Psalm 129
“LORD, thank You for saving me from my enemies.”
A Psalm of Thanks
Psalm 129
“Many a time they have afflicted me from my youth.” Let Israel now say–“Many a time they have afflicted me from my youth; yet they have not prevailed against me. The plowers plowed on my back; They made the furrows long.” The LORD is righteous; He has cut in pieces the cords of the wicked.
Let all those who hate Zion be put to shame and turned back. Let them be as the grass on the housetops, which withers before it grows up. With which the reaper does not fill his hand, nor he who binds sheaves, his arms. Neither let those who pass by them say, “The blessing of the LORD be upon you; We bless you in the name of the LORD!”
This psalm has the same general theme as Psalm 124. In it the author, speaking for the nation of Israel, recalls the many times that he had been afflicted by his enemies from the time of his youth (that is, from the time that the Israelites left the land of Egypt; cf. Hosea 2:15). Examples of such enemies: the Moabites, Ammonites, Philistines, Midianites, and Assyrians. The psalmist also recalls with thankful heart how in each instance the Lord God worked for His people a mighty deliverance.
As the pilgrim bands wended their way to the city of Jerusalem to worship Jehovah, they would have had good reason to reflect on these events of the past and to sing this song of thanks. Had the Lord not recently demonstrated His love and faithfulness toward them again by throwing off from them the yoke of Babylon and bringing them back to their homeland? How fitting that they should praise Him for this!
We join the psalmist in praising the Lord. The enemies that oppress God’s people today may not be identical to those whom the people of God faced centuries ago. But they still do exist and they are formidable and dangerous. Yet it remains true: whoever the oppressors of God’s people may be, in whatever period of history they rise up, they will be overthrown by the Lord. They can harm us none. We need not fear them.