03/11/2021 – Day 298 – Psalms 122 – 124 // “The Joy of Going to the House of the Lord”
I was reading through this during lunch. I am in a period where time seems even more precious. So, I am a little bit more limited in the amount of research I can do. That’s ok in these three chapters, God’s sublime Truth rings out without much commentary needed. But verse 122:5 cried out to me for a commentary look up, in this case I chose John Gill’s verse by verse exposition of the whole Bible. Check this one out!:
Psalm 122 – A song of Ascents. Of David.
First the verse itself: “For thrones are set there for judgment, The thrones of the house of David.”
Now explore this commentary including a full reading of the referenced verses that relate to it from other books of the Bible:
https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/gills-exposition-of-the-bible/psalms-122-5.html
For there are set thrones of judgment
In Jerusalem as the Targum; here were courts of judicature, and thrones for the judges to sit upon, to execute judgment and justice to the people;
the thrones of the house of David;
the Targum is,
“thrones in the house of the sanctuary, for the kings of the house of David;”
who might sit there, as the Jews say, when others might not. 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 lesser matters pertaining to this life, but such as regard the spiritual peace and welfare of the church and interest of Christ; having laws and rules given them to go by, in the admission and exclusion of members, and respecting their conduct to each other, and to their Lord and head: and in the New Jerusalem there will be thrones set, 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 ) ( Revelation 20:4 ) ( 22:3 ) ( 3:21 ) .
Explore , reflecting and praying over these verses, and you will be amazed! Using Tim Keller’s phase: Who am I that I have an invitation to join the “eternal dance” of the Triune God. There is certainly a confirmation for me of the body of Christ being always connected, souls that have passed through this world, are here now, and those yet to be born. The later is not biblically supported per se, but did not the Lord tell Jeremiah that he knew him before he placed him his mother’s womb?
In the desert, the people worshipped in the tent of meeting. And after the first temple of Solomon and up to time of Jesus , Herod’s temple, the temple was the epicenter of worship. But God is omnipresent. And with the diaspora after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., temple worship has not returned to this day. The Sadducees, the temple priests disappeared from the scene.
Concluding verse in our reading in Psalm 124:
Psalm 124: 7-8: “Our soul has escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowlers; The snare is broken, and we have escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.”
Soli Deo Gloria!