This is the beginning of the Psalms of Degrees, also called the Psalms of Assent, or the Song of Steps. There are 15 of them from here to Psalm 134. The meaning of the terms refers to the singing of them on the journey up to Jerusalem during one of the Holy Day festivals. They are also known as Pilgrim Songs/Psalms, Songs of Going up, Gradual Songs, Pilgrim Songs, and Hymn of Degrees. Jerusalem is up from any direction that you approach it, and so it was a climb. Pilgrims would come from all directions to the three major feasts of the year, the feast of Pentecost in the summer, the feast of Tabernacles in the fall, and the feast of Passover in the Spring. . As they moved their way up the hill they would sing these songs.

1. PSALM 120 COMME
TARY
Written and edited by Glenn Pease
PREFACE
The object of this commentary is to bring together the comments of a number of
authors in one place to make the study of this Psalm easier for the Bible student.
Sometimes I do not have the author's name, and if it is known and told to me, I will
give credit where it is due. If there is any author who does not wish his wisdom to be
included in this study, I will remove it when that author expresses his wish to have it
removed. My e-mail is glenn_p86@yahoo.com
I
TRODUCTIO
1. This is the beginning of the Psalms of Degrees, also called the Psalms of Assent, or
the Song of Steps. There are 15 of them from here to Psalm 134. The meaning of the
terms refers to the singing of them on the journey up to Jerusalem during one of the
Holy Day festivals. They are also known as Pilgrim Songs/Psalms, Songs of Going
up, Gradual Songs, Pilgrim Songs, and Hymn of Degrees. Jerusalem is up from any
direction that you approach it, and so it was a climb. Pilgrims would come from all
directions to the three major feasts of the year, the feast of Pentecost in the summer,
the feast of Tabernacles in the fall, and the feast of Passover in the Spring. . As they
moved their way up the hill they would sing these songs. Isaiah 30:29 gives us a
picture of this. "And you will sing as on the night you celebrate a holy festival; your
hearts will rejoice as when people go up with flutes to the mountain of the Lord, to
the Rock of Israel." These songs are brief, which is needed for people climbing and
needing breath, and they are mostly happy, and all are hopeful.
2. Matthew Henry wrote, “That they are all short psalms, all but one very short
(three of them have but three verses apiece), and that they are placed next to Psalms
119:1-176, which is by much the longest of all.
ow as that was one psalm divided
into many parts, so these were many psalms, which, being short, were sometimes
sung all together, and made, as it were, one psalm, observing only a pause between
each; as many steps make one pair of stairs.” Henry shares some of the different
ideas behind these songs of ascent. "Some conjecture that they are so called from
their singular excellency (as the song of songs, so the song of degrees, is a most
excellent song, in the highest degree), others from the tune they were set to, or the
musical instruments they were sung to, or the raising of the voice in singing them.
Some think they were sung on the fifteen steps or stairs, by which they went up from

2. the outward court of the temple to the inner, others at so many stages of the people's
journey, when they returned out of captivity."
3. Some reject the common understanding of these songs being sung as pilgrims
marched up the hill, or of those going up the steps to the temple. They argue that the
idea of going up refers to the voices of the singers. Calvin had this conviction and he
wrote, "... the probable conjecture is, that this title was given to these Psalms,
because they were sung on a higher key than others. The Hebrew word for degrees
being derived from the verb tsalah, to ascend or go up, I agree with those who are of
opinion that it denotes the different musical notes rising in succession." Others are
fully convinced that these songs were sung by the people coming out of captivity
from Babylon as they marched back to their homeland to rebuild the temple. In all
honesty, nobody knows for sure the exact reason they are listed as songs of ascent,
but the most popular theory that says they were sung by those going up to
Jerusalem to worship God in the temple is the one that I choose to follow in my
comments. It is not crucial to take this view, but it is greatly supported by the
evidence, and it is the most useful in preaching and teaching, for it gives a theme to
the whole series about climbing, which is a theme common in both Testaments.
4. In his classic work William Thomson wrote out of personal experience, "If the
traditional interpretation of the title, Song of Degrees, be accepted, that they were
sung by devout pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem to keep the great feasts of the
Lord, we may suppose that companies toiling up this long ascent would relieve the
tedium of the way by chanting some of them. From the customs of Orientals still
prevalent, I think it highly probable that such an explanation of the title may be
substantially correct.
othing is more common than to hear individuals and parties
of natives, traveling together through the open country and along mountain paths,
especially during the night, break out into singing some of their favorite songs.
Once, descending from the top of Sunnin, above Beirut, with a large company of
natives, they spontaneously began to sing in concert. The moon was shining brightly
in the clear sky, and they kept up their chanting for a long time. I shall not soon
forget the impression made by that moonlight concert, as we wound our way down
the eastern side of Lebanon to the Buka'a, on the way to Ba'albek. Through the still
midnight air of that lofty region the rough edge of their stentorian voices, softened
into melody, rang out full and strong, waking the sleeping echoes far and wide down
the rocky defiles of the mountain. Something like this may have often rendered
vocal this dreary ascent to Jerusalem. It is common in this country to travel in the
night during the summer, and we know that the Hebrew pilgrims journeyed in large
companies. On his ascent along this road from Jericho to the Holy City, Jesus was
attended not only by the twelve apostles, but by others, both men and women; and it
would be strange indeed if sometimes they did not seek relief from this oppressive
solitude by singing the beautiful songs of Zion. -- William M. Thomson, in "The
Land and the Book," 1881.
5. Christopher Wordsworth shows this view to be that of the ancients as well as

3. modern scholars. He wrote, "When we consider the place in the psalter which these
"Songs of Degrees, or of the goings up" occupy, we see good reason to accept the
statement (of the Syriac version, and of S. Chrysostom, Theodoret, Euthymius, and
other Fathers, and also of Symmachus, Aquila, and of Hammond, Ewald, and many
moderns), that these psalms describe the feelings of those Israelites who went up
with Zerubbabel and Jeshua, and afterwards with Ezra, and still later with
ehemiah, from the land of their captivity and dispersion at Babylon, Susa, and
other regions of the East, to the home of their fathers, Jerusalem."
6. Dr. Joe Temple, “I am going to consider a series of fifteen Psalms which begins
with Psalm 120 and concludes with Psalm 134. Beneath the number of the Psalm we
find a title. That title reads, "A Song of Degrees."
otice under each one of these
Psalms, beginning with Psalm 120 and concluding wiht Psalm 134, that title, "A
Song of Degrees." When we examine these Psalms more closely, we find that four of
them were written by David. Psalm 127 was written by Solomon. Ten of them are
anonymous. A great many Bible scholars feel that, because of the subject matter
contained in the Psalms, they were written by Hezekiah shortly after the illness from
which he recovered when God extended his life for a period of fifteen years. I do not
know that it matters a great deal to you who the human author was, because we
recognize, of course, the author of the Scriptures to be the Holy Spirit.
6B. Temple goes on, “
otice the word "degrees" which is in the superscription as I
suggest to you that it is a translation of a Hebrew word which means "a journey to a
higher place." These Psalms were written, then, relative to a journey to a higher
place. The word is translated a number of different ways in the Scriptures to bear
this out. For example, turn to Psalm 24, and notice a statement that gives us an
illustration of what we are speaking about:
PSALMS 24
1. The earth is the LORD's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell
therein.
2. For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods.
3. Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place?
otice the word "ascend" in verse 3. It is the translation of the Hebrew word in
question. So the word "degree" can be translated "ascend." We might say, as we
look at Psalm 120 again, that this series of Psalms represents songs of ascension.
The same word is translated by the word "stairs" in the book of
ehemiah, chapter
12, verse 37. A wall was built and
ehemiah asked all of the people to come out for
the dedication of the wall. We are told that they ascended the stairs. In ascending
the stairs, they stood upon the top of the wall and sang their hymns of praise. The
word "stairs" in this portion of Scriptures is a translation of the word about which
we are thinking.

