Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: Psalm 120-134 | Date: June 4, 2023 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

The Songs Of Ascent

All right, we have looked at several different genres of the psalms. We have looked at lament psalms, praise psalms, psalms of individual thanksgiving, and psalms of trust. And we’ve seen with them the various forms that they have, that they tend to follow the same kind of structure. And so we tried to outline that so that we can learn how to read and understand the Psalms.

Tonight we’re going to look at another genre of the Psalms, and that’s these songs of ascent. These do not have a common form or structure or outline or anything like that, like some of the others that we’ve looked at. These can vary in type and in specific theme. They do have a couple of common themes that are found throughout, and we’ll talk about that. But these are the Songs of Ascent. These are Psalm 120 through 134.

Look at Psalm 120, just glance there across the page. By the way, I said across the page. How many of you have phones instead of Bibles? Yeah, a good many of you. And you heard about that this morning. And I was back there saying, “Amen, amen, amen.” Seriously, there have been lots of studies on that—the advantage of reading black ink on a white page. One is memory retention. One for the Bible is seeing context. You glance through and see it. There really are advantages to using your Bible. And I know some of you are sitting there calling me a hypocrite because I use my phone back there. I have other reasons, and if you have other reasons, that’s fine, too. With me, I can have on the same screen the English and the original language, and so I can accomplish other things at the same time. But what I’m talking about really is the case. You’ll pick up more of context. You’ll be able to retain it better. I encourage you to use your Bibles, but at least your phone, or your Kindle, or whatever.

Psalm 120, notice the superscript: “A Song of Ascents.” Think of ascent—that is going up, ascending, like ascending the stairs. Psalm 121, “A Song of Ascents.” Psalm 122, “A Song of Ascents.” Psalm 123, “A Song of Ascents.” Psalm 124, 125, 126, all the way through Psalm 134. These are the songs of ascents. They’ve obviously been gathered and collected together by those who edited this final form of the Psalter. They brought these together in a collection.

The Psalms, we have seen, have a number of collections within them. There are the five books of the Psalms. Within those books, there are different collections. There’s even one collection of the Psalms that transcends between two of the books. Maybe we can talk about that another time. But this is obviously one of them, the Psalms of Ascent. And we’re going today—not to this evening, we’re not going to expound one of the Psalms. We’re going to look at all of these and try to learn what they’re all about and what their purpose was in this part of the Psalter.

But we’ll begin with Psalm 122. The superscript reads, “A Song of Ascents of David.” So this is one of four psalms in this collection that is by David himself.

I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord!” Our feet have been standing within your gates, O Jerusalem! Jerusalem—built as a city that is bound firmly together, 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. There thrones for judgment were set, the thrones of the house of David. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! “May they be secure who love you! Peace be within your walls and security within your towers!” For my brothers and companions’ sake I will say, “Peace be within you!” For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your good.

Now you might remember earlier on in this series when we looked at the praise hymns, the Psalms of Praise, one sort of a sub-genre in that was Songs of Zion. That is, Psalms that are written in praise of the holy city of Jerusalem, singing of Zion, the place of the temple and worship. And those songs of Zion tended to speak of the greatness of the city. It would speak of the greatness of the buildings there. There was a sense of fortitude, a sense of stability and power and majesty. All of that was meant to be conveyed by the architecture of the buildings and all of that. And then beyond that, of course, this is the presence of the Lord. This is the house of the Lord, where God makes himself present. And so there was that aspect of it that made it supremely important. And so there’s these Psalms that are in praise of Zion itself.

Going Up To The Temple

Well, this is kind of like that, but these Psalms, these songs of ascent, speak of going up to the temple, going up to Zion, going up to the mountain to worship God in his temple. That’s what the word “ascent” is intended to convey. You’ll see that here in verses three and four: “Jerusalem, to which the tribes go up.” By the way, notice that expression, “go up.” We’ll talk about that. That’s what the ascent is. It’s going up. And so it’s talking about the pilgrimage times when the people of Israel would go to Jerusalem, to go up to Zion, to the Mount of Zion, where the temple was, to offer their offerings in worship of God.

So it’s going up, songs of ascent; it’s going up, up the mountain. But just keep in the back of your mind—I’m not sure how significant it is—but in the scriptures, going up, wherever you are, if you’re going to Jerusalem, you’re going up. You’re from the south, you’re from the north, east, south, it doesn’t matter. If you’re going to Jerusalem, you’re going up. And then, of course, you’re going up the mountain, Mount Zion itself, to where the temple is.

