PSALM 129 COMME TARYWritten and edited by Glenn Pease

PREFACE

The object of this commentary is to bring together the comments of a number ofauthors in one place to make the study of this Psalm easier for the Bible student.Sometimes I do not have the author's name, and if it is known and told to me, I willgive credit where it is due. If there is any author who does not wish his wisdom to beincluded in this study, I will remove it when that author expresses his wish to have itremoved. My e-mail is glenn_p86@yahoo.com

I TRODUCTIO

1. Barnes, “This psalm is entitled merely “A Song of Degrees.” Its author isunknown; and the occasion on which it was written cannot now be ascertained. It isa psalm which would be applicable to many periods of the Jewish history, and it isnot of such a nature that it can with certainty be referred to any one of them. Thereis nothing in it which would forbid us to suppose that it was composed on the returnfrom the Babylonian exile, but there is nothing to fix it definitely to that event. Whyit was made one of the “Songs of Degrees” is equally unknown. It merely refers tothe fact that Israel had often been roughly and severely treated; and it contains aprayer that those who were the enemies of Zion might be punished in a propermanner. It would seem probable that it was composed during a time of trouble, ofwar, or of persecution, and that the main purpose of the writer was to refer to thefact that the same thing had often occurred before, and to find consolation andsupport in that fact. The principle on which it is founded is, that there is nothing tobe dreaded as the result of trial, if we have passed through the same form of trialbefore, and if we have not sunk but have been sustained under it. This furnishes anassurance that the same thing may occur again.”

2. “This Psalm teaches, in the first place, that God subjects his Church to diverstroubles and affections, to the end he may the better prove himself her deliverer anddefender. The Psalmist, therefore, recalls to the memory of the faithful how sadlyGod's people had been persecuted in all ages, and how wonderfully they had beenpreserved, in order by such examples to fortify their hope in reference to the future.In the second part, under the form of an imprecation, he shows that the divinevengeance is ready to fall upon all the ungodly, who without cause distress the

people of God.” author unknown

3. Spurgeon, “A Song of Degrees. I fail to see how this is a step beyond the previousPsalm; and yet it is clearly the song of an older and more tried individual, who looksback upon a life of affliction in which he suffered all along, even from his youth.Inasmuch as patience is a higher, or at least more difficult, grace than domestic love,the ascent or progress may perhaps be seen in that direction. Probably if we knewmore of the stations on the road to the Temple we should see a reason for the orderof these Psalms; but as that information cannot be obtained, we must take the songsas we find them, and remember that, as we do not now go on pilgrimages to Zion, itis our curiosity and not oar necessity which is a loser by our not knowing the causeof the arrangement of the songs in this Pilgrim Psalter.

It does not seem to us at all needful to ascribe this Psalm to a period subsequent tothe captivity ... indeed, it is more suitable to a time when as yet the enemy bad not sofar prevailed as to have carried the people into a distant land. It is a mingled hymnof sorrow and of strong resolve. Though sorely smitten, the afflicted one is heartwhole, and scorns to yield in the least degree to the enemy. The poet sings the trialsof Israel, Psalms 129:1-3; the interposition of the Lord, Psalms 129:4; and theunblessed condition of Israel's foes, Psalms 129:5-8. It is a rustic song, full ofallusions to husbandry. It reminds us of the books of Ruth and Amos.”

1. They have greatly oppressed me from myyouth—let Israel say-

1. Calvin, “This Psalm was probably composed at a time when the Church of God,reduced to a state of extreme distress, or dismayed by some great danger, oroppressed with tyranny, was on the verge of total destruction. This conjecture, Iconceive, is supported by the adverb of time, now, which appears to me to beemphatic. It is as if the Prophet; had said, When God's faithful ones are withdifficulty drawing their breath under the burden of temptations, it is a seasonabletime for them to reflect on the manner in which he has exercised his people from thebeginning, and from age to age. As soon as God has given loose reins to our enemiesto do as they please we are distressed with sorrow, and our thoughts are whollyengrossed with the evils which presently harass us. Hence proceeds despair; for wedo not remember that the patience of the fathers was subjected to the like trial, andthat nothing happens to us which they did not experience. It is then an exerciseeminently fitted to comfort true believers to look back to the conflicts of the Churchin the days of old, in order thereby to know that she has always labored under thecross, and has been severely afflicted by the unrighteous violence of her enemies.The most probable conjecture which occurs to me at present is, that this Psalm was

written after the Jews had returned from the Babylonish captivity, and when,having suffered many grievous and cruel injuries at the hands of their neighbors,they hadn't length almost fainted under the tyranny of Antiochus Epiphanes. In thisdark and troublous state of matters, the Prophet encourages the faithful tofortitude, nor does he address himself to a few of them only, but to the whole bodywithout exception; and in order to their sustaining such fierce assaults, he wouldhave them to oppose to them a hope inspired by the encouraging consideration, thatthe Church, by patient endurance, has uniformly proved victorious. Almost everyword is emphatic. Let Israel now say, that is, let him consider the trials of theChurch in ancient times, from which it may be gathered, that the people of Godhave never been exempted from bearing the cross, and yet that the variousafflictions by which they have been tried have always had a happy issue. In speakingof the enemies of Israel simply by the pronoun they, without being more specific, thePsalmist aggravates the greatness of the evil more than if he had expressly namedthe Assyrians or the Egyptians. By not specifying any particular class of foes, hetacitly intimates that the world is fraught with innumerable bands of enemies,whom Satan easily arms for the destruction of good men, his object being that newwars may arise continually on every side. History certainly bears ample testimonythat the people of God had not to deal with a few enemies, but that they wereassaulted by almost the whole world; and farther, that they were molested not onlyby external foes, but also by those of an internal kind, by such as professed to belongto the Church.

The term youth here denotes their first beginnings, and refers not only to the timewhen God brought the people out of Egypt, but also to the time when he weariedAbraham and the patriarchs during almost their whole life, by keeping them in acondition of painful warfare. If these patriarchs were strangely driven about in theland of Canaan, the lot of their descendants was still worse during the time of theirsojourning in Egypt, when they were not only oppressed as slaves, but loaded withevery kind of reproach and ignominy. At their departure from that land we knowwhat difficulties they had to encounter. If in tracing their history from that periodwe find seasons in which some respite was granted them, yet they were not in a stateof repose for any length of time, until the reign of David. And although during hisreign they appeared to be in a prosperous condition, yet soon after troubles andeven. defeats arose, which threatened the people of God with total destruction. Inthe Babylonish captivity, all hope being well-nigh extinguished, they seemed as ifhidden in the grave and undergoing the process of putrefaction. After their returnthey obtained, with difficulty, some brief intermission to take their breath. Theywere certainly often put; to the sword, until the race of them was almost whollydestroyed. To prevent it, therefore, from being supposed that they had received onlysome slight hurt, they are justly said to have been afflicted; as if the Prophet placedthem before our eyes as it were half-dead, through the treatment of their enemies,who, seeing them prostrated under their feet, scrupled not to tread upon them. If wecome to ourselves, it will be proper to add the horrible persecutions, by which theChurch would have been consumed a thousand times, had not God, by hidden andmysterious means, preserved her, raising her as it were from the dead. Unless we

have become stupid under our calamities, the distressing circumstances of thisunhappy age will compel us to meditate on the same doctrine.

When the Prophet says twice, they have afflicted me, they have afflicted me, therepetition is not superfluous, it being intended to teach us that the people of Godhad not merely once or twice to enter the conflict, but that their patience had beentried by continual exercises. He had said that they had commenced this conflict fromtheir youth, intimating that they had been inured to it from their first origin, inorder to their being accustomed to bear the cross. He now adds, that their beingsubjected to this rigorous training was not without good reason, inasmuch as Godhad not ceased, by a continued course, to make use of these calamities for subduingthem to himself. If the exercises of the Church, during her state of childhood, wereso severe, our effeminacy will be very shameful indeed, if in the present day, whenthe Church, by the coming of Christ, has reached the age of manhood, we are foundwanting in firmness for enduring trials. Matter of consolation is laid down in thelast clause, which informs us that the enemies of Israel, after having tried allmethods, never succeeded in realizing their wishes, God having always disappointedtheir hopes, and baffled their attempts.”

2. Clarke, “Many a time have they afflicted me - The Israelites had been generally inaffliction or captivity from the earliest part of their history, here called their youth.So Hos_2:15 : “She shall sing as in the days of her youth, when she came up out ofthe land of Egypt.” See Jer_2:2, and Eze_16:4, etc.

2B, “They. The persecutors deserve not a name. The rich man is not named (asLazarus is) because not worthy: Luke 16:1-31 "They shall be written in the earth":Jeremiah 17:13. --John Trapp.

