Psalms 122:6-9 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem In the prosperity of which both your civil and religious privileges are deeply concerned. They shall prosper that love thee Or, Let them prosper, the future being taken imperatively, as is very frequent. The Lord grant them prosperity and all happiness. Peace be within thy walls In all thy dwellings; and prosperity within thy palaces Especially in the dwellings of thy princes and rulers, whose welfare and prosperity may be a public blessing to all the people. For my brethren and companions' sakes And this I desire, says David, not only, nor chiefly, for my own security and for the glory of my empire, but for the sake of all my fellow-citizens, and of all the Israelites, whom, though my subjects, I must own for my brethren and companions in the chief privileges and blessings enjoyed at Jerusalem. Because of the house of the Lord Which is now fixed in this city; because of the ordinances of his worship, which are here established. I will seek thy good Thy protection, peace, and prosperity. Thus, “in these concluding verses, the psalmist declares the two motives which induced him to utter his best wishes, and to use his best endeavours for the prosperity of Jerusalem; namely, the love of his brethren, whose happiness was involved in that of their city; and the love of God, who had there fixed the residence of his glory. These motives are ever in force, and ought, surely, to operate with marvellous energy upon our hearts, to stir us up to imitate the pattern now before us, in fervent zeal and unwearied labour for the salvation of men, and the glory of our great Redeemer; both which will then be complete, when the church militant shall become the church triumphant, and the heavenly paradise shall be filled with plants taken from its terrestrial nursery.” Horne.