THEME overview of the Psalms of Ascents 120-124

Theme Overview of Psalms 120-124

& the Pilgrimage Feasts 

Song of ascents Psalm 126:3

In my last blog the exegesis of psalm 123 part 2, I discovered that chiasmus might be in use linking all the 'psalms of ascents' together. What an exciting avenue to look into I thought. Of course proper study demands I do my research. Has any one else come across this idea? Of course I noted many scholars discuss and show that the Hebrew poet does often use chiasmus but I didn't find anything noting particularly that these 'psalms of ascents' are under chiastic structure. Thankfully the Lord is faithful and I did come across some research that I found very promising.

As a person developing my exegesis and semantics study, it is great to be able to make suggestions about what the text is saying without being certain or finding others in agreement. But when you do find others have discovered and made these suggestions as well, it is so fun! The research and proof I found blew my mind and opened up more questions and avenues that will have to be explored in the future. 

Now I had intended to add this portion as my introduction to the exegesis of psalm 124 but realized that this requires a bit more time and tangential additions to cover what comes up from identifying chiastic structure. Because this has a great deal of implications. What we will end up doing is having an overview of the themes of the psalms and look at the chiastic line scheme. We will look at their chronological order and possible timeframe of when they were written. And we will discuss the ballad of 'the psalms of ascents'.

The idea is to take notice of the larger song being sung in this post, the ballad that the group 'songs of ascents' make. So I believe it is important to discuss the feast pilgrimages as well. This is where we will begin this blog. 

The Introduction to the Biblical Pilgrimage Feast is a link to video that I watched on this topic. Most of what I share in the section 'Let's talk about the feast's of Israel' is transcribed from Yoel Berkowitz from this video. You can watch it to get the full context.

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So the proof that I found concerning chiasmus was put together by Hajime Murai, who has quite literally laid out all chiastic structure in the Bible here bible literary structure. What a phenomenal resource! This site shows a great deal and literally shows that it is not just the 'psalms of ascents' that are grouped together by chiasmus but the entire book of Psalms. The main bulk of his work is solid, but I will say that I don't agree with everything exactly as it is. For example, he lays psalm 123 out as an A B C A' B' whereas I see it as ABB'A' CDD'D''.

Obviously, the ancient Hebrew absolutely love using chiasmus. Which was something Cotterell and Turner talked about in Linguistics and Biblical Interpretations. I want to talk about this and about whether chiasmus is more Greek or Hebraic at a later time. This also continues to make clear how much the Hebrew poet loved repetition, correspondence and parallelism. And these are things I want to talk about more at a later time as well. As these things help us understand the ancient Hebrew poet and poetry better, especially parallelism which is the favorite figure of speech the Hebrew employed.

But firstly, the identification of chiastic structure tells us that I had thought the book of psalms was just pieced together somewhat randomly like the type of hymn book I might find in a church, which is actually very foolish and ignorant. This also amazes me because we do know that these psalms are not written by the same person or same time period therefore the individuals who produced and compiled the psalms into a book, the Tehillim, did so with great care and attention. There is a deliberate arrangement thus a deliberate message and deliberate purpose. It seems so obvious now. We can look into this topic more later as well. 

Secondly, that understanding the main subjects and themes of the psalms will be way less guess work because the poetic structure tells us what it is. My mom said "oh it's like guard rails" and I thought that was very true and thoughtful :). So the chiastic structure of the entire book and subgroup of chapters really actually gives us a great deal of information and acts as a guide that helps us with direction and clarity for understanding the purpose and message of each movement, that is each individual psalm. 

These things have pointed me to believe and suggest that there is one main story that the book of psalms is. There are many stories being told (for example, psalm 119 is a closed circuit/sub-group just like I am now able to say the 'songs of ascents' 120-134 are a closed circuit) but within one larger story. Is there any commentary that supports this that I can look at? 

Low and behold, after doing a quick search I found there are many biblical doctorates that have written books and discussed this very idea. But here is the podcast I listened to from Dr Michael Heiser and Dr David Mitchell discussing mainly the eschatological nature of the book (The Psalms and Eschatology ). 

