Psalms 125

1. THEY that trust in the LORD are as mount Zion, Which cannot be moved, but abideth for ever. 2 As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, So the LORD is round about his people, From this time forth and for evermore. 3 For the sceptre of wickedness shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous;

That the righteous put not forth their hands unto iniquity.

4. Do good, O LORD, unto those that be good, And to them that are upright in their hearts. 5 But as for such as turn aside unto their crooked ways, The LORD shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity. Peace be upon Israel.

THE exiles had been restored to their own land (see introduction to last Psalm), but fresh perils awaited them there. Not only were they perpetually molested by the Samaritans and others in the rebuilding of the temple and of the city walls, but they were troubled with internal dissensions; Ezra found the “abominations of the heathen” countenanced by the intermarriages of the Jews who returned from the captivity with “the people of those lands,” and was dismayed when he learned that “the hand of the princes and the rulers had been chief in this trespass.” Nehemiah, at a later period, had to contend against a faction within the city who had taken the bribes of the Samaritans. In rebuilding the walls, he did not trust the priests, the nobles, or the rulers till he had begun the work (Neh. 2 : 16 ; 6 : 17). Even the prophets took part with his enemies against him. Shemaiah, he found, had been hired by Tobiah and Sanballat, and “the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets” had joined the plot, and sought “to put him in fear,” and so to hinder his work (6 : 10-14). To these plots and this defection on the part of many of the Jews themselves there is probably an allusion in vs. 3, 5. On the other hand, the faith of the Psalmist rises above all these dangers. There is One who is the sure defence of His people, who is their bulwark as the mountains are the bulwark of Jerusalem. P.

This short Psalm may be summed up in those words of the prophet (Isa. 3 : 10, 11) : “Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him. Woe unto the wicked ! it shall be ill with him.” Thus are life and death, the blessing and the curse, set before us often in the Psalms, as well as in the law and in the prophets. H.

1,2. Two images of the security of those who trust in Jehovah : They stand firm as Zion itself, they are like a mountain which cannot be shaken ; they are girt as by a wall of mountains -a natural bulwark against all enemies. P. -“Abideth forever ;” sits on her deep, immovable foundations. So firm is the standing, so safe the state of those who trust with serene and steadfast faith in Jehovah, the God of the covenant and of its promises. The realm of nature furnishes no figure for stability more fine and perfect than the mountain on his base. Oceans are tossed about by tempests ; the grand old cedars come down at last ; the clouds are fickle ; man’s mightiest works of art pass away ; but the mountains are always firm to the human foot, are always there, quietly and grandly reposing on their changeless foundations. So are they who trust steadfastly in their God. In v. 2 the figure varies slightly. The mountains stand like military ramparts round about Jerusalem, encircling and defending ; so God is a wall of circumvallation all round about His people. The form of the Hebrew sentence is abrupt, but expressive : “Jerusalem ; the mountains are round about her, and the Lord is round about His people.” C.

When God is in the midst of a kingdom or city He makes it firm as Mount Zion that cannot be removed. When He is in the midst of a soul, though calamities throng about it on all hands, and roar like the billows of the sea, yet there is a constant calm within ; such a peace as the world can neither give nor take away. That is the way to be immovable in the midst of troubles, as a rock amidst the waves. Leighton.

2. “As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so is the Lord round about His people.”

This is evidently an allusion to the protection afforded to the city by the wild hills cut up by a thousand ravines, which guard it on every side, and render any approach difficult, especially to a large armed force. Wilson.—The mountains most emphatically stand “round about Jerusalem,” and in doing so must have greatly safeguarded it in ancient times. We are specially told that when Titus besieged the city, he found it impossible to invest it completely until he had built a wall round the entire sides of these mountains, nearly five miles long, with thirteen places at intervals in which he stationed garrisons, which added another mile and a quarter to these vast earthworks. Assaults upon the city, even then, could only be delivered effectively upon its level corner to the northwest, whence every hostile advance was necessarily directed in all its various sieges. To those familiar with these facts, beautifully bold, graphic, and forceful is the Psalmist’s figure of the security of the Lord’s people. Neil.

The Lord is round about His people from henceforth even forever. What can be spoken more fully, more pathetically? Can any expression of men so set forth the safety of the saints? The Lord is with them, and round about them on every side that no evil shall come nigh them. It is a most full expression of universal preservation, or of God’s keeping His saints in His love and favor upon all accounts whatsoever; and that not for a season only, but it is “henceforth even for ever.” Owen.

3. For not to rest is the rod of wickedness over the lot of the righteous, to the intent that the righteous may not put forth to iniquity their hands. This unusually long verse clearly shows the actual condition of the chosen people, here assumed or presupposed, as well known to the writer and original readers of the Psalm. The present ascendancy of wicked men is not inconsistent with the truth just stated, because it is to be brought to an end, lest the faith and patience of God’s people should fail, and they should be tempted to renounce His service as unprofitable—nay, as ruinous. A.

