for the supreme self-efforts a man may make in his times of distress; he must be brought to the assured conviction that they cannot bring him safety. Beyond them he must look. Only when he looks beyond them do they become his security; for then God makes them such. “Some trust in horses, and some in chariots,” and some in mountains; “but we will trust in the Name of the Lord.”
II. THE MOUNTAINS CAN DIRECT US WHERE TO FIND HELP AND SAFETY. They appeal to both poetic and religious feeling. Buchanan, writing with the Cuchullin hills all about him, says
“Lord, art thou here? Far from the busy crowd,
Brooding in melancholy solitude?”
Moses was helped to realize the power of Jehovah by the daily impressions of the huge, craggy, awful mountain forms of Sinai. In quite an instinctive way men in all ages and in every land have inclined to build their altars on high hills, as if thus they did get nearer God. And it is the fact for most thoughtfully disposed persons, that more help is gained for pious meditation from mountain districts than from the changeableness of the sea, or the varying but ever-gentle beauty of the landscapes. Mountains have a peculiar power to solemnize and to impress us all; and precisely what they bring to us is that sense of God which assures of his love, and help, and lead.R.T.
Psa 121:4
The ever-watchful Watchman.
“Shall neither slumber nor sleep.” The words “slumber” and “sleep” are not climactic. Indeed, the Hebrew word for “slumber” is the stronger term of the two. There is no more in the setting of the two terms than poetical repetition. The one peril of the night-watchman is that he might be overcome with sleep. The one duty of the watchman is to keep ever, through his watching-time, awake and alert. Yet at the best no absolute security can be placed in any human watchman. A man may be overpowered with sleep, and be physically unable to resist its advances. Absolute security of defense lies in God, and we may fully trust in him. It is inconceivable that we can be placed in any circumstances or conditions which are unknown to him. Illustrations may be taken from the wilderness-journey of Israel. The pillar-cloud of the Divine presence was always there, night and day; and never anything could happen to Israel that was not divinely permitted. Or illustrate from the sick-bed of the sufferer. Worn out, the nurse may fall asleep, but the eye of the God of all consolation is never dimmed (see Psa 139:1-24.).
I. THE EVER–WATCHFUL WATCHMAN SEES. This is more necessary in a watchman than keeping awake; he must be quick to observe, attentive, noticing everything. “All things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.” God’s seeing includes what is by man seeable and by man unseeable; it includes what is and what is to be. “In every place, beholding the evil and the good.”
II. THE EVER–WATCHFUL WATCHMAN UNDERSTANDS. He not only sees things, but sees the significance of things. Estimates the importance of what he sees. Recognizes the relation of what he sees to his people. Makes what he sees the ground of his prompt and gracious action in their behalf.
III. THE EVER–WATCHFUL WATCHMAN HELPS. By his merciful defendings: “No plague shall come nigh thy dwelling.” By his wise upholdings: “Will not suffer thy foot to be moved.” By his wonderful overrulings, which constantly turn seeming evil into real and permanent good. If our life is thus within the constant Divine inspection, we may put away all fears, and simply “seek the kingdom of God, and his righteousness.”R.T.
Psa 121:6
Types of peril by day and by night.
The sun and the moon. To understand these figures, it is necessary to keep in mind, not only what the sun and moon actually are in Eastern countries, but also the sentiments which have gathered about them in those lands.
I. THE SUN IS THE TYPE OF THE OPEN PERILS OF THE GODLY LIFE. The sun strikes openly, and is especially perilous when it strikes on the lower part of the back of the head. Men know this, and are duly warned to take all precautions. And so in life there are various temptations and dangers, which we all know about, which every man knows may come into his personal experience, and concerning which we all, in various ways and degrees, take precautions. Yet even in respect of these we need the assurance of an outside and Divine protection. So strange is the frailty of human nature, that men are over-mastered by the very things they know well, are warned against, and even think themselves strong to resist. It needs to be always kept in mind that the power of temptation depends on the physical, mental, or spiritual condition in which we are found when it assails us. And we need the assurance of God’s defense even against open and well-known evils, because he only can know the particular peril which lies in their relativity to us at any given time. Illustrate by the fact that the sunstroke is only an occasional peril. The sun strikes the man who is in a physical condition to receive the stroke. But the man does not know the peril of his physical condition. God knows, and can help him to defend himself from the peril.
II. THE MOON IS THE TYPE OF THE SECRET PERILS OF THE GODLY LIFE. In the cloudless skies of the East, where the moon shines with such exceeding clearness, its effects upon the human frame have been found most injurious. It has been proved, beyond a doubt, that the moon smites as well as the sun, causing blindness for a time, and even the distortion of the features. The Arabs universally believe that the beams of the moon are noxious to the human body; and therefore they carefully cover over their heads when they sleep in the open air. Meat, when exposed to the moonbeams, becomes quickly tainted. Mr. Martin says, “Of the effects of the moon on animal life very many instances could be cited. I have seen in Africa the newly littered young perish in a few hours, if exposed to the rays of the full moon. Fish become rapidly putrid, and meat, if left exposed, incurable or unpreservable by salt. The mariner, heedlessly sleeping on deck, becomes afflicted with nyctolopia, or night-blindness; at times the face is hideously swollen, if exposed during sleep to the moon’s rays; the maniac’s paroxysms are renewed with fearful vigor at the full and change, and the cold, damp chill of the ague supervenes on the ascendency of this apparently mild yet powerful luminary. Let her influence over this earth be studied; it is more powerful than is generally known.” The moon may very well be taken as the type of the secret, subtle, insidious perils of the godly life; and these are chiefly to be dreaded. As there are poison-germs in the natural atmosphere, which generate disease in us when our vitality and resisting power are low, so there are poison-germs in the moral atmosphere of our everyday associations, which only cultured spiritual life can enable us to resist. There are enervating influences, suggestive examples. Little slips into inexactness or untruthfulness. A thousand things in common life, that seem to have no more Power of mischief in them than have the moonbeams. What, then, would be any man’s hope of preserving moral health and safety, if we might not cherish the assurance of the psalmist, that God understands all secret perils that gather about us, and will not let the moon smite us by night? “The darkness and the light are both alike to him.”R.T.
Psa 121:7
Evil as God sees it.
“All evil.” All kinds of evil. We may not think that God estimates evil precisely as we do. In this “God’s thoughts are not as our thoughts.” One important distinction may be Pointed out here. We think evil to be that which injuriously affects our circumstances; God sees evil as that which injuriously affects us. Consequently, some of the things which we call evil God does not so call, because their influence on us is good. And if this be so, the mere change of our circumstances is not the thing for us chiefly to desire; we should rather seek the Divine overruling, which includes defense from what God sees to be evil, and involves making “all things work together for good.”
I. GOD MISSES WHAT MAN SEES. For man evil is calamity. This is true in the physical sphere. Disaster, disease, disappointment, defeat, occupy man’s thoughts, and are, properly enough, from his point of view, classed as evils. But it is true also in the moral sphere, it is the calamity side of evil which absorbs man’s attention. Drunkenness ruining a life is evil. Dishonesty found out is evil. Quarrelsomeness breaking friendship is evil. It is only as man’s spiritual nature is quickened that moral evil, as distinct from moral calamity, is apprehended. But God does not call calamity evil. It has, indeed, no moral quality that he can recognize. It is only an agency for securing evil or good. It is a revelation to us to discover that God’s supreme interest is not in eyelets, as ours is. He is supremely concerned about us.
II. GOD SEES WHAT MAN MISSES. The moral possibilities that are in all events. Man is profoundly interested in what happens, and is wont to stop there, and miss the meaning of what happens. God always sees in events that happen persons acting; and in their motives and moods and wills he sees evil or good. The spiritually awakened man sees evil as God sees it; and, therefore, when he prays to be kept from all evil, he means kept from himselffrom the evil that is in him. If he were but free from the answering of his moral evil, nothing that could happen would be a real calamity.R.T.
Psa 121:7
The safety of our life.
“He shall keep thy soul.” The term “soul“ stands often in the Scriptures of both the Old and New Testaments for the animal life; but we use it for that spiritual being which man is, as distinguished from that bodily form which man has. Taking the first idea, it may be shown that God’s care of our natural life involves and includes all due provision for the thousandfold needs of that life. The greater includes the less. The daily renewed gift of life carries with it the gift of all the life will need day by day. This may be applied to the national life of Israel. The restored exiles may well gain and keep full confidence in God, seeing that he had kept their national life through such anxious and imperiling times. He had kept it; they might be sure that he would keep it. And this assurance carried with it the confidence that God’s defense and blessing were still upon the restored nation. If God keeps us in being, and gives us new days, then we may confidently hold him to his promise, “As thy day so shall thy strength be.” He is able and willing to make “all grace abound” unto “all-sufficiency.” Taking the second idea, we come upon God’s continued interest in, and care for, the new life he has quickened in our souls. His concern for the material life does but illustrate his care for the spiritual life (“This is the will of God, even our sanctification”). “Soul-keeping is the soul of keeping. If the soul be kept, all is kept. The preservation of the greater includes that of the less, so far as it is essential to the main design; the kernel shall be preserved, and in order thereto the shell shall be preserved also. Our soul is kept from the dominion of sin, the infection of error, the crush of despondency, the puffing up of pridekept from the world, the flesh, and the devil; kept for holier and greater things, kept in the love of God, kept unto the eternal kingdom and glory.” But we need not miss the important fact that God’s soul-keeping runs along with, and works through, our own soul-keeping. “Keep thy heart with all keepings, for out of it are the issues of life.”R.T.
Psa 121:8
The safety of our days.
“The Lord shall keep thy going out and thy coming in.” This expression is evidently borrowed from the blessing on obedience given in Deu 28:6, “Blessed shall thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shall thou be when thou goest out.” Clearly it is but a poetical way of saying, that the defense and guidance and benediction of Jehovah shall rest on the godly man in all the actions and relations of his everyday life. The protection vouchsafed extends to all a man is and all a man does. It might seem as if the salvation of the soul from spiritual death were all we need be anxious about; but God never urges this point upon us. His salvation is not so limited, lie saves the whole man, and bears as real a relation to man’s temporal as to his spiritual needs. “With his dear Son he freely gives us all things.” The true saving of a man for the life that now is involves the saving of the man for the life that is to come.
I. THE “GOING OUT” OF LIFE MAY INDICATE ITS ACTIVITIES AND ENTERPRISES. We go out in the morning refreshed, vigorous, full of conscious power, and in some peril of stir-reliance. “The Lord shall preserve thy going out.” Keeping thee from whatever form of temptation and moral evil may come through the putting forth of human energy in the daily duties of life. Man’s enterprise may bring him into situations of bodily danger. God will keep him then. But the very force he puts into life may unduly magnify self; and it is much more to say that God will keep him from ensnaring self.
II. THE “COMING IN” OF LIFE MAY INDICATE ITS PASSIVITIES AND QUIET RELATION-strips. We come in tired. We come in to rest, enjoy; we come in to home relationships and quiet occupations; and we seldom suspect that there is a possible exaggerating of self in our times of passivity, as truly as in our times of activity. There are luxuries, listlessnesses, selfishnesses, of our very resting-times; rod we need God for our coming in lest the self or self-indulgence should gain undue power over us.R.T.
HOMILIES BY C. SHORT
Psa 121:1-8
The Source of help.
“I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills,” etc.
I. A STRONG, DEEP SENSE OF DEPENDENCE ON GOD IMPLANTED IN US.
II. WE MUST LIFT OURSELVES UP IN THE WHOLE POWER OF OUR BEING TO REALIZE GOD‘S NEARNESS TO HELP US. He dwelt in the mountain-group of Zion at Jerusalem, and in the other mountains of Israel. We have been taught to realize that God is Spirit, and dwells near us, as well as in the far-off mountains and in distant worlds. But we can see him only from the heights of the soul.
III. THE CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE IS THE PROVIDENCE OF THIS WORLD. (Psa 121:2.) The Being who framed man’s wonderful nature would naturally provide for its great wantsthe wants he had himself created. “Your Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.”
IV. THE CREATOR WOULD NOT ONLY HAVE THE POWER, BUT THE DESIRE, THE DISPOSITION, TO HELP THE CHILD OF HIS LOVE. (Psa 121:3-6.) “He that keepeth thee will not slumber.” God’s care for us will not suffer him to sleep or become indifferent to us.
V. GOD‘S ETERNAL CARE IS TO KEEP THE SOUL FROM EVILFROM ALL REAL EVIL. Many calamitous, or what appear calamitous, events to us are not evils in the sight of tied, but, under his control, issue in our eternal good.S.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Psalms 121.
The great safety of the godly, who put their trust in God’s protection.
A Song of Degrees.
Title. Shiir hammangaloth.] This psalm is thought by some to have been written by David, while he was in the field with his army during Absalom’s rebellion; but if the psalms of ascent were sung by those who went up to the temple, it is most probable that it begins as with a person just come to Jerusalem, and looking round him in great anxiety towards the mountains about it for divine help. In the second verse he fixes his eye upon the mountain where the temple stood, and expects help from thence: here he is supposed to offer his sacrifice, and pay his devotions to God. While this is doing, some person, in the third verse, wishes he may find the favour and protection of his God. From the fourth onward, the priest, probably seeing the usual sign of favour (Behold), promises him most assuredly the divine protection and blessing.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psalms 121
A Song of degrees
I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills,
From whence cometh my help.
2My help cometh from the Lord,
Which made heaven and earth.
3He will not suffer thy foot to be moved:
He that keepeth thee will not slumber.
4 Behold, he that keepeth Israel
Shall neither slumber nor sleep.
5The Lord is thy keeper:
The Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.
6The sun shall not smite thee by day,
Nor the moon by night.
7The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil:
He shall preserve thy soul.
8The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in
From this time forth, and even for evermore.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Contents and Composition.The Poet lifts his eyes to the mountains, upon which is Jehovahs seat, with the assurance, that from thence protection from all that can imperil body and soul, and help in every situation of life, will be vouchsafed him by the almighty and eternal God, who is not only the Creator of the world, but the Keeper of Israel, and who never grows weary in His activity and care. The change of persons is probably to be regarded as a poetical figure. A responsive song between a single voice (Psa 121:1; Psa 121:3), and the believing Church (Psa 121:2; Psa 121:4), with the words of the Priest in (Psa 121:5-8), in support of such trust (Olsh.), is not definitely indicated. The confidence of trust is expressed already in Psa 121:1 b, without the need of taking the sentence relatively (the German, English and Dutch Bibles) against the prevailing usage of (yet comp. Jos 2:4).
The question is not one of uncertainty or doubt, but is a figure of speech.
The particular situation of the Poet cannot be discovered. It is not even to be assumed with certainty that he was in exile, or on a festival journey. For the mountains to which he lifts his eyes are not any high places whatever in the world (Calvin et al.), from which help was expected, or the mountains within his present range of vision (Amyrald, Geier, J. H. Mich.), or those of Palestine, which the homesick exile beholds in fancy (De Wette), but those of Jerusalem, or of Zion (Psa 87:1; Psa 125:2; Psa 133:3) as the dwelling-place of God and the place whence help proceeds (Psa 3:5; Psa 14:7). But there is nothing to show whether the Poet was in Jerusalem itself, or in its vicinity, or at a distance. The conjecture of an allusion to Samaria, in the sixfold repetition of the catchword (Hengstenberg, Hitzig), is too bold, since the guardianship of Jehovah is the fundamental thought.
Psa 121:1-4. [The second member of Psa 121:1, Should be an interrogative sentence as explained above.J. F. M.]. It is by no means admissible to obliterate (Rosenm., De Wette) the distinction between the subjective negative ver 3, and the objective , Psa 121:4. [Perowne: The Psalmist turns to address himself. First he utters the wish that Gods watchful care may be extended to him, and then the conviction that the Keeper of Israel, He who has been the God of his fathers, who has led the nation through all its eventful history, doth not, will not, cannot, slumber or sleep, comp. Psa 132:4, 1Ki 18:27; Isa 5:27; Job 7:20.J. F. M.]. By the exclamation: behold! (Psa 121:4), the assurance, that the Keeper of Israel cannot sleep, is still further supported. As the seed of Abraham, Israel could appropriate to itself the promise of Gen 28:15, so much the more confidently. No climax, however, is to be sought (Calv. Geier, J. H. Mich.), in the two verbs. On the contrary the former is the stronger, meaning literally: to snore. (Hupfeld). The strengthening of the expression is effected by the accumulation of synonyms.
Psa 121:5-6. The shade is an image of protection (Num 14:9; Psa 91:1); and this figure has something peculiarly attractive to the Oriental, even when not a traveller. It occurs here as preparing the way for the mention of the Sun, which immediately follows, but has not a physical and local meaning=over thy right hand (Luther) or: lying towards thy right hand, that is, towards the south, or protecting on the sunny side (J. D. Mich., Muntinghe). This is plain, if we consider that the injurious influences proceeding from the sun and moon are introduced only as representative of dangers by day and night, against which the ever-watchful God grants protection. But a real phenomenon of nature lies at the foundation of the figure. Recent travellers of scientific culture report expressly, that hurtful influences upon the human frame are not only everywhere ascribed to the moon by popular belief, but that effects similar to those manifested in sun-stroke, are produced by the moonbeams. There is no reference, therefore, to coldness by night as contrasted with the heat of the day, Gen 31:40; Jer 36:30 (Hengst., after Aben Ezra, Kimchi, Calvin, Geier, et al.), nor is the moon introduced for the sake of the poetic parallelism (Hupfeld) to smite, of the destructive beating of the sun (Is. 49:40), upon plants, causing them to wither (Psa 102:6), and upon the head (Jon 4:8), resulting (Del.) in the symptoms of sunstroke (2Ki 4:19, Jdt 8:2 f.). [Delitzsch: Many years ago I heard a clergyman elucidate this passage from his own experience. While he was ascending a peak of the Riesengebirge, the moonbeams smote upon him so strongly, that he was compelled to shield his eyes with leafy twigs. And not long since I heard from Texas, that sleeping in the open air when the moon shines was in that country frequently followed by dizziness, mental aberration, and even death. Other accounts from Batavia are given by De Wette and from the East generally by Ewald. Many expositors, however, understand by the smiting of the moon, the cold that is felt during the night, as being contrasted with the heat of the sun, comp. Gen 31:39; Jer 36:30 (Hengst. et al.) De Sacy remarks: they say sometimes of intense cold, as of intense heat that it is burning. The Arab also says of snow and cold as of fire, jahrik, it burns. (Delitzsch). The same usage was noticed by Defoe, who, in Robinson Crusoe, makes Friday utter the same exclamation during his first experience of snow.J. F. M.].
Psa 121:8. The going out and the coming in do not denote specially going abroad and returning home, in the beginning and completion of any undertaking (Hengst.). but the whole life, and its occupations (Hupfeld, et al.). This is proved by the usage of the expression in many passages [Perowne: Comp. Deu 28:6; Deu 31:2; 1Sa 29:6, etc. The threefold expression: shall keep thee… thy soul… thy going out and thy coming in, marks the completeness of the protection vouchsafed, extending to all that the man is, and that he does. Comp. 1Th 5:23.J. F. M.].
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Men have not only to expect confidently help from God, they must also pray for it, and are permitted to resort trustingly to Him.What consolation is contained in the reflection, that the Creator of the world is not only the God of revelation, but also the eternal Keeper of His Church, and of each of its members!God neither confines His help to time and place, nor is limited in it by any creature whatever, nor directs it to any exclusive sphere of bodily or spiritual need.God is our Keeper in everything; but do we at all times place ourselves rightly under His protection?
Starke: In time of need, our ruined nature is sorely inclined to seek help in those objects which can render none.As mountains are a natural stronghold, so are Gods protection and assistance our more than natural mountain and fortress.Thou troubled child of God, dost thou doubt that thou shalt be preserved? If God preserves the heavens and the earth which He has made, should He not also preserve thee?God has a watchful but loving and merciful eye upon His children, He sees from afar all misfortune, and can avert it in time.If the soul is lost, all is lost; Satan is continually laying his snares for it; do thou then pray the more fervently; O Lord! keep my soul!The most important changes of a mans life, are his entrance into the world and his departure from it; in both the Divine preservation is indispensable.Thou hast Gods promise, so do thou, O fellow Christian! appropriate it believingly to thyself in every undertaking.Frisch: Distress teaches us men to look around for help. But it is to be lamented that the timid heart does not know how to compose itself and seek it in the right place.Help does not come to men from the place whither the flesh looked for it, but whither the soul of David turned to receive it.Umbreit: All the acts of the pious are performed under Gods protection, whether abroad or at home.Guenther: The departure from life, and the entrance into the eternal abodes of safety, are the goal of life, the first of all cares, and the highest of all joys.O Lord! we are all travellers through life; we would also be true pilgrims.Taube: The guardianship of God over the whole life, over time and eternity.Huyssen: The hope of the Christian in the dangers of war.Diedrich: Gods Church is exhausted here and encompassed by dangers; our comfort is, that God will guard us His inheritance, and lead us home to Himself.
[Matt. Henry: It is infinite wisdom that contrives, and infinite wisdom that works the safety of those, that have put themselves under Gods protection.Those must needs be well kept, that have the Lord for their Keeper. If by affliction they be made His prisoners, yet, still He is their Keeper.He shall prevent the evil thou fearest, and sanctify, remove, or lighten the evil thou feelest. He shall keep thee from doing evil, 1Co 13:7, and so far from suffering evil, as that whatever afflictions happen to thee, there shall be no evil in them. Even that which kills shall not hurt.He will keep thee in life and death, thy going out and thy going on while thou livest, and thy coming in when thou diest, going out to thy labor in the morning of thy days, and coming home to thy rest, when the evening of old age calls thee in. Psa 104:20.J. F. M.].
