Psalms 121:4

Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. BEHOLD, HE THAT KEEPETH ISRAEL SHALL NEITHER SLUMBER NOR SLEEP. The terms in which the pilgrims committed themselves to Yahweh's care before going to rest the last evening of their journey. The Hebrew negative [ lo' (H3808)] is here different from that in Psalms 121:3, and is objective, asserting as a fact about to be manifested before the world (what in Psalms 121:3 was a hope) that "He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep." The "behold" points to a patent fact. If man's conceptions were not so gross, it would not have been needful to remind us that 'Yahweh slumbers not.' This whole psalm is a commentary...

4._Behold! he who keepeth Israel will not slumber nor sleep. _(64) To recall each individual to the consideration of the common covenant, he represents the Divine providence as extending to the whole body of the Church. In order that each of us for himself may be assured that God will be gracious to him, it behoves us always to begin with the general promise made to all God’s people,. This form of expression, _he will not slumber nor sleep, _would be improper in other languages, according to the idiom of which it should rather be, _He will not sleep, yea, he will not slumber: _but when the Hebrews invert this order, they argue from the greater to the less. The sense then is, that as God never slumbers even in the smallest degree, we need not be afraid of any ham befalling us while he is asleep. The design of the Prophet is now obvious. To persuade true believers that God has a special ca...

Verse Psalms 121:4. _HE THAT KEEPETH ISRAEL_] The Divine Being represents himself as a _watchman_, who takes care of the city and its inhabitants during the night-watches; and who is never overtaken with slumbering or sleepiness. There is a thought in the _Antigone_ of _Sophocles_, that seems the counterpart of this of the psalmist, Ταν σαν, Ζευ, δυναμιν τις ανδρων Ὑπερβασια κατασχοι, Ταν ουθ' ὑπνος αἱ - ρει ποθ' ὁ παντογηρως, Ακαματοι τε θεων Μηνες; Antig. ver. 613, Edit. _Johnson_. Shall me

BEHOLD, HE THAT KEEPETH ISRAEL - The Keeper - the Guardian - of his people. The psalmist here passes from his own particular case to a general truth - a truth to him full of consolation. It is, that the people of God must always be safe; that their great Guardian never slumbers; and that he, as one of his people, might, therefore, confidently look for his protecting care. SHALL NEITHER SLUMBER NOR SLEEP - Never slumbers, never ceases to be watchful. Man sleeps; a sentinel may slumber on his post, by inattention, by long-continued wakefulness, or by weariness; a pilot may slumber at the helm; even a mother may fall asleep by the side of the sick child; but God is never exhausted, is never weary, is never inattentive. He never closes his eyes on the condition of his people, on the needs of the world....

EXPOSITION THE preceding psalm is one of complaint; the present, one of comfort and consolation. The pilgrim lifts up his eyes to the hills, and is satisfied that help is coming to him. He then proceeds to cheer himself with assurances of God's sleepless care and protection. Metrically, the psalm falls into four stanzas of four lines each. PSALMS 121:1 I WILL LIFT UP MINE EYES UNTO THE HILLS. The "holy hills," that stand round about Jerusalem, are intended (Psalms 87:1; Psalms 125:2). There God had "promised his blessing, even life forevermore" (Psalms 133:3)....

BEHOLD, HE THAT KEEPETH ISRAEL SHALL NEITHER SLUMBER NOR SLEEP. He that kept Israel or Jacob, when asleep, and appeared to him in a dream, and promised to keep him in all places, and did; who found his posterity in the wilderness, and kept them as the apple of his eye: he keeps his spiritual Israel, whom he has chosen, redeemed, and calls; and he that is in general their keeper, is the keeper of every particular believer, who may promise themselves the utmost safety under his care; since, though he may sometimes seem to sleep, when he withdraws his gracious presence, defers help, and does not arise so soon to the assistance of his people as they wish for and expect; yet does not in reality sleep, nor is any ways negligent of them; no, not so much as slumber, nor is in the least indifferent about them, and careless of them; see Genesis 28:15. So Homer k represents Jupiter as not held by s...

Psalms 121:1. _I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help._ It is wise to look to the strong for strength. Dwellers in valleys are subject to many disorders for which there is no cure but a sojourn in the uplands, and it is well when they shake off their lethargy and resolve upon a climb. The holy man who here sings a choice sonnet looked away from the slanderers by whom he was tormented to the Lord who saw all from his high places, and was ready to pour down succor for his injured servant. Help comes to saints only from above, they look elsewhere in vain: let us lift up our eyes with hope, expectancy, desire, and confidence. Satan will endeavor to keep our eyes upon our sorrows that we may be disquieted and discouraged, be it ours firmly to resolve that we will look out and look up, for there is good cheer for the eyes, and they that lift up their eyes to

PSALM 120-134 The Psalms of Degrees Fifteen brief Psalms follow, called songs of degrees, or, ascents. They were in all probability used by Israel going up to Jerusalem three times a year to celebrate the feasts of the Lord--”Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, a testimony for Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the LORD.” They are indeed Psalms of “the goings-up” for we rise higher and higher as we read through them. Prophetically they give us again the steps from trial and suffering to the glorious consummation. As they are so simple in language and construction no lengthy annotations are needed. Psalms 120:1 begins with distress, picturing again the suffering of the righteous godly remnant. In Psalms 121:1 the Keeper of Israel, the Covenant Keeping God, is revealed

CXXI. YAHWEH'S CARE FOR HIS PEOPLE. Psalms 121:8. going out _i.e._ to the feast at Zion, and COMING IN to thy home far away, perhaps in heathen lands....

NEITHER. Hebrew. _l'o_ (like Greek. _ou)_. He will not. Absolute....