Psalms 123
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Psalms 123
Unto Thee Lift I Up Mine Eyes
1Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
PSALM 123
Psa 123:1-4. An earnest and expecting prayer for divine aid in distress.
1. (Compare Psa 121:1).
thou that dwellest--literally, "sittest as enthroned" (compare Psa 2:4; 113:4, 5).
PSALM 123
Psa 123:1-4. An earnest and expecting prayer for divine aid in distress.
1. (Compare Psa 121:1).
thou that dwellest--literally, "sittest as enthroned" (compare Psa 2:4; 113:4, 5).
The Pulpit Commentary
Unto thee lift I up mine eyes (comp. Psa_121:1, where the psalmist "lifted up his eyes" to God's dwelling-place). Now the expression is bolder. The eyes are lifted up to God himself. Oh thou that dwellest in the heavens (comp. Psa_2:4; Psa_11:4; Isa_57:15; Isa_66:1).
Unto thee lift I up mine eyes (comp. Psa_121:1, where the psalmist "lifted up his eyes" to God's dwelling-place). Now the expression is bolder. The eyes are lifted up to God himself. Oh thou that dwellest in the heavens (comp. Psa_2:4; Psa_11:4; Isa_57:15; Isa_66:1).
2Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the LORD our God, until that he have mercy upon us.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
2. Deference, submission, and trust, are all expressed by the figure. In the East, servants in attending on their masters are almost wholly directed by signs, which require the closest observance of the hands of the latter. The servants of God should look (1) to His directing hand, to appoint them their work; (2) to His supplying hand (Psa 104:28), to give them their portion in due season; (3) to His protecting hand, to right them when wronged; (4) to His correcting hand (Is 9:13; 1Pe 5:6; compare Ge 16:6); (5) to His rewarding hand.
2. Deference, submission, and trust, are all expressed by the figure. In the East, servants in attending on their masters are almost wholly directed by signs, which require the closest observance of the hands of the latter. The servants of God should look (1) to His directing hand, to appoint them their work; (2) to His supplying hand (Psa 104:28), to give them their portion in due season; (3) to His protecting hand, to right them when wronged; (4) to His correcting hand (Is 9:13; 1Pe 5:6; compare Ge 16:6); (5) to His rewarding hand.
The Pulpit Commentary
Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters. Watch, i.e; for the slightest sign that he may give of his will. Such signs were usually given by some movement of the "hand." And as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress. Masters were waited on by male slaves; their wives by handmaids—both equally anxious to do their will, and therefore equally watchful of all the signs that indicated it. So our eyes wait upon the Lord our God, until that he have mercy upon us. We wait for the least sign that he is about to help and deliver us.
Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters. Watch, i.e; for the slightest sign that he may give of his will. Such signs were usually given by some movement of the "hand." And as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress. Masters were waited on by male slaves; their wives by handmaids—both equally anxious to do their will, and therefore equally watchful of all the signs that indicated it. So our eyes wait upon the Lord our God, until that he have mercy upon us. We wait for the least sign that he is about to help and deliver us.
3Have mercy upon us, O LORD, have mercy upon us: for we are exceedingly filled with contempt.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
3. contempt--was that of the heathen, and, perhaps, Samaritans (Ne 1:3; 2:19).
3. contempt--was that of the heathen, and, perhaps, Samaritans (Ne 1:3; 2:19).
The Pulpit Commentary
Have mercy upon us, O Lord; have mercy upon us. The cry is repeated for greater emphasis. For we are exceedingly filled with contempt. This expression can scarcely be said to fix the date of the psalm, since hatred and contempt were the usual feelings wherewith the Jews were regarded by their neighbors. But the time of Nehemiah would certainly be no unsuitable date (see Neh_4:4).
Have mercy upon us, O Lord; have mercy upon us. The cry is repeated for greater emphasis. For we are exceedingly filled with contempt. This expression can scarcely be said to fix the date of the psalm, since hatred and contempt were the usual feelings wherewith the Jews were regarded by their neighbors. But the time of Nehemiah would certainly be no unsuitable date (see Neh_4:4).
4Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that are at ease, and with the contempt of the proud.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
4. of those that are at ease--self-complacently, disregarding God's law, and despising His people.
4. of those that are at ease--self-complacently, disregarding God's law, and despising His people.
