Bible Commentaries

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.

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.