Psalm 120 · a question people ask
"Woe is me, that I live in Meshech, that I dwell among the tents of Kedar!" (120:5). Who are Meshech and Kedar, and did the psalmist live among both?
The psalm doesn't say more about them. Elsewhere the Bible names a Meshech among "The sons of Japheth" (Genesis 10:2), and a Meshech among "The sons of Shem" (1 Chronicles 1:17), and Ezekiel names Meshech beside Tubal (Ezekiel 27:13, 38:2). Kedar is one of "the sons of Ishmael" (Genesis 25:13). The Song of Solomon speaks of "Kedar’s tents" (Song of Solomon 1:5), and Isaiah of "the archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar" (Isaiah 21:17) and of "the villages that Kedar inhabits" (Isaiah 42:11). The psalm doesn't say which Meshech it means. It names both in one verse, and in the next speaks of "him who hates peace" (Psalm 120:6). It doesn't say whether the psalmist lived first in one and then the other, or used the two names for the people around him, and these notes don't choose. The title doesn't name the psalmist, and the psalm doesn't say where or when it was sung.
The verses
“Woe is me, that I live in Meshech, that I dwell among the tents of Kedar! My soul has had her dwelling too long with him who hates peace.”
“The sons of Japheth were: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.”
“The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, Aram, Uz, Hul, Gether, and Meshech.”
“These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to the order of their birth: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebaioth, then Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam,”