2C. Calvin, “They. In speaking of the enemies of Israel simply by the pronoun"they", without being more specific, the Psalmist aggravates the greatness of the evilmore than if he had expressly named the Assyrians or the Egyptians. By notspecifying any particular class of foes, he tacitly intimates that the world is filledwith innumerable bands of enemies, whom Satan easily arms for the destruction ofgood men, his object being that new wars may arise continually on every side.History certainly bears ample testimony that the people of God had not to deal witha few enemies, but that they were assaulted by almost the whole world; and further,that they were molested not only by external foes, but also by those of an internalkind, by such as professed to belong to the Church.”

2D. Warren Wiersbe, ““They have greatly oppressed me from my youth,” says thePsalmist. He is speaking representatively of Israel here. Israel’s “youth” would referto the Exodus event, when Israel was formed as a nation. Following theirpersecution by the Egyptians, their deliverance, the wilderness wanderings, and theconquest of Canaan, they were constantly under harassment from the Amorites andthe Amalekites and the Midianites and the Moabites and the Philistines and theSyrians and the Assyrians and the Babylonians, and then beyond. And today, the

Jews still go to the north wall of the old city (which we know as the “Waling Wall”)to lament their history of suffering, which continues to this hour.

3. Gill, “That is, the enemies of Israel, afterwards called "ploughers". This may beunderstood of literal Israel, the posterity of Jacob; whose youth was the beginningof their constitution as a nation and church, or the first times of it; when they weregreatly distressed by their enemies, and from thenceforward; as in Egypt, where,and in places near it, they were afflicted four hundred years, according to aprophecy given to Abraham their ancestor, and where their lives were made bitterwith hard bondage; and in the times of the Judges, by several neighbouring nations,which was the time of their youth, or their settlement in Canaan; and afterwards inthe times of their kings, particularly in the times of Ahaz king of Judah, by theEdomites and Philistines, and by Tiglathpileser, king of Assyria; and in the times ofHoshea, king of Israel, by Salmaneser, who carried away captive, ten tribes; and inthe times of Jeconiah and Zedekiah, kings of Judah, by ebuchadnezzar, whocarried captive to Babylon the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. And the psalmist, by aspirit of prophecy, might have a further respect to the distresses of Israel in thetimes of Antiochus and the Maccabees, when the temple was profaned, the altardemolished, and the daily sacrifice made to cease, and many good men lost theirlives; to which times the apostle may be thought to have regard, Heb_11:35; andalso to their last affliction by the Romans, the greatest of all; and their presentcaptivity, and deliverance from it;

may Israel now say; this now refers to the time of redemption, as Arama observes,whether at their return from Babylon, or at their future conversion; then reviewingtheir former troubles ever since they were a people, may say as before. This may beapplied to mystical Israel, or to the church of God in Gospel times, which, in itsinfancy, and from its youth upwards, has been afflicted, many a time, and by manyenemies; first, by the unbelieving Jews, who killed the Lord Jesus, and persecutedhis apostles and members; then by Rome Pagan, under the ten persecutions of somany emperors; and afterwards by Rome Papal, the whore of Babylon, who many atime been drunk with the blood of the saints and martyrs of Jesus. Yea, this may beapplied to the Messiah, one of whose names is Israel, Isa_49:3; who was a man ofsorrows, and acquainted with griefs all his days, even from his youth, Isa_53:3; hewas the "Aijeleth Shahar", the hind of the morning, Psa_22:1, title; hunted byHerod in his infancy, Mat_2:13; and obliged to be carried into Egypt for safetywhen a child, from whence he was called, Hos_11:1; and ever after was more or lessafflicted by his enemies, men or devils, in mind or body; and at last endured greatsufferings, and death itself. It may moreover be applied to every Israelite indeed, toevery true believer and member of Christ; conversion is their time of youth; theyare first newborn babes, and then young men; as soon as regenerated, they areafflicted with the temptations of Satan, the reproaches and persecutions of men;which are many, though no more than necessary, and it is the will of God should be,and all for their good.”

4. Henry, “The church of God, in its several ages, is here spoken of, or, rather, here

speaks, as one single person, now old and gray-headed, but calling to remembrancethe former days, and reflecting upon the times of old. And, upon the review, it isfound, 1. That the church has been often greatly distressed by its enemies on earth:Israel may now say, “I am the people that has been oppressed more than any people,that has been as a speckled bird, pecked at by all the birds round about,” Jer_12:9. Itis true, they brought their troubles upon themselves by their sins; it was for themthat God punished them; but it was for the peculiarity of their covenant, and thesingularities of their religion, that their neighbours hated and persecuted them.“For these many a time have they afflicted me from my youth.” ote, God's peoplehave always had many enemies, and the state of the church, from its infancy, hasfrequently been an afflicted state. Israel's youth was in Egypt, or in the times of theJudges; then they were afflicted, and thenceforward more or less. The gospel-church, ever since it had a being, has been at times afflicted; and it bore this yokemost of all in its youth, witness the ten persecutions which the primitive churchgroaned under.”

5. Keil, “Israel is gratefully to confess that, however much and sorely it wasoppressed, it still has not succumbed. רּבת, together with רּבה, has occurred already inPsa_65:10; Psa_62:3, and it becomes usual in the post-exilic language, Psa_120:6;Psa_123:4, 2Ch_30:18; Syriac rebath. The expression “from my youth” glances backto the time of the Egyptian bondage; for the time of the sojourn in Egypt was thetime of Israel's youth (Hos_2:17, Hos_11:1, Jer_2:2; Eze_23:3). The protasisPsa_129:1 is repeated in an interlinked, chain-like conjunction in order to completethe thought; for Psa_129:2 is the turning-point, where ּגם, having reference to thewhole negative clause, signifies “also” in the sense of “nevertheless,” ὅµως (synon.as in Eze_16:28; Ecc_6:7, cf. above, Psa_119:24 : although they oppressed ,(ּבכל־ּבכלme much and sore, yet have they not overpowered me (the construction is like um_13:30, and frequently).”

6. Spurgeon, “Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel nowsay. In her present hour of trial she may remember her former afflictions and speakof them for her comfort, drawing from them the assurance that he who has beenwith her for so long will not desert her in the end. The song begins abruptly. Thepoet has been musing, and the fire burns, therefore speaks he with his tongue; hecannot help it, he feels that he must speak, and therefore "may now say" what hehas to say. The trials of the church have been repeated again and again, timesbeyond all count: the same afflictions are fulfilled in us as in our fathers. Jacob ofold found his days full of trouble; each Israelite is often harassed; and Israel as awhole has proceeded from tribulation to tribulation. "Many a time", Israel says,because she could not say how many times. She speaks of her assailants as "they",because it would be impossible to write or even to know all their names. They hadstraitened, harassed, and fought against her from the earliest days of her history --from her youth; and they had continued their assaults right on without ceasing.Persecution is the heirloom of the church, and the ensign of the elect. Israel amongthe nations was peculiar, and this peculiarity brought against her many restless foes,

who could never be easy unless they were warring against the people of God. Whenin Canaan, at the first, the chosen household was often severely tried; in Egypt itwas heavily oppressed; in the wilderness it was fiercely assailed; and in thepromised land it was often surrounded by deadly enemies. It was something for theafflicted nation that it survived to say, "Many a time have they afflicted me." Theaffliction began early -- "from my youth"; and it continued late. The earliest yearsof Israel and of the Church of God are spent in trial. Babes in grace are cradled inopposition. o sooner is the man child born than the dragon is after it. "It is",however, "good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth", and he shall see it tobe so when in after days he tells the tale.”

7. “Many a time have they afflicted me, etc. God had one Son, and but one Son,without sin; but never any without sorrow. We may be God's children, and yet stillunder persecution; his Israel, and afflicted from our youth up. We may feel God'shand as a Father upon us when he strikes us as well as when he strokes us. When hestrokes us, it is lest we faint under his hand; and when he strikes us, it is that weshould know his hand. -- Abraham Wright (1611-1690), in "A PracticalCommentary upon the Psalms."

8. “They afflicted me. Why are these afflictions of the righteous? Whence is it that hewho has given up his Son to death for them, should deny them earthly blessings?Why is faith a mourner so frequently here below, and with all that heroic firmnessin her aspect, and hope of glory in her eye, why needs she to be painted with so deepa sorrow on her countenance, and the trace of continual tears on her check? First,we reply, for her own safety. Place religion out of the reach of sorrow, and soon shewould pine and perish. God is said to choose his people in the furnace, because theymost often choose him there. It is ever from the cross that the most earnest "MyGod" proceeds, and never is the cry heard but he speeds forth at its utterance, whoonce hung there, to support, to comfort, and to save. As it is only in affliction God issought, so by many it is only in affliction God is known. This, one of the kings ofthese worshipers of the Temple found. "When Manasseh was brought to affliction,then he knew that the Lord he was God": 2Ch 33:12-13.

