245 PSALMS 120–136 : SONGS GREAT FESTIVAL FOR A characteristic of the Songs, the so-called staircase-like progression of thought 19. This explanation is not very plausible. There is no indication that Israelites felt the thought progression to be “ staircase-like ”. More importantly, the figure is not found in all the Songs. Whereas it is conspicuous in the first part of the collection, elsewhere it is found in a rudimentary state 20, or not at all. In addition to “step”, hl[m can mean “ascent”. Generally, as related to Psalms 120–134, it is taken in that meaning 21, which admits of different interpretations as well. Ezra 7,9 mentions a hl[m, “ascent”, from Babylon to Jerusalem. From ancient times, on account of this use of hl[m, there has been the view that Psalms 120–134 are songs of those who from exile “ ascended ” (hl[) to their homeland 22. However, some of the texts convey the impression that their speakers or addressees are living in their own country (see Pss 125–128). People not only “ascended” to the land of Israel, but also to Jerusalem (1 Kgs 12,27-28; Zech 14,16-19; Ps 122,4) and to the sanctuary (thus e.g. 2 Kgs 20,5.8; 23,2; Jer 26,10; Ps 24,3 ; 2 Chr 29,20). Although the noun h[lm is not found as “ascent” in precisely that sense, it is a reasonable assumption that it could be used so. The title in Psalms 120–134 is a designation then of pilgrimage songs or procession songs. The interpretation of ryv twl[mh as “pilgrimage song” is common 23, but hardly plausible. W. GESENIUS, Thesaurus philologicus criticus linguae hebraeae et 19 chaldaeae Veteris Testamenti II/2 (Lipsiae 1840) 1032. F. DELITZSCH, Biblischer Commentar über die Psalmen (Leipzig 41883) 780-781, supports this interpretation. See Ps 120,2-3.5-7 ; 121,1-2.3-5; 122,2-3.6-9; 123,1-4. See Ps 124,4-5 ; 126,2-3; 127,1-2; 128,4-5a.5b-6. 20 Thus already Theodotion, Ps. 120,1a: asma twn anabasewn, “song of ∞ ˜ß ¥ ® 21 the ascents”; Aquila and Symmachus: eıv tav anabaseiv, “for the ascents”. ß ùß ¥ Thus representatives of the Antiochian school. Midrash Tehillim has a 22 similar view (see CROW, Songs, 9-10). Cf. hl[ in e.g. Gen 45,25; Ezra 1,3; 2,1. See the commentaries. K. SEYBOLD, Die Wallfahrtpsalmen. Studien zur 23 Entstehungsgeschichte von Psalm 120-134 (Neukirchen-Vluyn 1978) 73, holds the collection to be a kind of vademecum for pilgrims, with prayers, songs, and texts for meditation. Similarly L.D. CROW, Songs, 157 (“a sort of devotional handbook for pilgrims”). H. SEIDEL, “Wallfahrtslieder”, Das lebendige Wort. Beiträge zur kirchlichen Verkündigung. Festgabe für Gottfried Voigt zum 65. Geburtstag (Hrsg. H. SEIDEL – K.H. BIERITZ) (Berlin 1982) 38, thinks that Pss 120–134, as a collection of meditative and edifying texts, may have been recited by the Levites on the journey to Jerusalem and the temple.