Introduction to Psalm 107
BOOK FIVE – Psalms 107–150
For me, this psalm tells the story of the hungry and thirsty, those who are bound in their affliction because they rebelled against the words of God, people who because of their sins and iniquities who were afflicted, people who find themselves in danger because of natural phenomena. That for all these people, when they cry out to the Lord amid the trouble that they are in the Lord is there to save them by leading them to a safe place, breaking the chains that hold them in their iniquity, and delivering them out of harm’s way. His mercy truly does endure forever for those who seek Him, find Him, and call out to Him. Praise the Lord!! ……Bill
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Charles Spurgeon
This is a choice song for the redeemed of the Lord (Psa 107:2). Although it celebrates providential deliverances, and therefore may be sung by any man whose life has been preserved in time of danger; yet under cover of this, it mainly magnifies the Lord for spiritual blessings, of which temporal favors are but types arid shadows. The theme is thanksgiving, and the motives for it. The construction of the psalm is highly poetical, and merely as a composition, it would be hard to find its peer among human productions.
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Enduring Word
This remarkable psalm praises God’s deliverance in four wonderful pictures. Derek Kidner titled this psalm “God to the Rescue.” The four pictures show that everyone’s story is different, yet everyone’s story is the same. (Guzik)
“Consider the successive vignettes of this psalm. Love broods over the weary caravan that faints in the desert; visits the prison-house with its captives; watches by our beds of pain; notices each lurch of the tempest-driven vessel; brings the weary hosts from the wilderness into the fruitful soil.” (F.B. Meyer)
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Barnes
The “design” of the psalm, so far as it has a practical bearing, is indicated in Psalms 107:8, Psalms 107:15, Psalms 107:21, and Psalms 107:31, in the language repeated in those verses: “Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men!” The purpose of the psalm is so to set forth these “works,” or these “doings” of God, as to lead men to praise and adoration.
The psalm is very regular in its structure. The first three verses are introductory, intended to designate the people who were specially called on to praise God – as those who had been redeemed from the hand of the enemy, and gathered out of the lands – east, west, north, and south.
The remainder of the psalm is divided into portions marked by the above words, “Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness,” etc., Psalms 107:8, Psalms 107:15, Psalms 107:21, Psalms 107:31. These portions are of unequal length, and this language (with a few appropriate words added) is placed “at the close of each part,” as being that which was suggested by the previous thoughts. In the closing portion, however, Psalms 107:32-43, this language is not employed, but the expression of “desire” in the other cases is changed into an “affirmation” that all who were wise would “observe these things,” and would “understand the loving-kindness of the Lord.”
The particular parts of the psalm are the following:
I. A reference to the redeemed of the Lord as having wandered in the wilderness; as having been hungry and thirsty; as having no city to dwell in; and then, as calling upon the Lord in such a manner that he heard them, and led them in a right and safe way. For “this” the psalmist expresses the wish that “men would praise the Lord for his goodness,” Psalms 107:4-9.
II. A reference to God as displaying goodness toward those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and who are bound in affliction and iron: illustrated by a reference to the people of God in the times of bondage, as being cast down and punished for their sins, and as then calling upon the Lord in their trouble, so that he brought them out of that darkness and shadow of death, and brake their bands asunder. For “this” the psalmist expresses the wish that “men would praise the Lord for his goodness,” Psalms 107:10-16.
III. A reference to the deliverance performed for the people of God. They had sinned; they had shown their folly; they had drawn near to the gates of death, and then they cried unto the Lord, and he sent his word and healed them. For “this” the psalmist expresses the desire that “men would praise the Lord for his goodness,” Psalms 107:17-22.
IV. A reference to the goodness of the Lord as manifested toward those who go down to the sea in ships, and do business in the great waters. They see the wonders of the Lord in the deep. They encounter storms and tempests. They are raised up to the heavens on the waves and then sink to a corresponding depth. They reel to and fro and stagger like a drunkard, and then they cry to the Lord, and he hears them, and makes the sea calm, and brings them to the desired haven. For “this” the psalmist expresses the wish that “men would praise the Lord for his goodness,” Psalms 107:23-32.
Observe the reference to the goodness of the Lord in preparing a place for men to dwell in: turning rivers into a wilderness, the water springs into dry ground, the wilderness into standing water, and the dry ground into water springs: making arrangements for people to dwell upon the earth, so that they may sow the fields and plant vineyards – setting the poor on high from affliction, and making them families like a flock. In reference to “this,” and to “all” that God does, the psalmist says, in the conclusion of the psalm, that all who are “wise, and will observe these things, shall understand the loving-kindness of the Lord,” Psalms 107:33-43.
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John Gill
This psalm, from its style, and from its connection with the preceding psalms, seems to have been written by David. The two foregoing psalms respect the children of Israel; this is generally thought to concern all mankind, and its view to assert a general providence which attends all, in whatsoever condition and circumstance; and to encourage men in their distresses to cry unto the Lord. According to Kimchi, Aben Ezra, and others, four sorts of persons are mentioned, travelers through a wilderness, prisoners, sick persons, and such who use the seas; to which some add a fifth, husbandmen; these are instanced in, not to the exclusion of others, but from them it may be concluded that whatsoever state or condition persons may be in, they are known and taken notice of by the Lord, and are relieved by him when they call upon him. Some restrain the whole to the Israelites, as the Targum, R. Obadiah, Arama, and others, where they make any application; and others apply the psalm to New Testament times; and indeed, though the literal sense should be attended unto and preserved, yet it seems to be applicable to spiritual persons and things. The title of it in the Syriac version is pretty remarkable, “it is said concerning Joab and Abiah the sons of Samuel, who recited the commandments of the Lord. God gathered the Jews out of captivity and brought them out from Babylon. Also, the only begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ, gathered the Gentiles from the four corners of the world, by preaching to baptism.”