4. All of you are familiar with the story of Jacob's ladder. You remember how Jacob
fell asleep as he was leaving home and he dreamed. He dreamed that there was a
ladder extending from earth to Heaven. He saw angels ascending and descending on
that ladder.
ow the word "ascend" which describes the activity of these angels is
the very same word.
An interesting thing, in the light of the message, is that the word that is translated
"ladder" in our English text, should really be translated "staircase"--flight of steps.
What Jacob actually saw wasn't a ladder but a staircase, and he saw angels walking
up and down the stairs.”
7. Constable, “Psalms 120—134 are all "songs of ascent." This group, in turn,
constitutes the major part of the Great Hallel psalms (Pss. 120—136). The psalms of
ascent received this title because the pilgrim Israelites sang them as they traveled
from their homes all over the land and ascended Mt. Zion for the annual feasts.
David composed at least four of these 15 psalms (Pss. 122, 124, 131, and 133).
Solomon wrote one (Ps. 127), and the remaining 10 are anonymous. They may not
have been composed for use by pilgrims originally; they were probably written for
other purposes. However the pilgrims used them as songs of ascent and, according
to the Mishnah, during the second temple period they were incorporated into the
temple liturgy. One scholar saw these psalms as falling into three groups of five
psalms each (120—24; 125—29; 130—34). He noted that the central psalm in each
group reflects royal or Zion theology: 122 (Jerusalem), 127 (the temple), and 132
(David). The effect of the total collection, therefore, is to focus on the temple and the
Davidic monarchy.504 In Psalm 120 an unknown composer asked God for
protection from people who wanted to stir up war (cf. Ps. 42). This psalm has been
called an individual lament that anticipates thanksgiving.”
8. Eugene Peterson wrote, “A blues song about one being sick and tired of lies and
deceit. He wrote to find peace in a world of warfare, but nobody will listen, and
they are for war. Here is a man out of step with his time because he marches to the
beat of a different drummer. He begins his ascent to Zion with assurance that God
will save him in spite of this world he lives in. It is a song not of beauty and praise,
but of discouragement and disappointment. It starts with distress, and ends with
war, and between these two moldy pieces of bread the meat of the Psalm is also
rotting. Lying lips and deceitful tongues. He is like a fish out of water-a man of
peace among a bunch of warmongers.” Here is his version in The Message, “I'm in
trouble. I cry to God, desperate for an answer: 2 "Deliver me from the liars, God!
They smile so sweetly but lie through their teeth." 3 Do you know what's next, can
you see what's coming, all you barefaced liars? 4 Pointed arrows and burning coals
will be your reward. 5 I'm doomed to live in Meshech, cursed with a home in Kedar,
6 My whole life lived camping among quarreling neighbors. 7 I'm all for peace, but
the minute I tell them so, they go to war!”

5. A song of ascents.
1. I call on the LORD in my distress,
and he answers me.
1. The first step is climbing to the top is to call on the Lord at the bottom. We need
to start with a humble attitude that acknowledges that we cannot make it on our
own. We start by acknowledging the Lord as our source of help and salvation.
David has distress in his life and is seeking for some relief, and the first place he
turns is to the Lord in prayer. The good news is that the Lord then responds to him
and answers his prayer by being his deliverer from lying lips. We have here the
paradox of the normal life of a child of God. The good and the bad are
contemporaries, and they live side by side. He is in distress, and he is also in
deliverance. He is in a negative state of discomfort, and yet he is also comforted at
the same time, for he has a resource in the Lord that relieves him of the discomfort
of his distress.
2. The good news is that the Lord knows what is true and what is a lie, and so he will
listen to us when we come before him in distress because our name is being abused,
and our reputation slandered. Others may not want to listen to us and our defense,
for often people are happy to hear dirt about us, for if we are being put down, it
gives them a sense of superiority. People may not listen to us, but David knew of one
who would always listen to him, and that is why he is calling on the Lord. When no
one else seems to have a care, you can call on the Lord, for he will always be there.
As the old hymn chorus said,
Where could I go, where could I go
Seeking a refuge for my soul;
eeding a friend to help me in the end
Where could I go but to the Lord
3. David was not dealing with a one time event, for he had problems with liars on a
regular basis, and we see that in his other Psalms. In Psalm 5:9 we read, "
ot a
word from their mouth can be trusted; their heart is filled with destruction. Their
throat is an open grave; with their tongue they speak deceit. In Psalm 10:7 in the
Good
ews Translation we read, "Their speech is filled with curses, lies, and
threats; they are quick to speak hateful, evil words." David was under this pressure
a good part of his life, for many seeking favor with Saul would be lying about David
continually to keep Saul on the war path and out to kill him. For years David had to
flee and hide to escape the wrath of Saul. What a horrible archive of lies we would
have if all that was told to Saul was recorded. Henry reports one such example,

6. "This psalm is supposed to have been penned by David upon occasion of Doeg's
accusing him and the priests to Saul, because it is like 52, which was penned upon
that occasion, and because the psalmist complains of his being driven out of the
congregation of the Lord and his being forced among barbarous people."The
bottom line, however, is that David has a positive spirit of hope even in his distress,
and even in his woeful lament over his environment among the wicked. He was a
poet, and he could appreciate the unknown poet who wrote the following.
I refuse to be discouraged,
To be sad, or to cry;
I refuse to be downhearted,
and here’s the reason why . . .
I have a God who’s mighty,
Who’s sovereign and supreme;
I have a God who loves me,
and I am on His team.
He is all wise and powerful,
Jesus is His name;
Though everything is changeable,
My God remains the same.
My God knows all that’s happening;
Beginning to the end,
His presence is my comfort,
He is my dearest friend.
When sickness comes to weaken me,
To bring my head down low,
I call upon my mighty God;
Into His arms I go.
When circumstances threaten
to rob me from my peace;
He draws me close unto His breast,
Where all my strivings cease.
And when my heart melts within me,
and weakness takes control;
He gathers me into His arms,
He soothes my heart and soul.
The great "I AM" is with me,
My life is in His hand,
The "Son of the Lord" is my hope,
It’s in His strength I stand.
I refuse to be defeated,

7. My eyes are on my God;
He has promised to be with me,
as through this life I trod.
I’m looking past all my circumstances,
To Heaven’s throne above;
My prayers have reached the heart of God,
I’m resting in His love.
I give God thanks in everything,
My eyes are on His face;
The battle’s His, the victory’s mine;
He’ll help me win the race.
4. -- "In my distress. God's help is seasonable; it comes when we need it. Christ is a
seasonable good... For the soul to be dark, and for Christ to enlighten it; for the soul
to be dead, and Christ to enliven it; for the soul to be doubting, and for Christ to
resolve it; and for the soul to be distressed, and for Christ to relieve it; is not this in
season? For a soul to be hard, and for Christ to soften it; for a soul to be haughty,
and for Christ to humble it; for a soul to be tempted, and for Christ to succor it; and
for a soul to be wounded, and for Christ to heal it? Is not this in season?" --R.
Mayhew, 1679.
2. Save me, O LORD, from lying lips
and from deceitful tongues.
1. There are no end to the things that we need to be saved from, but lying lips and
deceitful tongues may not be as common for us as it was for David. He had a lot of
enemies, and he was continually on the defense. Many of us may not have anyone
that we suspect is lying about us, or deceiving others about us. If we did, we would
be praying for deliverance as well, for it is terrible to have people spreading
falsehoods about you behind your back. It is so hard to defend yourself because you
really do not know what is going on. We don't know the specifics here, but David
seems to be asking God to spare him from the humiliation of being rejected based
on false reports about him. It is a terrible thing to lose respect in the eyes of others
based on lies. He wants to be spared from such a loss of face. We all want to be
accepted by others, and so this is a form of salvation that we all desire.
2. It is possible to tell the truth and not lie at all, and yet still deceive people into
believing bad things about another person. I read this story on the internet about
how George Smathers was able to ruin the chances of Claude Pepper regaining his
vote to stay in the Senate. He started by calling him a name that made him seem like
a negative person. He called him Red Pepper, and then he launched a campaign to

