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. 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.
Verse 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 (Psalms 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. |