4 Our soul is exceedingly filled With the scoffing of those that are at ease, And with the contempt of the proud. Psalm 124 A Song of Ascents; of David.
In the thought of him that is at ease there is contempt for misfortune; It is ready for them whose foot slippeth.
The proud have had me greatly in derision: `Yet' have I not swerved from thy law.
I also could speak as ye do; If your soul were in my soul's stead, I could join words together against you, And shake my head at you.
They are not in trouble as `other' men; Neither are they plagued like `other' men. Therefore pride is as a chain about their neck; Violence covereth them as a garment. Their eyes stand out with fatness: They have more than heart could wish. They scoff, and in wickedness utter oppression: They speak loftily. They have set their mouth in the heavens, And their tongue walketh through the earth.
Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless ones; strip you, and make you bare, and gird `sackcloth' upon your loins.
Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remaineth in him, and his scent is not changed.
We have heard of the pride of Moab, `that' he is very proud; his loftiness, and his pride, and his arrogancy, and the haughtiness of his heart.
Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and to them that are secure in the mountain of Samaria, the notable men of the chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel come!
Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked; but others said, We will hear thee concerning this yet again.
And as he thus made his defense, Festus saith with a loud voice, Paul, thou art mad; thy much learning is turning thee mad.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Psalms 123
Commentary on Psalms 123 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
123
Ps 123:1-4. An earnest and expecting prayer for divine aid in distress.
1. (Compare Ps 121:1).
thou that dwellest—literally, "sittest as enthroned" (compare Ps 2:4; 113:4, 5).
2. Deference, submission, and trust, are all expressed by the figure. In the East, servants in attending on their masters are almost wholly directed by signs, which require the closest observance of the hands of the latter. The servants of God should look (1) to His directing hand, to appoint them their work; (2) to His supplying hand (Ps 104:28), to give them their portion in due season; (3) to His protecting hand, to right them when wronged; (4) to His correcting hand (Isa 9:13; 1Pe 5:6; compare Ge 16:6); (5) to His rewarding hand.
3. contempt—was that of the heathen, and, perhaps, Samaritans (Ne 1:3; 2:19).
4. of those that are at ease—self-complacently, disregarding God's law, and despising His people.