Eschatological is the last things, end times things. So this is an interesting concept. We have already noted how deliberately arranged this book is. So what is the main story being told? Is the song that is being sung just the story of Israel and worship (focusing on the past)? Some doctorates argue this. 

Or is it also somewhat eschatological? Is this telling us about the future, the messiah coming and the final salvation of Israel? In the podcast above Dr Heiser and Dr Mitchell discuss the theory that it is the story of the past, present and future. It is the story of Israel being cut off and a Messiah coming and dying, then coming back to life and the salvation of Israel and the nations being brought back into the fold, the coming of His kingdom and worshiping the Lord. I can see now that after I finish my series on the 'songs of ascents' I will have to take on the entire book of psalms. For the heart in me that seeks to know will have to due the work to find out exactly what the main story is as any good student should.

In this podcast Dr Mitchell suggests the main theme and purpose of the ballad of the 'songs of ascents' is about going up to tabernacle with the Lord for the appointed feasts (he mentions zechariah 14:16-20).

I'm quit impacted by all this. Because I see now each psalm in this ballad is a micro story to the macro story 'songs of ascents'. And that the psalms of ascents are a micro story in the macro story that the book of psalms is. But also that the book of psalms is a micro story in the macro story to the entire book/bible is. Heehee it's like an expanding Mandelbrot. 

And again it all seems so obvious and I wonder why I didn't see it before. And it actually becomes quit shocking and stunning because when you start to see these things the intricacy and intelligence and ingenuity that put this all together blows the mind. Anyone with study in literature and linguistics will agree. Especially because it was done over centuries with multiple minds, yet this is where you know it couldn't have been accomplished without a divine hand guiding it. 

Wow, "How great are all thy works YHWH, how very deep is Your thinking" (psalm 92). It is interesting that the word for works can mean acts, deeds, possessions such as art crafts and can specifically mean a poem. And the word for thinking can mean thoughts, plans, imaginations and designs. How true this verse is to me today. I love it when a bible study pondering brings forth a verse and I experience it in such a new and deeper way.

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But now it seems that I have come back full circle to an argument I was making in the first post in this series here exegesis of psalm 121 part 1. In which I stated that these poems had not originally been written specifically for the feast pilgrimages. Yet now I understand, that this is true, but the scribes/priests who put the book of psalms together did choose these poems specifically and ordered them specifically for this purpose, of being recited on the way to Jerusalem or/and at the altar as one beautiful ballad. Now that doesn't mean we are meant to interpret what is written from the pilgrims point of view. We discussed this in our exegesis of psalm 121 part 2 when we talked about incorrectly understanding this to be about keeping the pilgrim shaded on the road or safe on the journey up. But it does mean this ballad we have discovered is there, it is the song for the pilgrim, and the pilgrim is using it to express a point. We see there is clear intention that the psalm would bring the pilgrim through each part of the ballad one psalm at a time and each have a specific reflection or experience to go through.   

We remember from our exegesis of psalm 123 part 1 that Psalm is for the Hebrew mizmor which comes from lizmor, which means to weed, to pull out. So this ballad we discovered is intended for cleansing the heart on the way to Jerusalem. So we know that each psalm has a specific intention emotionally and spiritually and each psalm is a musical movement. When we look at psalms 120-124 further down we will identify the themes and subjects of these movements and discuss their importance. And I will share what I think the song for the pilgrim is saying. 

Let's begin with the big overarching understanding of the cultural importance of the feast pilgrimages. Then we can discuss the sub-group song marked as the 'songs of ascents' as a whole and then its parts. Knowing what song is being sung will help us understand the importance of each part.

SO LET'S TALK ABOUT THE FEASTS OF ISRAEL

We want to remember that the Torah was given, at mount Sanai and this was the time when the Lord redeemed the people of Israel from the house of slavery and gave them a new covenant, the covenant of the torah. He made a promise that He would bring them into the promise land, which would be the house of the Lord. These feast days were in the Torah as ordained by the Lord to be kept thus they were essential pieces in covenanting with the Lord/being in relationship with the Lord.

We will look at Leviticus 23 and Exodus 23 and Deuteronomy 14.

