(A Song of degrees. Of David.) I rejoiced when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of Jehovah.
This psalm is a song for the road, and it opens with one man's answer to an invitation. Why should a journey to a building make a heart leap, and who is the "us"?
One man speaks in this verse, but he was one of many. Writers tie this psalm to crowds who travelled together.
How happy the men of Israel must have been! They all gathered from every part of the country to the same centre, with one heart and one aim: to meet the Lord, and to give back to Him His portion out of the fullness of blessing He had given them. People believe that these happy crowds sang the little group of Psalms (120-134) called the "Songs of Degrees" as they journeyed to the city of the Great King, Jerusalem.
The gladness is not manufactured. It grows out of what the previous psalm settled about God Himself. And once the house is named, the singer no longer speaks alone.
To know the Lord Himself is to be attracted to the place where He dwells. This is the connection between this and the previous Psalm. There, faith voiced its confidence in verse 2, and the answer came: the Lord is all-sufficient for all His people's needs. Knowing Him like this, in His tender grace and watchful care, the soul could now say, "I was glad when they said to me, 'Let us go to the house of the LORD!'" (v. 1). He had become everything to the one who looked to Him, and it was there that He dwelt and displayed His glory. Notice, too: name the house of the Lord, and isolation ends; all God's people come into view. It is, Let us go to the house of the LORD.
If the gladness is real, it will show in whether the appointed meeting place matters at all.
No doubt, if the heart were cold and careless toward God, it would matter little about the place of worship; all places would be alike. But we may set this down as a fixed principle. Every loyal loving heart, from one end of the land to the other, would gladly hurry to the place where Jehovah had recorded His Name, and where He had appointed to meet His people.
The decision to go has a second effect. One writer ties verse 2 back to the promise about feet in the psalm before it.
The psalm opens with the psalmist's joy. He hears that the godly have decided to journey together to the house of the Lord. Confident that the Lord is their keeper, as Psalm 121 sets out, the remnant take courage for the pilgrim way to the house of the Lord. The immediate effect of this decision is to fill their hearts with assurance. If the Lord will not let the feet of His saints be moved (Ps. 121:3), they can say with confidence, "Our feet shall stand within your gates, O Jerusalem."
(The ESV reads verse 2 as "Our feet have been standing within your gates, O Jerusalem!" Older translations say "shall stand", the sense used here.)
Going up together produces results that reach beyond those who set out.
These, and many other Scriptures, show the blessedness and joy of the people of God as they move together in relation to His interests. In his second chapter Isaiah speaks of the great gain such movements bring — "He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths." Zechariah tells of the healthy way it affects others. See what precious results such movements yield! Praise and thanksgiving to God. Gladness of heart in a greater knowledge of God's holy ways. A deepening desire to walk in a way that pleases Him. And a testimony which draws others to Himself!
Commentators apply the verse in two directions. One is the present, where the parallel is with believers gathering to the Lord's name.
Long ago, those who sought Jehovah went up to the temple in Jerusalem. Now those who seek the Lord go up to that separate company which God Himself has gathered, and which stands for His assembly. He is in the midst of those gathered to His name.
The other looks ahead, to a day still to come:
How full of joy the godly in Israel will be when they are invited to go into the house of the Lord (v. 1). By then the temple will stand rebuilt, as the later chapters of Ezekiel show. God will have restored this centre of His dealings, and that fact alone will move those who have long waited for this work of His.
- Knowing — the gladness starts with the Lord Himself. Know Him as keeper and all-sufficient, and the place where He dwells draws you.
- Invited — the call comes from others, and it is plural: "let us." Name His house, and the singer's isolation ends. All God's people come into view.
- Going — a cold heart treats every place as the same; a loving heart hurries to the place God appointed for meeting His people.
- Standing — the God who will not let your foot be moved is why you can say your feet will stand inside the gates. Assurance follows the decision to go.
- Overflowing — the journey gives back: thanksgiving, a deeper knowledge of God's ways, a walk that pleases Him, a testimony that draws others in.
Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem.
