Psalms 121 - Clarke's commentary and critical notes on the Bible

A Song of degrees. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. Unto the hills - Jerusalem was built upon a mountain; and Judea was a mountainous country; and the Jews, in their several dispersions, turned towards Jerusalem when they offered up their prayers to God.

My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth. My help cometh from the Lord - There is no help for me but in my God; and I expect it from no other quarter.

He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved - The foundation, God's infinite power and goodness, on which thou standest, cannot be moved; and whilst thou standest on this basis, thy foot cannot be moved.

Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. He that keepeth Israel - The Divine Being represents himself as a watchman, who takes care of the city and its inhabitants during the night-watches; and who is never overtaken with slumbering or sleepiness. There is a thought in the Antigone of Sophocles, that seems the counterpart of this of the psalmist,

Ταν σαν, Ζευ, δυναμιν τις ανδρων

Ὑπερβασια κατασχοι,

Ταν ουθ' ὑπνος αἱ -

ρει ποθ' ὁ παντογηρως,

Ακαματοι τε θεων

Μηνες;

Antig. ver. 613, Edit. Johnson.

Shall men below control great Jove above,Whose eyes by all-subduing sleep

Are never closed, as feeble mortals' are;But still their watchful vigil keep

Through the long circle of th' eternal year?

Franklin.

The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand.

The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The sun shall not smite thee by day - Thus expressed by the Chaldee: "The morning spectres shall not smite thee by day, during the government of the sun; nor the nocturnal spectres by night, during the government of the moon." I believe the psalmist simply means, they shall not be injured by heat nor cold; by a sun-stroke by day, nor a frost-bite by night.

The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil - Spiritual and corporeal, natural and moral.

He shall preserve thy soul - Take care of thy life, and take care of thy soul.

The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore. Thy going out and thy coming in - Night and day - in all thy business and undertakings; and this through the whole course of thy life: for evermore.

Commentary on the Bible, by Adam Clarke [1831].