(A Song of degrees. Of David.) If it had not been Jehovah who was for us -- oh let Israel say --
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
If it had not been Jehovah who was for us, when men rose up against us,
Psalm 124 is a song of thanksgiving, and verse 2 repeats the "if" of verse 1 while naming the danger: people rose up. Commentators read that "if" both as a look back at real danger and as a song for a rescue still to come.
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This psalm answers the prayer of the one before. What stands out is where the rescued people place the credit.
Moving on to the next Psalm, you notice at once that it records the deliverance prayed for in the one before. The mercy they asked for there has been given. Israel now, with hearts overflowing with gratitude, celebrates how their Deliverer stepped in. It is very beautiful to notice how they credit their salvation from the hands of their foes to the Lord alone.
That single word "if" carries the argument. One writer puts the deciding factor plainly:
This psalm certainly answers the pleading of Psalm 123. For the Lord was on their side, which makes all the difference in any dispute.
The hostility here is not just scorn. It had grown past the contempt of the psalm before, and the danger was as close as it could be.
It is clear that the contempt and scorn mentioned in the previous Psalm had turned into even more violent hatred. That hatred showed itself in the effort to destroy the whole people. It says, "When men rose up against us," and "when their wrath was kindled against us." It is just as clear that Israel had been brought into great difficulty. To all human appearance their destruction was near. The word "quick," that is, living, justifies this conclusion. It is a picture of the enemy rushing with open jaws to "swallow up" Israel alive, as it were, and in an instant.
Note the reversal of strength here. The people had none; the enemy seemed to have all of it.
The godly acknowledge the Lord's intervention on their behalf. They have no power themselves, and their enemy appears all-powerful. They are like people sinking in a flood that is sweeping over them. When, to all appearance, their destruction is about to happen, they find the Lord is on their side and is working for their deliverance.
No human help was left, so no one else could share the credit. The rising up of enemies is the very thing that produced the confession.
It was well they did trust in the LORD, for, if the LORD Himself had not been on their side, in man all hope was utterly lost. Men rose up against them, and the proud waters had gone over their soul. But this was the occasion of their being able to say with certainty that the LORD Himself was for them. There was no one else, and to Him they had looked. Such is the effect of extreme and hopeless trouble — in the LORD's deliverance, the clear certainty that the LORD is for them.
Dennett draws the same pattern into ordinary experience: God often waits "until all human hopes have fled, until His people have accepted the sentence of death in themselves; and then He delights to intervene for their deliverance."
One writer reads the psalm as Israel's answer, drawn from their own history:
Has the nation not been delivered before, when it was threatened with destruction? Psalm 124 gives the answer. The LORD had been on their side when men rose up against them. He had kept them alive. Otherwise the waters of Assyria, the swelling waters, would have overwhelmed them. So the LORD, their help in time past, is their confidence still.
The psalm's lesson is a direction for the heart.
Psalm 124. God alone keeps His people. The main point all through here is to look to Him alone. And that is our part along our path, and especially in these last days. All other refuges will, in one way or another, give a wrong direction to the soul. They will lead it into a false path. They will make its state less holy in purpose, less pure and wise in walk.
One writer marks a difference between the psalmist's fight and the Christian's, yet finds the pressure of persecution the same:
A Christian's conflict, so far as it belongs to him as one who shares in the heavenly calling, is not with flesh and blood (Ephesians 6:12)… On the other hand, under the actual pressure of persecution, the experience of sufferers in any age is much the same. Both suffer for the sake of truth and righteousness. The help of each is in the only faithful Creator and Deliverer of His saints.
- Threat. "When people rose up against us" marks hatred that had grown past scorn. It aimed to destroy the whole people — swallowed alive, in an instant.
- Weakness. They had no power and the enemy looked all-powerful. That is where they found the Lord working for them.
- Certainty. No other help remained, so hopeless trouble became the proof that the Lord Himself was for them.
- Credit. The rescued people trace their salvation to the Lord alone, and the "if" of verse 2 is how they say it.
- Direction. God alone keeps His people. The lasting lesson is to look to Him alone, because every other refuge bends the soul the wrong way.
Then they had swallowed us up alive, when their anger was kindled against us;
Psalm 124 looks back on a rescue. Verse 3 finishes the sentence begun two verses earlier: it says what would have happened if the Lord had not been on Israel's side.
The verse is the second half of a thought. One fact holds it up, and the rest is what that fact prevented.
This psalm certainly answers the pleading of Psalm 123. For the Lord was on their side, which makes all the difference in any dispute. If that had not been so, they would have been swallowed up alive. The threats of God's enemy are very real, and in their anger they will show no mercy.
Older translations read "swallowed us up quick." There, "quick" does not mean fast. It means living.
It is just as clear that Israel had been brought into great trouble. To all human appearance their destruction was close. The word "quick" — that is, living — supports this conclusion. As we understand it, it is a picture of the enemy rushing with open jaws to "swallow up" Israel alive, and in an instant.
