As the thinker would say: "Anguish is a very tight knot right in the middle of your peace." Adriana Falcão
"Woe is me that I sojourn in Meshech, and dwell in the tents of Kedar Ps 120:5"
A lamentation transformed into song. This Psalm, of the steps, was conceived by David in a moment of great anguish. As a legacy, years later, it came to be sung by pilgrims when they climbed the mountains to Jerusalem during the annual festivals. A kind of remembrance and praise for Israel having dwelt among enemies and survived many battles.
Meshech and Kedar, appear in the Psalm in a metaphorical way, symbolizing warring tribes. Kedar, descendant of Ishmael (son of Abraham with Hagar) was a powerful tribal leader dwelling in the hot deserts to the South of Arabia, where the Bedouins live (Ez 27:21) Meshech, One of the sons of Japheth (son of Noah), gave his name to an Indo-European people that lived in the region of the Black Sea or the Caucasus.
To sojourn in Meshech and dwell in Kedar, spiritually speaking, is to experience anguish and desire peace. It is like living in strange places, surrounded by danger. David continues in his lamentation saying: "My soul has long dwelt with those who hate peace. I am peaceable, but when I speak, they are already at war" (Ps 120:6,7). Have you ever felt yourself in Meshech and Kedar?
When my eyes rested upon this Psalm I was curious to know where Meshech and Kedar were located. Upon discovering, I sang praises, just as the pilgrims did on their way up the mountains toward Jerusalem! How many times have I felt like David, sojourning in these conflictual territories and received deliverance! In truth, these territories surround us daily and sometimes, we feel "the breath" of barbarians in our face, the arrows of enemy bows aimed at us and diverted by Divine providence.
Meshech and Kedar are synonymous with our anguishes, with battles that we fight with ourselves and with the world. So many times these territories become real within us, because we must overcome doubts, fear, abandonment, diseases and many other evils that war against our peace with greater or lesser intensity. No one is free from sojourning in Meshech and dwelling in Kedar. See, David discerns the sojourning and the dwelling.
It is that some pains pass quickly through us, others literally "pitch their tents" and make their home. And David was a man of peace, dwelling in war. Jesus is peace itself and being among us, as Messiah Savior, sojourned in Meshech and dwelt in Kedar. Enemies surrounded Him wherever He went, yet He overcame! Because no conflict, however great it may be, can overcome the love of God for His children.
If there be war, He will be the Shield. And with this Shield, just one man will be able to overcome an entire army! This is how David overcame the giant Goliath and in his song of thanksgiving, he prophesied: "God is my rock, and in Him I will trust; my shield and the strength of my salvation, and my high refuge. O my Savior, from violence you have saved me" "II Samuel 22:3. Because human strength fails, without God we succumb in Meshech and Kedar.
May God bless you all.
Source: "https://www.estudosgospel.com.br/estudo-biblico-evangelico-diversos/peregrino-em-meseque-e-habito-em-quedar.html"