04.14. Chapter 14
Psalms 121:1-8 "THE LORD IS THY KEEPER:’
Another of the Pilgrim Psalms, prepared for the annual festival journeys. This seems to have been specially designed to be sung in view of the mountains about Jerusalem, and is probably an evening song for the pilgrim-band. The keynote of the Psalm is the word keep, which occurs six times in one form or another (see R.V.).
Psalms 121:1. I will lift up mine eyes!-We must not be contented with merely looking at the hills-but must look above and beyond them. The loftiest and mightiest sources of help are too low for us. Nothing short of God will avail for us.
Psalms 121:2. My help cometh from the Lord!-The term applied to the Lord, as Creator of heaven and earth, indicates his inexhaustible abundance of help. "Despair is madness in anyone who has such a God to help him."
Psalms 121:3. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved.-The sliding of the foot is a very natural type of misfortune, especially in so mountainous a land as Canaan, where it is in the highest degree dangerous to lose one’s foothold (see also Genesis 28:15; Psalms 26:1; Psalms 37:31).
Psalms 121:4. He ... shall neither slumber nor sleep.-This is said of Israel’s foes (Isaiah 5:27) ; hut it is more true of Israel’s God. When the pilot comes on board, the captain may turn in to sleep.
Psalms 121:5. The Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.-"Shade" is a metaphor for protection from the scorching heat, like Jonah’s gourd. God is a Sun (Psalms 84:11); but He is a shadow from the heat (Psalms 91:1; Isaiah 25:4).
Psalms 121:6. The sun shall not smite . . . nor the moon.-Heat and cold stand for the extremes of condition to which we are all exposed. Sometimes everything is warm and bright around us; at other times we are lonely and depressed: but in all circumstances God is sufficient (Php 4:12).
Psalms 121:7. The Lord shall preserve! ... He shall preserve!-These repeated assurances are to calm and quiet our unbelief, which needs to be told again and again that God will watch over his own. Nothing that happens to us can be evil. Whatever God lets pass through the meshes of his protection must be for our good.
Psalms 121:8. Thy going out and thy coming in!-The going out is for work and service; the coming in may be for rest and refreshment. The Good Shepherd keeps his flock through all (John 10:9).
Psalms 122:1-9 "PEACE BE WITHIN THY WALLS!"
If the former Psalm was sung of the pilgrimband, when retiring to rest on the last evening, when Jerusalem was already in sight-this would be sung one station further on, when the pilgrims had reached the gates of Jerusalem, and halted for the purpose of arranging themselves for solemn procession to the temple.
It is ascribed to David; and internal evidence confirms the inscription. The city was newly built and beautified, and was the seat of David’s government. The house of the Lord, referred to in Psalms 122:1 and Psalms 122:9, is clearly the early sanctuary, which was known by this name (Jude 1:18; Judges 19:18).
Psalms 122:1. Let us go into the house of the Lord!-There is an illustration of this in Isaiah 2:3. It was much to have reached Jerusalem, but much more to have a desire to visit the Lord’s house; for that was not merely a material edifice-it was also the place where God met pious souls. Oh for this desire after God!
Psalms 122:2. Our feet are standing (R.V.).-What a difference a step may make! All the difference between outside and inside-between a stranger and foreigner or a child at home.
Psalms 122:3. Jerusalem ... a compact city (compare 2 Samuel 5:9).-This is an expression of wonder that the stately city had arisen so quickly under the genius of David. What shall we not say, one day, of the new Jerusalem, when she descends from God in his glory! (Revelation 21:2).
Psalms 122:4. Whither the tribes go up.-From the external splendor of Jerusalem the Psalmist passes on to praise her internal glory, in that she was the religious center and metropolis of the nation. The law to that effect had been laid down in the opening of the national history (Exodus 23:17, Deuteronomy 16:16).
Psalms 122:6. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.-In the Hebrew there is a graceful alliteration in this verse:- Peace in the City of Peace: May those be at peace who love her! as though David would make the beloved name as dear to his people as it was to himself. Prosperity still attends those who love the name and cause of God. In such souls there are already present the elements of prosperity and blessedness.
Psalms 122:7. Peace ... and prosperity!-Let us never forget to pray for the good estate of the Church Universal; not in public only, but also in our private devotions. Such prayers must be dear to her Bridegroom, Christ.
Psalms 122:8. For my brethren and companions’ sakes.-All who are members of that Church are our brethren and friends.
