-
TREASURY OF DAVID
PSALM 122
C.H.
Spurgeon
Psalms 122:1 (PSALMS)
PSALM
122.
TITLE AND SUBJECT. This brief but
spirited Psalm is entitled
Degrees of
David
and thus we are informed as go its
author, and the
occasion
for
which
it
was
designed:
David
wrote
it
for
the
people
to
sing
at the time of their
goings up to the holy feasts at Jerusalem. It
comes
third
in
the
series,
and
appears
to
be
suitable
to
be
sung
when
the
people
had entered the
gates, and their feet stood within the city. It
was most
natural that they should sing
of Jerusalem itself, and invoke peace and
prosperity upon the Holy City, for it
was the centre of their worship,
and
the place where the Lord revealed himself above
the mercy seat.
Possibly the city was
not all built in David's day, but he wrote under
the
spirit
of
prophecy,
and
spoke
of
it
as
it
would
be
in
the
age
of
Solomon;
a poet has license to speak of things,
not only as they are, but as they
will
be
when
they
come
to
their
perfection.
Jerusalem,
or
the
Habitation
of Peace, is used as the key word of
this Psalm, wherein we have in the
original
many
happy
allusions
to
the
salem,
or
peace,
which
they
implored
upon
Jerusalem.
When
they
stood
within
the
triple
walls,
all
things
around
the pilgrims helped
to explain the words which they sang within her
ramparts
of
strength.
One
voice
led
the
Psalm
with
its
personal
but
ten thousand brethren and companions
united with the first musician and
swelled the chorus of the strain.
EXPOSITION.
Ver. 1. I was
glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the
house of
the LORD. Good children are
pleased to go home, and glad to hear their
brothers
and
sisters call
them
thither.
David's
heart
was
in
the
worship
of
God,
and
he
was
delighted
when
he
found
others
inviting
him
to
go
where
his
desires had already gone: it helps the ardour of
the most ardent to
hear
others
inviting
them
to
a
holy
duty.
The
word
was
not
us
go
glad
for the sake of
others
:glad that they
wished
to go
themselves, glad
that
they had the courage and liberality to invite
others. He knew that
it
would
do
them
good;
nothing
better
can
happen
to
men
and
their
friends
than to love the place where God's
honour dwelleth. What a glorious day
shall that be when many people shall go
and say,
up to the mountain of the
Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and he
will teach us of his ways, and we will
walk in his paths.
glad
for
his own sake
:he loved the invitation to
the holy place, he
delighted in being
called
to go to
worship in
company,
and, moreover, he
rejoiced
that
good
people
thought
enough
of
him
to
extend
their
invitation
to
him.
Some
men
would
have
been
offended,
and
would
have
said,
your
own business. Let my religion alone;
had
mote
dignity
than
any
of
us,
and
less
need
to
be
reminded
of
his
duty.
He was not teased but
pleased by being pressed to attend holy services.
He was glad to
go
into the
house
of
the Lord,
glad to go in holy company,
glad to find good men and women willing
to have him in their society. He
may
have been sad before, but this happy suggestion
cheered him up: he
pricked up his ears,
as the proverb puts it, at the very mention of his
Father's house. Is it so with us? Are
we glad when others invite us to
public
worship, or to church fellowship? Then we shall be
glad when the
spirits
above
shall
call
us
to
the
house
of
the
Lord
not
made
with
hands,
eternal in the
heavens.
Sister spirit,
come away.
If
we
are
glad
to
be
called
by
others
to
our
Father's
house,
how
much
more
glad shall we be actually to go there.
We love our Lord, and therefore
we
love
his
house,
and
pangs
of
strong
desire
are
upon
us
that
we
may
soon
reach the eternal abode
of
his glory.
An aged saint:
when dying, cheered
herself
with this evidence of grace, for she cried,
habitation
of
thine
house,
and
the
place
where
thine
honour
dwelleth,
therefore she begged that
she might join the holy congregation of those
who
for
ever
behold
the
King
in
his
beauty.
