Psalms 124

Psalms 124:1-8

Psalms 1241. (Psalms 124:1) A Song of the Ascents. By David. If (it had) not (been) Jehovah who was for us— Oh let Israel say. This psalm consists of two parts, an acknowledgment of God as the deliverer of Israel, Psalms 124:1-5, and a consequent determination to trust in him exclusively for future favours, Psalms 124:6-8. The verse before us propounds the theme of the whole composition, in a conditional and imperfect, but for that very reason a more striking form. It is tantamount to saying, what if the Lord had not been for us?— leaving the answer to the imagination of the reader.

For us, in our favour, on our side; or to us, belonging to us, ours, which really includes the other. Oh that in the last clause represents the particle of entreaty. The common version (now) conveys the very different idea, at length, after all that we have suffered, let Israel so say. The mistake is rendered more natural or rather unavoidable, to mere English readers, by the seeming antithesis between the now of this verse and the then of Psa 124:3-5, of which there is not the slightest trace in the original.

2. (Psalms 124:2) If (it had) not (been) Jehovah who was for us, in the rising up of man against us. What was left unfinished in the first verse, as a mere suggestion of the Psalmist’s theme, is now repeated, for the purpose of being carried out. This is one of the rhetorical resumptions, which some modern critics hold to be thedegrees, from which these fifteen psalms derived their common designation. With this verse compare Psalms 56:11.

3. (Psalms 124:3) Then alive would they have swallowed us, in the kindling of their wrath against us. With respect to the then at the beginning of this verse, there is danger of an error just the opposite of that already pointed out in reference to the now of Psa 124:1. As the English reader would be almost sure to take that for a particle of time, which it is not, he would be equally certain to mistake this for a term of logic, meaning in that case, upon that supposition, or the like; whereas it really means at that time, the well remembered time of our extremity, when God so wonderfully interposed for our deliverance. The Hebrew particle occurs in this form only here, and is consequently no more a proof of recent than of early date. Another word liable to misconstruction in the English versions of this clause is quick, here used in its primary sense of living or alive, from which may be easily deduced its secondary sense of swift, implying lively motion. The historical allusion, in this and other like passages, is no doubt to the fate of Korah and his company.

Compare Numbers 16:32-33, where the same verb and adjective occur together. See above, on Psalms 55:15. The plural pronoun their refers to the collective man in the preceding verse.

4. (Psalms 124:4) Then the waters would have overwhelmed us (and) a stream passed over our soul. The common version (had overwhelmed us) is entirely correct, and more poetical in form than that here given, but at the same time ambiguous, as the sentence, taken by itself, would seem to mean, that before the time signified by then, the waters had actually overwhelmed them, which was not the case. The figures are the same as in Psalms 18:4; Psalms 18:16; Psalms 144:7.

5. (Psalms 124:5) Then had passed over our soul the waters, the proud (waters). The waters are so described, partly because of the ideas suggested by their swelling (Psalms 89:10), partly because they represent dangers arising from the selfish pride of human enemies. Some, without necessity, recur to the primary meaning of the root, and explain the adjective to mean boiling, effervescing.

6. (Psalms 124:6) Blessed (be) Jehovah, who did not give us (as) prey to their teeth. By one of those rhetorical transitions which are constantly occurring in the figurative diction of the psalms, the enemies and dangers, which had just been represented as an overwhelming flood or torrent, are suddenly transformed into devouring beasts. See above, on Psalms 3:7; Psalms 58:6. With the benediction or doxology, blessed (be) Jehovah, compare Psalms 28:6; Psalms 31:21.

7. (Psalms 124:7) Our soul is escaped, like a bird, from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken and we are escaped. We have here a second transition and a third comparison, to wit, that of the enemies to fowlers, and of their devices to snares or traps used in catching birds. In the second clause there is an obvious climax. Not only is the bird gone, but the snare is broken. This is peculiarly appropriate to the restoration of the Jews from Babylon, which was occasioned by the fall of Babylon itself. With the figures of this verse compare Psalms 18:4; Psalms 91:3. The English phrase is escaped, denoting a change of state, and not, like has escaped, a single act, is well suited to represent the Hebrew verb, which though active in meaning, has the passive form.

8. (Psalms 124:8) Our help is in the name of Jehovah, maker of heaven and earth. The conclusion drawn from the experience here recorded is, that he who had helped them must help them still. Our help for the future no less than the past. In the name of Jehovah, the manifested attributes, which constitute his name, in the peculiar dialect of Scripture, and especially of this book. See above, on Psalms 5:11; Psalms 20:1. With this verse compare also Psalms 33:22; Psalms 121:2.