Psalm CXXIV
A Song of degrees of David.
1 If it had not been the Lord who was ou our side, now may Israel saj-;
2 If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up
against us:
3 Then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled
against us:
4 Then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul:
5 Then the proud waters had gone over our soul.
6 Blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth.
7 Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: The snare is broken, and we are escaped.
8 Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
The theme. Ebenezer! Hitherto the Lord hath helped! This seems to
Thankful be the tone of this song of David, sung at a stage of the way,
acknowiedg. time, whcu the thought of past difficulties overcome,
and dangers escaped, was active and lively. Thankfulness
characterises it as much as hope, faith, joy, love, patience,
characterised the previous Psalms.
VOLX^HSAFED AT EVERY STEP OF THE WAY. 389
In the year 1582, it was sung on a remarkable occasion in
Edinburgh. An imprisoned minister, John Durie, had been
set free, and was met and welcomed on entering the town by
two hundred of his friends. The number increased till he
found himself in the midst of a company of two thousand, who
began to sing, as they moved up the long High Street,” Now
Israel 7nay say,” &c. They sang in four parts with deep solemnity all joining in the well-known tune and Psalm. They
were much moved themselves, and so were all who heard; and
one of the chief persecutors is said to have been more alarmed
at this sight and song than at anything he had seen in Scotland.
“Had it not been JeJiovah! He icasfor us, Oh (J^J) let Israel say;
Had it not been Jehovah! He who was for us, when men rose against us:
They had at that time made one morsel of us (Patrick),
When their wrath burnt against us.”
We should have been dealt with by them as Korah and his company were by the Lord, Num. xvi. 32. But the thunderbolt was not in our enemies’ hand. We have got the help we sought (Psa. cxxi and cxxiii.), and have escaped every snare. Is not this a strain in which all saints can join by the way, at every palm-tree station, at every resting-stage, at every refreshing well, — a strain which the Lord of Pilgrims himself would often raise? And Oh! how he and his company shall sing it at the journey’s end, when they who “were counted worthy to escape all things, and to stand before the Son of man” (Luke xxi. 36), lift up their voice in mighty thunderings —
“The snare is broken, and we are escaped!
Our helj) has been in the name of Jehovah!”
that Jehovah to whom belongs earth, as well as heaven. Such is this Ebenezer song,
The song of the Lord’s servant for deliuerance vouchsafed, at every step of the way.