The Three Feasts of Pilgrimage

 Exodus 23

14Three times a year you are to celebrate a feast to Me.

15You are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Breada as I commanded you: At the appointed time in the month of Abibb you are to eat unleavened bread for seven days, because that was the month you came out of Egypt. No one may appear before Me empty-handed.

16You are also to keep the Feast of Harvestc with the first fruits of the produce from what you sow in the field.

And keep the Feast of Ingatheringd at the end of the year, when you gather your produce from the field. 17Three times a year all your males are to appear before the Lord GOD.

18You must not offer the blood of My sacrifices with anything leavened, nor may the fat of My feast remain until morning.19Bring the best of the first fruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God...

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So three times a year, wherever you are, you are going walk, journey to specifically, (what we learn later on) where G-d will cause His name to dwell. So in this covenant context we start to learn that there is covenant year. And you are walking through that year together as a people, as a community and it is significant how it is walked corporately. G-d is inviting all the people, and He wants to see them. By asking them to come G-d is saying, 'I want to see you! Wherever you live come to My presence'.

Passover & first fruits	Feast of Harvest	Tabernacles
barley harvest	wheat harvest	fruits of trees
Jesus dies on the cross & Jesus rises from the dead	Holy Spirit falls	Jesus the bridegroom returns for his bride.

Now verse 17 is telling us that it is the men of the household who are responsible for bringing their families (it is not saying only men are to go up).

The word sacrifice in verse 18 is zebach but its origin is connected with the word mizbeach which means altar. So you are coming to the alter and there you bring your sacrifice. So we are to understand that the bringing of the first fruits to the house of the Lord is to be within the context of worship. 

So worship to our modern day and cultural context we might think of something like singing and making declarations or praying. But in the ancient near east, what does worship to them mean? specifically in the Bible and the context od Hebrew culture, worship is coming to an altar and an altar is for bringing sacrifice. And sacrifice is facilitating the acts of worship.

Now we read later in scripture that there is a Levitical choir that facilitates the singing of psalms around the altar and music and dance. So we see that these are times of celebration. So worship begins at the altar and radiates out into all sorts of activates that are really quit important.

So we are noting this connection with sacrifice and worship. This act of giving up as  a way to worship the Lord. And we consider this when we think of Jesus and how he sacrificed Himself for us. He has become our propitiation offering in perpetuity.

Now the altar is a table. The table is a representation of family and love and enjoyment. So 3 times a year the Lord was inviting the people to His table.

Now the request for the first things from us is something that reveals the hearts of each man. We find it hard to part with the best things. But this giving up of the first things, firstly honours the Lord but is also an act of cleansing and learning at the same time. What are we learning? The fear of the Lord. What are we cleansing? Pride and self worship. Deuteronomy 8 reminds us saying:

17You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” 18But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.

So we give to G-d what belongs to Him, which is the best. Let us not forget that He is giving back everyday more then what we offer Him. This giving is also a thanksgiving for this covenant of protection and provision.

So we live a covenanted life with G-d. And these feasts are a way to give to the Lord and celebrate what He has provided. So 3 times a year, you have a harvest and you bring it into His house and this is a celebration of His return(giving) to you.

So now lets look at Deuteronomy 14 starting with verse 22 which is a further explanation. Duterononmy shows us that time when the Israelites are so eager to enter the promise land and this book is a reminder, a covenant renewal. And this passage is important for us to understand because it helps us understand the spirit of these festivals.

22You must be sure to set aside a tenth of all the produce brought forth each year from your fields. 23And you are to eat a tenth of your grain, new wine, and oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks, in the presence of the LORD your God at the place He will choose as a dwelling for His Name, so that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always.

So you can't just eat it at home you have to bring it to G-d. So Jerusalem is the place where He will cause His name to dwell. What does this mean? Simply put, a name is a reputation. Hebrew names are declarations. Like Joel - the Lord is G-d. What is the meaning of G-d's name then? And how do people experience Him? G-d is compassionate, long suffereing, abounding in covenant faithfulness... and this is the way He is to be expereinced. These are the characteristics of G-d's name. So people are to live in the character of Him. We are to be patient, compassionate, giving, etc. So that then His attributes would describe your character. And this is what we often mean when we think of following Jesus and being made into his image. 

