Psalms 124

Thanksgiving for Yahweh’s Help

1

A song of ascents. Of David.

1 "If [it had] not [been] Yahweh who was on our side," do let Israel say,

2 "If [it had] not [been] Yahweh who was on our side, when men rose up against us,

3 then they would have swallowed us alive, when their anger was kindled against us.

4 Then the waters would have flooded over us, [the] torrent would have passed over our soul.

5 Then over our soul would have passed the raging waters."

6 Blessed [be] Yahweh, who has not made us prey for their teeth.

7 Our soul has escaped like a bird from [the] snare of fowlers. The snare [is] broken, and we have escaped.

8 Our help [is] in the name of Yahweh, maker of heaven and earth.

Psalms 124 Commentary

Chapter 124

The deliverance of the church. (1-5) Thankfulness for the deliverance. (6-8)

Verses 1-5 God suffers the enemies of his people sometimes to prevail very far against them, that his power may be seen the more in their deliverance. Happy the people whose God is Jehovah, a God all-sufficient. Besides applying this to any particular deliverance wrought in our days and the ancient times, we should have in our thoughts the great work of redemption by Jesus Christ, by which believers were rescued from Satan.

Verses 6-8 God is the Author of all our deliverances, and he must have the glory. The enemies lay snares for God's people, to bring them into sin and trouble, and to hold them there. Sometimes they seem to prevail; but in the Lord let us put our trust, and we shall not be put to confusion. The believer will ascribe all the honour of his salvation, to the power, mercy, and truth of God, and look back with wonder and thanksgiving on the way in which the Lord has led him. Let us rejoice that our help for the time to come is in him who made heaven and earth.

Footnotes

• [a]. The Hebrew Bible counts the superscription as the first verse of the psalm
• [b]. Hebrew "given"

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 124

\\<>\\. Some think this psalm was written by David, after the conquest of the Philistines and Ammonites, and other nations that rose up against him and Israel, like the proud waves of the sea, and spread themselves like a flood; and whose destruction was like the breach of many waters, 2Sa 5:18,20, 10:19. Others, after his deliverance from the persecution of Saul, or from the conspiracy of Absalom. Theodoret is of opinion that David wrote this by a prophetic spirit, concerning the enemies of the Jews, upon their return to their own land, from the Babylonish captivity; who envied them, and rose up against them, but the Lord delivered them. And others apply it to the times of Antiochus, when the Jewish church and state were threatened with ruin; but the Lord appeared for them, in raising up the Maccabees. Kimchi interprets it of the Jews in captivity; and drama of the deliverance of the children of Israel at the Red sea. It may be applied to any time of distress the church and people of God have been in, and he has wrought salvation for them.