Psalms 107:16

For he hath broken the gates of brass, and cut the bars of iron in sunder. FOR HE HATH BROKEN THE GATES OF BRASS, AND CUT THE BARS OF IRON IN SUNDER. puts this very language into the mouth of Yahweh concerning Cyrus, the conqueror of Babylon and the deliverer of the Jews, "I will ... open before him the two-leaved gates ... I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron." Compare metaphorically, ....

10-16 This description of prisoners and captives intimates that they are desolate and sorrowful. In the eastern prisons the captives were and are treated with much severity. Afflicting providences must be improved as humbling providences; and we lose the benefit, if our hearts are unhumbled and unbroken under them. This is a shadow of the sinner's deliverance from a far worse confinement. The awakened sinner discovers his guilt and misery. Having struggled in vain for deliverance, he finds there is no help for him but in the mercy and grace of God. His sin is forgiven by a merciful God, and his pardon is accompanied by deliverance from the power of sin and Satan, and by the sanctifying and comforting influences of God the Holy Spirit....

Verse Psalms 107:16. _FOR HE HATH BROKEN_] This is the _reason_ given for thanks to God for his deliverance of the captives. It was not a simple deliverance; it was done so as to manifest the _irresistible_ power of God. He tore the prison in pieces, and cut the bars of iron asunder....

FOR HE HATH BROKEN THE GATES OF BRASS - The immediate “reason” here given for praising the Lord is that he had “broken the gates of brass,” continuing the thought from Psalms 107:10. In the previous part of the psalm, in giving a reason for praising the Lord, the fact that he feeds the hungry was selected Psalms 107:9 because in the preceding part the allusion was to the sufferings of hunger and thirst Psalms 107:4; here the fact that he had broken the gates of brass is selected, because the allusion in the immediately preceding verses Psalms 107:12 was to their imprisonment. In the construction

EXPOSITION A SONG of thanksgiving, first for deliverance from the Babylonish captivity (Psalms 107:1), and then for other deliverances (Psalms 107:4), passing into a general account of God's providential dealings with mankind, both in the way of chastisement and of loving-kindness, but especially the latter (Psalms 107:33-19). The composition closes with a single gnomic reflection on the wisdom of pondering such matters as those brought forward by the writer. Formally, the psalm falls into seven divisions: (1) a thanksgiving for the return from Babylon (Psalms 107

FOR HE HATH BROKEN THE GATES OF BRASS,.... The prison doors made of brass, as sometimes of iron, for the security of the prisoners; see Acts 12:10. And cut the bars of iron in sunder; with which they were barred and secured. Hyperbolical phrases these, as Kimchi, expressing how exceeding strong the prison doors were, and the impossibility of an escape out of them, unless the Lord had delivered them; but when he works, none can let; all obstructions are easily removed by him; which is the sense of the words, see Isaiah 45:2. Vitringa, on Revelation 12:2, interprets this of the subjection of the Roman emperors to the faith and obedience of Christ....

Psalms 107:1. _O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever._ In the heading of this Psalm we are reminded that the psalmist here exhorts the redeemed, in praising God, to observe his manifold providence over travelers, prisoners, sick men, seamen, «and in divers varieties of life;» but, inasmuch as the exhortation is specially addressed to the redeemed of the Lord, I shall endeavor to cast the red ray of redemption over it, and to explain these various circumstances as relating to the spiritual experience of God's people, and to their deliverance out of divers perils to which their souls are exposed. «O give thanks unto the Lord.» This seems to imply that we are so slow to praise God that we have to be stirred up to this sacred duty. This exhortation looks as if we needed to be entreated to give thanks unto the Lord. Yet this ought not to be an unc

THE DEUTERONOMY SECTION: BOOK FIVE: PSALM 107-150 The final section of the book of Psalms, the fifth, is just like Deuteronomy. It shows God's ways with Israel, the end of these ways in deliverance not only for His people, but for their land, for the nations of the earth, for all creation. The book ends with the Hallelujah Chorus of redemption. Psalms 107 PSALMS 108 Psalms 107 Israel's Deliverances _ 1. The wanderers regathered (Psalms 107:1)_ 2. The prisoners released (Psalms 107:10) 3. The fools hea

BOOK V. PSS. CVII.- CL. CVII. A Psalm of Thanksgiving for Yahweh's Special Goodness. It is divided at Psalms 107:8 f., Psalms 107:15 f., Psalms 107:21 f., Psalms 107:31 f. by a refrain: viz. Oh that men would praise Yahweh for his goodness and for his wonderful works, etc. The Ps. therefore falls into the following divisions: Psalms 107:1. Deliverance of homeless wanderers. In our text, as it stands, there seems to be some confusion between deliverance from adversity in general and especially from loss of way in the desert and the retur

THE PSALMS BOOK THE FIFTH[474] [474] See Table II., _ante._ PSALMS 107 DESCRIPTIVE TITLE Examples of Men's Straits, leading to Prayer; and of Jehovah's Deliverance, calling for Praise. ANALYSIS After a Summons to Thanksgiving addressed to the Redeemed, Psalms 107:1-3, Examples are given: 1. Of Hungry Wanderers, Psalms 107:4-9; 2. Of Guilty Prisoners, Psalms 107:10-16; 3. Of Dying Transgressors, Psalms 107:17-22; 4. Of