John Calvin Commentary Psalms 124:2

"If it had not been Jehovah who was on our side, When men rose up against us;" — Psalms 124:2 (ASV)

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.