04/24/2025 – Day 298 – Psalm – Chapters 122 – 124 / Psalm 122 – “A Prayer for Jerusalem”
These excerpt commentaries are from “The Apologetics Study Bible”:
“122:1 The pilgrim psalmist reflected on the joy he felt when it was time to go to the holy city to observe the annual festivals. These times of celebration could extend for a week or more. Now the pilgrim found himself in the city, marveling at all its features.”
“122:4 The purpose of the people going to the festivals to worship was to ‘to give thanks,’ expressing their loyalty to the Lord and reaffirming their gratitude for His covenant blessings (on the meaning of ‘giving thanks’ in the Old Testament, see note on 118:19).”
“118:19 The ‘gates’ bring to mind the gates of the temple, through which the righteous would enter to praise the Lord for delivering them from death. The speaker approached the sanctuary voicing the ‘thanks’ of the people he represented. His thanks were not dimple gratitude; the Hebrew verb yadah signifies the lifting of the hand, in a gesture affirming loyalty to the Lord’s covenant.”
I’m reflecting on Revelation 21 – “The New Creation” and “The New Jerusalem”. “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea existed no longer. I also saw the Holy City, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.
“Israel’s Rejection Not Final”: “I ask then, have they stumbled so as to fall? Absolutely not! On the contrary, by their stumbling, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel jealous. Now if their stumbling brings riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full number bring!” Romans 11: 11-12
Soli Deo Gloria!