Psalms 122:9. I will seek thy good.-Let all strive to promote the cause of God by word and life, by exertions and prayers.
Psalms 123:1-4 "UNTO THEE LIFT I MINE EYES." This Psalm must by internal evidence be carried, as to its authorship, to a much later date than the preceding one. It was probably composed after the return from captivity, when Israel was suffering so much from the Samaritans and others (Ezra 4:1-24 and Nehemiah 2:19). Calvin shows the application of the Psalm to the Church of all ages when he says: "The Holy Ghost, by a clear voice, incites us to come to God, as often as-not one and another member only, but the whole Church is unjustly and haughtily oppressed by the passions of her enemies."
Psalms 123:1. Unto Thee lift I up mine eyes!-Our Lord looked upward when He prayed (John 17:1); and He has taught us to look up to our Father in heaven. It is his throne (Matthew 5:34). Sometimes we cannot articulate words and sentences; but we can put a prayer into a look.
Psalms 123:2. Our eyes look unto the Lord our God (R.V.).-It has been truly said that the servant looks to the master’s hand: (1) for direction; (2) for the supply of his needs; (3) for protection; (4) for correction; (5) for reward. A very slight gesture is enough to indicate the master’s will. Oh to be so incessantly occupied with the Lord Jesus as to need but a sign! There is perhaps also here the thought of the eagerness with which the eyes of a slave watch for the master’s signal that a fault has been expiated by sufficient chastisement. There is a striking parallel in the history of Hagar (Genesis 16:6-9).
Psalms 123:3. We are exceedingly filled with contempt.- Contempt is hard to bear; but we are taught to expect it, as the followers of Him who passed through storms of contumely, but who despised the shame (Hebrews 12:2-4). Fix your hearts on the joy set before you, and "rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy" (1 Peter 4:13).
Psalms 124:1-8 "THE LORD ON OUR SIDE."
One of David’s Psalms, perhaps written during the Aramaic-Edomitic war (2 Samuel 8:3-13: compare Psalms 44:1-26; Psalms 60:1-12.) Luther says, "We may well sing this Psalm, not only against our enemies who openly hate and persecute us, but also against spiritual wickedness."
Psalms 124:1. If it had not been the Lord who was on our side/!What an If is this! One shudders to think what and where we might have been, without the delivering, preserving hand of our God. If we are on the Lord’s side, and walking uprightly, we need never doubt as to whether He is on our side. That we may rest assured about.
Psalms 124:2. The Lord on our side: ... men against us.-Weigh these two in the balances, God and men; and how unworthy do our fears appear! (Psalms 56:11).
Psalms 124:3. They had swallowed us up quick.-Probably an allusion to the destruction of the company of Korah (Numbers 16:32-33). The word quick is old English for "alive."
Psalms 124:4-5. The waters; the stream; the proud waters.-Yet, as a matter of fact, the proud waters never have gone over us. They have threatened us again and again; but there has always been a "Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further" (Job 38:11). God makes of soft sand a strong bar to the sea. His voice on high is greater than the voices of the waves (Job 38:8; Psalms 93:3-4). Trust Him! As it has been, so shall it be.
Psalms 124:6. Blessed be the Lord!-These outbursts of praise are so characteristic of the sweet Psalmist (Psalms 28:6; Psalms 31:21) .
Psalms 124:7. Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare.-We have often marvelled at the way in which the Evil One ensnares us. Quite unexpectedly he begins to weave the meshes of some net around the soul, and seems about to hold it his captive. And then, all suddenly, the strong and deft hand of our Heavenly Friend interposes, as we sometimes interpose on behalf of a struggling insect in a spider’s web. The mare falls into a tangled heap, and the soul is free.
Psalms 124:8. Our help is in the name of the Lord.-All the help of Omnipotence is pledged on the side of the weakest of the saints. Lean back upon it, and be strong!
Psalms 125:1-5 "AS MOUNT ZION!"
"The Church first sang this Psalm under the oppression of heathen rule (Psalms 125:3); but in her own land; from the natural features of which the figures of her security in the Divine protection are taken. Struggling with manifold troubles, which might have led her to doubt as to the protecting favor of God, she here rises above these in faith." Whilst many of her members were true, others had departed from the living God (Psalms 125:4-5). "These circumstances are exactly those which existed after the deliverance from captivity; at the time when the building of the temple was interrupted" (compare Psalms 120:1-7; Psalms 126:1-6.).-Hengstenberg.
