In Mesech and Kedar.
This psalm is a piteous declaration of the unhappy lot of him who is surrounded by the false, the treacherous, and the cruel. They of Mesech—the Moschi of Herodotus (see Exposition)—dwelt where now the horribly bloodthirsty Kurds have their habitation, who of late years have horrified all Christendom by their barbarous atrocities inflicted on the Christian Armenians. Amid men of such sort the psalmist is complaining that he has to dwell (Psalms 120:5). It is a tale of treachery and cruelty that he portrays or rather suggests to us in this psalm. Concerning all such men of lying lips, we learn—
I. THEY ARE THE DISTRESS OF THE GODLY. How many a faithful missionary, amid similar hordes, has felt his heart die down in hopeless despair as he witnesses their horrid cruelty and deceit! We at home forget too much this special trial of the missionary. Nothing but the abundant supply of the Spirit of all grace can possibly sustain him amid such sad and revolting circumstances. If he gets used to them, and so indifferent to them, he can no longer be a true missionary; nor either if he fears them or yields to despair about them. And in less unusual form, God's servants may yet have to say, "My soul is among lions" (Psalms 57:4). Many a God-fearing working man amid a crowd of godless mates, many a Christian servant-girl amid companions who have no love for God, many a young disciple of Christ in school or office,—these and others like them know by sad experience the treachery and cruelty of the ungodly.
II. THE AWFUL AND OVERWHELMING WRATH OF GOD AWAITS THESE PERSECUTORS. (Psalms 120:3, Psalms 120:4; see Exposition for meaning.) The false and lying tongue is often likened to fire, fire of hell, to sword and sharp arrow, and now here it is declared that what such tongue hath sown, that shall it also reap (cf. Psalms 57:4; Psalms 64:3; Psalms 55:21; Psalms 59:7; James 3:6; and especially Psalms 140:9, Psalms 140:10). Sometimes even in this world we see the Divine vengeance poured out on those who have played the part of bloody and deceitful men towards the people of God. In the persecuting ages it was not unusual nor unnatural for the persecuted ones to point out, as proofs of the Divine wrath, the fearful deaths which overtook many of their persecutors. True it is today that he who blesses the servants of God is blessed, and he who curses them is cursed.
III. IT MAY NEVERTHELESS BE APPOINTED FOR GOD'S PEOPLE TO DWELL AMID SUCH SURROUNDINGS. The great missionary command involved the possibility of such sojourn. If we are to go into all the world, we must expect to meet with what the world has to offer. And, in God's providence, we often have to go and dwell amid, not the friends but the foes of God. The soldier in the field, the sailor, the boy at school. It may be God's will for us. But—
IV. THEM ENMITY MAY OFTEN SEEM TO BE EXCITED BY THAT WHICH SHOULD MAKE IT ASHAMED. (Psalms 120:7.) Not all at once will the Spirit of peace prevail.
V. BUT NOTHING CAN ROB THE BELIEVING SOUL OF ITS BLESSED RELIEF AND REFUGE IN GOD. (Psalms 120:1.) The first verse relates what really follows on the facts told of in the other verses. Call upon, cry unto the Lord, and he will ever help.—S.C.