This verse answers the invitation of verse 1: the joy of setting out has become the certainty of arriving. But are the feet already standing there, or only sure of standing one day? Older translations read "our feet shall stand," and the writers quoted below often keep that wording.
Psalm 121 promises that the Lord will not let the foot be moved. One writer reads this verse as the direct reply to that promise.
The psalm opens with an expression of joy on hearing the decision of the godly to journey together to the house of the Lord. Confident that the Lord is their keeper, as Psalm 121 sets out, the faithful remnant take courage to walk the pilgrim way to the house of the Lord. The immediate effect of this decision is to fill their hearts with assurance. If the Lord will not let the feet of His saints be moved (Ps. 121:3), they can boldly say, "Our feet shall stand within your gates, O Jerusalem."
The verse says our feet, not my feet.
Notice, too, that the moment the house of the Lord is mentioned, isolation ceases, and all God's people are introduced. It is, Let us go into the house of the Lord. The same is true now, when the individual believer learns in any measure what the assembly is: God's dwelling through the Spirit. It is true, too, when he learns what it means to have the Lord Himself among those gathered to His precious name.
Commentators differ on the tense. Some read it as faith reaching its goal before the journey is over.
Their pilgrimage was not yet over. But faith gave them such security that they could rest in perfect confidence. As in Psalm 84, they would go from strength to strength, and every one of them would appear in Zion before God.
Others take the feet as planted there already. For them the psalm is the end of the road, not the middle.
Jerusalem is now the uniting centre for Israel — in fact, though the psalm does not say so, of the whole earth. The first verse gives the basis of that unity: the power of Jehovah's house over the soul. How glad they will be when someone says to them, "Let us go into the house of Jehovah"! For them it is no longer a matter of faith. It is one of sight: "standing are our feet within your gates, Jerusalem."
Why these gates and no others? Because God had attached His name to that spot, and a warm heart cares where He said He would meet His people.
No doubt, if the heart were cold and careless toward God, it would matter little about the place of worship; all places would be alike. But we may lay down this fixed principle. Every loyal, loving heart from Dan to Beersheba would gladly hurry to the place where Jehovah had recorded His Name, and where He had appointed to meet His people.
One writer reads the verse forward, to a Jerusalem God Himself restores.
How full of joy the godly in Israel will be when they are invited to go into the house of the Lord (v. 1). By that time the temple will stand again, as the later chapters of Ezekiel show. The very fact that God restores this centre of His dealings will deeply move those who have long looked for this divine work. Their feet stand within the gates of a revived Jerusalem (v. 2).
The same keeping belongs to the Christian on the road now.
The road we travel may at times be rough. The enemy may oppose us with his tricks and traps. Temptations may abound, and difficulties arise. All these trials the LORD may allow. But there is one thing He will not allow: He will not let the feet of those who trust in Him be moved from the path that leads to glory... He has marked out the path for the Christian. If we keep our eye on Christ as our unfailing help and follow Him, that path will lead far into the depths of glory where He has gone.
And what draws the heart there is a Person, not an address.
The Lord's house — that is, His presence and worship in the place of His rest — is our desire (for us, heaven)... It is loved, not only for the Lord's own sake, the centre of all, but for all the saints' sake... Heaven is loved, but it is loved as being the dwelling-place of Him with whom we have to do — our Father's house.
- Kept — Psalm 121 promised that He will not let the foot be moved, so these feet can stand.
- Together — name God's house, and "I" becomes "us"; isolation ends where worship begins.
- Standing — commentators differ: is this faith expecting arrival, or sight enjoying it? Either way, arrival is certain.
- Centred — a cold heart thinks all places alike; a loving heart goes where God put His name.
- Glory — keep the eye on Christ, and the same road ends in the Father's house, loved for the One who lives there.
Jerusalem, which art built as a city that is compact together,
Psalm 122 is a pilgrim's song, and verse 3 is the moment the traveller looks up at the city itself. He sees a city "bound firmly together" — older versions read "compact together," and that is the wording in the quotes below.
Is this Jerusalem as it stood, or Jerusalem as God means it to be? The psalmist speaks of the city as finished. No pilgrim's eyes could confirm that. Commentators say the description belongs to God's purpose, not to the city's state at the time.
