Psalms 120:6

"Woe is me, that I live in Meshech, that I dwell among the tents of Kedar!"

Key Reflection

"Woe is me, that I live in Meshech, that I dwell among the tents of Kedar!" expresses a profound sense of despair and isolation. In first-century Judea, Meshech (a region associated with Scythia) and Kedar (an Arabian tribe) were not part of Israel’s immediate cultural or political landscape. For someone living in Jerusalem, these distant lands symbolized exile and separation from the covenant community. The speaker laments being forced to live among peoples who do not share their faith or values, highlighting the pain of religious and cultural alienation.

From the Scholars: Barnes' Notes

My soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace -This trouble is no new thing. It has been long continued, and has become intolerable. Who this was that thus gave him trouble is, of course, now unknown. It is only necessary to remark that there can scarcely be any source of trouble more bitter than that of sustaining such relations to others either in business, or in office, or by family-ties - whether by marriage or by blood - in school, in college, or in corporate bodies - as to expose us always to a quarrel: to be compelled to have constant contact with people of sour, perverse, crooked

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