So when these things are your character then the name of G-d becomes tangibly visible. And there we behold His glory and that is His name dwelling in Jerusalem. And there is where we are to bring our harvest, our tithe and there you eat it.

Now why? SO THAT YOU MAY LEARN TO FEAR THE LORD YOUR GOD ALL YOUR DAYS. and this expression is put for revere in this instance, so worship. So, at the altar is where you learn to worship Him and where learn to make this choice. So everything that is given is part of the practice that learns you the fear of the Lord.

Now we remember that this is a time in which community comes together at the table/altar. And through this ordained feast the Israelites were learning together and growing up together, supporting each other and celebrating together. These were corporate feasts, that as a nation they celebrate as a family, with the Lord at His table.

26Then you may spend the money on anything you desire: cattle, sheep, wine, strong drink, or anything you wish. You are to feast there in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice with your household. 27And do not neglect the Levite within your gates, since he has no portion or inheritance among you.28At the end of every three years, bring a tenth of all your produce for that year and lay it up within your gates. 29Then the Levite (because he has no portion or inheritance among you), the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow within your gates may come and eat and be satisfied. And the LORD your God will bless you in all the work of your hands.

So buy whatever you want! Eat whatever you want to eat! From the tithe that is taken for this celebration table. So that we see that the father buying whatever they want for his family is actually a representation for the Heavenly Father buying for all of the family.

And this is one of the ways the Lord raises up children in Him. It is the solution to raise up the next generation to want to worship the Lord and preventing the tragedy of the next generation falling away from the Lord. Culturally, unless you were very wealthy we want to note that people were not eating a lot of meat throughout the year. So this played into the excitement and joy and exuberance of this festival. These feasts are about the blessing of prosperity, but also how good it is for brothers of the tribes to dwell all together, relationship with each other and the living G-d. So verse 27 and 29 reminds us not to abandon those who do not have a harvest at this time but to take care of them as well. 

Now we will only briefly mention Leviticus 23 . I will only note the thing that stood out to me the most. But I would encourage you reader to read through the entire chapter. So Leviticus 23 notes that these are holy gatherings. And says 4These are the LORD’s appointed feasts, the sacred assemblies you are to proclaim at their appointed times. And we see that these are the Lord's holy times. Historical we think of these as the Jewish feasts, the Israelite's holy times. But biblically we see that these are G-d's appointed times that He has asked the Israelite's to keep. And we are to proclaim them, not just to each other internally wihtin the nation but to all the nations. And this is so His name would go out among the nations. So lets note how these are divinely or eternally set in the creation of the heavens and earth.

CHRONOLOGY

Well, I have been looking at a few different time lines and will share links but I am going to stick with this one from chronological order working-summary-of-the-psalms. Reminder that the scribes who compiled the Book of Psalms did so in the 5th century AD. All 150 psalms had been written at different times for various reasons by multiple different authors over about an 1,000 year period of time. Yet most of the poetry that makes up the psalms was written during the time when David was king between 1012-972BC. This was a time in which musicians and poets had formed guilds which were very active until the time of exile. David had employed 4,000+ musicians during his reign. The poets and musicians had a very important role and part in Israelite society during this period and daily praise and worship through music was setting a standard for corporate worship in Jerusalem.

Again, sometime in the 5th century AD is when a group of scribes anthologized these 150 selected pieces of poetry into the one book known as the Tehillim or Psalms. As was mentioned above, they were very deliberate and thoughtful for how and where they put these psalms in order. And even grouped them into sub-groups(closed circuit anthologies), of which is our Psalms 120-134 notated as SONGS OF ASCENTS.

I don't know how accurate this timetable is, but it gives us some insight. Other timeline links: kukis.org/Psalms/Psalm_order, blueletterbible.