The Pulpit Commentary
Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that are at ease; i.e. the careless and irreligious
the nation that has to pass through this period; e.g. Israel in Egypt, and again the Jews in Babylon; or, in modern times, Poland or the Italian Duchies, or the kingdom of the Two Sicilies; or it may be
(2) the Church of Christ, understanding by this either the large aggregate community, or the body of believing men and women meeting in one place (e.g. the Church at Philippi, the Church at Thessalonica); or it may be
(3) the individual man as he goes on his way through mortal life. Hard and bitter trial may come in one or more of many ways; but the text points to that of oppression, the cruel treatment of the weaker by the stronger. This may come in the form of positive ill treatment—of imprisonment) of "despoiling of goods," of exile, of physical violence. But that which was in the psalmist's mind, and that which is most likely to be included in our experience, is contemptuous disregard, an arrogant assumption of superiority. We may find ourselves placed under those of whom we feel that they have missed their way, and are in the darkness of error, while they are denouncing us as heretics; or those of whom we feel that they are a very long way from wisdom and worth, while they are treating us with disdain as if we were the enemies of Christ; or of those who are superciliously ridiculing our most sacred convictions, though they have no other or better proof of the rightness of their own creed than that it is the faith of a majority. And if we have to bear this "contempt of the proud" from day to day, if it is as the dropping of water upon the stone, which wears out the hardest substance, we may find it to be all but intolerable; we may not only wince, but writhe under it; our soul may be "exceedingly filled" with the scorning of those that are at ease. Whither, then, shall we turn? If there be no escape from it, as there often is not, we must find—
II. OUR REFUGE IN GOD. (Psa_123:1, Psa_123:2.) When we have vainly looked around for help from man, "we lift up our eyes" to God—to him that "dwelleth in the heavens."
1. We recognize the fact that he has power to deliver us.
2. We believe that, in his Divine wisdom, he can interpose on our behalf without any disturbance of his system of Divine government.
3. We are sure that our suffering is not a matter of indifference to his heart, and that our cry enters his ear.
4. We must not be impatient or distrustful if the time or method of our choice should not prove to be his chosen time or way of deliverance.
5. We do well to continue our prayer for relief "until he have pity upon us" and rescue us. 6. Meantime we should
(1) let our trouble draw us nearer to our Divine Friend in all hallowed fellowship;
(2) loosen our tie to this present world;
(3) enable us to give to all that witness our course another illustration that the upholding grace of God can triumph over the enmity and cruelty of man.
Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that are at ease; i.e. the careless and irreligious
the nation that has to pass through this period; e.g. Israel in Egypt, and again the Jews in Babylon; or, in modern times, Poland or the Italian Duchies, or the kingdom of the Two Sicilies; or it may be
(2) the Church of Christ, understanding by this either the large aggregate community, or the body of believing men and women meeting in one place (e.g. the Church at Philippi, the Church at Thessalonica); or it may be
(3) the individual man as he goes on his way through mortal life. Hard and bitter trial may come in one or more of many ways; but the text points to that of oppression, the cruel treatment of the weaker by the stronger. This may come in the form of positive ill treatment—of imprisonment) of "despoiling of goods," of exile, of physical violence. But that which was in the psalmist's mind, and that which is most likely to be included in our experience, is contemptuous disregard, an arrogant assumption of superiority. We may find ourselves placed under those of whom we feel that they have missed their way, and are in the darkness of error, while they are denouncing us as heretics; or those of whom we feel that they are a very long way from wisdom and worth, while they are treating us with disdain as if we were the enemies of Christ; or of those who are superciliously ridiculing our most sacred convictions, though they have no other or better proof of the rightness of their own creed than that it is the faith of a majority. And if we have to bear this "contempt of the proud" from day to day, if it is as the dropping of water upon the stone, which wears out the hardest substance, we may find it to be all but intolerable; we may not only wince, but writhe under it; our soul may be "exceedingly filled" with the scorning of those that are at ease. Whither, then, shall we turn? If there be no escape from it, as there often is not, we must find—
II. OUR REFUGE IN GOD. (Psa_123:1, Psa_123:2.) When we have vainly looked around for help from man, "we lift up our eyes" to God—to him that "dwelleth in the heavens."
1. We recognize the fact that he has power to deliver us.
2. We believe that, in his Divine wisdom, he can interpose on our behalf without any disturbance of his system of Divine government.
3. We are sure that our suffering is not a matter of indifference to his heart, and that our cry enters his ear.
4. We must not be impatient or distrustful if the time or method of our choice should not prove to be his chosen time or way of deliverance.
5. We do well to continue our prayer for relief "until he have pity upon us" and rescue us. 6. Meantime we should
(1) let our trouble draw us nearer to our Divine Friend in all hallowed fellowship;
(2) loosen our tie to this present world;
(3) enable us to give to all that witness our course another illustration that the upholding grace of God can triumph over the enmity and cruelty of man.
THE HOLY BIBLE
Psalms
Chapter 123
Translated out of the original tongues, and with the former translations diligently compared and revised.
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