Chapter One Hundred Twenty-Four

The psalm can be considered written after the return from the captivity, during the first cares of the returned for the ordering of the city, the temple and their life, when the obstacles encountered on this path did not yet appear to be insurmountable, when in the Hebrew people the prevailing mood was – the mood of joy from the return from captivity and hope in the help of God in the further ordering of their life.

Psalm 124:1. He who trusts in the Lord, like Mount Zion, shall not be moved: he remains forever. Psalm 124:2. Mountains surround Jerusalem, and the Lord surrounds His people from now on and forever. He who trusts in the Lord finds in Him such firm protection as Jerusalem finds in the mountains surrounding it on three sides against attacks of enemies, he is as firm as Mount Zion, solid and immovable. The comparison indicates that trust in the Lord will never deceive the one who trusts in Him. This was tested by the Hebrews who fell into captivity, from which they could never free themselves by their own strength and whom nothing but their hope in the Lord extracted from there.

Psalm 124:3. For the Lord will not leave [the rod of the wicked over the lot of the righteous, so that the righteous do not stretch out their hands to wrongdoing. However great the misfortunes sent by the Lord upon the righteous, the latter will not remain unrewarded by Him: the Lord will save him, have mercy on him, and will not bring the righteous to despair, which could compel him to seek help and protection from the wicked. Such were the misfortunes of the captivity for the Hebrews, hard for them, but not destructive to their faith, and they had the character of cleansing it.