Psalms 120:7

I am for peace: but when I speak, they are for war. I (AM FOR) PEACE: BUT WHEN I SPEAK, THEY ARE FOR WAR - Hebrew, 'I peace;' my very nature is peace. So , 'I prayer.' But when I speak to recommend peace they breathe only war. They wrest my words of peace into occasion for war....

5-7 It is very grievous to a good man, to be cast into, and kept in the company of the wicked, from whom he hopes to be for ever separated. See here the character of a good man; he is for living peaceably with all men. And let us follow David as he prefigured Christ; in our distress let us cry unto the Lord, and he will hear us. Let us follow after peace and holiness, striving to overcome evil with good...

Verse Psalms 120:7. _I_ AM FOR _PEACE_] We love to be quiet and peaceable; but they are continually engaged in excursions of rapine and plunder. It is evident that the psalmist refers to a people like the _Scenitae_ or _wandering Arabs_, who live constantly in _tents_, and subsist by robbery; plundering and carrying away all that they can seize. The poor captives wished them to cultivate the arts of peace, and live quietly; but they would hear of nothing but their old manner of life. ANALYSIS OF THE HUNDRED AND TWENTIETH PSALM The psalmist in distress - I. Flees to God by prayer. II. Sets forth the miseries of a foul and deceitful tongue. III. Complains of his banishment. I. 1. He is in distress, and _cries_ to the Lord; the

I AM FOR PEACE - Margin, “A man of peace.” Literally, “I (am) peace.” It is my nature. I desire to live in peace. I strive to do so. I do nothing to provoke a quarrel. I would do anything which would be right to pacify others. I would make any sacrifices, yield to any, demands, consent to any arrangements which would promise peace. BUT WHEN I SPEAK - When I say anything on the subject, when I propose any new arrangements, when I suggest any changes, when I give utterance to my painful feelings, and express a desire to live differently - they will listen to nothing; they will be satisfied with nothing. THEY ARE FOR WAR - For discord, variance, strife. All my efforts to live in peace are vain. They are determined to quarrel, and I cannot prevent it. (a) A man in such a case should separate from such a person, if possible, as

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

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 in them lies, endeavour to live peaceably with all; BUT WHEN I SPEAK, THEY [ARE] FOR WAR; make a motion for peace, and propose the terms of it, they declare against it, and for war: or when he spoke of the things of God, and of his experience of them, of the word of God, and of the truths of it, and of what he believed, Psalms 116:10; and especially when he gave good counsel and advice to them, and reproved them for their sins, they could not bear it; but hated him for it, and proclaimed war against him; and could not behave peaceably to him in any degree, but b

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

I. I [even I]; or,. [am all] peace (emphatic). SPEAK. speak [of peace]. See note on Psalms 109:4. THEY ARE FOR WAR. The reference is to 2 Kings 18:19; 2 Chronicles 32:2.Isaiah 36:5....

PSALMS 120 DESCRIPTIVE TITLE Peace _versus_ War. ANALYSIS (See Inserted Headlines.) (Lm.) Song of the Steps. (A GRATEFUL KING'S MEMORIAL.) 1 Unto Jehovah in the distress that befell me I called and he answered me: 2 Jehovah! oh rescue my soul from the lip of falsehood from the tongue of deceit. (A BELLIGERENT COUNSELLOR'S WARLIKE SPEECH.) 3 What shall one give to thee and what shall one add to thee, thou tongue of deceit? 4 Arrows of a warrior sharpened with glowing coals of broom![725] [725] The broom shrub makes the best charcoal, and therefore the best coal to burn and glowBr. (THE PEACEFUL KING'S LAMENT.) 5 Ah! woe is me! that I sojourn with Meshech[726] [726] The Moschi. in Assyr. times they dwelt in W. (or N.W.) ArmeniaO.G. that I d