Psalm 121 - A Pause Before Ascending

by Doug Floyd

Golden rays crowned the western horizon with the final moments of day, and the
pilgrims paused to prepare for the onset of night. The Holy City stood a half
day’s journey away. The people would have to camp in between villages.

“In between” the villages.

This meant camping without the protection of surrounding clans. This meant
sleeping in the face of raiders, adversaries, and wild animals. This meant
trusting the Lord in the midst of naked vulnerability. Tonight they would sleep
“in between.”

They had been walking since sunrise. Walking from Lachish.

Lachish enjoyed an ancient reputation as a glorious military outpost. But now the
humiliated city was home to a few settlers who had returned from Babylon. Seeking
to restore the land of their fathers, this band of faithful families had lived and
worked there for over ten years.

Jorah led these faithful families to the Holy City for Passover celebration.
Passover in Jerusalem. Passover at the rebuilt Temple. Passover like the land had
not seen in over 100 years. To Jorah, it felt like Israel was returning to Mt.
Sinai, renewing covenant with HaShem.

“Adin, Adin.” Jorah’s wife’s voice interrupted his reflections and in a moment he
joined her in looking for their young son Adin.

At 11 years old, Adin was prone to wander off. Once Jorah found him in the middle
of the village, asking some of the elders to tell him stories of ancient Israel.
Another time, Adin embarked on a journey to Jerusalem. He made it as far as the
neighbor’s farm.

Pilgrimage and the longing to wander off pulsed through Adin’s blood. Jorah
assumed that this was because Adin was born on journey in between Babylon and the
Holy Land. This “in between” baby had never stopped wandering, traveling, heading
home.

Tonight his family found him at the outskirts of the camp, singing. Adin joined
his voice with the aged and trembling voice of Kadmiel. They sang an ancient song
of praise to the Lord on high.

Adin sang,

“I lift up my eyes to the hills.

From where does my help come?”

Kadmiel answered,

“My help comes from the Lord

who made heaven and earth.”

As they sang, they gazed across the hills of Bethlehem toward Mt. Zion. Kadmiel
start to clap, and the song echoed atop the steady, constant rhythm of his
clapping. As he clapped, more and more of the pilgrims circled and began to join
these two hopeful dreamers.
“He will not let your foot be moved;
he who keeps Israel will not slumber.
Behold, he who keeps Israel
will neither slumber not sleep.”

The joyful song continued ringing out as darkness enveloped the camp fires.

“The Lord is your keeper;

the Lord is your shade on your right hand.
The sun shall not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.”

The song was a prayer and the prayer was a song. And a for a brief moment, all the
people joined in one voice, declaring the faithfulness of God.

“The Lord will keep you from all evil;

he will keep your life.
the Lord will keep your going out and coming in
from this time forth and forevermore.”

As the song gently drifted over the camp and up into the evening sky, the pilgrims
drifted off to sleep.

In the still of the night, the rhythm of Passover had already begun beating in the
hearts of these pilgrims as they rested “in between.”