Episode Details

Psalm 125: The Mountain That Cannot Be Moved

What does it feel like to be immovable? Not stubborn — that is merely a vice dressed up as strength — but truly, deeply rooted in something that will not shift? The psalmist reaches for the most solid thing he knows: Mount Zion. "They that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever." And then, as if one mountain were not enough, he piles the whole range around us: "As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people." Notice what is happening here. We are not the mountain; we are the city nestled among the mountains. God does not merely make us strong — he surrounds us with himself. The rod of the wicked may swing, but it will not rest upon the lot of the righteous, lest even the good be tempted to meet wickedness with wickedness. And the psalm ends with a quiet sorting — the good from the crooked, the upright from those who turn aside — and over it all, like a benediction breathed rather than spoken: peace upon Israel.

00:00 As Mount Zion
00:12 Mountains Round About
00:22 The Rod Shall Not Rest
00:32 Do Good to the Good
00:40 Peace Upon Israel