Finding Encouragement for Our Journey in the Psalms of Ascent

Home. Hearing that word immediately places images within your mind. Dorothy Gayle was right, “there is no place like home.” Whether “home” evokes painful memories or pleasant ones, our hearts are longing for home. In one sense the Bible is a story about home. It’s a story of humanity dwelling with God, being booted from the Garden, and ultimately having our dwelling restored through Jesus Christ and culminating in “God’s dwelling place now among the people” (Revelation 21:1-4).

Along this journey from displaced to finally dwelling with God we find a group of fifteen psalms known as the Psalms of Ascent. These psalms (120-134) are all about getting back home—they are about dwelling with God. These psalms hold an important place within the story of God’s redemption.

What are Psalms of Ascent?

The Psalms of Ascent(s) have also been called the Song of Degrees, the Pilgrim Songs, as well as the Gradual Psalms. They are named this because of the phrase appearing before each psalm in Psalms 120-134. Each is called “a song of ascent” at the beginning of the psalm. The Hebrew term is maʿalot which means “going up.”

What does ascent refer to? The word itself can refer to steps as well as to a pilgrimage ascent. This has led some to believe that the fifteen psalms are representative of the fifteen steps leading up to the temple in Jerusalem. Most scholars, though, believe that the ascent is referring to the Israelites pilgrimage during the three annual feasts (see Deuteronomy 16:16). Jerusalem, positioned on a hill, meant that any surrounding villagers would have to be “going up” in order to worship at the temple. Others also see this as an ascent back to Jerusalem from exile. O. Palmer Robertson is likely correct in seeing a combination of these options:

“There seems to be no good reason not to understand the phrase as arising out of both the annual pilgrimages to Jerusalem and the return to Jerusalem from the exile. One psalm specifically refers to the “going up” to Jerusalem (Ps. 122:4). An exilic and postexilic editing of the ‘pilgrim’ songs seems evident in view of the inclusion in Book V of psalms clearly composed both during and after the exile (Ps. 137; 126).”

The various authors may also give the reader a clue as to the intention of those who compiled these psalms. King David wrote four of them, ten of them are anonymous, and the one written by Solomon (Psalm 127) holds the central position in these psalms. Several decades ago, Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg noticed a pattern in the authorship of these psalms. The first seven have two Davidic Psalms and five new ones which are anonymous, then the psalm authored by Solomon, and then another grouping of seven with two more Davidic psalms and five more anonymous psalms. This may give us a clue as to the story they tell.

Why Are These Psalms Set Apart?

If the psalms are structured intentionally, and it would be hard to argue they are not, then we must ask why an editor would have compiled these psalms in such a way? Why are these particular psalms set apart from the others? What story do they tell?

Imagine that you have been years in exile, booted out of your land because of your disobedience. The temple has been destroyed, the walls of your city are nothing but ruins, the rebuilding process has begun, but questions still linger. Will God be angry at us forever? Is God’s covenant with David still in force? Has the Davidic covenant failed because of our sin? These questions and many more would have permeated the post-exilic community. How do you encourage people to “go up” when the temple is no longer present? Are they now called to a pilgrimage unto emptiness?

Yet the temple was never an end in itself. Yes, it would be rebuilt. But even the second temple was not the main goal. It was always about the presence of God. The temple exists so that the dwelling place of God could, at least in some fashion, be with humanity again. These psalms of ascent are about restoration of the presence of God.

Consider Psalm 127. If Hengstenberg is correct and Psalm 127 is the interpretive center to the songs of ascent what do we learn from that particular psalm? Solomon, who built the original temple, begins with “unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.” This would serve as a reminder of those rebuilding. But even the mention of a “house” a “city” and “sons” would have been a great encouragement to the returning exiles. Again O. Palmer Robertson provides help as he notes,

“Placed deliberately at the pinnacle of the fifteen Psalms of Ascents, the principal terms of this psalm must be interpreted ‘by the interest of the collection.’ So the ‘house’ to which this psalm refers is the house of the Lord, as specified in Psalms 122:1 and 134:1. The ‘city’ of this psalm is not simply any city that any person proposes to build, but Jerusalem, the locale of the Solomonic temple, as mentioned in Psalm 122:3. In similar fashion, the ‘sons’ that are a heritage of the Lord are first of all the ‘sons of David,’ as more fully developed in Psalm 132:11–12, another member of the Psalms of Ascents collection.”

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The Psalms of Ascent are a call to once again pursue a dwelling with God. As Hebrews 13:14 would later say “For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.” It was never about a specific stretch of land as much as the temple and the land was always pointing to where God’s people are headed; namely, for God to make His dwelling with humanity in joy for all eternity. This call of the exilic community still resonates today.

There is another theory concerning the structure of these psalms. Some have hypothesized that these psalms are set apart as they are as a restoration of the Aaronic benediction (Numbers 6:24-27). It’s possible that you have heard this benediction even in your church.

“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”’

The Lord “blessing,” “keeping,” and being “gracious” and “giving peace” are themes throughout the Psalms of Ascent. As an example, it’s not difficult to see Psalm 121 as a fuller expression of God’s keeping of His people. If this is the case, it would be encouraging to the returning exiles who are approaching Jerusalem as pilgrims. To receive this priestly blessing would have been balm to the weary soul. These words can still encourage us today.

Why Should We Read and Study the Psalms of Ascent?

The language of a pilgrimage is a helpful metaphor for our walk with Christ. It’s not surprising, then, that the second greatest selling book of all time is about a pilgrimage (The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan). The Psalms of Ascent are like an earlier version of Bunyan’s classic work. They picture for us what it means to follow after Christ into the presence of God.

Eugene Peterson explains the metaphor of these psalms: “the trip to Jerusalem acted out a life lived upward toward God, an existence that advanced from one level to another in deepening maturity…” These would have been songs that the Lord Jesus would have likely memorized and sang as he traveled to Jerusalem. Should we not, then, also make this part of the songbook we sing on our journey back home? Peterson is likely correct, “there are no better ‘songs for the road’ for those who travel the way of faith in Christ.”

As you read through these fifteen psalms, you are introduced to themes of repentance, God’s presence, God’s protection, God’s mercy, God’s help, God’s goodness, His sovereignty. The reader is also reminded to seek help in God alone and that joy is only found in the Lord. Many of these psalms are short and easy to meditate upon as you go throughout your day. It may also be helpful to read them alongside a helpful devotion (Peterson’s A Long Obedience in the Same Direction is perhaps the best).

We Too Press Onward

Some day all those who are “in Christ” will be finally home. Revelation 21 paints a beautiful picture which goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden; namely God with His people. Revelation 21 is the culmination of God’s plan to rescue all that which was lost in the fall. Our hearts’ desire to be home will finally and fully be fulfilled. But in the meantime, just as those of the post-exilic period who compiled the psalms of ascent, we wait and we journey forward. We trek and we climb to further experience the presence of God.

Ultimately this presence of God is won for us in Christ Jesus. These are foremost His psalms. It is Christ that we follow into the presence of God. But as we journey through life, we value this ancient songbook. The psalms of ascent remind us of our goal and press us forward, in Christ, into attaining that for which we seek.

Sources

Robertson, O. P. (2015). The Flow of the Psalms: Discovering Their Structure and Theology. Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing.

Eugene Peterson, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, 18, 19

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