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
DISCOURSE: 714
SECURITY OF THOSE WHO TRUST IN GOD
Psa 121:1-8. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in, from this time forth, and even for evermore.
A LIFE of faith is generally acknowledged to be that which becomes the Christian: but how much is implied in a life of faith is very little considered. The Divine government is too often supposed to extend to great things only: and the idea of referring to God all the little occurrences of every day, is thought by many to be derogatory to his supreme Majesty. But God is to be seen as much in the fall of a sparrow, as in the fall of the greatest empire: and our dependence upon him should extend to every thing without exception. Should we attempt to draw a line between the events to which his attention may be supposed to be directed, and those which may be left, as the expression is, to chance, we should find ourselves utterly at a loss, and, in fact, should soon prove ourselves to be downright Atheists. The Scriptures admit of no such distinction: they ascribe every thing to God: even the events which in some respect owe their origin to Satan, in other points of view are traced up to God himself as their author [Note: 1Ch 21:1. with 2Sa 24:1.]: and one very important use of the Psalms is, to shew us, how much the habit of referring every thing to God characterizes, composes, and elevates the Christian mind.
In the psalm before us we see this truth exemplified in the experience of David: in illustrating which, we shall notice,
I.
The resolution he formed
The first verse of the psalm is somewhat differently rendered in the margin of our Bibles: Shall I lift up mine eyes unto the hills? Whence should my help come? This, whilst it affixes an important sense to the passage, gives it peculiar force and beauty. It represents the Psalmist as expressing his conviction of the utter insufficiency of all earthly powers to assist him, and his determination to confide in God alone. And in this view the passage exactly accords with that declaration of the Church in the prophet Jeremiah, Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains: truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel [Note: Jer 3:23.].
But as it stands in our translation, it is a resolution of David to look unto Jehovah, who dwelleth on Mount Zion, or rather in the highest heavens, and to trust in him as the one only source of all good. Now this was,
1.
A wise resolution
[When our Lord said to his disciples, Will ye also go away? Peter replied in the name of all, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. In like manner we must ask, To whom can we go for help, except to the Lord our God? No creature can afford us any effectual aid. The creation itself subsists only through the continued agency of Him who first called it into existence, and in all its parts needs the same superintending care that we ourselves do. Whithersoever we turn our eyes for help, every creature uniformly replies, It is not in me; neither in me. To look therefore to Jenovah, is our truest, our only, wisdom.]
2.
A pious resolution
[A man duly sensible of his dependence on God, abhors the idea of trusting in an arm of flesh. He would not so dishonour God; he would not so invade his unalienable prerogative. He loves the very thought of being a pensioner on the Divine bounty. The habit of committing every concern to God, and of receiving every blessing from God, is truly delightful to him. Hence he says with the church of old, Ashur shall not save us; neither will we ride upon horses; neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy [Note: Hos 14:3.]. This is the dictate of true piety: and, whilst it ensures to men a constant communication of all necessary good, it renders every blessing ten-fold more sweet, as coming to them through the special intervention of their heavenly Father.]
3.
A necessary resolution
[This state of mind is equally necessary for every child of man. The greatest monarch is as dependent upon God as the lowest person in the universe. No man has any power to secure himself for one single moment: he is crushed before the moth, if God give it a commission to destroy him. Pharaoh himself was as open to the assault of all the different plagues, and as incapable of removing any one of them, as any of his subjects were. What peace then can any man enjoy, who has no other than a created arm to rest upon? If we would have any solid comfort in our minds, we must realize a sense of Gods superintending care, and rest in him for a supply of every blessing that we stand in need of.]
Having declared his resolution, the Psalmist informs us of,
II.
The encouragement given him to persevere in it
It is worthy of observation, that, after the two first verses of the psalm, David ceases to speak, and is himself addressed by another, who overheard his resolution. And who is it that thus replies to him? It is no other than God himself; who immediately replies, in order to shew to the whole universe how pleasing and acceptable to him such a resolution is. Nor are such transitions unusual in the Scriptures: but they deserve especial notice, wherever they occur. We may see a precisely similar passage in the book of the prophet Jeremiah; where the Lord, having overheard the confessions of his repenting people, instantly takes up the subject, and for their encouragement addresses them in these gracious terms; If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the Lord, return unto me; and I will put thine abominations out of my sight; and thou shalt not remove [Note: Jer 3:25; Jer 4:1.]. The declarations which God here made to David, are equally applicable to all, who, like him, are resolved to live in a state of dependence upon God. Let us consider them,
1.
In relation to temporal things
[All the different expressions which are here used, have an evident reference to what was wrought for Israel during the forty years of their sojourning in the wilderness. The roughness of their untrodden path would often occasion their feet to slip: the heat of the sun by day, and the influence of the moon, together with the noxious damps, by night, would greatly molest them in their journey: and their danger from savage beasts or venomous reptiles would tend to keep them in continual alarm. But God promises that no evil shall hurt those who trust in him.
He will be to them an ever-watchful helper. Men, be they ever so numerous, may be off their guard: but the Keeper of Israel never will: he never slumbereth nor sleepeth: no enemy can escape his notice; no device be hidden from his view: and his express engagement to his people is, that no weapon that is formed against them shall prosper [Note: Isa 54:17.].
He will be to them also an ever-present helper. The idea of his being our shade upon our right hand is exceeding beautiful: for none but those in hot climates can fully conceive the benefit of a shade to protect them from the intense heat of the sun, which not unfrequently strikes persons dead upon the spot. But the expression of being our shade upon our right hand probably alludes to the situation of the cloud which attended the Israelites through the wilderness, not only to guide them in their journey, but to shade them by day, and to give them light and warmth also by night. And, as the journey of the Israelites was chiefly in a north-east direction, the cloud which afforded them this shade would be on their right hand during the whole of the day. But not to lay any stress on this, the import of the expression obviously is, that, wherever we are open to the assaults of an enemy, God will be ever present to afford us his protection; and that whether we be going out or coming in, we may be assured of his continued and effectual care.
He will yet further be an all-sufficient helper. Neither sun nor moon, (which may represent the greatest of created powers,) nor indeed any other being shall hurt us; for He will preserve us from all evil, and that, not for a season only, but from this time forth, and even for evermore. To the same effect this truth is largely declared in the book of Job, in reference to every species of calamity, that it shall not befall any one who trusts in God, or, if it befall him, it shall be overruled for his more abundant good [Note: Job 5:19-23.]. We must doubtless take the promise in this latitude; else it would be contrary to fact and experience: but understood with this limitation, it is, and ever shall be, accomplished in every child of God [Note: Isa 27:3.].]
2.
In relation to the concerns of the soul
[It is expressly asserted here, that God will preserve our souls. We may be assured therefore, that whatever he does for the body that perishes, shall much more be done for our immortal part. Yes, he will keep the feet of his saints, nor shall all the powers, whether of earth or hell, be able to cast them down. Never will he leave us; never, never forsake us. Our enemies, it is true, will fight against us to the uttermost: but he will suffer none of them ever to pluck us out of his hand. To this extent St. Paul avows his confidence in God [Note: Rom 8:35-39. with 2Ti 2:18.]: and every believer may justly assure himself, that nothing in heaven, earth, or hell, shall ever separate him from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.]
Address
1.
To those who have no fears
[Whence proceeds this? If from confidence in the power and veracity of God, it is well: you are then entitled to cast off all fear; for they who fear Him, have nothing else to fear. But if your want of fear arises, as it too generally does, from an ignorance of your danger, or a confidence in yourselves, you have no reason for self-congratulation: since the greater your fancied security is, the more imminent and awful is your danger. Would you be afraid if you were surrounded by armed hosts that were seeking to destroy you? and will you not be afraid, when Satan himself, that roaring lion, is going about day and night seeking the everlasting destruction of your souls? To continue ignorant of your danger is the readiest way to ensure your everlasting ruin. What if some alarm be occasioned by a sight of your danger? Is it not better to dread the pursuer of blood, than to fall into his hands! Will not your security when you have gained the city of refuge, compensate for the terror that drove you thither? Know then, that if you are yet strangers to a salutary fear, you have yet to learn the true import of a scriptural and saving hope.]
2.
To those who are too much under the influence of fear
[You should never forget what an Almighty Friend you have. How many times in this psalm are you reminded, that the Lord, even the Almighty God, is your helper and deliverer! Were he less powerful, or less vigilant, or less worthy of credit, you might well fear. But what ground can he have for fear, who has God himself for his refuge? O! learn to say with David, The Lord is my strength and my salvation; whom then shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid! I ask not from whence your dangers or your fears arise: for, if they were a thousand times greater and better founded than they are, this one answer were sufficient to remove them all, If God be for you; who can be against you? Only rely on God, and you are safe. See how tenderly he chides your unbelieving fears [Note: Isa 40:27-31.]. If under any circumstances you are tempted to indulge an unbelieving fear, check yourselves instantly, as David did; and say with him, Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God; for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God [Note: Psa 42:11.].]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
CONTENTS
This is a very beautiful Psalm, if read first with reference to Jesus, and then as suited to his people in him. Its general contents are, the full confidence there is in God’s Christ, at all times, for his people. Some have recommended it to the traveler; and some have thought it suitable for the soldier and mariner. But every traveler to Zion way profit: ably use it; and so may every true soldier of Jesus Christ while Christ is kept in view.
A Song of degrees.
Psa 121:1
In the margin of our old Bibles this first verse is read by way of question; “Shall I lift up mine eyes to the hills? Whence should my help come?” And if the verse be read in this way of inquiry, the answer is given in another scripture: Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains: truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel, Jer 3:23 . But though this would be a beautiful method of inquiry, and as delightful an answer to a seeking soul to prompt the heart to rest on Jesus; yet I rather think the Psalm hath a more pointed direction to the Lord Jesus. The temple, it is well known, was built on the holy hill of Zion. Mount Moriah, that memorable mount, was not far remote. And as the temple in which was the ark, was an eminent type of Christ; may we not consider this verse as the pious resolution, arising from the teaching of the Spirit of some Old Testament saint, who saw the day of Christ afar off, rejoiced and was glad, and therefore was looking to God’s Christ as his help, and rock, and Saviour? Read in this point of view, it is yet sweeter than the former. But, Reader! is there not a still higher view of these words, if we read them as the words of Christ himself? Looking unto Jesus in his human nature, as the sinner’s surety, and husband, and representative; voluntarily standing up for the Redemption of his people; the Lamb of God cries out, I will lift up mine eyes to the hills, from whence cometh my help; that is, staying himself upon the Father in his covenant promises, to carry him through his vast undertaking, which, like the strong mountains and everlasting hills, abide forever. For is it not to Jesus that very scripture is spoken? The mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee. Isa 54:10 . I do not presume so to say, but I think it makes the Psalm more beautiful, so to read it. And as it tends in this point of view to endear Christ, so it tends no less equally to endear to the believer the love of God the Father. For it shows the hand of God the Father to have been with Christ as his helper, and stay, in all redemption-work. And it gives faith a warrant to stay upon Christ, when thus beholding Christ as the Christ of God.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 121
Dr. Blaikie, in his Life of Livingstone, tells that this Psalm and the 135th were read by him when he parted with his family and went out first as a missionary to Africa ‘I remember my father and him,’ writes his sister, ‘talking over the prospects of Christian missions. They said that the time would come when rich and great men would think it an honour to support whole stations of missionaries, instead of spending their money on hounds and horses. On the morning of 17 November, 1840, we got up at five o’clock. David read the 121st and the 135th Psalms and prayed. My father and he walked to Glasgow to catch the Liverpool steamer.’ The old man walked back with a lonely heart to Blantyre, while his son’s face was set in earnest toward the dark continent.
J. K.
The Religion of the Threshold
Psa 121:8
Between these two things the exits and the entrances of the day lie the whole problem and struggle of existence.
I. Get into the habit each morning and evening of meeting God for a moment on the threshold as you go out and come in, and though you may not see it, others will begin to see a new element of strength and tenderness in your character. The man and the woman who keep tryst with God at the threshold for just a moment each day as they go out and come in are ready for every contingency.
II. Of course, to offer that kind of prayer means that you and I are determined to live a certain kind of life. There are three definite blessings on which we may surely count every day as we go out and come in, if we live this religion of the threshold.
( a ) It will redeem the monotony of the day, and will sweeten its drudgery.
( b ) It will make us ready for the unexpected things in life.
( c ) It will hallow our evenings and sanctify our moments of rest. A simple religion, this religion of the doorstep, but death will be sweeter if we have learned to keep tryst with God as we go out and in.
D. S. Mackay, The Religion of the Threshold, p. 25.
References. CXXI. 8. H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 2241. CXXI. International Critical Commentary, vol. ii. p. 446. CXXII. 3. Canon Barnett, A Lent in London, p. 114. CXXII. 4. S. Baring-Gould, Village Preaching for a Year (2nd Series), vol. iii. p. 242. CXXII. 6-9. J. Bowstead, Practical Sermons, vol. ii. p. 80. CXXII. 8, 9. H. M. Butler, Harrow School Sermons (2nd Series), p. 183. CXXII. International Critical Commentary, vol. ii. p. 448. CXXIII. 2. J. Keble, Sermons for the Sundays After Trinity, p. 1. Expositor (3rd Series), vol. iv. p. 80 CXXIII. International Critical Commentary, vol. ii. p. 450.
Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson
PSALMS
XI
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF PSALMS
According to my usual custom, when taking up the study of a book of the Bible I give at the beginning a list of books as helps to the study of that book. The following books I heartily commend on the Psalms:
1. Sampey’s Syllabus for Old Testament Study . This is especially good on the grouping and outlining of some selected psalms. There are also some valuable suggestions on other features of the book.
2. Kirkpatrick’g commentary, in “Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges,” is an excellent aid in the study of the Psalter.
3. Perowne’s Book of Psalms is a good, scholarly treatise on the Psalms. A special feature of this commentary is the author’s “New Translation” and his notes are very helpful.
4. Spurgeon’s Treasury of David. This is just what the title implies. It is a voluminous, devotional interpretation of the Psalms and helpful to those who have the time for such extensive study of the Psalter.
5. Hengstenburg on the Psalms. This is a fine, scholarly work by one of the greatest of the conservative German scholars.
6. Maclaren on the Psalms, in “The Expositor’s Bible,” is the work of the world’s safest, sanest, and best of all works that have ever been written on the Psalms.
7. Thirtle on the Titles of the Psalms. This is the best on the subject and well worth a careful study.
At this point some definitions are in order. The Hebrew word for psalm means praise. The word in English comes from psalmos , a song of lyrical character, or a song to be sung and accompanied with a lyre. The Psalter is a collection of sacred and inspired songs, composed at different times and by different authors.
The range of time in composition was more than 1,000 years, or from the time of Moses to the time of Ezra. The collection in its present form was arranged probably by Ezra in the fifth century, B.C.
The Jewish classification of Old Testament books was The Law, the Prophets, and the Holy Writings. The Psalms was given the first place in the last group.
They had several names, or titles, of the Psalms. In Hebrew they are called “The Book of Prayers,” or “The Book of Praises.” The Hebrew word thus used means praises. The title of the first two books is found in Psa 72:20 : “The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.” The title of the whole collection of Psalms in the Septuagint is Biblos Psalman which means the “Book of Psalms.” The title in the Alexandrian Codex is Psalterion which is the name of a stringed instrument, and means “The Psalter.”
The derivation of our English words, “psalms,” “psalter,” and “psaltery,” respectively, is as follows:
1. “Psalms” comes from the Greek word, psalmoi, which is also from psallein , which means to play upon a stringed instrument. Therefore the Psalms are songs played upon stringed instruments, and the word here is used to apply to the whole collection.
2. “Psalter” is of the same origin and means the Book of Psalms and refers also to the whole collection.
3. “Psaltery” is from the word psalterion, which means “a harp,” an instrument, supposed to be in the shape of a triangle or like the delta of the Greek alphabet. See Psa 33:2 ; Psa 71:22 ; Psa 81:2 ; Psa 144:9 .
In our collection there are 150 psalms. In the Septuagint there is one extra. It is regarded as being outside the sacred collection and not inspired. The subject of this extra psalm is “David’s victory over Goliath.” The following is a copy of it: I was small among my brethren, And youngest in my father’s house, I used to feed my father’s sheep. My hands made a harp, My fingers fashioned a Psaltery. And who will declare unto my Lord? He is Lord, he it is who heareth. He it was who sent his angel And took me from my father’s sheep, And anointed me with the oil of his anointing. My brethren were goodly and tall, But the Lord took no pleasure in them. I went forth to meet the Philistine. And he cursed me by his idols But I drew the sword from beside him; I beheaded him and removed reproach from the children of Israel.
It will be noted that this psalm does not have the earmarks of an inspired production. There is not found in it the modesty so characteristic of David, but there is here an evident spirit of boasting and self-praise which is foreign to the Spirit of inspiration.
There is a difference in the numbering of the psalms in our version which follows the Hebrew, and the numbering in the Septuagint. Omitting the extra one in the Septuagint, there is no difference as to the total number. Both have 150 and the same subject matter, but they are not divided alike.
The following scheme shows the division according to our version and also the Septuagint: Psalms 1-8 in the Hebrew equal 1-8 in the Septuagint; 9-10 in the Hebrew combine into 9 in the Septuagint; 11-113 in the Hebrew equal 10-112 in the Septuagint; 114-115 in the Hebrew combine into 113 in the Septuagint; 116 in the Hebrew divides into 114-115 in the Septuagint; 117-146 in the Hebrew equal 116-145 in the Septuagint; 147 in the Hebrew divides into 146-147 in the Septuagint; 148-150 in the Hebrew equal 148-150 in the Septuagint.
The arrangement in the Vulgate is the same as the Septuagint. Also some of the older English versions have this arangement. Another difficulty in numbering perplexes an inexperienced student in turning from one version to another, viz: In the Hebrew often the title is verse I, and sometimes the title embraces verses 1-2.
The book divisions of the Psalter are five books, as follows:
Book I, Psalms 1-41 (41 chapters)
Book II, Psalms 42-72 (31 chapters)
Book III, Psalms 73-89 (17 chapters)
Book IV, Psalms 90-106 (17 chapters)
Book V, Psalms 107-150 (44 chapters)
They are marked by an introduction and a doxology. Psalm I forms an introduction to the whole book; Psa 150 is the doxology for the whole book. The introduction and doxology of each book are the first and last psalms of each division, respectively.
There were smaller collections before the final one, as follows:
Books I and II were by David; Book III, by Hezekiah, and Books IV and V, by Ezra.
Certain principles determined the arrangement of the several psalms in the present collection:
1. David is honored with first place, Book I and II, including Psalms 1-72.
2. They are grouped according to the use of the name of God:
(1) Psalms 1-41 are Jehovah psalms;
(2) Psalms 42-83 are Elohim-psalms;
(3) Psalms 84-150 are Jehovah psalms.
3. Book IV is introduced by the psalm of Moses, which is the first psalm written.
4. Some are arranged as companion psalms, for instance, sometimes two, sometimes three, and sometimes more. Examples: Psa 2 and 3; 22, 23, and 24; 113-118.
5. They were arranged for liturgical purposes, which furnished the psalms for special occasions, such as feasts, etc. We may be sure this arrangement was not accidental. An intelligent study of each case is convincing that it was determined upon rational grounds.
All the psalms have titles but thirty-three, as follows:
In Book I, Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 10 ; Psa 33 , (4 are without titles).
In Book II, Psa 43 ; Psa 71 , (2 are without titles).
In Book IV, Psa 91 ; Psa 93 ; Psa 94 ; Psa 95 ; Psa 96 ; Psa 97 ; Psa 104 ; Psa 105 ; Psa 106 , (9 are without titles).
In Book V, Psa 107 ; III; 112; 113; 114; 115; 116; 117; 118; 119; 135; 136; 137; 146; 147; 148; 149; 150, (18 are without titles).
The Talmud calls these psalms that have no title, “Orphan Psalms.” The later Jews supply these titles by taking the nearest preceding author. The lack of titles in Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; and 10 may be accounted for as follows: Psa 1 is a general introduction to the whole collection and Psa 2 was, perhaps, a part of Psa 1 . Psalms 9-10 were formerly combined into one, therefore Psa 10 has the same title as Psa 9 .
QUESTIONS
1. What books are commended on the Psalms?
2. What is a psalm?
3. What is the Psalter?
4. What is the range of time in composition?
5. When and by whom was the collection in its present form arranged?
6. What the Jewish classification of Old Testament books, and what the position of the Psalter in this classification?
7. What is the Hebrew title of the Psalms?
8. Find the title of the first two books from the books themselves.
9. What is the title of the whole collection of psalms in the Septuagint?
10. What is the title in the Alexandrian Codex?
11. What is the derivation of our English word, “Psalms”, “Psalter”, and “Psaltery,” respectively?
12. How many psalms in our collection?
13. How many psalms in the Septuagint?
14. What about the extra one in the Septuagint?
15. What is the subject of this extra psalm?
16. How does it compare with the Canonical Psalms?
17. What is the difference in the numbering of the psalms in our version which follows the Hebrew, and the numbering in the Septuagint?