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Matthew Henry
The psalmist, having in the two foregoing psalms celebrated the wisdom, power, and goodness of God, in his dealings with his church in particular, here observes some of the instances of his providential care of the children of men in general, especially in their distresses; for he is not only King of saints, but King of nations, not only the God of Israel, but the God of the whole earth, and a common Father to all mankind. Though this may especially refer to Israelites in their personal capacity, yet there were those who pertained not to the commonwealth of Israel and yet were worshippers of the true God; and even those who worshipped images had some knowledge of a supreme “Numen,” to whom, when they were in earnest, they looked above all their false gods. And of these, when they prayed in their distresses, God took a particular care,
I. The psalmist specifies some of the most common calamities of human life and shows how God succors those who labor under them, in answer to their prayers.
1. Banishment and dispersion (v. 2-9).
2. Captivity and imprisonment (v. 10-16).
3. Sickness and distemper of body (v. 17-22).
4. Danger and distress at sea (v. 23-32). These are put for all similar perils, in which those that cry unto God have ever found him a very present help.
II. He specifies the varieties and vicissitudes of events concerning nations and families, in all which God’s hand is to be eyed by his own people, with joyful acknowledgments of his goodness (v. 33-43).
When we are in any of these or the like distresses it will be comfortable to sing this psalm, with application; but, if we be not, others are, and have been, of whose deliverances it becomes us to give God the glory, for we are members one of another.
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Clarke
“No doubt the composition of this Psalm is admirable throughout; and the descriptive part of it adds at least its share of beauty to the whole; but what is most to be admired is its conciseness, and withal the expressiveness of the diction, which strikes the imagination with inimitable elegance. The weary and bewildered traveler, the miserable captive in the hideous dungeon, the sick and dying man, the seaman foundering in a storm, are described in so affecting a manner, that they far exceed anything of the kind, though never so much labored.” I may add that had such an Idyl appeared in Theocritus or Virgil, or had it been found as a scene in any of the Greek tragedians, even in AEschylus himself, it would have been praised up to the heavens, and probably been produced as their masterpiece.
Thanksgiving to the Lord for His Great Works of Deliverance
Psalm 107 NKJV
1
Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.
2
Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,
Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy,
3
And gathered out of the lands,
From the east and from the west,
From the north and from the south.
4
They wandered in the wilderness in a desolate way;
They found no city to dwell in.
5
Hungry and thirsty,
Their soul fainted in them.
6
Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,
And He delivered them out of their distresses.
7
And He led them forth by the right way,
That they might go to a city for a dwelling place.
8
Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness,
And for His wonderful works to the children of men!
9
For He satisfies the longing soul,
And fills the hungry soul with goodness.
10
Those who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death,
Bound in affliction and irons—
11
Because they rebelled against the words of God,
And despised the counsel of the Most High,
12
Therefore He brought down their heart with labor;
They fell down, and there was none to help.
13
Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,
And He saved them out of their distresses.
14
He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death,
And broke their chains in pieces.
15
Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness,
And for His wonderful works to the children of men!
16
For He has broken the gates of bronze,
And cut the bars of iron in two.
17
Fools, because of their transgression,
And because of their iniquities, were afflicted.
18
Their soul abhorred all manner of food,
And they drew near to the gates of death.
19
Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,
And He saved them out of their distresses.
20
He sent His word and healed them,
And delivered them from their destructions.
21
Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness,
And for His wonderful works to the children of men!
22
Let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving,
And declare His works with rejoicing.
23
Those who go down to the sea in ships,
Who do business on great waters,
24
They see the works of the Lord,
And His wonders in the deep.
25
For He commands and raises the stormy wind,
Which lifts up the waves of the sea.
26
They mount up to the heavens,
They go down again to the depths;
Their soul melts because of trouble.
27
They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man,
And are at their wits’ end.
28
Then they cry out to the Lord in their trouble,
And He brings them out of their distresses.
29
He calms the storm,
So that its waves are still.
30
Then they are glad because they are quiet;
So He guides them to their desired haven.
31
Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness,
And for His wonderful works to the children of men!
32
Let them exalt Him also in the assembly of the people,
And praise Him in the company of the elders.
33
He turns rivers into a wilderness,
And the watersprings into dry ground;
34
A fruitful land into barrenness,
For the wickedness of those who dwell in it.
35
He turns a wilderness into pools of water,
And dry land into watersprings.
36
There He makes the hungry dwell,
That they may establish a city for a dwelling place,
37
And sow fields and plant vineyards,
That they may yield a fruitful harvest.
38
He also blesses them, and they multiply greatly;
And He does not let their cattle decrease.
39
When they are diminished and brought low
Through oppression, affliction, and sorrow,
40
He pours contempt on princes,
And causes them to wander in the wilderness where there is no way;
41
Yet He sets the poor on high, far from affliction,
And makes their families like a flock.
42
The righteous see it and rejoice,
And all iniquity stops its mouth.
43
Whoever is wise will observe these things,
And they will understand the lovingkindness of the Lord.
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but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen. 2 Peter 3:18
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