Psalm 120

Flight to the desert in discouragement
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Text
Explanation
A song of decrees or ascents
The first of a series ending with Psalm 134. It seems that they were songs to be sung or chanted in ascending up to Jerusalem.
 1 ¶ <<A Song of degrees.>> In my distress I cried unto the LORD, and he heard me.
 2 Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue.
  2 - Lying lips We may see David slandered by Saul. This psalm would have expressed his feelings after the death of Samuel.
 3 What shall be given unto thee? or what shall be done unto thee, thou false tongue?
 4 Sharp arrows of the mighty [man], with coals of juniper.
  4 - Juniper Thought to be a bush with many twigs called "broom." Arabs use it for a hot-burning charcoal. Sharp words sting and injure.
.5 ¶ Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech [s.b. Meshech], that I dwell in the tents of Kedar!
 6 My soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace.
 7 I am for peace: but when I speak, they are for war.
  5 - Meshech ... Kedar These last three verses would picture desert isolation from Saul. It is figurative speech. Meshech was a slave trader ez2713. Kedar ge2513 was apparently a nomadic trader. The tents of Kedar area also seen in so0105.
  6 - Peace David didn't want war. In the broader meaning, see is2603 and ps119165.
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