We do not assert that David wrote this Psalm, but we have as much ground for doing so as others have for declaring that it was written after the captivity. It would seem probable that all the Pilgrim Psalms were composed, or, at least, compiled by the same writer, and as some of them are certainly by David, there is no conclusive reason for taking away the rest from him.

Division. - First we have a song of holy confidence (Psalm 125:1, 19 125:2); then a promise, Psalm 125:3; followed by a prayer. Psalm 125:4; and a note of warning.

Hints to Preachers

Whole Psalm. -

I. The mark of the covenant: "They that trust."

II. The security of the covenant (Psalm 125:1, 19 125:2).

III. The rod of the covenant (Psalm 125:3).

IV. The tenor of the covenant (Psalm 125:4).

V. The spirit of the covenant, - "peace."

Psalm 125:1. - See "Spurgeon's Sermons," No. 1,450: "The Immortality of the Believer."

Psalm 125:1, Psalm 125:2. -

I. The believer's singularity: he trusts in Jehovah.

II. The believer's stability: "abideth for ever."

III. The believer's safety: "As the mountains," etc.

Psalm 125:2. - The all-surrounding presence of Jehovah the glory, safety, and eternal blessedness of his people. Yet this to the wicked would be hell.

Psalm 125:2. - See "Spurgeon's Sermons," Nos. 161-2: "The Security of the Church."

Psalm 125:2. - The endurance of mercy: "From henceforth even for ever."

Psalm 125:2. - Saints hemmed-in by infinite love.

I. The City and the Girdle, or the symbols separated.

1. Jerusalem imaging God's people. Anciently chosen; singularly honoured; much beloved; the shrine of Deity.

2. The Mountain Girdle setting forth Jehovah: Strength; All-sidedness; Sentinel through day and night.

II. The City within the Girdle, or the symbols related.

1. Delightful Entanglement. The view from the windows! (Jehovah "round about.") To be lost must break through God! Sound sleep and safe labour.

2. Omnipotent Circumvallation, suggesting - God's determination; Satan's dismay. This mountain ring immutable. - W. B. Haynes.

Psalm 125:3. - Observe,

I. The Permission implied. The rod of the wicked may come upon the lot of the righteous. Why?

1. That wickedness may be free to manifest itself.

2. That the righteous may be made to hate sin.

3. That the righteousness of God's retribution may be seen.

4. That the consolations of the righteous may abound. 2 Corinthians 1:5.

II. The Permanency denied: "The rod ... shall not rest," etc. Illustrate by history of Job, Joseph, David, Daniel, Christ, martyrs, etc.

III. The Probity tried and preserved: "Lest the righteous put forth," etc., by rebelling, sinful compromise, etc.

1. God will have it tried, to prove its worth, beauty, etc.

2. But no more than sufficiently tried. - John Field.

Psalm 125:3, Psalm 125:4. -

I. The good defined: "The upright in heart;" such as do not "turn aside," and are not "workers of iniquity."

II. The good distressed: by "the rod of the wicked."

III. The good delivered: "Do good"; fulfil thy promise (Psalm 125:3). - W. H. J. Page.

Psalm 125:4. -

I. What it is to be good.

II. What it is for God to do us good.

Psalm 125:5. - Temporary Professors.

I. The crucial test: "They turn aside."

II. The crooked policy: they make crooked ways their own.

III. The crushing doom: "led forth with workers of iniquity."

Psalm 125:5. - Hypocrites.

I. Their ways, "crooked."

1. Like the way of a winding stream, seeking out the fair level, or the easy descent.

2. Like the course of a tacking ship, which skilfully makes every wind to drive her forward.

3. Ways constructed upon no principle but that of pure selfishness.

II. Their conduct under trial. They "turn aside."

1. From their religious profession.

2. From their former companions.

3. To become the worst scorners of spiritual things, and the most violent calumniators of spiritually-minded men.

III. Their doom, "The Lord shall," etc.

1. In the judgment they shall be classed with the most flagrant sinners; "with the workers of iniquity."

2. They shall be exposed by an irresistible power, "The Lord shall lead them forth."

3. They shall meet with terrible execution with the wicked in hell. - J. Field.

Psalm 125:5 (last clause). - To whom peace belongs. To "Israel"; the chosen, the once wrestler, the now prevailing prince. Consider Jacob's life after he obtained the name of Israel; note his trials, and his security under them as illustrating this text. Then take the text as a sure promise.