8. expose his secret vices. What he did was downright funny, but he used words that
made him look suspicious to many people. The author wrote, "Smathers disclosed
that Pepper was “a known extrovert,” his sister was a “thespian,” and his brother a
“practicing homo sapiens.” Also, when Pepper went to college, he actually
“matriculated.” Worst of all, he practiced “celibacy” before marriage. All of it
totally innocent – but many rural voters who did not understand the fancy words
were horrified, and Pepper lost big." The most clever liars are those who can do it
with the truth. David felt the pressure of lies and deceit because the enemy can be so
clever, and it is almost impossible to know how people are being influenced by their
subtle suggestions of wrong doing. So David is not depending on his own defense,
but is seeking help from heaven to be victorious. David fought lions and won, but
liars are even more lethal, and they are harder to defeat, and so he cries to the Lord
for backup to survive the slander.
3. Gill gives us a list of the enemies that slander the righteous. He wrote, "Such were
the lips and tongues of Doeg the Edomite, (Psalms 52:2-4) , and of Saul's courtiers,
who insinuated to him that David sought his hurt, ( 1 Samuel 24:9 ) ; and of the
Scribes and Pharisees, that flattered Christ to his face, and reproached him to the
people; and of Judas, that betrayed him with "Hail, master", (Matthew 26:49) ; and
of the false witnesses suborned against him; and of false teachers, deceitful workers,
that lie in wait to deceive, and, by their good words and fair speeches, do deceive the
hearts of the simple; and of antichrist and his followers, who, as they are given up to
believe a lie, speak lies in hypocrisy; and of Satan the father of lies, and who is the
old serpent, the devil, that deceives the whole world: and to be delivered from the
bad effects of such lips and tongues is very desirable."
4. Spurgeon wrote, "Some seem to lie for lying sake, it is their sport and spirit: their
lips deserve to be kissed with a hot iron; but it is not for the friends of Jesus to
render to men according to their deserts. Oh for a dumb generation rather than a
lying one! The faculty of speech becomes a curse when it is degraded into a mean
weapon for smiting men behind their backs. We need to be delivered from slander
by the Lord's restraint upon wicked tongues, or else to be delivered out of it by
having our good name cleared from the liar's calumny.......... It should be a warning
to liars and deceivers when they see that all good men pray against them, and that
even bad men are afraid of them. Here is to the believer good cause for prayer.
"Deliver us from evil", may be used with emphasis concerning this business. From
gossips, talebearers, writers of anonymous letters, forgers of newspaper paragraphs,
and all sorts of liars, good Lord deliver us!"
5. Jesus said in Matthew 5:11-12, “Blessed are you when people insult you,
persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice
and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they
persecuted the prophets who were before you.” To be abused by slander and lies
and all manner of defaming speech is hard to take, but Jesus says it is a blessing if
the cause of it is not your evil behavior, but your faith. To suffer this abuse for being

9. faithful to the Lord will give Him great pleasure, and give you great reward. It has
been the role of believers all through history to suffer the mockery and slander of
the pagan world. It does not sound like a blessing, but it is because Jesus will finally
settled the issue of good and evil with judgment and reward, and when he balances
the books it will be worth whatever the cost to be on the reward side. When seen
from the Lord's perspective it is a joy to suffer for Him.
6. On the other hand, it is a blessing we are to avoid giving to others by gossip and
slander. Paradoxical as it may seem, there are blessing that we are not to make
possible by our behavior toward fellow believers or anyone else. Paul states it in
Titus 3:2: “Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient,
to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and
considerate, and to show true humility toward all people.” They will still be blest
and rewarded by enduring your slander, but you will be judged for being the cause
of the pain in their endurance. A believer is never to use his tongue to abuse the life
of any other person. Unfortunately, this word has not had adequate communication
to the Christian world, and the result is lies, slander and all manner of verbal abuse
is common among the Christian population. The internet is filled with all kinds of
slander toward just about every well known Christian leader in our nation. We tend
to think that the judgment mentioned here by David is meant only for pagan
abusers, but you can count on it, the God of justice will not overlook the abuse of his
own children. Many a reward will be lost by those who think of slander as a civil
right rather than as a terrible sin. In case you think Paul was not clear enough, read
him again in Ephesians 4:29ff.: “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your
mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs,
that it may benefit those who listen . . .Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger,
brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.” Paul would agree that the
person who throws dirt is losing ground, and they are not climbing to the light, but
falling down the hill into the ditch of darkness.
7. Spurgeon give his testimony: "I have often admired Martin Luther, and
wondered at his composure. When all men spoke so ill of him, what did he say?
Turn to that Psalm—"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of
trouble; therefore we will not fear, though the earth be removed, and though the
mountains be carried into the midst of the sea." In a far inferior manner, I have
been called to stand up in the position of Martin Luther, and have been made the
butt of slander, a mark for laughter and scorn; but it has not broken my spirit yet;
not will it, while I am enabled to enjoy that quiescent state of—"So he giveth his
beloved sleep." But thus far I beg to inform all those who choose to slander or speak
ill of me, that they are very welcome to do so till they are tired of it. my motto is
cedo nulli—I yield to none. I have not courted any man's love; I asked no man to
attend my ministry; I preach what I like, and when I like, and as I like. Oh! happy
state—to be bold, though downcast, and distressed—to go and bend my knee and
tell my Father all, and then to come down from my chamber, and say—
If on my face, for thy dear name,

10. Shame and reproach shall be;
I'll hail reproach, and welcome shame,
For thou'lt remember me.
8. Dr. Joe Temple, “I want to say to you that as a Christian if you are happy to be
around ungodly people all the time and happy to be in the midst of lying tongues
and deceitful lips, if you are happy to be with people whose conversations are of
things of this world instead of the things of God, then if I were you, I would check
into my relationship with the Lord. I would find out why I was what I was and why
I enjoyed what I enjoyed.
Don't misunderstand me. I know you can't always surround yourself only with
Christian people and have nothing to do with the unsaved. I know that. but let me
tell you that if you choose to be among the unsaved and unspiritual and are not
burdened about it and distressed with it, then you need to check your spiritual
relationship to the Lord.
The psalmist reached a place where he said, "Lord, you've got to help me." And the
Lord said, "Why do you need help?" The psalmist said, "In the first place, I feel a
long way from You." And he said, "In the second place, the only associations I have
are deceitful associations, and I am tired of them."
3. What will he do to you,
and what more besides, O deceitful tongue?
1. David is prompting the liar to consider what his judgment will be in hopes that he
will reconsider his wicked ways. A malignant slanderer like you will not go
unnoticed by the Lord who sees and knows all. You can count on a severe penalty
for such an abusive tongue.
2. God is severe in his judgment of a wicked tongue because of the seriousness of the
pain it causes. Spurgeon in his notes gives us a picture of just how horrible slander
is to the victim of it. "Slander occasions distress of the most grievous kind. Those
who have felt the edge of a cruel tongue know assuredly that it is sharper than the
sword. Calumny rouses our indignation by a sense of injustice, and yet we find
ourselves helpless to fight with the evil, or to act in our own defense. We could ward
off the strokes of a cutlass, but we have no shield against a liar's tongue. We do not
know who was the father of the falsehood, nor where it was born, nor where it has
gone, nor how to follow it, nor how to stay its withering influence. We are perplexed,
and know not which way to turn. Like the plague of flies in Egypt, it baffles
opposition, and few can stand before it. Detraction touches us in the most tender
point, cuts to the quick, and leaves a venom behind which it is difficult to extract. In
all ways it is a sore distress to come under the power of "slander, the foulest whelp
of sin." Even in such distress we need not hesitate to cry unto the Lord. Silence to
man and prayer to God are the best cures for the evil of slander."

11. 3. Spurgeon adds this note, "If these psalms were sung at the ascent of the ark to
Mount Zion, and then afterward by the pilgrims to Jerusalem at the annual festivals
and at the return from Babylon, we shall find in the life of David a reason for this
being made the first of them. Did not this servant of God meet with Doeg the
Edomite when he inquired of the oracle by Abiathar, and did not that wretched
creature believe him and betray him to Saul? This made a very painful and
permanent impression upon David's memory, and therefore in commencing the ark
journey he poured out his lament before the Lord, concerning the great and
monstrous wrong of "that dog of a Doeg", as Trapp wittily calls him. The poet, like
the preacher, may find it to his advantage to "begin low," for then he has the more
room to rise: the next Psalm is a full octave above the present mournful hymn.
Whenever we are abused it may console us to see that we are not alone in our misery
we are traversing a road upon which David left his footprints."
4. Spurgeon goes on, "What shall be given unto thee? What is the expected guerdon
of slander? It ought to be something great to make it worth while to work in so foul
an atmosphere and to ruin one's soul. Could a thousand worlds be bribe enough for
such villainous deeds? The liar shall have no welcome recompense: he shall meet
with his deserts; but what shall they be? What punishment can equal his crime? The
Psalmist seems lost to suggest a fitting punishment. It is the worst of offenses -- this
detraction, calumny, and slander. Judgment sharp and crushing would be measured
out to it if men were visited for their transgressions. But what punishment could be
heavy enough? What form shall the chastisement take? O liar, "what shall be given
unto thee?"
Or what shall be done unto thee, thou false tongue? How shalt thou be visited? The
law of retaliation can hardly meet the case, since none can slander the slanderer, he
is too black to be blackened; neither would any of us blacken him if we could.
Wretched being! He fights with weapons which true men cannot touch. Like the
cuttlefish, he surrounds himself with an inky blackness into which honest men
cannot penetrate. Like the foul skunk, he emits an odour of falsehood which cannot
be endured by the true; and therefore he often escapes, not chastised by those whom
he has most injured. His crime, in a certain sense, becomes his shield; men do not
care to encounter so base a foe. But what will God do with lying tongues? He has
uttered his most terrible threats against them, and he will terribly execute them in
due time." “Admonition is made with the slandering accuser. He is warned that he
cannot expect immunity. God will vindicate His children. He will bring fierce
destruction on malignant slanderers. Images vividly express the terrible aspect of
this punishment. Miseries shall pierce false hearts, as arrows flying from a mighty
bow. Fire shall consume them, as the fierce coals of juniper.”
4 He will punish you with a warrior's sharp

