A SONG OF DEGREES.
Reaping in Joy.
THIS beautiful Psalm completes the first series of seven; and it celebrates in exquisite language Jehovah’s sudden interposition for the rescue and deliverance of Zion from the power of the enemy. The connection is very intimate with the two foregoing Psalms. Thus in 124:7 the remnant say, “Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped.” In the next the stability and security of those that trust in the Lord are declared; and now, in the Psalm before us, looking back upon what the Lord had wrought on behalf of His people, their hearts overflow with admiration and praise. The structure of the Psalm is very simple, being divided into two parts of three verses each. The first part gives their experiences in connection with Jehovah’s intervention on behalf of the beloved city; the second contains a prayer for an enlarged deliverance, and the promise of the certain issue of an abundant harvest for those who sow in tears.
First, then, their thoughts are centered upon Zion, the captivity of which had been “turned again” by Jehovah’s own right hand of power. It had been brought very low. As Isaiah wrote, “Thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust.” (29:4.) And again, “The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters,” that is, against Zion. The prophet Zechariah, moreover, describes the sorrow and distress of the chosen city when surrounded by her enemies, with seemingly no prospect of deliverance. But in her last extremity, when her case, to all outward appearance, will be hopeless, the Lord suddenly interposes for her succor. Hence it is that Isaiah says, speaking of the assembled nations, “God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind. And behold at evening tide trouble; and before the morning he is not.” (17:13, 14; see also chap. 19:3-8; and Zech. 14) This is the event celebrated in our Psalm; and the remnant confess that Jehovah’s intervention was so unlooked for and wonderful that “we were like them that dream.” They could scarcely believe it at first; for though they had been crying to the Lord for this very thing (Psa. 123;130) the answer went so far beyond their expectation, as in the case of the saints praying for the deliverance of Peter, that they were smitten with astonishment.
But recovering themselves, when they embraced the reality and magnitude of Jehovah’s succoring grace, their mouth was filled with laughter and their tongue with singing (v. 2); the uncontrollable joy of their hearts burst forth in a flood of ecstatic praise. And what wonder? It was the dawn of the summer morn they had long sighed for; and the contrast with the dark midnight through which they had passed was so overpowering that they could not but vent the emotions of their souls in songs of adoration. Even the surrounding nations, moreover, perceived that it was God’s hand, and confessed that Jehovah had done great things for His people. Yea, happy Israel replies, endorsing the testimony of the heathen, “The Lord hath done great things for us; [whereof] we are glad.” For once more in their history they will learn in this way that the Lord is their strength and song, and has become their salvation. (See Psa. 118:14.)
Perceiving that Jehovah has commenced the redemption of His people from the hand of their enemies, their faith is strengthened, and they now pray for fuller blessing, “Turn again our captivity, O Lord, as streams in the south.” This prayer embraces the full restoration and blessing of Israel, according to the language of Zacharias, “That we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him, all the days of our life.” It is the return of the latter rain after the dry and arid season, and thus “as the streams in the south.” Before the rains the beds of these streams are dry and rocky, but they are filled to overflowing with the fertilizing showers of heaven in their appointed times. So, Lord, Israel cries, turn again our captivity; let the mercy vouchsafed to Zion be but the earnest of the accomplishment of all Thy promises concerning Thy people.
The answer to their prayer was assured in the purposes of God and in His people’s hearts, linked by faith as they were with the faithfulness of their covenant-keeping God. Thus it is said, “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.” Truly this elect remnant of faithful souls, faithful through grace in a day of extremist pressure and persecution (see Matt. 24:21, 22), will “sow” in tears. As we read in Daniel, “They that understand among the people shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days.” (Chapter 11:33.) And again, “Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried.” (Chapter 12:10.) But the seed thus steeped in their tears and sown in sorrow will germinate in its own time, spring up, and bring forth an abundant harvest, when the sower and the reaper will rejoice together.
The last verse is an affirmation of the same principle, but in an especial manner. It is no longer they that sow in tears, but “he that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.” It is everywhere seen in Scripture that what should be true of the believer, or of the servant, is first illustrated in all its perfection in Christ. Now He, as He Himself has taught us, was the great Sower, and we are permitted to see Him weeping over the city wherein He had scattered much of His “precious seed.” To the outward eye it might seem as if the seed thus sown had perished, that He had labored in vain, and spent His strength for naught; but what does God say to His “Servant”? “It is a light thing that Thou shouldest be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give Thee for a light to the Gentiles, that Thou mayest be My salvation unto the ends of the earth.” (Isa. 49:4-6.) So in our Psalm—He shall doubtless, in all certainty, come again with rejoicing, laden with the sheaves of His fruitful harvest. For whether concerning His heavenly or His earthly people, He will see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied. It is at this harvest time that He will rejoice over His people with joy, that He will rest in His love, and that He will joy over them with singing. It is of that day that the Lord has said, “Behold, at that time I will undo all that afflict thee: and I will save her that halteth, and gather her that was driven out; and I will get them praise and fame in every land where they have been put to shame. At that time will I bring you again, even in the time that I gather you: for I will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth, when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, saith the Lord.” (Zeph. 3:19, 20.) In the midst of all this realized blessing it is that Israel will cry, “The Lord hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad.”