18. What is the arrangement in the Vulgate?
19. What other difficulty in numbering which perplexes an inexperienced student in turning from one version to another?
20. What are the book divisions of the Psalter and how are these divisions marked?
21. Were there smaller collections before the final one? If so, what were they?
22. What principles determined the arrangement of the several psalms in the present collection?
23. In what conclusion may we rest concerning this arrangement?
24. How many of the psalms have no titles?
25. What does the Talmud call these psalms that have no titles?
26. How do later Jews supply these titles?
27. How do you account for the lack of titles in Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 10 ?
XII
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF PSALMS (CONTINUED)
The following is a list of the items of information gathered from the titles of the psalms:
1. The author: “A Psalm of David” (Psa 37 ).
2. The occasion: “When he fled from Absalom, his son” (Psa 3 ).
3. The nature, or character, of the poem:
(1) Maschil, meaning “instruction,” a didactic poem (Psa 42 ).
(2) Michtam, meaning “gold,” “A Golden Psalm”; this means excellence or mystery (Psa 16 ; 56-60).
4. The occasion of its use: “A Psalm of David for the dedication of the house” (Psa 30 ).
5. Its purpose: “A Psalm of David to bring remembrance” (Psa 38 ; Psa 70 ).
6. Direction for its use: “A Psalm of David for the chief musician” (Psa 4 ).
7. The kind of musical instrument:
(1) Neginoth, meaning to strike a chord, as on stringed instruments (Psa 4 ; Psa 61 ).
(2) Nehiloth, meaning to perforate, as a pipe or flute (Psa 5 ).
(3) Shoshannim, Lilies, which refers probably to cymbals (Psa 45 ; Psa 69 ).
8. A special choir:
(1) Sheminith, the “eighth,” or octave below, as a male choir (Psa 6 ; Psa 12 ).
(2) Alamoth, female choir (Psa 46 ).
(3) Muth-labben, music with virgin voice, to be sung by a choir of boys in the treble (Psa 9 ).
9. The keynote, or tune:
(1) Aijeleth-sharar, “Hind of the morning,” a song to the melody of which this is sung (Psa 22 ).
(2) Al-tashheth, “Destroy thou not,” the beginning of a song the tune of which is sung (Psa 57 ; Psa 58 ; Psa 59 ; Psa 75 ).
(3) Gittith, set to the tune of Gath, perhaps a tune which David brought from Gath (Psa 8 ; Psa 81 ; Psa 84 ).
(4) Jonath-elim-rehokim, “The dove of the distant terebinths,” the commencement of an ode to the air of which this song was to be sung (Psa 56 ).
(5) Leannoth, the name of a tune (Psa 88 ).
(6) Mahalath, an instrument (Psa 53 ); Leonnoth-Mahaloth, to chant to a tune called Mahaloth.
(7) Shiggaion, a song or a hymn.
(8) Shushan-Eduth, “Lily of testimony,” a tune (Psa 60 ). Note some examples: (1) “America,” “Shiloh,” “Auld Lang Syne.” These are the names of songs such as we are familiar with; (2) “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” and “There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood,” are examples of sacred hymns.
10. The liturgical use, those noted for the feasts, e.g., the Hallels and Hallelujah Psalms (Psalms 146-150).
11. The destination, as “Song of Ascents” (Psalms 120-134)
12. The direction for the music, such as Selah, which means “Singers, pause”; Higgaion-Selah, to strike a symphony with selah, which means an instrumental interlude (Psa 9:16 ).
The longest and fullest title to any of the psalms is the title to Psa 60 . The items of information from this title are as follows: (1) the author; (2) the chief musician; (3) the historical occasion; (4) the use, or design; (5) the style of poetry; (6) the instrument or style of music.
The parts of these superscriptions which most concern us now are those indicating author, occasion, and date. As to the historic value or trustworthiness of these titles most modern scholars deny that they are a part of the Hebrew text, but the oldest Hebrew text of which we know anything had all of them. This is the text from which the Septuagint was translated. It is much more probable that the author affixed them than later writers. There is no internal evidence in any of the psalms that disproves the correctness of them, but much to confirm. The critics disagree among themselves altogether as to these titles. Hence their testimony cannot consistently be received. Nor can it ever be received until they have at least agreed upon a common ground of opposition.
David is the author of more than half the entire collection, the arrangement of which is as follows:
1. Seventy-three are ascribed to him in the superscriptions.
2. Some of these are but continuations of the preceding ones of a pair, trio, or larger group.
3. Some of the Korahite Psalms are manifestly Davidic.
4. Some not ascribed to him in the titles are attributed to him expressly by New Testament writers.
5. It is not possible to account for some parts of the Psalter without David. The history of his early life as found in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1and 2 Chronicles, not only shows his remarkable genius for patriotic and sacred songs and music, but also shows his cultivation of that gift in the schools of the prophets. Some of these psalms of the history appear in the Psalter itself. It is plain to all who read these that they are founded on experience, and the experience of no other Hebrew fits the case. These experiences are found in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles.
As to the attempt of the destructive critics to rob David of his glory in relation to the Psalter by assigning the Maccabean era as the date of composition, I have this to say:
1. This theory has no historical support whatever, and therefore is not to be accepted at all.
2. It has no support in tradition, which weakens the contention of the critics greatly.
3. It has no support from finding any one with the necessary experience for their basis.
4. They can give no reasonable account as to how the titles ever got there.
5. It is psychologically impossible for anyone to have written these 150 psalms in the Maccabean times.
6. Their position is expressly contrary to the testimony of Christ and the apostles. Some of the psalms which they ascribe to the Maccabean Age are attributed to David by Christ himself, who said that David wrote them in the Spirit.
The obvious aim of this criticism and the necessary result if it be Just, is a positive denial of the inspiration of both Testaments.
Other authors are named in the titles, as follows: (1) Asaph, to whom twelve psalms have been assigned: (2) Mosee, Psa 90 ; (3) Solomon, Psa 72 ; Psa 127 ; (4) Heman, Psa 80 ; (5) Ethem, Psa 89 ; (6) A number of the psalms are ascribed to the sons of Korah.
Not all the psalms ascribed to Asaph were composed by one person. History indicates that Asaph’s family presided over the song service for several generations. Some of them were composed by his descendants by the game name. The five general outlines of the whole collection are as follows:
I. By books
1. Psalms 1-41 (41)
2. Psalms 42-72 (31)
3. Psalms 73-89 (17)
4. Psalms 90-106 (17)
5. Psalms 107-150 (44)
II. According to date and authorship
1. The psalm of Moses (Psa 90 )
2. Psalms of David:
(1) The shepherd boy (Psa 8 ; Psa 19 ; Psa 29 ; Psa 23 ).
(2) David when persecuted by Saul (Psa 59 ; Psa 56 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 52 ; Psa 54 ; Psa 57 ; Psa 142 ).
(3) David the King (Psa 101 ; Psa 18 ; Psa 24 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 110 ; Psa 20 ; Psa 20 ; Psa 21 ; Psa 60 ; Psa 51 ; Psa 32 ; Psa 41 ; Psa 55 ; Psa 3:4 ; Psa 64 ; Psa 62 ; Psa 61 ; Psa 27 ).
3. The Asaph Psalms (Psa 50 ; Psa 73 ; Psa 83 ).
4. The Korahite Psalms (Psa 42 ; Psa 43 ; Psa 84 ).
5. The psalms of Solomon (Psa 72 ; Psa 127 ).
6. The psalms of the era of Hezekiah and Isaiah (Psa 46 ; Psa 47 ; Psa 48 )
7. The psalms of the Exile (Psa 74 ; Psa 79 ; Psa 137 ; Psa 102 )
8. The psalms of the Restoration (Psa 85 ; Psa 126 ; Psa 118 ; 146-150)
III. By groups
1. The Jehovistic and Elohistic Psalms:
(1) Psalms 1-41 are Jehovistic;
(2) Psalms 42-83 are Elohistic Psalms;
(3) Psalms 84-150 are Jehovistic.
2. The Penitential Psalms (Psa 6 ; Psa 32 ; Psa 38 ; Psa 51 ; Psa 102 ; Psa 130 ; Psa 143 )
3. The Pilgrim Psalms (Psalms 120-134)
4. The Alphabetical Psalms (Psa 9 ; Psa 10 ; Psa 25 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 37 ; 111:112; Psa 119 ; Psa 145 )
5. The Hallelujah Psalms (Psalms 11-113; 115-117; 146-150; to which may be added Psa 135 ) Psalms 113-118 are called “the Egyptian Hallel”
IV. Doctrines of the Psalms
1. The throne of grace and how to approach it by sacrifice, prayer, and praise.
2. The covenant, the basis of worship.
3. The paradoxical assertions of both innocence & guilt.
4. The pardon of sin and justification.
5. The Messiah.
6. The future life, pro and con.
7. The imprecations.
8. Other doctrines.
V. The New Testament use of the Psalms
1. Direct references and quotations in the New Testament.
2. The allusions to the psalms in the New Testament. Certain experiences of David’s life made very deep impressions on his heart, such as: (1) his peaceful early life; (2) his persecution by Saul; (3) his being crowned king of the people; (4) the bringing up of the ark; (5) his first great sin; (6) Absalom’s rebellion; (7) his second great sin; (8) the great promise made to him in 2Sa 7 ; (9) the feelings of his old age.
We may classify the Davidic Psalms according to these experiences following the order of time, thus:
1. His peaceful early life (Psa 8 ; Psa 19 ; Psa 29 ; Psa 23 )
2. His persecution by Saul (Psa 59 ; Psa 56 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 7 ; Psa 52 ; Psa 120 ; Psa 140 ; Psa 54 ; Psa 57 ; Psa 142 ; Psa 17 ; Psa 18 )
3. Making David King (Psa 27 ; Psa 133 ; Psa 101 )
4. Bringing up the ark (Psa 68 ; Psa 24 ; Psa 132 ; Psa 15 ; Psa 78 ; Psa 96 )
5. His first great sin (Psa 51 ; Psa 32 )
6. Absalom’s rebellion (Psa 41 ; Psa 6 ; Psa 55 ; Psa 109 ; Psa 38 ; Psa 39 ; Psa 3 ; Psa 4 ; Psa 63 ; Psa 42 ; Psa 43 ; Psa 5 ; Psa 62 ; Psa 61 ; Psa 27 )
7. His second great sin (Psa 69 ; Psa 71 ; Psa 102 ; Psa 103 )
8. The great promise made to him in 2Sa 7 (Psa 2 )
9. Feelings of old age (Psa 37 )
The great doctrines of the psalms may be noted as follows: (1) the being and attributes of God; (3) sin, both original and individual; (3) both covenants; (4) the doctrine of justification; (5) concerning the Messiah.
There is a striking analogy between the Pentateuch and the Psalms. The Pentateuch contains five books of law; the Psalms contain five books of heart responses to the law.
It is interesting to note the historic controversies concerning the singing of psalms. These were controversies about singing uninspired songs, in the Middle Ages. The church would not allow anything to be used but psalms.
The history in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles, and in Ezra and Nehemiah is very valuable toward a proper interpretation of the psalms. These books furnish the historical setting for a great many of the psalms which is very indispensable to their proper interpretation.
Professor James Robertson, in the Poetry and Religion of the Psalms constructs a broad and strong argument in favor of the Davidic Psalms, as follows:
1. The age of David furnished promising soil for the growth of poetry.
2. David’s qualifications for composing the psalms make it highly probable that David is the author of the psalms ascribed to him.
3. The arguments against the possibility of ascribing to David any of the hymns in the Hebrew Psalter rests upon assumptions that are thoroughly antibiblical.
The New Testament makes large use of the psalms and we learn much as to their importance in teaching. There are seventy direct quotations in the New Testament from this book, from which we learn that the Scriptures were used extensively in accord with 2Ti 3:16-17 . There are also eleven references to the psalms in the New Testament from which we learn that the New Testament writers were thoroughly imbued with the spirit and teaching of the psalms. Then there are eight allusions ‘to this book in the New Testament from which we gather that the Psalms was one of the divisions of the Old Testament and that they were used in the early church.
QUESTIONS
1. Give a list of the items of information gathered from the titles of the psalms.
2. What is the longest title to any of the psalms and what the items of this title?
3. What parts of these superscriptions most concern us now?
4. What is the historic value, or trustworthiness of these titles?
5. State the argument showing David’s relation to the psalms.
6. What have you to say of the attempt of the destructive critics to rob David of his glory in relation to the Psalter by assigning the Maccabean era as the date of composition?
7. What the obvious aim of this criticism and the necessary result, if it be just?
8. What other authors are named in the titles?
9. Were all the psalms ascribed to Asaph composed by one person?
10. Give the five general outlines of the whole collection, as follows: I. The outline by books II. The outline according to date and authorship III. The outline by groups IV. The outline of doctrines V. The outline by New Testament quotations or allusions.
11. What experiences of David’s life made very deep impressions on his heart?
12. Classify the Davidic Psalms according to these experiences following the order of time.
13. What the great doctrines of the psalms?
14. What analogy between the Pentateuch and the Psalms?
15. What historic controversies concerning the singing of psalms?
16. Of what value is the history in Samuel, 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles, and in Ezra and Nehemiah toward a proper interpretation of the psalms?
17. Give Professor James Robertson’s argument in favor of the Davidic authorship of the psalms.
18. What can you say of the New Testament use of the psalms and what do we learn as to their importance in teaching?
19. What can you say of the New Testament references to the psalms, and from the New Testament references what the impression on the New Testament writers?
20. What can you say of the allusions to the psalms in the New Testament?
XVII
THE MESSIAH IN THE PSALMS
A fine text for this chapter is as follows: “All things must be fulfilled which were written in the Psalms concerning me,” Luk 24:44 . I know of no better way to close my brief treatise on the Psalms than to discuss the subject of the Messiah as revealed in this book.
Attention has been called to the threefold division of the Old Testament cited by our Lord, namely, the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms (Luk 24:44 ), in all of which were the prophecies relating to himself that “must be fulfilled.” It has been shown just what Old Testament books belong to each of these several divisions. The division called the Psalms included many books, styled Holy Writings, and because the Psalms proper was the first book of the division it gave the name to the whole division.
The object of this discussion is to sketch the psalmist’s outline of the Messiah, or rather, to show how nearly a complete picture of our Lord is foredrawn in this one book. Let us understand however with Paul, that all prophecy is but in part (1Co 13:9 ), and that when we fill in on one canvas all the prophecies concerning the Messiah of all the Old Testament divisions, we are far from having a perfect portrait of our Lord. The present purpose is limited to three things:
1. What the book of the Psalms teaches concerning the Messiah.
2. That the New Testament shall authoritatively specify and expound this teaching.
3. That the many messianic predictions scattered over the book and the specifications thereof over the New Testament may be grouped into an orderly analysis, so that by the adjustment of the scattered parts we may have before us a picture of our Lord as foreseen by the psalmists.
In allowing the New Testament to authoritatively specify and expound the predictive features of the book, I am not unmindful of what the so-called “higher critics” urge against the New Testament quotations from the Old Testament and the use made of them. In this discussion, however, these objections are not considered, for sufficient reasons. There is not space for it. Even at the risk of being misjudged I must just now summarily pass all these objections, dismissing them with a single statement upon which the reader may place his own estimate of value. That statement is that in the days of my own infidelity, before this old method of criticism had its new name, I was quite familiar with the most and certainly the strongest of the objections now classified as higher criticism, and have since patiently re-examined them in their widely conflicting restatements under their modern name, and find my faith in the New Testament method of dealing with the Old Testament in no way shattered, but in every way confirmed. God is his own interpreter. The Old Testament as we now have it was in the hands of our Lord. I understand his apostle to declare, substantially, that “every one of these sacred scriptures is God-inspired and is profitable for teaching us what is right to believe and to do, for convincing us what is wrong in faith or practice, for rectifying the wrong when done, that we may be ready at every point, furnished completely, to do every good work, at the right time, in the right manner, and from the proper motive” (2Ti 3:16-17 ).
This New Testament declares that David was a prophet (Act 2:30 ), that he spake by the Holy Spirit (Act 1:16 ), that when the book speaks the Holy Spirit speaks (Heb 3:7 ), and that all its predictive utterances, as sacred Scripture, “must be fulfilled” (Joh 13:18 ; Act 1:16 ). It is not claimed that David wrote all the psalms, but that all are inspired, and that as he was the chief author, the book goes by his name.
It would be a fine thing to make out two lists, as follows:
1. All of the 150 psalms in order from which the New Testament quotes with messianic application.
2. The New Testament quotations, book by book, i.e., Matthew so many, and then the other books in their order.
We would find in neither of these any order as to time, that is, Psa 1 which forecasts an incident in the coming Messiah’s life does not forecast the first incident of his life. And even the New Testament citations are not in exact order as to time and incident of his life. To get the messianic picture before us, therefore, we must put the scattered parts together in their due relation and order, and so construct our own analysis. That is the prime object of this discussion. It is not claimed that the analysis now presented is perfect. It is too much the result of hasty, offhand work by an exceedingly busy man. It will serve, however, as a temporary working model, which any one may subsequently improve. We come at once to the psalmist’s outline of the Messiah.
1. The necessity for a Saviour. This foreseen necessity is a background of the psalmists’ portrait of the Messiah. The necessity consists in (1) man’s sinfulness; (2) his sin; (3) his inability of wisdom and power to recover himself; (4) the insufficiency of legal, typical sacrifices in securing atonement.
The predicate of Paul’s great argument on justification by faith is the universal depravity and guilt of man. He is everywhere corrupt in nature; everywhere an actual transgressor; everywhere under condemnation. But the scriptural proofs of this depravity and sin the apostle draws mainly from the book of the Psalms. In one paragraph of the letter to the Romans (Rom 3:4-18 ), he cites and groups six passages from six divisions of the Psalms (Psa 5:9 ; Psa 10:7 ; Psa 14:1-3 ; Psa 36:1 ; Psa 51:4-6 ; Psa 140:3 ). These passages abundantly prove man’s sinfulness, or natural depravity, and his universal practice of sin.
The predicate also of the same apostle’s great argument for revelation and salvation by a Redeemer is man’s inability of wisdom and power to re-establish communion with God. In one of his letters to the Corinthians he thus commences his argument: “For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? -For after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preach-ing to save them that believe.” He closes this discussion with the broad proposition: “The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God,” and proves it by a citation from Psa 94:11 : “The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.”
In like manner our Lord himself pours scorn on human wisdom and strength by twice citing Psa 8 : “At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight” (Mat 11:25-26 ). “And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children that were crying in the temple and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased, and said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?” (Mat 21:15-16 ).
But the necessity for a Saviour as foreseen by the psalmist did not stop at man’s depravity, sin, and helplessness. The Jews were trusting in the sacrifices of their law offered on the smoking altar. The inherent weakness of these offerings, their lack of intrinsic merit, their ultimate abolition, their complete fulfilment and supercession by a glorious antitype were foreseen and foreshown in this wonderful prophetic book: I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices; And thy burnt offerings are continually before me. I will take no bullock out of thy house, Nor he-goat out of thy folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, And the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all of the birds of the mountains; And the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee; For the world is mine, and the fulness thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, Or drink the blood of goats? Psa 50:8-13 .
Yet again it speaks in that more striking passage cited in the letter to the Hebrews: “For the law having a shadow of good things to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshipers, once purged should have no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance made of sins year by year. For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, But a body didst thou prepare for me; In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hadst no pleasure: Then said I, Lo, I am come (In the roll of the book it is written of me) To do thy will, O God. Saying above, Sacrifice and offering and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou wouldst not, neither hadst pleasure therein, (the which are offered according to the law), then hath he said, Lo, I am come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second” (Heb 10:1-9 ).
This keen foresight of the temporary character and intrinsic worthlessness of animal sacrifices anticipated similar utterances by the later prophets (Isa 1:10-17 ; Jer 6:20 ; Jer 7:21-23 ; Hos 6:6 ; Amo 5:21 ; Mic 6:6-8 ). Indeed, I may as well state in passing that when the apostle declares, “It is impossible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins,” he lays down a broad principle, just as applicable to baptism and the Lord’s Supper. With reverence I state the principle: Not even God himself by mere appointment can vest in any ordinance, itself lacking intrinsic merit, the power to take away sin. There can be, therefore, in the nature of the case, no sacramental salvation. This would destroy the justice of God in order to exalt his mercy. Clearly the psalmist foresaw that “truth and mercy must meet together” before “righteousness and peace could kiss each other” (Psa 85:10 ). Thus we find as the dark background of the psalmists’ luminous portrait of the Messiah, the necessity for a Saviour.
2. The nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation to be wrought by the coming Messiah. In no other prophetic book are the nature, fullness, and blessedness of salvation so clearly seen and so vividly portrayed. Besides others not now enumerated, certainly the psalmists clearly forecast four great elements of salvation:
(1) An atoning sacrifice of intrinsic merit offered once for all (Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:4-10 ).
(2) Regeneration itself consisting of cleansing, renewal, and justification. We hear his impassioned statement of the necessity of regeneration: “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts,” followed by his earnest prayer: “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me,” and his equally fervent petition: “Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean; wash me and I shall be whiter than snow” (Psa 51 ). And we hear him again as Paul describes the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputes righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, And whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not reckon sin Psa 32:1 ; Rom 4:6-8 .
(3) Introduction into the heavenly rest (Psa 95:7-11 ; Heb 3:7-19 ; Heb 4:1-11 ). Here is the antitypical Joshua leading spiritual Israel across the Jordan of death into the heavenly Canaan, the eternal rest that remaineth for the people of God. Here we find creation’s original sabbath eclipsed by redemption’s greater sabbath when the Redeemer “entered his rest, ceasing from his own works as God did from his.”
(4) The recovery of all the universal dominion lost by the first Adam and the securement of all possible dominion which the first Adam never attained (Psa 8:5-6 ; Eph 1:20-22 ; Heb 2:7-9 ; 1Co 15:24-28 ).
