The suppliant (identifying himself with others) looks, amid the reproaches of the adversaries, to the Lord in the heavens; taking to him the happy mind of a servant, who may expect care and protection from the hand of him whom he serves. For Psalm 123:22Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God, until that he have mercy upon us. (Psalm 123:2) expresses the attitude of confidence, not of subjection-though of course subjection is implied. And protection may be claimed where subjection is rendered.
It suits the utterance of the captives, just as they were setting out on their long and dreary journey; those who were “at ease” in Babylon at that moment reproaching and despising them. The “proud” ones there would just then have eyed them as a company of poor pilgrims, a fit mark for their derision. They endure the same scorn in their present dispersion among the heathen or Gentiles (Jer. 30:1717For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord; because they called thee an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after. (Jeremiah 30:17)). The finger is still pointed.
The quickened soul, just beginning to turn towards Jesus, must count on such despite. For, in spirit, this Psalm is the language of every saint who should understand what the reproach of the proud is, and suffer it gladly. “Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad.”