Psalms 125

Psalms 125:1-5

Psalms 1251. (Psalms 125:1) A Song of the Ascents. Those trusting in Jehovah (are) like mount Zion, (which) is not moved (but) stands for ever. This psalm contains an expression of strong confidence in the divine protection, Psalms 125:1-2, especially against wicked enemies, Psalms 125:3, with a prayer that this confidence may not go unrewarded, Psalms 125:4, and a prophetic anticipation of the fate of the ungodly, Psalms 125:5. The condition of the chosen people, here described or presupposed, as suffering from the spite of heathen enemies, not in capti vity or exile, but at home in their own land, and internally divided into two great parties, the sincere and hypocritical, agrees exactly with the period of the Restoration, and especially that part of it in which the building of the temple was suspended, as known to us from history and prophecy. The psalm before us was well suited to alarm and warn the false Israel, as well as to encourage and support the true. According to Hengstenberg, it was intended, with the psalms before and after it, to form a trilogy, consisting of one ancient and two later compositions.

Those trusting in Jehovah is a characteristic designation of the true church, the spiritual Israel, the chosen people. The meaning is, not merely that they individually exercise this faith, but that collectively, or as a body, they are built upon it, and have no security except in the divine protection.

Mount Zion, not as a figure for the church, which would then be compared with itself, but simply as a mountain, and like other mountains solid and enduring, here selected as a sample or an emblem of these qualities, because it had also a religious preeminence, as the earthly seat and centre of the true religion. It is not (and shall not be) moved, shaken from its firm position. See above, on Psalms 46:5. Stands for ever, literally sits to eternity, the Hebrew idiom using one of these postures as we use the other, or rather using both as we use only one, to denote the opposite of vacillation and prostration. See above, on Psalms 122:5.

2. (Psalms 125:2) Jerusalem (has) hills about her, and (so) Jehovah (is) about his people, from now even to eternity. The site of Jerusalem, with its peculiar features, furnishes the Psalmist with a striking image of the divine protection. As in Psalms 125:1, the permanent security of the church itself is likened to the firmness of mount Zion on its base, so here the protecting care, which causes this security, is likened to the heights by which the city is surrounded upon all sides. The verb has, supplied in the translation of the first clause, is really a violation of the Hebrew idiom, to which, as well as to the kindred tongues, the verb to have is utterly unknown. In our own idiom, however, it expresses the precise idea, and enables us to retain the Hebrew collocation, which assigns Jerusalem the first place in the sentence. The Hebrew corresponding to about is a compound phrase, consisting of a local adverb and a preposition, around as to. His people, meaning those who trust him (Psalms 125:1), to the exclusion of all hypocrites and unbelievers.

3. (Psalms 125:3) For not to rest is the rod of wickedness over the lot of the righteous, to he intent that the righteous may not put forth to iniquity their hands. This unusually long verse clearly shews the actual condition of the chosen people,here assumed or presupposed, as well-known to the writer and original readers of the psalm. The present ascendancy of wicked men is not inconsistent with the truth just stated, because it is to be brought to an end, lest the faith and patience of God’s people should fail, and they should be tempted to renounce his service as unprofitable, nay, as ruinous. Compare Psalms 73:13-14. To rest, not merely to remain, but to continue undis turbed. The rod or staff is here a symbol of authority, and might be rendered sceptre, if the subject of discourse were kings.

See above, on Psalms 2:9; Psalms 45:6. The lot of the righteous, their share of the inheritance of the chosen people, at first distributed by lot. To the intent indicates the reason why this undeserved superiority is not to last. The reason is founded not merely on the ill desert of the wicked, but on the interest and welfareof the righteous. Put forth, or stretch out, literally send into. See the same construction, Genesis 37:22, Exodus 22:8; Exodus 22:11.

To touch iniquity is here to meddle with it, not, as some suppose, in the shape of revenge merely, but in all its degrees and forms, by which the righteous can be tempted.

4. (Psalms 125:4) Do good, O Jehovah, to the good, and to (those) upright in their hearts. These are additional descriptions of the true church, or spiritual Israel, to whom alone the promise of divine favour and protection had been given. Upright, literally straight, straightforward, as opposed to all moral obliquity whatever. See above, on Psalms 7:1). The prayer involves a pro phetic declaration, that to such and such only, God will do good or act kindly in the highest sense. See above, on Psalms 73:1.

5. (Psalms 125:5) And, (as to) those turning aside (in) their crooked (ways), Jehovah will let them, go with the doers of iniquity. Peace (be) upon Israel! The participle in the first clause is properly a transitive and means causing toturn aside, but has here the sense of going aside, or turning in the intransitive sense, the English verb having precisely the same double usage. This construction of the Hebrew verb, which occurs also in Isaiah 30:11, Job 23:11, may be resolved into the usual one, by supposing an ellipsis of their feet or steps. The adjective translated crooked occurs only here and in Judges 5:6, where the noun (ways or paths) is expressed. It denotes the by-ways of corrupt inclination and transgression, by which men deviate from the straight and narrow highway of God’s commandments.

Compare Deuteronomy 9:16, Malachi 2:8-9. The workers of iniquity are not a different class from these wanderers, but that to which they belong, and the doom of which they would gladly escape; but the Lord will let them go on still with those whom they resemble in character, and as they have been like them by the way, they shall be like them in the end. Compare Psalms 26:9; Psalms 28:3. Having thus excluded hypocritical pretenders from the object of the benediction, he concludes by wishing or invoking peace upon (the true or spiritual) Israel. Compare Isaiah 57:19; Isaiah 57:21.