What vast extent then and what blessedness in the salvation foreseen by the psalmists, and to be wrought by the Messiah. Atoning sacrifice of intrinsic merit; regeneration by the Holy Spirit; heavenly rest as an eternal inheritance; and universal dominion shared with Christ!
3. The wondrous person of the Messiah in his dual nature, divine and human.
(1) His divinity,
(a) as God: “Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever” (Psa 45:6 and Heb 1:8 ) ;
(b) as creator of the heavens and earth, immutable and eternal: Of old didst thou lay the foundation of the earth; And the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure; Yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; As a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed. But thou art the same, And thy years shall have no end Psa 102:25-27 quoted with slight changes in Heb 1:10-12 .
(c) As owner of the earth: The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof; The world, and they that dwell therein, Psa 24:1 quoted in 1Co 10:26 .
(d) As the Son of God: “Thou art my Son; This day have I begotten thee” Psa 2:7 ; Heb 1:5 .
(e) As David’s Lord: The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, Until I make thine enemies thy footstool, Psa 110:1 ; Mat 22:41-46 .
(f) As the object of angelic worship: “And let all the angels of God worship him” Psa 97:7 ; Heb 1:6 .
(g) As the Bread of life: And he rained down manna upon them to eat, And gave them food from heaven Psa 78:24 ; interpreted in Joh 6:31-58 . These are but samples which ascribe deity to the Messiah of the psalmists.
(2) His humanity, (a) As the Son of man, or Son of Adam: Psa 8:4-6 , cited in 1Co 15:24-28 ; Eph 1:20-22 ; Heb 2:7-9 . Compare Luke’s genealogy, Luk 3:23-38 . This is the ideal man, or Second Adam, who regains Paradise Lost, who recovers race dominion, in whose image all his spiritual lineage is begotten. 1Co 15:45-49 . (b) As the Son of David: Psa 18:50 ; Psa 89:4 ; Psa 89:29 ; Psa 89:36 ; Psa 132:11 , cited in Luk 1:32 ; Act 13:22-23 ; Rom 1:3 ; 2Ti 2:8 . Perhaps a better statement of the psalmists’ vision of the wonderful person of the Messiah would be: He saw the uncreated Son, the second person of the trinity, in counsel and compact with the Father, arranging in eternity for the salvation of men: Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:5-7 . Then he saw this Holy One stoop to be the Son of man: Psa 8:4-6 ; Heb 2:7-9 . Then he was the son of David, and then he saw him rise again to be the Son of God: Psa 2:7 ; Rom 1:3-4 .
4. His offices.
(1) As the one atoning sacrifice (Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:5-7 ).
(2) As the great Prophet, or Preacher (Psa 40:9-10 ; Psa 22:22 ; Heb 2:12 ). Even the method of his teaching by parable was foreseen (Psa 78:2 ; Mat 13:35 ). Equally also the grace, wisdom, and power of his teaching. When the psalmist declares that “Grace is poured into thy lips” (Psa 45:2 ), we need not be startled when we read that all the doctors in the Temple who heard him when only a boy “were astonished at his understanding and answers” (Luk 2:47 ); nor that his home people at Nazareth “all bear him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth” (Luk 4:22 ); nor that those of his own country were astonished, and said, “Whence hath this man this wisdom?” (Mat 13:54 ); nor that the Jews in the Temple marveled, saying, “How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?” (Joh 7:15 ) ; nor that the stern officers of the law found their justification in failure to arrest him in the declaration, “Never man spake like this man” (Joh 7:46 ).
(3) As the king (Psa 2:6 ; Psa 24:7-10 ; Psa 45:1-17 ; Psa 110:1 ; Mat 22:42-46 ; Act 2:33-36 ; 1Co 15:25 ; Eph 1:20 ; Heb 1:13 ).
(4) As the priest (Psa 110:4 ; Heb 5:5-10 ; Heb 7:1-21 ; Heb 10:12-14 ).
(5) As the final judge. The very sentence of expulsion pronounced upon the finally impenitent by the great judge (Mat 25:41 ) is borrowed from the psalmist’s prophetic words (Psa 6:8 ).
5. Incidents of life. The psalmists not only foresaw the necessity for a Saviour; the nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation; the wonderful human-divine person of the Saviour; the offices to be filled by him in the work of salvation, but also many thrilling details of his work in life, death, resurrection, and exaltation. It is not assumed to cite all these details, but some of the most important are enumerated in order, thus:
(1) The visit, adoration, and gifts of the Magi recorded in Mat 2 are but partial fulfilment of Psa 72:9-10 .
(2) The scripture employed by Satan in the temptation of our Lord (Luk 4:10-11 ) was cited from Psa 91:11-12 and its pertinency not denied.
(3) In accounting for his intense earnestness and the apparently extreme measures adopted by our Lord in his first purification of the Temple (Joh 2:17 ), he cites the messianic zeal predicted in Psa 69:9 .
(4) Alienation from his own family was one of the saddest trials of our Lord’s earthly life. They are slow to understand his mission and to enter into sympathy with him. His self-abnegation and exhaustive toil were regarded by them as evidences of mental aberration, and it seems at one time they were ready to resort to forcible restraint of his freedom) virtually what in our time would be called arrest under a writ of lunacy. While at the last his half-brothers became distinguished preachers of his gospel, for a long while they do not believe on him. And the evidence forces us to the conclusion that his own mother shared with her other sons, in kind though not in degree, the misunderstanding of the supremacy of his mission over family relations. The New Testament record speaks for itself:
Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto them. How is it that ye sought me? Knew ye not that I must be in my Father’s house? And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them Luk 2:48-51 (R.V.).
And when the wine failed, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. And Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. Joh 2:3-5 (R.V.).
And there come his mother and his brethren; and standing without; they sent unto him, calling him. And a multitude was sitting about him; and they say unto him. Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee. And he answereth them, and saith, Who is my mother and my brethren? And looking round on them that sat round about him, he saith, Behold, my mother and my brethren) For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother Mar 3:31-35 (R.V.).
Now the feast of the Jews, the feast of tabernacles, was at hand. His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judea, that thy disciples also may behold thy works which thou doest. For no man doeth anything in secret, and himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou doest these things, manifest thyself to the world. For even his brethren did not believe on him. Jesus therefore saith unto them, My time is not yet come; but your time is always ready. The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that its works are evil. Go ye up unto the feast: I go not up yet unto this feast; because my time is not fulfilled. Joh 7:2-9 (R.V.).
These citations from the Revised Version tell their own story. But all that sad story is foreshown in the prophetic psalms. For example: I am become a stranger unto my brethren, And an alien unto my mother’s children. Psa 69:8 .
(5) The triumphal entry into Jerusalem was welcomed by a joyous people shouting a benediction from Psa 118:26 : “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord” (Mat 21:9 ); and the Lord’s lamentation over Jerusalem predicts continued desolation and banishment from his sight until the Jews are ready to repeat that benediction (Mat 23:39 ).
(6) The children’s hosanna in the Temple after its second purgation is declared by our Lord to be a fulfilment of that perfect praise forecast in Psa 8:2 .
(7) The final rejection of our Lord by his own people was also clear in the psalmist’s vision (Psa 118:22 ; Mat 21:42-44 ).
(8) Gethsemane’s baptism of suffering, with its strong crying and tears and prayers was as clear to the psalmist’s prophetic vision as to the evangelist and apostle after it became history (Psa 69:1-4 ; Psa 69:13-20 ; and Mat 26:36-44 ; Heb 5:7 ).
(9) In life-size also before the psalmist was the betrayer of Christ and his doom (Psa 41:9 ; Psa 69:25 ; Psa 109:6-8 ; Joh 13:18 ; Act 1:20 ).
(10) The rage of the people, Jew and Gentile, and the conspiracy of Pilate and Herod are clearly outlined (Psa 2:1-3 ; Act 4:25-27 ).
(11) All the farce of his trial the false accusation, his own marvelous silence; and the inhuman maltreatment to which he was subjected, is foreshown in the prophecy as dramatically as in the history (Mat 26:57-68 ; Mat 27:26-31 ; Psa 27:12 ; Psa 35:15-16 ; Psa 38:3 ; Psa 69:19 ).
The circumstances of his death, many and clear, are distinctly foreseen. He died in the prime of life (Psa 89:45 ; Psa 102:23-24 ). He died by crucifixion (Psa 22:14-17 ; Luk 23 ; 33; Joh 19:23-37 ; Joh 20:27 ). But yet not a bone of his body was broken (Psa 34:20 ; Joh 19:36 ).
The persecution, hatred without a cause, the mockery and insults, are all vividly and dramatically foretold (Psa 22:6-13 ; Psa 35:7 ; Psa 35:12 ; Psa 35:15 ; Psa 35:21 ; Psa 109:25 ).
The parting of his garments and the gambling for his vesture (Psa 22:18 ; Mat 27:35 ).
His intense thirst and the gall and vinegar offered for his drink (Psa 69:21 ; Mat 27:34 ).
In the psalms, too, we hear his prayers for his enemies so remarkably fulfilled in fact (Psa 109:4 ; Luk 23:34 ).
His spiritual death was also before the eye of the psalmist, and the very words which expressed it the psalmist heard. Separation from the Father is spiritual death. The sinner’s substitute must die the sinner’s death, death physical, i.e., separation of soul from body; death spiritual, i.e., separation of the soul from God. The latter is the real death and must precede the former. This death the substitute died when he cried out: “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me.” (Psa 22:1 ; Mat 27:46 ).
Emerging from the darkness of that death, which was the hour of the prince of darkness, the psalmist heard him commend his spirit to the Father (Psa_31:35; Luk 23:46 ) showing that while he died the spiritual death, his soul was not permanently abandoned unto hell (Psa 16:8-10 ; Act 2:25 ) so that while he “tasted death” for every man it was not permanent death (Heb 2:9 ).
With equal clearness the psalmist foresaw his resurrection, his triumph over death and hell, his glorious ascension into heaven, and his exaltation at the right hand of God as King of kings and Lord of lords, as a high Driest forever, as invested with universal sovereignty (Psa 16:8-11 ; Psa 24:7-10 ; Psa 68:18 ; Psa 2:6 ; Psa 111:1-4 ; Psa 8:4-6 ; Act 2:25-36 ; Eph 1:19-23 ; Eph 4:8-10 ).
We see, therefore, brethren, when the scattered parts are put together and adjusted, how nearly complete a portrait of our Lord is put upon the prophetic canvas by this inspired limner, the sweet singer of Israel.
QUESTIONS
1. What is a good text for this chapter?
2. What is the threefold division of the Old Testament as cited by our Lord?
3. What is the last division called and why?
4. What is the object of the discussion in this chapter?
5. To what three things is the purpose limited?
6. What especially qualifies the author to meet the objections of the higher critics to allowing the New Testament usage of the Old Testament to determine its meaning and application?
7. What is the author’s conviction relative to the Scriptures?
8. What is the New Testament testimony on the question of inspiration?
9. What is the author’s suggested plan of approach to the study of the Messiah in the Psalms?
10. What the background of the Psalmist’s portrait of the Messiah and of what does it consist?
11. Give the substance of Paul’s discussion of man’s sinfulness.
12. What is the teaching of Jesus on this point?
13. What is the teaching relative to sacrifices?
14. What the nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation to be wrought by the coming Messiah and what the four great elements of it as forecast by the psalmist?
15. What is the teaching of the psalms relative to the wondrous person of the Messiah? Discuss.
16. What are the offices of the Messiah according to psalms? Discuss each.
17. Cite the more important events of the Messiah’s life according to the vision of the psalmist.
18. What the circumstances of the Messiah’s death and resurrection as foreseen by the psalmist?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
XVI
THE MESSIANIC PSALMS AND OTHERS
We commence this chapter by giving a classified list of the Messianic Psalms, as follows:
The Royal Psalms are:
Psa 110 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 72 ; Psa 45 ; Psa 89 ;
The Passion Psalms are:
Psa 22 ; Psa 41 ; Psa 69 ;
The Psalms of the Ideal Man are Psa 8 ; Psa 16 ; Psa 40 ;
The Missionary Psalms are:
Psa 47 ; Psa 65 ; Psa 68 ; Psa 96 ; Psa 100 ; Psa 117 .
The predictions before David of the coming Messiah are, (1) the seed of the woman; (2) the seed of Abraham; (3) the seed of Judah; (4) the seed of David.
The prophecies of history concerning the Messiah are, (1) a prophet like unto Moses; (2) a priest after the order of Melchizedek; (3) a sacrifice which embraces all the sacrificial offerings of the Old Testament; (4) direct references to him as King, as in 2Sa 7:8 ff.
The messianic offices as taught in the psalms are four, viz: (1) The Messiah is presented as Prophet, or Teacher (Psa 40:8 ); (2) as Sacrifice, or an Offering for sin (Psa 40:6 ff.; Heb 10:5 ff.) ; (3) he is presented as Priest (Psa 110:4 ); (4) he is presented as King (Psa 45 ).
The psalms most clearly presenting the Messiah in his various phases and functions are as follows: (1) as the ideal man, or Second Adam (8); (2) as Prophet (Psa 40 ); (3) as Sacrifice (Psa 22 ) ; (4) as King (Psa 45 ) ; (5) as Priest (Psa 110 ) ; (6) in his universal reign (Psa 72 ).
It will be noted that other psalms teach these facts also, but these most clearly set forth the offices as they relate to the Messiah.
The Messiah as a sacrifice is presented in general in Psa 40:6 . His sufferings as such are given in a specific and general way in Psa 22 ; Psa 41 ; Psa 69 . The events of his sufferings in particular are described, beginning with the betrayal of Judas, as follows:
1. Judas betrayed him (Mat 26:14 ) in fulfilment of Psa 41:9 .
2. At the Supper (Mat 26:24 ) Christ said, “The Son of man goeth as it is written of him,” referring to Psa 22 .
3. They sang after the Supper in fulfilment of Psa 22:22 .
4. Piercing his hands and feet, Psa 22:16 .
5. They cast lots for his vesture in fulfilment of Psa 22:18 .
6. Just before the ninth hour the chief priests reviled him (Mat 27:43 ) in fulfilment of Psa 22:8 .
7. At the ninth hour (Mat 27:46 ) he quoted Psa 22:1 .
8. Near his death (Joh 19:28 ) he said, in fulfilment of Psa 69:21 , “I thirst.”
9. At that time they gave him vinegar (Mat 27:48 ) in fulfilment of Psa 69:21 .
10. When he was found dead they did not break his bones (Joh 19:36 ) in fulfilment of Psa 34:20 .
11. He is represented as dead, buried, and raised in Psa 16:10 .
12. His suffering as a substitute is described in Psa 69:9 .
13. The result of his crucifixion to them who crucified him is given in Psa 69:22-23 . Compare Rom 11:9-10 .
The Penitential Psalms are Psa 6 ; Psa 32 ; Psa 38 ; Psa 51 ; Psa 102 ; Psa 130 ; Psa 143 . The occasion of Psa 6 was the grief and penitence of David over Absalom; of Psa 32 was the blessedness of forgiveness after his sin with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah; Psa 38 , David’s reference to his sin with Bathsheba; Psa 51 , David’s penitence and prayer for forgiveness for this sin; Psa 102 , the penitence of the children of Israel on the eve of their return from captivity; Psalm 130, a general penitential psalm; Psa 143 , David’s penitence and prayer when pursued by Absalom.
The Pilgrim Psalms are Psalms 120-134. This section of the psalter is called the “Little Psalter.” These Psalms were collected in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, in troublous times. The author of the central psalm of this collection is Solomon, and he wrote it when he built his Temple. The Davidic Psalms in this collection are Psa 120 ; Psa 122 ; Psa 124 ; Psa 131 ; Psa 132 ; Psa 133 . The others were written during the building of the second Temple. They are called in the Septuagint “Songs of the Steps.”
There are four theories as to the meaning of the titles, “Songs of the Steps,” “Songs of Degrees,” or “Songs of Ascents,” viz:
1. The first theory is that the “Songs of the Steps” means the songs of the fifteen steps from the court of the women to the court of Israel, there being a song for each step.
2. The second theory is that advanced by Luther, which says that they were songs of a higher choir, elevated above, or in an elevated voice.
3. The third theory is that the thought in these psalms advances by degrees.
4. The fourth theory is that they are Pilgrim Psalms, or the songs that they sang while going up to the great feasts.
Certain scriptures give the true idea of these titles, viz: Exo 23:14-17 ; Exo 34:23-24 ; 1Sa 1:3 ; 1Ki 12:27-28 : Psa 122:1-4 ; and the proof of their singing as they went is found in Psa_42:4; 100; and Isa 30:29 . They went, singing these psalms, to the Feasts of the Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. Psa 121 was sung when just in sight of Jerusalem and Psa 122 was sung at the gate. Psa 128 is the description of a good man’s home and a parallel to this psalm in modern literature is Burns’s “Cotter’s Saturday Night.” The pious home makes the nation great.
Psa 133 is a psalm of fellowship. It is one of the finest expressions of the blessings that issue when God’s people dwell together in unity. The reference here is to the anointing of Aaron as high priest and the fragrance of the anointing oil which was used in these anointings. The dew of Hermon represents the blessing of God upon his people when they dwell together in such unity.
Now let us look at the Alphabetical Psalms. An alphabetical psalm is one in which the letters of the Hebrew alphabet are used alphabetically to commence each division. In Psalms 111-112, each clause so begins; in Psa 25 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 145 ; each verse so begins; in Psa 37 each stanza of two verses so begins; in 119 each stanza of eight verses so begins, and each of the eight lines begins with the same letter. In Psa 25 ; 34 37 the order is not so strict; in Psa 9 and Psa 10 there are some traces of this alphabetical order.
David originated these alphabetical psalms and the most complete specimen is Psa 119 , which is an expansion of the latter part of Psa 19 .
A certain group of psalms is called the Hallelujah Psalms. They are so called because the word “Hallelujah” is used at the beginning, or at the ending, and sometimes at both the beginning and the ending. The Hallelujah Psalms are Psalm 111-113; 115-117; 146-150. Psa 117 is a doxology; and Psalms 146-150 were used as anthems. Psa 148 calls on all creation to praise God. Francis of Assisi wrote a hymn based on this psalm in which he called the sun his honorable brother and the cricket his sister. Psa 150 calls for all varieties of instruments. Psalms 113-118 are called the Egyptian Hallel. They were used at the Passover (Psalm 113-114), before the Supper and Psalm 115-118 were sung after the Supper. According to this, Jesus and his disciples sang Psalms 115-118 at the last Passover Supper. These psalms were sung also at the Feasts of Pentecost, Tabernacles, Dedication, and New Moon.
The name of God is delayed long in Psa 114 . Addison said, “That the surprise might be complete.” Then there are some special characteristics of Psa 115 , viz: (1) It was written against idols. Cf. Isa 44:9-20 ; (2) It is antiphonal, the congregation singing Psa 115:1-8 , the choir Psa 115:9-12 , the priests Psa 115:13-15 and the congregation again Psa 115:16-18 . The theme of Psa 116 is love, based on gratitude for a great deliverance, expressed in service. It is appropriate to read at the celebration of the Lord’s Supper and Psa 116:15 is especially appropriate for funeral services.
On some special historical occasions certain psalms were sung. Psa 46 was sung by the army of Gustavus Adolphus before the decisive battle of Leipzig, on September 17, 1631.Psa 68 was sung by Cromwell’s army on the occasion of the battle of Dunbar in Scotland.
Certain passages in the Psalms show that the psalm writers approved the offering of Mosaic animal sacrifices. For instance, Psa 118:27 ; Psa 141:2 seem to teach very clearly that they approved the Mosaic sacrifice. But other passages show that these inspired writers estimated spiritual sacrifices as more important and foresaw the abolition of the animal sacrifices. Such passages are Psa 50:7-15 ; Psa 4:5 ; Psa 27:6 ; Psa 40:6 ; Psa 51:16-17 . These scriptures show conclusively that the writers estimated spiritual sacrifices as more important than the Mosaic sacrifices.
QUESTIONS
QUESTIONS
1. What are the Royal Psalms?
2. What are the Passion Psalms?
3. What are the Psalms of the Ideal Man?
4. What are the Missionary Psalms?
5. What are the predictions before David of the coming Messiah?
6. What are the prophecies of history concerning the Messiah?
7. Give a regular order of thought concerning the messianic offices as taught in the psalms.
8. Which psalms most clearly present the Messiah as (1) the ideal man, or Second Adam, (2) which as Prophet, or Teacher, (3) which as the Sacrifice, (4) which as King, (5) which as Priest, (6) which his universal reign?
9. Concerning the suffering Messiah, or the Messiah as a sacrifice, state the words or facts, verified in the New Testament as fulfilment of prophecy in the psalms. Let the order of the citations follow the order of facts in Christ’s life.
