Psalms 107:1

107:1-9 In these verses there is reference to the deliverance from Egypt, and perhaps that from Babylon: but the circumstances of travellers in those countries are also noted. It is scarcely possible to conceive the horrors suffered by the hapless traveller, when crossing the trackless sands, exposed to the burning rays of the sum. The words describe their case whom the Lord has redeemed from the bondage of Satan; who pass through the world as a dangerous and dreary wilderness, often ready to faint through troubles, fears, and temptations. Those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, after God, and communion with him, shall be filled with the goodness of his house, both in grace and glory.

Psalm 107:1-3 . O give thanks, &c. — This whole verse occurs also Psalm 106:1 ; only there the address is made to the Israelites, here, it seems, to all mankind. For his mercy endureth for ever — “Eternal mercy is the theme here proposed; and they who have tasted its sweets, are invited to join in setting forth its praises.” Let the redeemed say so — All those whom God hath redeemed, as it is expressed in the next clause, or delivered from the calamities hereafter mentioned: whom he hath redeemed from the enemy — From such as had taken them captive, either in battle, or in their travels, to which they were led, either by their own inclinations or by their necessary affairs. And gathered them out of the lands, &c. — Bringing them into their own land, out of the several quarters of the world into which they had been carried. And from the south — Hebrew, from the sea; which, in Scripture, commonly denotes the west, because the great Mediterranean sea was on the west of Canaan; but here, as appears from the opposition of this to the north, it signifies the south, so called from the Red sea, which was on the south, and which is sometimes called The Sea, simply, and without addition. “The members of the Christian Church,” says Dr.

Horne, “are now, in the most proper and emphatical sense of the words, the redeemed of Jehovah, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy, and gathered them, by the gospel, out of all lands, and from all the four quarters of the world, to form a church, and to supply the place of the apostate Jews, whose forefathers experienced, in type and shadow, the good things prepared for them and for us, in truth and substance.”

1 O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good; for his mercy endureth forever. 2 Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy; 3 And gathered them out of the lands, from the east, and from the west, from the north, and from the south. Psalm 107:1 "O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good." It is all we can give him, and the least we can give; therefore let us diligently render to him our thanksgiving. The Psalmist is in earnest in the exhortation, hence the use of the interjection "O" to intensify his words: let us be at all times thoroughly fervent in the praises of the Lord, both with our lips and with our lives, by thanksgiving and thanksgiving. JEHOVAH, for that is the name here used, is not to be worshipped with groans and cries, but with thanks, for he is good; and these thanks should be heartily rendered, for his is no common goodness: he is good by nature, and essence, and proven to be good in all the acts of his eternity. Compared with him there is none good, no, not one: but he is essentially, perpetually, superlatively, infinitely good. We are the perpetual partakers of his goodness, and therefore ought above all his creatures to magnify his name.

Our praise should be increased by the fact that the divine goodness is not a transient thing, but in the attribute of mercy abides for ever the same, "for his mercy endureth for ever." The word endureth has been properly supplied by the translators, but yet it somewhat restricts the sense, which will be better seen if we read it, "for his mercy for ever." That mercy had no beginning, and shall never know an end. Our sin required that goodness should display itself to us in the form of mercy, and it has done so, and will do so evermore; let us not be slack in praising the goodness which thus adapts itself to our fallen nature. Psalm 107:2 "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so." Whatever others may think or say, the redeemed have overwhelming reasons for declaring the goodness of the Lord. Theirs is a peculiar redemption, and for it they ought to render peculiar praise. The Redeemer is so glorious, the ransom price so immense, and the redemption so complete, that they are under sevenfold obligations to give thanks unto the Lord, and to exhort others to do so. Let them not only feel so but say so; let them both sing and bid their fellows sing. "Whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy." Snatched by superior power away from fierce oppressions, they are bound above all men to adore the Lord, their Liberator. Theirs is a divine redemption, "he hath redeemed" them, and no one else has done it. His own unaided arm has wrought out their deliverance.

PSALM 107 Ps 107:1-43. Although the general theme of this Psalm may have been suggested by God's special favor to the Israelites in their restoration from captivity, it must be regarded as an instructive celebration of God's praise for His merciful providence to all men in their various emergencies. Of these several are given—captivity and bondage, wanderings by land and sea, and famine; some as evidences of God's displeasure, and all the deliverances as evidence of His goodness and mercy to them who humbly seek Him. 1, 2. This call for thankful praise is the burden or chorus (compare Ps 107:8, 15, &c.).

1, 2 . The Psalm begins, like Psalms 106, with the regular liturgical doxology. This “the redeemed of Jehovah” are called to recite ( Psalm 107:2 ) in grateful acknowledgement of His mercy and in fulfilment of Jeremiah’s prophecy ( Psalm 33:11 ) that there should again be heard in Jerusalem “the voice of them that say, Give thanks to Jehovah of hosts, for Jehovah is good, for his mercy endureth for ever.” Cp. Psalm 118:1-4 . the redeemed of the Lord ] The phrase is taken from Isaiah 62:12 (cp. Isaiah 35:9-10 ; Isaiah 51:10-11 ; Isaiah 63:4 ), and clearly denotes the Israelites who had been released from exile in Babylon and elsewhere, and brought home to Jerusalem. from the hand of the enemy ] Rather, from the clutch (lit. hand ) of adversity. Cp. the use of the same word in Psalm 107:6 &c. (A.V. trouble ). 1–3 . An invitation to the returned exiles to join in grateful confession of Jehovah’s lovingkindness.