—Psalm 122 —This week’s psalm is what the pilgrims may have sung as they neared the temple gate within the city walls. The pilgrim prays for the peace of the city -the center of worship and the seat of government for the world nation.
Psalm 122 carries the title A Song of Ascents. Of David. It is one of the four Songs of Ascents that is specifically attributed to King David. He wrote it both for what Jerusalem was in his day, and for what it would become under his son and their successors. David perhaps never made pilgrimage from a great distance to one of the major feasts, but he wrote Psalm 122 in the voice of one who did, and who had arrived at the Holy City.
This psalm
particularly allows us to see David’s intent to unify the nation under the
monarchy and to make Jerusalem the central sanctuary of the people—both key
themes of David’s reign as it is described in 1 Samuel 16—1 Kings 1. In the
book of Deuteronomy, the LORD had revealed his intent to establish a central
sanctuary in the land after the people had made it their home:
“But you shall seek the place that the Lord
your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his name and make his
habitation there. There you shall go, and there you shall bring your burnt
offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you
present, your vow offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your
herd and of your flock” (Deuteronomy 12.5–6).
David was
the one who captured the ancient city of Jerusalem and made it his capital
city; later in his life he established the tabernacle with the Ark of the
Covenant as the place of central worship (2 Samuel 5–6).
Both of these events are referred to in Psalm 122: The city is the place “to which the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, as was decreed for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the LORD” and it is the location of the “thrones of the house of David” (the capital city) (vv 4–5).
This psalm
ties together the prediction of God in the Law that there would be a central
sanctuary for the celebration of the three major feasts; this city would bind
together (v 3) the nation into a political and religious unity.
The central sanctuary was called the “house of the LORD” (vv 1, 9) because it was, by God’s designation, the place where he would be present among his people when they came to worship and petition him. The Israelites knew that the LORD didn’t only dwell there since he was the LORD of heaven and earth. [1]
Collect for Psalm 122: Lord Jesus; give us the peace of the New Jerusalem. Bring all nations into Your kingdom to share Your gifts, that they may render thanks to You without end and may come to Your eternal city, where You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and forever. Amen[2] - 22 November 2022
Advent Image copyright © WELS Ed Riojas, Higher Things
[1] http://psalmreflections.blogspot.com/2010/03/psalm-122.html
[2] Collect for Psalm 122, For All the Saints A Prayer Book for and By the Church Vol. II © 1995 by the American Lutheran Publicity Bureau, Delhi, NY
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