Day 293: Psalms 120-122 | Read The Bible In A Year | Bible Study with Commentary by Dr. Manny Arango

Welcome to the Bible department podcast powered by Arma. We are walking through the entire Bible in a year. You can go to the description or thebaldapartment.com to download a reading plan and join the journey. (upbeat music) - Family, welcome to day 293. Today, we are looking at Psalms 120 to 122, right? Three Psalms that we are going to be examining, checking out, studying, digesting today. And if you've already done the reading, then everything that I'm gonna say on this episode is gonna make perfect sense. But if you haven't done the reading, then you're gonna lack context, okay? So if you haven't done the reading, stop the video, pause the audio, go, get the reading done. Three short Psalms today. And not only do we have three short Psalms, we've actually got the beginning of another collection within the collection, within the collection. So today kicks off our ascent. That's right, ascent. These Psalms from Psalm 120 all the way to Psalm 134. We've got 15 songs of ascent, okay? So we're gonna look at this collection as a whole. It'll take us multiple days to ascend the hills on our trek up to Jerusalem. And that's obviously our context.

So without further ado, let's dive into our context clues. All right, you're gonna notice at Psalm 120, all we have here is a song of ascent, is right beneath the actual title or the chapter verse, okay? I'm gonna make sure, yep, a song of ascent. Okay, and we're gonna notice multiple songs of ascent, all right? So this entire collection is songs of ascent. Now, the Psalms of ascent find themselves within a greater collection known as the Great Hallel, the Great Hallel or the Great Praise, okay? And the Great Hallel can be found from Psalm 120, the Psalm 136, okay? So the songs of ascent fit within the Great Hallel, that Great Hallel is part of, but five is a part of the collection of the Psalms. So you get it, like it's a collection within a collection, within a collection, within a collection, all right? So what is the context of these songs of ascent? Well, I'll tell you the exact context, okay? Now, a couple of days ago, a couple of episodes ago, I shared this word hygien with you. That word means pilgrimage. Now, there are three great pilgrimage festivals for the nation or for the people of Israel. I'm actually gonna give you a second, let's see if you can get all three. I won't say anything, I'll just let you see if you can remember the three pilgrimages. I really, really, really want you to get it.

And all right, if you haven't gotten it by now, they are, okay? Number one, Passover. Number two, Pentecost. Number three, the Feast of Tabernacles, okay? Number one, Passover number two, Pentecost. Number three, the Feast of Tabernacles. Now, that meant that people from all over the land of Israel are having to come to Jerusalem. And here's what's true geographically about Jerusalem. It doesn't matter what direction you're coming from, north, south, east, or west. If you're coming to Jerusalem, you are going to have to ascend on the hills to get to Jerusalem. So literally, these are songs of ascent. People are climbing, they are trekking. They are walking uphill in order to get to Jerusalem, okay? And when you go to Jerusalem, I've been multiple times, Jerusalem is surrounded by these valleys, okay? Whether it's the Kidron Valley, I can't remember all the other valleys. But when you're standing in Jerusalem, you can literally see just like valley, after the Hennum Valley, I think is the other one. Kidron Valley, the Hennum Valley, there's all these valleys because Jerusalem is set on a hill. It is literally a city on a hill, okay? So in terms of the literal geographical context, during these three pilgrimages, Passover,

