Psalm 125

Psalm 125  •  1 min. read  •  grade level: 8
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As the previous Psalm was uttered under the sense of some recent deliverance, this is the expression of being consciously more distant from all that grieved or threatened. The Israel of God here enjoy calm after storm. The hearts of the returning captives are now at ease; and their rescue from Babylon has taught them, that though the Lord may for a season use the wicked as a rod of anger upon His people, He will not let that rod rest or abide on them. He will debate with His rod, give it a measured duration as well as a measured severity, graciously remembering that the spirit might fail under too long an oppression. (See Eccl. 7:77Surely oppression maketh a wise man mad; and a gift destroyeth the heart. (Ecclesiastes 7:7).) Indeed He will end His indignation on Israel by the destruction of that rod (Isa. 10:5-255O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. 6I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. 7Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few. 8For he saith, Are not my princes altogether kings? 9Is not Calno as Carchemish? is not Hamath as Arpad? is not Samaria as Damascus? 10As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria; 11Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols? 12Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks. 13For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man: 14And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped. 15Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood. 16Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire. 17And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame: and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day; 18And shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body: and they shall be as when a standardbearer fainteth. 19And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a child may write them. 20And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that smote them; but shall stay upon the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. 21The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God. 22For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return: the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness. 23For the Lord God of hosts shall make a consumption, even determined, in the midst of all the land. 24Therefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts, O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall smite thee with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee, after the manner of Egypt. 25For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction. (Isaiah 10:5‑25)).
Israel then desires further good from the Lord, and they assure themselves that He will deal righteously with hypocrites and evil doers. And so the nation will be cleared in the latter day of all that are not the refined Israel of God, the part brought through the fire.
But on this Psalm we may say how strikingly the thoughts of the Spirit in the prophets express the Lord’s varied provision for His people! He will plant mountains round Zion when she wants security; He will spread a plain around her when she wants to bask in the light of glory. (See Psa. 125:22As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people from henceforth even for ever. (Psalm 125:2), and Zech. 14:1010All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem: and it shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin's gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananeel unto the king's winepresses. (Zechariah 14:10).)