Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Psalms 120:4

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Psalms 120:4. Sharp arrows — The Chaldee has, "The strong, sharp arrows are like lightning from above, with coals of juniper kindled in hell beneath." On the juniper, Job 30:4, where this passage is explained. Fiery arrows, or arrows wrapped about with inflamed combustibles, were formerly used in sieges to set the places on fire. Ephesians 6:16.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Psalms 120-124 To Jerusalem for worship

Each of the fifteen Psalms 120:0 to 134 is entitled ‘A Song of Ascents’ (RSV; NIV). These psalms were apparently sung by worshippers from the country areas as they made the journey up to Jerusalem for the various annual festivals.

Whether or not the psalms were written for this purpose, they have been arranged in a sequence that reflects the feelings of the travellers. They provide expressions of worship for the travellers as they set out from distant regions, travel through the country, come to Jerusalem, and finally join in the temple ceremonies.
The collection opens with a cry from one who lives in a distant region and is bitterly persecuted by his neighbours (120:1-2). Their insults pierce him like sharp arrows and burn him like red-hot coals. He prays that God’s punishment of them will be just as painful (3-4). He is tired of being victimized. He feels as if he lives in a far-off land where he is surrounded by attackers from hostile tribes. He will set out for Jerusalem and seek some peace and refreshment of spirit in God’s house (5-7).
As he journeys through the hill country, the man knows that God who made the hills cares for him (121:1-2). Even when he sleeps by the roadside at night, God, who never sleeps, watches over him (3-4). God protects him from dangers by day and by night (5-6). Surely, God will take him to Jerusalem and bring him safely home again (7-8).
In the excitement of anticipation, the traveller pictures his dream as fulfilled. He recalls a psalm of David and pictures himself at last standing in Jerusalem as David once did (122:1-2). He sees it as a beautiful, well-built city, where the tribes of Israel are united in their worship of God, and where God rules his people through the throne of David (3-5). He prays that God will always preserve the city and prosper its people (6-8). He himself will do all he can for the city’s good (9).
Ungodly people mock the poor traveller, and others who have now joined him, for putting up with such hardships just to attend a religious festival in Jerusalem. The worshippers ask God to give them some relief by silencing those who mock them (123:1-4).
The persecuted travellers once more recall the experience of David and sing one of his psalms that reflects their own experience. As David was persecuted, so are they. Only through God’s grace and power have they been kept from much worse treatment (124:1-3). Their enemies are as violent and destructive as a raging flood (4-5), as cruel as wild animals (6) and as cunning as bird-trappers (7), but the travellers have the great Creator on their side (8).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

PRAYER FOR DELIVERANCE FROM BAD NEIGHBORS

“In my distress I cried unto Jehovah, And he answered me. Deliver my soul, O Jehovah, from lying lips, And from a deceitful tongue. What shall be given unto thee, and what shall be done more unto thee? Thou deceitful tongue. Sharp arrows of the mighty, With coals of juniper. Woe is me that I sojourn in Meshech, That I dwell among the tents of Kedar! My soul hath long had her dwelling With him that hateth peace. I am for peace; But when I speak, they are for war.”

A PRAYER FOR HELP AGAINST A SLANDERING TONGUE

“Thou Deceitful tongue” (Psalms 120:2). The tongue is apostrophized here, being addressed with a question of just what should be done to such a tongue, The literature of the ages has often addressed the problem of the slandering tongue. Shakespeare spoke of one:

Whose tongue is sharper than the sword, whose tongue Out venoms all the worms of Nile, whose breath
Rides on the posting winds.Cymbeline, Act III, Sc. 4, Line 35.

“The tongue is a fire… a world of iniquity… is set on fire by hell… it is a restless evil… full of deadly poison” (James 3:6-9).

The psalmist’s prayer here is to be delivered from such ravages of such slanderous tongues.

Delitzsch pointed out that, “The tongue is feminine as a rule; but, in spite of that, it is a man who is here addressed who has that kind of a tongue!”F. Delitzsch, Vol. V-C, p. 269.

THE PSALMIST ANTICIPATES RETRIBUTIVE PUNISHMENT OF SUCH A TONGUE

“Sharp arrows of the mighty with coals of juniper” “The mighty here, `the mighty man’ in the margin, is a reference to God who will punish the wicked tongue. “Sharp arrows are an appropriate reference here, because, “In Jeremiah 9:7, the deceitful tongue is compared to a deadly arrow. It is therefore fitting that Jehovah should send sharp arrows against those who slander the righteous.”W. E. Addis, p. 393.