There’s probably an intended pun in this collection of Psalms, these songs of ascents. They are going up. They’re going up to Jerusalem, they’re going up to the mountain, but they’re also going up the 15 steps of the temple to get there. A lot of scholars have thought that this must be what’s going on with some of the intended pun with these. It’s probably no coincidence that we have 15 of these psalms reflecting the 15 steps going up to the temple itself.

There’s also what students of the Old Testament have recognized as a poetic device here in these psalms, and there’s a big fancy name for it—I forget what it is right now—but it’s a “step psalm.” That is, the second line of one of the verses, one word in the second line of the verse is repeated in the first line of the next verse. So it’s a stepping sense, so you’re moving up the next. And so for example, if you look back at Psalm 120, verses five and six, you have the word “dwell” and “dwelling,” “peace” and “peace.” Verse five: “Woe to me, that I sojourn in Meshech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar! Too long I have had my dwelling among those who hate peace. I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war!” So you have this stepping up where the word, the last line of one verse, is repeated again in the next line. It gives the sense of stepping up. There’s a lot of pun going on. So you’re going up to Jerusalem, up the mountain, you’re going up the steps of the temple, and then there’s a stepping going on within the Psalms. And then the collection itself, many have demonstrated that there’s a stepping between the Psalms themselves. So from 122 to 123 and so on—an elaborate poetic device that’s being put into use here.

Psalm 121, a familiar psalm to most people: “I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?” That’s just replete with stepping kind of imagery between the verses. And also it’s the ordering of the collection itself. The point is that these ascents, these songs of ascent, are obviously assembled for the going up to the temple to worship.

Some Background For That

Now I have in your outline there some background for that, and I thought it’d be worth taking the time to look at some of that background because this tends not to be as familiar to us. Look back at Deuteronomy chapter 12. Deuteronomy 12, verses 5 to 7. This prescribes the setting here. Remember, this is Deuteronomy, so this is Moses giving instruction to the people of Israel before they go into the land. And here he prescribes that the sacrifices were to be offered in Jerusalem.

Verse five: “But you shall seek the place that the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his name and to 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. And there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your households, in all that you undertake, in which the Lord your God has blessed you.”

So there’s the emphasis that God will appoint the place of worship. You’re not to choose this yourself. This is for God’s choosing, and we’ll let you know. That’s the sense of this.

Then, Deuteronomy 16. If you’ll flip over to that. Here we have specified for us the three principal feasts for which Israel is called to observe in Jerusalem. Three times a year, these three different feasts, the men of Israel are called to come to Jerusalem. Don’t just stay at home and celebrate this at home in the dining room. You come to Jerusalem to do this. As Deuteronomy 16, for instance, take verse five: “You may not offer the Passover sacrifice within any of your towns that the Lord your God has given you, but at the place that the Lord your God will choose to make his name dwell in it, there you shall offer the Passover sacrifice in the evening at sunset at the time you came out of Egypt.” The reference there is back to Exodus chapter 34. It expands on that as well.

And then verses 16 and 17: “Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God at the place he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Booths. They shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed. Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God that he has given you.”

So each year, all of the men of Israel are called to go up, go up to Jerusalem for these celebrations. And they’re there to offer the firstfruit of their offerings before the Lord. Looking back at Deuteronomy 16 here, verses 1 to 8, you have the Feast of Unleavened Bread, beginning with the Passover, of course. In verses 9 to 12, you have the Feast of Weeks, Pentecost. And then you have verses 13 to 15, the Feast of Ingathering, the Feast of Booths.

The Passover is associated with the barley harvest. The Feast of Weeks is associated with the wheat harvest. And then the final one, the Feast of Booths, or the ingathering, is associated with the harvest of olives and grapes. And now he’s saying at each of those times you come to Jerusalem, you go up to the temple and you offer the firstfruits of your offering; you go up and you offer to God there. So each year the men of Israel are called to go up to Jerusalem for these celebrations and there to express their grateful praise to God for what he has given to them. It’s their Thanksgiving days sort of thing.

Now it’s really a remarkable thing, I think, that Passover, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Booths are both week-long events. Think about that. You’re called to go, leave your home. You might be right around Jerusalem, and it might not be a great big deal, but wherever you live relative to Jerusalem, you’re to go up to Jerusalem for a week and observe the celebrations associated with these feasts. Remember now, at this point in history, David has come along. These are not just Mosaic offerings, but it’s because of David accompanied with music and singing and instrumentation, all of that. It’s a celebratory time. You come and you offer your offerings at that point.

