39 And when they are made low, and crushed by trouble and sorrow,
And they gave the children of Israel even harder work to do: And made their lives bitter with hard work, making building-material and bricks, and doing all sorts of work in the fields under the hardest conditions.
Now after a long time the king of Egypt came to his end: and the children of Israel were crying in their grief under the weight of their work, and their cry for help came to the ears of God. And at the sound of their weeping the agreement which God had made with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob came to his mind.
And whenever Israel's grain was planted, the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the east came up against them; And put their army in position against them; and they took all the produce of the earth as far as Gaza, till there was no food in Israel, or any sheep or oxen or asses. For they came up regularly with their oxen and their tents; they came like the locusts in number; they and their camels were without number; and they came into the land for its destruction. And Israel was in great need because of Midian; and the cry of the children of Israel went up to the Lord.
And she said to them, Do not let my name be Naomi, but Mara, for the Ruler of all has given me a bitter fate. I went out full, and the Lord has sent me back again with nothing; why do you give me the name Naomi, seeing that the Lord has given witness against me, and the Ruler of all has sent sorrow on me?
Those who were full are offering themselves as servants for bread; those who were in need are at rest; truly, she who had no children has become the mother of seven; and she who had a family is wasted with sorrow. The Lord is the giver of death and life: sending men down to the underworld and lifting them up. The Lord gives wealth and takes a man's goods from him: crushing men down and again lifting them up;
In those times there was no peace for him who went out or for him who came in, but great trouble was on all the people of the lands. And they were broken by divisions, nation against nation and town against town, because God sent all sorts of trouble on them.
Have you yourself not put a wall round him and his house and all he has on every side, blessing the work of his hands, and increasing his cattle in the land? But now, put out your hand against all he has, and he will be cursing you to your face. And the Lord said to the Satan, See, I give all he has into your hands, only do not put a finger on the man himself. And the Satan went out from before the Lord. And there was a day when his sons and daughters were feasting in the house of their oldest brother, And a man came to Job, and said, The oxen were ploughing, and the asses were taking their food by their side: And the men of Sheba came against them and took them away, putting the young men to the sword, and I was the only one who got away safe to give you the news. And this one was still talking when another came, and said, The fire of God came down from heaven, burning up the sheep and the goats and the young men completely, and I was the only one who got away safe to give you the news. And this one was still talking when another came, and said, The Chaldaeans made themselves into three bands, and came down on the camels and took them away, putting the young men to the sword, and I was the only one who got away safe to give you the news.
When things went well for me I said, I will never be moved. Lord, by your grace you have kept my mountain strong: when your face was turned from me I was troubled.
For these are the words of the Lord of armies, the God of Israel: The daughter of Babylon is like a grain-floor when it is stamped down; before long, the time of her grain-cutting will come. Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, has made a meal of me, violently crushing me, he has made me a vessel with nothing in it, he has taken me in his mouth like a dragon, he has made his stomach full with my delicate flesh, crushing me with his teeth.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Psalms 107
Commentary on Psalms 107 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
PSALM 107
Ps 107:1-43. Although the general theme of this Psalm may have been suggested by God's special favor to the Israelites in their restoration from captivity, it must be regarded as an instructive celebration of God's praise for His merciful providence to all men in their various emergencies. Of these several are given—captivity and bondage, wanderings by land and sea, and famine; some as evidences of God's displeasure, and all the deliverances as evidence of His goodness and mercy to them who humbly seek Him.
1, 2. This call for thankful praise is the burden or chorus (compare Ps 107:8, 15, &c.).
2. redeemed of the Lord—(compare Isa 35:9, 10).
say—that is, that His mercy, &c.
hand of—or, "power of enemy."
3. gathered—alluding to the dispersion of captives throughout the Babylonian empire.
from the south—literally, "the sea," or, Red Sea (Ps 114:3), which was on the south.
4-7. A graphic picture is given of the sufferings of those who from distant lands returned to Jerusalem; or,
city of habitation—may mean the land of Palestine.
5. fainted—was overwhelmed (Ps 61:3; 77:3).
8, 9. To the chorus is added, as a reason for praise, an example of the extreme distress from which they had been delivered—extreme hunger, the severest privation of a journey in the desert.
10-16. Their sufferings were for their rebellion against (Ps 105:28) the words, or purposes, or promises, of God for their benefit. When humbled they cry to God, who delivers them from bondage, described as a dark dungeon with doors and bars of metal, in which they are bound in iron—that is, chains and fetters.
shadow of death—darkness with danger (Ps 23:4).
16. broken—literally, "shivered" (Isa 45:2).
17-22. Whether the same or not, this exigency illustrates that dispensation of God according to which sin brings its own punishment.
are afflicted—literally, "afflict themselves," that is, bring on disease, denoted by loathing of food, and drawing
18. near unto—literally, "even to"
gates—or, "domains" (Ps 9:13).
20. sent his word—that is, put forth His power.
their destructions—that is, that which threatened them. To the chorus is added the mode of giving thanks, by a sacrifice and joyful singing (Ps 50:14).
23-32. Here are set forth the perils of seafaring, futility of man's, and efficiency of God's, help.
go … sea—alluding to the elevation of the land at the coast.
24. These see … deep—illustrated both by the storm He raises and the calm He makes with a word (Ps 33:9).
25. waves thereof—literally, "His waves" (God's, Ps 42:7).
27. are … end—literally, "all their wisdom swallows up itself," destroys itself by vain and contradictory devices, such as despair induces.
29-32. He maketh … calm—or, "to stand to stillness," or "in quiet." Instead of acts of temple-worship, those of the synagogue are here described, where the people with the
assembly—or session of elders, convened for reading, singing, prayer, and teaching.
33-41. He turneth rivers into a wilderness, &c.—God's providence is illustriously displayed in His influence on two great elements of human prosperity, the earth's productiveness and the powers of government. He punishes the wicked by destroying the sources of fertility, or, in mercy, gives fruitfulness to deserts, which become the homes of a busy and successful agricultural population. By a permitted misrule and tyranny, this scene of prosperity is changed to one of adversity. He rules rulers, setting up one and putting down another.
40. wander … wilderness—reduced to misery (Job 12:24).
42, 43. In this providential government, good men will rejoice, and the cavils of the wicked will be stopped (Job 5:16; Isa 52:15), and all who take right views will appreciate God's unfailing mercy and unbounded love.