John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Psalms 120 A Song of degrees. This psalm, and the fourteen following, are called "songs of degrees", or "ascents" (o); for what reason it is not easy to say. Some think it refers to the music of them, and that this is the name of the tune to which they were set; or the first word of a song according to which they were sung, as Aben Ezra; or that they were sung with an higher...
John Gill
Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper. Some think these words describe lying lips, and a false tongue; which are like arrows, sharp ones, sent out from a bow drawn with a mighty hand, which come with great force, suddenly and swiftly, and do much mischief; see Psalms 11:2; and to "coals of juniper", very distressing and tormenting; the tongue being a fire, set on fire of hell, and...
Matthew Henry
This psalm is the first of those fifteen which are here put together under the title of "songs of degrees." It is well that it is not material what the meaning of that title should be, for nothing is offered towards the explication of it, no, not by the Jewish writers themselves, but what is conjectural. These psalms do not seem to be composed all by the same hand, much less all at the same time....