Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 124:8
Our help [is] in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.
8. Cp. Psa 121:2.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Our help is in the name of the Lord – In the Lord; in the great Yahweh. See Psa 121:2.
Who made heaven and earth – The great Creator; the true God. Our deliverances have led us up to him. They are such as can be ascribed to him alone. They could not have come from ourselves; from our fellow-men; from angels; from any or all created beings. Often in life, when delivered from danger, we may feel this; we always may feel this, and should feel this, when we think of the redemption of our souls. That is a work which we of ourselves could never have performed; which could not have been done for us by our fellow-men; which no angel could have accomplished; which all creation combined could not have worked out; which could have been effected by no one but by him who made heaven and earth; by him who created all things. See Col 1:13-17.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 124:8
Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
The best helper
I. God is everywhere present. Sometimes those who would help us are afar off. Not so God; He is a very present help in trouble (Psa 46:1).
II. He has everything we want ready at command. Is it money, grace, friends, comfort, guidance, strength? He has of these things more than we can possibly need.
III. He is a very willing helper. He invites us to call upon Him in the day of trouble (Psa 50:15).
IV. He is a loving and tender helper. His kindness is often called lovingkindness (Deu 33:27).
V. He never fails to help his people.
VI. He is an everlasting helper (Psa 90:12). (R. Brewin.)
The Churchs confidence
The confidence here expressed by the Church is founded upon two things.
I. Past deliverance. Our help is in the name of the Lord. When placed in perilous circumstances, ones faith is much increased by thinking upon the times of old, and musing upon the years of the right hand of the Most High. We learn there that affliction is no strange thing, and that God can afford us all requisite aid. He has done so before, and He can do so again. As to Himself, He is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. As to His agents, there is no diminution in their number, or decrease in their power.
II. The Divine omnipotence. He who defends the Church is the Creator of the universe. Yes! He who hung those stars in heaven, and filled their lamps with everlasting oil: He who made the earth, with its golden corn, and its purple grapes, and its dark olives. My Father made them all; and a single look at the green earth, and the swelling ocean, and the burning stars, is enough to rebuke our distrust, and to infuse a serene gladness into our troubled spirits. Would that we had more of this holy confidence; and how much of the peace and joy of heaven would be ours, even when travelling through the wilderness to the land that is afar off. (N. McMichael.)
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Psa 125:1-5
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 8. Our help is in the name of the Lord] beshum meywra depai, Chaldee, “In the name of the WORD of the LORD.” So in the second verse, “Unless the WORD of the LORD had been our Helper:” the substantial WORD; not a word spoken, or a prophecy delivered, but the person who was afterwards termed , the WORD OF GOD. This deliverance of the Jews appears to me the most natural interpretation of this Psalm: and probably Mordecai was the author.
ANALYSIS OF THE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FOURTH PSALM
The people of God, newly escaped from some great danger, acknowledge it, and celebrate God as their Deliverer.
I. The psalmist begins abruptly, as is usual in pathetical expressions.
1. “If it had not been the Lord:” and so deeply was he affected with a sense of God’s goodness, and the narrowness of the escape, that he repeats it: “Unless the Lord,” c. Nothing else could have saved us.
2. “Now may Israel say” the whole body of the Jewish people may well acknowledge this.
3. “When men rose up:” when they were all leagued against us as one man to destroy us; and, humanly speaking, our escape was impossible.
II. This danger and escape the psalmist illustrates by two metaphors: –
1. The first is taken from beasts of prey: “They had swallowed us up quick.” They would have rushed upon us, torn us in pieces, and swallowed us down, while life was quivering in our limbs.
This they would have done in their fury. The plot was laid with great circumspection and caution; but it would have been executed with a resistless fury.
2. The second similitude is taken from waters which had broken through dikes, and at once submerged the whole country: “The stream had gone over our soul;” the proud waters, resistless now the dikes were broken, would have gone over our soul – destroyed our life.
III. He next acknowledges the deliverance.
1. “We are not given a prey to their teeth.”
2. It is the blessed God who has preserved us: “Blessed be God,” c.
As this deliverance was beyond expectation, he illustrates it by another metaphor, a bird taken in, but escaping from, a snare.