And the fact that they go there and they stay for a week to observe these celebrations—figure in the travel time, the expense of going, the expense of missing your productivity and work at home. This is quite an event to do this a couple of times a year. It makes our holiday traditions, I think, pretty insignificant. And it might sound like it’s overly demanding, but in fact, in Israel’s history, these were very joyous occasions. They tended to travel in groups to go. It was a happy time. We have one example of that in the New Testament. Do you remember in the Gospels? Yeah, in Luke chapter 2, Joseph and Mary take Jesus and they go up. That’s for this. They’re observing the Passover. It’s marked by singing, and they would sing these songs of ascent in association with that.

There’s harvest imagery throughout all of these songs, these songs of ascents. One of the more famous ones, Psalm 126: “Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! He who goes forth, goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.” There’s this harvest imagery that you’ll find throughout the Psalm. Some of it’s barley, some of it’s wheat, some of it’s the olives and the grapes. Sometimes there’s the reference, like in Psalm 133, to the oil of anointing, the olive oil that was used in the anointing of Aaron and so on. But you’ll find that in several of these Psalms; so it’s associated with these times of harvest and the firstfruits that are given.

So you have the superscripts, the Psalms, songs of ascents. You have the common themes of in Jerusalem, going up to the temple, the themes of the harvest times—all of this shows that these were compiled as a unified collection. There’s been some conjecture—it’s maybe a little bit more than a conjecture, trying to put together all of the data to it—that these were originally compiled in association with Solomon’s dedication to the temple, which would have been at the Feast of Booths as well. That may or may not be the case, but it just might be. It just might be. But you’ll find this in these: the frequent mentions of the temple, the house of the Lord, Zion, Jerusalem, Israel, various liturgical expressions that were used in the ceremonies there. It seems intentionally ordered to reflect the pilgrimage of the harvest times.

The Ordering Of The Psalms

All right, now in these songs of ascents themselves, beginning with Psalm 120, the ordering of the Psalms is interesting. We’ve talked about this. I haven’t given a lot of information on this yet. I’m still planning to have one session we have—one lesson I’ll have looking at the structure of the Psalter and how the Psalms were assembled and the way that they were assembled, the order of them, the five books of the Psalms and all of that. But I’ve given you little hints of that as we’ve gone along through all of this and we’ll see it again here.

The ordering of the Psalms is not accidental. And by the way, keep that in mind when we refer to the Psalter as Israel’s hymn book, and even the hymn book of the early church. There’s truth in that, but just be careful. These are not just songs randomly collected together, but they’re collected together with some sense of why Psalm 1 is Psalm 1, 2 is 2, and then Book 1, 2, and 3, and 4, and how they’re collected. And then within those books, the arrangements between the Psalms—there’s a lot to that. And evidently, the inspired editors saw all of that and had those insights, and it’s for us to track that down.

But the ordering of Psalms 120 to 134 seems to reflect the pilgrimage itself. So going to Jerusalem, going up to the mountain to worship, the ordering of the Psalms reflects that pilgrimage. And I can’t take the time to work at this at length, but look at the first four, Psalm 120 to 123. These seem to pertain to the pilgrim’s ascent to Jerusalem and to Zion. So in Psalm 120, the worshiper is away, he’s in a hostile land, and he’s longing for Jerusalem. Verse 5 of Psalm 120: “Woe to me, that I sojourn in Meshech, that I dwell among the tents of Kedar! Too long have I had my dwelling among those who hate peace.” So here’s the worshipper away from Jerusalem, looking forward to going and longing for Jerusalem.

Psalm 121 next looks to Mount Zion, it seems, as they’re making their approach to the mountain. Verse 1: “I lift my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord,” that is, the Lord who resides there on that mountain in that temple, “who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber.” So now we’re in the trek itself. We’re making our way to Jerusalem, making our way to the mountain. It’s in sight, and we’re getting there.

Psalm 122: the worshiper now is rejoicing to stand in the gates of the temple. “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord!'” Here he’s almost looking back, being back at home. And so he said, “All right, it’s time to go to Jerusalem to worship for the Feast of Booths” or whatever it was. “And I was so glad when they said that. This is my favorite time of year.” And he’s reflecting on that. “Now I’m here. Our feet have been standing within your gates, O Jerusalem.”

And then Psalm 123: he’s in the temple and he’s looking to God in prayer. Now the next 10 of these Psalms, or 15 of them—the next 10 pertain to reflections of the worshiper while he’s there on Mount Zion in the temple. In Psalm 124, he offers praise for God’s faithful record of protecting Israel. “If it had not been the Lord who was on our side—let Israel now say—if it had not been the Lord who was on our side when people rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us up alive, when their anger was kindled against us; then the flood would have swept us away, the torrent would have gone over us; then over us would have gone the raging waters. Blessed be the Lord, who has not given us as prey to their teeth! We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped! Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.”

