What would have happened "if theLordhad not been on our side" (Psalm 124:2)?

Passing now to the next Psalm, it will be at once remarked that it contains the record of the deliverance prayed for in the foregoing one. The mercy there sought has been bestowed, and Israel now, with hearts overflowing with gratitude, celebrate the intervention of their Deliverer. It is exceedingly beautiful to notice how they ascribe their salvation from the hands of their foes to the Lord alone. The first five verses set this out in very striking language: 1 If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, now may Israel say; 2 If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us: 3 Then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us: 4 Then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul: 5 Then the proud waters had gone over our soul.

Three things may be here noticed. First, it is evident that the contempt and scorning mentioned in the previous Psalm had passed over into even more violent enmity, which expressed itself in the attempt to compass the destruction of the whole people. It says, "When men rose up against us," and "when their wrath was kindled against us." Secondly, it is as unmistakable that Israel had been brought into great straits, that to all human appearances their destruction was imminent. The word "quick," that is, living, justifies this conclusion. It is a figure, as we understand it, to denote the enemy rushing with open jaws to "swallow up" Israel alive, as it were, and instantaneously. Lastly, the Lord manifestly is looked upon as interposing for the succour of His people when they were on the very eve of destruction, when the "proud waters" were flowing with apparently resistless violence to overwhelm them for ever. How often does the Lord thus wait 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, that they may learn that when refuge fails them He is their refuge and their portion in the land of the living. "They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wit's end. Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and He bringeth them out of their distresses."

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 it had not been so, then they had been swallowed up alive. For the threats of the enemy of God are very real, and in their anger, they will not have mercy. The waters of man's enmity would be sufficient to overwhelm them apart from the intervention of God. This is strongly emphasized in the first five verses.

But verse 6-8 stand in calm superiority over such threats, and the psalmist rightly blesses the Lord, who has not allowed the enemy any advantage, but has rather provided an escape as a bird from the snare of the fowler. If the outcome had seemed uncertain to those who were in danger, it was not uncertain to God, who will not suffer the righteous to be moved. So the psalm closes on a victorious note, "Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth."

(vv. 1-5) The godly acknowledge the Lord's intervention on their behalf. Powerless themselves, in the presence of an enemy that appears all-powerful, they are as those who sink in an overwhelming flood. When, to all appearance, their destruction is imminent, they find the Lord is on their side and is working for their deliverance.

It was well they did trust in Jehovah, for, if Jehovah 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 it was the occasion of their being able surely to say, Jehovah Himself was for them, for there were none else, and to Him they had looked. Such the effect of extreme and hopeless trouble - in Jehovah's deliverance, the clear certainty that Jehovah is for them. This Israel might now say - a long-lost word in the mouth of the sorrowing but still loved people, "Jehovah is on our side." "Blessed be Jehovah," was now therefore their word. The snare is broken, they delivered, and they could say now with experience, "Our help is in the Name of the Lord who made heaven and earth." Their great and hopeless trouble thus becomes the certainty of Jehovah's being with them.

“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.

The power of the enemy had been just now (Psalm 124) fully displayed against them — the godly in the land who trusted in Jehovah. But they had escaped, but only by Jehovah being on their side, or they had been utterly swallowed up, by the last power of the enemy, I apprehend, when the apostate beast and Antichrist were gone from the scene.

336 Psalm 124. It was well they did trust in Jehovah. For if Jehovah Himself had not been on their side, in man all help was utterly lost. Men rose up against them, and the proud waters had gone over their soul, but it was the occasion of their being able surely to say, Jehovah Himself was for them, for there was none else, and to Him they had looked. Such is the effect of extreme and hopeless trouble — in Jehovah's deliverance, the clear certainty that Jehovah is for them. This Israel might now say — a long last word in the revolt of the sorrowing but still loved people, Jehovah is on our side. "Blessed be Jehovah" was now therefore their word. The snare is broken, they are delivered, and they could say now with experience, "our help is in the name of Jehovah who made heaven and earth." This great and hopeless trouble thus becomes the certainty of Jehovah's being with them.

To return now to the course of the Psalm, we find that the One who had heard the cries of His people is now praised for the mercy He had vouchsafed. After narrating their deliverance, and fully owning His hand in it, they exclaim: "Blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth. Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped." (vv. 6, 7.)

Psalm 124. 1 A song of the ascents: of David. If [it were] not Jehovah who was for us, lot now Israel say; 2 If [it were] not Jehovah who was for us in man's rising up against us, 3 Then they had swallowed us up alive in the kindling of their wrath against us. 4 Then the waters had overflowed us; the stream had passed over our soul. 5 Then had passed over our soul the proud waters. 6 Blessed [be] Jehovah, who gave us not a prey to their teeth! 7 Our soul is escaped as a bird out of fowlers' snare; the snare is broken, and we are escaped. 8 Our help [is] in Jehovah's name, who made heaven and earth.

There was need to seek her peace as Psalm 123 shows, for, though the godly had access to the city, the ungodly were still in the land, and the manifested presence of the Lord in the house was still an object of desire. Hence they turn to God, but to God as dwelling in heaven, not as sitting between the cherubim. They wait for Him, and watch His movements. "As the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait on the Lord our God, until He have mercy upon us." And there will be abundant cause for them thus to wait; for their soul will be exceedingly filled with "the scorning of them that are at ease, and with the contempt of the proud." Would any condemn such conduct on their part? Does not their past history justify it? 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 preserved 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. They will trust in the Creator of heaven and earth, and Psalm 125 predicts the sure result. "Those who trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, for ever it shall abide." Stability they shall know, and the guardianship of Jehovah they shall rejoice in for evermore. "For the rod (or sceptre) of wickedness shall not rest on the lot of the righteous, lest the righteous put forth their hands unto iniquity." Confident of this, they pray for Jehovah's favour towards the good, predict His dealing with the ungodly, and await peace upon Israel.