“I lift up my eyes to the hills”
I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? (Psalm 121:1 BSB)
What it sounds like today
Looking to majestic mountains for inspiration and strength.
The cultural key
Modern readers hear this as drawing strength from beautiful scenery, but for an ancient Israelite the hills were ambiguous, even ominous. The 'high places' were the hilltops, and that was exactly where the Canaanite shrines stood, the altars to Baal and Asherah where people went seeking help, fertility, and protection. So 'I lift up my eyes to the hills, from where does my help come?' reads most naturally as a genuine, even pointed, question: shall I look to the hilltop shrines for aid, as the nations do? The next verse gives the emphatic answer: 'My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth', not from the gods of the high places, but from the God who made the hills themselves. Read as scenery it is sentimental; read against the high places it is a quiet rejection of idols.
Recovered meaning
The hills were the site of pagan hilltop shrines, so the opening is likely a question, is my help up there among the idols?, answered at once: no, my help is from the LORD who made heaven and earth. It rejects the high places, not admires the view.