Psalms 123:1

Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens. The Psalmist's looking up to God is like that of servants patiently looking for mercy from their master (Psalms 123:1); prayer for mercy, based on the scorning of the foe (Psalms 123:3) - namely, Israel's foes afar her return from Babylon-Moab, Ammon, Arabia (Nehemiah 2:19), and especially Samaria, favoured by the ruling world- power, Persia, while Israel, with all her high claims as the people of God, was poor and low (Nehemiah 1:3). The Psalmist is representative of Israel (cf. "I,...

1._I lift my eyes to thee, who dwellest in the heavens. _It is uncertain at what time, or even by what Prophet, this Psalm was composed. I do not think it probable that David was its author; because, when he bewails the persecutions which he suffered in the time of Saul, it is usual with him to inter-pose some particular references to himself. My opinion, then, rather is, that this form of prayer was composed for all the godly by some Prophet, either when the Jews were captives in Babylon, or when Antiochus Epiphanes exercised towards them the most relentless cruelty. Be this as it may, the Holy Spirit, by whose inspiration the Prophet delivered it to the people, calls upon us to have recourse to God, when — ever wicked men unrighteously and proudly persecute, not one or two of the faithful only, but the whole body of the Church. Moreover, God is here expressly called _the God who dwelle...

PSALM CXXIII _The prayer and faith of the godly_, 1, 2. _They desire to be delivered from contempt_, 3, 4. NOTES ON PSALM CXXIII This Psalm is probably a complaint of the captives in Babylon relative to the contempt and cruel usage they received. The author is uncertain. Verse Psalms 123:1. _UNTO THEE LIFT I UP MINE EYES_] We have no hope but in thee; our eyes look upward; we have expectation from thy _mercy_ alone....

UNTO THEE - To God. LIFT I UP MINE EYES - In supplication and prayer. Nature prompts us to look up when we address God, as if he dwelt above us. It is the natural prompting of the heart that he must be the most exalted of all beings, dwelling above all. See Psalms 121:1. O THOU THAT DWELLEST IN THE HEAVENS - Whose home - whose special home - is in heaven - above the sky. This is in accordance with the common feelings of people, and the common description of God in the Bible, though it is true also that God is everywhere. Compare Psalms 2:4; Psalms 11:4....

EXPOSITION PSALMS 123:1 UNTO THEE LIFT I UP MINE EYES (comp. Psalms 121:1, where the psalmist "lifted up his eyes" to God's dwelling-place). Now the expression is bolder. The eyes are lifted up to God himself. OH THOU THAT DWELLEST IN THE HEAVENS (comp. Psalms 2:4; Psalms 11:4; Isaiah 57:15; Isaiah 66:1). Psalms 123

UNTO THEE LIFT I UP MINE EYES,.... Not only the eyes of his body, this being a prayer gesture; see Matthew 14:19; but the eyes of his mind and understanding, opened by the Spirit of God; particularly the eye of faith, by which he looked for and expected help and salvation from the Lord. The phrase is expressive of holy confidence in God, and a comfortable hope of receiving good things from him; as, on the contrary, when persons are ashamed and confounded with a sense of their sins, and the aggravations of them, and of their own unworthiness and vileness; and, on account of the same, almost out of all hope, cannot lift up their eyes to heaven, or their face before God, Ezra 9:6; O THOU THAT DWELLEST IN THE HEAVENS; the heaven of heavens, the third heaven, the seat of angels and glorified saints;

We shall read, this evening, three short Psalms, the 123 rd, 124 th, and 125 th. May the Holy Spirit, who inspired the writers of them, strengthen our faith while we read these songs of joyous confidence! Psalms 123:1. _Unto thee lift I up mine eyes,_ Instead of looking downward in despair, or looking to the right hand or to the left to human confidence, or looking within in pride, «Unto thee lift I up mine eyes,» Psalms 123:1. _O thou that dwellest in the heavens._ It is always delightful to the Christian to remember what the title of his God is: «Our Father, which art in heaven.» It is the place of prospect from which God looketh down, and seeth all men, and understandeth all their ways; and it is also the place of his power and his glory. Lord, I loo

A SONG OF DEGREES Literally, "of ascents." Perhaps chanted by the people as they went up to Jerusalem to the feasts. See, for example (Psalms 112:1); (Psalms 112:2)....

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

CXXIII. WAITING FOR GOD. Psalms 123:4. The contempt of the proud may have been caused by their own wealth, and by the poverty of the godly (see on Psalms 4). Poor and godly are almost synonymous. The Heb. Bible often uses one and the same word for poor. afflicted, humble....