Psalm 125:5 (last clause). - Enquire,

I. Who are the Israel?

1. Covenanted ones.

2. Circumcised in heart.

3. True worshippers.

II. What is the peace?

1. Peace of conscience.

2. Of friendship with God.

3. Of a settled and satisfied heart.

4. Of eternal glory, in reversion.

III. Why the certainty ("shall be")?

1. Christ has made peace for them.

2. The Holy Spirit brings peace to them.

3. They walk in the way of peace. - J. Field.

Explanatory Notes and Quaint Sayings

Whole Psalm

In the degrees of Christian virtue, this Psalm represents the sixth step - the confidence which the Christian places in the Lord. "It teacheth us, while we ascend and raise our minds unto the Lord our God in loving charity and piety, not to fix our gaze upon men who are prosperous in the world with a false happiness." - H. T. Armfield, in "The Gradual Psalms," 1874.

Whole Psalm

This short Psalm may be summed up in those words of the prophet (Isaiah 3:10, Isaiah 3:11), "Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him. Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him" Thus are life and death, the blessing and the curse, set before us often in the Psalms, as well as in the law and in the prophets. - Matthew Henry, 1662-1714.

Psalm 125:1

"They that trust in the Lord." Note how he commandeth no work here to be done, but only speaketh of trust. In popery in the time of trouble men were taught to enter into some kind of religion, to fast, to go on pilgrimage, and to do such other foolish works of devotion, which they devised as an high service unto God, and thereby thought to make condign satisfaction for sin and to merit eternal life. But here the Psalmist leadeth us the plain way unto God, pronouncing this to be the chiefest anchor of our salvation, - only to hope and trust in the Lord; and declaring that the greatest service that we can do unto God is to trust him. For this is the nature of God - to create all things of nothing. Therefore he createth and bringeth forth in death, life; in darkness, light. Now to believe this is the essential nature and most special property of faith. When God then seeth such a one as agreeth with his own nature, that is, which believeth to find in danger help, in poverty riches, in sin righteousness, and that for God's own mercy's sake in Christ alone, him can God neither hate nor forsake. - Martin Luther (1483-1546), in "A Commentary on the Psalms of Degrees."

Psalm 125:1

"They that trust in the Lord." All that deal with God must deal upon trust, and he will give comfort to those only that give credit to him, and make it appear they do so by quitting other confidences, and venturing to the utmost for God. The closer our expectations are confined to God, the higher our expectations may be raised. - Matthew Henry.

Psalm 125:1

"They that trust," etc. Trust, therefore, in the Lord, always, altogether, and for all things. - Robert Nisbet, in "The Songs of the Temple Pilgrims," 1863.

Psalm 125:1

"Shall be as mount Zion." Some persons are like the sand - ever shifting and treacherous. See Matthew 7:26. Some are like the sea - restless and unsettled. See Isaiah 57:20; James 1:6. Some are like the wind - uncertain and inconstant. See Ephesians 4:14. Believers are like a mountain - strong, stable, and secure. To every soul that trusts him the Lord says, "Thou art Peter." - W. H. J. Page, 1883.

Psalm 125:1

"As mount Zion," etc. - Great is the stability of a believer's felicity. - John Trapp, 1601-1669.

Psalm 125:1

"Mount Zion, which cannot be removed," etc. Lieutenant Conder, reviewing Mr. Maudslay's important exploration, says, "It is especially valuable as showing that, however the masonry may have been destroyed and lost, we may yet hope to find indications of the ancient enceinte in the rock scarps which are imperishable." This is very true; for, while man can destroy what man has made, the everlasting hills smile at his rage. Yet who can hear of it without perceiving the force and sublimity of that glorious description of the immobility of believers.

"They that trust in Jehovah are as mount Zion,

Which shall not be moved, it abideth for ever."

James Neil, in "Palestine Explored," 1882.

Psalm 125:1

"Cannot be removed," etc. They can never be removed from the Lord, though they may be removed from his house and ordinances, as sometimes David was; and from his gracious presence, and sensible communion with him; and out of the world by death, yet never from his heart's love, nor out of the covenant of his grace, which is sure and everlasting; nor out of his family, into which they are taken; nor from the Lord Jesus Christ, nor out of his hands and arms, nor from off his heart; nor from off him, as the foundation on which they are laid; nor out of a state of grace, either regeneration or justification; but such abide in the love of God, in the covenant of his grace, in the hands of his Son, in the grace wherein they stand, and in the house of God for evermore. - John Gill, 1697-1771.