12. arrows, with burning coals of the broom tree.
1. David has no compassion on those who would destroy his reputation, but longs to
see them pay the price for their wickedness. Few things are more painful than a
sharp arrow, or a burning coal from a tree that retains its heat to a very high
degree. What David is saying here is equivalent to a desire that they burn in hell.
This is radical language because it is dealing with radical evil. These liars are using
the most vicious weapon known to man, for as Jeremiah 9:8 says, "Their tongue is a
deadly arrow; it speaks deceitfully. With their mouths they all speak cordially to
their neighbors, but in their hearts they set traps for them." Psalm 64:2-3 says,
"Hide me from the conspiracy of the wicked, from that noisy crowd of evildoers.
They sharpen their tongues like swords and aim their words like deadly arrows."
David is saying that it would be poetic justice for these who use the deadly arrow of
the tongue to inflict harm on innocent people, to be themselves pierced with the
sharp arrows of judgment. As they have sown Lord, so let them reap. Let their evil
arrows be repaid with righteous arrows so they can feel the pain of what they inflict
on other. Psalm 64:7 says, "But God shall shoot at them with an arrow; suddenly
shall they be wounded." If you are going to shoot arrows of slander at others, be
aware that God is a good with arrows, and he gets the last shot.
2. James 3:6 says the tongue is as dangerous as a book of matches in the hands of a
three year old. It sets our lives on fire, and it is a fire from hell. Those who use their
tongue to burn up the reputations of innocent people are so despicable that they
deserve to experience the flames of judgment. David is saying that God will fight fire
with fire, and those who burn others with the fire of gossip and slander will suffer
the pain of judgment fires.
3. Jesus may have sung this Psalm with deep feelings, and an earnest desire just like
David to be delivered from the lies that slandered him. His reputation was dragged
through the mud by the Pharisees who called him a wine bibber and a glutton, and
worse yet, a blasphemer, and demon possessed man, and a maniac. Jesus knew the
distress that David felt, for he felt it personally. There is a radical difference in the
way Jesus coped with it, however, for he prayed for his slanderers, and he said,
"Father forgive them for they know not what they do." Jesus had more to offer his
enemies than David had, and so he related to those who abused him with grace, and
the hope that they would see their errors and repent. A good many did, and there
will be many former Pharisees in heaven rather than experiencing the flames of
judgment like the enemies of David. We need to remember that it is normal to feel
like David toward those who are so evil toward us, but we need to rise above this
attitude and look to Jesus for our example. Our goal should not be to see our
enemies experience judgment, but to see them escape it by faith in Jesus Christ. We
should want to see them become brothers in the family of God rather than outcasts.
Isaac Watts had the right spirit when he paraphrased this Psalm with these words-
"Thou God of love, thou ever blest, pity my suffering state;

13. When will thou set my soul at rest from lips that love deceit?
Peace is the blessing that I seek, how lovely are its charms!
I am for peace, but when I speak, they all declare for arms.
ew passions still their souls engage and keep their malice strong;
What shall be done to curb thy rage, o thou devouring tongue!
Should burning arrows smite thee through, strict justice would approve;
But I had rather spare my foe, and melt his heart with love."
4. When someone sins against us we have a tendency to retaliate, and this leads to
even more problems. David, however is a man of peace, and he is not attacking his
enemies directly, but is going before the Lord to take care of his revenge. This is
wise, for it is man taking revenge on evil that leads to so much more evil. This is a
job for the Lord who knows all of the hearts involved, and all of the circumstances
that men can never know. Ignorance is never a good basis for solving problems,and
so let one who knows all be the judge, jury and executioner. David had his moments
when he rode forth in a rage to kill one who had offended him. He knew the power
of anger that sought to get immediate revenge on an enemy. Here, however, he has
learned to leave vengeance to the Lord, for he knows God is good at doing what only
he can do in a just way. He has the mind of a
ew Testament believer by leaving
God in charge of revenge. "Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for
God’s wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord." --
Romans 12:19.
5. God has heard him and answered his prayer, and the answer is just what he is
writing here of the punishment that God will inflict on his enemies. He is
encouraged by this spirit of justice in God. This is the highest level David could live
on, for he had no Gospel of forgiveness to offer. So even though his spirit is sub-
Christian, it is still a noble and godly spirit pleasing to God. Even as Christians, we
know that many will not respond to the Gospel and be forgiven, and so it is good for
us, as it was for David, to know that a just judgment will fall on those who have
caused so much suffering to innocent people. Old Testament and
ew Testament
saints are not that far apart. It is just that Jesus and his sacrifice on the cross adds a
whole new dimension to life that the Old Testament saints did not possess. The
result is that now there is far greater room for grace.
6. I like the way Wayne Shih wrote, “What will he do to you, and what more
besides,” is kind of an oath formula. It means something like, “May God bring back
on you the fulfillment of your own words.” The Jerusalem Bible translates it like
this: “How will he pay back the false oath of a faithless tongue? With war arrows
hardened over red-hot charcoal!” (3-4). It sounds harsh. At first reading it seems
vindictive. But really it’s the opposite. The writer acknowledges that he has
experienced a real injustice, but he commits the situation to God. He gives up the
right to get back at the person who told lies about him. Instead he trusts God to
make things right. He doesn’t know when it will happen, but he is willing to wait for

14. God to do what is just."
7. Spurgeon wrote, "Sharp arrows of the mighty. Swift, sure, and sharp shall be the
judgment. Their words were as arrows, and so shall their punishment be. God will
see to it that their punishment shall be comparable to an arrow keen in itself, and
driven home with all the force with which a mighty man shoots it from his bow of
steel, -- "sharp arrows of the mighty".
or shall one form of judgment suffice to
avenge this complicated sin. The slanderer shall feel woes comparable to coals of
juniper, which are quick in flaming, fierce in blazing, and long in burning. He shall
feel sharp arrows and sharper fires. Awful doom! All liars shall have their portion
in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone. Their worm dieth not, and their
fire is not quenched. Juniper coals long retain their heat, but hell burneth ever, and
the deceitful tongue may not deceive itself with the hope of escape from the fire
which it has kindled. What a crime is this to which the All merciful allots a doom so
dreadful! Let us hate it with perfect hatred. It is better to be the victim of slander
than, to be the author of it. The shafts of calumny will miss the mark, but not so the
arrows of God: the coals of malice will cool, but not the fire of justice. Shun slander
as you would avoid hell."
5. Woe to me that I dwell in Meshech,
that I live among the tents of Kedar!
1. Woe is me, for I live in a hell hole of iniquity! David is trapped in a fallen world
where folly is so abundant that it is everywhere. These two places are far away from
each other, and so the essence of what he is saying is that he can travel from the
north to the south in his country and it is the same story: people are wicked and
brutal. Love and peace are not a part of their thinking. They are cruel and think
only of war and of killing their enemies one way or the other. If they cannot do it by
the warfare of weapons, they will do it by the arrows of the tongue. Some have
suggested that it was written by David during the time of his exile, when king Saul
was trying to track him down and kill him, and he had to live among pagan peoples
in a foreign land. We can sense the ache in his voice as he laments his situation and
longs to return to his native country.
1B. "There is no geographical connection between those two nations: the former
being upon the north of Palestine, and the latter upon the south. The connection is a
moral one. They are mentioned together, because they were fierce and warlike
barbarians. David had never lived on the shores of the Caspian Sea, or in the
Arabian wilderness; and he means no more than this, that the persons with whom
he now dwelt were as savage and quarrelsome as Mesech and Kedar. After a similar
fashion, we call rude and troublesome persons Turks, Tartars, and Hottentots.
David exclaims, I am just as miserable among these haters of peace, as if I had taken
up my abode with those savage and treacherous tribes." --
. McMichael.