Our
gladness
at
the
bare
thought
of being in God's house is detective as
to our character, and prophetic
of our
being one day happy in the Father's house on high.
What a sweet
Sabbath
Psalm
is
this!
In
prospect
of
the
Lord's
day,
and
all
its
hallowed
associations, our soul rejoices. How
well, also, may it refer to the,
church!
We
are
happy
when
we
see
numerous
bands
ready
to
unite
themselves
with
the
people
of
God.
The
pastor
is
specially
glad
when
many
come
forward
and ask of him assistance in entering
into fellowship with the church.
No
language is more cheering to him than the humble
request,
into the house of the
Lord.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT
SAYINGS.
Whole
Psalm.
Foxe,
in
his
and
Monuments,
of
Wolfgang
Schuch,
the
martyr,
of
Lothareng
in
Germany,
that
upon
hearing
the
sentence
that
he
was
to
be
burned
pronounced
upon
him,
he
began
to
sing
the
hundred
and
twenty second Psalm,
Laetus
sum in
his quae dicta suni
mihi.
etc.
Whole
Psalm.
Perhaps the true text of this
Psalm is found in its
designation,
advancement
in
the
spiritual
life,
beginning
with
from
the
eternal
for
the
trials
of
time,
closing
with
preservation
evermore.
Henry
Melvill.
Ver.
1.
I
was
glad
when
they
said
unto
me,
etc.
Gregory
Nazianzen
writeth
that
his
father
being
a
heathen,
and
often
besought
by
his
wife
to
become
a Christian, had this
verse suggested unto him in a dream, and was much
wrought upon thereby.
John
Trapp.
Ver.
1.
I
was
glad
when
they
said,
etc.
These
words
seem
to
be
very
simple,
and
to
contain
in
them
no
great
matter;
but
if
you
look
into
the
same
with
spiritual
eyes,
there
appeareth
a
wonderful
great
majesty
in
them;
which
because our Papists
cannot see, they do so coldly and negligently
pray,
read, and sing this Psalm and
others, that a man would think there were
no tale so foolish or vain, which they
would not either recite or hear
with
more courage and delight. These words, therefore,
must be unfolded
and laid before the
eyes of the faithful: for when he saith, We will
go
into
the
house
of
the
Lord,
what
notable
thing
can
we
see
in
these
words,
if we only behold the
stones, timber, gold, and other ornaments of the
material temple? But to go into
the house of the Lord
signifieth another
manner of
thing; namely, to come together where we may have
God present
with us, hear his word,
call upon his holy name, and receive help and
succour
in
our
necessity.
Therefore
it
is
a
false
definition
of
the
temple
which the Papists make; that it is a
house built with stones and timber
to
the honour of God. What this temple is they
themselves know not; for
the
temple
of
Solomon
was
not
therefore
beautiful
because
it
was
adorned
with gold and silver, and other
precious ornaments; but the true beauty
of
the
temple
was,
because
in
that
place
the
people
heard
the
word
of
the
Lord,
called
upon
his
name,
found
him
merciful,
giving
peace
and
remission
of
sins,
etc.
This
is
rightly
to
behold
the
temple,
and
not
as
the
visored
bishops behold their idolatrous temple
when they consecrate it.
Martin
Luther.
Ver. 1. I was glad when
they said unto me, Let us (or, We will) go, etc.
You have here,
1. David's
delight.
2. The object or reason of
it.
In the object there are
circumstances enough to raise his joy to the
highest note.
First,
A company
, either a tribe,
or many of, or all, the people:
said
unto
me.
So,
in
another
place,
he
speaketh
of
to
the
house
of
God
in
company:
Ps
55:14.
A
glorious
sight,
a
representation
of
heaven
itself,
of
all
the
angels
crying
aloud,
the
Seraphim
to
the
Cherubim,
and
the
Cherubim
echoing back
again
to
the
Seraphim,
holy,
holy,
Lord
God of
Sabaoth.
Secondly,
Their
resolution
to serve the Lord:
Dixerunt
,
and
or a resolution.