The “rod” is an emblem of authority, power. The “lot” represents all the interests, all that makes up the state, of the righteous, the sentiment being that the wicked shall not be allowed to hold power over the righteous. The reason is, lest the righteous be tempted beyond their virtue to resort to iniquity in resisting such rule. In this connection, the fact is one manifestation of God’s care of His trustful people. He will not leave them forever; perhaps the sense is not long, under the rod of the wicked.

The trial of His people under proud Babylon was terrible. In mercy the Lord cut it short in due time. C.

Lest the righteous put forth their hands. The trial is to prove faith, not to endanger it by too sharp a pressure; lest, overcome by this, even the faithful put forth a hand to forbidden pleasure; through force of custom gradually persuading to sinful compliance, or through despair of good, as the Psalmist describes some in his day who witnessed the prosperity of wicked men. Bib. Com.

Here is a reason why our Lord will not suffer the rod of the wicked to rest on the righteous: “Lest he put forth his hand unto iniquity.” We never suffer judgment, but mercy is in it; our troubles are dealt out to us by the hand of love; mercy is mixed with them all. The Lord knows the righteous is but frail; He remembers he is but dust, and liable to sin; He is wise to prevent this. When oppression and trials from the wicked bring us low and make us cry to the Lord, then we honor His grace and His power, His truth and His love, by the alliance of our heart. W. Mason.—God has set a limit to the woes of His chosen; the rod may light on their portion, but it shall not rest upon it. The righteous have a lot which none can take from them, for God has appointed them heirs of it by gracious entail; on that lot the rod of the wicked may fall, but over that lot it cannot have lasting sway. The saints abide forever, but their troubles will not. S

4,5. With full heart the Psalmist prays (and invites all to join) for all good to be given to the good, but for such as turn aside from righteous to morally crooked ways, he can only say, The Lord will give them their portion according to their works; with those of their own class. So it must be. How can praying men, living in sympathy with God and righteousness, offer any other prayer as to the final doom of sinners whom the richest offered mercy fails to reclaim? C.

4. They that do good shall find all things working together for their good; if they have a loss they shall receive good by it; if they bear a cross, that cross shall bear good to them. Caryl.—The persons for whom prayer is presented, and who have an interest in the Divine promises, are brought before us under different denominations. In the first verse they are described as trusting in the Lord; in the second verse they are described as the Lord’s people; in the third verse they are called the righteous; in the fourth verse they are called good and upright in heart, and in the fifth verse they are called Israel. N. M. Michael.

5. Such as turn aside unto their crooked ways. The ways of sin are called “crooked ways.” The Psalmist calls them “their crooked ways;” that is, the ways of their own devising; whereas the way of holiness is the Lord’s way. To exceed or do more: to be deficient or do less, than God requires, both these are “crooked ways.” The way of the Lord lies straightforward, right before us. Caryl.

There was no time in their history when the assurance would not be welcome that God was for them, and that, because they put their trust in Him, they were like Mount Zion, which could not be moved, but stood firm forever. There was no time at which they would not be glad to hear, and to affirm, that God was round about them as the nearer and more distant ranges stood round Jerusalem, so that they need fear no evil. There was no time in which some of them would not consider themselves wronged and oppressed, and take comfort in the promise that the rod of wickedness should not “rest” on the lot of the righteous. There was no time in which an Israelite indeed would not heartily pray that the good might thrive, and that the crafty and the profligate might be destroyed out of the land, or in which “Peace be upon Israel!” would not express the desire of his heart. And hence this song would take its place by natural right in the pilgrims’ Psalm-book, and be chanted by generation after generation. Nay, more; in its main scope the Psalm is as appropriate to us as to any Hebrew of them all. In crises of our history we get glimpses of a great darkness hanging all round us, which may at any moment break loose from its bounds, rush over us, and put out all the lights of joy and hope, unless we have the life that springs from the knowledge of God, the strength and courage and unabashed hope which result from trust in Him. And even if we do trust in Him, and so trust in Him that nothing can really harm us, we do not, therefore, lose all fear of harm. Loss, disappointment, tribulation, bereavement, a clouded brain, a broken heart, may harm us, we think; we are not sure that we could meet them with fortitude and hope, or even the immediate prospect of them, although we confess that God could make even these work together for our good. And, therefore, it is pleasant and helpful to us to hear that, as our trust in God grows more perfect, we shall become like a mountain which no tempest can shake. It is pleasant and reassuring to hear that God bends lovingly and protectingly round us. We know and feel that “God is love;” that our defects and griefs are designed to inure and discipline our spirits, to test our constancy, to perfect our patience, to call forth our courage; we rest quietly in the assurance that the love which has ordained our discipline will, by that very discipline, at last redeem us from our defects, and pour itself out upon us in a large, full tide of gifts that will satisfy and transcend our every need and wish. Till that day come, we are content to pray, in the spirit of our Psalm: Do good to them that are good, O Lord! Make us good that we may know good. And sweep away from our path all that is subtle and crooked, no less than all that is openly and unblushingly iniquitous. And grant us Thy peace. Help us to rest in Thee, and in the Providence that guards us, and in the Wisdom that tries and proves us, and in the Love that even now sustains us and that will at the last enrich us with all good. May we rejoice in Thee with all who put their trust in Thee, and share Thy peace with all that are upright in their hearts. Cox.