	Author	When it may have been written (suggested)	Scripture (suggested)	Time	Chronolgical order  1-150
PSALM 120	believed to be David	After he spared Saul's life in the cave	1 samuel 20-24	1015 BC	11
PSALM 121	believed to be David	After Saul and Jonathan were killed in battle	1 Samuel 28-31	1015 BC	20
PSALM 122	David - actually noted in scripture	After David's sin with Bathsheba	2 Samuel 11-12, 1 Chronicles 20	1015 BC	87
PSALM 123	believed to be David	After Saul and Jonathan were killed in battle	1 Samuel 28-31	1015 BC	21
PSALM 124	David - actually noted in scripture	After Saul and Jonathan were killed in battle	placed after 2 Samuel 8	1015 BC	22

A rough timeline of Israelite Captivity: ~1429BC-1313BC IN EGYPT → ASSYRIAN CAPTIVITY ~722 -734 BC → Babylonian Captivity 598BC - 538BC

THE BALLAD OF THE SONGS OF ASCENTS

So now that we understand the pilgrimage feasts are a time of worship(coming to the altar), sacrifice(givign the best portion to the Lord), celebration, community, a time of joy and enjoyment, to table with the Lord, come into His presence, and of course, a time of remebrance and renewel by remberance.

In Exedus 12 the word says concerning the feast days 14‘So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance. 

So what are they remembering? How the Lord YHWH brought them out of the house of slavery in Egypt and brought them into the promise land and to holy mount Zion.

And what are they renewing? The covenant their forefather's made with YHWH at Mount Sinai.

So we Find that the heart of this ballad 'songs of ascents' lays in remembrance and renewal. 

 PSLAM 12O: The first Psalm of ascents starts out by telling us 'I will tell you a story. There was a time I was in trouble and the Lord helped me'. So this bigger song that the piglrim is singing is about telling the story of when the Lord brought the house of Israel out of Egypt, out of oppression from a foreign nation. And this psalm focuses not on the deliverance aspect but on the recompense part. 

What we saw in our exegesis was this - the deliverance of the servant (the house of Israel or the righteous) from the liars (unfaithful nations or the wicked). And the themes are: deliverance→recompense.

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PSALM 121: Now the theme in this pslam is: The Lord as thy Protector/Guardian, the greatness/capableness and willingness of Him to fight for you. So that the message that comes through is a declaration that the Lord YHWH is thy master. And great reverence to Him as He perfectly fulfills that role. And that song that the pigrim is singing is now in a movement that acknowledges how 'the sun did not smight them by day nor the moon by night', but rather the Lord brought them out of the land of Egypt against all the adversity (verse 5). That the Lord 'Protected there lives and watched over there going out of Egypt and going in to the Promise land' (verse7-8). And this is about how the Lord will always look after them, for BEHOLD, the Lord the God of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps (verse 4).

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PSALM 122: I have not completed my exegesis of psalm 122. I may return to this portion and make edits as I understand more. I will say that this psalm had evaded me for a while which is why I had been skipping over it. But that as I have been learning and moving through these other psalms, especially with the research and thought this post has required, more is coming to light.

I have come to see pslam 122 as Israel or our poet kowtowing and prostrating themself declaring they are the servant. I think this is some sort of covenant psalm. It is like a knight going before a king and pledging fealty. And I will explore that more later in my exegesis. Yet as I have been reflecting on the meaning and purpose of the feasts I begin to understand the mood of this psalm and it is not as somber as I thought. It is actually the opposite and a very glad and joyful psalm.

For the main themes are: the house of Israel is the servant of the Lord and Jerusalem is their home and refuge where G-d dwells. Also Jerusalem represents the land as a heritage to the people of Israel (ps 135). These three things are a each a big deal with their implications to the house of Israel, all the tribes and each individual.

Jerusalem represents to the pilgrim a home and not just a home but one in which the Lord YHWH dwells and has tabernacled with His people. In the song of remembrance that we are noting here, there is a passive (unspoken by stating the opposite) remembering how once they had no home, destitute, homeless, shamed. Remember this passage in Joshua 5:9 in which it says, "Then the Lord said to Joshua, 'Today I have rolled away the reproach of your slavery in Egypt'".

