John Gill Commentary Psalms 123:1

"Unto thee do I lift up mine eyes, O thou that sittest in the heavens." — Psalms 123:1 (ASV)

Unto you lift I up my eyes
Not only the eyes of his body, this being a prayer gesture; see (Matthew 14:19) (John 11:41) (17:1) ; but the eyes of his mind and understanding, opened by the Spirit of God; particularly the eye of faith, by which he looked for and expected help and salvation from the Lord. The phrase is expressive of holy confidence in God, and a comfortable hope of receiving good things from him; as, on the contrary, when persons are ashamed and confounded with a sense of their sins, and the aggravations of them, and of their own unworthiness and vileness; and, on account of the same, almost out of all hope, cannot lift up their eyes to heaven, or their face before God, (Ezra 9:6) (Psalms 40:12) (Luke 18:13) ;

O you that dwell in the heavens ;
the heaven of heavens, the third heaven, the seat of angels and glorified saints; and though the Lord is everywhere, and fills heaven and earth with your presence, and cannot be contained any where; yet here is the more visible display of his glory; here he keeps his court; this is his palace, and here his throne is prepared, and on it he sits ^F4 ; so some render the word here; as the Judge of the whole earth, and takes a view of all men and their actions; and, as the God of nature and providence, governs and orders all things after his own will; and, as the God of grace, sits on a throne of grace, kindly inviting and encouraging his people to come unto him: and therefore the psalmist addresses him as such; see (Ecclesiastes 5:2) (Matthew 6:9) . The Targum is,

``O you that sit on a throne of glory in heaven!''

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FOOTNOTES:

• F4: (ybvyh) "sedens", Montanus, Gejerus; "qui sedes", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius, Michaelis; so Ainsworth.