Psalms 124:5

Then the proud waters had gone over our soul. THEN THE PROUD WATERS HAD GONE OVER OUR SOUL. The term "proud" implies that the waters are figurative-namely, haughty enemies ()....

1-5 God suffers the enemies of his people sometimes to prevail very far against them, that his power may be seen the more in their deliverance. Happy the people whose God is Jehovah, a God all-sufficient. Besides applying this to any particular deliverance wrought in our days and the ancient times, we should have in our thoughts the great work of redemption by Jesus Christ, by which believers were rescued from Satan....

Verse Psalms 124:5. _THEN THE PROUD WATERS_] The proud _Haman_ had nearly brought the flood of desolation over our lives....

THEN THE PROUD WATERS HAD GONE OVER OUR SOUL - Over us. The word proud here is applied to the waters as if raging, swelling, rolling, tumultuous; as if they were self-confident, arrogant, haughty. Such raging billows, as they break and dash upon the shore, are a striking embIem of human passions, whether in an individual, or in a gathering of men - as an army, or a mob. Compare Psalms 65:7. This is again an amplification, or an ascent of thought. See the notes at Psalms 124:2. It is, however, nothing more than a poetical embellisment, adding intensity to the expression....

EXPOSITION "A FRESH, bright lyric" (Cheyne), composed of two stanzas—the first part (Psalms 124:1) recounting a danger and a deliverance; the second (Psalms 124:6), praising God for the latter. This is another of the psalms in this "Little Psalter," ascribed by its title to David. There is nothing in the style, or in the contents, that is inconsistent with the ascription. PSALMS 124:1 IF IT HAD NOT BEEN THE LORD WHO WAS ON OUR SIDE, NOW MAY ISRAEL SAY; rather, _now let Israel say _(Kay, Cheyne, Revised Version). PSALMS 124:2

THEN THE PROUD WATERS HAD GONE OVER OUR SOUL. The wicked, who, through their pride, persecute the poor saints: these proud tyrants and persecutors would prevail over them, to their ruin and destruction; who, for their number, force, and strength, and especially for their pride and haughtiness, are like to the strong, boisterous, and swelling waves of the sea, were they not stopped and bounded by him who has said, Thus far shall ye go, and no farther, Job 38:11....

Psalms 124:1. _If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, now may Israel say;_ There is a break here, the sentence is not finished, so finish it for yourselves. If the Lord had not been on your side, what then? You would have been condemned on account of sin. If the Lord had not been on your side as the Redeemer, you would have been left to perish through the natural depravity of your own heart. If he who is «mighty to save» had not been your Helper, just think, Christians, you who are today filled with joy, whose feet are treading Mount Tabor, think what you would have been if the Lord had not been on your side, and then praise and magnify that grace to which you owe so much. Psalms 124:2. If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, when men rose up against us: then

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

CXXIV. A SONG OF DELIVERANCE FROM FOREIGN FOES....

DISCOURSE: 715 THANKSGIVING FOR GREAT DELIVERANCE Psalms 124:1. _If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, now may Israel say; If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us: then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us: then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul: then the proud waters had gone over our soul. Blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth. Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth._ [Note: This Psalm is with peculiar propriety read on the fifth of November. This small sketch is inserted merely as a sketch, to shew in how small a space a sermon may be contained. The Discourse that follows it was the one used on the occasio