Psalms 107:39

39._Afterwards they are lessened _Ere I enter upon the consideration of the truths contained in this verse, I must make some brief verbal observations. Some make the word עוצר _, otser, _to signify _tyranny, _and certainly עצר _, atsar, _does signify to _bear rule. _But since it is used metaphorically for _anguish, _it appears to me that this is the meaning which is most accordant with the tenor of the passage. The last two words of the verse may be read as in the nominative case, as I have rendered them, or in the genitive, the _anguish of misery and sorrow _This lection appears to me preferable, _through the anguish of misery, _(289) _and through sorrow. _ We come now to notice shortly the main things in the passage. And as we had formerly a description of the changes which these districts und

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 107:39. _AGAIN, THEY ARE MINISHED_] Sometimes by war, or pestilence, or famine. How minished and brought low was the country already spoken of, by the long and destructive war which began in 1775, and was not ended till 1783! And what desolations, minishings, and ruin have been brought on the fertile empires of Europe by the war which commenced in 1792, and did not end till 1814! And how many millions of lives have been sacrificed in it, and souls sent unprepared into the eternal world! When God makes inquisition for blood, on whose heads will he find the blood of these slaughtered millions? Alas! O, alas!...

AGAIN, THEY ARE MINISHED ... - literally, “And they are made to decrease.” That is - all is in the hand of God. He rules and directs all things. If there is prosperity, it comes from him; if there are reverses, they occur under his hand. People are not always prosperous. There are changes, misfortunes, disappointments, sorrows. God so deals with the race as in the bests manner to secure the recognition of himself: not always sending prosperity, lest people should regard it as a thing of course, and forget that it comes from him; and not making the course of life uniformly that of disappointment and sorrow, lest they should feel that there is no God presiding over human affairs. He visits now with prosperity, and now with adversity; now with success, and now with reverses, showing that his agency is constant, and that people are wholly dependent on him. In existing circumstances - since m...

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

AGAIN THEY ARE MINISHED,.... Or "lessened", in their families, cattle, and substance; either the same persons as before, or others. The Targum paraphrases it, "but when they sin, they are lessened:'' for sin is the cause of it, as follows: AND BROUGHT LOW THROUGH OPPRESSION, AFFLICTION AND SORROW; either because of their oppression of the poor, the evil they do to them, and the sorrow they bring upon them; or they are brought into a low estate through the tyranny and oppression of others, and by the afflictions and sorrows they are brought into by them. This may be applied to the Jews, at their destruction by the Romans, when they were greatly lessened and brought low by their oppression of them: or rather to the Christians; not under the Heathen persecutions, for then they increased more and more; but under antichristian tyranny, when the beast had power over them, and overcame and s...

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