Psalm 122

Psalm 122 A Song of Ascents, of David

The phrase “of David” is omitted in most mss. of the LXX and the Vulgate- Miller, 399. 

“The psalm gives more evidence of having been written as a pilgrim psalm than any among the Psalms of Ascents (120-134), with the possible exception of the last one” Miller, 399. 

Psalms of Zion are Pss. 46, 48, 76, 84, 87, 132.

122:1-2 Journey to Jerusalem
122:1 I was glad when they said to me- “The idea did not originate with him, but he joined with a group of pilgrims to go to the city” Longman, 416.  Vss. 1, 8-9 use first person singular words.

“We hear the voice of an individual singer who is part of a larger group of pilgrims going up to Jerusalem” NICOT, 899. The words I was glad or I rejoiced set “the tone for the remainder of the psalm” NICOT, 900. 

 ‘Let us go to the house of the LORD’- Isaiah 2:3; Micah 4:3; Ps. 84:10; Jer. 31:6; Zech. 8:21. 

“The verbal phrase is not a cohortative but an imperfect and should be rendered ‘we will go’” VanGemeren, 775.  

122:2 Our feet are standing within Your gates, O Jerusalem- Notice that the I shifts to our. “At last Jerusalem and the house of the LORD come into sight, and we have arrived” Kidner, 433. The city is personified and addressed in the second person” Longman, 416.

The OT believer rightly regarded Jerusalem as the center of the whole earth- Ps. 48:2; Ezek. 5:5.

122:3-5 He celebrates the city
122:3 Jerusalem, that is built as a city compact together- Ps. 48:1-2, 13; 147:2. “The word ‘Jerusalem’ ends (v. 2) and begins v. 3” McCann, 1184. 

“True brotherhood was realized at this center of the community” Allen, 159. The word translated compact is used in Ex. 26:3, 3, 6, 9, 11; 36:10, 10, 13, 16, 18 for the curtains of the tabernacle joined together. The word compact is also used of military alliances- II Chron. 20:35, 36, 37; Dan. 11:6, 23.

122:4 To which the tribes go up- Ex. 23:17; Deut. 16:16; Ps. 48:9; 84:5- “Go up is the technical verb for pilgrimage” Alter, 439 and it is also used for going up the temple mount- Ps. 24:3.

122:5 For there thrones were set for judgment- Deut. 17:8; II Sam. 8:15; 15:1-6; I Kings 3:16-28; 10:9; II Chron. 19:8; Ps. 72:1-4; 89:29; Isaiah 2:4; 9:7; 11:2-5; 16:5; Jer. 21:10-11 Kings were to administer just and right judgment. “Other songs of Zion show the integral connection between the city and the king (Pss. 84:9; 132, esp. vss. 11-12)” Broyles, 451.

122:6-9 He prays for the peace of the city
122:6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem- Jer. 15:5 There is a wordplay between peace and Jerusalem- Heb. 7:2. Peace is the key word in vss. 6-8 and continues the stairstep parallelism of this psalm. 

“It was customary to offer greetings of peace on entering a home or community (cf. I Sam. 25:6; Matt. 10:12-13)” Allen, 159.

May they prosper who love you- “The ‘your’ is feminine singular in the Hebrew, clearly addressing Jerusalem” Alter, 440. Contrast 129:5. . 

122:7 May peace be within Your walls- 125:5; 128:6. The word within is used in both portions of this verse and is the Hebrew preposition ב.

Compare Pss. 48:13. 

122:8 For the sake of my brothers and my friends- He is motivated to pray this prayer because of his love for his fellow-man. 

122:9 For the sake of the house of the LORD our God- This prayer is also motivated by his love for God.