In the confidence of faith, the godly man views Jerusalem, their journey's goal. He sees it not as it has been through the ages, but as it will be according to God's purpose. In Nehemiah's day the wall of Jerusalem lay broken down and its gates burned with fire. Now, the godly man, looking beyond the ruin, sees it not just being built, but finished — "a city that is compact together." There are no breaches left in the wall.
Later in these same pilgrim songs the singers work out who does the building. The vision of verse 3 is one thing; the power to bring it about is another.
So, in the course of these pilgrim psalms, the godly own three things. It is the Lord who sets them free. It is the Lord who keeps them on their pilgrim journey. And it is the Lord who establishes them in the home to which they are going. They had seen the purpose of the Lord to have Jerusalem "builded" and "compact together" (Ps. 122:3). Now they recognise that only the Lord can carry out His purpose.
The picture is first of all architectural: a city whose parts fit. One writer names what the pilgrims admire, and points to another city Scripture measures the same way.
First, it is the form, the beauty of the city itself which excites admiration: it is built as a city that is compact together. The symmetry and completeness of the city arrest the attention. This is the city as it will be in the future glories of the kingdom, though the splendour of Jerusalem in David's reign may have supplied its prophetic type. The Christian will at once recall the measurements of the new Jerusalem. The earthly city will stand in direct relationship to it: "And the city lies foursquare, and its length is the same as its breadth… The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal." This is finite perfection, pictured by the shape of a cube — a finite perfection that God bestows.
A city can be packed tight by walls or by trade. One writer points to a different bond here, and to something the psalm's first verse already said.
This city compacted together is indeed a resurrection: all are firmly united, because the divine attraction that the first verse expresses holds them. No other bond can unite like this, and no other bond lasts for ever as this one does.
One writer reads verses 3 and 4 together as one picture: the union of the whole nation. The old rivalry between its tribes is over.
Verses 3, 4 express the perfect union in blessing of the entire nation. Ephraim no longer envies Judah, nor does Judah trouble Ephraim. They flow together as a testimony to Israel.
Another writer sets that unity against the old mixture of godly and ungodly, and against the discord of cities today.
The city will be built. It will no longer loosely hold both godly and ungodly together. It will be compacted together — a unity so unlike the discord seen in cities today (v. 3).
One writer looks back at what Jerusalem had been, and at what had happened to her since.
Such had been the glory of Jerusalem, the centre for worship and centre of government. How could they ever forget what she had once been? But how mixed her history had been! The house of the Lord, to which he turned with joy, had lain in ruins for ages, and its holy site had been given over to other uses. The city too had for centuries ceased to be the centre of government. But now their hopes revive, and, with the Lord as their keeper, they can look for peace.
- Attraction. The city holds together by the divine attraction the psalm's first verse expresses. No other bond unites like this one.
- Compacted. The word describes fit and finish: symmetry and completeness, a city with no breaches left in its wall.
- Gathered. What is true of the stones is true of the people. The tribes flow together, and Ephraim no longer envies Judah.
- Built by God. Faith sees the finished city while the ruins still stand. Only the Lord can carry His purpose through.
- Centred. Jerusalem had been the centre of worship and of government, and there the hope of peace revives.
Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of Jah, a testimony to Israel, to give thanks unto the name of Jehovah.
Psalm 122 is a pilgrim song, and verse 4 is the moment the singer looks around and sees the whole nation on the road with him. ESV reads "as was decreed for Israel." Older translations read "a testimony to Israel." The writers quoted below follow that older wording.
The psalm's title points to a journey. One writer traces the name of the whole series back to this very verse.
These "songs of degrees" are better called "songs of the ascents." We are surely right to explain that name first of all by the going up of the tribes three times a year to the feasts at Jerusalem, which the third psalm of this same series speaks of (Ps. 122:4). But that is only a clue to the inner meaning. This repeated call to the city of God has in view the "set times" of Leviticus 23, which speak of God's gracious acts toward His people — acts that will gather them round Himself in praise for ever. The "ascents" are, therefore, above all else, ascents of the heart to Him because of His grace.
