INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 121 A SONG OF DEGREES. The inscription of the Syriac version is, "one of the songs of ascent out of Babylon.'' Aben Ezra thinks it was composed on account of Israel, when in a siege and distress; or, adds he, on account of the children of our captivity; the present state of... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL LIFT UP MINE EYES UNTO THE HILLS,.... Not to the hills and mountains in Judea, looking about to see if the inhabitants of them, or any bodies of men, appeared upon them to his help in distress; rather to the hills of Moriah and Zion, where the ark of God, the symbol of his presence, was, and... [ Continue Reading ]
MY HELP [COMETH] FROM THE LORD, WHICH MADE HEAVEN AND EARTH. Who helps his people out of the hands of all their enemies, and out of all their troubles and afflictions; he helps them in the performance of duty, in the exercise of grace, in bearing the cross, in fighting the Lord's battles, and on in... [ Continue Reading ]
HE WILT NOT SUFFER THY FOOT TO BE MOVED,.... This is either an address of the psalmist to his own soul; or to any other good man, his friend and acquaintance, assuring of stability, and of final perseverance in grace to glory. The Lord keeps the feet of his saints from falling: he will not suffer th... [ Continue Reading ]
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,... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD [IS] THY KEEPER,.... This explains more fully who it is that keeps Israel and particular believers, and confirms the same; not a creature, but the Lord; the Word of the Lord, as the Targum, in Psalms 121:7: Christ, the Word and Wisdom of God; who is the keeper of his people by the designat... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SUN SHALL NOT SMITE THEE BY DAY,.... With its rays, which it shoots forth like darts, and which fly swiftly, and pierce and hurt: hence Apollo, the same with the sun, is represented with a bow and arrows o; so the rays of the sun seem to be called in Habakkuk 2:11; NOR THE MOON BY NIGHT; this c... [ Continue Reading ]
THEE LORD SHALL PRESERVE THEM FROM ALL EVIL,.... The Word of the Lord, as the Targum. Not from the evil of affliction, though from that as a penal evil; or as a real one, it being made to work for good: but from the evil of sin; not from the being or commission of it; but from its dominion and damni... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD SHALL PRESERVE THY GOING OUT, AND THY COMING IN,.... In transacting all the business of life, in going in and out about it; in all ways, works, and conversation; in journeying and travelling; in all affairs, civil and religious; and not only preserve, but prosper in all, Psalms 1:3; the Lor... [ Continue Reading ]