12 Therefore he brought down their heart with labor. They fell down, and there was none to help.
Don't be far from me, for trouble is near. For there is none to help.
You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me, That I might cut off those who hate me. They cried, but there was none to save; Even to Yahweh, but he didn't answer them.
When he had spent all of it, there arose a severe famine in that country, and he began to be in need. He went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed pigs. He wanted to fill his belly with the husks that the pigs ate, but no one gave him any. But when he came to himself he said, 'How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough to spare, and I'm dying with hunger!
Our pursuers are on our necks: We are weary, and have no rest. We have given the hand to the Egyptians, To the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.
I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore my own arm brought salvation to me; and my wrath, it upheld me.
and I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you, who have said to your soul, Bow down, that we may go over; and you have laid your back as the ground, and as the street, to those who go over.
These two things have happened to you. Who will bemoan you? Desolation and destruction, and the famine and the sword; how shall I comfort you? Your sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as an antelope in a net; they are full of the wrath of Yahweh, the rebuke of your God.
It happened in the course of those many days, that the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up to God because of the bondage.
"God will not withdraw his anger; The helpers of Rahab stoop under him.
While he was yet talking with them, behold, the messenger came down to him: and he said, Behold, this evil is of Yahweh; why should I wait for Yahweh any longer?
As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, there cried a woman to him, saying, Help, my lord, O king. He said, If Yahweh doesn't help you, whence shall I help you? out of the threshing floor, or out of the winepress?
The Philistines laid hold on him, and put out his eyes; and they brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison-house.
They put away the foreign gods from among them, and served Yahweh; and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel. Then the children of Ammon were gathered together, and encamped in Gilead. The children of Israel assembled themselves together, and encamped in Mizpah. The people, the princes of Gilead, said one to another, What man is he who will begin to fight against the children of Ammon? he shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.
Go therefore now, and work, for no straw shall be given to you, yet shall you deliver the same number of bricks!" The officers of the children of Israel saw that they were in trouble, when it was said, "You shall not diminish anything from your daily quota of bricks!"
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.