Paraphrase Upon the Books of the Psalms, Book 5 · Psalm 125
The Hundred Twenty Fifth Psalm.
A Song of ‖ascents.Degrees. The hundred twenty fifth is a declaration of the onelyonly true safety, that which consists in our adherence to God, without any seeking to irregular indirect means for the atteining it. (Aben Ezra applies it to the†foreign dayes of the Messiah.)
1. THey that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Sion, which cannot be removed, but standeth fast for ever.
2. *Jerusalem hath hills round about hera.As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people from henceforth even for ever.
Paraphrase. There is no such perfect security as that of the faithfull servant of God, which reposeth his intire trust and dependance on him. He that doth so, stands as fast as the holy mountain whereon God himself is pleased to reside, which certainly no power of man can be able to remove out of its place. The guard of Gods Angels and blessed protection surrounding him, cannot better be exprest than by the situation of Jerusalem with hills incompassing it; for as those hills are sure to keep that city safe from all incounters of winds or tempests, so doth the blessed protection of God surround all faithfull servants of his.
3. For the rod of‖wickedness foreign the wicked shall not rest on the lot of the righteous; lest the righteous put forth their hands unto iniquity.
For however for a time the tyrannical oppressions of wicked men may prosper, to the disturbing the peace of the pious, and so rob them of their promised portion of felicity in this life; yet will not God permit this to be lasting or durable to the one or to the other, (prosperity to the wicked, or oppressions to good men) lest it should be a temptation of too great force, able to shake the constancy of pious men, and perswade them to doe as wicked men doe, when they see it prosper so well with them. (See note on Psal. xvi. f.)
4. Doe good, O Lord, unto those that be good, and to them that are upright in their hearts.
5. As for suchb. as†or pervert their turne aside unto their crooked wayes, the Lord shall*send or cast lead them forth with the workers of iniquity; but peace shall be upon Israel.
God is, and will certainly be, a gratious and bountifull God to all that continue faithfull and constant to him. Their sincere indeavours of serving him shall be abundantly rewarded by him, whilst on the other side all obstinate impenitent sinners, that in despight of all Gods commands, and threats, and warnings, will still go on to heap sin upon sin, one wilfull provocation upon another, God shall certainly inflict most horrid eternal punishments on them; which shall yet farther be increased and inhansed to them, by seeing the true pious man, whom they scorned and opprest in this life, to be received into a state of immarcessible felicities.
Annotations on Psalm CXXV.
V. 2. As the mountains] The Hebrew here is elliptical, and best supplied by adding the verb hath, thus,foreign foreign Jerusalem hath hills round about her; and this a fit expression of the safety and security of the situation, being thus guarded from winds and tempests; and this a seasonable resemblance, to express the benefit and safety which ariseth from Gods protection, which incompasseth the pious man. The Lxxii. have here, by varying the punctation, made this other sense of the two first verses, foreign, They that trust in the Lord are as the hill Sion; and then in another sentence, foreign, He that inhabites Jerusalem shall not be shaken for ever, foreign— The mountains are round about it, and the Lord is round about his people. In which rendring they have made no other change (beside that of the pointing) save that for foreign foreignshall stand, they seem to have read foreign the participle, standing, or dwelling, which is answerable to foreign. But the Chaldee and Syriack accord to our ordinary reading and punctation.
V. 5. Turne aside unto] The Hebrew foreign foreign(from foreign to bend, distort, pervert) regularly signifies perverting, distorting; and being joyned here with foreign, which we rightly render crooked wayes, it signifies a perverting those wayes which are allready crooked, i. e. going on still, and improving their course of impiety, in stead of reforming or strengthening, growing worse and worse. And to such obdurate sinners, which daily accumulate sin on sin, the vengeance belongs which is here spoken of, viz. to be cast out, rejected from God (so foreign signifies, making to goe, or walke; either bidding them goe, Goe ye cursed into everlasting fire, or as foreign and foreign, to cast out and send out, is all one, foreign say the Lxxii. here, he shall drive them out) and that foreign with the workers of iniquity, as when Christ saith, they shall have their portion with hypocrites, or unbelievers. The Chaldee here addes foreign into hell, the place where such must expect their paiment.