“Coals of juniper” The marginal reference here makes this the “broom tree.” “This is the white broom (Retama roetam), the most popular of the thorny brushwoods in the Near East. It is collected for burning because it insures a long, hot fire.”Grace M. Crowfoot and L. Boldensperger, pp. 49, 50. (See The Interpreter’s Bible, p. 642).

The last three verses have the quality of a mild lament. The psalmist is displeased with his neighbors. The scene is that of many Jews traveling from distant lands, where Jews were often persecuted. Most scholars agree, however, that Meshech and Kedar here are idiomatic references to “barbarous and hostile people.”The Pulpit Commentary, op. cit., p. 179.

“Meshech was a nation of Asia Minor, and Kedar was part of the Syrian desert south of Damascus.”The Interpreter’s Bible, op. cit., p. 643. Despite the general opinion about these names being, “Synonyms of barbarism,”Ibid. it is easy to imagine that there were actually pilgrims from such places who joined the great annual processions to Jerusalem.

In this connection, Spurgeon, hoped that, “The pious people were not so foolish as to sing about their bad neighbors when they were leaving them for awhile.”Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Vol. IX, p. 210. This struck us as amusing, and we borrowed the idea for a title for this psalm.

Kidner commented on the appropriateness of this psalm’s being the first of the fifteen. “It begins the series in a distant land, so that we join the pilgrims as they set out on their journey, which will bring us to Jerusalem in Psalms 122 and to the ark, the priests, and the temple services in the last psalm of the group.”Derek Kidner, p. 430.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Sharp arrows of the mighty - This is an answer to the question in Psalms 120:3. The consequence - the effect - of such a use of the tongue must be like sharp and piercing arrows, or like intensely burning coals. The “sharp arrows of the mighty” are the arrows of the warrior - as war was conducted mainly by bows and arrows. Those arrows were, of course, sharpened to make them piercing, penetrating, more deadly.

With coals of juniper - On the word here rendered “juniper,” see the notes at Job 30:4. The idea here is, that coals made from that would be intensely hot, and would cause severer pain than if made from other wood. The word refers to a species of broom or shrub growing in the deserts of Arabia, with yellowish flowers and a bitter root. See “Robinson’s Biblical Researches,” vol. i., p. 299. Burchardt says that he found the Bedouin of Sinai burning the roots into coal, and says that they make the best charcoal, and throw out the most intense heat. The shrub sometimes grows so large as to furnish a shade to those exposed to the heat of the sun in the desert, 1 Kings 19:4; “Land and the Book” (Thomson), vol. ii., pp. 438, 439. The cut given below will give an idea of this plant.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

4.The arrows of a strong man sharpened, with coals of juniper. Here the Psalmist amplifies in another way the malice of such as distress the simple and innocent by their calumnies, affirming that they throw out their injurious reports just like a man who should draw an arrow, and with it pierce through the body of his neighbor; and that their calumnies were like coals of juniper, ⁽⁵²⁾ which penetrate more effectually, and burn more intensely the substances with which they come in contact than the coals of any other kind of wood. The amount is, that the tongues of these slanderers were inflamed with the burning heat of fire, and, as it were, dipped in deadly poison; and that such persons were the less excusable, from the fact that, without deriving any advantage from it, they were impelled by an unbridled passion to inflict upon others deadly mischief. As the Prophet records nothing here which he did not experience in his own person, it may be inferred that if it behoved him and men of a similar character to be assailed by their enemies with lies, which were to them as arrows to pierce them, or coals to burn them, we need not be surprised at seeing the most eminent servants of God exercised with similar assaults.