There is a lot more to understanidng contempt from a cultural viewpoint of teh Isaerlite that I still dont understand. But this verse in Joshua, it implies that contempt is even something like long lasting reproach, like 400 years of slavery. Like a reputation of shame, so that being under contempt is being put to shame for this. This is important when looking at the next psalm 123.

To have a home and place in which the Lord dwells is a great joy that the people had hoped for with great despair for hundreds of years. Jerusalem represents this shining gift and fulfilled promise and peace to them. In verse 6-9 we have a petition to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. This is a prayer that Israel will always have their home, that they will always be able to tabernacle with the Lord. The underlying voice of the poet and I believe so too the pilgrim is joy and relief because they have a home and the Lord is dwelling there too.

The pigrim is happy in this movement of the song. The Mishnah even gives this vivid description, "The people in the villages assemble in the principal town of their district. They pass the night in the open streets. At the break of dawn their leader calls out: 'Arise! Let us go up to Zion, to the house of our God!' All along the way these pilgrims sing psalms in unison, the favorite one being: 'I was glad when they said unto me, let us go unto the house of the Lord' " (Ausubel, 397).

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PSALM 123: This is a petition for deliverance. The themes are: Needing the Lord's help, deliverance and the contempt of the proud. This is that cry to take away the contempt of having been in slavery for 400 + years that psalm 120 mentioned.

So for the pilgrim, this would be a remembrance of the oppression of Egypt. The ancient Israelite often uses this technique when telling a story. They often begin with certain elements like praise and reverence and then they retell a time of suffering. SO psalm 120 told us we are being told about a deliverance/ recompense story. Psalm 121 brought us through a movement of reverence while declaring the Lord as master. Then psalm 122 brought us through a movement of gladness while declaring Israel as the servant. Now in psalm 123 it restates these two declarations and then makes a petition for deliverance from the oppresion and contempt of a foreign nation.

This movement of our Ballad is the first part of the story that we are told in psalm 120. The focus is deliverance and the thing they need deliverance from - the contempt of the proud. So that the song in the pilgrims heart is singing something like, 'Save us and bring us out from under the hand of Egypt, of slavery! How terrible this yoke of slavery is, How great a burden!' Psalm 120 and 123 are directly linked through correspondence and cotext for each other so that I can suggest parralleism makes it that we can say this is also what is being said here 'wow is me for I dwell in foreign nations! I have been under this burden of oppresion and wickedness for too long!' (psalm120:5-6)

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PSALM 124: It is so interesting then that our first verse in psalm 124 is linked to the last verse of pslam 120 through parralleism. This pslam is a thanksgiving psalm. It begins by saying, its because the Lord is on my side that I was delivered from that oppression and contempt.

the themes are: thanksgiving, praise and blessing - all to the Lord.

This psalm is the answer to deliverance petition. The thanksgiving and praise and blessing to the Lord for delivering them.

While I began to exegete this pslam from the poet's perspective, the metaphor that is used didn't really stand out to me. But now, in understanding the song of the pilgirm and thus also the intention of the scribes who composed this ballad by choosing which poetic pieces to put together to make up these songs of ascents...that we are using direct language about the Lord not letting Israel's enemies swallow them alive. Not letting the waters enguld them. And that in rememberance of leaving Egypt - this is the thanksgiving for what the Lord did when He did deliver them. Because this was the exact recompense the Lord employed agaisnt Egypt. The Lord brougth Israel through the Red sea and then engulfed Egypt in literal waters. And the Lord literally swallowed Egypt alive and the raging waters washed over their souls. This may be type of antithetic parallelism. 

So we see deliverance and recompense going hand in hand. I actually think this is quite masterful of the scribes. And am even more convinced of where my understanding of this ballad, is taking me.

These are my findings on the ballad as of right now. We have only discussed thie first 5 pslams. There are 10 more to go. We will stop and make overview like this as we continue. But for now, let us look at the poetic structural elements a bit more. And getting a better visual of chiasmus and correspondence through the psalms. 

SUBJECTS AND THEMES - STRUCTURE BREAK DOWN

 I want to break down the structure, make clear the main sibjects and also minute themes, and identify the cross pattern throughout these pslams.

