Why should we pray for the peace of Jerusalem?

Lastly, when Israel are regathered, Jerusalem will not only be a centre of worship, it will be the seat of royal administration. Praise will ascend to Jehovah, and blessing will be dispensed to the people.

(v. 6) In contrast to Jerusalem according to the purpose of God, the centre of praise and blessing, the godly man thinks of the city in its present ruined condition, 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. Thus the psalmist can say, “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem,” coupled with the assurance that they that 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.

(vv. 7-9) The last three verses present the response to the call for prayer. At once the desire is awakened for the peace and prosperity of the city. The soul taught of God couples prosperity with peace. The divisions and contentions amongst the people of God have ever been a source of spiritual poverty and scattering. With the healing of the breaches and the restoration of peace, prosperity is assured.

Then, thinking of his brethren and companions, and their blessing, the godly man puts up the prayer, “Peace be within thee.” Finally the highest motive for his prayer is the good of the house of the Lord.

Well might we now "pray for the peace of Jerusalem" (v. 6), which prayer will be fully answered then. Those who love Jerusalem are here prayed for, 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 so, then peace will certainly be within their walls (v. 7), and prosperity within their palaces, those dwellings from which authority is maintained.

"For the sake of my brethren and companions, I will now say, 'Peace be within you— (v. 8). Those who have previously despaired for ever having peace because of constant strife and turmoil, will be greatly blessed by this wonderful message of peace — peace within the city, just as peace now is in the soul of one who trusts the Lord Jesus as Savior.

Then the basis of seeking the good of brethren and companions is emphasized in verse 9, it is "because of the house of the Lord our God." When God's house is established in Jerusalem, this is the very reason for His goodness being known and enjoyed by the restored remnant of Israel.

The thrones are "for judgment," — no mere regal state: for righteousness is to be maintained upon the earth; and men are bidden now to welcome and be subject to this new sovereignty. As was said to Abraham, "blessed shall he be who blesseth thee," so now is it here: "they shall prosper that love thee." To love righteousness is to be righteous; and here is a kingdom of righteousness in which every sufferer for and every hater of wrong may rejoice together. The peace of Jerusalem means the welfare of men and the blessing of God. There is a human ground for such a prayer as is here offered: brethren and companions in divine things whose prosperity it means; and there is a divine-human ground, that dwelling of God with man which the house of God implies. Oh for the days to come in which all this shall be revealed! And yet this is only the type and shadow of better things above.

Blessing, moreover, is promised for those who thus pray: "They shall prosper that love thee." 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 here promised will be according to the position of the earthly people; but for the Christian, who is in fellowship with our blessed Lord concerning His people, it will be in spiritual progress and blessing.

The following verses, 7-9, contain the response to the exhortation. First, there is the expression of the desire that there may be peace within the walls of Jerusalem and prosperity within her palaces. From the last verse (9th) we learn that the ground of this desire is "the house of the Lord our God." Jerusalem, indeed, will derive all its importance, not so much from its being the chosen city of Messiah's kingdom, as from its containing God's dwelling-place. As we read in Isaiah, "The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of My sanctuary; and I will make the place of My feet glorious." The pious heart, therefore, will desire that the whole city should share in the blessing of the habitation of God, and be in suited condition and meetness for its divine Inhabitant. The enjoyment of the presence of Him who will dwell in Zion will ensure the peace and prosperity desired.

Another ground for the longed-for peace is my brethren and companions' sake." (v. 8.) Nothing expands the heart of God's people like affection for the Lord and His dwelling-place. Whenever He is enshrined in the heart His affections, reproduced in the believer, will embrace every child of God. An exemplification of this truth is found in Revelation 22. 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. And let him that heareth say, Come. So is it in the Psalm — peace is desired for the sake of the "tribes of the Lord." How fully some of God's people can enter into this in this day of confusion and scattering! Let us cry, then, day and night, as we think of the perils which beset us on every hand, and the damage done to souls by incessant controversies, that the Lord may come in and heal our breaches and restore peace, for the sake of our brethren and companions.