Psalm 125:1

"Abideth for ever." So surely as "Mount Zion" shall never be "removed," so surely shall the church of God be preserved. Is it not strange that wicked and idolatrous powers have not joined together, dug down this mount, and carried it into the sea, that they might nullify a promise in which the people of God exult! Till ye can carry Mount Zion into the Mediterranean Sea, the church of Christ shall grow and prevail. - Hear this, ye murderous Mohammedans! - Adam Clarke, 1760-1832.

Psalm 125:1

"Abideth." Literally, sitteth; as spoken of a mountain, "lieth" or "Is situated"; but here with the following "for ever," used in a still stronger sense. - J. J. Stewart Perowne, 1868.

Psalm 125:1, Psalm 125:2

That which is here promised the saints is a perpetual preservation of them in that condition wherein they are; both on the part of God, "he is round about them from henceforth even for ever"; and on their parts, "they shall not be removed," - that is, from the condition of acceptation with God wherein they are supposed to be, - but they shall abide for ever, and continue therein immovable unto the end. This is a plain promise of their continuance in that condition wherein they are, with their safety from thence, and not a promise of some other good thing provided that they continue in that condition, Their being compared to mountains, and their stability, which consists in their being and continuing so, will admit no other sense. As mount Zion abides in its condition, so shall they; and as the mountains about Jerusalem continue, so doth the Lord continue his presence unto them.

That expression which is used, Psalm 125:2, is weighty and full to this purpose, "The Lord is round about his people from henceforth even for ever." What can be spoken more fully, more pathetically? Can any expression of men so set forth the safety of the saints? The Lord is round about them, not to save them from this or that incursion, but from all; not from one or two evils, but from every one whereby they are or may be assaulted. He is with them, and round about them on every side that no evil shall come nigh them. It is a most full expression of universal preservation, or of God's keeping his saints in his love and favour, upon all accounts whatsoever; and that not for a season only, but it is "henceforth," from his giving this promise unto their souls in particular, and their receiving of it, throughout all generations, "even for ever." - John Owen, 1616-1683.

Psalm 125:2

"As the mountains are round about Jerusalem." This image is not realised, as most persons familiar with our European scenery would wish and expect it to be realised. Jerusalem is not literally shut in by mountains, except on the eastern side, where it may be said to be enclosed by the arms of Olivet, with its outlying ridges on the north-east and south-west. Anyone facing Jerusalem westward, northward, or southward, will always see the city itself on an elevation higher than the hills in its immediate neighbourhood, its towers and walls standing out against the sky, and not against any high back-ground such as that which encloses the mountain towns and villages of our own Cumbrian or Westmoreland valleys. Nor, again, is the plain on which it stands enclosed by a continuous though distant circle of mountains, like that which gives its peculiar charm to Athens and nnspruck. The mountains in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem are of unequal height, and only in two or three instances - Neby-Samwil, Er-Rain, and Tuleil el-Ful - rising to any considerable elevation. Even Olivet is only a hundred and eighty feet above the top of Mount Zion. Still they act as a shelter: they must be surmounted before the traveller can see, or the invader attack, the Holy City; and the distant line of Moab would always seem to rise as a wall against invaders from the remote east. It is these mountains, expressly including those beyond the Jordan, which are mentioned as "standing round about Jerusalem," in another and more terrible sense, when, on the night of the assault of Jerusalem by the Roman armies, they "echoed back" the screams of the inhabitants of the captured city, and the victorious shouts of the soldiers of Titus. - Arthur Penrhyn Stanley (1815-1881), in "Sinai and Palestine."

