Like nothing else, songs can immortalize a piece of history and help us relive it in the present: Key’s “Star Spangled Banner” and U2’s “Sunday Bloody Sunday” are good examples. In their own artistic way, they make a point in the present by helping us remember a part of history.
Attributed to David, Psalm 124 reminds God’s people of his saving work in the past lest we forget in the present.
David begins the Psalm with the main idea front and center: if not for God, then Israel would be dead. It’s a simple idea, but do not mistake simplicity for shallowness. David uses fierce language and intentional poetic structure to emphasize his point. Verses 1-2 use what some exegetes call climactic parallelism – repeating the first phrase to build suspense before the second phrase is given. In this case, the second phrase is really verses 3-5. The Bible’s authors, especially of poetry, use the poetic devices to bring emphasis, meaning, and beauty to their words.
We do well to pay attention to the main point: victory belongs to God and no one else.
Three times in verses 3-5 David uses water imagery to describe how overwhelming their enemies were had God not delivered them. (This is called synonymous parallelism.) Left on our own, we are nothing against the tyranny of a flood. The same was true for Israel and their enemies. While the water metaphor can refer to any example of God’s saving work, the primary example for David and his audience was the Exodus out of Egypt. Pharaoh’s army was overwhelming were it not for God’s miraculous work of allowing his people to pass through the waters safely. Every year, even to this day, the Passover feast rehearses this event. Pilgrims would sing these Psalms as they journeyed to Jerusalem.
Recalling God’s saving acts is ingrained in the Hebrew identity.
Verses 6-7 give thanks and blessing to God while using a metaphor of escaping enemies like a bird escapes a trap. God’s people are freed from death, and the snare is broken. Our enemy is rendered powerless.
The final verse (8) continues an important theme in the Psalms of Ascent. The LORD, maker of heaven and earth, is the lead actor in Israel’s unfolding drama. Psalm 121 first used this phrase. Psalm 134 concludes the Psalms of Ascent with the same. David knew all too well how God alone conquers enemies. The famous David and Goliath story, for example, clearly shows God – not the Israelites, King Saul, David, armor, swords or brute strength – is the reason for victory (I Sam 17:37ff).
For Christians today, this Psalm provides robust and punchy words to sing of God’s deliverance from our enemies.
This gets at the heart of the gospel message. In the cross and resurrection, Jesus triumphed over our enemies, both external and internal. When Zechariah’s tongue was loosened, he burst forth in expectant praise: “[He] has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David … that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us” (Luke 1:69-71). So too, Paul trumpets the victory of Jesus as a climax in his letters to the Romans (8:31-39) and Corinthians (15:23ff). In laying down his life, our Messiah (the better David) has conquered our enemies and preserved his people. Jesus willingly let all evil exhaust itself on him so that there is no one left to condemn us. The snare of the fowler is broken. Our enemy is powerless, and we are free.
In Christ Jesus, we know a victory of which David could only see dimly. What good news! Let us now say, “Our help is in the name of the LORD!”
