Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 124:4
Then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul:
4. For the figure cp. Psa 18:16; Psa 69:1-2; Psa 69:15; Isa 8:7-8; Lam 3:54.
the stream ] The torrent, suddenly swollen by a storm. Cp. Jdg 5:21.
had gone over our soul ] Overwhelmed us and put an end to our existence.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Then the waters had overwhelmed us – Our destruction would have been as if the waves of the ocean had overwhelmed us.
The stream had gone over our soul – The torrent would have swept us away. Compare Psa 18:4, Psa 18:16.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
4, 5. (Compare Psa 18:4;Psa 18:16).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Then the waters had overwhelmed us,…. People, comparable to waters for their multitude, Strength, force, and impetuosity; which bear down all before them, and against which there is no standing; which, like the waters of the flood, overflow and destroy all they pass over. These are the floods of ungodly men, which are very destructive and terrible; see Re 17:15; together with all those reproaches, afflictions, and persecutions, which come along with them; which the presence of God only can bear up his people under, and carry them through, So 8:7;
the stream had gone over our soul; and so deprived them of life; the whole force of the enemy; which, like a stream, flows in with great strength and rapidity, when a breach is made and spreads itself, Arama interprets it of the stream of the Egyptians, and restrains it to them, their armies and forces; but it rather designs others, and the enemies of God’s people in general, which threaten their ruin, even their very souls and lives: it may be applied to the stream of corruptions, the flood of temptation and flow of persecutions, such as the flood the dragon cast out of his mouth after the woman; which, were it not for divine grace and assistance, would destroy the saints, who have no might against this great force, 2Ch 20:12.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
4. The waters had then overwhelmed us. He embellishes by an elegant metaphor the preceding sentiment, comparing the dreadful impetuosity of the enemies of the Jews to an inundation, which swallows up whatever it meets with in its overflowing course. And he continues to preserve the character of a man affrighted. He names the waters, next the torrent, 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 ought to have all the effect of a graphic representation, that the faithful might the better feel from what a profound gulf they had been rescued by the hand of God. He only truly attributes his deliverance to God, who acknowledges himself to have been lost before he was delivered. The adverb them is here either demonstrative, as if the Psalmist had pointed to the thing with the finger, or it is taken for long ago. The former signification is, however, more suitable to the present passage.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(4) Waters.The sudden transition in the imagery from the earthquake to the flood is characteristic of Hebrew poetry. (For the flood, see Psa. 18:4; Psa. 18:16; Psa. 69:14; Psa. 144:7.)
Stream.The torrent swollen with the winter rain. (Comp. Isa. 8:7-8.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4. The waters overwhelmed us Probably an allusion to Exo 14:27-28.
The stream The mountain torrent. These, in the rainy season, are terrible, and against them no art or power of man can prevail. A single thunder storm of rain will often suffice to create a flood which sweeps away habitations and families and animals. Such a seil, or flood, in the Wady Solaf, Mount Sinai, in 1867, swept away an Arab encampment, and forty persons, with many camels, sheep, and cattle, perished in the waters. Palmer and his company saw trunks of large palm trees which had been carried thirty miles down the valley by this flood. See Psa 18:13; Psa 18:15. The description of Isa 8:7-8, refers to the excessive overflow of the Nile or of the Euphrates, which, though more rare and gradual, is yet far more terrible. These perils from the great forces of nature are a fit emblem of the dangers, often as sudden as overwhelming, to which the militant Church is exposed.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 124:4 Then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul:
Ver. 4. Then the waters had overwhelmed us ] As once the Red Sea did the Egyptians, or as the general deluge did the old world.
The stream had gone over our soul
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
stream = torrent, or flood. Hebrew. nahal. See App-67.
our soul = us. Hebrew. nephesh. App-13. Note the Figure of speech Epistrophe (App-6) in the repetition at end of Psa 124:5.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
the waters: Psa 18:4, Psa 42:7, Psa 69:15, Isa 8:7, Isa 8:8, Isa 28:2, Isa 59:19, Jer 46:7, Jer 46:8, Dan 9:26, Rev 12:15, Rev 12:16, Rev 17:1, Rev 17:15
Reciprocal: 2Sa 22:17 – he drew Job 22:11 – abundance Psa 32:6 – in the floods Psa 69:14 – out of Psa 143:4 – is my spirit Lam 3:54 – Waters
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
124:4 Then the {c} waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul:
(c) He uses proper similitudes to express the great danger that the Church was in, and out of which God miraculously delivered them.