Psalms 123:4

Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that are at ease,.... That are in easy and affluent circumstances; abound in the things of this world, and have more than heart can wish;

Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens.

With the scornful and contemptuous carriage of thine and our enemies, who live in great ease and glory, whilst we, thy people, are overwhelmed with manifold calamities.

Psalms 123:4 Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that are at ease, [and] with the contempt of the proud.Ver. 4. Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that are at ease] And therehence insolent and unsufferable, for κοροςυβριντικτει, ease breedeth forgetfulness, yea, it maketh men scornful and wrongful to others.

(4) The scorning.—The Hebrew offers a rare use of the article—probably it should be reproduced by our demonstrative, this scorning. The LXX., however, have, “The scorn for those at ease, and the contempt for the proud,” which requires only the substitution of a letter, removes an anomaly in construction, and gives a better sense: “Let our desire be satisfied to the full with the scorn for those at ease, and the same contempt for the proud.” Notice how the figure is retained. The oppressors are the masters and mistresses, living in luxury, while the slaves wait. Gesenius quotes Sallust (secundis rebus ferox) in illustration of the wantonness of secure and luxurious power. As we read the verse, we seem to feel “The whips and scorns of time, The oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely.”

Verse 4. Those that are at ease] The Babylonians, who, having subdued all the people of the neighbouring nations, lived at ease, had none to contend with them, and now became luxurious, indolent, and insolent: they were contemptuous and proud. ANALYSIS OF THE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-THIRD PSALM The oppressed followers of God make application to him for mercy. In this application they express three things: - I. Their confidence in God. II. Prayer for mercy. III. An account of their oppressors. I. Their trust in God. 1. "Unto thee lift I up mine eyes." We trust in thee alone. 2. "O thou that dwellest in the heavens." Infinitely raised above us; but affected with our miserable condition, and always ready to help us. This he shows by a double similitude: - 1. "As the eyes of servants," i.e., men-servants, "look unto the hand of their masters." 2. "As the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress:" both might be beaten; and here both beg to be saved from farther stripes. 3. "So our eyes," c. God's children are always looking up to him. 4. "Until that he have mercy" abate his stripes, and take off his hand. II. Their prayer for mercy. 1. Before they lifted their eyes to God, but now they cry for mercy. For this crying, they give the following reasons: - 1. "We are exceedingly filled with contempt." To suffer contempt is much; to be filled with it is more; and to be exceedingly filled with it is worst of all. 2. We are scorned: they join words and actions to show how much they despise us. III. They give the character of those by whom they suffer. 1. They are at ease - loaded with wealth, and sunk in indolence. 2. They are proud - puffed up with a sense of their own importance; and this leads them to despise others. Proud men are for the most part empty, shallow-pated men: and contempt and scorn from such wounds deeply; especially if they rise, as they often do, from the dunghill. The sick lion in the fable found it extremely galling to be kicked by the foot of an ass.

4. Our soul is exceedingly filled] The close resemblance of this clause to Psalms 120:6 a in the use of a rare form of the adverb (rabbath), and of the reflexive pronoun (lit. ‘filled for itself’), may indicate that both Psalms were written by the same author. scorning] Or, jeers. The cognate verb is used in Nehemiah 2:19; Nehemiah 4:1, “they jeered at us” … “they jeered at the Jews.” those that are at ease] Those who live in careless confident security, regardless alike of the judgements of God and the sufferings of men. Cp. Job 12:5; Amos 6:1; Zechariah 1:15. the proud] So the K’thîbh: according to the Q’rç the consonants are to be read as two words, the proudest oppressors.

Our soul is exceedingly filled - Thoroughly sated. This verse states the nature and the source of the contempt which they were called to bear.

3, 4. Exceedingly filled—Satiated, overflowed with abundance.