The Pulpit Commentary on Psalms 124:1-8

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

EXPOSITION

"A FRESH, bright lyric" (Cheyne), composed of two stanzas—the first part (Psalms 124:1-5) recounting a danger and a deliverance; the second (Psalms 124:6-8), praising God for the latter. This is another of the psalms in this "Little Psalter," ascribed by its title to David. There is nothing in the style, or in the contents, that is inconsistent with the ascription.

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commentaryMatthew Henry on Psalms 124:1-5God suffers the enemies of his people sometimes to prevail very far against them, that his power may be seen the more in their deliverance. Happy the people whose God is Jehovah, a God all-sufficient. Besides applying t…Matthew Henry commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Psalms 124:1-8The believer's safeguard. "If Jehovah had not been on our side," etc. The last psalm was the sigh of an exile in Babylon waiting upon God for deliverance. This psalm is the joyful acknowledgment that the deliverance has…Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Psalms 124:1-8Divine deliverance. The spirit which breathes in this psalm is one of keen thankfulness. Nothing calls out so deep and strong a sense of indebtedness to God (or to man) as a consciousness that we owe to him an escape fr…Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Psalms 124:1-8But for the Lord. The psalm is a contemplation of the distress that must have come upon God's people but for the Lord's timely help. I. IT IS THE LANGUAGE OF ISRAEL'S GRATITUDE. We cannot tell what were the exact circum…Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Psalms 124:1If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, now may Israel say; rather, now let Israel say (Kay, Cheyne, Revised Version).Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Psalms 124:1Jehovah for us. "The Lord who was on our side." It is well to bear in mind that, usually, in the Old Testament, the term "the Lord" would be better rendered "Jehovah," the covenant name for God. Many passages in which t…Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Psalms 124:2If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us. The "rising" intended may have been that of Saul and his aiders and abettors, or that of the Ammonites and Syrians (2 Samuel 10:6-8), or that…Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Psalms 124:2-4Jehovah's effective resistance. Perowne thinks that the figures of these verses remind of the earlier deliverance from Egypt. "The Egyptians did ' rise up' against them. Pharaoh and his chariots and his horsemen followe…Joseph S. Exell and contributors