The last verse, as before remarked, does but emphatically remind us 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. When he heard of the affliction and reproach of the remnant of the people, and that the wall of Jerusalem was broken down, and that her gates were burned with fire, he wept, mourned, and fasted, and prayed; and thenceforward, as led of the Spirit, his heart was set upon the good of Jerusalem because of the house of the Lord his God. May this spirit of devotedness to the glory of God in His habitation be increasingly exhibited amongst His beloved people in the present day, for His name's sake!

But prosperity in the land is connected with the welfare of Jerusalem and the house of the Lord on Mount Moriah. To this the godly turns. He had rejoiced when men proposed they should go to the house of the Lord. "Our feet," he adds, "have been standing in thy gates, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that is built as a city which is bound together; whither the tribes went up, the tribes of Jah (a precept to Israel) to give thanks unto the name of the Lord. For there they set thrones of judgment, thrones of the house of David." 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 checkered had been her history! The house of the Lord, to which he turned with joy had for ages been destroyed, and its site desecrated to another use. 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. Hence the exhortation to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, and the earnest desire that it should rest on her forts and her palaces. He was not satisfied with things as they were. Rejoiced to be in the city, he desires her welfare, and those who would prosper must desire it also; for blessing for all on earth is bound up with the prosperity of Jerusalem, that city so dear to the saints of old, and still to be to the saints in Israel, because it is connected with God's house on earth.

In the last division of the Psalm we have the connection declared between the peace of Jerusalem and the prosperity of the people. First of all there is the invitation to pray for her peace. To do this would imply communion with Jehovah's mind, for Jerusalem is the city which He loved; "for the Lord hath chosen Zion; He hath desired it as His habitation. This is my rest for ever; here will I dwell, for I have desired it." If, therefore, the hearts of His people are set upon the same place they cannot but pray for its peace. The Christian will understand this principle in its application to the assembly. The dearest thing on earth to the heart of Christ is the Church, that Church which He loved, and for which He gave Himself; and if we have communion with His own heart as to this, however feebly, we shall be constrained to pray for its peace and blessing.*

The heart of the Lord, who once wept, here goes out in yearnings over His beloved Jerusalem; and, calling to prayer for its peace, pronounces peace upon it. Two great motives too, animating to the brethren, and glorifying to God, draw it out; them He still is not ashamed to call "brethren," and "companions"; and, having so blessedly named them, He, at once introducing them into full connection with the glory and blessing, says, "Because of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek to do thee good." Nothing could be added to this.

Psalm 122. 1 A song of the ascents: of David. I was glad in [those] saying to me, To Jehovah's house we will go. 2 Our feet are standing in thy gates, O Jerusalem, 3 Jerusalem, that art built as a city which is compact together; 4 Whither tribes go up, tribes of Jah: a testimony for Israel to give thanks to Jehovah's name, 5 For there are set thrones for judgment, thrones for David's house. 6 Pray for Jerusalem's peace: may they prosper that love thee. 7 Peace be within thy bulwark, prosperity within thy palaces. 8 For my brethren and companions' sake, let me now speak, Peace [be] within thee. 9 For the sake of the house of Jehovah our God, I will seek thy good.

Ps. 122: 1, 2 Heart in Jerusalem; 3-5 its praises; 6 pray for its peace and prosper; 7, 8 I pray for and bless it! 9 for the sake of the house of Jehovah our Elohim.

A very striking as well as lovely view is here prophetically given of the fulness of terrestrial happiness, which is to be Israel's portion in the latter. day. It is a song of peace and rest, of quietness and assurance, the sanction and sustaining power of which is the name of Jehovah, whose presence in His own house is the gracious evidence of His having returned with mercies to Jerusalem. That the earthly Jerusalem, and not the heavenly, is the subject of this Psalm is very evident; for the tribes do not go up to the latter to give thanks, nor are the thrones of David's house set there;* nor, lastly, is any house or temple of God discernible in that abiding city of His rest (Rev. 21:22).

Verses 3, 4 express the perfect union in blessing of the entire nation. Ephraim no longer envies Judah, nor does Judah vex Ephraim. They flow together as a testimony to Israel.*