The Book of Psalms

Psalm 120

Psalm CXX · Vol. II, p. 1067

1 David, praying against Doeg, 3 reproveth his tongue, 5 complaineth of his necessary conversation with the wicked.

Margin referencesNotes ↓

^aA song of degrees.

1 In my^b distress I cried unto the LORD, and he heard me.

B.C. cir. 1058.

a Ps.cxx.-cxxxiv. titles.

b Ps.18.6; 34.6,15,19; 118.5. Jonah 2.2. He.5.7. Lu.22.42.

2 Deliver^c my soul, O LORD, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue.

c Ps.52.2-4; 140.1-11; 31.20. Is.54.17.

3 What shall be given unto thee? or what shall be done¹ unto thee, thou false tongue?²

1 Heb. added.

2 Or, What shall the deceitful tongue give unto thee? or, what shall it profit thee?

4 Sharp^d arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper.³

d Ps.52.5; 7.13; 140.10. De.32.23,24. Is.3.11; 30.33; 33.14.

3 Or, it is as the sharp arrows of the mighty man with coals of juniper.

5 Woe^e is me that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar!⁴

e Mi.7.1-5. Ps.140.1-11; 142.4, with Ge.10.2; 25.13.

4 The idea is that he was exposed to as much danger and pain from vile slanders, as if he were living an exile among the barbarous Meschites, or in the black tents of the wild Arabs.—P.

6 My soul hath long dwelt with him ^gthat hateth peace.

g Ro.3.17. Tit.3.3.

7 I am for⁵ peace:⁶ but^h when I speak, they are for war.

5 Or, a man of peace.

6 The proper characteristic of Christ, the Prince of peace, Is.ix. But alas! how ungratefully is his love repaid by carnal minds—enmity against God! Ro.8.7.—C.

h Ps.109.4,5; 35.20.

**DAMASCUS GATE—OPENING TOWARDS NAZARETH. [Psalms, cxxii:2.]** "Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem." Damascus gate, or the gate of the column through which passes the north road to Galilee and Damascus, is the most ornamental of all the gates which stand in the walls of Jerusalem. It is made picturesque because of its many turrets and battlements. The Damascus gate, according to Bartlet, is a fine piece of Saracenic architecture. Other authorities claim that it dates back to a more remote antiquity than Bartlet supposes. This gate is not a great ways from the place supposed by many now to be the site of Mount Calvary. The tombs of the kings are about 1100 paces north of Damascus gate. Next to Jaffa gate, the Damascus gate is the one most frequently used of any in the Jerusalem walls.

Notes

Title. This and the fourteen following psalms are entitled Songs of Degrees, or Ascending. Why or from whom they received this title, no man knows, and conjectures are manifold, but useless. C.

Ver. 1. In my distress. There can be no question that Ps. cxviii. is delivered in the name of Christ. See ver. 22. On comparing this verse with Ps. 118. 5, the identity of the speaker in the two psalms will scarcely be questioned. Comp. also Ps. lii. C.

Ver. 4. In ver. 3 a question is asked substantially as follows:— 'What shall the deceitful tongue give thee—what will it do to thee?' Reference is made to the person who uses his tongue in this manner. What effect will it entail upon him—what punishment will it bring? The reply is given in ver. 4, in language highly figurative. It will entail such punishment as would be inflicted by the sharp arrows of the warrior; it will bring such exquisite pain as would be produced by the glowing coals of juniper, the heat of which is intense. P.

Reflections.—Inveterate malice against the saints never refuses the basest means of venting itself: and it is the saints' ordinary lot to be virulently reproached by the wicked. But dreadful, penetrating, destructive, furious, and lasting is the ruin of their reproachers at last! It is grievous for the lovers of God to be long removed from public ordinances, or to be forced by necessity into continued connections with the wicked. But every one born of God ought to be a child of peace. Envy and strife are all from hell. And though others continue inveterate, we ought to abound in charity, and follow the things which make for peace.