Thirdly,
Their agreement
and joint
consent:
and
taketh
in
all
within
its
compass.
If
there
be
any
dissenting,
unwilling
person, he is not within this
circumference, he is none of the
Turk,
a Jew, and a Christian cannot say,
the
schismatic
or
separatist
shutteth
himself
out
of
the
house
of
the
Lord.
Fourthly,
Their
cheerfulness
and
alacrity.
They
speak
like
men
going
out
of a
dungeon into the light, as those who had been long
absent from what
they loved, and were
now approaching unto it, and in fair hope to enjoy
what they most earnestly desired:
delay no longer.
Ipsa
festinatio tarda est
;
paced.
Fifthly and lastly:
The place where they will serve
God
:not one of their
own
choosing; not the
groves, or hills,
or high places;
no oratory
which
pride, or malice, or faction had
erected; but a place appointed and set
apart by God himself.
Servient Domino in domo
sua
:
Lord in his
own house.
the Lord.
Anthony
Farindon.
Ver. 1. Let us go
into the house of the Lord.
spoken by one
hundred
men
in
any
city
to
those
over
whom
they
have
influence,
would
raise
a monster meeting...
But who among
those who
thus
single out
the working
classes, have gone to them
and said,
—
let us go
together into
the
house
of
the
Lord
The
religious
adviser,
standing
at
a
distance
from
the
multitude,
has
advised,
and
warned,
and
pleaded,
saying,
or
you
will
not
escape
perdition;
don't
you
go?
The
Christian
visitor
has
likewise used this kind
of influence; but how
few
have taken
the working
man
by
the
hand,
and
said,
us
go
together
You
can
bring
multitudes
whom you never can send. Many who would
never come alone would come most
willingly under the shadow of your
company. Then, brethren, to your
nonattending
neighbour
say,
us
go
to
reluctant
members
of
your
own
family say,
your company, but who
have
backslidden from
worship say,
us go
all whose ear, and
mind, and heart, you can command for such a
purpose
say,
—
let
us go together into the house of the
Lord.
Samuel
Martin
(1817-1878),
in a Sermon entitled
Prospect of
Public
Worship.
Ver.
1.
I
was
glad
when
they
said
unto
me,
etc.
Such
in
kind,
but
far
greater
in degree, is the
gladness,
which
the
pious soul
experiences
when she is
called
hence;
when
descending
angels
say
unto
her,
Thy
labour
and
sorrow
are
at
an
end,
and
the
hour
of
thy
enlargement
is
come;
put
off
immortality
and
misery
at
once;
quit
thy
house
of
bondage,
and
the
land
of
thy
captivity;
fly forth, and
with hands,
eternal in the heavens.
George
Horne.
Ver. 1-2.
This
is a
mutual
exhortation. The members of the church invite
each other:
say, Go you to
church, and I shall stop at home. That will never
do. We
must
invite
by
example
as
well
as
by
precept.
Mark
the
plural
forms:
us
go into the
house of God.
Our
feet shall
stand within thy gates, O
Jerusalem.
good
concerning Israel.
to those who make no
profession of religion, and whose feet never stand
in the house of God. Zechariah, in an
animated picture of the future
glories
of
the
church,
describes
the
newborn
zeal
of
the
converts
as
taking
this direction. They
cannot but speak of what they have seen and heard,
and
others
must
share
in
their
joy.
the
inhabitants
of
one
city
shall
go to another, saying, Let us go
speedily to pray before the Lord, and
to seek the Lord of hosts: I will go
also.
N. M`michael.
HINTS TO PREACHERS.
Whole
Psalm. Observe,
1.
The
joy
with
which
they
were
to
go
up
to
Jerusalem:
Ps 122:1-2.
2.
The
great
esteem
they
were
to
have
of
Jerusalem:
Ps
122:3-5.
3. The great
concern they were to have for Jerusalem,
and the prayers they were to put up for
its welfare.
M. Henry.
Ver. 1.
