The Song of Degrees – Psalm 120 -134 – Hezekiah as a Type of Christ

Theories

Psalms 120-134 are a group of fifteen psalms entitled in the A.V. the “Songs of Degrees”, and in other versions “Songs of Ascents” (R.V.), “Goings-up” or “Songs of Steps”. A variety of suggestions has been advanced by commentators to explain why this group of psalms should have this title. Among the numerous suggestions are the following four :

(a) That the psalms were arranged in a group and sung to celebrate the return from captivity and that the title should therefore be “Songs of Goings-up”. The evidence is very slight and even the reference in Psalm 126 to “captivity” has nothing to do with exile, but suggests rather a captivity within the land.

(b) That the psalms were sung by pilgrims journeying to Jerusalem. While doubtless it was the practice to sing psalms during these long journeys, there is no evidence that these psalms were specially grouped for this purpose.

(c) That the psalms were sung by the Levites on the fifteen steps between the two courts of the women and the men in the Temple. The only evidence is the correspondence between the number of steps and the number of psalms.

(d) That the title describes the step-like progress of the rhythm of the psalms. There is hardly the faintest evidence for this however in the text.

All these theories fall down on the same grounds—they lack substantial evidence from the Scriptures themselves. A theory which is totally ignored by many commentators, and yet which has a great deal of evidence in its favour, is that the fifteen psalms were compiled by Hezekiah to commemorate his miraculous healing and the salvation of Jerusalem from the Assyrians. Considered together as a group, the fifteen psalms composed by various writers, are appropriate to the circumstance of this particular period in Hezekiah’s life. The purpose of this article is to investigate the soundness of this theory.

The starting point in the correspondence between the Songs of Degrees and Hezekiah is in the word “degrees” itself. According to Young’s Concordance the Hebrew word is “maalah” and is variously translated degrees (24 times), dial (2), high degree (1), stairs (5), steps (11), stories (1), and things to come (1). Of the 24 translations of the word as “degrees”, 15 are in the psalm titles under consideration and the remainder in the account of Hezekiah’s recovery from sickness and the sign of the dial returning 10 degrees recorded in 2 Kings 20:9,10,11 and Isaiah 38:8. The word “dial” is the same Hebrew as “degree” and is used only in these two chapters.

The time-piece described as the “dial of Ahaz” was certainly not a sundial in the normal understanding of the term. The idea of erecting some kind of time-telling device had probably come from the inventive Assyrians, since Ahaz seems to have been disposed or compelled to copy the “trends” set by them (2 Kings 16:10). As the Hebrew word “maalah” is also translated “steps” and “stairs” it may be conjectured that this time device was simply a flight of steps upon which a shadow was cast.

Where were the steps? They must have been near to the king’s house because the sign that the “dial” gave was an answer to Hezekiah’s question “What shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me and that I shall go up (cf. “Songs of Goings-up”?) into the house of the Lord the third day?” (2 Kings 20:8). Possibly the steps are those referred to in Neh. 12:37: “And at the fountain gate, which was over against them, they went up by the stairs of the city of David, at the going up (note the same phrase again) of the wall, above the house of David, even unto the water gate eastward”. Possibly, when Hezekiah received bad news from Isaiah concerning his health and “turned his face toward the wall” (Isa. 38:2) it was to the outer wall of the Temple that he looked, and there also he could see from his palace the steps that formed the “dial”.

In response to his request for a sign, Hezekiah was given a choice by Isaiah as to what the sign should be. Either the shadow on the “dial” could advance 10 degrees or retreat 10 degrees. Ahaz, Hezekiah’s father, had also received a similar choice in signs (Isa. 7:11). Hezekiah chose what appeared to be the more difficult of the two signs. For the shadow to advance 10 degrees would only have been to speed up the natural progress of the shadow; for it to retreat 10 degrees was quite contrary to the laws of nature and would provide a more positive sign from God. What was the cause of this unusual phenomenon? Paul informs us that the glory displayed at his conversion was above the midday sun in its brightness (Acts 26:13): it is possible then that the deflecting of the shadow on the “dial” was caused by the brilliance of God’s glory shining from the Temple.

Both the numbers fifteen and ten in this incident are significant. There was a fifteen years’ extension to Hezekiah’s life and there are fifteen psalms—one for each year. It is also probable that the flight of steps outside the king’s house contained 15 steps, for this would be the right number to ascend one storey and would also give the right number of hour divisions for the maximum of sunlight hours in Jerusalem for its use as a “dial”.

Of the fifteen psalms, four are ascribed to David (Psa. 122, 124, 131 and 133) and one to Solomon (Psa. 127). The remainder were therefore probably composed by Hezekiah himself and correspond to the 10 degrees of the “dial”.

