Lectionary Calendar
Friday, July 18th, 2025
the Week of Proper 10 / Ordinary 15
the Week of Proper 10 / Ordinary 15
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Bible Commentaries
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers Ellicott's Commentary
Copyright Statement
These files are public domain.
Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
These files are public domain.
Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
Bibliographical Information
Ellicott, Charles John. "Commentary on Psalms 126". "Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers". https://studylight.org/commentaries/eng/ebc/psalms-126.html. 1905.
Ellicott, Charles John. "Commentary on Psalms 126". "Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers". https://studylight.org/
Whole Bible (46)Old Testament (1)Individual Books (5)
Introduction
CXXVI.
The two stanzas, marked so plainly by the changes of tense and tone, of this exquisite little poem, though telling with the distinctness of actual description the nature of the circumstances amid which it was written, give no indication of an exact date. All we can see with certainty is that the psalm is post-exile. The recollection of the exuberant burst of joy at the first news of the return from the Captivity, enables the psalmist to anticipate a similar change from gloom to gladness now. The words of the song are too deeply enshrined in the heart of the whole world to make us very anxious to recover the precise time which gave expression to the nameless poetâs feelings. The rhythm is fine and varied.
Verse 1
(1) When the Lord . . .âLiterally, In turning by Jehovah the turning of Zion. The phrase is not precisely the same as that in Psalms 126:4, which is usual, and offers no difficulty. Here the form of the noun âturningâ presents some difficulty; but, after the analogy of a few other words, it can bear the concrete meaning âreturned:â when Jehovah brought back the returned of Zion.
Like them that dream.âThe LXX. and Vulg. have âas if consoled.â The Hebrew word primarily means âto be fat,â or âfleshy,â and in Isaiah 38:16 is rendered ârecoverââa meaning that would give a good sense here, and which is adopted by the Chaldean paraphrases: âWe were like unto such men who have recovered.â On the other hand, the usual rendering suggests that the news of the restoration appeared too good to be true. âSurely you are dreamingâ is a common saying. An illustration has been aptly produced in Livyâs description of the feelings of the Greeks when they heard at the Isthmian games (B.C. 196), after the defeat of the Macedonians by T. Flaminius, the proclamation of the herald that they should, by the free gift of the Roman people, retain their liberty. âThe joy was too great for men to take it all in. None could well believe that he had heard aright, and they looked on one another in wonder, like the empty show of a dreamâ (Livy, xxxiii. 32).
Verse 2
(2) Singing.âAs frequently of the restoration in Isaiahâ42:11, 44:23, 54:1, &c.
Hath done.âSee margin, and comp. Joel 2:21.
Verse 4
(4) Captivity.âHere there is a change. The joy of the great Return was too great not to last on through many vicissitudes. But the poet now thinks of the many exiles still dispersed among the nations, and prays for another manifestation of Divine favour and power.
The streams in the south.âRather, the channels in the south. The allusion is to the sudden filling of the dry torrent-beds of the southern district of Palestine in the rainy season. So the poet prays that torrents of the returned may pour into the desolate and deserted country. (Comp. Isaiah 49:18 for the same feeling, but under a different figure.) The LXX. have âin the south wind,â evidently thinking of the melting of a frozen stream, instead of the filling of a dry river-bed.
Verse 5
(5) Joy.âRather, singing, as in Psalms 126:2. The harvest-home songs are contrasted with the anxiety of the seed-time. Probably the poet found the proverbial saying already current, but he has touched it with the consecrating hand till it has become only less precious than the saying of Divine lips, âBlessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.â
Verse 6
(6) The original is very expressive, by the idiom of infinitive combined with finite verb.
âHe shall walk, and walk and weep,
Bearing the handful of seed:
He shall come, and come with singing,
Bearing his sheaves,â
where we must certainly see an extension and not a mere repetition of the former figure, for the very form of the expression suggests the long patient labour of the sower, and the reward which patience and perseverance always bringâa harvest in proportion to the toil and trouble of seed-time. The words of the prophet Haggai (Haggai 1:10-11; Haggai 2:19), contemporary with the Return, should be compared. The word rendered âpreciousâ in the Authorised Version may be correctly represented by âhandful.â Its meaning is âdrawing;â and from Amos 9:13 (see margin) we see that the sower was called âthe drawer of seed,â no doubt from the hand being repeatedly drawn out for the cast from the bag or basket containing the seed. Others render âseed-basketâ here. The contrast so beautifully painted in this verse was certainly realised when âthe priests and Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity, kept the dedication of the house of God with joyâ (Ezra 6:16; comp. Ezra 6:22; Nehemiah 12:42).