Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

Psalm 120. Psalm 120 is the first of the "Songs of Ascents" (Psalms 120-134). This diverse group includes individual and corporate laments, songs of confidence, thanksgiving hymns, a song celebrating Zion, wisdom psalms, a royal psalm, and a psalm for a liturgical occasion. Some traditional Jewish interpreters have suggested that these were songs sung on the "steps" (as the same word can mean, e.g., Ex. 20:26), either in parts of the temple or up from a spring in Jerusalem; others have taken them as geared toward returning to Jerusalem from exile (cf. Ezra 1:3). Neither of these makes good sense of David's authorship of Psalms 122; 124; 131; and 134. It is probably enough to take them simply as suited to the "ascent" to Jerusalem for worship (122:4; cf. 1 Kings 12:28; Zech. 14:16), even if they were not originally composed for that purpose.

Psalm 120 is an individual lament, sung by someone living away from Israel (v. 5); his distress concerns the way that deceitful people are stirring up war, while the psalmist prefers peace. It is possible that the psalm originated during the exile, when God told his dispersed people to seek the "welfare" (or "peace," Hb. shalom) of the city to which they were sent (Jer. 29:7). Because the Gentile lands of Meshech and Kedar are so far apart, some have suggested that "I" in this psalm is the people personified, but this is unnecessary (see note on Ps. 120:5). Worship in Jerusalem, both for the singer and for the Gentiles, is the remedy for this violence (cf. Isa. 2:3-4).

120:1-2 I Called to the Lord, and He Answered Me. The psalm opens by remembering: there have been times of distress in the past, and each time I called to the Lord, he answered me with rescue. This now provides encouragement to pray, and v. 2 explains the specific cause of distress: people with lying lips and a deceitful tongue.