Psalms 107:4

They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in. THEY WANDERED IN THE WILDERNESS IN A SOLITARY WAY - literally, in a desert of a way; in that which is a mere desert (Jeshimon), so far as a way is concerned: a desert in its waylessness. Compare : cf. ; . The allusion is to God's original guidance of His people through the wilderness: a type of His future restoration of them through all difficulties. THEY FOUND NO CITY TO DWELL IN - as contrasted with Jerusalem, the city of God, which, as being the sacred metropolis in a national and religious, though not in a local and literal sense, the whole people dwelt in. Compare...

1-9 In these verses there is reference to the deliverance from Egypt, and perhaps that from Babylon: but the circumstances of travellers in those countries are also noted. It is scarcely possible to conceive the horrors suffered by the hapless traveller, when crossing the trackless sands, exposed to the burning rays of the sum. The words describe their case whom the Lord has redeemed from the bondage of Satan; who pass through the world as a dangerous and dreary wilderness, often ready to faint through troubles, fears, and temptations. Those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, after God, and communion with him, shall be filled with the goodness of his house, both in grace and glory....

Verse Psalms 107:4. _THEY WANDERED IN THE WILDERNESS_] Here begins the FINEST _comparison_: the Israelites in captivity are compared to a _traveller in a dreary, uninhabited, and barren desert_, spent with hunger and thirst, as well as by the fatigues of the journey, Psalms 107:5....

THEY WANDERED IN THE WILDERNESS - On their return from Babylon; or, when God was conducting them again to their own land. The word “wilderness” in the Scriptures means a desolate, barren, uninhabited region, usually destitute of trees, of springs, and of water-courses. It does not denote, as it does with us, a region of extensive “forests.” Compare the notes at Matthew 4:1. IN A SOLITARY WAY - Rather, in a “waste” way; a land that was desolate and uncultivated. THEY FOUND NO CITY TO DWELL IN - In their journeyings. This was true of the region between Babylon and Palestine; a wide, barren, desolate waste....

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

THEY WANDERED IN THE WILDERNESS IN A SOLITARY WAY,.... Not the people of Israel, as the Targum. These seem not to be particularly intended, whatever allusion there may be to their passage through the wilderness to Canaan's land; but rather, in general, travellers through waste places, especially the wild deserts of Arabia; where the wind blowing the sand, covers the roads with it, so that frequently travellers lose their way, and wander about, till directed to it by one providence or another. Some compare this with the case of the Old Testament saints, mentioned in Hebrews 11:37 others with the church in the wilderness, and the witnesses prophesying in sackcloth, Revelation 11:2. But it is certain that the redeemed and gathered are here meant; and this fitly describes their case, before

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

A SOLITARY WAY. a trackless waste. CITY TO DWELL IN. city of habitation, as in Psalms 107:7....