The anger in this verse belongs to people. One writer sees another power behind their rage.
It was from the wrath of man that they had been delivered. Men had oppressed them. Their conflict had been with flesh and blood, though Satan's power had stirred up and directed the rage of the oppressor. But the Name they trusted in was what really delivered them.
Notice when the deliverance came. Not before the danger, but at the point where nothing human was left.
"Men rose up against us," they say, and "their wrath was kindled against us," and we were about to be "overwhelmed." Then it was — in their extremity — that they found the Lord was on their side.
This is presented as God's usual way of working, not an accident of timing:
How often the Lord waits like this! He waits until every human hope has gone, until His people have accepted the sentence of death in themselves. Then He delights to step in and deliver them, so that they may learn this: when refuge fails them, He is their refuge and their portion in the land of the living.
They were left with no one else to look to. Notice what that produced.
It was good that they trusted in Jehovah. If Jehovah Himself had not been on their side, all hope in man was completely lost. Men rose up against them, and the proud waters had gone over their soul. But that was the very thing that let them say with certainty: Jehovah Himself was for them. There was no one else, and to Him they had looked. This is what extreme and hopeless trouble does: in Jehovah's deliverance comes the clear certainty that Jehovah is for them.
If the Lord alone stood between His people and those open jaws, looking anywhere else is worse than useless. It harms the one who tries it.
God alone keeps His people. The great point all through here is to look to Him alone. That is our part along our path, and especially in these last days. Every other refuge will, in one way or another, give the soul a wrong direction. It will lead the soul into a false path, and leave it less holy in purpose, less pure and wise in its walk.
The psalm's enemies were flesh and blood. One writer sets the Christian's fight beside theirs.
A Christian's conflict, so far as it belongs to him as one who shares the heavenly calling, is not with flesh and blood (Ephesians 6:12). … On the other hand, under the real pressure of persecution, the experience of those who suffer is much the same in every age. Both suffer for the sake of truth and righteousness, and the help of each is in the only faithful Creator and Deliverer of His saints.
- Cause — The whole verse hangs on one condition. The Lord was on their side, and that fact alone kept them from being swallowed alive.
- Picture — "Quick" means living; the image is an enemy rushing with open jaws to devour a whole people on the spot.
- Timing — God let them reach the point where every human hope was gone, so they would learn He is their refuge when refuge fails.
- Gift — Hopeless trouble was the very thing that gave them unshakeable certainty that the Lord was for them.
- Result — Because He alone saved them, look to Him alone. Every other refuge bends the soul in a wrong direction.
Then the waters had overwhelmed us, a torrent had gone over our soul;
Psalm 124 looks back at a moment when Israel was almost destroyed. Verse 4 paints that moment as a flood breaking over a drowning man. The whole sentence hangs on the "if" of verse 1. So what were these waters, and why did they never close over the nation's head?
Every "then" in verses 3–5 describes what did not happen. The verse shows the flood at full force, yet survivors are the ones singing.
This is the outburst of Israel's praise. They had just been delivered from what seemed, to everyone but faith, the overwhelming power of man bent on their destruction.
Describing a disaster that never happened points to the one who prevented it. Israel's own strength gets no mention.
It is very beautiful to see how they give the Lord alone the credit for saving them from their enemies.
Verse 4 doubles its picture: a flood, then a torrent. Older translations read that the torrent goes "over our soul." The words describe the people as much as the enemy — someone who cannot swim and cannot touch the bottom.
The godly see that the Lord has stepped in for them. They are powerless themselves, facing an enemy that appears all-powerful. They are like people sinking in an overwhelming flood. Their destruction looks certain, and just then they find the Lord is on their side, working to deliver them.
The rising stream is not weather. In the prophets, a flood is a standard picture for an invading army sweeping a country away.
The end, however, will be accompanied by a flood or an overflow. This is a figure well known in the prophets, and used to signify overwhelming destruction by invading hostile armies. See, for example, Isaiah 8:7-8; Isaiah 10:22; Isaiah 28:2, 15; Jeremiah 47:2; Daniel 11:22, 26.
The songs around Psalm 124 raise a question, and this psalm answers it.
Has the nation not been delivered before, when threatened with destruction? Psalm 124 gives the answer. Jehovah had been on their side when men rose up against them. He had kept them alive. Otherwise the waters of Assyria, the swelling waters, would have overwhelmed them. So Jehovah, their help in time past, is their confidence still.
Commentators differ on which power the proud waters stand for. The writer above pointed to Assyria. Another points elsewhere.
Psalm 124 — And had it not been that Jehovah was for them, they would still have been swallowed up alive. But the snare is broken, and they have escaped. The proud waters here are surely the overwhelming hosts of Gog.
Help came when the water was almost over their heads. That timing is a pattern, not an accident.