But, further, it is only by affliction we ourselves are known. What is the source ofthat profound and obstinate indifference to divine truth which prevails among menof the world, except the proud conviction that they may dispense with it? It is onlywhen they are crushed as the worm they are made to feel that the dust is theirsource; only when earthly props are withdrawn will they take hold of that arm ofomnipotence which Jesus offers, and which he has offered so long in vain. While men know themselves, they know their sin also in affliction. What is thenatural course and experience of the unbelieving of mankind? Transgression,remorse, and then forgetfulness; new transgression, new sorrow, and againforgetfulness. How shall this carelessness be broken? How convince them that theystand in need of a Savior as the first and deepest want of their being, and that theycan only secure deliverance from wrath eternal by a prompt and urgent applicationto him? By nothing so effectually as by affliction. God's children, who had forgotten

him, arise and go to their Father when thus smitten by the scourge of sorrow; andno sooner is the penitent "Father, I have sinned" spoken, than they are clasped inhis arms, and safe and happy in his love.

It is, further, by affliction that the world is known to God's children. God's greatrival is the world. The lust of the flesh, pleasure; the lust of the eye, desire; the prideof life, the longing to be deemed superior to those about us, -- comprise everythingman naturally covets. Give us ease, honor, distinction, and all life's good will seemobtained. But what wilt thou do, when he shall judge thee? This is a question fittedto alarm the happiest of the children of prosperity.

What so frequently and effectually shows the necessity of piety as the sharpteachings of affliction? They show what moralists and preachers never could, thatriches profit not in the day of death, that pleasures most fully enjoyed bring nosoothing to the terrors which nearness to eternity presents, and that friends,however affectionate, cannot plead for and save us at the bar of God. "Miserablecomforters are they all", and it is for the very purpose of inspiring this conviction,along with a belief that it is Jesus alone who can comfort in the hour of need, thataffliction is sent to God's children.” --Robert isbet.

9. “The visible Church from the beginning of the world is one body, and, as it were,one man, growing up from infancy to riper age; for so speaketh the church here:Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth. 2. The wicked enemies of thechurch, they also are one body, one adverse army, from the beginning of the worldcontinuing war against the church: "Many a time have they afflicted me from myyouth." 3. As the former injuries done to the church are owned by the church, inafter ages, as done against the same body, so also the persecution of former enemiesis imputed and put upon the score of present persecutors: "Many a time have theyafflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say." 4. ew experience of persecution,when they call to mind the exercise of the church in former ages, serves much forencouragement and consolation in troubles: "Many a time have they afflicted mefrom my youth, may Israel mow say." 5. Albeit this hath been the endeavour of thewicked in all ages to destroy the church, yet God hath still preserved her iron age toage: Yet they have not prevailed.” --David Dickson.

2. they have greatly oppressed me from my youth, but they have not gained the victory over me.

1. The Psalmist is saying that life has been a battle with those who have sought to

put them down and try to carry them out, and thus eliminating them from the battlefield. However, they are not successful in their goal, for we are continuing to fight,and they have not been able to sound their victory shout. Here is a lifetime struggle,and the point is, he has not given up, but goes on fighting with the assurance ofultimate victory. This is the battle song of many of God's people all through history,for they have been persecuted severely, but have always survived to grow more andmore abundant in their influence on the world that so hates them. o force againstChristianity has ever succeeded in gaining a victory so complete that it ceased tohave a continued impact on the people. Communism forced Christians to hide andbe silent for decades in China, but when the siege was lifted the Christian faith grewby leaps and bounds. Such is the story of history over and over, and that is why theproverb that says, “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” The historyof Israel has gone through the same pattern, and the only reason they ever fell toany nation was due to their sinful rejection of God as their defender. They chose tomake God their enemy, and that is one warfare that can never be won.

1B. Wayne Shih, “When I read of the courage and stamina of oppressed believerstoday, I’m reminded of Paul’s testimony in 2 Corinthians 4:8-9, “We are hardpressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted,but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” Do you hear the note oftriumph? Paul knew the victory was his. On another occasion he said that nothingcould separate him from the love of God - not trouble, not hardship, notpersecution, not famine, not nakedness, not danger, not sword. “ o, in all thesethings,” he said, “we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans8:37). Fare from being defeated by his suffering, Paul was confident that the love ofChrist would see him through to eternal joy.”

2. Barnes, “This repetition is designed to fix the thoughts on the fact, and to impressit on the mind. The mind dwells on the fact as important in its bearing on thepresent occasion or emergency. The idea is, that it is no new thing to be thusafflicted. It has often occurred. It is a matter of long and almost constant experience.Our enemies have often attempted to destroy us, but in vain. What we experiencenow we have often experienced, and when thus tried we have been as oftendelivered, and have nothing now therefore to fear. We are not to regard it as astrange thing that we are now afflicted; and we are not to be discouraged ordisheartened as if our enemies could overcome us, for they have often tried it invain. He who has protected us heretofore can protect us still. He who defended usbefore can defend us now, and the past furnishes an assurance that be will defend usif it is best that we should be protected. It does much to support us in affliction if wecan recall to mind the consolations which we had in former trials, and can availourselves of the result of past experience in supporting us now. Yet they have notprevailed against me - They have never been able to overcome us. We were safe thenin the divine hands; we shall be safe in the same hands now.”

3. Gill, “This is repeated for the confirmation of it, to excite attention to it, and to

express the vehement affection of the speaker; yet they have not prevailed againstme; the Egyptians could not prevail against literal Israel; the more they wereafflicted, the more they grew and multiplied; in the times of the Judges, one afteranother were raised up as deliverers of them; neither the Assyrians, Chaldeans, norRomans, nor any other, have been able to cut them off from being a nation; theycontinue to this day: the enemies of the church of Christ, even the gates of hell, havenot been able to prevail against it, being built upon a rock, so as to extirpate anddestroy it, neither by open and cruel persecutors, nor by secret and fraudulentheretics; nor could the enemies of the Messiah prevail against him, for though theybrought him to the dust of death, they could not hold him in it; and they themselves,through his death, were conquered by him, as sin, Satan, the world, and death itself;nor can the enemies of the saints prevail against them, God being on their side,Christ making them more than conquerors, the Spirit in them being greater than hethat is in the world.”

4. Spurgeon, “Many a time have they afflicted, me from my youth. Israel repeats herstatement of her repeated afflictions. The fact was uppermost in her thoughts, andshe could not help soliloquizing upon it again and again. These repetitions are afterthe manner of poetry: thus she makes a sonnet out of her sorrows, music out of hermiseries. "Yet they have not prevailed against me." We seem to hear the beat oftimbrels and the clash of cymbals here: the foe is derided; his malice has failed. That"yet" breaks in like the blast of trumpets, or the roll of kettledrums. "Cast down,but not destroyed", is the shout of a victor. Israel has wrestled, and has overcome inthe struggle. Who wonders? If Israel overcame the angel of the covenant, what manor devil shall vanquish him? The fight was oft renewed and long protracted: thechampion severely felt the conflict, and was at times fearful of the issue; but atlength he takes breath, and cries, "Yet they have not prevailed against me." "Manya time;" yes, "many a time", the enemy has had his opportunity and his vantage,but not so much as once has he gained the victory.”

5. “Many a time, etc. The Christian Church may adopt the language of the HebrewChurch: "Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth: yet they have notprevailed against me." What afflictions were endured by the Christian Church fromher youth up! How feeble was that youth! How small the number of the apostles towhom our Lord gave his gospel in charge! How destitute were they of humanlearning, of worldly influence, of secular power! To effect their destruction, and tofrustrate their object -- the glory of God and the salvation of men -- the dungeonand the mine, the rack and the gibbet, were all successively employed. Theploughmen ploughed their back, and made long their furrows. Their property wasconfiscated; their persons were imprisoned; their civil rights were taken from them;their heads rolled on the scaffold; their bodies were consumed at the burning pile;they were thrown, amidst the ringing shouts of the multitude, to the wild beasts ofthe amphitheatre. Despite, however, of every opposition, our holy religion took rootand grew upward. ot all the fury of ten persecutions could exterminate it from theearth. The teeth of wild beasts could not grind it to powder; the fire could not burnit; the waters could not drown it; the dungeon could not confine it. Truth is eternal,

like the great God from whose bosom it springs, and therefore it cannot bedestroyed. And because Christianity is the truth, and no lie, her enemies have neverprevailed against her.” --M. M'Michael.