Let's start first with looking at the subjects and themes and how correspondence links them. We briefly did this in the last post. we will embellish this here. Let us remember that we just discussed that the main purpose of the feasts is to worship the Lord as a community. And to come into His presence and share a table with Him.

	TYPE	MAIN THEME	Major Subject	Minor subject
PSALM 120 A	Narrative	Power of the Lord	Recompence of the wicked	oppression from wicked nation, deliverance
PSALM 121 B	Reverence	magnify the Lord	The Lord is my guardian (master)	Looking to the Lord for help
PSALM 122 C	Covenanting	fealty to the Lord & Jerusalem house of the Lord	I am the servant of the Lord	Tabernacling with the Lord or dwelling with the Lord
PSALM 123 A'	Petition	Deliverance  Looking to the Lord for help	The Lord is my guardian/master & I am the servant of the Lord	contempt of the proud/ oppression from wicked nation
PSALM 124 B'	Thanksgiving	Bless the Lord, praise and gratitude	Power of the Lord & Recompence of the wicked	magnify the Lord

Just looking at the themes of the psalms, we actually see that the individual psalms themselves create the X patter of chiasmus more clearly.

POETIC STRUCTURE

Now we will address the cross patterns through psalms 120-124 and I want to keep my eye on the minor theme of peace we see running through these psalms. These letters in bold x] mark lines. The additions in parenthesis with the words such as reverse, antithetic, or complete refer to the type of parallelism in use and acknowledgements that it is a line repeated passively. I do not lay out the individual psalms following this exact chiastic pattern. Hajime Murai does. You can see the layout of line scheme that follows the above pattern here on Hajime Murai's site psalms 120-124 by chiastic structure. I'm still trying to process all this information. I may eventually lay these psalms out like Mr. Murai but I have to take each step one at a time and it's important for me to visually see where I am at as I digest the information of each psalm and each line.

Psalm 120 - The story of YHWH's Deliverance

A] I call on the Lord, He answers

B] Deliver me from the wicked (petition)

C] The wicked will be recompensed

D] Wrath and Power of the Lord

E] Woe is me, I live among the enemy

E'] I have been overwhelmed by the burden of living among mine enemy

F] I have peace because I am in relationship with YHWH

Psalm 121 - YHWH Israel's keeper, Relationship with YHWH

G] I look to YHWH, who is my help 

G'] Reverence, the Lord is my help

(complete F) H] The Lord instructs and keeps you

(complete F) H'] Behold The Lord instructs and keeps you

I] The Lord is thy Guardian/Protector over everything

I'] The Lord Guards/Protects over everything

J] The Lord guards your life, against all wickedness

J'] The Lord guards your life, always and forever 

Psalm 122 - Jerusalem Israel's home & Relationship with YHWH

K] joy, GO to Jerusalem - the house of the Lord

K'] STAND in Jerusalem (all the tribes)

K''] UNION/ALLIANCE in Jerusalem (all the tribes)

          L] give thanks to the Lord, K, K', K'' repeated 

equals - ordinance for feast pilgrimages

M]  in Jerusalem - thrones/authority of Israel - abide/dwell 

- for Judgement/ceremony/custom/ordinance  

N] (petition) Peace to you Jerusalem, and those who love you prosper

N'] Peace to you Jerusalem, prosperity to you

N''] for UNIONITY I pray peace to you Jerusalem

O] because of Jerusalem, I desire/seek/procure

Israel's joy/favor/bounty/good/prosperity

Psalm 123 - Israel cries out from bondage for the Lord to help

Petition for deliverance from the contempt of ungodly nation

            G & G'] I look to YHWH, who is my help, reverence

(reverse I & I')     O] like this, utterly dependent and reverent

(reverse I & I')    O'] like this, utterly dependent and reverent

 (complete G&G')  G & G', P] Israel looks to YHWH, with deep reverence for help/mercy

P & E'] Be merciful/gracious - petition (2x), we are overwhelmed

Q] from contempt

Q'] from scoffing of a nation at ease

Q''] from the contempt of the proud/oppressors

 Psalm 124 - Praise and Bless the Lord for He delivered us

R] - if not the Lord is on our (Israel's) side (He Guards/Keeps)

