Bible Commentaries
Psalms 124

Introduction

A.M. 2964. B.C. 1040.

This Psalm, ascribed in the title to David, appears to have been composed in the name, and for the use, of the whole church and people of Israel, as a thanksgiving Psalm for their deliverance from some imminent danger or dangers, from proud and powerful enemies. Many such assaulted them in David’s time; but which of them are here intended is difficult to be determined, and not worth inquiring. It is a Psalm well adapted, as Dr. Hammond observes, to any eminent deliverance wrought by God for his people, and accordingly was constantly used by the Levites in their worship, at the return of the Jews from their captivity, being very agreeable to the circumstances of their condition at that time. David describes the danger he and his people had been in, 1-5. Blesses God for delivering them, 6-8.

Verses 3-6

Psalms 124:3-6. They had swallowed us up quick They had speedily and utterly destroyed us, as Korah and his company were, Numbers 16:0. The proud waters had gone over, &c. Our enemies, compared to proud waters for their great multitude, swelling rage, and mighty force. The Lord hath not given us a prey to their teeth A metaphor taken from wild beasts, which tear and devour their prey with their teeth. It is here intimated that the enemies of God’s people have no power whatever against them, but what is given them from above. God, however, sometimes suffers them to prevail very far against them, that his own power may appear the more illustrious in their deliverance.

Verses 7-8

Psalms 124:7-8. Our soul is escaped as a bird, &c. This is the third image by which the marvellous deliverance of Israel is illustrated. Having compared it to that of a person snatched, by a miracle, from the fury of surrounding and overwhelming torrents, and to that of a lamb rescued from the jaws of a wolf or lion, he here illustrates it by the escape of a bird, through breaking the snare, before the fowler came to seize and kill it. Our help is in the name of the Lord David, who had directed us ( Psa 121:2 ) to depend upon God for help, as to our personal concerns, saying, My help is in the name of the Lord, here directs us to the same dependance as to the concerns of the public, observing, Our help is so. It is a comfort to all that have the good of God’s Israel at heart, that Israel’s God is he that made the world, and therefore will have a church in it, which he can secure in times of the greatest danger and distress. In him therefore let the church’s friends place their confidence, and they shall not be put to confusion.