Psalm 121
I raise my eyes to the Mountain; * whence will help come to me?
My help will come from the home of Yahweh, * who made heaven and earth.
He will not put your foot in the Swamp; * your guardian shall not slumber.Indeed he never slumbers or sleeps, * the guardian of Israel.
Yahweh is your guardian; * Yahweh is your shade; * the Most High is your right hand.By day the sun * will not strike you * nor the moon at night.
Yahweh will guard you * from every evil * he will guard your life.
Yahweh will guard your going and your coming, * from now unto eternity.
A gradual canticle.
120:0 This is the second step. After praying for deliverance from his misery, here he shows that he has had confidence and consolation in prayer. He shows his consolation in two things: (1) in confident prayer, and (2) talking with his own soul: "He will not put your foot". In the first he shows (1) what he trusts in secondarily, (2) what he trusts in principally: "My help will come". In the first there is (1) the lifting up of his eyes to the saints, (2) his expectation of help from them: "whence will help come".
1. I have lifted up my eyes to the mountains, from whence help shall come to me.
I raise my eyes to the Mountain; whence will help come to me?120:1.1 The idea is: I called to you while I was in misery. In other words, still bent down on the first step and gradually moving up to the second, I raise my eyes, the inner eyes of my mind, whereas the raising of bodily eyes is a sign of pride. —Prov 30:13 the generation whose eyes are lofty and their eyelids are lifted high. —Sir 23:5 A brazen look allow me not. But it is good to raise one's mental eyes. —Gen 18:2 He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men stood in front of him. Where did you raise them? To the mountains, that is, the saints, who were lifted up to God by their lives, knowledge and charity. —Job 39:8 He ranges the mountains as his pasture, and he searches after every green thing. Those are the mountains balanced and distinguished by God. —Is 40:12 He weighed the mountains in a balance, and the hills on a scale. These are the mountains that the eternal sun illuminates —Ps 76:4 You shine wonderfully from the eternal mountains (Vul). And it inflames them with he heat of charity (Sir 43:4). The sun blazes the mountains in three ways: (1) to consume all malice in them, (2) to make them ardently love the good, (3) to make them emit the flame of good works. Our eyes should be lifted to these mountains: (1) that, seeing their ordered life, we might recognize our own devition and laziness —Job 33:27 He sings before men and says, "I sinned and did wrong". (2) that by seeing their purity, we may be ashamed of our impurity —Ez 43:10 Son of man, describe to the house of Israel the temple and its appearance and plan, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities, with a good shame. (3) that as books written by God, we may read in them what to do —Job 31:5 Oh, that I had the indictment written by my adversary. —2 Cor 7:2 Open your hearts to us; we have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have taken advantage of no one. (4) that we may conceive good plans for ourselves —Gen 30:42 With the weaker animals Jacob would not put the rods there. So the feeble animals would go to Laban, but the sturdy ones to Jacob. (5) that by their example we may trample on the evils of this world —Jer 45:4 What I have built up in virtue I am tearing down bodily; what I have planted in riches I am uprooting, even the whole land And do you seek great things for yourself? (6) that we may give thanks to God for the good things he gave them —Rev 4:11 You are worthy, Lord God, to receive glory, honor and power, because then everything will be chaste, because of your will. (7) that we may expect help from them, as is said here.
Whence, that is, from these mountains, help will come to me. For the saints help us by their prayers —Rev 5:8 Each held golden bowls of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. —2 Mac 5:14 This is a man who loves the brethren and prays much for the people and the holy city, Jeremiah, the prophet of God. —2 Kings 6:17 Yahweh opened the eyes of the servant of Elisha, and he saw the mountain was full of horses and chariots and chariots of fire around Elisha.
