PSALM 122

In this Psalm David congratulates himself and the whole Church upon the fact, that a seat had at length been appointed for the ark of the covenant, and that God had chosen a place where his name should be continually called upon. Afterwards, to incite and encourage the faithful to engage in the worship of the sanctuary, he briefly declares, that the prosperous condition of the people depended upon God’s having chosen the seat of royalty to be at Jerusalem, from whence it was his purpose to defend, maintain, and assist his people.

A Song of Degrees of David. ⁶⁶⁶⁶     “The burden of the Psalm,” says Jebb, “is שלום ‘peace.’ The play upon the words is very remarkable: שם, ‘there,’ and שם, ‘the name,’ lines 5 and 6; שבטים, ‘tribes,’ line 5 משפט, line 7. Then in line 9, and those which follow: שאלו, ‘pray;’ שלום, ‘peace;’ ירושלם, ‘Jerusalem;’ ישליו, ‘shall prosper;’ שלוה ‘prosperity.’” — Jebb’s Literal Translation of the Psalters, with Dissertations, volume 1. Speaking in reference to the author of the Psalm, and to the opinion held by some critics, that it was composed about the time or’ the restoration of the Jews from Babylon, he says —”The extraordinary play upon words already noticed might argue a later period of composition: [than the time of David]. Still I cannot but think that the title assigning the Psalm to him is borne out by internal evidence of a stronger kind. The fond mention of Jerusalem, David’s beloved city; the thrones of the house of David; and the recurrence of peace, which was so emphatically promised to David, as the blessing about to be conferred on his son Solomon, are all circumstances, which, taken in connection, stamp this song with a character evidently belonging to the reign of the royal Psalmist ” — Ibid., volume 2.