These psalms are all to be sung for the ascent to Jerusalem. Of these, only 124 was written by David and probably not until later in his life. I mean, he hasn’t even captured Jerusalem yet.
We’ll take them one at a time, in order.
PSALM 121
If you are on a trip to Jerusalem, as you approach, you are going to be see the hills rising above you. Psalm 121 begins appropriately,
“I look up to the mountains— does my help come from there? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth!”
Psalms 121:1-2 NLT
Here is a link to another Sons of Korah arrangement of this psalm.
I want to look just at verses 6 & 7:
“The sun will not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. Yahweh will protect you from all evil; he will protect your life.”
Psalms 121:6-7 LEB
Now, I suppose this could be talking about draught or heat stroke, very bad sunburns or dangerous tidal changes brought about by the moon, but I doubt it.
The word translated strike is a strong word. It means to wound or kill. I got a very bad sunburn when I was a kid. I still have faint scars from the blisters but it didn’t kill me. I’ve had sun stroke a couple times too. Still not dead. And I don’t think moon-burn is a thing. 😏 How would the moon “strike” or “smite” or “slay” someone?
Either this is VERY hyperbolic language, or it’s suggesting something beyond the natural sun and moon. And I’d like to explore that. If we go all the way back to Deuteronomy, you may recall Moses warning Israel about the dangers of the sun and moon. But it had nothing to do with needing sunscreen.
“And when you look up into the sky and see the sun, moon, and stars—all the forces of heaven—don’t be seduced into worshiping them. The Lord your God gave them to all the peoples of the earth.”
Deuteronomy 4:19 NLT
“For instance, they might serve other gods or worship the sun, the moon, or any of the stars—the forces of heaven—which I have strictly forbidden.”
Deuteronomy 17:3 NLT
From the get-go there are warnings about the astral objects. Why? because humans had already been worshiping them for some time. Note that Moses says it is God Himself who “gave them to all the peoples of the earth.” And when did that happen? Presumably at Babel according to Deuteronomy 32:8:
“When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God.”
Deuteronomy 32:8 ESV
The “Host of Heaven” is code language for all of the beings that inhabit the spiritual realm. They are somehow connected with the physical, extraterrestrial bodies – the sun, moon, and stars. In Job 38:7, God Himself asks Job where he was “when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” This is Hebrew poetry. And in this structure, morning stars and sons of God rhyme. The name “Lucifer” means Day Star and he is called the “Son of Dawn,” (Is. 14:12).
There are several texts that link angelic beings and physical astral objects.
“In that day the Lord will punish the gods in the heavens and the proud rulers of the nations on earth. They will be rounded up and put in prison. They will be shut up in prison and will finally be punished. Then the glory of the moon will wane, and the brightness of the sun will fade, for the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will rule on Mount Zion. He will rule in great glory in Jerusalem, in the sight of all the leaders of his people.”
Isaiah 24:21-23 NLT
“All the host of heaven shall rot away, and the skies roll up like a scroll. All their host shall fall, as leaves fall from the vine, like leaves falling from the fig tree.”
Isaiah 34:4 ESV
If there is no connection between spiritual beings and the astral objects – if the sun and starts are truly JUST burning balls of gas and the moon is ONLY a cold dusty rock, then what did they ever do to deserve destruction?
“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!”
2 Peter 3:10-12 ESV
“When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale.”
Revelation 6:12-13 ESV
I put it to your consideration, dear reader, that there are supernatural entities connected in some way to these physical space objects. I don’t know how. Perhaps they were assigned to them at creation to be stewards over them in the same way that humans were given dominion over the earth.
We know at the very least that there exists:
- An Angel of the Waters (Rev. 16:5)
- An Angel of Fire (Rev. 14:18)
- Angels in charge of winds (Rev. 7:1-3)
- An Angel over the Abyss (Rev. 9:11)
- Angels that patrol earth (Zech. 1:7-11)
- Elemental spirits (Col. 2:20)
Why not an Angel of the Moon? Or an angel assigned to each star? That makes this verse hit way differently:
“He counts the number of the stars; he gives names to all of them.”
Psalms 147:4 LEB
I’d chalk it up to humans inventing fanciful supernatural explanations for natural phenomenon they can’t explain, except that God Himself lumps the sun and moon in with the “forces of Heaven.”
And, yes, I get it that ancient humans thought of the stars as being alive somehow because the stars move. And yes, I understand how primitive cultures with no electricity depended on the sun and moon and stars for light and heat and navigation and seasonal predictions and all that. And maybe that’s all there is to it. But… what is there IS a spiritual component?
We know that all the planets 🪐 are named for ancient deities worshiped by ancient peoples. Why is that? The ☀️ and moon 🌙 and stars ✨ were worshiped by many cultures separated by time and distance. Why is that?
With ALLLLL that in mind, let’s go back to Psalm 121:6-7.
“The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.”
Psalm 121:6-7 ESV
Why would God’s good creation cause evil or harm? Why do they pose such a threat that God Himself has to get involved to protect you? Isn’t SPF 80 enough? And maybe one of these solar-powered-fan hats?
