Psalm 124

The verses of the Psalm describe Israel’s trouble- vs. 3-5- deliverance- vs. 1-2, 6b, 7- praise- vs. 6a, 8. The psalm shows us “how serious the threat was, and how little confidence David placed in his own power to survive it” Kidner, 436.

124:1 Had it not been the LORD who was on our side- 118:6; vs. 1-2 provide the protasis, the ifs clause to a conditional sentence, to the stanza and vs. 3-5 the apodosis, the then clause of the conditional sentence- Miller, 402. The word if actually begins both vss. 1 and 2 (Gen. 31:42; Deut. 32:37; I Sam. 25:34; II Kings 3:14; Psalm 94:17; 106:23; 119:92; 124:1, 2; Isaiah 1:9).

Let Israel now say- 118:2-4; 129:1. This “indicates that this psalm aims to encourage the congregation to give voice to their gratitude” Broyles, 453.

124:2 Had it not been the LORD who was on our side- This psalm has “abundant use of incremental repetition” Alter, 443. “To dwell on what might have been is often an unrealistic, fruitless exercise. Here it is used to good effect” Laymen, 688. “His presence has protected Israel from destruction on many occasions” VanGemeren, 785.

When men rose up against us- Ps. 2:1-3

124:3 Then they would have swallowed us alive- Swallowed is used in Num. 16:30; Ps. 55:15; Prov. 1:12; Isaiah 5:14; Jer. 51:34; Jonah 1:17.

124:4 Then the waters would have engulfed us- Verses 4-5 “are an especially effective use of the emphatic structure of incremental repetition. Verse 4 displays semantic parallelism with verbal repetition in its two halves (waters/ torrent, swept us us/ come up past our necks” Alter, 444. Psalms 18:4-5; 42:7; 69:1-2, 15; 88:3-7; Isaiah 8:7-8; 43:2; Lam. 3:54; Jonah 2:3, 5

124:5 Then the raging waters would have swept over our soul- Psalm 74:12-15; 89:9-10; 93:3-4 The LORD’s sovereignty over the raging waters.

124:6 Who has not given us to be torn by their teeth- The enemy is compared to 3. “A hungry lion that would have seized them as prey (vs.6)” Willis, 64-65.

124:7 Our soul has escaped as a bird out of the snare of the trapper- Ps. 91:3

The snare is broken, and we have escaped- 119:110; 140:5

124:8 Our help is in the name of the LORD- Ps. 20:7 The name of the LORD in I Sam. 17:45; Ps. 118:10, 11, 12; Prov. 18:10.

Who made heaven and earth- 115:15; 121:2; 134:3; 146:6 I Peter 4:19

Psalm 124 and Jesus
124:1 The LORD is for us- Romans 8:31-39.

124:3 The word swallowed as used in the LXX is used in I Peter 5:8 of Satan going about as a roaring lion seeking who he can devour (or swallow, same word). Death and Satan may be great monsters seeking to swallow us, but Jesus swallows up death- I Cor. 15:54; II Cor. 5:4.

124:6 Blessed in the LXX is the same word used in Eph. 1:3; I Peter 1:3 which Blessed God for the great salvation He accomplished in Christ.

124:7 The word translated escaped in the LXX is used in Col. 1:13; I Thess. 1:10; II Tim. 4:17-18 to speak of salvation in Christ.

124:8 The word help is used in Hebrews 4:16 of how we seek help for Jesus.

124:8 The name of Jesus is the name on which we must call- Acts 2:21, 38; 4:12.

124:8 Jesus is Maker of heaven and earth- John 1:1-3, 10.

Psalm 123 A Song of Ascents
“Verses 1-2 are written in the tone of a psalm of trust, but 3-4 are in the form of a community lament.

123:1 To You I lift up my eyes- 121:1; Lifting up eyes can indicate arrogance- II Kings 19:22; Ps. 131:1 but here they are lifted up to God and not against Him.

“To phrase ‘to You’ is in the emphatic position, suggesting the psalmist’s complete orientation to God” McCann, 1187.

O You who are enthroned in the heavens- Pss. 2:4; 11:4; 115:3, 16; 135:15 “His faithful love and wisdom are equally beyond our calculating (Ps. 36:5; Is. 55:9)” Kidner, 435. “The Lord whose heavenly throne (1) speaks of His endless resources as well as His worldwide sovereignty” Motyer, 573.

123:2 Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master- “The eye symbolizes longing, need, expectancy” Motyer, 573.“They await some provision for their own benefit.

As the eyes of the maid to the hand of her mistress- “Everyone in this community, man and woman, looks urgently to God for a sign of grace” Alter, 441.

So our eyes look to the LORD our God- “God’s people are in the position of ‘servants’ (see Pss. 34:22; 69:35-46; 113:1; 116:16)” McCann, 1187. This shows their humility before God. Israel looks for the good hand of the LORD- Ezra 7:6, 9, 28; 8:18, 22, 31. “The simile certainly emphasizes the psalmist’s utter dependence on God, like that of slaves on their master” Longman, 419.

“The repetition of ‘eyes’ which occurs in each of the four poetic lines in vv. 1-2, is another instance of the steplike pattern that characterizes the Songs of Ascents (see Pss. 120:5-7; 121:1-4, 7-8; 122:2-5)” McCann, 1187.

Until He shall be gracious to us- This is another example of the steplike parallel pattern (climactic parallelism).

123:3 Be gracious to us- Pss. 4:1; 6:2; 9:13; 25:16; 26:11; 27:7.

For we are greatly filled with contempt- We are not told who gives the scorn, the actual things said, nor the reason for it. “Superlatives are used here and in vs. 4 to indicate the overabundance of scorn and contempt they have received” Miller, 402.

123:4 Our soul is greatly filled with the scoffing of those who are at ease- Lam. 3:30ff., 33.

And with the contempt of the proud- Proud are enemies of the psalmists in Pss. 94:2; 140:5. There is a strong contrast in the Psalm. It begins with “to You” and ends with “the arrogant”- VanGemeren, 783.

Jesus and Psalm 123

123:2, 3 Lord- The term used in the LXX is κυριος and it is used of Jesus in many NT passages including Matt. 7:21, 21, 22, 22; Luke 6:46, 46. The word is used over 700 times in the NT and many of them are of Jesus. He is LORD and we are utterly dependent upon Him for salvation and all blessings.

123:2 Servant- in the LXX is the term δουλος and it is used of the NT writers in Rom. 1:1; James 1:1; II Peter 1:1; and Jude 1. It is used of all Christians in Romans 6:16-23. It is used of Jesus in Philippians 2:7. Jesus, who is addressed as Lord, is also a servant. The LORD became a servant to show us mercy. We are totally dependent upon His mercy for salvation.

123:2, 3 Have mercy upon us- The word used was addressed to Jesus in Matt. 9:27; 15:22; 17:15; 20:30-31; Mark 10:47-48; Luke 17:13; 18:39. As these begged for Jesus to have mercy upon them, we are beggars who fall before Him totally dependent upon His mercy.

When God takes flesh in the person of Christ, Jesus, who was God became a servant- John 13:1-17; Phil. 2:5-8.

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.