15. 1C. Spurgeon introduced his sermon on this text with these words: "Mesech was the
son of Japheth, from whom, according to history, were descended the men who
inhabited that most barbarous of all regions, according to the opinion of the
ancients, the northern parts of Muscovy or Moscow, and Russia. The inhabitants of
the tents of Kedar were the descendants of one of the sons of Abraham, who had
taken to nomadic habits, and were continually wandering about over the deserts;
and were, besides, thought, and doubtless were, guilty of plundering travelers, and
were by no means the most respectable of mankind. We are to understand, then, by
this verse, that the people among whom the psalmist dwelt were, in his esteem,
among the most barbarous, the most fierce, the most graceless of men; and
therefore it is that he cries, “Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the
tents of Kedar! “He felt a woe in his heart because of that evil companionship in
which he was compelled to abide.
This has been the cry of the children of God in all ages. Lot had his ears vexed with
the filthy conversation of the men of Sodom. Many of the woes of Micah sprang
from those men who were sharper than a thorn-hedge, every one of them ready to
tear and scratch his neighbor. David’s deepest grief’s came from the men who
surrounded him;-on the one hand, the unfriendly sons of Zeruiah, who were too
strong for him; and, on the other hand, Shimei and the sons of Belial, who made a
reproach of every word he uttered, and every deed he did. Even Isaiah himself, that
happy spirited prophet, one day cried, “Woe is me, for I am undone; because I am a
man of unclean lips!” and then he added another cause of his woe, “and I dwell in
the midst of a people of unclean lips;” and I expect I may truly say that, to this day,
you, my brothers and sisters, who are followers of Jesus, have often had to cry out,
“Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar!” and you
have longed to be far away from this dusky world, so full of sin, and traps, and pit-falls,
and everything that makes us stumble in our path, and of nothing that can
help us onward towards heaven."
1D. Joe Temple, “The psalmist was speaking figuratively, because there is no
evidence that any of the writers of the Psalms were ever in Russia, and that is where
Mesech is located. There is no evidence that any of them were ever to the far eastern
part of Arabiaa, which is where Kedar is. As far as their thinking was concerned,
those were the farthest, most distant points. He says, "I am so far away from God
and the people of God that I feel like I am in Russia or Kedar." That is the point of
the Psalm. Let us forget Mesech and Kedar for a moment and suggest to you that
the psalmist was in distress because he was conscious of a great distance between
him and the Lord. The psalmist was aware of a lack of the sense of the presence of
the Lord.
Do you realize that there are many of God's dear children who are out of fellowship
with Him and who are not conscious of His presence and haven't been for a long
time? They don't even realize it. The reason they have never done anything about
their condition is that they don't sense it. They have never taken this step of distress

16. where they realize a great gulf separates them and the Lord, figuratively speaking.
There is no real desire in their hearts to do anything about it.”
2. Chad Davis has another perspective that also makes a lot of sense. He wrote,
"First of all, I think it is instructive that even though God answered the psalmist
and declared his coming judgment on the wicked, the psalmist still finds himself
struggling in the midst of sin! The psalmist’s language is a bit obscure but we do
know that Meshech was a son of Japheth and Kedar was a son of Ishmael. That is,
both of these were groups of people that were not part of the people of God, so the
psalmist is complaining about the fact that he has had to dwell among those who are
not part of the people of God. Even stranger is the fact that the psalmist, if he is an
Israelite, most likely never has dwelt among those people. Rather, he is using these
people as an analogy for his situation. That is, even in the midst of those who claim
to be God’s people, he is not among the people of God. The people around him are
wicked. They hate peace, and they pursue war. Even though the psalmist has cried
out to God and been assured that God will judge, he is not removed from the
situation. It is instructive to us to notice that he laments this fact but remains
obedient by continuing to seek peace."
3. All believers experience what David is experiencing here, for we have to live in a
fallen world where evil is the main topic of the news. We have assurance that justice
will be done, and evil will not triumph in the end, but meanwhile this is the
atmosphere we must live in and do out best to modify the evil by lives of
righteousness. God does not remove us, but he sustains us in the midst of this
corrupted environment. It is the great challenge of the believer's life to be able to
live as a member of a minority group and remain faithful to the Lord, and the
principles of life that he has given us in his Word. It is no easy challenge, and many
fail to achieve it. As David says in the next verse, it is a long hard battle, and you
often get sick of it, but those who endure to the end will be greatly rewarded, for the
Lord knows how hard it is to stay loyal to him.
4. It has been pointed out that The English word “woe” is onomatopoeic ; that is it
sounds like what it describes. In Hebrew it would sound like “Oh ah!” The very
sound we would make when we are in pain, when we are hurting."
5. The paradox here is that this woeful feeling of being trapped in a negative
environment is really just how we are supposed to feel as believer. We are to
recognize the truth of what Peter wrote in I Pet. 2:11, "Dear friends, I urge you, as
aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against
your soul." We don't belong here, for we are made for a life of love, peace and joy.
We are supposed to feel like aliens, and not members of the culture and society that
is out of God's will. We are to feel alienated so that we do not feel welcome to enter
into the life style of the world. If we are fully happy and content with this world, we
are more likely to become an active member of it's life style, which means we will
join them in their sinful ways. We are to be in the world, but not of the world, and
that means to be lights in the world for the truth of God, but not of the world's ways

17. of darkness. So if you feel bad about the world, and can say woe is me, for having to
put up with all of the garbage of my culture, you are on the right path, and have the
right spirit that will motivate you to climb to better things.
6. Spurgeon wrote, "Woe is me, that sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of
Kedar! Gracious men are vexed with the conversation of the wicked. Our poet felt
himself to be as ill at ease among lying neighbors as if he had lived among savages
and cannibals. The traitors around him were as bad as the unspeakable Turk. He
cries "Woe is me!" Their sin appalled him, their enmity galled him. He had some
hope from the fact that he was only a sojourner in Mesech; but as years rolled on
the time dragged heavily, and he feared that he might call himself a dweller in
Kedar. The wandering tribes to whom he refers were constantly at war with one
another; it was their habit to travel armed to the teeth; they were a kind of
plundering gypsies, with their hand against every man and every man's hand
against them; and to these he compared the false hearted ones who had assailed his
character. Those who defame the righteous are worse than cannibals; for savages
only eat men after they are dead, but these wretches cat them up alive.
"Woe's me that I in Mesech am
A sojourner so long;
That I in tabernacles dwell
To Kedar that belong.
My soul with him that hateth peace
Hath long a dweller been;
I am for peace; but when I speak,
For battle they are keen.
My soul distracted mourns and pines
To reach that peaceful shore,
Where all the weary are at rest,
And troublers vex no more".
7. In Hebrews 11 we see that the great list of people of faith lived as aliens in this
world. Verses 13 to 16 says, "All these people were still living by faith when they
died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed
them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on
earth. 14People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of
their own. 15If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have
had opportunity to return. 16Instead, they were longing for a better country—a
heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has
prepared a city for them." These people of faith were ever climbing higher toward
that promised city. They did not look back like the wife of Lot, regretting what they
were giving up, but pressed on gladly giving up the fleeting pleasure of the world for
the pleasures at God's right hand that last forever. "He is no fool who give up what
he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." Our big danger as Christians is to
adapt to the culture and become content to be accepted by the world. This leads to

