“I will lift up my eyes unto the hills—From whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven
and earth. He will not allow your foot
to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper; The Lord is your
shade at your right hand. The sun shall
not strike you by day, Nor the moon by night.
The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul. The Lord shall preserve your going out and
your coming in From this time forth, and even forevermore.” -Psalm 121 (NKJV).
The
theme of this song is the great safety of the godly who put their trust in
God’s protection. This psalm was
probably used as an antiphonal hymn. In
our day we would call it a responsive reading.
A note explains that it is “a song of degrees.” This means that when the people approached
the Temple in Jerusalem, or maybe a synagogue in other towns, they would form a
processional and sing this hymn, with the first group singing verses 1 and 2
(as it is divided now), a second group singing verses 3 and 4 and thus
continuing until the end of the psalm.
Imagine how they made the hills resound as they ascended to the Temple
in Jerusalem. It must have been a
beautiful processional, with zeal and reverence surrounding those who declared
their trust in the one true God who protected them all the time and under any
conditions, and moreover was the keeper of their soul forevermore.
In
this short psalm of eight verses, the word “keep” and its synonyms are used
over and over. Imagine going in a group
along the dangerous roads in Palestine to Jerusalem for worship and festival
days. They could easily be beset by
robbers. The hot sun by day and the cool
desert nights would make travel hard and uncomfortable. Even against the elements the Lord gave his
protection. He kept unsure feet from
stumbling. This is to be understood in
both a physical and spiritual sense. He who made heaven and earth would protect
his people and keep them safe day and night from every evil that lurked about
them.
As
they traveled they might see look on the mountains and see shrines made to
idols, false gods that had no ability to help those who worshiped them. The question then takes on deeper
meaning: “From whence comes my help?” The
immediate and sure answer is “My help
comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.”
God’s faithful people looked beyond the hills dotted with idol
groves and thought of the Almighty Creator who made the heavens and earth, the
One who never slumbers nor sleeps, the ever-watchful, ever-caring Father. In the sentence “The sun shall not strike you by day nor the moon by night” there is
a double meaning. The Jews followed a
lunar calendar. So here the psalmist is
referring not only to being protected from the strong rays of the hot sun by
day and from the chill and discomfort of the much colder nights. He is referring to days (ruled by the sun)
and months (ruled by the moon).
Therefore, God’s protection lasts through days and months, from season
to season.
He
keeps us from all evil. It is true that God has created us to have
free choice. We make up our own minds
whether we will follow and obey Him or be distracted and led astray by all
manner of evil. In God’s grace, He turns
what is evil away from us, and from the trials and troubles of life we can gain
good and grow stronger in the Lord. Paul
wrote of this in Romans 8:28: “And we know that all things work together
for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His
purpose.”
Read
Psalm 8 again, prayerfully and meditatively.
Thank God for His protection and care.
We read in Psalm 73: 23, 26: “I am continually with You; You hold me by my
right hand. You will guide me with Your
counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.
My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my
portion forever.” Praise be to God!
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