1. David was glad
to go to the house of the Lord. It
was
the house of the Lord therefore he desired to go.
He preferred it to his own house.
2. He was glad when others said to him,
The distance may be great, the weather
may be rough,
still,
3. He
was glad to say it to others,
to
persuade others to accompany him.
G.
R.
Ver. 1.
1.
Joy in prospect of religious worship.
a) Because of the instruction we
receive.
b) Because of the exercises
in which we engage.
c) Because of the
society in which we mingle.
d) Because
of the sacred interests we promote.
2.
Joy in the invitation to religious worship.
a)
Because
it
shows
others
are
interested
in
the
service of God.
b) Because
it shows their interest in us.
c)
Because it furthers the interests of Zion.
F.J.B.
Ver. 1.
Gladness of God's house. Are you
1. That I have a house of
the Lord to which I may go.
2.
That
any
feel
enough
interest
in
me
to say,
us
go,
3. That I am able to go to God's house.
4. That I am disposed to go.
J. G. Butler, in
1882.
Ver. 1. I was glad, etc. So says,
1.
The
devout
worshipper
,
who
is
glad
to
be
invited
to
God's earthly house. It is his home,
his school, his
hospital, his bank.
2.
The adhesive Christian,
who is glad to be invited
to
God's
spiritual
house.
Church
is
builded
together,
etc. There would
he find a settled rest. Has no
sympathies with religious gipsies, or
no church
people.
3.
The
dying
saint,
who
is
glad
to
be
invited
to
God's
heavenly house.
Simeon
—
Stephen
—
Pet
er
—
Paul.
W.
J.
Ver. 1.
1.
The duty of attending the services of God's house.
2. The duty of exciting one another to
go.
3. The benefit of being thus
excited.
F.J.B.
Psalms 122:2 (PSALMS)
EXPOSITION.
Ver. 2. Our
feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem;
or, better,
within the walls
of the city of peace; or perhaps the pilgrims felt
so
sure of getting there that they
antedated the joy, and spoke as if they
were already there, though they were as
yet only on the road. If we are
within
the church we may well triumph in the fact. While
our feet are
standing
in
Jerusalem
our
lips
may
well
be
singing.
Outside
the
gates
all
is danger, and one day
all will be destruction; but within the gates all
is
safely,
seclusion,
serenity,
salvation,
and
glory.
The
gates
are
opened
that
we
may
pass
in,
and
they
are
only
shut
that
our
enemies
may
not
follow
us. The Lord loveth the gates of Zion,
and so do we when we are enclosed
within them. What a choice favour, to
be a citizen of the New Jerusalem!
Why
are
we
so greatly
favoured? Many feet are running
the downward road,
or
kicking against the pricks, or held by snares, or
sliding to an awful
fall;
but
our
feet,
through
grace
divine,
are
—
an
honourable
posture,
—
an honourable position, and
there shall they stand for
ever
—
an honourable future.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.
Ver.
2.
With
what
a
blessed
hope
do
they,
while
they
are
here
in
this
mortal
life, lift up their
affections, desires, and thoughts to the heavenly
country, because they are able to say
with the prophet, Our feet stand
within
thy gates, O Jerusalem. Like those who haste to
any place, they
are
said
to
be
always
thinking
as
if
they
were
already
there,
and
in
reality
they
are
there
in
mind
though
not
in
body,
and
are
able
greatly
to
comfort
others.
What
wonder,
if
a
righteous
man,
wishing
to
comfort
others,
should
thus
speak,
feet
stand,
,
our
desires,
our
contemplations,
shall
be fixed and stable in thy courts, O
Jerusalem;
i.e.
, in the
mansions of
the heavenly kingdom, so
that our conversation shall be in heaven, and
all
our
works
be
done
in
relation
to
eternal
life,
for
which
we
long
with
greatest
intensity
of
desire.
This
is
not
that
Jerusalem
which
killed
the
prophets and stoned those that were
sent unto her, but that where the
perfect vision of peace reigns.
Paulus Palanterius.
