Bible Commentaries

Psalms 125:2. As the mountains are round about Jerusalem. See the map, where seven hills are laid down, and others rise at a distance. These hills suggested the idea of divine protection.

REFLECTIONS.

Mount Zion was deemed an impregnable fortress. A few Jebusites had retained it five hundred years against all the power of Israel: and had the Jews been united among themselves when Titus besieged Jerusalem, the Romans, though habituated to war, have allowed that they could not have taken it till famine had compelled the inhabitants to surrender. Mount Zion above is infinitely stronger still. The man who trusts in God shall not be moved: he has omnipotence for his rock, and infinite wisdom for his counsel. All who meddle with him shall meddle to their hurt. As the little fortified hills stood about the temple, so the Lord is round about them that fear him.

The rod of the wicked shall not rest long on the heritage of the righteous, lest the good man, through weakness of faith, be tempted to extricate himself by unlawful means. Oh how compassionate is the Lord, who will not suffer us to be tempted above what we are able to bear.

The Lord will distinguish those to whom he shows peculiar kindness, even the good, and the upright in heart. Those who turn aside to idolatry, and the crooked ways of sin, shall be associated with the worst class of those who work iniquity. These are strong arguments to persevere in faith and obedience to the end.

This psalm, like several of the preseding and subsequent psalms, has no title to distinguish either the author or the occasion to which it refers. It is generally applied to the return from the Babylonish captivity.