Psalms 123:4

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,...

Verse Psalms 123:4. _THOSE THAT ARE AT EASE_] The Babylonians, who, having subdued all the people of the neighbouring nations, lived _at ease_, had none to contend with them, and now became luxurious, _indolent_, and _insolent_: they were contemptuous and proud. ANALYSIS OF THE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-THIRD PSALM The oppressed followers of God make application to him for mercy. In this application they express _three_ things: - I. Their confidence in God. II. Prayer for mercy. III. An account of their oppressors. I. Their trust in God. 1. "Unto thee lift I up mine eyes." We trust in thee alone. 2. "O thou that dwellest in the heavens." Infinitely raised above us; but affected with our miserable condition, and always

OUR SOUL IS EXCEEDINGLY FILLED - Thoroughly sated. This verse states the nature and the source of the contempt which they were called to bear. WITH THE SCORNING OF THOSE THAT ARE AT EASE - According to one view of these “Psalms of Degrees” (see the Introduction to Psalms 120:1) this would be an instance of an “ascent” in the sense, or of the going up of the thought, where in Psalms 123:3 there was mention made in general of “contempt,” and in this verse the thought is carried onward and upward, or there is an additional idea which gives intensity to it. It is the scorn proceeding from those who are at ease; that is, the frivolous, the affluent, the proud. The word scorning means derision, mockery. The idea in the Hebrew is derived f

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

OUR SOUL IS EXCEEDINGLY FILLED WITH THE SCORNING OF THOSE THAT ARE AT EASE,.... That are in easy and affluent circumstances; abound in the things of this world, and have more than heart can wish; have no outward trouble, as other men, or as the saints have; nor any uneasiness of mind, on account of sin and their eternal state: they have been at ease from their youth; Satan, that has the possession of them, keeps the goods in peace; and their consciences are seared as with a red hot iron, and they are past feeling; though they are far from having any true solid peace of mind: and such persons are generally scorners of the saints, and load them with their gibes and jeers in a most insolent manner; which makes it very irksome and grievous to bear; [AND] WITH THE CONTEMPT OF THE PROUD: who are proud of their natural abilities; of their wealth and riches, and of their honours and high places...

Psalms 123:1. _Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens._ Our eyes are far too apt to look below, or to look within, or to look around, but it is wisdom on our part to look up. There is always something blessed to see upward, especially when we look up to him who dwells in the highest heavens, our Father, our Saviour, our Comforter. There is little down here that is worth looking at, but there is everything for our comfort when we look up. Psalms 123:2. _Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the LORD our God, until that he have mercy upon us._ This is what we are looking for, the mercy of the Lord our God. It comes from his great

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....

OUR SOUL. we. Hebrew. _nephesh_ (App-13). SCORNING. the scoffing. The reference is to the scoffing of Sennacherib and Rab-shakeh (2 Kings 18:19; 2 Kings 19:8; 2 Chronicles 32:10; Isaiah 36:4; Isaiah 37:8). App-67. AT EASE. Same Hebrew as "tumult" in 2 Kings 19:28, and Isaiah 37:29. PROUD. proud oppressors....

OF THOSE THAT ARE AT EASE— Or, _Of the insolent._ The Hebrew word שׁאננים _shaanannim_ is used not only for _quiet_ or _secure,_ in the original notion, but, by a metonymy of the cause for the effect, for _insolent_ or _scornful;_ because ease and security too often make men so. REFLECTIONS.—We have, 1. The Psalmist's approach unto God. _Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens,_ the place of his glorious abode, whither our prayer must be directed, and where with the eye of faith we must behold him, ready to hear and answer us. 2. The temper in which he approached God, he illustrates by the similitude of servants looking to their master or mistress for direction, sustenance, protection, chastisement, wages; _so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God,_ for his divine teaching how to walk and please him; for his continual supplies of living bread to nourish our sou...