Psalms 122:2

122:1-5 The pleasure and profit from means of grace, should make us disregard trouble and fatigue in going to them; and we should quicken one another to what is good. We should desire our Christian friends, when they have any good work in hand, to call for us, and take us with them. With what readiness should we think of the heavenly Jerusalem! How cheerfully should we bear the cross and welcome death, in hopes of a crown of glory! Jerusalem is called the beautiful city. It was a type of the gospel church, which is compact together in holy love and Christian communion, so that it is all as one city. If all the disciples of Christ were of one mind, and kept the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, their enemies would be deprived of their chief advantages against them. But Satan's maxim always has been, to divide that he may conquer; and few Christians are sufficiently aware of his designs.

Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem. Which is to be understood not merely literally of the city of Jerusalem, and of continuance in the possession of it, it being lately taken out of the hands of the Jebusites; but spiritually of the church of God, which is often called by this name; the gates of which are the same as the gates of Zion, and the gates of wisdom, the word and ordinances; attendance on which is signified by "standing": and which also denotes continuance therein: and happy are those that are within these gates, and have a comfortable assurance of their abiding there; and still more happy will they be who will be admitted within the gates of the New Jerusalem, which are said to be twelve, and every, one of them of one pearl; and through which none shall enter into the city but pure and holy persons, Revelation 21:2 .

Verse 2. - Our feet shall stand ; rather, stand , or are standing . The pilgrim-band has entered the city, and is on its way to God's house. Within thy gates, O Jerusalem. Jerusalem has its "walls" (ver. 7) and its "gates" set up, which suits the time of David, not that of Ezra or Zerubbabel. Psalm 122:2

2 . Our feet shall stand ] The verb cannot be rendered thus. It may mean ‘have been and still are standing,’ hence R.V. are standing ; or were standing, which is the most natural rendering. The somewhat unusual combination of the participle with the substantive verb may be an indication of the lateness of the Psalm (the idiom is common in Nehemiah), but it gives prominence to the idea of duration (Driver, Tenses , § 135. 5). It suggests that when the pilgrims reached the city gates, they halted for a while, spell-bound by the sight of its magnificence, and by the memories of its ancient glories. 2–4 . The arrival of the pilgrims, and the impression produced by the sight of the city.

Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem - We shall enter the sacred city. It appears now in full view before us - its walls, its palaces, its sacred places. We shall not stand and gaze upon it at a distance; we shall not merely be charmed with its beauty as we approach it; we shall accomplish the object of our desire, and enter within its walls and gates. So the believer approaches heaven - the New Jerusalem above. he will not merely admire its exterior, and look upon it at a distance; but he will enter in. He draws nearer and nearer to it, and as he approaches it when he is dying, its beauty becomes the more charming to his view, and the joy of his heart increases as he now feels the assurance that he will "stand within its gates:" that he will enter there, and dwell there forever. So said Dr. Payson, when approaching the end of life: "The celestial city is full in my view. Its glories beam upon me, its breezes fan me, its odors 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." Works, i. 407. See also the exquisite description of the glories of heaven, familiar to all, as described by Bunyan, as the Christian pilgrims were about to cross the river of death.

The preterite שׂמחתי may signify: I rejoice ( 1 Samuel 2:1 ), just as much as: I rejoiced. Here in comparison with Psalm 122:2 it is a retrospect; for היה with the participle has for the most part a retrospective signification, Genesis 39:22 ; Deuteronomy 9:22 , Deuteronomy 9:24 ; Judges 1:7 ; Job 1:14 . True, עמדות היוּ might also signify: they have been standing and still stand (as in Psalm 10:14 ; Isaiah 59:2 ; Isaiah 30:20 ); but then why was it not more briefly expressed by עמדוּ ( Psalm 26:12 )? The lxx correctly renders: εὐφράνθην and ἑστῶτες ἦσαν. The poet, now again on the journey homewards, or having returned home, calls to mind the joy with which the cry for setting out, "Let us go up to the house of Jahve!" filled him.

When he and the other visitors to the feast had reached the goal of their pilgrimage, their feet came to a stand-still, as if spell-bound by the overpowering, glorious sight. (Note: So also Veith in his, in many points, beautiful Lectures on twelve gradual Psalms (Vienna 1863), S. 72, "They arrested their steps, in order to give time to the amazement with which the sight of the Temple, the citadel of the king, and the magnificent city filled them.") Reviving this memory, he exclaims: Jerusalem, O thou who art built up again - true, בּנה in itself only signifies "to build," but here, where, if there is nothing to the contrary, a closed sense is to be assumed for the line of the verse, and in the midst of songs which reflect the joy and sorrow of the post-exilic restoration period, it obtains the same meaning as in Psalm 102:17; Psalm 147:2, and frequently (Gesenius: O Hierosolyma restituta). The parallel member, Psalm 122:3, does not indeed require this sense, but is at least favourable to it. Luther's earlier rendering, "as a city which is compacted together," was happier than his later rendering, "a city where they shall come together," which requires a Niph. or Hithpa. instead of the passive. חבּר signifies, as in Exodus 28:7, to be joined together, to be united into a whole; and יחדּו strengthens the idea of that which is harmoniously, perfectly, and snugly closed up (cf. Psalm 133:1).