So now we’re on the mountain and here, Psalm 124, offering praise for God’s faithful record of protecting Israel. Psalm 125 expresses some blessedness of living under that protection. Verse one: “Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people, from this time forth and forevermore.” Psalm 126 is given to praise God for the restoration of Zion, praise for further restoration, comparing that to the time of harvest. Verses one and following, I think, make that clear: “When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream.” So this probably indicates this is a post-exilic psalm.

Then Psalm 127 rejoices of God’s enablement to build the house. And this is that famous passage that we’ve all heard read many times: “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.” Anyway, all of these Psalms then tend to reflect the meditations of the worshiper as he’s there standing on the mountain itself in the presence of God. And he’s offering or singing these songs of praise. Psalm 129: praise for the thwarting of the enemies, and so on.

The last psalm in this collection, Psalm 134: now we have the worshipper leaving the temple. And he petitions for continued blessing to come to him from Zion. Psalm 134 verse 1: “Come, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord, who stand by night in the house of the Lord! Lift up your hands to the holy place and bless the Lord! May the Lord bless you from Zion, he who made heaven and earth!”

In other words, these psalms in the collection itself, in the ordering of the psalms, they tell a story. On one level, it’s just the worshiper himself making his approach to Jerusalem from home, standing in Jerusalem, standing on the mountain, and then departing from it, praising God at the beginning, asking God for petitioning God and praising him for the protection that he will give in the journey, and then praying for it on the way home as well.

Well, with that ordering of the Psalms and the sort of story that it tells, it’s difficult not to draw a line to a larger biblical metaphor, and that is life as a journey. That’s a familiar imagery in the Bible from Abraham onwards—life as a journey. And so these Psalms have often been used in that sense and understood and prayed in that sense, asking God for his protection on our life journey.

In fact, one of the most famous uses of Psalm 121—famous Psalm, “I lift my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, maker of heaven and earth”—one of the most famous uses of that was when David Livingstone left for his virgin mission work in Africa. He and his family read together Psalm 121, praying it together, and then significantly, and I think understanding it well, jumped to Psalm 135 to pray that one together as well with the family. So Psalm 121: “I look to the hills. Where’s my help come from? My help comes from the Lord. He won’t let my feet slumber. He watches over me day and night. He never slumbers.” And then Psalm 135, which is given to an exposition of God’s sovereign rule over all, that he accomplishes all that he intends to accomplish. For example, Psalm 135 verses 5 and 6: “For I know that the Lord is great, and that our Lord is above all gods. Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.” This was well chosen by the Livingstones to pray in that sense as he embarked on this wonderful ministry and a virgin mission work to Africa.

Throughout the centuries of the church, these Psalms have been understood in just that kind of way and they’ve been applied in that kind of way to particular circumstances of the people just like David Livingstone did himself. And so there’s a forward look built into the Psalms: God will watch us on our journey. We can trust in the presence of God to keep us on that life journey. And then Psalm 135, not capping it off, but coming next, and in that sense, capping it off, trusting the God who rules over all to accomplish his purpose for his people.

Now a long-range version of that, understanding these Psalms in the collection and in the ordering of the collection and the story that they tell—a long-range version of that, I think, is built into the Psalm itself. The placement of these Psalms, I think, is significant. This is Book Five of the Psalter. Remember I’ve mentioned that the five books of the Psalter—you notice at the beginning of Psalm 1, it says Book One; beginning of Psalm 42, it says Book Two, and so on. These five books of the Psalter each reflect a particular time period in the history of Israel. And Book Five of the Psalter is a post-exilic collection of Psalms, not necessarily authored after the exile, but that’s the orientation of Book Five of the Psalter as a whole.

In fact, we have some Davidic Psalms here in this collection as well. But Israel now—the orientation of Book Five of the Psalter is Israel is back in her land. There’s no Davidic king ruling in Israel. Israel is just a shadow of what she used to be, just a faint echo of her former glory. And yet at the centerpiece of Book Five—with that orientation, we’re back in the land, but no king, we’re nothing compared to what we used to be—and yet at the centerpiece of Book Five is these Songs of Ascent, including four psalms by David. Book One is all Davidic, Book Two is primarily Davidic, and you have other Davidic psalms throughout the Psalter. Not as many in Book Five, but four of them here in the Songs of Ascent. And there seems to be that subtle echo of hope because the Davidic king has written some of these psalms.

