Psalms 120:1-7

In my distress I cried unto the Lord, and He heard me.

The Songs of Degrees

How came this and fourteen following psalms to be put together, and to receive their distinctive title? It has been suggested that they were thus called from peculiarity in rhythm; but perhaps, in this respect, some of them might with as much correctness be described as songs of the goings-down. The opinion is equally doubtful that the heading was given them because, when they were chanted, the volume of voice and music gradually ascended. As much might be safely conjectured of many other psalms. It is not less a flight of fancy to explain the title as meaning Songs of the Steps, attaching the fifteen songs to the flight of fifteen steps in the Temple which led up from the common court to that of the priests; there being no evidence that the Levites were accustomed, in the great festivals, as they mounted from court to court, to halt on every step while singing, with the accompaniment of the flute, that song of the fifteen which corresponded with it in number; or no proof that the stair existed before the time of Herod. Nor can the allusion be to the carrying up of the ark to the tabernacle prepared for it by David; for the authors of half of the Songs of Degrees were not then born. Some conclude that these psalms were composed when the Jews went up from Babylon to their own country (Ezra 7:9). It is not a sufficient objection to this view that they are not called songs of the going-up, but of the goings-up, inasmuch as there were more ascents than one from Babylon to Jerusalem after the seventy years’ captivity; and there is no need to question that some of them were originated by circumstances of the return. But we take it that what the emancipation and its incidents suggested was, not more the composition of new songs than the adoption or adaptation of well-known hymns that had long been popular, and were suitable to the case of the returning Israelites. Fifteen were chosen; and, we may believe, scribes could not copy faster than the work was in demand. God directed the choice, and has preserved the Songs of Degrees for the use and edification of His Church to the end of time. It is not very difficult to see how appropriate were these select songs for the pilgrimages to Jerusalem. Patriotic, short and pithy, with key-words, and catch-words, they were easy to remember, and pleasant to repeat. Plaintive and low sometimes, blending with the thoughts of the aged and the sighs of the feeble and weary, they were as frequently lively and buoyant, tying the bounding youth to the slow pace of the caravan. Depicting demesne scenes, they brought to mind the dear ones left at home in the fatherly care of Jehovah. They contained sweet allusions to David’s piety, and the immortal harp he had tuned for the tribes on Mount Zion, and to Solomon’s magnificent and tranquil reign. They told of the beauty of the city, the splendour of the Temple, and the glad solemnities of the festival to which the pilgrims were going, or from which they were returning. Songs of defiance and triumph they were, of faith, hope and charity, of gratitude and joy, declaring the mighty deeds, watchful protection, bountiful providence and redeeming mercy of the Lord. Who, they demanded, could injure the servants of Him who had saved His people from their Egyptian, Arabian, Philistine, Babylonian and Samaritan foes? The songs of the pilgrims encouraged and strengthened them to persevere in the roughest places and against the greatest dangers. Songs of the Ascents these are, as aids in the goings-up of worship. A good hymn is wings to the soul; and the saint is a living psalm-book. The child of God often feels, when singing choice words, that his Father’s hand is helping him higher. Not only on the long journey to the feast and back were the Israelites “singing pilgrims”: they delighted in their sacred songs along the road and in Jerusalem, because they loved them at home. Hymns are for use in domestic and private devotion, as well as public services. The psalm-book is a looking-glass for you. In its writers, and the saints of whom they write, you may see yourself, and your experience and duty. Behold them at home, in the street, in the temple, in profound distress, in bitter conflict, looking to God, trusting in His mercy, waiting for His interposition, and triumphing in His salvation; and not merely resemble them in situation and want, but, so far as they set you a good example, in disposition, language, meaning and behaviour. Nothing can be fitter than this scroll of songs for the pilgrim to carry in his bosom, as he flies from Destruction, and aims at the Heavenly City. There is no stage in his progress in which it will not supply his heart and lips with appropriate -thought and expression. (E. J. Robinson.)

A good man with bad neighbours

Whoever is the author of the psalm he represents himself as a good man. He had prayed, and his prayer had been answered, and in the last verse he says that whilst his neighbours were for war he was for peace. But his neighbours were distinguished by two great evils--slandering tongues and querulous tempers.

I. Slandering tongues (verse 2). Slander is a common and a very pernicious evil. “How frequently,” says Sterne, “is the honesty and integrity of a man disposed of by a smile or a shrug! How many good and generous actions have been sunk into oblivion by a distrustful look, or stamped with the imputations of proceeding from bad motives, by a mysterious and seasonable whisper.”

I. The slanderous tongue was terribly painful to the psalmist. He speaks of it as--

(1) Sharp arrows of the mighty.

(2) Coals of juniper.

2. The slanderer deserves appropriate punishment.

II. Querulous tempers (verses 5, 6). There are in most neighbourhoods those of irascible, choleric, petulant tempers, always ready for angry wrangling and disputation. Like a tinder box they only require a spark to produce an explosion. Shenstone says, “I consider you very testy and quarrelsome people in the same light as I do a loaded gun, which may, by accident, go off and kill one.” What are you to do with people of this irascible make? Do not contend with them, do not return their spiteful and malignant utterances. As well endeavour to quench the lightning with a spoonful of water. As God made such tempers they have their use. Out of them come the severe critic, the inflexible censor, the savage warrior, the denunciatory preacher. On the contrary, show them kindness. Though much may depend upon their physical organization, the querulous spirit may be exorcized from them, may be utterly overcome. Such reformations have been effected, and Christ’s Gospel of kindness, mighty for that purpose, will one day turn all such natures into love. (Homilist.)

Uncongenial society

I. Its characteristics (verses 2, 6, 7). This is the very climax of bad society! There is nothing more damaging and dangerous than “lying lips”; nothing more viperous than a “deceitful tongue”; nothing more distracting and disagreeable than a spirit of strife and contention, etc.

II. Uncongenial society in its results.

1. Inflicting punishment on itself (verses 3, 4); piercing; scorching and consuming.

2. Inflicting distress on the Christian (verse 1). Causing--

(1) Misery (verse 5)

(2) Self-vindication (verse 7). (J. O. Keen, D. D.)