10. Name the Penitential Psalms and show their occasion.
11. What are the Pilgrim Psalms?
12. What is this section of the Psalter called?
13. When and under what conditions were these psalms collected?
14. Who is the author of the central psalm of this collection?
15. What Davidic Psalms are in this collection?
16. When were the others written?
17. What are they called in the Septuagint?
18. What four theories as to the meaning of the titles, “Songs of the Steps,” “Songs of Degrees,” or “Songs of Ascents”?
19. What scriptures give the true idea of these titles?
20. Give proof of their singing as they went.
21. To what feasts did they go singing these Psalms?
22. What was the special use made of Psa 121 and Psa 122 ?
23. Which of these psalms is the description of a good man’s home and what parallel in modern literature?
24. Expound Psa 133 .
25. What is an alphabetical psalm, and what are the several kinds?
26. Who originated these Alphabetical Psalms?
27. What are the most complete specimen?
28. Of what is it an expansion?
29. Why is a certain group of psalms called the Hallelujah Psalms?
30. What are the Hallelujah Psalms?
31. Which of the Hallelujah Psalms was a doxology?
32. Which of these were used as anthems?
33. Which psalm calls on all creation to praise God?
34. Who wrote a hymn based on Psa 148 in which he called the sun his honorable brother and the cricket his sister?
35. Which of these psalms calls for all varieties of instruments?
36. What is the Egyptian Hallel?
37. What is their special use and how were they sung?
38. Then what hymns did Jesus and his disciples sing?
39. At what other feasts was this sung?
40. Why was the name of God delayed so long in Psa 114 ?
41. What are the characteristics of Psa 115 ?
42. What is the theme and special use of Psa 116 ?
43. State some special historical occasions on which certain psalms were sung. Give the psalm for each occasion.
44. Cite passages in the psalms showing that the psalm writers approved the offering of Mosaic animal sacrifices.
45. Cite other passages showing that these inspired writers estimated spiritual sacrifices as more important than the Mosaic sacrifices.
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
XVI
THE MESSIANIC PSALMS AND OTHERS
We commence this chapter by giving a classified list of the Messianic Psalms, as follows:
The Royal Psalms are:
Psa 110 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 72 ; Psa 45 ; Psa 89 ;
The Passion Psalms are:
Psa 22 ; Psa 41 ; Psa 69 ;
The Psalms of the Ideal Man are Psa 8 ; Psa 16 ; Psa 40 ;
The Missionary Psalms are:
Psa 47 ; Psa 65 ; Psa 68 ; Psa 96 ; Psa 100 ; Psa 117 .
The predictions before David of the coming Messiah are, (1) the seed of the woman; (2) the seed of Abraham; (3) the seed of Judah; (4) the seed of David.
The prophecies of history concerning the Messiah are, (1) a prophet like unto Moses; (2) a priest after the order of Melchizedek; (3) a sacrifice which embraces all the sacrificial offerings of the Old Testament; (4) direct references to him as King, as in 2Sa 7:8 ff.
The messianic offices as taught in the psalms are four, viz: (1) The Messiah is presented as Prophet, or Teacher (Psa 40:8 ); (2) as Sacrifice, or an Offering for sin (Psa 40:6 ff.; Heb 10:5 ff.) ; (3) he is presented as Priest (Psa 110:4 ); (4) he is presented as King (Psa 45 ).
The psalms most clearly presenting the Messiah in his various phases and functions are as follows: (1) as the ideal man, or Second Adam (8); (2) as Prophet (Psa 40 ); (3) as Sacrifice (Psa 22 ) ; (4) as King (Psa 45 ) ; (5) as Priest (Psa 110 ) ; (6) in his universal reign (Psa 72 ).
It will be noted that other psalms teach these facts also, but these most clearly set forth the offices as they relate to the Messiah.
The Messiah as a sacrifice is presented in general in Psa 40:6 . His sufferings as such are given in a specific and general way in Psa 22 ; Psa 41 ; Psa 69 . The events of his sufferings in particular are described, beginning with the betrayal of Judas, as follows:
1. Judas betrayed him (Mat 26:14 ) in fulfilment of Psa 41:9 .
2. At the Supper (Mat 26:24 ) Christ said, “The Son of man goeth as it is written of him,” referring to Psa 22 .
3. They sang after the Supper in fulfilment of Psa 22:22 .
4. Piercing his hands and feet, Psa 22:16 .
5. They cast lots for his vesture in fulfilment of Psa 22:18 .
6. Just before the ninth hour the chief priests reviled him (Mat 27:43 ) in fulfilment of Psa 22:8 .
7. At the ninth hour (Mat 27:46 ) he quoted Psa 22:1 .
8. Near his death (Joh 19:28 ) he said, in fulfilment of Psa 69:21 , “I thirst.”
9. At that time they gave him vinegar (Mat 27:48 ) in fulfilment of Psa 69:21 .
10. When he was found dead they did not break his bones (Joh 19:36 ) in fulfilment of Psa 34:20 .
11. He is represented as dead, buried, and raised in Psa 16:10 .
12. His suffering as a substitute is described in Psa 69:9 .
13. The result of his crucifixion to them who crucified him is given in Psa 69:22-23 . Compare Rom 11:9-10 .
The Penitential Psalms are Psa 6 ; Psa 32 ; Psa 38 ; Psa 51 ; Psa 102 ; Psa 130 ; Psa 143 . The occasion of Psa 6 was the grief and penitence of David over Absalom; of Psa 32 was the blessedness of forgiveness after his sin with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah; Psa 38 , David’s reference to his sin with Bathsheba; Psa 51 , David’s penitence and prayer for forgiveness for this sin; Psa 102 , the penitence of the children of Israel on the eve of their return from captivity; Psalm 130, a general penitential psalm; Psa 143 , David’s penitence and prayer when pursued by Absalom.
The Pilgrim Psalms are Psalms 120-134. This section of the psalter is called the “Little Psalter.” These Psalms were collected in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, in troublous times. The author of the central psalm of this collection is Solomon, and he wrote it when he built his Temple. The Davidic Psalms in this collection are Psa 120 ; Psa 122 ; Psa 124 ; Psa 131 ; Psa 132 ; Psa 133 . The others were written during the building of the second Temple. They are called in the Septuagint “Songs of the Steps.”
There are four theories as to the meaning of the titles, “Songs of the Steps,” “Songs of Degrees,” or “Songs of Ascents,” viz:
1. The first theory is that the “Songs of the Steps” means the songs of the fifteen steps from the court of the women to the court of Israel, there being a song for each step.
2. The second theory is that advanced by Luther, which says that they were songs of a higher choir, elevated above, or in an elevated voice.
3. The third theory is that the thought in these psalms advances by degrees.
4. The fourth theory is that they are Pilgrim Psalms, or the songs that they sang while going up to the great feasts.
Certain scriptures give the true idea of these titles, viz: Exo 23:14-17 ; Exo 34:23-24 ; 1Sa 1:3 ; 1Ki 12:27-28 : Psa 122:1-4 ; and the proof of their singing as they went is found in Psa_42:4; 100; and Isa 30:29 . They went, singing these psalms, to the Feasts of the Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. Psa 121 was sung when just in sight of Jerusalem and Psa 122 was sung at the gate. Psa 128 is the description of a good man’s home and a parallel to this psalm in modern literature is Burns’s “Cotter’s Saturday Night.” The pious home makes the nation great.
Psa 133 is a psalm of fellowship. It is one of the finest expressions of the blessings that issue when God’s people dwell together in unity. The reference here is to the anointing of Aaron as high priest and the fragrance of the anointing oil which was used in these anointings. The dew of Hermon represents the blessing of God upon his people when they dwell together in such unity.
Now let us look at the Alphabetical Psalms. An alphabetical psalm is one in which the letters of the Hebrew alphabet are used alphabetically to commence each division. In Psalms 111-112, each clause so begins; in Psa 25 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 145 ; each verse so begins; in Psa 37 each stanza of two verses so begins; in 119 each stanza of eight verses so begins, and each of the eight lines begins with the same letter. In Psa 25 ; 34 37 the order is not so strict; in Psa 9 and Psa 10 there are some traces of this alphabetical order.
David originated these alphabetical psalms and the most complete specimen is Psa 119 , which is an expansion of the latter part of Psa 19 .
A certain group of psalms is called the Hallelujah Psalms. They are so called because the word “Hallelujah” is used at the beginning, or at the ending, and sometimes at both the beginning and the ending. The Hallelujah Psalms are Psalm 111-113; 115-117; 146-150. Psa 117 is a doxology; and Psalms 146-150 were used as anthems. Psa 148 calls on all creation to praise God. Francis of Assisi wrote a hymn based on this psalm in which he called the sun his honorable brother and the cricket his sister. Psa 150 calls for all varieties of instruments. Psalms 113-118 are called the Egyptian Hallel. They were used at the Passover (Psalm 113-114), before the Supper and Psalm 115-118 were sung after the Supper. According to this, Jesus and his disciples sang Psalms 115-118 at the last Passover Supper. These psalms were sung also at the Feasts of Pentecost, Tabernacles, Dedication, and New Moon.
The name of God is delayed long in Psa 114 . Addison said, “That the surprise might be complete.” Then there are some special characteristics of Psa 115 , viz: (1) It was written against idols. Cf. Isa 44:9-20 ; (2) It is antiphonal, the congregation singing Psa 115:1-8 , the choir Psa 115:9-12 , the priests Psa 115:13-15 and the congregation again Psa 115:16-18 . The theme of Psa 116 is love, based on gratitude for a great deliverance, expressed in service. It is appropriate to read at the celebration of the Lord’s Supper and Psa 116:15 is especially appropriate for funeral services.
On some special historical occasions certain psalms were sung. Psa 46 was sung by the army of Gustavus Adolphus before the decisive battle of Leipzig, on September 17, 1631.Psa 68 was sung by Cromwell’s army on the occasion of the battle of Dunbar in Scotland.
Certain passages in the Psalms show that the psalm writers approved the offering of Mosaic animal sacrifices. For instance, Psa 118:27 ; Psa 141:2 seem to teach very clearly that they approved the Mosaic sacrifice. But other passages show that these inspired writers estimated spiritual sacrifices as more important and foresaw the abolition of the animal sacrifices. Such passages are Psa 50:7-15 ; Psa 4:5 ; Psa 27:6 ; Psa 40:6 ; Psa 51:16-17 . These scriptures show conclusively that the writers estimated spiritual sacrifices as more important than the Mosaic sacrifices.
QUESTIONS
QUESTIONS
1. What are the Royal Psalms?
2. What are the Passion Psalms?
3. What are the Psalms of the Ideal Man?
4. What are the Missionary Psalms?
5. What are the predictions before David of the coming Messiah?
6. What are the prophecies of history concerning the Messiah?
7. Give a regular order of thought concerning the messianic offices as taught in the psalms.
8. Which psalms most clearly present the Messiah as (1) the ideal man, or Second Adam, (2) which as Prophet, or Teacher, (3) which as the Sacrifice, (4) which as King, (5) which as Priest, (6) which his universal reign?
9. Concerning the suffering Messiah, or the Messiah as a sacrifice, state the words or facts, verified in the New Testament as fulfilment of prophecy in the psalms. Let the order of the citations follow the order of facts in Christ’s life.
10. Name the Penitential Psalms and show their occasion.
11. What are the Pilgrim Psalms?
12. What is this section of the Psalter called?
13. When and under what conditions were these psalms collected?
14. Who is the author of the central psalm of this collection?
15. What Davidic Psalms are in this collection?
16. When were the others written?
17. What are they called in the Septuagint?
18. What four theories as to the meaning of the titles, “Songs of the Steps,” “Songs of Degrees,” or “Songs of Ascents”?
19. What scriptures give the true idea of these titles?
20. Give proof of their singing as they went.
21. To what feasts did they go singing these Psalms?
22. What was the special use made of Psa 121 and Psa 122 ?
23. Which of these psalms is the description of a good man’s home and what parallel in modern literature?
24. Expound Psa 133 .
25. What is an alphabetical psalm, and what are the several kinds?
26. Who originated these Alphabetical Psalms?
27. What are the most complete specimen?
28. Of what is it an expansion?
29. Why is a certain group of psalms called the Hallelujah Psalms?
30. What are the Hallelujah Psalms?
31. Which of the Hallelujah Psalms was a doxology?
32. Which of these were used as anthems?
33. Which psalm calls on all creation to praise God?
34. Who wrote a hymn based on Psa 148 in which he called the sun his honorable brother and the cricket his sister?
35. Which of these psalms calls for all varieties of instruments?
36. What is the Egyptian Hallel?
37. What is their special use and how were they sung?
38. Then what hymns did Jesus and his disciples sing?
39. At what other feasts was this sung?
40. Why was the name of God delayed so long in Psa 114 ?
41. What are the characteristics of Psa 115 ?
42. What is the theme and special use of Psa 116 ?
43. State some special historical occasions on which certain psalms were sung. Give the psalm for each occasion.
44. Cite passages in the psalms showing that the psalm writers approved the offering of Mosaic animal sacrifices.
45. Cite other passages showing that these inspired writers estimated spiritual sacrifices as more important than the Mosaic sacrifices.
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Psa 121:1 A Song of degrees. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
A Song of degrees ] On, of ascensions, in singing whereof there should be ascensions in our hearts. See Psa 120:1 .
Ver. 1. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills ] Not to your mountains, Psa 11:1 , human helps and carnal combinations, Jer 3:23 , much less to those mountains, in quibus gentes idola collocant et colunt, wherein the heathens set and serve their idols, Deu 12:2 , but to Zion and Moriah, where God’s sanctuary is, Psa 87:1 , or rather to heaven, Psa 18:9 , with 2Sa 22:10 ; 2Sa 22:14 , where God himself is; and so it followeth.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
“A song of the ascents.” Jehovah now at length is Israel’s help, and keeper, Who slumbers not nor sleeps, in all circumstances and for ever.
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)
Psalms
LOOKING TO THE HILLS
Psa 121:1 – Psa 121:2
The so-called ‘Songs of Degrees,’ of which this psalm is one, are usually, and with great probability, attributed to the times of the Exile. If that be so, we get an appropriate background and setting for the expressions and emotions of this psalm. We see the exile, wearied with the monotony of the long-stretching, flat plains of Babylonia, summoning up before his mind the distant hills where his home was. We see him wondering how he will be able ever to reach that place where his desires are set; and we see him settling down, in hopeful assurance that his effort is not in vain, since his help comes from the Lord. ‘I will lift up my eyes unto the hills’; away out yonder westwards, across the sands, lie the lofty summits of my fatherland that draws me to itself. Then comes a turn of thought, most natural to a mind passionately yearning after a great hope, the very greatness of which makes it hard to keep constant. For the second clause of my text cannot possibly be, as it is translated in our Authorised Version, an affirmation, but must be taken as the Revised Version correctly gives it, a question: ‘I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills. From whence cometh my help?’ How am I to get there? And then comes the final turn of thought: ‘My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.’
So then, there are three things here-the look of longing, the question of weakness, the assurance of faith.
I. The look of longing.
There was the look of longing, and the longing which made non-vision into a look; and there was the effort to divert his attention from the things around him to the things afar off; and there was the realisation, by reason of the effort, of these distant but most certain realities.
Now this Psalmist’s home-sickness, if I may so call it, had nothing at all religious about it. It was simply that he wanted to get to his own country-his own, though he had been born in exile; and there was nothing more devout or spiritual or refining about his longing than there is about the wish to return to his native country that any foreigner in a distant land feels. But when we take these words, as we all ought to do, as the motto of our lives, we must necessarily attach the loftiest religious meaning to them. And here start up the plain, simple, but tight-gripping and stimulating questions, ‘Do I see the Unseen? Does that far-off, dim land assume substance and reality to me? Do I walk in the light of it raying out to me through earth’s darkness? Do I dwell contented with never a glimpse of it?’ It comes to be a very sharp question with us professing Christians, whether the horizon of our inward being is limited by, and coterminous with, the horizon of our senses, or whether, far beyond the narrow limits to which these can reach, our spirits’ desire stretches boundless. Are, to us, the things unseen the solid things, and the things visible the shadows and the phantoms? The Apocalyptic seer, in his rocky Patmos, was told that he was to be shown ‘the things which are’; and what was it that he saw? A set of what people call unreal and symbolic visions. ‘The things which are,’ the world would have said, ‘are the rocks that you are standing on, and the sea that is dashing upon them, and all the solid-seeming Roman world, and the power that has got you in its grip. These are the realities, and these things that you think you see, these are the dreams.’ But it is exactly the other way. The world and all that is about us, Manchester and its hubbub, warehouses crammed with cloth, and mills full of jennies and throstles-these are the shadows; and the things that only the believing eye beholds, that are wrapped in the invisibility of their own greatness, these, and these only, are the realities. We see with the bodily eyes the shadows on the wall, as it were, but we have to turn round and see with the eyes of our minds the light that flings the shadows. ‘I will lift up my eyes’ from the mud-flats where I live to the hills that I cannot see, and, seeing them, I shall be blessed.
Further, do we know anything of that longing that the Psalmist had? He was perfectly comfortable in Babylon. There was abundance of everything that he wanted for his life. The Jews there were materially quite as well off, and many of them a great deal better off, than ever they had been in their narrow little strip of mountain land, shut in between the desert and the sea. But for all that, fat, wealthy Babylon was not Palestine. So amidst the lush vegetation, the wealth of water and the fertile plains, the Psalmist longed for the mountains, though the mountains are often bare of green things. It was that longing that led to his looking to the hills. Do we know anything of that longing which makes us ‘that are in this tabernacle to groan, being burdened’? ‘Absent from the Lord,’ and ‘present in the body,’ we should not be at ease, nor at home. Unless our Christianity throws us out of harmony and contentment with the present, it is worth very little. And unless we know something of that immortal longing to be nearer to God, and fuller of Christ, and emancipated from sense, and from the burdens and trivialities of life, we have yet to learn what the meaning of ‘walking not after the flesh but after the Spirit’ really is.
Further, do we make any effort like that of this Psalmist, who encourages and stimulates himself by that strong ‘I will lift up my eyes’? You will not do it unless you make a dead lift of effort. It is a great deal easier for a man to look at what is at his feet than to crane his neck gazing at the stars.
And so, unless we take up and persevere in maintaining a habitual attitude of stirring up and lifting up ourselves, gravitation will be too much for us, and down will go the head, and down the eyes; and down will go the desires, and we shall be like men that live in some mountainous country, who never lift their gaze to the solemn white summits that travellers come across half Europe to see. Christian men and women too often walk beneath the very peaks of the mountains of God, and rarely lift their vision there. They perhaps do so for an hour and a half on a Sunday morning, or an hour on a Wednesday evening, when there is no other engagement, or for a minute or two in the morning before they hurry down to breakfast, or a minute or two at night when they are dead beat and unfit for anything. For the rest of the time, there are the mountains and here is the saint, and he seldom or never turns his head to look at them! Is that the sort of Christianity that is likely to be a power in the world, or a blessing to its possessor?
II Further, notice the question of weakness.
Brethren! if, on the one hand, we have to cultivate, for a healthy, vital Christianity, a vision of the mountains of God, on the other hand we have to try to deepen in ourselves the wholesome sense of our own impotence, and the conviction that the dangers on the road are far too great for us to deal with. ‘Blessed is the man that feareth always.’ ‘Pride goeth before destruction.’ Remember the Franco-German war, and how the French Prime Minister said that they were going into it ‘with a light heart,’ and how some of the troops went out of Paris in railway carriages labelled ‘for Berlin’; and when they reached the frontier they were doubled up and crushed in a month. Unless we, when we set ourselves to this warfare, feel the formidableness of the enemy and recognise the weakness of our own arms, there is nothing but defeat for us.
III. Finally, notice the assurance of faith.
There is a story in the Book of Chronicles, about one battle in which Judah engaged, of a very singular kind. The first step in the campaign was that the king of Judah gathered all his people together, and prayed to God, and said, ‘We know not what we shall do. We have no strength against this great multitude that cometh against us, but our eyes are unto Thee.’ Then a prophet came and assured him of victory, and next day they arrayed the battle. It was set in this strange fashion: in the forefront were put the priests and Levites, with their instruments of music, and not soldiers with spears and bows, and they marched out to battle with this song, ‘The Lord is gracious and merciful. His mercy endureth for ever.’ Then, without the stroke of sword or thrust of spear, God fought for them and scattered their foes.
‘Which things are an allegory.’ If we recognise our helplessness, God is our help. If we conceit ourselves to be strong, we are weak; if we know ourselves to be impotent, Omnipotence pours itself into us. We read once that Jesus Christ healed ‘them that had need of healing.’ Why does the Evangelist not say, without that periphrasis, ‘healed the sick’? Because he would emphasise, I suppose, amongst other things, the thought that only the sense of need fits for the reception of healing and help.
If, then, we desire that God should be ‘the Strength of our hearts, and our Portion for ever,’ the coming of His help must be wooed and won by our sense of our own impotence, and only they who say, ‘We have no might against this great multitude that cometh against us,’ will ever hear from Him the blessed assurance, ‘The Lord will fight for you.’ ‘Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord!’ So, brethren! the assurance of faith follows the consciousness of weakness, and both together will lead, and nothing else will lead, to the realisation of the vision of faith, and bring us at last, weak as we are, to the hills where the weary and foot-sore flock ‘shall lie down in a good fold, and on fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel.’
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 121:1-4
1I will lift up my eyes to the mountains;
From where shall my help come?
2My help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.
3He will not allow your foot to slip;
He who keeps you will not slumber.
4Behold, He who keeps Israel
Will neither slumber nor sleep.
Psa 121:1-8 All of the verbs are imperfects. They denote ongoing and continual Divine care and protection.
There is a possibility, depending on how many speakers there are in this Psalm, that in Psa 121:3 the imperfects are used in a jussive sense (i.e., prayer requests, NJB, NET).
Psa 121:1 I will lift up my eyes This is imagery denoting how a person trusts (cf. Psa 123:1; Psa 141:8).
to the mountains Notice it is plural, which may denote
1. creation, cf. Psa 87:1
2. the temple on Mt. Moriah (i.e., plural of majesty, see Special Topic: Moriah )
3. imagery of strength, stability, and longevity
4. protection (cf. Psa 125:1-2)
5. if the MT intro., songs of ascent means pilgrim songs on the way to Jerusalem, then to see the hills of Judah meant they were close to the temple
6. it is possible it was meant to be a contrast to Ba’al worship done on the high places (cf. 2Ki 23:4-14). Some looked to the fertility gods but the faithful followers looked to YHWH alone. See Special Topic: Monotheism .