(52) The Hebrew word רתם, rothem, here rendered “juniper, ” occurs also in 1 Kings 19:4, and Job 30:4, in both which places it is translated in our English Bible by “juniper-tree.” It would appear that this shrub was remarkable for the intense flame with which it burned, and for the length of time during which its embers retained their heat. Several critics, however, think that the Hebrew rothem means the genista or Spanish broom; and in support of this opinion it is said that the genista is much used as fuel by the Arabs, among whom the Psalmist describes himself as then living; and that, as Geierus asserts, it” sparkles, burns, and crackles more vehemently than any other wood.” (See Parkhurst on רתם.) It is somewhat difficult to decide in this matter. As more than thirty different trees are mentioned in the Bible, and as we are but imperfectly acquainted with the natural history of these remote countries, it is no wonder though we find it impossible to identify all these trees. It may be observed that Calvin in his translation brings out that beautiful gradation of sense, terminating in a point of severity, for which the Hebrew text is remarkable, but which does not appear in our English version. Slanderous words are first compared to “arrows,” secondly, to “arrows discharged from the bow by a strong man,” and in proportion to the strength of a man will be the force with which his weapon strikes; next to “sharp arrows;” and lastly, to “coals of juniper,” or some wood used in those days celebrated for burning fiercely and long, (for the particle עם , im translated with, is sometimes one of similitude, as in Psalms 106:6, “We have sinned like as our fathers,”) intimating not only that malignant slanders deeply penetrate, but that they inflame and burn for a long time. Hence the Apostle James (James 3:5) compares the tongue of slander to a fire enkindled from hell, and inflaming the course of nature. Some interpreters think that this verse is not to be understood as a description of calumny, but rather as the punishment which God will inflict on the calumniator. They therefore regard it as an answer to the question in the preceding verse, “What shall be given unto thee,” etc.; observing that calumny and falsehood being frequently represented by the images of arrows and fire, the same images suitably express the requital which awaits them at the hand of God — the swift and terrible retributive vengeance of the Almighty, which will overtake all who practice falsehood and slander. See Psalms 57:4; Psalms 64:3; and Job 20:26. “Sharp arrows of the Mighty One, with coals of juniper,” await them. This opinion is adopted by Street, Mant, Morison, Paxton, Fry, French and Skinner. Calvin’s exposition is embraced by Walford and Phillips. The former, to elicit this meaning the more clearly, uses a supplement:

“Sharp arrows of a warrior,
And burning coals of juniper, thou resemblest.”

He, however, in a footnote requests the reader “to observe, that this is given as what seems to be the most probable interpretation of the passage, though it cannot be regarded as absolutely certain.”

Smith's Bible Commentary

This time let's turn in our Bibles to Psalms 120:1-7 to begin our Bible study this evening. Now you'll notice these psalms have a heading. The psalm, "A song of degrees." The word literally is ascents, A-S-C-E-N-T-S. And these are sort of the marching songs for the people of Israel as they would come thrice annually to Jerusalem to worship the Lord.

There's a lot of things about the nation Israel that excite me. There are a lot of things that I wish that somehow we could incorporate in our worship of the Lord. This business of all of them gathering together three days out of the... well, actually there was the feast days were seven days, but three times out of the year. At the Feast of Passover, at the Feast of Pentecost, and at the Feast of Succoth or Tabernacles. This business of everybody gathering together and just having a great worship service and a great feasting time and a time of worshipping the Lord. This, to me, would be exciting when the nation, the whole nation, is gathering to acknowledge that God reigns over the nation. And just the worshipping of the Lord together. How exciting that must have been.

Now Jerusalem is situated, in a sense, in what is known as the Jerusalem Mountains. So no matter where you are coming from, you are ascending towards Jerusalem. Whether you come from the Galilee region or the Jordan region, and usually coming from Galilee they would come down the Jordan River and then from Jericho make their way up the twenty miles to Jerusalem. Or whether you're coming from the Sharon valley, the coastal plains, the area of Joppa or whatever, you're always coming up when you come to Jerusalem. You're coming from Beersheba, coming from Samaria, you're always ascending up to Jerusalem. Jerusalem is sort of on the mountain, and yet, it is surrounded by mountains. Mount Zion, Mount of Olives, Mount Scopus, and the mountains that surround the city itself, but yet from anywhere in the country, coming to worship you are ascending to the city, and so these were called the songs of the ascents.

These were sung by the pilgrims as they were coming to Jerusalem on these glorious feast days. Coming to worship the Lord. And so the songs that they were singing as they were coming. Now in the marching and so forth, there are certain cadences that they get into when they're marching, and sometimes they sing songs in cadence to go along with their marching. You know, the count off, one, two, three, four, you know. And it's always sort of fun, you know. "First they hire me, then they fire me, then by golly I left! I left. I left, right, left." You know, and going along in cadence. And so these were those kind of songs that they would sing in sort of a cadence as they were coming to Jerusalem to worship the Lord. Remembering many times the alien areas where they were living, those who were alien towards God and alien towards those who worship God. So remembering the enemies and the areas from which they have come, but they had anticipation. And in these next fifteen psalms, there is underneath that anticipation, I'm soon going to be standing there in the assembly, worshipping God. And that glorious anticipation of standing there in Jerusalem, within the gates of Jerusalem, worshipping the Lord with the assembled multitude.