Ver. 2. Our feet shall stand within thy
gates, O Jerusalem. Dr. Clarke,
in his
travels, speaking of the companies that were
travelling from the
East to Jerusalem,
represents the procession as being very long, and,
after climbing over the extended and
heavy ranges of hills that bounded
the
way,
some
of
the
foremost
at
length
reached
the
top
of
the
last
hill,
and, stretching up their hands in
gestures of joy, cried out,
City!
The
Holy
City!
—
and
fell
down
and
worshipped;
while
those
who
were
behind pressed forward to see. So the
dying Christian, when he gets on
the
last summit of life, and stretches his vision to
catch a glimpse of
the heavenly city,
may cry out of its glories, and incite those who
are
behind to press forward to the
sight.
Edward Payson,
1783-1827.
Ver. 2. O
Jerusalem. The celestial city is full in my view.
Its glories
beam
upon
me,
its
breezes
fan
me,
its
odours
are
wafted
to
me,
its
sounds
strike upon my ears,
and its spirit is breathed into my heart. Nothing
separates me from it but the river of
death, which now appears but as an
insignificant rill, that
may be crossed at a single step, whenever God
shall
give
permission.
The
Sun
of
Righteousness
has
been
gradually
drawing
nearer and nearer,
appearing larger and brighter as he approached,
and
now
he
fills
the
whole
hemisphere;
pouring
forth
a
flood
of
glory,
in
which
I
seem
to
float
like
an
insect
in
the
beams
of
the
sun;
exulting,
yet
almost
trembling,
while
I
gaze
on
this
excessive
brightness,
and
wondering,
with
unutterable
wonder,
why
God
should
deign
thus
to
shine
upon
a
sinful
worm.
Edward Payson's dying
experience.
Ver. 2. O
Jerusalem
Lo, towered Jerusalem
salutes the eyes!
A thousand pointing
fingers tell the tale;
Catch the glad
sounds, and shout
Torquato
Tasso
,
1544-1595.
HINTS TO PREACHERS.
Ver. 2.
Here is,
1. Personal attendance:
My
feet shall stand,
2. Personal security:
stand.
3. Personal
fellowship:
G. R.
Ver. 2. The inside of the church. The
honour, privilege, joy, and
fellowship
of standing there.
Psalms
122:3 (PSALMS)
EXPOSITION.
Ver. 3. Jerusalem is builded as a city
that is compact together. David
saw in
vision the city built; no more a waste, or a mere
collection of
tents, or a city
upon paper,
commenced
but not completed.
God's
mercy to
the Israelitish nation allowed
of peace and plenty, sufficient for the
uprise
and
perfecting
of
its
capital:
that
City
flourished
in
happy
times,
even as the
church is only built up when all the people of God
are
prospering. Thanks be to God,
Jerusalem is builded: the Lord by his
glorious appearing has built up Zion.
Furthermore, it is not erected as
a
set
of
booths,
or
a
conglomeration
of
hovels,
but
as
a
city,
substantial,
architectural,
designed, arranged, and defended. The church is a
permanent
and
important
institution,
founded
on
a
rock,
builded
with
art,
and
arranged with wisdom.
The city of
God had this peculiarity about it,
that it was not a long, straggling
street, or a city of magnificent
distances (as some mere skeleton places
have been styled), but the
allotted
space was filled, the buildings were a solid
block, a massive
unity:
this
struck
the
dwellers
in
villages,
and
conveyed
to
them
the
idea
of close
neighbourhood, sure standing, and strong defence.
No quarter
could
be
surprised
and
sacked
while
other
portions
of
the
town
were
unaware
of the assault: the
ramparts surrounded every part of the metropolis,
which
was
singularly
one
and
indivisible.
There
was
no
flaw
in
this
diamond
of
the
world,
this
pearl
of
cities.
In
a
church
one
of
the
most
delightful
conditions is the
compactness of unity:
baptism.
