properly · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
thrones
כִסְא֣וֹתkhis.'ot
H3678
properly · noun, common feminine plural absolute
judgment
לְמִשְׁפָּ֑טle.mish.Pat
H4941
properly · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
thrones
כִּ֝סְא֗וֹתkis.'ot
H3678
properly · noun, common feminine plural absolute
house
לְבֵ֣יתle.Veit
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
David
דָּוִֽידda.Vid
H1732
David · proper noun, a man's name
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Deuteronomy 17:8 If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being…
2 Chronicles 19:8 Moreover in Jerusalem did Jehoshaphat set of the Levites, and of the priests, and of the chief of the fathers of Israel, for the judgment of…
Deuteronomy 17:18 And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is b…
2 Samuel 8:18 And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over both the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and David’s sons were chief rulers.
2 Chronicles 11:22 And Rehoboam made Abijah the son of Maachah the chief, to be ruler among his brethren: for he thought to make him king.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 122:1-5
Here we have,
I. The pleasure which David and other pious Israelites took in approaching to and attending upon God in public ordinances, Psa 122:1, Psa 122:2.
1. The invitation to them was very welcome. David was himself glad, and would have every Israelite to say that he was glad, when he was called upon to go up to the house of the Lord. Note, (1.) It is the will of God that we should worship him in concert, that many should join together to wait upon him in public ordinances. We ought to worship God in our own houses, but that is not enough; we must go into the house of the Lord, to pay our homage to him there, and not forsake the assembling of ourselves together. (2.) We should not only…
For there are set thrones of judgment,.... In Jerusalem as the Targum; here were courts of judicature, and thrones for the judges to sit upon, to execute judgment and justice to the people;
the thrones of the house of David; the Targum is,
"thrones in the house of the sanctuary, for the kings of the house of David;''
who might sit there, as the Jews say, when others might not. In the church of Christ, the heavenly Jerusalem, every saint is a king, as well as a priest, and all have thrones and seats there; have a power of judging, not only lesser matters pertaining to this life, but such as regard the spiritual peace and welfare of the church and interest of Christ; having laws and rules g…
Psalm 122:4-5
4. Thither the tribes ascended, the tribes of God, for a testimony to Israel, [69] to praise the name of Jehovah. 5. For there were set thrones for judgment, the thrones of the house of David.
4. Thither the tribes ascended. David here invests Jerusalem with two titles of honor, calling it the sacred and regularly appointed place for calling upon the name of God; and next, the royal sea, to which the whole people were to have recourse for obtaining justice. All our salvation depends upon these two points; first, that Christ has been given to us to be our priest; and, secondly, that he has been established king to govern us. This God showed to his ancient people under figures.…
The Church Fathers
"For there were seated seats for judgment" (ver. 5). This is a wonderful riddle, a wonderful question, if it be not understood. He calleth those seats, which the Greeks call thrones. The Greeks call chairs thrones, as a term of honour. Therefore, my brethren, it is not wonderful if even we should sit on seats, or chairs; but that these seats themselves should sit, when shall we be able to understand this? As if some one should say: let stools or chairs sit here. We sit on chairs, we sit on seats, we sit on stools; the seats themselves sit not. What then meaneth this, "For there were seated seats for judgment"? ...If therefore heaven be the seat of God, and the Apostles are heaven; they themselves are become the seat of God, the throne of God. It is said in another passage: "The soul of the righteous is the throne of wisdom." A great truth, a great truth, is declared; the throne of wisdom is the soul of the righteous; that is, wisdom sitteth in the soul of the righteous as it were in her chair, in her throne, and thence judgeth whatsoever she judgeth. There were therefore thrones of wisdom, and therefore the Lord said unto them, "Ye shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." So they also shall sit upon twelve seats, and they are themselves the seats of God; for of them it is said, "For there were seated seats." Who sat? "Seats." And who are the seats? They of whom it is said, "The soul of the righteous is the seat of wisdom." Who are the seats? The heavens. Who are the heavens? Heaven. What is heaven? That of which the Lord saith, "Heaven is My seat." The righteous then themselves are the seats; and have seats; and seats shall be seated in that Jerusalem. For what purpose? "For judgment." Ye shall sit, He saith, on twelve thrones, O ye thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Judging whom? Those who are below on earth. Who will judge? They who have become heaven. But they who shall be judged, will be divided into two bodies: one will be on the right hand, the other on the left ...
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Jerusalem — Called also Salem, Ariel, Jebus, the “city of God,” the “holy city;” by the modern Arabs el-Khuds, meaning “the holy;” once “the city of Judah” (2 Chr. 25:28). This name is in the original in the…
Throne — (Heb. kiss’e), a royal chair or seat of dignity (Deut. 17:18; 2 Sam. 7:13; Ps. 45:6); an elevated seat with a canopy and hangings, which cover it. It denotes the seat of the high priest in 1 Sam.…
King · Acts as — Acts as
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
The imposing character of the impression was still greatly enhanced by the consideration, that this is the city where at all times the twelve tribes of God's nation (which were still distinguished as its elements even after the Exile, Rom 11:1; Luk 2:36; Jam 1:1) came together at the three great feasts. The use of the שׁ twice as equivalent to אשׁר is (as in Canticles) appropriate to the ornamental, happy, miniature-like manner of these Songs of degrees. In שׁשּׁם the שׁם is, as in Ecc 1:7, equivalent to שׁמּה, which on the other hand in Psa 122:5 is no more than an emphatic שׁם (cf. Psa 76:4; Psa 68:7). עלוּ affirms a habit (cf. Job 1:4) of the past, which extends into the present. עדוּת לי…
the thrones where judgment is given: In the eras of David and Solomon (1 Kgs 3:28), Jerusalem was the home of wisdom and justice; it would be so again (Isa 9:7).
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 122:5
For there are set thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David.
For there are set thrones of judgment. If discontented with the petty judgments of their village lords, the people could bring their hard matters to the royal seat, and the beloved King would be sure to decide aright; for the judgment thrones were The thrones of the house of David. We who come to the church and its public worship are charmed to come to the throne of God, and to the throne of the reigning Saviour.
"He reigns! Ye saints, exalt your strains: Your God is King, your Father reigns: And he is at the Father's side, The Man of love, the Crucified."
To a true saint the throne is never more amiable than in its…
