Should I Pray for Jerusalem?

By William Boekestein - Posted at Reformation 21:

Published July 15, 2025

Psalm 122 calls people to “pray for the peace of Jerusalem” and to seek her good (6, 9). Is the Psalm calling us to be politically pro-Israel, as some people interpret it today? Or is it teaching something more basic to your walk with God?

What Is the Psalm Saying?

The psalm is an ode to Jerusalem as the spiritual and political capital of the nation of Israel. Taken literally, the psalm tells readers to hold Jerusalem in their hearts, pray for her peace, and seek her good. It is, after all, no ordinary city. Scripture repeatedly calls it “the holy city” (e.g. Is. 52:1; Matt. 27:53). Its conquest is one of the lead stories in the book of Judges. David himself recaptured it from the Jebusites (1 Chron 11:4–5; cf. Judges 1:8). And of all the locations on the globe, it was the place where God decreed that his people should worship him. At least three times annually Israelite men were to go up to worship the Lord in this city that was centrally located among the twelve tribes (Ex. 23:17; Deut. 16:16). Even in Jesus’ day, it was correct to say that “in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship” (John 4:20).

So for pilgrims going up to Jerusalem for the prescribed times of worship David provided a stirring song. The psalm taught God’s people a proper attitude about the city. Jerusalem was never meant to be viewed as a religious shrine. There was nothing magical about its location. God could have chosen any other city, just like he could have chosen any other tribe to be his people. As it is possible today for people to come to church without communing with God, so Jerusalem had no spiritual value for unbelieving pilgrims. But as God’s symbolic earthly seat it held huge spiritual significance. Jerusalem was special because, like a sacrament, it was a physical sign of God’s promise to be with his people. It was where God had chosen to place his name (2 Chron. 6:6), where he symbolically sat enthroned above the ark (2 Sam. 6:2, 12).

Continue here...