From where shall my help come Psa 121:2 makes it obvious that the help is not a physical mountain but the God of creation (cf. Psa 121:2) and covenant (cf. Psa 121:4).
Psa 121:2 the Lord This is the covenant name for DeityYHWH. See SPECIAL TOPIC: NAMES FOR DEITY .
Who made heaven and earth This refers to the physical creation of this planet (cf. Psa 102:25; Psa 115:15; Psa 124:8; Psa 134:3; Psa 146:6). This is an allusion to Genesis 1.
Notice how YHWH is characterized.
1. Creator, Psa 121:2
2. Sustainer, Psa 121:3 a,51
a. individual, cf. Psa 121:7 b,8
b. corporate, cf. Psa 121:4
3. vigilant observer, Psa 121:3 b
4. shade, Psa 121:5-6 (see Special Topic: Shadow As a Metaphor for Protection and Care )
5. perpetual keeping (the verb, BDB 1036, KB 1581, is used in Psa 121:3-5; Psa 121:7 [twice], and 8).
Psa 121:3 foot to slip This is common Hebrew imagery which
1. speaks of a godly life as a clear, straight, level road/path/way (cf. Psa 139:24)
2. speaks of evil as a deviation from the clearly marked (i.e., revelation) path of God or a stumbling on the path
will not slumber God is always watching
1. His creation
2. His people
Not like Ba’al, who sleeps, cf. 1Ki 18:27; Eze 6:13; Eze 18:6; Eze 18:12; Eze 18:15. It is possible sleep was a metaphor for YHWH’s inactivity (cf. Psa 7:6; Psa 44:23; Psa 73:20; Psa 78:65). However, in His time He does act for His people.
Psa 121:4 repeats this same truth in a corporate sense. God has a plan for Israel. See Special Topic: YHWH’s Eternal Redemptive Plan .
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Title. A Song. Hebrew. shir. See App-65.
of degrees = for, or relating to the degrees. Only here thus. Hebrew. lamma’aloth. See note on Title of 120.
hills = mountains. Add a full stop.
From whence, &c? Punctuate this line as a question. Compare Jer 3:23.
cometh = is to come.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 121:1-8
I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills ( Psa 121:1 ),
For there is Jerusalem, there in the mountains of Jerusalem, up there in the hills. There is that city. There is where I’m going to stand before God.
from whence cometh my help ( Psa 121:1 ).
Now this psalm is often misquoted. “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help,” as though my help was coming from the hills. You know, “From whence cometh my help. I will lift up my eyes.” And the idea, my help is coming from… the hills can’t help you. “From whence cometh my help” is actually a question. “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills.” Towards Jerusalem, the place where I will stand before God. “From whence cometh my help?” and it is answered in the next verse.
My help cometh from Yahweh, which made the heaven and the eaRuth ( Psa 121:2 ).
It is many times important that we classify God with this kind of a classification, first of all, so that we will identify the God that we are talking about. As Francis Schaeffer said that we should not as Christians just refer to “God” because nobody knows who you are talking about. There are so many gods that people worship and serve. So we need to define when we say, “God,” we need to say, “The only true and the living God, the Creator of the heaven and the earth.” Now you’re defining Him. That’s the God that we worship.
There are many who worship the god of pleasure, the god of power, the god of different things. The intellect. But the God that we worship is the only true, eternal God who has created the heaven and the earth, the living God. So, “From whence cometh my help? My help comes from Yahweh which made the heaven and the earth.”
Now in the declaring of God as the creator of the heaven and the earth, it’s not only valuable to identify when we’re talking with people, but it’s valuable for us to remember the power of the God that we serve. There are so many times that we become so overpowered by our problems that we neglect to realize the great power of God. I’m so overwhelmed. This problem is so big. What am I going to do? And I just get overwhelmed by my difficulties. Until I realize the greatness of the power of the God I serve.
In the New Testament when the disciples had been beaten and told not to witness anymore in the name of Jesus, it said, “They came to their own company and they told them all of the things that happened when they were standing before the council.” How they were beaten and warned not to preach or teach anymore in the name of Jesus. And so they prayed and they said, “O Lord, Thou art God. Thou hast created the heavens and the earth and everything that is in them” ( Act 4:23-24 ). Now it’s good to start your prayer that way because many times if you’ll just start your prayer that way and really think of what you’re praying, all of a sudden your problem comes into the true perspective. I am seeing now my difficulty in the light of God’s greatness and my difficulty suddenly isn’t so difficult. I’m seeing it no longer in my own strength, in my own ability. I’m calling upon the One who has created the heaven and the earth and everything that is in them. God said to Jeremiah, “Behold, I am God. Is there anything too hard for Me?” ( Jer 32:27 ) In his next prayer, Jeremiah picked that up and he said, “O Lord, You’re God. There’s nothing too hard for You.” The Lord who made the heaven and the earth. That’s where my help comes from. And if God be for me, who can be against me?
He will not allow your foot to be moved ( Psa 121:3 ):
Now you’re walking up a rocky, slippery path. The rockiest place in the world, I think, is Israel. And rocks and gravel on the path can be very slippery. But, “He will not allow your foot to be moved.”
he that keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he that keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep ( Psa 121:3-4 ).
God is my help. My help comes from the Lord, who made the heaven and the earth. And He’s always on duty. He’ll never slumber; He’ll never sleep.
The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand ( Psa 121:5 ).
Of course, coming from the Jordan Valley, extremely hot in that burning sun. The Lord becomes the shade.
The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul ( Psa 121:6-7 ).
What a glorious promise. If you are looking to the Lord for your help, He will preserve you from all evil. The Lord will preserve your soul.
The LORD shall preserve thy going out, thy coming in from this time forth, even for evermore ( Psa 121:8 ).
Isn’t that a glorious promise to us? God will not allow my foot to be moved. He’s watching over me night and day. He will preserve me.
“
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
Psa 121:1. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
It is wise to look to the strong for strength. Dwellers in valleys are subject to many disorders for which there is no cure but a sojourn in the uplands, and it is well when they shake off their lethargy and resolve upon a climb. The holy man who here sings a choice sonnet looked away from the slanderers by whom he was tormented to the Lord who saw all from his high places, and was ready to pour down succor for his injured servant. Help comes to saints only from above, they look elsewhere in vain: let us lift up our eyes with hope, expectancy, desire, and confidence. Satan will endeavor to keep our eyes upon our sorrows that we may be disquieted and discouraged, be it ours firmly to resolve that we will look out and look up, for there is good cheer for the eyes, and they that lift up their eyes to the eternal hills shall soon have their hearts lifted up also. The purposes of God; the divine attributes. Tthe immutable promises, the covenant, ordered in all things and sure. The providence, predestination, and proved faithfulness of the Lord these are the things to which we must lift up our eyes, for from these our help must come.
Psa 121:2. My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.
What we need is help, help powerful, efficient, constant: we need a very present help in trouble. What a mercy that we have it in our God. Our hope is in Jehovah, for our help comes from him. Help is on the road and will not fail to reach us in due time, for he who sends it to us was never known to be too late. Jehovah who created all things is equal to every emergency; heaven and earth are at the disposal of him who made them, therefore let us be very joyful in our infinite helper. He will sooner destroy heaven and earth than permit his people to be destroyed, and the perpetual hills themselves shall bow rather than he shall fail whose ways are everlasting. We are bound to look beyond heaven and earth to him who made them both: it is vain to trust the creatures: it is wise to trust the Creator.
Psa 121:3. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
Though the paths of life are dangerous and difficult, yet we shall stand fast, for Jehovah will not permit our feet to slide, and if he will not suffer it we shall not suffer it. If our foot will be thus kept we may be sure that our head and heart will be preserved also. In the original the words express a wish or prayer, May he not suffer thy foot to be moved. Promised preservation should be the subject of perpetual prayer; and we may pray believingly; for those who have God for their keeper shall be safe from all the perils of the way. Among the hills and ravines of Palestine the literal keeping of the feet is a great mercy, but in the slippery ways of a tried and afflicted life, the boon of upholding is of priceless value for a single false step might cause us a fall fraught with awful danger. We should not stand a moment if our keeper were to sleep, we need him by day and by night, not a single step can be safely taken except under his guardian eye. God is the convoy and bodyguard of his saints. No fatigue or exhaustion can cast our God into sleep; his watchful eyes are never closed.
Psa 121:4. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
The consoling truth must be repeated: it is too rich to be dismissed in a single line. It were well if we always imitated the sweet singer, and would dwell a little upon a choice doctrine, sucking the honey from it. What a glorious title is in the Hebrew The keeper of Israel, and how delightful to think that no form of unconsciousness ever steals over him, neither the deep slumber nor the lighter sleep. This is a subject of wonder, a theme for attentive consideration, therefore the word Behold is set up as a waymark. Israel fell asleep, but his God was awake. Jacob had neither walls, nor curtains, nor bodyguard around him, but the Lord was in that place though Jacob knew it not, and therefore the defenseless man was safe as in a castle. He keeps us as a rich man keeps his treasure, as a captain keeps a city with a garrison, as a royal guard keeps his monarchs head. If the former verse is in strict accuracy a prayer, this is the answer to it, it affirms the matter thus, Lo he shall not slumber nor sleep the Keeper of Israel. Happy are the pilgrims to whom this psalm is a safe conduct; they may journey all the way to the celestial city without fear.
Psa 121:5. The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand.
Here the preserving One who had been spoken of by pronouns in the two previous verses, is distinctly named Jehovah is thy keeper. What a mint of meaning lies here: the sentence is a mass of bullion, and when coined and stamped with the kings name it will bear all our expenses between our birthplace on earth and our rest in heaven. Here is a glorious person Jehovah, assuming a gracious office and fulfilling it in person, Jehovah is thy keeper, in behalf of a favoured individual my, and a firm assurance of revelation that it is even so at this hour Jehovah is thy keeper. A shade gives protection from burning heat and glaring light. We cannot bear too much blessing; even divine goodness, which is a right-hand dispensation must be toned down and shaded to suit our infirmity, and this the Lord will do for us. When a blazing sun pours down its burning beams upon our heads the Lord Jehovah himself will interpose to shade us and that in the most honourable manner, acting as our right-hand attendant, and placing us in comfort and safety.
Psa 121:6. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.
None but the Lord could shelter us from these tremendous forces. There are dangers of the light and of the dark, but in both and from both we shall be preserved literally from excessive heat and from baneful chills; mystically from any injurious effects which might follow from doctrine bright or dim; spiritually from the evils of prosperity and adversity; eternally from the strain of overpowering glory and from the pressure of terrible events, such as judgment and the burning of the world. Day and night make up all time: thus the ever-present protection never ceases.
Psa 121:7. The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.
It is a great pity that our admirable translation did not keep to the word keep all through the psalm, for all along it is one. God not only keeps his own in all evil times but from all evil influences and operations, yea, from evils themselves. This is a far-reaching word of covering: it includes everything and excludes nothing: the wings of Jehovah amply guard his own from evils great and small, temporary and eternal. Soul-keeping is the soul of keeping. If the soul be kept all is kept. The preservation of the greater includes that of the less so far as it is essential to the main design: the kernel shall be preserved, and in order thereto the shell shall be preserved also. Our soul is kept from the dominion of sin, the infection of error, the crush of despondency, the puffing up of pride; kept from the world, the flesh, and the devil; kept for holier and greater things; kept in the love of God; kept unto the eternal kingdom and glory. What can harm a soul that is kept of the Lord?
This exposition consisted of readings from Isa 5:1-19, and Psa 121:1-7.
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible
Psa 121:1
Psalms 121
PRAISE GOD; THE KEEPER OF HIS PEOPLE;
THE SONG OF A TRAVELER WHOSE GUIDE IS JEHOVAH
Practically all of the psalms in this group are brief, but they are “exquisitely beautiful,” as Dummelow phrased it. Spurgeon remarked that, “It is a soldier’s song, as well as a traveler’s hymn.
Psa 121:1
“I will lift up mine eyes unto the mountains;
From whence shall my help come?”
“Unto the mountains” is here a reference to Jerusalem. In Ezekiel, we became familiar with this designation of the holy city. This designation of Palestine developed from the contrast, “Between the Mesopotamian plain and `the mountains of Israel.’ “Thus, the `hills’ (or mountains) became synonymous for the holy city.
The pilgrim singing this song was not thinking of getting “help” from those mountains, but of getting “help” on his journey to them.
Martin Luther translated the second clause, “From whence cometh my help,” a translation which Delitzsch rejected in favor of the rendition here.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 121:1. Hills and mountains are often used figuratively In the Bible, meaning some prominent place or government. David was using it to mean the government and institution of the Lord. From that holy and exalted situation he expected to get help.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
This song, so full of beauty, marks another stage in the approach of the worshiper in that it sets forth his assurance of the present help of Jehovah. The singer is still far from the appointed place of worship, lifting his eyes toward the distant mountains. He is not far from Jehovah, however. In Jehovah’s keeping, even though far from the center of external worship, the pilgrim realizes his safety. He lifts his longing eyes toward the mountains of Zion, where stands the house of his God, and asks:
From whence shall my help come?
Not from those mountains, precious as they are, but from Jehovah, who is with him even in the valley of distance. He then addresses the singer’s heart with words of comfort and assurance. Jehovah keeps His children safe, never slumbering or sleeping in His faithful vigil.
The stately sentences which describe the tender care of Jehovah need no exposition. They are the common language of all who know Jehovah. These two psalms, revealing as they do the consciousness of the difficulty of exile and the heart’s confidence in Jehovah prepare for the outburst of the next song for approach to the place of worship as the day dawns.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
Where to Find Help
Psa 120:1-7; Psa 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 Psa 57:4; Psa 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, Psa 120:1.
Psa 121:1-8
The keynote of this psalm is the word keep, which occurs in one form or another six times. In Psa 121:1 and Psa 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 Psa 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.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Psa 121:1
In these first words of one of the greatest Psalms of David, the nobleness which we immediately feel seems to lie in this, that David will seek help only from the highest source. Nothing less than God’s help can really meet his needs. He will not peer into the valleys, he will not turn to fellow-men, to nature, to work, to pleasure, as if they had the relief he needed. “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, who hath made heaven and earth.” It is the duty of every man to seek help from the Highest in every department of his life.
I. Take, first, the everlasting struggle with temptation. How perfectly clear it is that any man who undertakes that struggle may look either to the valleys or to the hills for help, may call the lower or the higher powers to his aid. The fear of pain, the fear of disgrace, the fear of discomfort, and the shame that comes with the loftiest companionship-we may have to appeal to them all in the hours, which come so often in our lives, when we are very weak. But, after all, the appeal to these helpers is not the final cry of the soul. Obedience to God is the only final and infallible help of the soul in its struggle with temptation.
II. Not merely in temptation, but in sorrow, a man may seek the assistance of the Highest or of some other power which is far lower. The real relief, the only final comfort, is God; and He relieves the soul always in its suffering, not from its suffering; nay, He relieves the soul by its suffering, by the new knowledge and possession of Himself which would come only through that atmosphere of pain.
III. Our truth is nowhere more true than in the region of doubt and perplexity of mind.
IV. The text is true with reference to man’s escape from sin. The best spiritual ambition seeks directly holiness. It seeks pardon as a means to holiness. So it lifts its eyes up at once to the very highest hills.
Phillips Brooks, The Candle of the Lord, p. 270.
Reference: Psa 121:1.- C. A. Fowler, Parochial Sermons, p. 223.
Psa 121:1-2
To the mind of the Jewish poet the everlasting hills of his native land were as shadows of the Infinite. The security which these mountain-ranges afforded to Palestine, forming as they did so remarkable a barrier to the land on every side except towards the sea, suggested to the writer of the Psalm an emblem of the Divine protection.
I. Here we have the grand distinction between the faith of the Jew and that of the heathen. The Jew knew that “the gods of the heathen are but idols, but it is the Lord that made the heavens.” The whole Bible is merely the unfolding of that truth with which its first chapter so simply yet so sublimely opens.
II. This belief in God as the Creator and Preserver of all things applies in particular to man as the chiefest and best of God’s works (Psalm viii.).
III. This faith in God as man’s Creator and Preserver led the writers of these Psalms to trust their souls to Him as well as their bodies; led them to look to Him as their Saviour, not only from earthly troubles and dangers, but also from those spiritual troubles which are man’s heaviest trials.
IV. There is yet a further growth which we can trace from this faith in God as the Creator and Preserver-I mean the belief of the psalmists in a life beyond the grave.
G. Forbes, The Voice of God in the Psalms, p. 94.
Reference: Psa 121:1, Psa 121:2.-R. Tuck, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xiv., p. 154.
Psa 121:2
This expression of dependence upon God is not merely a formal act of piety, but the utterance of a truth which is seen to be more profoundly true for all of us the more we think of it.
I. It is plain that in all man’s great discoveries he only observes the energies of nature, which are not his own, but are really the energies of God; and in his inventions he follows up hints which are given him by nature itself, so that he is bound to acknowledge God in every step of his advancement. The law of man’s development is an ever-closer union of the finite with the Infinite, and this is its true glory. It is, in a lower sense, the ever-advancing incarnation of the Word of His power and the “taking of manhood into God.”
II. That which is true of outward and material things is also the law of our salvation from sin and death. Man works out his salvation by union with God, who “worketh in him to will and to do of His good pleasure.” The finite gains the victory only by closest union with the infinite Spirit. The one all-embracing condition of salvation is faith in Christ; that is, union of heart, and soul, and mind with the Power which alone can, and which certainly will, carry us from this world of sin and death to everlasting life.
III. If you have taken hold of this Power, remember that it has also taken hold of you, and will hold you in its grasp for ever as it holds the stars in their places. It is a Power which can transform you into something Divine. It is the Power which converts carbon into the diamond, a little earth and gas into the cedar of Lebanon, an invisible germ into the most perfect form of beauty. And it is set on converting us into something far more glorious than these things: into sharers of His own glory for ever in the person of Christ.
E. White, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxx., p. 149.
Psa 121:3
There are times of every man’s life, moods of every man’s mind, in which nothing is more acceptable than the remembrance of some of those fundamental truths of religion from which we often turn aside as elementary or commonplace. Such a truth, so certain, so fundamental, so comforting, is that of the never-failing providence of God, a truth, or rather a fact, which has been the unceasing support of all God’s servants in every age, and on the belief of which depend all our happiness in life, all our hope in danger and difficulty, all our strength and consolation in times of suffering and distress.
I. The providence of God must be either minute and universal or nominal and nugatory. If God does anything, He must do all things. The very greatness of God, the difference between Him and His creatures in point of knowledge and power, is shown in nothing more infallibly than in this, that He is able to combine universal dominion with particular superintendence, the irresistible control of empires and of worlds with the most minute direction of individual interests, the tenderest concern for individual feeling. What then does this teach us? How shall we avail ourselves of the truth thus disclosed?
II. Let each one say to himself-it is not the language of self-exaltation-God careth for me. The Lord thinketh upon me. I am of value in the sight of God, not for what I am without Him, but for that of which He has made me capable, and for the sake of Him who bought me with His most precious blood. It was not by chance, but by the will and operation of God, that the time, and the place, and the circumstances of my being were all ordained.
III. Recollect that from the watchful eye of that Providence which orders all things we cannot escape if we would. Either in love and tender compassion, or else (according to the fearful words of the prophet) with fury poured out, God must rule over us. It is not a matter of choice whether we will be under Him or whether we will be our own masters. His we are. “Whither shall I go then from Thy Spirit, or whither shall I go then from Thy presence?”
C. J. Vaughan, Harrow Sermons, 2nd series, p. 164.
Psa 121:8
I. It was help, and only help, which the speaker looked for from God. And help is not that which dispenses with exertion on our part, but rather that which supposes such exertion. Helping a man is not doing everything for him and leaving him nothing to do for himself, but rather the assisting him in his efforts, making those efforts effectual when perhaps without that aid they would be insufficient and frustrated.
II. “Who made heaven and earth.” This is turning creation to account. There is not an impress of power in the visible universe but is a message to the Christian, telling him not to be afraid.
III. “He will not suffer thy foot to be moved.” In the first verse we have the psalmist leaning or waiting upon God; in the third we have his strength renewed through fresh assurance of Divine favour and support. Were there no more watchful eye upon our path than our own, we should often be in such slippery places that no effort might avail to keep ourselves from falling; but there is an eye upon us that is never closed.
IV. “He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.” Then there is a blessed company who share with me this unwearied protection, “partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.”
V. “The Lord is thy Keeper.” This indicates, indeed, the presence and activity of enemies, who, like wolves, may prowl about the flock, but indicates also the security of those within the fold. If we refuse to stay in the fold, and wilfully wander into the wilderness, we must expect to be harassed and torn; but God will never fail to keep us so long as we fail not to strive to keep ourselves.
VI. The last verse is a promise that we shall be kept in all our ways; that in all our business, in all our movements, amid all the changes and chances of our mortal life, we shall evermore be defended by that ready help which issues from an eye that cannot close and an arm that cannot fail.
“Even for evermore.” There is a “going out” from this world; there is a “coming in” to the next world. Our “going out” through the dark valley shall be under the guidance of that blessed Shepherd whose rod and whose staff shall never fail to comfort the believer; our “coming in” to the heavenly city shall be as heirs with that glorious Redeemer who must reign until He has put all enemies under His feet.
H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 2241.