3. Plowmen have plowed my back and made their furrows long.

1. Calvin, “Here the Prophet, by an apparent similitude, embellishes his precedingstatement respecting the grievous afflictions of the Church. He compares the peopleof God to a field through which a plough is drawn. He says that the furrows weremade long, so that no corner was exempted from being cut up by the ploughshare.These words vividly express the fact -- that the cross has always been planted on theback of the Church, to make long and wide furrows.

In the subsequent verse a ground of consolation under the same figure is subjoined,which is, that the righteous Lord hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked. Theallusion is to a plough, which, as we all know, is tied with cords to the necks of theoxen. The language very aptly conveys the idea, that the wicked, -- since they wouldnever have become tired or satiated in exercising their cruelty, and also inconsequence of their being well armed, -- were prepared to proceed farther, but thatthe Lord, in a way altogether unexpected, repressed their fury, just as if a manshould unyoke oxen from the plough by cutting in pieces the cords and thongs whichtied them to it. Hence we perceive what is the true condition of the Church. As Godwould have us contentedly to take his yoke upon us, the Holy Spirit not unfitlycompares us to an arable field, which cannot make any resistance to its being cut,and cleaved, and turned up by the ploughshare. Should any one be disposed toindulge in greater refinement of speculation, he might say that the field is ploughedto prepare it for receiving the seed, and that it may at length bring forth fruit. Butin my opinion the subject to which the Prophet limits his attention is the afflictionsof the Church. The epithet righteous, with which he honors God, must, in asuitableness to the scope of the passage, be explained as implying that, although Godmay seem to dissemble for a time, yet he never forgets his righteousness, so as towithhold relief from his afflicted people. Paul in like manner adduces the samereason why God will not always suffer them to be persecuted,

"Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them thattrouble you; and to you who are troubled rest with us." (2 Thessalonians 1:6, 7,)It is a point worthy of special notice, that the welfare of the Church is inseparablyconnected with the righteousness of God. The Prophet, also, wisely teaches us. thatthe reason why the enemies of the Church did not prevail, was because God brought

to nothing their enterprises, and did not suffer them to go beyond what he haddetermined in his own mind.

2. “According to Archbishop Seeker, this refers to severe scourging; and those whohave witnessed this cruel infliction tell us that the allusion is most expressive, thelong weals or wounds left by the scourges at each stroke being most aptly comparedeither to furrows, or (as the original admits) to the ridges between the furrows. Withrespect to the alleged incongruity of ploughing, and making long furrows on theback, the Archbishop observes, "Lacerare et secare tercum are Latin phrases, andploughing is not much stronger, to express a severe scourging." The language of thePsalmist may, however, without allusion to any particular species of persecutingviolence, be, as Calvin understands it, simply a strong image of cruel oppression."The persecutors of Israel," says Walford, "are compared to ploughmen; becauseas they cut up, and as it were torture the surface of the earth, so did the adversariesgreatly and grievously distress these afflicted people." author unknown

3. Barnes, “The plowers plowed upon my back - The comparison here isundoubtedly taken from the “plowing” of land, and the idea is that the sufferingswhich they had endured were such as would be well represented by a plow passingover a field, tearing up the sod; piercing deep; and producing long rows or furrows.The direct allusion would seem to be to stripes inflicted on the back, as if a plow hadbeen made to pass over it; and the meaning is, that they had been subjected tosufferings as slaves or criminals were when the lash cut deep into the flesh. Probablythe immediate thing in the mind of the psalmist was the hard bondage of thechildren of Israel in Egypt, when they were subjected to all the evils of servitude.

They made long their furrows - On my back. The word used here, and rendered“made long” - ארך 'ârak, means to make long, to prolong, to extend in a right line,and it may be used either in the sense of making long as to extent or space, ormaking long in regard to time, prolonging. The latter would seem to be the meaninghere, as it is difficult to see in what sense it could be said that stripes inflicted on theback could be made long. They might, however, be continued and repeated; thesufferings might be prolonged sufferings as well as deep. It was a work of long-continued oppression and wrong.”

4. Clarke, “The plowers plowed upon my back - It is possible that this mode ofexpression may signify that the people, during their captivity, were cruelly used byscourging, etc.; or it may be a sort of proverbial mode of expression for the mostcruel usage. There really appears here to be a reference to a yoke, as if they hadactually been yoked to the plouph, or to some kind of carriages, and been obliged todraw like beasts of burden. In this way St. Jerome understood the passage; and thishas the more likelihood, as in the next verse God is represented as cutting them offfrom these draughts.”

5. Gill, "Sinners", as the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Arabic versions, render it;such that plough iniquity, and sow wickedness, Job_4:8; which may be understood

of their carrying Israel captive, when they put yokes and bonds upon their necks, asupon oxen when they plough, as Arama interprets it; or it may design thedestruction of their high places, signified by the back, such as the temple, the royalpalace, and houses of their nobles, burnt with fire; yea, it was predicted that Zionshould be ploughed as a field, Mic_3:12; and the Jews say that Turnus Rufus, theRoman general, as they call him, did plough up Jerusalem. The Syriac version is,"they whipped" their whips or scourges; with which many of the Israelites werescourged in the times of the Maccabees, Heb_11:36. And the Messiah himself, whogave his back to the smiters, and was buffeted and scourged by them, Isa_50:6; andmany of his apostles and followers, Mat_10:17. The Targum renders it "upon mybody;'' and Aben Ezra says the phrase is expressive of contempt and humiliation,and compares with it Isa_51:23;

they made long their furrows; which signify afflictions, and the pain their enemiesput them to, and the distress they gave them; as no affliction is joyous, but grievous,but like the rending and tearing up the earth with the plough; and also the lengthand duration of afflictions; such were the afflictions of Israel in Egypt and inBabylon, and of the church of God under Rome Pagan and Papal; but, as thelongest furrows have an end, so have the most lasting afflictions. The Syriac versionis, "they prolonged their humiliation", or "affliction"; Kimchi says the meaning is,"they would give us no rest from servitude and bondage.''

6. Keil, “Elsewhere it is said that the enemies have driven over Israel (Psa_66:12), orhave gone over its back (Isa_51:23); here the customary figurative language חרׁש אוןin Job_4:8 (cf. Hos_10:13) is extended to another figure of hostile dealing: withoutcompassion and without consideration they ill-treated the stretched-forth back ofthe people who were held in subjection, as though it were arable land, and, withoutrestraining their ferocity and setting a limit to their spoiling of the enslaved peopleand country, they drew their furrow-strip (מעניתם, according to the Kerî מענותם)long.

7. Spurgeon, “The plowers plowed up on my back. The scourgers tore the flesh asploughmen furrow a field. The people were maltreated like a criminal given over tothe lictors with their cruel whips; the back of the nation was scored and furrowedby oppression. It is a grand piece of imagery condensed into few words. A writersays the metaphor is muddled, but he is mistaken: there are several figures, likewheel within wheel, but there is no confusion. The afflicted nation was, as it were,lashed by her adversaries so cruelly that each blow left a long red mark, or perhapsa bleeding wound, upon her back and shoulders, comparable to a furrow whichtears up the ground from one end of the field to the other. Many a heart has been inlike case; smitten and sore wounded by them that use the scourge of the tongue; sosmitten that their whole character has been cut up and scored by calumny. The truechurch has in every age had fellowship with her Lord under his cruel flagellations:his sufferings were s prophecy of what she would be called hereafter to endure, andthe foreshadowing has been fulfilled. Zion has in this sense been ploughed as a field.

They made long their furrows: -- as if delighting in their cruel labour. They missed

not an inch, but went from end to end of the field, meaning to make thorough workof their congenial engagement. Those who laid on the scourge did it with athoroughness which showed how hearty was their hate. Assuredly the enemies ofChrist's church never spare pains to inflict the utmost injury: they never do thework of the devil deceitfully, or hold back their hand from blood. They smite so asto plough into the man; they plough the quivering flesh as if it were clods of clay;they plough deep and long with countless furrows; until they leave no portion of thechurch unfurrowed or unassailed. Ah me! Well did Latimer say that there was nobusier ploughman in all the world than the devil: whoever makes short furrows, hedoes not. Whoever balks and shirks, he is thorough in all that he does. Whoeverstops work at sundown, he never does. He and his children plough like practisedploughmen; but they prefer to carry on their pernicious work upon the saintsbehind their backs, for they are as cowardly as they are cruel.”