Psalms 125:1. They that trust in the Lord.-Trust so links us and our cause to God, that we acquire something of his stability; as the limpet, sticking fast to the rock, partakes of the nature of the rock.
Psalms 125:2. As the mountains round about Jerusalem.-Robinson says: "The sacred city lies upon the broad and high mountain range, shut in by two deep valleys. All the surrounding hills are higher: in the east, the Mount of Olives; on the south, the Hill of Evil Counsel, which ascends from the Valley of Hinnom." What an exquisite picture this is of the believer-God-encompassed; God-encircled; God-girt! And as the mountains made Jerusalem well-nigh in-accessible and impregnable, so is God round about us, warding off the attacks of our foes. They cannot get at us except through Him. Oh that our eyes might be opened to see the in. vulnerable walls by which we are surrounded (2 Kings 6:17).
Psalms 125:3. The rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous.-The wicked do oppress the righteous: but their oppression shall not be permanent; that the righteous may not be tempted to relinquish their righteousness, and relapse into backsliding.
Psalms 125:4. Do good, 0 Lord, unto ... the upright.-God is to us what we are to Him (Psalms 18:25-26).
Psalms 125:5. Such as turn aside unto their crooked ways.-Crooked ways are by-paths or private ways, apart from the highways. The commandments of God are as the public road. To travel along them is to be at peace. To diverge from them is certain misery.
Psalms 126:1-6 "THE CAPTIVITY TURNED." The circumstances in which this Psalm was written are evident upon its face. The exiles were still rejoicing with the new ecstasy of deliverance from captivity, and were extremely anxious as to their future. The first three verses express their joy; the fourth is a prayer for complete deliverance.
Psalms 126:1. When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion.-A partial fulfilment of Isaiah 52:8. There are times when the soul seems to dwell in a captivity which hinders both its joy and its free devotion. And then suddenly and unexpectedly the captivity is turned. The soul is restored, and is as in times past. It is the Lord’s doing, and we are as in a blessed dream (Acts 12:9).
Psalms 126:2. Our mouth was filled with laughter.-God loves the singing and laughter of his saints. Trust and wait! The memory of your present anguish shall be soon forgotten in tumults of joy (Job 8:21). What a contrast to Psalms 137:1-9!
Psalms 126:3. The Lord hath done great things! (Joel 2:21).
Psalms 126:4. Turn again our captivity.-Much had been done for the exiles; but a large portion of the nation was still in bondage, and heavy disabilities remained on those who had returned. When God has done much for us, we may venture to ask more. The metaphor of "streams in the south" is derived from the rapidity with which, after the heavy rains, the dry watercourses become flushed with torrent streams. Would that to our hearts and churches might come abundant life, as when the snows melt in the springtime and flush the brooks!
Psalms 126:5-6. Sow in tears: reap in joy.-The sowing and reaping are figurative expressions for the commencement of undertakings and their results. Often the farmer who sows in anxiety is agreeably disappointed with the harvest. And this is invariably the case with the children of God. They are often in pain and sorrow; but when these are undergone for righteousness’ sake, they must be followed by a harvest of joy, which shall be a hundredfold compensation (Matthew 19:29; Luke 6:21). Let the Christian worker not count as lost the seeds he sows, or the tears in which he steeps them. But let all such rest on that word doubtless, which is God’s guarantee. Precious tears! precious seed! precious reward! (compare Jeremiah 31:9, Jeremiah 31:12).
Psalms 127:1-5 "EXCEPT THE LORD BUILD." This Psalm may have been suggested to Solomon by the building of the temple. It teaches us to depend in all our undertakings on the blessing of God. The Divine blessing is the only true source of prosperity; and it should be sought on the threshold of every undertaking.
Psalms 127:1. Except the Lord build the house.-There is no condemnation implied here against our building and watching, but against our doing anything independently of God; or as if we could permanently succeed apart from Him. We must be fellow-workers with Him (Proverbs 10:22).
Psalms 127:2. Bread of sorrows is that eaten amid hard labor; rising early and sitting late thereat; reminding us of the ancient curse. What a picture this is of the anxiety and care which fall to the lot of so many! On the other hand, the beloved children of God, whilst they do not slack their toils (2 Thessalonians 3:12), are yet relieved of the over-pressure of the nightmare of care. When they have done their best, they leave the results to God, and sleep peacefully; and by night, the blessing or deliverance comes to them, they know not how. There is an alternative reading preferred by some: "He giveth unto his beloved in sleep." That is, that whilst those who know not God as a Father are wearing themselves down with labor and sorrow, blessing comes to the faithful even when they are resting and asleep.
