Albert Barnes Commentary Psalms 123:4

"Our soul is exceedingly filled With the scoffing of those that are at ease, And with the contempt of the proud." — Psalms 123:4 (ASV)

Our soul is exceedingly filled - Thoroughly sated. This verse states the nature and the source of the contempt which they were called to bear.

With the scorning of those that are at ease - According to one view of these "Psalms of Degrees" (see the Introduction to Psalms 120:1-7), this would be an instance of an "ascent" in meaning, or a progression of thought, where in Psalms 123:3 "contempt" was mentioned in general, while in this verse the thought is carried further and upward, or an additional idea gives it intensity. It is the scorn proceeding from those who are at ease, that is, the frivolous, the affluent, the proud. The word "scorning" means derision or mockery. The idea in Hebrew is derived from stammering, which the word properly means, and then mockery, such as repeating the words of another or imitating someone's voice in derision. Compare Psalms 2:4; Job 22:19.

The phrase "those that are at ease" properly refers to those who are tranquil or quiet (Job 12:5; Isaiah 32:18; Isaiah 33:20). It is then used of those who are living at ease: those living in self-indulgence and luxury (Amos 6:1; Isaiah 32:9, 32:11).

Here it seems to refer to those who, in our language, are "in easy circumstances": the affluent, those who are not compelled to toil, and then the frivolous, the fashionable, those in the upper walks of life. The contempt was aggravated by the fact that it came from that quarter: not from the low, the ignorant, the common, but from those who claimed to be refined and were distinguished in the world of gaiety, rank, and fashion. This, even for good people (such is human nature), is much harder to bear than contempt that comes from those in the lower walks of life.

In the latter case, perhaps, we feel that we can meet contempt with contempt; in the former, we cannot. We disregard the opinions of those who are beneath us; there are few who are not affected by the opinions entertained of them by those who are above them.

And with the contempt of the proud - Those who are lifted up, either in rank, condition, or feeling. The essential idea is that it was the contempt of those to whom mankind looks up. Religious people have always had much of this to encounter, and often it is, in fact, a more severe test of the reality and power of religion than the loss of goods or bodily pains and penalties. We can bear much if we have the respect—the praise—of those above us; it is a very certain test of the reality and power of our religion when we can bear the scorn of the great, the noble, the scientific, the frivolous, and the fashionable.

Piety is more frequently checked and obscured by this than it is by persecution. It is rarer for piety to shine brightly when the frivolous and the fashionable frown upon it than when princes attempt to crush it by power. The church has performed its duty better in the furnace of persecution than it has in the "happy" scenes of the world.