If the theory is correct, Hezekiah compiled a group of fifteen psalms to correspond to the fifteen years of his extended life. Five of these already existed and were thought to be appropriate to the circumstances of his life, and ten he wrote himself. This does not mean that every part of each of the fifteen psalms has to correspond exactly to some part of Hezekiah’s experience, but rather that throughout each there is a general theme which was considered appropriate to this period of crisis. Whereas the psalms fail to give substantial support for the other theories mentioned earlier, it will be shown that there is a good correspondence between these fifteen psalms and Hezekiah’s life.

Hezekiah was one of the most remarkable kings of Judah. After the infamous reign of his father Ahaz, he came to the throne at the age of twenty-five, and within the first month initiated a reformation which restored the religious life of Judah to its former beauty and holiness. The nation returned to the glory of the days of David and Solomon and the Scriptures testify that Hezekiah “trusted in the Lord God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him” (2 Kings 18:5).

When the restoration of the Temple services was completed arrangements were made for the Passover feast to be celebrated even though, due to the extensive nature of the preparations, the event had to be delayed until the second month (2 Chron. 30:2-3). A most remarkable event recorded in detail in the same chapter is Hezekiah’s attempt to unify the tribes of Israel. Messengers were sent throughout the whole land from Dan to Beersheba to ask the tribes of Israel to join together for this Passover celebration.

Despite the mockery of a lot of the Israelites, many among the ten tribes were only too willing to join in this venture (v. 11). Through the intercession of Hezekiah, those unfit to partake of the Passover feast were cleansed and healed (v. 20). One can imagine the great joy among the thousands present at this remembrance of God’s deliverance. Not only was it the first Passover to be celebrated in Jerusalem for a long time, but it was the first since the days of Solomon and David (v. 26) to which representatives of all the tribes had been able to gather together.

In the fourteenth year of Hezekiah’s reign the Assyrians under Sennacherib invaded the fenced cities of Judah (2 Kings 18:13). Eight years before, in Hezekiah’s sixth year, Samaria had been taken after a three-year siege. Possibly the attempt that Hezekiah had made to unify the tribes caused Sennacherib to take swifter action than he would otherwise have considered necessary.

The other crisis in Hezekiah’s life was his dangerous illness. This was evidently in the same year of his reign as the Assyrian threat. Altogether he reigned twenty-nine years, fifteen years of which were his extended years after his sickness. Thus his sickness must have been in the fourteenth year of his reign—the same year as the Sennacherib invasion.

As Hezekiah lay desperately ill, the prospect of his leadership being removed from Judah when Sennacherib was so near the city, must have been a trying moment for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, especially when Isaiah at first announced that Hezekiah was to die (2 Kings 20:1). That the king’s illness was before the invasion is evident from the prophecy through Isaiah (2 Kings 20:6) “And I will add unto thy days fifteen years; and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for mine own sake, and for thy servant David’s sake”. The record in Isaiah chapters 37-38 which puts the sickness of Hezekiah after the invasion of Sennacherib, must therefore not be regarded as chronological.

The incident of Hezekiah’s foolishness in showing his treasure to the ambassadors of Merodach-baladan when they came from Babylon to congratulate him on his recovery (Isa. ch. 39) evidently took place after the Assyrians had fled. The action certainly was inconsistent with Hezekiah’s spirit of humility displayed during the invasion crisis. It seems reasonable to assume that it would take some time for a man of his character to change in such extremes. Furthermore, it would take some time for news of Hezekiah’s recovery to reach Babylon, for arrangements to be made, and for the ambassadors to journey to Jerusalem. The difficulty of Hezekiah having such tremendous wealth when he had earlier been reduced to giving the gold and silver of the Temple as tribute to Sennacherib (2 Kings 18:15-16) is cleared up by an incidental reference in 2 Chronicles 32:22-23. “So the Lord saved Hezekiah … and he gave them rest on every side. And many brought gifts to the Lord to Jerusalem and precious things to Hezekiah king of Judah so that he was exalted in the sight of all nations from that time forward.”

The main events in the life of Hezekiah can thus be summarised as follows :

Immediate restoration started.

Hezekiah’s attempt to unite the tribes. Hezekiah’s illness and recovery.

The Assyrian invasion.

Hezekiah foolishly displays his wealth to the ambassadors from Babylon.

The fourteenth year of Hezekiah’s reign was a crisis year on two accounts—his own health, and the survival of the nation. It is upon the events of this year that the Songs of the Degrees concentrate. Possibly Hezekiah himself makes reference to these songs when he stated, “The Lord was ready to save me: therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the Lord” (Isa. 38:20). Evidently, until his reign, singing psalms to the Lord had been sadly neglected (2 Chron. 29:30).

