Bible Commentaries

Psalms 122:1 « A Song of degrees of David. » I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD.

Ver. 1. I was glad when they said unto me] The flourish of religion is the chief joy of the good Christian. Hence the evangelical jubilee among the Protestant party. Gregory Nazianzen writes that his father being a heathen, and often besought by his wife to become a Christian, had this verse suggested unto him in a dream, and was much wrought upon thereby. Wolfgangus Schuch, a Dutch martyr in Lotharing, hearing the sentence of his condemnation to the fire, began to sing this psalm (Acts & Mon. fol. 807).

Let us go into the house of the Lord] "I will go also," {as Zechariah 8:21} said holy David; who was much cheered at his people’s forwardness in God’s service, and became their captain.

Psalms 122:2 Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem.

Ver. 2. Our feet shall stand within thy gates] Where the ark (at times transported) was now fixed; this was their great joy, so should it be ours that the true religion is now settled among us, and that we are at a certainty. There was a time when good Melancthon groaned out, Quos fugiamus habemus, quos sequamur non intelligimus, We know whom we should fly (viz. the Papists), but whom to follow we yet know not (Respons. ad Staphyl.).

Psalms 122:3 Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together:

Ver. 3. Jerusalem is builded as a city, &c.] None such for uniformity of buildings or unanimity of citizens. There is no such oneness in all the world as among true Christians; and this the very heathens observed and commended. As the curtains of the tabernacle were joined by loops, so were they by love. And as the stones of the temple were so close cemented together that they seemed to be all but one stone, so was it among the primitive saints.

Psalms 122:4 Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the LORD.

Ver. 4. Whither the tribes go up] Thrice a year all the males appeared before the Lord in Sion; the females also, as many as would (as Hannah, the Virgin Mary, &c.), but they were not bound. At which times there was such a general meeting as no city could show the like; a type of that great panegyris, Hebrews 12:22-23.

Unto the testimony of lsrael] The ark was so called, in regard of the tables of the covenant kept therein, as two letters of contract between God and men, saith Aben Ezra, Exodus 15:16; those two tables are called the testimony.

Psalms 122:5 For there are set thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David.

Ver. 5. For there are set thrones of judgment] These are the two chief praises of any place. 1. The exercise of God’s sincere service. 2. The administration and execution of public justice.

Psalms 122:6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.

Ver. 6. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem] Peace is a voluminous mercy, and must therefore be prayed for, peace both of conscience and of country. It is well with bees when they make a noise in the hive; but with men, when they are at quiet in Church and State. Among the Persians he that offered sacrifice prayed not only for himself, but for all his countrymen, and especially for the king (Herodot. lib. i.).

They shall prosper that love thee] And out of love, pity and pray for thee.

Psalms 122:7 Peace be within thy walls, [and] prosperity within thy palaces.

Ver. 7. Peace be within thy walls] David had no sooner admonished others of their duty, but himself beginneth to them, Quod iussit et gessit. what he ordered he accomplished.

Psalms 122:8 For my brethren and companions’ sakes, I will now say, Peace [be] within thee.

Ver. 8. For my brethren and companions’ sakes] David was not all for himself (as the manner is in these last and loosest times), but, as one of a public spirit, he did

- toti genitum se credere genti.

Psalms 122:9 Because of the house of the LORD our God I will seek thy good.

Ver. 9. Because of the house of the Lord our God] Where David’s heart was, and wherein he held it a happiness to be but a doorkeeper, Psalms 84:10, so much endeared unto him was God’s sincere service. O pass we into the likeness of this heavenly pattern.

I will seek thy good] I will both pray it and promote it.