Psalm 121
There is an affinity between souls and hills, especially for those who have become acquainted with their own solemn depths and sublime heights. In man’s earthly estate wonderful heights are laid low. He has descended from the eternal hills. Being away from his home and half a stranger to himself, the broken conformations of the outward world, the deep, dark, mist-shrouded valleys, the bold, aspiring, light-seeking mountains, deeply affect him. Man in trouble instinctively looks to the hills; he feels the attraction of the Fatherland, and knows there is help for him there.
I. “I will lift up mine eyes.” Our eyes travel where our feet cannot climb, lay hold of what our hands cannot reach; but the eyes that the. psalmist speaks of are the eyes of the soul, and the hills to which he looks are the hills of help for the soul.
II. The help of the hills is representative of the help of other heights. They receive whatever help they furnish. They stand for the “hill of the Lord,” for the “Maker of heaven and earth.” The Maker only can help that which is made.
III. From the hill of the Lord we receive help for the valley. The hill of the Lord is to the pilgrim who looks up what the compass is to the mariner, who finds his course by it through the troubled waters of the pathless sea.
IV. “Behold, He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.” The clouds may shut out the light of the sky even by day, and under a cloudless sky the sun early leaves the valleys; and though over the hill-tops the light long lingers, and the day seems loath to depart, the night closes in: but from Mount Zion the light is never withdrawn.
V. The habit of looking up will teach us: (1) to understand the use of trouble in this valley; (2) that we are to be withdrawn from the earthly valley.
W. Pulsford, Trinity Church Sermons, p. 50.
References: Psalm 121-S. Cox, The Pilgrim Psalms, p. 24; M. R. Vincent, Gates into the Psalm Country, p. 265; Expository Sermons and Outlines on the Old Testament, p. 242.
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
A Song of degrees
Literally, “of ascents.” Perhaps chanted by the people as they went up to Jerusalem to the feasts. Psa 122:1; Psa 122:2.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Help from beyond the Hills
I will lift up mine eyes unto the mountains:
From whence shall my help come?
My help cometh from the Lord,
Which made heaven and earth.Psa 121:1-2
This psalm is one of that remarkable series of fifteen which are called, in the ancient headings of our Bibles, Psalms of Degrees, or, as the Revised Version renders the Hebrew, Songs of Ascents. In the ancient Greek and Latin versions of the Scriptures the rendering is, Songs of Steps, or of Staircases. They are psalms connected somehow with steps upward, as to a shrine; and one ancient explanation of the heading is that there were fifteen steps leading up to the Court of Israel in the Temple of Jerusalem, and that the fifteen Songs of Degrees have connexion with those steps, and were sung on certain ceremonial occasions on them, or while worshippers went up by them. A mystic meaning is given to the title by some of the ancient Jewish expositors. One of them sees in these psalms an allusion to the spiritual steps on which God leads the righteous up to a blessed hereafter; and true it is that these psalms, in a sweet way of their own, lead us to views of His Word, of His promises, and of Himself, which afford an uplifting guide and help to the pilgrim as he ascends from strength to strength towards the heavenly shrine. Another account of the word is that these were psalms used, not upon the steps in the Temple, but on the ascending march of pilgrims returning from exile in Babylon, or going up at the great festivals to Jerusalem from the remote parts of the Holy Land. They climbed towards the mountain throne where the City and the Temple were set, and they solaced their way with these psalms of peculiar and beautiful faith, hope, and joy, as most of them conspicuously are.
These Psalms of Degrees, the Psalms from the 120th to 134th inclusive, display a certain characteristic rhythm, and they speak a tender pathetic dialect of their own, if one may use the word; a certain uplook, almost always, as out of a felt need to the ever-present Lord, seems to be the deepest inspiration of the song. This Psalm, assuredly, the 121st, is a Song of Ascents, a song of up-goings, a song befitting the heart which believes and loves, on its way to the eternal Zion. The whole direction of it is upwards, God-wards. It is, in the language of the Communion Service, a Sursum corda, a Lift up your hearts; we lift them up unto the Lord. Shall we describe the Psalm in few and simple words? It is the souls look, out from itself, and up to its all-sufficient God, under a sense of complete need, and with the prospect of a complete supply.
My need and Thy great fulness meet,
And I have all in Thee.1 [Note: H. C. G. Moule, Thy Keeper, 8.]
The speaker, as we take it, was one of the Jews in Babylon. Under the hand of a tyrant and among heathen, neither day nor night, in going out or coming in, was he safe. Evening by evening, therefore, he put himself anew into a keeping that could not fail. Ever as the time came for the altar smoke to rise on Mount Zion did he come forth into the open. The great plain, arched by the great sky, was his temple: and Jehovah, the Lord of heaven and earth, was there. Nevertheless, his heart yearned towards the Holy of Holies, Gods chosen spot, and he turned his face to it. As he closed his eyes to pray, he saw the blue hills of Judah and the towers that crowned the Holy House. He sent his cry for mercy to the Mercy Seat. His help would come from beyond the hills, even from the Glory between the cherubim.2 [Note: D. Burns, The song of the Well, 65.]
When I lived at Oxford, a good many years ago, one of the tutors lay dying of a cancerous disease. It was a summer of perfect warmth and beauty, and every meadow was as a haunt of dreams. But the dying man was a native of Iceland, and amid all the glory of those days, the cry on his lips was to get back to Iceland, just that he might see the snow again. That same feeling breathes in this verse I to the hills will lift mine eyes. The writer was an exile, far from home; he was in a land where everything was strange. And what did it matter to him though Babylonia was fairer than the country of his birth! The hills of his homeland were calling him.3 [Note: G. H. Morrison, The Return of the Angels, 98.]
I
The Call of the Hills
I will lift up mine eyes unto the mountains.
1. The hills that the Psalmist was thinking about were visible from no part of that long-extended plain where he dwelt; and he might have looked till he wore his eyes out, ere he could have seen them on the horizon of sense. But although they were unseen, they were visible to the heart that longed for them. He directed his desires farther than the vision of his eyeballs can go. Just as his possible contemporary, Daniel, when he prayed, opened his window towards the Jerusalem that was so far away; and just as Mohammedans still, in every part of the world, when they pray, turn their faces to the Kaaba at Mecca, the sacred place to which their prayers are directed; and just as many Jews still, north, east, south or west though they be, face Jerusalem when they offer their supplicationsso this Psalmist in Babylon, wearied and sick of the low levels that stretched endlessly and monotonously round about him, says, I will look at the things that I cannot see, and lift up my eyes above these lownesses about me, to the loftinesses that sense cannot behold.
The eyes that the Psalmist speaks of are the eyes of the soul, and the hills to which he looks are the hills of help for the soul. Our souls relate us to the world of the soul, as our senses relate us to the world of the senses. The souls faculty of faith is to our eternal nature what our senses are to our temporal nature. And as the evidence of the senses puts an end to all strife about the things presented to them, so faith gives restful assurance with respect to the objects of belief. Faith is that faculty of pure reason with which the soul of all the senses is endowed. The assurance of faith is, therefore, not the assurance of one but of all our faculties in that ground of our nature which unites all our powers. The assurance of faith is the assurance of seeing, of hearing, of tasting, of handlingall in one and at once. The Psalmist is fully assured as to the hills of help to which he lifts up his eyes. He only speaks of what he sees with the eyes of his heart; for it is with the heart man believes and looks at spiritual things.1 [Note: W. Pulsford.]
Ruskin, in his Modern Painters, has called attention to a suggestive fact. It is that the greatest painters of the Holy Family have always a hint of the mountains in the distance. You might have looked for cornfield or for vineyard, or for some fine pleasant garden sleeping in the sunshine; but in the greatest painters that you never find; it is I to the hills will lift mine eyes. What they felt was, with one of these intuitions which are the birthright and the seal of geniuswhat they felt was that for a secular subject vineyard and meadow might be a fitting background; but for the Holy Family, and for the Child of God, and for the love of heaven incarnate in humanity, you want the mystery, the height, the depth, which call to the human spirit from the hills. It is not to man as a being with an intellect that the hills have spoken their unvarying message. It is to man as a being with a soul, with a cry in his heart for things that are above him. That is why Zeus in the old Pagan days came down to speak to men upon Mount Ida. That is why Genius painting Jesus Christ throws in its faint suggestion of the peaks.1 [Note: G. H. Morrison, The Return of the Angels, 100.]
2. The hills were associated with the greatest events in the history of Israel. The Old Testament is the record of the soul, and it is written against a background of the hills. It is true that it does not open in the mountains. It opens in the luxuriance of a garden. Its opening scene is an idyllic picture in the bosom of an earthly paradise. But when man has fallen, and sounded the great deeps, and begun to cry for the God whom he has lost, then are we driven from the garden scenery and brought amid the grandeur of the hills. It is on Ararat that the ark rests, when the judgment of the waters has been stayed. It is to a mountain-top that Abraham is summoned to make his sacrifice of Isaac. And not on the plain where the Israelites are camped, but amid the cloudy splendour of Mount Sinai, does God reveal Himself, and give His law, and enter into covenant with man. Do we wonder that the exiled Psalmist said, I will lift up mine eyes unto the mountains? They were dyed deep for him with sacred memory, and rich with the precious heritage of years. Nor was it merely a heritage of home; it was a heritage of God and of the soul. Among the hills Israel had learned everything that made her mighty as a spiritual power.
From Venice, Ruskin travelled by Milan and Turin to Susa, and over the Pass of Mont Cenis. Among the mountains he recovered at once health and spirits. His first morning among the hills after the long months in Italy, he accounted a turning-point in his life:
I woke from a sound tired sleep in a little one-windowed room at Lans-le-bourg, at six of the summer morning, June 2nd, 1841; the red aiguilles on the north relieved against pure bluethe great pyramid of snow down the valley in one sheet of eastern light. I dressed in three minutes, ran down the village street, across the stream, and climbed the grassy slope on the south side of the valley, up to the first pines. I had found my life again;all the best of it. What good of religion, love, admiration or hope, had ever been taught me, or felt by my best nature, rekindled at once; and my line of work, both by my own will and the aid granted to it by fate in the future, determined for me. I went down thankfully to my father and mother, and told them I was sure I should get well.
Ruskin might have said very literally with the Psalmist: I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, whence cometh my help.1 [Note: E. T. Cook, The Life of Ruskin, i. 120.]
Nature has many aspects, and God is behind them all; but the mass and grandeur, the vast solitudes and deep recesses in the heart of the hills, are, in a peculiar sense, the inner shrine where He waits for those who come, worn and confused, from the noise and strife of the world. Here the sounds of mans struggle are lost in His peace; here the fever of desire and the agitation of emotion are calmed in His silence. The great hills, purple with heather or green with moss, rise peak beyond peak in sublime procession; the mountain streams run dark and cool through dim and hidden channels, singing that song without words which is sweet with all purity and fresh with the cleanness of the untrodden heights. Through the narrow passes one walks with a silent joy, born of a renewed sense of relationship with the sublime order of the world, and of a fresh communion with the Spirit of which all visible things are the symbol and garment. This is perhaps the greatest service which the hills of God render to him who seeks them with an open mind and heart. Their grandeur silently dispels ones scepticism in the possible greatness of mans life. In a world where such heights rise in lonely majesty, the soul, to which they speak with voices so manifold and so eloquent, feels anew the divinity which shapes its destiny, and gains a fresh faith in the things that are unseen and eternal.2 [Note: H. W. Mabie, The Life of the Spirit, 81.]
3. The hills evermore summon us to look up. The influence of the world begets a downward look, a sort of set of the eyes and heart downwards. We are in the world; in a thousand subtle ways we are kin with the world. We are subject to its influences, caught by its wind of excitement, absorbed by its pressing claims, and then we may easily be of the world as well as in it. But everything the world presents to us is below us, beneath us, and it so keeps us looking down that at last the habit of down-looking grows upon us. The world offers the attraction of its riches, but money is all below us, and we must look down upon it. The world fascinates us with its learning and its science, but books and experiments are all below us, we must look down upon them. The world bids the siren pleasure float on golden wing before us, winning us to her pursuit; but she ever flies low, and we must look down upon her. Even the better things that the world may give us, the things of family life and love, are still all below us; we look down even on the children about our feet.
I have read of a woman who worked hard with her pen, and at last found her eyes troubling her. The oculist whom she consulted told her that her eyes needed rest and change. From the windows of her home there was a grand view of some distant hills, and the doctor told her, when her eyes were tired with work, to look out of the window and gaze on the distant hills. It is good for us all to look out of the window sometimes. If we are always looking at the rooms where we live, the shop where we trade, the farm or the counting-house, we begin to think there is nothing else. Our little bit of ground is all this world and the next; we never see anything beyond our own handiwork, we are blind to all else, like the horse in the coal-mine.1 [Note: H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, Day by Day Duty, 27.]
Sailors tell us that at sea, when the fog is so dense that they cannot see far ahead, they climb the rigging; and, seated there upon the yard-arm, they may see the heavens bathed in sunshine and the blue sky above the billows of mist that lie below.
God hath His uplands, bleak and bare,
Where He doth bid us rest awhile
Crags where we breathe the purer air,
Lone peaks that catch the days first smile.
Lift me, O Lord, above the level plain,
Beyond the cities where life throbs and thrills,
And in the cool airs let my spirit gain
The stable strength and courage of Thy hills.
They are Thy secret dwelling places, Lord.
Like Thy majestic prophets, old and hoar,
They stand assembled in divine accord,
Thy sign of stablished power for evermore.
Lead me yet farther, Lord, to peaks more clear,
Until the clouds like shining meadows lie,
Where through the deeps of silence I may hear
The thunder of Thy legions marching by.
II
The Cry of Helplessness
From whence shall my help come?
1. The exile in Babylon had a dreary desert, peopled by wild tribes hostile to him, stretching between his present home and that home where he desired to be; and it would be difficult for him to get away from the dominion that held him captive, unless by consent of the power of whom he was the vassal. So the more the thought of the mountains of Israel drew the Psalmist, the more there came into his mind the thought, How am I to be made able to reach that blessed soil? And surely, if we saw, with anything like a worthy apprehension and vision, the greatness of the blessedness that lies yonder for Christian souls, we should feel far more deeply than we do the impossibility, as far as we are concerned, of our ever reaching it. The sense of our own weakness and the consciousness of the perils upon the path ought ever to be present with us all.
Man knows that he is low, that he needs to be lifted up, that he cannot lift himselfhe can but lift up his eyes. He knows that his lowness is not lowly, but degraded and proud. By his natural birth he has come into low places, and in himself he has forsaken the heights. What he is by nature he has confirmed by choice, and allowed the conditions of his natural birth to form his character and determine his life. He has inverted the true order of his parts and powers, degraded his nobler faculties, and raised to a bad eminence his lower passions and propensities.1 [Note: W. Pulsford.]
2. All the delights of Babylon could not satisfy the exiles longing. He was perfectly comfortable in Babylon. There was abundance of everything that he wanted for his life. The Jews there were materially quite as well off as, and many of them a great deal better off than, ever they had been in their narrow little strip of mountain land, shut in between the desert and the sea. But for all that, fat, wealthy Babylon was not Palestine. So amid the luxuriant vegetation, the wealth of water and the fertile plains, the Psalmist longed for the mountains, though the mountains are often bare of green things. It was that longing that led to his looking to the hills. Do we know anything of that longing which makes us that are in this tabernacle to groan, being burdened? Unless our Christianity throws us out of harmony and contentment with the present, it is worth very little. And unless we know something of that immortal longing to be nearer to God, and fuller of Christ, and emancipated from sense and from the burdens and trivialities of life, we have yet to learn what the meaning of walking not after the flesh but after the Spirit really is.
Writing from Aberdeen to Lady Boyd, Samuel Rutherford says: I have not now, of a long time, found such high springtides as formerly. The sea is out, and I cannot buy a wind and cause it to flow again; only I wait on the shore till the Lord sends a full sea. But even to dream of Him is sweet. And then just over the leaf, to Marion McNaught: I am well: honour to God. He hath broken in upon a poor prisoners soul like the swelling of Jordan. I am bank and brim full: a great high springtide of the consolations of Christ hath overwhelmed me. But sweet as it is to read his rapturous expressions when the tide is full, I feel it far more helpful to hear how he still looks and waits for the return of the tide when the tide is low, and when the shore is full, as all left shores are apt to be, of weeds and mire, and all corrupt and unclean things. Rutherford is never more helpful to his correspondents than when they consult him about their ebb tides, and find that he himself either has been, or still is, in the same experience.2 [Note: A. Whyte, Samuel Rutherford and Some of his Correspondents.]
3. Even the hills could not send help. Psa 121:2 declares that, although the hills stand for earths best defence, the singers hope is in the Creator, not in things created, in Him who set fast the mountains, and is higher than they as heavens are higher than earth. The insufficiency of the hills is again implied in the two striking pictures of the third and fourth verses. Smooth rock or sliding sand, loose rubble or slippery turf, landslide beneath or avalanche from above, may betray the climber to injury or destruction. But Jehovah delivers His people from falling, and establishes their goings. Again, the recumbent hills lie ever wrapt in proverbial and unbroken sleep. They heed not, they hear not, and they suffer the night to change the cliff from a defence to a danger, and the slumbering slopes sound no alarm as the enemy scales them under cover of the night. But God is ever wakeful for His ownand darkness and the light are both alike to Him. The contrast is continued in Psa 121:5. The hills are passive, God is active; He guards, He is fortress, garrison, and patrol. The strongest hill-forts must be well defended, or Petra will fall to Rome, the Heights of Abraham to Wolfe, Hannibal will pass the Alps, and Xerxes outflank Leonidas by Thermopyl. The soldier must guard the hill that guards him, but God guards all.
We must avoid the mistakes frequently made by poets who have sought to personify nature and find in it a response to the varying moods of human life, and by theologians who have found in it an analogy of the ways of God. Nature is not like God. Her laws disclose no moral standards. When these are introduced she appears full not only of contradictions but of cruelties, and the God whose character we could induce from a consideration of the laws of nature would be as immoral as the pagan divinities. We need something nearer, more human and considerate, a God who can understand and suffer and love. Indeed we are so far from the poets who seek in nature an echo of their own inner life as to feel that it is in offering us an escape from ourselves that nature is most helpful to man. There she lies inscrutable, placid, expansive; now wrapped in mists and clouds, now sun-smitten or attacked by the furious onset of the thunderstorm. The craving for sympathy from her is morbid; we must find health in her unresponsiveness, her healing want of sympathy with morbid souls.1 [Note: J. Kelman, Ephemera Eternitatis, 224.]
Tennysons outlook on the universe could not ignore the dark and dismaying facts of existence, and his faith, which rose above the shriek of Nature, was not based upon arguments derived from any survey of external, physical Nature. When he confined his outlook to this, he could see power and mechanism, but he could not from these derive faith. His vision must go beyond the mere physical universe; he must see life and see it whole; he must include that which is highest in Nature, even man, and only then could he find the resting-place of faith. He thus summed up the matter once when we had been walking up and down the Ball-room at Farringford: It is hard, he said, it is hard to believe in God; but it is harder not to believe. I believe in God, not from what I see in Nature, but from what I find in man. I took him to mean that the witness of Nature was only complete when it included all that was in Nature, and that the effort to draw conclusions from Nature when man, the highest-known factor in Nature, was excluded, could only lead to mistake. I do not think he meant, however, that external Nature gave no hints of a superintending wisdom or even love, for his own writings show, I think, that such hints had been whispered to him by flower and star; I think he meant that faith did not find her platform finally secure beneath her feet till she had taken count of man. The response to all that is highest in Nature is found in the heart of man, and man cannot deny this highest, because it is latent in himself already. But I must continue Tennysons own words: It is hard to believe in God, but it is harder not to believe in Him. I dont believe in His goodness from what I see in Nature. In Nature I see the mechanician; I believe in His goodness from what I find in my own breast.1 [Note: Bishop Boyd Carpenter, in Tennyson and His Friends, 303.]
III
The Faith of a True Israelite
My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.
Here is the mark rather of a Babylonian than of a home-abiding Jew. This way of describing Godwhich made heaven and earthis not usual by any means in the Psalms or elsewhere in the Scriptures. It occurs three times in these Pilgrim Songs, and only once in all the Psalms besides, and that Psalm (the 115th) seems to have been written after the Captivity. This large thought of God did not come naturally to the mind of an Israelite. The truth indeed he did accept. It was an item of his creed that the Lord of his worship did make heaven and earth, all visible and invisible things: but it was not his spontaneous thought about God. Thou that walkest in the camp of Israel. Thou that sittest between the cherubims, shine forth. There was the localizing of God in the heart of a Jew: one holy place for the tabernacles of the Most High. Walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the towers thereof. Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that ye may tell it to the generation following. For this God is our God for ever and ever. The King, yes the King of all the earth, but especially our God. But the exiled Jew has the one advantage at least, that he escaped this narrowness of thought. The Jew born in Babylon (and almost all of those who returned from the Captivity were born in Babylon; the ancient men who had seen the first Temple, and wept because of the poverty of the second Temple, were very few indeed)the Jew born in Babylon could hardly fail to take broad views of life. There was a tendency in all surrounding things to uncramp the thoughts. He lived in the midst of vastness. The mighty town itself more than fifty miles in circuit; the palace of the kings within it more than twice as large as the whole city of Jerusalem: and then those boundless plains spread forth under the great heavens, and losing themselves on all sides in the distant horizonthey that lived in the midst of these scenes took an impress from them. The sign of it appears in these children of the Captivity, whose eyes were lifted towards the hills of the sacred land, and who, looking forth over the months of its weariness and hazards, asked, one on behalf of all, From whence cometh my help? and answered, one on behalf of all, My help cometh from the Lord. Not the God of Jacob or of Israel, or of Him that sitteth between the cherubims; the teaching of Babylon has erased those barriers and exalted God above the universe. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.