It is natural that the theme of the fifteen songs of degrees is essentially that of salvation —both the personal salvation of Hezekiah and the salvation of the whole nation which will be ultimately accomplished at the return of

Christ when the latter day Assyrian force will be removed as dramatically as Sennacherib’s army. Indeed, a comparison between Hezekiah and Christ, which would provide a study in itself, shows a Messianic content in some of this group of psalms. A few of the salient points in which Hezekiah prefigured Christ are:

Born of promise.

Born in Bethlehem.

Healed the third day.

Provided living water.

Led the offensive against Assyria. United the tribes of Israel.

Through his intercession the people were healed.

The priests taught the people the knowledge of the Lord at Hezekiah’s direction. Bearing in mind the information that we have considered about Hezekiah and the possible circumstances of the origin of the Songs of the Degrees, it is as well to read the fifteen psalms carefully and see if the theory is substantiated by the evidence of the psalms themselves. The following is an attempt to view the psalms in this light.

Psalm 120

How appropriate is the anxious cry of this psalm to the crisis which Hezekiah faced: “In my distress I cried unto thee”.

Sennacherib had sent his Rabshakeh to the walls of Jerusalem to persuade the inhabitants to surrender to the Assyrian and ignore the advice of Hezekiah to remain faithful to God. “Let not Hezekiah deceive you” he shouted in the Jews’ language, “for he shall not be able to deliver you. Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you saying, ‘The Lord will deliver us’. Why should you think your God is any better than the gods of other nations?” But in obedience to the request of Hezekiah, the people “held their peace”.

So the psalm contains the pleadings of Hezekiah—”Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue”: a tongue that was as sharp as the weapons of the mighty and as the coals of the desert (LXX). Hezekiah was a man of peace, but despite the high-sounding promises of the Assyrians, he knew from experience that they were for war and destruction (cf v. 7).

Psalm 121

This psalm contains not so much a prayer for deliverance from the wicked as the recognition that the Lord was the only One who would deliver the troubled Hezekiah from his distress. The Rabshakeh had blasphemously suggested that Yahweh of Israel could no more deliver Judah than the gods of the other nations had delivered them. Hezekiah knew differently. With his eyes lifted up to the hills of Judah, his spirit was also lifted within him to contemplate the Source of his help … “from whence shall my help come?” (R.V.). The Lord Who created the heavens and the earth would be his help—He Who is above all gods, Who neither slumbers or sleeps (cf. 1 Kings 18:27), but is always at hand to preserve the faithful from evil. He was the One in whom Hezekiah would place his confidence and trust. Note the repetition of the word “keep” (“preserve” = “keep” R.V.). The Lord’s protection is sufficient to preserve the godly from danger.

Psalm 122

The well-known prayer for the peace of Jerusalem could hardly be more appropriate to the time of Hezekiah, despite the fact that it is a prayer which has been uttered throughout the centuries. After the recovery from sickness, Hezekiah’s great desire would have been to go into the Temple once again. It was also to the Temple that he took the letter of Sennacherib to present it to the Lord and plead His help. Probably the anxious king first took the letter to Isaiah to decide the best plan for dealing with the Assyrian threat, and it was he who said, “Let us go into the house of the LORD” (v. 1). Essentially the psalm expresses the joy of being in Jerusalem the city of God. “Our feet are standing within thy gates, 0 Jerusalem” (present tense in R.V.). Their confidence was strengthened in the knowledge that they were within the city where God had chosen to place His Name. Their prayer for the city’s peace recalls that in Jerusalem was the house of the Lord, that it was the city to which the tribes of Israel assembled to give thanks to the Lord, that it was the city of the throne of David. The idea of all the inhabitants united together in faith is beautifully expressed in v. 3—”Jerusalem is built as a city whose fellowship is complete” (LXX). The word “compact” in the A.V. meaning “joined” or “coupled” and carrying the meaning of fellowship is applied in modern Israel to the inhabitants of a kibbutz.

Psalm 123

The opening of this psalm is similar to that of Psalm 121. Again it is essentially a prayer requesting the Lord’s safe keeping through times of trouble. The cry is “Have mercy upon us, 0 Lord, have mercy upon us” (v. 3). None was more scornful than the blasphemous Rabshakeh or more proud than Sennacherib of Assyria. Again the psalm adequately fits the circumstances of Hezekiah’s anxiety during this crisis fourteenth year of his reign.

Psalm 124

The feelings of the inhabitants of Jerusalem after their miraculous deliverance from invasion are beautifully expressed in the opening of this psalm: “If it had not been the Lord Who was on our side, let Israel now say; if it had not been the Lord Who was on our side, when men rose up against us, then they had swallowed us up alive” (v. 1-3).