2. My help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
My help will come from the home of Yahweh, who made heaven and earth.120:1.2 Having shown those whom he trusted in secondarily, here he shows whom he trusts in principally, acknowledging (1) God's authority to help, (2) his power: "who made". The idea is: I confidently lifted up my eyes to the saints, asking help through them, but my help in the first place is from the Lord. —Is 50:7 The Lord Yahweh is my helper. —Hosea 13:9 Destruction is yours, Israel; but in me, as the principal author, is your help. —Deut 33:26 He rides through the heavens to your help. He it is who made heaven, all higher creation, and earth, all lower creatures. —Gen 1:1 In the beginning God made heaven and earth. —Is 45:12 I made the earth, and created man upon it; it was my hands that stretched out the heavens. —Col 1:16 In him all things were created in heaven and on earth.
3. May he not suffer thy foot to be moved: neither let him slumber that keepeth thee.
He will not put your foot in the Swamp; your guardian shall not slumber.120:2.1.1 Here he shows his confidence by speaking to himself, (1) praying for the Lord to preserve him in the step in which he is, (2) that he maybe confirmed in a better and more perfect good: "he will guard your life". In the first, (1) he makes is petition, (2) he shows the Lord's readiness to do what he asks: "Indeed he never slumbers", (3) he asserts with certain assurance that his petition is granted: "Yahweh is your guardian". In the first, there are two things pertaining to preservation in his present good step: (1) not to fall back into past sin, (2) not to grow lazy, which is a preparation for ruin: "your guardian". The idea is: My soul, your help is from the Lord, and so I ask him not to let your foot, that is, your affection, be moved to fall back by sin. This is what he asked in Ps 73:2 My feet had almost stumbled. The devil is happy and laughs at a foot moved like this —Ps 38:16 When my foot slips, let them not defame me. But whoever sets his foot firmly and directs it to good will have nothing to fear. —Prov 4:26 Survey the path for your feet, and let all your ways be sure. Only the Lord can do this. —Prov 3:26 Yahweh will be your confidence, and will keep your foot from the snare. Therefore —Prov 12:3 The root of the righteous will never be moved.
Your guardian shall not slumber in himself, for God never sleeps, but he may in you, by your laziness. He will guard you as he guards everyone else. —Job 17:20 If I sin, what do I do to you, Watcher of men? —Is 21:12 If you inquire, inquire; come back again. He is the Samaritan, which means "guardian", who took care of the wounded man (Luke 10) and, on his part, is always awake. —Jer 1:11 I see a branch of the watching—tree. —Wis 12:13 He cares for all. But sometimes he sleeps in the hearts of the lazy, as symbolized in Mt 8:25, where it is said that he slept in he boat.
4. Behold he shall neither slumber nor sleep, that keepeth Israel.
Indeed he never slumbers or sleeps, the guardian of Israel.120:2.1.2 Here he shows that the Lord is ready to answer both petitions, not to let your foot be moved and not to sleep. The idea is: I ask and I know, my soul, that he never slumbers or sleeps, the guardian of Israel. So he will guard you, if you want to be an Israel, that is, one who sees God. He guards you (1) by his grace —Job 10:12 Your visitation has preserved my spirit. (2) by the care of prelates and angels —Is 62:6 On your walls, Jerusalem, I have set watchmen. He will not sleep, as was asked, nor let you be shaken etc. —Is 5:27 None slumbers or sleeps, not a waistcloth is loose, not a sandal—thong broken. —Jer 31:28 I will watch over them to build and to plant, and I will guard those who were built and planted like a vineyard. —Is 27:31 I guard it night and day. This was meant by Jacob, who said (Gen 31:40): By day the heat consumed me, and the cold by night.