1. Help from God is sure to come when our spirits hold fellowship with Him. To do this often, and on occasion to linger long, cannot but have a great influence on our spirit. We become more and more of a heavenly mind, and look to heaven as our own place and as the goal of all our hopes. We live here with a view to our life there. We choose our intimates from those who shall still be our fellows there. We seek such gains as we can lay up there against the time of our coming. We disengage ourselves from all that we shall have to leave, and we refuse to make a home where our spirit never can feel at home. We keep ourselves free to arise at any moment and, by help from beyond the hills, to pass beyond, and not return.
Did you ever read that fascinating chapter in Washington Irvings Life of Columbus where he describes the bursting of the New World upon the little crew which set out with Columbus on that memorable voyage? It is one of the most thrilling and most pathetic bits of recorded history. Columbus from a boy had dreamt of this discovery. Kings, statesmen, and philosophers had all been against him. But on he fought undaunted; and at last the reward was here.
Chances have laws as fixed as planets have,
And disappointments dry and bitter root,
Envys harsh berries, and the choking pool
Of the worlds scorn, are the right mother-milk
To the tough hearts that pioneer their kind,
And break a pathway to those unknown realms
That in the earths broad shadow lie enthralled;
Endurance is the crowning quality,
And patience all the passion of great hearts;
One faith against a whole earths unbelief,
One soul against the flesh of all mankind.1 [Note: D. W. Whincup, The Training of Life, 39.]
2. When God sends help, the spirit finds rests. He who penned this psalm, being a slave and a foreigner, had much to bear and to fear, and he lived under constant strain. For him, moreover, there was no break in the routine, and only a faint hope of one day being set free to find his way home. His spirit, however, was beyond the hand of the conqueror, and need suffer no exile. It was lord of itself, and could choose its own place and take rest at due times. It had wings swifter than the doves, and could fly beyond the hills and alight within the hush of the Holy Shrine. There, with all about him so different from the accustomed scene, he found a peace such as common words could not express. To tell it, he had to sing it, and in this world of unquiet hearts his song has been so prized that now no other is more widely known.
One and all, we are bent on winning this same rest of spirit. All our quest is, indeed, but this one endeavour. We strive after success, or pleasure, or influence; but, behind it all, there is our inborn longing for the one true home and the one true life. Such rest can come to ussinners, and exiles because of our sinonly as we look, with this man, beyond the hills to the blood-besprinkled Mercy Seat. There, where we see the Divine pardon, we see a Help that is alert by day and night, and that is active against all that would do us ill.
The Archduke Palatine died in 1847, a humble and believing penitent at the foot of the Cross. He had for many years been a regular reader of the Bible, but it was only when the shadows of the coming darkness gathered round him that full spiritual light arose in his soul. Several months before his death he was seized with a violent illness, which threatened to carry him off. From this he partially recovered. A cloud passed over him for a time, but it was dissolved, and he became unusually cheerful. He acknowledged afterwards that in the days of gloom he had been reviewing his past life, and had everywhere discovered sin, and that now he put his whole trust in the merits and righteousness of Christ. Soon afterwards his last illness began. A few hours before his death his wife said to him, As you are now so soon to stand before the judgment-seat of God, I wish to hear from you for the last time what is the ground on which you rest your hope. His immediate reply was, The blood of Christ alone, with a strong emphasis on the alone.1 [Note: G. Carlyle, A Memoir of Adolph Saphir, 44.]
3. The help of the Lord means moral health and vigour. To this poet, life in Babylon was a ceaseless jeopardy of spirit. As he passed from day to day he seemed to himself as one hastening on foot across the desert. The sun blazed on him from a cloudless sky, and spears of fire struck into his heart and drank his strength. When the longed-for night came, the moon brought a dew that chilled him to the marrow, while she sought to pierce eye and brain with her arrows of steel. Nevertheless he journeyed unfainting and unfevered! One, unseen, walked at his right hand to do what his right hand, with all its strength and skill, could not accomplish. Not in vain had he made frequent flight of spirit beyond the hills, and kept alive his fellowship with the Lord of Zion. What though he could not stay day and night in the sanctuary? He who made it safe would come forth with him and be ever by him. The earthly figure was not fit to picture all the fact. The heavenly Guard, as Spirit Infinite, is in the threatened spirit. He fills and clears and lifts the life, so that the evil influences have no effect for evil. The godly man can live in Babylon, and be as safe from sin as if he were in Jerusalem, a priest at the altar and never outside the sacred walls.
When Dr. Wilberforce was enthroned as Bishop of Chichester, his first sermon in his new Cathedral had as its text the opening verse of his favourite Psalmthe 121st. The sermon concluded with these words: If I inquire from those who have preceded me the secret of their power, as, called unto their rest, they now throng up the steeps of light, each, with faithful finger, points to the motto of his life, I will lift up mine eyes to the hills, whence cometh my help. To the hills where the first faint rays of the coming dawn are seen; where echoes haunt and linger, caught from higher heights beyond, where air is pure and free and strong; to the hills lifted above the swamps and the miasma, above the low-lying lands of doubt and uncertainty, above the babble and the questioning, above the worlds loud stunning tide, up where they rear themselves towards the gathering of the solemn stars, where the night winds whisper, and the beat of angel wings is heard, where man can commune with his God, whence cometh help. To the hills, where the showers gather big with blessing, and fall drop by drop till the rills begin to sparkle and leap, and the tiny rivulets are swelling into the broadening river, refreshing hamlet and homestead, falling down into the plain and cleansing every city, sweeping onward with its gathering burden to the mighty sea, the broad fertilizing stream of the life of the Church of God.1 [Note: J. B. Atlay, Bishop Ernest Wilberforce, 226.]
When sick of life and all the world
How sick of all desire but Thee!
I lift mine eyes up to the hills,
Eyes of my heart that see,
I see beyond all death and ills
Refreshing green for heart and eyes,
The golden streets and gateways pearled,
The trees of Paradise.2 [Note: Christina G. Rossetti.]
Literature
Brooks (P.), The Candle of the Lord, 270.
Butler (H. M.), Public School Sermons, 49.
Capen (E. H.), The College and the Higher Life, 59.
Cox (S.), The Pilgrim Psalms , 24.
Doney (C. G.), The Throne-Room of the Soul, 173
Hutton (J. A.), At Close Quarters, 125.
Kelman (J.), Ephemera Eternitatis, 223.
King (T. S.), Christianity and Humanity, 285.
Maclaren (A.), Expositions: Psalms 51145, 335.
McNeill (J.), Regent Square Pulpit, iii. 249.
Morrison (G. H.), The Return of the Angels, 98.
Moule (H. C. G.), Thy Keeper, 7.
Power (P. B.), The wills of the Psalms, 217.
Pulsford (W.), Trinity Church Sermons, 50.
Scott (J. M.), Some Favourite Psalms , 117.
Smellie (A.), In the Hour of Silence, 42.
Smith (G. A.), Four Psalms , 99.
Voysey (C.), Sermons, xiv. (1891), No. 37.
Whincup (D. W.), The Training of Life, 33.
Wilmot-Buxton (H. J.), Day by Day Duty, 27.
Wright (D.), Waiting for the Light, 238.
Christian World Pulpit, xiv. 154 (R. Tuck).
Homiletic Review, li. 219 (W. H. Walker); lxiv. 139 (W. J. C. Pike).
Treasury (New York), xvii. 668 (D. M. Pratt).
Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible
I will: etc. or, Shall I lift up my eyes to the hills, whence should my help come? Jer 3:23
lift up: Psa 2:6, Psa 68:15, Psa 68:16, Psa 78:68, Psa 87:1, Psa 123:1, Isa 2:3
Reciprocal: Gen 19:17 – Escape 1Ki 20:23 – Their gods 2Ch 20:12 – our eyes Psa 13:4 – when Psa 25:15 – Mine Eze 18:6 – neither hath lifted Dan 4:34 – lifted Hos 13:9 – but Luk 9:16 – and looking Joh 17:1 – and lifted
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
HELP FROM THE HILLS
I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
Psa 121:1
In these first words of one of the greatest Psalms of David, the nobleness which we immediately feel seems to lie in this, that David will seek help only from the highest source. Nothing less than Gods help can really meet his needs. He will not peer into the valleys, he will not turn to fellow-men, to nature, to work, to pleasure, as if they had the relief he needed. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, who hath made heaven and earth. It is the duty of every man to seek help from the Highest in every department of his life.
I. Take, first, the everlasting struggle with temptation.How perfectly clear it is that any man who undertakes that struggle may look either to the valleys or to the hills for help, may call the lower or the higher powers to his aid. The fear of pain, the fear of disgrace, the fear of discomfort, and the shame that comes with the loftiest companionshipwe may have to appeal to them all in the hours, which come so often in our lives, when we are very weak. But, after all, the appeal to these helpers is not the final cry of the soul. Obedience to God is the only final and infallible help of the soul in its struggle with temptation.
II. Not merely in temptation, but in sorrow, a man may seek the assistance of the Highest or of some other power which is far lower.The real relief, the only final comfort, is God; and He relieves the soul always in its suffering, not from its suffering; nay, He relieves the soul by its suffering, by the new knowledge and possession of Himself which would come only through that atmosphere of pain.
III. Our truth is nowhere more true than in the region of doubt and perplexity of mind.
IV. The text is true with reference to mans escape from sin. The best spiritual ambition seeks directly holiness.It seeks pardon as a means to holiness. So it lifts its eyes up at once to the very highest hills.
Bishop Phillips Brooks.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
The Preserver.
A song of the ascents.
But the next psalm shows itself to be indeed “a song of ascents.” Although not the full blessing,which the psalm following is to bring, yet the soul has found its help and its Preserver, -found it where alone help is, in the living God.
The first part of the first verse is not, as some would make it, a question. For an Israelite the presence of God naturally connects itself with Zion; the place of His rest, but where as yet He is not found. The psalmist looks there, but as yet only questioningly. But not questionable, nevertheless, is the source of his help: it is found in Him whose is not merely Zion; but heaven and earth. His refuge is in His unslumbering care, keeping the feet of him who is still a pilgrim. He is Israel’s Keeper: so faith, even from afar off, claims Him; -Jehovah, the faithful covenant-keeping God. The Pillar of Cloud by day again appears in the shade upon the right hand which forbids the scorching sun of the desert to smite the people of God, or the moon by night: (for the moon can affect both eyes and brain). But this is only an illustration of wider and perfect protection: Jehovah shall keep thee from all evil: He shall keep thy soul.”
The last verse answers, in its number attached, to what is expressed definitely in it: “Jehovah shall keep thy going out and coming in; from henceforth even for ever.” Eternity shall have its blessed activities, realized in as blessed dependence on the unfailing God.
Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary
Psa 121:1-2. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills To Zion and Moriah, called the holy mountains, Psa 87:1, the hills on which the tabernacle or temple stood, where were the ark of the covenant, the oracle, and the altars. I will have an eye to the special presence of God in his church, and with his people, and from thence I will expect help. My help cometh from the Lord From God alone, and therefore to him alone will I turn mine eyes; which made heaven and earth And therefore how great soever my straits and difficulties may be, he has power sufficient for my succour and relief.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 121:1. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills. Zion and mount Moriah, on which the temple stood. See on Psa 125:2.
REFLECTIONS.
In the preseding psalm we found the man of God mourning in exile; here we find him rejoicing under the covenant care and peculiar protection of providence. He would lift up his eyes to the hill of Zion, where the Lord dwelt in his glory. Or if we read, Shall I lift my eyes to the hills, where Israel has the advantage in battle, or where idols are adored? Jer 3:23. Nay: for my help cometh from the Lord. In both cases the sense is much the same, for he would look to none but God.
The Lord was his shepherd, who cannot sleep. He also would keep his foot that his body should not be injured, and that his mind should not err.
The Lord was his shadow, even as a broad banana tree, to defend him from the solar heat, or shelter him from the lunar cold, and the damps of night. By these extremes, the strength of armies is more wasted than by the sword. Such is the throne of grace to the saints. The sun shall not alight upon them, nor any heat, for the Lord is as the shadow of a great rock in a weary wilderness.
The Lord also would bless the work of his hands. In all the hardy and healthy labours of the field, in all the journies and fatigues of business, or in every voyage at sea, the Lord would bless the good mans going out and his coming in. Holy happy then are they who live in close union and fellowship with God. When he undertakes their cause, every arrow of the wicked shall miss its mark.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
CXXI. Yahwehs Care for His People.
Psa 121:8. going out i.e. to the feast at Zion, and coming in to thy home far away, perhaps in heathen lands.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
PSALM 121
The godly assured of the presence and support of the Lord, in view of their journey from the land of captivity to the house of the Lord.
(vv. 1-2) The godly man would fain escape from the land of his captivity; but mountains block his way. Looking at the difficulties, the cry is forced from him, Whence shall my help come? (JND). Immediately his faith replies, My help cometh from the Lord, who made the heavens and the earth. The Maker of the mountains can lead him across the mountains.
The remaining verses of the psalm give the answer of the Spirit of God to the faith of a godly man who looks to the Lord alone for his help. The one ever recurring thought is the care of the Lord. The word keep is the characteristic word of the psalm. Bearing in mind that the word preserve, in verses 7 and 8, should be translated keep, it will be noticed that this encouraging word occurs six times in the last six verses.
(vv. 3-4) First, the godly man who looks to the Lord for his help is assured that the Lord will not suffer his foot to be moved: he will be kept from all dangers.
Second, he is assured that the care of the Lord is unceasing, He that keepeth thee will not slumber. He keeps each individual believer, and He is the Keeper of Israel as a whole.
(v. 5) Third, the Lord is not only our Keeper, but He is a present Keeper, One who is always at our right hand, ever available for faith, whatever the difficulties may be (Psa 16:8).
(v. 6) Fourth, the Lord is our Keeper at all seasons, by day, and by night.
(v. 7) Fifth, the Lord is a Keeper from all evil. We see but a few of the evils that beset our path. The Lord sees and keeps us from all evil.
Sixth, not only does the Lord keep the body, but He keeps the soul. He holds our souls in the positive good of life.
(v. 8) Seventh, the Lord keeps us in all circumstances of life, in our going out and coming in.
Finally, the Lord will keep through all time, for evermore.
Thus the soul is assured that the Lord is our Keeper from all danger (v. 3); He is unceasing in His care (v. 4); He is ever available (v. 5); He keeps us at all seasons (v. 6); He keeps from all evil; He keeps the soul as well as the body (v. 7); He keeps us in all circumstances, and for all time (v. 8).
Fuente: Smith’s Writings on 24 Books of the Bible
Psalms 121
This psalm directed the thoughts of the pilgrim to God as his source of help. It gives assurance that Israel’s Keeper will maintain vigilant oversight and protect His people.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
1. The source of help 121:1-2
The psalmist lifted up his eyes to the hills around Mt. Zion as he traveled to a feast there, evidently from some lower part of Canaan. As he did so, he reflected on the source of his help. He also reminded himself that his help was the God who had made those hills, along with the whole heaven and earth (cf. Psa 124:8). This was the God he was traveling to worship at the temple on Mt. Zion.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 121:1-8
How many timid, anxious hearts has this sweet outpouring of quiet trust braced and lifted to its own serene height of conscious safety! This psalmist is so absorbed in the thought of his Keeper that he barely names his dangers. With happy assurance of protection, he says over and over again the one word which is his amulet against foes and fears. Six times in these few verses does the thought recur that Jehovah is the Keeper of Israel or of the single soul. The quietness that comes of confidence is the singers strength. Whether he is an exile, looking across the plains of Mesopotamia towards the blue hills. which the eye cannot discern, or a pilgrim catching the first sight of the mountain on which Jehovah sits enshrined, is a question which cannot be decisively answered; but the power and beauty of this little breathing of peaceful trust are but slightly affected by any hypothesis as to the singers circumstances. Psa 121:1 and Psa 121:2 stand apart from the remainder, in so far as in them the psalmist speaks in the first person, while in the rest of the psalm he is spoken to in the second. But this does not necessarily involve the supposition of an antiphonal song. The two first verses may have been sung by a single voice, and the assurances of the following ones by a chorus or second singer. But it is quite as likely that, as in other psalms, the singer is in Psa 121:3-8 himself the speaker of the assurances which confirm his own faith.
His first words describe the earnest look of longing. He will lift his eyes from all the coil of troubles and perils to the heights. Sursum corda expresses the true ascent which these psalms enjoin and exemplify. If the supposition that the psalmist is an exile on the monotonous levels of Babylon is correct, one feels the pathetic beauty of his wistful gaze across the dreary flats towards the point where he knows that the hills of his fatherland rise. To look beyond the low levels where we dwell, to the unseen heights where we have our home, is the condition of all noble living amid these lower ranges of engagement with the visible and transient. “Whence comes my help?” is a question which may be only put in order to make the assured answer more emphatic, but may also be an expression of momentary despondency, as the thought of the distance between the gazer and the mountains chills his aspirations. “It is easy to look, but hard to journey thither, How shall I reach that goal? I am weak; the way is long and beset with foes.” The loftier the ideal, the more needful, if it is ever to be reached, that our consciousness of its height and of our own feebleness should drive us to recognise our need of help in order to attain it.
Whoever has thus high longings sobered by lowly estimates of self is ready to receive the assurance of Divine aid. That sense of impotence is the precursor of faith. We must distrust ourselves, if we are ever to confide in God. To know: that we need His aid is a condition of obtaining it. Bewildered despondency asks, “Whence comes my help?” and scans the low levels in vain. The eye that is lifted to the hills is sure to see Him coming to succour; for that question on the lips of one whose looks are directed thither is a prayer, rather than a question; and the assistance he needs sets out towards him from the throne, like a sunbeam from the sun, as soon as he looks up to the light.
The particle of negation in Psa 121:3 is not that used in Psa 121:4, but that which is employed in commands or wishes. The progress from subjective desire in Psa 121:3, to objective certainty of Divine help as expressed in Psa 121:4 and the remainder of the psalm, is best exhibited if the verbs in the former verse are translated as expressions of wish “May He not,” etc. Whether the speaker is taken to be the psalmist or another makes little difference to the force of Psa 121:3 which lays hold in supplication of the truth just uttered in Psa 121:2, and thereby gains a more assured certainty that it is true, as the following verses go on to declare. It is no drop to a lower mood to pass from assertion of Gods help to prayer for it. Rather it is the natural progress of faith. Both clauses of Psa 121:2 become specially significant if this is a song for pilgrims. Their daily march and their nightly encampment will then be placed under the care of Jehovah, who will hold up their feet unwearied on the road and watch unslumbering over their repose. But such a reference is not necessary. The language is quite general. It covers the whole ground of toil and rest, and prays for strength for the one and quiet security in the other.
The remainder of the psalm expands the one thought of Jehovah the Keeper, with sweet reiteration, and yet comprehensive variation. First, the thought of the last clause of the preceding verse is caught up again. Jehovah is the keeper of the community, over which He watches with unslumbering care. He keeps Israel so long as Israel keeps His law; for the word so frequently used here is the same as is continually employed for observance of the commandments. He had seemed to slumber while Israel was in exile, and had been prayed to awake, in many a cry from the captives. Now they have learned that He never slumbers: His power is unwearied, and needs no recuperation; His watchfulness is never at fault. But universal as is His care it does not overlook the single defenceless suppliant. He is “thy Keeper,” and will stand at thy right hand, where helpers stand, to shield thee from all dangers. Men lose sight of the individual in the multitude, and the wider their benevolence or beneficence, the less it takes account of units; but God loves all because He loves each, and the aggregate is kept because each member of it is. The light which floods the universe gently illumines every eye. The two conceptions of defence and impartation of power are smelted together in the pregnant phrase of Psa 121:5 b, ” thy shade at thy right hand.”
The notion of shelter from evils predominates in the remainder of the psalm. It is applied in Psa 121:6 to possible perils from physical causes: the fierce sunlight beat down on the pilgrim band, and the moon was believed, and apparently with correctness, to shed malignant influences on sleepers. The same antithesis of day and night, work and rest, which is found in Psa 121:3 appears again here. The promise is widened out in Psa 121:7 so as to be all-inclusive. “All evil” will be averted from him who has Jehovah for his keeper; therefore, if any so called Evil comes, he may be sure that it is Good with a veil on. We should apply the assurances of the psalm to the interpretation of life, as well as take them for the antidote of fearful anticipations.
Equally comprehensive is the designation of that which is to be kept. It is “thy soul,” the life or personal being. Whatever may be shorn away by the sharp shears of loss, that will be safe; and if it is, nothing else matters very much. The individual soul is of large account in Gods sight: He keeps it as a deposit entrusted to Him by faith. Much may go; but His hand closes round us when we commit ourselves into it, and none is able to pluck us thence.
In the final verse, the psalmist recurs to his favourite antithesis of external toil and repose in the home, the two halves of the pilgrim life for every man; and while thus, in the first clause of the verse, he includes all varieties of circumstance, in the second he looks on into a future of which he does not see the bounds, and triumphs over all possible foes that may lurk in its dim recesses, in the assurance that, however far it may extend, and whatever strange conditions it may hide, the Keeper will be there, and all will be well. Whether or not he looked to the last “going out,” our exodus from earth, {Luk 9:31; 2Pe 1:15} or to that abundant entrance {2Pe 1:11} into the true home which crowns the pilgrimage here; we cannot but read into his indefinite words their largest meaning, and rejoice that we have One who “is able to keep that which we have committed to Him against that day.”