A
church
should
be
one
in
creed
and
one
in
heart,
one
in
testimony
and one in service, one in aspiration
and one in sympathy. They greatly
injure
our
Jerusalem
who
would
build
dividing
walls
within
her;
she
needs
compacting, not
dividing. There is no joy in going up to a church
which
is rent with internal
dissension: the gladness
of
holy men
is aroused by
the
adhesiveness of love, the unity of life; it would
be their sadness
if they saw the church
to be a house divided against itself. Some bodies
of Christians appear to be periodically
blown to fragments, and no
gracious man
is glad to be in the way when the explosions take
place:
thither the tribes do not go up,
for strife and contention are not
attractive forces.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.
Ver.
3.
Jerusalem
is
builded
as
a
city
that
is
compact
together.
The
deep
depressions
which
secured
the
city
must
have
always
acted
as
its
natural
defence. But they also determined its
natural boundaries. The city,
wherever
else it spread, could never overleap the valley of
the Kedron
or of Hinnom; and those two
fosses, so to speak, became accordingly, as
in the analogous case
of the
ancient
towns of Etruria,
the Necropolis of
Jerusalem... The compression between
these valleys probably occasioned
the
words
of
the
Psalmist:
is
built
as
a
city
that
is
at
unity
in
itself.
It
is
an
expression
not
inapplicable
even
to
the
modern
city,
as seen from the east.
But it was still more appropriate to the original
city, if, as seems probable, the valley
of Tyropoeon formed in earlier
times
a
fosse
within
a
fosse,
shutting
in
Zion
and
Moriah
into
one
compact
mass not more than half a mile in
breadth.
Arthur Penrhyn
Stanley
(1815-1881),
in
Ver.
3.
Jerusalem.
It
matters
not
how
wicked
or
degraded
a
place
may
have
been
in
former
times,
when
it
is
sanctified
to
the
use
and
service
of
God
it becomes
honourable. Jerusalem was formerly
Jebus
—
a place where the
Jebusites committed their abominations,
and where were all the miseries
of
those who hasten after another God. But now, since
it is devoted to
God's service, it is a
city
—
together,
earth.
William S. Plumer.
Ver. 3. Compact. Jerusalem was
compactly built; every rood of ground,
every foot of frontage, was valuable;
house was joined to house; those
who
had gardens had
them beyond
the
city walls, among the
the valley of Jehoshaphat.
Samuel Cox.
Ver.
3. Compact together. Methinks Philadelphia, the
name of one of the
seven
golden
candlesticks
(Re
1:11-12),
is
a
very
proper
fitting
name
for
a church, which signifies brotherly
love; and every congregation ought
to
be in a good sense the family of love. Breaches
and divisions,
distractions and heart
burnings, may happen in other kingdoms which are
without God in the world and strangers
to the covenant of grace; yet let
Jerusalem,
the
Church
of
God,
be
always
like
a
city
which
is
at
unity
within
itself.
John Pigot,
1643.
Ver. 3. As a city that is compact
together. Can we say of the great
universal
church
throughout
the
world,
what
the
pilgrims
said
of
Jerusalem
when
gazing
on
its
splendour,
from
the
surrounding
hills,
that
it
is
built
a
city
that
is
compact
together
?
A
stately
capital,
throned
on
a
base
of
rock,
its
spacious
streets
and
noble
edifices,
beautiful
in
themselves,
deriving added splendour from the taste
and regularity of their
arrangement,
appears, both to the scoffing unbeliever and
grieving
Christian, a singularly
inappropriate emblem of the divided and
distracted,
the
jarring
and
warring
church.
If
the
church
may
be
compared
to a city in respect of magnitude, it
is one in which every one builds
on his
own plan; in which the various masses which should
embellish and
support each other are
studiously kept apart, suggesting less the idea
of
a
compact
and
united
capital
than
of
detached
and
isolated
forts,
held
by
persons
who
keep
themselves
jealously
aloof
from
each
other,
save
when
mutual
hatred
and
heart
burnings
bring
them
together
for
conflict.
