Week 19 Psalms 120-134
The fifteen consecutive psalms running from 120-134 are a kind of unified collection because a) they are all bunched together one-after-the-other and b) each one of them has the same subtitle: A Song of Ascents. So these psalms are a) musical psalms and b) have something to do with going up. Moving up. Rising. They’re Ascending Songs.
I checked a couple of other versions and they used the same subtitle: A Song of Ascents. Another one said: A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem. That’s an explanation I’ve heard before: the people of Israel who were living in the Promised Land were supposed to travel to Jerusalem three times every year to offer sacrifices. Since Jerusalem was up in the (low) mountains the trip for most people would be an uphill grind. So I guess it’s possible that’s the time when these fifteen On-the-Road songs were used.
I checked a couple of keywords to see if the Songs of Ascent focused on the destination. I found Jerusalem five-times. Zion seven-times. The house-of-the-Lord & house-of-David four-times. Temple zero. Sacrifices zero. Priests once. So sacrificial topics didn’t seem to be a big part of the songs’ content.
And as far as that goes the lyrics of several of the songs – 120 121 123 124 126 127 130 & 131 – don’t have anything much to do with Jerusalem or temple worship. Which doesn’t mean they weren’t pilgrimage songs. But does mean they were likely multi-purpose songs – useable on other occasions.
Note: Moses’ ruling on the Three Trips is in Exodus 34:18-24