Page 84 - The Poetic Books - Student Text

be shot full of God’s arrows. “It is said that the root of the broom tree yields a charcoal that retains its
heat for a long time. Legend has it that travelers who, having cooked their food on a fire made from
these roots, and having returned to the same spot a year afterward, found the embers still alive! A
similar thing happens in punishment. Whereas the arrows of untruth are shot forth in an instant, the
arrows of God’s punishment on all who thoughtlessly steal the good reputations and worth of their
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neighbors will last for a long time.” This too reflects the victory promised in Psalm 2. The wicked will
be dashed to pieces by God’s King. (120:3-4)

The pilgrim develops a longing for life to be different. Meshek and Kedar were foreign locations. Kedar,
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for example, is the name of a nomadic people who lived on the edges of Palestine to Mesopotamia.
Isaiah prophesied their downfall in Isaiah 21:16-17. The pilgrim may have lived among them or he may
have likened his neighbors in Israel to these people. He describes himself as a man of peace, but those
around him hate peace. They prefer war which explains their tendency to lie. They are willing to do
anything to get what they want. (120:5-7)

The psalm is not an encouraging one. It begins with distress and ends with war. As a first pilgrim step, the
testimony of the writer is most necessary. “I call on the LORD in my distress and he answers me (v. 1).”
He has transitioned from one of the wicked (1:1, 4, 5, 6) to one who trusts in God and his Messiah rather
than in himself (2:12), while the writer does not say how he has managed to make peace with God.

Nowhere in Psalm 1 or 2 does the word “peace” (shalom) occur, but it is implied strongly. Peace is the
result of a wicked person kissing the son (2:12). The OT word for peace has with it the understanding of
completion or wholeness. The law insisted on one person making amends for hurting another. He had to
complete the situation. He had to make it whole. If an animal fell into an uncovered pit, the one who
opened the pit “must pay the owner for the loss and take the dead animal in exchange (Ex. 21:33-34).”
The words “must pay” and “exchange” are related to the Hebrew word “peace.” For peace to return
between two people, restitution had to be made. No one could avoid hurting another in some way. So
“peace” often involved this concept of repayment.

“Peace” occurs 29x in Psalms, not counting words derived from it. The lack of peace is a result of God’s
anger over sin (Ps. 38:3 where “health” is shalom). The believer’s hope is in God’s promises of peace to
his people. “Surely his salvation is near those who fear him” (Ps. 85:8-9). A person must either make
restitution for his own sins or accept God’s method of restitution. Isaiah wrote of one who “was pierced
for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on
him, and by his wounds we are healed (53:5).” So, the man of peace in Psalm 120 is not just one who
tries to get along with his neighbors. He is one who trusts in God for his own salvation and speaks of this
same salvation with those around him. Restitution, true peace, can come in no other way.

138 Kaiser, 26.
139 J. D. Douglas, New Bible Dictionary (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1962, s.v. “Kedar,” by K. A. Kitchen.
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