The tribes are not travelling to a capital but to a house. Their name — "the tribes of the LORD" — also describes what they will become.
The psalm shows Jerusalem as the gathering-point for all the people... Jerusalem will be Israel's true centre because of the house of the Lord. So the city's name in that day will be Jehovah-shammah — the Lord is there. His presence there, as always, will be the attraction for all His own. Notice here that the tribes are called "the tribes of the Lord." By then their stubbornness and rebellion will all be over, and they will plainly belong to Him whose name they bear.
Another writer names what holds the city together.
Jerusalem is now the uniting centre for Israel — in fact, though the psalm does not say so, of the whole earth. The first verse gives the basis of that unity: the power of Jehovah's house over the soul.
Ephraim and Judah, two rival parts of the nation, had envied and troubled each other. Verse 4 pictures that rivalry gone.
Verses 3, 4 express the perfect union in blessing of the entire nation. Ephraim no longer envies Judah, and Judah no longer troubles Ephraim. They flow together as a testimony to Israel.
The clause can mean a testimony given to Israel, not something Israel owns. On that reading, the crowd on the road is itself the message.
The next clause is better translated: "A testimony for, or to, Israel"... This means that the gathering of all the tribes, their shared going up to the house of the Lord, would go out as a testimony to the whole nation.
The journey ends in one activity, and it aims at a person, not a place.
The tribes gather in order "to give thanks to the name of the LORD," to Jehovah as He is revealed among Israel. One of David's last acts was to appoint the Levites "to stand every morning, thanking and praising the LORD, and likewise at evening" (1 Chr. 23:30). But at the time our psalm speaks of, all the tribes together will share this blessed service of thanksgiving and praise.
One writer uses this verse to settle which Jerusalem the psalm means.
This Psalm is clearly about the earthly Jerusalem, not the heavenly one. The tribes do not go up to the heavenly city to give thanks. The thrones of David's house are not set there. And no house or temple of God can be seen in that lasting city of His rest (Rev. 21:22).
The psalm still speaks to the reader. Another writer links love for God's dwelling with love for God's people.
Love for that place of God's dwelling comes with the sense that all of this is joined together in blessing. We love it not only for the Lord's own sake, who is the centre of all, but for the sake of all the saints, for our brothers and companions. This cannot be the first thing, but it is the first circle round the true centre — love to all saints.
- Ascent. The psalm's title means "going up." The climb to the feasts pictures the heart rising to God because of His grace.
- Centre. What pulls the tribes up is God's house — His presence, so that the city's future name means "the Lord is there."
- Unity. At that centre the old split between Ephraim and Judah ends. The whole nation flows together.
- Testimony. The gathered tribes are the witness. Read as "a testimony to Israel," the sight itself preaches to the nation.
- Thanks. The journey ends in one purpose: thanks to the name of the LORD. Writers tie the scene to the earthly Jerusalem still ahead, not the heavenly one.
For there are set thrones for judgment, the thrones of the house of David.
Psalm 122 is a pilgrim's song about arriving at Jerusalem. Verse 5 gives one reason the city mattered so much: it held the seat of government as well as God's house. So why does it say "thrones" in the plural? Whose thrones are they? And is this a past glory or one still to come?
The pilgrim's joy rests on a city with two roles: worship and government. Both had long since collapsed.
This had been the glory of Jerusalem: the centre for worship and the centre of government. How could they ever forget what she had once been? But what ups and downs her history had seen! The house of the Lord, which he turned to with joy, had been destroyed for ages, and its site defiled by another use. The city too had for centuries stopped being the centre of government. But now their hopes revive, and, with the Lord as their keeper, they can look for peace.
The thrones carry a family name. That name points to the One who inherits every royal right of David's house.
Jerusalem will not only be the centre of the people's worship. It will also be the place from which the king administers justice: "There thrones for judgment were set, the thrones of the house of David." The Messiah is not only the promised Seed of Abraham. He is also, as born into the world, the Son of David — indeed, both the root and the offspring of David, David's Son and David's Lord. So the running of the kingdom will be His, as the rightful Heir to all the royal rights of David's house.
