Psalm 120

Psa 120:1

CONTEXT OF SONGS OF DEGREES: The prayer of Hezekiah for healing (2Ki 20:6; Isa 38:5), by which he received 15 extra years of life. The shadow of the sundial moved backward ten "degrees" (sw: 2Ki 20:8-11; Isa 38:8). Part of Hezekiah's "songs to the stringed instruments" (Isa 38:2). Of 15 songs, 4 are by David, one by Solomon, and 10 by an unnamed author.

The 15 Songs of Degrees may be divided into 5 groups of 3 each: (a) National Israel in exile (Psa 120-122); (b) servant Israel under siege (Psa 123-125); (c) the family in Israel (Psa 126-128); (d) the individual in Israel (Psa 129-131); (e) the ecclesia in Israel (Psa 132-134).

SUPERSCRIPTION: "A SONG OF ASCENTS": Or "degrees" (AV).

MY DISTRESS: Hezekiah's sickness, and the Assyrian threat -- both of which happened at approx the same time (Isa 38:5,6).

HE ANSWERS ME: (NT) Jesus in Gethsemane: Mat 26:37-39; Mar 14:32-36; Luk 22:41-44.

(LD) It is when Israel in true and abject repentance turns to their God, and only then, that He will send His Son to deliver them.

Psa 120:2

Lies and taunts and false promises were the tools of the Assyrian emissary Rabshakeh (Isa 36:4-20; 37:8-13).

(NT) The false witnesses against Christ (Mar 14:55-59). And Judas.

LD: the Arab confederacy, who propose to annihilate Israel (Psa 83:2-5).

Psa 120:3

Or, "what will be given in tribute?"

DECEITFUL TONGUE: An apt description of Rabshakeh.

Psa 120:4

SHARP ARROWS: Compared to false tongue in Psa 57:4; Jer 9:8.

BURNING COALS OF THE BROOM TREE: The false tongue is "a fire, a world of iniquity"; in fitting retribution it is destined to be consumed by fire in "Gehenna" (Jam 3:6). The divine fire of judgment is here termed coals of "broom" (RSV, NIV). Travelers in the Middle East have found the Bedouin of Sinai producing from the roots of these tall shrubs charcoal of the highest quality (LB 611).

(LD) The fate of Israel's enemies was already appointed for them, in such Scriptures as Psa 55:13-15,23; 69:22-28; 109:7-19. Their false tongue (Psa 64:1-4) and their cruel threats will be rewarded in like kind, and worse, at the hand of Gibbor, the Mighty One (a title of Christ: Isa 9:6; cp Psa 127:4). His arrows will be sharp in the heart of the king's enemies (Psa 45:5; Isa 49:1,2; Deu 32:42).

Psa 120:5

Israel laments its wandering condition, in contrast to the stability and permanence of mount Zion, where it longs to abide (Psa 122:2; 125:1).

MESHECH: Son of Japheth (Gen 10:2; 1Ch 1:5), his descendants inhabited Armenia, on the border of Turkey and Russia. Traders with Tyre (Eze 27:13). Ally of Gog and Magog (Eze 38:2,3; 39:1).

A part of the captives from the Northern Kingdom were resettled in Halah and Habor by the river Gozan (2Ki 17:6; 18:11). This region is well on the way toward Armenia, so that the exiles of Israel might with some justification lament their "sojourn in Mesech". Disruptions of government, slackening of authority, and superstitious fear of the God of Israel would follow the great destruction of 185,000 Assyrian and allied troops in Judah. The eager remnant among the exiles would seize the opportunity to return to their homeland and thence to Jerusalem, as indicated in Psa 121:8; 122:1,4.

KEDAR: Son of Ishmael (Gen 25:13), his descendants were an Arab tribe, dwelling in black tents (Song 1:5) and possessing flocks (Isa 60:7; Jer 49:28,29). Lived in desert east of Gilead.

Just as those Israelites carried away by the Assyrians sojourned in Mesech, so those who were left in the land must have shared their erstwhile inheritance with the opportunistic tribesmen of Kedar, who would promptly lead their flocks into the newly-opened areas of Israel. Other Jews would flee their land at the first approach of the Assyrian army, to dwell among the Arab tribes to the south and east.

(NT) The ref to Kedar, an Arab, is appropriate to Herod too.

(LD) The modern-day counterpart must of course be the millions of Arabs, massed on Israel's borders, living for the day when all of Palestine will be theirs. The many Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank continue to present a special problem to the peace of Israel.

Psa 120:6

THOSE WHO HATE PEACE: Sennacherib (2Ki 18:14,19; 2Ch 32:1-3; Isa 36:3,5; 38:17).

Possibly, Hezekiah sent emissaries to negotiate with the brutal overlord Sennacherib, but all in vain: war could not be avoided.

(LD) Never has the world seen a more restless, warlike, barbarous people than the sons of Ishmael. Their long history of internal warfare illustrates the description of their father: "a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him" (Gen 16:12). Mutual hatred of other peoples, especially now Israel, has been the only unifying factor in the Arab people's bloody history. It is the same hatred of Israel which has drawn them into the Russian sphere.

Psa 120:7

I AM A MAN OF PEACE: (NT) The sufferings of Christ are the means by which all the faithful in him will at last experience the true peace of God (Eph 2:14,15,17).

And the Messiah, a man of peace (Zec 9:10), who stills the troubled waters (Mar 4:39; Isa 57:20,21), when the Assyrian comes into the Land (Mic 5:5-7).