START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 122
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OBSERVE:
The ascription of this Psalm declares that it is a Song of Ascents, written by David. There were fifteen Psalms that were called Songs of Ascents (Psalms 120-134). They were likely written as songs to be sung in procession by pilgrims as they climbed the mountain toward the Tabernacle and the Altar of Yahweh.
The first line of the Psalm expresses the jubilation of approaching the place of worship — but it also presents a small problem:
I was glad when they said to me,
“Let’s go to Yahweh’s house!”
We can well imagine David expressing such a sentiment, especially when we read 2 Samuel 6. David has decided to bring the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem, which he has designated as his capital. And we are told that:
David danced before Yahweh with all his might; and David was clothed in a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel brought up Yahweh’s ark with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet (2 Samuel 6:14-15).
That description captures the sense of joy — the gladness that the Psalmist feels after he’s been told it’s time to go to Yahweh’s house.
The only catch is, there was no temple in Jerusalem in David’s time — the temple wasn’t built until David’s son Solomon accomplished that feat. This may be a minor detail. By house, it may simply mean the Tabernacle, which was the tent in which the Ark of the Covenant was kept.
Nevertheless, the place of worship has become the centralized capital city of Jerusalem — the City of David. We remember that David actually became the king of two distinct kingdoms, that were united in his person — Israel in the north, and Judah in the south.
So, this capital is not only the political center of this newly United Kingdom, it has become the religious center, where all the tribes unite in worship:
where the tribes go up, even Yah’s tribes,
according to an ordinance for Israel,
to give thanks to Yahweh’s name.
There are physical details that describe certain moments and features of this procession. First, the statement that:
Our feet are standing within your gates, Jerusalem….
This probably is literally timed to coincide with the moment that the pilgrim’s feet enter the gates of Jerusalem.
And a little later in the Psalm, David writes:
For there are set thrones for judgment,
the thrones of David’s house.
We are told in 1 Kings 22:10 of an occasion when thrones were set up in an open place so that the kings of Israel and Judah, dressed in their robes, could sit and pray and worship in the presence of the prophets. So it seems very likely that on the festive occasion of this Psalm, there were thrones for David’s royal house that were set in an open place. We see the unique blending of the political and the religious realms in the Hebrew faith — “church” and state were united.
Therefore, the prayers of intercession for Jerusalem are for peace and prosperity, because there is no distinction between Jerusalem as the capital of the state of Israel/Judah and the center of religious life:
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
Those who love you will prosper.
Peace be within your walls,
and prosperity within your palaces.
For my brothers’ and companions’ sakes,
I will now say, “Peace be within you.”
For the sake of the house of Yahweh our God,
I will seek your good.
The peace of Jerusalem is directly related to the peace and well-being of the house of Yahweh.
APPLY:
There is a Latin phrase that once applied to kings and the religion of their country — Cuius regio, eius religio. This means “whose realm, his religion,” which means that the nation followed the religion chosen by the ruler.
This is an alien concept for most of us today in a pluralistic world, especially those who live in the United States. The First Amendment of the Constitution makes it clear that, among other things:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof….
This is often referred to as the “separation of church and state.” Very few Americans would approve if the government began to dictate the religious habits of American citizens, or seek to create religious “tests” for anyone.
However, that shouldn’t prevent us from praying earnestly for our nation. Just as Psalm 122 encourages the Jews to Pray for the peace of Jerusalem, so we should pray for the peace of our nation, and for prosperity and well-being for all our citizens.
Although church and state may be separate, God is and always will be the sovereign King over all the earth!
RESPOND:
The title of the autobiography of the great Methodist missionary, E. Stanley Jones, is A Song of Ascents. E. Stanley Jones (1884-1973) was a Christian missionary with the Methodist Church whose commitment to Christ and the Kingdom of God touched millions of lives through his writing and preaching. After he experienced his call to the mission field while at Asbury College in Wilmore, Kentucky, he devoted his life to missions in India and around the world. TIME magazine called him “the world’s greatest missionary evangelist” in 1938.
He explains the title of his autobiography in his introduction:
I have been ascending, am ascending, and shall forever be ascending.
The Songs of Ascent in the Psalms can be an important spiritual metaphor for us as we follow the path leading us deeper into the presence of God — we have been ascending, are ascending, and shall forever be ascending in our relationship with God.
Lord, I am glad to worship you, in church buildings and in the forests and under the stars. I pray for the peace and prosperity of Jerusalem, and all nations, until that day when the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdom of our God! Amen.
PHOTOS:
"Our Feet Are Standing" by Derek Winterburn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.
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