Perhaps this psalm is hinting at more. I’m not going to build a whole doctrine on it or anything but I think that it may be suggesting God’s protection from members of the heavenly host gone rogue.
PSALM 123
Here is your Sons of Korah link.
This ascent psalm also begins with “lifting the eyes.”
And I think it goes well with the song, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.”
PSALM 124 – of David
We don’t know the exact circumstances that inspired this psalm. David writes of narrow escapes and miraculous deliverances. That describes most of his life up to this point.
He begins with giving the credit for their victories to God being on their side. And he uses the water metaphor.
“Then the waters would have flooded over us, the torrent would have passed over our soul. Then over our soul would have passed the raging waters.”
Psalms 124:4-5 LEB
He’s not talking about drowning in flooded Jordan River. He’s talking about death. 🌊
But God rescues them in the nick of time.
The last 2 verses of this psalm play on a cassette in my mental jukebox. If you are unacquainted with the Charismatic scripture-choruses from the 1970s and 80s, well, you have my condolences. We learned a LOT of scripture that way.
I know there is a ton of absolute trash on YouTube, but it’s also an archive of things that would otherwise be lost – like the EXACT recording that my parents played on the tape player at home when I was a kid. 📻
This is from Christ For The Nations Institute in Dallas Texas in 1985. And it makes me happy. Enjoy! 😄
They go from Psalm 124 to Revelation 19:6 at the end.
You’ll notice that “back in the old days” Christian music was very vocal-forward. The instruments are in the background. There are drums, a piano and organ and even a horn section. There may be a bass but I’m not really hearing it. It’s not as spit-n-polished as we would do today; particularly the start. No intro. No verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-bridge-bridge-bridge pattern. Just scripture on repeat til you get it in your head and heart. Not bad for a bunch of Gen X’ers. And you can clearly hear the joy in their voices. 😄
PSALM 125
Mount Zion. What is it? Just a high point of geography in Jerusalem? Let’s find out.
What do we know about Zion?
- It is eternal. (Ps 125:1)
- It is both a people and a place (Zech, 2:7, Ps. 147:12, Ps. 48:12)
- It is where God’s throne is, it’s where He lives (Ps. 2:6, 76:2, 132:13)
- It is conflated with Jerusalem (Is. 64:10, Ps. 135:21, 2 Sam. 5:7)
- Every citizen is native-born. No one immigrates there. You have to be born into it. (Psalm 87)
That doesn’t sound like just a physical place now does it? I’ve been to Jerusalem. And it’s wonderful and I’d probably live there with very little encouragement. But, if God’s throne had been there you can bet your booty that the Israeli Ministry of Tourism would be ALL over it. 😉
So how can Zion be Jerusalem and it’s where God’s throne is and it’s eternal and yet when you go there, you don’t see God’s throne? Was this psalmist just talking about the temple?
I’d like to give you another concept to consider: 🤔
I think Zion is another name for what John in Revelation calls “New Jerusalem” AND what we think of as “The Garden of Eden.” It’s where God lives. It is a very real place in the heavenly realm. It exists in a reality we cannot perceive but is very much overlapping and yet superseding the physical reality of space and time in the physical Jerusalem in Israel. The Tree of Life is there. And the throne of God.
And it’s not just the place, it’s the people.
We use language like this. For example:
“On 9-11 all of New York was in shock.”
We understand I’m speaking of the people, not the buildings and subways.
Likewise, Zion, New Jerusalem is the people, the Church, the Bride of Christ who descends from a higher reality (heaven) to earth as a “bride adorned for her husband,” Rev. 21:2.
I think this short video from the Bible Project is helpful to explain some biblical concepts about mountains.
PSALM 128
This beautiful psalm extols the blessings of the fearing the LORD. But instead of riches and power and prestige, here’s what the blessings are:
- Satisfying work that provides for the family.
- Happiness and good health
- A wife that makes a house a home.
- Children at the table.
- Living to see grandchildren
Forget the BMW, the Lake House, and the European vacation. THIS is what it looks like to be blessed.
PSALM 129
All I wanna say is…
“On my back plowmen have plowed. They have made their furrows long.”
Psalms 129:3 LEB
And this is how “Yahweh cut the ropes (that is the yoke and tackle of a beast of burden) of the wicked.”
Amazing.
PSALM 130
Somewhere in a closet (I think) I have an artistic copy of this psalm that I did. The words “out of the depths” start on the bottom of the page and ascend vertically. The word “mark” looks like tally marks.
I LOVE this psalm and would encourage you to meditate on it. It bursts with hope. 🌄
There is forgiveness for our iniquities. With the LORD there is mercy and ABUNDANT – or, I love the King James word “PLENTEOUS” redemption. It’s not just a little bit of redemption! It’s ABUNDANT! 🎉🥳🎊
Shoot… If I had me a Hammond organ we’d be havin’ some church right now. 🎹
If this psalm doesn’t encourage you, I don’t know what will.
You just keep this in mind, friends:
PLENTEOUS REDEMPTION.
Hallelujah! 🙌🏼
To The Reader 