Psalms 120:2

Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue. DELIVER MY SOUL ( ), O LORD, FROM LYING LIPS - from the Samaritans, who, by lying slanders, sought to destroy Israel's national life ("soul"), by preventing the erection of the temple, the religious and political center of the theocratic nation. (AND) FROM A DECEITFUL TONGUE - literally, a deceit-tongue, a tongue all deceit (; ). Compare , 'I peace;' I am wholly for peace....

2._O Jehovah! deliver my soul from the lip of falsehood. _David now points out the kind of his affliction, declaring that he was loaded with false accusations. In charging his enemies with lying and falsehood, he asserts his own innocence of the crimes which they slanderously imputed to him. His complaint therefore amounts to this, that as he was conscious of having committed no fault, he was assaulted _by _the wicked contrary to all law, human and divine, and that they brought him into hatred without his having given them any occasion for such injurious treatment. Deceitful tongues assault good and simple people in two ways’ they either circumvent them by wiles and snares, or wound their reputation by calumnies. It is of the second way that the Prophet here complains. Now if David, who was endued with such eminent virtue, and free from every mark of disgrace, and far removed from every...

1-4 The psalmist was brought into great distress by a deceitful tongue. May every good man be delivered from lying lips. They forged false charges against him. In this distress, he sought God by fervent prayer. God can bridle their tongues. He obtained a gracious answer to this prayer. Surely sinners durst not act as they do, if they knew, and would be persuaded to think, what will be in the end thereof. The terrors of the Lord are his arrows; and his wrath is compared to burning coals of juniper, which have a fierce heat, and keep fire very long. This is the portion of the false tongue; for all that love and make a lie, shall have their portion in the lake that burns eternally....

Verse Psalms 120:2. _LYING LIPS_, AND _FROM A DECEITFUL TONGUE._] From a people without faith, without truth, without religion; who sought by lies and calumnies to destroy them....

DELIVER MY SOUL, O LORD - My soul is harassed and distressed. Perhaps the meaning also may be, My life is in danger. Or, if it refers to the soul as such, then it means that everything pertaining to his soul was deeply affected by the course which was pursued. He was maligned, slandered, misrepresented, deceived, and he had no comfort or peace. FROM LYING LIPS - False, deceitful, slanderous. Compare the notes at Psalms 31:18. AND FROM A DECEITFUL TONGUE - From a tongue whose statements cannot be relied on; whose words are deceptive; whose promises are false. David was often called to experience troubles of this sort; and this is a kind of trial which may come upon anyone in a form which he can no more anticipate or prevent than he can the coming of a “mist from the ocean.” No

EXPOSITION THE_ _SONGS_ _OF_ _ASCENTS_._ THE next fifteen psalms have a common heading, which is translated "Songs of Degrees," "Songs of Ascents," or "Songs of Steps." They constitute together "a Little Psalter," which contains indications of a formal arrangement. The central psalm—the only one ascribed to Solomon—has on either side of it a group of seven; each such group formed of two psalms ascribed to David, and five anonymous ones. The ascribed psalms are separated one from another by the anonymous ones, in such sort that no two of the former ever come together. This is evidently not the result of chance. Of the title itself different explanations are given. Some regard the degrees (_ma_'_aloth_)_ as _"steps," and accept a rabbinical explanation

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 determined should not dwell with him; but from the malignity of them, from being hurt in his character and reputation by them; God can restrain them, and prevent the ill influence of them when he pleases, Psalms 31:20. Such were the lips and tongues of Doeg the Edomite, Psalms 52:2, and of Saul's courtiers, who insinuated to him that David sought his hurt, 1 Samuel 24:9; and of the Scribes and Pharisees, that flattered Christ to his face,

Psalms 120:1. _In my distress I cried unto the LORD, and he heard me._ Slander occasions distress of the most grievous kind. Those who have felt the edge of a cruel tongue know assuredly that it is sharper than the sword. Calumny rouses our indignation by a sense of injustice, and yet we find ourselves helpless to fight with the evil, or to act in our own defense. We could ward off the strokes of a cutlass, but we have no shield against a liar's tongue. Silence to man and prayer to God are the best cures for the evil of slander. It is of little use to appeal to our fellows on the matter of slander, for the more we stir in it the more it spreads, it is of no avail to appeal to the honour of the slanderer, for they have none, and the most piteous demands for justice will only increase their malignity and encourage them to fresh insult. However, when cries to man would be our weaknes

PSALM 120-134 The Psalms of Degrees Fifteen brief Psalms follow, called songs of degrees, or, ascents. They were in all probability used by Israel going up to Jerusalem three times a year to celebrate the feasts of the Lord--”Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, a testimony for Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the LORD.” They are indeed Psalms of “the goings-up” for we rise higher and higher as we read through them. Prophetically they give us again the steps from trial and suffering to the glorious consummation. As they are so simple in language and construction no lengthy annotations are needed. Psalms 120:1 begins with distress, picturing again the suffering of the righteous godly remnant. In Psalms 121:1 the Keeper of Israel, the Covenant Keeping God, is revealed

CXX. PRAYER AGAINST CALUMNIATORS. Here begin the Psalms of Ascents, _i.e._ Pss. intended to be sung by the pilgrims at the three great feasts on their way up to Jerusalem, which stood on a height. Psalms 120-134 all bear this title (see also Psalms 84:5). The title Psalms of Ascents may have been originally given to the collection and then written over each Ps. individually. PSALMS 120:1. What shall he (_i.e._ Yahweh) give unto thee? The punishment is in accordance with the guilt. In Jeremiah 9:7 the deceitful tongue is compared to a deadly arrow. It is therefore fitting that Yahweh should send sharp arrows against those who slander the righteous. The author adds burning broom, which emits intense heat