Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 121:2
My help [cometh] from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.
2. Maker of heaven and earth is a frequent epithet of Jehovah in the later Psalms (Psa 115:15; Psa 124:8; Psa 134:3; Psa 146:6). It is the guarantee of His power to help. It contrasts His omnipotence with the impotence of the heathen gods “that have not made the heavens and the earth” (Jer 10:11).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
My help cometh from the Lord – From Yahweh. This is the answer to the anxious inquiry in Psa 121:1. It indicates
(a) a consciousness that help could come only from God;
(b) a belief that it would come from him; and a confident yet humble reliance on him.
Which made heaven and earth – The great Creator of the universe. He must, therefore, be able to protect me. The Creator of all can defend all.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 121:2
My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.
Turning creation to account
This, indeed, is turning creation to account. It is thought a great thing to have a patron who is distinguished by his rank or his deeds. The man is envied who can look up for help to kings, or princes, or nobles; but the meanest believer may say of the Lord who made heaven and earth that He is engaged for his succour and protection. This, we say, is turning creation to account. This is pressing the forests, the mountains and stars into our service; and making them minister to our comfort and assurance. There is not an impress of power on the visible universe but is a message to the Christian, telling him not to be afraid. Every glorious demonstration of Almightiness which is set forth in the processes of nature, or in the revolutions of systems, does but announce to him what a guardian and upholder he has. Yea, and it is not only when God is revealed as a God of providence–a God who is about our path and about our bed–that it is comforting and elevating to think of Him as the Lord who made heaven and earth. I like to remember that it is said of the Redeemer, even of our Lord Jesus Christ–By Him were all things created, that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible. If He was crucified in weakness, he was nevertheless the Being at whose word arose all the magnificence of the material universe, and the thrones, dominions, principalities and powers of the spiritual creation. And, therefore, when it is even the hill of Calvary to which I look up, where there seems presented no spectacle but one of ignominy and death, I can gain confidence from the fact with which the psalmist was encouraged. Yes, blessed Saviour, our help is indeed from Thee! We must lift up our eyes to Thee–to Thee extended on the cross–if we would be enabled to escape Divine wrath, and obtain an inheritance in the kingdom of heaven. But we recognize in Thee more than the persecuted man, borne down by the malice and fury of the powers of darkness; we behold in Thee, even when we see Thee on Calvary, the brightness of the Fathers glory and the express image of His person. And the proud and the unbelieving may wonder at, or even ridicule, our expecting assistance from one who died the death of a malefactor; but we bow before Thee on the cross; we look towards Thee on the cross; and owning the ever-living God in the suffering man, we exclaim in holy confidence, our help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 2. My help cometh from the Lord] There is no help for me but in my God; and I expect it from no other quarter.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
From God alone, and therefore to him alone will I turn mine eyes.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2. by avowing God to be thehelper, of whose ability His creative power is a pledge (Ps115:15), to which,
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
My help [cometh] from the Lord, which made heaven and earth. Who helps his people out of the hands of all their enemies, and out of all their troubles and afflictions; he helps them in the performance of duty, in the exercise of grace, in bearing the cross, in fighting the Lord’s battles, and on in their journey; he helps them to all blessings, temporal and spiritual; to all needful supplies of grace here, and glory hereafter; and this help he gives is quick and present, suitable and seasonable, is sufficient, and sometimes with, and sometimes without means; and they have great encouragement to expect it from him, since he is able to give it, being the Maker of heaven and earth; for what is it that he cannot do, who has made both them? And besides, he has promised to help them, and he is faithful that has promised; he has laid help on Christ for them, and set up a throne of grace, where they may hope to find grace and mercy, to help them in time of need; and they have had past experiences of his help and salvation. Arama connects this with the preceding psalm, and interprets this help of help from an evil tongue.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(2) My help cometh . . .Not as the superstition of the Canaanite said, from the sacred summits themselves, but from their Creators Lord. It is noticeable that the style, maker of heaven and earth, is a peculiarity of psalms which are certainly post-exile, and show how strongly the contrast with heathenism impressed the creative power of God on the Hebrew mind. When the idolater, pointing to his visible god, taunted the Israelite with having no god, the reply, that He made the heavens, and the earth, and all things, and that these were the proofs of His being, was most natural. (See Jer. 10:11.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
2. My help cometh from the Lord It was not a superstitious reverence for places and sacred mountains, but trust in Jehovah, which sustained the psalmist’s hope. In this confession there is an underlying rebuke of the Gentile idolatry, which sought high places and mountain summits for their altars and worship. See Lev 26:30; Psa 78:58; Jer 3:2.
