This spirited Psalm of thanksgiving was evidently written while the impression of escape from some imminent danger which had threatened the community was still fresh. It is commonly supposed to be the thanksgiving of the returned exiles for deliverance from the Babylonian captivity. No less event, it is urged, could have evoked such strong emotion. But the language of the Psalm points rather to some sudden danger which had been providentially averted, than to a blow which had actually fallen. Israel’s enemies had threatened them: and if Jehovah had not fought for them, Israel might easily have been annihilated. But He had not suffered the wild beast to seize its victim; He had broken the snare, and baulked the fowler of his prey. Such a danger menaced the restored community when Nehemiah was rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. The contempt described in Psalms 123 was succeeded by hostility. “When Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem went forward, and that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very wroth; and they conspired all of them together to come and fight against Jerusalem, and to cause confusion therein. But we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them.” Sanballat and his allies, failing to take the Jews by surprise, apparently did not actually attack them. But for the moment the danger was serious; Nehemiah evidently felt that the community had had a narrow escape, and that if God Himself had not frustrated the plot, there would have been a fatal catastrophe. The Psalm then may best be regarded as a thanksgiving for the deliverance recorded in Nehemiah 4:7-23, the whole of which passage should be studied in connexion with it. Cp. also Nehemiah 6:16.

Psalm 124:1-2 are a double protasis, and Psalm 124:3-5 a triple apodosis:—If Jehovah had not fought for us, we should have been annihilated. Psalm 124:6-8 are a thanksgiving for the deliverance, and a profession of trust.

As in Psalms 122, the Heb. text, with Cod. א of the LXX, and the Targ., reads of David in the title. The addition may have been suggested by phrases resembling those of Davidic Psalms, but the language points to a late date, and it can hardly be regarded even as an adaptation of an ancient poem.

1. If it had not been Jehovah that was for us,

Let Israel now say.

Cp. Jacob’s words in Genesis 31:42; Nehemiah 4:20, “our God shall fight for us”; and Psalm 94:17; Psalm 56:9; Psalm 108:6. The structure of the first two verses resembles that of Psalm 129:1-2.

1–5. Unless Jehovah had taken our part, we should have been destroyed by our enemies.

2. men] Rather man; as contrasted with God Who was our help. Cp. Psalm 66:12; Psalm 56:11; Psalm 118:6.

rose up] Conspiring to fight against us, Nehemiah 4:8. Cp. Psalm 3:1; Psalm 54:3.

3. Then had they swallowed us up alive, as the earth swallowed Korah (Numbers 16:30); or as Sheol devours its victims (Proverbs 1:12), or a monster its prey (Jeremiah 51:34). Cp. Psalm 55:15; Lamentations 2:16.

when their wrath &c.] Cp. Nehemiah 4:1 : Sanballat “was wroth and exceedingly vexed,” Psalm 4:7 “they were exceedingly wroth.”

4. For the figure cp. Psalm 18:16; Psalm 69:1-2; Psalm 69:15; Isaiah 8:7-8; Lamentations 3:54.

the stream] The torrent, suddenly swollen by a storm. Cp. Jdg 5:21.

had gone over our soul] Overwhelmed us and put an end to our existence.

5. the proud waters] Cp. the “proud waves” of the sea in Job 38:11 : here the epithet is especially suitable, as suggesting the insolence of the enemy.

6. a prey to their teeth] For the figure cp. Psalm 7:2.

6–8. Thanksgiving and confidence for the future.

7. The timorous defenceless bird is an apt emblem for weak helpless men. Cp. Psalm 11:1. By ‘snare’ (pach) is probably meant a kind of clapnet. The frame breaks or the spring fails to act, so that the bird is not captured, or else escapes. See the illustration in Driver’s Joel and Amos, p. 157.

we are escaped] We is emphatic. We, who seemed certain to become the prey of our enemies. But God “frustrated (lit. broke, though the word is a different one) their counsel” (Nehemiah 4:15).

8. Cp. Psalm 121:2.