The plural is deliberate, and commentators differ over who fills the extra seats. One reading keeps them on earth: rulers of David's line serving under the supreme King. (This writer's translation reads "thrones for the house of David.")
Christ has His place here, as we know, though we must go to other scriptures to learn that it is so. "Thrones," in the plural, and "for the house of David," seem to point to the deputy rule of the purely human "prince" of that line, whom Ezekiel introduces us to. It cannot possibly speak of the reign of the heavenly saints with Christ, though some would connect it with that.
Others hear an echo of the promise Jesus made to His twelve disciples. They allow both a heavenly and an earthly fulfilment.
The throne above all is that of the Son of Man. Yet He Himself tells His disciples, "Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel" (Matt. 19:28). No doubt these twelve thrones will be in heaven, where believers reign with Christ. But there will also be thrones in Jerusalem. There some who have proved trustworthy will take the place of judging for God.
The verse names why the thrones are there, and that purpose reaches people living now.
The thrones are "for judgment" — not mere royal display. Righteousness is to be maintained on the earth. And men are told now to welcome this new rule and to submit to it.
The courts of David's house stopped sitting in Jerusalem long ago. So this verse looks ahead.
Verse 5 records the royal pre-eminence of Jerusalem. The seat of judgment is there. The King of righteousness and King of peace will hold His court of earthly dominion in the place that once witnessed His shame. There is more than one throne there. For there are chosen associates in that judgment, for whom special grace has set apart that seat. Nothing could be clearer. The language of this Psalm is prophecy of the plainest kind about the future restoration of the kingdom to Israel.
Read this way, the verse sits inside a settled order: the tribes gather, praise rises, and government is exercised from the same city.
Psalm 122 celebrates Jerusalem. The saint is glad to go there. The tribes go there; the thrones of judgment, of the house of David, are there. His brothers and companions and the house of Jehovah, the God of Israel, their God, made his heart cling to it.
- There — one word ties it all to one city. Jerusalem was the centre for worship and the centre of government.
- Thrones — the plural points to more than one seat of rule. Commentators differ: some see only rulers of David's line, others also hear the twelve thrones promised to the disciples.
- David's house — the right to govern is inherited, and it lands on the Messiah, who is both David's Son and David's Lord.
- For judgment — these seats exist to keep righteousness on earth, and men are told now to welcome that rule.
- Still ahead — no court of David's house has sat in Jerusalem for ages. So the verse reads as plain prophecy: the kingdom restored, in the city that once saw His shame.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem they shall prosper that love thee.
Psalm 122 is a pilgrim's song, sung at the gates of the city where Israel's tribes gathered to worship. At the height of that joy the song turns into a prayer, and older translations attach a promise to it: "they shall prosper that love thee."
The city's name means peace. Its story has run the other way.
The meaning of the name is not certain. Some give it as "the foundation of peace," others as "the possession of peace." Its history, sadly, has been anything but peace. But Haggai 2:9 is still to be fulfilled: "in this place I will give peace." That surely points back to the meaning of "Jerusalem."
The psalm has just described the city as God intends it. Verse 6 turns to the city as it stands now.
In God's purpose Jerusalem is the centre of praise and blessing. Against that, the godly man thinks of the city as it now is: ruined, a centre of strife and sorrow through long ages. If the view of the city in its coming glory leads to praise, the view of the city in its ruin calls for prayer. So the psalmist can say, "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem," and with it comes the assurance that those who love Jerusalem will prosper. To think with God about His people, to feel their sorrows, and pray for their peace, is the way to spiritual prosperity.
The prayer will be answered. But one writer points to what has to come first.
We do well to pray now for "the peace of Jerusalem," and one day that prayer will be fully answered. Here the psalm prays that those who love Jerusalem may prosper. Yet that peace cannot come to them until they at last receive "the Prince of Peace," the Lord Jesus.
The previous verse named thrones set for judgment. Those thrones explain why one city's welfare matters to everyone.
