Pilgrimages featured heavily on the R.S. GCSE papers this year and the Psalms of Ascent (Ps 120-134) were the Jewish songbook for the three annual pilgrimages they took to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) and the Feast of Tabernacles (harvest) (see Ex 23:14-17). It’s rather wonderful to think that these holidays (holy days) were commanded by God and were an opportunity for communities to travel together to worship God in the temple at Jerusalem. Festivals were opportunities for the people to remember all God had done for them, as the historical psalms have reminded us. These festivals celebrated the Exodus from Egypt, the giving of the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai and the ingathering of the harvest as well as God’s provision during the wilderness wanderings when the Israelites lived in booths or tents. Eugene Peterson says, ‘the Hebrews were a people whose salvation had been accomplished by the exodus, whose identity had been defined at Sinai and whose preservation had been assured in the forty years of wilderness wandering.’ (Eugene Peterson, ‘The Journey’ P 6) These occasions were joyful celebrations with much feasting and celebration, but they were first of all defined by the journey to Jerusalem (a journey Jesus himself took, as Luke 2:41-52 recounts.)
It’s generally thought that the Psalms of Ascent were sung during this journey to Jerusalem (a city situated on seven hills, so there was a physical ascent as well as a spiritual one in this journey.) Eugene Peterson remarks that ‘the trip to Jerusalem acted out a life lived upward toward God, an existence that advanced from one level to another in developing maturity.’ (Eugene Peterson, ‘The Journey’, P 6) It’s also thought that these psalms (known as the ‘songs of steps’) were sung by the priests as they ascended the fifteen steps to minister at the Temple in Jerusalem.
These psalms cover a wide range of topics and are grouped together in five groups of three. Within those groups, the first psalm usually focuses on trouble, distress or difficulty; the second on God’s ability to keep and help His people in those situations and the third looks at the security that comes with arrival.
The psalms are relatively short and contain repetition, always helpful on a journey when our attention needs to be focussed. They are the only group of psalms linked so closely together by their titles, although only five of them are ascribed to authors (4 to David and 1 to Solomon.) These psalms are huge encouragement to us on our Christian journey, when all life can be likened to a pilgrimage towards God (see Ps 84:5-6)