Psalms 122:1

1 When they said, "Let's go to the house of God," my heart leaped for joy.

Psalms 122:1 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 122:1

I was glad when they said unto me
Or, "I rejoiced in", or "because of, those that said unto me" F2; or, "in what was said unto me". For it may regard not only the time when he had this pleasure of mind, but the persons who gave it, as well as the ground and reason of the things said unto him, as follows:

let us go into the house of the Lord;
the house of the sanctuary, as the Targum; the tabernacle, the place of divine worship, typical of the church of God; which is an house of his building, beautifying, and repairing, and where he dwells: it has all the essentiality of a house; its materials are lively stones; its foundation Christ; its pillars ministers of the word; the beams of it stable believers; its windows the ordinances; and the door into it faith in Christ, and a profession of it. Now it is both the duty and privilege of believers to go into it; here they find spiritual pleasure, enjoy abundance of peace and comfort, and have their spiritual strength renewed, as well as it is to their honour and glory: and it becomes them to stir up one another to go thither; some are slothful and backward; some are lukewarm and indifferent; some are worldly and carnally minded; and others are conceited of their knowledge, and think themselves wiser than their teachers, and therefore need to be excited to their duty; and truly gracious souls are glad when they are stirred up to it, both on their own account, and on the account of others, and because of the glory of God.


FOOTNOTES:

F2 (yl Myrmab) "in dicentibus mihi", Montanus; so Ainsworth, Vatablus, Cocceius; "in his quae dicta sunt mihi", V. L. so Junius & Tremellius.

Psalms 122:1 In-Context

1 When they said, "Let's go to the house of God," my heart leaped for joy.
2 And now we're here, O Jerusalem, inside Jerusalem's walls!
3 Jerusalem, well-built city, built as a place for worship!
4 The city to which the tribes ascend, all God's tribes go up to worship, To give thanks to the name of God - this is what it means to be Israel.
5 Thrones for righteous judgment are set there, famous David-thrones.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.