Psalms 127:3. Children are an heritage of the Lord.-We have here an illustration of how all we have is due to the Lord’s tender care. Our family life is his gift (compare Genesis 30:2; Genesis 33:5).
Psalms 127:4-5. Happy the man that hath his quiver full!-Figures are multiplied in these verses, which have thus been expounded in rhyme by Tate and Brady:- As arrows in a giant’s hand When marching forth to war, E’en so the sons of sprightly youth Their parents’ safeguard are.
Happy the man whose quiver’s filled With these prevailing arms;
He needs not fear to meet his foe At law, or war’s alarms.
Contending armies of a besieged city would meet at the gate Jude 1:16; Isaiah 22:7). In view of the teaching of Psalms 127:3, it thus appears that the comfort and support which dutiful children render to parents is of the Lord’s appointment.
Psalms 128:1-6 ON FEARING THE LORD. This Psalm has no authorship or date assigned to it. It is anonymous, as are so many of the sweetest hymns of the Church. But it needs no introduction; and it goes on singing through the world, refreshing weary hearts as the streamlets which run among the hills. The burden is the blessedness of true godliness in the entire range of human life.
Psalms 128:1, Psalms 128:4. Blessed is everyone that feareth the Lord.-How continuously throughout the Old Testament do we find blessedness associated with godliness! (Deuteronomy 7:12-14; Deuteronomy 28:1-14; Job 1:10; Psalms 33:12; Psalms 112:1-3; Psalms 115:13-15). Note the words, everyone, which hand on the blessing to all, whether Jews or Gentiles, who comply with these conditions. The fear of the Lord is born of love, which dares not grieve. It is the inner temper of the devout soul, which always reveals itself in the consistent and obedient walk. We walk in his ways when we walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16, Galatians 5:25).
Psalms 128:2. Shall eat the labour of thine hands.-A gracious promise! Leviticus 26:16-17 and Deuteronomy 28:31-33 present the dark reverse which is the portion of the ungodly. It shall be well with thee.-How often do we meet with this pledge, either direct or implied, in the Book of Deuteronomy (Deuteronomy 4:40; Deuteronomy 5:16; Deuteronomy 6:3, Deuteronomy 6:18; Deuteronomy 12:25, Deuteronomy 12:28; Deuteronomy 19:13; Deuteronomy 22:7); and it is once repeated in the New Testament (Ephesians 6:3). Faith can grasp this promise, even when outward appearances seem adverse to its fulfilment (2 Kings 4:26). It shall be well amid calamity and sorrow, in the deepest, and best, and most permanent sense. Isaiah 65:18-25 is the "latter-day" fulfilment of this promise.
Psalms 128:3. In the innermost parts of thine house (R.V.).-Reminding us of the beautiful courtyard or quadrangle of an Oriental house, in which the fountain plays, and around which the vine trails gracefully. Thy children like olive plants.-The petition of Psalms 144:12 is for such a blessing as this. And it has its response. "I am like a green olive tree" (Psalms 52:8; see also Jeremiah 11:16; Hosea 14:6). Jesus grew up as a "tender plant" (Isaiah 53:2).
Psalms 128:5. The Lord shall bless thee out of Zion!-Jerusalem, as the center of religious worship, where the temple was, stood as the focus for the religious life and thought of the nation (Psalms 20:2). And its prosperity was intimately associated with that of the people (Psalms 122:2-6). The spiritual and temporal act and interact.
Psalms 128:6. Thy children’s children.-The promise of Psalms 103:17 accords with this verse (see also Proverbs 13:22). Note the word to restored Israel in Ezekiel 37:25; in those days aged men and women shall look with complacency on the boys and girls of a third or fourth generation playing in the streets (Zechariah 8:4-5). Happy are those who, even now, can put their finger on the promise in Isaiah 59:21, and claim it as their own!
Psalms 129:1-8 "THEY AFFLICTED ME."
Another of the nameless pilgrim-songs. The singer looks back on the many and severe oppressions from which Israel had suffered, but from which the Lord had delivered his people (Psalms 129:1-4); and therefore faith concludes that, however proudly the enemy may bear himself, God will certainly visit him with utter ruin (Psalms 129:5-8).
