Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 124:7
Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped.
7. The timorous defenceless bird is an apt emblem for weak helpless men. Cp. Psa 11:1. By ‘snare’ ( pach) is probably meant a kind of clapnet. The frame breaks or the spring fails to act, so that the bird is not captured, or else escapes. See the illustration in Driver’s Joel and Amos, p. 157.
we are escaped ] We is emphatic. We, who seemed certain to become the prey of our enemies. But God “frustrated (lit. broke, though the word is a different one) their counsel” (Neh 4:15).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Our soul is escaped – We have escaped; our life has been preserved.
As a bird out of the snare of the fowlers – By the breaking of the snare, or the gin. The bird is entangled, but the net breaks, and the bird escapes. See the notes at Psa 91:3.
The snare is broken … – It was not strong enough to retain the struggling bird, and the captive broke away. So we seemed to be caught. The enemy appeared to have us entirely in his power, but escape came to us as it does to the bird when it finds the net suddenly break, and itself again at large.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 124:7
Our soul is escaped as a bird.
Soul manumission
I. It is a liberation from a miserable bondage.
1. It is a bondage of the man himself.
2. It is a bondage associated with a sense of guilt.
3. It is a bondage from which God alone can deliver.
II. It is a liberation into a happy freedom. The freedom of the soul consists in the freest exercise of its intellectual faculties and spiritual powers. The freedom of the soul consists in being unconstrained by any force bur love for the infinite. It is a glorious liberty. Glorious on account of the hero who achieved it–glorious on account of the immortal blessedness it secures. (Homilist.)
The bird escaped from the snare
I. The soul compared to a bird.
1. It is a little bird, too–a sparrow, or one of the sparrow kind. Our soul is escaped as a little bird–not as a great bird that could break the net and free itself by its own force. A little bird fitly represents our soul when we are lowly in heart. In our unregenerate condition we think ourselves eaglets at the very least, but we are not great creatures after all. We talk of great men: we are all little in Gods sight. If He cares for sparrows, be sure He cares for souls, and when you think least of yourself, yet believe that the Lord regards you.
2. Again, our soul is like a little bird because it is so ignorant. Birds know little about snares, yet they know so much that surely in vain is the net spread in the sight of any bird. Even this slender wisdom is more than men display, for they fly into the net when it is spread in their sight; aye, into the selfsame net out of which, in Gods providence, they have just been permitted to escape. So foolish are we and ignorant, we are as birds ready for the lure, till the Lord teaches us wisdom; and even then we need hourly keeping, or we are entrapped by the destroyer.
3. Our soul is often like a little bird because it is so eager and venturesome. How birds will trust themselves in winter around traps of the simplest kind if but a few crumbs are used as bait! Alas, men are equally foolhardy: they see others perish, yet they follow their ways.
4. The little bird, also, when once taken in the net, is a good comparison with the soul captured by sin, for it is defenceless.
5. Souls are also like birds because they are the objects of snares.
II. The snare.
1. It is concealed. Always suspect that in a temptation to sin there is more than you can see. Never say that it is a little thing; for great evil lurks in a little fault. Death and destruction hide under apparently small offences.
2. Snares and traps are usually attractive. The poor bird sees seeds which he is fond of, and he goes for them, little judging that he is to give his life in exchange for brief enjoyment. So it is with Satan. He tempts us with pleasures, with the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life: we taste the sweet, and are pierced with the smart.
3. Satans snares, like the fowlers, are sadly effectual. Multitudes upon multitudes are the victims of their own passions, victims of that hellish art which makes evil appear to be good. God save us from being taken in these most deadly snares!
III. The capture. How came the bird to be taken?
1. It may have been through hunger. If you are extremely needy, you may be tempted to do wrong to provide for your wife and family; I pray that you may never yield to the temptation, but trust in God, and He will deliver you without your putting forth your hand unto iniquity.
2. Other birds are taken merely by their appetite. They are not excessively hungry, but they enjoy certain choice seeds, and the fowler knows it; and he scatters such around the trap. Easy of body, indulgence of taste, the joy of being admired, the sweets of power and position, all these and many more have been the fowlers baits.
3. Some persons are entrapped by fear. Birds have rushed into the net for fear of danger; many persons have become great offenders against God through lack of moral courage. They are afraid of the laughter of fools. They cannot bear the sarcasm of the so-called wise; and so they suppress truth, and join in sin to escape scorn.
4. Some little birds are lost by love of company. The fowler has a decoy-bird which sings sweetly or coquettes pleasantly, and the other birds must needs follow it. In the Church of God we lose many members by ungodly marriages.
IV. The escape.
1. It is due to God alone.
2. It is achieved by power. The snare is broken–the meshes torn with a strong hand, the steel trap dashed to pieces.
3. The escape is complete. Our deliverance must be entire, or it is not true.
V. The lesson. It ought to teach us–
1. To sing.
2. To trust.
3. To watch. Let them not turn again to folly, is one of Gods own cautions to His people. He has brought you up out of the horrible pit; do not play near the edge of it. He has set your feet on a rock; what have you to do with the miry clay? Get away from the slippery ground, and on the rock let your goings be established. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The escape of the soul from danger
I. A melancholy fact supposed.
1. The sources of temptation are various.
(1) Inward.