Probably of all the 15 psalms this is the most appropriate to God’s deliverance of Judah from Sennacherib. The idea of the enemies of Israel being as a stream of water (v. 4) overwhelming and covering them is contained elsewhere in the Scriptures and applied to Assyria (Isa. 8:7-8). Likewise the description of Assyria as a lion in Jeremiah 50:17 is contained in this psalm in v.6 in the phrase, “who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth”. But most remarkable of all is v. 7: “Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we are escaped”, when we remember the boast of Sennacherib himself contained on the famous clay prism now in the British Museum—”As to Hezekiah, the Jew, he did not submit to my yoke … Himself I made a prisoner in Jerusalem, his royal residence, like a bird in a cage”.

Psalm 125

Hezekiah was a man who “trusted in the Lord” more than any of the kings of Judah before or after (2 Kings 18:5). Since Psalm 125 is not ascribed to David or Solomon, it may be that it was written specially for this occasion. “They that trust in the Lord are as Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abideth for ever” (v. 1). Jerusalem was surrounded by the armies of Sennacherib, but they were soon to realise that for those who trusted in God this was of no consequence, for He was also round about His people. “As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about His people from this time forth and for evermore” (v. 2).

Indeed, the rod of wickedness would not rest upon the righteous, but the Lord would do good to those that were upright in heart. The concluding phrase “Peace be upon Israel” also occurs in Psalms 122 and 128.

Psalm 126

The idea of captivity in v. 1 is not that of exile, but rather a prevention of normal course of business and activity. The word would therefore more accurately express the experience of captivity within the walls of Jerusalem while the armies of Sennacherib surrounded it. The psalm expresses the overwhelming joy of the people when God’s deliverance relieved them of this situation.

“We were like them that dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing” (v. 2). The word “chalam” translated “dream” is translated once in Isa. 38:16 in the prayer of Hezekiah as “recover”.

Psalm 127

This psalm is ascribed to Solomon and evidently related in the first place to the building of the Temple “Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it” (v. 1): but it was probably the next phrase which because of its appropriateness caused the psalm to be included in the Songs of Degrees: “Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman watcheth in vain”.

The deliverance wrought by God at the time of Hezekiah was neither the first nor the last, yet with its special aspects it clearly prefigures that great and final deliverance that is yet future. It is more to this aspect that the latter psalms of this group turn. Thus in Psalm 128:5 “The Lord shall bless thee out of Zion, and thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life”. Although many times Israel has been afflicted (Psa. 129:1-2) and is yet being afflicted, it is still true that “the Lord is righteous. He will cut asunder the cords of the wicked” (v. 4).

Psalm 130

The Lord is a God Who hears the cries of His people. This had been made abundantly evident in the redemption that had been made for Israel because of the pleadings of Hezekiah. But this psalm also projects the view of the future when a greater redemption would occur. To Hezekiah, experience had shown that the lesson for Israel was “hope in the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption. He shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities” (vv. 7-8).

Psalm 131

The exhortation to Israel to maintain their trust in the Lord also concludes this psalm. “0 Israel, hope in the Lord, from this time forth and for evermore” (R.V. v. 3). The psalm as a whole has more of a personal tone, and although ascribed to David, the words of the first two verses adequately sum up the character of Hezekiah: “Lord, my heart is not haughty, neither mine eyes lofty, neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too wonderful for me”.

Psalm 132

Any consideration of Jerusalem and its future must necessarily take into account the covenant given to David and its fulfilment in Christ. The pleadings of the psalmist to “remember David” are answered by the Lord in the latter part of the psalm (vv. 11-18) with the promises of the ultimate destiny of Jerusalem and her people. “For the Lord hath chosen Zion. He hath desired it for His habitation. This is My resting place for ever; here will I dwell for I have desired it” (vv. 13-14).

Psalm 133

This psalm at first appears to be completely out of context with the others of the group. Its appropriateness becomes clear when one considers the fairly unfruitful attempt that Hezekiah made to unite the tribes of Israel. This is a task for the anti-type Christ to perform when the covenants to David (Psa. 132) are fulfilled, and truly it will become a good and pleasant thing for brethren to dwell together in unity.

Psalm 134

The last of the fifteen songs is mainly a doxology: “The Lord bless thee out of Zion, even He that made heaven and earth” (v. 3 R.V.).

In conclusion let it be emphasised that not all the psalms in the group of fifteen fit the time of Hezekiah perfectly. It is clear that those written before by David and Solomon were selected because in part they were appropriate. An attempt has been made in this article to construct an explanation consistent with the Scriptures which in large measure is substantiated by the context of the psalms themselves.