Heaven and earth The allusion is made to show the all sufficiency of God his helper, unlike the local tutelary gods of the heathen, to which were assigned limited jurisdictions.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 121:2. My help cometh from the Lord My help is from the house of the Lord. Meim, is not from the Lord, but from with the Lord; from where he resides.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
From the opening of the Psalm under the several views which I have humbly offered, every part that follows will be easy to apprehend, without enlarging the comment. Every believing soul who looks to God in Christ for help, may well answer himself in this second verse, and say, with full assurance of faith, My help cometh from the Lord. And if the church of Jesus may safely assume this language while looking to her Lord; surely Christ in the days of his flesh might well be supposed to ground his dependence upon the covenant love and promises of God his Father. Joh 2:25Joh 2:25 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 121:2 My help [cometh] from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.
Ver. 2. My help cometh from the Lord ] To whom, therefore, alone I must look for help. Sursum corda, sursum etiam capita. Naturalists tell us, that of those twenty-eight muscles whereby the head is moved, twelve lift up the head behind, and two only before let it downward; to teach us to contemplate heaven more and earth less (Bodin. Theat. Naturae, 413). Others advertise us, that it is one main end why God hath set in man’s eye a fifth muscle; whereas other creatures have but four; one to turn downward, another to hold forwards, a third to turn the eye to the right hand, a fourth to the left hand; but no unreasonable creature can turn the eye upward, as man can, that he may look up to God (Columb. de re Anatom. l. 5, c. 9).
Which made heaven and earth
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
My help. Figure of speech, Anadiplosis, repeated from end of Psa 121:1.
the LORD = Jehovah (App-4.), not the hills.
Which made heaven and earth. The reference is to the burden of Hezekiah’s prayer (2Ki 19:15; Isa 37:16). Idols were only the work of men’s hands (2Ki 19:18; 2Ch 32:19; Isa 37:19). Rab-shakeh had reproached “the living God”. See further references to this in Psa 124:8; Psa 134:3; and App-67
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 121:2
Psa 121:2
“My help cometh from Jehovah,
Who made heaven and earth.”
In these first two verses, the poet looks to the mountains of his native land; and, when he longingly asks, `Whence will my help come’? His longing desire itself returns the answer, that his help comes from no other quarter than from Jahve, the Maker of heaven and earth, and whose power reaches the remotest ends of His creation.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 121:2. This verse gives the same thought as the preceding one, only it speaks in direct language and names the Lord as the source of all help. The logical thought is that a Being who could make heaven and earth could surely help a human creature.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
My help: Psa 46:1, Psa 124:8, Psa 146:5, Psa 146:6, Isa 40:28, Isa 40:29, Isa 41:13, Jer 20:11, Hos 13:9, Heb 13:6
Reciprocal: Gen 1:1 – God 1Ki 20:23 – Their gods 2Ch 20:12 – our eyes Psa 25:15 – Mine Psa 62:1 – from Jer 3:23 – in vain Luk 9:16 – and looking Joh 17:1 – and lifted
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
121:2 My help [cometh] from the LORD, which made {a} heaven and earth.
(a) He accuses man’s ingratitude, which cannot depend on God’s power.