Pentecost, and Tabernacles, the people from all over are ascending in order to get to the place where God dwells, which is his tabernacle in Jerusalem. Now second, on a not just geographical basis, but on a theological basis, in the ancient world, going to be places of either idolatry. Hills are going to be places where geographical demonic powers are going to set up shop. Okay, so in the ancient world, like think about Mount Olympus, okay, in the ancient world, the mountains are associated with God. So in a geographical, like, you know, level of interpretation, okay, you would approach Jerusalem from a valley and then ascend up the hills because Jerusalem is set in a valley. But also, theologically, in the ancient world, gods were always presented as dwelling or ruling on hills or mountains. So to approach a God, any God, is to always ascend to them. I want you to think about that. Approach and ascend are interchangeable words in the ancient world. There's another little kind of nerdy nugget, but its context for these songs of ascent is that a lot of scholars link these 15 Psalms to the 15 steps. Okay, the mission says that there were 15 steps from the court of the women to the court of the Israelites in the second temple period. This would have been the second temple period is when Jesus is alive. And these 15 Psalms correlate to these 15 steps. This has led some to think that each Psalm was sung to one step. So you would step up, then sing, then you'd step again and then sing, step sing, step sing, etc, etc, etc, until you reach the court of the Israelites. Now, how much validity there is to that? That's up to you to decide. What there is no debate about is that no matter where you were in Israel, in order to make pilgrimage to Jerusalem for either Passover or Pentecost or the Feast of Tabernacles, it meant that you had to trek uphill. Okay, it meant that you had to ascend the hills in order to meet with Yahweh. So that's the context. Okay, and David is set. I mean, David is determined to establish Jerusalem as the center of God's governance in Israel. Okay, I don't want to get into too much of a nerdy deep dive, but from a political perspective, okay, David is consolidating power, political power in Jerusalem. Okay, the other tribes don't have their own temples. All right, all the tribes have to rely on Judah and they have to come into Judah's territory in order to worship Yahweh. So he is centralizing or monopolizing power and the Psalms are going to make it clear.

This is God's choice. So the Psalms obviously are pro-David, pro-David's dynasty, pro-Jerusalem, just the capital that David has established, and pro-temple. Okay, let's look at these three individual Psalms. Let's move into our nerdy nuggets. I think that's enough context clues for us today. Last thing, family, the weight is over. My brand new book, Crushing Chaos is out now and available everywhere books are sold. Literally today, I walked into a Barnes and Noble and I signed a bunch of copies at a physical location. So you can grab this book at a physical Barnes and Noble, or you can go to a books a million or Amazon or anywhere books are sold and grab a copy if you enjoy reading the Bible from an ancient perspective. If you understand that the beauty of scripture is actually knowing it in context, then you'll love this book. And if there's any chaos in your personal life, I think that reading the Bible from an ancient perspective can actually help to crush the chaos in your life. I think this book is going to be a New York Times bestseller. I really do. I think we wrote a good one. I think you should get a copy today. All right, back to the episode. Instruments wouldn't be played for any of these Psalms, these 15 Psalms that we have. Why? Because these pilgrims are on a trek. Like there's no, there's no space for instruments because they're walking and singing. They're walking to Jerusalem and singing. They're trekking to Jerusalem and singing. They're hiking to Jerusalem and singing these Psalms. Okay, so no instruments for these 15 Psalms. All right, let's dive into. This is an individual psalm of lament, okay? Individual psalm of lament. It's a personal lament of an unknown psalmist who is living outside of Israel amongst the Gentiles. It was likely chosen to begin the ascent because it's a son of someone who was far away from the temple, asking for Yahweh's deliverance, so the journey home can begin. One of the things that you're gonna see in Psalm 120 are these two locations, okay? In verse five, woe to me that I dwell in machech, that I live among the tents of Qadar, okay? And you're gonna have to understand geography

to really understand what the poet is doing here in Psalm 120, but this is a stylistic technique to indicate two extremes but mean the whole, kinda like from A to Z or heaven and earth, okay? When we say that, we're communicating two extremes and it means A, Z and everything in between, heaven, earth and everything in between. Machech is the far north of Israel, geographically, in the step of what is now known as central Asia, whereas Qadar are the people within Arabia to the south of Israel. This north and south extreme probably then is a stand-in for all the nations that God's people had been scattered amongst. So this phrase from machech to Qadar means that all of the people scattered all over the earth are demanded to come back home to Jerusalem to worship the Lord for pilgrimage. Yahweh is calling them home to worship. This is true for the sense it used in the Psalms of original context coming from exile, but it is also true for the diaspora that will follow the exile, okay? Everybody, you may not realize this when the Babylonians fall to the Persians and Israel changes hands from the king of Babylon to the king of Persia and Xerxes says they can go home, not everyone goes home. Some people like living in Persia. Some people like living in Babylon, okay?