According to Josephus there were, many times, well over a million people who would gather for these feasts to worship the Lord together. So the first of these psalms of ascents, the psalmist is looking forward to that time.

In my distress I cried unto the LORD, and he heard me. Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips, and from the deceitful tongue. What shall be given unto thee? or what shall be done unto thee, thou false tongue? Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper. Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar! ( Psalms 120:1-5 )

In other words, he's coming now from these antagonistic areas, Mesech, Kedar, people who hate God. People who have been against those who worship the Lord. "I've been dwelling there, O God, I've cried unto Thee in my distress."

My soul hath long dwelt with him that hates peace. I am for peace: but when I speak, they are for war ( Psalms 120:6-7 ).

So the first psalm expresses that turmoil of living in a world that is antagonistic towards God. Much the kind of a world that you live in. And so many times living in the world, living amongst the ungodly, we can identify with the soul that is longing for that fellowship with God. The soul that is longing for that peace of God, and yet, all of the turmoil, all of the confusion, all of the lying and conniving and all that is going on in the world around him. And so the soul longing for God. And as he is coming towards Jerusalem, because you're always ascending upwards,

"

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Psalms 120

Psalms 120-134 are all "songs of ascent." This group, in turn, constitutes the major part of the Great Hallel psalms (Psalms 120-136). The psalms of ascent received this title because the pilgrim Israelites sang them as they traveled from their homes all over the land and ascended Mt. Zion for the annual feasts. David composed at least four of these 15 psalms (Psalms 122, 124, 131, , 133). Solomon wrote one (Psalms 127), and the remaining 10 are anonymous. They may not have been composed for use by pilgrims, originally; they were probably written for other purposes. However, the pilgrims used them as songs of ascent and, according to the Mishnah, during the second temple period they were incorporated into the temple liturgy. [Note: Middoth 2:5.]

One scholar saw these psalms as falling into three groups of five psalms each (120-24; 125-29; 130-34). He noted that the central psalm in each group reflects royal or Zion theology: 122 (Jerusalem), 127 (the temple), and 132 (David). The effect of the total collection, therefore, is to focus on the temple and the Davidic monarchy. [Note: Erich Zenger, "The Composition and Theology of the Fifth Book of Psalms: Psalms 107-145," Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 80 (1998):92., proposed a different division that recognizes Psalms 127 as the central psalm surrounded by four groups of psalms (120-23; 124-26; 128-31; and 132-34) each of which contains the divine name 12 times.] E. W. Hengstenberg proposed a different division that recognizes Psalms 127 as the central psalm surrounded by four groups of psalms (120-23; 124-26; 128-31; and 132-34) each of which contains the divine name 12 times. [Note: E. W. Hengstenberg, Commentary on the Psalms , 3:409.]

In Psalms 120, an unknown composer asked God for protection from people who wanted to stir up war (cf. Psalms 42). This psalm has been called an individual lament that anticipates thanksgiving. [Note: Leslie C. Allen, Psalms 101-150, pp. 147-48.]

"Apart from the last clause in Psalms 120:1, there is not a glad note in the whole of Psalms 120." [Note: Armerding, p. 134.]

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

2. God’s destruction of liars 120:3-4

The writer asked the liar what would befall him and then answered his own question. God would destroy him as a warrior who shot arrows at an enemy or as a fire devoured a dry broom tree.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper. Some think these words describe lying lips, and a false tongue; which are like arrows, sharp ones, sent out from a bow drawn with a mighty hand, which come with great force, suddenly and swiftly, and do much mischief; see

Psalms 11:2; and to "coals of juniper", very distressing and tormenting; the tongue being a fire, set on fire of hell, and sets on fire the course of nature; and throws out devouring words, which consume like fire, James 3:6. But rather the punishment of an evil tongue from the Lord is intended, whose sore judgments are often compared to arrows, Deuteronomy 32:23; because they come from above, and bring swift and sudden destruction with them; and are very sharp in the hearts of his enemies; are very severe and cutting, and come with power irresistible, being the arrows of the Almighty, Job 6:4; see Jeremiah 50:9; and these may be compared to "coals of juniper", which are very vehement and strong, and very lasting and durable. Jerom w and Isidore x say they will last a whole year; and the Midrash on the place reports of two men, who had prepared food with them, and at the end of a year returned and found them burning, and warmed their feet at them. These fitly express the lake of fire and brimstone, the portion of liars; whose fire is very strong, and flames devouring, being kindled by the breath of the Lord of hosts, like a stream of brimstone: and the fire of hell is everlasting; its burnings are everlasting burnings; a worm that dieth not, a fire that is not quenched; the smoke of the torments of which ascend for ever and ever,

