Psalms 129:5

Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Zion. LET THEM ALL BE CONFOUNDED AND TURNED BACK THAT HATE ZION - (.) Faith anticipates future triumphs over the enemy from those vouch-safed in times past. The Spirit of prophecy announces, through the Psalmist, the sinners' doom according to God's decree, in the form of an imprecation; not the language of personal revenge, but of holy zeal for God and for His people....

5._All who hate Zion shall be confounded, and tutored backward. _Whether we take this as a prayer or a promise, the Prophet has a respect to the time to come. Since all the verbs are in the future tense, it is certainly a very appropriate interpretation to understand him as deriving from times past instruction as to what is to be hoped for in future, even to the end. In whichever way we understand the passage, he declares that the faithful have no reason to be discouraged when they behold their enemies raised on high. The grass which grows upon the house-tops is not, on account of its higher situation, more valuable than the blade of corn which in the low ground is trampled under foot; for although it stands elevated above men’s heads, it is, in the first place, unprofitable; and secondly, it quickly withers away. (114) The verb, ףלש, _shalaph, _

5-8 While God's people shall flourish as the loaded palm-tree, or the green and fruitful olive, their enemies shall wither as the grass upon the house-tops, which in eastern countries are flat, and what grows there never ripens; so it is with the designs of God's enemies. No wise man will pray the Lord to bless these mowers or reapers. And when we remember how Jesus arose and reigns; how his people have been supported, like the burning but unconsumed bush, we shall not fear...

Verse Psalms 129:5. _LET THEM ALL BE CONFOUNDED_] They shall be confounded. They who _hate Zion_, the Church of God, hate God himself; and all such must be dealt with as _enemies_, and be utterly _confounded_....

LET THEM ALL BE CONFOUNDED AND TURNED BACK ... - This might be rendered in the indicative, “they are ashamed,” but the connection seems to require the rendering in our version. It is a prayer that God would now interpose as he had done in former times, and that he would cause all the haters of Zion to be put to shame as formerly....

EXPOSITION THIS psalm consists of a retrospect (Psalms 129:1) and an anticipation (Psalms 129:5). The retrospect shows Israel oppressed by enemies for a long term of years, but finally vindicated and delivered (Psalms 129:4). The anticipation shows her enemies afflicted in their turn, and suffering the just reward for their misdeeds. PSALMS 129:1 MANY A TIME HAVE THEY AFFLICTED ME FROM MY YOUTH. Israel's recollection is one of frequent, almost constant, "affliction." She has been downtrodden beneath the feet of Egyptians, Moabites, Mesopotamians, Canaanit

LET THEM ALL BE CONFOUNDED,.... Or "ashamed": as all the enemies of God's people will be sooner or later, either in this world, or however when Christ shall come in the clouds of heaven; or let them be disappointed of their views, aims, and ends, when they will be confounded, as disappointed persons are; AND TURNED BACK; from pursuing their designs and accomplishing them; as the Assyrian monarch was, who had a hook put into his nose, and a bridle in his lips, and was turned back by the way he came, Isaiah 37:29; THAT HATE ZION; the inhabitants of Zion, who are called out of the world, and separated from the men of it, and therefore hated by them; the King of Zion, the Messiah, whom they will not have to reign over them; the doctrines of the Gospel, the word that comes out of Zion, to which they are utter enemies; and the laws and ordinances of Zion, th

Three Songs of degrees. Psalms 129:1. _Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say: many a time have they afflicted me from my youth: yet they have not prevailed against me._ The trials of some of God's people begin very early. When first we put on the armor of God, the adversary is usually very bitter against us. Some of our old friends and acquaintances cannot bear to see the change in us, and they bitterly oppose us, so that God's children may have to say, «From our youth they have afflicted us.» But you must not think that the beginning of sorrows will be the end of them. Oh, no! «Many a time have they afflicted me.» God's children are often called to pass under the rod, and the rod is frequently held in the hands of the children of men. Your Saviour carried the cross, and he expects you to carry it, too. He does not tell you to take it

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

CXXIX. PERSECUTED BUT NOT CAST DOWN. Psalms 129:1. Israel's tyrants compared to ploughmen who have extended their ploughing far, but Yahweh in His righteousness cut the cord which fastened the ox to the plough and then, of course, the ploughing ceased. PSALMS 129:5. The enemies of Zion are to be like grass which springs up casually on the flat roof, but before it reaches its full height (?) is withered. Nobody would think of formal benediction on a crop which was not worth the carrying....