Psalm 122:3














One thing that would have struck a pilgrim to Jerusalem who should approach the city from its north-eastern side was its beauty. The stately buildings erected by Solomon on the south side of the temple area - Solomon's own house of judgment, the house of the Forest of Lebanon, the palaces of the kings of Zion, the palaces of the princes of Judah around it, the circuit of the walls, above all, the temple, with its courts, with its burnished roof, with its lofty gates, with its tower, surrounded as all this was on three sides by deep ravines and olive-clad hills. Possibly the pilgrim had seen Damascus, straggling out amid the. beautiful oasis which surrounds it in the plain of the Abana; or he had seen Memphis, a long string of buildings, thickly populated, extending for some twelve or fourteen miles along the west bank of the Nile. Compared with these, Jerusalem had the compact beauty of a highland fortress, its buildings as seen from below standing out against the clear Syrian sky, and conveying an impression of grace and strength that would long linger in the memory (Liddon). The attachment of Mohammedans to the sacred city of Mecca is well known, and almost every religion has its special center, and every god his shrine. The realistic presentation of a divinity in some image involves the localization of his worship to some place. An unfamiliar instance of special interest in sacred places was given by Professor Minas Tcheraz to the "World's Parliament." Speaking of the Armenian Church, he said, "One result of the manifold persecutions has been to strengthen the attachment of the Armenians to the Church of St. Gregory the illuminator. Etchmiadzin has become a word of enchantment, graven in the soul of every Armenian. The Armenians of the mother country bow down with love before this sanctuary, which has already seen 1591 summers. And as regards those who have left their native land, if it is far from their eyes, it is not far from their hearts. A Persian monarch, Shah Abbas, had forcibly transported into his dominion fourteen thousand Armenian families. Like the captive Israelites at the remembrance of Jerusalem, these Armenians always sighed at the recollection of Etehmiadzin. In order to keep them in their new country, Shah Abbas conceived the project of destroying Etehmiadzin, of transporting the stones to Djoulfa (Ispahan), and there constructing a similar convent. He actually transported the central stone of the chief altar, the baptismal fonts, and other important pieces, but the emotion of the Armenians was so great that he was forced to give up his project of vandalism." The sentiment of Christians in relation to the Holy Sepulcher may be compared with the sentiment of the Jews in relation to the holy city and temple. And a subject which may be suggested for consideration is the value and the peril of this association of religion with places and buildings.

I. THE VALUE OF THE ASSOCIATION OF RELIGION WITH PLACES. That value lies in the help which material things can be to the spiritual life of beings who have material forms. The wholly spiritual is at present unattainable by us. We are compelled to shape the spiritual in formal words, and to present the spiritual in material images. The sacraments are based on this value of sensible helps to spiritual feeling. And so historic and beautiful church-buildings cultivate reverence; familiar services nourish the spirit of worship; the church we have attended since childhood, or in which we have felt the power of Divine things, readily quickens emotion and renews faith. The hermit who retires even from hallowing associations, does but make new ones for himself, for none of us can afford to neglect the help that sacred places and things may be to us.

II. THE PERIL THAT MAY LIE IN THE ASSOCIATION OF RELIGION WITH PLACES. It is the peril that always lies in the connection of the material with the spiritual. The material is always trying to encroach. In exaggeration we see this in the ignorant heathen who thinks of his image as a god, instead of as a help to the apprehension of God. This subtle peril lies in services, sacred buildings, sacraments, and even formal doctrines. They become absorbing in themselves, not agencies of the spiritual. - R.T.

Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem.
The psalm was probably written by a pilgrim to Jerusalem. at some time previous to the Babylonish Captivity. On the one hand, it is clear that "the house of the Lord," the ancient Temple, was still standing; on the other, the reference to "the house of David" and the anxious prayer "for the peace of Jerusalem," its walls, its palaces, seem to point to a later period than that of David. The pilgrim who composed the psalm would have belonged to one of the ten separated tribes; but he had remained after the general defection true to the divinely-ordered worship at Jerusalem, and his psalm may well have been composed on the occasion of his first visit.

1. Now, one thing that would have struck a pilgrim to Jerusalem who should approach the city, as was natural, from its north-eastern side, would be its beauty. Possibly this pilgrim had seen Damascus straggling out amid the beautiful oasis which surrounds it in the plain of the Abana, or he had seen Memphis, a long strip of buildings, thickly populated, extending for some twelve or fourteen miles along the western bank of the Nile. Compared with those Jerusalem had the compact beauty of a highland fortress, its buildings are seen from below standing out against the clear Syrian sky, and conveying an impression of grace and strength that would long linger in the memory. No doubt in the eyes of a pilgrim in these old Jewish times, as afterwards, the physical beauty of Jerusalem must have suggested and blended with a beauty of a higher order. The beauty of the world of spirit imparts to the world of sense a subtle lustre which of itself it could never possess. "Walk about Zion, and go round about her, and tell the towers thereof; mark well her bulwarks; set up her houses that ye may tell them that come after." And why? "For this God is our God for ever and ever. He shall be our guide unto death."

