Day 5 of Week 1

June 27, 2009
Stepping Up – The Psalms of Ascent
Day 5 of Week 1


The Peace of Jerusalem

Psalm 122
“I rejoiced with those who said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’
Our feet are standing within your gates, Jerusalem –
Jerusalem, built as a city (should be), solidly joined together,
Where the tribes, the tribes of the Lord, go up to give thanks to the name of the Lord.
(This is an ordinance of Israel)
There, thrones for judgment are placed, thrones of the house of David.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: ‘May those who love you prosper;
May there be peace within your walls, prosperity within your fortresses.’
Because of my brothers and friends, I will say, ‘Peace be with you.’
Because of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your good.”

Please take time to read this Psalm aloud
Did you catch the progression of the pilgrimage? Where is the psalmist when these words fall from his lips?
In the first Psalm, the pilgrim is discouraged in an alien land.
In the second, he wonders where his help comes from and is reminded of how God protects.
Now, in this 3rd Psalm of Ascent, his feet are standing on his destination. He cries out to the Lord with joy.
Psalm 122 is about the city of Jerusalem itself. Jerusalem can be broken down to mean the city of peace. “jeru”/”yeru” means “city” and “salem” means “peace”.
How does the psalmist describe Jerusalem?
Beth says that the city of Jerusalem gives its visitors a sense of “home”, even if they are aliens there. She says that the more you go to Jerusalem, the more you want to go. It is a city that is “closely compacted together”.
The New Living Translation says that Jerusalem is “knit together as a single unit”.
Ironically, today, peace is a rarity in the “city of peace”. Jews, Muslims and Christians are closely compacted in a small area. The ancient words of the psalmist are haunting to us as he beckons us to “pray for the peace of Jerusalem!”
We have actually been doing the study, “What in the world is going on?” by David Jeremiah on Sunday evenings. That is one of the important focuses of this study…to pray for Jerusalem.

What is the ultimate reason peace eludes the holy city according to Luke 19: 41 – 44?
“As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, ‘if you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace – but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”

What is Christ called in Ephesians 2: 14?
“For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility.”

Write a prayer today for the peace of Jerusalem.
Remember, Psalm 122: 6
“May those who love you (Jerusalem) prosper.”

We will jump into Psalm 122 in our next week of study. For now, it is just important to understand the concept of the Psalm.