The Lord is clearly seen stepping in to help His people when they were on the very edge of destruction. The "proud waters" were flowing with what looked like unstoppable violence to overwhelm them for ever. How often the Lord waits like this until every human hope has gone, until His people have accepted the sentence of death in themselves. Then He delights to step in and deliver them. So they learn that when no refuge is left, He is their refuge and their portion in the land of the living.
The near-drowning was not wasted. Cut off from every other help, they could not mistake who saved them.
Men rose up against them, and the proud waters had gone over their soul. But that was what let them say with certainty: Jehovah Himself was for them. There was no one else, and they had looked to Him. Such is the effect of extreme and hopeless trouble — in Jehovah's deliverance, the clear certainty that Jehovah is for them.
The psalm does not end in the water.
The outcome may have seemed uncertain to those in danger, but it was not uncertain to God. He will not let the righteous be moved. So the psalm closes on a victorious note, "Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth."
- The waters rise. In the prophets, a flood pictures an invading army sweeping a land away. Commentators tie these waters to Assyria, or to the hosts of Gog.
- The waters expose. The singers are powerless and sinking, and their destruction looks certain. They claim no strength of their own.
- The waters wait. God steps in at the very edge of destruction, after every human hope has gone. Then His people learn He is their refuge when nothing else is left.
- The waters teach. Trouble with no way out made one thing certain: the Lord Himself was on their side. There was no one else.
- The waters pass. Praise and confidence are left. Israel gives the Lord alone the credit for the escape, and finds its help in the name of the Maker of heaven and earth.
Then the proud waters had gone over our soul.
Psalm 124 remembers a real rescue by picturing the disasters that never came. Verse 5 is the last and worst of them: a flood about to close over a whole nation. (The ESV calls them "the raging waters." Older translations say "the proud waters," and the writers quoted below use that wording.)
The flood is not weather. One writer links the picture to a time when the army of Assyria stood outside Jerusalem.
In Isaiah 36 and 37, Jerusalem is face to face with the Assyrian, their enemy. The proud waters that have flooded the land look ready to overwhelm them with death and destruction. This is the picture, given here by God, of the outward situation. So it will be again at Jerusalem. But "the living God" will defend and deliver the city, by the working of His mighty power.
The psalm is not only a record of the past. Israel looks back at an old escape because they need one now.
Has not the nation been delivered before, when threatened with destruction? Psalm 124 gives the answer. Jehovah had been on their side when men rose up against them. He had kept them alive. Otherwise the waters of Assyria, the swelling waters, would have overwhelmed them. So Jehovah, their help in time past, is their confidence still.
Israel could have credited their survival to many things. They credit it to one.
It is very beautiful to see how they credit their rescue from the hands of their enemies to the Lord alone.
The waters were not just a threat. They were already rising. One writer sees in that timing a pattern in how God works with His people.
Clearly the Lord is seen stepping in to help His people when they were on the very eve of destruction. The "proud waters" were flowing with a violence that seemed impossible to resist, ready to overwhelm them for ever. How often the Lord waits like this! He waits until all human hopes have fled, until His people have accepted the sentence of death in themselves. Then He delights to step in and deliver them, so that they may learn this: when every refuge fails them, He is their refuge and their portion in the land of the living.
God did not cut the trouble short. Looking back, the singers see that its very hopelessness is what settled the matter for them.
Men rose up against them, and the proud waters had gone over their soul. But this was the very thing that let them say for sure: Jehovah Himself was for them. There was no one else, and it was to Him they had looked. That is what extreme and hopeless trouble does. In Jehovah's deliverance comes the clear certainty that Jehovah is for them.
The psalm's teaching does not stop with Israel's history. It presses the soul to lean on one support and no other.
God alone keeps His people. The great point all through here is to look to Him alone. And it is our part along our path, and specially in these last days. All other refuges will give, in something or another, a wrong direction to the soul, will lead it into a false path, make its state less holy in purpose, less pure and wise in walk.
Hamilton Smith describes the people of verses 1 to 5. They had no strength at all:
The godly acknowledge that the Lord stepped in for them. They have no power themselves, and their enemy looks all-powerful. They are like people sinking in a flood that overwhelms them.
Commentators differ on which invasion the psalm has in view. Some point to Assyria in Israel's past. Others say the same scene will come again at Jerusalem. All agree on the picture: hostile power rising like water, with one God standing between it and His people.
- Waters. The flood pictures an enemy power rising to overwhelm a people with no strength of their own.
- Timing. God waits until every human hope is gone, then steps in on the very eve of destruction.
- If. Take the Lord out of the verse and only ruin is left. That is why Israel credits Him alone.
- Certainty. The hopeless trouble was the gift: with no one else to look to, they learned for sure that the Lord is for them.
- Alone. The practical point of the psalm is to look to Him only; every other refuge bends the soul in a wrong direction.