And there’s, within this, then—given the setting in Book Five with the orientation of post-exile and Israel being a shadow of what she used to be—there’s a forward look to the kingdom of God coming and being restored. It anticipates with this journey a final eschatological revival or arrival of the new temple in the heaven and earth, the presence of the king, that kind of thing. Israel’s long hopes of the restored temple, restored Jerusalem, and all of that is going to be realized finally in the coming of Messiah in the Messianic Age. That kind of hope, I think, is built into these songs of ascent.

Now just to give you some background for that, this is a familiar theme in the prophets. So look over at Isaiah chapter 2. Isaiah chapter 2, look at verses 2 and 3:

It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up”—there it is again, by the way—”let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

Now if you’d like to jot down, you can have Micah chapter 4 and verse 2, where these same words almost are repeated there. This is a familiar prospect in the prophets: that Israel will be restored and her authority will be recognized once again.

Now the most significant of these, I think, is in Zechariah. In Zechariah chapter 14, if you’d like to glance there—remember, Zechariah is a post-exilic prophet, and I think, I think, Zechariah made just these connections that I’m talking about with the Songs of Ascent. And we have an interesting parallel between the Songs of Ascent and the prophecy of Zechariah.

For context, Zechariah chapters 9 and 10, the prophet speaks of the arrival of Messiah to restore Israel. And so in chapter 9, verse 9, you have the familiar prophecy: “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” So here we have the Messiah who has come. This is the great hope of Israel; he’s finally here.

In chapters 11 through 13 actually, we have the Messiah who is the shepherd who is pierced, he’s crucified, and we have the people of Israel mourning over what has happened. “Look on me whom they have pierced and mourn for him as one mourns for his only child,” and so on.

And then we have chapter 14. Now with the fuller revelation of the New Testament, we find now in the return of Christ is where this is going to be fulfilled. And in Zechariah chapter 14, we have the Messiah has come. There’s been the battle. The nations are defeated. They’re allowed to go back home, but they’re utterly defeated. And then in Zechariah 14, we have the nations “going up.” That expression is used some six times over in Zechariah 14: the nations going up to Jerusalem to worship at the Feast of Booths.

So look at Zechariah 14, verse 16: “Then everyone who survives of all the nations that have come against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Booths.” Verse 17: “And if any of the families of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, there will be no rain on them.” So they’re cursed if they do not go up to Jerusalem. Verse 18, we have it twice: “If the family of Egypt does not go up and present themselves, then on them there shall be no rain; there shall be the plague with which the Lord afflicts the nations that do not go up to keep the Feast of Booths.” Again, verse 19: “This shall be the punishment to Egypt and the punishment to all the nations that do not go up to keep the Feast of Booths.”

In Zechariah’s prophecy, he’s picturing a time when the nations must go up to worship. Now, in my view, it’s not a restored temple, literally. This is using Old Testament imagery to picture the realities that will be then. But here we have them pictured in terms of going up to Jerusalem, ascending. This is the Psalms of ascent. And it seems like what he’s—well, what he is looking at here is a prospect of worldwide blessing in the time of Messiah. And it seems to echo the Psalms of Ascent: going up the steps to the temple, going up the mountain to the temple, and so on.

So it has a long-range, I think, perspective built into this collection of these Psalms, where they look ahead and anticipate—especially situated as it is in Book Five of the Psalter—looking to a time when this will be the case again. And it is significant, I think, that it’s followed by Psalm 135, a song of praise to God for His sovereign rule over all things. “The Lord is great. He is Lord above all gods. Whatever the Lord pleases, He does in heaven and on earth and in all the deeps.” And so the message of the Ascent Psalms plus Psalm 135—Psalms 120 to 134 plus 135—I think the message of those Psalms is God will get us there safely.

So then these ascent Psalms convey a message of faith. David’s greater son will come and all the nations will bow. And I think it probably has then a personal and individual kind of look to it as well, because we also are marching to Zion, heavenly Zion. That’s how the New Testament teaches us to read that. We’re marching to a heavenly Zion, and we’re eager to see our King. And the Ascent Psalms tell us, particularly with Psalm 135 at the cap of it all, that God will get us there. Nothing will interfere with his purpose. Again, Psalm 135, verse 6: “Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.” And then Psalm 135, verse 14: “For the Lord will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants.” Built into the message of these psalms then is the forward look that God will be worshipped and his people will be safe from the nations as they come to him for worship and God’s purposes will be fulfilled.