Isaiah 30:23. The Targum speaks of these arrows as lightnings from above, and of the coals of juniper as kindled in hell below; and they are interpreted of hell in the Talmud y.

w Ad Fabiolam de 42. Mans. tom. 3. fol. 15. I. x Origin. l. 17. c. 7. Schindler. col. 1776. y T. Bab. Eracin, c. 3. fol. 15. 2.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

A song of degrees.

      1 In my distress I cried unto the LORD, and he heard me.   2 Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue.   3 What shall be given unto thee? or what shall be done unto thee, thou false tongue?   4 Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper.

      Here is, I. Deliverance from a false tongue obtained by prayer. David records his own experience of this.

      1. He was brought into distress, into great distress, by lying lips and a deceitful tongue. There were those that sought his ruin, and had almost effected it, by lying. (1.) By telling lies to him. They flattered him with professions and protestations of friendships, and promises of kindness and service to him, that they might the more securely and without suspicion carry on their designs against him, and might have an opportunity, by betraying his counsels, to do him a mischief. They smiled in his face and kissed him, even when they were aiming to smite him under the fifth rib. The most dangerous enemies, and those which it is most hard to guard against, are such as carry on their malicious designs under the colour of friendship. The Lord deliver every good man from such lying lips. (2.) By telling lies of him. They forged false accusations against him and laid to his charge things that he knew not. This has often been the lot not only of the innocent, but of the excellent ones, of the earth, who have been greatly distressed by lying lips, and have not only had their names blackened and made odious by calumnies in conversation, but their lives, and all that is dear to them in this world, endangered by false-witness-bearing in judgment. David was herein a type of Christ, who was distressed by lying lips and deceitful tongues.

      2. In this distress he had recourse to God by faithful and fervent prayer: I cried unto the Lord. Having no fence against false tongues, he appealed to him who has all men's hearts in his hand, who has power over the consciences of bad men, and can, when he pleases, bridle their tongues. His prayer was, "Deliver my soul, O Lord! from lying lips, that my enemies may not by these cursed methods work my ruin." He that had prayed so earnestly to be kept from lying (Psalms 119:29) and hated it so heartily in himself (Psalms 119:163; Psalms 119:163) might with the more confidence pray to be kept from being belied by others, and from the ill consequences of it.

      3. He obtained a gracious answer to this prayer. God heard him; so that his enemies, though they carried their designs very far, were baffled at last, and could not prevail to do him the mischief they intended. The God of truth is, and will be, the protector of his people from lying lips, Psalms 37:6.

      II. The doom of a false tongue foretold by faith, Psalms 120:3; Psalms 120:4. As God will preserve his people from this mischievous generation, so he will reckon with their enemies, Psalms 12:3; Psalms 12:7. The threatening is addressed to the sinner himself, for the awakening of his conscience, if he have any left: "Consider what shall be given unto thee, and what shall be done unto thee, by the righteous Judge of heaven and earth, thou false tongue." Surely sinners durst not do as they do if they knew, and would be persuaded to think, what will be in the end thereof. Let liars consider what shall be given to them: Sharp arrows of the Almighty, with coals of juniper, that is, they will fall and lie for ever under the wrath of God, and will be made miserable by the tokens of his displeasure, which will fly swiftly like arrows, and will strike the sinner ere he is aware and when he sees not who hurts him. This is threatened against liars, Psalms 64:7. God shall shoot at them with an arrow; suddenly shall they be wounded. They set God at a distance from them, but from afar his arrows can reach them. They are sharp arrows, and arrows of the mighty, the Almighty; for they will pierce through the strongest armour and strike deep into the hardest heart. The terrors of the Lord are his arrows (Job 6:4), and his wrath is compared to burning coals of juniper, which do not flame or crackle, like thorns under a pot, but have a vehement heat, and keep fire very long (some say, a year round) even when they seem to be gone out. This is the portion of the false tongue; for all that love and make a lie shall have their portion in the lake that burns eternally, Revelation 22:15.