(2) Outward. Satan and the world.
2. The nature and limits of the power of temptation.
3. From no quarter, perhaps, are we more exposed to danger than from former habits of once-indulged and unrepented sin, because there is a constant predisposition, without great watchfulness, to yield again to pursuits upon which the sinner has once entered.
4. Our safety is found in early resistance.
II. A joyful triumph expressed. We may justify this joy in experiencing the Divine protection under those dangers which threaten the stability of our faith and hope–
1. From our knowledge of the mournful results of temptation in the ease of others.
2. Because evil resisted and overcome is an occasion of inward satisfaction and happiness. Temptation foiled is happiness begun.
3. Because every such victory is a pledge and precursor of final conquest.
III. A practical improvement demanded.
1. Rejoice that the power and grace of Christ are equal to the worst extremities of human character and condition.
2. Remember the power of prayer.
3. Importance of habits of watchfulness and self-denial.
4. Temptation is only for a season. (S. Thodey.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 7. Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare] This is a fine image; and at once shows the weakness of the Jews, and the cunning of their adversaries. Haman had laid the snare completely for them; humanly speaking there was no prospect of their escape: but the Lord was on their side; and the providence that induced Ahasuerus to call for the book of the records of the kingdom to be read to him, as well indeed as the once very improbable advancement of Esther to the throne of Persia, was the means used by the Lord for the preservation of the whole Jewish people from extermination. God thus broke the snare, and the bird escaped; while the poacher was caught in his own trap, and executed. See the Book of Esther, which is probably the best comment on this Psalm.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers,…. The people of God are like little birds, being harmless and innocent, singing forth the praises of God for his goodness to them; as also because weak and unable to resist their foes; and worthless in themselves, like sparrows, as the word i here used signifies; and are fearful and timorous, and flee at the least apprehension of danger,
Ps 102:7. Satan, and wicked men under his influence, are like fowlers who lay snares for them, to draw them into sin, into immorality and error, in order to bring them to ruin and destruction; hence we read of the snare of the devil and of wicked men, 1Ti 3:7 2Ti 2:26; and who form plans and lay schemes to oppress and destroy them; but through the wisdom given them to discern these devices and stratagems, and through the power of divine grace, accompanying them, they escape what was intended for their hurt, and particularly in the following manner:
the snare is broken, and we are escaped; measures concerted by wicked men are broken, their schemes are confounded, their devices are disappointed, so that they cannot perform their enterprise; and by this means the saints escape the evils designed against them, the afflictions of the world, and the temptations of Satan.
i , Sept. “sicut passer”, V. L.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(7) Snare.Another rapid transition to a favourite figure, that of the hunters net. (Comp. Psa. 10:9, &c)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
7. Snare is broken, and we are escaped Both snare and fowler are in God’s hands, and he will not only deliver his people, but crush the power of the enemy. The figure applies only to such an escape as is from the very teeth of death. They were already in the snare the watchful fowler had only to take his prey.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 124:7 Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped.
Ver. 7. Our soul is escaped, &c. ] Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity. See Gen 22:14 Eze 37:11 2Ki 19:3-4 .
The snare is broken, &c.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
as a bird. The reference is to the words of Sennacherib on his cylinder, where he mentions Hezekiah by name, whom he had got “as a bird in a cage”. See App-67.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Our soul: 1Sa 23:26, 1Sa 23:27, 1Sa 24:14, 1Sa 24:15, 1Sa 25:29, 2Sa 17:2, 2Sa 17:21, 2Sa 17:22
as a bird: Psa 25:15, Psa 91:3, Pro 6:5, Jer 5:26, Jer 18:22, 2Ti 2:26
Reciprocal: 1Sa 19:10 – and escaped Psa 31:4 – Pull Psa 37:33 – will not Psa 64:5 – of laying snares Psa 119:110 – wicked Psa 129:4 – cut asunder Isa 49:24 – prey 1Co 10:13 – make
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 124:7-8. Our soul is escaped as a bird, &c. This is the third image by which the marvellous deliverance of Israel is illustrated. Having compared it to that of a person snatched, by a miracle, from the fury of surrounding and overwhelming torrents, and to that of a lamb rescued from the jaws of a wolf or lion, he here illustrates it by the escape of a bird, through breaking the snare, before the fowler came to seize and kill it. Our help is in the name of the Lord David, who had directed us (Psa 121:2) to depend upon God for help, as to our personal concerns, saying, My help is in the name of the Lord, here directs us to the same dependance as to the concerns of the public, observing, Our help is so. It is a comfort to all that have the good of Gods Israel at heart, that Israels God is he that made the world, and therefore will have a church in it, which he can secure in times of the greatest danger and distress. In him therefore let the churchs friends place their confidence, and they shall not be put to confusion.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
124:7 Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the {d} snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped.
(d) For the wicked not only furiously rage against the faithful, but craftily imagined to destroy them.