18. our feeling no need to keep climbing toward the higher life of the kingdom of God.
Why bother when we are already satisfied where we are? That is the thinking of the
secularized Christian; a growing breed in our culture. When you stop feeling out of
place, it is a sign you have stopped climbing.
This world is not my home, I'm just passing through.
My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue.
The angels beckon me from Heaven's open door
And I can't feel at home in this world anymore.
8. “As a Christian you have to live in the midst of an ungodly world, and it is of little
use for you to cry “Woe is me.” Jesus did not pray that you should be taken out of
the world, and what he did not pray for, you need not desire. Better far in the
Lord’s strength to meet the difficulty, and glorify him in it. The enemy is ever on the
watch to detect inconsistency in your conduct; be therefore very holy. Remember
that the eyes of all are upon you, and that more is expected from you than from
other men. Strive to give no occasion for blame. Let your goodness be the only fault
they can discover in you. Like Daniel, compel them to say of you, “We shall not find
any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of
his God.” Seek to be useful as well as consistent. Perhaps you think, “If I were in a
more favourable position I might serve the Lord’s cause, but I cannot do any good
where I am”; but the worse the people are among whom you live, the more need
have they of your exertions; if they be crooked, the more necessity that you should
set them straight; and if they be perverse, the more need have you to turn their
proud hearts to the truth. Where should the physician be but where there are many
sick? Where is honour to be won by the soldier but in the hottest fire of the battle?
And when weary of the strife and sin that meets you on every hand, consider that all
the saints have endured the same trial. They were not carried on beds of down to
heaven, and you must not expect to travel more easily than they. They had to hazard
their lives unto the death in the high places of the field, and you will not be crowned
till you also have endured hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Therefore,
“stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.” author unknown
9. F. B. Meyer, “It is a bitter experience to have to live where there is no sympathy,
but carping criticism and incessant innuendo. A pure-minded friend was recounting
to me the other day the anguish he suffered perpetually, because his associates,
knowing how acutely he suffered from the least suggestions of impurity, chose to
assault his ears continually with abominable expressions. There are souls which
have long had their dwelling with those that hate peace. To their least sigh war is the
immediate response.
O lily among thorns, this is no new experience! Thy Lord hath been through these
paths before thee; see the bent twigs which prove that He has passed this way. But
thy loneliness can never be quite as sorrowful as his, for thou hast always Him. And
remember, there is a compensation, in that the strict scrutiny of thy foes makes thee
ever so much more watchful and prayerful, and drives thee oftener to the bosom of
God. One declared to me lately that he had found it easier to live a holy life in a City
warehouse than in a Divinity college. Perhaps we gain much more than we know

19. from jealous opposition and criticism.
Oft in Life’s stillest shade reclining,
In desolation unrepining,
Without a hope on earth to find
A mirror in an answering mind,
Meek souls there are who little deem
Their daily strife an Angel’s theme.
But as the saintly Samuel Rutherford wrote: “The Cross of Christ is the sweetest
burden that I ever bore: it is such a burden as are wings to a bird, and sails to a
ship, to carry me forward to my desired haven.”
6. Too long have I lived
among those who hate peace.
1. It is getting old, this living in an environment that hates everything I love and
long for. I love peace, and they hate it. I speak out for peace, and they call me the
enemy. They drag my name through the mud because I do not love war. I suffer for
trying to be a blessing in the world, and I am hated for seeking the way of peace. I
like the way one pastor described the feeling of David. He wrote, "Do you see that
the psalmist was tired? Do you see that he despaired of his condition? And do you
see that he longed to be in a place where there was peace and love. Thus, this psalm
appropriately begins the fifteen psalms of ascent about worship. It says in effect;
I’m tired of living among ungodly people. I want to go where God is, to His house, to
the place where He is worshiped for there I will find peace, love, and acceptance
instead of war, hatred, and hostility."
2. David represents every minority in history who have longed for, and prayed for,
and have worked for what is wise and just in human relationships. They are hated
for doing what is right and good. Every reformer has to pay a high price to change
customs and traditions based on prejudice and bigotry. Just read of what men went
through to end slavery, and you will see that they had hell to pay before they won
the battle. They were hated and despised, and their names were vilified by those
who profited by keeping things the way they were. It is an awful life to live, and few
are able to survive to the end without the grace of God.
3. An unknown pastor posted this account of a movie on the internet, and it
illustrates the reality that David was complaining about here. We have all lived too
long in a world where people are always looking for trouble rather than peace. He
wrote, "In 1991, a movie came out called "Grand Canyon." In that film, a well-to-do
lawyer tries to avoid a traffic jam by detouring off the expressway, and soon gets
lost in a very dangerous and unfamiliar part of the city. His car breaks down. It’s

20. night, and although he manages to call a tow truck, by the time it arrives, his
expensive car is surrounded by gang members. Clearly, they are planning to take
his car by force, and possibly harm him in the process. Then the tow-truck driver,
"Simon," arrives, played by Danny Glover. Over the protests of the gang members,
Simon proceeds to hook the car up to his truck. And then Simon does something
unexpected. He asks the leader of the gang to just let him go. "I’ve gotta ask you for
a favor," he says. "Let me go my way here. This truck’s my responsibility, and now
that the car’s hooked up to it it’s my responsibility too." And then he goes on,
"Man, the world ain’t supposed to work like this. I mean, maybe you don’t know
that yet. I’m supposed to be able to do my job without having to ask you if I can.
That dude is supposed to be able to wait with his car without you ripping him off.
Everything is supposed to be different than it is." He concludes, "Everything is
supposed to be different than it is. That’s true, isn’t it?"
4. Eugene Peterson authored a book on the Songs of Ascents called A Long
Obedience in the Same Direction. It is a wonderful title, for it captures the truth
that there is no quick fix to the mess we are in. The obedient life is never over, and
the climb to the peak of perfection is a long hard climb that will not end until we
leave this flesh and are helped to the ultimate level by the hands of God. Until that
day we need to keep on climbing in the direction that is ever upward, and always
above the corruption of the world. Peterson wrote, "Religion in our time has been
captured by the tourist mindset. Religion is understood as a visit to an attractive site
to be made when we have adequate leisure…. I don’t know what it has been like for
pastors in other cultures and previous centuries, but I am quite sure that for a
pastor in Western culture in the latter part of the twentieth century the aspect of
world that makes the work of leading Christians in the way of faith most difficult is
what Gore Vidal has analyzed as “today’s passion for the immediate and the
casual.” Everyone is in a hurry. The persons whom I lead in worship, among whom
I counsel, visit, pray, preach, and teach, want short cuts. They want me to help them
fill out the form that will get them instant credit (in eterntiy). They are impatient for
results. They have adopted the lifestyle of a tourist and only want the high points.
But a pastor is not a tour guide. I have no interest in telling apocryphal religious
stories at and around dubiously identified sacred sites. The Christian life cannot
mature under such conditions and in such ways." These songs of ascent make it
clear that it is a long hard climb, and not a walk in the park.
5. Wayne Shih wrote, "The life worth living is a long obedience in the same
direction, it must also be a long obedience in the right direction. There are few
things more frustrating than driving down the road for thirty minutes and realizing
you’ve been going west when you should have been headed east. Far worse than that
is the tragedy of coming to the end of your life and finding out you’ve been on the
wrong road. Or as I’ve said before: You don’t want to climb the ladder of life and
reach the top, only to learn your ladder was leaning against the wrong wall. Friends,
we can only live life forward. There is no rewind button. But there is a direction
button. There is no sense in a long obedience in the same direction if it’s the wrong
direction.

21. I am convinced that the only right direction is a Godward direction. We were made
by God. We were made for God. Life disconnected from God will prove to be
ultimately wasted. Sadly, any of us at any time can lose sight of why we were
created. Life beats up on us. We make bad decisions. People mistreat us. We get
angry at them and at God. And so we drift away from following Christ. Joseph
Stowell says it like this: Our instincts … are often well intended but disconnected
from an orientation to the ways of Christ. Our Christianity is dismembered, not
always by radical rebellion, but more often by careless disregard. And
unfortunately, we sometimes remain completely unaware that life is going the wrong
way until we are buried under a pile of disappointing results."
6. Calvin wrote, "He calls them haters of peace, because they willfully, and with
deliberate malice, set themselves to make war upon the good and unoffending. To
the same purpose he adds immediately after, that his heart was strongly inclined to
seek after peace, or rather, that he was wholly devoted to it, and had tried every
means in order to win their favor, but that the implacable cruelty of their
disposition invariably impelled them to do him mischief. When he says, I peace, it is
an abrupt, yet not an obscure expression, implying that he had not done them any
injury or wrong which could give occasion for their hatred there having been always
peace on his part. He even proceeds farther, asserting, that when he saw them
inflamed with resentment against him, he endeavored to pacify them, and to bring
them to a good understanding; for to speak, is here equivalent to offering conditions
of peace in an amicable spirit, or to treating of reconciliation. From this it is still
more apparent, how savage and brutal was the pride of David's enemies, since they
disdained even to speak with him -- to speak with a man who had deserved well at
their hands, and who had never in any respect injured them. We are taught by his
example, that it is not enough for the faithful to abstain from hurting others: they
must, moreover, study to allure them by gentleness, and to bend them to good will.
Should their moderation and kindness be rejected, let them wait in patience, until
God at length show himself from heaven as their protector. Let us, however,
remember, that if God does not immediately stretch forth his hand in our behalf, it
is our duty to bear the wearisomeness occasioned by delay, like David, whom we
find in this Psalm giving, thanks to God for his deliverance, while, at the same time,
as if worn out with the weariness of waiting for it, he bewails the long oppression to
which he had been subjected by his enemies."
7 I am a man of peace; but when I speak, they are
for war.
1. David is a minority voice for peace in an environment that is loud with the voices
of those clammering for war. It is a place of such humbling weakness, for he has no

