The righteous guarded by fear of God amid enemies

For those from circumcision despise him, because with unforgetting memory he keeps the ordinances of God (Psalm 118:162 [119:162]).

The saying also has David’s own particular meaning: when he was pursued by Saul without cause and out of envy, his fear of God restrained him from taking vengeance. But it extends also to the common case, that there is no other way to escape wars of princes unharmed unless one is guarded by the fear of God.

After the gift of wisdom he asks again for salvation from dangers. This too is a reward for his willing zeal for the divine law (Psalm 118:173 [119:173]) (Psalm 119:174-175; LXX 118:174-175).

So then he was truly saying just now that he awaited eternal salvation, and now also, longing for it, he has made this the goal of his study of the law. For he says that he will live again and praise God, helped toward this by his all-wise judgments (Psalm 119:175). This is Christ, who comes down in place of human beings to the saving death for human beings, and by his suffering redeems those in sufferings, and by his death redeems the dying. And in accordance with this there follows, “My soul will live,” and what comes after (Psalm 118:175 [119:175]).

This was so immediately after the first apostasy of the human being, when Cain by deceit struck down his brother, and it is so throughout the whole present age, as is shown in other cases and in the present matter. So the person who looks to God, worn down and afflicted by this, asks for salvation from him. He does not foresee the cessation that will come then, when he is brought up to dwell in the peaceful city, with good and bad alike sharing its citizenship (Psalm 120:5; LXX 119:5).

Another passage also indicates the foreign land in one respect, into which Israel fell and sojourned, and that his sojourning was extended to the greatest length. Prophesying in lament he brings this out so that it reaches also to the present condition; for this is the longest sojourning (Psalm 120:5).

For the good and godly keep peace as far as depends on them and with all human beings, whenever there is no need of judicial punishment such as God commanded against the Canaanites and Amorites, forbidding friendship with them (Psalm 120:7). But the wicked and those who do not know God would never enter into friendship with the good; rather they abhor godliness, and they do not receive kindly anything good from the godly, nor are they tamed by their kindness.

He calls mountains here the invisible and heavenly powers. And while he awaits help through them, he says that the help does not originate from them but from the Creator (Psalm 120:1b-2 [121:1b-2]).

It is a joy to hear what is said by the angels, clearly the ones who speak to the prophets and who, as it were, lead the herd of Israel. Such is the one made known through Zechariah, interceding for fallen Jerusalem and speaking of her future dwelling (Psalm 122:1; LXX 121:1b). The psalmist says that he rejoiced when he heard these things, and that he foresaw the secure dwelling in the holy city and, as it were, perceived the matter as present prophetically. For this is what “Our feet were standing in the courts of Jerusalem” means (Psalm 121:1b-4 [122:1b-4]) (Ps 122:2). The standing of feet is the immovable dwelling which the holy prophets also proclaim. The opposite of this was when, according to the history, God shook the foot of Jerusalem from its own land. So the psalmist speaks of the rebuilding of the city, seen by him as also by Ezekiel, and says that the building is of a city united—not, clearly, in the customary way of walls uniting it, but of the inhabitants united to one another. Therefore he did not say “city” but “as a city” having its joining together at once. For neither Ezekiel nor Zechariah declares that it will be inhabited under walls, but unwalled, and that its wall will be the Lord, since God is the guardian and holder together of the unity of the saints. He interprets the unity as being through the inhabitants themselves, saying, “For there the tribes went up, the tribes of the Lord, a testimony to Israel, to give thanks to the name of the Lord” (Ps 122:4). Not because walls were thrown around them were they united, but because they themselves were united through themselves. It is a testimony to Israel, clearly witnessing to the truth of the promises, and to give thanks to the name of the Lord, because confession of grace is owed by the beneficiaries to the one who fulfilled the wonderful promise.