Deeper Commentary
I was glad when they said to me, Let’s go up to Yahweh’s house!-
This may have begun as David's prophetic anticipation of the day when
the temple would be built, and he would be invited to go up there in
worship- implying his faith in bodily resurrection, seeing he had been
told that such a temple would not be built in his lifetime. But the Psalm
is obviously used in hope that the temple would be restored and the exiles
with joy would receive the invitation to "go up" there. But the reality
was so different; the majority of them refused to "go up" when invited to
by Cyrus, preferring exile in opulent Persia. And so these things are
reapplied to a new Israel and a new temple. And finally they
will be fulfilled when with joy all peoples say "Let us go up to the house
of Yahweh" (Is. 2:3), seeing that the exiles generally preferred to remain
in Babylon and didn't go up to Zion with gladness.
Psa 122:2
This is the more pertinent to the exiles when we recall that the
gates of Jerusalem were totally broken down. The picture
is of the arriving pilgrims looking at the city, about to enter it. Verses
3-5 go on to express the joy of the pilgrim who reached Zion, and verses
6-9 become a general blessing of Zion and desire to keep praying for her
as the pilgrim returns home.
Psa 122:3
"Jerusalem is a city that has been built" encourages us to
Psa 122:4
The implication is that the true Israel go up to keep the feasts at
the sanctuary. The fact most of the exiles didn't want to "go up"
therefore precluded them from being the true Israel. The Psalm had its
historical origin in David's longing to be able to get to the sanctuary to
keep the feasts (Ps. 42:2 etc.). This was to be the longing of the exiles
to return to Zion; but generally, they preferred to remain in exile.
Likewise, if this is a reference to how things were before the
exile [LXX "Where the tribes used to go up"], it is an idealized picture.
Because only Judah and Benjamin went to worship at Jerusalem; the ten
tribes were excluded and had their own shrines.
Psa 122:5
The idea is of a supreme court at Jerusalem, to where the
hardest cases were referred (Dt. 17:8 “If any case arises requiring
decision between one kind of homicide and another, one kind of legal right
and another, or one kind of assault and another, any case within your
towns that is too difficult for you, then you shall arise and go up to the
place that the LORD your God will choose"). "The thrones of the house of
David" refer to how the king was apparently assisted in judging by the
royal family. This is alluded to in Jer. 21:12: "House of David, thus says
Yahweh, Execute justice in the morning".
Psa 122:6
Peace was impossible for Jerusalem until Judah repented (Jer. 4:10;
Ez. 13:16). "Peace" in the Bible is often 'peace with God'. The desire was
therefore for the day to come when Judah would repent, and the restoration
prophecies of Judah's peace would come true. Peace will only finally go
forth from Jerusalem when the latter day invaders are destroyed and the
Lord Jesus establishes His Kingdom there (Zech. 9:10 s.w.).
Psa 122:7
This was to be in contrast with how the enemies of Zion apparently
prospered in her destruction (s.w. Lam. 1:5). This is a prayer that the
current situation will be inverted. Zion's destruction had been because
"prosperity" had led them to turn away from their God (s.w. Jer. 22:21;
Ez. 16:49). The prayer was that prosperity would come without the tendency
to unspirituality which it brings in a secular sense.
There is a word play here
Psa 122:8
The return to the first person, "I", is because the pilgrim
realizes that s/he has to keep on praying for the peace of Jerusalem and
striving for it (:6). It has not come yet; the "good" of Jerusalem's
future status must still be sought (:9), and the motivation is not simply
selfish. It is for the sake of their brothers [fellow Jews?] and
"companions" [Gentiles who would be blessed in Jerusalem's eternal final
status?]. 'Say' is 'to speak', and these are the same words as in Ps.
120:7: "I want peace, but even if I speak, they want war". The pilgrim
prayed and spoke for the peace of Jerusalem, but was frustrated by those
who wanted war- possibly alluding to Jewish nationalists who thought that
the Kingdom peace of Jerusalem would only be achieved by violent war.
Psa 122:9
'Seeking the good' of Jerusalem is exactly the phrase used in the context
of the restoration in Neh. 2:10. And in response, God would 'seek the
good' of all who sought the good of Jerusalem (s.w. Ezra 8:22). The idea
may be that the returning exiles were to seek the good of their brethren
(:8) for the sake of the restored Kingdom / house of God. "The good" of
both their brethren and the Kingdom of God was one and the same- the
restored Kingdom to the glory of Yahweh.
Previous Chapter
