During this season of Advent, the lectionary offers a selection of biblical passages designed to help us in our preparations, building to the climactic moment of Christmas Day, when we remember that “the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).
These scripture passages include a sequence of psalms which orient us to the saving work of God, experienced by faithful people in Israel through the ages. In the psalms, faithful people over the ages have sung of their trust in God and their joy at what God has been doing. These psalms thus bring us to the point of anticipation that we can sense God’s work in the story of Jesus.
It is the seventh of the fifteen Songs of Ascent (Psalm 126) that is suggested by the lectionary for this coming Sunday, Advent 3. This short song celebrates that “when the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream”, rejoicing that “our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy” (Ps 126:1–2), offering the prayer “restore our fortunes, O Lord, like the watercourses in the Negeb” (Ps 126:4).
*****
Each one of these 15 songs (Psalms 120—134) are identified as shir hammalowt, “a song of ascents”. They are so called because it is believed they were sung by faithful Israelites as they made their pilgrimage, ascending to Jerusalem, on one of the three annual festivals—the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Passover), the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost), and the Feast of Tabernacles (as listed in Deut 16:16).
The series begins, “in my distress I cry to the Lord” (Ps 120:1), moving on to “I lift up my eyes to the hills” (Ps 121:1). I like to imagine that this was being sung as the outline of the city built on and around Mount Zion appeared in the far distance. We can imagine the pilgrims drawing closer to the walls of the city as the psalmist sings, “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord!’” (Ps 122:1), then sings of lifting up their eyes to “you who are enthroned in the heavens” (Ps 123:1).
Next, the pilgrims offer expressions of trust in God (Ps 124:8; 125:1–2), celebrating “when the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion” (Ps 126:1), and yearn that the Lord God might “restore our fortunes … like the watercourses in the Negeb” (Ps 126:4).
By this time, I imagine the pilgrims viewing both the city from outside its walls and the Temple on its highest point, singing “unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain; unless the Lord guards the city, the guard keeps watch in vain” (Ps 127:1). This psalm then celebrates the gift of sons (Ps 127:4–5) and the following psalm celebrates “your wife [who] will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table”, concluding “thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord” (Ps 128:3–4).
I also like to imagine that, as the pilgrims were entering the city, the pilgrims sang to celebrate, “the Lord is righteous; he has cut the cords of the wicked” (Ps 129:4), followed by a heartfelt cry to God from “out of the depths” (Ps 130:1) and an affirmation that “with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem” (Ps 130:7).
Next, the psalmist simply observes, “I have calmed and quieted my soul” (Ps 131:2); and then, as the Temple is immediately before them, the pilgrims sing, “Let us go to his dwelling place, let us worship at his footstool” (Ps 132:7).
Then follows the two shortest of all the Songs of Ascent, to bring the series to a close. One song celebrates the unity of the people, with oil running down the head “like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion” (Ps 133:3), and then in the final song the pilgrims are “stand[ing] by night in the house of the Lord”, concluding with the prayer, “may the Lord, maker of heaven and earth, bless you from Zion” (Ps 134:3). It is a beautiful blessing to conclude the whole sequence.
*****
The particular song offered for Advent 3 (Psalm 126) is filled with upbeat notes. There are dreams of good things to come (v.1), with laughter (v.1) and three rousing “shouts of joy” (vv.1, 5, 6). There are sheaves of wheat, signalling a bountiful harvest (v.6). There are fortunes restored, like running streams (v.4) and stories of “the great things” that have been experienced (v.3). These joyful notes sit well in the Advent season, when joyful anticipation of the coming good news of Christmas is building.
Of course, we need to take care that when we read and hear passages from Hebrew Scripture in a season that has strong Christian overtones, such as Advent, that we do not override the earlier meaning with a reading that relates everything to Jesus. So when we hear this psalm, we need to have in mind the hope and expectation of the pilgrims as they approach the city and anticipate bringing their offerings to the Temple.
As the three pilgrim festivals (Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkoth) were originally agricultural festivals, the reference to “going out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing … [and] coming home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves” (v.6) resonates with these times, as does the briefer note about “sowing in tears … reaping with shouts of joy” (v.5).
We might also hear in this psalm something of the hope that the exiles had as they were returning home to the land of Israel. The reference to “restoring the fortunes of Israel” (v.1, and again in v.4) might hint at this. If so, then the “coming home” in v.6 might have the double sense of coming in from the fields after harvest, and coming back the land after five decades (or more) or exile. The joy of vv.2–3 and vv.5–6 might well represent how they feel as they come to do something that had high value and worth in ancient Israelite society.
For Christians, today, singing this psalm in the season of Advent, the notes of hope and anticipation, joy and celebration, resonate with our expectations as we prepare to celebrate to coming of Jesus during the season of Christmas. Let us, like those of old, fill our mouths with laughter, shout out loud for joy, and rejoice!
An Informed Faith 