1God's goodness in saving Israel out of their great afflictions. 5A prayer against the enemies of the church.
0 A1 Song of degrees.
1 See Psalm 120 in the title.
1MANY a time have 2they afflicted me 3from my youth, may 4Israel now say:
2 Namely, mine enemies.
3 That is, ever since that time when I grew in Egypt from a small company into a great multitude; or, from that time which God made a covenant with our father Abraham; it may also be understood of Jacob himself, who was persecuted by his brother Esau from his very youth.
4 That is, the people of Israel, the church of God, as Psalm 128:6.
2Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth: yet they have not prevailed against me.
3The 5plowers 6plowed upon my back: they made long their 7furrows.
5 Understand here by the plowers those who are otherwise called the sowers of unrighteousness, as Job 4:8.
6 The meaning is: even as the ground is cut and torn up with the plow, so have evil men afflicted and tormented me. Compare Isa. 51:23.
7 Or, furrow; in the Hebrew it is one and the other. Understand by furrows of the wicked, their slanders, reproaches and insults which had endured a long time.
4The LORD is righteous: he 8hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked.
8 By these cords understand their consultations and designs, knitting all together to draw the plow of unrighteousness. See Isa. 5:18. That is, the Lord has delivered us out of their power and broken the yoke of our bondage in sunder.
59Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate 10Zion.
9 That is, let the hope and confidence of the enemy to destroy us be frustrated and disappointed. Other, They shall, etc., and so in the next verse.
10 That is, the people of God, who come together at Zion to worship God.
6Leta them be as the 11grass upon the 12housetops, which withereth 13afore it groweth up:
a Job 8:12; 40:10.
11 See 1 Kings 18 on verse 5.
12 The houses in the land of Canaan were built with flat tops where grass used to grow between the clefts or joints of the stones and at the corners.
13 Other, before one draws the sickle, namely to mow or cut down that grass.
714Wherewith the mower filleth not his 15hand; nor he that bindeth sheaves his 16bosom.
14 He wants to say: that the wicked shall not come to their complete growth or full age; or, that they shall not be able to execute and perform their evil designs and purposes.
15 Hebr. palm.
16 Or, arm.
8Neither do they which go by say, The blessing of the LORD be 17upon you: 18we bless you in the name of the LORD.
17 Or, over or with you.
18 That is, we wish you the blessing of the LORD, that is, all wealth and prosperity. Thus were those who passed by were used to salute mowers, reapers and others that labored in the field. Some take these last words as an answer of those that were blessed. Compare Ruth 2:4; Psalm 118:26 with the annotation.