1. We were in “the snare of the fowler.”
2. But “our soul is escaped.”
3. And the fowler disappointed of his prey. The disappointment of Haman was, in all its circumstances, one of the most mortifying that ever occurred to man.
IV. He concludes with a grateful acclamation. 1. “Our help is in the name of the Lord.” In open assaults, and in insidious attacks, we have no helper but God and from him our deliverance must come.
2. This help is sufficient; for he made the heaven and earth; has both under his government; and can employ both in the support, or for the deliverance, of his followers.
Or, take the following as a plainer analysis: –
I. 1. The subtlety of the adversaries of the Church in laying snares to entrap it, as fowlers do birds, Ps 124:7.
2. Their cruelty in seeking to tear it to pieces, as some ravenous beasts of prey do; or, as mighty inundations that overthrow all in their way, Ps 124:3-6.
II. The cause of this subtlety and cruelty: wrath and displeasure, Ps 124:3.
III. The delivery of the Church from both, by the power and goodness of God, Ps 124:1-2; Ps 124:6-7.
IV. The duty performed for this deliverance; praises to God, Ps 124:6.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
8. (Compare Ps121:2).
namein the usual sense(Psa 5:11; Psa 20:1).He thus places over against the great danger the omnipotent God, anddrowns, as it were in an anthem, the wickedness of the whole worldand of hell, just as a great fire consumes a little drop of water[LUTHER].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Our help [is] in the name of the Lord,…. This is the conclusion the church draws from the scene of Providence in her favour; this is the instruction she learns from hence, that her help is in the Lord only, and not in any creature; and that it is right to put her trust and confidence in the Lord for it, and only to expect it from him whose name is in himself; and is a strong tower to flee unto for safety, Pr 18:10. The Targum is,
“in the name of the Word of the Lord;”
in the Messiah; in whom the name of the Lord is, his nature and perfections; and in whom help is found, being laid upon him, Ex 23:21;
who made heaven and earth; and therefore must be able to help his people, and to do more for them than they are able to ask or think: for what is it he cannot do that made the heavens and the earth, and all that is in them? see Ps 121:1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
8. Our help is in the name of Jehovah. David here extends to the state of the Church in all ages that which the faithful had already experienced. As I interpret the verse, he not only gives thanks to God for one benefit, but affirms that the Church cannot continue safe except in so far as she is protected by the hand of God. His object is to animate the children of God with the assured hope, that their life is in perfect safety under the divine guardianship. The contrast between the help of God, and other resources in which the world vainly confides, as we have seen in Psa 20:7 ,
“
Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God, ”
is to be noticed, that the faithful, purged from all false confidence, may betake themselves exclusively to his succor, and depending upon it, may fearlessly despise whatever Satan and the world may plot against them. The name of God is nothing else than God himself; yet it tacitly conveys a significant idea, implying that as he has disclosed to us his grace by his word, we have ready access to him, so that in seeking him we need not go to a distance, or follow long circuitous paths. Nor is it without cause that the Psalmist again honors God with the title of Creator. We know with what disquietude our minds are agitated till they have raised the power of God to its appropriate elevation, that, the whole world being put under, it alone may be pre-eminent; which cannot be the case unless we are persuaded that all things are subject to his will. He did not show once and in a moment his power in the creation of the world and then withdraw it, but he continually demonstrates it in the government of the world. Moreover, although all men freely and loudly confess that God is the Creator of heaven and of earth, so that even the most wicked are ashamed to withhold from him the honor of this title, yet no sooner does any terror present itself to us than we are convicted of unbelief in hardly setting any value whatever upon the help which he has to bestow.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(8) Who made.See Note on Psa. 121:2.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
8. Our help is in the Lord Thus the psalm closes with a repetition of the opening statement, not now with the “ If not Jehovah was on our side,” but, “our help is in Jehovah.” The lesson is complete. The creator of all worlds alone can redeem and protect his Church from all forms of assault in all the ages.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
REFLECTIONS
BLESSED Deliverer of thy people! thou art our salvation, and the salvation of God our Father to the ends of the earth. And what thy Father appointed, thou hast accomplished: thy love, and thy mercy, have been the glorious procuring cause of all thy Church’s deliverance, and of all their joy. Let it please thee then, most gracious Saviour, to be our help and confidence forever. Let the church, which thou hast purchased with thy blood, be still dear to thee. Let the souls of thy people, whom thou hast justified with thy righteousness, be still thy Jewels. And while we cry out with holy joy, Blessed be the Lord, who remembered us in our low estate; may we always be discovering new causes to close the holy song: for his mercy endureth forever. Our soul is escaped from the beast of prey, and the fowler’s net; and therefore Jesus shall be our glory, and we will still say, Thanks be to God, who always causeth us to triumph in Christ.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 124:8 Our help [is] in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.
