PS 120 David prays against lying tongues, and denounces judgment against them, ver. 1-4. Complains of his wicked and unpeaceable neighbours, ver. 5-7. A song of degrees. Title of the psalm. Of degrees - Or, of accents, as the word properly signifies. This title is given to this and the fourteen following psalms, probably because they were sung upon the fifteen degrees, steps, or stairs of the temple, which the Jewish writers mention.
Verse 4. Arrows - The wrath and vengeance of the mighty God, which in scripture is often compared to arrows, and here to coals of juniper, which burn very fiercely and retain their heat for a longtime.
Verse 5. Mesech - Mesech and Kedar are two sorts of people often mentioned in scripture, and reckoned amongst the barbarous nations. But their names are here to be understood metaphorically. And so he explains himself in the next verse.
