Psalms 124

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1If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, now may Israel say;2If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us:3Then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us:4Then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul:5Then the proud waters had gone over our soul.6Blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth.7Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped.8Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

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Notes for this chapter

Historical Background

Psalm 124 is one of the Songs of Ascent, a collection of fifteen psalms (120 through 134) sung by pilgrims as they made their way up to Jerusalem for the great festivals of Israel. Attributed to David, this brief psalm carries an enormous weight of gratitude and theological clarity. The historical setting most likely reflects one of the many occasions when Israel faced overwhelming military or national threat, whether during David's own turbulent reign, the Exodus from Egypt, or any number of crises in which the nation stood helpless before enemies far greater than itself. The Hebrew title "shir hamma'alot,“ meaning ”a song of the ascents," reminds the reader that this was communal worship in motion, sung not in the comfort of settled life but on the road, by a people who understood themselves to be always moving toward God. That pilgrimage context gives the psalm its deeply personal yet thoroughly corporate character.

The psalm opens with a striking literary device, a double conditional statement that draws the congregation into a moment of sober imagination. “If it had not been the Lord who was on our side” is repeated twice, as though the psalmist wants the people to feel the full weight of that alternative before celebrating their actual deliverance. Matthew Henry notes that this repetition is not mere poetic indulgence but a deliberate invitation to consider what the outcome would have been without divine intervention. The phrase “now may Israel say” suggests a liturgical call and response, with a leader inviting the whole assembly to speak this confession together.

Adam Clarke observes that the force of the Hebrew here is intensely personal, the word “our” appearing throughout to bind the community into a single story of shared rescue. The enemies are not named, which is itself significant. The psalm speaks of “men” who rose up, a universalizing choice that allows every generation of God's people to insert their own experience of opposition into the text.

Core Teaching

Verses three through five build their case through powerful natural imagery. The swallowing, the flooding waters, the overwhelming stream, these pictures draw from some of the most terrifying forces known to ancient people. In a land where flash floods could sweep through narrow valleys without warning, water was not a gentle metaphor. It was visceral and immediate.

Barnes' Notes points out that the imagery of being “swallowed alive” echoes the fate of Korah and his company in Numbers 16, when the earth opened and consumed those who rebelled against God's order. The proud, surging waters also recall the Red Sea and the Jordan River, both moments when Israel's survival hung entirely on God's direct action. Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown note that the phrase “when their wrath was kindled against us” emphasizes the irrationality and ferocity of enemy hatred, a hatred not reasoned but inflamed, suggesting spiritual forces behind human opposition. This connects to the broader Great Controversy theme that Ellen White articulates throughout her writings, where the opposition to God's people is never purely political or social but is rooted in a cosmic conflict between good and evil.

Commentary Insights

The mood shifts dramatically in verse six with a single word: “Blessed.” Having imagined the worst, the psalmist now breaks into open praise. “Blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth.” The image moves from flooding waters to a predator's jaws, as though the psalmist reaches for every metaphor of destruction to describe what did not happen.

Then comes perhaps the most beautiful verse in the psalm, the image of a bird escaping the snare of a fowler. “Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped.” Ellen White in “The Great Controversy” frequently returns to the theme of Satan as a hunter who lays traps for human souls, and this ancient imagery resonates deeply with that spiritual reality. The snare does not break by the bird's own cleverness or strength.

It breaks from outside, by an unseen hand. That is the whole point. Israel did not escape by military genius or political maneuvering. The snare itself was broken, and they simply found themselves free.

Reflection & Application

The final verse is one of the most concentrated declarations of faith in all the Psalter: “Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” After eight verses of vivid imagery, emotional intensity, and communal storytelling, the psalm closes with absolute theological simplicity. The “name” of the Lord in Hebrew thought carries far more than identification. It carries character, reputation, and the full weight of all God has revealed himself to be.

To say that help is “in the name of the Lord” is to say that God's own character is the guarantee of his people's protection. The reference to creation, “who made heaven and earth,” is no small addition. It anchors Israel's confidence not in past historical events alone but in the nature of the One who stood behind those events. The God who rescued Israel from enemies and floods is the same God who spoke the cosmos into existence.

No enemy, however fierce, operates outside his sovereign reach. For Adventist believers, this closing verse becomes a confession renewed daily in the face of the great spiritual conflict, a reminder that the Creator himself is the Defender of his people, and that in his name there is refuge that neither flood nor fowler nor any power of darkness can overcome.

Go deeper — references Classic commentaries on this chapter

Matthew Henry's Commentary Matthew Henry (1662–1714) Adam Clarke's Commentary Adam Clarke (1760–1832) Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Jamieson, Fausset & Brown (1871) Barnes' Notes on the Bible Albert Barnes (1798–1870) EGW Writings Ellen G. White Blue Letter Bible Study tools and lexicon

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