R'] - if not the Lord for us, when a nation came against us (Israel)

S] we would have been destroyed when they came against us

S'] we would have been fully destroyed

S''] the nation against us would have fully destroyed us

(complete J& J')    T] Bless the Lord who has helped us

(reverse J& J')   U] Israel escaped the trap of the enemy

G'] Reverence, the Lord is my help

CONCLUSION:

In this post I am focused on the ballad that the 'song of ascents' is singing. The song of the pilgrim's heart which is about coming up out of the house of slavery and into the house of the Lord. I want to start by suggesting from out of Egypt. It can also be and became about coming out of exile from Assyria and Babylon as well. I do believe that for the people of Israel, it became a song about hope and freedom from any nation they were under oppression.

This song is one of a people to their God for deliverance from any yoke of opression. And it's about the deliverance that Jerusalem represents and is to them. Their home. And not just any home, but in which YHWH dwells with them. For 400+ years the Israelites may have never dared to hope even a little, to dream even a little for it is like sand slipping through one's fingers. They had no home. And the time they wandered in the wilderness they saw this dream but it was like a mirage. Jerusalem embodied the fulfillment of a hope that was so painful to believe in. A hope so long hoped for. While I was writing this paragraph, I was trying to think if there is a passage that expresses this and then I remembered there is. And it happens to be a psalm of ascents.

 "When the Lord brought back the captive ones of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter and our tongue with joyful shouting; then they said among the nations, 'the Lord has done great things for them'. The Lord has done great things for us we are glad". Song of Ascents Psalm 126:1-3

As much as this ballad is about the deliverance of Israel, it is also the expressed joy of coming home to Jerusalem. And if deliverance has come, then recompense has been given. And if the lost ones have come home, then the promise has been fulfilled.

Jerusalem represents community, family, freedom, safety, and the fulfillment of a promise that the Lord made with them. It represents union and tabernacling with the Lord. It also speaks of the Israelites heritage - to be written in the book of life. And it expresses the reputation of YHWH. As one who does protect and keep Israel. As one who is able to guard against all wickedness. As the one enthroned in the heavens!

Even now in modernity, this ballad transcends just the remembrance of their time in Egypt or exile in Babylon to the nation of Israel. It can even be about the deliverance from the persecution and contempt that took place in Europe and Russia in the past few centuries. This ballad fulfills this ability to be sung at that time in the past, here now in present, and at any future time. 

Ausubel wrote" They were, everlastingly, the victims of social scorn and religious oppression, and were denied even the most elementary of human rights. The ancient Liturgist and the [recited texts] tried to express the sense of humiliation and rejection that Jews felt when they regarded their status as outcasts in society."(Ausubel, 324). He seems to say that the focus is on that contempt and scorn but even more so now than before I am seeing the focus and main mood of this ballad is joy and thanksgiving. This is a song that is trying to express the great joy of coming out from underneath that great humiliation and rejection. Joy and gladness are the focus of this ballad.

This ballad is the voice of the exiles petition and woe but then also the gladness for coming home. It is the sigh of relief for the Lord lifting off the yoke of oppression from foreign nations. It is the turning the eyes upon holy mount Zion, the symbol of home and hope and union with the Lord. It is the expressing of great joy and delight of the pilgrimage feasts in which the tribes come together in brotherhood and worship the Lord. It's about coming to table and tabernacle with the Lord God Almighty. "Bless be the Lord, who has not given us to be torn by their teeth!" (psalm 124:6)

MEDITATIONS AND QUESTIONS AND EXTRA STUDY:

Do you think that we as modern day Christians should keep the festivals?

Meditate on how Jesus is our sacrifice for every feast pilgrimage. How do we bring Jesus as a sacrifice to the altar?

Read through the entire chapter of Leviticus 23 & Deuteronomy 8 & 14.

take a look at: The importance of the altar https://christianitypath.com/the-alter-a-place-of-worship-bible-study/

WORKS CITED:

Bible, Multiple translations pulled from biblehub.com.

Ausubel, Nathan. The book of Jewish Knowledge. 1964.

Crown Publishers, INC. New York USA.