Imagine, right? If the government of the United States of America said to every single black American or African American, whichever term you feel comfortable with, hey, you could go back to Africa. Like maybe some of us would want to go, but I'd probably stay in America, you know? So think about it. The Jewish people got scattered throughout the Assyrian Empire, Babylonian Empire, now the Persian Empire, and they are released to go back to Jerusalem, but some of them stay. And so Yahweh is giving a call. Hey, for everyone that has stayed and created a Jewish diaspora all over the world, for these pilgrimages, you come home. You ascend the hill of the Lord and you come home. All right, there will be Jews outside of Judea and wherever they are, Yahweh is still calling them homes in Jerusalem to worship at the temple and celebrate the feast together, okay? That's Psalm 120, okay, Psalm 121. This Psalm begins with one of the most famous lines in the whole of the Psalms. I lift up my eyes to the hills from where does my help come from? My help comes from Yahweh who made heaven and earth. That's Psalm 121 verses one and two. Now, I'm gonna say something I don't always say on the podcast, but you've probably been misinterpreting

this verse for a long time, okay, a long time. I'm gonna take a sip of coffee before we get into it 'cause we're about to get into a nerdy deep diet. All right, now that I'm caffeinated, let's dive in. Now, most of us think, oh, hills and Yahweh are connected. So most of us, that's how we interpret it, okay? I lift up my eyes to the hills and Yahweh is coming from the hills to help. But that's literally not how this should be interpreted. And so I'm gonna provide context so that we can actually interpret it properly, okay? So here we go. This stanza is actually an anti-idolotry polemic. The high places of Israel and Judah, the hills of Israel and Judah were places of worship that were outside the place that Yahweh had chosen, which is Jerusalem. Yahweh says only worship in Jerusalem do not worship on hills. So when the psalmist says I lift up my eyes to the hills, he's saying I'm lifting up my eyes to the hills and there's a temptation to go worship on the hills. But we don't do that, why? 'Cause our help comes from Yahweh. Does it come from the hills? So, there are two things that the hills and the high places represent. Number one, they could be worship of pagan gods, okay? Remember, all thought the Psalms. There's this repeated phrase.

They worshiped under every tree and on every high hill. Okay, high hill and under every tree, okay? These are, you know, ashrapoles, high places. Hills are spots where pagan gods get worshiped. But also, there are places where people would worship Yahweh, even though Yahweh said only worship me in Jerusalem, okay? You could see this in John chapter four. Actually, let's just go to John chapter four. I wasn't planning on going to John chapter four, but the Samaritan woman at the well talking to Jesus is asking this exact theological question. Which hill should we worship on? So, verse 19 of John chapter four, sir, the woman said, I can see that you're a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, okay? 'Cause it's mountains and hills where people worship in the ancient world. But you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem. Like, we can't worship on this mountain. We gotta go worship in Jerusalem, okay? Woman, believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. So, okay, great. One day, we're not gonna worship on mountains at all. Geographically, we're gonna worship in heaven. Verse 22, you Samaritans worship what we do not know. Then Jesus is like, you guys are still freaking wrong though. You're ignorant, you worship what you do not know.

We worship what we do know for salvation is from the Jews. So, Jesus makes it clear, we are right. Jerusalem is definitely the place for worship. Yet a time is coming and has now come when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The other kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, his worshipers must worship him in spirit and truth. So, Jesus again makes it, hey, one day, this is not gonna matter. Because we worship in spirit, we worship in truth. But the fact of the matter is, Jerusalem's the place, ma'am, you're wrong. Okay, so mountains, so I lift up my eyes to the hills from where does my help come? Question mark. And the answer that is inferred but not given is your help doesn't come from the hills. Help doesn't come from idols. Help doesn't come from mountains that you've decided are good places to worship Yahweh. But that Yahweh has not concentrated as places that he would like to be worshiped. And I know we read this out of context a lot. And we make it seem like God's coming from the hills. Yay, I lift up my eyes to the hills. Look, God's coming on the hills. And God's like, no, hills are synonymous with idolatry. Not idolatry happens in two forms,

not the worshiping pagan gods on the hills or worshiping him on the hills, but the hills are not where he's asked to be worshiped. He's asked to be worshiped on a hill, a mountain, and that place is Jerusalem. And you can't worship him anywhere else. All right, I hope that that's helpful and clear. All right, I'll read it the way that I've got it in my notes. Okay, there were two types of high places, shrines within city gates or the places of worship in the countryside atop hills or mountains. The hills then that this psalmist lifts his eyes to are these high places. The question he is pondering is in the context of where others worship. They worship on the hills, worshiping Yahweh idolatryously or worshiping idols directly. He asks from where does my help come? It is not from the idolatry's worship at the high places at the hills. Rather, he looks to the one who made the hills, who made all things heaven and earth and everything in between. Yahweh is to be worshiped as creator of all things, parts or places of that creation cannot take his place. In terms of the ascent, this psalm acts as the pilgrim declaring that the high places are not genuine place of worship. Yahweh is beyond and will not be worshiped there, which then leads naturally on the next psalm.