8. “The plowers plowed upon my back: they made long their furrows. When the LordJesus Christ was in his suffering state, and during his passion, these words herepredicted of him were most expressly realized. Whilst he remained in the hands ofthe Roman soldiers they stript him of his raiment; they bound him with cords to apillar; they flogged him. This was so performed by them, that they made ridges inhis back and sides: they tore skin and flesh, and made him bare even to the bone, sothat his body was like a ploughed field; the gashes made in it were like ridges madein a ploughed field; these were on his back. "The plowers plowed upon my back:they made long their furrows." Whilst every part of our Lord's sorrows andsufferings is most minutely set forth in the sacred hymns, Psalms, and songs,contained in what we style the Book of Psalms, yet we shall never comprehend whatour most blessed Lord, in every part of his life, and in his passion and death,underwent for us: may the Lord the Spirit imprint this fresh expression used on thissubject effectually upon us. Our Lord's words here are very expressive of theviolence of his tormentors and their rage against him, and of the wounds andtorments they had inflicted on him.

What must the feelings of our Lord have been when they made such furrows on hisback, that it was all furrowed and welted with such long wounds, that it was morelike a ploughed field than anything else. Blessings on him for his grace and patience,it is "with his stripes we are healed." --Samuel Eyles Pierce.” author unknown

9. Henry, “The ploughers ploughed upon my back, Psa_129:3. We read (Psa_125:3)of the rod of the wicked upon the lot of the righteous, where we rather expected theplough, to mark it out for themselves; here we read of the plough of the wickedupon the back of the righteous, where we rather expected to find the rod. But themetaphors in these places may be said to be crossed; the sense however of both is thesame, and is too plain, that the enemies of God's people have all along used themvery barbarously. They tore them, as the husbandman tears the ground with hisplough-share, to pull them to pieces and get all they could out of them, and so towear out the saints of the Most High, as the ground is worn out that has been long

tilled, tilled (as we say) quite out of heart. When God permitted them to plough thushe intended it for his people's good, that, their fallow ground being thus broken up,he might sow the seeds of his grace upon them, and reap a harvest of good fruitfrom them: howbeit, the enemies meant not so, neither did their hearts think so(Isa_10:7); they made long their furrows, never knew when to have done, aiming atnothing less than the destruction of the church. Many by the furrows they made onthe backs of God's people understand the stripes they gave them. The cutters cut

upon my back, so they read it. The saints have often had trials of cruel scourgings

(probably the captives had) and cruel mockings (for we read of the scourge or lash ofthe tongue, Heb_11:36), and so it was fulfilled in Christ, who gave his back to the

smiters, Isa_50:6. Or it may refer to the desolations they made of the cities of Israel.Zion shall, for your sake, be ploughed as a field, Mic_3:12. 2. That the church hasbeen always graciously delivered by her friend in heaven. (1.) The enemies' projectshave been defeated. They have afflicted the church, in hopes to ruin it, but they havenot gained their point. Many a storm it has weathered; many a shock, and many abrunt, it has borne; and yet it is in being: They have not prevailed against me. Onewould wonder how this ship has lived at sea, when it has been tossed with tempests,and all the waves and billows have gone over it. Christ has built his church upon arock, and the gates of hell have not prevailed against it, nor ever shall. (2.) Theenemies' power has been broken: God has cut asunder the cords of the wicked, hascut their gears, their traces, and so spoiled their ploughing, has cut their scourges,and so spoiled their lashing, has cut the bands of union by which they werecombined together, has cut the bands of captivity in which they held God's people.God has many ways of disabling wicked men to do the mischief they design againsthis church and shaming their counsels. These words, The Lord is righteous, mayrefer either to the distresses or to the deliverances of the church. [1.] The Lord is

righteous in suffering Israel to be afflicted. This the people of God were alwaysready to own, that, how unjust soever their enemies were, God was just in all that

was brought upon them, eh_9:33. [2.] The Lord is righteous in not suffering Israel tobe ruined; for he has promised to preserve it a people to himself, and he will be asgood as his word. He is righteous in reckoning with their persecutors, and renderingto them a recompence, 2Th_1:6.”

10. Warren Wiersbe, “The central truth in this picture is that plowing ispreparation for a harvest. When people are treating you like dirt, when the plows ofcriticism and accusation dig in your back, remember: God is preparing you for aharvest. What kind of a harvest? That depends on the kind of seed you plant. If youplant seeds of revenge and hatred and malice, saying, "I'll get even with themsomeday," the harvest will be bitter. But if you plant the seeds of the Word of God,letting love and peace and patience reign in your heart, you can say with thepsalmist that the Lord is righteous--He will resolve this problem. Then the harvestwill be one of blessing...”

4. But the LORD is righteous; he has cut me free from the cords of thewicked.

1. Barnes, “The Lord is righteous - Righteous in permitting this; righteous in whathe has done, and will do, in the treatment of those who inflict such wrongs. We maynow safely commit our cause to him in view of what he has done in the past. He wasnot indifferent then to our sufferings, or deaf to the eries of his people; he interposedand punished the oppressors of his people, and we may trust him still. He hath cutasunder the cords of the wicked - By which they bound us. He did this in our“youth;” when we were oppressed and beaten in Egypt. Then he interposed, and setus free.”

2. Clarke, “The words have been applied to the sufferings of Christ; but I know noton what authority. o such scourging could take place in his case, as would justifythe expression: -

“The ploughers made long furrows there,Till all his body was one wound.”

It is not likely that he received more than thirty-nine stripes. The last line is anunwarranted assertion.”

3. Gill, “Or gracious and merciful; hence acts of mercy are called righteousness inthe Hebrew language; the Lord has compassion on his people under their afflictions,and delivers them; or is faithful to his promises of salvation to them, and just andrighteous to render tribulation to them that trouble them, and take vengeance uponthem; he hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked: alluding to the cords with whichthe plough is fastened to the oxen, which being cut, they cannot go on ploughing; orto the cords of whips, which when, cut cannot be used to any purpose: it designs thebreaking of the confederacies of wicked men against the people of God; theconfounding their counsels and schemes, and disappointing their devices; so thatthey cannot perform their enterprises, or carry their designs into execution, or go onwith and finish their intentions. The Targum renders it, "the chains of the wicked;''see Isa_5:18.

4. Spurgeon, “The LORD is righteous. Whatever men may be, Jehovah remainsjust, and will therefore keep covenant with his people and deal out justice to theiroppressors. Here is the hinge of the condition: this makes the turning point ofIsrael's distress. The Lord bears with the long furrows of the wicked, but he willsurely make them cease from their ploughing before he has done with them. He hath

cut asunder the cords of the wicked. The rope which binds the oxen to the plough iscut; the cord which bound the victim is broken; the bond which held the enemies incruel unity has snapped. As in Psalms 124:7 we read, "the snare is broken; we areescaped", so here the breaking of the enemies' instrument of oppression is Israel'srelease. Sooner or later a righteous God will interpose, and when he does so, hisaction will be most effectual; he does not unfasten, but cuts asunder, the harnesswhich the ungodly use in their labour of hate. ever has God used a nation tochastise his Israel without destroying that nation when the chastisement has come toa close: he hates those who hurt his people even though lie permits their hate totriumph for a while for his own purpose. If any man would have his harness cut, lethim begin to plough one of the Lord's fields with the plough of persecution. Theshortest way to ruin is to meddle with a saint: the divine warning is, "He thattoucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye."

5. “The LORD is righteous: he hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked; i.e., he hasput an end to their domination and tyranny over us. In the Hebrew word which isrendered "cords" there is a reference to the harness with which the oxen werefastened to the plough; and so to the involved machinations and cruelties of theenemy. The Hebrew word properly denotes thick twisted cords; figuratively,intertwined wickedness; Micah 7:8. "The cords of the wicked", therefore, signifytheir power, dominion, tyranny, wickedness, and violence. These cords God is said"to have cut", so that he should have made an end; and, therefore "to have cut" forever, so that they should never be reunited.” --Hermann Venema.

6. Matthew Henry, “He hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked. The enemies' powerhas been broken; God has cut asunder the cords of the wicked, has cut their gears,their traces, and so spoiled their ploughing; has cut their scourges, and so spoiledtheir lashing; has cut the bands of union, by which they were combined together; hehas cut the bands of captivity, in which they held God's people. God has many waysof disabling Wicked men to do the mischief they design against his church, andshaming their counsels.”

