Psalms 107:33

33._He turneth rivers into a wilderness _Here then is an account of changes which it would be the height of folly to attribute to chance. Fruitful lands become unfruitful, and barren lands assume the new aspect of freshness and fruitfulness. And how happens it that one district becomes sterile, and another becomes fat and fertile, contrary to what they were wont to be, but because that God pours out his wrath upon the inhabitants of the one, by taking his blessing from them, and renders the other fruitful to feed the hungry? It may be ascribed to the thinness of the population, that many parts of Asia and Greece, once exceedingly fruitful, now lie uncultivated and unproductive; but we must ascribe to the providence of God, which the prophet praises, the well authenticated fact, that in some places the earth that was fruitful has now become barren and parched, while others are beginning t...

33-43 What surprising changes are often made in the affairs of men! Let the present desolate state of Judea, and of other countries, explain this. If we look abroad in the world, we see many greatly increase, whose beginning was small. We see many who have thus suddenly risen, as suddenly brought to nothing. Worldly wealth is uncertain; often those who are filled with it, ere they are aware, lose it again. God has many ways of making men poor. The righteous shall rejoice. It shall fully convince all those who deny the Divine Providence. When sinners see how justly God takes away the gifts they have abused, they will not have a word to say. It is of great use to us to be fully assured of God's goodness, and duly affected with it. It is our wisdom to mind our duty, and to refer our comfort to him. A truly wise person will treasure in his heart this delightful psalm. From it, he will fully...

Verse Psalms 107:33. _HE TURNETH RIVERS INTO A WILDERNESS_] After having, as above, illustrated the state of the Jews in their captivity, and the deliverance which God wrought for them, he now turns to the general conduct of God in reference to the poor and needy; and his gracious interpositions in their behalf, the providential supply of their wants, and his opposition to their oppressors. _On account_ _of the wickedness of men_, he sometimes changes a _fruitful land_ _into a desert_. See the general state of Egypt in the present time: once a fertile land; now an arid, sandy wilderness. Again, by his blessing on honest industry, he has changed deserts into highly fertile ground. And, as for the wickedness of their inhabitants, many lands are cursed and rendered barren; so, when a people acknowledge him in all their ways, he blesses their toil, gives them rain an...

HE TURNETH RIVERS INTO A WILDERNESS - He makes great changes in the earth; he shows that he has absolute dominion over it. See the notes at Isaiah 44:26. On the word “wilderness,” see the notes at Psalms 107:4. The point here is, that God had such control over nature that he could make the bed of a river dry and barren as the rocky or sandy desert. He could effectually dry up the stream, and make it so dry and parched that nothing would grow but the most stunted shrubs, such as were found in the waste and sandy desert. AND THE WATER-SPRINGS INTO DRY GROUND - The very fountains of the rivers: not only drying up the river itself by leading it off into burning wastes where it would be evaporated by the heat, or lost in the sand - but

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

HE TURNETH RIVERS INTO A WILDERNESS,.... A country abounding with rivers, as the country round about Sodom and the land of Canaan were, Genesis 13:10. Such an one is sometimes, by the just judgment of God, turned into a desert. AND THE WATER SPRINGS INTO DRY GROUND: what was like a well watered garden becomes like dry and barren earth, on which nothing grows....

Psalms 107:33. _He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and the watersprings into dry ground; a fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein._ Hearken unto this, ye who are men of understanding. God can soon take away from any people the privileges which they cease to prize. He sent barrenness upon the earth in the days of our first father, Adam; and he has long cursed with barrenness the very land in which this Psalm was written. He can give us what he pleases, and he can take it all away when he pleases. And, spiritually, God can easily turn a fruitful land into barrenness. The means of grace, the ministry of his Word which was once very rich and fertile to you, may suddenly lose all its savour and all its fruitfulness. Ay, even his own Word, which may be compared to water-springs, may suddenly seem to you to be but as dry ground; and your secr

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