22. power to change things. His peace talk is drowned out by the majority who want
war, and more war. It is not a comfortable place to be in our own power, and that is
why we need, as David did, a dependance on the Lord. He was marching upward to
Zion to worship the Lord of Israel, for he needed the support that only God can
give. It is good for a man of David's stature to feel humble and weak, and
inadequate to change the world, for this will keep him climbing toward God. He will
be working on what he can change by the grace of God, and that is his own inner
world where he can become the kind of person God longs for him to be. We cannot
turn this fallen world into a paradise, but we can turn our inner lives into such a
place where we can walk again with God in the garden of his new creation. We can
develop an inner environment where we fellowship with our Lord. We can have an
honest relationship where we continually confess our sins and experience
forgiveness. We can be sanctified to a level where God dwells in us, and we
experience a world within this world where we can obey Paul in Phil. 4:8 where he
wrote, "Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right,
whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent
or praiseworthy-think about such things." Peace with God opens up a whole new
world of beauty for the believer to focus on in contrast to the focus of the world on
violence and war.
2. Unfortunately, a great many of God's people stop climbing toward the ideal.
Instead they settle down and accept the way of the world, and they bring the world
into their homes and churches. This leads the home and the church to be a part of
the world rather than a part of the kingdom of God. Warren Wiersbe wrote, “After
over 50 years of ministry, I am convinced that most of the problems in families and
churches are caused by professed Christians who do not have a real and vital
relationship to Jesus Christ. They are not humble peacemakers, but arrogant
troublemakers. Until God changes them or they decide to go elsewhere, the
dedicated believers must be patient and prayerful.”
2B. The problem is that they live like this Psalmist in the midst of people with values
so contrary to those of believers, and most will not listen to a different perspective.
The result is they lose the motivation to take a stand; to keep trying to make a
difference, and to influence one other person for the right way. They lose the dream.
In the composition called, “Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24,” there a description of
the flight of the angel. The lyrics go-
As he flew o’er Sarajevo
There were scars upon the land
There were scars upon the people
It was hard to understand
And the deepest scars of all
Which to humans are unseen
But the angel could see clearly
Were the scars upon the dreams.

23. 2C. That is what can happen when we live in a world where war rather than peace
is the strongest motive of people. People see all the violence and scars on the land
and buildings and even bodies, but they do not see the scarred dreams that paralyze
believers in their climb to the higher level. These scarred believers stop climbing
and settle for the reality of what the fallen world is all about. They no longer light a
candle in the darkness, but blow it out and accept the darkness as a way of life. Part
of the problem is that they cannot accept failure, and still keep on keeping on. They
speak of peace and all they hear is we prefer war. They get discouraged and give up,
but this is not what Jesus did as our example of living in a fallen world. He felt
terrible and he wept because he could not get people to accept the way of peace, and
he pictured horrible judgment because of it, but he never gave up on people, but
went on to give his life for these very people who wanted him killed. Look at this
amazing text in
Luke 19:41-44 "As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it
42and said, "If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you
peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. 43The days will come upon you when
your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you
in on every side. 44They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within
your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize
the time of God's coming to you." He failed to win them to the way of peace, but he
still went on to become the Prince of Peace in reconciling God and man. He never
stopped climbing, and neither can we if we are really following him as Lord.
2D. Spurgeon wrote, "But when I speak, they are for war. My kindest words appear
to provoke them, and they are at daggers drawn at once.
othing pleases them; if I
am silent they count me morose, and if I open my mouth they cavil and controvert.
Let those who dwell with such pugilistic company console themselves with the
remembrance that both David and David's Lord endured the same trial. It is the lot
of the saints to find foes even in their own households. Others besides David dwelt in
the place of dragons. Others besides Daniel have been cast into a den of lions.
Meanwhile, let those who are in quiet resting places and peaceful habitations be
greatly grateful for such ease. God has given us this tranquility. Be it ours never to
inflict upon others that from which we have been screened ourselves."
3. Samuel Cox wrote, "The psalm, moreover, breathes an intense longing for peace;
and in this world of strife and confusion, when is that longing inappropriate? Is it
any marvel that a Hebrew, with a deep spiritual longing for peace, should cry as he
started for the Temple, "Let me get out of all that, at least for a time. Let me be quit
of this fever and strain, free from the vain turbulence and conflicting noises of the
world. Let me rest and recreate myself a while in the sacred asylum and sanctuary
of the God of peace. God of peace, grant me thy peace as I worship in thy presence;
and let me find a bettered world when I come back to it, or at least bring a bettered
and more patient heart to its duties and strife's"
4. "The character of a very good man in David, who could truly say, though he was a

24. man of war, I am for peace; for living peaceably with all men and unpeaceably with
none. I peace (so it is in the original); "I love peace and pursue peace; my disposition
is to peace and my delight is in it. I pray for peace and strive for peace, will do any
thing, submit to any thing, part with any thing, in reason, for peace. I am for peace,
and have made it to appear that I am so." The wisdom that is from above is first pure,
then peaceable. (2.) The character of the worst of bad men in David's enemies, who
would pick quarrels with those that were most peaceably disposed: "When I speak
they are for war; and the more forward for war the more they find me inclined to
peace." He spoke with all the respect and kindness that could be, proposed methods
of accommodation, spoke reason, spoke love; but they would not so much as hear
him patiently, but cried out, "To arms! to arms!" so fierce and implacable were
they, and so bent to mischief. Such were Christ's enemies: for his love they were his
adversaries, and for his good words, and good works, they stoned him."
5. Spurgeon end his sermon on this text with these words of comfort: "Brethren, ye
may be comforted yet again with this sweet thought,-that not only is God with you,
but your Master was once in the tents of Kedar; not merely spiritually, but
personally, even as you are; and inasmuch as you are here too, this, instead of being
painful, should be comforting to you. Have you not received a promise that you shall
be like your Head? Thank God that promise has begun to be fulfilled. If you were
happy in the tents of Kedar, you might think, “I am not like my Master, for he was a
Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;” but inasmuch as you have evil things
thrown at you, and your way is hard and rough, you may say, “
ow I know what it
is to have fellowship with him in suffering, in some feeble measure. As I was buried
with him in baptism unto death, so with him I trust I have had conformity unto his
death.” When any pang rends your heart from slander or misrepresentation, then
can you say, “
ow I know what he meant when he said, ’Reproach has broken my
heart.’“ When you find yourself abused and misrepresented, you can say, “
ow I
understand what Christ endured when they said, He is a gluttonous man and a
winebibber; a friend of publicans and sinners.’“ It is worth while to be like Christ in
the worst times, because that is an assurance that we shall be like him in the best
times. If I carry a cross as he carried one, I shall wear a crown as he wears one. If I
have been with him in the degradation of the flesh, I shall be with him in the glory of
the Spirit. If I have been with him when men hooted and hissed, and dogs
compassed him, and the bulls of Bashan beset him round, I shall be with him, too,
when angelic hosts are round him, and he shall be admired of all that love him, and
adored of all creation. You shall be like your Head, poor sufferer,-like your Head;
then, what more can you want? Is not this a sufficient honor, that the servant is as
his Master, and the subject is as his Sovereign?
6. This Psalm ends with mixed emotions, for he is grateful that he is a man of peace,
but sad that he lives among those who are men of war. This world is just not what it
ought to be, and so this is the place from which the journey begins to find a higher
and more noble life. We need to get to that higher place where there are no lies
about us, but only truth about us, and that truth is that we are loved by Him who
created and redeemed us. Here is why we climb to worship the God who has an