5. May all who hate Zion be turned back in shame.

1. Calvin, “Whether we take this as a prayer or a promise, the Prophet has a respectto the time to come. Since all the verbs are in the future tense, it is certainly a veryappropriate interpretation to understand him as deriving from times pastinstruction as to what is to be hoped for in future, even to the end. In whichever waywe 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 growsupon the house-tops is not, on account of its higher situation, more valuable than theblade of corn which in the low ground is trampled under foot; for although it standselevated above men's heads, it is, in the first place, unprofitable; and secondly, itquickly withers away. The verb, Pls, shalaph,5 which we have translate comes forth,is by some rendered, is plucked up. According to this translation the sense is, thatwithout the hand or labor of man the grass on the house-tops is dried up. But as theverb properly signifies to be brought forth, or to come forth, the meaning, in myopinion, is that the grass'. on the housetops, so far from continuing long in a state offreshness, withers and perishes at its first springing up, because it has no root underit, nor earth to supply it with sap or moisture for its nourishment. Whenever, then,the splendor or greatness of our enemies strikes us with fear, let us bring to ourrecollection this comparison, that as the grass which grows upon the house-tops,though high, is yet without root, and consequently of brief duration, so theseenemies, the nearer they approach the sun by the height of their pride, shall be thesooner consumed by the burning heat, since they have no root, it being humilityalone which draws life and vigor from God.”

2. Barnes, “Let them all be confounded and turned back ... - This might be renderedin the indicative, “they are ashamed,” but the connection seems to require therendering in our version. It is a prayer that God would now interpose as he haddone in former times, and that he would cause all the haters of Zion to be put toshame as formerly.”

3. Gill, “ashamed": as all the enemies of God's people will be sooner or later, eitherin this world, or however when Christ shall come in the clouds of heaven; or letthem be disappointed of their views, aims, and ends, when they will be confounded,as disappointed persons are; and turned back; from pursuing their designs andaccomplishing them; as the Assyrian monarch was, who had a hook put into hisnose, and a bridle in his lips, and was turned back by the way he came, Isa_37:29;that hate Zion; the inhabitants of Zion, who are called out of the world, andseparated from the men of it, and therefore hated by them; the King of Zion, theMessiah, 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 andordinances of Zion, the discipline of God's house, which they cannot bear to beunder and submit unto.”

4. Henry, “The psalmist, having triumphed in the defeat of the many designs thathad been laid as deep as hell to ruin the church, here concludes his psalm asDeborah did her song, So let all thy enemies perish, O Lord! Jdg_5:31.

I. There are many that hate Zion, that hate Zion's God, his worship, and hisworshipers, that have an antipathy to religion and religious people, that seek theruin of both, and do what they can that God may not have a church in the world.

II. We ought to pray that all their attempts against the church may be frustrated,that in them they may be confounded and turned back with shame, as those thathave not been able to bring to pass their enterprise and expectation: Let them all be

confounded is as much as, They shall be all confounded. The confusion imprecatedand predicted is illustrated by a similitude; while God's people shall flourish as theloaded palm-tree, or the green and fruitful olive, their enemies shall wither as the

grass upon the house-top. As men they are not to be feared, for they shall be made asgrass, Isa_51:12. But as they are enemies to Zion they are so certainly marked forruin that they may be looked upon with as much contempt as the grass on thehouse-tops, which is little, and short, and sour, and good for nothing. 1. It perishesquickly: It withers before it grows up to any maturity, having no root; and the higherits place is, which perhaps is its pride, the more it is exposed to the scorching heat ofthe sun, and consequently the sooner does it wither. It withers before it is plucked up,

so some read it. The enemies of God's church wither of themselves, and stay not tillthey are rooted out by the judgments of God. 2. It is of no use to any body; nor arethey any thing but the unprofitable burdens of the earth, nor will their attemptsagainst Zion ever ripen or come to any head, nor, whatever they promisethemselves, will they get any more by them than the husbandman does by the grasson his house-top. Their harvest will be a heap in the day of grief, Isa_17:11.”

5. Spurgeon, “Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Zion. And sosay we right heartily: and in this case vox populi is vex Dei, for so it shall be. If thisbe an imprecation, let it stand; for our heart says "Amen" to it. It is but justice thatthose who hate, harass, and hurt the good should be brought to naught. Those whoconfound right and wrong ought to be confounded, and those who turn back fromGod ought to be turned back. Loyal subjects wish ill to those who plot against theirking.

"Confound their politics,Frustrate their knavish tricks",

is but a proper wish, and contains within it no trace of personal ill will. We desiretheir welfare as men, their downfall as traitors. Let their conspiracies beconfounded, their policies be turned back. How can we wish prosperity to those whowould destroy that which is dearest to our hearts? This present age is so flippantthat if a man loves the Savior he is styled a fanatic, and if he hates the powers of evilhe is named a bigot. As for ourselves, despite all objectors, we join heartily in thiscommination; and would revive in our heart the old practice of Ebal and Gerizim,where those were blessed who bless God, and those were cursed who makethemselves a curse to the righteous. We have heard men desire a thousand timesthat the gallows might be the reward of the assassins who murdered two inoffensivemen in Dublin, and we could never censure the wish; for justice ought to herendered to the evil as well as to the good. Besides, the church of God is so useful, sobeautiful, so innocent of harm, so fraught with good, that those who do her wrongare wronging all mankind and deserve to be treated as the enemies of the humanrace. Study a chapter from the "Book of Martyrs", and see if you do not feelinclined to read an imprecatory Psalm over Bishop Bonner and Bloody Mary. Itmay be that some wretched nineteenth century sentimentalist will blame you: if so,read another over him.”

6. If any one be desirous to accept these words, Let them be confounded and turnedbackward, as they sound, he will devoutly explain the imprecation: that is to say, itmay be an imprecation of good confusion, which leads to repentance, and of turningto God from sin: thus Bellarmine. There is a confounding by bringing grace, glory,and turning from the evil way. Thus some enemies and persecutors of the Christianshave been holily confounded and turned to the faith of Christ; as St. Paul, who fullof wrath and slaughter was going to Damascus that he might afflict the believers,but was graciously confounded on the road. --Thomas Le Blanc.

7. Let them all be confounded. Mr. Emerson told a convention of rationalists once, inthis city, that the morality of the ew Testament is scientific and perfect. But themorality of the ew Testament is that of the Old. "Yes", you say; "but what of theimprecatory Psalms", A renowned professor, who, as Germany thinks, has donemore for ew England theology than any man since Jonathan Edwards, was oncewalking in this city with a clergyman of a radical faith, who objected to the doctrinethat the Bible is inspired, and did so on the ground of the imprecatory Psalms. Thereplies of the usual kind were made; and it was presumed that David expressed theDivine purpose in praying that his enemies might be destroyed, and that he gaveutterance only to the natural righteous indignation of conscience againstunspeakable iniquity. But the doubter would not be satisfied. The two came at lastto a newspaper bulletin, on which the words were written, -- "Baltimore to beshelled at twelve o'clock." "I am glad of it", said the radical preacher; "I am glad ofit." "And so am I", said his companion, "but I hardly dare say so, for fear youshould say that I am uttering an imprecatory Psalm." --Joseph Cook, in BostonMonday Lectures. "Transcendentalism."

6 May they be like grass on the roof, which withers before it can grow;

1. Barnes, “Let them be as the grass upon the housetops - The housetops, or roofs ofhouses, covered with sand or earth, in which seeds of grass may germinate andbegin to grow, but where, as there is no depth of earth, and as the heat of the sunthere would be intense, it would soon wither away. See Isa_37:27.

Which withereth afore it groweth up - This, even if it has any meaning, is not themeaning of the original. The idea in the Hebrew is - and it is so rendered in theSeptuagint, the Latin Vulgate, and by Luther - “which before (one) pulls it,withers.” Grass would wither or dry up, of course, if it were pulled up or cut down,but the grass here spoken of withers even before this is done. It has no depth ofearth to sustain it; having sprouted, and begun to grow, it soon dies - a perfectimage of feebleness and desolation; of hopes begun only to be disappointed. “Thismorning” (says Dr. Thomson, “Land and the Book,” vol. ii., p. 574) “I saw a striking

illustration of this most expressive figure. To obtain a good view of the Tyropean,my guide took me to the top of a house on the brow of Zion, and the grass which hadgrown over the roof during the rainy season was now entirely withered andperfectly dry.”

2. Clarke, “ As the grass upon the housetops - As in the east the roofs of the houseswere flat, seeds of various kinds falling upon them would naturally vegetate, thoughin an imperfect way; and, because of the want of proper nourishment, wouldnecessarily dry and wither away. If grass, the mower cannot make hay of it; if corn,the reaper cannot make a sheaf of it. Let the Babylonians be like such herbage -good for nothing, and come to nothing. Withereth afore it groweth up - Before שלקshalak, it is unsheathed; i.e., before it ears, or comes to seed.

