Motyer's little commentary on the Songs of Ascents - the 15 Psalms 120-134 - is a lovely and helpful book. It reflects the piety of a man who has given his scholarly service to the church over many years - an evangelicalism that is both learned and godly. I was glad to have found this volume and read it with pleasure.

The introduction discusses, among other things, the interesting view that the collection is arranged deliberately in five groups of 3 - of which the first focuses on the distress of God's people, the second on God's power for his people and the third on the security of God's people.
[This was new to me, and I found it thought provoking. However, like other discussions of the structure of psalms, I think this this is a more a hint or suggestion for further investigation than a law to guide interpretation. I'd ask if the distress/power/security suggested by this structure is always to be taken as the chief interpretive key as over against, say, the internal structure of the particular psalm. Still, the suggestion that the juxtaposition of psalms is significant for their interpretation should not be lightly dismissed - elsewhere it is commonly noted that the thematic importance of the first 2 psalms for the whole psalter is in part theirs because of their place at the head of the collection (as well as their themes and the absence of specific ascriptions in their first lines in a book whose content is almost comprehensively seen as Davidic) and few would deny a significance to the collection ending with 5 great psalms of praise.]

In short chapters of about 8 pages each, Motyer discusses these psalms making the sensible suggestions of the seasoned Hebraist and OT commentator we have always appreciated. The notes at the end of each chapter often offer helpful explanations of vocabulary or translation issues, and give references for further investigation.

Since I am not a Jew in ancient Israel, I need to think how this section of the OT applies to me as a Christian. In this, as his title suggests, Motyer has offered the hermeneutical key of the Journey - so that the christian reader might think of themselves as also on a pilgrimage - 'though one now directed toward Christ. At times this is a very useful metaphor, and one which finds a multifaceted reflection in, say, the NT book of Hebrews.

But I must say that although I have come away helped by Motyer's book, I remain somewhat dissatisfied. For me, the dilemma is that the Christological interpretation of these psalms rests more on the suggestive nature of their ascription as 'songs of ascents' than on easily discerned direct links to the NT and to Jesus' person, word or works. I acknowledge that to some extent most of the Psalms gain their applicability precisely because a specific situation has been generalised for the people of God. Still others offer us a clear fulfilment in the coming messiah. But these psalms are in content so often either so much about commonplace actions and thoughts or about Jerusalem itself, that we are limited to more generalised connections. Apart from the possible quotation of Ps 132:11 in Acts 2:30, they appear to be unreferenced by the NT and therefore even though they are songs of great beauty and simple yet profound insight, understanding the significance of their detailed content remains somewhat mysterious for a Christian who meets God in Jesus not Jerusalem, and does not hope to rise to him (having already done so by faith) but more eagerly looks up for Christ's return from on high.