Blessed be Jehovah, who gave us not up a prey to their teeth!
Psalm 124 looks back at a rescue so narrow that Israel describes it by what almost happened. The enemy nearly swallowed them alive. Verse 6 names the danger, but ends in blessing: the teeth closed on nothing.
Israel's first move after the escape is praise. One writer treats that as the mark of a soul the Spirit is working in.
It is always a sign of the Spirit's work when a soul that has received blessing turns at once with praise to the Blesser. Too often the mercy or blessing received satisfies the soul for a moment. Our trial is over, the end is reached. Unless we stay on our guard, we often forget the hand that was stretched out over us, the hand that met our need. It was not so with Israel. It is worth noticing how they rise up with thanksgiving to the source of their deliverance. They had trusted in Him, and they were not put to shame, and they magnify His name for it.
The psalm says the enemy would have swallowed them alive. That word "alive" measures how near the end stood.
As we understand it, this pictures the enemy rushing with open jaws to "swallow up" Israel alive, and in an instant. And the Lord steps in to help His people when they were on the very edge of destruction. The "proud waters" were flowing with seemingly unstoppable violence to overwhelm them for ever. How often the Lord waits like this 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 they learn that when every refuge fails them, He is their refuge and their portion in the land of the living.
The word "prey" admits they had no defence of their own.
They bless the Lord for not leaving them as a helpless prey to their enemies. They bless Him for breaking the snares that held them in bondage. In answer to their prayers they can say, "We are escaped."
The psalm blesses one name only. Trust placed anywhere else costs the soul something:
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. All other refuges will, in one way or another, give a wrong direction to the soul. They lead it into a false path. They make its state less holy in purpose, less pure and wise in walk. God can make use of everything, because His motive to bless us is always in Himself, and He controls everything. But the things we have shape our hearts, and we must adapt ourselves to whatever we lean on.
The same credit runs on into the songs that follow:
It is worth seeing how these psalms give every blessing to the Lord. It is the Lord who sets the captive free (Ps. 124:6-7). The Lord is round about His people as they take their pilgrim way (Ps. 125:2). The Lord sets Zion free from the enemy (Ps. 126:1). The Lord builds the house and keeps the city (Ps. 127:1).
Commentators read the psalm as spoken by Israel about an invasion still future — the last great attack against them. Dennett identifies the attacker as Israel's final enemy; another writer applies the words to the army described in Ezekiel:
If it were simply a question between Israel and the enemy, the descendants of Jacob would now be wiped out for good. They can say, with the psalmist, that if Jehovah were not on their side, such a rising against them would swallow them up alive (Ps. 124). But Jehovah will not give His chosen as a prey to their teeth. He will turn on their enemies in righteous fury and indignation.
The verse gives a place to stand after a hard stretch. It does not say the trouble is over. It says the trouble did not finish you.
God has in His grace given a rest in the conflict. The enemy is not defeated, but we have learned how powerless we were to cope with the difficulty. We saw how the flesh tried to get into it, and how much it had to be held back. May we be humbled about it all, yet thankful to our God that He has not allowed the enemy to crush us, weak though we are (Ps. 124:6).
- Peril. An animal with open jaws, about to swallow Israel alive. Destruction was a moment away.
- Timing. God often waits until every human hope is gone, so His people learn that when all refuge fails, He is their refuge.
- Mercy. "Prey" concedes they were helpless; the praise is for what He did not allow, not for any strength of theirs.
- Source. The psalm blesses one name, because God alone keeps His people. Every other refuge turns the soul the wrong way.
- Praise. Turning straight back to the Blesser marks the Spirit's work. Forgetting the hand that helped is the danger once the trouble ends.
Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers the snare is broken, and we have escaped.
Psalm 124 looks back on a rescue that came when everything was against God's people. Verse 7 puts it in one picture: a small bird caught in a trap, then free — which raises two questions: who set the trap, and who broke it?
A fowler is a bird-catcher. In Scripture the picture goes beyond a hunter in a field.
Used as a symbol of Satan, from whose snares God delivers His saints. Ps. 91:3; Ps. 124:7; Prov. 6:5. In the punishment of Israel their prophets became as the snare of the fowler. Hosea 9:8.
A snare works only because the bird never sees it. Writing on the same picture elsewhere in the Psalms, one writer shows what makes a trap work:
Doesn't a snare stand for evil hidden under an attractive surface? The apostle Paul warns us not to be misled by enticing words (Col. 2:4). He also tells us that among people who profess to be Christians, some will be caught "in the snare of the devil" (2 Timothy 2:26)... We may think our own intelligence and knowledge of the truth will keep us out of snares and safe from false teaching. But whatever our knowledge and gifts, unless we are living in private communion with Him — abiding in Christ — there is no snare we cannot fall into.
The bird does not wriggle free. Someone else destroys the trap, and He gets the credit for the escape.
They look back upon it in communion with their God. Satan's fowlers had woven the snare all around them. But the snare was broken — broken by the strong arm they had leaned on — and they had escaped. No wonder they cried, "Blessed be the Lord."
