Works Volume 4, Book 5 · Psalm 126
The Hundred and Twenty Sixth PSALM.
A Song of ‖aſcents.Degrees.
The hundred twenty ſixth celebrates the return from captivity, and the great joyfulneſs thereof, after their former ſorrow, and ſeems to have been firſt compiled by Eſdras, or ſome of that Age.
1. WHen the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that †are recovered to health.dream.
2. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with ſinging. Then ſaid they among the heathen, The Lord hath done great things for them.
Paraphrase. 1, 2. After a long and a miſerable captive ſtate, it hath at length pleaſed God to bring us back again to the injoyments of his publick ſervice in his holy place. This is a moſt joyfull bleſſing to us, to be celebrated with mirth, and feſtivals, and ſinging of Pſalms, being as it were the reſtoring of a joyfull comfortable ſtate of health to a numerous people that were long under a dolorous epidemical diſeaſe. The mercy ſo great and unexpected, and wrought ſo wonderfully for us, that the very heathens themſelves could not but acknowledge it a work of God's great power, and ſpecial favour to us.
3. The Lord hath done great things for us, *we have been made glad foreignwhereof we are glad.
Paraphrase. 3. And ſo indeed 'tis true, The Lord hath magnified his mercy toward us, reſtored to us health and joy.
4. Turn again our captivity, O Lord, as the ſtreams in the ‖dry landſouth.
Paraphrase. 4. As for thoſe that are yet behind, unreduced (for ſo 'tis certain ſome came back before others, ſome with Eſdras, others after, with Nehemiah) Lord be thou pleaſed to haſten their delivery. That mercy will come as ſeaſonable to them, as water to the moſt patched dry ſoil.
5. They that ſow in tears ſhall reap in joy.
Paraphrase. 5. And this wilt thou doe in thy good time, give them (as us) a joyfull return, after ſo ſad a time of captivity.
6. He that goeth forth, and weepeth, bearing †littleprecious ſeed, ſhall doubtleſs come again with rejoycing, bringing his ſheaves with him.
Paraphrase. 6. And the poor man that carries out his handfull or ſmall proportion of ſeed, (and looks upon it with ſome ſadneſs, as a melancholy thing, to caſt that away to rot in the earth, which coſt him much labour to get into his granary, to bury that in the clods which was prepared for his ſuſtenance, and ſo takes his leave of it with wet eyes, ſends his tears and prayers after it) cannot be more joy'd to bring home in time of harveſt full loa…s of ſheaves into his barn, as the reward from heaven of his faith and patience, than we have all reaſon to be at this time, having ſo unexpected a return from God to all the prayers and tears which we have long poured out to him.
Annotations on Pſal. CXXVI.
foreignV. 1. Dream] The Hebrew foreign ſeems to be beſt rendred by the Chaldee foreign as thoſe that are recovered from ſickneſs, for 'tis but a figurative ſignification of foreign, wherein 'tis uſed for dreaming, Jer. 23.25. and elſewhere. The word ſignifies originally fat or groſs, and thence healthy and ſtrong, and recovered to a firm Athletick habit of body. So Iſa. 38.16. foreign thou wilt recover me, as appears by what follows, and make me to live. To this ſenſe, and not to that of dreaming, all the ancient interpreters ſeem to have underſtood it: the LXXII. reade foreign, the Latin conſolati, and ſo the Arabick and Aethiopick, as men comforted, i. e. reſtored to ſtrength again (as in the place of Iſaiah foreign, having recovered made to live;) not miſreading it foreign from foreign to ſpare (as ſome fanſie) but by this of comfort, expreſſing health of mind, which is oppoſite to ſorrow, and expreſt by laughter and ſinging, v. 2. In this ſenſe the Syriack alſo reade foreign as they that rejoyce. And this is moſt probably the meaning of it.
foreignV. 4. South] The Hebrew foreign ſignifies a dry and deſart place, Jud. 1.15. Thou haſt given me the land foreign of drineſs, a dry and a barren land, give me ſprings of waters. So Iſa. 21.1. As whirlwinds in the dry ground. The LXXII. both there and here render it foreign the ſouth: and ſo by a metonymie the word ſignifies, becauſe the ſouthern parts, by reaſon of the heat of the ſun, are dry. But in this place the adjunct rivers doth ſufficiently evidence how 'tis to be underſtood queſtionleſs for a dry ground, which wants foreign torrents, floods to inrich it: for to thoſe floods on a dry ground is this return to captives fitly compared. And thus the Chaldee at large paraphraſes it, Lord, return our captivity as the earth is turned foreign when the ſprings or goings out of water break out in time of drineſs. Yet if by the ſouth we underſtand a ſouthern countrey, as Aegypt and the like, which being very dry, makes uſe of overflowings to inrich the grounds, and in its greateſt exigence, in the heat of ſummer, when parcht and dried up, to all humane expectation utterly hopeleſs; the melted ſnow of Aethiopia ſends down plenty of water to it, and thence the whole countrey is fully irrigated, the ſenſe will be ſtill the ſame; for then the ſouth, and dry ground, will be the ſame thing. To which purpoſe 'tis obſervable that Aethiopia in Scripture is called the ſouth, foreign, Matt. 12.42. the Queen of the South, i. e. of Sheba, or Meroe. And therefore Abu Walid rendring it the South, gives the reaſon of mentioning that eſpecially, becauſe, ſaith he, of the drineſs of the region, and probability of dearth therein, did not God, when they even deſpair, cauſe waters to flow on their ground. So R. Tanchum makes either meaning to be indifferent. The Jewiſh Arab renders the place, Lord, turn our captivity, as pools which return to the deſart.
V. 6. foreignPrecious] The Hebrew here reads foreign. Now foreign from foreign to draw, ſignifies a ſmall meaſure, ſuch as may readily be drawn without any aſſiſtance of wheels, &c. So the Chaldee render it, foreign ‖—plauſira, Tribulaque, Trabeaeque, & iniquo pondere raftri. Virg. Georg. 1.traham, a ſledge, or a dray uſed for ſlighter purpoſes, and ſo a cart to carry ſeed to the fields. This is of a ſmall ſiſe, containing little; and accordingly Job 38.18. foreign moſt probably ſignifies a little of wiſedom. The copies of the LXXII. there reade foreign; it ſhould be ſure foreign, a ſmall carriage of wiſedom, which is there preferred before the richeſt jewels. In like manner the foreign or ſmall carriage of ſeed is oppoſed to the ſheaves in the plural, the (perhaps) many wagon-loads of thoſe which are brought home in the harveſt. And thus no queſtion it is to be underſtood, not of precious ſeed, which is not ſo fitly oppoſed to the ſheaves, but of the ſmall contemptible quantity of ſeed that is ſown, and comes back multiplied in the harveſt. The LXXII. and the Syriack and Arabick and Latin and Aethiopick do not at all interpret the word, but onelyonly reade foreign, caſting or carrying out their ſeed; and the reſt to the ſame ſenſe. But the Jewiſh Arab reads expreſly, foreign &c. and carrieth a basket of ſeed, or ſeed-lip: and ſo Abu Walid interprets foreign for ſuch a veſſel in which the ſower carrieth his ſeed.