Paul the apostle wrote to the Corinthian church in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4: For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. This weekend […]
Although Psalm 137 is rather well-known and the words put to modern songs, it is also one of the saddest and most bitter presentations in all of the Psalms. The reason is that it depicts Jewish exiles in Babylon during the captivity after King Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem and took most of the living as slaves […]
Psalm 136 is another psalm that illustrates how important singing was to Israel’s worship, especially during the feasts. Although it is not officially labeled a Song of Ascents, Psalm 136 was definitely one of the favorite praise songs of Israel. Each of the 26 verses ends with the phrase: For His lovingkindness – God’s loyal […]
Psalm 135 begins just as Psalm 134, calling on the priests who serve in the house of the LORD to: Praise the LORD; in particular to praise the name of the LORD (v. 1). Verse 3 continues this theme: Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good; sing praises to His name, for it is […]
The final Song of Ascents, Psalm 134, is a call to “all servants of the LORD, who serve by night in the house of the LORD” (v. 1). These are the priests and Levites who were prominent during the pilgrim feasts in Jerusalem. They are to bless the LORD(vv. 1-2) with their hands lifted up […]
Psalm 133 is a pilgrim song extolling the virtue of brotherly unity – both within extended families and the Israelite community as a whole as they come to worship together at one of the feasts in Jerusalem. Two metaphors are given to depict how good and how pleasant (verse 1) that unity is. It […]
The next song of ascents, Psalm 132 is a pilgrim prayer asking God to keep His promises – His covenant – that He made with David. It makes specific reference to our recent studies in 2 Samuel 6 and 7. For this reason, many believe Psalm 132 may have been written by Jews returning from the […]
Psalm 131 is a song of ascent of David, joining fellow Israelites who are going up to Jerusalem for one of the religious feasts. David’s song is a declaration of his humble dependence upon the LORD, rather than being proud and giving way to selfish ambition “in great matters” as we have seen with his son Absalom in our recent studies in 2 Samuel.
Our human tendency is to “go astray like sheep to our own way” apart from the Shepherd (Isaiah 53:6). Even when things start to become difficult, we often still try to find “our own way” apart from God’s “narrow way that leads to life” (Matthew 7:14). It’s only when we become desperate enough, that we […]
Psalm 129 is about those who hate Zion (v. 5). In the Psalms, especially these songs of ascents, Zion was both geographical and theological. Geographically, it was a general reference to the elevated city of Jerusalem; and specifically the location of the royal palace and eventually included the temple. It was the place the Israelite […]