The thrones are "for judgment" — not mere royal display. Righteousness has to be upheld on the earth, and men are called now to welcome this new rule and to obey it. God said to Abraham, "I will bless those who bless you." So it is here: those who love you shall prosper. To love righteousness is to be righteous. Here is a kingdom of righteousness where everyone who suffers from wrong and everyone who hates wrong may rejoice together. The peace of Jerusalem means the welfare of men and the blessing of God.
One writer draws out what this asks of the person praying.
He was not satisfied with things as they were. He was glad to be in the city, and he wants her welfare. Anyone who would prosper must want it too. Blessing for everyone on earth is bound up with the prosperity of Jerusalem.
The second half of the verse is not payment for a duty done. It grows out of love shared with Christ.
Blessing is also promised to those who pray this way: "Those who love you shall prosper." Communion with the heart of Christ is the sure pathway of blessing. Christ loved, and loves the Church, and the saint to whom the Church is also dear will spiritually prosper. The prosperity promised here will match the position of the earthly people. But the Christian is in fellowship with our blessed Lord about His people, and for him it will mean spiritual progress and blessing.
Commentators differ on how far this promise can be carried from Israel over to Christian ground. One writer sets a firm limit.
Scripture never makes prosperity depend on men loving the heavenly Jerusalem. What is preached in the world is Christ, not that city. There is a sense in which we may apply a Psalm like this to heavenly things. But there is a safer and far better way. Trace the riches of our portion in Christ along the sure lines of blessedness the Spirit of revelation has already drawn. Do not go hunting for the ornaments of the Lamb's heavenly bride in Scriptures plainly meant for the Jews. God is jealous for His own name.
- Name — Jerusalem means the foundation, or possession, of peace. Its history has been the opposite, and the prayer asks God to make the city match its name.
- Ruin — the sight of the city in glory produces praise; the sight of the city in ruin produces prayer. Verse 6 is what love does with a wreck.
- Person — the peace cannot come until Jerusalem receives the Prince of Peace, the Lord Jesus.
- Reach — this is no local concern. Blessing for the whole earth is bound up with Jerusalem's prosperity, and the promise echoes God's word to Abraham.
- Return — those who love her prosper. Loving what God loves is itself the pathway of blessing, and thinking with God about His people is the way to spiritual prosperity.
Peace be within thy bulwarks, prosperity within thy palaces.
The prayer of verse 6 now becomes a blessing spoken over the city itself — over its walls and its royal houses. It asks for two things: peace, and what older translations call prosperity within her palaces.
The two halves of the verse name two different parts of the city. One rendering of the psalm brings out the military sense of the first word:
Pray for Jerusalem's peace: may they prosper that love you. Peace be within your bulwark, prosperity within your palaces.
The palaces are not simply grand buildings; they are where the city is governed from. And one writer ties the whole request to a condition that has not yet been met:
We might well now "pray for the peace of Jerusalem" (v. 6), and that prayer will get its full answer then. Here the psalm prays for those who love Jerusalem, that they may prosper. Yet that peace cannot come to them until they finally receive "the Prince of Peace," the Lord Jesus. When they do, peace will certainly be within their walls (v. 7). Prosperity will be within their palaces — the dwellings from which rulers maintain their authority.
The two requests belong together. One writer applies that link to the people of God at large:
Verses 7-9 give the response to the call for prayer. At once the desire for the peace and prosperity of the city awakens. The soul taught by God links prosperity with peace. Divisions and quarrels among the people of God have always been a source of spiritual poverty and scattering. When the breaches heal and peace returns, prosperity is sure.
Why should anyone care about the peace of these particular walls? The psalm's closing line gives the answer:
First there is the desire that there may be peace within the walls of Jerusalem and prosperity within her palaces. The last verse (9) shows the ground of this desire: "the house of the Lord our God." Jerusalem will get all its importance not so much from being the chosen city of Messiah's kingdom, but from holding God's dwelling-place... So the devoted heart will want the whole city to share in the blessing of God dwelling there. It will want the city fit for its divine Inhabitant. The enjoyment of the presence of Him who will dwell in Zion will secure the peace and prosperity desired.
