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PSALM 121[1] Helper and Keeper
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[1] Psalms 120-134 all have the heading “A Song of Ascents (ma`alah)” although the Hebrew wording of the title for Psalm 121 is slightly different from the other fourteen titles. There are several connections between the fifteen Psalms in this collection and the Aaronic benediction in Numbers 6:24-25 which consists of fifteen words. Israel’s life was one of pilgrimage/ascent whether it was from Egypt (cf. Deut.26:5-9); going up/ascending to (ma`alah/`alah) Jerusalem to appear before the Most High (’elyown); or return from exile, Three times a year all your males are to appear
before the Lord Yahweh, the God of Israel.
For I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your borders, and
no man shall covet your land when you go up (`alah) three times a year to
appear before the Yahweh your God. (Exodus
34:23-24; see also Ezra 7:9) For on the first of the first month he began to go up from (ma`alah) Babylon; and on the first of the fifth month he came
to Jerusalem, because the good hand of his God was upon him. (Ezra 7:9) These
Psalms would have also brought to mind the going up of the nations to/against
Jerusalem (Psalm 47:2,5,9; 87; 124:2-5; Isaiah 7:1,5-6; 14:11-23; 36:1,10). This
collection of Psalms commemorating Israel’s past journeys serves for current
use of pilgrims commencing or concluding their travels. Other
groupings of Psalms include the: ¨ Kingship Psalms: Psalms 93-100 ¨
Egyptian Hallel: Psalms 113-118 ¨
Hallelujah Psalms: Psalms 146-150 |
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[2] Psalm 123 begins in a similar manner, “To You I lift up my eyes.” |
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[3] “A prominent
stylistic feature is the stair-like or steplike repetition that occurs in
vv.1-2, vv.3-4, and vv.7-8…This pattern is especially appropriate for a psalm
about a journey, which in ancient times would literally have proceeded step
by step” (McCann, NIB, 1180). |
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[4] Reference to “heaven” and earth also occurs in this collection at 124:8 and 134:3. The Apostle’s Creed beings, “I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.” |
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[5] “Verse 8
climates this movement by making it clear that the real journey on which the
psalmist has embarked is the journey of life.
Every departure and arrival will be under God’s care (see Deut
28:6)—now and forever (see Pss 125:2; 131:3).
No place, no time, no circumstance will be able to separate the
psalmist from God’s loving care (see Rom 8:38-39). The direction of vv.7-8 points to the
adaptability of Psalm 121 to a variety of settings and provides a textual grounding
for the psalm’s ongoing use throughout the human journey of many centuries”
(McCann, NIB, 1181). |
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[6] “With a psalm [David] Livingstone bade farewell to his family and home. ‘I remember my father and him,’ writes his sister, ‘talking over the prospects of Christian missions. They agreed that the time would come when rich men and great men would think it an honour to support whole stations of missionaries, instead of spending their money on hounds and horses. On the morning of November 17 (1840), we got up at five o’clock. My mother made coffee. David read the 121st and 135th Psalms, and prayed. My father and he walked to Glasgow to catch the Liverpool steamer’ He never saw his father again… “In the train of Livingstone followed James Hannington, the first Bishop of Equatorial Africa. In July 1885, he had set out from Frere Town to make his way through the Masai country to Lake Victoria Nyanza. Every morning, throughout his toilsome, dangerous journey, he greeted the sunrise by reading or repeating his “Travelling Psalm,” “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills,” etc. (Ps. cxxi.). On October 12, he left the rest of his party, and, a week later, reached the shores of the lake. He was, in fact, marching to almost certain death. King Mwanga, fearing annexation of his dominions, and believing the missionaries to be the agents of the design, had begun a bitter persecution of the Christians. At a village on the shores of the lake, Hannington was seized, and confined in a miserable prison, surrounded by noisy, drunken guards. Consumed with fever, and at times delirious from pain, devoured by vermin, menaced every moment by the prospect of death, he found strength in the Psalms. On Wednesday, October 28, he notes in his Diary: ‘I am quite broken down and brought low. Comforted by Psalm xxvii. Word came that Mwanga had sent three soldiers, but what news they bring, they will not yet let me know. Much comforted by Psalm xxviii.’ ‘October 29, Thursday (eighth day in prison). I can hear no news, but was held up by Psalm xxx., which came with great power. A hyena howled near me last night, smelling a sick man, but I hope it is not to have me yet.’ This is his last entry. That day, at the age of thirty-seven, he was killed” (Rowland Prothero, The Psalms in Human Life, 341,343). |
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[7] One of the chief characteristics of Hebrew
poetry is repetition of words/phrases and one of the prominent forms of
repetition in the Psalms is parallelism.
Psalm 121 is one of several Psalms of ascent that contains staircase
parallelism (see also Psalm 120; 121; 122; 126:1-3; 127; 134; cf. Genesis 7:17-20; Judges 5:11-12; Psalm 29:1-2;
92:10; 93:3-4; Isaiah 8:9-10; 17:12-14; John 1:1-5; 1 Cor.15:51-58). At the bottom of the staircase the Psalmist
is looking up and at the very top and end of the ascent/pilgrimage is “this
time forth and forever.” Below I have
tried to represent this ascent which is linked by the words help and keep/guard:
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