3. Gill, “The tops of the houses in Judea were flat, and so grass grew upon them,being covered with plaster of terrace; though it was but small and weak, and beingon high was exposed to the scorching sun, and soon withered (b); and Menochiussays (c) he saw such roofs in the island of Corsica, flat, and having earth upon them,smoothed and pressed, on which grass grew of its own accord; but being burnt up insummertime by the sun, soon withered, as here said. But what Olaus Magnus (d)relates is somewhat extraordinary; that, in the northern Gothic countries, they feedtheir cattle on the tops of houses, especially in a time of siege; he describes theirhouses as built of stone, high and large, and covered with rafters of fir and bark ofbirch; upon which is laid grass earth, cut out of the fields foursquare, and sowedwith barley or oats, so that their roofs look like green meadows; and that what issown, and the grass that grows thereon, might not wither before plucked up, theyvery constantly and diligently water it; but in the eastern countries, which are hot,and have but little rain, grass could not retain its verdure long, as follows;

which withereth afore it groweth up; to any height, the usual height of grass: or,"before it is plucked up", as the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Arabic versions;and so Jarchi. And this was their usual way of gathering in their corn; and whichcontinues to this day, as Mr. Maundrell (e) affirms, who was an eyewitness to it inmany places; where they plucked it up by handfuls from the roots, leaving the mostfruitful fields as naked as if nothing had grown on them; and this they did for thesake of the straw, which was generally very short, and necessary for the sustenanceof cattle; to which he thinks there is here a manifest allusion; but not corn, butgrass, is here spoken of. The Targum is,

"before it flourisheth, an east wind cometh, blows upon it, and it is withered;''

and to the same purpose the Syriac version,

"which when the wind comes upon it, it fades and withers.''

This expresses the high and elevated state and condition of wicked men, the prideand haughtiness of their hearts; yet their weakness and frailty, and the danger they

are exposed unto, through the wrath and vengeance of God upon them; when theyconsume and wither away like grass on the housetops, and never come to thehappiness they are hoping and wishing for; see Isa_37:27.”

4. Keil, “ The enemies of Israel are as grass upon the house-tops, which is notgarnered in; their life closes with sure destruction, the germ of which they (withoutany need for any rooting out) carry within themselves. The observation of Knapp,that any Western poet would have left off with Psa_129:6, is based upon the errorthat Psa_129:7-8 are an idle embellishment. The greeting addressed to the reapersin Psa_129:8 is taken from life; it is not denied even to heathen reapers. SimilarlyBoaz (Rth_2:4) greets them with “Jahve be with you,” and receivers the counter-salutation, “Jahve bless thee.” Here it is the passers-by who call out to those who areharvesting: The blessing (ּברּכת) of Jahve happen to you ( אליכם,”

5. Spurgeon, “Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, which withereth afore itgroweth up. Grass on the housetop is soon up and soon down. It sprouts in the heat,finds enough nutriment to send up a green blade, and then it dies away before itreaches maturity, because it has neither earth nor moisture sufficient for its properdevelopment. Before it grows up it dies; it needs not to be plucked up, for it hastensto decay of itself. Such is and such ought to be the lot of the enemies of God's people.Transient is their prosperity; speedy is their destruction. The height of theirposition, as it hastens their progress, so it hurries their doom. Had they been lowerin station they had perhaps been longer in being. "Soon ripe, soon rotten", is an oldproverb. Soon plotting and soon rotting, is a version of the old adage which will suitin this place. We have seen grass on the rustic thatch of our own country cottageswhich will serve for an illustration almost as well as that which comes up so readilyon the flat roofs and domes of eastern habitations. The idea is -- they make speed tosuccess, and equal speed to failure. Persecutors are all sound and fury, flash andflame; but they speedily vanish -- more speedily than is common to men. Grass inthe field withers, but not so speedily as grass on the housetops. Without a mower thetufts of verdure perish from the roofs, and so do opposers pass away by other deathsthan fall to tile common lot of men; they are gone, and none is the worse. If they aremissed at all, their absence is never regretted. Grass on the housetop is a nonentityin the world: the house is not impoverished when the last blade is dried up: and,even so, the opposers of Christ pass away, and none lament them. One of the fatherssaid of the apostate emperor Julian, "That little cloud will soon be gone"; and so itwas. Every sceptical system of philosophy has much the same history; and the likemay be said of each heresy. Poor, rootless things, they are and are not: they comeand go, even though no one rises against them. Evil carries the seeds of dissolutionwithin itself. So let it be.”

6. Martin Luther, “Let them be as the grass upon the housetops. They are rightlycompared to grass on the housetops; for more contemptuously the Holy Ghost couldnot speak of them. For this grass is such, that it soon withereth away before the

sickle be put into it. Yea, no man thinketh it worthy to be cut down, no manregardeth it, every man suffereth it to brag for a while, and to show itself unto menfrom the housetops as though it were something when it is nothing. So the wickedpersecutors in the world, which are taken to be mighty and terrible according to theoutward show, are of all men most contemptible. For Christians do not once thinkof plucking them up or cutting them down; they persecute them not, they revengenot their own injuries, but suffer them to increase, to brag and glory as much asthey list. For they know that they cannot abide the violence of a vehement wind.Yea, though all things be in quietness, yet as grass upon the housetops, by little andlittle, withereth away through the heat of the sun, so tyrannies upon small occasionsdo perish and soon vanish away. The faithful, therefore, in suffering do prevail, andovercome; but the wicked in doing are overthrown, and miserably perish, as all thehistories of all times and ages do plainly witness.”

7. “Grass upon the housetops. In the morning the master of the house laid in a stockof earth, which was carried up, and spread evenly on the top of the house, which isflat. The whole roof is thus formed of mere earth, laid on and rolled hard and flat.On the top of every house is a large stone roller, for the purpose of hardening andflattening this layer of rude soil, so that the rain may not penetrate; but upon thissurface, as may be supposed, grass and weeds grow freely, but never come tomaturity. It is to such grass the Psalmist alludes as useless and bad. --WilliamJowett, in "Christian Researches in Syria and the Holy Land", 1825.

7. with it the reaper cannot fill his hands, nor the one who gathers fill his arms.

1. Calvin, “We have here an additional confirmation of the truth, that although thewicked mount high or elevate themselves, and form an extravagant opinion of theirown importance, yet they continue mere grass, not bringing forth any good fruit,nor reaching a state of ripeness, but swelling only with fresh appearance. To makethis obvious, the Psalmist sets them in opposition to fruit-bearing herbs, which invalleys and low grounds produce fruit for men. In fine, he affirms that they deserveto be hated or despised of all, whereas commonly every one in passing by the cornfields blesses them and prays for the harvest?7 Farther, he has borrowed thisillustration of his doctrine from the affairs of ordinary life, we are taught thatwhenever there is a hopeful prospect of a good harvest, we ought to beseech God,whose peculiar province it is to impart fertility to the earth, that he would give fulleffect to his blessing. And considering that the fruits of the earth are exposed to somany hazards, it is certainly strange that we are not stirred 'up to engage in theexercise of prayer from the absolute necessity of these to man and beast. or does

the Psalmist, in speaking of passers by blessing the reapers, speak exclusively of ritechildren of God, who are truly taught by his word that the fruitfulness of the earthis owing to his goodness; but he also comprehends worldly men in whom the sameknowledge is implanted naturally. In conclusion, provided we not only dwell in theChurch of the Lord, but also labor to have place among the number of her genuinecitizens, we will be able fearlessly to despise all fire might of our enemies; foralthough they may flourish and have a great outward show for a time, yet they arebut barren grass, on which the curse of heaven rests.”

2. "In Judea, the roofs of the houses are flat, and covered with cement. On this thegrass would not uncommonly grow: but, being thin and weak, and its situation hotand exposed, it was speedily 'dried up and withered.' The same sort of architecture,and the same appearances, are common in the East at this day." -- Warner.

3. "Whereof the mower hath not filled his hand, etc. -- i.e., It is too scanty to affordemployment for a laborer to gather it by the hand, or for a reaper, who uses a sickle,depositing what he cuts in the fold of his garment, or as Le Clerc understands it,under his left arm. The Psalmist in effect prays, that the enemies of Israel may bereduced to such poverty, that none could become richer by despoiling them: in aword, that they might be altogether despicable. For binding up the sheaves,Hammond suggests, gathereth the handfuls, with reference to the gleaner, Ruth2:2." -- Cresswell.

4. Barnes, “Wherewith the mower filleth not his hand - It cannot be gathered andlaid up for the use of cattle, as grass can that grows in the field. It is valueless forany such purpose; or, is utterly worthless. The phrase “filleth not his hand” seemsto be derived from the idea of reaping, where the reaper with one hand takes hold ofthe grain which he reaps, and cuts it off with the sickle in the other. or he thatbindeth sheaves - The man who gathers in the harvest. This was commonlyperformed by a different person from the reaper. His bosom - This word wouldcommonly refer to the bosom of the garment, in which tilings were carried; or thatpart above the girdle. It may be used here, however, in a larger sense - since it isincongruous to suppose that sheaves of grain would be carried thus - as meaningsimply that one who gathered the sheaves would usually convey them in his arms,folding them to his bosom.”

