Woe to me that I dwell in MESHECH and KEDAR

[tonychanyt]

Ps 120:

5 Woe to me that I dwell in Meshech,
that I live among the tents of Kedar! 6 Too long have I dwelt
among those who hate peace. 7 I am in favor of peace;
but when I speak, they want war.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers:

(5) Mesech.--This name is generally identified with Moschi, mentioned by Herodotus (iii. 94), a tribe on the borders of Colchis and Armenia.

Colchis was located in modern day Georgia on the eastern coast of the Black Sea.

It appears again in the prophet Ezekiel 27:13; Ezekiel 38:3; Ezekiel 39:1. The only reason for suspecting the accuracy of this identification is the remoteness from Kedar, who were a nomad tribe of Arabia. (See Genesis 25:13; Song of Solomon 1:5.) But in the absence of any other indication of the motive for the mention of these tribes here, this very remoteness affords a sufficiently plausible one; or they may be types of savage life, selected the one from the north, and the other from the south, as poetry dictated. It is quite possible that the circumstances amid which the poet wrote made it necessary for him to veil in this way his allusion to powerful tribes, from whose violence the nation was suffering. At all events, the two concluding verses leave no doubt that some troubled state of affairs, in which the choice of courses was not easy, and affecting the whole nation. not an individual, is here presented.

Pulpit Commentary:

Verse 5. - Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech. This is scarcely to be understood literally. Israel never "sojourned in Mesech," i.e. among the Moschi, who dwelt in Cappadocia,

Cappadocia was located in modern day Turkey on the southern coast of the Black Sea.

nor dwelt among the tents of Kedar, a people of Northern Arabia. The writer means that he dwells among hostile and barbarous people, who are to him as Kedar and Mesech. Possibly the Samaritans and Ammonites are intended. That I dwell in the tents of Kedar; rather, among the tents (see the Revised Version).

Meshech symbolized the people north of Israel, and Kedar symbolized the people south of Israel. Both Meshech and Kedar were places or peoples far removed from the psalmist's own community and values. He lamented that Israel was surrounded by warlike tribes. He longed for peace and safety.