Albert Barnes Commentary Psalms 107:12

Albert Barnes Commentary

Psalms 107:12

1798–1870
Presbyterian
Albert Barnes
Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes Commentary

Psalms 107:12

1798–1870
Presbyterian
SCRIPTURE

"Therefore he brought down their heart with labor; They fell down, and there was none to help." — Psalms 107:12 (ASV)

Therefore he brought down their heart - Their pride; their self-sufficiency; their self-complacency. They thought that they could do without God; they relied on their own resources, and were self-satisfied; but God showed them that all this was vain, and humbled them, as he often does the proud, in the dust.

With labour - With trouble; with affliction; with disappointment; with reverses; with sorrow. The Hebrew word - עמל âmâl - would include all this. Compare Genesis 41:51; Deuteronomy 26:7; Job 3:10; Job 16:2.

They fell down - They, as it were, “stumbled” - for so the Hebrew word means. They were walking along with a haughty air, and a high look, and suddenly they stumbled and fell.

And there was none to help - No God to interpose; no nation to befriend them; no human arm to be stretched out for their deliverance. God gave them up, helpless, to the just consequences of their folly and wickedness.