Psalms 129:1. Many a time have they afflicted me.-The youth of Israel was spent in Egypt (Hosea 2:15; Hosea 11:1; Jeremiah 2:6). As we look back to our youth, once so full of promise, how many are the afflictions through which some of us have passed! We little expected them; we thought that we must escape: but we have had our full measure.
Psalms 129:2. Many a time; ... yet they have not prevailed.-But how sweet to remember that every affliction has had its deliverance! There has always been a "yet" (Isaiah 44:1; Isaiah 49:15; Jeremiah 3:1). We will not therefore dwell on the afflictions, but on the revelation which each has given of the strong and tender care of God. Each has been a dark lantern-in which, when opened, we discovered that his light was burning.
Psalms 129:3. The ploughers ploughed upon my back.-As the plough tears up the earth, so does the scourge tear up the back. How true was this of Him in whom the ideal Israel was fitly personified-our blessed Lord! Isaiah 1:6; Matthew 27:26).
Psalms 129:4. The Lord is righteous.-Twelve times throughout the Bible this truth is declared in the same words; besides being continually stated in other forms. It is comforting to know that our God is "righteous in all his ways" (Psalms 11:7; Psalms 145:17; see also John 17:25). Some think that the Psalmist refers to the plough-cords. The enemies would continue their ploughing; but God suddenly cuts the cords, and looses the cattle, and the plough stands still.
Psalms 129:5. Let them be confounded!-The imperatives here may be read as predictions: "They shall be."
Psalms 129:6. As the grass upon the housetops.-The metaphor of "grass" is harrowed from Isaiah 37:27. There is but little soil on the flat roofs of oriental houses; and grass, which may have taken root there, having no depth of earth, is soon scorched. All the greatness of the world’s empires is as grass (Isaiah 40:6-7).
Psalms 129:8. The blessing of the Lord be upon you!-We have here the customary salutation with which passers-by greeted the reapers. But such a benediction would never bespoken over the withered grass of the house-tops: so the wicked shall pass away with no silvery, note of love or blessing sounding over their decease.
Psalms 130:1-8 "OUT OF THE DEPTHS" A choice Psalm! There are times in our experience when nothing suits us as these words. When like Jonah we are cast unto the deep, and all God’s billows and waves are passing over us; when like Peter we lose our foothold, and begin to sink-then, indeed, we may cry: "De profundis clamavi." The name of "Lord" (either as "Jehovah," "Jah," or "Adonai") occurs as many times as there are verses. The soul, when in trouble, loves to repeat to itself again and again that precious name in which all help and comfort are enshrined.
Psalms 130:1. Out of the depths have I cried.-Great soul-trouble and sorrow are often compared to deep and tumultuous waters (Psalms 42:7; Psalms 88:7). There are times when no imagery so well sets forth our experiences as this: "All thy waves and thy billows are gone over me." But there is no depth so profound that the soul cannot cry therefrom. If you cannot pray, cry.
Psalms 130:2. Lord, hear my voice!-Can a mother so forget her child as not to hear its moan in pain? She may; but God cannot so forget his own (Isaiah 49:15).
Psalms 130:3. 0 Lord, who shall stand?-If God should simply notice our sins, and not our tears or faith- or, above all, the atonement of Calvary-we should be without hope.
Psalms 130:4. There is forgiveness with Thee.-Forgiveness does not lead to lax living, but to a godly fear. The forgiven soul dreads to grieve the Forgiver. Mercy is antiseptic to depravity.
Psalms 130:5-6. I wait for the Lord.-We are too apt to wait for circumstances, people, things; and to meet with disappointment, because they are apart from Himself. But those who wait for the Lord cannot be ashamed. There may be no Theophany; but, as they wait, a new strength and comfort steal into their hearts. Oh to have the eagerness of the watcher for the dawn, as we wait for God! And should not we all cherish this expectancy for the breaking of that eternal morning, when the day shall dawn on which night never falls?
Psalms 130:7. With the Lord ... plenteous redemption.-In God there is something more than forgiveness-there is deliverance. He does not remember ours sins; or He redeems us from their tyranny and consequences. He does this plenteously, "with good measure, pressed down, and running over"; overtopping with a deluge of goodness the loftiest Himalayas of our sins.
Psalms 130:8. He shall redeem Israel.-HE SHALL! It is certain as his existence, as inevitable as his own glorious nature. If He has made, He can and will redeem.