Ver. 8. Our help is in the name of the Lord, &c. ] Experience should breed confidence, Rom 5:4-5 2Co 1:10 Psa 48:14 Gen 22:10-11 , &c.; write up experiences therefore, oft rub them over, and then conclude as here, and as Phi 1:6 2Ti 4:17-18 .
Who hath made heaven and earth
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
name. See note on Psa 20:1.
Who made heaven and earth. See App-67and note on Psa 121:2 with Psa 134:3.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 115:15, Psa 121:2, Psa 134:3, Psa 146:5, Psa 146:6, Gen 1:1, Isa 37:16-20, Jer 32:17, Act 4:24
Reciprocal: 1Sa 17:45 – in the name 2Ch 2:12 – that made heaven Psa 25:15 – out Act 14:15 – which Act 26:22 – obtained Heb 13:6 – The Lord Rev 14:7 – worship
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE DIVINE HELPER
Our help is in the name of the Lord.
Psa 124:8
I. Happy will my soul be, if it can truly sing this old song of the exiles delivered from Babylon.
Once the wild beasts of prey threatened to swallow it alive. Their jaws gaped and yawned to receive it. But the Lord, the Mighty One, delivered it out of the mouth of the Lion. It is escaped.
Once the furious swollen torrent swept over it. It seemed as if it must bear on its tawny bosom the ruins of all the souls labours and the very life and hope of the soul itself. But the Lord, with His strong right arm, snatched it from the waters and set it on the rock. It is escaped.
Once the snare of the fowler caught and entangled it in its pitiless meshes. It was a poor, trembling, feeble bird. It was a fluttering and helpless creature. Its wings were bruised. But the Lords hand broke the snare. The wings are spread for flight once more. The song rises buoyantly and joyously into the blue. It is escaped.
One metaphor will not bring out the gladness of my soul, if it have tasted the rich delights of the Lords emancipation. It will summon up parable after parable. It will paint picture after picture. And they will all be insufficient.
II. Come, my soul, and sing, morning by morning, a psalm like this.Thou dwellest too much among thy fears and regrets and despondencies. Thou shouldest celebrate oftener and more loudly the mercies of thy Lord.
It will do thyself good; filling thee with humility to remember how poor and perishing thou wert once, and with gratitude as thou recallest the great things that have been done for thee, and with devotion to the Saviour who has loved thee so well, and with hope that He who has been with thee in six troubles will not forsake thee in the seventh. It will do the world good; its citizens will learn the folly of fighting against thy Helper and Sovereign, and will be taught by thee to submit themselves to Him before His wrath begin to burn. It will do Christ good; for He loves to hear the triumph-hymn of a throbbing heart, that commemorates the wondrousness of His deliverance, and that vows and dedicates itself to Him.
There are songs of country, and songs of war, and songs of adventure, and songs of love, and songs of home; but there is no song like the song of salvation. I am mute and dumb too frequently; let me tell out the story of how my soul is escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowler. Let me bring forth the royal diadem, and crown Himcrown Himcrown Him Lord of all.
Illustration
When we look back on life, as the Psalmist does here, we become aware of the myriad instances of Divine protection. We were not so vividly conscious at the time; we might even have had fits of depression and counted ourselves bereft. But if we narrowly consider the perils from which we have been rescued, when we were about to be swallowed up quick, we see that He was there. In life and death and judgment, Jesus, your Advocate, will ever stand at your side and silence all who would condemn.