Psalm 125:2

Psalm 125:1

"They that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Zion." The emphasis lies upon the object of their trust, namely, Jehovah the Lord. What a privilege to be allowed to repose in God! How condescending is Jehovah to become the confidence of his people! To trust elsewhere is vanity; and the more implicit such misplaced trust becomes the more bitter will be the ensuing disappointment; but to trust in the living God is sanctified common sense which needs no excuse, its result shall be its best vindication. There is no conceivable reason why we should not trust in Jehovah, and there is every possible argument for so doing; but, apart from all argument, the end will prove the wisdom of the confidence. The result of faith is not occasional and accidental; its blessing comes, not to some who trust, but to all who trust in the Lord. Trusters in Jehovah shall be as fixed, firm, and stable as the mount where David dwelt; and where the ark abode. To move mount Zion was impossible, the mere supposition was absurd. "Which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever." Zion was the image of eternal steadfastness, - this hill which, according to the Hebrew, "sits to eternity," neither bowing down nor moving to and fro. Thus doth the trusting worshipper of Jehovah enjoy a restfulness which is the mirror of tranquillity; and this not without cause, for his hope is sure, and of his confidence he can never be ashamed. As the Lord sitteth King for ever, so do his people sit enthroned in perfect peace when their trust in him is firm. This is, and is to be our portion; we are, we have been, we shall be as steadfast as the hill of God. Zion cannot be removed, and does not remove; so the people of God can neither be moved passively nor actively, by force from without or fickleness from within. Faith in God is a settling and establishing virtue; he who by his strength setteth fast the mountains, by that same power stays the hearts of them that trust in him. This steadfastness will endure "for ever," and we may be assured therefore that no believer shall perish either in life or in death, in time or in eternity. We trust in an eternal God, and our safety shall be eternal.

Psalm 125:2

"As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people from hence forth even for ever." The hill of Zion is the type of the believer's constancy, and the surrounding mountains are made emblems of the all-surrounding presence of the Lord. The mountains around the holy city, though they do not make a circular wall, are, nevertheless, set like sentinels to guard her gates. God doth not enclose his people within ramparts and bulwarks, making their city to be a prison; but yet he so orders the arrangements of his providence that his saints are as safe as if they dwelt behind the strongest fortifications. What a double security Psalm 125:1-2! First, we are established, and then entrenched: settled, and then sentinelled: made like a mount, and then protected as if by mountains. This is no matter of poetry, it is so in fact; and it is no matter of temporary privilege, but it shall be so for ever. Date when we please, "from henceforth" Jehovah encircles his people: look on us as far as we please, the protection extends "even for ever." Note, it is not said that Jehovah's power or wisdom defends believers, but he himself is round about them: they have his personality for their protection, his Godhead for their guard. We are here taught that the Lord's people are those who trust him, for they are thus described in the first verses: the line of faith is the line of grace, those who trust in the Lord are chosen of the Lord. Psalm 125:1-2 together prove the eternal safety of the saints: they must abide where God has placed them, and God must for ever protect them from all evil. It would be difficult to imagine greater safety than is here set forth.

Psalm 125:3

"For the rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous." The people of God are not to expect immunity from trial because the Lord surrounds them, for they may feel the power and persecution of the ungodly. Isaac, even in Abraham's family, was mocked by Ishmael. Assyria laid its sceptre even upon Zion itself. The graceless often bear rule and wield the rod; and when they do so they are pretty sure to make it fall heavily upon the Lord's believing people, so that the godly cry out by reason of their oppressors. Egypt's rod was exceeding heavy upon Israel, but the time came for it to be broken. God has set a limit to the woes of his chosen, the rod may light on their portion, but it shall not rest upon it. The righteous have a lot which none can take from them, for God has appointed them heirs of it by gracious entail: on that lot the rod of the wicked may fall, but over that lot it cannot have lasting sway. The saints abide for ever, but their troubles will not. Here is a good argument in prayer for all righteous ones who are in the hands of the wicked.

"Lest the righteous put forth their hands unto iniquity." The tendency of oppression is to drive the best of men into some hasty deed for self-deliverance or vengeance. If the rack be too long used the patient sufferer may at last give way; and therefore the Lord puts a limit to the tyranny of the wicked. He ordained that an Israelite who deserved punishment should not be beaten without measure: forty stripes save one was the appointed limit. We may therefore expect that he will set a bound to the suffering of the innocent, and will not allow them to be pushed to the uttermost extreme. Especially in point of time he will limit the domination of the persecutor, for length adds strength to oppression, and makes it intolerable: hence the Lord himself said of a certain tribulation, "except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved; but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened."

It seems that even righteous men are in peril of sinning in evil days, and that it is not the will of the Lord that they should yield to the stress of the times in order to escape from suffering. The power and influence of wicked men when they are uppermost are used to lead or drive the righteous astray; but the godly must not accept this as an excuse, and yield to the evil pressure; far rather must they resist with all their might till it shall please God to stay the violence of the persecutor, and give his children rest. This the Lord here promises to do in due time.

Psalm 125:4

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