Psalm 122—A Song of Ascents. Of David.
1 I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go into the house of Yahweh.” 2 Our feet have are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem! 3 Jerusalem is built as a city that is compact together [united], 4 Where the tribes go up, the tribes of Yah, to the Testimony of Israel, to give thanks to the name of Yahweh. 5 For thrones are set there for judgment, the thrones of the house of David. 6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May they prosper who love you. 7 Peace be within your walls, prosperity within your palaces.” 8 For the sake of my brethren and companions, I will now say, “Peace be within you.” 9 Because of the house of Yahweh our Elohim I will seek your good.
“’I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go into the house of Yahweh.’ (1) on Mount Zion. “These words.. must be unfolded and laid before the eyes of the faithful… What notable thing can we see in these words, if we only behold the stones, timber, gold, and other ornaments of the material temple? But to go into the house of Jehovah signifieth another manner of thing; namely, to come together where we may have God present with us, hear His word, call upon His holy name, and receive help and succour in our necessity.” (Martin Luther) But even more particularly, “God had often told Moses, that his Sanctuary would one day have a certain and fixed place of abode; yet from the time of Moses, for the space of more than a thousand years, the Ark of the Covenant had been carried about from place to place, as if it had been in a state of pilgrimage. At length it was revealed to David, that mount Zion was the spot where God would have his ark to be settled, and his temple built. Now, as David himself received this revelation with exceeding great joy, so he affirms that he was glad to find the whole people with one consent agreeing thereto.” (John Calvin)
“The ark, 'the heart of the Israelite religion' (Hengstenberg), had been just brought up to Zion by David (2 Samuel 6:13). Traces of pilgrim procession to it appear in Psalms 42:4; Psalms 55:14. I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord. Each one is glad at the other saying so. Isaiah 2:3 refers to this. What in early times the pilgrim Israelites used to say, that in Messianic days shall the pagan nations say to one another.” (Jamieson, Faussett, Brown)
“’Our feet,’ which were wont to wander to and fro, as the ark moved ‘have been standing within your gates, ‘are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem!’ (Geneva Study Bible) “The ark, it is true, dwelt a long time in Shiloh, (1 Samuel 1:3).” (Calvin) But alas, the caravan entered Jerusalem, “stretching up their hands in gestures of joy, cried out, ‘The Holy City! The Holy City!’—and fell down and worshipped; while those who were behind pressed forward to see.” (Edward Payson) “’Jerusalem.’ It matters not how wicked or degraded a place may have been in former times, when it is sanctified to the use and service of God it becomes honourable. Jerusalem was formerly Jebus -- a place where the Jebusites committed their abominations, and where were all the miseries of those who hasten after another God. But now, since it is devoted to God's service, it is a city -- ‘compact together,’ ‘the joy of the whole earth.’ (3)” (William S. Plumer) “‘Jerusalem is built as a city that is compact together,’—- the admiring language of the pilgrims.” (Jamieson Faussett, Brown)“Jerusalem was compactly built; every rood of ground, every foot of frontage, was valuable; house was joined to house; those who had gardens had them beyond the city walls, among the ‘paradises’ of the valley of Jehoshaphat.” (Samuel Cox) “It may be used, too, to illustrate the spiritual Jerusalem, the Church, ‘builded together for a habitation of God through the Spirit.’ Eph 2:21-22.” (Daniel Whedon)
“There is no such oneness in all the world as among true Christians; and this the very heathens observed and commended. As the curtains of the tabernacle were joined by loops, so were they by love. And as the stones of the temple were so close cemented together that they seemed to be all but one stone, so was it among the primitive saints.” (John Trapp) — “’where the tribes go up,’ etc. not some few pious people of each tribe, as in Saul’s time and under the judges, but whole tribes; nor only one or two of the tribes, as it was during the late civil wars, but all the twelve tribes.” (Matthew Poole)— The tribes are ‘the tribes of Yah,’ as being the keepers of His commandments.” (H. T. Armfield)— “Not ‘unto the testimony of Israel,’ [or Ark of the Covenant] as in our English version. The Hebrew simply reads, ‘A testimony to Israel’; that is, it was a testimony, or command to Israel to assemble three times in a year for sacrifice and worship at the place which God should designate, which was now Jerusalem. See Exodus 23:14-17; Exodus 34:23; Deuteronomy 16:16.”” (Daniel Whedon) Admittedly, “The ark was so called, in regard of the tables of the covenant kept therein, as two letters of contract between God and men, saith Aben Ezra; those two tables are called the testimony.” (John Trapp)— ‘to give thanks to the name of Yahweh,’ (4)
“‘For thrones are set there for judgment. “The ‘For’ implies that its promotion to be the religious metropolis is due to its being the civil capital of the nation (2 Sam 5:9; 6:16). For it had been ordained (Deut 17:8-9) that the place for judgments should be the place which the Lord should choose for the sanctuary. The plural, ‘thrones of judgment,’ refers to the bench of judges, who derived their authority from the king (cf. Isa 32:1).” (Jamieson, Faussett, Brown)—'the thrones of the house of David [are also set there].'—the royal throne allotted by God to David and to his posterity for ever.” (Matthew Poole) There sits also the king’s magistrates. “There sits the Sanhedrin (Num 11:16), and there resides the royal house of David." (Mudge) “In the church of Christ, the heavenly Jerusalem, every saint is a king, as well as a priest, and all have thrones and seats there; have a power of judging.. not only for the twelve apostles of Christ, and for the martyrs of Jesus, but for all the saints; there will be the thrones of God and of the Lamb, and every overcomer shall sit down on the same; this honour will have all the saints, Matthew 19:28.” (Gill)
“‘Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.’ They shall prosper; or, let them prosper; the future being taken imperatively, as is very frequent. The Lord grant them prosperity and all happiness. ‘May they prosper who love you.’ (6) ‘Peace be within your walls;’ in all thy dwellings. ‘Prosperity within your palaces;’ (7) especially in the court and the dwellings of the princes and rulers, whose welfare is a public blessing to all the people.” (Matthew Poole) “The favour of God prosper you both within and without.” (Geneva Study Bible) “In effect, the poet wishes shalom and shalvah on shalaim—‘peace’ and ‘prosperity’ on ‘the City of Peace.’” (Samuel Cox) “For the sake of my brethren and companions, I will now say, ‘Peace be within you.’ (8) Not only for my own sake but for all the faithful.” (Geneva Study Bible) “’Because of the house of Yahweh our Elohim I will seek your good. (9) Where David’s heart was, and wherein he held it a happiness to be but a doorkeeper, Psalms 84:10, so much endeared unto him was God’s sincere service.” (John Trapp) Jerusalm was now “the seat of [Jewish] religion, the place where our merciful God has condescended to dwell.” (Adam Clarke) "We ought to pray for the prosperity of [true] religion… for in her peace we shall have peace and prosperity of every kind. Our neighbours also shall have peace, for the covenant blessings are entailed on them. Our children likewise shall have peace. A religious influence promoted in a town, or in a nation, sheds the influence of heaven on all around. Let us therefore love Zion, for it is God’s house; and let us risk both life and fortune to seek its good.” (Jospeh Sutcliffe)