2. And secondly, Jerusalem was the centre of the religious and national life of Israel. Jerusalem was what it was in a good Israelite's eyes less on its own account than because it contained the Temple. "Yea," cries the pilgrim, as he looks out on the fair city beneath him — "yea, because of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek to do thee good." And so, although the city of Solomon and its Temple passed away, and a new city and a new temple rose upon the ruins of the old, pilgrims still came up with the old psalm upon their lips and in their hearts: "Our feet shall stand in thy gates, O Jerusalem."

3. And a third characteristic of Jerusalem, which appealed to religious pilgrims like this psalmist-pilgrim, was, if I may so phrase what I mean, its unworldliness. This appears partly in its situation. Jerusalem was not on the sea, or on a navigable river. The little stream of the Kedron was dry for the greater part of the year in ancient days as now, and nothing but rude mountain-paths connected the city with Egypt on one side or with Syria on the other. It was thus cut off from those activities of commerce and intercourse with distant countries which are essential to the material well-being and development of a great capital.

4. As the centuries went on, Jerusalem, thus dear to the heart of Israel as being what it was in itself, became yet dearer to it by misfortune. Of all that is most beautiful in life, sorrow is the last consecration. Sorrow is the poetry, no less than the discipline of humanity. Certainly, if one thing is clear from Scripture and from experience, sorrows such as those of Jerusalem are the result of sin. And yet this could not kill out the sense of blessing which attached to the sacred spot in the eyes of successive generations of pilgrims. Thinking only of the sure mercies of David, thinking with the apostle of a later age, that the gifts and calling of God are indeed without repentance, again and again under Manasseh as under Hezekiah, under Jehoiakim as under Josiah, they uttered their song, "Our feet shall stand in thy gates, O Jerusalem." The events which make Jerusalem what it is in Christian eyes do not belong to the Old Testament. That wonderful self-manifestation of the Eternal Being among men which began at Bethlehem and Nazareth reached its climax at Jerusalem. On the hills around this favoured city, along its streets, in the courts of its great sanctuary, there walked in visible form, One who had already lived from everlasting, and who had folded around His eternal person the body and the soul of the sons of men. Just outside its walls, He condescended to die in agony and in shame only that He might rise in triumph from His grave, and on a hill hard by He went visibly up to heaven to reign for ever in glory. He conferred on it in Christian eyes a patent of nobility which will only become invalid when His Gospel disappears from among men. But the Jerusalem of Christian thought is no longer only or mainly the city of David. It is, first of all, the visible and universal Church of Christ. The towers and walls and shrines of the ancient city, as faith gazes on them, melt away into the outline of a sublimer prospect — that of redeemed humanity through all the Christian centuries gathered and harmonized into the city of God. This was what St. Paul meant when, writing to the Galatians, he contrasted with Jerusalem "that now is which is in bondage" — that is, to the Romans — "with her children"; the Jerusalem "that is above," or, as we should say, "the spiritual Jerusalem that is free, and is the mother of us all." That vast society in whose ample bosom the souls of Christian men from generation to generation find shelter and welcome and warmth and nourishment is the reality of which the old Syrian city was the material type. This is the Jerusalem of the Christian creed — "I believe in one holy Catholic Apostolic Church;" this is the Jerusalem of, perhaps, the greatest work of the greatest teacher of the Christian Church since apostolic days — 's treatise on "The City of God." There may be controversies among Christians as to the exact direction and extent of its wails, just as there are controversies among antiquarians as to the extent and direction of the walls of its material prototype, but as to its place in the thoughts and affections of all true Christian men there should be no room for controversy. No other association of men can have such claims on the heart of a Christian as the Church of God. What if sin and division have marred its beauty and its unity. The old Jerusalem did not cease to be Jerusalem in Jeremiah's eyes because of the sins of the priests, of princes, of peoples which he so unsparingly denounced. The factions which rent the city that fell beneath the legions of Titus did not kill out` the love and the loyalty of its noblest sons. The true remedy for disappointment and sorrow on the score of shortcomings and differences within the sacred city is to be found in such prayers as those which we offer in our holiest service to the Divine Majesty, beseeching Him to inspire continually the universal Church with the spirit of truth, unity, and concord. And this earthly Jerusalem suggests another city, a true haven of peace, with which the visible Church of Christ is already in communion, and into which all those true children of Zion who are joyful in their King will one day be received.

(Canon Liddon.)