5. Gill, “Such grass never rises high enough to be mowed, nor is of that account tohave such pains taken with it; nor the quantity so large as to fill a mower's hand,and carry it away in his arms; nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom; when corn ismowed or reaped, the binders come and gather it up in their arms, and bind it insheaves, and then bring it into the barn; but nothing of this kind is done with grasson the housetops. This represents the insignificancy and worthlessness of wickedmen; who, when the harvest comes, the end of the world, will not be gathered in bythe reapers, the angels, into Christ's garner into heaven as the wheat, the righteouswill; but like the tares and chaff will be cast into unquenchable fire, Mat_3:12.”

6. Spurgeon, “ Wherewith the mower filleth not his hand; nor he that bindethsheaves his bosom. When with his sickle the husbandman would cut down the tufts,he found nothing to lay hold upon: the grass promised fairly enough, but there wasno fulfilment, there was nothing to cut or to carry, nothing for the hand to grasp,nothing for the lap to gather. Easterners carry their corn in their bosoms, but in thiscase there was nothing to bear home. Thus do the wicked come to nothing. By God'sjust appointment they prove a disappointment. Their fire ends in smoke; theirverdure turns to vanity; their flourishing is but a form of withering. o one profitsby them, least of all are they profitable to themselves. Their aim is bad, their work isworse, their end is worst of all.”

7. He that bindeth sheaves his bosom. A practice prevails in hot climates of sendingout persons into the woods and other wild places to collect the grass, which wouldotherwise be wasted; and it is no uncommon tiling in the evening to see groups ofgrass cutters in the market, waiting to dispose of their bundles or sheaves, which areoften so large that one is disposed to wonder how they could have been conveyedfrom the woods upon one man's shoulders. --Maria Calcott, in "A ScriptureHerbal", 1842.

8. May those who pass by not say, "The blessing of the LORD be upon you; we bless you in the name of the LORD."

1. Barnes, “ either do they which go by say, The blessing of the Lord,... - As in aharvest-field, where persons passing by express their joy and gratitude that theirneighbors are reaping an abundant harvest. The phrase “The blessing of the Lordbe upon you,” was expressive of good wishes; of pious congratulation; of a hope ofsuccess and prosperity; as when we say, “God be with you;” or, “God bless you.”The meaning here is, that such language would never be used in reference to thegrass or grain growing on the house-top, since it would never justify a wish of thatkind: it would be ridiculous and absurd to apply such language to anyone whoshould be found gathering up that dry; and withered, and worthless grass. So thepsalmist prays that it may be in regard to all who hate Zion Psa_129:5, that theymay have no such prosperity as would be represented by a growth of luxuriant andabundant grain; no such prosperity as would be denoted by the reaper and thebinder of sheaves gathering in such a harvest; no such prosperity as would be

indicated by the cheerful greeting and congratulation of neighbors who expresstheir gratification and their joy at the rich and abundant harvest which hascrowned the labors of their friend, by the prayer that God would bless him.

We bless you in the name of the Lord - Still the language of pious joy andgratification addressed by his neighbors to him who was reaping his harvest. All thisis simply language drawn from common life, uttering a prayer that the enemies ofZion might be “confounded and turned back” Psa_129:5; a prayer that they mightnot be successful in their endeavors to destroy the Church. Such a prayer cannotbut be regarded as proper and right.

2. Clarke, “ either do they which go by say - There is a reference here to thesalutations which were given and returned by the reapers in the time of the harvest.We find that it was customary, when the master came to them into the field, to sayunto the reapers, The Lord be with you! and for them to answer, The Lord blessthee! Rth_2:4. Let their land become desolate, so that no harvest shall ever moreappear in it. o interchange of benedictions between owners and reapers. This hasliterally taken place: Babylon is utterly destroyed; no harvests grow near the placewhere it stood.”

3. Gill, “As was usual with passengers, when they went by where mowers, andreapers, and binders, were at work in the field in harvest time; who used to wish thepresence and blessing of God with them, and upon their labors; and who returnedthe salutation, as may be seen in Boaz and his reapers, Rth_2:4; we bless you in thename of the Lord; which is either a continuation of the blessing of the passengers, orthe answer of the reapers to them; so the Targum, "nor do they answer them, "webless you",'' &c. The sense is, that those wicked men would have no blessing onthem, from God nor men; that no God speed would be wished them; but that theywere like the earth, that is covered with briers and thorns; which is nigh untocursing, and its end to be burned.”

4. "Here is an allusion to the custom of blessing; the reapers at their work; as in thatinstance recorded in the book of Ruth 2:4, 'And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem,and said unto the reapers, The Lord be with you; and they answered him, The Lordbless thee.'" -- Warner. "Precisely the same customs of salutation which are hereindicated still prevail in Mohammedan Asia. early the same form of words,implying the blessing and peace of God, is retained, and the neglect to give thesalutation is still an indignity and an insult." -- Illustrated Commentary upon theBible.

5. Henry, “ o wise man will pray God to bless the mowers or reapers, Psa_129:8.Observe, 1. It has been an ancient and laudable custom not only to salute and wish agood day to strangers and travellers, but particularly to pray for the prosperity ofharvest-labourers. Thus Boas prayed for his reapers. Rth_2:4, The Lord be with you.

We must thus acknowledge God's providence, testify our good-will to ourneighbours, and commend their industry, and it will be accepted of God as a pious

ejaculation if it come from a devout and upright heart. 2. Religious expressions,being sacred things, must never be made use of in light and ludicrous actions.Mowing the grass on the house-top would be a jest, and therefore those that have areverence for the name of God will not prostitute to it the usual forms of salutation,which savoured of devotion; for holy things must not be jested with. 3. It is adangerous thing to let the church's enemies have our good wishes in their designsagainst the church. If we wish them God speed, we are partakers of their evil deeds,

2Jo_1:11. When it is said, one will bless them, and show them respect, more isimplied, namely, that all wise and good people will cry out shame on them, and begof God to defeat them; and woe to those that have the prayers of the saints againstthem. I cursed his habitation, Job_5:3.”

6. Spurgeon, “ either do they which go by say, The blessing of the LORD be uponyou: we bless you in the name of the LORD. In harvest times men bless each otherin the name of the Lord; but there is nothing in the course and conduct of theungodly man to suggest the giving or receiving of a benediction. Upon a survey ofthe sinner's life from beginning to end, we feel more inclined to weep than to rejoice,and we feel bound rather to wish him failure than success. We dare not use piousexpressions as mere compliments, and hence we dare not wish God speed to evilmen lest we be partakers of their evil deeds. When persecutors are worrying thesaints, we cannot say, "The blessing of the Lord be upon you." When they slanderthe godly and oppose the doctrine of the cross, we dare not bless them in the nameof the Lord. It would be infamous to compromise the name of the righteous Jehovahby pronouncing his blessing upon unrighteous deeds. See how godly men are roughly ploughed by their adversaries, and yet a harvestcomes of it which endures and produces blessing; while the ungodly, though theyflourish for a while and enjoy a complete immunity, dwelling, as they think, quiteabove the reach of harm, are found in a short time to have gone their way and tohave left no trace behind. Lord, number me with thy saints. Let me share their griefif I may also partake of their glory. Thus would I make this Psalm my own, andmagnify thy name, because thine afflicted ones are not destroyed, and thypersecuted ones are not forsaken.”

7. Isaac Watts put this Psalm into hymn form.

Up from my youth, may Israel say, have I been nursed in tears;

My griefs were constant as the day, and tedious as the years.

Up from my youth I bore the rage of all the sons of strife;

Oft they assailed my riper age but not destroyed my life.

Their cruel plow had torn my flesh with furrows long and deep,

Hourly they vex my wounds afresh, nor let my sorrows sleep.

The righteous Lord, when on his throne, looked with impartial eye,

Measured the mischiefs they had done, then let his arrows fly.

How was their insolence surprised to hear his thunder roll!

And all the foes of Zion seized with horror to the soul.

Then shall the men that hate the saints be blasted from the sky;

Their glory fades, their courage faints, and all their projects die.

What, tho’ they flourish tall and fair, they have no root beneath;

Their growth shall perish in despair, and lie despised in death.

So corn that on the housetop stands no hope of harvest gives;

The reaper ne’er shall fill his hands, nor binder fold the sheaves..

It springs and withers on the place; no traveler bestows

A word of blessing on the grass, nor minds it as he goes..