If You Dwell In Meshech

Psalm 120

A song for the ascent to Jerusalem.

1I took my troubles to the LORD;

I cried out to him, and he answered my prayer.

2Rescue me, O LORD, from liars

and from all deceitful people.

3O deceptive tongue, what will God do to you?

How will he increase your punishment?

4You will be pierced with sharp arrows

and burned with glowing coals.

5How I suffer among these scoundrels of Meshech!

It pains me to live with these people from Kedar!

6I am tired of living here

among people who hate peace.

7As for me, I am for peace;

but when I speak, they are for war!

Evidently Thomas Carlisle, the clever English writer, did not appreciate the company he had at a London dinner party. He described it to a friend as “babble, babble,” and then, referring to Psalm 120:5, commented, “Woe is me, that I in Meshech am!”

Several hundred years earlier some Benedictine monks were dismayed by the lack of the spirituality in their order, and they described their plight as “sojourning in the tents of Kedar.”

What is this Meshech and Kedar language all about?

Meshech was a barbaric tribe far north of Israel; Kedar was an amoral clan to the southeast. The psalmist was probably not actually living in their midst, but he felt as if his neighbors were living like barbarians (as Carlisle felt) or lacking any spiritual sensitivity (as those Benedictine monks felt).

It isn’t easy to live in such circumstances where gossip, slander, and filthy talk are commonplace. But as Charles Spurgeon once said, it’s sometimes easier to “live a holy life in a city warehouse than it is in a divinity school.” We can always choose to follow God’s way, regardless of the fact that we are surrounded by the people of Meshech and Kedar.

Should burning arrows smite thee through,

Strict justice would approve.

But I had rather spare my foe

And melt his heart with love.

ISAAC WATTS

Bible Networking

The Bible has a lot to say about the devastation a “deceptive tongue” (verse 3) can cause. See Jeremiah 9:8; James 3:6; Matthew 15:11; and Romans 3:13.

Notable Quotable

“This little passage is a classic comment on the incompatibility of light and darkness. The New Testament counsels the Christian in this context against two opposite errors: compromise (2 Corinthians 6:14ff; 1 John 2:15ff) and animosity (Romans 12:14-21).”

DEREK KIDNER