Psalm 120 "Meshech & Kedar"

Psalm for Today = 120:5-7

⁵ Woe to me, that I sojourn in Meshech,
    that I dwell among the tents of Kedar!
⁶ Too long have I had my dwelling
    among those who hate peace.
⁷ I am for peace,
    but when I speak, they are for war!

Comments:

How many times have you read over verse 5 without a thought to where Meshech and Kedar might be…and if they may be adding something to what the psalmist is saying? Yeah, I confess I have done so more times than I should.

Meshech is in the far north…probably as far north as the psalmist would have known the names of the peoples, near the Black Sea. Kedar is the name of an Arab nomadic tribe in the south of the Arabian Peninsula. Both extremes of distance. Both people groups were barbarians. Astute observers have raised the question as to how the psalmist could dwell among both peoples at the same time. The consensus answer by commentators is that he can’t… and that the description is metaphorical and poetically inclusive of all that is in between.

The psalmist is basically saying that those he lives with are no better than the barbarian tribes on the fringes of civilization. They lie, they deceive, and they always want to argue and fight over everything. It is as if he is saying to Israel, the covenant people of God, “We should know better!” And to the Lord, he cries in a confession of the common condition, 
   "Deliver me, O Lord,
            from lying lips,             from a deceitful tongue." (v.2)

Sounds a bit like today! Even well-intended efforts at bridge-building and reconciliation are mocked and demonized by those who would rather fight and rage than promote peace and the common good. I think we can also see the levels of invective continue to rise as we communicate less frequently face-to-face and more from behind the cover of a digital avatar in comment threads and social media posts.

Do we sigh with the psalmist, “Woe is me" and "too long”? I think we probably do. Likewise, do we cry out to the Lord like the psalmist did? I hope so.

Here are several passages that may help us in our weariness and frustration at the meanness of the world around us.

Isaiah 40:28-29 “Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.”

Galatians 6:8-10 “For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.”

Hebrews 12: 2-4 “…looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.”

We are neither immune to the fallen condition of the world nor are we to isolate ourselves from the pain in the world for Jesus was not isolated from our pain.

We are neither alone in the struggle we face, nor are we without hope of final victory.

We are neither powerless before the tsunami of hate, nor are we without a message of reconciling love! From the far north to the far south we all need to be transformed—from the inside out—by the love of Jesus Christ!

[See --> Rom. 3:23; Dan. 9:11; Matt. 9:35; Isa. 53:4-6; 2 Cor. 1:3-5; Acts 9:4-5; Heb. 13:5; John 14:25-27; 15:26-27; Rom. 5:1-8; 8:18-25; 12:12; 2 Cor. 5:16-21; Eph. 3:14:21]