129 A Song of Ascents.
129:1 “Greatly1 have they afflicted me from my youth”—
let Israel now say—
2 “Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth,
yet they have not prevailed against me.
3 The plowers plowed upon my back;
they made long their furrows.”
4 The Lord is righteous;
he has cut the cords of the wicked.
5 May all who hate Zion
be put to shame and turned backward!
6 Let them be like the grass on the housetops,
which withers before it grows up,
7 with which the reaper does not fill his hand
nor the binder of sheaves his arms,
8 nor do those who pass by say,
“The blessing of the Lord be upon you!
We bless you in the name of the Lord!”
Section Overview
It is reasonable to call this song a psalm of confidence for the community, as it reflects on what God’s people have endured and how God has sustained them. It could also be called a community thanksgiving, which celebrates God’s sustaining presence, or a community lament, asking God to continue to sustain his people against those who would harm them. As a Song of Ascents it is well suited to remind the pilgrims never to take their privileges for granted.
The psalm divides into stanzas. The first offers words for Israel to say and personifies Israel as the first person (“I”; vv. 1–3). Verse 4 is a kind of transition; it provides a summary of the first stanza but also, with its plural “the wicked,” introduces the group (“they”) that features in the second (vv. 5–8). The first stanza is recollection of the past, while the second consists of prayer for the future.
Section Outline
I. Those Who Hate Israel Have Not Prevailed (129:1–4)
II. May Those Who Hate Zion Never Prevail (129:5–8)
Response
The people of Israel had many experiences of being cruelly oppressed and then delivered. Psalm 129 recollects these experiences and uses them as the basis for the prayer that God would continue to protect and deliver them from the cruel schemes of those “who hate Zion” and hate the worship of the true God that takes place there. Pilgrims journeying to Jerusalem could feel especially vulnerable. The worshipers sing of their community as if it were a united entity, personified as “I,” and thus strengthen their bonds of loyalty toward, and identification with, one another.
This prayer is particularly suited to a time of danger and persecution for the faithful. The psalm honestly recognizes that relief from the danger means the thwarting of the purposes of the persecutors—their motives and wicked purposes must be publicly revealed and rejected. A faithful congregation will, of course, prefer that such persecutors repent, but, regardless, they will wish that they fail so that God’s people might be free to worship him and bring the knowledge of him to the world.739
When Christians sing this psalm they should recognize that their history includes furious persecutions—persecutions that continue into the present in many parts of the world. They therefore should take courage from the past and join with their suffering brethren in prayer, preferring the conversion of their persecutors, but, regardless, the failure of their purposes and the freedom of the worshipers.Psalm 129
Psalm 130