Psalm 124:2-8
‘If it had not been the Lord Who was on our side when men rose up against us, then they had swallowed us up quickly…; then the water had overwhelmed us!… Blessed be the Lord, Who has not given us as a prey to their teeth! Our soul has escaped!… Our help is in the name of the Lord!’ Psalm 124:2-8.
Calvin comments: “It is indeed true that the heathen nations often waged war against the people of God, armed with such power as to come rushing upon them with the impetuosity of a deluge…. David…represents…the uncertain and changeable condition of the Church…, to teach the faithful…it has been preserved by the wonderful grace of God….
“David…affirms that the deliverance and the salvation of the people, proceeded from nothing else than God’s succour…. The Lord had been at hand, to afford aid to His servants — and had taken their part…. They could not by help from any other quarter…have escaped from danger….
“When he says…’They had swallowed us up alive’ — he not only expresses barbarous cruelty, but also disproportion of strength…. How violent was the onset of the enemy!… These cruel beasts had no need of swords for slaughter. But, without a battle or an effort of strength, could easily devour that unwarlike and defenceless flock….
“‘The waters had then overwhelmed us!’…. Comparing the dreadful impetuosity of the enemies…to an inundation which swallows up whatever it meets with, in its overflowing course…, he names ‘the waters’; next, ‘the torrent’; thirdly, ‘the proud’ or ‘impetuous waters.’ He says ‘over us’ and ‘over our soul’ — as if…he intended to strike terror into the people…. This impassioned language ought to have all…the faithful…the better feel from what a profound gulf they had been rescued by the hand of God…. He…acknowledges himself to have been lost, before he was delivered….
“‘Blessed be Jehovah, (Who has not given us as a prey to their teeth)!’… They were delivered not otherwise, than if some one had plucked the prey from the teeth of a wild and cruel beast…. They were on all sides entrapped and entangled in the snares of their enemies…. The people of God — feeble, without counsel, and destitute of aid — had not only to deal with bloodthirsty and furious beasts, but were also ensnared by…stratagems; so that, being greatly inferior to their enemies as well in policy as in open force, they were besieged by many deaths….
“‘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…. He not only gives thanks to God for one benefit, but affirms that the Church cannot continue safe — except insofar 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.”
If the Lord hadn’t sided with us, we would all have been drowned!
