Psalms 120:5

“Woe is me - My lot is a sad and pitiable one, that I am compelled to live in this manner, and to be exposed thus to malignant reproaches. It is like living in Mesech or in Kedar. That I sojourn - The word used here does not denote a permanent abode, but it usually refers to a temporary lodging, as when one is a traveler, a pilgrim, a stranger, and is under a necessity of passing a night in a strange land on his way to the place of his destination. The trouble or discomfort here referred to is not that which would result from having his home there, or abiding there permanently, but of feeling that he was a stranger, and would be exposed to all the evils and inconveniences of a stranger among…”

“Mesech - Mesech and Kedar are two sorts of people often mentioned in scripture, and reckoned amongst the barbarous nations. But their names are here to be understood metaphorically. And so he explains himself in the next verse. Next: Psalms Chapter 121”

“120:5-7 The psalmist feels the anguish of alienation, isolation, and perpetual conflict. 120:5 Meshech was a Japhethite territory far to the north of Canaan. Kedar was an Ishmaelite territory in Arabia. Violent people lived in both locations. Meshech was the home of a famous slave trade (Ezek 27:13; cp. Exod 21:16) and Kedar of renowned warriors (Isa 21:16-17). These places can be understood as representative of the apostate, violent land where the psalmist suffered.”

“Woe: Jer 9:2, Jer 9:3, Jer 9:6, Jer 15:10; Mic 7:1, Mic 7:2; Pe2 2:7, Pe2 2:8; Rev 2:13 Mesech: Gen 10:2; Eze 27:13, Meshech. the tents: Gen 25:13; Sa1 25:1; Sol 1:5; Isa 60:6, Isa 60:7; Jer 49:28, Jer 49:29 Psalms 120:6”

“Since arrows and broom-fire, with which the evil tongue is requited, even now proceed from the tongue itself, the poet goes on with the deep heaving אויה (only found here). גּוּר with the accusative of that beside which one sojourns, as in Psa 5:5; Isa 33:14; Jdg 5:17. The Moschi (משׁך, the name of which the lxx takes as an appellative in the signification of long continuance; cf. the reverse instance in Isa 66:19 lxx) dwelt between the Black and the Caspian Seas, and it is impossible to dwell among them and the inhabitants of Kedar (vid., Psa 83:7) at one and the same time. Accordingly both these names of peoples are to be understood emblematically, with Saadia, Calvin, Amyraldus, and…”