Psalm 120 – LORD, Give Me Peace

These 15 psalms are called “Songs of Ascent” in many Bibles. “Ascent” means “going up”. We have translated it “climbing”. But what are we climbing? Students of the Bible give us 4 possible answers:
1. One line in the psalm “climbs” on the line in front of it. This means that it repeats the line. Read the start of Psalm 124 Psalm 124:1-2a” for an example.
2. There were 15 steps from where the women stood to where the men stood outside the *temple. The *temple was God’s house in Jerusalem. As the men climbed the steps, they sang one psalm on each step. This is why most of these psalms are short.
3. Jerusalem was on the top of a hill called “Zion”. The *Jews often went to Jerusalem to worship God at the *temple. “Worship” means “Tell God that he is *wonderful. And tell him that you love him”. The *Jews sang these psalms for climbing as they went up the hills to Jerusalem.
4. Hezekiah was a king of the *Jews. He was so ill that he would soon die. He asked God for a longer life. God made the clock “climb” back 10 degrees. This was about an hour. It was a sign that Hezekiah would live for another 15 years. Hezekiah made a book of 15 psalms, 10 of them new, the other 5 by David and Solomon. The story of Hezekiah’s illness is in Isaiah chapter 38.
We do not know which of these is the true answer. It may be something else! Probably answers 3 and 4 together are the true ones.
Who wrote the psalms for climbing? Some are by David, and one or two are by Solomon. Solomon was David’s son. The other psalms for climbing may be by Hezekiah or one of his friends like Isaiah; or by Ezra or Nehemiah. Ezra and Nehemiah were leaders of the *Jews 500 years after Solomon built the *temple, or 250 years after Hezekiah was king. This was when the *Jews made the Book of Psalms. The psalms for climbing were part of this Book of Psalms.