People
David, Psalmist
Places
Jerusalem
Topics
Bound, Builded, Built, Closely, Compact, Compacted, Firmly, Itself, Jerusalem, Joined, O, Town
Outline
1. David professes his joy for the church
6. And prays for the peace thereof

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Psalm 122:1-4

     5442   pilgrimage

Psalm 122:1-9

     1680   types

Psalm 122:3-4

     5143   climbing

Library
August the Eighteenth the Church of the Firstborn
"Pray for the peace of Jerusalem." --PSALM cxxii. And my Jerusalem is "the church of the living God." Do I carry her on my heart? Do I praise God for her heritage, and for her endowment of spiritual glory? And do I remember her perils, especially those parts of her walls where the defences are very thin, and can be easily broken through? Yes, has my Church any place in my prayer, or am I robbing her of part of her intended possessions? And is the entire Jerusalem the subject of my supplication?
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

Religious Patriotism.
"Jerusalem is built as a city that is at unity in itself. . . . O pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee. Peace be within thy walls, and plenteousness within thy palaces. For my brethren and companions' sakes I will wish thee prosperity. Yea, because of the house of the Lord our God I will seek to do thee good."--PSALM cxxii. 3, 6-9. As we draw near to the end of our summer term, when so many are about to take leave of their school life, there is sure to rise up in
John Percival—Sermons at Rugby

For the Peace and Prosperity of the Church. --Ps. cxxii.
For the Peace and Prosperity of the Church.--Ps. cxxii. Glad was my heart to hear My old companions say, Come,--in the House of God appear, For 'tis an holy day. Our willing feet shall stand Within the temple-door, While young and old in many a band Shall throng the sacred floor. Thither the tribes repair, Where all are wont to meet, And joyful in the House of Prayer Bend at the Mercy-seat. Pray for Jerusalem, The city of our God; The Lord from Heaven be kind to them That love the dear abode.
James Montgomery—Sacred Poems and Hymns

Ps. cxxii. 7-9.
Ps. cxxii. 7-9. God in his temple let us meet: Low on our knees before Him bend, Here hath He fix'd his Mercy-seat, Here on his worship we attend. Arise into thy resting-place, Thou, and thine ark of strength, O Lord! Shine through the veil, we seek Thy face; Speak, for we hearken to Thy word. With righteousness Thy priests array; Joyful Thy chosen people be; Let those who teach, and hear, and pray, Let all be Holiness to Thee!
James Montgomery—Sacred Poems and Hymns

O 'twas a Joyful Sound to Hear
[1178]Mt. Sion: Horatio Parker, 1888 Psalm 122 Tate and Brady, 1698 DOXOLOGY O 'twas a joyful sound to hear Our tribes devoutly say, Up, Israel! to the temple haste, And keep your festal day. At Salem's courts we must appear, With our assembled powers, In strong and beauteous order ranged, Like her united towers. O ever pray for Salem's peace; For they shall prosperous be, Thou holy city of our God, Who bear true love to thee. May peace within thy sacred walls A constant guest be found; With
Various—The Hymnal of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the USA

Of Four Things which Bring Great Peace
"My Son, now will I teach thee the way of peace and of true liberty." 2. Do, O my Lord, as Thou sayest, for this is pleasing unto me to hear. 3. "Strive, My Son, to do another's will rather than thine own. Choose always to have less rather than more. Seek always after the lowest place, and to be subject to all. Wish always and pray that the will of God be fulfilled in thee. Behold, such a man as this entereth into the inheritance of peace and quietness." 4. O my Lord, this Thy short discourse
Thomas A Kempis—Imitation of Christ

Beginning at Jerusalem
The whole verse runs thus: "And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." The words were spoken by Christ, after he rose from the dead, and they are here rehearsed after an historical manner, but do contain in them a formal commission, with a special clause therein. The commission is, as you see, for the preaching of the gospel, and is very distinctly inserted in the holy record by Matthew and Mark. "Go teach all nations,"
John Bunyan—Jerusalem Sinner Saved

There is a Blessedness in Reversion
Blessed are the poor in spirit. Matthew 5:3 Having done with the occasion, I come now to the sermon itself. Blessed are the poor in spirit'. Christ does not begin his Sermon on the Mount as the Law was delivered on the mount, with commands and threatenings, the trumpet sounding, the fire flaming, the earth quaking, and the hearts of the Israelites too for fear; but our Saviour (whose lips dropped as the honeycomb') begins with promises and blessings. So sweet and ravishing was the doctrine of this
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12

Psalms
The piety of the Old Testament Church is reflected with more clearness and variety in the Psalter than in any other book of the Old Testament. It constitutes the response of the Church to the divine demands of prophecy, and, in a less degree, of law; or, rather, it expresses those emotions and aspirations of the universal heart which lie deeper than any formal demand. It is the speech of the soul face to face with God. Its words are as simple and unaffected as human words can be, for it is the genius
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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