Psalms 125-129

What’s Happening

Psalms 120-134 form a song book called “The Songs of Ascent.” Jerusalem, which housed God’s temple, was on a hill that worshippers would ascend to be in God’s presence. After God’s people were exiled from Jerusalem into wicked nations, they began to return in pilgrimages back to this mountain city of God’s presence. The Songs of Ascent were sung by travelers going up to Jerusalem out of exile and by those longing to ascend out of the nations. These 15 Psalms are organized into groups of five. 

The middle five Psalms, 125-129, tell the story of how exiled Israel will be restored to their land. These songs celebrate how God will remove all wicked nations from Jerusalem, creating a kingdom of eternal life and flourishing for his righteous people. This righteous kingdom will then overcome and heal the wicked nations of the earth.  

In Psalm 125, God promises to establish his kingdom by protecting the righteous and expelling the wicked (Psalm 125:2). The righteous will ascend and flourish in his kingdom upon a permanent mountain peak, while those who serve wickedness must traverse the crooked paths they chose down the mountain (Psalm 125:5). On the mountain peak, God will rule his people and protect them from any wicked king seeking to drag them back to exile (Psalm 125:3-4). 

In Psalm 126, the dreams of God’s exiled people start to come true. God begins to fill his righteous mountain with his exiled people from the foothills. God had promised Israel’s prophets and dreamers that he would bring them home, and now they were living that dream (Psalm 126:1). As Israel rejoices at their rescue, the wicked nations of the foothills surprisingly join the celebration, confessing that Israel’s God has done these great things (Psalm 126:2-3). God is mercifully filling his mountain with both Israelites and the repentant among the wicked nations. Wicked places watered with tears of repentance yield a harvest of returning exiles (Psalms 126:6).

In Psalm 127, the center of the Songs of Ascent, God’s people on the mountain grow his kingdom by bearing children of righteousness. The most famous righteous son in Israel’s history was King Solomon, who is credited with this psalm. In righteousness, Solomon built God’s temple on the mountain. But in wickedness, that temple was destroyed. Which is why the psalm admits that only the house God builds, guards, and provides for will make any lasting difference (Psalm 127:1-2). This house is not a home or a new temple, but the family of Solomon’s father, King David. God promised David that his children would rule in righteousness forever on God’s mountain (2 Samuel 7:16). The way God will make Israel flourish and spread his kingdom of righteousness across the wicked nations will be by multiplying children of righteousness to cover the earth (Psalm 127:3-5). 

In Psalm 128, the righteous children flourish in God’s mountain kingdom. They flourish because they righteously obey God as king (Psalm 128:1). Instead of their crops being ruthlessly taxed by wicked nations, they keep the food they grow (Psalm 128:2). Instead of their children being sold into slavery, they flourish and grow within the safety of their homes (Psalm 128:3). Those who obey God as the righteous king experience a flourishing life from generation to generation (Psalm 128:4-6). 

In strong contrast, Psalm 129 shows that there is no flourishing off of God’s mountain. While Israel lived under wicked nations, they used them like a farmer uses a field, plowing and planting on Israel’s backs for their own gain (Psalm 129:1-3). But God brings righteousness, freeing Israel from their captors and bringing them home (Psalm 129:4). In doing so, God plunders the wicked rulers of their slaves, bringing all their violent efforts to nothing (Psalm 129:5). They thought their wickedness would yield a rich harvest, but God’s righteousness ensures they take home nothing but withered grass clippings (Psalm 129:6-7). The wicked are kept from ascending God’s mountain and cut off from the flourishing of his righteous kingdom (Psalm 129:8). 

Where is the Gospel?

The story at the heart of the Songs of Ascent is the story of the whole Bible. Like Israel, all creation was in exile under the violent powers of wicked rulers (1 John 5:19). Under their authority, we sowed and reaped death into the world. Like Israel, the whole earth needed a king to drive out wicked rulers and rule over his people to make them righteous. We needed a king from the house of David who would defeat evil kings and cover the earth with his descendants (Romans 15:12). This king is Jesus. 

Jesus, the descendant of the house of David, inaugurated his rule by driving out wicked rulers from the land as he cast out demons (Matthew 12:28; 1 John 3:8). He called all who would hear to turn away from wickedness and join his kingdom of righteousness. But like all creation, Jesus was handed over to the authority of wicked nations and violent rulers (Isaiah 53:5). They exiled him outside Jerusalem and, on the cross, plowed his body into the ground of death. 

But like the wicked rulers of the nations, all their violent efforts came to nothing (Colossians 2:15). For Jesus rose from the dead as a conquering, everlasting, and global king. He was given the throne above every throne, not in Jerusalem, but on the Heavenly Mountain (Hebrews 12:22). From his seat of authority he is driving out wickedness by ruling his people in righteousness (Psalm 110:1). Through the Holy Spirit, Jesus has made countless descendants from the house of David who are fruitfully multiplying his kingdom in every nation on earth (Galatians 3:29). 

Now, anyone who builds their life under the righteous kingship of Jesus will be as immovable as a mountain. Jesus taught this reality in his own sermon on a mount (Matthew 7:24-25). The righteous who obey him as king will never be moved from his land, while the wicked who reject his kingship will be driven away. Ultimately, Jesus will return to our land and establish an eternal kingdom that no wicked ruler will ever lay claim to again (Revelation 22:3). 

See for Yourself 

I pray that the Holy Spirit would open your eyes to see the God who protects the righteous and rules over the wicked. And may you see Jesus as the righteous king who defeats the powers of wickedness to create a kingdom that covers the earth.