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.