The one praying stands inside the city and still asks for more for it:
He was not satisfied with things as they were. Glad to be in the city, he desires her welfare. Those who would prosper must desire it too. Blessing for everyone on earth is bound up with the prosperity of Jerusalem. That city was so dear to the saints of old, and it will still be dear to the saints in Israel, because it is connected with God's house on earth.
Verse 6 promised prosperity to those who love the city. One writer traces where such prayer comes from, and what it does for the one who prays:
If the view of the city in its coming glory leads to praise, the view of the city in its ruin calls for prayer. So the psalmist can say, "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem," together with the assurance that those who love Jerusalem will prosper. To think with God about His people, to feel their sorrows, and to pray for their peace, is the way to spiritual prosperity.
Even this, however, is not the end of the line. The peace asked for here points somewhere higher:
The peace of Jerusalem means the welfare of men and the blessing of God... And yet this is only the type and shadow of better things above.
- Cause — This peace cannot come until Jerusalem receives the Prince of Peace. Until then the prayer waits.
- Gift — The city's real value is not its royal status. It is God's dwelling there, and His presence secures the peace and prosperity asked for.
- Pairing — Peace and prosperity go together. Quarrels among God's people bring spiritual poverty; healed breaches bring blessing.
- Reach — The one praying is already inside the walls, and still not satisfied. Blessing for everyone on earth is bound up with this city's welfare.
- Result — This prayer prospers the one who prays it. And the peace of these walls is only a shadow of better things above.
For my brethren and companions' sakes I will say, Peace be within thee!
The call to pray for Jerusalem's peace now turns into a spoken blessing, and the speaker gives his reason: other people. Two questions follow — whose voice is this, and why does love for one place open the heart so wide?
The call to pray in verse 6 grows out of a gap between what Jerusalem is meant to be and what it has become. One writer sets the two views of the city side by side.
The godly man sees Jerusalem as God purposed it — the centre of praise and blessing. Then he thinks of the city as it now is: ruined, a centre of strife and sorrow through long ages. If the view of the city in its coming glory leads to praise, the view of the city in its ruin calls for prayer... To think with God about His people, to feel their sorrows, and pray for their peace, is the way to spiritual prosperity.
Verses 7 to 9 are the answer to that call. But commentators differ on who is speaking. Some read the words as the prayer of a godly man. Others hear the Lord Himself speaking, and one writer points to the two names He gives the people He blesses.
The heart of the Lord, who once wept, goes out here in longing over His beloved Jerusalem. He calls for prayer for its peace, and He pronounces peace upon it. Two great motives draw it out: motives that stir His brothers, and that glorify God. He is still not ashamed to call them "brothers" and "companions." Having named them so, He brings them at once into full connection with the glory and the blessing, and says, "For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your good." Nothing could be added to this.
Verse 9 gives the house of God as the reason, and verse 8 gives the brothers. The order matters. Love for the place where God dwells is what makes room in the heart for everyone else who loves it.
The Lord's house (that is, His presence and worship in the place of His rest) is our desire (for us, heaven). But love for that place where God dwells brings with it the sense that all this is joined together in blessing. We love it not only for the Lord's own sake, who is the centre of all, but for the sake of all the saints, for our brothers' and companions' sake. This cannot be the first thing, but it is the first circle around the true centre — love to all saints.
The same pattern shows up elsewhere in Scripture, and it explains why a heart full of God is never a narrow heart.
Nothing expands the heart of God's people like affection for the Lord and His dwelling-place. When He holds the place of honour in the heart, His own affections are reproduced in the believer and reach out to every child of God. Revelation 22 shows this. When the Lord presents Himself as the root and offspring of David, and the bright and morning star, the Spirit and the Bride say, Come. The first thought is Christ Himself, and then every saint is remembered in what follows.
Verse 7 asks for peace and prosperity together, and verse 8 asks for peace again. One commentator explains why the two always travel as a pair, and what division costs.
The soul taught by God links prosperity with peace. Divisions and quarrels among the people of God have always brought spiritual poverty and scattering. When the breaks are healed and peace comes back, prosperity is sure.
Some had given up hope of ever seeing peace. A commentator links what the city will one day receive to what a believer already has.
