John Calvin Commentary Psalms 124

But for Jehovah, who was on our side. Some commentators think that this Psalm describes the very sad and calamitous condition of the Church when the residue of the people were carried away into Babylon. This opinion is, however, without any good foundation, as the complaints made apply equally well to the persecutions which the Church suffered under the tyranny of Antiochus Epiphanes.

It is another objection to this interpretation that the Psalm bears in its inscription the name of David and historically recounts the deliverance which the people had obtained from extreme danger by the power of God. To overcome this difficulty, they observe that what had not yet happened is described prophetically; but this is a forced conjecture, for the Prophets usually speak of things to come in a different manner.

It is more probable that David here presents a known history and exhorts the faithful to reflect upon the divine aid which they had already actually experienced. I dare not, however, limit what is spoken here to David’s time. It is indeed true that the heathen nations often waged war against the people of God, armed with such power as to come rushing upon them with the impetuosity of a deluge; but as David does not specify any particular instance, he is not, I believe, to be understood as celebrating only some one deliverance, but in general all the instances in which God had aided his Church.

The heathen at many different times, as is well known, rose up against the Church with such mighty hosts that she was brought almost to the verge of destruction. David then represents as in a mirror the uncertain and changeable condition of the Church, just as it had been from the beginning, to teach the faithful that its stability was not due to its own intrinsic strength, but that it had been preserved by the wonderful grace of God, and to accustom them to call upon God in the midst of dangers.

But for Jehovah who was on our side. It is not without reason that he twice repeats the same sentence. As long as we are in danger, our fear is immoderate; but as soon as we are delivered, we diminish the magnitude of our calamity, and Satan, deceiving us by this artifice, leads us to obscure the grace of God.

Since then, after having been wonderfully preserved by the Lord, we for the most part devise all sorts of imaginary circumstances to erase from our minds the memory of His grace. David, by introducing the people as struck with amazement, purposely dwells upon the amplification of the danger.

In these words a bridle is put upon us, to keep us meditating on our dangers, so that the sense of God’s grace does not vanish from our minds. The common translation, Had not the Lord been on our side, does not sufficiently express David’s meaning, for he affirms that the deliverance and salvation of the people came from nothing other than God’s help, and at the same time shows that this help was both certain and evident.

Two things, then, are to be clearly noted here:

1. That the Lord had been near to give aid to His servants and had taken their side.
2. That being already in a desperate condition, they could not have escaped from danger by help from any other source or in any other way.

Thus we are taught that people only then ascribe the glory of their preservation to God when they are persuaded that He is so favorably inclined towards them as to defend them and keep them safe. In the second clause, the infinite power of God is greatly extolled, of which He had given abundant proof in delivering the people, to teach us that such a way of preserving does not belong to man.

By the noun אדם, adam, which, when it is collective, signifies men in general, David seems to denote a vast number of enemies. The people of God, as if he had said, did not have to contend merely against a few men, or against one nation, but were assailed by almost the whole world, since it was abundantly clear that all mankind were the enemies of the Jews.

When he says (Psalms 124:3), They had swallowed us up alive, he not only expresses barbarous cruelty but also a disproportion of strength. He then describes, first, how violent the enemy’s attack was, and secondly, how feeble and inadequate the Jews were to withstand them, since these cruel beasts had no need of swords for slaughter but, without a battle or an effort of strength, could easily devour that unwarlike and defenseless flock.

The waters had then overwhelmed us. He embellishes the preceding sentiment with an elegant metaphor, comparing the dreadful impetuosity of the enemies of the Jews to an inundation that swallows up whatever it meets in its overflowing course. And he continues to preserve the character of a frightened man.

He names the waters, next the torrent, and thirdly, the proud or impetuous waters. He says, over us, and over our soul, as if, by presenting the thing to the eye, he intended to strike terror into the people. And certainly, this impassioned language should have all the effect of a graphic representation, so that the faithful might better feel from what a profound gulf they had been rescued by the hand of God.

Only the one who acknowledges himself to have been lost before he was delivered truly attributes his deliverance to God. The adverb them is here either demonstrative, as if the Psalmist had pointed to the thing with his finger, or it means long ago. The former meaning, however, is more suitable to the present passage.

Blessed be Jehovah! The Psalmist now exhorts the godly to a grateful acknowledgment of the divine goodness, and so to speak, puts words into their mouths. Here he also shows by another analogy that it would have been all over with them if God had not helped them, affirming that they were delivered just as if someone had plucked the prey from the teeth of a wild and cruel beast.

The third analogy has a similar meaning: they were on all sides entrapped and entangled in the snares of their enemies, just as little birds are caught in the net spread by the fowler. When they were delivered, it was just as if one set free birds that had been caught. The point is that the people of God, weak, without counsel, and lacking aid, not only had to deal with bloodthirsty and furious beasts but were also ensnared by bird-nets and stratagems. Consequently, being greatly inferior to their enemies both in strategy and in open force, they were besieged by many forms of death. From this, it can be easily concluded that they were miraculously preserved.

Our help is in the name of Jehovah. David here extends to the state of the Church in all ages that which the faithful had already experienced. As I interpret the verse, he not only gives thanks to God for one benefit, but affirms that the Church cannot continue safe except to the extent that she is protected by the hand of God. His object is to animate the children of God with the assured hope that their life is in perfect safety under the divine guardianship. The contrast between the help of God and other resources in which the world vainly confides, as we have seen in (Psalms 20:7),

“Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God,”

is to be noticed, so that the faithful, purged from all false confidence, may turn exclusively to His aid and, depending upon it, may fearlessly despise whatever Satan and the world may plot against them. The name of God is nothing else than God Himself; yet it tacitly conveys a significant idea, implying that as He has disclosed His grace to us by His word, we have ready access to Him, so that in seeking Him we do not need to go to a distance or follow long circuitous paths.

Nor is it without cause that the Psalmist again honors God with the title of Creator. We know with what anxiety our minds are agitated until they have raised God's power to its appropriate eminence, so that—the whole world being subjected to it—His power alone may be preeminent; which cannot be the case unless we are persuaded that all things are subject to His will.

He did not show His power only once, for a moment, in the creation of the world and then withdraw it; rather, He continually demonstrates it in the government of the world. Moreover, although all people freely and loudly confess that God is the Creator of heaven and earth, so that even the most wicked are ashamed to withhold from Him the honor of this title, yet as soon as any terror presents itself to us, we are convicted of unbelief by placing hardly any value on the help He has to offer.