Psalm 124 (NRSV)
1 If it had not been the Lord who was on our side
—let Israel now say—
2 if it had not been the Lord who was on our side,
when our enemies attacked us,
3 then they would have swallowed us up alive,
when their anger was kindled against us;
4 then the flood would have swept us away,
the torrent would have gone over us;
5 then over us would have gone
the raging waters.
6 Blessed be the Lord,
who has not given us
as prey to their teeth.
7 We have escaped like a bird
from the snare of the fowlers;
the snare is broken,
and we have escaped.
8 Our help is in the name of the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
Psalm
124 is a communal thanksgiving. The date is uncertain. In the canonical
collection of psalms, it became one of the pilgrim songs. It invites us to
reflect upon the real enemies we face. It uses mythical images of the ancient
world in referring to the chaos that could swallow them up. The chaos comes
from the anger of the enemy. It can feel like a flood overwhelming them. Such
imagery is also in Psalm 32:6, 42:7, and 69:1-2. Israel faced the total
destruction suggested by such images, but it would be difficult to identify the
specific danger it faced. Thus, while it seems to refer to a potential
disaster, one cannot identify a particular national disaster that became the
occasion for the psalm. Israel escaped the snare, a noose like wire or cord used
to catch a bird or small game. The enemy laid the snare. The testimony of the
Psalm is that human beings cannot cannot rescue themselves from mortal danger,
whether we think of that danger as national or personal, physical or spiritual.
Only the loving grace of God can do that. We can see that love in the giving of
the Shem YHWH, the name of the Lord. We can see in Exodus 21:20-21, Isaiah 30:27,
Deuteronomy 12:5, and II Samuel 7:13 that the Shem YHWH has a close connection to
the actual being or presence of the Lord. It
invites us to thank God for delivering us. For example, in Psalm 94:17, the
help of the Lord saves the author from death. The God of Abraham and Isaac is
with Jacob as he faced his enemy in Genesis 31:42. The Lord thwarts the total
destruction of Israel by preserving a remnant in Isaiah 1:9. In the Old Testament,
an individual Israelite or the community can rely upon this help because the Lord
made everything, which is what the author means by referring to “heaven and earth.”
We see this in Psalm 115:15, 121:2, and 146:6 as well. For the Christian, God
and Jesus Christ promise to be with us and not abandon us. In Joshua 1:5, the
Lord promises Joshua that no one will stand against him because the Lord will
be with him. The Lord will not fail him or forsake him. Hebrews 13:5b repeats
this promise for Christians. In Deuteronomy 31:6, 8, Moses encourages the
people to be strong and bold, and therefore without fear or dread, for the Lord
goes with them into the Promised Land, not failing them or forsaking them. In
fact, the Lord goes ahead of them and promises to be with them, so they should
have no fear or dismay. The risen Lord promises to be with the disciples always
in Matthew 28:20. Jesus promises not to leave them orphaned in John 14:18. Paul
makes it clear that hardship, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril,
or sword will not separate us from the love of Christ in Romans 8:35-39.
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