That it flows right into psalm 122 because the pilgrim refuses the high places but then ascends to the place Yahweh has chosen for worship. And that place is Jerusalem. So the whole point of psalm 122 is that Jerusalem is set to juxtapose the high places of idolatry. Okay, Jerusalem is the chosen location, chosen by Yahweh. Okay, chosen by Yahweh, not just chosen by David. This is a psalm of two houses, the house of Yahweh and the house of David. Psalm 122 is declaring that David and Jerusalem are the choices of Yahweh. This is the king and this is the place. It is identifying Jerusalem with statements that are made throughout the Torah, okay? And before Yahweh, your God, in the place that he will choose to make his name dwell there, you shall eat the tithe of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and flock that you might learn to fear Yahweh, your God always. That's Deuteronomy chapter 14 verse 23. So Psalm 122 is drawing on these themes from Deuteronomy that makes it clear that Yahweh will choose a place, okay? And make his name dwell there. And David is making it very clear, Jerusalem is that place where God has chosen to make his name dwell. All righty, in terms of the ascent, the pilgrim has been redeemed and returned to worship, but not at the high places.

So where will he worship? He will come to the place that Yahweh has chosen to bear his name, he will come to Jerusalem, the city of the house of David and the house of Yahweh. All right, what's our timeless truth? Our timeless truth is that we all have hills. We all have high places. We all have places where we worship the wrong things, where we worship the wrong people, and what we worship, who we worship, and where we worship always has to get re-centered on the person of Jesus, the king of kings and the Lord of lords. It's funny because I have a father who for years, he was going to a mosque and he was coming to church, and I'd always ask like, what God do you believe in? And he would say, whatever God can deliver me from drugs, I'll worship that God. I'll worship whatever God can make me sober. And that may sound noble, but that's idolatrous. That's what causes, you know, when I was in Uganda, I was living in Uganda for six months, and the pastor at our church said, you know, people will come to church, you know, and they'll pray to get pregnant, and if they can't get pregnant, if God doesn't do a miracle, they'll go see a witch doctor, because they haven't pledged allegiance to God. They just want to get pregnant, and they'll pledge allegiance to whatever God gets them pregnant,

because getting pregnant is an idol. For my dad, it was getting sober, sobriety was the idol. And if Allah could help me do that, if Buddha could help me do that, if God could help me do that, I'll worship whatever God can just help me get sober, which means you don't really worship God. That's not what worship is. Worship is actually saying like the three Hebrew boys, hey, Nebuchadnezzar, we're never gonna bow down. And God's gonna deliver us from the fiery furnace, but let's make it real clear. Even if he doesn't deliver us, we'd rather burn than bow. That's real worship. We'd rather burn, I'd rather die than bow down, 'cause getting sober is not the goal, getting pregnant is not the goal. Getting to heaven is the goal, and bringing heaven to earth is the goal. That's the goal to dwell with God. And real worship does not go after results. Real worship goes after a relationship. And that's not just true for the people of Israel or for David or for the pilgrims that are ascending or ascending the hill of the Lord. That's true for me and for you because it is quite easy to make results the goal instead of making a relationship with God the goal. That's timelessly true. And that will be true today, yesterday and forever more.

Tomorrow, we've got day 294. We're gonna be looking at three more songs or Psalms of ascent. We're gonna be looking at Psalms 123, 124, and 125. Can't wait, I'm so proud of you. I love you so much. I'll see you right here tomorrow, same time, same place. Love you guys, peace. - Thanks so much for joining us on the Bible Department podcast. If this episode was helpful, how about you leave a comment, share with a friend, and subscribe so that you never miss an episode. To learn more about the show, head to thebobbledepartment.com. We'll see you right back here tomorrow.