Songs Of Ascent

For Psalms 120–134, we find the interesting inscription “A song for the ascent to Jerusalem,” or, more literally, “A song of ascents.” What does this mean? What kind of psalms must these be?

Here are a few verses from these psalms:

Psalm 121:3

He will not let you stumble and fall;

the one who watches over you will not sleep.

Psalm 122:1

I was glad when they said to me,

“Let us go to the house of the LORD.”

Psalm 126:5

Those who plant in tears

will harvest with shouts of joy.

Psalm 127:1

Unless the LORD builds a house,

the work of the builders is useless.

Psalm 130:3-4

LORD, if you kept a record of our sins,

who, O Lord, could ever survive?

But you offer forgiveness.

Psalm 133:1

How wonderful it is, how pleasant,

when brothers live together in harmony!

Ever take a long journey with children? It isn’t easy. Most families, out of desperation, develop an assortment of games, puzzles, and songs to make the trip feel shorter. If you can find a song with a dozen verses, you’re doing well. “The Twelve Days of Christmas” is good for at least ten minutes, and that means ten miles closer to the next rest stop.

In biblical times parents had the same kind of problem, but, of course, in those days ten minutes didn’t mean ten fewer miles. Families were obliged to make three trips each year to Jerusalem to commemorate Passover, Pentecost, and the Festival of Shelters. If you had one donkey and five children, even fifty miles was a long journey. For safety reasons, you usually tried to travel with other families from your village, and this also helped to keep the kids entertained.

Adding to the challenge was the fact that much of the trip to Jerusalem was uphill. Mount Zion (where the Temple was located) certainly wasn’t anything like Mount Everest or Kilimanjaro, but traveling with children from Jericho, which is nine hundred feet below sea level, to Jerusalem, with an elevation of about twenty-six hundred feet, was a good climb for everyone.

This is probably where the “songs for the ascent to Jerusalem” (Psalms 120–134) came in handy. Pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem would sing them as they climbed up toward the city. It should be noted that these psalms were probably not originally written as “Music to Climb Hills By.” Instead, they were probably written for worship in the Temple (Psalms 122, 124, 134), for public singing (Psalms 123, 125), for national celebration (Psalms 121, 126, 129, 132, 133), or for private or family use (120, 127, 128, 130, 131). But because these psalms are all rather short and speak of things that were appropriate for a pilgrimage to the Temple, they were good for communal singing as a caravan plodded its way up toward Jerusalem.

What wonderful family vacations those must have been—with a spiritual end in view. Not a bad idea for these days as well. Why not use these psalms to give you refreshment as you make your spiritual “climb”?

A hand divine shall lead you on

And up the blissful road,

Till to the sacred mount you rise

And see your smiling God.

PHILIP DODDRIDGE