There
is some truth in the picture; alas! for
the proud, foolish builders who
give
occasion
to
it,
and
who,
instead
of
praying
for
and
seeking
the
peace
of
Jerusalem,
rejoice
in
exhibiting,
perpetuating,
and
fomenting
strife!
But,
blessed
be
God,
there
is
yet
more
of
falsehood
than
truth
in
it.
With
all
our
divisions
the
Christian
Jerusalem
is
compact
in
itself
together
,
What occupies the hearts
and tongues of the myriads of worshippers that
assemble themselves weekly in the
sanctuaries of our beloved land, and
of
the millions that assemble beyond the Atlantic
billows, but the one
glorious gospel of
the grace of God? Leave out from the computation
the
priest
with
his
mass
book,
the
cold
Socinian
without
his
Saviour,
and
the
deluded
orthodox
professor
who
holds
the
truth
in
unrighteousness;
still
yonder
and
yonder
and
yonder,
whatever
their
name,
their
place,
or
their
outward worship, are myriads of true
hearts, beating with one pulse,
gazing
on
one
hope,
possessed
of
one
conviction,
and
praying
and
pressing
forward to one
blessed home.
Robert Nisbet.
Ver. 3-4. He commendeth Jerusalem, the
figure of the church of God and
of the
corporation of his people, First, as a city for a
community.
Secondly,
as
the
place
of
God's
public
assemblies
for
religious
worship.
Thirdly, as the place of public
judicature, for governing the Lord's
people under David, the type of Christ.
Whence learn,
1. The church of God is
not without cause compared to a city, and
especially to Jerusalem, because of the
union, concord, community
of laws,
mutual commodities, and conjunction of strength
which
should be among God's people:
Jerusalem is builded as a city that
is
compact together.
2. That which
commendeth a place most of anything is the
erecting
of the Lord's banner of love
in it, and making it a place for his
people
to
meet
together
for
his
worship:
Jerusalem
is
a
city
whither
the tribes go up.
3. Whatsoever civil distinction God's
children have among
themselves, and
howsoever they dwell scattered in several places
of the earth, yet as they are the
Lord's people, they should
entertain a
communion and conjunction among themselves as
members
of
one
universal
church,
as
the
signification
of
the
peoples
meeting
thrice in the year
at Jerusalem did reach: Wither the tribes did
go up, the tribes of the Lord.
4. As the tribes, so all particular
churches, how far soever
scattered,
have one Lord, one covenant, one law and
Scripture,
signified by
the
tribes going
up
to the testimony
of Israel,
or to
the
Ark
of
the
Covenant
or
testimony
where
the
whole
ordinances
of
God
were to be exercised.
5. The end of
the ordinances of God, of holy covenanting and
communion, and joining in public
worship, is to acknowledge the
grace and
goodness
of God,
and
to, glorify him;
for the tribes did
go up to
give thanks unto the name of the Lord.
David Dickson.
HINTS TO PREACHERS.
Ver. 3.
1. A type of the New Jerusalem.
a) As chosen by God.
b) As
founded upon a rock.
c) As taken from
an enemy.
2. A type of its prosperity:
3.
A
type
of
its
perfection:
together.
G.
R.
Ver. 3. The
unity of the church.
1. Implied in all
covenant dealings.
2. Suggested by all
Scriptural metaphors.
3. Prayed for by
our Lord.
4. Promoted by the gifts of
the Spirit.
5. To be maintained by us
all.
Ver. 3-4. The united church the
growing church.
Psalms
122:4 (PSALMS)
EXPOSITION.
Ver. 4. Whither the tribes go up, the
tribes of the LORD. When there is
unity
within there will be gatherings from without: the
tribes go up to
a compact centre. Note
that Israel was one people, but yet it was in a
sense divided by the mere
surface
distinction of
tribes; and this
may be
a
lesson
to
us
that
all
Christendom
is
essentially
one,
though
from
various
causes we are
divided into tribes. Let us as much as possible
sink the
tribal
individuality
in
the
national
unity,
so
that
the
church
may
be
many