Psalms 121:6

The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. THE SUN SHALL NOT SMITE THEE BY DAY - with heat. NOR THE MOON BY NIGHT - with cold. The moon, as 'ruling the night' (), has all the influences associated with night attributed to it. Compare the words of Jacob, to whom Psalms 121:4 allude (; ). Moreover, the moon has a most hurtful effect on those who sleep under its beams. Day or night, no real and lasting hurt shall befall God's people....

6._The sun shall not smite thee by day. _By these forms of expression the Psalmist magnifies the advantages which result to us from our having God present with us; and, by the figure synecdoche, under one particular, he declares in general that the faithful shall be safe from all adversities, defended as they are by Divine power. The language is metaphorical, the cold of night and the heat of day denoting all kind of inconveniences. The sense then is, that although God’s people may be subject in common with others to the miseries of human life, yet his shadow is always at their side to shield them from thereby receiving any harm. The Prophet does not, however, promise the faithful a condition of such felicity and comfort as implies an exemption from all trouble; he only, for the purpose of assuaging their sorrows, sets before them this consolation — that being interested in the Divine la...

Verse Psalms 121:6. _THE SUN SHALL NOT SMITE THEE BY DAY_] Thus expressed by the _Chaldee_: "The morning spectres shall not smite thee by day, during the government of the sun; nor the nocturnal spectres by night, during the government of the moon." I believe the psalmist simply means, they shall not be injured by _heat_ nor _cold_; by a _sun-stroke_ by day, nor a _frost-bite_ by night....

THE SUN SHALL NOT SMITE THEE BY DAY - The Septuagint renders this, “shall not burn thee” - συγκαύσει _sungkausei_. So the Latin Vulgate. The Hebrew word means to smite, to strike, as with a rod or staff, or with the plague or pestilence; and then, to kill, to slay. The allusion here is to what is now called a “sun-stroke” - the effect of the burning sun on the brain. Such effects of the sun are often fatal now, as doubtless they were in the time of the psalmist. NOR THE MOON BY NIGHT - The psalmist here refers to some prevalent opinion about the influence of the moon, as endangering life or health. Some have supposed that he refers to the sudden cold which follows the intense heat of the day in Oriental countries, and which, because the moon rules the night, as the sun does the day, is either poetically or literally attributed to the moon. Lac

EXPOSITION THE preceding psalm is one of complaint; the present, one of comfort and consolation. The pilgrim lifts up his eyes to the hills, and is satisfied that help is coming to him. He then proceeds to cheer himself with assurances of God's sleepless care and protection. Metrically, the psalm falls into four stanzas of four lines each. PSALMS 121:1 I WILL LIFT UP MINE EYES UNTO THE HILLS. The "holy hills," that stand round about Jerusalem, are intended (Psalms 87:1; Psalms 125:2). There God had "promised his blessing, even life forevermore" (Psalms 133:3)....

THE SUN SHALL NOT SMITE THEE BY DAY,.... With its rays, which it shoots forth like darts, and which fly swiftly, and pierce and hurt: hence Apollo, the same with the sun, is represented with a bow and arrows o; so the rays of the sun seem to be called in Habakkuk 2:11; NOR THE MOON BY NIGHT; this clause should be supplied, as a learned man p observes, thus, "neither shall the moon cool thee by night"; for that has no warmth in it, and cannot smite with heat, as the sun does: for even, as he observes, its rays focused by a magnifying glass will not communicate the least degree of sensible heat to bodies objected thereunto; yet some say q the moon is not only moist, but heats bodies as the sun. And Isaac Vossius r observes, that there can be no light, which, separately considered, does not contain some heat at least: and Macrobius s speaks of the lunar heat; and Plutarch t

Psalms 121:1. _I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help._ It is wise to look to the strong for strength. Dwellers in valleys are subject to many disorders for which there is no cure but a sojourn in the uplands, and it is well when they shake off their lethargy and resolve upon a climb. The holy man who here sings a choice sonnet looked away from the slanderers by whom he was tormented to the Lord who saw all from his high places, and was ready to pour down succor for his injured servant. Help comes to saints only from above, they look elsewhere in vain: let us lift up our eyes with hope, expectancy, desire, and confidence. Satan will endeavor to keep our eyes upon our sorrows that we may be disquieted and discouraged, be it ours firmly to resolve that we will look out and look up, for there is good cheer for the eyes, and they that lift up their eyes to

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

CXXI. YAHWEH'S CARE FOR HIS PEOPLE. Psalms 121:8. going out _i.e._ to the feast at Zion, and COMING IN to thy home far away, perhaps in heathen lands....

DISCOURSE: 714 SECURITY OF THOSE WHO TRUST IN GOD Psalms 121:1. _I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in, from this time forth, and even for evermore._ A LIFE of faith is generally acknowledged to be that which becomes the Christian: but how much is implied in a life of faith is very little considered. The Divine government is too often supposed to extend to great things only: and the idea of