Psalms 120-135
The people of Israel sang these songs as they walked up the hill and steps to the place where they gave honor to God. The note over each Psalm is, “A song of degrees” (or ascent). It must have been a great cheer for the people who were often in trouble to sing these Psalms, for each one told of help from God.
King David did not count it a hard duty to go to praise God, for he wrote,
The “House” was then a plain Tent but was the place God had chosen. See Psa, 132:13.
There was one valuable article missing from that Tent for a long time. That was the chest of wood, covered over with gold, called the Ark of God. When you hear the word Ark, you may think of Noah’s ark or ship, but the word ark means a safe place, and this Ark was the place where the cloud of glory rested, and the blood to atone for sin was sprinkled; so, it was the only safe place for those people before God. An enemy once carried the Ark away, then later returned it, but it was kept in men’s homes instead of in the tent of God. David was so grieved that the Ark was gone that he said,
“I will not give sleep to mine eyes... Until I find out a place for the Lord. Lo, we beard of it... we found it in the fields of the wood.” (Psa, 132:4-8).
“Arise, O Lord, into Thy rest; Thou and the Ark of Thy strength” (Psa. 132:88Arise, O Lord, into thy rest; thou, and the ark of thy strength. (Psalm 132:8); 2 Chron. 6:4141Now therefore arise, O Lord God, into thy resting place, thou, and the ark of thy strength: let thy priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and let thy saints rejoice in goodness. (2 Chronicles 6:41)).
Those who love the Lord do not now have such an ark, but it teaches them of the humble place the Lord Jesus took in this world, yet showing the glory of God, and He is the only way now to God, (John 1:14: 14:6). If any do not believe Jesus was the holy, perfect Son God, they would take away His glory as the enemy took the ark.
There are other verses in these Psalm, to help us now, for David had trouble from those who did not honor the Lord, he said,
Notice the verses about sowing seed perhaps you have put in garden seeds, when cold and rainy, which is not an easy task, for they need to be sown very evenly but when the plants were grown, and you could gather the vegetables, you were glad. So these verses tell:
“He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.” Psa, 126:5, 6.
That, was “precious” seed, and the harvest “doubtless”, or sure; so, it must be the seed the Lord Jesus called, “The Word of God” (Luke 8:1111Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. (Luke 8:11)). Can we sow God’s Words? Yes, by telling them to someone else, which often is not easy, but is certain to bring a time of joy at last.
ML 01/05/1941