5. The Lord is thy keeper, the Lord is thy protection upon thy right hand.
Yahweh is your guardian; Yahweh is your shade; the Most High is your right hand.120:2.1.3.1 Thirdly, talking to his soul, he confidently asserts that he already has what he asked for, showing that God guards his soul (1) powerfully, (2) diligently: "By day the sun", (3) generally: "Yahweh will guard you". The idea is: I asked him to guard you, and showed that he is ready to do so, and so I consider my prayer answered, because Yahweh is your guardian in the good that you have, and Yahweh is your shade against falling back into evil. —Prov 2:7 He guards the health of rulers (Vul), and is a shield to those who walk in integrity. —Sir 51:2 You have been my helper against my adversaries. And that will protect you more strongly and powerfully than your right hand could. —Is 49:2 In the shadow of his hand he hid me, better than I could do for myself. —Sir 6:14 A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter. Moreover, our left hand is the power given to us by God to manage and preserve temporal things. For the left stands for temporal things, according to Cant 2:6 His left hand is under my head, that is, temporal things given to me by God are under my mind. But the right stands for eternal things, as the same verse indicates: and his right arm embraces me. The hand, however, stand for power —Prov 18:21 Death and life are in the hand of the tongue. So the idea is: The Lord guards and protects you, being above the power that he gave you to acquire eternal goods. For he gave you a power for eternal goods —John 1:12 He gave them power to become children of God. But with that power you cannot reach eternal goods unless he guards and protects them, holding and managing them, as it were, in his hand. —Is 41:13 I, Yahweh your God, hold your right hand. —Is 45:1 This is the word of Yahweh to his anointed Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before him.
6. The sun shall not burn thee by day: nor the moon by night.
By day the sun will not strike you nor the moon at night.120:2.1.3.2 Here he shows that God guards him diligently (1) in the prosperity of the day, (2) in the adversity of the night: "nor the moon". The idea is: He guards you strongly, and with him protecting and guarding you the sun of concupiscence will not strike you, burning up the good of grace and stirring up the flames sin, as in Mt 13:6 When the sun of concupiscence rose, they were scorched. And that was by the day of temporal prosperity. —Sir 11:25 On the day of prosperity do not forget adversity (Vul).
Nor the moon, which is fear badly humiliating the soul and making it unstable. —Sir 27:11 The godless man, like the moon, is inconstant — at night, the time of adversity. —Prov 31:18 Her lamp does not go out at night.
Or the sun stands for the divinity, which is light and the extremity of all light. —1 John 1:5 God is light, and there is no darkness in him. The day of this sun is wisdom. —Job 1:4 His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each on his day. The idea is: When you are looking for divine wisdom, Christ's divinity will not hurt you on the day of wisdom, as he hurt those in Prov 25:27 Whoever stares at majesty will be oppressed by it (Vul). But the moon stands for Christ's flesh. —Cant 6:10 Beautiful as the moon, bright as the sun. He is beautiful as the sun in his birth, bright as the sun in his resurrection. The night also stands for imperfect knowledge. —Ps 19:2 Each night discloses knowledge to the next. So the idea is: Nor will the moon, which is Christ's flesh, burn you by making you wander in the night of enigmatic and obscure knowledge. —1 Cor 13:12 For now we see in a mirror dimly. But we do not go astray; rather, we are led forward. —2 Cor 3:18 We are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
7. The Lord keepeth thee from all evil: may the Lord keep thy soul.
Yahweh will guard you from every evil, he will guard your life.120:2.1.3.3 He shows that God guards his soul generally. [Albert does not comment on this verse.]
8. May the Lord keep thy coming in and thy going out; from henceforth now and for ever.
Yahweh will guard your going and your coming, from now unto eternity.120:2.2 Here he specifies how he wants to be guarded: (1) in a consummate, perfect way. He asks to be guarded at the beginning and end of every work, so that, as the Gloss says, good results may crown good beginnings. (2) perpetually: "from now unto eternity". The idea is: I asked God to protect my soul, guarding my going out to do a good work and my coming in when it is finished. —1 Sam 29:6 You should march out and in with me. —John 10:9 If any one enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in to a good work and out when he finishes it, and find pasture, delight and spiritual refreshment in everything. —Rev 1:8 I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. And that he will do from now unto eternity, preserving you always. —Mt 28:20 I am with you always, to the close of the age. May he give us that who is blessed forever. Amen.