Some have despaired of ever having peace, because of constant strife and turmoil. This wonderful message of peace will bring them rich blessing — peace within the city, just as there is peace now in the soul of one who trusts the Lord Jesus as Savior.
- Centre. The house of God is the true centre of the heart's love, and everything else in the psalm circles around it.
- Circle. Love for the saints is not the first thing. It is the first circle drawn around that centre. A heart full of God cannot stay narrow.
- Widening. Affection for the Lord and His dwelling-place is what expands the heart to embrace every child of God.
- Cost. Division among God's people brings spiritual poverty and scattering. Heal the break, restore peace, and prosperity follows.
- Peace. The One who wept over Jerusalem is not ashamed to call His people brothers and companions. To those who had given up on peace, He speaks it.
Because of the house of Jehovah our God I will seek thy good.
The psalm ends by naming the reason behind everything it asks. The singer will seek Jerusalem's good because the house of the Lord stands there. That raises two questions. Why should a building be the reason to love a city? And who is speaking these words?
The prayers of verses 6–8 do not stand on their own. Verse 9 gives the reason under them. One writer links that reason to what makes the city matter.
First comes the desire that there may be peace within the walls of Jerusalem and prosperity within her palaces. From the last verse we learn that the ground of this desire is "the house of the Lord our God." Jerusalem will get all its importance, not so much from being the chosen city of Messiah's kingdom, as from holding God's dwelling-place… So the godly heart will desire that the whole city should share in the blessing of God's dwelling, and be in a fit state for the divine One who lives in it.
The prayer names the people first, then names the reason that ranks above them.
Then, thinking of his brothers and companions, and their blessing, the godly man prays, "Peace be within you!" Last of all, the highest motive for his prayer is the good of the house of the Lord.
One writer hears the Lord Himself in this verse — the One who wept over this city — and points to the names He gives His people.
The heart of the Lord, who once wept, goes out here in longing over His beloved Jerusalem. He calls for prayer for its peace, and He pronounces peace upon it. Two great motives draw it out, and they stir His brothers and glorify God. He is still not ashamed to call them "brothers" and "companions." Having named them so warmly, He brings them at once into full connection with the glory and blessing, and says, "For the sake of the house of the LORD our God, I will seek your good." Nothing could be added to this.
The good of this one city reaches far past its own people.
He is glad to be in the city, and he wants her welfare. Those who would prosper must want it too. Blessing for everyone on earth is tied to the prosperity of Jerusalem. That city was so dear to the saints of old, and it will be just as dear to the saints in Israel, because it is connected with God's house on earth.
One writer reads the verse as prophecy about Israel's future:
When God's house is set up in Jerusalem, this is the very reason the restored remnant of Israel will know and enjoy His goodness.
One man shows what this motive looks like in action.
The last verse simply reminds us, with emphasis, of the energetic motive for seeking the good of Jerusalem; it is "because of the house of the Lord our God." Nehemiah is a striking illustration of this spirit. He heard of the trouble and disgrace of the remnant of the people. He heard that the wall of Jerusalem lay broken down and her gates burned with fire. So he wept, mourned, fasted, and prayed. From then on, as the Spirit led him, he set his heart on the good of Jerusalem because of the house of the Lord his God.
The same motive carries over to today. God's house is no longer a building of stone.
It is important to have a real concern about the house of God. The house of God today is "the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth" (1 Tim. 3:15). Do we love those principles that deal with the gathering of God's people? Or are we so taken up with our own things that the gathering of the Lord's people comes second, third, fourth, fifth, or even last?
- Dwelling — Jerusalem's worth comes from holding God's dwelling-place. That counts for more than its place as Messiah's chosen city.
- Motive — the house of the Lord is the ground of every prayer in the psalm: peace for the walls, peace for the people, good for the city.
- Order — the psalm prays for brothers and companions first. It names the good of God's house last, because that reason ranks highest.
- Speaker — one writer hears the Lord who wept over Jerusalem say "our God." He is not ashamed to call His people brothers and companions.
- Today — Nehemiah wept and prayed for a broken city because God's house stood there. The same energy now belongs to the church, the house of God.