25. ideal future of love and peace waiting for his people. Worship is the way to taste of
that ideal life, and so it is the goal of believers to get to a place where they can
worship and enjoy God. David knew long before it became a summing up of
theology that, "The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever." By
worship we get to enjoy God in time before we get the full package in eternity, and
when we enjoy God we get the renewed strength we need to go back into the fallen
world and keep standing for what is right. We may not change the world, but we
can change some small part of it by adding God's light to that darkness in which we
live. So that is why we climb the hill to Jerusalem, or whatever hill is necessary, to
worship our God and Savior.
7. Warren Wiersbe, “Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers" (Matt. 5:9). But not
everybody in this world is a peacemaker. Some people are troublemakers. They
enjoy making trouble, and sometimes we have to live or work with them. That's the
kind of situation the psalmist found himself in....... Ever since Cain killed Abel,
we've had conflict in this world.
ations war against one another; families fall
apart; and even Christians don't get along with each other. David went through
conflict. Jesus went through it. And we experience it also. Still, we are to be
peacemakers--not peace breakers. After all, we have the peace of God in our hearts,
and we have peace with Him--we are not at war with Him the way unsaved people
are. So wherever we are, we will experience conflict but also the opportunity to
bring peace.
"I am for peace," the psalmist says. Literally, the Hebrew text means, "I am peace.
They are war." Each of us is either a battlefield or a blessing. Each of us is either
declaring war or declaring peace. Some people enter a situation, and peace comes in
with them. Other people walk in, and war follows. Let's ask God to help us in this
wicked, conflicting world to be people who promote peace, not war. God's people
are to be peacemakers. This world of never-ending conflict affords many
opportunities for you to make peace. However, peacemaking often is not easy. Are
you quick to promote peace when you confront conflict? Strive to be a blessing to
others--be a peacemaker.”
8. Rev. John Schmidt, “Okay this Psalm starts with this picture: with the words "in
my distress." "I call on the Lord in my distress." It begins with that intense picture
and it ends with the word in English, "war." It's not a very pretty poem. It's filled
with this dissatisfaction with the way things are. The Psalmist feels surrounded.
There is no safe place. Lies are everywhere. He talks about dwelling in Meshech and
living among the tents of Kedar. These are two names for tribes. Meshech is as far
north as any Israelite would have any conception, on the edge of Russia and then the
other Kedar is a wandering tribe that would have been to the south and east of
Israel. And so here the picture is, I am in the middle of a situation that
geographically and culturally is totally alien to me and I don't belong here. There is
something wrong. Here is a person who is sick of the lies, sick of the violence and
sick of the hate. And so this writer rejects the environment around him.

26. But in doing that, he's also rejecting the influence of that environment on his own
life.
ow most of us have been around a campfire, even if we are not really campers
and you know how it is when you sit around a campfire, one of the laws of physics
says that it always blows in your face. It is absolutely impossible to prevent that
from happening.
ow if you leave the campfire and go home you will find that you
have become part of the problem. You still smell like smoke because all of the
campfire has permeated your clothing. It's on you. And that is how it is when we are
affected by the world around us. The lies might begin outside of us, but it becomes
part of us and we start to think that way and we start to act that way. So here where
the Psalmist says, "Enough of this. It's got to end," he is also rejecting the influence
that it has had in his own life. So the Psalmist gives a resounding "
o!" to the world
around him and that
o is a Yes to God.”
9. Alan Perkins, “On a personal level, you and I sometimes encounter angry, bitter,
malicious people who have no interest in peace. We meet them at work, on the
highway, in our neighborhoods; our children meet them at school; sometimes we
even encounter them in our own families. And anyone who has been party to a
family feud; a conflict with in-laws; or with a husband, or wife, or son, or daughter
who spurns all efforts to reconcile, can identify with this Psalm. "Woe is me. Too
long have I lived among those who hate peace. I am a man [or woman] of peace; but
when I speak, they are for war." What do we do when this happens? How do we
cope with this kind of ongoing, intractable hostility? The first step is to imitate the
Psalmist, to be brutally honest, with ourselves and with God. We cry out: "Lord, I
don’t know how long I can take this. I’m tired, I’m frustrated, I’m discouraged. It
doesn’t seem to make any difference what I say; they are determined to hate me.
They attack me over and over, no matter what I do. Help me, Lord. Give me the
strength to persevere; give me the will to continue in this journey of faith. Give me
the grace to remain committed to peace, and not let them change me into a person of
war."
10. The bottom line is this: He was ready for a higher life than where he was. He was
in distress because of the life he had, and his associations. He was ready to climb to a
higher atmosphere where he could breath a fresher air coming from the presence of
God. This is where the climb of any believer begins. If you are content with who you
are, and where you are, you will not have any motivation to climb to a higher level
of living. There is a need for dissatisfaction before there will be any ambition to put
forth the effort to climb.
If you like where you are,
Your not likely to climb far.
If your content to just be,
You will not desire to be free.
If your present is sublime,
And you don't see it as crime
You lack any motive to climb,

27. And will stay as you are for all time.
But when contentment is seen as a crime,
because what you have is not worth a dime,
And staying put is without reason or rhyme,
Then you will have the motivation to climb.
10. Following up this dissatisfaction with what is, is the reality of what God has done
in Christ to lead us in our climb to a higher place. Mike Hamby wrote, “But the idea
of “living among the tents of Kedar” reminds us of something else. The Apostle
John wrote, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his
glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).
The greatest help and the greatest hope that God has given to us was sending His
son to “dwell among us” to “tabernacle us” for a few years on this earth.
Jesus came and lived as a sojourner. He lived among those who lied about Him. He
lived among those who opposed Him and hated Him. Jesus lived among us
temporarily so that by faith in Him we would live with Him permanently. When
Jesus died on the cross, He made peace between God and sinners. Jesus died
because of our sin. Jesus rose again to conquer the warring rebel heart within us.
Jesus lives in the heavenly realm this morning to give sufficient help for all who will
call upon Him by faith. Someday, Jesus will unite the heavenly and the earthly.
Someday, Jesus will return to the earth, and He will bring all who trust in Him into
that new and perfect world. This is God’s help for leaving this world. Friends, we
are living here only temporarily. We are sojourners here. But when we rise with
Christ, we will be citizens of that world forever.”
11. Meanwhile we are to be pressing on with Paul who wrote in Phil. 3:12-14, “
ot
that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press
on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13Brothers, I do not
consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is
behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the
prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” We are called to be
climbing heavenward daily as we strive to be all we can be in Christ. An unknown
poet wrote-
We have not wings and cannot soar,
But we have feet to scale and climb
By slow degrees, by more and more,
The cloudy summits of our time.
The heights, by great men reached and kept,
Were not attained by sudden flight,
But they, while their companion slept,
Were toiling upward in the night.
12. Other poets have written about the aspiration of climbing to greater heights, and

28. they fit the attitude the believer is to have in climbing to the greater level of life that
awaits us even in time, let alone in eternity.
Climbing by Amy Lowell
High up in the apple tree climbing I go,
With the sky above me, the earth below.
Each branch is the step of a wonderful stair
Which leads to the town I see shining up there.
Climbing, climbing, higher and higher,
The branches blow and I see a spire,
The gleam of a turret, the glint of a dome,
All sparkling and bright, like white sea foam.
On and on, from bough to bough,
The leaves are thick, but I push my way through;
Before, I have always had to stop,
But to-day I am sure I shall reach the top.
Today to the end of the marvelous stair,
Where those glittering pinacles flash in the air!
Climbing, climbing, higher I go,
With the sky close above me, the earth far below.
The Fountain
By: James Russell Lowell
Into the sunshine,
Full of the light,
Leaping and flashing
From morn till night!
Into the moonlight,
Whiter than snow,
Waving so flower-like
When the winds blow!
Into the starlight,
Rushing in spray,
Happy at midnight,
Happy by day!
Ever in motion,
Blithesome and cheery,
Still climbing heavenward,
ever aweary;--
Glad of all weathers,

29. Still seeming best,
Upward or downward,
Motion thy rest;--
Full of a nature
othing can tame,
Changed every moment,
Ever the same;--
Ceaseless aspiring,
Ceaseless content,
Darkness or sunshine
Thy element;--
Glorious fountain!
Let my heart be
Fresh, changeful, constant,
Upward, like thee!