Exegesis of the Psalms – Songs of Ascents: Psalm 121:1-4 It is reasonable to take this psalm somewhat at face value. That this song is sung by a pilgrim as a prayer/petition for being kept safe on the journey of ascent to Jerusalem. The highway to Jerusalem was a dangerous road. And traveling along it posed many dangers such as heat stroke, physical distress, thieves and wild animals. Most of the psalms are said to have been written in the pre-exilic era between 1000-580 BC. 73 of the 150 psalms are attributed to David, of which are the songs of ascents. If David is our author, then we can narrow down the time it would have been written sometime between 1040BC -970BC. The psalms were collated into one anthology of hymns in the 5th century BC. When they became a tradition in being recited/sung along the pilgrimages I don't know. But it was during the post-exilic time that poetic activity bloomed. In Friedlander's The standard book of Jewish verse he says the piyutim, hymno