Another writer notes the deceit behind the trap, and the pledge that outlasts it:
Deceit had been at work too, as it always will be where our enemy is involved: there was a snare, and now it is broken. But Jehovah's Name — all that He is — is engaged for them, as it is for all His people. He has pledged it to us. How peaceful our confidence should be, then, at all times!
The rescue did more than end the danger. With every human hope gone, there was no one else to thank.
Men rose up against them, and the proud waters had gone over their soul. But that was exactly what let them say with certainty: Jehovah Himself was for them. There was no one else, and they had looked to Him. This is what extreme and hopeless trouble does: in Jehovah's deliverance it gives the clear certainty that Jehovah is for them... The snare is broken, they are delivered, and now they could say from experience, "Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth."
Verse 7 looks backwards. Looking back is harder than it sounds, because relief has a way of erasing memory.
It is always a sign of the Spirit at work when a soul that has received blessing turns at once with praise to the One who blessed it. Too often the mercy or blessing we receive satisfies the soul for only a moment. Once the trial is over and the goal is reached, unless we are on our guard, we are often fooled into forgetting the hand that was stretched out over us, or that was meeting our need.
Commentators apply this beyond Israel's history. One writer traces David's rescue from King Saul and sees the same pattern in every believer's private life:
In all the experiences we may be called to pass through, will we not find the same encouragement in the plain deliverances of our gracious God? God does not let the enemy overwhelm us completely. We escape like a bird out of the trapper's snare. Some loving friend like Jonathan cheers us with sympathy and fellowship. And when everything seems at its worst, God steps in and the enemy turns away. We need not go into details, for this is the soul's private history, known only to God and the person himself.
- Snare — evil hidden under an attractive surface, set by Satan. Knowledge alone will not keep you out of it. Abiding in Christ will.
- Broken — the bird did not slip the net. The strong arm they leaned on shattered it, so God owns the escape and the praise.
- Pledged — the Name that broke this snare stands pledged to all His people. So our confidence can stay calm at all times.
- Certainty — extreme trouble strips away every other helper. The rescue that follows proves the Lord Himself is for you.
- Remembered — relief tempts us to forget the hand that saved us. Turning from the mercy to the One who gave it is the Spirit's mark.
Our help is in the name of Jehovah, the maker of heavens and earth.
The psalm ends with a settled statement about where Israel's safety lies. Behind those few words stand a broken snare and a question every believer meets: what have my troubles taught me about God?
This is a conclusion, not a starting assumption. The people can say it only after the danger has passed. The danger itself produced the certainty.
It was well they did trust in Jehovah. For if Jehovah Himself had not been on their side, all help in man was utterly lost. Men rose up against them, and the proud waters had gone over their soul. But this was what let them say with certainty that 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.
Many people would agree with this sentence before trouble comes. But these speakers have tested it. The testing changed what the words are worth to them.
The last verse expresses not only a truth, but also their own experience, and the lesson they had learned through their sorrows. This is their blessed conclusion, now that they are redeemed from the hand of all their adversaries. They may have believed it before, at least in some measure. Now they know it. From now on they put their trust in the name of their faithful and covenant-keeping Jehovah alone.
Dennett traces the same confession forward into the New Testament, then applies it to the reader:
So the apostles, with the believers gathered with them, lifted their voices together to God and said, "Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them" (Acts 4:24, ESV). We know Him also as our God and Father, because He is the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. But we are as happy as Israel was, once we come to the end of all human resources and learn that our help is in the name of our God alone.
The verse puts the help in a name. One writer shows how much that name holds, and to whom it is pledged.
The deliverance has already come, and it is an escape out of the most extreme peril. They know that only Jehovah could have done it. Otherwise they would have been overwhelmed, as they almost were. Deceit had been at work too, as it will be wherever our enemy is involved: there was a snare, which is now broken. Jehovah's Name — all that He is — is engaged for them, as it is for all His people. He has pledged it to us. How peaceful, then, should our confidence be at all times!
The name comes with a title: Maker of heaven and earth. One writer explains why the psalm reaches for the widest description of God there is.
The psalm deliberately brings in the universal character of Jehovah. This is the blessedness of His coming reign. Here is His all-covering Name, shown in blessing.
If help is in this name, then it is not partly somewhere else. One writer warns what happens to a soul that leans anywhere else.
God alone keeps His people. The great point all through here is to look to Him alone. And 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. It will make its state less holy in purpose, less pure and wise in walk. God can use everything, because His motive to bless us is always in Himself, and everything is at His disposal. We are different. Our hearts are shaped by the objects we have, and we must adapt ourselves to what we lean on.
The verse speaks in the present tense, not the past.
They have experienced the delivering mercy of the Lord. So they express their confidence in His help for all that may yet lie before them.
- Trouble teaches. Extreme and hopeless trouble was the very thing that made it certain to them that the Lord was on their side.
- Help has a name. Their confidence rests not in the escape but in the Name — all that God is — pledged to His people.
- The name is wide. He is the Maker of heaven and earth, the comprehensive title under which blessing comes.
- Help is exclusive. God alone keeps His people; every other refuge bends the soul into a false path.
- Help is present tense. What was learned in past deliverance becomes confidence for everything still to come.