INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 120 A SONG OF DEGREES. This psalm, and the fourteen following, are called "songs of degrees", or "ascents" o; for what reason it is not easy to say. Some think it refers to the music of them, and that this is the name of the tune to which they were set; or the first word of a... [ Continue Reading ]
IN MY DISTRESS I CRIED UNTO THE LORD,.... Being at a distance from his own country, or, however, from the house of God; persecuted by men, under the lash of their tongues; reproached, abused, and belied by them: in this his case and circumstances, he betook himself by prayer to the Lord, and importu... [ Continue Reading ]
DELIVER MY SOUL, O LORD, FROM LYING LIPS, [AND] FROM A DECEITFUL TONGUE. Not from such lips, and such a tongue of his own, which David abhorred; though every good man desires to be kept from speaking lies and deceit; nor from the company of those who have such lips and tongues, which he was determin... [ Continue Reading ]
WHAT SHALL BE GIVEN UNTO THEE?.... Or, "what shall [it] give unto thee?" s That is, what shall the deceitful tongue give unto thee, O my soul? or to thee, to anyone that hears and reads this psalm? It is capable of giving thee a deal of trouble, of doing thee a deal of mischief; and of injuring thy... [ Continue Reading ]
SHARP ARROWS OF THE MIGHTY, WITH COALS OF JUNIPER. Some think these words describe lying lips, and a false tongue; which are like arrows, sharp ones, sent out from a bow drawn with a mighty hand, which come with great force, suddenly and swiftly, and do much mischief; see Psalms 11:2; and to "coals... [ Continue Reading ]
WOE IS ME, THAT I SOJOURN IN MESECH,.... Meshech was a son of Japheth, Genesis 10:2; whose posterity are thought by some to be the Muscovites z and Scythians, a barbarous sort of people: Mesech is frequently mentioned with Tubal and his brother, and with Gog and Magog, Ezekiel 38:2; the Targum here... [ Continue Reading ]
MY SOUL HATH LONG DWELT WITH HIM THAT HATETH PEACE. The God of peace, against whom their carnal minds are enmity itself; Christ, the Prince of peace, the Man, the Peace, who has made peace by the blood of his cross, whom the world hates; the sons of peace, the quiet in the land, against whom the wic... [ Continue Reading ]
I [AM FOR] PEACE,.... Am wholly peace; a man of peace, as Aben Ezra; of a peaceable disposition, devoted to peace; love it, seek and pursue it, as every good man does, who is called to it, and in whose heart it rules: such follow peace with all men, and the things which make for it; and, as much as... [ Continue Reading ]